Ting Ting Baba

A Love Story

2011-07-12T23:13:00.000+05:30

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. In the Earth, he created plants. In the best of the plants, he created thorns. Thorns were unbeautiful. Nobody liked thorns. Then God created Love. Love is not ‘just an emotion’. Love is beautiful. Love made the world colorful. Man and Woman loved each other. Love became eternal. God did not like something to be immortal than him. So he made thorns the ‘symbol of love’. Those ugly thorns were not accepted as the symbol. Men protested it. Women opposed God. So he created the most beautiful flower ‘Rose’ alongside thorns to deceive humans. And the Homo sapiens tumbled into the trick. Here is story which happened in the last few years of ‘80s.

This couple was one among those who were prey for the arrow of the cupid. They fell in love. ‘He’ was a computer analyst and one among the very few who had access to the only computer at his office. During those period computers were divine. They were treated like Gods. The companies will only one computer in a separate ‘Computer room’ with fully air-conditioned facility. Those who are entering the room should remove their footwear outside it. And ‘He’ was made in charge of the computer because of his knowledge and technical skills. ‘She’ was a homemaker. Both of them got married just few months ago and lived in a separate flat.

They have been fighting since one month after their marriage. He returned home from his office and was looking tired. He pressed the doorbell twice, but didn’t get any response from inside. Third time he banged the door. Now she opened. “How many times do I need to press the bell? Are you deaf? What were you doing inside? I am exhausted. Can’t you hear the bell?” She didn’t even respond. She took her cell phone and sat on the sofa. She then changed the channel in the TV to another popular music channel. “Put some news. I want to know about the cricket match. Did India win? Sachin was on 96. Hey, I am shouting here and you are seeing these idiotic songs” His cell phone vibrated, ‘a new text message’.

You have changed a lot. He then turned towards her and shouted “Why are you sending message to me? Can’t you talk?” Another vibration, another message, You are not like how you have been. You are not you. He then replied to her message.

What happened?

You never shouted at me. You were caring. But now, after we got married you are not even bothered about how I am.

When we got committed, you used to text me all the time, ask me “What are you doing, darling” and say “I love you” very frequently. Now, everything is changed.

I love you.

Stop acting. I know you don’t mean it. Don’t tell just for the sake.

No. I mean it.

Stop the nonsense. You are always shouting. You are an idiot.

Ok. Sorry.

Who needs your sorry? Get lost. I need divorce. I want to go to my parents. Loving you is a sin. I made the biggest mistake in my life by getting committed. Now I am suffering.

I am really really sorry. I care for you.

Just telling ‘I care for you’ doesn’t mean YOU CARE FOR ME.

I love you.

I am going to switch off my mobile phone. I won’t talk to you anymore.

Hey Sorry, wait. I want to tell you something.

Quick

Remember this day? Last year... Same day... around this time…

She then saw the calendar. It read ‘February 14th’, the Valentine day.

This is day when I made the mistake. I accepted our proposal.

I love you. :-*

Stop. This is the limit and our love is dead. No more msgs.

I still love you darling. On this day, last year, I saw an angel in a lovely pink dress. Curly hair, Cute looks, giggling with her friends…

You were ugly, Idiotic, I hate you. I never knew the dress code. If I had known, I would have never allowed any ‘Blue’s to talk to me. You wore blue.

Stop lying sweet heart. I know you love me. With those beautiful eyes, which moved at a speed of 4Mbps, you saw me all the time. Your eyes gave me confidence. It asked me “When are you going to propose this princess”

You better marry your computer. And I never saw you. I was turning and talking to my friend.

I love your eyes. Then I came to you with all my confidence and asked you out to the restaurant.

Hmm…

Candle light, romantic tunes, beautiful girl and that was the best night I have ever enjoyed. I even remember you ordered ‘Strawberry’ dessert.

You looked at my lips as if you were going to eat me.

No I was trying to figure out which one of it is a strawberry. Your lips and strawberry looked alike. :-*

Now I understand why you said “I want to taste that strawberry” pointing to my face. Cha.

You still remember that, my goodness! :-)

I even remember the gift you gave me…

What did I give?

You asked me to wait and went somewhere. And after few minutes you came inside and surprised me with the gift.

Yeah. I came to know you loved chocolates. That’s why I gave you those 21 different chocolates. Handpicked, Love you :-*

Hmm…

You remember that teddy bear on the top of the TV?

Stop. Don’t try to persuade me.

No darling. I won’t. Do as you wish. Now talk to me. Stop texting.

No. Bye.

Hey, what happened?

She threw the cell phone and didn’t even turn. He was not sad and went outside to the terrace. Nobody talked for the next few minutes. Now she took her cell phone.

Where are you? What are you doing?

Counting

Counting what

Counting how much I love you

How much?

I don’t know. You come out and count.

Wait.

She then came up to the terrace and asked him “What are you doing here?” He slowly pointed towards the stars. “Can you help me count? Hmm I left three here 124, 125, 126…”

“Infinity”

“Yeah that much I love you”

“I love you too” She then smiled.

“Don’t cry darling” he wiped her tears. “The moments in which both smile and tears meet are the best moments in our life. I will never shout at you anymore.” He plucked one of the roses from the pot and gave it to her. At that moment a thorn in the rose pricked his finger, God smiled and winked. The couple couldn’t realize this as the stars were also twinkling.

He then asked her “Can we redo it again?” Within minutes she was in the same pink dress, he wore blue and they both went to the same restaurant, they had been in the previous year.

Nine months and Nine days later (from 14th February) she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on 23rd November, who was as pretty as her and as intelligent as him. He then named the boy ‘Vignesh Parameswaran’, who is trying all his best to become a writer and killing you all with these stories and asking you to comment. So comment or else I will write another story and kill you.

Idiots

2011-07-06T13:59:00.000+05:30

Year - 2020

“Life is all about listening to your heart and chasing your dreams.” – Rancho.

One fine day, it wasn’t fine at all. Vignesh got a call from ‘Success’ Srivatson. Srivatson, now a multibillionaire teased Vignesh “You idiot, you and two of your friends teased me in our college days, remember? Now see, who is successful? Where is your idiotic friend Rancho?”

Vignesh (for our story ‘Chuchu’) called his old friend Shrujan Kalkura (Macho) right away and they all rushed to the college; they had studied 20 years ago, MSEC - Most Successful Engineering College. Srivatson took them to the terrace and showed them what he had inscribed on the wall some 10 years ago. “Remember this?” asked Srivatson, “10 years ago, when we all studied here, you three teased me ‘Mahabagyam’, ‘Dapsababa’ and you spread all those to students, staff and even to principal. You people invented a method of worship (folding fingers in a definite pattern and striking your forehead twice – only twice and the third time will get you negative effect!! Try thisJ) and made the every other staff to do that before taking class. On that day I took a pledge, to be more successful than you 3 idiots. Today, I am ‘Success’ Srivatson, CEO of 6 multinational companies and now joined the Congress party and became a Cabinet minister! I am the HRD minister of the Central Government, so where is your idiot stinking head friend Rancho??”

Saddened by this, the two friends embarked a quest for a lost buddy. As they make their way through the perilous landscape of Kodambakkam, T.nagar, Anna nagar, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend - the irrepressible free-thinker Rancho (Mohandas Karamchand Raghavan), who, in his unique way, touched and changed their lives.

It's a story of their hostel days that swings between Rancho's romance with the spirited Pombala (Arindam Mandal) and his clash with and oppressive mentor, Sivasubramania Desikar. And then one day, suddenly, Rancho vanishes.

Where was he? Where did he come from? Why did he leave? The friend who influenced and inspired them to think creatively and independently, even as the conformist world called them three idiots. Where is the original idiot now?

They finally found Rancho at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Rancho is surrounded by many white and white ‘Nehru cap’walas, discussing with him about the next step to be taken and his stance. Mahabagyam Srivatson is totally shocked on seeing this. Rancho has become Anna Hazare now. He is peacefully protesting the corrupt Congress government at the centre. Srivatson was the minister delegated to deal ‘Jan Lokpal’ bill with Anna Hazare.

‘Success’ Srivatson badly wanted to prove his power and success to Rancho, but now he needs Anna Hazare to succeed in his new venture. Macho and Chuchu were happy seeing their old pal. Rancho said “Hear you inner voice. Life is all about listening to your heart and chasing your dreams. Chase excellence, Success will follow you”.

After that Macho Shrujan became an upcoming hero. His profile picture in Facebook is just a sample. Pombala Arindam then studied at IIM and became Professor Arindam Chaudhri, Indian Economist, Management Guru and the Dean of IIPM – Dare to think beyond IIM’s. Hariharasudhan followed his heart and wrote several books including ‘Principles of Management’, ‘Professional Ethics’ which are now prescribed by Anna University. He became the best local author and replaced Bakshi in Technical publications. His non-technical concepts are easy to understand than foreign authors. His book ‘How to write stories and clear Anna university semester exams’ is a bestseller (#1 in New York Times) and is in now available at all bookstores (Grab your copy now).

Roshan founded photography is his passion. All his photos got published in calendars around the world. Several billion people are having snapshots taken by him as wallpaper. He is now awarded the No.1 photographer of the century.

Chandrasekar became ‘Naatamai’, the Chief justice of India, Suresh’s ‘Deivathirumagal’ is set to release this month and Rajasekar is now the best comedian. All others including Shabbu, Sandrorgal Kavin ‘Guruji’, Scientist Rama, Kosu Naren, TK, Athan Ela topped their fields.

Janani is now the Head of Research and Development and her current project being “My teeth shines a lot than Sun”. She got Noble prize for her finding “Day is bright when I open my mouth, and not because of Sun”. Way to go Janani!

Vignesh finally became ‘Ting Ting Baba’ and is now singing ‘Baja Govindam, Baja Govindam’ in his Ashram at Himalayas.

Thus the Story ends.

The Fish, The Tortoise and The Frog

2011-06-11T12:54:00.000+05:30

நூத்து மந்தர கோத்தர

ஆயிரத்து மந்தர மல்லாத்தர -

அது மேல ஒரு கல் ஏத்தர

ஏக்க மந்தர தத்தர பத்தர.

(Noothu manthara koththara

Aayirathu manthara mallaththara –

Adhu mela oru Kal yeththara

Yekha manthara thaththara paththara)

Once there was Finley the Fish, Freddy the Frog and Tardy the Tortoise in a small pond. They were close friends and they swim together, eat together, sleep together and play together. Tardy the Tortoise is a hi-tech geek. It wears cool suit, shiny shoes and it has a blackberry, so it can chat, mail, surf and all do on the move. Finley the Fish is a jester. It makes fun out of anything and anyone, anytime. Freddy the Frog is a fool. It knows nothing. And hence Finley the Fish always teases Freddy the Frog.

During one summer the water in the pond started evaporating. So they all met near their favorite rock in the pond. Tardy the Tortoise said “Dude, the pond is drying”, “Global warming you know...” said Finley the Fish. “What??” Freddy the Frog couldn’t understand what the other two were talking.

Meanwhile two hunters were approaching the pond. They hunted everything from Deer to Tiger and from Cuckoo to Eagle. “Harvey, Let us take rest near the pond. I am too tired” said Harry. They saw the Fish, the Tortoise and the Frog. They wanted to hunt them too. So they noiselessly approached the pond.

Realizing they were in danger, Freddy the Frog said “Tardy, Finley, These hunters will hunt us. We should escape.” Tardy the Tortoise and Finley the Fish laughed at Freddy the Frog. Finley said “I know 100 mantras (ways) to escape from the Hunters”. Tardy said “I know 1000 mantras (ways) to escape from any danger”. Freddy asked them to help it to escape from the hunters as it doesn’t even know any mantra.

They didn’t teach him, instead they laughed at Freddy for being a fool all its life. A Baba passed that way and was empathized by seeing Freddy and the gag by its friends. He asked Freddy the Frog to come near him. “Baba, please teach me a mantra to escape from the danger”. Baba whispered a mantra and went away.

The hunters came to the pond. Finley the Fish was caught in the net. When it tried to get back to the pond, Harry pierced a needle on it. Then Harvey caught the Tortoise and turned it upside down so that it cannot move. When it tried rollback, Harvey placed a stone over it after turning upside down. Hence Tardy the Tortoise is now caught. When the hunters tried to catch the Frog, Freddy used its mantra “Jump! Jump!” and escaped.

Hence the one who knew 100 mantras was pierced by a needle, (நூத்து மந்தர கோத்தர)

The one who knew 1000 mantras was turned upside down, (ஆயிரத்து மந்தர மல்லாத்தர)

But as it tried to escape, a stone was placed over it, (அது மேல ஒரு கல் ஏத்தர)

The one who knew only one mantra escaped happily. (ஏக்க மந்தர தத்தர பத்தர)

Sonne

2011-06-06T00:11:00.001+05:30

“Hello Vignesh! You have a surprise!!” And I was goggle-eyed. Not actually by seeing ‘that’ surprise but I was bewildered to hear a clairaudience in my room as I was always almost alone. I strolled over my bed to get a glimpse of the person, to whom I was hearing. Oh! I slept early last night.

“May I know who this is?” I was dowsing for my cell phone as it had become a custom to wake up tantalizing for my mobile. All these days, I have slept reading something in the Wikipedia or playing games in it. And as I wake up, I perceived my mobile, check for mails as I brush my teeth. I did all my ‘pre-flop’ customs. Oh! I slept early playing poker last night.

“Are you there?” I yelled towards my window. The curtains were twitching and I could sense someone right out there. “Come out, quickly” said the voice and I just tumbled, did a somersault, jumped from the bed to find myself in the cluster of wires around me. They were waiting for me to untie the knots I made as I slept with my headphones on. Oh! I slept playing poker and hearing Zig Ziglar last night.

Sonne was my best friend. He was very good-looking, extremely bright fellow. And he was intelligent too. We played for a couple of hours daily until this month and we never expected this would happen. We enjoyed to the core and Hide n seek was our best game. One day I hide in a subway near my house and he couldn’t find me - I won and the next day he hide in the top covered himself with black and white blanket and I couldn’t find him. *High five*.

Another day when I went to the park, all of a sudden he started crying. I said “Oh my God. What is this? Why are you crying?” He didn’t reply. And that was the last day I met him. Maybe he predicted this would happen to us! Today I am missing him very badly. All this happened because of my holidays. This vacation separated us.

I rushed out. And I stood there agape at the splendor. “Wow! And that is why you called me here?” I exclaimed. I had missed all this since my holidays started. It was exquisite! Beautiful! It looked round and it was as red as an apple.

Yeah! It was Sonne, the Sun! In the first day I told my mom “It’s Holidays Mom, please don’t wake me up” and all these days I woke up at 6 in the night and slept at six in the morning. I have become nocturnal. Today as the Mother Nature woke me up; she gave me the surprise to see my Sun again. Nature was calling me out.

Of course Sun is good-looking and bright! That day he was too hot so I hid in the subway. The other day he hid himself in the blanket of clouds! On that day I went to the park it rained! And today I cursed myself for not seeing the sun which is the most beautiful star in the sky!

From today I take a pledge to not to develop laziness and wake up early as I did before the holidays and see the sun. We now have new game to play in the name of ‘Exercise’ and ‘Jogging’. No more hide and seek. Trust me he is the best friend for all of us!

From Grandpa to Govinda

2011-03-24T01:20:00.001+05:30

18th March, 2011 – 08:15 PM

I was riding my bike back to home after two hours of good sleep at Raghavan’s house. Thanks to Embedded systems. =) I have been trying to put off my sleep and concentrate on this subject as I thought I could pass this easily, rather my lecturer will pass me if I had something sensible – related to the subject in my paper. After a very poor performance at VLSI Design which was an easy paper, I badly wanted to pass this subject. I was writing stories and my thoughts during three hours of exam in two successive days. (And even I showed those to a few of my friends and got nice comments and even they asked to publish that in my blog.) =)

The moment I reached home I got a call from my Grandpa. He was in Egmore Railway Station and sadly he forgot to take his Train Ticket. He asked me to rush but ride slowly and reach the Station. I said ok. But how? I want to pass. I had slept already. I need to study. Five units are pending and if I take hours to get through the contents at the rate of one unit per hour I require five solid hours. And even if I spare another hour to compensate for break in between I could do with Six hours. Nine plus Six equals 3 AM in the morning and oops still the result could be a fail.

I started searching for the keys - Home key, my granny’s house key, and my bike key. And I succeeded in finding two. So where are my granny’s keys? All of a sudden I got a call, yes of course from grandpa. “Have you started? Where are you? What? Yet to Start! It is already 8:30” I stopped searching. I need to do something. The train is scheduled at 10 PM. So I have nearly an hour and half to go. But for my grandpa, who will relax himself half an hour prior to the schedule I need to be there with his ticket by 9:15 PM.

Cha! I felt traumatized. Something struck my mind. I said to myself, “Vignesh its Action Time – Roger that.” I took my inner self as commander and obeyed the orders. “Mom, Can you please search for the Key? Kiru, Can you come with me to the station? I have a plan” Yes! I am known for planning. =) I delegated these work to the girls who are naturally good at these.

Mom is good at position and locations of objects. If you are in a hurry and not able to find your keys, ask your mom she will tell exactly where it would be. She knows where you keep things and where you throw things. Not able to find TV remote – ask mom. Not able to find the pair of your socks – ask mom. Not able to find your spectacles – ask mom. Not able to find your wallet – ask mom. She is the best Google God has created (If God exists). If you are not able to find your girlfriend – ask mom, she will fix a girl for you and make you marry her. =)

As expected, my mom found those keys. Kiru did all the make up a girl could do within two minutes and we started. Another call – Another lie, we told him we were on the way and swiftly I reached his house. It was 8:45 PM. I asked my sis to open the door and get the ticket and I was planning the next few steps I should take to go to Egmore. I know about the traffic which was terrible. So I said to myself, we are going by train.

Kiru couldn’t find the ticket. So she asked me to come up. No wonders, because she is not mom. Only moms are good at finding things. =) I went up and took the only ticket on the table. Easy pickings - Kiru need to learn a lot! We were in a hurry. Another way to bypass the traffic is to board a train. Local trains are too fast and are more frequent. Local train comes into my plan. So we hurried to the Mambalam station which was nearby. Parked my bike in the stand and I was told it will close by 10:30 PM. enough of deadlines. Unfortunately there was a loooooooooong queue. Cha!

Kiru stood in the queue. I went besides the line to hit upon a familiar face, and luckily got one. It was one of my grandpa’s friends who is also going to Egmore to send off his relative. I offered help and got into the queue replacing him. Kiru was relieved and started talking to him, Whew! I bypassed nearly a couple of dozen people and got tickets for all of us. Work got simple. We rushed to the platform, but cha! Even if you get tickets you need to wait in the platform until train comes. We both were waiting for five minutes and attended a couple of calls from grandpa. He was worried. My mom called me and appreciated my plan to get there fast and also prayed for the train to come. I don’t know whether it was time for the train to arrive or a coincidence, she felt like her prayer were answered. Thanks to Venky, Surely he deserves a motta for the train. Govinda!! =) I just heard Go Win There! Not the other one.

Train went faster, maybe because of another prayer of my mother. Because of her prayer only Sun rises in the east. (I had told her many times that Sun never rises, never sets. It is earth which is rotating around the Sun to give us that illusion. But what to do! It is a universal fact, illogical and undeniable. I am forced to accept it. All are accepting it voluntarily.) I thought “What am I going to get in this thrilling encounter? Nothing, NO! I am going to get a Fail in Embedded Systems! Cha!”

We went to the Station reached platform number four. After a lot of confusion we found him, and handed over the tickets. It was 9:30 PM. Once again we answered a series of calls from Mom and Grandma. It seems both of them had prayed, one for our train and the other for grandpa’s train. Two mottais are pending. But wait! What is this? All of a sudden my granddad gave us fruits, a hundred rupee note and asked to eat out! I was not able to tell him, that my mom is ready with the dishes and waiting for us. We silently came to the other side of the platform and took the train, only because I need to be there before 10:30 to get my bike. We said sorry to grandpa, shared the money, and reached home by 10:30 sharp.

I thought I was gifted to device plans and execute it flawlessly. But everyone can do it. I realized that anyone in my position would prefer train to go to Egmore and bypass the long queue. I am not that special. As I realized this I felt sorry for myself for passed a resolution I am not that expert in planning and executing, so what, I will learn it from others! I will surely learn it from you!

*Happy Ending*

Epilogue: I didn’t study that night. But woke up in the morning to sleep for an hour once again =). But what to do! I passed the exam. Not only I passed, but also got around 63. Once again thanks to my mom’s prayers. =) Go Win There! Rocks! Venky, deserve mottais!

Blogging

2011-03-20T17:30:00.002+05:30

I began to blog long back.

I am not a habitual blogger.

However I wanted to articulate my views.
I re-modified this site quite a few times.

I posted few texts, but scrub out those because of my pitiable English, vocabulary and knowledge.
This time I advanced my self-confidence, enhanced my English a bit and improved my site.
I hope you will read all my texts and post comments so as to help me to get better.
Once again Thanks a lot for visiting my website.

Dear Friend,

2010-12-12T02:09:00.000+05:30

I request you to donate Re.1 per day till our 'Due Date' to reach the 'Target'.

Target - Rs. 2000
Due Date - 14th January 2011
Charity Challenge - Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000
Challenge by #Donor2

I thank you for donating Re.1 per day and i wish you continue to do so in the future. I also request you to do these,

1. Please attend the poll and help us by choosing an organization to donate the collected money. And suggest your option through comments.

2. Subscribe yourself in the Google SMS Channel Re1perday (by clicking this link)
#If the link doesn't work copy paste this URL in your web browser
http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/subscribe/Re1perday
or Subscribe by sending a SMS "ON Re1perday" without quotes to 09870807070

Target - The amount which has to be collected.
Due Date - The amount has to be given to an organization before this date.
Charity Challenge - The amount which will be donated by the person putting up the challenge.

(Every Rupee will be doubled when Target is reached within Due Date. For example, if Rs.2005 is collected the the challenging donor will donate Rs.2005 doubling the amount to Rs.4010. If Rs.2500 is collected it will become Rs.5000 and if Rs.3000 is collected it will become Rs.6000 and if Rs.3001 or above, say, Rs.3020 is collected the donor will give only Rs.3000 as it is the Maximum amount he is Challenging)

Any Donor shall wish to be anonymous, who will in that case be provided with a Donor number.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for Charity and further Clarifications/Details.
Contact +91 99402 654 89

Every Rupee will be accounted and updated in this website (within a week)

Pandavas And Kauravas - 1

2010-03-05T23:13:00.004+05:30

This series will feature the fantasy characters ‘Pandavas’ and ‘Kauravas’.
Pandavas and Kauravas were cousins. They all were wise.

Once when Pandavas went to their uncle’s territory to participate in the symposium, Kauravas used their absence and abducted their land. When Pandavas returned to their home, they panicked. They came to know that, Sakuni the uncle of Kauravas was cunning and deceived them. Now Pandavas were made to answer his puzzles to get back their land. Can you please help them?

Sakuni asked Pandavas to go to a room. They could see an electronic weighing machine and a servant through a glass door. Sakuni showed Pandavas ten bags of same color near the machine. Each bag has 100 gold coins. One of the bags contains coins which are forgeries. Real coin weighs 1 gram and a counterfeit coin weighs 1.1 gram. Pandavas were allowed to instruct the servant only once and that servant was allowed to use the electronic weighing machine only once. Pandavas cannot go near the bag or the machines. They were asked to find the bag of counterfeit coins.

How can they find out?

Are you an ETA Puzzles ‘Expert’?

2010-02-28T21:36:00.003+05:30

(I am posting this here as it was posted in our newsletter)

Here are the multiple-choice entrance-exam questions to become the ETA puzzles “Expert”.

Q1. Which is the first question where c) is the correct answer

a) Q3
b) Q4
c) Q1
d) Q2

Q2. Which is the first question where a) is the correct answer

a) Q4
b) Q2
c) Q3
d) Q1

Q3. Which is the first question where d) is the correct answer

a) Q1
b) Q2
c) Q4
d) Q3

Q4. Which is the first question where b) is the correct answer

a) Q2
b) Q4
c) Q3
d) Q1

Can you solve this?

Find the Gods - Puzzle

2010-02-26T23:02:00.003+05:30

An archaeologist discovered a temple with three gigantic statues guarding the entrance. To be allowed into the temple, he must identify each of the three gods.

The God of Truth always tells the truth.
The God of Falsehood always lies.
The God of Diplomacy can tell the truth or lie.

He asked the god on the left, "Who stands next to you?"
"The God of Truth," was the reply.

He asked the god in the middle, "Who are you?"
"The God of Diplomacy," was the reply.

He asked the god on the right, "Who stands next to you?"
"The God of Falsehood," was the reply.

The archeologist immediately identified the three gods.
Can you?

3 Idiots

2010-02-26T22:11:00.004+05:30

January 30, 2010

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

We (3 of us) were standing in front of our Head of the Department. We were caught for using mobile phones inside the campus. Everyone in the room was silent. Our HOD asked me. “Vignesh, what is this?” I couldn’t answer.

That was the first time I was wedged. We were sent to the Principal’s room, the lion’s den of our college. (Not to forget that our Principal is an active member of Lions club International, and so her room is frightening me more than lion’s den!)

Our Principal asked us, “What did you do?” We explained the incident. I thought “3 Idiots. Cha. We are screwed” But to our surprise she said, “I know my students are bright. Ok. You used cell phones. It’s a mistake. But it is not a crime. I will let only one of you free under one condition. You should prove you are the wisest.”

We said ok. And so, Versatile Vignesh (an oxymoron!), Brilliant Bhargav and Raghavan were blindfolded.

After that we were painted either green or yellow dot on our forehead. When we were allowed to open our eyes, our Principal asked us to raise our hands if we see at least one yellow dot in front of us. I wanted to escape so I said ok. I was a bit enthusiastic. We opened our eyes. All of us raised our hands, and sat in silence pondering. Finally Raghavan said “I have a yellow dot on my forehead”

His answer was correct. Our Principal mam warned us not to use mobile phones and let us all free gracefully. But still I wonder how Raghavan got the correct answer. He is surely a padipaali!

How did he tell ?

The Einstein's Puzzle - Who has fish at home?

2010-02-26T21:18:00.012+05:30

It is said that this quiz was made up by Albert Einstein and according to him 98% will not solve it.

There is a row of five different color houses. Each house is occupied by a man of different nationality. Each man has a different pet, prefers a different drink, and smokes different brand of cigarettes.

1. The Brit lives in the Red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The Green house is next to the White house, on the left.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the Blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Who has fish at home?

Are you one of the 2%?

Ting Ting Baba!

2010-01-27T22:19:00.018+05:30

“Energy can neither be created, nor be destroyed.

It can be transformed from one form to another.”

Source: Sixth grade Physics text book.

I wanted to write a technological critique for our souvenir. But I couldn’t. I hunted the internet, googled hi-fi scientific words, but finally ended up with confusion, dilemma, predicament, quandary, and impasse. I thought “Cha. Screw my primary” Because, I joined a school which gave importance to mugging up and scoring high marks. (See, I found those five words for confused state in thesaurus, No vocabulary).

I like my school and I’m trained to mugging up. In my school there were experts in mugging. I wondered how they remembered each and every word in the book. They were toppers in tenth grade as well as twelfth grade. We worshiped them as Gods while we did primary. Our role models! (I don’t know what they pursued after schooling.)

Here is the algorithm to mug up.

Step 1: Start a fresh paragraph. Read it louder. (Important: Don’t try to understand.)

Step 2: Read it 3 times. Now your mind will know which sound comes next to which sound. (Half done)

Step 3: Close the book. Say it again. You will remember 75% of that paragraph. Sure. Two more times seeing the book and you will utter every word without flaw! Great!

Step 4: Go ahead. Next paragraph is waiting!

I still remember one of the incidents that happened in my life when I did my primary education. It was a simple answer for a simple question. I wanted to share this with you.

Q: What is a wind?

A: Moving air is called wind.

I mugged this answer following the above mentioned algorithm. As usual we got the important questions for the exams. (Thanks to the girls! They usually get these questions to score very high marks (!) which are difficult to achieve without mugging!) I was novice then. I prepared well. One of my friends helped me with few tricks, like, if a question starts with “Why did so and so happen…” the answer should be “So and so happen because…” Similarly for a “What is so and so…” the answer should be “So and so is…”

The question paper had the questions which I had mugged up earlier. Obvious! Still I did a mistake. For this question, I followed the trick of my friend.

Q: What is a wind?

A: Wind is… (Struck up! Cha.)

This is what we called “Starting trouble”. We know the answer well, very well. But we forget how it will start. Mugging up always ends up with at least a few starting troubles. That was the first time for me. Ting! The First ting of my life.

Albert Einstein once said, “The only thing interfering with my learning is my education” This is nothing but a famous quote, “I was born intelligent, but education ruined me” Ok. I’m not Albert Einstein. I mean I’m not born intelligent. I admit.

I love mathematics. To be specific, I love puzzles. My mother is a mathematics teacher. And that is why I showed interest in that subject. Later I developed interest in logical puzzles. It was totally different from curriculum. I think now you know why I liked it. Yes! There is no mugging required for puzzles. Trained by the experts of mugging, I had no exposure to lateral and out of the box thinking. If I had sold my brain it would be worth billions. Major portion of brain was not used. But after developing interest in puzzles I used my brain. Now I suffered a lot because I’m not able to mug up as much as possible since I wanted to understand the subject. So my grades exponentially decreased. (Understanding a subject without strong basics could be dangerous. Mugging basics doesn’t mean a strong understanding of basics.)

Now I sought the help of God to clear the papers. I chanted all the slokas my father gave. Visited every temple, from north to south and from east to west. I did everything to please the God to score a good mark. Finally the day of Results, our nightmare came. I got marks which I expected. Yes, the usual lower grade. I felt, “Screw you God” Ting! The Second ting of my life.

“Ada poda… No God. Nothing... You idiot. You should have mugged up. See your friends... Very high marks... Screw you.” Yeah. Very very high marks. I cried five times that day. I didn’t go to my school to know my result. Thanks to the Internet.

Someone came near me. Swept my tears, and kissed my forehead. And said “My dear boy open your eyes. Don’t cry.”

I mumbled in a feeble voice “I believed in God. I did my exams well but I didn’t score. If there was a God, He could have heard my prayers and help me score.”

“Don’t worry my child. There is God. But first believe in yourself. Be sincere. Calm down. Think where you made mistake. You will succeed. You reap what you had sown. For everything you face in your life you have the solution in your hands. Don’t blame someone for your mistake, including God. Now Open your eyes”

I opened my eyes. I was surprised. I saw God. Now only I realized I was speaking to God. Wow! I felt great. God smiled.

“I will grant you a wish. What do you want?”

I thought “Marks? Can I ask him marks? Wait. What is the use of marks without knowledge? Shall I ask him knowledge? Knowledge without money is useless. With money comes power. But I need respect. People respect only kind hearted fellow… Kadavule!” and once again I ended up with confusion, dilemma, predicament, quandary, and impasse.

Finally I asked “Be my friend, my dear God. Be my friend, always” If God is with us who can be against us?

God said “Ok, my dear friend. I will be with you always. Never forget this.”

I said, “Tell me God!”

He told “Dream it, Do it!” and vanished. I wondered how our conversation went from marks to dream. Anyway, I spoke to God. He is with me and no one will believe this.

Once again I followed the age old algorithm. Yes, I mugged up everything. I succeeded. There is no equivalent to mugging up. It will be in your mind. Always. You can retell a mugged paragraph even when you are in deep sleep. So start mugging up. And also try to understand what you mug up. You can follow the algorithm if you want. It was very useful for many. And if you revisit the first page of this article, you will see a sixth grade definition which I still remember ten years after mugging. I am sure I will remember that definition even after my fifties and sixties. Two tings happened in my life till now and many in waiting. I became baba for advising people to dream something and do it. Yes, Ting Ting Baba.

PS: Fluctuating mind will not help in activating your latent ability. This article is not for promoting mugging. It is actually dealing with renovating and reinventing yourself. Enough of tings!