And they said.....

It's been really long since I last updated my blog.
As you all would be aware by now, TLT has found someone to dismiss his lonliness. The Lonely Traveller doesn't have to be lonely any more. He has found a companion so sweet, so caring, so loving, so beautiful, and so much of everything wonderful!!!
She has transformed his ordinary life into something so beautiful. Such beauty was never there before he met her. With her, he has found new meaning to his life.
He has found renewed joy in each moment that life now brings. He finds comfort and trust in their love and closeness. And he is ever thankful to Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to have blessed him with such a wonderful companion.

As a tribute to their love, I break my silence on my blog by posting what they had to say about each other.


He said.....

Something wonderful! :-)

She said.....

Something even more wonderful! :-)

Plz Note: The above content has been edited by 'You know who' :D
-----------------------------------

Finaly things have settled down and the dates have been decided. October 6th it is, when I wed Ninu.
Friends I shall post the invite soon. In case you are unable to make it to our wedding (which I hope is not the case), please do remember us in your prayers.

God bless us all.

Cheers
Not so lonely traveller! :-)

Updates!!!

Phew! It's been over a month since my last post. Can you believe that?
So I guess it is time for updates. Here they are...

1> TLT's super parents have decided to get him hitched.
2> If this happens, and it might happen very soon, he is contemplating changing his nickname.
3> He thinks 'Mr. Traveller' would be cool!
4> Futher the blogname might change to Accounts of Mr. and Mrs. Traveller :-D
5> Work life is ok. Nothing too great!
6> He will hopefully will be back in India by August end.

That's all for now.

BTW, I forgot to mention that TLT had an splendid day today. He had this amazing 2 hr conversation with 'You know who' :-D. Later he spoke to couple of close buddies regarding the new happenings.

Then, in the evening, TLT visited the 'Lutheran Church of Hope' for worship in the evening.
It was a beautiful praise and worship service. Over 200 people sitting in front of the altar and singing praises to our loving Jesus was quite a sight.
During the course of announcements it was make public that the new worship arena will be completed rather soon and that it shall easily seat 2500 people.
Isn't that great?

Have a brilliant day friends!
And may God bless us all.

Cheers,
TLT

Work - FUN - Work

Hello friends.
Back from Niagara and it's time to update my blog ;-)
So here it goes...

After 3 full days of FUN, we returned back from Niagara today early morning. It was an awesome trip. The weather was not on our side, with most part of the 3 days being threatened by rain.



Day 1:

Our first stop was Cleaveland which is a good 10 hours drive from Des Moines.
Try as it did, the gloomy atmostphere did not dampen our spitits.
We braved the thunderstorm and enjoyed the thunderous rides of Cedar Point, Cleaveland.

At 5 in the evening we left Cleaveland and drove for another 4 hours till we reached our hotel at Buffalo, New York. On the way, all I could think was the number of rides that I missed because of the lack of time. I sooooo wish the day were longer. Red carpet Inn was a small but a comfortable room, enough to give us all a sweet night's sleep.



Day 2:

Woke up in the morning and travelled another 30 miles till we reached Niagara State Park. The park was really beautiful and so were the falls. The place was swamped by Desis who were as usual looking for FUN ;-) (Just like us!!!)
At night the Falls were brilliantly lit up and then we were made spectators to an excellent display of fireworks.
You may want to check out the video that I uploaded to YouTube. :-D





Day 3:

On our way back to Des Moines, we stopped over at Presque Isle and had a ride on Captain Norman's speedboat. The bay was really beautiful.

The weekend was really awesome and I was lucky to have good friends for company. The FUN is over and now I am back to what I do usually..... WORK!

Stay happy you guys!
Have FUN.

Cheers,
TLT

Musafir hoon yaaron...

Hi friends.

I would be visiting Niagara falls this weekend. We plan to drive from Des Moines to Buffalo Niagara. It's a 13 hour drive and we have one major pitstop; Cleaveland.
We are in a dilemma now. Some well-informed friends have adviced us to spend at least a day in Cleaveland. The problem is that we have only 3 days - Saturday through Monday. Subtract from that 26-30 hours, the time that we would be on road, and we are left with just about 2 days. Less 20 hours of sleep and we have just 24 hours worth of sight-seeing time.
:-(
Anyways, I hope that I enjoy this trip. I am really looking forward for the weekend.
Wish me luck.

Cheers,
TLT

P.S> My folks back home want me to get hitched ASAP. So I hope I can enjoy my bachelorhood while it lasts! God Bless Me :-)

You've got mail!

I opened my hotmail account today only to find millions of dollars being awarded to me ...
If anyone wants a share of my fortunes, read further for more details :D

"YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS WON THE LOTTERY AWARD 2007.
We wish to congratulate you over your email success in our computerballoting sweepstake held toady 10th APRIL 2007. This is a millennium scientific computer game in which email addresses were used. It is a promotional program aimed at encouraging internet users; therefore you do not need to buy ticket to enter for it.
Your email address attached to ticket star number (45407) with serial number 51622 drew the EUROMILLION lucky numbers 3-18-40-40-76 which consequently won the draw in the Second category. You have been approve for the star prize of $ 950,000.00 (Nine Hundred And Fifty Thousand dollars. Only) CONGRATULATIONS !!!
Your email adress has brougt to you this unexpected luck."

---- Ya Right! -----

" DRAWS NOTIFICATION !!!
Ref Number: NL/351/499
Batch Number: NM/207161/WOPDRAWS FOR CATEGORY "B"
Attn: Winner,Congratulations as we bring to your notice, the results of the second Category draws of the last quarter of EURO STAATLOTERIJ which you emerged as a winner under this Second Category, which is part of our promotional draws. The draws were officially released on the 4th of May, 2007."

---- Second here also!!! Can't seem to win even a fake lottery.-----

"DR ATIKU BELLO
The Manager of Audit & Accountancy Dept.
African Development Bank/A.D.B.
Ouagadougou,
Burkina-Faso.
TEL.+226 70 4032 85.

( READ CAREFULLY AND KEEP SECRET) Greeting, and how are you doing?I hope fine.Please let this my message donot be a surprise to you because i got your information and lay trust in youbefore i contacted you.I am the MANAGER OF AUDIT & ACCOUNTANCY DEPARTMENT ofour bank and i decided to contact you over this financial transaction worth the sum of TWENTY TWO MILLION,THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS($22,300,000.00).This is an abandoned fund that belongs to the one of ourbank foreign customers who died along with his completely family on 25th oct,2002 in a plane crash disaster.

It is clearly stated in our BANKING FOREIGN POLICY and signed lawfully that if such fund remains unclaimed by the NEXT OF KIN till the period of SIX years starting fromthe date when the beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the BANK TREASURY as an unclaimed fund. Besides,it is not authorized by the law guiding our bank for a citizen of BURKINA FASO to make the claim of the fund. So the request of you as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the claim andtransfer of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank account as the NEXT OF KIN to the deceased.
When the fund is transferred into your account,FOURTYPERCENT(40%) will be for you in an assistance and in provision of the bank account,while SIXTY PERCENT (60%) will be for me.
If you are really sure of your integerity, trustworthy and confidentiality, reply with your contact necessary for the transfer and call me as you so that i will let you knowthe steps to follow in order to finalize this transaction immediately.I will be waiting for your urgent reply."

----If I am sure of my integrity..wtf.. !!---------

"Salam Aleikum
I am pleased to introduce a business opportunity to transfer to your overseas account the sum of (10.5M USD)Ten million five hundred thousand United States Dollars from one of the Prime Banks here in Dakar Senegal.
I am Mr Desmond Koffi (Bsc,Msc) the Auditor General of one of the prime banks here in Dakar Senegal , during the course of our auditing , I discovered a floating funds in an account opened in our bank since 1982 and till date no body has operated on the account and after going through old files in the records, I discovered that the owner of the account died long ago in a plane crash along with his family without leaving a[Heir/WILL], hence the floating of the funds and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing. The owner of the account was a foreigner , Engr.Sam .A. Taha, an estate consultant .
Therefore, with a personal conviction of trust and confidence, I wish to contact you as a foreigner, to stand as a relative, thus I can work out the release of the funds , No other person in the office knows about the account, please be assured of the risk free, I'm the one that will work it out , all I need is your cooperation.
At the conclusion of this project , I propose a joint investment of an equal partnership to you or we may share it in a ratio of 45% for you and 55% for me. One more thing please; I beg you don't consider this against moral justification , they are many other aspects of life we may contribute with this funds to help the less privileged and the needy in a society than having it shared as an unclaimed bill among Government PLEASE .
I look forward to your earliest response.
Yours Truly
Mr Desmond Koffi"

-----Ever wondered why these originate from Africa??-----

I wonder why they have sent me this crap? Do they think I am a fool?

Do people EVER fall for this? What do you guys say?

Cheers,
TLT

Rewind....

These days Rai is inspiring a lot of my posts. I was going through her Orkut album and I was so happy to see her in those cute pics with her baba and maa.
That's when I started thinking about my childhood. I know had a happy childhood, but I can't recollect my experiences. It is as if my childhood never existed!!!!
I don't have many pics to boast of. Just a select few which are very dear to me. I know that, in those days, having a camera was considered 'ways of the rich'.
Not many people owned cameras of their own, at least not in the parts where I belong.
My roots take me to a small village, 'Bethanymala', atop a hill. It translates to Bethany Mountain. It is a very beautiful place which, in those days, hosted just a handful of residents. A beautiful stream.... An amazing waterfall..... Awesome views of the valley.... Rich green canopy.... what else would you want from a hometown.
But this is deviating from the topic. All these recollections of the grandeur of the place is primarily because of my more recent visits. To be frank, I don't remember my early childhood... I don't even remember most of my schooldays. I am really jealous of some of my friends who boast of having crystal clear memory of their childhood.

On later thoughts, I think that I have a selective memory. I remember few buddies from my 2nd and 3rd grade. I remember some of my teachers I very well remember my principal.
That's it!!!! It is as if someone has broken into my brain and erased a part of it. I want to get it back ... desperately!!!

HELP ME! Puhleez...

TLT

P.S> My project got extended for a week! So one more week in Des Moines ;-)

Birthday Wishes

I was going through a blog post by Rai where she mentioned about catching up with a long lost friend through Orkut. Thats when it suddenly struck me that I haven't visited Orkut for more than 2-3 months.
So I opened orkut today and what do I find? Loads of birthday wishes!!!!
So here is the list of 'em all!!

"dude! belated Happy Birthday!"
"Many Many Happy Returns Of The Day. "
"I wanted to wait till the party was over and see if you are happy of sad...... Happy because you get to grow wiser and sad cos that inevitably gets you older ...... Actually thats a load of crap ..... You know I'm making excuses for not wishing you earlier !!! :P
All the same Happy Birthday bro ... hope you had a ball
Ciao"
"Miyaan... Janamdin ki bahut bahut shubhkaamnaayein :-)"
"Happy B'Day Roshan !!!"
"Many Many Happy returns of the day!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Janamdin mubaarak ho!"
"Happy Birthday Roshan. God bless you in the coming year with all your hearts desire. Have fun! =) "
"Hey Roshan..
Wish ya many happy returns of the day...
Kal office main party dena !!"
"Happy Birthday Sir.... "
"Many many happy returns of the day da.. enjoii "
"happy bday MAMU !!!!!!! "
"Hey, Wish U A Very Happy Birthday!!! Have a great day......."
"hey roshan many many happy returns of the day...have a blast... "
"many many happy returns of the day ? where r u ? when r u returning back to india ... "
"Many Many Happy returns Of The Day "
"Hello Roshan Mahanama
many many hapy returns of the day
may u have a successful yr ahead!!"
"janm din mubarak ho !! "
"Happy Birthday Roshan. Have a great day! "
"sir, seeing as you're in india and it's past twelve there, i wish thee a very happy birthday. so how goes it? "
"Happy Birthday Mate! "
"hey...nice pics dude, good touch of humour !! birthday wishes to u...have a better year than the last one :) "
"advance bday wishes bhai...:-) "
"Happy birthday man "
"happy birthday in advance!! "

Thank you friends for remembering my B'Day! Also thanks to Orkut too!

Cheers,
TLT

P.S> It's my first weekend in Des Moines. Guess what we did?
We played cricket!!!! Then had Hyderabadi Chicken Curry at an indian restuarant here. Ain't it awesome?

US of A

Hi friends.
I will be away from blogsphere for a week or two. I am on a work assignment to Des Moines, Iowa. I am told by all that I may have reached here at the perfect time. The temperature ranges from a cold 5 degrees C early morings to a high of 20. It's almost perfect!

Also friends, please continue your support for ViDYA. We really need your support.
Thanks once again.

Cheers.
TLT

She has right to live too!

Hi Friends.

On a serious note today:-

Did you know that one an average 14 out of every 1000 girls born in India are a victim of Female Infanticide or Foeticide?

In India girls are considered a burden to the family they are born into. And why you may ask! Blame it on the dowry system prevalent in India that requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married.

For families leading a 'hand to mouth' existence, the birth of a girl child can signal the outset of extreme financial troubles. The ratio of girl children to boy children in India is decreasing at an alarming rate (almost at a rate of 3% each year).

However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.

To effect this change is the vision of ViDYA - an initiative taken up by few of my colleagues. Today I have pledged my allegiance to this group.
If we can help save one life, I would consider it to be an enormous achievement - both on the personal as well as the social front.

ViDYA is backed by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which aimed to run similar projects but was crippled due to lack of resources.
We are currently a 14 member team who have volunteered to work on this project. While we would be getting all the valuable information and guidance from UNFPA but we are still short on funds.

As for our action plan, we are targeting Mandya district as it has the highest proportion of female infanticides and foeticides. The latest studies shockingly reveal that, on an average, there are 18 girl children killed for every 1000 born.
This is 4% more than the national average. I know these figures might already give you goose bumps as they did to me, but what is more revolting is that of the 18 per 1000 killed, over 70% of it is infanticide. I don't know how people have the heart to strangle their own children to death.

The government is trying to protect a female foeticide by not allowing parents to determine sex of the foetus with the aid of modern technology.
Before this ban was imposed, the diagnostic clinics that boasted ultrasound scanners used to lure people with catchphrases such as 'Spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later!'.
The ban has certainly reduced the volume, but some people still practice it under some pretext or the other.

Preeti Singh for The Tribune writes
"To be fair, there are stringent laws to protect the female child whether in the womb or after birth. But these laws remain on the statute books as there is no specific administrative machinery to oversee their implementation at the ground level. Ironically, some diagnostic clinics, having installed ultrasound machines, display a board warning their clients that tests meant to determine the sex of the foetus are against the law.
However, the business of detecting the sex of the child goes on inside the clinic under one pretext or the other, the most common being to detect Down’s Syndrome. This is permitted by the law."

I assume that we all understand the gravity of the situation.
Now, What is ViDYA going to do for this?

We plan to

• Have seminars and road shows in select villages in Mandya district


• Spread awareness by speaking to the teachers at various schools


• Design and distribute pamphlets spreading the message


• Promote our cause through media mention in local newspapers and local cable channels


• Conduct multiple awareness camps in order to spread the message


• Try to get some more volunteers (Maybe, even residents of Mandya)


• Gather funds for this cause through multiple channels.


• Provide sponsorship for 20-30 girl children (The number will depend on the funds/sponsors we get. The more the better!)


• Once these steps are successfully completed at Mandya, we plan to spread this to Mysore and then to other parts of Karnataka.

Friends, if like me, you too feel strongly for this project I urge you all to participate. If you are in around Bangalore/Mysore you can join us.
If not, you can still help this cause by pledging some money for ViDYA.
Please speak to your family and friends and explain to them the seriousness of the situation. There have been reported incidents of a girl being married to more than 1 person in the states of Haryana and Punjab.
In some of the regions there are only less that 800 girls for every 1000 boys. This is quite an alarming statistic.

If you, or people you know, are willing to set aside some money for us; please mail to me at roshan_abraham@hotmail.co.uk with the subject line as ViDYA:Donate:Rupees
(if you want to pledge in INR) or ViDYA:Donate:Pounds(if in GBP).
I was unable to set up a paypal donate button on my blog-site due to some technical issues, so please bear with me and mail me your pledges.
We can then later discuss how to channel it to ViDYA.
If you are willing to volunteer, please mail at the same email address with the subject line as ViDYA:Donate:Weekends

Looking forward to a large participation.

Cheers,
TLT

Whose seat is it anyway?

I was in Bangalore last weekend and I happened to travel on a K.S.R.T.C bus from Shivaji Nagar to Jalahalli West. The bus was jam-packed, but luckily(or unluckily) I managed to grab a seat - the one in the leftmost corner of the last row! You know the type that would make you do a "Saif", a la movie Dil CHahta Hai.
While I was struggling to hold on to the window rod and remain seated, I overheard some altercation going on couple of rows in front of me.

The Issue-> "A pretty young damsel had ventured into the unreserved area of the bus and had sinned by taking a seat there"

The Aggrieved Party-> "A mob of ,what I will hereon refer to as, grumpy old men"

The Complaint-> The girl had breached the code of conduct by venturing out to the non reserved are and had the audacity to sit when so many grumpy old men were fighting for a seat."

The Judge-> "The Conductor who did not seem to understand the Kanglish (A biased mix of Kannada and English) that the girl was uttering."

The Jury-> "The onlookers, which included me, who kept straining their necks to glance at the lass and then at the conductor and then at the aggrieved party as though watching a 3 way Table Tennis."

Case shuru kiya jaye!!!!
The grumpy old men kept on compaining to the conductor that the girl had encroached upon their right to rest their sorry asses on the cushionless seats to the 'ever so slow' moving bus.
The defendant pleaded 'Not Guilty!'. She said that there are only 2 types of reservation on the bus.

- Reservation for the Ladies
- Reservation for the Handicapped

She cried that there was nothing called as Men's Reservation on the bus and that anyone could be seated on the no reserved seats.

I nodded in consent, but quietly stopped when I saw the grumpy old me staring at me disapprovingly as though I had committed some loathsome crime.

The judge (Mr. Conductor) who did not understand even a single word what the defendant had to say, expanded his chest and announced the verdict. The defendant had been found guilty as charged! She was ordered to vacate the seat and move towards the front of the bus where her rightful place was!

I stared in silence as she rose up, a tiny drop of tear in her eyes. I hated myself for not having the courage to stand by what I felt was right. I could see the satisfaction on the grumpy old men's face. Everyone was beaming!

I rose up to beckon her and offer her my seat! By the time I could push my face out from the crowd to call her, she had somehow managed to move to the front of the bus. I turned back to return to my seat, but that was taken too.....

I am eager to hear your thoughts on this?

Whose seat is it anyway?

Cheers,

TLT

P.S> Based on a few comments that I received, I need to publish a slight clarification here before you pass any judments. The term Grumpy old men used in the above post is not a true indicative of the age. I consider myself, all of 26 years, quite old! The aggrieved party's age was not more than late 30s.

What's up Dog?

When I was in the UK, I made friends with this hefty 120 pound black dude, Devon Charles.
(Please note ~ I am not a racist! I call a spade a spade. I call the Brits white! But most often I refer to them as Pommies)
Don, as he likes himself called, is a very good buddy of mine. His towering stature and his magnanimous belly often puts you on the back foot.
Cricket followers would know what I am talking about. The ball comes at you at a brute pace and is directed to take your head off.
The best option for you is to step back and sway away from the line of the ball. Well, Don is 'THE BOUNCER' when you first meet him, but when he befriends you and speaks in his "YO" accent, the bouncer becomes 'A JUICY HALF VOLLEY' which you can just ease out of the stands.
I should stop talking about cricket. The minnows eating the sharks have gotten into my head. It's an amazing feeling, one of exotic intoxication, when I see the underdogs performing so well.
When everyone had written them off, they just came on to the field and gave a sterling performance.
It just set my tears rolling!
I am sad that India and Pakistan are out of the tournament, both teams studded with superlative cricketers!
(India is only virtually out as there is still one in a thousand chances of Bermuda defeating Bangladesh. And I bet that all of India would be praying for Bermuda's win. But I most sincerely wish that this should not happen. It would not be good for Cricket-more specifically Indian cricket. It was sad to see Dravid break down, as he did, after the team's loss to Sri Lanka. I don't think Indian fans have the heart to witness the team lose another match.)
But, I must say Bangladesh and Ireland played very well on the day that mattered the most.
Coming back to Don, he had called me up yesterday.
"Yo Dog! Wassup with you?" were the first words that he spoke to me after three months.
When you call some one a Dog in India you are sure to be reverted back with a barrage of the vilest abuses you might have ever heard.
Dharam paji during his peak times used to address every villain in his movie as Kutte! Kamine!
But when Don calls me Dog, he speaks so reverently and earnestly that I can only reply back with 'I am cool! Doggg' (with the added stress on the 'G')
I wonder why he adresses me as dog.

Ah! Maybe I know the answer.

• Don is a Man.
• Dog is man's best friend.
• I am Don's best friend

So does that mean I am Dog?

:-)

Cheers Dogs!
TLT

P.S> Indians were Lankan'ed yesterday. I knew that we lost the game when Sachin got bowled through the gate. I switched off my TV after that. I read in today's newspaper that Dravid tried to achieve the impossible, fighting and struggling to save the team from embarrassment, till the very end. It is very sad to note that the stalwarts of modern Indian cricket (Sachin especially) will retire knowing that they could not bring home the glorious cup even after competing for 3 years.

A much sadder note this World Cup is the murder of Pak coach Bob Woolmer. Pakistan was literally annihilated by the nascent Irish team. It is not yet confirmed who were responsible for this shameful act or what were the motives behind this. The killers may be anyone - some lunatic cricket fans, some members from the Pak team, the underworld. Let's not point our fingers at anyone before they are convicted. But whatever happened was really sad....and shocking! The entire cricketing community should be ashamed. Malcolm Speed has announced that such tragedies happen, and that the quest for the cup has to go on. I don't seem to agree.

Cricket has just become a way to earn some quick bucks- be it the corporate houses that use Cricket to lure the public into buying some crap, be it the cricket stars who themselves unabashedly plunge into the world of advertisements, be it the underworld who thrive on the betting racket to fund their despicable acts. I am sadder to see the common man getting trapped into all of this. I hate to see the sensible and passionate cricket fans to be turned into some sort of raving frenzied monsters who burn effigies of cricketers, attack their houses, when they don’t perform well!!!! I shudder to think how far they might go on with this.

This world cup would be marked as the event when Cricket lost its glory. It has become a devil's paradise - betting, match fixing, drugs, assault and now MURDER!

God Save Cricket!

Tagged - Why I am the Way I am

This is $$%%%$$ tough. Judging/Understanding oneself is really tough. Rai is the one who is making me do this.
'Dishum! Dishum! Pow! Kapow! Kaboom! Smack!' That was for you Rai ;-)

It's so easy to say "Alice is so pretty. She has a kind heart." Or, let's say "Ramesh is a brave boy. He fights everyday to overcome his own demons" .
Or, even easier would be to say "Shelly is such a mean person!" or probably "John doesnt even know how to dress smart!"

But, can I ever say something like this about myself? If I say good about myself people will think "Saala! Apne muh aap miyan mithu"
And bad about myself, I do not have the courage to say it out. I am afraid that it will ruin whatever I have currently. So this post would just be about my whites, or maybe something which is gray! But there won't be any black which will be revealed today.
I have tweaked the topic of the post more to my liking. This post contains 6 different characteristics of me and why I have those traits.

To make it interesting, let me try to write these in Haikus.

1. Emotional

Drops of rain
Tears gushing out
Mom scolded

(I cannot hide my emotions. You are at a disadvantage when people can fathom what really is going on inside your mind. I need to learn to mask my emotions.
Even watching some movies can induce tears in my eyes. This is definitely hereditary. My mom is as emotional as I am.
Note~ I don't cry when I chop onions)

2. Dual Personality

Under the hot moon
I saw it;
My mood swing

(One moment I am the happiest person on earth and in the next I am bitter. I don't understand why? Maybe its the way my DNA has intertwined.. :-)
Apart from this, compared to what I am otherwise, I am a totally different person when I am at office. This change is intended. I like to keep my work and home separate.
Note ~ My friends don't like this!!)


3. Tough

Scorching sun -
Dad's near fatal accident
Makes me sweat

(My dad's near death experience has changes our lives for ever. Each member in our family is now tougher than ever.)

4. Love My Comics

Sipping coffee reading;
In the balcony
Mandrake The Magician

(I love reading comics and graphic novels. Not that I don't read the normal novels. I do that too!
But I am not as passionate about it as I am for the comics. This I definitely know why. From childhood I was brought up on a regular doze of Indrajal comics featuring Phantom, Mandrake, Rip Kirby, Flash Gordon etc.)


5. Topophobic

Heartbeat rising
Stop; school stage
Morning speech

(I was always nervous when I was on stage.
I remember that once I had told my Mom that I could hear my heartbeats more than the speech that I delivered on stage. She immediately took me for a echo test to make sure my heart was fine. The doctor suggested that the symptom could be because of my nervousness ;-)
Again, I have not been able to find the root cause of this phobia. Maybe this is because I was always afraid of people judging me.

6. Funny Guy with lots of PJs :-)

Her smiling splashes
Recycled water
Really bad hairday

(I was watching Jiah Khan's lawn bath, from the movie "Nishabd", on Saturday. That was when I remembered that our company is very eco friendly an uses recycled water for watering our lawns.
I couldn't restrain myself from passing this comment "I wonder how Jiah's hair would look after a bath at My Company's lawns ;-)
And people did laugh at my pathetic joke!!!
I credit this trait my my friends. I was lucky( Read: Lucky me ... Unlucky You) to be in the company of friends who encouraged my stupid jokes... ;-)
Note~ Chandler Bing is my IDOL!


The bottom line is that we are moulded the way we are because of
1> Social Environment
2> Family
3> Friends
4> Adversities
5> Geographical Location
6> Faith
There are a lot more factors too that contribute to your appreciation or depreciation in some way or the other.
In the end what matters most is that what sort of clay you are made of? How resilient you are to bad influences and how accommodating you are to the good ones!

Cheers,
TLT

No Men's Day!!!

Today is a special day! A day that is supposed to spread cheer and glad tidings among all the Venus dwellers. Yes! On 8th of March, year after year, International Women's Day is celebrated globally.
Reason quoted: "connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential".
What about Men??? Don't men need to connect? Well I suppose we are already connected that's why there is no need of a celebration for us!
But lads! Don't be disheartened. You will get your share of a day soon. You may just have to wait for another 17 years and 20 days.
I understand that you are puzzled! How could some one predict future and that too stating such precise date?
Well, if Nostradamus could then why couldn't the street astrologer who beckoned me yesterday? He and his sidekick - The Parrot predicted that after 17 years and 21 days I would be appointed the Prime Minister of India.
He read the shock on my face and with a twinkle in his eye he repeated: "Yes! You will become the Prime Minister.. Probably the youngest!"
I have thought long and hard yesterday about this. The first things that I am gonna do is to revoke all reservations given to the galz! When the galz say they wanted to be treated as equal, it is our moral obligation that we agree to it.

- No "Aap Pehle"
- No opening the car door and waiting for you to walk "thumak - thumak" slowly and be seated.
- No separate ladies queue
- No bus or train seats for ladies separately!!

Some people might think this is foolish. It will only give rise to the number of eve teasing complaints against women. Don't worry ladies! I have a plan to stop this. Eve teasing will no longer be a minor offense. It will be treated as a non bailable offense with a maximum prison sentence to be 10 years of hard labour.
The only thing I am worried about is that we may have to lock up a quarter of India's male population.

March 28th, 2024 this bill will be passed and I shall declare it as Men's Day! Why shouldn't we have a day to celebrate our rights? We should and we will!

Yours sincerely,
Future Prime Minister.
TLT

;-)

The Revelation

During my early childhood, I was regularly fed with a heavy dosage of desi movies; be it Malayalam or Hindi. It was good fun! But it had its banes too.
When the hero and heroine used to kiss, they used to show two flowers coming closer in the wind and then shaking right in front of my innocent eyes.
And the next thing I know is that hero heroine had a kid!!! It really made me wonder which flowers were responsible for me.

Some months after that our teacher was giving us some advice about not to harm butterflies.

Note ~ She had seen a few of us catch butterflies in the school garden and tie a thread to it to make it fly like a kite.

She started teaching us about pollination, and how butterflies help with that. I did not quite get her explanation and all I concluded after her sermon was that apart from butterflies producing (pollinating) baby-butterflies, they also pollinate flowers!!! And flowers pollinate us!!!

One day I asked my mom about a mark on her stomach and she replied that I had kicked her a lot of times when I was inside her.
Now I was utterly confused!

Flower pollinated me and Mom ate the flower. Ah!!! That's why I landed in her stomach. I thanked my stars that she didn't chew the flower properly when she ate it.
I did not quite like the idea of being chewed by someone, be it my own Mom!!

Later, after a few more months of ignorance, the TRUTH actually hit me. I don't remember the real dialogues, but it was pretty close to the ones mentioned below.

Deepak: "Do you know where babies come from?"
Me: "I know! From flowers!"
Deepak, Dev, Ram, Murthy all give me a "Are you insane??" look.
Ram (the wisest of us all): "You buffoon! What gave you the idea that you came from flowers? Children resemble their parents. And in your case it is correct. You resemble a FOOL"(Phool - Fool!!! Got the connection? ;-)
Dev: "My Mother told that she asked me from God. And that an angel came one night and handed me to her!"
Murthy: "Yes! My mom too!"
Me: "Then how come everyone becomes fat before having a child?"
Deepak: "Ah! That is easy. To produce milk they have to eat a lot."
Ram: "Ya! Once the God gifts the children to the mothers, God tells her to feed the baby milk. That’s why they grow fat."
Me (trying to hide my surprise at the startling revelation): "I was kidding! I wanted to test you guys if you knew it!"
Ram & Murthy (in unison): "Ya fool! We know!"

Now I was more confused than ever!

• Why did my mom lie to me?


• If it was not me then who kicked her stomach?


• Why do they show such blatant lies in the movies?

Why! Why! Why! Who gives them right to screw around with such an innocent mind?

It was then I decided to go back to my movies ...
And after watching a few of them I came to the conclusion that my friends were right! “And why?” you would ask!
Because in most of the movies back then, the hero or the heroine would invariably say "Dekho! Bhagwan ne hamein chand sa pyara beta/beti diya hain na!”

And thus I discovered the truth!

Have Fun!
Stay Happy.
TLT

P.S> I don’t know what I am going to tell my (whenever it happens) kid in case he/she asks? I guess I will still go with "You are a gift from God!" ;-)

We are welcome...

I was really tied down with so much work, that I did not get time to post anything new. But here it is! My new post. ;-)

You know what my favoutite verse from the bible is?
It is taken from the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 7.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there
of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a
fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Ask and you shall receive..... Amazing! So that does not give me a licence to ask anything under the sun. Well actually, I may ask; but I might not receive it coz it is also said in the testament of John, Chapter 15, Verse 7

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you.

So we are all welcome to ask for his blessings and mercy! And I believe that our merciful and most wonderful Lord would listen to all our prayers and answer them. The maybe what you may not have expected, but he sure will answer.
There have been so many events in my life where my Lord has stepped in for me and carried all my burden.

His door is always open for us sinners! And all of us are welcome.

Stay Happy.
And May God Bless Us All.

TLT

Twenty Five Minutes....

My family and friends recognize that I was always a charmer. I had my way with people... looked at them with my goody-goody, toatally innocent looks and everyone used to fall over like nine pins. But that was the past. As I grew older; the charm seemed to drift away from me. I no longer seemed to have control over it. ;-(
When I was in the UK, I met a buddy of mine. He is a self proclaimed LoveGuru. He tried to impart his wisdom to me. All I did was laugh at the pick up lines that he taught me.
Last week, being bored out of my wits, I decided to use some of his tricks on an unknowing hapless victim. ;-) (wink wink..)
Location - Cafe Coffee Day
Me -> sipping Irish Coffee
She -> sitting all alone, messaging frantically on her mobile.
Note ~ She is a BOMBSHELL! The type that blows away the brains of any man who lay his eyes on her.
Me -> thinking aloud in a muffled voice "Ah!! So there's my test subject ;-)"
I wait for some time, intermittently glancing at her,making sure that she knows that I am aware of her presence. Then, I walk up to her and say "Twenty five minutes.."
She -> in a surprised tone "Excuse me?"
I repeated my words "Twenty five minutes.... That's the longest time that I ever taken to finish a cup of Coffee!!"
She -> Still in shock...but adds with a sweet smile "Do you want to take a seat?"
Me -> smiling back in return... "Sure!"
She -> "Do you want another Coffee?" she mutters out laughing.
Me -> straight faced and controlling my laughter... "No. Thank you. I wouldn't want to lose out on another twenty five minutes of my life."
She -> now laughing out aloud. "Do you use that on all the girls you meet?"
Me -> smiling.. "No. Only the ones whom I meet at Coffee Day!!"
Both of us share a laugh and some more coffee.

LoveGuru's trick does actually work.
;-)

I think I will ask LoveGuru to publish his works as "Twenty five minutes to a date."

Have fun. Stay happy!
TLT

Lo main aa gaya ;-)

Hi friends,

By God's Grace, I have reached India safely and have resumed work from my Mysore office. It is really good to be back to India. The icing on the cake was my mini vacation in my hometown in Kerala.
I could not myself believe that I was setting foot in Kerala after a span of 7 years.
It was great to be in the company of my family and relatives.
Already missing them :-(

God Bless Us All.
TLT

Yaar main India chala!!!!

Yaaron sun lo zara....Apna yeh kehna....
Going back to..... India mein
rehne...
Big Ben nahin na sahi na sahi
Westminister nahin na sahi na
sahi
Lords nahin na sahi na sahi
Sky Connection nahin na sahi na sahi
Inki humko kyon ho fikar
Jee lo jaise mast Indian!!!

;-)

Catch you guys soon!

Cheers,
TLT

Thank You All!

Everything is decided! Finally I am heading back to India. I don't know what I feel? I always thought that I would be happy to go back to India. I don't feel that happiness. And I am not sad also! Actually I don't feel anything at all. I really don't know why!!

My colleagues gave me a farewell party today! Maybe it is a relief for them that I am leaving... Or maybe they can't let anyone go without a send-off? Or Maybe as they said they will geniunely miss me ( Duh! That was way over the top I know! ;-) Who is going to miss me??)

Ahem. All right, guys! It was a great evening! Thanks for the wonderful parting gift! I know that somewhere down the line I will remember each and everyone of you.

There are a few things that I will miss when I leave UK. The points enlisted below are not in any particulal order.

1> Cold wind blowing against my face
2> Evening rounds of TT with Sumeet
3> Guinness Irish Beer
4> Fish and Chips
5> Sky TV Subsciption
6> British Countryside
7> English Summer
8> Friends here! (But on the other hand, I will be going back to some!)
9> Lying all wrapped inside my 14 Tog Duvet ;-)

Also before signing off, I need to read out some thank you notes.

Thank you Amar/Debo for being good mentors.
Thank you Patro/Guru for trusting in my abilities.
Thank you Sumeet for being a good friend and an even better partner in TT.
Thank you Kanchan for being such a good stress-buster. I always feel good after our chat sessions.
Thank you Subba for being my Idol. I would love to be as technically sound as you some day.
Thank you Karan for being a such an irritating friend. I like the way you carry yourself, but simply hate the sarcasm in your voice sometimes. I will miss you.
Thank you Dimitre for being such a good analyst. You have been so approachable. Thank you again.
Thank you offshore team for staying so helpful and enthusiastic about everything. We owe the project success to you guys.
Thank you Gagan, Atul, Diptesh, Rachit for being good roommates.
Thank you Subharna/Sumeet and Nagu/Venky for being such wonderful hosts. I know it takes a lot of courage to endure me.
Thank you everyone whom I may have missed! I could have taken more names but being a lazy person as I am; I will ,with all my heart, thank "Everyone" with this one note.

Have a good day!
And thanks you again friends!

Cheers,
TLT

Someone to watch over me ;-)

I guess some of you would remember my copyright (wink wink) PI factor.
Well the notorious PI factor has caught up with me again!
I had been worrying so much about my US Visa from the time I set my foot in the UK. First I booked an appointment in India. When I finally came to know I couldn't make the appointment in time, I cancelled it.
Then booked a new appointment in the UK. The harder I chased, the further it seemed to slip away.
I think this time I forced so hard, that I messed up the entire equilibrium. I spent so much time thinking about it, that I forgot to ENJOY my stay in the UK.
And to top it all my Visa appointment yesterday couldn't have gone any worse. The interviewer asked me no questions at all. He just told me point blank that since I haven't undergone any courses in the UK, he wouldn't be able to judge my educational qualifications, and that I should have this appointment rescheduled in India.
Poor me. ;(

On the other hand I think that everything will turn out to be just fine. The Lord is my shepherd and he keeps watch over all his flock. I will get my VISA when the right time comes. And I believe that the 'GKWIBFM' ,pronounced \kweeb-femme\ :-),theorem totally negates the 'PI' factor.

Have a great day and God bless us all.
Cheers,
TLT

P.S> If you are still wondering what 'GKWIBFM' stands for? It is 'God Knows What Is Best For Me'.

P.P.S> I got an update today that I will be moving back to India soon. Yipeeeee!