My Beyonce Experience…

It was a long-time-dream-come-true moment for me to experience a full-throttle Beyonce show amidst a flood of 10K fans at Keyarena Seattle on Apr 1st 2009.

The high-tech design of the concert was fantastic and kept the crowd riveted to her stage presence.

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It was 150 mins of high energy concert and was a memorable experience.

( These days for some reason I’m not being enthu’ed about blogging a lot.. but still wanted to record this event in here. Hence this few-liner blogpost :) )

The mystic magician...

"Music is the easiest way to reach the Ultimate" - an often said tag line by many. But only a very few musicians can make you realize the essential truth in the statement. They can weave magic with music and put the receptive listener in a different dimension of life altogether. A R Rahman is one such magical musician !

From the yesteryear classics like Roja, Uyirae (Dil se) to the recent Ghajini, Yuvvraj, SDM I can feel that his magic grew within me over time. His subtle yet intense music reached a new peak in Delhi-6 and here I'm, joining the league of no-words-to-explain-his-music club. Delhi-6 did a lot of things to me including bringing be back to my blog after an year long hiatus !

For the mystic musician who says ' music just happens within you when you tune in to it', Oscars and other bigger laurels will 'just happen' ! Here is wishing the master all that he deserves in life. Jai Ho ARR !!!

Se(a)ttling with fun in US

After coming to US last August, I have had so much fun settling in Seattle. Soaking in a totally different culture, the people, the way of life etc - all of these new experiences are adding color to my life :) Today I realized that one thing that I'm not doing frequently after coming here is - blogging! May be there is too much to blog that, the very thought makes me tired and bored of writing one! So I thought it would be a good refresh to my blogging interest if I did a quick run over the new colors added to my life in US ( There is one more interesting reason for this blog post.. read on till the end to know ! :) )

* First of all, the basics... Food and Stay - Rams, Anto and myself stay together in a nice place very close to office. Its been an extended hostel life for us from college to Hyderabad to here... movies, games, jokes and all the fun. We still laugh at silliest jokes and Anto never stops to provide us with a situation to crack a joke :). The best thing is the Foooood. We learnt a lot new things in cooking and with the availability of fresh vegetables, Indian groceries etc we relish home cooked food. In fact at times we feel that we are having nutritious food here compared to when we were in India. And there are zillions of good places to eat out here. My favorites and frequented places are CanAm Pizzas, Taco Bell for Burritos and Chalupas, Mayuri for Idly Manchurian and Bisibela bath, Spice Route for Adai Avial :) . Contrary to the popular opinion that vegetarians find it difficult in US, we had no issues so far :D

* Dharini.... Any guess who this is;) .... She is a sweet girl... She is the light of my way... I follow her and I love her !!! ..... OK dont let ur imagination go wild... She is this sweet girl who is in the Acura Navigation system in my car :D ... GPS, Maps, Navigation system all these are just fictional terms in Indian traffic. But here, most vehicles on road run on this. Its total fun driving car here, exploring unknown places, long drives etc. Thank you Dharini for showing me the way ! ( For those wondering why did I name her Dharini... 2 reasons... 1. I like that name and 2. 'dhari' in telugu means 'Way' ! )

* Hip Hop !!! Thanks to KUBE93 FM this genre of music got added to my taste and am listening more and more of Hip Hop songs now. T-Pain is my favorite. Oh my God, when am driving my car, its T-Pain who will be driving me crazy ! I have never been a fan of English songs... but its been good fun listening to this chaotic yet ecstatic music. 'Bartender' and 'Baby Dont go' top my chart now !

* Texas Hold'Em Poker - Got introduced to this by one of my friends here and got addicted to this from then :). I also got this on my laptop :) (One of the extras for Vista Ultimate users :) ) . We just play for fun with fake money chips and this is so addictive. Especially when you win a few hands this game will drag you in. So when you are just gambling with the fake money you got nothing to lose but you get all the excitement and fun of bringing Vegas home :D

* F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Prison Break... the two great TV serials I fell in love with. Started watching Friends only after coming here and now I have seen all the 10 seasons. What a characterization of each of the Friends ! I thoroughly enjoy this greatest serial of US Television history. And coming to Prison Break, the season 3 is still going on in FOX TV and I must say that the director of this show should be some crazy, smart, out-of-this-world guy ! Scene by scene, dialogue by dialogue this show keeps you nail-biting on the edge of the seat. Gripping screenplay at its helm !!!

* American Football () I had no idea about this game before coming here. I was never a big game/sports fan anyway... But just to see the excitement of Americans over this heavily-intense, strategy game is actually the game for me. This weekend is the Super Bowl where the New England Patriots are taking on New York Giants. All hopes over the most-popular American sportsperson, Tom Brady ( the Patriots' quarterback) to bring home the trophy. Even if you dont understand the game, have a look at this play - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eth7DiPmNp0 - Its the most famous Tom Brady Statue of Liberty Play action. The Sports section of my morning 'Seattle Times' is feeding me the interesting news from this arena . I had hopes on the Seattle Seahawks to reach the Super Bowl this time, but tough luck snowed over them during their playoff match against Green Bay Packers

* And Barack Obama... the agile, young and smart player of the game of politics in US. Even when I cannot vote for the next president of US, I want to be part of this Obama wave in the country. Been following him since his victory at the Iowa causus and can't wait to know the results on Super Tuesday this Feb 5th. Lets see if he can make it up all the way to the White House this time.

Now, coming back to the other reason for this blog... I wanted to finish my homework before I sit for my 'Culture, Communication and English-as-Second-Language' class tomorrow evening with Tracy Stober !! Yeah it's been a nice experience with these classes till now and Tracy and I talk about the American culture, the Business etiquettes, English as spoken and understood by the Americans etc. And at times I explain her about the richness of Indian culture and the beauty of Indian languages !

So.. these are the few things which peps up my stay here. Be a Roman in Rome, Be a Seattlite in Seattle and Be Yourself always - this works for me and am glad about it !

"தமிழ் அமுது"

அற்புத கீர்த்தி வேண்டின்... ஆனந்த வாழ்கை வேண்டின்...
நற்பொருள் குவிதல் வேண்டின்... நலமெலாம் பெருக வேண்டின்...
கற்பக மூர்த்தி தெய்வ களஞ்சியத்து இருக்கை சென்று
பொற்பதம் பணிந்து பாரீர் பொய்யில்லை கண்ட உண்மை !

Every time I recite this sloka I admire the beauty of it and of Tamil language ! What a simple usage of words to show the beauty of the language. I'm not going to spoil the beauty by trying to translate it :)

And here is one amazing verse from Abirami Andhadhi

தனம் தரும், கல்வி தரும், ஒருன்னாளும் தளர்வு அறியா
மனம் தரும், தெய்வ வடிவும் தரும், நெஞ்சில் வஞ்சம் இல்லா
இனம் தரும், நல்லன எல்லாம் தரும், அன்பர் என்பவர்க்கே
கணம் தரும் பூங்குழலாள் , அபிராமி கடைக்கண்களே

Oh my boy.. How I wish to read all my school Tamil books now !


- நரேஷ்

Skyscrapers...

"Given a 2D representation of skyscrapers in which each building is represented by {x1,x2,y} meaning the building is from x1 to x2 on x axis and is of height y, write a function which will draw the skyline" . (Refering the picture below, given the black rectangles, you have to draw the red line !)"

Mar 19th 2004.... Park Sheraton Hotel Chennai.... I was presented with this problem to solve. 1 hour was the time allotted to crack this. I came up with all possible brute force methods... none of them seemed convincing enough to solve this in algorithmic fashion. Time was up..but yet I didn't give up thinking through this problem. Then came a strategy which struck me out of the blue and the solution was correct( or atleast closest to one of the correct ones) ! Bingo.. I was elated and was so happy about that luck or fate which was with me that day ! Least did I know then that solving this problem will remain as one of the important factors of me getting to see these real skyscrapers and skylines :)

Yes. That problem was the deciding question of my interview with Microsoft India and here I'm writing this from my office in Microsoft Corporation, Seattle !! What an amazing journey from the paper skyline to the Seattle skyline...

Life is amazing ! You never know what it is going to present you with in the next second... but thats what make it amazing ! ( Stolen from Kamal Hassan's words from Anbe Sivam... "Adutha vinaadi ozhithu vaithirukkum aaacharyangal pala kodi.... " )

Life at Microsoft India Development Center- Video

A sneak peek inside Microsoft's Hyderabad facility.



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Rejuvenating Goa... a cherishable trip.

Goa has all in it to enthuse and cheer a tourist from whichever part of the world, with its magficient and scenic beaches, historical monuments, architectural churches, gigantic fort and a rich Indo-Portuguese culture. The relaxed mood of the city gives the touring visitors a break from the fast-paced city lifestyle.

We, as a small group of 8 ppl, visited Goa for a weekend trip as a team-outing event. We had no other option other than flying air deccan to Goa...as it was the only airline flying to Goa from Hyderabad. But fortunately they flew on schedule this time around, and we boarded the flight at 1PM on Saturday the 10th of March 2007. It was a turbulant flight with the 'pankawala' aircraft and we landed in Dabolim Airport Goa sharp at 2:30 PM. It was a 40 minute drive to 'The Kenilworth Beach Resort and Spa', the 5-star hotel with whom we had the hotel reservation, in the van they sent to pick us up.


We were made to wait for a few minutes in the reception lobby of the hotel and then came a staff who lead us to our rooms. He took us through a path which lead to the beach and then showed us a tent and said,"this is where you are going to stay... Deluxe luxury Tents with A/C". "What !!! Coming all the way to Goa dreaming of a 5-star luxurious accomodation, do we really have to stay in a deserted HUTTTT !!!" - was the reaction on most of our faces. The staff went on to explain the architecture of the tent... "See this is how you open the door to get in... zzzzzzpppppp", he unzipped the door like opening a bag. And I could not control my laughter when he demoed us the way to unzip the restroom door in the same way. .. (Yuckkk... who will have the patience to unzip the door to the restroom when they have other things to unzip :P ) Told him that we are not taking the tents and finally managed to get the good-looking deluxe rooms...( huhhh... now it looks like a 5-star ! :) ). There were hardly any Indians other than us in the hotel and there were only foreign people we could find in the hotel area, coffee shop and the swimming pool.

After having some sandwiches and burgers in the coffee shop, we headed towards the private beach of the hotel. We went for a boat cruise ride to see the sunset and the ride was so much fun with water splashing all over. But yeah it was a turbulant water ride after a turbulant air flight :).


The sunset view from in the middle of the ocean was jus awesome. Surrounded by water on all sides, seeing the sun sink in the horizon -- we were lucky in our timing that day ! After the ride, we came back to the hotel, had a coffee witnessing the manipuri entertainment and went back to the room to refresh. Came back fresh and hungry to the dinner table and the buffet was so inviting with a good variety for both Veg and Non-Veg. Relished the dinner with a nice music by the band out there in the pool side. The night was still young and went to check out the discotheque and the entertainment center they had there. It was near empty and the music was playing with disco lights on the empty dance floor :( . Nikhil, got enthu about the casinos and the poker machines they had and we went on to play a interesting game with jus 10 coins he bought. WE made 20 with the 10 coins, but finally lost all of them. Anand and Ruby later joined to another game of Poker and they also lost in the similar fashion. The ultimate fun was when Archan came with Abhishiktha to play, bought 10 coins and lost all of them straight in the casino ( since casino was only luck based and they didn't want to venture the Poker stuff which needs a lil bit of thinking :P ). It was midnight by then, but still we didn't want to leave that place without shaking our legs for the tune for some time. Danced for a few hindi songs in the dance floor and went to sleep at 1 am.


The next day started at around 7:30 am for me. I wanted to chek out the Open Air Jacuzzi they had for use by the inmates of the hotel. Went there at 8 am and had a nice bath in the gushing water in Jacuzzi. The Jacuzzi was next to the swimming pool and there were no one in the pool as well during that time. So apparently the foreign tourists jus come out during the sun to take sun bath and get back to their rooms after the sun sets, leaving us with a not-so-happening discotheque the previous night and an near empty pool in the morning :P


It was a marvelous buffet breakfast they had there and we really had a heavy breakfast. By around 11 we started for a 'Sight seeing trip' in two cabs from the hotel, the married people took the Honda City and the others took the Esteem. We first went to the most famous church of Goa, The Basilica of Bom Jesus Church and Se Cathedral.



This is the place where the relics and mortal remains of St.Francis Xavier is kept preserved for more than 500 years now.

From there we went to Fort Aguada, the famous fort of portuguese era, made even more famous by the 'Dil Chahtha Hai' spot. Took a lot of poses in the fort and spent almost an hour in this place.


It was almost 3 Pm when we headed for Lunch at the famous Goan restaurant, Midaas Touch in Calangute. The Goan speciality fish dishes are the famous things here and ppl feasted on it. I managed a decently tasteful vegetarian lunch at this place :)

Next we went to the most crowded and apparently happening Calungute beach. It was so crowded and the entire place looked like a exhibition spot :). jus walked on the sea shore for some 15-20 mins and went to the Vagator beach, the rocky beach in the northernmost part of Goa, for a nice bath in the sea. Played in the water for quite some time, got drenched fully, changed clothes and got back in the cab to start back to the hotel. it was a tiring 1 hour drive back to the hotel and we went back to our rooms after the nice dinner buffet.

The next day morning we had already booked for the Dolphin ride and we woke up early to start our ride into the sea at sharp 8:30. The dolphin spot had a lot of dolphins but unfortunately not a lot of them were in a playful mood. Had to keep waiting and keep turning our heads to see dolphins come out of the surface. Catching them in the camera lens was even more tough and we had to shoot some video clips to get them digitized :)

(The Goa gang - Abhishiktha Das, Archan Das, SubbaRaju, Pradeep, Me, Nikhil, Ananda Sarkar, Ruby Sarkar )

After this the gang expect me went for the water sports ( Parasailing, Jet Ski etc) and had lotsa fun. I was feeling kinda sea-sick and chose to stay back in the room taking a 45 min bath in the bath tub :).

Our return flight was at 3 PM and the hotel cab dropped us in the airport. To add to the fun of the trip, we met Cine Actress Ramya Krishnan in Goa Airport and I went and asked for a photo with her. :)

And after the 90 minute flight back to Hyderabad, we were back to the routine after a rejuvenating trip to the Konkan land.