Our unexpected guest!

I don't know how many of you've heard about the film director Ambili(present kerala state film development corporation chairman)- Director of Ashtapadi, Veenapoovu, Ganamela etc. Since he is more inclined to art films, he is not as popular as other commercial film directors. I've seen Ashtapadhi - really a beautiful film. Its main attraction is(for me), the fim was shot here in Nellayi, mainly centered at our temple and puzhakadavu.

At a marriage recception, I had a chance to meet him. I haven't met him earlier, but have heard about him. By the way, Achan knows him in person. He wanted to see his old film's locations - temple, aalthara, puzhakadavu and so came here with us. His family too was there with him.


Really an impressive, admirable personality...a down-to-earth person. He was so happy to visit the place again and to spend a lot time in puzhakadavu. He was telling us the experiences(both bitter and sweet), he had during his film-making. He was visibly happy. His wife-sheela is a nice lady who has parallel interests in his field.

Before leaving, he visited our home too and was here for an hour. Forgot to tell you that he's a good artist too! Made a few drawings for us, considering amma's request, that too in no time. An artist in action...

His drawing...

One more photo... His modified-Fiat!

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: Last photo dedicated to Bristow :)

My new camera

You know, I have been having camera for the past 3 years. Even though I am not soo.. good at photography, I love taking photos and I am the official photographer of Nellayi :). But for the past few months, my (old) camera has been showing some problems regularly (primary reason - my carelessness during our 3rd semester trip). Really fed up with its daily repair. And at last, I was told that it's not so easy to get it repaired..desperate! :(

I never asked amma for a new camera. I haven't even mentioned about that. But understanding my feelings, she offered me one last week...so loving! After having expert opinion from chettan, we purchased our new camera (Olympus FE-370) on last wednesday. A good camera, with 100% satisfactory performance(atleast for me). I am so happy to receive this unexpected gift from my loving amma.

For the information of amma and chettan - I will be more careful with handling this new camera :)

A photo taken today morning... Kavyakutti in action :)

A few more photos...

See the moon

Kurumali puzha approaching Nellayi

Pink is the colour of girls!

Can you guess which flower is this?

Our old Kanakaambara poovu

Niramaala in our temple

See the hand coming up :))

Thank you amma, for your gift.

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: Post dedicated to amma.

Trip to Athirappilly...

As usual, this year too we(Changaathikoottam) decided to celebrate New year/Christmas. And at the end of our discussion(Executive committee meeting :)), we planned a 'kutti' trip, considering the suggestions of many parents here.


Date was fixed -- 28/12/08, that was last sunday. From morning itself, we started our work, since we'd a plan to take 'home-made' food with us. Our chief cook was Keerthi's father. We all were his assistants!



We started from here by around 12.30. We were around 50 in number(in a 35 seated bus!), including parents and children. Our first destination was Thumburmuzhi. Saw the garden, park and dam there. We couldn't afford to spend more than 30 minutes there and then we set out for our next terminal - Vazhachal.


Had really a good time there. The scene of streams flowing down in between the rocks looked so beautiful. At Vazhachal, we'd our food, tea and all. Played a lot in the water. We'd asked parents to take enough care of their children. But, atlast, we had to control parents too :)


On our way back, halted in Athirappilly. There was not-a-bad crowd in Athirappilly. Greenery there looked much more beautiful in the dazzling reddish golden rays of setting sun.. Waterfalls were glimmering in the sunshine. While having all our happiness and thrill at the peak, had our 'valedictory ceremony', ie, cutting cake, in prior to New year eve! Had chocolates and sweets. After having some preplanned-funs, games and lucky dip, we said good-byes to Athirappilly.

Executive committee members :)

Reached back home by around 8.00 in the night. Trip was simply superb. We all had really a great time together.. Got appreciation from all for organizing such a nice small trip and were asked to think about our next tour, that too a long one!! Everyone enjoyed well.




Thank you all,
Wishing you a sweet colourful NEW YEAR,
Offerig you a piece of cake,

Signing off,
Hailstone.

Relativity? Totally confused!

I should say "Albert Einstein was really a Genius"

Actually, I planned to put up something with a title Time is relative, related with some of my thoughts, and not science :) But, you know, I just had a Google search on this topic, just for a horror. And came to know that a great discussion on 'Relative time Vs. Absolute time' is going on all over the globe.

Had a glance over many sites and tutorials..and now I'm having effusive confusions! Is time relative? Or absolute? Hmm... Actually, what is Einsteins theorem of relativity?

If you are interested in this topic, have a look on these 2 sites.. Interesting and simple - Part 1, Part 2

Danger coming along in red letters...go further IFF you are interested. Having a copy-paste here.

"The line of reasoning that ends with "time is relative", starts with the postulate that the speed of light is the same for all observers. This postulate was itself based on the failure of certain experiments that were supposed to measure differences in the speed of light between observers.

This behavior of light is different from that of a baseball thrown by someone on a moving train. The speed of the ball depends upon the situation of the observer. Someone on the train would give one speed for the ball, while someone on the ground watching the train go by would give a different speed.

Speed is the ratio of space to time. If space and time are absolute, then the speed of light must be relative, depending upon the speed of the observer. The speed of light is absolute and does not depend upon the speed of the observer, therefore, either space or time must be relative. A more detailed algebraic calculation will show that both must be relative."

One more interesting information - Relativity of simultaneity

Ok... Let's come back to *my* version of Relativity of time. Dont mix this with Science, no relation at all. Anyway, not planning to drag the post. Shall try to put in writing only the nut-shell.

Chettan used to tell us, almost in all contexts, that everything is relative. Hmmm...so true! Happiness is relative, sadness too. Right-and-wrong also depends. Ya, anything and everything is relative, changes from person to person.

And time too.. It depends on the situations and our state of mind a lot. Right? If we are in need of time, time just flies off. And the same is the case when we are in a joyful mood.

And if we are in an emotionally-stressed condition, situation is just opposite. Hours and days are felt as never-ending. And if we are waiting for something, situation is worst. Days crawl like a snail. Then it is felt that, someone is pulling back time.. Each second seems to have a *life-time* life.

I know, you all know these facts. I just wanted to let you all know that I too approve this. And so, lets conclude ralativity holds, rather I conclude Time is relative, in both versions(Einsteinian and mine)

Hope you all had a fantabulous Christmas.
Wishing you all a very happy new year...

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS 1: Moral of the story - Albert Einstein was a smart fellow.

It was great...

Last week I got an invitation card(entry pass) to attend the Family feast cum Alumni meet in my old school, where I studied till my 10th class. Was waiting for the day to come. And yesterday from morning itself, I was so thrilled..

But you know, in the evening before starting from home, I forgot to take the entry pass :( I was on the way, in bus, by the time this thing came to my mind.. What to do? Nothing!Anyway, I called amma and told the matter… She told “It’s your school..what’s the need to worry”.. Ya, It’s my school..lets see…I thought.

A small girl, standing beside me, smiled at me and asked - “we’ve an extra pass. Chechi, let me give that to you?” With pleasure I accepted the offer, but who’s she?

I: Ok..Thank you! But, you..?

Girl: Chechi, I remember you…our school leader..(nice girl ;) )

And the surprising thing is now she’s in 6th standard. And when I was in 10th, she was onlyin 1st standard. And she remembers me.. Good memory power!! :)

I was so punctual that I reached there at sharp 5.00 PM. A lot of new teachers…totally strange faces. But all the students greeted me - ‘hi Priya chechi’. Current PTA President came to me and had a welcome note. Had a warm welcome for all of us. The air was filled with a feel of nostalgia…

Almost all in our batch had come. Met my teachers too…had a long chat with them. Our whole gang was there – Sunitha, Somia, Rintu, Rosemol, Deepa, Saneesh, Vijith, Shyam …etc No much changes for anyone..I mean no behavioral changes. In looks….hmm…everyone has changed. All these girls looked so beautiful. And boys..some of them became a bit stylish.

Crowd was really big, more than what we all expected, might be because of the ‘announced magic show’. We were really fed up with the boring speeches. And so, took our seats in the extreme back and were not patient enough. We made a hell of noise.. With a furious look, current Head Mistress came roaring - “Children, keep a minimum standard. This is a school(=> this is not a market). Don’t disturb others.” (-in that ‘kanyasthree’ style of scolding-) She was right..and so we cleared the place with no delay. Sat in the garden/kids park for a long time having chit chats.

In between, we had food, walked along the corridors in school, sat in our old class rooms, went to chapel, prayed before the grotto…..had a dive in to the evergreen long lasting nostalgic memories of our school days.

By the way, Prof. P.C.Thomas was one among the guests. I’d a wish to talk with him. I asked all my friends to come with me. But they weren’t interested. Their response was – ‘Are you mad? He doesn’t know us’. Ya…It’s true. But, I know him, so what’s wrong in greeting him. I wasn’t ready to give up. Straight away I went to him and talked. He patted me on back and blessed. Really a respectable person!

Achan came to pick me up, so that he got a chance to meet his teacher, Prof. P.C.Thomas. Achan was his student in St.Thomas college. Actually, sir was about to leave. You know, as achan went near him, he hugged achan telling others ‘he was my pet student’(achan aalu kollamallo!). I’m proud of my achan :)

Had really a good time with all of them – with kutti kutti fights, photo session, gossips etc.. Teachers too were so happy to see all of us together. The function was really nice…well arranged. Reached home by 10.30 in the night.

One more thing.. Boys were asking us about our marriage.. Phew, it’s too early to ask such a question!!!

Current song: Ormmakkai iniyoru snehageetham…

Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS 1: We all Nellayiyans planning to attack BSNL office soon(related with *PS* in the last post).

PS2: Sorry for the loong post. Never mind, since this is an entry coming after a long interval.

Yet another resolution!!

Most of us have a habit of taking wonderful-incredible-impossible resolutions every new year day. But, I've one more occasion for having *such* resolutions.

You know, after each final exam(public/university), I take a resolution. I've been doing this for years from my school days itself. And what is the resolution -- "from today onwards I'll study my portions daily"(school level) and "I'll have a glance at my books atleast once before my next exam comes"(college level - a bit more advanced!!)

This time too I've taken this aged resolution :) It has become a part of my exams. And for your kind information, my last new year resolution was that I would never take another resolution :) How is it?

By the way, all my exams(except environmental studies) were sort of 'hard nuts to crack' :( One more paper remaining.

That's all for now.
Signing off,
Hailstone.

PS: Most of the time, telephone is dead and net connection is down here in this locality because of road expansion. That's why I took a 1 month leave from blogger. Everytime when I plan to put up something here, BSNL acts a villain :(

Student Suvidha - latest trend!!!

BSNL Kerala has launched Student Suvidha, a special mobile pre-paid package for students during Onam.The Scheme offers low cost tariff for local calls and 2,000 free SMS facility to any netwrok within Kerala per month and only 10 paise will be charged per SMS beyond the limit.

It's a fact that Suvidha has created a wave among the students..that too a strong wave. Demand for Suvidha sim is sky rocketing each day. Many students are hurrying for this, since the stock is limited(they say). Soo..many friends of mine have changed to Suvidha plan.

For the past few years, BSNL-Cellone has been considered as inferior to other mobile connection providers. Many of us rated Cellone plans as worthless and fruitless. It seemed like a sort of indifference towards BSNL by all.. It's true that many of the tariffs are not so beneficial.

But BSNL has come back with all its power and colour. I'm sure all other providers will come along with many more offers like this!!! So, BSNL-Cellone proved to be the trend setter.

I'm wondering what's the need of this 2000 free messages!!! Actually, now it's a flow of forwarded messages. To be frank, I dont read all such messages. Message inbox is always full. Some of my friends also feel like this. So, the other side of the coin is...there are so many victims also for this scheme.

***NAVARATRI WISHES TO ALL!!!***

Signing off,
Hailstone.