Dew

Try and reflect on the random responses to this very sincere question in your everyday life: How are you? I know what you are saying to yourself as you read this post. [ How many times is this question as sincere as this post claims it to be... Like someone really cares for my response!!!! ]. If I have read your mind correctly, then you must be one among the many who face this question every day, from people who ask you, how you are without any context or concern. This scene often amazes me: I waved a bye just last evening to someone and when I meet the same person the next morning, I am faced with a 'How are you?' instead of a 'Good morning', or may be a ' Good morning, How are you?' sequence... and I am standing there thinking, 'When did I ever say I was not fine to this person, at least last evening, I never said anything that warrants this question, this morning... '. This happens every other day with most of us in most places. When people hear such...

Software engineers are so used to carrying laptops day in and day out, never have time for anything other than work most of the times, forget what vacation means after the long vacation they took after their wedding, are almost always on the complaint radar in the family, especially when it comes to taking the family out and remembering to buy something from the store. We are not talking about the rare exceptions here. If you are one of the rare exceptions, God Bless You. :-) Over the past week alone, I had multiple chances to notice how much some of my software engineer friends change for their children. One of my friends who was very much a common software engineer( with all the introductory characteristics) before he became a responsible parent, can actually manage to leave on time for his daughter's school day function. Unbelievable!!! I exclaimed almost aloud. I am all smiles :) Another friend whose home is a mini-computer lab in itself actually sets his laptop aside and carri...

Tamil Film Industry's best make in the year. It is a direct and exact remake of the September 2008, Bollywood release 'A Wednesday' . 'Annan' Kamal Hassan has effortlessly played( actually played, because, it is so easy for him to get the dialogues right with the right emotions. ) the role of the Stupid Common Man and 'Lal' Ettan has done a good job as the Commissioner of Police. The Chief Minister's voice that deputes the Chief Secretary, is an excellent idea. Laksmi has done a good job of expressions as the Chief Secretary. The Abhiyum Naanum son-in-law character does the angry police man's role and will surely click as a police officer in all the future tamil movies. By all, I mean, ALL tamil movies. He fits into the role very well. The whole movie is about dialogues, and dialogues only. There is no comedian but dialogues are good enough to get a lot of cheer from the audience. This movie will decide how much Tamil film fans can really think. If i...

A lot of people have told me in the last few weeks, "Wonder if I will be able to answer an interview", " I am not sure if I have prepared well " and many such uncertain statements, most of which sound low in confidence level. From my minimal experience in attending interviews and writing these qualifying examinations, I thought I will write down what I have learned. Rule 1 : Interviews are unpredictable when you attend the first level. Most of the first level interviewers are super-thrilled about conducting your interview as much as you are super-scared to face one. Possibility 1: When an interviewer is super-thrilled to conduct an interview, and if his manager has given him some advance notice that you are coming over, then he is bound to prepare questions at the level which he thinks is best, for the team. Very few people ask the manager what is the expected skill set level and what to look for. So, when the interviewer faces you, he is at free will to ask any tec...

Marathahalli Ring Road, Bangalore. I saw a banner which read : Let's debate college education; Not College Wear. From my window, I read the banner once again.I was netted in Marathahalli Ring Road traffic in the morning peak hours. So, I had a lot of time to debate on the topic. Dress has become a topic of debate!!! Unbelievable. Cant help recollecting this: The last short-notice debate was back in my school final year, where I had to face a fellow debater from a Boys' school. I was representing my all-girls school. Both the schools have always been competitors in terms of education, all the time. The ground was packed to see the final stunt of the Tamil debate( last term of school , after which there would be no more chance to fight any sports or science exhibition or literary battles ) between the two schools - Me and the unknown debater [ There was a time in my life, I didn't remember names... just Math, Physics, Chemistry,Computer Science and Engineering College admissi...

I knew I was missing something, when I set out to work yesterday morning, but could not guess it just then. When I got a comfortable seat, I recalled a pending phone call and in a reflex action, reached for my mobile inside my hand bag, only to find that it was not there. First reaction was a shock, then a confusion, then clarity that I had missed it at home. All I could do was smile and wait till the end of the day to reach my phone. In the short span of a minute, my mind imagined that the phone might have been lost, meaning I would have lost all the numbers of all contacts, meaning I will have to send a mail to get all the numbers, and then... it went on and on... I resolved to make a paper copy of all the numbers I had with me, so even if I lose my device, I don't miss the contact numbers. I reached office and made one notification call home from a friend's mobile, saying I wont be reachable for ten long hours, for the first time in the five plus years of my going mobile. T...

நான் தமிழ் மொழியின் ஒரு நல்ல ரசிகை. கண்ணில் படும் நல்ல தமிழ் வலை பதிவுகள் எல்லாவற்றையும் படிக்கும் ஆர்வம் உண்டு. அப்படி ஒரு முறை என் கண்ணில் பட்ட தளம், நிலா ரசிகனின் அற்புத படைப்புகள் நிறைந்த உயிரோட்டமுள்ள தளம். அத்தளத்தில் முதலில் என்னை கவர்ந்த வரிகள் இதோ : ஜன்னலோர படுக்கை தினம் தினம் பௌர்ணமி நினைத்தவுடன் மழை சாலையோர பூக்கள் அதிகாலை பனித்துளி இரவு நேர மெல்லிசை கள்ளமில்லா சிரிப்பு பொய்யில்லா நட்பு மீண்டும் ஒரு பாரதி தினம் நூறு கவிதைகள் தோல் சாய தோழன் தலை கோத காதலி தாய் மடி தூக்கம் தூக்கத்தில் மரணம் இவை யாவும் எதிர் பாரா மனசு! என்ன ஒரு அருமை கனவு வலை இது ! இதில் எதுவுமே அதிக ஆடம்பர ஆசை இல்லை. நல்ல தொகுப்பு .

I write user manuals as part of my profession as a technical writer. I am a proud peacock when it comes to saying: Every product comes with a user manual. Think about it.. Just about everything you buy or see or know has some sort of write up attached to it. There is at least a caution word or disclaimer attached to just about anything today. I was talking to a friend of mine on particularly nothing.. Somewhere in between our getting-to-know-each other chat, parenting and children became the subject. When talking about her new-mommy stage, she said: My baby didn't come with a user manual. She went on to say, how it was a very different learning and we continued on that for sometime and stopped at "Yes, nature has its own way of teaching you things..." but my mind carefully noted that one line: It doesn't come with a user manual. My tech writer friend, who had a baby recently said, after a tiring day-and-night match with her newborn : "You forget that there is no...

I think the concept of phone is one of the best inventions. Not, to elaborate into what are the benefits of the telephone, like a primary school essay contest, but I must say just this much: Everything we want conveyed, to anyone in the globe, is just a call away. Thanks, to Alexander Graham Bell. I read a fact last week which I did not know, [ or may be I had read , and didn't care to remember, or may be I remembered, but never pondered much about. I was/am never a General Knowledge savvy person, so, the fact was news to me. ] Made me wonder, how much the man would have felt about the fact, that his family cannot hear him on the phone?? Let's just call our family, friends and relatives; near, dear, and far; as long as we can hear and they can hear us talk [ Its up to us to manage our phone bills though.. but its possible to balance it all well ] . Let's not wait till we get hard of hearing to let people know we care, because when we grow old and want to communicate/talk/sh...

I am starting this series called Job Hunt series. It is all about what I often hear, what I have experienced, what I have learnt and been taught by some seniors regarding job hunt. I am writing this for the benefit of people who are new to job hunt, who have difficulties in changing jobs, and who have not handled interviews/job hunts in a long time. Each of these posts may or may not be based completely on my personal experience, but the idea is to give the best of what I know. We all keep hearing 'Change is the only constant' and such high-concepts, basic principles, quite often in our social, professional, and personal spheres. For some strange reason, we forget these when we actually go ahead with a decision; more so, when we change jobs. So, after that roller-coaster ride involving: deciding to quit your current job, applying for half-a-dozen jobs a day, fervently waiting for the next phone call to be from a recruiter, answering a series of the same questions in all permuta...

Last week's antibiotics eased my throat infection, but then, as we all know, the series of infection-fever-cold-dry cough always takes its own sweet time to completely cure itself off. And we also know that we do take medications to temporarily bring some soothing effect. So, we all know that a fair doctor's fee + antibiotics + long hours of sleep + drugged-effect on face in office meetings + some cough syrup is a very natural process in any throat infection case. ( Well, if you are a doctor reading this, then dont bother explaining the medical science on this... I have always failed to understand why cold takes as long as it wants to take, to cure, inspite of all the medications you prescribe!!!) I am in the cough syrup phase of the process right now. Yesterday, I disturbed everyone in office with my constant cough and on my way home, I decided to buy a cough syrup bottle. Natural choice was Benadryl, because that was the only name that came to my mind. I did not have the en...

We did not know the meaning of this word nineteen years back when we were seated in the Fifth Standard class room of our school. There were ten boys in a class of fifty. That was the last year the school had co-education. We had our first ever farewell party, at the age of nine in the school playground. The forty of us bade a definitely not tearful farewell to all the ten boys in our class, the first ten boys in our academic life.We had dances, plays and games and some speech by the teachers and the principal; all of which was just fun for all of us. We never realized that we might miss these boys around, the next year. Well, the whole idea of farewell party in itself didnt sink in back then, and friendship never meant anything at all. Everyone who studied with you, who was nice to you, was a friend!!! The next five years went on in the school routine, the only difference we felt in Class Six, was that all of us were girls and it was different fun. We never had to be punis...

Onam day - Festival of Colors and Festival of Prosperity dawned colorfully for me at office. We had this Pookalam: Here is my Onam wish for all my readers: Wishing you and your family Health and weath, Joy and happiness, Peace and prosperity, Love and luck, Care and cure, And A multitude of reasons to smile today and always!!!! Happy Onam and Happiness Always, Smile, Dew

Thanks to Nishita for awarding me the Humane award  for my posts in the Spoorthi category: An award always makes your day!!! :) I'll pass this award on to some deserving blog posts. And that will be over the weekend. I'd like to pass on this award to my new blogger friend SK whose blog is one space to really stop by : http://polambifynig.blogspot.com/  . It is a tamil blog and has posts that deserve the humane award. Have a good day, Deepa