New Email Forwards Blog

Time for yet another site expansion. I have started a new blog, one of forwarded emails. Forwarding emails is one of the main activities of people who join software companies just after university. After some time, you get bored and even bugged of this. If such a person happens to join your team, rest assured that you will receive dozens of such mails every day, many of them which you yourself would have forwarded years back.

But, at the end of the day, email forwards do provide respite from the strain of work. So, i have started a blog where i shall post the interesting mails i receive. Who knows, some day in the future, this blog might provide me some laughs when i need it the most.

Check out the Email forwards blog.

Technorati Tags: email email forwards interesting emails Interesting forwards

Sourav da Ganguly is back in the Indian team

The former "unceremoniously dropped" Indian cricket team captain is back in the squad for the Test Series against South Africa. Yet another unexplainable decision by the selectors. Suddenly, Chairman of Selectors Dilip Vengsarkar seemed to feel the need for experience in the team. I am not for or against Sourav being in the team, just that such decisions (including his sacking) seem to be taken not influenced by cricketing needs, but by emotional and political pressure on the board.

The West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee was very happy that Ganguly was reinstated and also said that this should have been done earlier. Crap! Why are politicians worried whether a player from their state is playing in the national team or not. This is an Indian team, not a team which ensures representatives from each state. If all eleven are from one state, so be it. They are the best, they play for India. Politics should be separated from sport (and the same for the judiciary too). Let the crappy politicians be merrily spoiling and looting our country. Let them not influence cricket, something in which every layman in India finds some sense of unity and joy.

Technorati Tags: Sourav Ganguly West Bengal Indian Cricket Team South Africa

How i wish i were working in google

Then, i would be able to amuse myself by looking at what people search for, on google. For example, there is someone out there who is searching for "underarms of Vidya Balan" and then lands on my site through google's algorithm which managed to link the posts containing underarms and Vidya Balan on one page. More importantly, my site appeared first in the search, so it had to merit a visit. This is really the strangest fetish I have ever heard of!
Visits to my site from people searching for free porn are pretty frequent because of this post on free porn on Orkut. But, it is the strange combinations such as "Chennai call girls", "Punjabi Girl prostitutes", "How old is raja ram" (wow, i wonder whose age this person is really interested in), "old indian heroines" and "indian foreplay" which amuse me the most.
If I am writing about Google searches bringing visitors to my site, i would be doing injustice if i don't thank Surya and Jyotika for getting married. Surya and Jyotika's marriage was the most significant moment in my website's life. They were single-handedly (or is it double-handedly) responsible for increasing the traffic to my site manifold.

Of course, another reason i wish i were working in google is that i would then have a rajaram.sethuraman@google.com email id rather than a gmail.com id :-)

Technorati Tags: Google Search Surya Jyotika Vidya Balan working in google

Ice Skating is easier than Roller Skating

I almost learnt it the hard way. I had tried Ice Skating in Dubai. Never tried any form of skating before that. Vidhya was very apprehensive about me going on the ice, as she had heard enough stories about fractures and ligament tears resulting from novices trying stunts on the ice. It was actually not so tough as i thought it would be. I was able to stand on both my feet the very first time i got onto the ice. It was quite not so the case with skiing, where the total time i have spent standing/skiing is insignificant compared to the time i have spent on the ground. But, I didn't try to be too adventurous in the skating rink and rarely ventured more than a metre off the side railing. It was also very heartening to see the traffic close to the side ring :-)

So, back in Cyprus, i decided to try the other form of skating, that with the rollers, assuming that it would be as easy. One of my colleagues, Julia, was an expert at this and she volunteered to teach me the basics. Ironically, the very first lesson was "How to fall down properly"! Well, i wasn't very interested in taking a lesson on falling down, but was forced to. I realised the importance of this one lesson very soon into my trials! We decided to try in our parking lot. I had to recruit two more guys to just help me get on my feet and they continued to pull/push me around and in the end, i proclaimed that i had done roller skating! The photo you see above had to be taken very fast as the guys just moved out of the frame and came back just in time to prevent me from implementing my lesson on falling down.

Technorati Tags: dubai roller skating ice skating cyprus

Quizzing Blogs and Quiz Sites

I have updated the list of Quizzing Blogs and Quiz sites including some new quiz blogs which have turned up over the past few months. The list is quite exhaustive now, but is ever growing! If you want to add you quiz related blog or website, just drop in an email.

Nikon DSLR Colour Setting Colour Mode III

For the first time, I went under the Optimize Image option in my D70 and chose Color Mode III under the Custom option. The results were great. The reds were definitely redder without any obvious damage to the rest of the picture. Choose this option if are looking for a rich and colourful image.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan in Varnasi

So, Ash went with Abhishek Bachchan's family to Varanasi to perform a series of poojas. Do i really care? Of course not. But, there are zillion others who do and this 5 line post is targeted at those who search for such things. Enjoy!

If you want to see the engagement pictures of Abhishek and Aishwarya, go here.

If you want to see more photos of Abhishek and Aishwarya, go here.

Technorati Tags: aishwarya Rai ash Abhishek Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan Varanasi wedding marriage

Classic Car Rally in Cyprus

"Forest Park Rally" is going to happen the coming weekend (25/26th November) here in Limassol. Around 40 vintage cars are expected to take part in the Forest Park Rally. The rally is set over a course of 60 kms starting from the Limassol Castle near the Old port and going onto the Troodos mountains before finishing in the village of Platres.

Don't expect to see action like the "Down Town Special (DTS)" stage of the Cyprus Rally. A maximum speed limit of 50 km/h has been advocated for this rally. So, if you are a vintage car enthusiast or for the matter, a photography enthusiast, get out your cameras and watch the rally.

More details can be found at the Cyprus Mail Article on the rally.

Technorati Tags: cyprus Troodos Platres limassol Classic cars Vintage cars Car Rally Forest Park Rally

The November 100 Rupee Quiz

The November 100 Rupee Quiz has been uploaded. The last date until which this quiz can be attempted is December 20th. There are 35 questions to be attempted and 100 Rupees to be won. All the questions and answers of the previous editions can be found at the 100 Rupee Quiz Archive page.

If you are interested in other quizzing links, including links to various quiz blogs, visit my quiz page.

Universal Children's Day

Today, November 20th, is Universal Children's day and here in Amdocs, we celebrated this by inviting over some school kids and entertaining them for half a day. In fact, amdocs centres around the world did this today, as this was a company-wide initiative.

The kids were around 10-11 years old and this was like a field-trip for them . The day started off with a guided tour of our premises. I am sure that they would have been surprised at the emptiness of our offices, for it was 8.30 in the morning and most of us wake up at this hour! Then there were some presentations about the telecom industry and amdocs, some techie stuff, which surprisingly generated a LOT of questions, making this session exceed its allotted time by more than 200%. Then there were few songs followed by a romanian dance and an indian dance. These proved to be big hits with the kids shouting for more! The day ended with a magic show, which was equally enjoyed by us, the volunteers , as much as the kids!

At the start of the day, there was a general intro-talk about amdocs and its employees in general. Well, when you have 400-odd indians , there has to be a mention about this in any talk about this centre. Somewhere, the questions from the kids ventured towards the colour of the skin and about the concept of being white-skinned. Our director had to give explanations like "Don't judge people by the colour of their skins" etc. They even had question about Turkish Cypriots.
I fail to understand how such issues are on the minds of 10 year olds! Their minds are corrupted by thoughts of racism and enmity with the turks. The average Cypriot citizen is well mannered and very open to foreigners. But, the current generation of kids are not even remotely close. In fact, we had been warned before not to go to places like Mc Donalds, Burger King and other hangout places on Friday evenings, as it is the time for all the school kids to be there. Luckily, I have never faced any major issues barring a few stray incidents where drunk cypriots/kids have shouted at me asking me "What i was doing in their country" and asking me to pack my stuff and leave "their" country.

This Sunday, there was an article in the Cyprus Mail about how foreign children are finding it difficult to cope up in the schools of Cyprus. We have lot of kids of Indians studying here in Limassol who i have spoken to regarding this situation. All of them seem to have a similar answer. The early days in school are good, but as the kids grow up and reach grades 2 and above, the other kids kind of realise the "difference" and the foreign kids become isolated. Even today, i noticed one chinese/japanese kid sitting all alone in the room while all the other kids were huddled in groups. If you read the article, you will be surprised at the kind of responses the kids give.

There are lot of Sri Lankans and Filipinos here in Cyprus, many of them working as domestic helps. One kid when asked about Filipinos responds "I had a Filipino in my house; she was relatively good, she obeyed me; she was good". Another one when asked about Sri Lankans says "Let's just say I don't like blacks"! The kids are not to blame. Their parents should take the effort to educate the kids and correct their perceptions.

Cyprus is a member of EU. Being a member of EU exposes you to the "invasion" of your country by other nationalities. This is a way of life in EU, whether you like it or not. Cyprus has to force itself to adjust to the modern "borderless" way of existence!

Technorati Tags: Universal childrens day cyprus racism EU

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America

for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ..My blogger template's title field is too little to hold the title of this movie. I saw Borat last Saturday. It was one of the best "comedy" movies i have ever seen. Some might feel that this is one of the worst movies ever made. Well, the public opinion and the reviews seem to indicate that the movie is a big hit!
Sacha Baron Cohen is Borat, a Kazakhstani TV reporter on a trip to USA to make a documentary on the American culture and heritage. Cohen is already well known for his "Ali-G" series of TV shows, where he makes fun of anything that moves in the UK. Borat is as crass as a movie can get. It seems that this move is rated "R" in the US, whereas it was rated "15" here in Cyprus. No one here checks the age in cinemas and there were kids at the movie hall. Its a known fact that Europe is more "liberal" than US, but this was too much !
The start sets the tone for the tone for the rest of the movie. Borat introduces himself and then goes to French-kiss a girl and then introduces her as his sister! He also adds that she had recently been voted the fourth best prostitute in Kazakhstan and she even shows a trophy for it! Some Kazakhstanis, it seems, are fighting against the release of the movie as it shows their country and it people in bad taste.

The whole movie revolves around Borat's dislike for Jews and has lot of anti-semitic comments, some of them likely to irk even the non-believers amongst the Jews. Ironically, Cohen, in real life is a Jew. Guess, Jews are allowed to make fun of other Jews!

In the movie, Borat see Pamela Anderson in Baywatch and falls in love with her. So, the movie changes from a documentary on US to his quest for Pamela. The sequence with him having dinner with an American family and excusing himself to go to the rest-room is hilarious. The most rip-roaring or the most awful scene, depends on the way you look at it, is the one where Borat and his fat producer get naked and run around the hotel throwing themselves at each other and fight assuming different "positions" ! This is where the rating of the movie surprised me!

To make it short, whatever you thought couldn't be put into a movie makes an appearance in Borat. Be it male nudity, public masturbation, racism to the core, oppression of women, "shitty" references, it is there in this movie. All of them put together in the proper context makes this movie amazingly hilarious. A must watch!

Technorati Tags: Borat Kazakhstan Sacha Baron Cohen Jews Anti-Semitic Ali-G Pamela Anderson movie

Nikon D40 - The Cheapest Digital SLR from Nikon

Looks like the rumour surrounding the new D40 to be released by Nikon seems to be true. D40 is the latest in the line of Digital SLRs by Nikon like the D70, D70s, D80 and the D50. The D40 is even more affordable and much smaller in size (almost 100g lighter) than the current entry-level digital SLR D50. It costs just 600 USD including the AF-S DX 18-55 mm F3.5-F5.6 G II lens as compared to 900 USD for the D50.

The surprising thing is that, in spite of the lower cost, Nikon has managed to package into D40 lot of useful features, absent in the more expensive D70 series. Some of the "new" features

• ISO 3200
• A bigger (2.5') LCD
• In-camera retouching (Though i doubt, any serious photographer would do any of these in-camera rather than in post using tools like Adobe photoshop)

So, this is not a "cut-down" cheaper version that Nikon has released, but a worthy one for those considering their first foray into the world of Digital SLRs. More detailed reviews of Nikon D40 can be seen at dpreview.

Technorati Tags: Nikon D40 Nikon D50 Nikon Photography Camera Digital SLR

Jillunu Oru Kadhal - Cold love!

or should it be Sillunu Oru Kadhal, lest the Tamil Nadu DMK government slap a 8% tax on the few cents I am earning through Google Adsense. I just realised, while writing the previous sentence, what the reason might be, behind the naming of Google Adsense. When the plan for it might have been on the drawing boards, they might have realised that you could earn a few cents through Adsense. Rhyming, you see!
Back to Sillunu oru Kadhal, this movie could epitomise the existence of a separate, totally unrelated comedy track. No, I am not complaining. Vadivel's comedy is much better than that of the Dirty Duo of senthil and goundamani who used to get away with kicking and spitting at each other in the name of comedy. The music in this movie was cool, but the reuse of tunes by Rahman, particularly for the background score, from his old movies is unmistakable.
I don't know why Indian movie producers spend lakhs of rupees to go to some foreign locale to shoot songs. When Karthi (Surya's brother) and Director Ameer were here, i tried to get a reasonable explanation from them for this, but wasn't was satisfied enough when they said that having a "song shot on foreign land" increases the marketability of the movie amongst the distributors. In the Newyork Nagaram Song, Surya somehow lands in Lucerne (in Switzerland) , and glimpses of the "famous" Chapel Bridge could be seen. Imagine flying a crew to Zurich, then taking a 3-4 hour train ride to Lucerne and shoot against a rickety old bridge (ok, it looks good against the backdrop) for few seconds! Check the other photo below to see other famous personalities who had visited the same bridge, in the hope that it would be grandiose.
I felt that Bhoomika looked smashing as compared to Jyotika in this movie. She looked great in both the traditional as well as the western wear. On the whole, the movie was entertaining and it was time well spent. I hope that you didn't expect a review here. If you had, please see this link as to why i don't write reviews.

Technorati Tags: Sillunu Oru Kadhal Jillunu Oru Kadhal Jyotika Surya Bhoomika Lucerne Switzerland

Is Rajinikanth a Tamilian?

Seems to be so, at least going by the presence of his name in the CNN-IBN Poll for the most popular Tamilian. No, I am not a Tamil fanatic who goes around erasing Hindi or other non-tamil names from boards around the city, we have many politicians to do that. Neither do i hate rajinikanth as an actor. I like his movies, his comedy and of course, his antics. I like watching his movies along with my friends who fall under the category of his "hardcore" fans and watch them watch his every move with utter devotion!

I guess, having a poll in the movie industry including actors and actresses who are purely from that region only would not have many entries at all. Bollywood has had a heavy influence from South Indian Heroines and likewise, the tamil movie industry depends on the import of slimmer fairer North Indian heroines, though the trend currently seems to be shifting towards Mallu heroines. This list would be seemingly endless with Jyothika, Nayantara (real name: Diana Kurien) , Laila and the other who's who of Kollywood.

The above poll could have been rephrased as a poll for the one having the most influence on tamilians. Rajini would have had a cake-walk then. Pitting him against MS Subbulakshmi, Periyar, Abdul Kalam, Vishwanathan Anand and Ilayaraja would make it very confusing for the person taking the poll :-) or was it a wise decision on part of the poll-makers to split the votes for the poll evenly?

Technorati Tags: Rajinikanth Rajini Jyothika Bollywood Kollywood Popular Tamilian Mallu Nayantara Ilayaraja

I got my camera back...

and also murukku, thattai, malai peda, jangiri, mixture, Krishna Sweets Mysore Pak and the Potti Kadai Butter biscuit. 8 reasons for me to be happy that Vidhya is back from India!

Technorati Tags: Indian Sweets Namkeen Krishna Sweets Mysore pak

"Light" Category for Photofriday contest

I am entering the PhotoFriday contests after a long time. This week, the category is "Light" and I have chosen a photo with very little light in it :-) This photo was taken on a very cloudy day on the top of Stavravouni Monastery, here in Cyprus.

Technorati Tags: photofriday Photo Contest stavravouni cyprus

The Ponting-Martyn-Pawar incident

I did not watch the final of the champions trophy the other day. My cubicle, at work, is right next to the kitchenette and i could hear many heated discussions going on about an "incident". Well, curiosity did get the better of me and i too participated in those discussions with just the information gained from whatever i overheard from my cubicle!

Today, i came across the video of the actual "incident". Now, I understand the seriousness with which the discussions were held. Leave alone Pawar, any ordinary individual would feel offended by the actions of Ponting.

Yes, Ponting's team won the cup convincingly and they are happy about it, but this is no way to behave! Cricket has got its enough share of controversies and this is the latest one. But, this definitely deserves to be a controversy :-) You don't push Pawar around. He is the president of BCCI, the richest cricket board. Probably, a good time for BCCI to take over the cricketing world, act like NBA and relegate the Australians to ordinary cricket!

Technorati Tags: Ricky Ponting Martyn Pawar Champions Trophy Cricket

Diwali Party Tabblo

Do any of you use Tabblo to share your pictures ? If not, you should give it a try. I just realised that the previous two lines look like they are straight out of a spam mail ! They are not, don't worry !

I happened to come across Tabblo through some photography forum. Tabblo enables you to create a page with photos and descriptions. You can upload your photos to tabblo or even link to flickr accounts, so that photos are directly picked up from there. There are umpteen number of templates to choose from to display your photos. Probably you can do all this on flickr too, but i found it to be very easy to customise the look and feel of a page.

Tabblo is ideal for creating photo galleries and also for travelogues. Check out the sample Diwali Party Tabblo i created. Click on the picture below to go to my tabblo.

Technorati Tags: tabblo photo+gallery Diwali Cyprus travelogue

First snow in Troodos, Cyprus

UPDATE(JAN 30th 2008): There is LOT of snow on troodos, to the extent that the sun-facing side of troodos (towards limassol) is full of snow. It is even visible from Limassol. Btw, it also snowed in limassol, something of a rarity!

-----

and it is almost two months early! What's happening to the earth? Europe is getting flooded like crazy, with Cyprus recording the second wettest winter since 1901 and winter has just started!

Well, its good news for adventure enthusiasts and photographers. The wetter the better, for people who have an affinity for mountain biking or dune buggy driving. Cyprus really shows her best in winter and spring. Snow brings out the best of the mountains and I am looking forward to lot of snow this winter, so that i can do more of the snow treks rather than only the Kalidonia Falls trek which i do every winter. Below are some photos in Troodos over the weekend!

Technoratio Tags: cyprus troodos winter snow photography dune+buggy rain