Emotions.. :) ... :(

What does the word 'emotion' really mean ??

Happened to see an ad of Vodafone conveying a message - 'a calm mind can overcome even a storm'. True.. I guess. Whenever I'm in a dilemma , my brother advises me to sit and think a lot with a calm mind.

We Should be able enough to manage our emotions instead of emotions managing us. Don't let emotions to rule us or our mind. I know, it's not always possible to freeze all our emotions. Situations will come our way, where we've to give up for our/our dear one's feelings. Sometimes, it's really hard to overcome the tender feelings of our heart.

Wisdom always waits for the right time to act, while emotion always pushes for action right now! -- Read from an article.

I'm wondering why should I go for such insane useless thouhts!! Anyway, putting a halt here. Don't want to make you all get bored. I too don't want to get bored :)

So, bye for now.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Am I alone??

This thought was haunting me during last 2-3 days in college. For the first time, I felt loneliness in my class room.

Last monday or tuesday I told one of my friends(not in that serious mood) that I was getting bored. She in a surprise exclaimed "Priya getting bored in this class!! That won't happen". I replied nothing.

The fact is, even though our whole class is a one single union, there are kutti kutti gangs in our class. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a member of all gangs. I used to run around and disturb the discussions (if any) in all groups. I don't want to get tied up among one group of friends.

But... I dont know what happened to me last week (Or what happened to others). I felt that I didn't have the citizenship of even one gang. Now I'm wondering what all thoughts I had in my mind last week..

Majority of my friends(whom I consider as good friends) are not in the same range of frequency of my thoughts. I'm ready to get tuned to their frequency. I'm ready to get shifted up or down. But many are not willing to do that... etc...etc.. like that a lot of useless conceptions I had. A couple of incidents in the class forced me to think so. To be frank, I felt - I'm alone locked in a secluded cottage of boredom.

Last friday, I was actually desperate thinking all these. My mind and thoughts were soo cloudy with many misconceptions(??). Many of my friends could find my change of mood. Even some of them asked me 'why are you mood off?' I didn't have any proper answer. But, 2/3 of them could guess the reason too. Even now, there is some blurdness in my mind. I know my classmates will read this and ask me.. But I dont have any clear cut answer.

After this, had a small chat with a friend regarding this. He asked me not to go for such insane thoughts and told me the fault is with my mind . Might be correct.. no.. it should be correct. May be because of the climate change :)

How can I be alone in my OWN class!! I've heard that some of the VIP's have dual citizenship. Like that, I believe I'm having multi citizenship :) How is it possible for everyone to have parallel thoughts!! Everyone will be having their own identity, views, thoughts and concepts.. right??

Now, I'm thinking why should I put this as a blog post. Anyway, I wrote this much.. and all these are the thoughts which churned my mind a lot. No injustice in giving you all a chance to read this.. is there?? But I'm telling you again, this is not a clear reflection of my mind. But, a blurd reflection!!

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: I wrote frankly the conceptions I'd in my intellect. Not claiming that all are true. But I wish those all were some misunderstanding from my part.

Screwed up!!!

Today had my first class in S4. In the first hour itself, a teacher caught me.As usual, there was a not-bad shouting from our class. As he has not even a bit of teacher look, I didn't notice him coming. I was walking around distributing 'aravanapayasam' (brought by one of my classmates) among all. Then itself, he would have noticed me.

When he came in, silence filled the whole class room immediately. Then he started speaking. His voice was so feeble that we couldn't hear him properly. After enquiring others I understood that he was asking whether we wanted to have class today or not.

Since it was our first class on the very first day, none of us wanted to have class. I called out 'no sir' in a funny manner. For my un-luck, none of others tried to break the silence. Hence my voice was heard a little louder than what I had wished/expected :( After giving a frightening look, he asked me to stand up, take the bag and get out of the class. Oops!! I was shocked actually..

I: Sorry sir... sorry sir.. I was just... I didn't mean anything sir.

Sir: Take your bag and get out. Same is the case with others too who don't want to attend the class.

I (with a baffled look): Pardon me, sir. I told that since this is our first class. I want to be here if you are taking the class.

Sir: Sure??

I: Yes sir.

Sir (in a KBC - Bachan style): Confident??

I: Yes sir.

Sir: Hmm..Ok sit down.

With a sigh, I thanked God in relief. After that I managed to be a 'pakka' good student listening to his lecture which continued for another one and a half hours.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

From college...

Now I'm browsing from college. Here in our college, all the students have the facility to browse free of charge. One of the most crowded spots(another crowded spot - cafetaria) in college is CCC (centralised computer centre), from where now I'm writing this. Now also, all the systems here are engaged.

I came in here just for sending a mail to chettan. After coming here only I thought of blogging. Anyway, here it is..

For me, browsing from here seems sooo much uncomfortable. After typing a URL address, we can go and have a 'masala dosai' from canteen and then come and continue browsing :(. That much dead slow....

At home, our phone is dead since last thursday and so no browsing at home for last 3-4 days. Our S3 classes are over. Officially, our S4 class began last week. Actually, none of our teachers have yet started their classes. So, during the last one week we were free birds. Same will be the case with this week too.

Everyone in the college is in festive mood of Dhyuthi. Eagerly waiting for the thrilling moments.Some students are decorating the college compound and some others doing some other works like cleaning and all. All arrangements for Dhyuthi are going on in great pace. Class suspended for 2 days.

The cultural festival will've a start on wednesday and will long for the next 3 days. I'm also in a committee - reception committee. Actually I didn't want to be a part of any committee, since I dont have any hope that my achan and amma will allow me to stay here over night. Anyway, I was forced to join.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Couldn't attend IC class for last 2-3 weeks. Morning batch students used to go to IC regularly. For a fun, I asked them last week 'convey our regards to Pramode sir'.:)

A few of us want to attend regularly. Anyhow, today we had gone there and had class for 1 hour. It is actually our fault that we didn't go and attend the class. Guilty conciousness pricked us like hell (not an exaggeration). From today onwards, we'll be regular - punctual students :)

Time is up...No time for proof reading.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: Profile updated -- 4th sem student.

Dhyuthi '07.

Looking forward eagerly...



The magnificent, elegant event which GEC is going to witness on November 28, 29 & 30.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: kadappadu for the Youtube link - Rohith Rajesh

Down in the water and Up in the sky..

Had my 1st excursion from GEC during the last week. It was really a superb experience.

We started our journey in 'Palace on wheels' on last wednesday night. Our first destination was Hogenakkal and we reached there in the next morning. The experience we had there is beyond explanation. We rented large round skiff('vatta vanchi') and played a lot in the water. We made fun by striking and pouring water at eachother.

Rocks were seen as if somebody arranged them like that. Soo.. sharp egdges they have. The view of scenic beauty we had there is really wonderful with a series of waterfalls. After having a risky and adventurous voyage in water, on the same day itself we packed to Kodaikkanal.




Compsciz rocking on rocks




Everyone know about the beauty of this wonderful place. What a romantic place it is!! Even I felt romance with somebody. Who else?? - Kodai hills itself. Such a lovely spot it is.. On the top of the hills, we were like kissing the foggy, misty sky. The scene of lean streams flowing down in between the rocks was really marvellous.

We and our happiness reached the peak. A man with eyes and heart cannot restrain himself from appreciating the magical beauty of nature. Seeing all these mind freshening scenes, how can a person jumb down from suicide point. It's an irony!!



Went to almost all the tourist spots there. 2 hours cycling around the lake is an unforgettable experience. On Friday evening we started our return journey and reached GEC in the next morning. In both Hogenakkal and Kodaikkanal, we were blessed with a pleasing climate.

The only sad thing happened to me is the fact that on the first day itself my camera started working in an unusual method, since the water from Hogenakkal lake forcefully peeped in to it. So that I could not capture the beauty of 'the romantic place' in my camera.

Each and every moment we spent inside the bus was full of fun and happiness. And the experience we had climbing up the Kodai hills crossing each hairpin bends was thrilling. Actually, only we 2-3 were ready to sit all the way in the front of the bus, remaining awake looking along the sides of road. All others surrendered to deep sleep. They all missed a lot, I guess.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: Happy Diwali.

My mind says...

You might be having an anxiety to know what my mind says...Nothing serious. It says 'just scribble down something here'.

Have not been writing for the last two weeks. So now I feel like writing. But nothing is ripen enough in my mind to be wrtten over here. Anyway, I'm starting with the 'highlights(??) of my last week'. Even though many of those 'highlights' seems silly for you, they all are HAPPENINGS to me.

1. Had a few classes in college. Two of our teachers say that their portions are over and so they are not coming to class these days. Another teacher got a fracture in her arm/leg (not sure :)) and so she's taking rest at her home.

2. Even though we're having frequent mass bunk in college, we take care to attend PCE classes regularly. But this week, we'd to bunk IC class due to an unusual, unexpected incident.

3. With friends, went for watching the latest hit malayalam movie - Chocolate. Movie is just ok.. An average movie. Not soo.. good. Most of my friends disagree with me in this case.

4. Managed to get some virus in to my system. Installed McAfee.

5. Had grand Navarathri celebrations. Kept all my books for pooja officially :) . On Vidyarambham, joined for violin class. Was in a great dilemma - should I continue my music class, which I dropped 4/5 years back or should I join fresh for violin class. Having expert opinion from chettan, finally decided to study violin. Don't know how frequently I'll be able to attend the class :(

Two of my changaathikoottam friends had their arangettam on the very same day. One in chendda ant the other one in classical music.

6. We are planning to go for an excursion from my class to Kodaikanal and Hogenakkal during next week. Every arrangements are almost finished.

7. This is the most unusual, unexpected incident that happened to me last week. It was on sunday. In the very morning itself, I got a very bad news that one of my friend's elder brother got expired in the previous night.

Nothing more...

Signing off,
Hailstone.

After 1 year....

I joined for B.Tech course in GEC on 9th Oct. 2006. One year back, college life seemed to be a strange thing to me. Now, it has changed a lot. Today, we had a small celebration as our first anniversary day in CSE, GEC.

Photo session in front of our department:

I can't even believe that it has been one year since we are together.

Literally time is flying.

Nothing BIG happened in my life this one year. Definitely, changes are there...

First of all, changes at home.... One year back, my parents and myself were too busy. My mother was working in bank and reached home almost on all days at 7.00 pm. And father was working away and was not used to come home daily. Those days were really bad.

During those days I was alone in my home almost at all time. Coming back from school, had to open the front door of house(-the thing which I hated the most-), remain a lot of time alone. Had to make tea and all for helping amma, who used to come much more tired after her work.

Since achan was not here, it was my duty to lock the gate in the night and open it in the morning. It's another thing which I used to hate a lot.

But now everything has changed. Amma opted for voluntary retirement and now she is enjoying her life. I'm also enjoying her holidays. Even though I come late in the evening, I'm not unhappy. I don't have the duty to open the door. Amma would be there waiting for me, ready with tea or what ever I want. She would be ready to hear all my college events. She has enough time to spend for me.

Achan got a transfer and so he can join us on all days, even though he reaches here only by 8 in the night. Really happy about these all things. The only thing missing here is the presence of chettan.

As of now, the only duty assigned to me at home is to study (which I'm not doing well:))
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I don't think that I've improved a lot in my acads this year. But I have to... Could manage to get admission in great GEC. Got a lot of good friends there. I'm sure that I haven't done 1st year exams well. Should compensate for that atleast in the coming year.
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As far as I'm concerned, no big changes happened to me both physically and mentally, this year.. I'm the same old Priya, whom you all know well. As good as before.(?? -- it's you who have to say that :))

Anything big happened in your life in the last year?? I know, for many of you Oct.9th might not be relevant at all.

That's all for today.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Compsciz rocks.

This post is dedicated to all my classmates who worked a lot for the success of the event
............
After a long interval of 5 years Comp.science department witnessed a grand fresher's day celebration yesterday. Last year, we didn't get a fresher's day party. All our disappointments over that was compensated by us giving a fabulous, colourful party to our juniors.

On Sep.13th, our juniors came and we became SENIORS. For the last 2 weeks we all have been thinking about how to give them a fresher's day feast in a grand manner. Atlast, yesterday we made it a thumbing success.

We divided the whole junior class into 3 groups. The full programme consisted of many contests and games among these groups. Each group had 4 members from our class too so that they could motivate others to take part in all items and thus to take away their shyness. We were really successful in that attempt.

The names of our rounds were also interesting - Moke & Make, Silver Screen, Symphony, Add Zap and finally Face Off. In silver screen they had to enact some comedy scenes from Meleparambil aanveedu and Inharihar nagar. It was really interesting.

In between, we had filler programmes from our class too. Eatables were also served. Audience were the judges, who had been given with the score sheets to mark scores for each group.

College union leaders were very much impressed seeing our programme list. They all enjoyed the programme, I guess. No way for disliking it.

I'm really proud to be in such a wonderful class of students who are ready to do anything for the class, under the able leadership of our class representative - Sailesh.

Myself and Devidas were the anchors. He was excellent. Each and everyone of our class did a very good job yesterday. We all worked hand in hand for it's success. So much happy that I too was a part of it.

All in all, "S3 Compsciz rocked the day".

Our advice to juniors/our moto is G E C - go enjoy campus.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS.1: This year, we are the first department in the college to conduct fresher's day celebration.

PS.2: Actually I wish I could mention the names of all my friends here. But then the post will be so long. Hence I'm not doing that.

20-20 vs. 50-50

Retd. colonel Indhuchoodan teaches us the paper Switching theory and logic design. He's the new guest lecturer in our department. Last day, in his class after completing a module, we had a friendly chat with him.

He gave us a study class about communication and talked about his army life also. An excerpt from his talk -"First you study to listen others. Then only you can command others". We had a debate too - more details coming along. Many of my classmates actively participated in the debate.

Atlast we asked about his family. He has the world's beautiful wife and 2 beautiful children(-his own words-). His daughter got married!! All boys became desperate :( His son is an engineer by qualification, but now working as a journalist.

Out of curiosity, representing all girls, I asked him "Is he married ?" The whole class burst out into laughter. His reply - " No, he's not. But he is having 6 feet 2 inches height. Not at all matching for you all.."
Much more desperate :((

Coming to the title:

Our debate was on this: Is there any need to conserve our traditional 50 overs match??

One argument: T20 matches are very much enteratainable to all ranging from small children to aged ones. It's a matter of only 3 hours. An ordinary civilian(who's not so crazy over sports) get bored by this 50 over match. Another argument is that -- 50-50 matches are meant only for making money by ICC or some other related organisations.

Second argument: In T20 a bowler gets only 4 overs, which is not enough for him to prove his potential. T20 is explosive..but one can judge a player's real capability only in 50 over match. Considering this, 50 over matches are not to be killed. Winning T20 is just out of fluke or luck.
__________________________________________________

Here in our neighbourhood, there is an old man who's very much crazy about cricket matches. He along with his cute, little grand daughter comes to my home almost on all days. Yesterday we had a talk on this topic. He strongly supports 50 overs match. According to him, a good player has nothing to do with T20.

I'm putting this before you. Let us have a debate in the blogger world. Shall start with my opinion.. "Short and sweet 20-20"

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: Above mentioned neighbour is having 2 televisions at his home. One for him to watch cricket and the other for his wife to watch mega (oh sorry, giga) serials :))

We are the CHAMPIONS

We proved it .... we are the best. Atlast, India conquered the hearts of cricket lovers all over the world.

Men in blue under Dhoni proved to be the champions by beating Pakisthan in the thrilling match - T20. Last few minutes were really breath taking.

India rising again...

I AM REALLY
PROUD TO
BE AN INDIAN.

Terrible and Horrible !!

The up and down journey from my home to college is becoming more and more terrible and horrible these days.

I have to get into the bus from my place at 7.35 am. It's the most probable time. You all know that KSRTC is notorious in NOT running the buses in correct time. On some days there may not be the usual bus.
The crowd in the bus is really unbelievable. May be because some other buses which have to go earlier are not running in proper time.

From my bus-stop itself, there will be a good rush. Most days the bus reaches here in a 'house-full' condition and so we have to succeed in the struggle for getting into the bus. Once got into it, the fight inside the bus is much more easier, I think.

Many a days, the driver won't see us standing on the road side, stretching our hands(like Jesus Christ). That is the worst condition.

In the evening, after PCE classes I reach Thrissur around 5.45, which is the peak time. In the return journey too the condition is not better. I reach here in my home around 6.30 in the evening.

Another thing is the condition of roads. It's really really pathetic.
Why these Government authorities are not bothered about the availability of buses during the peak time and the maintenance of roads?

FATE OF STUDENTS IN PRIVATE BUSES :

Many days, in the morning, I miss the college bus and have to get a private bus from TCR to our college.

The group of people whom I hate a looot are the private bus conductors and cleaners. I'm really scared of their villainish look and cruel, merciless, shrill voice(exceptions are there, but very rare). I wonder, they have got training for this !!

They look upon the students as some inferior creatures, only because we give them concession charge. But we should really appreciate the way they 'pack' the students in the bus.

The word came in my mind for describing the condition in a line bus is 'concentration camps'. We have read about that in History paper of school portions (under the title - French war). It's not an apt word in this context, but the 2 conditons are really comparable.

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Entirely different topic:

Two days back, one among my friends showed me a book which give a description on how to become a good blogger. And told me that he's getting prepared to start a blog, after reading it. Today, he announced that we can expect his blog launch at any time with in these 2 days. He has gone through that book, I think.

Actually when he told me about the book and studying it, I thought of asking him that book. After some time, I felt - there is no need of it. Now I'm re-thinking -- Is there any need of studying blogging 'scientifically', with rules and regulations? I don't think so. May be useful. I don't know. What you all say about this?

The above mentioned guy has got a good description ability, good language and vocabulary. He said he's in search of a sensational(creating 'kolilakkam') topic for a good start. I hope that his work will be really good.

I don't know if he will read this or not.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Homely get together.

It was a great day for all of us. I mean for all my gang of friends, including me.

We were planning a get together in my home since last month. At last, they all decided to come over here today.

To be frank, my parents were a little scared about 'how to treat all these 20 children?' The only demand of my friends were a good veg. sadhya and a homely get together.

They reached here by 11.00 in the morning. My amma could recognise ALL of them and told their names too(from my day to day description on college routines) . Even Achan was also not that bad. He told their native places and profession of parents(-areas where he is interested-).

Had some chit-chats with my parents. Then we went to my fathers's ancestral home by walk. Walked through many plantain plantations and along the river side. Spent a little time with my grand mother there.

In the return journey also, we opted for short-cut way and so climbed over one compound wall on our way. The journey was really interesting.

Spent a looot time in the 'kadavu' of 'Kurumali' river. Played in water, sat in that 'kadavu', took photos. They all told me that they loved the place so much. Returned back to home in a satisfaction that I could show them the beauty of Nellayi.

Then we had lunch. I hope the 'sadya' was up to thier expectations. Everything was prepared from here only. We had arranged a fullfledged sadhya with paayasam and all.

After that we played anthaakshari sitting in front of my sweet home, met some of my friends here in my village(changathikoottam friends).



In the evening, we had tea with 'pazhampori' and parippuvada'. As the end of the event(Kalaassakottu), we sung songs together. At around 5.00 in the evening they returned back.

Everyone in this locality knew about our get together. Somebody asked my friends "What's there going on in Priya's house?"

I'm so happy that all my friends came(may be because of my threteaning - "vannillenkil njan pinangum" :)). Thank you all.. My parents also liked them so much.
I'm sure that they also liked my parents, Nellayi and all other nellayiyans :) Some of them were telling my parents to come with our class excursion(unofficial one, without permission) as guardians.

Nothing more..

Bye for now.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Onam...Ponnonam ..'Continued'

Not only in college, here in my home and village also I had a grand onam celebration.

Here in Nellayi, we've a gang of friends called 'Changathikoottam'. The gang members range from KG students to college student(that's I :)). We 6 elder members are the leaders and all others subordinates.

On 'Thiruvonam' we made 'pookkalam' in front of the temple, next to my house.


Then we went to a nearby temple by our own cycles. We had made every arrangements for 'kummattikali' on the very same day.

After onasadhya, everybody gathered here and made kummatties ready with their make-up and all. There were 3 kummatties and 1 maveli. We went to all the near-by houses and got a collection, which was not that bad.

Many children joined us in our 'kummatti' song and enjoyed. From many houses we got banana chips, raw banana, ada (dont know the correct english name. Sweet steam cake might be correct) etc. In the evening, we returned back and had all those eatables we got.

Our gang with kummatties infront of my home.


On the 2-nd Onam, we organized an 'Onakkali'- i.e., some games and competitions for children. Everybody except we 6, having 'changathikoottam' badge, participated in musical chair, spoon race, eating neem leaf etc. We gave away prizes for all winners and a special prize for 'over-all' champion.

Many parents were also there. The event turned out to be a great success. The appreciations we got for 'kummatti' and 'onakkali' were beyond our expectations.

On the third day(3-rd onam), we had arranged 2 sets of 'Thiruvathirakkali'. One by senior gang (which incudes all mothers of this locality) and the other by junior gang(that includes me and my friends).

As I was a part of the Thiruvathirakkali, couldn't take a photo of it in my camera :(

All in all, 'Changathikoottam' rocked during these holidays.

I'm really happy and proud to say that the center of every dicussions regarding the celebration happened to be my home. Decision making and execution were also done here itself. May be because my parents are also interested in these enjoyments.

The most sad thing is that we all have to wait 1 long year for the next onam to come. I, amma, achan and all my friends here expect and wish the presence of my chettan during our next onam celebration.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: This post is dedicated to Karthik anna(Black is beautiful).

Onam...Ponnonam..

Today we had our Onam celebration in college. Really superb, fantastic, fabulous, amazing.... etc. the celebration was. Simply 'great'.

In the morning, we made 'pookkalam' in our class. In front of our department, there was another big one, made by our super seniors. Helped with that too. Here is it--



After that, we'd many interesting games (like musical chair and 'vellam kudi matsaram'). There were crackers . Then comes the most important part - 'Onasadhya', with all the dishes and 2 kinds of 'paayasam'. Our seniors served to us and we served them back. Really a good experience it was.

After that, we had some chit-chats and returned home happilly, without having any bitter thoughts of our series exams that finished yesterday.

That's all for today.

You can expect one more post related to 'Onam'.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS.1: It is our seniors who made the event such a great success. So, this post is dedicated to them.

PS.2: Advance "Happy Onam" wishes to all of you.

What makes life 100%?

One more week passed, without making any big changes in my routine. A small diversion came for it a couple of days back, when I was caught by a slight fever. Not soooo slight. Went to a hospital and the nurse there gave me a 'flu shot'(injection):( . Doctor prescribed sooo many tablets... Most probably I'll be going for class tomorrow. Thats all special about last week.

A WARM WELCOME to the upcoming week.

And coming to the title of the post - What makes life 100%? ---

Read the folowing from somewhere. May be some of you have read it earlier. Anyway, I liked it and decided to scribble down it here.

Let A,B,C,...,Z have the values 1,2,...,26.

What make 100%??

Hardwork -- H + A + R + D + W + O + R + k = 8 + 1 + 18 + 4 + 23 + 15 + 18 + 11 = 98%

Knowledge -- K + N + O + W + L + E + D + G + E = 11 + 14 + 15 + 23 + 12 + 5 + 4 + 7 + 5 = 96%

Love -- L + O + V + E = 12 + 15 + 22 + 5 = 54% (- Very poor -)

Luck -- L + U + C + K = 12 + 21 + 3 + 11 = 47% (- Don't most of us think this is most important? -)

Money -- M + O + N + E + Y = 13 + 15 + 14 + 5 + 25 = 72%

Leadership -- L + E + A + D + E + R + S + H + I + P = 12 + 5 + 1 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 18 + 19 + 9 + 16 = 89%

Then what makes 100%??

ATTITUDE -- A + T + T + I + T + U + D + E = 1 + 20 + 20 + 9 + 20 + 21 + 4 + 5 ==100%

IT'S OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS OUR LIFE AND WORK THAT MAKES OUR LIFE 100%

Attitude is everything.
Change your attitude....And you change your life...

That's all for today.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

An EVENTFUL day.

Today, as usual, in the morning went to college and had our first hour - maths class. Next two hours, we were free. As the coming sunday is Friendship day, we had a plan to celebrate it today. We all exchanged frienship bands and all.

2-3 weeks back, we 10-15 from our class had decided to plant some trees in front of our Department and got some seedlings ready to be planted . We were asked to get an approval from the teacher, who is in charge of campus beautification. At last, today we got the approval. We planted 5-6 plants and gave them a protection barrier too. Thus, we managed to execute the first step of algorithm - "How to make a seedling grow to a big tree" properly.

In the afternoon we had no classes. So we decided to celebrate Friendship Day. But we had no plan on 'how to celebrate?' Always we used to have instantaneous plans. All of us decided to visit 'Anappaara', a beautiful place 2-3 kms away from our college. Around 20 of my friends were with me. We walked for almost 1 km and then got a bus and reached Anappaara.

The beauty of the place lies in the big big rocks. On the top there is a huge rock, which looks like an elephant. We all climbed the hill and reached a plain surface. We kept our bags and chappals there. Looking up, we were much more confused--'should we go up or go down?' That much steep was the climb.

We all, except 3 girls and 1 boy, were ready to take much more challenges and started the adventurous climbing. To be frank, I didn't find it as a tiresome job. I and two of my friends (Tony and Bristo) were the first to reach the top of all rocks and finally we conquered the peak of Anappaara. Within a few minutes, rest of us reached the top and felt we were on the top of the world.

The sight from there was really amazing. Fantastic place it is!! I wished I had my camera with me :( We could see the whole Thrissur and our campus from there. We spent there some time and took some photos(mobile ph. cameras).

As there was a chance of raining, we started getting down, which was a little more hard. I managed to get down the hill without the help of others. Some of my friends found it really hard to get down. We all reached down safely, had a short visit to Vivek's house and walked towards the bus stop.

Then it started raining. Oh, it was like nature pouring anger to somebody. Such a heavy rainfall it was!! Thank God, by that time we all reached down. There was a strong wind too.

Within a few minutes, we were wet as if we had a bath in rain. At that time, I had some nostalgic feeling. My mind peeped into the thoughts of my younger days, while I and my chettan used to run and have bath in rain. Everybody cursed the rain. But, I was very very happy, in the thouhts of seedlings we planted in the morning. Got into a bus and reached home at the usual time.

So, for the first time in my life, I celebrated friendship day. And it gave me a fabulous and unforgettable experience with an adventurous trip and could do something for our college on the very same day. I'm really really happy about that.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS. 1: The place is really so beautiful.
2: I could see the love, unity and care for friendship among ourselves.
3: As a consequence of our trip, now the whole body is paining very much :(

Simply CONFUSING.

Today Pramode sir gave us some assignments -- just to go through some links and find out some answers. Almost all the links he gave contain the advantages of Free Software and obviously the disadvantages of M$ Windows :) Had a look at some of them.

Sir has asked us to read about the history of Unix and all. I was searching for that. And I saw a link which is damn confusing. Here it is. I doubt anyone other can give a more complicated description than this!! Seeing it (not read), I felt it interesting to give you people a chance for reading (??) it and getting confused :)

How is it ? Is it not interesting ?

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Transition from a 'Villain' to a 'Heroine'...

Today I'm planning to write about an incident that happened yesterday. It's like a story, which is having a happy climax. In the evening, I was sitting with my parents, in the sit-out of our house. Meanwhile, my father could figure out some sounds near the corner of our compound wall. It was a bird (probably mother bird) sitting there calmly with its 11 children. It had some similarity with a duck !! I hurried to take their photo. Took 2-3 snaps.



For getting a 'close-up', I went nearer. They should have got scared by me and my camera-flash, since the parent bird flew away with a high speed. Actually, I was the one who got scared the most and ran back, with a fear of bird's attack, to where my parents stood.

So, now all the 11 children remained inside our compound and the parent got trapped on the road(road with no traffic :)) next to our house, not knowing where his/her children were.. Within 2-3 minutes crows surrounded the area with a thirst of attacking the kids, who were like orphans then. We protected them by throwing stones at crows. After a short interval of time, we could see another big bird on the road with the first one. Should be its 'life-partner'.

Atlast, my father decided to take the babies one by one to the road. He could shift one child to the road. Meanwhile, hearing the noise of their children, both the parents flew back to our compound. So, now the condition became worse -- One child outside and all the other family members together inside.

Our effort in search of the 'odd one out' were in vain. I and my mother were observing (from our terrace) the desperate family, wandering in search of the missing one. I prayed a lot for the union of the family. I was melting like a candle, since I felt -- it was because of me they had such a bad fate.

They were walking to and fro near our boundary. We too had a parallel path on our terrace corresponding to their motion, eager to know 'what is going to happen'. How caring the parents are..One among the parents walked in front, then the babies, finally the other big bird (couldn't identify the gender), seemingly to resist attack from both sides.

-Parents with 10 children-

Climax: After a long time, we could see the missing one on the road. My father was not at home at that time, and we both were not ready to take a bird in our hands. We became bewildered not knowing 'what to do?'. Meanwhile, a stranger passed the way by cycle. We stopped him and requested him to help us. He took the kid and carried it to his/her parents.

We all became happy. Thus we could see the happy family with parents and all the 11 children. Actually, I wished to take a 'family photo', but was not daring enough to go near them, as there was a chance of having a 'personal grudge' against me.

Their minds and face would have filled with joy (- my assumption-). For a long time, we could hear them making noise in glee. Would have celebrated well.
Eventhough I had a role of 'villain' in the initial stage, in the climax I was one among the heroines (the other one -- my amma :)).
There ends the story.

Even now we are not sure about what kind of bird it is..Someone said -it is duck. The other claims are 'Kulakozhi' and 'Eranda'.(dont know the english names)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to write one more thing, which is an entirely different subject.

--Today I had my first class at Pramode sir's IC. We had a casual talk with him -- just an informal one. We were allowed to ask questions for which he gave answers. We all have many expectations. Hope those all expectations will be fulfilled by us with his help. Will write more about PCE classes later, knowing about it a bit more.

PS. I tried to shorten the post, but couldn't cutshort 'the story'. Apologize me if it bored you.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

A blank mind (???)

It was my decision to put atleast one post in a week. Seven days have passed since I wrote the last post. I intend to stick on to my decision. So, it's time to write something over here. But, I'm not having anything in my mind, which is ready enough to be written. To be frank, my mind is blank -- a feeling of emptiness masks my thoughts.

Yes, got the topic !!!

Is it possible for a person to remain a short interval of time without having any thoughts??? I mean, I doubt if it is possible to have a 'null' state of mind. Is this state of mind, called meditation ?? I dont know. If that is meditation, I'm sure that I cant meditate. It is not possible for me to remain thoughtless even for a few seconds. I dont think that it is possible for others too. May be possible!!

In Science, we've studied "vacuum fills the space". Vacuum is filling emptiness. Just like that, the thought of 'no thoughts' fills our mind, if we are not involved in some other thoughts. Right ?

Enough for today!!! Otherwise, working out a solution for this paradox will push me in to a state of insanity.

Actually, today I'd a plan only to put a nice(??) picture. Here it is ....
A photo of a beautiful flower (from our garden), taken today evening.


Conclusion: So, my mind was not fully blank, since it had a thought of blankness :)

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Wah TAJ Wah !!!

Day before yesterday, ie on 7-7-07, our TAJ MAHAL has been declared as the 7th wonder of world. Yes, it proved to be the apt date for announcing 7 wonders of world. Otherwise, we would have to wait for another 100 years for such an awesome date.

The campaign for the selection of 7 wonders of modern world was launched by SWISS group. In the intial stage 200 nominations were got. As you all know, the selection was done by a global poll through SMS and internet. A criticism now arised is that this campaign, selection and all was did only for the private profits/benefits of Swiss group and a number of mobile phone companies, among which Airtel is the most benefited one in India.

Since Swiss is not an authorised or accepted organisation like UNESCO, this claim may be true. Even if the rumour is true, the selection is wholly based on votes made by the people all over the world. And the outcome of the campaign turned favourable to us, Indians.

Thus one more feather to the crown of Indian heritage and India. TAJ proved to be the pride of India.

So lets give a grand salute to Swiss too.

Taj Mahal (a.k.a Valentines Mahal) can be literally called as a monument of love. I wonder how much did Shah Jahan love Mumtaz, for he made such a beautiful monument in memory of his loving wife. It is known as a beautiful romantic poem written in white marble.

10 reasons which made the name of Taj confirmed in the list of wonders -- I read this in an article. Eventhough all have similar meaning, it seemed interesting.

1. Taj is the symbol of love forever.
2. Taj is the symbol of sacrifycing life to someone you love.
3. Taj is the symbol of peace.
4. Taj is the symbol of pride and honor.
5. Taj is the symbol of purity.
6. Taj is the symbol of beauty and perfection.
7. Taj is the symbol of dream.
8. Taj is the symbol of dedication.
9. Taj is the symbol of Indian heritage.
10.Taj is the TAJ OF INDIA.



Years back, me with my father infront of TAJ MAHAL.

TAJ, Hatsoff...

PS.1: Dedicated to all those who voted for TAJ.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

How 'Blessed' we are !!!

This heart touching incident happened 2-3 weeks back.
I had my first year university exam on that day. Got in to a bus from Thrissur to my college. I took a side seat, which I always prefer and was observing everything that I could see through the window. A heavy rain was shot unexpectedly so that I'd to close my window and gave in to the frightening thoughts of exam That day I had Mechanics paper .

Just after some time a lady got in to the bus with a small girl. She may be 4 or 5. She looked so smart and cute. Let us call her Ammu. They took the seat next to me, which was the only one unoccupied. I think Ammu was not in a good mood, as she started fighting with her mother. She wanted to sit in the front seat . She wailed so loudly that everybody in the bus had a notice over her. Her attack was offered even to me !! But, I love her. Really, she looked so innocent, with that bobbed hair and all.

After Ammu became calm, I'd a friendly talk with that lady. I was shocked to hear from her that the kid is a mentally challenged girl. She is studying in a special training school. That mother explained me about the school and the children there.From her talk, I could make it -- Ammu has enough IQ (Doctors told this), but she is not able to communicate with others. Can identify things, but cant reproduce her feelings and thoughts. She is not able to play with other children of her own age. She told ( with all her feelings in those words ) that no doctors and no tests could diagnose the actual problem with her child. Since the child's IQ level is ok, no medicines can be given.

The only thing which will help is to talk with Ammu more and more making her know how to communicate and reply. She told the girl has improved a lot with in the last 1 year, during which she spent most of her time in school.

As the time for me to leave the bus came, I called Ammu, to which she had no response. Then I touched her face and said 'bye', waving my hands. To my surprise, she waved me back and had a sunny smile on her face. That smile could even sweep away my fear for exam (Even though, the paper was very tough :) ).

That mother's words were not that emotional. She didnt curse her fate. May be because she got accustommed to her present condition. But, I could feel her intense love for her child (all mothers are alike !! ). She is longing, expecting and working sincerely to make her child capable of joining in an ordinary school, playing with many friends etc.

Let us hope that will happen in another 3 or 4 years.

Now, I'm thinking how blessed / lucky ( meant for atheists) we all are. Right ??

Signing off,
Hailstone

Manju (- Mist -)

Though I started blogging with ' It Starts Raining ', todays' is my first
'fullfledged' post -- manju. That day I started just for a name sake. In
the second post also, I have a similar title as that of first one - 'manju',
who is a relative of hailstone , raindrops ( obviously cool ones :)

As you all know, Manju is a very short novel by M.T. I completed
reading it two days back. It is a nice one. It is short too, which makes
it more nice to me :) The whole story has a few number of characters
in it , which is even countable with our hands ( I mean the fingers ).
Taking each chapter indvidually, we'll be pushed down into a confused
state of mind. Everything described there seems vague to me-a foggy
picture of every character , except that of Vimala Teacher (heroine)
around whom the whole story rotates. But as a whole , the novel
seems to be crystal clear.

I didnt get any message (a moral one !!) or something like that from
its reading. Neither it offered a happy mood nor a tragic mood. But
a good feeling (???) was given.

As I told, this is my first fullfledged post.
As I'm a beginner, there is a probability (approximately equal to one)
of me making mistakes, which are to be pointed out by you people for
improvising my posts and writing skills.

Nothing else for today.


PS : Watch 'Weather forecast' to know when will the 'cool rain drops'
will be showered on you the next time .

"mazha peyyukayo , peyyathirikkukayo cheyyam "

Be prepared with a strong enough umbrella for, the precipitation have
'hailstones' along with the 'cool rain drops'.


Signing Off,
Hailstone.

It Starts Raining...

Hi everybody,

I too joined in your community.
Wait for a heavy "Rainfall".

Signing Off ,
Hailstone.