A passion to Travel

I had been an admirer of different places and experience. But I never got a chance to visit many places. Two reasons, one: I am too timid to travel alone and secondly:  I was not able to find a travel mate. Anyways, now I have a defaulter, my hubby. He has promised to take me to every corner of the earth. However, whenever the time and finance permits. Hmmm.. We are optimistic and hoping to travel to North pole to South Pole, 1 place at a time. 

So, to remain passionate, I have been goggling around learning about different place. I should admit I have become a little travel guru, not an expert though. Researching about different places, when to visit, how to visit, what to see, what to buy, where to stay etc. have become my hobby now. 

Anyway, first I thought, I would compile all the information and create a blog/website. But there are enough number of websites and travel guides and hence one can get the info in one/other site. 

Courtesy: www.adventure-travel.org.uk

So, I am thinking of becoming a trip adviser (not a full-time though). There are many people who want to travel but don't know where/how/when etc. Best example is Honeymooners, they wanna travel somewhere romantic and different but not really knowing where. Here is my role. I will help them sort out their travel plan, personalize the trip planner according to their needs. Does it sound convincing? 

Anyway, people who have queries about travel can post a coment them here. I will try my best to help you. You can also refer me to others ;). 

Fingers crossed for the response. Do comment about my idea? Is it feasible ? Anything..

An Experience in Chinnaswamy Stadium

Around 6:45 we reached the Gate 10 of Chinnaswamy Stadium, to watch Royal Challengers Bangalore Versus The Deccan Charges, my first ever experience to watch a match in a stadium. Also for Teju and Sharat, we were super excited. First we bought some flags, whistles and Hair band with Horns, then followed the queue to the gates.

The streets near the stadium were flooded with crazy audience. Few had their face painted, many were already carrying the flag, friends were rejoining, it was instigating. We squeezed through the crowd and entered the stadium. Reaching the deck, we realized we were too late. All the best view seats near the stands had already been taken. Even the flags, the 4/6 posters and the balloons had been picked up. We somehow found few seats at the last.

From the seats we occupied we were not able to see the field clearly, so we went down to passage near the first row to have a closer view. The view was awesome, we decided to stay there and watch the match. As match started my illusion was cleared. I had been thinking that at the end of each over the batsmen switched places. But only in the second over of the match I realized that except the batsmen everyone else switched places. [Another Stupid thought -> It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas].  also realized that the field is not very big as it appears in TV and the wicketkeeper do not stand just behind the stumps. He stands about the same distance as that of the batsmen.

Seriously speaking, we rarely saw the ball in the air. We saw the bowler blow the ball and batsmen hit it. Then we really didn't know were the ball went. Only when the fielders ran for the ball, we caught the sight of it. In the last 5 overs of the first innings, when RCB was hitting sixes and fours, we were on the toes, jumping and screaming. The crowd was going crazy. Flags were waved, Ouhs and Auhs throughout the gallery, screams and cheers from every seat, it was electrifying. The dance numbers and the drums were adding to the madness. Between the balls, people waved, held banners and danced to grab the camera attention, so they could be shown on the TV.

Finally, the crowd as disappointed that RCB lost but the fun was unlimited. We headed back home, exhausted.

Cheers to everyone in the stadium, everyone have been a part of my awesome first experience of the match in the stadium.

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.

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!!!!