Southern Railways Website

This is one of the most prominent yet useless website if you are looking to lodge a complaint / suggestion to the India's greatest employer.

If we type www.srailway.com, it directs us to http://southernrailway.gov.in. But there is still a link "Please use our new official website address : www.southernrailway.gov.in" !!!


There are two supposedly important links if we scroll down to the last - Public Relations & Public Grievances. Guess what is displayed (see below image)

Nanganallur to Nanganallur Via Nanganallur

Last Saturday, 26th June, I took out my car to go to Kodambakkam. I usually take the Pazhavanthangal subway to reach the GST. It had just started drizzling and then developed into a steady rain. Here is the interesting sequence of events. People who know this locality will be able to understand more easily on the routes mentioned.

1. When I reached the subway, I could see vehicles moving slowly as it was water-logged up to knee level (for half an hour's rain). One vehicle was stuck and hence it took more time to overtake by turns (as it is not a big subway in terms of width).
2. I realised that it will be worse when we come back as all 3 important subways connecting Nanganallur is prone for water-logging. Hence decided to come back via the Thillai Ganga nagar subway.
3. It was in worst state already. I could see 5-6 cars waiting in the downward slope just to see if they can wade through the water. I decided to take a U-Turn to come back home via Pazhavanthangal subway itself. Many other followed the same. We warned all incoming vehicles (from GST side) that there is no point in going forward.
4. I took the left near Trident and drove for 25 meters or so and stopped. I could see a long queue of vehicles trying to cross the subway.
5. I again took a U-Turn and decided to reach home via AM Jain College gate. I had to wait for 15 minutes, but it was better than wading through water with the fear of car getting stuck

For half an hour's rain, this is the situation. These bloody political rascals don't even bother to sort out major issues like these which puts common man in difficulty frequently.

Kannadasan - Legend ignored by Tamizh channels

இந்திய தொலைக்காட்சி வரலாற்றில் முதன் முறையாக ...
(first time in the history of Indian TV channel...)

Hope everyone knows the boredom of listening to the above cacophony on every special occasion like Vinayaka Chathirthi, Independence day, Republic day, Pongal, Deepavali. But on June 24th, the birth day of legend Kannadasan, no channel were ready to pay respect or at least showcase his works even for an hour.

I came across a program in Podigai Tamizh Channel about him and his compositions around 9 PM for an hour's time. At least this channel took some effort in honouring this great legend, at least on his Birthday.

Poor DMK and its leader - if the CM had not been busy with Tamizh conference (Tamizh is more important than Kannadasan), he would have paid his respects by placing a garland at his statue (and thus make public suffer in the heat by stopping traffic)

Semmozhiam Tamizmozhi - செம்மொழியாம் தமிழ்மொழி

While listening to the recent "Theme" song of DMK party (err ..sorry ...Tamiz Conference), I wonder why many singers chose to SHOUT rather SING? I dislike AR Rahman in this one aspect - he sometimes goes overboard and tries to render in a high-pitch (which is still okay). But he need to see if the people can render it without shouting.

The Tamiz Theme song resembles lot of Western style of singing - may be the "Shouters" grew up listening to lot of Western music and think that only if they shout, others can hear.

WHERE IS THE MELODY IN THE THEME SONG OF SEMMOZHI? செம்மொழி இல் மெல்லிசை இல்லை

May be as per AR Rahman - எல்லா கத்தலும் இறைவனுக்கே!

Google Vs Bing - Who provides the right answer?

I started 'how to' and Google came up with a list. Topping that list was 'How to get pregnant'. I was curious to see what Bing produces and it had 'how to tie a tie'.

I tried Bing in IE as well as Chrome. The same trial was done with Google in IE and Chrome. Luckily, there was no difference (as it should be).

Cuil, whereas came up with 'how to choose'.

Not sure how page ranking is applied and why Pregnancy should be something on top in Google's search !

Dev Anand - Ever Green

While going through the 'Magazine' of the Hindu newspaper on Sunday, I came across the article about the 'Gregory peck' of India - Dev Anand; article on his new upcoming film and a short recount of his past days. I liked the below para about him.

"No other actor could romance heroines as effectively without touching them as Dev did. In fact Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and even Aamir Khan have unabashedly copied him in romantic scenes"

It goes without saying that ROMANCE is a word that can be associated with ONLY old movies of that genre and not a term that can be used for current days movies as the meaning has been stretched (and stretching far too beyond).

Karunanidhi Turns 87 - Screws up Chennai Traffic

On June 3rd, DMK party cadres chose to celebrate their "thalaivar" birthday in a manner known to all of us - disrupting traffic in main parts of the city thus putting all office goers into utter difficulty. While the people waited in the hot sun, Laddus were distributed to mark the special occasion. Luckily, I escaped by starting early to office and evaded getting stuck on road since I usually take the suburban train.

DMK believes in Tamiz as foremost language and raise a huge cry for Tamiz such as உடல் மண்ணுக்கு உயிர் தமிழுக்கு(roughly translates to - this body for Earth and life for Tamiz). It is a known fact that many such quotes are publicity stunts.

Then, why they chose an ENGLISH date i.e. June 3rd to celebrate? They could have chosen a date based on Tamiz calendar and distribute "Halwa" packets to every Tamizan.

Lord Venkateshwara & “Sarakku” Music

For Tamiz and non-Tamiz readers – “Sarakku” is slang for liquor which is not necessarily Toddy.

Last Friday (4th June) around 10 PM, my friend Thiyagu and I were heading towards Kodambakkam railway station to go home. There has been kind of spiritual activity in a temple nearby (loud speakers blaring some pooja slokas and mantras for couple of days). But on that day, the spiritual activity had ceased. There was a 30 feet or odd Lord Venkateshwara cut-out with all fancy lighting around him. To add effect of Friday evening and to probably cool down the spiritual effect, loud speakers were pouring out liquor based hit songs from Tamiz movies. A tent was erected nearby for people to showcase their dancing skills – not sure if Sarakku was served or not and whether people danced with its effect or not.

One could have spared the God from all these non-sense. It was very sure that no one could object to it as it must have been organised through the local political "dadas". No resident would wish to get a mouthful of abuse by intervening.

This is Kali Yuga and as per Hindu mythology, the world will undergo a clean-up once this fourth Yuga ends. The way I saw that activity, I could sense that the end days are not far behind :-)

LORENZO GO-LIVE @ Morecombe Bay Trust

This healthcare product of iSOFT has been under development for quite a few years and criticized a lot for the delays in implementation at NHS Trusts, UK. I have been associated with various versions and various roles in various teams in its life cycle.

There has been lots of delay - due to constantly changing requirements, market uncertainties and product stability / acceptance. But any product goes through that phase to attain maturity.

Last week, the first go-live of the original vision of the product was achieved. We had go-lives earlier in the year 2009 (close to 7 or 8 sites), but all those have been with the very minimal functionality.

This version is supposed to be replacing our legacy Patient administration software as well as provide Clinical functionality, support concurrent users and integrate with other systems.

It was happy moment for everyone who had been associated with this product for long, long time.