A......chu......sniff....sniff....

The weather is getting to me right now. Had to take the day off yesterday trying to sleep it off(which didn't work out so good). Right now I am a little confused with the home remedies for it. In India my people say that one shouldn't drink anything cold or have ice cream if one has fever and cold but in American, people ask me drink liquids including those with ice in them to keep myself hydrated. Should I go with 'Mama knows best or ...' I like ice cream so I guess I go with that choice.

Is it just me or is that the job hunting phase always sucks. Well I am still learning lots of stuff that I need to know to get a job ... wait a minuite ... isn't my masters supposed to have prepared me for that ??

Thought for the day

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

24 There are four things which are little on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:
25 The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26 The rock badgers[b] are a feeble folk,
Yet they make their homes in the crags;
27 The locusts have no king,
Yet they all advance in ranks;
28 The spider[c] skillfully grasps with its hands,
And it is in kings' palaces.

Proverbs 30:24 - 28

Murdering a Language

Foreword : Before I start off, the above title is a literal translation of a Tamil saying. It is used when somebody makes a hilariously funny syntactic or semantic error in their speaking.

I just realized how non-native speakers of a language can twist a language when I was forwarded an email about the "golden utterances" of a person called Jeppiar in in Chennai(Madras). A virtually illiterate person he now owns and manages a host of educational institutions (Though this is not because of his educational skills but his political). Here is a selection of some of his best ...

* All of you, stand in a straight circle.

* The girl with the mirror please come her...{Meaning girl with specs).

* I talk, he talk, why you middle middle talk ?

* There is no wind in the balloon.

* You three of you, stand together separately.

* Open the doors of the window. Let the Air Force come in.

* Take Copper Wire of any metal especially of Silver.....

* Close the doors of the windows please. I have winter in my nose today

* Shhh...Quiet, boys...the principal just passed away in the corridor

* Once he had come late to a college function, by the time the function
had started, so he went to the dais, and said, sorry I am late, because on
the way my car hit 2 muttons (Meaning goats).

* You three of you, stand together separately.

I know and Understand that English is a descriptive language and that it offers a lot of poetic license but this is stretching it a little too far. But then the sun has set on the British Empire so I guess anything goes...

Who would have thought that they would have named a horse after me ... 

The eye of the storm - Hurricane Jeanne 

The 2004 Bowden bowl is ours!!!!!  

Last year's CCF Soccer team that lost some and drawed some. Guys and gals need the picture of this year's CCF flag football team that won some !!! 

Bloopers!!!

The following quotes are actual statements from insurance forms where car drivers tried to summarize accident details in as few words as possible.

1. Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.

2. The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intent.

3. I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.

4. In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

5. I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.

6. I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

7. I was on my way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.

8. My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle.

9. As I approached the intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no sign had ever appeared before, making me unable to avoid the accident.

10. I told the police I was not injured, but upon removing my hair, I found that I had a fractured skull.

11. I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.

12. I saw a slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car.

13. The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

14. I was thrown from my car as it left the road, and was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.

15. A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

16. I thought my window was down, but I found out it was up when I put my head through it.

17. To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian.

18. The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

19. The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him.

20. An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.

21. A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face.

22. I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.

Well that should keep the German's happy

Whiz kid who ?

Wish this was true ??

Reality TV - Indian style

This is a very unusual and sad story of a woman caught between two men. It also goes to shown that the public is a bunch of scoundrels. I wonder how much reality is too much. This story is a classic example of the conflict present in the Indian Judicial system where there is no Uniform civil code but a code according to a person's religion. Which is compounded by the fact that the religious interpreters are a bunch of fundamentalistic morons.

On a more lighter vein

I always suspected they were two blocks from the same rut(English translation of a Tamil proverb)

Help for the American reality TV contestant

The reality TV scene

Politics Indian 'ishstyle' and American 'style'

Indian 'ishstyle' 1 : Hold rallies with thousands of people b(r)ought to it.
American 'style' 1 : Hold Conventions with a boys choir and lots of hats.

Indian 'ishstyle' 2 : Have a 'apolitical' Yatra(tour) through the whole country to feel the common man's pulse
American 'style' 2 : Fly around the country on a private jumbo jet and feel the common man's pulse.

Indian 'ishstyle' 3 : The 'official' spending limit for the election is 7000$ constituency
American 'style' 3 : It goes in the millions

Indian 'ishstyle' 4 : Pay for the election using bribes and underhanded dealings
American 'style' 4 : Pay for elections using wife's fortune

Indian 'ishstyle' 5 : Main issue is 'National Security' and NOT the Nation
American 'style' 5 : Main issue is 'National Security' and NOT the Nation

Indian 'ishstyle' 6 : Main advertisements are posters on public walls
American 'style' 6 : Main advertisements are bumper stickers

Indian 'ishstyle' 7 : You can buy your votes
American 'style' 7 : You can buy your official

Indian 'ishstyle' 8 : Politics is hereditary if you have a 'Gandhi' surname
American 'style' 8 : Politics is hereditary if your from Texas and have oil in your blood

Indian 'ishstyle' 9 : Names on roll go missing in the cities
American 'style' 9 : Names on roll go missing in certain counties

Indian 'ishstyle' 10 : You can choose any fool from among the hundreds or thousands
American 'style' 10 : You have to choose between only two.

Licensed to kill ... do you see the killer in me ??? 

Strike 1

Well its a wonderful day out there and I have got a 90% on my IBM database associate certificate exam. One down and one more to go. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel ...

Did you know that buying prescription drugs from Canada is illegal. I wonder what the FDA would say about the tons of drugs that Indians bring into the US every time they come back from India. Meagan a Junior at FSU from Tally/Perry is livid about it, she says "... we SO should be able to buy prescription drugs from Canada ..." She says her prescription drug which costs 300$s here costs only 45$s on an online Canadian pharmacy. President Bush are you listening, this could be a section of your swing voters ...

Well I think as an Indian I am above the FDA (snickering), I just import drugs that are over the counter in India and prescribed here. There are only three general purpose drugs we usually bring. One magical tablet that can be used for various illness ranging from a small headache to fear to cold to ... another to take of the internal working of the body especially the stomach ... and a third I have no idea why I brought. Probably some of you are wondering if these three drugs are enough for all kinds of illness ... the answer is YES. Its a psychological thing, our bodies are tuned to it. My cousins who is a very successful software developer states "... I just don't understand why my headache can only be controlled by the drug I brought from India ... maybe its in my head ...".

In India every pharmacist is also a de facto physician. With a population of more than 1 billion we do need all the help we can get. Well these drugs that I had brought with me from India have names, my father used to tell of yesteryear when the drugs used to colour coded(in villages in India) with just three colours, all in liquid form. So everybody got a medicine which was a different combination of these three base medicines.

Well the number of tablets I have used from the hundreds I brought -- none

Laters

Driving to meet charley on Florida's turnpike 

School children call for cuts in math and Science Funding

Of course the heading is not true. But what a headlines it would have made. I am still in the learning black hole of life with no end in sight. The last weekend has been full of DB2 DBA stuff without my weekly dose of line dancing. How worse can it get. Can you believe that certificates have more value than your Master's degree when you are trying to get a job. Well I guess I'll just have to suck it up and study till I get a job ...

On the note of studying

Guess how new languages are born

Surviving Hurricanes 101

Become a reporter!! Have you ever wondered how these hurricanes don't seem to cause any damage to reporters. They stand there wearing their rain coats right next to the hurricane's land fall area with trees flying all around. I always thought they had a thick skull but now I know that they are thick all over.

FSU's President Mr. TK finally took his head out of B*** as my bro Joshua wanted him to and declared a holiday for Hurricane Ivan. I wonder why he took more time to decide on closing down for a hurricane than for a football game.

If you don't want your beach house to be blown away, don't build on the beach.

In the battle between human ingenuity and nature's fury the nature always wins

Its back to studying for me now. Can't believe that I am still studying after graduating!!

NoViCe

Religious freedom ...

Coming from a religiously diverse country like India and living in one, I have not really appreciated this particular freedom. And it may not be presumptuous in saying that most of us (Atleast people who are reading this) don't appreciate it.

This kind of apathy has allowed countries to take it for grated to trample on the religious freedom of the minority in this age of the common man. The US justice department's report has just brought Saudi Arabia into this group. It makes us wonder why Saudi Arabia was not singled out before. Was their oil enough to cover our eyes to their abuses ???

Religious repression is nothing new in that it has been followed by all races to promote their dominance, since time immemorial. This kind of repression has now been given a new meaning by people who want God out of every sphere of public life. They claim to be broadminded and enlightened, but are just as narrow minded as the religious heretics they claim to shun. By Shunning anything and everything to do with "God" they are not being as inclusive and liberal as they claim. Any society that claims to be religiously free must not just be either "Can't have prayer in school" kind or "Can have only one kind of prayer in school" kind.

How religious are you?

The Saudis reply.

The Chinese reply

What the Justice department missed

NoViCe

Africa

Considered the dark continent (I don't know if it is figurative or literal). Africa is so far removed from the rest of the world in terms of its economic and living conditions. You hear of the big nations talking about their relief packages and humanitarian aid, but I don't see any concerted efforts to see that the continent as a whole makes a stride towards a better life.

"Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for life "

I believe that there are some vested interests who want the continent of Africa to remain in the 'dark'. The only sure way to keep a people down is to make them eat out of your handouts and not help them to be self reliant. Compounding the fact is that most of us are in the dark about what really happens there. We don't care as long as we have food to eat and way of getting money.

Did you know that slavery is still practiced.

If you want to do your mite you can contribute to Hope for African children

Matthew 25 35-36
for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

Laters...

Grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory

This would be the refrain of every Seminole fan (I am chief among them) who watched the FSU vs Miami game. This game brought back painful memories of the Indian Cricket Team's losing tradition. This was chocking of the highest order. I just hope that they bounce back through the rest of the season.

Have you ever heard of a nagging wife?? Well this man was sick of it. I don't condone his actions though

what does 100 stand for ??

A little bit of politics. Do you know that there are
100 elected criminal politicians in the Federal Parliment of India??


How I wish that I could stand them all up in a straight line and mow them dow (Thats the devil in me speaking) ... all I am going to do is pray for now ... till I can get them to stand in a straight line.

NoViCe

International terrorism ...

Well the bush administration has doubled the number of deaths due to terrorism for last year to 625. I don't know if this estimate is an accurate one, (I think there are more deaths in India alone) but it does pose a question on the nature of enemy we are fighting. Gone are the days when the 'enemy' was a fellow nation state, the new 'enemy' has no such defined stature. Terrorist are various things to various people, some even call them freedom fighters and martyers. The latest major incident is the attack by chechen rebels in Russia which has left scores dead. The Russian Government calls them terrorists (which is obvious from the tag "rebel"), but for such an attack to be possible and for the movement to be sustained there has to be some other driving force ... a force we can only debate about ...

NoViCe

P.S : This was posted before in a different blog of mine

The joys of job hunting

Come to think of it I can't think of any. My job search has now exted to almost a month. I havn't been interviewed yet, that part will come once I finish my DB2 certification. Right now all I do is get read the DB2 handbook, work on the computer (I know people who know me would find that hard to believe) I do have my distractions, Harry Potter, Astrix, sleeping and last but not the least eating.

The long hiatus - 3

This is after the short hiatus. Life isgoing on pretty hectic what with learning DB2 DBA and trying to find a job. Continuning on with my tale ...

Meeting Charley

Following the graduation me a few friends of mine decided to go on a trip of florida. Nature did not take kindly to our plans and decided to send Mr. Hurrican charley our way. Undeterred as only the young and foolish can be we went ahead with our plan. It was quite an event full journey. I saw more of florida than in my entire two years there. The first port of call was Tampa, followed by Naples to meet John (My roomate who also happens to be a new bridegroom). Just as we reached Naples the evacuation order was given. We then decided to go to greener pastures ... the Miqusukee tribal reservation, where we were officially certified as Aligator catchers.

Or next station was going to be Key west with Homestead in between but aur attempts were thwarted by Charley. The course was then changed to go to Miami. The following morning we had wonderful and scenic drive down US highway 1 and A1A along the coast through Ft Lauderdale, West palm before we decided to meet our nemesis Charley at Orlando.

Charley struck Orlando 10 minuites after we found a shelter at Days Inn (this after searching for a place stay for almost an hour). We spent the night without current since Charley had decided that we didn't need it and struck the sub station right next to our hotel. I can't complain about it though, the wonderful green and blue spark when it struck the power line ... the tree flying across out window ... the low lying signal lights(maybe not that) ... the lightless restroom which had to be used with out closing the door ... and near lack of traffic on our side of the interstate as we left Orlando.

The final port of call was Perry, where Koshy annan got to strut off his guitar playing and singing abilities. It was whirlwind tour but it definitely was worth meeting Charley!!!!

The Strom Chasers

Koshy - Captain / Driver
Ulysses - Navigator with a limp
Akhilesh - The photographer / In house malayalee
Sandeep - Metrosexual / Guy who wants to be in the picture

Till Laters ...