Potpourri

Seattle

2011-05-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

It is been a fairly a adventurous journey so far. It seems strange and unreal that life has dragged me here to this corner of the planet. 10 yrs ago I would have never even dream t that I would here doing whatever I am doing(;)). Cutting the philosophical crap, I am currently in Seattle. I liked the city the day I landed. Lots of water bodies everywhere and yes, lots of bridges and sail boats :).

Took this picture from the park at the Gas Works in Seattle. Took this from my cell phone camera. I could not zoom enough. The park is near to my apartment and it takes around 5 mins on the bus.

This is another picture of the Gas Works park as seen from my apartment. A perfect place to laze around with a book on a sunny day. Planning many more visits to the park and I hope that the sun makes it appearance more frequently (it has been cloudy and overcast for most of the time and they say that it starts to get sunny towards the end of June). Thats all I have for now. Hope to update the blog more frequently(I admit that I have not been giving the required attention to the blog these months). God bless.

Yoga!!

2011-05-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Found this banner near the university. The banner has been there for couple of weeks. I wonder what Shri B.K.S. Iyengar, Baba Ramdev would say seeing this :) .

Another journey

2011-01-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

The journey since my previous post has been simply incredible. Now I am sitting in an apartment in Ithaca, New York. Another journey is yet to unfold and I am excited, bit nervous as well. My heart is filled mixed feelings which I am unable to describe at this moment. Hoping for the best and seeking His blessings. Ending this post with this shot taken from my apartment.

Guests at home - Part III (conclusion)

2010-06-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back with the updates of bird family. Last weekend when I returned home I saw that the eggs had hatched and the chicks were out. The mummy bird was not around most of the time as it was busy searching for food to feed it's little ones. It used to visit it's chicks once in a while to feed them. I peeped among bushes and managed to take a snap when the mummy was not around.

The chicks were hairy and the feathers have yet grown. They were in their little cozy home all the time waiting for their mummy. Monday morning, I left to Bangalore to resume work and on Tuesday morning my dad found that the the chicks were not in their nest. He started hunting for them and found both of them on ground, exploring the surroundings. He put them in a cozy basket filled with dried grass.

The chicks appear to have grown slightly. He kept the basket on the top of our car near the nest so that the mummy bird finds it. After some time the mummy came and on seeing the empty nest started hunting for it's chicks. It soon found them in the basket. By this time the ever inquisitive chicks were out of the basket and had started exploring the car's top. Seen below, the mummy and the chicks. The mummy must have let out a sign of relief after seeing it's young ones, phew!!

After some time my dad transferred them onto ground near the shrub as he wanted to take the car out. That was the last he saw of the chicks. After some time when he returned, he did not see the them where. Not sure what happened to them. They could not fly as their feathers had not grown completely. It seems the mummy bird came couple of times later hunting for chicks. We all felt it's grief. I wish those chicks are out there somewhere, safe and I hope the mummy finds them. Thus, the Guests at home series concludes here.

That is all for now. God bless the chicks and everyone!!!

Visit to Gundbala

2010-06-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

I had been to my native village Hudgod during first week of June . During this vacation I paid a visit to Gundbala. People who hail from Uttara Kannada district are familiar with the pilgrim importance of the place. A small village located in midst of the Western Ghats Gundbala is synonymous with Yakshagana, a famous folk art of Karnataka. Lord Lakshmi Venkatesh and Aanjaneya(Hanuman) are the presiding deities of temple and every night there is a performance of Yakshagana for the Lord. The Yakshagana performance is carried out during non-rainy months, the performance starts during the month of December and ends by May last week before the monsoon begins. The interesting fact is that all the performances are for the Lord. The performances are part of harake(sacred vow) that is pledged by a devotee for a return of favour. Here are some snaps:

The temple gate which faces the Yakshagana ground. The temple is located among the coconut and arecanut plantations.

The entrance of the temple.

The deity of Gundbala.

The Yakshagana ground with the stage, during the day. The stage faces the deity.

The Yakshagana ground during night. The play starts at night after the arati to the deity and continues till early morning(snap taken by my brother).

A Yakshagana artist performing in a play(snap taken by my brother).

Another picture of the artist(snap taken by my brother).

We visit Gundbala every year. This year I could not attend the Yakshagana plays at night but paid a visit to the temple during the day. My family had reached the place 2 days earlier to attend a thread ceremony and they attended the night pooja and the play.

Guests at home Part - II

2010-05-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

This is a followup to my previous post. The nest is intact and mummy bird is busy giving warmth to the eggs. Oh yes, there is another egg added to the bird family. I dared not to go near the nest and have been watching the developments from a distance. However I have not seen the daddy bird this weekend. Looks like it's job was to help the mummy bird build the nest and once the job was done, it has absconded. The mummy bird is in nest all day / night. I wonder how she is able to survive without food. That's all for this post. Wait for the next update. Until then take care and keep reading...

Ps: For previous post, click here.

Guests at home - Part I

2010-05-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had guests at my home. Two birds came and built a nest on the hibiscus plant. The hibiscus plant is more than 3 years old and it has grown into a tall shrub. It is capable of providing the shade and shelter to small birds. The daddy bird is more courageous and it has got used to human presence quickly. Today it was hopping on the ground near by searching for dry leaves for the nest. It was not perturbed and went about its work even after seeing me nearby. On the other hand the mummy bird spends most of the time sitting in the nest providing warmth to its egg. It is bit timid and if it sees any person nearby, it flies a distance and sits on the wall and waits till the person goes away. Here are some pics:

The mummy bird sitting in the nest. Took this snap when it was not looking around. But as soon as she heard the camera click she flew away and sat on the nearby wall. See below:

There she is. I went around the shrub and peeped in and saw the valuable possession of the bird family, see below:

Just see the how beautiful they have made the nest using dry thin twigs. Nature's beauty indeed.

I will provide an update on further developments in the bird family soon. Keep reading :)

Ps: I don't what species these birds belong to and hence cannot name them. Do let me know if you identify them. Also, the egg is very small in size when compared to the normal hen's egg. I zoomed the shot here to get a better view and that's why it appears big.

Last line: Have you come across any such bird families in your garden. If so then please share it here. I am waiting to hear :)

TED Link: Talk by VS Ramachandran

2010-05-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have been following the TED talks for a while now. Yesterday while digging the archives, I came across this wonderful talk by V S Ramachandran. Ramachandran is a neurologist and currently is the director of Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego. During the talk he describes the complicated functions of the brain using example of three disorders. His mesmerizing talk keeps you engaged through out. Have a look and I am sure you will enjoy it as well.

Ps: You can get more info about VS Ramachandran here.

Sleeplessness

2010-04-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

It is 2:12 a.m. and I am unable to sleep. Well, I did try sleeping. I hit the bed at 11p.m. after devouring couple of chapters from a novel. And I think I slept (or was I dreaming or was my mind racing through various thoughts), just then I heard a loud thud and I woke up. I heard it near the window and thought there was a thief outside. Though my eyes were closed, I felt as if someone was staring at me. I didn't dare to open my eyes... what if I see a scary figure before me!!! However after few minutes of God chanting and repeated cycles of self assurances , I mustered up courage to open my eyes. The lights in my neighbor's house were on. Probably the sound originated from their house (as an evidence, I could here some more now...). Phew!!! Since then I am not able to resume my sleep. Just to make myself sleepy, I switched on my laptop and browsed for a while and re-read my mails. Staring at computer/laptop screen for a while tires your eyes and I am was trying to tire myself. That's how I ended up writing this post at this odd hour.
Ooops!! it is 2:28 a.m., the clock tells me that I have another 2 hours more before the alarm strikes. I have a long day at office tomorrow and the fact that I am not sleepy yet is scarring me. Anyways I will try acting as if I am asleep. Hope that helps and I will really fall asleep. Bye for now.

MindTree Carnival

2010-01-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

This post will not be verbose as the usual ones. :) Enjoy the visual descriptions.

Venue: Bangalore International Exhibition Center, Tumkur Road
Date: 02 Jan 2010
Occasion: MindTree 10th anniversary celebration

The entrance to the venue...

Dollu kunita at the entrance

Lamp and the floral display

The carnival being inaugurated by Ashok Soota...

Hands with Mehendi, applied by an artist at the carnival

Swaratma band performing on the stage

Drunjam: an attempt to create a world record in progress... People gathered were given percussion instruments and they had to play it according to a rhythm.Of course there were others to guide. There were around 7000-8000 people gathered in the hall.

Drunjam: set of instruments that were used by me and Anu during the event.

The stage from a distance.

Another show by Edmundo, the illusionist

Fireworks: the last event, lasted for about 20 mins

Last but not the least, my caricature drawn by an artist

That's all for now. Till the next post, God bless.

A typical matrimonial conversation

2009-12-30T00:56:00.000-08:00

Reporting a matrimonial conversation between two Konkani Maayi's during my annual trip to native:

Maayi 1: That girl's horoscope matched it seems. But there is one small problem. She is elder to the boy by 2-3 months.

Maayi 2: Aiyoo... That doesnt matter these days. I have seen girls marrying guys 2-3 yrs younger to them. Times have changed..

Maayi 1: Hmmm... let them decide then. (Turning towards me) Hey are there any good amchi girl in your firm?(She asked as if I had the list of all the people at my work place.) My xxx's son is a MBA and works in blore. He is preferring a software girl who is working in blore.

(I give them a million dollar smile.)

Me: There might be some. But I hardly know them.

Maayi 1: Let me know if you come across any.

Me: (Smile again) Sure. I will call you if I get to know any such girl.

(Continuing with the conversation...)

Maayi 1: Hey did you come across any profiles for XYZ. Poor thing they are not finding a suitable match for her. She says that she is OK with any handicapped guy but he should be educated. She is a MA in Sociology you see so she expects her future husband to be at least a graduate and employed.

Maayi 2: No... I am not finding any suitable profiles for her. The last one(guy's profile) was crippled but wasn’t educated. He was rejected.

(Turning towards me)

Maayi 2: XYZ is a innocent girl. She had done MA in Sociology. But she has a small problem. Her one/two nerves to the brain are slightly twisted so she takes slightly more time to respond to things. This apart, she is able to carry out all her daily routines independently without any one'e help. She even did her post graduation in a big city like YYY. She says that even if the guy is a handicap she is OK with it. But he has to be a graduate and employed...

Does your firm employ handicap people?(I knew what was coming...) Do you know any handicap person eligible for marriage? (I was right :). I dont know any handicap person at my work place.)

Me: They do employ. There are very few. But I don’t know them.

Maayi 2: Let me know if you come across any such profile.

Me: Sure. I will let you know.

Maayi 2: It would have been better if she had loved any guy and married... (BINGO... this was unexpected)

Maayi 1: Yeah, I agree with you. At least it will relive us of the tension. They are trying to get her married and nothing (guys) is coming by. I don’t understand why don’t such people fall in love. The normal ones fall for people from other caste when we don’t want them to do so. This girl can at least start looking around.

Maayi 2: She is not that type of girl ma (‘that type’?, I didn’t understand what type… but didn’t feel safe to ask). Hmmm… Anyways let us pray that all goes well with her.

(Turning towards me) Hey are they looking for you at your place? (Finally, I am their target L . I give them a BIG smile.)

Me: Yeah, they are.

Maayi 2: What type of guy do you prefer? (Aaaaahhhhhhh… Please spare me...)

(Another million dollar smile from me.)

Maayi 1: May be you need a guy who is a software engineer settled in blore. Isn’t it?

(I didn’t answer. I gave a BIG smile. Just then something caught their attention and the conversation digressed to some other topic. I was spared at last… Phew!!!)

Demise of C Ashwath and Vishuvardhan

2009-12-30T00:51:00.000-08:00

Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan died early this morning. This was another shocking incident which followed singer's C Ashwath's death yesterday :( . Let them rest in peace...

Venting out

2009-12-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

For past 2-3 days, I have been experiencing frustration and anger. Frustrated because I could not do anything but wait. And anger because I did not expect something like this from a person, whom I had trusted. All I could do was to request repeatedly. I anticipated some positive response from the person at the other side. The person kept giving me assurances. At times I felt like I am hearing to a politician making false promises. But I had no other choice but to oblige. When you cannot meet your commitments, it is better to keep things open instead of pretending. How could you play with some one's future.

Ps: This is not a love story :).

My new photo blog

2009-11-15T09:32:00.001-08:00

I have started a new photo blog. Click here to visit.

Day before full moon day

2009-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

The moon looked lovely today. Tomorrow being the pournami (full moon day), the moon today was brighter than usual. The sun had set and the sky was getting dark. I caught the sight of the moon while returning from Khana Khazana (had been there to meet Ash and Sady). As soon as I reached home, I grabed my camera and clicked some snaps. Here are they:

The moon looks bright in the sky whose color seemed to be in a correct tone complimenting the moon's brightness.

Here the moon is playing hide and seek with the clouds. Note the color of the sky getting darker.

The sky got darker and the moon hid itself behind the thick clouds. I wanted to take a snap of the moon with the dark sky in the back ground, but the moon didn't show any sign of coming out of its hideout and I ended my photo session with this last snap.

Thats all of now. Please do not forget to comment :)

Ps: The snaps were taken with Canon SX 110 IS

What would you call this??

2009-07-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

Some months ago, my roomie (and friend) Rupa happened to give me a Korean movie. The plot of the movie was good. However there was a small issue. The movie was segregatted into parts and there was only the second part of the movie available with her (she had misplaced the movie copy somewhere and in the process happened to delete the first part :D). Hearing the storyline I couldn't resist and watched the movie. The movie was good and I started hunting for the movie online and CD / DVD shops. I badly wanted to watch the first part you see. Well, I couldn't gain much success as I didnt know the name of the movie. In course of time I got busy with life and forgot his episode. Two months ago Rupa left PG. Last week the vacancy was filled by another girl. Two days ago when we were chatting, I came to know that she owned a small movie collection. While browsing the collection, she referred a movie to me. I played it and guess what??? It was the same Korean movie which I was searching desperately. And this time the whole movie was there for me to see. Well, the name of the movie turned out to be, 'My little bride'.

I dont know whether it is Paulo Coelho's mantra from The Alchemist or The Law of Attraction from The Secret which fulfilled my small wish :). Do you think it was co-incidence?
What would you call this? Do let me know...

Thats all for now. Loggin off to have my dinner. If you happened to stop by, do comment.
God bless!!

Links: My little bride, The Secret, The Alchemist

Ps: The movie is good. Do you watch it if you get the copy.

Bing vs Google

2009-07-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

I was trying the new search engine released by Microsoft. I searched for my blog name in both the search engines and here are the results.

Search name: mortalzlife.blogspot.com

Google: 355 (the results seemed relevant)

Bing: 1

(Refer images below)

It took me some time to digest results shown by Bing . More ever it said '1-1 of 2'. With such glaring mistakes I wonder how they have released this as BETA. One thing is for sure, Bing has a long way to go to establish itself as a matured search engine.

That's all of now. God bless !!

Ps: Google is about to release Chrome OS. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Hum Paanch

2009-06-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

This entry is dedicated to my group (Shru, Prags, Ash, Sady and me). We met on May 30 at Shru's place in Mysore after a long gap of an eventful year This post is dedicated to all of us. Kudos to us, we surely rock. Waiting eagerly for the next meet.

Kukkarahalli Lake

2009-05-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

I spent today’s evening with Rupa at the Kukkarahalli lake, here in Mysore. To those of you who don’t know, Kukkarahalli lake is one of the most beautiful lake in Mysore. Kuvempu, the great poet of Karnataka was known to come here for a walk. The lake comes under the jurisdiction of University of Mysore. Rupa stays nearby to the lake and enjoys the privilege to visit it more often than me. Here are some snaps of the lake.

We walked along the perimeter of the lake gossiping and enjoying the cool breeze. You can always find few health conscious people on jog along the lake. There were few others who sat and enjoyed the serene surrounding. Sometime ago a crocodile used to inhibit the lake and people who went fishing used to be cautious, don’t know if it is still there and I didn’t spot it today. At one point in time, Mysore used to be famous for lakes. Thanks to the urbanization today there are only few of them left and Kukkarahalli lake is one of the beautiful among the existing ones. This lake happens to be the perfect place to spend your lazy evenings. If you happen to visit to Mysore make sure to spend a evening here. That’s all for now.

Pepper Rice

2009-05-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last week my parents had been to native to attend a Grihapravesham. Hence on arriving at home on Saturday, the onus to cook for the day had been on me. The breakfast was taken care in a nearby restaurant. Mom had saved few curries in fridge, so the noon’s meal was taken care of as well. For dinner, we were running short of sambar, I didn’t want to prepare anything fresh as we were only two people and what ever prepared would somehow remain the next day. There was huge amount of rice from the noon’s meal. I decided to try a simple recipe suggested by Vidhya, my friend. It turned out to be tasty. Here it is:

Ingredients:

1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)

1 tsp Black pepper

2 tsp Ghee or butter

Finely chopped carrot, capsicum and beans (if desired)

Salt to taste

Cooked rice

The amount of pepper, cumin seeds and ghee will vary depending on the rice. Heat the cumin seeds and black pepper in a pan. Powder them and keep aside. In the pan heat sufficient ghee or butter add the chopped carrot, capsicum and beans. Fry them till the rawness subsidizes. Add the cumin and pepper powder and stir the vegetables for a while. Add salt to taste. Lastly, add the cooked rice. Stir the rice till it blends properly with the contents in the pan. Add ghee, pepper or salt if need be.

Serve hot.

Try it and let me know. If you like the recipe thank Vidhya not me.

That’s all for this entry another one coming in few more mins till then God bless.

Linux on USB drive

2009-05-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Recently installed Linux Mandriva on USB hard drive. I didn’t want to compromise my system hard drive for a Linux partition. Two things that needs to be kept in mind before installing Linux on USB hard drive:

1. Make sure your have selected the first boot option as USB drive in BIOS settings. This change is required when you are done with the installation procedure. Most of the systems these days provide this option. Well, atleast my Dell Inspiron does :).
2. You might want to partition your hard drive and may install Linux on one of the drives. Please make sure that you install the Boot loader in the first partition irrespective of Linux installation. You will be provided with an option during the installation procedure.
3. For detailed installation procedure for Linux please refer Google. You will find many links.

A snapshot of KDE with transparent console (sorry, Konsol as they call it) is attached here. It is convenient have Linux on a USB drive, trust me. Try and let me know how it goes. Well, that's all for now. Take care and God bless!!

Night out - contd

2008-12-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

The wait turned to be longer. Ended up going home at 8:30 a.m., next day. By the time we left few of my team mates were entering to start the day's work. They looked at us as if we were aliens :)
The next night i.e., yesterday night, had to wait again and ended up coming home at 5:00 a.m. (today morning). Hope that this saga of night outs end here...

Night out

2008-12-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

It is 2:40 a.m. IST and I am still in office... Hoping to leave ASAP.

Food for soul

2008-11-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Recently one of my friend handed over the transcript of Professor Randy Pausch’s last lecture in CMU(Carnegie Mellon University). This has been doing lot of rounds lately and I thought of reading it. I read the last lecture titled, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Randy Pausch was American professor of human computer interaction and design in CMU. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he gave the lecture after coming to know that his case was terminal. This lecture was given on September 18 2007. Randy speaks takes everyone through various phases in his life, describing passionately the difficulties he faced and the moments where he triumphed.

Some of the gems from the book:

The brick walls are there for a reason. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. They are there to stop the other people.

Never lose the child like wonder.

Loyalty is a two way street.

Never give up.

You get people to help you by telling the truth.

Get a feedback loop and listen to it. When people give feedback cherish it and use it.

Show gratitude.

Don’t complain. Just work harder.

Be good at some thing. It makes you valuable.

I found the one below, most valuable…

The life is not about achieving dreams but leading it the right way. If you lead the life the right way, your karmas will take care of itself and your dreams will come true. How true… This reminds me of Bhagavatgeetha where Lord Krishna says, “Just do your karma. Don’t worry about the results. Let the rewarding of the results rest with me.”

Randy died on July 25 2008. There is also a book by the title The Last Lecture. If you come across the book, do read it. I recommend this as a must read for everyone who are passionate about life and want to fulfill their dreams. That’s all for now. Please leave a comment before navigating away from the entry.

Some related links: The transcript, Randy Pausch, CMU

Ps: By the way, this is the first entry I am writing from my new laptop. Hope to write much more in future. God Bless!!

(Source of the image: Internet)

Incident - 2

2008-10-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hmm... Don't want to mention it.

Incident - 1

2008-10-03T02:28:00.000-07:00

Content edited for various reasons.

My thinking style

2008-08-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

Your Dominant Thinking Style: Visioning

You are very insightful and tend to make decisions based on your insights.

You focus on how things should be - even if you haven't worked out the details.

An idealist, thinking of the future helps you guide your path.

You tend to give others long-term direction and momentum.

What's Your Thinking Style?

My intrapersonal intelligence

2008-08-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Your Intrapersonal Intelligence Score: 90%

Your Intrapersonal Intelligence is Very High

You've spent a lot of time introspecting, and it's really paid off.

You are comfortable with who you are, and you have a life philosophy that you are happy to live by.

And you're always re-evaluating what you believe. Because you learn something new about yourself each day!

How Does Your Intrapersonal Intelligence Rate?

My dominant intelligence

2008-08-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Your Dominant Intelligence is Interpersonal Intelligence

You shine in your ability to relate to and understand others.

Good at seeing others' points of view, you get how people think and feel.

You have an uncanny ability to sense true feelings, intentions, and motivations.

A natural born leader, you are great at teaching and mediating conflict.

You would make a good counselor, salesperson, politician, or business person.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Tagged again!!

2008-08-11T01:11:00.000-07:00

Sady, has once again tagged me. Hence I am here before you to perform duty of bearing the tag and undergo the undulated protocol. Well, I am supposed to make list of things that I would like to do in my life. Sounds interesting right? Here it goes…

Being an Arien, I like to trek and perform adventurous tasks. First two wishes capture this..

Would like to trek Himalayas, Ladakh

I want to trek Himalayan terrain once. I remember my visit to Gangtok/Darjeeling in Feb-2006. Himalayan range though far, looked majestic. Strong, tall and determined to bar all the gusty winds that blew towards it. I want to walk on those mighty ranges once. Apart from this, I would like to visit Kailash Manasarovar Lake which is in Chinese territory. The lake apart from being a place of worship for Hindus is a visual treat for nature lovers (like me...).

Would like to go on world tour.

I would like to tour the world once and see places. Would like to relish cuisines of different territories. Perhaps I would make a documentary out of it. [:)]

Would like to try my hand at nature photography.

I am inspired by Sady’s new found hobby and my cousin’s Sony cybershot [:)] . I would like to buy a decent camera and try my hand at shooting nature. I would be buying a camera soon.

Would like to own a cottage on a hill.

I would like to own a decent cottage on a hill which overlooks either the sea or range of mountains. This dream house of mine should have a huge court yard and back yard. Ample of space where vegetables, medicinal plants are grown organically. There will be a huge lawn, with a small gazebo at the center. The gazebo should overlook the scenic mountain range or sea. One more thing my cottage should have a huge library with a good collection of books of all cast and creed. And I would be reading the book from the library in the gazebo, after a tiring evening. I know that this needs lot of money. But what I am working for? ;)

Learn Pranic Healing / Telepathy and practice the same.

Nature is treasure of numerous puzzles. One of them which excite me is the relation between body, mind and nature. Telepathy, metaphysics, Pranic Healing are such domain which involve such an interaction. Some of these are known to help people cure diseases or give relief when in pain. Betty Shine who was a psychic has explained this in her books. For those of you who are interested in knowing more of mind-body-nature relationship, I would recommend to read her books namely Mind Magic and Mind Waves. I want to learn Pranic Healing / telepathy and help people around me.

Experience Zero gravity once in a lifetime

All these years I have being experiencing 9.8 m/s2 of acceleration on my body. Well, I am talking about gravity. Just want to know how it would be without gravity. [:)] I heard that NASA has facilities to create Zero gravity conditions. I would like to experience being weightless.

That’s the end of list for time being. I am sure that I will be having some more wishes tomorrow as life is all about aspiring for things and achieving them.

Wish you good health and God bless.

Ps: Would like to tag those who read my blog
(Source of images: Internet)

Post Guru Poornima

2008-08-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

This year got a promotion in August, which will be affective from July [:)].

Ps: refer Guru Poornima 2008, Guru Poornima 2007

Scariest dreams

2008-07-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

All of us dream when we sleep. Some remember them and some don’t. Some claim that they don’t dream but in reality they do dream but just don’t remember them (this is a fact.. [:)] ) Can you remember your scariest dreams? Most of them would be occurring during the exam time, like running out of ink when writing a paper or arriving late for exam. Even I had such dreams but they are not that scary when compared to the ones that I am going to write about now…

Dream 1:

I am a cop and I am chasing a gangster, (Don’t remember what made me think that he was a gangster.). He didn’t have weapons though. I don’t remember carrying a pistol with me. Two or three constables were chasing him along with me. What made the scene unusual was it was a night of New Moon Day and street lights were not burning. It was middle of night and streets were deserted. We didn’t carry any source of light, still we managed to see our way through. We were running in every possible lane in my locality. Suddenly he jumps the compound of my house, I do the same and follow him. The courtyard seemed to be wider than usual. He runs to the backyard and starts digging the ground. He dug few feet within just few seconds (Don’t know how, you see sometimes unusual things happen in dreams). I was watching him at a distance. And suddenly he grabs something from the ground holds it towards me. It was a skeleton…

Year of occurrence: 2001-02

Reaction: Woke up with fear (obvious, the section says ‘Scariest dreams’). Was relieved to know that it was just a dream. Could not sleep further.

Cause: I don’t know what made me dream this…

Dream 2:

I am fighting few men in a temple. I don’t really remember the scenario which led to this. It was again the night of New Moon Day. As it was middle of night, the temple was deserted. The wind is blowing hard and the bells are swaying to and fro, making loud sounds. This gave a eerie effect to the situation. (Does it remind you of the temple scene at night, usually shown in movies and television soaps?) As far as I remember there were some men who were helping me fight the goons (that’s what I think they were…) There war a huge Ganesha’s idol in temple which had a big Trishul in hand. I was fighting a goon and somehow we reached near the idol. The goon was searching for a weapon to kill and he finds the Trishul in the hand of the idol. He grabs it and throws it at me…

Year of occurrence: Few years ago in 1999 or so maybe. Don’t remember…

Reaction: Woke up with a start and was relieved to know that it was a dream. Was afraid rest of the night.

Cause: Watching too much of Hindi movies.

That's all for now. Catch you some other time. Till then take care and God bless...

Guru Poornima

2008-07-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

Every year I go to Hubli to attend the Guru Poornima function. This year I could not make it. Didn’t have the luxury to avail 2 days of leave. My aunt gave me the address of venue in Bangalore, where Guru Poornima would be celebrated by Sanathan Sansthan. Took a half day’s leave on Friday and attended the ceremony. Felt good and relieved [:)] .

Ps: refer my earlier post Guru Poornima at Hubli.

This is for Technorati

2008-06-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

This post is for Technorati's spiders...

Technorati Profile

Behavioral patterns

2008-06-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

Recently was going through the software design patterns. Well, for people who are alien to the software, design patterns are the solutions to the most commonly occurring problems in design. They are tested and proven. You can say that they are analogous to the axioms, which are true, foolproof and don't need to be proved so. Now my intention is not give any gyaan on a technical topic. You can get a lot of info from various links that are available across the internet. There are a bunch of design solutions that are well proven. And if you are a software architect and come across a problem in a context you SHOULD be using one of them. (Sometimes it might not serve the purpose but still... people use for the heck of it). Well, what does such design solutions or patterns do? Of course, they will remove the burden of finding a foolproof solution to the most commonly occurring problem. But is that all? No. They limit your thinking, analyzing and solution finding capacity. Any ready made solution kills the urge and the curiosity to find better solutions. I can give you a better example; all of us have solved maths problems in our school days. When the teacher used to solve them on the board did any one of us thought that there could be a better solution? Worst, we used to note that and solve the them in the same way in the exam. Applying this to the design patterns... Do they help in solving the problems in software design or do they limit the inherent thinking capacity of humans? Recently had an opportunity to interact with an eminent Prof of IIITB (IIITB is a deemed institute in Bangalore and offers postgraduate courses.) According to him, patterns (could be architectural or software) came up when there was a need to offer solution to same type of problem. Why would you think for the different way when there was ready made, existing solution for the problem? This surely does not mean that people stop finding better patterns. Human mind is truly amazing, a ready made (and a so-called foolproof) solution before you and your mind just uses it blindly.

Another example to prove the unusual behavior of human mind. Imagine that you have an important meeting in the office and leave home early. When you are half way through, you discover that the municipal corporation has dug the road in between to carry out construction task. It is the only known road to you and you are in a hurry to reach the office. Luckily a friend who is accompanying you knows an alternate route and you follow his directions. While returning from office you follow the same alternate route. Applying the readymade solution funda, how many of us would pause and think for a better route? Only a few I guess. You take the same route for office for next few months. Then one fine day, municipal corporation is done with the construction work and opens the original route. Now which route do you use? I can bet that most of you would still have the urge to use the new alternate route in spite of knowing that the original route is open. The simple reason is that your mind which is accustomed to using the new route is now reluctant to revert back to the original route. Human mind prefers stability and resists change. Nature has bestowed precious human minds with unusual gifts. Most of them are awaiting to be discovered… More of this some other time…

Hmm... Quite a lengthy post. Will get back to you when my mind comes up with an urge to write. Till then, take care and God bless.

Free telescope by Microsoft

2008-05-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has launched a new software that is expected to create waves in the world of astronomy and Internet, WorldWideTelescope. However this is more of a surprise to most of us because you can download this free. Yeah you read it right.. It is absolutely free. It has been launched on May 13 2008 (Got the date from a news web site). The link was forwarded to me by a friend. I was curious to explore and started accessing the link.

Here are some of my observations with the telescope software:

The website UI looks sophisticated and matured with the night sky in the background.

The installation procedure is pretty easy but takes long time. The installation file(setupwwt.exe) is of size 20.8 MB. Download it from the website and run it. The installation file will in turn start downloading necessary files (Microsoft .Net 2.0 and others).

The application has a very good, mature UI. Something I liked (I want to learn how you do such a good UI design :) ). But it was slow, memory problem I guess. However the screen too many options and you have get used to it before gaining some comfort level in navigating across the screen.

Lots of images, I read that the application has access to around 12 tera bytes of data.

I heard about a similar venture from Google few months ago. Sometime back Google had launched a software Google sky which provides easy way to access to images of astronomical bodies. It is available as a plug in to Google earth or as a link through which you can start using the facility directly without downloading.

However I found that,

You can easily access the facility. No need of any installation procedure. :)

The UI is pretty simple. No unnecessary options. It is fast. :)

The images are good in both the applications.

At the end of the day, I would prefer:

For UI and looks: WorldWideTelescope.

For the ease of use: Google Sky.

Microsoft might have launched WorldWideTelescope as a response to Google Sky. However it has dedicated this application to Jim Gray, the brain behind the entire application. Jim Gray is missing since Jan 28 after he went on a solo boating trip.

That’s all for now. Happy exploring !!!

Links :

WorldWideTelescope

Google sky

Jim Gray

Tagged...

2008-05-13T03:10:00.000-07:00

I am unofficially tagged by sady... so here it goes..

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER

Aramane, a kannada movie. You could rate it as an average..

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

Windmills of the Gods by Sidney Sheldon

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
none.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Reader's Digest, India Today

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Smell of wet soil, petrol, nail enamel

6. FAVORITE SOUND?
Rain droplets falling on leaves and trees. You can experience this in places where the vegetation is dense.

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
Betrayals and breaching of trust.

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?
Morning already? wanna sleep for some more time :)

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

Fast food? hmmm... nothing specific. Any place where they serve good fast food.

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
haha.. not yet decided. But i like the names, Parikshith, Kshitij, Menita, Vaidehi.

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...?
First pay income tax, then buy few good modern gadgets and gifts for near and dear ones. Would invest rest of the amount in the fields which would provide good returns.

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?

No.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No.

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?
Cool :)

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

Yet to buy one.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?
Chilled mint and lemon juice, rose milk shake, strawberry milk shake.

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD .....
Sleep and read a lot.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Broccoli

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Burgandy.

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.
Bangalore, Kinnigoli, Mulki, Mangalore, Hubli and Mysore.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Gymnastics.

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.
Always speaks her mind :) .

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
Shoes, sandals and two buckets.

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Yup.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?
For 5 days a week, I am a morning person. For the remaining 2 days, I am a night owl.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

Sunny side up.

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
Bed.

28. FAVORITE PIE?
hmmm.. none.

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Black current.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

hmmm.... Sady is always the first to respond. But as she was the one who tagged me I need to wait and watch who among others will respond first.

New Look...

2008-05-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

I just changed the look and feel of my blog :) .Looks great right? The page looks elegant and feminine now. One of my team mate forwarded the link to Pratima Jayaram's blog. The blogger uses a template powered by Final Sense. Navigating to the website, I found out that it is dedicated to provide variety of services. One of them is the free blogger templates. Clear steps are mentioned for using the template in blog. However the steps given are for blogs supported by Blogger.com. I don't know if they support LiveJournal or Wordpress. You can check it out. There are various categories in the templates like 3-Column, Animal, Architecture etc. I browsed through some of them and found this one to be good. This one is from the 'Women' category.

Note: Better save your current template before you migrate. The custom titles which you might have added will not be migrated to the new template. I underwent this and found that the blog roll list which was maintained is lost with the previous template. I have to add it once again :(.

That's one part of the change. Apart from this I have changed the url of the blog too.
The new blog url is http://mortalzlife.blogspot.com/. The previous url http://poornimaprabhu.blogspot.com is no longer valid.
The reason for this change?. Well, I really don't know. Just felt like changing and going underground for next couple of days. Moreover anonymity brings certain privileges you see :).

The blog renovation does not end here. I would like to plugin some more features site hit counter, feeds, messenger, shout box etc. Let me see how it goes. Thats all for now.
Btw.. I would like to thank Suresh, my team mate who forwarded the link to Pratima's blog and my supervisors for not assigning me any task for day. Without them I would not have been able to renovate my blog. ;) See you soon. Till then, take care.

One year in IT industry.

2007-11-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

I recently completed one year in IT industry. I am recollecting my experiences as a fresher a year ago. Frankly I don’t know what to say. Shall I say that I have matured as an individual or shall I say that this exposure has brought me face to face with some truths of life.. I joined this software firm as a campus recruit. To some extent I knew what to expect as a fresher.Still, other facets were unknown. Anyways I coped up with this transition. I wont mention the regular training schedules and the induction into project which followed, as most of you might be familiar with this phase. But I would like to mention few things that I learned as a professional/individual. Some of them are…

--> When given an opportunity to do challenging things, do accept it. In the end what matters is not whether you execute the task successfully or not but whether you handled it well with responsibility. There is always scope for people who take responsibilities.

Have the humility to take responsibility for failures.

Don’t rely on people every time. Help yourself whenever the need arises. Have the courage to explore solutions beyond limitations.

A ‘Yes’ can mean a ‘No’. But a ‘No’ always means a ‘No’.

Whenever offered help don’t reject it.

Learn to hear between words and read between lines. This will help in anticipating crisis.

Have lots of patience as there are many dumb people here.

Be humble enough to learn things.

Apart from that you need to have the regular stuff, communication skills, presentation skills, networking skills and blah blah..

There are few other changes that have impacted my personal life as well.

I have become an addict to chat engines gtalk and yahoo. Trying desperately to kick this habit J. My work place provides me with free internet (chat) usage. This explains all. Hey, I do work. It is just that I cant concentrate on work if I am not online… (Hope my PM is not reading this :D) Well this don’t reply to pings if I am busy.

You lose touch with your mates and close friends from your college. This happens if you are not staying together or when you don’t meet during weekends. Meeting during weekends is out of question as you are occupied with other things ;) . Initially you keep in touch through mails/chat/phone calls, eventually this practice will fade away. Gradually they will be too busy to reply to your mails or you will be too busy to notice their messages (will write about this in a separate entry).

You get into habit of checking mails every now and then.

You eagerly wait for weekends .

Hmmm… looks enough for now. It is really hard to summarize the changes of one year in one page. Well, I did my best. This is all for now...

Please, leave a comment before you navigate away from this blog .

Guru Poornima at Hubli

2007-08-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had been to Hubli. My grand parents stay there and its been almost a year since I saw them. There was another reason for my being there. I had been there to take part in the Guru Poornima Mahotsav which is celebrated annually by the Sanatan Sanstha. Sanatan Sanstha is a spiritual organization which is striving hard to revive ancient Hindu culture. My granny and aunt are active members of this organization. Well I am not a staunch follower of the organization, but I do appreciate some of the values preached there. This was the third time I was participating in this event and it has become an annual ritual for me now. Every time I attend this event, life has posed a new turn for me. I remember, first time when I attended this event, I got a job unexpectedly.

This year when I attended, I was put into a new and challenging project all of a sudden. I don’t know what you call this. ‘Miracle’ is too strong a word to be used to describe this. But I believe in and have faith in this annual ritual. Every time I attend this event, my instinct tells me that something exciting will happen soon. And this has been happening every time. I really don’t know weather it is faith or something else, but something does happen when I attend the event. Every one has their own faiths and beliefs and it is this that adds more value to every day life. Some times such rituals might seem foolish and useless, but you feel at ease when you perform them. Such rituals could be pertaining to divinity or could be relating to normal life. Whatever it may be, it helps in self actualization.

I am still coping up with the turn in my life this event has brought about. At the same time I am eagerly waiting for Guru Poornima next year and I am sure something more exciting will happen then.

Life, a paradox...

2007-07-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

Life is such a paradox. Everything is a big Chinese puzzle to me. You prepare a fool proof plan and along the way of its execution you encounter unanticipated incidents. Well, if you are lucky enough you reach your goal (through ups and downs of course...).

Let us take my example. The project is in its final phase and there is no much significant work left. So I was happy thinking that I would be able to leave for home early today. My hometown is at a 3hr train journey from Bangalore. So I need to leave office early to catch a train/bus. More ever I have some tasks pending that need to be done this weekend. Thus, I have to go home this week at any cost. Though I can wake up early and go on Saturday, I prefer traveling on Friday. The plan to leave early was in perfect sink, until this happened. One of my team mate left for his native yesterday. Today he had to perform an urgent task here. Now that he has left that task was handed over to me for completion. That’s something good. Extra responsibilities teach you a lot. But see the irony. That task can be performed only after 6:00 in the evening. Poor me. I was thinking of leaving office at 5:00 p.m. Now I can only leave office at 6:30 p.m. if everything goes well. And to add to that I have been sitting idle since morning without any significant work. And the most important work begins only after 6:00.

Wah.. Kya life hai!! Now, either you can crib about life or curse your team mate for the transferring the task to you or write it down in a blog like me and kill time. I prefer the last option.

Sometimes even if you plan with accuracy, it can go waste. You can see what happened to me. You can still prevent this by being bit smart. But that does not help always and there are other drawbacks associated with it. I will talk about it some other time. For time being I am making frequent trips to cafeteria on top floor and loitering around. I tried bugging my friends who are online with nonsense tricks, but all of them are too busy to respond. When you are free and don’t have anything to do, all your online friends will be busy and they don’t respond to your pings. During such a period you don’t receive any chain mails or forwards that you would receive everyday.

That is life you see. You have to leave with it. Hey, I think it is time for another trip to cafeteria. I will go around and see if anyone is free to fall prey to my non sense tricks.

That’s all for now… take care…

Ps:
I just remembered one of the Murphy’s law :

If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment.

Spectacles story

2007-07-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Phew!!.. after a long time I am able to relax in the office. It is 3:00 p.m. The pantry lad just came and served the tea. I am sipping the hot tea now. I can here some body shouting over the phone in the next cubicle. All my team mates are digging into their computers with wide open eyes. Sometimes this computer job can be bugging. But I was somehow able to take advantage of this. Want to hear it? The story goes like this…

I like to wear spectacles. Right from childhood I have been envying people who wear specs. I don’t mean the ones with thick glasses. I meant the ones with thin frame and thin glass. No matter how ugly a person looks, when he wears such spectacles he gets an appealing look on his face. Those specs always add an intellectual and scholarly value to his face. Looks like I am drifting away from the topic. Anyways let me come on the track. My job is computer related and requires constant interaction with it. I have to sit before the computer for almost 9 hrs. Just imagine the state of my poor eyes. Then I came up with a plan. I decided to buy an anti glare glass :). Here was my chance to wear glasses and satisfy my childhood wish. I went to few optical shops here in Bangalore. Happily tried few varieties (this is the only chance to try few exotic varieties to your heart's content.. free of cost of course!!! Well don’t think I am cheap but I am just normal.. :)) and finally settled for a good anti glare spec with thin frame and fiber glass lens. It cost me around Rs.1200. Well neither high nor low. For the past few months I am wearing my specs everyday. Most of them think that glasses don’t suit me. But who cares, I am quite happy wearing it. Why not.. after all my childhood wish has been fulfilled.. :)

That’s all for now..

Long time….

2007-06-30T03:35:00.000-07:00

I am blogging after a month or so. Was bit busy with work… Many events happened in this course of time. I got a slight feel of the deadlines and work pressure in corporate world. Learnt the value of home food J. I went home after a gap of month or so and was happy to have good food after a long time. God alone knows how I got through this month. Working for almost 12 hrs a day, 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. And even on Saturdays and Sundays..Life had almost driven me crazy. But I am happy with the outcome. J Want to take a break from work and these hectic schedules.

Well, time to start another chapter or should I say that chapter has already begun. ;)
Hmm.. saw the new movie Cheeni Kum. The movie is based on a story in which a 64 yrs old man romances a 34yr lady. The old man’s character is played by none other than Mr Big B and Tabu plays the lady’s role. The story line is good and ends up telling some bitter truths about life. Looks like I am writing an essay on the movie.. I think I had better stop at this. But one thing is for sure you cant bear someone elderly like Big B being paired with a young actress like Tabu. It sucks.. At the same time that’s the thing which is adding value to the movie. What else..
Its been a long I read a novel. There is Dan Brown’s Deception Point lying in my cupboard. Borrowed it from a friend yet to read and return. I had better start off with this.

Well that’s all for now. Hopefully I will be able to make next blog entry soon.. Till then take care and God bless..

Microsoft’s hollow blow to open source community.

2007-05-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

“Microsoft claims that Linux and other open source products violate about 235 of its patents.” This news it been circulated around lately. Several questions come to mind when you read this caption. Is this Microsoft’s new corporate tactic to get even with the open source community? Do Open source products really violate Microsoft patents? If yes, then what was Microsoft doing all these years?

I think this is more of a corporate tactic and the accusation is baseless. The MNC has not yet come up with the list of patents which are violated as claimed. Linus Torvalds has come up with a retaliating response to the accusation. He says that Microsoft violates more patents than anyone does (I somehow feel that this accusation is true :) ) and has challenged the corporation to come up the list of patents which are violated.

These days many corporations are turning towards open source products. Use of such products do not require procuring of licenses, you need not pay any hefty amount as part of procurement. Last but not the least, the source code will be available (under GPL license of course :) ). Thus, the support extended to the open source products makes sense in this context :). IBM is a supporter of Linux. All these factors have proved as a threat to anti-open source organization like Microsoft.

Summarizing the entire issue, one could say that Microsoft is trying to create a storm out of nothing.

Ps: Microsoft has decided not to sue Linux users.

The following links will provide more info :

Microsoft’s claim

Linus Torvalds’s response

Nothing but abstract...

2007-05-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing new is happening these days. It is the same old routine. Waking up early in the morning, going for a walk and doing bit of work out, getting ready to catch the company cab, work for 8.5 hrs, then back to the heavenly abode, read for a while, wash clothes, have dinner and hit bed. Sometimes life becomes too mechanical and monotonous. You wait and wait for something exciting to happen. It is not that there are no new events happening around you. You don’t see the newness in these events. Yet there are days when nothing is happening and you are excited about something unknown. You see freshness in every trivial thing. Anything that is least important, interests you. May be all these abstract feelings can be attributed to the age factor. When life comes across a plain phase with no ups and downs, it is better to change the perception of seeing things. It is better to make some effort to see freshness in every trivial thing we do. Then no matter what life becomes exciting.

Time for me to return to work. :)

By the way this entry is dedicated to Sadhana and Ankit. :)

Train musings and IT….

2007-05-05T03:45:00.000-07:00

Train journeys have always fascinated me. The comfort and joy of the journey cannot be surpassed by anything else. It has been almost 8months since I shifted to Bangalore. Every weekend I travel by train to my hometown. (I do commute by buses owing to the circumstances.. that’s a different story altogether..). You come across many interesting/fascinating/idiotic things when you travel in train. Well, I would say that you should be lucky enough for these things to happen. The duration of the journey is around 3hrs. Many a time I have enjoyed joyous/funny moments in train.

Sometimes the Ticket Collector catches some people who are traveling without ticket. The victims usually pay fine and leave silently. There are others who are courageous and argue with TC (God knows what for…) and end in creating a scene in the compartment. (Anyways, it is sometimes good to have some entertainment ;)) There are other people who try to be too curious about their co-passengers. Most of the time my co-passenger starts the conversation like this…

Co-passenger: “Neevu yenu madthiddirra?kelasa na?” (What are you doing?working or studying?)
Me: “kelasa madtidini” (I am working)
Co-passenger: “Yelli? Bangalura?” (where? In Bangalore?)
Me: “Houdu” (Yes)

When you say that you work in Bangalore, the next question will be
“IT?”

(These days Bangalore has become synonymous with IT. You say that you work in Bangalore and it usually means that you work for some IT company. There is a joke which is been circulated since many days…

“In Bangalore, when you throw a stone it will either fall at a dog or at a software engineer” )

The next question will be about the company. And then your co-passenger will give the most awaited response…

“Oh! Howda?? Nanna tammana hedatiya bhavana maga #### companyli iddane… monne monne US ge hoda…blah.. blah.. blah…” (Oh! My brother’s wife’s brother-in-law’s son is in #### company. He went to US… blah… blah… blah...)

Your co-passenger may then spend his/her entire journey in describing the stay in US, though he/she might have never visited. If you are lucky then he/she may shut his/her mouth.

Uncle Sam’s country has influenced Indian economy a lot. If US sneezes, India catches cold (read this some magazine.. :D). If you are in some IT company people usually think that you would some day make it to US, the land of Nirvana…

I almost forgot to mention one important thing. The train from Bangalore to my hometown is always filled with people, most of them working in IT companies returning to their home during the weekend (Like me ;)). So the conversation described above somehow does makes sense…

Hmmm… as I said earlier there are many funny moments… will write about it some other time.. I could not go home this weekend. This blog entry is the result of that..

This is all for now…

Bangalore, through the eyes of a foreigner

2007-04-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

Recently I came across a book in the company library. The name of the book is ‘An exemplary family in Bangalore’, written by Bob Hoekstra, CEO of Philips Software Center in Bangalore. The book describes Bob’s experiences in the Garden City. A book with 62 pages and 27 chapters was successful in captivating my attention thought out the reading. The sketches in the book are rendered by Soumen Chakraborty. The title of the book immediately caught my attention. Most of the chapters are short and I wished they were longer.

The book describes Bob’s view of the Banglorean life, the change that the IT industry has brought about along, the attitude of the residents towards this change. He gives a humorous description to the day to day events which might seem normal to a resident. Some chapters in the book are indeed thought provoking.

I liked the chapter titled, ‘Ellora Caves’. Bob describes the Kailasa temple with the big software companies flourishing in Bangalore. Someone like me who works in a software company might find this chapter interesting. He writes that it would cost the software engineers around sixty billion euros to complete the Kailasa temple, with all the planning and the CMM (Capability Maturity Model) modeled software development. I am reproducing the last lines in the chapter here. The chapter ends like this...

“One can just wonder what will remain of the work of this army of software engineers, a thousand years from now. If it something like the Kailasa temple, it will get World Heritage Status.”

A must read book for every Bangalorean.

'Potpourri'

2007-04-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is 'potpourri'. While going through the process of creation of blog I had to fill in the title. I thought of giving a title in Greek or Latin or in some unknown language as most of them do. I even browsed through some of the so called Greek, Latin, French dictionary websites. Didn’t come across any word or phrase which conveyed simple and an interesting meaning.. Thought of giving the title as 'My Think pad'. But that would sound philosophical. Finally, I remembered one friend who calls me 'potpourri'. I thought that this word would suit the title.

According to a dictionary, potpourri is a mixture of dried petals and leaves from various flowers and plants that is used to give a room a pleasant smell. The other meaning of potpourri goes like this.. 'An unusual or interesting mixture of things'. Hmmm... something relevant and interesting too.. a blog which would be a collection of unrelated yet interesting thoughts/posts. That’s all for now.. Please feel free to post your comments..

First post

2007-04-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Finally I got a cyber identity. I have seen many of my friends and seniors blogging. This tempted me to start a blog. Here i go............
More about me in the sections to come.. Happy reading..