6 couples and a Bachelor...trip to Mangalore

Though have been there couple of times I decided to join in a bunch of couples - here after referred as Oldies. for a trip to Mangalore on the 14th and 15th of November. Arrived at the hotel and after a long complementary B'fast - (A mistake that the hotel did to offer us complementary B'fast : Guess they realised that we have not seen food in ages ) ,we hit the roads. We stopped at a Summersand's resort (The beach here is horribly maintained with sewage mixing into the sea close by) en route to Bekal fort - Kasargode Kerala.Spend some time there and after a game of Volley ball and ring, we headed for the fort with a stop over for lunch in Kasargode - Mallu food.

The fort is one of my fav spot and any number of times would not make me bored. Wish it was the rainy season to relish the monsoon and the lush greenery of the vegetation in the fort. For the first time I tried a different angle of photography with my friends hovering over me. After lazing around in there till late evening we left for Mangalore with a stop over for tea and Pazampori ( Ripe plaintain coated with batter and deep fried). The day ended with a good dinner.

Sunday , we headed to St. Mary's Island. My first visit to this place as the last attempt with my parents , we were unable to make it as the boat was operated only when it is full - and there were just about 5 people including us for about an hour and had to cancel the plan. The island is big enough to be a private island and has some beautiful rock formations as if some one has chiseled it . Spend time lazing around and exploring the island and staging some shells for snaps. As we were waiting for the boat we were tempted to try out fresh fish fry and must admit I would have loved to have one more.

En route to Mangalore we stopped at Udupi for a gourmet lunch and a quick visit to the famous Krishna temple made the day. I thought Udupi to Mangalore was a memorable journey with a round of anthakshri , however I was wrong - the best part of the trip was many rounds of UNO that we played - Oh! I had never laughed so much in the last couple of months of hardship @ work. This trip was a definite stress buster. Hoping that we could make many more of these.

The only common cribbing that I heard from the couples was that the bed was separate with a table in between and not joined in each room :D

Bon South - for NRI southies

Had great expectations when advised by my friend Anu and Chells when I had met them late morning @ forum. En route from Times now music festival we dropped in for dinner . Liked the ambiance , however the restaurant did not live up beyond it. The menu had a page dedicated to each state - Tamil Nadu , Kerala , Karnataka and Andra Pradesh , however the choices were limited. There were just 2 choices for the veggies and multiple for the Non-Veggies . The food was good and nothing great to comment about. The dishes are expensive - 2 appams cost about 75 rupees .

Anu has jotted about her good experience on a visit there , however we were not the lucky ones I guess - No saplings :(

This place is good for bringing foreigners who wants to taste some Indian food and yes also if you are on a company lunch treat. They enquired immediately what was wrong when one of us had complained in the feed back form - which I have never seen in other places. I liked this gesture.

Onam Sadhya!!

I should be ashamed to tell this as a Malayalee that today was the first time in 27 years that I got to have a Onam Sadhya. Sadhya consists of 21 dishes servered on a plaintain leaf! I guess it is the different style and tradition that is followed in different parts of Kerala, I am from North Kerala - Kannur to be precise. The traditional Sadhya in north Kerala consist of a non-veg lunch..mostly Biriyani. !!

I have been pulling my mom's leg telling that she never made a sadhya for Onam!! We were mostly in chennai for Onam and missed out of the fanfare and different traditions.

Mr & Mrs Biju - Thank you! The lunch was great! You guys made history in my life!!

Leaving you with some of the other snaps!

NOKIA Care - Care LESS

Butter fingers and being a proud owner of a Nokia E61i dont go hand in hand. Excellent mobile with great features until it slipped from my hand and tested the G shock on the floor. The Screen refused to work...and the mobile was kind enough to let me receive calls - though I had no idea who was calling!!!

Took it to the Nokia care center in Bangalore : Koramangala - and after a wait of an hour the verdict was that the screen has gone for a toss, no amount of trying to make it work helped....and needs to be replaced. An hour later they get my mobile back from the so called - dust free zone with a new screen , however with loads of scratches on it....and I got my old screen back as they wanted to prove that they had replaced it with a new one. The design of the screen is simple, there is just a single connector cable from the screen which has a tiny jack similar to RJ45 to be plugged into the board. When I refused to take the "new replaced screen" with scratches , I was made to wait for about 30 mins and they said that this is the only one they have and if I want I take it else they will replace it with the old one, and this is the best they can repair it ...in a rude, unprofessional way. A damaged screen was not worth 26oo I had paid so I asked for the old screen to be put back. They got this done in 5 mins and when I popped in the battery, my screen started working!!! Guess the issue was that the connector would have popped out and just needs to be replaced.

Questions:

• How many people would they have cheated like this ? I was lucky that I had asked my old screen to be put back, else I would have been cheated.
• To replace the screen took an hour , to put back the old one 5 mins ??
  
• A complaint was logged with Nokia customer care - what action was taken against the dealer? - I got a call back from Nokia that they would work on the " feedback "..do they know the difference between a feedback and complaint ?
  

This was not the only bad experience that I had...once I had taken the same mobile to the Nokia care in Chennai - Valasaravakkam for an another fall and the speaker volume was low , they said that they have corrected the issue, however when I wanted to know what was corrected I got conflicting answers from the technicians there , for a price of 650 ruppes!!

Google Chrome

Heard great reviews about google chrome and a quick search on the net about "open Source" for my friend lead me to google Chrome promotion comic that they had send across. A die hard fan of google had scanned this and uploaded on his blog - http://blogoscoped.com/ This blog contains 80% topics about Google.

The comic tells us about how CHROME was engineered and the princples used behind it. Must read. The book can be found at :

http://blogoscoped.com/google-chrome/1

My fav seat in the train

I have heard many people crib about getting a side lower seat allocated on an over night journey on a train . Reasons are plenty...short space, cann't fit one self flat if you happen to be tall,disturbance when Sleeping- the whole berth having access to the asile, A nuisance as it is the most accessable seat for the hawkers and beggers to pester. However THAT IS MY FAV SEAT. Yes, I have trouble fitting into the Seat flat ...some might say I would have trouble breth wise...as well. LOL . Reasons I like that seat are plenty....I love to keep both the windows open and let the fresh air hit me ! Love to sit there with the leg streched and read through the journey, Love to sit through the night with the cool breeze sing a rythymic tone blended with the sound of the train, through the night and love grazing at the stars and see the stations wizz by.And the best part is I dont feel like sleeping in a match box with the roof 2 feet away!!

Not any more. I am not sure how many of you have got to know of this, well I learnt it the hard way and was a rude shock to me on the journey from Erode to Kannur. The side berth which just had two berths now have a side lower, side middle and a side upper. So no more sitting on the SL berth @ night when your fellow passengers are early to bed and late to rise hardcore followers. I am a great train fan on long distance journey just for this seat...now it makes me rethink....

Guess this is how it feels to be in the body box in a mortuary cold storage when you attain eternal sleep.

Photos:My Best Pics this month

Rendevous with Jeffrey Archer @ chennai

It all started thanks to my habit of reading news papers right in the morning....Ad read that Jeffrey Archer was visiting Landmark's first store in chennai on Saturday the 24th May 2008 at 7:00 PM. I had read his books before, however could not remember his best one. Did some phone calls , however it yielded no results (Dumbo friends of mine) . His all time best "Kane and Able" never stuck my mind. I called off a couple of appointments that I had planned ( Visit to beach was one) , to ensure that I was there at the correct time and did not want to miss his address.

I roped in my friend Shankar ( Birds of the same feather flock together) and agreeded to meet him at Landmark. Lord Archer was there at the appointed hour and after a brief introduction by the host , he ruled the audience. He kept the audience in laughter while he went through how he started as an author and how he became the Number 1 in Newyork times best Author list thanks to his book "Kane & Able" . His history was fascinating and the episodes of breakfast shows he did to promote his book kept the audience spell bound by the wand of his story teller skills. I had managed to capture most of his speech on my E61i (apologies on the quality) and I dont think you would have missed anything important from that I missed to capture.

After his spell bound speech , he fielded some questions for about 20 minutes , he fumed inbetween at one of the audience for revealing the story line on one of his books, however he was his usual self of mesmerizing the audience with his story teller skills.

I got a couple of books of his , for myself and another 2 copies for couple of close friend of mine as gift, It would be great to gift an autographed copy of the book rather than a copy, which would make it a priceless and a memorable gift!! I am sure she would cherish this.

Dont miss the videos below......

Part 2:



Part 1:

TV:Chef and his better half: NDTV Good times

Cooking is not rocket science...it is a science on its own with many chefs try out different combinations until they zero on a palatable dish which bowls you over. I am not sure how many of you have noticed this program on NDTV Good times . This is a cookery program with Techniques from the west and cusines from East. I am quite impressed with Nathasha and Nikhil (They are Husband and wife and the host of the show) on how the program is being done and like the choice of dishes that are being made. Most of the dishes are simple and easy to make, however some of them are very complicated.

The reason I like this program on cookery the most as compared with other channels are the host conduct the show very well and they give me a feel that your friends are cooking on televison. They sync very well on the show and I especially like the way Nikhil calls Natasha "My dear" I lost track of the number of times he uses them on each show.

Great work.

Food:Bhajjis,Pakodas - And the rainy day

Hot Bhajjis and hot tea to go with on a rainy day is the best treat. Bajjis are my favourites for ages and dont miss a chance to grab some, given an opprutunity. I have been in chennai most of my life and have been a regular to few bhajji shops around Virugambakkam - that is the place I live in chennai with my friends Shankar and Sabari. Thought will give those shops due respect for the amazing bahajjis and other snacks that they make.....to start with my initial fancy for bhajjis started in my school going days...

I think there is no difference in the way Bhajjis and Pakoda/Paloras are made I guess, just that the way they are called in North and South indian cusine.Bhajjis are usually made with fresh Vegetables dipped and covered in full, in a batter made of spiced up Besan flower.The popular choices of vegetables are ....

• Onion (Thin slices cut as rings)
• Chilli (Whole or slit into two, length wise)
• Cauliflower
• Egg
• Bread

• Eatery 1: There was this tiny shack diagonallly opposite to Kaliamman Koil , he later moved to a shop with concrete roof on the corner of Kaliamman koil street and reddy street, He made amazing Egg Bajjis (Mutta Bajji - as called in Tamil), and also excellent Paprupu vadai (Filafil made of grounded dal and spices) .These were his best though he made chill and Potato bondas. Suggest you try the mixed combo of the above two on a plate with some onions and chutney to garnish.One cannt miss this shop due to the crowd outside the shop. Hardcore veggies who dont even eat egg - stay clear as he uses the same oil to fry egg and vegetarian food.
• Eatery 2: The one good for Cauliflower Pakodas is on the way to chinmaya Vidyalaya in Virugambakkam. Take the right just before the bridge on Kaliamman Koil street and about 300 meters away , you cant miss this shop on the right. He also makes Good Cutlets and also Pazampori ( Ripe Kerala Banana covered with a batter made of Maida and fried).He also makes other snaps which is not worth mentioning.
• Eatery 3: The one good for chilli Bajjis are the shop on the corner of MGR street and Arunachalam Road ( Land mark is the corner where the Public trasport buses turn towards Saligramam). Onion Bajjis are also worth mentioning.
• Eatery 4: Another exciting place to source Cauliflower Pakodas is one oppsoie to MMM hospital in Mogappair. I think the secret is that , they use chicken 65 masala masala with the bajjis ..Veggies...this is pure veg....this is just the masala and does not contain any non-veg in this.

Found a couple of receipes on the net:

http://mykitchenhobbies.blogspot.com/2007/11/mirapakaya-bhajji.html

http://www.aachiusa.com/starter.html

Buddies...if you know of any good eateries for snacks...feel free to drop me a note to add to this.Managed to pick up some directions from Google Map.


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Technology:On-Line share trading sites

.....finally deciding on which side of the bed to get out of ..I drag myself to the living room, where my room mates (Manish and Ashish) are busy in front of the TV flipping between NDTV Profit and CNBC....buzz word....Asian markets are down/up and So was NASDAQ last night when we were snoring away...Moral of the story...Indian Markets might also crash/gain...eagerly waiting for the opening bell to ring....Ah! Not bad day markets are good and time to buy.....oops...that is the problem now...that is what the rest of the world thinks as well and thanks to the online trading sites I hope to make some money...however trying to beat the rest of the world to log into some of the Online trading sites is a challenege.

The endless wait continues and the stocks would have continued in the opposite direction of what you hoped. I am sure with the technological advancements we could have avaoided that, least this is not a free service and they charge a hefty fee for the same.

I think the solutions for the same are:

• SEBI as a regulator needs to set standards on how the online trading sites needs to work in terms of their availability, response times. If they fail to meet certain SLA's , there should be a fine.
• Tools like TIVOLI , Mercury etc needs to be used by the Service provider to know the realtime status of the system before the user reports an issue or slow response.
• Service providers should not add more users to already overloaded existing user base unless they do a performance and capacity planning . I appreciate the fact that not all users login in at all times, however the design of the technology should be able to meet that goal when need arise with an agreed SLA.
• Where ever SLA's are not met, users should be compensated.

Education:ITIL Practioners IPSR

After a lot of bargaining with my employers to fund for my ITIL practioners....the day finally arrived in January 2008. I was to attend the training for ITIL Practioners IPSR - Service Restore conducted by HP. This is a 5 day program conducted in Le Meridian - Bangalore , and they have other centers as well. The course fee, which is close to 56k INR consist of the 5 day course , the exam fee and also the test. Couple of my colleagues have also undertaken the IPSC - Service Continuity

IPSR consist of Service desk, Incident and Problem management.

IPSC consist of Change , Release and Configuration management.

The exam is not easy as one thinks. It is tough and the questions are twisted. I would suggest one reads through the Red and Blue book before they take up the classes and piece of advise..one has to leave what they do in office in terms of work at office and come with a blank mind and learn everything new and I am sure one can get through.

• One needs to be ITIL foundations certified before taking up this exam.
• Read through the red and blue book before the classes.
• Read the contents taught on the same day, else it would be tough to complete on the eve of the exam.
• Come with a open mind and dont get restrained by what is done on day to day.
• Never mix this course with office work else justice is not done to the course.
• A re-exam would cort 12k INR. You are luck if your office spends on that.You are even luckier if you clear it in the first shot.

The contact address for HP is :

Hewlett-Packard India Sales Private Limited,
24, Salarpuria Arena, Hosur Main Road,
Adugodi, Bangalore - 560 030,
India
+91 80 2563 3555 – Board
+91 80 2504 1871 – Direct
+91 80 2563 3222 - Fax.

.....and I cleared :)

Photos:My favorite snaps

Place : Poovar beach - Somatheeram resort-Trivandrum

Camera: Canon Power shot S3 IS

Place : Shangumugam beach - Trivandrum
Camera: Canon Power shot S3 IS

Album:Kadhalika Neramellai

My Rating : * * * * *

I first heard this song in my friend Jey's Orkut profile, but slipped my mind , however got glued to this song when I heard it once more on his laptop 2 days back...now this song sticks on with me most of the time.

The reason I like this song...hmmmm...awesome wordings and deep meaning and to top it all excellent music composition.

Movie:Air Buddies

My Rating : * *

Air Buddies, the story is about Air Bud who is the father of 5 adorable puppies.Panic sets in when the Air Bud and his wife dog who lives across the street are kidnapped when they hunt for their pups who run away from their home when they come to know that they are going to be split and send to different homes.

The pups team up to resuce their parents and their adventures in this attempt is the best part of the story line.I must admit that I liked the names of the puppies.....B-Dawg,Rosebud,Bud-Dha,Mudbud and Budderball each with its own characteristics

Not my favorite , story borrowed from 101 Dalmations ?? . I would say , money well spend on the original VCD rather than paying a higher premium to watch the movie in the theater.

Movie:Taare Zameen Par

My Rating : * * * * *

Aamir Khan's latest movie, co-produced and directorial debut has created ripples and has spread the knowledge of Dyslexia.The movie narrates a story about a dyslexia child and how Aamir who plays the main lead role as a teacher is able to identify and bring the child out of the shell that he was moving in to due to difficulty in learning which is a symptom of Dyslexia.

His world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colours, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. And Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class.For that he gets punished every time.

When he gets into far more trouble than his parents can handle, he is packed off to a boarding school to ‘be disciplined’. Things are no different at his new school, and Ishaan has to contend with the added trauma of separation from his family.
One day a new art teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) bursts onto the scene, who infects the students with joy and optimism. Nikumbh soon realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy, and he sets out to discover why.

"'Taare...' is a film about children, not a children's film. It is aimed primarily at parents, and potential parents...youngsters who in a few years will become parents." said Aamir Khan on his blog site

"As we take on the burdens of adulthood we often gradually distance ourselves from our children, even our own childhood. This script brought it all back into sharp focus for me," he added.

Gents, please carry an extra kerchief for the women.Had a couple of friends of mine crying and had to bring them to reality that they were watching a movie.Heart touching movie though.I also liked the bit where in Aamir had captured the role and the effort and luv mom puts in one of the songs.

Aamir's Blog site:
http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm

Official website :
http://www.taarezameenpar.com/

Information about Dyslexia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia
http://www.dys-add.com/define.html