Turn down the volume please!

Last month, March 2013, wasn't a good month for my Dad. He is sick and aging. He had multiple surgeries on his back. That has made him to fall sick often. My wonderful brother who is very understanding, takes care of my dad, whenever the situation demanded, though my dad wasn't a good father to us all these years. I guess he is realizing how good we are, now, after seeing us taking care of him during his bed ridden days. He speak more words to us these days, lying on his bed, when we least expect him to utter a word. The bad part is that he choose to speak when we want to retire to bed in the night, tired. But we can't blame him. That is the only time of the day when he finds us free for him.

We have a very noisy and foul mouthed neighbor, who keeps shouting at his helpers around the house, irrespective, of the time of the day and night. He moved in to that house three years back and since then, we are having a hard time to maintain quietness near our home. He is the only person in the whole neighborhood who makes such a lot of noise. We grew tired of requesting him to talk softly at least in the night. The TV that he has installed, in the verandah, for his helpers blares 24/7. We sometimes mistake the cry of a woman in any movie on the TV, for the cry for help of some one at his home or on the road or on the neighborhood.

They were those days, when my dad felt better and was managing himself to walk around the house. It was 4.00am that morning. I heard a feeble voice from some where that woke me up. I heard it thrice. I thought that was from the TV from my neighbor's house. I came out of my bedroom. I didn't hear any noise. I went to rest room and then came back to bed. I was about to close my eyes and go to sleep. I heard the same voice again, four times. I still thought it was from the TV. Suddenly, I heard my brother, who was sleeping in the bedroom next to my dad's, stumbling on his way to dad's bedroom, yelling,"Yeah, Am coming". Only then, I realized that it was actually my dad who was calling my brother, all these time. I rushed to my dad's bedroom and saw my dad lying on the floor, near the door with his face down. My brother lifted him from the floor and set him on the bed. He said that he felt dizzy while he was returning from the bathroom and that he couldn't manage to reach the bed and fell flat on his face on the floor. He said that he has been calling us for five minutes. And that he was lying there for more than ten minutes.

And later that morning, he complained of severe headache. He couldn't remember whether he hit his head either on the chair next to his bed or on the door or anywhere else. We took him to the doctor. The doctor asked us to take a CAT scan. The scan result showed a blood clot on his brain. He is under medication now.

If  only, we had a more quieter environment, then we could have saved my dad from the mental trauma of lying on the floor without any clothes for more than ten minutes. Probably he waited for me to come to his bedroom to help him, while I past his bedroom to go to the rest room. He later realized that I wasn't coming and then started calling again for help. I felt sad for him and bad of myself for not checking his bedroom. My mom told us that she too, heard the voice many times and mistook it for the noise from the neighbor's TV.

Friends, if you have the habit of watching TV and sleeping without switching it off, then please change this habit. Some body, some where might need help and you would miss the chance to help them. If you used to watch TV at a high volume, then please reduce the volume. You will be helping your ailing neighbors and their family, by doing so. Thanks for listening to me.


Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Kamesh's Haikus

Here are my collection of favourite Haikus:
 
Goddess
I don't talk religion,
but have you ever worshiped
                        - a goddess?


Tulip
Steamy room
the tulip petals
spread wide


Sunrise
In
 and
   out
     of the salty sea
        Sunrise now......

Tongue
Speaking in tongues
my body understands
every word of you

I Love You
My name drowned in your tongue
but you still want me
to tell you I Love You.

Peach Tree
Keep straight down this block,
then turn right where you will find
a peach tree blooming

Your Haikus?
Did you love reading this? Share your blog links, in the comments, if you have written any Haikus. Would love to read them.

Thanks for coming.
Kamesh

An overview of May day celebration in Shanghai, China

I continue to write my experiences during my visits to China. My second official visit to China was in April-May 2005. On 30th April I was in a city called Suzhou, 110 Kms from Shanghai, a well developed  beautiful City. 1st of May, is a public holiday in China.

Since I had to travel to another City on May 2nd, I took the road to Shanghai on 1st of May. I always make sure that I take a local representative along with me, whenever I travel on the road, in China. We left Suzhaou in a car after a light breakfast on 1st of May. China's infrastructure development is phenomenal and travel time is much reduced because of the same. You would find for miles and miles high rise roads taking you from one city to the other. Only four wheelers use these roads. The roads are divided into 3 lanes. One lane is meant for the slow moving trucks, one for the medium speed vehicles and one for fast moving vehicles. You can choose the lane depending on the car's speed.

Travel from Suzhou to Shanghai, a distance of 110 Kms, take approx. an hour across the Industrial towns. You will find most of the manufacturing Industry in this belt. The western countries started to set up their manufacturing units even before India started to weigh the pros and cons of its ventures in its neighboring country. Many American companies have their manufacturing bases in China. We always think that the products made in China are low quality products, which is not true. Chinese are quick learners and they produce best quality products when they are trained properly. China is the home for many Automobile companies in addition to Electronic goods manufacturing units.

I was curious, when I started my journey from Suzhou, to see how the Chinese celebrate the May day. My travel was through the Industrial areas between the two cities. In India, May day celebrations are organized by the Communist Labor Unions in the Industrial Areas. They celebrate the May day by hoisting red flags, taking out processions etc.,. To my surprise, along the route which spanned more than 100kms, I didn't find a single red flag or any sort of meeting any where.I reached Shanghai in the afternoon. I asked one of my colleagues about the absence of any May day celebration in a communist Country. He surprised me by saying,"These people quietly enjoy the May day. You got to be in the banks of Yangtze river in the evening to see the real celebration". This river flows right at the center of the city. I was told to get the feel of the famous river cruise amidst the beautifully lit buildings on both sides of the river.

I took some rest in my hotel room and went to River Yangtze in the evening, to watch the celebration.  When I got down from the car around 7.30pm, I just couldn't believe my eyes. I saw sea of people walking on the banks and the street vendors selling various eatables. Quite naturally, the scene reminded me of our ever crowded Marina Beach in Chennai, India. But this crowd was atleast 5 times more than that of Marina's crowd during summer weekends in the evening. I took photographs of the celebrations, but they are not in the digital format, right now. I will scan and post them here, later.

My notion, that May day would be celebrated in a communist country with much more fanfare than in India, was false. If only people of India learn to celebrate May day as calmly as Chinese do! Or any celebration for that matter! Sigh!

In my next post, I am going to share with you, the life style of Chinese people and their hospitality to Indian visitors.

Bye my dear friends, till I meet you all with my next blog,

Vijayan

A Very Interesting Experience in China - Chengdu

After a gap of a few months, I start writing again. I want to share some of my interesting travel experiences  in India and abroad.This post is about a very interesting experience in China.

This was in June 2005, my third trip to China. The trip was mainly to find a suitable JV partner for setting up a manufacturing unit in one of the newly developing provinces of China.

I was travelling from one place to another on this assignment. I always used to reach Shanghai either via KL or Singapore or Bangkok to make it cost effective. I made this trip via Singapore since I already had acquired permission from my bosses for a break in the journey to visit Singapore when I return. I went to the Singapore Embassy and applied for the Singapore Visa. I handed over my original Indian Passport for the Visa stamping, as per the procedure. They gave an acknowledgement slip, for having collected my passport. The visa stamped passport is due to be given back to me on the third day.

As per planned visits, the next day I have to leave for Chengdu, southwest of China, to visit one of the manufacturers. I got the boarding pass in Shanghai to travel to Chengdu. I showed the Xerox copy of the passport after explaining that the original passport is with the Singapore consulate. That day evening after finishing my official work, officers from the company dropped me back at the airport and asked me if I need any help, " I said, no, thanks" and bid goodbye to them as it was too early for boarding time.

About an hour before the departure of the flight, I approached the check in counter for the boarding pass. The official asked me, for the passport along with ticket. I showed him the xerox copy of the passport and the acknowledgement slip given by the Singapore consulate. He refused to issue boarding pass and called in the Security in charge. I tried to explain to the security in charge in English. But he could not understand what ever I told him. Very less people in China understand English.

I started getting butterflies in my stomach. The thoughts that crossed my mind - I don't have my original passport. What will I do, if they detain me and don't let me fly?

By then a young female officer at the security check who was watching what was going on, came to my rescue. She started explaining things to the officer in Chinese but he didn't look convinced. I guessed that she suggested him to talk to his superior. He rang up some one and talked for few minutes on the phone. He came to the check in counter and told the officer something in Chinese. The boarding pass was issued. I went through the security check and boarded the plane. I started to breath only after the flight took off to Shanghai.

Later, I learned that the Chinese government had made English, as part of the school curriculum. So that the younger generation can interact with the international business groups, when China opened up its economy to the global market.

These days, I find young students interpreting in all the business meetings, which is a welcome change in China.

What could have been my plight, if no body understood English, then?

Vijayan

---------------------

Water Patterns - My new Iphone5

Was just trying my new Iphone5 on Sunday. Isn't the changes in the patterns interesting?

Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Be Aware...Tigers covered in Cow Skins roaming in World Wide Web

I won't be surprised if this blog get into controversial discussion about adult chat sites. I am a well experienced chatter in net for almost 20 years now. I used to be mad at chatting for hours, at office, home and in net cafes, spending hours and money those days. Of course with advancement of internet and many service providers coming into existence the use of net has become easier and cheaper. We started doing many things in net easily these days sitting at our desk, and even on the move either from our laptop or many other devices like mobiles etc.,

There are so many social websites for the chatters these days and its easy to log into one of those sites and keep chatting with strangers. We make friends online and meet some of them in real life too. We go through good and bad experiences in the process. The experiences we undergo sharpens our knowledge, so we don't repeat the mistake again.

We do try to flirt at times some out of curiosity and some other due to their needs.

Now let me share my personal experience of using many of such sites.I don't want to name them here. Almost all those sites, without any exception, originated from Western countries to exploit people. Its not only the organizers of the sites who do this but also the users of these websites.

The so called friendship websites keep you sending many emails, once you are registered, setting a trap for you, to become premium (upgrade) members by paying money. While upgrading there is always a catch that they give short term period membership for 3 days etc., and with automatic up-gradation at the end of the 3rd day. And if you forget to cancel the membership you end up with repeated billing. Many a times the cancellation is so difficult that you end up paying for 30 days or 3 months depending on which site you have become a member. Important point to note here is the moment you became a premium member, you would find the mails hitherto flooding your inbox, is almost stopped and no one inviting you for chat.

If and when you get a friend from opposite sex (whether the site is paid member site or free site), particularly this happens to weak minded men, who is looking to flirt, you would find majority of the female chatters use number of ways to extract money, as their extra earnings. Some even open bank account and ask you to deposit. Though on the surface it would look genuine, you would find yourself loosing considerable amount of money in the due course. I had all sorts of experience from loosing few thousands to few lakhs, along with my mental peace.

So be aware of all those who are chatting regularly, and using social network websites Do not fall into trap set by the website organizers or the cheating users.

Vijayan
( friend of Uma)

My First Love

It was a strange as well as wonderful feeling, I felt, for the first time in my life in the year 1978. I was studying my 4th year Mechanical Engineering ( 5 years degree course in those days).

A Keralite couple with a baby, was living opposite to our house in the police quarters. Guests visit them very frequently. Either the gentleman's mother or the lady's sister used to stay in the house to help the lady tending to her new born baby.

The lady had two younger sisters. The elder was a graduate and the younger was studying in school. I never knew that the elder of the two sisters had a crush on me, until one fine morning she gave me this strange and sweet feeling. 

I used to sleep on the small veranda at the entrance, due to high humidity inside the house. I also didn't want to be disturbed by the early morning noise from the kitchen.Ours was a Mangalore tiled row of houses. Six in a row. The other row was facing ours which had 6 houses too. 

As usual, I woke up, hearing the water splashing in front of the house. It is an Indian custom for the womenfolks to clean the floor in front of their house and draw Rangoli every morning. 

I folded the mat and picked up the pillow to go inside. A pen that was there at the entrance of the verandah caught my eye. I was wondering whose pen was that. I was curious to find out the type of pen. So I opened the pen cap and found that it was a fountain pen. I was confused, because the nib was missing. I found a small piece of paper at the ink compartment of that fountain pen.

I pulled out the paper and tried to figure out that was scribbled on it. It took a few seconds for me to realize that it was a love note written to me. Just then, I saw some one closing the main door of the opposite house. I had enough time to figure out that, that was the elder of two sisters who closed the door. I could easily conclude that, it was she who found this novel way of expressing her love to me.

I could sense, for the first time in my life, different kind of feelings and vibrations all over my body. Many dramatic sequences followed after this first expression of love, by that girl, which I would share it with you, in my next blog.

Until then, take care. Happy weekend to you all.

Vijayan ( friend of Uma, Co-writer)
www.jayvani.blogspot.com 
vijay19562007@gmail.com

My First Encounter with Death

This happened when I was about 4 years old. I write this from my vague memory.

Its a police quarters where we lived from 1960? to till I was sent out by my father one day after I started working, soon after my graduation as a Mechanical Engineer.

This was the place which molded me into a Man - teaching me good and bad things of life. Its heart of today's Chennai, Kilpauk, one of the oldest Police Colonies where families of policemen stay and it is called Lotus Garden Police Quarters. The Colony, I guess, was named after the pond that was there, where lotus flowers grew.

My mother was washing clothes near a water sump (open) those days. It was a common practice for the people to come there to wash clothes and dry it next to the sump, where many trees where grown around. My mother was deaf and unless you speak loudly she would not be able to hear.

As a Child, I was curious to play in water when she was doing her work. I was the only child at that time. Sister and Brother were born later. I was playing splashing water around, from the sump. My mother was engrossed with her work facing the other side. Suddenly I fell into the sump. The sump was so deep that I was getting drowned. I do not remember what really went in my mind as I was too young. I struggled to come up twice trying my way up, but in vain. It only took me deep down inside. My mother should have seen the water splashing outside from the sump when I tried for the third time to come up. She pulled my hand and dragged me out as soon as she saw my hands from the water. First aid was given to me and people assembled to watch me. Today I am alive to write my first blog ( though my blog for poems is a separate one in tamil www.jayvani.blogspot.com ) at the age of 55.

Had my mother not turned back and saw my hands that day in that split second, I wouldn't have survived to share my experience with you. That was my first encounter with death. Water has always been associated with my life.

More to come. Stay tuned.
Vijayan ( friend of Uma, Co-writer)
www.jayvani.blogspot.com 
vijay19562007@gmail.com

Two Tremors That Shook Me

I was watching TV after my dinner before going to bed. My mother in law was so fond of her everyday soaps, that she was flipping channels everytime there was an advertisement on one channel or the other. She watch three soaps at a time in half an hour. I was so bored that I walked out of the hall to my bedroom and was about to lie down. I felt that some one pushed me from behind. I thought that it was due to tiredness. After a few seconds, I could sense commotion on the streets. I realized that it was a tremor only after my husband, who was relaxing in the sit out, ran towards bedroom to ask me whether I felt it. And the earthquake was in Gujarat in the year of 2001.

Today, April 11,2012 at 2.13, noon, my chair started rocking me and I felt I was in a trance. The rocking lasted till 2.16pm. That was quite an experience to sit on the chair that was rocking continuously and to watch the water inside the bottle on my table, vibrating. Though everybody in our office experienced this, we didnt bother to run outside. Our office is in the third floor. Later we saw, through the glass window, that all the employees of other offices were standing outside on the road. Hopefully people in Indonesia are safe and devastation is minimal.

Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

The More You Give, the More They Want

Yesterday morning while I was travelling from Chromepet to Guindy by the suburban train, I saw an aged woman sitting opposite to me with a smile on her face. She looked fresh and cheerful in spite of her age and a frail figure. A middle aged woman came near to the old lady and waved her hand at the old woman, to move and let her some space to sit. Its a very common practice among the lady commuters to look for some space at the end of the 3-seated bench to rest their back for some time after toiling in the kitchen at home in the morning. The aged woman was very happy to move and let the middle aged woman to sit.This middle aged woman was wearing a pink saree, so lets call her "Pinky", hereafter.

Its quite common among women folks to have their breakfast on their way to work, whichever modes of transport they use. Some of the office going young girls, make it a point to carry their kitty bags along with them to apply make up, tie their hair etc etc. Some religious minded women sing devotional songs together. Some read slokas aloud.

After settling herself, Pinky opened her food box.The contents fell on to her lap and left stains on her pink color saree. The older woman felt sorry for Pinky. She turned towards the young girl who was sitting next to her and asked her to lend a paper. The girl immediately tore a paper from the long size notebook that she was carrying and gave it to Pinky. There was no 'Thanks' from Pinky. She tore a piece of paper from the corner of the long size sheet and wiped the dots from her saree, spread the sheet and had her breakfast without any disturbance. I could sense Pinky's satisfaction on her face after she emptied the food box. 

Pinky turned towards the aged woman and asked her whether she had water. The aged woman opened her bag and pulled out a bottle of water and said,"Hot Water" and was about to put it back inside her lunch bag. Pinky said,"Can I have some water?". The lady had no other option than to hand over the water bottle to Pinky. Pinky drank some water and poured some water on her hands into the food box to wash her hands. Half of the bottle is empty now. The old woman watched this, but didn't utter a word except a smile. She should have seen more people like Pinky in her life time. Believe me, I felt bad for the old lady and angry at Pinky. Pinky returned the water bottle to the old lady. No 'Thanks' this time too.

I was wondering how can Pinky expect some one else to carry water for her. Isn't it her responsibility to bring water to drink and wash her hands, when she decided to have her breakfast in a public place? I guess Pinky read my mind. She told to the other person who was sitting opposite to her,"There is enough water in our office. So, I don't take the pain to carry it along with my other bags."

Facebook in my Freelance Profession

Yes. That's right. Facebook helped me in a particular task that was pending for more than two weeks. I guess you know, posting ads in Craigslist need phone verification to complete the process of account creation. My client Nick received many Business calls for his ads on Apartment Listings in California in Craigslist. So, we decided to have more than one account to post our ads in different categories in the Craigslist classified.

Bedtime Stories

My 4year old niece love to hear stories before going to sleep. She love flying Kites. So I made up a Kite story.

There lived a little boy, with his parents in a village. He love Kite flying. One windy afternoon, the boy stood on top of a hill and flew his Kite. The wind was so strong that the Kite pulled the boy up above the sky. The little boy enjoyed his flight with the Kite. The sun started setting in slowly and the wind started blowing slowly. The Kite landed in a dark place surrounded by trees and bushes. The boy started crying. After a while, there came a Dragon that offered to help him to reach his parents. The dragon carried the boy and his Kite on its back and dropped him in his house safely. The boy ran to his parents and the dragon returned to its home. The boy and the parents lived happily ever after.

My niece smiled at me. She asked,"Sis*, where has all the dinosaurs and dragons that lived earlier has gone now?"

Everyday Musings

Yesterday morning, after I boarded the 8.40am train in Pallavaram, a beggar hopped into the ladies' compartment. His face was unshaven and was wearing a faded white Kurta and Pyjama. The train started moving. He looked down, closed his eyes and muttered, "Ya!Allah". 


He started singing, stretching his palm for alms, "கேளுங்கள் தரப்படும். தட்டுங்கள் திறக்கப்படும் வேறென்ன கிடைக்கும் என்றார் இயேசு வேறென்ன கிடைக்கும் என்றார்"

Read your story in your Timeline in Facebook

I was just thinking yesterday, whether I can read my wall posts that I posted in Facebook, when I first joined Facebook in 2007. I don't really remember the exact date, that I joined Facebook. But I was curious to find out the date. One of my fellow blogger was referring to Timeline app in Facebook, that would show the history of our activities in Facebook. I tried it and it worked. Let me share it with you, so that you can do the same and relive the moments again. You got to click here to read the post in my professional blog.

Look at the screenshot that shows the date of my joining. Isn't it fun to find out the status updates, shares and friends that we added few years back?

Facebook Keeps Me Cheered Up

The Social Website that am fond of, is Facebook. Friends who knew me well, knows that I just cant make it through the day, without being on my farm in Farmville. There were days that I spent staring at my cattle and cottages proudly. Got loads of friends in my friends' list whom I don't even know. But happy to receive the generous gifts that they send me daily to my cattle and cottages. Also got new friends from all over the world, who share similar interests,

Black Money?

Black Money?

And I received a forwarded text message in my mobile and I quote here:

Tears Rolled Down My Cheeks

When I opened the door of my Cyber Cafe on the day of vacating, March 31,2011, emotions rushed to me like a wave of tsunami. I just couldn't help the tears that rolled down my cheeks, when I sat on my chair for the last time and looked around. It reminded me of the different type of customers that I came across. It reminded me of the difficult times, when my business wasn't running profitably. I had to reduce the number of computers to 5 from 9 in 2004. Added the Sony PS2 to attract kids in the neighborhood. It worked and I could run the business smoothly until the building owner expired in January 2011. Real Estate was doing so well and the rental charge was too high that I couldn't find any suitable place to shift my Business. I also, didn't want to take a risk by moving my business to a costlier place, without knowing whether I can sustain my Business or not. Do you think that I should have taken the risk?

MAN

I happened to meet an ex-fighter pilot, online. He was serving the Indian Air Force before becoming a civilian pilot. He liked reading most of my blogs. In fact I quote his own words here - "if u hve any thing to discuss on aviation...i ll be of help;i would like to get more on human relations frm u". 

Are Women From Venus?

There was a friend request in facebook from a good looking lady. She had sharp features that would attract any man. I envied her secretly though I didn't let her know that in our week's conversation, online.

To my surprise, she said that she was abandoned by her husband a year ago. She had a little boy of 2 and a half years old. The boy looked healthy on cam. They made a good happy family picture on cam, san a man by her side. But it doesn't matter. I am of an opinion that there is no point in sticking together in the name of marriage if a couple have problem with one another. It is good to be separated and stay peaceful rather than being together staying peaceless. She was a freelancer too. She wrote emotional articles on human relationship. And I remember that she was even trying to find a publisher to publish her works. I started admiring her and her inner strength. She earned respect and dignity.

I thought of spending a weekend with her family.

Stillbirth - Thanks, Men Are From Mars

The baby was cute and fresh. The baby smiled at me, giving me the hope of life. It gave me the feeling that I would depend on it for my happiness. But somehow I felt that the baby was going to leave me sooner. It smiled at me weakly sometimes. I felt wanted when it cried all day and night demanding my attention. Sometimes it didn't cry for days together, leaving me with a feeling of unwanted. Every time I felt happy with a new born baby, it has left me with grief and sorrow. This baby left me in two weeks time. Since I was expecting the loss, it didn't affect me much. I have learnt to take this in my stride. This is not the first baby that left me. Please don't ask me the number of babies that I have lost. Because, I have lost count. I am happy that this baby left me earlier, than to take me too far and leave me with a feeling of lost in a vast abyss.

I am here with you again, feeling unwanted.