Thursday, February 24, 2005
Lights... Camera.. Action.. Thiruttu VCD! @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:22 am      8 Comments
Here's the list of tamil movies that are slated to come out for Tamil New Year's day..

1. Rajni's Chandramukhi
2. Kamal's Mumbai express
3. Vikram's Anniyan
4. Surya's Ghajini
5. Vijay's Sachin
6. S.J Surya's Best Friend
7. Madhavan's Thambi
8. Ajith's Godfather
9. Simbhu's Thotti Jaya
10. Srikanth's Sadhurangam
11. Bharat's February-14
12. Dhanush's Adhu oru kana kaalam


Looks like there is going to be some real action in Kollywood this April..

:)
Vikkki
8 Comments

Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Hello.. Hello.. Anybody Home?? @
By Whoosh 2 @ 8:45 am      8 Comments
One nice passtime for people working in MNCs are the innumerable phone calls they get from banks, mobile phone companies, insurance agents and who not! Many people might also find them irritating, but I like attending these calls. They give me a nice distraction from my rather mundane work. It is funny the kind of people these guys employ nowadays. They seem to be total wierdoes!

I got this call from a female working in ICICI bank last week...



Female: Hello Mr.Vikram, this is Reena from ICICI. May I distrub you for ten minutes please.
Vikkki:
(!!Scene!!) I am a bit busy right now Mam. Please make it quick. (!!Scene!!) How can I help you?
Reena: Sir, do you have an account with ICICI bank?
V: No Mam, I dont.
R: Would you like to have an account with ICICI, Sir?
V: No Mam, I wouldnt.
R: Why is that Sir? Is it because of the minimum balance value that we require you to maintain?
V: Minimum Balance? Mam. To the best of my knowledge ICICI does not require a minimum balance for corporate customers. I am sure u know that.. (I seemed to know more abt ICICI than this female! haha!)
R: Oh yes Sir. I apologize.
V: That is okay!
R: Sir, have u taken a loan with ICICI before?
V: No Mam, I have not.
R: Why not Sir?
V: Why not?? Well, lets put it this way.... I didnt need one..
R: Well Sir, have u not taken a loan because of the high interest rates that we maintain?
V: I said I didnt take a loan because I didnt need one.
R: Sir, please give ICICI a call when u need a loan the next time.
V: Sure Mam. And thanks for informing me that u maintain a high interest rate. I will make sure I remember this when I need a loan the next time! I'll look out for someother bank.


This female seemed hell bent on giving out negative information about the company she was campaigning for that for a moment I thought someone was playing a prank on me. I redialled the number from which I received the call and it went to ICICI. So, it was no prank call after all. I wonder how much business ICICI lost because of Reena!! :D

I received this call last Friday. It was from the HP Service center where I generally give my laptop for servicing. I had given my laptop the week before and I got it back within a couple of days. Out of the blue, I get this call..

Female: Mr.Vikram, this is Shoba from HP.
Vikkki: Yes, What can I do for you.
Shoba: This is regarding your laptop Compaq Presario V 2000 with serial number #######. We need to replace the battery and I have called to get your consent.
Vikkki: Sorry to disappoint you Mam, but I dont have a Presario V2000. I have a Presario 2100 and my laptop is with me right now!
Shoba: But Sir, I have a laptop here with me which is registered to your name!
Vikkki: I can assure you, madam, that I have never owned a V2000 before.
Shoba: Sir, are u absolutely certain that you do not know anything about this laptop?
Vikkki: (laughing) Well Mam, if u are so intent on gifting a laptop to me, i wont say no. If u want to change the battery, go ahead and change it. Infact change whatever u want. I'll come and collect it this eveing (I hang up the phone)

I seriously wonder who the actual owner for that V2000 is. Poor fellow. The HP female seemed pretty certain that the laptop belonged to me.. :p

This call I received today from a female from Citibank.

Radha: Good Evening Sir. This is Radha from Citibank. I need to talk to you
about the credit card that u hold with us. Your credit balance is quite high Sir.
Vikkki: Hang on.. Hang on. Credit Balance is high? That is surprising, 'cauz i dont hold a credit card with Citibank. When did u start charging people who have got nothing to do with your bank? (This was actually a lie. I do hold a Citibank Debit card. But a credit card, I dont)
Radha: But ofcourse u do.. I have ur credit card number with me..
Vikkki: Oh Really! And what might that be?
Radha: I cannot tell that to u, Sir. I need to confirm ur identity before I do that.
Vikkki: Ok. Please confirm my identity
Radha: Could you tell me the last two transactions you made with your credit card.. Vikkki: Oh Hell! I dont have a credit card..!!!!

What can a person do in such a scenario. This female claims I have a credit card that I dont have and to top it all she wants me to give some transaction details from this non-existent credit card. How weird can a person get??

Long live ICICI. Long live HP. Long live Citibank.

:)
Vikkki
8 Comments

Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Erode. @
By Whoosh 2 @ 7:32 am      8 Comments
This weekend was fun. It was my cousin sister's engagement in my native place and I was visiting my folks after a good 6 years. In this time, I missed the following:


  • The marriage of my cousin brother
  • The marriage of another cousin brother
  • The engagement of yet another cousin brother
  • The marriage of my cousin sister
  • The birth of a neice and 2 nephews. (Not to mention another neice and a nephew whose birth I got to attend! Man, I am getting old!)
Wow! Now thats a lot.. Honestly, I am not at fault for not being able to visit Erode that often, given my commitments at my Undergrad college, Grad School and my place of employment. Having nothing worthwhile to do this weekend, I attended this "nichayadhaartham".

One thing I hate about visiting my place after long periods of time is the way my distant relatives start a conversation. This invariably is the first sentence..


"Yen Kannuuu, enna gnaaabagam irukungalaaaa??"
(Please remember that this is said with a Coimbatore/Kongu slang. .. Remember "Chinna Gounder"?). Now, how does one answer this question. I would have absolutely no idea who the person is. Can I just say that in front of their faces? That would just offend them. I would invariably end up saying
"Yenga, Ungala poi maraka mudiyungalaaa?" (Coimbatore Slang).
The next line from them would be...


"Naan yaarunnu sollu paalalaaam" (Coimbatore Slang again...)
**Bish Bang Dum Damaal**. What do I do now?? Can there be a situation worse than this? How does one handle this..? But I have a standard answer for such questions.. I would give a slight grin and say,

"Ada, valaiyaadaatheenga.. elaam theriyudhunga.."

Now, let me get back to those kids I was mentioning about. I couldnt meet all my neices and nephews, but I did meet three of them.. Dalu, Kailu and Manoj. By relation, I am supposed to be their "Chithappa" (Younger Father). But the kids wouldnt have any of that. Having never met them before (I had seen Dalu and Manoj before, but they were babies at that time), I needed to introduce myself to them first. So, I called Manoj first.. (The conversation is in Tamil)

V: "Manoj, ingai vaa"
M: "Enna anna??"
V: "Naan yaaru theriyumaa?"
M: "Theriyaadhu"
V: "Naan yaarunnu correct aa soNaa, naan unakku chocolate tharuvein"
M: "Enakku chocolate vendaam"
V: "Seri, naan chocolate a Kailu kku kuduthudurein"
(For no reason, this kid suddenly starts crying!!! Not knowing what to do, I surrendered and gave him all the toffees in my hand!)
V: "Seri Seri.. Naan tharala.. Indhaa neeye vechikko!. Seri, naan thaan Vikram Chithappa. En peru sollu.."
M:" Vikram anna"
V: "Anna illai da .. Chithappa"
M: "Vikram anna - Vikram anna - Vikram anna" ... and the fellow runs away!

As much as I tried, he would not call me "Vikram Chithappa" that day. I didnt have much luck with Dalu and Kailu either.. Dalu ended up calling me "Vikku". I had a little more success with Kailu who called me "Vikram mama". I could do nothing and I gave up, hoping for a better things to come the next day.

Hope as u may, if u are bound to get it..u will get it! The next day started with a knock to my groin (thanks to Dalu's knee) and a fall from the chair (thanks to Manoj who flung himself onto me when I least expected it!). The engagement (that was going on parallely) went off without a hitch.

Having not had much success the previous day in ascerting my position as their "Chithappa", I caught hold of the three rowdies and refused to let them go till they called me "Vikram Chithappa". Try as hard as they might, they couldnt escape my clutches (Muhaahah.. I sound like Dr.Evil, dont I). Having no other option, they had to yeild to my "request".

And as the wise man once said... "Mission Accomplished". My sister is getting married in 3 months time and I am hoping to visit Erode once again. Hope these kids remember who I am then, else I would have to undergo the same "torture" once more!!

Vikkki
8 Comments

Friday, February 18, 2005
Kaloori Saalai.... கல்லூரிச் சாலை @
By Whoosh 2 @ 8:11 am      8 Comments
"சேலை கட்டும் பெண்ணுக்கொரு வாசமுண்டு...
கண்டதுண்டா?? கண்டவர்கள் சொன்னதுண்டா??"

There she was... The most beautiful girl I have ever seen.. Her flowing hair waving to the tunes of the breeze around... Her hands making designs in the air that da Vinci would love to call his.. She was my Ms.Perfect.. She was My Shreya..

My "Kaloori Saalai" (College Road) is a place that I can never forget - for many a thing has happened there.. My "kaloori saalai" is home to many Engineering Colleges and it was in one of them that I met her.. The day started off like anyother.. I got ready for college and was in the bus. I had my walkman in the ear and was listening to "Maddy Maddy .. OHO Maddy" and was religiously replacing every occurance of the word "Maddy" with "Vikkki". The bus turned into my "Kaloori Saalai" when I noticed that a particular college had its annual symposium that day.. Out of an impulse my friend and I decided to get out of the bus; bunk college and go for the symposium.. We had done that innumerable times before.. I would simply go the next day - meet my HOD and ask him to give me OD (On Duty). Attendance in college was never a problem for me.. But this was no simple symposium. It was the symposium that was to change my life...... forever???

I ran to the admission desk - handed my identification card to the coordinator there and registered myself for all the events on the list... Winning was secondary for us.. we were there just to have a nice time.. I had finished all the prelims. Had my lunch and I was waiting for the finals to start. Suddenly a voice called out... "Vikram.. Please come to the dias". I turned to see who was calling me.. What I saw next... I shall remember for the rest of my life....

There she was.. The most beautiful image my eyes had ever seen.. She was in a black saree with works all over - her skin color was in total contrast to her saree... Her big bright eyes could give Ash Rai a run for her money.. Those beautiful red lips had just uttered my name and she was calling me to the dias.. Stunned - Motionless - I was just staring at her.. I couldnt do anything else.. Time ticked.. I have no idea how long i kept looking at her.. My friends there gave me a slight nudge and got me back to my senses... Must have definitely made a fool of myself there.

I was being called for the next event that I had registered for.. But, hell with the event.. My "event" for the day had just happened and I had won the first prize.. I had immediately decided that she was going to be the one.. One advantage that I had of coming from a school with a large number of students, was that I invariably had a friend in every college in the city. Though I have never had problems striking a conversation with ppl of the opposite sex, this was different. My heart started beating at an awfully high pace and the nerves had overcome me.. I just couldnt do it.. My friend had noticed what was going on and he was having a great time at my expense.. But I didnt give him a damn.. My agenda for the day was far more important and it wasnt going anywhere!!!

I just sat there, waiting for event after event to finish.. Just then.."Dai Vikram.. When did u come man?? Were u here all day long? How come I didnt see you??".. That was Priyanka. My friend of 14 years. I knew she was in that college, but she was in the CSE department and I didnt think I would meet her that day..

"Hi Priyanka.. Eppadi irukkei?"
"I am fine da.. Come .. Lemme introduce u to my friends"
"No yaar.. Its okay.. Not in a mood"
"Come on da..."

I was hardly interested in meeting anybody then - especially someone from the CSE department. Priyanka wouldnt have any of that.. She took me to every tom, dick and harry and was introducing me to them... Then out of nowhere.. "Vikkki, meet Shreya.. My best friend"...

The tender hands were out inviting me to shake it.. My eyes met her's. What beautiful - beautiful eyes they were.. The warmth of her smile would bowl anyone over.. I was no exception.. I extended my hands for a plesant hand-shake.. "Hi Shreya. Pleased to meet you. I am Vikram". I pleaded with Priyanka to invite Shreya for a Pepsi.. I got the three of us some snacks and a Pepsi and we hit it off... Phone numbers and Yahoo IDs changed hands.. It was time to go.. I said my Goodbyes and off I went.. The happiest person on planet earth.

I never got to hear from her for a couple of months after that. I didnt have the courage to call her on her phone and she never called me. Sometime later I met her online on Yahoo and we had the lovliest (is there a word called "lovliest"??) of conversations that night. I invited her out for the weekend and she agreed.. I took her out to Pizza Corner and I was all at ease with her. It was like she was made just for me!!!!!

Five months passed by.... I received a call from her.. "Hai Vikkki. Dai. I am going to USA. Mela padikka porein.. I will be joining my Boy Friend, Siddarth there"...

I just couldnt stay at home that evening. I took my car out for a long drive. All the while I was thinking that it was some kind of a joke. But it wasnt..

2 years have since passed. I am driving down the same "Kaloori Saalai" to visit my college. I just passed her institute.. She is still there in the USA...

Lucky Siddarth!

(All characters in this story are fictious.. This did NOT happen to me... :) )
8 Comments

Monday, February 14, 2005
Valentine's Day.. @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:40 am      2 Comments
This was my worst Valentine's Day.. A big thank you to everyone who contributed / did not contribute to it..

Vikkki
2 Comments

Sunday, February 13, 2005
A Beautiful Mind… @
By Whoosh 2 @ 8:20 pm      0 Comments
On this Valentine’s Day it is important to reflect upon the theory put forth my Prof John Nash. John Nash, portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, determines the best way for each guy to get himself a girlfriend.

If each and every guy goes for the beautiful girl, then none of the guys are going to get the girl. And if the guys then turn towards the girl’s friends, they are not going to accept them either as they were not the first choice. Instead, Prof Nash suggests, if the guys go for the girl’s friends directly, there is a good chance that each and every one of them gets a girl friend.

So, this Valentine’s Day I suggest that all u guys out there go for the beautiful girls’ friends. When u all have done getting your girl friends, I will take care of the beautiful girl. Makes sense na??

:)

Happy Valentine’s Day Fellas..

Vikkki
0 Comments

Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Presenting Formula HR.. @
By Whoosh 2 @ 12:05 am      5 Comments
After the stupendous success of Formula 1 racing (on Television) in India and after one Indian out of a billion making it to the same (Congrats Narain!!! :) ), the Fédération Internationale de Automobile (FIA – The supreme body for motor-sports) has decided to tap the potential shown by the Bangaloreans to make the sport a major attraction in the country. In his recent visit to India – and Bangalore in particular – Bernie Ecclestone (The number 1 when it comes to F1) was impressed with the maneuvering capabilities and the thrill for speed shown by the drivers of the private transport vehicles (read rickety pick-up buses) on Hosur Road, that he has decided to make the 29 km stretch between Koramangala and Hosur into a F1 track – and the event will be named Formula Hosur Road (Formula – HR).

The rules for Formula HR will be slightly modified to take the “Need For Speed” of the Indian drivers into account. And yeah, Formula – HR will be a competition between buses to bring an Indian flavor into the race!

GENTLEMEN.. START YOUR ENGINES

Each bus will have a driver (a driver without a license is preferred). This driver can have three to four henchmen if necessary. Each henchman in each of the buses will keep shouting “Attible.. Attible.. Attible” (“Attible” is the last halt for the buses). This is done to keep the driver in high spirits. The warm-up lap present in F1 will be scrapped in F-HR. This can be replaced by an incessant acceleration of the engine with the gear placed in neutral. This is for warming-up the engine. This can be followed by the horn-test. The horn from each bus should be blared in order to determine which vehicle has the best horn. Additional points will be awarded to the vehicle with the best horn! A primary requirement for competing in F-HR is the ability to stop the bus in the middle of the roads. This feature can be exhibited in the bus stops where the fashion of the day is to stop the bus in Lane 1 (Near the road divider) rather than near the bus stop! The pile up of vehicles behind the bus can be discounted as they are insignificant mortals.

AND THE LIGHT GOES GREEN…

The green-light that signals the start of the race has also been replaced. In F-HR, any one of the henchmen of the bus can shout “Hutch” to start the race. ( I am not advertising the telecom company… This is the way the cleaners say “polaam right” here). When the race starts, the Indian Road rules detailed here must strictly be followed. In short, these rules state – Don’t give a damn.

The vehicles can be allowed to fuel only when the passengers are in the bus. Fueling of the vehicle during off-hours is strictly against the rules. Further, the duty of the henchmen is to attempt to stuff in the maximum number of passengers into the vehicle. This, according to a research carried out at IIIT-Bangalore, enables the bus to improve its mileage. The stuffing of passengers can be attained by repeated shouts of the words “Volakada Hogi” (Go inside). The fact that the volume of the bus is limited is not of anyone’s concern here!

To make the race livelier, the FIA has requested that each driver to produce at least one fatal accident – and the drivers are only too happy to comply with this directive. It must also be noted that “driving on Hosur Road” does not restrict itself to the four-lane National Highway. The service roads on either side (which can hardly accommodate a car at a time) must also be considered to be an essential part of the overtaking strategy.

At times – especially between 7 pm and 9pm – other vehicles such as Toyota Qualis, Tata Sumos, Tempo Travellers and Tata Indicabs will take part in the race. But these vehicles are permitted to run only up to Electronics City and cannot go the entire distance.

PIT-STOPS:

Unlike the traditional pit-stops which are used for “getting the vehicle back into shape”, Formula-HR will have real PIT-STOPS. On either side of Hosur road we have these huge pits (that some people call the Bangalore drainage system). If you fall into one of these pits – you stop! And hence the word “Pit Stop”. Any driver who manages to successfully fall into a pit will be given an Indian Driving License and hence will be immediately disqualified from participating in Formula-HR.

Also, to prove that the speed exhibited by the driver is not a one-off achievement, he has to do a re-run in the opposite direction within 10 minutes of reaching Attible / Hosur. The driver of the bus that comes first after the re-run will be crowned the “World Champion Driver of the year 2005”.

Hail Bangalore City. Hail Hosur Road. Hail Formula HR.

Vikkki
5 Comments

Thursday, February 03, 2005
Scientific Progress goes Boink!!! @
By Whoosh 2 @ 8:58 am      10 Comments

Calvin the Rascal... My favorite comic strip super star! And this is my favorite Calvin strip ever. On second thoughts, it is Hobbes who I like better. But, let me save that for another time. We'll let Solomon Paapaiya decide who is better between the two. This post though is to see how true Hobbes' passing comment is... "Scientific Progress goes Boink"...



I have been quite a scientist in my 22 years of existence on Planet Earth..(Oops, Did I just reveal my age.. What the hell, I am not a girl!!). Have thought a lot to help the poor mortals of this earth with my scientific advances...

At age 10 i learnt about magnets in school.. I thought that this could help solve the fuel problems on earth.. (I didnt know about the existence of magneto-rail / monorail in those days.. But my idea was far more innovative). My solution to the transportation crisis was something like this... If you have seen the sidewalks (pavements) on Indian roads, you might have noticed that they are alternately painted black and white (black and yellow, sometimes). My idea was that each "black" region was to be replaced by a strong magnet with it's south pole facing the road. Similarly, the "white" region would have to be replaced by a strong magnet's north pole. This thing had to be repeated on both sides of the roads. Now, when a car was "in-line" with the magnets on the road, its internal electromagnets should magnetise itself to the same polarity as those magnets. That is, if it is near a black region (south pole), the car should polarise itself to act as another south pole. Now we have two south pole's (the one's on each side of the road) acting to repel the car's southpole. As the repulsion is coming from both directions, the car would move forward!Wow! Well, what can I say....."Scientific Progress goes Boink".

My next "invention" was a way to stop vehicles crossing the "stop-line" when the signal is red. The solution is actually a very simple one.. You need to place spikes on the stop line. When the signal is green, the spikes lie below the road level.. When the signal turns red, the spikes would automatically come up from below the surface and protrude outwards. So, anyone who dares to cross the stop-line would instead end up with a puncture.. Pretty cool na! Well, "Scientific Progress goes Boink".

Though there are many more such interesting innovations in my kitty, I cannot reveal them here as I am planning to go in for patents for the remaining....

:D

Vikkki

10 Comments

Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Life's greatest challenges... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:12 pm      7 Comments
In life one faces many challenges.. and I mean MANY. But there are a few people who face the same "challenge" day after day and still dont know any solution to that. I am one of those. I face this challenge the first thing everyday and I have absolutely no solution.....

At 7:15 am, i walk into the bathroom to take a nice shower..My college hostel has two restrooms in every floor and the rest-room closest to my hostel room has three bathrooms in it (Wow! I have repeated the word "room" four times in the previous sentence!!! he he he) .. Three bathrooms for nine guys. Not a bad ratio, you might say... But lets get the facts straight...
I hate to have a bath with the "bucket and mug" technique. I am more the "direct from the shower" guy. In one of the bathrooms, the water from the shower defies earth's gravity....literally. Here, water would spurt out in a 270 degree angle, with the remaining 90 degrees being the direction in which it is actually supposed to. If the shower is opened, it is a guarantee that the person standing below the shower won't get a single drop of water on him, but all the walls of the bathroom would get a nice wash! Further, this bathroom's door won't close properly... So, you better have a nice throat to sing out loud when u are in there, lest you will be making an exhibition of yourself if someone opens the door (by mistake, that is :p). So, this bathroom is out of the question for me..

The remaining two bathrooms are okay. The showers in one of these is "respectable" and in the third bathroom it is quite good (This is my favorite bathroom). Now, the challenge is to be the first one to get into one of these bathrooms, 'cause if you are unlucky enough not to make it into the "first shift" it is a guarantee that you will miss the cab to your office! Further, all the alarm clocks in my floor go off at 7 am sharp! So, all the 9 guys compete at the same time.. Nice fun i would say. Till date, I have been lucky enough to get in - in the "first shift".

The time is around 7:20 when I actually get in to the shower. This is where the fun starts. Each bathroom has these "Jaguar-style" taps, if you know what I mean.. Two knobs, one for hot water and the other for cold water. Another leaver which when slanted towards the left will get water from the shower and when slanted towards the right would get water from the tap below. Get the picture? The two knobs that control the hot water and cold water are the greatest... But, before I get into that, a small flashback - when I first shifted into the hostel, I mistook the cold water knob for the hot water knob and vice versa, and I ended up having a cold water shower everyday for the first week thinking that the solar heater wasnt functioning.. He he he.. Good 'ol days!!! Now back to these knobs. It would take Albert Einstein his lifetime to figure out the correct degree to turn these knobs to. If you turn the hot water knob a little more than "the correct value", you can face the Sahara sun right there in your bathroom. On the other hand, if you turn the cold water knob to stabilize the temperature, you will immediately be transported to Antartica. It would take me a good 5 minutes of twisting and turning of the knobs to *try* to set the temperature right, but I would ultimately give up everyday and end up having a shower in either freezing cold water or bubbling hot water. But while all this is going on, dont forget that the "queue" of my fellow engineers outside the bathroom is building up and I need to relinquish my position in the bathroom soon.. After a quick uncomfortable shower I would come out of it to see the faces of my friends standing outside.. It would look as if they were asking "What the hell were you doing this long inside" and I would give them back a stare as if to say "Like you dont know... The same story for all of us...".

It is 7:40 when I come back to my room after the shower and now it is time to dress up. But before that I need to switch on the radio to listen to Vasanthi's voice shouting out "Good Morning Bangalooooru". Radio City 91FM is a good passtime, i must add. Back to my morning schedule.. I need to select a dress to wear. I hate this part. Most of my dresses would be crumpled up and I hate having to iron stuff in the morning. So, i would have to dig deeper into my box to get out some decent looking "costume" to wear to office.. After a spray of deodrant and a splash of aftershave, I look all descent to step out into the big bad world. And with all the fun I had for the first one hour of the day, I am ready to catch my cab for the one hour journey to Whitefield!!!

Bon Voyage!
Vikkki
7 Comments

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