~Kids Nowadays~

This is aint my original post but i feel like sharing this with everyone. I got this through my friend, Neethu who's kind enough to email to me.

Kindergarten last bach kids….

Boy 1 : Machan…naa romba upsetta irukenda.

Boy 2 : Yenda? Veetla edhum problema ??

Boy 1: Illa da..Nethu toys vanga shop-ku poirunthen..Ange 1 semma figureda…Sumar ondra vayasu irukum…..Avanga amma madila paduthu vaila virala vachutu sirischa paaru, Aiyo.......... !!

Boy 2 : Appuram enna aachu?

Boy 1 : Nanum ballon ellam vechu sema scene potten macha, kandukkave matentada. Rendu nalla nan Horlicks kuda kudikala theriyuma…….

Boy 2 : Vidu machi, nalaki tothi yode tukirevum :)

~A Warm Taxi Ride~

Friday.




A day that everyone wish for after waking up in the morning. Same goes to me. As usual for Fridays, my work will finish at 4.15pm & Y's work will finish at 5pm in which he used to pick me up after work. But due to some circumstance, Y told me early in the morning that he couldnt pick me up after work due to he had to attend a weekly meeting & later was assigned to run a testing call which will take approximately 1-2 hours to complete. Haihsss...So, when time had ticked 4.15pm, i log off from all my Banking system, refilled my water bottle & head to home. Too bad, i was thinking to myself that i have to use public transport today as my hubby (my anbulleh vaganam @ car) is parked at home. Mum had reminded me that after reaching home, i have to clean the house, take in the clothes, fold it, bla bla & do whatever that a girl must do (yelamehhh naneh seiyurudha iruku anadikum). So after taking monorail & exchanged another train with Star Lrt, i got down at Bkt Jalil station. While thinking whether to walk back home, i decided to take a cab instead. So, i got into one of the taxi & was suprised to see the condition of the taxi inside. But,,as the saying goes 'Dont judge a person by its cover'. The taxi uncle (started a warm conversation, asking me about Thaipusam celebration & even shared his opinion about how job opportunities nowadays are effected by the economic crisis.

(Pic Above : The Taxi Uncle; Below : His Taxi Decoration)

While talking to him, i have managed to capture some photos. Hehe, i think he realized that i was busy taking some photos of his taxi but he didnt mention anything. Some of our coversation is as below:-



Taxi Uncle : Do you know that they are retrenching so many employees out there & some are given 1 day notice due to the recent economic crisis? Thousands of exmployees working in Panasonic, Honda, Nissan, Citibank & a few to name are all listed in this category?

Me : Yes uncle, i am aware of it. I even read about the recent retrecnhment that Panasonic did. It's scary.

Taxi Uncle : Appreciate with what you have now. I know young people like you dont like to work under the same company for long. But remember, try to grasp as much of experience you can, learn from the seniors, give & take & resign only if you have got the right job.

Me : (Nod). Whatever you are saying is totally true Uncle. It's not easy to get job nowadays. I did plan to resign but after looking at the our country's economic condition, i decided to postpone my decision. Not now but maybe in a few months time. (Smile).

Within 5-10mins, i have reached my home. It came about RM3.80 & i passed the Taxi Uncle RM5. Without much hesitation, i told the Uncle that 'it was nice talking to you & you can keep the change'. He was very delighted to hear it & continously thanked me. I thought to myself; 'naladhu senja, nanum naladhutha seiyuven'.

Happy weekend!!~

p/s : My experiance with this taxi uncle was far away warm compared to one nightmare i had a few yars back. Yen valkaileh marekeh mudiyatheh oru tengga talaiyan. For more info on that tenga talaiyan; please go to http://nithubaby.blog.friendster.com/2007/04/unhappy-experience-in-cab/

~Old Video Games??~

Listed below are the games which i am missing badly. They were once the best seller & a craze to everyone.

• The Tetris

The name Tetris comes from the Greek work tetra or "four". Tetris is a computer puzzle game in which various shapes each made of four squares are falling down a well. The user turns the pieces around and moves them left or right in order to arrange them on top of the other. When a solid line of squares is made from edge to edge, the line dissolves and all the pieces move down by one square. When the lines dissolve points are won, when the well fills up the game ends. Players work hard to keep the well as empty as possible, but as the game progresses the pieces fall faster and faster making that harder. Anyway, do you miss playing this game? No worries, it's installed in my blog (refer to your 'right'). Now, you can buy this game for RM10 in any pasar malam's :(

• The Pac Man

Pac Man is a maze game. The player maneuvers Pac Man, a yellow circle with a mouth, to navigate a maze while eating pills and prizes. A level, or board, is finished when all pills are eaten. There are four power-up items near the corners of the maze, known as "energizers" or "power pellets" which provide Pac Man with the temporary ability to eat the ghosts. The ghosts turn a deep blue and reverse direction immediately when Pac Man eats an energizer, and they move more slowly while they are vulnerable. The ghosts are worth 200, 400, 800, and 1600 points, in sequence (the values starting over again at 200 each time another Power Pellet is eaten), so it is advantageous to the player to try to eat all four ghosts each time. If a ghost is eaten, his eyes return to the monster pen where he will be restored to normal. The ghosts flash white five times before they revert to being dangerous. The amount of time the ghosts remain vulnerable after a Power Pellet is eaten varies from one board to the next, but the time period generally becomes shorter as the game progresses, and after many boards have been completed the ghosts will actually not turn blue at all when the energizers are eaten (but they will still reverse direction). Four Ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) also wander the maze in an attempt to catch Pac Man. Each level begins with three ghosts in their "ghost pen" and one monster above it, and Pac Man near the bottom of the maze. The ghosts are released from the pen periodically as Pac Man eats dots.

• The Street Fighter

It is a matter of skill. Two warriors meet to test themselves against wildly different styles of combat. They are Russian wrestlers and tonfa-swinging Englishmen, American boxers, Indian mystics, New York brawlers, crazed jungle monsters and quiet masters of the martial arts. Blunt instrument or elegant weapon, the choice of discipline isn't important. Skill alone determines the outcome. They travel the world to meet and battle each other, and above all, to win. Some search for answers, some for glory, some for revenge. Some only seek worthy opponents in a never-ending quest to improve their knowledge and skills. But only one can become the world's greatest street fighter. I miss my all time favorite Byson & Guile :(

• The Mario Brothers

The Mario Brothers are a household name. Everyone from young to old has heard of this dynamic duo whether it be from playing the games themselves or from the publicity the games of the Mario series receive. Mario is depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. In the Mario series, he repeatedly stops the plans of Bowser to kidnap Princess Peach and subjugate the Mushroom Kingdom. He also has other enemies and rivals, including Donkey Kong and Wario.

I wish the list can go longer but i cant think much for now as its getting late & i have to wake up at 6am to work. Haihsssssssssss***..i wish i can be a kid. Miss the days alot!!

~Slumdog Millionaire~

How did I get hooked with this movie? I was having dinner in a Chinese shop with Y more than a month back when I was approached by a Pirated DVD seller. He was showing me some new release DVD’s (at that point of time, this movie has not reached the level of publicity in our country yet). So, while going through the DVD’s & munching fish ball, I saw this film. In a second, I thought a movie with white Director? Could it be a movie like how Deepa Mehta & Meera Nair use to come about? Revolving Indian culture? So, I moved on to read the synopsis of the movie at the back of DVD. Y was telling me “Can you get some other movie than this one, something like ‘When the earth stood still’ or anything nicer?”. But deep in my heart, I have always liked International movies although it may be a flop end of the day. So, I bought it & Keenu Reeve movie(for his sake) without hesitation. Certainly not because of its Indian star cast, music composer or casting cum co-director but because of its Indian sensibility and aesthetics. Y brought back the DVD to his home as he use to complaint to me that he doesn’t have any new movies to be watched. Haihs***…after a week(during one of the weekend), after bathing our puppy Gino, he decided to watch it. That same night, he called me up & was pouring his joy of watching the movie. And I was like ‘Huh’ really? Ok, then th next day, he passed the DVD to me. My family then decided to watch the movie. Again without me (I went Carrefour to do monthly groceries). When I came back home, my family members were commenting that the movie was Excellent. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh, then the following week Saturday after cleaning my house, I managed to watch it. Wowwww, this movie strikes me as a hugely important film in contemporary cinema (not like those Bollywood movies where you can see all the rich people mingling & giggling – the same old boring stuff). Now, let me tell you something about this movie.

In the very beginning of the film when you see two brothers conversing with each other, the elder one stresses on the fact that he is elder and thus the younger one needs to buy his point, irrespective of its consequences. Incorporation of minute Indian nuances like these make Slumdog Millionaire one of the best English films set in India and revolving around the country’s most popular metropolis Mumbai. The film begins with cops (Irrfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla) interrogating an 18 year old Jamal (Dev Patel, decent) who they believe has cheated in the Indian version of quiz show ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’. The suspicion arises from Jamal’s street-kid upbringing and poverty stricken background. How can an uneducated orphan dwelling in slums win a quiz show!

The day before Jamal is slated to answer the 2 Crore rupee question, he is dragged to the police station to confess his cheating. Here, the film begins to unfold as Jamal narrates his past life and proves how each chapter of his life helped him answer the questions of the show. It is here that Danny impressively shuttles between past and present, injecting provocative flashbacks in the film which captures Jamal’s vibrant childhood to his current day life journey. Jamal’s emotional upheaval after losing his mother and childhood sweetheart Latika, his tryst with destiny and differences with brother Salim then form the story of Slumdog, rather a success story of Jamal who wins against all odds. Danny Boyle’s immaculate encapsulation of Mumbai without diluting its essence is what makes Slumdog an absolutely brilliant film. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle makes Mumbai look beautiful inspite of showing the shadiest of slums, asylums, filthy sewage and garbage disposal places of the city! It works because Anthony not just captures the locales but also manages to catch the sound, smell and pace of the city which keeps moving in spite of all odds. It shows victory and triumph of human spirit with a backdrop of tragedy and in times of acute poverty which makes it a feel good film.

Boyle’s filmmaking focuses on Jamal’s rags to reaches story rather than highlighting his ghastly and grotesque surroundings, thus making the film’s theme global. His unfiltered and un-photoshoped showcase of contemporary Mumbai is inexplicably real. A kid being blinded to earn money by a local rogue, a mother being slaughtered by a religious fanatic in front of her children, girls forced into prostitution, kids exploiting foreigners... you choose to turn a blind eye towards the ‘slum life’ of Mumbai. You’d rather offer a rupee to a street urchin, sympathise with him and then walk away worrying about your mundane activities. AR Rahman’s hypnotic music deserves a special mention. Jai Ho, Ringa Ringa and all the background scores are simply mesmerizing (I bet all the Indians around the world will be praying for him to be awarded Oscar winner for his excellent work).Child actors Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (as young Jamal), Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Salim) are the soul of Slumdog Millionaire...brilliant casting by Loveleen Tandan. Madhur Mittal is excellent as the grown-up Salim and Dev Patel is decent. Freida Pinto does justice to her small but pivotal role. Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan have nothing great to do but make an impression. Slumdog presents you a simple tale of survival, love and longing set ini Mumbai. The film romances Mumbai without enhancing its beauty or degrading its character, it makes you love the city, just the way it is.

This one is indeed a masterpiece Mr Boyle.

~The Importance of Pets~

Gino Kutty: Above (waiting to be fed with McD Fries) ; below (waiting for me to open his cage)

Most people do not doubt that pets are great companions and that they are good for everybody (young and old people). To many adults, especially those who live alone, animals are like family members. They fulfill your need for affection and attention like only animals can do. To children, in addition to being their companions all day, animals also serve to help them learn day-to-day things. Animals show the circle of life in an accelerated way compared to human beings (birth, youth, adulthood, old age and dying). They also show children other things related to life such as having an accident, getting ill and knowing how to take care of themselves. As these phases are more accelerated in animals than in human beings the children learn about them through the animals. Moreover, animals help the children to develop their sense of responsibility, since they need to be taken care of constantly. In a study performed by Robert Bierer it was concluded that children, aged ten to twelve who had animals had more empathy towards others and higher self-esteem. Pets also help children to reduce their anxiety, tediousness and fear and to develop a better capacity to integrate and to be more focused in school. There are many important factors in the choice of a pet. The fact that the person who acquires it can have allergies (like asthma, bronchitis, etc.) is one. If that is the case, the person should opt for an animal that does not provoke allergies, for example, an aquarium with fish or a turtle.
When a married couple already has a pet and the woman gets pregnant, it is necessary to train the animal to adapt to the pregnancy and later to the arrival of the baby. The animal might not like to share attention, it can feel rejected. After the birth of the child there must always be an adult to supervise playing, as the animal can bite or scratch the child unintentionally. This occurs mostly when the child starts to crawl or walk. You also have to be careful with the child in relation to the animal as the child can hurt the animal due to the fact that it is still not mature enough to deal with the animal.

Dogs are playful and adapt easily to children, but they need to take a bath once a week and to have a walk at least once a day, even if it is a short walk. Therefore it is necessary to consider if the future owner of the animal has the possibility to provide the treatment that it needs. Cats have better hygiene and are practically independent. They learn to use the catbox on their own and they lick themselves clean daily, thus they only need to take a bath once a month (at the time of the bath their claws should be cut too and in case you don’t know how to, it is better to take the cat to the vet).

In past years and mainly in rural society, animals had a usefulness that was totally related to work. Currently, in an urban world that becomes "less natural" each day, animals are not used for this purpose anymore. Due to social demands and the fact that we all lead an extremely stressful life, man is emotionally isolated and has a profound necessity of interpersonal communication. These circumstances cause a desire to search for relief of this loneliness. Man needs something to keep his dreams and memories of a more distant nature alive. Thus, the pet is transformed into a confidant and trusted friend whose understanding and patience enables man to relieve his anxiety and depressions.

In this way we can say that:
· stroking an animal can help to relax and lower blood pressure; observing an aquarium makes you feel calmer (it is advised by many therapists in situations of work stress);
· pets, especially dogs, teach children to communicate and to establish social relationships more easily;
· pets stimulate good mood and happy moments (numerous studies indicate that a good mood is the best tool to fight stress and relieve tension);
· in elderly people, the company of animals allows to reduce, in a dazzling way, the number of visits to the doctor and the risks of suicide.

It can be concluded that, despite the work and the constant attention animals need, we are always rewarded. They give us joy, company and loyalty like nobody else. Same goes to my 5month old Love Gino Kutty (Shih Tzu breed; for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shih_Tzu)!!~~~

~After A Longggg Break~

16/02/09

Holla. It had been a few months since i have posted my post. My old blog had been abandoned due to time constraint. Sad to say that, all my effort was wasted just like that. Previously i use to post my blog in Friendster. Dont ask me why but i think those days (3-4years ago) were the time Friendster was used as a MAIN communication tool for all types of people especially young people like me. My Friendster friends are mainly my school, Univ & online friends in which i use to share common things/daily experience. The reason i have came up with a new blog altough i have a blogspot account before is to "Start something new from Zero". Thanks to my friends who had given me all the courages & those who have been motivating me to continue blogging. Thus, a new blog is created. My last post was about 'fuel subsidy' which took me nearly 2 hours to brainstorm & pour all my nerves in to it. Huhuhuuuu...http://nithubaby.blog.friendster.com/2008/07/fuel-subsidy/

For a start, i wont be coming up with a long post but i will definitely come up with a "New but Old Me" through this blog. So, stay tune !!~