Evolution of Pi

Warning:- Post might sound like one from a Reverend Mathew..but unintentional..;-)


When you were a little kid and given a pencil most of you must have started with drawing simple shapes like a square…a rectangle or maybe a circle…Your parents might have held the tiny hands of yours and helped you feel the beauty of holding the pencil and the power of expressing yourself.

Drawing a circle is often what most kids start with….The flower which you first drew with the little bud in the center…..The iris of the eye which you drew on fresh papyrus …..But drawing the circle was tricky…Most of the time you wouldn’t end up at the starting point as you curve the circle into shape… otherwise it turned out into an oval or any abstract shape….Even the finest of artists cannot draw a perfect circle without leaving little smudges somewhere…

You must be wondering what’s my point anyways…Well there is a lot more about the perfect circle I want to tell you about….

Anchor yourself
If you want to draw the flawless circle you would use the compass anchoring the sharp end to the centre of the paper…Anchoring yourself and gripping to the focus is crucial….If I can take the liberty of analogizing its more like anchoring to your faith or religion….I am someone who believe every religion enunciates the same values ….Just like how your Math teacher taught when you were young, its very important to have a firm anchor around which you move and which can guide you as you shape the arc…Once you finish the circle the center is not visible to the naked eye, but its decisive to give you the necessary direction and guidance. Just like God whom you cannot see and yet the presence which is important as you shape up.

The strong spike
The spike or the long arm of the compass is like your conscience which is pivoted to your faith...which helps you define what your values are….It encompasses what our ethics and ideals are and the inherent humane feelings which makes us a social being. Just like a good spike which is made of steel, our principles give us the strength and ability to link with our faith. Most of us have these ideals but sometimes we end up in situations questioning them or weighing whether to hold on to it…Maybe the compass leg is made of steel…but holding on to it is more worth than its weight in gold….

The pencil
The pencil is you….
There is no point in having the right anchor or the perfect compass unless you tighten the pencil well…. Eventually the artist who etches the circle is you and how good you can do it depends on how well you hold yourself to the compass.


The center, the compass and the pencil together creates the wonderful synergy …There has been times in my life when I thought I could draw the circle just with the pencil…And I failed…Then I thought I could be the atheist….a compass with a well tightened pencil but without dropping the anchor anywhere….And then I wondered If love could happen without a reason why do I need to seek reasoning in the existence of god….And I sought for the anchor…Well it is no good either if you have the focus and a nice compass and yet the pencil is loosely held…a pencil which is clinging on and yet wobbling around...That what many of us are like...really!


And when you have everything right...the faith in your anchor…the paragon compass and you are secured well to it like a kid holding tight to its mother…you get it…you grow from the little kid who started with a flimsy pencil to a fine person who can draw the perfect circle….the perfectly meaningful circle of life....as god himself conceived ….

P.S. In case you are wondering I have caught the Aristotle flu... ;-)
P.P.S. pictures courtesy flickr

Mundu-blowing Stuff!!

Generations of internet users have ridiculed at one of the finest mallu inventions of all time besides kerala parotta…The Mundu…Joke and forwards lampooning the humble mundu and its mallu affiliations are legendary…And many among you might have already read stupid jokes like..

“Why is industrial productivity so low in Kerala?
Because 86% of the shift time is spent on lifting, folding and re-tying the Mundu “

‘ha ha ha’

uhhh!!!! What a preposterous joke!!

I mean, how someone could get it wrong when everyone knows it is 76%!!

Its high time creases are folded ,some dust is kicked, scores are settled and the rest of the world understand some of the finer points about what the French might describe as, joie de vivre …

The mundu is not a mere piece of clothing…it’s a statement...It’s a way of living…and in post life heaven, when the recycled ones arrive at the pearly gates you would hear them thumping their chests and say…

“Proud to die a Munduian!”

The Romans knew about the Mundu but they did not know how to wear it and as patience ran out they finally pinned it behind their shoulders like the dude Commodus in popular gladiator movies … But we malayalees actually have a good laugh watching what they have done with our Mundu!! In our ‘costly’ opinion anyone could pull off in a mundu and look smart….except Shaquille O’Neal!

And ofcoz not many realize that Mundu is something which can express itself emotionally…Do you know a piece of clothing which can give ‘the signals’ based on how its worn? An excerpt from Sigmundu Freud in his famous psycho-analytical journal gives rare insights…

‘The slightly above-the-knee folded state indicates ferociousness, anger and combativeness...And a full bloom mundu indicates tranquility, friendliness and peace…Needless to say a state without the Mundu would mean someone is pretty drunk!!!’

Amazing isn’t it…eh…

Remarkably Mundu is the only piece of clothing which you could wear and clear airport security check without a whimper of a beep…And even if they want to strip and frisk, you could probably do it faster than an average Las Vegas striptease act!!…That’s why Airport Security and frisking staff have declared Malayalee men as the most preferred travelers across the world...

Mundu has been the subject of several unnatural phenomena’s too…There are times in the morning I have practically seen my mundu lying several meters away making me wonder if it is haunted…and occasionally due to my sober state I have walked into the living room sporting floral printed bed sheets to the chagrin of unassuming guests or relations. Collateral damage I would say….and a small price to pay for uninterrupted air supply….


The practical use of Mundu though sarcastically ridiculed is indeed serious research material. Many sport enthusiasts swear by the practical use of Mundu in adventure sports like rock climbing and Para-gliding. Consider a scenario where your parachute opens and is found torn during the descent…For the love of good lord the only thing you would wish handy is the humble mundu rather than a levi strauss jeans...make knots at the fours end and glide down effortlessly to safety…And technically walking down the street on a sufficiently windy day, the Mundu can generate enough drag to allow me claim that I have a high-flying career….you never thought you could claim that until now...isn’t?

Mundu hoisting used to be an ancient custom in gothic Kerala which over the years have evolved to modern ways like flag hoisting ceremony across the world…The cultural impact of Mundu has not been realised to its full impact unfortunately.

And probably the detractors may not be aware of the fact that several nations around the world look unto the mundu with deep respect as in the case of Germany where they have even a city named Dortmundu in honor.

Hmm…I am getting emotional here and I might ‘start’ exaggerating things….before that let me warn you next time I see someone who doesn’t respect our national dress….be prepared for this


Enjoy the long weekend......... and this beautiful song..

P.S. Do check the tale of this letter boy..;-D

The tag of honest confessions....

• I don’t need to introduce Kochuthresiamma chechi (I hope she doesn’t mind me addressing her like that) as everyone knows the blogger she is…and when you get tagged or awarded by a favourite blogger of yours it brings even more happiness…That’s what I felt when I got this surprise on Monday morning…
  

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!”

Here goes the tag....

* I rarely give out what I feel deep inside me…I am often blamed to be a closed door person. But I think I have made a lot of progress ever since I started blogging where I took the comfort of talking to people without having any worries about what the person would think about me…

* I cannot stand people who are religious propagandist and that includes all the radical groups who think the sole aim of their life is to indulge in conversions…And I don’t like people who pretend to be religious and at the same time do everything unethical…Rather be yourself!!

* Although I often try to pass off and thought of myself as someone who doesn’t get hurt easily and more of the steel heart variety....I have come at terms with the bitter fact that I do get hurt easily… Whenever I feel emotionally down or let down by someone I need my period of getting to terms with it…It doesn’t happen for me clap and gone…But I always rebound after time after a suitable period of introspection …I am a die hard happiness seeker.

* If there is one thing which I hope I ll never do in future is to flog my child…I don’t believe in the language of sticks…Neither I do believe in the concept of earning respect out of fear…

* I dream a lot…a hell lot more than what a regular psychiatrist might prescribe…;-D

* Would love to repeat the same lines from Pareltank...I am glad I did blog…Though sometimes it brings moments of sadness, on the whole it has been one wonderful experience…esp. for the last three years spending outside India, I feel the blog is almost like an umbilical cord attached to folks back home…Many bloggers have influenced me more than they themselves could imagine.

* Getting older is so uninteresting…The responsibility added with getting mature is sometimes scary.

* I am a fan of Niles Crane, Celinamma aunty and Mother Teresa.

* Its very difficult for me to see face to face with people or even talk to people who were bereaved recently…Its not being rude…I just am not comfortable and really don’t know how to react in such situations….And this happens with close friends or relatives...But strangely I am comfortably giving a helping ear over phone or chat…And I guess I am saving it for the better half of my future life...hehe…

* I am a travel buff…But I always need the right company…its often with great guilt I say ‘NO’ when someone whom I am not comfortable asks me accompany somewhere….Or well to be honest I come up with some reason to avoid saying nay..


Well seems like with this post my average honesty value has increased a lot...LOL!!
I would love to pass on this to Vinu, Ann, Hammy, Thomman, Manju, Deepti and Karthik.

Folk if you want to have some laugh ..chk this.. :-D

Ormayil oru shishiram…

When we were kids the most joyous day of our lives would be a visit to the native place or a trip to the movies…Unlike now when I could catch any movie in CD or DVD or watch in countless channels or browse through YouTube, watching a movie wasn’t that easy those years... It was an event...a big celebration in itself…

A visit to the Kalpana Theater for the matinee followed by dinner at Chinnu’s restaurant…that was definition of a great day those days... The theater was demolished last year and a mall stands there now… The place would be spoofed at by current standards, but then it was as exciting as the moon might have been for Neil Armstrong… I vaguely remember several earthen pots stuck to the roof at the theater entrance to create a weird retro feel and I used to gaze at it as if in a trance during the long wait in the queue …As a kid, this theater defined a lot of memorable movies too …In harihar Nagar (when cousins came to town)…Bombay (on my birthday)...Mohra (first rebellious secret solo theater visit)…….and the list goes on…Infact the place was memorable even for parents and it’s a legend in family circle’s, the movie they had gone for their wedding anniversary (15th I think)…..”Panchapaandavanmaaru”...;-D

Those days in the early 90’s most kids of my generation would wait in excitement for the Sunday movie in Doordarshan... We would immaculately plan and finish our homework’s or any endangering tasks assigned by parents which could result in a veto vote over our “right” to watch the movie…Though it may sound silly now, it used to be indeed a tense day for us because there were lot of stakeholders involved …

Usually on Sunday morning, me and bro would eagerly look forward to the newspaper that would be lying on the verandah when were back from the church...And we in our excitement would just throw ourselves out of the scooter before it even ceased to halt and go for the critical page in the paper…”TV and Radio”.

Well unlike now, where before deciding on a movie we analyze and over analyze a movie, the director…actor…actress…genre...and whether we have seen it already, such thoughts never mattered to us…All we needed to know was the name of the movie!!…and that was enough to build up the anticipation... And after that the next few hours would be allowing ourselves to float in imagination about the heroics we might be able to glimpse during that wonderful three hours…After a hurried breakfast and as we cycle to the church for Sunday class our thoughts are still pre occupied with it... A stream of thoughts that wonders what Mohanlal or Mammootty has in store for us...and a nagging fear of whether in the evening we would actually be able to ‘do it’!!

Once we are back home…we are usually extra nice on Sunday afternoons…The homeworks have been finished on Saturday evening itself…there are no house keeping activities which we have forgotten to do…And we make sure that we don’t come up with any topic which might give a fleeting indication that exams were around the corner at school..(Though they were teachers in the same school never crossed our mind)…

And then at approx 4:50 pm, either one of us would make the first move…In flashback we would be sitting at our study tables since 3:00 pm to build the illusion that “we have been studying for so long and now we need the break”….And tenaciously we would walk to the door near the sit-out. With one leg in the drawing room (where the TV is) and the other leg and head leaning forward to the sit out (where dad is usually reading the newspaper) and though the whole scene is not exactly same as a regular pennukaanal chadangu (where the bride timidly looks at the groom) and yet somewhat, one of us will say..

“Appa…cinema thodangaaru aayi*”

There is palpable tension in the face of who is standing just behind the person asking Dad…And then it’s a pause…a long long pause in anticipation of the most beautiful words we dream at that point of time….

But we have to wait for that...

“hmm….homework ellaam theerthoo**”

“cheythu…”

“Babyooo?”

“avanum theerthu”

You could see a vehement YES!! written all over the face every time the negotiations seem to move forward…

“hmm…”

Now the time is 4:55 pm

Appa still looks unconvinced and uninterested…. I look at the clock in desperation which seems to move faster than ever before…and I give a mild cough to release the tension in air and to bring focus to the crisis we were facing.

“hmm…Amma epazhum adukkalayil aano***”

“athe…pakshe avude ella panniyum kazhinju”

I knew that was coming…I had to convince that practically there was no job left in the whole world and the only thing we could possibly to do in rest our lives was to catch that movie at 5:00 pm..

“hmmm…”

4:58 pm…

You could hear from the distance that Doordarshan theme promo running at televisions in the neighborhood…Oh my God!! Time is running out…So far into the talks and yet so little progressed. And even if the deal went through there was ofcoz threats of natural disasters like the power failure…guests dropping by…or the DD engineer dozing off resulting in that perpetual beep sound with an amazing array of rectangular blocks for viewers to amuse themselves with!!

“Appa….cinema thondaangaar aayi”

And finally………

“hmm…ammanyum vilikku….” (call mom too...)

And a silent hurrah from me and bro, we would switch on the TV, squat at our favourite viewing spots…Amma brings in the tea and Milk Bikis biscuits which we gorge on as the credits of the movie is shown….Dad is finally done with reading the same newspaper 10 times and keeps it away to come and sit with us…And the only thing that would possibly distract me or bro in the next three hours was if we had to ever run to the loo…and ofcoz that would be controlled and synchronized to the ad breaks…


Listening to Ormayil Oru Shishiram


*"Dad..Movie is about to begin"
**"Done with your homework"
***"Is mom still in the kitchen"

I gotta learn to say…TGIM!!

‘A Mac burger with extra cheese!!!’

Blistering barnacles….thundering typhoons!!! Necks turned when I placed the order at Burger King.
Every one seems to have a graffiti painted on their face… that said...

‘EXTRAA CHEESE…???’ :-O

I was ordering the unthinkable in times of recession when people are cutting costs in every possible way… At hospitals, doctors are using Wilkinson Sword blades for bypass surgeries, administering steady feed of Pink Floyd songs instead of anesthesia and prescribing mentos for life saving drugs…In Bollywood, Himesh Reshamiyya agreed to act in a silent movie and the news was greeted with deafening applause….And at the International space station they have cut the oxygen supply yesterday to observe ‘space hour’…

As you see the world over people are gripped with fear anticipating the great depression…Unlike the depression over Bay of Bengal which our newsreaders religiously say without fail every time it rains, this is indeed global in nature. So global that even places which until now believed a financial crisis was something like a calculator gone kaput suddenly found their well oiled-industry looking at the bottom of the barrel. Literally!!

Nevertheless what was termed as an audacious act of frugality, the Arab sheikh set a precedent by using silver spoons for dinner instead of custom-made de beers gold cutlery. Inspite of the apparent difficulty in adjusting to a simpler lifestyle, the Sheikh vouches that SACRIFICES have to be made and he was willing to make such compromises for a noble cause. The Gulf times though reported that nearby Arab kingdoms expressed disgust at the sheikh’s ‘inhuman’ act of stripping Rolls Royce privileges from his favorite camel. The camel is apparently in a state of shock and doing what it does best…chew its gum!

Atleast my academic source of information i.e. rediff where I often see the world’s biggest experts (Nobel Prize winners included) come down to discuss all topics under sun gave me valuable insights on the phenomena called recession. For the uninformed, this site is a reference book of haute couture in swear words and most discussions end up giving historical perspective of Indo-Pak ancestry. Though few weeks ago to my utter horror, I actually saw a sensible observation in the website...

“In times of recession, the most commonly employed technique is to cut down production. Fewer cars and fewer apartments are made now in lieu of lesser demand”

So true when I poignantly thought about the remarks from my uncle in kottayam who said that even hens in his farm are laying fewer eggs these days taking cue from market trends…It doesn’t now surprise me that the omlette I made last week was missing the bull’s eye!! Well it is regrettable that I initially suspected my roommate for that.

Its however heartening to note that malayalees have embarked on a mass movement on thrifty spending of water and electricity in these troubled times. The brandy is now usually taken dry by vast majority of conservation activists and the last major shock that someone received in the state did not come from an electric line and rather from spotting a Member of Parliament!! Apparently the species was thought to have been listed as extinct and astronomy enthusiasts could never spot it over past 5 years!!

But the people most affected by recession are us…the average foodie…Have you noticed that Ananda Bhavans and Sukh Sagar vadai’s are now more like Nano- vadai’s... and the only topping which you get in pizza’s these days are salt and pepper. And above all have you noticed that even mighty kingfisher airlines now offer only a jet lag’er as complimentary!

Dear People, these are definitely signs of a crisis…

You can throw in an Obama, a Sarkozy, a Brown and a Jintao and all you could make out would be a kitschy sounding rock band called The JOBS which may not go well the public this time of the year! Moreover such a band would probably be banned for alleged use of expletives in lyrics like “black” “Money” ”hidden” ”accounts” in the country where music matters the most…Switzerland!!

That’s why in that G20 when Obama said CHEESE during the photo-op, the furious Swiss farmer at the border who overheard him replied..

‘No cheese for your damn sick burger…chief!!’

Poor Obama was inconsolable..

But, maybe after all there might be a positive side to it…coz when a friend of mine told that someone by the name Dow Jones has ‘reacted sharply’ and ‘bounced back’, I said how happy I was for Mr. Jones and asked him to pass on my get well soon message. And my friend said I will be a failure at finance for life…

It reminds me of what I told dad when I was a kid and failed in math…

‘’Dad….Failure is the stepping stone to success”

And he said …” Though it seems by each passing year you have gathered enough to fill the Grand Canyon!!”

Hmm...well no harm in trying…………isn’t it? ;-P


*Thank God its Monday…


P.S. Wishing you all in advance a Happy Easter !!

Listening to My Name is Nobody OST.

Curry Sunday...

Today being Palm Sunday I had something to bring back from the church....As you can see what it is in the picture below...This is what is given instead of palm or olive leaves in europe and is called the boxwood plant..

After reaching home, I had gone to the kitchen to make some coffee...and absent mindedly kept this there...

Later I had gone to my room and forgot completely where I had kept it...until....after a few hours....I saw my roomate cooking up something for lunch...and he said..

"Oh..you finally bought the curry leaves...I couldnt find it yesterday..."

And then he nonchalantly proceeded to wash the leaves for sprinkling later in the curry..

For a brief moment all i wanted was to shout at him was....

"Donkey!!!!!!!!"

Then I realised the irony of calling that on this day....

P.S. As per christian traditions this day is to mark the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem...On this day people in Jerusalem greeted his entry with olive branches...and Jesus had arrived in the town riding on a donkey....

P.P.S. ofcoz i stopped him from using it in the nick of time...

Shopper Stumped!

Warning: this post is laced in malayalam……


Each one of us has memorable shopping experiences….Even I have a few of em which I wont for-get…Would love to share a few of em…


Several years ago, guess in mid-school times… i was send to a poultry shop to buy chicken…
This is the conversation that followed……..

Me: "Oru kilo chicken chetta"
Butcher (in a hurried tone): "Halal??"
Me :"alla...chicken"
Butcher (with slightly louder voice than before):"Halal aano ennu?"
Me (trying to be convincing):"alla chetta…chicken ee...ee Kozhi ille?..."

And the sight of his sharp vettukathi did not elicit further questions or answers from me....

**********************************************************************

Few weeks ago when I was on a call home, Mom mentioned an incident which happened to her during a visit to a grocery shop….

Mom: “Theeyal paste* ondo?”
Shopkeeper (trying to be salesman) : “ayyo illa…Pepsodentoo colgateoo aanengil ondu…”

I think Amma did not laugh out loud though am not sure if I could bear not to!!

*you get it readymade like Puliyogare.

**********************************************************************
Another incident happened in final year of college…We often had parties hosted when friends got placed in various companies…and we often hit upon the best restaurants in town…And since I was not used to frequenting the better off restaurants back then, I used this opportunity to explore the most expensive of dishes…and due to circumstance not known ‘someone’ asked the waiter

‘Someone’: “Chetta…brochure theraamo”
Waiter: “Brochureooooooo!!!!”

It never clicked ‘someone’s’ mind to ask for the Menu!!

**********************************************************************

There are couple of incidents which are attributed to friends who are “Hindi challenged.”

Someone checking into a grocery shop in Hyderabad to buy a kilo of dal…
“aada ghanta daal kitna??"

Another fella who has a historic tendency to confuse between ‘kya’ and ‘kaun’...

At a restaurant in Bangalore after summoning the waiter…
S: “Bhai…khaanei keliya kaun kaun hein”

The same guy again in another hotel:-

S: “Chicken soup hein?”
Waiter: “haan”
S: “Aur kaun hein?”

**********************************************************************
This happened in Germany…’someone’ goes to a bakerie and asks for Franzbrotchen (kind of crois-sant)...In order to try his german as much as possible this ‘someone’ started of conversation in rudi-mentary german…He knew that ‘einmal’ in german meant, one or one more…

‘Someone’: ‘Einmal kafee und einmal franzbrotchen...Zum mit nehmen bitte’
: ’One coffee and one croissant…take away please…’
shop attender:’Alles...’
: ’that’s all?’

Everything fine until here. That’s when ‘someone’ tried interpretational language learning…Instead of saying a simple ‘Ja’ (yes) to end the conversation, he said.. ‘Nochmal’

So a typical german might ask why you said that…coz the logic worked like this...
’Zweimal means ‘two more’…..therefore Nochmal must be meaning ‘No more’’…though actually Nochmal means ‘One more’...So this is what ensued…

Shop attender:’Alles...’
: ’that’s all?’
Someone (very happy to try his interpreted german): ‘Nochmal’
Shop attender: ‘Franzbrotchen?’
Someone (so happy to get the chance to use the word again): ‘ja…Nochmal’

The lady goes inside and gets one more Franzbrotchen…Noticing this, ‘someone’ shouts from a distance a bit louder…

‘Nochmal….Nochmal!!!!!’

The lady goes inside again…and gets ‘someone’ the third Franzbrotchen…

That day for dinner...this ‘someone’ had to finish three Franzbrotchen and a new word to learn!!



Listening to Nena.