Tamil Books

Nothing beats the great feeling of shopping!  But I enjoy the best when I buy books. Very few souls can understand buying books is an investment!



These are the tamil books I bought in the Bangalore Book Exhibition

Swimming: The best cardiovascular exercise

Swimming is known to be the best cardio vascular exercise.



Our cardio vascular system



Our cardio vascular system is made of blood, heart and blood vessels.  Various cardio vascular exercises help the system work in an optimal condition



Benefits of Swimming



Swimming helps in growing the system big, supply more oxygen and nutrients effectively.  This also helps in eliminating the waste in our blood stream.

Becoming an early riser

Becoming an early riser is important thing.



here is how:



Learnt from my dad



Created a need



Sharing with friends



Personal benefits







Some reference links

• Zen Habits: 10 Benefits of Early Rising and How To Do it


• Art of Manliness: Never let the sun catch you sleeping

Notebooks (Not E Books)

I started carrying pocket notebooks during my college days. I still stick to the practice. I am always fascinated by the idea of carrying notebooks for several reasons:



1. They are handy



Notebooks are easy to carry. You cannot have an excuse not having space in your bag or car. You just a pocket. In some cases, you can even hold in your hand ever.  I used to get old diaries as a "gift" but ended up using only 10% of the pages.



2. They are cute



Every stationery shop sell these cute notebooks. Some are branded and some are local names. Traditionally Eagle has been a familiar brand for most of us. Nowadays, a lot more designs, coloured, quality papers are available in market. The fancy covers are very attractive.



3. Instant ideas



Its a bad idea to capture only phone numbers and email ids in the notebooks. Notebooks are not E-Books. They are to capture instant ideas. Everyone gets idea bubbling almost every hour, but we let go most of the time because we are busy with current activities. Some thoughts come to us waiting to be born and actionized.  But we orphan them.



4. A manly gadget



I dont think a modern IPad or a netbook can replace this cute little friend. Carrying a notebook with a friendly pen is a great combo and together make a manly gadget.



5. They are cheap



Can you believe, the notebook I saw today costs just Rs.5 with 80 pages!  Staples (opp to Shoppers Stop) has good collections of notebooks.



6. Now its a habit



Any practice continuously executed becomes a habit.



Some online references

• The pocket notebook of 20 famous men


• Minimalist notebooks: make your own notebook. (onebag.com)

Coffee Day

Got a special gift from my sister. A Coffee Mug and Coffee powder. Thank you, dear! A perfect way to start my day!

Something philosophical here for everyone: God created two people - one to give and another to receive!

Be the giver always, most of the time!

Nature from Terrace

Enthiran Movie

Review

Enthiran movie is a very good entertainer. The one-line story is how a robot meant for constructive purpose can be misused. And what if a robot gets feelings and start thinking?  The real hero is the technology. Shankar has extensively exploited the animation technology. Though anybody could have done the role, Rajni Kant has been too good for his age. He looks fresh and young. Comedy is name sake but more attention could have been paid. Aishwarya too fits the character.



Already a 3-hr movie, its really challenging on what all can fit to satisfy all sorts of audiences.



Music is excellent; but the lyrics are too 'engineering'.



Few glaring errors

• In the first few reels, the spelling of 'neural schema' was misspelt as 'nueral schema'.


• In the fire accident scene, the robot saves the fire victims. The metal robot can withstand heat, but how can a man lifted by the robot can withstand the heat?


• No one would release a robot in public without formal approval. Every researcher knows it.


• A dismantled robot is a E-Waste. No body would dump such an e-waste like a vegetable waste.


• The robot has been too choosy on when it would fly. 


• With his sensors, the robot could have sensed the Vaseegaran Rajni among his army men. 

Its not known how much of writer Sujatha's work has gone into the movie. Some credit could have been given in all the interviews and in the title cards for the late legend.

Flashback & Piracy





Its an open secret, that pirated DVDs are available in all CD shops without exception. Once in a while, SUN TV News show how Rajni kant fans patriotically prevented piracy.  The SUN family may passionately recall how his family men broadcast Mudhalvan movie few years back in Madurai.





The Theatre





My first visit to Jayanagar INOX. No crowd at all. Tickets were easily available only 1/4th of the hall was occupied. We also learnt that it would take another 2 months for the JP Nagar INOX (Bangalore Central) start functioning.

Two Indian Books

I broke the convention of buying similar topics books today.



I bought two books by Indian authors in Crossword taking advantage of the Penguin Fest offer. Got a 25% offer.



One is Middle Man by Sankar (yet to find the online review)

Another is Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian. (Read amazon review here)



Looks like Middle man was later became a movie by Satyajitray

Populist promises

Tamilnadu govt's populist promises to woo the voters are back as the elections are fast approaching. The last election, the CM had announced free colour TV's (but no commitment on uninterrupted power supply). Happened to see 5 lorries of 14" colour TV's outside Govt Boys High School.



I recently travelled through several villages and there are no differences between them - no good roads, no basic amenities for the public.



School kids have to wait for the buses which are not in good condition.



How can a colour TV quench the poor's thirst and hunger?

Next 13 years

Someone at my age of 30 told me that that age was a turning point for many. Whether he meant it for me or a general observation, his words influenced me someway. I started interpreting everything from that perspective.



But is not age. Its our thinking frame.  There are several inactive people at young age and several other active people at 80's and 90's.



I am putting myself in a 13 year frame starting this Nov 1st to make each and every day very significant in my life. At the age of 50, when I look back, I would have made myself very proud of what I lived for.



To be so, I need to be different, think differently, do differently.  I need to stop doing what is not useful. I need to stay away from people who are not sincere. I need to stop wasting time. I need to define clearly what I wanted in my life and make each day count. I need to acquire new skills.



I need to come up with detailed plans for physical, mental, spiritual, financial, recreational goals.



I am already on the job and the past 3 days have been excellent!

Old school visit

Visited my old school St. Mary's matriculation school after 23 years. What a terrific experience!  < This blog will  be updated>