Dreams of a common man

Love, Life, and Destiny

2011-12-18T19:16:00.000+06:00

Life sometimes can be bittersweet. I always knew that there had be a day when I would say goodbye to my old love, but never expected it to end it in a bitter sweet way. Yes, I got engaged to a distant relative recently and it happened before the very eyes of my former love, Boss Lady. It seemed somewhat ironical to think that a person, whom you loved so much, would be the first to hear the news of your engagement and wish you "Good Luck" much to your dismay.

Truth be said, I was hurt and it really bothered me to be in such an embarassing situation. On one end, I have my prospective life partner sitting besides me and on the other end, I have my love, now my ex-love, someone whom I loved more than my life for over a decade, looking at me with a mysterious smile.

My mind raised a thousand questions. Why did she smile? Was she relieved? Was she happy that her guy found a better girl? Was she really happy or simply did not care about whatever happened? Did she sigh in relief that I wouldn't/couldn't disturb her anymore.

As I said those fateful words, "Yes, I am ok with the Girl", I could hear sighs of joy on the faces of my parents, smiles around, and people sighing in relief. But all I cared was about that one person. When I looked around, I just saw her smile. As all the drama occurred and I returned home to Chennai, I thought of all those sweet moments that I had with her. Boy! Such wonderful moments. How I wish I had succeeded.Alas, such is love, such is life.

All that has happened now will be history and all that matters is what is going to happen". I recently heard that Boss lady got engaged too. And the most ironical thing is that her marriage is just hardly a month away from mine. Well, I guess that great endings happen only in films. I called her yesterday to have a small discussion before we finally part our ways. As I dialed her number, it occurred to me that this could probably be the beginning of the end. As she picked the phone and said Hello, I gasped for breath. I took a few moments and finally told her that it was me on the other end. She spoke for about 20 minutesbefore finally ending the conversation with those fateful words, "I can't say my husband is a smart man. To be frank, he is not that good looking. But I said yes because he was a good man like you. Wishing you all the very best, my dear friend". As I disconnected the call, I wondered what she meant. "If she wanted a good man, why couldn't it be me?", I said to myself as I walked away in grief. Such is the tragic fate of love, such is life and destiny :(

"Oh dear friend, I need to say good bye.
Please don't ever ask me, WHY?
Because although I know the reason, I can never tell
that life without you is as good as hell........
I will always love you no matter what
because even as we part, we will stay close at heart.
I always wished that we would live together in harmony,
but such is love, life and destiny.
So Good bye dear, till we meet again.
I wish we could relive those good old days again."

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs

2011-10-08T22:49:00.003+06:00

This imaginary post is dedicated to the late Steve Jobs.
Scene: (Steve Jobs goes to heaven and is welcomed by God and a group of Angels)

God: Welcome back, Steve.

Steve Jobs: Hey, what place is this? Who are you folks?

Angel 1: Steve, your tenure at Earth has come to an end. You are in heaven. You can rest in peace here.

Steve Jobs: Rest…. You guys crazy… You interrupted me.. I was discussing with my Apple folks on the next big Apple product.

God: WTH!!!! Steve, for heaven’s sake, gimme a break. You have created several path-breaking projects. Apple, Next Computers, i-Pod, i-Pad, i-Phone, i-Mac and several other beauties. All these in 56 years of lifetime. Please stop now. Enjoy your time in heaven.

Steve Jobs: Sorry boss, I need to finish my product, I call it i-Car……

God and the Angels shout aloud: i——What????????????

Steve Jobs: i-Car. You see… I want to redefine the way Cars are made. So we designed i-Car- the first smart car. All you have to do is type your destination and it will suggest

The various routes to the desired destination
The variour hotels, shopping malls, and cineplexes on the specified route.
Recommend the list of tourist destinations that you can see
God: Hmm, interesting,. So what else does it do.

Angel 1(Smirks): He defies the maker!!!!

Steve Jobs: Well….. we have also incorporated the functionality to ensure that the car stereo plays tracks suiting the mood of the driver. Also, the Air conditioner will adjust its temperature according to the surroundings and the number of people in the car. Plus, the car has two fuel modes - Solar and Gas.

The car will automatically charge in Solar mode if the Sun is bright and shining……..

Also, the car has an in-built 12MP camera, which takes pictures of the scenic destinations on-the-go..

God: Great mother mary…. stop it Jobs. Stop it…..enough with your creativity…..

Steve Jobs (observes the surroundings): Oh jee, that’s a nice place you have here. You just gave me inspiration for the next big product I am gonna create.

God: Next big product…… here… in heaven. What exactly will it be?? Ah,… let me guess… An i-robot???

Steve Jobs: No

Angel 2: i-restaurant??? i-Mall???

Steve Jobs: No

God(loses his patience): What the hell is it???

Lucifer: Hell!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t speak about my place in a derogatory manner.

Steve Jobs: Nope, it is i-GOD!!!!

Angels 1 and 2: OH GOD…………………

Lucifer: Damn it…. And I thought it was difficult to handle one god. And now he gives the great one company &*&^(&(&(&)&)(&*()(+_)+_)*(*()DAMN YOU STEVE JOBS

Steve Jobs: Excuse me, I gotta start work now…………….

GOD: Send this guy back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Dumb Student

2011-01-27T23:49:00.002+06:00

“Ram, you have topped the class again. Congratulations!”, said Professor Satya.
Ram, the class topper and Satyamurthy’s favorite student, was standing up, beaming in pride. The class students started clapping while Professor Satya continued, “Class, if you ever desire to prosper in life, be like Ram. In life, studying hard is the only way to come up.”

After a few seconds of applause, the students returned back to their usual silent self because they realized that they had agony in store for them – Professor Satya was about to distribute the exam papers of other students. The very thought of hearing Satya’s sarcastic comments irked each and every one of the class.
Satya started distributing the exam papers. As expected, most of the class had scored average marks. None so worse than Raghu, Satya’s least favorite student, who had failed scoring only 17/100.

Satya turned towards the back row where Raghu was seated.
“Dear students! You know what? Raghu has yet again failed in MATHS.”
Raghu hung his head in shame. Professor Satya continued, “Teaching students like you is a waste of time. This is the second terminal exam that you have failed in Mathematics. If you can’t solve simple problems in Probability and Trigonometry, how will you survive in life? I am not sure you can improve now. MARK my words; you are NOT EVEN GOOD ENOUGH TO EVEN BECOME A CLERK. Oh my god, how am I gonna show cent per cent results in the upcoming public exams. This fellow is gonna spoil my reputation for sure.”

Raghu hung his head in shame. This was the umpteenth time that he had been insulted. Raghu was not a bad student. He had excelled in extra curricular activities like Essay Writing and Quiz competitions, but could never repeat his performance in studies. Satya was harsh on Raghu because he feared that Raghu was an obstacle to the school’s record of scoring 100% results.

During the next annual Parent-Teachers meeting, Satya did his best to convince the principal to exclude Raghu from appearing in the forthcoming HSC exams and was successful. Raghu was dimissed on grounds of consistent poor performance.
Years rolled by. Satya was now accompanying his 20 year old son, who was about to attend a non-campus interview for a lucrative Trainee position in a reputed MNC, Aston Infotech.

Satya’s son entered the building to attend the interview while Satya was waiting in the company’s cafeteria sipping a cup of tea. Suddently, he saw a person calling out his name. He turned around and realized it was none other than his former classmate, Ram.

Ram: “Sir, What a pleasant surprise?”

Satya: “Oh. Ram beta, is it you? I am so happy to see you here. How are you? What are you doing here?”

Ram: “I am fine sir. I work as a Project Manager here. I am very happy to see you. ?”

Satya: “Nice to hear that beta. My son, Rupesh, is here for an interview. He is a BE graduate and has applied for the post of a Trainee Programmer in your company. “

Ram: (Having a look at Rupesh’s resume copy given by Satya) He has a good academic record, if he passes the aptitude test and the second round, I will ensure he gets selected.

(As they were speaking, Rupesh comes)

Rupesh: Dad, I completed the second round. The interview was tough, I’ve done my best. Let’s see.

Satya: Ok son. Let’s go to the Reception and wait there. Maybe they would announce the results soon.

(Satya and Rupesh move to the reception where the interviewer announces the results of folks, who have been shortlisted for the last round. Rupesh finds he has been not shortlisted for the final round)

Rupesh: This is unfair dad. I had done well in the test, yet they failed to shortlist me. This is not fair.

Satya: Cool down son. One of my old students is a Project Manager here, let’s visit him, perhaps he may be able to help.
(Rupesh and Satya go to the receptionist and request an appointment with Ram. The receptionist calls Ram, who asks the receptionist to give the phone to Satya)
Satya (Explains the situation to Ram on the phone): This is what happened, they rejected my son for some reason.

Ram: (After checking Rupesh’s results with the HR team): Sir, I am sorry. We rejected your son because we are looking for Engineering students who have background in Computer Science or Information Technology. Your son has specialized in Electronics and Communication. I am sorry, we used to recruit candidates from all streams and train them, earlier, but now since we have very less training budget, we are focusing only on a certain skillset.

Satya (In a shocked tone): “But beta, my son has a good academic record. Furthermore, he has completed a diploma in Information Technology……..”

Ram: “I am sorry again, I have been given the responsibility of recruiting candidates who have basic level skills in C++, Java and other skills. While your son has done a diploma, he still does posses the required skillset as his test results showed. I cannot afford to recruit a candidate who needs to be trained. It will spoil my training budget and resource utilization. We pride here in 100% billable resources right from second month of training sir. Your son does not fit the bill. Sorry to say this. I have a meeting, will call you later.”

Satya (Mumbling to himself): That ungrateful wretch, I gave special attention and support to him during his schooldays and see how he returns back the favor. Bloody wretch…..
Rupesh: “Appa, what happened?”

Satya: “Ram says he can’t help us. I guess you have to try some other company.” (Walks away in shock)
(Just when Satya and Rupesh are about to leave, they hear a voice calling Satya’s name)

Satya: (Looks behind to see a tall person with a french beard): “Sorry, I am not sure I recognized you. Do we know each other?”
Person A: “Pardon me, but I think I know you. Are you Satya, a teacher, at HSS, Triplicane?”

Satya: “Yes. But how do we know each other.”
Person A: “Well, my brother studied there. You were his class teacher.”
Satya: (Still irritated due to the discussion with Ram): “Err, nice meeting you beta. But I gotta go.”

Person A: “Sorry to disturb you, may I know why youare. Do you want to meet someone?”

Satya (Looks irritated, but still explains how Rupesh attended the interview and got rejected): “I am afraid they rejected my son Rupesh. I gotto go. Now.”

Person A: No problem sir. Please wait for 5 minutes, I may be able to help you. (Picks his mobile and calls the HR department to get Rupesh’s details)

Person A (Speaks to Rupesh and Satya): “Rupesh, you have done very well in the tests. But since you have not specialized in IT, they are not willing to recruit you.”

Satya: “We know…. I am afraid there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Person A: (Smiles) “So Ram rejected your son because he wanted resources, who could show 100% utilization after they complete training…..? Is it so?”

Satya: “Err………… Yes… That ungrateful wretch.”
Person A: “Don’t worry sir. I think I can help him. I am the Manager of Human Resource Management here. We have a special training for candidates who are from the Non-IT background. Perhaps, if your son is willing to undergo this 2 month training with just a marginal stipend, maybe I can help him out.”

Rupesh:” Thank you sir. I agree. Please let me know from when I should attend the training.”
Person A: “Well, I will speak to Mythili, one of my HR team members. She will get back to you tomorrow.”

Satya (Smiles finally): Thank you son…. I am indebted to you.
Satya: “Thanks son. I don’t know who you are, but you have helped us while that ungrateful wretch Ram didn’t even bother.”

Person A: “You must stop blaming Mr.Ram. He was just following what he was taught during his schooldays.”

Satya: “What do you mean?”

Person A: “I am not sure you remember. But ten years before, you had dismissed a student, Raghuveer, stating the reason that he was poor in mathematics. Didn’t you?”

Satya: “Yes, Raghu… I remember. You see he was doing badly in maths. Furthermore, the HSC exams were nearing. I didn’t ant him to fail and stop the class from scoring a cent per cent pass result.”

Person A: “Precisely. Ram has also done the same. He rejected your son because your son didn’t possess the necessary skill. Morever, Ram saw your son as a threat to the billable utilization of his team. He wasn’t ready to recruit a resource and then train him.

The same was the case with you. You could have taken special efforts to help Raghu, instead you chose to dismiss him.”

Satya: (Feels ashamed and irritated at the same time): “Nonsense, how do you know? Raghu was useless, he would not have done better had he been retained. I pity that guy, he was good for nothing. Why are you so concerned about Raghu?”

Person A: “Well, unfortunately, your attitude hasn’t changed much. Raghu happens to be in a key position in this company. So be careful with your words.

Satya: “Raghu?????? Key position…. (Laughs for a few seconds) That idiot was not good enough to do simple sums in probability and statistics, how can he be in a big position in the MNC. Ha ha”

Person A: (Irritated to the core)Yes, Raghu, the same useless fellow, is here at ASTON INFOTECH. Infact, your son’s fate would be decided by Raghu. So, be careful with your words.

Satya (Mumbling to himself): “Hmm, I thought Raghu would never pass.. What an Irony? I now need to respect to him.”

Person A: Ok, I got to go now. Here’s my visiting card. Ask Rupesh to meet me tomorrow at 10 AM sharp. Here’s my card.

(Person A Leaves)

Satya (Laughs): Rupesh, look at the irony. Ram, one of my best students and Raghu, one of the dumbest students, are in the same company. Wonder how Raghu got into Aston??? Must be by recommendation.

Rupesh: I am not sure appa. Because I think Raghu is actually Raghuveer, the Senior Manager of HR, here. I heard during the interview that he was one of the most respected employees at Aston Infotech.

Satya: Naaah, can’t be him. Raghu failed in mathematics. He would have never made it big, that too in a company like this…… That must be some other Raghu….
“You ARE NOT EVEN GOOD ENOUGH TO BECOME A CLERK”, Satya remembered those scornful words to Raghu. The next day, Rupesh attends the final round and comes home dejected, with a letter addressed to Satya.

Satya: “What happened?”

Rupesh: “I don’t know. I did well in the third round. Everything seemed to go fine til the person whom we spoke yesterday, entered the room.”

Satya: “Why? What did he say?”

Rupesh: “He handed this letter to me and asked me to give it to you. He said I was rejected and he had mentioned the reason in the paper.”

Satya: What the helll???? (Opens the letter and reads) Dear Sir,This is Raghu, the useless brat from XII C, 2001 batch. Many years ago, I was struggling with my studies, foolishly hoping that you would help me to improve. But instead of helping you, you devoted most of your time in humiliating me, viewing me as a pest, and finallly dismissing me from school. You called me dumb and not fit enough even to become a clerk. However, thankfully god had other plans and I was GOOD ENOUGH TO BECOME A SENIOR HR MANAGER of a REPUTED COMPANY. After many years, I saw you yesterday. Even despite my previous bitter experiences, I truly wanted to help your son and still want to. But after speaking to you yesterday, I feel you are right, “The end does justify the means.” I was initially thinking of recruiting your son after he completed the company-sponsored training. However, after yesterday’s discussion, I feel that I should not compromise by recruiting your son as he is not good enough to BECOME EVEN A TRAINEE PROGRAMMER at ASTON INFOTECH Take care and thanks for the enlighment.
Yours disobediently,
Raghuveer L

Satya’s eyes were almost in tears. He realized that his earlier follies may have cost his son a good job. Suddenly, he sees Rupesh change his expression from disappointment to a childish smile.
Satya looks at the mail again. There are still a few lines below the signature of Raghu veer.

P.S: I know that you would have been cursing me by now. I just wanted to write this mail to show how disappointed I was with you. I have not rejected your son. He has been selected as a Trainee Programmer. Ask him to be join soon.
BTW…. please be kind to dumb students, you never know when they come in handy.
After reading the letter, Satya smiled……. The DUMB STUDENT had made a wise decision

End of yet another roller coaster ride

2010-12-29T23:18:00.005+06:00

Time has flown so quickly. It has been 5 months since I blogged and I didn't even notice. A lot has happened since. BL, my love, has got engaged to a guy in BLR. I got an offer in a good MNC and have quit the company which I was working in. Grandma passed away and what not.
Things have happened so fast that I didn't even get time to comprehend them.

If each person's life is considered to be one long journey, mine just happens to be a set of roller coaster rides. My last roller coaster ride started from August 11, 2008, the date when I joined Sfy. When I left EK for Sfy, I came into the organization expecting to learn a lot, professionally. And.. I must say, Sfy has taught me a lot of things, positive and negative. But the positives outnumbered the negatives by a distance.

I really cherished my tenure at Sfy for the following reasons:
This place allowed me to:
1)Experiment on a variety of projects, commit some costly blunders, and yet, still get the opportunity to redeem myself.
2)Work with a team which always got even the toughest job done with a smile.
3)Learn the tricks of the trade, judge people by looking at their nature, not their face.
4)Look into things more objectively, not just from my perspective.
5)Enjoy my work and cherish my achievement and accept my failures.
6)Appreciate every single opportunity and make the most of it.

While I have to admit that things weren't rosy as they seem. For one, I always believed that the extra-curricular activities at this place were severely lagging. Also, my mentor was at times, lacking focus, judging me by my past mistakes, and focusing too much on the short-term. Thankfully, things changed for good and we shared a great rapport ever since then. To say frankly, I was to blame for most of the things that happened, and to my credit, I set things right.

Also, I worked with some of the most jovial persons that I have ever seen. I was surprised to see a few team members smile even when they knew that they were made to stay back as late as 2AM. Their effort and passion totally rejuvenated me and changed the way I approached projects. The best thing that ever happened to me was my lead. While she was not the best boss I did have, I learned a lot of professionalism and variety of ID strategies under her tutelage. At the end, I have to give her full credit for building my professional repertoire.

The biggest pluspoint of working at this place was that I learned to respect other people no matter what they thought of me. I knew that some people would hate me no matter what I do or not do. But rather than trying to please them, I focused purely on doing my job with maximum efficiency. Thankfully, I got my due over here.

To say shortly, SFY taught me to mind my own business and do it best :)

I wish to end this post thanking my lead Puja and my current and erstwhile team members in no particular order: Paridhi, Pandi, Puja, Prabu, Gopal, Saras, Sam, Balaji, Jose, Devi, Senthil, Deepa, Sharada,Mujeeba, Anitha, Rathna, Paul, Aijaz, Leela, Vinodh, Srividya, Vijay, Shanky, Vijaybhaskar, Srini, and Vishesh.

Laughing at Myself

2010-07-24T12:26:00.007+06:00

Disappointments - The only good thing about them is that when you succeed, your happiness gets increase manifold.

Well, I am in no mood for philosophy! Because I know that being philosophical doesn't help.

What do you do when you spend 7+ years in trying to make a girl love you and then fail miserably? Do you sulk? Do you spend sleepless nights thinking over her and write poems about her like they do in those STUPID HINDI AND TAMIL FILMS? Do you start boozing like Devadas (Bastard, he found a lame excuse for being an alchoholic)?

Well, it's better NOT to do any of these? They only pile on misery. The best thing would be to move on and try to find your true love.

Ok, so I move on and wait for two years. All of a sudden, my family decide that their son needs a daughter in law. And within no time, you see the family members busy analyzing horoscopes and trying to find a good match. I remain skeptical realizing that I am still NOT READY for getting married. Then they show her photo to me to get me into Marriage mode. When I open the photo, what do I see? I see a beautiful young girl, an angel, the one you kinda wanted to fall in love to? Then, I think that maybe this is retribution!Whoa! wait, god has other plans in store. Our horoscopes don't match and I fall to Ground Zero from Cloud Nine again! Total Comedy.

I end up sulking for 2 hours and then accept the fact that this ain't the right time. So, I start doing what I did best, hangout with my friends, go to office, read articles, chat with friends, play cricket.

Just as things seem to go pretty fine, I get curious and land up searching HER (The girl I was supposed to be engaged to) profile in Facebook. And what do I see, I see her engagement photos. Ouch! Now, that hurt! Ok, so another one down the drain, I think, "Well, maybe a girl that beautiful deserved better, Wish her all the best".

Then, I try to sign out of Facebook. "Wait",my mind says. "Lemme see who that lucky guy was?" So, I go and see the photo of that lucky lad. Boy, what a sight, he looks plump, fair, and completely opposite to her slim and trim frame. They both seem complete opposites. For a second, I imagine how it would have been if I had been in his place.

I then realize that she WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE my life partner. With a heavy heart, I sign out of Facebook and sulk for an hour. Then, I start with my mundane work. I realize that I still remain SINGLE!

A week later, Mom informs me that another prospective alliance has arrived. This time, I say NO clearly.

For some moments, my mind begins to wallow in self-pity. But when I realize that this is just a part of life and that I am bound to get a GOOD ONE in the near future. The confidence comes back and I feel better!

When I just sit back and ponder thinking what would have happened if any of those things had WORKED and I had been engaged, I start laughing at myself :)

Because I realize that I am GOOD, I have the talent to make it BIG in life, and sooner or later, I am bound to find my TRUE love ANYWAYS. So why sulk in pity when God has given you the tools to achieve what you desire.

"If you are so confident, why do you need such a LONG POST", You may ask.

I needed to write this long post because I feel better when I download my bad feelings somewhere else.

"The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused."

Life is too precious to be spent worrying. I have a strong GUT feeling that my RETRIBUTION is just around the corner. So, please wish me luck. And sorry for the LONG POST.

Bye. I need to step out and see if I can find my ANGEL ;)

The Past, the Present, and the Future

2010-05-30T23:33:00.006+06:00

"What was a dream yesterday becomes a reality today and then becomes a memory tomorrow"-Anonymous.

It's been a decade since I completed my Tenth standard, Eight years since I left School, and 5 years since I graduated. Time seems to have passed off so fast. When I visit my old neighbourhood (Ice House), I can just feel my mind wandering over to the bittersweet moments that happened in the past.

How can I forget these memories?

The wonderful cricket matches that I played along with my friends at Angamuthu street, Williams Ground, and the Marina Beach.

My wonderful street gang: Umashankar, Arun, Shahul, Gopi, Gopi M, Babu, GT, and others.

My wonderful friends at Hindu Hr Sec School (Muthu, Gopi, Hari, Visu S and Visu R, Karthick, Gururaj, Sridhar, Venky, and Yuvraj!), playing cricket during lunch intervals at our School ground! Guys, do you remember how we stopped playing cricket after our PT master flogged our arses with his 5 foot cane. Boy, how we hated him for that!!

The financial losses that my dad's restaurant went through! Those dark days where I had to sit in my restaurant all day wondering when our business will prosper, the days where we couldn't answer our moneylenders :( The humiliation we had to go through.

The water scarcity that forced me to cycle nearly 3 kms everyday in search of water, and fetch 6 pots of water using my cycle. Man! Trying to fetch water from the pumps sure made me lose lot of weight and made my hand muscles strong!! :D

The beautiful Vinayagar temple opposite to Mirsahibpet, the Amman temple in Balaji Nagar, and the Narasimha Sannadhi in Parthasarathy Temple! :) These were the only places which offered me hope in times of despair!

I would list a lot more, but guess what, some good times seldom return!

I know that someone may be reading this and wondering what's so special? Well, somethings are special for no reason! I cherish these memories for only one reason, they made my past bitter, sweet, and beautiful!

It's sad to think how Life changes for the Better/Worse. Ten years ago, I had just fifty rupees in my purse and still I felt like a Billionaire. Today, I have nearly 500 times more money and yet I feel like a beggar! Guess that's LIFE for ya!

Maybe it's because I have ceased to be the sentimental idiot that I once used to be! Or is it because that SHE's now gone from my life! Whatever it is, LIFE HAS CHANGED AND I NEED TO MOVE ON. (An apt ending for such an aimless post)

Happy Birthday

2010-02-24T00:07:00.004+06:00

I take this opportunity to wish my dear friends on their birthdays.

1) Mahesh Ramani: I wish my friend, who turned 28 today, a very happy birthday. Wish that he steps into the next phase of life - Life post Marriage by Feb 23, 2011.

Happy Birthday, buddy! May all your wishes come true.

2) Shahul Hameed: Wishing this genius friend of mine a very happy birthday. He celebrated his 27th birthday on February 15th, 2010. Sorry for not wishing you on your birthday pal! May this birthday be followed by many more happy ones to come.
May god bless you and your family.

3) Thulasi: She is a cousin and very good friend of mine. I wish this cute, grown up, kid (Oxymoron)a very happy birthday! May the forthcoming years bring you peace, prosperity, and happiness dear.

Silence and Realization

2010-02-23T22:34:00.007+06:00

"Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden".
Unlike most proverbs this one stands true to this day. Sometimes, silence is golden, perhaps Platinum. Silence is a language in itself. It can convey anger, frustration, loneliness, hatred, and what not. I learned this the hard way.

When I sit at home and recollect my experiences with my past friends, I realized that I had completely failed to understand what their silence meant.

In one of my previous organizations (elearning companies), I made some very good friends such as A,Sjna, H, and Snch. Since I was very young at that time, I never knew the proper way to conduct myself in a professional atmosphere. Morever, in a desperate attempt to prove myself, I ended up doing things which hurt many of my friends unintentionally.

To their credit, none of them made a fuss of things until the situation went out of control. Even then, all of them were SILENT about it. Very Silent. I didn't realize that their silence was directed to admonish my ways. Alas, I realized it too late.

The next instance came in the very next company that I joined. Life was going smooth till the fifth month. I had made considerable number of friends by then, two of them being my 'best friends'. Our company participated in a rowing competition. The competition required us to take part in early morning training sessions which meant that all of us had to start from our homes as early as 5:30 in the morning.

In spite of being a lazy bird, I joined the rowing team just because two of my best friends were also participating. After two great months of fun and frolic, we beat our opponents and won the regatta. Alas, after the competition, our friendship was never the same. Both my friends started distancing away slowly. I heard that one of them had invited almost every other friend in the group for a party at her house. To top it, none of them even mentioned about it. I failed to understand that I was not required anymore. To add insult to injury, on the day when we won the coveted trophy, there was a photo session of which I was not a part. Nobody cared to inform me either. All this considering that I was the one of those few who practiced regularly and cheered our team to the hilt. One of my 'friends' conveniently took this perfect opportunity to become the darling of our group. From then onwards, I became a total stranger to that friend. She was the attention-grabber of our concern for a while. All I could do was just smile and get back to work. Because I realized that real friends are hard to find.

What the heck? Even the girl whom I used to love, remained silent when I proposed. But at least, her silence was most meaningful.

Sometimes, it pays to listen to your brain rather than your heart.

How strange is life?
You ignore your friends who stay with you in times of need, but strive to be with those who don't care.

You try to gain the respect of people whom you shouldn't be even caring about.

How do you feel when your "friends" try to ignore you silently rather than just ask you to leave them alone?

Well, I may never know the answers to these questions.

After learning some valuable lessons over the years, I have decided that from now onwards, I should never expect anything from my peers or colleagues. And, I shall not speak much too. I have spoken enough.

To all my good friends who supported me and loved me knowing WHAT I AM: Thank you!

To all those people who were once my friends: Thanks for the memories! May we never cross paths again! God bless you all.

Bye bye 2009. Welcome 2010

2010-01-19T00:16:00.006+06:00

Time has passed by so quickly. It's been Eons since I updated this blog. It's not that I was busy, but rather I did not have the urge or passion to write.

The year 2009 was an eventful one with its own share of ups and downs. The past year redefined my life for all the right reasons. For the first time in my professional career, I faced a lot of challenges that nearly threatened to make me quit. I made a lot of mistakes which I never would have imagined. As they say, when things go wrong, they do so at the most inopportune moment. Guess I have to get used to the fact that I will make mistakes on and off.
On the positive side, 2009 gave me many reasons to smile: I got my first ever "Best Employee Award" when it was least expected. I got to work on some crucial projects with killer deadlines. Though I succeeded in some, I also failed in some.

The best part of 2009 came when I realized that I had grown old, old enough to be married. I realized this fact when horoscopes from prospective brides reached me. Unfortunately, god decided otherwise and I am back to being a bachelor, as of now :)

Bye bye 2009. Thanks for the good and not so good memories. I cherish them all.

2010 has started with a bang. My cousin brother went to America on a Business trip. Guess, I will miss bro for another year atleast.

On the personal end, I finally bought a bike for myself. It is the Bajaj Discover DTS-SI (100cc). I prefer to call it DISCY. As of now, he has already brought me joy by enabling me to complete a 140km road trip during the Pongal Holidays. Thanks Discy! Hope you help me reach the road to Prosperity.

Life at Office is just going ok. Looking forward to a great year ahead. God! Pray that I get an increase in salary this year at least. To add to my office concerns, I need to start finishing off the papers for subjects in my PGDBA Curriculum. Pray that I study well too.

I've got an interesting year ahead of me. Although I am not sure what is in store, I am confident that this year will see me reach some very important milestones in life.

Til then, See ya.

Complete Nonsense

2009-11-10T23:31:00.006+06:00

Life has been monotonous for a while. My only form of real entertainment, Beach Cricket, has come to a halt, thanks to the BAN on CRICKET at the Marina Beach, Chennai. I wish the Chennai Police had better things to do rather than banning cheerful kids playing cricket at the beach!!! Alas, no one cares! I find it funny that the same police does not care if people litter plastic and other forms of rubbish and indulge in all sorts of "indecent" activities at the beach, but when it comes to cricket, they think it is the biggest form of disturbance!! Bullshit!!! Where else are we supposed to play!!!!

Anyways, coming back to the topic, professional life has made me a wandering wreck. I guess I am blessed to have a good job and friendly colleagues. Else, I would have gone insane a long time back!! Guess I am so starved of creativity that I am just typing aimlessly. So lemme conclude this nonsensical post by saying this, "I am just blogging this post to keep this blog ALIVE".

EERAM - One of those Rare Good Tamil Movies

2009-09-15T00:00:00.005+06:00

Whenever the fans of Tamil Films get tired of meaningless potboilers and actions films, there comes a film which quenches their thirst like an Oasis in a desert. I am talking about one such film that made me believe that Kollywood could still deliver such good products. Yes, I am talking about the latest film from Shankar’s production, EERAM.

Director Shankar, apart from making big-budget movies like Indian, Mudhalvan, Boys, Anniyan, and Shivaji, has also contributed a lot of Tamil Cinema by producing films made by talented directors like Simbhudevan and now Arivazhagan, the director of EERAM.

EERAM is a Crime Thriller cum Horror Film made on a low budget. Confused! Go, watch the film.
The film has a neat plotline with minimal loopholes. The camerawork and visual effects are too good! Music by Thaman (One of the Heroes in BOYS) is good, especially the background score. The actors (Adhi, Nandha, and Sindhu Menon) have done justice to their characters. The debutant director Arivazhagan has ensured that the audience stays glued to their seat for most of the film, which is no mean feat.

The film opens with the protagonist, Vasudevan (Aadhi), a police officer, investigating the death of a woman. The victim is none other than his former lover, Ramya. She has committed suicide by consuming sleeping tablets and immersing herself in a bath tub full of water. While the case is about to be closed as a Death due to Suicide, Vasu intervenes and takes up the case himself as he suspects some foul play.

Vasu is very much disturbed by the death of his former lover. What disturbs him even more is the reason mentioned for her suicide – her neighbours claim that she committed suicide feeling guilty for an illegal affair with a person whose identity is unknown (Vasu refers him as Mr.X).

Vasu doesn’t believe that Ramya is capable of such a horrendous act as he knew that she was not capable of such dastardly acts.
For the sake of his old love, he sets out to investigate all the members in the colony. As he proceeds with his enquiry, he starts reminiscing of his past relationship with Ramya.
The director has beautifully weaved the flashback scenes seamlessly with the interrogation scenes and ensured that the audience view the film in the protagonist’s shoes
Unfortunately, Vasudevan’s friends in the police department are not convinced about his claims that Ramya’s death could be a murder, but they support him anyways.

Vasudevan finds no further evidence and is desparately searching for Mr.X (The person believed to have had an affair with Ramya).

The case gets even mysterious as Ramya’s neighbour, an old lady, dies suddenly due to electrocution. Vasudevan and his police colleague are baffled due to two reasons:
1) The accident happened due to electrocution – Water from the kitchen tap overflowed from the sink, somehow managed to reach a faulty live wire below the grinder and killed the Old lady who was speaking over the phone in the HALL.
2) The lady lived in the E6 apartment while Ramya used to live in the E5 apartment.

While Vasu and his team are still investigating the death, another person dies due to unnatural circumstances. Vasu now gets convinced that all the three deaths were definitely murders and planned by someone.
As he probes deeper into the case, he finds out several shocking truths. The killer is slowly revealed. Much to Vasu’s dismay and disbelief, the killer is not human.

How does Vasu solve the case? Who is the killer? What is the reason for the murders? The remaining part of the story focuses on these lines.

The director has done a fabulous job. The camera provides us some beautiful shots of the scenaries in Trichy. The college bus stand, Church, Temple, and the Temple on the mountain are beautifully captured. The dialogues are adequate and meaningful. The actors, Nandha (Ramya’s husband), Aadhi (Vasudevan, the Protagonist) and Sindhu Menon (Female Protagonist) have done a great job.

The most beautiful thing about the movie is that the director keeps justifying the use of the title EERAM via some neat camerawork.

Plus points: Good direction and screenplay, great music, good acting, great cinematography, and special effects.

Minus Points: Exaggeration of the Antagonist’s character. The film tends to stretch a bit in the second half, and lots of scenes tend to be similar to ones used in Hollywood movies such as Final Destination.

Verdict: A Must-See.

What happened to those days?

2009-07-26T14:16:00.001+06:00

What happened to those days?
When worries were scarce like rain in the desert,
Where we lived free like butterflies,
free from worries,
Life was fun,
studies were the only concern.

School life was bliss with my group of friends,
When I remember those days,
Those beautiful dusty class benches,
Which contained immortal words carved by us, immoral kids.

Life was as bright as sunshine,
Today the weather looks bleak,
Lots of responsibilities and loads of work,
As I carry on monotonously like a jerk.

What happened to those beautiful moments?
What happened to those awesome cricket matches,
Where our exam pads became cricket bats
And shot plastic balls out of the park.

My dear friend, do you remember the day,
When we all went to the beach,
Gazed out those beautiful girls who passed by,
We were so free then, like birds in the sky.

But today, we find ourselves chained to our worlds,
Where the computer boxes become our only friends,
Where our big bosses care only about business trends,
Life which was once sweet as honey, now alas, it revolves only around money.

Is that all, is that we are worth for?
To work like dogs and sleep like pigs!
Come to work at day and go home at night,
So busy to even recognize a past friend at first sight.

Life has become routine and I have become a machine,
One that has no life of its own,
Once that walks like a zombie, lives like a robot,
And one that can only ponder and say, “What ever happened to those beautiful days”.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen: Worth it!!!!!

2009-07-12T12:05:00.004+06:00

Being a science fiction movie buff, I went to watch this movie, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. After watching this nearly 3 hour-long movie, I get the feeling that even despite the lack of a strong story, this film satiates the hunger of almost all sci-fi buffs. Without further ado, let's check a common man's view of this film.

People who have watched the first film, Transformers, may enjoy this film very much because watching a film without knowing the characters may leave many people confused. Let me give a three line description of the story. The Transformers are sentient,robot-like, life forms from a planet called Cybertron. They depend on energy sources to live and travel from planet to planet seeking energy sources. The robots are divided into two divisions, the evil power-hungry Decepticons, lead by the megalomaniac giant-sized Robot called Megatron, and the good, life-saving, and ethical group of Robots called as Autobots led by the gentle Optimus Prime. The speciality of these robots are that they can transform into many things ranging from a truck, car, fighterplane, Helicopter etc. However, their transformation is limited to their abilities.

Storyline: Several thousand years ago, the first generation of transformers came to Earth and planned to plant an energy machine called the Sun Harvester which taps energy by destroying the sun. Unfortunately, Earth is beaming with life. The Primes, a group of ethical robots, are against activating the device as it is against their ethical code to deprive any planet from its life source. But the Decepticons, led by the evil robot called the FALLEN, wage a civil war to obtain the key to activate the machine. In order to save Earth, four of the Primes sacrifice their lives to build a tomb and hide the key in a secret location and thus save Earth. The FALLEN is exiled.

After several thousand years, the Decepticons again attempt to capture the Matrix of Leadership, the key to activate the machine. On one side, Sam, the protagnist, is trying to move on with life by relocating to the city to pursue his graduation. On the other side, the US government feels that the Decepticons still haven't left Earth because they want to take revenge on the Autobots for destroying ALL SPARK (Refer Transformers-I). A member from the US government requests Optimus Prime to leave the Earth peacefully as they are the cause for the Decepticons destroying human property and lives. Optimus mocks the admiral saying, "IF you request we shall leave, but what if we leave and You're WRONG" He proves to be right as the Decepticons tap the US satellite and discover the remaining pieces of All Spark. One of the Decepticons then infiltrates the US Base where the piece of All Spark is stored and uses it to resurrect Megatron. The resurrected Megatron then meets his master, the Fallen, and decides that they shall destroy human lives till Sam is found. Megatron plans to kills Sam and obtain the secret symbols from his brain that contain the map to the Matrix of Leadership, the key to activate the Sun Harvestor.

Meanwhile, Optimus meets Sam and requests his assistance to fight the Decepticons, Sam disagrees stating that they don't need him. Only after Optimus sacrifices his life does Sam realize that his brain contains the symbols which when decoded reveal the location of the Matrix of Leadership. The rest of the story deals with how Sam struggles to locate the Matrix of Leadership before the Decepticons do and whether he would save Earth.

Plus points of the film: The film is loaded with loads and loads of enhanced special effects. Watching the transformers transform into cars, planes, and planes gives you immense delight. The best scenes in the movie are when three Decepticons merge to become a 120 feet robot called the Devastator, and the resurrection of Optimus Prime. I am sure that this film will be awarded cult status for its very impressive special effects.
The humor part is well provided by Sam, his university colleague Leo Spitz, and Agent Simmons. While the OOMPH factor is well-provided by MEGAN FOX ;)

Minus points: Weak storyline. The protagonist Sam and his love Mikeala are the only human characters who steal majority of screentime. Otherwise, 70% of the film is all about showing the ways/history of the Decepticons and the Autobots. To put it shortly, it is more about the history of the transformers rather than how Earth is saved.
Most poignant scenes in the movie: Optimus prime saving Sam by fighting off 4 Decepticons before finally getting murdered by Megatron.
And, the resurrection of Optimus Prime.

I would give this film 3 stars out of 4.

Memories of HER

2009-06-08T15:35:00.003+06:00

March 8th 2000: I am doing my tenth standard. The HSC exams are hardly weeks away, my revision exams are going on. Mom informs me that my mama’s grahapravesham (House Warming Ceremony) is on March 9th and that I have to come. I take the bus and travel to my hometown after a gap of 6 long years. Upon reaching the place, I am surrounded by my relatives remarking that they’re pleased to see me after so many years. Amongst all of them, my eyes fall on this beautiful lady who captures my imagination, a shy, but charming girl. I speak with her for just 2 hours and fall in love.

April 2002: I haven’t seen her for two years. Once again, I visit my hometown to attend a function. This time around, she’s there. I try umpteen times to gain her attention, but to no avail. I, along with she and her cousins, go to a telugu movie. While other people are watching the movie, I keep watching her face. She looked so beautiful that day. And I guess she also exchanged some glances. After 5 not-so-eventful days, I leave my hometown hoping to have better luck the next time around.

May 2003: I have completed my first year in college. It’s the summer vacation and I visit my hometown yet again. The first thing, I do on arriving is locate her. I see her sitting in the balcony. With a NIIT course book in hand, I go to her, pretending to read the book. I strike a casual conversation with her. She is amused!
Two days pass, I hardly seem to make an impression. When I am just about to give up, one fine evening, she calls me. I ask her if she is indeed calling me, she nods her head and asks me to sit near her. I comply. We spent two and half hours speaking with each other. Ah! 150 minutes in heaven. I leave the hometown after 2 days with fond memories of her. I have a doubt that she got a hint of my feelings for her.

February 28th, 2005: I am doing my final year at college. Haven’t seen her in years, out of desperation, I send a happy birthday mail to her via her cousin’s mail ID. To my surprise, she responds back. I start mailing her frequently. She gets suspicious and then one fine day, I break the ice proposing to her online. She immediately rejects my advances and says she wants to be just my friend. I just continue mailing her about general matters. The Online Relationship just goes on…….

September 21st 2007: It’s been two years since I started working. Life seems to be pretty beautiful. I am a part of the company’s rowing team. The rowing tournament is just weeks away. I take a few days off to go to my hometown just to see HER. But this time around, she is rather quiet. I suspect that she made a deliberate attempt to avoid me for known reasons. But in between, she does speak a para or two, much to my delight.

April 5th 2008: For the first time, I visit her place. I am very much excited at the fact that I will now get a lot of time to speak with her. For once, I prove to be right. She spends a considerable amount of time with me. We visit her sister’s house where we spend time cleaning it together. We also visit a famous temple and of course, a restaurant at an exotic place. I buy her a chocolate ice cream. I can still remember her munching through the ice cream with relish. “What’s running through her mind, does she like me?”, I ask myself.
But the answers are hard to come by.

May 12th 2009: Just a month after I visited her place, I see her again, but not at my hometown. We are attending yet another family function. She starts showing off her popularity. Nearly everybody adores her. Many relatives ask her mom for her horoscope. Many admire her beauty and compliment her. I just sit and wonder whether she would ever come and share a few words with me. Sigh!! That never happens. After all, beauty comes along with a bit of arrogance, doesn’t it?

She has been playing a hide-and-seek game for years now. I understand that she has every reason to reject my proposal, but for some reason, I feel she likes me. I am sure she does. Time and again, I am placed in a moral dilemma on whether to quit vying for her love or not. Guess only time will answer. I pray to god to answer my queries. Will I get her love or not?

Hope the answer is a big YES.

A Simple Solution!!

2009-03-31T00:23:00.003+06:00

“Raghu, our company is not doing well, we need to take some desperate measures now, I am sorry, but we HAVE TO DOWNSIZE”, said Mr.Sinha, the Managing Director of Quanta solutions. Raghu simply nodded. He was in a state of shock. It had been 3 years since he joined Quanta Solutions as a Senior Manager and it was the first time he would be asked to downsize people from his team. Raghu shuddered at the thought of facing his subordinates. “What am I going to do, how am I going to downsize 100+ people from the 400 members within 2 months”, Raghu said to himself.

Raghu had an excellent track record at Quanta. Under him, the various business functions at Quanta had delivered products and services of excellent quality. The company had just 450 odd employees, each of them were sincere, committed, and hardworking. Raghu was in a dilemma. If he laid off 125 people, it would demoralize the other staff and set a bad precedent. If he didn’t, then the management would anyways lay off people. In a state of confusion, Raghu took 2 days of leave and went to his native village.

At the village, his dad welcomed him with a warm hug. Raghu took his bath, had his breakfast and sat in the Verandah wondering about his office situation.
“Raghu beta, what are you worried about?” asked Dhanram, Raghu’s dad. Raghu explained the whole situation to his dad who smiled and said, “Don’t worry beta, there is always a solution to every issue, just relax. Come, let’s go to our farm.”

Raghu went with his dad to their Mango farm. It was a small farm spread just over a hectare. Dhanram asked Raghu to sit beneath the shade of a mango tree. As his father along with the farm employees started their work, Raghu watched carefully.

Raghu’s father and his employees were cutting some old mango trees; the employees were watering only a few trees and adding fertilizers, while some were planting young mango saplings. Raghu was puzzled and asked Dhanram why some trees were being cut. He replied, “Beta, we are only cutting trees that yield very less fruit. Since we have water scarcity, we water and nourish only a few trees that yield more fruits.”

“Then, why are you planting new saplings when you can’t water the existing ones?” asked Raghu in an irritating tone. Dhanram just smiled and said, “Beta, when you do something, you take into account the factors present today and the ones that decide tomorrow; I am cutting down the old trees so that I can water and nourish only the fruit-yielding trees. We take care of these selected Mango trees because they provide us rich yield. We plant new saplings because they consume less water. By the time they grow into mature trees, the water scarcity issue would be solved, and we would get more yield of mangoes! You gotta plan for the future”. Raghu was puzzled. It was a rather simple explanation which made a lot of sense.

Dhanram’s thoughtful reply made Raghu think deeply. That night, he couldn’t sleep. He just kept pondering over Dhanram’s reply. In the morning, Raghu took the blessings of his parents and left the village. For some reason, his father’s farming strategy seemed to make complete sense.

Raghu arrived at his office and called his sub-ordinates for a meeting. In the meeting, he asked his sub-ordinates to prepare a list of all employees who were slacking in performance. Within a few hours, Raghu got the list of all employees and the details of their performance over the past quarter. He and the managers of the respective functions sat together and planned the strategies for the upcoming quarters. The employees who were slacking were given training to improve their skills, and warned that they would be fired if they didn’t raise their performance level within a month.

Raghu called in all his team members for a meeting and asked them to provide suggestions/measures that would help Quanta Solutions increase their sales and establish themselves in the market. He also announced huge incentives for employees who could implement measures to increase profits. Within a month, Raghu received many valuable suggestions from his team members. He chose the best 5 solutions and gained the approval of the management to implement them. The employees who gave the suggestions were rewarded handsomely. Soon, the work atmosphere at Quanta turned lively due to the positive vibes from the management.

Meanwhile, employees who were still slacking in their performance were fired and replaced by talented young freshers. Raghu placed appointed a team of talented, skilled, and dedicated employees to mentor the freshers. Within a span of three months, the share value of Quanta Solutions increased by 20%.

Mr.Sinha, the MD, called Raghu to congratulate him. “Raghu, you have done a great job, thanks to your ideas, we are now in a position of strength, how did you do this?”
Raghu just smiled and said, “It’s easy sir, just nourish the trees that yield the most and plant new ones”. Mr. Sinha was puzzled, but knew that Raghu’s words implied a hidden meaning.
Raghu then shook hands with Sinha and left the room. As he sat in his cabin, he remembered his father’s words, “Beta, when you do something, you take into account the factors present today and the ones that decide tomorrow.” Raghu couldn’t help wondering how such a simple solution could solve a complex issue.

BJP should STOP ITS HINDUTVA AGENDA!!!

2009-03-29T01:04:00.001+06:00

Come April we will be having the 15th Lok Sabha elections in India. As expected, the Congress and BJP have indulged in some very aggressive campaign battles. The Congress had gained the upper hand by labeling the BJP as a SAFFRON party. To add fuel to the fire, Varun Gandhi’s latest campaign speech for BJP has provided more fodder to the media and the congress.

An Unnecessary Act: Young Varun had passed many inflammatory comments aimed at the minority community in one of his speeches during the election campaign. Maybe Mr.Varun didn’t realize that polarizing people to get votes was an idea long used by the British Raj in 1905 (Partitioning of Bengal). By doing this, he has done extreme disservice to his party by severely damaging its reputation.

Mr.Advani should have avoided this major folly. Being the spearhead of the BJP and a prospective Prime Minister candidate, he should have clearly instructed his cadres not to indulge in such regressive acts. The Hindutva agenda has been BJP’s Achilles heel and if the party does not do anything to mend its ways, it would lose the respect of the people easily! The BJP should drop its hindutva agenda. There is no need to emphasize Hindutva when there are several hundred other issues to be solved.

The BJP must differentiate itself from the other parties by having Development as its Agenda, not Hindutva. Let us remember that India has hundreds of important issues such as Terrorism, poverty, poor infrastructure, and high prices of essential commodities. BJP’s agenda should implement measures to combat these issues effectively. The common man is only concerned about his essential needs, not about religion or caste; it’s unfortunate that no party understands it.

Why the BJP needs to change its agenda?
As of now, BJP and Congress are the only major national parties that have sufficient strength to form governments. Unfortunately, the Congress in its tenure failed to focus on key issues like rising poverty, unafforability in housing, and steady decline of sectors like Agriculture and Export, and terrorism. If the people desire to vote for a change at National level, then the only other party strong enough to form a government is the BJP. Although the communists and the newly formed Third front are national parties, they lack the numbers to form the government especially since their ideologies are not in sync with the needs of the people. Since BJP is the only other major party capable of forming a government, it must act RESPONSIBLY. It should promise the minorities that they will be safe and treated well if the BJP comes to power.

Ideally, BJP must be focusing on these points:
1) Reducing the Poverty level: Today, there is a vast gap between the upper class and the lower class. Every industry is now catering to the rich people, be it the Realty (Real Estate) sector, or the other essential sectors such as Transportation and Clothing. All prices of essential commodities have gone past the affordable level. As a result, Poverty has grown by atleast 5% as per an official survey. Measures to abolish poverty should be the main agenda. India will never shine if people live in poverty
2) Terrorism: Terrorism has been slowly spreading its roots in India. We already have seen three instances of major terrorist attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore in the past two years. The next incoming government must introduce stringent anti-terrorism laws and implement adequate measures to eliminate terrorism.
3) Recession: The prices of all essential commodities have gone up by atleast 20%. Agriculture, our most important sector, is dying a slow death. The Automobile, Iron, Steel, and other Export industries are faring no better. Obama’s anti-outsourcing policies have forced MNCs like Microsoft to cut down atleast 5000 jobs. Big MNCs like TCS, Wipro, IBM, HCL, and CTS are cutting down jobs everyday. BJP should announce measures to create new jobs in non-IT sectors and introduce tax sops and other beneficial measures to ailing industries. Unemployment should be abolished.
4) Prices of Essential Goods: Over the past two years, the prices of fruits, vegetables and other essential commodities have increased almost by 20-30%. This hurt the common man badly. Ensure that the common man gets the three basic things, Food, Clothing, and Shelter, at an affordable price.

This country does not need additional Temples, Mosques, or Churches, but just more schools, hospitals, organizations, and sectors that cater to the needs of the AAM AADMI (Common man).

Saaral-Vizhiyoram

2009-02-28T14:10:00.005+06:00

My friend Gopakumar, music composer Sanjeev Philip Thomas, and singer Benny Dayal, released his first video song, Vizhiyoram from their album Saaral.

This song is called Vizhyoram, a melodious number based on love.

Let me put my thoughts about this song shortly:
The song has been shot alongside some beach shore. The picturesque background blended perfectly with the wonderful rendering of the song Vizhiyoram made it a treat to watch. Kudos to the Saaral team for selecting a picturesque location!

Selection of the song: As a fan of peppy numbers, I felt that Vizhiyoram was not the apt beginning for a video album. There were better peppy numbers in Saaral such as Yenthan Nenjil Unmugam, Ethedo, and Oru party. But after listening to this song, I was proved wrong, thankfully. Love is an emotion that is universally felt. I realized the best way to start off a video album was to start with a melodious number on love.

The Singer: I always admire singers who are versatile. Benny Dayal is one among them. Who else could have sung this song better? But I felt he could have improved upon his body language.

Best Thing about this song: Mostly, melodious songs are shot with actors expressing sad emotions. Since this was a love song, I expected these people to portray sad or thoughtful looks, but these guys showed eccentric body language.
For instance, there is a line in this song which reads “Vedantham sollum Vedangal yellam vendaam, vendaam penne (Literally translates to ‘No need for quotes from Vedas my dear girl’)”, this was supposed to be in a thoughtful mood. But in the album, Gopu, Sanjeev, and Benny have sung this verse portraying a sort of eccentric emotion. For me, this was refreshingly different although it looked weird at times. This song gained a liveliness due to the eccentric body language.

Overall, this album was good. Please listen to this song by clicking the link below and provide your comments.
@Gopu: You looked 10 years younger, dude! :D

Click the link below to listen to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8r9JDNxBbY

Life is Strange Indeed!!!!

2009-02-04T23:32:00.007+06:00

"Life is strange because it provides you with whatever you wish when you expect it the least."- Anonymous.
Well, I am a great fan of proverbs and the one mentioned above is one of my favorites.

Let me explain why?
Have you ever aspired to do things such as enroll for a professional course in a famous college, work for a reputed company, or make it big in some field, and then on one fine day, you realize that you are slowly and steadily moving towards it?

Well, I can't quite say that I am anywhere near achieving my dream. But I just wanted to share my experiences with you.

Ok, so here it goes:

Three years before, I was a fresher, desperately searching for a job in a field that would supplement my skill set. The problem was that I never knew what sort of skills I possessed. Analyzing my strengths and weakness, I decided that I should opt for a career related to content development.
After 3 months of intense job searching, I managed to enroll myself for a two-week program on Instructional Design, conducted by the Ma Foi consultancy. After completing the two-week training program, I and my batch mates were supposed to appear for an interview for a reputed company called SFY.(I learned from my trainer that it was SFY which had actually sponsored the training in order to find fresh talent.)

The D-Day arrived. Being a fresher, I was excited as well as nervous since this was my first interview in a reputed MNC. .
After attending 4 rounds of interview and waiting for a month, Ma Foi announced that I was rejected by SFY. However, my spirits were surprisingly high even after knowing that I missed the offer. Thanking my Ma Foi trainers for their help, I started to search a job in the Elearning industry. Being a fresher, that too a B.sc Bio graduate, I found it extremely difficult to find a job as an entry level Instructional Designer.

After nearly 2 weeks of endless and desperate job searching, I got frustrated and was about to change my mind regarding my career. Just then, one of my Ma Foi mates informed me that there was a company called Expertus in Kilpauk which had openings for Trainee-Instructional Designers. This piece of info was enough to lift my sagging spirit. So, without any further ado, I took my resume and started off to Kilpauk.
Unfortunately, I forgot the exact address of the company and ended up roaming aimlessly. The funny part was that the very next day, I got a call from the same company asking me to step in for an interview. Call it fate or divine retribution, I got the job of a Trainee-Instructional Designer in Expertus. This job was my first ticket into the world of Elearning.

After spending 11 eventful months at Expertus, I resigned and then joined Element K, a reputed concern. At EK, I learned a lot of things which made me a better person both professionally and personally. After spending 20 joyfull months at EK, I decided to leave the company due to personal reasons. Then, finally, I got a job as a Learning Designer(Instructional Designer) at SFY. I joined SFY on August 11th, 2008. Six months have passed by since I joined this company.

When I walked down the memory lane, I realised the following:
During my final year in college, SFY was the first campus interview which I had attended. (I vividly remember how I and 250 of my college friends had attended the test only to find out that there were only two vacancies. The best thing was that my friend MAHESH RAMANI got through.:) )

The two-week course on Instructional Design that I attended, was actually sponsored by SFY. After the training, I appeared for an interview in Sfy for the post of Trainee-Instructional Designer and failed to get through.

Now, after nearly 3 years, I end up working for a company for whom I had aspired to work for in the first place. Wow! Truly, Life is STRANGE!
I wish the same applies for personal desires such as marrying the same girl I love ;)

Note: The observations made in this post are purely based on a personal perspective. Please do not read between the lines.

I Miss You Baby!!!!!!!

2008-11-08T14:14:00.003+06:00

I miss you baby!
Miss you so much that
I can’t seem to spend a day,
Without thinking about you!

Although we are miles apart,
We are always together at heart!
As much as you want to hate me,
I know for sure,
That deep in your heart, you definitely love me.

I will be your shadow,
Following you wherever you go.
I donno why you’re so special to me.
Maybe you are a part of my soul,
Without which I am incomplete.

Although you never want to accept,
Your feelings for me,
I will, forever, wait and wait,
Till you come to me.

Until then, let me keep waiting for you,
Like the barren field that waits for rain,
Let me think of you,
Like the ardent devotee who thinks of god,
Hope you will answer me dear.
Till then, I will continue to miss you ever!

Saaral Rocks!

2008-10-10T14:25:00.004+06:00

In one of my previous posts, I had written about a Tamil Music Album that was to launched by my friend Gopakumar. Well! I had recommended the album in my blog solely trusting Gopa’s love for music and his habit of humming lovely songs. I trusted that such a person would only compose good songs! On September 29th, 2008, the date of the launch of the album, I had purchased a Saaral CD directly at the launch venue, Allianse Francaise at Nungambakkam. The CD costed 99 bucks and was affordable. I had bought the CD solely for remembrance and of course out of curiosity. I also had the future celebrity Gopu sign on the CD that I bought :). With the satisfaction of having attended the launching ceremony and also having bought a CD, I left the place.

When I was returning home after attending the launch, I was a bit apprehensive on how the songs would be. So ,once I reached home, I promptly placed the CD in my DVD player and started listening to the songs. The first song, Paavaye, sung by the reputed and ever-reliable Unnikrishnan, was melodious and worth listening. At that moment, I though “Okay, the first song is good, let me hear the other ones too”. When the second song, Ethedo sung by Sanjeev Philip (Lyrics were composed by Gopakumar, who had also sung the third stanza in the song), started playing, I was happy to hear a peppy cum melodious number.

By the time, I started heard the fourth, fifth, and sixth songs all sung by Benny Dayal, I was tremendously satisfied and very happy for having bought the CD. Then came the sixth and penultimate song, Oru Party, sung by Sanjeev Philip.
Boy! I was a bundle of joy on hearing that song. Once I completed hearing the entire set of songs, I kept on playing the songs all over again. Without my knowledge, I had truly become a fan of Saaral. To sum up the album, it has 4 melodious numbers, and 3 peppy songs. Some of the songs are a mix of melody and fast beats (Pardon me I don’t know music jargons, I can only say whether a song is good or bad).

Well Friends, I would strongly recommend this CD, Saaral, available at all Music World and Landmark outlets. It costs 99 Indian rupees. Of course, busy people can order a copy, from Sare Gama, to be delivered directly to their homes, by visiting their website. Trust me! The CD is worth every rupee of the 99 bucks.

Well, you may ask me, “Why should I buy a music CD paying 99 bucks when I can buy two pirated DVDs of new films”. My answer is, “Simple! It’s your choice; I am recommending the CD, because it has 6 very good songs worth listening to. Trust me! the CD is truly worth it".

So, if you are a music lover and want to listen to some good music, please do visit any Landmark or Music World outlet in Chennai and buy a Saaral CD. For more details, visit www.saaral.in

Disclaimer:: I have no commercial interests with this album. I am recommending this album solely for the fact that the songs are good and worth listening.

I am Past????

2008-09-23T20:56:00.003+06:00

It pains to know,
that you're a thing of the past.

The people you loved,
seem, all but, lost.

Wasn't this the same place,
where we spent many moments of joy?

Those crazy arguments and fun-filled moments,
loved them as they passed by.

But today when I turn back and look around,
I see nothing but loneliness.

Pains to see that you've left me aside,
like the bee, which leaves the flower,
after sucking all the honey.

Today, I saw you go past me,
as I was never there,
as if you never knew,
as if , to you, I never existed.

Is it purely because you found a better companion,
or is it just that I am a thing of the past.

Whatever you think,
wherever you go,
just remember that
you once had friend who,
loved you more than his beloved,
who cared for you more than himself,
who was your best pal.

But all I can do is now,
think of you,
fold my hands and pray to the almighty,
"Oh god, please let her live longer and happier than thee."

Wishing ya all the very best :-)

2008-09-16T15:38:00.010+06:00

Two of my friends, Gopu and Abhi, have reached a small, but very important milestone, in their lives. Both of them have just started doing what they wanted the most.

Gopu, along with his friends, has launched his group’s first music album “SAARAL”(meaning “drizzle” in Tamil). Gopu is working as a Lead-Media Specialist in a leading corporate firm; his long-term dream was to release an album, for which he and his friends had written lyrics, and composed tunes right from their childhood. Today, his dream has come true. His album SAARAL has been launched. For more details, visit http://www.saaral.in/

Wanna listen to some good, energizing, foot-tapping, and melodious songs, go and get your CD copy of Saaral.

I wish my friend Gopu all the very best for his new venture. Hoping to see him make it big.

Apart from being a music lover, Gopu is also a very good photographer, you can view some of his creative photos by clicking this link.

Next is my friend, Abhi. This guy is one of those “Break the Rules, I-Don’t-Care-A-Damn-What-You-Think” types. To say about him shortly, he is a rebel, who longs to see a much better world. Abhi is an accomplished poet and a very talented writer. One of his dreams was to start a company on his own; a company that could employ creative and open-minded people, who come up with practical, out-of-the-box solutions to fulfill client needs. Being an Instructional Designer by profession, and a very very creative child by heart, he has now fulfilled his wish by starting his own documentation and content outsourcing firm, The Written Word.

The best thing that I liked about his website is this page which explains in a very creative way to the client on why they should consult The Written Word.

I take this opportunity to heartily congratulate Abhi on his new role as an entrepreneur. I am sure his organization will overcome the initial obstacles and make it big in the global market.

For those prospective clients, who wish to know what I am talking about, please visit his company’s website: http://www.thewrittenword.in/

So people, if you are looking to outsource your projects to a company that has a creative eye with a big vision, look no further, The Written Word is the answer.
To know more about his writing abilities, visit his blog.

Gopu and Abhi: Wish ya all the best. This is just the beginning of a great journey. May the forthcoming years see ya both achieve many great milestones.

The End of a Chapter, the Beginning of A NEW One!!!!

2008-08-27T15:52:00.002+06:00

August 8th, 2008 marked an end of a chapter in my book called life. I was relieved from EK, my former family (organization) and on August 11th, 2008, a new chapter in my life began, I joined my current Organization, Sify, on August 11th, 2008. On my first day,I finished my joining formalities at Tidel Park. The joining formalities hardly took 3 hours in total. After completing it, I had lunch at the Sangeetha outlet in the Food Court at Tidel. As I came out of Tidel, I remembered that I had to visit the IGNOU regional center located at Taramani, 3 kms away from Tidel, to enquire about the status of my MBA entrance exam hall ticket (It was supposed to reach me by 8th, August).

As the bus frequency along the IT Highway was very low, I decided to walk all the way. As I walked along the road, it struck me that infact it was at this sameTidel Park that I had completed my joining formalities 3 years ago when I was with Sutherland. As I thought of my first job, many memories of the past flashed through my mind. It just dawned to me that I had QUIT EK. No more jolly tea-chat sessions with Sai, Sivan, Deepak, Jayanth, and Nagaraj. No more Cricket nets sessions, no more tea-kadai mokkai sessions at the Guindy teashop, no more Cricket discussions. For a moment, it dawned to me that things had happened too fast for me to even feel or think about it. I had spent 20 months with EK, made so many good friends, had so many great moments there, but within one month, I had said goodbye!

I came to the Nandanam office on August 12th. I got a system at 12 pm, started blogging right away. I was a bit apprehensive on how my new organization would treat me. I was feeling lonely for quite sometime before I saw my old friends Karkuzhali, Devi, and Harishankar. Meeting them made me feel better. Plus, my lead ID introduced me to my team members; all the people seemed to be very jovial and relaxed. I was given a warm welcome and within fifteen days of my joining, I have started feeling that this place would be like my second home and provide me immense knowledge and many good moments. Hope the forthcoming months prove me right!!!!!

Indian Sports- What We Need To Do?

2008-08-23T16:49:00.002+06:00

The Beijing Olympics is coming to an end, China is sitting on top with the most gold medals, followed by USA. India has completed its participation and has finished with a haul of 3 medals: One Gold(10M Rifle event: Abhnav Bindra), and two bronze medals in boxing(Vijender Kumar) and Wrestling(Sushil Kumar).

India had a slightly better olympics this time around, it got a gold and two bronze medals; the best haul during these 108 years of participation.
It was amusing to see every news channel go gaga over Abhinav, Sushil, and Vijender.
What was even more amusing is the rewards, that are being offered to the athletes. by the Central and State Goverments.

My question is: Why can't the goverment allot specific funds for Sports federation and properly tap talent in the first place? When we can award Abhinav 20 crores now, why not spend 10 crores to setup proper infrastructure. Haven't we been lethargic? How fair is it for us to sit back and just say "OH, our INDIAN ATHLETES CAN't EVEN ONE MEDAL THIS TIME". Have we ever wondered what is the reason?

Ok, let me explain, Abhinav got his gold medal, NOT BECAUSE of our infrastructure, but because of his rich parents, who have him world class facilities. To speak frankly, the Infrastructure at India for shooters is way too pathetic that we do not have even proper ammunition to practice, and also no latest equipments.

Let us look at Sushil, he was staying at a room with 20 others enthusiastic wrestlers and inspite of not even being provided even the basic infrastructure, he has won us a bronze medal. Even Vijender, a boxer, had to work part-time to sponsor his boxing classes. Inspite of these obstacles, Vijender and Sushil have won us Bronze, we should be really proud of them, but at the same time, ashamed of our INDIAN OLYMPIC FEDERATION, which has done a pathetic job, and is still doing a very pathetic job now.

For India to shine in Olympics, we must first plan well.
The Plan should include, finding Sports where we can Shine well, setting up DEDICATED Sports Federations and maintaining them with World Class Infrastructure and Coaching.
Nominate genuinely interested sports persons to take care of these federations, MR KALMADI, PLEASE LISTEN???
There should be no politicians involved, the IOA must seek help of corporates to fund them as the task of funding multiple Sports Federations is too much for the IOA.
Corporates like Infosys and WIPRO can be approached.

The other sports such as Swimming, Marathons, Sprinting, Gymnastics, Rowing, Football, Hockey, should be encouraged and given media exposure.

If we are really serious about becoming a sports superpower, we must take strong strides forward, there is no use in the WAIT AND WATCH approach, Sports is not a joke, all people can play any kind of sport, but only a few will excel, our job is to find those few and nurture them.

My request to the Sports Minister of India and the IOA: Please do take steps to improve our infrastructure. And for Heaven's sake, please stop appointing non-sports people as the head of Federations, they will only do a pathetic job, please be serious atleast now.

If I am not wrong, we should concerntrate more on these sports:

1) Hockey: This is our National Sport????? Unfortunately, our people and media have conveniently forgotten this sport,thanks to people like Mr GILL and our IOA president. If our hockey players are encourage properly, they will strike GOLD This is a promise.
2) Tennis and Badminton
3)Wrestling
4)Boxing
5)SHooting(10M,50M,DOuble-Trap)
6)Weight Lifting
7) Marathon and Sprinting: IN India, some people in Villages walk as far as 8 Km to reach the school, I am very surprised that we are not able to produce even a single Marathon Athlete till now.
8) Cycling: COmmon people, even a guy like me can cycle 40-50 kms continuosly at the speed of 20-23 kms per hour, i am sure that in this 1Billion people, we definitely have 200+ world class cyclists.
9) Swimming: This is one sport, where we definitely need to concentrate on, purely because there are nearly 10 golds for this event at the Olympics
10)Rowing: Well, people will be surprised when i said "Rowing", I strongly believe that we have good potential to do well in this sport. Our Rower, Bajranglal went till the Quarter finals in his Maiden Olympics. We have been producing budding talents like Rahul Baliga. So, if things go well, we may strike gold.

People must be made aware that there are indeed other games which provide them the same level of entertainment as Cricket. The Goverment should ensure that each promising athlete is provided the required facilities. If required, the goverment should create jobs specificially for those, who excel in Sports. Although, there are sports federations in India, they are functioning with poor facilities or lack of funds. To change this trend, we must allot funds for certain sports, find out great talent, provide them world-class facilties and be patient till the results come.
Afterll, it takes aleast 6 months to build a house, we will require atleast 4 years to produce world-class athletes.
And of course, our media should also spend some time on other sports, afterall we would be tired of seeing the faces of Yuvarj, Dhoni and Sachin by now :-) Am i right people?

Afterall, when we can watch an idiotic cricket team performing inconsistently time and again, only to falter at the best occasion, we can atleast use our remote to see how our people are doing at other sports, it will atleast make them happy and of course, when they feel that they are being watched, they will perform well :-) Isn't it?
I sincerely hope that atleast by 2012, we will be producing athletes, who conquer the world in their respective sports. Hope this 2008 Beijing Olympics proves to be the ultimate watershed, if it is not, then god save our Athletes.

Beijing Olympics: Finally an Indian wins gold- But What Next????

2008-08-14T14:50:00.004+06:00

Finally, our Rifle Shooter, Abhinav Bindra, won a gold medal for our country breaking the 108-year-old Gold medal drought. On August 11th, Abhinav Bindra held his nerve against his Finnish and Chinese opponents, Alin George Moldoveanu and Zhu Qinan, to win the gold. By winning the gold medal, he became the first Indian to win Gold in an individual event. He has indeed made us proud.

I have to say sorry to my readers for missing out Abhinav in my last post, which listed my guess for our medal hopes. It was purely due to lack of knowledge.

As for the Indian contingent, they still need to prove a point; after all, one gold medal is never going to be enough to prove our athletic prowess. Apart from Abhinav, I was sad for the other athletes such as Saina (Badminton), Samresh Jung(10m Rifle), Bajranglal Takhar (Rowing), and Anup Sridha(Badminton). I was very much disappointed when our ace shooter Rajvardhan Singh Rathore failed to qualify, I felt sad. Guess the pressure of a billion people is weighing down too heavily on our athletes.

Well, there is some hope left, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have advanced to the quarters, they have a tough task in hand, I am pinning some hopes on them because it may be their last Olympics and I am sure that they would want to end it with glory. I would just wish that they play for the gold and not for the bronze. I believe that they are still the best doubles players in the Mens circuit in Tennis. “Come on Guys, Gun for the Gold, Let our happiness increase manifold”.
Apart from tennis, our Indian Boxers, Jitender Singh, Vijender, and Dinesh Kumar are currently on a winning run.

Plus we still have the long jump, 200mtrs, 400mtrs, triple jump, and other athletic events. As of now, I am betting on Anju Bobby George for bringing as a medal, but I would be happy if somebody else pulls off one for us too.

I am personally disappointed to see that we are going overboard for just winning one gold medal. Yes! I am very happy for Abhinav Bindra. It’s true that he brought us glory, but with nearly 40 more days to go, India still needs a lot of medals to really hog the limelight.
We need to prove that we do have world-class athletes, for that to be done, we need more Gold, certainly more than 4. On the eve of our 61st Independence Day, I wish our athletes all the best and my message would be “Go for the Gold, winning is everything, give your 100% and leave the rest to the almighty, we will be with you! Bring us Glory, bring us GOLD”.

Jai Hind! Let the following days bring us even more glory!!!

Beijing Olmpics- Performance of Indian Olmpic Atheletes??????

2008-08-10T16:36:00.004+06:00

"Faster, Higher, Stronger"- This is the Olympic motto. Our Indian Olympic federation just doesn't seem to be taking this into account, as they rarely keep producing worldclass athletes. Look at our olympic record, it's almost three decades since we won a gold medal. Even last olympics, we had to be content with just a SILVER obtained by our shooter Rajvardhan Singh Rathore. It is very highly disappointing that even with a population with over billion, we fail to produce even a dozen world class athletes.
I thought that atleast, in this olympics, the wretched run would end, but my dissappointment reached astronomical proportions when i heard that Manavjit Singh(Mens Trap Shooting event), Anjali Bhagwat(Women's 10M rifle event) and our Women's archery team had crashed out :-(. I had really high hopes on our Shooters and archers, especially Manavjit Singh and Anjali Bhagwat, but they proved me otherwise.
I just wish that our other Indian athletes will bring home Glory.

Today is the third day of the 2008 Olympics held in China, the only good news that i have heard is that Saina of India has qualified for the quarter finals in the Badminton event and that Vijender singh of India has also qualified for the quarter finals in Boxing. Well, the best surprise was that i heard that one of our Rowers!!!!!!!!! Bajrang Lal Takhar has qualified for the quarter finals in the Sculling category of the Rowing events.
As for now, let us all wish the remaining athletes all the best and pray that they come back with a bagfull of gold medals. I am sure that our BHARAT MATHA has atleast produced three or four people, who can strike gold.

I donno why? But i believe that this time, we will strike gold and we will strike it in a least expected event. Let's see.
Let me list out the atheletes, who,i think are our medal winning hopes:

1) Saina Nehwal(Badminton)

2) Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi(Mens Doubles/Tennis)

3) Anju Bobby George (Long Jump)

4) Vijender Singh(Boxing)

5) Indian Rowers(Sculls/ Light Doublesculls/ Rowing)

Wishing all the Indian Athletes all the best.

Kudos to our Rowers

2008-08-06T19:06:00.012+06:00

In this cricket crazy country, people often neglect or forget that there are other sports in India, where atheletes have achieved a lot more than our stupid "CRICKETERS". To name a few, let us take the example of SQUASH, where our Chennai girl Joshna Chinnappa has won numerous medals for our country; Chess, where our own VISHY(Viswanathan Anand) made our country proud by winning the World Chess Championship just some months ago, and tennis, where Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have consistenly been winning medals in doubles and mixed double events(Although they played with different partners, the trophies still count). There are many more examples, it is a pity that we fail to encourage other sports and often discourage aspiring atheletes.

The best example is the recently held MADRAS-COLOMBO Regatta.
Well, for many of you who don't know what a Regatta is; it is a type of event held in a sport called ROWING. For rowing, please visit this link.

The Madras-Colombo Regatta is an international rowing race event held between India and Srilanka, (to be more precise, it is between the Madras Boat Club and the Colombo Boat Club). Our rowers won seven out of the eight prestigious events held in this regatta and have regained this trophy after 10 years.

You might wonder why i am saying this suddenly? My major concern was the media exposure to this type of events, the day after this event happened, i browsed throght several newspapers to find atleast a one-liner detail about this event, and guess what even great dailies like the HINDU and the INDIAN EXPRESS didn't cover this event nor did they include any news, not even a one-liner. Now, lemme ask you people a question, is this Regatta not even worth a mention? When small clubs like Jolly Rovers, Mambalam Mosquitoes and even corporate teams have their scores mentioned in dailies? Then why this partiality. Yeah! This is just an event concerning two countries, but by encouraging these rowers, do we lose anything???

Anyways, have a look at the photos!!!

Madras Boat Club Fours Team after their victory over the Colombo Fours team. (You can spot the MRTS bridge in the background.)

The Madras Fours team rows to the starting point of the race; the starting point is the Kotturpuram bridge.
Team: Stroke- Rahul Baliga, 3-Charles Amolarpavaraj, 2-Sathish, Bow-James

The Race is on: Madras Boat Club Fours on the way to victory.

The Victorious Team with their oars: Starting from left: Rahul Baliga(National Champion in Sculling), Charles Amolarpavaraj, Cox(Don't know her name), Sathish, and James,(He happens to be the formal national champion and also the coach of the Madras Boat Club).

An EIGHTS boat on trial: The boat comprises of eight rowers and one cox(Non-rowing member and captain of the boat).

The Eights boat again: That is one hell of a boat to row!

The Double sculls team of Madras Boat Club.

Rowers relaxing after the race.

A Race begins???

Rahul Baliga, winners of the sculls event. He is the current national champion in Sculling and had won the gold in the recently held sculling events breaking the national record.

The Winning Pairs team of Madras Club: Rohit Ravindra and Tushar Bansal. These guys have won many trophies in the pairs events.

A woman sculler.

The Colombo Ladies Fours team

Time to say goodbye

2008-08-01T21:43:00.007+06:00

Yup! it's time to say goodbye to my current organization. I have put my papers and am getting relieved soon. I have worked here for 19 months; to describe my experience at EK shortly, it has been a roller coaster ride!!!!!!!.
I made a lot of friends here. I enjoyed my time here so much that EK, at one point, became my second family. It was a difficult for me to call it quits, but i had no other choice, my life had other priorities. I needed to move on, so it's time to say goodbye to lovely EK. Miss you all, people!!! Thanks for providing me all the support! You people rock!!
As i look down the memory lane, i would list these as the best moments at EK:
# The first EK day out and Pongal Fest held at EK in January 2007. It was my first chance to meet up with people and get to know them better.

# Joining the EK cricket team; one of the best facilities provided at EK, the EK cricket team has been one of the most fun-loving ones ever. I was proud to be a part of it. Although, i made no significant contributions, i still had the satisfaction of
representing my organization in the Blue Sky tournament. IT increased my love for the game.

# Working in High-Priority projects- I was given the chance to work in two of the high priority projects. At first, the crunch deadlines and importance of the projects gave me the jitters, but still i gave it my best shot and i think i did a good job. Working in these sort of projects made me mentally tough and inspired me to improve myself professionally. Thanks a lot to V!!

#Becoming a part of the rowing team: Well! This was one of the surprises at EK, prior to EK, i never knew that there was a sport called Rowing and how significant it is. I just joined the rowing team because two of my close friends joined it. Gradually, i began loving the sport. Winning the M&B Regatta Overall Championship was one of the best moments in my life.

# The best of all: Making great friends like Lakshman, Aparna, Arunprakash, Arun, Ramesh KS, Ramesh Krishnan, Jayanth, Nanditha, Yogesh, Diiman, Suchitra, Vinok, Meena, Nagaraj, Sivanarul, Srisai, Manjula, Joseph, Arul, Banu, Georgina, Vijay, Jeevan, RK, Ravi, Gopal anna, Rajesh,Diiman, Rosalin, Praveena Jaipal, Aswin Kumar, Vinodh, Thiyagarajan, Vijay, Alkesh, Harikumar, Anooja, Divya, Aparna, Solomon, Deepak L, Anitha, Anithaesther, Sathishkumar, Adithya, Arun, Mohammed Baroda, Santhosh, Ganesh, Nagendran, Nancy, Reshma, Jobi, etc etc ect. Sorry dudes, there are a lot of people whom i need to include, but that would make this post huge!!!!!

I wish to thank the EK Cricket Team and Rowing Team for their great support!!!!!!!!
Thanks people!! Thank you all for the lovely moments!!!
Wish you people all the best!

Elearning or Effective Learning?

2008-06-17T12:37:00.008+06:00

Elearning?

"Elearning is the next big thing,""Wow! Elearning! Now that's an interesting phenomenon", "Elearning is booming in India", "Elearning,the best solution for corporate training".

Well, if you look at the above sentences, you would have guessed what i am gonna talk about. Yup! It's about E-learning,the most hyped thing(except for the fact that the common man in India is yet to be aware of its existence).
For people who don't know, Elearning stands for Electronic Learning or to be short, internet enabled learning(Learning via Virtual Classes, Websites etc) or computer enabled learning(Usings CDs and DVDs). The biggest advantage of elearning(As the experts say so..) is that a person can learn about any subject via a Virtual class, or by using a computer, or by just using games or ipods. Hmmm.., does this make sense. Experts predict that elearning would replace our traditional instructor-based learning in the future. But my question is, will E-learning amount to EASY LEARNING or EFFECTIVE LEARNING. The answer is NO.

Let us take a common example, if a common man wants to learn a sport, for example:swimming, will he be able to learn it via elearning. As far as i am concerned, nothing can replace instructor-led training, since the prescence of a live instructor adds to the human element. Students always have queries and most of them like to have it solved then and there.

If you were a student and you have a question to ask? Would you would like to know the answer immediately or would you post it in a forum or mail your instructor and wait for the reply??? I bet you would go for the first option.

Let's assume i am going to learn Aviation through Elearning. Can you teach me to fly by just using 3D simulations, Virtual Classes conducted by pilots etc. If so, would i be certified to become a pilot just by learning the course????The answer is no. Elearning cannot replace Instructor-Led learning yet. But Elearning can be used to complement Instructor-Led learning via a method called Blended Learning.

Let me take the same example to justify my view. A person aims to do a course in Aviation, the best possible way to teach him/her using blending learning would be to have a Pilot do the training: basics of flying, precautionary measures, the control panel of the plane etc. This is because you can never teach a skill or an art using elearning, because it is something that a person learns via experience.
The other things such as tools, machines, terminologies, protocols etc required for aviation can be taught using Elearning, because these things can be acquired by either reading them or by using simulations.
Therefore, blended learning is the best solution to your needs if you require your training to be effective.

Elearning is the next big thing, but it surely cannot replaced ILT as yet. Instead it can be used to complement ILT.
So corporates! If you wish to reduce your training costs, but yet want it to be effective, use blended learning.
To all those ELearning buffs and critics: Elearning should amount to EFFECTIVE LEARNING, not just electronic learning. Please do not hype Elearning, it still has a long way to go.

A Trip to Hyderabad

2008-04-12T22:30:00.006+06:00

Life was going pretty boring as work was getting monotonous. I wanted to plan a short trip to some place so i could revive my sagging spirit. Just then, Vasu,my cousin, came online and we started chatting, he invited me to come to Hyderabad. I jumped upon the thought of travelling to HYDERABAD not only because it was a city that i wanted to visit, but also that my uncle Nagaraj and my cousins lived there.

SO i booked my tickets and left to HYD by Hyderabad Express on April 4th,4:45pm.

A beautifull morning: The train journey was pleasant. By the time,i woke up in the morning, the train had reached Secunderabad, i just gazed at the window and was amazed to see some beautifull scenaries: The view of the Hussain Sagar lake, Lakde Ka pool station, and the clean and wide roads.

I got down at HYD, where my cousin Vasu was waiting. We reached my Uncle's house around 7am. My relatives were overjoyed to see me, infact i was the one who was even more overjoyed to see them.

I had my breakfast, and spent my time chatting with my cousins, Vasu and Thulasi.
My cousins had planned to show me around Hyderabad, so we decided to roam in the evening as the weather was a bit hot.

In the evening, I visited Birla Mandir: It is a beautifull temple, having lord Vishnu as the main deity, built over a hill, beautifully constructed with marble and granite tilings. The view of the city from the temple was amazing. I had a nice dharsan. I asked Vasu to take some pictures of the temple so that i can post it here, but unfortunately, the temple authorities said that we could not shoot any photos there.

Next, we went to EATSTREET. Eat street is an advanced version of a food court. It is a place located at Necklace road in HYD. The street is filled with many restaurants, ice cream parlours, chat shops etc that cater different varieties of food to people. The major pluspoint of this place is that it is located in an exotic location: Along the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake. Just think of this, if you ever have a special person with whom you need to spend some quality time, you can take them to this place, order your favorite food and just spend a lovely evening watching the scenic view of the lake. This place is a heaven during the night time. I would definitely love to take my wife to this place one day.

I spent the next two days with my relatives.I didn;t want to roam around anymore because i just wanted to spend some quality time with my cousins. Of course, i spent this UGADI(Telugu NewYear)with them.

I boarded the Charminar Express on April 7th. MY cousins, Anil and Vasu, came to the station to send me off, as the train started off from the station, i sighed thinking how my three days had just passed off so quickly. Truly, i enjoyed my trip to Hyderabad. Hope i visit it once again in the near future. It is truly a special place because it is associated with BL.

A Friend Called HARI....

2008-04-09T16:11:00.002+06:00

A person called Hari:
I have made many friends in my life. It seemed to be a strange co-incidence that i always seemed to find a friend called Hari in each place i went.
Here are the list of Hari's that i have met in my life till now:

Sree Harendra Kumar- A person who was my classmate in Tenth class. He still continues to be one of my best pals. I always remember his funny exploits during the cricket matches that we played at the Marina. He calls himself an allrounder(I really doubt that). He bowls so slow sometimes that the batsman nearly yawns off :-)). Sorry Hari, this is the general opinion of batsman who have faced you.

Hariprasad Rao: This guy was not a best friend of mine. He was a humorous guy, also a prankster in class. He was my classmate in the 11th and 12th Standard. I don't have much to say about him except that we were sitting in the same bench during our Eleventh standard and making fun of our teacher Mohanadas.

Hari: I don't remember his full name. I used to call him 'Hari anna'. He was a year senior to me in College. He was the person who introduced me to the Rotaract club and was most influential in making me the Joint Secretary of our college Rotaract club. He was an easygoing person, average at studies, but extremely good at extra-curricular activities. I last saw him in 2005. He along with the other seniors Bharat, Kishore, and Nanda were the terrific four in our department. These four were labelled as rowdies by our lecturers, but in fact, they were very good at studies too.

Hariram: This Hari was one of my best pals in college. He was my collegemate in B.sc. He along with Vishnu, Nilesh, Prasanna, and others formed a formidable gang. Hari was a creative person, seldom interested in studies, but always pretended to be. He wrote many stories and poems during his pasttime. His best talent lied in doing creative work. I always remember those days when all of my college mates used to barge into his room, keep our valuables and start off to roam around the college. We used his room as our restplace. Thanks for letting us to use your room Hari boy!!!!

Harishankar: This Hari is a former colleague of mine. We both met at Expertus. He is a die-hard Cinema fan, loves to watch movies especially Classic movies, is supposedly a fan of Sonali Bendre(I am not sure about this, i saw her photo in his mobile). He is also a great ID, bubbling with creativity. He was the one, along with Abhi and Sanjana, who taught me about the realities of the corporate world.

Last but not least, Harikumar: He is my colleague at EK. Initially i knew him as just another ID in EK, but when we started working together, i got to know him well, he is one of those people who want to live life to the fullest. He is an atheist, a strict 9-6 worker, lazybone, easygoing person, likes to call himself as the emperor of the Universe and sometimes the most difficult person in the world to argue with. He considers himself as the GREATEST HYPOCRITE of all time. He also considers himself as crazy(Which i think is true, he almost drives people insane).

But at heart, this guy is cool, genuine, unorthodox,easygoing, and food loving person.

Loyalty to the organization: Is it still considered by todays corporates

2008-04-01T18:50:00.003+06:00

Loyalty to the organization: Is it still considered by todays corporates

As usual, i am back with another post related to corporate behaviour, but this time around, it's something that i have been thinking of for quite sometime now.
In today's corporate world, where employees are no longer considered as people, but just as resources and assets, i doubt whether organizations would ever consider the need for rewarding employees who have performed well and are being loyal to the organization.

Today's HRs hardly have the time to consider, leave alone implement, steps that would reduce attrition and encourage employees to not only stay with the organization, but grow along with it.

Let me put forward an instance: In an organization where my friend is employed, there were people who had been with the company for 4 years.
These people had been working in the company for 3-4 years, they had been involved in many crucial projects and had helped the company to create their niche in the market. In fact, they were heavily relied upon to deliver crucial deliverables during heavy crunch situations.

My friend, who was very inquisitive, had mingled with them and had asked them about their pay packages only to know that they were below industry standards.
Out of apathy, my friend asked them to convey their grievances to the HR and when they asked, this was the HR's reply:

"As far as we are concerned, we are the best paymasters in the industry, if our employees feel that they are being payed low, it is their opinion. This organization has been the best in providing a good work environment and a great pay package. We are indeed proud to say that inspite of the RUPEE APPRECIATION, we have still performing well and have not made any cost cutting measures. "

And to add insult to injury, people who had just joined the organization (with lesser experience) were earning more, had higher designations, but were perform the same duties as those people who had been there for years. When the HR was asked about this, he had an instant reply "People here, are payed for their performance and not experience. We do not just take experience as a criteria while rewarding the employee."

My friend was disgusted when he heard this. He had confronted the HR and demanded an explanation on how the HR could ignore the people who were working in the office for so long, but were never rewarded fairly. This was their reply "They have been rewarded as per their PA rating and their performance. Their salary is as per industry standards." ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.

Now let me come to my point, THIS IS FOR ALL THE HR PEOPLE AND MANAGERS: "You expect an employee to perform par excellence; you expect them to produce deliverables ahead of time, you want them to work 16/7(8 hours for sleep), you want them to be prove themselves, but yet when you appraise them, you take your own sweet time, give bullshit lectures, speak about STUPID IDEOLOGIES such AS "THIS WAS WHAT I LEARNT FROM MY BOSS" or "THIS WAS WHAT I LEARNT DURING MY MBA."

Why can't you people be just considerable, you need not give the employee a fat pay hike, but atleast pay him as per the industry standards. As for the HRs i pity people who are under them, Most of the corporate HRs lack man-management skills and are fit only for a recruiter's role. PLease do not call yourselves a HR person unless you KNOW REAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT."
A company without experienced employees is as good as a tree laden with unripened fruits, the fruits may be many, but very few of them will be usefull at present.

For heaven's sake, people who stay for long in a company are not unskilled, they are just faithfull. Don't punish them for staying there. Reward them and then watch them deliver results that make your organization, one of the very best. You cannot create a good company by just hiring people, and firing people. You need to pick those people who are genuine, talented and are a resource to the organization. Always think long term, you need not have an MBA in IIM to manage people, just basic human resource management skills, consider employees as people, not money-making machines. Short term targets never mean anything, it is the long-term rewards you need. If you wish to make your organization one of the most profitable, start it by rewarding the right people and encourage them to provide their inputs, YOU WILL NOT LOSE MUCH, INFACT, YOU WILL ONLY GAIN.

"GOD save people from corporates."
Photo courtesy:CartoonStock.com

Memories- They make me happy ,but sad at the same time

2008-03-21T15:37:00.004+06:00

Memories-That make me happy, but also sad at the same time- Truly confusing, isn't it. Lemme explain, every person goes through a phase of life where he experiences nearly everything happiness, shock, sadness, painfull incidents, thrill, and moments of victory where he/ she is on cloud nine. I too went through the phase during the year 2007. Whenever i think of the good experiences that i had during 2007, my mind is filled with joy. Truly, there is no feeling in the world that is as everlasting as happiness and joy. But alas, there is one big advantage of going through a purple patch; if you are at the peak of joy and then the moment passes on... it makes your other happy moments pale in comparison and your happiness may or may not be affected.

Here are a list of moments that i enjoyed the most:
When i took part in a corporate cricket tournament for the first time.
The moment i scored my first run.
My trip to GOA and MANGALORE.
The day on which i learnt the basics of rowing, holding the oar was indeed a very different experience.
The D-Day when i rowed my first rowing race.
The day when i participated in a fours boat event and won it.
Meeting my lady after a period of 4 years.
Participating in the final of the double sculls event, boy was that exciting or what?? Donno if i can do that again :-)
Sep 29th, when We (the EK rowing team) proudly held the M&B Regatta championship trophy.

Leaving all these apart, i take this time to enjoy my memories, relive those moments atleast by thinking, remember those friends and people who made those moments unforgettable. Most importantly, thank god for giving me such good friends and moments of joy.

I am damn sure that i will conquer more peaks, experience more victories, maybe even become a legend, but some moments in life are so unforgettable and cherishable that they can never be replaced or maybe relived.

As i speak, i keep thinking of those days when i was on Cloud Nine. Pray i relive them again.

Donno what to blog?????

2008-03-15T17:12:00.004+06:00

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", this is just a simple saying, but turns out to be practically true in my case. My hectic work schedules have done no good to my creativity, which in turn has affected my blogging rate.
It's been months since i posted something good! It's not that i am running out of creative ideas, it's just that my mind is occupied by other things.Plus my work schedule is doing me no good. To put it shortly,i simply donno what to blog about?

Hope the months post April would do some good to my life. Right now,i am eagerly waiting for my appraisal which is right around the corner. Hope things will turn out the right way this time around!
It's quite strange how corporate life changes a person's mindset around!!!

Are we alone in this Universe????

2008-01-28T12:34:00.000+06:00

UFO's, aliens, ET, SETI, NASA!!!!!! What comes to your mind when you hear these words? 90% would say "Aliens" or "Extra-terrestials". This is the topic of this post.

Extra Terrestial Life.
Scientists and Astronomers have always been constantly searching for life outside our planet, Earth. Unfortunately, after decades of research, all they could find (as per public records) is a dead unicellular organism obtained in Mars, some traces of water in Mars and the Moon, and if rumours are true, it is said that a plant, which is several thousand light years away, contains life.

How unfortunate are we? Are the only life forms in this enormous universe? Was god so cruel to create only man and other organisms? Definitely NO, if i am right? We are one of the most primitive life forms compared to other life in the Universe.
I am saying this because as per records, NASA says that there have been atleast 5o+ reports of UFO landings in the US alone, and according to Discovery channel, there have been atleast 5 video tapes that show UFOs hovering over fields, buildings etc, and suddenly seem to discover from sight. This itself signifies that their technology surpasses ours easily.

I am damn sure that there are life existing in other planets and they have technology much beyond our reach. It is possible that they visit Earth to watch us just out of curiosity(Similar to us watching animals during a Safari). I am damn sure that as am writing this blog post, some UFO must have landed on earth and some curious alien is exploring us somewhere. I wish i had some means to prove this. BUt since there have been atleast 27 video tapes of landing since 1947, it is hard to prove me wrong.

I am still wondering what SETI(The branch in NASA that does research on Extra Terrestial life) is doing. Are they still searching the nearby planets for life based only on water. Why are they not assuming that life need not only be based on water. Being a Botany student, i know that a few species of anaerobic bacteria such as Streptococcus and facultative anaerobes such as Eshcerichia Coli can survive without oxygen easily since they gain the required energy via different chemical processes.

My question is, "If all life forms evolved from unicellular organisms, then why can't there be life forms that are anaerobic(can live without oxygen), non-water based(may depend on gases such as Methane, Hydrogen, and maybe even Nitrogen), or why should life be based on a certain gases. Isn't there a possibility that there may be certain lifeforms that thrive on fire?

If you want to dismiss it by saying that fire kills organic cells, think again my dear friends, there is a bacteria called Deinococcus Radiodurans.

This bacteria was found in cans that contained frozen meat. These infected cans were exposed to severe radiation upto 50,000 rads(units of radiation). For good measure, lemme say that a radiation of 50 rads can kill a person. So if a bacteria can survive on such high radiation, am damn sure that there will be advanced life forms capable of surviving in conditions beyond our comprehension.

Why don't scientists think on these aspects? (I suspect that maybe there were great discoveries in recent times which may not have been reported to the media), or is it just that they pretend to ignore these facts."

To conclude this post, i assume that atleast some scientists in NASA would think from my point of view. If my assumption is correct, scientists have already discovered or may have even contacted extra-terrestials, but it just has not been reported to the public for certain reasons. Anyways, i just hope that when we do find our nearby neighbours someday, it would be a moment to rejoice and not to panic. Until then keep watching science fiction films like INDEPENDANCE DAY :-) Because that is the only chance where we get the opportunity to view some aliens

Where do i stand???????

2008-01-27T12:38:00.000+06:00

Years seem to be passing by, i am already 24 and yet, i have achieved nothing notable.
Untill i was 20, i failed to realise that every person is born on earth for a purpose. Only when i saw my brother who had recently become a senior manager in an INDIAN MNC, did i realise that i had done nothing notable.

My bro is a Diploma holder. 7 years ago, he found it hard to get a decent job, but today he is in a high designation probably earning even a lakh per month.
His achievements speak of dedication and hard work. Considering the fact that he came to Bangalore with nothing, except for guts, discipline, and an everlasting dedication. He has moved on from being a TRAINEE to a Senior Manager. Seeing him, i feel proud of him, but no so proud of myself.

I was never a focussed person. It's because of my lack of focus that i couldn't achieve certain things that i was supposed to. This aspect has been haunting me ever since. Whenever i see any friend, relative, or collegue, my mind automatically tends to remind me of their reputation and achievements and tell me that where i stand, when compared to them.

Am i just imagining things, or is it my conscience that is telling me to wake up and start performing. Was i just born to be yet another human being who just lives a normal life and dies one day. Like all human beings, i have some talents and maybe even extra. Maybe i should just start utilizing it.

As a kid, i wanted to excel in academics. I was good at all subjects, except for Mathematics in which i had very limited knowledge. I was found wanting in terms of marks in Mathematics. My maths teacher even labelled me a dumbard, i considered his comments unworthy because i knew that ALZEBRA, TRIGNOMENTRY, and CALCULUS, would never be of any use to me. I proved to be right!!! So much for academics!

Maybe my maths teacher failed to realize that the most important part of education was utilizing it in real life. In real life situations, you need to ensure that you know the concepts of Simple Interest, Compound Interest, Statistics etc, I AM DAMN good at these things. It's unfortunate that these were never considered.

Real knowledge provides you the skills to survive and achieve things, i am sure that
i have true knowledge, even if my marks picture a different story.

Coming to the extra-curricular activities, my performance has always been good in this aspect. I have won considerable prizes in QUIZ, and essay competitions right from my schooldays. But still, these prizes can never be considered much of an achievement.

I wanted to excel in Sports, but never had the right physique nor did i choose the correct Sport. I have played tennis ball cricket for the past 12 years and even after that, i am still wondering whether i have done achieved anything usefull. I am yet to score a good fifty!!!!

Fortunately, i did participate in a sport called ROWING and did win a prize in an event. But just one victory never counts!

As i step into 2008,i wish that i find out where my true talents lie, and utilize them. Maybe this blogpost will remind me time and again, that i have to fulfill my role and achieve good things. As they say, "A Man is judged by his character, his character is judged my his achievements and the achievement by the circumstances in which they were realised".
Pray that i atleast stop speaking now and start achieving! Afterall, i am supposed to be good at something! Am i right!

One usefull message

2008-01-12T16:52:00.000+06:00

I have received many messages in my mobile phone, most of them are useless forward messages that are sent to me by my friends. I usually delete messages in my inbox so that it doesn't keep displaying the message "INBOX FULL". Today, as usual, i took my mobile today and unlocked it just to see that my inbox was full again. I had to delete a few messages and was looking at all the messages trying to find the ones that i could delete immediately.
Just then, i happened to see a message from a very dear friend.

This message was a very old one, it was sent to me in August 11th, 2007. But somehow, i had not deleted it since it was sent by one of my best friends. This was a reply to a message Where i had said, "When you build a team to win, look for people who hate to lose". She had sent a reply which not only shook me, but made me think over my attitude.

The message goes like this :
"In my 23 years of lifetime, i've never seen a person who loves to lose! When you build a team to win, look for people who would be humble enough to sacrifice personal fame and work for a higher purpose... Because victory is like a butterfly, if you chase it, it will run away. Wait with perseverance, it'll come to you".

Note to my friend: Dear Nandy! Thanks for your advice! Although i knew the message was just a reply with pun intended, it changed my attitude totally. Maybe, when i prepare a team for a purpose, i'll definitely keep your advice in mind. Thanks Nandy!

Bye Bye 2007, Welcome 2008!

2008-01-11T21:19:00.000+06:00

It has been aeons since i blogged. While saying this, i have to also say that a year has passed by since i joined EK.
When i look back, i get to think of some incidents that have provided me with happy, everlasting memories and also some that are not even worth mentioning. To sum it up, it has been yet another roller coaster ride, with more ups than downs.

I came to this concern with lots of apprehensions and with very little expectations. But now, whatever apprehensions i had have disappeared like the dew after sunshine.

I know that this post is not properly phrased and sometimes reads odd, but since i am pouring out my thoughts, i don't wanna restrict them with the dam called GRAMMAR AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE. I just wanna say whatever i am thinking.

As the year 2007 went by, it went away providing me some of the most beautifull moments in my life. To mention a few, playing a carrom tournament with my collegues, playing a tournament match with the cricket ball for the first time in my life, getting to row at the Madras Boat Club and also winning a second prize in a corporate rowing tournament, all this considering that i had absolutely no idea what a proper rowing boat looked like till i went there, being the part of a winning rowing time(That's a bonus), and of course, getting recognised as a hardworking and talented Instructional Designer. Things just can't get better.

All said and done, it's a whole new year, and i don't know whether 2008 would bring in happiness like 2007, maybe 2008 would go on a step further by bringing in more happiness or it may just prove to be yet another year. Pray the former proves to be the case.

I pray to the supreme lord Ganesh to bless me and my friends with peace, prosperity, and happiness.

So far, 2008 has been silent. It is too early to say anything, but i pray that this year be a glorious one for me, my family, friends and relatives.

If i still have any readers left in this blog, i wish them all a belated, but very happy new year. All i can say is, make this year a glorious one for yourself and if possible, make a difference in others lives too.

Wish you all a Pongal in advance.

"Thoughts make an individual and when thoughts are focussed, they translate into actions. Master your thoughts, and you will master your destiny."

Two difficult things or toooooo difficult things.......

2007-11-26T15:29:00.000+06:00

There are two difficult things that i need to achieve in life:
One is to have a good girl as my friend.
The other is getting a good girlfriend.
Yeah... yeah.. i know people may laugh after reading these lines. But only those who have gone through some incidents that i have faced would understand these lines.

Believe me, the toughest thing in this world for a man is to find a good girlfriend.
Do any of you disagree with me?

EK Champs

2007-10-23T14:13:00.000+06:00

We have won the overall championship trophy in the Merchant and Bankers Regatta 2007.

Our 27 member team put up a disciplined and dedicated performance to win the much coveted trophy for which we had been waiting since 2004. It was a very satisfying victory since each of the team members had contributed vitally in terms of points.
We won in the following events:
First prize in Double sculls (We made a clean sweep by bagging the second and third places).
First Prize in Mixed Double Sculls (We made a clean sweep in this event as well).
Third prize in Men's fours
Second prize in Women's fours.
Third prize in Women's pairs.
Second and third prizes in Mixed Fours.

I am proud of my team members for various reasons. The main one being that when we initially started, only 5-7 members turned out for practice. Our captain, Solomon faced a lot of difficulties in finding people for the rowing team. To add to our woes, there were lot of projects pouring in and work had just started getting hectic.
But somehow, we managed to include members one by one. By the month of September, we had formed a 20+ member team. The first day of Regatta was not encouraging for us as we lost 4 races consecutively.
On the second day, we fared better as our team members started to win in different events. ON the fourth and fifth days, we won nearly 80% of the races. Finally, on Sep 29th, we won the championship.

Our winning team comprised of the following rowers: Solomon (Captain), Yogesh, Ranga, Sathish, Diiman, Ravi, Laxman, Tamizhselvi, Aswin, Adhitya, Arun, Nagendran, Rajesh, Ganesh, Santhosh, Vinodh, Nancy, Nanditha, Rithika, Reshma, Sonia, Gopal, Prabhu, Thiyagarajan, Thyagarajan Madhavan, & Anu

Note: Although i know that not many people would be interested in this post, i have written it for my own satisfaction. I was happy to be a part of a championship winning rowing team. Rowing has been truly a strenuous and exciting sport that tests your dedication, Patience, Determination and Stamina to the core. I loved this sport as it taught me a lot of things. More importantly, it required 2-2 1/2 months of intense practice. All of us had to sacrifice sleep, work for longer hours, practice on weekends, and exhaust our energy entirely. To sum it all, it was one of the happiest moments in my life.

Me, a Rower??????????

2007-09-21T17:56:00.000+06:00

It has been a very long time since i blogged. Although there were a thousand reasons for the delay, the main one was lack of interest. Well, the main reason for me to blog now is to remind myself that i am now an amateur rower,(Yes, I am or atleast i think i am). One of the many good things about my organization is that although you are never short of work, you get to participate in a lot of extra curricular activites. One of them is Rowing. Our company is a regular participant in the Merchant and Bankers regatta held by Adyar Boat Club in Chennai. For people who don't know, A regatta is a rowing event where two boats race side by side. The Merchant and Bankers regatta is an event that was initially started for merchants and bankers. BUt today it stands as a prestigious event where corporates like Element K, Thinksoft, JWT, O&M, Sify, and Lionbridge take part.

I am a part of Element K rowing team. I am taking part in two events, Fours and DOuble Sculls.
Initially, i had planned just to attend a few days of practice and then quietly escape ;-), but as fate would have it, this wonderfull, but strenous sport pulled me in and here am participating in two events. It seemed so funny for me, a person who likes to sleep till 7am and seldom works out, to wake up at 5, and travel 15 kms by Bus to reach the boatclub and practice for 6 days a week.

So far, it has been fun, but now the races are nearing. In two days, I would be participating in a race. Let's see what happens. Although i have slim chances of winning, i would be happy if i can give my best. I just pray that my team finishes first in this Regatta and takes home the Overall Trophy this year. Untill then, lemme give my best shot.

Me and My friend Nagendran in a Double Scull boat.

2007-06-30T17:28:00.001+06:00

It's been a long time since i blogged. Six months have run past since i joined this company. During this period, i have made some very good friends, learnt some very important things and most importantly experienced the real meaning of the two words dreaded by most IT professionals: PRESSURE and DEADLINES.Fortunately, i found some very good friends who helped me during times of need.

After 3 months of intense work pressure, i learnt a few important lessons
* No job is easy, each one has it's own pros and cons.
* No matter, how hard you work, it never gets noticed untill the desired result is achieved.
* Never work for a good appraisal, money is not everything(although i still don't agree),work sincerely for a proper 8 hours and leave.(If you decide to browse or fool around, your office wouldn't be the ideal place to do so)
* Never bother about your salary(Unless you get underpaid).
* Always maintain a good relation with your co-workers. Remember you are a part of a team.
* Never compare yourself with other employees. Most importantly, never compare your salary with your other colleagues(It would lead to unnecassary mental stress).
MOST IMPORTANT: Have regular tea breaks. Take time to stress out. Chat with your friends.
* Learn from your mistakes and mend them.
* Never be emotionally attached to your company or your friends.
Last, but not least, Whenever you feel like quitting your organization and join a new one, rememeber that all companies are more or less the same shit. Only difference being that they might pay you better(If you bargain well)

Just want to say something

2007-04-17T09:58:00.000+06:00

There are a lot of things that I want to blog about. The main things that i want to say are these:
I miss my friends at Triplicane. I miss playing beach cricket on Saturdays.
I miss her, i want to meet her at least this year, Speak with her, tell her about how i miss her a lot and how i never want to leave her again.
I miss my cousins Madhav and Harish a lot. I am glad that i would be seeing them after two years when i travel to Karnataka during May.

It's been 2 years since i finished my graduation and these two years have taught me many things in life. Until i finished my college, my mindset was similar to that of a daydreamer. Now, i think that i have matured and i reside more in reality than in dreams. These two years have taught me many things.

They have taught me:
To Believe in myself
Not to Depend on anybody for my happiness.
To Dream big and Work hard to achieve it.
To Ignore Idiots who question my abilities, but are no good themselves.
To Take Criticism in a positive way.
Not to Build Castles in the air.
Not to Underestimate others.
To Respect others.
That I need to be rich and talented if i am to be respected.
Enjoy each moment of my life and never to compromise on my happiness.

The best thing about my professional life is that i am now independant since i earn. I have cherished many things that i have bought for myself, my mom, and my family.
Just a month before, we brought a new Philips TV and DVD. Well. i pray that this is just the beginning of a good phase in my life. I want to earn more and buy many things such as Air Cooler, Bike, Vaccum Cleaner, House etc. Until then let me work smart and plan my life accordingly.

Note: Hi friends, sorry for not posting anything for a long time. I was a bit busy with my cricket blog.

An Achievement

2007-03-30T17:21:00.000+06:00

Once I wrote a poem and i got severely criticized by my friends for writing childish stuff.I never tried the same again. After a few months, I wrote a few lines about her. I posted those lines in this fateful blog. The same guys who criticized me came back and said that this time my Poetry was better.

I was surprised to see that they considered it Poetry(It seemed poetry to them). However, I was happy on not being criticized this time. My happiness was justified when She told me that it was a good poem. It seemed that some line had deeply struck her mind.
I never cared about the comments, nor about the criticism. If i could write any crap that would make her praise me. I'll do it even if this world criticizes me, because to me, she is the world. Afterall what is the use of a million people praising you when your loved one does not admire it?

From the Book Called LIFE

2007-03-23T13:03:00.000+06:00

Somebody said to me that true education can only be received from the Book called LIFE. So i started reading this wonderful book.

So far, I have completed 22 pages, i don't know how many more pages i have to read. The characters in this Book fascinate me as they resemble reality. The story has been written by some unknown author and it tells the story of a lad who desired to become great and underwent many transformations in the process.

The only problem with this book is that once i turn a page, i can never go back, so i am forced to go through each page carefully. Each page in this book is called Experience. I cannot read this book more than a page at a time. Not every page is exciting: Some are dull, some contain memorable incidents, some contain sorrows etc. But to sum it up, this book, so far, makes interesting reading.

I have learnt many valuable lessons till now by reading LIFE. Let me see what the further pages have in store for me. I think it'll take a lifetime for me to read and understand this book. So till then let me read this book called LIFE

Trying to be creative:

2007-03-23T13:01:00.000+06:00

From the day i started writing this blog, i have tried to write something creative, but however hard i try, i just tend to write ordinary or above-average posts.
I guess that since i don't read much my brain had stopped churning creative thoughts or is it just because that I have become a retard???

Well eventhough i don't write well, i am a good reader. I may not read books, but i do read the blogs of some very good writers solely hoping that their creativity infects me. Well, so far it didn't :-))

Obsessions

2007-03-08T12:01:00.000+06:00

Obsessions:
I am obsessed with some things, facts, & persons in my life. Although i know that it is bad to be obsessed, i can't help it.
My first obsession is that whenever i wake up, the first thing that comes across my mind decides the frame of mind that i will be in for the rest of the day.
Most of the good days that i've had in my life were those which began with good thoughts. Fortunately, most of my days have began with good thoughts, and those which didn't ended up being a disaster.

The best example was one incident that happened during my final year of college. We were supposed to attend a cultural event in Stella Mary's college. On the day of the event, i woke up with a sudden urge that we would win the All Over Trophy of the event, and i was constantly urging myself and my friends to go for the trophy right from the start. At first, my friends told me to stop blabbering, but finally, in the evening, we were standing with the All Over Trophy in our hands(it was such a great moment in my life, it still remains evergreen).

The second thing that I am obsessed about is the Number 5 & its multiples. Well, ask me why, this number is associated with the best incidents in my life. My mom once told me that when i was born, the clock struck 5:50 in the evening. I was born on October (the 10th month or the year). Maybe, that's why i am obsessed with 5. I would justify my obsession by quoting many incidents which are given below:

I got my first ever prize in the year 1995(which happened to my best year in terms of competitions won, until that i had never one even a consolation prize).
Even in studies, i was more proficient in my 10th standard, i enjoyed the year 2000 better than any year. Unfortunately the last two years of my school education were not that great :-(. Interestingly, the classroom in which i studied my tenth standard was numbered 55).

If you say that those incidents were just a co-incidence, just let me add.
The first Multi-School event that i won was held at The Red Cross Society in Egmore, Chennai. We were the 5th team, and when I won another quiz competition at the Malayalee club in Chetpet, there also we were the 5th team(Interestingly we were trailing till the fifth round, Guess what? We won the tie-breaker by 5 points).

Well, i think you might be going crazy after reading this, but if you think that's the end, just read below.

When i came to Element K for an interview, i entered in at 10:10AM. My visitor pass number was 10 and when i got selected, i was the Tenth ID to be selected.

My third obsession is with the color Red. I love the color and i have atleast 5 red T-shirts. I have been criticised by my parents, relatives, friends etc, but still i prefer to wear Red. I don't know why? I am not a communist nor am I a Saint. But, one thing for sure, i love Red purely because i see something in it which other colors do not have.

My last obsession is the worst, i love Tea. I just don't love it, i thrive on it. My mother always scolds me saying that drinking too much of Tea is bad for health. But i still maintain the habit of having Tea anytime and everytime,(be it 4AM or 12PM).
(I do agree that this habit is having a heavy toll on my intestine, but i can't help it).

Although my obsessions have always provided me with happiness, i would definitely give them up someday. After all, obsessions are also a form of obstacles, they take you to smaller victories but they also bind you to smaller things thus preventing you from achieving higher goals.

My Visual DNA

2007-02-19T12:58:00.000+06:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Happy Birthday to you

2007-02-14T14:13:00.000+06:00

Right now, as i write this post, people world over will be celebrating February 14th grandly. Yup! It is Valentine's day. But nothing special about it except for the false hungama and hype that we have created.

Well, this day might have meant nothing to me, if it hadn't been BL's birthday.
Yes BL was born on February 14th. It's an irony that both of us don't like Valentine's Day.
I wish that this birthday would be one of her most happiest ever.
However, i take this post as opportunity to wish my angel a very happy birthday.

Happy birthday! BL
May god fill your life with love, fun, happiness, and prosperity.

My first attempt at photography

2007-02-13T10:31:00.000+06:00

My photo

2007-02-13T10:20:00.000+06:00

My two younger brothers (Navin & Sridhar)

2007-02-13T10:13:00.000+06:00

Mr Einstein (Vivek) at work

2007-02-13T10:12:00.000+06:00

Me and Bro

2007-02-13T09:47:00.000+06:00

What is love?

2007-02-06T12:31:00.000+06:00

What is love?
Is it a feeling that encompasses all human emotions,
Is it just a feeling,
that blinds intelligence.
Is it a craving for lust,
that corrupts a person.
Is it a stepping stone,
that leads you to success.
or is it just a desire
to have a beautifull girl by your side,
So that you can show off, and
use her to reap selfish benefits.
Is it a divine relationship
where two souls truly understand each other,
respect each other's feelings,
live for each other, and
become one by body and soul.
If this ain't love,
then what is it?

Just like that

2007-02-06T11:20:00.000+06:00

If life was just about money,
the poor wouldn't have existed.
If the death was the only truth,
life wouldn't have existed.
If darkness was the only thing,
light wouldn't have existed.
If Adam and Eve hadn't made love
we wouldn't have existed.
If i had not seen you,
my brain would have atleast existed. ;-)

An Unfortunate misadventure

2007-02-01T14:13:00.000+06:00

I have had many misadventures in the past due to my carelessness. But this incident stands out due to the immense stress that i experienced.

My manager gave me a very important book and asked me to refer it in case of any doubts. I had planned to take it home and read it. So, i left office and boarded the train to Tambaram from Saidapet. The train was very crowded. So i didn't want the book to be damaged and hence placed it on the shelf near the entrance.
25 minutes passed by, the train neared Chrompet station.

As the training was nearing the Chrompet station, the crowd behind me started to push me out. So once the train reached the station. I got down and walked away quickly to avoid the crowd without realising my folly.

I suddenly remembered that i had left the book in the train. When i turned around, i saw the Train leaving the station.

I started panicking as i had lost the book. I waited for the next train. As my luck would have it, the next train came immediately, but it was the train to Tirumalpur( A place 50+ Kms away from Tamabaram).
I boarded the train and it reached Platform no 9 at Tambaram.I realized that the train which in which i had placed the book was about to start.

I was now desperate, and ran like a hare among the crowd to reach Platform no 1. The train had already started to speed up. I made a desperate dive only to enter and fall into the compartment losing my balance. I escaped with no injuries, although i sprained my ankle a bit.

The other passengers shouted at me for doing this, i explained my situation to them. One of them told me that the the original train in which i had misplaced the book had been sent to the Train shed for maintainence. I realized that i was travelling in the wrong train

I was relieved to hear that the train no XXXC would leave from the shed only in the morning. So, i got down at Tambaram Sanatorium,called my manager informed him about the situation, and boarded the next train to Tambaram and met the station master.

The station master was a good guy, he asked me to go to the EMU train shed and try to locate the book. I walked down the track to reach the shed. On the way, i met the driver of the jinxed train, i told him everything. The driver looked at me and handed over the manual. He advised me to be carefull and check all my belongings before alighting from EMU train.

I was mighty relieved and thanked the driver, he was honest enough not to ask a single pie for the favor. I left the station vowing never to be careless again. I thanked god, the station master, and the driver, for helping me.

I shuddered to think what would have happened if the train had not gone to the shed and instead had gone to the Beach station(Which is 27 kms away). It would have been impossible to locate the book. So instead of reaching home relaxedly at 7:30 pm, i ended up rushing home at 9:30 pm because of 10 seconds of carelessness.

I guess that in life,we commit grave mistakes, but miracles do happen to save us.

SUNDAY 28th January, 2007:

2007-02-01T11:55:00.000+06:00

On Sunday, i was very lazy to go out some where. So i spent the morning watching TV, especially "DIE ANOTHER DAY" on Vijay TV. I had a nap in the after noon.

In the evening, i visited my friend Bharani Kumar, my school and college mate.I felt happy as i saw him nearly after an year. Bharani and I discussed about our friends, life and other matters importantly about BL. We had a great time discussing about our past friends, our careers, girls, and their habits etc.

I left Bharani's house at 6 p.m and went home.After having tea at my uncle's house,
I visited my friend Harendra, we discussed about the usual things, life and careers. But the main part of the discussion was on Harendra's would-be- wife. I was telling Hari about BL. Then the topic turned to the real estate prices in Triplicane.

After meeting Hari, i met my friend Shriram after 2 years.
He had joined HCL BPO and had stayed in Bangalore for a year. He had resigned his job, and returned to Chennai recently in order to pursue his MCA. I wished him all the best and left his house.

It was nearly 8 p.m., i had to visit one last friend of mine, Veera Raghavan. I had not seen him for years, i went to his house only to know that he had vacated his house.
So, i went to visit another good friend of mine, Sridhar.
Sridhar is one of my very best friends. He is a very honest fellow and not a selfish person. Iit was great to meet him. We had a short conversation and i left immediately.

Thus ended my weekend.
Well, i thought that Sridhar would be the last friend that i had met for the week, but i was wrong. On Monday, i woke up early as i needed to go to Central station to receive my parents. I walked down the Angamuthu Naicken street, a place in which i had lived for nearly 15 years.
At 5:30 A.m. I saw a dark figure walking towards me, it was my old buddy Uma Shankar.
I was very happy to see him. We were once regarded as the most menancing kids in the whole street as we broke many people's windows by playing cricket.

We had tea in the nearby tea shop. I left after wishing him on his new venture.

Thus i had 3 full days of fun.

Saturday (27th January, 2007)

2007-02-01T11:43:00.001+06:00

I woke up on Saturday, i felt bored as there was nothing to do. So went to visit the Thiruvateeswara temple in Triplicane. The temple was small, but it was divine and vibrant. I was happy that i finally saw this temple after all these years. I learnt that the temple was more than 1300 years old. I was amazed how i had no knowledge of such a great temple inspite of living in Triplicane for nearly 15 years.

I left the temple and visited my friend Gopi. He was starting off to Parthasarathy temple(which is another famous 1000 year old Vishnu temple) in Triplicane.
We both went to the temple along with Balaji, Gopi's friend. I roamed around the temple restlessly, i never seemed to be praying and i wanted to go out as soon as possible.
It was strange as it was one of my favourite temples and Narasimha was one of my favourite gods as well. Whenever i visited this temple, i remembered BL.
Maybe i think that after i marry her, i would take her to this temple more often.

After visiting the temple, I went to my uncle's house and had lunch. There was nothing else to do, so in the evening, i again went to the Parthasarathy temple, but this time, i saw my friend Prasanna venkatesh, who had also come there. It always happens that when i see a friend at a temple, my devotion goes for a toss. I always wonder why i discuss my personal issues with my friends when i had other important matters to share with.

After a hour, I left the temple wondering why i had come there in the first place.

FRIDAY (26th January 2007):

2007-02-01T11:35:00.000+06:00

My colleagues had arranged for a cricket match at St Bede's ground near Santhome.
As it was the republic day, they had blocked the beach road and also had re-routed the buses. I had to reach Santhome by 8 a.m. So i took the 21G bus, which was strangely empty . It was a luxury bus that had automated doors & cushion seats(a rarity in chennai buses), so i had a great journey.

I got down at Kutchery road in Mylapore and walked all the way to Santhome.
I reached the ground at 8:30. After searching for a while, I located our team playing at the nets.I got the shock of my life to see that they were playing matches using the cricket ball and not with Tennis ball( normally company teams use tennis ball for fear of injury).
I borrowed the sporting gear from my colleagues. I jogged for sometime and was called to bat in the nets. First, I was a little bit apprehensive as i was batting in full sporting gear(read wearing "Guard") for the first time.

The biggest minus was that i was a hitter and hence i needed my body to be free. But my Guard was making me uncomfortable. I initially had difficulty in batting, but as time passed by, i grew confident and was middling the ball well.
I batted for 7 overs and missed just maybe 6 or 10 balls.
After batting, i tried my hand at bowling, but it was a total disaster as i never bowled accurately.

There were many funny moments, particularly one, when one of my colleagues was adjusting his guard and his friend was threatening to pitch the ball right on his head.

I had a great time with my friends Lakshman, Suresh, Arun and others. I wish that i bat well during the next match and play a crucial inning for my team.

I returned home to get some much needed rest. In the evening, my dad, mom, and brother started off to Mysore to attend a relatives wedding. I went to the Central Railway station to send off my family. It happened that about 100 of my relatives were also leaving for Mysore on the same train. I was glad to meet my cousins Vivek, Kiran, Sridhar (Deepak) there. After sending off my parents, i went to Triplicane and stayed in my Uncle's house.

An Eventfull induction

2007-01-25T22:36:00.000+06:00

These 3 days (23/01/07 to 25/01/07) were very eventfull. I think that this year 2007 may hold many surprises in store for me.

Well, we finally had an induction program on 23rd Jan. The induction was supposedly held for a period of 8 hours which consisted of presentations, which were conducted by Managers from different departments of our organization.

The induction was great as we got to know about the exact roles and responsibilities of each department. I was amazed at the way they had defined the process, seeing it, I am very apprehensive on how i would cope up with it. Anyway only time would tell whether i would shine in this company or not.

After the induction, we were instructed to go to Ma Foi academy to undergo training on Business Etiquette and other Corporate stuff. I was happy to visit Ma Foi after a year. It was here that i got to know about the field of E-learning.

The training was held in different sessions held by Mr. Nelson, Mr George Koshi, and Ms. Preethi. Well, we got an interesting info, Ms Preethi was a not only a trainer, but she was the first trained indian woman pilot. (Hats off to you!!).

Well, the training was all on corporate etiquette, since I am poor at it; i shall mention only the interesting stuff.
When i entered the training room, i had a look at all the people around me. I was particularly fascinated by a girl(Let me call her Ms "T"). "T" had just joined the company. As i looked at "T". She reminded me of BL. "T" had a smile which resembled BL very much. Not only that, "T" also looked similar to BL. I was dumbstruck by "T".
I called BL and told her about T.

BL was happy to know about T.

After sometime i diverted my attention to others. I saw yet another interesting colleague of mine.
She was from Poland. I wondered why she had left her home to come to hot and humid chennai. After asking my colleagues, i realised that she was on internship.

Well, (I shall call her XENA) Xena seemed to be a cool character. Being a foreigner, she didn't have any hassles moving around and mingling with us. Xena was dressed in modern clothes which were pretty decent and she had a very good attitude and a good sense of humor.
When i spoke to her, she even used a few Tamil words like "AAMA (yes)', and "NANRI"(thank you). She seemed to be bold, adventurous, active, and most of all friendly. I liked her courage and i admired her adaptibility.

I also made new friends such as Karkuzhali, Lavanya, Ganesh, Shiva Sankar, Manjula, Preetha, Sai Kothai, and many others.I just wish that i would enjoy my tenure in this company with some good friends.
The session also included games like role plays, we all took part in it and had a great time.

NOTE: This post was written in a hurry and hence may contain several grammar errors.

One more thing, Ms T is not a real character, i just wanted to tease BL, but since my friend thought otherwise; so i have excluded a few things from this post.
Sorry BL, should not have done that.

The long wait

2007-01-19T11:28:00.000+06:00

Like a sunflower expecting the sun,
Like a flower waiting for a bee,
Like a child demanding its mother's attention,
Like a devotee praying to see the lord,
I am waiting to see you!
Will you meet me, or will you not?
If not now, then when?????

My New organization:

2007-01-18T11:03:00.000+06:00

I joined a new organization on December 27th, 2006. My first two days were not eventful as I had a lot of formalities to complete. After two days of wait, they finally provided me with a work station. After signing into my computer and browsing through the company policies, i met my to-be-teammates. I was first very apprehensive about befriending people, but my fears were nullified when i saw that people here are professional and very co-operative.

The best part is that the company is located at Thiru Vi Ka Industrial estate at Guindy. Which is just 8 minutes away from the nearby local railway station. The roads in the estate are very dusty, but yet, the presence of trees on either side( A very rare sight in in Chennai) and the calmness makes me feel peaceful while walking to my company.
I learnt from my peers that the company had a very exhaustive process which eases work easy for employees and reduces errors.

The best part was that i could access all mail sites, blogs, and also listen to songs.
Employees are provided with subsidized lunch(Hmm, yummy :-) ) .we have lunch on the fifth floor on the terrace. So we get a good view of the surrounding buildings and also feel the windy breeze flowing. The cafeteria here is small, but it provides a very good view of the Guindy industrial Estate. Whenever i sit near the window of the cafeteria and have coffee, my mind gets relaxed and refreshed.

On January 13th. All the Instructional Designers in my company had planned to celebrate Pongal by decorating our bays with sugarcane, and artificial flowers. We planned to work as a group to decorate the company. I was assigned the task of decorating the ID bays with artificial flowers, it took us (I , Sivanarul, Hari, and Krishna) 2 ½ hours to decorate the bay which is 250 feet in length. I made new friends such as Jayanth, Sivanarul, Sathyamurthy,Arun, Hari, and Manjula.My colleagues at Ma Foi, Ramesh, and Aparna have also been working here for the past one year. A college friend of mine,Mahesh, also joined our company on January 8th. He is a good fellow, i hope to learn a lot about ID from him too. My Manager seems to be a friendly and professional guy.

The things that i like about my company are 1) They have a good and exhaustive process 2)They provide you with all resources provided that you complete their work. and 3) They have a separate floor where employees play games like Table Tennis, Carrom, & Chess.
Well, currently I am yet to undergo training. All said and done, work satisfaction is the most important aspect for an employee. So i just pray to god and hope that my tenure in this company would be Fun-filled, ever-learning, productive, and very satisfying.

Adieu to Expertus

2006-12-23T18:56:00.000+06:00

Yesterday (December 22nd, 2006) was a special day for me. I had resigned my job at Expertus, where i had worked for the past 11 months.
You might wonder what is so great about it. But, for me, this was a special moment since Expertus gave me many things that i had for the first time in my life.
1) This was my first job as Instructional Designer.
2) For the very first time, i got a starting salary of above 7000
3) I went on a trip to TTDC in Mahabalipuram with my office friends, it was one of the most wonderfull trips in my life.Gopakumar,Gowri, Ashwini, Richeek, Sreeram, Akilan, Senthil, and Sudarsan, & Devika for giving me a great experience.
4) During my very short tenure, i met many friends: Dafne, Sanjana, Abhilash, Harishankar, Sandeep, Sanchali, Madhubala, Aravind, Girish, Bala and so, on. Each of them were totally different in character, but very professional at work.
6) I owned a mobile phone for the first time.
7) I went to official parties held at resorts; prior to this, i never had even been to a resort.
8) Most valuable thing was that i discovered that i too had some talent.

I can never forget Expertus;mostly for the reason that it gave me a job during the most difficult time of my life. The job not only gave me money, but showed me a glimpse of the path that i must travel. I was fortunate to have many mentors who have guided me and helped me a lot, bith personally and professionally. I thank all of my friends, to name a few: Senthil, Sudarsan,Akilan, Ashwini, Abhilash, Sanjana, Hari, Uma, and Richeek for their help and guidance.

I just hope that my new company would give me a better experience.

Nothing to blog about

2006-12-06T22:12:00.000+06:00

My life is getting routine. My day starts by waking up at 7 am in the morning, getting ready for office, catching the train to Beach station via Chetpet, the place where my company is situated;work or atleast pretend to work uptill 6:30 p.m. and come back home. (Very boring to read, Isn't it?). Well this is the main reason for me not writing many interesting posts, because i have nothing special to blog about. I pray to god to grant me some creativity so that i can write good posts. Untill then, view some good blogs like these:
www.lensmangops.blogspot.com
www.summaryoflifetimes.blogspot.com
www.dreamzunleashed.blogspot.com
www.inagardencalledlife.blogspot.com

Believe me, these blogs are good.

New Lessons

2006-12-02T13:20:00.000+06:00

I have about 15 years of education and yet i feel that all of them put together would not equal the small amount of knowledge that i have acquired during my one year of professional life.
When i was studying in college, my professor used to say, "Enjoy your college life to the maximum, because the minute you step out of college, you can never be the same, it's a different world out there waiting for you". How true it is. Like many others, i completed my degree and searched a job, which was the first step to real education.

After finishing my degree, i went to work at a BPO, where i had my first dose of bitter medicine. There, i learned my first and most important lesson was never to underestimate yourself and to be selfconfident, calm, and positive.

After resigning my first job, i analysed myself and changed myself to a field that i stumbled upon by accident, E-learning.
I joined a small organization , started to learn whatever i could. It has been 10 months since i joined this organization. I feel that these ten months have taught me a lot, they have changed me drastically. I have just got a glimpse of the corporate world. It is a very uncomprimising world (as far as i know). In corporates, Money is god. To them, "Money is god, and it should be attained by all means, all other things are secondary".
I never realised this, i felt that my company was treating me well by giving importance. Reality dawned when i realised that i was being used as a tool to humiliate and sack my peers.
Slowly and steadily, i began to realise the true colours of my seniors, they started to blame others because they themselves were inefficient. Politics took the front seat and professionalism took a beating. After many attempts, i realised that i was fighting for nothing and hence put down my papers.
I thought that i had learned all my corporate lessons, but i was wrong. When i went to withdraw my salary, i found that my company had withheld my salary and would be paying me only after my final settlement. Is this the last lesson or am I in store for more, only time will tell.

Criticism: A Blessing in disguise

2006-11-26T13:20:00.000+06:00

" Behind every successfull man, there are lot of critics".
Like it or not, if you desire to be famous and successfull, you have to face certain friends called CRITICS. Yes, you heard it right " Critics". No matter how talented you are, you will be criticised by some people; these people may be right or wrong, but that seldom matters as they will target you at some stage. If you act in haste against criticism, then you are demeaning yourself.

You might wonder why Iam suddenly writing about criticism, I ,myself, have faced criticism and have acted hastly against it. But, in the process, i lost many friends, and also the opportunity to improve myself. My dad always says, " Criticism is bitter medicine". How true he proved to be. I have now realise my fault and so, i am now more open to constructive criticism.

Critics are of two types, Constructive critics, and Pseudo critics ( i can't give these guys a proper name).
Constructive critics are people, who may or may not be experts in a certain field, they seldom tolerate imperfection and criticise people only if they find certain critical flaws in them. These type of critics act as the Devil's advocate. They are a boon to the society.
Constructive critics are a boon to people, they act as a mirror which portray the true self. These critics help professionals in correcting their mistakes and drive them to perform with utmost perfection. Sometimes even your own Dad, mom, friends, or relatives, can be constructive critics. You have to respect these critics and prove yourself by mending your flaws.

Pseudo critics are the worst, pessimistic, and most irritating people that you may ever find. These persons criticise people just for the sake of finding fault. Their criticism is seldom meaningless and is mostly aimed at harming the reputation of successfull people. Pseudo critics are mostly jealous people, who cannot digest the fact that people are successfull. Hence, they try to defame the person or group by commenting unneccassirily.
These type of critics are found all over the world. They are satans of the society and deserve to be terminated. It is best for us to ignore their comments and continue with our lives.

These

List of E-learning companies in India

2006-09-27T12:12:00.018+06:00

Hi Friends, e-learning is one of new emerging fields that is growing on par with the IT industry. E-learning is a field where Instructional Designers, Graphic Designers, and Developers brainstorm together to develop creative and effective learning content for Web Based courses and Instructor-Led courses.
Freshers, Graduates, or people who are looking for creative career, can enter this field. To enter this field, you must have the following:

1) Must possess Good knowlege in english grammar and efficient writing skills
2) should have passion to learn, write, or present content creatively, and effectively based on the learners requirement.
3) A positive attitude towards life long learning. This is a must since you might be writing content for learners ranging from school students to corporate professionals.
4) Should think innovatively

For the convenience of people, who are searching for the list of e-learning companies in India, I have provided a small list of Indian e-learning companies below.

Brainvisa

Address: Brainvisa Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Windsor Commerce
Survey No. 2/8/1,
Opp. Baner Telephone Exchange,
Baner Road,
Baner, Pune 411 045,
India
Phone: +91-20-27205000
+91-20-27205001
+91-20-30212400
Fax: +91-20-27205100
http://www.brainvisa.com/

Maximize Learning

Location: Pune, India
3rd Floor, 'The Metropole'
Next to INOX Multiplex
Bund Garden Road
Pune - 411 001, INDIA.
Tel: +91 20 560 50600
Fax: +91 20 560 12412

TECHBOOKS
A-28, Mohan Co-op. Ind. Estate,
Mathura Road,
New Delhi - 110044, INDIA.
Tel: +91 11 516 82424
+91 11 516 82525
Fax: +91 11 516 82929
http://www.maximizelearning.com.au/

The Jasubhai Group (Owns the Elearning Company. Type I)
Operations Office
Jasubhai Group
3rd Floor, Taj Building,
110 D.N Road, Fort,
Mumbai - 400001
Ph: 022-40373636
Fax: 022-40373535

Registered Office
Jasubhai Group
Maker Chambers VI, Floor II,
Nariman Point,
Mumbai - 400 021
India

Website: http://www.jasubhai.com/elearning.php

Tata Interactive Systems (listed in NASSCOM)
Location: Mumbai, India
Address details not provided in the company website.

http://www.tatainteractive.com/

Hurix Systems Private Limited
Address:
2nd Floor, Sumer Plaza,
Marol Maroshi Road,
Opp. Hotel Temptation, Marol,
Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 059.
Tel: +91- 022-67096888/ Fax: +91-022- 67096899
www.hurix.com

Cosmos Learning Services Pvt. Ltd.
Address:
228/229 Laxmi Plaza, Laxmi Industrial Estate
New Link Road, Andheri (w), Mumbai 4000 053
Phone: +91 22 40939393
Email: info@cosmoscreatives.com

Website:http://www.cosmoslearnings.com/

GENPACT
Address details not provided in the company website.
website: http://www.genpact.com/

Knowledge Horizon(A Dubai based Elearning Player)
India Development Center
Knowledge Horizon E-Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Disha Towers, Plot No. 3, Sr. No. 127/1
Off ITI Road (Opp. Sarjaa Restaurant),
Aundh, Pune - 411007, Maharashtra, India.

Tel.: +91 20 66280990
Fax: +91 20 66280991
E-mail: santosh@knowledgehorizon.com

Website: http://www.knowledgehorizon.com/

Learning Mate (e-learning division)
India
Abhijeet Sethi
General Manager - Professional Services
LearningMate Solutions Private Ltd.
Level 2, Trade Globe
Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (East)
Mumbai 400 059 India

Phone: +91-22-5675-6656
Fax: +91-22-5675-6661
Email: abhijeet . sethi @ learningmate . com

Website: http://www.learningmate.com/

ClearPoint Learning Systems
101 Kensington Court
Lane No. 5, Off North Main Rd.
Koregaon Park, Pune 411 001
India
t: +91 (0)20 30520701
f: +91 (0)20 30520703
info@clearpointlearning.com

http://www.clearpointlearning.com/

Magic Software Enterprises India Pvt. Ltd.
Location:
8, Tara Icon, Mumbai Pune Road, Pune 3
Contact: Meir Koren, Regional Sales Manager - ASPC
Tel: +972 (3) 538 9480
Fax: +972 (3) 538 9333
meirk@magicsoftware.com
Contact: Ajit Shinde, Sales Manager, India
Tel: +91 20 4011211 Extn: 310, 9890035295

Magic Software

Magic Software Pvt Ltd
9th Floor, Tower C, Tech Boulevard
Plot No 6, Sector 127
Noida-201 301 (Near Delhi) INDIA
Tel: +91 120 3054 300
Fax: +91 120 3054 599
eMail: mail@magicsw.com

Magic Software Pvt Ltd
A-28, Sector 57
Noida-201 301 (Near Delhi) INDIA
Tel: +91 120 4027 600
Fax: +91 120 4027 666
eMail: mail@magicsw.com

Website: http://www.magicsw.com/

FCS (e-learning)

FCS Software Solutions Limited
Offshore Development Center
A-86 Sector 57, Noida 201301
India
Telephone No.: 0120-3061100
Fax No.: 0120-3061111

US Toll Free: 1-800-566-4604
Ext.: 220, 325

List of e-learning companies in Chennai

Mentorware Solutions

Excel-Soft Technologies
Excel-Soft Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,
1-B, Hootagalli Industrial Area,
Mysore -570 018 INDIA.

Tel : +91 821 4282000 / 4002200
Fax : +91 821 4282208
E-mail : marketing@excelindia.com
info@excelindia.com
Website : www.excelindia.com

Location: Chennai, Bangalore
Bangalore address:
Mentorware India Pvt Ltd.
952 24th Main
JP Nagar 2nd Phase
Bangalore 560 078
Karnataka
India
Phone: (91) 80 2659 3526

NTTF InfoTech
#49/1, Plot No 13, 7th Mile,
Hosur Road, Garvebhavipalya,
Bangalore 560 068 India
email: gv@nttfinfotech.com
Phone: 080-25735595 /9844165956
www.nttfinfotech.com
www.geturjobs.com

Chennai

Element K Pvt Ltd.
Location: Element K India Pvt. Ltd
RR Tower II, 4th Floor
Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate
Guindy
Chennai 600 032
INDIA
Phone: +91 44 42454000
or +91 44 22318606
Fax: +91-44-5212-0375
http://www.elementk.com/

Lionbridge (Branches found in Mumbai and Pune)
location : Lionbridge, Ascendas - International Tech Park,
'Crest' 7th Floor, Unit Nos. 1 & 2, Taramani Road,
Chennai 600 113.
Phone: +91-44-66785000
http://www.lionbridge.com/

LIONBRIDGE
Mumbai Address-
5th and 6th Floor,
Spectra Building,
Hiranandani Gardens,
Powai, Mumbai-400076.
Website: http://www.lionbridge.com/

Sify Limited
Development Center & Corporate Headquarters - Chennai
Sify Limited
2nd Floor, Tidel Park,
4, Canal Bank Road,
Taramani, Chennai 600 113
Ph: (91-44) 2254 0770 - 77
Fax: (91-44) 2254 0771

http://www.sifyelearning.com/

GP Consulting (India) Pvt. Limited
Ameen Manor, B Block
F-2, First Floor
138 Nungambakkam High Road
Chennai – 34. India
www.gpworldwide.com

Satyam (e-learning division)
Old Mahabalipuram road, Chennai.

Mumbai
Dorr-Oliver House Annex,
Chakala, Andheri East,
Mumbai - 400 099
Ph: +91-22-4001 4848
Fax: +91-22-4001 4800
Email:info@casatyam.com

Bangalore
Universal Business Centre,
No. 10/2, Narendra Plaza,
Victoria Road,
Bangalore – 560 047
Ph: +91-80-4031 6200, 40316266/73
Mobile No: +91-9820175709
Fax: +91-80-4031 6266
Email:info@casatyam.com

PULPMEDIA
Pulp Media Corporate Office
Apt. 301, Sundher Manor, Opp KBS Bus Terminal, RT Nagar, Bangalore – 560 032.
Email: abhi@pulpmedia.in | sajay@pulpmedia.in
Cell: +91-98802 37570 | +91 974222 4996
Website: http://www.pulpmedia.in/

Delhi
CA Computer Associates India Pvt. Ltd.
6th Floor, East Tower,
25, Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi – 110 001
Ph: +91-11-6656 6712/25
Mobile No: +91-9811467864
+91-9820175709
Fax: +91-11-6656 6668
Email:info@casatyam.com

Ahmedabad
57, Indraprastha Bungalows,
Near Binori Bungalows,
Bopal-Guma Road, Bopal,
Ahmedabad – 380 058
Ph: +91-271-732 6616, 6560
Email: info@casatyam.com

Website:http://www.casatyam.com/

Hurix Systems Private Limited
Location:Chennai
Hurix House, New no. 34, Old no.10,
Taylors Road, Kilpauk,
Chennai - 600010.
Tel: +91-44-4228 4888
Fax: +91-44-4228 4899
http://www.Hurix.com/

Expertus Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

6 and 7th floor, Dowlath Towers
63 Taylors Road
Kilpauk, Chennai, TN
India
Tel: 91-44-42679999
http://www.expertus.com/

3I Infotech LTD

Chennai Elearning Branch:
3i Infotech Limited
No.81, MBC Towers 4th Floor, Above Lifestyle,
TTK Road, Alwarpet
Chennai - Tamil Nadu ,IND 600018

Corporate Office

3i Infotech Limited
Akruti Centre Point, 6th Floor
M.I.D.C Central Road
Next to Marol Telephone Exchange
Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 093
India
Tel: 91-22-39145700
Fax: 91-22-39145520

Registered Office

3i Infotech Limited,
Tower # 5, 3rd to 6th Floors,
International Infotech Park, Vashi,
Navi Mumbai 400 703

Bangalore Office

3i Infotech Limited,
‘Neil Rao Towers’ First Floor, East Wing
Plot # 118, Road # 3, EPIP Zone (Export Promotion Industrial Park)
KIADB Phase 1, Whitefield
Bangalore 560 066

Contact: marketing@3i-infotech.com

Website: http://www.3i-infotech.com

Emantras
#35/1, 3rd Street,
Abiramapuram.
Alwarpet, Chennai - 600 018
Tel : 91 - 44 - 42169462 / 63
Sales : 91 - 44 - 42169464
Mobile : 98402 98964(Sales)
http://www.emantras.com/

NIS SPARTA

Chennai Branch:
NIS Sparta
3-D "Riaz Garden" 12-13, Kodambakkam High Road, Nungambakkam,
Chennai - 600034
Ph: 044 - 39120060-61
Fax: 044 - 39120058

Other locations:
NIS Sparta
2nd Floor, 8, Balaji Estate Sudarshan Munjal Marg, Kalkaji New Delhi - 110019
Ph: 011 - 30813865
Fax: 011 - 30813851

NIS Sparta
52, Chowringhee Road,
5th Floor,
Kolkata - 700071
Ph: 033 - 30420025-27

NIS Sparta
No. - 3, First Floor,
Richmond Road,
Bengaluru - 560025
Ph: 080 - 30520430-31
080 - 30575861-63
Fax: 080 - 30520430
Website: http://www.nissparta.com/

Educomp solutions Ltd
c/o Learning Leadership Foundation
Chennai address:
The PSBB Millennium School Complex
9 GST Road, St Thomas Mount
Chennai-600016
Phone: 044 55348441/ 2

Bangalore office:
No 16, 80 Feet Road, 4th Block
Koramangala
Bangalore-560034
Telefax no: 080 25501055/ 4/ 3/ 2

Axis-v Creatives Pvt Ltd
Address: 77, Greenways Road,
R.A.Puram, Chennai -600 028
India.
Phone: +91-44-24613373
+92-44-24616037
http://www.axisv.com/
Email: Service@...

InfoPro India
C-4, Sector 58,
Noida
UP
# + 91-120-2586524-29
http://www.learning.infoprocorp.com/

Everonn Systems India Limited
No:82, IV Avenue
Ashok Nagar
Chennai - 600 083.
Tamilnadu
India.
Ph: 91-044-23718202 / 03
91-044-24715356 -59
Fax No: 91-044-24717845

http://www.everonn.com/

Robert and Bosch Elearning services
Coimbatore
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Ltd. (Cob)
No. 363, KG Campus,
Thudiyalur Road,
Saravanampatti, Coimbatore
Tamilnadu 641 035, India
Tel: +91 422 663 4000
Fax: +91 422 663 4104

http://www.boschindia.com/content/language1/html/7491.htm

List of E-learning Companies in Hyderabad

Deloitte
website: http://www.deloitte.com

Magna IT
Yeturi Towers, 6-2-47
AC Guards
Hyderabad
www.magnait.com

CommLab India
30, II Floor, Sarvasukhi Colony
West Marredpally
Secunderabad

www.commlabindia.com
www.commlabuniversity.com
www.blog.commlabindia.com

C&K Management
C & K Management Limited
Career Centre, 1-8-303/48/12, Prenderghast Road,
Secunderabad - 500003, INDIA.
Tel: +91-40-66385900
Fax : +91-40-27893725

Website: http://www.cnkonline.com/

Trina biz:
Address
Corporate Office: 5th Floor, Serene Towers,
Road No 10, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad- 500 034.
Phone: +91-40-5556 4101
+91-40-5556 4149

Website: http://www.trina.biz/
Fax: +91-40-5556 4130
Email
Information: info@trina.biz Employment Opportunities: jobs@trina.biz

Location:
Corporate Office:
5th Floor, Serene Towers,
Road No 10, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad- 500 034.

Phone:
+91-40-5556 4101
+91-40-5556 4149

Fax:
+91-40-5556 4130
info@trina.biz

Employment Opportunities:
jobs@trina.biz

Globarena Technologies
Pvt. Ltd.

Location: Plot No: F-28,
Madhura Nagar,
Yousufguda,
Hyderabad – 500 038.
Ph: +91 40 23750190-93
Fax: +91 040-23750194

E-mail: support@globarena.com

http://www.globarena.com/

ANIMGRAPHIX
_____________

AnimGraphix Pvt.Ltd.
http://www.blogger.com/www.animgraphix.com
6-3-565, Erra Manzil Road,
Opp Mentor Graphics,
Taj Residency Road,
Somajiguda,
Hyderabad 500 083 India
email: surekha@animgraphix.com
Phone: 040-32991159 /9346122225
http://www.blogger.com/www.animgraphix.com

HELIX TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PVT LIMITED
Corporate Office
* Helix Technology Solutions Private Limited
* Plot # 89, Road # 2, Banjara Hills
* Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
* Pincode: 500 034

* Phone: +91-40-44369999
* Email: info@helixtechsolutions.com
website: www.helixtechsolutions.com

STAM Interactive Solutions Pvt
STAM Interactive Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Bindu Enclave
Somajiguda
Hyderabad,India
Tel. No: 91 - 40 - 6557 6283
Email: info@staminteractive.com
http://www.staminteractive.com

Kern Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
B-210 Swapnalok Complex
S D Road
Secunderabad 500 003
+91-40-40171313 (India)
+1 (201) 793 7154 (US)
http://www.kern-comm.com
http://elearning.kern-comm.com
Bangalore

Robert and Bosch (Bangalore Branches)
Headquarters
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Ltd. (Kor)
123 Industrial Layout
Hosur Road, Koramangala
Bangalore 560 095
Tel : +91 80 6657 5757
Fax : +91 80 2571 1841

website: http://www.boschindia.com/content/language1/html/7491.htm

Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Ltd. (NhP)
Post Box No. 9501
Naganathapura Unit
Bangalore 560 095
Tel: +91 80 4109 5000
Fax: +91 80 4109 5105

Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Ltd.(Bmh)
Gold Hill Square
690, Hosur Road
Bommanahalli
Bangalore 560 068
Tel: +91 80 4191 2000

The Written Word
(A growing company that has a creative eye with a big vision)
1017/9, 25th Main Road,Jayanagar 4th T Block,Bangalore - 560 041.
Contact Numbers: 080 - 6583 8589
+91 98802 37570
email: rsp@thewrittenword.in

website: http://www.thewrittenword.in/

Globarena,
No: 61, K. R. Road,
Opp. Basavanagudi Post Office,
Bangalore-560004,

support@globarena.com

Tel: 26609914 to 17

Chennai

Globarena,
Building No-77, Flat No-10, 3rd Floor,
J K Towers (Next to GRT School),
Seventh Avenue, Ashok nagar Chennai - 83.

support@globarena.com

Tel: +91 44 24891950/52029424, 30961811
Website: www.globarena.com

Kesdee Systems India Pvt Ltd
Bangalore
Corporate Office:
KESDEE INC.
PO Box 910207
San Diego
CA 92191-0207
U.S.A
Phone: +1-858-558-8118
+1-858-558-8228
Fax: +1-858-558-8448

Development Center: Bangalore
Website: http://www.kesdee.com/

Typei D-222/2,
TTC Industrial Area,
MIDC, Thane-Belapur Road,
New Mumbai - 400 706
Tel: +91 - 22 - 27629191/ 9200 Fax: +91 - 22 - 27629223/ 9244
http://www.jasubhai.com/

QAI India Limited
1013-14A, Ansal Towers, 38 Nehru Place,
New Delhi - 110019, India
Phone: +91- 11- 26219792, 26220580
Fax: +91- 11- 26218974
Email Id: customer_relations@qaiasia.com

Website: http://www.qaiasia.com

Aptech
Corporate Office
Aptech House, A-65
MIDC, Marol, Andheri (E)
Mumbai 400 093, INDIA
Tel: +91-22-2827 2300
Tel: +91-22-5646 2300
Fax: +91-22-2827 299

Zenith Global (e-learning)
MUMBAI (HEAD OFFICE)
201-A, Bhaveshwar Arcade, L.B.S. Marg
Opp. Shreyas Cinema, Ghatkopar (W)
Mumbai - 400086, India
Phone : +91-22-25000069, 25000634
Fax : +91-22-25000183
E-Mail: (Management Training Division) zenith@zenithglobal.com, info@zenithglobal.com
(E-Learning Division) train2success@vsnl.net

CHENNAI (DEVELOPMENT CENTRE)
Unit 37, SDF II, MEPZ-Special Economic Zone,
Tambaram, Chennai - 600 045, India
Phone: +91-44-2262 3913/2262 3915
Fax: +91-44-22620055
E-Mail:anup@zenithglobal.com, benno@zenithglobal.com

Harbinger Knowledge Products
139, Survey # 97/6
Off Paud Road, Kothrud
Pune 411038
Phone: +91.20.25284201/02/03
http://www.blogger.com/www.harbingerknowledge.com
http://www.blogger.com/www.harbingergroup.com
http://www.blogger.com/www.raptivity.com
http://www.blogger.com/www.flockpod.com
http://www.blogger.com/www.eicitus.com

Enyota learning,
eNyota Learning Pvt. Ltd.
10, Sheetal Apartments,
Koregaon Park, Pune, 411 001
Maharastra, India
Phone: +91 20 26052228

Website: http://www.enyotalearning.com/

NIIT
Has centres throughout India.

Disclaimer:The contact details of these e-learning companies were taken from the websites of the respective companies. This blog bears no responsibility for the validity of the data. I also wish to inform you that most of these organizations are actually IT companies having e-learning divisions(units). IT would be better if you could do know more about these companies before joining them.

Note: I thank all my ID friends in the Instructional Designer Forum (Yahoo), who have helped me a lot in creating this list.

To know more about Instructional Design, please do visit the following Instructional Designer forums.
1)ID forum on Yahoo
2)ID forum on MSN

To know more about the jobs offered by various e-learning companies.
Please visit this website

I want to be.....

2006-09-08T12:18:00.000+06:00

" If you can't discover yourself, you will never discover god"

I want to be the Man:
 Who has the courage to call a spade as a spade
 Who is true to himself and believes himself
 Who epitomizes modesty, nobility, sincerity and dedication
 Who does not just pray to god, but try to be god himself
 Who will be modest, noble, humane, and good to his fellow beings even if he has extreme and unconditional power
 Who strives in enlightening himself before enlightening others
 Who speaks in actions rather than words
 Who fulfills his duties and keeps his promises no matter what
 Who believes that our fate is never predetermined, but just the result of our own actions
 Who means what he says
 Who believes that Forever Happiness can be only achieved if we co-exist peacefully
 Who inspires others to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
 Who believes that the word impossible should be only used to say, “Nothing is impossible”
 Who is independent and follows his own path to destiny (Read Enlightment)

This post was not written just for the sake of writing. I have written these points hoping that one day I will live up to my words.

Words of enlightment

2006-08-30T12:11:00.000+06:00

These are thoughts that reflect all that i have learnt untill now

 A good critic is a mirror which shows your true self.

 A Genius is not a person who doesn’t commit mistakes, but one who learns from them and never repeats them again.

 The real quality of a WINNER is not winning at all times, but winning when required.

 He who blames others blames himself.

 “Obstacles are stepping stones to success”, but if they come together they are tombstones.

 A person, who loses a battle despite fighting hard against a better opponent, has actually won the battle even before it began.

 When you depend on a person strongly then you have started digging your own grave.

 Be good. But never be too good, it hurts badly.

 A Scientist is one who discovers something that already existed, but was left unnoticed.

 If you love somebody, let them free, if they ever come back, ask them why? If they answer truly, accept them.

 Every good leader was once a good follower.

 There is nothing called equality and the only place where it exists is called UTOPIA.

Time

2006-08-28T18:43:00.000+06:00

Time:

There is a saying, “The only thing that never changes is change itself”, but there is one thing that stays for eternity other than change. That is Time. What a contradiction, when you think of the concept called Time, we realize that it is man-made. But Man didn’t discover or invent time; he just coined a term for it. Time is not god, but it is equal to god, it is omnipresent, but we can’t feel it, see it, hear it or even understand it. Even the greatest saints and philosophers have failed to give a proper definition of time.

Let’s take a simple example: in Earth, we say that one year is equal to 365 day, 6 hours and 25 minutes approx, but a year, in a planet such as Jupiter, is actually equivalent to 12 years on Earth. SO what does the term” Year” exactly mean? Should we take the Earth year as a standard or should we decide that one year is the time taken by a planet to go around the Sun??????? Is time a standard or is it a variative?

We stupid humans think that we have understood time by just coining terms like Past, Present, Future, AM, PM, AD, and BC. But what we never realize is that all these terms are relative. What we call present today is Past tomorrow, what we call yesterday was actually Today a day before. SO are we right, have we understood Time.

The greatest scientist of all time, Albert Einstein once explained the time dilation principle by saying “A man sits with a beautiful girl for over an hour, but it seems like a minute to him. But when the same man is made to sit on an oven, even for a minute, it seems like an hour”. The example is self-explanatory; Einstein tried to prove the variance of time by a simple concept. If you try to go deeper into the concept of time and try to explain it, you are more likely to get more questions than answers.

This article, or piece of stuff, or whatever you call it, is just an attempt to write creative things. I hope that I can write much better articles in future.

To be or not to be

2006-08-18T12:43:00.000+06:00

It has been a year since I started working. My professional life has started influencing my character a lot. All through my life, I have been a very emotional and sentimental character, but now I see that I have to change, change rapidly, because in a corporate world, there is no value for sentiments. I have learnt a lot during this short period. One of the most important lessons that I learnt was, “Never be sentimental or emotional, because whenever you are sentimental, you tend to depend on a person or thing which makes you dependant and affects your growth, never be emotional because people may use your emotions (Read “screw you up”) and may take advantage of your emotions”.

I also learnt that self-confidence, career orientation, and professionalism are the keys to succeed in life. My biggest problem is that in order to become a professional, I have to mend my ways, to say it shortly, “I have to be what I never was” that is Non-sentimental, professional, career oriented and in a way, selfish. When I asked myself this question, “what do I want to be, just another good human being or a great achiever”, the answer that I got was clear and obvious. My brain agrees with it, but my heart vehemently disagrees. So I find myself in a dilemma “To be myself and live an ordinary life or change my ways to become an achiever”. The questions still remains answered “To be or not to be”. Only time will answer.

Image source: guerrillaconsulting.typepad.com

ME

2006-08-04T11:40:00.000+06:00

A Wanderer's moanings

2006-07-17T12:12:00.000+06:00

Why was I born?
In this world
In a middle class family,
Where money is meager, but happiness is plenty.

Why should I live a routine life like others?
Fight hard to survive,
Long for recognition
Live to fulfill my parents needs and forget mine.

Why was I not born with a silver spoon?
To lead a life full of prosperity and happiness.
Is it a sin to ask for a joyful life?
Which contains all that I need?

Oh god! Is it unfair of me,
To ask you to grant me all my wishes,
When I find my relatives, neighbors, and friends,
leading a much better life without too much effort.

Why is this world so peculiar?
When I try to learn new things, they made fun of me
Saying I cannot learn things that are meant for higher mortals
Why do these guys teach things that they never learnt themselves?

Even when I ignore them and continue in my way,
They tend to hold me,
And say that I am following the wrong path,
that will lead to misfortune,

Why don’t these WISE guys know?
That the world is big enough,
To let all people pursue their own paths
And that a chosen path, when trodden with determination,
Will lead to success and prosperity.

When I asked you all these questions, my god!
You just smiled and answered,
“Good men face obstacles, but they do not stop,
Because obstacles are the stepping stones,
Which you should cross to reach the peak of glory”

“Wait for your chances and do not grumble,
Because precious things never come easy,
So my boy, don’t worry, just follow your heart
When the time comes, those idiots will know,
That you are not a molehill, but a mountain”.

Wanderer

Image Source:http://www.wga.hu/

Reason to Dream

2006-06-13T13:02:00.000+06:00

Good dreams make your life colorful and beautiful and make you look a better person, so keep dreaming of good things – old saying

Most of us have many dreams, we dream to become successful; we dream for power, we dream for money, happiness, fame, and love. But, how many of us achieve our dreams in reality? the answer would be, “very few”. Whenever we share our dreams with our friends, very few of them appreciate our positivism, but most of them would either mock us or discourage us. Why do people always view dreams as virtuality, why cant people sense that today’s dream is tomorrow’s reality. It was due to the Wright brothers’ dreams that we are flying in planes today, it was because of Kalam’s dream that INDIA is a respected nuclear power today. The power of dreaming is the key to prosperity.

Is it a sin to dream of good things? My father always mocks at me saying that I need to face ground reality; I just want to ask one thing, what is reality? Many people think that dreams are just thoughts occurring during sleep, what they think is wrong, dreams are the sparks of reality, and we must try to dream positively. NO harm in dreaming about good things. Good dreams make you happy, when you conceptualize them, you get prosperous they give us a glimpse of good and bad things that may or may not happen in future. Each person has their own dreams; only their most meaningful dreams come true. Dreams come true when you believe in them and put your best efforts to convert them into reality.

Remember think positive, dream positive; do not get discouraged by idiots who discourage you. Remember by being positive, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Be happy, keep dreaming, and achieve a lot. Most important of all, give your best effort to convert your dreams into reality, and never get discouraged by pessimists, they are all around you trying to disturb you. Remember the proverb, “Ordinary persons dream about good things, great persons chase their dreams and convert them into reality”.

If you ever want to lead be a great achiever, do the following
Dream about yourself achieving the goals that you have set
Believe in your dreams, because what your mind believes it will achieve
Put down your best efforts and wait, remember it will take time for your dream to materialize
Be spiritual, believe in yourself and god
Never listen to pessimists and keep thinking positive

Read the following books on positive thoughts, they will be helpful
The Power of the Subconscious Mind written by Dr. Joseph Murphy.
Think and Grow Rich written by Napolean Hill
The Power of Positive Thinking written by Norman Vincent Peale

So dreamer, I end this long blog and all I can say is “dream, believe, and realize”, bye and good luck.

Bane of Indian Society

2006-05-24T18:46:00.000+06:00

The Bane of our Indian Society:Quota system.

This morning, I was shocked to read the headlines in the newspaper, it read, “Central Government to move forward with implementing 27% quota for OBC from June 2007”.
The politicians had come up with yet another horrendous scheme to garner the minority vote bank. The worst thing of all, the central government decided to implement the decision in spite of the students all over India condemning it unanimously.

The only aim behind this quota is to garner minority votes. If IIM’s and IIT’s are forced to allocate about 27% of their seats, then they will lose their value and the image of the institutions will be tarnished forever. The next reason is that even if OBC students enter IIT or IIM via quota system, most of them will struggle to pass the exams due to the high quality education system in these prestigious institutions. Even if the students do manage to scrap through, they will always be considered inferior. The only way that can impoverish the poor is by providing them adequate facilities like food , shelter, education, and jobs, not by quotas. You can only teach a person to eat, you cannot spoon-feed him.

I have personally seen a few of my friends who belong to lower castes and still object reservation (I hate the caste system, but am forced to use this word for this blog). They are brilliant in studies and excel in their respective fields, the irony is that my friends have refused scholarships as they lessen their desire to excel and tarnish their self-esteem. I feel proud of my friends (Chaitanya, Masthanaiyyah and Kanniayappan), three cheers to you all!

Implementation of this quota will bring about misery and agony to all, brilliant students will lose their chance to study in IIT and IIM, and this will result in Brain Drain (immigration of talent to other countries). Other students will intentionally target the Students who enter via this quota. The students who enter via quota may find it very hard to adapt them to the high quality syllabus, which might lead to failure in academics. The worst thing is that MNC’s may not recognize IIT or IIM due to quota implementation and so the other talented students might lose precious job opportunities.

It has been more than 25 years since the Mandal commission set up the quota system, but the system had failed miserably and even today 60% of the minorities are lagging behind the poverty line. This clearly indicates the failure of the quota system. The only way to empower minorities is to make them self-reliant and provide adequate facilities like proper school education, food, and shelter. Granting quotas will make them lazy and kill their killer instincts.

I wish that our Prime Minister would stop being a puppet and handle the issue with an iron will by chucking out Arjun singh and his supporters from the cabinet.

The only thing I can do is blog, while those who have power are fiddling with it and talented youngsters suffering for those idiotic decisions I would be happy if quotas were based on Economical and educational backgrounds rather than caste based, if quotas were based on a person’s financial background or his academic performance, we are bound to find many Abdul Kalams, C.V. Ramans, Chandarasekhars, and M.S. Swaminathans.

I know that I can do nothing about this issue, but I wanted to blog this to vent out my frustration like many others, hope you agree.

Come back to me

2006-05-13T21:47:00.000+06:00

Come back to me dear,

You are so far, yet near.

You are the best part of my life

I wish you would be my wife.

Its been six years since we met

And you haven’t loved me back yet.

I am sorry dear, because I am no poet

To express my love with great poems.

All I know is that I love you

And my feelings are very true

Even if you hate me, and don’t want to see my face

Just lie that you love me, and show some grace.

All I want is to be with you,

I want to laugh when you laugh,

And cry when you cry,

Without you I will definitely die.

I may not be a perfect man,

But I definitely ,I will show you that I can.

Come to me, my darling, be my better half

Even if I cry, I will make you laugh.

For others, you are just a pretty girl, but to me , you are my life.

I just want you to be my loving wife.

So , don’t say no and make me sad.

Without you, my life is bad.

Don’t think that I will forget you, no never!

Because I will remember you for ever and ever.

Even if you ignore me, I will love you.

Because I love you as if you are god.

SO do me a favor, either accept my love

Or kill me, but don’t torture me.

I don’t want to lose you, and if I do

That will be the time when I die.

And even if I live, I will be a zombie

Whose life has been plundered.

So, come back to me , my future wife.

Because I will treat you as my life and not just as a wife.

Dreams of a common man

2006-05-05T17:08:00.000+06:00

The Marina Beach.

The city of Chennai has many spots where people can go and enjoy, but there is only one place, where the rich, poor, and middle class people all go and enjoy in their own ways. It is the Marina beach, it is not only famous for being the second largest beach in the world, but it has got many other specialties, ,which no other beach in the world has. Marina is surrounded by many important places.

One is the Vivekananda house (the place where swami Vivekananda stayed during his stay in Chennai in 1902).
The next one is the Santhome church, which was built about 400 years ago and is of both significant and religious importance.
The third is the University of Madras building which is located just opposite to the beach. The fourth is the presence of the samadhis( memorials ) of two former chief ministers of TamilNadu ( Mr M.G Ramachandran and C.N. Annadurai). The other notable worth mentioning are the Marina swimming pool and the Aquarium located nearby.
If these are not enough, you have the Sri Parthasarathy temple, which is just located 1 m away from the beach. The temple is a thousand years old and is one of the most visited Vishnu temples.
If people love books, then you can find many of them in Pycrofts road,Triplicane or thiruvallikeni (near to the beach).

There are about 2 colleges near to the beach , one is the Queen Mary’s college ,which was the first womans’ college in Chennai, and the next one is the Presidency college ,which is rich in heritage and about 150 years old( DR Radhakrishnan studied here)

The speciality of Marina does not end here, she caters to the needs of all visitors and makes all people happy no matter who they are and where they come from.

Marina is home to several thousands of fisherman and woman. Most of the fisherman live In the nearby slums, but a small minority build their huts in the beach itself and live there facing the hot sun. The fisherman live as a joint community spending nearly 70% of their life in the sea, it is pathetic to see that they still suffer from poverty due to lack of attention, their only hope is the sea, which is their mother.

In the evenings, especially in the weekends, scores of people , poor and middle class come to the beach in thousands, everywhere you turn around , you can see a lot of scenes like 1) a poor man buying sundal (boiled gram) and murukku for his wife and kids
2) A man and a woman (mostly lovers) sitting in a remote corner and chatting to each other (no one know what they chat about).
3) Kids playing various games throwing all types of things and catching them.
4) The upper class people who come in cars and they spend the day buying ice creams, cool drinks etc for their family and sometimes you can see individuals boozing.
5) The famous Bajji shops that are making hot business selling all types of Bajjis and bondas. Not to forget the sundal wallah’s who sell sundal and murukku.
6) The chat shops, sugarcane shops, and the shops that sell fancy items made of shells etc making good business.
7) The group of college students, school students, and even elders playing cricket in the Beach lane.

There are hundreds of things that I would like to say more, but I cant because of the space constraint. No matter how shabby or dirty the Marina beach is, but it is still a wonder.

The biggest speciality of the Marina beach is that no matter who you are and what you are, once you go to her, you will never be disappointed, because Marina is like a mother and she takes care of the needs of all her children(us), that is why she is the queen of beaches.

Who Am I?

2006-04-25T10:14:00.000+06:00

I was reading the life history of the great sage Ramana Maharishi, it is said that Ramana attained enlightment at the young age of 15, after reading his life history, my mind prompted me to realise who i was and what was my real character. I made a mock assessment of myself and have published it. (I beg the great sage to forgive me, because i am far from enlightment)

Who Am I?
A person who wants to live life to the fullest.
A person who seldom procrastinates , but mostly makes up for the mess.
A person who loves to be loved by all.
A person who believes in god, but often doubts his existence and realises the truth later.
A person who believes that we create our own faith.
A person who gains happiness by making others happy(mostly).
A person who loves the dreaded three letter word starting with "s".(guess it yourself).
A person who wants to be at the centre of attention always( this is the main cause for my miseries.
A person who is short tempered.
A person who wants to be creative and innovative.
A person who makes a lot of mistakes, repents for it, asks forgiveness , but learns from it and tries to avoid making the mistake again.
A person who believes that god always wants to help us, but we dont listen to him.
A person who believes that opportunities are made and not given.
A person who believes that life is not a bed of roses, if you want the rose , you need to be pricked by the horns first.
A person who believes that friends and relations are the gift of god , they are meant to be cherished and not hated.
A person who tries to be unselfish(although i can do that only 8 times out of 10).
A person who wants to blog his thoughts , but seldom forgets what he wanted to blog and blogs something else.
A person who is not entirely perfect , but honest, straight forward and pious(not really).
A person who lies just for the sake of lying.
A person who wants to be committed to his job , but is only 80% successfull.
A person who can give a life for somebody who really loves him.
A person who thinks that good people always deserve to live better and bad people should suffer fof their sins(really impractical, but possible).
A person who has nevr planned in his life until now(it never works for me actually).
A person really loved by god, (because i really have been granted some great boons like having good relations and friends. I also have been given maximum oppurtunities and i have succeeded in places where i should have lost).
A person whose mind is seldom lost in thoughts about the future and the past, but not about the present.
A person who wants to become a great, honest, straightforward and famous human being.

There are lots more, but i dont want to blog them as i have already put too much about myself here.
Note: I might have missed some vital points here, but still i feel that these point reflect my character to a major extent.
I thank the reader for his/her patience.

One of my most cherished moments

2006-03-29T13:09:00.000+06:00

Note to the reader: please dont read this if you hate long blogs or personal blogs, you will get bored.

I have had many cherishable moments in my life, the below incident is one of those.

It was a Saturday, me and my friend thamaraimanalan were going to Chetpet to participate in the competitions held by the malayalee club. It was decided that thamarai would participate in the essay and oral competitions and I would take part in the quiz.

We both finished the essay competition, it was 11:30 by the time we finished. We heard an announcement that the quiz had been postponed and it was supposed to be held only in the evening. We looked at each other blankly, We had six hours left, I had not brought my lunch. I told my friend that I would go home and come back in the evening. He was reluctant to let me go as he thought I would not come back. But, I promised to be there on time.

I went home and had my lunch and took a short nap. When I woke up, I saw the time , it was already 5P.M. I wondered whether I should go. I thought it was a waste of attending the competition as there were many quality participants who could win the quiz hands down. However my mind said, “go to the club, you must go”. My gut feeling told me to go and attend the quiz no matter what happened.

I took the bus and reached the club just in time. My friend was relieved to see me. We had to pass in a written test first in order to qualify, We had 14 question out of which we answered just 7 correctly. I told thamarai, “ come on da, lets go I don’t think we will qualify”. To my surprise, we heard the announcement that we were the last time to get qualified. “Co-incidence or destiny”, my mind thought. We went on to the stage , we sat as Team E , the last but not least.

I observed all the participants, they sounded very optimistic and glared at us as if we were people from the stone age. The quiz started. The first three rounds saw all of us going neck to neck. The fourth round did a lot of damage to our morale. It was a picture round, we had to identify the person in the picture. We had a picture clip which had been passed to us by the other teams. I made a desperate attempt to answer the question, that picture had no resemblance to any icon. Out of frustration, I relied, “Is it the father of Bill Gates”. The whole audience along with the other teams burst into laughter.

It was so much that the anchor of the quiz also laughed. I was a little embarrassed, the member of team A( it was a girl, their team was leading in terms of scores) looked at me with a mocking smile and murmured something. I found out that she had said that we guys looked like jokers. I was hell bent on proving that we were smarter.

It was the last round, It was announced that the questions will be tie breaker, 10 point fof correct answers and 10 points minus , if we are wrong”. I looked at the scores
Team A-45, Team B-25, Team C-30, Team D 25, Team E(our team) 15. We were the last.

My friend was moaning, we really spoilt our image da, I don’t think that we will get even the third prize”. I told him to shut up. The questions began , I answered the first one wrongly,(minus 10 points) . My friend was mad. The crowd was happy as we provided entertainment The biggest turning point was that Team A,B ,Dand C answered 2 questions wrongly. So, the scores read Team A-25, Team B & D 5 our team 5. The next question was a multiple choice , I don’t know what happened , but I answered the question within the split of a second. I answered two more questions correctly( I dont know why they asked questions from KBC episodes, I could answer them as I was a KBC fan) ,later we were tied with team A for the top spot.

Our team now had the chances of winning the first prize(how things can change in 3 minutes). It was a tie breaker, 10 for the right answer , minus ten for the wrong answer. Team A was in a position of bother as we had their backs on the wall. The first question was not answered by both teams. The anchor looked at us and said, Looks like youboth wanna play it safe”. We nodded gently. The anchor put forward the last question (what a tie-breaker it was). Team A answered the question. We both sat with bated breath.

The anchor looked at us and said,” it was a great quiz , all teams performed spenlidly, but we have only one winner”. We waited with bated breath, the anchor continued, “ until the fifth round they were trailing, now they have risen like the phoenix, Team E ,Congrats on winning the first prize”. Thamarai was very happy, so was I. The crowd watching the action started cheering loudly and when we stepped down, they congratulated us and they said, “we thought that you were silly guys , but you just proved us wrong in the last round, keep up the good work”. I was astonished at our revival, thamarai turned to me and said, “macha, I thought we will never win ,now we hae won the first prize itself da”. I just pinched myself and said to myself,” thank god for making me participate, if I had stayed at home ,I would have missed this great experience.

Till today, I remember the quiz as it taught me two thing, “always participate no matter what the result maybe”, and “be optimistic”. To the reader , this may sound funny, but to me this is a treasured moment.

The origin of some words which we use daily

2006-03-29T10:26:00.000+06:00

I was going through the online dictionary, I got some very good information from the etymology of words. I realized that I was using some words without knowing their real meaning. Here are some of the words, which we use daily.

O.K.: The word OK has got many origins, but the best accepted theory is that during the World war, the British army started using code words for communication. Instead of using full words, they used abbreviation of words. It happened that “all correct” was one of the major words. The German army was spying over the messages and they adopted the same version, but since their pronunciation was different, the Germans spelt “all correct” as “Ole Korrect”. The word was further shortened as O.K. It is still not known how this word spread across all countries and found its name in the Oxford dictionary.

The next word is Catamaran. This word has its origin from the tamil word “Kattamaram”(It means a makeshift boat made up of logs of wood). Since the britishers could not pronounce the word properly, they called the word as “katamarm” and it virtually became Catamaran. (Three cheers to Tamil language).

We all use the word new, but how many of us know that it was a word which was named in honour of the great scientist,Sir Isaac Newton. It was decided in the early eighteenth century that the world “new” would be recognized as a word for something that has been just been created or discovered. (Well, what word did they use previously?)

Here comes the last word, but not least. This word is being used all over the world for answering telephone calls, but it actually means the exact opposite. The word “hello” gained a very dubious origin. We all know that sir Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but that version of telephone was very crude and could be used only for short distance calls. It was Sir Thomas Alva Edison , who improvised the telephone and made it more efficient. It happened that the day after releasing his improvised model of the telephone, Edison was getting a lot of calls from his friends, who kept on congratulating him, getting fed up of the calls , Edison picked the phone and yelled at the caller” Hell Oh!”.( What he meant was “go to hell, man). The caller was amused,but he thought it was a new word and so the word “Hello” came into existence.( Well, what did Edison think about this?)

These are some of the words , which I found interesting, I will blog more if I can get more info on etymology of words.

The that next time , you use a word, please be sure to get its origin. Who knows you might land up with a very good story, bye

real gift of god

2006-03-25T11:11:00.000+06:00

The Real gift of god.

Ganesh had everything a twenty four year old could ask for. He had completed B.E. as he had wished, got a job in his dream company and was working with perhaps the best team in the company. Ganesh was still missing something, he could not realize what it was. On that day he was working in his office, he got a call from vandhana. Ganesh was surprised, because vandhana was his childhood love. He had proposed to her and she had refused his love reasoning his inability to get a job then. But now, the tables had turned and it was Ganesh’s turn to ignore Vandhana only to accept her later as his wife.

Ganesh was born in a middle class family as the elder son. His father was a very humble and well-educated person and his mother was a humble and noble human being. Ganesh faced many struggles during his youth hood as his father had resigned his job and started a business, which bombarded leaving the family in debts. Ganesh’s father wanted him to support his family after completing his P.U.C, but Ganesh was adamant on studying B.E which his family could least afford. It was his mother who had sold her jewels and arranged finance for his studies. His mother was the most affectionate person a child could ask for.

Now, Ganesh had achieved all that he wanted, he also married the girl whom he loved most, their marriage was held without the knowledge of his parents as he feared that they might be a hindrance. Ganesh settled down with his family in the city of Bangalore. Ganesh’s parents were still struggling for financial help, they came to know of their son’s marriage and they were longing to see their daughter in law.

Meanwhile, Vandhana did not want Ganesh to support his parents. She was brought up in a high-class family and hence had little consideration for his parents. Ganesh was in his dream world and showered affection on his in-laws and ignored his parents. Little did Ganesh realize that his ignorance could cost him dearly.

It was that fateful day, Ganesh was sitting in the verandah sipping his cup of tea and reading the newspaper, he was thinking of going to the temple and thank god for all the gifts he had given to him. So, Ganesh took his wife to the temple and then returned back, he got a call and when he picked the phone, he heard a familiar voice. It was his mother; she was longing to see her son. In a very feeble tone she said, “oh Ganesh, how are you, my dear son, why have you not visited us for a long time”. Ganesh could hardly speak, he did not have the courage to speak, the voice at the other end continued, “Beta, your father is not well and we have no money to buy him medicine, could you please send some soon”. This made Ganesh very sad, he was about to answer when Vandhana disconnected the phone with a bang.

Ganesh was angry with Vandhana for her misdeed. Vandhana just said that she didn’t want him to waste time and money on those old persons. She just gave him a dazzling look and hug him so tightly that he forgot his sorrow. A few years passed by, Ganesh constantly ignored his parents, meanwhile Ganesh had quit his job and started his own business. Everything was going so smooth until that fateful day. It was five in the evening when disaster struck, Ganesh got a call from his factory and he was informed that an electrical short circuit had caused a fire that had burnt down the complete factory. This made Ganesh tremble. He was completely bankrupt and from that day all his creditors and his partners started coming in demanding their money. Vandhana was dismayed at her husbands sudden failure and left him to defend the situation all alone.

Ganesh was advised by his friends to hide in some place until they arranged for the money. Ganesh went back to his hometown and there he stopped on the way at a temple and prayed. He opened his eyes and looked at the lord , the eyes of the lord seemed to convey something. Ganesh was deeply moved and he went to the place which he had been avoiding all these years. When, Ganesh entered he saw his father reading a paper and his mother cooking in the kitchen . When his mother saw him, there were tears of joy and a very happy re-union. Ganesh fell down at his fathers and mothers feet and begged for forgiveness. His parents forgave him and blessed him. Ganesh was now happy and his heart suddenly was filled with sasisfaction. Ganesh realized his mistake and he now got back the courage to face his problems. He called up one of his friend and got the news that they had arranged for the money to be given and the whole situation was under control. Ganesh just closed his eyes and thanked god for the real gift he had given, “his parents”.

the Frog that had no brains

2006-03-17T19:02:00.000+06:00

This incident is one of the silliest moments in my life.
It happened during my first year of college, i was doing my B.sc Plant Biology and Plant Biotech at R.K.M.V college mylapore. We had Zoology as the allied subject during the first year, i hated Zoology as i had to dissect cockroaches, earthworms, and worse frogs...(Yuck). Since, i was a vegetarian, I found it rather hard to come in terms to what i was doing. However i persisted all my hatred and continued with the dissections.

The year passed and the pre-final practicals came. It happened that the final dissection was that of Brain of frog. It was a very tough one as i had to cut the Head of the frog and remove the outer layer of skin. The biggest problem was that the tenderness of the body parts required very soft hands. I was not handling the frog properly and ended up making a mess of the Frogs head.

I saw all my friends trying their level best to accomplish the task, they were slightly better as they atleast managed to find the frog's brain (it was already in pieces).The whole atmosphere was tense except for the hilarious moment when my friend Srivatsan(who was also a vegetarian and hated frogs) got up and said to the lecturer, "Sir , this frog has no brains , i can't find anything in its head". The whole class broke into laughter. The lecturer was however bemused and said, " it seems that not only the frog ,but even you dont' have a brain".

I was watching all the action from a corner. All the amusement had stopped and the class got serious again. The lecturer took a look at the time and said " ten minutes more , all of you either finish the dissection or lose your internal marks". These words really added panic . I was so desperate, so i decided to take a risk , i drew the diagram (although it hardly resembled the frog brain) , i took a part of the frogs intestine, carved it into a lookable shape. Silently, i took my paper and the frogs intestine(so called brain) and placed it on the lecturer's desk. I tried to escape only to find the lecturer staring at my masterpiece(the frogs pseudo brain).

Having a very skeptical look at my work , he said ," my dear students, please tell me where to you find the brain of a frog".
My friends replied," in the head of the frog". Then he looked at me and said" i am very suprised to see the frog's intestien, can you explain to me what is happening?"

I was already tense and i muttered" but sir i could not find the brain of the frog". This angered the lecturer so much that he said " It seems that god has created you with your brain placed in your intestine ".

The whole class burst into laughter and i was totally embarassed , this incident is still used by the lecturer to infuse humour among his students . However i remember this incident as one of the craziest things i have done in my life.

Hope never fails

2006-03-10T12:31:00.000+06:00

Hope never fails.

I am one of the very few persons in the world who had the fortune to survive some very bad situations. I have made many mistakes, the worst mistake was quitting three companies in six months. IT all began with my first job in a BPO. My first two months were fun as I was in training. When we were sent to the floor(original workplace), my nightmares began.

I was surrounded by people working with headphones and speaking with an alien accent. A place where words like Bas***d and F###er were very commonly repeated by Team leaders and Managers. I felt like a fish out of water, I took my first call on the job, it was a disaster as the lady at the other end hung up, I hoped that it would get better the other day, the other day went fine as I took 23 calls and spent 8 and half hours on the job. However, there was an intense feeling inside me that said I never belonged here.

My worst fears came true, I was never good at taking calls, I often made my clients irate and decided that I was not fit for this job. I quit my first job with great pain and convinced my parents that I took the right decision (which I knew was wrong at that time). I then joined a small company in Kodambakkam, which gave me courage and the will to work with freedom.

I joined the company on October 12 th, it was a company called Harshini Software solutions , I got the designation of Customer Support officer, my salary was meager, but I didn’t mind as I got a lot of friends in that office. I was happy as I found a new job sooner than I hoped.

I got some good friends like Faizal sir, Karthick sir, Sandhya, Murugan sir, Nanda and Shenbagavalli and more. We worked together like a family. I learnt a lot from Karthick and Faizal as they taught me that life had a lot to teach. Faizal sir also told me that I must search for another job, as I must make a career. It sounded bitter, but I knew that truth was always bitter, so I left the job and searched for a new one hoping to find a good career.

My hopes were again fulfilled; I was trained by MAFOI academy. I spent 2 weeks of training on E-learning. I got a lot of friends like Karthick, Nafees, Devi, Aparna, Nancy, Ramesh, John, Aparna, Vaishnavi, Suhani, Sivaranjini. We all had a great time at the academy. Those were one of the best days in my life, I had learnt a lot. We were supposed to be placed at SIFy; unfortunately, only 5 of us were selected and the rest started searching for jobs elsewhere.

I went to a lot of companies and then got selected in a concern called EM*****S. It was a very good concern to work with. But, I felt that I didn’t belong there as I was placed as quality control officer and I had no interest in that field. I pleaded with the HR to transfer me to ID. But , it was of no use. I resigned the job and lied to my dad that they forced me to resign. I knew that i had done a mistake, but it was too late.

I felt a lot of pain in my heart, I had cheated everybody including my parents. I thought I was of no use to my family. Something in my heart told me that I was right. I gathered courage and searched for jobs again. This time, I made sure that I would select the right job and stay. My efforts met with failures for ten days. My dad advised me to go to the temple and pray to god. I went to a famous siva temple in Saidapet. I prayed sincerely, I began my job search with a new found enthusiasm. My efforts again met with failures, I was disgusted and thought of going back to BPO jobs. I prayed to god not to make me work in a BPO again.

I made up my mind to intensify my search and be more selective. I heard from my friend Karthick that there was a vacancy for ID’s in a company at Chetpet. He didn’t give me the address ,but only the name. I went to Chetpet that day and searched for the company , could not find it as nobody could assist me without the address. I could not contact Karthick as he was out of town. I took a bus to Besant Nagar and went to every E-learning company that could offer me a job. I spent the whole day traveling around the city. When I reached home, I prayed to god to help. The Next day, I made up my mind to accept any job even if it was a BPo. I was about to leave for an Interview in a BPO, just then I received a call from an E-learning company. I was thrilled to find that it was the same company that I was searching. So I thanked god and attended the interview at that company (I am working in it today, I am very happy with the working environment).

Once again, I realized that my hopes were materialized solely due to my belief in god and myself. I realized that I was lucky enough to get everything which I always hoped inspite of the fact, that I had taken several wrong decisions.

Heaven on earth

2006-03-10T11:02:00.000+06:00

It was the 28th of october 2005, i was on the way to my office . It was raining heavily that day.My parents advised me to take leave as the roads were clogged with water. But, i made up my mind that i would go. I knew that this day would be very different from otherdays.

I started to office by riding the cycle. The skies were dark , they looked so dull that the rain clouds resembled a thunder dragon. I went to the railway station to take the train to Kodambakkam , (actually the train travels to Beach station via Kodambakkam). My mind becames restless as i saw that there were very less people. It struck me that the trains might have been cancelled due to heavy rain.My fears became true when i saw that a tree near the track had fallen on the electric wires. I soon realise that my chances of going to office were very bleak.

I waited in the station for about 25 minutes only to hear the announce ment that all trains were cancelled. Most of the people left, but i stayed back with the hope that some train would definitely come. My hope was realised when a train came at 10:30 it was damn crowded. I boarded the last compartment.

The train left , it went through Pallavaram. I could see the surroundings as i was standing near the Entrance .It was a heavenly sight as everywhere there was water. The train stopped near Tirusulam(the station near the airport). We all watched the Tirusulam mountain in which the rain water was flowing from the top , the scene reminded me of some waterfall, the heavy rain had converted the barren mountain into a heavenly waterfall.

The train went via Pazhavanthangal, St.thomas Mount , and Guindy. All the places had the same scenario ,all the cars and scooters were stuck in the flood. I was shocked to see the St.thomas mount sub way filled with water to the brim and a lorry was submerged , (a very rare sight considering that the subway was 18 feet in height and 25 feet in width).

I watched other people in the train, they were relishing the sight like kids , all of them were office goers, they had started the journey fully knowing that their offices would have declared a holiday. They were all right. Finaslly, the train reached Kodambakam, i got down and rang my officeonly to find that my office had declared a holiday.

I ran back to board the next train to Tambaram(via Chrompet) , this tie the train was empty, All along the way , i saw a lot of greenery covered with a sheet of flood water from the heavy rains. It seemed that the rain god had finally blessed our dry city of chennai with rain. This time, the rain had increased to such a level that the whole city was flooded with water.

As the train went via the busy parts of Mambalam, Saidapet and Guindy and the into the Suburbs like St.Thomas Mount, i could see water , water and more water. Never before in my life had i ever seen so much of water in chennai. Well, to some people that day was hell, but to me , the day was Heaven on earth as it was the only time i had smelt the freshness of the soil , seen trees dancing like violent maidens, the clouds threatening to pour even more like a thunder dragon and the carpet of flood spreading across the ever busy city called Chennai.

A blessing in disguise.

2006-03-08T13:16:00.000+06:00

Sometime in life , you feel that god has betrayed you ,but in reality he has given you an experience which you might find handy in tough situations.
I too had some of those experiences. Believe me when you face those tough situations, you seldom think negative and curse yourself, when you come out of the situation and think deep, you think it would rather be a blessing in disguise.

I have faced some situations, but i cant put all of them in words since i am no great writer , but this is one experience i would like to remember.

I have to first speak about my family, we were four in number , me my yonger brother and my parents. My father was running a restaurant which was not doing good business. I used to look after the hotel whenever my father used to rest. We were incurring heavy losses and our debts were mounting. Me and my mother often used to fight with dad to persuade him to close the hotel and go for other options. Poor dad!, all he could do was moan and shout at us, he had very little options , if he had to close the restaurant , he needed to repay the persons who provided provisionary items on credit to us. He never had the amount of money to repay the debts and he could never save money for his kids as well. Our arguments took a heavy toll on him.

Days went on, the business went from bad to worse, so did our grumblings. Dad was also suffering, but this time ,he was suffering from bad health. He had carbuncles all over his body . We persuaded him to see the doctor which he did after a lot of arguments . The end result was that he was diagnosed with diabetes and worse, he had a huge carbuncle in his back which looked life threatening.

I was shattered on hearig this, "first , our business is dull, then my father is sick and he needs to admitted to a hospital then what ", i said to myself. My father was admitted in the royapetah hospital. Where fate took its turn in torturing him. He was placed in the C ward which was known for very poor maintainence . He was made to sleep on the floor as there were not enough beds for all patients. Due to the absence of my dad, i had to run the restaurant all by myself,(my uncle was also with me, he had a major role), the first day went good , but the days that followed it just unwrapped more unpleasant sundries. Chennai was not known for heavy rains. But the days(oct 24-nov11 2003) had some very heavy rains.

Our restaurant business was in shambles the roads were flooded with water. I sat in the cash counter , at that time i must have felt bad,but i felt happy for no reason. I just diverted my mind on the road that was clogged with water. My uncle was enjoying his time talking to people , the businesss had almost frozen as there was not a single person on the road due to heavy rains. I turned my attention at the server's desk. There were a lot of food items still fet to be sold . I smiled at my agony and said to myself"it's all in the game, i will not be disturbed.It was lunch time, i wet to the hospital to meet my dad.The best thing was that apart from the bad business i was enjoying the day seeing people on the road reacting to the rain in thier own peculiar ways.
One person was cursing the rain god , and the other was happy that atleast now it was raining. I realised the moral" One man's food is the other mans poision".This made my mind mature and it released all stress. i spent rest of the days solely on the hope that our misery will come to an end which happened soon.

He was very tired and his back was bleeding as they had operated on the carbuncle. My dad finished his lunch and he turned to me and asked" how is the business". I hesitated to reply , but making my mind happy i said "its going great pa". my dad was taken aback, his face told the story ,he still didn't believe me but he was happy that i had matured enough to understand the situation and not tell him the truth that the businessw was nearly sinking. That lie might have done some good to my fathers morale.

The doctors had first said that my father would have a 50-50 chance of surviving the carbuncle, then i was shocked. My gut feeling said that my father would recover from the illness. However the doctors re-iterated that my father would take atelast 2 years to recover. Dad was very worried as he had no idea on how we will survive until then. I was his only hope. The best thing was that all my long last relatives came to see my father and they also heled our family financially and in other ways.

My dad was dischargged on november 13th 2003, he was physically weak but mentally fresh. He was happy that his short tempered son had managed to run a sick business for 20 long days without losing his temper and also managing to save the sinking morale of his family. I thanked god for saving his life. God made us even more happy , the experience at the hospital made my dad take many a good decision. One was to stop the hotel business and the other was to find a job, which he did . My father recovered from the carbuncle, it took just 2 months to heal, the doctors were suprised to find that their predictions had gone wrng by 80%. They were very happy that my dad had recovered well after having a sugar level of 350 . Today, i still think about my experiences in 2003. I find that it was not a curse but a blessing in disguise. For the follwoing reasons.
1) had my father never got ill, i never would have seen my long last relatives who came together just to help my dad.
2) The amout of respect that my relatives had upon my dad.
3) i also found that i had matured from a short tempered kid to a young man who held his nerve in the toughest of situaions.
4) the best reason is that y dad decided to do away with his sick restaurant business which was eating away our earning and also our much cherished happiness.
5) it taught me that hope and belief in god would help a man cross many diffcult situations.

I know that he reader might not get the hang of the story , but all i want to tell the reader is that when god wants to do some good things he will prepare you by giving tough situations and he reward you. Please hang on while facing tough situations, you never know about the positives it might give.

My worst Procrastination

2006-03-02T12:33:00.000+06:00

My worst procrastination:

I have procrastinated so many times in my life , and i have suffered due to it many times. Each time I procrastinated, I made u my mind not to repeat my bad acts again. But, there was one procrastination. Which I would repent heavily, I found out the hard way.

Today, I woke up in the morning (read 7 AM) and finished my normal day duties. Everything was going normal until the phone rang. I saw the caller ID , it was Kittu mama(read Uncle) ,who was calling , I just carelessly passed the phone to my mother. She took the phone and after some seconds her face burst into tears of sadness. I found that her beloved sister (Savithri, my elder aunt) had passed away. I was dumbstruck and the news stuck me like a bolt from the blue. My aunt was just 54, she was very humble, sentimental and caring. My mom sobbed because she could not see her sister again. In my aunt’s hometown, they don’t allow the dead bodies to be kept for more than one day. To make matters worse, Byndore was 23 hours from Chennai and we could not go there in time for the cremation.

My mother cried and cried, that was all she could do. Looking at her, I felt very guilty. It was I, who had made her miss the last chance of seeing her dear sister alive. We had gone to Karnataka in 2004; we were staying at my father’s sister’s house located at Ambalpadi (near Udupi). My mother had planned to leave for Byndore to see my aunt, I did not want to go to Byndore because I thought I would be bored as my sisters (daughters of my Aunt) were married and there was nobody at her house to chat with. My mom had no choice as she could not go alone. I thought that we could see her the next year , but i was wrong.

At that time, we had no idea that It was an opportunity, a chance to see my dear aunt for the very last time. We left for Chennai after staying in Ambalpadi for ten long days. It didn’t strike me to spend atleast one day in Byndore.

God was good with me, he forgave all my procrastinations and even helped me make up for my procrastinations. But now, I cannot make up my procrastination, no matter how hard I try. All I can do is pray to the almighty to make give her soul salvation and just hope that I never do procrastinate again.

My loved one

2006-03-01T12:12:00.000+06:00

Every person has a person whom he loves so much. Very often, it would be a girl whom you love.
I met my loved one, when i was in tenth standard, it all happened within the span of a day.

I am no great blogger or poet, but i will narrate my experience in a simple way which you may or may not like.

It was 18th march 2000, i was heading to my hometown after a gap of 6 long years. My mind was filled with shades of joy and excitement. My life was like a genie, whenever i rubbed it, it dished out a whole new experience which i mostly relished. I wondered if that genie would dish out ye another suprise , i just waited. The bus finally reached my home town at 6 in the morning. I stepped down from the bus and walked , i saw that not much had changed in my hometown excet for some new buildings , it was prety much the same. I reached my uncle's house where i was warmly welcomed by all my relatives. Really, i was the happiest man in the worl , when i was just adored by my relatives, i felt like a child who gets happy for small thngs.

It was going great untill i saw her, She was a girl of 14 , she was fair and looked familiar. Upon looking her. My heart missed a beat, well it was definitely not infactuation, because the feeling was in my heart rather than my brain. I spent the rest of the day , trying to get her attention. Finally i got it. All my relatives had gone to the temple, and the only other person left was her(Lucky me) well i slwoly went near her and started a conversation. I wanted to capture her heart, but she was treating me like other persons. We had a pretty long conversation, we shared our experiences. In the end, she has stolen my heart. I wanted to tell her about my feelings , but i could not. She always spoke with me with a twinkle in her eyes. She was leaving with her parents that evening. I felt sad and a corner of my mind said that i loved her. I could not finish the conversation fully , but i did meet her the next year and until this day , i have no idea about the feelings she has about me. But i do know at the bottom at my heart that she has some soft corner which i share and one day i will marry her.

As usual , the genie called life had given me yet another exerience that i have cherished untill now.