WELCOME - 2011... HAPPY NEW YEAR...

A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes.

Happy New Year and lets welcome 2011 with lots of positives.
Note: I received the above content from one of my friend by e-mail.

- Pavala.

My first Novel Attempt

One of my wish when I started this blog was to write a story, actually a novel that runs into several chapters. After long thinking sessions, I have come up with a theme and a good story out of it. This story will have most of the elements of a novel like Senti, Romance, Horror, etc.

Planning to post one chapter a day. As of now I do not know how many chapters this novel will run to, as this is my first attempt in writing such a big story.

I request all the 1 million readers & visitors of my blog(!?!?!?... too much da… ithu unakke over-a theriya???) to read the chapters regularly and provide your comments then and there.

And so in my next post my first Novel "In a Different World..." starts... Be ready to receive it...

- Writer(In which station???) Pavala.

NOTE(Nov 12, 2010): Due to un-avoidable reasons, novel attempt is post-poned for the time being.

How to identify a newly married Guy...

Having written about Girls, now its time to write about newly married Guys, just to maintain the balance:

(1) Bracelets... Most of the guys wear this on the day of their marriage for the first time in their life. If a Guy appears with new bracelet, chain and rings(probably on both the hands), for sure, he is a newly married guy.

(2) Wrist Watch... I wonder when this tradition came in. Definitely the in-laws will get a new watch for the Guy. And some Guys protect this watch more than the Girl they married. In earlier days, the Guys should have got a good HMT winding watch. A couple of years back, a good Titan watch used to be the standard and normally it will be a Gold colored one. But things have changed now... I was surprised to find that the cost of the watches got for the Guy runs to several thousands of rupees, and sometimes several tens of thousands. And those watches have all the features that you can think of. It has a thermomter, pressure meter, altimeter, speedometer, ammeter, voltometer, tachometer, auto-meter, taxi-meter and any other meter that you can think of :). I even have a doubt that the father-in-law sometimes even set a small chip with a transmitter in the watch, which keeps sending signals and messages to him through which he spies his son-in-law(Proof will be provided on request). I have 2 questions related to this:

-1- Why only analog watches(watches with hands) are given? Why digital watches which can accomodate even more features are not given???

-2- In this electronic age, where every gadget shows time, why still wrist watches are given to the Guy. Why not an i-pod, or i-phone, or a ultra-modern mobile phone???

(3) Coat & Suit... The guy will get have a coat&suit (probably the first one in his life and the only one for many in their life).

(4) He will always be roaming around with a foolish smile...

(5) These days the Guy gets a bike during marriage itself. His old, if he ever has one can be exchanged for perichambalam (dates). Most of the father-in-laws hand over this bike with a the condition that the pillion should always be reserved for his daughter... And the transmitter in the wrist watch will send a message to him, if he ever happens to dis-obey this request(or order).

(6) The Girl... Wherever he goes, a new girl will be accompanying him. He will be happy and proud to have such a company. As time passes, time will teach him, that this company is the source for most of the troubles in his life...

Disci: Readers are advised not to get serious about the points listed above, especially point (6)...

Comments are welcome...

- JAVA Pavala.

How to identify a newly married Girl...

How to identify a newly married girl (applies mostly to south Indian girls only):

(1) Whatever be her original skin complextion, now it will be yellow with due to the turmeric paste that was applied during the marriage.
(2) In addition to the normal bindi she normally has, there will be an additional red turmeric bindi on top of the forehead. I guess this is a newly adopted culture from north India and I doubt whether my grandmother or my mother ever wore such a bindi.
(3) She will be a bit more fat, and continue to grow fatter exponentaially for the rest of her life from the day of marriage.
(4) Sometimes people will mistake her for a Model doll kept in the showcases of the Jewelery shops due to the quintals of Golden Jewels that she will be wearing.
(5) She will be wearing a mangal sutra. (I brought this point to the last position, since these days Girls sometimes dont wear it (or) dont wear it when they go for work (or) they conceal it when they go for work.)

Thats all I can think of. More are welcome in the comments...

- JAVA Pavala.

Engagement means Endless phone calls... part (2)

Hmmm... Nothing great... One of my colleague got engaged recently. Contrary to normal engagers, I never found him with a mobile phone stuck on his ear. And no other feature which I have normally seen among people who got engaged. Unable to resist the temptation, I many times thought of asking why he is like this... But since I felt that that might be a intrusion into his privacy, I didnt ask.
But it made me understand that there are still some engaged couples who are never like what is written in this title of this article...

- JAVA Pavala.

Actor Murali is no More...

Morning, came to know that actor murali expired due to heart attack. Sad to know that. At the same time we have to appreciate his attitude due to which till his last minute, he kept attending college and kept loving his classmates, though it was not reciprocated, atleast until the cilmax...
May his soul rest in peace and let God give his family infinite strength to move on...

Engagement means Endless phone calls...

Engagement means Endless phone calls...

Disclaimer: All characters, incidents, descriptions and anything else that you could imagine, depicted in this article are imaginery. Any resemblance to anyone living & currently undergoing an engagement-period (like notice-period :-)..) is not intentional, but purely coincidental...

(Appada, Maniratnam padam maathiri oru Disci-ya pottachu... Ini enna venna eluthlaam...).

A couple of

Engagements and m

arriage fixe

s happened in our family and in my friends circle recently, which is the main motivation for writing this article. I will try to highlight all that happen

during the engagement period and where ever possible I will give hints which would help yo

u to identify between different types of couples.

Couples can be broadly classified into 3 types - Approved couples, Un-Approved couples and Yet-to-be-Approved couples. If the parents see a guy or a girl for thier kid and once their kids say “ok”, at times after a bit of persuasion, the engagement starts. In this case, the couple is an Approved cou

ple as these type of couples have f

ull Approval from their parents and the engagement period

starts from the moment they mutually say “ok”. The interesting thing here is that it takes less time for a Girl to decide on the Guy for them, than the time they take for buying a saree

or

a jewel for them. Same should be the case for the Guy too, I guess. If a guy falls in love in a girl and the girl never approves (or) accepts his love(whic

h is normally the case...) (or) if a girl falls in love with a guy and if the guy never approves (or) accepts her love(a rare case :-)...), then they fall under the catagory of Un-Approved couples. This type of couples never have an engagement period. If a Guy and a Girl fall in lo

ve with each other, and the other party also accepts the love, but still their parents are yet to approve t

heir love and get them married, then these couples can be bro

ught under the catagory - Yet-to-be-Approved couples. In this case, the engagement starts right after one person proposes and the other person accepts.

Irrespective of whatever be the type of

couple, a lot of interesting stuff happens around the persons getting engaged and it is a good

entertainment for the people around them, until marriage.

The first thing is phone call

s. In the case of approved couples,

things are quite easy. The parents get the number of the Guy or the Girl, pass it on to their ward and ask them to call and talk

to the other person... How nice it is.... But take the case of the Yet-to-be-approved

couples. The Guy (most of the time...) does all the tricks that exists in this world and somehow gets the girl’s number and starts first with missed calls, then with blank calls, and finally with all courage starts speaking... only to

receive scoldings from the other end... :-(...

As there is no problem for the Approved couples to give or receive phone calls, they keep getting calls day and night, in and out. At times the immatured and yet-to-grow-up people like me wonder like about what they will be talking all day and night, and at one point what will they do when they exhaust discussion

on all the topics in this galaxy?!?!??? And what will be left out to talk after marriage?!?!???

I have an idea for the mobile network providers. They can come with a plan like engagement-period pack. In this plan, a person who got engaged can add the number of the person to whom he got engaged. In order to avail this plan, the person should produce an affidavit or atlea

st a letter signed by parents on both sides stating that they are indeed engaging their kid to the other person.

Otherwise, there are chances that this plan will be misused heavily. In this plan, call charges are free between both the numbers from 10:00 PM to 3:00 or 4:00 AM, and then charges are 10 times the normal charge until 10:00 AM (in an attempt to give rest to those poor mobile phones and also to bring down their network traffic), then again normal charges from until 10:00 PM.

Again, here we get a chance to differentiate between approved and yet-to-be-approved couples. When the girl or the guy gets the call, and if their parents quietly move from that place in order to enable them to talk peacefully, then they are Approved couples. On hearing the ring tone, if the parents rush and come near the girl or the guy to observe what they are talking and (or) or to find out to whom they are talking to, then they are yet-to-be-approved couples.

Invariably, as I confirmed through my friend and other friends, most of the girls after sometime, find the conversation from the other end to be monotonous and boring. They use several techniques to avoid such boring talks, after sometime. The most common being “hello... hello...

signal illa... appurama call pannuga...” (no signal... call me later...). This also gives an insight into the fact that almost all

the calls originate from the Guy. In the case of yet-to-be-approved couples, the girl says “amma nearby, call me later...”, or “mama nearby, call me later”, etc.

Going around the city (or) Roaming is an inevitable activitiy for the couples during the engagement period. When the parents bring their ward safely, make all facilities, fix the place and duration of roaming, then one can easily guess that they are approved couples. In some cases, the approved couples even go to the extreme of having feast in their relatives home, during the engagement period itself. Yet-to-be-approved couples do not have this privilage as they always have the fear of being seen by anyone in the known circle.

Giving gifts is

another inevita

ble activi

ty during the engagement period. Needless to say, in this case also the gifts originates from the Guy. Don't imagine too much about the gifts. Items like

baloon, panchu mittai (cotton toffee, if my translation is right...:-)...),

and dolls which normally would delight a 2 or 3 year old toddler would be

given or exchanged as gifts. Only to the immature and yet-to-grow-up people like me the question would arise “Why stuff that would normally delight a 2 or 3 year olds are given as gifts...”. Again here we get an opportunity to find out what type of couples they are. If the gifts are neatly packed and sent through parents or through to-be-parents-in-law and handed over the girl, then they are approved couples. If the gifts are just dropped a

t the door of the girl, even without the details of who dropped it, th

ey are unapproved or yet-to-be-approved couples.

Another thing is the visit to in-laws home. If the Guy visits the to-be-in-laws home, or to any of the in-laws relatives home and if the Guy receives a Royal tre

atment, then they are approved couples. If the Guy just stares at the in-laws home from some distance and never gets a chance to enter the home, then they are yet-to-be-approved couples.

These days, its not uncommon so see

the girl also visiting the in-laws home (or) extended in-laws home during the engagement period itself, most of the time

for reasons like their extended in-laws wants to see the girl.... Let me try to guess what will happen during such a visit... The girl will sit somewhere like the center of the house and the in-laws will com

e one-by-one, either in a queue (or) by some other means a

nd see the girl.... Or.... may be like they will be seated in front of a dias and the girl com

es and walks here and there on the dias, like the parade that happens in a fashion show.... Or... may be in a traditional way the girl will have a big tray with tumblers filled with coffee and she will be serving to in-laws and there-by they also get a chance to see her... But this normally happens in the

girl's home during the 'pon paarkum padalam'(girl seeing function)... Ok... Ok... let me stop my imagination here...

Lot more things to write... If possbile will continue in a sequel to this...

Whatever it is.. the couple in their engagement period are a good source of entertainment to everyone around them...

Disci 1: All characters, incidents, descriptions and anything else that you could imagine, depicted in this article are imaginery. Any resemblance to anyone living & currently undergoing an engagement-period (like notice-period :-)..) is not intentional, but purely coincidental...

Disci 2: Incidents related to un-approved or yet-to-be-approved couples are not based on my personal experience.

Disci 3: This article is purely fictional and not based on real incidents. Any claim that it is based on anyone's personal story or incidents will be summarily rejected.

Disci 4: If this article hurts the feelings (or) sentis, (or) anything else of anyone, it really has to be attributed to my poor writing and depicting skills, in which case, I personally accept my fault and offer my apologies...

- JAVA Pavala.

Happy Birthday...

Happy Birthday Pavala...

Hard, constant, continuous, unceasing work never goes unrewarded...

The best revenge is living best...

Its time to Awake, arise and stop not until your goals are reached...

Never stop...

All the best...

- Pavala.

When things are fully out of your control...

When things are fully out of your control, the best thing to do is to make a quite quit, allow things to take its course and then take decide what you need to do.

- JAVA Pavala.

J...to the...A...to the...V...to the...A ..... JAVA...

Conversation Starters...

Conversation Starter - I first came across this word in 2008, while attending a session on cross-cultural adaptability. That year I was making all arrangements to travel to US for work-related reasons and in our company it is mandatory that we need to attend that course before travelling to US for the first time. The instructor explained the importance of having a conversation starter, how it can be used to start a conversation with anyone and especially with the clients. Had I mastered this art during my college days, I would have got a lot of friends, especially girl friends ;-).

Though I learnt it theoritically I had difficulty in using it in practice. As a typical south Indian, I had a lot of difficulty in opening a conversation with strangers and sometimes even among known people. When I reached US, I found that people are very good in starting a conversation with anyone using conversation starters. The most common one is “How are you doing?” (or) “
How are you doing these days?” (or) “How are you doing today?”. It is normally a statement used just to start a conversation and it is never to be mistaken that they are really worried about how we are doing.

Initially I didnt know the answer for that starter and I just used to throw a blank smile to the opener. The theoritical training didnt help me much during the initial days. If this question was asked to me over phone, I just used to ignore it and just jump into the actual conversation.

Soon I learnt from my friend Sing and got to know that the answer for this question is “Doing good, Thank you and how are you doing?”. They will normally give the reply “Doing good, Thank you”. For which we can reply “Good to know that.” We can stop the conversation starter here and jump into the actual conversation, as by now the conversation would have started. Another good conversation starter if you are out of India and while talking to a US person is “How is the weather there?”.

This conversation starter applies only to actual US people and certainly not to the Indians who live there. Like here, Indians there just stare at us (or) ignore our presence. At times people who have lived there for a sufficient period of time, use the conversation manners of US by opening a conversation with a conversation starter, may be in an attempt to be a more US-ian. I mean they don’t do it to Indians, but like us they follow it with Americans.

After sometime I became well-versed with the starters and I was able to open up a conversation with anyone. After returning back to India, for a brief time I suffered from US-return-syndrome and I was throwing the question to anyone whom I met - be in home, office or on the road. I remember a begger staring at me when I asked him “How are you doing these days?”. Soon I understood that I was making a fool of myself and took conscious efforts and recovered from US-return-syndrome.

After my return from US, I joined a new project at off-shore. This project was so hectic that we used to work round the clock on more or less on all the days, including week-ends. But the manager was kind enough to provide us with project sponsored dinner and project sponsored lunch on week-ends. On one such occasion, while having lunch with my team-mates in canteen, a girl, basically from Andhra was sitting next to me. I didn’t mind to turn towards her or talk to her. Had it been US (or) had I been suffering from US-return-syndrome, I would have thrown a conversation starter at her by now.
Suddenly, while picking my lunch plate, she saw me and said “Hi...”
“Hi...”, I replied.
I knew that the next question would be the conversation starter and was waiting for it...
She asked “Is your wife married???”.

I was confused and didn’t know what answer to give for this conversation starter... But could understand that somehow she knew that I am a married person...

I managed and answerd "Yes... She is also married...”

People around us burst into laughter... She realized her mistake and she also joined them...

But still I have to agree that, it was a good conversation starter...

- spgr.

Family Problems...

The number, amount and impact of problems in a family is exponentially proportional to the number of children a couple have. Thank God, from very large families, though Government's initiatives on family control measures, now we have nuclear families. But even now we have so much problems. Cant imagine how it would have been, a few decades back...

- s p g r.

சுதந்திரம் குடு...

தாணுவிற்கு இரவு சாப்பாட்டிற்கு இப்போது எல்லாம் இட்லி தோசை பிடிப்பதில்லை... அவனுக்கு 'பெட் டோஸ்ட்' தான் வேண்டும்... அவன் அம்மா இப்போது எல்லாம் காஞ்சி பேக்கரிக்கு சென்றால், கேட்காமலே பிரட் பக்கெட்டை எடுத்து தந்து விடுகிறானாம். இவன் எல்லாம் அமெரிக்கவிலோ லண்டனிலோ பிறந்து இருக்க வேண்டியவன் என்பது அவன் அம்மாவின் கருத்து.

ஆம்மாம் நம்ம வீட்டுல தான் ஒரு வெள்ளைக்கார தொரை இருக்கிறான் என்று பேகேரிகாரன்க்கு தெரியும் போல... என்று அவளிடம் சொன்னேன்...

நேற்று இரவு அவன் பிரட் டோஸ்ட் சாப்பிட்டு கொண்டு இருந்த பொது, எங்க வீடு தொரை கிட்ட சுதந்திரம் கேட்கலாம் என்று நினைத்து கேட்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்.

"தம்பி, சுதந்திரம் தா..."

"தடமாட்டேன்..." கையை வேறு பின்னல் வைத்துகொண்டான்...

"சொஞ்சம் சுதந்திரம் தா கண்ணு..."

"தடமாட்டேன்..."

நிச்சயமாக இவன் வெள்ளைக்கரனாக தான் பிறந்து இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று நினைத்து மேலும் தொடர்ந்தேன்...

"தம்பி..."

"என்ன..."

"Quit India..."

"மாட்டேன்..." மேலும் உறுதியானது...

"சரி... எப்போ சுதந்திரம் தருவே?..."

"நாளைக்கு கீச்சுக்கு போகும் பொது தான் தடுவென்..."

"அப்படியா.."

"அமாம் அப்படித்தான்..."

"சரி..."

பிறகு வேற வேலைகளை கவனிக்க தொடங்கினேன்...

சிறிது நேரத்திற்கு பிறகு, சேரில் உட்கார்ந்துகொண்டு தீவிரமாக எதோ யோசனை செய்து கொண்டு இருந்தேன்...

அது அவனுக்கு நான் வருத்த பட்டு கொண்டு இருந்ததை போல் தோன்றி இருக்க வேண்டும்...

மெல்ல என் அருகில் வந்தவன்,

"அப்பா..."

"என்ன..."

"சுந்தம் வேணுமா..."

"அமாம்..."

"இந்த வச்சுக்கோ..." என்று சொல்லி நான் அவனிடம் சுதந்திரம் கேட்ட பொழுது அவன் கையில் வைத்திருந்த பொம்மையை கொடுத்தான்...

- எஸ் பி ஜி ஆர்

Is a mother's love selfless

Is a mother's love selfless? Obviously let me elaborate this question. This question has daunted me several times and everytime I have come to the same conclusion. The conclusion is "No. A mother' s love is not selfless, but a selfish one."

We all like something that we have. We like the computer we own and use it, though it may not be superior to our neighbours. So, here is the trace of selfishness. We like it because it ours...

The love of a mother originates on a baby because it is "HER" baby. Since it belongs to her and since it is part of her, that powerful love emerges on the baby. Its not un-common to see that when a mother has to decide between her baby and her spouse, she will always be on the side of her baby, because it is her baby and her spouse is someone else's baby. Also, the same mother will not have such a love on any baby which is not hers. This we can see everywhere around us. In most families a daughter-in-law is a daugher"-in-law" only can never can be a daughter.

Hmmm... Just thought of writing something... So wrote about this question, which quite often comes to my mind... That a mother's love is as pure as milk... But even these days even milk is not pure...

From all this I have to conclude that a mother's love is not selfless.

How many packs do you have?

Hmmm... Actors of yester years didnt have this problem.. All they had was a single pack and even with that single pack, they had a flourishing career with lot of fans... How can one forget the single pack Professor Sivaji performing romance with K.R.Vijaya aunty(also with a single pack... ) in day-before-yesteryear movies...

But now things have changed. I think it was Surya, who brought this culture in, in the tamil movies... Then almost every actor started working for it and consequently all their fans and
eventually the comman men too...

Since I am also a common man, I also wanted to have a six-packed abdomen...

When I told my Gym master that I want to have six-packs, he asked me lie down on the bench, and took a short thick nylon rope and told me that slashes with it in 15 by 3 sets daily on my present single pack will get it... I got terrified and since I didnt know whether he was serious or making fun of me, I told him that I will do that work out for 6 packs later... and eventually dropped that idea and here i am going you tell you why...

It is human tendency to go for more after reaching one... So, the present day people with 6 packs, will want 8 packs once they reach 6 packs... then these 8 packers will put all the effort to become 10 packers.... then, the 10 packers will move to be a 12 packer... then 12 to 14, then 14 to 16...... ok.... ok.... will stop here... and so on and forth... A little knowledge of mathematics will help us to understand that since the surface area is one and the same, it has to accomodate 'n' packs after sometime... at one point of time, each pack will be so small that they will be hardly visible... at which all those tiny innumerous packs will together appear like one large single pack.... which is exactly what I have now....

so tell me... why should I go for 6 packs now???
- spgr.

அவன் ஏன் அப்படி பண்ணுனான்...

"தெரியும் இல்ல, அவன் பொண்ணு பார்த்துட்டான்..."
"எப்போ..."
"முந்தாநேத்து..."
"அவங்க வீட்டுக்கு தெரியுமா..."
"இல்ல... அவன் மட்டும் போய் பார்த்துட்டு ஓகே சொல்லிட்டான்..."
எங்கள் அலுவலகத்தில் முகேஷ்க்கும், வினீத்க்கும் இடையே நடந்த உரையாடல் இது...
கம்ப்யூட்டர் ல இருந்து கவனம் சிதறியதால், உரையாடலை தொடர்ந்து கவனிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்.
"பையன் வீட்டுல இருந்து ஏன் யாருமே போகலை?"
"அதன் தெரியும் இல்ல போன வாரத்திலே இருந்து, அவன் அவங்க அப்பா அம்மா பேச்சை கேட்கறது இல்லை..."
"அதுக்காக பொண்ணு பார்க்க போகும் போது தனியாவா போறது?..."
"போன வாரம் என்ன பண்ணுனான் தெரியுமா..." பிஜுவும் சேர்ந்து கொண்டான்.
"என்னடா பண்ணுனான்?..."
"அவன் பிரண்ட மட்டும் கூட்டிகிட்டு ஒரு பொண்ண பார்க்க போனான்..."
அவர்கள் குறிப்பிடும் பையன் யாராக இருக்கும் என்று நான் யோசிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்...
"சரிடா... இப்போ என்ன அகும்ற..."
"தெரியலடா.... இன்னகினு வேற productionல கரெக்டா போன அப்புறம் தான் கேளம்பனும்னு மேனேஜர் சொல்லிடாரு..."
"முடிஞ்சுது... அப்போ... இன்னைக்கு நைட் இங்கதான்ன்னு சொல்லு..."
"ஆமாம் டா... வயிப்ஆ பார்க்க சொல்லிருக்கேன்... இன்னைக்கு தெரிஞ்சிடும், அவன் ஏன் இப்படி செய்யுறன்னு..."

தலையில் அடித்து கொண்டேன்... திருமணதிற்கு பிறகு பசங்களும் இப்படி டிவி சீரியல் பார்பாங்கனு இன்னைக்கு தான் தெரிஞ்சிகிட்டேன்...
பெண்கள் மாதிரியே... அத பத்தி ஆபீஸ்லயும் டிஸ்கசண் வேற...
என்னோட half an hour போச்சு... நல்ல இருங்காப்பா ...

- எஸ் பி ஜி ஆர்.

If I were...

Thank you Shen for tagging.
Let me continue here...

If I were a month, I would be January
If I were a day, I would be Sunday
If I were a computer, I would be IBM
If I were a laptop, I would be Lenovo
If I were a processor, I would be Intel
If I were an jewel, I would be Diamond
If I were a TV, I would be Sony
If I were a city, I would be Mysore
If I were a King, I would be Babur
If I were a lady, I would be Victoria
If I were a pen, I would be Montblonc
If I were a river, I would be Thames
If I were a sea, I would be Atlantic
If I were a drink, I would be Champagne
If I were a baby, I would be Dhanu
If I were a vehicle, I would be Space jet
If I were a tree, I would be Neem
If I were a season, I would be winter
If I were a bird, I would be Phoneix
If I were a mobile phone, I would be iPhone
If I were something, I will be the best...

I tag Dhanesh Amma to continne....

post from mobile.

hey... i have learnt to access internet from mobile and this is my first post from my mobile. next week we are heading to my better half's and i am thinking of making some good posts of that journey. its a land of good scenic views, river, mountian, etc. more next week during or after that travel. - s p g r.

Process improvement and flushing the toilet...

Till my college days and even in the first few years of my professional life, I have been an extreme introvert. Me always in a closed shell and never coming out of that. But I enjoyed my days in that closed shell. Some psychomatic tests that I took in those days also confirmed that I am an introvert. But after around 2 years of professional experience, I have slowly started becoming an extrovert. It may be because of me shifting to the metro-city and working in an industry which requires a lot of communication and interaction with colleagues and foreign nationals. My 2 profession related trips to the United States of America added fuel to it. As time rolled by, I found that I was able to open a conversation easily with anyone and in any occation, when required, and sometimes when not required too ;-) ...

But this change in nature of mine has been a nuisance for some people with embarassing moments for them. One such incident happened recently in an oreintation session in the company that I have joined recently. As in all companies, here too, they conducted orientation sessions for the new joinees, where we have to assemble in a hall like the training hall or an assembly hall and the big shots and critical people from various departments in the company will come and introduce about themselves and about the functions of the departments, so that we get to know about the company.

On the second day there was one such session, where a person from a department - the department which I hate to the core with all my heart, mind and soul - came and presented about his department and how it helps in delivering the product with utmost quality to the customer. Already I am known as a session spoiler (or enricher to some), who just throws numerous questions to the presenter that mostly end up in controversial situation. I do this just to learn about everything in this industry and for a big personal gain in the long run.
Some questions made him un-comforable; some made him angry; and what not. Let me give an example of a conversation that happened in the session:
"Forget about all these technical stuff", said the presenter, "lets take a day-to-day example - preparing a sambar", and he smiled at us. "How many of you know cooking?" he threw this question to us.
A few of us raised our hands and to my surprise, that hydrabad girl - the only lady participant and the star among the new joinees - didnt raise her hand. Let the Almighty save this world and the guy whom she is going is marry (or) the guy whom she has married. By the way still I couldnt find out whether she is married or not. For her age she should have been married, but no sign of that. Nowadays its not possible or atleast very difficult to find out whether a working woment is married or not. Anyway, why should I worry about that :-).
"Good," said the instructor and asked "Who among you is an expert in making sambar".
For this question I and another guy raised our hands.
"How do you say that you are an expert in making sambar" he enquired.
The other guy said "My friends have tasted it and said that its good."
"Fine." The instructer turned to me and I said "I know that the sambar I cook tastes extremely good."
"But there should be someone who tastes(tests???) it and confirms it"
"Thats not required. I have tasted sambar prepared by various people both in my family and among my friends from that I came to the conclusion that the sambar I prepare tastes good and better than all those." I stood firm in my statement.
"No, we cant say like that..." he said and went on "Anyway, how to you confirm that in each and every step, you are indeed preparing sambar that will be good at the end?"
We all just blinked.
He added "I mean, how do you make sure that each unit you prepare is good... something like unit testing..."
I got his point and said "A sambar cannot be tested in its intermediate stages... only the end product can be tested, by tasting it... its not advisable to taste it in its intermediate stages..."
But I think he is an expert in this sambar example and I can confirm it from what he said next "Though you cant taste it, you can confirm from the color, odor, and other qualities of it during preparation"
"I agree" I said and I didnt participate in that conversation after that.

In the afternoon session he was explaining a mechanism which the organisation has where the employee can suggest anything to the top management about anything which we feel will bring in some improvement to the organization and he was with full of enthu to describe one improvement that he suggested and was implemented:
"Quite often I go to other branches to give similar sessions and whenever I go from Chennai airport to the other branch, in-variably my stomach gets upset... the flight journey time is so small that they wont allow us to get up from the seat... and so I have to control till I reach our office there..."
"You should not eat our canteen food before travelling... " said I to myself...
He continued after a pause "One such time when I reached our office, the staff from training department took me to the training room, but I told him 'show me the toilet, my stomach is upset'... He showed me the toilet and I went in... Normally I have the habit of flushing the toilet before using it..."
"Hope he flushes it after use too, otherwise the next person also have to follow his habit of flushing it before use"
He went on "But to my surprise I couldnt find any handle or anything which I can turn or press to flush it... I looked around for sometime, and finally considering the emergency of the situation I have to give up my cleanliness habit and went ahead and used it... "
He gave a pause and continued "I finished my work and again started searching for the knob or handle... I found one small knob- hardly visible- to the left of me on the wall, but it was not reachable though I stretched my hand to the farthest possible while being seated on the commode..."
"Then I have to stand and pressed the konb and do you know what happend next???" he threw the question to the audience at an in-appropriate time...
I couldnt resist anymore immediately shouted "What... The door opened???"
The whole hall bursted into laughter and it took 2 minutes to calm down. He was just embarassed and gave a pathetic look to me and then to others.
I realized that I should not have said so. Also that I am talking too much these days and I should reduce my talkativeness.
He said "No no... it flushed... and after that I straight took the isse to the top management and asked them to stuck a sticker near that knob saying 'flush here'..."
He didnt talk much after that and wrapped up the session quickly and left.
I was sure that he will not quote that flushing experience ever in his sessions.

Two weeks later I met a guy who had joined that week. I met him over the canteen.
I asked him "Did you attend that session on org excellence?"
"Yes"
"What example he gave for process improvement?"
"He didnt give any example, he just said what is meant by process improvement and moved on to the next topic.."
Hmmm.... I knew that.... :-)...
- spgr.