Saturday, December 18, 2004

Who is Santa?

Hello Mate,
Here I am with yet another Christmas based Bedtime stories.. I just wondered how did Santa Claus (one of the several names given to the icon.., this one is from US, oops basically Dutch.."Sinter Klaas" it was) the famous Father Chirstmas came into being.. The story dates back to 500 - 600 AD, in a small place which is part of current world Turkey.

There was once a good man by name Nicholas, who came to know that a poor father had 3 daughters. He was almost ready to sell them as he did not have enough money to arrange for their marriage.. (Dowry system.. its was not just in India!!). Nicholas planned to help them, but without any once knowledge he dropped a bag of gold into their house through the chimney..(Guys itsa smoke ventilator, quite common in Cold countries, I know you all know this but still :-)) He did the same for two nights and third night the girls daughter got a doubt and caught Nicholas on the act.

Nicholas requested not to disclose to any one.. but you know. these things dont stay in the castle.. Nicholas thus became very popular and any one, gets any anonymous gifts are said receive them from Nicholas.. Thus he was called in time as St. Nicholas.. Sad end to is story is that they say he died on 6th December which is celebrated in some part of the work as St. Nicholas Day(In Holland Kids get gift on that day not on Christmas eve).

So now you all know who Santa is, and by the way his current figure of Red and white plumpy appearence is the work of Coca-Cola, yes thats right a marketing strategy to make their drink sell in Winter.. it worked so well that he permanently became red & white..

If interested to learn more on christmas and various forms of Father christmas check this link..
Why Christmas?

By the way I had good christmas lunch yesterday @ Honda UK. and tasted the turkey for the first time.. mmmm.. boy it was good.. :-))

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Think U r a Geek !! Then try this...

You guys think your are real geek.. Give it a try.. its just a simple situation Dont worry .. It aint ARITHMETICS :-))

There are 5 houses in 5 different colors. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same beverage. The question is “Who owns the fish?’

Facts:

The Brit lives in the red house
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea
The green house is on the left of the white house
The green house’s owner drinks coffee
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
The man living in the center house drinks milk
The Norwegian lives in the first house
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats
The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
The owner who smokes Bluesmasters drinks Beer
The German smokes Prince
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water

Einstein wrote this riddle this century(Not so sure!! It was part of the question u c :-)). He said 98% of the world could not solve it. It can be done! Be part of the 2% that COULD

For your info I am part of the 2% (Real proud u c....)

St. Thomas in Chennai ! A Myth or reality?

All those who are from Chennai(a city in southern India) are pretty sure have known about St. Thomas.. Does not matter whether u r a christian or not.. St. Thomas mount, Santhome Church, Santhome Beach (St. Thomas should have become Santhome :-)). Yes you are right we all know mostly to that level, but do we know that St. Thomas is considered as one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus(remember last supper) and is called as Twin of Jesus. (May be because he looks like that.. or may be he is born to Mother Mary, not very clear in the sources I found).Check this here


He questioned Jesus on his resurection and said only when he is able to see him again he will believe in him.. But do you all know that his visit to India is still under lot of questions.. Even though widely accepted that he came to Malabar coast(Western Coust of india), to have reached as far as Chennai is still a question, as per this book. Hey guys, that book does have very outrageous views.. especially it states something on temples at Mylapore, which currently we can neither agree or disagree.. but for a view you can go through..


if you want to know more about St. Thomas in Chennai refer this article which was published in The Hindu some time ago..

Friday, December 10, 2004

Birmingham ka Biryani

I am currently in Bescot (the so called "Outskirts" of Birmingham).. staying in the hotel.. For few days did try the food in the hotel for the dinner. My my its horrible.. dont want to name the hotel.. either too salty or none at all..

To my surprise there I found a indian(British indian) restaurent. I was wondering to see the menu. but the smell.. that was good enough to suggest that I have hit a jackpot. Oh well I saw the Indian menu there and of all the first and the best I got to see was Biryani and that too Chicken Tikka Biryani.. mm I could not resist myself..

I went on ordering and took it to the hotel.. (was even not sure whether I can take outside food to room.. never mind who cares.. biryani it is :-)) Once in my room.. opened it with a wack..Wow!! it was hot and spicy.. and with cucumber and tomato on top and along with the so called vegetable sauce and not to forget the mint sauce..

It got over in just minutes.. :-(( but still had a good taste of indian food.. after a long time indeed.

Its Friday.. & am fighting with WIN Api to print....

Strange day, I am having a funny behaviour dont know who is the culprit.. Either Lotus Notes 4.6 / Lotus Script or Win NT or the crazy PRINT Spool API or may be ME :-).. But something is driving me crazyyy..

when I remove a single piece of DIM statment it the OpenPrinter of WINAPI does not respond.. I have never had such a problem with WIN API before.. but few things are unique this time.

I am not using my machine :-))(all my useful tools and settings) I dont have admin access to this machine.. Its NT nt nt nt.. and above all notes 4.6.. Ooops I am doing lot of what we call my native "Polambification".. Never mind it works.. let me get on with it..

Its My Way & may be U' r Way too..

Guys,
Just thought why not share my experience of travelling around places, the good and bad, the better and worst, my likes and dislikes could be shared... May be the same could be your views and could here more from you all..

Put up your comments and arguements.. lets start from this day..

U'r U