Month: September 2009

Evening On A Houseboat

- Roshan

Well this evening was decided to be one spent on a houseboat as we also had a few member of the management team from the Trichy team also visiting us. A houseboat was rented for the evening and we took a scenic boating trip, starting from Marine Drive well after 8pm. The makeshift pier that we had to cross was ricketier than the last one but we all got in safe & sound. I preferred the top section for the wind but I also love the bottom half of the boat as it’s closer to the sea water.

You can’t see much in the night sky but all the lights are captured brilliantly on the sea and it’s especially beautiful when there are different coloured lights all reflecting on the water. The boat was going super slow and hence there’s less of a breeze. I was hoping that the wind might pick up or that we would have a nice evening rain but neither happened. Dancing to stupid Hindi songs also didn’t appease the rain gods!

There was beer, Signature whiskey, soda, Pepsi & 7 up for drinkings. Chips & beef for snacks. Dinner was excellent chicken fried rice (which no one could finish), chilli chicken, chilli fish, pepper chicken & something else whose name I missed out. I enjoyed the conversations more than the drinks (which was served in fould smelling glasses) or food. Infact, I only had one drink, since I’m not a whiskey guy and then switched to pepsi for the rest of the night. We reached the pier, a much more stable and safer one, at around 11:15 pm and I was in my room by 11:35 pm.

Barcamp Kerala 6 (Ernakulam)

- Roshan

On the 11th of October, Barcamp Kerala heads back to the city of Cochin. BCK6 will be held at the Rajagiri School of Engineering & Technology.

If you remember, back in May, I had wanted to attend BCK5 in Trivandrum but at the last moment my plans changed and I was unable to attend. This time, as it is going to held close to the area that I work at, I really need to ensure that I can be there.

The only problem is work and it, along with ill-health, will be the only reasons as to why I will not be able to attend. I want to take in atleast a few sessions at the most. So far only 3 sessions have been confirmed but in a few more days, I’m sure that will change.

Cold Sunday Melancholy

- Roshan

If every Sunday is like this one, I might be content to stay in and be lazy all day. As it is, I have the place to myself and so my morning has been listening to music, browsing youtube videos and drinking coffee. It’s been raining a lot since last evening and the morning has been breezy and cold. Cold enough to want to snuggle under the covers and go back to sleep.

But since I woke up at 8:40 am I decided that I wasn’t going to spend the entire morning in bed and got up and read the paper at the dining table. My folks have gone to a funeral and will be out for most of the day. I watched tv for a bit – the news, a football special on the goals scored in the EPL last evening and most of a Hope & Faith episode. Then it was more coffee.

At 1 pm this afternoon a rude, loud continous blast of fire crackers hit this lazy Sunday. I suppose that it’s something to do with the end of Ramzan – but wait! Isn’t Eid ul-Fitr supposed to be on Monday? So why the fireworks?

I’m gonna take a long nap later after lunch and watch some sci-fi. I won’t be going out this Sunday as I am kinda short on cash at the moment. It’s almost a month since I’ve had any vodka or gone out for any coffee. It’ll have to wait another or 10 days at the most. It’ll sure be worth the wait.

Arsenal 4 Wigan 0

- Roshan

I’m far from convinced that Arsenal is going to win any silverware this season or even give a strong fight but this does look good. Arsenal beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 at the Emirates stadium with a display of attacking football. Belgian defender Thomas Vermalen, brought into the fold during the summer, scored 2 goals to lead the Gunners to victory. The former Ajax player rose to head the Gunners into the lead from a corner before curling in his second from the edge of the box.

Emmanuel Eboue’s deflection then made it 3-0 when the match was effectively over and a back-heel finish by Cesc Fabregas in injury time crowned a superb win. This win coupled with the mid-week victory over Standard Leige should set the Gunner back on the winning track.

Update: Well it seems that Arsenal are going to look for a transfer of West Ham United pair, Jack Collison and former Gunners centre-back Matthew Upson. Although the pair are firmly established in the Hammers’ starting 11, Italian coach Gianfranco Zola’s may be forced to sell on the bequest of West Ham’s owners. Reports state that the Hammers will settle a deal in the region of £15 million for the Welshman’s services and that West Ham would demand £10 million for 30-year-old Matthew Upson, rated as England’s third-choice centre-back by national coach Fabio Capello.

The Tharoor Situation Explained

- Roshan

I am not surprised that the India media and the Kerala ones in particular are hell bent to shake the very foundations that Shashi Tharoor (the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament) stands upon. It’s because they have not had to deal with someone like him. Admittedly that perhaps he should have been careful with the joke about cattle. Most Indians still pray to cattle rather than eat them for lunch.

Let’s check the list – he was born in London, he’s well traveled, highly educated, extremely wordly & an intellectual, sophisticated, won many awards, is very rich even before he entered into Indian politics (worth around Rs. 15 crores), is recognized as a global diplomat & actually talks sense. He’s a total opposite to what we are used to in India.

What the hell is he doing in Indian politics?

A Sexy WordPress Plugin

- Roshan

Those handful of you regular readers will have noticed that I’ve been doing some redesigning of the blog’s template and changing of the WordPress theme. I’ve changed my theme far too many times to count, I must say. Unfortunately, WordPress themes are like hot women….there’s always a hotter one round the corner!

Along with the theme, I had also wanted to change the plugin for the social bookmarking sites that preceed each blog posts. Nothing much with the earlier one that I was using but I felt that the icons were a bit too dull, unless you bring your mouse cursor on top of them! Then the icon changes to a more colourful one. So here comes Sexy Bookmark Plugin.

You can download the latest version, 2.5.2.3, here at the official website. Or you can also download it  at the WordPress plugin page as well. As far as social bookmarking plugins go, this one is really sexy.

Stargate Atlantis : Season 1

- Roshan

Although I have a copy of the 1994 movie Star Gate that started it all for this franchise, uptil a couple of weeks ago, I had not watched anything else that the SG universe had dished out. Until I stepped into the dvd store that I frequent and was shown the dvds of the season 1-3 of Star Gate Atlantis. Man, do I like this series or what!

Ok, for those who don’t know Stargates, devices used to travel through great distanced in space, were created by a much more evolved human race called the Ancients who seeded the humans on many planets across galaxies. Our team find out the mythological city of Atlantis on a planet called Lantea, in the Pegasus galaxy, submerged under the ocean by the Ancients after they were defeated by the Wraith.

Our group of milatry personel & scientists battle the Wraith (who were humans infected with the iratus bug and mutated into human feeding immortal freeks) and try to settle on Atlantis as they can’t return back to Earth due to lack of power to establish a wormhole using the Stargate. They try to establish allies with the humans living on different planets but come across some hostile races as they look for power sources for Atlantis.

The Wraith finally reach the lost city of the Ancients as they know about Earth and her huge human population which can provide a rich feeding ground for them. Just before they arrive, milatery backup arrives from Earth who have finally managed to esatablish a wormhole link with Atlantis and they defend the city against the attacking Wraith. As season 1 ends, heavy casualties include a presumed dead Lt. Ford who is attacked by a wraith.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

- Roshan

Today is Rosh Hashanan a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the Jewish New Year!

Although I’m not Jewish and I do not have any religious inclinations towards it, the Jews have always fascinated me. There is a big synagogue in Mattancherry, my mom’s hometown, but I hear that there just a handful of Jews left in the state.

Another reason for noting this particular holiday is the name – I’m a Rosh and the holiday is a Rosh! A Rosh by any other name will smell just as sweet!

I kill myself! I’m pretty fly for a Rabbi!

A 2009 Tragic Story

- Roshan

Here’s a situation where you are helpless to do anything for your friend. Other than ofcourse give then a friendly ear and say things could be worse.

I have a friend that I know through work and even though I have never seen her I consider her to be one of my best friends! Yes, I have never met this girl but she is extremely helpful and friendly and we chat over the phone a whole lot and pull each other’s leg and crack jokes at the expense of the upper management. I’d like to think that she considers me to be a close friend too.

This girl who lives in a metro city, is facing a big problem. Her boyfriend, who she has been friends with for the past 9 years, has a politician father who does not approve of her as she is of a different caste & creed than them. This politician dad has forbid his son to have anything to do with my friend once he found out about their affair. Although they could elope and get a registered marriage done, they have a huge stumbling block in front of them.

Politician dad is hugely connected and can get them beaten up if he so chooses to. He has threatened his son and his wife as well, because she supports the son. His wife has been at the recieving end of his trashings and was once even admitted to hospital because of this. My friend is feeling guilty and sad but at the same time she does not want to be seperated from her lover. And her boyfriend wants to stand up to his dad but he can’t risk his mother’s well being. He also knows that if he elopes, that his father will get a hold of him as he also is cahoots with the state police.

On top of this, the father has said that he has fixed his son’s wedding with the daughter of one of his friends and the son has a week to make up his mind. The dad will not take no for an answer. My friend and her boyfriend do no know what to do. I’m surprised that this is happening even in the year 2009 but this is India and politicians have a huge influence due to money & power. What can they possibly do?

I knew something was wrong when my friend wasn’t her usual cheerful self today while we were talking and I wanted to check up on her. When we spoke this evening, she spilled her heart to me and was crying on the call. I do not know what I can say that will make it all better.

India Is 3rd Most Tweeting Nation

- Roshan

This is a nice article/news to come home to!

India, till a few months back was fighting to be among the top ten Twitter users in the world; now is the land of third highest Twitter users in the world. We contribute 7% of the total tweets in the world.

The US dominates the twitter user pie with a whopping 42%! Germany is second (8%) & the UK is 4th with 6%. At 3% comes three nations – Japan, Brazil & Canada.

So we’re just a percentage below 2nd place and a further percentage above the UK. Hey, I bet if I get all my folks, sister & her family, all my uncles, aunts, cousins (that’s a huge number) to use Twitter we could overtake Germany and inch a lot closer to the US! Watch out Obama!

Yeoman Tankris

- Roshan

I’ve recently been downloading and watching episodes of Star Trek : The Original Series. Although I had only recently completed my collection of all 10 Trek movies made (pre 2009’s Star Trek with the alternative reality), I haven’t watched any original cast series episodes since I was a kid.

While going through the episode the Star Trek wiki website, Memory Alpha, I was checking out the list of talented actors & actressess that had done guest/recurring roles in TOS. and finding surprising & familiar faces. Like this actress who played Yeoman Tankris, who appeared as an operations division clerk who recorded the trial of Montgomery Scott after he alledgedly murdered three women.

I didn’t recognize the name but the face was familiar. Even though here in 1967 she is a fashionable & sexy young woman of just 23! This is actress Judith McConnell, aged 65, best known for her role as “Sophia Capwell” on the TV series Santa Barbara, on which she appeared from 1984 to 1993. For a soap opera, this was a series that my sister Sherine, cousin Raakhee and I used to watch & enjoy regularly for some witty dialogue and good characters for a couple of years.

Judith is a former Miss Pennsylvania 1965, and competed in the 1966 Miss America pageant. She has acted mostly in soaps like General Hospital, Another World, As The World Turns & One Life To Live. She has also done guest roles in some tv series like Baywatch Nights & JAG. I haven’t seen anything that she’s been in since the mid-90s.

Too Good To Be True

- Roshan

I’m in a huge living room. The carpet was lush & thick & white, the kind where your feet sink in a bit and it’s all soft underfoot. The sofas huge and soft and inviting. I was sitting on one of the ridiculously comfortable sofas, with my feet up and resting. I’m wearing blue pajama bottoms and a white t shirt. There’s a huge jug of ice cold orange juice on my right.

The a/c is on at just the right temperature – cold but not too cold. I look to my left, my late dog Shawny is half asleep on a smaller, round sofa but she’s wagging her tail as I look at her. Right next to her is a smaller cushion kinda thingy two cats are lounging in similar semi-sleepy states of laziness! One is predominantely white with patches of light tan on her body and tail. The cat next to her is a mix of brown & white – they are the cats that I had with me during the ages of 12-16.

I look to my right and I’m amazed to see a huge fish tank with these gorgeous looking fish of wonderful colours. There’s a giant flat screen tv and it’s on at the moment, although I can’t remember what it was showing. I take a long drink of orange juice – man I was thirsty and I needed that. Where am I? I look outside the window – breath-taking view of snow capped mountains with a semi-frozen lake near it. A car is pulling up just outside.

The woman who is getting out of the car is beautiful. I look at the picture frames in the room – it’s all picture of her…with me! She & I holding hands, hugging & kissing near the lake, playing with the cats & my dog, on a picnic! She has a smokin’ body! What am I doing with her? The door opens and she walks in, glides towards me, takes my hand and sits next to me and holds me while she places a wet one on my lips!

And then I woke up……shit!

RIP Patrick Swayze

- Roshan

Best-known for his roles as romantic leading men in the films Dirty Dancing & Ghost, American actor & dancer Patrick Swayze died yesterday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57 years old.

Swayze first came to the attention of movie lovers back in the 1980s with movies like The Outsiders, Red Dawn and hockey movie Youngblood. But in 1987 he became a huge star as the lead in Dirty Dancing and 3 years later starring opposite Demi Moore in the ever popular Ghost.

Another notable movie of his is Road House in 1989. In 1991, he starred in another major action hit, Point Break, and was also chosen by People Magazine as that year’s “Sexiest Man Alive.” 1992 saw him shoot in Calcutta for City Of Joy. He was nominated for the best actor award for his role (dressed in drag) in To Woo Fong, Thanks For Eveything! Julie Newmar.

Since the 1990s his star has waned with a few bright spots here and there but he never became the big star that he was supposed to be. Swayze was married to Lisa Niemi, his one time dance student, from June 12, 1975 until his death. He was a licensed pilot and also bred horses on his ranch. He came out in public in March 2008 with the news that he was suffering from a particularly deadly form of cancer.

Patrick Wayne Swayze August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009

Dream Selling Shop!

- Roshan

As I would leave the office later than usual today, and since there were no private buses at the time, I signed up for the company cab service that starts at 9:30 pm. Well actually it was 9:50 pm when we left the office. There were just 3 other people in the cab – 2 who were being dropped in Elamakkara and the last fellow would be dropped in Vaduthala after I was dropped off at my place in Kacheripaddy.

On the way from Elamakkara we passed Pachalam. There near the railway cross, while we stopped for the passing train, I spotted this shop called ‘Cell Dreams’ next to us. It looked all pretty & fancy from one angle but the inside was just a room with a small section inside that substituted for a workshop. The boards that they have advertising their offers & wares of handsets & connections were on plain carboard written by colour markers.

Not very appealing at all – but here is the killed! The huge neon board that they have hanging above the shop entrance claims that they are the ‘Dream Selling Shop! What the hell is a dream selling shop! Someone enlighten me please!