Old is gold

I just thought of those days (late eighties or early nineties) , when we did not have the Remote Control to control our TV. Those days we did not have so many channels. We just found fun in watching Doordarshan. We used to love a few advertisements as well. Today I downloaded a few of them from You Tube. I am adding them in this blog.

1) Hamara Bajaj


2) Natraj



3) Nirma Washing powder






Now we have lots of channels which are exclusively dedicated to news like CNN IBN, Times Now... But those days for English News, we depended only on Doordarshan. This was how the English news started in those days.






The next one that I am adding is " Mile Sur Mera Tumhara"


This is the last one I am adding today

Harthal= HURT ALL

Just another day in my life...I was thinking what to post in my blog ...Even after thinking for 1 hour, I could nt find any thing worth posting. At last, I started to go thru the messages in my mobile, as if I could get some important information in that. Found a message from one of my friends. "Angane Veendum oru Harthal. Hathal Aasamsakal ...." [ Yeah, one more Harthal. Harthal Wishes...more blah blah...].. I checked the date , I got that message. July 3rd. Typed 'July 3rd kerala harthal' in google and started to read the stuff...

I realized that there is a site dedicated exclusively for Harthal . They define Harthal like this:
" "Hartal" is a Gujarati word. "Har" means "everything" or "always"; "Tal" or "tala" means "to close". The word "hartal" means a day of mourning or protest, on which all the shops are shut and no-one goes to work or does any shopping. " What a nice definition for Harthal. It should be called as HURT ALL.

I was curious to know the reason for Harthal. Because there was a harthal on June 27th - a protest against some Amarnath land issue or some thing. Another harthal with in a week.... The reason for the Harthal on July 3rd was even more interesting. " Some Controversy in Seventh Standard Social Studies Text Book". The controversial section starts with a heading "mathammillatha jeevan" (atheist jeevan or more precisely jeevan who has no religion).



The lesson is something like this: A kid came for admission accompanied by his parents. Head Master started to fill the Application Form.

HM: What is ur name?
kid: Jeevan
HM: Good..nice name..Ur father's name?
kid: Anwar Rasheed
HM:Mother's name?
kid: Lekshmi Devi

HM raised his head (looking at the parents) and asked : What shud I fill in the place for the child's religion?
Father: Need not write any thing. or Better write NO RELIGION
HM:Caste?
Father:No
HM: what if this kid feels that he needs a religion when he grows up?
Father: Let him follow the religion that he feels as good..

I could not find any thing wrong in the above textual material.I dont know whether there is any hidden Communist Thought in this particular material.

A nice mail

I got this mail from one of my friends. I liked it, so thought of posting it.

Listen & Silent are two words with same alphabets

They are very important in every relationship

Coz very few people in this world,

Can listen to you when you are silent.

Friendship Mistaken??

Disclaimer:

What ever I am posting here has not occurred in the life of any one. But resemblance if any found is unintentional and strictly coincidental.

The story took place in a fictitious place named Murdanvirt. The hero of this story is Mr X. I dont know whether I can address him as a hero. This particular post is related to his childhood. He studied in a mixed school. Mr X was a very nice boy in the school, a pet of all the teachers. X studied really well, never permitted any one to take the First Rank from him... There was a tradition in the school in which he studied. The student who scored the highest mark among the students of all the sections of that particular standard was given a BEST STUDENT badge. X scored it in all the classes till his fourth.

The fifth standard.. now no more a primary student.That year, the school authorities did a small shuffling. No change in the division for X, again A. But new students from other divisions came to A division and many of the students who were studying in A division till their fourth standards, were shifted to other divisions . Y , a student who studied in another division, was also shifted to A division.

X always mingled freely with every one. Even with Y , he mingled very freely. X never realized that there were gossips in the school about his friendship with Y... That gossip actually started in their seniors batch..X never knew that Y was such a sought after gal..But those gossips did affect Y. She started to consider X , not as a friend, but as some one more special from her ninth standard...But foolish X never ever realized that.He actually witnessed so many budding lovers in his ninth standard. " Nee enthinaa eni anveshikkunnathu..ellam nee oppicchu vacchittille ? " [ why are you searching for a gal? Every thing is already well arranged right]..Only when X heard such a comment from one of his best friends, he realized that there was some problem.That he heard on the last day of his ninth standard..

X recollected the Valentines Day Card he got...Now the things were getting clearer...X initially thought that it was a prank played by some of his friends.. He also understood why Y wanted his phone number... But even then, he could not believe it. The vacations started.. X started to receive regular phone calls from Y during the day time when the parents of X were not at home...In the initial days, Y used to talk about the Tuition class she was attending...But when She started to speak about movies, romance, X tried to discourage it..... One particular movie of Madhavan, (Alaipayuthe) that was released at that time, influenced Y badly.

The tenth standard classes started. Luckily, the school authorities did the shuffling business again. X and Y were in different divisions. X started to avoid Y. No more phone calls.. Good , X thought. " Studies first " . :P...Nothing happened till the day of the Model exam.. That after noon before the Malayalam Exam, Y told that she really loved X...She was not able to concentrate on the studies just because of X...more blah blah...Y literally cried after saying all these... X wondered what to say to such a gal at that time...X felt really bad when his friendship was totally mistaken by Y...He did not know how to handle that situation, with whom to talk with etc..

" Da kayarunnille...teacher vannu..." [ Da are nt you coming inside..The teacher has come" ]..some one shouted and X went inside the class room...

Reading for sleeping or Sleeping for reading??

One week of stay away from hostel, an unexpected visit to home. I reached home on 5^th and stayed there till 12^th. This is the first time I am staying away from the world of INTERNET since my second year of BTech. Many a time I feel that I am wasting my time reading blogs, orkuting, chatting... I am not using the net for any academic purposes. So this time I thought of utilizing my time fruitfully. I decided to do certain things during my stay at home this time.

Read “NOT A PENNY MORE, NOT A PENNY LESS” by Jeffrey Archer.

Yeah, I took this book from the hostel library two weeks back. But due to my hectic schedule , I didnt get time to read even a single page of it. Even during the vacation time, I could not find time to read books due to me sitting in front of the comp all the time. It is believed by many, that the reading habit in people is affected adversely, due to the influence of internet.I too believed in that before going home.Today is 13^th, and I am back to IIT. So what happened to you last week?? Did you complete that book??

Before answering these questions, first of all let me tell you some thing personal . Both my AMMA and APPA are employed. So my stay at home implies staying alone in the morning time. When I was at home, every day I used to get up at 8 O’clock. “Da, vegam vallathum kazhikku…Njangalkku officil pokendathalle?. Ennenkilum nee aa Emergency Lamp nannakkan kodutthatthu medeikkanam.” [Da take some thing fast (break fast time). We need to go to office right?. Don’t forget to go to the near by electrical shop to buy the Emergency Lamp. He has repaired it ”] . Shit... my sleep got disturbed.

After having the break fast and reading the headlines of the news paper, by about 10 O'clock, I would go to my room, with the Archer's book in hand. Then I would switch on the Radio, listen to FM, open the first page of the book. "Sitting in this chair and reading book is really uncomfortable for me!! I should lie on my SWEET BED and then read the book." Hai good, this is really comfortable... [:D].Let me think what I read yesterday. Thoughts...stories...dreams....What happened to me?? My mobile is ringing..." Who is disturbing me now ?? ". Already 4 missed calls.. Checked the time in the mob...4.20pm. So today also I missed my lunch. ' Amma has kept every thing on the dining table, but still I did not take any thing.

4.30 pm, some questions in mind..." Whether to shave today or not..Whether to take a bath or not??". Time 4.50pm, " Let me take a bath now. I will shave tomorrow". Time 5.15pm, "Now I am feeling really HUNGRY..[:(]" ..Take the food man. Every thing is on the dining table.. “ Enikku kashappedan vayya…enthayalum amma 5.45kku varum…enittu kazhicchal mathi…” [Amma will come back by 5.45pm. Will take the food after that.] ..

“When am I going to finish that book?”. Appa would be back by 6.45pm. 7.30- 8.00 ….Oh no!! Have I become blind? I am not able to see any thing… [:(] ..Yeah, this is the LOAD SHEDDING TIME. People, who are not familiar with this particular term, : Come to Kerala and stay for a few days. You will understand the meaning of it. “ Ennum nee athu medicchille??” [U did not buy it (Emergency Lamp) even today?”]..

8.30- 9.30pm – Idea Star Singer 2008. The only time, when three of us stay together and watch a TV programme . My parents would sleep by 10 pm. I may be watching some old movie till midnight, then sleep.............

Even though there was no net at home for one week, I could not finish even 4 pages of that book. Thus I realized that INTERNET is in no way doing harm to me. It is not a TIME WASTE. Who said, “ The reading habit in people is affected adversely, due to the influence of internet?"

Happy Birth day to U

At last a post in my blog. My birthday was on 4^th July , the first time in my life , I am celebrating the b'day away from home.. - R u feeling home sick?? [: P]... Most probably: “No man!! How can you expect me to have that syndrome even after staying in hostels for five years ( 4 years BTech and 1 year MTech)?.But still, I want to go home for my birth day. " Luckily, my Guide permitted me to go home for one week. This means that I would be going home on 4^th night and would reach home on 5^th after noon.

There exists a tradition in IITM; at least it exists among the THERMITES (my Thermal Branch mates), not so great though... The person, who is having his birth day, should give a TREAT to the fellow branch mates in Basera. I am supposed to give them the treat on 4th night. Since I was going home on 4th evening, I thought of giving it A PRIORI. I gave it on 3rd. Around 22 of my batch mates attended it.

On third night, by about 11.45, Edward the new GSec of Sindhu Kairali, came to my room with a birth day cake in his hand.My thermal friends also came to my room with another birth day cake. A nice experience!! As far as I know, the first person to be gifted with two birth day cakes. I cut both the cakes.The two cakes that you see in the pic, the one on my left hand side was being sponsered by Sindhu Kairali and the other one by the Thermites. In the cake, given by my thermal friends, it was written, TO OUR SEXY SABBU… :P

Some of my friends took that as an opportunity to beat me. The problem was that, I was not wearing my Spectacles at that time. With out the Specs, I could not see the ones who beat me the most.[:(] Some of them pasted the cream on my face and had fun. Any way the birth day that I celebrated away from my home for the first time was a really memorable experience for me...