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I am surprised, happy and envious (at the same time) when I see people with passion ( towards work in particular and about anything in general ).

Ps: Not implying anything, but I partially remember this sentence from one of the finest articles I had read on a tennis match writing about Sampras’s loss and a comment about the opponent (whose name I forget) :

He was quick, perfect, [etc] everything that Sampras himself once was but can no longer be.

Why is it only during goal setting or during appraisal meeting do I realize ” Oh! what am I doing ? Oh! where am I” and tend to think how very futile & nonsense everything looks.

It is sometimes excruciatingly difficult to blog, esp to write a post (not the linking stuff). Writer’s block is one thing and having too much to write but finding no time to write is another.
And then, like it has happened today, the whole time is spent in browsing, chatting, installing and stuff. I haven’t been able to draft a single paragraph!

Sometimes a Good Morning quote ignites a conversation. A recent one ignited two :

ONE::
Rk:

I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war. Marcus T Cicero

Adiga:

should it be the otherway round? prefer righteous war to unfair peace? I heard it that way.

Rk:

Many replied like that … this is what Marcus said..may be righteous war was what Lord Krishna said.

Adiga:

No, I heard some foreign author said it.

Rk:

If internet is the right source, I find the quotes I sent only ..and not the other way round quote….

Adiga:

Ya,,,,,file a review to that site and question its correctness.

P.S. Marcus Cicero made a failed attempt to establish peace in Rome. So if he is frustrated because of this, then what internet told is wrong. If he still believed his fundamentals despite his failure then its right.

Rk:

It is there in ALL the sites…and if you need to prove them wrong, you should have source & proof to the correct quote … burden of proof lies on you

oh thanks for the info…

Adiga:

 Burden lies with Marcus himself because the world doesn’t know whether he is frustrated or not…Lets close the debate.

Rk:

Ok., lets close the debate
It is unfair to close debate..but it is peaceful

TWO (More food for thought) ::

Rk:
I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war. Marcus T Cicero

SY:
I tend to disagree with Marcus’s statement!!

I would prefer to have a “just WAR”, instead of anything unfair.

Rk:
Well, I was just thinking under which category does “marriage” fall.

Joke apart, there are very few quotes I send which I personally do not agree with but just want to display the thought a great person might have had. I can say, this was NOT one of them.
For me, life & peace is more important than war - because war is inherently unfair in more ways than one.

May be ek discussion hojaye

SY:
My views
Regarding Good Morning quote:

Assume, I have unfairly gained advantage (escaped from being hit) just because some body chose to keep quiet rather than hit me. I would feel so uncomfortable, that I will not be able to continue my daily activities peacefully. I will lose my peace of mind for the unfair peace that I gained.

Assume, I have unfairly lost advantage just because I chose to keep quiet rather than hit some one else, OR some body forced me to keep quiet. I might repent later on and start developing hatred against that someone. Again I will lose my peace of mind for the unfair peace that I gained*.

*All words used should be taken at face value.

Rk:

First of all, being hit is no way equivalent to a war. War is when those who are not involved are also hit, killed. Possibly you are trivialising war.

In first scenario, it shows that you are a good human being. In which case there was no way you were to be get hit in the first place which will rebut the first sentence. Secondly, even for a moment we consider the first statement to be right, the result is “you lost your peace of mind”, which is FAR better than war or he killing you/hitting you One more thing, the peace gives you chance again and in case of war, it is over. Hitting will instantly result in you hitting you (because that is according to you  - rightful war). Something on the lines of eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

In the second scenario, if you are developing hatred that is only because you do not believe in the qoute. If you agree with the quote there is no confusion, it is unfair but it is peace. So you will not develop hatred. On the other hand, the effect is only “repent later”, but in war, there is no end until one of them is hurt. So since it is NOT only one hit you will return and he keeps quiet (bcoz he might also believe in war - righteous or not )  , and hence it is not known who is going to give a final blow. So it might happen that there is no “later” for even repenting.

Thats how I see it. I hope I am making at least some sense …

However, unfairness is not to be tolerated. (But since war is also unfair, war is not the solution, I think). Unfairness is not to be tolerated - which is why we had Freedom Struggle, which is why Nelson Mandela fought against racism, which is why feminists are fighting, which is why …etc.

If I made some sense, we can consider the debate closed. If I have not made any sense, probably you are right and hence the debate is closed - in this case, it is unfair to close the debate, but it is peaceful

This bowl out in Twenty20 is so stupid and childish! Wonder who got that stupid idea and suggested and wonder how other people accepted it ?! First of all, by run rate/ number of wickets fallen, ( Duckworth-Lewis or something like that ) easily a side could be declared winner.

But understanding that you want to make it thrilling in the last minute and all, even then this bowl out looks so disgraceful to cricket. It is not equivalent to penalty shoot out in football/hockey, it is roughly equal to kicking at the goal post without the goal keeper.

Why is it being reduced to only bowling accuracy ? Kicking a goal and defending was what they did it all the time in a football game but in cricket it is more than that. Why not consider batting accuracy and let the batsman hit a ball by tossing it himself in the air ?

Also it is quite simple to bowl at the stumps. Just bowl plain dead slow ball ! I am sure just after few tie-breakers, one will see all the bowls hitting the stumps, then what ?! I think they will be asked to bowl at single stump ?! When that also does not break a tie, they should do it with eyes closed. Wah !

If a tie breaker had to be played, then an extra over each team of normal cricket is most perfect. ( And again, not in an empty field without fielders! ).

In advance wishing you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi.

Ps: Some posts coming soon. Also sharing lot of things on link blog
Pps: What do you think of new theme ? Click on those tiny pics on top to change the look.

Happy Independency Day to All Indians !
Lalbagh Photos:

# I rarely laugh when I read the jokes and forwards. The least repeated email forward has at least been read twice earlier. The first two sentences of the jokes usually give away / remind me the end.

# Sometimes, it is different though. The following is one such joke which I thoroughly enjoyed, so much so that I was actually feeling disappointed, angry for some reason before reading this. At the end, I had forgotten that and was smiling - that means it must have been doubly good.

# Not sure if it appeals to all. That is the point with tech/geek jokes. And those who get will laugh like anything.

# Not sure why I enjoyed so much, may be it suddenly took me back to college maths.

# Or may be the flow along with my imagination ! I like this style of metaphor or animated thoughts.

# It has a tinge of philosophy though !

# Courtesy : Mail by Pk (Thnx). Would love to compliment the originator though!

# Here it is, if you like Maths, read on. Read it slow, don’t scroll down too fast.

Functions

The arrogant  exponential function e^x is strolling along the road insulting the functions he sees walking by. He scoffs at a wandering polynomial for the shortness of its Taylor series. He snickers at a passing smooth function of compact support and its glaring lack of a convergent power series about many of its points. He positively laughs as he passes |x| for being non-differentiable at the origin.

He smiles, thinking to himself, “Dang, it’s great to be e^x. I’m real analytic everywhere. I’m my own derivative. I blow up faster than anybody and shrink faster too. All the other functions suck.”

Lost in his own egomania, he collides with the constant function 3, who is running in terror in the opposite direction. “What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you look where you’re going?” demands e^x. He then sees the fear in 3’s eyes and says “You look terrified!”

“I am!” says the panicky 3. “There’s a differential operator just around the corner. If he differentiates me, I’ll be reduced to nothing! I’ve got to get away!” With that, 3 continues to dash off.

“Stupid constant,” thinks e^x. “I’ve got nothing to fear from a differential operator. He can keep differentiating me as long as he wants, and I’ll still be there.”

So he scouts off to find the operator and gloat in his smooth glory. He rounds the corner and defiantly introduces himself to the operator.

“Hi. I’m e^x.”

 

 

“Hi. I’m d/dy.”

Just wondering what would have happened if these things did not happen in our life time - iPhone, Harry Potter, Rajnikanth ? What would have people talked about so passionately ? What would have caught the fancy of people ? What would have got the cult following ?

More importantly, would people have led a mundane, mediocre lives or would people have found something among the available things as craze-worthy and cult-status worthy ?[1]

If it is the former, we have been very lucky. If it is the latter, more thoughts needed. Till then happy reading/watching or experiencing.

Be maniac, be happy [2]

[1] Lets leave out iPhone from this discussion. iPhone or actually iPod created a space for itself when there was none. Its not one among 100s like movies/books.

[2] I personally feel, everyone, everyone should have something to be maniac about.

Histronics (have you heard in any show about terrible but cute host getting kissed on the show ? ) and contracts and emotionally charged over exaggerating shouting over the top “gurus” aside, Saregamapa is still immensely watchable for me for the singing talent it has. And also since it was a show I used to regularly watch pre-sms era. Though the names behind the show, like Gajendra Singh and Shaan have moved on to Star, I watched episodes of saregamapa. I tried watching Amul Voice of India in Star but due to the timing and the darkness of the set I fall asleep and the bright colourful set of Saregamapa along with the over the top performances of gurus of Saregamapa help me keep awake (and of course there is a repeat show in the day time plus entire show’s video is online).

Coming to the point of the post, last week I found all the 8 people in the Brahmastra round (or whatever round) in which only 2 would be taken forward.

My picks are Sarika and Raja Hasan. Sarika is the same lady who fainted on the stage after a biased judgement ( by Asha) . She sang extremely well in this round too and more I liked was her way - irritatingly innocent way - of asking for votes. Thats how my niece of 4 year old would have asked for votes chocolates !

She does have serious competition from Shaberi who has already bagged a singing contract from Visha-Shekar. And Vishal-Shekar are the most sensible and watchable gurus over there (save Bappi Da who is neutral most times). Lets not talk about Himesh (for there are conflictingly diametrically different opinions, and any stance I take is dangerous !), and his partner in crime Ismail. More about them some other time and oh I am digressing. Just wanted to say, really love the way Vishal-Shekar enjoy the music.

Among the boys, again there are very talented ones but Raja Hassan is my pick. He pulled out an unintentional emotional card which should easily give him more votes but that should not take away any credit from his ability. He is gifted, period.

And the Bengali contest winner really got the pulse of the crowd and since he is already qualified to move further, should be a tough competitor to others.

Here are the videos of Sarika (I wanted to post the way she asked for votes!) and Raja Hassan :

The starter homepage is one of things that I never used to get. Long back when I was learning html, I had created a starter page that was just putting all the frequently visited sites at one place (with their logo) so that I need not type out the url and also I can keep track of the sites visited in that session (the clicked link would change its colour). Making this as the default homepage was all about it.

The last time I tried starter homepage was while trying out web2.0 ( netvibes/pageflakes) starter pages. Full of bright colour, with drag and drop features, ajaxy stuff, yet my usage did not extend beyond signing up and trying out once. And having to remember one more account was making it difficult. I still did not get it.

Finally came google homepage. It should be one of the most underrated services by Google (or I might not have heard about it). Though I initially tried homepage only because I could check if there were new mails in gmail without logging into gmail ( logging into gmail is time limited & restricted in office - but no such restriction for homepage )

But now I have added enough stuff to homepage that it makes sense to open one page rather - both to get different content at one place and to login only once.

Most important components are of course gmail, news, reader -which contains digg, delicious etc, game, twitter, clock so on and so forth. With reader embedded on starter page, finally I get the feel of riverofnews concept - easy, simple yet very meaningful, useful for a google-reader freak like me.

To get around the email restriction in office I tried out some back door tactics but did not succeed completely. If I could get hold of one good email to rss converter, I can subscribe to that feed in reader which now embeds the mailing feature. That would have completed the loop without logging on to gmail, but alas.

How w o u l d s o m e common English sayings translate in Hindi???

Have a nice day!
* Achcha din lo!

What’s up?
*Uppar kya hai?

You’re kidding!
*Tum bachcha bana rahe ho!

Don’t kid me!
* Mera bachcha mat banaao!

Yo, baby! What’s up?
* Beti Yo, uppar kya hai?

Cool man!
* Thandaa aadmi!

Check this out, man!
* Iskee chaanbeen karo, aadmi!

Don’t mess with me, dude.
* Mere saath gandagi mat karo, e vyakti.

She’s so fine!
* Woh itnee baareek hai!

Listen buddy, that chick’s mine, okay!?
* Suno dost, woh chooza mera hai, theek?

Hey good looking; what’s cooking?
* Arrey sundarta ki devi; kya pakaa rahee ho?

Are you nuts?
* Kya aap akhrot hain?

Son of a gun.
* Bachcha bandook ka.

Rock the party.
* Party mein patthar feko.

How do you do?
* Kaise karte ho?

Keep in touch!
* Chhoote Raho.

Lets hang out!
* Chalo bahar latakte hain ………..

[email fwd]

Update: Eureka !! I’m right. This is in update to this post. As guessed in the comments there, it turned out to be Amw@y after all. This happened very next day but updating the blog now.

Yesterday he said he would talk to me sometime today but instead of talking to me he took my number. I also observed him from morning, I was doubting every move. He spoke to few people and took an appointment to meet them. He joined me for coffee. He wanted to join for lunch but I escaped. Now it was becoming very clear. While returning, I asked what was it about. He said “priv@te franchi$ing”, have you heard about it. I wanted to scream “Oh, is it Amw@y..please stay away”, but instead said I dont know. He said he would call me up to discuss about it.

Today again he gave big smiles to me. He asked me what would I be doing in the evening. I knew this was coming. I said I have to meet my friend. He said, ok lets talk for a minute. He took me out, secretively. And the bs talk happened. “You should have a vision. We are not into technical. It involves hard work. More the work more the returns. It’s a good concept where in lies the 80% of world. It requires smart work. I am expanding in India in 800 locations. Our company is present since 50 years. I am doing it for my security. We recruit only passionate people. Why dont you come down in the evening and have a look at what we are doing ? About 300-400 people are gathering today. Let me know before 5Pm as it is an invited business presentation. People can attend only on invitation “…..etc blah blah blah to pull/suck people.

All the while I was smiling in my mind.

I am so proud of myself. I could see the future But regret for not having rejected it at the first chance.

Will narrate another victory in my life.

Long ago, while in Mumbai itself, my father had come across this stuff. This time it was from another relative who, after knowing that my father has got retired, wanted to introduce a business scheme. At the same time another friend too started introducing the scheme. You should see how friendly these people get when they want to introduce the scheme. They will vanish without trace after the deal is rejected, they are busy with their business you see !
So the motivational books, cassettes started coming in. Since it was first time for me I was pretty hopeful and excited about finding a new business opportunity and success path. It was in my mind everywhere I went. So I spoke about it to my friend, Bk, who immediately dismissed the thought and gave all details. He too was a victim. He said only by making more members, and not by marketing the goods, do we make money. But from the outset the deal is to market some magical products which could reduce the cost of household expenses by great margin.

I had been to a product demo which showed - a single concentrated liquid, they said could be used either to wash clothes or to clean toilets or to brush your teeth or to etc by only varying the degree of dilution. (That very explanation motivated me to doubt them. It is such a false claim - imagine if the toilet cleaner’s composition is same as the tooth paste’s !) I also understood the points creation. The 1000 or more points would be redeemed by 1paise and in the motivational and invitational seminars these people organize, they claim big earners and announce the earnings in Lakhs (what is left unsaid is whether the Lakhs is Rs or points). People in top positions would be doing this business, they claim. Money is also generated by making the members attend some programmes - like a workshop in Mumbai. The commission on the sales of such tickets add to the points earned. It is such things which add points and not due to the sales of products. I was equipped with all such information now but my father could not reject the pursual and bought a ticket for the initial business presentation (yeah this too adds up to his points earning).

I knew everything. I did not want to go. But I was forced to go. But I didn’t know that it would boost my confidence Many people had gathered there to “explore” and “understand” this new “business opportunity” which would help then earn “lakhs of rupees” and give them “life long security”. But they were clueless unlike me. So a person with all enthusiasm started talking to me outside the venue. We were there half an hour early. He wondered what this would be about. I gave all the details I had in a very calm voice, in a very clear manner and without a bit of exaggeration. I told only what I knew. He asked many questions and I answered. I also told the hidden cost “to register 6.5k”. He was totally disillusioned. He said “I am a business man. I own a shop to sell dresses in Rajajinagar. If I invest 6.5k there and work hard I would “surely” gain more returns. Also I would make my customers happy. Thank you very much sir for enlightening me”. He was very happy to have avoided falling into trap. He was disappointed that he had wasted time to come here instead of sitting at his shop but he was happy that he wont waste any more time now, not even the presentation. He tore the Rs.30 ticket and handed over to me his visiting card and asked me to visit him. He left.

I was proud of myself. I could really do marketing. I can really speak and sell something. This is yet another achievement of my convincing power !¹

But I didn’t have the liberty not to attend the presentation. I went through the brainfart for the evening but returned home very satisfied with my deed of saving a person and feeling good about myself.

Sorry if I hurt someone who is into the business. I am sure you are doing it, knowing what you are doing. But I must say people gain tremendous confidence in this business and improve their inter-personal skills beyond imagination. They think of themselves as huge self sufficient business men where as others are cheap bonded laborers. They communicate better than before, become huge convincing salespersons - selling dreams and products and memberships and all. What they perhaps don’t understand is the behind-the-back impression people might have about them.

1. Another achievement about my convincing power I am proud of, was to make a girl laugh, who was weeping over having got less marks in the board exams. That is for some other day! [back]

Courtesy
A visit to Mocha: It was a plan come true after almost 1 year. When the office was near to the place, we planned several times but none materialised. Finally, had to change the company (no, not the meaning that strikes first) and it finally worked out.

We went around 10 to the place. The place was simply very different than the ones I usually frequent. It was all laid back, albeit with posh people - mostly teenagers and some foreigners. It almost looked like a lazy bar but was vibrant with colours and energy (not a measurable description, but explanation given on request).

There were two kinds of locations available. One in the outside garden-like-setup, where a family crowd or a formal get-together could hang out. The bushes all around and with unconventional seating arrangement - stone benches, wooden benches, a swing, bamboo (betta) chairs. A closed hut like structures (like in Dhaba) or an open umbrella (like in juice corners) were also available. There were other forms of seats like auto rickshaw’s , car’s put around a table on one end. (Rangashankara had lot of such items) A small stream of water flowing added to the look of a setting in nature. Colourful lights around was a plus along with the natural wind. Due to the fear of mosquitoes we instead went inside.

There it was more of a typical hukka joint. The red curtains, the dress of waiters and the dark place looked like a setting in a Mahal. The seating here was casual - one could either sit on mattresses on the floor or one could use the more formal chairs. A big group of teenagers sat on each other and occupied half the space that otherwise was required. They had roaring fun but they quit gracefully after their time (which was quite less considering we were there for more time). Along with the lack of light (intentional), the place was quite smoky - one thing I did not enjoy- which could have been avoided with better ventilation (or some other technique). A nice soft music was being played (both outside and inside) which was non-intrusive and added to the overall ambiance.

We had a flavoured one and man didn’t it taste good! I was new to it but the fragrance remained with me even days after.

And “the kick” eluded me, as always. (I guess it wasn’t supposed to kick in the first place).

Thanks AB for a memorable evening (and few additions to this report!)

Many (like here) are of the opinion that she might be good at only item songs. My opinion will be biased Anyways below is the song which is little musical. Also don’t forget she has done a Bhajan album too.

Mauli, with her brother Omkar had her first Bhajan album (CD) titled “Prabhu Tare Pagathiye” released in September 2006.

Yand here is “Lag ja gale” by Mauli Dave.

So what do you think ?

Asha too felt Mouli could sing some other kind of song to exploit her talent completely, other songs like romantic or sad. I am not convinced about romantic songs but sad songs, yes. (romantic-sad songs, double yes!).

Here is Bahon Main Chale Aaon:

For more songs like Kaisi Paheli, Deeda de check out here

If BappiDa you are reading this blog, I want you to suggest her sing “aap ki nazaron ne samja”, “baharon phool barsao”, “choti si asha”, “barso re”. Or even “tere bin” of Atif

Just wondering why she did not take part in American Idol. If Malakar
could produce so much of noise, this girl surely could have done better ?!

Today I met an interesting person. He smiled to me as if we have known for years and talked to me quite nicely. I was asked my background details - to an extent about what my mother does, whether the house is rented or owned - the kind of details people normally don’t ask on the first or second meeting. A very friendly person, I thought.

We bumped into each other quite a few times in the day. I was asked about my interests and my career goal. As he had seen me reading Kalam’s book in the morning and due to the further talks regarding how India should do progress etc , the natural progress of the talk made me say I would be doing something different than coding. When asked when would I start on own, I was cautious - because once earlier I had told someone else - like in 5 yrs - which is already over for a matter of fact - and he had asked me various questions about my plan, ideas, strategies, path etc to none of which I had any clear answer to give. Also he showed me the reasons why I can’t achieve whatever I wanted. He was true, he was practical. So this time, I said may be 15 years later - and this again worked negative. This person said why so late , motivated people dont wait for things to happen and other such things. He also gave examples of Suresh Kamath starting with Rs200 (incidentally he worked there earlier) or that of Narayana Murthy. Lot of talk happened regarding the evils of working and that we should become self-sufficient and blah blah.

Later again in the evening we met again. He now enquired what I would be doing at home. I was very pumped up with Ubuntu installation and tweaks and I told about it enthusiastically. This was met with cold reaction. Computer here in office, computer at home, he sighed. How many years technical work, he asked. I was suddenly feeling inferior and my enthusiastic bubble had burst.¹. I said I don’t watch TV and I should do something to pass my time. He said “Time _pass_ ?! Don’t tell like that. I don’t have free time.”. I felt that he is asking me to ask him what does he do. I asked, though something inside me told me not to.

He said “I run a business”. I got very curious and asked him what business. He said “he would tell me some other time in detail.” I felt uncomfortable but did not show that. We left in bus and I did not want to ask anything further.

I thought about lot of things. How people have different priorities. How few people succeed and how others fail. How some people strive to get somewhere but some people just get lucky to be dashed by opportunities. Also about failures on the same line. Don’t know when I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I just looked back at everything. Suddenly, I have a strong suspicion about his business. It would be “viral marketing” Amway. Everything fits. Including the hesitation to talk about it.

Will update this post later.

1. No this does not affect me in long term but I keep meeting people who have totally opposite views and what bothers me is that they look down upon other activities..what puts me off is incoherent trivialisation - like when I said I would like to buy an iPhone a moron said “Why iphone, instead go trekking like me”. You don’t believe me, do you. I’ve met such characters. Even after days later, I will be dumbfounded at their nitwittism [back]

This girl totally rocks. Her voice, body-language, variation of voice, selection of songs. Sure finalist and may be a winner too.

More info was found here.

* She was finalist in ‘Boogie Woogie, Chalo America’. dance competition organized by Sony TV in the year 2003.

* In August, 2006, during participation in NRI Antakshari organized by Annu Kapoor, Mauli’s singing talent was much appreciated by all the visiting members from Mumbai. Annu Kapoor expressed that she has lots of potential and deserves better platform.

Mayya mayya:

Rasiya :

Using quotes for any occassion has become my favorite activity. So I wrote this for my last mail!

Hi,
Was wondering “Where is the good in goodbye? (Meredith Willson)” but found solace in the thought “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. (Carol Sobieski)” and looking forward to meet you again because “We only part to meet again. (John Gay)” .

As you know, today is my last day at office. It was wonderful working here and and more importantly knowing you all. Thank you for all the guidance and support. Would take away lot of lessons and happy memories. Wishing you all health, happiness, wealth and success in your life and career.

Would love to stay in touch.
My address:
Ph:

My send off coincided with the birthday party and we cut cake. Usually birthday parties have this ragging session, but in my case I duly accepted to sing a song! So the torture it was to them, not me I had gone prepared to sing “Tere bina zindagi se koi”
I had also thought of few points I wanted to say in my parting speech but suddenly I either turned emotional or got stage-fear and said something else. Some colleagues spoke about me - one observed I can become good manager rather than growing in technical lead. Though he meant it as a compliment, it was against what I had projected to become! Another said that I keep my calm under all circumstances and I am cool and my motto is to enjoy life. Felt good. My supervisor told I have determination and I have patience to allow others to complete their talk. Good listening power. There were few fellas who had worked very close with me, who were not present on occasion, that saved embarrassment for me

Talking about office, I have left my mark - in the form of analog clock on the desktop I was very impressed with the clock that was just introduced with google desktop and since the whole app just for the clock was not too much, I downloaded Alwact clock (freeware) along with the skins. I spread it to few people and over the time it just got spread to each and every system in the office. I was about to become the similar reason for yet another app - OutlookOnDesktop. Also I pioneered the MondayMorningLalbaugh practice - I went to office afternoon on Mondays if I had come to Blore. This was soon followed by other Bloreans and they even went a step ahead - they went to Lalbagh on Fridays (leaving the office around noon) and returned in Monday lalbagh !!

Enjoyed those outings and eat-outs. And as usual at every place I have gone, I have met interesting people whom I am going to surely miss.

Life is like Sea. As vast as you can imagine; As deep as you can think. Don’t waste time measuring your life. You won’t succeed.
Instead, explore life. Reach for new harbours as you pass through different phases of life. Make friends on each destination. Enjoy your journey.

Managing the task between reading blogs and writing a post has become an impossible task for me. I tend to use up all the time reading one instead of writing anything. Is that laziness ?

Anyways, for not posting last few months, as if anyone is bothered to know, but anyways, is not because I did not have time. In fact I had loads of it. It was simply because I had an easy reason for myself - tension and indecision about work etc. Uff what and all has happened in last few weeks. Such surprises and shocks, the one moment it was gone and next moment something else came up and next minute that was gone too. I almost became as much convinced as Annu Kapoor was about the existence of Mr India, before Mr.India actually visits him that is¹ I stopped believing anything that was happening around me or to me. It seemed so meaningless even to plan for an hour ahead as only FSM knew what would happen next. The confusion, indecision, tension all became blurred and the emotions got converged to plain boredom. It almost looked like frustration to others but I knew I wasn’t frustrated but plain disappointed and bored. Plain bored, if you did not get it, you must experience it one day and I wish you should not.

And then the introspection, though unwarranted but was unavoidable, furthered a feeling which almost made me think of myself seriously. Any further I continue with the rant would leave a bad taste on this blog which is otherwise testimony to happy things.

Let me just say, it was a bad time. Last few months. Things continued to fail. My ego got hurt. (Actually its not ego, it was stupendous self-confidence, anyways since its hurt we can name it anything). My optimism got hit. I turned extreme skeptic, unsure of myself. You know something is wrong when you dislike your shadow (due to the past), worst is when it is compounded by failed belief system which will make you fear the future too. And somewhere I changed or my attitude has changed. (So much so that it was visible in few sentences in chat that few of my friends and family took note of. I am surprised that I was observed so easily!)

Anyways, don’t be surprised if such rants like the above become quite frequent here.

For the sake of update, I have quit Chennai and have found a job here in Bengalooru. So now back to home should enable me to spend more time on my blog.

1. and this strange habit of recalling and drawing an analogy to movies is a habit I want to develop and this has rubbed off on me from some blog [back]

An old farmer and a young farmer are standing at the fence talking about farm-lore, and the old farmer’s phone starts to ring. The old farmer just keep talking about herbicides and hybrids, until the young farmer interrupts “Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“What for?” Says the old farmer.

“Why, ’cause it’s ringing. Aren’t you going to get it?” says the younger.

The older farmer sighs and knowingly shakes his head. “Nope”. he says. Then he looks the younger in the eye to make sure he understands, “Ya see, I bought that phone for MY convenience”.

Most of us regard the ringing phone as an emergency. Drop whatever you’re doing and grab it! Stop all conversation, abandon the meeting, and respond to what is all too often some salesman pushing cheap phone services.

We know better than that. Interruptions are one of the most effective productivity killers around.

For my money the most important work on software productivity in the last 20 years is DeMarco and Lister’s Peopleware (1987 Dorset House Publishing, NY NY). For a decade the authors conducted coding wars at a number of different companies, pitting teams against each other on
a standard set of software problems. The results showed that, using any measure of performance (speed, defects, etc.) the average of those in the 1st quartile outperformed the average in the 4th quartile by nearly a factor of 3.

Surprisingly, none of the factors you’d expect to matter correlated to the best and worst performers. Even experience mattered little, as long as the programmers had been working for at least 6 months.

They did find a very strong correlation between the office environment and team performance. Needless interruptions yielded poor performance. The best teams had private (read “quiet”) offices and phones with “off” switches. Their study suggests that quiet time saves vast amounts of money.

Think about this. The almost minor tweak of getting some quiet time can, according to their data, multiply your productivity by 3x! That’s an astonishing result. For the same salary your boss pays you now, he’d get essentially 3 of you.
The winners - those performing almost 3 times as well as the losers - had the following environmental factors:

1st Quartile 4th Quartile
Dedicated workspace 78 sq ft 46 sq ft
Is it quiet? 57% yes 29% yes
Is it private? 62% yes 19% yes
Can you turn off phone? 52% yes 10% yes
Can you divert your calls? 76% yes 19% yes
Frequent interruptions? 38% yes 76% yes

Too many of us work in a sea of cubicles, despite the clear showing how ineffective they are. It’s bad enough that there’s no door and no privacy. Worse is when we’re subjected to the phone calls of all of our neighbors. We hear the whispered agony as the poor sod in the cube next door tries to work it out with his spouse. We try to focus on our work… but being human the pathos of the drama grabs our attention till we’re straining to hear the latest development.

Is this an efficient use of an expensive person’s time?

Later studies by other researchers found that after an interruption it takes 15 minutes to get into a state of “flow,” that Spock-like trance where you’re one with the computer. Yet the average developer gets interrupted every 11 minutes.

Dilbert rightly calls cubes “anti-productivity pods.”

Yet the cube police will rarely listen to data and reason. They’ve invested in the cubes, and they’ve made a decision, By God! The cubicles are here to stay!

This is a case where we can only wage a defensive action. Educate your boss but resign yourself to failure. In the meantime, take some action to minimize the downside of the environment. Here are a few ideas:

* Wear headphones and listen to music to drown out the divorce saga next door.

* Turn the phone off! If it has no “off” switch, unplug the damn thing. In desperate situations attack the wire with a pair of wire cutters. Remember that a phone is a bell that anyone in the world can ring to bring you running. Conquer this madness for your most productive hours.

* Know your most productive hours. I work best before lunch; that’s when I schedule all of my creative work, all of the hard stuff. I leave the afternoons free for low-IQ activities like meetings, phone calls, and paperwork.

* Disable the email. It’s worse than the phone. Your two hundred closest friends who send the joke of the day are surely a delight, but if you respond to the email reader’s “bing” you’re little more than one of NASA’s monkeys pressing a button to get a banana.

* Put a curtain across the opening to simulate a poor man’s door. Since the height of the cube rather low, use a Velcro fastener or a clip to secure the curtain across the opening. Be sure others understand that when it’s closed you are not willing to hear from anyone unless it’s an emergency.

The ultimate irony of cubicles is that shortly before he died in 2000, Robert Propst railed against cubes, calling them “monolithic insanity.”

Robert Propst invented the cubicle.

Source : Embedded Newsletter from jack @ ganssle.com

Also , an old email joke. Meaning of cubicle = a sleeping compartment partitioned off from a large room.

From

“I wasn’t sure how the doll would look? Would it be a caricature? Would it look like what I’d want it to look? But when I saw the package I was happy. It wasn’t like someone was making a joke of it,”

I am not sure if the doll looks so good. I would have preferred a cute getup from Sapnay over this green one.

Don’t they look great together ? ¹

Image courtesy: Amazon,bollyvista.com, kajol-boards.net

1. how I wished to have got a better photo without the writing on it [back]

How do you update the status :

Like this :

I wanted to build a house. First I bought land. I had some plan. But I was not confident, hired a consultant. He gave me a plan. I worked on the plan. I then went to an Engineer and carpenter. I told my plans. I then bought the required materials……

It developed a crack. I had to redo the work. With better quality materials, I did that……

I was confused about the colours for the painting. Tried few colours, they were not pleasant. Finally zeroed in on few……

I had finally run out of budget and the room’s work unfinished. Actually materials have to be bought again, plan to be remade. I plan to do it today.

Or like this:

I built a good bunglow.

And why ?

5-6 Fm channels in Bangalore, radio scene is great. Was hooked to it for few days when I was there. Particularly liked Radio one. Hit mele hit mele hit mele hit Actually they do play wonderful Kannada songs. And alternate soulful Kannada and Hindi songs is just right recipe for a person like me.

A note on the RJs..Pavitra has the ability to switch 3 languages- English Kannada Hindi - in the same sentence !! But Pallavi is the one I like. She has thrown the punctuations to air and these TV readers should learn a bit from her - they are so desperate to highlight the full stop. And this girl goes

ನಾ..ನ್ ಪಲ್ಲವಿ ನೀ..ವ್ ಕೇಳ್ತಾ ಇದೀರ ರೇಡಿಯೋ ಒನ್, ನಾ..ನ್ ನಿಮ್ ಜೊತೆ ಇರ್ತೀನಿ ೧೦ ಘಂಟೆವರೆಗೆ ಈಗ ಕುನಾಲ್ ಗಂಜವಾಲ ನಿಮ್ ಗೋಸ್ಕರ ಹಾಡ್ತಾರೆ ನೀವ್ ಕೇಳ್ತಾ ಇರಿ ನಮ್ಮ್ ಚಾನಲ್ …(naaan pallavi neev keLta iddira radio one naan nim jote irtini 10 ghante varege iiga kunal nimgoskara hadtare neev kelta iri nam channel..

oh man, cool

And I like this shouting too…

radio one nalli pallaviiiiii , pallaviiii….housefullo

This post was in the making since an year !

At the outset, lest my post miscommunicate, let me accept that mobile phone is a wonderful piece of equipment. Not just because it has made communication as immediate as possible, it also makes it possible a multitude of features to enhance our lives. It is the simplest example to witness that technology has entered our bodies (you can hardly notice mobile-less hands these days) as a preamble to wearable devices. And ofcourse, it is here to stay.

But as a necessity ? My answer is still no. It is still a luxury, not from the cost point of view but from the the point of usefulness. I have been without mobile for over an year now. Only on 2 occasions I was handicapped without a mobile - and both were during travel*

Other than that, I have been completely comfortable. Even before, I hardly recieved calls and hence it was not much a missing. And the very people whom it might have affected did not have complaints, so it was fine for me to be without. I am always available at my office desk or at my house. If I am anywhere else, like at theater or while travelling (on 2 wheeler), I do not wish to take calls, anyways.

On communicating front, things have been normal with email/chat ( I am not saying they are a replacement, but “my life” is yet to find a need to communicate faster than the non real time and/or a need to communicate better & more than that I do on emails. Biggest joke was when a friend called in to after 7 years, blamed it on my not having mobile for the lack of touch. And that, she called from her office phone!

But apart from these, there is another reason I distance phones. Without putting effort(in detail, not that I can not but it is not effortless), it is difficult for me to talk to the handset/mobile imagining the person’s face. With close people, I did talk for hour long, but thats rare. Its a different matter on writing media such as mails and chat, where I can express myself overtly, but on phone I am a bit held back and on oil-less wheels.

I was known to be “speaking from the graveyard” when I receive calls or when I am on phone. (Again it is not that I can not change, but I care less). It takes a little inertia to get over after which too I am just ok, I guess.

Talking of grouses against mobiles, I am totally irritated when people use it in movie halls (at one point recently, ppl in all 3 directions were talking). Why don’t they switch it off / keep it in silent mode. If they have to talk, why the hell dont they throw themselves out ? Also am irritated by crazy and loud ringtones (especially during meeting/ in office).

I don’t like mobile phone intruding my conversations with friends (talk of jealousy, eh?). Once a friend had come home to meet me and of 30 minutes with me, 20 or more minutes he was on phone. Not that I bother much about not being talked to me, but more importantly I was sitting there doing nothing for him to finish talking. I am angry that “my time” was used up. (I believe that anyone who does not value/respect other’s time does not respect the person itself. Which is why I hate thoroughly when I have to wait on somebody (and not because I have to wait)). I understand it is urgent, important, and all that but keep it short. Call back !

You know whats more a pitiable sight than people spending long time on mobile in a social gathering (where they have “come” to meet real people), it should be two friends who meet up and both get busy with their mobiles !!

But there is one thing which I miss - SMS**$#. Those PJs. Those shayiris. Jokes. Fun messages. Good Mornings. Festival/day wishings. Romantic ones. Friendship ones. I felt often, sms can open a new descipline of in literature. Not only the messages meant something, but a thought about the forwarder was also refreshing amidst the busy lives, build errors, meetings, in the queues, during commercial break, in traffic jams, early morning, mid- night and when not ? It was akin to suddenly taking a fast vacation and coming back refreshed. Keeping in touch had a new meaning!

Recently waiter ranted brilliantly about mobile phones (Some of them were just what was at the tip of my tongue, so let me just quote):

I don’t own a cell phone. I used to but I got rid of it. It never worked during those “emergencies” mobile carriers try and convince you are survivable only if you own one of their phones. Has anyone done a study proving cell phones make life safer and better? When you factor in the high bills, distracted drivers, traffic accidents, rude behaviors, and the occasional bout of brain cancer I doubt that it has.

I know most people can’t dream of life without cell phones. Personally I think they’re contraptions whose true value’s been ruthlessly marketed to separate people from their money. Ringtones for a buck? Data plans? Text messaging? Video and TV? In the words of Warren Buffet, “You make a product for a penny, you sell it for a dollar and you sell it to addicts.” And make them addicts while they’re young! Don’t believe me? They have cell phones for toddlers now!
……
The development of technology has always outstripped the development of manners. Maybe, one day, social mores will evolve with technology and we’ll live in a quieter, more civil world.
…..
1. Do not use your cell phone while driving. Pull over. Even hands free phones are distracting.
4. Talk normally. There’s no need to yell. If your surroundings are too loud maybe you shouldn’t be using your phone.
6. Do not interrupt a conversation with a real live person to answer your cell phone.
8. When out with coworkers or friends, constantly checking your phone for messages is annoying.
9. Text messaging while talking to another person is rude.
12. If you see a number you don’t recognize in your phone’s missed call log, don’t ring it at three AM saying, “Yo! I got a call from this number! You call me? Who’s this?” Pathetic.
14. Stopping abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk to answer your cell phone is moronic.
18. Unless you’re expecting a call from God - turn off your phone in church, synagogue, or the mosque.
19. Set the ringer volume below an ear shattering 200 decibels.
22. If you’re running late the ability to call your boss from the road does not magically make your tardiness OK!
23. Having a cell phone does not mean you can change your plans nine times before actually meeting up with friends. Pick a time and place and stick to it.
26. Turn off your cell phone at the opera, ballet, movies, live theater, and concerts.
30. Just turn the thing off. You don’t have to be available all the time.

And after having ranted this long…..let me tell you, I am on mobile again…so note down my number….(No, I did not succumb to the lure, but a temporary necessity.)

Footnotes:

*But it was during travel itself I realized how much “unnecessary” mobile can get -some talked about their breakfasts et all and updating at every other station that we are at that station is not going to make a world of difference, does it ? I might sound cynical and I might be completely wrong - arriving of a person and his notification of the same, could be very important and urgent - but I am not that person, thats all.
** Even though some numbers’ sms (and friendship) lasted only as long as free sms offer.
$ Why do I fall back on text media so often ?
# Talking of SMS, I enjoy going through other friends’ inbox and sent items and then to fill in the gap with my imagination/wit ! Its pretty sad that these days, they clear their inbox and sent items when they come to meet me

to a house. Check out this blog which started July 12-05 started out on trading it with things bigger and better than that. Aim was to get a house. And he did. Some said he was nuts. Others were jealous at his progress. Others wished him luck. And many others, like me, waited and watched!

Another example (like this) that truly innovative and new idea works, however lame it is !