Vetti Arattai

to makeup or not to makeup - why is this even a question?

2012-01-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy New Year 2012. I noticed that the last post I made was last Feb and that too was a cut and paste from somewhere. I am such a disgrace to blogging. Instead of making promises that I never intend keeping, I am going to take it easy and blog only when I absolutely feel like it. Like... now.

This is in response to a Neeya Naana show that was aired sometime in November 2011 that I watched only recently (thanks to my ever faithful DVR). The topic of the day was Makeup vs non Makeup. Unlike some of the other topics that have been dealt with in the past, this I thought was very shallowly handled even by the so-called experts. The "for" side basically said, I like all the attention am getting by putting on makeup. The "against" side said, Don't dress like that because you will attract the men. Not surprisingly the for side was all women while the against side was mixed but mostly moms, brothers and husbands of the other side. The highlight of the show was the comment by Dr.Shalini :) She said - "All the things you do in the name of makeup are similar to the physiological changes that happen during ovulation. The cosmetic products are basically selling the same effects back to us and wearing them gives a signal saying 'I am available' and since the against side knows this they are asking you to stop wearing them". I expect much better from an educated woman, leave alone a prominent person as Dr. Shalini. It was funny to see that some of the people on the for side had barely an eyeliner and almost no trace of lipstick and yet claimed to be using makeup.

I am troubled by this show at several levels.

1. Define makeup. IMHO tweezing your eyebrows using the barest eyeliner and a lipstick doesn't constitute makeup but to each his own. If using things to show yourself a little better (or worse) than you actually are constitutes makeup, then we have been using makeup since time immemorial. Why even using turmeric is makeup. Using kumkum/bindi can also constitute makeup. Going natural can be taken to whole different level using this argument. So be careful where you tread.

2. It may be hard to understand but it is true - some of us do like to appear good just for ourselves. No it is NOT an invitation for the men, deliberate or otherwise. Men folk, get real! You are NOT that important to us. I feel better, fresher, more positive in general when I dress up a little and take that extra 5 mins to apply my eyeliner. Some cynics may call me shallow but hey who's to define what makes one happy or gloomy. Isn't that subjective. Stop making sweeping generalizations about women. And don't go down the path of "Oh if that makes you happy, does lack of makeup make you sad. If makeup makes you confident, will your confidence go away with you makeup". Puhleeze. That's such a juvenile argument, am not even going to try to counter.

3. Ok, so I do apply makeup to appear attractive, what is so bad about it? I think it is high time we let women accept their sexuality and not make them feel guilty about it. It is still NOT an invitation to ALL the men (just to the one or few that we are interested in). Yes there is a difference between appearing attractive and appearing slutty and we know it. So stop giving that as an excuse. Stop blaming us as the cause for men's mistakes. Menfolk, grow up and own up to your mistakes, shortcomings and wrong judgements. My question to Dr. Shalini (and to the rest who agree with her) is this - So what if I express that I'm available? Why do we still expect women to wear this protective cover over themselves so hard that they hardly ever get to even explore or experience their true feelings?

4. Finally I would have agreed to premise of the talk had they brought in a dermatologist to talk about how makeup affects your skin especially not using good quality products. Also if you do use good products, there are long term repercussions of it on your skin etc. But sadly no, no one seemed to be even bothered about that angle. The only angle they wanted to harp on was girls putting on makeup and attracting boys and hence boys behaving badly :( The one argument that I did agree to, in this entire show probably, was that mom objecting to her daughter spending 2k on cosmetics per month while her own(mom's) income was only 3k. Yes under those circumstances, makeup doesn't make a lot of financial sense.

Letters from a gal to her dad

2011-02-15T08:08:00.001-08:00

Found this on a FB post. http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=200772913270748&id=1543476803

Thought this was interesting and could spark healthy debates.

It’s a story of a Brahmin gal who loved a non-Brahmin and due to father’s compulsion married a Brahmin guy and leading a perfect life with little happiness!!

(Some tamil words included)…

Dearest Appa,

27th Jan’1965

Hope this letter finds you, Amma, Raji and Seenu in good health. The weather here in New York City is icy cold. But Avar sollraar- I have missed this winter’s biting cold. I still wish I had seen the snow… But then, I still wish I had not left Trichy at all. I do miss Trichy, Appa. You, Amma, Raji, Seenu, pakkatthaathu Rama, Vikatan,Ucchi Pillaiyaar Koil, filter coffee, Holy Cross College, the Maths Department and of course Sakthi. I know you wish I hadn’t brought his name in this letter.But not to worry Appa, I understand that you got me married to Visu because you thought it was best for your daughter.

I still remember Amma wiping her silent tears with her madisaar thalappu and you shouting at me the day I told you about Sakthi.Later, when the initial shock wore off you patiently listed umpteen reasons why I should not marry Sakthi. I agree Appa, that 20 is too young to decide, that Raji and Seenu would have been affected greatly by my ‘mistake’, the Agrahaaram would have scoffed at you… a meat eater was not a good match for someone who had never even tasted onion and garlic. The reasons were innumerous. I knew you’d still have objected and offered other reasons even if he had become a Dhigambara monk.

Visu on the other hand, wore a poonal, he is the son of Neelakanta Sastri, an Engineer and he researched about computers which is what made you jump for this alliance. Am not complaining Appa, Visu is a nice man. Tell Amma that I could not try her kozhakkattai recipe this Pongal because coconuts were too expensive and Avar nenacchar that it was ridiculous.

Anyway, we went out on Sankaranthi day and dined out. He thought it would be a good idea to invite the Chatterjees also. But I didn’t speak Bengali and Mrs.Chatterjee spoke English in an accent that comes with living years in America. Hence I made myself busy with the menu card. They ordered various species of fish,shrimp and a lot more of items I had never seen in my life. I ordered orange juice and a sandwich. The other diners thought it was queer coming to a seafood restaurant and settling for a sandwich. That day, I learnt that Avar prefer pannradhu beef, pork, bacon and seafood.

Do you know, Appa… Sakthi gave up meat because of me? I didn’t ask, he just did. But then, Sakthi is not Neelakanta Sastri’s son and that made it imposible for Subramania Iyer’s daughter Kalyani to marry him.I will keep you posted on what happens here. I don’t think I can make it to Seenu’s Upanayanam. Tell Amma not to get me a pattu podavai for the poonal, I don’t use them here. I wore it once and felt like a clown here.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,

20th Oct’1968

We are fine here. Gautam is speaking his first words and I swear they sounded like ‘Dosai’. But Visu claims it’s just gibberish. From your previous letter, I gather that pakkathatthu Rama is married and

settled in Jamshedpur. Nice to know that. Please find out her address from Saarada maami and write it to me. I want to keep in touch with her. I hope Raji is happy with her husband in Madras. I spoke to her last month, great to know that she has a phone. Do tell Seenu to study well and prepare for his school final exams.

Raji also told me that Sakthi is married now. I wish him good luck, but I could not convey the message to him. Raji refused to be the messenger and I know you have severed ties with Sakthi’s father, your long term friend Sankaravel, thanks to me. I hear his wife is his cousin… He must have succumbed to his mother’s wishes.

How did Avani Avittam go? Visu’s mother gave me a bunch of new poonals for Avani Avittam but Visu was in Boston that day. He wouldn’t have used it anyway, I haven’t seen him wear one in the last three years. Gautam is now playing with the spool of thread- mere thread it is, what else can I call it? Gautam will not even know what it signifies, I guess.

Visu is making sure Gautam grows up listening to English only. He says it will make his life easier. But I do read out passages from Ponniyin Selvan and Bharathiyaar’s poetry when I am alone with him. It’s more of reading to myself, I guess. I actually got that poetry book as a present from Sakthi, it still has his scrawling signature in the first page.

By the way, Visu saw that book and asked me about Sakthi, I told him. Hold your breath Appa, he didn’t throw me out of the house. He is a good man, no question. He said it is okay and that he doesn’t mind. And then he told me of his American girlfriend whom he was once in love with, when he first reached America- Amy, a fellow Researcher who was in a brief relationship with Visu when she was in New York. They lived together for 3 months and decided against marriage, somehow. Amy once dropped home when she was in New York. Nice lady, she was.

Ask Amma to send me Sambar Podi for this whole year. My friend Sudha is coming to Madras next week. Ask Seenu to catch the Rockfort Express and give it to her. I will collect it from her here.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,

3rd June’1974

We have arrived here safely. After two months in India, I find it hard to adjust back to normal life here. Gautam and Ranjana demand vadai,paayasam and vaazhai ilai here. Visu’s relieved to be back in

America. I left a set of my books there. If it’s not in Trichy it must be in Visu’s parents’ place. If you find them, safeguard them until my next trip. They mean a lot to me since they were gifts from Sakthi. By the way, Appa, I found out Sakthi’s present address in Madras from Rama and Saarada maami. I wrote to him. I am extremely proud to know that Dr.Sakthivel is a cardiologist much in demand there in Madras. He was thrilled to hear from me after so long. You know what he has named his daughters? Kalyani and Raagamaalika. He called me. You know what, he’s still a practising vegetarian, Appa. He didn’t revert back just because he lost me… He asked me if I still sang and whether Gautam and Ranjana could sing. I could see a proud father in him, when he claimed his daughters could sing upto Rara Venu Gopala. That’s when I remembered that I was once a good singer. I wonder why I stopped singing, wonder why I never exposed the kids to Music and Dance. But then, I realize that I had buried all that deep inside me when I left Trichy; after bidding farewell to my best Rasika, actually. Sakthi. After the call, I tried singing ’Kurai Onrum Illai’. I could not rquite reach Charanam, because of the lack of practice and more importantly because of the tears that filmed my eyes and the constriction in my throat. I sang to Visu and the kids one of these days. Though Gautam was impressed, father and daughter could not just wait for me to finish! By the way, next time some friend comes to India, send me a Sruthi Box. I would like to start singing again.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,

14th Aug 1978

Just back after our tour to California. Find our photos, picture postcards attached herewith. After you are done with showing all family members,relatives, friends and neighbours, pass them to Visu’s parents. It was a welcome break for the four of us. But I missed my paattu class students all along and was happy to resume the classes again last evening. Did I mention in my previous letter, before we left on the tour - I finally got my driving license here. I sent a few photos to Sakthi too. He has sent me quite a few records and cassettes. I loved it! I’m reminded of AIR, almost! I’m circulating them among my friends too. And of course, playing them for my students too. They are picking up beautifully. Funny news is, I, a Tamilian, is teaching Telugu and Sanskrit kritis to a cross section of Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada,Telugu, Marathi, Bengali students in an English speaking nation. The music sessions have resulted in a reborn Kalyani, Appa. Thanks to Sakthi, really. I would have never taken it up had it not been for his reminder. I am now thinking of what life would have been like if I had indeed married him. I would have of course lost you and Amma. But right now, with this life in America, Visu and these monthly letters to you, Rama, Raji and Seenu what have i gained? I don’t find an answer, Appa. Neither do I think I ever will. Again, as I have always reiterated, Visu is a good man, no complaints there. He is every bit the son in law you wanted. Researcher, American Post-Graduate Degree holder, a dutiful husband and father,earning a comfortable income. I know it is too much to ask for anything else. That is a fantasy I left midway in my life… Once upon a time in Trichy with someone else.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,

14th Apr’1984

Met Dr.Sakthivel after 19 years… He had come to New York for business purposes and paid me a visit. Visu and the kids welcomed him home with great pleasure. And they liked him too. Infact, they did most of the talking initially. And of course, he got me a whole load of books, cassettes, Mysore Paak and lots more. Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,

20th Jan’ 1990

I just went through all these letters lying in my closet draw for years together. These are letters I started writing to you and then decided not to post. For obvious reasons. I could not mention Sakthi to you even though I was itching to. Not because I was afraid to invite your wrath. I just did not have the heart to hurt you, I know these letters would have hurt you. Because deep inside, I know you were disturbed- you knew Sakthi was a good man, you knew he was a man of substance, yet you didn’t want to go further. Society, I know. ..Family… I know… And all these letters would have only wounded you more.Today, 2 years after your death, and 6 months after Dr.Sakthivel’s untimely death in a road accident, I somehow felt like re-reading all these letters. To me, all these unstamped, unposted letters mean a life that could have been. Kalyani Viswanathan.

Maayanai

2010-12-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

மாயனை மண்ணு வட மதுரை மைந்தனை
தூய பெருநீர் யமுனைத்துறைவனை
ஆயர் குலத்தினில் தோன்றும் அணிவிளக்கை
தாயை குடல் விளக்கம் செய்த தாமோதரனை
தூயோமாய் வந்து நாம் தூமலர் தூவி தொழுது
வாயினால் பாடி மனதினால் சிந்திக்க
போய பிழையும் புகுதருவான் நின்றனவும்
தீயினால் தூசாகும் செப்பேலோர் எம்பாவாய்

Aazhi Mazhai Kanna

2010-12-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

ஆழி மழைக்கண்ணா ஒன்று நீ கை கரவேல்
ஆழி உள் புக்கு முகந்து கொடார்த்து ஏறி
ஊழி முதல்வன் உருவம் போல் மெய் கருத்து
பாழி அம் தோளுடைய பற்பநாபன் கையில்
ஆழி போல் மின்னி வலம்புரி போல் நின்றதிர்ந்து
தாழாதே சார்ங்க முதைத்த சர மழை போல்
வாழ உலகினில் பெய்திடாய் நாங்களும்
மார்கழி நீராட மகிழ்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்

Ongi Ulagalandha

2010-12-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

ஓங்கி உலகளந்த உத்தமன் பேர் பாடி
நாங்கள் நம் பாவைக்கு சாற்றி நீராடினால்
தீங்கின்றி நாடெல்லாம் திங்கள் மும்மாரி பெய்து
ஓங்கு பெரும் செந்நெல் ஊடு கயலுகள
பூங்குவளை போதில் பொறி வண்டு கண் படுப்ப
தேங்காதே புக்கிருந்து சீர்த்த முலை பற்றி
வாங்க குடம் நிறைக்கும் வள்ளல் பெரும் பசுக்கள்
நீங்காத செல்வம் நிறைந்தேலோரெம்பாவாய்

Raga discussion for this is pending.

Vaiyathu Vazhveergal

2010-12-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

வையத்து வாழ்வீர்காள் நாமும் நம் பாவைக்கு
செய்யும் கிரிசைகள் கேளீரோ பாற்கடலுள்
பைய துயின்ற பரமனடி பாடி
நெய்யுண்ணோம் பாலுண்ணோம் நாற்காலை நீராடி

மையிட்டெழுதோம் மலரிட்டு நாம் முடியோம்
செய்யாதன செய்யோம் தீக்குறளை சென்றோதோம்
ஐயமும் பிச்சையும் ஆந்தனையும் கை காட்டி
உய்யுமாறெண்ணி உகந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்

The raga analysis is at http://raagamudra.blogspot.com/2010/12/raagam-gowlai-arohanam-s-r1-m1-p-n3-s.html

After a long time, I have posted on 2 consecutive days. I pray to Him to help me continue this pace until I finish Thiruppavai.

Margazhi Thingal

2010-12-16T11:02:00.001-08:00

மார்கழித் திங்கள் மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்
நீராடப் போதுவீர்! போதுமினோ நேரிழையீர்!
சீர்மல்கும் ஆய்ப்பாடி செல்வச் சிறுமீர்காள்
கூர்வேல் கொடுந்தொழிலன் நந்தகோபன் குமரன்
ஏரார்ந்த கண்ணி யாசோதை இளஞ்சிங்கம்
கார்மேனிச் செங்கண் கதிர்மதியம் போல் முகத்தான்
நாராயணனே நமக்கு பறை தருவான்
பாரோர் புகழப் படிந்தேலோ ரெம்பாவாய்!

Raagam: Naatai.

For a raga based version of this please see http://raagamudra.blogspot.com/2010/12/naatai-margazhi-thingal.html

Thiruppavai

2010-12-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well this blog is called vetti arattai but I am sure I can say some useful things from time to time. It has been my long term wish to learn all the 30 pasurams of Thiruppavai especially in the form sang by MLV amma. As an attempt to help me do that I am going to post each day about the pasuram of the day. Maybe include a short explanation (if I find time that is). And include a clip of it sung by MLV amma. Since each pasuram is set to a different raagam, I think it is also appropriate to use this opportunity to discuss the raaga in my music blog. Let's see how far I can keep this up.

Nice verse

2010-12-15T15:12:00.001-08:00

How deep, true and conquers time.

கலையாத கல்வியும் குறையாத வயதுமொரு கபடு வாராத நட்பும்
கன்றாத வளமையும் குன்றாத இளமையும் கழுப்பிணி இலாத உடலும்
சலியாத மனமும் அன்பகலாத மனைவியும் தவறாத சந்தானமும்
தாழாத கீர்த்தியும் மாறாத வார்த்தையும் தடைகள் வாராத கொடையும்
தொலையாத நிதியமும் கோணாத கோலுமொரு துன்பமில்லாத வாழ்வும்
துய்யநின் பாதத்தில் அன்பும் உதவி
பெரிய தொண்டரொடு கூட்டு கண்டாய்
அலையாழி அறிதுயிலுமாயனது தங்கையே
ஆதி கடவூரின் வாழ்வே
அமுதீசர் ஒரு பாகம் அகலாத சுகபாணி
அருள்வாமி அபிராமியே

Wrong region code error on Bose

2010-05-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a easy hack. Works like a charm!!!
This hack WORKS for Bose 321 GSX!

1. Put in Wrong region disk
2. Wait for "Wrong disk message"
3. Press on the remote
- Right button
- Up button
- Shuffle button
- Stop button
- Hold the Mute button pressed until tray ejects and
goes back in

Now Region free

Thanks to 'gordong11'.....it works :)

(Note don't forget to change the video displayed from PAL to NTSC or v.v. to get the best quality picture)

3 idiots - viewer review

2010-01-11T00:56:00.000-08:00

After all the waiting, I finally managed to watch 3 idiots this past weekend. While the movie is kind of a feel good movie, it certainly does not live up to all the hype and the crazy ticket prices. I think the overall "message" from the movie was that our Education system and Parenting needs an overhaul. Good message, totally need of the hour with India progressing leaps and bounds and looking forward to another decade that could put it in the world leader league. The question is couldn't this have been better delivered without making a caricature of everyone? For example Raju rastogi's background. I am not sure if it was an attempt to evoke sympathy with that guy or just to have a good laugh at his expense. The former just doesn't happen, the latter was just in bad taste. Or Boman Irani, can we make him any more cliched and stereotypical? And the Chathur Ramalingam, poor guy, for him 3.5M house is a measure of success and why not? It is, for a vast majority of Indians. Maybe the intent was to ridicule the Indian education system and success metrics but given the lack of any viable alternatives in the film, I wonder if the joke is on the filmmaker. And what's with the whole Aamir is great scientist with 400 patents who also happens to have setup a school in a remote location in Ladakh? C'mon we expect a better closure than that. And why the delivery scene at all? Just to show that childbirth has arrived in mainstream cinema front and center? And to show that aamir can deliver a baby with vacuum cleaner and lens cleaner just guided by a powerpoint show, is perhaps mocking all the doctors and gynaes out there. I am surprised they didn't protest especially given that Kareena is being portrayed as a medical student but she only either constantly roams around on her scooty for no apparent purpose or gets into silly situations with her price-conscious fiancee (another caricature). I hardly see her even sporting a book let alone attend classes. Maybe they think the film doesn't even deserve a protest (and they may be right) :)

Don't get me wrong, I am not against the film. I like light hearted comedies. I liked munnabhai MBBS despite all its idiosyncracies. I like 3 idiots but I expect a lot more from Aamir. I equate Aamir to the likes of DCH, RDB, TZP. (I am happy to conveniently forget that he did Ghajini). The subject matter warrants a deeper thought and if any sensible filmmaker in Bollywood can give it the reasonable treatment that it deserves, I would have bet it would be Aamir (and I would have lost). Better Luck next time!

2009-07-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Cell phones are the bane of the current times.

Case in point: I was flying back from Hyderabad to Bangalore and the moment we landed several cellphones started ringing. Not too bad, always happens, I hear you say. Agreed. Let's move on. We board the bus that takes us from the aircraft to the terminal (though it's only a few steps away and most people on the flight were perfectly capable of walking or so it seemed). A gentleman not only started talking loudly on his phone but proceeded to conduct an entire business meeting on the bus in the clear audience of everyone present evoking all sorts of emotions from the fellow passengers from irritation to chuckles to amusement. Remember this was 9pm in the night. This meeting didn't stop as we disembarked at the terminal but proceeded full blown as we went to the baggage claim and onto the exit. While I understand the necessity of having late night meetings given the global nature and hard deadlines etc, I really don't understand the rationale behind holding it in an airline bus and trying to out-shout the roar of engines. Couldn't he have explained to whoever it was on the other side, that he was just getting off a plane and he would call back in say 30 mins, when he ould be in the relative calm and quiet of his cab? I can even understand if we was actually firefighting and trying to keep the services up 24 X 7, I would have given that much leeway to him, but this was a purely business talk (like proposal, teams etc) and I really don't see any deadline that is shorter than 30 mins that would be impacted by this.
Now, thinking retrospectively about why this happened, I can only attribute it to the existence of this ubiquitous-always-on-your-life cellphone. Now imagine the same without a cellphone. The meeting would never have happened. Would this result in him losing an important client, probably not. The sole reason the meeting took place was not because of timezone, not because it was urgent to be dealt with right away but because cellphone exists and enables communication. Does it add significant value to the conversation, no!!! It just makes us more spur-of-the-moment, I-want-this-done-right-away-simply-because-I-can-and-not-because-I-need/have-to kind of people. To all those people who immediately relate themselves to our unknown gentleman, all I can say is, people lived, communicated, socialized much much before the advent of cellphones and probably did a better job at it than we do now.

vetti arattai

2008-03-06T19:20:00.001-08:00

2008-03-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

This is a sticky post. By popular demand I am going to archive all my status msgs from Gtalk. People find it confusing, amazing, interesting, funny etc.

3/28/08: Why doesn't python know that I mean s when I type S
3/25/08: Wedding season in Chennai (and this includes ppl getting married at 60)
3/22/08: how do you know your office has grown too big, you fail to recognize a fellow bangoogler elsewhere :(
3/20/08: code reviews, interviews, resume screens, intergrouplets...some of things that I do at google besides my job description
3/7/08: Morning hour madness, will be sane after 8am
3/6/08: Feeling like a zombie...wait...do zombies feel?
3/5/08: I have never been photographed so many times (except for my wedding) - This is regarding the photos from the GWE Awards session
3/4/08: My usefulness quota for today is over. If you want something from me, you have to wait until tomorrow
3/3/08 : Mondays are almost necessary, to help you understand the importance of weekends
Previous ones

Spending my day with 50+ extremely brilliant and good loking women engineers-in-the-making.
Though I hate to admit it, coffee does make me feel better

2007-11-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

दीपावली शुभकामनाएं
Happy Deepavali

Deepavali is just around the corner and I can't wait for it to arrive. The main reason being, this is my first Deepavali in India since my thalai deepavali years ago. All these years in the US, I still would celebrate deepavali (complete with sweets and deepavali marundhu) but I would have to go to work and it would seem like a normal day. I remember that once on Deepavali (was right after my first born), I took a shower at somewhere around 3 in the evening. Deepavali just doesn't have the charm in the US.
This is also my first Deepavali in Bangalore, my new hometown. I have heard that Bangaloreans don't celebrate Deepavali as much as they do Dusshera so will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, A Very Happy Deepavali to one and all.

2007-10-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

Airtel Broadband and Wireless WRT54G setup

So for a change, something useful from me which is not Vetti Arattai.
I got my airtel conn on this Monday. The Airtel guys came and did the internal wiring for the same and enabled the connection. The marketing guy had promised me to hookup my wireless router. So the tech tried connecting the router and guess what, he plugged in the 110V adapter into the 220V socket and blew the fuse for the entire house. For a while I was worried that the router was fried. Yesterday, I took the router to some random electronics shop on SP Road and got a 220V adapter for the same. I asked the salesperson to test my router with the adapter before buying it (smart me!!!) and lo and behold!!, it worked (oh joy).

The next hurdle was to hookup the wireless router. Piece of cake...right? Apparently this cake is neither soft not sweet. I first went through the user guide for the wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) and went through setup using the web console. Two major issues arose:

1. Whenever I change the wireless security settings, the web console wouldn't resume.
2. It wouldn't connect to the Internet. (bigger problem than 1 I must admit).

So I started digging around on the Net and found an article that described how to put the Airtel modem in Bridge mode. I tried that, still wouldn't work. I called the Airtel guys and they sent another tech home (not the guy who fried my adapter). After struggling with various settings, he finally managed to get my wireless up. and here's what is needed.

1. Don't mess around with Airtel modem's settings. There's really nothing that you need to change there.
2. hookup the router as per configuration and power it on. Connect it to your computer.
3. Go to http://192.168.1.1 This will open up the Router config (linksys). Choose static IP from the dropdown on the basic setup page.
Enter a static ip such as 192.168.1.100 and set the gateway to 192.168.1.1 (This is your Airtel modem). Do you remember those two DNS IPs that you used for initially setting up your airtel modem? Type those in as well. Change the Local IP to 192.168.0.1 so that it doesn't class with the modem. Change DHCP start IP to 192.168.1.100. Save settings and continue
4. Configure your Wireless settings. Enable security for wireless (128bit WEP is pretty good). Save settings. On my router, whenever I saved settings on the wireless, it wouldn't proceed further but nevertheless the settings would be saved. So i could still safely power cycle to get it back up.

Restart ur modem, ur router and ur pc. And that's it. Everything works. Here's a screen shot of the actual changes that was made to the basic setup.

2007-07-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

New midyear resolution

Ok make that a 210/365 year resolution. I will try to write atleast few lines in my blog everyday and more importantly, try and make it useful or at the very least interesting to others. If you read my previous blog, which is so outdated in terms of Net years, you already know that I suck at writing and by that, I do not mean my eloquence of the English language. So this seems like a good resolution to help me overcome that block and who knows, maybe one day, this blog may actually turn out to be useful.

Two things for today:
1. To prove that I am an absolute total geek, I am going to start with a really cool perl oneliner. For those of you who have the privilege of a perl command line, try this


perl -wle 'print "Prime" if (1 x shift) !~ /^1?$|^(11+?)\1+$/' [number]

This will tell you if the number is prime. Pretty cool huh? For those of you interested in a little more challenge, try figuring out how it works

2. I actually got lost in the loading area in my workplace. I tried to find this place where we can, supposedly, drop off old computers and accessories for recycling. I took the freight elevator (Didn't even know there was one in that building and I have worked in that building for 6 months). When I went down to the loading level, the place was deserted, not completely, it was filled with all sorts of junk but not a soul around. Considering the size of the place, it did freak me out a bit. I then took the elevator down again to the garage level and couldn't find the stairs. So ended up walking around for a bit in vain, taking the elevator back to the ground level and taking the stairs from there. Totally frivolous useless information for a blog but hey, I only said I would try to make it useful.

That's it for now. See you tomorrow

2007-01-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all!!! Yeah I know it's a bit late but this is my first post for this year. Hopefully I will keep up. The last time I posted was way back in Sept/Oct 2005. I have been really lax about blogging. I guess I am kind of lazy about writing in general, it is counterintuitive because I really do like writing. When I eventually get down to writing, I end up writing at length running to several pages. At work, most of my emails are verbose and whenever I email my mom, it turns out pretty long as well. It does, however, take me a while to get into the mindset of writing.

Take for instance, the performance reviews that I wrote recently. I had to write reviews for 10 people at work, it being the end-of-the-year annual review season and all. Now the due date for it was Jan 10th. For the life of me, I could never get ready to start writing. It wasn't like I had nothing to say, quite the contrary, I had a lot to say about (at least) some of these people. Still I just wouldn't sit down and write. I even blocked my calendar for writing perf reviews but eventually I ended up finishing them on 15th. I am lazy about writing snippets, feedback, u-name-it. So it is going to be quite a struggle to keep up with blogging, but at least let me give it a try.

On a more interesting note, we watched Guru last week. This is a movie by Mani Ratnam (his movie 'Mouna Ragam' is my all time favorite), supposedly based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, the pioneer of Reliance Industries in India. Incidentally I was in Mumbai, India when Dhirubhai passed away leaving his vast empire to his two sons Anil and Mukesh Ambani. Anyways, back to the film, the performance by Abhishek Bachchan was superb. At an absolute level, I don't think it was stellar but compared to his earlier performances, this film was in completely different league. The chemistry between Abhishek and Ais in this movie was so apparent. The makeup was amazing. It really transformed Ais from a teenagish looking girl to a mature old lady from beginning to end. So overall I liked the presentation of the lead pair. Now coming to the other pair (Madhavan and Vidya), I feel they have been totally wasted. Madhavan still delivers his dialogue as though he's a chocolate lover boy. There was this really poignant scene between Abhi, Mithunda and Madhavan where Mithun basically tells Abhi that he's going to let Madhavan expose him and there are some subtle but strong dialogues there and Madhavan actually smiles when he says some stuff(?!!!). I mean who the hell would smile when he is tasked with exposing the leading businessman in the country. Vidya is a fine actress and delivers her role with amazing poise though all her role does is provide mushiness to the movie. The sad part is the content wasn't engaging. I felt the movie was too wishy-washy, I wish Mani Ratnam had taken a bold stand one way or the other. Anyways the film is definitely worth a watch. On the music front, Barso re is captivating, the others are easily forgotten but like all Rahman music, I guess they too will grow on me over time.

I am almost about to end this blog when I get a sudden idea. I am currently learning Spanish and French (don't ask). Maybe I can write my next post in Spanish. Por que quiero practicar mi espanol. vamos a mirar. Por ahora adios amigos.