Tin Tin was the first English comic that I ever read. Thanks to Pudukkottai Mount Zion school library.When I first came to know about the Tin Tin movie, it rekindled my childhood memories. When I came to know that it was directed by Spielberg, I couldn't resist my urge to watch this movie. Even though every scene in the comic book is in my memory, but I still went to theater to watch this movie. I believe I was the only single adult in the movie hall. I didn't mind it, once the movie started I forget the whole world and went into the movie. I would suggest everyone to watch this movie.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Restaurants
Last Sunday, along with my friends I went to an Indian Restaurant in DC. We were the last customers in the Hotel. The Hotel Owner was eating next to us. Since we explored most of the Indian Restaurants in and around DC, we were chatting about the food that they serve in the Indian Restaurants. The Hotel owner was very much interested in our discussion and joined us in the discussion. He shared some interesting facts with us
* He is in this Business for the last 15+ years.
* He is Operating 7 restaurants in DC, Vienna, Alexandria
* He came here as physiotherapy student. Did a part time job in a restaurant during his college days. He got interested in this business and changed his line.
* Average life of a regular Hotel is 5 years. For every 5 years you need to make some major change in the hotel
* To Attract American customer, just great food is not enough. Need to have the best plates and cutlery.
The waiter who served us is doing his PhD in Information system. In India I have never seen a PhD scholar taking a part time job in a Hotel.
One last thing, the food was really good.
* He is in this Business for the last 15+ years.
* He is Operating 7 restaurants in DC, Vienna, Alexandria
* He came here as physiotherapy student. Did a part time job in a restaurant during his college days. He got interested in this business and changed his line.
* Average life of a regular Hotel is 5 years. For every 5 years you need to make some major change in the hotel
* To Attract American customer, just great food is not enough. Need to have the best plates and cutlery.
The waiter who served us is doing his PhD in Information system. In India I have never seen a PhD scholar taking a part time job in a Hotel.
One last thing, the food was really good.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Onsite trip - for dummies
An unofficial guide for Onsite travel:
Like most of the Indian IT coolies, I too dreamed about coming to onsite and get salary in usd. After 5 years, this dream has become true. Its been 2 months in US. Some of the myths which I had before coming here was totally broken. Many new surprises awaited for me.
I'm sharing some tips, which may be use full for the first time travellers
1. Pressure Cooker : Before packing the pressure cooker, check with people with whom you will stay. Avoiding a pressure cooker can save 2-3 kg.
2. Blankets : If you are traveling during a summer time, you don't have to carry a blanket. This can save you upto 2 kg. (I traveled during peak summer time and I still carried a 2.5 kg raymonds woolen blanket :( )
3.Most of the Us cities have Indian store. Avoid bringing rice, dhal and masala powders. Most of the Indian brands are available in US (MDH, Sakthi, Aachi, MTR etc). If you are bringing spices from India then pls avoid "Kasakasa"
4.Have at least 20 pairs of inner wear. This is very important.
5.Get a decent sun glass. In Us, you have to spent a minimum of 100$ to get a decent sunglass.
6. Don't carry more than 2 pairs of shoes.
7.When Collecting the forex, make sure that you get some bills with lower denomination (5 and 10$)
8. Don't apply for SSN Immediately. Apply for SSN after a week or 10 days.
9. Open a bank account as soon as possible.
10. Veekam, Maanam,Soodu, Sornai ellathaium Indiala vachitu vanthuranum..
11.Open a NRE/NRO account before leaving India.
12. Make sure that you file your IT returns for the previous financial year.
13. Get used to toilet papers.
14. 90% of the american food have vitamin G - Grease.. You have to be very careful with your food. You get mostly greasy food. Either you have to work out heavily or make sure that you control the intake of fat.
15. When traveling, try to avoid the rest rooms in plane. Even the best airlines rest room would be dirty.
16. Apply for a state id and driving license
Like most of the Indian IT coolies, I too dreamed about coming to onsite and get salary in usd. After 5 years, this dream has become true. Its been 2 months in US. Some of the myths which I had before coming here was totally broken. Many new surprises awaited for me.
I'm sharing some tips, which may be use full for the first time travellers
1. Pressure Cooker : Before packing the pressure cooker, check with people with whom you will stay. Avoiding a pressure cooker can save 2-3 kg.
2. Blankets : If you are traveling during a summer time, you don't have to carry a blanket. This can save you upto 2 kg. (I traveled during peak summer time and I still carried a 2.5 kg raymonds woolen blanket :( )
3.Most of the Us cities have Indian store. Avoid bringing rice, dhal and masala powders. Most of the Indian brands are available in US (MDH, Sakthi, Aachi, MTR etc). If you are bringing spices from India then pls avoid "Kasakasa"
4.Have at least 20 pairs of inner wear. This is very important.
5.Get a decent sun glass. In Us, you have to spent a minimum of 100$ to get a decent sunglass.
6. Don't carry more than 2 pairs of shoes.
7.When Collecting the forex, make sure that you get some bills with lower denomination (5 and 10$)
8. Don't apply for SSN Immediately. Apply for SSN after a week or 10 days.
9. Open a bank account as soon as possible.
10. Veekam, Maanam,Soodu, Sornai ellathaium Indiala vachitu vanthuranum..
11.Open a NRE/NRO account before leaving India.
12. Make sure that you file your IT returns for the previous financial year.
13. Get used to toilet papers.
14. 90% of the american food have vitamin G - Grease.. You have to be very careful with your food. You get mostly greasy food. Either you have to work out heavily or make sure that you control the intake of fat.
15. When traveling, try to avoid the rest rooms in plane. Even the best airlines rest room would be dirty.
16. Apply for a state id and driving license
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Life in America : Week #3
Life is becoming too tough. Several unexpected things happened in a very short time. Over the weekend, I stayed back in the house. Sunday thought of exploring DC. But due to rain the entire plan got scrapped. Almost after 7 years once again I started to cook.
Last wednesday, I attended Blackberry DC Developer day. Both the technology what they discussed and the food what they serverd were "Greek" and "Latin" to me. For the first time, I had a American lunch :) . Got a blackberry bold 9700. My first Non-Nokia cell phone in my life.
Work is getting pretty hectic. Expecting tough days ahead..
Last wednesday, I attended Blackberry DC Developer day. Both the technology what they discussed and the food what they serverd were "Greek" and "Latin" to me. For the first time, I had a American lunch :) . Got a blackberry bold 9700. My first Non-Nokia cell phone in my life.
Work is getting pretty hectic. Expecting tough days ahead..
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Life in America - Week #2
2nd week in USA.
Work load is pretty high.. Expect the same to continue for the next few months. In the last 2 weeks the main problem that I face/faced/facing is using rest room :(. Using tissue paper is very horrible.
Telephone charges are too high here. We are even charged for incoming calls too.. May be tata docomo should come here.. I got a prepaid phone connection without any documents.
Work load is pretty high.. Expect the same to continue for the next few months. In the last 2 weeks the main problem that I face/faced/facing is using rest room :(. Using tissue paper is very horrible.
Telephone charges are too high here. We are even charged for incoming calls too.. May be tata docomo should come here.. I got a prepaid phone connection without any documents.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Life in America - week #1
7 days ago I landed in Dulles International Airport. My first overseas trip. With lot of excitement and anxiety I came down to DC. This trip can change my life. I know the ground reality before starting this journey. Things are not going to easy. Trying hard to make things work fine.
When I was in India, I had feeling that I'm obese. Now, I don't have that feeling. I can see too many xxl sized people around me. DC is a very costly place to live. Every day I have to spend around 20$ for my transportation and for my lunch. When I convert this into Indian Rupees, it comes to 900Rs. 4$ to use the washing machine and dryer (Enna kodumai saravanan ithu :( ). Hope after another 51 weeks I will return to India.
When I was in India, I had feeling that I'm obese. Now, I don't have that feeling. I can see too many xxl sized people around me. DC is a very costly place to live. Every day I have to spend around 20$ for my transportation and for my lunch. When I convert this into Indian Rupees, it comes to 900Rs. 4$ to use the washing machine and dryer (Enna kodumai saravanan ithu :( ). Hope after another 51 weeks I will return to India.
Monday, March 22, 2010
மங்குஸ் பேட்டும் கருப்பையா ஆசாரியும்
It was early 90's. I still remember those days. We were very crazy about cricket. On a weekday we play for minimum three hours and during the weekend more than 8 hours. We prefer to play with tennis ball/rubber ball rather than a cricket ball. The reason is quite simple. The cost of a cricket ball is much higher (we buy used tennis ball form a local tennis club) and we didn't have oil bat. All we had was some local made sub standard bats. A decent cricket bat costs around 100 Rs, which was a very big amount for us. It was a dream for every one of us to own a cricket bat. Only one or 2 in our gang could manage to buy a proper bat. Rest of us depended on Karupaiyya Aasary(கருப்பையா ஆசாரி).
Karupaiyaa is a well know carpenter in our locality. For Rs 25 he will give us a custom made bat. The bats are mostly made of neem/guva wood. After a long struggle I managed to save Rs 25. Now, It was my turn. I went to his workshop and asked for bat. As he was busy with some other work he asked me come latter. When I went to his work shop for the second time, he was crafting my bat. Once my bat was fully ready I was totally disappointed. The bat didn't look like a regular bat. The handle was longer and the blade was relatively smaller and narrower. I was not happy with the bat and I was not ready to pay Rs 25. He said "அடிச்சு ஆடுறதுக்கு இந்த பேட்டு நல்லா இருக்கும்" (For playing powerfull shots this bat will be very good). I was not ready to hear his words. After a small panchyat I paid him Rs 25 and got the bat. Initially I was not ready to take this bat to the ground. Since all the other bat in our team was broken, I took this bat to the ground. For the first couple of overs we struggled with the new bat. Once we got hold of the bat, hitting the ball was very easy. What Karupaiyya said was true. Our average score in a 12 over match raised to 100 from 60. The bat was a huge hit among us. I think Karupaiyya Aasary should have copy righted the design. The mongoose bat which Mathew Hayden used/using was much similar to the one which Karupaiyya has designed. 16 years before I got this bat for just Rs 25. Today mongoose bats are sold for Rs 23,000. Enna Kodumai saravan ithu..
Karupaiyaa is a well know carpenter in our locality. For Rs 25 he will give us a custom made bat. The bats are mostly made of neem/guva wood. After a long struggle I managed to save Rs 25. Now, It was my turn. I went to his workshop and asked for bat. As he was busy with some other work he asked me come latter. When I went to his work shop for the second time, he was crafting my bat. Once my bat was fully ready I was totally disappointed. The bat didn't look like a regular bat. The handle was longer and the blade was relatively smaller and narrower. I was not happy with the bat and I was not ready to pay Rs 25. He said "அடிச்சு ஆடுறதுக்கு இந்த பேட்டு நல்லா இருக்கும்" (For playing powerfull shots this bat will be very good). I was not ready to hear his words. After a small panchyat I paid him Rs 25 and got the bat. Initially I was not ready to take this bat to the ground. Since all the other bat in our team was broken, I took this bat to the ground. For the first couple of overs we struggled with the new bat. Once we got hold of the bat, hitting the ball was very easy. What Karupaiyya said was true. Our average score in a 12 over match raised to 100 from 60. The bat was a huge hit among us. I think Karupaiyya Aasary should have copy righted the design. The mongoose bat which Mathew Hayden used/using was much similar to the one which Karupaiyya has designed. 16 years before I got this bat for just Rs 25. Today mongoose bats are sold for Rs 23,000. Enna Kodumai saravan ithu..
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sharing Auto and Reusing codes
Its 4.00 AM. I’m the last person to get out of the Train. And as usual no auto was available. There was a small queue in front of the prepaid auto counter. For every 5 minutes an auto comes and the traffic police who was on duty asked the people to share the auto. When my turn came, I was asked to join 3 other persons. Since there was no other immediate option, I agreed for that. Of the 4 people, I’m the last person to get down. When I got down, the auto driver asked me the full fare from. Since I shared with the 3 other persons, I was not ready to pay the full amount. The normal auto fare is 80 Rs. He already charged 100Rs from the other 3 passengers. And now he was asking me 80 Rs. A small argument started between us. Since I was not fluent in Malayalam and I was not ready to spoil my morning, I gave up the argument and paid him 80 Rs.
A small question popped up in my mind? I have a personal code bin; in this code bin, I have all types of reusable piece of codes. Whenever possible, I try to use the code. When I use the reusable code, should I need to charge the customer for the full amount?
Reusing code is something similar to sharing the Auto isn’t?
Note: I’m not running my own company. The above question just popped up in my mind. The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent my present or past or future employers position, strategies or opinion.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Fixed the virus issue.
Few weeks back my laptop was infected by some unknown Trojans/spy ware. The first impact of the Trojan or virus was to remove my administrator access to my laptop. When I try to open the Taskmanager or system registry, i got the message that my access to those modules are restricted by administrator.
Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator.
Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.
I took my laptop to an authorized service center. Those guys couldn't figure out a solution for my problem. They simply said only formatting the hard drive will solve the problem. However I'm not in a position to format my hard drive. I may need another hard drive of 100 gb space for taking a backup.
When I googled for this problem, some site asked me to try opening the group editor(gpedit.msc) and change the settings through it. But this didn't help. Further refining my search, I landed in these pages which really helped me.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/tweakuirest.htm
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Taskmanager_error.htm
Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.
I took my laptop to an authorized service center. Those guys couldn't figure out a solution for my problem. They simply said only formatting the hard drive will solve the problem. However I'm not in a position to format my hard drive. I may need another hard drive of 100 gb space for taking a backup.
When I googled for this problem, some site asked me to try opening the group editor(gpedit.msc) and change the settings through it. But this didn't help. Further refining my search, I landed in these pages which really helped me.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/tweakuirest.htm
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Taskmanager_error.htm
Using the REG.EXE console tool in the first URL helped me in getting the access to the system registry
Once I got the access the registry, I followed the 3rd method in the second url. This gave me access to task manager too.
Now every thing is in place. First thanks to the above site owner and Google.
Lesson learned:
Never turnoff your anti virus. NAV was making my laptop bit slow. So i turned it off. If I haven't turned it off I will not landed in this problem.
I'm thinking of saying good bye to NAV. Currently trying ESET Smart security (NOD32). The system speed is not affected by this AV. Also planning to try Kaspersky and bit defender. I believe I will choose one among the three.
Now every thing is in place. First thanks to the above site owner and Google.
Lesson learned:
Never turnoff your anti virus. NAV was making my laptop bit slow. So i turned it off. If I haven't turned it off I will not landed in this problem.
I'm thinking of saying good bye to NAV. Currently trying ESET Smart security (NOD32). The system speed is not affected by this AV. Also planning to try Kaspersky and bit defender. I believe I will choose one among the three.
Friday, May 29, 2009
A Wednesday
Until I came across the news that Kamal is remaking this movie in Tamil/Telegu, I didn't have any idea about this movie. Out of curiosity got this movie dvd from a moser bear store.The running time of this movie is approximately 100 mins. Or to say 100 mins of non stop thrill. No songs, No boring dialogs. I don't want write about the plot. But one thing I would like to say is, in the remade version, if the running time of this movie is more than 100 mins then I'm not sure how fast the screenplay would be. Please don't add any songs.
Some years back Kamal acted (I think Produced too) in a movie called "Kuruthi Punool".I think this movie was a failure in box office. I think the reason for failure is the story line. 95% (or even more %) of people in Tamil Nadu don't have any idea about Naxalites. And this movie deals with police and naxalites.
If Kamal follows the same story or plot of a Wednesday in Tamil, the box office success is not assured.
Some years back Kamal acted (I think Produced too) in a movie called "Kuruthi Punool".I think this movie was a failure in box office. I think the reason for failure is the story line. 95% (or even more %) of people in Tamil Nadu don't have any idea about Naxalites. And this movie deals with police and naxalites.
If Kamal follows the same story or plot of a Wednesday in Tamil, the box office success is not assured.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Movies
Till the year 2004 I have watched only very few number of movies. Starting from 2005, the number of movies that I watch per month is exponentially increasing. In 2005 it was weekly one movie, 4/5 movie per month, in 2006 it was 8-10movies per month and during last year and this year more than 10 movies per month. Since I don't watch TV, my major pastime is watching movies.
The problem of watching too many movies is, whenever you watch a new international movie you can easily assume the plot and story and in case of regional movies along with the plot you can find from which international movie they have copied.
Last week I watched Charles bronson "Death Wish". Charles bronson becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by muggers. Story sounds familiar isn't? This movie was made in Tamil with the title "Naan Sigappu Manithan" with Rajinikanth in the lead role.
Some hollywood movies stories are very crazy. We have a seen several movies in which humans or animals become possessed by a demon. Have you ever imagined that a machine was possessed by a demon? Weird to read isn't? Try watching "The Mangler". An industrial laundry press machine becomes possessed by a demon.
The problem of watching too many movies is, whenever you watch a new international movie you can easily assume the plot and story and in case of regional movies along with the plot you can find from which international movie they have copied.
Last week I watched Charles bronson "Death Wish". Charles bronson becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by muggers. Story sounds familiar isn't? This movie was made in Tamil with the title "Naan Sigappu Manithan" with Rajinikanth in the lead role.
Some hollywood movies stories are very crazy. We have a seen several movies in which humans or animals become possessed by a demon. Have you ever imagined that a machine was possessed by a demon? Weird to read isn't? Try watching "The Mangler". An industrial laundry press machine becomes possessed by a demon.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Gandhi My Father - Movie
I have come across few movie reviews where the reviewer says that the movie left him speech less. I wonder does any movie really makes us like that or its just a way to prise the movie. But yesterday even I had the same feeling after watching the movie "Gandhi, My Father". The movie deals with the relationship between our Bapu(M.K.Gandhi) and his son Hirilal Gandhi.
When we look things from Harilal’s perspective whatever he does is correct. But when we look things from the other side, most of the things that he does are wrong. The movie doesn’t justify Harilal’s action or support Bapus reaction/action on Harilal.
Every politician should watch this movie to know what true service to the society means.
I have one general doubt. How come the Nehru dynasty family got the Surname Gandhi.
When we look things from Harilal’s perspective whatever he does is correct. But when we look things from the other side, most of the things that he does are wrong. The movie doesn’t justify Harilal’s action or support Bapus reaction/action on Harilal.
Every politician should watch this movie to know what true service to the society means.
I have one general doubt. How come the Nehru dynasty family got the Surname Gandhi.
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