<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255</id><updated>2012-02-11T11:26:51.648-08:00</updated><category term='Barkha Dutt'/><category term='The Travails of Single South Indian men of conservative upbringing'/><category term='Bangalore'/><category term='communication skills'/><category term='scary movies'/><category term='Memento'/><category term='Wildlife Safari'/><category term='White water rafting'/><category term='Chennai'/><category term='IT industry'/><category term='Shivasamudram'/><category term='Bheemeswari'/><category term='Ghajini'/><category term='Coorg'/><category term='Madikeri'/><category term='Grudge review'/><category term='October 27 2006'/><category term='Talacauvery'/><category term='bannerghatta park'/><title type='text'>My musings</title><subtitle type='html'>musing(s):- [dictionary says] absorbed in thought; meditative; contemplation; reflection</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>12</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-6597523036406076564</id><published>2008-11-06T21:39:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-11-11T01:01:52.750-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Memento'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Ghajini'/><title type='text'>Memento to Ghajini (Tamil) to Ghajini(Hindi)</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Memento - 2000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0vS0E9bBSL0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0vS0E9bBSL0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Memento, by Christopher Nolan, impressed me so much that the effect of the movie played in my mind even after months from watching it. It opened the doors of non-mainstream cinema that I was not aware of till then. The narration, the very concept and acting were simply world class. It is after this movie that I started hitting imdb.com and started watching movies that were critically acclaimed but not so commercially successful. Memento is a movie where a person gets into a state of short-term memory loss after a accident in which his wife is also murdered. How he finds the murderer in such a state and kills him forms the plot of the movie. Guy Pearce played the main role and the movie also featured Carrie-Anne Moss of Matrix fame. Overall, an excellent attempt by director Christopher Nolan.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I first saw the stills of Ghajini, the AR Murugadoss-Surya movie,I knew it was a remake of Memento. I was sure that the original movie is going to get spoilt with songs, unwanted explanations and masala scenes and the movie lived true to my belief. Especially the climax was pathetic and for all the Memento fans I am sure it would have left a bad taste. Now the movie is to be remade in Hindi with Aamir Khan. Aamir is known for the quality and perfection in movies and lets hope he does a better job. But still, Im sure, nothing can beat the original Memento.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ghajini - Tamil (2005)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4Rfd1Hv-8i4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4Rfd1Hv-8i4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ghajini - Hindi (2008)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4NloD2fc6PU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4NloD2fc6PU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-6597523036406076564?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/6597523036406076564/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=6597523036406076564' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/6597523036406076564'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/6597523036406076564'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2008/11/memento-to-ghajini.html' title='Memento to Ghajini (Tamil) to Ghajini(Hindi)'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-7374346040260641689</id><published>2008-11-05T03:16:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-11-11T01:30:17.071-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shivasamudram'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='White water rafting'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bheemeswari'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bangalore'/><title type='text'>White water rafting in Bheemeswari near Bangalore</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKGQFzP3hI/AAAAAAAAACk/vb4kItuk5zc/s1600-h/DSC00916.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265418525342686738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKGQFzP3hI/AAAAAAAAACk/vb4kItuk5zc/s320/DSC00916.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKF030FdzI/AAAAAAAAACU/3OcBU-p2PUI/s1600-h/DSC00896.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265418057731634994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKF030FdzI/AAAAAAAAACU/3OcBU-p2PUI/s320/DSC00896.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKF0t29wZI/AAAAAAAAACM/Innwv7wTZnE/s1600-h/DSC00913.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265418055059358098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKF0t29wZI/AAAAAAAAACM/Innwv7wTZnE/s320/DSC00913.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Last week I went for white water rafting to a place near Bheemeswari, which is around 110 km from bangalore. The place is called Fishing camp and is on the banks of river Kaveri. Sivasamudram another famous tourist spot is about 50 kms from this place. We took a taxi from Bangalore and it takes a good 2 1/2 hours to reach the spot. The route is well marked with signboards and you will not miss the boards with the distance written for Fishing camp. We started around 8:15 from Marathahalli, the place where we stayed in bangalore, and it was around 12:15 when we reached the spot. This duration was after we picking a friend on the way and also a small search for the exact spot after reaching Bheemeswari. .&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;The Rafting @ Bheemeswari is conducted on two batch basis with one batch starting in the morning and the other in the afternoon. We had our rafting scheduled in the afternoon session that starts around 2:30 PM. Not knowing the exact time details, we had to spend some good two hours wandering around the place. But the place is very good and refreshing and kept us occupied during this wait. The package cost of Rs.900 and includes the lunch that we had around 2 PM after some wait. The lunch was quite good considering my other experiences in such tourist spots. It was South Indian buffet type meal with Rice, sambar, rasam, chappathi, sabji and dhal. Would advice people to opt this as there are no restaurants around.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;The Rafting there consists of three rafts with each holding a maximum of 8 persons (This ofcourse can change if more rafts are added in the future). But, we were a group of six people and took a single raft. The person count does not include the guide who normally sits in the tip of the raft controlling the speed and direction of the raft. All the guides were well seasoned and were able to handle the sail with care and good humour. I especially liked the way they handled the tourists with every effort to make the trip a memorable one for them. The total rafting lasted for around 1 1/2 hours for a distance of around 10 KM. The rafting was not very tough and does not require one to take any professional training, or for that matter even knowledge in swimming. It could be done very easily as I saw one accompanying raft occupied with women and young college girls. It was great fun wearing those protective jackets and helmets for rafting and it also ensured the trip was very safe. Since the rafting was done in the month of November the waves were not very rough as it would have been in the case of August-September rainy season. To sum it all, it was a wonderful experience and worth the money. The most forgettable part of the trip was the jeep ride which took us back to the starting point after completion of rafting. We are made to get on a open jeep packed with people and it takes us back through the bumpy roads of Bheemeswari. It made sure that every join in the body pains at the end of the trip. We finally took a tea and signed off from Bheemeswari.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;The total cost of the trip came around Rs.1300 that included the taxi cost and cost for rafting. We did a mistake of taking a sales agency "CareIndia" (&lt;a href="http://www.careindia.in/"&gt;http://www.careindia.in/&lt;/a&gt;) for booking the trip which cost us extra Rs. 250 out of the cost of Rs.900. The best thing to do is to contact the Rafting office directly and make the booking. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Overall it was a very pleasant and memorable trip with friends. I would especially recommend this to the IT folks who need a refreshing and different trip with friends. This will definitely be a very good break from compared to the time you spend in front of monitor and will also be a trip to remember.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-7374346040260641689?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/7374346040260641689/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=7374346040260641689' title='13 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/7374346040260641689'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/7374346040260641689'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2008/11/white-water-rafting-in-bheemeswari-near.html' title='White water rafting in Bheemeswari near Bangalore'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SRKGQFzP3hI/AAAAAAAAACk/vb4kItuk5zc/s72-c/DSC00916.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>13</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-4328850887533699465</id><published>2008-10-14T03:48:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-31T02:00:19.388-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='bannerghatta park'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Wildlife Safari'/><title type='text'>Bannerghatta park - Good, if combined with some other place</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSIEtqvvGI/AAAAAAAAABs/uKJ985BIM2c/s1600-h/DSC00804.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256976279607950434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSIEtqvvGI/AAAAAAAAABs/uKJ985BIM2c/s320/DSC00804.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSHDjydb4I/AAAAAAAAABc/Xx_9keD4p_s/s1600-h/DSC00809.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256975160264454018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSHDjydb4I/AAAAAAAAABc/Xx_9keD4p_s/s320/DSC00809.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSHDwsAAjI/AAAAAAAAABk/aUIns2splX4/s1600-h/DSC00796.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256975163727020594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSHDwsAAjI/AAAAAAAAABk/aUIns2splX4/s320/DSC00796.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSCLq28gqI/AAAAAAAAABU/zH1BhmzO4bI/s1600-h/DSC00807.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Bannerghatta park is situated about 20 kms from bangalore city. Main attraction is a wildlife safari where you can sight animals while travelling in caged vans of forest department. It's a park where, tigers and lions are caged but kept in vast open area, giving you a feel that you are seeing them in open. At the end of safari you get nice open sitout area where you can chitchat. A park is also present for children to play. It also has a butterly park with museum that seems to have been opened quite recently. Commutation to the park is very simple even in public transport. We took a bus from bannerghatta junction and it takes only about 20 minutes to reach the park. If you have a private vehicle the entire trip could be completed within 3 hours. But, private vehicles are not allowed inside the safari trip. The main thing you have to look out is if its a government holiday, as it was in our case (Oct2), then be prepared for some waiting for the safari as there will be lot of families coming to this place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;I went with my friends and had a good outing on a saturday evening. My advice would be that its a sure go if you are going with one's family and children. If you are going with friends then its better to combine this place with a lunch or some other place as there is nothing much other than the safari.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-4328850887533699465?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/4328850887533699465/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=4328850887533699465' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/4328850887533699465'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/4328850887533699465'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2008/10/bannerghatta-park-good-if-combined-with.html' title='Bannerghatta park - Good, if combined with some other place'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SPSIEtqvvGI/AAAAAAAAABs/uKJ985BIM2c/s72-c/DSC00804.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-115210432734173648</id><published>2006-07-05T05:19:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-31T06:39:34.822-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Barkha Dutt'/><title type='text'>English - modern divider of Indian society</title><content type='html'>Came across an article written by Barkha Dutt. She states how english has become a divider in Indian society and how it divides people in class and caste lines. Good one .. read on ..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***********************************************&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of the most awkward - and yet, strangely compelling - things about journalism is that sometimes your work makes you hold a mirror to your own life. This past week, a quiet, but determined 16-year-old became an unexpected reflection of my education. I have always believed that my school and college years were the first architects of my personality; like every middle-class Indian, I take pride in where I studied and what I was taught. And yet, the gentle idealism of this young girl made me pause to wonder: Had my public-school education been shamefully elitist? At first, the story seemed straightforward enough. Garima Godara, a CBSE topper, with an astonishing 97.6 per cent had taken the entrance exam for the Delhi Public School (Dwarka), the school closest to her village. The daughter of a police constable who earned less than Rs 6,000 a month, the school's fees would have been a problem. But the family was undeterred; perhaps there would be a scholarship or a loan; surely the school would be keen to admit the girl who had topped the national capital's merit list. Garima's proud father had spent months battling the entrenched patriarchy of his peers, fending off nosy neighbours who gossiped about why she didn't spend enough time in the kitchen. Now, he was even more determined to give his daughter the best education her marks could buy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This could have been the story of New India and its emerging, self-made middle class; a proud milestone for a country that dares to dream. Instead, here's what happened: DPS turned her down. Her results were good, it conceded. But marks aren't everything, said the school principal to NDTV, and besides, her English was poor, and just didn't cut the grade. Later, listening to Garima in the studio, it was hard not to feel both angry and moved. Angry because of the obvious injustice: not only was she as bright as her results indicated; there was nothing about her spoken English that suggested that she would have been unable to keep pace with the syllabus. Yes, she spoke with a regional accent that some would consider insufficiently sophisticated. But there was no doubt that she could not only follow a complex argument, she could also make herself understood to any English speaker. But it was her calm that was almost heart breaking; a quiet courage that belied her teen years. It was almost as if we were more outraged and indignant than she was. During the course of the programme, a principal from a well-known school in Dehradun called in, offering her admission and a scholarship; others promised to get DPS to change its mind. But betraying only the slightest sense of hurt, she said firmly that her aim now was to show DPS that she would do better than any of its students. She had already got herself admitted to another school, and DPS could quite simply, take a walk.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As she spoke, viewers clearly shared my anger. The online poll showed that 90 per cent of viewers believed that the English language exerted a disproportionate influence over the education system. Yet, were we all being hypocritical and dishonest? This time it was DPS under the microscope, but were any of us any different? Let's say she continued to do outstandingly well in school. The next stage would be college. I pictured her trying to take the entrance interview at my old college, Delhi's St Stephen's. Would she get in? And even if she made the cut, how would other students react to her presence? Would they admire her for her academic brilliance? Or would they snigger at her accent, titter each time she made a grammatical error and then, melt away, leaving her alone to find her own friends?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Garima's story is a metaphor for India's twisted tryst with the future. I learnt after the programme was over - and it is significant that neither she nor her parents brought this up themselves - that she is an OBC. For some months now, as the debate over reservation has raged, opponents of the quotas have made the same point again and again: we should be a society where merit matters. It's a compelling argument, and one that I have personally supported. But what do the anti-quota street fighters have to say now? Here's a girl who competed in the mainstream, her own Hindi medium DAV pitched against the trendier, richer, big names. But her merit was swallowed up by prejudice. Is it any wonder then that supporters of reservation believe that the system is stacked against them, and that merit is a con-word used by upper-caste tricksters? Her story is also a scathing comment on the class divide in India. It is fashionable for marketeers and economists to talk about the burgeoning middle class. Each day a new figure is conjured up to demonstrate the size of the Indian market, and the clout of the new middle class; is it 250 million this week or has it already reached 300 million? We embrace these statistics, because we like the idea of India as this century's favourite financial destination. We feel flattered when Time magazine puts our country on its cover, and we talk glibly, especially to foreigners, of social mobility and how the gap between the rich and poor is closing; we argue that India's tomorrow is being built by its industrious and enterprising middle class, and we feel like the future is unfolding, right here and right now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But here's what we never admit. We're just the worst sorts of snobs. The social mobility of the last decade has meant that the new middle class does not consist of people like us. Instead, it is made up of people like Garima, who we still find excuses to exclude; we sneer at their lack of Westernized sophistication; make fun of their accents, and we try and ensure that our children have nothing to do with theirs. Finally, Garima's story exposes India's paradoxical relationship with the English-language. Nobody in the world speaks English like us. We have our own idioms, our own words and our own accents.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We pretend to love our own English and brag about how it is India's great selling point; the reason we dominate the global outsourcing business. But of course deep down we know that our English is not the English that the West really wants. And so, each time we talk to Britons or Americans, we subtly alter our diction and inflection. When we set up our call centers, we drop the subtlety entirely and start accent classes to teach our young people to abandon the speech patterns of our own society and to migrate to a virtual, linguistic middle America, where they become impersonators of people they will never meet and never know. But within India, we still treat our own English as the great social decider. We laugh at regional accents, smirk at those who make grammatical errors and feel most at home with those who talk like us. Everyone else belongs on the other side of the English divide. And as it turns out, the other side of the class and caste divide as well. Maybe we cling so tightly to this tiny community because secretly we are just insecure. Outside of our little bubble, India is changing. Every major institution in recent times - Parliament, the bureaucracy, the military, our colleges and schools - is being forced to re-write the rules. A new breed of Indians who no longer look towards the West for self-affirmation, is making its presence felt. We like to call this a decline in quality. But actually, it's the rest of India waiting to get in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How long are we going to keep the gates shut?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Barkha Dutt&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Managing Editor, NDTV 24x7&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saturday, June 24, 2006&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-115210432734173648?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/115210432734173648/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=115210432734173648' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/115210432734173648'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/115210432734173648'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2006/07/english-modern-divider-of-indian.html' title='English - modern divider of Indian society'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-114726641715221753</id><published>2006-05-10T06:03:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-16T10:06:46.940-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Fighting Inertia</title><content type='html'>Back after a long hiatus. Its been such a long, long time since i blogged. Sometimes you force yourself into a such a fixed cycle that doing even a small work outside becomes so difficult. My job was really after me for the last four months. From morning to evening this was my flow .. get up, go to work, slog hard , come home late, go to sleep .. Saying this i still believe I should have taken some time off and concentrated on many more things. Its more of lack of will than lack of time. Now I have decided to force a routine which includes a lot than just job. Let me see ....&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-114726641715221753?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/114726641715221753/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=114726641715221753' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/114726641715221753'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/114726641715221753'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2006/05/fighting-inertia.html' title='Fighting Inertia'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-113121258186000170</id><published>2005-11-05T09:38:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-07-31T06:40:29.754-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chennai'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='October 27 2006'/><title type='text'>Chennayil Oru Mazhaikalam</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2389/1512/1600/rainInChennai.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 282px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 219px" height="240" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2389/1512/320/rainInChennai.jpg" width="307" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Chennai had not received any substantial rainfall in last few years due to failed monsoons. October-November is the monsoon season and the only source of water for this city and successive failures ensured prolonged dryness. When any forecast of heavy rain is predicted it was a subject of joke and usually considered as a sign of no rain :-). With rapidly growing population, underground water table in most parts of the city had come down alarmingly. Sea water has entered in some areas. There was severe water shortage and people standing with water pots had become synonymous with the city. To compound it you have treacherous summer which can make you look like grilled chicken with a few minutes travel under sun.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This time too, as in the past few years, it was a routine and normal monsoon with isolated rain spread over the city. When all hope of good rainfall was lost, came the D-day. The weather forecast predicted heavy rain fall as a low pressure area was seen near the city. As usual people left their umbrellas and went to office. But, this time around the forecast came true, in fact more than true. The day before the rain I was traveling back home from office and was able to see continuous and widespread rain. I knew it was a sign of heavy rain but did not expect in such a large scale. On October 27 the clouds opened all gates and rain water flooded most parts of the city. Rain was pouring continuously and let me tell you it did not stop for even a second. 21 cm of rainfall fell in less than 5 hours. I felt that a Mumbai flood was in the making. The place where I live, North Chennai, was affected the most as it is a low lying area. It looked like islands with water everywhere and houses in between them. Other parts of the city were spared neither. Water upto hip level water in front of my office in T Nagar, which is situated in the heart of the city. In between this rain we were continuously in touch with my cousin’s family who live in Korattur, a very low lying area. Around 11 am water entered his house and I went there to help keep household things in an elevated place and bring them to my house. What I saw there was painful. Water of around two feet has entered most of the houses. People living in ground floor have evacuated their homes and have either gone to first floor or have left to their relatives or friends place. People who are supposed to be well-to-do were fleeing like have-nots. It was such a sad sight to watch. It was worse in slums as water has entered their huts. For the first time in my life I prayed for the rain to stop as I really got bored with such incessant rainfall. Electricity was cut the entire day and I was listening to news in Radio. Finally the rain relented at night to much relief of chennaites.&lt;br /&gt;The next day looked completely different. Water started to recede from residential places and most of the important roads looked dry. The City Corporation officials had pumped out water from some important road junctions and made sure the city is up and running. It was nice to see such a splendid job from them in a crisis situation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-113121258186000170?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/113121258186000170/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=113121258186000170' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/113121258186000170'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/113121258186000170'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/11/chennayil-oru-mazhaikalam.html' title='Chennayil Oru Mazhaikalam'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-112828068926281132</id><published>2005-10-02T11:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-29T08:20:30.218-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='IT industry'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='communication skills'/><title type='text'>Mind Your Language</title><content type='html'>I was lying on my bed and lazily surfing through the channels. It was NDTV and [as usual :-)] a chat show was going on. This one involved school children who were discussing topics in current affairs. They were all by themselves with no anchor around. What caught my attention is they were chatting on topics like bureaucracy, democracy, judiciary and the words they used were no mean. Mind you, it was not cosmetic words with no meaning but meaningful comments made with impressive fluency. It made a big impact on me. This is how good communication can help you. English communication means a lot in new economy industries. If you are from IT industry and have good vocabulary skills, or lack of it, then you know what I mean. If you are technically good, you are on board, but if are technically good and have excellent communication then you are most sought after and can thrive here. I am very new to IT but still can see the advantage it offers to you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently IT is the only industry which is generating jobs with good salary in India and it demands fluency in English. What is boon to the urban class here is turning out to be a distance reach in rural areas. I grew up in metropolitan Chennai but my roots lie in village south of Madurai. I can clearly see the difficulty faced by students from my village to get a break in this industry. Lack of communication makes a job in software industry a distance dream for them. But, one small * condition for this observation: If you are big mouthed and empty minded, technical jargons may not help you for too long. Soon people will realize you are just gassssss ....&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-112828068926281132?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/112828068926281132/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=112828068926281132' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112828068926281132'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112828068926281132'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/10/mind-your-language.html' title='Mind Your Language'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-112784566950475446</id><published>2005-09-27T11:22:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-31T06:44:14.905-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='scary movies'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Grudge review'/><title type='text'>Scary Movies</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;I am a proud movie buff and it remains as one of my favorite pastimes. Be it classics like Godfather, scifi like Matrix, as confusing as Memento, animations from Pixar, movies of my favourite director Mani Ratnam, Romantic movies of Shah Rukh, talent show of Kama Haasan or pure entertainers of Rajini.. I like them all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Recently I went for this movie “Grudge”, a remake of Japanese flick Ju-on and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I am a fan of horror movies but dint have great expectations for this one. The movie revolves around a haunted house where a young mother is murdered along with her son. Years later, an American family moves into the house. How the spirits terrorize them  forms the rest of the movie. It seemed to be a good plot but was spoiled by some bad scenes and poor climax. The first scene where a man, haunted by the ghost, jumps out of his balcony was more like a comedy than a horror. It really brought peels of laughter from the audience. Then the movie was paced well and makes you gripped with the seat. But to completely spoil it, the movie had a fragmented climax. I have heard of suspense in films but in this one the director has hided the entire climax from the audience. When Sarah burns the haunted house, the screen goes black and finally she is seen standing with the ghost in a Hospital. Nowadays directors seem to be not able to tell their story in a single film. They definitely want a trilogy out of anything. Still, its a movie which would thrill you in the darkness of the theater and different from the routine movies. In fact that’s why I really like horror films. Its exciting when you watch them on giant screen. Some of my favorite films in this genre include "The Ring" and Ram Gopal Varma’s "Booth". Both were real scary experiences in theater. Hope to see more as good as these.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-112784566950475446?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/112784566950475446/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=112784566950475446' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112784566950475446'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112784566950475446'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/09/scary-movies.html' title='Scary Movies'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-112750196598632272</id><published>2005-09-23T11:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-09-23T12:04:01.076-07:00</updated><title type='text'>A BlogRoll at night</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Its 12 in the night and im yet to get sleep. By the way it is not something unusual as me going to bed is steadily getting delayed ever since I joined college. I want to post something in my blog before going to sleep but donno what to post . I am new to blogging and nothing is coming spontaneously. When I actually started blogging I was thinking this as a form of scribble pad where I will post whatever I feel. My joy, fun, frustrations and blah…blah….But trust me its not easy to do some retrospection of things and post them so easily. Saying this I lazily opened the browser and typed Blogger.com. I dint know what exactly im goin to do but as the website opened, I noticed two pretty links sitting in the middle “Random Blogs” and “Blogs of Note”. Well! Finally a chance to find what others have in their blogs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I clicked Random blog and it unlocked to me some really good scribblings or should I say blogging. The very first blog I saw had a solution to Iraq problem. It read “Iraq needs people who socialize and not who throw bombs” …. hmm..should be sent to UN for a resolution. “After reading several of my previous posts, it has come to my attention that my writing, dripping with mild sarcasm, generally pines after opportunities unrealized, and that I seem unsatisfied with my life” opined another. A humble retrospection indeed. Then there were hundreds of blogs mourning and trying to draw your attention to the victims of Katrina. “Everything is funny as long as it happens to someone else” says Jessie, a caring person from US. And there were funny postings too “they named a hurricane after my ex-mother-in-law, and if you know anything about mothers-in-law, then you know where I stand on this issue”. Then you have the Zimmers of Deutschland, Petits of France and Baggio of Italy posting in their native language. There was another interesting person who gave “A digital recording of an analogue life” as the title to his blog. Now take a sample of a person who thinks differently “Because of the rotation of the earth, an object can be thrown farther if it is thrown west. Now if I could only work out which way west was...”. Funny things apart some of the blogs I read today were really fantastic. It makes me feel that they could have made a profession out of it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;and finally i got something to post.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-112750196598632272?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/112750196598632272/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=112750196598632272' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112750196598632272'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112750196598632272'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/09/blogroll-at-night.html' title='A BlogRoll at night'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-112637910562865036</id><published>2005-09-10T11:52:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-31T06:46:33.327-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Coorg'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Madikeri'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Talacauvery'/><title type='text'>A Trip to Coorg</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2389/1512/1600/IruppuFalls1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="242" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2389/1512/320/IruppuFalls1.jpg" width="287" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;What do you expect on a trip made on a holiday weekend, with only travel tickets, no proper accommodation booked, destination you have no idea about, cunning tourist agents (who throng any tourist place nowadays) and local language alien to you. Yeah!!!, you are right.. Damned!!!. But wait! I dint make this trip with my family, but with friends, and now, it becomes a adventure :-). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mission Coorg&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Coorg is a green hilltop near Mysore in the southernmost part of Karnataka. Dressed in green, its a soothing sight for a guy from the urban jungle. I was there in the month of August which was the time when monsoon had just ended. We were a group of seven all from the same college. We started from Mysore to Madikeri, the main town in Coorg district, and the place we planned to stay. Kabini dam and Tibetian camp are on the way to Madikeri. Kabini dam is an awful sight and Tibetian Camp has a golden Buddhist Monastery. We reached Madikeri and with great difficulty we found accomodation.&lt;br /&gt;The next day we went to Talacauvery, the place where River Cauvery originates. It’s the peak of Coorg and also houses a temple for Mother Cauvery. From there we left to Iruppu Falls which was a good 90 Kms from Talacauvery. The place where we stayed was near to the Falls and we were able to hear the sound of river flowing behind throughout the night. It is one of the most scenic places where you can stay. We stayed the night there and visited the Falls the next morning. As expected it was wild and we were not able to have bath. We left Iruppu and left straight to Wildlife Sanctuary. We could sight Deer, Bison and Elephants. After doing a little Photo session we left to Mysore station.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What seemed to be great confusion, turned out to be a different experience and good fun. With a fun loving gang around it was huge chunk of jokes which we laughed out during our return journey. Not to forget Strangers turned Saviors, whom we met courtesy poor planning and who helped us when we needed help in getting accommodation (Jickson) and travel(Arvind).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-112637910562865036?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/112637910562865036/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=112637910562865036' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112637910562865036'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112637910562865036'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/09/trip-to-coorg.html' title='A Trip to Coorg'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-112611933067686494</id><published>2005-09-07T11:14:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-31T06:48:21.998-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='The Travails of Single South Indian men of conservative upbringing'/><title type='text'>Preface</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At last I made it!! I have been thinking about this for quite some time now. The first time I heard about it was a year back when a friend of mine sent an article which he said he got from a “blog”. Ever since I have been hearing this name quite frequently and found that it is the hottest thing around. The concept looked novel and I wanted to create one of my own.The article which my friend sent was also one of the wittiest real life writings I have ever read. In my workplace i found a lot of my colleagues doing blogs with zeal and commitment. Special mention should be made of Mali, Karthik and Guru who have done a great job. Now, let me try my hand on this. I will put that article which inspired me a lot and will soon follow with thoughts of my own.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;"The Travails of Single South Indian men of conservative upbringing" or "Why we don't get any..."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After spending much time in movie theatres, cafes and restaurants I have gathered many insights into the endless monotony that is the love life of south Indian men. What I have unearthed is most disheartening. Disheartening because comprehension of these truths will not change our status anytime soon. However there is also cause for joy. We never stood a chance anyway. What loads the dice against virile, gallant, well educated, good looking, sincere mallus and tams? (Kandus were once among us, but Bangalore has changed all that.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our futures are shot to hell as soon as our parents bestow upon us names that are anything but alluring. I cannot imagine a more foolproof way of making sure the child remains single till classified advertisements or that maternal uncle in San Francisco thinks otherwise. Name him "Parthasarathy Venkatachalapthy" and his inherent capability to combat celibacy is obliterated before he could even talk. He will grow to be known as Partha. Before he knows, his smart, seductively named northy classmates start calling him Paratha. No woman in their right minds will go anyway near poor Parthasarathy. His investment banking job doesn't help either. His employer loves him though. He has no personal life you see. By this time the Sanjay Singhs and Bobby Khans from his class have small businesses of their own and spend 60% of their lives in discos and pubs. The remaining 40% is spent coochicooing with leather and denim clad muses in their penthouse flats on Nepean Sea Road. Business is safely in the hands of the Mallu manager. After all with a name like Blossom Babykutty he cant use his 30000 salary anywhere. Blossom gave up on society when in school they automatically enrolled him for Cookery Classes. Along with all the girls.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes my dear reader, nomenclature is the first nail in a coffin of neglect and hormonal pandemonium. In a kinder world they would just name the poor southern male child and throw him off the balcony. "Yes appa we have named him Goundamani..." THUD. Life would have been less kinder to him anyway.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If all the women the Upadhyays, Kumars, Pintos and, god forbid, the Sens and Roys in the world have met were distributed amongst the Arunkumars, Vadukuts and Chandramogans we would all be merry casanovas with 3 to 4 pretty things at each arm. But alas it is not to be. Of course the south Indian women have no such issues. They have names which are like sweet poetry to the ravenous northie hormone tanks. Picture this: "Welcome, and this is my family. This is my daughter Poorni (what a sweet name!!) and my son Ponnalagusamy (er.. hello..).." Cyanide would not be fast enough for poor Samy. Nothing Samy does will help him. He can pump iron, drive fast cars and wear snazzy clothes, but against a braindead dude called Arjun Singhania he has as much chance of getting any as a Benedictine Monk in a Saharan Seminary.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Couple this with the other failures that have plagued our existence. Any attempt at spiking hair with gel fails miserably. In an hour I have a crown of greasy, smelly fibrous mush. My night ends there. However the northy just has to scream "Wakaw!!!" and you have to peel the women off him to let him breathe. In a disco while we can manage the medium hip shake with neck curls, once the Bhangra starts pumping we are as fluid as cement and gravel in a mixer. Karan Kapoor or Jatin Thapar in the low cut jeans with chaddi strap showing and see through shirt throws his elbows perfectly, the cynosure of all attention. The women love a man who digs pasta and fondue. But why do they not see the simple pleasures of curd rice and coconut chutney? When poor Senthilnathan opens his tiffin box in the office lunch room his female coworkers just dissappear when they see the tamarind rice and poppadums. The have all rematerialised around Bobby Singh who has ordered in Pizza and Garlic bread. (And they have the gall to talk of foreign origin.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How can a man like me brought up in roomy lungis and oversized polyester shirts ever walk the walk in painted on jeans (that makes a big impression) and neon yellow rib hugging t shirts? All I can do is don my worn "comfort fit" jeans and floral shirt. Which is pretty low on the "Look at me lady" scale, just above fig leaf skirt and feather headgear a la caveman, and a mite below Khakhi Shirt over a red t shirt and baggy khakhi pants and white trainers a la Rajni in "Badsha".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Alas dear friends we are not just meant to set the nights on fire. We are just not built to be "The Ladies Man". The black man has hip hop, the white man has rock, the southie guy only has idlis and tomato rasam or an NRI account in South Indian Bank Ernakulam Branch. Alas as our destiny was determined in one fell swoop by our nomenclature, so will our future be. A nice arranged little love story. But the agony of course does not end there. On the first night, as the stud sits on his bed finally within touching distance and whispers his sweet desires into her delectable ear, she blushes, turns around and whispers back "But amma has said only on second saturdays..."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-112611933067686494?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/112611933067686494/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=112611933067686494' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112611933067686494'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112611933067686494'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/09/preface.html' title='Preface'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16073255.post-112550176126233493</id><published>2005-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-08-31T08:22:41.266-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Preview</title><content type='html'>Watch out!!!!!!!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/16073255-112550176126233493?l=pandiarajan.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/feeds/112550176126233493/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16073255&amp;postID=112550176126233493' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112550176126233493'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/16073255/posts/default/112550176126233493'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://pandiarajan.blogspot.com/2005/08/preview.html' title='Preview'/><author><name>Pandia</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03327408042696179972</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8jS7Sf5IEI/SI8h4hPdyoI/AAAAAAAAAAo/9aDXQ2f9h0o/S220/DSC00405.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
