Mahesh’s World

It was one of the new year resolutions to take the next step towards my passion for photography. And I made the right choice of joining basic digital photography course at Ambitions. The day 1 - March 13th, the introductory speech given by Sir(raja ponsing) made us think, “oh, so many things….am I too less for this course?”. But the heaviness was wiped out once we started the introductions of the participants and we were from class eleven students to retired officers. Just an hour after, we had our first tea break and after that, it was always - 41st batch ambitions basic photography! We made friends with each other within few days and were sharing many lighter moments during tea breaks, class hours(getting scolding from sir), after class hours and especially during outings!

The very first friends whom I gained there were Abhay, Mr.Nagarajan, Mr.Prasad, Balaji, Mr.Sivarkumar and Ramakrishnan. It was a great move from Mr.Prasad to lend us with brilliant world movies collection. I got the chance to see some really good movies. Nagarajan and his uncle have helped me a lot for the outings and the technical aspects in the absense of sir. I got in touch with Doctor Sundar (Well known for his flag pole pose!) to enquire about organ donation. So, it was a week or so and we formed a really good group. I got the chance to mingle with the “x-factor gang” of our batch headed by Bhargavi!

What a fun we had learning our passionate course. More than a class, it was a much different feel. Here are very good memories which are cherishable even after years:

> Bhargavi -The center of attraction in class, with her arrows of queries and experience (sometimes informative, sometimes arrrgghhh….) - the livewire

>Thavakkalai a.ka. Ganesh - The only person who gave me company with D40 and shout in middle of the class, “Sir, D40 la indha feature illa sir @?#$%”

>Doctor Sunder - Wow! He is one of the gems for our batch. Down to earth, awesome knowledge, Still remembers Focal length formula studies in physics class. And thanks doc for answering my queries on organ donation and blood donation.

> Thiru sir - Tea! Starting with his comments on the taste of tea in the break to his comments on the IPL matches, he has his own style of waving his hand with tea in his other hand - catchy!

> Sir’s Birthday - We will never forget the surprise celebration. Kudos to bargs and co who secretly devised it.

> My comment to one of the review photos - “Ennadhu indra gandhi sethutangala!!”. Dunno which timing it was, but made entire class laugh.

> Gopal - Saroja padam vaibhav. Ya he resembles him with slight modifications here and there. Started as a photographer and ended as a subject in the last outing!

> Jayaram - “Seeing it on a different perspective” nu ivaru arambicha podhum.. ada ada… manusan ennama yosanai pannuvaru theriyuma… Really… he is Live wire -2!

> Prasad sir - Expert knowledge in world movies. Has a great collection. Love the discussions about the shots he loved in the movies which he gives every week.

> Ramakrishnan - A person with passion integrated with family committments. Will surely reach great heights for his deep down interest and love towards the art. So kind and soft natured fellow.

> Archana lakshmanan iyer- Iyere..venam iyere venam iyere kinda gal. Modern, bold, breaking the cultural barriers, smoking, enthu planning of leh rock concert. Generally these kinda gals look so odd for me and i hate them completely coz i claimed myself to be the culture guard to TN u see!! Archana - Exception.. Reason - Really dunno!!

> Kalyan - The moving encyclopedia of ebooks and tutorials. Generous enough to share it with all of us even hours together after the class. And yeah, for discount on Indian terrain garments, contact him!

>
>
>You can add more to these and make this a better post! Non - Ambitions4 frens comments also welcome!

To sum up, I have gained more good persons around me in addition to the photography inputs. Thanks Ambitions4!

It was for a very long time, i have been thinking to put something really interesting or funny in my blog as the next update. Today, i remembered a incident which happened a month back at our office and found that could be an interesting one to post. So here it goes!

We boast to be at the biggest office of T(ea)C(offee)S(nacks) which is located at SEZ, Siruseri on the OMR. The security wasn’t so strict and anyone with a white and blue identity card can get in. But all of a sudden, the security restrictions got tightened and we were checked like terrorists carrying time bombs. A pillion wasn’t allowed in a bike and removing the helmet to check the face comparing with that in the ID card were made compulsary. Mails flowed in saying that the ID cards have to be displayed when getting inside the bus and also when getting down. We wondered why was this sudden turnover of events are happening around us. It was almost after a week, we came to know the reason.

We have a special shuttle service to the main gate which is about two kilometers from our office. The week ahead, a lady had got into the bus and reached our office. She tailgated inside the project premises and was roaming around the cubicles having a look around. And then she has went to a person and started begging for money! Yes, she was a beggar. She not only got inside the office but also into the so called secured Project floor too! Later, the security guards took her away before which she already collected more than fifty bucks!

When we were discussing this incident, we got a major doubt which i bet you people would also have got after reading this. Are the girls working here are so bad or the beggar girl was looking so good that they couldn’t differentiate?

It is always a great pleasure to see people who are closely associated with you grow up in their lives and achieve great positions. It makes you feel sad when your friend is not able to achieve something. It also makes you feel sad when your friends keep achieving very big things and you remain stagnant with no idea of what to do further. The latter is exactly my situation now and this post is on those who have led me to this sadness and thought process.

N.V. Deepak : He is one of my very close friends from school days. He did his engineering in a government college at a remote place and managed to get placed in Caritor(now keane) who took none inside their company till date, He was working too hard, attending five interviews in a week, got into Sutherland first and then into a firm named moneytree. But, he never found himself satisfied and wanted to achieve big. He kept trying for the defense forces and one day he got a letter in reply to his application in Indian Navy through SSB(Sahastra Seema Bal – http://ssb.nic.in/welcome.asp?langid=2). This interview is believed to be one of the toughest. He cleared it in first attempt and after that had a extreme test for his physical fitness. And after all his perseverance and handwork, he is today Sub lieutenant in Indian Navy!!

Ramanujam parthasarathy: He is my college friend and he was the guru for us as far as the online world is concerned. He was the one who told us about blogging. We all started a blog together, but he was the only person to do it regularly, attend bloggers meet, gain more knowledge, build up the network and learn new trends. He taught us to make money out of blogs through which our entire class made wholesome money. He was the inspiration to many to start thinking about a Masters degree too. Now he is pursuing his Masters at Virginia tech and has got a internship at the United Nations - http://www.un.org/en/ !

I always admire these two for their sincerity. Kudos to them! They, as per my perspective, have achieved so big in their lives within the past two years with all their dedication and hard work. There are many more who are to be mentioned like Sano(tech virus), Raja(future politician), VJ(Clemson fella) who are going to be appended to this list in future. Taking inspirations from them, people like me, kudi should do something to make ourselves eligible to be added to this list.

I should probably get myself hit by the people who were around me when I lifted my hands for blogging on Barcamp3. Coincidentally, Kiruba’s words was so powerful to leave me without a internet connection for the past week, that I am posting this with such a delay. Better late than never and also i never wanted to miss out my experience at this years’ barcamp.

It was April 11,2010 - my 23rd birthday and it was a fair decision for me to go for a Barcamp3 to start this year with something useful. I reached there by 9.30 and rushed to the conference hall after skimming the wiki board. Had I written this post the next day, I would have mentioned the entire days’ happening with the list of sessions. But since, Harish and Syed have already made a fine list on them, I would rather write about the entire days’ most memorable happenings.

Following a perfect unconference way of seating post lunch and removing the classroom kinda sessions - Kudos to Kiruba!

The session on the Calendar of TKF for 2010. I got the membership of TKF and came to know about similar minded people who work under Elements 5

The lightening session by Vivek(rvivek/interviewstreet.com) who really was my inspiration for the day! Of same age, now an successful entrepreneur, made me realize that I do nothing special

Session on the Internet Society(ISOC). Being completely addicted to internet, it was completely new to know that there is some special society which focuses on internet standards, education etc.

“Entrepreneurship and Love(Sex)” - Wow! No one in barcamp3 will forget that session forever. Ram took that session with appropriate double meaning photos :P. Sexy Session!!

Lunch - 10% for the food and 90% for the break time which gave space to make new friends and extend our network, which is ultimately the reason and purpose of unconferences!

Feedback session and points to improve discussion was really nice to get to know the views of everyone there. Few of the points which i remember are:

A better choice of venue to suit the unconferency style and crowd

Appreciations and blows to yuvi panda for leading the organizing team!

Suggestions to do live tweets and stick to hash tags

Spread the word across more interested audience in addition to the regular ones
Photoshoot where we had to maintain different poses for each snap taken by cameraman Kiruba!

The TEDx organizers meet where we got associated with. Really was amazed to hear about TED conferences all around the world and really charged up to put all efforts possible for it!

Altogether, it was a perfect knowledge treat for me on my birthday! And, i have really started hands on few new ventures after Barcamp2 like Photography classes and a small NGO - Peace and Happiness! This years’ inspirations will also drive me into new ventures very soon. Looking forward for many such events from the knowledge foundation! I bet anyone who comes to such camps, take lots of inspiration from other participants in addition to the knowledge which they get.

If you have missed out all camps of TKF so far, do make it a point to be on the next one! Share your knowledge, spread your network, inspire others and also get inspired!

Remainder: TEDx Chennai on October 10,2010 at IIT,M. For further details, check out http://www.tedxchennai.com/

Angaadi theru, Director - Vasantha balan(veyil fame)
Cast: Mahesh(debut), Anjali(Katradhu tamizh) , Black pandy and other people you see in daily life

Angaadi theru (meaning: market street) is a story spindled around the lives of those who come from villages to work as salesperson in big stores in the market road of chennai- ranganathan street. The movie has made a strong impact on the audience making them to know that there is one part of the society which keeps suffering and there is other which lives ignorant of these.

Storyline : Life of young village boys and girls who come to work hurdling over tortures and bad treatment, as they have no other way to help their struggling families in the village.

Strengths :

A movie with a good story which relates a lot with reality. Nowadays, a movie with a story itself is a big treat to the audience. This is really a boon to audience.

Art direction is to be appreciated for the effective portrayal of the mess, hostel, go-downs so realistic. Mostly it has been shot at the real places itself. But right from the id card rope, to the bag which they carry, it is well taken into consideration and has been worked on.

Cast is made to suit the story and not the vice versa. So, each and everyone have gelled with the character and have lived as real life personalities. Even the small characters have been given importance and they convey really great messages and no one is unwanted.

Cinematography is one of the biggest plus. You wouldn’t feel a movie rather you will feel moving along with them. In certain shots, you may wonder where would the camera be? Its great work in the cinematography bringing wide angle shots for large crowds especially to convey the haphazards which are happening.

No cinemathanam. Means, nothing is added forcefully to add commercial aspects. Ignoring two songs which seems to be unwanted, (tamil movies stamp, nothing can be done on that..) the movie is really great!

The playfulness of the characters despite the hardships around is well potrayed and the timely humour embedded with the storyline by kana kanum kaalangal paandi is really appreciable.

Of course, the song – Aval appadi ondrum azhagillai…

Negatives:

Background music is suiting the situation, but it is disturbing at some places and deliberately dramatic which doesn’t suit the realistic screenplay. Could have been composed more emotionally.

Exaggerations in few places to show the hardships experienced by people suffering in stores as salespersons.

Overall : One of the best movies in tamil recently. You will not feel for spending your money and time on this.

Rating: 8/10.

“Let us meet just like that and discuss what each of us know and share our knowledge”. Had this been said a few years ago to anyone in chennai, the instant reply would be, “loosaapa nee?”. But, if the same statement is made today, people immediately turn up and readily participate. Gone are the days where people kept their professional secrets (thozhil ragasiyams) and it is really a healthy sign! Barcamp is one such unconference where you can meet your role models, inspirations, rulers of the blogging world and learners. Of course, there will be lots of knowledge to be shared and lots of things to be learnt. This time the barcamp 3 is tentatively scheduled on April 11th, 2010 and the venue is yet to be decided. It is open to everyone and you cannot find a better useful way to spend your weekend. So just register yourselves and be there to have the new learnings, new inspirations, new friends and yes, new t-shirt* (*-conditions apply )

I was there for the previous version of Barcamp chennai at IIT,M and it was really a great experience for me. I never thought i would discuss with Kiruba and other experts standing casually and having a cup of tea. It is really a worthy investment on time and I assure the ROI will be really more than what you expected!

P.s: As per vedas and epics, if you have a talent/knowledge and you don’t share it, you will be born as Rakshasa in the next birth. So better avoid such a situation and be there to share!

That day when I was roaming with sriram, in long shot we saw a honda activa. It is general hormone secretion for boys when they see a honda activa or scooty pep. That too when you see a t-shirt jean or skirt combination. It was a similar combination which we saw that day. I chased as speed as I could and finally found it to be aunty..aunty..aunty…(godrej …hair dye…). That instant, sriram came out with a brilliant phrase! I never expected that from sriram and it will be for sure a frequently used phrase very soon. “Figure thol porthiya Aunty!” (aunty disguised as figure.. very sorry.. the english version is not as crisp and fun giving as it does in tamil). Though it was a pure mokkai for us, we couldn’t control the laughter after this phrase. I bet many would have got such bulbs! Share such of them in the comments!