Cricket Celebrations

Not to be misled, this post is not about the celebratory status of the game or the cricketers. In fact, it could be quite the opposite.

Watching the intriguing fourth day play of the test match between India and England at Lords, some moments in the days play captured my attention. The way cricketers have come to celebrate mini and major milestones in the course of an innings has evolved over the years as has everything else. A batsman’s raised bat for a half century has now become a much more elaborate affair in recent times. The Australian method of the raised-arm-with-ball for a five wicket haul is setting the standards for the bowlers.

The way Kevin Pietersen celebrated his belligerent hundred, Monty Panesar’s excitement on picking up Tendulkar(is her ever calm after a wicket!) and Dinesh Karthik’s way of acknowledging his half century-these were the moments that caught my attention. A century is still a big deal in test cricket. A five for is also a worthy moment. But what about a half century? In an increasingly batsmen-oriented game, the half century moment needs to be placed with a little more perception. Any thoughts?

Musical moments captured

Here are a few pics that Shalin clicked of Sandeep Narayan and myself. The whole thing was planned suddenly, which left us very little time to get everything ready(the lights, props, and the likes!). Thanks to some terrific post processing work by Shalin, these photos have come out well.

For more photos, click here

The kind of day that makes you want to live

• Near Perfect weather after some serious rise in mercury levels over the past few days
• Mind and body in place
• Some new and exciting work prospects around the corner
• Happy times with family and friends
• Marked revelations in the ever-evolving process of self discovery!

Ah….it’s a good day indeed.

New way to search social perceptions: Tezaa.com(beta) goes live!

New web service tapping social perceptions and opinions. Tezaa, an online community that is driven by polls, adds to the growing list of user-driven web services like Digg, Wikipedia, del.icio.us that offer effective platform for information sharing while benefiting the society at large.

Temple Travails - Part 1, Thirukkachur

Prompted by prabhukrishs' report on the Thirukkacchur temples, I decided to visit these temples this morning. For starters, I must say that the directions that were given by Prabhu were spot on, to the kilometer mark. Thirukkacchur is close to Maraimalai Nagar(Ford factory). For the exact directions, see here.

As advised by Prabhu we called the temple prient on our way there and were greeted by him as we enetered the temple. The temple bore the party flags of three political parties, PMK, DMDk, and I could not identify the third one. The first temple, which is the Tyagaraja Swami temple has a kolam(water pond) on the outside. The breeze that blows across, the peace in the air, the old fashioned houses on the outside(with the comfortable thinnais)-all made it a perfect setting.

We were the only visitors to the temple, which probably gives some idea of its popularity and flourish. Don't mistake me, it was a beautiful temple, and the one I liked the most amongst the three that we visited. The utsava murthy(roughly translatable as 'function deity' is Tyagaraja Swamy, while Kachapeswarar is the main deity. The name Kachapeswarar, for Lord Siva, is a result of the belief that Lord Vishnu worshipped Lord Siva at this very place in the form of a turtle, Kachapa=turtle(in Sanskrit). The temple had no electricity supply today and later did we learn that there is no power supply from 9-5 every Saturday.

After a brief, but comprehensive history of the temple, which dates back to 1000 years or so, the priest performed the archanai for the only 4 people in the temple. As the priest was telling us the story, we learnt many informative details. Sundarar(One of the Nayanmars) had sung about this Lord in Thirukachur, the temple was built by Kulothunga Cholan, the practice of building RajaGopurams for temples, did not exist in his time and was later introduced by Rajaraja Cholan(Prabhu had mentioned this), this place is also referred to as Adi Kanchi, meaning its another form of Kanchipuram and the Siva temple there. And many more intricate details.

There are 3 temples, along a small hill here. The first one is the Tyagaraja Swamy temple, the second one is the Irunditteswarar temple and the third - Marundeeswarar temple. The second one, is not a temple per se, but there is a just the Siva Lingam here. You are bound to miss it if you go, look for the water tank on the right hand side as you go from Tyagaraja Swamy temple to the Marundeeswarar temple. The Siva Lingam is just below the water tank.

The Lord at Marundeeswarar temple, which is the topmost of the three, is believed to treat and cure any kind of disease. Marundu, meaning Medicine(in Tamil). The priest, Mr. Natraja Iyer came up from the first temple to this place to do the archanai for us. The lack of funds and manpower meant that only one round of pujai was performed at this temple(Oru Kaala pujai here and Rendu Kaala pujai at Tyagaraja Swamy temple).

This place is a must visit for temple visitors, especially if you like the age-old temples, which aren't overcrowded by numbers and overflooded by donations, as many others are. A friend of mine, an Iyengar, I should mention, set us thinking by asking this question, " If you were to name one supreme Siva temple in India, which one would it be?", or to rephrase it "What is the equivalent of say, Tirupathi(for Iyengars), for Iyers and Siva temples?"

I could not find a direct answer to this, though Chidambaram and Tanjavur came to my mind, and my mom even said Kailasam(Mt Kailash in the Himalayas). I began wondering about the reason for the absence of such a supreme temple equivalent for Lord Siva. Any answers?

For more information go here, and there are some pictures available here too.

Lok Paritran splits

Now, the cracks begin to appear. The seemingly united, motivated, youngseters' political party has taken a beating and this doesn't paint a pretty picture to the public eye. Three members from Lok Paritran, who contested in the recent elections, have split from the rest of the party, quoting paritiality, dictatorial tendencies and more as the reasons. Read more here,

Three quit Lok Paritrana; to float new outfit

Now, this is what they call politics! 

The surgery was successful

My surgery - to remove the blockage on my left nasal septum area, and a slight deviation of the nasal septum - is over and it was sucessful. At least medically. I am yet to experience the immense benefits, like being able to breathe through both my nostrils But that will happen only after 2 more days, when the whole nose has been cleaned.

The surgery was performed by Dr Sadasivam, an E N T who consults at Sanjay ENT Clinic, Mandavelli. A nice man, and a trustworthy doctor, though a man of a few words.

I believe in properly documenting incidents, for future reference and clarity. So, I took down some notes while I was in hospital, things like how I felt at that point in time, what was happening around me etc. I also managed to convince my brother to get some photos. I post two of them here. Disclaimer: These pics may be slightly disturbing, depending on the state of mind of the viewer/reader. I am not responsible for the consequences in any way.

This was immediately after the surgery was performed and I came back to the room.

This was after the plastering was removed. Just for some interesting fact now, that piece of gauze stuffed up my left nostril, is covered with blood and was easily over 10 inches long.

The pain has been subsiding at a steady rate over the last 2 days. I should be fine by Tuesday or so. Anybody wanting more information on Sleep Apnea and how it can mess up various facets of your life, drop in a line and I'd be willing to share my experiences.

Morning Run along the coast

I had to do it somtime. Have been feeling like a sloth lately (Is that usage right, "like a sloth"?) Anyway, you get the idea. So, i decided to take a morning jog along the beautiful Marina beach. It was wonderful. Felt great after the run/walk. Got a couple of collegues to go along. Ended it with breakfast at Saravana Bhavan. Pongal, vadai, filter coffee. Bliss.

That wonderful first date between this couple…

This is a story of a couple who had their first date together. This story has got everything, from the sublime to the ridiculous. They even had both their pants down by the end of their date. No, not quite….Read on.

We have all had bad dates.. but this takes the cake. This just tells you how tough it is to be single nowadays. This was on the "Tonight Show"with Jay Leno. Jay went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst firstdate experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!
She said it was midwinter… snowing and quite cold… and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was aday trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful untilthey were headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back downthe mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte.

They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which shedid for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop andlet her pee beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car.They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked herpants down and started.

In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief shefelt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to pump handles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage herflesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold.

Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about "what is taking so long" with a replythat indeed, she was "freezing her butt off and in need of some assistance!"

He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst outlaughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hystericalas the situa tion was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from thegrip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the
predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, herfirst-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off thefender.

As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down… or perhaps that should be "pants down." ..And you thought your first date was embarrassing.

Jay Leno's comment ..
"This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off."

Annoyance-1

Just one of them for now…..can someone tell me the keyboard shortcut to go to the search box in iTunes? How difficult can this be, but I just cant seem to find it. May be others dont feel the necessity for one, but I do, really do.