Pukaarta chala hoon...

Well, here's another of those criminal acts. This time it is a Mohd. Rafi number that is maligned, one of those lilting ones and my favourites. As always, my apologies to the original artists.

Pukarta chala hoon..

Movie Name: Mere Sanam (1965) Original Singer: Mohd Rafi Music Director: O P Nayyar Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

That's one of the things that happen when I stay indoors on a Sunday.

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Thoughts on a Sunday night...

It's been a fine day today with lot of sunshine. But the forecast for the next week is not all that encouraging. Also, we turned our clocks back by 1 hour as we switched back to GMT from BST today. Although I certainly didn't mind the extra hour of sleep as a result, it was a strange thing..to find your routine adjusted by an hour!

It has started getting dark earlier and the "gloom and doom" of winter is definitely upon us. With less and less of sun being seen, it is not surprising that up to one in every 20 people suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) during the UK's long winter nights.

But for now, scary things are on display in the shops for Halloween (although I feel some of the guys and gals I regularly meet on the streets would do perfectly well without any of these external aids). Also, some shops have already started decking up for Christmas. After checking out the stores and town centre yesterday, it was mostly indoors today. Saritha and her folks are in Guruvayoor for Adarsh's "chorooN" tomorrow.

Some cooking and "Classmates", the Malayalam movie, saw me through today. It is playing "Cast Away" on telly now with Tom Hanks battling the elements. Feeling a bit like a cast away myself.
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Picture: A 2001 public service announcement for the upcoming turning back of the clocks | Courtesy of: US Department of Defense

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Adarsh - few more photos

Just in today:

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Diwali & Ramzan...

With Diwali and Ramzan having passed, here's an interesting poster. It was designed by Contract for Actionaid India Society after Gurjrat Riots. Good thinking and nice "punch line".

Indeed, who are we to draw the line?

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Happy Diwali !

Wishing that this festival of lights
brings you every joy and happiness.

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Cybercrime...

Here's my first attempt at karaoke recording, done on a sore throat using crude methods last week. I'm being audacious and posting it here, confident that I'm safe from any direct action. With due apologies to the artists behind this beautiful song.

Innumente Kannuneeril...

Movie Name : Yuvajanotsavam (1986) Originally sung well by : K J Yesudas Music Director : Raveendran Lyrics : Sree Kumaran Thambi

Listen to it in the privacy of your homes at very low volumes to avoid public nuisance and because audio quality is not good.
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Edited on Oct 20, 2006: Replaced with a better sounding file(still not good enough as you can see). Stereo enabled, reduced noise (of course, my noise remains).

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10, Downing Street

Ever wondered what's behind this rather ordinary, but world-famous front entrance (apart from Mr. Blair, ofcourse)?

Take a virtual tour

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Rubik's cube...

I've been kept occupied in my spare time by a Rubik's cube which I picked up from a stand in the just concluded Call Centre Expo in Birmingham. Shortly after reaching home I started playing around with it. In what can now be termed as a reckless act, I scrambled it horribly and have ever since been trying to solve it. I'm feeling humbled by this boy who seems to have got it rather fast, although I found out that it's not a world record (may be for his age). It appears that the best time for restoring the cube in an official championship was 12.11 sec by Shotaro Makisumi (Japan) at the Caltech Spring Tournament on 3 April 2004.

But then, I'm inclined to think that this could be a camera trick after all, designed to make me feel bad.

BTW, Rubik's cube celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005 and is said to be the largest selling toy, with some 300,000,000 Rubik's Cubes and imitations sold worldwide. Wonder how many of them remained unsolved. :)

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Men are from...

Here's an Iraqi dude explaining differences between men and women.. (Click Play)

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Adarsh- New Pics

Couple of new snaps of Adarsh received last week. Looks a lot different from when I saw him last!

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Update...

1) Was busy last week. Among other things, went to Call Centre Expo 2006 in Birmingham on both days. Couple of our clients were participating and also there was opportunity to hunt down potential clients. It was a colourful affair. Also there were several free management seminars being conducted. Attended a few of them. One of them was by Michael Weissman, who was explaining his theory of "Paradox of Excellence", which basically is

The better you perform, the more invisible you become- to everything but bad news. The longer you do a good job, the more your perceived value erodes because customers lose sight of the pain you originally relieved.

Hmm..not that I haven't thought about this and other sublime things they were talking there.. only, these guys got their thoughts published.

2) It was "Dussera celebrations 2006" in Reading today evening, on the banks of Thames. The "cultural" programs consisted mainly of Bollywood dances and Bhangra interspersed with a couple of folk dances and a mandatory "Mera Bharat Mahan" performance. Then, late into the evening, effigies of Ravan and 2 of his accomplices were set on fire followed by impressive fireworks. I went with the hope of making some acquaintances, but returned as friendless within the Indian community here as before.

3) Ha..ha.. The server hosting my website appears to have been hacked by some Arab hackers, who have posted a hate message which can be seen when my site is accessed. Hope they will rectify the situation soon. Click here to see how it looked like.

Time to grab something to eat...

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About bloggers

It seems they will critisise everything I start to do: Bloggers' rubbish

"But the pace at which the blogosphere is getting cramped with half-wits, religious maniacs, failed writers, sociopaths and cold-blooded killers, is scary."

Is that me? beware...

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Saturday Blues..

It was the end of another boring Saturday. In the morning, I thought that the sun will hold up and went for a listless stroll through the town centre. The problem with such strolls is that I end up spending money on lotsa "useful" things for the home. So today, it was a small bucket, a small carpet (because I thought the rollers on my chair was spoiling the floor carpet and the latter needed protection) and ofcourse the inevitable groceries for the week. And on the way back, it rained and I got drenched. In the evening, prepared a panful of aloo-gobhi, which could last until next Thursday...and now cuddled up on sofa after parathas and aloo-gobhi, watching "Stepmom" on telly. "Apt Pupil", an adaptation of Stephen King novel is next. Not much of a day to write home about. Didn't feel like going anywhere this weekend. Another film is being downloaded and a friend may drop in, so I guess these will see me through tomorrow. Then it will be start of a new week. Hopefully it will be better than the last one :-)

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