Ninaivugal...Thoughts

Pic: Two square at Times Square There are some places in the world, the aura of which can leave you gasping for breath. The layout of these cities are just breathtaking and the feeling of I want to see it again does not leave you at all. Paris , one of my favorite cities in the world, got that feeling instilled within me for two whole days a couple of years back. The city is still fresh in my mind and I would love to make a trip to Paris time and again. Now, it was the turn to visit New York , the financial capital of the United States. I would easily place New York in the same bracket as Paris. New York easily is the best place I have been so far, and there is no doubt that I will be visiting NY again and again. It is a place which will keep calling you and there is no choice but to bask in the beauty of Times Square . Pic: New York Collage Day Zero I am not referring to a placement section of an IIT or an IIM. Day zero just happens to be the first day, when we all drove ...

As I recover from the sadness of leaving Rolla to begin my job life at Boston, sitting in the lounge of the food court at the Charlotte airport, I got a wonderful forward from Prasad directing me to take a peek at the IBNlive article composed by Sandeep Verma, an analyst at Lehmann Brothers. I did not need this article to set me thinking but it kind of gave me an idea of what all the desis here in US are thinking about returning back home. One of the common topics of discussion in any forum " Are you returning back to India for good or not? " generally gets a lot of heads thinking, at least if it doesn't get them rolling. Even a die hard American fan desi who would want to settle here will think twice when you ask him this question. It is not easy to say yes to that question even if you know it is a no. The American dream is such that everything is so undecided - you don't have any idea how you are going to fare in your GRE, no idea whether you can get an admit, ...

Pic: Graduation!!!! The feelings on 12th May, 2007 can just not be translated into words as I went on to the dais to shake hands with the chancellor and the dean in the presence of a host of dignitaries, and more importantly in the presence of some of the closest friends at Rolla. Yes! I am talking about the graduation ceremony at UMR, Rolla . Yadu and I have had a similar background with both of us having worked for a couple of years in the same company before doing our masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and having arrived at the same time, it was highly imperative that we leave together. Pic: 1300, #7 - Rama, me, Venkatesh and Yadu The graduation ceremony is certainly a once in a lifetime experience, and I just understood why this ceremony is so important in the United States. I have none of my family members in the United States and so, obviously, I look upon friends before taking any step in this big land. I, rather we, had the good fortune of having ...

Talk of South Indian cinema, and immediately you have some vintage names ripping through your mind. In terms of music, you have MS. Viswanathan and Ilayaraja making gigantic waves in Tamil cinema and the first instance of singer who can leave you craving for more is none other than our very own and dynamic S. P. Balasubramaniam (popularly known as SPB ). SPB is one of a kind singer who has added so much versatility to the vocal world. Be it a Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam movie, you couldn't find the songs not having SPB lend his voice to it. That was the case in late seventies, extending to the eighties and well throughout the nineties, and the best part is, he still continues today for selective compositions in the same way. He is a music director's delight and his well defined voice modulation is truly unbeatable. There is so much life to the song when sung by SPB. SPB made his mark in Tamil cinema when MGR was looking for a fresh voice. It was way back in th...