One step at a time

To all the few people who still visit my blog, I would like to apologise for the absence of posts after June 17th. I have decided to write only when I feel like I have something nice to write about. I do not wish to write for the sake of writing. I have taken this decision with a view to writing more general and non-biographical stuff from now on. Will write something nice pretty soon.

Choti Si Love Story......

Once upon a time in a small village there was a well built guy who was studying in a well known engineering college. Velu nayaKKar(VN is what I shall call him from now on) hailed from the the nearby city which was close to his college. He was excellent in his academics and was planning to do a MS in the US of A and he had laid the perfect platform for it by getting a very good GRE score. I his pre-final year he took up a very important responsibility and joined a group of 10 others who had also taken up the same role for their own departments. This group gelled together very well and they had great fun with each other.

Their frequent visits to a very nice coffee shop slowly brought out some facts about a very special friend of VN. He used to speak to her regularly on the phone. AJ as we shall call her, was studying in a college nearby VN's and hailed from his school.She was someone VN called a very good friend and nothing more. Her placement season had started and she was gearing up for it. VN was a pillar of support for her and would keep feeding her tips and confidence boosters to equip her for the competition ahead of her. He also had another cousin of his studying in the same college as AJ's but he never cares to ask her about her placements or try to find out if she has been preparing well.

The placement at AJ's college kicked off and VN got all tense. This was a big surprise to all his friends GoBu, google, bumbum, AG et al. They all, though harbouring doubts in their minds about his feelings for her, would keep asking him why he was getting tensed up for his friend's placements. He would just escape by giving some silly reply like- "Close friend da". Company after company came and went and AJ was not making it through. VN would speak hours put together on the phone to console her and motivate her for the next company in line at her college.

And then came the fine day when AJ successfully made it through the recruitment process conducted by a company with a lot of Scope for performance and growth. VN was delighted on that day and even went to the extent of treating his friends Frisky and Baggar to ice-creams for her placement. All the 10 others in his group were taken aback by this action. More than being taken by shock they were all surprised and their doubts about VN's feelings for AJ were cleared up now. they could clearly see that VN had a very special in his heart for AJ, who people now believed was his long time crush.

The more funny thing was that from a few days prior to her placement, VN had taken a vow to have a shave only on the day she got placed. And the day after AJ got her job, Vn finally got rid of his horrible unshaven look and seemed to have a head half the size it was without the shave. One other day at a restaurant in his hometown, he was enjoying lunch with his friends when one of his schoolmates walked in and greeted him. Their conversation shifted toward his girl and this schoolmate also made fun of VN with AJ. The blood in his veins rushed to his brains and in a fit of rage and a wild swing of his arm to call for the waiter, VN had knocked out a few thick glass tumblers from the table and in the process breaking them.

Well, now all that his friends hoped for was a bigger treat from VN after a successful proposal to AJ. That is yet to happen people. And when it does, I shall inform you all about this Choti Si Love Story......

National Anthem(By Vidyasagar??!!!)

For the first time I got the opportunity to handle the music and computer support for an event at college. When the topic came up I was very eager to grab the chance and when I expressed my willingness, I was readily accepted for the job. With great excitement I set foot into the venue and set up my laptop and interfaced it with the audio system present in the hall. The students were all trickling in one by one and taking their seats in the hall. Sooner than we expected all the important people had arrived and the event kicked off with the inauguration and special lecture going off well.

Then it was time for me to play something during the snacks break and I used the superb 'Sand animation' video to keep the crowd entertained for a whole 10 minutes. After this break, Mr.Murali conducted a very nice group activity, basically a case study to help the participants develop their teamwork and leadership skills. Well that was the whole objective of the entire event. Brasstacks, the annual leadership skills development event conducted by Rotaract clubs from various colleges was, for the first time, conducted by the Rotaract Club of NITT. As a proud member of the club, I got the opportunity to rub shoulders with fellow members from the Roratact clubs of Urumi Dhanalakshmi College and National College. The participants were members from several Rotaract clubs which came under District 3000 region, which includes colleges from cities like Madurai, Dindigul and Trichy to name a few.

After the group activity went off well we set up the place for the valediction ceremony. It was all hush hush in the hall with people running from one end of the stage to another. Only when I stopped my friend and asked him why all this tension did I hear the words - "The Director is coming da". A slight fear gripped me. I did not know why, but I was a little tensed. My only job now was to play the national anthem when it was called for. In all my tension I did not want to mess that up. I had queued up only the anthem in the playlist and was ready to play it when I heard the words- "All rise for the National Anthem". Minute by minute, as all the prizes were being distributed to the winners the tension in me rose and I was even sweating on my nose.

Finally all the formalities were over and it was time for the national anthem of India. I heard the announcement and immediately clicked the Play button on Windows media player and moved to an upright attention position to pay my respect for the national anthem. What followed caused me to freee in shock! The following was what I heard - " (Beats)Dhum.... thak dhum... thak thak.. Ayyarattu Naattukatta... Ayyavoda Koothukatta". I immediately looked down into the laptop and tried to figure out what could be done. Lucky for me, I found the mute person and pressed it hard. Everything grew silent and my mind chose not to hear all the ooohs and aaahs from the crowd. I managed to notice the Director's face which now bore a smirk. Every second thankfully passed like a minute each and in no time I was able to stop the song and play the national anthem.

Thats not the end of it folks, for once I played the anthem and moved again into the respectful attention position, I could hear only silence for a few seconds. Fear gripped me again and only at that moment did I realise that I had put my laptop on mute to silence the song and that I would have to bring it back to normal volume. I quickly removed the mute and increased the volume and stood upright. "Bharata Bhagya Vidatha.."- thats from where we heard the anthem, and I had no option now but to let it run till its completion. I was sweating like crazy, for I had played a horrible movie song tuned in by Vidyasagar for the movie Majaa instead of the beautiful National Anthem written by the great Rabindranath Tagore.

I was glad that the great poet was no more to witness this mistake of mine, for if he had lived to see this day he would have not lived a single moment more. :) All my fellow rotaractors had a ball pulling my leg after the event was over. I had made such a big fool of myself in front of a huge crowd and more importantly in front of the esteemed dignitaries who had taken to the dais that fine day. Today, when I look back at it, I laugh for at least 5 minutes solid and enjoy my moment of glory as the member of the Rotaract Club of NITT.

For those who studied with me in Batch 2008 at NITT, you may be able to relate to this incident as the one mentioned in the comments section under my name in our "Reminiscence '08". If there is one thing I have learned, its that the national anthem was not composed by Vidyasagar. :)

EURO EURO EURO!!

I guess its finally time to pour out my views on the most happening thing in the sports world- EURO. Holland on a rampage, sensational playing from Portugal and Spain, some of the best goals, great saves, horrible defending, even more pathetic finishing - we have had it all.

Ronaldo has shown the whole world why he deserves to be adjudged the best in the world right now. His impeccable skills and his amazing ability to effortlessly set up goals for his fellow teammates to score is surely going to intimidate any opposition. And he is not the only star in his team, which boasts of Deco, the gifted midfielder with a Brazilian origin and players like Simao and Nuno Gomes who can, on their day, deliver the killer blow to their opposition. This automatically makes the in-form Portugal team one of the favourites to win this championship.

The Spanish Armada seems to be doing really well too. Their smooth and swift movement on the football field, as always, has been very beautiful to watch and with players like Torres and Villa's prolific scoring up front they look a better unit than they were 2 years ago in Germany. But the Spanish have always known to choke once they get past the group stages. We shall soon know
if they have what it takes to go the distance and make use of every opportunity they are presented with.

The Flying Dutch!! Well I think the rest of the world has spoken a lot about them already. Arjen Robben and Van Persie with excellent support from the likes of Sneijder, Nistelrooy and Van der Waart look all set to rattle any opposition's defense. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they lift the coveted trophy at the end of this month.

I must commend the efforts of some goalkeepers in this tournament. In particular, I would like to cite out the match between Italy and Romania which ended in a disappointing draw. The goalkeepers from both teams made some breathtaking saves and Buffon's penalty save just proves why he is ranked high among the best in the world.

I dont want to speak out all that i have observed because I feel the media has already done that well. The match I am watching as I write this post(Czech vs turkey), I think will go down to penalties. Both the teams lack pace in the midfield and their strikers are not the best finishers around. It should be an interesting watch nonetheless. Both the teams will give their all to this match and will want to go through to the knockout stage. I particularly liked the confidence exuded by the Turkish players during the pre-match press conference. I believe that may be a key factor that could help them

Lets see. In a couple of hours we will know which team goes through. And in 3 days time, when the group stages end, we would have witnessed some very entertaining and gripping contests, especially in Group C where Italy takes on France, and I hope to be hungry for more and more of this contest.