aJCfreak - Dan's Blog

When I was in 8th standard, my Math teacher (Joan Miss, pictured above) was starting us off on some Geometry. I clearly remember her drawing a triangle, properly, by taking sufficient time (could've been ten minutes?) but it seemed like an eternity for me. I just felt that even though she was trying to achieve perfection (ninety degree right angle, etc), she was probably taking way too long. I was reminded of this incident when our correspondent was addressing us today. That Math teacher is now my boss, in my job as Digital Coordinator for the school. When I joined work here, I had some experience in the corporate world - both in a modern, outsourced ITES joint, and in an old "sign-in in the register at the lobby everyday morning" staunchly Indian joint. Yet, I felt like a fish out of water. A world without written processes, without written procedures - was something my innate work experience of the previous decade just fought with. I still remember a staff meet...

UPDATE: A request to all who see this post: if you have Truecaller on your mobile, please store this number - 8409181059 - as FRAUD STEALING CARD INFORMATION . If enough of us store the number this way, Truecaller will pop this up when he calls other unsuspecting victims. _____________________________________ Putting this out there, so people with similar experiences can know - and people who haven't had this experience can be prepared for this - if and when it happens. My basic advice for such prank calling: - Keep them online as much as possible - Do not divulge any personal / identifiable details - Lodge a complaint with the police immediately after hanging up on the call (TN police website has an eazy-peazy complaint registration system) So, this is the first time I've received a hoax call. Here's how it went: 8409181059: "Hello, calling from State Bank; your card is no longer functional" Me (who doesn't have a State Bank account): "O...

I'm leaving the world of advertising. It couldn't be simpler than that. But if you ask me where I'm going to next, the answer's slightly more complicated - I'm taking up two part-time roles, at my church (Ashraya) and at my old school (Anita Methodist). Doing a variety of things. This decision has taken a few months to make, and I'm super-grateful to the support of close friends and family. My wife has been supportive about the move in ways I couldn't have even dreamed of, with an inner strength and childlike faith in God's 'leading' like only she can possess. My thoughts have kept going back to my quitting HP, and how God orchestrated that . I've agonised over what I would be writing here, but decided to restrict it to the things I'd like to remember as the highlights of this move are (in no specific order): I've learnt and grown much, in my four years in advertising My whole concept of working/functioning in an office...

I believe that love lives also in the little things. One can climb a mountain, dive into the ocean, and base jump from the International Space Station, but that is just a single incident in a lifetime spanning thousands of incidents. If love does not live in the little things, then it very well may not live at all. So, here is a teensy-weensy incident. Of love. As a reminder of love in marriage, on Valentine's Day. _________________________________________________________________ I'm a person who dislikes idlies , a South Indian breakfast staple, made from rice and urad dhaal . My wife, on the other hand loves them, so from time to time, we end up having idlies for breakfast. A few years ago, I came home one afternoon to find my wife in a jubilant mood. She had that glint in her eyes, which meant that she had a surprise for me. She drags me off to the kitchen and asks me to taste something - something, the likes of which I'd not seen before. They looked like f...

“Jallikattu protests  - All roads lead to Marina” screamed a headline. Truly, on Saturday evening, as we made our way to the famous Marina beach, we could see almost every third vehicle on the road was headed there. There were men and women dressed in black. There were bikers stopping by the roadside to hold up placards and signs. Some even held up phones displaying pro-Jallikattu messages. When we reached the signal on Mount Road just before the Chepauk stadium, we made a quick decision – we decided to head straight. We had heard that vehicles weren’t allowed till the Marina, so I figured that we could start much higher North and ride down the road adjacent to the beach. There was nary a vehicle on Flag Staff road, and my wife and I wondered at the completely deserted road. When we turned the last curve of the road to join the ‘beach road’, there she stood. The Indian flag. Waving boldly in the breeze. As if to say that Indian-ity reigned supreme – come what may.
 My...

Business photograph designed by Onlyyouqj - Freepik.com This is something I wrote when I was nearly 30. I just got up one night in July/August 2014, and typed this out on my then-new MacBook Air. Many of these I'd already either started or been involved in some way or the other. Some of these I'm sure, I can't ever do. But here's the thing - I finally know what I want to do/be in life. Apart from the job that I do. Or maybe, even  at the job that I do. My life's mission statement for the next thirty years or so. Here goes... (The purpose of me putting this out there is two things: Firstly, if this can help inspire and 'sort' the thoughts of others, it should. Secondly, if anyone wants to discuss any of these aspects of 'doing' stuff with me, please feel free to get in touch) ______________________________________________________________________________ I want to write. That includes fiction - romantic short stories, thriller novels, m...

Designed by Freepik ​ Written on 9th Nov, 2016 - 10 pm. For my lover - my wife. When all the trials of yesterday Keep me far away from you When all the joys of our tomorrow Are further than you are What have I got to do In time What have we got to lose Right now Is the world far away From us Are we drifting out from shore Go on... Hold me Like the world is falling Every moment that we're Keeping apart Love me Like we're always running To the place we're wanting To be our home That's all we got to do

Designed by Freepik When the freshness of the chase is still alive When the dew of the morning is not yet dry When the heat of the sun has not yet risen Stay in that moment Stay for a lifetime Where the memories you've made refuse to leave you Where the mistakes of yesterday no longer define you Where the worries of the world melt in your hopes Stay in that place Stay for a lifetime When the love you hold becomes warmer to decide When the colours of nature fill you with joy When the tranquility you seek, is found in life Make that your state Every day, for a lifetime When the light of your life fades from within When the child that you reared, cleaves from your self When the joys that you seek, are found less and less Flee from that burden Don't stay for even a day Till the shore that you yearn, is reached in full Till the curves in your path, are just happy challenges Till the ones you hold dear, hold enough of you dearly Find such a place Stay...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII) poster from  StarWars.com Since  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII in the Star Wars filmogy) is releasing only on the 25th December (instead of the 18th December, like the rest of the world), I'm trying to keep everyone's Star Wars 'fixes' up, in the countdown to the India launch with the  7 Days without The Force Awakens  series. We're on Day 7 now - which means The Force Awakens tomorrow! Yeah, baby!!! 1. We're almost there! Just 24 hours for the Force to Awaken in India! Yipppeeeeeeeee!!!! See and LOL at this meme from a week ago... 2. Read this spoiler-free review of The Force Awakens from The Verge . Trust me, there are ZERO plot-spoilers:  http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10243884/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review  This should help prep your anticipation for the film's release tomorrow. 3. Watch the full set of trailers and spots for The Force Awakens below (have you...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII) poster from  StarWars.com Since  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII in the Star Wars filmogy) is releasing only on the 25th December (instead of the 18th December, like the rest of the world), I'm trying to keep everyone's Star Wars 'fixes' up, in the countdown to the India launch with the  7 Days without The Force Awakens  series. We're on Day 6 now. 1. Watch this fun-tastic video of the cast of The Force Awakens, along with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, singing the Star Wars theme, A Capella style! 2. Read this thorough, well-written article from The Verge on what happens across the Star Wars universe (outside of the 6 films as well) in the events leading up to The Force Awakens :  http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10215194/star-wars-the-force-awakens-guide-canon 3. Watch the Cinema Sins video for Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (it's only Part 1; you can click through to Part 2...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII) poster from  StarWars.com Since  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII in the Star Wars filmogy) is releasing only on the 25th December (instead of the 18th December, like the rest of the world), I'm trying to keep everyone's Star Wars 'fixes' up, in the countdown to the India launch with the  7 Days without The Force Awakens  series. We're on Day 5 now. 1. First things first - today's probably the day you can book advance  tickets to The Force Awakens premiere in India. So, mark the date - be prepared with all your login/payment details, and watch out for tickets to run out really quickly after booking opens. For people in Madras, www.spicinemas.in and  www.jazzcinemas.com should be the best options to watch the film (the latter providing IMAX shows; unsure if SPI has opened the IMAX theatre at the new Palazzo outlet) For people outside Madras, I guess in.bookmyshow.com , www.inoxmovie...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII) poster from  StarWars.com Since  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII in the Star Wars filmogy) is releasing only on the 25th December (instead of the 18th December, like the rest of the world), I'm trying to keep everyone's Star Wars 'fixes' up, in the countdown to the India launch with the  7 Days without The Force Awakens  series. We're on Day 4 now. 1. Watch this amazing  little remote-controlled, robot-esque toy of the BB8 droid from The Force Awakens, in action. It is just fantastic. Also, if you wouldn't mind spending $150 on it (about Rs. 10,000), then you should just go ahead and buy it. Really. 2. Read and interact with this seriously insane, well-detailed analysis of every  scene in all the trailers released for The Force Awakens . For a stats-junkie like myself, this is sheer gold:  http://qz.com/551572/every-shot-from-every-star-wars-the-force-awakens-trailer-logged-and...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII) poster from  StarWars.com Since  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (Episode VII in the Star Wars filmogy) is releasing only on the 25th December (instead of the 18th December, like the rest of the world), I'm trying to keep everyone's Star Wars 'fixes' up, in the countdown to the India launch with the  7 Days without The Force Awakens  series. We're on Day 3 now. 1. Watch this UK weather girl make plenty of Star Wars puns in a short weather report. It's fun! 2. Read this article from The Verge about how women and diversity is reflected in the Star Wars Universe:  http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/7/9860588/star-wars-force-awakens-women-diversity-press-panel 3. Watch the Cinema Sins video for Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi below. WARNING: Mild NSFW for language of the narrator, Visit again, tomorrow morning (roughly 9 am IST) for what to do tomorrow.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII) poster from  StarWars.com Since Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII in the Star Wars film-verse) is releasing only on the 25th December (instead of the 18th December, like the rest of the world), I'm trying to keep everyone's Star Wars 'fixes' up, in the countdown to the India launch with the 7 Days without The Force Awakens series. We're on Day 2 now. 1. We covered Google and Facebook yesterday - but what if you read a lots of news and other online articles, and you would prefer to have your online web Spoiler-free ? Well, we present to you The Force Blocker Chrome extension for the Chrome web browser. Install this, and it will alert you of possible spoilers in a page you are visiting. It's hit-or-miss, but it's definitely useful to keep me alert for spoilers in pages I'm visiting. 2. This well-articulated, well-researched (and backed with evidence) theory on why Jar Jar Binks is actually a su...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII) poster from StarWars.com So, you're in India (or Greece!) and you can't catch Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII) in theatres till the 25th of December. You're bummed, and you wish there was something you could throw at the powers-that-be which make you wait so long to get your long-awaited Star Wars fix. Me, being me, have put together a little something for those interested, to keep whiling away your time till the launch of the film in India. I'll be putting out a post every single day, from today till the launch of the film in India - D day (Friday, 25th December). Each post will attempt to collate and provide access to content from across the Internet - stuff that many Star Wars fans may have already viewed or read. For today, Friday, 18th December 2015, being the 7th day prior to the launch of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens in India, here's what you can do. 1. First, get your Google products in or...

Rainbow Flag, from Wikimedia Commons  by Ludovic Bertron Hate . That's what I see some Christians (as groups, and as individuals) spew when it comes to matters associated with the LGBT community. Whether it is a church group that pickets and holds up boards at a public event, or a renowned Christian leader preaching to the masses. I've seen quite a bit of hatred - all online. Love . That's what I think Christians need to be. It's what the God we believe in is, and it's what we need to strive towards. Above all else. The two greatest commandments hinge on love. I've seen little or no examples of love from Christians towards the LGBT community. Whispered conversations . That's what I see Christians partake in, when discussing the LGBT community and matters related to that community. No common discussions. Not much of sound advice from youth pastors and leaders on how we, Christians, should handle members of this community. Frowns . That's what we...

Below is a response I posted to a commentor on Facebook, who said, "CSK team must be banned and Guru - the enthusiastic crook - jailed." and followed it up with "All these guys are frauds. But Srini is a shameless fraud". While it shouldn't be too hard to dig up the details of this enlightened human being, I personally would not mention his name here to maintain whatever level of privacy the world wide web offers. So, here we go. Dear Mr ...  All frauds are shameless. Having said that, let me focus on your actual point here - that CSK should be banned and 'Guru' should be jailed.  1. It is yet to be proven in a court of law if Mr. Gurunath (forgive me for using his full name - I don't know him well enough to call him 'Guru') has broken any laws. Let him be proven guilty first, before throwing accusations on him.  2. In the possible event that he is found guilty, banning CSK doesn't help you, me or anyone on this big, beautifu...

Tamil Brahmi inscription in jambaimalai, from Commons When the Mullaperiyar dam issue 'outed' in the press more than a year ago, my Facebook news feed was filled with comments from both sides of the border (I have plenty of friends from Kerala and Tamil Nadu). I read up as much as I could about the dam, the arguments from the two states and decided - I didn't care about the whole issue much. It's a dam. It affects the economics and public sentiments of two states of our nation. So be it. And I am a Tamilian. For several years now, I've been hearing of renowned actors, politicians and other public figures in Tamil Nadu 'speaking out against' the atrocities committed against the Tamils in Sri Lanka. When I first heard of such things, I used to wonder why those people were resorting to extreme measures to have their voices heard - when the issue they were protesting wasn't even in our country. Only later did I realise that these people felt a bond of ...

When I created my first email ID back in 2000, dan_hercules@yahoo.com, I did not have much use for it. A few years later, tired of all the spam I was receiving, I switched to eihdee@rediffmail.com. That ID was put to much more frequent and meaningful use, as I was in college and away from the life I'd known till then. When Google launched their Gmail service in 2004, and I received the requisite invite, I signed up for ajcfreak@gmail.com. Since then, aJCfreak has been my online presence. The ID stems from a dc Talk song, Jesus Freak . I wanted to be a Jesus freak, and it kind of epitomised everything that I desired to be. So it was perfect. Almost. Over the past 8-9 years, my online presence has grown to several locations and multiple avatars and IDs and such. It's something that I've become tied to. Who's ajcfreak? Yeah, that's me. In tying myself to this online ID, I seem to have tied my creative outputs to myself as well. For example, the scores of songs I...

Our Hero Honda Passion's 'cockpit' After my time aboard the Science Express , I've been trying to get Smitha to ride the bike. The bike is a Hero Honda Passion, with a 100 cc engine - what folks generally term a 'commuter'. I've ridden it over vales and hills, near rocks and lagoons and about 40,000 km in the two-and-a-half years that I've owned it. What I really would love to see, is my darling wife riding it. Confidently. Comfortably. And of course, joyously. As far as the last one is concerned - joy - I am sure she'll find that it comes with the phenomenon of bike-riding. As for the first two, confidence and comfort - I decided to begin building it. One night, I gently coaxed Smitha to ride the bike for about 4.5 km, inside Mysore city. This coaxing took several persuasive words from my part, plus my hands controlling the handlebars from the pillion position behind her. I also acted as her right rearview mirror, and at times, helped her ...