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Saturday, December 20, 2008

P.G. Wodehouse: Ring for Jeeves - "But a woman can always tell."

In chapter 6, author, describing Mrs. Spottsworth's contemplation, during her drive to Rowcester Abbey, of the recent unscheduled rendezvous with Captain Biggar, writes:

"...it may seem strange that Mrs. Spottsworth should have known anything about the way he felt. But a woman can always tell. When she sees a man choke up and look like an embarrassed beetroot every time he catches her eye over the eland steaks and lime juice, she soon forms an adequate diagnosis of his case."

Author makes further effort in next paragraph to emphasize a woman's observation powers:
"She had not failed to observe the pop-eyed stare in his keen blue eyes, the deepening of the hue of his vermilion face and the way his number eleven feet shuffled from start to finish of the interview. If he did not still consider her the tree on which the fruit of his life hung, Rosalinda Spottsworth was vastly mistaken."

PLEASE VOTE, EVEN IF IT IS TO NOBODY

Note: Following is based on an e-mail forward doing rounds during 2009 General Elections in India. Not sure about the autheticity of the following.

The section 49-O reads:

“49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.”

P.G. Wodehouse: Ring for Jeeves - Fatal "Confusion of Ideas"

In chapter 1, author, describing how Mrs. Spottsworth "was almost immediately widowed again", writes:

"It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A.B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't. The result being that when he placed his foot on the animal's neck preparatory to being photographed by Captain Biggar, the White Hunter accompanying the expedition, a rather unpleasant brawl had ensued, and owing to Captain Biggar having to drop the camera and spend several vital moments looking about for is rifle, his bullet, though unerring, had come too late to be of practical assistance."

Saturday, November 22, 2008

What is any Businees?

Why: A business plan may have one of the three primary objectives
- To make money/ To be independent/ To work for oneself
- Two-fold: Social Entrepreneurship- To make money & to contribute to society; e.g. open a school, hospital, set-up a rural BPO etc.
- To contribute to society

What: Involves the following activities
- Get money from a lender
- Hire experts and get other assets in place to work for you
- Pay out salary/ wages and other expenses
- Sell the product/ service
- Pay back the lender

How: The detailed business plan specific to one's business - explaining how one would carry out each and every step of the business including but not limited to Operations, Sales, Admin, HR, Finance, IT etc. The business could be
- A pharmaceutical company (to make money)
- A private equity fund (to make money)
- A library (Social Entrepreneurship)
- A self sustainable business model with sole aim of contributing to the society; e.g. open a school in a child labour prevalent area, pay kids for coming to school which compensates for their income from child labour, give them a vocational training along with education, e.g. teach to make pottery, cane basket, handicraft etc. sell their products into the market which would provide cash in-flow for the expenses to run the school and pay-out to the kids; Obviously this process involves one to borrow money for the initial set-up, hire experts for teaching/ vocational training and incur expenses, sell the products and pay back the lender

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Is it Life...(contd)!

Forgot to include a fact:

"What I do...as creepy as...dark dungeon...diffuse out...in the vacuum."
To ensure my incessant survival, which is endangered due to above parameters in place and additional nonindulgent temperature and pressure conditions prevailing these days, I have been strongly advised by more than many to exhibit a demeanor that can only be practiced with the aid of a persistent pestering. Hence, every hour or two the alarm goes off only for my mobile screen to read as, "You are an Ass :-P!"

And preserving all my aplomb I respond, "Well! Nothing new."

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Stretching Exercise

Life has been, of late, very hectic - read, friends (delusion), write, draw, hobbies, sleep and one also has to work on weekdays - that one hardly get any time for exertion. But, I have decided to stay fit this time by regular stretching for a stretch, for I haven't really stretched for more than an year and half with exception being those days that witnessed stretches of Age of Empires (a strategy computer game)/ movies.

My stretching plan is as following:
- Wake up at 8:00 am, start from office for home
- Get ready, start for office from home
- Typical work hours are 9:30 to 8:30
- Study till 3:00

There have been a few variations in the stretching steps practiced above:
- Go home at 2:00, stretch for another hour
- Do 3 chairs trick and crash at 2:00 till 3:00 in office, stretch for another hour before crashing

3 chairs Trick - have you ever been privileged of sleeping on a bed of chairs?!
If the answer is No with a gape, then you are probably destined to score a low on adaptability matrix and you need me to tell you the 3 Chairs Trick. I don't have a ready image available but I have practiced enough mastery on the skill at hand(y) on various occasions that include family marriages, hostel nights and the current stretching stunt.

ha..aa..aaaa.aaaaa (yawn)

Being able to practice it successfully from Monday to Friday, even-With-a-suspicion-of-not-being-able-to-do-so next-day, has resolved that I can still stretch on occasions if needed.

ha..aa..aaaa.aaaaa (yawn)

Stretching done for the day!

ha..aa..aaaa.aaaaa (yawn)

P.S Thanks to Deloitte Healing Room that they have beds in there for the days when there is no mood for 3 chairs trick

Monday, August 18, 2008

P.G. Wodehouse: Jeeves in the Offing - Love and the Male Sex

In Chapter 12, while Bertie Wooster is conversing with his aunt Dahlia Traver about his past relationships with Roberta Wickham:

"The snag in this business of falling in love, aged relative, is that the parties of the first part so often get mixed up with the wrong parties of the second part, robbed of their cooler judgment by the parties of the second part's glamour. Put it like this. The male sex is divided into rabbits and non-rabbits and the female sex into dashers and dormice, and the trouble is that the male rabbit has a way of getting attracted by the female dasher (who would be fine for the male non-rabbit) and realizing too late that he ought to have been concentrating on some mild, gentle dormouse with whom he could settle down peacefully and nibble lettuce."

Speech that I never gave :-|

Thank you Bob and thank you Raj. I would also like to thank the jury for selecting me as one of the recipient of the first ever Community Impact Awards 2008. As I understand that Deloitte is a truly meritocratic environment where to excel one has to continuously raise the bar, this would have not been possible without the constant support from the year round Reach Out team, whose persistent enthusiasm kept the fire burning through out the year. The dedication that the team has shown is commendable. I would like to express my special thanks to Pankaj Jalan who believed in my capabilities and handed over the charge of coordinating the thread activities when he had to go for a project onsite. Thanks again to Raj for connecting me to Pankaj who will soon be starting a new journey of life with a mate this time as he got engaged just a week back. Congratulation Pankaj! I am glad for you!

I find myself fortunate that I am associated with Deloitte which offers a strong platform and encourages employees for community service initiatives. For someone like me who is straight out of the college, Deloitte not only provided an excellent environment for professional growth but also for personal growth and building relations as well.

I enjoyed every moment of my community service. The satisfaction I could draw was tremendous. Tomorrow it is Rakhi which reminds me that last year when I was looking for someone to tie me a knot I was blessed with two sisters from 7th grad I was teaching. Not only that, at times, when I was low in life the activity gave me a purpose to extend.

Just a quick description of the activity would include: we visited an orphanage and aged elders home "Sathya Sai Vidya Mandir", an institution near BharatNagar MMTS railway station. They also run a school till 10th standard and have a few resident undergraduate students as well. Our activity involved teaching maths to class 1, 2, 3 and 7, help college students with their end semester exams, help the institution create and manage records for all the members and spend time with orphans and aged elders.

Before I am asked to loose the control over the mike, please allow me to quote Late Dr. Randy Pausch from his 2008 commencement speech at Carnegie Mellon, "Find your passion and in my experience no matter what you do at work, or what you do in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes."

Thank you.

Hitting the Iron Hot

There are times when movies have had 'Hit the Iron Hot':
1. Kal Ho Na Ho
2. You've Got Mail -
Kathleen: When I'm confronted by someone I get tongue tied and my mind goes blank. Then I spend the rest of the night tossing and turning over what i should have said.
Joe: ... when you eventually have the pleasure of saying the thing you want to say at the moment you’re wanting to say it, remorse inevitably follows.
3. A Walk to Remember -
Reverend Sullivan: "Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful nor conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes."
3. Om Shanti Om - yet to write here
4. Jub We Met
5. Dil, Dosti etc.
6. Bachna Ae Haseeno
7. Little Manhatten
Love is an ugly, terrible business practiced by fools. It'll trample your heart and leave you bleeding on the floor. And what does it really get you in the end? Nothing but a few incredible memories that you can't ever shake. The truth is, there's gonna be other girls out there. I mean, I hope. But I'm never gonna get another first love. That one is always gonna be her.

Is It Life...!

What I do for my living is not what I like the most which is as creepy as people finding themselves in a dark dungeon and on the first sight of a ray of hope coming though an orifice they would diffuse out blithely without thinking of what could be on the other side in the vacuum.

The people whom I live with I do not enjoy that much!

In pursuit of higher studies I am and I am not sure if I am ready for it yet.

What I am in pursuit of is not what I am sure of being interesting in.
Just that some of my close relatives, whom myself and my female sibling, which happen to be the only one that I have, call maa-papa, have been pushing me to be fit to catch a CAT. What makes me wonder is that even if I catch the CAT will that catch that lost mouse of enthusiasm.

So called friends have been picked up and winged out of the city, though they did buzz me an alarm well in advance, but I have already mentioned about the creepy dungeon, haven't I?

It took me a little more than 2 and a half years to realize that how, at that time, I screwed the biggest of all the times in my personal life, something that occurred to me mere 2 weeks back. (I wish YOU happen to read it)

But for all I know is that I need to 'Give Some Time to Time' and have my full faith supporting it!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Imagine...

...this!

Sitting in the room below, and it rains for the whole night! :)
(Image is clickable for a large view)


(You have to wait untill Monday when I get a better picture of the room clearly showing the window view, I just had this picture somewhere already)

Spending 6 hours time doing what was procrastinated for more than a month! :D
(Spending 6 hours time doing what one wanted to do for more than a month!)

Speaking to a dear friend overseas for good 2 hours after a long 8 months! :D
Speaking to a dear friend overseas for 1 hour after 5 months! :D
(I will dwell on it in more details if I ever finish another of my semi-written blogs)

Coming back by company cab at morning 8 am that drops right at home, and it is still raining! :D
(When one have not registered for regular company transportation)

Writing this post! :)

Telling you good night now! :)

Sweet Dreams! :)

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

5 Steps System to Speed-Read

Combine or omit below steps to suit the material

1. Prepare:
- Why you reading, what's the purpose?
- what you already know?
- What you looking from the book to know? What you want from the book?

2. Preview:
- Read the Front and back cover and inside flaps, TOC, index, scan the bibliography
- Flip through the book, determine the structure of the content/ book - heading, subheading, picture, graph etc.
- Eliminate what you sure you not gonna need/ read

3. Passive Reading:
- Scanning of the book, spend few second on every page
- Look for the keywords, bold and italicized words
- Understand the writing style,: too techie, non-tech, jargon, difficult language, familiarity with content/ language

4. Active Reading:
- Read first para of each section/ chapter
- Read first line of each para and last line too if para is very long
- Mark out the useful stuff and/ or useless stuff

5. Selective Reading:
- You know why you are reading, you already have a brief idea of the structure, language and content of the material and a good understanding as well
- Read the earlier marked relevant stuff
- If needed, read the whole book, it will much faster with this system than otherwise


Overriding rule of the speed reading - "Always know why you are reading something."
The reason could be, "you are interested in such stuff", "someone recommended that to you", doesn't matter, but do have a reason

Based on the book: Speed Reading In A Week by Tina Konstant

Thursday, July 31, 2008

...that's where my solace comes from - Late Dr. Randy Pausch, Prof. at Carnegie Mellon

Written below are the excerpts from Prof. Randy Pausch's speech at Carnegie Mellon University Commencement 2008 which is then followed by actual speech video

"We don't beat the (Grim) Reaper by living longer, but by living well, and living fully."

"It's not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not."
"Pretty much any chance I had to do something cool I tried to grab for it — and that's where my solace comes from."

"Honors and words are nice things but only to the extent that they regard the real respect from your peers and to be thought well of by other people that you think of even more highly of..."

"Find your passion and in my experience no matter what you do at work, or what you do in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes."


Late Prof. Randy Pausch, CMU Commencement 2008



What follows is an attempt to transcribe above marvelous speech

I am glad to be here today. Hell! I am glad to be anywhere today.
President Cohon asked me to give the charge to the graduates. I assure you, it is nothing compared to the charge you have just given me.

This is an incredible places. I have seen it through so many lenses. I saw it when I was a graduate student that didn't get admitted and then somebody invited me back and said, ""Ok! We'll change our mind". I saw as a place that hired me back to be on the faculty many years later and then gave me the chance to do what anybody wants to do which is follow their passion, follow their heart and do the things they are excited about. The great thing about this University like almost other ones I know of is that nobody gets in your way when you try to do it and that's just fantastic. To the degree a human being can love an institution, I love this place and I love all the people. I am very grateful to Jared Cohon and everyone else for all the kindness that has been shown on me.

Last August, I was told that I have 3-6 months left to live. I am on month 9 now. I am not gonna get down and do any push-ups. (Pause)...but there will be a short pick-up basketball game later.
Somebody said to me in light of these numbers. "Wow! So, you are really beating the Grim Reaper." What I said without even thinking about it is we don't beat the Reaper by living longer, but by living well, and living fully — for the reaper will come for all of us. The question is: what do we do between the time we're born and the time he shows up. Because when he shows up it is too late to do all the things that you always gonna kind of get around to.

I think the only advice I can give you on how to live your life well is, first off, remember, it's cliche, but I love cliche, it's not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not.
Because I assure you I've done a lot of really stupid things, and none of them bother me. All the mistakes, and all the dopey things, and all the times I was embarrassed — they don't matter. What matters is that I can kind of look back and say: pretty much any chance I had to do something cool I tried to grab for it — and that's where my solace comes from.

The second thing that I would add to that and I did not coordinate on the subject of this word but I think it is the right word that comes up. It is passion. You will need to find your passion. Many of you already done it, many of you will later, many of you may take till your 30s or 40s but don't give up on finding it. Because then all you are doing is waiting for the reaper. Find your passion and follow it. If there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things, and you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the matrix — and there will always be someone with more. So, your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside.

Honors and words are nice things but only to the extent that they regard the real respect from your peers and to be thought well of by other people that you think of even more highly of, is a tremendous honor that I have been granted.

Find your passion and in my experience no matter what you do at work, or what you do in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes. And if you can gain the respect of those around you and the passion and true love. I have said this before. But, I waited till 39 to get married. Because I had to wait that long to find someone where her happiness is more important than mine. If nothing else I hope that all of you can find that kind of passion and that kind of love, in your life. Thank you.

(and his eyes were wet)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Random Thoughts 3 - Life is a 'Thought'...

Life is a 'Thought'...let's think through it!

A thought which can be momentarily long or as long as a saint meditating for whole of his life; a thought which can sustain large disruptions or disturbance as small as minor chemical interactions (miscarriage) can end a Thought before it would even start.

I recently escaped a small disruption while going from Pune to Mumbai. My friend whom I visited at Pune, got more impacted than me as he was sitting in the middle of the back seat of the Honda City Cab. Cutting it short, I heard a loud screech of tyres and the moment screech stopped, my head banged against the back of the driver seat. Our cab had bumped into an Indica Cab. :)

For me all above implies that I need to get back to my roots, which in turns means:
1. Live the Thought to the fullest before it seizes to exist
2. To enable above ensure that I continue to extract happiness/ thrill from small things happening around me

1. 'Live life king size'/ 'Living it to the fullest' doesn't mean, live with no tensions and have all the so called 'fun'.
Do as much as you can - putting fight/ struggling for career is also an attempt to live it to the fullest. There you ensure that you are trying to make the best out of whatever life is left by ensuring the best utilization of your capabilites with a fit to your interests.

2. Big things never excite me, few recent examples that thrilled me:
- On the way to Mumbai while crossing Vashi bridge a train entered the parallel rail-road bridge almost at the same time as our cab travelling at ~ 110 Km/Hr. I was unmoved for that quarter minute when train and the cab were pitted against each other head to head to cross the bridge. Racing at that high speed was thrilling. What really held me back was the fact that I was witnessing a rare event which also had a very small chance of witnessing (Scientifically expained it is a poisson process, with infinitely large no. of trials and very low probability of success in each trial)

- It was 7:00 pm and the train was about to reach at Ahmedabad in an hour or so. During the day I could afford to sleep for 7 hours out of 12 hours long journey, but had missed out on traveling at the gate of the coach. So, decided to utilize the remaining hour. It was drizzling and the fine drops felt like not so sharp needles piercing on face due to high relative wind, resultant of moving train. That coupled with the song going on ear-phone, "Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara, Kadam Na Hote Aawara...To Khoobsoorat Koi Apna Humsafar Hota" created worth remembering moments.

- Everytime I go and visit the dumb tailor in the vicinity of my home, I am surprised by the desire to live he has (doesn't it come out as obvious by now). Each time I go to him and detail him the specifications of the repair that I want for a cloth, I find myself many folds challenged than him. Because he is what he is, I Need to learn a way to communicate to him. The worst thing is that I cannot even confirm if he got 'it' if I said 'it'.

To be continued...

Freakonomics Conquered

* Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life. And understanding them-or, often, ferreting them out-is the key to solving just about any riddle, from violent crime to sports cheating to online dating. Alternatively, every problem has a solution, all one is required to provide is the right set of incentives.

* “Experts”—from criminologists to real-estate agents—use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda. Alternatively, information is a commodity, and if used rightly can be turned into a weapon.

* Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes. Alternatively, known as 'Butterfly Effect'.

* The conventional wisdom is often wrong. Conventional wisdom is often shoddily formed and devilishly difficult to see through, but it can be done.

Monday, July 21, 2008

P.G. Wodehouse: Jeeves in the Offing - Goofiness in the Opposite Sex

In Chapter 3, while Bertie Wooster is hunting for Bobbie (Roberta) Wickham at his aunt Dahlia Traver's house and is encountered with a sight of Phyllis Mills:

"One learns, as one goes through life, to spot goofiness in the other sex with an unerring eye, and this exhibit had a sort of mild, Soul's Awakening kind of expression which made it abundantly clear that, while not a super-goof like some of the female goofs I'd met, she was quite goofy enough to be going on with."

Saturday, July 19, 2008

...and that's what friends and parents have to comment! :)

A junior: Mitesh! You don't have that spark in your voice anymore!
Myself: Hmmmm...

Friend: What do you want in your life? (A week back)
Myself: Nothing! (Without a thought)
.
.
.
Myself: Wait a minute! Actually, there is something that I want. I don't want my parents to know what I answered to you just now!

Few years back:
Mom: Can't you stay at home?
Myself: What do I do then?
Mom: Do something, read etc or just do nothing, sleep!

Now-a-days:
Dad: Why don't you give a break to your non-stop alternate sleeping and reading and may be, step out of home for a while?
Myself: Hmmm...

...there are many more incidences which constitute an unending list ;)

Sunday, June 29, 2008

“The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” - J.K. Rowling

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default." J.K. Rowling at Harvard Commencement 2008

http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Mug Puts - Function Theory

!Dedicated to (p)e(o)p(l)e (-ymer) around me!
Today morning I was studying Statistics to teach BSc 2nd year students as part of the community service.
From statistic got into probability and then into random variables and functions. As I was digging deeper into the functions to develop better understanding, I realized that real functions have real applications in real life. E.g.

1. Attitude is a Function
2. Excess Attitude is inversely proportional to patience, alternatively,
Excess Attitude is directly proportional to loss of patience
3. Huge loss of patience is inversely proportion to Relation
4. Relation help real world perform function smoothly

∀ f(x) : excess of f(x) severely affects Relation, f(x) is not a real function
Transliteration: For every f(x) such that excess of f(x) severely affects Relation, f(x) is not a real function
Translation: It is not realistic to put relations at stake for a certain function

Not only real functions help understand dynamics of Relation, but also help us ask right question, E.g. Why excess of a function to break All the Relation :O?


Fact-sheet: Number of times real used: 11 (Come on be realistic, count again)

Random Thoughts 2 - Being Realistic

"Most of the times it makes more sense to be realistic than sticking to one's principles. Actually, being realistic itself can be a principle"

Monday, June 16, 2008

Random Thoughts 1

Thoughts on Life:

"Life is more about Doing and Learning than Winning or Loosing"

"Life Gives us so much, and it does Expect a Return"

"Risk and Return should always be Attuned"

"Opportunity is for Opportunists"

Source: My Master's Thesis

Some Paradoxical Thoughts

"Our Life is Governed by the Choices that We Make We All are Victims of Circumstances"

A 5 years old thought - Three universal rules in life:

Funda learning process should never stop
Fundaes should keep changing with time, location and person, as the same funda does not work at every place, with every one and at all the times
Few fundaes always remain constant, like the first two

Life kutte billyion ka khel hai!

Note: Fastest Blog ever written by me: Following is just the first cut, please excuse me for grammer, vocab and typos; might edit it later on!

Date: Sunday, June 15, 2008: Evening

Ekdum se feel hua...mann kiya ki is per kuch likhoon. content nahi samajh aa raha tha..."aisa kyon feel ho raha hai?" per mai sochta raha, chalta raha restaurant ki taraf dinner ke liye. kuch baatein jo mere dimaag mai aayi, were some of their behavioural aspects.

Billyion ke baarein mai to shayad bahut nahi pata per kutte to bahut frequently dekhta hun
- gali gali ghoomte rahte hai, ek jagah se doosri jagah, safe, comfortable jagah/ ghar/ udde ki talash mai, billyian bhi ek ghar se doosre ghar bhatakti rahti hai
- jub man kara bhonk liye, nahi to apne shaanti se kone mai pade hai; doom per paavn rakh diya to phir kaate bina chodte nahi; jub man kiya tub public display of affection kar diya
- kumjor dushman dikha to lud liye, doosre kutte ko mar kar ke happy ho gaye; takatwar dikha to door se hi bhonk liye aur vo pass aaya to doom daba kar ke bhag liye
- jaha time pass karna hai, dadagiri karni hai vaha gang mai rah liye, area mai koi naya kutta aaya to uska baaja baja diya; jaha haddi ya kutiya dikhi vaha bina kisi ko bataye akele hi kut liye gang ko chod kar ya phir usi gang se lud liye; na koi kisi ka dost na koi kisi ka dushman

!Vah bhai kutra-jaati tu dhanya hai jo hume batati hai ki hamari life style to unke liye ek khel hai!

------Supporting Facts------

hmmm...restaurant ke ander jaane se pahle mere naye blog ka content pura taiyar ho chuka tha. Had to speak to dad and a cousin over the phone while dinning. started walking back to home after dinner, don't remember what I was thinking on my way back to home

Saw 3-4 man on road side confronting a poor woman. There was a plastic bag and lots of broken/ unbroken glass bottles around the bag lying on the ground in between the men and the woman. Then two men came on a motorbike.
The driver started beating the woman. The driver was so eager to beat the woman that he was not even able to put the side stand properly. I started wondering if I could do something to stop it, "whatever the reason had been, family or otherwise, that man can not beat her openly on the road". I took few steps along my way so that I could cross them. Called up the Police '100'. Response was
- aapne hyderabad control room phone kiya hai, cyberabad (my locality) phone karo
- mai bola ki sir aap dekh lo vo (this was first time I had called to police in my life, was a little uncomfortable)
- vo bola ki itna bhala kar rahe ho to yeh bhi kar lo

Meanwhile, I continued walking towards home and noticed that that man had also picked up broken glass pieces ready to be thrown on that woman (I think he did not throw it finally)

Cyberabad phone kiya - tab tak to vo aadmi us aurat ko pata nahi kitne thappad laga chuka tha and don't know from where he had got a stick and vo use lakdi se maar raha tha. but those other bastards men did not do anything; shayad mai bhi unmai se hi ek tha kyonki maine bhi to kuch nahi kiya. maine socha ki "jub tak police aayegi tub tak shayad yeh mamla bhi khatm ho chuka hoga" because I saw another woman coming in between - 2 ghanti ke baad maine phone kaat diya. shayad mujhe phone nahi kaatna chahiye tha, in my confusion and dismal state I continued walking. after few minutes I saw that the woman had started wallking away from that place, that was satisfactory.

mai abhi un khayalo se bahar bhi nahi nikla tha ki thodi door chala aur ek billy sadak per padi tadap rahi thi, it was badly hit by some vehicle, uski aankhen nikli hui thi, khoon paani ke tarah bah raha tha...ohh god!

I was trying badly to concentrate ki kya karu, "shall I drag it on to a side", per use touch karne ki himmat nahi juta paaya, socha "sadak ke beech mai khada ho kar-ke vehicles ko billy ko further hit karne so roku ya phir vapis se police ko call karu, mere pass to animal care vaalo ka no. bhi nahi hai, shaayad police vaale de den".

police vaalo ko call kiya. bole 5 min mai gaadi bhej denge, "tab tak to us busy road per gadiyaan us billy ki chithde uda dengi".

mere sochne se lekar police vaalo se baat karne tak mai ek aur vehicle us adh-mari billy ko hit kar chuka tha. whatever, however, it was time to act

Mai jaa kar-ke billy ke aage khada ho gaya-ek dum sadak ke beecho beech, dividing the trafficing in two parts on my each side so that phir se koi vehicle use kuchal na de. bahut truck aur gadiyaa aa rahi thi. dar lag raha tha ki "agar ek bhi vehicle divert nahi hua aur mujhe utni tej speed se hit kar gaya to shayad mai bhi billy ki tarah pada ho"

kuch der ke liye gaadiyaan nahi aayi to maine peeche mud kar dekha - vo billy mar chuki thi!!

P.S. I continued to protect her cadaver from traffic, I still did not have courage to move her to the side of the road. One truck came and stopped right in front of me to force me out of the road from his way. but I jumped back in front of her corpse after the truck crossed and finally someone moved the dead body to the side and then later police arrived!

Note: Today, after months, I had to search in my phone book for a company for dinner (Refer: 'Easier Said than Done?!? || Good Vs Bad || Departing Friends...! || Consulting Profession' post), but, I feel lucky that I could not find one!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Another Departed :-|

Note: Almost all of my friends have already left Hyderabad. Now, it was my room-mate who just left the town.

"Would YOUR 'so called' friends cry, while you would be departing?"

He responded, "I would not even want my friends to cry, while I would be departing!"

Let me reframe it, "Wouldn't you want to have friends who would want to cry, while you would be departing?"

Today's departure makes me reframe it again, "Wouldn't you want to have friends 'who would want to cry for you' or 'for whom you would want to cry', while you would be departing?"

[Yes, he cried today, while HE was departing!]

Everyone talks about moving on in life, isn't it more about "moving on in life while leaving milestones on the way", so that when one walks back through the past one can take rest at those milestones and reflect upon retrospection.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

NETWORKING

How important is Networking?! I never thought it is important, hence, I never made efforts to create and expand my network. As I involve myself in various team activities a network of people keeps on generating around me.

!YESTERDAY NIGHT I LOST MY CELL PHONE!

I was running around in panic. Non-stop sweat streams were flowing out of my skin. Suddenly, I felt like asking myself the same question once again, "How important is Networking?!"
For sure it was not the cost of phone I was worried about, it was the data: B'day reminders, other reminders and most importantly the contact nos.!

Immediately after realization of the very fact that I am out of the network now, I panicked further.

Well now, with dawn, I am cool, thinking again, I don't really care; whoever wants to talk would call. So, chill! :) ;)

To answer the question asked earlier, networking is important, but not worth making an effort. Over the time with no additional effort one should be able to create a network of people around oneself which can be activated, if needed.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Valentine Anxiousnesses

Feb 14th, 2008

Today morning I woke up at 5:45 am!!!

I have absolutely no clue, why? Not sure if it has got to do anything with Saint Valentine's Cupids nor I want to attribute it to it.
Something clicked to me and I jumped out of my bed. Knowing it is cold, wore the 'Harvard' fall jacket.

45 minutes calm walk included witnessing the dark to well lit morning transition which is a rare (and dare too) sight for bachelors.
Went on to the roof of the apartment, to see the sunrise, but clouds washed away all the little luck I might have had after the early morning cupid hits. "Leavin on a jet plane, Dont know when Ill be back again...Theres so many times Ive let you down So many times Ive played around, I tell you now, they dont mean a thing"

....................aahhh! I had to leave it here, dint get any time in office to finish it on V-day itself...now I don't remember the exact context...oops!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Anti-Hatred Pills

One stop solution for all the people to get rid of the hatred

[Background: After trying to solve a problem for almost 6 months I arrived at this solution]

These are not ordinary pills....these are magical pills.
They can remove the rust in relationships in a jiffy,
no matter how old and hard the rust is.

Whereas they don't necessarily ensure any future bonding,
the very strong ones do ensure no rusting in future,
and almost everyone on earth has it.

What makes their use more difficult is that you can't use one for yourself,
you have to borrow one and then lending back one is compulsory for it to be effective.

Moral: When it breaks...all it takes...is some trying!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A Crazy weekend in Hyd!

Weekend, Dec 1-2, 2007: There are times when life gives me opportunity to realize that I haven't yet run out of all of my energy. The weekend right before the Bangalore trip was one of those.

7:00 pm, Friday, Nov 30, 2007: Left office early to have Age of Empires (AoE) Sessions at a colleague's place
We played back to back AoE games till 10:00 pm and then played badminton (shuttle) just to stop in between for a while (an hour or two) before getting back into AoE wars. Maggi noodles, our good old friend, constituted our dinner.
...Wars continued till 7:00 am the next day morning.


7:00 am, Saturday, Dec 1, 2007: Crashed on bed as if I was not going to wake up before evening...
...crashed as if I did not know that I couldn't afford to sleep for more than an hour. And as (un)expected got a call at 7:05 am...cursed the guy who called...slept again and then as expected phone rang again at 7:45 am, rushed to home...not to sleep again, but to get ready to go to AOC grounds.

9:30 am: Football match started
10 mins each half...total 20 mins. Thanks to the organizers for warning us in advance that we would be playing with one of the best teams that Deloitte had (later on, they actually won the championship).
First half thankfully no goal (on us). Second half, the other defender of my team was as good as dead, but, he also came back to life when other team did a goal on us by a total fluke. How else would you describe a kick taken from half line resulting into a Goal?

Ohh...did I forget to mention that we were playing one player short...yup it was 3 on 4. Our 3 and a goalkeeper against their 4 and a goalkeeper plus 3 extras whom they were using as rolling substitutions. (Accepted that the field was a little smaller than one-fourth of an actual football field)

10:15 am: Rushed to reach school in time
Generally, we start teaching at the school at 10:00 am every Saturday as part of community service. After the match one of my team-mates dropped me at Panjagutta Circle, one of the busiest cross roads at Hyderabad, on his way back to office and there started another round of struggle.

Traffic signals are the most accepted and widely used as bus stops in Hyderabad. After making a few futile attempts of risking my life to board the correct bus, I could board a bus which was heading in the general direction of the school. Next signal, I saw that there is a bus, just ahead of mine, which was going all the way to my destination. So another adventure at the signal to get into the correct bus.
Reached school at 11:00 am and taught till 12:30 pm.

12:30 pm: aahhh....(Hopefully) Time for some rest and food
Another journey began: traveled sitting at foot-rest (steps) of a bus (no energy to stand)...then one auto rickshaw...another...it was 1:45 pm...I was at another team-mate's home

2:00 pm: Reached another team -mate's home to have lunch...
...believe me! It was a typical Hyderabadi curry...crammed with spices. I ended up adding more of curd - less of curry and with stomach full of water rather than rice.
By the time I could finish that small amount of rice I took into my plate, it was already 2:45 pm

3:30 pm: 2 more football matches
We reached to quarter-finals, to be played on next day, after winning a match and managing to draw another.
Took MMTS (Multi-Modal Transport System, city's train service) at 17:05 pm on the way back to home...hoping to finally get some good sleep.

7:30 pm: Woke up with sonic booms hitting my ears and blasting into my head...
...only to realize that my room-mates were back and one of my extra nice and caring room-mate was playing some high bass music on his woofers. After walking around for half an hour like a zombie and getting back my consciousness I suddenly felt like drinking alcohol that night.
Started calling up buddies...hunt ended with another AoE devotee agreeing for the Evening, post AoE sessions.

1:30 am, Sunday, Dec 2, 2007: Bike ride to cool down body temperature, heightened up due to shuttle matches
After Maggi noddles + AoE games + shuttle matches it was more than required to receive a little cold in order to better enjoy the latter half of the night

2:00 am - 5:00 am: All windows (of my room) open, that mild cool breeze, that red night light of my room, that rock and the company...
...Pink Floyd, Guns n Roses, Green Day, Verve, Bryan, Enrique etc. and other good Hindi songs...drinking that slowly in that ambiance...do I need to say any more!
*!One quarter Smirnoff down!*

(9:00 am: The captain had called up to know why I was not at the football ground for quarterfinals)
(9:30 am: Message from the captain, "dude! we gave them walk-over")

12:30 pm: Don't remember what woke me up but the consciousness wasn't very pleasant
There were series of successive blasts in my cerebrum: HangOver Baby!
Saw the miss calls and the message. I think I also made /received a call to/from a friend to make plans for the rest of the day before falling asleep again.

3:30 pm: I would call it a good day sleep
Another friend poured in and after collecting our senses instead of getting ready for an outing we started playing A O E again.

7:00 pm - 11:00 pm: We pushed out to hang out at Hyderabad Central (a mall in Hyderabad) followed by a good dinner at Chutney's (a restaurant near Central) before heading back to home

Heyy...I really need to crash now...feeling damn sleepy!!!

P.S. If you are wondering why the hell Bangalore trip is even mentioned at first place, well it cleaned considerable mess from my LIFE.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Fountain of Positive Energy

My Orkut (an online community) Profile description for 4 months (Oct-Jan 2007): the poem helped me survive through those tough times
-------------------------------------------------
No more: Booze, AOE & RomComs (From Dec, 2007)
Believe me it is not impossible...at least worth giving a shot at (both above and below).

एक ऐसा गीत गाना चाहता हूँ,
खुशी हो या गम, बस मुस्कुराना चाहता हूँ,

दोस्तों से दोस्ती तो हर कोई निभाता है..
दुश्मनों को भी अपना दोस्त बनाना चाहता हूँ,

जो हम उड़े ऊँचाई पे अकेले, तो क्या नया किया..
साथ मे हर कीसी के पंख फैलाना चाहता हूँ,

वो सोचते हैं कि मैं अकेला हूँ उनके बिना..
तनहाई साथ है मेरे, इतना बताना चाहता हूँ..

ए खुदा, तमन्ना बस इतनी सी है.. कबूल करना..
मुस्कुराते हुए ही तेरे पास आना चाहता हूँ,

बस खुशी हो हर पल, और महकें येह गुलशन सारा “अभी”..
हर किसी के गम को, अपना बनाना चाहता हूँ,

एक ऐसा गीत गाना चाहता हूँ,
खुशी हो या गम, बस मुस्कुराना चाहता हूँ |

P.S. It will be back on the place where it deserves the most!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Brain Drain

As the name suggests it is on IIT Brain Drain from India to US. I wrote it 2.5 years back during my internship. It was certainly more relevant at that time.
----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 06:11:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: mitesh agrawal mits_mitesh@yahoo.co.in

To: "eurotrip05@yahoogroups.co.in"
Subject: Time to Think

Hi all,

Here is a little incident happened with me, kindly
spare some time on it.

But before that I would like to tell you something
that you people might already know and that struck my
mind as well after the incident.

There had been great discussions at many places in
India, including IITs about the so called "Brain
Drain" from India to specially US and specially from
IITs.

People have been putting forward many arguments in
favour and against of the above fact. They say
students get well educated in India (use the resources
here) and then they go to US and make their career and
never come back to India (work for US and thus make
the future of US). And the people who never come back
say that why should we go back, if we are getting
higher status of life, earning much more and having
better social security, day – today things are more
easily accessible with lesser effort.

I am sure this mail could be little out of interest
for many of us. But I request you to please go ahead.

The incident is as follows:

On last Thursday, 9th June 2005, I went to the boat
race competition in my town, Tuebingen. It is some
sort of a yearly festival happening in Tuebingen.
There I happen to interact with an elderly lady (a
resident of Tuebingen), her brother and his French
wife who came to visit her and at present are settled
in USA.
After asking few other things such as where do I work,
how long would I be here; they asked me, “Do you have
to study further or work after you finish your current
studies?”
I said, “Yes, I can work.”
“Where would you like to work?”, they asked me next
with curiosity.
“….U.S…”, I replied with a question in my mind that
why were those people so curious to know it.
And they immediately, before I could even finish,
replied with a little anger and desperation in their
voice, “Why do you want to go to US? You people take
higher education outside, make money outside and then
you don’t go back to your country. You should go back
and work for your country and serve your country
people.”
And I was sure any one could make out that there
statement were just not sarcastic or were intended to
insult some educational system or some intellectual
community, but was having a clear intonation of
worries for the development of our country (!!!Haan
Hamara Desh = Mera Bharat Mahan!!!).
One elderly German man and his aged French wife,
settled in USA have so many worries and thoughts for
Our Country.

“We have a family doctor, who is an Indian.” they
added, “When we asked him, “Will you go back to India?
He said, “What is remained there in India, there is
nothing, why shall I go back to India.” Then, he said,
“I have all kinds of comfort in USA, the standard of
living is much higher here and it is very easy to make
money here.””

Though I tried to defend myself saying, “I would like
to came back to India after working there for a few
years.”

They said, “Your country needs you. It is okay if you
go out to make money or to gain some experience for
some time, but then you should come back and help in
developing your country. Instead you people actually
work for US and develop it further“, to end the
discussion.

This discussion left me in my deep thoughts…and in a
need of another discussion…

We say proudly that there are 35% doctors in US are
indian, nasa scientist and silicon valley. I don't say
you don't go out to make money or to make career but
come back to make future of India and then no time we
will be equivalent to the so called super power
"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". Well…this sounds like an
idealistic theory but it can be practiced only if the
intellectual mass of India like will make an effort to
this.

Of course, decision is yours, but give it a thought.

I don’t want to extend the discussion further, but
before ending it I would like to give an example for
the people saying, “No one actually comes back, above
ideas are only good to think and talk about.”
There is an Indian Post Doc in my lab. He has done his
PhD at EPFL, Switzerland (not a part of European Union
only because people there think that their standard of
living is too high to be the part of EU) and
currently, he is doing his Post Doc research for past
three year at Max-Planck Institute for Developmental
Biology at Tuebingen, Germany. He is planning his way
back to India. So after a total duration of 6-7 years
in Europe he is moving back to India.

I don’t need to say anything more in these regards.

People are invited to put forward their views and
criticism on the lines but don't expect me to reply
them all.

Hope you are all enjoying your happy EURO TRIP.

Wishes and Cheers,
Mitesh Agrawal
3rd Year, Dual Degree Student at
Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai, India.



P.S. I regret if above mail takes you out from a good
mood.

Message: 10
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 15:26:44 +0100 (BST)
From: SANDEEP LAXMAN
Subject: Re: Time to Think

hi all,
i think mitesh has put up a very good point. During my
exchange program here in france i was granted the
wonderful ooportunity to go look not only into the
life and habits of the people here and understand them
but also reflect upon the life and needs back home.

One thing i realised i europeans are very patriotic to
their country, culture and tradition. When i came here
i saw the felt both a great sense of pride for the
deep and rich culture of our country and also at the
same time felt pain in knowing the fact tht we do not
value it as much as we should. Europeans do not value
America much. I know this might come as a shock to
most but its true. ( I do not intend to hurt the
sentiments of pro-Americans but i am just stating the
facts i have learnt in the past 1 year. For them the
only culture America has is earn money and shop till u
drop.

But y i am i saying all this?? becoz all this made me
closer to India. We all know tht iitians are by far
the best brains in the county - so called the cream of
the country. but if we ourselves are goin to desert
our land, who is goin to take up the charge?? the only
ppl remaining will be the corrupt politicians...

But again we get a much better life in europe or the
US. So, the final question tht remains to be asked to
ourselves is whether we are more important or our
nation???

Countries like Taiwan, Korea and Japan were in the same
state tht India are today, 50 years ago. But they had
a generation of hard working people who have made
their countries "developed"....

I apologise if this hurts somebody's sentiments but I
think this is a very relevant question becoz we are
the next driving force for our country/ world. Please
feel free express your views...

Sandeep

PS:thnx Mitesh, i had this thing on mind too long...

3rd Year Elec.
IIT Delhi/INSA Lyon