My thoughts ...

The best things in life

2010-05-04T17:26:00.001+05:30

The best things in life are the nearest:
Breath in your nostrils,
light in your eyes,
flowers at your feet,
duties at your hand,
the path of right just before you.

Then do not grasp at the stars,
but do life's plain, common work as it comes,
certain that daily duties and daily bread
are the sweetest things in life.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

My niece !

2010-02-17T17:18:00.002+05:30

Happy Birthday Preethe!

2010-02-17T16:27:00.000+05:30

Wish you a very happy B'day
http://kiranananth.blogspot.com/2006/02/today-is-17th-day-of-february.html

My little sister's beautiful daughter :)

2010-02-17T16:09:00.001+05:30

Swapna (a.k.a Sireesha) is blessed with a lovely daughter early this morning.

Hearty congrats to Siree & Sudheer!
My niece's first snaps!

Today's Solar Eclipse Caught in Camera

2010-01-15T14:02:00.001+05:30

This photo was NOT taken by Me.

It was taken by Preethe from my terrace in Kilpauk, Chennai

Meeting my son's teacher

2010-01-12T15:37:00.000+05:30

I met with my son's teacher yesterday. Obviously, he has created enough worries for her to call for this meeting. After my meeting with her, I realized it was not really called for. While driving to office from my son's school, I was trying to recollect some lines of the letter from Abraham Lincoln to his son's teacher I had read long time back. I sincerely thought I should forward this to my son's teacher!

LETTER FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO HIS SON’S TEACHER

“My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.

So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him - but gently, if you can. Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.

Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can - how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics.

Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tell him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filters all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.

This is the order, teacher but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little boy and he is my son"

Google Nexus One

2010-01-07T10:19:00.000+05:30

Google Nexus One - SmartPhone, SuperPhone, or Just a phone?

Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-01T00:15:00.001+05:30

Raghav

2009-12-30T17:03:00.001+05:30

This is Raghav :)

An average day on the Internet

2009-12-30T15:50:00.003+05:30

Bill Gates had once said "The Internet is becoming the Town Square for the global village of tomorrow". Certainly true. I did realize that internet today would be of mammoth in proportion, but was completely dazzled by this statistics in the internet :)

210 Billion E-mails,

3 Million images on Flickr,

43.3 Million GB of information exchange across mobile phones,

5 Million Tweets everyday &

900,000 new articles by bloggers everyday - Unimaginable

Source: http://bitsandpieces.us/2009/12/29/an-average-day-on-the-internet/

Happy Birthday!

2009-12-30T06:00:00.000+05:30

Happy Birthday Siree!
Have a great day and a wonderful year ahead!

Speed Vs Perfection - What's your take?

2009-12-30T05:33:00.002+05:30

I am sure these contrary choices baffles several business decisions across organizations world over. Needless to say, the best would be to have both.
French Philosopher & Writer, Voltaire once said "Perfection is attained by slow degrees; It requires the hand of time". I am left wondering, is there anything called Perfect in this increasingly dynamic world?

I'm sure many of us would have witnessed several occasions where organizations, in want of perfection, have missed out several opportunities that otherwise would have brought in significant changes in their existence. If tasks await to achieve perfection, completion (on time, in several occasions) takes a beating. It never arrives!

It was with such thoughts that I stumbled upon Sunil Bharti Mittal's (Airtel) talk on entrepreneurship at Knowledge@ Wharton lectures. He was emphatic in saying, whenever he had a choice of Speed Vs Perfection, he choose Speed. Perfection followed

I was hugely impressed by this thought. If organizations were always behind perfection for accomplishing a task, there would be nothing called Kaizen :) Organizations like Google, Virgin, Airtel stand testimony to the victory of speed against perfection.

As they say, a beautiful thing is never perfect.

Things are to be used, People are to be loved

2009-11-27T09:37:00.000+05:30

While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked up stone and scratched on the side of the car. In anger, the man took the child's hand and hit it many times not realizing he was using a wrench.

At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures. When the child saw his father, with painful eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?' The man was so hurt and speechless; he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times. Devastated by his own actions, sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches;

The child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'. The next day that man committed suicide. . .

The problem in today's world is that people are used while things are loved.

Let's try always to keep this thought in mind:
Things are to be used,
People are to be loved.

Am back at Blogger !

2009-10-15T17:40:00.000+05:30

It’s been nearly two-and-half years since I posted a blog! Either I had been too lazy to pen my thoughts, or was not thinking at all J

Decided to get back, be regular and post on harebrained thoughts that crosses me quite often these days – let’s see how it goes!

Keep visiting this page

Cheers!

Trying this out in Dubai !

2009-10-07T05:47:00.003+05:30

Back to Chennai !

2007-05-25T14:28:00.000+05:30

After a 4-year stint at Hyderabad, I am now back in Chennai - back to old friends, classmates, filter coffee, idly-sambar ... Chennai has a charm of its own.

Hyderabad, on the other hand, has people of variety - half of Hyderabadis cannot speak telugu!! People in Hyderabad are crazy about movies, food and sleep. Any flop movie would be a 'full-house' on saturday & sunday. Watching movie on weekend is a ritual nobody would break. Any restaurant in Hyderabad would be full on weekends (make sure to make a reservation to avoid embarassment). Day starts quite late in the city, not earlier than 10 or 1030 AM.

Chennai, I always find, is full of activity. Everybody is busy, fighting weather (probably), rushing back to their work places / home as early as possible. Chennai has a culture and tradition of its own - neither too fast like Mumbai or Bangalore nor too slow like Calcutta.

Chennai is the Best & its good to be back here !!!

A New Look ..

2007-04-19T14:19:00.000+05:30

Just a small effort to add some pep to my blog page .. It's been dormant for a long while. Thought I will bring in a change in this. Could not add anything new right now - so, changed the template.

If any of you have any objections for this change, please raise it now or remain silent for ever.

My life - Rated now !

2006-12-20T11:36:00.000+05:30

Came across a website that rates lives of people !

Was interested - tried on me. Pretty happy with the results. Dont know how close they are to me, but yet ...

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.3
Mind:	7.9
Body:	8.2
Spirit:	7.6
Friends/Family:	7.6
Love:	10
Finance:	8.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Happy Birthday Raghav!!!

2006-08-11T11:35:00.000+05:30

Today is my son Raghav's birthday...

Kidoo

2006-07-20T10:34:00.000+05:30

Making the decision to have a child--It's momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

~ Elizabeth Stone

Today is the 17th day of February ...

2006-02-17T11:26:00.000+05:30

How do I say Happy Birthday to a woman who gives so much of herself to me, for no reason but love?

How can I tell her how much she means to me? How often should I say that I love her, to know that she's heard it enough?

Where is the wisdom to know how to keep all the promises my heart makes?

"Thank you" is a good start. Thank You, Preethe, for being you, sometimes in spite of me.

A happy birthday just isn't enough. I truly wish that your whole life be filled with all that you love:

Lot of Chocolates
Cute teddys
Candle lights
The sound of your cellphone buzzing.
Late night walks
The smell and sound of rain. Also get caught in them...
Strong 'Filter' Coffee on a rainy day
Bonfires on cold nights
Late night conversations
The crescent moon
A large stack of books
Whipped Cream and strawberries
Foamy cup of hot chocolate
The message that says: You've got mail.
Hand written letters,
and all that you might wish in future too ...

Happy Birthday, Preethe!

How to kill a Lion (Contd ...)

2006-02-16T13:11:00.000+05:30

Newton's Method: Let, the lion catch you. For every action there is equal and opposite reaction.Implies you caught lion

Einstein Method: Run in the direction opposite to that of the lion.Due to higher relative velocity, the lion will also run faster and will get tired soon. Now you can trap it easily.

Schrodinger Method: At any given moment, there is a positive probability that lion to be in the cage. So set the trap, sit down and wait.

Inverse Transformation Method: We place a spherical cage in the forest and enter it. Perform an inverse transformation with respect to lion. Lion is in and we are out.

Thermodynamic Procedure: We construct a semi-permeable membrane which allows everything to pass it except lions. Then sweep the entire forest with it.

Integration Differential Method: Integrate the forest over the entire area. The lion is some where in the result. So differentiate the result PARTIALLY w.r.t lion to trace out the lion

Software Engineer Method: Catch a cat and claim that your testing has proven that its a Lion. If anyone comes back with issues tell that you will upgrade it to Lion.

Indian Police Method: catch any animal and interrogate it to accept that its a Lion.

GOT FRUSTRATED ??

Now lets kill the lion...

Rajnikanth Method : Keep warning the lion that u may come and attack anytime. The lion will live in fear and die soon in fear itself.

Ramarajan Method : Remove the make-up and put it over lion. The lion will die notwithstanding that heavy weight.

Jayalalitha Method: Send Police commissioner Muthukaruppan around 2AM to kill it, while it's sleeping !

Manirathnam Method: Make sure the lion does not get sun light and put the lion in a dark room with a single candle lighted.Keep murmuring something in its ears. The lion will be highly irritated and commit suicide.

Karan Johar Method: Send a lioness into the forest. our lion and lioness fall in love with each other. Send another lioness in to the forest,followed by another lion. First lion loves the first lioness and the second lion loves the 2nd lioness. But 2nd lioness loves both lions. Now send another lioness(third) into the forest. You don't understand right... ok....read it after 15 yrs, then also u wont !

Yash Chopra method: Take the lion to Australia or US.. and kill it in a good scenic location.

Govinda method: Continuously dance before the lion for 5 or 6 days.

Rahul dravid method: Ask the lion to bowl at u.U bat for 200 balls and score 1 run.

Menaka Gandhi method: save the lion from a danger and feed him with some vegetables continuously.

George bush method: Link the lion with osama bin laden and shoot him.

Dedicated to all Software Professionals !!

2006-02-01T10:21:00.000+05:30

How to Kill a Lion

Cognizant Method:
hire a lion... ask him to stay for late nights but give him no work to do. Give him Gobi 65 to eat again and again. Hire 100 more lions but do not increases the space to sit give them same Gobi 65 to eat hire 200 more....... and more.......

TCS method:
Hire a lionGive him hell a lot of work and pay him government salaryLion dies of hunger and frustration

Kanbay Method:
Hire a Cat; give him a salary of a Lion...Give him work of 3 LionsTell him to work late and even on weekends...No time for food and family, automatically die

Infy method:
Hire a lion and ask him to meow like a cat...He will die eventually of frustration...

IBM's method:
Hire a lion; give him a pink slip in an hour...He dies of unemployment...

Syntel Method:
Hire a Cat ...Assure him that he will eventually become a Lion once he reaches onsite and make sure that he never reaches onsite.Cat dies in hope of becoming a Lion....

MBT method:
Hire the lion, make him take 14 tests and tell him that if he doesn't score > 60% he will lose the job.Lion dies of the strain?

i-Flex method:
Hire a lion???.oops cow, tell him he is a lion, send him in African safari for implementing flex cube in god forbidden territories,tell him if he comes alive he will get band movement (promotion)holy cow dies in fear of the real lion

COSL Method:
Hire a lion...Tell him to merge with Goats (Polaris) and reduce his allowance...lion dies from fear that tomorrow he might become a goat....

Polaris Method :
Hire….. Sorry....purchase a lion (COSL)...Change his timings... (Instead of 9 AM ...change it to 8:30 AM)cut down his allowance (coupons etc)Lion dies from fear of becoming CAT.....

Silverline Method:
Hire a lion, declare a scandal and don't pay him...he dies of hunger...

Quinnox method:
Hire the lion. Either give him no work or ask for a premature delivery.Lion either dies of boredom or intense physical & mental activity...

Patni method:
Hire a lion; give him a salary of a cat...The lion dies before joining....

Nucsoft method:
Hire a lion; give him job of grass eating (IBBS Support)...The lion dies from lack of eating meat...

Wipro method:
Hire a lion...Give him lots of work...Transfer him to Wipro Lights division...Lion dies due to Lightness...

Mastek method:
Hire a lion...Ask him to align himself with anything and everything...asks him to fill complicated competency forms...Differ increments and pay him salary of a cat...Lion dies due to fear of getting mis-aligned or starvation...

Caritor Method:
Hire a lion...Ask him to stay at work...Give him vegetables to eat...Hire 10 more lionsgive them vegetables to eatHire 20 more

Accenture Method:
Hire a lion....Send him to ChennaiAsk him to stay on bench for a long timeAsk him to eat Edli, Dosa and Vada No water...No Hindi speaking ppl...No good foodand say him "Go ahead be a Tiger".Lion dies in confusion he is Tiger or lion......

Accel Frontline Method:
Hire a lion.....Give him an electronic appraisal.Ask him to wait for a week.Give a paper with decrement after 5 months. with effect from next month.Tell some story...And ask him to wait for another one year.

Hp’s Method:
Hire a small(fresher) lion.....Give free meals.Ask him to take less salary.Give a Certificate and some extra money as best lion for this month so every lion try to work more, even on holidays.So automatically lion dies by doing extra work for lion of the month.

Satyam method:
Hire a lion, give him net access...No work...And deport him to Chennai center...No water...No electricity...No Hindi speaking ppl...lion dies in oblivion....

Top 21 things an Indian does after returning from abroad ..:)

2006-01-31T10:07:00.000+05:30

21. Tries to use credit card in road side hotel
20. Drinks and carries mineral water and always speaks of health conscious
19. Sprays duo such so that he doesn't need to take bath
18. Sneezes and says 'Excuse me'
17. Says "Hey" instead of "Hi", says "Yogurt" instead says "Curds", Says "Cab" instead of "Taxi", Says "Candy" instead of "Chocolate", Says "Cookie" instead of "Biscuit", Says "Free Way" instead of "Highway", Says "got to go" instead of "Have to go", Says "Oh" instead of "Zero", (for 704, says Seven Oh Four Instead of Seven Zero Four)
16. Doesn't forget to crib about air pollution. Keeps cribbing every> time he steps out
15. Says all the distances in Miles (Not in Kilo Meters), and counts in Millions. (Not in Lakhs)
14. Tries to figure all the prices in Dollars as far as possible (but deep down the heart multiplies by 43 times)
13. Tries to see the % of fat on the cover of a milk pocket
12. When need to say Z (zed), never says Z (Zed), repeats "Zee" several times, if the other person unable to get, then says X, Y Zee(but never says Zed)
11. Writes date as MM/DD/YYYY, on watching traditional DD/MM/YYYY, says "Oh! British Style!!!!"
10. Makes fun of Indian Standard Time and Indian Road Conditions
9. Even after 2 months, complaints about "Jet Lag"
8. Avoids eating more chili (hot) stuff
7. Tries to drink "Diet Coke", instead of Normal Coke
6. Tries to complain about any thing in India as if he is experiencing it for the first time
5. Pronounces "schedule" as "skejule", and "module" as "mojule"
4. Looks speciously towards Hotel/Dhaba food.

Few more important

3. From the luggage bag, does not remove the stickers of Airways by which he traveled back to India, even after 4 months of arrival
2. Takes the cabin luggage bag to short visits in India, tries to roll the bag on Indian Roads

Ultimate one

1. Tries to begin conversation with> "In US ...." or "When I was in US..."

Gone are the days!!! My Friend…

2005-12-22T08:17:00.000+05:30

**When* The school reopened in June,
And we settled in our new desks and benches!

**When* we queued up in book depot,
And got our new books and notes!

**When* we wanted two Sundays and no Mondays,
yet managed to line up daily for the morning prayers.
We learnt writing with slates and pencils,
and progressed to fountain pens and ball pens and then Micro tips!

**When* we began drawing with crayons
And evolved to colour pencils and finally sketch pens!

**When* we started calculating first with tables
And then with Clarke's tables
And advanced to Calculators and computers!

**When* we chased one another in the corridors in Intervals,
And returned to the classroom drenched in sweat!

**When* we had lunch in classrooms, corridors, Playgrounds,
under the trees and even in cycle sheds!

**When* a single P.T. period in the week's Time Table,
Was awaited more eagerly than the monsoons!

**When* cricket was played with writing pads as bats,
And Neckties and socks rolled into balls!

**When* few played"kabadi" and "Kho-Kho" in scorching sun,
While others simply played"book cricket" in the Confines of classroom!

Of fights but no conspiracies,
Of Competitions but seldom jealousy!

**When* we used to watch Live Cricket telecast,
In the opposite house in Intervals and Lunch breaks!

**When* few rushed at 3:45 to"Conquer" window seats in our School bus!

**While* few others had "Big Fun", "peppermint", "kulfi", " milk ice !" and "sherbet !" at 4'O Clock!

**Gone are the days* Of Sports Day,and the annual School Day,
And the one-month long preparations for them.

**Gone are the days *Of the stressful Quarterly,Half Yearly and Annual Exams,
And the most enjoyed holidays after them!

*Gone are the days *Of tenth and twelfth standards,
when We Spent almost the whole year writing revision tests!

We learnt,
We enjoyed,
We played,
We won,
We lost,
We laughed,
We cried,
We fought,
We thought.

With so much fun in them, so many friends,So much experience, all this and more!

*Gone are the days *When we used too talk for hours with our friends!
Now we don't have time to say a 'Hi'!

*Gone are the days *When we played games on the road!
now we code on the road with laptop!

*Gone are the days *When we saw stars shining at Night!
Now we see stars when our code doesn't Work!

*Gone are the days *When we sat to chat with Friends on grounds!
Now we chat in chat rooms.....!

*Gone are the days *where we studied just to pass!
Now we study to save our job!

*Gone are the days*Where we had no money in our pockets and still fun filled on our hearts!!
Now we have the ATM as well as credit card but with an empty heart!!

*Gone are the days*Where we shouted on the road!
Now we don't shout even at home

*Gone are the days*Where we got lectures from all!
Now we give lectures to all...!!

*Gone are the days*But not the memories, which will be lingering in our hearts for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever .....

*Gone are the Days !!…. But still there are lot more Days to come in our Life!!

**NO MATTER HOW BUSY YOU ARE, DON'T FORGET TO LIVE THE LIFE THAT STILL EXISTS !!…..**