Reasons unknown..questions unanswered..

"P is no more . He committed suicide yesterday !" was the content of the mail i got today morning with the subject 'Bad News'..

My reaction : What??

I wasn't sure whether i should post this or not ..

P was my classmate and a friend in B.Sc . A Formula One fanatic ...not the ones who would mingle with everyone but still a good company to be with ..I haven't know him very closely but as far as i have know him he wasn't a weak person . He was the moderator of our B.Sc Yahoo group ..a frequent awakener of the group when rest of us would be just waiting for somebody else to mail. During his elder's brother's marriage he fell in love with girl and got married to her last month on May 14th ..everything was just fine for him..or that is what it looked like..But yesterday he decided to put an end to his LIFE with just a not left behind saying "There is no motivation in life !" ..Everyone is left in shock and despair..

I have heard of so many suicide cases but never ever gave it thought as to why would anyone want to end his/her life . But now that someone i have known has done this , it has evolved a lot of questions in my mind. In most of the cases there are reasons ..'Love failure' ..'Failed in Exam' ..and many others. But in this case "No motivation in life" ? Was it the only reason ? There are so many questions unanswered ...What made him take such a decision? why didn't he tell his wife with whom he supposed to share everything ? Why didn't any of his friends knew ? What happens to his newly wedded wife ? Why did he do like that ? What about his parents ?

Life is so unpredictable ..Everyday is new beginning.. Problems are part of life but they shouldn't be reason to end your life !!!

May his soul rest in peace ..May god give his parents and his close ones all the strength to overcome this sadness..!!

Youth

I wonder what each one of them are thinking in their minds ..maybe they are eyeing a girl ..or maybe they are thinking when they will get a job ..or maybe expecting a interview results in a day or two ... Each one of them are lost in their own train of thoughts !!
I took this shot in one of the shopping malls in Bangalore ,Garuda Mall last month when i was there with my friends. I am not sure about all of them but at least the one in the extreme left was definitely eyeing the girls promoting 'Fair and Lovely' at the ground floor of the shopping mall..
Little did they realize a girl named Vidya was eyeing them through her Panasonic FZ 5 ..zoomed to the max ..and capturing all of them in her camera !!!
And little did Vidya know that she will put this picture in one of the photo contest names BSB ( Bangalore Shutter Bugs ) for the theme of 'Youth' and get the second prize :) ........Yeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy , i got the second place for this picture !!! No prize money nothing but still , to get a rank in a competition means a looootttttttt.. !!!!
Thanks to the three guys for their expressions !!!!

Somethings weird about me..

I have been tagged by Shub

I am supposed to write 6 weird facs/habits about myself . So here it goes the weird list with weird coloring :)

Given a whole bar of chocolate ,i don't finish it in a single day. I eat a piece and keep the rest in the fridge and finish it in two days or more than that . .

I don't like cats because when i was small i troubled a cat and it scratched my legs with its paws.

I have to eat something spicy if i am eating too much of sweet or vice versa ,there are times when i have sweet in one hand and a piece of mango pickle in another hand.
I used put sugar in Pulav and eat sugar with chappathi but i hate to drink milk with sugar .... yuck !!!!!

When i am sad ,i expect people to ask me why i am sad but if they ask me and i start telling them the reason then tears starting rolling down my checks !!!!

When i fight with somebody i don't talk to them even if they apologize ..its only the next day i talk to them.

I get lot of weird dreams .its usually is a mixture of whatever happened that particular day ..i remember my dreams many a times and narrate it to my friends ..during my college time few of my friends used to wait for me to come and narrate my dreams :) .. Once when i was small i got a dream that my parents died and i got up and started crying.

When i asked my friend to tell some weird things about me ..u know what he said
"YOU ARE WEIRD !!!" and then later he says "ITS REALLY WEIRD THAT I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING WEIRD ABOUT YOU".... that sums it all :) !!!

I am tagging Kishore and Mahen .

I am playing football ...

What are you doing ?

How many times have people asked you this question ..even though they can see what you are doing ...

Like when i am grating the carrot for the salad my friend comes next to me and asks "What are you doing ?" or

like my dad who comes to the hall where i am sitting and seeing TV and asks me "What are you doing beta ? "
And what is my answer "I am playing football !!". Sometimes to irritate my dad i go and stand in front of him when he is shaving and ask him "Appa ,what are you doing ?" [*With a grin *] .

He knows i am purposely asking the question and then he says THE sentence which he must have heard a 101 times from me "I am playing football beta !" and then myself and my dad will laugh loudly. And then my mother will scream from the kitchen "Kya ho raha hai ?" [Whats happening ? ] and she will here a chorus voice screaming "We are playing football !!!!" ...

My dad has become so used to this answer that he has kept my name as "Football player !" ..There are times when dad would have expected the 'I am playing football" answer so he wud ask me " Vidya beta , what are you doing ? Are you playing football ?" .. And then i would show all my teethes and answer "No Appa ,i am playing cricket !!!" ... :) !!

Whats there in the name ??

27 characters..... Family Name ,Father's name ,My name :)

SODANKUR RAMAKANTHAN SRIVIDYA

srividya.sodankurramakanthan@[company-i-work-for].com ..

I usually don't dictate my company id to anyone because either they will end up saying "What a looooooooooooooooong id!!!" or "Oh my god !!!" or they end up doing a spelling mistake !!!!

I always had this confusion with Surname, First Name ,Last Name ,Maiden names .etc..etc..etc . I guess even my teachers had that confusion ..I remember the days of B.Sc . Every year for 3 consecutive years..

The lecturer would come to the class..

We all wud stand and go "Goodmorning Sir/Madam ". He or She wud wish us back and we would sit down ..Then they would take out the attendance register and start calling out names one by one..

"Amar"
"Deepthi"
"Divya"
"Kishan"
"So..." [Lecutrer finding it difficult to read the name ]

"Soda...".[Lecturer finding some familiarity with the name...]

"Sodankur..."[Finally managed to read my SURNAME !!!!]

and then i wud raise my hand and say "Srividya Sir !!" /"Srividya Madam" :o [With all heads turned towards me! ]

This same process would continue for 1 week with different lecturers ...and by this time everyone knows the moment the lecturer stumbles on a name while calling the attendance its my name :o) !!

After completing the 3 years of my B.Sc degree just before exams we had this session with college principal where in all the final year students were there and we were being handed over a certificate as a remembrance that we studied in this particular College.. All of us were having fun ..clapping our hands ..shouting as each of our names were called ..and then i suddenly hear the person with the mike fumble ... and he goes...

"Soda ..." .."Sodankur".. [Not again ... This is not even the first few days of 1st year/2nd year/3rd year ,oh ! I C its the first time you are reading my name ..Hmmm ..then okay !! Chalega !!! ]

All my classmates turn around to me and give me a as-usual-smile :) and some of them even shout my full name !!

The certificate reads

"Dear Sodankur ...... We are happy that you were part of St.Aloysius College......"

I collect my certificate with a thanks-for-making-my-family-name-so-famous-smile and it read

My friends still remember my full name :o) !!!

In the minds of the Bus Driver

Aila !!!! Yeh kaun hai ? [OMG ..who is this ?]
Apun is photo mein mast diktha hai ..bilkul hero ke mafiq !!! [Wow !! ,i look great in this photo ,just like a Hero ]




Ab apun ka intiroduction yaani ki jaan pehchan .. [Now for the introduction session]

Aey Mamu , apun is bus ka driver hai ..Bole to !! Apun yeh gadi mein tum logon ko Sentosa Island le jaayega ..Bus mein ghusne ka free ..lekin Sentosa mein entry ke time Bus ka paisa bhi vasool ho jaath hai ..Bole to ..Shaane log hain !! [I am a Bus Driver ..meaning i take people to Sentosa Island in this Bus .Entrance to this bus is free but they take the bus charge when you take the admission ticket to Sentosa ..Smart People !!]

Yeh jo bada mirror apun ke samne hai na ..woh apun ka teesra aank hai ..bole to ? peeche tapori log kya karelein hain sab dikhtha hai..Lekin.. Chokri ne kab photo liya pata hi nahi chala ..Photu sahi hai ..Lagta hai top ki photographer hai.. [This biiiig mirror in front of me is like a third eye to me ..i can see whatever everyone is doing behind but i never saw the girl taking my photo ,good shot i must say !! She must be a great photographer !;o)]

Chalo..abhi apun ka shift khatam ho gya ..ghar chalta hai...Alvida aaj ke liye ..aate rehna.. [Ok ..My shift is over so i am going home.. Bye for today ..Keep coming.]

You too.....!!!!

Morning as i step outside my house hurriedly open the Metal Door which is now accompanied by a broomstick and a horseshoe so as to keep spirits away!!

Spirits ??!!! Day before in neighbors house one of the young guys (aged 30) died ..i know not the causes ..but as my owner puts it ..He was a drug addict !! May his soul rest in peace !

I rush to the stairs only to realize i can't use them since there was fresh cement applied on them which had my shoe prints. Beacuse i am not a Superwoman nor a Spiderman/Spiderwoman to skip 3 continous steps and reach on the fourth one , neither do i have looooong legs. I scolded ( in my mind of course !!) the people who did this !! " How can they just put the cement like this on the staircase which is the only way to go , expecting everyone to do some circus and reach the fourth step??? . " Miss Vidya there is also a lift which can be used !!!! Heeeee heeee .. I am sure they will put up a signboard today "Please use to LIFT !!! " or maybe

"Please don't use you indigenous skills to reach the fourth step ,please take the LIFT !!!"

So i wait for lift just to go from 2nd floor to 1st floor (In Singapore there is no ground floor..i mean 1st floor is the ground floor )....I look through the Blocks for my friend who will be waiting for me as we commute to office together .. As i reach the spot where we are supposed to meet ...i see him and there only one thing on my mouth and my mind .. "You too !!!!.... are wearing the same combination of Black Shirt and Cream Color Trousers !! " "Couldn't you wear some other color ?" "Looks like we are wearing some kind of uniform !!" 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ' .." Guys at office will have a nice time pass !" ..
At office , "Something special today ?" asked one of my colleagues "Everyone seems to be wearing black !!" . I said smilingly "No ,its just a coincidence !!" .
Why is that sometimes when you wear a particular color of dress out of the blue it seems that almost everyone is wearing the same color !!

Sweets from India

There's the new mail icon on my system tray..

I immediately open my Inbox to check whose mail is it ? I don't even read the mail ..just the subject line of the mail makes me lock my machine and leave my desk and go to the cubicle where everyone is flocking like honeybees ... hmmmmm

Its one of those "Sweets from India" mails from my colleague who has just come back from India . And we people onsite just wait for these mails so that we can hog on all the snacks and sweets bought from India ... Some people (including me ) takes hands full of the mixture and keep at their desks so to relish it the whole day...As i am writing this blog i remembered that i had kept some snacks in my cubicle drawer ..so i am munching it now ..

Monday one more person is coming from India ..so its going to be another "Sweets from India" mail...

Nose Support !!!

A Candid Shot during the Sentosa Balloon Hat Festival !!!Can you imagine a Real Man standing instead of that Sculpture !!! Haaaa haaaaa haaaaa !!

Photoshopped !!!

Which software comes to mind when you think of editing a photo ? Photoshop of Course!!!
All the while i never used it , seeing so many features on that , it looked very clumsy with so many buttons. I used a simpler tool called Picasa but then when there were limitations to what i could do in Picasa i searched for a different tool. And the different tool was Photoshop , back to square one !!!! Hmmmm.....
After seeing so many photographs with selective coloring i really wanted to really try it myself but all the previous failed attempts in photoshop lead me to dissapoinment.But finally one day after lot of googling i sucseeded . I am still not aware of so many things ,just trying my hands !!! There are lot of things you can do to a photo using photoshop ,but the best i like is selective coloring like the one below.

Before

The method i followed to get this output is a little difficult and time consuming but you will be really happy with the result as i was .Of course it needs a lot of patience!!!
If you want to try try the below steps..

1. Select a picture, preferably a coloured picture !! [Make sure you keep a backup of the picture]
2. Select Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Hue/Saturation from the Menu .
3. Click Ok
4. Again Click OK.
5. Set the Saturation tab -100 and click OK.
6. Now click on the Eraser Tool .
7. Now using the eraser erase the parts you want to keep in color[eg :I erase the plastic bags !!]
8. Once done Save the image .

After

Simple isn't it :) !!!

P.S : This photo is taken by me !! So ask me before you download it okay !!!!!

Can i join FBI or CBI ?

Time : 10: 30 P.M. I am just back from my office after a hectic day . I land at my friend's place who has made dinner for me :) !
My mobile phone rings..I see the screen flashing "Vasanthi calling!!! ". I pick up the phone.

V : Vidya ,Vasanthi here .. Are you at home ?
Me : No ,i will be there in one hour .I am at my friend's house !
V : I am trying to call up my son Rishi at home ,but he is not picking up .
Me : Oh!! I will go home then message you !
V : Okay Lah !!! [Lah is common word suffixed after a sentence in Singapore ]

I finish my dinner ,Yummy Akki (Rice) Roti and Capsicum curry and then my friend accompanies me till the house which is one block away. My house is on the first floor .

Its 11:30 P.M in the night.

I climb the stairs , remove my sandals keep it in the Shoe Rack . Search for my key in the bag's first zip. Open the first lock of the Metal Gate ,enter and then lock it again. Now open the second lock of the wooden door. Its supposed to be locked twice (Strict advice from my owner!! ). But ,Its locked only once . Hmmmm .. so i damn sure that her son Rishi has locked the door because he usually locks it once . I open the door ..the house looks empty and silent . Only one light in front of the pooja room is ON . I walk inside with my bag and walk towards my room door . While opening the lock of my door i turn behind to see the R's room. R's room door is not closed neither is it widely open . I get inside my room ,keep my back on the chair ,remove my watch and keep it on the table .
As i had told V that i will check and tell whether R is at home , i slowly open R's room door careful enough to not disturb him . On the bed he is sleeping covered with the bed sheet as i cud make out from the bulged bed sheet and the shapes which the bed sheet has taken from his body !! I couldn't see his head with spiky hair because of the darkness. Anyway he was at home as my owner wanted him to be ! As i turn around to go back to my room convinced that he is sleeping something caught my attention ... FAN !!!!! [Pink Panther Music ] .

He can never sleep without the fan !! How come the fan was not switched on ?? If not fan he would have switched on the AC ,but the door had been open !!! that means ????

Ahaaa!!!!!! You are caught R!!! He was not on the BED !!!!! He had just made the bed sheet bulge so as to make it look like he was sleeping but he couldn't escape from the hands of Detective Vidya ;-) [Gabbar singh Laugh ...haaaaa haaaa haaaaa haaaaaa ... Ab tera kya hoga Kalia ??]

And now ... Should i tell his mother that he was absconding from the house while she was working in the night shift ?? hmmmmm .... I decided not to tell her since in another half an hour it was her birthday so didn't feel like making her shout on him on her birthday . I just wished her "Happy Birthday Vasanthi !' right at 12 A.M ,June 8th . Set my mobile to silent mode and went to sleep .. !!!

MTR ki Jai !!!

No mood to cook .. just cook rice and mix it with MTR Pulliogare Mix!!!!

No time to cook ... just cook rice and mix it with MTR Pulliogare Mix!!!!

No vegetables at home ? just cook rice and mix it with MTR Pulliogare Mix!!!!

No Pulav Mix at home ... cook the vegetables ..mix it rice and MTR Pulliogare Mix!!!

for those of you who are wondering what is this MTR Pullioagare Mix ..It is basically a tamarind paste with salt and other spices packed in a packet and sold under a brand name called MTR. MTR also has a wide range of ready to eat products which again is very famous amongst people onsite especially bachelors who don't know to cook !!

MTR Pullioagare mix has been our saviour for most of us here on an Onsite project !! If not anything else in the house ,MTR Pulliogare mix will be surely there !! ok ok....i am not any kind of brand ammabasador for MTR .. Its just that the whole of last week i have been using too much of MTR pulliogare mix ;-) !!!

Added on 15:34

Q : Tumhara Pulliogare mere Pulliogare se tasty kaise hai ? (How come your tamarind rice is tastier than mine ? )

Ans: I use MTR Pulliogare Mix !!!!!

Heeeee heeeeee heee reminds me of the old Advertisement on doordarshan :

Teacher : "Raju tumhare daanth to motiyon jaise chamak rahein hai !"

[Raju your teeths are shining like pearls]

Raju :"Kyon na ho masterji ,main Dabur ka laal Danthmanjan jo isthemal kartha hoon !"

[Why not ! Its because i use DABUR's Red Toothpowder!!!

I will tell you a Joke !!

A Joke told by my cousin who is 4 years old as we walked towards a shopping mall. She told this joke in Kannada ,i have translated in English.

She : I will tell you a joke !!
Me : Okay ! Tell me.
She : Once there was Ramanna . One day with his one friend and one school boy he went for a Helicopter ride. There were only 3 parachutes in the helicopter. The Pilot suddenly said "Helicopter is spoilt! ".
Me : Okay !! [*I knew the joke so was pretending that i hadn't heard the joke before i said okay with lot of enthusiasm* ]
She : [Continuing...] With out thinking Rammana took a school bag of the school boy and jumped out !
She : "Funny no ?" [*She obviously wanting me to laugh so making sure that i know that it was the funny part !*]
Me : Ha haaa haaa haaaa.. [*Realising that she had told the punch line of the joke much before it was supposed to be said !*]

The original Joke
Ramanna along with his friend and one school boy go on a helicopter .There were only 3 parachutes on the helicopter. When the pilot announces that the helicopter engine has failed. Rammana takes a parachute bag and jumps down first. Rammanna's friend says "What shall we do now ? There were only two parachutes left now ?. The school boy replies "Don't worry Ramanna has taken my school bag and jumped !!!!" [*Applause *]

She is very much interested in crafts so i had a great idea on Saturday when i was lying on the bed lazily !! I saw the empty Ferro rocher box on my table and since the death of those 3 innocent fishes was still afresh in my find the first thing that struck to me was a Aquarium !! So i executed the project of making an aquarium with my small cousin yesterday and here is the output !!!

THE Question

One year Back...

Me :When will i get a chance to go onsite ?

Now...

Me: When will i go back to India ?

THE Answer

15 years back:

Q : What will you buy with all the money you saved in your PIGGY Bank ?
A : I will buy a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig CAR !! [ Excited!!!! ]

Now:

Q : What will you buy with all the money you saved in your BANK ?
A : I will buy a CAR !! [ Proud !!!! ]