Wishing you all A Very Happy New Year

Another year ends and a new year is on its way. Let us all greet it with a happy heart and open arms. Wishing one and all of you a very very happy new year and a wonderful year ahead.
Bharath & Aarthi.

Latest News on Super Star's 'Sivaji'

Sivaji Rao alias Super Star Rajnikant, is the "Thalaivar" - Matinee Idol of millions - including me. This film persona has fans distributed across three generations since 1975, recording the maximum number of fan clubs across the globe. With his recent blast 'Chandramukhi' running the 250th day in many theaters worldwide, he continues to rule. Rajni's autographed photo (which I received for commenting on his movie 'Valli') is one of my priced processions. For some of you who might not recollect, my name is one of Rajni's hit movie - "Mr.Bharath".

One word that each of his fans think of everyday is 'Sivaji'. The most-hyped movie in the Indian Film history has the shoot rolling . The combo includes three giants: Rajni-Shankar-A.R. Rahman, a 'dream-come-true' venture for his fans. Needless to say, Super Star's 'Sivaji - The Boss' is the latest buzz in the media all over the world.

Sivaji, is most probable to be released on Deepavali day next year. But the expectation is sky-high and all distributors (including overseas) are very keen on getting the rights for the screening of this blockbuster of 2006. In this column, I will be sharing with you the latest media reports / gossips about this mega-movie in the making:

1. The opening scene & punch dialogues is of paramount importance for the fans. In 'Sivaji', Rajni's introduction scene will have the Superstar walking in the streets of New York downtown, Manhattan. The punch dialogues are penned by script-writer Sujatha. (Do you have a punch line in mind for the Boss? Visit http://www.chennaionline.com/film/News/2005/12rajni.asp )

2. Rajni comes in two get-ups, young son, old father. The Rajni you see on the ad promos is the young Rajni. Shreya pairs with him. Old Rajni has the looks as he appeared in 'Murattu Kaalai'. Who is his pair? Does he have one at all? We have to wait and watch

3. Rani Mukerji has been signed up as another heroine of the movie. Mohan Lal/Aishwarya Rai are also in discussion with the unit

4. The first shooting schedule had a song sequence canned in Ramoji Rao film city, Hyderabad. The 2.75 Crores worth set resembling a palace was used. The grandeur and richness associated with Shankar's song sequences can be expected in this song as well

Do you have an update? Please share it with us.

- Bharath

Rain.. Rain Go Away...

Whenever rain lashes Chennai, Velacherry (where we stay in Chennai) hits the headlines for the wrong reasons. This fast developing locality and its neighbourhood reel under massive inundation due to the recent cyclone and 'fanoos' (should appreciate the media for hyping words like these - Tsunami??).

The flooding of the Velachery main and bye-pass roads got confounded with many apartments and a couple of factories pumping out water from their premises. Being one of the victims at Ground Floor, we had taken shelter at R'thi's uncle's place at T.Nagar (Thank god, it was on the second floor)

Adyar river going in full spate gave some residents jitters as any overflow would virtually isolate Velachery and surrounding areas from the rest of the city. In many of the households including ours, the residents woke up, after a horrifying night battling mosquitoes without electricity, to find rain water entering their apartment premises. Scared by waist-high water on the roads, some of us were even frightened after seeing some strange "reptiles" and other insects in the water. You will not believe we had a raft floating into our apartment. Also, we could locate fresh-water fish species, in our parking area !!


Glimpses of that horrifying weekend which I captured, while wading through the once "common area" and "entrance", on my way to buy some essentials for survival !!

Sunday Morning with 'Chiyaan' Vikram

I had won a Slogan contest, as a part of "Cool Coke Dhool Diwali Offer" - An Ad behind Coke 500ml pet-jars. Needless to say, I am a major fan of Coke - despite R'thi's "health" warnings. My winning slogan was "Vikram and Coke goes together because both of them are cool, have great taste and an exciting treat to have".

Vikram promoted his latest film "Majaa", spent time with his fans and played his role as brand ambassador for Coca-Cola. We got four tickets for the special screening of "Majaa" at Albert theatre, Chennai.

About 200 people turned up for the show bright and early, a good number of them with children in tow. Vikram sportingly provided the sound effects and back-up vocals for the singers. The highlight of the interaction was supposed to be a game of Housie, the winners of which would get prizes and a photo with the actor. But due to much confusion about the rules, the game extended for over an hour.

However the audience seemed to be having a good time, with many false alarms about getting a `Jaldi Five' or a full row. And every time a winner was identified, Vikram would ask for an `O' and the fans would delightedly oblige. And when it was time for the photo shoot, the docile crowd turned more aggressive as they tried to get an autograph from their idol.

Unfortunately, we could not get close to Vikram or even get an autograph, but managed to click couple of photographs !!

Our "Thalai" Deepavali & Aquarium Special !!

We both had a great “Thalai” Deepavali. Celebrated with fun and sparklers !!

The Chennai rains did not dampen our spirits.... The night before, we all had a get-together dinner at Aarthi's home terrace. Later, we had an interesting Pictionary game (trying to depict words like pegasus in a drawing!!), which went on till midnight. It did not end there.... We saw two movies - Sound of the Thuder and Manichitrathazh (Malayalam source of 'Chandramukhi'). Simultaneously, we were playing cards (Rammi !?!) !!

After the Ganga Snanam, we set the road rocking with a 5000-wala (@ 5:30 AM !!). With lots of sweets, lights and relatives around.... it was a memorable day.

We both had gone to my hometown during the next weekend - phase 2 of our Deepavali celebrations. We had gone to Vijay starrer "Sivakaasi" - the great masala mix of the season. My parents are planning to visit us in Chennai during mid Dec.

Seeing quite a lot of movies - ranging from Sci-Fi / Action genre (The Myth, The Island, The Cave, Harry Porter 4, i-Robot etc.) to cartoons - courtesy R'thi (Mulan, Prince of Egypt, Ice Age etc.).

We have recently setup a cute aquarium, which I am passionate about. Have got a lot of Cichlids varieties - including Severum, Blue/Rose/White Morphs, Rainbow/White/Tiger Sharks, Avaratus etc. !! Will try and post more articles on this soon.

I saw it, I enjoyed it, and I loved it.

Hey you all know what... Am so excited and thrilled and happy..... Ever in my life did am I go to a movie on the second day of its release.... Yes........ I saw Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire on Sunday (Nov. 20, 2005). Bharath also liked the movie for a change.... Coz.. the 4th part has dragons in it. But overall, the fourth part was more like what the book was.... Infact most of it was as I had imagined while reading the book.

The best part of all this was that yesterday we completed six successful and happy months of married life!!!!!!

Waiting for the release of the next book very eagerly.

Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire Movie!!!!!!!!!

All ye Harry Potter fans out there.... I was so thrilled to see that Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter - Part 4) has been made into a movie!!!! It is gonna hit the screens in November 2005. (that is next month!!!). Am just waiting for it....

Am so excited and thrilled. Eagerly awaiting the movie also...

After the break....

I think I am running out of ideas for naming a title for my blog articles. But anyway, I guess I have been away from my blog for a long time now. So I just thought maybe I could post something. But then, as usual... writer's block....

Well...... I guess a review on the movie "The Island" would do the job.

Last Sunday, we had gone to the movie The Island. A nice plot which deals about a similar concept as described in Chromosome 6 of Robin Book.... Yes... It is about cloning your double and use its organs for your survival, when your organs fail... But here it goes one step further and we see that it humans that are clonned instead of creating a xenograph in an animal, which was the core of Chromosome 6 story.

Here rich and famous people who have some kind of genetic abnormality or health problems take an insurance policy which helps them survive longer by another 60 or 70 years. This policy would approximately cost them around 5 million dollars or more. This policy is nothing but a clone of their being engineered in the labs which will have a physical growth equivalent to the age of the insured while their mental growth will not be more than 15 year of age.

But as we all know it... Nature has it own way of breaking human barriers which is what happens in this case also. Though the engineered clones are not taught to think on their own and are not matured enough to have a thought process that is as advnaced as in a full grown adult, some of the clones that were the first ones to be engineered, develop some kind of infection that their mental growth exponentially increases at an unimaginable speed and they start thinking on their own.

But the insurers are led to believe that their clones are not mobile human being but are just vegetative. In reality as this is not possible, and the clones need to be humanized for the organs to function normally, the clones would be led to believe that they are sole survivors of a global contamination and that they are kept in isolation to escape further contamination.

But Lincon and Searah (2 of the clones) escape the captivity and reach the real world. How they get to know that they are clones and not actual people and how they cope with that truth and what they do after that is the story all about.

The very fact that another living being was slaughtered for a longer life of a human was threatening to read in Chromosome 6. But this is even more threatening than that.... To realize that people would do anything to survive... even kill a co-human being... is the heights of selfishness. But.. again it was my personal opinion...

The movie was really well taken and I enjoyed seeing the movie.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

For our successful completion of the third month after marriage, Bharath bought me a gift of my choice; Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I got the book on August 20, 2005 night. I started reading the book on August 22, 2005 and completed the book on August 27, 2005 early morning. It was just amazing... The way the plot unwinds is great and kept me glued to the book till I finished reading the whole book of 607 pages. Cannot wait for the next book. But I guess its gonna be a long wait before the next book (Part 7) of the Harry Potter series comes out.

Bharath was surprised at my reading speed and commented, "Booka padikkaraya thingaraya?" (Are you reading the book or eating it?). After a long gap, my reading passion has reborn again. I am waiting to lay my hands on the next book, 20000 leagues under the sea.

And achievement of the day (today) is that I have posted two articles on my blog. I was so bored.... This has been a welcome change. Now to get back to work.

What do I write about?

I could not think up of a better title and hence the title of the blog. I was feeling so bored and bogged down due the daily routine so I just decided to take some time off and blog something. But when I started blogging I was not sure of what I should blog and hence the title. It is 3 full months and 10 days after our marriage... I feel that my days so full of work.

Both of us work and during weekdays we hardly find time for any leisure activity or reading. And during weekends, the only time to catch up with friends and the lagging house-hold tasks, we are even more busier than the weekdays. Hope we are able to slow down and find more time for ourselves and our leisure activities soon.

It is Bharath's birthday today and I made Gulab Jamu (his favorite) today. He had a couple of jamuns and left for the office. This being my first attempt at Gulab Jamun alone, I should say I am impressed with my cooking skills. It tasted very good that Bharath, who does not like sweets took a second helping of the jamun. That made my day.

If any of you wish to taste the gulab jamun, you are most welcome to my house. I will be more than happy to serve you with a couple of them. :))

How about BLOB awards?

Something similar to BOB (Brain of BITS) awards... Want to know more about this? You can visit the BITSians' Blog. And do not forget to post your comments for that blog.

Aamir's blog in MSN Spaces

It has been a long time since I blogged in MSN spaces as I frequent blogger more than I frequent MSN Spaces. Today I just chanced upon Aamir's blog and was thrilled and wanted to blog that. Am yet to see Mangal Pandey - The Rising. I love Aamir's movies a lot coz of his acting... The movies that I enjoyed the most were Lagaan and Dil Chatha Hai... The kind of roles in both these movies were like almost the opposites. But still Aamir delivered it to the best effortlessly.

I know personally he must have put in lots of effort, but on the screen he looked very natural and amazing.

Okay I gotta get back to work now. For people who want to get to Aamir's blog here is the link: http://spaces.msn.com/members/mangalpandey/. To reach my blog in MSN spaces here is the link: http://spaces.msn.com/members/aarthibharath.

Removed the MyShoutbox

There is some problem with MyShoutBox. So I had to remove it. Will include it sometime later. Here is the answer for Prabhu Aryan who wanted to know how I customized the clock settings. I just did as I was instructed in clocklinks.com site for getting the local time and then generated to the code and pasted the same as is.

My Marriage @ Virudhunagar - Part 2 (Muhurtham)

It has been a long time after I posted the Part I of my marriage rituals. Been help up with work both officially and personally. My in-laws were here for the past ten days and hence I had to finish my work as early as possible in the office and ruch home to get their dinner ready. The work load at office is also increasing that I am unable to find enough leisure time to pen my thoughts. Anyway, today I decided to take some time off and finish the second part of my wedding rituals.

On May 20, 2005 (the D-Day awaited by both of us - Bharath and me) I woke up at 3:30 a.m. I did sleep at only 11:30 p.m. the previous night. But still, as these are once in a lifetime affair, I got up and got ready and reached the Mandapam by 4:15 a.m. (Me was staying in my uncle's friend's house).

Started getting ready from then on. At 7 a.m. as planned the Oonjal function happened. Some of Bharath's relatives had also particiapted. This went on for about an hour after which he wore a panjakajjam in which he returned back to his mandapam (Hanuman mandapam). Everyone seemed to have liked him in that attaire. At 9 a.m. Bharath and his relatives started from their mandapam and came to ours (VVS). He was riding on an elephant!!!!!!!!!!! They arrived at our mandapam at around 9:15 a.m. after which 5 ladies from his relatives had entered my room with the muhurtha saaree (weighing 1 kg in all). I was ready by 9:40 a.m. and our marriage was performed by Mr. Muthu, proprietor of the Idhayam group. The marriage rites were performed as per their custom without the agni or homakundam.

After he put the thaali, I was wearing 4 garlands while he was wearing 2 garlands. From VVS mandapam we went to Hanuman in a horse chariot. Me and Bharath were seated surrounded by 6 children in the chariot. Once I got down at Hanuman mandapam, after the haarathi session, his mom cam with 2 more garlands to welcome me as their daughter-in-law. I am sure I would have been weighing atleast 10 kg more than my actual weight that day. I stayed put with that weight for another 1.5 hrs before I was releaved of 4 garlands. After we were wished by all his relatives in the mandapam, we left to his house to light the kuthuvilakku and from there to the registration office to register our marriage. Only while going to the register office did I go without much weight.

After getting back from the register office, they left me at VVS to get ready for the Nalangu and my in-laws and Bharath went to get ready for the same. Nalangu started at 4 p.m. It was fun filled event with the usual nalangu components plus an anthakshari and cake cutting.

After anthakshari most of my relatives packed and left back to chennai in Nellai Express that night. After they all left Bharath's sister and Athimber came to pick me up from VVS to hanuman. My parents and a few of my relatives who were left headed to my uncle's friend's house for the night.

The next day, there was a small scale function organized in Hanuman.... Their version of Nalangu kind of fun events which ended with lunch. My parents and the remaining relatives left after lunch to Tenkasi and then back to Chennai, while I stayed with my in-laws for a week and landed up in Chennai on May 26, 2005. May 27, 2005 was my reception in Chennai.

Note: I guess the post has become too long. Sorry if it was too boring. I will upload the photos very shortly and provide a link to them from my blog.

My Marriage @ Virudhunagar - Part 1 (Nitchayadhartham)

Finally I have decided to pen down the trip to and fro from Virudhunagar and about my marriage there before it is too late and the memories fade away from my grey matter. Our marriage was a mixture of both the customs.

I was off work from May 16, 2005 and was helping my Mom pack for the journey. 39 of us were travelling to Virudhunagar by the Nellai Exp. My Dad and my uncle left for Virudhunagar on May 18, 2005 by Guruvaayur Exp. (A day train) and reached there in the evening.

My family minus my Dad including my uncle and cousins, my perippa's family, and Chittappa's family travelled by a van to Egmore while the remaning group decided to arrive directly at the station. We all met at Egmore and had occupied our seats in the train. The next day morning on reaching Virudhunagar junction, my sis-in-law, her husband, and my FIL along with my Dad and uncle had landed up in the station. From there we went to our hall and took rest till the evening when all the work for the engagement (Nitchayadhartham) started.

The groom's family with the groom came in only at 8:00 p.m. Except for me everyone else had some snacks in the evening. I was already feeling hungry. Once they came, the function got over in 1 hour after which there were some snap sessions and then they went to their hall and we had our dinner.

As soon as they came in, my SIL and couple of her cousins came to my room with a saaree. I changed to that and they brought me to the stage. In the meantime, as per our custom, they read out the lagna pathrikai and gave the groom's dress to him. My MIL gifted me a pair of gold bangles and a chain. My SIL took me to the kitchen in the marriage hall for performing some ritual according to their custom which signifies that I am taking her role in their house.

Bharath was then called on stage and my brothers garlanded him, presented him the gold chain, wrist watch and applied a kumkum and chandan tika on his forehead. This was the end of the function after which all his relatives blessed us by applying the kumkum on our forehead.

We both were called aside for some photos. Then they left for the day and I went and had dinner.

The next day (marriage) was the fun part. I will continue this in my next post. Am yet to get the CD of my marriage photos. Once I get that, I will upload the photos for viewing.

Its one month since our marriage

We just completed one month of married life sterday. It was a great feeling. After 7 long years of struggle and wait to get married, we finally got married on the 20^th of last month. I know that I still have not uploaded the photos online for all of you to view. But I will do it soon.

Sterday morning, we both wished each other for completing one full month as married couple. We just realized that there was no change in the way we behaved just because we got married. We still talk like we are friends and we lead a life that is filled with so much of love for each other. I wish that it remains the same way as long as we live. As a celebration of the day, I did not cook anything at home sterday and we had our food outside.

Just felt like sharing with the world about the important day of my life before I could post on the wedding and our honeymoon trip.

A tragedy @ my office.

I just joined office after my marriage last Monday (June 06, 2005). I have been wanting to publish a post on my marriage, reception, and honeymoon, but due to the pending work load, I was unable to find time to do that. Yesterday when I started from home, I decided that whatever happens, I would surely write about my marriage proceedings. But as soon as I entered office, @ the reception, instead of our usual thought for the day board, there was a white board kept with the message that one of our senior collegues had passed away. The most tragic part of the whole incident was that he just got married on June 10, 2005 (Friday). His was a love marriage which culminated to the marriage after almost 5 yrs of struggle. And the couple were happy only for a day.

He drove to his family temple somewhere south of Chennai. He and his wife were returning back to Chennai on Sunday by his car, when the unfortunate incident happened. His car hit the median dividing the road and he was thrown out of the car and hit a bus on the opposite side of the road. The impact was so hard that he died on the spot. His wife survived the accident. He was cremated yesterday.

This incident shook me very badly that I was unable to do anything at all sterday. I still haven't been able to come out of the shock yet. I just can't imagine the plight of the girl who just lost her husband (and lover) just 2 days after wedding. I pray to God that she finds enough courage to go on with life after this and also wish that she would find some happiness in the future.

I am unable to proceed beyond this due to the tears that threaten to flow out of my eyes.

The company wide meeting sterday - An eye opener

Well... The meeting may not have been an eye opener in the literal sense... Just that it made me accept the hard facts of reality that I was trying to neglect by convincing myself that it was my imagination working overtime. My friends have always told me that I am a vivid dreamer who keeps imagining stuff that would eventually spoil my own peace of mind. Very close friends who understand me well, keep saying that I am capable to jamming my mind with all sorts of garbage that is unnecessary coz such things that I fear of will never ever happen. We had a company wide meeting yesterday evening that was addressed by 3 people: my CEO, a VP, and a product manager. All the three gave presentations, which they prepared in exclusion from each other, but somehow the topic that was discussed kind of overlapped. It was more on the fact about company vision, mission, and culture. Of course, it also talked about how faith/belief in what you do/follow and the passion for something that you want are important to bring sense to the work that you do. Certain things that caught my interest were:

1. It is not a grave sin to make mistakes. To err is human. No one is gonna punish you for your mistakes.
2. If you do not fail in something, that means you are not doing anything at all. Only failures teach you lessons that help you lead a successful life.
3. It is not wrong to be open and outspoken. (Though my nature is in no way in sync with the point, it just did catch my attention).
4. Accept your mistakes instead of trying to defend them.
5. Do not fear failure. Having a detached attachment will make it far easier to cope with failure.
6. Never give up. When you have a failure, do not get dejected and give up the urge to fight back. Always learn from that failure and start thinking what next!!!
7. Career progression is a MAYA. There is nothing called a steady career progression.
8. Follow your dreams however wild they are. Someday, you will succeed in making your dream a reality.

All this was being replayed in my mind and as soon as I reached home, I wanted to share this with my Mom along with a few doubts that were still lingering in my mind. All the above can be implemented easily to any materialistic work that we take up. But when it comes to handling close relations and sorting out problem with your first circle of family members, your expectations mar your logical reasoning. Then repeated failure makes you give up at some point and you start becoming indifferent towards that person or relationship. This indifference is not a healthy sign when it starts showing up within a family. My mom did agree with me, but unfortunately both of us did not know what would the course of action to resolve if such a situation does crop up. Though these doubts are still there in my mind, the reality from which I was turning away hit me hard on the face and my attitude towards a lot of things changed. Today morning, I felt very different and nice when I started my day.

Marriage Preparations

I will be bonded in a wedlock in May. Preparations for the wedding are in full swing. Purchases are almost nearing an end. My friends and relatives do not seem to be stopping from gifting me something or the other. My brother gifted me a pair of gold earing, my Mom's friend has offered to gift me a jewellery set while my uncle offered to furnish our house!!!!

This being one part, we need to finalize on the relatives list, which seems to be a never ending job. Infact it is also very confusing and strenuous. Hope that gets done soon so that we can start off with the invitation distribution. March is almost come to an end and there is exactly 1 and half months for the wedding.

But in a way, it is a wonderful experience... to be a major point in the planning, organizing, and execution of various wedding related activities. I am not sure how many brides and bridegrooms will be involved in their own wedding preparations. But for me it is a very enlightening experience. Now I realize how true the saying in tamil is:

"Veeta katti paar, kalyaanatha panni paar"

Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince - Sixth book

Hey all u Harry Potter fans out there... the Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince covers have been released by publishers. There are going to be three different covers: one for the American Edition, and one for the Children's British Edition, and one for British Adult Edition. For more information view Wizard News.

Fired for blogging

This seems to be the recent hot topic of discussion everywhere. XYZ fired for blogging. ABC fired for blogging. Why are people being fired for blogging? What is wrong. Blog is a personal web space of a person to put out their opinion about anything in their own sweet terms.

My definition of a blog is an e-version of one's personal diary. It is also used a place to broadcast your personal opinion on any topic of your interest to the whole wide world. So why is it that firms fire their employees for blogging? Is there any unwritten rule that you are supposed to reveal any company information (as simple as the work culture and atmosphere) in the blogspace?

I can understand when the case involves revealing crucial financial information or HR policies on employee performance appraisal system or such kinds... But when you are trying to talk about your perception of the work culture of the firm in which you work, why is even that held against the employee raising the thought?

Just a few questions in my mind. Am not sure if I will be able to answer them myself... But I wanted to put them down some where so that I can concentrate on other things instead of moving in circles and coming back to these same questions all over again.

Inactivity in blogging

I did create the blog space with the intension of blogging about things that interest me and the about the interesting events in my life. Being at the most eventful phase of my life, I have been silent for quite a long time.

I just got engaged xactly 2 months back on the same date (December 09, 2004) to Bharath. This is not a traditional arranged marriage where parents look out for a match. He was my choice and I his. So as in the case of most love marriages, we also had to walk through fire to reach to this point. But even now, things are not back to normal.

With the marriage date getting closer, my tensions are on the rise. The worry about the merging of two different cultures and families is eating my head. Initially I thought I wud blog about our courtship period, the pre-engagement period (the problems), engagement, and post engagement life. But the fear of the unknown has taken up most of my thinking space, that I am just unable to get do anything else.

But I guess it is the same with anyone who is about to get married, coz most of the people whom I meet and share my fears tell me that it is very common and that it will all vanish once the marriage is over. I hope that what they say is true. Then maybe, I shall get back to blogging actively and share my memorable and embrassing moments with Bharath to all of you interested in knowing about us.