What makes me happy and sad

What makes me or has made me happy:

1. When i see a movie that i wanted to see for a long time
2 When i get something i have been dreaming to get
3. When i do some analytics work in office
4. When my analytics work get a recognition
5. When i hear to someone play a musical instrument
6. When i get into a mood and play veena / santoor or guitar
7. When i go through Barnes and Nobles
8. When i trek in western ghats
9. When Farouk Irani (Managing Director a company where i worked) appreciates me for my work
10. Walk with Soma in Marina Beach, Chennai (talking about music / movies / economics / life)
11. Stying with Pan in a single room in malleswaram
12. Eating nice foods (refer to my food post)
13. Company of Rajesh Nair

(People who read this, please remind me if i have missed something. I am writing it at 3.01 AM, i am half asleep and fully tired)

What gives me or has given me momentary joy:
1. When i read wikipedia
2. When i see a english movie and like a song and i get it from internet and save and play it
3. When my treadmill shows that i have run 2 miles
4. When i look at my life's success (Pudukottai to Puttaparthy to San Antonio / 9th halfyearly fail to MFM Gold medal)
5. When i sit in balcony and have cereal with Kavitha

What makes me sad:
1. When i have to go through something other than what i planned for.
2. When someone shakes my basic beliefs.
3. When i have to sit in office after office hours even when there is no work (doesnt happen often)

Moments of thrill - Part 2

Snake Searching

I studied in puttaparthy from 91-96 and that place has a lot of snakes. I used to see snakes in hostel, play ground, college campus and on the streets.

One day, i went to the mountain side seeking adventure and in the process of walking, i grew tired and went to rest on a bolder. There were thich bush around the bolder and i could see small canal little close by.

As i was seeing the water, i saw a snake head in the water coming towards me. I couldnt figure out if that was a snake or some other water being. When that came to the land, i figured it was a big snake. It was very close to me and what seperated me and the snake was the bush. The snake kept coming towards me and at one point i could no longer see the snake.

I was so tensed. I was afraid to jump from the bolder and get out because the snake could be anywhere in the bush and i could land right on its head if i try to jump out of that place. I would not tell you if i was seating because of the fear or because of the sun.

Suddenly, i saw the snake in the bush and was looking at me. This was a stroke of luck. So, on seeing the snake, i jumped and sprinted on the opposite side and reached hostel. After that day, i never seeked any adventure with snake.

Upcoming Posts

My Best body and head Massages
My Best walks

Moments of thrill

Bungee Jumping

First Jump - 1999:

Location: Hyderabad (from above hussain sagar)
I went to the site and was inspired after seeing a 12 year old girl do the bungee jumping. I did a forward facing jump.

Second Jump - 2002:
Bunjee Jumping in Bangalore. This was a rear facing jump.

Third Jump - 2005:
Bunjee Jumping in South Padre, US. This was a forward facing jump. This is 150 feet.
Location: 106 W Marlin in front of Loui's Backyard,
South Padre Island, Texas
Type: tower/arch
Height: 150 ft
Company: Recoil Inc
Phone: 956 761 8588Fax: 956 761 8588

Favorite Food

Hari's Favorite

Home Made
Breakfast
Vendhaya Oothappam (made by Patti)
Rava Pongal (made by Patti)
Venpongal & tamarind chutney (made in puttaparthy hostel)
Morekhoozhu (made by Patti)
Crispu Dosa (Kavitha)

Sidedish
Karunaikizhang Masiyal (made by Patti)
Cauliflower Kurma (Kavitha)

Main Dish
Sambar, Vathakkuzhambu and Rasam (Made by Kavitha)
Any cooking (Made by Kavitha's Mom)
Briyani (Made by Latha Manni)
Vethakkzhambu - Viji Chitti
Rasam Rice - Parthy Hostel
Sambar - Dheena, US

Drink
Chai - Vijay Patil, US
Coffee - Viji Chitti (only occasionally)

Hotel Made

Main Dish
Dhum Briyani - Hotel in Hyderabad (how can i forget the name?)
Chicken Briyani - Bheemas
Nandhini, Akshaya meals in Bangalore
Ramayya Mess meals in Vijayawada
Sai Mess meals in Hyderabad

Tiffin:
Bangalore
Ghee Masala Dosa - 11th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore (available always)
Idli, Sagoo - Bangalore near by home roadside shop (available 7-9AM)
Vada - Near Home Road side shop, Bangalore (available from 6-7PM)
Chennai
More khoozhu - Sarkarai pongal, North Usman Road, Chennai (This hotel is closed now)
Vijayawada
MLA Dosa - Hotel near Benz Circle, Vijayawada

Snack:
Pani Poori - Indra Nagar shop, Bangalore (available in evening)
Punugulu - Roadside shop, Vijayawada (available 4-7 PM)

Beverages
Chai and Samosa - Roadside shops all over Hyderabad
Coffee - Saravana Bhavan

Juices / Drinks
Banana Juice - Vijayawada
Ice B(^& and manchuriyan - Opium

Overall
My Puttaparthy Hostel Days food (channa, coffee, pongal&acid{tamarin chutney is called by this name}, nuggets)

Best Ambience
Opium, Carlton Towers, Airport Road, Bangalore: Live Music, Hot starters and drinks

Food Memories:
Eating ice cream walking in midnight in Hyderabad Lake
Eating Dosa in TCS guest house near Ooty
Sharing rasam rice with sai krishna janarshanan during midnight in parthy hostel
MIgnight Briyani - Greenpark, Hyderabad

Food Missed
Sai Krupa Aaloo parota in puttaparthy

KAVITHA's FAVORITE

Any food made by her amma
Omlette - Made by Saroja
Pizza - Pizza Hut
Cheese Casidilla - Taco Cabanna

Couuntries we have seen

Hari

2003 - Johannesburg, South Africa
2004 - Abu Dhabi, UAE
2004 - Bangkok, Thailand

Hari and Kavitha

2004 - New Castle / London, UK
2005 - Texas, US

Our Best place

New Castle and London, UK

My wish while joining TCS - Visit 5 countries in 5 years. I am happy to have achieved this.

If i could go back...

We always would want to do things a bit differently or tread a different path, if we had the option to go back. Some such thoughts:

1. I would have rented a decent house and lived a little more comfortably during my days in Vijayawada, Bangalore and Chennai during 1999-2003
2. I would have bought a bike in 1996 and roamed the city nicely
3. I would have travelled to Kerala more
4. I would have trekked more
5. I would have gone to a foreign / nicer location for honeymoon
6. I would have bought a car and plusly furnished home as soon as i landed in US

What i would not like to change
1. I would still work for the same companies (This is my 5th company)
2. I would still study B.Com and MFM
3. I would still study in same schools

My Prized Possessions

I have the habit of dreaming for certain items before i buy them. There is a joy in dreaming first and getting next. Following are such items that i dreamt and got (either by me or presented to me by Kavitha).

Job
My job with Tata Consultancy Services
(I dreamt to join this company since 1998 and ultimately joined in 2002). I strongly prayed and hoped and believed that i would work for atleast 1 day in TCS before i died.

Watch
Omega Seamaster - Bought in 2001
http://www.thewatchmaker.com/graphics/Bond-Seamaster.jpg
HMT Janatha - white dial - Boght in 2002 http://perso.orange.fr/bestak/MyWtch/sml/sm_hmt_janata_PC210054.jpg
Favre Leuba Seaking - Bought in 2002
http://www.artisanjewelry-finds.com/img/1127026800/_i/8203425/t_1.jpg

Bike
Yamaha R1 - Hand made over 2 years from 2003-2005

Jeans
Levis-501 Bought in 2000

T-Shirt
Lacoste - 2 Bought in 1999 and 2003

Belt
Mont Blanc - Bought in 2002

Pen
Mont Blanc fountain ink Pen - Bought in 2002
Mont Blanc Roller Ball Pen (for Kavitha) - Bought in 2003

Perfume
Kouros - gifted by Kavitha
Cartier
CK Obsession

Top 5 things my dad wanted me to do .......

Today my father is not available in the world but his wishes, thoughts and memories are always with us. Top 5 things he wanted me to do are

1. Be bold and face any type of hard situation in life
2. Study well and be in a good a position in life
3. Building a house - This dream was with my father and me for a very long time because my father couldn't build any own house. With his wish, we are constructing a house in bangalore.
4. Be helpful to my mother and brother's family
5. Wanted to spend his last days with me in bangalore but I was in UK on official trip.

Effective Motivator for weight reduction- Advice or Threat or Knowledge or Self Motivation

Advice: A friendly advice from your friend / relative who tells you to loose weight
Threat: You are threated with the fact that if you dont reduce your weight, you will die 20 years early (I am putting this in lighter sense, but the doctor tells this to you in a different way, but effectively meaning this). He may say that you have a high cholesterol or have fat in liver etc
Knowledge: Reading repeatedly about the goodness in excercise and diet and badness in laziness and overeating
Self Motivation: Reading inspirational stories and writing motivational statements in post it and keeping it on mirrors to constantly remind you to loose weight.

Threat seems to be the best motivator. I remember what once my friend said: "You change when the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of changing"

Diet and Exercise

I like eating and overeating. I like to experiment new food and new hotels. I like to eat as much as possible. I dont see if the food is fat. I dont care if the food is healthy. I dont see if the food is expensive. All that i am interested in is the experiment. My jouney on this experiment resulted increased weight over a period of time.

I have always been an indoor person. Though there have been quite a few opportunities to excercise my body, i have promptly ignored them and continued to rest my body. The Result: Public Friendly Humiliation.

Year: 1999
Location: Hyderabad
Laughed at by: Tejassvi (Collegue)

Year: 1999
Location: Pudukottai
Laughed at by: Sathya or Ammu, i dont remember (Relative)

Reason for Insult: Bloated body (Added 10 kilos to my body)

I took it to my heart and did 1 thing. I stopped overeating. I had 2 glasses of juice for my breakfast (banana shake on most days :)); Plate meals from Ramayya mess for lunch and salad for my dinner. I continued this for 6 months and reduced from 85 kgs to 70 kgs.

Most of my collegues felt this drastic change in my body and adviced me to eat normally. I forgot when i started regaining my weight. In 2003, i was back to 85 kgs and i oscillated between 82 to 88 kgs. I would have instant inspiration and instant motivation and start doing some diet when i reach the 88 kg mark. After dropping to 82 or 85, i will again regain.

Year: 2005
Location: San Antonio
Adviced by: Ramaprasad (ex collegue and a good friend)
Advice: Money and Honey and US is all good. But beyond 40, only health matters. Nothing else really matters.

Though this gave a new perspective to my life and inspired me to crash diet once in a while, i never seriouslly lost any weight over a long term.

Year: 2006
Location: San Antonio
Laughed at by: Doctor

Doctor adviced me that its high time that i do something to my weight. I took it so seriously. I started crash dieting and over did excercise. I enrolled in Gym and ran at 6 miles per hour, but only for 1 minute.

Kavitha adviced me one thing: If i have to see effect on a long term, then i should stop acting as if i have to reduce weight tomorrow. She adviced me on how to run (start with 5 mph for 5 minutes, then increase to 5.5 mph for 5 min and then to 6 mph for last 5 minutes). It took almost a month to do this, but i did this. I started running 2 miles consistently. Running 2 miles, never overeating and less rice for lunch and 3 chaapatis for dinner helped me. I ate only 4 dosas, 4 idlis, 3 Adas. From 188 pounds (Jan 1, 2006), i am down to 157 now (June 19, 2006) .

For some reason or other, i lost my consistancy to Gym going. I go 3-4 times a week from 5-6 times. I have difficulty in running 2 miles. I met with another friend (Mr Sunshine) who lost almost 40 pounds. He adviced me to start building muscle which has a long term gain than focussing more on near term weight loss (achieved through running).

My journey of pregnancy

Nov 2 , 2005 was a great day because the doctor confirmed to us about my pregnancy. My little sweet pappu's due date is July 13, 2006. From the time of confirmation, me and hari are very happy , excited and very very careful in doing things. After some 3 months, we started talking about the sex of the baby. I was confident that it will be a male child and hari was with 50%. We went to the second sonogram in 16 wks and doctor told us that 'It's a boy baby'.

Day by day our excitment was growing and atlast we started seeing his movements. We both started talking to our son from 6th month. Everyday hari has to tell one slogam and one good habit to him and he will also respond nicely by doing some little kicks or movements.

Next it is a time for baby shower. As per our tradition , we did valaikappu function on April 9, 2006 and seemantham function on April 30, 2006. Valaikappu function was hosted by our friend Mr. Arulnambi's family and we have invited around 100 people. It was a very great day with full of joy. My mom sent me all type of glass bangles, gold and silver and silk saree for the occasion. We did seemantham function on April 30, 2006 between 6Am to 7.30AM at Hindu temple of san antonio. Anu, Aruna and vel attended the function. We were very happy because both the traditional functions went on well with our friends and blessings from our parents from india.

Since the days were going fast, it was the time to shop for the new born. We have visited walmart, babies R us, Toys R us, Burlington coat factory and Target shop. We bought all the items very fast except the car seat. We did lots of research for the car seat ( almost 20 days) and finally got 'Graco Passage' from super target shop.


On 9th June 2006, hari came with a surprise saying his USAA friends decided to have a baby shower function on 13th June 2006. He showed me the invitation and I was very excited and happy.

13th June 2006 was another wonderful day in my life. The party was hosted by USAA and TCS friends. They got a big cake with two flavors ( white and chocolate ) and lots of gifts for Rishi. I got to know about his friends and office that day and enjoyed my time with them. We specially thanked Mr. Bill Vogl (Host) for the baby shower function.

Now , my doctor advised me to get admitted in the hospital on 28th June 2006 for the delivery. We were bit scared initially but now we are fine.

We are eagerly waiting to see our sweet little darling pappu Rishi ...................... on 28th June 2006.

Motherhood time is a fantastic time for every women in the world and I am truly enjoying it.

Thought for the day

I called it a good day when i saw 2 imax movies. One in 3D and another in 2D. This was followed by a nice window shopping and a open theater mexico musician performance followed by a sumptuous japanese meals in River Center Mall in San Antonio.