Envisage of the decade

It was merely the end of the previous decade I was struggling hard to understand what was Y2K problem. Today I am at my cubicle, nonchalantly checking out google maps to find out a couple of good restaurants in the Cunningham street. This decade which molded me from school kid to a college brat, college brat to a devoted employee, minor to a major and nonetheless, major to a married, had been a whirlpool yet holding a special place in my heart in sorts of events, places and people. As I look around , I am overwhelmed by the evolution that has happened swiftly and silently.

Some of the remarkable evolutions and initiations of the decade:

I remember my uncle having a cell phone, which resembled a TV remote control with an antenna. I have bragged about it in school, as it was seldom seen that time. But now from youngster to oldster, from house wives to business men, from cobbler to president, everyone has a mobile. Numerous service providers, numerous handsets, CDMA, GSM, Blackberry, O2, Dual Sim, flip, slid, twist, GPRS, 3G and more.

The audio tapes have become an antique. First CD and DVD players took over, then came the iPod.

Workstations are replaced by laptops. These small notebooks is our world now. Its a style statement more than a necessity.

Anything and Everything is online now. I have to make a special mention of “google”,without which our life (esp. mine)would be like living in darkness. Zillion web sites orkut, facebook, gmail, ebay, bookmyshow, dictionary, blogger, wikipedia, matrimony, twitter etc etc.. leading to depletion of IPv4 address. Browsing, Checking mails, updates, tweets, scraps and chatting has become part of our routine.

Media Should I call it a Satan or an Angel? We are engulfed by the television. The number of TV Channels has increased 3 folds compared to the start of the decade. We devote higher priorities to the outrageous “Mega-Serials” than for our loved ones. We prefer to be a jackass in the reality shows than being a dignified human being. We have also identified the dancer, singer, entertainer, bride and even solved family problems on air.

Furthermore is the News Channels, one hand they marched for jessica lal on the other exaggerated a tweet by Shashi Taroor.



Shopping meant haggling with the shopkeeper for a mere 5 rupees in the past decade. Now its a walk in to the mall, choose a brand, customize the design, swipe the card and worry about the bill later.

100's of actors, 1000's of movies, Million's spent on it, and watch it in a clean, small, expensive Multiplex akka the “adda”.

I have never heard the word “Resort” before. It was either lodge or the hotel. Whether its honeymoon, party, wedding, or outing, we all end up in a resort.

All the Spa I knew as a kid was an oil bath. As I assume these spas are gimmicky of the age old oil bath.

Thanks to the Low cost flights which has helped me travel to and forth office and home and making me feel at home.

How can evil stay behind. Millions of bombs had been blasted. Immense wounded and dead. The ease of life has eased terrorism.

I am not sure how I should conclude. Just hoping that end of the next decade, I would write a blog about end of terrorism and end of social evils.

Wish You all a Happy New Year and a New decade.

Sunitha Krishnan's Ted Talk

Look into the world we live:
Must Watch, Should Watch. Please Watch..

CaCoPhOnY at the break of dawn

The bosky chilled morning breeze snuggles down and brushes my hair as the wind rustles through the leaves, waking up to the melody of the singing bird and enjoying a aromatic cup of tea as the sun leaps out of the hills, is the classic morning, I entice. I have encounter many such mornings, but never relished them. My heart now sinks as I wake up to the jangling clatters every morning.

As the dawn breaks, I burst out of my dreams to the rasping of the broom. Even before the clock ticks 6 and the darkness withdraws, in the dusk of dawn, my neighbor is eager to clean the porch. She starts with a dry run followed by wet one. As she scrapes the cemented floor with the whisk and splatters water, I just wanna open the drapes and ask her to “Give the porch a rest”. Thanks to the mason who had made the porch strong enough to sustain the violence.

Chasing this, the temple and churches start their hollers. Does anyone really listen to that screech of instruments/voices? Let me get it straight, are they hoping to attain god(s) with that or scare them away. Seriously, I don't understand the purpose. Not to mention, the outrageous howls during festivals and special events.

As my ear adapts to the shriek, the “War of Barks” starts. Its like a chat across the streets. As I picture, once a dog whistles a “Good Morning”, the combat takes off. The Good Mornings and gossips flags off from every dog in the audible range. This continues throughout the day and night and sometimes all night.

There was times, I pitied people who lived close to highway. Now “Wherever you go, the horn follows”. Then there is slamming of doors, obnoxious ring tones/ reverse horns, extremely loud alarm etc.. etc.. Still I manage to slumber to jazz up my day ahead, but its a slumber not a blackout.

Zone 1 – Spring Chicken

My Own Philosophy:

Every employee has to face a chunk of torment for a few weeks in the new office,its called the Spring Chicken Zone. In the Zone, there are 4 stages or the 4C's (Confusion, Comparison, Complaint and Composure), that one would encounter. 4 C's is discussed below in the chronological order:

Stage 1: (Confusion)
How will my colleagues be? Old or young? Guys or Gals? Will they be interactive? Where will be my cubicle? Will it be secluded? How will be the people in my cubicle? With whom should I go out for lunch? What about tea/coffee? How will be the work? Will I get to learn something good? Will it add value to my profile? Will I use my skills? How about my manager? Will he/she be bossy? How will he handle leaves? Will he be inclined to certain people? Will he be co-operative? Do I have permission to access this site?

Stage 2:(Comparison)
There used to be biscuits in the coffee rooms, in my previous company. In my previous team, we used to conduct meeting very rarely. People in my previous team were fun. Here people come so early and they seem so sincere. In my earlier company, we used to go out for lunch a bit early. The process there was better. Navigation is kinda of difficult here.

Stage 3: (Complaint)
Come on, How do you expect me to know where the lab is? Where will I find the Employee self-service/server build, God everything is very difficult over here? I have to open the bank account, What is the HR team doing? Everyone around me are busy, how will I learn something? What the hell, I have never used selenium or ant or QTP, how do you assume I can run the script?

Stage 4: (Composure)
Chalo, I cannot do anything unless someone gives me a lead, Let me chillex till then. I have a dead line for the assignment, but I will say, its my first attempt and I will escape. Cannot read more docs, let me go home. Let me orkut for a while, if someone says its prohibited, I will manage saying I didnt know that. Oh, this is how it is done, first day when he showed a demo, everything looked like guns and bombs. Its so simple.

Once the Zone is mastered or the Spring Chicken is skinned out, the next Zone is the Dark Horse.

Please vote the Poll "Should I continue Zone 2 - Dark Horse"

(Will Be Continued)

Software Engineer's Bhayam

Hi,

Since my project is yet to start I am having loads of time. I thought I would try out something different. I have adapted Famous Kamal's dialog in the Movie Thenali. Ya, the Bhayam one, for a software tester. I am very poor in spelling out tamil in English. So bear with my spelling mistake and also please comment me wherever i went wrong so that I can update them.

Hope you will enjoy it. Fingers Crossed.

Incase you want to view the video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjkNU6ncTTU


Ellam siva bhayam endru sollevirkal,
ennaku ellam bhayam mayam,
software testing bhayam,
Software Testing, the bugs stops here endru vaelai ellatha software engineer forums la sonnavar, bug raise panna bug invalida pooiyudumo endra bhayam ennaku,
setup bhayam ennaku,
installation bhayam ennaku,
quick installum bhayam,
complete installum bahyam ennaku,
mount bhayam, map bhayam,
log check pannavum bhayam,
test plan review endrallum bhayam,
test case creation'um bhayam ennaku,
test case execution pannavum bhayam,
test success aanaalum bhayam,
test fail aanaal therundhay solluvuvaen koola bhayam ennaku,
unix bhayam ennaku, windows bhayam ennaku, server bhayam ennaku, client bhayam ennaku,
cubicle endral bhayam ennaku, lab endrallum bhayam ennaku,
labku ullal errukira server machine kandalum bhayam ennaku,
testing la manual, automation,
automation panra selenium'um bhayam ennaku,
performance test panra QTP, QTP la use panra VB Script bhayam ennaku,
VB script syntax oruaanum tappa-ayidumo endra bhayam ennaku,
[Sit Down] Nandri,
team meeting bhayam ennaku,
project meeting bhayam ennaku,
mail bhyam ennaku, messenger bhayam ennaku,
endha team lead bhayam, project lead bahyam, manager bhayam, architect bahyam, developer bhayam, support bhayam,
customer bhayam, avar ellai endralum bhayam ennaku,
[Excuse mister], endha language'um bhayam ennaku,
shell scripting, perl scripting, vb scripting, java scripting, Apple scripting, Micro Scripting, Action Scripting, Unreal Scripting, post Scripting, Tran-scripting, endru pala scripting languages errukendrathu enna solluvinar,
yendha scriptingum unnaku theriyavillaiyada,
kadavul thaen unnai kaapattha vaenum endru solli HR ennai veetuku anupinavar,
anga ponnal, naurki bhagam, monster bhayam, timesjob bahyam, resume bahyam, cover letter bhayam, yendha job'kum apply panna bhayam,
apply pannathuku reply varavelli endrallum bhayam,
job interviewerai anuga bhayam,
anugheya job interviewla select aavamo enra bhayam,
reference katekayum bhayam,
directa apply pannavum bhayam,
techincal round bhayam,
hr round endrallum bhayam,
interviewerai parka yenno bhayam,
telephonic attend pannallum bhayam,
C bhayam, C++ bhayam, java bhayam, db bhayam, oops bhayam, networks endrallum bhayam, software testing concepts bhayam,
Software endralla bayam!!!!

Vegetarians among Non-Vegetarians

We (a group of 8 people), had a small party at “Barbeque Nation” yesterday. Except Me and my husband, all the others were vegetarian, partially though. Added to the hitch, there was a sea food festival going on. Our barbeque course had many options fishes, prawns, crabs, squid, chicken and mutton while the vegetarians had few. As our course kept coming, others felt abandoned. Since, I was throwing the party, I felt downhearted. To my relief, they had good choice in the buffet. Ultimately, the party was good and we all had a good time.



While returning home, I was trying to comprehend the situation from both the perspective.

Non-Vegetarian Speaks:
“How is it possible to eat grilled pineapple, when there is a rooster chicken in front of you? Wow! I should appreciate their determination. But sad, they have very little choice and it looks so dull, look at my plate how colorful it is. However, we don't see how it is prepared. It's a throw of the dice, there is always a risk of tangle.”

Vegetarian Speaks:
“How can they eat something that smells so bad? I hope there is a separate kitchen and they don't mix up the vessels. I hope the waiter served only the vegetarian food. God, its so annoying to reconfirm every time a dish is served and to wait for someone to taste it first. Look at those plates, they are always full, while mine is always empty. :@”

Being a non-vegetarian, I really feel sorry for the vegetarians. Also feeling bad for not letting them have a peaceful dinner. So, I will go with the majority and try veg restaurants henceforth.

What passes your mind when you are among vegetarian/non-vegetarian?

No more meetings Please

It's over a month I have joined my new company, but I have spent around 24 hours (3 work days) attending meetings/telecasts [just the official group ones]. I get at least a couple of meeting requests/delegations every day. I have a feeling that if someone sneezes, there will be a meeting where the speaker will say “It's important to understand our objectives for the year 2010 and align it with the process of sneezing”. I just wait when the speaker will complete so that I can get out of there. But I am not so lucky, once the speaker stops, he is flooded with the usual questions. These question never change or its mostly not relevant to the purpose of the meeting. The audience who ask these questions have a strange behavior, they ask question only when we have something urgent to do or when the speaker is about to wind-up like showing the chocolate put not giving it. It's over my threshold and hence thought I will blog regarding these frustrating meetings.

Facts:

1. Every Knowledge Sharing session is best accomplished when scoped to a small group say a strength of 20 – 30 people.

2. Human capacity for observation is 30 to 45 min.

3. When met in a large group, people pay more attention to other people around them than to what the speaker says.

These are the facts that everyone know. Now I have few questions,

WTH do we have meetings for all the employees, which means for a group of 400 – 500 people (in my case), clearly there is very less we understand from the knowledge shared.

Why are the meetings for few hours? I just cannot focus on whats going on for so long. I tend to sleep or start looking at people around me.

Why do they repeat the same stuff again and again and again? Every meeting says, Lets understand our objectives of year 2010. I am tired of hearing there words.

I believe there are many other questions popping in the heads of every frustrated meeting attendees. There is a need for a re-engineering in the method of conducting the meeting. Few changes I will expect are

1. Conduct all employee meetings only when they are highly important

2. The general updates can be shared as a mail or through the managers

3. Conducting meeting whenever people come from other offices should be optional. Reason: I rarely understand his accent and He is also going to repeat the same

4. Listening to Conference calls is very irritating, same reason I just cant understand what they say and many times there is lot of disturbance in the call

5. Repeating of the same information should be avoided, because once I knows its the repeated topic I just stop listening

6. When a meeting is conducted say 1 hour, it is not just 1 hour, 10 – 15 min it may get delayed, 10 -15 min for people to commute, 10 – 30 min a small discussion about the meeting or a break after meeting. There is an addendum of 45 min to 1 hr. So meeting spoils the nearly 2 hrs of the effective work time

7. Phones should be kept in silent mode and bring laptops to take down notes should be avoided. Sometimes I just hear the jamming of the keys in the laptop or bizarre ring-tones.

Final Word: I am a person who hates meeting. Many people love meetings. If you are one of those please pardon.

Please vote the poll "What is the most frustrating part in an Employee Meeting?"

Techie a school kid

Techie is in fact a school kid. He wakes up remembering a meeting or training for which he will be late like the kid who forgot to complete his homework. He carries a bag with god knows what all but merely useless stuff and a laptop where his life starts and ends similar to notebooks of the kids. He reaches office and searches the crap he carried to find he has forgotten the access card. Now making the face of a kid who forgot to get the signature of the parent in the diary he goes to the security section for a temporary card. Security are the boss now, after the lots of gyan and procedures, he is given the temporary card. Then he hurries to the meeting which has started long back. Entering the meeting room, everyone in the room will give him a stare same as kids stare at the one who is late to the assembly.
The very authentic behavior can be seen when the performance discussions happen or the hike letter is distributed. Techie takes every efort to find out the hike of the other techies like how the kids wait to find the numbers of other kids in the exam

As a techie we should be proud we still retain the innocence of a school kid :p

Demon Named Terrorism

We, the human have left behind the barbarism of our ancestors, which they adopted for survival, and advanced into a civilized citizen by personifying a humane character with the help of codes of religion. The violent strike inherited has not been rooted out, it has unconsciously breed into demon called terrorism. This concealed demon has began to liberate and take the road down to cannibalism in the name of religion. Extinguishing these aroused demon seems impossible. But, we can always terminate the demon budding within us. With the gospels of all the religion, i.e. brotherhood, lets kill the demon and unearth the violent force within us. Lets take the road towards humanitarian.

End of the Job Hunting Ordeal

Finally on Nov 3rd 2009 my job hunting ordeal came to an end. I was confirmed an offer. I was jumping up and down, mainly because I was frustrated attending interviews and hearing rejections. I am no super human. Every rejection just weakened my self confidence and hope. I was even prepared to enroll for an MBA program as an alternative option.

Thank God!!! I got a job.. Its a great relief now. I am enjoying the office environment now. After sitting at my new desk, I realized how much I have missed this 1.5 feet space that I hypothetically own. Now I have a cubicle, a PC and loads of documents piled up on my desktop. My ordeal will consequently change its course.

But everything apart.. I have a Job.. hurray

Job Hunting Ordeal

It’s been more than a month I have set off to hunt a job and the experience as a job hunter is rather bitter. When initially I created a profile in the job portals, I was in high spirits and hopes. I got a number of calls from various consultancies and companies. After a customary walk through my profile, the consultant/HR will assure me that my profile is perfect for the job opening. Then, there will be an optional phone interview where all my past experience and knowledge will be questioned. Next will be a face to face interview which will be 2 to 3 rounds of technical interview. After that, the HR will say the typical “We will call you soon and we will discuss the rest”. Following that will be a long silence and an expectation every time the phone rings. Finally the expectation turns to frustrations.

Few of my bad experience: In one company, they called me for a face to face interview and when I reached there, HR said all the interviewers have gone for a meeting and the interview cannot be conducted. I just had to travel 1 hour to hear that. In another, there were 3 rounds of interview where all the interviewers asked me the same question in the same order. Where they testing if I am consistent in my answers?? Huh...! @#%^&*().. In 2/3 companies, after all the rounds of interview I was informed they were looking for candidates with development experience. I have walked them through my profile for so many time and they could have rejected me earlier. Why make me go through all the procedure and then reject :’(???

Anyway, it’s all part of job hunting. Anyone who is hunting job will go through all these. I am not an exception. Just hoping for the phone to ring and enjoy the day at office.

Zio in Photographs

I was cleaning my closet and caught hold of few old photographs. As always it was the end of cleaning cupboard. Mom walked in with a cup of tea. When raining like cats and dogs, a cup of tea and a bundle of old albums. Wow!!! Soon we got engrossed in the photographs. Every photo had a story, a sequence behind it. There was one picture in which I was sitting in a small tub full of bubbles – My own bubble bath. In another my brother and cousin were making faces and looked very angry. This was because they were angry as my aunt left them behind during my baby cousins’ photo session. Hamara Bajaj, Neyveli 21 block flat no. 7-B, old friends – Nithya, Vaigarai, Sudha, Ram, Jaishree, Diana, Sherlin, Kutti Saranya, picnics to Mysore, Viyzak, Bangalore, Kerala, the prizes won in school days. Wow remembering those days was awesome. My grandmom walked in a little while later, she had her own set of stories. She told about her days when photos were captured by a camera hidden in a blankets.

Soon there was a discussion about how new technologies have removed the soul in photographs. I wanted to verify so I booted my laptop and started the slideshow of my college pictures. As the slides moved, I felt I was walking through those hostel corridors, living in M-407, eating puffs in Aunty Shop. It’s really great. Photograph is truly a time machine. Whatever form it is in, any new technology, cannot remove the soul or the moment cherished in those click.

"Makros Zioros Photographs"

Austerity Drive Gimmickry

Politicians have dumped their private chartered flights and helicopters and have taken the AC Chair Cars and the economic flights. Congress ministers and MPs are to cut back on official expenses, first-class travel needs special permission, and ministries have to reduce their expenditure. The campaign is being seen as the Congress' way of expressing its solidarity with a country hit by drought and price rise.

“Are you kidding me?” was the reaction to this austerity drive. It’s an obvious publicity stunt. How long? When media gets other hot news and are least bothered about who travelled how. The game is over; missions accomplished, and then take back the private planes. What an idea Sirji?

If they have to express their solidarity, why not reduce their overall expenditure, raise money out of it and give the farmers who are committing suicides just for a small amount of Rs. 10000. Save the farmer and their family. An article I recently read said that for every year India spend around 18,000 crores for the safety and luxury of the politicians. A mere 18 crore could have saved 1,80,000 farmers and their families.

To find YSR more than 5 crores was spent in few hours, actor and actress spent a few lacs to buy a pair of jeans, every movie, every award function just talks in crores. What do I say? Luxury and Extravaganza is more important than a life of a human.

Dont waste the food. Spend money for living not for gimmick.

Quickgun Murugan... HAHAHA

Watching the first look of the movie "Quickgun Murugan - A misadventure of an Indian Cowboy", we added it to our weekend plan. It has everything that a masala movie has. Action, comedy, punch dialogues, flash back, romance, sentiment, villain's unusual plot, heroism etc etc..

The story line is simple: The villain Rice plate Reddy kills all vegetarian restaurant owner's to make them non veg restaurant. Murugan, the pure vegetarian Indian cowboy, who tames cow is irritated and start a tussle with the villain which leads to the death of murugan. After 25 years, he returns from heaven to take revenge on Rice plate reddy who is a big tycoon now and he is in the process of opening a new food chain McDosa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eFX2cKpsxw

The best part in the movie:

1. The character names: Rice plate reddy, Gun Powder Mani, Rowdy MBA...

2. The movie is just 1 1/2 hours. Little more would make the movie boring.

3. Its not just mocking South Indian Movies. McDosa. Rowdy MBA who makes an analysis on Dosa. The New Channels.

4. The casting is perfect. I didn't expect to see Lola Kutty the V TV vj in the movie.

Its a 1 time watch entertainer meaningless comedy and stunts.

Give me a break!!!

I remember watching music videos in MTV a few years ago. Now its just roadies, splitsvilla, teen diva, fast and gorgeous and what not. Its unlikely to watch a complete music video in MTV. I seriously dont understand where is music a part of these shows. Its not just MTV, every channel has atleast a couple of reality shows in the prime time. Its like the whole country is set to prove their talent in dancing, singing, crazy task etc etc.. and even to the extreme of finding their partners. The intolerable part is the drama, the tears, the love, the friendship, the abusive language.. OMG!!! where did they all learn to act so well.. In few years down the line i think reality shows will be added in resume and interviews: "Reality shows Participated".. Enough.. Give us a break from the reality show..

Racism needs an Attitude change

We proudly say Unity in diversity. But are we really united. When terror attacks happen in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai etc. we raise our voice, when India wins a cricket match we are united. But do we really bother to read the news about Naxalite attaches in the North Eastern states, the problems faced in the Border States or the people in Andaman or Lakshadweep.
We still discriminate people in the name of caste. There is a quota system still on. I have heard from a friend that she was always ridiculed in college because she got into the college using the quota seats.
We scorn people from different State in media. Recently, the title track of movie “Ek” was censored because it called people from a particular state as murderers. Doesn't it hurt the people from that state? In one of the program in Zoom, an editor of a popular magazine was asked about a Heroine’s look, she plainly said “I think after doing few movies in South, she has become one of those. She has put on a lot of weight”. Wasn't this an abuse? How many of us ask the people from North-East, Are you from China or Nepal?
Being dark skinned is the worst luck. Best example is the Matrimonial Classified of the newspaper. Bride and groom always want a fair partner.
Racism within country though not in the form of attacks or assaults, it’s in our mind. Racism needs an attitude change. Making 100 laws or deploying thousands guards will not solve the problem. Let’s respect one another and try changing our attitude.

I won a Jackpot.. LOL

It was Feb 18th; as usual I came to office logged into my machine and was checking mails. As I was scrolling down I saw one unusual mail, my eye balls literally popped out reading the snippet which said:
YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC (2 Inbox Dear Winner – Dear Winner This is to inform you that you have won a prize of seven hundred and fifty thousand …
I quickly opened the mail to read it. It held this:
Yahoo Msn Lottery Board to info
Dear Winner...
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of seven hundred and fifty thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings (£750,000.00) for the month of FEBRUARY 2009 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC.
We congratulate you for being one of the five person selected. You are to contact the events manager for claims these are your identification numbers:
Batch number.....................(XYZ1234XY)
Reff number.......................( XYZ1234XY)
Winning number...................(XY12345)
However you will have to fill and submit the information’s below to the events
1. Full name..............
2. Contact Address........
3. Age....................
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Sex....................
6.Occupation...................
7..State:.................
8.Country................
9. Your Reference and Batch number at the top of this mail:
{CONTACT EVENTS MANAGER}
Name: Mr.David Mark
E-mail: XYZ.XYZ@COM

I knew it was a spam. But still the amount was very intimidating. At once I googled to find how much it is in INR. It was 5,48,51,456. (5.5 Crore) Wow!!! Naturally I started dreaming how nice it will be if I had 5.5 crore. Awesome!!! After a long list of plans and budgets with the imaginary money, I came out of the day dream and told myself “It’s never gonna happen”.
After few weeks, again I got the abridged version of the same mail. Though I was 99% sure the mail must be a spam, 1% I was suspicious. Cmmm.. The amount was tooooooo big to ignore in seconds. I did a recheck and googled to find what it was. I sometimes think what will happen if google was not found. Life without google seems impossible nowadays. Google crashed my million dollar dream. This mail has been received by at least half a million people. :(
The following week again I got a mail from UNITED NATION TRUST FUNDS saying I have won 650,500.000.00 GBP. This time I was irritated. I just deleted the mail.
Now I am receiving similar mails everyday. Sometimes it’s Million dollars or Rs 60,00,000 “only”. The good part about these mails is that I feel lucky when I open my mailbox and find I have won some xyz amount everyday ;). The bad part is I won’t realize even if I will really win something. LOL…

Poker Face

I was surfing TV for something interesting, I came across a show hosted by Sharman Joshi, one of the guys from RDB. I like his comic roles so I started watching the channel. It was on the new channel “real”. He was hosting a game show called Poker face. Initially I presumed it must be some gambling related show. To my surprise it was talent game show.

“Kaun Banega Crorepati” is my favorite game shows ever. It was aired when I was in my 10th std. My brother, mom and I watched every episode. During exams, we planned our breaks according to the show timings. There had been my other game shows like “Deal Ya No deal”, “10 Ka Dum” and “Paanchvi Pass”. But nothing was comparable to “Crorepati”.

“Poker face” is really good. The concept is very simple. There are 6 contestants every episode. Sharman reads out multiple- choice questions. The contestant are supposed to answer the questions by pressing the appropriate choice button. Every question is for everyone and they earn whenever they answer the question correct. The answers are spelled out after every question is answered. The contestants know just their earnings and they don't have any idea how much the others have earned. Then they are given few minutes to make poker face i.e. show others that they are not the one who have got the least earnings. Then the contestants are called to a podium where there are buzzers in front of each of them and a countdown starts for 10 seconds. Any contestant who pressed the buzzer meanwhile, packs up from the show with his earnings so far in the game. If no one pressed the buzzer, the least earner leaves the game by losing everything he has earned so far. If more than 1 person pressed the buzzer, the earliest one leaves the show with the amount he has earned. This continues till 1 person is left with. The winner earns 10 lacs in every episode and on Sunday all the winners of the week contest for 1 crore.

Best part of the show is Sharman Joshi. He is good composed host. He doesn't speak nonsense, no stupid jokes or discouraging comments. He lets the contestant speak. Next, I liked the questions. It covers many fields, chemistry to math, mythology to cinema, geography to history. And the difficulty level also increases as the game moves on. Next, is the graphics/widgets in the show, the questions/answers are displayed very clearly. After ever question, a small box with a photo of the contestant pops out with a tick/cross symbol below their snap to show if they have addressed it correct/wrong respectively.

I remember the episode of the first Crorepati won by “Harshavardhan”. I was on the edge of my seat biting my nails as if I was seated before Amitabh and as if I was answering the question. The moment he won 1 crore was hilarious. But I doubt if that excitement would ever be brought back.

8 years back, 1 crore was a huge amount. Years have passed so fast that the value of 1 crore sounds cheap for a game shows. Whatsoever, for a common man 1 crore is always 1 crore.

Granny... a girl’s best friend!!!

Today, I read an article in women’s day special edition of Time’s Life, “Granny... a girl’ best friend!” by actress Amrita Rao. It was her tribute to her granny. After I read the article, I thought I will write something about my grannies.

Still I remember those days when I visited my maternal grandma’s house during holidays. Every night I will lie next to her listening to mythological stories. Those where the time I knew who was Krishna, Rama, Hanuman or Vivekananda. Once we shifted to granny’s house, I used to massage her leg/head and tell her all the stupid stories of the day in school. Sometimes she laughed. Whenever it was necessary to warn me, she used to warn in the sweetest way. When I threw tantrums, she will mock calling me “Missy”. Whenever my favourite dish was cooked, she used to save it, so that I can have it after school. When my mom accused I am fat, she will stand by my side to say, every girl should look bubbly not skinny. Every time I felt home for college/work, she will bless me and kiss me on the forehand. Sometimes I wonder will I be able to manage things like her ever.

Talking about my other grandma, I have never been so close with her. Every time we visited her, she will try to make everything we liked. She will pamper us so much that she will even bring the food to bed. Every time we left or we called her, she will speak very little. But I can feel every word is filled with pure love and concern.

I have come across people who hate their grandparents. But its opposite with me, I just love them. May be that is why I always respect the people of old age. They have pure love and concern for us. They are the people who live hundreds and thousands of miles away still thinking and praying all the happiness for their every grandchild. They have made their children the best people on earth taught how we can live our best.

Love you granny always!!!

Episode to Jogger’s Park

As with all, everyday is depressing and stressful. Everyone is in search of the wonderland, where life is just the way we dreamt and where we have the opportunity to live soulful. The search led me to the jogger’s park. My initial aim for this episode was to increase my stamina. We roommates have hit the jogger’s park successfully for the past 3 weeks early at dawn.

The biggest challenge was pulling my body off the bed. It’s like I am chained to the bed and I have to put every strength in my body and battle with every cell to push the blankets and sit up. As such I am an early raiser. A couple of years back, during my school and college, I have got up at 4 or 5 at ease. Once adapted to the most abused “IT Culture”, waking at 6 or 7 seems a nightmare.

But, all these trouble is worth it. The morning breeze rejuvenates and recharges every part of the body. The cold clean breeze has the power to evaporate stress. We now have the chance to listen to the chattering of the birds, not just the horns and machines. Sometime if we are lucky, we get to smell mud. It’s really the heavenly smell.

After all the trouble to wake up and the divine recharge, one hour in office, I am back machine-hood, same computer, same work and the same routine. At least, now I am recharged everyday to face the machine-hood with full tolerance.

Questions Poping out after the Sri Lankan Players were attacked

It was an open firing again and this time Sri Lankan players were the victims. Whosoever the attackers were, their motto is done. They are in the lime light once again. The worst element is none of the attackers were caught. They have just run away.
Is Pakistan favored by the attack? Hmmm.. Pakistan now has a reason to wave off the investigation on Mumbai attacks and can calm down its International pressure.
Is Pakistan trying to clean off its hands on India’s stand on Mumbai attacks? By pointing out “There is a foreign hand”, where are they heading to?
The newspapers said there is an unofficial theory saying “involvement of Indian Intelligence”. So by saying “enemies of Pakistan-Sri Lankan friendship”, Are they indirectly referencing to India?

Looks like we can expect an interesting conspiracy theory behind the Sri Lankan Players attack in near future!!!

Kudos to AR

I have refreshed ibnlive a hundred times eagerly awaiting the results of Oscar (81st Academy Award). Finally, When I saw the magical words "winner" next to Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman in Original Score category, I literally jumped out of my chair. Like in Airtel ads, a student after passing the exam wanted to share his delight or the girl who lost weight jumped out, I just wanted to call everyone in my contacts to share the golden moment and my excitement. It was really a movement of delight. If I was at home I would have did a little dance and screamed a lot like when India won 20-20. But the moment was awesome.

Jai ho according to many was not the very best of AR. There are many of his other compositions that topped the list. But I don't care. I am so glad that he has won the award. There are many sportsmen who have achieved their best on the practice session but not in the game. Still they win and we praise. That's the same with AR. He had 100's of better composition which deserved more, but Jai Ho was the lucky one. All well that ends well.

Hope AR gets more recognition internationally and keep making us proud. And AR please don't forget us!!! :D

Random thoughts on Feb 14th

I remember last year when I stepped out on Feb 14th friends teased or greeted a “Happy Valentine’s day”. But this year was different; friends passed a word of caution before greeting/mocking. There were many scared faces on street than the happy ones I saw year ago. The streets seemed more vacant than the usual Saturday. When I returned home and switched on the news channels, I was horrified. A couple was forced to marriage, a bro-sis was mistaken to be a couple and beaten up and a guy was married to a donkey since he was out with his girl.
I am not a volunteer for Valentine’s Day. But I don't feel it's a crime if couples celebrate it. The incidents in the recent past like the girls beaten up in the pub, apposing beauty contest and now the Valentine’ s day havoc scares me if talibanism is creeping in India in the name of culture/tradition. Do we have any code book for culture? Culture/tradition is the values we have inherited from our ancestors for the betterment of our lives.
If we look back, our ancestors were once the barbarians/nomads who lived even without the basic cover ups. The event of suppressing women came in as she needed protection from the leaders/kings/foreign travelers. My grand mom once said that only during the system of rulers, women were not allowed to go on streets or participate in public activities. This was to save her from the king and king’s men. Visit any palace in country, the guide will surely show you an area where the “queens” lived or the anthapuram.
In our democratic country who are the activists to decide the code of culture. If they are the rule makers, which era do these activists consider for their code of culture? Is culture only of women?
I feel culture/tradition should help in the betterment of our livelihood not a hindrance. We are singing the song of culture and tradition for 21 centuries now. But, what have we gained from it. A little appreciation from the other countries is the best I could think of. I am not against customs/traditions, but I feel it’s high time now that we break our shield and look at the other countries and adapt a few qualities that can make our lives better.
I hope these new born talibanism doesn't hold us back from opening up to the millions of myth we have imagined about the rest of the world and help us move forward in our lives. Also hope that government/ we the people prevent these maverick activities.

Our Cubicle decoration

On 24th of Dec 2008, I got a mail which said "cubicle decoration competition in our team". I have seen a lot of cubicle decoration pics from other companies, i was so very excited. The team was divided into four groups based on the four wings which we occupied. The wing members were asked to come up with something innovative and the dress code was ethnic. The competition was on 31st so we will have a whole week to plan and get the stuffs together.

After a little while, we initiated a conference chat room and started the discussion. Everyone seemed as excited as I was. Soon, we meet in the terrace near our cubicles [Our team is the only lucky ones to sit right next to the terrace]. I thought about a highway theme something like roads, trucks, and shops etc. but it didn't sound very catchy. Since there was an explicit note in the mail asking everyone to be ethnic wears, any freakish idea didn't suit the dress code. Meanwhile, the ethnic dress code rule was removed since people wanted to wear dresses emphasizing their themes. Then we came up with an idea of restaurant. I was totally for the theme. But many felt collecting stuffs for a resto will be difficult. Then there was an idea about festivals. But I somehow felt it was repetitive. Since the following day was Christmas holiday, we thought we will squeeze our brains then.

The day after Christmas, we planned to meet at 4. But I was not able to make it since I had an important call. So when I was back, Harsha explained me the theme. It was very good indeed, out of box as I wished. Following day also I missed the meeting. Then, again, Harsha told me my job. I was supposed to write a story to outline the theme and prepare few charts to highlight the theme. So after a few googling, editing, cutting and pasting, I came up with few funny pics.

Here goes our theme as on 31st Dec:

First lemme explain the location. My wing is just next to the coffee room. The pathway has grouping of four cubicles and 3 such groupings. At the other end or the exit is near the windows with a single cubicle on either side.

As you enter the cubicles from the entrance near the coffee room, first there is a message on the right saying “All this is for fun. Characters and Setup is purely hypothetical”. To the left, there is a write-up, the story. Since, its quite long everyone tried to snik in. Deepthi and I had to make sure everyone read the story before they enter. The story is:

Once upon a time there were two brilliant employees their names were Sanjay and Ghajini. Sanjay was graduated from IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore. He was working with Lehman Sisters for the past 4 years. Ghajini has done his MS from MIT and after switching a lot of jobs, he finally joined Copperman Sacs. They lived in a luxurious villa with extravagant bonus from their companies.
When they were touring around the world, a dragon called recession crawled in slowly. It whacked the mortgage companies with its tail and burnt the lenders and home builders. They didn't realize that they were holding on to a thin string. The dragon soon blew the fire burning their strings, leading to the fall of Lehman Sisters and Copperman Sacs.
The string wouldn’t resist and everyone lost the jobs. But Sanjay and Ghajini didn't lose hope. They fought hard to catch another string. But the dragon was very powerful; it hit the stock market leading to a global recession.
After a long struggle, poor Sanjay and Ghajini had to survive the recession. Finally, they made up their mind and took a new road to hold on in the recession.
In the pathway there was a sign:
There were also a lot of boards hanging down.

And the next cubicle was something like this:

First, was a tea stall named “Lehman Sisters Tea Stall”. Seema was dressed in an old saree with her hair pulled up in a knot very similar to the real tea stall lady. She tossed the dosa in the pan which was on an iron stool every time people came along. [FYI: the dosa was ready made.] Then, it was Venkat as Chootu, tea stall boy. He had his tracks rolled up to the kneel and a towel tied around his waist above the old t-shirt. Chootu asked everyone who came along for tea and served them. Harsha, the tea master, was in an old dhothi/lungi , a dirty t-shirt and a towel knotted on the head. Harsha told everyone that he has lost the job and passed on his resume as anyone came in. He also acted pouring tea from the tea pan to the tea glasses. [FYI: the tea was from the vending machine ;)]. There were a few newspapers and magazines hanging from the thread. The tea stall also had all its essentials like the movie posters, biscuit bottles (which is also robbed from the coffee room) etc…

Moving on was a Pan shop “Copperman Sacs Pan Mahal”. Sukhveer had tilted down a drawer to make him a comfortable seat. He sat on the seat with a handkerchief tied to his head. All brands of pan was hanging from the thread above: gutka, manikchand, masala pan and cigars. [FYI: we rented them from a real pan shop. So we had sure no one ate the pan. The cigar was just the empty packets.] There was also a thread for lighting the cigar. The pan shop had an offer “Shoot a ballon from any of our competitive cubicles and get a pan free!!!” We made every effort to spoil the other’s decoration ;). Then there was a PCO, STD, ISD Booth with a phone which we unplugged from Manjoy’s cubicle [He was on vacation].

Then comes our big stunt: A big board hanging above Amit and Nagaraj who where in CA T-shirt which said:

Meanwhile, Santhosh in a getup of mad with wrongly buttoned shirt and CD all over him, gave away his resumes asking people to refer him in CA.


OOPS!!! I forgot to mention Ranitha, the new girl to the team. She did a great work behind the screen.
The teams snap:

Three Cheers to all of US!!!