But the reason for this quick post - I see a lot of searches landing
here looking for the Fort High School Rama Seva Mandali concerts. This website has the entire list of concerts. Enjoy!
While taking the order, the guy asked
H: என்ன சார், வேணும்.
B: பூரி வேணும் சார்.
H: 11:00 மணிக்கு மேல ஆகுமெ, பரவாயில்லநயா?
B: காலைல வேணூம்னு கேட்டா, அதான் இங்க வந்தோம்
H: எம்மா, ஒரு வளையல், நெக்லசு கேக்காம, பூரி வேணும்னா கேக்கரது?
B: சரி சார், ரெண்டு பொங்கல் குடுங்க
H: சார், ஒரு பொங்கல், ஒரு உப்மா வாங்கிகொங்க
B: ஏன் சார்
H: நீங்க ஒரு பொங்கல் சாப்படரதுக்குள்ள தீபாவளியே வந்துரும், அவ்ளோ ஜாஸ்தி
H: அப்பரம், சாப்ட்டுடு இங்கயே தூங்கிடுவீங்க.
And that is what exactly happened. We have been sleeping since 10 in the morning till now, barring a couple of more food breaks. :)
-balaji
அப்பளம் மாமி: வாங்கோ, என்ன, ரொம்ப நாளா காணும்?
நான்: ஊர்ல இல்ல.
அ.மா: எங்க? USA-வா?
நான்: இல்ல, பெங்களுர்.
அ.மா: பெங்களுர்ல எங்கே?
நான்: JP நகர்.
அ.மா: இல்ல, Infosys-ஆ, Wipro-வா?
நான்: Yahoo!
அ.மா: ஓ! அந்த மேயில் க்மபனியா?
நான்: ஆமாம்.
And I ran away before she dissected me any further :)
]]>Started training but was not very successful at it. Did not have someone regularly to run along with for long distances and more than my body, my mind was playing games. Tried multiple attempts to do a 30+ run in Jan but never managed it. But one good thing was that I did a few half marathons and I was able to do them at a very decent pace. I also ran the NITTE Mangalore Celebration half and finished it in 2:04. I was hoping to finish the half in a decent time and will then see if I could walk the second half and attempt to complete.
The last few days before the race, nervousness kicked in and I lost all my confidence. The alter ego in me was telling me to finish a half and relax. Spoke to quite a few people to keep myself motivated. Also, told quite a few folks that I would be doing the full, in the hope that the embarrassment in telling them that it was a DNF will force me to finish.
We reached Auroville on Saturday and after check-in went to collect the bibs. Met Barefoot Ted there and was watching his unique autographing style - He would wet his feet and stamp the book and then sign on top of it. Feasted on the fantastic pre-run dinner and retired to bed early. Hardly slept that night.
On the race day morning, reached the start point in just in time to pick up a torch and start the race. It was pretty dark and the uneven ground and small pebbles made it difficult. Initially was running in a group but after 5 KM there weren't too many people around. I was maintaining a pace of 6:30. Around the 8K mark had a fall at a narrow turn. Thankfully was not hurt but had a few bruises. I started running again but the alter ego started telling me that I will not go beyond a half.
At the next aid station, stopped for water and checked that there were no major injuries. Started running again and completed the first loop. The run was 3 loops of about 13.5K each. Also around this time, there weren't too many runners around. Thankfully the aid station volunteers were cheering us and also there would be people on the loop waving and cheering at us. Ran till about 22K. Had the energy to run and was not tired at all but the alter ego was telling to stop. I knew well that once I start walking, I can never run again.
Pushed for another couple of KMs but then gave up. Started walking and finished the second loop. Distance was around 30K and the timing was 3:45 hours. Slowly, I got a confidence that I could finish under the cut off time of 6.5 hours. Had a pack of Gu Gel and continued walking when an angel in the form a Hyderabad runner came by. He motivated me and said that let us run along non-stop until 36K, without worrying about pace or time. I started to run and interestingly had very good energy and ran until the 35K mark. Time was around 4:30. Suddenly a sub 5:30 finish possible but the heat was killing. Decided to walk for a while and covered 40K. After the 40K mark slowly started running. The last 1K ran with an old man at a very good pace and then the finish was finally visible. Ran the last 200 odd metres at a blistering pace and finished it in 5:55.
Endured the hot and difficult, lonely track, a fall, to finish it. But more than my finish, the happiest feeling comes for me from that fact that I have converted two couch potatoes to half marathoners. Both of them are interesting stories for another day :)
]]>I thought this would be an easy job but little did I know it would take so much effort. According to the process, it is as simple as sending an SMS to 1900, get a UPC number and submit a form to the new provider and voila, the magic happens.
But Cellone ruins this magic. For one whole day, any SMS to 1900, would result in a reply from 1901 with invalid message format, please send message 'PORT
The next day, I requested Vasu to call customer care to see if they could help. Their customer care was a serious joke. I was surprised how I lived with this pathetic support for such a long time. Thankfully, I never had to call them.
The next day I decided that I would walk into their CSC to see if it would help but wanted to give 1900 a last try and thankfully it worked. I thought it was the end of all my woes and walked into a Airtel Relationship Center for MNC. The guys were very pleasant, even waved off the paltry Rs.19 fee for MNP and told me that it would be ported and activated within a week.
In a few days time, I got a message from Airtel that my number would be ported the next day. Next morning, I inserted the new SIM into the BB and it worked. I called customer care to enable the BB plans and I was back to business with in a couple of hours.
Now I thought it would be another call to Airtel Customer care to get my existing Airtel BB connection cancelled. I called the customer care and they tried to woo me to keep the connection by giving me a bunch of offers. With great difficulty, I coaxed the customer care executive to take the request and give me a request number. When she finally did provide a request number, she told that the request would be completed in a month? I was baffled and asked again to be sure? It takes a couple of hours to activate a new connection but a month to disconnect one. :) And since the next day, for almost a week, I was getting calls to see if they can provide a better deals, so that I can keep the connection active. I got frustrated and showered my choicest cuss words and got them to deactivate the number. Last week I got a bill from Airtel for the old number with excess rental being charged. I am still fighting with them to get this resolved. Despite that, I still get emails from them every week if I would be interested in reviving that connection.
From devil to the deep sea, the network follows...
]]>My presentation from the event is on slideshare.
May be that is why, when I woke up this morning to the news of Steve Jobs death, I felt as if someone close to me has died. Even after all the fun we had today, somewhere in the bottom of my heart, that sorrow feeling lingers on.
RIP Steve Jobs. You have changed the way people will look at gadgets.
]]>A couple of days burn-in did not help and it was causing pain in the toe. I called up the store and Kuldeep another salesman at the trekking section suggested that I bring in the shoe for replacement. I picked up one size bigger and it was very comfortable for most part of the trek.
On the last day of the trek, thanks to heavy snow and rain, the shoe lost its shape. There was a bulge around the ankle support and due to this the show wasn't stable, causing ankle strain. After I reached Bangalore, I called up the store and mentioned about the problem. Kuldeep asked me to bring the shoe along with the bill for exchange. I never had the time and I almost forgot about it. Last week I remembered and took the shoe to the store. I had already lost hopes but wanted to give it a shot.
I walked into the store on Sunday, explained him the problem and showed the shoe. Kuldeep / Jon, said only one thing "Give it at the counter calling it a defective piece and pick up a new one'. Absolutely no questions, no nagging, not trying to put the blame on the buyer, no delay.
This is an excellent example of customer service. I had to go to the store 3 times but I will never mind the distance of driving 20+ KM to the store for such excellent service. Looking forward to the store opening in Bannerghatta Road. I am a Decathlon convert.
]]>Enough story, now about the movie. The movie is about 3 people rediscovering themselves while giving up their inner fears. Nothing new in the story and I felt as if I have seen the story before. But what stood out was the amazing shots of Spain, the way the story was told and some really funny lines. Every one had played their role very well but Farhan Akthar was classy and stands out. There are some amazing lines in the movie (BML, Bagwathi). I have tried skydiving but the film makes me think about skydiving again and deep sea diving. Though the music was good, I don't think any of the songs stayed with me. And I did not get the ending where Kabir goes to marry Natasha.
Sitting in the first row, the full screen barely visible, a slight neck pain and the tension to get to the movie on time - All worth it for a good evening and a nice movie.
--
My name is Imran but my friends call me Majnu.
The day of the run, Pratheepan, Vasu and me, managed to reach the stadium by 7:30AM to join the sea of runners. For the first 10 odd minutes, we just moved with the flow, while Pratheepan moved ahead. The crowd eased up a bit after the 2km and we saw a lot of familiar faces going past. I kept cheering while telling Vasu to keep moving. It was down all the way till the U-Turn point and it was a good place to pick up some pace. She was doing her run, walk routine but we could not gain much pace. Around the 4km mark, she got severe cramps and was struggling in pain, almost in tears. I was worried but suggested that she should keep moving if possible. And onlookers started cheering us and that gave the motivation to walk. I also tried my PJs but it did not help. We walked till about the 7K mark, but tried to keep a pace of about 9mins per KM. At the 7K mark, a wheel chair participant had an emergency and I suggested Vasu to go ahead, while I went in search of a support crew / ambulance. It took about 10 minutes to get some help, and then I ran to catch up with her. She had covered a good pace and was entering Cubbon Park, by that time.
We met another couple of folks who were walking at a decent pace. The next couple of KMs were covered with ease, since it was our regular route. I also realized that we would be missing the 90min mark but tried to motivate her to keep a good pace. We ran the last few hundred meters to the finish.
Except for a bit around the 7K mark, I ran along with her, most of the time holding her hand, and pulling her along, until the finish. It took about 94 minutes for the entire run, but it was awesome. It was my way of saying thanks to her, making this run memorable for her. And I did make my home minister smile at the end :)
--
It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse.
-- Ann Trason
perl -n0e 's/(.*?)UID:(.*?)\w+?:(.*)/\2/gms; s/\s+//gms;print ' tmp/ical.ics
curl -i -k --data-binary '@tmp/ical.ics' -H "Content-Type: text/calendar" -X PUT \
https://caldav.calendar.yahoo.com/dav/<yid>/Calendar/<calendarname>/<uid>.ics \
-u <yid>:<password>
And here is how, I discovered this. Enable debugging in iCal, with these commands and then start iCal from a terminal. You can see the HTTP transactions between iCal and the calendar server.
defaults write com.apple.ical IncludeDebugMenu YES defaults write com.apple.ical LogHTTPActivity YES]]>
Sree Ramaseva Mandali - 73rd Ramanavami Celebrations from 04-April to 05-May 2011 at Fort High School Grounds, Chamrajpet, Near K.R Market, Bangalore.
04 Apr Mon
06:00pm Inauguration
06:45pm Nityasree Mahadevan & Party
05 Apr Tue
06:30 pm Rajesh Vaidya ( Veena ) & Party
06 Apr Wed
05:15 pm Suman G & Party
06:30 pm T M Krishna & Party
07 Apr Thu
05:15pm Sriranjani Santhanagopalan & Party
06:30pm Neyveli Santhanagopalan / TKV Ramanujachryulu / K V Prasad / Sukanya Ramgopal
08 Apr Fri
05:15pm Shikha & Party
06:30 pm S.Sowmya & Party
09 Apr Sat
04:00 - 6:15 S V Narayanaswamy Rao National Award Function
06:30 pm K J Yesudas & Party
10 Apr Sun
05:15pm Niranjana Srinivasan & Party
06:30 pm Mysore Manjunath ( violin) & Purbayab Chaterji ( Sitar) - Jugalbandi / Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam / Viswanath Nakod
11 Apr Mon
05:00pm Dr.Muralidharan & Party
07:00 pm Gayathri Venkataraghavan / B U Ganesh Prasad / Cheluvaraju / Sukanya Ramgopal
12 Apr Tue
06:30 pm Kadri Gopalnath / Kanyakumari / B Harikumar / B Rajendra Nakod /N Amruth / B Rajasekhar (Saxofone)
13 Apr Wed
05:15pm Praveen ( violin ) & Party
06:30pm Lalgudi GJR Krishnan& Vijayalakshmi ( violin) / B Harikumar / Guruprasanna
14 Apr Thu
05:15 pm Sridevi Koushik & Party
06:30 pm M S Sheela / Mysore Srikanth / H S Sudhindra / Sukanya Ramgopal
15 Apr Fri
05:15 pm V Vijayalakshmi & Party
06:30 pm Sudha Raghunathan & Party
16 Apr Sat
05:15 pm Abhiram R N & Party
06:30 pm P Unnikrishnan / Mysore Nagaraj / thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam / Guruprasanna
17 Apr Sun
10:00 am Founders Day - Felicitation of senior musicians
M S Anantharaman-M A Sundareswaran -M A Krishnaswamy - Parur Ananthakrishnan ( Violin Quartret) / R Ramesh / N Amruth
06:30 pm Ranjani& Gayathri / B U Ganesh Prasad / Poongulam Subramanyam / M A Krishnamurthy
18 Apr Mon
05:15 pm Malladi Vasavi & Party
06:30 pm Malladi Brothers / S Varadarajan / K V Prasad / Giridhar Udupa
19 Apr Tue
05:15 pm S A Karthik & Party
06:30 pm O S Arun / H N Bhaskar / J Vaidyanathan / S Karthik
20 Apr Wed
05:00 pm Bangalore Brothers / C N Chandrasekhar / V Krishna / Rajashekhar
07:15 pm Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna / H N Bhaskar / J Vaidyanathan / B N Chandramouli
21 Apr Thu
04:30 pm Akshay Padmanabhan & Party
06:45 pm S Shashank ( Flute) / Avaneeswaram S R Vinu / Yella Venkateshwara Rao / S Karthik / B N Chandramouli
22 Apr Fri
05:15 pm Harsha & Sanat ( Violin) & Party
06:30 pm N Vijay Siva & Party
23 Apr Sat
05:15 pm Suchetan Rangaswamy & Party
06:30 pm Mysore Nagaraj & Mysore manjunath ( violin Duet )/ Karaikudi R Mani / V Suresh
24 Apr Sun
06:30 pm T V Shankaranarayanan / T K V Ramanujacharyulu / B Harikumar / N Amruth
25 Apr Mon
05:15 pm R V Nityasri & Party
06:30 pm HK Venkatram(violin) / G Ravikiran ( Flute) /Ashwin Anand ( Veena) Venu-Veena-Violin / Neyveli Venkatesh / Ramanujam / Guruprasanna
26 Apr Tue
05:15 pm Hosahalli V Raghuram ( violin) & Party
06:30 pm Praveen Godkhindi ( Flute - hindustani) / Ravindra Yavagal
27 Apr Wed
06:30 pm E Gayathri ( Veena ) / Ganapathy Raman / B R Ravikumar
28 apr Thu
05:00 pm Anupama Srimali & Party
07:15 pm Muddu Mohan ( hindustani) / Vyasamurty Katti / Ravindra Yavagal
29 Apr Fri
05:15 pm Arjun Srivasthav & Party
06:30 pm Sikkil Gurucharan / S Varadarajan / Arjunkumar /Giridhar Udupa
30 Apr Sat
05:15 pm Sangeetha Tharanathan & Party
06:30 pm Ashwini bhide Deshpande ( hindustani) / Vyasamurthy Katti / Ravindra Yavagal
01 May Sun
05:15 pm S Vidya & S.Vijaya and Party
06:30 pm Hyderabad Brothers / Mysore Srikanth / MNL Raju / Giridhar udupa
02 May mon
05:15 pm Madhuri Kaushik & Party
06:30 pm R K Padmanabha / C N Chandrasekhar /C Cheluvaraju / B R Ravikumar
03 May Tue
05:15 pm B N Skandakumar & Party
06:30 pm Anuradha Madhusudan ( veena) /C Cheluvaraju / Sukanya ramgopal
04 May Wed
05:15 pm B S Murali & Party
06:30 pm Kanya kumari & Embar S Kannan ( violin duet) / K V Prasad / N Amruth
05 May Thu
05:00 pm Pallavi Prasanna / Anuthama Murali / Renuka Prasad/ Srishyla
07:15 pm Vijayalakshmi Subramanyam / Usha Rajagopal / Sudhindra / Krishna Prasad
06 May Wed
05:15 pm Vidya G Subramanian & Party
06:30 pm O S Thyagarajan / Mullaivasal Chandramouli / S Thyagarajan / M A Krishnamurthy
07 May Sat
06:30 pm Abhishek Raghuram / Mysore Nagaraj / Ananth R Krishnan / Guruprasanna
08 May Sun
06:30 pm Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt & Lalgudi GJR Krishnan ( hindustani & Carnatic jugalbandi) / Yella Venkateshwara Rao / Vishwanath Nakod
09 May Mon
06:30 pm Vishaka Hari & Party
]]>We attended one such event a few weeks back, presided over by R.K.Padmanabha. The event had a concert by Pattabhiram Pandit followed by the singing of Pancharatna kritis. While speaking, RKP narrated a hilarious event that happened a few years back at his home town Rudrapatna.
For Thyagaraja Aradhana, he had organised a week long music festival and on the day of the Aradhana, he had arranged for food for everyone. When he was explaining the contributions of Thyagaraja and the importance of Aradhana, one gentlemen misunderstanding the meaning of Aradhana (which also means worship) interrupted and said - Sir, We should do an Aradhana to you for all your good work and for the feast. RKP was stunned but when he quipped, "Give me another 10-20 years and then you can do my Aradhana", the entire audience burst into laughter.
]]>Some of the significant points of the tool
The only gripe I have is that, when I delete a file from the window, it takes a while. This is probably because, the tool apart from deleting the file, also recompiles the size, location, etc.
Give it a spin, if you run out of disk space.
]]>I hope 2011 is even better.
Here is wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year 2011. Hope 2011 brings a lot of joy, happiness, health and peace to each one of you.
Keep your frown upside down and enjoy life.
]]>