The Boxing Day Sports Extravaganza

 Start from start...every year on 26th December I noice in EPL and in the Ashes...they call it the Boxing Day match. To elucidate my curiosity, I just did some google on it and it is not as interesting as I thought.. "A clue to Boxing Day's origins appears in the Christmas Carol, "Good King Wenceslas". Wenceslas, who was Duke of Bohemia in the early 10th century...blah blah..."

 Now getting to the Extravaganza part. This time lets start from the end. Manchester United just beat Sunderland 2-0 at home to get 2 points clear at the top of the table, followed by Man City who have played 2 games more. Both goals scored by Berbatov. This man is breathing fire this season....and how? 13 goals in 14 matches!!! That's how... ♪♪♪

 Sunderland ain't no skimpy side either this season...currently in 7th place after today's loss and fighting hard for place in Europa League. However it has been a fairy tale season for Manchester United...recently Sir Alex became the longest serving manager for them and the team is still undefeated with half the season over. Berbatov, Rooney, solid back 4 and offcourse the impregnable Van der saar.

 Also Man City have been a revelation this season backed by the seemingly endless finances of the Abu Dhabi United Group, they have consolidated their already talented squad and will be planning to mount a title challenge under Roberto Mancini. Carloz Tevez is one of their talent, second highest goal scorer after Berbatov, 12 goals from 17 matches.

 The boxing day ashes test match. Day 1, Australia 98 all out. England 157 for no loss. Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia. Nothing else to say really...just wondering what the likes of McGrath, Warne and the Waughs must be feelin rite now!

 India also has a Boxing day test match going on in South Africa. Play started late today and Dhoni lived up to his reputation and lost the toss. Cloudy condition with ball seeming like hell...yes I did see, it was hell. With Steyn and Morne Morkel, No. 1 and 3 Test bowler in the world at it, you can't really do much. India is down but not yet out, 183 for 6. Dhoni and Bhajji at the batting crease, hopefully would be able to add as many as possible tommorrow..

It's Facebook v\s Google now...but still on Microsoft Windows

 Not more than a year ago, it was Google everywhere. Google was the thing, I even had a post in this blog about Microsoft v/s Google . Now it's all facebook...so much that the power of one website is challenging the dominance of a search engine, email, online docs..and much more which google offers. Facebook is so popular...and how? more than 500 million users and a net worth of 25 billion dollars..that's how!

  Google is catching up now. So much that, it offered one of it's employees ESOPS worth 1.5 million dollars to decline an offer to join FB. What's more...this year facebook hired a guy from IIT Kharagpur with an offer of 70 lakhs per annum (Rs) and also unconfirmed news about ESOPS worth Rs. 1.7 crores...

 When google was hot...I mean b4 FB cooled it down...people saw Google as the future. Why not...this is the era of the internet and google have everything it should to be the numero uno.

  And then...there is Microsoft. We all think that Microsoft is down and out because it is not much in the news as FB or Google..but hello do you realise that still more than 90% of the people in this world use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Google and FB are online, people do use them but they go online using Windows and Internet Explorer....it's a win win for Microsoft...more you use FB,  you are using IE!

 Google is trying it's best to dethrone Microsoft. The search engine was such hit that Microsoft would have had nightmares...damn they would have had sleepless nights...the disaster of Vista would not have helped either...however Windows 7 has been a saviour for Microsoft.

 Those who have descent knowledge about it, Google Chrome is definetly a better browser than internet explorer...way better...so much that currently it is the best browser available. What about OS? Google's Android OS is destined to be the most used OS in smart phones by 2013...currently it's Symbian thanks to Nokia's legacy..but Google certainly has another up on Microsoft with regards to Mobile Computing.

 Google designed an OS around it's popular browser Chrome..called Google Chrome OS...just like the browser it is a stripped down OS which is fast and has a completely different architecture and they say it is foolproof against viruses, trojans and worms. The question shoud be, why does google has two OS? Especially when we can get netbooks with Android as well. Sergey Brin..one of the cofounder has to say they want an internal competition and ultimately take the positives out of both and build an ultimate OS which would power all....Desktops, laptops, netbooks, mobiles and tablets. Saying is one thing but beating Microsoft and the over 90% users addicted to Windows since last two decades...is another.

Samsung TABLET, Olive PAD and 4D Movie

 Do I love my job? ?Hmm...not really, it  is very chindi work, I need more technical work. Do I love my life? YES. My life is as it is..because of my job, so consequently you may say I love my job too...somewhat. Well I am trying to say...I have to work so damn hard(like a majoor) that I have to enjoy weekend harder..so I like the weekend part of my job the most ;)

 It was around a month back that I went to my first Apple store. I was asking so many questions that those poor people felt embarassed...yeah happens everytime I go to an electronics gadget store. Today on agenda was  watching a 4D movie, buying Digit of current month, getting a screen guard for sada Wave 723 and buying Chocolate Wheels.

 First I went to GVK one, same shop from where I bought the cell, they did not have the screen guard yet. However, I did ask them to let me use their Wifi on my cell to test it, and I did upload a couple of pics on FB of my bday. Surprisingly my balance went down by around 100 bucks after using wifi! Still pondering...

 Ok so after that I went to see my first ever 4D movie. Well to start with the hall was small one...32 seater, however the seats were like one you get in a roller coaster...and catch the hint! A 4D movie is like normal 3D movie plus the seat tilts up and down over horizontal axis, like in a roller coaster. Also you feel some affects...like you feel a puff of air on your face if there is a scene involving a house coming down. Also they release smoke around you...if the same is on screen. These were the couple I experienced, I guess there would be more such physical effects. I saw the movie on Pirates, it had only music, no dialogue and it was pretty short..around 15mins..also the movement of the seat was with high jerk. Again to give you an idea...the seat will go up and down if onscreen someone is falling down from a slide or in an airconditioner tunnel. The technology is good...hope with time it will be utilized in much better way..especially the movie should have dialogues.

 Ok...rushed from GVK one to Hyderabad Central..samnech hai..for McD. After tht had to search for Crossword for Digit. Digit is like Bible, Quran and the ultimate holy book for an IT guy. Especially the June and December issues are something you should go to jail for not buying. Got the December collector's edition. One of DVD contains tools for building Android apps and there are loads of prizes. Remember when I bought June edition, I had won online training worth Rs 750 each of php and linux. Fingers crossed...

 So...me in Central and what do I see..there is a samsung stall down there. I go there and I ask them what is the price of Wave 723. Ans: 12,900. Thou smiles as thou got thee for 12,650 :D. Also I got hands on the Samsung Tablet. I have not used iPad before, but Samsung Tablet is supera... Android 2.2, good camera, nice UI, has a secondary front VGA camera for video calling. Also I don't remember exactly how much, but it comes with good memory as well. For me it is the best tablet in market currently. Then I got playing with Samsung Galaxy S, one thing you notice that it is same as the tablet in every manner, except it's a phone. It feels like a mini tablet.  Other difference would be you can't put the tablet in your pocket ;) I thought that tablets are not such a good thing..but I guess with the future in the cloud..I would gladly use a tablet over a lappy!

 Olive PAD is the cheapest in the market at Rs. 24,000. Got hands on one of those as well. To describe it in one line: "It is cheap and it is cheap!" It is Android 2.1, apart from that it is a disaster. The stupid menu comes only in horizontal view...illa in vertical view. I guess the PAD does not have a good accelerometer. You get vertical view only for typing messages. Also another annoying point is on it's internal memory alone..i.e w/o a SD card..you can't view pictures or listen to music. Internal memory only supports the OS and the contacts. I told the stupid people at the store to put a SD in it!

 Uske baad...went to Karachi Bakery, to get half a kg of Chocolate Wheels...something pending since long time. Also saw..khele hum jee jaan se yesterday..good movie..but not if you work in IT field, except if you are on bench ;) . Next week is morning paali, have to check out Narnia 3D..hopefully @ 1Re :))

 Also turned 25 last week. Got a Wave 723, iPod Cake (thnx to Bhakti), chocolates, Zero 1 body spray and worlds's greatest brother mug..(bhakti again). When I held that mug I got a very proud feeling..like something achieved over 25 years..and one of the photo(the above one) I uploaded today from my cell is a potrait of that feeling...from the heart. Thanx to all of family and friends for being part of my life...and welcome to you also :P

28th November 2010

 It all started with the ungh uding early as I was tired, went to sleep early the nite before. Working in shifts have many advantages. One of them is you get to see and experience the dawn...the phase from dark to light, that period is beautiful. Also is the early morning air, it's really refreshing. And so I went for it. However, today I did Infy photography. You know like wild life photography, its a new stream of photography, the campuses are indeed so beautiful if seen from photogenic point of view. So, from 6AM to 0730AM, took around 100 photos.

 Did many new things also actually...like went straight to the centre of the cricket ground, took batting position on both sides..feel good moment! Also counted the dimesion of the ground on all four sides from the centre of the pitch...60 and 56 steps straight and 50 and 54 steps side. Pitch 25 steps. Note I am saying in steps, not yards. Also felt the ground was really wet with due in the early morning. Had Puri Bhaji and Idli Wada for breakfast...gotta be hungry after roaming around the campus for sooo long takin pictures!!!

 Well the morning was just the begining of a memorable day to be. I booked tickets for Unstoppable. To start with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine(Fast and Furious guy). Wow...great star cast to start. Although I was thinking...man...Denzel Washington has become damn old...hehe..took me a while to recognize him in his bald look! Neways getting to the point, the movie is supera! Gr8! The director Tony Scot has made a movie before called "The Taking of Pelham 123" , again starring Denzel Washington and based on train scenario. That one is a good movie...but this one..as I said, supera!

 Unstoppable is a movie about a train with lots of cargo and gets loose! How? Well the driver gets down to switch the track and the train automatically shifts gear, gains speed and driver is not able to board it again. Sounds crazy, but the whole movie after that on how Denzel and Chris stop the train and save thousands of life is amazing. It's the kinda movie where you get lots of dhak dhak moments and in the end you get that feeling of happiness and content in your heart. Must watch movie..the sound effects are really awesome..so better watch it in Dolby. Rating 09/10. Check out here if you want more info on movie.

 Ok..still 28th November goin on. I was looking to buy a new cell phone since months. Had narrowed down to Samsung Galaxy 5 and Samsung Monte. Went to a store after the movie. He said both are 9.1g's. Galaxy is fine but Monte at 9.1g is a no-no. Then I saw Samsung Star Nxt, the next generation of Samsung Star, pretty cheap around 6.5g. Difference between the previous star is, this one also has social networking. However no 3g and wifi as expected and no flash in camera. Also majority users complaining on gsmarena. Watched some video reviews also of it. Time at store with Galaxy 5, Monte and Star Nxt till now, 45mins. Still not happy.

 Samsung Wave was like my dream phone to buy, but I dropped it as it was too expensive and I won't be using it for long. Then what I see, Samsung Wave 723. What is this, thought it was normal Wave and asked the price, the guy said 12.9k. I was like what!!!! It is actually the next generation of Wave. He said Wave is not available anymore. Difference between Wave and Wave 723, no Amoled screen for Wave 723. Everything else same. Comparatively price is 12.9k of 723 and around 17k of original Wave. Woohooo...yes baby I hopped on it. Also did some hardcore bargain to get it finally for Rs. 12650. Price of the same cell on Univercell site: Rs. 14k. Cell is launched last month itself..so not available yet on Mobile Store and Consumer Mate. Neways..point is end of the day...got a Wave for 12.6k!!!  Boy believe me when I tell you...my heart is still elated!!!

Note that this baby is not yet released according to many sites...I guess I am one if the firsts to get hands on it!!! Check out GSMArena and PhoneArena for specs.





 So, does it end there? No not really! Had heard about the Hard Rock Cafe. Thought of checkin it out as it was in the same mall where I saw the movie and got the cell. What is Hard Rock Cafe? Well it is mainly a bar..but one with a very sophisticated ambience. The theme of the cafe is a mixture of hiphop and retro. Music is awesome. The bar station is clad with lots of beautiful vodka batlis and is so big that there are two bar tenders. I asked them for something non alcoholic. He showed me the menu...there are around 5 options for non alcoholic mocktails all costing Rs. 185. Alcoholic shit costs Rs. 415 and you won't believe their Iced Tea is also alcoholic, contains some Rum!!! It was a huge cafe!!! Like a house...a villa actually! And also it was not dark like Pubs...good lighting..actually may be becuase I went at 4PM and it was all daylight,may be at night they would get in the Pub mode. I din't take the mocktail as had to leave for home and I thought..what the hell man...will come one day here with someone like Kesha and Megan Fox and spend all day here. Note, I am saying someone "like".... :)

 Oh boy...long post huh...also India won first ODI against NZ today..more importantly I am a proud owner of Samsung Wave 723!!!

The Ashes, World Cup and Manchester United

 How big are the Ashes? Enormous! Humongous! Huge! ...so say the OZ. No wonder as they have not been winning many in last few. The first test is currently going on at Brisbane Cricket Ground. England 171/0 and still trailing by 50 in second innings. Aussies bowling attack ain't no potent anymore for sure! Also England are much better team since a year..especially after winning the T20WC.

 What else going on? The tennis masters. Love this event where the top 8 seeds in men take on each other. Nadal beat Murray to set up a final clash with Federer who beat Djokovic. Another Federer-Nadal final. This time though, my money is on Fedex. I just hope he does not cry!!!

 Manchester United. Old Trafford. These two words are very close to me since last 6 years. I used see all their matches before I started working. They are a club with a great pedigree of players  like David Becham, Ryan Giggs, Van Nisterooy, Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Scholes, Van De Saar, Neville, Ferdinand...and I can go on and on. Some of them are not here anymore, but here is where they became superstars.Last year was all Chelsea...unchallenged and dominant. This year I hope ma club give them a run for their money. Yesterday Manchester United spanked Blackburn Rovers 7-1,  5 from Berbatov to take them top of the table.

  World Cup 2011. They say all good things come to end one day. This is gonna be last world cup for Sachin Tendulkar. Cricket without Tendulkar will be very dull and it will be an end of an astaunishing era and there are not enough words in the English language to epitomise the greatness and legend of Sachin Tendulkar. World Cup is 82 days away. To be held in the subcontinent. Having won by the OZ last 3 times, they not gonna win for sure this time. I bet on India, Pakistan, South Africa to be sure shots to reach the last 4. 4th slot is open.  India should reach the final at least and hopefully win it!!!

3 Evergreen songs of My Generation

Hehe...God Bless America! :)) . Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...year end is surely very good for Americans. It's the holiday season, festive mood there and more importantly less workload for us! So Thanksgiving week being going on...yesterday was good...so is today. Today I tuned in to some really rythmic songs, the ones which make you feel elated. Brings a smile on your face...and in your heart.

Taal....released during my school days. Wonderful days were those. The era of Aishwarya Rai. Taal and HDDCS, Ash was omnipresent. Taal had wonderful music and beautiful songs. All of 'em are fabulous: The Taal Theme, Ishq Bina, Taal se Taal Mila and Kahin Aag Laage. Songs for American holidays, where the mind is free and these songs add to the heavensterity. (Alert: Another word coined by Kartik Vyas). Below is the theme..boy it's skwanking (Alert: Word already coined!) Also meet the phenomenon: A.R.Rahman



Another song... from Delhi 6. Maula maula. Dunno why...but many people din't like the movie much. I liked it. I think my sis liked it too. No one else from the royal family I guess. This song is all Kailash Kher. Great voice. This is a beautiful song...too bad I am not in Bangalore where I used to give free nite concerts..here there are 50 folks compared to barely 4 there. Also Yes A.R. Rahman again!



Third one is from Guru. Very inspiring movie on how to be a Bijnessmen. Closely inpired by Dhirubhai Ambani. I love the movie and the character played by Ash in it. Dream of having a beautiful and loving wife like that :D. And yes, A.R. Rahman again, not for nothing that...he is called the phenomenon.

3 songs that touch my heart...

Not much work..so after a blog..a review and a tweet..another blog..hehe. Normally when I do raat paali, I listen to kesha, taio cruz and black eyed peas kinda music(head bangin type) to keep me awake. Today I am already awake and not much work so listening to some hindi songs.

I listen to old hindi songs in bad health...love their lyrics. In the new ones..these are the three which I like..and are close to me..



This song of Ajab Gajab..is here because of Katrina Kaif..was bongers over her during my college days. Also Priyanka Chopra was in bongers list. Katrina has the cute looks, good attitude, sweet...nice girl! :)Also Ranbir, the new sugar boy...they form good pair on screen.



As Paas Hai Khuda...Anjaana Anjaani. Movie was crap...super crap. However, all the songs were real hit. Till recently...I was only bangin head on title track..till I heard this carefully...this is actually an inspirational song, the lyrics. Again Ranbir and Priyanka.. :)



Bin Tere..from I hate Love Storys...again this song is feeling type..also one of those days of Sonam Kapoor BEFORE she went crazy with Deepika on Koffee with Karan. Sonam is cute...sweet girl. Someone you can show to your parents kind...remember Sonam only before she reaches Koffee with Karan show ;)

Speaking in Business Terms

If you can earn 3lakhs per month doing the same thing you do for 30 grands, why not give it a shot! Business, if done properly with careful planning and risk analysis along with adequate domain knowledge can easily lead to high revenues.

In every domain there are two things, service and manufacture. More often than not manufacture is the one with more profit. If you consider the IT industry, especially the Indian IT industry, the top companies are mainly in service domain. The top two companies TCS and Infosys have only one product, the major part of revenue comes from providing IT services.

And so, I was thinking I am Computer Engineering and a damn good one at that :) , more than two years in the IT industry, time to make the leap? Why not, having your company before the age of 25!!! definetly makes me happy!!! :))

Good thing, about the IT industry is, only investment is a good rig and loads of time. You need to code and code like hell...and be hell good at that! Also having knowledge about system security is important and most important is creativity.

So, what's the point at the end of it? IT company before the age of 25??? Bring it on!

Diwali 2010, My

Come Diwali 2010, 5 day trip planned to Mumbai. I was in Hyderabad on Microsoft project, needing a respite from the hectic work and I was looking forward to it. It was a wonderful trip and here it goes.

For those who have missed any flights before they would no how important it is to be early at the airport, desolately I am one of them. Reached the airport 3 hours before the flight, damn I was so early the airline guy said I will get boarding pass after one hour. So just rested for an hour as I had done raat pali the day before.

Did get the boarding pass and I went inside. Hyderabad airport after long time, first thing is it does look like an airport…last time I checked it looked like a mall! Neways I did the security check and was wandering. A book shop ne where is an ideal time pass for me and there is one at the Airport and I went right in, checking out some books. I was already carrying Freakanomics to read, but still I feel like home in places like big book shops and library.

I found a book called “Love, Life & a Beer Can” by Prashant Sharma. Pretty catchy name for sure. Started reading it, read some 8 pages and then I thought, what the hell..it’s just 100 bucks and pretty cool book, I bought it. After than I was feeling hungry, normally I don’t feel like eating idlis worth 75 bucks and parathas worth 120 bucks, but I was damn hungry and Pizza Hut looked inviting, I had a Spicy Veg meal. Damn there were lotta chilly in it and barely any veg, had to remove the chillies which left me with only chees . Ne ways the meal was worth it as after boarding I had a good nap in flight..partly due to meal and partly due to my night shift. First time I believe I have slept while flying.

One thing which is always good to come home is the wonderful home food. This time no different…Dal dhokdi, muthiya, undhiyu, basundi, Puri, Gulab Jamun, etc. Also this Diwali was good because I meet lot of relatives, especially Dhruv bhai after long time. Had got gifts for everyone and glad everyone liked it . Wanted to see Golmaal 3 but didn’t find time, also I am longing to see Oberoi mall since last three trips but am unable to :( .

Obama has come to India and his trip has been pretty good for India as well as him. Today there was an official meeting after which Obama and Manmohan Singh addressed media and answered media questions. There was one question on outsourcing and Mr.Singh said and I quote: “We are not in the business of stealing jobs!” This line is like…I dunno simply magnificent. He is close to Obama but to make such a statement openly, kudos to Prime Minister. Also Aaj Tak went crazy…their headlines were like “Manmohan ne mara maidan!” ……..ROTFL. Many agreements and deals were signed. Obama also said, India is already an emerged super power! Sounds nice to the ears.

I travelled in local trains of Mumbai after almost 3 years, went all the way to Thane form Vile Parle. Went in the afternoon, so was not that crowded, but still felt good to travel, in the lifeline of Mumbai.

One of the great days in history for Indian cricket, India 85 for 6 in second innings with one whole day to go. Harbhajan Singh slammed his maiden test ton today…what a time to do it too!! India saved the test match and man of match was Bhajji. Also Liverpool are back, back and how, beating league leaders Chelsea 2-0. Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0. Hope ma club MAN UTD can capitalize on this. It was Red Bull 1-2 in the pen ultimate race of F1. I believe they have sealed the constructors championship.

Overall, it was a very good diwali, quality time with family, great food, some most needed rest, some travelling….and yes I did download Kssha and Taio Cruz songs!!! Also saw Top Gun…that’s one of my all time movie! Also the new LCD in hall is awesome…everything going well :D.

Freakin...Sports

 Today I feel like writing something about sports. Major reason being India is doing so well in the current Oz tour of India and the tremendous success of the Common Wealth Games.

 Sachin made a staggering 400 plus runs in the two test series to help India get a clean sweep against the Oz. This happened after 22 years...clean sweep with Oz on the losing side. The current Indian test team looks really good. Mixture of youngsters like Raina, Murali Vijay, Pragyan Ojha and experience folks like Sachin, Dravid, Dhoni and Zak. More importantly everybody knows their role in the team and is contributing towards the success of the team. India is the number one test team in the world since 10 months I think.

 Common Wealth Games are also going chillingly well. India is fighting it out with England for second spot in the medals tally. Good to know that other sports also getting recognition...other sports and other sportstars like Sania Nehwal,  Manoj Kumar(boxer) and others.

 One shocking thing to happen is the sad state of the Liverpool club. They are on the verge of selling and are in the last three spot in the standings. Hope they don't get eliminated this season from EPL..they are a club with lot of history and trophies.

 Vroomm.....Schumacher came back to F1..the dude aint skwaking yet this season. What is skwaking??? A word coined by Mr. Kartik Vyas today...figure out yourself what it means! Mark Webber from Red Bull is leading the pack rite now..yo Ostralian doin good here..or rather skwaking good! Alonso and Wettel are tied for second place, followed by Hamilton and Button. Still three more races to go this season. My prediction is, its gonna be Webber and RedBull all the way! Excitingly...next year we are gonna have a F1 GP in India..Delhi is the place where circuit is being buit..kool!

 What other sport I follow?? Rafa...used to be Fedex couple years ago...I guess its Nadal time now. Well frankly I get aint no time for watchin ne sport...very rarely I do...just check the news and stuff.

The Impact Thing

 I am here doing raat pali in office. Thankfully in my new project I have complete internet access :D, so I do get to do some surfing in free time. I just read a post from my college buddy Dhaval's blog and that made me write this post.

 I still remember July 29, 2008. I had written a post called Life ,people who know me very closely would know what this is about. Also whenever I am asked in any interview or anything, what you wanna do with life? I answer, I wanna do something revolutionary, something which will affect the whole of mankind, something for the good of mankind.

 Well the reason for this post is, I would like to share my thinking with you all and see if you can think as I do. Ever since I can remember, I believe that there is a purpose, or rather there should be a purpose to life. Each and everyone must try to do something significant in life, we have a very short life compared to the life of the universe or the sun or the earth. We gotta do something more than education-job-marriage-kids cycle. Get out of the rat race people.

 Apparently we have the technology to reverse and stop the aging of a bacteria, I can say this because one of my cousin does this as a Microbiology scientist. 50 years down the line we'll be able to do the same to humans. Earth is not gonna be permanent, neither is gonna be our solar system. According to Stephen Hawkings we have to colonize in outer space in next 200 years.

 This is where I come in, or rather I hope to do so...my knowledge of IT, well which in the above problem is of little use, but my passion of cosmology and astronomy as well as biology and genetics, I hope, I dream and I wish that one day before I die, I would like to do something that would make an impact for our future generations.

 My theory is, if the closest inhabitable planet is 200 light years away, we need medical science to help either increase the life span of humans or stop aging. Powering a space ship to travel so far and so fast, only thing that can do this is anti matter, I guess. The bottom line is, I dunno if I will able to actually do what I want to do, or if I will be able to contribute in any way. One thing is for sure, I will try to make my impact and I will hopefully make some post in this blog about it one day...

Welcome to Pune...finally!

 It's been a long journey and yes I do believe life is a journey. I remember the days I used to blog from Bangalore airport, during my training days. I had wonderful time in Hyderabad with friends. Bangalore was a place where I had my first big project, and finally after almost two years...Pune :D

 Pune is a beautiful campus, one of the newest of Infy. There are two egg shaped landmark buildings. The ECC is well, really really huge. Best thing is, it is surrounded by mountains and I get a mountain view from my ECC room. Feels like dream does'nt it!

 I met all my all my old friends here and there are a hell lot of them here, so its lotta fun as well. Also I am now in Microsoft project, so that's a good thing as well. Only drawback I would say would be that the campus is way too far from city and it is almost mandatory to have a vehicle here. Also the nearest residential area are a bit far.

 Today I saw Step Up 3D. Hehe...funny thing is, this was my first 3D film. My friend thought the movie was amazing. I think its like ok, not that gr8! Glad to see a 3D movie though, don't feel like watching 2D now :D . Also I believe the best utilization of 3D effects would be more apparent in action films.

 Nothing much really, my dear sis is roaming the chapa chapa of US ;) , goes on crazy long drives every weekend, glad she is having fun. Hope to join her some time soon :) . Big bigger Vishal is roaming  internationally, I just came to know he is now director of 4 companies, I am happy for him. Vaibhav is always there with me and even today while going for movie on bike, I remembered how crazy bike rides we used to have in Mumbai.

 Some say life is a journey and they say life is an adventure, I dunno what to say, just live in the moment and enjoy it!

My Email to the Editor of Times of India

A Proposition

 I watched Indian Idol 5 last night and I realized the power and importance of mass media in today's world. I realized the magnitude and reach of mass media and the impact it has on everyone in today's world.

 India is the biggest democracy in the world with over 120,00,00,000 strong.Indians are the smartest and the brightest in the world, if you think this is debatable, just recently I read about a couple of Indians, one girl who won the International Physics Olympiad and a guy who cracked the P v/s NP. These are just a couple of drops in the Indian Ocean.

 If we are so good, why is it that we have only one Sachin Tendulkar, or rather despite having a Sachin Tendulkar, we could never win a world cup in his era. The major part of software industry in US is run by Indian minds, still we Indians in India depend on US companies for work. The iterations and hirings in Indian IT companies is dependent on US and other economies, at least till some extend.

 I am really happy with the 'meter jam', and I hope it is just the beginning of the things to come to make India clean, from politics and corruption. Speaking of corruption, it reminds me of politicians. How often we read that lakhs of crores of money, is either waster or converted into black money of corrupt politicians. Why is it that a great guy like Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam was not given second term in presidency.

 It takes a lot of sweat and hard work to earn a few thousands every month, for millions of people in this country. I think we should have the right to know where our tax money is going, ideally it should come back to us in some way. I propose a bill in which during the annual budget the finance minister is responsible to disclose where all the tax money was gone of previous year, right down to the penny, there should be a proper and systematic disclosure of income tax revenue collected and spent. It is a tough ask, but I am confident that if 'meter jam' can succeed, so can this.

 I am just one of those millions, who pays taxes, just felt like sharing my point of view with you. I also know that things are comparatively much better now than before, but still I dream of a day where illiterate and corrupt people will not dare enter politics with the motive of corruption and the country will be run by educated and honest people. Also I would like to say that 'The Times of India' is an impartial newspaper, keep up the good work. Likh likh kar...phad do!

Languages I know!

 While having paratha, aloo gobi masala and mutter palaka with Sudipto, we were chatting and I realized its amazing the number of languages I know.

 Four languages: English, MArathi, Hindi and Gujarati I know since childhood. There are many additions to it since I joined Infy.

 I have very good malyalam friends in Infosys since more than a year now. Malyalam even though being as complicated as it is, I do now around 20 words in it :). My room mates in Hyd were Tamil, so I learnt quiet a bit of Tamil in Hyderabad and now my roommates in Bangalore are mostly Punjabi so I am learning Punjabi as well.

 I have learnt some Bengali from Soumita/ Moumita in past. One of my room mate here Sudipto is Bengali too.I find Bengali easy to understand. Also a very good friend in office is from Orissa, so I am listening to that language as well. I have Telegu friends as well.

 Hmm thats quiet a handful of languages: Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, English, Malyalam, Tamil, Telegu, Punjabi, Bengali, Orissa. I know 10 languages, BEAT THAT!

13th Feb 2010

Kemo nacho! Bhalo ,khub bhalo! I said to Sudipto when I came home some time back. It was indeed a very fruitful day.

 Got up at 0830 in the morning. Was in the mood to study and remarkably I solved around 75 sums of GMAT in an hour or so, that is certainly remarkable, GMAT quant seems so bull shit in front of CAT quant!!! Neways not settling with that I started critical reasoning too taday. Did around 10 questions and it went pretty well.

 When you are in appropriate mood to study, you can do a lot in very little time and when your mind is somewhere else, even if you sit for hours it won't result in too much. Well we all know this by now.

 How can I forget PArshubaba, sada super cook. Made multicuisine breakfast today. We had punjab de garam gobi parathe and south style seviya bath. Quite a handful breakfast. However as I found out later Parshubaba didnt come to prepare lunch explaining it with the fact that he hade made parathas in the morning. Rite now sirji is preparing dinner" Palak mutter and roti/parathe."

 So back to my day, after studyin for couple of hours in the afternoon, I went to buy sada belt. I had thought of buying it from a mall, however it was out of my budget, so I got from a local shop. I got a pretty cheap deal, lets hope the belt lasts long. Fingers crossed.

 Sukki. One thing famous in our area is Sukhi. It is like hybrid of sev puri and pani puri. Well not exactly as neither does it have sev nor pani...lol. It has everything of the both apart from those two. Asi, PANjabi and jassi had the signature Sukkki at our Sukki point. Today it tasted fabulous.

 After that as I was well dressed, I thought of going to Oasis mall, then I thought lets go for a big ride. I went all the way to Forum on bike! First time. Actually I was tempted to go all the way to EC(Electronic City), but my logical mind told me not to as it is too far.

 So I did reach Forum by myself on bike. I have been to Jayanagar before on bike, but that was early morning. This was right into the peak hours of Bangalore and I proved ,myself that I am a good enough biker ;) .

 So I went to Forum, roamed around inside for an hour. And yeah incidently today was the first time I did a paid parking :P. Hmmm so many firsts today!

 So I had a nice time in Forum. I started my ride back home. Had to ask an autowala, just to be sure of directions. But, I reached sada home sweet home 126/A safely in one piece to write this post.

Lessons learnt:
You gain confidence in anything by doing it and doing it often.
Bangalore traffic is bad.
Lot of pollution at red signals, everybody keeping their engines on!
Always keep an eye on passing gas stations if you are like me, who always rides in reserve ;)
Be happy in whatever you do and make each day count!

Wisdom comes with age.

 I was just thinking, comparing myself now and myself a year ago, or may be three years ago. Has anything changed?

 Certainly with time and by staying by myself I am learning a lot in life, I am getting more mature with time. I am able to make better decisions in life.

 Of course my family and friends have always been there for me throughout my life. My parents have done a lot for me during my torrid times in Mumbai and my sister has always been ready to give me much needed advise whenever I have seeked from her.

 I have been lucky enough to have wonderful friends in life and had wonderful times with them. The time I spent with them in Mysore, Hyd and Bang will be cherished by me forever.

 Also I have learnt how to work and succeed as a team, how to prioritize work and how to manage finances. I seriously think dad has been a major help when it comes to handling finances, I owe a lot to him. Also I cant forget all the wonderful food mom has made for me, the weekends when I used to go to Milan mall with her. I am really lucky to have such a wonderful family and I thank God and my family for the same.

 I just felt like writing this post, to express how grateful and thankful I am to everyone and I promise to reciprocate whenever I get the chance.

Rann

 Yesterday I saw this movie Rann. Very nice movie with a message. Amitabh Bachan proves again he can do any kind of roll. What is good to see is Ritesh Deshmukh in a more responsible and mature role. Good performance and nice story.

 The movie shows to what extend media can go to make news and make money. How politicians do anything to come to power and how there are still few good man who stand up for the truth and the right.

 Paresh Rawal is in a negative role and has done justice to the character. I would definetly recommend this movie to all.

 What else, really looking forward to go home after a long time. Job is going pretty good, learning things everyday and enjoying to work in a wonderful team.

 I would like to quote something which my friend wrote in facebook: "Behind every successful man there is a women. However women go only behind successful men" Some people crave only material wealth...and suffer.

 

Settled in Project

"The most difficult part of the project is the transition, once you enter the steady state it would be smooth". This is what my team lead used to tell us from the beginning. Now we are in steady state and yes I do agree with what he had said, life is very good and relaxing now.

 I worked in night shift last two weeks, sometimes I did feel sleepy a lot and was wondering if only I could have a bed to take a nap. But  I had volunteered for the shift and cannot complain, good think is, that is over.Now I am in day shift and no night shift this month. Also am going home at the end of this month, Pav Bhaaij, Vaada Pav, Undhiyu, RK Veg Biryani, etc etc I can hardly wait. Long time since I went home.

 Also first time I am going home after coming to Bangalore, I remember how I used to go home from Mysore via Bangalore and write a post in this blog from the Airport. Those were the days I was in training in Mysore, what we called honeymoon period in IT industry.But I feel very relaxed now. Also,I am glad I got such a good project.

 Last Saturday again we had a team outing, we went for the movie Sherlock Holmes, very nice movie. Also we had lunch in Sind Sultan in Forum Mall, had a nice time. Next month again we have our project party, we had it in Christmas last time I think, we are supposed to have it once every quarter, so basically life is good. Certainly time is running very fast!

Relationships

Man is a social animal, it is hard to live life without your family, without your friends and without that someone special in life. Love is the ultimate feeling that bonds two human beings together.

 In today's time it is very difficult to have a successful relationship for a couple. People live life in the fast lane, you barely get time with each other, also if you are not together at the same place, things do get difficult. I personally feel it is tough to have a healthy long distance relationship, talking on phone and internet is fine, but both people should be committed and faithful to each other.

 One more important factor is career, everyone wants to have a good career and a happy future. We should sort out time for each other and define priorities in life. Another important factor is time, any relationship should pass the test of time to be successful.

 Love and mutual trust are always there in the list but one important thing I feel is that there should not be any sort of pressure in a relationship, one must have faith and must understand each other. We should make sure that we are not hurting our better half or putting any sort of pressure on them.

 Most important thing, one should not get into relationship quickly, love at first sight is infatuation and may look good, but there are several other factors apart from attraction for a successful relationship. Compatibility and understanding is more important. Beauty is only skin deep, what really matters is the character and attitude of a person

Too much of work!

 It's around two months now, I am in Bangalore and in a project. With time the work is getting more and more hectic. Thankfully we didn't have high workload on 31st night, although we were in office on 31st, we had our own party and we did bring in the new decade in grand style.

 My steady state is going to start from 18th Jan, just hope I am up to the task by then and can work effectively. My hyderabad room mates who were on project always used to long to get on bench, now I understand why, there is too much of workload and pressure. Perhaps this is  how life is...

 As far as new year resolution goes, I have made one to get into better shape. I will control my diet and do exercise and yoga.

 Bhakti and Gaurangbhai had a wonderful New Year party crusing to Bahamas, I am glad they are enjoying so much and the relationship is getting strong with time, last month was their first anniversary. God bless them.

 Perhaps one of the good thing of working in project is you get 250 bucks a day extra when you work in night shift, but that too is less copared to some other companies. Ne ways this is what I always wanted and I am sure this will make me more mature and experienced in my field.