Goldfish...!

I have a small fish tank at home with two gold fish in it.Three weeks had passed since I cleaned the tank. The water was becoming dirty and cloudy. So today I managed ( i had to :) )to find time to clean the tank. And while transfering back the fish to the clean tank I overheard one fish telling the other "long time no see!!"

Nando's...! Cooking...!

Nando's,the South African restaurant chain, which serves Portugese food, is opening soon their branch at The Avenues,Kuwait. Now I do not have to plead with my wife to buy and carry their sauces, especially my fav pepper sauce all the way from South Africa. The first time I had food at Nandos was at their branch at Emperor's Palace Casino in Joberg,South Africa.The next time was at the Nando's at Pretoria.Peri-Peri ...very hot and spicy..Guess they will be rolling out the less hot and spicy version for Kuwaitis.The normal Indian spicy food is too hot for the Arabs... Wonder what will happen to them if they try the Very Hot flavour ones at Nando's? :)


Last friday I was in a cooking mood.Almost all the Indian restaurants in Kuwait have only Biriyani on their Friday Lunch menu. Biriyani is too heavy for me.So I decided to cook some rice and chicken. I have experimented with chicken but wasn't satisfied with the recipe I was following. So there I was searching for a different chicken curry recipe when I came across a simple Tuna recipe.I have never before tried my hand at cooking any dish with Tuna.So I skipped the chicken and settled on Tuna. And then I found out that I had no fresh tomatoes, no chillies in the fridge.Improvise...improvise... And improvise I did...so instead of fresh tomatoes, I put in Tomato Paste. Chilly paste instead of fresh green chillies. And a few generous splashes of my favorite Nando's Traditional Pepper Sauce! And the dish came out well...I was surprised and a little proud.

That was one perfect dish. Not bad, eh? Now what am I going to cook this Friday?

At last...!

I had been negelcting my blog all these months. I am not sure whether it could be called neglect. I had started on many topics but then I never completed any. There were so many subjects I felt so strongly about...but left them all unfinished. Today I decided it's time I stopped this lackadaisical attempts, this procrastination..so I sat myself down and started writing...

I had joined a social networking site, after hesitating for months. I was pleasantly surprised that within few days my friends' list started growing. Not so fast..but growing... slowly! Old school mates, collegemates, ex-colleagues, new friends... they still keep dropping in.....And then one day I came across a very nice person who is now a very special friend. We started off talking about "Ijaazat" - my fav hindi movie. And then we found out that we had too many mutual friends... in due course I made her listen to a few heavy metal/rock songs too ( I couldn't resist that!)...and she still listens to them...Hmm! so much for the one who was prejudiced against rock music.(maybe it's time I introduced her to the heavy heavy metal songs!!! * grinning evilly* ) Always smiling...cheerful ...here's to you Prenitha (raising a toast!) Wonder why we never met when i was at Trivandrum? Thank you for being a very good friend.

I have been listening to Roger Waters (in the flesh -live DVD ) and Megadeth (Greatest Hits) continuously..! One creates a psychedelic world with his philosophical lyrics, guitar riffs,elaborate musical arrangements, but mellow all together music that really takes you away while the other talks about war, destruction, governments, politics with a heavy sound..addictive...highly addictive both of them...!

I am trying out Wordpress. I will be posting both at my old blog and the new Wordpress blog.The header photo for the Wordpress blog was taken by me at South Africa during my vacation last year.

That brings me to my photography. I think I am among the rare few who still uses the old film based SLRs. I still haven't found a good digital picture which can beat the resolution of a emulsion film picture. Well many may disagree. The studios here in Kuwait doesn't stock any ISO 400 and above film rolls here in kuwait. I' m asking my friends who had gone on vacation to India to bring me a few ISO 200 and ISO 400 films.

I read someting today in the newspaper which irritated me...but i can't remember what that news item was..! But then that is a subject for another post.

Orkut....!

The screenshot of one Orkut profile. Never knew we had so many cuisines....

Xmas Time...!

Merry Christmas!!

May we all find peace and contentment in ourselves and with each other!

South Africa...!

I am in South Africa for my vacation... Beautiful place...wide open places...and I am clicking...clicking...clicking...I am onto my sixth film roll.But I wish I had bought a wide angle lens for my SLR before I came down to SA...maybe I can rent it from here.The pics will be posted later...

If only they could bring down the violent crime rate...but I guess they are trying...!

And today is Nov 1... Happy Kerala Piravi day to all out there...!

Yahoo Time Capsule project

Yahoo is inviting your contribution to the Time Capsule Project. You can add your pic, blog, podcast, messages or anything you would like to be seen by future generation.

Click here for Yahoo Time Capsule Project

You have till Nov 08,2006 to add your contribution.... The capsule will be opened in 2020!

Onam

Onam sadya... at office..... Now have to find a place to sleep....at office :-))

Suing Kamal Haasan...!

I am going to sue Kamal Haasan for giving me ( and many others, for that matter) a complex..! an inferiority complex..a waaaaaaaay long inferiority complex!..Here is a guy who is around 55 plus looking so trim and fit ...and that too in linen shirts(though his face shows his age)...and me almost 20 years younger than him looking aaaaaggghhhh!!!!! (that was in stereo :-)

Saw "Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu" yesterday.Kamal Haasan's latest movie. After watching the CRAP (yes, its in block letters!) movies which the malayalam movie industry was churning out for the past few months, THIS IS THE MOVIE!(yes,this is also in block letters!) A movie I was hoping... longing to watch...sleek production,precise editing,beautiful music,excellent camerawork, beautiful Kamalinee(oops!) and Jyothika.Mallu directors please do learn how to make a movie..get help from Gautam Menon.(I am always of the opinion that the good mallu films all have gone with the demise of Bharathan, Padmarajan..!) Kamal Haasan is looking so good and he fits the role of DCP well.The story starts from Tamil Nadu, goes to New York and ends back in Tamil Nadu.Except for a brief spell in the second half the movie was so engrossing! The camerawork requires a special mention (Ravi Varma,if i am correct!)

Of the five songs of the movie ,my fav are "Partha Mudhal","Manjal Veyil","Uyirilae". All the songs are well sung...one listen will bring out those soft feelings we all have deep in our hearts! Guitars,Veena, Saxophone, Drums, Naadaswaram,Mouth Organ (there is another name for this musical instrument), all used so brilliantly... rhythm and melody a deadly combo... the songs are giving my twin-woofer tall speakers a workout... Harris Jayaraj...hats off to you! All catchy tunes! The other two songs are also good.. especially "Neruppe".The song.."Karka Karka" is ok for me... but i dont care much about rap...! My fav song being "Partha Mudhal"...good rhythm and lyrics..the beats in the begining made me think of Flamenco dancing.. ( or maybe because the picturisation has Kamalinee Mukherjee :-P ) And yes, she looks so good in the movie.We will surely be seeing her in more movies! Jyothika too did her role very well, but a little more emotion would have made it perfect.And the villain...so ruthless... so cruel... but then he has his own reason for his actions... but then don't we all have? Overall this film rocks..if the movie flashes in your mind even after one day after watching ...it sure rocks! A must see film..(a little gory in some scenes,though!) I am giving 9 out of 10 for this movie. Thank you Kamal,Gautham,Harris, Ravi Varma and the editor (I couldn't get his name!) for a movie which I loved and won't mind watching again.Thanks again!

At last I updated my blog...Onam is here...Wishing you all a very Happy Onam and "vayaru niraye mrishtanna bhojanam"

....and now who all are joining me to sue Kamal Haasan?

...And I haven't..!

I haven't updated my blog for more than two months.Something or other turns up and that leaves my blog unattended.

I read the flash news that DIC will be contesting 140 seats on it's own.Now that Karunakaran and son found that they cannot enter UDF with the help of their partners in (all) crime(s),they have done a volte-face. Now they will contest the election all alone. I hope that the people will use this chance to show that even they dont need DIC in their midst. Especially the father-son duo. I used to respect karunakaran as a shrewd, able politician.But when he started playing games to prop up his son, the respect for him flew out. His recent gameplans are not earning him anything other than contempt.By the way what happened to the daughter?

The cartoons running in Kerala Kaumudi are worth a look. Here are a few..taken from their website (without permission!)

The above one will remain one of my favourite cartoons

Kerala kaumudi also runs a weekly column on sundays by "Anilan". He writes in a humorous way about the politics and other current issues. It's very funny to read. The columns used to appear on their website too.

The less said about CPM, the better. Why is that we dont have any other choice other than these two? That is one question I ask myself. And I am doing nothing to make a change.

I have another 100 gmail invites to be given away. If anyone needs one please leave a comment.

On to the professional front. I have been promoted. The new designation brings in additional responsibilities..and more countries.Here I come...Egypt,Cyprus,Bahrain,Lebanon!

I found out that the comments moderation for this blog was enabled.I disabled that option.

Take care all of you..Have great days! And hoping again I will update my blog at least once a week.

New Year...!

The last quarter of the previous year was very hectic. We had too many retail and F&B store openings.

I had my yearly appraisal last month.For Tech support guys,like me,our work itself is an appraisal..sort of and that too throughout the year!.We didn't have any major issues last year,Thank God. And I managed to score well in my appraisal..Not a bad year professionally.

The year was good on personal front too.Rebuilding my life..And I thank my family and all my friends who were there supporting me all along,all those years...Much appreciated.

One of my new year resolutions was to update my blog once a week. And I broke that resolution even before it took off. :-) But then new year resolutions are made to be broken!

My office was having Thursday afternoon and Friday as weekoff days,as it is usual in Middle East. But from this year onwards,we are having Friday and Saturday as weekend off days! Two full days!! We sure need two days rest after supporting the "store people".Much appreciated New year gift from our Management!

I am playing with Linux nowadays! Especially Slackware and Debian.Guess I am falling in love with Slackware.

May you all have a wonderful year full of love,peace,contentment and happiness!

And I hope I will update my blog atleast once a week!

Onam hangover...!

Everyone must be undergoing various stages of Onam hangover these days, I guess. So I will skip the details of the Onam sadhyas I had. But one thing I have to say. Boy was I lucky this year…four sadhyas and more to come. Due to non-availability of auditoriums, schools, the onam celebrations of many cultural organizations are still pending. I have one next Friday…as I commented “njan ippol thanne football pole aayi..!”

I watched “Nerariyan CBI” yesterday. A so..so film. I will give five out of ten, just for the twist at the end, the priest role by Jagathi,for Cochin Haneefa and Bindu Panicker. Annoying things were the white flashes of strobe light the director uses too much,the discussions on supernatural etc which bores you a little (you will understand when you watch the movie ). And the most annoying of all…the extensive use of advertisement...and the characters are made to say dialogues which promote the products….I couldn’t digest that. ( eg. Mamootty saying “athu (theyila) podiyude gunama!”(AVT), “916 gold”(kalyan jewelers), “njan indicom subscriber aanu” etc.) Then the unnecessary dialogues/scenes like “sir how to overcome fear?” and a few dialogues on that. Irrelevant and will bore you. I did hear people talking in the theater, a sure sign that they were all distracted and had lost interest. And how come in a CBI office there are no other employees? Jagathy as usual “kalakki” with his “catholic achan” role.

How to find out whether the rest of the crowd are bored with the movie as you are? …try a few coughs…if you hear others joining you in coughing…be sure there are people in the movie hall, who are also equally bored . Applicable to “kathi prasangam”s also.

Opera 8.5 browser is out. And its FREE. It’s the fastest browser.Faster than firefox in rendering webpages.

The kuwait ministry banned the latest India Today. Now i am intrigued..! I checked India-Today website.Now i know why it is banned in Kuwait.

I am planning to send weblink of this post by Silverine to all my friends... contemporary "Sholay". That was a good one,Silverine.

Take care all of you..

Happy Onam...!

Wishing you and all your near and dear ones a very happy Onam.May you all have a happy,peaceful and prosperous year ahead.

Up The Irons...!!!

I am a die-hard fan of Iron Maiden, the British Heavy Metal band. (My other fav are Judas Priest and Manowar!). On Aug 20, Iron Maiden,the headliners of Ozzfest 2005,while performing was terrorized by some stupid,egoistic fans of Ozzy Osbourne,apparently at the behest of Sharon Osbourne. Iron Maiden was pelted with eggs,beer bottle caps,ice,etc. The lead singer Bruce Dickinson was even spit upon by an Ozzy fan. The PA system was switched off thrice while the band was playing.And the power was pulled out too. What a nice way to settle scores,eh? Iron Maiden didn’t walk away,like bands usually tend to do, but fought and gave it back to them.They played the full set of 60 mins.(5 mins more than the allotted slot). No wonder they are still on the top in this era of new metal,rap metal(what the heck is that?) and all other acts which strut around in the name of rock(grrrrr).And to add to that,Sharon came onstage after Iron Maiden left and passed comments on Bruce, after praising other members of the Maiden band and their crew,but was booed off.She also had to face “Maiden…Bruce” chants from the fans.I liked that.

I do like Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne.After all he is the "Prince of Darkness","Godfather of Heavy Metal".But this sad episode should not have happened.Maybe he was not aware of his wife's plans. The whole episode sure did leave a bad taste.Read more about it here and here

Sharon Osbourne has done nastier things earlier too.Anybody remember what she did to Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath’s ex-guitarist)?

The above muttering was for die hard classic heavy metal fans.Well on to other things. One of my friends,is in Canada for her Masters degree.Good luck to you, my dear dear friend.And thanks for everything. May you be blessed abundantly! And oh, knowing you was my blessing!

In one post on her weblog Sonia, wrote about a taxi driver in Dubai,who was playing the car radio and irritating her. While in Jordan I saw a sticker,by the ministry, in the taxi cabs."Passengers' Bill of Rights".The third right was “No playing of radio,cassette recorder in an annoying way ”.One more reason to love Jordan! But then Jordan has both native Christians and Muslims.

I flew back to Kuwait on 5th. Back to the daily grind.I haven’t watched any movies on MBC2 after my return.Too busy to sit in front of telly and watch a whole movie.This kind of answers my question in my earlier post.

Been listening to Pink Floyd for the past few days. And more Iron Maiden too.

Onam...well Happy Onam to all you out there.Have a great day and take care.

A Walk To Remember...!

Oops! Was showing a friend how to blog and I goofed.The earlier post got reposted again.

Almost a month since my last blog.I am in Amman,Jordan now (again!).Some emergency occured which called for my urgent presence here.And I flew in a few days back but I dont know when I will fly back to Kuwait.All the flights to Kuwait are overbooked.Its that time of the year...End of summer vacation time!! I had to change hotel also.I hate it.And add to that my stomach was upset with something I ate..must be the fruits. I sure did wash them under running water :-(

Hey,how is that I get to see some good movies while I am in Amman? And that too on MBC2. I have this channel in Kuwait.But I never get to see any good ones while I am in Kuwait.Yesterday I saw "A Walk To Remember".One more to the list of movies which touched me.Reminded me of Love Story (Erich Segal fame). Mandy Moore and Shane West are the lead pair.This simple romance movie had depth,was fast paced enough and had me immersed..totally.The film was adapted from Nicholas Sparks book of the same name.And another film which I liked (and own the DVD too) "Message in a Bottle" was also adapted from Nicholas Sparks novel. A walk to remember is prescribed for hopeless romantics like me :-) Oh by the way the film had Darryl Hannah too (anyone remember "Splash"?)To start hunting for the DVD and the book.

The other movies I got to watch was "3000 Miles to Graceland"( have Courtney Cox of "friends" fame with Kevin Costner and Kurt Rusell) "California Suite".And special mention for "The Big Hit". Somebody please send me the next month's MBC2 cinema list,so that I can plan my next Jordan trip.

Friends from Kuwait called.The movie "Bharathchandran IPS" is being shown there in
Kuwait.Its a super hit in Kerala (that's what I was told!).I badly wanted to see this one after wasting my time and money on "Udayon" and "Rappakal".Will have to get the pirated VCD ...oops!

This is a good opportunity to see Jordan since I have ample time in hand,but the friend who could have arranged it all is away in Lebanon honeymooning! So have to do with the rounds of Amman.Maybe next time I will go sightseeing Jerash,Dead Sea and all.

And similar to my early experiences with local people in Jordan,this time too the word "hindi" did the magic.I get into a cab.Give the destination to the driver.Silence for a 5 to 10 mins.Then usually at the second traffic signal the driver asks

"American?"
Me (thinking "you blind or what?"): "No Indian"
Driver: "Hindi?"
Me:"yes"

And that does it.He starts talking in broken English about India,mostly about hindi films, and this time one guy even sang a Hindi film song, which unfortunately I didn't know.But he insisted that it was from a Hindi film starring Amithab Bachan.I relented.(Didn't want to get beaten up,do we?)And from then onwards the ride is good.ummm I am proud to be an Indian.And thanks to Amitabh Bachan too!! But I still have to pay as per the taxi fare meter.

Time to go and check the MBC2 movie listing for today!

Happy to be back...!

"Happy to be back" - Commander Eileen Collins,STS-114 crew

Congratulations! Welcome back to Planet Earth.We were all anxiously waiting for your safe return.

I salute them for their bravery and for their professionalism!

A holiday which never was...!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Back to blogging...!

That was some writer's block..phew! Guess almost everyone goes through such a phase.There maybe reasons and excuses ranging from sheer laziness to technical problems(for me those two apply!).My residence telephone line was down from February.It got repaired only two days back.Mind you this happened in Kuwait.Numerous complaints at various levels and repeated visits to the telephone exchange didn't help.In the end we had to use "wasta" (more about this "wasta" later!).India is far far better.There are forums there where you can register your complaints and escalate if still nothing happens.I have never heard anyone going through such a situation in India.Come on guys six months to rectify a telephone connection problem!!!Tsk...Tsk...

And so much has happened after my last blog.The most important event. I got married. The marriage was kept a small function.I wanted to make it a grand one,but my friends advised me against that. (mookkattum kazhichittu "pazhathinu uppilla" ennu parayunnavara nammude aalukal-- this dialogue by one of my friends convinced me agianst splurging on the wedding! The rough translation of that dialogue is" the people fill up their stomach at the reception and then complain that the bananas lacked salt") Only intimate friends and relatives were invited.Still there were around 150 who attended and wished us well. And surprisingly the church ceremony got over in 20 mins.I am an Orthodox Christian.Our Sunday Mass and Marriage ceremonies are notorious (if i can use that word) for the time it takes to get finished. So for those Orthodox Christians who dread standing for one and half hours for the ceremony,my advise .. make it a second marriage! :-)) Me and my wife, we are taking each day as it comes.I hope I will always keep that lovely smile on my wife's face. So wish us luck. And the pics are at http://photobucket.com/albums/v412/connectany/Wedding/ and use "shibuv" as password. And maybe you will let me know which snap you liked the best matter wise and composition wise.

Firefox 1.0.6 and Thunderbird 1.0.6 is out. Its a stability update release for both the mozilla products. That was for those who hate IE and Outlook Express.(and Microsoft!).Talking about Microsoft,they now say that Gator (remember?) is not a major spyware...because Gator was bought out by Microsoft!(Gator had changed the name before the buyout!)

And bombs in London and Egypt.The guys who did it and those who tried to have a second wave,they are all cowards.They know that at a face to face showdown they will never convince people with their"jihad" ideology.So they use terror tactics.Cowards aren't they! And look at the way they ran when their bombs didn't explode. And today Indian Home Minister told the Rajya Sabha "Government has received information that some individuals, vital scientific installations and some national monuments were under terrorist threat".(Read that at www. expressindia.com) God help us all!

I was in Trivandrum for fifteen days.Had high hopes of getting wet in the rain.But during those fifteen days it never rained heavily.I miss the rains! Did I say that I love rains? I love walking in the rain just for the heck of it! ..getting drenched..and then taking a hot bath...and later sit down with a hot cup of tea, watching the rains..the cold winds changing the way the rain falls...and i can go on watching the rains...And i miss my Kerala and the rains!

I bought the CD of "Yeshuve Karunamayane" by V.J.Traven from Trivandrum.I love those songs.Not the traditional music we expect from the christian songs.Different music! More like rock songs! Lots of guitar! :-)) Someone told me he was ex-member of a rock group in Kochi.(Maybe that expalins the "rock music" feeling i got when i listened to the CD. With a little fusion music also?).Anyway that CD is continuously playing in my CD player.I am not a hardcore christian or a born again.I loved the music and the simple lyrics.I first heard those songs while traveling in my brother's car.Couldn't but buy the CD.He has also released one more album "Ente Esuvin Ormmakkayi".Bring out more of them Mr.Traven!

Talking about music CDs. Had dificulty finding a decent music store in Trivandrum where i could shop for audio cds.Especially hard rock audio cds.No luck. By the way there is a site for Trivandrumites.check out http://trivandrum.cjb.net/ And there is a discussion about music stores in one forum.

I salute Lance Armstrong!

Kuwiat is too hot.Though official records say the range is between 45 to 49 degrees,it must be way above that.

Take care my friends.May this world be a better place for us all!

Photobucket

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

Sad memories we like to remember...!

Well its blues time for me. Been watching Tina Turner DVD "All the Best" yesterday.I love listening to her songs.I love her voice and the rendition and you can feel the energy she exudes in her live shows. During the interview for "All The Best", she talks about "..sad memories people like to remember.." That sure did set methinking about my past..and boy does it still hurt?

...I always thought our love was strong enough
One you could hold on to...ohhh

..oooh, I feel the shame
but I'll never know the reason why
the rug was pulled so gently from under my feet
I only know that something good has died
between you and me, oh it's just a memory

..You never see it coming
I will never be the same again!

Time to move on with my life now
Leaving the past all behind
I can make my own decisions
It was only a matter of time
Sometimes I look back in anger
Thinking about all the pain
But I know that I'm stronger without you
And that I'll never need you again


..Tears will leave no stain
Time will ease the pain
For every light that fades
Something beautiful remains


We're travelers here, spirits passing through
And the love we give, is all that will endure
Hey now, what we had is gone
But I still remember you
Just like a rose after the rain
Something beautiful remains

..Hey now, though we are apart
You're here forever in my dreams
Hey now, love is lost and gained


And you wonder sometimes how we carry on
When you've lost the love you knew
But it's alright, it's alright
To your own heart be true

And then I heard a country song on the radio...goes like this...

Yeah, I got to work on time again this morning
This old job is all that I got to live
And no one even noticed I'd been crying
At least I don't have whisky on my breath.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna make it
'Cause God won't make a mountain I can't climb
It's getting better all the time

....God, I hope your happy
Girl, I wish you well
I just might get over you
You can never tell.

I always thought that I'd do something crazy
If ever saw you out with someone else
But when the moment came last night
I couldn't say a word, I stood there in the dark all by myself.

Yeah, I could have said a million things
All I did was keep it locked inside
It's getting better all the time

Its almost one month since my last post. Bloggers block? The past days have been good to me.Thank God for that. Been reading about the Sakthi Kapoor episode...Now all other Bollywood gods and angels are talking and behaving as if, there was only one guy who had anything to do with "casting couch" and now that he is exposed there is no more "casting couch". Hypocrites..! The only sane voices i heard was from Mahesh Butt and Mandira Bedi.At least they did admit that there is "casting couch". Oh! they caught Aman Verma too...Now what will the television stars union do?

I 've been trying to study for my CISA exams..have to find time for reading the text books. The family I share the apartment with is celebrating their son's first birthday tomorrow.Have to buy a gift for the cute little boy.

Have great days all of you...and for me its weekend in few hours from now....take care all of you!