Worth the wait

This is a random thought that popped up in my head while walking back to my room. Every thought is like a seed, you give it some time and it grows a little more. 

Is it worth the wait? 
The most beautiful things in life are worth the wait, it does not mean or guarantee the end result is always in your favour. A flower plant on outside my room, on the landing of the staircase. Had it given flower the next day it was planted it wouldn't be as gratifying as it would be when you nurture it daily. 

If you think of anything that gives you instant gratification, the joy is short lived leaving you bored and unsure of what to do with the result. So, it's always worth the wait. 

See y'all,
Ricky

A lost habit - Writing Blog

After a log gap, I am writing again. I met someone today, an artist, who reminded me that I haven't posted in a long time. It's true, life did catch upto me and lately all my posts go to Evernote and not to my blog. 

It was a shock to me at first when she asked if I still kept money in my Bible (which I still do, oddly). But it was a pleasant shock, the kind that leaves a happy feeling in one's heart. It's special because she remembers a habit of mine, a habit which nobody has noticed. 

In these small moments, lies my happiness. Thanks alot for making my day.

What is No Shave November .. ??

Hi Folks,

Its the month of November and if you open the social media networking sites or popular photo sharing sites, you will see friends with beards and everyone hastagging  "#NoShaveNovember". But has anyone wondered what this No Shave November fad is ? I heard this from my brother first, but when I asked him what it was, his answer was " Its the month of November and we are not supposed to shave," Then I understood there are a lot o ignorant people who just follow the online fads blindly and doesn't take that extra effort to see what it really is. I am dedicating this entry for the ignorant youth who lives in the internet. 

No-shave November is a web based, Non profit organisation devoted to growing cancer awareness and raising funds to support cancer prevention and education. The event is promoted as a month long journey during which the participants forgo shaving and grooming in order to evoke conversation and raise cancer awareness. You are supposed to save the money spent for grooming and give it for this cancer organisation. That is the big picture behind this. So next time when you are hastagging, remember to spread the word as well. 

Movember -- Moustache November

Since we are on a similar topic, I will explain this also. People often confuse Movember and NoShaveNovember. Although both the organisations are aimed at men's health awareness, Movember is about growing moustache in the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues such as prostrate cancer, testicular cancer and men's suicide, while NoShaveNovember is about grooming in general. The goal of Movember event is to "change the face of men's health". Movember event is organised by Movember Foundation. 

Below are the links to both the foundations. 

No Shave November: https://no-shave.org/

Movember: http://www.movember.com/ 

Have a great day, 

Ricky.. 

An Interview over Donuts

So finally I gave on to attend the interview as requested by a good friend of mine, I know I should've been upfront about it. But somehow I couldn't. I am going to give an interview for the job of a "business partner" of a company whose name I know not, hardly know what they are doing. 

It's nine at night and I have already given the interview, long story short. We have different perceptions of work and money. I don't consider money is everything and if someone offers me a wad of money, it doesn't mean I would do anything for them. 

The interview was scheduled at 8 pm, and I was first given an induction by a lady of our age group, named Nisha ( name changed ). She invited me to this donuts place in HSR layout. I am sure if you are in Bangalore, you are familiar with this. She was studying me, my behaviour, body language, how comfortable I am etc. I understood this through our conversation, she asked me how close me and my friend were, how long we have known each other, Why I am looking for a change, what I know about the position and about the job. It went on for at least a good 30 mins. I can't say I performed well, because I didn't, physically I was tired and mentally not really interested to get into a business deal with people whom I have no connection with. There are a few things that got me thinking though. One thing in particular was "why I am not writing on my blog anymore". Honestly, the work pressure and stress is making me so tired at the end of the day. I am not getting time to sit idle and brain storm. Yes it does make me a little sad that I am not writing anymore. 

After the initial induction training she shifted out seats to another one and she called the main guy into the room for our interview. From his appearance, it is pretty clear he cannot be more than 32 years old, which created a conflict in my mind. My friend and this lady who gave me the induction class told I would be interacting with a very senior person from this industry. Then we started our conversation he was asking about my views on work, why I am looking for another gig and so on. Then he said something which offended me actually. He said he is going to talk about 9 lakhs per week and if I don't think money is important I can leave otherwise stay. I felt offended because it was as if he was offering me a wad of notes and saying, if you are interested in this you can work for me otherwise nope. He didn't tell me about the work he was going to do. He was trying to buy me, which I really hate. I stood up and walked out without looking back, just was feeling really pissed off though about wasting my time and not gaining anything useful other than an inspiration to start blogging again. 

Office Habits

 

Sorry guys its been a while since I posted here, Just got caught up with work. Anyways todays post contains some explicit content, I would like my minor readers and those with weaker heart to take caution before reading further (lol). Yes and one more thing, wishing a happy Onam to all my mallus.

Another week was coming to an end, as usual my roommate and I went outside to have some juice after the dinner. I ordered a hot holicks while he ordered a cold milkshake, as we were drinking I got a doubt, “You know hot milk helps in better sleep. “ Karthik “Does it?”. “Yea, but its a long time doubt of mine man, You know how they portray serve warm milk in first night?” I asked casually hoping for a jovial answer. “You are lost man.” Karthik replied with a shake of his head and continued with his drink.

I thought about it and asked Karthik how some of the people in Tessolve would reply if I asked the same question, the rest of the conversation is posted in a transcript like form:

Karun: “Re junk guy.. re junku..” 
Rajmohan: “En singa kutti sollu da..”
Anand: “ What I would like to suggest is that ..”
Prasad: “Enjoay..”
Bharath: “ Re.. re, I will tell you re” He would say it very fast and in a sort of tensed manner.
Shubam: “hey man,.. What questions you are asking eh.. ehh.. are you getting what I am telling eh.. ehh”
Mallesh: “En rah..en rah.."
Bro Manjunath: “Hey bro … Its just that.. eh..I don’t have license bro” He will be laughing the whole time.
Kathik Uppund: with the nod of the head “mmhmm”
Praveen: “ Actually I think the reason would be something like..” It would be a sentence tried to spell prim and proper.
Preetham: “ Enna Nanba."Enna Nanba … ”
Shashank: “Ada pavi .. “
Sandeep: “What is this..” He would speak with his slight smile.
Ganesh: “Its just .. just..” then after a while with a clap “yes man it is like that”
Rashmi: “ ….” She will have that keenly listening face, with her eye brows when you concentrate on something.
Parthiban: “That is what man read state ppt daily.. Show me today’s plan”
Samruth: “Once I came across this you know .. ” It will be a well thought out diplomatic sort of answer, that sly laugh will also be there on his face.
Rashmi Again: “So you were having horlicks milkshake?” I think she woke up just now as Parthiban would put it.
Mohan: “Cheta.. entha cheta..”
Monish: “ah.. ah.. correct.. correct “ with sharp nods.
Raji: She will talk in her bold tone, “I know.. I know.. Oh Shit is it? “
Khaleel: “What bhai…”
Reghothman: “What macha..”
Ramesh: “What is there macha.. ”
Sruti: “ How can Tessolve hire these kind of people “

These guys have been my world for the past 4 months, and its been real fun to hang out with them. Thanks you guys

Byes
Ricky

Job Shock

 

Last day me and 14 of my colleagues were greeted with the slow killing good news of being selected to the new Qual C team. All were happy to be getting projects and stuff. Today 5 among us, including myself, were again selected to something call off shift team. I liked the way how the manager phrased it, “You are lucky to be selected into the off shift team. You are going to be the aggressive guys, while all the rest of them will be specializing in one domain, you guys will get to handle all domains equally.”  All 5 of us standing dumbstruck, “No this is not happening!!” was the expression on everyone’s faces, “no we are not ready to work for 14 hours”.. well lets see how this will turn out to be.

Lord is my Shepard..

 

This is not the usual stories, or travelogues which I write. If you trust in Jesus and believe, “Everything happens for a reason” read through. This happened on Friday, I was travelling to my home town by bus. I booked the bus before and thought it was non stop and it didn’t stop for dinner. Well it did after going for about 2 hours, its stopped in the middle of no where for restrooms and dinner. I was not planned for this. I didn’t take enough cash instead brought with me some biscuits for the night. I was getting hungry so I decided to go out and just look at the prices or ask if they accepted cards. The hotel looked cheap to accept cards and there weren’t any ATMs nearby. So I started to walk back to the bus, then I remembered I have my bible. I have a strange hobby of keeping some reserve cash in the bible like 100s or 200s. I always considered it as sharing a portion for Lord, my parents used to ask. why suck a large sum, why can’t you keep 10s or 20s. I didn’t have an answer, but had this gut feeling I should keep it aside and no matter what temptation happens spend it unless I am in great need. For those who were questioning me I have an answer “YES THE LORD IS HERE AND WATCHING ME!!” This is my testimonial for him and his everlasting love he shares with me.

The first verse I learnt would be psalms 23 “The Lord is my Shepard..” and now it has been proven right, he will guide you and protect you and takes care of your needs like a good Shepard is for his herd.

Two States–Another Perspective

 

Recently, I saw the movie, two states, based on Chetan Bhagat’s book. It is a movie which the youth can relate very easily. The adoloscent age when we are very much frustrated at our parents, when we fall in love and we would do anything to make the girl ours. This is the common perspective most people take it in. I would like to share a little different thought. It is a message to the parents about how the internal calamities affect the character, and life of a child [Seriously people don’t marry if you can’t sort things out]. Secondly, Chetan is delivering a message that we can solve our family issues if we loosen up our ego and try really hard. I hope this little thought was helpful.

Keep safe
Ricky freelancer

Childhood–Through The Eyes of Solitude and Drama

 

“Solitude Nurtures Insanity”

I know it’s a stupid status to put but there have been many instances when I felt myself going crazy inside because of the solitude I feel. A lot many times I wish I was not so different from the others and knew how to fit in, a lot many times when I deeply wished I could redo a couple of days a couple of sentences that slipped my tongue.

Today being children’s day and everybody sharing good and cheerful things about childhood, I tend to look back at my days. There are some green patches but the burnt ones are overshadowing and making it look dull. Yes I had a rough time, in school, with family. From a little age I was more of an observer and a listener than a talkative person.

So there I was looking at all my friends talk with such glee, standing in a group laughing and all not sure what to speak out, and by the time I understood it’s not good to be silent - you have to speak up some time and make friends I was 15 and I was a mere toddler around them. I had a lot of stuff I kept to myself. I let it pass and started to learn something and I fall down, and the fall was pretty rough from which I can’t seem to get up.

I wake up every day sitting up in my bed looking at the wall, talking to myself [have to admit I do that a lot, at least] about how I want to take the first baby step towards relieving myself from the trauma. But at the end of the day when you lay awake looking at the ceiling, it was another unsuccessful day. But there are days when I feel good when I make a good friend. But even then I am afraid to speak all my heart out.

There are a couple of guys whom I could talk out freely and I am glad they keep in touch with me too. Cibin, Vivek, Abhay, Vineeth, Akhilesh, Vishnu are some of the few. Seen my hardships most of them and I talked with them about it too.

I really think it’s the solitude that I spend in my childhood that is haunting me still and also I fell pretty deformed, deformed as in like a person with tongue but can’t speak or like a person who stutters. I should say that’s how I started writing; my thoughts are pretty much easily conveyed in paper. When one gift fails another bloom, the matter-energy relations hold good here too [lol]. I feel like a nerd saying for saying that.

Anyways wishing all a happy children’s day.. :)

Safety

This is not a simple article or story, this is something what we see (me and my friends) daily when we go to our class. This is more than an article/blog, cos I really hope somebody would notice this.

So we go via Narayanaguda to Kachiguda where our classes are. Our class timings have become almost permanent, starting at 2 pm and ending at 9 pm. There is a school just 100 m away from the Narayanaguda circle, and this school disperses around 2 pm, I am still not sure what the school name is, but the uniform is pinkish coloured. Everyday when we go we see children, [lower primary kids.] coming out of the school campus and crossing the road. The most shocking thing is there is no security for the school building, nor there is a ‘school ahead board’ or any sort of safety. They simply walk out into the bustling street. The other day I saw a bike  slow down with screeching brakes, because 4 kids were crossing the road. There is the Narayanaguda police station about 100m back, at least the school authorities can ask some personals during those times.

Where I come from there is strict police guidance when the school disperses, so I feel it really irresponsible on the general public to not take notice about this. What is the use of aggitation and protest after something bad happened when you can prevent it now.

-- Ricky freelancer!!

Raksha Bhandan

This time around I am at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh as I write this [not sure if it come under the state of Telengana]. So its that time of the year when people celebrate Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi. August 20th is observed as Raksha bandan, the main theme of the festival is sisters would tie a ribbon (‘Rakhi’) around their brother’s wrist and in return the brothers would pledge to protect them. There are many stories regarding the raksha bandan, but the one that touched me the most was when I saw a news in which the women in Punjab would tie these bands on the soldiers wrist.

We also observed Raksha bandhan, Mini (my sister) gave a rakhi to Abhay (my brother). I was really the first time I am seeing this up close. Things are different here at hyderabad. There were many small shops selling different types of Rakhi’s. Never knew it was this big a festival. I didn’t get any from class this time too lolz..

Ricky ;) Signing off

Lyf ..

ദൈവം ഒരു വികൃതി കുട്ടിയായി തോന്നിയ നിമിഷങ്ങൾ  ഉണ്ട് , മറ്റു ചിലപ്പോൾ എന്ത് ചെയ്താലും അതിനു പിന്നിൽ ഒരു നല്ല ലക്‌ഷ്യം ഉണ്ട് എന്നും, ചിലപ്പോൾ ഒരു ക്രൂരനും കഠിന ഹൃദയനും ആണന്നും. എന്നാൽ ഇന്ന് , 4 വർഷത്തെ കോളേജ് ജീവിതത്തിനു വിരാമം ഇട്ടുകൊണ്ട്‌, ഒരു ഫോട്ടോയും കൈയിൽ  പിടിച്ചു ഈ വരാന്തയിൽ നിൽകുമ്പോൾ, ദൈവം ഇത് മൂന്നും ആണ് എന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു. കേരളത്തിൻറെ പല ഭാഗങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും, പല വ്യത്യസ്ത സാഹചര്യങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും ഉള്ള ഞങ്ങളെ, ഒരു നിയോഗം എന്ന പോലെ ഒരുമിച്ചു കൊണ്ട് വന്നു, ഇണങ്ങിയും പിണങ്ങിയും ഒരു കുടുംബം പോലെ ജീവിക്കാൻ പഠിപ്പിച്ചു, ഇപ്പോൾ ഇതാ ഒരു സാടിസ്റ്റ്നെ പോലെ വേർപെടുത്തുന്നു.....
ഒരു നെടുവീർപ്പിട്ടു കൊണ്ട്, ഒരു ബുദ്ധിജീവിയുടെ ലാഖവതോടെ കൂടി,  മനസ്സ് മുറിഞ്ഞു പോവുന്ന നോംബരതോട് കൂടി  പറയാം "ദാറ്റ്‌ ഈസ്‌ ലൈഫ്.. എന്നായാലും പോവേണ്ടതല്ലേ "
ഒരു കാര്യം എനിക്ക് ഉറപ്പുണ്ട് ജീവിതത്തിൽ എനിക്ക് എന്ത് പ്രതിസന്തി ഉണ്ടായാലും എന്നെ സഹായിക്കാൻ നിങ്ങൾ കൂടെകാണും എന്ന്  ...

Your Destiny

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your Character,
Your Character decides your destiny.”

First learn to believe in yourself, it maybe sometimes a friend who helps you understand your potential. But believe!! These belief’s form your thought, believe good things, think good things. because your mouth is controlled by your brain, and it speaks what you think automatically and is not in your control sometimes.

I could put it in some other way, somebody who is lead by good thoughts have a better control over their tongue.

Your words can be reflected by your actions.

When an action is done, over and over again it becomes a habit. And these habits forms a part of your character.

Thus from the simple thoughts out destiny, the high goals in life can be attained.

CrossRoads 2013

Crossroads, the college fest of mar Baselious College of Engineering, is one of the annual events I haven’t missed in my B.tech life. The main reason being it is one of the occasions where I get to meet my classmates, we joke and tease and relive a night we used to have in the school days. Being brought up under the management of a Christian school had its effect on us in a very good way. This year might be the last year I can attend the event,

At around 5:30 my friend called and asked me to come to the main gate, I was teaching my brother and his friend some computer. I wrapped up the class and bathed and set out. Decided to take a short cut through the cemetery. Reaching the college gate at 6 05, short by 5 mins. They locked the gates and we were outside, despite having college ids and all. I don’t know why but this year they increased the security and getting in seemed impossible, still we didn’t give up hope. So we decided to try the back gate or the offroads (name of their auto show) entrance. The offroads entrance got closed by the time we reached there so we kept moving further north to try the back gate.

After a couple of minutes reached the back entrance of the college, but it seems that this entrance has more students than the front one. This one also was locked up. Funny thing was one of their HODs was also outside the gate. The security refused to open it for him lol. Made 2 new friends, Abu and Cyril, Abu is doing his MBBS. So it was me Cibin and Abu, at the closed entrance of MBCET joking and talking with the ones already inside. Unfortunately there seemed to be no way to open the gates.

So we were like, lets go back its just a waste of time, just then the manager (who is a priest) came to the gates and asked the securities to let the teaching staff in. Again we were disappointed, the gates were opened and the guards (there were about 10 at each entrance) cleared the route to let the staff in, and there were like 2 staffs and their family to my right, and they were all moving to the gates. Made up my mind to move with them, the stats were senior and they seemed old enough to be my grandparents, smoothly moving behind them I walked to the gates on the way tugging at Cibin’s arm to indicate I am moving in. I made sure to avoid eye contact with the securities not wanting to arouse suspicion, heart was thumping cos if they find we are not with them then its embarrassment in front of them all. But we made it, after making a couple of steps into the college, I turned back an emotion filled with the rush of adrenaline, and joy, sly grin covered my face ear to ear. I turned back to see Cibin made it with me but Abu didn’t hear us calling and he was still in the opposite side.

It was quite some fun night that awaited us inside the college, glad to see all those old faces again, and some new ones. The fast fingers of ‘Stephan devasi’ and voice of ‘Rahul Nambiar’ kept the night alive. It was really special. thanks guys

adios and have a nice day
Ricky !!!

My Christmas Tree

Too lazy to type this down, so posting the link.. and wishing you all a merry christmas !!
Enjoy the video...

To Kottayam Via Paradise

        I was visiting my uncle at Chennai. It was planned to be a short 2 day trip and the plan was to get a talkal ticket for the return journey, but luck was against us. My ticket was placed on waiting list and on 44^th position. I thought the ticket would be confirmed by the end of 27^th, but we didn’t get the tickets, so everyone was in a dilemma. We were left with little options of leaving back. Since it’s the day before Onam, everybody wanted to get back to Kerala and even the unreserved compartment was jam packed and the busses of Kallada travels and SRM travels were booked fully as well. So the option was to board a local Tamil Nadu bus to Kerala. With that in mind we took a taxi to go to Koyembedu. We reached the Chennai bus depot and I left my mother and brother at the waiting lobby and went to enquire about the bus. I was completely frustrated by the response. All the busses to Kottayam and related places left at 6 and the next one was only at 3 in the morning. The man at the enquiry was kind enough to tell me to board a Cumbum then to Kumli and Kottayam. That was my plan, and then went to collect my brother, mother and uncle to wait at the bus platform for the bus. After an hour of waiting, the Tamil Nadu state bus to cumbum arrived. One look at it and you will be disgusted. The insides were better than I imagined and there wasn’t any noisy and irritating ‘dappankooth’ playing. I am thankful to God for that. The bus left the bus station after 15 minutes of waiting. The seat behind me was occupied by a noisy child who was clearly crushing my zen. With much self-control I dozed off. The bus was similar to our ordinary bus, not AC but had push back sleeper seats. Along the road trip I kept waking up and as the temperature was below 20 I shut the windows and decided to cover my ears. And I cozily curled into the seat I was on.

 

       The bus came to a halt at a station and I don’t know where as there was not an English board in sight and I badly wanted to pee. So I decided to go for a walk as the driver went to have some coffee. Not seeing any proper urinals I walked into the darkness and there was some logs stacked up I think it’s for some hotel, I went to my heart’s content and I could see somebody holding a flame torch in one hand and a log in the other hand running towards me. I just ran and was laughing instead of being scared after losing the man on my tail I boarded the bus again and the bus started again and I fell asleep again. Daylight came at around 6 30, the air was still cold. The conductor has taken over the wheel from the driver who was sleeping sound in the seat before me. I looked around through the window and same old buildings and all, so I squirmed in my seat and getting cozier and took a nap. When I woke up at 9, the bus was coming to a stop at Thenni.

 

     The bus emptied and was left with 6 passengers. The bus started slowly and made its way to Cumbum, I was eagerly looking out through the window for some ‘malayalam’. The route soon turned to a village like place, a treat to my eyes indeed. Both sides were filled with coconut plantations. The Thenni-cumbum journey was a pretty short one. We got off at cumbum at 10. The air around me was cold. At one place around there were tombs, hundreds of them, on either side. I enquired what they were and found out they were tombs of those who were executed during the independence times by a tamil king. We soon reached the cumbum bus station. The station had only six busses, five of them had routes written in tamil and I had the slightest clue what they meant. My eyes soon fell on a KSRTC bus to Kumli. My heart was throbbing to board it. The bus took off at 10:20 am.

 

My mind was predetermined that the journey was going to be a lame one. The roads were filled with coconut plantations and banana trees. The cumbum place is famous for its fruits and veggies. I was sitting on the right hand side seat by the window. The terrain soon unfolded into a landscape which had vineyards and plankton trees. The horizon was painted with mist covered mountain ranges. It was a treat to my eyes. The women carrying baskets filled with grapes and others were picking grapes. In the distant mistiness, I could see a small stream which was adorning the hill range and it gave more life to it. I asked around about it and found it is the ‘murinjapuzha aruvi’ or ‘ninnumulli para’. The nus started climbing the hill, there was the periyar power station to my right and its quarters to my left side. The periyar power station is under the control of the tamil nadu government. I wondered if we could do an interns or visit to this place. As the bus turned the hair pin bend there was the penstock which brought water to the power house from the reserves, Mullaperiyar I assumed. i took the batteries out and started snapping. I really missed out on the snaps earlier. The air was getting colder as the bus moved further uphill. The view of the cumbum Thenni road soon came into sight. The cars and busses all seemed like ants and the vineyards seemed to resemble moss that grow close to the ground. The view is really spectacular.

There were monkeys on the sides of the road and the rocks were dripping water further uphill and the sides were covered by tea and coffee plantations, leaves well-trimmed and pruned. There were paths cut out around them. I wished I could walk around them. The AVT plantation it was. There were also some trees whose leaves resembled that of pine with some creeper climbing around its stem. From the leaves I knew it was pepper. The familiar leaf that I know, the memories of growing up with my grandparents and the sense of being a kottayam ‘nasrani’ (Christian) filled me and made me feel so proud. My thoughts were shaken as the bus came to a halt near the Kumli toll gate. After passing the toll the bus stopped in the Kumli bus station. We got off the bus and waited for the Kottayam bus. The temperature of this place is around 20 even though the time is nearing to mid-day. The surroundings of the Kumli bus station made me think that I was on the ordinary bus to gavi (a movie which I recently saw). The scenic beauty of this place is so nostalgic and makes you fall in love. It indeed was a paradise and the climate makes you want to curl and cuddle.. With the adventures of an unexpected road trip and thanking the turn of events the bus to Kottayam started and I moved down hill with a sense of missing and urge to go back to the place next time more prepared and on an exploration trip.

The Church On The Hill

 

This is based on a visit of mine to the St. Thomas mount church at Porur in Chennai. The exact place is known by the name of the church itself. The church is built on a hillockin the Guindy neighbourhood. The sidelines are decorated with the sculptures of the Jesus’s walk to the hill until the crucifixion and resurrection later. The relic filled church was built in 1523 by the Portuguese and it stands 300 ft height. 

We were greeted by sculpture in blue of Saint Thomas; the shrine on the hill is dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus, also known as the ‘lady of expectation’. The Anglo Indians who inhabits the area around the foot of the hill built the church on the summit where St. Thomas’ death might have occurred. The way to the top of the summit has around 160 steps. The sides of the path has sculptures which showed various poses of the cross or stations as mentioned in the Bible. There are 14 such stations. Stations of the Cross is a series of artistic representation usually sculptural depicting the Christ carrying the cross to his crucifixion in the final hours.

When you move to the top taking the stairs you can feel gravity pulling you down and every step is tiring. The shrine on top has a wall mounted sculpture of The Last Supper. This is a really nice place to visit for anyone the view of the ground below from the top is awesome too. You can see flights taking off and landing at a close range, from the Chennai international airport. I am leaving some snaps I managed to take when I was there.

 

one of the stations

Ramzan

Ramzan or Eid as it is known to the masses, a festival of the Muslims, in which they show their feelings of brotherhood and love. Though I am a Christian I am not secular about it. I welcome all religions and accept them and also share my faith with them. After all we have only one life to share and love. There is one special reason for writing this too. This year’s Eid has been really special for me. Usually I stay at home doing my homely chores, and share what my friends bring to class after the festivities and all but this year my friend invited me over to his place for the celebrations. We had so much fun in the short time we had, we joked, ridiculed each other and shared what we had for breakfast and lunch. It was during this month that the holy Koran was revealed. This is the reason for celebrating Eid.

I always wondered about the festival of Eid and the customs they observe. People think its all about the food (not all but some), but I think there is a lot more to it than that. A whole day of fasting, starvation and the penance they take up, watching every word that emits pasts their lips with caution, making sure it sounded right at least they meant it right, staying away from the wrong influences. It sure does mean something way more than the feast later after the long day of fasting. Fasting is observed for a month as per the lunar cycle. A day of fasting makes us understand what it feels like to have something to eat means; the value of food and the pain of hunger. By watching our words we are giving the leash of control to ourselves. I think this is what that makes Eid beautiful and what impresses me about it.

Steroids

A steroid is a type of organic compound with a cycloalkane group or in layman terms, with a lot of Carbon atoms and the compound resembles some of the naturally produced hormones and thereby driving the body system. From dietary Cholesterol to the hormones testostrone and estradiol can be classified as Steroids. Hundreds of distinct steroids are found in plants, animals, and fungi.
Steroids can be broadly categorized under two heads:

• Anabolic Steroids -are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue (anabolism), especially in muscles. This was isolated and synthesized in the 1930s, and is used in treating chronic wasting conditions, such as cancer and AIDS. It is said that the gains in muscular strength achieved through high-intensity exercise and proper diet can be additionally increased by the use of AAS in some individuals.
  Long term use of the Anabolic drug results in many adverse health risks such as harmful changes in cholesterol levels, acne, high BP,liver damage, dangerous changes in the structure of the left ventricle of the heart, hormone imbalances.
• Corticoids -are a class of chemicals that includes steroid hormones naturally produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates and analogues of these hormones that are synthesized in laboratories.These are used to treat a variety of diseases ranging from brain tumors to skin diseases.

Windows Azure

Not the conventional topic of interest this is, but a slightly different one. Most of you might not be familiar with this word, and probably not aware if windows has launched such a thing. Yes windows has and has been used all over the world for more than 2 years.

Windows Azure is a cloud computing platform used to build, deploy and manage application through a global network. It is mainly used by industries all over the world, to improve their services with clients. Citations and Case studies given in their site. so you can say, windows Azure is Microsoft’s application platform for public cloud. Windows Azure can be used to build a web application that runs and stores its data in Microsoft datacenters. It can connect on-premises applications with each other or to map between different sets of identity information. The latest version of windows Azure was launched on June 2012. You can compare it with the  apple I-cloud. It uses an operating system named Azure to run its resources. You can program and deploy web applications in .NET, Java, Python and Node.js languages.

Aer Lingus (a company in Ireland) is using Azure to create an interactive web application that integrates route maps with their reservation and booking process.

HR Locker provider of HR solutions to small- to medium-size companies, was built on the Azure platform.

The features offered by the new windows Azure are:

• Websites allows developers to build sites using ASP.NET, PHP or Node.js and can be deployed using FTP, Git or TFS.
• Virtual Machines lets developers migrate applications and infrastructure without changing existing code. Can run both Windows Server and Linux virtual machines.
• Cloud-Services - Microsoft’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) environment that is used to create scalable applications and services. Supports multi-tier scenarios and automated deployments.
• Data Management- SQL Database, formerly known as SQL Azure Database, works to to create, scale and extend applications into the cloud using Microsoft SQL Server technology. Integrates with Active Directory and System Center and Hadoop.
• Media Services - A PaaS offering that can be used for encoding, content protection, streaming and/or analytics.

For those who are interested in reading more about it please do visit : http://www.windowsazure.com