SRI'S Blog

The Rotary work on the week end It was the final push in the fight against Polio--Two more vaccination sessions have been arranged - One on 21st Dec and the other on Feb 1st-- It is a sad thing that insipte of the best efforts of the Rotary and various agencies , we have been unable to eradicate polio in India --Our club was allotted two health centres to take care- One was the high profile Thousand lights and the other was in Chinthadripet ( new booth to handle ) -- It was a tough place to get in amidst the closeness to River Coouvam and the slums -- The volunteers did their best to get to the various gullies and have the children immunised but tough task-- Also there were rumours that floated indicating that the polio vaccination was creating ill health and leading to deaths as well The second one and that was big for our club was the installation of the Ultrasound equipment at our medical centre in Nerkundram -- Thanks to the benevolent support of Mrs Pramila Narasimhan ( Swadeshimi...

Quotable Quotes of the week Anger is energy in a more proactive way and how to channelize it is in itself a skill -- Sri Sri Ravishankar Spiritual Guru My head has been given a full working over - Kevin Petersen England Cricket Captain on the issues that surrounded England's tour of India. People often think it's no big deal to have kids. But my wife and I think it is a miracle -- Shah Rukh Khan Actor The BJP not only misused the official machinery but even financed the Congress candidate contesting against me. Otherwise how could I be defeated at my home -- Uma Bharti Bhartiya Jan Shakti leader and ex BJP !! Humour Club I had missed the previous two months meeting due to travel -- This one for this month was a great session of humour and paid tribute to Director Sridhar as well - it was strange for a humour club to pay homage to a director who passed away recently but the topic of humour and Sridhar are closely twined that it made lot of sense - The open joke session had a new...

Quotable Quotes I am older today. Whether I am wiser, it is for you to say. P.Chidambaram on his return to home ministry Genuine friendship leaves a space to be firm -- Dalai Lama on dealing with China Can the tottering government in its last weeks produce a new order ? Their record does not inspire hope, let alone salvation. Natwar Singh Former external affairs minister I am a guy who gets along with everybody. Anyone who knows me will vouch for this -- Sanjay Dutt Actor Insurance and its reaction to Terror Max new York did something that I could not say it was right or wrong- What is the first thing an insurance co should do when there is a crisis ? Send out message to policyholders in case someone from your life has lost their life ? That is exactly what Max New York did -- after all, is that not what the insurance companies and life insurance is all about ? Immediately after the recent terror attack in Mumbai, Max sent this SMS out to hundreds of people " We at MNYL stand by o...

I did not feel good to write about other things -- This impacted me terribly-- It is not easy and you do not feel safe and secure at all -- I went through this twice - 1993 blasts and the 1994 clashes--You will be so suscipious of things around you and rumours fly thick -- The Week that we cannot forget so easily The past week was one of those that you cannot forget so easily -- rains causing enough havoc in TN and we woke up on Wednesday with the attack on key places by Terrorists in Mumbai-- The siege ended on Saturday with all the TV channels hogging limelight in showing off more than the other -- One channel refused to stop the live telecast of what was happening at the places where the operations to flush out the terrorists was on inspite of a govt. request -- It was clear that the telecast was not helping the army commandos -- But when one saw one of the survivors speaking on TV, it was clear that the telecast was helping them as well in terms of understanding what was being done...

Interesting : It took the BSE Index 480 days or so to get from 10,000 to 20000 but took only 190 odd days to come back from 20,000 to 10,000 - Shows how fast the decline is and also how it takes time to grow ! Quotable Quotes Life is too short to hold grudges. If someone doesn't mess with me , I won't mess back -- Salman Khan Actor I hate my son throwing away his wicket. It does not matter whether you are batting on 100 or 200 , you must never give away your wicket -- Yograj Singh Father of Yuvaraj The Beijing Olympics changed my life. No longer do people confuse me with Sania -- Saina Nehwal Badminton Star on people confusing her with Tennis star Sania Mirza I respect Lalu Prasad Yadav as an elder brother but he has now become a fused bulb and a fused bulb cannot give light no matter how much energy is supplied to it- Nitish Kumar Bihar CM on the Union railway Minister Matches and Flood lights I was really wondering if this was the way to do it when there is power shortage in ...

Quotable Quotes Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine -- Madeleine Albright Former US Secretary of State Shane Warne was a gambler with a hand of ace, the Banglorean ( Anil Kumble ) was a dentist armed with a drill -- Peter Roebuck Cricket writer Barack Obama has to do something about those skinny legs - I am going to make him do some squats --Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor of California You go to Tamilnadu , to Kerla , West Bengal , the medium of communication is the local language. Why should it be different in Mumbai ? Praful Pater Union Minister of Civil Aviation A excuse-- I have not missed writing on my blog for a long time -- there have been delays in posting the blog but it is up there every week -- I love to do this and hence find a excuse to do it -- But last week was different -- On travel and working out of a time zone that was not Asian did not help -- Infrastructure was not available at the right price - and so no blog --I am not sure anybody mi...

Quotable quotes of the week Terrorism is the child of poverty and its cure for prosperity -- Asif Ali Zardari Pakistan President It is important human beings realise that whatever happens in life , good or bad, is the will of God. We should respect the bad things in life because eventually all would be good - Flaguni Pathak Singer I have no idea about his debut, but if he takes commentary as seriously as cricket, I have no doubt he will be excellent -- Harsha Bhogle --Cricket Commentator on Sourav Ganguly's future as a commentator Lalu Prasad Yadav , Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan were all railway ministers- Had they worked efficiently, the people of Bihar won't have left the state in search of jobs-- Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena Executive President Formula one -- the final race and the Championship The final race at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil held a lot of excitement -- Couple of reasons for this -- The championship was alive till this last race -- it was the home Grand...

Quotable Quotes of the week Aishwarya Rai is the biggest example of bad acting. IN Bollywood, people can become superstars just by having a pretty face. Russel Peters Canadian comedian of Indian origin on Bollywood actors Arrest me and be ready to bear the consequences.. You will have to regret-- Raj Thackeray MNS leader on his arrest. My father was a Prime Minister. MY grandmother was also a Prime Minister, but id did not get justice. My father was killed by a bomb. Forty people were involved> it has taken 17 years, but still there has been no punishment - Rahul Gandhi Congress MP The Traffic Chaos continues If you thought my last week frustration on the rain and traffic was terrible , the Friday event ( Oct 24 th ) of human chain and rains played havoc -- It took me around 3.5 hours to get home -- At least I was in the car -- I was only worried about people that had catch trains or buses to get to their hometowns to be with their families for the Diwali-- As I struggled to get goi...

Quotable Quotes When Shah Rukh Khan acts, the nation rocks with him. And when Akshay Kumar acts, he rocks the nations - Deepika Padukone Actor on who rules the tinsel town If the Congress comes and tells you that you will get nuclear energy only after 20 years, you should tell them that you would vote for them after 20 years -- L.K. Advani Leader of the Opposition West Bengal lacks the work culture for Tata Nano like project -- Narendra Modi Gujarat CM where the project re located India has the capability to build any type of launch vehicle , any type of spacecraft and launch it not only in the earth's orbit bit also in lunar orbit --A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Former President and scientist The Saturday -- Do you get this type of frustration ? It was one of those when things just do not go right-- It all started with filling in diesel at my regular gas station-- The Petro card that I use did not work on the card machine assigned to that issuer of the card -- that meant if the card is swipe...

Quotable Quotes When two people settle down together , there are little adjustments to be made on both sides- Aishwarya Rai Actor Even if the Quran is quoted in threatening emails by terrorists, we should not malign a religion. It is the particular interpretation of al Qaeda type of groups -- L.K.Advani It is unfortunate that we are facing a very irresponsible opposition. One battle is lost, but the war is not lost - we must fight fir it to raise our heads again -- Buddhadev Bhattacharjee West Bengal CM after Tata abandoned the Singur project Looks can go after a certain age . I am no Brad Pitt who wants an Angelina Jolie -- Harbhajan Singh Cricketer Read in the CA Institute Southern Chapter monthly magazine The Southern Regional Council of the CA is having its 40th regional conf -- Theme "Karka Kasadara " Karka referring to learning and Kasadara denoting understanding -- Apart from this Theme what was interesting in the agenda was -- Spiritual session by Juggy Vasudev of Ish...

Quotable Quotes I will suck the oxygen out of their system so there will be no talibs-- Asif Ali Zardari Pakistan President on the Taliban No single pre- electoral alliance will have a clear cut majority and the worst losers will be the left parties -- Yogendra yadav psphlogist on the next general elections With our economy at risk , our children's future in the balance, the risks in this election is to repeat the same mistakes Barack Obama US Presidential hopeful I will not relax after breaking Lara's record-- Sachin Tendulkar Navrathri - Kolu - Socialising -- what a week it has been It was that time of the year -- I did my part -- got the readymade furniture to host the dolls down from the attic , assembled them and then the ladies took over -- My wife did a outstanding job to make the entire thing a " success " -- Right from the invite list , to the gifts for the grown ups and the kids and the daily Soondal and Sweet , she did everything -- I was stunned by the ene...

Quotable quotes of the week I feel this time I will get an advantage at the Oscars as I had already left a impression there with Lagaan - Aamir Khan Actor and director of " Tare Zameen Par " India's lome entry at the Oscar Though the people have the rugght to convert voluntarily, attempts to effect conversion through allurement under the garb of social service whould not eb allowed. It will destroy pluralism in society- Sri Sri ravi Shankar Spiritual guru We are in the most serious crisis since world war II -- John McCain US presedential candidate on the present financial crisis in the US I like to prepare for love scenes with lots of rehersals. But in reality you get on with it after taking a deep breath -- Kate Hudson Hollywood Actor Moto GP Valentino Rossi reclaimed the world title that he lost in 2006-- In the end , the title race was decided with still three races to go -- Rossi reached a number that was mathematical not possible for his rival Casey Stoner to catch ...

Quotes of the week Boycott can say whatever he wants. He once batted the whole day and hit just one four-- Virender Sewag reacting to Boycott's comments that he ( sehwag ) was talented but brainless I live in a clean neat manner - Shivraj patil Union home minister We will completely crush the LTTE. It can be done-- Mahinda Rajapaksha -- SriLanka President The USA is the biggest enemy of jihadis. But after 9/11 not even a single terrorist strike has taken place there. We have to find out why we are constantly being targeted by terrorists-- L. K. Advani Leader of Opposition. Couriers -- How technology is changing it for them Early last week , I had a very pleasant experience -- My credit card was being replaced -- they landed up home but wanted my signature-- they called me and requested for a appointment to deliver !! I gave them our lunch time and they did turn up on time-- What followed was more pleasant-- I was asked to identify myself and showed our company identity card -- I ex...

Quotable quotes in the week I do have friends. But I am not very popular among girls, they run only after cricketers-- Pankaj Advani World Billiards Champion Even if India and Pakistan were to give independence to Kashmir , it will be never be really free- Omar Abdullah National Conference President I really want to start life afresh. I am just another girl who has made many mistakes in my life. I just hope people understand this and treat me like one - Monica Bedi Actor and former girl friend of underworld don Abu Salem Their service is set, staid, not warm and friendly as ours. We offer an infinitely better service. We are the Harrods of the sky- Vijay Mallya Of Kingfisher Airlines comparing his service with that of British Airways Chocolate Krishna I have been itching to see this drama by Crazy Mohan for some time since it was first stage some eight weeks ago -- there were some insights to this drama on TV as well and so the urge to watch it was high -- It was a bit of a struggle to...

Quotable Quotes An athlete's life seems very glamorous. But I think of an athlete's life is very hard. There is so much pressure. It's not all fun and frolic- Abhinav Bindra Everything I learned in my eight years as president and the work I have done since, in America and across the globe has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job - Bill Clinton Lalu Prasad Yadav is the only Indian who is unafraid to reveal what he really about. He has an authentic air about him and brings with him the fragrance of soil - Mahesh Bhatt Film director on the Union Minister for Railways Tatas should have settled the issue on their own. They can talk directly to the farmers. I don't know why are they depending on the state government - Venugopal Dhoot Videocon Chairman on the Tata Singur project RYLA and the Rotary Chennai week celebration The annual RYLA went off well -- The sad bit , I was not able to participate due to travel overseas-- As usual 60 school girls belonging t...

Quotes Terrorists are also human beings. If we keep compassion towards them there is a real possibility of change -The Dalai Lama Let us be honest. When our people are not safe in the country, how can they guarantee the safety of the foreigners- Abdul Qadir Former Cricketer on the postponement of the Championship Trophy which was to be held in Pakistan I am not new to modelling. I am ready for it -- Vijender Kumar Olympic Bronze medallist in boxing. I welcome Mamta Banerji to come to UttarPradesh and join hands with the Samajwadi Party anti land acquisition movement here -- Amar Singh Samajwadi party leader before attending a rally against the Tata Singur project What do you think of this !! Not sure how many of you tune in to listen to various FM radio stations as we drive-- we have had our share of favourites as we listen in for may be 20 -25 minutes in the morning and may be 20 minutes as we go home -- There are some good compeers who really do the show well - some started very well...

Quotable Quotes Who are you ? Union Sports Minister MS Gill to National Badminton Coach and former All England Champion P. Gopi Chand at a funciton Waiting for the umpires review is like three minutes in the ICU- The heart misses so many beats - Sourav Ganguly Cricket on the referral system that was demoed in the recent series with Srilanka The same guys that brought you George Bush are trying to bring you John McCain. They have the same strategy. They can't win an argument on ideas , so what they will do is attack me -Barack Obama Mostly all ht ebegaars are from other states and trains scheduled from Patna to Goa will create problems-- Ravi Nail Home Minister of Goa talking about beggars in his state Gettogether by Kids It was a event that we would not have thought about at that age- Nine kids ( all girls ) in our flat decided to have a get together on account of Krishna jayanthi -- ages ranged from the least at 3 years to the eldest at 11 years -- What was impressive was the way ...

Quotable Quotes If we can have BMW and Mercedes as separate companies, why can't we have both the Indian Premier league and the Indian Cricket league ? -- Kapil Dev Former Indian cricket captain I am overworked and underpaid-- priyanka chopra actress Issues like losing sovereignty over signing a nuclear deal with a another country should not let a government neglect the gigantic, older problems of persistent deprivation of human lives, tolerated without much political protest--Amartya Sen Nobel Laureate The Long week end It was a long week end but one that did not help me plan a travel outside of Chennai -- it was a "Nonbu " ceremony at home and that meant you could not go anywhere after the poojas were done-- There were invited visitors , so most of the time at home -- Friday evening attended a interesting talk by a TCS person who talked about Project Ignite -- through this they are brining people from Tier 3 and tier 3 cities to Chennai and making them employable as sof...

Quotable quotes of the week It is chaos but we are managing it and having a wonderful time - Angelina Jolie Actor on life with her six children including her new born twins Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face-- Barack Obama - Is presidential hopeful I love the idea of scaring people- Ram Gopal varma Film Director Humour club meeting This month's meeting , one thought would be a mild one taking in to consideration the fact the last one was the silver jubilee one and so there would be a reduction in the level of enthusiasm among the organisers as well as the attendees-- I was proved wrong as the regular crowd turned up for the event- The chief guest was a doctor and so most of the jokes were aimed at the doctor fraternity -- Some good ones to recollect The Creams road in Chennai is where the Apollo hospital is and the road can have traffic in one direction -- the sign board at the entrance of the road leading to the hospital is g...

Quotable quotes of the week The fact that my speech struck a chord in the valley and the rest of the country is a uique experience for me - Omar Abudallah National Conference President on his speech in the Parliament on the trust vote The land of Mahatma Gandhi has been blooded by terrorists, whom we should not spare -- Narendra Modi Gujarat CM The action of India and China has thrown the entire Doha round in to the gravest jeopardy of its seven year life -- David Shark US trade official critizing the countries for the failure of the talks Formula1 There could not have been a better race for the twists and turns- the Hungaroring is one of the toughest circuits on the formula one course- first overtaking is next to impossible and the track is very hard on the cars and engine as well as the tyres - One of the key things is that whoever takes pole in the Saturday qualifying is a winner in all likelyhood- So when Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren took the pole , one thought that the Briton was on ...

Quotable Quotes Kissing on screen is always a gamble,> it somehow doesn't come across as aesthetically as it should. So I am not a great fan of on screen kissing - Rahul Bose Actor It is unrealistic to expect that a US president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in the middle east- Barack Obama - US presidential hopeful India is my home. As soon as my current work is done, I will return. Is anybody stopping me ? MF Husain Artist in London Week end event at the Rotary Rotary clubs are not only known for their contribution to the society but for the fellowship and family participation events. And that is one the things that makes Rotary works-- The entire family gets involved and so all the more better-- over the last week end we had a great event -- It was a Karaoke musical event and most of us had a gorgeous time belting out numbers looking at the audio visual screen ( reading out )- there was a professional touches as well as our club has very good singe...

No quotes for this week Will wait for the Parliament debate and i am sure we will find some interesting ones Humour club - 25th Anniversary celebrations It was a fanastic evening that one could not afford to miss- the Kamarajar Arangam was packed with close to around 1700 people in the auditorium-- The high point of course was Young Sharvana winnning the humorist award of 2008 - it was a phenomenal gathering to get noticed and awarded - some of the people on the dias as she got the award were - Prof GnanaSambandam exemplary public debate speaker and a man of great learning , Prof Ramachandran again a great public debate speaker, Actor Jayaraman , Former vice Chancellor of Madras University Mr Sathik , Director of Air - it was a pity that the chief guest Director Balachander was in the audience rather than the dias to wish this upcoming talented humorist.-- PR Babu ( FBSC NAMSS ) , his family must have been delighted to see their charmed one go up all alone on the big dias and handle h...

Quotable Quotes Tennis is so much different now. All the tournaments, the draws and the players it's a big business now - Venus Williams Wimbledon Women's champion Writers by temperament are long distance runner. I think most novelists are long - distance runners. To write a novel, it takes a lot of stamina - Amitav Ghosh Novelist Sure, why not ? - Vivek oberoi Actor , when asked if he would work with his ex girl friend Aishwarya Rai ( Asai yaarai vittathu ? ) India will be one of the rare countries with ambivalent views about the Bush Presidency. Bush;s approval ratings have been among the highest in India - Kanwal Sibal Former Foreign Secretary. Humour Club It was a great event to relax and laugh- As usual the star of the show was little Shravana who thundered three jokes and had the audience in peals of laughter- that set the tone for the evening - The speaker was a experience orator and a distinguished public debater-- he talked of people behaviour and gave us some great e...

Quotable Quotes of the week I cannot say Sonia Gandhi is my friend. She is the president of a national party and a leader of stature. So how can she be my friend ? Amar Singh Samajwadi party leader Reality shows in India are operating in an unregulated market. We want to bring in regulations - Renuka Chaudary minister for women and child development While we can understand the importance of media reporting and covering happenings like my daughter's murder, there have been several instances of the media being irresponsible _ Nupur Talwar Mother of murdered teenager Aarushi talwar It was tough to follow Cricket , Formula one and tennis -- the rains delayed the start of the tennis , so first preference was to Formula one Formula one : It was a wet sticky race -- The English weather ensured that the race was full of spins and tosses and a slow race due to the water puddles -- Hamilton and Raikonen were together till they pitted on lap 21-- While Hamilton managed to sneak out just befor...