Raghu

One year from now supposedly there should be some catastrophic events taking place that will change EARTH. According to some, massive solar storms, magnetic pole reversal, earthquakes, super volcanoes, and other drastic natural events may occur by this date next year. Some even claim alien invasions are going to take place. You can go online and get a list of dates predicted for apocalyptic events and for known reasons the one nearest and well known will be Dec 21st 2012. Personally I feel the changes have already begun, take a note of all that is happening around the world. Right from what happened in Libya, Japan, USA, Thailand, London and never the less India; also score of other minor to major incidents that have taken place all around the world. I do not feel it will be end of the Earth but there will be changes around the world that will change the way we operate over here. Right form how we treat each other and how we cross over from the great wall of divides we have built. Th...

Right from my early 20’s, I have been very much fascinated by this thing called "Saree" and I used to enjoy watching women in Sarees. For me it is the sexiest garment that India has given to the world of Fashion. In India every region has their own unique way with it and the way it is presented is very pleasing for the eye. Based on what I have seen so far, will try to categorize them as below mentioned. 1. 10/10's : The Saree looks so perfect on them, you feel as if the weaver had this woman in mind when he was weaving the Saree. Each fold of the Saree enhances their beauty and feels as if the Saree is so proud and happy to hug these women. Recently seen a picture of Sushmita Sen, while she was attending a Durga Puja somewhere in Mumbai (it was this picture that gave me the idea to write on this topic), what I felt was, A simple Saree that was carried off very well and she surely has elegance. 2. Rappers : Just a fancy name for "Wrapping". Here it is more a...

There are many times I have been put on the spot in a conversation? Someone at a gathering makes an insulting or an uneasy comment or your boss speaks down to you? In response, you either say the wrong thing, triggering an argument... or you say nothing at all and dwell on it the rest of the day. Then suddenly it comes to you -- I should have said... But of course, it’s too late to utter that perfect response that you think of now. I’ve had many a situations like these and did my bit of innovation. Still I feel that I am not that well equipped with tools (so to say) for an effective comeback. What I want to have is a collection of comeback techniques that allows me to better handle a confrontation, take control of how people treat me in relationship or at work. When a conversation grows tense or takes an unwanted turn, I often get overwhelmed by feelings and tend to fall into poor communication habits. I typically get defensive or lash out; this is most common reaction I find most ...

These are few habits that I have acquired after a few years in corporate world. For sure I do not know if they are good or bad but for the time being will tag it as bad habits. Filtered / Mineral Water : Basic necessity, but never was I used to bottled water or filtered water not even at home. But these days we go out for a dinner to a new place, it will be only bottled water (or so called mineral water). Lately this has become a default behavior; even a well known waiter at a regular restaurant does not ask for type of water we prefer but just brings two bottles along with the order. Liquid Hand Wash : In marketing terms this should be one product that has been put into our heads very well. And I am getting so used to it that if I do not see it at the wash basin I feel something is missing. Toilet Paper : At home, on a Sunday morning, I wake up and go to the wash basin, brush my teeth, just to get that fresh feel I pour some water on my face. Till here it is fine, after that I...

Contd... No, there was no Non-Vegetarian food but I never thought a real mix of all vegetarian food can trouble you a lot. Ever felt you could see vegetarian food from most parts of India on your plate, let me guide you through with my words. The man serving comes towards me and serves a “tandoori roti” and I put up a face like “what the ____”, I felt like saying “Sir this is what I have daily, I was expecting some authentic south Indian food here”, few seconds later come the “paneer butter masala” and I give the same expression. Now, one more person passes by and serves some kind of vegetarian salad (usually taken before you start main course), then one more passes by and throws in few pieces of carrot. By this time I was making up my mind to have the usual north Indian dinner…and just then….comes “Bhindi Fry”, “White Rice” and “Ghee”. Now like a good old veggie boy I start with Bhindi fry, white rice and just at the same time comes a Kannada dish “Bisibelabath” (hope you read it rig...

Recently I was persuaded by my family to visit a reception of known relative’s son who got married to a Mallu girl. Nice looking pair and GOD bless them with more love and happiness. They happen to be far off relatives (to me) of my dad and best part is that most of them were well known to our family. A little slow in grasping those relations but with great long explanations from many people again and again, got to know most of the people and how they are related to us; it is like from every nook and corner somehow and from somewhere most of us were related and it is very difficult to remember them. Most of the faces looked familiar but getting them by relation is a tough task for me. Ok now with the very confidence of having an early dinner I did not have anything that evening and started for the reception hall, owing to huge traffic, we got delayed by an hour and reached there by 7.30 PM. By then the hall was already crowded and buzzing aloud. The married couple did not arrive yet ...

Recently was reading a magazine and came to know about a Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming, yes the one who discovered Penicillin. He discovered penicillin, when samples he had carelessly left exposed in his mess of an office were contaminated while he was on vacation. For some people, a certain amount of messiness can be beneficial. So is being messy really so bad? In general society isn’t kind to messy people. Parents punish children who won’t clean their rooms, and your boss might question your competence if you have a messy desk, until his desk is like that. Most messy people can locate what they need fairly quickly they just look where they last had put the item and go on from there. When a mess has been cleaned, it often takes much longer to remember where the item has been stored or much worse you even forget where you have put that thing. This thing happens with me a lot, at times I do some maintenance work in my room and I put all things in order but when my mom comes and...

On a Sunday evening I and my friend were taking a small walk around, as we were waiting for another one to turn up in 15 minutes, on the way my friends neighbor, elderly lady asks him “ela unnav amma ‘X’” for which my friend gives her the most common lie or let’s say obligatory answer “nenu bagunnanu aunty” and we move from there. On our small walk we discuss it further but he quietly dismisses the argument saying she was just an elderly woman and should not matter much. Then the usual fun, jokes and weekly updates went on. Today again while starting for office the same question continued “How are you?” I started, counting the number of times today people ask me "How are you?” or "How ya' doin'?" (A little posh version), there were quite a big number of people who asked me the question and it has really started to disturb me a little. I don't mean to be unfriendly here, but "How are you?" is not really used as a question but rather a long way to s...

Some day when I am dreaming, deep in love and not a lot to do, that day I will remember the few below things that I am slowly losing touch with. Writing : Yes, I used to love writing letters with my own hands rather than typing them. I had a liking for ink pens and just writing with that pen made me feel good. Apart from letters I used to indulge with the little bit poet in me and flirt a little (with words). It is used to be fun; right now I only send email and blog at times. In the current times I am only remembered by email address, may be in days to come, people will think that Raghu’s mails in Calibri font with text size 11 used to be so much fun. For me, when I can see some one’s hand writing on the envelope and remember them, then read the letter and recollect the memories, is such a good feel. Yes, the good old snail mail methods and yes that might categorize me as a person from Stone Age but there is still some romance left in it for me. Need to get back to this habit. Ga...

I never thought a simple Backpack can become a talking point for me. Recently I have been hearing a lot of comments about me still using a backpack. Though I never respond back with any comments, I just laugh it away but in the recent past taking a lot of heat. Basically it does serve me in lot of ways, right from carrying Tiffin box, snack box, head phones, ear phones, i-pod, license, money, books and many more things that are not worth a mention. I tried answering the question as to why I still use it, below is what I found: 1. May be… I am over compensating for all the days that I did not go to college with a back pack. 2. May be… It’s the revenge of the sling bag that I stopped using as it was not so convenient for me. 3. May be… It is people’s way to complain that I am not carrying enough snack and Tiffin for all of them. 4. May be… It is the cry of the laptop that I deny to carry. 5. May be… Carrying it around still makes me feel like an unruly college going youth in comp...

Today morning I was taking a walk around the house, while brushing teeth and overheard my immediate neighbors talking about teenagers. Their conversation was going in Telugu and one of them happened to say “eee kalam pillalu bothigaa chaduvu sandhya lekunnda pothunnnaru andi”, the very mention of these words made me smile as I also got to hear these lines a lot from my parents. Few seconds later I enter the scene and I with my frothy white mouth with the tooth brush still inside, bend my head forward, try giving them a smile and move out from that place. Now what is there in the line that made me smile is, the way I see the very lines at two different stages of my life. Even before I tell you the difference in my view point “ Then & Now ” I will try to get you a brief understanding of those lines in English. Basically what they are trying to convey here is teenagers these days are having no proper sense of education and time. The two words here “ Chaduvu ” & “ Sandhya ”, the fi...

Last Sunday with not a lot to do, I was checking few of my old collections and found a letter, yes the below one. I have read it 3-4 times on the day when it was given to me and later, may be after 2 years or so again I read it (accidentally when I was searching for my certificates) and again last Sunday after more than 4 years. Now at the 3 junctures where I have read the letter I had a wide variety of feelings. The First Time: I was handed this letter along with some instructions (instructions were not to share it with any one) which I followed word to word without any second thought. After all these years now I feel, I did the wrong thing, may be. As per a old Telugu film song “Adavari maatalaku ardhaley veruley, Auvunu antey kadaniley, kadu antey auvunaniley” which means when a woman says “Yes” it means “No” and when she says “No” it means “Yes”. Now whatever were her intensions then or now, I will go ahead and share it over here. Happiness ; yes, this is what I felt for the fi...

My Personal Data...for your eyes only!!!

No I am not a secret agent nor I handle big projects, so to say, but what I am trying to do here is to recollect some things that happened during and after a recent visit to a place called Grass walk, I am not sure on how to classify the place - as a resort or one in a kind place but is surely a place to visit. From the day one when we eight friends decided on this thing to happen the only word that was running in mails was Project Grass Walk, as I feel getting all of them at one place has been difficult task in the recent past and to successfully complete and having a experience and memories like this is amazing. Let’s go by parts: The Lunch : We were to meet at our Juice Barons place, this a name I recently started calling one of my friend. As usual we arrived on IST (Individual Standard Time). As far as my memory goes, really after a long time we were there at lunch time and eating together. At Barons place Juice is always at the tops and we were all set to spend a whole day a...

Now why should a temple visit be of such importance that one has to write about it, a Brahmin boy and temple should be like a never ending romance that is going on for ages. Hmm not so in this Brahmin boy’s case as I am not so regular with visiting temples, we all have our routines and sentiments of going to the temples and holy places, just happens that I have some weird reasons as to why I do not visit temples. We can talk on this later but as of now let me tell you something I faced with my "Once in a Moonlight" kind of visit to the temple. Last Saturday I and my dad were visiting the temple to perform a pooja, since I was to perform the pooja I was wearing the traditional clothing [pancha and anga vastram] (if I am right). I soon as I enter the temple, people were watching me as if some alien has come into the place and the best part is since it is temple in the colony itself most of the faces were known. I was worried the dressing has gone wrong somewhere; thankfully a...

Yes, my daughter’s name is Shrusti and yes again that my Father and Mother do not know about this happening. This has been one of the good experiences I had, for the three months I have been in the ‘ Act ’ and ‘ That ’ resulted in ‘ This ’ and the outcome has been sweet so far. I felt now is the time the world knows about this. This happened during my first job which was a new internet startup company and I was working with some great and good looking people around. During this time my job was to promote the website in different forms on internet. Right from talking to people on this, promote the activities we do on different social networking sites, web forums, expat sites etc etc. on one such promotional activity I reached a woman’s forum and a lady from Bangalore was the target as she was looking for something the our companies site was offering. Now rather than make it looking like a direct sales pitch for the site, I registered myself with woman’s name, as it was a forum dedica...

It is always fun to think of how some things have begun for you. Me being no exception, but those feelings reminisce of all those activities that followed with it as well. On one of a recent outing with friends, we were talking about how we started drinking and our early days with “Beer”. Long ago three friends (Me, Mr. A & Mr. B) decided that it is high time we started having beer. This started few things that none of us have ever done, like one has to go get the bottle from the shop (Yes, we were developed enough to know that we need to get it from a liquor shop), from where should we get it and WHO will get it. Now ‘Me’ being a little more crazy than A & B volunteered to go to the shop and get the bottle. From where was the next big question, this was supposed to be a top secret activity and none of the colony people were to know about this including family members, their known friends etc etc. So ‘Me’ again picked a place far away 3-4 KM from our current location for thi...

Is The Internet changing our brains? I felt there is a certain way in which we take the information from pages on net and printed pages, our brains process Internet pages differently than they do printed pages. That can affect how much we learn when we read—and even alter our brains themselves. After a period of time we get adjusted to a specific kind of reading and accordingly our brain gets adjusts to it. For the past many years, reading books has helped train human brains to concentrate intently over extended periods of time, an ability that has helped to produce ideas and inventions. If we abandon books in favor of the Internet, our ability to maintain focus and think up new ideas might diminish. There are distractions which don’t just slowdown our reading, they also make it less likely that we will understand and retain new knowledge. When we read online, words are not the only information coming at us. There usually are eye-catching Pop up advertisements alongside the text and...

Well no, this is not a new version of the great Martin Luther King’s speech but just a dream that I had yesterday. I am someone who believes that one has to dream but wake up and work towards that dream but not this one though. Now what did I see? Bright sun shine was beating down on me and I just manage to open my eyes and see myself in big Roman Colosseum, I hear a lot of shouting and talking going around, I just look around and to see where the sounds are coming from. I see a lot of people gathered around me and they are shouting and up above in the stands there are lot many familiar faces, lot of friends and family members, most of whom are eating, drinking and smoking like royals and looking down on me very seriously. I try to get up but cannot as my hands and legs are tied from behind, somehow I manage to get up and sit in kneel down position. Now I get to see the faces, all of them and some people are dressed as guards around me. The guards near me do not resist my movement ...

Will start saying that this was the best experience I ever had. During my quest to study MBA I happened to apply to 9-10 colleges, got selected in 8 of them and there was one more which I needed to attend. Got through the written, GD & PI and short listed in all the colleges I applied. Though I was not inclined to do an MBA from this place, I just gave a try at this college as I had few more days to decide and finalize on the college in Pune. Place was never a criteria for me but later realized that I had applied for colleges in some nice places like Hyderabad, Pune & Bangalore. This involved a lot of travelling and some good experiences. As of now will only talk about the one more related to the topic and write more about the others later. To keep myself occupied with the free time I had, I applied to this college and got the call for GD & PI rounds here also, so as usual went to the college with a neutral mind and with the intension to give my best here. They put us up ...

Few days back I and my friend were going to a dining joint to take a snack. On the way we were discussing world cup and our situation last time around. This being the Cricket World Cup time and we being a nation who is cricket crazy and we just went through the past few years and the twists and turns that have taken place in our lives alongside cricket. I just went ahead and compiled a short note on how I was doing at each world cup time. 1975 - Both my Parents were blissfully unaware of what was lying ahead in their lives. I do not how were they with cricket at that time. 1979 - Okie both got married few years back and Elder sister came into existence. Aaap Kataaar mein hai kripaya pratiksha karein. 1983 - Yes, Came into this world and was roaming around semi naked by this time or even naked. Possibly the best times, I should say, no tensions, no worries and still no cricket…just enjoying. 1987 – Hmmm by this time was little into cricket and more into enjoyment. 1992 –...

Now going by the physics and chemistry experiments and how you might have gone about documenting them, will try something similar and try run a small experiment on understanding Behavior and Emotional patterns. I have done this earlier but for different conditions and requirements, most of the time it has worked and will give it a try again. Aim : To understand Behavior and Emotional patterns, keeping in mind the Human and Social Networks. Requirements : 1. Take your own example, social circle & Networks 2. Few Good and Bad Incidents. 3. Little bit of thought process. 4. Some Amount of time Process : I would start by saying that, Behavior and emotions are extremely contagious. They spread from person to person like germs, touching thousands of people, influencing everything from our happiness and professional success It might sounds odd because as human beings, we like to believe that we—not our families or our social networks—are in control of personal and private decisions. But...

In the past few months I had some disturbing instances that I faced in the public toilets/Restrooms; basically seen some outrageous and strange situations off late. If at all someday I venture out to write a hand book on good manners then will add the below mentioned points into it. So far I have not come across any which will give me a good enough information on how to behave in a public restroom or so to say “public restroom etiquette” as such. So here I will try to pass out pass on some etiquette’s and request all, whom I had the Privilege/Misfortune of sharing the rest room with. 1. When you are entering or you are already in the restroom, I beg you to keep oral communication and decibel levels at a minimum level. In other words, shut the F__K up. All who are in the room are not having a communal, joyous experience here. Just finish your job and get out. 2. Now something much worse than #1? Turning your head and looking at the guy you are talking to, getting a sneak peak and making...