In Chennai for the Weekend/Diwali

Back in Chennai after more than a month. Thank God we weren’t greeted by rains. Rains in Mysore are bad enough.

Ah, it’s been ages since I blogged or even logged in for that matter. It’s ironical that inspite of working for a IT company, you are not allowed to access blogs, email and Orkut, listen to music, watch movies, or play games. (The very reason computers were invented for if you ask me.) Company policy, apparently. We cannot use company resources for personal purposes. 😀 (It’s not as ridiculous as not being allowed to use cell phones in stupid colleges though.) Thing is we spend close to 8-10 hours in fron of the PC without doing any of these. We have our Intranet of course.

I have almost forgotten how to write a post. I had a lot of trouble logging in. (you tend to forget the password when you don’t login for about 3 months.) Anyway, now that I am here for a couple of days, there will be a couple of posts and also a job I haven’t had the time to do for quite a number of days now – remove dumbass comments by dumbasses and close comments from certain posts if necessary. Also there is Hari’s post that is pending for sometime now. 🙂

New Year Doodles

Here’s wishing everyone a very happy New Year. (Well I know lot’s of forward bakwaas sounds better, but no harm simply wishing someone in plain words.)

And Google is at it again with more doodles and I am tracking the same. 🙂

The New Year Google Doodle:

The New Year Orkut Doodle:

 

Google Doodle…third day running

Ok for the third day running, google doodle has been updated. So has the Orkut one. Guys, enough!! 😀

Google Doodle:

 

Orkut Doodle:

If you observe, the Orkut Logo is just a modification of the last two days. Neat.

Google Doodle…

I just wrote a post yesterday about Google Doodle. I thought that for a holiday season, they did not change the logo more than once. Well guess what ? After just one day, the logos have changes again.

Google:

Orkut:

Google Doodles

Google Doodles otherwise known as Holiday Logos are modifications and/or humorous features such as cartoon modifications of their logo that Google displays for use on during some festive occasion such as holidays, birthdays of famous people and major events like the Olympics. You can read more on the Google Doodle here:

Wikipedia article on Google Doodle

This time around to, Google has put up their Google Doodle. What’s interesting is I found Orkut also displaying some form of modified logo. Orkut Doodle ? perhaps. I know they did it for Diwali and stuff. I am trying to find out if this is the first time Orkut logo has been modified. (Apparently not. They had it for Independence day and before that Valentines day.) Here are the Google and Orkut Doodles for this season,

The Google Doodle:

 

The Orkut Doodle:

I saw if any of the other Google owned sites also sported a modified logo. This search included YouTube, Blogger and various other Google websites like Google news, Google Earth, and even Gmail. None of them to my disappointment has a modified logo. Bah!!

 

I thought of uploading a few recent Google Doodles, but then Google has an official site where they have archives of the entire thing anyway. So here’s a link to their site. (” Please do not use them elsewhere.” is Google’s plea. The ones I have used here is not from the online compilation. You won’t even find it there yet. These are screen shots.)

Google Doodles/Google Holiday Logos

I didn’t find an online compilation of Orkut doodles. (Maybe it’s not even called that.) So I searched for it and found a few interesting logos. Clockwise from top Valentine’s day, India’s 60th Independence day, Diwali, Orkut’s birthday. (I can’t spell Buyokutten. 😉 ) 

 

Karthika(i) Deepam – Festival of Lights

I actually didn’t have much intention of writing this post eventhough today is Karthika(i) Deepam. What finally forced me to write this post is people searching for details on “Kaarthika Deepam”* and landing up in my blog . Why ? Because my name happens to be “Karthik”. So Google conveniently directs them to my page. (Not that I am complaining) Not so clever, Google!! Definitely room for improvement there.

 

              So whats all the fuss about “Karthika(i) Deepam” ? Firstly, people burst all the left-over crackers from Diwali. 🙂 You are actually supposed to light lamps and hence “Phuljadis” (Sparklers) and “Chakras” , Flower-pots (another cracker**) are acceptable. But bombs are an over kill and annoying at this time of the year. (People who bought surplus of crackers, do tend to retain them for new year too!! I won’t be surprised if someone actually burst crackers for Christmas as well!! We are Indians you know)

When and Why is Karthikai celebrated ?

     It is celebrated on the full moon day of Karthikai month. (Karthikai is a month in the Tamil calender.) Generally oil lamps (Agal vilakku) are lit, as this is the custom. But don’t be surprised if someone uses candles or even Electric Lighting!! (We lot are confused when it comes to choosing between customs/culture and advancements. Hence the “Khichdi” – a bit of this a bit of that). 

 

     Although I have no idea why it is celebrated or its historical origins , I am told that on this day the women pray for their male siblings. (In return for cash like in Rakhi ofcourse 😉 . No I said that jokingly. I know some people do genuinely pray and stuff.) Lamps are lit in temples and at home. The day after Kaarthikai is called Kuppai Karthikai (I have no idea why!!) and the day before it is caled Bharani Deepam. Some people even light lamps throughout the month of Karthikai.

    The temple in Thiruannamalai is famous for Karthikai time lamps I hear.

*-Karthika Deepam and Kathikai Deepam are both acceptable spellings I guess. Karthigai Deepam is also another possible spelling I guess. (Actually some people might also say Deebam or something like that!! Heard of Ragul ? 😀 ) 

**-Cracker as in an explosive and not what you eat!! Fireworks would be more apt.