e———————————————————————————
B———————–8—-8———-11—10h———-8–8——-11–10h
G———8—10h—————-10——————10———-10———
D———————————————————————————
A———————————————————————————
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e—————8——10—–11–10——8————8—————
B———-8———————————–11——10——11–8—-
G——10—————————————————————–
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e———11-10h-11–11—10–13-11—10–11-11–10–13–15h—————-8——————–
B—————————————————————————11-11—-10–11—–10-8—–
G————————————————————————————————————-
D————————————————————————————————————-
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Nice ol’ lady (Scrunching on the corn): Oh my! The corn is very tasty. What kind of fertilizer do you use?

Mom: I don’t use fertilizers. The soil in our garden is good to grow corn.

My mother goes to the kitchen to get some tea.  My bro tugs nice ol’ lady’s arm and talks in a matter-of-fact way

Bro: Granny! I helped in growing the corn too.

Nice ol’ lady: Such a sweet little boy! What did you do? Help mommy in watering the plants?

Bro: Yes, I did. Actually she doesn’t know I help too.  I pee on them daily. My science teacher said that it has urea……

From that day onwards, the nice ol’ lady had a stiff upper lip.

e—–11————–10—–11———12———————————
B———-8—9—8—–8——-8—————10—–12—–13———
G———————————————-9——-9——-9——9——
D—————————————————————————
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Repeat the above piece again

e—–10————————–10—————8——————–8————–
B————6—-8—–6—————6—-8———5—6—-5———-5—–6—-
G————————————————————————————–
D————————————————————————————–
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e—–6—————7——————————————————————-7———-
B————————————–6——–8———10———10—-8—-10——-
G——–7—8—7——-7–8–7——7———7————7————————–
D—————————————————————————————–
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e—–11————–10—–11———12———————————
B———-8—9—8—–8——-8——————10—–12—–13———
G——————————————–9——-9——-9——9——
D—————————————————————————
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“I will there in 20 minutes time” – Karthik replied to his sms and started immediately.

Karthik started on his bike. It was raining but he was determined to reach there in 20 mins. It was a very well known location to everyone in the city. He went straight to fifth floor and saw Vignesh waiting in front of the ICU. There were a lot of relatives and family members of Vignesh’s friend Vijay.

“What happened?” – Karthik asked.

“He was supposed to join a new company in Bangalore on Monday. He went for shopping to buy things on the last moment and while returning home, his bike met with an accident yesterday night on Velachery highway. A good Samaritan helped him and admitted here. He has suffered multiple head injuries and is in ICU”

Vignesh’s friend was a professional acquaintance to Karthik. All studied in the same college but different branches of engineering. Vignesh and Karthik were classmates. Vijay and Vignesh were bus mates. Karthik came to know about his friend only at work. He used to work in the same office as Karthik’s. Only couple of days back he came to know about Vijay’s FAREWELL day at work and Karthik wished him good luck for a new venture.

Karthik was slightly getting dizzy seeing the people and emotional events happening around him. It was never a place to visit. Vignesh accompanied Karthik to a nearby tea stall. As they were sipping their coffee, Karthik asked Vignesh

“Where is Srinivasan? Why hasn’t he come now? Is he not in town? Is he in US by any chance now?”

“No, he is here. I called him up and he said he was not allowed to come by his parents as they have a religious family function at his home.”

Karthik didn’t want to continue talking about it further. Srinivasan was Vignesh and Vijay’s best friend. All three were very close and were best buddies since college. They can be always spotted together. Last time, Karthik saw them together in a reception, a year back. First Karthik thought there must have been some misunderstanding between the three. Being his best buddy, he thought Srinivasan would be obliged to be here at this moment ahead of him especially when his friend was in a serious condition admitted in hospital. They went back and were waiting in front of ICU to hear from doctor.

As the neatly dressed doctor came out of ICU, Karthik slowly stepped backwards as he didn’t want to hear what the doctor was about to say in fear.

Few Weeks Later,

Karthik at work met Prem, his former project colleague. Prem was a highly disciplined and  religious person. He was more into religion for his age and Karthik was always in awe at his knowledge on religion. He used have a Lord Shiva picture as a desktop picture. Karthik knew every year, Prem would go to a temple and he would give prasadam and asked him why he didn’t give prasadam this time around.

“I didn’t go to the temple this time. I had to cancel the trip at the last moment because one of my colleague’s brother passed away. I have to start again the whole fasting, so I decided to go during off season in March and that time I will give you the prasadham“

Karthik was happy to hear that Prem decided to look beyond religion. Even today many religions see death as a bad omen and Karthik hopes that some day people will use their heart and question these customs rather than blindly following them.

************************************************The End ************************************************

About the author Nirmal: Nirmal is a long standing pal of mine. He is one of the people who pestered me to start a blog. He has a blog where he talks about people he interacts in his life. His central theme has been relationships, soccer and movies. He also writes short stories. This is one of them.

It was very emotional when MJ’s daughter Paris spoke on the stage. Its the first time I saw her speaking in the public. I struggled to keep a dry eye. I agree with Stevie Wonder. He said that God took MJ away because He wanted him more than us mortals. Who knows? MJ might be demonstrating the moonwalk to God and the Devil right now, as we speak.

The first song I heard was Thriller when I was a small kid. I mistook him for a lady. My mother corrected me. She said MJ was a guy and he is a very popular singer. After some years, Doordarshan – the public TV broadcaster aired a weekly show which showcased MJ’s music videos. It was hosted by Javed Jaffery. I think this happened in 1993. His music videos were catchy and good to hear. His persona changes a complete 180 degree when he goes on stage. He was an electrifying performer. I believe that kids usually have some idols whom they look up to and imitate. My friends had Rajini. I had MJ. (and Arnie too)

His nearest rivals were in the 60s – The Beatles and Elvis. But, I didn’t live in that era. So, I will always rate MJ above them. MJ became a legend in the 80′s and early 90s. I wonder who will be the next legend. I wish that someone else comes up to fill his shoes. In the meantime, I am looking forward to hear his unreleased songs, the O2 rehearsals and etc in the future.

Enjoy! Its the same drill- do no expect god level skill; Hear with headphones.

• Paattu Paadavaa from Thaen Nilavu

The chords for Paattu Paadavaa are found here.

• Vellai Pookal from Kannathil Muthamittal

The chords for Vellai Pookal are found here.

• Adho Antha Paravai Pola from Aayiraththil Oruvan

The chords for Adho Antha Paravai are found here. This was sung without any practice.  Someone started to sing a few seconds late. Someone got over enthusiastic in the end!

Kaathamuthu’s voice was sorely missed.  We hope to utilize his skill after his return from  hiatus. On a side note, people are welcome to join this garbage band ..I mean garage band. Highly skilled people will not be accepted because this is not the place for you and we will feel lousy for not being able to match your skill! ^_^

Professional singers and musicians will probably spit at us after hearing these. But, what the heck! We loved it and had a good time. Using headphones is recommended because audio is poor. I haven’t found out the way to record in good quality.

• Kodai Kaala Kaatre from Paneer Pushpangal

The chords for Kodai Kaala Kaatre are found here.

• Netru Illatha Maatram from Puthiya Mugam

The chords for Netru Illatha Maatram are found here.

There were numerous retakes to make the songs pleasant to hear. The problem would be not stressing a word or not humming for extended period.  Sometimes, it is plain lack of attention just like this one. Pay attention after the 17th second.

• Blooper

It was that time of the year – monsoon season. I was sitting in the veranda on a nice and comfy chair, a paper on my left hand and a hot mug of cocoa on my right hand. The view was quite pleasant. It has to be, considering the fact that I lived in a little known place in Wayanad. Anyway, as I was looking at the paper, I caught sight of a news headline “DILAPIDATED OLD SCHOOL BUILDING TO BE DEMOLISHED”. I read on further. My old school was gonna be demolished to make way for a fancy one  screen cinema theater. (This is not a city where you would find multiplexes). The paper also showed a photo of the old school – the playground covered with mossy vegetation – the rusted swing.

“Ah, The Swing!”, I exclaimed. I was getting nostalgic. Just then, lightning struck. It was getting more cinematic.

The swing happened to be very special. Thirty years ago, when I was in 3rd grade, I had a crush on a pretty class mate. Her name was Aarti. Yeah! Yeah! You folks might thing I am a weirdo to have a crush at an innocent age. Humph! It just so happens that everyone would have had that feeling. They might not talk about it to others.

Ok. Where was I? Ah, the crush. I was too shy to talk to her, let alone look at her straight at her eyes. One fine day, she was playing on the swing.

She: Rivet! Rivet! Give the swing a push.

Me: (Gulp! She spoke to me. I am on cloud nine. La la la la lal!)

She: Come on. Push it.

Me: (Bubble bursting) Hang on.

I started pushing the swing. A few moments later, she asked to push harder. Errrr, I did as she wished. But it was a bit too much. She flew out of the swing head first, like a dart gunning for the bull’s eye.

Me: (Ouch! So much for my first encounter with my crush)

She: MUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent the rest of the day in school avoiding her, lest she should complain to the teachers. 10 year passed in the same school. I didn’t get much personal with her owing to my past misadventure with her. I joined college. It was the first day of the first semester. I was waiting for the college bus. To my surprise, the gal-who-fell-off-the-swing was waiting for the bus too. It turned out that she was in the same class as mine. Mind you! I still had a crush on her.

One rotten day (It was a rotten day because it was examination day), I was walking towards the bus. I bumped into her.
She: Rivet! How did you write the test?

Me: Hmmm, not bad! I will pass. How about you?

She: Not bad either. Blah! Blah! Blah!

Me: Blah! Blah!……

After chatting 30 minutes, I was once again on cloud nine. It turned out to be a fine day, in the end. From that time onwards, I was plain happy when ever I talked, walked or just hung out with her.

One fine day again, I was playing basketball by myself. The gal-who-doesn’t-see-me-the-same-way-as-I-do trotted up.

She: Wanna play?

Me: Get lost! Who are you? Do you know who I am?

She: Rivet! Just for those statements, I am gonna beat you black and blue.

Me: Ok! Ok! Its game on.

After 15 minutes of grueling play, I lost terribly 0-20. It ended up as rotten day for me.

Two years flew by. I was madly in love with her. Though I didn’t tell her, she should have at least felt it based on the way I was behaving with her. I tried all sorts of things to capture her attention. I remember very well that she used to love the slow-romantic-numbers on the guitar. I gave her three classic vinyl records. There was only one song which I liked in that collection – “Unchained melody” by Righteous brothers. In order to impress her, I learned to play the guitar and crooned that song.

Me: (strumming guitar) OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! MY LOOOOOOOOOVE!

She: Wow! Rivet! Awesome! Blah! Blah! Blah!

Me: (On cloud nine) Blah! Blah!

Two more years went again. It was graduation day. She still doesn’t seem to have the same feelings as I had for her. I remember finishing my piece in her autograph book, “Aarti, You are one very special person”.

Oh well! I am a fool to be thinking like that. I decided to move along. My college friends huddled together for that classic graduation day photo. “THE PHOTOGRAPH”. I crashed to the present. I ran up to the book shelf and fished out the framed graduation photo. It was an old photo. Quite faded with dog ears. All my class mates except my best bud, Mahendran was there. Why? Because he failed in ten courses. I was searching for Aarti’s face. Darn! Her face was faded. Sigh! At that moment, the phone rung. It was my wife.

Me: Hello!

Wife: Hello dear!

Me: Hey, hon. Good to hear from you. When are you gonna be back? I am missing your cooking.

Wife: Don’t worry. I will be back in a day.

Me: Ok, Aarti. Don’t forget to bring a bag of cocoa. We ran out of it. Blah! Blah!

Wife: Blah! Blah!…………………..

The End 

Note: The original had typos. I corrected it and changed some lines for more articulation.

He came to the University to give a guest lecture on “Lessons learned from developing Internet”. His lecture lasted for 50 minutes. It was darn funny and witty. For example, he used to don the academician hat and talk about how ISPs take consumers for a ride by claiming to give blazing fast internet connection. Did you know that ISPs do not use the shortest path to route packets? Routing is dictated by economics. The consumer who pays a lot gets top priority. Then, he wears an imaginary employee hat, “Use XYZ routers, the best routers in the world”.

Some excerpts from his talk -
Comer: There was a student who proposed an aggressive way of tackling congestion in the internet. “Just mow your way through the congestion. Keep resending out packet until it comes out of the congestion”. I told him that if everyone starts doing it, the entire internet is going to collapse. I was curious to know from where the student got the idea. Incidentally, the student happened to be from a place called India. Once I was in Delhi. If you are driving on a heavily congested road and you see an opening, all the vehicles gun for that spot. Chaos ensues, however one of the vehicle makes it past the congestion.

When Comer told how the student got the idea I was laughing the loudest in the room.

Comer: Did you know TCP was sidelined by the government’s policy? It mandated that every government organization shouldn’t use TCP. There was a jolly good fellow at NASA who wanted to use TCP. He found a catch in the policy document (It’s known as GOSIP) – “USE TCP IN CASE OF EMERGENCIES”. So, NASA declared that there was an ‘emergency’ and began to use TCP in their networks. Soon enough, as history failed to record it, all organizations began to claim it was having an emergency and started using TCP. The government had to overrule its policy of not using TCP because it’s not healthy to have emergencies every day. It’s astounding that this incident was not much noted in history.

For the folks from non-CS background who are reading this- TCP is an important mechanism used in internet. Just imagine the internet as a road. TCP is kind of similar to the traffic lights. Without TCP, you will probably get your emails garbled. When the lecture ended, I wished my professors would teach like him. Nonetheless, my professors have their own style. But, there was something about Comer’s way of teaching.

Note: I circulated this anecdote through email an year ago. Technically, its not a retro-post.  ^_^

Eight year old Valli was walking with her kid brother Muthu to home. They pass a lungi-clad gentleman smoking on the side walk.

Muthu to Valli: Why don’t we try a puff? Eh!

Valli: We shouldn’t. Mother will skin us alive!!! Besides, we can’t buy them.

Muthu: Why not?

Valli: It’s illegal for Mani, the shop keeper to sell cigarettes to children.

Muthu (Sour-faced): That is not fair.

The children reach home. Muthu throws away his school bag and settles infront of the TV set.

Valli to Mother: Why is it illegal to sell cigarettes to children?

Mother looks at Valli and smiles: You and Muthu are growing. So are other children. Smoking a cigarette will impair your growth. That’s why the government has imposed a ban.

Valli: Oh!

Valli joins her brother in watching the evening cartoons. The father overheard the conversation from the front yard.

Father: Why didn’t you tell Valli that kids cannot make informed decision? That’s why its illegal to sell a cigarette to a minor. The same reasoning applies to voting. Isn’t it?

Mother (Looking at her kids): I didn’t want our children to know their father is ruining himself and others despite making an informed decision.

Hearing the retort, father coughs up in his own inhaled smoke. He flicks the ash of the cigarette.

Father: Hmmmm!

*********************************************THE END************************************************