Sujatha (The writer) is dead !

http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/28/stories/2008022860921100.htm

I have this http://duffilled.blogspot.com/2008/02/writer-sujatha-is-dead.html to thank for bringing it to my attention - fucken strange - ive been holed up in TNagar - i dunno about 2-3kms from where he probably breathed his last - and some1 staying somewhere in the United States (i dunno kms, but u know, u can imagine) brought it to my notice.

It went like this:

My desktop RSS reader pops - 'Writer Sujatha is dead' { it is actually a feed from the abovementioned blog - pre detected by the feed reader } - Soon as i spot it i click on it and land on the blog and then find out the details.

I called my mom up - and end up getting scolded for not talking to her for 2 days and when i said " Sujatha thavari poittar " the response is "Paper, news koodae padikama nee ellam enna velai paakare. Kalaile dhaan appa poi bookshelf le sujatha books ellam pathundrundaar"

My mum and dad were big fans - i think his writing in the 70s / 80s was hip & happening - probably much the same as hordes of tamilians - not knowing one word of hindi - watching constant reruns of "Bobby" "love Story" -

More than that Sujatha was probably the only Tamil writer of his generation -our generation (people born in the 80s) can identify with - For all his age & gyaan - his writing was witty, modern & appealing.

From back in 1998/99 Until, what, like, 6 months before, his 'kattradum petradum' was the only feature in Anantha Vikatan i used to follow.

My dad owns all of Sujatha's novels - i remember vikram, Aaa and one recent account of his early life in srirangam - Srirangathu Devadaigal.

Did u know that he went to MIT (now part of Anna) and was in the same batch as APJ ? APJ was aeronautics - he was in Electronics

RIP Rangarajan Sir

Kindle !

First go check this out : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=kinw_dp_gy/104-5571770-1350361

Its Amazon's new electronic book reader - i dunno, for the lack of a better phrase - il probably just call it - the 'killer gadget' for the genre.

Just like Visicalc opened up a concept of business software or to cite a more recent example - what ipod did to music on the go - Kindle is going to do it for reading

I mean - you may think - what the hell can beat plain old paper & newsprint - Do look up the demo first and then mouth off.

The bad part is - It uses, i dunno, 3G or something and sold ONLY in the US for now - but fuck, it looks great !

I was having a discussion with C the other night - about convergence - about how one small gadget will be like an all in all - computer cum phone cum entertainment cum reader etc. - but i suspect thats atleast a decade away.

So like today - a Nice cool Apple Ibook, I pod for music , A small slick digicam & a nice blackberry and now the Kindle - will just about round off everything thats needed to have a good time :)

Although i can only watch and drool ! :)

Atif Aslam

Ive been hooked to this song "Pehli Nazar mein" from the Soundtrack of some new Hindi flick, a rather unimaginatively named - 'Race'.

Music by Pritam and performed by Atif Aslam - a truly lovely, soulful example of Atif's signature genre.

Did u know Atif was voted 'Most eligible male in Pakistan' for 3 straight years :) - Guess what - with music like this - i wont be surprised if he becomes a much bigger star in the international arena.

Go get'im girls! :)

Youtube > Funda

Um is there a damn way to download and save stuff thats on Youtube ? Im pretty sure there must be a way now. - coz there are several wunderful videos - but my damned broadband makes it a wee bit irritating to view more than one stutter free - plus - i cud use them in a format which can play on winamp/Windowmedia - for presentations and stuff u know

Any ideas - please let me on.

Wishlist (Q1 08-09)

Um the title is self explanatory - the Q1 refers to the first quarter of the Fin year 08-09 (- remember!?, iam one of those uncles who actually has to work for a living)

-> Stay up for 20 hours a day & still look, feel like i usually feel on a sunday afternoon when i wakeup after 10 hours of sleep.

-> Get my money's worth out of the damned Gym

-> Start playing tennis again

-> Complete crash courses in Spanish, Portuguese & Mandarin -

-> Make a string of multibagger smart share purchases , double money and recoup the %#$#$%# money screwed up in the last month's market fiasco

-> Make new friends, increase the number of friends in regular touch to more than 2. (the current figure)

-> Watch ALL the damned movies which got oscar nominated, or got nominated for any of the actors or something - watch something for pete's sake.

Target Score for Q1 : 6
Cumulative score for 07-08 (4 Quarters): 2

-> Make own shoe upper leather out of fresh goatskin from the chrompet street corner butcher, finish it in a nice antique way with ONLY our resin/season/lacquers, fucken frame it and hang it with a recipe sheet in the office. Complete a satisfactory piece within the first 3 attempts.

-> Complete the greatest online information portal ever designed spending not more than 50 grand. Learn all the funda concerning CSS, Open source CMS sites, Joomla/Drupal and blah blah

-> Make a fucken success of the projects in H,T, S,B,B,C,S & the T / DC project and demand a 2% revenue bonus :) and become fucken rich.

-> End the quarter 3 stone lighter, a few billion bucks richer and that much more wiser.

[ p.s i just scrolled up and yuck! i must be like a major loser - just to have only this much in my wish list :) - what the heck i shud maybe add Eva Green & our romantic little apartment in Stockholm & the regular tax free billion bucks [ English ones, Not American ones (the dollars pretty weak these days) ] to the list.

But i dunno - maybe not this quarter ;)

Um, Update > Feb 2008

I guess Feb 2008 will down as the month whichs taught me newer, important, things. Theres this concept of 'cycles' - meaning - periods of ups, downs, sudden shoot up, sudden shoot down of supply/demand/sales/Price etc. - in all Industrial products - i do mean - ALL OF THEM - Holiday Season, Weather in target markets or in producing countries - even, the damn Beijing Olympics all have a say in how ur business is doing - especially if its linked to movement of money and goods between India, China and few dozen other countries.

Ive now shifted pretty comfortably into this place, just off VN Road - and have now even got broadband, the TV/Cable and stuff like that. This completes a pretty wild 2 month spending/shifting spree - the office shift/revamp in chennai - then this - u know.

My uncle apparently told my mom that hes pretty upset that ive decided to shift out of his place fully after all this time etc. - but i dunno - no offense - but i do want to be left alone with my dirty clothes & eccentricities and not be living in a place where i have to live around some1 else's rules [ It wasnt that it was a big a deal, i was pretty ok there too] but i dunno -

Im thinking of getting back from Hyd and hitting a regular gym routine - wake up - do some chores, hit the gym, workout, take a shower right here and go to work from the Gym - the schedule look ok - but still wud need some perfection over a period of time - there have been setbacks - my uncle suddenly gets rid of his old City for a new Civic [ Which i wont like driving - because i wudnt want to scratch it or be held responsible for the safety of a,what, 14 lac !? apple of my uncle's eye] - i am now in a dilemma - maybe i shud buy myself a car too? or i dunno - today i found out that my first choice healthclub is shut for 6 months starting march - i am checking out nicer places - plush, spacy, nice trainer, less crowded, not filthy expensive [ I checked fitnessone - near tidel park where C has blown 13 grand last week - too crowdy, too many IT types, too close to tidel park, too far from t nagar, too out of the way towards work ... ]

Will continue the search and try and freeze some deal as soon as i get back from my weekend in Hyd !

Somnipathy

I havent slept from 6:30 am yesterday to what, 4:45 am today. Fuck ! Some trouble i seem to have trying to go to sleep!

I have a fucken 4 hour drive and then back on bloody bullock cart roads today - God help me !

Thoughts > Feb 2008

Um, my apologies, i cant think about naming this post :)

Other thoughts are probably holding up a pretty significant fraction of my, already poor, imagination.

The hectic run at work continues - visits & trade fairs & seminars & trips. Loads of info gathered, some leads followed up, a lot of it needs more follow up to make it all worthwhile. Ive been going through a bit of a roughish patch the last month actually - hopping from airports to train stations to bus stations - too much of the good life - as id like to think of it - all travel, meeting, handshakes, scheming/wheeling/dealing.

Bombay, Coimbatore, Sivakasi, Madras, Bangalore last month and a possible Hyderabad in the next 10 days.

Because i am a bit fed up of it all - I am giving this week's proposed trip to china a miss - the others will go on in - il work from India on the project - my trusty computer & skype will aid me im sure.

Some things that I have understood in the past 2-3 weeks - the inner workings, strengths, weaknesses, pros/cons and potential - of our largest business unit :) I am pretty sanguine (if the words right - soberly optimistic - is the meaning i am attempting) - about my prospects with this line of work

More:

Now that i am running 24 years of age - I am officially now a full fledged member of the 'Mama' league - ive stopped yelling at the neighbors kid who refers me to as 'Mama' [ 'Anna solluda madaiya' ] - and its taking a while for the whole scenario to actually sink in - and fuck, its hard to take, really.

I overhear my mom at my cousin's wedding ** telling an assorted bunch of maamis and athais that shes going to get me married in 2009 - now that im 'settled down'. She picks a fight with me on the long drive back home and pulls my dad into the discussion and tries to have a 'serious talk' with me on this damned subject (all highlighted pharases are hers not mine) - I accelerated dangerously and managed to distract them both into lecturing me on keeping below 100 kmph on Indian Highways.

I dont know what in heaven's name made her think that im 'settled down'.

Somehow i feel that my mom & dad really arent obsessed with all the crazy info i bring to them after all of my trips - he makes this / that - my dad just says - slow & steady - do what you can with whats already around - one easy step at a time - Hell, maybe he has more than he can ever possibly spend, yeah, my mom too - all theyre worried about as i see it is that - if i sober up enough to 'Settle down' & and just do ok - afterall - theres a lot to build on here.

My mom's already confessed to me that she doesnt want to work too much after a few years, you know, just feed the old man & maybe manage to henpeck him into travelling with her or something - The old mans complicated though - but both are holding fast to this concept of my 'settling down'

I am toying with the idea of telling them that i am applying with my old scores to Dartmouth College again - but hey, i guess they now know that i am too involved with some of our new work to even consider a break :)

Settle down .. Indeed!

May the Gods grant me the strength & Wisdom :)

[ ** My Sister, a maternal cousin, born 2-3 months before i was, got hitched last week in my mom's home town near Palghat. There was a huge amount of speculation/debate/excitement because of suspected trouble my sister was apparently giving her parents the last month - i was pretty keyed up too, a boyfriend maybe? - but whatever was the issue - we sure didnt get a whiff of it - but the sister and her mom stopped talking to each other as the rumors predicted before. Shes now 'settled down', i guess ]