January 2009 Archives

It was the first class of Computer Programming in my 3rd semester Engineering. GV, the lecturer walks into the class, introduces himself and starts talking. I believe he said this in Tamil:

"நானும் பாலாஜியும் friends-a இருக்கணும்னா, நான் மட்டும் மனசு வச்சா முடியாது. பாலாஜியும் மனசு வைக்கணும்."

For those who don't understand Tamil, it roughly translates into "If I and Balaji are to become friends, it is not enough if I think about it. Balaji also has to think about it".

He was referring to a tussle we had in the exam in the first year when he came as the exam supervisor. I was really surprised that he had looked up my name then and remembered it almost a couple of months after that, when he came as a lecture to my class.

Every time when I run into an interpersonal issue, be it at work or outside, I remember this, see if I am at fault and try whatever I can do to fix it. I would have also repeated this quote a few hundred times to folks around when such issues arises. The academic education that I received from my college was very limited but this is the place which taught me how to survive. Every time I run into an issue, I think about a similar incident that I had in college, how I worked around it and I immediately discover a solution. It is more than 10 years since I graduated out of college but the memories are ever green. Those were the best days of my life!

I was getting ready to leave for my morning jog yesterday when I read this shocking news. The third page of The Hindu routinely carries such information. The reason why it worried me was that every day when I run, I see a whole lot of people walking / jogging / running on the road. Many of these folks are more interested in carrying a conversation on the road rather than concentrate on the road. Many times I see folks completely blocking the road or walking in parallel oblivious of the surroundings.

So if you walk or jog on the road here are some tips:

• If there is a park in your area, please walk there.
• Always walk / jog on the extreme right of the road facing traffic.
• If this is a new road that you are running, first for the first couple of days focus on the road and traffic to get an idea.
• If the foot path is usable, please use it.
• Keep an eye on the traffic. There is no guarantee that the guy in the car is going to see you
• It is okay to lose a 30 seconds waiting for the car to pass, rather than risk your life.

And if you are driver, please respect the traffic rules. If a road is marked one way, _it_ _is_ _a_ _one_ _way_. This does not (atleast in Bangalore) change based on time of the day. If you are interested in racing, go to a racing track and not the road. Give space to pedestrians.

Yamini, the annual dusk to dawn musical festival, happens on the evening of 25th Jan every year. I was there last year and it was an amazing evening / night. The event is back this year again with another set of maestros.

This year's performance includes

• Carnatic Vocal by Ranjani & Gayatri


• Violin by Mysore brothers Nagaraj and Manjunath


• Bharatanatyam by Urmila Sathyanarayanan


• Flute by Pt.Ronu Mazumdar

Passes are free for download at the concert website. Be there, clothed in warm clothing and enjoy an amazing evening / night

Happy New Year. The first post of the year. However since I did not complete a round up of 2008 as promised earlier, here it is. I initially thought this is going to be individual posts but being a lazy bum, I am consolidating all into one.

• Status Change: I have been using twitter a lot lately for status updates but this one deserved a post but I never did. On Dec 4th, this year, my marital status changed to married. I got married to Vasumathi at Srirangam Trichy and then have spent the rest of the month at leisure touring Rajsathan for a week, a week in Bangalore and the last couple of weeks for a laid back vacation in Podanur, Coimbatore.
• Three years at Yahoo!: This October, I completed three years at Yahoo! I have been working for more than 10 years now and this is the longest stay in a company for me. There are enough people around to look up to, the work is fantastic and I am enjoying every bit of it. There has been ups and downs but this is a company where I have felt at home since day one.
• Travel - Visted Singapore and a few other places in India.
• Was regular in some kind of physical activity.

Let us see what 2009 has got in store for me.