My Random Thoughts On The World

Spam - Mails, comments and now traffic

2013-09-03T19:38:00.000+05:30

Have to admit I am a fan of spam. Spam mails are funny, I make it a point to read my spam box, It is always funny , the only key is that it assumes you are dumb. If you are not dumb it is funny.

There is this Nigerian group that puts as much 0's as they like and say you have won a lottery or the commander general/ prime minister or big estate owner of civil war torn country sending mails to you as they you knew him from childhood asking you to take care of his money. How dumb can things get?

There are few people where greed for money covers their eyes, ears, brain etc and fall in to pits. One has to always remember whatever you get has to be earned, if it is free its not yours, maybe not going to stay. There are legal lotteries people win but then they die protecting the money :) There are no free lunches int his world.

Coming back to the point , it is not so strange to find the motivation behind these people sending mails or putting links everywhere either they are cornering you to steal your money or they are paid for whatever they are doing. They do their job, google/yahoo etc they do a decent job in sending these directly to spam folder.
Sometimes good mails do land up here but it is a necessary evil.

What I fail to understand is the spam traffic that hits the blog. Sitemeter which to some extent I believe shows 10 visitors to the blog last week (of which 7 must be me :) ). However blogger stats shows traffic in thousands which come by using firebird. It is clear someone benefits by pumping fake traffic to blogs but who does it and what benefit they get beats me. Its nice to see some traffic even if it is fake.\

Spam is always funny unless you react to it!

19B: Lick me Lick me Not

2013-08-12T19:36:00.001+05:30

If you can relate even remotely to the character played by Leonardo Di Caprio in the Movie "Aviator" then it is not advisable to travel on the city buses. We have come a long way from buses having people spit on the floor and all. Buses are relatively neat now a days. However the conductor has not changed much.

In olden days where bundle of tickets were used, the conductor used to lick his finger and touch the bundle just to make sure he issues only one ticket and not two. Then he would have to pay for this grave mistake by maybe paying from his pocket.

One can only imagine that he has to show the number of tickets he has dispatched and pay corresponding money, it is obvious that he had to be extra careful in ensuring he gives you exactly one ticket. If you are receiving the ticket better be careful to know where to touch the ticket and where not to :)

Things have modernized and so have the ticketing system (atleast in AC buses), now there is a machine that instantly prints one and only one ticket and there is no problem for the conductor to give this ticket, he no longer needs to lick his finger before tearing the ticket from the machine. All is safe and clean .

Well one can only hope so as still the money is in his hands, sometimes in the mouth too and the old bank notes sometimes make love to each other and refuse to separate and one has to be a bad parent to separate them. Now what comes handy, the finger and the tongue. They play a good role in making sure he gives you only one ten rupee note rather than two.

One has an advantage now, the 10 rupee and 100 rupee notes have bigger square area, so you have more options where to hold the note and avoid the watered areas :)

19B: The hallucinator

2013-07-10T19:37:00.000+05:30

Well if you are lucky or unlucky to sit in the last row and your luck has sold you like match fixers in IPL you may well get to sit next to this hallucinator.

Yes sometimes life is strange, it may not be as bad as it can but it does show you how bad it can get. This person travels on 19B and have seen him sit in the last corner seat of the bus. He usually keeps his bags to the side to keep some space for himself but would ultimately give up. Then he starts talking to himself or rather to the imaginary friend. It is not just a talk it is a fight and it seems to get physical at times.

He is very decently dressed and one can at first sight identify him as an IT professional. He has a smart phone, buys ticket for his destination and replies to conductor when asked to provide change and all that. He even reads tamil magazines. One can mistake him to be talking on the phone if he plugs on his ear sets .

However as time progresses one would realize that he literally tries to beat or push the imaginary nearby person and he talks a bit louder mostly saying "no no dont" and sometimes "I need flow diagrams" and sometimes "then we will have to beg on the streets".

So far no one has really freaked out and have given him his space but when he physically moves its a bit of a challenge for person sitting in front and side. He does not harm anybody and no one really cares.
Well is that the problem - No one really cares?

What is his story? I she really employed in an IT firm? Does he undergo medication? Does he have a family? Why no friend accompanies him, if this is just a translational phase?

Well I get down most days with lot of questions but no answer. However he keeps reminding me that life can go anyway one has little he can do.

I sincerely hope he gets well.

Rooten eggs, Bad Apples , IPL and entertainment

2013-05-31T18:12:00.005+05:30

Expectations bring Disappointment.

Not trying to be philosophical but just being practical. If someone thought that Cricket were a religion and IPL was a ritual that was being performed and it sanctity destroyed... ew!

Cricket is no longer the gentleman's game and all men involved are gentle enough to fill their pockets. The going under the hammer auction in itself was a start of the direction IPL was heading. It was clear that when players were sold at millions that billions were at stake.

Cricket in itself is entertainment and just IPL redefined it and took it to the next level. If someone felt that it was to promote cricket , I pity them. If they feel they have been deceived by the spot fixing well I can only laugh at them.

IPL is nothing but a reality show with lots of twists and turns, when one can watch a movie knowing very well that the hero is the one who is going to ultimately triumph, is it not match fixing? Has there been a successful movie where the villan has won? No. Then it is scripted, all entertainments are scripted and so is IPL. When WWE/WWF can have scripted sports why can't cricket have its share? It is alleged that even all reality shows (like BigBoss etc) are scripted to some extent.

So treat IPL as though you treat a movie, laugh when the player hits a six, cry when he gets out, pray the hero wins. In this case sometimes the villian does win and well can any other entertainment top that.

If you treat cricket as a religion and think these people represent the country in a war with other nations like an army soldier. Well good luck and be prepared for more heart brakes, for its money that matters not the nation or the sport. Besides these people represent BCCI and not India.

Entertainment is best forgotten when the TV set is switched off.

2G, Coal, Rail, ... IPL

2013-05-27T18:17:00.001+05:30

As usual there is a lot for meat for the media in the latest IPL scandal. It is a golden opportunity to earn some TRP ratings. It is time to grab some CCTV footage and let all Inidans know how they were cheated and deprived of ....well wait what are we deprived of.

"One billion people cheated" flashed the headlines and I started wondering do all the 1 billion watch Cricket and that too IPL. Of the 1 billion , many women do not watch or even like Cricket. Some many too do not watch or like Cricket , some are crazy for Man U that they don't give a damn even if Bradman is batting.

So that wipes out maybe a half of that 1 billion. How many follow IPL really, is it so popular in cities outside of where they are played? Anyway lets leave the statistics and come to the cheating part.

Did I loose money, No someone betted that some team will won , he lost, maybe he won so what is in it for me? Nothing

Did he take my tax money and paid for the bets? No

Did the exchequer loose money? No

Ok he paid money for people to underperform so that he can win money on bets.
Did someone force me or even ask me to watch the match? No
Did someone force me to follow a team/player like crazy thinking they are the Gods and Demi-Gods? No

Did I miss some work or lose my pay for watching Cricket? No

When I think of the other bigger scams where my dear earned money I paid as tax was looted, price of commodities increased as someone siphoned off with my tax money, when the exchequer lost lakhs of crores , it did hurt, it was a blow below the belt but this well this is just entertainment.
Media better stay focussed on issues that matter.

19B: Display of the Dog's collar

2013-05-23T19:37:00.001+05:30

Earlier posts 19B

First of all no offense meant.

As far as I remember in my childhood only dogs used to have collars which would identify a dog to its owner. Then slowly the IT industry and now every corporate has enforced employees to wear one. Yes I am referring to the ID card that hangs around your neck.

For various reasons mainly related to security, this has been enforced. It makes corporates think that these tags ensure the physical security of their premises. Well there are many loopholes and myths surrounding this (thats for a later post) but anyway these tags provide necessary security.

The ensure the security guard that only authorized person is entering the premises and also doors are now a days access controlled. One is given access to a certain door one and only if he is eligible and needs to use it. Fair enough.

My point here is why should this be displayed in public and in public transport vehicles. This needs an analysis

1. To show off that one works in a reputed company, IT company and is to be respected. Well the conductor gives a damn about it and the autowallah ensures he asks you double when you display your tag.

2. Men may display this again to show off to woo women.

3. Women is where I don't understand why display ID card in public. You are giving more details to a stranger than necessary, One can easily find what company you work for, what is your name, in same cases blood group and why not even home phone number could be there. Why would someone display so much personal info in public.

Beats me!

DD Days - 2 : Johnny sokko and his flying robot

2013-05-08T19:27:00.001+05:30

Saturday evening around 4:30 I think there used to be a scramble to watch the nearby TV wherever it was available. Not all houses had TV those days, and most were mere black & white ones. However this program called "Johnny sokko and his flying robot" was quite a popular one.

This program was one that showed larger than life pictures on television. It I guess introduced the concept of robots to many a common man and children. One can still remember Johnny soko controlling his robot from outside a perimeter kind of place (more like a boxing ring) and fighting other alien kind of things which as far as I remember had tentacles and all.

The Giant robot would follow instructions of Johnny and kill the enemy alien. Well the story was more or less the same every episode and Robot and Johnny would win all the time. There was a team behind Johnny helping him and the robot.

The people were mongoloid looking (Japanese) but they used to talk in Dubbed English but as I said the story did not matter the sheer larger than life and an entry in to an imaginative world was good enough to get us hooked for half an hour and wanting more.

Now I see Wiki Entry it has lot of information and also there is an online shop for the episodes (cannot vouch for the same).

Those days it did not matter much one was happy to have a window to something unique and refreshing, even if it lasted all but half an hour for 6 months. It has stayed for long in the heart.

19B - To Give or Not - A Begging Issue

2013-04-30T17:26:00.001+05:30

Begging in India is rampant. This is a known fact, this is also a business for some people. I sometimes feel it is so big that it has to be given an industry status. Yeah the Begging Industry .

One Company of this industry does operate in the T.nagar bus terminus. A bunch of 4 to 5 women with little children are the CXOs of this company. Their labourers are some less than 5 year olds, I sometimes wonder whether these are their own real kids or were they borrowed or stolen from some places. I also wonder if some people rent their kids to these beggars to beg.

One does wonder why should these people give birth to kids whom they cannot take care of, on the other hand it maybe a rampant industry practice to give birth to kids so they can be used as catalysts for begging.

This group must be aged around 35 or so, with very good hands and legs and can do labour work sits idle or sometimes carries the kids around and begs. They also have a chit that says please help us we are affected by Bhuj earthquake . I can only smile on reading this, I was in school when the quake happened and if still these people are suffering , then no wonder they don;t do any work.

The poor kids go around buses, telling people they are hungry and ask for money. I am not sure why the authorities of the stand do not do anything, the bus drivers and conductors do not encourage this. One day the bus started leaving the stand when a kid was still inside and he shouted "anna anna". The driver give a sound trashing to the kid before he let him go out. It was the most unpleasant sight one had to watch in the morning before going to work.

Are they really weak - No they can work, their mothers or so called mothers are physically well fit
Are they their own kids - I doubt, were they kids that were kidnapped from somewhere else? Where is the father? No male is seen around these women.
What are the authorities doing? - Are they getting a share of the loot (yes I call it a loot as it doesn't seem right)

With these hard pressed questions it is difficult for one to give the poor kids any alms. Most likely it is going in to wrong hands and one is only encouraging the practice.

PS: Having said all this, Begging is present all over the world and I have seen beggars in every country. Only difference with India is that its population is huge so the number of beggars are huge. If one takes percentage of total population to that of total beggars it may be mor eor less comparable to other countries.

DD Days : A journey back to DoorDarshan

2013-04-23T19:31:00.001+05:30

It was quite amazing feeling to be able to talk about a particular program on TV the next day at school knowing exactly that every other person in the class would have watched it. It was not the over hyped IPL match or the recent block buster movie but the daily soap operas and weekly movies on the TV. Yes I am talking on those days where Chitrahaar and Rangoli were the only hindi song programs and Oliyum Oliyum was the only tamil song program for an entire week. Imagine hardly 1.5 hours of filmi music for a whole week!

It might be hard to believe for kids and teens of today but those were the days of doordarshan. The music of Pandit Ravi Shankar on Band-1 Channel-4, Band-3 Channel-7 were like a grand opening to our evenings. One channel one program, all viewers were the mantra those days and the emptiness on the streets were proof of the fact that everyone watched it whether they like it or not. There were no fights for remotes, in fact I hardly remember a remote :)

There were no malls to hangout and no pepsi/coke products to drink and most televisions were black and white. Life was simple too and TV watching did not complicate it. There were only a very few peeks available to the world outside one's own. There was the DiDi's comedy show and the World This Week which showed glimpses of Western world. Disney cartoons were shown for an hour every week.

This is a series, rather a nostalgic trip to those programs that marked our days in Black and White .

19B: It is a matter of "change"

2013-04-08T19:40:00.001+05:30

On any of the MTC bus you travel in Chennai , change is evident. By change I do not mean the change that Obama meant, it is the change for the currency or the exact bus fare. Conductors are always on the lookout for change, one can evidently see that they are well trained to first look for exact fare from the passenger and only if he/she does not have it they give it.

Fair enough. One can see boards inside the bus and maybe in major bus stands also asking and announcing passengers to tender exact fare. Though reasonable it is not practical. One usually sees that both the conductor and passenger understands the nuances and share the change :)

However sometimes things go out of control, there are the usual response , medium response and big response from conductor.

The usual response is when the conductor says you have to bring change and if everyone shows me a 100 rupee note how can I give change to everyone and reluctantly gives it or asks for other denominations to match it.

Medium response is when he shouts on top of his voice same as above and is adamant in getting the change or gives the ticket to the person at last after he gets some change. Once it was ridiculous that one of the conductors asked an American lady for change and said "Daily you come by this bus you have to bring change" in a rude voice, the same dialogue which he repeats to all fellow passengers. One for a fact I hardly saw the lady before and it is not easy to spot a white lady in a MTC bus and secondly it was bad advertisement for the country to treat a foreigner like that. I am sure she never would board an MTC bus again.

Big response is when he asks one to get down and stop the bus.

If things go bad one can complain at mtc_edp@dataone.in

However on the flip side of the coin one has to see that it is reasonable for the passenger to carry sufficient or decent change. The conductor usually does not demand all change from you but if you have alternatives he should be happy, except in cases where he is already in a bad mood. One tip would be that if you already know the fare provide some change already, like if ticket is say 45 rupees, you can provide a 100 rupee note with 5 rupee. Mostly the conductor is happy to see the 5 rupee.

In case one needs bigger change for say 500, it is better to let the conductor settle down after issuing tickets or while one is getting down to get a change rather than asking for change when conductor is busy issuing tickets.

A little bit of understanding always helps in a smooth ride and a fresh start to the day.
Well on retrospect, it is true for any relationship too.

Sachin and DRS

2013-03-04T19:33:00.003+05:30

Cricket was once a gentlemans game. If you knicked the ball you just walk to the dressing room. There was no hot spots, no snickometer, no third umpire, no replays, no technology. It was just pure heart and soul.

Well as modern man progressed so did his cricket. Maybe cricket is just a reflection of the culture of mankind. Whenever I see a Virat Kohli throwing expletives often and even in unnecessary situations I can see that the gentleman's game is long dead. Not even when the infamous MonkeyGate happened was this a feeling, it seemed provoked and Aussies are known for it. It felt good to give it back in the same coin.

Coming back to DRS, if playing fair was the main aim and playing in spirit was the right attitude then why should use one be averse to technology. Just because technology is not as reliable as a human why should it be rejected. If one can accept a human error why not accept a technology error.

Coming back to the dismissal of Sachin, it was shocking to read an article in Indian Express
scolding umpire Erasmus for using technology. Well shouldn't one be happy that the right decision was made in the end. Did you guys not shout when Steve Buckoner gave such Howlers in the infamous Sydney test.

Why is Sachin always measured with a different Yard Stick.

Somehow my definition of a gentleman would have walked long before the square leg umpire was even called.

The protestor - what does she want

2012-12-31T19:25:00.002+05:30

When the anger of the protestor is totally justified, some of the demands are extremist and maybe not practical. This is an attempt to see what is the middle path, which is where the truth and practicality always lie .

One just wonders what is the need for so many people to flow on the streets of the capital and demand justice. This is not the first time, maybe many forgot the same happened the day after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai demanding action. Has anything been done?

What were the demands of the protestors then? Our then Home Minister PC had said in a debate "please try to understand, we cannot have one policeman for every citizen"

What are the demands now of the protestor?
1. Speedy Justice - This is a very valid point for in India justice is always served cold after the victim goes runs from pillar to post for 10 to 20 years and sometimes the culprit even dies. However does it solve all problems?

2. Death penalty - Well this is a joke as our beloved ex-president had pardoned 5 such cases and in one such case the guy had died 5 years ago of AIDS and he was pardoned posthumously. So the law is already there, so what is the demand?

3. Safety - Yes this is a valid point and someone has to ensure that this point is taken note of and steps taken but who is going to do it. What was lacking on the fatal night? I guess there were already enough laws against tinted glasses and policeman available. What stopped them? laziness? Who is accountable? Long term decisions are the need of the hour.

4. Convene parliamentary session - Now here comes the ego of the politician. If the session is convened it means they have bowed down to the protestor and is never going to happen

Questions to the protestor
1. Mumbai had the same out pour after terrorist attacks. What did happen? Are you safe from another terror attack?
2. How long will this last. The government has all the time in the world to wait out. It is a matter of who blinks first. The aam aadmi is going to provide food for his family soon and sit on his TV for welcoming the new year. Who is going to change his mindset?
A bigger and long lasting platform is needed and is the need of the hour too.

My view: Extreme views are always welcome and must exist but the truth lies somewhere in-between, the sooner this point is achieved the better

Generation Gap - What Lacks Indian Politics

2012-12-31T19:08:00.001+05:30

The Media houses are blazing and shouting where is my India, what are the politicians doing, call for an urgent parliament session, each news channel is suggesting many ideas to the government on what needs to be done and calls for discussion with 8 panelists who suggests 80 things to be done.

There is one thing that lacks here - ACTION

One can clearly see the face of the protestor is a young woman and sometimes is accompanied by a young or older brother, rarely the parents do accompany. The age of an average protestor is between 20 and 25.

In stark contrast when one does a caricature of a typical politician, his hair is either grey or he is bald, he has a large tummy and saggy eyes.

There is a stark contrast staring naked at us - There is atleast one generation gap between them if not more than one. The aam Indian politician is not in touch with this aam Indian citizen whom he boasts of representing.

No wonder insensitive comments like 'painted and dented' and 'no skirts', 'wear pardhas' come from a typical politician who later realizes that he is suffering from foot in mouth disease. In fact he suffers from what is called generation gap.

The laws which his forefathers wrote were even older and have developed cob-webs much like his principles on which he stood.

The youth Icon of congress is 42 years old, the youth wing leader of DMK is 60+ and has grand kids. No wonder both the politician and the protestor talk but neither listens.

Its time the youth step up to the plate and hit a home run, bridge the gap and change the face of Indian politics.

Human Life and India

2012-12-21T15:49:00.000+05:30

It is quite surprising that my post on lack of importance to human life in India (human-life-cheapest-thing-in-india) brings most of my search engine traffic. I initially thought that all traffic maybe from Pakistan, as it is natural for them to search what they want to read about :)

However it seems many people want to know about this. Especially with recent brutal rape in the capital, one can confirm that human life is not much valued in India. There has been lots of examples in the past, be it the 1992 roits or the Godhra Carnage or Sikh riots of 1984, neighbor killing neighbor, grown men killing kids have occurred in the past and no Govt can guarentee it wont happen again.

For India is a land of diversity, every one can easily find other diverse from hi sown ideas be it language, caste, creed something or the other is different. So when one point is taken it is a matter of showing strength to the other. It is easily said and done, flaming of communal tension is an easy matter.

Having said all this, all hope is not lost. The main reason one can see is because of increasing population and lack of resources. When TN asks for water, what does Karnatake do - deny it, why? because it is a resource they need for themselves, it is not for sharing, mind you is the reply.

Population, population, population, with the advances in medical field only God knows where this is going to end. With this huge population statistics does not lie but as Commentator Sidhu says it reveals more but hides the vital parts. The vital part is the percentage. Every country has its problems and issues, it may not be seen big because the population is less.

Assuming the same problem exist for 1% of population in Sweden and India. One can imagine the magnitude in India (1% of 2 billion!) is huge. To cut the story short, all countries have issues be it the afro american development in US or the SC/ST development in India, it is the same level playing field. Even if our percentages are same, our numbers are high.

Population control is needed but I am not going Sanjay Gandhi way .. well that is for another day.

So folks looking for human rights violation in India - look in to your own backyard. We do wash our dirty linen in public but you do yours first.

Chennai 19B AC - 2 The art of seat grabbing

2012-12-11T19:42:00.001+05:30

One reads in the news of politicians fighting for a seat in the assembly or parliament, getting a seat in 19B is no less effort. One has to devise a strategy, follow it , adapt it as the situation demands, ward of opposition and finally enjoy the spoils.

First of all it is a joke when someone does inquire when the next 19B bus is expected. For even the almighty might stutter to provide a clear answer . On any city planned or unplanned, one can expect traffic, if not for the platform is reserved for two-wheelers type of Bangalore traffic, there is still some traffic on the roads, free-flowing mostly and jammed occasionally. Hence it is necessary that one has a good eye for catching the arrival of the bus, for there is always a deceiving AC bus (576) arriving to throw you off the plan.

There are other ways to spot that your bus is arriving, just watch the fellow software engineer he/she is bound to be like a deer spotting an attacking tiger, when the bus arrives. Not sure where to run when to run and more importantly when the door will open and which one will open.Once it opens one can see a huge rush from all directions pushing through the door.

The IT folks with their gym toned body, which they frequent once a month in their offices, or the huge tummy they built by sitting on their seats forever would be in full use. The poor ladies try to squeeze in between only to be pushed. Whether the front door alone opens or the back door also opens is a mystery even Sherlock Holmes would find difficult to tell.

All this applies if one stands outside the main bus stand and waits for the bus to drop currently traveling passengers. One wonders how this has become the norm of catching a seat for there is no clear rule on where a bus should stop to take its passengers.

The above rule applies to the active seat seekers. The passive seat seekers stand in the shade behind the bus stand, probably this is the original stipulated bus stop. These people probably do not mind standing inside the bus, some wait for the next empty bus which sometimes comes right behind.

Given the fact that it is sunny and hot even on a December Morning, one wonders the determination to grab a seat, one can only empathize the long travel time if someone travels to places like Siruseri, Navalur and beyond. They wait with their coloured umbrellas and red caps to brave the sun to grab a seat to start the long day at work as fresh as possible.

Chennai 19B AC - A Journey - 1

2012-12-10T18:33:00.000+05:30

In Chennai most of the Software crowd go to one road that was called OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), now called as Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Many buses ply on this route but the software engineers prefer AC bus since it is more comfortable, it is a volvo bus. It plies from T.Nagar to Kelambakkam.
This is a series I am planning to write on my experiences the various people, rather characters I see, the talkative man (reminding me of Malgudi Days), the women with a burned hand, the ever sad girl , the girl that boards the bus only when there is a seat and so many more.

Getting the seat in the bus is itself an art . The bus I feel is very different from other normal buses is the fact that the crowd is very different here, when one takes other normal (non AC) buses one can feel the different quite easily.

All these for later posts, this is just an intro of things to come.
Now if you accidentally stumbled here to know the route timings I am not going to disappoint

The author takes absolutely no responsibility for delays in above timings as according to law of public transport in Chennai "only when autos in Chennai run on meter, buses will run on time"

"Love Maya": My entry for the Get Published contest

2012-12-03T16:12:00.000+05:30

It was quite unbelievable that he recognized me, it has been 10 years since we saw each other after college, I had added good amount of fat to my tummy and rest of the body; To him I might have looked like an inflated balloon that took 10 long years to inflate day by day, bit by bit, fat by fat, cell by cell.

Eventhough I had totally forgotten him in the mundane life, the words immediately flashed on my mind

“Every atom in my blood

Says your name

Maya Maya”

It was not great poetry, whether it can be called poetry at all is debatable, but I remember it vividly as sun rays through a glass window in Chennai during May, was due to the fact that it was the first time that I saw something written in blood!

Movies maybe have shown such nonsense but to see it in real life was a no nonsense experience. The smell had climbed on to my nose and somewhere as the fat grew bit by bit it had rented a cell and rested comfortably on my brain like an old retired man sitting on his verandah in an easy chair bare chested, watching the traffic pass by having nothing to do but wonder about the son who is away in a foreign country.

Raghu looked the same, short and lean making anyone think of asking when was the last time he ate; the thick moustache looking like a black worm was there between his nose and lips. Lips were as dark as the stark reality of night, tarnished day by day by the smoking he did right from college days. As though smoke had settled, his hair had shades of grey. The only difference was the rim-less glass he was wearing now, this made him looked smarter than what he liked to pretend he was, rightfully so.

Neither I nor Raghu were the easy mingling types but seeing someone from college must have refreshed his memories and the smell inside me suddenly woke up clinging to his love story. The smell suddenly spread like milk spilled from the dropped open feeding bottle of a child, spreading as much as it can, as far as it can, raking the curiosity of the child with every move it made. Like the child splashing and playing the spilled milk, I began playing with it, the division of the class, sudden silence of Eashwar, the cries of people and irritatingly my lack of the full picture woke me up.

I cared very little to know how he was doing and how he coped up with life after. The smell was only interested in knowing what really happened with him, Maya and Selvam. Sure this was a triangular story of love, betrayal, and hatred but was there more… death? Why would Eashwar not talk about it? Now that I had the heart in front of me, it was time to dissect it and see what’s inside. I sharpened my knives, blades, foreceps and clips, put on my mask.

Do you want to enter the operation theatre with me?

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.

Click here to vote if you want to read the rest
Love Maya

Mouring - Freedom of Speech

2012-11-19T18:55:00.003+05:30

Please join me in mouring the death of following and maintain 1 minute silence

Name: Right To Freedom of Speech and expression
Birth Place: India
Date: 15 Aug 1947
Attained Maturity : 26 Jan 1950
Brothers/Sisters: Right to equality, right to religion etc

Reason for death:
Girl arrested for FB post

May the departed soul rest in peace

I Ve Shed My Tears - D F Karaka - Review

2012-11-12T17:33:00.002+05:30

Recently got the privilege of reading the book
"I Ve shed My Tears" - A candid view of resurgant India by D F Karaka

The book was published in the year 1947 and obviously has been written before India got her independence. However the book touches all aspects of the freedom struggle, criticizing its leaders, praising the common man. Yes this book is a celebration of the rise of the common man and his freedom.

The best part about this book is that there are and will be numerous books on Indian independence and its freedom struggle. However I have never come across a book that looks things from a common Indian's perspective. The view of the middle class and the numerous events that are not known to today's Indian are covered in this book.

The book starts like an autobiography and has touches of the author's private life occasionally but the authors maturity seems to grow with the maturity of Indian struggle for independence. The book covers a wide range of topics from women's liberation, inter caste marriage, caste issues and prejudices and it also covers how in course of the freedom struggle people changed.

The achievements of Indian Army in the WW-II and especially in Italy has been well portrayed making every Indian proud while reading.

If one wants to know how the common man approached the freedom struggle this is a good start. The author is like a spectator and commentator watching things as they unfold on a stadium. He does provide his opinion but more importantly provides the right picture.

It is amazing to see that the author has identified the root causes of some evils much earlier before even India got independence. He is very critical of one party exposing corruption and hypocrasy in its ranks - Is there a need to name the party :) In this aspect he has clearly foreseen what is going to happen to this country.

The only drawback, if one has to say is that there is a sudden jump from topics and sometimes it seems one is reading a collection of essays.

Nevertheless it is a must read for every Indian. The book may not be easily available but worth every second in trying to find it. If you are tech savvy then online versions are easily available :)

About the author: http://www8.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/dosabhai-framji-karaka

Dear IT Fresher :Chapter7: Do's and Dont's in Training

2012-10-20T12:30:00.000+05:30

For previous chapters refer to
Previous Chapters

Internet Access:
All Software It companies do have internet access. All companies have their own internet policy. Companies may restrict internet access based on grades and project needs. During the training days need for internet would be minimal as you would be busy in training and assignments. However to clear some doubts you may use the internet. Some companies do restrict internet access times and especially for trainees this need is not seen.
Use internet diligently, do not let your facebook and twitter access to overshadow the work at hand. Some people may get carried away with full unlimited internet access and leave the focus from training which could prove disastrous.
We would see internet access and policies in detail in a separate chapter later.

E-mail :
Everyone will have an unique e-mail id created with <company>.com domain. The intention of this id is only for official purposes and the company has every right to inspect and review the mail box. Yes most companies do not mind using this for personal mail but one has to be aware that there is nothing personal in this mailbox. Any admin who has access to the server can read your mails and it is legally allowed.
Given this fact, unless and until something suspicious is happening no one will really sneak in to your inbox. However it is better to keep personal things private and official things official.

Intranet Forum Usage:
Most companies have common public forums within the company similar to many internet public forums. The forums could vary from totally junk items to very specific technical forums. The technical forums usually do not pose problems, even as a fresher you maybe welcome to post very basic queries and some nice techie guy would reply to you. However it is not advisable to post your assignment here and ask for an answer.
The junk and general discussion forums usually needs some care in what you post. One is certainly not expected to post items favoring a political party or questioning a corporate policy. However each company will have a policy to draw the lines and these forums are more actively monitored to identify trouble makers. There have been cases where people have been asked from posting apology letters to leaving the company.

Vandaloor zoo review/ Arignar anna zoological park review

2012-10-18T22:44:00.002+05:30

Vandaloor zoo or more officially called the arignar anna zoological park is located on the outskirts of Chennai. It is around 6 Kms from Tambaram. This is my attempt to review this place as I hapenned to visit it recently.

Getting there:
Getting there is very easy, though on the outskirts it has very good connectivity.
By Rail, one can catch the local train and get down at Vandalur station. The station is 1 Km from the zoo and can be reached by walk or auto. Though I would not recommend walking as there is lot of walking to be done inside and one should not get tired even before starting. Auto charges around 50 rupees which is high considering the short distance. One can also cross the road from the railway station and catch any bus that goes and get down at the next stop. This would work out cheap.

Best time to get there:
It is always better to go early. 9;30 to 5:30 is the timings. If you plan to go to the zoo on a holiday, it is most likely that there are many people like you. Irrespective of the amount of time you plan to stay, unless you plan to walk 10kms, it is good to be there before 10.

How to see around:
There are multiple ways. walk would be best if you want to see everything but one needs lot of energy and packed food for doing that. It also depends on time you have to go around.
2 hrs: Go early and book the battery car ticket. It goes around for 1 hour or so covering major areas and stopping for main attractions (white tiger, tiger, snakes, hippo). Then one can go around attractions near the gate (varieties of monkeys/baboons etc, aquarium)
4 hrs: Do the battery car and also book the lion safari or hire a cycle and go around
full day: do all of the above maybe walk too

Food:
Better to take own food but plastics are not allowed, they pack them outside in paper and give it to you. Have not heard good about canteens there but near entrance some food is available

Latest update (5-Jun-13) : Outside food is not allowed as a deer died after eating a plastic bag. Not sure if this will change in future.

cost:
Not much entrance, bus, safari all cost 30 rupees each.

cons:
1. Its great to see animals roaming in free area but not in a cage. However they seem far away and need zoom lens for good photos. Small Kids may not be so excited as they are far away.

Otherwise the best and cheapest way to spend ur day with kids

Dear IT Fresher : Chapters

2012-09-07T17:22:00.002+05:30

This is a collection of all chapters of "Dear IT Fresher" series. I will update this post as and when a new chapter is written

Preface
Introduction
The Agonizing Wait Time
Joining Day and Formalities
The Training Period -1
The Training Period -2
The Training Period - 3

Dear IT Fresher: Chapter 6: The Training Period -3 - Do's and Don'ts

2012-09-03T19:03:00.002+05:30

Well the training period is your first chance in to the corporate world. You are still not there yet, this is a first step in to it. However please remember that you already are a professional.
Well Congratulations but do remember to behave like one :)

The corporates are pretty much aware that they are taking a bunch of old teenagers in to their campus and hence would have their rule book ready. Most of which would be told or shown or incorporated in to you during orientation.

The first Do would be to follow the rules told clearly.

One very frequently broken rule would be Gaming. Well some companies are smart enough to prevent any form of media from entering their campuses and do not provide a chance to enter their PCs. Well I know some big companies feel it is a perk they give employees and care less. They may feel as a big corporate it is responsible to allow people to relax and play a bit. You are lucky if you are in one of them but mostly it would be a strict No during training. It would be best advised to keep the Road Rash and Age of Empires away from the training period. If you want to relax, take a walk, have a nice cup of tea. Take a stroll to see if really those big pictures you see in media about the company are real.

Second Do would be make friends

This is probably easy for most people but for those who have more friends in facebook than in real life, maybe its time to find new ones. One can say that it depends on the person and one cannot be forced to make friends.
It has multiple benefits. First it helps to build the habit of making friends, since in a big company one would be changing projects frequently, on the average maybe once in a year or two. Hence it is very important to have a friends circle to know the knitty gritties of a project and the company as a whole.
Next, once you are a professional you spend most of your time awake at office. Hence it is important to enjoy and have a life at office apart from work. Besides it is these co-workers who would help you out on a rough day.
The most important benefit especially during training time is the benefit of exchanging notes/ code/ assignments. the concept of copying your friends notes from college may also extend to your training period as well. For some assignments, it maybe needed that you just copy paste someone's code , rename the variables and submit :) Well it is not ethical, maybe your first unethical corporate act but it happens and it works.

PS: What I thought would be small topic is extending. Some more to come.

Traffic lights in India

2012-08-29T20:17:00.000+05:30

One can see traffic signal at many intersections in major cities and in tier-2/3 cities as well .
I was just wondering to what use are these traffic lights when no one cares for it.

On thinking further I realised the following uses

1) For vendors and beggars, traffic lights are the major source of income. When vehicles from all corners come and merge at a junction with no one paying heed to the lights above, the signal becomes a market place. When the traffic becomes lengthy and time taken is more there is a good opportunity to increase the rate or even double it. Hence traffic signals are useful in developing the economy of the nation.

2) For teaching children colours, mainly green and red. However one has to be careful not to teach them that red means stop and green means go as any amount of such assumption reduces ones life expectancy.

3) Checking for cops - this is a very useful benefit of traffic lights. It provides an opportunity for a semi-stop/slow down to ensure no cops are there to catch.

4) For continuing vehicular fights, someone might have brushed you half a kilometer ago and now he might be stuck in the jam. This provides an opportunity for you to give him a piece of your mind or hand.

Some foreigner once asked
"In India do you drive right or left"
The reply was
"Neither"
!!!
"Well right in the middle and when any vehicle comes from opposite side just move to any side you wish"

Dear IT Fresher: Chapter 5: The Training Period - 2

2012-08-14T18:15:00.001+05:30

Preface
Introduction
The Agonizing Wait Time
Joining Day and Formalities
The Training Period -1

Every company spends lakhs of rupees to get you trained. Hence it is ensured that you get trained and get trained well. If you do not fit you are shown the door. This is also a period where companies try to test how you perform under pressure. It is very important to perform under pressure and not loose all hope. This is an essential character that one needs to display in the software industry.

The training period would vary from company to company but the content taught would be squeezed.
What content is taught during the training depends on the focus of the company and your background. The course for a computer science student would be different from that of a civil/Mechanical background person.

It may start from 'this is a keyboard, this is a mouse, MOUSE stands for ...' and it will end up in you designing/coding and delivering a web page for a big company using flash, HTML and all latest languages and technologies - all in a span of 3 to 6 months.

Hence it is important to focus , the tests would be online and mostly multiple choice questions or programs to be written online. It is mostly not possible to copy, it is not possible if you remember the entire content of the material provided. It may not be enough if you manage to get previous questions from previous batches.

One has to understand the underlying concepts and apply them. One also has to be clear on the question, as in programming a small mistake would change the results (using = Vs ==) dramatically.

The training is neither a school nor a college nor a free for all. It takes the worst of all and combines them. Some companies take attendance 4 times a day during training period. If you do not believe read the first statement of this chapter again.

It is not difficult to clear the training , at the same time it is much much easier to fail. For some, this maybe the first time that someone encounters a failure in exams but one has to be bold enough as well to re write the test and clear it.

When you join a project later, your project manager may have full access to your score and this may affect the first impression he/she gets about you and it may stay for long.

Hence it is important to treat the training with importance. Yes there may be times when you can copy paste the answer or copy a program/project from earlier batches but ensure you get across the line.

The training period is the time where you would find the least support in a company and if you are lucky maybe the most difficult time of your career. Hence give it the due diligence and just get it over. Better days are waiting where things would be more in your control.

However if you do not clear please be assured that this is not the end of life.