The Immortality of The Bullet

How long have I had to wait to understand that some material things do bring immeasurable sense of realizations in life. Right on top of them... The Bullet. Always been a Bullet Fan but never dared to buy it due to a basic lacking I have in myself... Laziness. Wow... the bull needs to be taken care of, like a king. It gulps gallons of gas, reasonably good money on maintenance and hell a lot of care.

I waited for 27 years in life and finally decided... YES, I DO. :)
In a way, you are married to the machine once you own one.

What does it give back in return for all that you give it?

To me its primarily three things....
Ego Satisfaction, Joy of Travel and Nirvana.

It such a brilliant feeling when you see vehicles on the road moving away without a honk once they hear the beat. The Beat defines the Machine.

No other Motorbike gives you the happiness and Joy of travel that a Bullet can give you. Infact, Bull is no Bike. Its different. Drive it down the East Coast Road (The road that connects Chennai to Pondicherry), with the cold breeze on your face, the DUP-DUP, heartbeat like beat on the silencer with an air of arrogance, You'll need nothing more. Joy.

Nirvana is probably an exaggeration but lack of a better expression makes me describe the feeling so. Or probably it is Nirvana. Pick up your bullet if you have one. The kick to start gives you the thump. And the beat isolates you from the crowd. Just ride a few kilometers even in a hell of traffic in the city and you'll find yourself isolated in the mind. Nirvana, if thats what you can describe it.

Obsession you may call it, but the Bull is one of my tickets to Salvation.

The earthiness of the bike and the vintage looks take you both to the past and the future at the same time. paradoxical yet true.

Get a Bull if you don't have one. Experience the Unexperienced.

Cheers and God Speed
Skanda

Lessons from Experience

Welcoming the new year could not be much better for me than a clear collection of the thoughts and lessons learnt from experience of CE 1982 to now.

• The biggest problem with people is that they attach too much to things that are lost, to the extent that they forget what's in hand and often take it for granted.
• Your child and your pet never lie. Believe. Experience it. You'll know the truth.
• Archeology should be left to the books and work. Never apply it to your life. Digging the past makes life worse.
• Never run your life on KPIs. Its only for the corporate world.
• Trust your friends even if they betray you. Your judgement is the best one.
• Learn to see through a person. A deceptive mind is more dangerous than a deceptive appearance.
• Politics is not for the elite. It affects you day in day out. Engage.
• Have friends from the opposite sex. it enriches you behaviour and thinking.
• Your history does not always determine your future. There is no better day than today, no better moment than now to start afresh.
• Discretion is more important than valour. Don't waste your effort and time on trying to change stupidity. There are always abberations in anything.
• There is nothing as fate if you choose not take life lying down.
• Balls that fall from a greater height bounce higher. Remember that your failures must spur you higher.
• Good photographs, movies, books enhance your thinking and creative abilities.
• Humour leaves you with lesser hurt and enemies at the end of the life.
• Travel. It changes your perspective to life.
• Don't work, live it. Engaging changes the result.
• Believe in your means, the results will be achieved on its own.
• Don't stay silent in a group of people. Talking can make others talk. You never know, who wants a shoulder to cry, an ear to listen to them.
• Share. Life quadraples when shared.
• Practice "nothingness" in life. Remember you are not even a nano considering the size of the entire universe.
• Nature is God. Never forget it.
• Be a roman in rome. This is Kalyug.
• Recognise that there are some things you cannot win over for you don't have the strength. It is easier to win over a heart through friendship than by standing up to it.
• Evoke the child within you as often as possible. There is no other better way to stay young.
• Life does not go in circles. Its a straight line. You never end your life as you started, Mentally.
• Keep studying. Education, life and relationships.
• Have a Guru. It gives definition.
• Have an Ambition. It gives direction.
• Death is always the first option of life, for no one wants to suffer. But its the second choice you make that determines your life.
• Eat good and tasty food. Healthy food is the pickle with Good food being the curd rice. Thats the proportion, remember.
• Wanting to be rich is not bad. Whats important is how you want to get there.
• Sleep less. Sleep is as good as death. Do you want to die when you are alive?
• Religion is not bad. Be a devotee not a fanatic.
• Vote. Its the best tool you have in a democracy. You make a difference in whatever small way you can.
• If you are happy, share it. When you are sad, forget and enjoy the moment.
• Try to learn a new language. Anything new makes life wonderful.
• Smile. Even at strangers.
• Play a Sport of your choice. Sports makes you competitive.
• Take a vacation for yourself. Isolation teaches you life.
• Visit the Himalayas atleast once in your lifetime.
• Give back a small share of what you earn to the society.
• Have a diary. Buy an organiser. Use both.
• Music heals anything. Listen to soothing music and at time hard rock.
• Practice Anger (Rowthiram pazhagu).
• Never ever ever ever ever give up.
• Think before you start, think not after you have begun.
• Give as good as you get, infact a touch more, good or bad.

I might not have said something newer than you know. But still this post might remind you some things you may have forgotten in your busy life.

Cheers,

SP

The Value of Perfection

Yeah, this blog starts from the fact that I had one of my friends sending me a "Personality traits of Virgo" mail. Many would know what a Virgo is known for but I would still like to reiterate for those who wish to know it; Perfectionists and highly critical are two traits that stand out in any Virgo.

That brings me to my thoughts about perfection. Many believe that perfection is an imaginary word. There can be nothing as perfect. The term perfection is wishful and keeps moving with every improvement. Yes I agree, the term perfection is a farce in a way. So lets define perfection as excellence. Whats best at a given point in time is what is perfect. So the term perfect is not redundant, it just needs right interpretation and constant updation.

Now comes the question, is being perfect important or is being effective enough? Whats effective now? Effectiveness would be defined as a mode to achieve the end result not really being too much bothered about the means. So, now we observe a primary difference between the terms effectiveness and Perfection. An effectively performed work may yield you the desired results but it is not necessarily the best way to do it. A perfect work is one which is done in the best way possible and also gets you to where you wished to reach.

So whats better perfection or effectiveness? I would choose perfection over effectiveness, not because I'm a Virgo, but because I feel perfection is the better way to do it.

In my Dictionary:

Effective is "Get it done, somehow"

Perfection is "Get it done"

What always bothers me is the free interpretation of the "somehow" that people seem to take, and I'm not for it.

So now that perfection is the best way to do it, we have to bother about three important terms that get attached to any term; Cost, Price, Value.

Cost of Perfection:

If you wish to deliver Perfection,you have to put in the effort, attention and time to get it right. Yeah, it pushes the limits but nevertheless, your work then turns immortal and unquestionable in a sense. Perfections needs a great understanding of the subject, environment, other related issues. Perfection does drain you physically, mentally and tests your attitude but its worth it.This is the cost you pay for immortality. Isn't that cheap viewed that way?

Price of Perfection:

Haven't we seen the best demand the highest price for the work. The Best comes at a Price, but its worth paying. As is well known "Offer peanuts and you shall get only monkeys".

Value of Perfection:

I love this bit of Perfection. The Value. Invaluable. Perfections lets you be at peace as you leave no stone unturned, no loose ends in a work. You also thus have no ghosts of the work to come back and haunt you in the future. It leaves a stamp of your attitude wherever you go. It brings you knowledge, extensive and exhaustive, about whatever subject you work on. It gives you a sense of pride about your work - call it "Vidya Garvam", the Pride of being Knowledgeable.

The Value of Perfection is invaluable and thus the effort it demands is immensely small to the extent of results it gives back to you.

Try to be Perfect, always. It pays !!

Endhiran...... EndhiRUNS on Fan Power only.

Ok.... I know this post will anger a lot of Super Star Fans but I'm left with no other option but to vent out my week long silence. Endhiran is certainly a mix of Rajni's usual Idiotic stunts, Jetix Channel copy and a looooooooooooootttttt of dumb scenes.

What a directorial touch to start with. Rajni's beard length is the determinant of the number of days he has put in for the research. it keeps growing with every new phase of the research. :P

I'm not a Rajni fan, let me confess but I do watch his films for the Super Hero image he manages to create and the extent of entertainment he gives to people who are interested in watching movies to get entertained than educated. He's for those who believe his stunts and enjoy them. I don't believe the idiosyncrasies of Rajni but certainly loved watching the Thalapathi, Baasha, Sivaji type movies. But sadly Endhiran is a Rajni Killer to say the least.

#1. I cannot accept Rajni as a coward guy unable to fight a goon. But the scientist Rajni is one. Scientist Rajni is unable to fight Kalabhavan Mani to save Aishwarya Rai. He instead runs for cover with Ash, after the "Kannula manna Thoovara" stunt.

#2. How could a director of Shankar's calibre miss continuity, I wonder.... In the scene where Scientist Rajni asks the Robot Rajni to drive the car, the Robot bangs it on the divider in the road. Cut to next scene, the car does not have even a scratch. Isn't that dumb? A Rajni movie does not mean the audiences are idiots, it only means his stunts will not be questioned.

#3. Oh yeah.... The MGR movie stunt.... Ash is confronted by goons int he train, Robot fights them, suddenly runs out of power, get hit all over by the goons and is thrown out of the train. then the goons prepare to "rape" her (shit that scene was so dumb with the goons switching on the camera in their phones and taking a decade to take off the.... dupatta..., i was wondering if someone would take so long to rape ash). Ash then cries "Chiiiiiiiittttiiiiiiiii" and the Robot which had no power suddenly switches on to have enough to pull out a cable from the Electricity box nearby to charge itself back to normalcy. Isn't this an oooooooooooollllllllldddd scene. The heroine being chided by the villan, shouts for help and MGR appears there (ahem, from 200 kms away in 5 mins). The Robot had no "feelings" or "emotions" at that point of the movie, but it could feel that it had to save Ash. Thats a terrible miss Mr. Shankar.

#4. Having done so much, Shankar could have promoted the "Green Energy" bandwagon by having solar panels installed over the body of the robot. Oh yeah, but that would have lost Rajni a few "Hero" scenes and the Train fight.

#5. Oh.... now the epitome of idiotic filming, the last 20 mins where Shankar has picked up a bunch of scenes from ahem.... JETIX channel... Power Rangers.... Robots forming shapes..... Is this what Sun Pictures calls "Brahmaandam"? Shiiiiittt.

#6. Good that Rajni has realised that dancing with a girl half his age is better than dancing with one aged as much as his daughter. Oh sorry for the typo mistake.... "Dance", eh, what was that? Rajni is now making his age known. He's not even able to shake a leg... literally. And the morphing of Rajni's face on the dancer's body was so evident and looked very clumsy. They could have actually made Rajni stretch a bit to shake a leg.

#7. And a doubt. How could a charge less Robot, reassemble itself and get into Danny Dezongpa's car in the dumpyard? Poof.

#8. Rangoosky was the epitome of dumbness. I don't think i need to comment further.

So, I would keep pointing mistakes,more n more n more but I want to stop here. Having said all this I would want to tell you what kept me sitting to watch the entire movie.

Music - Wonderful tunes by ARR.

Danny Dezongpa - After a long time.

Robot Rajni, The Bad one - Rajni shows exactly why he was called a brilliant Anti Hero. The man excels in the role, entertaining and makes the last 40 mins his movie, entirely his own.

The Last Scene - Though very "philo" types, the last scene was well scripted.

Dialogues - Yeah, I liked them but in parts.

But in entirety Endhiran fails and how.... #EPIC. Compare it with the Shivaji and Baasha and it falls flat on its face. Look at Rajni and you won't feel any energy coming in. I still watch Baasha and Shivaji when I'm down it picks me up. I would blame it on Rajni and Shankar for this failure, well not in collections though.

Endhiran has been marketed through the latest advertising medium called "Advertising Terrorism". Look at all channels, FMs, Theatres... they compel you to watch the movie. Actually there isn't a choice. And you know why there is no choice. Its not entirely because its a Rajni movie, its also because its a SUN Pictures Production. And the self proclaimed First family of Tamil Nadu is not going to let anyone screw its fortunes. There were reports of movies being blocked for the Endhiran release, Theatres blocked and what not !!! Yeah, it has paid off. Paid big. Endhiran fills the coffers of Kalanidhi Maran.

Endhiran purely mints the Rajni Fan Base. And for a Fan base which gave Baba a 50 days run, Endhiran will be a feast.

I shall wait however for the day when Rajni stops acting as a Hero and does more majestic roles which will be remembered in these twilight years of his Cinema. The wait will be long, for it may never end looking at his ever growing fan base which only wants to see him as a Hero. Rajni, take a cue from Sivaji Ganesan. Move on, Change is the need of the hour in my view.

An ode to death

I wish to die, I wish to die, I wish to twinkle as a star in the dark sky

I seek no reprieve, have no remorse, I just wish to turn one with the elements around

No fear of tomorrow, no clutches of the kin, a world beholds with peace within

I seek no more, I say no more, I love to lay my soul to sleep

I kiss my destiny good bye with no regrets, for I have nothing more to live for

Something to hope, something to love is all you need to make a life

I hope for none, I love no one, my mind is filled with dreams of death

I seek to fall from a beautiful cliff, to see the world's beauty astound

The chirping birds, the misty sky, the white clouds and the greens abound

The cool sprinkle of the waterfall, the wet rocks, the cool air all around

I wish to land with a thud on the ground with all the sights in my eyes

I seek to stop my breath with ease, I love to lay my soul to sleep

Here I come Heaven or Hell, I do not know where I head

But all I know is that I wish to die, I wish to twinkle as a star in the dark sky

Politics through Tamil

To a generation that sees great tamil writers and poets only through Cinema songs, its hard to imagine if the true face of the so called "protectors of tamil" will ever be visible. Semmozhi Maanaadu - Supposedly the convention to promote tamil is slowly turning into a self tom-tom ing exercise at the behest of public money. And do we care at all?

I happened to get some interesting news from one of my Kovai friends about this MAAAANAAADU ---- Kovai is being turned into an overnight heaven for a three day affair where the elected rulers of the state's minority government want to exhibit their grandeur and please a few using public money. No exaggeration ---- Atrificial TREES have been planted at various places to show a green image, dividers painted / laid, plants at each road turning, high security, lit up arena (from public electricity of course), ARR's title music, the whole music community singing (rather made to sing) and what not - Its the embodiment of all craziness one can imagine to announce that someone is the "one and only protector of the language and of the tamil people around the world". Just shit !!

I can understand the business sense behind the convention --- As in Chennai Sangamam, it makes a lot of people EARN and have their Black and White turn White :P :P. But I condemn the way in which this convention is projected to be THE thing for Tamils. We have a CM and FM who do not have the time to go and sit on GST forums citing age but have the time to pen dialogues for movies and plan to sit for hours at the Semmozhi Maanaadu, no time for governance but lots of time for thinking how to hold the central govt to ransom for a few ministries, no time for lankan tamils but enough courage to call the exposure of the corruption by A Raja to be a racist charge as he is a Dalit.

What are we trying to achieve by letting such people still rule our land?? A family which does scientific corruption is still being voted back in. Is this because all those who vote have a vested interest in it...?? Aren't we understanding that we are putting our Genext at stake for our survival..?

Politics thru Tamil was necessary a few decades back when we were experiencing the Hindi invasion into all parts of our life. We noticed a concerted ploy on the part of the Centre to impose it on us. Tamil was to be protected then. What now? Why do we still believe in a redundant ideology? We still have people clapping to fools on the dias talking about the language with no sympathy and concern towards the people who speak it. Shame.

Tamil's Semmozhi status is a farce and useless unless we bring good living to people of Tamilnadu. Currently there is a "KaanalNeer" (aka Mirage) which makes us think we live a happy life in this state. We will soon realise what we have done to our lives by keeping mum to the attrocities committed by a Family.

Bharathiyin Varigalil....

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று, பல சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி, மனம் வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று, பிறர் வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து, நரை கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி, கொடுங் கூற்றுக்

கிரையெனப்பின், மாயும் பல வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே,நான் வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?

நின்னைச் சில வரங்கள் கேட்பேன் - அவைநேரே இன்றெனக்குத் தருவாய் - என்றன்

முன்னைத் தீயவினைப் பயன்கள் - இன்னும்மூளாதழிந்திடுதல்

வேண்டும் - இனி என்னைப் புதிய உயிராக்கி - எனக்கேதுங்

கவலையறச் செய்து - மதிதன்னை மிகத் தெளிவு செய்து -

என்றும்சந்தோஷங் கொண்டிருக்கச் செய்வாய்!

Travelog

On the way to Nagercoil... to visit our windy beauties....
Love to write onlien about the travel.... then and there logged....

Jus on to the train... Had a Jab We Met types entry... The train moved and I ran to catch it just in time... thrilling times.... The start to the journey seems exciting... just wish the entire trip stays as enthusiastic and rewarding... :) Wish me luck

My Lessons in Life - Mr. AHP

Mr. AHP as he is called in Wipro circles is one of the Best Business Leaders on India. Proud to have been associated with Wipro during my career.

Just happened to think a few lines

Play by the rules, but Win at any cost..... A little paradoxic I guess

Don't bother overtaking, just Takeover...... A touch too arrogant, I know.

A hurt heart is powerful than an inspired mind....

I love the fact that life is not fair, else I would never strive to rise post a fall

GOD is only the short form of GOOD... Do Good and you won't need the former...

There is nothing called as GOD for a person who believes in the CONSCIENCE...

Saving the Soldier

Too many cases of shame to the Indian Armed forces (Army, Navy, AF, police) have come through in the last few years and little have been done to make good the apathy. The Bofors Scam, Coffin scam, Bullet proof Vests, State of the Policemen at the India Gate, and now the shameful incident of a TN policeman left to die in the gaze of two state ministers.

Are we at all caring??

Nobody knows the official result of Bofors yet though we've had Judgements absolving all the unofficially guilty !!!

Coffin scam - A scam which even found its way to the grave of soldiers not letting them RIP.

Bullet proof vests and the India gate policemen state - Enough spoken, no action

The incident of a policeman dying on the road in the gaze of ministers is a bit too much to take now. We know that ministers are insensitive, but atleast they should not be so when they are shot on camera (they are used to this way of life). Two state ministers stood by watching a policeman die a painful death. My limited knowledge says that every minister's convoy shall have all first aid equipments and medicines & some even have an ambulance as part of their convoy. the ministers did not even go close to the injured cop, leave alone saving him. We will now find for the next 5 days, the media reporting on this and then forgetting, the CM making a statement to justify the Ministers' acts, the opposition walking out and ten days on we forget and move on.

Do we need a death to understand our insensitivity??

How many more lives are we going to lose before we act??

(All the above are irrespective of how much ever the Armed forces are corrupted!!)

26/11

Do we at all feel for it or is it symbolism [ with its striking resemblance to 9/11 - looks like our media are so deligted that it happened with a 11 suffix. Else how do we ape the US of A ;) ]

All news channel were running "Stories" on the heroics of the brave men who saved India from complete shame on that day. Atleast we have some men to truly lay their lives for th motherland. Parliament rocked by Politicos squabbling over compensation distribution, news hours filled with stupid post mortem debates.

What did we do in these 365 days to really feel more secure?

a. Did we buy modern weapons for the security guards?? [Leave alone training them on it. We din even make a Purchase requisition]

b. What happened to the promised Bullet proof vests??

c. How secure are we now? [One of the news channels telecasted a spy cam video of how lax the security is still in the Trident]

d. Have the "erring" people [politicos and men in uniform] been given what they deserve? [We din even change the incumbent Home minister in Maha - Shame]

Why does India celebrate an Anniversary lighting candles and praying in public for the martyrs and victims? Do we really deserve to be still called a democracy??

RR Patil was sacked for a careless statement. Now the "expiry date" for the statement has come. So everyone has forgotten it and he has been re instated. So a 6 month hiatus can make good anything. Is that the case?

We had "Social activists" [I do not endorse this term tho], on the streets of Mumbai, with lipstick and make up full done up ;)] asking for change [Obama fever was in full swing then ;)]. Where did they go in the intermittent 365 days?? They again surfaced yesterday evening to light candles again. Pseudo Activism to say the least.

only 118 out of 403 victims have been given their due compensation by the government. When the opposition raises this issue, the Speaker says, its a solemn day and we should not fight, the Leader of the ruling side says oppn politicising 26/11. But "Mr. PM" what have you done to call the oppn. to be faulty. Its a day for solemnisation, provided you had taken enough steps to call it so. You are in the US partying on a day when India was burning 365 days back. That shows the level of seriousness. Now lets not call this visit to be the goof up of the officials. Can't the PM remember one date in his calendar??

No action... All chatter anger. thats how India has been for long... lets change else, SHUT UP.... The terrorists will take advantage as long as we keep chatting with no action.....

Jai Hind

Oh (bama) stop it for Pete's sake.... !!!

The Indian has been recently christened as "Argumentative". Now because of me, you can call him/her cynical as well.... Why are we going so much of gaga over Obama.. After all the guy has won an election, not saved the world at the doorsteps of the Armageddon... Is this going to be the end of racism.. Utter stupidity. Its politics and whether you accept it or not, today's politics is really "off the people" not "of the people"... He's not even proven his worth and before that we have started calling him the change... All he did was press for an economic stimulus package (well Bush called the earlier one by a different name, that's all ;) )... Media in India are spending hours and days relaying the US elections and the Oba'ma'nia... And the man did not bother to even say a thanks to our H'ble PM... He's infact ignoring him... (Mebbe he's not got enough money / tele - connectivity links to call beyond Islamabad)... Lets just shut this frenzied behaviour... He's the President of the USA not the World / India.... More so, he's just going to be more detrimental to India than we imagine... Truly Democrat style....Ah... and now they want a Indian Obama.... Why??? Whats the basis??? Is he as big a Gandhi, Nehru, Bal Gangadhar tilak, Bhagat Singh, Bharathiyar, Subramania Siva, V O Chidambaram Pillai, Subhash Chandra Bose?? Lets stop this mania and wish for one of these leader-likes to be born again not Obama (of course unless he turns out to be a great leader, even then I believe we don't need to look to the west for examples)...

JAI HIND

Sachin Tendulkar

The Man has broken the unthinkable records of the Cricketing world...His body is up and strong after 19 years of cricket....Great achievement.... Congrats....But looking beyond this or into this rather...1. Has'nt he been one of the most pampered cricketer of our times?... If he fails its lean form, whereas if any other player fails its bad basics and time to retire...2. He fails at the big games and makes us think that he's playing for records. Is the man not a big game performer??3. If put on a weigh scale, Sachin and Lara would almost be equal, but for one trait.... lara is heavier than Sachin when it comes to Big games... he's the man who can stare in the eye of the Australian bowlers.... Score hundreds and Double hundreds when it matters the most and when its least expected....