One awesome CWG experience

                I have never been a ardent follower of multi-discipline games, but this Commonwealth Games has been one awesome experience. Right from the Opening ceremony "MEHENDI" show to the "VANDE MATARAM" now at the closing ceremony, the whole games has been really colourful :)  Seeing the Bird's eye view of the stadium, I felt Delhi has transformed into America or so.
            
                Not just the ceremonies, even the games talent on display was really good. Though number of top class athletes withdrew from the games, they would now be regretting their decisions. Australia though ran away with the show in most of the trades, performance of India was really heartening. No.2 on the medal tally with 38 golds, just perfect on home turf :)  Golds in wrestling and shooting was expected but it was really gr8 to see athletics coming up big time with two golds. Badminton and Table tennis performance also gave a lot of cheer.

            
Amidst all the pre-games controversies and deadline lapses no one expected the games to be conducted so well. I had been a vehement Kalmadi basher, but I think he needs some credit now. ARR would be happy to see the second version clicking. Heavy credit is also due for Bharat Bala the choreographer for the opening and closing ceremonies. Hope India can keep up its preparations and host Olympic Games some time soon.......
                  
      

IEEE membership - A complete package for overall excellence

                         IEEE is the world's largest professional organization providing unending contributions in the field of technical excellence. IEEE student branch in my college (College of Engineering, Trivandrum) was quite inactive till 2008. Thanks to the efforts of our SB mentor and a dedicated EXECOM, there has been lots of activities ever since and I feel extremely lucky to have been part of them. When I had joined IEEE in the first year of my engineering study, I actually didn't know that IEEE membership would give me so many benefits. Being part of the IEEESB has improved not just my technical know-how but also my managerial skills and more importantly the overall personality.
                           
                         Now I would like to share with blog readers the different websites one needs to catch up to get the latest information on IEEE.

1.      www.ieee.org – IEEE official website

2.      http://ewh.ieee.org/r10/india_council - IEEE india council website

3.      www.ieeeusa.org – IEEE USA website

                            IEEE has lot of benefits to offer to you. Every IEEE member has a myIEEE page from where you can join IEEE, renew membership, membership benefits and details on different societies and interests.  Sources which has been of great use to me personally is IEEE TV (www.ieee.tv) ,  IEEE spectrum magazine (http://spectrum.ieee.org) and IEEE Xplore digital library (www.ieeexplore.ieee.org) . Though I have not been into my final year wherein I need to present a paper of IEEE standard, Xplore library has been a great guide.

                                                                                                                  

                                                        
                                                                       

                               IEEE community is like a ‘global village’ which opens up possibilities for interaction with colleagues from around the globe (http://www.ieee.org/societies_communities/index.html). IEEE jobsite (http://careers.ieee.org) is of great help to professions and students alike. There is also Career-alert magazine. IEEE also offers awards and scholarships to its members for their achievements. There is an online program called IEEE mentoring connection which helps establish a mentoring partnership between its members (http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/mentoring/index.html).There is also IEEE Women In Engineering community which focuses on advancement of women in technical and scientific fields (http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/women/index.html)

                      In addition to providing such technical knowledge IEEE also hosts a number of competitions wherein its members can showcase their talents and thereby even get international recognition. Couple of such competitions that are held every year are

·         IEEE Humanitarian Technology Challenge (HTC) which focuses on how technology can used to serve humanity better (http://www.ieeehtc.org)

·         IEEE Xtreme programming competition which is 24 hour programming contest (http://ieeextreme.org)

                      Considering these enormous number of benefits that IEEE has to offer to its members , I encourage lot more people especially students to be part of this global technical professional organisation.

P.S. Though IEEE is a professional organisation, it has always lend a helping hand to the humanity. The latest example being the relief provided for the flood victims in Pakistan (http://www.ieee.org/organizations/foundation/2010news.html).

Nelliampathy

This is a blog post on a place I have been to recently. I am very sure that not many of the readers would have heard of this place. 

Well, Nelliampathy is a hill station near Palakkad (2 hr journey from palakkad). I have been to most of the hill stations on South India, but none has impressed me as much as this. The primary reason for this should be the fact that not many people know of this place. The very journey to this Hill station is an awesome experience. Even at 2 in the afternoon there is hardly 5m visibility.

Fully snow filled tea plantations

Enroute Nelliampathy there is Pothundy dam, which is famous for the fact that it is the second largest Earthen dam in Asia. In front of Pothundy dam, you get excellent tea from a 'tattu kada' :) All along the upward climb there are small streams of waterfalls with crystal clear water. There are extensive teak plantations all along and once you reach Nelliampathy there is tea and coffee plantations. The highlight of the journey was the awesome scene that nature presented as Kesavanpara, when the snow and clouds moved away in front of my eyes to give a breath taking scenery. Other places to visit are Sitarkundu and Karapara.

Nelliampathy hills as seen from Pothundy dam

                 The dampener however is the poor mobile range available :P Anyone planning to go there do have a BSNL mobile connection . One thing I can guarantee you will never be disappointed :)

Epic IV story - Part 1

I am starting of on the narration of one epic awesome journey I had been on this past week. It was supposed to be "Industrial Visit" which turned out to be more than just a TOUR!!!!!
                               The journey started off on 30th July after lots of desperate negotiations and major HR deliberations. As always the starting time got delayed - by just 3 hours :P . First up we were to go to COORG (more on coorg episode in the next part of IV story). Though everyone was high on 'enthu', first day 'blues' was clearly evident. Things began to change however with "Punjabi House" film screening..... chalus began coming, goals galore to boost :) This however lead to a sleepless-night :( Was eating away the time with 50-50, Good day and other miscellaneous items. Once the ghat section began and first rays of Sun came , nature presented itself in all its beauty.
                                The delayed start however proved quite costly since we missed the deadline for reaching Coorg by morning and ended up renting room at Manathavadi(Wayanad) and reaching Coorg only by the afternoon. The rest of the story will be continued in subsequent blog posts (donno how many i will take though :P)

A time line of Iyer life

I got this as an e-mail and couldn't resist posting it since it was so realistic. All other Iyer's would have a similar opinion too, i suppose :)

Age: 6 Months
All these mamas and maamis have come here...
For a grand welcome of their new born fellow Iyer...
And my parents will feed food to me with a ring...
And give me a name long enough for you to sing...
(Krishnamoorthy Venkataraghava Krishna Doraiswamy,
But will simply call me Dorai!)

Age: 10 years Topping my class is an inborn talent I possess
(We are an exception)
Teachers & relatives, whom I never fail to impress
Daily dosage of idli, dosai, sambar, rice and curd
Who on earth do you think will not turn into a nerd(hehe)

Age: 22 Yrs(Just after graduation.. . Preferably Electronics Engineering)
Yipeee Yipeee Yipeee... I completed my BE in IIT...
Also got a call from Infy...Ya right...Narayana Murthy...
( Proud fellow...Southie ! )
Up & Away to Bangalore by the next morning flight...
And then someday to USA...Yay Yay Yay...Onsite. ..
(You are right... Rhyming no?!)

Age: 26 Years(Single status in USA)
It has been four long years since I have come here...
And not a single girl who is ready to come near...
Here in United States I thought I'd get laid...
Down came crashing, the dreams that I'd made...

Age: 30 Years
(8 yrs Onsite, somewhere in USA)
I miss my sambhar rice and the tasty thair saadam(curd rice)
Will speak to amma to find me a homely madam...
Will leave for Thirunelveli on a 30 day leave...
And come back with a maami right up my sleeve...


Age: 45 Years(Still onsite, we think)
I have two kids, but there is a gripping fear...
Both of them have no signs of being an Iyer...
Krishnaswamy & Sreemahalakshmi I named them fondly...
But Chris & Sally I call them if I want them to even reply...

Age: 60 Years(retire hogaya baap)
I am back to Thirunelveli with my ever faithful wife...
But my kids stayed there and think I don't have a life...
Tirupati, Guruvayoor, Shabarimala all we've been to...
Sun TV is our faithful friend which we always turn to...


Age: 75 years
(Now everything seems impossible)
Ayyayyo, what happened to all my dreams?
They have all simply turned into screams.
Children have already married and divorced thrice,
Playing with our grandchildren would've been nice.
Left with us are only aches and pains,
Life is full of only losses, with no gains.
Are we going to be the last of the brilliant Iyer generation?
To our children, tradition and culture are only a botheration!

From a Tamil Brahmin Iyer