Did anyone hear the quip that goes - "The reward for good work is... more work !!" :-) This blog is something that I suggested we should create and the onerous task was promptly assigned to me ! :-) Thanks Subbu !! (L.O.L)
Well...I'm not complaining. Am I excited? Yes.. suerly. I hope this humble beginning would attract more posts from everyone in the group to keep the blog alive and kicking for many more years to come (and go!). Also, hope to see it grow into a much larger platform transcending different continents, for all of us to virtually meet, greet and tweet ! Hope this would also help in tracing more of our long-lost friends from our L.E.M days.
To begin (O! haven't I already begun), lets briefly reminisce our most recent meet - The first ever "L.E.M.School's - Class of '84 Alumni Meet" held at Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA from June 25th - 27th, 2010. It was truly a memorable event with 9 of our classmates from distant parts of the U.S converging at the Hyatt Summerfield Hotel in New Jersey. Subbu (Sista), Balaji (Maddala), Sai Gopal (BT), Satish (Malisetty), Madhu (Kola), Naveen (Tati), Badari (Narayana), Srinivas (CH - Chareddy) and Ramnath(Peddinti). Despite all our efforts in coxing (and coercing!) few others who were in the U.S but couldn't make it to the event are - Hari Krishna (Rebala), Anand (Perikala), Arun (Konakalla) and Narendra (Punati).
Thursday 25th June finally arrived. The first to reach the venue were BT (Ohio) & Badari (Massachusetts). Followed by Ramnath (New York). And then it took a looooo...ng time before Subbu (Maryland), Satish (Colorado) and Balaji (New Jersey) came over. Till then, BT, Badari and Ram were squatting on the hotel greens akin to the proverbial "3 Monkeys" and making a spectacle of ourselves for the highway riders. Each of us took turns calling Subbu & Badari & Balaji who were eternally "just 10 minutes away". After counting the numerous cars zipping on the highway and plucking out half the lawn grass, the terrific (or terrible) trio - Subbu, Satti & Bond (Balaji) finally landed!
After checking into our rooms and freshening up, it was time for the GRAND CELEBRATIONS to START !
Pop! (Champagne), SQUISHHH! (beer cans), Gluglugluglug... (all other hard drinks filling up the glasses) .... CHEEEEEERRRRRSSSSSSS !!!!!
Friday, June 5, 2026
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
A Misty Morning... So Heavenly... So Divine...
Friday, September 14, 2012
"Tum Ho..."
Rarely does a song touch my my soul so profoundly and stir my inner feelings. But when that actually happens, I feel lost... so lost in my own different world buried deep within my heart!
"Tum Ho..." - this one song from the film 'Rockstar' seems to have done just that! Mohit Chauhan's voice resonates some unknown 'soothing' pain! Not to undermine the outstanding composition by A R Rahman, excellent lyrics by Irshad Kamil and the 'hum' by Suzanne D'Mello. All of which create a mesmerizing effect on me.
I would have probably heard this song many times while driving in my car. But not until recently did I actually start 'listening' to it. I imagine myself to be lazying in an easy chair in the twilight with a relaxing drink (not alcoholic! :-D) just sitting back and reminiscing the past.
http://www.lyricsmint.com/2011/09/tum-ho-lyrics-rockstar-song.html
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Tears...
I feel overwhelmed with different emotions - with the feeling of joy, of happiness, of peace and at the same time of the pain, the agony, the distress and the emptiness.
This morning I was watching YouTube clippings of U.S. soldiers returning home to "surprise" their loved ones. Brothers reuniting with their sisters, sons reuniting with their mothers, daughters with fathers, fathers with their children, husbands with their wives, boyfriends with their girlfriends, people with their affectionate pets... My eyes welled up with tears of joy with every video clip that I watched. The feelings of shock, the shrieks of disblief, the tears of joy, the hugs of love, the longing kisses, the smiles... of seeing their loved ones come home, by the families of the 'deployed' have filled my heart and eyes with emotions. From the very young to the very old, the reactions are just the same. Scratch the surface and try to look a little deeper into their hearts and one would realize the heavy psychological burdens the families of the 'deployed' carry with them each day. When they bid adieu to their loved ones going thousands of miles away from home in the service of their motherland, to keep everyone back home safe, one thing that they all know is that that moment might be the last one to see their beloved ones alive. Each single day, every single moment they miss them in their lives. A life of uncertain hope. "There's so much love lost... so much sacrifice made... so much pain being endured in this world" is what I thought to myself. At the same time, I also thought of the less fortunate (or the unfortunate) who received their loved ones - but only in caskets - the Fallen Heros. To them, life seems so meaningless. A vaccuum which cannot be filled. The pain which no one else can fathom. A life long agony. One ended life is the beginning of another shattered. In the fight between the 'Good' and the 'Evil', so many innoncent lives suffer.
While natural disasters and calamities seem unavoidable, is there any way man-made suffering can be eradicated in this world? "God, can there ever be eternal peace and happiness and harmony in this world ?" I said to myself. Mulling over those scenes, I seem to discover newer dimensions and depths of the word 'LOVE'. A feeling which can only be 'felt' in its truest sense but which can never be adequately described through words or expressed by actions. Most people who do not face these hardships hardly realize the value of relationships. To most of us, many aspects of life are just taken for granted.
Here is a link to some of the clips that I mentioned above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7W8Nfs5EtM&feature=related
(... to be continued)
This morning I was watching YouTube clippings of U.S. soldiers returning home to "surprise" their loved ones. Brothers reuniting with their sisters, sons reuniting with their mothers, daughters with fathers, fathers with their children, husbands with their wives, boyfriends with their girlfriends, people with their affectionate pets... My eyes welled up with tears of joy with every video clip that I watched. The feelings of shock, the shrieks of disblief, the tears of joy, the hugs of love, the longing kisses, the smiles... of seeing their loved ones come home, by the families of the 'deployed' have filled my heart and eyes with emotions. From the very young to the very old, the reactions are just the same. Scratch the surface and try to look a little deeper into their hearts and one would realize the heavy psychological burdens the families of the 'deployed' carry with them each day. When they bid adieu to their loved ones going thousands of miles away from home in the service of their motherland, to keep everyone back home safe, one thing that they all know is that that moment might be the last one to see their beloved ones alive. Each single day, every single moment they miss them in their lives. A life of uncertain hope. "There's so much love lost... so much sacrifice made... so much pain being endured in this world" is what I thought to myself. At the same time, I also thought of the less fortunate (or the unfortunate) who received their loved ones - but only in caskets - the Fallen Heros. To them, life seems so meaningless. A vaccuum which cannot be filled. The pain which no one else can fathom. A life long agony. One ended life is the beginning of another shattered. In the fight between the 'Good' and the 'Evil', so many innoncent lives suffer.
While natural disasters and calamities seem unavoidable, is there any way man-made suffering can be eradicated in this world? "God, can there ever be eternal peace and happiness and harmony in this world ?" I said to myself. Mulling over those scenes, I seem to discover newer dimensions and depths of the word 'LOVE'. A feeling which can only be 'felt' in its truest sense but which can never be adequately described through words or expressed by actions. Most people who do not face these hardships hardly realize the value of relationships. To most of us, many aspects of life are just taken for granted.
Here is a link to some of the clips that I mentioned above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7W8Nfs5EtM&feature=related
(... to be continued)
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Life's a song... Happy, Peppy or Grumpy! - 'Kolaveri Di'
For long, I have been wanting to write something on my blog - just to keep it 'alive' and reassure myself that I haven't completely forgotten to write! There were many interesting events that happened in the recent past - like travel, parties, fantasy-fests, special luncheons, movies, holidays, tournaments, door-buster sales etc., but its only now that I pulled myself to pen (or maybe 'type') a few words.
To start with, let me take on music! (One of my favorite past times). On a cold and lazy November winter morning of New Jersey, my Maharashtrian friend - Patil, invited me for some 'Saturday Chai'. Hoping to get a cup of nice garma-garam chai over some scrunchy and tangy 'bhakarwadis', I quickly hopped over to his block. As I was about to knock on his door, I thought I heard some Tamil words flowing from inside. For a moment I thought I landed up at Mr. Iyer's home, instead of Mr. Patil's, and my hopes of some piping hot tea on a cold winter morning went kaput. South Indians are more of coffee drinkers than tea. You probably would have heard of 'Madrasi Coffee', but never a 'Madrasi Tea'!! But after reconfirming the house number, I thought he must have called over some Tamil friends too! The door opened and there's Mr. Patil going 'ga-ga' over some 'Kolaveri... Kolaveri' song. Even before the 'Chai' was served, he quickly hooked up his ipad and started singing along with the Tamil number !!
What...??? A Marathi Mulga singing a Tamil song!! Why not?? Did you know that the 'God' of the Tamil silver screen is actually a Maharashtrian. Yes... I'm talking of none other than Mr. Rajanikanth - He is actually a Maharashtrian ! Original name - Shivaji Rao Gaikwad. (See, you didn't know that... Right??). So, an ordinary Marathi Mulga (MM) singing a Tamil song, shouldn't come as a shock! (It's a different matter that Mr. Patil may take objection to him being referred to as an "ordinary" MM. "Kaay Muntoe Patil Sahib??"). Whatever be the case, surely, music too, like Cricket, transcends all borders, languages, cultures, religions etc., etc. Coming back to the song.... this Tamil-English (or can I say Tinglish!!!) song sung by Dhanush (Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja a.k.a. Rajanikanth's son-in-law and Aishwarya Rajanikanth's husband) and composed by Anirudh, from the Tamil film "3" (moonu), has become a roaring rage not only down South in India, but across the whole nation and with NRIs as well. Apparently this song is one for those love-shattered guys. One can only hope the youth of our country don't take to drinking and start acting all lovelorn, lost and dejected, swaying and swooning in the middle of the roads !!
Anyways, the song really turned out to be quite peppy with its 'Tinglish' lyrics. Apart from the foot-tapping music, what needs a special mention is the typical Madrasi way of pronouncing English - especially words like - "moonnnu" for moon, "coloru" for color, "whyttu" for white, "yempty" for empty... :-). For an educated and decently English speaking Dhanush, adapting to the local dialect may not have been a big problem. Nevertheless he did a fantastic job of resonating the typical south indian accent where the last syllable of every word has a '1-ton' emphasis or starts with a "y".
I hope all the staunch south indian supporters don't gang up against me for saying this... but the age-old and most popular joke about south indian pronounciation is... if you ask a south indian to spell the word "Minimum", he would go "yumm-eyye-yenn-eyye-yumm-yoo-yumm" !! :-). I being a south indian would just scoff off such 'fun' by people from other regions of the country as just a figment of their jealousy. (You see, most of India's intelligentia evolve from the southern states. So, obviously the less 'blessed' need something to heckle at!) But when I actually hear people talk like that, I think to myself - 'God... why do they have to speak English in such a funny way' ! Atleast I get some solace in telling myself that English spoken by people from other states is no less funny. Did you ever hear a typical Gujarati or Punjabi speak English? Well, to put it mildly, they have their own nuances! Let's just leave it at that... (I don't want to be sparking any regional debates and digress from the topic).
Check out the song here (lyrics of the song are included below) --
yo boys i am sing song
soup song
flop song
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
rhythm correct
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
maintain this
why this kolaveri..di
distance la moon-u moon-u
moon-u color-u white-u
white background night-u nigth-u
night-u color-u black-u
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
white skin-u girl-u girl-u
girl-u heart-u black-u
eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u
why future dark
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
maama notes eduthuko
apdi ye kaila snax eduthuko
pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan
sariya vaasi
super maama ready
ready 1 2 3 4
wah wat a change over maama
ok maama now tune change-u
kaila glass
only english..
hand la glass
glass la scotch
eyes-u full-aa tear-u
empty life-u
girl-u come-u
life reverse gear-u
lovvu lovvu
oh my lovvu
you showed me bouv-u
cow-u cow-u holi cow-u
i want u hear now-u
god i m dying now-u
she is happy how-u
this song for soup boys-u
we dont have choice-u
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
flop song
---------------
Here are the meanings/references for few words/expressions used above:
Kolaveri - Killer Rage or Murderous Rage.
"Soup Song" - Love failure Song
"Soup Boys" - Boys who failed in love!
To start with, let me take on music! (One of my favorite past times). On a cold and lazy November winter morning of New Jersey, my Maharashtrian friend - Patil, invited me for some 'Saturday Chai'. Hoping to get a cup of nice garma-garam chai over some scrunchy and tangy 'bhakarwadis', I quickly hopped over to his block. As I was about to knock on his door, I thought I heard some Tamil words flowing from inside. For a moment I thought I landed up at Mr. Iyer's home, instead of Mr. Patil's, and my hopes of some piping hot tea on a cold winter morning went kaput. South Indians are more of coffee drinkers than tea. You probably would have heard of 'Madrasi Coffee', but never a 'Madrasi Tea'!! But after reconfirming the house number, I thought he must have called over some Tamil friends too! The door opened and there's Mr. Patil going 'ga-ga' over some 'Kolaveri... Kolaveri' song. Even before the 'Chai' was served, he quickly hooked up his ipad and started singing along with the Tamil number !!
What...??? A Marathi Mulga singing a Tamil song!! Why not?? Did you know that the 'God' of the Tamil silver screen is actually a Maharashtrian. Yes... I'm talking of none other than Mr. Rajanikanth - He is actually a Maharashtrian ! Original name - Shivaji Rao Gaikwad. (See, you didn't know that... Right??). So, an ordinary Marathi Mulga (MM) singing a Tamil song, shouldn't come as a shock! (It's a different matter that Mr. Patil may take objection to him being referred to as an "ordinary" MM. "Kaay Muntoe Patil Sahib??"). Whatever be the case, surely, music too, like Cricket, transcends all borders, languages, cultures, religions etc., etc. Coming back to the song.... this Tamil-English (or can I say Tinglish!!!) song sung by Dhanush (Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja a.k.a. Rajanikanth's son-in-law and Aishwarya Rajanikanth's husband) and composed by Anirudh, from the Tamil film "3" (moonu), has become a roaring rage not only down South in India, but across the whole nation and with NRIs as well. Apparently this song is one for those love-shattered guys. One can only hope the youth of our country don't take to drinking and start acting all lovelorn, lost and dejected, swaying and swooning in the middle of the roads !!
Anyways, the song really turned out to be quite peppy with its 'Tinglish' lyrics. Apart from the foot-tapping music, what needs a special mention is the typical Madrasi way of pronouncing English - especially words like - "moonnnu" for moon, "coloru" for color, "whyttu" for white, "yempty" for empty... :-). For an educated and decently English speaking Dhanush, adapting to the local dialect may not have been a big problem. Nevertheless he did a fantastic job of resonating the typical south indian accent where the last syllable of every word has a '1-ton' emphasis or starts with a "y".
I hope all the staunch south indian supporters don't gang up against me for saying this... but the age-old and most popular joke about south indian pronounciation is... if you ask a south indian to spell the word "Minimum", he would go "yumm-eyye-yenn-eyye-yumm-yoo-yumm" !! :-). I being a south indian would just scoff off such 'fun' by people from other regions of the country as just a figment of their jealousy. (You see, most of India's intelligentia evolve from the southern states. So, obviously the less 'blessed' need something to heckle at!) But when I actually hear people talk like that, I think to myself - 'God... why do they have to speak English in such a funny way' ! Atleast I get some solace in telling myself that English spoken by people from other states is no less funny. Did you ever hear a typical Gujarati or Punjabi speak English? Well, to put it mildly, they have their own nuances! Let's just leave it at that... (I don't want to be sparking any regional debates and digress from the topic).
Check out the song here (lyrics of the song are included below) --
yo boys i am sing song
soup song
flop song
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
rhythm correct
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
maintain this
why this kolaveri..di
distance la moon-u moon-u
moon-u color-u white-u
white background night-u nigth-u
night-u color-u black-u
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
white skin-u girl-u girl-u
girl-u heart-u black-u
eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u
why future dark
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
maama notes eduthuko
apdi ye kaila snax eduthuko
pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan
sariya vaasi
super maama ready
ready 1 2 3 4
wah wat a change over maama
ok maama now tune change-u
kaila glass
only english..
hand la glass
glass la scotch
eyes-u full-aa tear-u
empty life-u
girl-u come-u
life reverse gear-u
lovvu lovvu
oh my lovvu
you showed me bouv-u
cow-u cow-u holi cow-u
i want u hear now-u
god i m dying now-u
she is happy how-u
this song for soup boys-u
we dont have choice-u
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
flop song
---------------
Here are the meanings/references for few words/expressions used above:
Kolaveri - Killer Rage or Murderous Rage.
"Soup Song" - Love failure Song
"Soup Boys" - Boys who failed in love!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Friends, Movies, Masti and More...
Is Facebook guilty for the near 'death' of many a blog ? Well, in my case atleast I don't want to call this a 'dead' blog (I hate that word, let alone the exprience... though there's no escape from it). But certainly Facebook has gained an innuendo for the near demise of the blog world. And me not being one of those prolific writers is the other reason that my blog has been in oblivion for some time. Now... getting down to the brass tacks of reviving my dormant blog... Let me start with something that happened recently.
The past 2-3 weeks have rather been too hectic. Mostly traveling on weekends, working and partying on weekdays. Partying on week days ??!! Sounds a little crazy. I'm not such a party animal, but with friends coming down from China (they are Indians living in China. What ? You thought we didn't get there yet??!!), its been party time every day. Work during the day, party late into the evenings (nights) and hit the sack way past midnight. The next day, the same
rigmarole... this went on for almost a week. Now that they are gone... hope to catch up on all of that lost sleep. Anyway... why would anyone reading my blog care less about my lifestyle or sleep. But since you have read thus far, it does seem like you may want to continue reading further!
Last weekend we were all out at Lake George in upstate New York. It was fun traveling with friends and their families.. all in tow. As usual, thanks to my driving prowess (and to my GPS), in the first one hour we just drove into every imaginable wrong route, just going around in circles. But never made the 'mistake' of hitting the correct one. Did you ever hear about someone getting lost even with a GPS ? If you did, I would be happy that I am not the only bloke on this earth to have honned such special skills. Well, finally Lake George just came by our way and I swore I would never use my GPS again (till we get back home!). Unlike our last visit, this time we indulged in some 'adventurous' activities - like traveling in a boat, with friends who were steering the boat for the first time in their lives. We all were hoping to be marooned in the middle of nowhere... but we finally made it back to the land (luckily by boat... didn't have to swim back or get pulled out from the waters! That sure would have been more adventurous), Parasailing - wonder how the parachute went up with all our weight, "watched" some 'zipline' activities (If you don't know what at zipline is - google and find out. Its definitely nothing to do with any of our trouser zips!). Also got an opportunity to shoot some great outdoors of the scenic Adirondacks - as those mountain regions are called. The only pain was waking up at around 4.30 am after partying till about 1am... and then having to be awake through the day. But the beauty of the region was exhilarating - calm... serene... heavenly. Posted here are some of the pictures that I shot.
The past 2-3 weeks have rather been too hectic. Mostly traveling on weekends, working and partying on weekdays. Partying on week days ??!! Sounds a little crazy. I'm not such a party animal, but with friends coming down from China (they are Indians living in China. What ? You thought we didn't get there yet??!!), its been party time every day. Work during the day, party late into the evenings (nights) and hit the sack way past midnight. The next day, the same
rigmarole... this went on for almost a week. Now that they are gone... hope to catch up on all of that lost sleep. Anyway... why would anyone reading my blog care less about my lifestyle or sleep. But since you have read thus far, it does seem like you may want to continue reading further!
Last weekend we were all out at Lake George in upstate New York. It was fun traveling with friends and their families.. all in tow. As usual, thanks to my driving prowess (and to my GPS), in the first one hour we just drove into every imaginable wrong route, just going around in circles. But never made the 'mistake' of hitting the correct one. Did you ever hear about someone getting lost even with a GPS ? If you did, I would be happy that I am not the only bloke on this earth to have honned such special skills. Well, finally Lake George just came by our way and I swore I would never use my GPS again (till we get back home!). Unlike our last visit, this time we indulged in some 'adventurous' activities - like traveling in a boat, with friends who were steering the boat for the first time in their lives. We all were hoping to be marooned in the middle of nowhere... but we finally made it back to the land (luckily by boat... didn't have to swim back or get pulled out from the waters! That sure would have been more adventurous), Parasailing - wonder how the parachute went up with all our weight, "watched" some 'zipline' activities (If you don't know what at zipline is - google and find out. Its definitely nothing to do with any of our trouser zips!). Also got an opportunity to shoot some great outdoors of the scenic Adirondacks - as those mountain regions are called. The only pain was waking up at around 4.30 am after partying till about 1am... and then having to be awake through the day. But the beauty of the region was exhilarating - calm... serene... heavenly. Posted here are some of the pictures that I shot.
 |
| That's me ! |
Monday, April 4, 2011
SHOCKING !! FRENZIED FIRE AT HARMON COVE, NJ
Sunday, April 3, 2011 - the bright and beautiful day, the day after Indians world over celebrated their team's victory at the World Cup Cricket Championship, the calm and serenity of Harmon Cove in Secaucus New Jersey was shattered by the blaring sirens of Fire-Fighter Trucks, Police cars and Ambulances zipping into the community.
We rushed to the scene only to see thick clouds of smoke bellowing from one of the apartments in the condominium blocks. In no time huge flames started spewing through the windows. The fire started in the second floor of one of the riverside buildings. High winds blowing from the river fanned the inferno further and soon the adjacent apartments in the building were engulfed in flames. Fire fighters fought valiantly to subdue the fire. But the fury of the blazing fire seemed to challenge the human effort to control it.
Finally, after about two hours of relentless efforts by the Fire Dept. the flames were put off. Sadly, apart from the four apartments that were turned to ashes, the fire also claimed the life of a hapless victim. Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim who died and others who have lost their life's hard earnings and things which they would have cherished over the years. Here are some pictures and video clips of the disaster.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Pictures:
We rushed to the scene only to see thick clouds of smoke bellowing from one of the apartments in the condominium blocks. In no time huge flames started spewing through the windows. The fire started in the second floor of one of the riverside buildings. High winds blowing from the river fanned the inferno further and soon the adjacent apartments in the building were engulfed in flames. Fire fighters fought valiantly to subdue the fire. But the fury of the blazing fire seemed to challenge the human effort to control it.
Finally, after about two hours of relentless efforts by the Fire Dept. the flames were put off. Sadly, apart from the four apartments that were turned to ashes, the fire also claimed the life of a hapless victim. Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim who died and others who have lost their life's hard earnings and things which they would have cherished over the years. Here are some pictures and video clips of the disaster.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Pictures:
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