N.E.W.

Got speakers last week and ordered a microphone today. Yet to get one thing that I am targetting (for a long time). If I get it next week, I am all set for a new venture! :)

This month's Desktop Background!

March is almost done and we are nearing April...And I got my new desktop background for April. It's the one that you see above...

Self Motivation!

This is one thing on my daily routine - Reading Motivational Quotes/passage. This is a habit that I cultivated 3 years back. I used to read motivational stuff everyday before I start my work. When I say 'read', it's in the sense of reading 'in depth'. It gives me a belief that the day is going to be just great! One of my friend introduced me to this 'Daily Motivator' column by Ralph Martson and I don't know whether he/she reads it often, but I do. At times, I will not understand the intricacies of that particular motivational passage and I will skip them and read another one. I feel that, it inculcates positive energy in you when you read. Want to glimpse @ one??? Go here: http://greatday.com

Naan Vs Avan :)

Naan Nindren...
Avanum Nindran...
Naan Ukkarndhen...
Avanum Ukkarndhan...
Naan Paarthen...
Avanum Paarthan....
Naan thalaiyai thiruppinen...
Avanum thiruppinan..
Naan sirithen...
Avan Sirikavillai...
Naan customeraga...
Avan photographeraga...
Irupadho photo studiovil...:)

- Raji

Sixer - The Musical way!

After a long time, spent 2 hours in Music, listening to few of my favourite songs. This was a dedicated effort than the usual. Although I have my ipod/pc played almost all the time with songs (I cannot pass a day without music, u know?? :)), I used to sing with it even if I don't know the lyrics of some of the songs. But today, I was carefully listening to the lyrics and was trying to adapt to the notes and sruthi (trying...trying...still trying...:)) When I think I will make justification to a song, will post it here, but for now...here is a post with my favourite lyrics from few of my favourite songs that I heard today.

1) iyarkeyin mozhigal purinthu vidu
manitharin mozhigal thevai-illai
ithaiyathin mozhigal purinthu vidu
manitharikku mozhiye thevai-illaiiiiiii

2) Aadhaara sruthi andha annai enbaen
Atharkaetra layam endhan thanthai enbaen
Sruthilayangal thannai sutrum swarangal ellam
Uravaaga amaindha nalla isai kudumbam
Thirandha kadhavu endrum moodaathu
Ingu sirandha isai virundhu kuraiyaathu
Ithu pol illam ethu sol thozhi

3) Yaayum Yaayum Yaaragiyaro endru nerndhadhenna
Yaanum Neeyum evvazhi aridhum uravu sernthathenna
Ore oru theendal seiydhai uyirkodi poothathenna

4) un vellik kolusoliyai veedhiyil kaettaal aththanai jennalum thirakkum
nee sirikkumboadhu paurnami nilavu aththanai dhisaiyum udhikkum
nee malligaip poovai soodik kondal roajaavukku kaaychchal varum
nee pattup pudavai kattik kondal pattup poochchigal moatcham perum

5) naatkaL neeLudhae nee engoa poanadhum
aen dhaNdanai naan ingae vaazhvadhum
orae njaabagam orae njaabagam
iru vizhi unadhu imaigaLum unadhu
kanavugaL mattum enadhae enadhu

6) Oodal vendaam odalghal vendaam
Osaiyodu naadham pola uyirile uyirile kalandhuvidu
Kanneeer vendaam kaayangal vendaam
Aarumaadha pillayepolaaa madiyile madiyile urangi vidu

Paadi dhaan paarungalen :)

Thiruvizha Kozham...

Me and my roomie were talking about childhood days and how we used to celebrate Diwali when we were kids. When we were at school, we used to talk about the new Diwali dress even months before Diwali celebration. And I used to dream about wearing my new Diwali dress even before I buy it. Although I was not a 'cracker' girl (gal who used to fire crackers :)) but I was a 'sweet' gal - On Diwali, my main task would be giving away sweets to neighbours (Cycle gapla apdiye enna naane sweetnu solliten :)) Even now, I could remember those Diwali dresses - The 'Pudhiya Mugam' midi (the one like Revathy used to wear in that movie), The 'Rangeela' dress (Sometime I used to call it as Suspendas but I don't know who introduced me this term ;)), The cute violetish grayish 'Pattu Pavadai', The green chudi that has mirror work etc., On the day of Diwali, you feel like you are an angel jumped out from heaven and when someone says 'You look good in this dress', then you would see your face in the mirror often and say to yourself 'Hmm..I'm looking great!'. I am sure it happened to most of us. The day after Diwali would be fun at school with sweets distribution wherein my favourites used to be Boondhi and murukku...:) and sighting at others dresses and commenting even teachers :)

As days pass by, there is no more Diwali like before. It's just another day. Not looking forward for new dress, crackers, neighbours, sweet distribution but just wishes and prayers from friends and family...We just live with it! Is it not true?

P.S.: It's not Diwali time but the conversation about it made me to write a blog post.

E-week challenge winners

If anyone want to know the background of e-week challenge, here is my previous post on this. http://reflectionsraji.blogspot.com/2008/02/beyond-borders-innovation.html

The Stanford's e-week challenge winners have been announced. This time, the everyday object provided for the challenge was 'Rubber band'. The team 'Rubberband together' created a ball out of a bunch of rubberbands and their goal was to sell it for $1/band. The sales value will go for the Breast Cancer foundation. The Team has a website too: www.rubberbandtogether.com. Check it out!

Beat the GMAT!

Although there are various online forums to prepare for GMAT, I would rate this as one of the excellent sources available on the web. This online forum has plethora of information but I liked Eric's 'Beat the GMAT' blog than the forum. It's simply amazing! From a preparation perspective, it helps a lot. As a first thing, I read his few blog posts and downloaded the flashcards. The blog shows his dedication and commitment towards GMAT preparation...Check out his blog @ http://beatthegmat.blogspot.com/

Hurrah!

Finally, got internet connection and it's up and running. Will weblog frequently from now on...Hurrah! & Happy :)

Peak of Annoyance...

I clicked it....
It shows connecting...
I looked eagerly...
It shows 'Connection takes a longer time than usual'...
I looked at it patiently...
It shows 'Identifying...'
I felt irritated...
It shows 'Move to another place'...
I felt annoyed but moved as suggested...
It shows 'There seems to be a problem'...
I looked like 'Din't you know it before that there was a problem?'
It shows 'Network adapter/driver doesn't function properly'
I updated the adapter/driver using Device manager
It still shows 'Cannot be connected'
Annoyed again...
It shows a message with a yellow triangle and an exclamatory mark inside
I got pissed off and disconnected it

When you are in US and you don't have an internet for a day, how do you feel? Don't you feel disconnected? Annoyed? I do...This is what happened y'day. The Internet has influenced people like me in US, a lot...Isn't it? I hope the internet connection gets better tomorrow like today :) And, don't you think the title sounds like 'Pursuit of Happyness'? Jus kidding!

Nee Marlyn Manroe...

When I heard this song for the first time, I did not like it. But I did not skip this song whenever it played in my itunes. Then I started liking it for the way it was sung by Benny Dayal and Ujjaini. Wat a stylish song? These few lines - I keep singing it.
Nee Marlyn Manroe cloninga
Illa Jeniffer lopezoda scanninga
One day mattum Gal friendaga variyya?????

Most of my friends started liking it after I insisted them to hear it.
I grabbed the lyrics from here. Chk out if you are interested:
http://nevil4u.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/nee-marilyn-monroe-atm-lyrics/

The GMAT conundrum...

I feel bad that I am talking about this for years, but not putting sincere efforts on it. But got a pile of books ordered through Amazon though. Better late than never. Got an idea how to tickle my interest to prepare for GMAT. Hopefully this time, the idea should work.

People, wish me Good luck! :))

Babson's Entrepreneurship

Look at the statistics of Babson College - Arthur's Centre of Entrepreneurship.
Number of entrepreneurship courses: 53
Enrolled students: 1583 of which 13.6% started a business
Percentage still in business: 89%
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 95%
Recent grads who started a business: 12%
Percentage still in business: 100%
Scholarships: $150,000
Number of entrepreneurship clubs: 13
Mentorship programs: 10
Business plan competition: Yes; Prize: $35,000

Good that I noticed this atleast now. All that I checked was Stanfords and Harvards which doesn't actually have good Entrepreneurship programs.

Thanks to Entrepreneur.com for throwing some light on this!

The second attempt!

This time in English...

Thoughts wandered...
Ideas flickered...
Memories triggered...
Emotions secured...
All in one place
That's my bathroom :)

- Raji

My choice

1. Got an orkut scrap from one friend requesting donation for some temple renovation
2. Got a call from another friend requesting monetary help to educate few kids at Salem, India

Without a second thought, I told yes to #2 and sent a small amount today. W.r.t to #1, I don't have a second thought - I am not inclined to donate to temples. That's my principle. I never liked putting 'kanikais' in hundials in temples but I had done it when I visited temples with parents bcoz I dint have this principle those days. Rather, I would give it to those homeless, educationless people in need. Don't get me wrong - I am neither an atheist nor an altruistic. I believe in some supernatural force which I call 'God' and I think that it drives my destiny. I do visit temples and to me, God is neither Muruga, Vinayaga, Jesus or Allah and I don't believe in all those human forms of God. It's one's perception and this is solely mine.

Un Aruginil - My first Tanglish attempt!

Please bear with me and my kavidhai. After all, I am a budding Kavingi :)

Nee illamal en thookam illai
Nee illamal naan aludhadhillai
Nee illamal en cell phonekku uraividam illai
Nee illamal en ragasiya kanavugal illai

Autumn, Springs, Summer, Winter endru ella kalamum vandhu pogiradhu
Aanal nee mattum ennai vittu poga marukirai
Appa, Amma, Akka, Uyir thozhargal endru ellorum avargal thisai nokki
Aanal nee mattumo en thisai nokiye...

Naan veetukku vandhal en kanmunne nee
Naan laptop eduthal en kanmunne nee
Ipdi enakkagave ennaiye edhirparkum nee
Unnoda Vaazhadha Vazhvenna Vazhvu???
Ey thalaiyananye...Ey thalaiyanaiye...
Eppodhume en aruginil nee...

- Raji

The fake 'DTE'

When you are praised by someone, you give a look like you are the most modest and down to earth person in this whole world saying 'Ayyo, adhellam onnum illa!'. But inside you will be singing 'I am on top of this world' song and flying. You get excited and do the usual things a bit quicker. You feel energetic that day. You finish up even the things that you most deferred. You think about it few times on the same day. I call it as the fake 'DTE' (Down to Earth) factor. Do you have it in you? ;) It's in me too :)

Anjathey...

Not a second Kaakha Kaakha, Not a Valder Vetrivel, Not a Vetaiyadu Vilayadu but Anjathey is an ordinary police story. OK to watch it rather than watching the other filmi Masalas. A 'marupatta' Prasanna with his hippy 'thalai' - different role for Prasanna to cherish :) Nothing much to say...

Where Memories die...

One thing that I expected, happened - Yeah! I completed reading 'The funda of Mixology' :) When I have plans to do something and if it goes as expected, I feel a great sense of fulfillment in me. I guess it's the same with everyone. Here is what I felt after reading 'The funda of Mixology'.
1. Mainak has a great language structure and it flows naturally. My GRE knowledge helped me a lot here
2. The Message that he conveyed 'When you enjoy all aspects of life, there isn't much to balance' - I liked this
3. The narration of a beer can falling - I reached out for the bedside light switch and accidentally sent the half empty beer can on the table crashing on the floor. Before it completed its journey to the floor, it took revenge on me by taking the ashtray next to it - Good one!
4. When I flipped the first few pages, I felt - This is what almost all those whom I know have cribbed about - One of them wanted to be a singing pro; One wanted to run in the Olympics; One wanted to be a VLSI designer; One wanted to be an IAS officer; One wanted to be an Entrepreneur (That's me ;)) but none of this 'one's' are the ones that they wanted to be
5. The Book @ 'Where Memories die' - An amazing read which kept me in state of confusion and suspense...I don't want to break the crux here. But it took me to my own fantasy land and you know what? Dreams and Fantasies always make you elated and that's what happened to me too. It took me sometime to come out from my fantasy land. The fantasy land neither included Shreya Sarans or Deepika Padukones like my Guy friends say nor did it include Aryas and Madhavans like my girl friends say...It was a la-la land of career options :)
6. The few simple rules for being in love - Wish everyone follows that...Then there won't be divorces or secret affairs

Last but not the least...this greatly inspired me...I am not going to write whatever Mainak has beautifully conveyed in his poem but the gist of what I got from it.
Your whole life spent planning...But your dreams unfulfilled...things not yet done...But, if you have one day where you can live upto your dreams...Will you slow down or shine?

On the whole, it was a nice read. And now, I am going to target on my next read - 'The Options' by Daniel Lyons. It's not a novel but a book of comical parody.

The Dropouts

Tiger Woods (Golf champion) - Stanford dropout
Bill Gates (Microsoft) - Stanford dropout
Steve Jobs (Apple, Pixar) - Reed dropout
Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) - Stanford dropout
Steve Wozniack (Apple co-founder) - Berkeley dropout
Gautam Adani (Adani Ent. - Asia's 2nd richest person) - School dropout

Although all these people are school/college drop-outs, they are tycoons now and modeled great strategies in their field. Does this mean preparing for failure can bring you success? If your child falls under this dropout category, don't scold him/her. Who knows? He/She might become a tycoon one day :) Jus kiddin'!

Source: Web

On this day...

To me, Motivating others is a great thing and whoever shows that calibre, I would end up liking them. For all those motivating woman in my life who made me reach this level, I wish you a
'Happy Women's day!' and I salute you all for cultivating 'ME'!

The Newsmaker - Mark Zuckerberg

When Mark Zuckerberg showed up in Palo Alto three years ago, he had no car, no house, and no job. Today, he's at the helm of a smokin'-hot social-networking site, Facebook, and turning down billion-dollar offers. Mark Zuckerberg was included in the Forbes youngest billionaires list because of Facebook. The value of his wealth is estimated at 1.5 billion dollars, which is enough to be included in the Forbes Billionaires list as the 785th entry. He is the youngest member of this prestigious company at 23. This has been a landmark week for Mark Zuckerberg, for being declared to be the youngest "self-made" billionaire on the planet.

Mark is a hacker, college dropout, CEO and now the youngest self-made billionaire. Will he in the Billionaire charts for long as Microsoft's Bill Gates? Let's see...

Source: Forbes, Fastcompany

The 'Wrong's :)

Wrong Call - May end up in a relation
Wrong direction - It gives you a ticket in US and a hard look with 'Bemani Vootla sollitu vandhitya?' in India :)
Wrong diet - Leads to a prolonged bride/groom seeking due to obesity
Wrong address - Waste of time and money
Wrong programming - May give you a pink slip

Everyone knows all these 'Wrong's but I wanted to put a mokkai through my blog and achieved it here! :)))

Being...

Idle - I never want it
Enthusiastic - I like it
Talkative - Hard to be one
Nerd - I am sometimes
Expressive - When I dance
Comedian - When I swipe credit card in a grocery store and say it's a debit card (unknowingly)
Sensitive - When Rajini is beaten in the movie 'Basha'
Horrible - When I sing melodies :)
Narrative - About an incident or a movie...I will take you there :)

- Gives a broad smile in my face when I think of all these :)

Why I love/hate....???

There is a column like this in 'The MetroPlus' published in 'The Hindu'. It talks about the movie that a celebrity love/hate and why? Although I got the title from that, I am not going to write about movies because I am not good at it. I had few thoughts of writing about US, India, Family, Friends, Personalities, blogs in this column but it kinda led me to boredom. Since Music is always a pleasure to my ears and mind, taking a stance on the songs here.

Why I love
Sonnalum Kaetpadhilai from Kaadhal Virus - The rendition by Harini in this song is amazing. The start of the song with nam thana nam thana...It gives a great feel. I wonder how the lyricists can come with such simplistic but great lyrics and convey what they wanted to. The high/low notes in the song seem to be a perfect blend and I love to hear it! I have it in my Ipod and I can enjoy listening to it whenever I want. I was not a great fan of this song when the movie was released. I started listening to it only a couple of years ago but I love it!

Why I hate
Paartha Naal Mudhal from Vetaiyadu Velayadu - Almost all my friends and acquintances love this song. I don't have a firm reason why I hate this song but I hate it to the core. I guess it's because when this song was released, it hit almost every walk of life - I could hear it in every tea kadais, every FM channels, most of the people's caller tunes, can be seen in almost all Satellite TV channels even when you switch channels in remote, you will hit it atleast once in a day. Whatever be it, I hate it!

Yippie!!!

Got the book 'The funda of Mixology' from India through my Periamma who has come to US recently. It was a good thing to receive an email from the author Mainak himself giving me a suggestion on how to order and get his book without wasting huge amount of money in shipping. But since someone was coming from India,I thought that should be the best way to get it.

I have 3 of the books that I wanted to read - Options by Daniel Lyons, The Icon about Steve Jobs and The funda of Mixology by Mainak Dhar. Yet to read these but I guess I could devote some time this weekend to cover any of these. Will see if I can come up with some blog post after I read these...

Happy Weekend!!!

My first(last) Penfriend...

The 'first's always hold a special place in one's heart. This is true for almost everyone. Be it the first school, first job, first cycle, first car, first crush, first love, first friend, first Birthday, first anniversary, first book that you read and much more to this list...I started writing this blog because I felt nostalgic after visiting my childhood friend at Seattle last weekend. And I got reminded of my first pen friend story when I was travelling in air. The best thing is I dont have a first pen friend but I have a first pen friend story :) I should say it's the first and last pen friend story...Jus a rewind...

We (me and my sis) used to get a magazine called 'Quest' from one of my big mamas who subscribed it for us. Although I was not a voracious reader those days, I used to see pictures in every pages and the last page always attracted me - There it was! - The 'Pen friend' column. I did not start thinking on having a pen friend until I came to know that my sis had one from Russia called Luda Kuranshcick - spelling might be wrong in this name but it sounded something like this. Seeing this, my cousin also tried to have a pen friend and she too succeeded in the mission. Her pen friend name was Rita. It made me jealous in seeing my sis and cousin talking about their pen friends at times. They used to send letters, receive photos of their pen friends, their culture, their heir, their family, friends and about their country.

I thought I should also have one (atleast for the sake of talking about it with my sis and cousin), but I greatly failed in the first attempt itself. I guess it was during my 4th/5th grade. I din't even know how to write a letter to a friend. All I knew was writing leave letters, letter ordering books to VIP & Co., that helped me in cracking English exams. So, with my dignity lowered, I went to my sis and asked her to help me in writing a letter to a pen friend. I had chosen a female as a pen friend, but OMG! u know wat? I don't remember her name now. If it would have been successful, I would have remembered her name.

My sis agreed to help me in this matter and we compiled a letter telling her about myself, my whereabouts, my hobbies, family and what I do. I was very eager to send a photo of mine to her but my sis and cousin cracked a joke when I told this. They said I won't get a reply if I send a photo. Their point was that girl will not reply after seeing my photo :) But believe me, I was not that bad looking atleast during my childhood days - I was a feeble gal wearing shimmies (almost everyday but the color changes often :)) with a 'monkey crop', a gobi pottu, a rose shaped slide in the monkey crop, without an earring or a bangle but always with my fav red colored electronic watch (there's a different story on this watch when I dropped it in the flush and went back to Aayama in the school asking her to get it back for me :)) - To be precise, I had a very simple look.

Finally, I convinced my sis and cousin and sent the letter with the so called beautiful photo of mine to my first 'Pen friend'. After I sent it, I used to ask my mom almost every day whether the postman gave any letters for me - I was expecting a reply from my pen friend eagerly. This happened for approximately 5 years - These 5 years, I had high hopes that I would definitely get a reply from her but I did not. After that, I lost interest and totally forgot about it but even till date when we (me, my sis and cousin) chat together, we used to talk about my first(last) pen friend and they still think it was because I sent a photo of mine. I wish I had that photo to post it here in this blog (Hopefully people should not have stopped reading my blogs after seeing it...Jus kiddin').

Although my first attempt of having a pen friend was fatal, I am happy that I have got great friendships thereafter....Wat say???

New Desktop Background

As usual, I changed my desktop background for this month. But this time, my choice was pretty quick. Here it is: