As of today, I have taken the first step to cross the line of bachelorhood to step into a more beautiful road ahead. Yes, I got engaged today and I am getting married on 29th November, with my better half, Cute and Charming Geetha!!!!

More pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/karthikji/EngagementPhotos?authkey=iX14_V1XM6M

PS:
It was interesting to read my own post " Dinesh Marriage and Kerala Trip " and laugh at myself today.

India is a land of "Unity in diversity", Fact or Fiction?

Hi friends,
Today I came across a link in rediff which displayed trailer of "SuperStar" Rajinikanth's next biggest block buster, "SIVAJI". But this blog is not about the film, it is about an article which I found below the trailer, about whether the film will get released in Karnataka state or not (because of the cuvery verdict). I was so much angry after going though this, that I was forced to write a blog about it.

The issue is that the comments/postings in the forum thread beneath that article had a whole lot of very ugly arguments, where people from Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra, North and almost everywhere, posted hate comments against each other... you will be amazed to know, how many posts? around 500!!!, around 20 pages of hatred messages from all over India against each other!!!

This sucks, I mean, the guys who post these comments, I assume they are WELL EDUCATIED, enough to handle a computer, most of them I assume to be SOFTWARE ENGINEERS from all over the country. And they leave all their jobs to post these 20 pages of nonsense? we curse stupid politicians for making a mocery of our democratic society, but are we educated people have the same impartial behaviour, which we expect from the national leaders?

People... when are we going to realize that our strength is in unity? When do we ever learn the truth of "United we stand and Divided we fall"? Why there is so much hatred among fellow country men? For long, we have been invaded by Alexander, moguls to British and the primary reason we lost all of them was that we were not united amongst ourselves. This is HISTORY and a bitter truth.

My manager used to tell that, "we can make two mistakes, but don't make the same mistake twice", because, if we didn't learn from your mistake, we are either stupid or idiot or both. So, is it not important to learn from HISTORY and be united as Indians?

I will say definitely, that being proud of what you are, is good. Expressing good things about your own regional background, culture, language and heritage is always good, But you need to realize that it is crossing the line, when you say bad things about other's in the name of caste, religion, ethnic background, color, state or nationality.

I found many posts, where they said, Tamils cannot come to Karnataka and vise versa. I ask you SOFTWARE ENGINEERS, can any of you dare to say, that you can accept some of he American people comments that we are stealing their jobs and H1B visas has to be stopped? And people from India amongst other nations have to return to their own country? Can anybody agree with this point? Doesn’t it sound stupid? Don’t we feel angry when we see some comments, that outsourcing should be stopped? But, why the hell do you get angry when you can't accept the same concept within our own country?

I have been to USA sometime back, and I have always tried to be a very good representative of our country and always tried to make the fact that we are a nation with "UNITY IN DIVERSITY", (unlike some people, who go to America and start thinking that they are Americans and start every line with the words "We Americans....!!!" so funny…). But in one argument, I was not able to deny the fact that we in India, are one of the most EGOISTIC people in the world. Yes it is true; you can see the fact right from the roads. I bet everyone of you have experienced and cursed the infamous Indian Road traffic, but do you realize most part of it is because of the our utter disregard to others and our indecent road manners? In other words, our EGO? And do you realize it is in each and every aspect of life? Do any of you wonder why don't we have the concept of proper queue, for anything we do in India? The answer is EGO.

We can blabber all day, saying our culture is rich, heritage is far rooted etc. But, it is the fact that we are still known as "THIRD WORLD COUNTRY", a country of snake charmers and baggers. With all these upon our head, how do we get time and energy to hate each other, just because of we are from different states speaking different languages? We should be definitely ashamed of ourselves.

I have seen a very good documentary on king "Raja Raja, the Great", who accomplished a lot in his time, but one aspect of him I liked the most is that, he was a very humble person. So humble, that he made his one and ONLY painting drawn, with his religious Guru in front and his own face looking like he is behind him, humbly giving respect. If "Raja Raja" at his height of is power, can be so humble, do we deserve to be arrogant and self centered?

Sad part of our patriotism is that, it only exists when we watch Cricket matches against Pakistan. do we still need a common enemy to unite us? Do we need another invasion, to make us realize our weakness of division with respect to Religion, caste, ethnic background, color and language? When are we going to be smart enough to focus on the road ahead and not throw stones at each other? Friendship and brotherhood is not about getting together to CURSE a common enemy, it is about loving each other for what they are.

So guys, to make ourselves and our country better, please remember that, "MUTUAL RESPECT" and not "EGO" can make us successful. "UNANIMITY" and not "ENMITY" can make us strong. Yes, I agree that, we have our differences, issues etc. but this can better be resolved if we understand each other's needs and just think in other person's view point for a second. Please don't let these issues, create a divide between us. Issues are to be solved, not to be politicized.

One small story before ending this post, In MAHABHARATHA, once, ARJUN was jealous of KARNAN'S fame and greatness and he asked LORD KRISHNA that why Karnan had to be the greatest guy in the world, and not him, as he had the same skills that Karnan had and he had more money than him etc. So, Lord Krishna, to make him realize the truth, sent Arjun to bring back any person in the world who he think is great than himself, and on the other hand asked Karnan to find any person who he think is NOT as great as himself.

At the end of the day, Arjun returns with nobody, saying that he could not find a guy greater than him. At the same time Karnan, also returns with no person, says that, he found greatness in each and every person he met and so, he could not find any guy who is NOT AS GREAT AS HIMSELF. By, hearing this, Arjun realizes the truth that for being GREAT, you need to find greatness in EACH AND EVERYBODY you see, and so he goes away with his head down. So, the moral of the story is, admire people's strength and don't envy them and have respect for others.

As a nation united, we can counter each others weakness and can become a great nation. We have all the intelligence, survival instinct, natural and human resources for this. We just have to lose our EGO.

Japan is great because of its hardwork, Singapore is great because of their sincerity and law-abiding citizens, Middle East is great because of their abundant natural resources and faith And INDIA is great because of ..............? I would like see this blank to be filled with the word "UNITY",

DO YOU?

Raja Raja the Great (king of kings)

Rajaraja the Great. The great hindu king ever ruled. Historical Temples that he built, the face of South India.

Dinesh Marriage and Kerala Trip

Last week I met Krishnan... only for a brief time though... the guy full of “enthu” and laughter... he can't speak even one line without laughing, even if he wants to tell, I hate you and I want to kill you. Psst.. sad to know this is going to last only for about 2 weeks... poor guy, getting married. Like "Baba" countdown, his countdown also started. Best of luck Krishna!!!! (You really need all the luck you can get)...

And about the guy who has already fallen into the black hole, Capt. T. Dinesh, I was glad to see him back after so many years. But, he has not changed even a little bit, surprisingly same as in school days. But I don't worry much about him though, as I hope all his commando training should help him, at least to defend himself ;-).

And, about our wonderful journey, I was very much exited for I am seeing the "God's own country" for the first time. We (myself and beecha alias bojarajan, alias B.Saravanan.. lot of confusion in that area aint there? ;-) ) started off to kerala on Sunday night and we reached Trichur on Monday. Went to a couple of places like "Adiramapalli Falls" and "Vadakkumnathan Temple" and on Tuesday we went to guruvayur and from there we set out to Dinesh's home town (one word here… Ride in kerala private buses equivalent to Roller coster ride minus the seat belts). After having a nice lunch in his home, we set out to the beach in the evening, just 5 min from his home. (by the way, myself and beecha, , tried a little running race in the beach... and I WON, Hurray!!!!!).

Reception and Marriage was good, with typical kerala style, with lots of "kuttu vilaku" and "Agal Vilakku". But, I envy these kind of marriages, as it was too quick. The entire episode lasted for 1 hour and the actual time the couples doing something in the stage was about 10 min, just exchange of garland and tying knot... That's it. NICE.

Imagine what a typical Tamil marriage looks like, and you will find why I envy his marriage. The torture starts from the day before the marriage. The groom have to wear the "Traditional" suit, with around 10 guys (including brother-in-law if any), trying to get his tie knot right, (try to strangle him???...), then stuffed in a corner on a slow moving car, with a whole lot of kids("vaandus"), and a huge procession, which can sometimes(or always??) remind you of a procession of a well decorated Scapegoat. (Sometimes, its worse, when some kids cry like hell and seem to give their first lesson to parenting, he needs to console and baby-sit those loud crying kids and still have to smile for the 100s or odd photos they take during the procession.) After he reaches the "Mandabam" and whisked to the "Staging Area" (without any nourishment), where he has to sit with the bride and again pose for pictures with whole lot of people, (whom he barely knows and who by the way would have already finished the dinner...) and in spite of the loud music orchestra, try to speak one or two words with his bride.

If the first day is a embarrassment test, the next day is a endurance test, having to wake up early (in the middle of the night), and still without any food, goes to the Dais and performs, sometimes seems to be never ending rituals, near the fire with lot of smoke. (People think, at that point of time, that the tears he sheds are actually because of the smoke, but I suspect, at some point of time, (at his breaking point), he actually cries). Then, when he is ultimately exhausted, there comes the bride as an angel (because at this point of time, with the smoke and hence his itching red eye, he sees only ghostly shadows now). And when ultimately he successfully ties the knot, then come his stamina test, PushUps, trying to get blessings from the whole community, from 90 year olds, to the guy who got married just last week. And, when this whole thing finally gets over, our hero starts to rethink his decision to get married. (Dreadful to imagine, right... Oh No.. I almost forgot, I am a Tamil guy to... :-( )

And here are the Dinesh Marriage Photos, what you were looking for… (More to come from Guru...)

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AaN2LFu5cPog

IQ ?

Took a IQ Test today in the net while browzing, had a total of 50 questions and have come up with the following results. Donno it is good or bad... if any one knows what's the highest IQ level and average level, Please tell me... and about my results? please see below.....

The Classic IQ Test: (from http://web.tickle.com/ )
Congratulations, Karthik!Your IQ score is 129

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others. Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results.

Just after I got my digicam, went for two trips, last weekend went to bandipur, gopalsami bhetta and mysore balamuri falls... I will publish those photos soon, But this weekend I went to my friend, Rajaraman's marriage in kumbakonam. This time, this is more like a spirutual tour as kumbakonam, is a land of famous temples. In two days I have visited 17 temples... Wiew!!! I havent visited so many temples in my life so far... But really, i was amazed seeing those many giant temples, some are older than 1000 years. Had a great time... thanks to raja....

And about the reason I went to kumbakonam... Raja's marriage went very well... here is exclusive premire of raja's Marriage album... first on Net, Raja Uncut... photos taken from my new digicam..... please click the link below and nSoy.
http://share-adobe.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EegNG7Fi3cuHEw&open=1

He Fellas

Hi, Its been a while ah? well... thought of saying work and all.. but really laziness and other stuff....By the way, I am composing this blog in my brand new laptop given by my project, cool ah..? stuffed with "Intel centrino" 1.6 GHz processor, 512 MB Ram etc, thought it is the ultimate weapon, but you know there is always one speed breaker... you sure should have guessed it.... windows, the mother of all flaws... donno if it is properly configured or not but I am pretty sure it has lot of unwanted processes running, ruining my day to day application.

Another happy news is that, my friend from the land of rising sun, has bought me a sony 5mp digicam, which I wanted for a while. Lately getting more and more cool stuffs to my collection. Even with this tech. improvement, it does costs a fortune, about 16,000 bucks, but i think its worth it to have a digicam like this. As for me kind of guy, who wants to travel a lot, this should be a very handy device, to capture a moment, I would like to have a handicam, but the problem with handicams are they are bulky, need lot more care and when you make that to ready state (switch on, position, zoom and shoot) the moment is already gone and also their typical pixel range is 1.3MP, so you will not get good still pictures out of it to share it with your friends. On the other Hand, you can have good quality still pics with digicam and also shoot short movie in digicam. So it is my ultimate choice.