Success stories

I haven't been active in keeping touch with so many of my good friends. Looks like a lot of friends have got things going pretty good for them. 

Ramana has managed to convert his professional blog into a website. That is just symbolic of the fact that he is heading in right direction in fulfilling his mission To transform agriculture into an organized industry. Pretty pleased with this one.

Phani has started with his dance troop and traveled to bangkok and many other places to learn a thing or two about various aspects involved. Cool stuff.
 
And of course, Shashi is riding to Bhutan for a 18 day exploration. To be able to live life on your own terms, is success of greatest magnitude.

My brother has been able to write some of the best lyrics I have come across in many years. That is so overwhelming too.

Its time for celebrations

Ninna Mukha Nodi Lyrics

Iam mighty pleased that two of the kannada songs that my brother(http://www.facebook.com/people/Ghous-Peer/100001597864155) has written have gone on to become big hits.
One of the blogs that I follow has the lyrics and translation for one of those songs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7cXLdlcghI&feature=related
http://ourqueen-shreyaghoshal.blogspot.com/2010/08/ille-ille-ello-lyrics-with-translation.html

Here Iam translating the second one for all of my friends (That includes my wife too :)) who do not follow Kannada. Iam translating the essence of the song rather than the literal translation. The translation might ruin the beauty and simplicity of the original Kannada lyrics but Iam just giving it a try.

Ninna Mukha Nodi, Suprabhata Haadi
Munjaaneyannu Swaagathiso aase
(Have a desire to welcome the morning after seeing your your face)

Ninna Jothe koodi, kadala dadadi aadi
Mussanjeyannu beelkoduva aase
(Being with you, Playing with you on a Sea-shore, I have this desire to see off the twilight-evening)

Hoovantha nina madilali, Thale ittu naa irulali
Malagi Aakasha nodi thare enisuva aaseyu
(I have a desire to lay my head in your laps(comparing it with the softness, tenderness of flowers), Gazing at the distant stars)

Nana Saneehada idi balagava nee doora thallide
Bahu doorada nana kanasanu nee saneeha maadide
(You have made it seem like, all the close groups have become very distant
You have made it seem like, All my distant dreams have come very closer)

Haniyaagi ede serida olaveega kadalaagede
ninage helona endare mujugara kaadide
(The love that seeped into my heart as a small drop has turned into a big ocean.
When I feel like expressing myself with you, Something just stops me)

O Kaalave Nee odade, alle nilla ondede
Ee rasa kshana , idi jeevana eege irabekide
nanageega nanna parichaya nininda Khatari aagide
(O time, U must cease to function and just become static
This beautiful time, must remain like this forever.
I have started to learn about myself, only because of you)


The video version of the movie track is available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDoRiJ2KCp0

Tribute to a living legend

Iam delighted to see Murali quit the test arena as he did...This is a day that I will rejoice for a long time to follow. To summarise the man, the performer and an entertainer he is, Iam collating some of the quotes on Murali by some of his colleagues and counterparts.

Mahela Jayawardane as quoted to the Guardian:
"He is the sort of guy you want in the dressing room, but sometimes you think: 'Why is he in the dressing room - he won't stop talking!' When he exhausts us, he goes to see the opposition. He is the only player I have ever known who spends more time in the opponents' dressing room than his own. You never sit next to him on an aeroplane because you won't get any sleep. Lal, the masseur, has that job. But ask him to make a speech and you will be lucky to get 10 words."

Sanath Jayasuriya quotes “He was the first guy to take any newcomer to dinner and making sure that he has smooth transition into the team. Till date, Since he was 19, He made sure that every single debutant was helped to understand what it takes to compete at the highest level for SRILANKAN cricket”

Murali answering Tony Greig after his final test “Yes, In Australia, I had asked Arjuna Ranatunga to take me off from bowling after having taken 3 wickets. I was very young then and din’t know how to give interview speeches. I had asked Arjuna to take me off from my spell so that I could prepare my interview speech, just in case, I was adjudged Man of the match” 


Mahela on one of the funny incidents in the Srilankan Dressing room:
I remember Murali hitting Darren Gough for a six one year at Lord’s. It was a low full toss that he tried to hit to midwicket and it went sailing over extra cover. He marched into the dressing room afterwards with a big smile, telling us all what a fine shot it was. Then we pointed out the video replay and the red mark on the edge of his bat. He was livid.

Madhi Malar Ramamurthy quotes:
“Every time Murali picks up a wicket, my heart starts beating faster. Tears of joy just flow down my cheeks when I realise how special he is to the people of Sri Lanka, how much they love him and how much he means to them. I have never seen anybody in any sphere of life get this kind of a farewell. I am proud to be Murali’s wife"

Murali to Andrew Flintoff while playing for Lancashire:
While others are afraid to voice their opinions after a team-mate loses his wicket, Murali can't resist. A towering Andrew Flintoff stormed into the dressing room, ashen-faced, having failed to end a lean trot. Murali sauntered over casually. "What happened - another shit shot?"

Charlie Austin, former Sri Lanka editor on Murali's Down to earth personality:
I travelled with him to the tsunami-hit town of Batticaloa on Sri Lanka's east coast. Murali had single-handedly organised about 10 lorries of emergency supplies for distribution in the relief camps. In the evening we stopped at the Polonnaruwa Rest House to catch some sleep. They only had three bedrooms available for about 10 of us. Murali not only insisted on paying, he steadfastly refused to take a bed, spread a sheet on the floor, grabbed a pillow and slept happily.

As we run for the medals...

Its been a footballing week that has left mixed feeling in me. Arsenal have done brilliantly well in winning the game against Stoke city and securing all the three points and they have closed in the gap with Chelsea and ManU.

Aaron Ramsey, The 19-year-old suffered a double fracture at the Britannia stadium following a strong challenge from Ryan Shawcross. This the worst injuries I have witnessed ever in my life. I could add a picture or a video but Iam refraining just to avoid the sickening feeling of seeing something so Horrifying. The Welshman is the third Arsenal player to suffer a serious break in the past four years.
The game that arsenal play is a treat to watch in a sense that the passes and movement is so elegant.The arsene's squad.. they neva give an impression that football is muscular game contradictory to what stoke and some footballing clubs are known far.
I remember Arsene wenger had asked his side to ‘toughen up’ at times, stressing on being strong physically and as he quotes “I have a go at them when they don’t put their foot in sometimes".I believe its imp to exhibit a muscular game at times, if you are looking to win the silverware at the fastest paced footballing leagues of the world.

Ramsey is 19 year old and one of the most brilliant footballing talents around, was starting to just make a mark in the football arena and was one of the brightest footballing prospects in my opinion. An injury of this nature could be career-ending one or even if he returns back, Iam not sure if he would be as effective as he was. It was not worth losing a player for the three points in the title race, but then, this is the game and thats how it is played. Injuries, recoveries and unfair advantages are a part of most sports.

However, I wish Ramsey recovers superfast and be back with the same strength and niche. I wish and Iam very optimistic that gunners would win the title for Aaron Ramsey.

some days are routine

First of all, I've almost not controlled anything that has happened in the past 3-4 months in my life. I have just cruised with the wind, doing things that are very routine.. Loads of Work, Frnz, and managing personal boring responsibilities... Its not surprising that responsibilities and Boring go hand in hand. So much so that, I can use 'boring' as an adjective with every word 'responsibility', I use in my life.

For a few days now, Iam bored of routine and want a change from usual and I have decided that I shall do it by writing something that I had not done for long now. Then there are many plans in Queue, A goa Trip with dear pal Shashi. May be a full day or a weekend trip with another friend. Ofcourse ensuring that I finish 3 month old - piled up, chaotic, directionless RT work pending at Cisco.. yes, I plan to complete it in a week's time. Long time since I have put my heart and soul into work and seen the fruits of it.

And then there is Stocks/Furtures .. Its as important as anything else.. I have already incurred good amount of losses in stocks/futures.. If I dont regain my hard earned money, My subconsciousness will haunt me calling "jackass" everytime I see CNBCTV18 or UTVi or Moneycontrol.com.
Its time to Re-gather whats not been lost...

My dad is a hero

Since the time my dad is retired from his official job, he has been looking for various activities to keep himself occupied and interested. There are days when he is very busy with activities varying from "visiting our hometown and spending good times with his old mates" to "engaging himself in spiritiuality and prayers" to "pulling my Moms leg the entire day followed by the three fourth of the night". And then there are days when he sleeps for 14 hours a day and finds it difficult to find new ways of spending time and keeping himself busy.
During one such phase, he decided to engage himself in learning car driving and joined motor driving school. Everyone at home were very excited about my Dads decision to learn driving at 65. He started learning. He was scheduled to take classses for 25 days and then, the driving school would get him his Driver's License.
Subsequent 25 days, All of us spent our dinner time mostly engaged in talks about the driving and My dads experience with it... After about 25 days, My dad was done with all his classes and for my dismay, I sensed that he was not very keen in giving his tests for getting his driving license. I started wondering if it was, for, he was not confident in passing the driving tests. I pursued him a couple of times to go ahead and get his driving license. My dad was unusually reluctant. Then I decided, it was time to see him drive our car. When My Dad tried, we realised that the trainer had not taught my dad how to drive completely and he was not comfortable driving a car on his own.
Finally me and my younger brother decided that we will train him on driving a car and for next few weeks my younger brother who is very good at cars and driving managed to teach my dad the basics of driving a car. Finally Dad fixed up an appointment at 10AM on a thursday morning, with Motor driving class and Road transport Officers to give his driving test.
In comes thursday morning, I and both my brothers started preaching dad, the basics of driving. We told him to be confident, not to worry about the car indicators etc and only to concentrate on driving slow and steady. Also we told him to adjust the seat to his comforts and wear a seat belt, before starting ignition. We also told him to drive barefoot instead of wearing sandals for we felt that, it would enable him with better grip and control over clutches and brakes.
As my younger brother went to drop my dad to Road transport office, My mom said to me and my elder brother 'While you were kids, this is how your dad used to send you guys to your exams, asking you to double check if you had carried the hall tickets, extra pencils, eraser etc, and reminding you to go through all the answers once, before returning the answer sheets and so on". I felt very touched and thats when I realised why my Dad keeps becoming more and more adorable everyday and why "My dad is the biggest hero of all times" for me.

Kicks of being in a nutshell

There was a time when I was upset and sad about everything that was happening in my life. I had ceased to bask all those things, that I had enjoyed the most in the past. The only thing that I felt like doing was, to be on my own, alone, doing nothing.
My close pals Santhosh and Shashidhar had known me for many years and had seen the better times in my life and were not happy with how I was leading my life. It probably wasn't easy for them to condemn my being in nutshell and make me realize that my approach wasn't helping me, for they felt uneasy to bring up the topic directly and hurt me momentarily. For many days, they did try and do their best to spend time with me and cheer me up.

And then there was an evening, when they talked about how a person gets some kind of 'Kicks' in being lone and sad, How a 'drowning feel' could deep down give you an Unconscious thrill and how an ignorant mind can keep striving for this thrill of being sad, thus making it, so much more difficult to come out of the Kicks and start being more merrier in their routines. I did understand what they were conveying and deep inside readily agreed with the simple and beautiful theory, though it took some time for me to stop striving for the Kick of Sadness. There were times when I have felt the kicks of being in nutshell, being sad, are equally dangerous to the kicks of narcotics and the likes and this realization has helped me in being more merrier and lively of late.

My mom happens to be a person who has many concerns and gets paranoid about the simplest of problems I come across in my daily routine. One of the Saturday late nights, I started talking to my Dad and Mom about one of the simple problems. As we conversed, my mom started expressing her worries. After looking at her sad pale face, I decided to preach her the 'Kicks of being sad' theory and transform my image from 'Been a responsible kid' to 'Knows to deal with problems' status. I was simply trying to boast myself in a comic manner. We conversed on a very lighter note on the theory for about 75 mins and I had managed to convey the theory. Major part of this conversation was filled with great humor, thanks to My dad who is effortless and extremely good at humor. All the tensions and problems that we had started with, had vanished.
And then, Suddenly, My Mom went back to her habitual ways of dealing with things and started expressing her worries over the tension, problem that we had started the conversation with. As I said to myself "no god damn 'kicks of being sad' theories could ever change my Mom from being so concerned and paranoid about my simplest of problems, My Dad says to my mom "U r striving for too much of a Kick on a Saturday night, which isn't good. Guess its time to goto bed" and all the three of us burst out laughing. I felt a tremendous joy, for having spent some meaningful and fun filled time, with my parents, as I turned off the lights in their room and walked towards my bedroom to grab some sleep.