Dew

She is from the North-east of India. Her eyes and complexion and hair texture said that. In the last five days, I saw her every other morning, in the same local bus that I took to office. She usually wears very elegant western outfits and is more professional than most of our folks who wear costumes that disrupt elegance in the name of looking 'cool'. Today, the whole crowd's attention was on this North-eastern beauty. She was dressed in a cream colored designer Saree (the Indian Traditional wear, in case you are a non-Indian reader), hair tied up presentably, accessories that matched the saree's red border and a very simple, yet nice foot wear that went well with the careful choice of her attire. I was amazed at the way she carried herself in the crowded bus. To wear a saree and get into a crowded bus requires a totally different level of experience. It gets very tough to manage the saree without disturbing the pleats. She walked like she is used to wearing saree every...

then, Don't share it with anyone else without the owner's permission . As simple as that. I was in a team lunch yesterday.I was expecting a very important call, so had taken my mobile phone along. I get this call from a number that I didn't have in my cell phone's contact list. Picked it up to find that it was from a familiar name with a very professional, very senior, very managerial voice. In my mind, I mapped the options and nailed the name to a person in my professional circle. The next mind mapping was about who could have given my number to her and figured out options for that also. I was super-thrilled to hear from her and just because she said, that she is not comfortable with the background noises surrounding me, I decided to call back. Of course, when you know you are talking to a senior, you should have the courtesy to call back. So, that decided, I continued with my lunch. When I got back to work after lunch, I got busy, so sent her an SMS saying that I can ...

Including children...I recently read this post by Sowmya Gopal and I agree. I have been hearing a lot of unpleasant things about children's safety these days. It bothers me a lot. Early February, a good friend of mine, SK sent me a nice speech by Dr.Shalini and I went through it. The content made me reflect into the situation of the day : You send your child to school and you are worried about safety. Your child is in a dance class and you cannot be sure about the teacher. Your child goes to school in a bus, and you cannot be sure about the senior boys in the bus. You cannot trust your neighbour who is your child's grand dad's age. There was a time when the parents did not have to worry about the physical abuses to their precious daughter till she turns into a pretty young lady. Now, the case seems to be very different. Right from one year old baby, there is a reason to worry. This has always bothered me : Why cant people treat each other with some basic respect? Today, at ...

Yes, you are right.. It is the name of an early 2007 movie and this is a late review.. I loved Illayaraja's music for the theme song "Cheeni Kam.. Cheeni Kam".. but never chanced to watch it till January 2010. I applaud the makers for the dialogues, the choice of artists, the screen play, and the music. A quick recap for those who've seen the movie and a quick account of the story for those who have not seen the movie: In a foreign land, this 64 year old unmarried Indian man meets this smart 34 year old Indian woman. Their numerous meetings and conversations slowly bring about a romantic inclination and they decide to get married. To portray the characterization of the old man, a very smart and cute little neighbour and a very cool old mom have been introduced. I loved the little girl and the old lady a lot. They are both a sure plus to the movie. The director has weaved all the roles and characterized them well enough to fit into the movie script, quite well. The st...

When I wrote about Standing Tall , I wrote that a lot in life is parametrized. I thought I will post a little more detail on these parameters, as I see it. The first time I heard the word parameter was in my Computer science class in eleventh grade. My teacher was teaching about the classic C language. The simplest sense for a non-computer science reader for a parameter is this : You have a program that gives different results based on the inputs you give. The code is the same to add two numbers. The numbers that you give determine what result you get. Back then, that is all I cared. I did not know that the next to next levels in my academics was all about parameters. It was taught in Chemistry Lab, Physics Problem, Maths Equations and Computer Programs. Parameters were everywhere. When I did give it a serious thought, I learnt that health is parametrized... If your body temperature went above 98.4F, then your problem is called Fever. I don't know much of medicine, but this is the ...

A new comer moved in with me to my hostel room, just the previous night. After the quick introductions, the first thing she did, when she started to setup her space in the room, was to pull out a hand-written paper that said this : Remember to Stand Tall..... The verse that followed was long and poetic, but this is the only line that I remember to date. When you need a quick dose of confidence, you just have to say this line once. And it does help. "Remember to Stand Tall" got engraved in my mind. The first week of January 2010 began with the next set of dreams and hopes and expectations for the world. It was a nice Sunday morning and my friend comes in with this troubled look to say that someone committed the highest order of crime - Ending her life herself - in our neighbourhood. This girl was working with a reputed shop and is reported to have joined work quite recently. The shop was shut for a day and the next day's news paper gave a short paragraph note in 'nano...

Its been a crazy schedule at work.. I was headed to work a little earlier than my usual relaxed hour, only to find that the entire crowd in Bangalore was at the bus stop with me. The whole point of me leaving early was to beat the traffic and the crowd, and it is not easy to take that long wait at the bus stop, the lap top getting heavier on my shoulders and the work loads getting bulkier on my mind... I was just thinking, This is not my kind of approach and I was sure that it was not bad at all and that I am going to be able to do it.. and I was working hard on my positive energy levels for the day, but somehow it just did not seem to work well... When I was looking around for particularly nothing ( when you know you have to reach somewhere and cannot do anything much, but wait for the transport at a crowded bus stop, the best thing to do is 'Nothing' ), I saw this college student wearing an attractive T-shirt with about seven colored boxes painted on it and this line written...

I got this lovely Valentine's day wish on 13th February night, when I was on a call with friends. It was their four year old daughter who spoke .. Hello Auntie!!! Happy Valentine's day!!!!!!! :) :) So pure and clear, So near and dear.. :) That's all it takes to make some one's day. A sincere wish that sounds straight out of your heart.. Yesterday, when the long day finally dawned and slow moon waned for a lot of love birds on the planet, I was musing about the whole idea of Valentine's day and its present day impacts. My mobile service provider sent me this message two days ago: IMPORTANT - Please note, Normal SMS charges would be applicable on Sunday, 14th Feb 2010. Free/Discounted SMS rates will NOT be applicable on that day. Goes to say that there are a lot of messages expected to fly around in the network and its time to make the Valentine moments special for the organization that supports the service. A similar rule on New Year day has generated about 1 crore r...

I chanced to give a hand in a cake order recently on behalf of my friend. She is this interesting cousin of this lucky chap who got married to this lovely girl. My friend wanted to send a special wish from 'Across the miles' and you know our online orders at times.. I remember how one such order reached the venue at 10:00 P.M for a 9:00A.M wedding. So, I thanked her common sense to have an offline order placed for this cake. Now, when you are paying a fat sum and you are extremely creative and expressive, it is natural to expect a cake that exactly matches your specification. At least, when I took the order like I would do for myself, I wanted to be sure. We decided on a Baker and started off with the careful and long and process-oriented ordering process [ There is much more to process adherence in a bakery than we have in IT industry. .]. I generally cannot settle for " Its okay... this would do.." when I stand in for someone else to do something. So, I bothered the...

Bollywood.It is a Karan Johar movie. A Sharukh-Kajol Starrer. My Name Is Khan movie release is happening as I write this post. Just click on any news link or flip through any magazine ( language is no barrier) in the next few days or switch on any news channel in the television today.. All you see and hear is about the problems and havoc created by a set of people for and against this movie release. Makes me wonder.. When will people ever learn to love a movie just as a movie and not take it too serious to fight about? Cricket Ground. Country A vs. Country B. Of course the match has to be conducted somewhere on the Earth because they cannot play on space. Just attempt googling for any news link on Cricket in India today, and you will see a lot of stories about cricket, venue of the game, and a lot of other controversies which boils down to nothing when you think of the game in itself. Wonder why? People just forget to appreciate the game for what it is and involve themselves too much i...

It was 8:00P.M when I finally reached my house after getting caught in heavy traffic ( the usual 1.25 hours of commute took me 2 whole hours yesterday) and after messing up something at work ( when you are a writer, it comes with the product release time package) and after a totally dull day in general. Now, this is definitely not the ideal mind state to solve a mystery. As I opened the front gate to my house, I casually looked around to see a 'frog' on the top of a car parked in front of my house. I stopped on my track and took one step towards the car to see the frog in the bright yellowish orange street light. That according to me, is a total venture..Me and frogs are not friends really. That bold step and my creative eye-sight made it look like a conch shell on top of the car. I thought that the lighting gave it a perfect touch and was wondering why would anyone keep such a beautiful conch shell on top of the car. Before I could assert that people and their thinking can be...

The early morning dawned grand and beautiful and festive for all of us. We were at a village off Palghat for my cousin's wedding in a few hours from then. We were to get ready, go to the temple ( only in Kerala you see a lot of people starting their day with temple visit as early as 5:00 A.M ), and then reach the venue at 6:30 A.M. Scene 1 : It was me cribbing about my frizzy hair. No matter what trick I tried, it just would not set the way I wanted it to. I tried my best to avoid oiling my hair that morning. I didn't want the shine of the oil in the photographs. People suggested that either I try applying some oil and get the work done or just stay there for the rest of the day setting my hair style right, while they all march off to the temple first and then to the hall. Reluctantly,,,,,,,,, very reluctantly I looked around for coconut oil. I was walking around the house to find the home-made coconut oil that the bride's party brought for us the previous night. Scene 2: ...

I had this first-ever invites to a painting exhibition. I love drawing, have done some coloring as a child, but almost always I have flopped the dusk and dawn paintings. Over the years, I glued myself to black and white art. Many of my friends have suggested that I do color pictures, but never really took it serious enough. The photo frame sized canvas base I saw in one of the stationers, thrilled me to an infinite extent. What's in a plain canvas, you ask? I can tell you that the best motivator for art is its drawing base. I totally loved the idea of painting something nice on that piece of canvas base. I had no idea what kind of colors to ask for, so called my artist friend and got some hints. She told me this : Just get started.. You never know how much you know till you start off with paintings. I believed it completely, but when I finally picked up all I needed, I somehow thought I must approach an art school and learn this through, to start off canvas art. That was all and th...

I had a very interesting conversation with a ten year old today.. According to him, he is nine and a half years old and will turn ten next month. We were talking about his school and classes and games. The conversation slowly drifted towards bed time and he told me he had stayed awake very late at times, doing some drawing. I told him, its best to sleep early and wake up early enough to concentrate on drawings and exam preparations. He was not sure if I was talking sense, so asked me questions about how I handled my exams and tests when I was in school. The conversation was interesting, because no one has drilled me with so many questions on my bed time during exams, in a long time. Examinations are almost forgotten in my corporate world. The kid said that he spent 1.5 hours for one of his exams; "that too I did not work too hard", he added, and "I got 25 marks on 25" [ Which is cent percent ]. Without thinking, I asked, "why did you not study with complete foc...

Unsure why I thought of this old school prayer hymn yesterday evening, but it is nice to recall and jot down the prayer here for us to read and reflect. I think it is one of the well-thought out thanks prayer that I have come across so far. This being the 250th post of mine, I thought this thanks will fit in very well here. Thank you God for : All you have given Friendship and Love Faith and Freedom Thank you God for All. Thank you God for : Wonders of Nature, Learning and Sport, Music and Singing, Thank you God for All. Thank you God for : Staying so near me, Caring for me, Making me Healthy, Thank you God for All. Thank you God for : Days that are happy, Days that are sad, Hard things and easy, Thank you God for All. Its nice to say Thank you and sometimes, never really enough.... Thank you all for your readership and viewpoints on my posts.

You know you are in Kerala, India when : You see rubber trees and coconut trees. You see as many toddy shops as there are roads. You see houses built on slopes. You travel in buses that throw you off balance as a standee. You see beautiful women. You see men in dhothies most of the time. You see "Chandana kuri" on people's foreheads all time of the day. You hear "Chendai Melam" that is an interesting and loud rhythmic music note. You see clean and tidy roads in most places. You see lush green forest touch called "Parambu"around the houses. You see a strong inclination to art wherever you go. You see carefully careless make-up. You take a breath of fresh air. You taste the best of Tea and worst of Coffee. You taste food cooked in coconut oil. You see a number of water bodies. You see a lot of fish. You see a lot of wooden stuff. You experience the beauty of nature first hand. You can hear the sound of silence - sometimes blissful and sometimes eerie. Th...

Hello Readers, Thank you for your readership. Hope All is well with you and your folks. :-) Of late, I have been noticing a lot of spam comments ( some automated and some intended ) that disturb the very idea of being 'Dew' which is pure and clear. I am unable to let this disturbing factor seep in any further into my blog. I don't quite like the idea that people have to sign-in to post comments on my blog or have to do a word verification to post a comment. Till three minutes ago, I had kept my blog open for anonymous comments as well. To continue being and living the Dew way, I had to impose verification rules on my blog, starting this post. I trust you will understand this and wont mind doing a word verification or google sign-in when you are asked to. Please stand with me on this and help me keep Dewdrop going steady as always. I value your comments and would like to continue knowing your views on my write-ups. Thought I must keep you posted on the way comments work on...

சித்திரமும் கைப்பழக்கம், செந்தமிழும் நாப்பழக்கம், வைத்ததொரு கல்வியும் மனப்பழக்கம், நித்தம் நடையும் நடைப்பழக்கம், நட்பும், தயையும், கொடையும் பிறவி குணம். பழக்கத்தின் சக்தியை உணர்த்தும் ஒரு கவிதை. இணையத்தில் தேடினால் முழு கவிதையும், இதன் எழுத்தாளர் விவரமும் கிடைக்கலாம். ஆனால் என் மனதில் பதிந்த இந்த வரிகளை மட்டும் எழுத தோன்றியது இன்று. எனது அருமை பாட்டியின் சொல்படி என் மனம் கவர்ந்த வரிகள் இவை மட்டுமே.

"Every now and again take a good look at something not made with hands: a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream. There will come to you wisdom and patience and solace and, above all, the assurance that you are not alone in the world." -Sidney Lovett(-); minister This quote was on the Good morning email that I received this morning. I had just got back to work after a fantastic ( understated of course) vacation to Kerala for a wedding function. The wedding was held at a very small village off Palghat, Kerala. I was in and I think, still am in a trance state thinking about the last four days of varied experiences that I chanced to be in. That said, you can imagine my state in the morning at my work desk... so much to do and absolutely no mood to touch the key pad... Still as is the normal routine, I did eventually open my mail box to check emails.. Nothing better to see after a nice long vacation like a friend's email and I had three of them - A Hello email, A Thinking ...