Yet an another indulgent Hyderabadi weekend.

The last Friday was a revelation of sorts. Of one of other mails which I got on that fateful morning (1/04/2005) was a mail from our senior at Microsoft. She was not exactly from Anna University but was from PSG tech and she belonged to the Tamil Clique at Microsoft Hyderabad. The two line mail casually informed us that she is getting married on 22nd of April to our senior Balachandar who was also working at our company. We knew both of these people for the last one year and suddenly comes a bolt out of the blue. They had put this information in the closet for so long a time.
When I got this mail, I completely forgot about all my work and was ruminating the suddenness of it all… To make sure that I was not made an April fool, I conf-called Ramasamy and Shiv Shankar. Once convinced about the veracity of the news we took off to Bala’s office and pestered him to death on why we were informed so late in the game.
Our inspiring seniors (Ashwin et all) then organized a Saturday night party at his house. Incidentally Ashwin shares his house with Bala along with Chandi. First we decided to verbally screw the pair. We wanted to hear a love story and I might as well say we got one. We had a wholesome Chicken Biryani followed by a serving of Lassi prepared by Harini. After this, we watched a telugu film Okkadu. When the film ended it was past 2.30 in the morning. It was then that we (Ramasamy, Arun and me) decided that it was a good idea to go home. Meanwhile Raghu decided to bail out earlier (sometime around 10.30) to Naresh’s house. And go home we did feeling happy about Jenny and Bala.
It felt good to see your friends falling in love getting settled. :-)
Here was the eventful mail thread on that Friday:


From: Jenny Snehalatha
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 5:15 PM
To: Subu Subramanian; Yamini J; Arvind Sharma; Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office


we are indeep planning a get together after marriage. Hold on till we anounce the dates.

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From: Subu Subramanian
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 5:09 PM
To: Yamini J; Arvind Sharma; Jenny Snehalatha; Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

When we are on this – how many of you vote for a party on this??
Hoisted and paid by balap and jennysn of course.
Thanks,

-Subu

PM | SFU | MSFT


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From: Yamini J
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 5:08 PM
To: Subu Subramanian; Arvind Sharma; Jenny Snehalatha; Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office


Ha Ha Ha!

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From: Subu Subramanian
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 5:05 PM
To: Arvind Sharma; Jenny Snehalatha; Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Knowing Bala, I don’t understand why you all are amazed by Jenny’s statement.
But one thing for sure – don’t ever let your prospective wife meet this couple. J
And let us all pray for the guys who are going to marry the girls in this groupJJ
Thanks,
-Subu

PM | SFU | MSFT


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From: Arvind Sharma
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 5:02 PM
To: Jenny Snehalatha; Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office



Indian economic policy statement couldn’t have been clearer than this as to what the organizational structures are going to beJ.


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From: Jenny Snehalatha
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 4:53 PM
To: Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Bala is not going to respond :) . Direct all your queries personally to me.

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From: Ramasamy Pullappan
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 4:34 PM
To: Ramasamy Pullappan; Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC)
Cc: TamTechie Group; Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Nine replies to the mail.

Still not a single word from Bala.
COME ON BALA….

We would like to hear from you (this dialog couldn’t have been more appropriateJ)
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From: Ramasamy Pullappan
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 4:28 PM
To: Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK); Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC)
Cc: TamTechie Group; Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office



It would have been more appropriate for Jenny to have given ‘halwa’ instead of laddu J [this applies specifically to those who went through a bout of coma after seeing jenny’s mail]
Great going Bala and Jenny!!!
Dumbstruck,

Ram.
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From: Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK)
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 4:11 PM
To: Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC)
Cc: TamTechie Group; Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office
Importance: Low



To answer the calls about why I chose to compare Bala with Sachin tendulkar,



One of the things that I like very much about Sachin is that when he gets hit by the ball on the helmet or anywhere for that matter, he never displays any sign of being hit/attacked etc.. He will be normal as if nothing happened..will casually look around etc.. This is to make sure that his confidence doesn’t go down and more importantly the bowler’s(or opponent team’s) confidence doesn’t go up etc!!

Bala evalo vaati kanna pinnanu Ara vaangirupaan, evalo vaati avan mela kaaari thupirupaanga… Did he ever show signs of these to others ?? He was always found smiling as if nothing happened ... People always thought that the swelling seen on the face often(during the initial phases), were because bala was happy about something…(the underground story was not published then J ) .. He started showing signs of success quite early in the process.. He just wouldn’t give up !!..

With luv

Ashwin
Ps :

All disclaimers attached.. Please don’t read this mail, if you find this offensive. (or inappropriate)
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From: Ashwin Raja (VJ#SDK)
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:49 PM
To: Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC)
Cc: TamTechie Group; Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Anto, You are booked with bala ?? kekavae kevalama iruku.. (J, forgive me..)
And Arun, you are just now learning how to hold a bat and you want Sachin tendulkar as a coach ??? Try lower level mentors first and overtime you might get a chance to talk to Bala, someday.
With luv

Ashwin

Ps :

All disclaimers attached J
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From: Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:42 PM
To: Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC); Balachandar P
Cc: TamTechie Group
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Naan than firstu.
I am already booked with Bala.
U might want to try with Jenny…

Thanks,

A.J.Anto

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From: Arun Kalaiselvan (WINSE-IDC)
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:39 PM
To: Balachandar P
Cc: TamTechie Group
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Bala,
I plan to join Microsoft Mentor Program. I plan to register as Mentee. Will you be my mentorJ?
Thanks,

Arun


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From: Arvind Sharma
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:31 PM
To: Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry; Jenny Snehalatha; Balachandar P
Cc: TamTechie Group
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Let it be known to everyone concerned that henceforth Balachandar P alias balap will be called "The Mastermind" and will be the official guru for the Tamtechie Group, helping other people out in route clearance strategiesJJJ.
Regards,
Arvind Sharma.

SDET-WinSE
Microsoft India.
_____________________________________________
From: Anto Anthony Muthu Joseph Henry
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:27 PM
To: Jenny Snehalatha; Balachandar P
Cc: TamTechie Group
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Bala Anna, Not even a month passed by since your route got cleared.
Neenga Charminar Super fast express uda fasta irukikgae…………. ;-)
Thanks,
A.J.Anto

_____________________________________________
From: Subu Subramanian
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:20 PM
To: Subu Subramanian; TamTechie Group
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office

Jenny,
Again – my usual kind of confusion creationJ …
Getting married with Balachandar on 22nd April 05.
Does this mean,
1. you and bala are getting married to each other
2. you and bala are getting married on the same day to different pplJ
Thanks,
-Subu

PM | SFU | MSFT
_____________________________________________
From: Subu Subramanian
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:04 PM
To: Anna Members
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: RE: Sweets in my office


Bala, Can we tell / talk about this at least now??? JJJ
Congrats both of you.
Thanks,
-Subu

PM | SFU | MSFT
_____________________________________________
From: Jenny Snehalatha
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 2:57 PM
To: Krishna Natarajan; Sudhakar N; TamTechie Group; Kapil Malhotra; Vijayalakshmi Ramkumar; Prabhu Jegannathan (Intl Vendor); Neeraja Reddy; Manisha Powar; Nagaraj Patil; Balaji Hariharan; Swarup Agrawal; Rajiv Kumar; Celina Joseph (A1 Manpower Services); Asim Mitra; Aruna Somendra (KOKA); Sushil Kumar; Rita Elizabeth (ManPower); Devi J V
Cc: Balachandar P
Subject: Sweets in my office

Getting married with Balachandar on 22nd April 05.
Regards

Jenny