I r u v a r :-)

I have a twin brother (My Dad has a twin too!). We are Identical twins, even now. He works in Hyderabad and I work in Bangalore. It is so much fun having someone who is so identical that it gets you into some hilarious situations.

My brother is married for 4 years now and has a lovely boy who is just about 7 months old. I remember distinctly – During my Engagement that happened few months ago, I saw someone greeting my brother for engagement which is supposedly for ME! That is still better considering the fact that somebody asked me how my kid is! This is disastrous, right?

When both of us were working in Chennai, We bump into each other's colleagues who refused to believe that I was not him (or he was not me??)

There has been situations where he got to have sweets and paayasams twice. You guessed it how, obviously. I believe my Thatha & paati could not recognise who is who till their last breath.

There is this joke in our family that his father-in-law gave him a gold bracelet for his wedding just to identify easily who his ‘maapiley’ is ;-D!

He is particularly special to me and has similar likes, dislikes, preference, priorities, interest etc just like the looks. Sometimes I'm astonished that we actually think so much alike (somethings as trivial as buying same brand of tooth brush and the same colour, though living in different city!!). It is extremely nice to have him around as we both have a great sense of humour and understanding.

Not many experience this – when my Brother wishes me on my birthday and I reciprocate by saying ‘same to you’ daa! It is absolutely thrilling.

My Brother – My biggest strength and my weakness.

Aiyyo!

Cha - Ennoda friends'ku konjam kooda timing theriyala. Edha eppo anupurathunu vevasthai venaam? With less than 20 days to go for my wedding, they send me such a joke (the one you will read after hearing out my crib!). Friends'aa avanga? Enemies ;-D! But Anyways, You read on.Sure to make your day, if not mine!

#A married man left from work early one Friday afternoon. Instead of going home, however, he squandered the weekend (and his salary) partying with the boys.

When he finally returned home on Sunday night, he ran into a barrage of epithet from his wife.
After a couple of hours of nagging and berate, his wife asked "How would you like it if you didn't see me for a couple of days?"

"That would suit me just fine!!!" the man said.

Monday went by, and the man didn't see his wife.

Tuesday went by with the same result.

Wednesday went by with the same result.

Thursday, the swelling went down a bit and he could see her a little, just out of the corner of his left eye.#

Idhu eppadi irukku?!

Paavam Thayirsaadham ;-(

Oooh aaah ouch! - Remember this 80's Ad for a pain-balm?? This is exactly the state that I’m in....With the great ME moving into a new apartment. Home-alone now.

There is so much running around that you do when you set up a new home. It gets too exhausting. But I look back and there were some hilarious moments too;-D

So many struggles I went through for the new gas connection that is simply not worth it. When I went to apply for it, I was told that it would take a maximum of three days to get it. Thought that was cool. I waited in vain. For 10 days. I went to their office, fuming with anger and I just blew them apart. I told the guy if he didn't deliver the cylinder before the day-end, I would complain to the union finance minister. Now, wait, where the heck this came from?? I didn’t know. I blurted it out without even thinking. Luckily, that dud didn’t know either;-D. Effect? Cylinder delivered.

But I’m pissed off with that cylinder fellow so much that even today, if I am irritated with something or someone else, I feel like calling him and blasting ;-)

When I had gone to check out the apartment before finalising, the owner was
rolling out that the apartment is the best I could get in the near
vicinity (I must say-the apartment is very classy indeed). She mentioned about loads of facilities available. Gym was one of them. And I was certainly thrilled. I'm just realising now that there is no need for that. My entire apartment is a gym for me.....with washing clothes, cleaning the floor and vessels, sweeping......all by myself.....romba koduma. Guess if I don't consider washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dish washer as a necessity now....bet I will be forced to settle for stretcher and walking stick as a permanent feature at my home.

Indha toilet clean pannara velaye thalavali. evallavuthaan
thechaalaum, innum konjam clean pannalaamnu thonum.

Eppodaapa monday varum, officeku pogamaatenaanu irukku ;-D

Even 20 days after moving in to the apartment and 21 power cuts (It happens in Bangalore!!), I didn’t notice that we had a generator for uninterrupted power supply. I believe it involves just pushing the switch meant for that inside the apartment. I didn't know that. Yesterday, while I was walking down the corridor to get into my apartment, I noticed all other apartments had power and not mine. Out of curiosity, I checked with our ever-friendly watchman. He came into my apartment and showed how it works and asked me 'ghothillaavaa?' in kannada with a funny face;-@. I had to tell that guy that I had trouble pushing the switch upward (my BIG bloody ego!)

The watchman- Indha aiyaa daily apartmentula irukara ella car'ayum clean pannuvaaru, provisions saamaan vaangindu varuvaaru, vegetables vaangindu varuvaaru, two-wheeler ellam clean pannuvaaru, Bank povaaraam (!!)....but avar enna velai pannaraarunaa - Watchman velaiyaam ;-)) Naanum adha nambanum. Thala ezhuthu.

My marriage is coming up next month. Now you are thinking there is finally going to be someone to share my work.....hmmmm....I’m hoping that my work doesn't get doubled;-D !!

Can you tell me??

I attempted to get the Haloscan comment box on to my blog. Its kind of acting too funny. The earlier comments are gone. Can someone tell me how i can get back to the blogspot comment box. Can I also retrieve the earlier comments? Let me know. Immediately!!!

ET-Millions visit you everyday, Be responsible please !

I bumped into this Corporate Zodiac in the online edition of the Economic Times today. ET has got this habit - To snub its valued visitors / readers with such absurd and rude observations about their work/lifestyle etc. I think that a Business newspaper such as this (which has built a brand around its visibility) should be more responsible and be careful on its contents. A Newspaper's responsibility is not to be entertaining, but be informative (Let me admit-i liked the humour in this article!!). How far will ET go? How long are we going to take this?

I strongly protest. Take a look at this . you will agree with me.

The link to the stuff appended below is here.

ENGINEERING : One of only two signs that actually studied in school, it is said that ninety percent of all Personal Ads are placed by engineers. You can be happy with yourself: your office is typically full of all the latest gadgets. However, we all know what is really causing your carpal tunnel.

ACCOUNTING : The only other sign that studied in school, you are mostly immune from office politics. You are the most feared person in the organization; combined with your extreme organizational traits, the majority of rumors concerning you say that you are completely insane.

HUMAN RESOURCES : Ironically, given your access to confidential information, you tend to be the biggest gossip within the organization. Possibly the only other person that does less work than marketing, you are unable to return any calls today because you have to get a haircut, have lunch, and mail a letter!

MARKETING : You are ambitious yet stupid. You chose a marketing degree to avoid having to study in college, concentrating instead on drinking and socializing - which is pretty much what your job responsibilities are now. Least compatible with sales.

SALES : Laziest of all signs, often referred to as "marketing without a degree", you are also self-cantered and paranoid. Unless someone calls you and begs you to take their money, you like to avoid contact with "customers" so you can "concentrate on the big picture". You seek admiration for your golf game throughout your life.

TECHNOLOGY : Unable to control anything in your personal life, you are instead content to completely control everything that happens at your workplace. Often even you don't understand what you are saying, but who the hell can tell?! It is written that the Geeks shall inherit the Earth.

MANAGEMENT/ TEAM LEADERS : Catty, cut-throat, yet completely spineless, you are destined to remain at your current job for the rest of your life. Unable to make a single decision you tend to measure your worth by the number of meetings you can schedule for yourself. Best suited to marry other managers, as everyone in your social circle is a manager.

CUSTOMER SERVICE : Bright, cheery, positive, you are a fifty-cent cab ride from taking your own life. As a child very few of you asked your parents for a little cubicle for your room and a headset so you could pretend to play ‘customer service’. Continually passed over for promotions, your best bet is to manage your manager.

While on this, look at Kaps' post on the Bakwaas Times. Kaps has named ET appropriately.
Hope I have your permission to give this link, Kaps.

Drink for a good sleep or to think better????

Many parents in India give Horlicks to their children in hopes that it will help them excel in studies (I drink it even today!!).

In UK, Horlicks is sold as an aid to promoting sleep at night and the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, is recommending a glass of Horlicks before going to bed to have a good sleep.

Horlicks is sold in India and UK. If you Visit the website of Horlicks, you'll find that the Horlicks India website is still under construction, whereas the UK site is up and running and clearly documents sleep related problems and how Horlicks helps in sleeping.

Malt contained in drinks such as Horlicks, Ovaltine, etc., is responsible for promoting sleep. People who drink alcohol will be familiar with malt, especially with barley malt, which is used in the process of producing beer, lager, etc. You might have even heard of malt whiskey.

What does this mean?!?! Horlicks helps in sleeping and hence, should not be given to students while they're trying to study!?

Many average children are already stressed out due to overload atschool.What is the point in making them drowsy and sleepy when they go to school or when they are trying to study! By the way, Don't miss to see the site. It's been done really nice.

Traffic jam over my head !!

No Joking....Look at reports about the new and upcoming private airlines in India -

SpiceJet sells 37,348 tickets on first day - Largest Number in Asia.

Promotional scheme from Kingfisher Air

Another daily flight between Chennai and Kuala Lumpur - by Jet Airways.

There is a new low-cost version of our desi AirIndia - Air India Express that launched its flights
recently.

Thanks to the private airlines based out of Bangalore - AirDeccan, Kingfisher Airlines. It is now the most busiest domestic airport in India after Mumbai. You must see the state of Bangalore Airport- You would not believe that it can be the second most busiest domestic airport in India. Happy Flying!!

Laws of life! 8-D

* Murphy's First Law for Wives: If you ask your husband to pick up five items at the store and then you add one more as an afterthought, he will forget two of the first five.

* Kauffman's Paradox of the Corporation: The less important you are to the corporation, the more your tardiness or absence is noticed.

* The Salary Axiom: The pay raise is just large enough to increase your taxes and just small enough to have no effecton your take-home pay.

* Miller's Law of Insurance: Insurance covers everything except what happens.

* First Law of Living: As soon as you start doing what you always wanted to be doing, you'll want to be doing some-thing else.

* Weiner's Law of Libraries: There are no answers, only cross-references.

* Isaac's Strange Rule of Staleness: Any food that starts out hard will soften when stale. Any food that starts outsoft will harden when stale.

* The Grocery Bag Law: The candy bar you planned to eat on the way home from the market is hidden at the bottom of the grocery bag.

* Lampner's Law of Employment: When leaving work late, you will go unnoticed. When you leave work early, you will meet the boss in the parking lot.

Why did I fire my Secretary?

This is a hilarious stuff i received. Read on-

As I walked into my office, my secretary, Janet, said, "Good morning Boss, Happy Birthday"
And I felt a little better; someone had remembered.
I worked until noon. Then, Janet knocked on my door and said "You know, it's such a beautiful day outside and it's your birthday . Let's go to lunch, just you and me." I said, "By George, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go." We went to lunch. We didn't go where we normally go; we went out to the country to a little private place. We had two martinis and enjoyed lunch tremendously. On the way back to the office, she said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day. We don't need to go back to the office, do we?" I said,"No, I guess not." She said, "Let's go to my apartment." After arriving at her apartment , she said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I think I'll go into the bedroom and slip into something more comfortable."
"Sure," I excitedly replied. She went into the bedroom and, in about six minutes, came out carrying a big birthday cake, followed by my wife, children, and dozens of our friends, all singing Happy Birthday.
And there I sat...on the couch..........naked!!!

Monday Funda :-)

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Sir Winston Churchill

05-05-05

05-05-05: You obviously know that it happens only once in the life time. So what happened on this day that i will remember this for sometime to come?

* I took delivery of my new Honda Activa Bike

* My Cousin Bitly's Wedding Anniversary! I wished her late in the evening :-). Needless to say, she is one of the best cousins' around!

* Got into a new interesting project at work. Gonna get busy with that in the weeks to come!

Who do I look up to?

Ever asked this question to yourself?
We see achievers. We hear about them – Some make lots of money. Some discover. Some represent the country. Some give. Some break the record of others and sometimes their own. Some gather attention. Some gather people. Some give their support. Some ask for it with all hurdles. Some are selfless. Some make it big.

Do I look up to film artistes as role models? We have enough and many who pray film stars. And get nothing but the ‘first-day-first-show’ kick, cut papers and 10 paisa toffee that are thrown inside the theatre.

What about sport stars? They play. They win or they lose. So why should they be role models? Is it because they represent their country? Is it for the hard work they put in and the commitment that they show? For once, I know that our Tendulkars and gangulys and sanias look forward to making it big in the Ad world through their play rather than taking their game seriously.

How many of us look up to politicians as role models? Even before pondering over that question, how many politicians we have/ had who are worth being a role model? What do they exactly inspire us to become? Is it their acumen? Is it the fact that they are in public service and the fact that think for the people (leave the fact that for most politicians, People essentially means his close and near ones!)

Is it safe to say that we can look up to the flourishing entrepreneurs and top notch CEOs as role models? Entrepreneurs – for nourishing their people management, procurement, manufacturing and marketing skills etc.
Top Notch CEOs- For knowing exactly what it takes to be in that hot seat, facing killer competition and spearheading an organization that is as big as it can get. But hey – End of the day, these people anyway thrive only on the consumer demand for their products and services. It would be a different ball game if they create an entirely new market for the product. That really takes a lot of mind-work, skill and guts.

What about super achievers? You thinking of Kalpana Chawla? AR Rehman? Aishwarya Rai? Ramanujam? Kasturi Rangan? Mahatma Gandhi? Did they all work single minded towards what they wanted? Were they born with certain skills or features or determination that makes them what they are? Did they have people telling them what they should do and to dream big? Without any doubt, they have created history. But have they done enough to get people look up to them?

Most often, people look for inspiration that are very far and few. We can even look up to people who we live with or someone who plays a very important role in our lives – take for example – School teachers, college professors, office colleagues, friends, good neighbours and of course our own parents, siblings!

Not everybody will have their parents as role models. If you ask me, my modest Dad will say that I must become bigger than him. Or my generous Mom who will bless me wherever I am. So they are not exactly role models. In fact, there is no single person who I look up to in my life. Don’t get me wrong. I take bits of inspiration from every known source, wherever they are.
I realize that it is imperative to look up to someone. It is even more important to decide who that is.

So who do I look up to?