Sibi

I missed out a few other places we visit but not so often as the others like ponnusamy, Kaaraikudi, Noodle house or Marrybrown. But that way I have to list another 10-20 places.

Anyway, Sibi is now going school without fussing about it and the good thing is he is enjoying a lot in school. He has a few friends in school and what I like is that lunch is given in school itself and it used to be such a big activity but now that he eats with the kids in school and he is eating regularly. Of course, he wants to go out and is now playing a lot of make-believe games. Like cooking or going to school/beach or just plain rhymes-singing. It never was so much fun to be with Sibi. He is so engaging and is ready to play all the time and is full of energy and fun. He learns new things every day and is very eager to share them also.

Eating out

When we were in US, eating out every week is like a ritual performed without fail and with dedication. Wherever we were, be it the LA/Atlanta suburbs or the poconos, we patronized the surrounding chinese/Thai/Malay and sometimes American eateries till we made friends with the waiters or moved on to a different place. We still think of the Fried rice in the Chin Chin or the Kung pao chicken in the Xian or the buffet in the China Buffet. So when we came to India, we wanted to continue the same spirit. Now, the regular eateries become Anjappar, Anjappar is a chettinad restaurant and I prefer the parottas, Sibi loves the fried rice here. Sangeetha/Saravana bhavan are our Veg alternatives and when my wife wants to eat a rava dosa or just plain veg food (like yesterday), we end up in these restaurants. What I have noticed is the veg food costs more than the non-veg restaurants mentioned above, especially Saravana Bhavan. There is a buffet in SB in the upper floor (Swathi) which serves some fantastic varieties of food. Then there is the occasional pizza from the Pizza Hut (which is preferred over others by Sibi and J). Instead of the crunchy chicken, Sibi likes the Teekha chicken now. And with the vadas and idlis from the nearby messes and hotels, the eating out never has been so much fun.

OMR and Romance

I travel by old mahabalipuram road everyday to office. Now the work has started on the IT corridor project which basically is expanding the now sorry excuse of a road into a six lane tollwwy by 2006. Its kind of surprising to the pace at which the project is executed. I am used to see huge tar machines making tar and a host of people working with jalli and sand for making roads when I grow up. Now all I see is huge machines which just dig and do whatever other stuff that is needed for road construction. The quality of roads is also a huge improvement from the older ones and I think if only we can make all the roads in the state with this quality, it will be a huge leap forward for the TN.

This week was a busy one with a lot of project related things going on simultaneously. Thus am having only less time to blog.

I am in the third part of the Ponniyin selvan and this is one book that never bores the reader. I just read probably the one part that is the romantic chapter written. This is the episode when Kundavai comes to prison to meet Vandhiyathevan and offers her hand. Probably the only other instance that compares with it when Arulmozhi rescues the sparrows coming in a elephant and the subsequent dialogs with Vanathy. Then probably we can include the love scenes in 'Ivan hoe' between Ivanhoe and Rowena. How can I forget the talk between Darcy and Eliza in 'Pride and prejudice' after they were engaged?. Probably I need to come up with the top 10 romantic scenes in literature. Now, thats a thought.

Why?

1. I was reading three books, as always, and that took the focus out of blogging.
I was reading 'A history of south India' by K.A.Nilakanta Sastri, 'Ponniyin Selvan' by Kalki and 'The DaVinci Code' by Dan Brown. Have finished the DaVinci code and 1 part of PS. I find it always easy to read books parallely than sequentially, since it enables me to compare the books and discard one if I dont find it as interesting as the others. Of course, 'history of India' has made me re-read Ponniyin Selvan after a long interval and it is as fresh as the first time I have read it back in 1987. Davinci Code was more of a curiosity to know all the controversies surrounding it and it was OK. I can totally see Tom Hanks seriously explaining everything about the pentacle to a pretty Audrey Tautou.

2. My father was not well.
Well, he had some tissue overgrowth coupled with a enlargement of the prostate coupled with a kidney stone. And so has to be operated and was in Hospital for about a week followed by a month of bed rest. Generally this is not a good month for me as I am spending more time in hospitals than in office.

Other than these, the regular project pressures and if you are not convinced of all these excuses, I admit that I am just too lazy to write. Any way, am having a few things in mind to write about and 'Ponniyin Selvan' is one of them. Soon.

Thiruvasagam..

Finally bought the 'Thirvasagam' by Illaiyaraaja CD. There is no 'in symphony' in the name of the CD as told by Raaja himself. It comes in a nice package with a booklet containing all the songs in the handwriting of Raaja. Heard the songs yesterday morning once I got up. I dont know where to start this. With praise for writing the songs which even after a 1000 years can be sung with a chorus in Budapest without any damage to the meaning and the reverence they invoke or the attempt by Raaja to take the songs and write music that transcends borders and inspire listeners without regard to the content of the songs. This is not your normal recitation of the songs in the traditional ways (On a different note, there was a beautiful rendition of 'Nalayira Divya Prabhantam' by the priests in the Perumal temple in Bridgewater,NJ which still is ringing in the ears!) but taking the songs and blending it with choruses and a 120 instruments to come up with awefully beautiful music that just blows one away. It is not sung in the traditional order also and Illaiyaraaja has taken some liberties to come up with the songs but he has sung them with fervor and his voice has made a big difference in the listening experiance. This is a must-have for anyone and BUY it.

Best of Software Writing

I am reading through a bunch of software essays collected and published by Joel Spolsky as a book. All these are available in web and are very creative and interesting. This page has a collection of links to all the essays and all of them are a must-read. If you want to read it as a book, buy it from Amazon. My favorite is the one about the search cow in Google. Definite to bring a smile to the face.


Seriously I was wondering why Microsoft takes so much of flak for everything. But then today, I was reading through a document in MS Word 2003 and the following pops-up into my face.
Mind you, I was only reading a design document and was not typing anything. Why in the world should I be interested in installing French Auto corrections in my PC while reading through a plain English document?. Annoying at the least and will make me rant for another 200 words at the most. Now I know.

கீழடி அருங்காட்சியகம்.

உலகம் முழுவதும் இருக்கும் பல அருங்காட்சியகங்களுக்கு சென்றிருக்கிறேன். நியூ யார்க், கத்தார், துபாய், வாஷிங்டன், லாஸ் ஏஞ்சல்ஸ் போன்ற நகரங்களின...