Personal Weblog of Deepak Vasudevan

Sulekha YellowPages Contest I just came to know from Sulekha Yellow Pages website and after a quick call to one of their executives to ensure that I can share the same with others that they are organizing a cool novel contest running in their yellow pages section. The contest goes as follows: When you search and view a business in Sulekha Yellow Pages and if you find an error in the entry, you can submit a suggestion/correction towards the same. You can also add a new business to Sulekha Yellow Pages and it would be added after due verification from their team. There are also five gift vouchers to win on a daily basis. Quick Pointers: The 'Report an Error' and 'Add More Info' options appear and is available only when you view a particular Yellow Pages entry. The 'Add a Business' can be exercised from this direct URL . The first screen offers to do a quick search on whether the business intended to be added is already in their catalog. If not, it can be ...

Happy Birthday to Seshadri Manivannan (My Greeting to him through Go-Ergo too) My work colleague ( Seshadri ) who currently is put up at Gurgaon celebrates his birthday today. Rather than just scrapping his Orkut and sending another just dumb simple email message, it was a good great opportunity from Go-Ergo , to express and share birthday greetings through their columns. You can find the birthday greeting through Go-Ergo January 23rd Edition on Page 13 .

You laugh at me; I serve as a source of humor. You cry at me; I serve to shoulder you in the moments of your pain Did I become an astrologer? Did Irving give me renaissance? Did ? Residence Inn serve as a Bodhi Tree for me? There are little to more plausible questions when it comes to the point that my forecast over here was rather getting true. Of course, as even I mentioned that I would stay away from the politics, I believe, I have kept that too without delving deeper into any political dragnet. A few days back, I had a casual conversation with Soorej Andrews Paul (who was with me in my previous organization ). He was actually saying not to be too carried over by political pressures but just to concenterate and focus on the actual tasks on hand. The politics, in any sphere, is just to contribute to jeopardizing the general well-being of anyone. "ஆமை நுழைந்த இடமும் அமீனா நுழைந்த இடமும் விளங்காது" is a famous Tamil proverb (meaning 'The place where Turtle/Court boy e...

The VIT SJAM -- The Twin Great Gala Celebration Weekend This weekend woud be a twin (or rather even multiple) great gala celebration for the VITians. We have the 'Republic Day' holiday on 26th (to show our gesture of patriotism to our Motherland, India). Besides this, it also coincides as the Silver Jubiliee Alumni Meet. The VIT SJAM website here shows more details. My college has planned for a two day long residential programme for alumni to stay, enjoy and revive the green memories of college days in the lush green VIT campus. The VITAA has also arranged for buses for the facility of alumni from Chennai, Hyderabad, Chitoor and Bangalore. To crown the entire celebrations, the President of India ( Pratibha Devi Singh Patel ) would be inaugurating the SJAM celebrations. Check out the news from 'The Hindu' here . Vit Sjam2009 Publish at Scribd or explore others: literature Law-Case-Law Happy Republic Day to everyone and Happy R...

A little website to Lord Hanuman I have been wishing this for a while and it was divine blessing for me to start this little website dedicated to the service of Lord Hanuman. Check out my new weblog dedicated to Lord Hanuman . This is just a small humble start. Stay Tuned!

The Most Constructive and Useful Weekend (1/17 through 1/18) This weekend had been a little to more hectic but it had been more useful in clearing almost all the backlogs that my Todolist was reminding me for some time. There had been a little bank work on Saturday morning to complete. A friend of mine wanted to get his Subscription to Saptagiri started off. This task which had been lying around got completed along with the same. With March nearing, all necessary documents towards the requirement of my auditor were to be arranged in place and this got completed too. The Sunday was Holy Sunday . I have just started on the Sabarimala Vratham to visit the Holy Shrine of Sabarimala around February.

Mata Amritanandamayi camp in Chennai Brahmasthanam on Jan 21st and 22nd of 2009 Whilst commuting between Velachery and Guindy a couple of days back, I came across a banner hoarding of Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt announcing the camp of Her in her Chennai Brahmasthanam on 21st and 22nd 2009. The Chennai Brahmasthanam is located in the following address: M.A.M, Brahmasthanam Temple, Arcot Road, Virugambakkam, Chennai -- 600 092. Landmark: Next to Avichi School Telephone: +914423764087, +914423764063 Contact Person: Br. Vinayamrita Chaitanya You can also check out their website for complete tour programmes of Mata Amritanandamayi .

Cool New website of Swamiyae Saranam Ayyappa! Whilst casually browsing through 'The Hindu' online regarding updates on Makara Jyothi pooja in Sabarimala, I came across a new website on Sabarimala which can be located over here . The actual news article from 'The Hindu' which guided me to the new website can be located here . The website says that is also organized by Sabarimala Senior Tantri. The downloads section has an excellent big image of Sri Ayyappa which you can take a print and have it included for your daily pooja. You can download the same over here . The website also gives the MP3 version of Harivarasanam download . Let us try to visit the website often and get the blessings of the Lord. Swamiyae Saranam Ayyappa!

The ever-crowded Guindy junction A few hours before, I needed to visit the Guindy junction for a couple of tasks. First one being, getting some palatable food since I was feeling really pinching hunger. I chose to visit the Sangeetha restaurant. The usual overcrowded scene at the restaurant greeted me there. I just thought I would share with you some more landmarks in Guindy which present always crowdy scenes 24x7. Sangeetha Restaurant Guindy Bus stand (towards Parrys) Guindy Railway Station (always one can see serpentine crowd at the counter) Perhaps, just thought of sharing this thought; if you are in a hurry with more schedules, try avoiding Guindy junction as your transit center.

Save EMRI which saved, saves and would save millions of lives We just discussed about the bad signages which are eclipsing the growth of Satyam Computer Services . I just thought I would add another related discussion on the same thread. Just about a few months back, the foundation launched EMRI ( E mergency M anagement and R esearch I nstitute), a non-profit group, which offers to run free ambulance services in the four southern states of India offering to ferry patients to nearest hospitals. The telecom operators have also been kind enough to allocate 108 as a toll-free number to reach their contact center to avail of their ambulance services. When I tell this sentence, I have another thought about the same. I am wondering why they chose 108. They should have chosen either 112 or 911 for simple reason that these are world-standard emergency numbers and anyone can reach these numbers from their mobile even with the phone keypad locked. The recent eclipse on Satyam seems to be castin...

Is Satyam Computer Services becoming like Sivaji Foundation? I don't want to go deeper into dirty politics on who is corrupt or accused in the entire Satyam Scam case. But at least from a common man's perspective, Satyam had been helping million share holders and had been serving as a valuable breadwinner. Because of the alleged wrongdoings of a few board members, accusing Satyam on the whole, I feel, is rather little harsh. In a way, I feel, this is becoming something like what happened to Sivaji Foundation in 'Sivaji - The Boss', the most successful recent Tamil film starred by superstar Rajinikanth. After his return from US, Sivaji (Rajinikanth) would be planning the following things: Marrying a homely Indian girl who would like to stay away from the artificial modernities of the current age. Setting up a foundation called 'Sivaji Foundation' which would usher to provide Free and/or subsidised education from school to higher studies Free and/or subsidised med...

Proof of Address cards by Indian Postal Department I remember my colleague ( Pradeep Joe Felix ) once telling me that his mobile phone is seldom of any use to him. His only intention of having the mobile number with Airtel is to serve him as an address proof since his hometown is based in Tiruchi and he currently stays in Chennai for his work conditions. There are actually hundreds of scores of people in Chennai who are sharing the similar plight. On Monday, during my visit to Guindy Industrial Estate Post office, I was seeing a board called 'Address Proof Cards for INR 240'. I was wondering about this service. Since the counter was already crowded, I didn't want bother them about a service which I am not going to avail immediately. However, this went to my 'Todolist'. Today being holiday, on account of Makara Sankranthi, I was doing some research on this and found the following information about this 'Proof of Address cards' service by Indian Postal Departm...

Smoke-Free Bhogi and Contributions towards No-Smoking India Well! The new year 2009 is on and we are marching ahead towards Bhogi and Thaip Pongal. Bhogi is one festival where we destroy the unneeded old things and rejuvenate our homes and heart with fresh and vibrant divine feelings and assets. As a good coincidence, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India has also launched a more vigorous 'No-Smoking' campaign now. I have just discussed about the same here . Interestingly just yesterday, I had to mend the zip in my bag which had got damaged sometime back. Whilst I was waiting in a small bag shop near Kamarajapuram (Tambaram East), I observed two incidents: Some two wheeler fellow briskly walked to the neighboring petty shop (In Tamil we call it as petti kadai ) and was purchasing a few cigarattes only to light it right in the public road. Another political party comrade, I observed, was smoking and driving his Qualis car. Smoking itself is an offence no...

A little website to Lord Muruga I have been wishing this for a while and it was divine blessing for me to start this little website dedicated to the service of Lord Muruga. Check out my new weblog dedicated to Lord Muruga . The weblog dedicated to Lord Muruga is in Tamil Unicode. Your web browser/operating need to support Unicode so as to view the webpages.

A new shorter URL for my school website ... My sincere thanks to Rajendran Dandapani for his encouraging words on my little personal website on my school. I just thought today I would just try updating it and also adding a friendly short URL to the same. You can check out my school website here . There are more things to include in the website besides a little more page updations which are being enqueued in my Todolist . I would keep sharing with you the updates as and when they are published.

Sify webmail powered by Google Appliances ... After a long gap, when I casually surfed on to Sify , I just observed that they have configured Sify Webmail to use Google Appliance. Now you can get the full advantage of Google Mail services through your Sify account. Even the advertisements that Google Ads displays on the webpage are actually Indian advertisements like Naukri.com. In this juncture, I would like to recall that when it all started around in 1999 (just after my graduation), the Sify was known as Satyamonline . They slowly transitioned it as Sify. Interestingly, Infosys too started its website alias as http://www.infy.com/ . For those who are curious, the trade symbol in stock exchange for Infosys is Infy. I remember, Sify during its Satyamonline era was powered by Critical Path . After that they supposedly had their own indigenous web mail solution powered by PHP. The latest in their evolution is transition to Google Appliances . In this context, I would also like to relate...

What is BS III? Those of us who have travelled recently in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), would have seen the following on the buses painted new: BS III Yellow Line Metro Line White Line Orange Line Blue Line Some one just asked me if there is some defined circular or official note on what these stands for. Today being weekend, I just thought I would do a little homework on these and share with the other readers as well. Here are the notes on the topic. BSIII is one of the emission norms that is currently adopted in India. It is actually the amount of gasoline and other ingredients that are consumed and the pollution control parameter. You can check out more about Emission Standards from this wiki page . The other things that are shown in the bullet points are the type of new buses introduced by the transport corporation in Chennai and in other cities of Tamil Nadu. Here are the explanations for the same, as I gathered info on it: Blue Line. It is basically a deluxe bus des...

Helping those who gave their lifes to save our country on 11/26 (India's 911) The gruesome and heinous attack of terrorists on Mumbai (the country's commercial capital) for three days ranging from 26th November through 29th November can never be forgotten by anyone. A significant number of people from NSG commandos, Home Guards, RPF and GRP besides a few city police) embraced death to save the city from the furious attack of terrorists. The city is limping back to normalcy. The country is slowly gearing itself towards precautionary efforts to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future like strenghtening its borders and fortresses besides weakening the terrorist camps and eliminating them. We have also entered a brand new year 2009. At this moment, it is our duty to ensure that we do our might and contribute for the cause of martyrs who laid their lives for the sake of country. Now it is a good news. Axis Bank , has opened a new savings Account called Account 26/11 with acco...

Safe Motoring in the roads of Tamil Nadu During my friday trip to Sholinganallur Pratyankara temple and particularly while returning to Adyar, I got a glimpse of the new advertisement posted by Chennai City Traffic Police near Indra Nagar junction. "For traffic emergencies, please call 103 or SMS at 9840017626". I recall that sometime back, 9840000103 was used as SMS but this number is currently unsupported, as I learnt after clarifying the same with Bharti Airtel CustomerCare. I am not sure whether this SMS or Voice call would be toll or toll-free but when we witness a traffic emergency, a quick call can save a life or limb and if it is our hand-held mobile that can partake in the noble service, it should be a great solution to humanity. Let us bookmark these numbers in our PhoneBook and try our best to ensure safe motoring roads in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Sin Sharers During my Friday (2nd January 2009) visit to Sholinganallur Pratyankara temple, I came across a very nice slogan that they have put on one of the walls in Tamil. I just thought I would share this with others since it is a very good peace-propagating slogan which would enhance our mental peace besides elevating our productivity levels. The English translation of the slogan goes as below: "Do not get intimidated or enraged by people who try to be endeavoring as hurdles in your path or defaming you or engaging in any sort of betrayal against you or trying to cloud you with negative feelings or thoughts about you. Rather you should sympathize them for the simple reason that by virtue of the activities that they are resorting against you they are offering to share and partake your sins." This exercise, of course, requires a little to more patience to cultivate but once done, it would be an enormous spiritual exercise in that our sins drastically get reduced since they ...