London Olympics 2012

Has been nearly a month since i wrote this blog. Been quite busy over the last few weekends. Had the privilege to see the Australian Olympics team and touch an Olympic medal. Boy, they are heavy.

Photo taken during the Olympic Parade in Melbourne on Aug 2012.

My favourite memories from the London Olympics.

Swimming: I started following swimming closely after the last Beijing Olympics when Stephanie Rice ruled the pool and won three gold medals. Even though he put a brave show it was sad to see her not win any medals this Olympics. However she still got the attention of the media along with Kobe Bryant. Michael Phelps gave us a golden farewell but my favourite Olympic swimming moment is associated with James Magnussen, the Missile after his trials in the 4X100 m relay he spoke to the media suggesting it was an easy swim for him and something like he was not feeling the pressure. At that time, the entire media was praising how confident he was. However, after the finals when the aussie team came fourth due to him he was termed as over confident, arrogant and cocky. Such is life, the world judges you by your achievements. Felt sorry for him again when he missed the gold medal by 1/100 of a second.

Tennis: It was nice to see Federer pulling back his semi final match against Del Potro. However was happy for Andy winning the gold in front of his home crowd especially after the emotional Wimbledon final. He thoroughly deserved this one.

 

Hockey: There were very high expectations from the Indian Hockey team but they were winless in this Olympics. The most irritating part was the blue turf with a pink border, not sure of the players but it was not a good experience watching it over the T.V.

Basket Ball: Have always been a big fan of Basketball and the timings of the matches suited me perfectly, I was able to watch the matches early in the morning before I start for work. The game was Aus vs Russia was good where Patty mills pulled off a blinder in the last few seconds. However, the best game was Aus vs the dream team of USA, the Australians showed the world that the team USA is beatable. Though the dream team pulled it off in the 4^th quarter, the final score line doesn’t suggest how close the game was.

Athletics: I will start with the blade runner, Oscar Pistorius. The first time I read about him I thought what Oscar to do with Olympics. It is a truly inspirational story and hats off to the country and the IAAF who has supported him to this level. It was heart breaking to see him not run the 4X400 metres relay heats but it was nice to see the decision to allow them to participate in the final. Looking forward to see him run on the big stage. My best moment of Olympics 2012 is associated with Usain Bolt, not only did he prove the world he is a living legend, he is cool and down to earth. It was nice to see him stop the interview when the American anthem was being played in the background, Respect. Looking forward to his visit down under next month, hope I get the opportunity to meet the legend.

Missing Satyameva Jayate

Satyameva Jayate will be truly missed after last week aired the final episode of Season 1. I always thought why corruption was not brought up as an issue. It could be one of two reasons, either it is something aamir and his team dont have the courage to showcase or an hour's slot was not sufficient to talk about this and they might need an entire season to talk about this.

However, Aamir had a different perspective. He dedicated the last episode to people who deserve to be recognised for their selfless acts and who never got the limelight they deserved. We often criticise people, who have done anything wrong more than encourage people doing the right things. I guess the media has a major role in shaping the way we think. Today people of India know Amarjyoti Kalita, the pig who molested a teenage girl in Guwahati but how many of us know about Sunita Krishanan, the iron lady who has rescued several thousands of women and children from sex trafficking and slavery. Even if the media had used 5% of the time they spent on Amarjyoti for a reasonable cause or on people like Sunita, they would have changed our perceptions.

Obtained from the internet. A truly inspiring show

Could nt have asked for a better finish to a touching finale of Satyameva Jayate. My favourite section was none other than the section by Sunita. Just when i thought what an amazing women she is, i was moved by her talk on Ted. Another person who belongs to the same league is Narayanan Krishnan. Seeing all these, i feel privileged and thank god for all that he has given me. Satyendra Dubey, was another great story, his voice against corruption brought him a lot of laurels and sadly his death. I always thought one man cannot make a difference but i was proven wrong by both Aamir and Satyendra Dubey.

Looking forward to the next season of Satyameva Jayate and sincerely hope the fire started by the first season doesnt slow down.

The Dark Knight Rises & London Olympics 2012

Last week had the privilege to watch the "The Dark Knight Rises" in IMAX, Melbourne. Stuck on to the seat for the entire movie and it was an amazing experience. Mr. Nolan you rock and Christian Bale you were awesome. Can't wait for the next sequel. Felt sorry for the shootings in US and the stories of how three men died using their bodies as shields to save their loved ones.

On the personal front, I had bought my first ferrari and lamborghini a couple of weeks back. They are a 1:10 replica and boy am having fun with the remote. My parents are behind me to create my portfolio shoot for the bride hunting, i feel like a commodity which is up for sale. I know in today's world presentation is as important as content but in my case i am very clear, i am "Not for Sale". So might end up asking my friend to take a couple of snaps to keep them happy.

Difference between boys & men is the price of their toys - My Ferrari & Lamborghini  

I was nervous initially how i would handle the added responsibilities but having a good time at work, settling down in my new role. On the fitness front, kicked off my marathon training, last week  had a couple of good runs and registered for the Melbourne marathon 10k event. Hope to complete this time within an hour, guess the half marathon will have to wait for another year. 

The London Olympics kicked off yesterday morning with a bang, awesome display by Danny Boyle mixed with rock and English Humour. The Queen skydiving to the venue, Mr bean on show was a nice touch. My top picks will be tennis, swimming and athletics. Hope, the olympics motivate me to run that extra yards in my marathon training.

Top 5 regrets of dying people

Came across this blog and found it to be a very good read. In summary this is a blog that has been published now as a book by a Australian palliative care nurse and here are the top 5 regrets of the dying people she has had to nurse over the years. Ironically, a lot of us will not even have the time to read this now but will experience this at some point of time. More details can be found here

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

Sunset years 

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

Mt Buller revisited 5.0

Started writing this a few weeks ago but could not add much beyond the title, am happy finally am able to pen my thoughts down. Completed by fifth trip to Mt Buller on the first week of July. It not only was it an good break to transition myself from one project to another but it was one of my best weekend getaways.

It started on Friday afternoon, i told my boss that i need to leave around 2pm for my Mt Buller trip. He asked me to leave @ 12pm, may him and his tribe live long. I was the only person with a valid licence or you could say i was the only guy who was keen on driving so picked up a Kia Carnival and started our trip. I was a bit tired but was able to drive to Mansfield with a single break, the drive was nice and i kind of liked the car, it was new, spacious and powerful.After having pizza there, and picking up some of the rental snow gears we started our journey to Mt Buller Village. As usual we picked up the snow chains which we knew we will never use.We reached the village around 8 pm, parked the car and then picked up a taxi for our apartment.

Entrance of our apartment, nice and cosy

The taxi driver welcomed us to Mt Buller and started sharing the details of his trip to India and finally told something which broke our hearts. He said that we had come at a good time, tomorrow will be a nice warm sunny day. We were like we have driven 4 hrs, planned overnight stays and were so hopeful to come to snow with the expectation of snow fall. He suggested it is better to ski in a sunny clear day and he was correct. Our apartment was beautiful 3 bedroom apartment which could sleep 8 people. We quickly picked up our beds, i got the preference as i was the official driver.While my friends were enjoying Chivas, I was a bit tired so took a paracetamol drink and slept off.


Day 1, Saturday was fun as our group woke up late and got ready just in time when the restaurants stop taking orders for breakfast. However, a bunch of us decided to ski and take some lesson in the 1:30 pm slot. Though this was my fifth trip to Mt Buller, this is the only trip where i had some time, 3 of them were day trips and one of them was a day trip which turned into a weekend trip. So after some brunch option we went to the ski hire shop to hire the skis. The ski gear was cool and my ski was called rambo but the fun began when they got my ski shoes, it was a size smaller and  i begged them for a size bigger but they would not listen. The guy told me ski shoes are not for fashion they should be uncomfortable as they prevent foot injuries. I didnt have a choice so wore those shoes and picked up rambo and my skis and ski poles. I could not forget those ski boots, it felt like i was a prisoner and i had a heavy metal ball tied to my leg.I had bargained with the ski hire person that we would ski during the night and return the equipment the next morning. I now started feeling that is not going to be the case.


Finally, after a lot of struggle picked myself up and reached the area where the class was supposed to begin. The instructor was a cool guy, he taught the basics very well and within no time i was enjoying to ski. The only problem i had was to slow down or stop, which i would most often end up on the ground. I fell around 10 times during the class then i would not say i became an expert, i just stopped counting. I fell in all directions but somehow finished the two hour class, i finally gave up and removed my ski's and started my descend to the hire shop. One of the toughest journey's my ski shoes were killing me and finally i felt like a free bird when my ski shoes were removed.

Nice warm sunny day @ Mt Buller

For dinner while my friends were cooking chicken for dinner, my veg friend cooked veg stew which was wonderful and then had a glass of Chivas. Then sat down to watch the Wimbledon ladies final, was tough to see Serena winning but Radwanska gave some fight before Serena finished it off.

Sunday woke up a bit late checked out the apartment and after loading our luggages came back to the village after which we had our brunch and started for the sightseeing tour in the chair lifts and finally we went for tobogganing, i have a good experience in this sport. So finally after enjoying 2-3 hours in the toboggan, we started our return journey. The drive was again pretty good and we made it in a little over 3 hours.

Tobogganing - awesome fun 

To summarise, a great weekend trip will definitely try snow boarding and may be skiing next time as well, a lovely drive and i was a dead man on monday unable to walk straight.

Super excited

                              This is how i feel like today, no words can describe this feeling. So nothing more

Week 7 & 8 - It is over

I would be lying if i said i was busy not to update my blog for the last 15 days, i was lazy. The 8 week deadline is over, cant believe how fast time goes by. 

The good news, professional has been a couple of good weeks, i have taken up a role which is more exciting than my previous role. A lot of challenges ahead but should be fun. Even though i was looking to settle down and have a permanent job, this was something i could not resist. So professionally i have it covered for at least 9 -12 more months. On one side i have a close friend who had to rush back home to take care of his mother, on the other side i  have a boss who has spent 25 years with the same company and got quite a lot of annual leaves up his sleeve. I also have a friend who just returned from a 10 week road trip who now wants to go an year long road trip in the next couple of years. The last 8 weeks has been an exciting period, however i still don't know what i want from my professional life. I guess the best thing is to go with the flow as of now.

On the personal front, the house is shaping up good. Once the approvals are done this week, it should move out of the paper world into the real world. i still need to clean up my room and catch up with a lot of family and friends. The king Fedex is back to his best after quite some time, no comments on Serena's performance. Felt bad for the way Boucher had to leave the cricket arena. He is truly the bradman of wicket keeping. Also, had a relaxing weekend trip to Mt Buller which i will keep it aside for my next post. For now a preview of the wonderful Mt Buller.

Mt Buller Village, Victoria

On the fitness front, i am still unable to lift myself and get this sorted. I am getting pretty frustrated on this front will have to take this up seriously and i guess this will have to be taken up as a separate challenge.

Week 6 - Getting there - Rocking week

Sixth week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track. Almost there, should clear the uncertainties this week.Experienced an earthquake this week on Tuesday in Melbourne. Not something to worry about but a 5.3 scale good enough to rock your world. 


Professionally, a good week nailed the current project and got a few appreciations. I also got my termination letter this week, it came in as a shock even though i was expecting it to come sometime next week. i also went to an interview and currently have a couple of offers and a couple in the pipeline. This gives me some room to negotiate, however things can get bad quite quickly so need to be a bit careful.


Personally had a hectic week but good thing is it will only get better from here. The house building activities are still making good progress.Feeling a bit low with my room mate off to get engaged, fighting my demons alone in the house. Financially, the sudden surge in the aussie dollar is making me feel good. 


On the fitness front, had a couple of swims and unable to go anywhere beyond that. Need to focus on this front in the coming weeks.


I cant believe two of the greatest indian tennis players are making a mockery of olympics and indian tennis. I was a big fan of Leander and Bhupathi when i was around 13 years when they won the doubles tournament in Chennai. My parents were fortunate to see them play and win the semi finals of Aus open last year. They also had an opportunity to get both their autographs in a single tennis ball. Not sure if that can ever happen again, end of the day it is a loose-loose situation for everyone in this mud slinging activity.

Leander's Autograph during Aus Open 2011

I am running behind on the reviews of satyameva jayate. Today's episode on pesticides in food was a nice topic and so was the people with special abilities. However, could not connect to the domestic violence episode. May be because i have not seen any such thing in my family and friends circle i am unable to digest the fact that such men really exist.


Another movie marathon this week, starting with "Snow white and the huntsman" this friday night, could not relate the twilight girl Kirsten Stewart to Snow white. On Saturday saw the tamil movie "valakku enn 18/9", an amazing master piece, absolutely loved it even though i dont like movies with sad endings this was a nice one and the finished my saturday with the hindi movie "Rock Star", i cant believe how i missed watching this movie till date, i now know what people mean when they tell you live life like a rock star. Ranbir you rock.

Week 5 - A nice short week

Fifth week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track. Could see the end but still a fair distance to cover.

The week started well with the Queen's Birthday holiday on Monday. In spite of the bacterial infection, could plan for a trip to Mornington. 

View from the one of the view points in Arthurs seat, Mornington

Arthur's seat Mornington has always been my favourite location and it continues to amaze me  every time i go there. Even though it was gloomy, witnessed an amazing sunset. With Nadal finishing up the honours quickly on Monday night, could not have asked for a better Monday.

The Sun disguised as the moon, taken @ 2 pm on a gloomy day in mornington 

Professional, last week was an awesome week. I am very close to finishing off my dream project which i  started a couple of years ago. Even though had to spend a few long hours, it was absolutely worth it. On my job hunt, had an interview and have a job in hand now, not the ideal one but will gladly accept it in the current market. Also, out of blue got an interesting offer, need to discuss that early next week to see if that eventuates. This is truly something that would make me jump out of a bed on a Monday morning.

Personally, things are going well too, the house had its pooja ceremonies last week and continue to make good progress. My friend who i have been helping in his house hunting finally nailed a nice house this week, very happy for him. The depression of me being alone is trying to creep back and i keep killing it. After a few hectic weekends, had a nice relaxing weekend and some time with my camera.

On the fitness front, just had a couple of swims but i am planning to kick off the marathon practice soon. I wanted to run another 10km this year but changed my mind after i read this fb update on my friends wall, so changed my mind to run the half marathon this year.

"If people are no laughing at your goals, your goals are too small"

Could next week be the week with the Golden lining, sunset at mornington

A lot to do this week, looking forward to another exciting week. 

Week 4 - A good week but miles to go before i sleep

Fourth week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track. Half way there yet still a long way to go.


Professionally, another hectic week but still managed to catch up with a few people and ended up with a couple of offers which should get finalized next week. One of the interesting discussions was with one of the HR's which a couple of years ago i would have taken the job without a second thought, now i quoted them that i was expecting a figure way way less than my current pay but still she told me it was way above the salary they had in mind for the role. The good thing is i was finally able to shape up my linkedin profile, next week is for seeking recommendations and closing off my current project. On one side i get a lot of advice about the global economic conditions and i should settle for whatever i get, while on the other hand my heart doesn't want to settle for anything less. The next two weeks should be interesting, i have decided to cut down my losses and finalized a role so that the worst case i will end up in a role with a lesser pay but this gives the platform for me to chase other higher roles in the next 3-4 weeks.


Personally, work at the dream home has started. The bore well was dug out last week and next are the plans to be finalized, approved and then kick off the building activities. Finances are in order for the next couple of months,  but i think i can still manage my finances well enough to finish off the house. My mom is still believing in an astrologer who thinks i will find my dream girl if my mom visits the temple every week for the next 8 weeks. Anyways, it helps my cause, i feel much relieved i don't have to complicate my life any further at this stage. Spent the Sunday browsing through a lot of top blogs from Indiblogs read a few nice blogs and added them to my reading list. Also, did a lot of shopping this week, why does it feel good when you shop and much better when it is on sale. Also started my snow gear shopping for the Mt Buller trip which i am very eagerly looking forward to.

Taken during my 3rd trip to Mt Buller, looking forward to the 5th trip in a few weeks

Fitness side was another total blank this week, thanks to the hectic work and the bacteria which is killing me and which i am killing using penicillin. I have lot a couple of kilos due to this bacteria, not the ideal way to loose weight. However, i think i have just the inspiration to sort this out in the next few weeks. I have bought an amazing fcuk jacket and intentionally bought it a size smaller so that i can get the motivation to get myself fit. Let us see how long this trick works. 

Queen's Birthday Long weekend - Rainy, gloomy and sick

After a few weeks of hectic work, i was looking forward to the Queen Birthday long weekend, the only long weekend for the next 5 months. It didn't start pretty well when the forecast was out with all three days being rainy and gloomy. Friday i was down with severe throat pain, booked an appointment with doc to find out i got a bacterial infection and he has prescribed 50 tables of penicillin and 3 days of rest. The first thing i googled was to find if there is any possibility of an penicillin overdose.The answers i found were No, anyways i will stop it once i feel better. Felt much better today, so drove my friend around for his Saturday house hunting.Finally had a chance to take out my camera after nearly 2 months to capture the gloomy, rainy South Melbourne from my apartment.

Gloomy and rainy long weekend

The only good thing about this weekend is the French Open Finals. Even though i expected it to be Federer vs Nadal affair it ended up being a Novak vs Nadal match. It really hurts when Fedex goes down in straight sets. Would be interesting to see which of the two legends Federer or Sachin retire first?

Fedex and Nadal on the same side of the court enjoying
 a lighter moment  during Pre- Aus Open exhibition match

Hope it is as good as the Aus Open final this year but the only change being Nadal wins in the end. My mom is a big fan of Novak after she saw him in Aus open because she thinks he is funny and down to earth.This truly is the Golden Era of Men's Tennis with the domination of these three men. Can only pity on Andy Murray but he has a good future ahead, novak was in his shoes a few years ago.

Novak trying his hand with photography

Satyameva Jayate episode 4 was good around the unethical doctors in the noble profession. This reminded me of one of my childhood memories. I was around 10 years old when a huge hospital was inaugurated just outside our house. A politician came there to inaugurate it and address the gathering. He started with saying, "Do you know the difference between Yamaraj (God of death) and Doctors? Yamaraj only takes your life, doctors not only take your life but also get paid well for it". Should see the face of the doctor, he then pulled back saying our doctor is not like that. From my perspective, what aamir did was correct and he should not apologise to anyone. His objective was to showcase the unethical side of doctors and he did it correctly. He also showed a few examples of how noble medical professional continue to succeed without having to kill their conscience for money.

Satyameva Jayate epsiode 5 was around honour killings. While i totally agree with his view on honour killings and it is not acceptable at any cost, i thought he has sent the wrong message to the people.He has sent a strong message that honour killings is a crime but he has also made all parents who oppose the love of their children look like villains. I don't agree with that perspective. In today's world, people fall in love every second week and there has been several case of infatuations, time pass love or merely scams. Parents who oppose love because they are more experienced and they know what is good for you. Even from their perspective they would be more than happy to look like villains, if they are successful in preventing you from falling in love traps. I have seen people who wait for years to get their parents approval to get married and people who forget their love and get married to someone else and live happily. Just my views on this.

I hope to get better soon and enjoy the rest of the long weekend.

Fifty First Dates & Politics

If you were thinking this post is something related to love/romance then you are wrong. The movie "Fifty first dates" has played a key role every time i am down and i need to get back with my life.Watched this movie last week in one of the movie channels.

It all started during my college days, before we finished our third year we decided to contest for the college elections in the final year. I had already got placed in a I.T. company, was looking forward to have a fun filled final year. I was nominated for the post of vice president and we did all our calculations, we had the numbers to win hands down. The way it worked was every class had to elect their representative who would in turn vote for the Student's Union members. The elections in my class was very tough and finally it was a tie between me and the other guy which meant we both got 0.5 votes. So around 4pm all the elected representatives had gathered to vote for the student's union. Our numbers were still pretty good, until the results came out, we lost by 1.5 votes, some of the people who had promised to support us had changed their minds at the last minute for reasons unknown. Never felt so betrayed in my life ever before, one of the biggest failures and i could not imagine picking myself up and continuing with my life.

The majestic CEG

We were devastated and didn't come out of our room for 3-4 hours, then took our bikes and went for a movie, the only movie available at that time was "Fifty First Dates". We didn't go there to watch the movie but to clear our head. One key lessons i had learnt from this experience was that you may be pretty good but don't expect everyone else will see you that way, unless you market yourselves equally good you wont get noticed. Well the good thing about this is that we had more time during my final year and equally more desire to prove to the college that they had taken a wrong decision. First, we organised an event where we mobilised funds, sponsors to provide specially designed vehicles for the differently abled students. We planned for a couple of vehicles but ended up getting three customised scotty's. I had also proposed and obtained the approval to have our department's own society and own annual functional. Also, actively became a member of the placement cell to ensure most of my class mates got placed before they stepped out of college.

Our election group is still very close and enjoy a nice laugh over how things went by. Even though we always wish we had another chance to get things straight in our college. A few years ago we had a different opportunity, this time it was at the highest level, "Lok Sabha elections, 2009". We were supporting a youth icon who was contesting from South Chennai. A couple of my friends were part of his core team and i had gone to meet them during my vacations. So i ended up spending a couple of days campaigning for the youth icon, went house by house in Mylapore and Saidapet. It was a great experience to see people treating us with respect and encouraging the involvement of educated youth in politics. In the evening we even went to parks and distributed pamphlets only to be confronted by a few security guards. He didn't win but ended up getting 15k votes. This number is a very high number for a independent candidate, the next closest independent candidate was around 250 votes. However, it was not anywhere near the winning number of 300k votes. The challenges faced by these independent people are enormous and I think the educated youth can enter politics and win elections only in movies, in real life it is next to impossible. Having said that, i am a big fan of the youth icon, he then unsuccessfully contested for State assembly , Chennai mayor elections but he has still not given up on the people. Hats off to his persistence, hope he wins an election pretty soon.

Week 3 - Not a week to remember

Third week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track.


Professionally, a very hectic week didnt get much of a chance to catch up with people and no promising offers. Well good thing is finally i have a weekend after slogging 12 days. After working till 8 pm on Sunday and happily watching Chennai score 190 slept off at 2 am only to wake up at 7 am to see chennai lost the IPL finals. Not a good start to the week, which only got worse as it progressed. Wednesday got the rejection from my first job offer because they found someone with 20 yrs of experience who also quoted a less daily rate.Friday was the worst day, started with getting stuck in the lift for 25 mins. Even though there were a couple of good looking girls there were also 10 other people breathing on each other's face. It only got worse as the day progressed. The only silver lining this week was the townhall where i was called up on to the stage for the Q3 individual performance awards. Felt really proud to be one among 4 people, picked up from a program of 1500 people. I have to update my linked in profile this weekend at any cost to get noticed in the next few weeks.


Personally, the dream home is shaping up well. My parents are excited and at the same time worried how i would manage my finances.Little they know the sorting out the finances is the last thing i am worried about now, will have to do something next week to make them feel comfortable.I have always been the person with whom my family, extended family, my school friends, my college friends, work colleagues open up to share their problems as they think my life is perfect. I have never been able to open up to anyone because i fear they would not have anyone else to open up to. This is hurting me now and i guess i will have to settle now with the next best thing to open up, this blog.


Fitness side was a total blank this week, at this rate i might end up giving up soon on this. Every time i start on this i have a good start but lack the motivation to get through to the end.

Badly need a break, my favourite getaway location, Squeaky beach, Wilson Prom

From where i stand, my life could quickly in either direction pretty quick. Well it would have been a totally different situation if my parents were not looking out for a bride for me. I would have taken a nice break after a couple of hectic years then started fresh to think about the next assignments. I still hope i get an assignment with a few weeks break so that i can plan something. At this stage just looking forward to the long weekend next week thanks to Queen and the Australian govt celebrating her birthday and the Mt buller trip in 4-5 weeks.

Week 2 - Mentally and physically drained yet worth it

Second week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track.


Professionally an awesome week, even though i have clocked already 64 hours and it is still not over it was worth it. It began well this monday and everything was going as per plan, however on monday evening there was a WTF moment due to a manual error and we were looking at a delay of 1 week. So i had to stay back late to plan the recovery and communicate the impact, the good thing was my director trusted my judgement and it gave me a lot of confidence to replan things on the fly. Things will be back on track next week thanks to the wonderful team i have, i am going to miss them in a few weeks.Thursday, caught up with a few people regarding my next role, they were a few promising options, let me see how they materialise in a couple of weeks. I also got a surprise last friday when i won the Q3 award for best performance, will know this wednesday what the award is. This week need to bring things back on track and start catching up with a few more people.


Personally another good week, our dream house project has kicked off, they have identified the point for the bore well and the draft plans are ready. This  also means i have to sort out my finances in a couple of weeks to take it forward. Booked in a vacation for a couple of days for the snow trip this year to Mt Buller in early July, my fifth trip to Mt Buller for a well deserved break after this project. My car is back up and running, drove 40km to a restaurant last friday just to have some nice south indian cuisine idli and dosa with my friends and drove a 70km yesterday house hunting for my friend. Feels great to be back driving it again after a break of a couple of weeks. Felt a bit low for a few hours this weekend when i felt that in a few weeks i will be the only unmarried single guy in my whole group but came over it once i started getting calls from office on the issues. 


Amidst all these my fitness level is taking a hit, could only manage a couple of swimming session this week and the gloomy melbourne weather is not helping my cause. 

Sachin is God but when it come to IPL, Dhoni is king of Gods. Taken @ MCG 2012

Chennai super kings are having a roll this week hope they close it off with a big win over KKR tonight, at least for the sake of SRK chennai should win. If my team chennai can come back from being written off by everyone, i can get my life back on track too and the next 6 weeks should be more than enough. Off to office to finish off the week.

Satyameva Jayate - Episode 2 & 3

My Sunday evening time slot has been taken up by Satyameva Jayate for the last few weeks. The effort Aamir and his crew has put behind every episode is commendable.

Episode 2 focused on Child sex abuse, It was shocking to see the stats and how the people whom the parents trust turn into monsters. Hope this episode not only empowers the parents and the child to prevent and stand up against child abuse but also instigates the guilty feeling among the abusers.

Apart from child sex abuse from my perspective there is one another abuse that today's children in India undergo, "mental abuse". I was recently watching "Dance India Dance - Little Masters", it was great to see the world class performance of 8 year old kids. However what goes through the minds of the thousands of children who failed to qualify and the millions of children who didn't make it even to the qualifiers.The expectations from the parents today are through the roof, they want their child to be a topper in studies, a top performer in dancing, singing and a top performer in sports.

 One of my friends nephew who is a 10 year old kid has a 16 hour schedule every day, starting with early morning yoga classes, then school and after school he has to go for chess coaching/tennis coaching classes,then dancing classes and finally studies and homework. If he comes second in any of the activities he has to hear an earful from his parents. I am not a parent so i would not want to comment on parenting but  i think every child deserves a good childhood with great memories and a lot of self confidence for the rest of their life. Fortunately i had a great childhood but seeing the kids at DID -Little Masters i still feel my parents should have sent me to some dance classes.

Let the children follow their heart  

On a lighter note, one my colleagues from a non english speaking country spoke in the meeting telling "The Paedophile is not coming". Every one in the meeting was shocked, then another guy jumped in to explain that this guy meant "PDF file" not "Paedophile".

Episode 3 was on marriage becoming a business, the way this sensitive topic was approached was very good. There has been a lot of discussions, debates, articles on dowry hence this topic didn't struck with the same intensity as the previous two. However, it was nice of way of put it forward i don't think anywhere the word "dowry" was mentioned. I totally agree that today marriage has become a business and a show off. Why do you want to invite so many people who never even thought about you until the day of your marriage and would not think about you the day after your marriage? I personally think the western method of marriage makes more sense where you only invite people who really care about you making it a simple affair.One of my colleagues got married with only 5 people one priest and 3 of his children and a photographer.

"If you were absent during my struggle, don't expect you to be present during my success - Will Smith"

I have felt this during my sister's marriage, i still don't know how i controlled my anger during those couple of days. These are people whom i have never met in my life, who were upset for stupid expectations and these are not only from the groom's side but also relatives from our side. These included outbursts for the fact we didn't personally ask them to go and have breakfast, the food didn't have a potato curry, there were 3 sweets, the invite was sent through post which was insulting. Come on folks grow up at some stage, this was an important occasion for my family and they expect me to take care of their stupid expectations. I thought of announcing in the loudspeaker when the lunch was ready but didn't want to make it a scene so went to each of them and personally invited them to have lunch. My friends noticed my stress and jumped in and started helping me out of that mess.Why would someone want to invite such people and ruin one of the best occasions of their life?

Should the volume of Gold really define the happiness the marriage?
Gold Smelting @ Ballarat gold mines

On the subject of money in marriage, i don't think you can start a good relationship on top of a debt. i also think it is all based on your upbringing and a the main culprit is  the groom doesn't have the guts. My role model in this case has been my dad, my mom used to always tell us how my dad said no to any dowry when he knew his parents had asked for without his knowledge. I still remember my my grandparents brought us a "VCP (Video Cassette Player") from their Singapore trip from along with a lot of other gifts, my dad silently packed it in a bag and placed it in among their luggages and told them when the train started moving. My granddad was furious he said we think you as one of our son but it looks like you dont think the same but my dad wasn't the one who would go by emotions. On our way back i asked my dad why he did that because we had to rent VCP every month to watch movies, he said "Money and luxury is not everything in life, you should never get used to living at other's expense. The feeling you get when you buy something with the money you have earned is priceless. The day you start living on other's expense, you stop living you merely exist in this planet".

Looking forward for another touching episode of "Satyameva Jayate" this weekend.

Week 1 - Good week & Movie Marathon

First week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track.

Professionally a pretty good week, gave my first interview in almost 2 years. The interview was pretty good, the interviewer rightly pointed out one of my flaws which i needed some improvement. I used the word "we" everywhere instead of "I". I used it to my advantage and told her i am a team person and the credits of my achievements goes to my team hence i have not used the word "I" very much in the last 2 years. Got through this round and the next round will be with the client in a couple of weeks time. Also have lined up a few catch ups next week to look at other options. Surprisingly one of the recruiters pointed out that i should finish my contract rather than break it else i may loose the pay of the last 10 days. I was shocked to read this as a sub clause hidden in my contract and i also came to know that there is no notice period from either party. Learnt a very important lesson, don't sign contract without reading it thoroughly. This really pissed me off this week.

Personally, have taken some of the initial steps to start building the house for my parents. Currently looking at options on the floor plans and i hope my dream project kicks off soon. I am also very happy for providing my German car the necessary attention it required, it broke down last week due to a coolant leak and i was praying it should not be something big. Luckily it was just the water pump and require a few hundred dollars but should be up and running by tomorrow. This is my first car and am very much emotionally attached to it. I literally emptied my bank account when i wanted to to buy this 3 years ago. I prayed a lot for it to get back on road soon and also promised to take care of it like i used to when i first bought it.Also, I also made an critical decision to give up on a girl from whom i wasn't getting any response. I was able to break my ego to take it forward a few steps but this is where i draw the line. My self esteem doesn't allow me to go any further. Giving up doesn't mean you don't have the courage to follow your heart, it also means you have the courage to let things free.Well i guess this is how it is supposed to end. I know this will be good for her, as every girl i like either gets married or hitched in a few weeks from the day i start liking them.

My car during the Easter road trip

On the fitness side, i didn't hit gym or go for a run or swim this week. It was a hectic week at work, hope this routine gets better in the next few weeks. I will at least try to go for a run or a swim tonight.
Overall a good week and a great weekend. Friday went out to hardware lane for dinner with live music. Had a nice Mexican dinner and finished it with sizzling chocolate brownie with ice cream. Then went to the crown casino which is 100 m away from my apartment and actually won $50 with an initial investment of $10.

Lambo @ crown casino this weekend

 Saturday was a movie marathon, started with "White elephant" then moved on to "Rocky IV" , went to the theatre for "The Dictator" and finished the day with "Vicky donor". The Dictator was hilarious, you loose the fact that it is extremely abusive and the whole theatre explodes in laughter. Vicky donor is also a pretty good movie with a nice subject and good songs. I loved the conflict of opinions between the bongs and the punjabis before the marriage. Finishing the week with calls to family and friends, it is interesting to note the tribe of single guys from both my college and school is now on the list of endangered species and is slowly moving toward being extinct.

Parents love - the only unconditional love

Last week, my parents celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary. Their story is a true reflection of the sacrifices parents have to go through to bring up children.

My mom is a house wife and it still amazes me how someone can do all the household chores, cook food, bring up children, never get paid or promoted all life and still be very happy. In today's world, not many people of my generation can even think about doing this for even a couple of years.My dad was a bank employee all his life until he retired a couple of years ago. The commitment and dedication to his work has always inspired me. He started his life with literally nothing and built his way up to raise such a beautiful family. My dad knows when my mom looses her cool and what needs to be done to bring her back.Together they make the best parents of the world.

In our family, my sister was always the special and the pampered one. Right from her schooling days, one of us had to drop her and pick her up from school, tutions and coaching classes. We had a tough time choosing colleges for her under graduation and post graduation. My mom used literally all her contacts to finally get her a project and job. For me it was totally different, i was always told being a guy, i should take care of myself. How else would i learn how to live in this world? I still remember, my first day of college my dad  just got enough leaves for my family to drop me in Chennai but they could not wait until the first day. So i picked up an auto from my relatives house and went to college. I was truly frustrated seeing every other student with their parent on their first day of college. However, i have no regrets today as this is what taught me great lessons for life. A couple of more incidents in my life redefined my love and respect for my parents.

The most unforgettable incident of my life is the arrival of my little friend who is a premmie. He was less than a kilo when he was born and this totally changed my life. Since my friends parent's or in laws could not make it in time we had the responsibility to support our friends during this tough phase of life. This changed my perception of life, how in a day your life can be turned upside down and things like career, money, passion everything becomes irrelevant when it comes to family. I have never prayed so hard in my life, went to all temples in Melbourne and prayed for my little friend. It took my respect for motherhood and parenthood through the roof. What a difficult phase of life it is for a mother to go through pregnancy, raise her child and sacrifice a lot of things on the way? I started loving my mom even more from that day. Still today, my little friend is very close to my heart, i pray for him everyday and he will always be my favourite. He is more special to me than my own nephew, my sister will kill me if she reads this.

Even though my grand mother passed away when i was 11 years, i still have the best memories of my childhood associated with her. One of the best memories is my grandparents Sashtiaapdapoorthi. We always wanted to celebrate my parent's Sashtiaapdapoorthi in a special way. The best thing about working in Australia is no one questions your personal/annual leave of 3-4 weeks if you inform them 2-3 months in advance. So i planned my annual leave in such a way that i have sufficient time to prepare for the function and also be with my dad on his day of retirement. The function was a awesome and a great reason to get together with family and friends.

On the day of his retirement, our family went to his office as they had a farewell party organised. It was great to see so many people praise my dad for all the hard yards he had travelled for the bank. I was asked to speak a few words which i wasn't prepared for so just spoke from my heart. I just told them for me spending a lifetime in a single job with the same dedication and commitment till the last day is a great achievement. I also told them i can't stay in a single job for more than 2 years.Then one of my father's general manager spoke, he said the reason why i can think of switching a job in a couple of years is due to the basement my dad had built spending all his life with the bank. If it was not for his sacrifice, i would have ended up in a job which i could not have quit for my life.

Hewitt teaching his son a few tricks during pre-match
 pratice in  Aus Open 2012

I used to be very proud of myself until that day as i stood on my own legs and never took and will never take a penny from dad since the day i got a job. However, this incident changed my way of thinking. It made me realise that i was able to reach for the stars because i was standing on my parents shoulders all my life, no child can repay this in any of their lifetimes. The only way you can try to repay is to bring up your children with the same unconditional love and support if not more.

Emotional Atyachaar

Another week, a few good things and few not so good things overall a week where you can't complain much.

On a professional side got a couple of informal offers even though the pay is pretty good, the work will not really make me jump out of bed on a monday morning. So it is difficult to make up your mind.There are only 7-8 weeks left in the current project but i still find myself so emotionally attached to that i cant think of a change. However, i know i have to stop getting emotional and start focusing on the next options.

On a personal note have not had much time to speak with my family this week until yesterday, things are gradually falling in place for fulfilling my dream for my parents. I was feeling lucky on tuesday looking at the daily horoscope and did a few crazy things but didnt work out very well. I guess i pushed my luck a bit too far.

The good part is that even though i have lost some sleep over the last week over a wide range of things i was able to complete a couple of 9-10 km run/jog/walk from my home to albert park. The timings were not that great 10-15 mins higher than my personal best run in the melbourne marathon 2011. I physically feel much better and  i think i will put up a better show this year. The worse part is the melbourne weather which is only getting worse and makes me miss chennai summer. I never thought i would say this when i was in chennai during my college days.

Albert Park, my training location - famous for the first F1 race of the season

I can't complain about my life but there was a silver bullet this week to take it over the roof. It was the 70million lotto on tuesday. Tuesday, i was feeling lucky and i also convinced my friends to grab a share in the lotto so we bought a ticket. Given the fact that i am writing a blog today, you would have understood the results of the lotto. Yes, it came up with better luck next time, i really pushed my luck very far. A couple of interesting facts around this. First, nearly half of Australian adult population brought a ticket, there is still a lot of hope in the world. Secondly, i came to know the odds of you winning a lotto are lower than the odds of lightning striking you.

Friday night was fun, had to choose between the screening of "Dirty Picture" with Vidya Balan who is melbourne to promote indian film festival or night out with a few good friends. Easy decision, went to a nice pub, it was a pretty good place, not very crowded on a friday night with a good ambience and nice music. The good part is that you dont have to wait for your drinks, ended up having a blast with a couple of whisky's, a cocktail and a couple of shots of "absinthe". It was my first shot and it didnt feel that great but ended up gulping it. My friends were pretty surprised because i had just started last year having a occasional drink and they have never seen me drink so much, even i thought i was going to get high like they show in the movies. Though the only thing i could not remember from the night is the name of the cocktail, which i would not have remembered even on a normal day.

Absinthe shots - lined up ready to be gulped

I thought getting drunk would help me clear my mind and start looking at things differently. I didnt end up both getting drunk or clearing my mind. Even a 10km run yesterday didnt help the cause. Writing this blog now is helping me though, there are a lot of turbulence in my life right now and hoping for a miracle or winning a lotto is not going to help. I have to stop getting emotional and start taking some tough decisions in the next few weeks to get back my lost sleep. Will provide a regular update for the next 8 weeks, which i believe should be enough to bring my life back on track.

Satyameva Jayate - A start of a revolution

Satyameva Jayate is the new show by Aamir Khan telecasted in Star Plus at 11 am every Sunday. This week being the show made its debut covering one of most sensitive social issues in modern india - Female feoticide. This show is not for the faint hearted and if you are someone like me who can't stop the tears then you should watch the show online rather than with family and friends. Female feoticide has been prevalent in India over the last few decades. There has been several attempts by film makers through films like Matrubhoomi and there has been several documentaries, news articles to educate people the reality and stop this. However, Aamir khan has taken it to a new level.

The efforts in making of this show is commendable, It starts on a very sad note and only gets sadder in the first three women he interviews. Each story more heart touching that the other. Then he starts analysing the root cause of the issue, how this all started. There is some light hearted views on guys who are still waiting to get married and he takes a dig at Sallu bhai. He also discusses the plight of two brave journalists who sting operations revealed the sorry state of indian hospitals. He also discusses a role model who was able to have an impact on this issues. Finally he urges that this problem will only be resolved if each one of us make an impact in our own lives.

I thought Rang de Basanti was a master piece but this has the potential to go from a T.V. Serial to have an impact on the people and the government.From my view apart from the family members who support this crime, the prime accused are also the educated doctors who are perform this crime. Come on, how can you sleep at night if you kill innocent babies during the day. How can these people forget that their existence in this world was only possible because someone had not killed their mom before birth.

It is a sad reality that people have got used to. The Government of India has to answer now and take strict steps to show the world that this is no longer acceptable. The doctors will be more afraid to support this crime. Sincerely hope the revolution started today doesn't die tomorrow and people go back to their lives.
If you have missed the episode it can be viewed here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1vASMbEEQc&sns=em

On a lighter note, there is news in victoria that there are only 86k blokes for 1.3m females aged between 25 and 34. This mean i have a better shot a the local pub than waiting for my parents to find the right girl.

Indian ad industry - a class apart

Recently saw this ad at a friend's place. Indian ad industry has always been a class apart. Used to love the virgin mobile, fevicol, menthos ad's but this one "Indian Idol 2012" has become my personal favourite.

The ability to convey the message strongly and leave the audience emotional with tears within a minute. Hats off.

Melbourne food and weather

Melbourne is the only place where fashion is determined by the daily weather forecast. I got it wrong all 5 days this week. Had my overcoat on for the first two days while it was pleasant and the next two days went to office in just my suits and it turned out to be freezing cold. Friday, i had my sweatshirt and jacket on when i walked out of my home it was pleasant so removed my jacket but a few minutes later it became cold enough to wear my jacket again. Jacket on, Jacket off, Damn you unpredictable melbourne weather.

Being a vegetarian, i am always asked how have do you survive in Australia? Australia is known for its meat and BBQ but it also has the widest range of international cuisine and Melbourne is the food capital of Australia. Every international cuisine at least have a couple of good vegetarian dishes. In the beginning i was reluctant to go beyond the 1000's of indian restaurants in melbourne but being in a group of mad foodies, i was forced to explore and i have developed a liking for them so much that i take them out to these restaurants now. Some of the my options are

Mexican - My personal favourite, you can start with nachos, tacos and move on to burritos, fajitas, Enchiladas for the mains.

Tasty and cheesy Mexican food

Thai - Red Curry, Green Curry, Satay Veges and Stir Fry Veges.

Italian - Funghi ripieni, Bruschetta for entree and for main choose any of the veg pizzas, pastas and risottos.

Japanese - Vegetarian Tofu Don, Vegetarian Teriyaki Don.

Chinese - Dumplings (Steamed or Fried),Tofu and Stir Fry Mixed Veges.

Indonesian - Satay veges.

Sri Lankan - Veg Kottu roti, curries.

Persian - similar to indian, you get curries and aloo palak.

Singapore/Malaysian/Vietnamese - roti, curries, noodles and fried rice.

African - Surprisingly had plenty of veg options, you can choose shiro.

Middle Eastern - Falafel is my saviour while my friends relish the kebabs.

Greek - Vegetarian Souvlaki is my only option.

Korean - you need some luck to find a good veg dish.

You also have options of veg sushi and fake meat soy dishes which i don't have the stomach to try out.Also you have the sandwiches, burgers, pizza's and pasta's in most of the other restaurants.

I have had a couple of embarrassing moments with food. The top one was a team lunch in a pub, the menu was circulated a couple of days ago and only option i saw was a pumpkin risotto but wanted to have pasta i saw an option of marinara pasta. This one had no mention of any meat/seafood so i googled marinara sauce and found that it is a tomato sauce used by sailors for long journeys. When the food came, i was shocked to see shells, shrimp and squids in my plate. I learnt it the hard way that marinara meant a mixture of sea food.Should have guessed why would sailors be vegetarians. Had a total blonde moment but the waitress changed my food and gave me the world's first vegetarian marinara pasta and added some salad as a compliment. The more common one is egg is vegetarian, had to send back my order a few times for not mentioning quite specifically.

If you are quite specific about being vegetarian remember a couple of things.

1. Tell them no egg, no meat and no sea food. Some cuisines egg and sea food are vegetarian.
2. Always check the food before you eat and incase of any doubt don't feel shy to question it.

Overall, Melbourne is a food friendly, veg friendly place and i have even had instances where the restaurants modified their menu to make something vegetarian for me. Well if you are looking for good breakfast options, the cafe menu leaves you with literally bread, baked beans and fruit salad when you remove meat and egg.The other place i was discriminated for being a vegetarian is during blood donation, after a couple of donations i was told my iron content is a little above normal and so they wont take my blood as iron content in vegetarians are low and takes a longer time to re-generate.

Dinner with the leadership team

Had an awesome dinner with my leadership team on tuesday. I am not a big fan of Asian restaurants but this was a good one. The food and service was good and the ambience was awesome.

For entree we ordered "Split Pea Fritters with Spicy Tamarind Dipping Sauce" and "Betel Leaf Topped With Pomelo, Crispy Shallot, Peanuts, Mint and Chilli". I must admit i had to google the menu to get the names correct but they were pretty good. I was touched by the fact that the entire order for entree was vegetarian so that i could have more choices. I have never been treated so royally.  This is the best leadership team one could ever work with. It makes me sad that i am going to miss them in a couple of months. I was thinking of ordering coke but this was a special day for me so decided to go for some wine. A bottle of Shiraz was ordered, i somehow finished my first glass of wine.

For the main course we ordered "Chilli Five Spice Fried Tofu with Stir-Fried Gailan and Hot ‘n Sour Snowpea Sprout Salad" and "Vegetarian Green Curry with Roasted Carrot, Roasted Shallot, Apple Eggplant, Pumpkin, Corn and Kipfler Potato" and a few other dishes.  Apart from a few work related discussions, we had a lot of discussion across a wide range of topics. I was actively participating in discussion around New Zealand, Australian and India tourist locations, Indian food, population density etc. The topics where i could not speak a word was "Toddler Taming" and "Golf".Got some handy tips on bringing up children and started to know a few things about golf which i used to think was the most boring game in the world.

For dessert we ordered "Passionfruit Brulee with Puffed Wild Rice and Coconut Ice-Cream Choc, Chilli", "Mint Parfait with Salted Peanut Caramel, Rice Puffs and Pineapple Sorbe" and "Mango Marshmallow, Lemongrass Pannacotta and Watermelon Jelly ". Thank you folks for the awesome experience.

Unfortunately didnt take any snaps. So have to post one of the snaps from my archive of my personal favourite "Sizzling hot chocolate brownie with ice cream".

Sizzling hot chocolate brownie with icecream @ amigos

The Melbourne weather is having a toll on me this week. Officially the winter has started and the overcoat is out. All i needed was one reason not to start training this week and i have got more than one.