Crystal pillars - Man made marvel!!

Last Saturday evening I decided to try a bit of photography with my new FujiFilm S5700. I have always found KLCC gardens that has Petronas twin towers in the backdrop to be the perfect training ground for any amateur photographer. I chose to go there in the evening because of the lighting. As my house owner and her daughter were busy shopping at KLCC I slipped away to the gardens. It was the first time I used a tripod. To set it and get the right angle and elevation took a lot of time. I need a lot of practice on that. I havent used any softwares to retouch the pictures. This is just the raw output from my camera.

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Originally uploaded by Jay Krishna target="_blank"

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Originally uploaded by Jay Krishna

182 days completed!

Is it only me that's feeling this or do you feel the same too.. time flies! I feel like every phase in life passes very quickly, often so quickly that I'm surprised. It seems to me like it was only a few days back I packed my clothes and left Chennai though now its 6 months already. I have completed 182 days of stay in Malaysia... without family.. without friends with who I grew up.. without the very essence of Chennai.

For many who thought I cant be away from the above three this is definitely a jaw dropper! I was one of them to think like that initially when I accepted the job offer. Living has definitely not been easy since then and I have come to realise thats how life is going to be henceforth.

For me completing this 182 days within Malaysia means a lot. I'm now a tax-resident in Malaysia. This is not to be confused with a Permanent Resident. The status gives me the eligibility to claim the excess tax money I have paid, which is 25% of my monthly earnings, so far. Now I have to go through a long and tiring process of claiming it back. Also I do not owe anything to my employer incase I quit now.. A sigh of relief.. hehe! Home is always on my mind. This is the first time I have stayed so long away from home. The last time I did it was 25 days. In March 2006 I decided to rent a place somewhere in Chennai and stay away from home for sometime. Took a place at Valasaravakam and as each day passed staying there alone was literally getting me mad. The street dogs too were totally unfriendly. On the 25th day I said enough of this garbage and left the place for good. This time I made up mind of not planning to run away like that. I have learnt a few things that my mom always wished I knew.. washing my clothes and keeping my place tidy... Though cooking is still a challenge. Whatever I get here can never match the comfort I had in Chennai!

Back to work after vacations..

It just seemed like it started but now its all over. The 10 day vacation leave is now over and I'm back to work unwillingly. The vacation was like a beautiful rainbow that seemed to have disappeared within the blink of an eye.

I tagged along with the group of 3 guys and 2 girls who came from India. A few in the group came to squander the bonus money the company has paid them. Ofcourse those lucky ones work at top notch IT MNCs. Off the lot I just knew Arun who went to college with me and the rest came together through like a link leading to another. Arun and Divya work together. Divya's roomie is Sangeetha. Sangeetha's ex-colleagues and friends were Shobin and Sriram. Thats how we all met at Kuala Lumpur. I came across quite a few interesting characters about whom I will detail in this blog later.

Not everything went as per the plan. Unfortunately I was not able to make it to Singapore because of time constraints. In the next few blogs I Will write a detailed summary of my travel experience. I'm also consolidating the pictures that we took and will update them on this blog by Wednesday or Thursday. Before that there are a lot of pending work at office which I need to complete atleast by this week.

Tour De Malaysia et Singapore!!

I'm now all set for this tour. We have been planning this for the last 45 days and I can't wait to see it unfold tomorrow morning! I'm going on a 10 day vacation to tour Malaysia and Singapore. I'll be joining a group from India in which I have a friend with whom I went to college. Though I have been to many cities and states in Malaysia this one is a major outing for me in Malaysia in one strech and that has gone through a lot of planning. The plan is 3 days at Taman Negara, a virgin tropical forest, 3 days at Langkawi one of the world famous Island and Beach & the place where they shot DON, Sharukh Khan starrer, and for 2 days at Singapore. Will also be spending a couple of days at Kuala Lumpur to experience the Asian cosmopolitan life style.

Theres a lot of work at office thats pending which I thought I will complete before the vacation but couldnt complete it now. Will take care of the consequences on 19th when I'm back to work!! Time to leave... bye bye

Ice.. Coffee and Me

You would hardly call me a coffee drinker untill the beginning of this year. Though I was haunted by the smell and flavour of coffee I had resisted the temptation for 24yrs. Not after the beginnening of this year. My affair with coffee started when I started taking frequent breaks after I put in my papers in the previous company. From milk my liking drifted to coffee. On seeing me the guy at the pantry would instantly know I'd ask for 'Coffee... with extra sugar!!' The affair is only getting more intimate in Kuala Lumpur. I started tasting different blends of coffee here. Having tried almost everything from Cappuccino to Espresso on the office vending machine list, I'm experimenting my own coffee making for the last few weeks. In addition to the vending machine, which gives instant coffee of different flavours, we have separate containers or tins of creamer, sugar and coffee for people to make their own coffee to suit their taste. So far I have been thinking it was heat that was needed to transfer the flavour of coffee to water. I think it is a wrong assumption. I found that when I tried preparing cold coffee at office. I just loved what I made today. First I made a normal hot coffee with my usuall recipe. I think it was just about perfect!! I decided to try something more with this. A cold Coffee!! It was geniunly the best coffee I have ever had so far! I'm sharing the recipe.

1. Add 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of dark-roasted ground coffee. Anything more in my opinion would make the coffee to taste bitter.
2. Add 5 tablespoons of creamer (milk powder). This is a substituion to milk. The amount of creamer determines taste. This is not recommended for black coffee drinkers.
3. Add 4 to 5 tablespoons of sugar (Unfortunately I like all things sweeter and coffee is no exception to this. If you find it too sweet to handle then you can add sugar according to your preference)
4. Stir the mixture well. This will make all the three ingredients to mix well.
5. Add water of extremly high temperature (90 - 95 c) to this mixture.
6. The mixture would dissolve well in hot water. You might find lumps of creamer and coffee floating. Use a stirrer dissolve them.
5. Finally add 3 tablespoons of liquid creamer (eg. Nestle MilkMaid).
6. Fill another plastic/ paper cup with ice cubes and pour the hot coffee over them. I found adding ice cubes will dilute the coffee so refrigeration for 30 min would be a better choice.

Cold coffee can be enjoyed especially if the climate is hot. Coffee in general helps in keeping you alert and overcome fatigue instantly. Its heady flavour can easily get you addicted to it. A cup a day wouldn't do much harm I guess.

First Sunday in August.. Whats so special?!

Most Indians would say 'Friendship Day'. Yes in India the first Sunday in August is celebrated as a day for friendship. Interestingly in Malaysia its on the 1st of Aug. For the last one week you might have recieved ecards and forwarded emails with some touching wordings on it to say that you are their best friends. Some mails end with a terrible note If you dont send that card to 10 people you would loose all the good friends you have. What the &*$%@##!! Blindly sending e-mails that have been heavily forwarded, and worse, stating benifits and consequenses is infuriating!! By following the leader as a "mindless forwarder", one may lose friends!

The most popular among the younger generations are Friendship day and Valentines day. If I may ask a question "Do you know when is mothers day?" The number of 'No's will out number 'Yes's. I remember when I studied in 8th Std we were so excited about Valentines Day. It was an age where we knew nothing about having and maintaining a girl friend in real would mean. There was another strange thing I noticed. The boys and girls exchanged roses and cards on Valentines Day. The same group would exchange Friendship cards on Friendship Day. The worst comes when the same group celebrates Raksha Bandhan a day for brother sister love. In my opinion all these are three different relationship and it cannot be shared with the same person. I never understood what was the kind of relationship they had. All these were the effect of rampant consumerism by consumer market bigwigs targeted at youngsters urging them to spend. Gift marketers run an extensive campaign to lure people to buy cards and gifts for their friends. You dont need a special day to say appreciation for their friendship to good friends.. and sometimes somethings are nicer when unsaid!!