Standard Chartered Marathon - 2008

On december 07th 2008 , Standard chartered Singapore Marathon held in singapore.

Malaysia Trip

Last weekend , we were on malaysia (Dad, mom, wife and brother) - a nice trip of 3 days. This was a package tour 3 days / 2 nights booked from Serangoon Travels. Friday 31st Oct '08 we started our tour from Singpaore - malaysia Bus Terminal, Queens Street, Rocher Road. We were picked at 6.45 am (friday) by 707 C0achline travels in a 26 seater bus to Genting Highlands. The bus dropped us at Genting Highlands at around 2 pm and we chcked in at Hotel First World.

First World Hotel - Genting.

First World Hotel is the second largest hotel in the world by rooms. It comprises Tower 1 and Tower 2, each with 23 floors, and has a total of 6,118 rooms. First World Hotel is a standard 3-star hotel at most of its rooms. Below the hotel is a 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) plaza called First World Plaza, housing shopping malls, arcades, food outlets, Starworld casino, The Pavilion and the Genting indoor theme park. It has a stage for weekly performances (such as magic and music shows) at the area called Time Square, surrounded by a replica of the Statue of Liberty and an Oscar statue. Other facilities including Watersplash Pool (an indoor water theme park for children), Genting Sky Venture (Asia's first free fall simulator) and a cineplex.
First World Hotel main entrance forms the lush and grand tropical rainforest and a spacious Spanish courtyard at its lobby.

The Legend Hotel, Kaula Lumpur

The next day , we were picked from the hotel by the same tour bus to Kuala Lumpur and dropped us at The Legend Hotel, KL. This is a 5 star property in Peninsular Malaysia and is beautifully designed with a breathtaking view of the magnificent Kuala Lumpur’s city skyline. Famous landmarks surrounding the Legend Hotel Kuala Lumpur in Peninsular Malaysia include the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), The Mall shopping centre, historic commercial and government buildings and many other that is just close proximity with the Legend Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

ABOUT KUALA LUMPUR - Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. From its centralised position which spans 243.6 sq. kilometres, this ultra-modern nerve centre of Malaysia expands outwards to embrace the world.
Discovering KL (as locals affectionately call it) is like travelling through a time tunnel. Here, vivid traces of history continue to influence and inspire a country set on becoming a fully industrialised nation by the year 2020. You will see ultra-modern skysrapers standing magnificently next to rows and rows of quaint old shophouses. Haute cuisine beside hawker stalls.
To the avid shopper KL, is paradise. From world-renowned designer labels and brands to exquisite made-in-Malaysia items, the highly competitive environment that exists among traders is a blessing in disguise to shoppers. While department retail establishments or at any one of KL's famous night markets. KL will enthrall you. It will capture your heart and mind in a way no other city will.
Kuala Lumpur had its origin as a shanty mining outpost for the tin trade in the 1800s at the confluence of the Gombak and Klang River. Today, KL as it is popularly known, is a bustling metropolis, the federal capital of Malaysia and the principal centre of commerce, politic, entertainment and international activities.
The city skyline is rapidly changing and presently boast the world's tallest building, the magnificient Petronas Twin Tower at 452 meters. Another architectural wonder is the world's forth tallest communication tower, the Menara Kuala Lumpur. Despite all the urbanization process actively dominating the city, Kuala Lumpur has managed to still retain its old world charm depicted in the majestic buildings of the colonial era and the quaint pre-war shophouses.

Places of Interest:

1 ASEAN Sculpture Garden
2 Bird Park
3 Bukit Nanas
4 Butterfly Park
5 Chinatown
6 Dayabumi Complex
7 Deer Park
8 Experimental Theatre
9 Hibiscus Garden
10 Istana Negara
11 Jade Museum
12 Masjid Jamek
13 Menara Kuala Lumpur
14 Merdeka Square
15 National Library
16 National Monument
17 National Mosque
18 National Theater (Istana Budaya)
19 Orchid Garden
20 Panggung Anniversari
21 Petronas Twin Towers
22 Planetarium Negara
23 Rumah Penghulu Abu Seman
24 Selangor Club
25 Stadium Merdeka
26 Stadium Negara
27 Sultan Abdul Samad Building

CHANDRAYAAN-1

The launch of Chandrayaan 1, India’s unmanned spacecraft to the moon was perfect, said the Indian Space Research Organisation minutes after lift-off from Sriharikota on Wednesday 22nd October 2008.
"It is a historic moment as far as India is concerned. We have started our journey for the moon and the first leg of the journey has gone perfectly well," said ISRO Chairperson G Madhavan Nair.
"It is a remarkable performance by the launch (vehicle). It is a perfect launch. Now it will be orbiting the earth, he said. "What we have started is a remarkable journey for the Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the moon.”
"We have been fighting against all odds," the scientist said explaining that heavy rains and cloudy skies over the last four days had led to a lot of worries about the launch.
"Fortunately, we had clear skies today (Wednesday) and we would be completing the remaining part of the journey within 15 days," Nair said.
George Koshy, Mission Director said: "It was like that the moon was coming and peeping how we worked..."

THANK YOU - these words are not enough

After schooling , college, Job hunt, first job, second job, third job..... marriage - wife , family... the struggle and passion to move forward (or) struggle to survive in the current state may make our past memories fade a little (......sometimes). Even my memory never brings all those occassions , people in my mind everytime. But got a chance to recollect most of them a few days back, when I sat down for meditation after a very long decade. I meditate during my college days regularly and was addicted to it due to the pleasant experience...(can only experience).. Ok coming back to point - during that period of nearly 20 minutes , I was struggling to concenterate not to think about anything.. but things happened the other way. I started recollecting from my L.K.G days :) so many happenings - Ups and downs, shine and rainy.. when i think about my rainy days .. I remember my friends , family members who were supporting me on their shoulders and helped me crossing those days to reach here.

My Father and Mother - have sacrificed many things for me - My heartiest Thanks to both of them (this single word is not enough).

Apart from both of them I would like to recollect few other good human beings in my life.

Firstly - my younger brother Ramprasadh - who shared his shoulder for me financially to complete my GNIIT course and gave me a life when i missed my Engineering seat after twelth. till date he share his unspoken love to me and always with me. A simple Thanks is not enough for his sacrifices.

Secondly - my uncle Mr. Velappan - who inspired me in a lot of ways as a mentor , I saw this world through his eyes in 2000-2001 when i completed my GNIIT course and was severely in search of a job to survive. His words to me on those days are still green in my heart , everytime when i face problems , difficulties in my mind soothing me and helping me to overcome from it. A simple Thanks is not enough for his guidance.

Next - RamGopal - a very good friend of mine (currently working in Infosys, Bangalore) who advised me to do a course in IT in 1998, which turned my career, when i was left alone in dark searching for a direction to move. A simple thanks is not enough for his help on that deed. The only repay is to be a good friend to him for my life time.

Here comes next - Franklin Anto - my friend, who lend his hand to pull me up and showed me that the world is more BIG and Sky is our limit. Lived with him and shared all moments of life with him. Cant measure the love , affection and possessiveness we had on each other. I know how much he missed me when I left him alone in bangalore and travelled to singapore. We took that changes in life in inevitable and for progress, which need few sacrifices like this. More than a friend and sharing things , i have learned so much from him. He has been a Role model in many aspects of my life. A simple thanks is not enough to him, because he wont accept this thanks and he never expect anything. May GOD bless you my friend.

Subagar - how can i describe his friendship. We know each other from L.K.G (if i am not wrong), Either I follw him or he follow me everywhere. There is something between us , which made me to think that GOD or eternal force is true because, without any preplanned effect, this life made us to be together for nearly 25 years. He comes to me at times - do some good for me and then leaves me for some time. Again he comes into my life for some reason and do some sort of good to me (have made me to think if he is a GOD's messenger for me ??), whatever - the words THANK YOU - is not enough for him.

( I might have left many many people untold here. but i never forget them all , they have mixed in my life and words are not enough to honour them in this blog. they remain fresh and green in my heart always .. will write more about others in the upcoming posts )

Inline Skating

I am not a sports man, but when I saw boys and girls above age 5 flying on wheels in ECP and Pasir Ris beach sides, made me to do this like them. Inspired too much of their alertness, style and speed i bought a pair of inline skating shoes, helmet and knee/elbow guards. My friend taught me the basics of skating - how to wear this shoes, how to getup, V - shape standing position, leg movement, usage of brake, precautions etc...

After 3-4 training sessions with the help of my wife, i am now able to skate alone without any help with a very limited speed. I discovered the Fun within this sport and is a good exercise for backbone and legs. Trying to pull my friends too in this sport to add more fun. Our group of Jolly walkers is now doing Jolly swimming every week (saturday). Slowly we will move to Jolly Skaters... in the near future.

Will write more on this fun event in upcoming blogs.

Mile sur mera tumharaa

Mile sur mera tumharaa, Thoo sur bane hamaraa.... 
sur kee nadhiyaan  har disha se behkee saagar mein milee. 
Baadalon ka roop leiker  bharse halke halke... Mile sur mera tumharaa.. 
thoo... sur bane hamaara.. Mile sur mera tumhara...  
Chaain taraj tahin nyay taraj ek but baniye saayen taraj  
Tera sur mile mere sur de naal milke bane ek nava surtaal  
Mile sur mera tumharaa....tho sur bane hamaara..   
Mohnja sur tohi desa pyara mile jadein geet ashaanjo 
madhur tarano bane tadein Sur ka dariya bahte 
saagar me mile badlaan da roop leike barasan  holle haule  
Isaindhal namm iruvarin suramum namadhakum.. Dhisai veru aanalum aazi ser aarugal Mugilai mazaiyai pozivadu pol isai ...
Namm isssaiiii.... 
Thik thakida thathikakidA....thaka thimi thaka junu  
Nanna dhwanige ninna dhwani-ya, seridante namma dhwaniya..  
Naa swaramu nee swaramu sangammamai, mana swaram ga avatarinchey   
Ninde swaramum ningalude swaramum otthucheiyum Namudeya swaramai....  
Tomaar shoor moder shoor srishti koroor koi ekshoor[2]...  
Sriishti karoon woi katha   Toma mora swarer milan srishti kare chalbochatano  
male sur jo taro maro, bane aapno sur niralo   
majhya tumchya julta tara madhur suranchya barasti dhara  
Sur ki nadiya har disha se behke saagar mein mile...  
Baadlo ka roop leke barse halke halke.. 
Oh...Mile sur mera tumhara tho....sur bane hamara...  
Mile Sur mera tumhara tho sur bane hamara tho sur bane hamara tho sur bane hamara 

BIG BANG EXPERIMENT

GENEVA (Reuters) - Physicists around the world, some in pyjamas and others with champagne, celebrated the first tests on Wednesday of a huge particle-smashing machine they hope will simulate the "Big Bang" that created the universe.Experiments using the underground Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, the biggest and most complex machine ever made, could revamp modern physics and unlock secrets about the universe and its origins.

Staff in the control room on the border of Switzerland and France clapped as two beams of particles were sent silently first one way and then the other around the LHC's 17-mile (27-km) underground chamber."Things can go wrong at any time," said project leader Lyn Evans, who wore jeans and running shoes for the LHC's debut.

"But this morning we had a great start."

It will be weeks or months before two particles ever crash together in the giant tube, and even longer before scientists can interpret results, said Jos Engelen, chief scientific officer of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

"Anything between a year and four years, depending on how difficult this new physics is to find," Engelen said.

Pyjama-clad scientists calling themselves "Nerds in Nightshirts" partied at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois as they waited late into the night for the first signals from the 10 billion Swiss franc (5 billion pound) machine.

The first blip came soon after the LHC was switched on at 9:30 a.m. CERN time, 1:30 a.m. in Batavia, home of the Tevatron, which still lays claim to being the highest energy particle collider until the LHC starts colliding protons.The first blip came soon after the LHC was switched on at 9:30 a.m. CERN time, 1:30 a.m. in Batavia, home of the Tevatron, which still lays claim to being the highest energy particle collider until the LHC starts colliding protons.

THE WORLD DIDN'T END

Physicists brushed off suggestions that the experiment could create tiny black holes that could suck in the planet.

"The worries that scientists had were nothing to do with being swallowed up by black holes and everything to do with technical hitches or electronic failure," said Jim al-Khalili, a physicist at Britain's University of Surrey.

"Now, after a collective sigh of relief, the real fun starts," al-Khalili said. "No matter what we find, we will be unlocking the secrets of the universe."

The LHC will send beams of subatomic particles called protons whizzing around the tube at just under the speed of light.

The hope is they will smash into one another and explode in a burst of new and previously unseen types of particles -- recreating on a miniature scale the heat and energy of the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe 13.7 billion years ago.

At full speed the LHC will engineer 600 million collisions every second. Data will be transmitted via a network called The Grid to scientists at 170 institutions in 33 countries.

"It is sort of a virtual United Nations," said Michael Tuts, a physics professor at Columbia University in New York and program manager for 400 U.S. physicists working on one LHC project.

THE WORLD DIDN'T END

Physicists brushed off suggestions that the experiment could create tiny black holes that could suck in the planet.

"The worries that scientists had were nothing to do with being swallowed up by black holes and everything to do with technical hitches or electronic failure," said Jim al-Khalili, a physicist at Britain's University of Surrey.

"Now, after a collective sigh of relief, the real fun starts," al-Khalili said. "No matter what we find, we will be unlocking the secrets of the universe."

The LHC will send beams of subatomic particles called protons whizzing around the tube at just under the speed of light. The hope is they will smash into one another and explode in a burst of new and previously unseen types of particles -- recreating on a miniature scale the heat and energy of the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe 13.7 billion years ago. At full speed the LHC will engineer 600 million collisions every second. Data will be transmitted via a network called The Grid to scientists at 170 institutions in 33 countries. "It is sort of a virtual United Nations," said Michael Tuts, a physics professor at Columbia University in New York and program manager for 400 U.S. physicists working on one LHC project.

Google Chrome

This new browser (Google Chrome) from google with few good features which the traditional existing Single threaded browsers lack. One such is the use of API to make it perform faster, eliminating the browser wait time for the javascript to finish its work, which uses the multi - threaded architecture. It works on multi-process technology using different tab for each process. A multi -process means using a bit more moemory upfront. In traditional browsers even after a tab is closed teh memory alocated may not be released and it makes the bowser life long to complete a process , whereas in Google Chrome when a tab is closed , the whole process is ended and memory gets reclaimed. It uses WEBKIT - a open source rendering engine. WEBKIT is used to use memory efficiently and to easily adopt to embedded devices.

To know more on this please visit : http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html

Jolly Walkers

All our Team mates - had the thirst for a better health, as the tummy grew up.... we decided to meet every saturday morning at any one place, not only to walk , but to talk something else apart from work too. The first week we met at Punggol Park and ran 2 to 3 rounds. Few were not so comfortable to jog or walk anyway and so we decided to swim in alternate weeks.
Top row : Velu , Subbu , Ash
Bottom row : Ravi, Myself and Manoj.
Week 1 - Punggol Park - Jogging
Week 2 - Hougang Swimming Pool - Swimming
Week 3 - I couldnt participate as i was in weekend support , other jogged in Punggol park
Week 4 - Serangoon Stadium - Jogging and Swimming
Week 5 - I was not able to participate as I went to bintan Island
Week 6 - serangoon - swimming.

BiNtan LaGOon Resorts

Set amongst more than 300 hectares of beachfront gardens, this deluxe resort offers a world of choice. Ideally situated just 55 minutes by high speed ferry from Singapore, the resort overlooks the South China Sea and archipelago of the Riau islands. Sparkling azure waters, gentle swaying palm trees, sugar fine white sands and warm personalized service complete the picture postcard of Bintan Lagoon Resort.

I had very less time in india after my wedding, so couldnt plan for Honey moon elsewhere. After landing singapore.. was planning to relax somewhere out of singapore. It took again 2 months to decide and this place fits into my mind. Finally me and priya decided and started from singapore on 23rd saturday early monrning to tanah Merah and took a Ferri to Bintan Island. Nearly 1 hour journey -- and finally reached the land across the sea and checked in the hotel at around 10 in the morning. Quickly had the breakfast and rushed to the swimming pool and had a nice swim until 12 noon.. Got back to the room and had Lunch. Afternoon we planned for the All Terrain Vehicle (A 4 wheeler) to roam around adventure spots, but unfortunately it was raining and we couldnt do it and missed the fun... We walked towards beach to spend the rest of the afternoon ... here comes the fortune.. we saw the Jet Ski (Water Scooter) and took one and started riding on sea. (SGD 75 for 30 min). The most memorable ride i ever had in my life. a very thrilling experience. The next day we had a good breakfast in teh hotel and cehcked out in the morning and moved out for roaming with the cam. After noon went for Mangrove Forest tour an adventurous ride in the backwaters.... giving an experience rowing into jungle like the one in National Geography channel kind of experience. At last.. after all such activities the ferri back to singapore relaxed us a complete short vacation.. biased for the fresh week ahead.

Few more detail on this:

RESORT : "BINTAN LAGOON", Indonesia.

Package Booked at : Five Stars tours Pte Ltd.,

Website : http://www.fivestarsonline.com/

Email : Enquiry@fivestarsonline.com
(can book the ferry tickets also with them in 'Bintan Resorts Ferry')

VISA : On arrival (10 USD)

Required doc : Passport and EP

Activities in the Resort:
1. Corporate Team building activity.

2. Jetski (Water Scooter)/Banana Boat/Steam Boat/Surfing.

3. All Terrain Vehile (4 wheeler) - lincense required , but can go without license also.

4. Mountain terrain Bike (4 wheeler, but like bike)

5. Swimming Pool

6. Bar

7. Billiards / Video games

8. Tennis / Shutle / Beach Volley Ball.

9. Laser shooting

10. Paint ball shooting

11. Golf

12. Mangrove tours (day) / Fire flies tours (night)

for more info - visit : http://web.bintanlagoon.com/