Merry Christmas Everyone!

Finally I have stored up enough strength to make this post. Initially it was work stress that I had not been blogging, then it transformed to my laziness. Today is the eve of Christmas and I am sitting on my office desk writing this post. I am part of the office committee to organize the Christmas party. It is an annual thing that we all exchange gifts by drawing lots , and the receiving person does not have to know from whom the present came from. As much as I am tired of all the shopping for the food and drinks, I am very excited to know what my present is. My Customer y gift is waiting for me at the office Christmas tree, but apart from that some of my colleagues have passed me gifts. Anca , a girl from the office, gave me one on Monday. I have not opened it and waiting to open it today only. But that present has prevented me from working all week. So on Tuesday I faked a medical leave , got an MC from the doctor and went shopping for gifts for my department. Then I realized how hard it is to buy a gift for a guy, girls are easy, just something cute will do, but men you can't get cute and it has to be useful and it has to be cheap!
I guess this is the festive mood in the office, everyone is passing secret messages on who they are buying gifts for and planning on funny gifts like a bikini or some thing funny. I hope my present does not have it.

I am back , and I am not sure for how long. It feels good to be back blogging again. I would like to use the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And maybe if I don't get the bikini, I'll post my present here! Opps that reminds me , I have to go collect the turkey!!

Does it matter how rich you are?

After watching this video , just think again.

Sorry guys for not posting for so long.

Hi to all my readers, and i apologize for not posting anything for so long. it has been and still is hectic period for me. with oversea trips packed together with lots of projects to be completed.

i am the IT engineer for my company's international business team. i am the one and only IT engineer for 4 offices and i can't divide my time well. everyone needs their stuff done quick and there is little time to plan. luckily for me i have been blessed with the bosses that are very forgiving and encouraging in every decision i make. if all other departments are earning money for the company, i am the one spending them. to make the lives easier and efficient for the company of course but, for them to have so much believe in my gives me the pressure and i am fired up to give my best and nothing less.
because of that , many of my "Me time" have been sacrificed.
amist all that we even had time to go to Sichuan , China and Melacca, Malaysia for our quarterly and yearly holiday trips. even planing for those trips got us all busy.

i will post pictures and some valuable history and interesting pictures from those trips in my later posts. please look out for this space, cos its gonna get interesting.
but first let me get some breather.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson, you are not a chapter, not a novel you are a genre.

I have been waiting to write this post for a long time. But I wanted it to be perfect cos this post is for a performer who gave nothing less than perfect each time he performed. His dance moves were NEVER in complete. He did them with gusto and with every bid of energy he had in his body.
I know no other entertainer who can give that much to their fans. The dance moves in “Billy Jean” just came like an asteroid that hit earth and a new style of dance was born. And for “Thriller” every fan watched eagerly for the short video in which all his dance moves were memorized and became a craze at every dance floor.
The man was not only a singer, dancer but also a scientist. He invented the gravity defying shoes for “smooth criminal” and he patented that invention. Just take a moment to think which other star have gone this far for entertainment? NONE. “Smooth criminal” is my all time favorite song, and it is the songs that when it’s played in the clubs, everyone will come to the dance floor and just show off any Michael’s moves they know.
The number one hit for 2 months in the billboard was “you are not alone”, a song which he wrote and sang for his wife. From pop he sang a really lovely number.
And my favorite and the song and the song that sold the most “earth song” the music video made a lot of change and influence on why we should save mother earth, and how much we ignored mother earth.
But the song that reached the most audience was “Black or White”, for the record he didn’t bleach his skin because he wanted to look white, he has the rare condition that did it for him. Instead of looking 50-50 he chose to speed it up. And like his song says it doesn’t matter if he is black or white cos everyone welcomed the song and the song told the few uninformed fans who Michael was.
There is only one king of pop; no one else comes even close. Then there was controversy on his interest for children and some kids even made money out of those false accusation. I know from the very beginning that he is still a child in his heart. He started performing from the age of 5. His dad was just money minded. Michael didn’t get the childhood he wanted. He was busy performing from state to state. Because of this he missed his childhood he wanted to have it in his later years. I don’t see any wrong in that. “Neverland” is an example of his childhood fantasy. We all know about his shopping spree – whatever Michael wants Michael gets! He should because he deserves everything.
I hope I have done justice in this post. When I talk about Michael I can go on and on but I have kept it short this time, despite the wall-of-text. Thanks for reading.

and finally annie are u ok??

ABC tags

A - Age
25

B - Bed size
Super Single

C - Chore you hate
Washing the toilet. i used to pray when i was in the army so that i don't get selected for the Toilet cleaning.

D - Dog's name
Ramu and Somu

E - Essential start-your-day item
the minty fresh feeling after brushing my teeth.

F - Favorite color
Red.

G - Gold or Silver
Gold or silver to me is in the medals, silver is the first looser. so gold or nothing.

H - Height
173cm

I - Instruments you played
i played with a lot of them. just Play play, nothing musical came out of it.

J - Job title
IT Engineer.

K- Kid(s)
All my little cousins are like my own kids.

L - Living arrangements
Currently with Parents

M - Mum's name
Poongothai

N - Nicknames
Vas - for many people i know they think this is my full name.

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth
Food poisoning ,5 days

P - Pet Peeve
Discus

Q - Quote from a movie
With Great power comes Great responsibility - Spiderman

R - Right or left handed
Right handed, and right master eye.

S - Siblings
2 younger brothers

T - Time you wake up
6.30 am chop chop.

U- Underwear
no , Boxers.

V - Vegetable you dislike
cabbage, but if it is prepared chinese style with oyster sause, any vegetable is fine.

W - what makes you run late
Traffic

X-rays you've had
Full frontal x-ray for air force medical.

Y- Yummy food you make
pasta.

Z- Zombies are attacking, what do you do?
a headshot with a shotgun man. every gamer knows that's the best weapon for zombies.

any one who read this till the end, u have been tagged.

Last workday of the week.

i am typing this post while waiting for lunch time to come on a Friday afternoon.
I am the IT engineer in my company, the only man in-charge for IT. currently we are in the process of opening another office.My current project is to provide all the IT necessities , support and maintain them.

i have got various vendors for the services and my current work is just to supervise them. quite frankly, i have nothing to do for the day. my agenda today is a meeting with the cable guys. that went briefly in the morning for 45 minutes and now i am staring at my screen with nothing to do.

Fridays are days that the only work is before lunch time. and after that nothing really gets done. everyone is already in informal clothes and the mood is really good. everyone seems a little laid back. I have no pressure, i know my planning has been good and my contingencies are well in place.

Its the great Singapore Sale now as well as the IT show. all my attention is on the page that has all the price list and i am already planning my shopping list.
- 1 X DDR2 Ram
- Asus EEPC 1002HA
- a mouse for that eepc (razor / logitech)
- 1 Tera Byte HDD for my home
- some fun peripherals maybe.

fingers crossed the crowd does not squeeze me too much.

THIS IS HOW WE MISS OUT SOMETHING CALLED "LIFE"

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the
bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child
collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.

QUESTIONS :
1. What were the five words ?
2. What is the implication of this story?

ANSWER :
The husband just said "I am with you Darling"
The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point
in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened.. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.
If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step". Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are
actually not as difficult as you think.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
This story is really worth reading. ..... Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship,
in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out something called L...I.F.E

Story to live by

This came in an e-mail, which i found interesting.

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see
the world, I will marry you.'



One day,
someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.





He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'


This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.


Life Is a
Gift

Today
before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before
you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat.

Before
you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.


Today
before you complain about life - Think of someone who died
too early on this earth.


Before
you complain about your children - Think of someone who
desires children but they're barren.


Before
you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or
sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.


Before
whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.


And when
you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job.

But
before you think of pointing the finger or condemning
another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.


And when
depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still
around.

Life to a huge twist.

Last week I was unemployed, with nothing to do. On Monday I attended an interview. I passed the interview and I started work on Wednesday. The same day I realized I have to go to Beijing the following week to meet with the IT team in Beijing. I was the only IT guy in Singapore branch who will be in charge of all IT requirements of the current Singapore branch, a new branch which is about to open and also in India, Indonesia and France. The Beijing Office with highest number of workers has the biggest team.
The next day the ticket was booked and I flew on Monday to Beijing. That explains why I have not updated my blog for so long. For some reasons blogger.com could not be reached from both my hotel internet as well as the company internet. It was like the Internet service provider in china blocks Blogging!
Is this for real? Really, it seems too good to be true. Never in my wildest dreams did I even dream of such. Quite simply put: God is indeed great!

This is a story of a boy

This is a story of a boy and his mom.
One day tom was walking home with a note from his teacher to his mom.
It read “this boy is stupid I can’t teach him.”
Tom gave it to his mom who got furious and went to his school and said to his teacher “my son is not stupid, he does not have to study in this school. I’ll teach him at home.”
From then tom started home school.
Many years later the world would switch off their lights on their homes on March 28 at 8.30pm for an hour. And they call it “Edison Hour”.
Yes, our Tom is non-other than Thomas Alva Edison, the school reject to invented the light bulb and many other inventions that separate us from the cavemen.

Edison said he did so much for his mom because he did not want to disappoint her.
Some say it was pure genius that Edison invented so much. But to me it was the most powerful power in the world that fueled him to excel – A mother’s Love

HAPPY MOTHER’S Day to all MOMs!!!!

3 Answers Men Are Afraid of

1. (Whatever)
Men: What to have for dinner?
Women: Whatever...

Men: Why don't we have steamboat?
Women: Don't want, once i ate steamboat and later got pimples on my face.

Men: Alright, why don't we have Si Chuan cuisine?
Women: Yesterday we ate Si Chuan, why eat it today again?

Men: Hm..... I suggest we have seafood
Women: Seafood is no good, i ate it once, then later I got diarrhea.

Men: Then what you suggest?
Women: Whatever..

2. (Anything)
Men: So what should we do now?
Women: Anything

Men: How about watching movie? It's been a Long time since we
watched movie.
Women: Watching movie is no good, it's waste time.

Men: How about bowling, or do some exercises?
Women: Exercise in such hot day?

Men: Then let's find a cafe and have coffee.
Women: Drinking coffee will affect my sleep

Men: Then what you suggest?
Women: Anything

3. (You decide)

Men: Then we just go home
Women: You decide

Men: Let take bus, I will accompany you
Women: Bus is dirty and crowded. I don't want.

Men: Ok we will take a Taxi
Women: Not worth it... for such a short distance

Men: Alright, then we walk.
Women: What! Walk with an empty stomach?

Men: Then what you suggest?
Women: You decide

If a girl were to say : "why not we go home watch the Football Game that Manchester United is Playing, order pizza for food and "I'LL PAY for the Pizza!"

I WOULD MARRY HER! That will be heaven on earth.

PS: i know its a far shot, but worth a try.

Sparks Of Wisdom

No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.

- Einstein

Simply Amazing!

This is Cleopatra Stratan: a 3 year old singer who earns 1000€ per song.

Clepotra was born October 6, 2002 in Chisinau, Moldova and is the daughter of Moldovan-Romanian singer, Pavel Stratan. She is the youngest person ever to score commercial success as a singer, with her 2006 album La vârsta de trei ani ("At the age of 3"). She holds the record for being the youngest artist that performed live for two hours in front of a large audience, the highest paid young artist, the youngest artist to receive an MTV award and the youngest artist to score a #1 hit in a country ("Ghita" in Romanian Singles Chart).
Here is a song she sang. i could just watch this all day..

Sparks of Wisdom

It is harder to crack a prejudice than an atom.
- Albert Einstein

Wealth, Sucess and Love!

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.
"No", she replied. "He's out."
"Then we cannot come in", they replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.
"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"
The woman went out and invited the men in"
" We do not go into a House together," they replied.
"Why is that?" she asked.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"
His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"

Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"
"Let us head our daughter's advice," said the husband to his wife.
"Go out and invite Love to be our guest ."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."
Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success."

A piece of History - Singapore in the year 1938

This Video is the video image that my grandfathers have described to me.
The Sri Mariamman temple which still stands today as both as a place of worship as well as a monument of the history of the Hindus in Singapore. *Note the statue of British soldiers on the temple doom, to look like temple guards. That statue is now gone.
I knew the raffles hotel was old, but i didn't know this old!

The Singapore population then was mainly made of migrants from China, India and Malays who were already there and of course the British. But the point to note is that the traditional Muslims, Chineses and Indians have the culture of sending their women to work, but in the video i could see Chinese ladies working as hair dressers.
Although the Indians and Malays in the video, i see no reason why they would not have followed suit, since the society has no objections or discriminations.To know that Singapore was never a sexist country is a proud feeling.

i am happy to share this video with my readers and to spread some history of Singapore.

I am 48% Indian!

[ ] you were born in India
[x] both your parents are Indian
[ ] your parents expect your spouse to be Indian
[x] your career choices are narrowed down to doctor, lawyer and/or architect
[ ] you have one sibling (no, I have 2 )
[ ] your aunt, uncle, parents and several relatives you have never met in your life have befriended you on Facebook.

X's so far: 2

[x] You have dhaal at least once a day( : O )
[x] Your mother at this very moment is under the unfortunate impression that you are doing homework
[x] You have black hair
[ ] You are a veggie
[ ] Zee TV is (at least one of) your favorite channel(s)
[x] you have recently listened to 96.8FM
[x] you and your best friend both have watched and discussed the latest Shahrukh Khan movie

X's so far: 7

[x] you have a circle of Indian friends, separate from your normal ones
[x] you speak in violent Tamilish with the above
[ ] you have a tendency to resent Britain's existence
[ ] more than half your wardrobe is salwars, churidars, patiallas/kurtas,sherwanis.( I have zero Indian clothing.)
[ ] a cricket ball has the power to obtain and control your full undivided attention
[ ] you are aware of and have visited BharatMatrimonials.com
[x] your surname is your father's first name.

X's so far: 10

[ ] you are a proud member of Sports-India.com
[x] you have bookmarked Cricinfo.com on your computer. (my father watches it)
[ ] Neither of your parents could care less about phys ed, as long as your academic grades are intact
(they forced me to learn Tennis)
[ ] if you are Hindu, you go to the temple at least once a week
[ ] if you are Muslim you perform namaaz five times a day
[x] you have no issues with either of the above
[x] you do, however, have issues with the bombings of the Indian Embassy in Kabul and the 26/11 Taj and Oberoi hotel bombings in Mumbai.
(The terror attacks have no relation to religion, god didn’t ask those faggots to do it, they stupidity did.)
[ ] you own a Nokia phone
[ ] this phone at least once has displayed something Desi as its wallpaper
[x] you are familiar with the term 'Desi'

X's so far: 14

[x] your iPod is teeming with Bollywood & Kollywood
[x] you could bite into a red chili and honestly enjoy it
[x] you are a fan of and are infuriated at the fact that Thumbs Up is not sold beyond Indian borders.
(My friend Christopher introduced it to me in India, and I have been an addict since)
[ ] you use the word 'arre' or 'accha' at least twice a day
[ ] your non-Indian friends have picked up on hindi words like 'yaar' or 'blah blah blah, NA?'
[ ] you have Bollywood posters in your room
[x] you have never called an elder by only their first name, you instead add or use alone 'auntie' or 'uncle'
[ ] you have read A Suitable Boy (Is it a book? I don’t do books)
[ ] you play an instrument
[ ] you are able to play a Bollywood song on the above instrument -

X's so far: 18

[x] your fridge has at least one Haldiram's box in it
[ ] your mother claims you were born as fair as the moon, but you have lately begun to doubt it
[ ] you own a Bose sound system
[x] you use fans whenever possible as opposed to aircon
[x] regardless of whether you are Buddhist or not you have a Buddha statue in your living room.
(We believe in him)
[x] you know what pani puri is
[ ] you are unable to handle chopsticks.
(I learnt how to use it since I was 8, how else to eat my favourite “mee poh”?
[x] Your TV remote is covered in plastic (I don’t want to explain it.)
[x] You are genuinely afraid of the Indian Gossip Circuit

X's in total: 24

Multiply by 2 to get your Indian-y percentage: 48%
after this test i am not sure to be happy or sad to have failed this test.

Now repost with the title "I am __% Indian!" and tag all the Indians you know
I am tagging Arvind, Shalini , Lemonade and all other Indian bloggers who are reading this.

Earth Hour!

This coming Saturday is polling day! This is the biggest election in which only one party can win, that is mother earth. To help curb Global warming all around the world everyone will switch off their lights and electrical equipment to safe energy and to vote for earth.
Know more about Earth hour here!

The past, the present and future

we can't change the past
we can change the future..
so there is no point pondering over the past.
think about the changes you can do in your present to change your future

-Vasanthan

AIG execs should quit or commit suicide!

The economic crisis is rocking the foundation of many companies in the world today. Due to poor judgments by top banks and financial institutions now the governments of many countries are suffering a huge deficit.

The American government, led by President Obama has decided to use Tax payers’ money to bail out American companies to prevent further damage to the country’s financial situation. $165 million bail out money was given to AIG and Merrill lynch was bought over by “Bank of America”.

What does AIG do with the money? Instead of trying to clear out the mess, they are using the money to pay Bonuses as huge as 1 million to selected senior members in the company.

This people are the very reason why the economy slumped.
What the meaning of Bonus? I checked in the online Webster dictionary, it says “something in addition to what is expected or strictly due”.
For a company which is performing below expectations, they are paying out above expected money to the culprits.

This does not make any sense at all? No wonder President Obama is Furious.

AIG has shown lack of gratitude to the US government and their investors. Like senator Charles Grassley said “AIG execs should quit or commit suicide”. As I heard in the news later, that he took back the later part of his statement.
Imagine I am a football player, I would have scored 3 goals in the game and created many, but if my team lost, there is no room for glory. Similarly, the bonus idea is unjustified; this shows your lack of intelligence in management of money. With that why you any one want invest their life savings with you?

Time to ask my mom to try salvage the 21 year saving plan she has with AIG. Although it is still premature, why risk losing it all?

I am currently jobless and still in the job hunt. I have gone 1 month without a job. I understand that the cause is not that I am under qualified; the problem also lies in the world’s economic situation right now. (At least that’s what I am telling myself to get myself going.) I am not going to whine about my problem, but shine with enthusiasm.
There are many others like me right now, unemployed, recently fired or recently graduated.

My word for you guys is, “Never lose hope or confidence in yourself” it’s not us that is the problem; it’s the world’s situation that is to blame.

Here is a story of a famous person who refused to give up even in difficult times.

1816 – His family was forced out of their home.

1818 – His mother passed away.

1831 – His business failed.

1932 – He was defeated in legislature. Lost his job and could not get admission into a law school.

1838 – He borrowed money from a friend and failed again in business. He later spent the next 17 years of his life paying off his debts.

1835 – He was engaged to be married but his sweetheart died.

1836 – Suffered a nervous breakdown and spend 6 months in bed.

1838 – Defeated in the contest for a speaker position.

1840 – Defeated for elector.

1843 – Defeated for Congress.

1846 – Elected for congress.

1848 – Defeated for Congress.

1849 – Rejected for a job as a land officer in his home state.

1855 – Defeated for Senate.

1856 – Defeated for vice presidential nomination, getting less than 100 votes.

1858 – Defeated for Senate.

1860 – Elected President of the United States of America.

It is none other than Abraham Lincoln.

For a person to be mauled by defeat and failure all his life he endured all and emerged the biggest victor. The point to note is that he didn’t change his path regardless to how many defeats he faced. Perseverance paid off.

All of us have goals in life, and would have seen a lot of setbacks. But every defeat should not make us weaker but stronger and still stand up right for the next hit. We will brave all insults and defeats to emerge the hero of our dreams.

To all of us to go through these hard times:
“Amen- Shanthi - Insha Allah – who ever, however we pray to. God bless us all!”

Sparks of wisdom

i Don't know Why people say
"Life or Death"
as if life is the opposite of death.
Birth is the opposite of death. Life has no opposite.
does it?

The 81st Oscars

Hugh Jackman did justice to the show with 10/10 performance in the show. Mind you this is wolverine we are talking about, jumping around dancing and singing along. The Oscars this year was one to remember. 2009 is the year of the underdogs.
The look on Brad Pitt told me he was expecting a big sweep for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", and the odds were also looking his way. But it was not meant to be, the underdog “ Slumdog millionaire” beat all odd and became the top dog, winning 8 of 10 nominations. Where Of Benjamin Button won three Oscars and has tied the record for the most nominated film not to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.



After watching the Oscars I knew I had to watch the movie (yeah lazy me have not watched it till then). I can say the movie totally deserved to win in every department it was nominated for.

My man AR Rahman has done it for India with 2 Oscars. Although the credit for best soundtrack will be shared by M.I.A as well for her “paper planes” song which was mixed with the award winning “O.. Saya”.

Nonetheless India bagged 3 Oscars for Best original Score and best original Song by AR Rahman and best sound mixing by Resul Pookutty
AR Rahman made all Hindi speaking Indians and Tamil Speaking Indians proud by mentioning versus in both languages. I only understood “ Yella Puzhalum Erivanukae!” which means “ All fame to god him alone”. The Speech that I found most memorable was from the first Oscar that was presented to India. Which was to Resul Pookutty, and he said
"I dedicate this award to my country. This is not just a sound award but a piece of history that has been handed over to me," a beaming and emotional Pookutty said while dedicating the trophy to a billion Indians.
"I come from a country and civilization that gave the world the word that precedes silence and is followed by more silence. That word is 'Om'. So I dedicate this award to my country,
That one really touched my heart.

Sparks of Wisdom : Finish Strong

This video is shot but it told me a message that i will never forget.
Nick Vujicic is a hero, he may not have limbs he has more strength than any of us.
so my readers, felling down is not failure, staying there is.

Tsunami Houses

As many of my readers would have known that I have spent much of2008 in India to finish my Cisco certifications in CCNA and CCVP. Having lived there for so long also gave me the opportunity to visit my relatives.
My relatives live near the coastal which was hit by the Tsunami. I took this opportunity to so look at the tsunami hit areas and what is being done for the victims. I was surprised to see how much the Indian government was doing to aid the community that live close to the sea.
The tsunami might have hit the world in 2004, and still 4 years on tsunami houses are being built. All the financial aid that India received is being transformed into housing with proper sanitation facilities, water supply, Disaster Shelters, even a building to provide free medical care.. I took some pictures to show my readers and potentially the world that the money they donated has been put into good use.

This street which holds all the Tsunami Houses is called the "Tsunami Street", Many generations later they will not forget the impact of the tsunami.

Below are pictures i took to show you guys.

The tsunami houses


This is the Information Center, Should there be a tsunami threat, this center will inform the public.

Medical Center where immunizations will be provided.


The Multipurpose disaster shelter.


The tsunami street

Sparks of Wisdom

Growing Old is Compulsory.
Growing Up is Optional.

- Unknown writer.

Happy Valentines day!

Happy valentines day to all my readers!

Sparks Of Wisdom

If you fail to plan,
You plan to fail

Its Tag time again!

Rules:
It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag ten people.
Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real...nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name : Vasanthan

2. A four Letter Word : Vase

3. A boy's Name : Vikram

4. A girl's Name : Veronica

5. An occupation : Vet

6. A color : Violet

7. Something you'll wear : Vest

8. A food: Vegetable Biriyani

9. Something found in the bathroom: Veet (it’s not in mine, this was a tough one)

10. A place: Venice

11. A reason for being late : Very slow bus.

12. Something you'd shout : Vaa! (come in tamil)

13. A movie title : V for Vendetta

14. Something you drink : Vodka

15. A musical group : Velvet Underground

16. An animal : Viper

17. A street name : Valley Road

18. A type of motor : Volvo

19. The title of a song : Viva Las Vegas – Elvis Presley

I'll like to tag, Simha, Arvind and Shalini.

Sparks Of Wisdom

Success

"Great results are achieved only by Great patience, great courage and Great attempts."

- Swami Vivekananda

My Best Friends's wedding

I took a huge break between my last posts and now I have 2 posts is quick succession. I have been out of ideas on what to post. Then I decided to post on what I have been out to. I just arrived from a lengthy stay in Chennai. I had to rush my arrival to Singapore to attend the wedding of my 2 best friends. Avtar Singh and Simha Jastol.

Their wedding fell on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and also Republic day of India, the 26th of January. Just before I decided to come back to Singapore, I got a pleasant surprise. I had won a 7 day hotel stay in Goa for 2. Although the validity if for a year, I will not have enough time to go to Goa for the getaway and make it for my friends’ wedding. I gave away the price to my friends in Chennai and decided the wedding was most important. I can go to Goa anytime.

It was the first Sikh wedding I have ever been to. It was simple and short, unlike the Hindu wedding. It was held in their temple prayer area in front of the “Guru Granth Sahib” , as the priest sang the marriage mantras , a projector was set up with translations in English of what is being performed. That made the wedding more meaningful. This was the first wedding I knew what was happening. I have attended countless weddings without understanding what the mantras meant.

In short wedding was the most beautiful wedding I ever attended. I wish the newly weds a very happy married life ahead.

Quotes i share.

Inspired my Shalini's Monday morning inspirations i am going to introduce "Weekly Quote".
i will share quotes that i find very meaningful.
During my O'Level examinations i used to write down notes on small notebooks so that i could refer to them, on the way to school. then i got the idea to write motivational quotes on the back of those notebooks to encourage me to do better. now i have lost that habit and find myself lacking the motivation i had those days. i am going to bring back old times by sharing the quotes that changed my mood and got me inspired.

to day i start with something about love, i got this from my friend's facebook profile.

It takes no time to fall in love,
but it takes you years to know what love is.
It takes your fears to make you trust,
it takes some tears to make it rust

i haven officially named this segment, but i welcome suggestions. please help me out here. creativity has not been my forte.

India - pakistan. Is War a solution?

This is my first post of 2009 and I want it to be on a matter that is important. One matter that has been the talk of the town in India right now or at least the northern part of India is the aftermath of the terror attack. 179 people died in that massacre and the authority have interrogated one captured terrorist who claim to be a Pakistani. India now wants answers. And the situation between the 2 countries is at flashpoint. India is ready for war with Pakistan.
But the way I see it, a war is not a solution. Just because the terrorists were from Pakistan does not say that they are promoting terror. They (Pakistan) have also been hit by a terror attack, example the Marriott hotel blast and the assignation of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Being geographically located next to Afghanistan, the influence of terrorism is spreading easily in Pakistan. In my view terrorist choose the path of terror out of their own will and are not forced into anything. They might have been some propaganda and Psyching going on. Under these circumstances it is really very hard to spot and catch terrorist, worst then searching for a needle in a hay stack, it is very difficult to find the hay stack, let alone finding the needle.
Instead of keeping their differences aside and bringing their heads together and eliminate terrorism, they are preparing for war. Let’s be more practical terrorist claimed the lived of 179 people. And if there is a war, more than 179 people will die. So you tell me who has been more successful in man slaughter the army or the terrorist? Even if they nuked each other out still will not kill all terrorist, instead the kids whose parents have been killed in the war will then be the next generation terrorist. There will be no end to this with violence.
India is the proud child of Mahatma Gandhi. He lived by his believe that nothing can be achieved with violence, which I strongly agree. “An eye for an eye makes us all blind” a quote by the great Gandhi. It would be disrespectful to him if India chooses the path of war in reaction to the terror attack in Mumbai. Instead both country should be patient and avoid making hasty decisions which they would regret later.
The Indian media has not been too helpful in this matter. Instead of giving unbiased news of this matter, they are reacting and seem to encourage the rift between Pakistan and India. I would like to quote the part when one TV station interviewed “Imran khan” an ex-cricketer and now a politician and asked pressured him into giving testimony on the nationality and if Pakistan would take some responsibility in the Mumbai attack. Imran Khan replied that “Media Trial should not be the way this matter should be handled”. Which I think make perfect since. It seems to me that the media wants a war and with a war they will get more things to report on, thus increasing their TRP rating.
Not every piece of evidence and discussion should be leaked to the media. The Indian media is not on behaving like they are “on the ball” but they are behaving more like ahead of the ball.
I am not writing this under any political influence nor under the influence of alcohol. I believe that peace is possible between India and Pakistan. And together they can fight terrorism.
“War is never the way” both countries are ruled by smart people I hope they come to a peaceful solution.