Onam ... Ponnonam ..

Being the last Onam for which all of us will be present in office, everyone wanted to do something or the other to celebrate Onam. Rajeesh &Jithin chetans article ship period was coming to an end and Shini chechi was also due to leave soon for a better employment close to her native. But the problem was that all of us were busy with something or the other (office work that is, mind you :p) and no one was able to take charge and plan anything for Onam. Days went by fast and soon Rajeesh Bhai and Shini chechi left. The rest of us assured them we’ll be defiantely having celebrations in office and that they would have to compulsorily come and join us in it. Days went by, but still nothing had been planned and Onam was getting closer. Time was not on our side. Finally it came to stage that this was not going to work as none of us were free and agreed that we wouldn’t be having any Onam celebrations. Onam was on the 10^th of September, Friday. Sept 10^th and 11^th were declared as holidays by our Sir, much to all our delight. So Uthradam, Sept 9^th Thursday was to be our last working day before Onam. Ashwathy and Linda chechi had other commitments to attend to and were on leave. Shravan had been completing the auditing at M/s NAPC and Jithin Bhai had been doing the same at M/s Process Color. Shravan had completed his work and was back at office. MD of M/s Process color had declared 4 days of holidays for the staff at Process color, much to their wonder and delight. (They had never gotten more than 3 days… ever!!!) So Jithin Bhai was also back in office. So it was just the 5 of us at office for Onam – Me, Sujin, Shravan and Jithin Bhai and of course Sir.

 We hadn’t planned anything till now for Onam. So on Wednesday evening I thought why not all of us wear Mundu and come to office, after all its Onam! So I immediately called up Sujin and informed him of my suggestion and he agreed. Next I called Jithin Bhai. He said that he’ll think about it as he had not gone home that day as he had to finalise the work at M/s Process Color and present in before sir. The discussions between them had gotten over pretty late and he had decided to stay over at his friends place. Shravan was the next in line. But much to my frustration there was no answer from him. “He was out of coverage area”. So I decided to leave him a text message instead. The next day dawned in a matter of a few hours. I decided to wear my green Kurta along with the mundu, to office. Even though I was travelling by public bus wearing the very delicate mundu, I got to office without any problems :D. Next to arrive was Jithin Bhai. But much to my disappointment, he wasn’t wearing a mundu but was dressed in pants and shirt. He told me that he was not prepared for it as he had to stay over at his friends place.

Although I was disappointed, I put on a content face as I knew that Jithin Bhai had a valid reason and I proceeded to wait for the next person to arrive. Just then out of the blue Jithin Bhai said, “How about we put a Pookalam”. I was thrilled with the idea and we decided to plan as to how to go about it. What amount of flowers were needed, the design, the money aspect and most importantly, ‘how to handle SIR’! :p We needed to get his permission if we were to go about planning and making the Pookalam. Very honestly I didn’t think that our Sir would give in to the idea as the primary reason why we were there in office that day was to complete pending works (TAX AUDIT DEADLINE was fast approaching on the 30^th of September), otherwise we all would have been celebrating Onam at our respective homes. But here we were, going to spend the entire day doing absolutely no office work but making a Pookalam! We immediately googled for Pookalam designs and very soon we decided on a very simple but elegant looking design. Soon after, Sujin chetan arrived wearing a blue coloured shirt and a “vella mundu with blue coloured kara”. He looked more like some college union member to us! :D Nevertheless he looked real good in that! Immediately after, Shravan also arrived. We told them also about our Pookalam idea and they were also good with it. So the next thing on our agenda was to get Sir’s “approval”.

So, as soon as Sir arrived, all of us started pointing fingers at each other, as to who would put forward the idea to Sir and get his permission! While all our discussions were going on, Sir came out from his cabin to enquire what was going on. Maybe he had over heard us talking from his cabin! With a lot of hesitation as to what might be his reaction to our idea like, I decided to inform Sir of it. But much to our surprise Sir gave us the much needed “Green Flag”, which all of us were anxiously waiting for, that too without even considering it twice in his mind! :p Sir, seemed to have been pretty pleased with our small plan, after all its Onam. You must have some kinda celebration, right? ;) Soon, we were off to work. Shravan and Sujin were sent to get the flowers, while me and Jithin Bhai were to start on the design of the Pookalam. Within the next 45 odd minutes the Pookalam design was ready and so too were the Flowers. We, then over the next 2 hours proceeded to delicately towards putting the flowers in their designated areas in the Pookalam. Before we knew it, we were on the home stretch and time had also flown by. It was nearly 2.00pm. By 2.30 we successfully completed the Pookalam and proceeded to the Photo shoot! :p It was by 3.00pm that we first contemplated on what we were going to have for Lunch!!! Our tummies were really growling. The only thing which we had since breakfast was a packet of banana chips! We knew, the option of an Onam Sadhya was out of the question. It was probably too late. So it was decided, just like the last time, we were to have “Chicken Biriyani” as our Onam Lunch.

The last time we had Onam celebrations at office, we had, Chicken Biriyani & Chocolate Shake!! So we proceeded toward Malabar Biriyani Hut on Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road to quench our hunger! We made an order for 3 Chicken Biriyani’s and Chappathi with Gobi Machurian (for Shravan). But then came the words which we really didn’t want to hear from the waiter – “No Biriyani’s”. Damn! Argh! :l . What a day this was turning out to be! No food?? Just then our waiter said he’ll go check if any rice is still left. Much to all our relief, he came back with Good news. Rice was available and they’d prepare a fry for us too, Chicken that is. So finally, our growling tummies would be soon getting a solution for their problems! While the food was being prepared, we decided to have a Lime Mint Coolers each. So food arrived. We dug in, food tasted great, although the chicken was a bit tough!.... So it turned out to be yet another Onam where we ended up having Chicken and not the traditional SADHYA! :P

To see the rest of the photos CLICK HERE

Anna Hazare - The Man of the Moment

Anna Hazare aka the 21st century Gandhi, is the Indian public's crusader against corruption. He proposed the Jan Lokpal Bill to be brought into effect to check and stop corruption at all levels of the Indian political sphere. After a 13 day long hunger strike protest by the 74 year old, which was backed by millions around the country, the Indian Government had to give in to Anna's request for the Jan Lokpal Bill. The Bill was unanimously passed by both houses of parliament and has been put forward to the Parliament's Standing committee for detailed study.  He was ably supported by very many activists such as Arvind Kejriwal, who is considered as a Key figure along with Anna in the Anti Corruption Movement,  Kiran Bedi etc.
Next Anna has demanded an amendment to the electoral law to incorporate the option of None of the above in the electronic voting machines during the Indian elections. The "None of the above (NOTA)" is a ballot option that allows an electorate to indicate disapproval of all of the candidates in an electoral system, in case of non-availability of any candidate of his choice, as his Right to Reject. Soon, the Chief Election Commissioner of India Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi supported Hazare's demand for the electoral reforms. 

I believe this too is another important measure which will further enhance the concept of a democratic electoral procedure in the country! Several foreign nations have provided such an option to the people. In the United Kingdom they have adopted something similar to the NOTA called Re-open Nominations (RON). Spain, Ukraine and Columbia too have something similar. Few states in the United states have excersied this option.
I really do hope that this gets implemented in India. It'll give the people a real sense of power with which they can reject the candidates put up by the various parties for election, if they feel that they, the candidates are not competent to become the leaders of our country!
JAI HIND & Come on Anna! :)

Independence Day Celebrations - 15th August 2011

My mom welcoming everyone

64 years have gone by since our great nation gained independence from the British Empire. the toils of 100s of 1000s of men lead by able leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru gave us the freedom which we all deeply enjoy today. Independence day is a day to remember our past/ remember the men and women who gave up their lives for our freedom from the British Empire!

August 15th is a national holiday in India. Its a day when most of us just waste away our time by slouching in front of our TV sets.The channel authorities very well know of this and use this to their advantage by telecasting the very latest action movies, which will do a lot good to improve their TV viewer ship ratings :p ..... The younger generations use this time to get away from their studies and hang out with their friends. Well its a National holiday, can't blame them for doing that! :p

Well this year, independence day was very different than usual for me. My mom being the President of her Lions Club decided to something meaningful for our Independence Day - to visit an orphanage and spend time with the inmates and them to have breakfast with them. Although the Lions clubs do such kind of activities every year it was my first time, being a part of it! We decided to visit the Valsalya Bhavan Orphanage, Ponnurunni which is a shelter for orphan girls of the age group of 5 to 15 being run by Nuns, with the help of the Cochin Corporation and the Don Bosco. I knew the kids over their from my days at Make A Difference. We spent about 2 hours there with the kids. They sang patriotic songs and also performed a patriotic themed dance for us. We distributed sweets and flags to them after which all of us sat together and had breakfast, which had been prepared by one of the members of the Lions Club. It was a very good way to spend my time which i most probably would've wasted by sitting in front of the "idiot box" ! :D

The kids performing the Patriotic themed dance!

Breakfast time!

Me having breakfast with the kids

For more pics - CLICK HERE

I'm 21!!

Yes! I'm 21 now! Major in every way! :p Actually i turned 21 on the 12th of August, Friday. Did nothing special. Just my daily routine and spent the evening with family! :)

The aftermath!

This is a continuation to my last post - Take 4!. My mom seemed to think that the cause of all my studying worries is my LG GS 155 mobile phone and so she decided to make a very important decision! "No more mobile phone for you mister until you finish your exams", mom said! I was a bit taken back at first by their decision. But soon i gave in as i realized that there's no point in defending myself, given the situation that i was in at that time....... 2 days past the decision i actually feel very relieved that my parents made me take such a decision! :D Yes, you heard me right! No phone = no worries = less tension! Haha. Who ever thought not having a mobile phone will have its advantages! :p

Take 4!

Yes! I've did it again. Another exam, yet another failure! :( Though i did a better job this time in terms of both the studying and the results! Didn't get the required aggregate marks which i really hoped that i would be able to secure! Parents are not at all happy! Relatives keep asking the same old question - "Result vanno?" (Did your results come?) Me - "Vannu, pakshe pass aayilla" (Yes, results came but i didn't get through.) Relatives - "Enthu patti? Padichille?" (What happened? Didn't study?) Me - long pause ............................. "sigh"

I really don't like it when people who don't understand my course (Chartered Accountancy) ask me such question!

Oh well, i rightfully do deserve to bear a part of the blame! I could have prepared a bit better for certain subjects! Hmmm....

The scoreboard stands at Me - "0" / Exams - "3" ! Its TAKE 4 next! This coming November! Look out exams here i come!

Hopefully all the plans that i have laid down for the next few months will go as per the plans and coming November i hope to tackle this huge hurdle in front of me in the form of CA PCC Examination!

No ESPNSTAR!!! Asianet!!

Asianet Cable Vision or ACV has been the major cable operator in Kerala for the past 10 years! With the onset of the Digital, Direct to Home Services (DTH) too, Asianet introduced its own DTH service in the name of Asianet Digital so as to compete with the new entrants such as TATA Sky, Reliance, Airtel, Videocon and Sun Direct. In my household too, being Asianet subscribers from the very beginning we didn't care to migrate to any of the new entrants. Asianet fixed us with their brand new Asianet Digital Service for free, as a token of their appreciation for our trust in them :P . But now we've been made to think twice about that decision!!
Sports has contributed a significant share of my households TV viewing. Right from Cricket to Football to Hockey to Tennis, my dad me and my brother are keen followers! Especially of Cricket and English Premier League Football! For the last few years there have been plenty of incidents were Asianet pulled off ESPNSTAR and its sister channels, which are the major telecasters of sports in India, off its network. Rumors went around, sighting failure to pay subscription by Asianet to ESS as the reason for them pulling it off their network... rather getting pulled off its network! :P But due to wide spread protests, Asianet were forced to bring ESS back much to the delight to its subscribers!!

But now, Asianet has again pulled off ESS off its network! This time sighting the fact that ESS are charging them a very high price!! The cricket lovers in the state have already missed a chunk of the very exciting Cricketing action between India and England. Also, the new Barcklays Premier League Season is just around the corner, less than 14 days to the start of the new season. But sadly without ESS on Asianet, football lovers i the state will be left with no option to migrate!!!

But their lies the next problem. The very shrewd Asianet Sales Executives for-saw this and have collected in advance the subscription from a large majority of its subscribers!! So they left with an option to migrate and suffer a loss or stay on with Asianet and miss all the action!! :l

Hopefully the Asianet people will come to their senses and FIX this problem immediately!!

Do check out these articles -
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k11/july/july197.php ,
http://www.mediamughals.com/News/1/1/Article/7771/Asianet_takes_ESS_channels_off_air.htm

Yesterday while I was travelling along NH – 47, between Trichur and Chalakudy i happen to come across a sign which indicated to me the speed limit! It read 25! Something very similar to the pic above! (I googled the one above ;) ) Come on! Really? 25 kmph on a National Highway??? I read in a few articles online that the speed limit to be maintained on National Highways is 50 kmph in commercial and residential areas and in outer areas 60 - 80 kmph. Very honestly we ourselves and the vehicles around us were well beyond those limits!!! 

Also it is against the law in India to tint or otherwise darken car windows. As per the law front and rear windows must have at least 70 percent visibility and the side windows 50 percent visibility. The front window should be laminated safety glass! I find a lot of vehicles which have very dark tinted glasses. So such vehicles quiet rightly happen to be more prone to police checks!

Clean City, Green City? I don't think so!

I clicked these photos from in and around Vyttila (@ Cochin, Kerala, India) area. Looks to me from the photos that our "Kerala Governments Forest Department" has taken up the city's WASTE DISPOSAL INITIATIVES!!!! :D In the photo you can see the brand new "High Funda" shopping mall which has come up at Vyttila - "Gold Souk Grande". Fruits of development on one side of National Highway 47, while the lows of mis management by our Government and Corporations on the other!

http://cj.ibnlive.in.com/tag/Waste+disposal.html

A 1000 Views!

The Blog is fast closing in on a 1000 views!! Thanks to all who've shown the patience to go through my Blog. Hope there'll be many more to come! :)

Thanks!

It'll be very rude if i don't make a mention of the people who comment and give their honest opinions on what i write. Thanks a lot for your comments! Really do appreciate your patients in reading my blog and do keep them coming! :D

Few more pics of WED, 2011 at St.George Church!

For more Pics, Videos and Updates relating to the above event, visit www.kcymchakkaraparambu.blogspot.com

World Environment Day 2011

I celebrated World Environment Day at my parish, St.George Church, Chakkaraparambu, Cochin, along with my KCYM (Kerala Catholic Youth Movement) friends. I was asked to give a small talk on "WED" to all the parish members. Although i was a bit worried at first about it, i think i did a fair enough job! :) Phew! Glad that its over :P. After my talk we conducted a small activity where all the parish members members were asked to write down their opinions and views about WED on a big cloth canvas! That was a big success with everyone participating very enthusiastically! :) Really felt satisfied and content that we had done our part to the environment even if it had been a small one!

Me, giving my talk!

Blog for KCYM

A brand new blog has been started for Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (K.C.Y.M.), Chakkaraparambu wing! Do check it out for all the latest updates on their activities and events! :) KCYM - Blog