Thattu kadai Kothu barotta!!!

- Kothu barotta- South Indian Dhaba’s Specialty

The very thought of rain brings joy to everyone and we were no exceptions. But where were we? … We 4 were sitting in the same-old cubicle, working ;-)…

“How would it be if we could eat hot samosas now?” One of us exclaimed and immediately I said “Standing in the rain, drenched to the skin, munching hot samosas… woooooooow... I wish we could do that”.

“Hey, leave off samosas… how about kothu barotta?” our team’s all-the-time-food-lover B excited.

“Kothu parotta? I have never tasted it” I cried out.

It’s now D’s turn to take the situation in hand “You have never tasted one?? You should!!!... It is road side stalls’ specialty… a must-have when you visit TN”

“Let’s not just keep on talking… we will go to a road-side shop near-by and buy them” … When it comes to food, B is always impatient. So within fifteen minutes, the parcels were in the cubicle.

“Where do we eat? We can’t eat them here… nor can we in the pantry... The aroma is too crowd-pulling” G was concerned.

D convinced us that Visitor’s Parking is a good hide-out. Luckily by-then, it was only drizzling outside and we laid our parcels on a bike which was near a lamp post. The dish was delicious. I was already falling in love with it…


Talking, yapping and even freaking out few passers-by, added more flavor to the dish…

Standing in the drizzle, munching hot kothu barotta, we had the time of our lives! Now who wants to think of McDonalds or pizza corners? I should say that these little pleasures amidst work have bonded us so much….

Few tests to understand wher you stand...

Took up few Personality Tests. Its indeed fun.. Thanks to you mat :)

How Independent are you?

What Temperment are you?

The final test that I took is Are you ready to be a wife quiz. :)

I was tagged!!!

I was tagged by Mat. This is a game for bloggers. I am supposed to write 8 facts about me and then tag my blogger friends who will write facts about them and then pass on to their friends... Sounds interesting… So here I go...

1. I am a software engineer and I am totally not happy being one.
2. I am stubborn.
3. I like to do things in my own way though I end up messing them.
4. I am crazy about chocolates but I don’t eat them as much as I like.
5. I like to read people.
6. I love being with my friends.
7. I am very demanding.
8. I wanted to become a doctor, then a scientist, then a psychiatrist but ended up being an engineer.
9. I get depressed often
10. I enjoy being pampered.

i am suppossed to write only 8... y only 8? 10 is better.. ;-)
As per the game, I am gonna tag .. BALA, u r next!!! :-)

The familiar curve!!!

It was snowing outside.

He stood in the corridor of his hotel room relishing the sight.

He was seeing snow for the first time in his life.

The pathway, the cars, the trees were all snow-clad.

It was freezing cold.

He felt like taking a walk around.

He took few steps, slowly basking the nature’s beautiful change.

Everything around reminded him of her.

He is 10,000 miles away from her but still he knew that she was there for him.

He took few steps further and saw his car.

He stood there for sometime and then drew a familiar curve on the snow coated glass of his car saying “I miss you”. He looked up and saw that a foreigner was watching his masterpiece. They both smiled at each other…!!!!

Why am I talking like that?

Couple of days ago I took a session for my team members on the application I have been working on for months. I was so comfortable in that application and that made me confident. Every time I take sessions, I wanted it to be the best. I prepare my presentations slides taking more effort and time and finally when I am done it puts a smile on my face... a satisfied smile. So that is how I prepared even for this session. As expected the session went well. I was so convinced that I presented the application with the best of my knowledge to the team. All said and done, I was curious to listen to the recordings of the session. I did hear and that totally freaked me out. What I expected to hear was a confident voice (cos that’s how I think my voice is) and what I heard was a nervous child-like voice. And that’s when I wondered how the team listened to it for such a long time:(. When asked to the team, they said “we dint feel the difference. That’s how you usually talk. Very childish” That baffled me!!!

Why does your own voice sound different from the way others hear it?

Google gives lot of answers for that. Biologically, when you talk, it is your head that changes the sound and makes you hear a deeper voice than other people do.

Others only detect the part of your voice that is transmitted through the air. However, your skull and flesh conduct sound as well, so it’s you who will hear a combination of the airborne sound, and the sound that travels directly through your head to your ears.

But that doesn’t convince me!!! It should sound as you expected in either ways right? How come there are many people who call themselves great singers? Are they over-confident? Do they really like their voice from inside and outside?

The next time I take sessions, it would make me conscious and that would make me not so confident!!!

I would call it - Showers of Joy!!!

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost’s “Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening “was all I could see on my monitor. It was also all I could think at that time when a message popped up on my screen. The message was from Mat asking if I would care to have an ice cream now. “Why not? But let’s have it in beach”. I replied. “Let’s start immediately otherwise we would end up going home late” came back another popup. After ten min we were on our way to beach. We were well aware that it was the peak time and we would reach the beach only after an hour’s ride but would that bother us?

Just before we could cross the first signal, it started to rain.

Mat: “Nivi, if it’s difficult for you to ride lets stop. I don’t mind getting drenched”.

Me: I don’t mind getting drenched either but I have never ridden a bike in rain. Let’s try it out.

Before we could cover another kilometer, the rain poured so much that I could hardly see the road ahead. We both were completely drenched. The rain drops were so big and the speed with which it fell pricked my bare hands.

Me: Hey I don’t think we can go to beach in this way. Look at the traffic. The road is also slippery. Shall we go back? Or we can even stand here and enjoy the rain for some more time and then go home.

Mat: Let’s not go to beach but lets go on a ride. Riding is fun in rain.

So we set out on our little adventure. We rode for an hour or so in the rain. Not wanting to miss this opportunity to enjoy the showers of joy, we rode very very slowly. Thunder and lightening made the ride all the more adventurous. We rode through highways, streets without street-lights, subway half-submerged in the rain water. The rain took away our exhaustion, killed our boredom. It gave us immense confidence, filling us up with new energy, making us to giggle, laugh, smile, tease and enjoy. As though this was not enough, we pampered ourselves with fast food on a road side bakery shop. With damp cotton chudidhar sticking to the body, dripping wet hair, numb fingers, we were munching hot puffs, enjoying the last few drops of the departing rain and yapping about guys, life and marriage…. Wow… That was one fun filled night!!!

-----------------------------------------------12th July 2007 (Thursday 7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Trip to my office!!

“No Monday morning blues… I love to go to office! I love work! “. I start my day with that positive attitude. But that positive air around me vanishes the moment I step out of my house to travel. I have two options of traveling to my office. One - depend on the share autos that are readily available in Chennai. Those motta-sized autos that can take you to any nook and corner of the city provided you don’t complain about the rash driving and the bumpy roads. Two – depend on my own bike. The first option will sound good to anyone who hasn’t stepped into share auto. Yeah right… You don’t have to strain yourself by driving the auto; all you have to do is sit and enjoy the ride. But do you actually enjoy it? In the place of three, five people would be forced to sit and that too if you are unlucky like me, every time you take the auto, you will be surrounded by hefty people and among them, one would definitely be leaning completely on you. :-( You try to squeeze yourself so close to one corner trying to avoid the big fat guy, then what happens? A bump on the road... there you go…the fat guy will comfortably fall against you. If you somehow manage to avoid him, be careful and always look out for the screws that hang loose in the autos. One more bump on the road, the screw will directly drill your head. Here is what you have to do

1. The moment you enter into the auto, go to the left most corner.
2. Make sure that you pay the driver beforehand.
3. Hold all your belongings (your hand bag, purse or whatever) in your right hand there by preventing anyone to lean on you :-)
4. Rest your left hand on your head or place your hand on the loose screws, there by you get to save yourself.
5. Sit properly so that you don’t loose your grip when the autowallah take you o on the rollercoaster ride.

Now that I know lot about share autos, I prefer riding my own bike. But there are few things that you gotta do before actually riding the bike:

1. If you are dust allergic or if your skin gets tanned, wear gloves that cover your hand completely. Make sure that the gloves are not soft and not too tight as it may leave impression on your hands.
2. Next is your hair. Duppatta serves well to save your precious hair. Knot your duppatta in such a way that your hair is completely covered.
3. If your path involves subways or shallow roads, beware of the puddles. You can always wear an over coat over your chudidar or formals to safeguard your dress.
4. For safety purpose, put on your helmet
5. For shielding your eyes from dust, drop down the helmet glass.

There, I have done all those, how do I look?? Well…I am totally covered. I can avoid the dust and heat…Though I look 2 inches fat with over coat and duppatta. Well…. That’s ok…This is perfectly fine as far as I am not traveling in that dreadful auto. All said and done, I also gotta keep saying “I love to go to office”!!! :-)

Take time to look around!!

“Why don’t we put that between the grills of the balcony? It is worth a try” said my dad to my mom. My mom thought it was hopeless. But she didn’t want to disappoint my dad and so she asked him to give it a shot. So with that determined look, he carefully lifted the artificially entwined hay, dried roots and leaves and placed it on a thick cardboard. Then he lifted the cardboard and placed it between the grill links on the top right corner of our balcony. He stood there for a minute staring at his work and then beaming proudly he said, “This will be not be empty for long. I am sure it will be inhabited.”

Everyday, my dad used to observe if anything new has happened. You gotta be really patient if you are gonna test nature. Sheesh…. I can never be patient like this. I often tease my dad saying that he is wasting time but he just walks away saying “I will not do that if I were you”.

April- May is the period during which I would never invite anyone to Chennai. Dreadful Chennai… Temperature shoots up; with the sweat and dehydration you feel restless and irritated all the time. Oh Man… Chennai sucks. And above all traveling in such climate, makes everything worse. I used to be dejected and tired when I reach home late at night after traveling for an hour from my work place. It was one particular night; I came home very late and went to the balcony to relax. It was pitch dark outside, cool breeze, rustling of dried leaves, clear sky, and the twinkling stars… It was a very relaxing sight. To compliment this amazing view, a soft chirp was coming from nowhere. But the chirp was very clear and distinct as thought it was coming from near by. I looked around and then I remembered… I ran inside to switch on the balcony lights and as I expected, there it was…!! It was an amazing sight. A small bird was sitting in that nest…. Is it the color of the bird or is it its pointed beak or its sharp eyes, I don’t know what captivated me so much. I stood there for some time relishing the sight. And then I went inside and woke my dad and told him what I found. He said “Yeah I know…”

“That’s it?? That’s your reaction? You waited for all these days, to get it inhabited. Why don’t you enjoy? Come and see it…” I compelled.

My dad looked at me for sometime and said “Your life has become monotonous. You have time to SMS for hours, you have time to watch a movie every week, and you have time to roam around. But you don’t have time for me. You don’t even have time for yourself… I just want you to understand simple things... Relax... Look around... Spend sometime everyday for yourself… there are lots of things to notice… That is a gift for you! Take time to enjoy and relish the simple things around you. Good night!”

I am fida over Murphy :-)

Well… what can I say?? No work as usual, I am getting paid for no reason:-). I was so bored and was checking my mailbox for new … na... old mails. One mail caught my attention and here I am to write about it. It was a mail sent by my Project manager when I was ready to take up my first project work. This is how the mail goes:

Here are some Murphy's laws that can be a good guide while doing software testing. Apply this to software testing and you will understand they are true. These Murphy’s Laws also tell us the need to consider all the things that could go wrong while doing software testing

1. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

2. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. .

3. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

4. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

5. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

6. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

7. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

8. Every solution breeds new problems.


I did not realize the worth of the mail then. Now I know what it talks about. Not even for software testing, Murphy’s laws apply for almost anything and everything in life. I am totally totally in love with this Murphy guy. :-)

Tame the bull…. Na…. get yourself tamed!

I was reading a book of my all-time-favorite author, Sidney Sheldon The author was trying to beautifully portray the feelings of an old man watching the game of taming the bull(yeah…Jallikattu in right sense). The old man tries to comfort his grandson who gets scared watching the ferocious bulls. He puts his arm around the boy and says "It is frightening; But wonderful, too. I once ran with the bulls. There's nothing like it. You test yourself against death, and it makes you feel like a man." These lines captivated me and at the same time troubled me with lots of unanswered questions. Why this kind of game is enjoyed the most? What is this obsessive need these people have got to depict this act as bravery? Why to show off heroism to these poor creatures? Just imagine that you were forced to drink, later hassled and harassed and then made to run for your live in the middle of thousands of ferocious creatures. What will you do? You will have no idea as to where to run, what to do to save your live. All you will try to do is to free yourself, breaking down all the barriers, knocking off all the obstacles. Are you not getting creeps imagining this? These bulls suffer similar tortures. Where are our human qualities? Why this cruelty? Putting forth these questions will get an immediate opposing answer from these maniacs. Their answers will always be, “This is an act of bravery. This is a traditional practice.” This is insane; absolutely insane. To show off bravery why not they try something else, why harm these creatures? The other day, I was watching a debate show in TV. Bingo… the topic that they took to debate is “Jallikattu”. There were about 20 people to talk for and against the topic. One old man said that he is proud for having given his son’s life for the game. He also said that it is an act of bravery and that his son had proved that he is indeed brave. There was not even a fleck of sadness on the man’s face. How cruel…..! Well I cannot tame these people, nor can you. Hope time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.