Happy Christmas and New Year

Hi Friends,
I wish all of you and your families a happy and prosperous Christmas and New Year 2010 ahead. God bless you.
I wish the problems right now in my region(State of Andhra Pradesh in India) will be resolved soon. May this horrible politicians realize their mistakes and get the peoples life into normal pace.

Do we really need Telangana?

I hope most of you would know that there is this issue of separate state(Telangana) in the state of Andhra Pradesh(India). And it became serious issue these days the so called leaders started riots to get separate state.

But are they really thinking about why we need a separate state? I am sure no. Its just a stunt to get the political power. Several years ago Andhra Pradesh was separated from the state of Madras in the ending of British rule. Yes, this made sense that time because we had a language barrier between Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. But this telangana movement doesn't make sense at all. This is absolutely trying to make Andhra into pieces so that everyone can enjoy their share without obstructions.

If they are real leaders, are they thinking about the people and the post issues after forming a separate state? If they have real guts, they should verify how much they contributed to (at least tried to ) that region to develop before asking for a separate state.

If they think that only Telangana region is undeveloped that is absolutely wrong. There are 1000's of undeveloped regions in Rayalaseema and Coastal regions too. Its about developing the entire state as a whole. In addition to that, they are destroying the public properties all over the state. Do they thinks its their father's property? They will realize how it feels only if they lose their personal property.

Another main concern I have is even the students are agitating without putting their thoughts. They are the ones who should lay the path for the future India. They should think in a constructive manner rather than breaking everything into pieces. I am sure that most of the students are being used politically by the leaders for this issue.

This is the time to resolve this issue without prolonging further. I hope the central government will take the right decision without bowing their heads to the corrupted leaders.

Heights of Wealth

I was reading about Bill Gates few days ago and came across some interesting facts(below) regarding his wealth. I could understand the heights of wealth with this. Check out.

• Pay NBA MVP Michael Jordan's salary for 1,394 years.
• Give every man, woman and child on the face of the Earth $7.46.
• Pay every California Lottery prize for the next 34 years.
• Fund 158 Mars Pathfinder missions.
• Fund the US Department of Education for 19 years.
• Pay tuition for the residents of Seattle and Tacoma to go to the University of Washington for four years.
• Fund the US presence in the Persian Gulf for 11 months.
• Fund the US peacekeeping forces in Bosnia for 157 years.
• Buy 233,346,297 copies of Microsoft Windows 95.
• Buy 1,680,000,000 copies of his own book, buy more with his royalties from those sales, continuing the cycle and easily the best selling author of all time.
• Make Hanson the most successful musicians of all time by buying 3,529,411,765 copies of "Middle of Nowhere."
• If he wanted to challenge George Lucas (worth only $2 billion), he could make 227 sequels to "Waterworld," or 35,000 sequels to "Sling Blade."
• At the median donation for spending a night in the White House, he could stay in the Lincoln Bedroom for 46,300 years.
• If he wanted to go on a killing spree in Los Angeles County, at the rate that Simpson was charged, he could kill 3,360 people and pay all his attorney fees and punitive damages.
• At the rate of 1/2 ounce per $27 million, he could pay Mike Tyson to eat 1/5 of Evander Holyfield.
• He could fly from Seattle to Paris and back on Air France 45,258,621 times.
• If he wanted to go to a local baseball game, he could buy Seattle Mariners season tickets, all of them, for 411 years, and with his spare change could buy the team and the Kingdome.
• At Denny's, he could buy a "Grand Slam Slugger Breakfast" for 9,150,326,797 people.
• If he couldn't get service, he could buy every man, woman and child in China a Big Mac Extra Value Meal, as long as no one "Super Sizes."
• If they preferred, he could buy 17 billion packages of Top Ramen noodles.
• He must like coffee, and could buy over 6 billion pounds of French roast at his local Starbuck's.
• Speaking of a cup of coffee, he could support one of those Sally Struther's foreign kids for 113,341,969 years.

Isn't this interesting?

Back in action...

Friends, I am back to US from India trip with some mixed feelings. I think it will take sometime for me to sync up to the current situations. Will be back with a blog after sometime.
Hope you all are doing fine.

Going to India.....

From LA airport....

Hi friends, finally I am going for a vacation to my home(India). I will miss my swimming and music lessons and also you here for a while..:).

Anyways I will try to blog in between if I get sometime. Otherwise have a great time and see you later.

Floods in South India

As you all might know that severe floods had hit India(in some states). And that too specifically in the place where I lived most of the time(almost 20 years). This is a place called Kurnool in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Major-floods-hit-Andhra-Karnataka-rescue-operations-on/articleshow/5081295.cms

Not only this place, there are several other places in other states too had flood hit. It is really sad to hear the troubles of people who became homeless without food for so many days. They have lost their homes, properties everything. But nobody can stop the natural disasters, but can take some advanced rescue measures to track and save lives of people.

I hope such time will come soon to avoid human loss. I was moved by this disaster actually since I lived in that place for long time. Luckily all my friends are safe in those places.

But I did send some funds(whatever I can) for the relief operations for the poor people. After all they are our fellow human beings.

I wish they recover as early as possible.

Below is the website through which I have donated the funds for 5 families. I am posting here so that somebody who is interested also may donate something in their limit.
If you cannot donate the minimum amount, you can combine with your friends and donate.

http://www.shop.theuscats.org/category.sc?categoryId=24

Can't I be at the receiving end?

From long time, I am kind of thinking about this. Why can't I be at the receiving end? I am observing this pattern right from my childhood. Any event, any topic, any gathering most of the times I will be at the giving end. Like organizing, arranging, planning something etc etc.
I mean this sounds good right. But I sometimes feel that somebody should arrange things for me too.

It feels tired sometimes to do the things. Take anything either work or personal, I will be identified as a person who gives or helps. For example, whichever place I go to work there will be minimum 10 members in the team. But believe me, all the managers used to ask me a favor of helping any new member(in finding a apartment, settling down etc) after joining the project.

Ofcourse I enjoy that, but I am not sure to say whether this is my strength or weakness. People say that I will also get some favour in the future and they also say something big is waiting for me to receive.
Ha ha, my question is when?

Just wanted to share this with all of you.

Movie Updates

I have watched some movies recently and wanted to give an update to all of you.

1. Magadheera

This is a telugu(my mother tongue, one of the Indian languages) movie where the hero of the film is my favourite star Chiranjeevi's son. I would say this is of of the best telugu movies made. Technically very nice and brilliant movie. Its a periodical love story. As his father, he inherited all the good parts of movie like fights, dance and action etc. And this movie became one of the biggest hits in telugu film industry.



2. Inglorious bastards

I watched a great conversational movie after long time. As a fan of Quentin Tarantino, I went to this movie for the premier show at 12 midnight:). The movie is made brilliantly and its a Tarantino brand as usual. The dialogues and the screenplay are the best ever. And the scenes are typical Tarantino style. I would strongly recommend seeing this movie if you did not watch.



3. Whiteout

I went to this movie because of Kate Beckinsale. I really like her. And the movie also decent one. This is about an investigation of murder case on Antarctica and she does her role pretty well. The film makers also depicted the Antarctica and the intense weather over there nicely. A good movie to watch.



4. Jennifer's Body

If I did not update you, I am a big big fan of Horror films. I think I did not miss any good horror films till date. And a horror film with Mega fox as actress, how could I miss this?. Ofcourse a typical horror film, but only attraction is Mega fox. Its about a gorgeous cheerleader (Megan Fox) possessed by a demon and starts feeding off the boys. She is really hot and apt for this role.



Well, I hope these reviews help you.

Las Vegas - The heaven on the earth

Yes. I did not see the heaven. But I think it will be like Las Vegas. Fun, enjoyment, thrill...you name it, it has it. One of the top most best places I have visited till now in my life. And given a chance everybody has to visit this place of unlimited fun.

I got a last minute deal and was lucky enough to spend time in Vegas, the sin city. And the other best thing is that I got a BMW convertible rental car. Imagine driving through the Las Vegas strip in BMW. I could not imagine that this will happen so soon for me.

I have visited all major casinos like Bellagio, The Venetian, Wynn, Encore etc. Each has its own unique style and beauty. No words to explain the architecture and the degree of detail. I have also went to a show called "LE REVE" in Wynn casino. I would strongly recommmend you too to checkout this show if you are in Vegas anytime. What a amazing show? Fantastic experience.

I have also experienced the thrill rides on the top of Stratosphere(Insanity, Xscream etc). They are really breath taking rides. I appreciate the ideas they get and implement in the places like these.

What else? oh yaa..the BMW...amazing car. I went on a ride to Death valley road which I wanted to visit from long time. I used to see this road in the movies finally got to visit. This completes my visit to 28th US state.

I was almost depressed to return to work from a city like Las Vegas. But you know life has to go on...Check out some photos of the trip.....



Las Vegas Airport


My first BMW


Wynn Casino


LE REVE Show poster in Wynn Casino


Ending scene of LE REVE Show


Death valley

Ganesh Chaturthi

Hi friends, hope you are all doing good. As you know, yesterday(23rd August) was an Indian festival called as "Ganesh Chaturthi"(Birthday of one of the Indian gods - Lord Ganesh). Also called as "well-wisher" god. And this is my favourite festival of all.

Although I felt not being at home(as I am in US now), I made sure I celebrate this festival as is like home. I had prepared all the things as per the tradition and set up the Ganesh Idol.

We did pooja(prayer) and all nicely and also had good food. These idols and the festival is pretty famous not only in India but also throughout the world where there is a presence of Hindus. The idol immersion ceremony day is also very popular in major cities in India.

Below are the photos we took at our home in US that day.

San Francisco - The second best

I have visited San Francisco for the July long weekend and I have reached a landmark of visiting 27 states in US with this trip.

SFO is absolutely amazing city. I have rated Boston as the second best city in US before this visit. But Boston lost its rating after my visit to SFO.:-P

The best thing I liked in SFO is the transporation. They have all types of vehicles under the sun like bus, cable car, ferry, train etc. The city is always lively and happening.

We have visited places like Alcatraz Island, Stanford university, Ghirardelli chocolate factory, Crooked street, Silicon valley, Half moon bay beach and Golden Gate bridge etc.
Over all it was nice trip, but got tanned a lot due to California weather. It took 3 weeks for me to come back to my original color.:)

Below is my rating of US cities I have visited till now.

1. New York(may be always 1)
2. San Francisco
3. Boston
4. Chicago
5. Atlanta
6. Seattle
7. Washington DC
8. Providence
9. Portland
10. Charlotte
11. Raleigh
12. Ashville
13. Pittsburg
14. Minneapolis
15. Richmond
16. Milwaukee
17. Newark

Interesting, is it?. What is your rating if you are in US?

Check out some photos below of SFO.


Alcatraz Island


SFO Downtown View


SFO Downtown


Golden Gate Bridge


Crooked Street

The Emperor of Pop

Hopefully you would have understood what I am going to write about by seeing the title of this blog. Yes its about one and only Michael Jackson. I would say he is not only the King but Emperor of pop.

It is really tough to digest that he is no more, but you know you never know when death takes away a person. Well coming to reality, I think he is a definition for Dance. I am almost sure that there will not be any dance school in the world without his picture in it. He is so popular through out each corner of the world irrespective of country, language and music.

He is an inspiration for almost every dancer, choreographer and any music lover. He is the definition for hard work and ambition. Forgetting about all the controversies in his personal life, he was always the best.

Especailly in indian film industry his impact has got revolutionary change in the field of dance. Any film industry belonging to any language has got his impression in the area of Dance. Wow!! what an artist. I think only one person like this will be there for a century.

Even my favourite hero Chiranjeevi who is considered as one of the best dancing artists in India has taken him only as an inspiration.

I am here giving Michael Jackson a great tribute through my blog. May his soul rest in peace.
Below is my favourite item from Jackson's dances. Bille Jean...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7MmEMrCRfc&feature=related

Below is another interesting item from Chiranjeevi's songs(language - telugu) where he remade the Thriller song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcF2f8XVwpk

President meets Prince

Interesting photo of Pesident of United States, Barack Obama with Prince of Cricket, Brian Lara.

Quick story -----

http://blog.kridaya.com/2009/04/22/barack-obama-brian-lara-and-cricket/

Recipe time(Ivy Gourd)

Well, I did not even used to go into kitchen when I was back in India. I never had to cook something. My mother used to serve me everything. You know mother is always mother.:-P
But things changed when I came to US. I had to start cooking which I was kind of scared. But you dont believe, I kind of became expert and have lot of interest in cooking now. I feel it as a stress buster sometimes.
My friends and rooommates say that I cook really tasty food whatever I try. With concentration I think its proved that we can make anything successful. Anyway let me not bore any more. I am here posting you the recipe of Tindora Fry(called as Dondakaya in Telugu language). Its a very special vegetable which grows in India only. Here it goes...


Ingredients:
250 gms /1/4 kg Dondakayalu / Tondli / Ivy Gourds½ tsp mustard seeds
10-12 fresh curry leaves
pinch of turmeric pwd
salt to taste
1 ½ tbsp oil
1-2 tbsp roasted peanuts (garnish)
To be roasted in oil and ground to a coarse pwd:
few drops of oil
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chillis – remove stalk, tear into two and de-seed (adjust according to your spice level)
1 1/2 tbsp roasted peanuts

1. Wash the dondakayalu and nip the tip and tail ends. Slit each gherkin into two, length wise, as shown in the picture and slice them into thin long strips.

2. Heat a few drops of oil in a cooking vessel. Once the oil is hot, reduce heat to medium flame, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter and turn brown. Add urad(white lentils) and channa dal for crunchy taste. Add the red chillis and fry for a few seconds stirring continuosly. Turn off heat and cool. Once cool, add roasted peanuts to this roasted spice mix and grind to make a coarse pwd.

3. Add oil in the same pan and heat it till hot. Reduce to medium flame and add the mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add the curry leaves ,stir them till the aroma come out.

4. Immediately add the sliced dondakayalu and combine. Add salt and turmeric pwd and mix well. Saute on medium heat for 3-4 minutes , keep sauteing them so that it doesn’t burn. Now reduce to low flame and let it cook covered till soft, approx 12-15 minutes. Keep checking inbetween, sauteing them so that they dont burn. The sauteed dondakayalu lose moisture and begin to have a wrinkled appearance and turns to a deeper color.

5. Don’t overcook the dondakayalu, they should retain that, slight crunchy texture. Add the ground coarse pwd at this stage and combine well and let it cook, uncovered for another 2 minutes on medium heat. Turn off heat.

6. Finally adjust the salt and garnish with roasted peanuts. Serve hot with steamed rice, dal or sambar.

Let me know if this is helpful to anybody who tried this.:)

Laksha Gala Sankirthanarchana(100,000 People Choir Singing Praising Lord)

Amazing!!!. Imagine more than 100,000 people singing to praise the Lord for the good. Since I am in US, I am not lucky to participate in this event which happened in my city Hyderabad in India.

Coming to the news, TTD(Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) an organization which takes care of affairs of Lord Venkateswara in temple town Tirumala. As you know this temple is believed to be the richest of all the temples in the world. Almost 100,000 people akes their visit to this place daily to gain blessings of the lord.

There was a telugu poet and lyricist called Annamayya in 15th century who was greatest devotee for Lord Venkateswara. He wrote around 32,000 sankeerthanas(holy songs) on the lord. We are lucky to obtain atleast 13,000 of them from the history. May 9th was his 601st birthday so based on that occassion, TTD has conducted a major programme where 100,000 people sang together some of the songs written by Annamayya for the Lord. This also went into Guinness Book of records breaking the German musical event happened in 1937.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Andhra-singers-set-new-world-record/articleshow/4506982.cms

http://manahotspot.blogspot.com/2009/05/nagarjuna-k-raghavendra-rao-speaking-in.html


ANNAMAYYA(DOWN) WITH LORD VENKATESWARA(TOP)

I am lucky enough to have several co-incidental attachments with Annamayya. Our family is considered as the descendants of him. And the college where I have graduated is just next to his native place(Tallapaka). I have visited his place and temple also several times.

I am here taking a chance to salute this great poet and may all his poetic wonders will become inspiration to all generations. This should also help us to remember our tradition and culture.

Intel Dot Com

This time I wanted to share about a milestone that happened in my career. I am right now working for Intel Corporation. So we were working on their new website design and delivery in more efficient way with less cost.
So finally we could finish that and send live to public last week. Just wanted to share this thing with you.
Below is the link if you want to check that out.

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/products/server/processor

Chi-Town Trip

Finally, I could find sometime to go for a trip to Chicago. I am always ready to visit that city because I feel it as my home town in US.:). Ofcourse the reason is because I have landed there only when I came to US from India first time. Isn't this funny?. But not for me...

I had a plan to visit my uncle's place in Chicago. And also one of my friends also planned to visit Chicago for his personal reasons. So I thought I can shoot two birds at one shot. After spending two days at my uncle's place, one fine saturday me and my friend went on a road trip. We went to Milwaukee. I would say that as a city of dead. OMG, that city is kind of depressing may be for its oldness. But the good thing is that we have visited the Milwaukee museum of Art which is like a architectural wonder.

Later we also visited the Miller's beer brewing company and went on a small tour in which they showed the brewing and packing process of Miller beer. It was kind of fun to see that gigantic system of beer brewing. What else, I have returned back to Oregon after the trip.

And back to work and cooking stuff........:(
Check out some cool photos of that museum and the michigan lake.

Oregon Sand Dunes - The most memorable trip

Day : March 21st, 2009(Saturday)
Time : From 10 PM to 1 AM

I cannot imagine how much I laughed at the specified period above. I think that is the day where I laughed atmost(to hell infact). It went till me getting some chest pain as well due to laugh. Ok, let me not blabber anymore and come to the point.

I went to a place called Florence which is in the Oregon state of US(West Coast). This is a place with full of sand dunes where one can take ATV(its a vehicle which is used to drive in sand) on rent and enjoy the ride in the tough sand. This is a different experience for me as we dont find this things in India.

So we(me along with other 3 teammates) started travelling towards that place. Our plan was to reach there afternoon and return by the same night. We have reached there at 5 PM in the evening since the drive was along side of pacific ocean and we had to stop at few scenic places. Believe me, pacific coast drive is one of the best drives.

Finally we got to know that the rental shop will be closed at 5 PM. So we thought of not missing the chance and stayed that night in a small motel. This decision was the turning point for us to have LOADS of fun in the motel. First we have visited a nearby casino and won some money($20 for $1 investment). Then we went to a restaurant called Bay Street Grill where I have met one of the beautiful girls I have ever seen. OOPS! she was an absolute beauty. I had a good time having drink and food served by her.

Later, we headed over to hotel and then started the actual fun. People were in good mood and started explaining their past in the form of stories. My god, the way everybody explained their college life, career and crushes was HILLARIOUS. I almost had a doubt that police may come by seeing the way we were shouting and laughing. We had to end this earlier to leave the next day morning to play in sand dunes.

At last, we rented the vehicles and had lots of fun in sand dunes. The weather was also helpful for us to enjoy perfectly in the drive. It was a wonderful experience. Later we played mini golf which was unexpected in the plan. The fun continued in the game as well by commenting and playing jokes on each other.

As I always tell any day has to end. So we rushed back to our place(Beaverton) by having nice food in an Indian restaurant on the way. Once again, you should have right company to have right fun. And I guess It doesn't happen all the time.

Check out few pics below -->


Beautiful pacific coast


Nice drink served by beautiful lady in the restaurant.:)


Sand dunes spreading out in 5 mile radius

My Journey in US - Part 5

OOPS!! Its almost 3 months since I have posted a blog. You know, I was like drowned in my project work from the last 2/3 months. It is always good to have more work in this bad economy times. So was inviting as much as work it comes on my way.
So as a come back I would want to post a blog on my journey in US(Part -5). Below is the older post which is actually part -4 where I stayed in Groton, CT.

http://ootb-jaggu.blogspot.com/2008/12/64-paul-revere-rd.html

I have got my next project in Beaverton, Oregon in the west coast. Well, yes I have moved to another end of US which I wanted anyways. Believe me, Oregon(also called Green state) is a very beautiful place, but only thing is it rains almost always. Once you get used to it, this is great place to live for a while.

Now I am working for Intel Corporation which has very big facility( 7 to 8 campuses) here. Even NIKE has its headquarters here. So small city with big companies. Its all fun since the Portland and Seattle cities are near and driveable. Here I am posting some pics of local and Seattle. I have visited Boeing manufacturing plant, Microsoft and Downtonw in Seattle. Well one thing I would say about Boeing is, its just a wonder to see the anufacturing process of aeroplanes in which we travel. Can you believe that a Beoing 747 plane is manufactured completely in 3 days and delivered. Its just a beauty. Well let me post some pics below. Hope you enjoy them.

It doesnt snow here much normally. But it snowed so heavily in Christmas 2008 after 1930 as below.









Seattle downtown



Boeing Manufacturing Plant(The left most big building block)