Sunday, September 03, 2006

Looking forward to a bright PAST...

I remember the old days. When I used to be in school. I used to wake up every morning. Run towards the bus hurriedly. Eager to meet my friends and have a fun day ahead. Having to go through the same discipline everyday. Having to appears for exams every year. And year after that. The way we used to wait for the recess bell to go and we would run towards the school grounds ... not to eat because of hunger but to finish it off and have a great game of absolutely anything. I remember mostly it would be football. With a cricket ball for a football. I used to be goalkeeper. Not that I was specifically good at that. But I was too lazy perhaps and not self-confidant enough that I could tackle the ball. Moreover I had to finish off all the tiffins of my friends...The time when we had regular assemblies every morning and we had toy stand for half an hour or so. Listening to speeches or poems or plays by students on some particular values. I used to write poems back then. I still have them. I sometimes still write them.
Yes. I do remember the old days when I was young and did not think about a job. When I did not think about a girlfriend. The time when friends and fun was enough for me.

The problem started when it all ended one day. I finished high school and went to college. I couldn’t make out why people were crying about leaving school. I thought they should be happy to leave school and be free from all rules and all terms and conditions. I was wrong. I felt that the night I cried remembering school and all its prefect order day after day.
The problem started when I wanted it all back.

I finished my diploma and graduated only to be worried about how to get into the next level of education. I got into a good college. And then all alone there again I began to miss my diploma college. The place where I had been for three years. The place where I knew people and the place where people knew me. I remembered I first day I had walked into that diploma college. All new faces..just like the first day at school. And the times when we sat on the college terrace. When we used to enjoy the cold coffee at the 'coffee shop' that was nothing but a small makeshift shop. My little parties to myself when I went to the canteen alone and rewarded myself with noodles and shakes. Just for the sake of it.

The problem started when I joined the new college. My engineering college. I had thought it would be better as this college was far better than my previous one with more people and better facilities. I was wrong. The place was better all right but I was all alone. I didn’t know what to do and where to go in the intervals. The problem started when I wanted my diploma college back.

I remember begging my mom to get me back to my previous college. The next day I met someone I hadn’t met in a long time. My school buddies. I found heaven in my college that day. I started adapting to my new place with their help. I had my lunch with them and I hung out with them. Within the semester I had every boy in the class be my friend. And almost every girl. I enjoyed thereafter. We bunked lectures, we attended lectures too. We had fun outside and inside class. We had huge parties at hotels and restaurants for birthday celebrations. Not anymore with our families. Not with mom cooking delicacies for all of them. But we celebrated with money. It was our parent’s money but we did not seem to notice that. We enjoyed picnics at various places in and out of the city. We had the best times of our lives. As Bryan Adams put it " ... those were the best days of my life".

The problem started when we graduated. I joined my job. I was looking forward to this day since I had joined engineering college. I thought this is what I always wanted. This is what I am meant to do. I thought this is and would be my life forever. I was wrong. I got to to sit in an AC office all right. I started earning money too. There was still something missing. Friends. The problem started when I wanted it all back.

I remember calling up friends and they calling me I remember how slowly I floated away from all of them and how deep I began to drown into the work quicksand. I stopped calling people worrying about the phone bills now. I stopped looking out the window of my bus, as I had to sleep since I had to work the previous night. I had new friends by then. Graduates like me who had joined the company. We had all become good friends. We used to attend training together. We used to hangout more as we had money to spend and we were away from our families. There was no stopping we.

The problem started when we finished training and got transferred to different place or projects. I thought this was good and this is what we have been training for. I was wrong yet again. I was stressed with work and tired of sitting in one place in front of the computer all day long. The problem started when I wanted my training days back.

Today I am still working. It’s been a year now since I had joined my company. And I looked at the wallpaper on my home pc. I saw my friends from college all around me. The snap was taken at one the birthday parties. I saw them all and felt them looking back at me. I was in the picture standing in the center ... mainly because of my height. I saw myself smiling back at me and taking me back to the place where the snap was taken. In a moment, I wanted all that back again.

That is when I realized the true problem. We are so used to our past lives that we waste our present thinking about it and we tend to ignore the future. It dawned upon me that as I go thru life after very new step forward I would be looking towards my past rather than the future. The true problem lies not in remembering the past but wanting it back. I had felt so close to something in the past that I failed to see that I had come a long way ahead and that I am no more near that something. I knew I had to let go.
So right now I have decided that no more shall I look back and cry over the past. I will look straight ahead. And as I walk forward towards the sunset I will remember to once in a while turn around and smile... at a bright and shiny past and then face forward and look towards a brighter and shinier future...

Sunday, January 29, 2006

'IN'dia

These are the places where i have been to. Although many more than this but i am weak at remembering states and theirs cities.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Naan, Baniyaan aur Makaan

Don't get startled
This is supposed to be a series of three articles each of which deals with the issue of Roti, Kapdaa and Makaan i.e. food, clothing and shelter cultures respectively.
This one is about Kapdaa.

Hmm. Where do I start? Should I start with caps and T’s and end up with socks and shoes? Or I’d rather talk about the general fashion culture.

The fashion bhaashan
Now what do people need to wear? Something to cover the upper half and something to cover the lower half. No, I have not been going nuts. If u read carefully, I had asked as to what people need to wear…not what they like to or want to.

Well considering today’s generation, girls, to be specific would rather wear nothing. If u are the partying type u’ll know. Unfortunately, these days even boys like to present themselves as pieces of meat.
Earlier it used to be different. People’s attire used to be region specific. I mean if u still sometimes get to watch republic day parades on national TV channel DD1 you’ll be able to see how different parts of India itself have so diversified cultures. All thanks to the necessity. Think about it. These people have diff types of clothing because of the various conditions that they lived in.

But nowadays one can see that even in the farthest parts of the world u can spot one or two wear denim clothing. Adios to the diverse culture. Talking about denims, jeans, jackets, shorts etc have kind of brought about a revolution in the world of apparel.
Stores have got plethora of designer clothing in denims. These including colors from decent, absurd to weird. If u have been to a Lee or Pepe store u’ll know. They have got these so called worn-out, stonewashed types, regular fits, foot-cuts, casual fits, cargos and even something called anti fits!! If I remember right in my time, I m not that old, just talking about 10-15 yrs back when I was a kid, people used to buy clothes for special occasions so that could flaunt them like jewelry and so that they had a feeling of looking as good as new. But now a kid wants to buy a new pair of jeans that looks old…the worn out type. Students would not shell out 500 bucks for a normal pair but would rather pay 2000 bucks for an old looking new pair. Makes me scratch my head.

Having said that I think you’d have had a good idea about the lower half. I have not written much about formal wear cause I don’t want to pretend that I know about something actually I don’t.

Over the top
Now this does not actually refer to headgear or jackets for that sake.
T-shirts. Every one in the family can wear them. Kids and adults included. And I am not joking. Take a break and visit the malls in Mumbai. At every another step you can see one or the other aunty sporting a T-shirt…with her husband wearing a decent shirt.
And if just take a look around, I mean literally, just take a look around by rotating around ur own body axis and u’ll see hundreds of diff tops u’ll never find even if want to search for one. Boys would be wearing t’s with catchy lines. Girls would be wearing something either plain all over or something knotty all over or something with flowers, petals or leaves everywhere. That’s about it actually. And they complain about not being able to decide what to wear… I myself have been through the transition from wearing cute shirts (as a kid of course), tantra shirts to plain tee’s.

Something I remembered just now. I went to this store with a friend who’s a girl. She was buying a top for herself and asked me to help. Here I learnt some valuable information. No matter what u suggest girls will never agree with ur opinion. Another factoid is that if the top (t-shirt) has only a small bit of sleeve then its called MEGA sleeves whereas if its longer than that its called half sleeves…wow, does geometry seem so far away!

Although I can again keep writing about this and will too in future posts. I have lot of info about ethnic wear, casual wear, party wear and more.
But what I have been thinking is that why have sane people turned to such complicated stuff?
The more that I thought about others I more I began to compare their attire changes with mine. And the answer was before me. Perhaps it is the comfortable, wear-and-go kind of flexibility that this kind of clothing offers. Why would a mother of two will prefer a wrap-and-wrap-keep-wrapping kilometer long sari when she can be more comfortable with a pair of jeans and tops. She can still select decent and sober stuff and can more easily take care of the hyperactive kids.

This may be the reason why my dad prefers shorts to lungis. He just does not have to keep unwrapping and wrapping them every 60 seconds. I myself have been changing my look every now and then with what I feel is comfortable. Long gone are the days when ‘necessity was the mother of invention’. Now its more like ‘necessity for change is the mother of invention’. Or something like that … come up with ur own motto.
So much for wear and tear. Its more of a tear and wear. Watch FTV if you don’t believe me!
As reported by Me, wearing a dumb look on his face and dull colored clothing on the other parts…Just wait till I am ready to party ;-)



Thursday, January 19, 2006

To 'See'nema or not to See

Tell me first… or rather ask yourself. ‘When was the last time you came out satisfied out of a movie hall?’
Hmm… I’d say 3 days ago when I watched ‘Family-Ties of Blood’.
Well the movie was good. Amitabh Bachhan was once again at his best perfectly acting out his part as the kingpin of crime. Akshay Kumar undoubtedly at his very best doing the comic scenes. But I think who-is-this-weird-looking-guy rookie Aryeman could have got better exposure.

But hey I am not here to discuss the characters or the movie for that sake. I am here to try and find out that why out of the so many Hindi movies releasing every year only a select few are even worth mentioning. And even those out of the select few are ‘inspired’ from Hollywood flicks. Eg: ‘Ek Ajnabi’ inspired, or more like copied, from ‘Man on Fire’. Now even though I like Denzel Washington I’d rather watch Amitabh. But the point is that why is there a lack of original ideas.

If you ask me that why don’t I suggest an idea, hold on, cause I have asked myself that already. But then I got the answer to my previous question. Although I got quite some interesting ideas I realized that these are the kinds of movies that people would rather call as documentaries. Perhaps that’s why the filmmakers are not concerned bout those matters.

The need for change factor

It seems cinemagoers have diff tastes these days. And it keeps changing. Yesterday they liked action movies more. Today they like the movie depending on the amount of skin shown. I myself rather decide bout a movie by its star cast and this has had its side effects. Mangal Pandey. Do I need say more?! These so called bold movies must have started with some one movie that was actually good and had a decent amount of exposure. But filmmakers must have overlooked the good story part and concentrated on the naked part.
I cannot say it’s their fault completely. A seller cannot sell something unless there is someone to buy it. Our mainstream Indian audience consists mostly of good for nothing teenagers. Trust me cause I was one of them once (actually I am not a teenager anymore but mom suggests I am still good for nothing…but hey ,I blog, that’s gotta count for something ehh!). When I say good for nothing I mean in terms of maturity. At that age and time of one’s life it’s difficult to decide what’s good and what’s not. It’s more of a herd mentality kind of thing. Go where the herd goes. Eat what herd eats. Watch what the crowd watches. Or sometimes it like things hitting the right spot. At some point of time David Dhawan and Govinda were the right mixture for time pass. (Ok sorry for overreacting…they were not an example of good movie making yet they used to relax you for 3 hrs…think bout the laughs and sleep you could get…it was all your choice). Some time ago it was the gangster movies with unlimited gunshots that clicked.

Sad but true

People have lost the love for movies with good storylines. Now they are asking as for something else. Like what more can you give, other than the blah blah story, the so-so characters and all. So filmmakers now rely on the unexpected twists and turns in their movies. Eg: Bluff Master. Another factor that is affecting the movie’s success is the publicity stunts. Ads, music releases, posters etc.
Talking about music releases … I think this has played a major role in attracting the audience (why else do u think people know Emraan Hashmi…his every movie seems to have hit the target thru the music in his flicks). To tell you the truth even I, being a music lover, have been forced to get Emraan’s movie’s audio cds.
Now the ad arena is a different story. Although ad gurus have stuck to the idea of show glimpses of the movies, they now have started showing dialogues from the movie so that people tend to believe that the characters have given a powerful delivery. Eg: Jo Bole So Nihaal (for those who came in late I am talking bout the ‘no if no but sirf jatt’ statement by our own Arnold, Sunny Deol). The most recent effective ads have been, I must say surprisingly, Aryan and Fight Club. And then there is also Rang De Basanti which, I hope, is a success story. Why? Cause if it isn’t we’ll b seeing the end of the Aamir hype. I mean after the Mangal Pandey disaster, if Aamir delivers another flop then he is sure to need a bigger bang than Lagaan to bounce back.

I can keep blabbering about movies and the theory all day long. But I wish really that Hollywood did show some spark in the movies so that I’ll b wanting to see Hindi flicks rather than just Hollywood fiction.
So says Shaxank, your daily movie masala expert…;-)
Ciao for now!

Monday, January 16, 2006

The 'FAST' lane of IT?

Every new day it’s a new story. It’s still a new adventure.
No matter how hard you try to settle down it doesn’t matter.
Whether you are 15 or 50.
Even then you cannot tell one day from another.
Being in an IT industry I work every day on diff problems.
But at the end of the day it’s still the same day as yesterday.
I am still down in the evening as usual.... more due to fatigue than work load.

The Inside Story

After having a hands on experience in here I ask myself ‘why? why the hell did I want to b an IT professional?
And which idiot says that IT is booming and that lots of jobs are available.
Even after being thru 3 months of training, I am not doing what I am trained to do. Rather I am doing something that did not require me to do a diploma and engineering in comp science.And then again my fellow batch mates have no work.

And this is not the story of my company. It’s everywhere. IT firms are recruiting people like never before.I mean in Pune one of the top IT company conducts campus interviews every Sunday.What’s amazing is that this particular company has highest bench count from what I have heard.... and I mean people actually sit around doing nothing for months and in some cases years. For those who are not so enlightened this particular situation is referred to as being 'on bench'.

Let me elaborate. Picture this. You have studied everything. You have appeared for all the tests. You have passed. The management has your scorecard. They know your skill set. They know you are available for allocation. They know you raring to go. What they don’t know is where to put you. Maybe they don’t have a place to settle you or just because the idiots that they are. So u just sit around all day wandering the campus or the few work areas where access is not restricted. You surf the net all day and your inbox never has unread mails. This means being 'on bench'. Putting it more professionally...it means that you are resource of your company which can be used whenever needed and which won’t probably be needed so soon.

Reality against Dreams

Then again people say that if u are good enough then you are sure to go places. What I am asking is 'how can every one b that good?' and if they cant b that good does it mean they are to b screwed for the rest of their sorry lives? Sounds unfair to me. If u ask why unfair let me tell you why. One of my friends had just completed training for a particular stream. But he was asked to work on a project as a tester ...that too the technology was miles away from what he was trained for. I mean I understand that in IT one never does anything they are trained for. But this was absolutely hilarious (when it should have been sad). What’s more.... he was asked to appear for 3 different interviews while on bench...and for all the 3 he was rejected because they said they needed people with experience.
Well hello!! Has the HR management gone nuts or something? Why do they send freshers for interviews where experienced guys are needed? Also how the hell do u think that guy is going to get experience unless you give some damn work. After staying like this for months and doing odd jobs here and there... when he gets some opportunity to do something he has already lost track of what his actual expertise was and has to waste more time training again. Now if this is not unfair, what is?

What I think...

Its not like I expect the company to give everyone good project experience, its not possible with so many people passing out as engineers every year (its also fascinating to know that students study civil, mechanical, electronics and other stuff like that for years, even considering the time between the years of engineering when one dropped the exams, but want to join the IT crowd). What I expect is that the company should make arrangements such that the knowledge gained during trainings must be kept alive and fresh in the minds of freshers.

But just like its not Sunday everyday you cannot expect the company to give you what you prefer everyday.
Although there are some ideas that have helped keep my knowledge fresh in my mind. I surfed the net for already written codes and studied them. This helped me to know more and also keep my stuff updated. Helping your fellow juniors in college also plays a major part in attaining a level of expertise for yourself and also the students get to know how things are in professional world. While
waiting for your time you can also go on to learn things that you won’t be doing actually but will help you in the future. These may be things like studying how company procedures work or how policies affect the organization. Now the last part may sound silly now but in the near future if you have a chance of getting promoted then you will definitely be luckier than others if you are well versed with the organizational know-how.

Afterword?
Just having written a piece after so long is a testament that how busy I was during training and how much free time I have now (by the way I am on bench while on a project! Go ponder). Just trying to give you an insight which might help in preparing yourself when you are ready to crossover from college student to a professional student. This I say to stress another point ... that you have to keep learning to survive in the so-called 'fast' lane of IT. Although life comes to standstill once get in the lane.

But hey, that’s just little old me, I am sure you'd do better.
So join me for the 'on bench' experience. Campus interviews next Sunday?!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

A Wise Novice

Hey Readers!
A long time since i wrote somthin ehh...
But i have a couple of unfinished pieces that i'll try to release soon after censor edit(he he he).

Wait dont go yet!!!
My friend Chaitannya(Shaitanya as we know him) has written a piece and wanted to try his hand at blogging. So here is his first attempt at some serious sh*t (not literally of course!). Read on and do rate it thru comments.

And his piece goes like.....................


Here’s an article (My modified version) from Business Standard, Stating
DEMAND and SUPPLY relationship.

CAUTION: - Strictly meant for Engineers.

The day you think you want to be an engineer the DEMAND SUPPLY cycle starts and haunt your life till you die. Well, since we live in India DEMAND has to be more than SUPPLY (Mera Bharat Mahan after all this misery). Here’s the reason.

First to be an engineer you need to get admission in a good college (DEMAND of seats is more than SUPPLY). Some how you crack the board (Now by my standards, mediocre marks are as good as cracking the boards). Now you’re a part of a good engineering college, from here on the real race starts. Your professors DEMAND 100% attendance, which is supplied by you in the range of 20-30% and in some cases (Commonly known as party SPOILSPORTS!!!!!! ) 99% .
Time for submissions and the professors DEMAND stacks of file (Read neither by the professor himself or by you ) and you SUPPLY some crap at the last moment which the prof signs blindly because he has no time.

Roles are exchanged and now it’s your turn to DEMAND 90% marks for all the crap you had supplied to your prof. , but since we are living in India marks supplied for huge mammoth effort (Scribbling that crap ) has to less than DEMAND. Things continue the same way be it university exams, exam fee as well (Hey, the university demands a lot of fees especially if it’s Pune Uni, here the DEMAND is met by the SUPPLY L ) orals , practical exams so on
and so forth …….

Somehow you reach final year of engineering, season for campus placements. Company aa rahi hai, to chalo job le lete hain. Not so easy guys, DEMAND is more than SUPPLY, ironically this is applicable for both the company that comes for campus interviews and the students who sit for it. Again after some HERCULEAN EFFORT (to be read as somehow, god only knows) you get placed in a decent company. Engineering is over and you start working.
This is FACT.. so i don’t think one argue about it... For most engineering grads first job's a passing phase of less than two years .Now I don’t say this, a survey conducted by A C Nielsen ORG of Marg's T Schools says so .

Time for some facts , Campus Recruiters Index has made the less than
startling discovery that 64% of engineering grads who join tech companies
intend to leave within the first two years or less. This number is
apparently up from 47% in 04 and 59% in 05. Fact is, few engineering grads seem really enthused about joining Infosys, TCS, Wipro and the like - especially if they happen to be from tier 1 institutes or God forbid, IITs.
And serves the companies right too in a way, they're willing to snap up any engineering graduate - civil, mechanical, metallurgical -just because they need to add 10,000+ bakras at a time (look at Infy 700 + in a week). Since IT companies conform to CMM level 5 they have to keep a certain % of the workforce on the bench. Now after a rigorous training and HERCULEAN EFFORT, you got to cool your heels for a while: come to office everyday, send email forwards to each other , play dumb sharaz , invent new bench games ….blah Blah…Blah…BLAH!!!!!. and somehow get through till the end of the day.

Tech (take) two…Long steep climb.
Although the 16,500 bucks you get in hand as a fresher seem decent enough
at the time of joining the really long ladder ahead is soon evident. In most companies it takes 18 months-2 years to get sent on an offshore project and earn that precious $$$$$ allowance. Besides, you soon learn, the job is not really about programming at all...
Hmm, so you thought Windows XP was written in India? nops, but the typing of all the HELP doc was done in India. You do not do much programming. If you are in Mainframe stuff, wherever you work it's going to dig into some code written in 1970 and you'll be wondering half the time "how could people write such hopeless code?" .Net , Java guys don’t get excited ,half your time is spent in documentation stuff or changing and test some crap stuff.

The work in S/w Company is quite mundane and does not involve too much
programming skills. If you have good talking skills and project yourself
well to your managers, you would grow.(Hey wait a minute , why did I do
engineering if my degree didn’t matter over here ????)
Given that scenario - and the fact that there is no inherent interest in
software as a career - getting into an MBA or MS program is a good escape
route.

One thing that has been hard coded in my mind “SOFTWARE INDUSTRY IS NOT
ABOUT CREATING NEW THINGS. ITS ALL ABOUT CLIENT GIVING YOU WORK, YOUR
INTERESTED OR NOT YOU HAVE work ”.


Moral of the story : What lies behind me , what lies around me ,is nothing
compared to what lies ahead of me.


Cheers!!!!!
Chaitannya.


So........worth a read or not??
Do write back and Hava good day!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Do your part...

This is a link to Manjunath Shanmugam's blog.

An ode to Machan*


*Machan as his friends called him.

Manjunath Shanmugam who was murdered in the line of duty.
A different kind of duty. Not in the battlefield but whilst doing his job.
This blog was created by his near and dear people who want justice.
Please visit the link and sign the petition.
Do your part...

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

My Favourite Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Love shouldn't be blind

....and looking at the sunset he thought about what he had to gone through. All the times he had spent with her came back to him. He could see it as if it was happening just yesterday. "Why?", he asked himself, "Why did it have to end like this?".
But what he was actually thinking consisted of many questions like, 'was this supposed to happen in the first place' , 'was it worth it' , 'what now' ....and in that order!!


Yup readers, shun it i may but i had to indulge into the twisted world of relationships. Having gone through a part of it was the catalyst i needed to write about it.

Ok, lets start with initial phases and different scenarios possible.(talking about college situations and also in a guys perspective)
(A warning: The content here is only the view of the blogger and may not necessarily be considered the whole truth, unless of course you cannot think up of something else!!)

Scenario 1: Boy sees girl, girl sees boy. A mutual feeling arises in their mind. Then the seeing each other continues at various places such as canteens, labs, (classrooms??), diff campus areas, parking lots and places where anjaane mey cross hogaye.One fine day, boy approaches the girl and she concedes to the relationship, they both quietly commit and live happily everafter.

Scenario 2: Forget scenarios... after reading the above bullcrap you should by now understand and realize that life is not a romantic teen bollywood movie.
Newsflash for you is : Its downright difficult! I mean what ever part you may be in, the initial stage , the after propose stage, the after commitment stage or the lucky got-married stage and ya also the married-now-what stage.Each of the stages pose different and difficult times. Though its not necessary that you have difficulty at all stages, you may have probs anywhere or everywhere.
I mean ok you like her. What now? You dont know if you want to go out talk to her about it. It might ruin your current atleast-somewhat-happy position where you can atleast keep seeing her here and there without caring. If you do talk you have another prob, her answer(if you ask for one, i didnt). And then your somewhat happy position goes down the drain cause now you cant look at her the same way you used to before , cause she might think you are flirting or that it is rude. If she has answered good then atleast you have the priviledge of talking to her sometimes. This is of course talking about the normal people and not the extremist faction(tu meri nahi to kisiki nahi or tu samajhti kya hai khud ko).

Then if everything above does happen alright and as you wanted, theres a problem again, about how long do you want to this to continue. I mean the usual span is until you are out of college or until you want to commit( also these days there are so called try-out relations where both try if their relation works). Here the girl has probs such as she does not want too much of it or too less of it. I mean girls who say 'zyada milna accha nahi' and also girls like 'tum mujse milte hi nahi'.

If you do get to the commit stage let me tell you here is where the real prob starts.The most feared Indian dilemma: inter-caste marriage. So you have to decide whether you will reach the destination or give it your best try. This is the part which parents fear alike. 'what if she runs away with him?' or 'will he go away and never talk to us again?'.

Past that, the fortunate people who make it from single to just-married have more probs, adjusting to each other now, adjusting to each other's families(hopefully if they're not upset anymore) .

Skeptical, isnt it? It may seem to many but i have a reason why. Because people dont need to plan for the good times but they have to for the bad and even worse times.Of course there are many success stories. People who had no probs at all. People who made it good even through bad times. But then again people tend to discuss failures not success. I do so because it gives me a chance to learn and to grow. It helps me realize what not to do. As Edison said "I have discovered 1000 ways not to build a light bulb" on being asked about how many times he failed. But me, i also look into success of others cause they do provide possible options to your path. Of course this lesson applies to many things and not just relationships!!


A NOTE: I have told you earlier above that i have written this through a guys perspective. I, not being a girl, dont seem to know much about the girls side of the story I mean i havent met a guy who does!. So any females reading are welcome to shoot their queries and opinions otherwise.
This is so that i can be enlightened as to "what women want"

Friday, June 17, 2005

Links to some good stuff

Hey Readers,
Thank you for responding to my stuff.

So here are some links to good things that are a must read.One it contributed by a fellow reader Udit.


From watchdog to lapdog

By Rajdeep Sardesai


http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
titled "You've got to find what you love"
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

From New to Knew

....and I could see them all coming out. One could make out from their faces that no matter what went on in there today , they knew it was over. Their faces were filled with stories. Stories that took 4 long years to complete.

For those who know what i am talking about will know exactly how i felt at that moment. A bit of worry, a chunk of disappointment but still a heartful of joy and happiness and questions that asked about the near future. I am talking about the evening when me and all of my class mates came out of the examination hall after appearing for the last exam of the final smemster.
I could at that moment remember the very first day of my college life in JNEC, Aurangabad. I was a student of Diploma so I joined college in my second yr of engg. New faces in the classes, the staff room and everywhere you could look. I knew only one person in the college, my fellow classmate from Diploma(who after a couple of days left the engg college leaving me alone).
I felt what every new guy feels. Pushed in a town of strangers where I have to settle until I can buy my way out through study and exams.

When a new guy or girl enters in the class , especially when the others know each other, there are different reactions. A new boy will get the attention of boys raising eyebrows and questions like "Attitude , Huh?" or "DO you think you are the only one smart around here?" and girls will just undo their hair and tie up again N no. of times if the guy is good looking else they'll just go like "Baap re , who is this?"(WHat people said bout ME is highly confidential and the one who tries to spread the truth about it is punishable by law...MY law).
If a new girl comes to class, boys are like "Theek hai, jyada Khaas nahi" or "WOw, sahi hai yaar!", and you know what girls will say.(the same things boys thought about new boys)
But slowly as you talk to the guy/girl you realize how similar you are to them. After talks , a gentle smile from the girl or a hi-fi from the boy assures you that you have a new friend.
Same thing happened to me , although a lot faster because of my witty tongue and sense of humour. From there starts a new a phase of life , a phase thats sure to last longer than you school days in your memory. The fresher gatherings, annual gatherings, trips and all the fun. But personally I think I'd remember more the days in college, literally. I mean the fun gained in practicals, lectures, seminars etc.

A bit of more detail here seems necessary cause as this is for my mates who have lived the dream with me. Well , the lectures for starters. were quite so-so. I mean i agree you cant expect lecturers to know the subject and its basics!(what were the lecturers at IITs thinking??)But atleast most of them know the name of the subject they are teaching and where they had stopped teaching in the last lecture. Us students would just enjoy watching the teacher make mistakes and would leave no such situation go unnoticed. Appropriate amounts of ooohs and aahs, a few hoots to add to the mix, and animal sounds for garnishing. A perfect recipe for acknowledgement, of the fact that teacher made a mistake. (for my class , talking about a specific teacher with the name A. Gaikwad would bring all the lovely memories and tears back, memories for us and tears for her!)
Practicals, oh my God! They'd be the best time for some educational fun. I mean as a Comp. Sci guy, opening up printers and CPUs under the pretext of checking some fault would present us with valuable knowledge of how to screw up the PC by just loosening the wire or some h/w parts. Hey, hey, we did not damage anything, we did it to get the practical off to do whats described below.
Times with absence of classes or practicals would be generously spent on the CAFE. Now let me tell you the CAFE is the most famous place in our college where lovebirds and groups of friends used to sit spend their free and bunked time.Of course i'd settle down with friends due lack of girlfriends.Every on would just have fun cause there'd be no lecturers nearby. The second most famous place is the Kaatey, where you can experience the bliss of sandwiches and pohe alike.(the above rankings of places have been said to be so considering the amount of knowledge, the boys and girls both ,have about places. Detailed scenarios of both places will probably be given in the next post)
Maybe you have some other hangouts in your college, maybe you had somewhat different things happening in you campus(,maybe you had teachers who knew what they were teaching!!) Although different places and different names but I am sure more or less you will have experienced the same things.

The transition from a student to Engineer,was is it worth it? Was is it necessary? Will one gain from it? There is no specific answer to the question. It depends on the person who asks the question. For it is upto you to make it worth it or gain from it. A fresher cannot answer these questions for he says "I am new to the college". An engineer can only say "I knew the college".But has that institution made an impact on your life. Only time can tell.

For all you undergrads out there, I can only advise you make the journey worth remembering.
The journey from new... to knew...

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Testing Lives!

….and so all are preparing themselves for the inevitable….the various small 3hour battles with different subjects that will eventually help them win the war for the DEGREE of Engineering.

Exams are the time when the worst fear of most of the engineers_would_be show.
I mean true they may all be tensed cause they have to appear for exams! But they’re not the only ones… Check out the parents of these kids! Its not like the hostelites (as we call em) are totally left to take care of themselves, they too get long distance calls from their DADS on what the progress on their studied is. And the localites, most of them who thought once out of school parents would let them be on their own, now realize how wrong they are.

I know one of my friend’s MOM studied most of the subject he himself was learning just so that she could monitor him!

Bliss is the college Library where you can go and sleep when you like, and study when you want to. Parents, they are happy their wards are spending much of the time in the library. Students, they are happy just to get out their homes and their MOMs who keep buzzing around them all day.

Speaking of library, I, being an engg student, too have seen and experienced a lot from the last 3 years in my college Library. Also getting a lot more stuff since currently my exams are going on too.

A typical Library night...

I don’t know what happens during the daytime much cause I just go to the lib around 12 in the night and return at 5 in the morning.
So it goes like this...
When I enter I see most of the students drowsing bcos of sitting all day.
Others who came in the evening seem to be pondering on whether to stay for the night or rather have a peaceful sleep. But most of the students at that time don’t have the mood to study cause it’s the time after the control time that the doors to freedom open and they can go out, get some clean chilled water, smoke, some tit bits maybe, a cutting chai, or at least some blood circulation down their lower body that had stopped half an hr after they sat down to study.

After that all the students coming back to get that fistful of chewda that is distributed so miserly by the peon as though food being sent in some calamity stricken area.

All of the night then, except a handful of students study , others sleeping and that do in a very bindaas way on the desk.
Morning comes, and again the chatter starts and the discussion bout whether going to station or CIDCO bus stand or the Tapri in front of the Gajanan Maharaj mandir(I am talking about Aurangabad engineers).
These places are like swarg to students who would like a Wills and a chai in the morning.

Speaking of night outs, it’s not just the students who stay up all night. No not the parents this time, but the XEROX guy!
Exam is time when dhandaa joro se chalta hai. All night the guy stays up with other members of his shop, Xeroxing textbooks, notes and other Xeroxed materials themselves.
Looking back at all my engg years, I ask myself, Will I get to have this fun again?
Yeah its fun, and you’ll agree if you have been an ENGG student yourself. I am sure that no other study course has this kind of spark in it…..

Hail the Engineer!!

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Me at Xtreme right wid my friends Posted by Hello

Enggineer's Fact BOOK

Facts About Engg..

1. Some Basic definitions..
Engineering College : Place where you're punished for getting good HSC marks.
Senior : Guy who got ragged as junior and wanna get some payback...
Fresher : Guy who has to ask where the canteen is...
Really Dumb Fresher : Guy who asks a senior where the canteen is.
Really Really Dumb fresher : Guy who follows the senior to the canteen.
Ragging : The unfortunate fate of the previous idiot.
Evasive action : Watch the juniors when any seniors come nearby. (No one runs faster than a fresher. NO ONE.)
Lectures : Waste of time. Physical presence is a must...only meant for sleeping, completing assignments & general TP
Tuitions : What you take when you don't waste enough time....
Professor : Perso! n paid to put students to sleep.
Vernacular Prof : Unusual variant of previous individual who comes packaged with his own brand of English ("Now you check me our journal." "You Out get from class." "Are you Understand, Beta?" )
(for JNEC students.......Prof Shelke)
Practicals : 60 to 90 minutes in which you watch the girls do your experiment, and usually destroy a considerable array of lab equipment.
Hopeless Practical : The practical in which there are no girls in your group simply look blankly at each other, fiddle with the equipment, and finally copy the readings.(from the girls of course...).


2. The Truth about exams....
Irony : The guy who copied your entire paper passes and you flunk.
Critical Calculation : Summing up the marks you attempted worth in the exam...
Re-verification : A cruel joke. (results of which come after you give the KT exam).


3. An engineer's 10 engineering commandments of Life 1. Thou shalt study only during the preparatory leave.

2. Thou shalt never write thy assignments thyself.

3. Thou shalt begin writing thy journals only on the morning of submission.

4. Thou shalt treat all marks above 40 as bonus.

5. Thou shalt have at least 70 per cent attendance in the canteen.

6. Thou shalt pass GRACEfully.

7. Thou shalt always be an OUTstanding student.

8. Thou shalt give thy attendance without being present...PROXY is a MUST

9. If thou can't convince them , confuse them.

10. Thou shalt start every sentence with a four-lettered word.


4. The Years of Engineering

F.E. Fond of Engineering

S.E. Sick Of Engineering

T.E. Tired of Engineering

B.E. Balls to Engineering

Engineers Anthem:Hum Honge All Clear,Honge AllC lear, Honge All Clear Ek Din, OH-HO, Mann me hai vishwas, pura hai vishwas, hum ho! ge all clear ek din

Top two Engineering Rumors:

'Did you hear the results are being put up today at 5:30pm'

'Did you hear the exams are postponed by two weeks, its been put up at VJTI'

The most dreaded acronym for Engineers:ATKT ( After Trying Keep Trying)
The most important criteria while selecting an engineering college:Girl to Boy ratio ( if more than0 .025% then that college is engineers dream come true)

Engineers at work:Assignments solved by one and then carrying out mass transfer operations throughout the class
The most important machine for Engineers:Xerox Machine (Without which assignment completion wouldn't be possible)
The most important table in an Engineer's House:The glass table ( to carry out GT operations, during Night Duty.)
The only queue an Engineer is familiar with:Submission Queue
An Engineer's favourite watch:Bird Watch !
Common Engineering Dialogues after a paper:

'What is this yaar, more than 70% of the paper was out of the syllabus'

'This was the worst paper set in the entire engineering history'

'I am failing....I got screwed royally'


5. Feeling after Completing Engineering:

Survived Engineering !!!!!!!!!

Monday, April 18, 2005

CIGGI Blues

Here's one the put u in "lighter" mood if u know wat i mean.............
AND YA I DONT ENCOURAGE SMOKING AND AM STRICTLY AGAINST IT........

You are in a boat in the middle of a river. you have 2 cigarettes andhave to light any one cigarette. you don't have anything else with you in the boat? How will you do it?
Give up...????


Answer: Take one cigarette and throw it in the water. so the boat will become LIGHTER........using this LIGHTER you can light the other cigarette;-)
More Answers follow...

You throw a cigarette up and catch it. Catches win "Matches". Using the matches that you win, you can light the cigarette!!

Take water in your hand and drop it drop by drop...(TIP - TIP)"TIP TIP barsa Paani. Paani ne aag lagayee."aur us aag se humne cigarette jalayee...

If the first solution is not working...you jump into the water...The boat now definitely becomes LIGHTER...and then you know what to do...

Otherwise take the boat at the end of the tunnel, u can catch the light there..... (remember the saying -- there's a light at the end of every tunnel !! ;-)

another solution..u have 2 cigarettes.. just look at one and tell other one "the former looks better"... us cigarette ko jalan hogi aur woh jal jaayegi...

EK CIG PER DAAG LAGA DO AS PER SANJAY DUTT'S MOVIE........DAAG - THE FIRE so, DAAG = FIREREST U KNOW WHAT TO DO

Film se yaad aya Wait for cig to get jawaaan
As u know jawaaani,deewaani Todeee aaag hai thoda sa paani .. Now u got aag again... so go ahead !!!

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Facts about India and Indian contribution

This is from a mail that I got from som1........

See how great Indians are... Very interesting. Casts a different light on the contributions of Indians.

Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla
Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of today's computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm
Q. Who is the third richest man on the world?
A. According to theLatest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Aziz Premji, who is theCEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th position now.
Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1> web based e-mail program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia
Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT&T-Bell Labs is theCreator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few) A. Arun Netravalli
Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta
Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika
Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, McKinsey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar. Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives. There are
3.22 million of Indians in USA (1.5% of population).
YET, 38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.
Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with
WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years ofhistory.
2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
3. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty stricken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth
7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works datesto the 6th Century which is long before the European mathematicians
9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053
10. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world. 11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi
12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
13. Chess was invented in India.

14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilisation)
16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
QUOTES ABOUT INDIA

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. * Albert Einstein
India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech,the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition. * Mark Twain
If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India. * French scholar Romain Rolland
India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.* Hu Shih (former Chinese ambassador to USA)
If we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential. If we do, we could, once again, be an ever shining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest ofthe world to follow.

Great Quotes

Well as part of this BLOG is 2 provide u some insight ............here's 2 u som quotes......not by me of course.......

1. "Consider the postage stamp; its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there." Josh Billings

2. "The man who can drive himself once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."

3. "It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."

4. "Never measure the height of a mountain, until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was." -- Dag Hammarskjvld

5. "Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket." --Andrew Carnegie

6. "Winning is not everything. It is the only thing."

7. "Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take your breath away."

8. "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other."

9. "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

10. "The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.”

11. "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

12. "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."

14. “You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true.”

RESPOND INSTEAD OF REACTING

This is a very thought provoking article which i hope every one would like it.

By Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro CorporationAddress by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation, in the "Shaping Young Minds Program" (SYMP) organized by the All India Management Association (AIMA) in collaboration with the Bombay Management Association (BMA) on February 9, 2004 at NCPA in Mumbai on " My Lessons in Life"I am very happy to be here with you. It is always wonderful to be with young people. The funny thing bout life is that you realize the value of something only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black, to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have leant along the way. I hope you will find them useful when you plan your own career and life
The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses. From the earliest years of our schooling, everyone focuses on what is wrong with us. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming." They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim?
The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. My friend was sharing me the story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy. Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. After that, it took two minutes in the microwave to be ready. The child found the food to be absolutely delicious? The difference was that she has cooked it! In my own life, I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy - go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.
The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson.
The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering whether you deserve all of it. This brings me to the value of gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors have done so much for us that we can never repay them. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent but when a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to savour the memory of the good things while they lasted.
The fifth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for excellence. One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently. Emulate it. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must become an obsession. It must involve not only our mind but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem, which says that your reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth. Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.
The sixth lesson I have learnt is never give up in the face of adversity. It comes on you suddenly without warning. One can either succumb to self-pity, wring your hands in despair or decide to deal with the situation with courage and dignity. Always keep in mind that it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a jigsaw puzzle. She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally, it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, "Look, why don't you just give up? I don't think you will complete it tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just got to put them together!" If we persevere long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective.
The seventh lesson I have learnt is that while you must be open to change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze. You must define what your core values are and what you stand for. And these values are not so difficult to define. Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have survived for generations. Values are not in the words used to describe them as much as in the simple acts. At the end of the day, it is values that define a person more than the achievements. Because it is the means of achievement that decide how long the achievements will sustain. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to the destination.
And the final lesson I learnt is that we must have faith in our own ideas even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was once a newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the Customer would walk by, refuse to return the greeting, grab the paper off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor would pick up the money, smile politely and say, "Thank you, Sir." One day, the vendor's assistant asked him, "Why are you always so polite with him when he is so rude to you? Why don't you throw the newspaper at him when he comes back tomorrow?" The vendor smiled and replied, "He can't help being rude and I can't help being polite. Why should I let his rude behavior dictate my politeness?
In my youth, I thought of myself as a rebel and was many times, a rebel without a cause. Today, I realize that my rebellion was another kind of conformity. We defied our elders to fall in line with our peers Ultimately; we must learn to respond instead of reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do.
I wish you all the best in your life and career. I hope you achieve success in whatever way you define it and what gives you the maximum happiness in life. Remember, those who win are those who believe they can.



SHaXank Says;
NOTE :I AM COLLECTING SUCH TYPE OF THOUGHT PROVOKING ARTICLES.IF U R HAVING SUCH MORE ARTICLES SEND IT TO ME.I will put it on my BLOG