Ashwin's ThinkTank

2011-10-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Educational Revamp

Picture speaks more than words. The above picture is a snapshot of holiday homework of a 4 year old kid in India. I’m seriously not kidding. This raises a very important question. Have we become so competitive that our children should start facing these tortures from kindergarten? Hell No. Though the word is of German origin, I have a very strong feeling that even the Nazi’s wouldn’t have tortured the Jewish kids like this.

Jokes apart, if competition is not driving to the above scenario of holiday homework (4 year old kid), then it has got to do with working parents, who would prefer their children being occupied with work. If the ulterior motive of working parents is to safeguard their child’s future, they are doing it by butchering their kid’s happiness. Apart from the turmoil of educational system, these kids end up attending extracurricular classes like singing, sports, martial arts and long list of classes. It’s high time the parents realize that their childhood aspirations of joining an extracurricular activity cannot be satiated by sending their kid’s to multiple such classes. Will Jack ever get to play what he wants?

A quick recap of my education revealed that I had an awesome time in primary and middle school. I used to be that average kid, whose rank in various examinations were nearly twice his age :-D Apart from a little advice that I used to get from my parents on a really bad progress report, I had a life outside school. I played the sport I liked. I started roaming outside with my friends from my 5^th grade. I bunked 15 days of school with cricket fever. It’s that sort of an independence that helped me to fall and correct my mistakes. That’s the beauty of life. I would really thank my dad for being such a wonderful sport in not questioning my academic life. All the decisions that I have taken till today are completely mine.

However, I doubt if the present generation of kids get that sort of independence. Their parents are way too obsessed with their kid’s education. They really don’t want their kid to fall. They constantly act as a safety cushion and ensure that their kids are always on track. This has impacted the education system, in which, parents play an equal role in shaping the education policy. Though you shift from ranks to grade, the pressure to get an A+ still exists on their kid’s mind. The focus is towards better education for kids, which unfortunately, is competitive pressure. This is applicable without any geographic restrictions. In India, it’s getting admission in the best school. In US, it’s about living in the neighborhood having the best school district. By this constant monitoring, they really snatch their kid’s ability to think and act independently.

Continuing with my experience, I realized the importance of education and started gearing myself before my class 10 board exams. And the rest is history. The rat race in my life began and it continues till today. Though I could proudly flaunt my academic excellence of having studied in premier institutions in India and US, my life would have been totally different to me if I had dared to follow my passion – “Formula one pit mechanic” instead of being a “Technology analyst” at an investment bank.

Though it might look like I am diverging from the topic, I had to mention about the risk aversive approach our society wants a person to take. It has stereotyped the success parameters. Failure in academics might brand you as a social outcast .With the fear of being an outlier; the rat race pushed me to pursue my higher education in a premier institute. Having being this intrinsically average guy, I couldn’t bell the cat and had to look outside for top notch institutes. Thus, it is partially the competitiveness (yeah, rat race) that drove me to Carnegie Mellon. With exactly a week to go for my graduation ceremony, I type this blog with a constant yearning for that all illusive one way ticket back home.

Having seen that the rat race can drive people far from their destiny and comfort zone, it is time that we start revisiting these parameters of success. There is life beyond money and education. It’s time that a person is evaluated holistically rather than these menial brownie points for their education or job. I am not trying to undervalue the power of education.

Etymologically derived from the Latin word called educe, which brings out a potential, the true purpose is to bring out the talent or potential of an individual. On being asked about the purpose of college education, Einstein said – “I myself do not burden my memory with simple facts that can be looked up in text books. But the true purpose of education is to train the mind to think, and for that reason it is priceless”. You don’t need to cram a child with mathematics tables. Calculators exist and over a period of time with practice, the kids would get used to solving problems quickly.

If the system is not corrected at the right time, you might turn people into process and bound them by milestones. Kids would start hating the system and not leverage the true purpose of school or college education. It’s time that the system needs to revamped effectively. There is a greater need to nurture independent thinking. That’s how generations have evolved and improved with time. With creativity comes the solution for most complex problem. Be it in nurturing Entrepreneurial spirit and moving towards a sustainable world. It’s these ideas that empower you rather than currency. You are only as rich as you feel :-D

PPS: Kindly check the link below. It’s an innovative solution to tackle education hassles. Thanks to Manasi Arora for sharing a snapshot of her kiddo's HW in facebook.

http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

2010-05-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Random Bakwas chapter 3

This one would be a random rambling of thought process going through my mind in last 24 hours. Guess it would be aggregate of few Facebook status messages or tweets.

1. Food lag: I am desperately suffering from this. Starting the day, I have a voracious appetite for breakfast, eating in half dozen’s. It slowly transitions to a reduced need of a moderately salubrious lunch. Finally, I am kind of struggling to finish just 2 servings of rice for dinner. Is appetite change included in jet lag or have i coined a new jargon :D? Haven’t wikied it yet. Waiting for feedback from readers, if any :P

2. Mobile internet in India: Using it for the first time, I am surprised with the connectivity in remote towns in Tamil Nadu. Though my dad's data plan is based on GPRS and not 3G, I feel that delay is tolerable for mails and not annoying slow. Though I was a reluctant adopter of smart phone, i am slowly changing my opinion. QWERTY keyboard and continuous access to mails during travel are the big positives.

3. Indian summer: Hot is an understatement, I was in Trichy for a day as i was visiting temples in my dad's native place. With 40 degrees and 40 percent humidity, my first day outing was miserable in dry heat. I had take two baths in 8 hours time. If I had to summarize it in one line, I was feeling like a chicken burnt alive in Tandoor.

Ps: I am in love with this series of writing. With a play list of AR Rahman, I am thinking of career in writing. I think I can give Chetan Bhagat some competition.CMU is a bigger brand to flaunt and writer/home maker would be a lovely career path :D. Any broad minded gals out here?

Dated: 12th may, 11 pm

2010-05-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

Random Bakwas chapter 2

Today's topic is regarding Indian marriage and specially, the food associated with the ceremony. Ya, food play a major role in these functions, which attracts crowd, who are totally irrelevant in the context. Last weekend, i was lured into such a trap as i couldn't resist an offer of salubrious meal, which could placate the dead taste cells of mine.

Analogous to grad school events, there is lot of similarities. High variability in incoming rate, dining time and appetite of people makes it one of the toughest service operations to be modeled. I am not kidding. Adding another dimension of forecasting the crowd increases the complexity in logarithmic scale. Ps: author is an engineer by heart :-p

Digging deeper into this issue, this is challenge from supply chain perspective. Integrating Indra nooyi's Aquafina, Nellore farmer's rice and Mumbai's chat walla's pani puri for a single reception meal, an averagely flamboyant marriage would cost you a million Indian rupees. Statistically, fifteen percent of entire marriages happening in India would fall under this category. Investing this money in a fully diversified high performing mutual fund for four years would yield you 2 million rupees.

From service provider’s perspective, it is a billion rupee industry spread across various sector. This is an economy on its own. So, if you are interested in reviving an economy from recession, get married soon :-p. Rest, invest your money and laugh at the former :-D

PS: Dated May 12, 9:45 am

2010-05-19T01:05:00.000-07:00

Random Bakwas chapter 1

Yes. I am back to blogging. Now that i have literally nothing to do for next 18 days, I have decided to start this series.

Not with the most comfortable tool. Typing from my dad's Nokia N 81, i am trying to combat jet lag as i am travelling on my way to Trichy. Excuse me for grammar mistakes and typos.

Topic of today's bakwas is about suburban metro. Next to Mumbai, Chennai can proudly boast of second best suburban train connectivity in India.

Thanks to my cousin. I liked his idea to use public transport to reduce traffic and carbon emissions, despite having our own vehicles.

Being a champion of public transport after buying in his idea, i thought i would write a blog for the same. Starting from 04, I had great experience of using these electric trains. Today, at 0.1 dollar, i could travel comfortably a distance of 10 km or 6.25 miles in 12 minutes. Sounds amazing right? That’s the reality.

Be it the 18 minute travel for my 15 km commute to college or 65 minutes marathon journey for my 47 km journey to my workplace, i could predict my exact arrival time with 98 percent accuracy. For the executives, you have the option of hassle free travel in first class, which is five times the ordinary fare. That was one transition I made from college to corporate in my mode of commute.

For the luxurious folks, unfortunately, there is no air conditioned version of these locals. Volvo's are good alternate, in terms of comfort and travel time. If you aren't buying any of these options, then you aren't intended recipient.

Thanks for reading through Random Bakwas. In the name of climate, the auto Anna's of Chennai shall rightly exploit the consumer for extra carbon emissions and road congestion :-p

PS: Dated 11^th may, 11 pm. Apologies for re-editing and publishing delay :)

2009-04-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Masala Media :-(

You haven’t read the title wrong. I am not referring to Page 3 and music channels. The main target of my post is the electronic news media. You usually associate head aches after watching a third rated commercial movie. I am precisely in the same state after watching NDTV and IBN for half an hour.

I was so irritated that I had to vent out my feelings. I called up friend of mine

Me: You know what. I have been watching comedy time for past 30 minutes

My Friend: I was watching the same in IBN :-)

Me: I was also doing the same :-)

You no more need any intellect to be a journalist. Following would be the requirements for MAsala Desi JournalISt or shortly know as MAD JI’S :-)

(I know my creativity isn’t at its best when the system clock reads 11:52 pm)

You just need to speak fluent English. Even if your speech doesn’t make sense, you can cover it up with your fluency and pompous language, bombastic words :-) (I thought for couple of minutes to recollect my GRE words. A journalist in making )

You need to repeatedly remind the audience that Narendera Modi was involved in Godra Carnage and Advani orchestrated Babri Masjid Demolition.

I guess media kids should grow up. The Godra carnage is now a cliché. Modi invited Tata and generated employment in Gujarat which Mamta Ji couldn’t do in Bengal. PS: I am not a religious fundamentalist. I am person who supports development and I guess Modi has been successful in making Gujarat prosperous.

You should have a voice which could tame the other speaker. If the speaker participating in a debate expresses an opinion which is contradicting the journalist opinion, then his/her voice should be able to peak to decibel levels which would invalidate/subdue the speakers opinion. Dissent is never appreciated :-)

Defend your fellow journalist. A journalist is always right. Barkha Dutt made sure Jarnail Singh (or shoe journalist) apologized during the show and was trying to justify that it was an emotional outburst. To put this in Rajdeep’s style, Lakshman rekha was crossed but they were right in doing that :-) (If you can’t make sense from the previous statement, then that’s previously what a journalist wants. I guess I can make good money becoming MADJI rather than coding some software :P) Bottom line is simple. Journalists are flawless.

Come with new jargon's like "Lakshman Rekha", "Ram Barose Security" J

Remind every 15 seconds to the viewers that you are Hindu/Muslim/Christian. Keep telling the listeners that Caste is factor which will decide voting. Sagarikha (IBN) is the best in this business. She could come with creative topics for debates like “Is Mayavati being oppressed from becoming a PM since she is a lower caste Dalit women” I guess only a narrow minded religious fanatic male chauvinist can think in these lines :-) .I was shocked to see senior journalist using un parliamentary words such as “Achoot”, ”Harijan” just to sensationalize her debate/opinion.

Justify the 24*7 coverage given for serious security issue of national concern. I was shocked to see Rajdeep in a debate asking police people to take media training on what to speak to press. Grow up dude. As a responsible editor in chief, you should use your discretionary powers. The fact that 24 * 7 coverage of Mumbai attacks gave terrorist accurate information about the commandos entering the hotels and hostages being in a safe place in a coffee shop. Terrorist brutally murdered people who were hiding in that coffee shop L till date; anger in me has never subsided. I hold Rajdeep and Pranoy Roy responsible for the carnage that happened in that coffee shop. It’s the duty of Journalist or editor to censor sensitive information and prevent live telecast of events concerning national security. We don’t want Paparazzi kind of journalism here

Though this photo might have been humorous in some places, the message which I try shouldn’t lose its significance. When the youth of this country is looking for a change, it’s not only in politics. We expect change in all forms for the betterment and especially in media. We are not here to tolerate nonsense. Today’s Gen Next has power to voice their opinion. It’s high time our media stops this cliché rhetoric’s and present news as it.

PS: If you are planning to vote after analyzing the information based on Indian news channel, my sincere advice is that you can clever and independent decisions than to listen to these so called mockery journalist. My sincere thanks to Sagarikha and Barkha for making my blood boil after watching their Masala news . It was their nonsense which instigated me to blog :-)

2009-02-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

Train-a-thalon

With common wealth games coming around the corner in 2010, I was wondering if there is any sport in which I specialize. It was then I realized the sport at which I have achieved mastery – Train-a-thalon. Having mastered this sport for the past six years, I thought I would share my Gyan on the same.

For the past six years, my daily commute to my College/workplace is dependent on Chennai Electric Train. The most challenging part is successfully catching the train which you intend to board. Shedding off my modesty, I would vaingloriously say that I have mastered this art.

For the amateurs, the sport consists of 3 rounds

Driving your bike or Sprinting to station
Parking your bike and 100 meters dash to railway platform
Finding an empty seat and successfully managing to sit in the same

First part of the sport sets the momentum for the day :-) . For a train scheduled to depart at 7 39 am from a station which is 2.7 Km from your place, the idle start time would be 7 30 am. Here, I would like to make a point that electric trains in Chennai manage 96% accuracy in sticking to time. So, the probability of missing the train is very high. Trick of the trade is that traffic pattern in a particular area is constant and if you are consistent with your timings, you can avoid following slow moving college buses/ obnoxious Onyx trucks :-)

My usual circuit looks like the one shown above

Starting with a high speed sector, followed by mid/low speed sectors, With this circuit, I am as comfortable as Sachin Tendulkar in Chepauk. 7 minutes drive is possible with the external support from creatures, which ply on this road (read it as humans/animals). Dogs/ Buffaloes are so much used to my engine noise that they give away without creating any trouble :-) you see, I am eco-friendly. My bike is in harmony with all the living creatures.

Second part is the most difficult. Despite not being horizontally challenged, it’s not easy to park a bike, climb stairs and reach the platform in 75 seconds, which is precisely the time I have to catch the train. This 75 seconds includes the time to strategically position yourself in front of less crowded coach of 9/12 car rakes. Revealing my trade secret, the last first class or coach next to last first class (3^rd rake) are coaches which are least crowded.

Third part of this sport, which is ultimately the most important section, is to find a seat. This is critical when your journey length is expected to be 44 km one way (1 hour 10 min) :-(.This would require

a lot of general knowledge of your co-passengers (where Mr/Mrs/Miss X would get down, so that you can jump to stand near them :-) )
Keen observation sense (People with old type Government Union bags would get down in Guindy/Mount. People with SRMU ID card in shirt packet, would get down in Tambaram).
Evade all your enemies from spotting your hot seat and ultimately managing to sit with highest level of decency. This would require highly agile legs, which can scamper through the coach, like Dhoni stealing a quick single :-)

If India was to host this sport in Common wealth games, I can assure our public that there is 99% probability of winning a medal (1 % attributed to my failure rate in not successfully completing this sport)

If you don’t manage to get a seat or manage the board, it’s not the end.

In sports, it’s not all about winning. It’s about participating and giving a fight :-)

2008-12-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Circuit De T Nagar

If you could guess the name of this track, kudos to your F1 knowledge :)

People. Hold on. There is no street circuit coming to Chennai and this blog post has got nothing to do with formula one racing.

When you are the only person in your family with a fair amount of knowledge about how to handle gear boxes and steering wheels in a moving automobile (To put it in layman's term, driver of the house ), you have a duty to drop your near and dear ones in Bus/train stations in unearthly hours . As a responsible brother, i took my car to drop my sister in T Nagar so that she would happily travel to Bangalore in a Volvo without me :(

If the readers are of the notion that i am sad about my sister starting back, you got me wrong. I am sad about the fact that I missed a ride in Volvo. Don't ask me what's the big deal in a Volvo bus drive? :) If i have to choose between Kingfisher airlines and KPN Volvo, i would go for the latter :)

It was then i realized that my Asho-e-dino (read it as Santro) needed some fun. I stepped on the gas and when i reached a U turn in Panagal Park similar to turn 11 of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, I saw another car slowly moving towards the turn. Adrenalines in me was at all time high and i could hear Steve slater speaking :) I went on the outside and managed to overtake the fellow in that corner at a speed of 30 Kmph :) Victory. A perfect high speed U turn coupled with an overtaking maneuver. This is one of the best driving maneuver i have done till date. The sense of joy i derived in overtaking a person from outside is analogous to seeing Micheal Schumacher overtake Kimi in inside line in his last grandprix . Somethings money cannot buy :) Wish Steve slater was in commentary box in Panagal park :)

Finally, to all my blog readers, I am back to blogging after 11 months break (I know that it sounds really stupid to say that my work is keeping me occupied but believe me, it is :( ). I am planning to write a series of articles of events that happened during the last one year. Keep visiting. Good night :)

2008-01-22T07:06:00.001-08:00

DAY THAT WAS (JAN 8, 2008)

After a harrowing days work & pain in incisors, I managed to get out of my cubicle early yesterday (Read it as 5:15 pm). Dentist was calling & I was in happy mood, despite the pain. For, I managed to start from the god-forsaken place (Read it as Mahindra World City).

Little did I know about the defamation that I was going to face that evening .My visit to the dentist was smooth & he told with a smile that I need to undergo an another RCT (This will be my 3^rd one J ). This wasn’t a bad news as I was expecting it & smiled to show the ceramic teeth which he fixed 3 months back. Having come back early, I thought I will do some of my personal works which remained pending for a long time.

Little did I care about my appearance while going out to nearby photocopy shop. My hair was unkempt. I didn’t bother to shave my beard, as my Gillette Mach 3 just arrived from Bangalore the day (PS: I am little absent minded & left it in my uncle’s house last month. So, it was a good reason to reduce my shaving frequency to once a week) I was dressed in a decent T shirt (Indigo nation Infosys T shirt, presented by my lovely friends as a parting gift, while I started from Mysore after my training). To keep it short, I had an emasculated rugged appearance.

The shop keeper took my documents & went to another room for photocopying. In the mean time, a lady came to shop & asked me to give her a gel pen quickly. I was shocked. “Am I looking like a shop keeper boy “?? To be frank, I was looking like Himesh Reshmiya without make up or hair dressing. Despite the fact that it did irreparable damage to my persona & tarnished my image in front of couple of other customer’s .I wasn’t in a mood for an altercation & decided to maintain my composure. In fact there was a clear demarcation between the customer & shop keeper side & I was standing in the customer’s side. She realized the fact that I wasn’t the one who is looking after the shop & quickly apologized to me. This abated my anger & was waiting to collect my photocopies

Just then, another boy came running towards me & told “Five copies of Xerox”

“Give me a break” I was shouting these words to myself

There was a mercurial rise of my blood pressure. The kid was so short that even i could trash him hands down.

I lost my temper. I gave a really cold stare for a minute at that boy so that he realized the fact.

After a series of embarrassing incidents, I drove directly to super market to get the Mach 3 razors. The first thing I realized while I was shaving was that it’s wasn’t due to my beard I was looking stupid. The culprit was t-shirt. A polo t shirt is what a sales person would wear & I was wearing one of them (Maroon & white stripes). I narrated the incident to my friend over phone & she reconfirmed my apprehensions about that T shirt. I was brooding over these facts during my shaving &managed some aberrations in my epidermis**. I was Scratched & wounded physically & mentally but the warrior in me wasn’t ready to give up. I managed to complete my shave & catch up some good sleep.

The first thing, I did today morning, before I brushed my teeth, was to spend five minutes to select the dress I wear so that I don’t put myself in embarrassing situation again.

I take this opportunity to thank my lovely friends, who made shop quickly & helped me in getting a salesman T-Shirt

(PS: I shall not disclose the TRUTH of who picked me that T-shirt... The Truth shall be a secret)

** It is sometimes embarrassing to say that you managed to cut your skin while you were shaving. The statement was not meant to be bombastic.

2008-01-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

Sojourn

Never in me dreams had i thought that i would be traveling 100 kilometers per day. Well, you must call it fate. My life is bounded within 37 seats of the last first class coach towards chengalpet.For a person like me, who cannot get up from his bed before 7, there is hardly any choice. I have heard about third world countries but i am getting a glimpse of that :)

Thus, the only way to beat a monotonous journey to my work place at "WORLD CITY" is to sit near different people (As a matter of fact, the 30 odd passengers are a static group. I can know judge a station by looking at who is getting in or out of my compartment) It so happened that i met an interesting fellow passenger in train couple of weeks ago.
Looking at his ID card, i came to know that he works for SRMU tambaram.

He started a conversation with me by asking time. (Generally, the coach in which I travel has a set of tired IT folks who prefer listening to their music gadgets instead of starting a conversation with their co passenger. I also belong to this category)

I could sense that he was perturbed for some reason. He was searching through his telephone directory for a particular number. After a successful search hit, he asked me “Can I use your phone? I need to make an urgent call”

I have been in situations where my mobile was down & had to make urgent calls. So I dialed the number for him.
A kid took it. The man had called his grandchild. I could see a million dollar smile in his face. Barriers are broken when people talk. Airtel really connects people :)

The kid hung up & he gave back my phone. He didn’t convey what he wanted to tell. I offered him my mobile & asked him to call again. This time, he was able to convey the message that he is going to their grandchildren’s place. He spoke for a couple of minutes & hung up.

He was talking to me after that. He is working @ SRMU, Tambaram and his house is near avadi. (He also travels the same distance I travel to work) He was telling that he is going to meet his grand children & give them new clothes for pongal. He was pretty much happy. This fellow also sponsors for those kid’s transport to school. With pride, he told that all his grandchildren are in studying in convent.

It was at that time I started introspecting the access of quality education to each & every Indian. In affluent families, it becomes the fundamental right of the children to have access to quality education. But, it’s not the situation everywhere. This person gives a part of his earning to his grandchildren so that their conveyance is smooth. He is happy with that.

I started comparing myself with that person. I also travel the same distance but am not doing happily.
While we were nearing tambaram, he showed me his office. He is sort of proud about his organization.(any worker in his organization would be proud as they help in millions people to have a safe commute) He was telling about the land hazels that railways face due to encroachments.

I never bother to reveal the organization to anyone as long as they ask. It is because I don’t feel that satisfied with what I do. If I turn back over the last 5 months & ask what I did, I have done nothing but a stupid data migration for a client, whom I haven’t seen.

There is a purpose for which that old person, whom I met in the train, is working for. Well, I don’t have any such responsibilities . My dad can still take care of me. I wonder why I am still working :(

Musings shall continue

2007-11-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

IT’s not happening

If you are analyzing the title & feel that there is a problem of capitalization, you are wrong :) I am referring to the IT industry.

The fact that I am using the resource of an IT company to type this blog tells that nothing is happening out here (Jokes apart :) )

Economically speaking, INDIAN IT companies are the 4^th worst pay masters (Information courtesy: 2day’s Economic times)

On the other hand, it was mentioned that India is losing the cost advantage. Thus introspecting from a larger perspective, (PS: I am not talking about the vision or mission of the company. They are making a hell a lot of money) we are doomed. We, here refers to each & every employee, who slog daily by writing complex code, so that it helps in reducing the job of person, who sits 10000 miles away from us.

So what’s the purpose of life of the poor techie??? Propose an efficient process solution & find peanuts as his reward? Or to read a news item in economic times to find that their company did a billion $ business & appreciate that he is contributing to the growth of company??

Crap… To put in crude form, this is Y2K imperialism. Slavery, in today’s context, includes knowledge workers. The forces that control you are geographically distributed & belong to various countries. However, the best part is that you will hardly realize that you are being controlled by some external forces.

Starting from layout of ODC’s (off Shore Development Center’s) , your client has a say in it. Who is he to impose restrictions on the way we work??

(PS: Just because you pay money to watch a movie, you cannot ask Aishwarya Rai to dance with Vijay Kanth :) Sorry Thaliava. Couldn’t think of some other example)

The other extreme of this brutality is to make this intelligent techie sit idle without any work. The Companies justify their strategy as recruitment based on fore casted business.

Strategy? Bull Shit…If there is a concept of bench in HR department, I can assure you that they will never implement this strategy. After all, they are humans & will understand human sentiments.

There should be a balance between effort & pay, which doesn’t exist now. In the same cubicle, you will a techie who slogs for 16 hours with a code which was developed by Dennis Ritchie, without any comments & an another guy who stares at his computer, to clock 8 hours of attendance. The former needs rest while later needs work. The only commonality that they have is common pay check. (This is a cruel world)

The people, who fall under the categories, mentioned above, just crib about their fate & hardly take any corrective action (PS: To be read as “Exiting from run of the mill IT industry”)

The industry & policy framers are very smart. They induct into an organization after explaining the exit procedures. They mean business & no one is running a charity organization. The offer letter is generally filled with subjective terms like “Performance, Efficiency” etc.

(PS: A highly challenging job for me might be nothing for another techieJ )

Thus, the fear of non performance drives the techie to work hard. I would like to mention about one of my friends, who, like any other Indian graduate, is caught in the web of IT industry. This guy, (like most of us) hasn’t used his system for even writing a “Hello world” program, is now fixing bugs in C++. This is called IT transformation .It is more powerful than Z transform that we learned in our engineering. An IT transform has the capability to transform a lazy, no techie person to yet an another IT nerd :)

I forgot to mention the 3^rd category of people who exists in this industry. These are the people who don’t have any regard for their present workplace. (This is partially applicable for people in the first 2 categories. They aren’t expressive of it as they are comfortable with working in IT industry)

These smart people, who look at the larger picture, just stick to these companies for time period. (After all, they aren’t stupid enough to stay jobless :) ) .These people ensure that they are not exploited by company. They realize the fact that their life isn’t restricted to stupid desktop & go on to fulfill their passion. These smart lads effectively use their idle time to transmit the message against the new form of knowledge imperialism. No prizes for guessing the category to which I belong :D

Ultimately, we, the so called techies or nerd, who fuel this knowledge industry, get nothing. There are people above in your organization, making a hell a lot of money, by making jazzy presentations & reports. It just requires common sense & Microsoft office to do management. An excellence mail from PM is sign of possible increase in your workload in the near future. This mail is an indirect way of telling to you “Hey fool. We have spotted you. Get ready to be screw your life with some extra work”

Well, the whole purpose of this document to make the readers introspect themselves. If you taken some time off from your work & read this document, I can assure you that you haven’t wasted time.

The bottom line is clear. You are paid peanuts. (I still cannot understand the rationale behind the Industries expectation of a quality product at low cost, contradicting the famous hypothesis that “quality is not free”)

If you are planning to shut your systems & reach home earlier to do something about which you are highly passionate (Quiz, reading books, sleeping, blogging or playing some sport), then my blog has served the purpose.

If it hasn’t impacted you, then you aren’t intended recipient

(PS: The author can never be wrong. Only those who perceive it can interpret it in a wrong way :) )

PS1: I wrote this post, a month back, when i was reserved as a critical resource in bench :) Now that i am allocated into a project, i am not getting time to publish my work. Working hard u see :D

2007-05-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

MISSION 2020

STATUTORY WARNING: This is my first blog in tanglish. So kindly bear the spelling mistakes :D

The fact that I completed my B.Tech degree in the same alma mater as that of our first citizen doesn’t make this post relevant to my professional career. Naan endha company la kupai kothi na ongalu enna :D

Idhu oru muzhu nila nagaichuvai blog .This mission 2020 is relevant to our Tamil Nadu politics (Dynasty or die-nasty politics). It’s a common adage that “U got to dream well to succeed in life”. Adha nambi naanum kanavu kanden. The excessive reporting of the attack on a publishing house had its own effects in my dream.

My dream was about “Indian politics during 2020”.

Disclaimer: The following characters are fictional. Any resemblance with real life is purely coincidental ( Ippadi oru bit a potha namba ooru la escape ayidhu lam )

Story starts now:

APRIL 2020:

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr.M.Karunaniddhi is running a coalition government. (That’s the only available option of forming a government now. Majority concept lam eppoyo pochu :D)

The allies of the ruling coalition wanted to make our grand old man happy . So, they decided to conduct a function. They couldn’t find a reason. At last , they unanimously agreed to celebrate his 75 years of walking @ marina beach (Enna Kudhuma saravanan idhu :P)

After this announcement, the Leader of AIADMK (All India Adi Danathuku Muneradha Kazhagam) retorted by stating that he has walked only for 62 years ( Namba oorula , summa ve fact illama press conference kudhukalam )

The functions venue is yet to be decided. (The last major function took place at island grounds) Now, our politicians are searching for archipelago grounds

(Group of islands na sama range la ;) )

Since there are no islands near Chennai, our wise politicians decided to rechristen our marina beach as “Kaliangar’s archipelago". ( Mysore bonda la Mysore iruka ??? Adhe madri daan idhu. Beach a archipelago aaki yachu :D )

Now that the location s fixed, the next major issue s about television rights. The top contenders being

CNN IBN - Courtesy: Rajdeep Sardesai & congress government @ the center. A rare word s used by the channel to refer to our grand old man of TN. Nonagenarian :D (INCREDIBLE INDIA ;) . Only here, politicians don't have retirement )

Ps: I have just heard about octogenarian. Our grand old man has outlived that & this has resulted in usage of this connotation.

RISING SONS: Funded by Dayalu amma (Wife of our Nonagenerian), this television channel has a single motto – To praise about the governance of Danathuku Muneradha Kazhagam (DMK).

Ps2: (Hello… Idhu game illa :P) carefully observe the name. It is named as rising sons (MKS & MKA).Also , the party’s symbol has been changed to display the pictures of 2 sons instead of rising sun (SUN TV mella kolai veri pola ;) )

OTHERS: It includes channels like sun, jaya and a number of other media houses, which are against the DIE - NASTY POLITICS (sorry. spelling mistake. Dynasty politics)

Ps3: What can I do?? Unmai varadhu. Dynasty politics nu solranga. At last, central & state governments are damaged. Irrespective of the reality, our nonagenarian has a different opinion

Obviously, the first 2 channels are the top contenders. So, Tamil Nadu television rights is awarded to rising sons & the national rights to IBN (courtesy: ITALIAN lady)

Finally, the list of the dignitaries to be invited

Sonia Gandhi, PM of INDIA (At last, aavanga PM post accept panithanga)

Rahul Gandhi, CM of DELHI (Enna dan Gandhi kadhai sonalum, UP la parupu vegala :P So, namba thalai , decent a delhi ku vandhu tharu )

The list goes on……………………………………………… (On & on like Amaron) and ends with

MANI, beach sundal boy :D

Everything is arranged. The Function is scheduled to take place on May 10, 2020.

MAY 10, 2020:

Everybody is eagerly waiting for walking ceremony of our nonagenarian. The walking distance is approximately a meter.

Ps4: Pinna, 90 years la 90 km a nadhaka mudhiyum ;)

The security was tightened and all roads leading to archipelago were blocked (2020 annalum, namba police bandobast marave illai!!!! )

The ceremony started at 6 am. To the left of our nonagenarian was MKS, who was holding his father. Unexpectedly, Rahul Gandhi was supporting our kalaingar from right side.This infuriated our thalai MKA. The function went off smoothly.

The photo of our CM with MKA & Rahul was captured by Rising Sons daily (chief editor: KaniMozhi) and was published in first page .This added insult to our injured MKA. He decided to take revenge & his followers ransacked the office of Rising Sons daily. This time, the employees of the daily were smart & bunked the office :D

Ps5: He He He. Indha tharava Azhagiri ku bulb :P

Indha theravai yum, RAM, editor of THE MUSLIM, has condemned the attack on d media house.

Ps6: Why didn’t our thalai release press statements during the various previous attacks on media?

As usual, no police enquiry took place & FIR wasn’t failed.

MAY 20, 2020

When a citizen was asked to comment about the attacked, he gave a stunning reply: “Rising Sons daily office a attack pananagla?? “

Ps7: The public memory is short lived

THE END

MORAL OF THE STORY: 2007 or 2020, the story line s not going to change :)

2007-03-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

BATTLE WITH FEVER

With world cup fever gripping up among cricket aficionados, there is a phobia prevalent among the student community. It’s the Exam Phobia.

Unfortunately, our human body isn’t designed like windows, in which multiple windows can be processed at the same time. Only a select few privileged mortals are capable of multitasking. The rest of the people, can utmost, crib about the schedule. They are not sad about the world cup being played in the month of March, but are pissed off by the fact that their exams overlap with world cup.

This is a fundamental problem for cricket lovers. The cricket season in our country starts in the month of March and our education system doesn’t give a special consideration for the cricket fanatics. Mathematically speaking, there is a very high probability of declivity in student’s performance in a logarithmic scale
(Ps: I am an ENGINEER )

It may sound as a simple issue to a few but this is a multifaceted problem. Parents & tuition teachers have to sacrifice some crucial matches of world cup for their wards or students. Statisticians will be put to a dilemma. They have to decide whether to collect data about Sachin’s centuries in world cup or to record the number of people appearing for the board exams.

Despite of the above challenges, cricket & exams have co-existed for many exams. Even though there is no symbiotic existence between the two, these events are of synonymous nature
(PS: No wrong usage of word . For a final year student like me, Exams are indeed comical event)

Let’s try to analyze the similarities associated with cricket & exams

1. The preparation, irrespective of the number of hours, will never be enough. Only after you enter the field (or exam hall) , you will want to ask the opposition captain (or the invigilator) , in Oliver twist style “Can I have more” (PS: Here, more refers to practice time & not food :p )

2. The expectations of the spectators will always be utopian. It’s not feasible for Sachin to score a century in every match or a guy, who always scrapes through his exam, to pass with a distinction.

3. The atmosphere will always be tense. People must realize that a match or exam isn’t the end of life. There is always next time.

4. Performance will always be “Super Ordinary”. It’s natural that we use an unnecessary adjective in India (Word usage Reference: http://life-means-so-much.blogspot.com. I don’t want get caught for plagiarism :D )

5. It is impossible to predict the outcome as the end result will be capricious. No statistical method, till this date, is able to determine the quantitative outcome of a match (or an exam)

6. The probability of the failure increases proportionally to skyrocketing expectations. Sometimes, the expectations are as high as Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building.

7. Demand-supply gap will always exist After all, in economic terms; we are still a developing country .

8. At the end of the season, the report will always be a stinker
During this period, media will make money, by projecting these “Larger than life events”. It’s time people realize that it’s yet an another match (or Exam)

(PS: Media, includes my blog also, which is glorifying a trivial cause )

At the end, we must salute these people, who manage to come out successfully in flying colors in their exams.
(Here, success is measured in a relative scale. In a class, there can only be one topper :) )

Believe me, Multitasking isn’t simple. I had to turn off my Winamp play list for writing this blog.

PS: I would like to mention a special word about the organising team of instincts (SSN), who successfully did not conduct the blogging contest.

2006-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Ethnic Crisis

Today, I watching the movie called “Kannathil Muthamital”. A good movie directed by Mr.Manirathnam. Most of Manirathnam’s movie has a message & he does a lot of research before taking a movie.

In this movie, He was portraying the ethnic crisis that is taking place in Sri Lanka. It’s unfortunate that we are still plagued by such problems. This issue started around mid 80’s & is still continuing. This led to formation of group called as LTTE (Liberation tigers of Tamil Ellam), under the leadership of Prabhakaran. This group is perceived in different way by different groups of people. (I am not able to find a word for them. Freedom fighters?? Terrorists?? Extremists??) . They want the northern part of Sri Lanka to be declared as a separate country (Tamil Ellam).

This group has an organized army & has indulged in guerilla warfare for the last 20 years. The peace process, mediated by Norwegian delegates was fruitful in bringing a ceasefire. It was short lived though. Governments change & so do their stand against these armed rebels. In the last six months, LTTE & the Sri Lankan army are battling in the northern part. This has led to humanitarian crisis in northern part of Sri Lanka. The road to Jaffna is closed & thus the supply chain is cut.

I have heard that people are dying due to starvation & epidemics. Thus, an ethnic crisis, in the name of freedom struggle, has led to plethora of problems.(google it for more info)

Who is responsible for all these mundane problems? LTTE ? Sri Lankan Government?

I have heard different versions of the problems that are prevailing in Sri Lanka. The Tamil people, who are residing in Sri Lanka, feel that the government has not taken steps to ensure supplies to Jaffna. They feel that Tamilians are neglected.

On the other hand, Sinhalese people are putting the blame on LTTE for this large scale violence. They are happy with their government’s stand on this issue

The fact is that a problem exists & a feasible solution has to be found. This humanitarian problem must be addressed with highest priority. A long term viable solution for the ethnic crisis would be granting autonomy to government of Northern Sri Lanka, in which Tamilians can take part in the governance.

What can we do now?????? Just wait and watch.

2006-12-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Ayodhya attack – Part II

If you are confused with the title, this blog is about the attack that took place in Ayodhya manadapam, Chennai.

It all started with the attack on Periyar’s Statue. (Srirangam, December 7, 2006). Members of a so called political party (Hindu Makkal Katchi - I would rather call them religious psychopaths) attacked the statue & were arrested.

The logic behind their attack is as follows
“Mr. Periyar is an atheist. Installing his statue near the temple would hurt religious sentiments”.

According to me, a person’s religious belief will not be eroded due to a statue of mortal. I believe in god & my feelings are not hurt on seeing the statue of Mr. Periyar.

(It all depends on the way you perceive things. You can respect him for his contributions to freedom struggle. If you are least bothered about the statue, it simplifies the whole issue. The sanctum sanctorum is not affected by the statue).

In a pluralistic country like India, where secularism is a salient feature of our constitution, you will have people with different views.

The defacing of Periyar’s statue in Srirangam has led to a chain reaction. Supporters of Periyar have retaliated by vandalizing a number of temples across the state. The Ayodhya manadapam incident is one of them.
(Check out this link for more details:
http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/09/stories/2006120916990300.htm)

It’s sad that innocent civilians are becoming soft targets to antisocial elements.
These events spoil the harmony that was prevailing in the state. These acts by the so called loyalist of Periyar (That’s how media has addressed them. ibnlive.com -> report by Veeraraghav) are nothing short of culpable acts of homicide.

It’s easy for one to blame the other (DK blaming HMK acts or HMK blaming the DK for their acts of retaliation). Unfortunately, it’s we the people, who are in the receiving end of these insane acts. Political parties are responsible for such incidents as they indirectly support these psychopaths.

It’s time we wake up to reality. We must stand united in time of crises & must teach a lesson to these anti-social elements. Religion is an abstract concept & we should see it as repertoire of good sayings. (Maybe with or without god)

At last, it’s “ANBE SIVAM” (“Love is god “)

2006-12-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Save our cricket team

BCCI’s annual revenue projected at Rs 500 crore (Information Courtesy: Times network)NEW DELHI:

The value of the Indian cricket team has been pegged at Rs 1,200-1,500 crore by an Ernst & Young and ET analysis. While, the value of BCCI may be Rs 1,500-1,800 crore, its projected annual revenue may be around Rs 500 crore. By applying the margin of 20% to revenue, maintainable EBIDTA works out to Rs 100 crore. A list of comparable companies was made for estimating the enterprise value/EBIDTA multiple for valuing Team India. While no strictly comparable listed businesses were found, we considered three companies — TV broadcaster Zee Telefilms, TV content provider Balaji Telefilms and motion picture production, distribution and exhibition company Adlabs Films. A major part of BCCI revenue comes from TV broadcasting rights, which is a function of viewership. Public viewership is a key valuation driver for TV broadcasting companies; hence Zee Telefilms was used as a comparable company.

I think our Indian players are good brand ambassadors than cricket players. I have the following suggestion to BCCI

Sachin Tendulkar: I would advise him to stay in his house & look after his kids. He has lost his magic touch & is a burden to our cricket team

Sehwag : He can look after his restaurant in Delhi & narrate the glorious stories of his past to his friends (Ex: 300 in Multan )

Dravid : He can sell anchor toothpaste & be a regular customer to Bank of Baroda , where he can deposit his commercial earnings

Irfan Pathan: Some one must remind him that he is a bowler in our team. I think I can teach swing & good length bowling to him.

Yuvaraj: Hero Honda brand ambassador (Glamour bike)

Kaif: Some one must teach him batting basics

Special advice to Mr. Greg chappel: “You are the right man @ the wrong place.”

Overall solution: INDIAN cricket team must be stopped from playing cricket. They are tarnishing our country’s name. If they want to play for money, let them play under some funky team name like “BCCI blazers”. For heaven sake, please don’t insult our country’s image.

your's truly,
A betrayed Indian Supporter

PS: I firmly believe in what I say. If you are having a different opinion, please be free to write in your comments. I shall reply for that

2006-11-28T23:38:00.000-08:00

One Love…

I never knew that I would fall for something in my life. That was until I met her .It was during the month of October 2004. She was quite popular among the guys circle & I came to know that she was from Maharashtra. My first meeting with her was through a common friend. It was just a formal hi-bye session.

As time progressed, I slowly started to flirt with her. It was then I realized that we had a lot of common interests. She loves high speed. She likes to be drenched in rain. She likes long drives & hard breaking. She likes partying & has high levels of adrenaline rush. To me, she was my perfect match.

Time passed by & I had to make my move. It was during the month of November 2005 that I decided to take her for a date. I was little nervous. I didn’t want her to reject my request for a date. Luckily for me, she accepted my offer. At that time, I was in cloud nine.

As she was a sport, my date was just a drive to a nearby place. She was dressed in ravishing red attire. It was then I realized that Einstein’s time dilation theory was right. 15 minutes flew like 15 seconds. The meet was memorable & I came to knew that she was also interested in me.

Finally D day arrived. December 1 2005. I decided to venture into a long term with her. I was excited & she was kind enough to accept my company. Relationships mature with time & it’s nearly a year since I am into this nexus. I guess it’s time to celebrate. So I thought that I would dedicate a blog 4 her

Are you people anxious to see her??

Check out this link J

http://beauty-n-beast.blogspot.com/

PS: This blog is for people with good sense of humour.

2006-10-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

DHOOM … DIWALI DHAMAKA

The D day has arrived. The much awaited Diwali is celebrated across the country today.

What’s so great about this festival??
Diwali, also called Deepavali ,is a major Hindu festival. Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolises the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. The festival of Diwali is rooted in the mythological epic Ramayana, and is a celebration of the return of Lord Ram after killing Ravan the Demon during his exile for 14 years. It also commemorates the killing of Narakasura, an evil demon who created havoc, by Lord Krishna's wife Sathyabhama. This happened in the Dwapara Yuga during this time of Lord Krishna's avatar. (Information Courtsey : Wikipedia)

There was a visible feverish excitement about this festival. People, from various localities of the city, generally do their shopping in a locality known as T.Nagar, which could have witnessed a shopping population equal to the population of Singapore during the last two weeks (Population of Singapore: 4.4 Million)

It’s a fact. No joke. If you don’t believe that, drop in to Saravana stores in T.Nagar to verify my fact. Kudos to Chennai traffic police for handling such a mammoth crowd.

Yesterday was the curtain raiser for Diwali. My mom was busy preparing a lot of sweets & snacks. Outside, there were a lot of kids bursting crackers & few people rushing for last minute shopping
(You must be very careful while driving in this time. You will have a cracker bursting next to your vehicle)

My mobile was flooded was with Diwali wishes from 10 Pm onwards.

Standard message template
“Before the network is congested, I wish you a happy Diwali”. The creator of this message thought that he was smart. But he was wrong. The network got congested by 10.30 Pm itself :-)

After attending those messages, I finally crashed at round 1am in the morning.(Diwali day)

It so happened that I managed to get into a deep sleep mode & was woke up by some stupid crackers at around 5am. Damn…

Can’t the people burst the crackers in silent mode???? :-)(Bad joke... Effect of excessive use of mobile in silent mode)

There is a difference between a normal person & a determined person. I am a determined person & continued towards my goal of pursuing a deep sleep. Unfortunately my determination was short lived & woke up due to fireworks from my dad at around seven. (“Ashwin ... Get up da... Today is an auspicious day”)

Anyway, it was too noisy outside & it was impossible to pursue my deep sleep. As today is a special day, I was supposed to have a “Ganga Snaanam” (Holy Bath). We, Chennai people, are not lucky enough to get water from river Ganges. So I had to adjust with the Chennai corporation water for my sacred bath.

I had a glimpse of outside. Smoke everywhere. I think Kyoto protocol must be ramified to include an exception for this gross violation of pollution norms. Why am I talking about this?? Just like that :-)

PS: Author of this blog (that is “me”) is bugged by mundane television(Diwali special) episodes like “Pathimandram, A day with super star, etc”. So the author is bored & has decided to bug his blog readers with an intellectual crap. Since the author has to go out now, he is leaving this blog incomplete. If anybody can continue this crap, your ideas are welcome. :-)

NOTE: In order to enjoy my so called crap, the readers must be in the same wavelength as that of the author.

2006-10-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

GANDHIGIRI in Real LIFE?????

The recent success of "Lage Raho MunnaBhai" has given raise to a new connotation, popularly known as "GANDHIGIRI". This term sounds really cool & it's creators had coined this word with an intention to market "Brand Gandhi” in a big way. The movie was good. The message of truth and non violence was delivered in a comical way.

After coming out of the movie hall, I just tried to retrospect the movie. Is it really possible to follow Gandhian values & succeed in our real life? How can we implement these utopian ideas in our mundane life??(Our moral values have come down to such a low level that honesty seems to be a utopian idea.) Is it possible??

The answer turned out to be negative. It is really impractical & foolish to always follow the policy of honesty & non violence in a country like INDIA where corruption is rampant.

Let's simulate the life of a college student, who decided to follow Gandhigiri for one day.

Scene 1:
Time 7:15 Am
Our hero gets up from the bed to find that he is late. He does his regular morning chores & starts from his house @ 7:38 Am. In normal circumstances, our hero would reach his train station by 7.43 am & would manage to board the 7:44 Am train. For a change, he decided to follow the principles of GANDHIGIRI for a day (PS: Inspiration from the movie & media buzz).

He starts from his house & finds a board stating a speed limit of 40 KMPH. Our hero, decided not to break the speed limit. He reached a junction where there is a traffic signal. This is one junction in which all the vehicles move when the signal is red. Our Hero stood like the model of caliber bike advertisement (An Unshakeable person). Few drivers complemented him with good Chennai Tamil words.

Lesson #1: There are some places in earth where you should not be different from others. Else you will be run over by the next pallavan bus. :)

Scene 2:
Finally the hero reached the station by 7:49 Am & found that he had missed the next train also (7:48 Am Train)

Lesson #2: When you know that you are not going to reach your goal due to some stupid rules, then there is no use in following it. In life, the end result matters. In a highly competitive world, you need to be little cunning to meet your ends. I still have a strong belief that Gandhiji cannot succeed in this present day scenario.

Scene 3:
Time 8:25 Am
The hero managed to reach the station near his college. He has just 5 more minutes to reach his class & he has to walk for 500 meters inside his college. He had 2 options: Cross the track & reach your class in time. Else, climb the crowded stairs & reach your class late.

As our hero was following Gandhigiri, he climbed the crowded foot over bridge & reached his class 3 minutes late. Unfortunately, the staff was before time & had finished taking attendance. Our Hero had an option to ask for his attendance. Our hero felt that he had committed a blatant mistake & silently settled in class. Some of his friends, who came after him, got attendance from the staff. Our hero lost attendance for 2 hours.

Lesson #3: There is just a fine line between being smart & stupid. The last incident comes under the latter category.

Scene 4:
Time 2:00 Am
Our hero has to attend a lab session. In his morning rush, he forgot to bring his record. It was the final day for submission. He had 2 options
1. Bunk the lab & get the record corrected the next day (In India, Deadlines are always on a relative time scale)
2. Confess the truth to staff.

Our hero did the latter. Unfortunately, the staff was in no mood to praise the Gandhian values. Our hero was asked to move out of the lab. Now, our hero is in the HIT list of the staff.

Lesson #4: Honesty doesn't guarantee success.

Finally our hero reached his home & decided that he won't practice GANDHIGIRI again.

Moral of the story: Gandhigiri sounds sexy in reel life, not in real life.

PS: The Hero of this story is a fictional character.

Warning: Don't dare to try this simulated story line.

2006-09-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ailurophobia------- The latest Phobia in the Town

Ailurophobia:
An abnormal and persistent fear of cats which produces an undue anxiety reaction even though sufferers realize their fear is irrational. Sufferers of ailurophobia may fear not only the scratch or bite of a cat, but also the "evil mystique" of cats as depicted in the form of COMMON ADMISSIONS TEST :-)

I thought there was a problem with the nomenclature of the exam & it should be re- christened with a word which symbolizes the ferocious exam. CAT is a misnomer as it no way symbolizes the docile cute cat which we see in our neighbourhood.

It was only when one of my friends reminded me of the fact that TIGER also belongs to CAT family, I understood the fact that name of the exam is as cunning as the exam.

How can this exam play the role of spoilsport??

First, you have to join coaching classes or test series to crack this exam. Commuting in city traffic is one big problem & you will be enervated before you reach the classes. The mock exams are scheduled every Sunday to make your weekend miserable. These mock exams are essential devils & U cannot circumvent it. Further, the dynamic nature of this exam requires the person to be of a protean nature, who should smile on seeing facts like PROGRESSIVE NEGATIVE MARKING SCHEME.

I know progressions is essential to crack cat but it sounds little weird when progressions are used for calculating negative marks. I have no doubts about the nature of person who sets this exam. I think he would have worked his entire life in inclined planes. He is so much interested in seeing a declivity in a student’s performance. :-)

During the reservation protests that took place in our country few months back, pro reservation people felt that exams like CAT are tailored made for the people of affluent society. I have just one thing to say to them

“Some things Money can’t buy. (A seat in IIM or a 100 percentile score in CAT) For everything else, you have MASTER CARD” :-)

I Still have 53 days to face this Exam. I pray the almighty that i should come out the exam hall without any scrathes. :-)

PS: I Like cats. Tiger is my favorite animal. :-)

2006-09-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S RACING CAREER

The day has finally arrived. Michael Schumacher has annouced his retirement from Formula one racing.

I was searching for an apt word in the dictionary & i couldn't find it. A stalwart in true sense. He symbolises "NEVER SAY DIE ATTITUDE".

An adept driver who had mastered the art of driving in rain & braking late. In racing terms, he knows only one word "FLAT OUT".

As shakesphere rightly pointed out in his poem

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances"

Unfortunately, the exit of his racing carrer has to come & it is nice that he is having a gracious exit at the pinnacle of his carrer.

This guy is more than a racer. A gr8 social animal , who had dedicated himself for the cause of fighting various natural calamities & poverty across the globe (10 million $ donation, which is greater than china's contribution of 2 million $, towards tsunami relief fund ).

It's difficult to say bye to U..

KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA

2006-07-20T03:59:00.000-07:00

Democracry Murdered

Wondering how democracry is murdered in INDIA?? Most of the blogs were blocked by the ISP's after a government order banned certain blogs on JULY 18.Freedom of Expression?? Who cares about the constitution??

I proudly declare that i create this blog through a back door access. Bloggers are united in this issues

2006-07-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Spirit of Mumbai

7/11 attacks is yet an another maudlin incident. A number of innocent civilians proved to be soft target for the terrorists, whom i think, are devoid of their sixth sense. The media seems to pay more attention to the resilient nature of Mumbaikars.

I stand up & salute the Mumbaikars for helping a number of stranded strangers. It was strange to see to people resuming their normal life within twelve hours after the blast. Popularly known as the "Bindaas attitude"(Bindaas means "What ever happens, i don't give a damn for it"), people were resuming their normal life by travelling to their offices in the same LOCAL trains , in which bomb blast took place. This created a big question in mind.

Is this "Bindaas attitude" , a sign of indifference ?? Do we have a highly bipolarised society where the unaffected people play the role of dormant spectators & get back to their work? I'm not targetting mumbai people alone. I saw this indifferent attitude in chennai during Tsunami. Coastal areas of the city was devasted while there were people shopping in a mall located at the center of city.

There are two sides to a coin. CNN IBN had conducted a special debate to understand the opinion of politicians & public about the blast. An introspection divulged the fact that Mumbaikars have no other option but to resume their competitive life. The life of a civilian in the commercial capital of our country is totally different from any other city in INDIA. It's the only city in INDIA where time is directly propotional to money & people come from 1000 miles to mumbai with a clear intention of making money. You have to be ahead in the "rat race" for earning your bread.

At the end of the day, it's "Salam Namaste" to the spirit of mumbaikars. No other city in this world can show such a resilient spirit. (Be it Right or Wrong)

Disclaimer: There is no intention of plagiarism in this post.

Information Courtesy : CNN IBN

2006-06-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

"Aam Aadmi party"

Disclaimer: I can't bear any criticism from congress supporters. So Congress fans, you better stay away from my Blog.

Aam Aadmi (Ordinary man) in India cannot buy an "aam" ( "aam" in Hindi means "Mango") in the capital of India. Thanks to inflation

The political parties in India are waiting for an opportunity to gain political mileage. It started with the petrol price hike. The government cannot be blamed for the price hike as there is a vertical rise in global oil price. I'm only angry about the fact that the price hike is done after the elections. A cheap third rated political trick. The last revision took place in the month of September 05 & the prices are rising exponentially. If the government had planned a 2 stage price hike, it would have been effective.

The most comical melodrama followed soon. The "Congress" party (i.e. the party ruling the government) wanted a cut in price hike, so that "Aam Aadmi” is not affected. Only a bunch of morons would believe the fact that Sonia Gandhi was not consulted in the issue of petrol price hike. Luckily, Dr. Manmohan Singh stood by his decision (According to Indian press). At the end of this Murali Deora was the scape goat. This price hike would reduce the losses of our Navaratna oil companies. Sonia Gandhi, @ the end of this episode, is still the Aam Aadmi's leader.

The Story is not yet over. All the state congress leaders expressed their fawning nature by reducing state sales tax of petrol. If the state government had reduced the sales tax on the day of price hike, i would have saluted them. Unfortunately, the scenario was different. Sonia proclaimed that her party is an "Aam Aadmi" party & the sycophant leaders followed her steps to give the party an "Aam Aadmi" party image.

Now it's inflation time. The prices of vegetables, fruits & essential commodities are rising exponentially. If onions rocked the NDA government (1998), it's tomatoes turn to create doldrums to congress government (40 bucks per KG in NEW DELHI).

According to Finance ministry, there is a gap in supply & demand. It has come out with a proposal to change the export/import laws for certain goods. It's good temporary solution, but does not fit well in a long term scenario. (This is the first time i am agreeing with the left parties). Congress is keeping its fingers crossed with a hope that it's a seasonal inflation. UP elections is staring at the congress like HELL & Rai Bareli doesn't represent UP.

Who is the sufferer?? It's the Aam Aadmi.

At last, can an AAM Aadmi in INDIA buy & eat his AAM happily????????? We have to wait & watch.

2006-06-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hindutva Vs Pseudo Secularism

The Da Vinci code is banned in Tamil Nadu. It is surprising to see that it has been banned in all states where congress is ruling or supporting (Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, and Meghalaya). Where is the freedom of expression? Can a fiction ever erode religious beliefs? This is pseudo secularism, practiced by Congress.

Pseudo-secularism in a societal setting is the state of implicit non-secular trends in the face of pledged secularism. (Thanks to google)

Hey guys... Don't jump to the conclusion. I am not a Hindutva fanatic or an adherent BJP supporter. I also condemn Hindutva. Let's have a perspicacious look about the Hindutva factor prevailing in our country.

Hindutva, (according to google) is an extremist Hindu movement, not to be confused with Hinduism. The term used by RSS/VHP/BJP to gain votes. Mr. Narendra Modi is an adroit politician in the field of Hindutva politics. Today's attack on RSS office in Nagpur is a signal of an anti-Hindutva movement, which is gaining momentum.

At last, it's the innocent common man, who is affected.(whether it's Gujarat's godhra riots or varnashi's sankat mochan temple attack)

Is India a "Secular" country??

Secularism: The neutrality of the State, local government and all public services in matters relating to one or more religions or to one or more creeds.

Unfortunately, our government is no where near that. Communal harmony should not be confused with secularism. There is a lot of difference between them. The preamble of our constitution is defied.

Is it possible for our country to be secular?
Yes… That’s when you throw all the existing political parties out of our country. Right now, it’s a question of “devil & deep sea”. We can only hope for a better future.

2006-05-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

Life @ 125 Kmph

It's an another self boasting blog. It may be interesting 4 driving freaks.

The journey of drive started at dindivanam at 4.40 pm(For people with poor knowledge of Tamilnadu geography, It's a place 120 km south of chennai). This is the first (& probably the only time) i had praised the government of India. Good roads are fundamental need for a developing country like India. The NH 45 connecting dindivanam & chennai is one of the very few roads in TN which we can boast off. The four lane system with the medians helped me reach top speed of my life i.e 125 KMPH. I was planning to accelerate to 130 Kmph but heard a screaming noise from back........... Accident?Sudden Brake??

Sorry for guessing it wrong. It was my sister. It always happen that there will be a spoil sport in a person's happiness. My sister played that role to maximum. My short lived happiness subsided. I had to reduce my speed to 100 kmph. Whenever the neddle of my speedometer moved by a degree in the clockwise direction, the noise repeated... I should have had a Gaussian filter ( Bad joke:-) ) . Finally I had to crawl in low speeds ranging from 60 to 100 . It took me 1 hour & 45 minutes to cover that distance. (Which I could have done it in 1 hour & thirty minutes)

That's it 4 the day.. Good night bloggers.. Happy blogging

2006-05-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

It's long time since I had updated my blog. The time has come with the "DA VINCI " protest gaining center stage.

I find no logic in ministry of Information & broadcasting, giving a temporary red signal to the film. It was cleared by group of censor board members , which had catholic priests in it's team.

Is this hue & cry really worth?? Can a person lose faith in a religion , which has around 2000 years of existence, on seeing a fictional movie.

The government should be secular . That's fine.This act justifies the fact we are wrapped in myth of pseudo secularism. When the government could not ban the book, there is no use in doing this. If the government is really committed to secularism, ask them to take actions against a communal government in Gujarat. The system cannot address the major problems. Some issues (which are not at all issues) are blown out of propotion. Thanks to media.

That's all for the day .For all the market lovers, sorry for the black Thursday. Hope the bear run would turn into a bull run..

2006-04-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ashwin's dictionary
Reservations: A tool used by Indian politicians to gain political mileage.

Ya... U guessed it rite. A MBA aspirant with a reduced chance (By 27%) of getting into IIM. It's actually logical to prepare for your cat exam than to post a blog. This is not going to stop me from writing this blog.

It all started with a party called Congress , which wanted to appease the people, by reserving seats in premier institutions. A political move well directed by 10 Janpath ahead of UP elections where OBC votes can play a major role in changing the fortunes of the party.

I am not against the uplifting of backward people (I really mean it).
The divide & conquer policy, adopted in a better manner than lord Dalhousie, is my point of concern. Uplifting of caste?? Religion?? Haven't we proceeded beyond Mandal or Mandir politics (Thanks to CNN-IBN).

The reservations for students in grass root level & financial aid for higher studies make sense. It should be monitory help. An economically backward guy (in any part of country) is suffering for 3 courses of meals.It's impossible for that guy to afford for a IIM form.

Why am i talking about that guy?? It's to lay emphasis on the point that "Backward caste people should not given the privilege. Economically backward people should be benefited from reservations".The system can be modified as follows

A person, who has taken advantage of any special reservations in his educational carrier,(Any caste based benefit) should be last person to be benefited. The Future generations (say his children) cannot utilize the caste benefit must be taken to ensure that rich people should not misuse the quota system.

I think it's sensible to prevent the inheritance of benefits to their children , since that person , graduating from a premier institute, will no longer be backward (economically)

The country must break itself from the complex threads of religion & caste. The country should go in the progressive path , not the UPA path.

Legal Disclaimer : This blog has nothing to do with Indian politics.