Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Here they are my new fish! and as you may hear in the video above, I`ve given them a name...Tweedldee and Tweedledum! Dont ask me why, but it just stuck in my head!I`ve tried looking up the origin of their names but no one is really sure of its origins! perfect for two dumb creatures who spend all their life amusing others!

The Merman Competition.

I`ve wanted to upload this video for a long time now. Finally managed to do it.

Time ..sometime in 2003

Place ..Thommenkuthu water falls

Occasion..My friends Arun (AKB), Abhilash (Thadiyan) ,Romain (a frech guy who was doing his project at CUSAT),and myself cooling off in the cool waters after a long trek up the waterfall.

Scenario..AKB and Thadiyan have a heated argument about who can stay underwater the longest. A competition results...but it soon turns into who is a smarter cheater.

Result..You decide!

A fishy B`day gift!

To continue from where I left off; One of my friends, Morgane was not around on my birthday so I ended up having an extended celebration when she returned from skiing in France. The above pic gives u more than a good idea of my cooking skills ;-).
Anyway, I ended up with a surprise birthday gift ! Oh yes..my friends took a lot of trouble to exclude me from their shopping and ended up saying they were going shopping for Lingerie!
Anyway, what I ended up getting was not as spectacular as lingerie, but interesting nonetheless...an aquarium!
people know me as being a fish keeping enthusiast..but thats not why I got an aquarium...its because of my extremely limited and selective memory. My friends call me a a goldfish because I have the memory of a goldfish! So there, why not get him a goldfish!!

Unfortunately for them, they ended up not being able to buy the goldfish, as the shop wouldnt let them have a goldfish without first setting up a tank! (yep another one of those crazy rules in U.K!)


My friends had fun helping me set up the tank, complete with an aerator and filter. I`ll be buying my fish soon, but until then I`m more than happy to hear the water bubbling in the tank! makes me feel like I`m in Thommenkuthu water falls!

Birthday Update.

First of all let me thank all of you folks for the multitude of birthday wishes that have been pouring in. ..so much so that my inbox has been inundated with messages, especially from Orkut!
Before you ask, yes it does feel a bit different to be a year older. I guess I`m getting to that stage in life where every birthday brings in an awareness of time lost and tasks in life to accomplish..sometimes 27 years feels a bit old!
However,I`ve waited a long time to get to my 27th birthday.. If u ask why, its because 27 adds up to 9 and 9 is a very good number!

Im not very superstitious, but when in life you are plagued by an extended period of ill luck, one begins to look at silly and simple things to motivate oneself. ...and so it was that a year or two back when Iwas going through some really bad times ..I fooled myself into thinking that it was just a phase in my life in which the planetary influences made things difficult for my star sign! (dont laugh!)..furthermore, since I was born on a 9 day (feb 9) on a 9 year (1980= 1+9+8+0=18 =1+8= 9), I thought 9 is certainly a lucky number!

(also on those extremely rare occasions when I somehow managed to score 9 out of 10 for a test..i was really really happy!!! doesnt that make 9 a good number?)

I ceratinly remember that when I was 9 years old, I first fell in love and that year was a very happy year for me!!! that was way back in 1989...and that adds up to 9 as well! My next 9 year came around when I was 18 (8+1=9) and studying at St.Aloysius, Mangalore (1998 = 1+9+9+8=27 =2+7= 9). Although I can remember that the year didnt start out great, things settled in and ended up as a great year too.....oh and just for your amusement, i fell in love again that year! (dont ask me what happened..all of u know love is blind..and blind people seldom find their way about!)
Anyway, I`ve had to wait a long time..and here it is once again..a 9 year! 2007! (2+0+0+7= 9)..and im 27 = 2+7=9. So i believe this year is gonna turn out just as great ! Oh yeah..who knows maybe fall in love again!!!

Most of you must be rubbishing my claim to good fortune, but hey, it doesnt hurt to have a positive outlook does it? Anyhow, I woke up on my birthday morning and was greeted by a blinding whiteness outside my window. Snow!! Strange that it should occur on this day almost as if greeting my arrival into a heavenly era! click the wndow below to get a glimpse of the snow in video.

So, a lot of you have been writing in demanding to know how I`m celebrating the day. I must say,I kept it a big secret at the office and was lucky to come through unscathed!
However I decided to celebrate that night and invited my friends over to have dinner.
My skills in cooking seem to be gaining popularity and both my friends insisted that I cook "curry". Thus I decided that I`d give them a feast of indian curries and ended up cooking a meal of Biriyani, Chicken curry, and fried shark fish! That also included a starter with fried shrimp and dessert with chocolate chip muffins topped up with a vanilla and toffee flavoured ice cream! doesnt that sound good..I assure you it was! O.K o.k..for those of you who insist on drinks there was that too....and I did end up a little tipsy! Happy?

Jokes and superstitions aside,Thankyou once again to all of you who wrote in with wishes..to those who forgot ,I can only say, welcome to the club, I`m as bad as you in remembering birthdays..so you are excused (and I hope i will be too if I forget!).

The joys of a PhD

...and so they ask me. How is your PhD going on?...and I answer..great! just fine.

..and so it was that I happened to come across this one! Paints a pretty accurate picture, I must say!