Sathyanarain’s Weblog

Kids’ day out - Sangamam ‘08

Posted on March 15th, 2008 by

It was total fun right from the beginning.

Rotaract Club of MNM Jain Engineering College had organized the Inter Government School Culturals, Sangamam ‘08 in the campus and this fest was attended by around 200 kids from 6 Government Schools(8 were invited) from ECR, Karapakkam, Neelangarai, Perungudi and Sholinganallur.

With events such as Group Dance, Solo Dance, Oration, Drawing, Solo Singing, Rangoli and other informals, the kids lapped up the fest with enthusiasm. So much enthusiasm that the kids jumped up to the stage in between events and started dancing! And the organizers(including me) joined the jig!

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Adyar and Gaurav Singhal Group this fest was graced by Mr. Vittal Rajan and Mr. Gaurav Singhal, who attended the inauguration and Mr. Srinivasan & Ms. Saraswati who distributed the prizes.

And again, the kids were joined by the organizers in a jig on-stage.

With too much excitement and too little time, the organizers promise to make the next year’s edition grander.

Click here for behind the scenes pictures!

Filed under: College, Events | No Comments »

So, V doesnt stand for Vexation alone??

Posted on March 12th, 2008 by

People who dont quite understand the meaning of the title, please take a look at this previous post here.

I was sitting with Aishwarya in the Open Air Theatre in college overseeing the work that was being done for our college Rotaract Club’s next project.

Aishwarya: So, when are you going to treat us for having got this job?

Me: Hmm.. Let me first lay my hand on the first salary.

A: You say the same thing always!

Me: And you ask me for a treat always though i give you one almost every other week!

A: Well.. Ahem…

And then I saw her!

There sitting in the midst of the group of girls working for the Electronics and Communication department symposium, was this really pretty girl doing some decoration stuff.

Hell yes! She was pretty!

And I had never seen her before in college. I guessed her to be in her second year. Discreet enquiries revealed her to be V… Well, let me not name her here. Me= Gentleman!
All my love lives have been short lived and do not last more than a semester!
What about V?

Well, I cant wait to find out!

And the first impression was a really bad one - I made the mistake of telling about my latest love interest to Aishwarya and she in turn told this to every member of Rotaract Club present there and the scream that came out was enough to scare the wits of the poor terrified girl!

So, V doesnt stand for Vexation alone!
Update:

March 13th - Saw her today also - Same time - Same place!

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Discover the spirit of everything Mechanical!

Posted on March 10th, 2008 by

Swivel is back - in its latest edition as Swivel 08.

The last edition was held in 2006 and was enthusiastically lapped up by students all over Tamil Nadu especially the Radio Control techies.

RC Cars, the most successful event of last edition is being reincarnated into a tougher event involving both on and off-road track, thus testing the skills of the makers in not only the electronics and steering, but also the mechanical design.

The other new events are Airborne - Gliders which will test the aerodynamic skills of the students in the form of constructing gliders and an Autocad Design contest.

The other events include Paper Presentation, Technical Quiz, Adzap, Technical Extempore, Crosswords and Brain Teasers.

All budding mechanical engineers and others with an eye for everything mechanical are invited.

Come and discover the spirit of everything Mechanical!

More details at http://swivel08.in

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Ubuntu: I am loving it!

Posted on March 7th, 2008 by

After knowing Mayank for the past few months and reading Ganesh’s blog posts for an equally long period, I decided to give open source a try. After dabbling in gimp, Open Office and a few other software, I decided to give linux a go.

And thanks to Mayank who suggested me Ubuntu, I am now writing this blog post through Ubuntu. Luckily for me, Mayank decided to lay all our differences aside and decided to help me out after all!
So, after a spew of long distance calls to Gurgaon (Gee! All the BPO training was of some use to Mayank after all!) I installed Ubunt finally.

And the verdict - I am loving it!

1) It gives me a geek feel! (As Mayank always says!)

2) Its free!

3) There’s no guilty feeling of using pirated software.

4) Fresh feel after years of working in Microsoft Windows.

5) The graphics are not great, but as good as Windows XP.

6) Light on the system performance.

7) I have not tried Wine yet. (No No! Not the beverage!) But it sounds promising.

Filed under: Computers | No Comments »

I know why Mayank misses Chennai!

Posted on February 20th, 2008 by

Mayank is back in Gurgaon.

I spoke to him yesterday and he is missing Chennai already. And he came up with a big confession at the end!

Mayank: You have time to visit Landmark and blog about it! But dont have the time to write for Reviewsaurus?

Me: Hi Mayank. How is it to be back home?

Mayank: Ya. Its good to be back. But I miss Chennai now.

Me: Ahaa!

Mayank: Anyway, you answer my question. You dont have time to write reviews for us and you have time to comment on somebody’s blog.

Now, Mayank had clearly mentioned the name of the blog’s author. I am refraining from naming the person here because I am a perfect gentleman! *Applause*

Me: Hey hey hey. Just a minute. What did you just say? Was it a casual statement or something sinister?

Mayank: Well…

Me: I presume you followed the link to her blog from Sagaro’s blog and saw the comments I had written.

Mayank: Hmm… Yes.

Me: And may I ask why is that you did not notice the comments I leave on other blogs in Sagaro’s blogroll like Planemad, Jammy, TUDinesh?

Mayank: Its like…

Me: And any person who reads sagaro’s blog will go on to read this person’s blog after all the traffic he generates for her!

Mayank: What are you trying to say?

I cut short this conversation here as it went on for half an hour more and included many other things not related to this topic.

A note to Sagaro:This has nothing to do with you. I will still have the remote!

A note to Mayank:This has nothing to do with my salary.

A note to that person:I know I could have named you as it is quite bvious who you are; but I am a gentleman!

Epilogue:At the end of the conversation, Mayank came up with a big secret. Any guesses?

Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »

V for Vexation!

Posted on February 12th, 2008 by

I had gone to this popular bookstore in Chennai to buy the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and this is what happened.

Me (To the support staff) : Excuse me. Can I have the book V for Vendetta?

Support Staff : Huh?

Me: V for Vendetta. By Alan Moore.

SS: Huh?

Me (thinking) : #%&$*

Me: I want to buy the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore; illustrated by David Lloyd.

SS: Just a minute Sir.

Me (thinking) : So, he can speak. All along I had been thinking he had got the job in handicapped qouta!

SS (types in the computer) : W-E-E 4…

He looks up at me,”Wee 4?”

Me (thinking) : #%&$*

Me : No No.. Its the alphabet ‘V’. V for Volleyball.

SS: But you told V for something else Sir… not volleyball…

Me : :’(

I imagined myself picking up a fat book from the nearest section and bringing it down on the thickhead’s skull.

Me : Type the alphabet V

SS (types) : V

Me : Now type F-O-R

SS (types) : F-O-R

Me : V-E-N-D-E-T-T-A

SS (types) : Vendetta

The computer spewed some obscenities.

SS : One second sir.

I nodded. Involuntarily. Well, I didn’t have much options.

The jackass went and sent another support staff

SS2 : Yes Sir. May I help you.

I definitely needed help!

Me (while checking out the chick browsing the magazines section) : I am looking for the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd.

SS2 : Oh! We have got that book Sir. Just a minute.

Ah! Here is my man!

Me : Great. I am in the humour section.

SS2: Sure Sir.

I went to the humour section and started reading a Calvin and Hobbes book.

I had flipped through 54 pages when someone tapped me on the shoulders.

I turned and saw the SS2 proudly presenting me the book.

The cover read Vedanta - an outlook!

Me (This time not thinking!) : #%&$*…

Filed under: Books, Ramblings | No Comments »

Kadhalikka Neram Illai - A Review

Posted on February 3rd, 2008 by

It was after a couple of my friends recommended this program for me to watch that I decided to watch an episode of Kadhalikka Neram Illai, a primetime television serial in Vijay TV. Ram and Gokul were very much excited about this television series and Ram went to the extent of uploading all of the female protoganist’s stills in his orkut album!

Coming to the episodes, they usually start with a small slideshow of glimpses of Singapore (much similar to American Sitcoms and a first in Indian television)

Filed under: Review, Television | No Comments »

The Patriots

Posted on January 31st, 2008 by

It was only in movies that one gets to sit opposite a beautiful girl in a train. And Raj couldn’t believe his eyes when this happened to him.

He had walked into his compartment to find this stunning girl sitting opposite his seat and was overjoyed to find that the other seats in the vicinity were unoccupied.

Years of military training had taken its toll on Raj as he found it difficult to even start a talk with the girl. The train chugged out of Agra station and soon was sending in a steady breeze from the open fields even as Raj couldn’t concentrate in the latest edition of Bike India he was ‘trying’ to read. He finally decided to cut the ice.

“Raj.”, said Raj as he shifted forward with a smile.

“Huh?”

“I am Raj.”, he repeated awkwardly.

“Oh! I am Komal.” She replied with a smile.

Raj was overjoyed as he half expected this response.

“Going on vacation?” asked Raj suddenly realizing that vacations were just over. He cursed himself for goofing up. But Komal didn’t seem to mind.

Filed under: Short Story | No Comments »