Tuesday, March 10, 2009

What to say.......

Life is getting tooo hard and demanding these days. Even couldn't get time to twitt. Almost spending 10-11 hrs a day in the office.
I'm wondering what will be running inside the brains of project managers/ceo/coo of IT companies these days. Every where people are talking about recession and layoffs. The total workforce of my office is more than 1 lakh and I'm not sure that every one are allocated in some project?. People are forced to move across various cities.And even 2 days before there was a rumour about layoff in my organization. I'm really worried about my future. What happens if the current economic condition worsens. How can we cope such a situations. These questions often come in my mind and spoils my night time.

Last week i saw vennila kabadi kulu . Very interesting movie. If you get some time try this movie.

Last year I got Fuji finepix S5700 Digital camera. The main reason for selecting this camera is 10X optical zoom. I would say the camera is worth for every single paise that I paid. The digtal viewfinder is not so userfriendly/good. I feel its difficult to focus using the digital view finder. Other than that all the other features are excellent.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

த‌த்துவ‌ம்

ஆடுகள் தங்களை ஆடுகள் என்று உணரும் போது மந்தையிலிருந்து விலகி விடுகின்றன - கலீல் ஜிப்ரான்

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Naan Kadavul - Aham Brahmasmi

At last I too watched this movie. This not a movie review, but my thoughts that rose after watching this movie.
Normally we people doesn’t like to watch the darker part of the life in the movies. Naan Kadavul deals with such a subject. This movie deals with the life of beggars. Bala did an excellent job in portraying their lives. Dialogue of this movie is penned by Jayamohan. Some of the dialogues are very sharp which can raise several questions inside our mind. Music by Illyaraja, and Lyrics by Vaali. I haven’t heard the songs from this movie before. In theater, even during songs, the visualization is so effective such that I couldn’t remember the lyrics or tune.

No hero in Tamil cinema has got/will get such a wonder full introduction. I never expected such an introduction for Arrya. For Arrya and Pooja this is a Lifetime movie.
Arraya as Rudhran: I can see the amount of hard work that Arraya has put for this character. I feel the voice of Rudhran is not so effective. When he chants the Sanskrit versus or while talking in the court if the voice is not so effective. Pooja has done an excellent job. Her voice, action everything is superb.
In all the Bala’s previous movies, the hero characters are somehow similar. Even in this movie Rudhrans character is similar. He has too much power; he doesn’t bother about the law. These are the common characters of Bala’s hero. Even Rudhran falls in to the same category. The other common thing with the other bala’s movie is climax. In all his previous movies there is no happy ending. Even this movie doesn’t have happy end. When I left the theater, my heart was paining. Only very few movies in the past made to feel like that before.
Tamil cinema has got a new villain. Thandavan. I don’t remember this guys real name. He did an excellent job.
Overall, the movie is good. But the violence is too high.

Some flowers..

Last weekend I attended the Cochin flower show. Here are some photos from the even.
Dragon made of Plaintain stem
Dragon made of Plaintain stem

Tapioca aka kappa. I have never seen sucha big tapioca
Calliopsie
I d0n't remember its name



A red rose with bud.

White Rose
And one more red rose..

Bee in Action
Dont know its name

Monday, February 9, 2009

Exploring Gods Own Country-III. Fort Kochi &Jew Town

A Beautiful Sunset

Poking the sun with a pole..
A Beautiful Sunset

A crow with its food


Fisherman in action

Antiques for sale. Is that Madurai Veeran and Bhoomi?
Even God is for sale...

I had a good lunch. Want a small nap.

Wall Clock outside the Jewish Synagogue

Monday, January 26, 2009

Exploring Gods Own Country - I

3 weeks before I landed in Kochi. For the first 2 weekends I never stayed at Kochi. This was the first weekend I stayed here. On the first weekend I went to Bangalore to collect my things. And on the 2nd weekend I went to my home town for Pongal. And this weekend I thought of staying back here. Since I don’t have any friends over here, weekend was too boring here. So I planned to go to some places around Kochi. I thought of starting my roaming with a Holy place. So I decided to go to Guruvayoor. Saturday I went to Guruvayoor. Guruvayoor is around 90 KM from Kochi.

Guruvayoor is called as the Southern Dwaraka. And the chief Deity is Lord Unni Krishnanan (Balakrishnanan). I started at 7.30 Am from Kaloor (From Ernakulam KSRTC bus terminus no buses are operated towards Guruvayoor. They directed me to go to some other place from where I can board KSRTC bus. Since I’m not familiar with Kochi I decided to go to the Private bus terminus at Kaloor). It was a 3 hours journey. I reached Guruvayoor at 10.30 AM. On nearing the temple premises I found that gents are not supposed to wear Pants, Pajamas, Shirt and Vests. Only with Dhoti and bare top gents are allowed inside. For ladies Saree, Skirt and Blouse are only allowed. No western/northern (Salwar kamiz) outfits are allowed. Few people even make money over this rule. For guys like me who come over to this place without knowing this fact, these people lend dhotis (do they even lend saree, skirt&blouse?) My pants were cleaner than the dhoti that I got. I don’t know how many people used the Dhoti before I use and I don’t when it was last washed. But still the security people will allow me inside the temple only if I wear that dhoti. Crazy customs. I was bit embarrassed to be on bare body (of course, I was wearing a dhoti) inside the temple. Every male inside the temple followed the same. Temple was bit crowded, I think I got only 5- 10 seconds to stand in front of God and pray. I had the free launch at the temple with several other devotees. Rice (of course its Matta rice or red rice), MooreKuzhambu (a gravy made of butter milk, vegetables and spices), one poriyal (scoop of fried vegetable) and one kottu (a scoop of boiled vegetable), rice payasam (a sweet made of rice, sugar and milk), butter milk and banana. The food was good.

Before starting this trip, I browsed in the net for any interesting place around the temple. I found few places. One place excited me a lot. It’s “Punnathur Kotta”, an elephant farm, maintained by the Guruvayoor temple.

I left the temple around 1.30 PM and enquired about this place and reached there by an Auto. The auto driver charged me 40 Rs for the 3 KM journey (which is bit costlier in Kerala). Entrance fee is Rs 5 and If we want to carry a still camera (including Mobile Phone camera) we need to pay 25 Rs/camera (for video camera/handy cam its 1000 and for movie camera its 5000 Rs) and get a receipt. The security officer at the gate checks for the camera that we carry. I have never imagined a place like this in my whole life. 60+ elephants are maintained in a single place. No words to describe place. All the elephants where tied with a fairly big chain in the leg. Most of them were calm and eating the coconut leaves and plantain stem. Most of them are male. I could see only very few female elephants. Also I couldn’t see any young elephants (Cubs?). For few elephants the mahouts were giving a bath and some elephants bathed on its own. After the bath, around 3.00 PM the elephants are given their launch. Rice balls with banana, Jaggery and little other stuff are given to the elephants. I left the place around 3.00 PM and got in the bus to Ernakulam by 3.30 and reached Kaloor by 5.45 (now it was only 2 hrs).





I will upload more photos soon in Picasa/flicker.

After reaching my room I got few questions in my mind.
1. Why do they don’t allow people with pant and shirt inside the temple. What’s the reason behind wearing a dhoti ?

2. At Punnathur Kotta, How do they handle the elephants during the mating season?

3. What do they do with the elephant’s dunk/shit/solid excrete? I remember that using cow dunk gobar gas is generated and it is also used as farm manure. Do they use elephants dunk for any such purpose. The reason behind my question is each elephant eats a large quantity of bushes, leaves and other stuffs. Since there are 60+ elephants in the farm, the total amount of shit generated will be very large.

Next time when I go to Guruvayoor, I want to check with the respective persons with the above questions.

Update: Feb 1, 2009: More Photos on Picasa
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/sredir?uname=thiyagarajan.vp&target=ALBUM&id=5297822086895565441&authkey=c82YlrZBzXE&feat=email

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Adieu and Arrival and a Movie

For the past few weeks I have been quite busy. Several expected and unexpected events happened in my life.
As my father got retired from his service on May 2008 my parents moved to Tirunelveli. At last 23 years of life in Pudukkottai came to an end. A new place, new neighbors, new environment. I don’t know how they will adjust to this new environment. My Grandfather after his retirement from service left Nagapatinam, where he lived for 35+ years and settled in Palavoor. My father after retiring his retirement from service left Pudukkottai, Where he lived for 23+ years and settled in Tirunelveli. So What I will do?

Back in Bangalore, my assignment with the American Bank came to an end. Now I’m to a victim of Subprime crisis. The Bank wants to cut it its IT expenditure. So they reduced the team size. By Dec 31, 2008 my contract came to an end. The Resource Management Group of my organization asked me to go to Kochi. Since I don’t have any commitments I too agreed to work in Kochi Branch. From Jan 5, 2009 I’m working in Kochi and again for an America based financial institution. Work is pretty good here. Currently working on R7 and soon they are planning to move to R8. So I expect some good learning here. Initially I was afraid for the food in Kochi. But Inside the office the food is not a problem. I have fairly good choices (but the cost is more) and even outside the office I can manage.
Last week (Jan 15, 2009) when I was travelling to Tirunelveli, I happened to see the movie Jayamkondan (Vinay and Bhavana). The directory/story writer copied the story from the English movie “A Good Year” (Russell Crowe, I don’t remember the lead actress name). Previously our kollywood people only copy the successful/more visible English/other foreign language movies (example: Durai – Gladiator, Aanai – Transporter2 etc) . But these days the trend is getting changed. If the story can be adopted for Indian/Tamil audience then they take/steal it.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Movie Review – Vaaranam Aiyram:

Cast : Suriya, Simran, Sameera and Kuthu Ramya.
Director : Gautham menon.
Music: Harris Jayaraj

Already there are several movies which tell about the father son relationship. Gautham menon tried the same subject with his screen play. I feel the movie is bit boring. Music is too good. Suriya’s acting is excellent. If you have lot of time to kill you can watch this movie. ***********************************************************************
Last Sunday, I saw a Varanam Aiyram promotion program in Vijay TV. Anchor Gopinath asked some questions to VA crew. I was surprised to see Azagiri’s son in the dais along with Suriya and Gautam menon. I believe aascar film’s Ravichandran is the producer and Azagiri’s son is just the distributor of this movie. How come he was in the stage?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tech Layoffs:

Published in CNET News,

For more details, check this link http://news.cnet.com/tech-layoffs/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Company Date How many Further reading
Pillar Data Systems 11/18/2008 150/30% Pillar Data Systems lays off 30% of staff
KLA-Tencor 11/18/2008 900/15% KLA-Tencor to cut 15% of people
Sun Microsystems 11/14/2008 6,000/15-18% Sun restructures, lays off up to 6,000
Applied Materials 11/12/2008 1,800/12% Applied Materials cutting 12 percent of workforce
National Semi 11/12/2008 330 Nat Semi cuts revenue view, plans job cuts
Wired.com 11/11/2008 3 of 28 Wired.com trims editorial staff by 10 percent
Current Media 11/11/2008 20% Layoffs hit Al Gore's Current Media
Six Apart 11/11/2008 8% Six Apart: Changes at Six Apart
Tucows 11/11/2008 15% Restructuring at Tucows
Circuit City 11/10/2008 20% Circuit City files for bankruptcy
BitTorrent 11/10/2008 50% After a tough year, BitTorrent replaces CEO again
Insight 11/10/2008 240, 4% Insight Enterprises lays off 240
Honeywell 11/07/2008 700 Honeywell moving 700 jobs out of Phoenix
Zappos 11/06/2008 8% Letter to Zappos employees
Veoh 11/05/2008 20, 20% Veoh lays off 20 percent of workforce
LinkedIn 11/05/2008 36, 10% LinkedIn slashes 10 percent of its workforce
Cadence 11/05/2008 625, 12% Cadence Design cuts 625 jobs
Anadigics 11/05/2008 100,15% Anadigics cuts 15 percent of workforce
AMD 11/05/2008 500, 3% AMD slashes 500 more jobs
Nokia 11/04/2008 600 Hundreds of Nokia jobs under threat
THQ 11/03/2008 4-5 studios Kotaku: THQ Shuttering Four to Five Studios?
Tektronix 11/03/2008 150 Tektronix announces fresh layoffs
Spot Runner 11/03/2008 115, <30% TechCrunch: 115 people lose their jobs at Spot Runner
Nortel Networks 11/03/2008 1,300, 5% Nortel earnings tank
YouSendIt 10/31/2008 20% VentureBeat: YouSendIt trims 20 percent of staff
Aliph 10/31/2008 25 people Layoffs hit Bluetooth headset maker Aliph
Motorola 10/30/2008 3,000 Motorola's struggle for survival
Electronic Arts 10/30/2008 600 Kotaku: Electronic Arts Lays Off Six Hundred
Freescale 10/30/2008 2,400/10% Freescale dragged to loss; will lay off 10%
Symantec 10/29/2008 4.5% cost savings Symantec layoffs coming
Avalanche Studios 10/28/2008 77 of 160 Avalanche Studios lays off nearly half of staff
Revision3 10/27/2008 9 people, 5 shows Video start-up Revision3 joins the layoff club
Helium 10/27/2008 30% of 110 F***dStartups: Helium.com huge layoff
BroadSoft 10/24/2008 about 12 GigaOM: BroadSoft cuts jobs as sales slow
Comcast Spotlight 10/24/2008 300+ of 3,500 Broadcasting & Cable: Comcast Spotlight cuts positions
ADC Telecoms 10/23/2008 300-350 AP: ADC expects fiscal 2008 loss, plans job cuts
Xerox 10/23/2008 3,000 Xerox to cut 3,000 jobs
Avid Technology 10/23/2008 500 Form 8-K: Results of Operations and Financial Condition...
Nokia 11/04/2008 600 Hundreds of Nokia jobs under threat
Tektronix 11/03/2008 150 Tektronix announces fresh layoffs
Spot Runner 11/03/2008 115, <> TechCrunch: 115 people lose their jobs at Spot Ru
Circuit City 11/03/2008 17% Circuit City to close 155 stores
THQ 11/03/2008 4-5 studios Kotaku: THQ Shuttering Four to Five Studios?
Break.com 10/23/2008 11 of 80 Break.com lays off 11
Eons 10/23/2008 8 of about 33 The Boston Globe: Eons eliminates eight jobs
Dell 10/22/2008 8,900 The Register: Dell: 'We will out-pace the rest o
SanDisk 10/22/2008 TBA SanDisk layoffs in the works
ManiaTV 10/22/2008 20 of 70 NewTeeVee: ManiaTV lays off 20, to reduce orig
iMeem 10/22/2008 25% of 80 Imeem jumping on the layoff bandwagon
Mahalo 10/22/2008 10% Calacanis.com: Tough times, hard decisions
HP 10/22/2008 24,600 over three years HP to slash 24,600 jobs following EDS buy
Yahoo 10/21/2008 10% of ~14,300 Yahoo profit drops, layoffs coming
Ticketmaster 10/21/2008 35% F***edStartups: TicketMaster.com laying off 35%
Comcast 10/21/2008 300 AP: Comcast to cut up to 300 jobs in eastern di
Manhattan Associates 10/21/2008 6.5% Reuters: Manhattan Associates hit by slump
Softchoice 10/20/2008 6.5% of 958 Toronto Star: Softchoice cuts staff by 6.5 percent
Veoh 10/20/2008 0 UPDATE: Layoffs at Veoh, or not?
Wikia 10/20/2008 3 UPDATE based on personal interview with Jimmy Wales
Autotrader 10/20/2008 69 Orlando Business Times: Autotrader to close c
Texas Instruments 10/20/2008 possibly 300 TXCN: Hundreds face pink slips at TI
Sony Ericsson 10/17/2008 2,000 globally Bloomberg: Sony Ericsson Reports Smaller Loss Than Anticipated
Sprint 10/17/2008 ongoing KMBC-TV: Sprint plans 'gradual layoffs'
Jaxtr 10/17/2008 13 13 employees laid off at VoIP start-up Jaxtr
Zivity 10/17/2008 33% Zivity lays off a third of staff
Zillow 10/17/2008 25% Zillow lays off 25 percent of staff
SearchMe 10/17/2008 20% Search engine startup SearchMe cuts 20 perce
Heavy 10/17/2008 14% Downturn strikes again: Heavy lays off 14%
Lenovo 10/17/2008 50 in Morrisville, N.C. WRAL: Lenovo to lay off 50 workers at Morrisville headq
MPC Computers 10/17/2008 200 Idaho Business Review: Details released on MP
Hi5 10/16/2008 10-15% No Hi5's today
Sirius XM 10/16/2008 50 Sirius XM makes cuts to XM in D.C.
Pandora 10/16/2008 20 Pandora cuts 20 employees
Adbrite 10/16/2008 40% 'Layoffs are not a statement about performance'
Actel 10/16/2008 10% EE Times: Actel cuts 10% of workforce
Tesla Motors 10/15/2008 Detroit office Automaker lays off Detroit office with blog post
SkyRider 10/15/2008 All P2P start-up SkyRider has shut down
Appcelerator 10/15/2008 6 Tough times, tough decisions
Jive Software 10/14/2008 33% Jive Software lays off 1/3 of staff
Redfin 10/14/2008 20% Redfin blames economy in layoffs
Qimonda 10/13/2008 3,000 Qimonda: Qimonda announces global restructuring program...
Seesmic 10/10/2008 7 Tough times. Tough decisions
Lulu 10/09/2008 24 Lulu cuts jobs as revenues slow
Micron 10/09/2008 15% Micron to cut workforce by 15 percent, slash flash output
eBay 10/06/2008 1,000 eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000
Gawker Media 10/03/2008 14% Gawker Media to lay off 14 percent of editorial
Entellium 10/03/2008 95% Workers get ax at software maker Entellium