Protectionism

The German chancellor has come up with something that is fast turning out to be the voice heard across Europe. Too fast at polarizing, guys. Alas! the world is at some crossroads which I wish did not happen during my lifetime. At one end, in the last 30 years or so, the world (read developed countries) opened up to globalization as it gave the cost savings they needed. Developing countries provided the resources, natural and human. Economies of the developed countries soared and led to the false sense of security. Slowly and steadily, their citizens kept losing their next door companies and jobs. Internal simmerings have started now which is leading to the current protectionist behaviour. Alas, you do not have a rewind button, guys. You just cannot U-turn back now.

Humor at office

After a marathon 3 hour meeting, my boss and me came out of our client office. It was a hot afternoon and we were hurrying to get back to our office which was like 15 kms away. Surprise awaited us at the parking lot where a cab had parked in front of my boss' car in a way that we could not take it out. Checking with the security yielded nothing. As per them, the cabbie could be anywhere. I walked to the cab and looked in and lo, found a trip sheet with the cab name. I turned and gave a victory smile to my boss. Called up my friend who quickly googled the cab's main help desk. I called them up; gave the cab number and waited. The phone rings. Neither mine nor my boss'. But someone just behind us who happened to be the cabbie looking the other way all the time!

So much for technology. I could as well be blind.

It's hard it comes down to this

Its hard not to
come down to this.

Everything's Eventual
in life - King said

How I wish somethings
were not?

Yeah. Wish, I can. Walking
down my friend.

How can I fit you
in that one word?

As I walk with you
My mind races back

Two teams together
not talking to each other

You walked upto me
and asked Why Saro?

It happened then -
Friends for Life.

There were times when
I turned to just one person

When everyone left
Genuine reason or not

When things were dark
When friends deserted

I was humbled - and looked
around for hope

You were there -
None else was

You alone healed
Knowingly or not.

What could have been a burning wound
is now just a scar.

It's been quite a ride after that.
And as always

It's hard it comes down
to this

How can I walk you
down my friend?

How can I walk
myself down?

Moving on..

Two years back, if I found myself alone at house, either of the below two things would have already happened. One - there would have been my gang of friends at my place dancing to loud music or debating the latest film topic. Two - I would have settled for a favorite movie of mine with my ever friendly beer or scotch. My friends would have had to bear out with my late-night-not-so-friendly calls. In short, the very idea of being alone would have excited me. This is not a I-lost-freedom-due-to-wife syndrom but rather Get-your-bachelorhood-when-wife-is-out effect!

Now, two years into the marriage and with my 7 month old 8 kilos weighing lump of myself into my life, I see things changing. I no longer crave for that high with that beer and scotch. The liking is still there. No doubt. But when I find my house empty, it leaves a craving for that furless ball kicking on my face or laughing with his toothless gums; those piercing eyes looking straight inside my mind and rearranging my priorities.

I guess am moving on. As I did from my childhood toys and bicycle. As I did from my favorite adoloscent hauntings and Chennai. The liking is still there but there is no craving. The good memories are still there but nothing urging to go back.

Which makes me think - Is life just a journey and not a destination?

Business Model

20 years back, an average working Indian would have had 10 Rupees in his pocket/dhoti and felt safe/secure for that day. His spendings for that day would not exceed that even if he turned a bit lavish.

Now, an average working Indian would carry 500 Rupees in his pocket/jeans and feel safe/secure for that day. His spendings for that day would not exceed 300 Rupees (considering inflation, etc.).

Now, a business model to loot that extra 200 Rupees is what I need to work on. Hmm..I believe this is the basis for a super market or an online market.

Here is a family pic...

taken on 11 Jun 2010

Its a dog's life

Take a bow.

No, not the medieval weapon. Rather the only character each one of us exhibit uniformly.

Its the literal meaning of subduing yourself. Of something you cannot quite comprehend and hence would rather submit to it. To somethings which you cannot live without and hence would willingly suck to them.

We do it at our religious places. Take a Bow.

We do it to Technology. Everywhere. Mobiles, TV, Internet, Electricity. Take a Bow.

We do it to Money. House, Car, Luxury, Food. Take a Bow.

We bow, bow and bow in life.

And there you go my friends, get the dog's rhythm and make our four legged friends happy.

...And yeah..keep practicing.

:)

Hmm..

Being away from writing for a long time. Guess micro-blogging has taken me in. Yet, I have so much thoughts to write about. Just not finding the time yet to arrange them. Will get to it. If I listen to my inner heart, writing is where my love is....eventually, if I can, my career is.

Aliens!

Stephen Hawking is back and with what he does best. He predicts that aliens must exist.

It is a mathematical possibility (as Hawking states) and also simple reasoning might incline your mind to believe so.

Tangentially, two points

1) I am starting to believe that our Gods (any religion and particularly Hindu Gods) are actually aliens with superior powers who visited (or keep visiting) Earth. References in epics of sophisticated weapons and air travel might just allude to this thought. Also, imagine this scenario: a group of small insects living in a hill in a very remote forest. Lets assume that they are intelligent to communicate among themselves and have been living there for generations. One day, a vehicle (say a bull dozer) goes two miles far, mowing down. The vehicle does not return till another 5 years (by which generations of insects would have come and gone). Now, what will be the insects' knowledge passed through generations on that unidentified object? What would be the present generation's thought?

2) Stephen's last point (read last para in that link) actually is a very very likely scenario to happen to Earth itself. Knowing his intelligence, he may have been giving a cryptic clue to us. ha ha ha!

PS : I personally think the article is a marketing strategy (and those visuals they have described..he he)

Secret of Success

In any culture, the bridegroom gets that special treatment during the marriage from the bride, in-laws, relatives, etc. It subsides gradually as time passes. Still I know of some people who have that 'respect' at their home and in-laws place for long years now.

Now I thought how do they retain it?

Simple.

They will sweat it outside to grow up in life. On the way, they would meet with the choicest abuses from their bosses, peers, subordinates. Yet, they will keep pushing and pulling to get ahead.

Such people who face the f**k in the outside world are the ones who face the flute at home. Because, they succeed in life by crawling through s**t (as Red says in Shawshank Redemption).

No pain, no gain.

Clench your Fist and Raise your Hand

Imagine.

1.

You are visiting a hospital to take your wife for a checkup and sitting in the hospital reception killing time when your wife is inside doing the checkup. A small argument starts out at the counter and you start overhearing (as the others around you). The counter people are bullying someone on following some never before heard rule and the receiving guy is thoroughly confused and hurt.

2.

You are waiting in a bus stop near a traffic light. You see some traffic policemen bullying some hapless guy over something missing in his document.

3.

While on lunch, you are waiting in a queue to get your turn to the food counter. Somebody senior in the company jumps the queue and starts haggling over something petty with the guy serving the food.

4.

Traffic at its worst. Some political or religious outfit having a show of their own.

What do we all do in such cases? Mute. Mute. Mute.

We take a look at the situation strictly to kill our own time. Do we step in? No. Partly because, we will get our turn with the harasser some point of time and we do not want to be in his/her wrong books at that time. Partly because, inside we are weak and do not want to stand up against the system. The system which can, in one sweep, make us a nobody.

Before I type anything further:

Am part of this 'us'. Am not a hero. I do not flex my muscle and stand up against the system. But my question is do we need to be a hero? If we take some of the known super humans in our history, we can clearly see that there were problems before their entry and there were still the same problems after their exit. So, what is a hero worth? Nothing.

Because one person cannot solve everything. Why are we always looking above for the miracles? We...humans... are the miracles. The system is our mess. Mess created generation after generation of humans. It is upto us to clear the mess. Collective response to a situation is the only way to stand up against the system.

So, what do we do in all the above cases? We need to start letting the system know that there are some things we do not like. How?

Clench your Fist and Raise your Hand.

Nothing more. Nothing less. The harasser and the system need to know. That is all. If everyone around there takes a stand and let's the system know, that is the change that will ripple through the system.

Eventually some day, maybe not in our lifetime, still the system will change.

For now and till then, just raise your hand. Take a stand.

VTV Mannipaya song - beautiful lyrics

Found these beautiful words in the song 'mannipaya' from Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya...will try translating below

காற்றிலே ஆடும்

காகிதம் நான் -

நீ தான் என்னை

கடிதம் ஆக்கினாய்

அன்பில் தொடங்கி

அன்பில் முடிக்கிறேன் -

என் கலங்கரை விளக்கமே!

I was still a paper

when you picked up

Then

I became a letter

beginning and ending

only with love.

And henceforth he's...

...Nandan Ram Saro.

Nandan - first name

Ram - middle name (short for Ramya)

Saro - last name (I shortened my name Saravanan to Saro and used it as his last name)

http://picasaweb.google.com/jvsaro/15Feb2010#

Pictures taken on my birthday and Nandan's functions (Puniyadanam - done to take him outside the house; Kaapu - done to take Ramya and Nandan to my home).

:)

Saro

God, give me more than a life

i need them to live for

more than my family....

i need to live it for

my friend.

Ra-Sa

Junior Saro ....Devar Magan....born on 11th Jan in Tanjore...For now, disturbing sleeps of his parents and grandparents....:)

Not yet named.....For now, he is nicknamed Ra-Sa (Ramya + Saro)

:)

Thalaivar birthday celebrations 2009

This was the fourth year we are celebrating thalaivar's birthday @ Bangalore. And I had to travel from my client office to our office just for the celebrations! Anything for thalaivar....We got a huge 3 kilo cake done (thanks to naadas, kuruvi, parachute and dumkaa) and cut it in front of a huge crowd. Here is a video....

Funny to think that I have celebrated thalaivar's birthday everytime in Bangalore than Chennai....:))

Oh! I was a kid then..

Oh! I was a kid then

awed by her presence

Friends we were

With boundaries blur

Years took us apart

Cattle in different cart

Still we were stuck

Mails and some luck

Time tried its best

Somebody did the rest

Cracks came in

And it never was the same

Maybe God made me grow

To become what am now

Maybe Time got bored

And wanted some more

Grow up, I did - a little

and became brittle

Still the Hugs I shared -

Smelt of her

Time kept its due

The day rain made a hue

The door bell rang

and there She stood.

Oh! I was a kid again

awed by her presence

With her smile - that made

the wait worthwhile

She spent moments

And bid goodbye

Days after that

My heart still lags

Time did not want

To take us apart

Rather to tell me

What it was I lost.

Thevar Magan - Magic of Kamal and Ilayaraja

I never get tired of watching the climax scene in Thevar Magan.

The point where Kamal wails in agony, when Nasser's mom cries out that all the milk she gave is spilt as blood now. Right there, Ilayaraja adds his chorus into the proceedings producing sheer magic for the next couple of minutes till the end credits roll.

Touching finish...

Flora and Fauna @ Elangadu

When spending the first few days on my return from US in Elangadu, I captured some of the flora and fauna there. Ramya captured the squirrel busy with the coconut. Elangadu is a sleepy little village along the banks of Cauvery river. Coconut groves and paddy fields dot the landscape with banana trees thrown in. Fauna is typical Indian tropical with lot of squirrels, crows, sparrows, goats, dogs, an occasional woodpecker, kingfisher, etc.

Diwali 2009 @ Bangalore

This was the first time that I spent Diwali weekend in Bangalore.

It was a good one with driving all the way to Salem for crackers; lots of shopping in Hosur; a totally vegetarian but very delicious Diwali (topped with sweets from four states!); spending quality time with friends.

This weekend seemed too long and happy.

J