1010. Chronicwriter is getting older

If you are a reader of this blog, you would have realised that there is hardly any post here these days. The reason is I have been active on LinkedIn and on Instagram. We all go through lot of moments in life that changes our perspective of this world. The humorist in me is slowly dying. And I think I am making sense these days and that is something that I always dreaded. I was always scared to get old. One thing that I have been doing in the last two years is in spending more time with teenagers and people in their early twenties. I learn a lot from this generation. I don't look my age still and that is both a blessing and curse. Blessing, because I look young. Curse, because in some cases, I am treated like a young boy by people who are younger than me.  

Oh well. I wrote this blog just to post these pictures to indicate how I have aged over the past 16 years.

- Chronicwriter

1009. Sethu, the movie that shocked us

It was the year 1999. I was in my first year of college. The film Mudhalvan had hit the theatres. It must have been the month of November. I don't remember the exact date. But I do remember that Mudhalvan was running full house. 

I did my Engineering in a college in Pondicherry, in the outskirts of Dindivanam bypass. To come to Pondy, we had to take a bus and as the college was 14 Kilo meters away from the city, it would take use 30 minutes to come to Pondy.

In our college hostel, we would play music cassettes and that would be a rage all the time. Mudhalvan songs were played all the time. And as college students, we learnt the art of bunking classes. The boys did two things when we bunked classes

1) Go to hostel, get drunk and sleep

2) Go to Pondy and watch a movie.

I think it was December. I remember this because the hostel was decorated with Christmas lights and all. We decided to bunk college and go to Pondy to watch a movie. As Mudhalvan was still running houseful shows, we thought of watching it. A few of our friends had not watched the movie yet and so we all started our long 30 minute travel to Pondy. 

The first theatre that welcome us in Pondy was the Muruga theatre ( after Gorimedu). Some Ram Naryanan movie was playing there. Then we crossed Ajantha, Ananda, Jayaram and finally reached Balaji theatre. We did not get the tickets for Mudhalavan and we were disappointed.  But we decided to watch some movie before we made our way back. And that's when we saw this movie poster of a tonsured man. It was Raja theatre.

We did not know who the hero was and we had no clue who the heroine was. But Illayaraja was the director of the movie and some director who had worked as an assistant to Balu Mahendra had directed it. Most of us were not interested to watch that movie. Reluctantly we went it, because we needed to spend 2 hours in a A/C theatre.

We were still angry at some of our friends because if they had started early, we would have got tickets for Mudhalvan. Soon, the lights were gone. And the movie started. When the hero was introduced, he was introduced as a rowdy hero. One of our friends remembered him and said that this is the same guy who acted in the Oh Butterfly song. 

Slowly the anger disappeared and we started liking the movie. The movie went pretty fast and this kind of direction was never seen before. During the intervals, when the lights were switched on, we were shell shocked, because the breaking the hero's head was the interval block scene. During the interval, we were all praises for the director and we were heaping praises for Balu Mahendra for producing a gem of a director. And soon the second half begun. We went from shocked to sadness, to shell shocked. Never in the past were we taken through such a shocker of a ride by a movie. This was not we had expected when we started seeing the movie. And finally when the movie ended, we left the theatre with a heavy heart. We did not know whether to praise the director or curse the director. But we knew that we had just watched a super hit movie. Back then, when we hated a movie, we would go and tell our friends that the movie was really great. It was our way of pranking our friends. So when we went around and told our friends that the movie Sethu was good, no one believed us. 

Sethu was a slow starter. But it ran till Tamil new year day of 2000. More than 100 days. Soon the songs in that movie were used by college students in Inter college competitions. Bala had arrived. B

-Chronicwriter

1008. The night before the exams

The contents of this blog post is true to the best of the knowledge and wisdom of the author of this blog. All the incidents mentioned in this post has happened in the life of the author. The incidents happened during his MBA college days (2004 - 2006)

How do Boys prepare for semester exams?

1) Outings 
On the evening before the exams, boys would have the itch to go window shopping. On all the other days we would simply be in hostel. But on the day before the exam, we would have to go on an outing.

2) Eat outs
On all the other days, we would eat in the hostel canteen even if we curse and make jokes about the college food. But on the night before the exam, we have to go out and eat dinner. That is a cardinal rule.

3) Sleep
The afternoon before the D day should be spent on sleeping.

4) Check the time table
This is a mandatory step that all boys do the day before the exams. Many boys have to look at the time table to have an idea about the name of the subject.

5) Have a debate with friends to know which lecturer took that subject
For some guys, even the name of the subject would not give them a clue on what the subject is all about. If the subject is handled by a lady professor, the class discussions will easily come to their mind

6) Search the entire hostel in search of notes taken by any boy for that subject.
This is a step that the boys adopt after their evening outing is over. If they find the notes, they will then step out for their night dinner.

7) Go to Library and search for books.
Go to the college library to see if any text books are available there, only to realize that we do not even have our library cards with us because the girls have already taken the books using our cards.

8) Go to girls hostel
We go to the girls hostel for good reasons on the night before the exams. We go there to take the notes and photostat the notes from one girl who parts with her notes for 15 minutes

9) Come back to hostel and distribute the copies to the other boys.

• Write chits in case it comes handy during exams.
• Micro Photostat
• Strategy for copying is drafted.
• Watch a movie with a bottle of beer.
• Play cards, Cigarette smoking is a must while playing cards.
• Taking a long ride just to ward off the exam blues.

How do Girls prepare?

1. Mug up
2. Mug up again
3. Study well
4. Read through their notes they took in class.
5. Read through the notes taken by other girls.
6. Read the books they took using their library cards from the library
7. Read and mug up the books they took from the library using the library cards of some boys.
8. Mug up all that is already mugged up
9. Understand and study what is already mugged up

This post is written based on my experience with exams in the early 2000s. Now things might have changed.

-Chronicwriter

1007. My work table at home

A good work desk will play a big part in #workproductivity. In the last two years, I was shifting between three places at regular intervals and I did not have a proper permanent workspace. But recently I was able to set my work table in my house. A lot of effort did go in putting this workspace together. Here is a list of what makes my perfect work setup.

1) Transteel Study desk. I always like the 4x2 feet tables. It gives me enough space for my hand to rest while I work [https://lnkd.in/gseXkqbP]

2) The Macbook Pro, Magic keyboard and Magic mouse ( Zoho's work companions)

3) Tukzer long mousepad [https://lnkd.in/gaZU7XbC]

4) JBL Go2 speakers - I always use an external bluetooth speaker for better performance. [https://lnkd.in/gRWazuRC]

5) Lenovo 300 FHD external webcam with wide view - Try an external webcam for your meetings and feel the difference. I use it even for Whatsapp video calls. This webcam is a great partner for meetings that are conducted through Zoho Cliq [ https://lnkd.in/gApTtQNA]

6) BenQ external monitors - I am a big fan of external monitors. There are many other better monitors too. But as i do not design much and spend a lot of time in typing content, this monitor perfectly fits my need [ https://lnkd.in/gdT59bWQ]

7) Succulents in mud pots - coloured by me and helped by my 10 year old daughter and my 2 year old son. One of these pots has Zoho's logo painted on it. I will write a post about the story behind these three pots

8) Six toy cars from my son's toy box. Already my son has taken 4 of them. Soon they will disappear from the table. I will have to replace it with a Rubik's cube.

Share your workspace in the comments section and if you have any work enhancement items on your desk, do share them too

-Chronicwriter

1006. A recap of my life from 2019

For those who still visit my blog after all these years, I think it is high time that I bring you up to speed with updates from my end. I am now working for a company called Zoho, where I manage the marketing of a communication and collaboration app call Cliq.

On the personal front, my daughter Anya is in class 5. She is calm and composed all the time. My son Adam is two years old and he has got my instincts. He is a brat. My wife Joan is the pillar at home.

I tried my hand in independent music in the year 2019 and I was successful to an extent. I was happy that I could do a few gigs and shows in Chennai. Then the pandemic came and drove us all indoors. 

Lost many friends and family members in may 2021 to Covid. So that was a lean phase in our life. Thankful to be alive and breathing.

I am planning to release a few songs on spotify. The gospel quartet I am part of - Fisher four is very much active and we release songs once in a while. I am kinda active on instagram, clubhouse and on LinkedIn these days. Not that much active on Facebook. I go to FB only to post family pictures and happenings form my life from time to time. I don't really take efforts to engage in conversations on FB.

I realised that I have not updated my blog for quite sometime and hence decided to update this with a recap of what's happening in my life since the year 2019. And if you had forgotten how I look now, here is a picture of mine taken this morning after my morning walk. Yes i have to shave

- Chronicwriter

1005. The dark horse of the 1983 world cup

Everyone talks about the 1983 world cup finals where India defeated the mighty West Indies. People also talk about the 175 runs scored by Kapil against Zimbabwe in that world cup. But very few people talk about how India defeated the same West Indian team in the league matches in that same world cup.

Facing a mighty Caribbean bowling attack that consisted of the likes of Holding, Marshall, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Larry Holmes, the Indians started on a slow pace. Every Indian batsmen made a slow start; but none of them could score more than 40 runs.

Here was an ordinary Indian lad who faced bouncers from Malcolm Marshal and even started hitting boundaries. By the end of 60 overs, India had scored 262 runs. No other Indian batsman could score even a single boundary. But this man hit 9 glorious boundaries for his knock of 89 off 120 balls. That was the best knock by an Indian batsman against the mighty West Indians till that date. He was none other than Yashpal Sharma.

He was also the highest scorer for India against the powerful Aussies in their last league game of that world cup where India crushed them.

Even in the semifinals, while chasing a nominal score of 213 against the Englishmen, it was Yashpal who top scored with a brilliant 61 and made it sure that India entered the finals. Today he is no more.

There was no man of the series award in the 1983 world cup. But because of his continuous man of match awards, Mohinder Amarnath is often seen as the player of that series. And Kapil for his catch in the finals, is seen as the man who changed the course of the match in the final. The performances of Mohinder Amarnath and Kapil Dev can be compared to the performances of Yuvaraj Singh and Dhoni of the 2011 world cup.

In my personal opinion Gambhir was the dark horse of the 2011 world cup and the dark horse of the 1983 world cup for India was Yashpal Sharma.

-Chronicwriter

1004. The game with two girls

I started watching the game of football as a kid and I was a big fan of the Brazilian team. Romario and Ronaldo the phenomenon were my favourite footballers. I have also been playing EA FIFA for many years. When I joined Zoho, the foosball tables in the campus caught my attention. The first thing I wanted to do was showcase to my team mates, my football knowledge on the foosball table. 

I convinced a couple of them to join me to play foosball. However the tables were always occupied by our employees during lunch hours. Some players literally spent their entire day honing their foosball skills. We finally got a table to play after waiting for two whole weeks. Aravind, Rohit, Zaheer and I played a friendly game. Though none of us had played foosball before, Aravind got lucky because I was his partner. We won the game easily.

It is no fun to play friendly games like that and hence we decided to find new opponents to play high intensity games. The very next day, we found no one at the table. Aravind and I, immediately took positions. I taught him the nuances of spinning and curving the ball. Aravind was privileged to listen to the tricks of the trade from the master himself.

Two girls were watching us from a distance. After sometime they gathered some courage to approach us and ask if they could play against us. We readily agreed. Aravind asked me to be gentle with them. I told him that's not gonna happen as we have to be ruthless when it comes to competitive sport (The spirit of the bad coach from Karate Kid 3 had possessed me).

A small crowd gathered to watch us play and that is all that we needed. The game started, and with one flick, I scored the first goal. Aravind looked at me with awe. Soon it was a goal fest and after a barrage of goals the final score read 10-1. Debanjali and Harshni buried us with the worst thrashing we had received till then. Aravind and I felt like Kaipulla being surrounded by Kattadurai and his goons. 

In future, when all this Covid19 madness disappears and when things come back to normalcy, we will all be back in the campus. And if we ever happen to go near the foosball table, make sure that we stay away from Debanjali and Harshni because they don't have any heart.

கல் மனசு படைத்தவர்கள்.
கெஞ்சுனோம், கதறுனோம்.
ஆனாலும் துளி அளவு கூட இரக்கம் காட்டாமல் எங்களை துவைத்தெடுத்து காய போட்டவர்கள் அவர்கள்.

Be Careful.

எங்கள சொல்லிகிட்டோம்.

-Chronicwriter

1003. Einstein vs Raju

 

Going with the flow. This ultimately seals victory for India.

Einstein was born in Germany and he had multiple nationalities and at last, he became a US citizen. But our respected Scientific minister Sellur Raju sir is born and brought up in India. 

He is our pride and prejudice. 

He brought Laurels and Hardys to India through his discoveries and national geographical approaches to science and technology. 

The vanakkam by Einstein lacks strength, courage and moral support. However Raja sir’s vanakkam is sharp, focussed and shows the vigour of a untamed Tiger.

It is my privilege to attack USA by fielding in the right candidate from our side. 

Ippo vaanga da.

-Chronicwriter