Tiger Woods

This one's a master stroke:

Roger Federer

Some of his best shots:



Even after a wonderful shot,Fedex often does not show any emotion....perhaps that is the reason for his relentless focus ....shot after shot,game after game....set after set ...till the last point of the match ...when he releases it all in one shot.

Spirit of the Games

This clip summarises it all!!

Table tennis

I love to play this game.It does not required too much of power like lawn tennis...but needs so much of focus.I just wonder why the Chinese are so good at it.
Some clips of amazing games.



Some more:


U may suggest a better clip if u have!

Medical Treatment in Chennai

Many people come to Tamil Nadu for medical treatment.Most are at a loss to decide which hopital to chooose.I am starting this blog to compare these hospitals from personal experience point of view.
List of hospitals in Chennai:
http://yellowpages.sulekha.com/searchcategory.aspx?loc=chennai&cat=51&=&pageno=1
You can also rate them.
From personal experience,Venkateshwara Hospital on Chamiers Road,Nandanam where I got treated for cellulitis,is good.
My friend got treated in Malar Heart Centre,Adyar for malaria.The AC room cost him Rs 2200 per day .Non AC is Rs 1100.Compare it with Venk,where its Rs 1600 for Ac Single sharing,Rs 600 For Non AC.I also found service of Venk better in comparision.Room was bigger, attendee's bed was far wider than in Malar's and it was not mandatory for the attendee to stay with patient 24 hrs.

Venkateshwara Hospital
Address and Phone
Address:

36 A Chamiers Road
Nandanam, Chennai 600035
Phone:
42125212

Malar Hospital
Address and Phone
Address:

52 1st Main Road, Gandhi Nagar
Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phone:
24914023

I will kepp updating this blog as I get to know more about these hospitals.You too can contribute from your personal experiences ,which hopital you got treated in ,what you liked in it and what you disliked....This may help someone .
Here's a link for Chennai Map.:
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/tamilnadu/chennai-map.htm

Should we give alms to beggars?

Should beggars be given alms?
These are poor people.Many are handicapped,diseased(physically or mentally or both) without any near or dear ones.They need help.We are just plain lucky to be born with all the facilities that these people lack.
When I find a beggar infront of me , two conflicting thoughts come up in my mind.Should I give some money or ignore.Some say that by giving alms,people are encouraging begging....making them dependent on public sympathy.In some places, beggar mafia have cropped up.Children are maimed and put into forced begging.Some create genuine nuisance, e.g. in public vehicles like trains,and in public places like temples,etc.
But then what else can be done?giving them a job would be best,but thats too difficult.Do we have time and energy to analyse their situation and find a way out.Its not easy.So, I usually drop a coin and go.
What do you think about this?Can beggary be eliminated?

Mother Teresa

One of the most powerful women ever to have walked on this planet!The more I try to understand her,the more I get amazed.

Launch of GSLV -Satellite launch vehicle

This September,India launched the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle that successfully placed a communication satellite into orbit.
This has come after a series of failures.



Hope this will help Indian satellites to be launched from India itself,instead of relying on the European Space agency.

Coorg Trip

Early this October,we got a chance to visit Coorg....a nice little hill station in the southern part of India,in the state of Karnataka.

I have shared the pics of the trip here and here

Ours was a group of 8 people.We booked a cottage for two days. It was cloudy and there was a slight drizzle throughout the trip.

We hired a local cab to tour us the area.

The town is typical of most Indian small ,remote towns.
We headed for the banks of the Kaveri river.
The ride was through winding roads and there was heavy downpour.
There was quite a bit of current in the river and people tried to do white water rafting.
After that we headed for the Buddhist monastery...it was awesome,why:
1.the school of the young would be lamas was resonating with the hyms and sound from their drums....which was a great sight
2.the huge statues of Buddha and other saints....looked golden...and so much of paintings and sculptures.

And there is unrestricted access...I have been to other such monasteries as well...the notable among them being the one in Dharamsala,Himachal Pradesh where Dalai Lama lives...and should say this one here at Coorg is bigger than the more famous one.

Next we went to a famous park from where tourists can have a great view of the hills around....watch the sun rise and set....it was evening and there was a dazzling display of light ,sound and water...musical fountain as they say.
Will update the remaining trip soon.

In case u want to visit Coorg,here are my two cents:
1.Bangalore is the best place to start for Coorg..there are frequent buses that take appox 6 hours...no train or flight.Charge around Rs 600 one way.
2.If there is a big group,better book a cottage....can be done from Bangalore..charges around Rs 2500 per night,excluding food.
3.More Info

Want to take something unique to this place ?If you think India is famous for spices,then you should also know that most of these spices are grown in Coorg and the nearby places.Apart from spices,coffee is another important crop.So you may grab a few packets of the varied spices and coffee.That's what I did.

International Dance

As you might all know the Red Indians are the original natives of America.There is a lot of color in their clothings and festivals.And a great dance style which together with the dress simply look awesome.
Red Indian dance:



Aborigines of Australia:Will update soon.

Micro Credit-Can it solve world poverty?

What is micro credit?And why is it talked about?
From Wikipedia:
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in poverty who are not considered bankable. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor.
.................
Anyways,one thing is certain that this focuses on helping the poor women to earn their own living.And that is very very good..because when an women is empowered ,it benefits an entire family.
Celebration of Micro Credit:

Muhammad Yunus of Grameen bank was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for uplifting the lives of millions of poor Bangladeshi women....This bank is based on the micro credit concept...if this model can work so well..perhaps the world leaders should give a serious thought in implementing it.

Punjabi Bhangra

While I was in the Northern parts of India,I was exposed to a lot of Punjabi music...and instantly liked it...Bhangra to be precise.The music ,as the Punjabis are,always full of energy...feel like dancing.
The band "Sahotas" do not hail from Punjab...there are from Canada....but they are pretty good in singing Bhangra:

Assamese music

Assam is a beautiful place in the Eastern part of India.
But here I will discuss the musical part.
The two most popular artists know across India are Zubeen Garg and Dr.Bhupen Hazarika.
The following is one of the famous songs of Zubeen Garg:



And here is sample of Bhupen Hazarika's sweet voice singing an old song:

He has a big following in Assam...and this song strives to motivate the ppl.

International Music

By definition,International music to refers to music which cross political boundaries in popularity.However,it seems to exclude English music...as it is a genre of its own.I feel not inclined to sub categorise ...so will club English in International itself.

OK.The follwing song "What a wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong...what do I have to say about this...have been hearing this since childhood...never knew who the singer was...and mostly this song will be played as a background to some poignant scenes....that drives the mesage straight to heart...eyes often get wet.So here it is once again for u:

Next,the band "Eagles".Will update soon.

Indian Pop Music

This post is dedicated to those artists who have sought to bridge the gap between popular music and Indian classical/folk/whatever.

Shubha Mudgal is one such singer.Too good when she sings the raagas in a Classical concert...equally good when she does pop versions.Just listen to her.

The following is one of the most famous songs,"Mann Ke Manjeere".It has got some heavy message in it.


You cannot see the actual singer in the video.In the next video,you can.It is,however,a TV report about another of her great songs,"Sapna dekha hai maine"...where they interview her.


This again has some strong message...as explained by the TV anchor.

Next artist to highlight is Pallash Sen and his band ,"Euphoria".A doctor by education,he has given many popular hits...the following is one of them.


There are some other artists as well.May be write about them sometime later.

Uploading Pictures to Picasa Web

This can be done two ways:
1.Use the web application.
2.Use the Picasa desktop utility.
THrough Windows,I have used both the ways with ease,especially thesecond one.Only when I got constrained to use Ubuntu that I realised the following issue:
Amazingly,the web application let us browse and select one pictures at a time...for 5 pics ,after which we need to click on upload button.In Windows,after clicking on Browse,I could select all the pics in one go..and hit Upload...and it will upload all the pics...thus I felt irritated with this limitation.
So I installed teh Linux version of Picasa ....disappointment again...as it does not hsve option to export pics to picasa web...the very reason i instaaled it...googled and it confirmed the fact that google has looked at picasa only from Windows perspective...that is sad.
Soultion:FSPOT.....select the pics,File->Export->Picasa Web ...it will prompt for the Picasa web user id and password....and that's it

But then ,one fine day...it suddenly began to ask for some default keyring password,which I had never set.After a lot of googling,I got something.In the Administration link ,click on Keyrings....view Keyrings...try to delete the default keyring..I did ..and it worked.

Driving Lessons

Started learning Driving.

I went to a nearby driving school....asked about the fees...chose the cheapest course...cheapest in the sense that ,the training is done for the most basic car....basic in the sense that..it has 4 gears...while normally ppl drive on 5...but who would let me drive in the 5th gear during training...so why should I shelve out extra money for that..it seemed to be a wise decision...infact,still with the same fees ,I have driven higher end cars also...But I did get disappointed a bit later on ,when they charged extra money apart from the usual fees ,for making an affidavit...which seems to be necessary in getting a driving licensefor ppl like us who are not permanent residents of the current location.It is ,as they say.."hidden cost"...so beware,question them carefully beforehand.

Apart,I felt like sharing with you some important driving lessons....but found plenty of them already posted on the Net...here are some of them:

Driving in India
Great Driving Tips