Why Narendra Modi?

Few days back, when I discussed on who can be our next prime minister, I told that my choice would be the incumbent Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Damodardas Modi…if u can remember, I also told that I will corroborate my decision with reasons…its high time now to discuss the reasons…I don’t want to eulogize Modi’s achievements by listing as bulleted points here as the space won’t be sufficient…if u have happened to see / read the speeches of Cho.Ramaswamy and Modi during Thuglak’s (a magazine run by Cho) 38th anniversary, this post is needless….if u haven’t then u better watch the videos here to understand what can be done to improve the quality of life of people in a state…

I have got the DVD of the whole function which includes Cho’s responses to readers, Cho’s complete speech and Modi’s complete speech…the DVD is available for Rs.150 at the Alliance Publications, 244, R.K. Mutt road, Mylapore, Chennai and in some leading book stores…its a must watch if u can understand Tamil…Cho’s responses were simply awesome in his own witty style…I am in the process of compressing the whole video and uploading into some shareable site…I am sharing here, Modi’s speech alone which some fellow Internet user has uploaded into Youtube…

As Cho rightly said in his vote of thanks, most of the politicians make promises when they get into stage, where as Modi has just narrated what he has done so far (a majority of Modi’s achievements narrated by Cho is missing in these videos which as I said will be uploaded soon)…

You must watch these videos even if you loathe Modi as he tells about how he changed and changing Gujarat…if the same can be done in all other states and even by the central govt, why aren’t they doing?…Modi answers that question as well…we need a strong and bold leader like this guy to change our nation…

Part1:

Part2:

Part3:

Part4:

Finally, Modi has been elected as the best CM in India by a nation level poll which is a strong testimony of his accomplishments…

http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/winners-and-losers-4.html

Hope you understand my decision behind choosing Modi amongst the options and acknowledge…

DELL desolated me again :(

its been 3 days since I was active on Internet…my laptop’s AC adapter has gone bad on Saturday totally disconnecting me from the rest of the world…though I had noticed a small crack on the cable some time, I was bit lethargic about taking it to the service center…finally I had to pay the price for my indolence, 1600 bucks for a new adapter…its not completely my mistake as this is 2nd time my adapter fails since I bought my laptop…luckily first time I was able to get the replacement from DELL itself…this has happened just 6 months back…so, there’s something deficient in the quality of the cables…so, that caused the delay in my new posts which would again be BAU (Business As Usual) from today…

Yethapur – Unforgettable reminiscences

I was out of my blog for 3 days, not because of I was out of topic but because I have got some other higher priority things to be completed (he he he…i m not completely vetti 🙂 )…this is one post which has been in the queue since I started blogging…a post everyone would love to share with others…a topic which makes me feel light whenever I discuss about it…I am gonna write about my native place…

I born in a small village called Yethapur in Salem district, Tamilnadu…I did my schooling till my SSLC there and then moved to Madurai…but even today I ruminate over the reminiscences of that beautiful village…

In last week of January, I happened to go to Salem to attend my cousin’s marriage…so, I had a well etched plan of going to my village to see whether there had been any changes…its been more than 4 years since I visited…there was hardly any changes except I could see a conspicuous reduction in the population…younger generations have compelled and made their family move to bigger towns just like how we did 10 years back…

I should dilate more about the village…it is 36 kms from Salem…the Village is on the banks of a small river called ‘Vashishta nadhi’…though its a small village with less than 10K population, it is self contained…it has schools upto 12th standard, it has a govt hospital and a police station…above all, it has a very nice ‘agraharam’ where I lived…the ‘agraharam’ has a Siva temple on one end and a Vishnu temple on other end…there is a Bajan Matt amidst of them…so, just try to imagine how beautiful it wud be…though the temples are relatively smaller than what we have in cities, they are very special and have unparalleled reasons to be unique…the Siva temple is one of the rarest of its kind in Taminadu…during the Tamil month ‘margazhi’ (between December-January), during early morning, the Sun light directly falls on the Lingam…there is no window…there is no holes on the wall…the ray of light enters the temple straight, goes between the antlers of Nandhi and falls on Siva to form an aura…only very few temples in India have this unique architecture…

Siva Temple

Vishnu Temple – on the other end of the road

I spent a whole day there visiting my old neighbors’ families and of course the temples…it was disheartening to see the house where I stayed in a wrecked condition due to natural calamities and lack of overhaul…

The house where I born and lived for 16 years

I had been a very naughty boy in my childhood…my mom use to say I always teased others and thrown stones at them…i use to pull the necklaces of maamis (aunties) who lifted me…now they all raised their eye brows wondering how fast the time has past…when I turn back and see my childhood, now it looks like a dream…all the juvenile activities that I have done, fishing in the river, taking bath in pump sets, playing gully cricket on the shores of the river, throwing stones at the tamarind tree, climbing up guava trees, etc…i miss all those…

Vashishta Nadhi

though I cannot get back those days, the most cherished moments will never be forgotten…

A consequential weekend

Ahem…Ahem…I am back, to Chennai, to my work and ofcourse to blether…unlike last weekend, this weekend was quite eventful, in fact pretty hectic. I hardly got any time to sit and relax. I started from Chennai on Thursday without any tickets in hand…fortunately, I managed to get a semi-sleeper seat in a private bus. For the first time in my life, the bus has reached Madurai in 9 hours time…It was supposed to be an important day in my life…I went to Madurai to to accomplish a task of Himalayan importance, buying the first property of my family…after a chain of events, the day turned turkey as I was not able to complete what I was supposed to. I had to take another days’ leave to complete the process and that caused the delay in returning to Chennai and resuming my blog…

Saturday was equally loaded with lot of action items to be completed from my end (IT touch :))…I was shuttling between the bank and my home to settle some transactions…for Sunday we already had a plan in hand to visit our family lord (Direct translation of ‘kuladeivam’ 🙂 ) Pazhani…I was amazed by the crowd waiting for the bus at the bus stand at 6:30 in the morning to go to Pazhani from Madurai…it was a fully crowded bus with people standing for 3 hours to reach Pazhani…what an irony?…when robbery, murders, brutal activities, illegal relationships and all possible crimes increase at a rapid pace, so does the number of people going to temples…should I take it as increase in Bakthi(spiritualism) or is it just because more people lose courage in life and seek God’s help in this competitive world…whatever be the case, I am happy with the crowd getting increased day by day…I strongly believe that ‘fear of God’ is one of the most important things which could forbid human beings from committing immoral blunders…It was a tiring day as the sun was bright and we had to climb up and down the hummock during the mid-day (we never use the winch)…

I had to resume the tasks on Monday from where I’ve left on Friday and completed them on time…Monday was an important day in Indian stock market as well as most awaited Reliance Power (I got 16) was making its debut…it listed with a premium of 90 Rs but ultimately fell into the discount region…the negative sentiments of people have surmounted the Reliance brand name which resulted in a huge downfall in the market…almost all Reliance stocks plummeted…even today the market was pretty volatile…it may surge tomorrow as Warren Buffet has announced just now that he offers to reinsure $800bn of municipal liabilities of insurers…

whatever be the case, we cannot refuse the fact that our people want everything immediately…just like ready made dresses, instant coffee and fast food, they want their money to be doubled before they blink their eyes…nobody seems to be believing in long term investments…when they sell, they sell in panic…when they buy, they buy blindly…our government should really urge the trading houses to inculcate the investors with some basic fundas of the market…

coming back to where I have left, as it is an unexpected procrastination in my schedule, I had to take an unpleasant return again in SETC (State Express) …though the seats are far better than some of the private bus operators, the promptness isn’t…8’O clock bus started from Madurai at 9’O clock and dropped me at Tambaram at 10’O clock the next day morning…I reached office at 12:30 in the noon…as half of the time I am vetti in office nowadays, it hasn’t affected any of my day to day actitivies :D…

P.S: if you happen to read this post, please let me know your comments and suggestions…thanks in advance…

A small respite

After a resplendent start (konjam overdhaan), a small hiatus for 3 days…I am moving off to my home town, Madurai tonight…so, no posts for next 3 days, but will come back stronger with more interesting things to share…till then, keep watching this space 🙂

– Lakshminarayanan S

Who can be the next prime minister of India?

With parliament elections lined up for early 2009, I feel this is the perfect time to discuss on who should be the Prime Ministerial Candidacy. In fact, chances are luminous for the elections to be held soon as the coalition Congress govt is frustrated with the left and more importantly it feels that this is the right time for elections as there are feuds inside BJP, the major opposition.

When I shot this question at many of my friends, I got so many answers. Though I was overwhelmed by the number of candidacies I got, considering the possibilities, I am restricting the discussion only to top 5.

So, who can be our next prime minister?

1) Manmohan Singh – Incumbent Prime Minister. Most scholarly prime minister we ever had. But, what has he actually done in past 4 years apart from appeasing Sonia and conciliating the Left? – you can count them with your fingers. The current govt had wasted most of its time in propitiating the coalition parties rather than doing something good. He might be a very good person by nature and qualification but doesn’t suit the requirements of a prime minister who needs to take bold decisions. He better does Finance Minister job than that of Prime Minister.

2) Sonia Gandhi – Though she is one of the possible candidacies, Sonia becoming PM could be the worst possible thing to happen in India. I am personally against this happening. Can’t really write down the reasons, but my inner instinct says I shouldn’t be supporting this.

3) Rahul Gandhi – I hate dynasty to the core. Just because he is from Nehru family, it is not judicious to advocate him. His mom being the president of the party without any background in the party, no wonders if Congress project him as the prime ministerial candidacy. But he is yet to prove himself in politics.

4) LK Advani – He has already blown his own trumpets that he is the candidate shunting AB Vajpayee to the sidelines. Of course, he is 82 and will definitely have the desire to sit on the dream chair. After all, heis in active politics for more than 50 years unlike chotus like Rahul. But what has he done over these years is unrefutably questionable. Babri Masjid demolition, paean of Jinnah, Ram Temple dream..these are some of his achievements 🙂 …As a deputy prime minister, he was not able to do what he promised. Lets see if offered a chance, whether as a prime minister he is able to do.

5) Narendra Modi – A real surprise candidate, a potential dark horse…all of a sudden his name has been included in the nation level politics. It is pronounced loudly nowadays after his astounding victory in Gujarat despite the whole media and even some of his party men were against him. Apart from his blatant support to Hindutva, this man doesn’t have any negative points. He is corruption free and is making his state really ‘shine’. But we cannot eliminate the riot’s effects, as the echoes are still audible.

Given the options, who will be my choice. Though its too early to pop the cork, undoubtedly BJP has better chances of forming the govt (see the recent results of Gujarat, Himachal pradesh and the survey taken in Karnataka). Out of the two contestants from BJP I would go for Modi as he is relatively young (in his 50s) and has really done something to see in Gujarat. A separate post on Narendra Damodardas Modi is imminent in order to discuss elaborately and corroborate my decision.

Who will be your choice?. Cast your vote in the poll.

Disclaimer:As I consistently vote in every election, I feel I am ‘political’. So, nothing wrong in discussing about the ones who are representing our nation and the ones who impend to represent. The views are purely my views. If you are political, there are chances that you get offended. I disavow my responsibility for the resentment(if any) caused.

Microsoft’s Yahoo! bid – What will be the culmination of MS’s gambit?

If you are some one who frequently check the news for the latest happenings in IT industry then almost zero chances that you missed this one…Microsoft has made an offer to take over Yahoo! at $44.6 billion giving a possibility of a head-to-head competition between two online giants…though it has been gossiped for quite a while that MS has plans of acquiring Yahoo!, it’s come from the horse’s mouth now…what do you think will happen if this deal is through?…will it be an end of Google like how MS eradicated Netscape from the industry in late 90s?…or will Google surmount MS with its innovative products?…only time can answer…but nothing wrong in discussing the background and the possibilities of this deal…

it all started when MS took tremors when it turned back and seen where it is in Internet market….before MS could realize Google has almost taken the Internet users by storm with its innovative, uncomplicated and gratis products…MS slowly realized that they need to do something before they get wiped off from the industry as the present and the future is Internet…they started applying the all time famous MS strategy – ‘merger’…it has been discussed from almost 6-8 months ago that MS has plans of acquiring Yahoo!…MS was ambuscading for the right time…now that Yahoo! has announced that it wants to ‘eliminate some areas’ of its business, MS jumped in and made an open offer pricing Yahoo! at $31 per share…

MS is urging Yahoo! to give out a decision before this weekend…but Yahoo! says it needs time…now Yahoo! has three options…

1) Accept MS’s offer

2) Associate itself with Google to make MS bid higher and eventually get out of the race

3) Operate independently like how it is now (very less chances)

What will happen if Yahoo! agrees to MS’s offer…what I could visualize is the next Operating System from MS will have Internet ready tools…as soon as your PC is connected to Internet, you will have messenger, voice chat, video chat, mail, blog, search, news, shopping, market data, blah blah blah readily available for you…sounds absolutely crazy?…but undoubtedly it will be an Internet driven OS…

thats why Google has made an outcry yesterday saying that ‘the deal will affect the openness of Internet and could lead to monopoly’…MS responded well showing the statistics which says that already 75% of Internet search, advertisement and much more are occupied by Google…in countries like India, Internet advertisment is still a potential area to be tapped…so, its not a procrastinated move at all by MS…

meanwhile, Wallstreet Journal has reported that Google CEO Eric has personally called up Yahoo! and offered his unsolicited help to thwart MS’s plans…Yahoo! also feels that the valuation given by MS is not fair..an unofficial estimate by an analyst gives Yahoo! a share price of $39-$41 which is much more than what MS offers…

a clear picture on where this is heading to will be known by the end of this week…whatever be the dénouement of this, the Internet users should be benefited…thats what all I want…

P.S: Another set of users say that even if the deal is through, it might result in a ‘dias pora’ of Yahoo! employees to the rivalry Google deserting MS…one of the reasons they say is Yahoo! and Google follow a very casual dress code where as MS wants its associates to be completely formal….funny…

Microsoft’s Yahoo! bid – What will be the culmination of MS’s gambit?

If you are some one who frequently check the news for the latest happenings in IT industry then almost zero chances that you missed this one…Microsoft has made an offer to take over Yahoo! at $44.6 billion giving a possibility of a head-to-head competition between two online giants…though it has been gossiped for quite a while that MS has plans of acquiring Yahoo!, it’s come from the horse’s mouth now…what do you think will happen if this deal is through?…will it be an end of Google like how MS eradicated Netscape from the industry in late 90s?…or will Google surmount MS with its innovative products?…only time can answer…but nothing wrong in discussing the background and the possibilities of this deal…

it all started when MS took tremors when it turned back and seen where it is in Internet market….before MS could realize Google has almost taken the Internet users by storm with its innovative, uncomplicated and gratis products…MS slowly realized that they need to do something before they get wiped off from the industry as the present and the future is Internet…they started applying the all time famous MS strategy – ‘merger’…it has been discussed from almost 6-8 months ago that MS has plans of acquiring Yahoo!…MS was ambuscading for the right time…now that Yahoo! has announced that it wants to ‘eliminate some areas’ of its business, MS jumped in and made an open offer pricing Yahoo! at $31 per share…

MS is urging Yahoo! to give out a decision before this weekend…but Yahoo! says it needs time…now Yahoo! has three options…

1) Accept MS’s offer

2) Associate itself with Google to make MS bid higher and eventually get out of the race

3) Operate independently like how it is now (very less chances)

What will happen if Yahoo! agrees to MS’s offer…what I could visualize is the next Operating System from MS will have Internet ready tools…as soon as your PC is connected to Internet, you will have messenger, voice chat, video chat, mail, blog, search, news, shopping, market data, blah blah blah readily available for you…sounds absolutely crazy?…but undoubtedly it will be an Internet driven OS…

thats why Google has made an outcry yesterday saying that ‘the deal will affect the openness of Internet and could lead to monopoly’…MS responded well showing the statistics which says that already 75% of Internet search, advertisement and much more are occupied by Google…in countries like India, Internet advertisment is still a potential area to be tapped…so, its not a procrastinated move at all by MS…

meanwhile, Wallstreet Journal has reported that Google CEO Eric has personally called up Yahoo! and offered his unsolicited help to thwart MS’s plans…Yahoo! also feels that the valuation given by MS is not fair..an unofficial estimate by an analyst gives Yahoo! a share price of $39-$41 which is much more than what MS offers…

a clear picture on where this is heading to will be known by the end of this week…whatever be the dénouement of this, the Internet users should be benefited…thats what all I want…

P.S: Another set of users say that even if the deal is through, it might result in a ‘dias pora’ of Yahoo! employees to the rivalry Google deserting MS…one of the reasons they say is Yahoo! and Google follow a very casual dress code where as MS wants its associates to be completely formal….funny…

Indralogathil Na. Azhagappan – Is Vadivelu trying to swallow more than what he can?

Before I could write about this movie, I should first admit that I haven’t watched the movie yet and more importantly, I am not going to watch this movie. The information and comments that I am providing here are from various veritable sources including some of my friends who have watched the movie.

It is not new for Tamil industry for a comedian, villain or a director to try as hero. But they should not forget their limits and USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Vadivelu’s USP is comedy which is conspicuously lacking in this movie. After a ton in his first movie as a protagonist, Vadivelu fails to impress in his second innings…Director Thambi Ramiah had misconstrued the success of Imsai Arasan and made this movie as a message conveying media. Though Imsai Arasan had good messages to the society, the core of the movie was comedy. Where as, INA tries to preach and preach and preach rather than tickling our funny bones.

The story unfolds with Azhagappan, a drama artist running a small troop. When the celestial beauties Rambha, Menaha and Urvashi come to earth, Rambha gets dwelled into the acting of Vadivelu and forgets to return back to Indralogam on time. So, she gets penalized and becomes a statue on earth (adangappa…evlo naalaikku dhaan idhe kadhaya ottuveenga?). Vadivelu, as advised by his astrologer garlands the statue to be his first wife which brings Rambha back. Rambha takes Vadivelu to heaven and hell. Vadivelu is totally taken aback by the horrible conditions and wicked tortures at Yama loga and mutiny against it…the story ends in a positive note with what he was able to do…

Unrefutably, Vadivelu is a versatile actor…he carries away himself with finesse in all the 4 roles except that in Yama role he has acted for 10Rs where as his salary was 5 Rs…the director seems to have convinced that Vadivelu is the USP of the film and not comedy…there is an opening song for Vadivelu which is comparable to that of contemporary mass heroes…there’s an item number with Shriya…do we need all these in a comedy movie?…

Out and out, its not a comedy film…it has serious messages for the society interspersed with comedy scenes here and there…if you are looking for a mythological movie which sans logic or if you are overzealous about Vadivelu, you can watch the movie…if you are looking for a full length comedy, this movie is not worth the ticket price…some scenes really test your endurance to resist the temptation of going out of theater…

Positives: Sets, Vadivelu, Comedy (though very few)
Negatives: Music, prolix dialogues, myriad messages, ho-hum draggy scenes

Verdict: Indralogathil Na.Azhagappan is IMSAI

You can share your views if you have watched

P.S: Thala, ippdi usuppethi usuppethiye udamba rana kalam aakkidaraangale…paathu padhoosa irundhukkunga…aanaa, innamum indha oor ungala nambudhu…

A pretty middling weekend

After an exuberant Friday, I had a very serene, normal and to be honest a slothful weekend…though I had lots and lotsa things to be done, as usual my indolence has impeded…Did I ever tell how was my Friday?…after a long time, I was really enjoying to the core on a working day…our onsite magnanimous hearts have finally agreed to throw a party for the poor offshore people…since the available funds were not that great, we decided to have our outing at VGP resorts Chennai…we started from our office at 12:30 in the afternoon…I was amazed to know that our employer TCS has given 2 buses for our transportation (considering how it operates in recent days)…after a very mediocre lunch we played good cricket for nearly one and a half hours (after a really long time)…

I was given the responsibility of organizing the events (mainly team games)…we had usual games like tug of war, balloon burst and some more…but it was enjoyable as all these were happening on a working day :D…greatest part is that the bus just dropped me in front of my house without going back to office again….

So, what did I actually do in the weekend after that?…NOTHING…I had planned to watch Taare Zameen Par and ‘Indralogathil Naa Azhagappan’ (thank God I missed it) this weekend but some how couldn’t make it as the party has debilitated me…my whole body was anguishing as I played cricket after a really long time…I just stayed in house and wasted time yet again in Orkut…it is becoming an habituation these days…I should get out of it…

Interestingly, we decided to go out and have our food outside for our dinner today (Sunday)…when we were discussing the options, I suggested Sanjeevanam…I heard long back from one of my friends that they make delicious food…its a Vegetarian Natural food(??) restaurant having branches in Adyar and Nungambakkam…as they have written Natural food I was expecting something strange…to my surprise they had all dishes (North Indian, South Indian and even Chinese)…but all lacking the hotel touch which is the best part of it…all the items we had were tasty at the same time alimentary…for instance, they used Tofu instead of Panneer and Pepper instead of Chillis…though the service wasn’t appreciable, the food I would say was excellent…why can’t you try out once?…