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While visiting India, George Bush is invited to tea with Abdul Kalam. He Asks Kalam what his leadership philosophy is. He says that, it is to Surround him with intelligent people.

Bush asks how he knows if they're intelligent. "I do so by asking them the right questions," says the Kalam. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Bush watches as Kalam phones Manmohan Singh and says, "Mr. Prime Minister, please answer this question:

Your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or sister. Who is it?"

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Manmohan immediately responds, "It's me, Sir!"

"Correct. Thank you and good-bye, sir," says Kalam.

He hangs up and says, "Did you get that, Mr. Bush?"

Bush nods: "Yes Mr. President. Thanks a lot. I'll definitely be using that!"

Bush, upon returning to Washington, decides he'd better put Condoleezza Rice to the test.

Bush summons her to the White House and says, "Condoleezza, I wonder if you can answer a question for me."

"Why, of course, sir. What's on your mind?"

Bush poses the question: "Uhh, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Rice was puzzled and finally asks, "Can I think about it and get back to you?" Bush agrees, and Rice leaves.

Rice immediately calls a meeting of senior senators, and they puzzle over the question for several hours, but nobody can come up with an answer.

Finally, in desperation, Rice calls Colin Powell and explains the problem.

"Mr. Powell, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister.

Who is it?"

Powell answers immediately, "It's me, of course."

Much relieved Rice rushes back to the White House, finds George Bush, and exclaims, "I know the answer, sir! I know who it is! It's

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our Colin Powell !"

And Bush replies in disgust, "Wrong, it's

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Manmohan Singh!"

And so it begins

And so it begins, I could recollect that we have been planning for having a weekend cricket match for more than 6 months. It started to become a joke, that whenever we plan something for a weekend it is just for timepass but when the time comes it is only for sleep and TV. There was a tournament announced within the company and we said to ourselves, "Nammala vechu mathavanga comedy panrathukku munaadi,nammaley alert aagidvom nu". Therefore we put up a small fund and planned for a weekend cricket match at Trustpuram ground in Kodambakkam.

Oru vazhiya ellaarum vanthu serathukku 7:30 pola aaiduchu, the ground was not totally occupied, but we didn't get a proper place to get started, not having stumps did not help either. We were having a simple bowling session. Frankly our saturday was ruined. Out of nowhere a ray of hope, the local football team got dispersed leaving a huge gap in the ground. We quickly rushed there but could not start playing as we did not have any stumps. Appathaan oru team sikkuchu, "Specs potta sambaar saadham, dress potta noodles" nu oru gang sikkuchu. Seri try panuvomaenu oru match podalaamaanu paesi paathom, konajm yosichittu seri nutaanga. Appaada vanthathukku oru match. Toss pottu batting na odane - innum santhosham - Gaaj maamu Gaaj.

Namma openers Veeravum (paandiya), baskarum kalathula erangunaanga. Personally I got the best viewing position which is the umpire's. Trials nu oru ball pottan paarunga, on the spot first ball. He sort of slanted the ball from off to leg. I was expecting something of the second ball. 7 fielders close in pannathunaalayum, IS team pinaadi irunthu sirichukittu irunthathaalum - satrey focus izhantha nam baskar bold. First ball, deep roast duck. Pathari pochu bally team. All idea bowling - I know, nu erangunaaru team captain subbiah. First ball, good pace - yorker length - yaeri miri, bat la illa, kaal la. Bowler thenaritaan, avanukku purinju irukkum yaaru kooda motharom nu. Second ball thiruppe try pannaan mathikka vae illa same miri. Intha ball la oru leg bye vera. Athukku appuram singles vara aarambichuthu.

Next over veera at the batsman end, baseball kanakkaa - first rendu ball miss panitu third ball oru home run adichaan. But that was a four. Second over la thaan konjamaavathu run vanthuchu. Appuram. Oru maida maavu, around the wicket poda vanthuchu. Seri ivan oru comedu piece nu nenachaa, nallaa bowling potaan. First rendu ball, bat seriya meet panavae illa, third ball Subbiah bowled. Appadiya singles urutta aarmabichaanga. Athukku appuram perusaa ethum bowling illa . 5 overs mudivula 30 runs pola eduthu irunthom. Then rotate panna aarambichom. Karthick, Regin, Sujin and myself we all had some equal chances within those 10 overs. Though we ended up playing around5 balls each. Total was 64 and 65 to win was the criteria.

Mani bowled the first over, veera the second, I bowled the third over followed by Regin 4th, Karthick -5th. The situation was pretty much under control. I would be killed if I forgot to mention the whirlwind innings played by Feroz bhai. He came in my over and pushed my delivery to the right of me. I could have collected it but since it is a gentle push, I thought fielders would cover - I turned back to see the ball in the boundary line. Next ball a well lofted meatier shot in the same region. Subbiah asked me to come over the wicket rather than feeding around the wicket. From then on I pitched relatively stump to stump and completed the over. Not to forget a beaten delivery which was stumped. Feroz stay ended with a catch I believe. The equation was like 3 overs 20 run in the end. Regin controlled his second over giving away nothing much. Vimal came back for his second over and took a wicket (bowled) and by the end of the last over the equation read 12 runs of 6 balls. Veera came in to bowl the last over, he started off poorly giving 3 + 4 runs to start with. He came back with 4 dot balls and seal the deal, and a first win for IS team.

What followed was a juice session with Pineapple, Saathukudi, Nungu + Elani. Followed with a heavy breakfast at Paandiya(Veera)'s house. I skipped lunch that day and felt as if in booze throughout the noon.

Annaen, annaen: Namma ooru nalla ooru, ippa romba kettu pochu naen

Annaen, annaen: Namma ooru nalla ooru, ippa romba kettu pochu naen

Naan laam 19 vayasaana odaney license eduthutten, bike otta aarambichathu enamo 18 vayasula. Innum sila pasanga irukaanunga - 15 vayasuleye bike vechi wheeling panren, 8 poduren 10 poduren nu. Enna prayojanam, all waste I say!. Ethaavathu oru figure yaeri irukkumaa unga vandiyila. Waterwash, acid wash nu vandiyia pala palanu maintain pannuna kaalathulayum ethum mathikkala - ippo old is gold nu color fade aana peragum ethum kelambala.

Ovvoru thadavayum bike la beach roada cross pannum bothu, nammala vida chinna pasanga oru sakka figura kootittu - sull sullu nu povaanunga. Athu high class nu manasa thaethikutten. Office ku varum bothu, bike kadan vaangi otturavan en ethir veettu ponna thallitu povaan. Seri kalla kaadhal namma romba nalla paiyan, moreover athu pothu sothu, mokka figure nu manasa thaethi pan.

25 vayasa touch panni, birthday celebrate pannum bothu - oru dokku vizhuntha effect. Enada kalyaanam panra vayasaachu - innum sila pala vishayangal laam namma paaka vae illayeae nu. Aaana, intha matter la namma mattum vithi vilakkalla - namma koooda saenthavanunga ellaarumae ippadi thaan solli sirichu sirichu - marachu olichi vechippom.

But one rascal, smaartaa thittam pottu oru figure a aataya pottutaan. Office mudinju badminton aadurathu vazhakkam. Velayaada ponaalum, other attractions and added benefits kaaga poravangalum undu. Cycle gap la, second hand yamaha RX100 vechi raangi kaatitaan oruthan. "Oru soga music podungapaa!".

Athu eppadi click aachu nu vaai theranthu aah nu paathukittu irukum bothey - "Paartha muthal naale nu paadikittey escape aagivittaar namma black sheep". Ithukku room pottu thanni adichey aaganum nu thudichu poi irukkuthu varutha padaatha vaalibar sangam.

Elagiri from Chennai - What to expect

Elagiri from Chennai - What to expect

One thing is for sure, the IT crowd are sleazed up for a weekend getaway. Be it a bike ride or a cab ride, they are game for it. What is has lead to is a spring leap in the prices in the hill stations and sprouts of new resorts all over. I am documenting my laidback trip to elagiri.

Elagiri, has clean air for starters. It has two lakes. One with a park annex and the other with a boating annex. There are numerous resorts here, but I guess many operate at capacity during the weekends with reservations in place. It is better to make a reservation since value added services may be much needed in a place like elagiri which has little to offer.

We started from Chennai early (around 7). We were able to make it to Velore easily by 9:30. Not to forget the music,boarding and the poor policemen who were patrolling the highway in lines of the chief minister's felicitation (Anna Virudhu). We had our breakfast at Hotel Saravana Bhavan, darn the cost is real steep for a restaurant at Velore. The rates are same as in Chennai, if not more. Not to forget the quality of the roads throught, worldclass. I was wondering how many people were roped in to compelete such a humongous task. We took a torn narrow road to the foothills of Elagiri. Our SUMO was crying and required some skilful thrust to take our heavy ass over the hills.

Once there, we skipped one hotel to another and finally ended up with no place to take us in. Lunch time and everyone was too tired to complain about anything. We finally ended up in a starter hotel which didn't host a restaurant. We were glad that atleast we were able to find some place, TV with regional content and western toilets = no complaints. In fact it was a bit cozy enough. We were starving and went to a nearby restaurant called Rhythms. Boy o Boy, we
were left to gape at the food pictures they've put up around. The turnaround time was more than 45 minutes. The loud voices grew dull, and the laughs sunk into snickers. The quality of the food was great though and an unexpected change in climate. Pleasant surprise : Rain through the window, and a soup bowl to quench a nasty hunger. WOW. We had a quick rounds of photos and headed to the nearby lake. The rain was sporadic, no real rain and it ceased early as well.

We thought of heading into the lake and suddenly it got heavy. Heavy enough for us to experiment and try the other lake in the other corner of the village. We went in and checked that it is not really a lake but a tank collecting water from the draining rain water. We headed back to the bigger lake near the restaurant and barged in. The lake is and by far the only place to visit in Elagiri, so spotted many tourists. The boating is comparable to that of Kodaikanal or of wayanad. Heard the lake is more than 40 feet deep or so. And Again lots of photo shoot and time for coffee. We spent more than a hour or two here. Early to the hub, we settled to play badminton. Its been the latest rage in the team and flavors of sport and strongheadedness appeared here and there. Mr tick tock decided its time by bringing down the sun to rest. It also initiated the IND vs PAK match (which India lost, thanks). Spirits were high and snacks were flowing. No big debates and no dirty hussle - everybody settled in their groove. I uploaded all my pictured into my laptop and was clearly happy in a few good clicks. The night dragged and we ordered food from RHYTHMS to close in the meal chapter for the day. We then roamed in the streets and then in the terrace - tried to put up conversations which didn't really start. To the rooms again and we ended up in our bed gazing at our television screen for the remaining part of the match.

The bowling was unimaginative and the batting totally unplanned. No wonder we lost the match, if it was not for the individual brilliance of Raina or Gambir- there would have been a backlash in the airports when the team arrives home.

Next day, though people woke up by 7:30. It took more than 9:30 for us to head to an eatery before we could head to the temple which is 4 kms trek over the mountains. We had some reheated Poori and some bananas to go with it. Next stop, trekking spot. The champions that we are and in the profession we took, you should have guessed that we would quit half way through. We then headed to the next tourist spot which is the falls positioned in the near by village. We had to travel downhill in a jumpy ride and drive through some narrow suburb roads and reach this falls. We sort of had a predetermined idea that we are not gonna lunge into the waters and we stuck to it by just having some clicks near the falls. We crossed a sugarcane distillery en route and had jugs of juices each costing 5 Rs.

There you go and thats it regarding the tour plan. Now heading back home. As decided we pitstopped at Aambur and had our biryani at 4. Good heavans they had some - else we would have bought some old bread/chips/biscuits and chewed our way home. I was taking in music requests and streaming it as a FM broadcast to the car radio. Not to forget our superstar driver who never closes his mouth. He reminded me of the comedian in "Nadodigal", I thought one day - may be - he is gonna get beaten so badly for his antics and end up as the quoted character. I have to close this with a wry smile on how I got back home. On the highway we cut at 45 degrees to the city's entry point and headed to the southern most corner of the city and headed back home to northern most corner - with that sort of fatigue it was just the few good moments that I had, carried me home with Josh.

Lavanya's marriage reception

Lavanya's marriage reception


Superhero LP

LP, came in a dashing Arakku red color. Look she has got some super powers in her hand. This photo made many of my office friends envy and asked whether LP is single.












This Serious photo pose was preceeded by a lively chat, that image is posted beneath as well. Suddenly I felt that I was in college with just 5 of us.












This image have many a resemblance to the events in college. A special mention to Jegan, aaley illaatha kadaila yaarukuda tea aathura. Dont evny me, I was having a gr8 time.













Nandhi and Shailu joined in as well.















Appaada kadaiya pathata padaama oru pose.















A nostalgic look at the past

Ganesh - Ramya: Reception

Ganesh - Ramya: Reception

My dance at bally day

My dance at bally day