My first appearance in TV

It was 1500 hrs on 18th March 2010. I got a call from NDTV-Hindu correspondent that she wanted to see me and asked the location of my home. How soon things develop! I had written to them regarding the problems with MTH Road and here they were. She came with her cameraman and asked me to come to the main road. I went there and she asked me to say, in brief about the problems. I must admit that I was very nervous to speak in front of a microphone. But I managed. I told her the problems like lack of median, narrow road, too many accidents and lots of schools & hospitals near by. They were there in Ambattur area from morning, taking video of the road, the traffic and also had talked to some people. I was told that it would be broadcast the next day morning. I got up at 0700(very unusual for me to do so), due to the curiousity. I switched on the TV and was seeing the channel. At 0800, the news started and in the headlines, the news reader mentioned about MTH Road. Soon it was broadcast and I was on TV. I watched the news, at the same time recording it in my digital camera. The same thing was again telecast at 0900. Amma, who was asleep during the earlier telecast, also saw it. I feel happy that I have done something for the place where I have lived for almost 33 years. Hopefully something happens and the road is widened. 

I have put up the clip in facebook and U-Tube. 

Painting of Home

Its been so many years since I built my house, but it has not been painted since then. This time, after coming back from ship, I thought to get it done. I called up the painter and discussed with him regarding the cost, time he will take and nature of paint to be applied.


The surface preparation was a lengthy process since the walls were not even and smooth. Putty had to be applied 3 times, primer had to be applied 2 times before the final coat could be applied. I had a tough time deciding the paints to be applied for the different rooms. It was a toss between premium emulsion and royal emulsion of Asian paints. Finally, we decided to  go for royal emulsion. The process of deciding the different colours took even more time. After lots of speculations, we finally decided on the colours for each room.

We chose Ancient Inca for the sitout, Grape Riot and Study in Scarlet foe the small hall, Mango Mood and Day Break for the hall, Misty Spring and Green Ebony for the big bed room, Ocean Whisper for the small bed room, Chinese Tea for the kitchen, Caprice for the Puja Room.

The workers arrived and they started their work. It was easy in the sitout, small hall and the big hall as there wasn't much to be shifted. But when they had to work in the kitchen, puja room and the bed rooms, we had to shift all the things out. That was a lot of work. The hall was a mess, when the work was going on in kitchen, bedrooms and puja room. All the things were dumped there and we had to live with that till the painting was finished in those rooms.

The process of shifting things back took even more time. By the time we completed the painting and shifting things, we were completely exhausted. It is not easy to get the home painted, when living there.
But the home looks so good now. After seeing the walls in the same colour for all these years, its nice to see the walls having different colours.

SITOUT

SMALL HALL

BIG BED ROOM

SMALL BED ROOM

HALL

PUJA ROOM

KITCHEN

HALL

new TV, home theater and music system

It was 13 years since i bought the TV, 14 years since i bought the music system and 4 years since i bought the home theater. I decided that I would change all of them and buy new ones. I started looking in the internet. Finally, I zeroed down to 2 models of TV, 3 models of music system and home theater. I went to the Sony World in Annanagar and saw the models, which I had chosen. Finally, I decided to go for a 46" LCD TV.
I selected this home theater with floor standing speakers and this music system.
They were delivered on 24/09/2009.
The installation guys from Sony came and did the installation on 25/09/2009.

passed master's exams

I have been late in posting this. But, its better late than never. After, I got down from the ship in March 2008, I joined classes to enable me to appear in Master(F.G) exam. It was a one month course and I did it in National Maritime Academy(NMA), Chennai during July-Aug 2008. The written exam was in Sept 2008 and the results were out in Oct 2008. I had cleared the written paper quite easily. The tough thing was the orals. It was in Oct, that I appeared in the orals. I went to the MMD, just in time for my orals. I was very tensed and maybe that's why I didn't get through, that time. I appeared for the orals again on Nov 3rd and cleared it easily.
I was so happy, that I can't find words to express my feelings. I am a Master(F.G) now. My dream has come true, at last.
I have achieved this in spite of so many hurdles, which I faced in every step I took. It is easy for people to say that these hurdles are there in everybody's life. Facing hurdles in life is easier when one has the support of near and dear. But when these hurdles are from near and dear, it is a Himalayan task to overcome these and get going. I have to thank the Almighty for making this come true.

re-issue of passport

My passport is expiring next year on 30th Nov. I thought to get it done now, as I will have less number of months left, when I join the ship. had done the registration online and they had asked me to come on 29/12/2009 at 1145. I went there at the scheduled time, only to find no parking space inside Rajaji Bhavan, after having completed one full round of the complex. After parking the car on the main road, quite some distance away, I rushed to the passport office, to find lots and lots of people. Not knowing where to go, I had to ask people and finally managed to stand in a queue for getting the token number. It was a wait for about 30 minutes before I got the token number. Next was to stand in the line for checking the documents. It was lunch time there very soon. Had to wait for one hour because of that. After the lunch break, the queues were formed again and by the time my turn came it was 1500. The person in the counter informed me that they needed another copy of my passport, whereas it was mentioned in the website, as well as the notice board in RPO's office, that they required a copy of the old passport. I got another copy of the passport and was made to stand in another queue, which was for people who were told to correct something or other in their application forms. My turn came again, after a wait of 30 minutes or so. Finally I got my application approved and had to go to 2nd floor to make the payment. It was so crowded there, as well. There were so many counters, but many of them were unmanned too. Yet another wait for half hour, before I paid the fees for the passport. Finally, when I left the building it was 1600. The experience was a typical one, which can be experienced in every government office.

Some points about the passport office.
1)There is no one to guide the people and no proper notices as well.
2)Too much crowd and no parking space.
3)No place for people to sit.
4) No refreshments/hotels available near the passport office.

The entire passport office is in a mess and needs to be revamped, to make it people friendly and make it a better experience for the people who come to apply for passports.

after a long break

Been long time since I wrote something. I was busy with my exams and orals last year. Then Appa's sudden demise. Hope to post something on a regular basis.

new laptop

I bought a new laptop on 28/03/2008. Its a lenova ideapad Y510 775844Q

Have a look at the site to know more about the laptop.