Phone conversation

Swapna and Shrikanth were classmates in graduation and great friends. Now Swapna is working in Pune and Shrikanth in Chennai as software engineers. Both thought that they would be always online and can be with each other's company at least in virtual world. But the hectic work and company policies like blocking the internet for personal use are obstructing their wish.

“It has been four months since you called me, what happened to you TK? You forgot me?” shouted Swapna. “Even when I made a call you didn’t pick up my call and I thought this time also you won’t answer my call.”

“Hey, why do think like that, I was just a little bit busy. Calm down. Okay, how are you, your new project and dummy? What’s new in your life,” asked Shrikanth.

“I am okay. My new project is in J2EE; it started last month and running smoothly. My new project leader(PL) is really an absolute dummy. Believe me TK; he doesn’t even know the ABC of the project. Whenever he feels others are becoming aware of his ignorance, he proves his stupidity by bragging about the success of his earlier projects, their complexity and his skill in tackling clients.”

“Funny ha-ha, I should work with your dummy once,” laughed Shrikanth. “Hey, but I heard your company is a great place to work. Great places give shelter to dummies; Ha Ha.”

"I dreamed a lot about this company. But after joining here, I came to know that here every one is a stupid," said Swapna.

"Oh! I know it, long time back. Even though it’s late, it’s good that you understood about yourself and joined your group," cracked Shrikanth up.

“Yeah, I am also a stupid member in your group, dummy, ha-ha. My life has become routine and I want to have some fun vacation get out of this. TK, we shall go out somewhere this week end. What do you say?”

“Shrikanth! TL (Team leader) is calling you,” Swapna heard a voice from the other end.

“Swapna, I will get back to you after twenty minutes, let’s discuss about the place.”

“Thank you TK; you are my same old Thin SharK and I am A Spawn (Young child) of yours”.

“Okay, I need to attend a meeting, no time for anagrams and Wan Sap (Person’s pale face) and think about the place.”

Make your Dream Real

More sleep, more Dreams -

I woke up with a fantastic dream
We should make it real as a team.
Achieve our aim,
along with fun time.
Show the world our faces with beam.

Today is better than some great tomorrow

We want to become millionaires, after that, billionaires and at last we spend our remaining time either to earn few billions more or to spend the money to fulfill our wishes.

I always used to think in the similar fashion that I shall earn millions of rupees, build my own empire and donate my earnings to the needy people. To accomplish that I need to study well, get a good job, search and create more avenues to make big bucks. Though this plan of goals seems quite natural, after seeing Raj, I felt I am just seeking an excuse and not helping others.

Raj came to my room and said that he is very happy. When I asked for the reason he said that in the school he saw a 10 year old girl suffering from fever. Immediately he gave hundred rupees to another teacher and told the teacher to take the girl to the hospital, buy the required food and medicine. Next day, the girl came towards him smiling and showed more enthusiasm in the studies.

I learnt that just by giving hundred rupees now (at the right time) is a great help, than to do something after I become a millionaire or billionaire some years later.

Running Race

India, for some unknown (to me) reasons is not able to get a medal in the event of running in Olympics. So, I started running in the x-meters running track to secure at least one gold medal. Just Kidding!

Its really strange experience when you are in the race. You start with full of vigor and when some one is crossing; you put a lot of effort to be in the leading position. At some point others surpass at the last moment even they may be behind during the whole lap. Then desperation to win will come into picture. It either helps to push yourself beyond your boundaries or deteriorates the performance altogether.

And if you get failed to be ahead in all the laps which you have desired in spite of trying your level best but ended up in winning the race, what would be your reaction? How would you take it?

Enjoy Mystiques

No one knows in advance what is there for her/him in the store for the future? We don’t know what we do or think in the next second. But through out our life we always wish to have control over the life, career, family, society. Do we (need) really control? And if it happens so, wonders may not find place in our life.

I believe that just following the call of the nature (instinct) is the best thing to do. We rarely see proper logic in this kind of philosophy. Still they do work. Most of the times, we take crucial decisions just by following our intuitions.

Life is a mystique, will have loads and loads of surprises. Enjoy!

How to lose 1000 bucks?

“Arun, to me, hacking gmail is a kids’ stuff,” said Rupesh. “Ludicrous. It’s impossible for a guy like you who hardly knows anything in hacking,” replied Arun.

To prove himself Rupesh said, “Okay, let's have bet for 1000 bucks. Just answer three questions of mine; I will crack your account in few seconds”. “Hey, don’t lose 1000 rupees just to prove your stupidity,” was the immediate reply from Arun.

“That’s it. Tell me, what should be your new password?” started Arun.

“Hmm, change it to either Rupesh Singh or Stupid. Any thing except my old password will be okay.”

“Your user id?” Rupesh continued controlling his anger.

“Arunsingh@gmail.com”

“And the last question, Password?”

“What?” exclaimed Arun.

“Hey strange password, I would have not guessed this password at all. Thank a lot for making my job very easy.”

After trying many times, Rupesh finally gave up. “You are a cheat. You didn’t answer the final two questions correctly. Otherwise I would have cracked your account,” Rupesh grumbled.

Truth and Courage

“What others would think about me, they would think that I am a stupid person who doesn’t know even this simple thing. I would neither say yes nor accept that I don’t know this.” - Many might have thought like this at some point of time in their life. This is a hopeless attitude which mostly leads the life towards fear and false world.

“I don’t know about it, I will learn it. Please, help me in whatever way you can.” - Even the other person may not help; but there is no fear of living a lie. To have this kind of attitude two most powerful weapons are required in your kit - Truth and courage.

If you don’t have them develop them from this moment. And if you have, show them to the world. World will inspire from you.

Delusions of equality

"Women are ill-treated and are denied of fair chance. Even in the developed countries the problem persists. Women must be empowered to attain equality between the sexes." - We come across these kind of statements in the media very often. I too support any action to provide equitable opportunity to all citizens.

With power comes the dragon of arrogance, though always may not be the case. And that arrogance drives away the wisdom and leads towards the darkness. To behave like men some educated women cultivate the habit of smoking cigars and drinking alcohol. How stupid to think like that? Young boys too imagine themselves as celebrities(film stars) when they smoke or drink. Adults do in the name of social networking. The same stupidity.

Everyone knows that smoking cigars and consuming alcohol are deleterious. Instead of falling into the darkness with these devils, educated and empowered women must strive to drive them off from our life. Women must prosper, achieve great things and make this world a heaven.

Meaning of the Name

Raj always likes to know the meaning of the names whom ever he meets. It's a way to know people and their culture. He thinks name plays a big impact in everyone's life and some try to live up to their name. Here is a small conversation between Raj and his five students.

Raj: What is your name?
Girl 1: My name is Aarthi.
Raj: Good name. Do you know the meaning of it ?
Aarti: Puja (Prayer)
Raj: Yes. It’s a ritual performed during the prayer of God.
(Immediately all the other students want to tell their names and meanings.)
Girl 2: My name Varsha and it means "rain".
Raj: Good.
Boy 1: My name is Aakash.
Raj: What does it mean?
(At a time, all shouted "Sky" and pointed their forefingers upwards)
Raj to Boy 2: What is your name?
Boy 2: Abhishek. I don't know what it means.
Raj: It is a kind of ritual done in prayer.
Girl 3: My name is "Shabana" and do you know the meaning of it? (She was eager to know the meaning)
Raj: I don't know. (Shabana's face became dull as she didn't get the answer.)
Raj: Your name sounds very sweet and I think it must mean something very beautiful. I will tell you tomorrow.

After returning from the class he asked me. Immediately I googled it and told him it means "Night". "Night" is young and beautiful. I said, we need a boy "Moon" to marry "Night". Moon and Night complement each other beautifully. Ha! Ha!

You know many important events happen at night. sshh! I am talking project.

Unwise to lose pearls for money

Modern sophisticated communication infrastructure helped the world to become a global village. The need to communicate in a common language had aroused, particularly in business and scientific communities. "English" had become the choice to fulfill the purpose due to myriad reasons. As a result, this globalization is driving all of us to learn English.

The obsession with one language should not cause the extinction of another. Many Buddhist literary scriptures were written in Pali, an Indic language.Now it has become extinct. The researchers are learning it with a lot of effort. It becomes more difficult to understand the literary scripture like Tipitaka, a Pali canon if the language is extinct. Similarly, dying of many other languages causes the loss of the invaluable knowledge attained by humans.

Many parents wish their children to be good in English. It's fine. But I found some parents who are crazy about one language and don't teach mother tongue to their children. It's a matter of concern as future generations can't know our traditional culture and language. More importantly the beauty and knowledge in them vanishes forever.

In our world there are thousands of languages and dialects. Every language is unique and has its own beauty. Please, don't make them vanish from this world.

Practice, don't just wish

Now a days shopping has become a hobby. It makes us busy when we get bored of routine life. It’s fun but this hobby tempts us to buy even we don’t require. I am not a shopaholic but sometimes I do get into a super mall just to know new products, old products in new cover packs and watch people especially kids.

To buy cashew nuts and dates I went to a grocery store. I observed a 9-10 year old girl dragging the cart, following her fat mistress. Child labour though banned in India still exists in India. I think children begging or dying in streets is worse than assisting rich people in household activities. But in return they must be provided education and basic facilities. Oh! I digressed from the topic.

Suddenly the girl stumbled upon Barbie dolls. She didn’t stop staring them even after ten minutes. She liked them a lot and wants to have them. But how is it possible? She knows the harsh answer she gets if she asks her mistress. Her desire made me to think of gifting her one doll. But the thought how her mistress receives this unexpected offer stopped me doing so. With in few minutes they disappeared and I exited with my items.

I would have made the girl happy, but I didn’t. Why was I hesitant to do even it's a noble thing?

Excuse brings no joy

Five common excuses to avoid starting new tasks or hobbies:

1. I am very busy and so I don't have time.
2. If I get time I have many other tasks to attend which are even more important.
3. I am not interested and it is not my cup of tea.
4. I don't know how to do.
5. It's difficult, I can't do.

There may be umpteen reasons but the bottom line is that they might miss a kind of fun in their life. I too missed a lot but from now onwards and I don't want to miss anything. Please introspect your life and have great joy.

Planetory bodies in Straight line

Ram, my friend, went to a small school to teach kids and to spend fun time with them. He saw there that the teacher was teaching them about Pancha Bhutas (Air, Water, Fire, Earth & Sky) and planetary bodies (Sun and Moon). Children knew them in Hindi but they need to learn in English. So, the teacher told them to showed the spellings in English. Teacher said each word loudly and all kids followed her. But the children got bored after few minutes. After 5 minutes Ram took the charge as teacher.

Ram wanted to make class interesting and not boring. Obviously the best way to learn is by playing game. What do you say? After thinking for a while, he took 7 kids outside the class and named them as the above seven elements.

According to the game all should stand up in a line and the first person closes his eyes. When he counts from one to five slowly all the the kids behind him have to reshuffle themselves and should form into a straight line again. And then the first person has to guess the name of the last person. If his guess is correct he wins 5 points and the person standing in the last position takes the place of the first position and the play continues. If his guess is wrong, no points are awarded and he will be given two more turns. But in all the three turns if he guesses wrongly he gets 2 points and he has to tell a name randomly. That person will come to the first position. At the end, the one who gets highest points will win the game. In this way when he played with kids everyone enjoyed the play and even learned all the words unknowingly with in 15 minutes.

So, the best way to learn anything is to make it a game and play it having a lot of fun. Playing the same game all the time is boring. Ram and kids need new games, don't they? Will you come up with some more games?

Limericks for "Kashmir Peace"

World desires for the place of peace
where suffering of people must cease.
We all need unity
and perfect amity.
Humans, why to fight for the piece?

World desires for the peace
where festivals never cease.
We all need unity
and perfect amity.
Humans, Don't fight, Please.

My first Limerick

A limerick (which rhymes in "A-A-B-B-A" fashion) from my pen.

I have got a bright brain to think
That can solve anything in a blink.
Without dancing in drizzle,
I am into a tough puzzle.
Ah, its missing data making me sink.

Run! Its fun, not childish.

"Change" is the only solution to bring liveliness to our life. Everybody knows this but why don't we ourselves go for it and sometimes resist to happen. We expect that the change should happen on its own, leaving to the destiny, and then if it brings fun we will enjoy otherwise we will challenge the situation. So, don't wait, go for it. Here is a small incident.

The distance between the office and Raj's home is about a kilometer. Daily after gruelling work at office he wearily walks to his home. Today he met Rohit, 10 year old boy who stays next to his door, in his small cycle. He said Rohit, "Let's have some fun today". He challenged with Rohit that he will run fast and reach home earlier than the latter. Immediately race began between the two - Raj ran using his full effort, pushing his artificial boundaries and Rohit rode very fast.
The race was full of fun and they reached the home with in 4 minutes. Wow! How this short journey has turned into so much of fun? Raj and Rohit enjoyed it.

Today young people aged between 24-30 years old can't/don't run at all except to catch a bus or like that. Innumerable number of reasons such as feeling adulthood, looking the act as childish, sickness etc. are making them not to have this kind of fun. Poor Guys! They need to change to have this fun.

Stock Market Game

Stock markets are booming. The bull run so far is very encouraging. And all players want the answers of evergreen questions in the markets - "Will the boom sustain and scale to new interesting levels?", "Can we expect a correction down the line?", "Which stock at this moment is still undervalued?", "What would be the impact of global interest rates on Indian equity markets?"and so on.

The stock market activity always lures me which brings both returns and risks. So to eliminate the risk and to have fun we had a simulation game replicating the stock markets. On flashing of news tickers & prices, portfolio managers will issue trade orders to their brokers. Initially my friend and I teamed up and became fund managers. But due to infrastructure breakdown (my broker's laptop didn't work) we had to quit from the game with out even starting. Though dissappointed, I met a team and told them I offer you share in my chips packet and in return we become consultants of your team. So every team was given Rs. 1000000 as inital capital investment and in hour and a half game the one who has highest assets will be the winner. We took every decision very serious just like investing our money in real markets.

In the first three round our asset value didn't change much. Later on, our fund picked the pace and always outperformed other fund managers till the end. During the last round another team was very close to our team and if we make any wrong decision in haste we will lose the game. At that point of time we thought we outperformed all the time, it doesn't mean that it should continue forever and should remain happy even if we lose the first position.But the zeal in us to always stand first never moderated. We took right decisions and proved us as the best fund managers by earning Rs,1400000. The margin between us and first runner up was about a lakh.

Its really great not to get discouraged when you were out of the game (even for no fault of yours), and to have fun supporting another team and there by being in the game. You know the team even gave us 50% as the consultant fees. Hey, its not Rs. 200000. Some t-shirts and other gifts from various sponsors.

Change Attitude

When we do something for the first time it would be fun, challenging, and sometimes more adventurous. But when we accomplish the same mission many times the charm in it vanishes. Do you agree?

Well, previously on some occasions I had felt like. But if I carefully observe, I feel the phrase "charm in it" is very important. Charm in the mission would always be there but the interest to accomplish in the good old way will be diminished. The desire to become rich will never go, but the way to become rich will differ. If it doesn't differ and has only one monotonous process, all may not like to become rich. Or to be simple, even in a game if you win every time with out any resistance you lose interest.

Technique to be always in high spirit is very simple and powerful - "Change". Treat the mission as a game. And any game with out fun is dreary. Alter the goals, rules, challenges and strategies. Its your wish whether to change one at a time or all simultaneously. Make your expeirence always a new one.

Diwali - Festival of Lights

Deepavali , festival of lights is one of favourite festivals. I light the crackers such as flowerpots and vishnu chakras, bhuchkras etc., and make the my world bright. This Diwali I decided to learn a sanskrit verse every month. In this auspicious day lets recite a great verse from Sama Veda.

OM
ASATOMA SADGAMAYA
TAMASOMA JYOTIRGAMAYA
MRITYORMA AMRUTANGAMAYA
OM SHANTHI, OM SHANTI, OM SHANTI

You may not forget the meaning but I do. I got it from a web site. So here is the meaning for me.

Lead us from darkness to light
From ignorance to truth
And from death to eternity
Let peace prevail everywhere

Marketing by Techy geek (Part-2)

I went home jumping and screaming, "Hi, We all are going to a cultural event, I have got passes each worth Rs.500.” Latha, my favorite loquacious sister was overjoyed seeing the concert tickets. Later, after having dinner my mother asked, "What happened? Are you okay now? I think after dinner now you are normal." With out noticing surprise in my face, she continued with her soft tone, "You never dropped me to the temple even once from the past one year and all of a sudden you are taking us to some concert spending a lot of time and money.” She felt happy but told that dad and she are going to uncle's home. I felt bad about my so called busy life ignoring family. Thanks to this workshop, I will now spend some time with my family.

The next day in the office, during the lunch break I told to my colleagues about the concert, aroused interest about it. Most of them were interested but at the end rejected politely giving various reasons - lack of interest, other appointments, busy life and high price of the ticket. All my hopes to sell at least five tickets gradually thrashed as each hour passed. Even my friends expressed the same and even gave me advice that there are many events aired in the 100 television channels, watch and enjoy them. Two friends agreed, but they will confirm after checking their appointments.

“The Result – this workshop has ruined all the peace in my life. If I can't sell this peanuts worth ticket how can I sell my expensive applications in future. Until now I sold to only two tickets to me – sis and myself. Similarly, will I be the only person who buys my applications? This workshop is visualizing all my inabilities. I am fed up completely.”

When I reached home drearily, my sister asked whether I can arrange two more tickets for her friends. I was on cloud nine when I heard her words and I offered them 2 tickets immediately. I slept thinking, “God, your deeds are always unpredictable, you always give me surprises”.

As it was friday, I had too much work at office. I had gone for a break to get fresh air amid hectic work. For brunch, I ordered pine apple juice at the office canteen. While I was sipping the juice, the canteen guy tapped on my back and said, “I heard that you had got passes for a concert. I would be happy if you can give me two.” What's going on here ? This guy has bought who earns hardly Rs.4000 per month and my colleagues who earn thrice than him can't afford. Oh God! Again you are unpredictable.

And finally in those ten days I sold 8 tickets for the concert. Is it not a great figure? I feel its great. Various lessons I learned from this workshop are lifetime experiences. You Wanna try to attend this workshop?

Marketing by Techy geek (Part-1)

"Who is going to help me now? How can I accomplish this? All that I know in my life is to sit in front my computer, building applications, debugging the expensive bugs, playing games and maintaining nice relationship with my boss and colleagues. To accomplish my goals I attended this workshop. The Result - "

"I am a typical techy guy who likes to learn business leadership skills. I read some books, listened to some speeches. But this time I came here to this workshop to know more details", I introduced to the enthusiastic audience. After listening to a number of leadership qualities, marketing lecture started. Listening to the stories, marketing strategies like "22 immutable laws of marketing" I had different views to various tips that are being discussed. To some points my expression was - "Wow! Fantastic! I had never thought in that fashion", to some aspects I whispered to my colleague - "Any one knows that, very simple", and to some tips I thought - "That's all crap". Finally I felt satisfied feeling that I learned valuable lessons in that informative workshop.

At the end of the workshop, to my surprise I was given 25 tickets for a cultural concert and I had to sell them with in 10 days using the imparted knowledge and own marketing skills. Thinking about the future how to sell them I boarded a bus. All my thoughts like were disturbing my peace of mind - “How can I do that? What did these people teach me? When they were babbling all the nonsense I clapped enthusiastically, now I understand that they just reproduced what I can read in the books. Waste of time and money.”

In the bus I started talking to my fellow passenger and then unknowingly told about the event and ticket fare. He almost got irritated thinking of me as a sales person who wants to pester him. He gave me a serious glance. Immediately I told him, “I am just informing you, not making you buy” and got down from the bus with out talking anything more.

Then after some time I started calculations. I can sell 4 tickets to my family including myself, may be around 10 to12 tickets to my friends and colleagues. And remaining 9 tickets? Hey, I never did this job. It seems difficult. After a little bit of time I soothed and motivated myself - "It's okay Arun, You can do. You know a lot of friends and their friends too. Be cool, you can do. Don't you remember just one week back your manager praised you in presence of all that every body likes Arun and all think that Arun has the capability of making even big things happen.” Now, I got the confidence.

Buying Toys for children

Children usually like to play with toys. My mom used to buy toys worth Rs150/- each costs from Rs3/- to Rs20/- (very cheap in those days) during my childhood. And my friend's dad used to buy him two toys or games (Rs. 120/-, Rs. 50/-) approximately spending same amount. What is the difference between the two practices?

A child likes to play a toy only for few minutes and then after some time s/he needs the new entertainment. So it’s better to have many toys. And next reason is that most of the children break or damage the toys with in no time. If the toys are very costly and less, mom has to think other ways to make me happy or spend more bucks. So, keeping all this in mind to make me happy she buys inexpensive play ware frequently constrained to her budget.

But one counter-intuitive argument is there. When I went to my friend's home he had electronic/automatic games and I liked a lot to play with them as I didn't have them at my home. I used to think why mom is not buying such games. So, often I asked to my parents to buy such games and they bought very rarely. I was happy with that. But my mom's logic was cent percent correct as I used to play with them for maximum period of 5-10 days and then kept them somewhere in the store room either in broken or normal state.

I don't know whether I follow the same pattern exactly or not as I am being 7 years old, I hardly can observe, analyze my mom's logic. But when she told me when I am grown enough to understand her strategy I got enthused to know how great my mom understands the child's psychology and makes her child happy.

Win the losing Game

Chess is one of the games which captivate me all the time. When I learnt chess from my dad, I actually learnt the philosophy of life.

Learning chess is very interesting for a child and teaching a child requires a lot of patience. If I had played some silly move, my dad used to show me the mistake. And I used to withdraw my wrong step and go for another move. Slowly, I starting thinking alternative paths, looking ahead about 4-5 steps before I decide on any move.

But can you imagine the reason how we keep on playing the game even though we lose the game? The answer may be by making ourselves aware that no game can be won with out learning properly and adequate practice. That's great.

When ever I lose the game I had two options. One is playing the game again and again, waiting for my turn to win. Another option is to just leave the game which makes me defeated every time I play.Dad used to motivate me saying "You need just a little bit of practice." But being a child can I understand that? Can I enjoy the game losing it? When I play the chess, the mission of my life is to trap and kill the opponent’s pieces one by one ruthlessly and win the game. But when I play with my dad who is a very good player, how can I win the game?

Of course I get motivated after listening to my dad saying that we can't win the game just by knowing it or by playing few times. Even then losing the game continuously (and that too by good players who don't make mistakes so often) makes some of us get bored. So, how to carry on the motivation to try forever with out quitting?

My dad had the great timeless answer for it. In the middle of the game, he used to just exchange the sides. He takes my king's army which is in a very weak position and I am offered his powerful strong one. It’s Very Simple. Hey, it's also not an easy task to be in the strong side. I used to lose all my army before winning the game. But gradually it made me to learn how to play the winning game and finally the game itself.

With the course of time, I learnt to take his weak position and offer him my winning army. And then there had the real struggle, how to win over the strong army with my new weaker one? I realized the way to master the game. Win the game when I was actually in a state of losing! I enjoyed the both, victory (sometimes) and even defeat.

The question "Can we enjoy the game when we are losing it?" now has a positive response from me. I enjoyed the defeat. And it's surprising to see me to enjoy getting beaten.

And the question “Being a child, can I understand that to win we need practice?” seems wrong to me. Actually a child won’t care whether he loses or not, but in adults their ever growing ego does. Adults must understand this simple fact and must continue child like eargerness to learn.

Don't break your head for normal problems

When you are at the crossroads, you make the decision which effects your life and in particular determines your future. Some may feel this situation interesting, challenging and some see it confused, terrible. But still you need to take the decision. That's life.
Another important point to note is that you may think all moments as critical, turning points but actually only a few in your life will be the defining moments. Thus, there is no need to put your brain completely and worry, every time take the decisions.

Algorithm DecisionMaking
// Don't spend too much time for normal issues
{
If "Are you really at the point of no return?" then
Analyze fairly for ample time but with upper bounds
else
Just think for a few minutes about the problem
Take the Decision
}

B'day wishes

Have you ever experienced receiving 30 mails on a single day? Raj receives for every birthday. Though most of them bring smile on his face, 30 is too much. Thank God, Birthday is celebrated once in a year and not every week – Saturday(Weekday of his birthday). The aspect here that he doesn't like is that most of the mails contain just artificial(not all) “Happy Birthday” and nothing more. How nice it would be, if some one spends about five minutes to write a few lines about the happenings at the receiver/sender 's desk along with the wishes(not artificial). If still people write mails (with interest/taking the pain), he would be very happy for being so lucky to have so many people to care about him.

Cool Raj! Frankly speaking, I mostly forget to wish on others'(sometimes even mine too) birthday. So Raj need not bother about getting my stupid(according to Raj) one line mail. But he may feel bad for not even wishing him, being his nice buddy.

Sometimes I do get some extreme thoughts. Birthday is just supposed to be a day for celebration. What is the need of a birthday when we celebrate a lot of festivals? In fact our forefathers in India never used to remember it and usually never celebrated it.

Let us come back from the extreme directions. Let's hope Raj gets a decent amount of mails according to his taste.

A brief online chat

Funeesh: Hi, This is Phaneesh from Hyderabad.
Priyanka: Hi, I am Priya from Mumbai.
Funeesh: Wow, what a lovely name do you have? I bet you would be definitely as beautiful as your name.
Priyanka: Yeah, I understand that you butter up a lot.
Funeesh: Hey, Don't misunderstand me. I am not flattering. Really, you have got a nice name.
Priyanka: Your id tells that you like fun a lot.
Funeesh: Yeah. Every moment I like to enjoy all the fun under the sun. What kind of fun do you like?
Priyanka: I like jokes. If any one cracks jokes I will laugh a lot like a child.
Funeesh: Great. I laugh thrice when ever any person cracks a joke.
Funeesh: First time, when everyone laughs. And second time when I understand the joke.
Priyanka: Then why for the third time?
Funeesh: And the last one on myself that I took so long to understand such a good joke.
Priyanka: (laughing) If I were you I would have laughed for the fourth time too.
Funeesh: Why?
Priyanka: By looking the face of the person who cracked the joke. Because he might had been mad as I laughed thrice, even after completing the joke long time back.
Funeesh: (laughing) It seems you too crack lot of jokes. It's really great. We can make good friends.
Priyanka: Thanks for flattering again.
Funeesh: Oh, no if you don't want. What do you do?
Priyanka: I am pursuing Bachelors in Business administration. And what about you?
Funeesh: I have done my MS from South Carolina University and now working as Software consultant in Hyderabad. Actually this is a US based firm and I am heading the branch in India which focuses on technical assistance.
Priyanka: A lot of catchy words, don't you think so. Tried a lot to impress me.
Funeesh: To be frank, no. I just said about me. I don't think I boasted a lot about me.
Priyanka: You know, Managers do lack the brain. Live example is Priya(laughing). But I am only half brainy as I am a future manager. But you must be complete brainless.
Funeesh: Half brainy gal(laughing)! You seem very intelligent & interesting gal. I am meeting a girl like you after a long time.
Priyanka: Yeah, I am. But guys are so stupid and always try to praise a lot like you. You might be really stupid as you usually talk with stupid and dull (people)girls.
Funeesh: Almost I might have had become stupid,but I do talk with some people who are exciting and fun.
Priyanka: I think I deserve more and more praises(laughing). Okay then, I will meet you some other time
Funeesh: Oh sure!
Funeesh: Take care.
Priyanka: Bye.
Funeesh: See you, bye.

Is Phaneesh cajoling a lot? Or Priya a bit more skeptic by nature?

Ayurveda - Art of Being

    Thousands of years ago there was a seminar of the sages in the Himalayas -They discussed over the problem of that era- since when human beings started living in the villages abandoning the forests, diseases started to conquer them and the planet. Now we are living in metros. Just imagine the problem we have created to ourselves.
    Ayurveda is the ancient treasure by the Indian Sages (Agasthya, Charaka, Sushrutha, Vagbhatta etc.) to the whole world. The balance of thridoshas - Vaatam(Air & Space), Pitta(Fire), Kapha (Water and Earth) should be there in the living being. The imbalance in these elements in the body causes diseases. The ayurvedic physician just finds out the missing elements and makes the patient to take those substances from the nature in the suitable form. The herbs, trees, oils, different types of mud, mineral stones (Navaratna -Diamond, Ruby, sapphire, carbuncle etc.) are some of the raw materials for Ayurveda. On the face of them, some are poisonous but when processed as prescribed according to Ayurveda, they become life saving medicines. Ayurveda can cure most of the diseases, even what Allopathy can't. Ayurveda always has the hope to cure till the last breath of life.
I watched a documentary on Ayurveda. Some great excerpts from the documentary:

• We are never sick. We tell to our mind: Don't fall sick. So we never fall sick. Simple! - A man's words during Dr. Nocolos Kostopolous visit to Rajasthan.
• Why Ayurveda is so fascinating because it says; Ayurveda is not only the science of medicine. Ayurveda is the art of living, how to live. And Ayurveda is the art of being- Dr. Nocolos Kostopoulos, Greece.
• In those days Gurus taught us that, if the science is followed for money, it is wasted. Wealth earned from medical sciences is always contaminated, as it comes from the sufferings of others, thus it must be practiced with compassion and humility - Brahmanand Swamigal, an Ayurvedic Physician from Tamilnadu.
• Even Saraswathi, the Goddess of Learning continues to learn! We must have a honest quest for knowledge - Brahmanand Swamigal.
• It’s all free. Why should I go and do anything for the sake of money?By God's grace, I have got enough land for agriculture and I am not greedy. Desire is the root cause of all evils. I can earn a lot of money. But there is an ethical way to practice this knowledge. Desire is the root cause of all evils- Vaidya Narayan Murthy, an Ayurvedic Physician from Karnataka.
• The deforestation is the serious problem for me and that is why I am striving to save these plants. For the next generation we have to save these herbs. That is the only desire and nothing more. I am content-Vaidya Narayan Murthy

    Our culture values the doctors by giving the highest status in our society. In this holy land, patients view (worship) the doctors as living form of God. And doctors like Swamigal, Narayan Murthy and so on deserve the status.
    But the modern artificial life style and ignorance of ethical and moral values is a deleterious effect on the life. One should understand that Medical Science is not for a commercial purpose and is to improve mind and body.
    These days we are very much interested in following the west and we are crazy about it. Even the western world wants to know this great traditional knowledge. So at least even in that sense let’s spread the greatness of Ayurveda.
    I hope some time in the near future we genuinely understand the greatness of Ayurveda, the science of life and incorporate in our lives. I want this message to be known to large number of people. Please try to convey this to many more as much as you can.
Note: If there is any copyright on any part of the documentary then please inform me so that I will remove it. I just want to reproduce the excerpts with out changing the exact words.

Consultant Owl

I wish to become a consultant. The reason behind it is this famous "Owl, The consultant for Cat" story.

Cat gets an appointment and visits the consultant Owl.

Cat: Mr Consultant, I have a problem. I am repeatedly chased by a dog and so I want the solution of this grave problem. Though you charge exorbitantly I still came for you. Please, help me.

Owl: Oh!Its a very serious problem and how come you are still survived, facing this problem.(After thinking for a while) Okay, I have got a solution for you, you transform yourself into a dog and then you will never be chased again by any dog.

Cat: Wow! Great idea! Thanks a lot, you charge a lot but give solution for anything.
Cat(stupid) leaves the place praising the consultant. It now starts wondering how it can transform into a dog. After many futile thoughts to find the way of transforming, it returned to its consultant.

Cat: Your suggestion is superb, but how can I transform into a dog?
(Guess whats the Owl's answer)

Owl: Hey, I just give the suggestions to my clients and execution is up to the client. Its not my cup of tea.

Hey consultants, its just a joke. I too wanna be a consultant but not like Owl.

National Motto

Like Indian National motto "Satyameva Jayate" which means "Truth only Triumphs", US has also got a motto "In God We Trust". A pun on this - US trusts only in God but not in any one else.

We trust the God(Truth) and His creation.

Learn but don't by heart blindly

I had a workshop on "Software Testing" in Accenture. It was simply superb. They conducted in a very professional way. The knowledge I got there is not bookish but practical. I learnt the subject by case studies, not by just listening to boring monologues which happens in college classrooms. We did a case study and I presented on behalf of my team. It is learning and confidence building experience.
I think to have a professional feel of education either we need people who have industrial experience as Professors in our colleges or industries should open the schools to teach the industry practices.

Try - Experiment - Practice - Learn.

Try = New things and problems which are challenges
Experiment = Find ways to improve
Practice = Do the best(according to you) experiments again and again to make it habit
Learn = Rectify Mistakes, source of errors and improve every time
In order to retain and reuse what we learnt, it should be documented as theory. But theory isn't just enough to those who does not follow the the above cycle.

I-Day & breaking Pot on Janmashtami

On Aug 15th, we celebrated our Independence by hoisting the National Flag and then sang the patriotic songs. An electric impulse is always generates in me when ever I hear the National Song particularly our Anthem during such occasions. It makes me think to become a soldier and serve my country. Of course I opine that we should become a soldier, may not to wage a war but to bring peace to our country and the world. Immedialtely after the celebration I had a lecture - one may wonder who the hell is taking the lecture during this national holiday. Actually Professor is a Visiting Faculty and as he was busy, he had to schedule during this auspicious National holiday. But during and after listening the lecture I thought this is the one of best way I can celebrate the Independence Day. The lecture about finance was fantastic and I can view it as a symbol of the freedom - Right to Speak, Preach. After the lecture I had lunch and slept for 6 hours. Great deep sleep! And then we all watched the film "Lagaan". I can say that it is one of the evergreen classics. What a beautiful film! I liked it a lot. "Necessity is the mother of Invention" can be observed.
And on August 16th, we have another festival Krishnashtami. We, in India have a lot of festivals and always enjoy ourselves in celebrating them. At night 10:00 PM the ceremony started and all the friends participated in breaking the pot (Matki Phod). A pot of curd is tied at a height of twenty feet. And we all have to form layers, climb on the layers, reach the pot and break it. Though I don't have a hefty and strong personality, out of sheer enthusiasm I stood in the second layer. The guy who has to form a third layer has to climb second layer. But he has unfortunately chosen me to climb on my back. I tried very hard to support him, but after a minute or two I was unable to bear him and I fell down, resulting all the guys tumble down. It was fun. After that I didn't participate in forming layers but was cheering with the spectators. After four failed attempts we finally accomplished it.
National Festival! Krishnastami! Fun! Devotion and Lots of Fun!

I am also lucky

Today I saw the words "I am Lucky" printed on a T-shirt. Is the T-shirt lucky to get worn by the person or the Person is lucky to wear the T-shirt? I don't know but I can say that the person who ever reads the message is lucky. Evidence for my inference? Read the message loudly!

"I am Lucky"

Guy from * is also lucky, may be the luckiest, though he doesn't have that shirt. If I am, why not you?

Save Good people

To
    The God
    Universe(If you are in Heaven then redirect to "Heaven")
From
    Jahnavi
    II class
    Kendriya Vidyalaya
    Mumbai
Dear God,
        Subject: Come soon to recue good people like me and you.

        I am Jahnavi(Roll no. 21), studying in 2nd class at KVHS. I am a good girl. You can ask my mom because when I get ready earlier than my dad she whispers in my ears, "Jahnavi is a good girl and daddy is a lazy boy". We burst into laughter teasing daddy for being late. Dad also says that he has got two good babies - one is my mom and the other is Jahnavi. I don't know how my mom got so elder even though we both were babies to my dad. You know, my grandfather says that I am very very good girl and so he plays with me daily lots of games and on every Saturday he buys me strawberries. Sometimes when I don't do my homework teacher scolds me "bad girl". But still I am a good girl, most of the times. And when I give my extra pencil to Likita denying Ankita, she also expresses that I am a good friend though Ankita disagrees. But as you know Likita is a good girl, we can ignore Ankita.
        Last night I heard dad, mom and grandfather discussing about floods, droughts, racism(I don't know its meaning, I guess it might be "Running race violating laws"), terrorists and all. My dad was saying this crazy world is becoming insane and killing all good people for no reason.
        As I am a good girl I have to live to make this world better. So, I request you to have floods and droughts only in seas where people don't live. No, not even there because if water is not present in seas, fishes will die and I will be the bad girl for them forever. Ban the races and let people only walk and run. Come to earth again as Rama and kill all the villains. But this time you should do it fast so that you can save good girls like me. I think good boys can save themselves by joining in army like Major uncle. In spite of it you still need to save boys of my age like Tinku, Goyal. To save me you need to save my father, mother and grandfather also, because with out them I can not live.
        Mail me your response immediately after you get this mail. You need to do the things pretty fast, otherwise crazy world is turning insane and then you cannot do anything later. Also one important warning for you. As all told that you are also good, they may kill you too, please be careful. And please don't mind for my spelling mistakes and letter writing format like my teacher. I wrote in a way like I write leave letter, when ever I want a holiday.

Waiting for you and your reply,

Place: Mumbai                                 Yours Respectfully
Date:8/8/2006                                     Jahnavi

Leopard and I didn't meet face to face

We live in a jungle - habitat of wild life. Don't think that I am saying in a philosophical way that this world is a jungle and we are animals of different kind living in this jungle. This is not a joke either. Literally, We conquered the home of the wild animals and are living in here.

Day before yesterday at midnight, a wild cat was roaming in our institution premises. Thank God, it didn't harm any one and no one harmed this cute little cub. By 4 'O clock in the morning, it was trapped in a cage. Many guys went to see it and even photographed it. Forget challenging it face to face when it was strolling free, I missed even the glance of it inside the cage. I came to know about the matter at about ten in the morning. By that time it was taken far away deep inside the forest.

Trapped Leopard Cub

I can see only the photograph of this cub when it is kept in the cage.

Derivatives for Risk Management

The art and science of Risk management is a fantastic subject that captivates me in this world which is filled with full of risks. I love the world of corporate world, managing the risks there. Though I never had any experience, I would like to go for them.
Broadly, the corporate risks can be classified into 2 categories.

• Business (Operating) Risks
• Non-Business Risks
  
• Strategic Risks
• Financial Risks

Well, now topic of finance is very interesting. Who in the world hates money (In fact great philosophers too hate the desire of money but not the money itself)? I l would love to attain some knowledge in Financial Risk Management along with Project risk management. Right now I am learning a bit about financial risk management using derivatives.

There is a lot in this world to learn but I have very less time to live.

Knowledge and money

Classical laws of Physics tell us that the Power is inversely proportional to the cube of the time.
"Knowledge is power." => Knowledge = Power
"Time is money". => Money = Time
Does this mean who has knowledge will have less money and all the millionaires are idiots?

It may be partly true because minnows always think money is real precious treasure. But the power which drives the entire world is the ultimate treasure of knowledge. Grab it and you will rule the world irrespective of your material possession.

Open mind => Innovation

People when debate about the requirement of changes to the existing policies or some other controversial issues become too much aggresive and impatient. If you have formulated some opinion on any issue, it is very difficult to be open minded and listen to all. And at last judging impartially is even more tough job.

One who is receptive to even non-sensical ideas(according to the person) can only bring most of the innovation into the world. Because nothing seems sense when a new idea is proposed initially. Take for instance, when open source software product Linux based server was first intoduced in the market they were very inferior. And now, they are threatning the market share of big giants like Microsoft and Sun. This is due to Red Hat and other guys' tremendous determination to nurture their dream product to become successful.

The Painter Of Signs

Ram, a bachelor and a man of modern ideologies likes his painting nameplates job, meets different kinds of customers during his job. He gets obsessed with a woman named Daisy, a devoted Population control staff. His romantic thoughts and hilarious deeds to win her finally worked well. His aunt warns not to marry as the girl is of different caste and she has ran from her parents for her favor. He didn’t care the words of his aunt because he loves Daisy and he wants to marry her. But what happens at the end? To know it, one needs to read R. K. Narayanan‘s “The Painter of Signs”.

Ram’s aunt is really very good character that depicts typical Indian old people’s ideology. They spend their whole life to bring up their children and get involved so much in them that they don’t have any other aims in their life anything else, except worship God at the end of their life. Though they are more learned in spiritual matters they still can’t change some old dogmas. I think almost every person behaves like this at some point of time. Well, the age of reason may help to some extent to change them. But I really surprise to observe about their contentment at the end of their life.

Many incidents make us laugh. When talking about Family Planning campaign, Ram thinks whether she wants to control population or copulation? Though it’s a sleazy joke, the author played with words very well.

The lead roles in the novel can not always be rational or ideal. All the stories don’t end as expected, similar to real life. I wonder why sometimes humorous stories have some bizarre end.

Serendipity for God?

I read the dictionary meaning of “Serendipity” as “Fortunate discovery by accident”. A beautiful word, isn’t it?

We discover a lot accidentally or just by chance. Famous scientific discoveries like X-rays by Nobel laureate Rontgen, Radium by Madam Curie, the reason of “Eureka by Archimedes” etc., are serendipitous. The first meeting of the hero and heroine in our films, who later fell in love is also entertaining serendipity. Most of the times, we too even stumble upon the new persons, concepts and later they become our life’s best friends.

Is the serendipity for us a meticulous plan of God, powerful driver of this world? Does the God too have serendipitous experiences? If so, then what can they be?

Some words from a film called “Serendipity” – Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents and coincidences, but rather it is a tapestry of the events that accommodate in an exquisite sublime plan.

I like to be a penguin, not like a lion

Almost in all the animals females have the upper hand in choosing their mate. For example lioness chooses the king of the pride, strongest lion as the mating partner. The lioness just watches the fierce fight between the lions and will have the fun. And at the end who ever wins, lioness likes to have the winning lion. Of course Darwin's principle of "Survival of the Fittest" is the obvious reason for this phenomenon.

But do you know, in Penguins as the male population is very low. And so females fight among themselves to get the male as partner and males will have fun time to watch. So males have more choice.
Well, in human beings who has the right of the choice? Man or woman?

Another interesting fact about penguins is that they are strictly monogamous for about one mating season. Hey, one more important attribute in Penguins is that both parents, male and female take responsibility to protect their child when it was egg and infant. But in most of the animals like lions, mother takes care of their children. In human beings who will take care of their children? Mom or Dad?

My opinion: I need both mom and dad. I like to be penguin, not like a lion.

Show red card to evil

I hope I should not have had written anything about the Mumbai train blasts. After the football mania, suddenly when I listened to the news about the blasts happening one after the another, like goals (actually fouls) in football. I thought I should at least appeal the referee to show the red card to the masters behind the foul play.

There is no world with out evil and no place with out war against it. Some times it shows its prowess and some times it gets imprisoned. And it is a recurring activity in the wheel of time.

What will ordinary people do other than returning to their work? I too don't understand about the concept of "resilience".What is greatness or specialty in it? The family and friends of the affected grieve and others show sympathy. And with in a day or two, every one becomes busy in their life, sympathy remains same and may later even becomes apathy. May be, a few will become like Udham Singh to kill an official terrorists like British General Dyer. You can read and observe history which just repeats but in a new costume.

Police has to prepare well to deal these kind of incidents. Any way they are getting experienced by more and more of these kind of incidents. I still believe intelligence sources are doing well, need to get alert a bit more. Still its a war, one who takes apt decisions in time, will be the winner of the day.

I bow and salute to those who helped the affected people...

Successful X Failure

What is failure and success?
When can you say, that you are a failure or successful?

We set some goals, and if they don't happen after some attempts, people will term it as failure. I see something to analyse the previous statement. Goals are set but do we like them or do we suit to accomplish the goal is a big question. Only God knows the answer to the question.

Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore left "Fairchild Semiconductors" after many failed attempts to introduce new technology processors in the company. A great failure, wasn't it? They started a company in 1968 called "Intel Corp" which means corporation of intelligence and is now the leader in the microprocessor world. Failed persons had created a great dynasty and now treated as succesful leaders in the industry. And some day, another company X, may come and grab its whole market. Then they are again treated as a failure. Failure and sucess is just relative to the time. Failures can become successful and viceversa. "Never think about the result, think about the plan of action", a wonderful quote but demands great mental strength which in turn makes us more mature.

Do animals revolt against humans?

"Grand Pa, Tell to Steve that humans are not animals. He is not agreeing to that even after telling him a lot", complained Bharat. "Yes my child, Steve is correct. Humans are social animals, the most intelligent among the animals. That is the reason humans rule the world."

I saw my grandson's face showing pity towards me. "Poor Grand Pa, You too don't know the fact. My teacher while teaching a lesson said that this world consists of human beings and animals. If humans are also animals why would she distinguish?" said Bharat.

At first I was surprised by seeing my grandson giving importance to each and every word what his teacher said in his school. We do give importance to words when we care for them. For a while I thought for the reason in what context his teacher might have said so. Then I said, "We always say 'king and the people' and in saying so we give special attention to the king. Similarly in this case, humans are the rulers of the animals.

"Then we are in great danger. We have to face revolution", said Bharat worriedly. I asked "Why do you think so? What happened? We are not at all in danger".

"Yes Grand Pa, just like in the story of Subhash Chandra Bose which you told last night, when British rulers acted as dictators and denied fundamental rights of Indian people Indian revolution was born and fought against the British army". When we saw a snake passing in our garden, grand ma told me that this was a forest two years ago but we built houses here by clearing trees and killing wild animals. So according to your story, when king becomes a dictator and does not allow people entitled with most basic fundamental right "Right to live", then a revolution starts from his people. Then animals might be thinking to start the revolution."

I was astonished to listen to the words of my little grandson. "Bharat, Bharat come fast, breakfast is ready", shouted his mother. He disappeared from the room in a second but not his words. Will animals start revolution against humans killing them for our personal gains? No, never. Animals are real social animals which allow us to live in their habitat. But we cruel intelligent humans are destroying their habitat. Some day it becomes inevitable to do revolution against us.

LOTR - Tourism in India

There are many travelogues in the local book store which inspire us to visit the historical places around the world. But most of time we don't read those books unless we are very much interested to know about the place or intended to visit it. I think these books promote only a meagre proportion of tourism.

The news headlines such as "New Zealand tourism doubled due to J.R.R.Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, Dan Brown's controversy novel boosted European tourism" are quite interesting. The tourists are more intrigued by the nature's wonders and ancestor's secret puzzles. Of course there is no specialty in people showing the interest on the places of crypts and it not at all new. But the amount of interest is worthy to note. Internet and other media is also playing vital in arousing enormous interest.

One 0f the Rings

Well, I thought it is a new phenomenon and I was wondering why not a similar attempt can be done to expose the marvellous Indian temples to the world.

Bhakta Kannappa

After thinking more about it I realized that this phenomenon is not at all new to Indians especially to our ancient kings. All the temples which are built by the mighty kings of our country tell us some interesting magical stories, some real and some myths with paintings, sculptures depicting them. These stories are famous bed time stories for kids told by mother, grandparents. The kid gets inspiration to visit at least once those places in his life time. As the transport was very bad during olden days, visiting Kashi, Amarnath, both Lord Shiva's sacred temples is considered as life time mission. Currently you can observe thousands of devotees visiting temples daily. These are the results of great folk tales of several generations. And I can say temples play an important role in Indian tourism.

Great time with old friend

Vikrant was overjoyed from the past one week about his good old friend Vilas's visit. They recollected the memories of their initial meeting, getting close to each other while working together, old jokes. They roamed together around the city like they used to do during their graduation.

"What a lovely beach! I should have come here with my girl friend. I came with you, really I am an idiot", said Vilas, combing his hair. Vikrant came out of his thoughts suddenly when Vilas waved his hands before Vikrant's eyes. "What are you thinking?" asked Vilas.

“Nothing in this world is permanent, why do you crave for something?” said Vikrant. Vilas got surprised to Vikrant's unexpected Vedanta and said "Hey Partha! Please leave me, no preaching philosophy. I want to live". Both started guffawing at the same time. "And that too I am on vacation, its party time. I hope you can understand and of course why don't you too have party time with your girl friends, Partha!” continued Vilas. "You should definitely need a girl friend. A best way to become penniless, you deserve it", replied Vikrant still laughing. "Yeah, my dear friend, only for that reason I am making friendship with you so that I can come to you when ever I get broke", sighed Vilas. Vikrant chuckled and said "wah, wah, Great foresight! You didn't even get a girl friend but started preparing for the consequences".

"Its ok, enough for now, tell me what were you thinking?" Vilas asked for the second time. "Nothing, leave it. Just enjoy the waves there", evaded the question.

Now it is time to bid good bye to each other. Both were feeling the moments of farewell with lot of difficulty, but they know it happens in life.

"Vilas, I had a nice time with you. I have no idea for what you said those words at beach but you were right; nothing is permanent, neither we being together nor being away. Okay pal, we will meet again".

"Yeah sure, get a girl friend soon. You would be here with in no time". Both burst into laughter along with the siren of the train. And in few seconds the train left the station and Vikrant ran towards his busy office life, thinking about the week's pending work.

Nice Farewell to our Seniors

And at last the date and time of the farewell party for the seniors' was finalized amidst the busy schedules. It starts at 7:00 PM on that day. I was too busy as I was roaming with my friend. I returned from shopping at 8:00 PM. And then after getting ready I started at 8:30 PM. Thanks to that guy for helping me by offering lift to the bus stop in his motor bike, when auto riskshaws were not available. At the bus stop I got into a bus. After starting, the conductor said in a tired voice "Pay Rs. 4 for the ticket". I had no change except five 100 and one 20 rupees bills.Very Rich guy aint I? When I said "I have no change", then he told me just get down in the next stop. What! How can he say so? I don't have time or patience to fight with him. Because of being too rich, I got down in the next bus stop. No auto rickshaw anywhere near in the line of my sight. After walking quite a bit I found an auto-rickshaw. I thought that I still have a bit of good luck. When I said the address to driver, he said its just 3 minutes walk from here and showed me some distant invisible landmark that I need to go. Again my walk continued thinking about the power and efficiency of the driver's eyes. I am sure he might had eagle's eyes which sees the distant prey from thousands of metres distance. At last I reached the restaurant at 9:00 PM.
Every one is having fun there. All the seniors are sharing their experiences with academics, girl friends, sports & games and the most important "Guide". Then we had scrumptous dinner, and a delicious ice cream. Took some group photographs. Now the real fun began. We danced to the punjabi, hindi fast numbers. All enjoyed dancing, forgot the world around them in it. This is one of the great parties I had after coming here.

Experince with Mumbai Local Trains in rains

Travelling in mumbai local trains will give u a lot of confidence. These busy trains will halt not more than 20 seconds. In that short span of time at least 20 people will get into and out of the compartment. If you were able board into the train, it means now you can get into any vehicle that will halt for just few seconds. And when you are made into it, even by hanging, holding the rod with one hand and a book(A real Catch 22) with the another, a heavy rain with lightnings will visit you, as if it never had leisure time other than those important moments. Drenching in rain is fine, but you can't bear your newly bought book getting wet. By some means you were able to move little bit inside the compartment. Ah! Now you really won the battle saving your book. Of course even winning after an intelligent battle you get the kingdom which was already adversely hit by the attack.
If you get down from the train, you can be regarded as one of the fastest runners and you can try in some 50 or 100 meters sprint. Only difference is you may or may not get prize money in sprint but here you will definitey have clothes with wrinkles & sweat. Actually this is an ideal venue to the test the effectiveness of the wrinkle-free clothes. They garments of any company which pass this test can have free publicity as there would be already a huge audience. Finally you would cuss the traffic and praise the lord for reaching the destination safely.

Hidden Story of Rennes-le-Chateau

Can any one imagine that the ancestors earlier than 10th century are very good in measuring the dimensions of earth? They are very good in geometry and they imbibed it even in art. Painting by Nicolas Poussin entitled ‘Les Bergers d’Arcadie’ or the ‘Shepherds of Arcadia’ is one of the example of those sorts. Of course its always that even with out modern sophisticated equipment they build massive structures - Chapels, Forts. But what puzzles me is how they were able to plan such gigantic marvels - which prove that our mind is the ultimate source of knowledge and energy. Just using our brain we can make wonders.

Shepherds of Arcadia

When ever you get the opportunity to watch the documentary "Origins of the Da Vinci Code" with Henry Lincoln and his mind-boggling discoveries about Rennes-le-Chateau, don't miss! He is one of the authors of the 1982's best seller The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail.

One more from Kelkar

A man falls from the staircase and fell to the ground rolling on the steps. His darling who is at the ground said him - "You missed the one step, dear". Then the man said "No, I hit the every step." Ha Ha.
He said this in the case of reviews. We need to be very careful about result of the review because if we miss one point(careless to tackle risk) then down the line you will miss it in all the reviews and need to face the consequences. Good comparision with fun.

Good Sense of Humour

Kelkar tells every small aspect with humorous analogies.
1. He was telling the difference between the cost estimate and preparing budget.
"I can write him a cheque for Rs 1 crore, no problem at all, but if I have to give you the cheque. Then no, not at all." Every body laughed.
2. When commenting on Software requirements this was very classical joke.
A guy asks a girl.
Guy: Will you marry me? -(Actually Mistake No: 1)
Girl: No (Bach gaya)
Guy: Will you marry me? -( Mistake No: 2)
Girl: No (Doosre baar Bach gaya)
Guy: Will you marry me? (Final Mistake)
Girl: Will you keep me happy?
Guy: (In fix) So what should I do to keep you happy?
Girl: You need to praise me, wash the clothes, cook the food, watch baby at nights, buy a ring on every birthday. These are my minimum requirements. (Ha Ha)
Suddenly a student asked that why usually requirements are always incomplete. To that he replied "That's why it is called an IT project. (Ha Ha Ha) In IT and marriage projects, requirement specifications are never complete."
3. See, some times wife also brings us success factor. A guy kept his wife's photograph on his table. Every time he thinks going home he sees her face and he will start working. Wife is the secret of success.
4. You see if my wife is here I will not crack jokes on her. Ha Ha.
Really, humour brings a lot of enthusiasm & energy in our life. I too want to become like him. I will try.

ITPM talks with fun

In our 4-day workshop on IT Project Management I liked Kelkar's jokes alot. He cracks them very well.
One of them -
There was a man who offers milk to his deity during puja daily. But always his cat comes and drinks all the milk before the completion of puja. Then to tackle the situation he puts a basket on the cat every day during puja. His son watched this activity which he does everyday.
When the man died the son also used put the basket on the cat before the puja. And then one day when the cat died he went in search of another cat to put the basket during the puja. Ha! Ha! Ha!
(In the context of adapting the process for the company or organization. Don't just follow what others followed.)
I learnt an important attribute from him. If we crack jokes and make the topic interesting then every student feels fun in learning and listening to the lectures or talks. And you know these people note and read the jokes when ever they read or listen somewhere. And at the right time with their wits they amuse everyone.

Dreaming Guy wakes up for Duty Call

Thinking a lot about future strategies and ignoring the present tasks. Shri, Where does this lead to? Ultimately the siren rings to make you remember that you are still a worker here and at first better complete the work in hand. So, once again you get back to your heels and start searching the way to get into office as main gate would be closed after the siren. Need to search shortcut and run to reach the place of worship. Who said work is worship? Its always done in hurry - both work and worship. Wake up! Wake up! Its time to work. No room for your dreams here, until the nights fall.

Read The Da Vinci Code

Today I completed reading a great novel "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. It is a fantastic book comprising of many double entendre riddles. The treasure hunt in the book is mind boggling.
I don't know whether Brown's version is real history or just a fiction but what I appreciate is author's out of box thinking. Previously I used to surprise why people praise Da Vinci's paintings. Now I really understood a bit and will appreciate a lot.

Blinding ignorance does mislead u.
O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
- Leonardo Da Vinci

What a great message! Learn the truth rather than enjoying the ignorance.

Need to learn Programming

In the last two days I spent my whole time in creating designs of small games for kindergarten children. I gave one task to Anitha and another to Prakash. I can test their enthusiasm by these works. I was busy in planning, documenting the plans, mailing and chatting with all the people. Now I am understanding how all the time a project leader spends communicating with others.
I feel that I don't have that much expertise in programming. I didn't do programming from the past one year and I lost the confidence in that. So, I decided to learn Java or C# every day with a friend.

Good Trek

Last morning I went for a jog along with Vinay. As we didn't explore the places in the campus we thought to do so. In that process we trekked over a hill and enjoyed the beautiful landscape of Mumbai. It was a spectacular experience for an hour. The real interesting part was during climbing down the hill as we chose a different route. Halfway down we stopped. In front of us was a smooth(no grip at all) steep hill and and nothing was visible there after few steps. We didn't had courage to go ahead and just looked each other silently. After the discussion of risk in the route, we thought to go back and return in the way which we climbed up. I remembered a saying -"Many can take first step, but who find the way when all the ways he knows are closed will be successful". We boosted each other and continued our adventure. Though at some point of time my shoe sole got damaged and came off, but the we made it with a lot of fun and thrill.At the end we felt very happy of our triumph.

Positive thoughts give you confidence

I was about to sleep. But one of my seniors whom I know suddenly entered into my room. He told that he had committed some mistake and he was in depression because of thinking a lot about it.
Don't think about past or your future. Live for the present moment. I told all the stuff that he needs to have a healthy lifestyle, fresh fruits as diet, well planned life and positive thoughts. Don't think about results, work for the goal you had set. I almost said more than an hour about how we have to develop confidence as life is always with troubles. It's sure that troubles are going to invade your life. But what you can do is to have confidence and preparedness to face the different hurdles that do come in your life.
Yes, ordinary people may think to achieve my dream is difficult. But it's not impossible. I should come out of that people who think 'it is difficult and its better not to go for it'. If I want to get rid of the fear of failure in my project I should start to think and do to fulfill my dream.
Thanks God. You gave me positive thought, I will try not to allow even a single negative thought anymore.

Struggle for confidence

Today I asked Anitha whether she is ready to be part of my dream. The response was positive. But I can't just believe completely. The reason behind it is I am not confident of what I am going to do.
I am in confused state these days. I am living in dreams. I don't know what I am doing. I am feeling like I am in a desert and have to search for the way. I am unable to decide what to do.
I want to go with my instincts but don't know how to make it happen. Many questions are there right now. I can't justify my dreams. But I am fighting with the opposition which hinders or warns that obstruct my dreams.
I will find my way as soon as possible.

In deep thoughts

These are the two reasons that kept me awake and thinking for the whole night.
1. Avi gave me the opportunity to work on futures in Commodity markets. If I take that offer I would become an employee in his company. His company is making good deal of success. And I too can grow with its tremendous growth.
2. After the chat with Hari(an alumnus) and last night with Arjun about Project Vidya my enthusiasm to build educational product increased a lot. When Arjun asked me the reason to go for that plan so strongly I told him that I want to become a part in revolutionizing the education system.
After completion of chatting, the whole night I was deeply thinking about the pros and cons of the above two opportunities. First one is good for my monetary growth but the other one is to realize my great interest in becoming an Entrepreneur. I know the first road is a clear one where as the second one is bumpy. Then I remembered the message in "The monk who sold his Ferrari" - 'To become successful you need to strive to do the things which ordinary people don't want to do.' Later I thought about the various plans if I choose the second one.
At 6:30 in the morning I went for a walk. I enjoyed the soothing greenery and beautiful birds along the walk. Then came a question in my mind - Can you sacrifice your job that you secure in campus placement for Vidya?
At that moment my thoughts were like this - Yes I can. Even if I am not successful in this plan I will strive for the education for the children of rural areas. I will go to towns,villages, train them and employ them to go ahead. I can become a lecturer to earn my livelihood. Can't I take the risk to do the one which my instinct says - Have vision, set goals and go for the big aim of your life. But this is test to my will and commitment. Arjun said that to go ahead with the plan we need dedication.
Though my guts are directing me towards Vidya let me think even more so that I will come to a decision.
Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right. - Dr. Phil

Campaining against Casteism

I aspire my society does not contain any casteism. So, I am doing my effort to make aware of the problem and make them think to generate ideas to challenge it. I hope my wish will come true some day.

Nice Vacation for 10 days

I have gone 10 days for the vacation and so I didn't write anything all these days. There is a lot of news to write about my vacation. I will write them all briefly.

1. In train as it was fully crowded, due to suffocation one girl got fainted. Her mother in that shock struck her very hard with hands to wake her up. I saw tremendous power in the action to save her daughter. That will power moved me a lot.
2. I enjoyed a lot with my family and relatives particularly with my brother's daughter. I played a lot with her who is 3 years old. Really nice time spent laughing and playing with the girl.
3. I read the book "The monk who sold his Ferrari" - a fantastic book. It first looked a normal book but later on it made me fully involved in it. I decided to implement some techniques from it.

Many more are there but I can't write everything. After returning here Anti-Reservation protest started in my college and some were doing hunger strike. I too went for it- but not for doing hunger strike. It was a nice to be part of the protest. I am not against reservation if it is not based on caste. But one thing I came to know that I need to contribute my effort for the improvement of education(for all) in my country. I will do it.

I don't care - 10,9,8 or 7?

My semester results are getting announced. Of course good grades give me confidence to aim and achieve more goals. But it’s limited. I don’t have that much enthusiasm regarding the result as I learnt a lesson that grades are not important. What you get from the courses, how can you apply them in your life, in which way you can get happiness from them at some point of life - these all matters for me but not the stupid alphabets - A, B , C.
I hope all the best for both who care and who don't.

Amazing G O I

My examinations are completed and so now I am free. Hurray! On the evening of the last exam we friends went to a lifestyle and had a small get together. And on the next day I went for sight seeing (Gateway of India, Marine Drive) with other friends. I saw the building of BSE from outside. The buildings architectures are amazing and the guys who built that part of Mumbai are really great. The moon from Marine Drive was a spectacular view.
Need to think about my business ideas too.

Tough exam? - Never lose hope

Today, I gave NN examination. It was such a tough paper that I couldn't write even a single letter literally in the first one hour. I was reading the textbook (Open Text Book Exam) just to understand the question. For a small question which carries 3 marks I read, tried and struggled a lot for 45 minutes. Solving it gave me some hope and with that I partially finished the 1st question. I passed on to the next question. Absolutely no idea at all. I have nothing to do but leave it. But I thought why not give a try, then read the text book again and tried to build up some idea. At last I could able to write little bit.

Then I moved on to the third and final question. The answers which I have written for the earlier 2 questions gave me some confidence. Last question was completely new which I never read in the whole course, but I remembered that I read similar one in my graduation. Again read other text books for the hints. Just 20 minutes before the end of the examination I got some hint and you know, I cracked it - 12 marks in my basket. At the end I was in ecstasy.

Now I shall compare my experience to this expression "0 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 12 = 25". Hey, why "0" in the expression? Yeah, initially when I looked the question paper my mind was blank (of course thinking whether I will pass or not). Then "+" which symbolizes my trying and not giving up the hope made all the difference to score about 25 out of 50. Ultimately it’s a nice lesson from a tough exam.

Got an Idea!

Making an educational software tool: But what it is, what it does, how can it help me, does it solve some problems? If so first of all what are the problems? Hey! there are many questions but no answers.

First of all lets remember what are the subjects that we have in the school education?- Languages, physical and natural sciences, mathematics, social sciences. Can we build simulation software for physics experiments, making students easy to understand? Not a bad idea, but need to work a lot to build the complete product.

I have got an idea …

For a while let’s get back to days of my schooling. Geography subject was the most boring subject during my school days. And so I read very less just to meet the requirements to get passed in that subject. What is its aim? After all to know various places in the world – Location, mountains and rivers, climatic condition, minerals and other natural resources availability, commerce hubs, transporting, soils, crops and animal husbandry, forests and culture of people

So how would it be if we have a computer game by which we can learn concepts of the subject just by playing it!

Yeah, create a story line for the game like starting a business in some continent or being a leader or CEO of the place. And then in the course of achieving some goal, player should act according to the explored place and its climatic conditions, natural and other resources, culture & traditions of the people.

I think Microsoft has already done and is doing some concrete work in that area. Can we compete with that sort of giant companies? Hey Shri, don’t think of competition first, think about the product. Any thing in this world is conquerable with will. Get down to work, you will do it.

I think it seems ok. I will think again to become more concrete. But at first I will try to write some requirements.

Product making Requirements:

• Sound Understanding of the places (by textbooks and material from the internet)
• Good Story Line
• Graphics and game making software
• Narration Scripts
• background music score & Sound effects, dubbing
  
• Most important of all is the “Expertise to manage and make the project” and Creative Writing and thinking.