My video for Microsoft Student Partner

This is video is taken for applying Microsoft Student Partner.

Blood donation

On 07-08-2012, during the lunch break, one of my friends asked me "Is there anyone one belong to O positive blood group?", in the college. Of course, I reply positively, as I'm O +ve. He said, someone needs blood urgently and they had arranged one more guy, Ram Kumar from Civil Engineering department. 

In the hospital...

We both went to Kurinji Hospital, where we were supposed to meet Ms. Sasikala, whose father is in need of blood transfusion for a minor surgical operation. Later, we came to know that, she was our super senior and her father met with an accident about a month before. Then, she added that, her father's wish was to make her an IAS officer and she was preparing for that. We wished her to reach great heights.

After donating blood:

In the blood bank, we filled the forms given by them. Then, a person there asked me to rest on the bed. On seeing the needle, I got little scared. But, the pain was not, as much, as I expected. It was just like a mosquito bite. After donating blood, I felt no change. Then, they asked, whether am I feeling anything like drowsy and gave some juices. Then, we both came out from the hospital.

Save a life:

Donating blood saves a life. I'm proud to be a donor. I should say, it is mutually beneficial. After donating blood, our body regenerates new blood, which in turn is good for health. I'm fulfilled with the joy of saving a life, on that day.

Blog theme

I usually prefer a dark background with bright letters instead of its inverse, as it has some benefits and advantages.

Effect on eye:

In general, things become visible as they reflect or emit light. Seeing very bright colors (especially as radiations emitted from the screen or monitor, from your computer) over a prolonged period of time, affects our eye sight as well the concerned receptor system of our brain.

Saving the power:

Scientifically, it is obvious that, for emitting bright and intense colors, more power is consumed than that for a dark (black) one. In that point of view, using dark (especially black) colors would be a green concept which saves the power in this modern era of increasing power deficiency, atleast to some extent. Therefore, I prefer such a theme and also suggest you too to prefer the same.

"Go green! Save energy as far as possible!"

This is life ! ( இதுதான் வாழ்கை ! )

The Old Carpenter :

There was an old carpenter, working under a good boss. Due to his aging, he felt very difficult to work and asked his boss, "I had became too old so that, I could not work hard and please, give me retirement".

His last work :

His boss, who was not consent to lose an excellent worker, said him, "If so, you do me favour. Build a house for me, as your last work and then you get your retirement". Since, it was his boss' humble request, the carpenter accepted and started the work.

Improper work :

The carpenter, assuming no one will question him, as that was his last work, he worked very lethargically, carelessly and effortlessly. Anyhow, he finished the work for namesake.

An unexpected gift :

On one fine morning, his boss came to the new home built by that old man and said him, "You are my reliable and sincere worker, who had been working for a very long time. This home is a gift for my beloved worker. I wish you to spend your last days in the home built by you!" The old man felt so bad, for his improper work, "Oh god! I worked sincerely throughout my life. But, I failed to do the same in my last work, even though, I was able to work better. This is a lesson for me!".

Most of us, might have came across such situations in our life. The moral is, whatever may be the worst situation, we should be loyal and sincere to the person, who believes us and to ourself as well.

ஒரு வயதான தொழிலாளி :

பல நாட்களாக, ஒரு தட்சர் தன்னுடைய முதலாளிக்கு உண்மையாகவும், விசுவாசத்துடனும் வேலை புரிந்து வந்தார். அவருக்கும், முதுமை வாட்டிய காரணத்தினால், தன்னால் மேற்கொண்டு பணியாற்ற இயலாதென்று, தன் முதலாளியிடம் தெரிவித்தார். ஆனால், முதலாளியோ, தனக்கு கடைசியாக ஒரு வீட்டை மட்டும் கட்டிக்கொடுக்குமாறு கேட்டுக்கொண்டார். வேறு வழியின்றி, அந்த முதியவரும், அதனை ஒப்புக்கொண்டார்.

அவரது கடைசி வேலை :

"இத்துனை நாட்கள் நன்றாகத்தானே பணியாற்றினோம்" என்ற இறுமாப்பும், "முடியாதென்று கூறியும், கடைசி வேலையென்று இன்னும் வேலை வாங்குகிறாரே !" என்ற முதலாளியின் மேலுள்ள கோபமும், "நம்மை யார் கேள்வி கேட்கப் போகிறார்கள் ?" என்ற அலட்சியமும், அந்த வயதான தொழிலாளியை சூழவே, அவர் வேலையை ஏனோ தானோவென்று செய்து முடித்தார்.

வேலைக்கான பரிசு :

தன் வேலையை முடித்துவிட்டேன் என்று அவர் முதலாளியிடம் தெரிவிக்கவே, முதலாளியும் அவ்வீட்டிற்கு வந்தார். "இத்துனை நாட்களாக நீ எனக்கு உண்மையாகவும், நேர்மையாகவும் நடந்து என் மனதில் உயர்ந்த இடத்தை பிடித்து விட்டாய்! எனவே, நீ கட்டிய இந்த வீட்டை, உனக்கே பரிசாக அளிக்கிறேன் " என்றார். அப்பொழுது, அந்த முதியவரின் முகத்தைப் பார்க்க வேண்டுமே !

"சே ! இது நமக்கான வீடு என்று முன்பே தெரிந்திருந்தால், நன்றாக கட்டியிருக்கலாமே! "என்று வேதனைப் பட்டார். 

ஆகவே, எந்தவித சூழ்நிலையிலும், நம்முடைய உண்மைத் தன்மை மாறாமலும், நேர்மையாகவும் நடந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும் !

Love makes you god ! ( அன்பு உன்னை கடவுள் ஆக்கும் ! )

The poor boy :

There was a poor boy, standing in front of a famous footwear shop in the busy road of a city, staring at the customers coming out of that shop and longing, "Will anyone leave their old footwear for me...". The pity prayed the god for an old footwear.

Call and the fear :

Unexpectedly someone inside that shop called him. The boy went with a fear and said, "I didn't do anything" to a fat, old lady inside the shop, fearing that, he had been called for inquiring why he was standing before the shop for a very long time.

Surprise gift :

To his surprise, the lady gave him a brand new footwear of his favorite color and he was cherished with joy. She is none other than the shop owner's wife.

God's wife :

That lady asked the boy, "Now say me, do you know, who am I ?", thinking that the boy might have realized that she was the shop owner. To her surprise, the boy replied, "Hmm! I know ! You are the god's wife !"

Of course, love makes one as a god.

What does god bless ? ( கடவுள் எதை ஆசிர்வதிப்பார் ? )

Worthless land :

Once, in a village, there was an young man owning an infertile agricultural land which was his heirdom. His ancestors tried to cultivate something in their land. But, they failed and the land was deserted years together.

The people's talk :

That was a village, where the people's income is solely dependent on agriculture. Due to lack of income, poverty surrounded his family. People in his village started speaking slander on their family that they were sinners and so, their land was infertile.

What did the young man do ? :

This energetic young man stood bravely with the thought of, "Why can't I ?". Driven by the optimistic thoughts, he worked persistently hard. His hard work and perseverance changed the fate of the land and of his family too. He got a good yield and released his family from the clutches of poverty.

Monk's words :

A monk in that village, seeing his progressive growth, met him on a fine morning. After blessing him, he told that "God has blessed you! Because of that, you were able to achieve this" for which the young man replied,

"God never blesses people. He blesses only their hard work !"

கடவுள் எதை ஆசிர்வதிப்பார் ?

அது, ஒரு விவசாயத்தையே பிரதான தொழிலாகக் கொண்ட கிராமம். அங்கு விஜயன் என்ற இளைஞன் வாழ்ந்து வந்தான். அவனுக்கு சொத்து என்று சொல்லிக்கொள்ள ஒரேயொரு வளமற்ற விவசாய நிலம் தான் இருந்தது. அது அவனுடையப் பரம்பரை சொத்து. அவனுடைய தாத்தா காலத்திற்கு முன்பிருந்தே அந்த நிலத்தில் விளைச்சலே இல்லை.

 ஊராரின் கேலி :

அவர்களுடைய அவல நிலை கண்டு உதவி செய்யாவிட்டாலும், ஊராரின் கேலியும், அவர்கள் செய்த பாவத்தினால் தான், அவர்களுக்கு இந்த நிலை என்ற அவதூறுப் பேச்சும் ஓயவே இல்லை.

விஜயனின் விடா முயற்சி :

பிறர் பேச்சை கேட்டு துவண்டு போகாமல், விஜயன், விடாமுயற்சியுடன் கடினமாக உழைத்தான். அவன் உழைப்பிற்கு கிடைத்த பரிசு, விளையாத நிலமெல்லாம் விளைச்சல் அமோகமாகி, குடும்பத்தின் வறுமை நீங்கியது. 

ஒரு சாதுவுடன் உரையாடல் :

இந்த நிகழ்ச்சிகள் யாவும் அறிந்த சாமியார் ஒருவர், விஜயனை ஒரு நாள் நேரில் கண்டார். அவனிடம், "தம்பி! கடவுள் உன்னை ஆசிர்வதித்துள்ளார்! அதனால் தான் நீ இப்படிப்பட்ட உயர்ந்த நிலைக்கு வந்துள்ளாய்", என்றார். அதற்கு விஜயன், "கடவுள் எப்பொழுதுமே மனிதர்களை ஆசிர்வதிக்க மாட்டார்! அவர்களுடைய கடின உழைப்பைத்தான் ஆசிர்வதிப்பார்", என்றான் ஒரு குறுநகையோடு !

Summer research fellowship

How I came to know about this :

It was December, 2011. I remembered that Indian Academy of Sciences(IAS) is providing a 2 months summer research fellowship for deserving students(For more details, please refer www.ias.ac.in), because, I had the experience when, applied for the same, in my first year.

Preparing to apply :

I conveyed this to my best friend, Mr.Suresh. We both applied for it with the guidance of our respective Head of the departments. We didn't had any idea about filling out the statement of interest  - field in the application form. At that time, Suresh's Head of the department, Dr. J. Akilandeshwari helped us out by invoking us with the keywords that, 'Opinion mining' and 'Social network analysis' are hot research areas, now a days. As per her words, we read and got some idea about those research topics  and found that, our interest matched with them. Then, I applied with opinion mining as my area of interest and Suresh applied with social network analysis as his area of interest.

The tragedy with my application form:

While, filling the application, me and Suresh took care in each and every part to avoid the mistakes. But, even then, after filling the online application, I found that, the single quotes('), in my application form turned to question marks(?). I thought, it was destroying the pleasant look of the application form and I might not get selected. Anyhow, I proceeded. It had been announced that, the list of selected candidates would be published, only in March, 2012. We really forgot that, after a few days and  continued our regular work.

The moment, when we heard that we were selected... :

On 1st March, 2012, Suresh called me suddenly and asked me to be in his classroom. I too did the same. He told that, he had received a mail from the Indian Academy of Sciences, with a surprising news that, he was selected for the  summer fellowship. He was very curious about that of mine. To his worry, I didn't received any such mails, on that day. Suddenly, an idea hit  me. We just saw the Academy's website where we could find the name of mine as well, in the list of selected fellows. There's no measure to gauge our happiness. That day was my  one and only sister's birthday. I was really cherished with joy. We conveyed this message to all our friends and our respective Heads of the departments. I went with a pack of cakes and sweets to wish my sister and conveyed the happiest news.

Our guides and the sorrow of separation :

I was assigned to Prof.Sushmita Mitra at ISI, Kolkata and Suresh was assigned to Prof.Prahallad Kishore at IIIT, Hyderabad. Initially, we were thinking that, we both would be working at Bangalore, since Indian Academy of Sciences is located at Bangalore. To our grief of separation, later on, we realized that we have to work at the institution of the assigned guide. Anyhow we consoled ourself.

Booking the train tickets :

The path we had came across is really unforgettable! We had to face lots and lots of obstacles before taking up the fellowship. First of all, for booking the train tickets, we were not aware of neither the commencement nor the completion of the semester end examinations. Dr. K. Karunakaran, our Dean of Sciences, helped us out for contacting the office of the controller of examinations(COE). Thank you, sir for helping at the right time. Finally we booked the train tickets, starting our research journey on 10th May, 2012

The mystery of exams :

Even after booking the train tickets, we had to face still some problems. There's an informal subject, special interest subject, in that semester(4th semester). Its evaluation had been scheduled on 15th and 16th June, 2012, which tends to break the fellowship intermediately. We were helpless, at that time. I contacted my guide, regarding this issue. Anyhow, she accepted, partially. Then, it was again rescheduled to 13th and 14th of June, 2012. We were very much worrying that, this consumes more than a week, which in turn delays the final submission of our summer project to the Academy.

A great problem solved :

Thank god! Mr.Ilanchezhian, one of the faculty members in Suresh's department, convinced the COE, explaining the consequences of the intermediately breaking the fellowship and advanced those examinations before we could leave and did a great favour for us. 

Sincere thanks to our staff members :

I should say, my class counsellor, Ms.Theetchenya, had helped me(us) a lot. She did, many moral helps,  and guided a lot, more than a staff could do for a student. I'm ought to convey a very special thanks to her. Simply, the words, "Thank you" cannot equalize my gratitude.

Thank god! My college is autonomous :

Fortunately our college was autonomous. I can't even think, if it was under the control of Anna University, which postponed the semester examinations twice. I  hardly imagine such a deadlock situation, where no one could help us.

Finally, I reached ISI, Kolkata safely on 12th May, 2012. A great thanks to one and all who helped me, both directly and indirectly.

Train travel from Chennai to Kolkata

I had to reach ISI, Kolkata for my Summer research.

I started from Chennai on 11th May, 2012 in Coramandal express. The lonely travel was boring. But, there are certain ways to keep ourself entertained during lonely travels.

One thing that everyone should remember, before travelling in Coramandal express : "both reserved and unreserved categories are the same".

I have to share this unforgettable incident :

On the fine morning of Friday (11-05-12), I entered that Coramandal express. I was searching seat number 70 in the S12 coach. A person had already occupied it. As I guessed, he's from Kolkata. I was expecting him to leave my berth as soon as the train starts. But, he didn't.

Then, Salim, a lean, fair guy entered the scene and introduced himself to me and of course, I too, in return. He was the only person, whom with I was speaking a lot throughout my travel. I should say, he's a well civilized guy that even the readers can realize in the forthcoming scenes. He gave me some introduction about Kolkata and then, revealed the truth that, the above said person won't leave the place, unless and until, I claim him. I too did the same(voice of rights spoke), as he insisted and got my place.

I could hear the voices, "Oyi.......! O...i !" very frequently as I was navigating away from south India. As mentioned above, the trick to keep ourselves entertained is to watch the activity of every person, around us. Sometimes, we can learn from them(if it is good), we can have fun, we can entertain and share with them, if they are like minded. One such personality is Salim.

From the talk with him, I inferred that his home town is about 2 hours apart from Howra station(where we both landed from Coramandal express) and he has to take one more bus to reach his home. Even then, he's liberal enough to spend more than half an hour for me.

The Kolkata police didn't respond me, when I was enquiring the bus and the route to reach ISI, Kolkata. Then, my companion, Salim spoke with him in Bengali and gathered some information. Even then, we were unable to get a bus to ISI. I felt really bad. We struggled for about 30 minutes and came to a conclusion, that it would be better to catch a Taxi and we did the same. After a send off from Salim, I reached ISI, within 20 minutes.

Later on, I came to know that, it'll cost only Rs.8 to 15, if I had came by a bus, for which I paid Rs.180 to the Taxi. How costly travel it is ? After all, man learns from his experience. That cost is for learning such a wise lesson.

Finally I have accommodated to the new environment, new food varieties and the new people, here.

Why should one have a blog ?

Having a blog is like having a mike(microphone) in your hand. We can speak our views. The readers are the audience and their comments are the feedback.

That is really good !

My first post in the blog

Hi there, seeing my blog !
Today is the wonderful day, because, I've created this blog.