08 Dates & Incidents - that I carry into '08

24th January: H got married. Unforgettable day :)

26th February: Ramesh Chitappa's (Uncle's) Demise - Truly a 'larger than life' moment. Probably the most denied and emotional day of 2007. Ramesh chitappa was surely the richest person in the family. He did not have a lot of money, or education. But he had lots of love and affection, and more so to give to everyone. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of him, is that he always greeted you with a smile. Always. And it is because of those countless smiles, that I felt as if the entire world cried on that day.
To quote Raja Periappa(Uncle): "After we all go through our struggles, enjoy our pleasures, after we laugh our laughs, cry our cries, fight our fights, what matters finally is whether we were affectionate and kind while doing whatever we are all doing. I wish one day I can rise upto his level of expressing affection and love."
If I rise to half that level, I know I would have made this world a better place.

16th April: Registered the apartment on this day. The biggest commitment I have made so far. This move has eventually made me realize that the world's greatest art, is managing money. And that too when you dont have it! And hence, the world's greatest artists, yours truly - the middle class.

27th May: Gruhapravesam - The day I called the Gods to bless my new place. I was fortunate , for the day was blessed by the presence of many friends and well wishers too. And I could see the pride in my parent's face - the biggest blessing of all.
This day is special for more reasons. I have seen and still see my grandparents suffer everyday because they do not have a place of their own to stay. And they have a son and two daughters, all living in the same city as them. They are spending their days physically and emotionally challenging and consoling themselves, when they should be spending it peacefully resting, relaxing, probably revelling in the memories of past days.
With God's grace, I have done my part to ensure my parents will never be in that situation. The Chennai house will be theirs and theirs only. This day sealed that :)

30th August: Sarangan's wedding. The first of the three to tie the knot. One of my best friends and oldest (only by the amount of time we know each other, not because of age!) friend. My first roommate in Bangalore. I took my first "hot water" bath in his hotel room, after I joined training. That was after 10 days of coming to Bangalore.
I can still remember all those night out sessions, Yoga classes, Cricket games, music sessions, bicycle trips to the nearby mountians, Visits to the shallow shores of 'Akkarai'. Now he is married, me and Bala have a friend-in-law!!
The noose on my neck is not far!!

10th September: Finally I move out of the Regional Bangalore Operations team, after a stint that lasted a little more than 3 and a half years. Finally I become a Capacity Planner for our Partner sites. Though technically it is not a vertical promotion (yet ;-) ), I am now doing a job that is at least a level above my designation.
And I got a laptop!!!

15th September: Anirudh was born. First Sarangan's wedding, now Gayathri is a mom! G and me have been through a lot - classmates, studymates, colleagues, best friends. We have fought all the fights, have laughed so many times together. From the time I have known G, the atmosphere around our conversations has never changed. All these years, I have only seen her as the girl in the 4th bench who was scared of Engineering Drawing!! For the first time that day, I truly realized we were no longer in college.
We were growing up!

25th November: I move into my new place. Longest move of my life, considering the distance is about 10 kms from my old place. How ignorant I was till now: Thinking, the toughest part of buying a house is over, now that I had registered the apartment, and the bank is going to be taking my salary for the next 20 years. True, I purchased a house. But converting that house into a home, is a step that is going to take all my life!

Overall, 2007 ends on a high note. Hopefully 2008 will have much more to offer, with more happy moments than the other kinds :)

BYE BYE 2007 - HELLO 2008!

Lessons 2007 Taught Me

• Never do business with friends or relatives.
• Charity begins at home.
• Perception is subjective reality.
• All the lessons you learn from a relationship become void when you enter the next one.
• It is ok to make mistakes - that is human.
• It is not ok to make the same mistake twice, that is just stupid.
• When it comes to your mother, there is no such thing called 'perfectly clean' !!
• Trying times bring out who your true friends / well wishers are.
• The only people you can afford to take for granted is your family, and the only people you should not.
• People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.
• Everyone has a best friend - the little voice in your head that is always right.
• Things are strange or difficult only till you get used to it.
• Even the toughest of times will pass, just keep walking.

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2008!!

"Moi" Apologies!

A good friend of mine came down heavily on me, after reading my first post.

My friend says:
your highness
Moi is a word in french
I say:
So? Its not English
Dont use it with english! (Yeah yeah, I was trying to be smart..in vain)
My friend says:
dont tell me u dint know
I say:
I honestly didnt

And I honestly did not. Well, atleast I learnt something today :) So before everyone who took french in high school pounce on me, here is my retraction.

Audrey Tautou & others,
I was wrong. "Moi" is NOT a wierd noise. It apparently means "me" in french. It also stands for "Moment of inertia", a property of physics that indicates the relative difference in how easy or difficult it will be to set any object in motion about a defined axis of rotation.

My sincere apologies to all the scientists too!

MOI can also be the the file extension for the index file accompanying the MOD video file format used on many camcorders, such as the JVC Everio, and the Panasonic D-Snap SD-card camcorders.

To sum it up,

My friend called me "Your highness"
I learnt something today.
Audrey Tautou is cute.
MOI is not a wierd noise.
My apologies to french people and scientists.

On the brighter side, I coudn't have asked for a better start for this blog :)

Random things about me that no one is interested in

• My work involves planning
• ...I hate to plan anything in my personal life. Not even a trip to a friends place. But I love my work. Now you know why I am called Mad :))
• I respect the English language too much to see it being brow beaten to a level below mediocracy. Downright horrible. I am no Wren or Martin, but I do think that "How is you?" "My bad" and "Wassup with yo bro" is not cool! "Moi" is not even a word. It is just a weird noise.
• I sing all the time. I mean, all the time. At work, at home, during transit. Sometimes I sing out loud, sometimes in my mind. But there is always a song running in me.
• I love FRIENDS. I watch it all the time. And the Harry Potter series..books, movies, the works.
• If it is a song, the words just flow. I usually get the entire song penned in the first draft, and that would be final. But I cannot write otherwise for nuts. I keep re-doing it umpteen number of times. And to think I wanted to be a journalist!
• I once wrote a tale called "New Year's Eve". I am still trying to find it.
• I am a coffee addict. Cannot go a day without atleast 3 cups.
• I am now going to get a cup of coffee. My first one for the day. Catch you later!