World Of Exception

New XBOX Project Natal: Coming Fall

2010-02-24T03:00:00.000-08:00

Exactly a decade after the first XBOX hit stores in December 2000, the new XBOX with addin code named 'Project Natal' is expected to hit stores this fall in December 2010. Project Natal brings human interaction closer to computer by making us the controller. It would consist of a 9" motion & speech recognition device that would sit on top of your TV with a camera. Imagine driving an imaginary car while playing NFS. :) If you havent already seen the video of Project Natal at E3, do check it out below.

Inside news is that one of the bugs Microsoft is battling is slight delay in registering the action (1/10th of a second approx). Lets hope that would be fixed soon and we can look forward for an interactive christmas present.

A tale from two sides

2009-01-30T12:22:00.001-08:00

30th January 2009:

Aditi wrote...

I met him at Hyderabad during my job training. Because of the kind of fun we had during those few months and with the kind of environment provided, it remotely resembled induction training. I am not exaggerating, but it was more like a luxury resort where we were paid to enjoy the facilities provided. And during one of those days, I met him… Shahid. His training was in a different domain and hence I didn't get much chance of speak to him. Kiss a guy for an hour and it would seem only for a minute, sit on an hot oven for a minute and it would seem like a hour. Before I could blink my eye, the training was already over and our posting locations had come. I was posted at Hyderabad itself and I had to travel to my hometown the next day. By the time I return everyone would be long gone. I wouldn't find those familiar faces anywhere in the campus from now on. That was probably the last day I had to say it all, coz I would never have a second chance.

'Friends'-sometime they terribly fail to understand your feelings. He was sitting right next to me in the lounge and chatting with our group of friends. I wish the rest of them could read my mind and go away leaving the two of us alone so that I could gather some courage to spill my feelings for him out. Well I shouldn't be blaming them, after all they don't have any mind reading software installed. Still I just wish they had understood me back then. It was just 1am early morning and someone suggested we go to food court and grab some drink. Those days, 1am was like afternoon for us. After all the chit chatting, fun and mischiefs, we would not hit bed not earlier than 6am. J

We were lazily strolling towards the food court and he was walking by my side. Looking back, its been just two weeks when I had finally got a chance to talk openly with him. That was the day when had been to Charminar. I had already purchased pearl set for my mom and he didn't have a girl friend to buy any. This meant when the girls lured over the ornaments on display and the guys frantically searched for a good piece for their loved ones, we were spared to enjoy some good moments alone. I had found him very friendly from the beginning & felt comfortable being with him. I desperately wanted to spend some time with him. But now when I finally had some time while proceeding to the food court, this idiot has nothing else to talk other than the base locations, the projects that we will get into, and other irrelevant blah blah stuff. We finally reached the deserted food court and proceeded towards the newly installed coke vending machine.

Shahid had his own ways of doing mischief. After much kicking & shaking the machine for not dispensing the coke even after inserting the coins, he came up with elaborate plans as to how we can cheat the machine and take out a few cans without spending a penny. As he got busy executing his 'evil' plans, I was lost in my own thoughts about him. How can a person be as serious about his studies as well as so funny with a good sense of humor? I don't know why but just felt like holding his arms and plead him not to go. All my friends were going to Pune, Bangalore and Chandigarh and I had been posted at Hyderabad itself. Indeed I love Hyderabad, but I just wanted someone to stay back with me. I was going to be all alone after this day… and I really wished the someone was him. Once he is done with, I would ask him for a long walk around the campus alone- I had decided. But did I have the right to ask him out? He was with his so called best friends and I was not even sure whether he considered me close to him. Why do I find it easy to blabber nonstop 24x7, but find myself lost while speaking to him? As you guessed I didn't have the guts to open my mouth and after having coke we strolled back to the hostel building.

I realized I was running out of time and had to do something really fast. I wanted to talk to him the whole night. We reached the hostel & everyone dispersed; some went to their rooms and some to the labs. I still had lot of packing left because I was leaving the next day to my home town. I wished he would accompany me atleast till the reception, but he moved in the direction of the lab. Soon he would be lost in those stupid counter strike and other LAN games with his friends. "Can we talk for sometime" I was quite surprised hearing myself say that. "Sure, I would love to" he replied with a bright smile. We sat down on the sofa next to each other. The entire place was deserted and the moment I had waited for had finally come. We were alone there and now I could talk my heart out. "So.. when will we meet again" he finally broke the silence. He always asks the wrong question at the wrong time. This question was a reality check for me that this was indeed the last day I would be meeting him. I didn't have enough courage to look into his eyes for I was sure I would burst out crying. It's those moments when sudden grief overcomes your emotions for no reason. I was getting the feeling that I would never meet him again in my life. Mentally I was questioning myself… why do I desperately want him?... why do I feel the urge to stay with him?… Whoever said that in love you don't have answers said the truth. Suddenly I realized that my eyes had already gone watery… a tilt of my head and river of tears would start flowing from my eyes. I knew very well that he wouldn't stand his friends crying. Maybe the worst decision I ever took… but quickly I got up, said goodbye and said that I am going to the room to do some packing. From his face I could say that he was quite startled by my reaction. He said something which I could barely hear. Did he ask me to stay? I don't know and I didn't ask. Something in his voice told me that that there is something he wanted to tell me that he was suppressing inside. Maybe it was the feeling inside me that was making me imagine things. Does he have feelings for me… the question was running in my nerves. I bid a final goodbye and walked towards my room. I turned back to see whether he is still standing there. Too much expectations, he was nowhere around…gone forever from my life. I ran to my room and cried the whole night.

Today we are in contact but just as friends. I wish I had done something back then. I wish I had atleast spoken my heart that day. I wish he had read my eyes. I wish there would have been more to tell you, but the story ended there. Lagta hai jaise hamare beech me bhi sarhade ban gayi hai….Jo sayad hamesha rahegi…..

30th January 2009:

Shahid wrote...

"...and so finally you are committed now. You must have readily accepted " I typed into the messenger with a smiley. "Nope" the reply came almost instantly. "Why not?" I was quite surprised. She had told me numerous times that he was a good company for her and she found it quite comfortable in his company. Between, the first time I was surprised was when she told me a few months back that she was not committed. I mean it's very difficult to find a girl as beautiful, charming, smart and open minded as her to be single. I don't know about you, but she was the first person I had met who never had a boyfriend! Any guess why she never had a boyfriend? Her parents would get her married to anyone she wanted to, so that was not the issue. The reason she gave then fell in line with my reasons- not meeting the right person and no intention to attract unnecessary tension.

She had not replied yet for my previous question. Sitting in office in front of my comp, I waited patiently for her reply as I switched between Office Communicator chat window and Visual Studio instances. Impatient, I pinged her "U there?". The reply caught me by surprise- "Duffer" "Idiot" it said. She continued... "The reason I said no was because the person I love..." she paused briefly "...is you!" By this time I had gone completely blank. I didn't know what to reply. You might say that it's not a million dollar question and the answer is very simple- 'Yes, of course'. But in my case it was not that easy. A year earlier if she had said the same thing, I might have gone mad with happiness. But over a year things have changed. The reason I gave to everyone for being single is that I didn't meet the right person; but reality is more complicated than that.

Sister's marriage didn't go easy on me, or at home. If you ever had a inter-caste marriage in your family you would know what I mean. Watching loved ones cry didn't go easy on me. There were even times when I wanted to run off rather than watch the course of events. Maybe those things made me insulated from the fundamental feeling of human emotions- Love. But saying no to a girl like her was absolute stupidity. Maybe I will have to be reborn a hundred times to get a girl like her. I needed a reality check badly, this couldn't be happening. "Aditi... are you serious?" finally I managed to reply something. "Yes. I wanted you to know this a long time back" she replied. "Since when?"... I still didn't want to give an answer. "Since we all were chit chatting in food court a few days before leaving... since we went to Charminar... since I avoided meeting on the last day to avoid crying in front of you." "But why me?" a wrong question to ask you would say. But I really wanted to know. The kind of person she is, she would easily get anyone she want in this world. I was well aware of the long list of guys who had proposed her earlier. "You are nice, friendly and you care" she replied almost instantly like she knew by-heart what to expect someone. Out of these three, I couldn't think of one point that made me special. "But why not him? From what you said he didn't sound any different from me. Then why me?" I had to ask. You know me, I always ask wrong questions at the wrong time. "I don't know. I find it quite comfortable and open while talking with you than him. Now answer me!" she needed an answer and I had to give one real quickly.

Finally I let open my bundle of secrets- "Listen... ever since I met you, I wanted to talk to you. But I couldn't because you were always with your own circle of friends. I didn't want to dash lest I wanted to prove myself as a typical flirt. You would remember how I tried to be with you when we went to Charminar. After that I found it very much comfortable talking to you. Aditi, I always wanted you to notice me, but found it very hard to do. I liked you the very first time I met you. You are beautiful and charming. When I got to know you better, the way you are... sweet, smart, loving and caring, I wished from heart you were mine". I gave her sometime to digest what I had said before I continued- "But...". Probably the only word people want to avoid using in any conversation. The word is like a warning for the other person in the conversation is that something quite contradictory is about to be spoken. I had to say it anyway and hence I continued-"... things have changed since then dear. Lot of things have changed me most of which you already know. I don't want to do it again; I won't be able to survive it. I need to say this- I like you very much and somewhere inside... I love you. But I don't want this emotion to come out. There is no future in this relationship. I don't want to hurt you in anyway and I don't want you to repent in future". After much silence she replied back "Haven't to hurt me enough already?". Again the dead silence.

Suddenly my phone rang. It was her SMS. It read -"Always tel sum 1 how u feel,mean wat u say & say wat u mean even ven its hard b'coz opportunities r lost in a blink of an eye but regrets can last a lifetime...". I started at the message for quite some time. I had forgotten what I was doing. I could feel a avalanche of emotions built inside me. I was sure I would cry out any moment and it would be terrible to do so sitting at office. "Are you alright?" my colleague asked. "Yes" I barely managed to talk still holding & staring at the mobile. "Are you sure?" he asked again. "Yes, I am. I just remembered that I need to call up someone" and dialled her office number. No reply; she was not at her desk. I called her mobile next and she kept ignoring. Finally she pinged me "Don't call. There are people near me". "Were you crying? What was that message for?"-my intuitions kicked in. To be precise I didn't have anything better to ask. "Leave it. Just know that in this process of sticking with your rules due to what happened in your life earlier, you are hurting me". I didn't know what to reply. I just wished we had a remote control in life. I just wish I could go back in time and change a few things. I wish I could tell her how I had wished earlier that this moment that I had dreamed of would become a reality one day. I wish I could be near her right now and say- 'I love you too'. Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. But when my dream became reality, I was not prepared to sacrifice.

Carlsberg web-tv: Live Football, Love Football

2008-12-10T12:25:00.001-08:00

Calling all football fans!!! The wait is finally over. Carlsberg has launched PartOfTheGame web tv and it sure rocks! The site is all about football, football and only football. Be it the classic games that is still there somewhere at the back of your mind or all the moments you celebrated as a fan... relive it at PartOfTheGame.tv as they show you five channels exclusively dedicated to showing clips of classic football matched to life of a fan. Also now you don't have to hunt for clips on funny bloopers and at times fan reaction in Youtube anymore. You have it all here under one roof.

Carlsberg web-tv is indeed an all in one football web tv. The first thing that caught my eye was the sleek user interface. I would say Carlsberg has put in a lot of effort and done a commendable job in designing this user interface. But what about content you might ask? Well, I checked it out too. They sure do have some of the best clips that I couldn't find even on Youtube. And I just loved the fans videos; something that probably none of the other football sites concentrated on. After all we the fans keep the game alive. ;) Now here comes the best part. You can upload your own favourite fan moments!
Don't waste another moment and head on to PartOfTheGame.tv. Registration is a breeze and get access to all the football videos you ever wanted to see. Relive the moment...

BSNL DataOne & Bitcomet: Portforwarding tutorial

2008-12-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

Having trouble with your BSNL Dataone Broadband and torrents? Hope this complete tutorial would soleve all your toubles and push your torrent download to maximum limit. The reason for slow download is that your port forwarding is not properly configured. As a result your IP is not visible to outside peers. To verify this start downloading a torrent with very good seeds & peers. Now go to peers of torrent and see under “Initiation”. If you have both ‘Local’ & ‘Remote’, then dont bother this tutorial anymore. Else if you are getting only ‘Local’, continue reading. I am using Bitcomet here coz its fast and doesnt use much of CPU. You could also use other torrent software like Azureus, Utorrent etc. You will have similar options under their settings.

Step 1: Know your IP

===============

1. Even though your IP address is dynamic, the ADSL router would always assign an IP address to your computer. Most probably it would be 192.168.1.2.

2. Go to Start>Run>cmd or in Vista, type cmd in search and press enter.

3. Type ‘ipconfig’ and press enter
4. Note the IP address of your computer, here for me it 192.168.1.2

Step 2: Configure the torrent

====================

1. First we need to decide how much to upload. For a 2mbps connection, I keep upload rate as 20KBps. If you are using lower connection like Airtel or Tata Indicomm of 128kbps, keep upload as 8KBps and for 256, 14-16KBps would do. Keep the download rate ‘No Limit/ 0′. Do this under Options>Preferences>Connection
2. At the same place, set your port number to somewhere between 40000 and 65000.
3. Next go to Options>Preferences>Advanced>Connection and uncheck “Enable UPnP port mapping”

Enlarge Image: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1064/563998929_e2ff218df7_o.jpg
Part 3: Portforward the Router/ADSL Modem

=================================

1. First you need to access the settings or router. For this, open any browser like Internet Explorer/Firefox and navigate to ‘http://192.168.1.1′. The most common username and password is ‘admin’ & ‘admin’. I have a new UT300R2U modem with a new software. So I will give the detail tutorail for that here.
If you have a different router or a differnt software for UT300R2U, find your router here http://portforward.com/routers.htm and follow the guide. You can also find the deafult password of your router there.
2. Navigate to ‘Advanced Setup>NAT>DMZ Host’ in the sidebar. DMZ host refers to Demilitarized Zone.
3. Enter your IP Address that you found in Step 1 there and click Save/Apply. In my case its 192.168.1.2. You dont require a reboot here.
4. Now restart your torrent software and then check whether ‘Remote’ appears under initialization, it should!!! Enjoy!!!

Enlarged Image : http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1301/563999035_ba38bff75c_o.jpg
If you have any doubts or issues, please do leave a comment.

COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working Fix: Windows Vista

2008-12-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

Even since I stated using Windows Vista in early november 2006 (thats right, Microsoft Student Partners get their copy early) I have never faced any problem with it. It has never crashed, nor restarted. To the maximum extend, it has only freezed some programs for a few seconds to allocate memory for other critical programs. But recently a new problem popped up. Whenever I browse some folders, the “COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working” error pops up. It doesnt hinder with the perfomance or data loss, but I find it quite irritating. So does some of my friends.

The simplest and shortcut solution is as follows that worked for me:
1. Right click on Computer, and choose PropertiesRight click on Computer, and choose Properties
2. Click on Advanced System Settings, and then under Advanced, click Settings\
3. Select the “Data Execution Protection” tab, and then click “Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select”
4. Click on the Add button, and then browse to C:\Windows\System32\dllhost.exe as shown
5. Click Open, and then OK.
Your’e done!!! Now it should work fine for you in 99% of the cases.

But if the problem still persists, then this could be due to a software installed on your computer. DivX and Nero are a common cause, but there are others that cause the problem as well.

Possible Solutions
- If you are using DivX, you should be upgraded to the very latest version 6.5+)
- If you are using Nero, you can try upgrading to the latest version (7.7.5.1+)
- If you’ve upgraded Nero and Divx and still have the problem, you can try renaming the file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\DSFilter\NeVideo.ax to NeVideo.ax.bak. You may also need to rename NeVideoHD.ax to NeVideoHD.bak. Caution: Nero Showtime will not work anymore
- The older ffdshow codec pack has been known to cause some problems. The ffdshow tryouts codec pack seems to work better. Might want to try using this one: http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/

Mumbai Attack: Heroes at Taj Hotel

2008-12-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

My story begins innocuously, with a dinner reservation in a world-class hotel. It ends 12 hours later after the Indian army freed us.
My point is not to sensationalize events.. It is to express my gratitude and pay tribute to the staff of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, who sacrificed their lives so that we could survive. They, along with the Indian army, are the true heroes that emerged from this tragedy.
My wife, Anjali, and I were married in the Taj's Crystal Ballroom. Her parents were married there, too, and so were Shiv and Reshma, the couple with whom we had dinner plans. In fact, my wife and Reshma, both Bombay girls, grew up hanging out and partying the night away there and at the Oberoi Hotel, another terrorist target.
The four of us arrived at the Taj around 9:30 p.m. for dinner at the Golden Dragon, one of the better Chinese restaurants in Mumbai. We were a little early, and our table wasn't ready. So we walked next door to the Harbor Bar and had barely begun to enjoy our beers when the host told us our table was ready. We decided to stay and finish our drinks.
Thirty seconds later, we heard what sounded like a heavy tray smashing to the ground. This was followed by 20 or 30 similar sounds and then absolute silence. We crouched behind a table just feet away from what we now knew were gunmen. Terrorists had stormed the lobby and were firing indiscriminately.
We tried to break the glass window in front of us with a chair, but it wouldn't budge. The Harbour Bar's hostess, who had remained at her post, motioned to us that it was safe to make a run for the stairwell. She mentioned, in passing, that there was a dead body right outside in the corridor. We believe this courageous woman was murdered after we ran away.
(We later learned that minutes after we climbed the stairs, terrorists came into the Harbour Bar, shot everyone who was there and executed those next door at the Golden Dragon. The staff there was equally brave, locking their patrons into a basement wine cellar to protect them. But the terrorists managed to break through and lob in grenades that killed everyone in the basement.)
We took refuge in the small office of the kitchen of another restaurant, Wasabi, on the second floor. Its chef and staff served the four of us food and drink and even apologized for the inconvenience we were suffering.
Through text messaging, e-mail on BlackBerrys and a small TV in the office, we realized the full extent of the terrorist attack on Mumbai. We figured we were in a secure place for the moment. There was also no way out.
At around 11:30 p.m., the kitchen went silent. We took a massive wooden table and pushed it up against the door, turned off all the lights and hid. All of the kitchen workers remained outside; not one staff member had run.
The terrorists repeatedly slammed against our door. We heard them ask the chef in Hindi if anyone was inside the office. He responded calmly: "No one is in there. It's empty." That is the second time the Taj staff saved our lives.
After about 20 minutes, other staff members escorted us down a corridor to an area called The Chambers, a members-only area of the hotel. There were about 250 people in six rooms. Inside, the staff was serving sandwiches and alcohol. People were nervous, but cautiously optimistic. We were told The Chambers was the safest place we could be because the army was now guarding its two entrances and the streets were still dangerous. There had been attacks at a major railway station and a hospital.
But then, a member of parliament phoned into a live newscast and let the world know that hundreds of people--including CEOs, foreigners and members of parliament--were "secure and safe in The Chambers together." Adding to the escalating tension and chaos was the fact that, via text and cellphone, we knew that the dome of the Taj was on fire and that it could move downward.
At around 2 a.m., the staff attempted an evacuation. We all lined up to head down a dark fire escape exit. But after five minutes, grenade blasts and automatic weapon fire pierced the air. A mad stampede ensued to get out of the stairwell and take cover back inside The Chambers.
After that near-miss, my wife and I decided we should hide in different rooms. While we hoped to be together at the end, our primary obligation was to our children. We wanted to keep one parent alive. Because I am American and my wife is Indian, and news reports said the terrorists were targeting U.S. and U.K. nationals, I believed I would further endanger her life if we were together in a hostage situation.
So when we ran back to The Chambers I hid in a toilet stall with a floor-to-ceiling door and my wife stayed with our friends, who fled to a large room across the hall.
For the next seven hours, I lay in the fetal position, keeping in touch with Anjali via BlackBerry. I was joined in the stall by Joe, a Nigerian national with a U.S. green card. I managed to get in touch with the FBI, and several agents gave me status updates throughout the night.
I cannot even begin to explain the level of adrenaline running through my system at this point. It was this hyper-aware state where every sound, every smell, every piece of information was ultra-acute, analyzed and processed so that we could make the best decisions and maximize the odds of survival.
Was the fire above us life-threatening? What floor was it on? Were the commandos near us, or were they terrorists? Why is it so quiet? Did the commandos survive? If the terrorists come into the bathroom and to the door, when they fire in, how can I make my body as small as possible? If Joe gets killed before me in this situation, how can I throw his body on mine to barricade the door? If the Indian commandos liberate the rest in the other room, how will they know where I am? Do the terrorists have suicide vests? Will the roof stand? How can I make sure the FBI knows where Anjali and I are? When is it safe to stand up and attempt to urinate?
Meanwhile, Anjali and the others were across the corridor in a mass of people lying on the floor and clinging to each other. People barely moved for seven hours, and for the last three hours they felt it was too unsafe to even text. While I was tucked behind a couple walls of marble and granite in my toilet stall, she was feet from bullets flying back and forth. After our failed evacuation, most of the people in the fire escape stairwell and many staff members who attempted to protect the guests were shot and killed.
The 10 minutes around 2:30 a.m. were the most frightening. Rather than the back-and-forth of gunfire, we just heard single, punctuated shots. We later learned that the terrorists went along a different corridor of The Chambers, room by room, and systematically executed everyone: women, elderly, Muslims, Hindus, foreigners. A group huddled next to Anjali was devout Bori Muslims who would have been slaughtered just like everyone else, had the terrorists gone into their room. Everyone was in deep prayer and most, Anjali included, had accepted that their lives were likely over. It was terrorism in its purest form. No one was spared.
The next five hours were filled with the sounds of an intense grenade/gun battle between the Indian commandos and the terrorists. It was fought in darkness; each side was trying to outflank the other.
By the time dawn broke, the commandos had successfully secured our corridor. A young commando led out the people packed into Anjali's room. When one woman asked whether it was safe to leave, the commando replied: "Don't worry, you have nothing to fear. The first bullets have to go through me."
The corridor was laced with broken glass and bullet casings. Every table was turned over or destroyed. The ceilings and walls were littered with hundreds of bullet holes. Blood stains were everywhere, though, fortunately, there were no dead bodies to be seen.
A few minutes after Anjali had vacated, Joe and I peeked out of our stall. We saw multiple commandos and smiled widely. I had lost my right shoe while sprinting to the toilet so I grabbed a sheet from the floor, wrapped it around my foot and proceeded to walk over the debris to the hotel lobby.
Anjali and I embraced for the first time in seven hours in the Taj's ground floor entrance. I didn't know whether she was dead or injured because we hadn't been able to text for the past three hours.
I wanted to take a picture of us on my BlackBerry, but Anjali wanted us to get out of there before doing anything.
She was right--our ordeal wasn't completely over. A large bus pulled up in front of the Taj to collect us and, just about as it was fully loaded, gunfire erupted again. The terrorists were still alive and firing automatic weapons at the bus. Anjali was the last to get on the bus, and she eventually escaped in our friend's car. I ducked under some concrete barriers for cover and wound up the subject of photos that were later splashed across the media. Shortly thereafter, an ambulance came and drove a few of us to safety. An hour later, Anjali and I were again reunited at her parents' home. Our Thanksgiving had just gained a lot more meaning.
Some may say our survival was due to random luck, others might credit divine intervention. But 72 hours removed from these events, I can assure you only one thing: Far fewer people would have survived if it weren't for the extreme selflessness shown by the Taj staff, who organized us, catered to us and then, in the end, literally died for us.
They complemented the extreme bravery and courage of the Indian commandos, who, in a pitch-black setting and unfamiliar, tightly packed terrain, valiantly held the terrorists at bay.
It is also amazing that, out of our entire group, not one person screamed or panicked. There was an eerie but quiet calm that pervaded--one more thing that got us all out alive. Even people in adjacent rooms, who were being executed, kept silent.
It is much easier to destroy than to build, yet somehow humanity has managed to build far more than it has ever destroyed. Likewise, in a period of crisis, it is much easier to find faults and failings rather than to celebrate the good deeds. It is now time to commemorate our heroes.

Note: The following came as a mail. Author unknown.

Proto.in 5th Edition- Nomination Open

2008-12-05T11:34:00.000-08:00

The nominations for the 5th Edition of Proto.in is now open. Log on to http://www.proto.in/ to register yourself. Dont miss the oppurtunity!!!

Vision

Several Years ago, when India first started venturing into the realm of the global economy, there was very little that we had to offer to the world in terms of talent, knowledge, ability, scale, and there was nothing we had in terms of prior experience. Thanks to several organizations, and the ability and visions of leaders at that time, India is enjoying its growth today. We believe that the next growth and economic stability for this nation will come from Startups, and from companies that are focused on building Intellectual Property. That’s where Proto.in comes in.
Proto.in, Today, is about giving entrepreneurs a platform to express their visions and showcase their imagination, with a working prototype, for the world to see. It’s about increasing partnership, collaboration and mindshare among a distinguished, qualified and well-connected audience. Proto.in provides a unique platform for promising startup talent to communicate their creativity and innovation potential. As a meeting place for the smartest entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and professionals, Proto.in stands true to its mantra “Create, Contribute, Collaborate.”
Proto.in is the startup event that happens in India, inviting entrepreneurs from within and around the subcontinent to participate, share, discuss and draw strength from the growing entrepreneurial demand and knowledge base that is created, in an effort to create world-class product leaders from the region. Proto is about celebrating entrepreneurship, and encouraging it where it matters the most - at the startup level!
1. To Showcase Innovative technology products borne out of India2. To Encourage, grow and create entrepreneurial awareness3. To create a community of startup entrepreneurs, who can grow in strength and numbers, drawing wisdom from each other.4. To act as a bridge between well-established companies, veteran entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, analysts, journalists, professionals and grass-root entrepreneurs.

Yahoo Big Thinkers… what do they get?

2008-12-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Ok this is not a technical blog. This post is rather a question that came to my mind after I attended Yahoo Big Thinkers Event yesterday on "Computational Advertising". Before I jump into the question here is a brief about what was computational advertising all about. Computational advertising is an emerging new scientific sub-discipline, at the intersection of large scale search and text analysis, information retrieval, statistical modeling, machine learning, classification, optimization, and microeconomics. The central challenge of computational advertising is to find the "best match" between a given user in a given context and a suitable advertisement. The context could be a user entering a query in a search engine ("sponsored search"), a user reading a web page ("content match" and "display ads"), a user watching a movie on a portable device, and so on. The information about the user can vary from scarily detailed to practically nil. The number of potential advertisements might be in the billions. Thus, depending on the definition of "best match" this challenge leads to a variety of massive optimization and search problems, with complicated constraints. This talk will give an introduction to this area and give a "taste" of some recent results. The speaker Andrei Broder is a Fellow and Vice President for Computational Advertising in Yahoo! Research. Previously he was an IBM Distinguished Engineer and the CTO of the Institute for Search and Text Analysis in IBM Research. From 1999 until 2002 he was Vice President for Research and Chief Scientist at the AltaVista Company. Previously he was a senior member of the research staff at Compaq's Systems Research Center in Palo Alto. He graduated Summa cum Laude from Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, and obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Stanford University under Don Knuth. His current research interests are centered around computational advertising, web search, context-driven information supply, and randomized algorithms. Broder is co-winner of the Best Paper award at WWW6 (for his work on duplicate elimination of web pages) and at WWW9 (for his work on mapping the web). He has authored more than eighty papers and was awarded over twenty patents. He is an ACM Fellow, an IEEE fellow, and past chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing. Now here comes the million dollar question. Of course the session was good; both my thought process and stomach had a good time there. But what did Yahoo gain from the whole event? I have been to events organized by Microsoft and IBM during college days where in during the process of showcasing new technologies, they show off how their products can be used to solve real world problems. Even Techvista (MSR) showcases some of the research activities that happen around their products most of the time. But in this case "Computational Advertising" is not something done by Yahoo alone. They are neither using any of their tools, nor do they have any marketing opportunity in this field currently. So flying in Anderi Broder from US and organizing a one hour event in the ballroom of an expensive hotel like Leela Palace (which Anderi himself commented on stage that 'their rates are enormous' :P ) makes me wonder about the value add to the company. They were showing slides of recruitment, NGO activities etc. (But I don't think the event was aimed at attracting experience when Yahoo India has already fired its employees due to recession). Also considering that nearly 80% of attendees were from Yahoo India R&D itself, they very well could have done this meeting online with its employees. For others, Andrei Broder could have done a video recording or merely a blog post; those in need would definitely find it. Maybe I am a novice to understand the whole marketing 'funda'; suggestions welcome.

Notice: Moving to Blogger from Wordpress

2008-12-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
I am back to blogging and my blog has a new location now. Yes, its moving from Wordpress to Blogger. The wordpress blog will be closed soon due to space constraint and other reasons. With Google providing enough space, I hope space wount hinder my blogging plans any more. Keep checking soon! The whole website import will take time since only 50 posts are allowed per day. Happy Reading!
Regards,
Prathul

Silverlight and Virtual Earth

2008-11-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

Have a look at silverlight put into use for mapping technologies. This one is cool. The images loads pretty fast!!! Check it out...

http://deepzoom.soulclients.com/VE/

TFS Groups Management Tool

2008-09-19T06:15:00.001-07:00

Finally my dream of publishing a project in codeplex has come true. :) The idea came from my current project where we have to manage 150+ TFS groups. These groups had to be added to subgroups and the default group management in team explorer was very difficult to work with. Choosing a group individually and adding it was a tedious work. On top of that the group window refreshed every time we added/deleted a group.

This tool makes the process of creation, deletion and grouping TFS groups a breeze. Using this we have reduced the effort up to 95%. The client wanted to know how we managed these groups easily. That’s when I decided to publish it in codeplex. This will also be recommended to Encore.

This is a basic version and will built on it to improve user experience. Feel free to have a look at the tool at:

http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGroupsTool

[digg=http://digg.com/software/Microsoft_Team_Foundation_Server_Groups_Management_Tool]

TFS Groups Management Tool

2008-09-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

This is a basic version and will built on it to improve user experience. Feel free to have a look at the tool at:

http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGroupsTool

[digg=http://digg.com/software/Microsoft_Team_Foundation_Server_Groups_Management_Tool]

TFS Groups Management Tool

2008-09-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

This is a basic version and will built on it to improve user experience. Feel free to have a look at the tool at:

http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGroupsTool

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

2008-09-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Last weekend at home I did some analysis on investment plan. In you plan well now itself, you can be a crorepati by the time you retire. Banks previously had such a plan which they discontinued due to floating interest rates. Since this is beneficial to everyone, I thought of sharing it with you. (For International readers if any: The post is in INR. Please plan according to your currency). If you feel you don’t want to save/ not interested in investment/ blah blah blah… feel free to move on. Others please read on:

Please refer attachment at the end of the post:

The plan is very simple; every month deposit a part of your salary in a recurring deposit account (RD). Let’s say every month you are ready to save Rs.1000. At the end of 7 years you will be Rs.1,21,567. Round it off to the bottom about and start a fixed deposit (FD) for Rs.120,000. You will be getting Rs.1000 per month (PM) from this FD. Now start another RD account (since the previous one has matured after 7 years). So from now on you will be depositing Rs.2000 in the new RD account. This way by the time you retire you will have a FD account of Rs.75,60,000 (75 lacs) and drawing a monthly interest of Rs.63,000.

Rs.1000 is a very low amount that we save. Easily we can save Rs.4000. But make sure you start two separate account of Rs.2000 so that in case of emergency you can close one of them. If you deposit Rs.4000 you will be having an FD account of Rs.3,02,40,000 (3 Crores) and a monthly interest of Rs.2,52,000!

I have done all the possible permutation and combination to arrive at the right amount. After 7 years our salary is going to be at least twice what we are earning now. But anyway I have taken the least amount (4000) and also rounded it off to the lower value for FD. Also, the bank interest rate is 10.50% pa, but I have taken it as 10% only. Feel free to tweak it and make use of the link provided below to calculate amount at maturity. My actual plan is something different which increments Rs.2000 after the 7^th year and it comes to 5 Crores (You can tweak this plan easily, see the second sheet of attachment).

Misc Information:

Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.

ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%

If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account

The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, :P you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW ;), or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Finally, thanks to my father coz if not for him, I could have never known of such ways for a safe future!(of course you would have already guessed that I could have never come with such a thing :P ). I will be putting up the same in my blog also. In case of any doubts regarding the attachment, feel free to comment

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx

Attachment:

Note: Rename .doc to .xls to open

Rd-Fd Investment Plan

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

2008-09-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Please refer attachment at the end of the post:

Misc Information:

Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.

ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%

If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account

The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, :P you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW ;), or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx

Attachment:

Note: Rename .doc to .xls to open

Rd-Fd Investment Plan

Investmet Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

2008-09-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Please refer attachment at the end of the post:

Misc Information:

Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.

ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%

If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account

The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, :P you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW ;), or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx

Attachment:

Note: Rename .doc to .xls to open

Rd-Fd Investment Plan

Investmet Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

2008-09-18T05:01:00.002-07:00

Hi all,

Last weekend at home I did some analysis on investment plan. In you plan well now itself, you can be a crorepati by the time you retire. Banks previously had such a plan which they discontinued due to floating interest rates. Since this is beneficial to everyone, I thought of sharing it with you. If you feel you don’t want to save/ not interested in investment/ blah blah blah… feel free to spam this mail and get back to work. Others please read on:

Please refer tabel below:

Misc Information:

Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.

ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%

If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account

The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, :P you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW ;), or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx


	Calculated at Rs 1000 per month

Amount	Final Amount	Interest	Amount Maturity	Age	FD	Interest	PM
Rs. 1,000.00	Rs. 84,000.00	Rs. 37,567.00	Rs. 121,567.00	29	Rs. 120,000.00	Rs. 12,000.00	Rs. 1,000.00
Rs. 2,000.00	Rs. 168,000.00	Rs. 75,134.00	Rs. 243,134.00	36	Rs. 240,000.00	Rs. 24,000.00	Rs. 2,000.00
Rs. 4,000.00	Rs. 336,000.00	Rs. 150,268.00	Rs. 486,268.00	43	Rs. 480,000.00	Rs. 48,000.00	Rs. 4,000.00
Rs. 8,000.00	Rs. 672,000.00	Rs. 300,535.00	Rs. 972,535.00	50	Rs. 960,000.00	Rs. 96,000.00	Rs. 8,000.00
Rs. 16,000.00	Rs. 1,344,000.00	Rs. 601,071.00	Rs. 1,945,071.00	57	Rs. 1,920,000.00	Rs. 192,000.00	Rs. 16,000.00
Rs. 32,000.00	Rs. 2,688,000.00	Rs. 1,202,142.00	Rs. 3,890,142.00	63	Rs. 3,840,000.00	Rs. 384,000.00	Rs. 32,000.00

					Rs. 7,560,000.00	Rs. 756,000.00	Rs. 63,000.00

	Calculated at Rs 2000 per month

Amount	Final Amount	Interest	Amount Maturity	Age	FD	Interest	PM
Rs. 2,000.00	Rs. 168,000.00	Rs. 75,134.00	Rs. 243,134.00	29	Rs. 240,000.00	Rs. 24,000.00	Rs. 2,000.00
Rs. 4,000.00	Rs. 336,000.00	Rs. 150,268.00	Rs. 486,268.00	36	Rs. 480,000.00	Rs. 48,000.00	Rs. 4,000.00
Rs. 8,000.00	Rs. 672,000.00	Rs. 300,535.00	Rs. 972,535.00	43	Rs. 960,000.00	Rs. 96,000.00	Rs. 8,000.00
Rs. 16,000.00	Rs. 1,344,000.00	Rs. 601,071.00	Rs. 1,945,071.00	50	Rs. 1,920,000.00	Rs. 192,000.00	Rs. 16,000.00
Rs. 32,000.00	Rs. 2,688,000.00	Rs. 1,202,142.00	Rs. 3,890,142.00	57	Rs. 3,840,000.00	Rs. 384,000.00	Rs. 32,000.00
Rs. 64,000.00	Rs. 5,376,000.00	Rs. 2,404,283.00	Rs. 7,780,283.00	63	Rs. 7,680,000.00	Rs. 768,000.00	Rs. 64,000.00
					Rs. 15,120,000.00	Rs. 1,512,000.00	Rs. 126,000.00

	Calculated at Rs 4000 per month

Amount	Final Amount	Interest	Amount Maturity	Age	FD	Interest	PM
Rs. 4,000.00	Rs. 336,000.00	Rs. 150,268.00	Rs. 486,268.00	29	Rs. 480,000.00	Rs. 48,000.00	Rs. 4,000.00
Rs. 8,000.00	Rs. 672,000.00	Rs. 300,535.00	Rs. 972,535.00	36	Rs. 960,000.00	Rs. 96,000.00	Rs. 8,000.00
Rs. 16,000.00	Rs. 1,344,000.00	Rs. 601,071.00	Rs. 1,945,071.00	43	Rs. 1,920,000.00	Rs. 192,000.00	Rs. 16,000.00
Rs. 32,000.00	Rs. 2,688,000.00	Rs. 1,202,142.00	Rs. 3,890,142.00	50	Rs. 3,840,000.00	Rs. 384,000.00	Rs. 32,000.00
Rs. 66,000.00	Rs. 5,544,000.00	Rs. 2,479,417.00	Rs. 8,023,417.00	57	Rs. 7,680,000.00	Rs. 768,000.00	Rs. 64,000.00
Rs. 128,000.00	Rs. 10,752,000.00	Rs. 4,808,566.00	Rs. 15,560,566.00	63	Rs. 15,360,000.00	Rs. 1,536,000.00	Rs. 128,000.00
					Rs. 30,240,000.00	Rs. 3,024,000.00	Rs. 252,000.00

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

2008-09-18T05:01:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

Please refer attachment at the end of the post:

Misc Information:

Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.

ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%

If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account

The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, :P you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW ;), or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx

Attachment:

Note: Rename .doc to .xls to open

Rd-Fd Investment Plan

[digg=http://digg.com/business_finance/Investment_Plan_Save_today_for_a_secure_tomorrow]

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

2008-09-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Please refer attachment at the end of the post:

Misc Information:

Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.

ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%

If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account

The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, :P you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW ;), or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx

Attachment:

Note: Rename .doc to .xls to open

Rd-Fd Investment Plan

[digg=http://digg.com/business_finance/Investment_Plan_Save_today_for_a_secure_tomorrow]

World's Top 20 MBA B-Schools: Interesting facts

2008-09-12T12:19:00.001-07:00

I was casually browsing though Indian School of Business (ISB) site to checkout its admission procedures and other stuff. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see its position compared to other B-Schools. I had heard that ISB is one of the best in world. And it was there, at Rank 20 in Financial times top 100 global MBA schools.

Some of the data out there caught my attention. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton is at Rank 1, Stanford University GSB at Rank 4 and Harvard Business School is at Rank 5. The weighted salary of the three schools in dollars were 165,859, 167,225 and 162,316 respectively. Wheras the weighted salary of ISB is 169,355; the highest in top 100 MBA schools. The employment % is at 93,94 and 94 respectively whereas in ISB its 100%. Interesting I should say.

World's Top 20 MBA B-Schools: Interesting facts

2008-09-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

World's Top 20 MBA B-Schools: Interesting facts

2008-09-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Google Chrome & Secret of name

2008-09-02T00:06:00.002-07:00

Well as you all know, Google Chrome is the new browser from Google that's once again again heating up the internet browser space. The opensource browser is launching tomorrow in over 100 countries. I am not here to explain about the features of the browser since you can read about it in official google blog here. What I am here to tell you is about how Google still loves messing with Microsoft.

So whats the secret of the name I was talking about? The name "Chrome" is no coincidence. Chrome apparently was a highly anticipated multimedia technology project from Microsoft which was killed days before shipping. The project became a victim of reorganisation at Microsoft. You can read more about its demise here.

Is this a message to Microsoft? "If you cant do it, we will".

Google Chrome & Secret of name

2008-09-02T00:06:00.001-07:00

Is this a message to Microsoft? "If you cant do it, we will".

[digg=http://digg.com/software/Google_Chrome_Secret_of_name]

Google Chrome & Secret of name

2008-09-02T00:06:00.000-07:00

Is this a message to Microsoft? "If you cant do it, we will".

[digg=http://digg.com/software/Google_Chrome_Secret_of_name]

Never say goodbye

2008-08-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
=+ Another story from me. Please post in your comments if you liked it. :) Read on... =+
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

I looked at my watch once again. It’s been 25 minutes and she’s late again... as usual. The best friend whom I had known for over 15 years now. We played together as kids, went to the same school and even the same college. I never had to search for a new friend my whole lifetime. Human heart is so weak for I don’t remember when I started having feeling for her. But she never saw me that way and I didn’t have the courage to speak my heart out. If there is anything that I have hidden from her, then it is the fact that I have fallen in love with her. This is the last time I would be seeing her for atleast the next few years. Tomorrow she’s going to US for MS and I would be doing my MBA here. I am adamant of not going to see her off at the airport tomorrow because I am afraid that I could breakdown in front of her. That’s why we fixed a meeting at the railway station. I am still confused whether I should tell her that I love her before she leaves the country. Will that bring an end to our friendship?
Another local train has arrived. I got up from the bench and did a quick scan for her in the crowd. “Looking for someone?” a soft voice said from behind. I turned around and it was her; I just smiled. We sat down at the bench and looked into each other’s eyes. She was looking more beautiful than usual. When someone is always with you, you never realise the importance of that person. You only realise it only when he/she goes away from your life. “Why are you so quiet?” she said slowly touching my shoulders. “Don’t go” I said. She kept quiet. I know that even she doesn’t want me to leave me and go. If it hurts for me, it would hurt for her too. But the difference is it hurts for her because I am her best friend, not because she loves me. “I am sorry” I continued “That was a stupid thing to say. I know you have to leave tomorrow”. “You have anything to say to me?” she asked lifting her head looking straight into my eye. Sometimes that soft voice and the innocent look makes me blurt out the truth. But I need to restrain myself from any such step for I could lose her forever. All I could reply was “Come back soon”. “Anything else?” she asked again. “No” I replied still half minded to tell her how much I love her. She left out a deep sigh and fell silent again. Did she want me to say anything else?
I didn’t realise it then, but its been 5 minutes and we hadn’t uttered another word. Another local train arrived at the station; its horn cutting though the silence. “I should be going now, there is lot left to pack” she got up suddenly and hurriedly walked towards the train. It took me a few seconds the regain composure. As she rushed to catch the train, hundreds of thoughts flickered through my mind. 15 years of friendship and this is how you depart? Leave alone a hug, not even a good bye? Has she completely forgotten my feeling in the dreams of US life? Not even a single tear? When did she become so stone cold? All she is worried about is her bloody packing.
The train blew another horn as a signal to depart as she entered the train. She slowly turned and looked at where I was sitting as the train started moving. That’s when I saw her eyes; it was as red as coal, wet from the tears streaming down her smooth cheeks. From her eyes I could read it; she loves me. Damn you idiot, why didn’t you propose her? I don’t know much about reflex action, but before I knew I was running hard to get into the train which was now picking up speed. To this day I don’t know why I ran behind the train; after all I could have called her on her mobile. Maybe I wanted to be physically present during the most romantic moment of my life. A policeman blew his whistle seeing me trying to get into the speeding train. But I could hear or see nothing. All I could see was her looking at me in amazement from the footboard of the train.
The last bogie of the train would pass me any moment and so would my last chance to get into the train. I have jumped into speeding train during all my four years of college, but into a train moving this pace was something never attempted before. But this was no time to equate speed and velocity as I jumped and grabbed the handle bar... or so I thought. I had seen in Discovery channel how you don’t remember some event because your brain fails to register something that happened so quickly. I got up from where I had fell, unhurt and wondering how the hell I got here. But then I noticed the train was slowing down and then came to a complete stop at a distance. Maybe it didn’t have the signal. Tears of happiness streaked down as I was sure she would get down the train. I climbed on the platform and ran hurriedly towards the train. This is very romantic I thought; typical bollywood movie where the Shahrukh khan and Kajol running towards each other at the railway station in the climax. Coming back to reality, all I could say was “What the hell?”. It wasn’t her alone who was running towards me, there was a whole crowd of passengers rushing to where I stood and between them I spotted her; completely pale like she is in some kind of shock. That’s when I looked behind and noticed a crowd at the platform gathered a few meters behind and looking down at the tracks. Oh my god... the train has hit someone and that’s why the train has stopped; so the whistle of policeman was not for me after all. I didn’t dare to look at the tracks coz the sight of blood makes me puke. I ran towards her panting and said “I love you”. But she didn’t respond and kept walking with the crowd. “You idiot!” I said to myself. I was so ashamed; some guy has just died and she is definitely terrified by the whole thing. Since she was watching me when I was running with the train, probably she had also seen the guy get hit. You have ruined the best moment of your life, a voice told me from inside. If only I had told her this after she had recovered from the shock. The way she reacted when I proposed, I felt she was too disturbed that she even heard it.
Anyway I jogged back and walked silently near her as she walked to the spot of accident. I was thinking whether to put an arm around her but decided to leave her alone. Just in case she did hear me propose, it’s better not to say another word or touch her until she speaks first. She made her way through the crowd and I quietly followed behind. Ehw... is she really planning to see the dead body? When did she become so brave? I could smell fresh blood and I didn’t dare to lean & look down. She slowly advanced forward to the verge of the platform and held the shoulders of a lady who was also looking at the body. Well, she caught a strangers hand and not mine. This meant she did hear me propose and the answer was definitely a big NO. I bit my lips with broken heart as I watched her slowly lean over the platform. Suddenly she fell backward on her knees and started brawling like a kid. She hanged on to the saree of the stranger and the lady tried to console her. I wanted to help her back on the knees, but she was already receiving too much attention from strangers around her trying to do the same thing. They helped her on the feet and helped her on the bench. I silently went and sat beside her. A lady gave her water and kept rubbing her back. I knew she was a good girl at heart, but so much emotion was quite embarrassing. I mean it’s ok to cry so much if a family member had died, but this was uncalled for. I should have stopped her from having a look at the accident, after all what did she except to see; a circus? She was still crying in the arms of the lady and still in a state of shock. People were still gathered around him and I could hear murmurs of how stupid it was for him to try and catch a running train. I then realised that it could have easily been me. I thanked god for keeping me alive, but felt bad for the guy who wasn’t as lucky as me. Should I go and see it for myself? Maybe I should, otherwise I would never know how she feels at this time. I got up from the bench and slowly walked forward mentally preparing myself for the gross sight. I blinked my eyes, clenched my fist hard and let out a heavy sigh as I prepared for the first look. Slowly I leaned forward and looked down. My world was turned upside down as I saw the motionless body. There I saw the face of the guy, there I saw myself...dead!

[digg=http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Never_Say_Goodbye_Short_Story]

Infosys to buy Axon Global

2008-08-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

Infosys Technologies LTD has offered to buy UK based SAP consulting company Axon Global for £407.1m ($750 million or INR 33.1 billion). This was a special news for all the Infosys employees including me that the deal is almost at the verge of being success. If you are not aware, nearly 1/4th of Infosys revenue comes form its unit called Enterprise Solutions which specializes in enterprise tools like SAP, Siebel, Oracle, Tibco etc.

Infosys has always been trying to spread its operations in UK and this would definitely a major breakthrough. Today morning I proudly watched our CEO, Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan talk about the details of the deal on CNBC today morning 10:10am. Infosys stocks were trading 10 points down as soon as the markets opened (overall BSE sensex is down) because the investors were not confident about the deal. Infosys profit margins are 30-31% whereas Axon's profit margin is just about 14-15%.

As soon as Kris clarified certain details of the deal, market sentiments turned the other way and by 10:20 Infosys stock was trading 20 points up. The confidence with which he talks is simply amazing. I could see the same confidence in him with which the company was started 27 years ago with just 7 employees and INR 10000.

Here are some interesting things to note about the deal:

Infy buy is largest outbound acquisition by Indian IT company

Infosys targets to touch $5 billion mark in profit this year. Axon's revenue is $ 1.6 billion and considering this, we need to wait for a new guidance from Infosys once the deal is trough. (And don’t be alarmed if the new guidance is $6 billion ;) )

According to Economic Times Mr.Nandan and Mr.Murthy played a significant role in this deal. Whether they are involved or not, good work Infy team!!!

Axon's share rose a whopping 20% in London stock exchange as soon as the acquisition news was released.

20% increase is the highest for Axon ever since year 2000.

Axon's revenue also increased considerably this quarter due to increase in sales from speculation of a take over from Infy.

The entire amount of the deal is paid entirely in CASH!!!

Axon board has asked its share holders to vote in favor of the deal. The only reason why this deal wouldn’t happen as of now is a counter offer from other companies like TCS, Wipro etc to Axon. Considering the current market situation and the decline in revenue of other IT majors, I doubt whether any other IT company would be able to beat Infy's offer of $750 million.

There are much more details that floats inside the Infosys network. But those details cannot be published here. So just wait until the deal goes through. :) Proud to be an Infosion!!!

[digg=http://digg.com/tech_news/Infosys_Technologies_LTD_to_buy_Axon_Global]

Infosys to buy Axon Global

2008-08-26T04:55:00.002-07:00

Here are some interesting things to note about the deal:

Infy buy is largest outbound acquisition by Indian IT company

Infosys targets to touch $5 billion mark in profit this year. Axon's revenue is $ 1.6 billion and considering this, we need to wait for a new guidance from Infosys once the deal is trough. (And don’t be alarmed if the new guidance is $6 billion ;) )

According to Economic Times Mr.Nandan and Mr.Murthy played a significant role in this deal. Whether they are involved or not, good work Infy team!!!

Axon's share rose a whopping 20% in London stock exchange as soon as the acquisition news was released.

20% increase is the highest for Axon ever since year 2000.

Axon's revenue also increased considerably this quarter due to increase in sales from speculation of a take over from Infy.

The entire amount of the deal is paid entirely in CASH!!!

There are much more details that floats inside the Infosys network. But those details cannot be published here. So just wait until the deal goes through. :) Proud to be an Infosion!!!

Infosys to buy Axon Global

2008-08-26T04:55:00.001-07:00

Here are some interesting things to note about the deal:

Infy buy is largest outbound acquisition by Indian IT company

Infosys targets to touch $5 billion mark in profit this year. Axon's revenue is $ 1.6 billion and considering this, we need to wait for a new guidance from Infosys once the deal is trough. (And don’t be alarmed if the new guidance is $6 billion ;) )

According to Economic Times Mr.Nandan and Mr.Murthy played a significant role in this deal. Whether they are involved or not, good work Infy team!!!

Axon's share rose a whopping 20% in London stock exchange as soon as the acquisition news was released.

20% increase is the highest for Axon ever since year 2000.

Axon's revenue also increased considerably this quarter due to increase in sales from speculation of a take over from Infy.

The entire amount of the deal is paid entirely in CASH!!!

There are much more details that floats inside the Infosys network. But those details cannot be published here. So just wait until the deal goes through. :) Proud to be an Infosion!!!

[digg=http://digg.com/tech_news/Infosys_Technologies_LTD_to_buy_Axon_Global]

Infosys to buy Axon Global

2008-08-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting things to note about the deal:

Infy buy is largest outbound acquisition by Indian IT company

Infosys targets to touch $5 billion mark in profit this year. Axon's revenue is $ 1.6 billion and considering this, we need to wait for a new guidance from Infosys once the deal is trough. (And don’t be alarmed if the new guidance is $6 billion ;) )

According to Economic Times Mr.Nandan and Mr.Murthy played a significant role in this deal. Whether they are involved or not, good work Infy team!!!

Axon's share rose a whopping 20% in London stock exchange as soon as the acquisition news was released.

20% increase is the highest for Axon ever since year 2000.

Axon's revenue also increased considerably this quarter due to increase in sales from speculation of a take over from Infy.

The entire amount of the deal is paid entirely in CASH!!!

There are much more details that floats inside the Infosys network. But those details cannot be published here. So just wait until the deal goes through. :) Proud to be an Infosion!!!

[digg=http://digg.com/tech_news/Infosys_Technologies_LTD_to_buy_Axon_Global]

Infosys to buy Axon Global

2008-08-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting things to note about the deal:

Infy buy is largest outbound acquisition by Indian IT company

Infosys targets to touch $5 billion mark in profit this year. Axon's revenue is $ 1.6 billion and considering this, we need to wait for a new guidance from Infosys once the deal is trough. (And don’t be alarmed if the new guidance is $6 billion ;) )

According to Economic Times Mr.Nandan and Mr.Murthy played a significant role in this deal. Whether they are involved or not, good work Infy team!!!

Axon's share rose a whopping 20% in London stock exchange as soon as the acquisition news was released.

20% increase is the highest for Axon ever since year 2000.

Axon's revenue also increased considerably this quarter due to increase in sales from speculation of a take over from Infy.

The entire amount of the deal is paid entirely in CASH!!!

There are much more details that floats inside the Infosys network. But those details cannot be published here. So just wait until the deal goes through. :) Proud to be an Infosion!!!

Never say goodbye

2008-08-26T03:20:00.000-07:00

Never say goodbye

2008-08-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Never say goodbye

2008-08-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
=+ Another story from me. Please post in your comments if you liked it. :) Read on... =+
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

I looked at my watch once again. It’s been 25 minutes now and she’s late again as usual. The best friend whom I had known for over 15 years now. We played together as kids, went to the same school and even the same college. I never had to search for a new friend my whole lifetime. Human heart is so weak for I don’t remember when I started having feeling for her. But she never saw me that way and I didn’t have the courage to speak my heart out. If there is anything that I have hidden from her, then it is the fact that I have fallen in love with her. This is the last time I would be seeing her for atleast the next few years. Tomorrow she’s going to US for MS and I would be doing my MBA here. I am adamant of not going to see her off at the airport tomorrow because I am afraid that I could breakdown in front of her. That’s why we fixed a meeting at the railway station. I am still confused whether I should tell her that I love her before she leaves the country. Will that bring an end to our friendship?
Another local train has arrived. I got up from the bench and did a quick scan for her in the crowd. “Looking for someone?” a soft voice said from behind. I turned around and it was her; I just smiled. We sat down at the bench and looked into each other’s eyes. She was looking more beautiful than usual. When someone is always with you, you never realise the importance of that person. You only realise it only when he/she goes away from your life. “Why are you so quiet?” she said slowly touching my shoulders. “Don’t go” I said. She kept quiet. I know that even she doesn’t want me to leave me and go. If it hurts for me, it would hurt for her too. But the difference is it hurts for her because I am her best friend, not because she loves me. “I am sorry” I continued “That was a stupid thing to say. I know you have to leave tomorrow”. “You have anything to say to me?” she asked lifting her head looking straight into my eye. Sometimes that soft voice and the innocent look makes me blurt out the truth. But I need to restrain myself from any such step for I could lose her forever. All I could reply was “Come back soon”. “Anything else?” she asked again. “No” I replied still half minded to tell her how much I love her. She left out a deep sigh and fell silent again. Did she want me to say anything else?
I didn’t realise it then, but its been 5 minutes and we hadn’t uttered another word. Another local train arrived at the station; its horn cutting though the silence. “I should be going now, there is lot left to pack” she got up suddenly and hurriedly walked towards the train. It took me a few seconds the regain composure. As she rushed to catch the train, hundreds of thoughts flickered through my mind. 15 years of friendship and this is how you depart? Leave alone a hug, not even a good bye? Has she completely forgotten my feeling in the dreams of US life? Not even a single tear? When did she become so stone cold? All she is worried about is her bloody packing.
The train blew another horn as a signal to depart as she entered the train. She slowly turned and looked at where I was sitting as the train started moving. That’s when I saw her eyes; it was as red as coal, wet from the tears streaming down her smooth cheeks. From her eyes I could read it; she loves me. Damn you idiot, why didn’t you propose her? I don’t know much about reflex action, but before I knew I was running hard to get into the train which was now picking up speed. To this day I don’t know why I ran behind the train; after all I could have called her on her mobile. Maybe I wanted to be physically present during the most romantic moment of my life. A policeman blew his whistle seeing me trying to get into the speeding train. But I could hear or see nothing. All I could see was her looking at me in amazement from the footboard of the train.
The last bogie of the train would pass me any moment and so would my last chance to get into the train. I have jumped into speeding train during all my four years of college, but into a train moving this pace was something never attempted before. But this was no time to equate speed and velocity as I jumped and grabbed the handle bar... or so I thought. I had seen in Discovery channel how you don’t remember some event because your brain fails to register something that happened so quickly. I got up from where I had fell, unhurt and wondering how the hell I got here. But then I noticed the train was slowing down and then came to a complete stop at a distance. Maybe it didn’t have the signal. Tears of happiness streaked down as I was sure she would get down the train. I climbed on the platform and ran hurriedly towards the train. This is very romantic I thought; typical bollywood movie where the Shahrukh khan and Kajol running towards each other at the railway station in the climax. Coming back to reality, all I could say was “What the hell?”. It wasn’t her alone who was running towards me, there was a whole crowd of passengers rushing to where I stood and between them I spotted her; completely pale like she is in some kind of shock. That’s when I looked behind and noticed a crowd at the platform gathered a few meters behind and looking down at the tracks. Oh my god... the train has hit someone and that’s why the train has stopped; so the whistle of policeman was not for me after all. I didn’t dare to look at the tracks coz the sight of blood makes me puke. I ran towards her panting and said “I love you”. But she didn’t respond and kept walking with the crowd. “You idiot!” I said to myself. I was so ashamed; some guy has just died and she is definitely terrified by the whole thing. Since she was watching me when I was running with the train, probably she had also seen the guy get hit. You have ruined the best moment of your life, a voice told me from inside. If only I had told her this after she had recovered from the shock. The way she reacted when I proposed, I felt she was too disturbed that she even heard it.
Anyway I jogged back and walked silently near her as she walked to the spot of accident. I was thinking whether to put an arm around her but decided to leave her alone. Just in case she did hear me propose, it’s better not to say another word or touch her until she speaks first. She made her way through the crowd and I quietly followed behind. Ehw... is she really planning to see the dead body? When did she become so brave? I could smell fresh blood and I didn’t dare to lean & look down. She slowly advanced forward to the verge of the platform and held the shoulders of a lady who was also looking at the body. Well, she caught a strangers hand and not mine. This meant she did hear me propose and the answer was definitely a big NO. I bit my lips with broken heart as I watched her slowly lean over the platform. Suddenly she fell backward on her knees and started brawling like a kid. She hanged on to the saree of the stranger and the lady tried to console her. I wanted to help her back on the knees, but she was already receiving too much attention from strangers around her trying to do the same thing. They helped her on the feet and helped her on the bench. I silently went and sat beside her. A lady gave her water and kept rubbing her back. I knew she was a good girl at heart, but so much emotion was quite embarrassing. I mean it’s ok to cry so much if a family member had died, but this was uncalled for. I should have stopped her from having a look at the accident, after all what did she except to see; a circus? She was still crying in the arms of the lady and still in a state of shock. People were still gathered around him and I could hear murmurs of how stupid it was for him to try and catch a running train. I then realised that it could have easily been me. I thanked god for keeping me alive, but felt bad for the guy who wasn’t as lucky as me. Should I go and see it for myself? Maybe I should, otherwise I would never know how she feels at this time. I got up from the bench and slowly walked forward mentally preparing myself for the gross sight. I blinked my eyes, clenched my fist hard and let out a heavy sigh as I prepared for the first look. Slowly I leaned forward and looked down. My world was turned upside down as I saw the motionless body. There I saw the face of the guy, there I saw myself...dead!

Never say goodbye

2008-08-25T06:24:00.002-07:00

Never say goodbye

2008-08-25T06:24:00.001-07:00

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
=+ Another story from me. Please post in your comments if you like it. :) Read on... +=
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

I looked at my watch once again. It’s been 25 minutes now and she’s late again as usual. The best friend whom I had known for over 15 years now. We played together as kids, went to the same school and even the same college. I never had to search for a new friend my whole lifetime. Human heart is so weak for I don’t remember when I started having feeling for her. But she never saw me that way and I didn’t have the courage to speak my heart out. If there is anything that I have hidden from her, then it is the fact that I have fallen in love with her. This is the last time I would be seeing her for atleast the next few years. Tomorrow she’s going to US for MS and I would be doing my MBA here. I am adamant of not going to see her off at the airport tomorrow because I am afraid that I could breakdown in front of her. That’s why we fixed a meeting at the railway station. I am still confused whether I should tell her that I love her before she leaves the country. Will that bring an end to our friendship?
Another local train has arrived. I got up from the bench and did a quick scan for her in the crowd. “Looking for someone?” a soft voice said from behind. I turned around and it was her; I just smiled. We sat down at the bench and looked into each other’s eyes. She was looking more beautiful than usual. When someone is always with you, you never realise the importance of that person. You only realise it only when he/she goes away from your life. “Why are you so quiet?” she said slowly touching my shoulders. “Don’t go” I said. She kept quiet. I know that even she doesn’t want me to leave me and go. If it hurts for me, it would hurt for her too. But the difference is it hurts for her because I am her best friend, not because she loves me. “I am sorry” I continued “That was a stupid thing to say. I know you have to leave tomorrow”. “You have anything to say to me?” she asked lifting her head looking straight into my eye. Sometimes that soft voice and the innocent look makes me blurt out the truth. But I need to restrain myself from any such step for I could lose her forever. All I could reply was “Come back soon”. “Anything else?” she asked again. “No” I replied still half minded to tell her how much I love her. She left out a deep sigh and fell silent again. Did she want me to say anything else?
I didn’t realise it then, but its been 5 minutes and we hadn’t uttered another word. Another local train arrived at the station; its horn cutting though the silence. “I should be going now, there is lot left to pack” she got up suddenly and hurriedly walked towards the train. It took me a few seconds the regain composure. As she rushed to catch the train, hundreds of thoughts flickered through my mind. 15 years of friendship and this is how you depart? Leave alone a hug, not even a good bye? Has she completely forgotten my feeling in the dreams of US life? Not even a single tear? When did she become so stone cold? All she is worried about is her bloody packing.
The train blew another horn as a signal to depart as she entered the train. She slowly turned and looked at where I was sitting as the train started moving. That’s when I saw her eyes; it was as red as coal, wet from the tears streaming down her smooth cheeks. From her eyes I could read it; she loves me. Damn you idiot, why didn’t you propose her? I don’t know much about reflex action, but before I knew I was running hard to get into the train which was now picking up speed. To this day I don’t know why I ran behind the train; after all I could have called her on her mobile. Maybe I wanted to be physically present during the most romantic moment of my life. A policeman blew his whistle seeing me trying to get into the speeding train. But I could hear or see nothing. All I could see was her looking at me in amazement from the footboard of the train.
The last bogie of the train would pass me any moment and so would my last chance to get into the train. I have jumped into speeding train during all my four years of college, but into a train moving this pace was something never attempted before. But this was no time to equate speed and velocity as I jumped and grabbed the handle bar... or so I thought. I had seen in Discovery channel how you don’t remember some event because your brain fails to register something that happened so quickly. I got up from where I had fell, unhurt and wondering how the hell I got here. But then I noticed the train was slowing down and then came to a complete stop at a distance. Maybe it didn’t have the signal. Tears of happiness streaked down as I was sure she would get down the train. I climbed on the platform and ran hurriedly towards the train. This is very romantic I thought; typical bollywood movie where the Shahrukh khan and Kajol running towards each other at the railway station in the climax. Coming back to reality, all I could say was “What the hell?”. It wasn’t her alone who was running towards me, there was a whole crowd of passengers rushing to where I stood and between them I spotted her; completely pale like she is in some kind of shock. That’s when I looked behind and noticed a crowd at the platform gathered a few meters behind and looking down at the tracks. Oh my god... the train has hit someone and that’s why the train has stopped; so the whistle of policeman was not for me after all. I didn’t dare to look at the tracks coz the sight of blood makes me puke. I ran towards her panting and said “I love you”. But she didn’t respond and kept walking with the crowd. “You idiot!” I said to myself. I was so ashamed; some guy has just died and she is definitely terrified by the whole thing. Since she was watching me when I was running with the train, probably she had also seen the guy get hit. You have ruined the best moment of your life, a voice told me from inside. If only I had told her this after she had recovered from the shock. The way she reacted when I proposed, I felt she was too disturbed that she even heard it.
Anyway I jogged back and walked silently near her as she walked to the spot of accident. I was thinking whether to put an arm around her but decided to leave her alone. Just in case she did hear me propose, it’s better not to say another word or touch her until she speaks first. She made her way through the crowd and I quietly followed behind. Ehw... is she really planning to see the dead body? When did she become so brave? I could smell fresh blood and I didn’t dare to lean & look down. She slowly advanced forward to the verge of the platform and held the shoulders of a lady who was also looking at the body. Well, she caught a strangers hand and not mine. This meant she did hear me propose and the answer was definitely a big NO. I bit my lips with broken heart as I watched her slowly lean over the platform. Suddenly she fell backward on her knees and started brawling like a kid. She hanged on to the saree of the stranger and the lady tried to console her. I wanted to help her back on the knees, but she was already receiving too much attention from strangers around her trying to do the same thing. They helped her on the feet and helped her on the bench. I silently went and sat beside her. A lady gave her water and kept rubbing her back. I knew she was a good girl at heart, but so much emotion was quite embarrassing. I mean it’s ok to cry so much if a family member had died, but this was uncalled for. I should have stopped her from having a look at the accident, after all what did she except to see; a circus? She was still crying in the arms of the lady and still in a state of shock. People were still gathered around him and I could hear murmurs of how stupid it was for him to try and catch a running train. I then realised that it could have easily been me. I thanked god for keeping me alive, but felt bad for the guy who wasn’t as lucky as me. Should I go and see it for myself? Maybe I should, otherwise I would never know how she feels at this time. I got up from the bench and slowly walked forward mentally preparing myself for the gross sight. I blinked my eyes, clenched my fist hard and let out a heavy sigh as I prepared for the first look. Slowly I leaned forward and looked down. My world was turned upside down as I saw the motionless body of the guy. There I saw myself...dead!

Never say goodbye

2008-08-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

Confused...???

2008-08-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Is work taking a toll on my sense? Of course not!!! I know today is monday and its 5:20pm. (Damn, already 5:20??? Time flies by when I day dream at work :P ). Anyway coming back it started a few days back when the project was at the peak activity time. The peak activity time is of course delivery time. For those new to the whole software development life cycle, Delivery date of a project is the time before which the managers, clients and everyone related to the project feels that they need to screw the developers by adding more features/changes to the product. :P

Anyway this happened in a one to one meeting. It was a friday (which i came to realise later) evening and the PM said happily... "finally I am going home for a long weekend". And I stared blankly and replied "What are you so happy about? Its thursday today!!!". Atleast I should have thought that I was wearing a jeans an t-shirt at that time (Friday at Infosys means any costume to work. I can guess your next question... yes, you need to dressed). How the hell can I forget it was a friday. These were lot of sigs around... the jeans and tshirt I was wearing, the outlook calendar, my appointments. You may wounder why I am making so much fuss about forgetting which day it was. Well my dear friends, day before yesterday it happened again... and this time in a full fledged meeting.

The meeting was in progress and my PM informed the team.. "We have closed all the defects and released it successfully on August 7th". "What?" I snapped... "As far as I remember we shiped it last week itself, not yesterday!!!". There was almost a minute of silence in the room and I was sweating to core with all eyes on me. Finally my confused PM spoke up- "My dear... August 7th WAS LAST WEEK! Whcih world are you living in?". Everyone blurt into laughter while I was trying to figure out how did I lose one week.

Anyway the best part is people think that I am a bit confused coz I have been working very hard. Of course I have been working hard... (ehmm) but the real reason is that I had been reading "Three mistakes of my life" and slept at 5am that morning. Now, you don't expect me to be completely alert at 9am in the morning with two hours of sleep, do you? ;) Anyway with the project closed to complete and now work preassure I guess I wont be facing any such issues until I am out of here and back to Bangalore. So guys have a happy wednesday.... oops I mean Monday! :)

"God tussi great ho"- Review

2008-08-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

If god was so great, why doesn't he give pathetic directors enough ideas to make a genuine movie??? Why do they have to mix the concepts of an english movie (Bruce Almighty) and a serial (Moment of truth- Star world) and still make something as crappy as this?

There are so much unnecessary songs that when the final song came up, people started clapping and booing. That was the best part of the movie I enjoyed. ;) So my advice is, if you have watched Bruce almighty, don't even think about watching it. Given a choice between committing suicide and watching this movie, choose the former.

Thank god for giving me the patience to sit and watch the entire 2.5 hr of 'bakwas'. (yeah the show was free :D ) God tussi great ho!!!

Rating: 1/5

When chatting with superiors online...

2008-07-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

I type fairly fast and just like every other human being, make mistakes too. Being a fresher I am still used to gtalk style chattig wherein we use short forms like "hor r u?, b4, cu, gnsdtc" etc. Here are some such conversations during my 8 months at Infosys where the short forms mixed with spelling mistakes could have got me into real trouble. And as usual name/designation of people invilved have been changed to protech my heights of stupidy/job.

Situation 1: Conversation with onsite...

Her: Thats cool! Have you already solved the problem?

Me: Almost dear.... (supposed to read "near")

Situation 2: At offshore

SPM: Hey can you come over to my cabin, need to discuss something. How long will it take?

Me: 1 sec... ('c' mistyped with 'x') :(

Situation 3: Mails

I was sending out the status update for the day to everyone in the team including people in the management. Dead tired and half asleep, at the end of the mail I typed... "in case of any queries you can contact me on my mobile. Good night, sleep tight and dont let the bed bugs bite". :O

Thank god I am still working here :)

Rat Business

2008-07-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

Recently my project mate Parag told me a very interesting story. I am retrieveing what is left of the story in my Random Access Memory and publishing it here. And yes, I am adding my own masala to fill up the missing pieces. :P Most of you must have read it before, but here it goes.

Once upon a time in a village a new businessman and his personal assistant (PA) came from a city far far away. He bought with him millions of rats in trucks and declared-"I have been travelling many villages and doing rat business. I will pay you Rs.100 for every 10 rats you catch and hand over to me". The villagers were very happy because not only that the rats of the village would decrease, but this was EASY MONEY!!!

So from the next day there was a huge line of queue of villagers with rats in front of the new shop. They handed over the rats to the business man and got Rs.100. This went on for about 2 weeks. One day the business man had to suddenly go to the city for some urgent work and handed over the responsibility of collecting rats and handing over money to his PA.

The next day when the villagers came, the PA said- "The businees man has gone to the city and wouldt be back by tomorrow. So here I propose something to make more money. You pay me Rs.50 and I will give you 10 rats. You can then sell the same 10 rats to the business man and get Rs.100". Soon people were paying Rs.50 to the PA and taking home 10 rats which they plan to give the next day to the business man and take Rs.100. By the end of the day all the rats, including the rats that the business man had bought along with him to the village was sold off.

The next day when the villagers turned up in front of the rat shop to sell the rats that they had bought to the businees man; neigher the businessman, nor the PA was anywhere to be seen.....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

WELCOME TO THE STOCK MARKET!!!

Teach India

2008-07-06T11:48:00.001-07:00

Ok, here comes a post from me thats completely out of topic. Check out http://teach.timesofindia.com/ and if possible spread a word. I know what I am doing is only a drop in the ocean, but my current schedule and location prevents me from doing anything more. So looking forward to some of you readers to take it forward. :)

Teach India

2008-07-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

Mixing career with love

2008-06-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

I have personally experienced the anxiety, confusion and the hell lot of questions you have in mind before joining Infosys. :) Thats why I decided to help the guys & gals who would be joining Infosys in 2008 through Infosys 2008 community in orkut by answering their questions. After moving to Mysore on a short term project, it no longer became possible to answer any more queries since orkut was no longer accessible here. So I gave them my mobile number so that they can call me directly in case of any queries.

Since then I have been recieveing many calls, but you will surprised to hear how much percentage of those calls are regarding girl friends/boy friends. :O Questions like "ways to be in same batch", "extending the joining date for gf/bf", "time to roam around" etc are very common. :P Now I am neutreal in this regard; its upto them to decide anyway. Experience (not personal ;) ) shows that the relationships picked up in training do not last beyond that.

Few days back I got a forward of one such incident that happened during Infosys Mysore training. Hope someone in Infosys 2008 community would post the link to this blog there. Anyway, read on...

_______________________________

I was sitting on the footpath right outside my hostel building with all my bags packed, waiting for the golf cart which had to drop me till the gate of the Infosys campus in Mysore. Infosys Technologies ltd. is the most prestigious software company in India and its campus in Mysore, where all the fresh entrants are trained is considered to be the best in India. I looked at the surroundings. Road was empty and there was no one around. All the trainees were attending classes as it was around eleven in the morning. A lovely breeze was blowing and I could see some birds frisking, frolicking and playing pranks with each other but I was alone. I was alone when all my friends were in the class. Now even the birds, the wind and the trees had started teasing me.

I couldn’t resist myself from shedding another drop of tear although I’d been doing the same the whole last night. Of course, I was checking out but that was not the only reason for the tears. It was something much bigger than that and very much contemptible. I was not leaving the campus after completing my training but I’d been expelled from the company. Or I can say, I was being thrown out. I felt like dying.

Then appeared the white colored cart coming from the road adjoining Food Court 2. The cart reminded me of my first day in the campus and took me into the past for sometime.

What a lovely evening that was? How excited I was when I put my first step into the heaven called as Mysore campus of Infosys and was completely engrossed with the thoughts of future that what I will do and how I’ll enjoy in the campus. First thing that came to my mind that day was to explore the campus and locate all those places I’d seen in those lovely photographs. I sat into the golf cart which took me through some long and winding but neat and clean roads. The first building I noticed was that football shaped spherical building which appeared behind the lush green cricket ground on the right side of the road. In fact that was the only building I’d seen before coming here but I was amazed to see a building on the left which was under construction. It was absolutely phenomenal and resembled the Colosseum of Rome. There was another one which resembled the White House but wasn’t white in color. Some guy in the Cart told that it is GEC or the Global Education Centre where we’ll go through our training.

The cart stopped at a small building inside which there was a kind of a reception. We got our luggage checked and room was allotted to me. The guy sitting next to me in the cab was to be my room mate. His name was Varun and was a tall but slim guy from Punjab with a lot of beard on his face looked as if he’s not shaved since ages but that really gave him a typical Punjabi looks. I was just thinking how someone like me from Gujrat will stay with such a guy who doesn’t even bother to shave his face. Then we were sent to our hostel in another cart. We just found out that our hostel is nearest to FC2 and moreover, the hostel right next to us was a girl hostel. That Punjabi straight away planned to buy a new binocular so that he could easily peep into girls rooms during night.

I opened the door of my room and could not believe my eyes. It was the best room I’d ever seen with my own eyes and was just exhilarated with the thought that I’d be staying here for next few months though with some one who looked to be very unhygienic. But that was not a problem at all coz like all the Punjabis Varun was quite nice at heart. We just kept our bags and explored the whole campus. We saw the lovely swimming pool, Gymnasium, Bowling alley, Market and Habib’s haircutting saloon from where Varun got his beard trimmed.

The classes started and we were made to sit in a big room having a huge white board with a couple of projector screens in the front and opposite to that were numerous seats each having a separate computer system. I was made to sit in the third row and luckily between a couple of girls though both of them had just ordinary looks. Later I came to know that we were made to sit alphabetically when I got introduced with both those gals. One was Ganmeet from Punjab and the other was Geetha from Mangalore and sandwiched between them was me, Gaurav Keswani from Vadodra.

Both those gals were quite antithetical in their behavior, style, knowledge and everything they did. Where Ganmeet was quite simple, Geetha was stylish like all ultra-mod and hap Bangalore gals. Ganmeet was calm, composed and reserve but Geetha was dynamic and extrovert. And most importantly, Ganmeet was good in her logics and a very strong programmer and Geetha was a contrast in this matter too. This I realized when she asked me to debug her first C-language assignment. I was shocked to see the code. She had put the include statement within main. God, she was a B.Tech in comp. science. But her cute and embarrassed smile was clearly accepting her weakness. I helped her and this became a routine. Within in no time we grew very close to each other. We used to have the meals together, we used to study together, we used to watch the movies together and we used to go out together. Our friendship grew more intense when she flunked in the first module test of C language but I got an ‘A’ and so did Ganmeet. But my roomy, Varun had also flunked. So Geetha and Varun they both had to appear for the re-test. Everyday I used to teach them and make them practice more and more. Now we were like a group. Four of us started staying together as Varun and Ganmeet, both being punjabi’s grew very close to each other. Now instead of me, it was Ganmeet who taught him.

Then came the retest. I and Ganmeet were waiting for both of them outside the hall. Varun came out happily clearly showing that he’d cleared and he did. Many came out but she was still in. I was getting worried as only I knew that the hopes were less. It was the last minute when she came out jumping and without speaking a word threw her self on me and kissed on my cheeks. Many had seen but all knew what had happened. I was stunned and so were Varun and Ganmeet. It was obvious for a guy who never had any gal in his life and was kissed by a hot south Indian gal in front of whole batch. But she took it as a very normal thing and I pretended the same.

“Its all because of you Gaurav, that I’ve cleared it. Hats off to you sweetheart”, she said.

We were not into any sort of relationship but that’s how she used to call me and in fact all her close friends. But there was nothing wrong in it and I enjoyed it. We grew more and more close to each other. She took care of me in every sense: my dressing, my eating and what ever I did. She told me many things about gals which I’d never known. We now freely shared our body secrets to each other.

On the next weekend she took me to Bangalore where she’d done her engineering degree. We met many of her friends, my friends and went to famous markets and malls of the city. One thing I could say, she’d a very happening friend circle. In the evening we went to a pub where both of us danced after gulping a couple of beer mugs. The dance grew more and more passionate with time. It was my first time in a pub but she was quite used to it. Next evening we left for Mysore which is a three hour journey from Bangalore. But there I’d spent the best weekend of my life.

On the way, we talked about everything on the earth. Then she kept her head on my shoulder and held me which I could say was half a hug. I just responded. I’d never sat like this with a gal ever in my life. Everything was so nice and tender. Time seemed like flying. I wished I could’ve been like this forever. I’d fallen in love with her.

“You know what Gaurav”, she said.

“What?” I asked.

“You remember that guy Raghav, whom we met in Garuda mall.”

“Yeah! Why?”

“We’ve been in love for last 3 years and yesterday we planned to marry.” she said shyly.

It was all over for me. Ground escaped underneath my feet. I just got away from her in a flash and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I thought I’ll tell you after you meet him. I hope I wasn’t wrong?”

“No.. You are right. Anyways Congrats” I said, sounding very low.

“thanks.” she said.

No one spoke a word after that for next one hour. She was busy with her iPod and I was with my novel when suddenly she asked,” What happened Gaurav? Why are you so quiet?”

“Nothing”, I said.

She kept on asking again and again but I’d the same answer until she got irritated and said,” you are telling me or not?”

“Its of no use dear. You can’t do anything about it.” I said and rightly so. I loved her and she loved someone else whom she was going to marry.

“Well, let me make 3 guesses.” She said in a very naughty tone and I agreed.

“Ok. Hmmmmmmm. You didn’t enjoy with me at Bangalore?” she asked.

I nodded my head straight away. Both of us knew that this wasn’t the reason. I thought she was just trying to change my mood.

“thennnn. U didn’t like Raghav?”

Now she was coming to the point. This was somewhat the reason but not the exact one.

“Hey. He’s quite good yaar and both of u make a nice couple. And it’s your life; I don’t have to marry him. So, last guess now.” I replied.

“Then… you’ve a liking for me?” She said smiling.

I was caught. In fact clean bowled. She’d hit the bull eye. I turned red. I tried my level best to control my expressions and said,”No way yaar. I don’t like to call engaged nos.”

“ohhhhh. Mr. Gaurav keswani think about it again.”

I had to admit it now. And this time she laughed. I asked the reason but again she laughed. I was perplexed at her enigmatic laugh. Finally she spoke.

“You know what my stupid.”

“What?” I inquired filled with curiosity.

“Raghav and I are just friends you dumb.”

She broke into chuckles again. I was confused and even I’d started smiling now and finally started laughing with her.

This time I held her and said, “I love you Geetha.”

“I love you too stupid. And did all this coz I know that you were not going to propose me easily” She replied.

We both fell in each other’s arms and waited for our destination. Finally Geetha was mine. It was the happiest day of my life. We reached Mysore campus and again got busy into our same daily routine: attending the classes, completing assignments, studying in the class after dinner, going for long walks and kissing each other when ever we got chance. I always used to thank god for the life he’d given me. Modules tests came and went. I kept on getting ‘A’ grades and she somehow managed to clear them. Both of us were quite happy. We made a few trips with Varun and Ganmeet to Ooty, Coorg and Mangalore which was Geetha’s home town. We met her parents there who were very humble but her little sister was naughty like her.

Now we had entered the last month of our training. Shortly we were going to have our comprehensive exam which was a mixture of all the modules which we’d studied so far. It also included a practical exam in which we’d to complete a project within 3 hours and it was the toughest thing especially for someone like Geetha. The day for compre came. All of us cleared it but Geetha. Both of us were very depressed. Now she’d to appear for it again. Actually compre is the most important part of the training. If you don’t clear it your training won’t complete. Now retest was the only hope for her.

Retest was the very next day. We were going to classroom after dinner. And suddenly she started crying.

“Gaurav. I really love you.” She said.

“I love you too sweetu. Don’t cry. Everything would be ok. I’m there for you. I won’t let you flunk again.” I consoled her.

“No. I will because there’s no way out. And we’ll be separated forever. ”

“No dear. It won’t ever happen” I said and took her in my arms.

“Gaurav. Can you do something for me?” She asked.

“Of course my love. My whole life is yours.” I said.

“You’ll have to sit along with me tomorrow. You know every one does it. Meenal’s boyfriend helped her out that’s why she cleared. I hope Even I can expect this much from my love.” She said.

I was drowned into deep thinking because it was really risky, In fact very risky. We could’ve been thrown out of the company if caught. But on the other side was my love. What I would do in the company without her because if she fails she’d be out, I thought. Then I just looked into matter carefully that these people never count the number of candidates appearing for a test and how many are extra. Then I thought that I’ll sit on another system and complete the project and submit on Geetha’s employee id.

The day came; we all were sitting in the class room. I was sitting a bit far from her and finally we got the project. It was not at all tough for me. I started working on it and had completed almost half when Srikkanth.M entered into the classroom. He was our batch owner, just like a class teacher in schools. Don’t know how but he’d got the report that no. of candidates appearing were more than the no. in the list. I was shocked. It was a dead end to my career. Coming time won’t be easy for me and I’ll have to face a lot, I thought. I look at Geetha’s face. She was looking as lovely and innocent as ever. But she too was badly shocked. But don’t know why, I wasn’t afraid. Love had given me a special courage and I was doing it for my love, no one else. So what if I’m caught. Srikkanth knew me quite well as I was among those who’d got 100/100 in his module, java. He looked at me straight away and called me.

Srikkanth himself was shocked when he found me as the culprit. But he was helpless as company is very strict against the cheating cases. He asked me again and again the name of the guy for whom I’m screwing up my career. But how would’ve I named my love. I didn’t speak a word. He insisted again and again that Infosys needed brains like me but I would not listen. Finally he gave up and reported to HR department. The same question was asked again and again from me but my love was the most important thing in the world for me now. They then asked me to write a resignation letter and I did the same. I was fired.

Someone’s strange voice hit my ears and came out of the world of my thoughts. I was still sitting on the footpath and looking at the trees and the birds.

“Come on sir. Sit in the cart.” Cart driver said.

“Oh yes. Lets go.” I replied and left the campus and the company for ever.

Now you all must be having one question your mind. That what about Geetha? Geetha cleared the exam. I think I had taught her enough and rest she cheated from the guy who was sitting next to her. I waited for her call after the incident but she didn’t. I called her but she didn’t attend my call. And most interesting thing is that it has been 8 months since that incident but we never had a talk.

IBU Switch vs Job Switch

2008-06-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

Life is quite strage. It takes you though paths which you would have never thought of in your wildest dreams. I always wonder how different my life would have been if I had joined Infosys on 11th June 2007 (initial joining) instead of 26th November 2007 (extended joining). Life is full of "What if..." questions. Every turn we take makes a huge difference in what lies ahead. But then its fun. :)

Hmm.... got carries away from the topic. Coming back, we find software engineers in our day to day life who has switched jobs frequently. Some 2 jobs in a year, some 3 in 2 years and so on. But have you heard of a guy who has switched three IBUs (Integrated Business Unit) in 6 months??? :O Well thats me :D

A IBU in Infosys is the horizontals (departments) that you work in. There is BCM (Banking & Capital Markets), PED (Product Engineering), IHL, PLES, ES, SETLabs blah blah blah. Once you are into a IBU, its very difficult to move into another. Then how did I do it? Nope, wrong guss.... they didnt throw me out of the IBU :P

It so happened that on the day of release at Enterprise Solutions (ES) where I was trained in EAI-TIBCO, my mentor informed me that I am being moved to MTC as per order from corporate HR. Having finished my engineering in chennai, teh only definition I knew for MTC was Metropolitan Transport Corporation which is basically the govt buses. :D My eyes opened wide when I came to know that MTC was actually Microsoft Technology Center; the R&D dept of Infosys specialising in latest Microsoft Technologies. Somehow thogh relation with Microsoft, Naveen Kumar head of MTC-PCC came to know of my relationship with Microsoft in my college days as Microsoft Student Partner.

I was shifted from ES to MTC with ease since it was a transfer initiated at corporate level. I was also given the choice to choose from Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune as posting locations (a privilage enjoyed by few ;) ). Have never visted home for teh past 133 days, I didnt have to think twice before choosing Bangalore. (a decision which I think I should have though twice of; believe me, its a crap city). Anwyay, I joined MTC on March 13th, 2008 and started working on VSTS and TFS. I played around with those tools and even Rosario (VSTS 2010) for nearly two months. (I did work on few other stuff which cannot be mentioned here).

One fine evening when I was listening to the songs of Race on my comp, Prashanth (Sr. Software Architect) asked me whether I would be willing to go to Mysore for 2months for consulting. Beleive me, at that moment I was speechless and nervous. Speechless bcoz project consulting normally happens after 2 year experience in a product and nervous bcoz I have been playing with it only for about 2 month and I started wondering if I did go, how badly would I scew up the project. After much assurance from Naveen and Prashanth, I finally decided to go. After all, how long will you keep studying & researching; you have to apply your knowledge somehwere.

Finally here I am sitting in 3rd floor A wing of SDB 3 (picture above) happily composing this post. :) And yes, this is my third IBU which is BCM. After this project gets over, I will be abck at MTC. Project is going on well and whatever I did for 2 months at MTC is coming handy. But I have a feeling that I will be at Mysore for more that 2 months. I dont really mind as long as Infosys given me accomodation here. ;) Its 5:15pm now and for the first time I am into this project, I will be going to my room before 9pm. :D Got to go... buh bye.. have a nice day :)

Great Indian Developer Summit- Live!

2008-05-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

I am here at IISC, Bangalore for the Great Indian Developer Summit at Bangalore. I will be attending .net tracks on 19th-20th and Web track on 21st May. But alas, I have missed 19th track due to a project meeting. WIll have to go thourgh the DVD given out at the end of 3rd day to see the sessions that happened yesterday.

Anyway, currently I am in the main hall attending the track- "Increasing Developer Prodcutivity" by Erik Doernenburg. For more details log on to http://www.developersummit.com.

Great Indian Developer Summit- Live!

2008-05-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

Blogging from mobile

2008-03-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

This is my first post from my Motorokr E6. I guss i will have to blog from here until my economy improves to afford an internet connection or Infosys unblocks wordpess. :P If you have a GPRS enabled phone, you can also blog by visiting http://m.wordpess.com.
Right now I am at Banglore and in my next few posts I will talk about my journey so far from Chennai to Banglore via Mysore and Hyderabad. Also a bit about the recent turn of events that landed me into the exciting work I do here. ;)

A sleepless night

2008-03-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

You must be wondering how a dead lazy guy like me managed to wake up so early and write a blog post at 6am in the morning. Lets rewind a day back; Yesterday was our POST project evaluation. POST project is a kind of mock project which has to be completed by a team of trainees. This is part of training program.

Anyway, as usual I skipped breakfast yesterday. Lunch became a distinct dream due to uncertainty of the time slot at which our project evaluation was to happen. The evaluation went well and got over by 6pm. Luckily a good friend of mine had brought some yummy sweets from her home in Mysore. After gobbling up a few of those, I went back to my room deciding to make up for the lost sleep for the past week. After setting the alarm to 9pm, I slept peacefuly dreaming about the lavish dinner I was about to have.

I woke up few hours later only to find that the time was already 10:20pm and that the food courts were already empty. !#$%^&*() Unable to find anything to eat, I drank a pet bottle of coke and played on my lappy & mobile for few hours. At 3 am I finally decided to sleep. The 'kurnl-on' matress didnt do any good in getting me the much needed sleep. I kept rolling on the bed in search of sleep only to realise that the time was already 5am. So here I am in office at 6am in the morning, well dressed and ready for a new day.

PS: Its really nice to see how the nature looks so 'early' in the morning. :P

Not applicable?

2008-02-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

If you have taken an Infosys written test as a fresher, you would familiar with a booklet which you are supposed to fill up before taking the test. You need to fill in every detail including your 10th, 12th and BTech marks. But most important of all is the First, Middle and Last name that needs to be filled.

Few days back a friend of mine told me about a incident that happend at his college during his Infosys recruitment drive. A guy, lets call him 'Anoop Muralidharan' was confused what needs to be filled for the middle name column. The invigilater suggested that he write down 'Not applicable'. When the list of those selected was out, he was indeed one of the future Infosions.

Few months later the offer letter arrived at the college which beared his name neatly printed on the header..... 'Anoop NA Muralidharan'.

Back to blogging...

2008-02-17T03:40:00.000-08:00

I know, I know... its been a long time since I have been away from blogging. Stepping into corporate life did take its time to get adjusted with I guess. ;) Anyway here I am back to blogging. There are lots of things to talk about my experiences at Infosys since Nov 2007. Just check out this space for all those interesting things. :)

Btw you might be wondering what I am doing in office on a sunday evening. There are a few planning to be done for the POST project starting this wednesday for which I am the... ehmm... so called Project Manager (PM) :P Now the real reason is that I dont have anything better to do right now. The only weekend task for this week was to watch Jodha Akbar which was completed successfully yesterday itself. I guess thats it for now... will be back soon. Happy reading... :)

To 'Infy'nity and beyond...

2007-11-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

This is my last post for this season from United States Of Tamilnadu... future posts will follow from Republic Of Karnataka. :P Finally the day has come where I am about to travel a new path in life. I am exited, happy, sad, filled with expectations... its all in the game called life. :) We hide so we can be found, we walk away to see who will follow, we cry to see who will wipe away our tears and we let our hearts get broken to see who will come and fix it.

Orkutting there is out of question, but keep scrapping coz I will have something to do on mobile when I am bored in class. :D Access to blogging, gtalk and yahoo will be available only after I get my permanent employee access card which is available only a week after I join. Strange, considering we get the ICICI credit card with our salary account the same evening we join.

As you know its the worlds biggest and finest training facility with excellent infrastructure. Naah... I am not boasting, its not my own company anyway. :P So if any of you would like to visit the campus on saturday/sunday with family/friends, feel free to contact me in the number that will be updated in my orkut profile shortly. Here is a small video for you of the place where I would be spending the next few months.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQOaQizTntE]

Take care, keep in touch. :)

The mystery of "Tanya"

2007-11-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

The 'worst' best thing that could happen to anyone is having two important events on the same day at the same time. We were faced with a similar situation Microsoft China conducted Mobile Development Seminar at Le Royal Meridian, Chennai and Microsoft India conducted Windows Vista Launch at Taj Coromandel.
Shard said he would accompany me if I was going to mobile coz he was more interested in that. Even I decided to go for that over vista launch coz I had already attended Vista launch for architects a week back and also I had never tasted the food at Meridian. :P Anyway, myself and sharad arrived at Le Meriden early morning with the wrong ticket. We had bought the ticket for Vista launch. Paid 50 rupees for each printout at the hotel and finally the event started.
The Chinese pronunciation of english was very difficult to follow and needless to say, the first session was amazingly boring. He was just reading out from the PowerPoint slides and we couldn't even doze coz we were in the 1st row. :( After a while we noted that he was using the name "Tanya" quite often; atleast once in evey two sentence. The only "Tanya" we knew was the name of a female character in the game Red Alert we were playing back then. To have our piece of fun in this boring session, we came up with our own ideas.

Me: Ye bandha hamesha "Tanya" ka naam kyon le raha hai. (why is he always using the name Tanya?)
Sharad: Could be fullstop in chinese.
Me: or could be his girlfriend/wife back in China. Poor guy is missing her badly. :'(
Sharad: Could be a red alert fan himself
Me: or could mean water in Chinese. Someone give him aquafina.
Sharad: Seriously what is Tanya?
Me: Absolutely no idea.
Sharad: Try to follow what he is telling and we will figure it out
Me: ok will try.

The next line on the power point read ".....Windows mobile version 6 based on the development platform Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (read as Dot Net)". When he arrived at that particular line, he read "....Windows mobile version 6 based on the development platfrom Microsoft Visual Studo 'Tanya' ". :D Finally the mystry was cracked. It appears dot-net is pronounced as "Tan-nyet"; 't' silent. :P

CTS HR's vs Microsoft Student Partner

2007-11-22T03:36:00.000-08:00

A flashback!!!

Location: RMD Engineering college
Day: Sunday

The venue is all set for Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) campus interview. Student who have arrived early at the campus are tensed, worried and preparing hard. Some gentlemen who arrive at the college gates and identify themselves as HR's of CTS. The security sees that some of them are wearing T-Shirts and calls the management. The management strictly says that T-shirts are prohibited in RMD and RMK engineering colleges. So unless the HRs wore formal shirts, they cant enter the campus for conducting the interview. Angry they said that CTS would never come for interview in those two colleges anymore and went away.

Fast forward!!!

Location: RMD Engineering college
Day: Sunday

I arrive at the college as a representative of Microsoft to take session for their students; there were nearly 20 of us and others were already inside. (how I managed to reach the college is another story, will tell that sometime later)Unfortunately I was not aware of the above mentioned incident and was wearing a Microsoft T-shirt. The security stops me and enquire who I am. I show my card with says "Microsoft Student Partner" and inform him that I have come to take session. He calls the management and inform them that a guy has come from Microsoft to take session, but that he is wearing TShirt. Without any more questions, they promptly allowed me inside the campus. :D
Needless to say, the other 19 friends who had come to take session were wearing formal shirts coz they knew about how strict the college was! I enjoyed a good time being the centre of attraction probably because I was the first living soul to enter that campus wearing a Tshirt. :D:P

Brandname Microsoft always wins!!! :P

Why Tata Indicomm sucks...

2007-11-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

Internet has always been one of the essential things for me to survive. A day without Internet is like a day without oxygen as far as I am concerned. This is the story about a time when I moved from my home at TNagar to a home at Tambaram with my friends since my parents had got transferred. Our new home was a brand new classic flat with 76 families. It had the perfect atmosphere... swings, lawns, gardens everything. But the only problem was that the only internet provider in that locality was Tata Indicomm (originally VSNL). Finally in a week we applied for Tata Indicomm postpaid special plan according to which we were supposed to pay 4 months advance of Rs3000 and need not pay installation charge or advance for a speed of 128kbps unlimited.

Things went well for the first month. Then the problems started; there would be frequent down time. Even if we call the customer care (not a toll free number) they would take days to rectify it. We didnt have any other choice coz Airtel still didnt have coverage in that area and BSNL needed lots of formalities. There problems were bearable until the 4 months got over and the billing cycle started.

After the 5th month a guy from Tata Indicomm came to collect bill. He told us that only cheque was acceptable. All of us had a bank account without a cheque book. So he said that he will write a cheque in his account and collected the money. 6th month billing cycle came and we took a DD to pay the amount. A few days later our Internet connection went down. We called the local Tata office (the customer care was in Hyderabad and calling them was waste of money and time. They had no clue what we were talking about). We told our id and they told us that there has been a cable cut and they were rectifying it. 2 days passed and still no sign of internet. We were totally frustrated now coz most part of our mini project was based on internet. Sharad was doing IBM great mind challenge and I was creating an API for Flickr.com in Ruby. We called them up again and this time they told us that we haven't paid the bill. We insisted that we had paid the bill and told them the DD number. They told us that they never got it. That evening we went to bank to find out. The very next day we had paid the bill, Tata had encashed it.

All of us went to a STD booth after having tea in the evening and called them up. Initially Sharad talked iwth them in english and they were shouting back in tamil the usual stories. Frustrated I grabbed the phone and yelled back in tamil. Sharad, my rommates, the water delievery guy who was running the phone booth all were awstuck looking at me talk fluently in tamil. At the end of the "conversation" I kept/slammed down the phone and told Sharad "Internet connection has been restored". Sharad said "I didnt have any clue that you could talk tamil fluently". I replied "Neighther did I. Plus neighther me, nor they had any idea what I was talking about" :P . Then came the 6th month billing cycle which we promptly paid. Few days after that internet connection again went down. This time too they kept saying cable cut story for a few days until we realised that this was once again a bill not recieved thing. This time we caught two trains and went to Tata office at Chetpet two times. Turns out the 5th month bill which was paid though Tata's cheque had bounced and they wanted us to pay fine for the bounced cheque. How on earth were we supposed to pay fine for their cheque in the first place? Anyway the people at Chetpet turned out to have a little bit of commonsense than those at Tambaram and the whole problem was rectified.

A few weeks later news came that Airtel Broadband came to the locality. The day we took airtel connection, we called up Tata and told that we would like to discontinue their service. That was one of the memorable days for me. :) It felt so good telling them that we no longer needed their service. After a lot of winning about how their service was best in spite of the frequent down time, wrong billing, never caring customer care, we finally had them come and take away their equipments. Airtel broadband was one of the best experience we had ever since.

About a month later a call came from Tata Indicomm. They said that I have not paid the internet bill for the month. I told them that I had disconnected their service long back. They would always say that they would checkup and call back later. This thing continued for a next few days. It was similar to those annoying caller tune calls. They would call up at the most unexpected time. Anyway since I had all the bills and letter that I had surrendered the modem, I didnt have anything to worry about. So when they kept calling I did have my piece of fun. This was one of the last conversation we had before I left Chennai. I had their number stored in my cell and I knew it was them.

Caller: Hello is this Prathul?
Me: Yes
Caller: You have not paid the internet bill
Me: Really? how sweet :)
Caller: huh? (pause for 1 min wondering what to say next)
Caller: Your internet bill for this month is pending. We have cut your internet connection.
Me: I paid my bill yesterday and my internet is working fine. Thankyou
Caller: No, you internet is down for a week. Your id prathul86 right.
Me: Which Id? College id or passport id?
Caller: But sir tata indicomm didnt get any bill for this month from you.
Me: Tata Indicomm? Why should I pay Tata Indicomm when I use Airtel.
(the same ususal converstion continues. At the end...)
Caller: ok we will...
Me: ...check it up right?
Caller: ya
Me: As usual...
Caller: Sorry to disturb you
Me: Oh no no. Dont be sorry. You will be calling me back tomorrow.

They didnt call back ever again. Later I left chennai and went to Madurai where my parents had got transferred to. A few weeks later they started calling again. This time the fequency of calls was high and much annoying. They would call me when I am in roaming at Hyderbad, Kerala or anywhere else. One day I was in the middle of serious and hectic business. Suddenly the phone rang.

Caller: Hello, is this Prathul.
Me: Yes. Tata Indicomm bill? You called yesterrday right.
Caller: Yes
Me: And didnt I explain that I have paid all bills and didnt I give you the bill number too?
Caller: Yes
Me: Also I gave you the DD number for all the bills I paid, didnt I?
Caller: Yes
Me: So whats the problem now?
Caller: You havent paid in the bill.
Me: Which bill?
Caller: July bill.
Me: I cancelled my internet connection in May. How do you expect me to pay July bill. I have all documents that I had cancelled you service in May. If you want you can come and have a look.
Caller: But you have to pay.
Me: (having crossed the breakdown point) Ok you know what? I havent paid your bill for the past one year. I have no interntion of paying it too. Feel free to file a case against me. Now if you call me one more time, I am going to file a case against you. Goodbye.

Havent heard from them ever since...

Long lost rambling

2007-11-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

I was browing though some of my old stuff and came across my school diary. I had done lot of ramblings and amongst them I found this long lost story and a poem. All the people who had read it so far liked it, hope you like it too. :)

10^th Grade

As I sat in the English class
I stared at the girl next to me
She was my so called “best friend”
I stared at her long, silky hair
And wished she was mine
But she didn’t notice me like that
And i knew it....
After class, se walked upto me and
Asked me for notes
She had missed them the day before
I handed them to her
She said “thanks” and left...
I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know
That I don’t want to be just friends,
I love her but I’m too shy,
And I don’t know why...
The phone rang on the other end
It was her... She was in tears
Mumbling on and on about how her
love had broke her heart
She asked me to come over because
She didn’t want to be alone, so I did
As I sat next to her on the sofa,
I stared at her soft eyes, wishing she was mind
After 2 hours, one Drew Barrymore movie
And three bags of chips, She decided to go home
She looked at me, said “thanks” and left...
I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know
That I don’t want to be just friends,
I love her but I’m too shy,
And I don’t know why...

2nd Year

One fine day she walked to my locker
“My date is sick” she said “her not gonna go well”
I didn’t have a date, and in 7th grade
We made a promise that if neighther of us had dates
We would go together “just as friends”
So we did... that night, after the party was over
I was standing at her front door step
I stared at her as she smiled at me
And stared at me with her “Crystal Eyes”
Then she said-“I had the best time, thanks” and left...
I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know
That I don’t want to be just friends,
I love her but I’m too shy,
And I don’t know why...

Graduation
A day passed, then a week, then a month
Before I could blink, it was graduation day
I wateched her as her perfect body floated like an angel
Up on the stage to get her diploma
I wanted her to be min, but
She didn’t notice me like that, and I knew it
Before everyone went home
She came to me in her smock and hat
And cried as i hugged her
Then she lifted her head from my shoulder
And said-“you are my best friend, thanks” and left...
I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know
That I don’t want to be just friends,
I love her but I’m too shy,
And I don’t know why...

Marriage

Now i sat in the pews of the church
That girl is getting married now
And drive off to her new life,
Married to another man,
I wanted her to be mine
But she didn’t see me like that, and I knew it...
Before she drove away,
She came to me and said “You came!”
She said “Thanks” and left

Death

Years passed, I looked down the coffin
Of a girl who used to be my “best friend”
At the service they read a diary entry
She had wrote in her hight school years
This is what it read:
“I stare at him wishing he was mine
But he doesn’t notice me like that,
And I know it, I want to tell him
Want him to know that
I don’t want to be friends,
I love him but I’m too shy,
And I don’t know why...
I wish he would tell me that he loved me!”

...I wish I did too
I thought to myself and cried...

Do yourself a favour, Tell him/her you love them....
They woun’t be there forever...

******************************************
******************************************
******************************************
and this poem too :)

I lie awake at night
See things in black and white
Ive only got you in my mind
You knw you have made me blind
I lie awake and pray
That you will look my way
Ive all this singing in my heart
I knew it right from start

I used to write your name
And put it in a frame
And sometimes I think I hear you call
Right from my bedroom wall
You stay a little while
And touch me with your smile
And what can I say to make you mine
To reach out for you in time

An Intro to Hindi

2007-11-19T06:51:00.000-08:00

This is about a time when I didnt know ABCD of Hindi at Cochin. I had got admission into Kendriya Vidyalaya when I was in 4th std and hindi is one of the compulsory subjects in all KVs. My neighbour who was studying in college told my mom that she would teach me learn hindi. She would jump across the wall and come to my home every day evening to teach me. Anyway she did a very good job and in no time I found hindi easy to handle. To help me with the learning process, most of my friends were from north India coz the school was inside Southern Naval Command.

Coming to the main story, it was the unit test 1 in hindi (UT-1). We were supposed to change gender. I had noticed that changing gender was easy in hindi for most of the words. :) You need to change the "-cha" sound to "-chi". For example "Bacha=Bachi". There were totally 10 questions. I knew the first 9 very well, but got stuck at the 10th one. When it was time to submit papers I made a wild guess and submitted my paper.

Days later when the paper was being give out, I had scored 39/40. :D My hindi teacher called me to the front and asked me to change gender of "Raja" (king). I blinked coz that was the question for which I had made a guess. I gathered courage and told the answer I had written in front of the class- "Raji"!!! :D

An Unfinished Story...

2007-11-17T20:39:00.001-08:00

It was 4:30am and I decided to write a story. I felt that the post "When time stopped" didn't capture the magic of the moment as I expected it to coz lets face it; I suck at story writing. If by any chance my dear cousin sister Meera is reading this, pardon me... but I guess I didn't get the same writers blood as yours (I am A+ve :P). Anyway to prove that I really suck at this I decided to write another one true from heart.

Disclaimer:

The characters in this story named "An Unfinished Story..." may or maynot resemble anyone living, dead or about to die of heart attack after reading this work of fiction. If you find that your part of life has been stolen and manipulated in the following story, you have the rights reserved to file a petition in Honourable Supreme Court of Antartica. I take no responsibility for any mental damage, allergy to short stories, peak use of foul language that may occur after reading the following creation. The story has been provided with a disclaimer which you are reading now and at the end of the story, dont tell me that I didnt warn you.

Reviews:

Anitha (friend): "Wonderful story, i slammed my head on the moniter so hard that my dad had to buy me a new one"

Aditi (friend): "Made me go speechless!!! I haven't talked to him for a week now after reading this crap"

Shady (friend):"Narayanamoorthy would never know what's coming towards his company"

Baalu (milkman): "I read the story to my cow. Its now shivering with fever and gives me icecream instead of milk everyday."

Vijay (friend and singer): "Now i realise why my life is peaceful after he left the flat"

HOD (college): "I am very much pround to say that a student of my department has achived something that no one has ever done before. I watched his perfomance in the movie "Kabhi Intel, Kabhi AMD" hundred times and should say havent come across a better movie in my life. His role as Amitabs son was just mind blowing" (Me: What movie??? Whatever...)

An Unfinished Story...

by "You Know Who"

The hot sun shone through the white curtains of Rohan's bedroom. He turned over in bed, ignoring the sun's wake up call. Not to be ignored, it shone into a mirror standing right to his futon, reflecting a bright glare onto his sleepy eyes. Rohan had barely slept for the past five days. Rohan was confused, worried and in a dilemma. In fact this issue was driving him crazy. He was not a typical flirt who would have a crush on any other girl. He was highly matured for his age and knew exactly what to do with his life. He had it all planned... career, family, you name it... only thing he had not thought about was his love life. After all what's there so much to think about? It happens at random and there is absolutely no predictability. But it's not that he had not experienced any romance in life. It happened twice over years in school and college. In school an angel shot the arrow of love that went right thought his heart at a time when he knew absolutely nothing on the subject. All his knowledge those times were from the fancy movies where the heroes always had a heroine no matter what. He had to figure out the meaning of love from this relationship. And needless to say, it didn't last long. After all final year of high school is not much time to figure things out. Having failed at it, he decided not to try it again... but within himself he was overconfident that he had mastered the art of romance and the second relationship would prove him completely wrong. The second one started almost unexpectedly in college. Initially just as friends, and slowly into a deep one. It took them few ups & downs and 3 years to figure out that it was not going anywhere. Still they tried their best coz they didn't want to break each others heart. It was his sister's marriage with the guy she loved that became an eye opener. All the problems at home and the issues with marriage was too much for him to handle. At one point he cursed the one who initially came up with the idea of marriage in human history. They had already figured it out that the relationship would end up back in friendship which is where is started in the first case. Finally at the end of college they went their own way into corporate life. 3 years of relationship was not easy to forget, it did take its time. And when it finally did, he decided no matter what, he is not going to have one more relationship until he gets settled in life. And as Rohan had planned, he had a handsome job offer with him and would be flying to the new city in a few days. Things were going very well until he met this girl.

He thought it would be just another girl he meets on the internet with similar interests. But within a week he realised that this was more of that. To fall in love in a week??? Rohan was not someone who believed it love at first sight. For him love at first sight was something used in movies just because the director was not creative enough. He believed that the fancy word 'crush' suited best in such circumstances. But somewhere down his heart he knew it wasn't a crush, nor was it love at first sight. It was something more fundamental than love, something more basic that had to come first before love could develop which would lay the foundation. Instinctively, intuitively he knew she was right for him. But still he couldn't understand why this was happening to him. The girl has been in his head for the past five days. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, this is the only thing that he could think of. Even thought this was the first time it was happening to him, he was trying his best to fight it in all possible ways. But the photos of the girl he had in his mobile which he copied from her online Flickr album was not helping much. The girl was perfect for him... she had a lovely smile, jovial, humorous, mature, and had her life well planned. 'Izumi Mizukio' he thought, which in Japanese means, "beautiful fountain of pure water." And it's no wonder, for her eyes are so blue that they put the sea to shame. He had fell into her beautiful spell too quickly. But then what haunted him is the fact that he did have friends all his life who had all these qualities. He knew them very well but still didn't have feelings for them. Then why this girl whom he had met barely a week back? What's so special about her? Whenever the girl came to his mind he would say that this thing is going to go off in another minute, after all I am a Gemini, my mood keeps changing. Unfortunately for him his Gemini theory didn't work well here. The thoughts of the girl stayed and that has been the only thing in his heart for the past 5 days. He had not met her directly, he didn't know much about her, he didn't get much chance to speak with her, but yet the thoughts of her kept haunting her. He never chose his friends by appearance; he chose them by the beauty of their heart. Hence he was not sure whether she was beautiful or not, but from the things he knew about her so far, she was the most beautiful girl by heart he had ever known and that's all mattered to him.

Unable to make a decision of his own, he consulted his friends. The fact is that his friends working abroad were worried seeing him online during the most unexpected hours. Luckily for him he had chosen his friends wisely and he did expect some quality suggestions. His friends loved him coz he really cared for them. If you were in trouble or needed help, Rohan was the first guy you would turn to. "You're crazy!!! What would you call such a relation? Its just an infatuation" some tried to change his min. But Rohan always had his own reasons "Some relations in this world doesn't have a name and this is one of them". One of his close friend did make him feel better after about four hours of conversation. But the end of the four hours his friend said to him-"Listen to your heart". He listened to his heart and it shouted back-"You love her". Even his ex-girlfriend called to tell him how lucky the girl is to have found someone like him. But he was still feeling terrible about himself. He was having these wonderful thoughts all the time about the most amazing girl he had ever met and couldn't even tell her. He had run out of time to know her better. He couldn't decide what had to be done. "God help me! I am in love with her" he prayed and that was all he could do now.

He was moving to a new city far far away in a few days. And it's really going to be a long time until it's time for him to get married. Should he tell her? If he does and her response is not positive, he would lose her forever. A chance of a negative reply was definitely more... common, it's been just a week and every girl has her own feelings. He wouldn't definitely be heartbroken coz over the years he had become mature enough to respect his partner in a relationship. It's no wonder that his female friends said his wife would be a lucky girl. Is this the girl he wanted to spend the rest of the life... yes he would say and for a reason unknown to him. Now if the girl says yes, then he will be gone for his job for a few years. They would be hurt badly due to this distance and he didn't want any problem to come to her because of him. Maybe he would wait for the right time to come. He would stay in touch with her, get settled in life and when the time is ripe if she is still single... propose her. By the time even she would have settled in life plus they would have known each other well for the girl to take the best decision. Do you expect her to be single then was the question he faced from most of his friends who wanted him to express his love before he leaves. "I don't know, if she's the one meant for me, she'll always be there for me" he would reply with a smile.

He spent the final days making the most of the moment. He had the feelings pressed and locked up inside his heart for rest of the days. And at the end of week he said bye to her and left to the new city with a promise to keep in touch. Will the girl ever come to know about her secret admirer? Will Rohan get his princess when his time comes after years? Is his waiting going to pay off? Even if it does, will she be single then? After all will she accept him? I really don't know coz I am off to Mysore on 24th November to tame the wilds of digital data. Fortunately for you, they don't pay me to write stories there. But I am sure that Rohan will keep his little secret until the apt time arrives. And maybe years later he would express his love and maybe then I would complete this story. So till then, wish me luck dear friends and do keep in touch...

An Unfinished Story...

2007-11-17T20:39:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer:

Reviews:

An Unfinished Story...

by "You Know Who"

The day I got "married"...

2007-11-14T01:21:00.000-08:00

31st July 2007: College days were long over. Sharad had left to Kharagpur to join his new job and I was left back with 3 of my juniors at room coz I had booked my ticket for a few days later. One fine morning I opened my gmail account to find a weird mail which read "Welcome to Shaadi.com Prathul". Curious I opened it to find a Shaadi.com profile in my name. Someone had decided to play a prank on the prankster!!! Luckily it was created by a friend coz the profile was good enough. It said I was 25 year old Hindu Keralite working for Infosys Technologies. Last time someone had created a profile of Sharad, he was getting marriage requests from handsome men coz the guy who created his profile had given his gender as female. He didn't do anything about it other than spam it and kept getting 1-2 requests each day. I wonder whether he is getting those even today.

Coming back to my story, I couldnt login to Shaadi.com coz I didnt have the password. I tried forgot password and luckily for me, the guy had used my correct date of birth. After getting a new password I changed my mobile number to something random. Next I started hunting for a way to delete the profile. But unfortunately on all matrimonial sites, you can only create profiles. To delete them, you need to mail customer relations. I left it there coz the password hunting had took a lot of time and it was already noon; hence I went for lunch. When I came back I found 4 new responses to my profile!!! 3 keralites and 1 punjabi. Two of the keralites and the punjabi was really cute, the fourth one didnt have a photo. Wonder why the punjabi decided to marry a keralite. Seeing the photos I got proposals from, I thought how nice it would have been if I was really getting married.. lols. But then I have had enough and decided to mail the customer relations of Shaadi.com. Hence I composed the following mail and submitted through their website. Ofcourse I was outrageous for having gone though a tough time guessing my password:

=====================

Hi,
Somebody created my fake profile in your system and now I am getting lots of responses. I didnt get any username or pass to my mail and hence I couldnt delete my profile while logging in. I managed to get my password though "Fogrot Password" and thereafter logged in and deleted my mobile number.

I am 21 years old and is not considering marriage in near future. Anyway considering the responses I am getting from your system, i would consider it when time comes.

Please delete my profile and also is it possible for me to know the IP address from which the profile was created?

Suggestion:
When someone registers, send them a confirmation message to their mail id before conforming registration.

=====================

My roomates had alreay known about the issue and the news had soon spread from person to person. The news spread so fast that by the time it reached Sharad, it had lost the original story. This is an actual copy of my conversation with sharad that took place on gtalk.

sharad: chiru bol raha hai tera engagement ho gaya??.
4:35 PM me: abe ruk saale
yahan pe unsubscribe option nahi mil raha hai
sharad: ruka hi to hoon. tu mat kar
4:39 PM me: faltu log hai. Unsubscribe option hi nahi hai
tere ko aaj kal proposals nahi aa raha hai kya?
sharad: kya proposals
me: pahle tere ko bhi aa raha tha na?
sharad: oh woh... ab nahi aa raha
4:51 PM me: he he
naya idea mil gaya
profile change to nahi kar saktha, lekin edit kar saktha hai
maclean ka email id pata hai? (Again, evil me. I planned to change the email in my profile to Maclean's email id so that all proposals goes to him. Btw Maclean was my prime suspect behind the whole thing.)
=====================

By evening news had spread that I got married and friends in gtalk were bombaring me with question like "How on earth did it happen?","Whats wrong with you?","Congragulations!!!","Really?","Finally!!!","Which unlucky girl are you getting married to?", blah blah blah. Thank goodness, by evening Shaadi.com responded to my request and deleted my profile and send me the following mail. Click the link below to see it.

http://www.shaadi.com/customer_relations/matrimonial_help/call.php?id=1002924&temp=20070731031005

At the end of the day I had marriage proposals from 3 cute girls and also the knowledge about the best martimonial site out there to get quick responses from brides as well as customer support... Shaadi.com indeed!!!

Its Raining, Raining :D... OH NO!!! :(

2007-11-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

I miss rains ever since I moved to Tamilnadu. Rains in kerala were so common sometimes we got fed up with it. Not only the smart electricity board found it as a wonderful reason to save electricity the moment the first drop touched the ground, they were careful enough to keep the receiver of their phone away from cradle to avoid enquiry calls.

But then one year "Varuna devan" decided that people like me are taking rains for granted and decided not to give any more, at least in Palakkad. May was long over and still no sign of any rain. But to show my protest to god, I carried umbrella every day to school. (atleast my mother made me to[:(]) To reach my school KV Kanjikode, we had to get down at the bus stop and walk a few meters down the tarred road on the left. The road was a short cut to Malampuza and we could see 4 hills one after the other as we walk towards the school. One fine morning as usual after getting down from 'NMN bus', myself, Karthik and Rohit was walking towards school. Suddenly Karthik let out a cry of joy:

KarthiK: LOOK!!!!! RAINNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

We looked towards the mountain and saw it raining there. Finally god has caved in... I felt proud. [:D] The rain was dense and it was now over the 4th mountain. I could say the visibility there was absolutely zero.

Me: Look at that. You can barely see through it.
Rohit: Wow!!! Isn't it amazing.. first rain of the year![:D]
Karthik: Look how fast its moving, its now over 3rd hill
Me: Yeah its coming towards us really fast... [:)]
Rohit:Cool... its now over the 2nd hill
Me: Hey the 1st hill is also under rain. Its coming really fast!

Suddenly Karthik panics...

Karthik: Aren't we forgetting something?
Rohit: What?
Me: OH OH!!! GET AN UMBRELLA!!!!!!!!
Karthik: Fool you are having it...
Me: Huh? oh..ok....Damn...

Inspite of the violent struggle with the bag to get the umrealla out, by the time it opened the critical point was long over. The three of us walked drenched in the rain. (Ethayalum Nananchu, ini kulichu kayaram) We were so into seeing the beauty of rain that we didnt notice the people running around us for shelter. I imagined "Varuna Devan" up in the sky rolling on floor with laughter and we slowly walked towards the men's room.

When time stopped

2007-11-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

This happened during my 3rd year of engineering. After getting down at Tnagar, I usually catch another bus home just a stop away coz I have a bus-pass and want to make maximum use of it. But that evening had something special in it. It was about 5:30pm in the evening and the weather was completely different form usual Chennai weather. It was dark & cloudy and looked like it would rain any moment. The breeze was blowing strong and the smell of dead leaves blowing across the road was just heavenly. Its not daily that such a beautiful evening occurs in a crowded and polluted city like Chennai. I wanted to make the best use of the moment and decided to walk back home hoping that it would rain and my long time wish of walking in rain will finally come true. I had covered almost half way and the road was amazingly quiet even at this peak hour. Maybe it was bcoz heavy vehicles were diverted due to the rush in the temple ahead.
I was walking very slowly making the most of the moment and expecting the rain to come down heavily at any instant. Suddenly a few metres ahead an auto came and stopped to the side of road. An old woman in her 50's and a handsome tall youngman in his 25's who looked like her son came out of the gate of a house with few bags. The woman was wearing a light brown saree and the youngman was wearing blue jeans and black tshirt. They were not speaking a word and there was an aura of sadness around him. Slowly they kept the luggage inside the auto and the young man looked back at the gate. Then I noticed a young girl about 20 years old wearing red sleeveless 3/4 and blue jeans. I could say I didn't believe in angels until I saw her. The two of them looked amazing and were just made for each other.
He looked at her for a brief moment and then at the old woman. She looked down, let out a sigh and got into the auto. Slowly the girl moved from the gate onto the pavement and came near him. The girl was about his shoulder height and they were looking into each other eyes. For a moment it felt like everything had stopped for them... the clouds, the wind, the falling leafs... in fact I don't exactly remember whether I was still walking towards them or standing there awestruck. The girl slowly came forward, wrapped her hand around him and he held he shoulders softly. She moved away from him clenching her lips so as not to let out a cry. It felt so bad to see their gloomy faces that I wished one of them would smile for each others sake. He looked at her again for a brief moment, got into the auto and he left. She kept watching him and tried her best to wave, but was so much overcome with emotions that she could barely lift her hand. She stood there even after he was out of sight and I walked ahead slowly. As I passed her our eyes met. Tears were streaming down her face and she was trying her best not to cry in a public place. To be true, even I was over come by emotion after watching the whole thing, but barely managed a smile and she gave back a one sided smile. As I walked home I wished, I prayed that this be the happiest couple in the world and never had to be separated again. Then suddenly it started raining as if my prayers have been answered. I looked back and she was still there... facing up the sky with her eyes closed allowing the rains to wash her tears away.

A birthday surprise!!!

2007-11-13T02:23:00.000-08:00

I think it was my 15th birthday. Being a holiday, my mom had invited my friends over for a small party kind of thing. I had it all planned, the things we would do, the things we would play after the party and at the end of everything, a movie on the VCR with friends. I didn't get to see much of movies those days coz high speed Internet and downloading movies from net was something unheard of those days. Anyway, since most of my friends hadnt seen "GUPT", I asked my friend Krishna Mohan to bring the cassette while coming over. After all the fun we had cutting cake, partying and stuff we finally settled down to watch the movie. I knew that it was an excellent mystery story, but Krishna having already seen it and exited kept whispering the next scene to me. Finally fed up with the 'preview' of next scene I was getting, I told him:"See I know its a wonderful story and that you have already seen it. For heavens sake don't spoil the suspense and please stop narrating the next scene". Still lying on the sofa watching the movie biting the chips, he casually... but very loud he said... "Ok, whatever... story isn't that great, Kajol is the killer." Makes me wonder till date why I didnt break his neck on my 15th birthday.

Backwaters of Kerala on City Roads

2007-11-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Just now came across this news item http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070032392

As you would have read, Kerala CM's response is "When it rains, the people of the city will have to bear it, the way people in other parts of the state are doing. Nature gives us rains. We should accept it and bear the difficulties caused. If the water comes in, find a way to get it out" he said.

Or in other words "Mazha peythalum illengilum enikkenda? 5 kollam ee kaserayil pidichu toongiyal mathiyallo" (he didn't say that, I made that up; plus its pretty obvious from his statements) :P

The funniest line in the news item is "So, if you visiting God's own country, you don't even have to go to the backwaters. Boat rides may be possible in the middle of Thiruvananthapuram (capital city)". :P

This reminds me of my second year at Chennai when depression in Bay of Bengal bought down heavy rains in Chennai. It rained over night and the next morning the whole of Chennai was submerged in knee deep water. The photo above is the pic of kerala water-logging. Now have a look at the pic below. Any guess what it could be. Its a subway completely submerged in rain; there is a bus beneath the subway that's completely submerged (that pic came in The Hindu next day, cant find it in Flickr). The other pic clearly shows the level of water in the roads which is definitely more that the water logging going on in Kerala.

Pic above: Subway in Chennai during heavy rains of 2004

Whats am I coming to? The rains in Chennai was unexpected. It happened overnight and it hadnt rained like this for the past 10 years. The city wasnt prepared for this kind of floods and even then, the water logging was cleared within the next 24hrs. Even during the floods, Onyx (Private contractor for Chennai Corporation) was cleaning up the garbage and fallen trees. A week later a report on NDTV showed how the Govt of Tamilnadu and Karnataka reacted when the capital cities were underwater. Even after a week, the flooding in even porshe areas of Bangalore was not cleared.

The points to note hear it:

1. Rains in Kerala happens every year. Even then the govt couldn't be prepared for it. Whereas in Chennai it happens almost happened unexpectedly after a span of 10 years.

2. The Govt responded in an irresponsible way. In case of Chennai, the govt cleared the water-logging even before the media could report it the next day. Also the govt of tn received appreciation for media.

Hmmm... looks like I have to leave now for Saturday outing. Rest of the points readers can figure out themselves. :D See ya. Have a nice evening. And for people in Kerala... Happy Rowing :)

Walking alongside an angel...

2007-11-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

This happened a few days after I had joined college. Initially to make up some extra hostel fees payment, I had to use the college bus facility to get the amount adjusted. (which paid off really well coz the college bus was a airbus leased from TAT travels :D ). The bus came via velachery, take a left from the Nandanam signal and onto Venketnarayana Road (VN road) where I got down. The bus always got stuck at the VN Road Signal and would pass by when I reach the gates of my flat.

One fine beautiful evening after I getting down from the bus, I was lousily walking towards my home. As usual the bus was stuck in the traffic and I was walking ahead of the bus, anytime soon when the lights turn green the bus would wizz past me. It was just the third day of travel in the bus, and my friends in the bus knew that I was very new to the locality. I was planning to go to foodworld (now spencers) on the way home and have a bhelpoori. But suddenly, straight ahead I saw a beautiful angel in her 20's (I was 18 at that time :( ) probably lost at the junction. She was wearing jeans and a tshirt. As I walked past her she said "excuse me".

Me: Yes
She: Do you know the way to Balaji temple.
Me: (I dont think she could go in there in this costume) Yup. I am going that way, I will show you the temple.

(Foodworld plan cancelled. Social service was more important!!! Lead an angel to her destination :P ) And hence she was walking alongside me. From the corner of my eye I could see that my busmates had now shifted to the right side of the bus to see whom I was walking with. I slowed down my pace so that she would still be walking with me as the bus passed by. ;) (evil me ofcourse) Turns out she was working at Xansa. As I reached the gates of my flat (Canara Complex)...

Me: This is where I live and thats the temple you are looking for.
She: Thank you very much.
Me: Welcome. Enjoy the evening :)

Luckily for me just before the above conversation started the signal turned green. The bus passed by tilting to its right as the conversation was on coz everyone in the bus had shifted to the right and awestruck looking out of the window. (funny scene and I was grinning to myself :P).

The next day when I entered the bus, I was receiving special treatment. A seat had been reserved specially for me at the back and people had already gathered around.

Someone: Hey who was that girl da? Hope its not your sister?
Me: Girl? Which girl?
Someone: The girl who was walking with you yesterday and you were chatting with.
Me: oh that... just a good friend of mine :P

Reminds you of the conversation between Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee at Amsterdam in Hum Tum right. Yeah, it was kinda similar. :D Anyway this was another instance of Prathul's "leela". :P

When Parents Found Out...

2007-11-09T05:08:00.000-08:00

Final year is a time when you never have to go to college. Whether we go to college or not, Sharad always kept alarm for 8am. His Nokia Ngage woke up two lazy pigs with the tune of the song "One last breath".

Sharad:(Still in bed) Going to college?
Me: (half asleep) For what? Anything special.
Sharad: Nope, thought will do something diff today.
Me: Didnt that HOD ask everyone to come today?
Sharad: Yeah but we got leave for project right?
Me: Right, just message ajith to put attendance.

Having your friend as class representative is a luxury and luckily for us Ajith was our friend and the class rep. :D Thanks to airtel, sms was free those times. :)

Coming to the main story. I finally convinced Sharad not to keep alarm at all. We slept late, very late, sometimes 4am after playing pranks and chit chatting with other 3 roomies. One fine morning I was awaken by the annoying "tring tring" sound of my cell; it was my mom. Hutch had no range inside the house and I have to run outside to the lawn before attending it. On the way I had a quick peek at the clock and it said "9am". I wondered why she was calling so early.

Me: Hi
Mom: Hi. What are you doing?
Me: Nothing. Just sitting idle
Mom: Finished your project
Me: Going on well. Lot of time left.
Mom: When did you wake up.
Me: Looooooong back. Around 8:30 ;)
Mom: Had breakfast?
Me: No.Just getting ready to.
Mom: WHAT? YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE BREAKFAST NOW?
Me: (Suspicious) yes?
Mom: When did you say you got up?
Me: Half an hour ago.
Mom: What time is it now?
Me: (somethings definitely wrong) 9am?
Mom: Its 12:30pm!!! Which world are you living in?
Me: WHAT????????
(And then half asleep I told the most stuipd thing in life)
Me: I think its bcoz of time zone difference :P

After blasting from her when I went inside Sharad was sitting next to the clock reading paper.

Me: What time is it?
Shard: (casually) Cant you see the clock. Its 9am.

(A long pause.... We stare at each other for a long time)
Both together: The f****** clock stopped!!!!!!!!!

We had seen two of our roommates Nikhil and Chiranjib, in kitchen with milk packet. So we assumed they were boiling milk in the morning. Turns out they were playing cards with the milk packet for "Aisha Takia" (thats a complicated concept, never mind). Also we had seen the 3rd roommate Abhishek going out dressed. So we assumed that he was going to have breakfast. Turns out he did go out to have food; not breakfast... but lunch. And how did the clock stop? Someone used the rechargeable battery for his cassette player and forgot to put it back. ! @#$%^&*()

Cigarette Crisis

2007-11-09T05:03:00.000-08:00

My roommate Sharad was a smoker. Just about 2 per day; 1 at the tea shop and one in night on terrace. This are two stories about him and one of which even he is not aware of.

Story No: 1
Being bachelors money was always a constraint. We spend as little as possible and skipped breakfast most of the days (no no, not to save money. We just woke up late :D). It was time for budget 2006 and Sharad seemed to be a bit nervous. I really didnt get the point coz all we are concerned of was the price of maggi packet and the night aalu parotha which was not going to be affected by any budget price. The next day after reading the budget Sharad freaked out. Yes the cigarette prices has been increased 75paise from Rs 2 to Rs 2.75. His economy literally ran on cigarette prices. Now he had to stick with just one or go to friends house and pick up a few for free.

Story No: 2
Whenever friends come to our room, the first thing they want is a cigarette. Sharad was ok with it until the prices soared 75 paise. :P So whenever someone was coming home, he started hiding his cig packet coz a lose of even 1 cig means no smoking for him for that day. No matter wherever he hid it, someone always found it out. On this specific day Rahul was coming to our home. Rahul smoked almost a packet a day. As usual Sharad was concerned.

Shard: Saala, agle ek week ka cig chala gaya. This time he should never find out.
Me: Hide it in at the bottom of my cloths that is yet to be washed.
Shard: And you want me to smoke that after he goes off? :X
Me: Ok ok... hide it behind your books. He will never touch books.
Sharad: (Extremely happy) Good idea...

(Rahul Arrives and we three are sitting down chitchatting)
Rahul: Cig dena
Sharad: Saala daam bad gaya. So I am not buying nowadys. I thought of asking you.
Rahul: (suspicious) ok
(someone knocks the door and sharad goes to check who. As usual its the care taker complaining how we bachelors made a lot of noise last night when we were not at home at all the previous day. While sharad is busy attending the caretaker and nodding his head...)
Rahul: Arey bolna, is there cig here.
Me: Yes
Rahul: Where?
Me: I will tell you if you promise me to take the whole packet away.
Rahul: Sure (Extremely happy as if a girl has just proposed him)
Me: Its behind the books, but keep your mouth shut.

(Night)
Me: Lets go to terrace
Sharad: Let me get my cig...
Me: Ok. (winking at my other roommates)
(Shouting from inside.. saaaaaaaaaaala, ku***,Ka****,L****,C****a)
Me: what happened?
Sharad: Rahul took my cig packet
Me: oh! How did he find out
Sharad: No idea (Repeats gaali same as above)
Me: Good, no smoking for 1 week. Now you can really control
Sharad: (sad) Yeahhhhhh

Note to sharad: Now dont start calling everything you called Rahul. :D
Note to Rahul: Give me Hi-5 :D
Note to Others: I dont really mind if my friends drink or smoke. :) Its just that I am a bit evil... he he

Smoki'n Aces

2007-11-09T02:25:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I got into a heated debate with a school friend of mine. The topic was as usual a weird one- "Its necessary for a guy to smoke & drink to be a man". Her point was that these are a guys thing and if you dont do it, you are not a guy. Ehmm... technically she wanted to prove that I am not a guy. So why do some girls smoke or drink? Her explanation was that girls are equal to boys in every field and they didn't want to be left behind, moreover its a style to imitate guys. According to her I was not having the fun of life avoiding the two 'major' guys thing.
According to my friend Sana, "Weak souls dwell on these things". That's a excellent spiritual explanation. :) I never tried it even once and have no plans to try it in my life. People say aren't you curious? Of course I am a curious person, but not so curious to try these things.
Anyway finally I won the debate. I live life the way I want to. After all its my life and I will live it my way. :) Which reminds me of one of my favourite songs... It's my life.

This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud

[Chorus:]
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life

Usha Madame and Point to ponder

2007-11-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

It was the first day of college. I was pretty much exited about the new life I am stepping into which would continue for the next four years. For some reason, the staff decided that formal classes would begin only on coming monday coz that was a very auspicious day. The first period was Physics and a lady who introduced herself was Usha madame came to the class. She always had a smiling face, was very smart, experienced and within a few days, she became the favourite staff of all first years. In fact later on I learned that she is the favourite of all. That was the first day of class and boys were sitting to the left side of class and girls to the right. So she started her class like this.

Mam: I am Usha and I will be your in charge for Physics. (She goes on about her education which is quite impressive)
Mam: I have two grown up girls
Boys: ooooooooooooooooo
Mam: (Smiling) Both finished college
Boys: Oh :(
Mam: As you know, I will start formal classes this coming monday only. So we will have some causal chat and get to know each other well.
Mam: Our college is not very strict like Satyabama, JPR or St.Joseph. You are free to talk with anyone including girls.
Boys & Girls: (Grinning)
Mam: Whats the point? If there is no toffee and we ask you not to eat it, its understandable. But if there is toffee right in front of you and we ask you not to eat it, no point in that.
Eveyone: LoL

Kerala Roads: Is there any???

2007-11-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

I love driving. I just love it. I like speed, but I am not a rash driver. I never made even a small scrach on any vehicles I have handled so far since I started driving them in 11th. :) Initially my parents were alarmed and would ask me to slow down at a rate of 5requests/minute. But I had my explanation. I am an eco friendly person. The faster I drive, the less fuel the car would consume. Hence I am saving petrol for my childern so that they too can drive around rather than travle in cycle. :D Anyway this story is not about my driving skills, this is about the roads I drive on. Presently I am at my home at Madurai for a few months. We often visit our native in Kerala which is 225km away. 10km of the journey is in Kerala and the rest 215 in Tamilnadu. We are forced to travel by car ever since the trains were stopped due to broadguaging work going on.

So the route we take is Madurai>Palani>Pollachi>Govindapuram>Native. Govindapuram is the border where we enter into kerala. A bridge divides Kerala and Tamilnadu. We travel in our Maruti Zen and its like a pet to me. :) The road between Madurai and Pollachi is excellent. You can driver on this road at around 100-110kmph. From pollachi you need to occasionaly slow down to 70-80kmph due to narrow roads at times. When you are within 10km to Govindapuram, the pothole begins. But being in the Tamilnadu side, its well patched.

Once you cross over the bridge, you are welcomed by the sign on the left side of the road "Welcome to Kerala". DONT EVER TAKE OFF YOUR EYE EVEN FOR A SECOND TO READ THAT SIGN. Right below the sign is a very deep pothole which would severely damage the bottom of your car if you are not cautious enough. (plus you might kill the ducks playing in the pothole). I will post the pic of that the next time I travel, I am pretty sure they wouldnt have patched it. After all its Govt Of Kerala. Ok now that you are in Keala, start searching for road ahead. If you see ponds and kids playing in it, dont give it a second thought and drive right into it for you have finally found the road. The journey of 215km takes just about 10 litrs of petrol. (car has good milage :) ), but the next 10km takes 10 litres... ! @ #$%^&*(). I have to drive the rest 10 km in 2nd gear at 10kmph. Oh and the state govt says that those series of ponds are State Highway. We found that the private buses have stopped service on Govindapuram-Thrissur route (NH 47 and one of the busiest route) coz many of them broke axil. If I am right, the strike is still on coz the govt says they dont have money to repair the roads.

While returning back, story remains the same. But there is a ray of hope this time. The ray of hope is that anytime soon I will see a similar board as in the pic above :D

My letter in CHIP-INDIA Nov issue :D

2007-11-08T04:07:00.000-08:00

Casually flipping thought the pages of CHIP-INDIA magazine lying on the sofa and watching India-Pakistan cricket match, my eyes widened when I found that the letter to editor I was going through seemed strikingly similar. Initially I thought it was a Deja Vu (ehmm, over scene) but an the bottom of the letter was my name. :D That was the letter I had mailed chip on 25th Sept 2007. "Sandosham kondinikkirkkan vayyyeeeeeeeeeeeee" (No translation coz the sentence would lose its beauty ;) Tip: Its Malayalam)

Anyway here is a copy of letter and the reply thats published in Page 18 of CHIP-INDIA November 2007 issue:

"Dear CHIP,
Your article 'Everything you need to know about High Definition' was really amazing. Its a one stop source for anyone looking forward to purchase HD-compatible equipment. The simple language used in your magazine is something that I have appreciated ever since I started reading CHIP in early 2004. My compliments to everyone at CHIP-INDIA for meeting my expectations in every issue.
I have a small request. I'd like to see a comparative review on DTH services in India especially if it included leading players like Tatasky and DishTV. Your article could comment on parameters such as picture quality, quality of service, features, pricing etc. Some optimization tips and tweaks for specific services would be greatly appreciated.
You may share my opinion that DTH is going to be a big industry in the coming years. The entry of Bharti DTH and Reliance Bluemagic is proof enough. From the numerous posting in blogs and forums, it is evident that many people are confused about the choice of service.
I am sure that the suggested article would clear the confusion.
- Prathul, Microsoft Student Partner"

Dear Prathul,
This is indeed a very good suggestion. While we could do a story on TataSky vs DishTV, we'd have to wait for a full comparison of all services, since some have yet to debut.
Meanwhile, you may refer to the Newswire section in the July issue of CHIP. It has a story titled 'Cosmic Interactivity', which discusses the merits of IPTV and its future in India.
-Team CHIP"

Sholay- The Infosys Way

2007-11-08T02:11:00.000-08:00

HR's and Project Manager's of Infosys are requested not to run a database search on my name and post me to some "patti kaddu" as punishment. :D Anyway enjoy the joke...
Amitabh : Mausi ladka “Infosys ” mein kaam karta hai…
Mausi : Hai raam…

Amitabh : Aajkal allocated bhi hai…
Mausi : To kya kabhi unallocated ( i.e. bench pe) bhi rahta hai????
Amitabh : Ab C rating waalon ka allocation itni asaani se kahaan hota hai mausi …
Mausi : To kya C rating bhi aati hai uski????
Amitabh : Project manager se ladaai karne ke baad A ya uske upar ki rating to nahin na milti hai mausi…

Mausi : To kya ladaaku bhi hai????
Amitabh : Ab onsite jaane ko na mile to ho jaati hai kabhi-kabhi anban …

Mausi : To kya onsite bhi nahin gayaa aaj tak????
Amitabh : Ab civil engineers ka Visa itni jaldi kahaan lagta hai mausi…

Mausi : To kya ladka civil engineer hai???? Engineering kaun se college se kiya hai????
Amitabh : Bas uska pataa lagte hi hum aapko khabar kar denge!!!!!

Amitabh : To kya main rishta pakka samjhun mausi ??

Mausi : Bhale hi hamaari Basanti call center waale se shaadi kar le, par INFY waale se kabhi nahin karegi…….

============================

I wonder whether I would ever get married :(

Billgates recruitment joke {LoL, My Fav :D}

2007-11-08T02:03:00.000-08:00

Bill Gates organized an enormous session to recruit a new Chairman for Microsoft Europt.

5000 candidates assembled in a large room. One candidate is Kunju, a mallu guy.

Bill Gates thanked all the candidates for coming and asking those who do not know JAVA program to leave. 2000 people leave the room. Kunju says to himself, "I do not know JAVA but I have nothing to lose if I stay. I'll give it a try"

Bill Gates asked the candidates who never had experience of managing more than 100 people to leave. Again, 2000 people leave the room. Kunju says to himself " I never managed anybody by myself but I have nothing to lose if I stay. What can happen to me?" So he stays.

Then Bill Gates asked candidates who do not have management diplomas to leave. 500 people leave the room. Kunju says to himself, "I left school at 15 but what have I got to lose?" So he stays in the room.

Lastly, Bill Gates asked the candidates who do not speak Serbo - Croat to leave. 498 people leave the room. Kunju says to himself, " I do not speak one word of Serbo - Croat but what do I have to lose?" So he stays and finds himself with one other candidate.
Everyone else has gone.

Bill Gates joined them and said "Apparently you are the only two candidates who speak Serbo - Croat, so I'd now like to hear you have a conversation together in that language."

Calmly, Kunju turns to the other candidate and says " Enda mashe, Sukham alle"
The other candidate answers "Nee Poda Pulle"

My letter in CHIP-INDIA Nov issue :D

2007-11-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

Festival Of Lights

2007-11-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

Diwali/Deepavali: Festival of lights is back again. Diwali is a major Indian festival, significant in Hinduism , Jainism and Sikhism. Celebrated by Hindus,Jains and Sikhs across the globe, as the "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within. The day also commemorated the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya, after a 14-year exile in the forest, and thus the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed him back by lighting up rows of lamps (deepa-wali), thus its name, Deepawali, or simply shortened as Divali.

Ok that piece of information is from Wikipedia. :P Being a hindu, I have no idea why we dont celebrate Diwali. Most of the keralites dont and I have no idea why. My father says that in kerala people dont burst crackers for diwali, they wake up early, go to temple or whatever and thats it. I guess the main reason why there is no diwali in kerala is the fact that we have a different festival known as Vishu celebrated on April 14th.

Anyway luckily dad has got some crackers as diwali gift this time. I am very much exited to burst those, but at the time very nervous too. :( The reason is that last time while bursting crackers at native I abruptly threw one right into the middle of where my other family members were sitting. And then the next one I burst landed next to where other crackers where kept. Ever since I have been marked in my family as an "Accident Prone" person. :( Anyway after a span of one year, I am going to try crackers once again tonight. Wish me luck :D

Quiz Galazy says Prathul is...

2007-11-07T02:54:00.000-08:00

Your darkest secret is:	You accidentally went back in time and killed a dodo bird

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

If I could go back in time, there are better things to do. ;)

You are a direct flirt

You know who you want and you go after them. If they’re not interested, then you shrug it off because there are plenty more potential hot dates out there. You don’t waste time and, because of this, you have a high chance of finding Mr. or Miss Right (Now).

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Thats wierd.... do I flirt??? Err... girls pls dont answer that. :P

You have a sexual hidden talent

You have a sexual hidden talent. You might not look it but you are a dynamo in bed. Most of your lovers think that it is from years of practice, but really, you were just born with it.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Alright! This is not a adult blog

Death through extreme sports

You are going to die in an extreme sports accident. You like to live life fast and hard. What’s the point if you don’t? Live fast, Die young, Leave a good looking corpse. Right?

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

I love this idea :)

You are 13% evil

You are not evil. Why are you taking this test? You are a nice person and are always thinking about others.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

How Sweet :)

You are a geek

You are into sci-fi and technology. You are very clever although you are also socially smart. You have lots of friends, geeks and non-geeks.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Phew...

You'll become a millionaire on:	Saturday January 20th, 2009

What's the first thing that you'll buy?	A NASA-built telescope
Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Alliance invited from smart and loving girls on January 21st, 2009 :D

What does your future hold?
	You will have great-great grandchildren

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

No comments... hmph!

Family is most important in your life.

Having a high focus on family indicates that you are a loving and nurturing person. You want to have a nice big family of your own, and you are very close with your siblings and parents.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Romance

Romance is most important in a boyfriend/girlfriend. You need romance in your life. You love the extra dimension that romance brings to a relationship and you tend to fall in love very quickly.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Prathul --

[adjective]:

Like a turnip in hue and scent

'What did your name mean in ancient times?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Prathul --

[noun]:

A person with a sixth sense for detecting the presence of goblins

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

I got scholarship!!! :D

2007-11-07T01:33:00.000-08:00

Just now my dad gave me Rs. 1500 today and told that I had earned it. :D I was wondering how on earth did I earn that amount sitting at home orkutting and chatting 24x7. It seems that Canara Bank (where my dad works) gives scholarship for son/daughters who have scored above 90% in degree. Since I have 92% over all in my BTech I am eligible for it. :D Anyway as I always does, this money too goes to my mom. :)

World Of Exception

New XBOX Project Natal: Coming Fall

A tale from two sides

Carlsberg web-tv: Live Football, Love Football

BSNL DataOne & Bitcomet: Portforwarding tutorial

COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working Fix: Windows Vista

Mumbai Attack: Heroes at Taj Hotel

Proto.in 5th Edition- Nomination Open

Yahoo Big Thinkers… what do they get?

Notice: Moving to Blogger from Wordpress

Silverlight and Virtual Earth

TFS Groups Management Tool

TFS Groups Management Tool

TFS Groups Management Tool

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

Investmet Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

Investmet Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

Investment Plan : Save today for a secure tomorrow

World's Top 20 MBA B-Schools: Interesting facts

World's Top 20 MBA B-Schools: Interesting facts

World's Top 20 MBA B-Schools: Interesting facts

Google Chrome & Secret of name

Google Chrome & Secret of name

Google Chrome & Secret of name

Never say goodbye

Infosys to buy Axon Global

Infosys to buy Axon Global

Infosys to buy Axon Global

Infosys to buy Axon Global

Infosys to buy Axon Global

Never say goodbye

Never say goodbye

Never say goodbye

Never say goodbye

Never say goodbye

Never say goodbye

Confused...???

"God tussi great ho"- Review

When chatting with superiors online...

Rat Business

Teach India

Teach India

Mixing career with love

IBU Switch vs Job Switch

Great Indian Developer Summit- Live!

Great Indian Developer Summit- Live!

Blogging from mobile

A sleepless night

Not applicable?

Back to blogging...

To 'Infy'nity and beyond...

The mystery of "Tanya"

CTS HR's vs Microsoft Student Partner

Why Tata Indicomm sucks...

Long lost rambling

An Intro to Hindi

An Unfinished Story...

Disclaimer:

Reviews:

An Unfinished Story...

by "You Know Who"

An Unfinished Story...

Disclaimer:

Reviews:

An Unfinished Story...

by "You Know Who"

The day I got "married"...

Hi,Somebody created my fake profile in your system and now I am getting lots of responses. I didnt get any username or pass to my mail and hence I couldnt delete my profile while logging in. I managed to get my password though "Fogrot Password" and thereafter logged in and deleted my mobile number.

I am 21 years old and is not considering marriage in near future. Anyway considering the responses I am getting from your system, i would consider it when time comes.

Please delete my profile and also is it possible for me to know the IP address from which the profile was created?

Suggestion:When someone registers, send them a confirmation message to their mail id before conforming registration.

Its Raining, Raining :D... OH NO!!! :(

When time stopped

A birthday surprise!!!

Backwaters of Kerala on City Roads

Walking alongside an angel...

When Parents Found Out...

Cigarette Crisis

Suggestion:
When someone registers, send them a confirmation message to their mail id before conforming registration.