Happy Onam to one and all! Today us mallus at NITIE got together to bring the experience of Onam to our campus. Onam, which is one THE most important festivals of Kerala, traditionally encompass a myriad set of activities.Some of them include, making the "athapoo"- which is a circular floral arrangement done on the floor, tug-of-war, the onam dance - performed by the lovely ladies clad in the traditonal cream sarees....the list is endless. There is of course a story behind why Onam is celebrated.

Of course, us Mallus were in no position to arrange for all these activities. But nevertheless, we arranged for the Onasadhya or the Onam Lunch at our staff canteen. We had a larger than expected turnout and we were happy to see the smiles on peoples faces after their meal. It just made our day :)

A huge thanks also to Ron, Neo, Josh, M.Raj, Gaurav, VAK, Sudeepa, Sabya and many others without whose help this event would not have been a success. Thanx for being a part of our celebrations guys!

Arthi, one of our juniors wrote this poem recounting her Onasadhya Experience


Mallu Food On a Banana Leaf….

Luscious emerald, becomes the dull green
When with water it is cleared
For a banana leaf finds its sheen
When laid barely upon the earth

The ghee added to steaming rice
Exudes a mouthwatering, tantalizing smell
And it would come as no big a surprise
As to how with every side dish they do gel

From the humble rasam to the sambar, so strong
Each dish has a flavor that entices the mind
For piquant lemon flavored pickle, the mouth does long
While sampling chutneys of various kinds

The curries each have their zing
Either spicy, tangy, bitter or sweet
Among the plantain and other things
In an amazing delectable mélange these meet

The poppadoms and plantain chips provide
An incomparable accompaniment to every dish
Even though they are placed by the side
They are every hungry gourmets wish

Even the humble rice and curd
Mixed on the banana leaf
Leave me in search of words
To describe their union, too brief

The last to be served up
But none to say the least
It left everyone refilling their cups
The milk payasam was the queen of the feast

Each dish so unique
Each with its own taste
Your stomach wants to speak
To tell your mouth not to make haste

But instead savor the flavor
Of each morsel, each bite
To hold the feeling forever
Seems uppermost in the mind

Finally after many servings and helpings one feels
Too full to get up and leave the delicacies
Each looking forward to an afternoon’s sleep
And praying that God sends Onam again next week..

- V.P. Arthi

What character do I match in the Matrix?

I'm Neo :)

This is what this website had to say about me..


You are Neo, the chosen one, the slayer of agents
everywhere. A former nerd, you have evolved
into quite a stubborn hero.
Although Trinity is not that hot, at least you're
one of the few that can get some in the real
world.
You can stop bullets and you're immmortal; so what
the hell are you going to do in Matrix:
Reloaded?!

"Yeah. Wow, that sounds like a really good
deal. But I think I got a better one. How about
I give you the finger... and you give me my
phone call."


What Character From The Matrix Are You?

Its raining ...and very heavily. An empty coke bottle sits silently by the window sill...almost wishing it were out there, in the rains. It realises its doomed to spend the rest of its useful life inside the dreary confines of an MBA grad's room.

How do I know all this about the empty Coke bottle? Well, you can see right through it :)


Jokes apart, been putting in crazy amount of work in "Designing templates" for multiple projects (inside the dreary confines of an MBA grad's room). Not to mention backbreaking and "colourblinding" StratMan assignments the Prof. keeps firing at us with impeccable regularity.....hmmm..impeccable regularity...sounds redundant in a superfluous way , if u know what i mean....

The song on my winamp just changed to "Uptown Girl". And all of a sudden i'm alive...this song does that you...it really does!


Been missing PiZZZAAAA!!!!.....I think I'll stop for now and mourn....

I have off late been thinking of starting my own rock band (not the heavy metal kind, of course). My talent in making others play the guitar and drums is unmatched. But most importantly, I'm convinced I can sing......and VERY well! Now the few people, who've had the privilege to hear me strain my vocal chords would probably not agree. All I have to tell them now is...I wont be giving them any autographs.

My rock band will be called "The Rock Band". I believe this the only logical name a rock band should have and yet surprisingly, not a single group to my knowledge has ever taken this name. Now for my group members. I believe that everyone should be given a fair chance to showcase their talents. And that's what they can keep doing forever..... cos' HELL, I'M GOING SOLO, BABY!!!


Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi...all of em are probably "bands". But how many of us know the name of their "band" members. Do they EVEN EXIST?? (Which so reminds me of that My Band music video by Eminem ..hehehe )

My local barber will not be seeing me for a while, and yes if anyone out there got some torn jeans please mail 'em over to me. (If u dont wanna give me your jeans and still wanna discard 'em..i hear Wrangler's interested....they were selling 10 year old jeans for 1300 bucks the last time i visited 'em ...sheesh! what is the world coming to?? )


and finally, 3 ways to combat inflation.
1. Dont spend :)
2. Send the money you have to me so that i can form my rock band (also send some to my local barber)
3. Buy my album when it hits the stores. One rupee from after-tax profits/cassette or cd will be donated to the Combat-Inflation fund in Argentina ... (Hell, do they even have a currency?? )

let's rock, dude!

This isn't me..
I know it..why am I here?
I can hear the walls crumble..
my mind constrains me, desperation and hope mingle.

I move across motion..
time has stopped.
energy is ethereal, crackling...
the dream is a now an apparition.

Aaah Photoshop!*sigh*...I'm just discovering the most awesome things you can do with this one software. Was at it for four hours continously, educating myself from this COOL website. My back's still aching from all that sitting in front of the comp. (and, an ergonomical sitting position was the last thing on my mind!)

Checked out the Exorcist:The Beginning website. Mind blowing flash, I must say....Should be viewed alone in your room with the lights switched off. (I can do that cos I have a single room with a 2Mbps net connection...in short, the good life :) )

Post pizza session, Rusty, Ron, VJ and myself went for a walk around Hiranandani (Central Avenue to be precise)....and we were discussing futures and options....and for once, thanks to VJ I understood what the hell those two words meant... A pretty useful session for all of us.

And yes, the Olympics 2004 have finally begun. Go India...We ARE with you :)

sharp, it glows....
from beneath the valley
naked he emerges
rays of the twilight
glistening in his eye
silence pierces the air
an aura of imminent victory

A little something I did on photoshop ....with a tutorial :)

Lazy afternoon.....

I think I'd like be here for a while....

Blog testing...1-2-3

As you can see, I've been refurbishing my blog all day.

*Finally* added links on my side window. Thankfully the template I downloaded had dummy links on the side window already. This made my job a little easier :)

The templates a little too mushy-mushy...those two silly dudes running around on the beach....but this was the best I could find. Will change it someday.

Had the pleasure of beating Hell_guard, Neo and Tarzan today in NFS:Hot Pursuit...

as General Douglas MacArthur aptly put it,

"In war there is no substitute for victory."

:)

Back after a long gap..........no excuses, was too lazy to blog..also managed to forget my password in the process :) moved my lazy ass and recovered it today!


came across this site

Its got some awesome essays on economics, some written by none other than Keynes himself.Besides this site has got info about various countries regarding their history and their current political, economical and political status.

An informative read for the well-informed :)