Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows !!

2012-02-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

‘There are some things in life that won’t happen when you wish for and when the opportunity comes to have it at your will, your whole life might have turned upside down’.

2011 - One year to forget

2011-12-30T04:56:00.000-08:00

Today is 30^th December2011 – staring at another new year let me look back at the last364 days of my life.

To be very frank to myself, 2011 was a nothing year for me. I didnothing that is worth mentioning or may be let me put it this way; I didn’t havethe fervor to do anything that’s worth remembering. Instead I went about mydaily routine – which ONLY included going to office & staring at my desktopand coming back home & staring at my laptop and at times sleeping with it;)

2011 was one year in which I missed my friends and familythe most- one to be precise! Never in my life have I thought that lonelinesscould cause this much pain and discomfort. Many a time, I wished I could goback home right after I swiped out of office. Not because I had too much workbut cause I had nothing and absolutely nothing to look up to after work.

Yes – I have to move on and I realize that. Wonder much manymore days/months/years that I will burn in process of getting myself heated up.

As I look forward positively I wish I could (I have to) make2012 count. Thank god for all your blessings and patience though I would havequestioned you on a couple of things that you decided for me in the past year.

I believe in thesaying ‘everything happens for a reason’ and that’s one thing that’s pushing meforward.

Wishing you a wonderful 2012! God bless.

Chappa Kurishu-Reviewed

2011-08-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Watched malayalam movie, Chappa Kurishu today.
The movie looked promising because of the hype created by the promo and the good music, but it turned out to a movie with lacked good story and script. Primarily the movie was dragging and left me looking around the theatre to kill time.

The movie develops with a story of two people - one played by Fahad Fazil(Shanu) belonging the upper strata of society who lives the life he wish and enjoys all the privileges money has to offer.Other one played by Vineeth Sreenivasan who fights hard to earn his living. Their lives meet eachother in a strange circumstance and the movie tells us the story of them trying to meet eachother and the various happenings that occur after.
The movie lacked a strong good story line and leaves many questions unanswered. On the top, the movie finds hard to keep people glued to their seats as it unnecessarily prolongs the climax. The script had no content for a 2.5 hour long movie and would have looked a whole lot better had it been wrapped up in 1.5 hours.
The movie has a handful of positives of which the music by Avial Fame-Rexx Vijayan tops the list. Fahad Fazil has evolved as an actor and improved a lot from his first film- Kaiethum Doorathu. Though the characters played by Fahad Fazil and Remya Nambeesan resemble a lot of their respective characters in Cocktail and Traffic, both have performed well. Remya Nambeesan portrays the strong bold woman of the modern era and made a strong statement by performing intimate romantic scenes which didn't looked vulgar at all and perfectly blended with the script.
To sum up, Chappa Kurishu is yet another malayalam movie which looked promising from its promos and songs, but didn't live up to its expectations.

A list to live LIFE !

2011-08-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today morning as I was talking to my colleague on the principles/quotes that inspire me to live by, I thought it’s time to update my blog with it.

So here goes the list

Everything happens for a reason!
Time heals everything, give time some time.
Think at least a hundred times before sharing your sorrow with others, because majority are just curious and not concerned!
Have the courage to say NO !
Love somebody truly at least once in your life.

Not adding any explanation to the above as they are self-explanatory. Aren't they?

It's now or never

2011-08-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

I flipped through the pages of the book,gazing at those huge numbers.!! The book was a mix of fiction and reality and i always wished it had a good happy ending.. But going by the looks of it and with the heavy heart it was written with, it was turning out to be another damn sad story..
Last couple of months have been tough..It was hard to digest that something that drives me so happy eventually would make me so low and uncomfortable..but that's how the life goes and that's what life is all about..Its not about swimming with the current , sometimes you have to start a new saga of your own and swim against the current with all your vigour and courage..
Yes its time.!! its time to Switch.!! As I gazed at my petrol bills for the last two months and wrote it down in my account log book, I made up my mind that I need to switch to diesel for good..
The time has come..Its now or never :)
And I don't have to look further any more. The answer is here :
http://fiat-india.com/upgrade_to_multijet.aspx?partner=id8&cat=upgrade&city=null&event=null&src=yahoo&det=112,fiat,300x250,fl,max
[Post written for IndiBlogger's Contest themed-Switch to Diesel!]

Get Inspired!

2011-07-30T02:27:00.000-07:00

If any video can be termed inspirational, then nothing beatsthis video.

No matter how many times I have watched this. It neverceases to touch my heart and make me inspire more. We all blame on our smallworries and miseries, but none of our misery is worth a mention in front ofthis man.

Watch this!

Life moves on,so do I

2011-07-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

For the past handful of weeks, I have been counting my miseriesand playing the blame game. I cursed the fate, complained on the lostopportunities, grinned on as I made way for other people. It have beenpreparing this never stopping list of negatives in my life and the list goes onas I keep on finding faults with all that has happened to me and all that Ihave been part of.

But last night as beating away my routine of contemplatingand cursing the life, out of the blue moon a thought crept into my mind– Is mylife that bad? Am I at the receiving end of all miseries in life- the answer is/wasNO!

Aged 23, I am employed in one of India’s most reputedSoftware Company and have been receiving a good pay check that is more thanenough to support my living. I am happily living with a bunch of great friendsand we make it a point to celebrate each and every occasion in our lives.
I thought it was high time to think about the positives toothat have happened in life. Life is never an easy ride and it’s certain youwill run into some potholes on the way. If you may move ahead cursing thepotholes that caused you trouble and made you fall you will invariably fallinto another one and the series goes on. Each pothole teaches you a lesson, it’sup to you whether to learn from it or not. Still there are some potholes whichyou cannot do anything about, you are destined to fall in them and you cannotavoid them- we call it fate. Understand it, move along there is a better lifewaiting for you.
The more you fall, the better person you will be and itmakes you strong and resilient. The deeper you fall; the ride ahead tests yourattitude, tests your character and tests the person in you. Live moves on andyou too should, coz there is a better tomorrow awaiting you!

Cheers! God bless.

We are not safe

2011-07-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Today is July 13- As I am writing this Ajmal Kasab India's most protected person is enjoying his 24th birthday, at the same time many poor innocent people in the streets in Mumbai pity their faith on being struck with bomb blasts for the second time in a handful of years.
As per the latest news reports, 3 blasts took place in Dadar, Opera House and Zaveri Bazar areas. At least eight people have been killed and 70 others injured in the bomb blasts. Not only Mumbai the whole of India is traumatized hearing this news.Let's hope this bomb blast won’t grab much lives and hurt more people.

The terrorists might have decided to give a wonderful birthday present to Kasab by pushing all the Mumbaikars into a state of fear and frenzy with the bomb blasts. Long live Kasab, You have found a prefect and safe asylum in India. Its in our country where you can live peacfully and happily!
My prayers go to each and everyone affected in this blast. Don't know how many more we have to suffer before we eradicate the cancer called terrorism from our motherland. 26/11 and 13/7 teaches us a lesson, that we all ignore.The complacency we show towards all these will make us pay a heavy price in the near future.
Image taken from -http://static.ibnlive.com/pix/sitepix/07_2011/blastsupdt_kajal3_271x181.jpg

a crazy pass time

2011-07-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

How many of you are actually concerned about the font you use in documents or in emails? Majority of us don’t ever care about it and keep on using the default font the application provides. I have seen lot of people in fact almost all using Calibri as their font for emails from Outlook 2007 and rest using Arial/Times New Roman for Outlook 2003. At my workplace the majority of the people resort to Calibri itself.
I wish to walk alone in this regard. Trying a different font other than the normal ones will help you get identified among a chain mail or a group conversation and also I give much importance to the look and feel of the message/e-mail content. That doesn’t mean that I go for flashy fonts and messages in my e-mails. There are plenty of good, human readable fonts in your applications that doesn’t violate the corporate and email etiquettes.
Then the confusion starts-When it comes to selecting fonts am always at sea. I love to switch between various fonts and I keep on doing it now also. I check various fonts from the font’s dropdown available in outlook/word and every time I see a new good readable font I will set it as my default font.
Over the past two years at work, I have switch back and forth between the following fonts
Calibri- Trebuchet MS- Tahoma -Segoe UI - Tahoma - Times New Roman- Cambria - Book Antiqua - Comic Sans - Luicida Sans Console - Berlin Sans FB-Verdana- Eras Medium ITC- Candara-Andalus-Verdana
But still not have I identified/discovered/finalized the font that I should use always. The search continues....
PS: I know I am crazy and sound so silly :)

You can now LIKE my blog posts!

2011-07-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

That was too easy ! Many thanks to
http://www.allblogtools.com/tricks-and-hacks/add-facebook-like-button-for-blogger-blogspot-and-customize-it/
I just incorporated the Facebook LIKE button to my blog. Its very simple and easy and I got this done in a matter of minutes.
A great way to publicise your blog and bring in more readers/fans to your blog.

How NOT to cook biriyani !

2011-07-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

Things were looking pretty fine and peaceful till morning today and we (read Kottaram boys) were ready as ever to spent a wonderful lovely lazy sunday in our own way- by eating and sleeping. We have tried and tested this get-off-the-couch-only-for-food principle/theory/routine far too many times in the span of last two years and need not to say we have passed in all those tries with flying colours. The proof of this can be seen on every kottaram resident who has piled on more and more weight during the stay.

So today, totally against the run of the play, my dear friend Rohith a.k.a Mallapally suggested that we should try cooking biriyani ! What- guys, you heard it right? he seriously meant COOKING!!!
So as loyal friends we showcased our full support to the initiative by accompanying him to the supermarket in order to procure the raw materials(read vegetables, oil, spices and all those required for making biriyani). In the mere excitement of cooking ourselves we over did the shopping which meant that we had no time to cook the biriyani for lunch so we postponed the cooking plan for dinner and had our lunch from a nearby hotel.
Clocked ticked slowly and hours passed by as various discussions and ideas accumulated on how to actually cook biriyani. We sought help from mallapally's mother who helped us with all the process and procedures that needs to conducted to convert all those things we bought from the market to some thing that can be called as biriyani. So after revisiting those tips a couple of times,we decided to start the cooking !
It was absolute chaos in the kitchen as we had multiple views on each and every thing starting from how to chop the onion to how to check whether the rice is ready. It reminded me of an old story(click here for the story) that I learnt in primary school of 6 blind men visiting an elephant and each describing the elephant in his own point of view. We were running around the kitchen like nomads and multiple calls that we made to cross check the correctness of the process we tried didn't help either. How can we expect some to tell us over the phone whether the rice we cooked looked like biriyani rice?? :p
After trying and testing for almost two hours we some-how made a large bowl full of biriyani ! Then came the most disheartening part, we moved in to check and taste of the fruit of our hard work and foolishness.
Man - it was awful ;) Not even in our wildest dreams did we think that we had such damn pathetic cooking skills. But instead of throwing the entire thing to the waste bin, we decided to eat whatever we have cooked. After all we did invest our precious time and cash on that. We contemplated on what all we could have done during that precious two hours rather than smoking up the entire kitchen and preparing a once in a lifetime biriyani which tasted like thirusaadham and looked like gruel.
As we were engineers, we made a thorough analysis of where we went wrong in the Cooking Life Cycle- We understood that

Requirement was ambiguous
No clarity in the process to be followed
Communication medium turned out to be inadequate
There was no quality assurance mechanism to check whether the food we prepared as edible or not

Lesson learnt : How NOT to cook biriyani !

PS: Battled and bruised but still alive,we have decided to give it an other shot in the coming week. Hope it doesn't turn to another disaster.

Do we really keep in touch?

2011-07-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

In today's world, almost everyone has a Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and of late Google plus account. We login to these every day and keep on checking for notifications, new posts and photos uploaded every hour. We celebrate the special days in the web by spamming the wall of our loved ones with wishes,posts and photos. We poke each other and pull each others leg in the web world.

But are we really keeping in touch with each other by doing all these ?
Do we share all our feelings,sorrows,joy in the web. The answer would be NO for sure. We share (only) the happy part of life that we want to publish to all. Other feelings we keep to ourselves.

People - Grab your cellphones and give a call and TALK to your loved ones even though you meet them on-line everyday in facebook/orkut/twitter. Nothing can make you feel better than actually talking to your dear ones or the best way is to meet them in person. :)
PS: I just did and it feels great!

Padhmanabhan and his treasure

2011-07-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Why are media and people makingso much fuss about the treasure that was recovered in Sree Padhmanabha Templelast week?

The humongous treasure residingthere is a proof of a golden dynasty that prevailed in Kerala during that timeand the owner of the treasure is no one but Sree Padhmanabha. It speaks volumeson the vast tradition and wealth that Indians had earlier which made intrudersmake their way to our Mother land and loot this wonderful place centuries ago.

The cry for treasure to bedivided among the public or used for constructive purposes or to be taken bygovernment is utter rubbish and people who are pleading for them aredeliberately forgetting the antique and historic value that the treasurepossess. Right from the day committee started the search in the temple the socalled creative geniuses have made up numerous stories to inveigle people by portrayingthe treasure as a common property! This is illogical and atrocious.

How can a treasure which isdivine and marks the culture of a community called a public property. In thatcase why can't we take all the precious things residing in various museums and claimit’s for the public??

And speaking about using thistreasure for constructive purposes and for good deeds, it all depends on your definitionof what a good deed is. The treasure is divine and the historical value itpossesses is something that cannot be explained in words. It reflects thehistory and culture of the life that existed centuries ago.

People are also concerned aboutthe security threat that the treasure brings into picture. That was first to beconsidered by the honorable high court which gave the permission to open thetreasure and publicly disclose all the details on the petition of a singleindividual. So does it mean that I can go out a file a petition to check allthe worship places belonging to Hindu, Christians and Muslims and ask to digthem for some hidden treasures? Will the court give permission for a similarthing to happen in a Mosque or a Church? You know the answer - it’s a NO, nomatter whoever asks and they blame all those asking for it saying it’s a discriminationof the minority people. Aren't the Hindus who are in majority in this country havingthe rights to protect their beliefs and worship places?

And creating a wrong notion that it’sbetter to sell off the treasure rather than keeping in the temple itself isnothing but conspiracy to destroy the divine tradition that is associated withit. People are making all sorts of stories to convince themselves and others thatthe treasure is their property and creating controversies.

Media needed to act moreresponsibly and sadly it’s too much to ask from our media. We belong to acountry where the controversy driven and media actually helped the terrorists tokill Indian soldiers by broadcasting the live footage of the rescue operationsat Hotel TAJ on 26/11. The footage helped the terrorists know exactly where thesoldiers where and what our forces’ strategy was. We paid a big price for theirresponsible act by the media who were in search of petty techniques to boosttheir television ratings.

It’s really sad that somenewspaper published the map and the detailed footage of the different chambersof the temple where the treasure is located. They are creating security threatsthemselves and then crying over it!!!

And why are we concerned aboutproviding security to this treasure? It’sreally pathetic to see a country spending crores to provide Z level security toa notorious terrorist and is reluctant to protect precious possessions of adivine culture.

One question - why is this discriminationagainst Hindu Temples/Hindu Customs and beliefs always?

A handful of months back, we sawhigh court asking the dewasom board to give explanation on the MAKARAVILAKKU.Be it whatever that made the court to seek such an explanation. No body andabsolutely nobody have the right to question one's belief- be it government orany court. Government and the court should make efforts to bring in bettersecurity and facilities rather than blame it on an age-old tradition whichmillions of people believe in.

And adding more to thediscrimination on the majority, why is there an autonomous body to handle thedifferent temples in the state. What makes other religions not affiliated tothis autonomous body? Answer is the same- Minority is enjoying all the privilegesand making them unassailable to government and law.

Doesn’t the MAJORITY deserve aplace in this minority driven country?

Finally all those who are catfighting for Sree Padhmanbhan’s treasure – Shut up and be proud that you arethe proud descendants of a wonderful country which is rich in culture andtradition. Haven’t your parents taught you the good deeds- not to be greedy onsome else’s riches. !!! Padhamanbha Swamy’s treasure belong to Sree PadhmanabhaSwamy itself and no body else.

Disclaimer: Though I got a bit aggressive and irritated by therecent happenings, I am not a religious fanatic. And for the records, I am aHINDU and I eat beef.

ബ്ലോഗില്‍ മലയാളത്തിന്റെ ഹരിശ്രീ

2011-07-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

മലയാളത്തില്‍ കൂടി എഴുതിയാലോ ഒന്നും ആലോചന തുടങ്ങിയിട്ട് ഒരു പാട് കാലം ആയി. കടലാസ്സില്‍ പേന കൊണ്ടെഴുതുന്ന സുഖം ഓണ്‍ലൈന്‍ ബ്ലോഗ്ഗിങ്ങില്‍ കിട്ടില്ല എന്ന് മനസിലാക്കി കൊണ്ട് തന്നെയാണ് ഇപ്പോള്‍ ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു ശ്രമം.
മലയാളത്തില്‍ കൂടി ബ്ലോഗ്‌ എഴുതാനുള്ള ഈ സംരംഭം എത്രമാത്രം വിജയിക്കുമെന്ന് കാലം തെളിയിക്കെട്ടെ!

a nice evening well spent..

2011-07-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

What would you do when you are alone on a boring Sunday evening and want to make yourself happy and excited! Shopping/ Movie / Bird watching – Naaah

I would drive down to a good restaurant and then have a great dinner. I would eat to my heart’s content and feel happy & proud about it. After all, anything we do in this life is a struggle to find out a day’s meal!

Well the above passage is more than enough to brand me as a FOODIE- Well I accept it. Good Food has always been my weakness.

Just back me after such a wonderful dinner! Yummy……….

What next !

2011-06-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Its been almost two years since I first swiped-in at Infosys. To be frank, it has been a nice time as my company has not choked or squeezed the life in me with hectic work nor have exploited the creative, workaholic gentleman in me.Instead it has always helped me with less work and blessed with fat pay checks and occasional life savers in Salary loans!
Much has not changed since I joined Infy in my career as I have been part of the same project and made a large commotion recently to change my project/department which went in vain. Still I am happy with what I got in making me transforming me from a Manual Test Engineer to an Automation Test Engineer.
I can sit back and relax for at least the next 5 years and pile up on my bank balance- But is it what I want? To be very frank - I DON'T KNOW !
But I would love to make my life large by adding a pinch of action, adventure and risk to it. I may quit the IT field once for all and go in search of those which interests me. But can I win the battle between my aspirations and those fat pay slips which always excites me :)
Or what about going for Higher Studies, shall I fly aboard for a PG degree- then comes the next question. MS or MBA - I have never been a great student of Computer Science and seriously doubt me going all the way in completing a Masters or PhD. But does it mean that I don't like my subject nor have the will to learn - No, I do have and like to explore the subjects that I deliberately missed to learn in my college. I may eventually go for a toss of the coin to decide among these PG courses :p
Oh God, Am confused... Damn confused... But I will fly away..Some day..No shackles can keep me tied down to earth for long.. And its just a matter of time before he hear that I have started my journey to chase down my dreams!!!!

Endosulfan - Do we really need it ?

2011-04-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Its high time India shed the tag of biggest producer and consumer of this poison. India consumes almost 4,500 tonnes of endosulfan and injects cancer to the poor workers who are left with no other option to spray this poison in their farm lands without any protection.

Just imagine the grief and suffering the victims are upto. Too bad the government doesnt show the courage and heart to ban this.

I couldn't understand why our leaders are so adamant in not banning this substance which is banned in more than 63 countries.

Kerala is the worst affected state in India and I pity the politicians who make the ban on endosulfan another way to fill up their ballet boxes!

People, dont back away from these poision- Spread the word be it in facebook or twitter or any other media, join in the revolution against this evil and fight till this is eradicated from our mother earth.

The weekend that was!

2011-04-20T05:17:00.001-07:00

Had a handful of wonderful off days from work starting from last Wednesday till yesterday J

Casted my vote for the first time .I was a bit anxious while waiting in the Q for my turn to press the blue button in the electronic voting machine which will determine who will lead us tomorrow !

The next two days was fully dedicated to VISHU- Malayalam New Year. Was too busy running around making arrangements for the feast, bursting crackers, accepting and at times demanding VishuKaineettam from elders. It was fun.

After vishu,paid a visit to Sabarimala with my father- he was visiting the temple after a gap of almost 30 years and even at his age he had very little problem climbing the steep hill while I was down and almost out just as I started climbing thanks to my sedentary life style and healthy(:p) food habits .

On the whole it was a super long weekend and just like any other holidays felt them got over too soon.

Now back to work ! Keep reading God bless

I am an Automation Engineer !

2011-04-20T05:14:00.001-07:00

More than a month since I have penned down anything here!

Blame it on the change of track in my project. Finally I said finally after trying for more than a handful of months I got absorbed to Automation track. Was doing manual testing for the past one year and staring at the same website and clicking the same hyperlinks over and over again made me feel like a zombie. Though automation also deals with the same website and the same hyperlinks it’s a relief from the monotony that I was a part of all these days.

Let’s see how my new track goes on. It’s a change that makes me stare at thousands of lines of java code and wonder what will break in the next run.??

As per my initial ‘experience’ report automation demands more MANUAL effort from me than manual testing

Keep reading. God bless.

Its a new look!

2011-03-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Finally finally I decided to change the look and feel of my blog.Its been more than a handful of years since I started a blog and my blog had the same design ever since then. Black has always been my favourite colour and no surprise in it being my first design.

So here comes my blog with the new design and hopefully more number of posts. Keep reading. God bless.

going home

2011-02-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

It sucks !

2011-02-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

OMG - How on earth can someone name a cricket team 'INDI COMMANDOS'….

The name sucks big time...and their logo too.

There seems to be lot of dick heads in this IPL team management.First they proved it by picking Ravindra Jadeja for a whooping 950000$, now their name and logo.

Someone rightly tweeted; Ravindra Jadeja is only the second worst thing to happen for the Kochi IPL team.

PS: Heard the team is seriously considering shifting their home ground to Ahmadabad; that means Kochi IPL team will soon be shedding its Kochi tag too

Stumpy-mascot of 2011 world cup

2011-02-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

Meet 'STUMPY' the official mascot of 2011 ICC world cup. I came to know about stumpy today only,some 194 days after it was unveiled. As the saying goes 'Better late than never'....

Hope stumpy serves as the lucky mascot for this world cup and help India win the title after 18 years.

weekend

2011-02-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

yet another weekend..thought of going home this weekend, then realized that my GATE examination is going to happen this Sunday-tomorrow. Oh god - that will be a wonderful 3 hours..where I can ponder am i actually a computer science graduate...

Recently weekends have become more of a time to get some rest and bust some stress and irritation of work rather than possible two days of blast,hangouts and booze.

Weekends mean different to different people. For me its time to discover myself,put my thinking caps on for more ideas, re-investigate the progress towards my dreams and spend some quality time with family.

Happy weekend all.. God bless!

random scribblings at midnight...

2011-02-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

Its been quite some time, since I have actually wrote something in blogspot- instead I write in my office blog and merely copy paste all the rubbish I scribble there..
Had or in fact still have plans of taking up blogging seriously and do it more and more often. Blogs offer a wonder platform where you can ponder and blabber on anything under the sun, shout at society, appreciate, complain and what not ! In short it helps you to express yourself.
One thing that make me think negatively on taking up serious blogging is the plight of my technical blog- It was started on the very next day of my internship when i was full of technical crap.
Hmm... Let time decide whats good for me.. I still may go ahead and take my blog to greater heights...
Keep reading people.. God bless!

the power of PraYeR

2011-02-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

Things can change quick and fast!

I am/was going through one of the roughest patches in my life (now) and I left office yesterday evening irritated, angry, disturbed and what not – I wanted to run away from work. In fact I wanted to run away from the life I am living now.

I was feeling the same when I got up today morning worrying about going to work. But for a change I spent a couple of minutes praying and it certainly made my day. It’s a wonderful day today and feeling a lot relaxed and happy today.

Oh omnipotent – thanks a lot.

Gone are those days....

2011-02-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

Gone are those days...,When umpteen chat windows used to blink at the same time !

Gone are those days..,When I used to spend hours at food court !

Gone are those days..,When I used to spent more time in pantry chatting with my friends than in my cubicle !

Gone are those days..,When I used to clock just 9.15 hours – not a second more !

Gone are those days..,When coming to office was so much fun !

Gone are those days .. L L

PS: Was on bench for 1.5 months- Got a project now !

iDecide..

2011-02-08T23:04:00.001-08:00

I have seen/experienced many times people crying on their lack of ability to take decisions. They are a lot of people who can’t take decisions of their own. Instead they look for some others to take decisions for them. I am not against asking for others opinion, but first have an opinion of your own.

No! This blog post is not to pity of the plight of such people instead it’s on something that has happened to my decision making thought process.

Earlier while making decisions I was very quick in reaching a conclusion – But off late am taking a bit longer to decide- or I would say it this way- I am considering more and more options and possibilities before coming up with a decision.

Whatever it is, it’s far better than not able to make a decision at all J Thank God!

random thoughts

2011-02-08T23:03:00.001-08:00

Too many thoughts flying around in my head- still finding difficult to pen down any!

PS: Feeling a bit excited on the marriage function coming up this weekend- A chance to meet some of my college mates after a long time. Both ASWATHY's in our class are getting married this weekend..

Celebrations

2011-02-08T23:02:00.001-08:00

There is a saying “All roads lead to rome”, in Kerala particularly in festive time, all the roads lead to BEVCO (Beverages Corporation).

We cannot even think of a festival be it Onam / Christmas/ Vishu or even Harthal we hate to celebrate it without liquor!

But thanks to my ill health, which left me with no other option other than being a mere spectator in this years’ booze party J

Anyway seems like whole Kerala (expect me) had a wonderful time going by news reports!

Too bad – too sad! Have we run out of options to celebrate?

Life lessons learnt in 2010

2011-02-08T22:54:00.000-08:00

A series of life lessons I learnt (and re-learnt) in 2010.

Petrol is a very costly fluid.
The most important thing you need in a cell phone is a stable firmware
You need a user name and password to book tickets through IRCTC and KSRTC
Never ever plan on how to spent money :p
Facebook is a wonderful tool to waste time
Driving is an art and I still have many miles to go.
Mistakes do happen
Google knows everything
Life doesn’t end with a breakup
A late night bus journey can make you romantic
Silence is golden
Blogging can bring you fans
MS excel rocks
Beach and park can give you magical moments that you will cherish for a lifetime
You can live without a girl friend
There are a lot of people out there who will take advantage of your ignorance
Life goes on…
You can actually drive 10k kilometers in a year
There is a heaven in this world –it’s called Mysore DC
You can get featured in sparsh!
NO PARKING sign boards are not kept for fun
Never ever check your horoscope
Salary can last atmost 10 days
Its cool to video chat with your girl friend
Tintumon rocks ;)
Dieting doesn’t mean eating a cornflakes packet for dinner.
Procrastination is a crime.
Sad part of any party is HANGOVER!
You can actually sponsor a child’s education
Too much cigars can leave a hole in your wallet too
Monday is a very bad day
Salary comes only once in a month

That’s all for now... Will keep on adding this list with more life lessons

Flower shot

2011-02-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

Taken with my N79!

IPL squads after the auctions

2011-01-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

Auction for the fourth edition of cricket's most expensive and glamorous tournament is over. Take a look at the teams as of now...

Click here for IPL squads after the auctions !

Scored a century in Blogspot !

2010-11-26T06:47:00.000-08:00

Well that quite an achievement !

I started blogging on blog spot on 26th Sep,2007(check my first post here- that was nothing much than a cut-copy-paste of some poem )- Wow that's more than 3 years back. Feeling happy that i didn't lose heart and stopped blogging and am going on and reached my first milestone.

I have now posted more than 100 entries in this blog !

Nice going :) - As I always say, Keep reading. God bless all ..

PS: If you are that much interested, am also blogging at wordpress and also at my office blog- thats not available over the internet.

Jai Hind

2010-11-26T06:37:00.000-08:00

Saluting you all !

Thanks for saving the country and thanks for protecting us !

Social Network - The film

2010-11-26T06:21:00.001-08:00

Well well well – this was the first thing on my to-do list for the day.

But I forgot :)

Watched ‘Social Network’ last night. Very rarely do I watch English movies- But this one just blew me apart. Its really good and felt a little inspired after watching that.

Its a movie based on the creators & creation of the social networking giant - Facebook !

Guys, do check it out - you will love it for sure.

Google Rocks - Again

2010-11-26T06:20:00.000-08:00

Dont know how many times I have said "Google Rocks" - they are simply great .

Just check out the below site and you will know the reason.

http://www.20thingsilearned.com/

PS: The site is developed using HTML5 and you need chrome/HTML5 compatible browser to see the site in its full glory - But even with age-old browsers; its a good read.

A good weekend !

2010-11-26T06:15:00.001-08:00

That’s what I can say about the weekend that just passed – it was good not because I went on an adventurous trip to the most scenic location in the world but I spent quality time with my friends and saw a couple of movies with them and laughed our heads out cracking old jokes and playing pranks on each other.

Well to start off my weekend, I found my perfect companion in a broom and started to clean our house which was more than a mess. That was indeed a perfect sign that this weekend would be much better than the normal boring weekends that I normally have just because a sloppy, huge, lazy guy like me would never ever think of cleaning even my room leave alone the house.

Then it was movie time - College Days – a Malayalam film grabbed our attention mainly due to my friend being a faithful Indrajith fan. But the film turned out to be a disaster as it was yet another old wine kept in old bottle itself. Why does Malayalam film industry stick to the same story line always?

It was raining most of the times during the weekend and we set off for a bike ride in the rain (hoping to get ourselves drenched) for having some hot tea J . It felt great sitting there; gazing at the rain; thanking the rain-gods and sipping hot tea.

For the final act of the weekend – we decided to watch Guzarish. Though the movie turned out to be tragedy I really liked the film.

Well that’s all for now! New week – new set of tasks J

Not so good start to the week

2010-11-26T06:11:00.001-08:00

Oh man – that was a narrow miss!!

Completely forgot that am in Morning Shift today and when I realized it was too late.

Still rushed to office and came 1.5 hours late than the scheduled shift time.

Luckily there wasn’t much work assigned and I could finish it soon.

Anyways Good morning all & Happy week ahead

Now thats called customer Delight !

2010-11-26T06:07:00.001-08:00

Popular Hyundai made my Sunday a very special one by giving me a wonderful gift!

Around 10.30 in the morning, I got a call from popular Hyundai asking me whether I had given low marks in the feedback for car washing/cleaning. One month back I had given my i10 for a water service and noticed that underbody was not cleaned properly so I had given low marks for that.

So coming back to the call, the guy who called was their Sales Promotion Officer and he offered my car a thorough water service free of cost. I politely refused the offer saying that I have no complaints now- But he was reluctant to let me go and made me fall for the free water service.

They picked the car and brought it back in 3 hours and Man – My car looked straight out of the showroom! It was shining like a diamond. There wasn’t any mud/dust in the car after the wash. They even cleaned the interiors. Even the tires looked so clean and neat!

Thanks a lot popular Hyundai! And thanks for doing it absolutely free of cost ;-)

Sleep @ night !

2010-11-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

How many of us can sleep soundly at night while travelling in bus /train even amongst all the distractions?

I can – Till very recently I used to say very proudly that I could sleep anywhere, even with lights on or with heavy music!

But now a days seems like my ability to sleep through noises and distractions made me oversleep through my journey and get down far after my destination!

The first incident took place a couple of months ago where I slept off and instead of Thrissur got down at Kuttipuram-(some 50 kms from thrissur).

The second one incident happened a couple of days back –But this time I travelled only 12 kms more :)

Anyways IMO having a good sleep is better than a sitting awake all through the night- though there is a risk factor attached to it :)

No seats available

2010-11-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Why do I wait till the last moment for booking bus/train for going home?

Irritated like hell :@

Salary Day!

2010-10-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee….Its salary day !

Got my salary ; was waiting desperately for it.

Wait is finally overJ

Now looking forward for the next salary day – after all that’s my motivation to come to office for the next 30 days :p

the right vibes

2010-10-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Was browsing lazily through pages and stumbled upon a nice site !

Check out http://therightvibes.com/

Just as the name goes it has the right vibes. Go ahead and have a nice read !!

September 13

2010-09-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

September 13! Perhaps the most important day in my life: D

The day I thought my dreams finally came true, the day when I cried with joy and yelled at the top of my voice. The most beautiful and happiest day in my life.

But that was September 13 2008! Staring at the same day after 2 years; I couldn’t help but shed a drop of tear. I couldn’t walk away saying that Life is not all about gains; sometimes we have to lose also!

I couldn't afford to lose; but had no other choice!

I lost it and every September 13 will come back to prick me with lots and lots of painful still sweet memories!

Am Happy ;)

2010-05-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

Thought of marking my happiness here!

Why are my feeling so happy ? Reason is simple – I have loooooots of work ! But I am enjoying every bit of it J

I always loved working late and running around tirelessly to meet the deadlines and the new project I am into demands me to all these J And guess what the second day in the new project; I had to come @ 7 in the morning and left office by 10 pm !

After all I need some pressure and deadline to squeeze the best out of me !

Looking forward for more ! God bless. Keep reading

Another HARTHAL !

2010-05-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

Its only 7.17 AM and OMG am at my desk! Wow! That’s tooooo early. I don’t even think of getting up so early on a normal day leave alone reaching office.

The reason for my early arrival is HARTHAL! All over India people are ‘celebrating’ harthal on account of ….( I seriously don’t know what this harthal is for). And in my own state Kerala; we don’t need any reason for such a ‘festival’. People are more than happy to sit at home on a harthal day and make it a big success. Here it’s a crime if you don’t have at least one harthal in a month :P

I have always pitied the political parties for resorting to such a primitive way of protest. Can’t they look for new daring ways of showing protest? The common man is suffering but sadly no political party tries to understand that.

PS: just googled for HARTHAL and was shocked by the first result that turned up. ‘harthal, Hartal, Bandh, Work stoppage of Kerala and West Bengal ...’. Google knows everything

Good end to IPL !

2010-04-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that CSK won the IPL, Am I?? Not so

Lemme rephrase that!

I am so happy that MI did not win the IPL. ! Now that sounds gr8 !

From the very beginning of this IPL; there was only one wish in my mind! I didn’t care who won the matches or whose NRR was the highest; only thing I longed for was the defeat of MI J
And I witnessed it yesterday; CSK crushing the MI in the finals of IPL 2010.

Wow! I was thrilled with joy!! Congrats CSK ! Hats off to Dhoni & Raina

Btw hats off to the Master Blaster!! I call you GOD for your resilience and determination! A mere mortal cannot withstand the pain and stand there (injured) facing balls bowled @ 130-140 kmph and still play the most elegant and exquisite shots with at most calm and precision :)

Retrospection

2010-04-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

Just back at my desk after a session on Introduction to automation!

In the session slides read many a terms like objects, API, client-server communication, middleware, framework, web services etc. etc. I am very well accustomed to all these terms and I felt very comfortable studying and understanding these terms and even working on a at least a couple of them.

But not any more! All through the session I was trying to figure out what these terms meant to me now, It has been quite a while since I heard these terms leave alone using them.

And here I am sitting staring at my system; sad and depressed on the change I have been forced to .

Today I am working (if I can call so) with RTM, test cases & test execution. It’s been ages since I have seen or wrote a piece of code. Bad. Really bad !!

Thanx !!

2010-04-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah people !! Blogging just to say a whole-hearted thanks to all those people who developed twitter, facebook and other such social networking sites. Mainly because thats the only way to stay connected with my friends now a days. I have the contact numbers and e-mails of almost all of them but I never call,text or mail them blame it on my laziness, procrastination or whateva- the fact is I am not connected to my friends via phone or e-mail. So I am left with no other option but these social networking sites.

C'mon people, start tweeting, update your statuses in facebook and buzz whats happening with you and around you so that I also get updated !! Hi.. Hi..

Keep reading. God bless.

It Happened !!!

2010-04-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

Finally it happened. I have been planning for Bangalore trip for the past few weeks and am really happy and damn excited that finally it turned into a reality !!! Thursday afternoon, I was killing time looking at e-mails and chatting in office when I thought calling my lead and ask him about the weekend plan, to my surprise he said we have no work assigned for this weekend and we all can go home. I was super excited and a bangalore trip could never have another good time. So a couple of phone calls one to my friend in Bangalore and another to Ticket Booking center, I was all set to travel to Bangalore the very evening and I did. Spent most of the time today(first day @) roaming around and visiting shopping malls and bird watching.Not to forget splendid and yummy time we had in KFC. Well well well I am gonna meet my friend Rohith tomorrow and am damn sure we are gonna have a blazzzttt !!! Keep reading all. God bless.

Life is calling.... Where am I ??

2010-03-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Another weekend!!! Its filled with uncertainty as always J, mainly because I don’t know whether I should come for work on weekend. I hope there is work. Ya!! You read it correctly . I said I prefer working on weekends

Guys, don’t jump into conclusions and count me as a geek and workaholic person who is dying to do every bit of work given to him promptly and efficiently.

Off late my life lacks action, fun and adventure. To sum up life lacks that liveliness L I pondered over it quite a time over the past few days but still I couldn’t figure out the exact reason for this stagnant, monotonous life.

I could find up with many excuses and I could find a million reasons to blame the organization I work for, the place I reside and my colleagues. But then I realized that all these reasons are nothing but excuses. The real issue is something else.

Think its with my mindset – its me who has to decide how I should live my life . Isn’t it right ??

Hoping to find an appropriate answer for that million dollar question now.

Happy weekend to all. Enjoy guys . God Bless !!

I wanna grow up once again !!

2010-03-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Some of the finest things in life happen totally unexpected and that certainly is the beauty of it. It was a normal Sunday night at Kottaram(our rented house) and we all were having our self-made dinner when my friend Vaibhav gave us an idea of going out and having something – Beer, Shake or Ice Cream

As the clocks had already run past 10, we decided to eliminate the first choice (though I personally preferred that) and settle for the others. But even after having them, we were not satisfied as the night was still so young for both of us. So we decided to drive down to a beach nearby- Sankumugham.

We hit the accelerator hard and we cruised down to Sankumugham in no time as the speedometer marked 100 km/hr (and sometimes even more) constantly. We reached there just in time to witness the high tides roar and conquer the sand.

It was fun walking through the beach, kicking the sand, enjoying the cool breeze and witness the sea hit the shore with all its might. Memories outflow during these times and you feel like plunging down into your past and relive those wonderful moments and even shed tear for some thorns you had in your life.

Saw a lot of kids running around and chasing crabs and enjoying out there.Sometimes you feel like being a kid a again.

"Give me some sunshine,
Give me some rain,
Give me an another chance,
I wanna grow up once again !!!"

It was one of those wonderful nights. Enjoyed it with lots of subtle emotions and memories.

Hmm... Life has to move on. Keep reading. Keep living. God bless.

A nice read !!

2010-03-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Was surfing through the net and killing time when my eyes got locked on a blog post by my college mate Anirudh Goel. A very interesting and good read. Read it here.

Hail Manchester United !!

2010-03-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

Oh man thats quite a fixture for Manchester United this coming fortnight !!

Three big matches and that too just three days separating each one of them.

The red devils take on the big guns from bundesliga - Bayern Munich in the first leg of quarter finals of UEFA champions league the coming week and then its the battle of the titans in EPL as we take on Chelsea and then battle again with Bayern in the final leg of UCL.

Thats quite a tough schedule and a dream fixture for every football fan.

C'mon Red Devils !! Come on Rooney !! Lets get it done professionally and convincingly as we always do.

Movie- Nayakan- Malayalam

2010-03-28T01:54:00.001-07:00

Lemme start with a disclaimer that this wont be an end to end movie review and the primary motive of writing this review is to kill time as I said in my earlier post.

Last day it was my friend KK who forced me to theater and made me watch this film and it turned out to be a good one. I said good and not great !!!

Story line is very common and it speaks about a youngster(Indrajith) who takes revenge on underworld don who brutally murders Indrajith's father and sister.

Movie is a one of those up-beat movies with action and high voltage involved in almost every scene of the movie. Lijo Jose Pellisery the son of well-known malayalam actor Jose Pellisery debuts in the film as Director and he has done well in come out with a non-boring, action filled film.

Indrajith and Siddique has acted well and did justice to the roles given to them. But thilakan turns out to a flop with a look that doessnt suit him at all and a bad dialogue presentation to compliment it .

Director has tried to be different and innovative to make all the characters different particularly in their appearance wise and it has backfired here and there.

The cinematography needs special mention and also the action sequences. On the whole its nothing more that a one-time watch because of common storyline.

Rating- 2.5 / 5.

PS: Go and watch as its far better than many of the malayalam films that were released in the recent past

Trivandrum is sooo boring...

2010-03-28T01:30:00.000-07:00

Well the subject line of the post says it all. Trivandrum is so boring. After a memorable time in Mysore, we all got postings in Trivandrum 5 months ago.

From that moment, we have been searching for new places to visit, new things to do, new places to dine in. Is that all the capital city of Kerala has to offer. ??? Seems like so. There are no busy malls out here(not even one mall-leave the busy ones) and no special hangout places.

And even in theatres its better to stay away because the local people who come there will make your life a living hell. A couple of days back me and my friends went to SreePadmanabha theatre for watching malayalam movie"In Ghost House Inn" and there was absolute chaos. People jumping over the rails, pushing each other, hitting each other and the verbal abuse at its peak !! Police out there was busy waving their lathies at all people and we were so god damn lucky to return home with out being hit by police. You cant imagine going out there to enjoy yourselves.

Its a lazy sunday morning here and am sitting in my room confused on what next ?? There are no specific plans and I need to find some way to kill my time.

Wish I was in some place where something is happening !! Seems like am regretting my decision to come down to work in Trivandrum. As both career wise and life-wise it did me no good.

Thats all for now guys. Keep reading. God bless.

Baaackk.......

2010-03-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

Its been quite a while since I have logged into my blog. So it was not quite a surprise when I saw that my last post was in December 24,2009. !!!

Wow, thats quite a while ago.

Well the inactivity can be blamed upon not having a proper internet connection at home (or where I am staying right now).

Hope to blog more often and be active in the world of blogs

IPL team for KERALA !

2010-03-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

A great news for all the cricket players and cricket fans in Kerala. An IPL team for Kerala is a reality now. Thanks to the efforts taken by five power houses united under the rendezvous sports limited and Sasi Tharoor for coordinating all these big guns.

IPL is at its most exciting state next year with the new teams and the whole bunch of players going into a common pool and am sure franchises will be have started scratching their heads and doing all kinds of calculation to set up the best team next year in the most cash rich cricket league in the planet.

An IPL team for Kerala will make sure that there will be improvement in the basic facilities in the state which doesn’t look promising now. It also motivates a lot of players in the junior and senior level to have more focus on their game.

Waiting for the day IPL team from Kerala team take on the mighty franchises in our home ground – [ Nammude swantham Kochillilee ]J

PS: Please please don’t include Sreesanth in the team.

PPS: Even if he is in the team, Please please please don’t make him the ICON player.

Confused & Praying.....

2010-03-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

Back in office after a handful of days at home. Was very confused on the plans for this long weekend and absolutely nothing to do at home which made me spent Saturday at Kottaram (the place where I stay in Trivandrum).

Saturday night, I finally decided to go home to kill the boredom and hoping to continue the same boredom there also.

As another unproductive day @ ma home was nearing completion, my phone beeped carrying an SMS which turned the whole situation upside down. The SMS carried very shocking news - One of my best friend’s father was admitted in hospital and was in critical condition.

I rushed to the hospital keeping my fingers crossed and reached just in time to help him get on to the stretcher and carry him to intensive care unit. But I never knew that would be the last time I see him as he never returned alive !!!!!!!

I took me sometime to digest that fact and I sat there cursing GOD for being so cruel, or was the omnipotent being kind by alleviating the suffering for him. I don’t know.

There are sometimes we humans are so weak and only thing we can do is to act upon the FATE.

Look back @ 2009 !

2009-12-31T05:54:00.000-08:00

2009 was so wonderful. And the major chunk of the year I spent with Infy. Pre-empted my college life with only seven semesters and left to Infy, Mysore for doing internship over there.

What a time we had!! It was simply the best time in my life till date!!

The training was tough, demanding and very rigorous. We were put into fast track. We finished our generic and stream specific training in a month!! To be frank I gained more knowledge in those 25 days than the 3.5 years I spent in college. I couldn’t believe sometimes that I was actually sitting back for lab sessions and coding J

After that we were put into internship project. This time the situation got even better. Though we were working for 16-18 hours a day, it was one hell of a time. Running all the way from room to class for the morning attendance, those short naps after heavy lunch from FC1, late night chats in class and sipping boost on our way back room at 2.30 am after a busy-day’s work. We tried out almost everything in all food courts. CCD, subway and Dominos was our regular stop thanks to the food coupons J then how can we forget Dolphin. ??

We were in project from March to May. Learnt a handful of technologies and prepared lots documents and did a wonderful project CRM. All credit to Yugin Joseph for managing the resources (usJ) well. And when it came to evaluation we were disheartened as the evaluator didn’t even check all the functionalities L

But the news awaiting us the next morning was one we will cherish forever. Our project was nominated for the BEST PROJECT. Only 16 from the 190 odd projects got nominations J It was something phenomenal. Though we couldn’t make it to the podium we were happy with the progress we had made.

We were rewarded for those sleepless nights we spent in the class, IPL matches we skipped, movies that we missed...The list goes on end less J

So we left Mysore Infy in May only to join back as Employees on July 27th.

Joining back, it was more fun with ILI sessions and extended training. Nobody took the training seriously as there was no exit policy. Thank god I cleared it with more CGPA than my entry-level training.

After enjoying another 3 months in Mysore it was time for our posting. Again God showed am his favorite child as I got posting in TrivandrumJ.

Joined TVM SEZ on October 15th. After that nothing much has been happening as I am on bench till date. L Got a chance to work (work??) from STP for two weeks. That’s been the only enjoyment I had in TVM off-late.

That sum up my 2009 from a professional side. Year started with me being college student and ends me being a corporate student J.

On the personal front- 2009 was a mixed bag. Had to skip the last semester in college for internship; so missed so much fun, had to leave behind so many friends. But had chance to interact with lots of new people, had chance to know more about people I thought I will never be friends with them J.

Hope I will have more fun and a better life in the coming year.

Have a great new year all. Rock 2010!! God bless J

Wishes !!

2009-12-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a merry CHRISTMAS and a wonderful 2010. Let all your dreams come true :)

Enjoy and rock the party !!!

AVATAR- Movie

2009-12-24T02:52:00.000-08:00

Finally saw AVATAR last night. Last Sunday, we went for the movie but had to return empty handed after standing for more than 2 hours in queue. But we booked tickets on the same day fearing of such an ill-fate again.

I was very excited to watch my first 3D film. Eagerly wore the goggles even before the film started. It was a great experience watching a 3D film.

Animation was excellent, superb, great, mind-blowing…(can’t find words )Hats off to those who were part of this grand venture. Story line was very predictable and at times

I have a Dream

2009-12-24T02:50:00.000-08:00

It was during the summer of 2007 that i first visited Mysore campus. I was a college student then we came here for our industrial visit. As its common with industrial visits, we were all set for a boring formal session.But Infosys proved us wrong. There was no formal sessions. We were split up into two groups and taken to ECC,GEC1,ILI and Multiplex.

It was a great experience. I first tasted the architecture wonder INFY had to offer on that day. I still remember my reaction when i entered the screen 4 of multiplex.It was well lit-up and i was stunned to say the least.

We also visited ECC and was astonished with world-class facilities INFY provides to its employees. But to our surprise,we didnt see a single human-soul over there. We asked the guy who was explaninig all to us about this. He smiled and told us "This is only my second visit to ECC and the first one was on the day of my induction" !!

We didn't understand what he told till the time we came here for internship. During internship, we really understood why these world-class facilities are being under-exploited or under-used !!
From the day, I visited MYS DC I have a dream in my mind. One dream i would like to full fill in the near future. "I want to stand in before the well-packed audience in SCREEN 4 of our multipex and address the gathering over there..!!!"

Hope I can full fill my dream soon . Keep reading. God bless !!

PS: There may be some INFOSYS specific terms,so plz forgive if u cant make out something.

Sarath, SPEAK UP !!!

2009-12-24T02:49:00.000-08:00

I am an introvert and sometimes I don’t feel like speaking up particularly in front of many people. I have been working on the same and I thought I have improved. But I would like to share two incidents that happened recently which proved that there is something still inside me which pulls me down when it comes to speaking-up!!

First incident happened during our induction ceremony, a senior project manager was taking us a session on 'Basics of Business' in Multiplex. He explained us the various HBUs, IBUs, BEFs and all. As it was an afternoon session we all found it very hard to keep our eyes open and listen to what he is saying. The talk went on for almost 2 hours .After the talk; he split up into groups and started asking questions on the session.

He asked us questions on the various terminologies discussed and after the round of questions 2 teams were tied at the same score. So he decided to test our GK and started asking questions on currency of different nations.
He asked the currency of Israel. Nobody answered, he kept on repeating the question and said the one who could answer this would be titled the "STAR of the SESSION" and his or her team would turn victorious.
Seconds and minutes passed by. There was no answer from anyone!! Did anybody know the answer?? Yes!! I knew it. I was sure that currency of Israel is 'shekel'. But I didn’t stand up nor did I say it. Instead I kept on waiting for someone else to take the fame away from me.
I could have easily grabbed the opportunity and walked out of multiplex with my head held high. But I kept quiet!! Why????

Second Incident happened during our Mainframe training. One senior guy from Bangalore was taking classes for us. Just before the lunch break he asked us question regarding 'COMMAREA' and 'XCTL'.
The whole class responded with so many answers. But none was correct. I knew the answer but I didn’t speak up. I kept quiet and didn’t utter a single word.

Our instructor offered a treat from him who could answer the question. I knew that treat was for me. Still I kept quiet. After five minutes, he himself he gave the answer. The whole class was surprised by the answer, but I wasn't. Because I knew it!!!

I felt very angry and frustrated at myself. Why didn’t I make use of the opportunities offered to me? What’s holding me back?? Am i afraid of faliure?? No, I am not. I know silence is not golden always!! But still…

PS: There may be some INFOSYS specific terms,so plz forgive if u cant make out something.

Kerala cafe- Movie Review [Back Dated Post]

2009-12-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

Kerala café is a not just a film which spans over 2.5 hours, in fact it’s a hodgepodge of 10 short films of 10 prominent directors of Malayalam film industry .

Kerala café was the brain child of director Ranjith who is also the producer for this excellent venture.

The short films are

1. Nostalgia (Dileep , Navya Nair)

This is about a NRI who keeps on praising his land and its beauty while abroad. But when he reaches kerala he starts criticizing and cursing his ‘GOD’s OWN COUNTRY for anything and everything. He even tries to demolish his own house where his parents are staying and put up a five-star resort there. The story ends with the NRI offering to help his old friend and ignoring him once he reaches abroad.

The story line is so common and doesn’t throw up any surprises. Also the dialogue presentations of Dileep tarnish the film.

2. Island Express (Prithviraj,Rahman,Raju)

The story has a very slow beginning as it introduces 3 characters with whom fate played a dirty game. Leo, the sculptor is all set to publish his book which portrays all the pain he had to go through in his life. He sets on a journey to find the perfect location for the same.

Similarly Rahman (forgot the name of the character played by him) sets on a journey to gift a red dress to his girlfriend.

Their journey ends near a railway bridge where they lost their dear and near ones!!! Every year they all come near that dreaded spot to pay homage to their loved ones.

But the one who has the greatest grief is the one who drove the train on that particular day and (luckily or unluckily) lived to tell about it. Raju played this role excellently, the sight of him looking down the river from the bridge speak a thousand words J

Island express portrays the loss and sorrows that these of accidents can bring to a man’s life and that too from different perspectives. Narration done by Prithviraj is superb and the a majority of success of the film is because of that. The cinematography is also very good!!

3. Lalitham Hiranmayam (Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayi)

This film bags the award for the ‘ WORST’. Disastrous performance by Suresh Gopi and equally disastrous direction by Shaji Kailas makes it a pathethic watch. The story is average and predictable.

4. Mrithunjayam (Thilakan)

A horror story with nice cinematography and sequences to instill some sort of fear among the viewers. Nothing much to talk about.

5. Happy journey(Jagathy)

Superb performances by Jagathy and Nithya Menon make it an interesting watch. The film throws up some surprises here and there and has a happy ending

6. Aviramam (Siddique)

It talks about an IT professional who finds it hard to meet the ends because of financial crisis. He decides to end his life after sending his wife and children to relative’s house. But they come back on time to save his life. A below average story line and no scope for acting marvel makes it a boring watch.

7. Off season (Suraj )

Suraj plays the role of a tourist guide in kovalam who meets a Portuguese couple. He mistakes the couple for tourists and spend time with them to get his commission from them. He becomes dumbstruck when he realizes that they are immigrants looking out for job. The film talks about the impact and reach of recession . it’s a comical treat with nice witty jokes by Suraj.

I personally disliked the film coz I had far too many expectations for a shortr film by Shyamprasad.

8. Bridge (Salim Kumar)

Can’t find enough superlatives to describe this cinematic master piece by Anwar Rashid. !!!

It tells about the pain separation brings about and the sufferings of old age. It portrays two parallel stories; in one story a child is elated when he finds a kitten from road. He took that to his home and makes it his pet. But his father finds that kitten as a nuisance and decides to dump it .he takes the kitten to a far off place and ditch it there .The boy cries on end and fights for his kitten. Finally he falls ill and utters “TIMMU” (name of the kitten) with his every unconscious breath. Child’s father had no other option other than to go out and search for the kitten. But that ends in vain L

Another story is about an old aged woman who is visually challenged. Kudos to the script and director the sorrows and pains of old age and the suffering it causes to others are beautifully portrayed. The story takes a unexpected turn when Salim Kumar decides to take his mother for a trip to ernamkulam town. He takes her for boat ride, buys her good food and takes her for a film at night. But he decides to leave her behind in that place and return home alone!!! The pain he has to undergo is tremendous and salim kumar has done a marvelous job

The film ends with a heart breaking scene of oldwoman sitting in roadside holding the kitten in her hand.

The cinematography is excellent and undoubtedly “BRIDGE” tops the list in Kerala café !!!

9. Makal

Excellent direction by Revathi and a grief filled story line makes it a good watch. It potrays the dark side of soicety which finds money as their prime concern and need, even human relationships are sold or compromised for that.

10. Puram Kazhchakal (Mammooty, Sreenivasan)

Lal jose had done a good effort in directing this short story. Mammoty though has got only 3 dialogues makes our eyes wet with his last one. It tells about how people’s perspective can differ and not to be prejudice in our thoughts .A man in haste need not be a nuisance always !!!

I enjoyed the whole fim very much. It was a differnet cinema experience. One i would like to exprerience more :)

Nice to see some experiments coming up in Malayalam Film Industry. Hats off to all who were part of Kerala Cafe

That’s all for now guys..

Keep reading.

God bless

Birthday Gift [Back Dated Post]

2009-12-24T02:39:00.000-08:00

Gifts are always wonderful to have no matter whoever gives us those!!
On this birthday, Infosys gave me a wonderful gift..one that I wished for long and one I will cherish for ever!!!
I got the BLACK TAG on my birthday!!
As we all know, Black tag is a very important for each and every Infoscion as it marks the graduation of a new phase as an Employee.
Hey, I am an employee now. More responsibilities...Hmmm

PS: Thanks a lot to all those who send me the wishes and thanks in advance for all those who forgot to wish me :P

PPS: This was written when i was in Mysore

Onam -[ Back Dated Post ]

2009-12-24T02:37:00.000-08:00

As for most of the recently joined infoscions, this was my first onam away from home. This year’s onam was on 2nd September and we had our ILI sessions on that day. It was a great feeling when all the non-keralities too joined the occasion asking us the history and tradition of onam and offering their whole-hearted “ONASAMSAKAL” (Onam Wishes).

As I told, we had ILI sessions on that day. It was on Presentation Skills. So when the instructor asked me to give a presentation on a topic which I like, I didn’t think twice. I chose to speak on “ONAM”. I think I was able to convince all with my speech. I got good response from them too.

I was thrilled when I received the mail from HRD regarding the Onam celebrations. I wasted no time and nominated myself for Sack-Race. I was in search of team to compete in Vadamvali (Tug of War). Thanks to Mr. Subin Perumana, I found a bunch of strong people who were eager to win the coveted prize for tug of war.

So the stage was set for the ONAM COMPETITIONS on the eve of 23th September. Like seasoned campaigners we devised plans & strategies for the tug of war. We decided the position of each and every member and I was given the anchor-role. All these strategies went in vain as were thrown out of the competition in the second round itself. I strongly believe there were some CONSPIRCY and MATCH FIXING which led to our downfall!!! (LOL)

My sack race too didn’t work out the way I expected. At the sound of the whistle, I hopped using all my strength and I took the lead with my second hop. But as the saying “All nice things in life are Short”, I kissed ground with my third step to see all others going past me.  Any way it was great evening and we had lots and lots of fun .It was one of my best evenings in Mysore Campus and one I won’t forget for a long time.

I am eagerly waiting for the cultural night today evening and the grand ‘ONASADYA’ (onam feast) on Friday. And I am equally thrilled by the fact that I can wear ‘MUNDU’ (traditional dress) on Friday as its ethnic day.

Guys, that’s all for now. Wishing you all a (belated) happy onam!! Keep reading. God bless !!

PS: This was written during Onam when I was in Mysore !!

monotonous life

2009-12-14T08:39:00.003-08:00

life has turned out to be very predictable now a days..getting up in the morning..going to office..executing some rubbish test cases..clocking 9.15 hours for the day..coming back..is this life.?? I am missing the uncertainty and the thrill associated with life..

updates from mysore..!!

2009-10-10T00:07:00.001-07:00

hi all, its been a month since i hav blogged anything..in the mean time i have started my infy blog..too bad i cudnt share it with u as its only available in infy-intranet..Last week was one f my best weeks in infosys..I completed the MAINFRAMES training on a high note with excellent marks in the final module..then i cleared the MAINFRAMES certification with good marks and the biggest of them all i got my posting in trivandrum...!! thank god..

Punter opts out of T20

2009-09-07T06:28:00.001-07:00

Thats shocking.!!! One the best batsman the world has ever seen Ricky Ponting retires from international T20.. But he will continue to play odi n testmatches. Ponting is one f the leading run scorers in both odi n tests. This has to be seen side by side with the propeganda that test n odi cricket is on the verge of extinction and T20 is the only way left. I support the fact that T20 is the need or the hype of the hour, but no matter what popularity it makes test and odi is gonna stay here for ever. i always felt that T20 is the game f boys and test cricket as the one which marks the growth of a cricket into a through professional.
It has not been long since Andrew Flintoff retired from test cricket, many said it will grow into a trend as more and more will opt out f longer version.
No matter in what form its played, at last cricket should be the winner. To stay so all these forms of cricket should co-exist in such a way that one's popularity should not become a nail in others coffin.

PS: I hope ponting will continue to play in IPL.Hoping that he will bring glory to the knight riders.

With ma cousin..

2009-08-09T04:51:00.001-07:00

It was a borin sunday n I was killin tym in ma room when ma cousin praveen called me n told that he was comin down to mysore to meet me. He was on his way to banglore frm coorg. He reached our campus around 2 pm.. He had told me to cancel ma after noon plans which i did very easily because i had no plans.. :P
So me along with ma cousin, his wife(sunichechi) n her cousin, rekha started our journey to mysore. The mission was to find a good hotel in town. As i had hardly gone to mysore couple of times, i had nothin to say to ma cousin who kept me busy askin d route to mysore. Luckily rekha was not too 'illiterate' n she helped us to reach mysore.
We decided to do justice to our hunger by dining from a hotel nearby. Our table was filled with roti,naan,soup,fried rice n all in no time. It required a 'good' effort frm me to finish all f it as the other three retired after havin a mouthful.
Then we planned to visit zoo but rain spoiled our plans. So we reached back the campus around 5.
All in all it was nice and v had a superb time. Am plannin to go to banglore next week to visit him.lets see how it goes. :)

Extended training

2009-08-09T00:43:00.001-07:00

Its time for extended training in infy..we have been put up into diff streams like java, .net , os and mainframes.. Although i really wanted to learn .net, but because f ma low CGPA i got mainframes.!!! Technical training started on aug 5th.. Already we have finished a module..'introduction to mainframes'..it was okay..our softskill trainin is also conducted side by side..we finished a handful f softskill sessions..n all f them were too good..particularly d one v had last friday..it was on articulation skills by Nina..extended trainin is time for enjoyment as there is no exit policy,no hands-on, no negative marking for tests etc etc..but u have to clear d training otherwise u have to do a certification once u get posted to an IBU..guys,Thats all for now..keep reading..god bless..

N 79 Drop Test

2009-07-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

Well guys,dont think I dropped ma new phone for the sake of sharing a video with you all. I got this video from http://realgeek.com. It says

"The drop is being shot at 100,000 frames per second and the amazing detail of the video will leave you baffled. Take a look."

Nice video, naa??

Wanna Copy Photos From Orkut ??

2009-07-17T02:29:00.000-07:00

After a long time, I blogged some thing technically.So i thought of leaving a pointer to the post here.

The post tells you how to copy photos from Orkut.Read it here.

Changed my Cellphone...!!

2009-07-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

After using Nokia 6020 for abt 4 years,finally I changed my cell. For the last one month,I was in search of a cell which meets my requirements and the most important requirement was a good camera. I had around half a dozen phones to choose from that ranges from HTC to Sony Ericsson.

My choices were

Finally after a lot of browsing and calculations I decided to stay with Nokia mainly coz of the hope that it will withstand my rough usage. My 6020 still exists as a living martyr to tell u how well I take care of my cell.

Enough of history and let me present before you my brand new cellphone NOKIA N79. This N series phone is bulit on Symbian OS 9.3 and runs on a ARM 11 369 MHz processor. The phone supports all latest the data transfer mechamisms like GPRS,3G,EDGE,WLAN,Bluetooth and USB. As the case with most of the phones now a days,it doesnt have Infrared connectivity.N79 posses 2 cameras primary being a 5.0 MP powered by Carl Zeiss optics and autofocus facility.The only low point to speak of is that it has only an LED flash comapred to xenon flash in N82 or N 73.The scondary cam is a VGA camera. N79 possess an excellent video camera too.The phone has an internal memory of 83 MB and can be extended upto 8 Gb via micro SD card. it also offers me Nokia Maps and N-Gage gaming experience.The phone offers 15 pre-loaded N-Gage games .It has an FM transmitter too.

The Phone comes in 3 colours.Canvas White,Seal Grey and Petrol Black.There are also 3 back panels available(free of cost) with each colour. I bought the canvas white and I got sea blue,olive green and expresso for my back panel.

The coolest feature is that the theme of the phone changes according to the colour of the panel you put.Thanx 2 a microchip attached to the back panel.Kudos to N 79.

Thats it for now guys,will let you know more about ma 79 in a few days.Keep reading

PS: For more details Visit

http://www.nokia.co.in/find-products/products/nokia-n79redirect#/main

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n79-2497.php.

Ma plans

2009-07-11T01:32:00.000-07:00

There are only a handful days left before I leave for Mysore to pursue my career with Infosys.Before that I have some more work to be done here.

I have to go 2 my college to apply for a duplicate gradesheet for my seventh semster.But as its Amrita,the formalities associated will grab atleast 2 days frm my busy schedule..hi...hi.
I am eagerly waiting for the NSR card.I got the ITPN Number but they say ther may be a delay of about 1 month before I could obtain the card.Nasscom guys, speed up,I need the NSR card for joining. :-(
I need to upgrade my mobile.For four years I am using Nokia 6020.to say the truth nokia 6020 is a wonderful phone.I have used this phone in all terrains and in all conditions.I rememberI used it in cherai in heavy rain to take photos.After all the hardships i gave 2 ma cell,it remained a loyal and completely healthy friend of mine.The main reason i need to upgrade is that i need a better cam.6020 has only VGA cam.So i am in search of a phone which meets my purpose.

Thats it for now folks.Keep reading and keep commenting.

Got the offerletter

2009-07-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

Atlast I got ma courier which carries my offer letter from INFOSYS.I have been waiting for a couple of days for that. I was in town,when sridhar called me and told INFY pple hav sent a mail regarding the courier.Thats was on Wenesday.That made me changed my plan 2 go 2 Trivandrum for Kannan's Chettan's Wedding. So after waiting for 2 days, I finally got my offer letter.As I was in Malappuram,my father was the one who received it on my behalf.Good.Wat better gift can I give to my father. :-)

Pub Life..

2009-07-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

It was a long cherished wish of mine 2 go to a pub,thanx 2 my frnds I finally got the chance to enter a PUB on Friday,July 3rd.The grand entry was part of our trip to banglore for seeking Nirmal's internship and to carry a small television from Kerala to Rohith's room there. So after shopping in Brigade road on friday nite,me along with Rohith,Nirmal and Bhuvanesh(Nirmal's frnd) entered Le Rock arnd 9'o clock. I got to know that each Pub has got a theme and this one had Rock Music as its theme. I felt home the moment I enterd coz ma fav brand Linkin Park was being played over there.The interior of the pub looked gr8 with nice ambient light and that small area had some 6 HD televisions and a lots n lots of speakers. It had a counter where you cud have the drinks sitting on the sideby chairs.But we preferred to occupy ourselves on the couch. After we got settled,came the confusion..!! Wat to order..??

We decided to have TUBE Beer or Buratte Beer which contains 3 ltrs (only). Check out the photo here to know what a tube beer looks like.Tube beer has got a tap at its bottom and the bearer who wa in charge of our table had a busy time filling our glasses as we emptied the whole 3 ltrs in no time.The draught beer we had was child and easily stands as the best beer I had till date.

After the draught beer, it was time for the Pitcher.

After a couple of pitchers we decided to try the TAKILA or TEQUILA..!!! Rohith told or taught me to have a shot of taquila. It was old school way of having it.Anyways we had 2 shots of takila and bid farewell to Le Rock which gave me my first taste of Pub life arnd 11.30.On the whole it was a gr8 nite 2 remember and looking forward for moore..hi..hi..

PS: Nirmal was down and out long before we ordered the pitcher. It took a good deal of effort from myself and Rohith to finish off the things.And we always do,we did it professionally.

Busy n Thinking

2009-07-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Was very busy last week with all those EKM visit for completing the NSR formalities n Banglore trip with ma frnds,so cudnt blog..!! Am thinking of writing something,but not gettin wat to write on..

Babari Demolition Reoprt finally submitted

2009-06-30T00:37:00.004-07:00

Guys,you all know what happened on the dawn of December 6th,1992. It will remain as a scar in our nation's history.It was a disgrace to all of us. I am strong supporter of Hinduism, but i wont and dont have any thing to support such a henious act. Enuf of history and the reason I am posting this now is that Liberhan commission which probed the incident finally submitted the inquiry report to government. This was the longest running probe in Nations history which took 17 years and cost the Govt. some 8 crores.17 years ??? such a long delay is inexplicable considering the fact that the commissin was set up 10 days aft the incident. Let wait for more information and responses about the report.One thing is sure The contents in the report will be volatile and Indian political scene is the one to be watched in the coming weeks.

Late??

2009-06-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

My company has asked me to complete some pre-joining formalities before getting there in July.That includes getting an NSR card.I did the online registration last week and i need to goto Ernamkulam for further procedure.Almost all of my friends have done it.I need to hurry up.Heard there is not much formality over there.Nyways lets see.Seriously guys,still I dont know whats this NSR and its use..lemme google it..Will get back with more info later.

ad ons to prev. post

2009-06-29T01:38:00.000-07:00

Decided to blog CONSTRUCTIVELY.It was a mistake from my part that I handled such a sensitive issue in such a 'casual' manner. Thank you for all the comments. My emotions took the better of me. Past is past and am not going to hug on to memories.Leave it and go on with life.All these things are part and parcel of college life. Thats it guys,thats all.

Post is deleted..!!

2009-06-29T00:08:00.001-07:00

Guys.if you are here looking for 'some' post.that is deleted.It was an untimely post,i know.I just let go my feelings..!!!keep reading. :)

Am growing BALD...!!!

2009-06-22T01:23:00.001-07:00

Guys,Am growing bald.Thanks to four years of engineering life in Amrita and four months of INFY life @ mysore, along with the handful of pounds I have lost I have lost more than a handful of HAIR.hi..hi..

T20 Champs

2009-06-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

So we have a new T20 champs now..!! It was obvious as the current champs INDIA crushed out in the supersix stage itself. All credits to Pakistan,they played really well and raised their standard of game when it was needed the most. I am very much happy for the fact that one of my all time fav player Shahid Khan Afridi played an important role in Pakistan's victory.He was awarded Man of the Match both in semis and in finals.Its a great boost for Pakistani cricket and I hope to see them play a home match in PAKISTAN itself.

Blood Donation

2009-06-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

When I woke up today morning,I didnt have any clue that am gonna perform a blood donation today..!! I got a call from my frnd Jithu around 10'o clock saying his friend met with an accident and she needs some blood. As I have nothing to do @ home plus the thrill to try out somethin new(am donating blood for the first time) I decided to help out that gal by letting them take some ml from my 6 quarts of blood.I had to fill up a donors form which includes some qns on ur health,allergies n all.Then I was examined by a Pathologist who checked my BP and declared that am FIT for donation.Then they checked my blood group and after that the moment of truth...:)

I was taken to Donation room where I was asked to sit or lie on an inclined chair and they pierced my right hand after finding out one BIG artery..(Rember the days when we learnt that arteries carry pure blood and Vains carry impure blood..hi..hi).I was given a sponge ball and asked to press it repeatedly. The triple bag was filled with my B+ blood in no time and I was given some refrshments after that . After sitting there for 10 minutes to check out for any abnormalities I was off.The whole procedure took less than half an hour. Guys am a PROUD DONOR now..!!!

Boring....

2009-06-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hey,my days are very boring.Nothing to do here absolutely NOTHING..!!! Following the same schedule.. Getting up late, heading sraight to my laptop (thanx to EVDO..am online :) ),browsing n more browsing...thats all.. Seriously guys am feeeling very BORED @ home..!!!

Review

2009-06-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Am back home after my final year project review. We had both internal review and external review. External review was conducted by HOD of IT department,CET. It was good. He patiently listened to all we had to say and asked 'good' questions. A liberty which you cant even imagine if its done by some faculty in Amrita. He started by asking me about JBoss,Java Script and Flux. He changed the topic of discussion to Hibernate and log4j when i said they were my contributions to the project.Internal review was a just a formality with our HOD sleeping for most of the time during the review.The internal review panel was not at all interested in the technologies associated with the project. They were happy with the features and the look and feel of the system .Hope I will good marks so that I can make my CGPA better..!!

Picasa Rocks

2009-06-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

Juz tried ma hands on making a collage using Picasa 3. its superb.

I selected all my starred photos and just by click of a button u get something like this.

guys try out,iys very easy. :-)

How To Survive At Work With A Hangover

2009-06-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Accidently I got stuck on an article in Dumd Little Man which happens to be a nice website.Thought its worth sharing.

Read on :-)

T20 WC Schedule

2009-06-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

WC T20 is around the corner. so I thought it would be good if i put the schedule for the event here

Here it is

Prelims(Group Stage):-

5 Jun 10:00 PM ENG vs NED Lord's

6 Jun 02:30 PM NZ vs SCO The Oval

6 Jun 06:30 PM AUS vs WI The Oval

6 Jun 10:30 PM IND vs BAN Trent Bridge

7 Jun 06:00 PM SA vs SCO The Oval

7 Jun 10:00 PM ENG vs PAK The Oval

8 Jun 06:00 PM IRE vs BAN Trent Bridge

8 Jun 10:00 PM AUS vs SL Trent Bridge

9 Jun 06:00 PM PAK vs NED Lord's

9 Jun 10:00 PM NZ vs SA Lord's

10 Jun 06:00 PM SL vs WI Trent Bridge

10 Jun 10:00 PM IND vs IRE Trent Bridge

Super Eights Stage:-

June 11 to June 16

SemiFinals:-

June 18,19

Finals on June 21st...!!!

For more detailed schedule visit T20 WorldCup Schedule or here.

WarmUp for T20 worldcup

2009-06-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just finished watching the Ind-Pak warmup game before the T20 WC. well the word 'warmup' doesnot fit in coz of the intensity you would associate with India-Pakistan Games. India went on to win comfortably by 9 wickets thanks to a superb knock by Rohith Sharma who smashed 80 of just 53 balls. They were other postivies too as Gambhir hit an ubeaten half century that would have given his confidence a world of good particulary after a rough patch in the IPL. But there are some warning signs too. India's bowling has to be improved,particulary during the final overs. In the both warmup games bowlers were taken for plenty in the final overs. Hope all gets corrected before India take on Bangladesh on June 6th. Wishing the Indian team ALL THE BEST as they are all set to retain the worldcup.

Angels & Demons

2009-06-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Saw the film yesterday..It was good..!! But didnt get the whole picture as i havent read the book.6 shots of Vodka which i had before the film didnt help me either.. :P. On the whole it was a good film..A must watch for any DanBrown fan..!!

Hextuple was on...but...

2009-05-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hextuple was on for MachesterUnited this season. If only we were a bit lucky in 2 matches. One against Everton in FA cup semi final and other against Barcelona in Champions League Final. Its all gone guys, we finished with Quadruple winning EPL, Community Shield, Carling Cup and FIFA Club Worldcup. Looking back at the season that just ended, it was one for all the fans to remember, there were superb performances by Vidic,VandeSaar,Foster. One goal that stays fresh in my mind is the one from Christiano Ronaldho agasinst FC Porto. Macheda showed glimpses of his talent and proved us he is a man to look out in the coming seasons. So the future looks bright for the reddevils.

Heartbeak for REDDEVILS

2009-05-27T13:30:00.002-07:00

Manchester United may have returned from Rome with the tag that they are the second best team in Europe.!! Who needs the second best tag.. Its all over guys, Manchester United have lost to Barcelona 2-0 in the final of UEFA Champions League. Its heartbreak for all the fans all around the globe. Manchester United,the BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD had a bad outing in Rome and that cost us a European Championship. From the time Eto scored in 10th minute the reddevils were chasing the game and goal by Messi in the 70th minute was the final nail in the coffin. Barcelona had a good season winning the treble Spanish League,Spanish Cup and the European Cup. They went trophyless for three years and came back strongly winning 2 leagues and 3 cups in total. Congrats Barca, Hold that trophy nice and tight as we are gonna take it from you next year for sure... :)

Mail From NRN

2009-05-25T04:12:00.000-07:00

I got this forwarded mail . It says it was sent by Mr.NarayanaMurthy to all Infoscions. Thought of sharing it with you. Guys, its really worth reading. :)
Read on ....

It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on...
PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing...
And who's at work? Most of them ??? Take a closer look...
All or most specimens are ??
Something male species of the human race...
Look closer... again all or most of them are bachelors...
And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!
Any guesses???
Let's ask one of them..
Here's what he says... "What's there 2 do after going home...Here we get to surf, AC,
phone, food, coffee that is why I am working late...Importantly no bossssssss!! !!!!!!!!!"
This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore
offices.
Bachelors "Time-passing" during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing
else to do...
Now what r the consequences. ..
"Working" (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company
culture.
With bosses more than eager to provide support to those "working" late in the form of taxi
vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he's a hard worker... goes home
only to change..!!).
They aren't helping things too...
To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between "sitting" late and
"working" late!!!
Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.
So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a
family... office is no longer a priority, family is... and
That's when the problem starts... b'coz u start having commitments at home too.
For your boss, the earlier "hardworking" guy suddenly seems to become a "early leaver"
even if u leave an hour after regular time.. after doing the same amount of work.
People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labeled as work-shirkers. ..
Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays... though) leave on time are labeled as
"not up to it". All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on "working" not
realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they
wuld have to regret at one point of time.
*So what's the moral of the story?? *
* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!
* Never put in extra time " *unless really needed *"
* Don't stay back un-necessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn
cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.
There are hundred other things to do in the evening..
Learn music...
Learn a foreign language...
Try a sport... TT, cricket..... ....
Importantly Get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town...
* And for heaven's sake net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls)
and try cooking for a change.
Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *"Life's calling, where are you??"*
Please pass on this message to all those colleagues And please do it before leaving time,
don't stay back till midnight to forward this!!!
IT'S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS VERY HARD
WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.
PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DONT KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME.
SIMPLE!

Regards,
NARAYAN MURTHY.

Yippe..!!!

2009-05-25T03:16:00.000-07:00

Got my offer letter form INFOSYS.. :) One normal monday evening turned out to be one of the most happiest day of my life when a mail with Subject: From Infosys Technologies Limited - Offer Of Employment got delivered in my Gmail Inbox. it says ....(ayyo parayan padilla :( coz it says "The terms of this offer letter shall remain confidential and are not to be disclosed to any third party." ) So guys wish me all the luck as am gonna pursue ma career with the second biggest software and consulting company in India.. Oh Almighty, thank you for showering all your blessing on me... :)

Google Chrome's Commercial

2009-05-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the commercial of Google Chrome. A very simple ad. No comparisons with the other browsers,nothing about the its features.Google want us to try it thats all..:)

Wait for my review on Google Chrome in my technical blog..!!

R_jun's Blog

2009-05-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Recently i read a blog. the blog contains only 2 posts. Both of them were very good and were on very relevant social issues one was about Need to Vote and another on Littering public places.

The gr8 surprise is that the blog belongs to one person whom I thought had nothing other than 3 F's (Friends,Family & Fifa) in his life. Good work man,keep bloggin.

Visit Arjun's Blog