1st Janaury 2007

This was my first Christmas and New Year celebration away from my family. Also, the second one away from place where I was born - Tuticorin. The first one was when I did my 10th grade, I had to stay back in Nilgiris for my special classes. I've successfully completed 2 months in Hyderabad now, got accustomed to the food, climate, shelter and everything. The worst part in food is, all hotels add a pinch of sugar to every dish. Crazy cooking recipes they follow, sugar-in-every-dish. I still remember the first day when I tasted sambar in a hotel, I was like - where's the Chef?

31st December 2006, 9:30 PM.
2006 will be history in few hours. I was flat in my bed thinking about all the ebbs and tide I've been through the year. I sure didn't wanna start my new year 2007 in my bed. I wanted to go to the church. But, the one that I usually go will have it's new year service only the next morning, 7:30 AM and I was not willing to wait until then. I still had a choice. I knew the service in AG church was scheduled to begin at 11:30 PM. My room mate had told me this; yeah, I stayed in YMCA , ClockTower, Secunderabad.

I jumped out of my bed and started getting ready. I very well knew that there would be no seat left if I were to be late. My room mate should have reached there already. I took a quick bath, donned my new clothes and was ready within minutes. But, there was a little problem.

"I didn't knew where the Church was" :-D

I was not willing to giveup. My room mate had shown me the direction of the road which leads to the church days back and I thought I will get some help from the people on the way if I should get lost. With my Bible in my hand I started walking.

I reached the first signal on my way. There were police men standing on the road and the security was tight as it was New Year's eve. I went to them and asked them "where is Millennium Garden ?" (this is where AG church is held). They didn't seem to know it, they were not the regular policemen of that area. Also, there were several party halls and celeberation gardens in the vincity, they looked confused. I said it's alright and started moving

I kept my head high while I walked just to make sure that I don't reveal myself to be from some other state. I wanna show I am a hyderabadi. It was almost 11:00 PM now and I was left with just 30 minutes before which the service would start. I saw a maruthi 800 far off and started walking in greater pace. I went to the driver and asked the same question. I didn't concentrate in him much closely as my interest was in finding the church. He replied "Get inside the car; I'll take you" and insisted me a couple of times. I stood there perplexed. Just then my brain struck me saying, "he could be a decoy". A cold shiver ran down my spine, I didn't lose my mind. I wanted to be very clear this time. By now he has started the car. I asked him again, "Where is the AG church being held?" He saw the Bible in my hand and questioned back "Are you going to church?". I said, yes. Now he knew that I am not the guy whom he was looking for and let me go. I started walking as fast as I can from that place.

I didn't lose heart, as though nothing has happened I still kept my head and chest high as I walked. I know I would find it this time. I saw few people standing a little farther. I was happy and I thought I found it. From such distance I could see them to be well dressed, dazzling clothes and all looked like ladies. I thought that they should be the welcome team as AG church always has a team for every bells and whistles. I also noticed there were few men around. I thought to myself I am going to have a great New Year.

As I moved closer, the joy in me was reaching greater heights. They all had a broad smile in their face, heavy make-up, thick lipstick. Though they were standing in front of a gate, there were no lights inside. I wondered why? I thought they should have planned some surprise for the new year.

I was much close to them now. I was in reachable distance and with a broad smile in my face, I opened my mouth to ask "AG church?" , just then one of them turned towards me and said "Aaaooo Bhai" with a peculiar clap. Oops, I am in soup now - they were eunuchs. How stupid was I not to recognize them at first sight. I was deceived by their smile. I didn't waste another second, literally ran away from that place with out turning back.

After reaching a safer distance, I stopped and turned back. One of the eunuch had followed me for some distance and knowing that it cannot persist me, stood there and was waving hands calling me. Whew, that was crazy. I ran a little further and now I could hear the songs that was being played in the church. I also was able to see a long row of cars parked on the roadside. There was no difficulty in finding the church now. I walked the rest of the distance with my head down and my heart filled with shame. I laughed at myself. I reached the church 10 minutes before the schedule and was happy in getting a good seat.

This is how 2006 closed its doors. I enjoyed the whole service. It lasted until 1:30 AM. I returned back to my room with a fulfilled heart. Yeah, I didn't take the same route, I took a longer one back home. Later I found out the gate where the eunuchs were standing led to a gravy yard.

mYbOnNyLaSS

Yipeeeeeeee! I've got a new girlfriend now. I desperately needed a change and was looking for a girl whom I can hang with. I knew what kinda girl I want and waited so long to find such perfect girl. She is really really beautiful and has a very sweet voice. I was completely floored when I saw her the first time and heard her singing. She is wheatish, her skin is flawless and silky. She has a bright smiling face always. Though she weighs little heavy (yes I've carried her) , she is the exact size that I've dreamt of. Now I can take her to places where stag entries are not allowed, dance with her, sing with her. Yeah! She is my perfect match. Wanna know about her?

She is my "Yamaha FX370C Natural", electric acoustic guitar. I haven't named her yet, I am searching for a good name. Suggestions are most welcome.

Happy Birthday!

I've known this guy for the past 23 years. A good friend of mine and has been my guide, my counselor and a maths teacher (for some time). He has helped me out in taking some serious decisions in my life. If not for him, I wouldn't have made it in Bishop Heber College. If he hadn't advised me about an interview 2 years back, I would have been a Bangalorean now working with Infosys. He trusted in me where ever I go and what ever I do. He has been my opponent only in the game of carroms and I love playing with him. He is a good biker too and has experience of travelling more than 200Kms at one stretch in bike. I love this guy and I call him "Dad". (Is mummy staring now?) I love her too.

Happy Birthday Appa!
Wish you a long life and success in your business.

I thank the Lord for my parents!

1st Anniversary.

It's now one year old. 365 days since I started this blog and it's my "First Anniversary" today. It had been a nice experience in publishing posts on different topics. Jamming sessions with my keyboard day and night, gazing at the ceiling for new topics, skipped meals and much more. I found this could be one of the fastest way of expressing things to a huge mass.
When I look back and see of how I've been through all these days, I just thank the Lord for everything. If not because of His strength, I wouldn't have managed to come so far in my professional, academical and spiritual aspects. I've learnt a ton of things since I started using internet.

Blogging, I found that spending time in blogging while connected to the internet could be of some value. I've invested every single minute of my spare time into this. The labor of one year is now published on the internet.
I take this opportunity to thank everybody who have been my source of inspiration, those who have been helpful, those who mentored me, who corrected me when I went wrong, all my friends, relatives and my parents. Thank You all! I'll keep going.

Did I become a writer now? and how long can I keep up with blogging?

How did Chrome get its logo?

I've always been a great admirer of logos of different companies. It not only represents the company, but has greater potential in advertising and taking the brand to the public.

The logo that I most liked is of "Sun micrsystems"

The word SUN can be read however you may turn the logo.

Few other logos that I like are..

BENTLEY : The other name for Luxury


BOEING : Taking you to space.


NGC: Simple but very effective.

The list is big which includes Google, Apple and Nike. But, this one is strange.

What is behind the design of Google Chrome's logo?
I've been using this browser from the day when it was released. It is pretty fast but sometimes it fails to load heavy pages with CSS, java and flash plugins.

Where did Chrome get it's logo from?
Is this what they call as "trouble the goose that lays golden egg"?

CCA Youth.

CHRIST CHURCH, ALANDUR.

Youth fellowship.

It has been two years now since I've attended the youth fellowship last time in Christ Church, Alandur; though I still pay a visit every time I cross Chennai. Those were great days, juggling my ball between my trainings and the Church. My training sessions spanned only for 4 hours during weekdays and 2-4 hours on Saturdays depending on the volume of LAB exercises we had. This gave me enough time to spend on other things.

CCA Youth - One dynamic group of young people, bound together by the love of Christ. They (We) :-D meet every Sunday after the church service. We start with couple of songs and this problem always existed - feeling very lazy to sing. To solve this problem somebody in the group will come up with this "so called *mind blowing*" idea of singing an "action song". Whew... I am game!. One secret thing is, initially I found it difficult with the actions because, they were different apart from what I've learnt. But, as I always had a good talent of imitating , I started managing my show. Most of the time I've succeeded when tried doing new actions flawlessly. This is followed by a time of worship and Later comes the time of testimony. We then get into the message. Every week a different speaker is arranged and it really really would be a great time learning the Word of God. Finally we wind up by praying for each other and few prayer points. So did every Sunday pass away.

There were exceptions too. Inter-church competitions made the difference. It is actually a one day event organized by most of the churches accross Chennai. It involves a package of songs and a whole bunch of competitions. The event starts after the church service, which ever the host church it be.

I vividly remember my first day when I stepped in being a part of CCA Youth fellowship. I was introduced to the youth secretary, Deepan Francis. I found him to be busy with a paper and a pen writing something. I didn't understand what he was doing. The moment I was introduced, he said; "Paul, good to have you with us. You will be participating in a competition called Ship Wreck. We will be leaving in a while". I was thrown flummoxed. I told him as this being the first day, let me sit and watch everything first, then will join you in all other competitions. He never seemed to mind my plea and didn't excuse me. One thing that concerned me a lot was, I didn't know what 'ship wreck" meant. :-P Did I ever say them this? The gentleman in me again played his part. Finally what? We won a prize! I accompanied the group in many other Inter-church competitions. It was all fun, I say.

We organized one too. Titled as "Anchorage", one big event by our fellowship with a big budget.

It was really a good experience doing everything from end to end. We practiced for the singing sessions, prepared charts, score cards, fiddled with the background curtain decorations, designed our T-shirts, blah blah blah blah... and many many more. The event on the whole was a great success. End of the day, we planned to go to the beach and have a gala time. Eventually, ended up hitting our heads against the pillow after a fully packed busy day. I lost the opportunity in marking my footprints along with the youth members on the sands of Besant Nagar beach.

I've spent ample amount of time with the Sunday school children too. They were awesome. I pray for every children out there, that they may grow in the knowledge of God.

I owe a lot to the fellowship. This was the only source which kept me running closer to God in the marathon of my life; all my days in Chennai precisely. I thank every youth member there. If my memory is not that bad, here are some to be mentioned... Deepan Francis, Eben, Alphonse, Beryl, Joshua, Chinna, Inba, Dani, Justin, Calvina, Caroline, Sarah, Deborah, Diana.... and many more. Sorry people if I had failed to mention your names. You'll have to blame my poor memory.

The last Sunday after which I had to leave Chennai, I stood outside the church compound, on the road looking up the cross over the Church. Tears rolling down my eyes, I thanked the Lord for all that he had taught me during my three months stay in Chennai and for giving such a good fellowship to be enriched in Him. I payed a standing ovation.

I didn't know if I will ever comeback again to join this dynamic group. But, I made a choice to never loose any opportunity in landing down here to pay a visit. I also prayed for a similar fellowship where ever I go. Yes, I knew I was leaving for Hyderabad. After a great sigh of accomplishment, I left home.

I am in Hyderabad at present. He has proved Himself faithful again. I have a good fellowship here.

Later!

CompuMania

Have you ever had the experience of being caught with CompuMania? You should have been, but might not be aware of. As I write/type this post, I am seriously suffering with this disease. This thought just popped in my brain for a moment, "What the hell would I be doing in the world without computers?"
I think, I should start practicing "Star gazing" well before that age arrives. What else would I be doing then? Breaking stones? Not a bad profession indeed! We needn't be bothered of our deliverable, target dates, goals, accomplishments, meetings, hike negotiations and in fact no BOSS.Let me start here. - I'm typing this post, yeah, I need computer and I've got one. It runs Windows XP operating system with SP 2. Are there other operating systems out in the market? Yeah, how about DOS, UNIX, Linux, Solaris, Machintosh. There are many more and Linux has numerous distributions. Machintosh? Costly, but worth every penny you've spent. Intensive and heavy graphics is less difficult than a cake walk on Machintosh. Alright, though I am not using my favourite operating system, yes, Linux, windows has always served my needs.

I wanna publish my blog. To access the blogger I need a browser. Bowser? Which one should I use? Internet explorer, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Flock, Apple Safari... there are many more. My choice is always Firefox. Oops, should I be knowing HTML coding to publish my blog? Not exactly, but still it is always an added value to your blogging spree. I knew very little, and the result is my customized page as you see.

Okay, where are my blogs stored? In Google's servers? Whew! What amount to speed and capacity should that server have to serve billions of blogs. I know that Google uses Linux servers for all these purposes. LINUX - what is that? A command line operating system with black and white window? Nope. Linux is an advanced operating system with billions of colors. It can be configured even from answering your phone call to waking you up in the morning playing your favorite music, video, whatever. On what language is Linux written? C , C++?

Ah.. here come the languages. English, Tamil, Hindi,.but does a computer understand them? Thus computer languages are developed. Two decades back who in India would have known otherwise that C is just another alphabet? But, where did the languages era start? Assembly, Basic, COBOL, FORTRAN, ALGOL, C, C++, C#, curl, Java, Perl, Ruby, Python, J2EE, J2ME. If you wanna believe this with me, there are approximately about 218 programming languages. Uh! ( Big sigh). Would have I known this about 10 years back, I will now be speaking in Java and Perl. (Yes, I am still learning perl)

This again is interpreted or complied to machine understandable language. Wondering what is that? Zeros and Ones. Now that I have my blog wirtten, I have to publish it so that I can be viewed by the public. The moment I press "Publish Post" button, my blog is taken care of the TCP/IP protocol, reaches my WiFi Access point in the hall, then through the hubs on the post opposite to my house, through the underground cable running round the city via secunderabad, minister's road, Necklace road, through the smelly Hussian sagar lake, Banjara hills, Madhapur, Hitech city and reaches the VSNL building. Gets into the routers, switches, cables again and finally Boom...makes it into the server. 01010111000100100010011101010010001 01001 01001 010 10 010101010 10010 10 01111001010101 01010011001 110 010 10 01 0 0101001 01 101 01 101000011101010 010100101 110110100101 100 01010 000010 10101 01 10 101 010110101 01 01 10 0 10 01 1 0010110101 01 01 10 101 1001010110 10 10 101 010101