Hello People, howdy? If all of u have been wondering if i have joined the bandwagon of bloggers who stopped, nope, not yet. I still have a long way to go before i say Bye to Blogging. Here i am...:)

Have been away at the Capital for a Conference, which was fantastic, more details as i get time....

Meanwhile a Big hello to all of u and Happy 29th Feb 2004, wonder if i would be blogging till 29th Feb 2008...Some food for though eh?

Check this out!

Uncanny physics of comic book superheroes

Its review time on Images of Life....

For all those die-hard foodies at Bangalore, check out this restaurant on Outer Ring Road near Martathalli, its called Malgudi, and the minute you enter into the compound of this restaurant, ur taken into the magical creative land of RK Narayan. Yes like the traditional South Indian house, the portico has a wonderful swing, to which ur attracted like iron to a magnet. The magnificent door leads u to the inner hall which is again a replica of Swami's house. The walls are adorned with caricatures of Swami and his family (Courtesy RK Lakshman), and ofcourse showcasing the tanjavore paintings and the like.

Coming to the most important aspect of the place...the food...its yumm....a good combination of veg and non-veg. you can try a variety of starters. Try the kokom sherbet, made of a special variety of fruit from South Canara, its refreshing, or the Tender coconut concoction with a difference....they are amazing. The main course, has a wide variety of all south Indian palate. The curryleaf rice along with kotu is a good choice, or the neer dosa with spicy prawn curry is a heavenly delight. For a person like me who eats bland food, its quite spicy, but it does tickle the taste buds. The veg thali is quite filling with the various interesting accompaniments.

For those who hate south Indian food they can try "Dhaba" which right atop this south Indian restaurant. The review of this some other time :)

P.S: Spelling mistakes maybe over looked please.

After a long long time, the weekend was a quite a happening one and it started from the weekend eve itself. Watched "The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King" special screening on Friday night...what better way than this to start the weekend. The theatre was booked by one of a vendors, thus a few of us got passes for this special show. Though there was nothing special about it. The MC there was pathetic, who goofed at every step. He called the movie Lord of the King - Return of the Rings, not just this, he didnot even get the name of the vendor right. Me wonders if they paid him any money for his pathetic service. Here's my views of the movie.

The final film of Peter Jackson’s exemplary fantasy saga is an enthralling, near overwhelming experience. For patient followers of the three films, there is almost too much to absorb here in one sitting. For what has been a complete impossible task, Jackson has brought to life these made-belief character and they sure do drive a chill down ur spine. Nothing seems make belief here, you actually tend to belive that these mammoths and all those creatures may exist somewhere in this world. You are caught breathless with the wonderful scenic beauty of New Zealand. The artistic effects of the movie are just out of the world. I did feel sad that here comes an end to the trilogy, no more waiting for what would happen next, ofcourse u would know it most if u have had read the book.
But watching it makes it all the more different.

Coming to the story line:
The Return of the King starts out with the wizard Gandalf as he rides to Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor (with Pippin in hand), to seek it's leader. Meanwhile, Aragorn and King Theoden march triumphantly into battle against the forces of Mordor along with Legolas, Gimli and Merry. The reunited six members of the Fellowship, joined by Eoywn, Eomer and Faramir, face off in a final war against the Dark Lord Sauron's forces.

In the dark depths of the tower of Cirith Ungol, Frodo has been captured by Orcs after the climactic battle against the spider Shelob, leaving Sam with the Ring. Gollum has slinked away, and Sam must brave through Mordor to fulfil his master's duties. But when Frodo escapes, both of the hobbits enter Mordor to finally finish the dreadful deed of having the evil One Ring destroyed.

Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is confident that eventually the good men and women will triumph but he also knows he must buy time for Frodo to toss the Ring into the lava at Mount Doom and destroy its effectiveness, and save humanity The White Wizard really gets into the thick of battle in this one, and does not fail to capture the heart of his fans.


Aragorn finally gets to show off some of his heritage, and Viggo Mortensen acts it marvelously. Also coming into their own are Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan. Merry and Pippin, the hobbits truly get their chance to shine in this film, and show true courage and spirit. And then there's Elijah Wood's Frodo, Sean Astin's Samwise, and Andy Serkis' Smeagol. The enslavement and downfall of Smeagol is wonderfully enacted by Andy in the first few minutes of the film, and just like before, his Gollum is cruel in all the right ways. Elijah wood has done a great job, you sure go through his trails and errors of being able to destroy the ring. The exhaustion is very much natural on his face.

But the hobbit who takes the whole show by storm is Samwise. He goes through the hardship, pain and heart wrenching trails with Frodo. Living through each turbulent moment as Smeagol tries to get him out of his way. He is just awesome.

The magic comes to an end and it is just sheer magic, which you would want to live through again and again.

As i drove back home, i could picture the entire movie again and again. And for quite a large part of the night i was tempted to start reading the book all over again just to relive the moments again. Call me a crazy LOTR fan, well i am :)

We are having Sports Competitions happening at our company, and i a absolutely good for nothing sports(wo)man was pulled in to play Ladies doubles & Mixed doubles Badminton. These were slated for the weekend. God Bless my partners, who were as supportive as they can be. I can hit shots and manage to play, but the basic problem with me is my serivce...and that itself is the life of the game. Thanks to my partners we reached the second round and then lost at the quarters. Not a bad show after all. The after effect of the entire day are swollen arms and muscle ache. This is what happens when u play once in a way. The best team won and it was a treat to watch them playing. It was more like game of Tennis rather than Badminton.

Sunday was when Bryan Adam was to entertain Bangalore. After the whole thought of Do we or Do we not go? We ended up at the place at 6:30 p.m. To be welcomed by a sea of humanity. After initial performances by Assma and Dragonfly (a Boston based rock group), both the groups were booed whole heatedly by the mad crowd gathered to watch Bryan, who ultimately made an entry at 9:20 p.m. with the song "Here I am"...i need not tell u how the crowd reacted, u have to see it to belive it. My first visit to rock show and it shall remain a memorable one.

The weekend just zipped and gave way to another hectic week.

Blog posting have been refrained for Friday, am amazed how I am letting my blog suffer, though there is so much to write...as anyone else in this world, am short of time, or is it the simplest excuse I can come up with?

While I brood over this, a comical fact....Happy weekend fellas.

Gentlemen, I have been riding trains daily for the last two years, and the service on your line seems to be getting worse every day. I am tired of standing in the aisle all the time on a 14-mile trip. I think the transportation system is worse than that enjoyed by people 2,000 years ago.
Yours truly, A Commuter

Dear Sir, We received your letter with reference to the shortcomings of our service and believe you are somewhat confused in your history. The only mode of transportation 2,000 years ago was by foot.
Sincerely, The Railroad

Gentlemen, I am in receipt of your letter, and I think you are the ones who are confused in your history. If you will refer to the Bible, Book of David, 9th Chapter, you will find that Balaam rode to town on his ass. That, gentlemen, is something I have not been able to do on your train in the last two years.
Yours truly, The Commuter

What do u do when u get such mails? Actually try and do it? check ur impulse

UNBELIEVABLE ! BUT TRUE !!!

I THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE STUPID BUT WE REALLY CAN'T DO THIS.
Proof that the same side of our brain cannot do 2 different things at
once...

While sitting at your desk make clockwise circles with your right foot. While doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.

Well I tried doing it, and I don't know if that was how it would be, but I thought the results were as predicted above...strange but true!

Someone asked me today to guide them through the good blogs around. Humm...not an easy question to answer....How do u judge which blog is "good" or bad"..

This I guess is a perennial question, answer to which are many.

Early morning tele-con

Me (as lost as always) : Hello
X : Hi Ayesha, Me X here How are u?
Me : Am doing well, how are u?
(Background process: Trying to figure why this x is sounding so cheerful, maybe becoz i am ready to blast)x: Tell me who is the contact person for Knowledge Management, you know i want to meet them and check how things are working out at your company?
Me (with a strong tinge of sarcasm in my voice) : Why do u want to know about KM? what would it help you with
X: Well, u may not know, i joined Y Company in the KM and Content Management Team
Me (voice takes a 360 degree turn): Ohh...i did not know,
X (sounding apologetic) : Oh is it? (gives me the details)

Well, this is me and my trail and errors with matching names to voices off late, Wasn't this bad, shows that age is catching up with me :(. The voice X who called this morning is very similar to one Z, who coincidently share the same name, and much to my surprise their voices also match....Uparwale, yeh kya chakar hai?

Anyways, this is just an example of me and my lost self...If anyone finds me somewhere, please let me know :(
Meanwhile read this article by JOHN BUCHANAN , till i find myself

I sometimes wonder what mood the Creator was in when he decided to make the various moods of people. the way we manipulate our moods to suit our whims and fancies is something which has been an astonishing fact for me. Forget other people, i sometimes amaze myself with my sudden turns of moods. At one minute i am sulking and the next i am as cheerful as u could think of, the vice-versa is more so prominent. The changing factors could be many, maybe a person, or someone's thoughts or some funny episode or something which was not to happen. I mean, its so very unpredictable.

Unpredictability of the human mind and action is a strange mystery, stranger than the smile of Mona Lisa. Not fretting or cribbing, this un-predictive nature, adds to the spice of life. Imagine a world where we knew whats gonna happen next, whats the fun. And human being, the most spoilt of the entire living beings, are never happy.

P.S: I am amazed at myself for coming up with this good for nothing post....tolerate please ;-)

In case u don't know...check out the quotes on Madhu's blog....gets u in the thinking and smiling (not the same order) mode.

Happiness

Happiness is a state of mind, which does not occur by itself. It is your choice to be happy or unhappy in life, or to be content with the life you have got. It is up to you how you relate yourself with the life's events and determine your joy as well as misery.

How do you feel when someone does good to you or when someone does something that hurts you? Do you start feeling the same for him or do you give it a second thought as to why you were treated so? This attitude toward life is the key to happiness. If your attitude is negative then even a good thing around you, will not bring happiness to you. You need not go anywhere in search of happiness. It is everywhere and right inside you. You can make up your mind to be happy and you will find your life more rewarding. Do not get disturbed with little obstacles and worries that come your way.


This has been submitted by my niece to her school magazine. The last sentence has me reeling from the minute I have read it. This simple line has a very strong effect on me.

RAINDROP

This leaf, so complete in itself,
Is only part of the tree.
And this tree, so complete in itself,
Is only part of the forest.
And the forest runs down from the hill to the sea,
And the sea, so complete in itself,
Rests like a raindrop
In the hand of God.

-- Ruskin Bond

The Final Test

What a match it was...from start to finish. The Aussies would never want to remember this game except as the farewell game of Steve Waugh. Waugh bhai waugh...kya khela aapne.

The final moments were really touching. The entire stadium standing up to give a amazing farewell to this man, who has made such a big mark in the cricketing world.

As for the Indians well done guys. U seem to be getting better with the days. I just hope we have a equally amazing One day competition.

Jeeto India Jeeto!!!!

We are all ships returning home
laden with life's experience,
memories of work, good times and sorrows,
each with his special cargo;
And it is our common lot
to show the marks of the voyage,
here a shattered prow, there a patched rigging,
and every hulk turned black
by the unceasing batter of the restless wave.

May we be thankful for fair weather and smooth seas,
and in times of storm have the courage
and patience that mark every good mariner;
And, overall, may we have the cheering hope of joyful meetings,
as our ship at last drops anchor
in the still water of the eternal harbor.

Max Ehrmann
American Poet

Happy New Year people......herez a interesting message, guess it would have bombarded ur mail box as well...phir bhi...yet another look

H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - dont' worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!

Year 2003 came with great promise, but all hopes for our family were shattered when we faced the biggest calamity, Dad left us in the very begriming of the year. A sorrow which we are still coming to terms with, a vacuum which can never be filled. As the year passed and as we have slowly realized, life has to go on.

Amidst this gloom and solitude, one thing i realized was the strength that i have with me. The strength of the wonderful people called friends, who have been there in real terms during good times and bad. Who have been that source of strength and inspiration, who have been pushing me hard to smile and to live life like Dad's brave little girl. Thanks a lot people, for making me a part of your life.

As we big good by to 2003 and 2004 becokns, here's wishing all of u a very happy new year. Have a blast on New Year DAy, and May 2004 bring in loads and loads of good wish, health, happiness, wealth and smiles.


Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Another year has just whizzed by, and along with the year so many memories, sweet-sour, happy-sad. That's how life is meant to be! At the threshold of another year, I gear myself to face the world, with renewed vigor. And as I grow a year older today, I pray that I grow equally wiser !

From the minute start it has been great, so many calls, wishes, cards, flowers...amazing, am just dumb stuck. Long forgotten friends calling is what has just taken me by surprise. Thanks a ton all of U...U made my day :)

God Bless all of U!

Updated my bloggers list, after a long time...sorry for the delay people.