You have no idea what i'm talking about.

Great few lines.....

"I guess I could be really pissed off about what happened to me...but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry. You will someday." - American Beauty

What of the lad who never wins.....

chanced upon this poem from William Hare...
here's to our reading appetite -

What of the lad who never wins,
but never quits the race?
Who knows before the day begins,
he's doomed to second place.

Two left feet; too many thumbs
but still he plods ahead.
He'll arrive to catch the crumbs,
after the winners have been fed.

Who is this lad of average skills,
who's most of the human race?
One by one he'll climb life's hills,
just trying to keep life's pace.

Soar Higher

This was one of my very initial writes. Wrote it for a friend - Sundeep Tibrewal's venture (Resolve Query) where he was looking at providing a platform between Students and Young professionals like us who have passed through the system to provide the benefit of hind-sight ( Something which all of us would love to have ).
The book was supposed to well.....provide a snapshot of some positives ala one of the Self-Help Books, - journey so far - kind.

Here's the Link.

So Long!!!

Of 16 Consecutive Wins......Suck it.

Australia might sit and take notice of the 16 Consecutive Wins... NEVER DONE BEFORE.
But the whole world and maybe a bit of the non-partisan Australian public might sit and take notice that the last win was a farcical one - One where the spirit of the game was betrayed - NEVER DONE BEFORE.

Because it just was not the bad umpiring decisions, but the behavior of the particular Australian team towards achieving that win which leaves such a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

This particular test has been reduced to such a farce
First in the post match comment where Ponting snarls at an Indian Commentator saying " Dont Suspect my Integrity"
When Ponting uttered those very words i started thinking, about the delivery he tickles down the legside and stands and waits.
Agreed he got a bad decision to get out, but then he should never have been batting in the first place at that point. Where was his integrity when he should have walked. ( Oops - thats what cost Adam Gilchrist the captaincy... But what the heck - I am not playing for an Australian team :-) ). Should someone snarl at him then and remind his integrity.

Secondly when Symmonds says Bhajji called him a Monkey and insisted it was with an racial undertone and i got M Clarke for company since he heard it.
So i flashback -
1st day of the test, Symmonds nicks ( rather thick edges one to Dhoni ) and waits and waits.
4th day of the Test, Clarke edges one which is caught at slip and waits and waits.
So you have someone of Symmonds repute to allege and of Clarke's repute to witness - You sure do have a fool proof case -
Not for a Racial Uttering, but for Suspicious Behaviour - One which smacks of Mind Games.
Would someone who is so shocked by the Racial word, look around and see if someone else heard it so that he could nail that guy and ensure he doesnt play a few tests.
And why wouldnt Ponting report it to the Umpires. He would be happy to see the back of Harbhajan - So atleast he gets the oppurtunity to score a few runs.
( Seems like one of the Backroom Mind games which ozzies are so adept at playing ).

BTW it would do some sense to the Australian public and media to find out how we treat Monkeys in India - We treat them as God - Lord
Hanuman.

In all my brouhaha of countering the charge, i find it surprising that neither the umpires nor the Match referree reprimanded Symmonds for butting into a conversation. Maybe Bajji did tap Lee's Bottom, maybe he didnt - What right does that give to a team-mate(Symmonds) to rush to Bajji and give him a piece of mind. Does Symmonds think his team-mate Lee is a sissy and cant handle things on his own ?
I think the ICC rules are clear in that, Only a Captain can interfere and not any team-mate when he feels something is wrong. So according to the rule if Symmonds feels he needed to step up, is this Symmonds way of sending out signals to the CA fraternity that he deserves to be the Next captain and not Clarke ( and maybe Clarke would support that and accompany Symmonds. He is just the "PUP" after all.)
PS: As a bystander , i find it derogatory that a player is called a Dog (PUP) by his team-mates. How sad can it get :-(

You can judge how strongly the game has been influenced by umpiring decisions, when u see that two players ( for all of you who forgot - Symmonds in the 1st Innings and Hussey in the 2nd Innings) from the same team have recieved clear reprieves and gone on to score 100's.
Wish he would have given legitamate chances to Dravid and Ganguly ? ( Not asking for any favours - Just the correct decision ).
And their non maintainence of standards is mind-boggling. If at all it was decided to take the player's word and both captains were in agreement, why did Mr. Benson always choose that route and Mr. Bucknor feel happy to refer decisions to the Third Umpire.

And Micheal Slater tops the chart with his admission that its a different thing to be honest while batting and fielding. According to Slats, you should take a man's word for it when he is fielding, but not when he is batting - Maybe it talks something about the way Australian way of preparing their players.

KUDOS AUSTRALIA!!! - I think the game should be played that way for any team to be World-Beaters. WIN At all costs - No matter what happens.

It would also be wise of the ICC to situp and take notice of the fact that whenever there is a team touring Down-Under, there is always a heated build-up and for a reason the Ozzies are the most hated team in the world - Not for their ability to pile up victories, but the spirit behind them.

I am just plain happy, the Indian Captain - Kumble had the gumption, decency, calm and spirit to look at the right side of things and say that if we can play the game like we did in India's first innings, we would be a far better team. As an ardent fan, There have been defeats where i have felt the Indian team let me down, but not for once did that feeling hit me for this particular test and i think the New Year despite the result holds a lot in store for India.

Patented....

Finally... I can add something worthwhile to my resume.
So ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls - hold your breath - coz i am an Inventor now.

I have a patent registered in my name for ( let me look up ) -

Methods and apparatus for automated testing of a device through a command line interface

Most of the context for this came from a piece of project-work that i happened to do at Symbol, U.S. However my manager - Ajay malik - , found this to be a patentable idea and presented it and lo and behold - 2 years down the line - we have ourselves a Patent.

Now before i gloat and die over this achievement ( there are lot of you out there who might be reading and saying - What the heck is he getting all excited and panzied about, i have few words for you - IT MEANS A LOT TO ME ), here's the link to the same - CLICK HERE.

I am just happy that i am worthwhile enough to make a contribution - however small, insignificant it is......
I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank my mom, sis, dad.........

Brrrr.... Enough of Speeches....

I needed a reason to get back to my blog and couldnt find a better reason to gloat over. So bear with me.

And i promise - There will be better blogs ... hehehehe ;-)

All Gyaan and no work makes Jack a Manager

I really am excavating all my old writings.... Here's another.

I have all along worked in Indian Companies of small-moderate sizes and have taken it for granted that the manager's - Technical and Administrative are great guys who play the game in the fair spirit possible, whose Technical Expertise could always be called upon at any time of problem. So my respect for managers was great and i always looked up to them for their sense of fairness and sound-judgement and thats where i wanted to be.Maybe the greatness of a few of my previous managers (mis-)led me to the belief.

However one stint at an MNC quickly brought me to reality. I realised all that a manager says and does is to be taken only on ACTION rather than on WORDS. Like when a manager empathizes with an employee with his work-content/salary/ anything else, 99% of the time it is to extract the frustration that is hidden in the Employee ( Rest Assured the Action taken during this motive is NULL ), Rest 1% is when he really wants to take your feedback and implement a change ( It is here that his real intent comes out based on how far he takes the feedback and gets it implemented ).
Most of my previous Managers at that point in time belonged to the 1% category and i conviniently assumed that the Industry is full of such people and the Other Type are very few. I was so WRONG.
Maybe that is where my inner sense of frustration at things not going the way i think it should go ( read WIN-WIN situations ) stems from.
But then Darwin's Theory of Natural Survival - Only the fittest survive - kicks in impulsively and the transformation begins.
The Contemptuous way with which any Problem/Individual needs to be seen is built and so is the Undying Confidence in your work ( ANything Wrong is not done by me - It must be done by the other guy in the cubicle or the one sitting across me - IT CANT BE ME ). Naturally with so many pre-judiced opinions and thoughts, the productivity has to be affected. Consequently with such kind of behaviour being applauded, the learning continues and you end up doing no work and only Gyaan.

Quick Self-Appraisal:
Spent half - 3/4ths of the day today dishing out Gyaan.

WOW!!! I am on my way to being a Manager.

Honesty...

Driving down to work in a busy Bangalore traffic Monday morning is quite painful and today wasnt any different. However at one of the traffic junctions i noticed a little boy - must be 10-12 years old, trying to sell those cloth pieces which are used to clean the cars. One of the car fellas bought a couple of them, bargained for 2 @ 25/- and gave him 50 rupee note. The kid happy to have got his first sale of the day, ran around trying to get some change for the 50/- to return the balance to the man in the car. He managed to get the change and hand over 30/- but still was waiting to recieve the 5/-. As soon as he got that, you could make from his body expressions that the 5/- was his earning for the 2 pieces of cloth and he so joyously thanked god, kissed the coin and pocketed it.

Led me to think - Where else have i seen this kind of honesty and sincerity to get a job done and feel happy after recieving the profits? When was the last time i saw/felt something like that ?
Not in a long time i would say.

Somehow, The most deprived sections of our society ( the poor) are the ones who are the most honest in their everyday lives. We trust the Watchman, Maids with our houses, Drivers with our cars, Shop Keeper trusts his boy with the daily cash deposits in the bank.

Contrast this with the "Richer" section of our society - They break the rules, Kill people, Swindle money, and still stand up straight and say they are honest. ( Obviously i am generalizing here ), but the point is isnt this something noticeable about the two stratas of society.

Couldnt the kid who earns 5/- for two pieces of cloth run away with the 50/-. He would have pocketed 30/- for his effort instead of the 5/-. But yet he ran around earnestly asking for the change, getting it, completeing the transaction and getting his due ( 5/-) - Nothing more.

Somehow Honesty seems to be the solace of the poor and money seems to substitue that for the Rich.

Wonder Why Napolean said this -
"The Surest way to remain poor is to be honest"

Must confess......Wrote this post a while ago...

How Weird am i

You Are 60% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

Futball....

Somewhere during my dis-illusionment with the Indian cricket Team during the late 90's and early 2000's when the Match Fixing Scandal broke out, i started following other sports - Basketball, Soccer were the obvious choices given the ample TV Coverage.

7 Years following the sport - Game of Basketball seems to have taken a backstage and somehow the players are in the spotlight - Retirement, Comeback and Subsequent Retirement of Micheal Jordon, Disbandment of the Kobe - Shaq parternship and subsequent fate of the Lakers. Its only individuals who might pull you to watch a game of Basketball. Even the NBA bosses are worried about the steady decline in the viewers.

Soccer on the other hand has been growing on me. Come Rain, Sunshine, Storm - The Game goes on. The dependence on the pitch, environmental conditions is so less that it really boils down to skill, commitment and the way a TEAM plays. It is one of the few sports which really embodies true TEAM WORK. So you cant have an forward who scores all the time, but a defence which leaks goals and yet have a Winning team. You cannot have grounds on which your defence can perform exceedingly well, but your forwards cannot do enough to survive ( reminds you of Cricket )

2002 World Cup got me hoooked onto Football and subsequently the coverage of English Premier League is breathtaking. You realize what a wonderful game it is, when the teams at the verge of relegation fight it out with the bigger teams and give them a run for their money. The teams with the bigger stars and names are never guaranteed a Victory. And there is no crib when a star player gets injured, game just moves on - someone from the squad steps in and trys to fill the void.

If there was a complaint i had from the sport, it would be that the game gets over too quickly, but then i guess even that adds to the charm and the speed of the sport.

I guess its more like fore-play, U always end up wanting MORE :-)