Personal Weblog of Deepak Vasudevan

Get Reached When Unreachable Hutch, Airtel and BSNL have been pioneering of late to have thier subscribers reachable whenever and wherever they are. The latest innovations from both of them is 'Missed Call Alerts'. How it works? When you are out of network coverage area or switched off or busy, the network keeps recording the incoming calls CLI automatically and compiles them. The moment you log back into the network, you get SMS alerts stating what calls went missed, how many times and what date and time. How to subscribe? For Hutch, you get a SMS stating that there are missed calls. You need to send a SMS to a particular number which is chargeable at a VAS value of INR 3.0/- per message and you get the list of number missed per unreachable session. For Airtel (Chennai), you need to subscribed to 'Missed Call Alert' service by sending SUB to 567 (Toll Free). You would be subscribed to the service and then keep recieving Missed Call Alerts carrying the number missed an...

Welcoming the Rains After a long arduous ordeal with the prickling summer sultry sun rays, Chennai seems to be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel at the end of the year 2006. North East monsoons have arrived in Bay of Bengal. Since from last Wednesday, thunderstorms and rains are taking the entire state of Tamil Nadu drenching wet like anything. Almost right the previous wednesday, I took a ride in my vehicle to enjoy the panoramic beauty of evening monsoon clouds and me too got fully drenched in the rain. But that rain shower did open up many thoughts and feelings and it did bring in many renaissance within me.  It did open up new avenues of friendship in more quarters than one. While returning back to home on Wednesday right after Chennai Airport there was real thunderstorms. Had I crossed Pallavaram, there would have been a real mess since there are no shelters till I reach Chromepet other than a sparse petrol (gas) stations, which are scattered sparsely.  Quite fo...

Goddess to help finding you the lost thing...[Arakkasu Amman] We miss quite a few things and then search sky and valley and pillar to post. We would have misplaced our credit card in our friends car and after he has started off, we would be searching up and down, ransacking our workplace and residence searching for the same. If it had been suspicious guy like me, I would go to even the extent of calling the credit card institution, calling for a temporary freezing of the card and or its transactions. Recently, I came across in a Tamil Magazine called Gnana Alayam about a goddess called 'Arakkasu Amman', who can be prayed at the time when your missed thing is unable to be traced. Hey Pronto! Almost as quick as possible, you are able to get the missed thing. Today being Ramzan holiday, and I was relatively free. I was just searching for this temple details in library and with my friends. I could just get another Yahoo Answers Expert commenting on this temple but could not get...

Health Checkup for my Kinetic Zing My Kinetic Zing was experiencing some coughs and throat congestion problems and he had a brief heath checkup today at a nearby clinic. Since the climate was also relatively cool, a tour around till Guindy so that he could get alright with a more fresh breathing air. It was two persons that turned on my ignition key passionately for long runs and just not local trips. They are respected to the core and respectively the following: Santosh Kumar Sinha (aka) Bajrangbali (now in Bangalore) Visu (Poonamalee). He works as a tailor and I know him since my school age. While casually talking to him one day night, Santosh was very particular and instrumental in having me prevening waste of time over public transportation services, besides the acute travel pains. Check out Kinetic vehicles from Kinetic website at http://www.kineticindia.com/

Coke Opens Its Factories for Quality Audits For Everyone Following the nationwide cries against harmful pesticides , lizards and condoms in Coke and Pepsi, these soft drink giants have initated a new marketing campaign to the public inviting them to the factories to showcase the quality processes that they have in practice. At least in Sun Network group of Channels, this advertisement in anchored by Radaan Pictures head, Radhika Sarathkumar. The email id that can be used for communication towards scheduling a slot for factory visit is: indiahelpline (at) apac.ko.com Interested NGOs can try scheduling an appointment to get the clouds of doubts cleared.

Kanda Shasthi Festival in 2006 Kanda Shasthi festival is observed to worship Lord Muruga (the God of Tamil) during the Aippasi month that roughly falls between October 15 and November 15. Again following with the Deepavali traditions, this festival commomorates the victory of Lord Muruga over the various demons. The festival is celebrated in much grandeor in all the six battle temples of Lord Murugu (Arupadai Veedu) and typically at Thiruchendoor and Thirupparankundram, where the SooraSamharam took place. The Arupadaiveedu [The Six Battle Fields] of Lord Muruga are: Thirupparankundram Thiruchendur Palani Swamimalai Thiruthani Pazhamudhircholai Other Lord Muruga Temples near Chennai are: Vadapalani Kanchipuram Parrys Let us try and visit some of the nearest Lord Muruga temples during the Kanda Shasthi festivals to get His divine blessings.

Celebrations with fervour -- The Lights Festival (Deepavali) It was Diwali celebrations yesterday throughout the nation and worldwide for Indians. Among all festivals, Diwali commands a unique place of pride and prestige for one and all. Perhaps for the interested reader, we also have a Happy Diwali post on the eve of Deepavali. Turning back to the pages of history, Deepavali inherits multiple reasons. A few of them in nutshell are: Slaying down of the wicked king Narakasura by Lord Krishna and bringing the righteousness on the face of the earth. Hence Diwali falls on Naraka Chathurdasi and the holy oil bath that we take in the wee hours of Deepavali is called as Naraka Chathurdasi Snanam . We dress ourselves in splendor and burn crackers to commomorate the victory of righteousness (Lord Krishna) over the unrighteousness (Narakasura, the wicked king). Return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after completing his two seven years (14 years) exile in the forest. It is a nice lyrics in Kamba Ramay...

Happy Diwali I would like to wish all the readers a very happy and prosperous Happy Diwali. Let us join together to pray the Lord Almighty that l Let this Diwali illuminate the world with eternal brightness and eradicate the darkness of all creeds and kind. Let the Diwali fill the world with greatest amount of bliss, bring peace and prosperity to the world. Let the Diwali bring control of Dharma (righteousness) on the world and abolish all types of unrighteousness (Adharma), just like the main concept of Diwali bieng to commomorate the slaying of Asura by the Lord be it the story of Narakasura slayed by Lord Krishna or return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after slaying the wicked king Ravana. Here we give a Flash Movie file prepared by HinduNet Inc . Wishing all the readers a very happy and prosperous Happy Diwali.

Project Green Hands We have been time and again discussing about greatness of afforestation and how it benefits and saves our Mother Earth. Concrete Jungles all along has been destroying the face of earth and creating turbulence in the Ozone layer and the general atmosphere.  Thanks to the noble cause initiated by Isha Foundation , and supported by Indian Overseas Bank and RadioCity FM, that they have launched the 'Project Green Hands' and inaugurual day witnessed about a 7 lakh saplings planted in the august presence of Jaggi Vasudev, Founder, Isha Foundations with saplings planted by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M. Karunanidhi and Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala. The website also has a lot of information about enrolling as volunteers and supporting thier noble cause. Interested. Click online to Project Green Hands website and let us together lay the foundation for a greener earth.

Songs To Welcome Callers -- Boon or Bane In India the practice of having musical notes and cine songs instead of the traditional Tring Tring in phones is becoming increasingly common. It is called in different names in Chennai and charged with exorbitant rates like Airtel calling it Hello Tunes, Hutch calling it Caller Tunes, Aircel calling it Dialer Tunes. Though each operator calls it in thier own attractive names the underlying concept is same. When a caller calls you in your mobile or landline number activated with this service, the telephone switch in your attached exchange instead of sending the traditional Tring Tring tone back to the caller (for eight rings), sends the musical notes to the caller. The operators and marketing enthusiasts claim that this would keep the caller stay tuned to the phone. For the operators it means an extra rental charged for this. They charged a fixed charge for setting up the tone as 'Caller Tune' and then a fixed monthly rental for availi...

Management Insights for Life Just got this message about a management workshop through SMS from a friend and would like to share with others too. Event: Management Insights for Life Event Managers: Life Academy Workshop by K.Mohan, D.G.M. Reserve Bank Date: 15th October, 2006 Time: 1030 to 1330 hours Venue: Desabhandhu Plaza, 47, Whites Road,Chennai. Entry Fee: INR 300 (Fee Waived for members) Thanks to Ravindran Padmanabhan for sharing this information.

Bharat Petroleum Scholarships Bharat Petroleum has declared announcements for thier invitation of applications for scholarships to meritorius students pursuing higher studies. The programme is aimed at postgraduate students aspiring to pursue thier studies in India or abroad. Check out Bharat Petroleum Scholarship page for online application and also to view the scholarship awardees for the previous year. Let us spread the word to others and help light the education candle thus making the humble step in eradicating the darkness of illiteracy.

An Interesting Bus Journey from Tambaram to Guindy Today being Saturday, I was sleeping till about noon and then I started out. I had my weekly Triplicane temple visit and a few  TODOs in my TaskList scheduled.  Normally, the bus stop at my place is near Kamarajapuram and I had to walk till there since not all buses stop at the bus stop near me (Rajakilpakkam). While I crossed today the Rajakilpakkam bus stand, I saw two bus conductors standing there and a T51 was coming that time.  I just thought I would wait a while to ascertain whether these guys are able to stop the vehicle there. And my speculation did come true and the bus stopped. It was almost on par VVIP boarding since other than white-board (ordinary) buses, other LSS services don't stop in that bus stand. And when I landed in Medawalkam to get the next bus, again it was a fun when M21 just was waiting there to reach upto Vijayanagar. But one thing I observed with M21 today was the intensity of the potholes that...

HealthWatch for my Watch The past week had been a bit of doctor consultations and sittings for my wrist watch manufactured by HMT Watches . Initially, my MSN Calendar did give me a reminder that there is a need to check the battery strength since it was about an year and normal battery comes to an average of one year. With a fast and quick boarding in the bus, the watch suffered some bruises on his face. So the first sitting with a doctor (watch serviceman :)) was to have the glass replaced. The second sitting was that the keypin was old and needed to be replaced. This was done. For the past two days, the strap is facing some issue and it is being replaced with a specialist consultant. Interestingly my watch is currently ten years old.

75th Birthday of our president Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam I was casually browsing through Rediff News and this WikiPage and learnt that our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam would be entering his 75th brithday coming Sunday (October 15, 2006).  Let us greet him all success in all spheres of life and also pray the Lord Almighty to give him full health and all mental strength to conquer more victories and lead India on a more prosperous path. Let us join together and wish him 'Many Many Happy Returns of the Day' and 'Happy Birthday' In the same context, also check out the Online Petition that has been hosted at PetitionOnline regarding increasing the presidential tenure for our current president. The post is located at here .

Responding to the Attitude Hostility to Commitment Commitment to the duty that we have in hand is by far the most significant part of the cake that is involved in completing a given task to its perfection. This applies to any profession or task that we have in hand. This thought of mind was nurturing in my mind for sometime and while travelling today from Tambaram to Guindy and a song that was playing in the bus took my mind to some remote journeys for various phases of introspection and eventually to share the same over here. Particularly when I encounter persons that severely lack committment to the work on hand, I strongly prefer to keep them off the bay. I am particularly intimidated when someone at the close proximity displays such attitude. While I was in my previous organization, my the then CEO (Srinivas Thirunagari) used to guide me regarding this many times. Perhaps for the interested reader, I would like to share my earlier post enumerating the same . With those guidances in...

Bangalore becomes Bengaluru from November 1 Come November 1. Bangalore would follow the other metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and shed its colonial name 'Bangalore' and would revert back to its pre-colonial name 'Bengaluru'. The name change process and discussion which had been running for a while since September seems to have got more official as claimed in Mangalorean.com . We humbly hope that the name change would also restore the city to the powerful greenery that had got it a glorious name "Garden City" and minimize the traffic problems there. In a few words and to describe very briefly from my experience to Bangalore (Bengaluru): "A city of charm and a heaven on earth. The gentle weather and the spectacular cool nature really does not fail to enthrall anyone.

Rajnikanth becomes grandfather The most preferred and favorite actor of Southern India with his glory reaching peak of the peak ( sigarathai adainthal vaanithal eru ) in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala has been promoted by his daughter as grandfather. His daughter (Aishwarya) who is married to actor Dhanush, gave birth to a boy baby in a chennai hospital on 10th October 2006 at 1710 hours. Even though he has been promoted as grandfather, there are still his style that keeps his fans across the world captivated and enthralled to him. Be it an action movie like Tillu Mullu or a religious film like Raghavendra or one of his latest box office hits like Padayappa or the ongoing film shooting like Shivaji this has been an eternal truth. He gives a very good message and an encouraging tone to the world. In Padayappa, Neelambari (Ramya Krishnan) after breaking out from her self-created prison-room met Padayappa and very egoistically would comment "Even though you are aged, I like you. Y...

International Youth Fellowship -- Streamlining the paths that youth take Sometime previous Monday, while about to climb the stairs of Tambaram Railway Station, a guy gave me a pamphlet. I was just thinking that this would be one more ICICI Bank Personal Loans . So before dropping it down, I glimpsed through a few lines and it was something different -- something that was intended to address the maladies that the society is currently facing. The current society and the youth to be more precise are haunted by plethora of evils of all kinds and creeds on the pretext of fashion. It is really disgusting that tattered jeans with a minimum of twenty pockets is becoming a fashion. One other guy was telling jeans is best since you can use it without washing even for four days. Damn! Would'nt that stink like anything? Alongside this is the antisocials who seduce youths towards girls and drugs, creating a major havoc for the society. The net effect is that youth who are currently in colleg...

Remembering Gandhi and his divine principles... Today is Gandhi Jayanthi , birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who for his greatest non-violence principles that proved to be a very high value strategy to drive our foriegn forces from our nation, is also known with great respects as Father of our Nation . Let us spend a couple of minutes of our time, to remember and pay tribute to this noble soul as also learning from his teachings of non-violence (ahimsa) and peace-loving measures. Let us remember and inscribe his greatest sayings for the prosperity of our homes and nation. Truth is my religion and Ahimsa is the only way of realisation -- M. K. Gandhi

International Day of the Senior Citizens October 1 is also being revered as International Day of Senior Citizens . Our senior citizens need desperate attention from all quarters. According to W orld H ealth O rganization (WHO), "Senior citizens need to be viewed as a positive contribution to the society streamlining its processes towards attaining the desired objectives in a most optimal way rather than viewing them in the negative perspective as a burden". With increasing world travel and spread out families, the concept of Undivided nuclear families are getting extinct. This means the newer generation seldom knows about the sacred values of our rich heritage and culture on the pretext of modernisation. It is with pure self-conscious effort on our part, that this malady of the society can be cured. On thier part, the government has instructed nationalized banks to patronize senior citizens with more interest in deposits. But to how much extent this is being actually material...