Boom in the bloggers' world..

International markets are experiencing fatal financial crisis. Red glows all over the world markets starting from NASDAQ to NIKKEI. A part of the impacts of dropping share markets is felt on the food and oil prices, which have reached the levels that have never even been imagined of in the past. Name any industry and you would find it in the list of industries that possess broken statures in the economy today. Investors are not prepared to lend ears to what the Union Finance Ministry has got to say because the latter had always tried to soothe the former even when there were hard times approaching their pockets. The economic depreciation has been given a chance to engulf the nation by sparking what are known price hikes. When the cost of petrol per barrel has dipped below $80, which is the lowest value in the last 6 months, the petroleum ministry is unable to bring down the cost of a liter of petrol in India. The effect of inflation swung back to increase the magic figure of agony which reached a double figure very recently. You might be wondering what a blogger has got to do with all these misfortunes. Though these are unfortunate causes of inflation and price rise, bloggers from India are having a pleasant time under the hot sun while others are beaten by the heat. With the approaching economic crisis which started with U.S, the value of Indian currency has dropped to the record lowest value. This may indicate the signs of doomsday at India's doorstep. But, for the bloggers in India, this has brought the positive effect of inflation and weakened value of Indian Rupees against U.S.D. Now, I've earned around $700 through my blogs. A part of this amount reached my online account when the INR's value versus U.S.D was Rs.43. When I received the amount in INR, the value was Rs.47. Thus, for every American dollar, I managed to put up an excess Rs.4, which is flatly a bonus! Now, I don't know what I should do. I don't know whether I should feel bad for enjoying the happy turnover when the whole nation is suffering from critical economic crisis or feel good that I am capable of surviving the disaster called economic downfall.

Rules gone wrong..

Of late, we find so many changes in the traffic rules that are applicable within the city limits of Chennai. Helmets are made mandatory for bike riders. I always talk about this helmet issue whenever I talk about traffic policemen and anything related to them for I've dropped some bucks in their pockets, sometimes for not sticking on to the rules and sometimes for sticking to the rules but failing to convince these jerks in uniforms. At the end of the day, I hate them to the deepest core! Anyway, let me take you through the anomalies in the traffic rules we follow in Chennai. There are hard proofs available to stand firm on the fact that there is no coordination between the traffic police department, the oil ministry, health ministry and in fact, the whole Government. Today, the trend that is invading the minds of traffic policemen is "One-way or no way". Almost 30% of the main roads in the city, which were once used for two-way traffic, have been made one-way which, according to the police department, is an attempt to regulate and diversify the growing traffic in the city. Recently, I had been to Egmore and found that almost all the Roads at the junction had next to Pudupet had been turned into one-way roads. Something told me it's not going to be an easy task to reach the Commissioner's Office. I drove straight and when I was about to take a right, I found that the road is being used for one-way traffic and I had to go straight further. This isn't area with which I am quite familiar. So, I had no idea about the small roads in between the main roads which might probably take me to the destination in my mind. I reached the junction and now the rule is different. I am not allowed to take a right turn, though the road on my right is available for two-way traffic. The journey, straight down the road, continued with my bike running low on fuel. I reached another junction, where the signal timer continued flicking through the numbers for more than 2 minutes. At last I took a right turn, which was exactly the same I should have done 5 minutes back. Now, my destination lied to my right and I needed to take a right turn somewhere. I found a right and also a board that said 'No Right Turn'. But, the funniest part of the rule is that U-turn was allowed at that place. My journey on Kilpauk high road continued. The next right turn was a one-way. So, it kept me moving straight. Finally, the end of a long stretch came to an end and I found that I had reached the place from where my journey from Mount Road to Commissioner Office at Egmore. Thus, what I was left with in the end was a 'Pradhakshanam' around the Commissioner Office. I sought after the help of an auto-rickshaw driver, who, I was sure, would know even the smallest of streets in the city. He made me reach the place through a small street. Thus, I had a 5KM ride on my bike which should actually have been a 300 meter journey. Isn't this an idiotic act that puts down all the purposes of the oil ministry to bring down the oil prices? I was in great demand for petrol for my bike. Demand is the reason for the price hike. I could imagine the number of people who would have faced the same misery on bike as I did. That magnifies the demand which in turn gives Government no room to reduce the fuel cost. Since the entire traffic towards Egmore is diverted to Kilpauk High road, the congestion at the junction at the mouth of the main road has increased to several folds. Thus, the amount of exhaust gases let out in the atmosphere obviously goes up, which makes the conditions highly unhealthy. Thus, all the efforts of the Union Health ministry is made to go up in flames. I doubt whether Mr.Anbumani Ramadoss has the knowledge that smoking in public doesn't add as much smoke as the vehicle exhausts does to the atmosphere when the vehicle engines are put on idling at junctions and when the runtime of the vehicles on the roads increase due to congestion, which in turn leads to same effects on one's health as smoking. This reflects the complete lack of coordination between the different parts of the machinery called Government. Thus, the state has become a vehicle with the wheels at the rear end trying to go back while the wheels at the front pushing the system forward. And the system, which is the society here, stays right at the place where it was before the processes started, leading to stagnation!

Festive mood sets in..

The festival of lights is around the corner and the sky above the whole nation will be glowing for the next few days if one takes the bird's view. It's Diwali that we are inching closer to everyday! This is the most colorful and flamboyant festival one could think of. We should thank Lord Ram for giving all of us a reason to make the sky brighter than usual at nights for few days. Some, who are against Hinduism, may point to the fact that on the day of Diwali, pollution across the whole nation increases to a fatal level. Such ignorant facts should be eradicated from the Devil's workshop and such people should understand that Diwali isn't the only cause for pollution. Everyday, millions of factory outlets and billions of vehicles all over the world contribute in a major scale to pollution. Futile arguments shouldn't be pushed to the surface just because some have severe hatred for Hinduism. Diwali is not only a festival that spreads joy and happiness in the form of light. It is also an occasion that can remove the darkness dominating one's mind. Naragasuran, the devil in the form of human, inflicted pain to several people and there was no room for happiness in his kingdom. The purpose of Lord Ram's birth was to bring the miseries of people to an end by vanquishing Ravana, who is depicted as a human with 10 heads. After defeating Ravana and saving Seetha from his demonic clutches, Lord Ram proved his benevolence by offering a wish for Ravana. Unlike the villains the movies depict today, Ravana realized his mistakes before his life came to an end and wished for something nobody would have even thought of quoting as a wish. He wanted the people all over the world to celebrate the day he died and he wanted the day to be called Deepavali, which, over the time, turned into Diwali. Now, after experiencing 22 years on this earth with some really bad people, I don't find Ravan really bad. I doubt whether Lord Ram would be able to repeat the history now for weeding some of the unwanted elements in the nation who are personifications of evil. Let us hope this Deepavali spreads light on the minds of such blackened minds. Let’s spread the joy in the form of light! Happy Deepavali fellas!!

Music and movies..

I am a hardcore music lover. It's one thing apart from my blogger friends and other intimate mates that keeps me going when I decide to make a blog post in here. That is one of the reasons for adding this widget to my blog that plays music automatically when someone visits it. When I am listening to a good song, especially a TAMIL song, I feel really easy to club my ideas together without any obscurity. I don't why this happens but I feel plainly comfortable with my blog when music hits the background. If asked to rate the quality of music, I would put TAMIL songs at the top followed by English genres. I won't spare time thinking about the Hindi music world because such a thing doesn't exist. What actually comes from Bollywood is a Hindi NOISY world. Very rarely, good music comes from Bollywood and you would find the man behind the successful reach of the songs in South India will once again be from South India. [A.R.Rahman ;-)]. Tamil music has the essence to go deep within anyone except those that are technically termed 'KUTHU' songs. Sometimes, even these songs sound better than the ones that come from Bollywood after the music scorers spent so many precious hours in them. Bollywood is almost full of noisy tracks which don't sound pleasant for many. Lately, I tried to develop an inch of interest in me for bollywood music. I listened to the song 'Hello' from the movie 'Hello'. It was so boring and carried the same old hindi tradition of going the Western way. I guess people from bollywood think they are right on track to take Indian cinema closer to Hollywood. But, the fact is that they are damping the Indian movie industry's development by concentrating more on making movies that look very similar to their Hollywood counterparts. And they have even attempted to build the so called King Khan's image as big as Tom Cruise's in Hollywood. I have spotted Tom Cruise giving a touch to his hairstyle for his movies. The only change that this man from Bollywood managed to produce is a 6-pack. And his hair style remains the same from Baazigar to Om Shanthi Om. Thus, I feel if Bolllywood tries to turn a bit of its attention towards the improvisation of its music world, it will be helpful for the Indian movies. I find the Malayalam songs really good and I don't know why people don't celebrate Mallu songs and go for NOISY tunes. That is the only magic Bollywood came up with so far. So, my suggestion to all my fellow Indian bloggers is to listen to either Malayalam or Tamil songs while blogging if you are wishing to build an extremely well-shaped blog. If you want to produce a blog as irregular as Bollywod, listen to Hindi songs. If possible, watch Shah Rukh Khan's movies before you start with your blog so that you can get the 'Worst Blogger Award' if not the best. :-P

One full year of blogging!!

Finally, I've reached the place I aimed to be at exactly 365 days back in the past! I've been trying to keep up with my blog for the past 1 year and I guess I have successfully managed to build a good one. I was going through all the posts I had published in the past and I am point-blank satisfied by the way I have handled the titles and the topics. I am not trying to blow my trumpet. But, I have succeeded, for the first time in my life, in an attempt to feel self-satisfied. I am in fact very much pleased by my intentions to blog about topics that normally won't be considered for developing blogs by those millions of better bloggers out there in the world. I struggled really hard in the beginning to push my kid into the vast blog world. At first, I felt so small on looking at bloggers who were too professional and had the expertise in them to make some of the world's best blogs. I started blogging just to experience the elation when I see what ran through my mind blended with the blog template to produce the effect of a real and quality website. I was so happy after publishing my first post because I lifted myself to the status of Google's owner, though I don't who it is, since I own a niche right here like Google in the world of web. My initial posts were too long for the readers to go through completely and some of my friends even brought the request to reduce the number of words I used in my posts to me. It has become a habit now and I still couldn't get out of 'make-big-posts' practice. I owe my friends everything I earned through this blog in the form of bucks and many international blogger friends because they kept the thrust behind me steady and kept me moving deeper into the blog world. I don't know where I would be placed if I stand against other good bloggers I know today. But, I won't be disheartened even if I win the last place in the list starting with the best in the business. At the end of the day, a place in the list of bloggers is all I need and I want to make sure I don't find anything missing in me which might honestly be considered essential to make a good blogger out of anyone. And I couldn't drop out of this post without citing some of my good blogger friends, though each and every single blogger is held close to my heart, who are so nice to exchange messages and links with me habitually and helped me stay right on the track. Here are some of the best bloggers I enjoyed being with :

Ria Stevenson

Articles Blogger

Ask me recipe

Edelweiza

Momeen


Friends, thank you so much for making me a blogger. I love you all!!!

Degrading dress code..

What do you see in this picture posted above? An auto-rickshaw trying to make a U-turn at the other end? An auto-rickshaw taking a right turn? A black Ford Ikon trying to take a right turn from the far end of the picture? Yes. You can find all these things in this picture. And you can also spot the cyclist to your left looking at a clown in white shirt standing right at the middle of the road doing nothing. Don't mistake him for a vagabond. Actually, he is one of those vagabonds who are given uniforms and codes of conduct and also the name 'Traffic policemen'. They have a department. They make themselves responsible for maintaining law, order and discipline among the drivers on the roads of Chennai, which are gaining good shapes these days. They have even listed down a number of rules to be followed by the drivers and especially bike riders lately. All these rules are, according to these scavengers of money in uniform, drafted to ensure safety. My question is, whose safety are they trying to ensure? I am quite sure they are more worried about the gloomy days yet to be faced by Indian economy and they have already started filling up their bank accounts using the money which they get mostly from bike riders, to ensure their families remain safe when the whole nation is in grief. These traffic constables call helmet a part of a bike rider's dress code. And they say it's a must for a rider to have a helmet protecting his head while riding a bike. They are more concerned about the riders' dress code. But, look at this man in Khaki pants and white shirt in the picture above. Look closely at the picture. I know you have spotted that the beggar bound by baseless rules has not put on his rain boots. If you have a good vision, you can find another policeman at the far end of the picture, near the black Ford Ikon. You can find him in his rain boots. I accept that rain boots are not a part of their uniform. But, I don't think a pair of toilet slippers is a part of their dress code either. Are they? I never knew Chennai Traffic police department has brought some comfortable changes for making the traffic constables feel good when they become a mere spectator looking at the moving vehicles hours together, standing under the shade and rarely dropping out of it to stop a vehicle for the valuable insurance papers, which if missing would make them ask for the really valuable piece of paper called money. I can't stop imagining the other developments that would have their roots in the department very soon. What do you know? If this is a deliberate change in the dressing code followed by the traffic police, then I could guess the next big changes in line that would be brought upon these maggots. Low waist short pants, Nike shoes, sleeveless low drops, tattoos on arms and also on the bulky bellies, pierced ears and a haircut that appears like contour farming. After all, these would look really cool and comfortable. Won't they? :-P

Ultra-modern cities???

Chennai is becoming more sophisticated and advanced in terms of lifestyle, economy, opportunities and entertainment without giving up its image as a cultural hub. With cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad failing terribly in an attempt to acclimatize themselves to the lifestyle of Western hemisphere, Chennai made sure it followed its own unique way of development and progress. Initially, people were laughing at the way Chennai projected itself as a metropolitan city without a big number of night clubs and party floors which the people from above mentioned cities thought were the sign of development. Now, the world laughs at these cities for their ignorance about the real meaning of development and turning a city into a metropolitan on the map. I feel really bad for those cities because they thought they were right on track of development without carrying the reality in their minds, which is actually that they were going exactly the wrong way. Following the way people live in the Western world is good for a developed nation in the East. But, we should not forget India is a developing nation that has a heavy load of 120 billion people on its back and trying to imitate westerners is a blunder which the so called developed cities in India committed. First of all, how can certain cities alone be considered as developed parts of the nation when the whole nation is called a developing one? Isn't the word integration missing right at the root of this point? Development doesn't mean bollywood or night clubs or dance floors. Development doesn't even mean good looking girls wearing Low waist jeans and t-shirts with quotes on them that contain the words 'WANNA' or 'GONNA' in the places of 'WANT TO' or 'GOING TO'. People from these cities should understand development is a collective term that covers criteria like employment, literacy rate, specific, per capita income, establishments in various fields of business and the like. Just because a state owns Nasik, the capital of the state can't be called the New York of India. Chennai survives majority of these criteria, though not all. When it comes to industrial development and literacy rate, Chennai is several folds better than Mumbai or Hyderabad. People have just started to show themselves as trendy. According to a recent survey, among all the cities, the Chennai people spend more on entertainment and thus, Mumbai is beaten to the floor even when it comes to considering entertainment as the main criterion to judge the development of a state. Thus, I cannot search for words other then 'THE BEST' for Chennai and 'SATISFACTORY', though not completely, for other cities which proclaim to be completely ultra-modern, rich and decent.

Grief-stricken kitten..

I know what comes to your mind immediately after viewing the picture I've put up here. This is the first time I am talking about my kittens on my blog. This is also the first time I am talking about my personal experiences in bringing up four young ones belonging to the cute cat family which found a place to dwell in my house. These kittens are cute, They are cute, They are adorable. And they are completely mischievous. My parents were totally against the idea of keeping these four kittens in the house which looked smaller than my palm immediately after their birth. They even told me they can find a good shelter for them somewhere outside on the road. The very word 'Road' crushes all the safety that could possibly be provided to these kittens till they grow large enough to at least run away from common threats like stray dogs, bigger cats and the vehicles driven by ruthless drivers.


I couldn't imagine these small and innocent creatures suffering the agony of which would be forced on them if they are exposed to the world outside my house. Hence, I decided to keep them safe within my room so that none of my family members would be bothered by these kittens. Initially, they faced serious threats from bigger cats and one huge cat almost brought the life of brawny, the golden-brown kitten in the above picture, to an end when he was just 2 months old. About a month back, the kitten that is white with patches of light golden-brown which can be found sitting briskly while the other three are dozing off fast, suffered a severe stomach disorder. From the way he moved around the place, I realized there was something terribly wrong with his stomach. Also, his mew was not as loud as the other three. One day, I found that his stomach had started bulging and that was when I knew he was critical. I searched the net for some remedies but found nothing. The next day, he lost control of the saliva production in his mouth and I found lathers around his mouth. I knew it was too late. But, I couldn't find a way to help him. He was just 3 months old when these symptoms were detected. His body temperature started increasing and that was when I came to know he was suffering from a severe bacterial infection. It was too late now. He started counting his hours. For one last time, I wanted to hold the kitten I loved to play with in my hand. His eyes reflected how tired he was. I looked into his eyes and felt he was asking me to help him get the problem out of his stomach. I was pathetic. I couldn't look at him after that since he started struggling awfully. He stopped moving around. He sat at a place for more than 8 hours continuously without food and water. It was 3.30 A.M when I left him in my room and went out to the hall. I was back to the room at 6.30 A.M just to find three kittens sitting beside an immobile kitten with its jaw wide open. He finally escaped the pain he had been suffering for few days then. I wasn't prepared for the job but I knew I had no choice. I dug the grave for him at the backyard and buried him with a heavy heart, with the hope that he will reappear in the form of a plant very soon.


I wasn't prepared for another such incident and very soon, Blacky, the black kitten, started suffering the same symptoms as his brother did before he went to the heavens. I wanted to act quick and sensible and took the three kittens to a vet clinic. The doctor diagnosed the real cause of what the kitten suffered from. It was a kitten fever which would cost the kitten's life if left unnoticed. He injected the white kitten with black and brown spots and Blacky since they were running on a moderate temperature. Brawny seemed to be extremely normal, and a bit overactive, and hence the doc decided to vaccinate him. The total cost of all the injections was $20. I never cared about the money. I want the kittens to be alive as long as they are with me. And also after they go out of the house into the wide world. Now, the three kittens are in great shape and they have grown big! But, they are so affectionate towards me which prevents them from going out of my room during night times. All they need to have a peaceful night sleep are Air-conditioner that should run for about 20 minutes, a warm and cozy blanket to make themselves secure in it. After all, they are living creatures smaller than human beings. Their lives are in no way inferior to our lives. They are as important as human beings are to me. :-)

As far as this kitten is concerned, I would remember him as long as my I meet him again in the heavens. :-)

Goa's jinx..

It's too early now to forget the unfortunate tourists' murders in Goa and before we could annihilate such bad memories from our mind, another one such incidents has come up cracking the surface. This time the scenario is set around the son of a minister of Goa. It's very disheartening to find the ministry that comes under this minister's ordinance. This is the education minister of Goa and the son is now a part of Police's wanted list for molesting a minor foreign girl, who was here to enjoy her in Goa vacation. This is an example case that shows how bad and weak the law and order in our country are. Police started searching for the boy as soon as they received the news and the search was made stronger since the number of crimes against foreign tourists is increasing at an appalling rate everyday, in spite of the fact that the criminal involved in this case is the son of one of the most influential ministers in Goa. I was quite satisfied by the way police department worked towards the case and tried to put the criminal behind the bars. But, the bad news I stumbled on this morning is that cops have deferred the case against the son for now and the politician claims that his son is innocent, which is a very common statement that most of the politicians come up with after their close ones get into trouble. None of us know what happened behind the screen which stopped the inching of police towards getting their hands on the criminal who cares to give nothing to the glory of this nation. But, we can be sure something very bad has taken place against the law behind the screen just because it's a politician's son who is into trouble now. Can law do anything to bring justice to the foreign girl who was 14 when this incident happened? Where is the equality here? Can the courts now take a chance and prove that it still stays above Government by providing the perfect verdict in this case? Are the police capable of working independently without the influence of politicians who work only for their welfare? The answer is one and the same for all these questions. NO! That's it!

Inconvenient insensitivity..

When it comes to creating turmoil in the state and eventually across the whole nation, and threatening the allies, no one come closer to even the foot of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which works under the cap of Karunanidhi, who doesn't seem to possess even a hint of mercy for the Central Government as his name proclaims. The economy is hitting rocks and going out of proportion every second. This has kept the Central Government extremely busy in searching for an alternative to pull the nation out of the trench. At such a crucial point of time, the irresponsible Government of Tamil Nadu under Karunanidhi's inefficient leadership has started pressing its requirements hard on the desks of Central Government. I never knew D.M.K people are so ignorant that they never understood that India and Sri Lank are two different countries. The party expressed itself to be furious over the deaths of thousands of Tamil people in Sri Lanka in the regions occupied by the Tamil Tigers, who are nothing but militants fighting against democracy in the country of Sri Lanka. D.M.K came up with a senseless idea to appease the tamil people which is to force the Central Government to stop aiding Sri Lanka in its battle against Tamil people of the land. When it happens in Sri Lanka, it is left to the Government of Sri Lanka to scrutinize the situation and proceed with necessary measures. How can a human, though a barber in the past, be so stupid to ask the Government to interfere in the internal affairs of a neighboring country? A political party can't be so idiotic to support a bunch of people in some other country, who are suspected to stir the already hostile environment to intensify the battle between the Government and the Tamil tigers, who are considered as terrorists in Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi is holding the wrong end of a hot rod and has gone out in support of those in Sri Lanka just because they speak the same language as we do in Tamil Nadu. People are not sure whether Karunanidhi is aware of the fact that he is supporting a group of people, a part of which supports the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers or most popularly, TERRORISTS. Now, the reason behind D.M.K's loud cry for the cessation of POTA is quite clear. It was D.M.K which once hoisted its voice to declare Tamil Nadu as an Independent country free from India and unite it with the governance of Sri Lanka. This might just be the beginning of a second attempt that D.M.K is making to commit more blunders than ever before in the piece of land obtained by merging Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka together.