February 28, 2005

I'm looking at buying a laptop and I need your suggestions.

I'v been wanting to buy a second PC at home but decided that a laptop would help me out in many ways. While I have been doing a fair bit of research, I'd love to hear your opinion.

In short, this is what I'm looking for.

Cost effective : My wallet is tight. So obviously, a lean price tag will be preferred.
Wi-Fi : Oh definitely. I really need Net access on the move.
Silver color : Ok, this one is not an absolute must but I've found silver colored laptops much more cooler looking.
DVD Combo : Yeah, need that to burn CDs and to watch movies.
Light Weight : Prefer laptops which are lighter than 3 KGs.

Here's what I do not need.
No Windows: I don't want to pay for a pre-loaded XP. I'll choose a backdoor entry here.

Now, to my questions.
1) In your experience, which is a good brand to buy?

2) Is it really cheaper to buy it from the US than in India? Would you recommend this?

3) Yesterday's Indian budget says zero-tax on some IT components. Does this bring down the laptop prices in India?

I'd love to hear your opinion. Any little info you can provide would be helpful. Really appreciate your time and effort. Thanks in advance.

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February 27, 2005


Great Friends, Great Lunch, Great Time



I got to meet a great set of people, thanks to Smita. We met up this weekend over lunch at Annalakshmi, a restaurant that's close to my heart. (I served there for 6 months a few years ago). Let me introduce you the gang first. Starting from left: Rahul Brown - an Indian american who greatly resembled my close friend Sai Prakash, Mark - the chap with the great 'I-love-pulling-your-leg' sense of humor, yours truly, Archana - who co-heads an NGO on proper labor ethics at workplaces, Shilpa - properly hidden, who works along with Archana, Smita - fellow marathoner and who is setting up an US company in India, Yoomi - who heads CharityFocus, a big charity firm, along with Mark.

There are many reasons why I found this meeting very interesting. I'm fanatically proud of Pondicherry, my hometown. And when I heard that Mark & Yoomi are settling down in Pondy, I was pretty fascinated. Smita too is setting up her company's India branch at Pondy, Secondly, the whole bunch of people there had common interests in social service and charity work, which I so readily recognised with. Mark & Yoomi's charity organisation, CharityFocus is huge with 7000 plus volunteers. Archana's NGO is a very niche one which fights for proper workplace ethics. Rahul associates himself with relief work and Smita is a ready supporter to NGO work.

And the biggest surprise was that the gang is enthusiastically into blogging and they use it to showcase their charity work and their experiences in living in India. Check out their blogs here : Rahul, Mark, Yoomi, Smita & Archana.

The lunch at Annalakshmi was fabulous. When I used to volunteer here, I distinctly remember the food to be below average. Now, not only is the food yummy (and the prices hurt even more), the decor is just as swank as I remember it to be.

Overall, a great meeting and I'm glad I got to know some really wonderful folks.


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The Many 'Phases' of Kounty



Kounty is a guy who keeps our office sparked up with his sense of humor. You just get an inkling of his character from the photo. A great guy to hang out with.

Kounty was born on Feb 29th. Yeah, that leap year date. That's definitely not gonna make him throw a bash only once in four years. So, he threw a cool bash at Jeffery's, a chic watering hole.


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February 26, 2005


Ev does Odeo

Ah! It's finally good to know what's Evan's next project is. I've been kinda curious to know what he is upto after he quit Google. Now that I know he is into Podcasting, it's absolutely increased my already growing interest in this medium.

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February 25, 2005

Raagi Porridge

I made a great find. This guy below was selling Kezvaragu Koozhu ( Raagi porridge) right outside Jawahar Vidyala, the school in Ashok Nagar where I went to get a school admission form. Koozhu has been my favorite. My mom used to make when we used to live in our village in Pondicherry. I didn't hesitate one second to give it a try. I have never had hassles in trying out road side food. I guess I've got a pretty strong immune system.


This guy was very friendly and active. He ran his shop out of a 'thallu vandi;, a push cart.



Just look at the size of that vessel. Massive. Must've contained nearly a litre. All this for just Rs.5. Wow! The taste was excellent. It tasted just like how my mom used to make. I downed the full glass. Loved it.



Phenomenal side dishes. Just looking at them made my mouth water. I'm definitely going there again.

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Last minute photos of Tsunami

Great set of photos that were taken seconds before the Tsunami hit the Thai coast. The couple who took the photos died. Their damaged digital camera was found and the memory card was intact enough to reproduce some of the photos. To view the photos, go to this page and look on the right side of the page for a box titled 'Related'.

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February 24, 2005

I Love

ChangeThis has brilliant ideas and manifestations from some great minds. I've read a few before and liked them. But now, I'm even more impressed with the stuff there. And the best part..., most of them come free. Is this good or is this good? It's run by Amit Gupta (impressed!) along with Seth Godin. I've subscribed and I'd recommend you do so too.

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Google's Movie Search

Google has launched movie search which seems to be rather cool. I did a search for war movies, and the results were pretty impressive.

I like the way the post at Google blog ended. "Popcorn and a date to snuggle up with are up to you. For now." The last two words tells you where they could go!!

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February 23, 2005

Jason Kottke to blog full time

Jason Kottke has quit his job to concentrate on blogging full time at Kottke.org. He then requests his blog readers to turn micropatrons by helping him out with money.

In response to his request, I 'PayPal'ed him my bit. Here's why. His was one of the first blogs that I've been checking. For about six years now. And in a way, he has influenced me in coming out with my own blog. You should've guessed that from the design itself.

Personally if you ask me, I think quitting a full time job is a stupid decision. For starters, he is losing out on a regular income. Second, blogging is best enjoyed as a hobby. Not as a bread winner. Just because you like pickle, try having that alone for your lunch and dinner. Get the picture?

But then, hey, I'm not Jason. And you need to credit the guy for the brave move. Here's wishing him best to light his own bulb.

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February 22, 2005

Invited to Eid function

I got an invitation today from a muslim colleague of mine to attend the annual Eid get-together function his family was hosting. I wholeheartedly accepted the invitation. Everytime I see someone cross the borders of religion to invite people, it brightens my spirit.

I also promised to bring along my wife and daughter. My daughter has never been to a muslim fuction. So its going to be an education of sorts for her. I also want to incultate in hervery early the importance of religious unity. I believe religions should maintain their individuality. At the same time it's important to build harmony amongst them.

I had something planned for that day but I made sure I adjusted the plan to accomodate the invitation. A chance like this shouldn't be missed. And oh! Don't forget the lip smacking briyani!!

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February 21, 2005

The article in RITZ magazine

Ok, I finally managed to get the magazine from a Nilgris superstore. The mag has an article about me on page 45, an outcome of an interview that took place about a month ago. The interviewer, a very friendly and vivacious lady, did a reasonably decent job. (I'm trying to hunt down her email id to send her a thank you note.)

For starters, I thank my stars that this article is not *ONLY* on blogging. Personally, I'm getting tired of being branded the blog man. Thankfully, this article covers the other aspects, what I can say as, a well rounded coverage.

My first impression : Very flattering. I mean, if I had read an article like this about another person, I'd be mighty impressed with that person. However, there are slight exaggerations. For example, I don't get up *everyday* at 4:30 a.m. I do, but not everyday. I'm not the oldest blogger in India. I'm just 22 years. Ah ok! You nearly fell for that, eh? :) What she must've meant was I'm *one of the* earliest bloggers in India.

What you see below is the cover page of the magazine. Surprisingly very glossy. It stood its own ground against the Cosmopolitans and the Feminas at the magazine stand. To the right is the snap of Page 45, where my coverage is. Click on the image to view a bigger picture ( warning 295K). If you don't have the patience, here is a quick loading HTML page.


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Marathon Card

Pleasantly surprised to find a credit card that celebrates Marathon. For Standard Chartered Bank, the folks who sponsored the Mumbai Marathon, it's a smart marketing move.

Guess what? You get a pair of Reebok 3D running shoes worth Rs.2290 free with every card. And supplementary cards come free for life. Neat.

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February 20, 2005

Snapshots from the Chennai Marathon

Move mouse over images to read comments.


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I completed the Full Marathon.
Very tired. More, soon.

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February 19, 2005

The D-Day

Today is the Marathon day. Kept two alarms at 3:30 a.m. But couldn't sleep. Kept tossing and turning. Woke up even before the alarms rang. It's very typical. The same thing happened the last two marathons as well.

Ate some plain white rice at 4:00 in the morning. Rice has excellent carbs and wanted to load up on a few. This came recommened.

Some checklists.

MP3 Player - Check
Batteries charged - Check
Digital Cam - Check
Batteries charged - Check
Cap - Check
Insoled shoes - Check
Bottle of lemon concentrate - Check
Bottle of Orange Glucon-D - Check
Bottle of plain water - Check
Some money - Check
Casio Chronograph watch - Check
Identity Card - Check

OK. All set to go.

I'm meeting Kamala Subramanian, a close college pal, after 10 long years. She's flying in from the US today morning. So I'm doing a quick drive to the airport to meet her before rushing off to the marathon venue. More on this later.

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Marathon Prepartion.

Move your mouse over the image to read comments.


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Marathon Route

Here is the detailed route.
Labour statue ->Gandhi statue -> Foreshore Estate -> Opp: Malar Hospital Bus Stand -> Elliots Beach -> Cozee Corner. This distance is roughly 10KMs. A return loop (back to Labour statue)would be 20KMS in total. So, this means we will have to do the complete route TWICE and run till the Nehru Stadium to finish the distance of 42.2KMS. Phew! All I can say is..... Bring it on, Baby!! :)


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February 18, 2005

Snapshots from Pondicherry

IMG_0186
An intersting entrance to a shop.

IMG_0243
Cool figurines in a shop on the way towards Auroville. Loved them

IMG_0245
Salt being made from sea water. Photo taken from the ECR road.

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February 17, 2005

I'm off to Pondy

We are driving down to Pondy this evening to attend my bro-in-law's engagement. I'm supposed to be the eldest mapillai in the family... so got a lot of responsibilities to take care of.

If you are trying to reach me tomorrow, phone would be a bad idea. The Airtel guys haven't activated roaming yet. E-mail is a better way.

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February 16, 2005

I love this game.

2005 must be my finest start to a year for sports. I got selected in one of the four cricket teams in my company for the Intra-Sify Cricket Championship. And I'll be honest with you....I'm NOT a cricketer. The only cricket I've played is the gully version with tennis balls. I conciously stay away from mass sports and haven't even touched so much as a cricet bat during my college days. So, when the company organised for a selection session at the Nets, it was after ages that I donned the entire cricketing gear...the pads, helmet, guard & gloves and faced an authentic leather ball. We hired the ground at Central Leather Research Institute's campus which is a quick drive from Tidel Park, where our office is located.


That's me at the Nets facing my teammate. A guy told me that my stance is like that Mohd Kaif. I felt a bit elated. He then repeated himself. He said my *stance* is like Mohd.Kaif. Not played like Mohd Kaif! ah! Well!



A closeup shot. I loved the session and must say that I surprised myself in my shot selection. My bowling wasn't bad either. I bowled close to six overs of leg spin and got most of them to target the stumps. I realise that it's far easier bowling the leather ball than tennis ball.



After two hours of the net session, it was time for some cold fresh juice. In my team, we were fortunate to have both the CEO and CTO. The person sitting at the head is Rustom Irani, our CTO. A great guy with a nice sense of humour. Oh and an amazing talent for remembering names. It's amazing how friendly people get over a game of cricket.

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Ah! I Knew This Would Happen....


Stolen from BLOG T-shirt. Massaged by Ravi.

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February 15, 2005

'A Negative' Blood Required

My friend Siva's uncle is set to undergo a heart surgery in Apollo hospital Chennai on 25th Feb. 'A-' is a pretty rare blood group and they are finding it difficult to source them. If you have the blood group or know someone who does, please get in touch with Siva Kumar at 98400 88947 or mail him at sivakkumar.kailasam @ brooks.com . It will be a help in need.

Thanks in advance.

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Ritz Magazine

I hear from a colleague that Ritz Magazine has done a story on me in its latest edition. I haven't gotten around to taking a look at it yet. Apparently, this mag is only available at a select book outlets. There's no online edition. Should be interesting to see how well the interview that took place last month has transformed into an article.

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February 14, 2005

The Madras Boat Club

The prestigious M&B Rowing Regatta maybe four months away but we, the Sify Rowing Team, wanted to make sure we get serious practice. So, we decided to have a Intra-Sify regatta, a fight amongst ourselves. It was supposed to be a two weeks of intense practice but the river played truant.

The tsunami had washed away the bund which separated the Adyar river from the sea and since this is now gone, the river's water level is now dependent on the sea tide. With low tide in the mornings, we didn't get to have too much practice. So, I used the free time to click snaps of my favorite club


This is the entrance of the boatclub



Even the two wheeler parking area is very tastefully done.



That's our team in practice whent the water level was was decent enough for us to venture in.



James, the head coach of the Madras Boat Club is a phenomenal guy. He is a champion rower himself who represented India at Asian Games. Very knowledgeable and extremely dedicated to the sport.



These are the 'Fours' boats. These seat five people, four rowers and one cox. This is my favorite rowing category. Notice how thin these boats are. It's sheer pleasure rowing in them when they slice through the water.



I kinda like this particular shot.



This swimming pool is built on the first floor.



The oars neatly stacked. Each oar is numbered and its important that the set of oars are placed together.



Places where boats are kept. This is right under the swimming pool. The white boats you see are the same ones used in Olympic games.



The raft where we alight into the boats. Notice the raft. It's brillinatly designed to move up and down based on the level of the river. Right now, the raft is below the ground level which indicates that the water level has receded.



The famous logo of the Madras Boat Club. This club was founded in 1867.



View of the river from the restaurants



View of the boatclub from the same spot.

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More party snaps
Prince Roy a.k.a Frank, the Vice Counsul at the US Consulate, has some excellent high quality photos of the cocktail bash at his Chennai blog.

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February 13, 2005

The Vodka Cocktail do (hic!)

It was great fun. Got to meet interesting folks who I've been hearing about. Tried my hands at some exotic concoctions. I loved doing the organising bit. That alone deserves a longer write up. Here are some snaps for starters.


Shopping at Koyambedu market was such fun. The prices were phenomenally low. Yet, you should've seen us bargaining!! Koyambedu has Asia's largest fruits and vegetables market and I'm glad we live just a couple of kilometerse away. We stocked up on a lot of fruits for cocktail.



Vodka, Vodka & nothing but vodka. We had quite a line up from Smirnoff - Lime twist, Vanilla twist,Triple Distilled. Chenthil added up with the good 'ol regular Smirnoff as well. The king amongsts 'em all was the extra special Stolichnaya brought in by Frank.



The bar in progress. Ravi fixing a drink.



Guests helping themselves to the drinks. I guess that's the best part. It was great to see guests coming in and readily helping out.



Me fixing a Blue Lagoon



The snacks table containing eats got in from the guests. A true BYOS gangup.



Smita, Archana, OJ, Prince, Bobby at dusk



OJ was at his witty best keeping everone in great humour. He taught me some fantastic concoctions. The best was Cherry and Vanilla twist straight. Soooper. Frank and Melissa are from the US consulate and they got in some wonderful samosas. We gorged on them late into the night, especially my neighbours, who took a real fond liking.



Many kept asking what was the reason for the party. Was it the new job? Was it winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Indibloggies? Was it Blogstreet rating me at India's #1 Blogger, was it us expecting our second kid? Actually, it's none of these. Infact, I'd like to call it the 'No Reasons' party. Hmmm... maybe there is a faint reason there afterall. One of the things that I realised was that I had friends in different pockets. Bloggers, Marthoners, tech writers, business friends, Web developers, social workers... and I realised that most didn't really know each other. So I figured doing a do would be a good idea to get the gangs togeher.



Bharath, Uma and Harshita. Harshita instantly became my daughter's best friend.



The gang taking a swig of a strong shot of Stolinchaya. Mamamia! This truly is a great drink. Guys, if you are into vodka, hunt down this beauty and savour her. Take my word for it.



As the party progressed, things got a little hazy!!



Melissa with Smita and Archana



That's Bobby chatting up with my wife. Bobby Menon is one guy who had my eyebrows raised. It was just few weeks back that I met up with him at the book launch party of his wife. And now, I see only half of him. He lost a whopping 27 kgs and is looking at his fittest that I've ever seen him. Bobby and Jo have known both me and Sujani much before we got married.


Sujani is on right, all of five months preg. She was running a 100+ fever, yet she made sure she came up to meet the folks. Her fever worsened up over the night. She's feeling better as of morning.



Jyothi Menon, chatting up with Bharath, Uma and Frank. Jyo is Bobby's wife and they are the best HR couple I've known. Bobby heads HR in a multinational company and Jyo heads HR in Lason, India's oldest BPO company. Jyo has authored two books and she recently was awarded the super achiever award by a management institute.



It was great to see Kumar and his bubbly family come over. His kids really brightened up my place and Krithya had loads of fun with the gang.



My mom giving company to Bala and Thamizh at dinner. We had vegetable fried rice, Cauliflower Manchurian, Potato Peas kuruma. For snacks, we had cheese-pineapple-cherry combo, chicken 65 and Chilly chicken.



Keerthi, Krishna and Krithya doing rhymes.



Krithya getting jiggy with it to some songs from the kids. Just looking at the joy in the faces of kids was worth all the effort.

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February 11, 2005

One more week to go for the Marathon..

And I've began to taper down my preparation. Most experts suggest to cut down on any strenous practice and let the body repair and rebuild the damaged muscles and cells. Here's what I'm doing in the last week, in the runup to the marathon on Feb 20.

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February 10, 2005


Blogger Gets Fired from Google.

I was so impressed with Mark Jen that I blogrolled him minutes after reading his blog. Who wouldn't be? IBM, Micorosoft and then Google. Especially when he starts to write about his every day experience at Google, giving us a good insight. About a week back, I started feeling uncomfortable at the kind of things he wrote about and then.... my hunch proved right. He gets canned from Google, barely two weeks after he joined it.

I have always been very wary about writing about work. It's a simple lesson guys. Never bite the hands that feeds you. And blogger's don't get any special immunity from getting fired.

I think Google lost a nice opportunity here. This guy, Mark Jen, was getting pretty popular because of his explicit writings about life at Google. If I was the Corp comm head, I would've taken Mark to my cabin, given him a nice dressing down. At the same time, I would've encouraged him to write about the good things that happens at Google while 'requesting' him to go easy on the negative aspects. I wouldn't have fired him, definitely. By doing so, Google has erred from its motto of 'Don't be Evil'.

It'll be interesting to see Mark recouting the epidosde. Keep an eye on his blog.

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February 09, 2005

HP loses Carly Fiorina

When I first read about Carly Fiorina quitting HP, I thought she was leaving of her own will. But, when I learnt that it was the board which asked her to leave, I was stunned. I mean, how can anyone let go of a woman who has been rated as 'the world's most powerful woman in business' for three years running by Fortune magazine!! How dumb can the board get?!

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February 08, 2005

Don't miss 'Barefoot in the Park'

I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago. And now I saw the play. All I can say is, 'Brillant'. The cast and crew have done a fanstastic work in adapting the movie into the play.

I expected the play to be an abridged version of the movie but I was stunned to see that the play had very dialogue in the movie. The play ran for over two hours and I tip my hat for exquisite dialogue delivery of the cast.

If you haven't seen this play, you are missing something. This comes strongly recommended. Catch the play this weekend at Sivagami Petachi auditorium in Alwarpert on Luz Church road.

Here are some photos from the Play.




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Buying Cocktail Accessories

I went to Lifestyle to get cocktail shaker, ice buckets, and glasses for the Vodka bash this Sunday. While I did find a few at the superstore, there weren't many varieties for me to choose from. Besides, the prices were steep. Is there a good place you can recommend where I can get these stuff? I can think of Currimbhoys in Adayar which I'm planning to check out. Can you think of any other place?

Here's the stuff that I found at Lifestyle.






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February 07, 2005

Proof that beer does good to you

Today, I met a guy who said that his weight had increased from 45 kgs to 69 kgs in less than an year. I was pretty surprised. To prove it, he whipped out a passport photo. Oh boy, he sure was real skinny. I asked him how he managed to put on so much weight and he said that he drinks one bottle of beer every evening. On Sundays, he averages six bottles. Now, that's enough proof that beer is an excellent weight gaining tool.

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February 06, 2005

Bangalore International Marathon on April 24
It was great to hear about this and the first thing that I did was mark my calendar. I'm definitely in for it.

Apparently this news was issued on Jan 13 itself and I was late in getting hold of it. Read more about it here.

The event is organised by Cross Over in association with Karnatha Athletics Association. Keep a lookout for updates on Cross Over's official website.
(via Jacob)

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February 05, 2005

Woohoo! A Half-Marathon Run!

Yesterday, I finally got to climb up one rung up in my marathon ladder. Finally did a 21 KM, starting from Thiruvanmiyur RTO to Muthukadu Lake. For the first time, I have the confidence of finishing the half marathon race at Chennai Marathon on Feb 20.

Here's my observations.
* I've realised that cycling everyday to work has really helped build up my endurance and stamina.

* New pair of shoes definitely makes a difference.

* It tremendously helped to run along with a better runner.

Some pics from yesterday's run.


That's Jacob in the red singlet. He usually runs from Thiruvanmiyur to Mahabalipuram on Sundays (a distance of 43 kms). He cut short his run yesterday to give us company. I hear that, to make up for it, he is running the full distance today!! (sheesh!)


That's Smitha, who showed tremendous resilience to finish the distance. For women, a full marathon is 21 kms. So, she finished her full marathon!


I promised that even if I had to crawl, I will finish the race. Well, Jacob made sure of that!! :) It's always nice to have fun along the run. Humour definitely easens the pain!


Ahhh! Destination! You should've seen the relief when I saw this billboard. We finished the practice run at the Muthukadu boat club. Well, we did walk for sometime but then, we never gave up. And that's what gave us the great sense of satisfaction.

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Chennai STC Learning Session Today

Reproducing the mail sent to the techwriting community.

Topic :
Interviewing Subject Matter Experts

About the topics:
As technical writers, we interact with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)on a day to day basis. Is there a technique to make the best use of their knowledge and time? Are there ways to avoid conflicts, problems or issues with SMEs? How can we approach the SMEs? This presentationanswers many such questions that all of us have in mind, but do not know whom to ask for. The presentation also covers current research onthis topic.

Time:
10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M

About the speaker:
Vasanth is an Information Developer at Nokia's Enterprise Solutions R & D center in Hyderabad. He is also the STC city representative - Hyderabad.

Venue:
Sify Ltd
E-learning Division

How to get to the venue:
At Nandaman signal, its the same building that houses Futuresoft. Sify's office is in the 7th floor. The building has Khivraj motorcycle showroom at the ground floor. It's pretty easy to find. If you need help with directions, please call Kiruba at 98415 97744

Regards,
Kiruba Shankar
City Representative - Chennai
STC India Chapter

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February 04, 2005

Currently Reading

150 Classic Cocktails.

:)






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This is Crazily Brilliant

I'm continuously in awe with Amazon.com . I liked it so much that I'm reproducing Jeff Bezos' letter verbatim.



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I cleared the ITIL Certification* Exam.
Phew! That's a relief. I still get that strange knot in my tummy the night before the exams. The pressure is even more because the company pays the exam fee ( which is a heafty Rs.8000) and you don't want to let 'em down. Glad to put it behind me.

* ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) is the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management in the world. ITIL provides a cohesive set of best practice processes, supported by the British Standards Institution's Standard for IT Service Management (BS15000).

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Marathon Practice Run
Doing a long run tomorrow morning on ECR (East Coast Road) with a bunch of friends. If you are interested, feel free to join in. We meet at Thiruvamiyur RTO at 6:00 AM. Need directions? Call me at 98415 97744.

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Amazing advertisement which features Gandhi by an Italian telecom company. For a sec, I had goosebumps. View the ad.


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February 02, 2005


I'm throwing a Vodka Cocktail Party at my home on Sunday, February 13th. And everyone is cordially invited. Yes, this means *you* :) It will be a good occassion to jam up and let our hair down.

The drinks is on me. My wife has promised to help out with snacks. To make it easy on her (she's four months preg), let's do a BYOS (Bring your own snacks). Variety is good :)

Here's things to remember.
Date : 13th February
Day : Sunday
Time : 5:00 p.m
Dress : Optional.. err.. I meant, anything is fine.
Venue : Kribs' home
Address : 0-2, 2nd Floor, Raj Paris Apts, 82, Kamaraj Street, Virugambakam, Chennai -92
Res phone : 52133619
Mobile : 98415 97744
RSVP at Kiruba @ Kiruba.com or in the comments section below.

So, marked your calendars? Put a knot on your fingers? Cancelled that valentine eve date? whatever guys... it's be great to have you over.

p.s: Even if you are a teetotaller, do drop in. We'll arrange for alcohol-free Vodka :) Kiddin'...we'll have lots of juices flowing. So, do drop in.

p.p.s : It's a neat family-rated event. Well, my daughter's gonna be there. You can imagine. So feel free to get your family along.

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February 01, 2005

Taking on The Hindu



I was passing through Krishna Sweets near KK Nagar 'Pillar' and noticed this banner outside. Nice strategy, I thought. Playing on the typical tamilian habit of sipping coffee while reading a newspaper. Here's why I think, its a nice move.

1) Krishna Sweets is practically empty during the mornings. I mean, who buys sweets that early anyways. To make better use of their near empty shops, they are encouraging people to come and leisurely spend the early mornings reading and drinking their coffee.

2) Most folks already subscribe to The Hindu. But they won't mind reading another paper as long as they get it for 'free'. It's sort of like the software equivalent of 'trial version'. For folks who go on to like the Express, they may subscribe it as their second paper.

3) The filter coffee costs Rs.7. In all probability, Krishna sweets and Express would've worked out a nice commercial deal. The paper probably costing 75 paise. So, while Krishna sweets gets new walk-ins, Express gets new readers. Nice symbiotic relationship.


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