On my way to discover self!!

This is what it takes to make our paraliament to work for people?

2011-08-28T05:04:00.003-05:00

Courtesy: www.coolpictures.in

I was on a training recently and instructor casually asked all the students for their opinion on the the news of the week - Anna Hazare's decision to fast unto death against the Government's Lokpall bill. I wasn't surprised when 90% of the class said they fully support the movement, to which instructor had another question - do you support the methods adopted by Anna Hazare? Unanimously, all those who said that they support the movement, said YES. That didn't surprise me either. There are few corporates in B'lore, who gave a day off for their employees to participate in the movement.

I think, NGOs such as "India against corruption" played an active role in terms of advertising, gathering masses, organizing events and most importantly funding. It is a well coordinated movement with members participating on prime time opinion shows and other forums, trashing politicians on a daily basis. Politician is the worst enemy in India and the movement galvanized the youth across the urban India. It is well intentioned movement but how far does it help in eradicating corruption in India, something only history will judge.

I may not agree with all the methods adopted by Team Anna but corruption has become rampant in India and history tells us that Congress party legitimized it over the years. It is just a winning formula for all politicians in India these days. Bofors scam that CBI recently closed was of 67 Crores. Scams of the day are to the tune of thousands of crores. Mind you, I am not talking about the loss to exchequer but just the money that is estimated to have exchanged hands.

It is convenient at times to indulge in corruption. It has become a way of life in almost all walks of life. In my view, we already have systems to curb corruption but they are not working. Congress is known for reducing systems to something of their own. Hopefully, Lokpall doesn't become one of their own. It is too early to even hope what the bill will do. When we see the final bill, we will know what it can do.

Let us take two incidents that happened in the last 2 years time. K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to fast unto death and in the midst of it, central government announced that the process of forming Telangana begun. Now, for whatever reasons, Anna ji decided to fast unto death and parliament agreed to agree on adopting Jan Lokpall Bill. In both instances, Government acted in haste, may be this time with good intentions. It just made me wonder why parliament and government do not work this way every single day.

As the editor of Hindu, N Ram, pointed out, this whole case of Lokpall is a classic case for how not to handle a political situation for any Government. We can debate on what mistakes were committed by Congress and Government but it is not all that important. I think, most important of all from this is, we have a precedent of forcing politicians to work when the country wants them to. Country, I am sure, will come out on streets more often now, given the results they just witnessed.

I am already hearing that electoral reforms is the next piece of legislation that Anna wants to work on. It is no longer what Govt. wants to do but icons like Anna will dictate Govt.'s agenda. It is not a good precedent in some sense but it is what it is. You can only say, Job well done! Congratulations to supporters of Anna!

Why will anyone join Tri-Valley University?

2011-02-04T13:13:00.002-05:00

I watched the coverage of Tri-Valley University bust in Indian national media to get a sense of meida perspective. I respect Arnab Goswami of Times Now very much and in fact rated him more than Rajdeep Sardesai when they both were at NDTV but in this subject, the way he conducted the debate disappointed me. NDTV's Barkha Datt did touch on the central point but not as much as I liked her to. The central point, in my view, is not whether the students should be tagged with a GPS or not but the point should be, what brains and balls did these students have to choose this school for Masters education.

This is what the website says about the university.

Tri-Valley University is a Christian Higher Education Institution aiming to offer rigorous and excellent quality academic programs in the context of Christian faith and world view. Tri-Valley University's academic programs include School of Engineering (Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering), School of Business and School of Art (School of Trinity), School of Law and School of Medicine. Degree programs in these schools are Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Science (M. S.), Master in Business Administration (MBA), Master of Art (MA), MA in Library Science (MALS), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). Non-degree programs are certificate program and open-enrollment programs.

Our mission is to make Christian scientists, engineers, business leaders and lawyers for the glory of God, with both solid academic professionalism and Christian faith, therefore to live out Christ-like characters, value and compassion in the world, to make an impact and shine as its light. Our Institution Objective is to equip individual with academic excellence, practical skillfulness and spiritual maturity. We advocate Academic Excellence, Character Integrity, Christ-like Compassion, Inclusion and non-discrimination, and Integration-integration of academic professionalism with Christian faith, integration of principle with practical application, integration of career pursuit with spiritual growth.

Who in India or World for that matter will even consider going to a school in a Foreign country to become a Christian engineer? What is "Christian Engineer" supposed to mean? In both NDTV and Times Now debate, a guy of less than my age, who is a brother of a girl admitted into the TVU, complained that US Govt is wrong in how it is dealing with this and Indian Govt isn't doing enough. Did he or his sister do enough when they looked at schools she should be getting into?

Many students from Andhra Pradesh get to US on F1 visa not for Masters education but get a H1B visa subsequently. This has proven to be an easier route to H1B visa than getting in line for a H1B, which has higher rejection rates. Tri-Valeey Univ. had their 95% students from the very Andhra Pradesh that sends good number of students to Ivy League institutes. TVU had pointed to 2 people of Andhra Pradesh origin to be masterminding the whole admission process, which is yet to be proven but I believe that to be near true. When US Immigration and Customs arrested 11 individuals with charges related H1B visa fraud sometime last year, 8 of them were identified to be of Andhra Pradesh origin. People in Andhra Pradesh will have to realize that it is good to have your near and dear in US but that isn't the single most thing a student can do to make you proud.

Parents and Engineering Graduates in AP need to understand that joining a school abroad is a mega deal in anybody's career and there should be every effort put to find out every single detail before shortlisting the school. If not, you should face the consequences; in this case wearing radio collars until deportation!

2010 - The year that was!

2010-12-31T23:28:00.014-05:00

3 Months in Minnesota, 3 months in Indiana and rest in Chennai. To sum it up in half a line, 2010 was a better year than expected. I traveled a good deal, spent a good deal of time for sports, read a few books, worked not so hard, got closer to home and experiencing the much written "India's growth story". I am back to reading newspaper in the mornings as a first or second thing, which wasn't part of the routine in states, something that I missed all my years in US. I like reading hard copy any day over the electronic version.

Professionally, I have done a few good things this year but something isn't right; there are very many things bothering me these days. I have definitely transformed from a guy full of complaints to someone with a justification to all that goes on around me. If you talk to my old bosses, you will consistently hear of my complaints. I started seeing things from the other side so much that everything makes so much sense to me these days. I am fully aware that such extreme justification only causes inaction and something definitely needs to be done to correct it. But, I may find reasons for odd things but I certainly started to dislike most that happens around me and when I realize that I can't do much about it, it just bothers me a great deal. Circle of influence by Mr. Covey comes to my mind.

Something exciting happened about 2 months ago. I had the rare privilege of sitting across my MD&CEO for a 20 Minute chat along with 15 other people and it just felt great and cool to share the table with CEO. I am hoping that 2011 opens up great opportunities to do some exciting work and of course get noticed of for all the good work!

We are expecting a baby in about 3 months from now and that would make 2011 a special year. I am for a boy and all others are hoping for a girl. So, hoping for very best! It feels so strange to be called DAD. It is more respect, responsibility and I am not sure what other things the job description brings to the table. I am so looking forward to next 3-4 months. Considering all that is going on both on the professional front and personal front, I can see next 3-4 months being very exciting. I will report more on that sometime down the line.

2010 was full of events and blogging opportunities were many but I didn't write as much for many reasons. I will get more frequent with blogging both here and the tech blog. I am not making any resolutions as such other than getting better at reading, writing and speaking. It is really hard to execute all of them well.

I wish you and your family a great year ahead! Live life to the fullest!!

Amul's creative team had this to say!

2010-12-12T10:16:00.006-05:00

For more cartoons, visit Amu's website.

Attitue of National Media and the Nation towards CWG 2010

2010-10-04T00:14:00.014-05:00

At last, India managed to open the CWG games as per the schedule after all the corruption charges, delayed projects, lack of cleanliness and many other issues. BBC reported that there were lot of boos when Kalmadi took stage, which seems to be the only bad press so far of the opening ceremony. I liked the only video posted on youtube of the opening ceremony but wasn't as impressive as what everyone else is. Hindustan Times reported that it is time to put all the negativity behind and get behind games. Really?

I am surprised as hell to see the change of tone on the CWG Games in just couple of days. The whole media is appreciative of the opening ceremony, athletes are only praising the facilities, nation is positive and social networking sites are filled with positive comments. I haven't seen one bad comment in facebook or youube on the games after the opening ceremony. Games got such a bad press in last 2 months that I thought games would get delayed or canceled. What caused this sudden change in the attitude of nation, media and athletes themselves? I couldn't find a single reason for this change. Lalit Bhunod, Secretary General Organizing Committee, always maintained that games would be great and remembered for years to come. Was he right on that? Did a good ceremony erase all the charges that media brought up in last 2 months?

Ketan posted in his blog that UPA left CWG corruption controversy to be in news only to avoid/minimize the media coverage on the nuclear liability bill and other issues like inflation, Kashmir etc. I am not a conspiracy theorist and I will not go that far as ketan did but I do see a point in his blog. It is fair to wait and see what Govt does with the corruption allegations after the games. I am very very surprised at the way this games is covered by both national and regional media and the way educated youth reacted to games.

The second to headline of glittering ceremony was a survey that concluded that Rahul is the face of CWG 2010. Almost all news papers carried it.

"The latest survey conducted by the philanthropic arm of the industry lobby founded that the Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi is the most favourite face for CWG 2010. The survey was conducted among 10,000 students, ahead of the Oct 03-14 Commonwealth Games. 72 percent of the respondents said Rahul Gandhi is the most honest, straightforward and trustworthy leader."

Rahul had nothing to say about the games and nothing whatsover to get nation to support the games, at a time when games was getting all the bad press but he now can represent the games better than anyone in India, as per the 7,200 students. Only retards can vote for the dimple star. Media, both regional and national, reported this news item as first/second in their web version. Is it anyway related to the larger plan of projecting him as the next Prime Ministrial candidate? Manmohanji wants to handover any day the yuvaraja is ready. May be, yuvaraja is ready.

We need shows like "The Daily Show with John Stewart" or "The Real Time with Bill Maher" or a comedian like George Carlin to tell it like it is. Hope, someone does something soon. Until then, cynicism will only grow excepting those 7,200 retards!!

AP Residential Schools Entrance Examinations are challenged !!

2010-05-16T23:48:00.014-05:00

There is quite a bit of political action in Andhra Pradesh but in the midst of all that, news of putting entrance examinations in abeyance came as a huge surprise to me. This year entrance examinations for admission to residential schools have been put on hold as the Central Govt. ordered State Education Department not to have entrance examinations citing that the entrance examinations for primary education violate 2 specific acts - "The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act", 2009 and "Commissions for Protection of Child Rights",2005. Act in full can be downloaded from here. For 653 schools in the state that admit near about 50000 students, the entrance examinations have been put on hold. Central Govt. argues that the entrance examination at that level (Std IV and Std V) is restricting education to a few and the act outlines that the education should be Free and Compulsory to all.

Great visionary, Mr. P V Narasimha Rao brought about a legislation in 1972 to form the Andhra Pradesh Residential Educational Institutions (APREI) Society , which is an autonomous body with State funding. The State Government started 3 schools under the society and then expanded to 2 schools per district, one for Boys and other for Girls. Also, there have been so many reserved schools for backward classes added in recent years. Caption for schools under the society was "Thamasoma Jyotirgamaya" (Enlighten Darkness). The concept of the school was taken from "Gurukulam", schools in epic stories in ancient India, where in students and teachers lived together away from civic life.

I myself studied in a state sponsored Residential School from Std.V to X and I feel tremendously proud to have got admitted to a school like that at an early age and in the process avoided all the burden my parents would have had to carry otherwise in providing resources for such quality education. Those were tough times for my parents financially and they worked hard day in and out and I am certainly happy that I did not add much to their daily struggles. We had two levels of entrance examinations, one at the Mandal level and other at District level for getting admitted into residential school. Students of Std IV and V can take the entrance examination. Only 36 best students made it to the Class V and another 36 students, who ranked best in Std. VII exams in the district took admission into Std. VIII.

State funds these schools and state should be given full freedom to choose how they want to admit students into these schools and administer the schools. What role does centre have in state sponsored schools? Some Govt. officers are of the opinion that they should pick students randomly and fill the classes. How outrageous is that? The quality of education is not just because of the school system but the students in themselves and if students are picked randomly, it would make sure that the quality of education is degraded to the education levels as that of Govt. High schools. State Govt. spends lot of money on providing accommodation, food, sports equipment apart from education for students admitted in these schools and randomization is just silly and foolish.

Centre administers Jawahar Navodaya Vidayalayas across the country and I am eager to know what they do with admissions into those schools. I wonder how something this significant slip away from being reviewed by some intellectuals before making it public.

Hope, Central Govt. amends the act or leaves this decision to state education department so that the status-quo is maintained. It has worked out well for many years and the schools have produced thousands of successful students across the state and it is no time to mess with this.

Update -- News today is that the examinations are canceled. This is done 6 days before the examinations. I would not have survived this kind of a shocker in my 4th Std. and I feel for all those kids. This is just crazy and I am just mad at those officers, who made this possible.

I read through the act and gethered some news items that indicate the cost of implementing this. It is just mind blowing. 34,000 Cr. per year and 12 Lakh more teachers, just for samplers. Teacher's recruitment in Andhra Pradesh has always been political and this is just a way for Congress to systematically destroy the nation and still gain the votes to win elections.

Separate statehood for Telangana.. What if formed?

2010-05-16T21:21:00.008-05:00

I have been thinking of posting on the subject of recent developments in the state of Andhra Pradesh for quite sometime but couldn't find all the time the subject needs. I am one of those who think it doesn't matter as much even if the separate state is formed but the drama that has been on display in the last few months is a reassurance to the thinking that our political leadership has nothing in mind other than power. One party after another and leader after leader showed what it means for them one way or the other. All this was in the works but erupted within 100 days after the death of YSR. Yes! Of course! Congress leaders from Telangana had no control of anything when YSR was leading but became increasingly powerful at national level with YSR out of their way. Now, Telangana leaders from all parties are united and also there have been some understanding between Congress and TRS in the closed doors. KCR started or staged his agitation with full support from Telengana Congress leaders and some leaders from Telangana region even went on to reason that KCR worked as a colleague in earlier Govt and they by all means want to save him from loosing his life. Really? Because he had worked with the Congress, they want to save his life. Isn't that a testimony to where Congress ranks loyalty?

I was thinking of publishing all of the major events that unfolded in this latest campaign for separate statehood just for some historical perspective but I couldn't get to convert the draft to final post in reasonable time. Here is a brief summary of major events.

27th Nov'09 - Greater Election Results - Congress wins 52, TDP - 45, MIM - 43, BJP - 5, PRP - 4 and Independents - 4. {Side note - TRS decides not to contest after long deliberations. Needs no analysis to conclude that TRS needs to do something after the results, if it wants to remain as a notable party in the region.}

28th Nov'09 - KCR discusses with TRS leaders on the move to "Fast unto Death" campaign for separate statehood

30th Nov'09 - KCR gets arrested in Siddipet while leading a rasta-roko and police transfer him to Khammam

1st Dec'09 - KCR is given juice by Doctors and the picture gets flashed in all regional TV channels, which create anger amongst OU student unions and unions threaten to take up the cause for Telangana themselves. TRS is worried that they loose the credibility if student unions take over and KCR announces to continue the indefinite hunger strike.

7th Dec'09 - CM, Rosaiah, meets KCR and requests him to call off the strike

9th Dec'09 - Doctors announce that KCR's health has worsened and make an announcement that they can do nothing to improve his health condition. National level leadership intensifies discussions and lobbying continues for centre's intervention in the matter.

10th Dec'09 - Home Minister, Chidambaram, makes an announcement that Assembly will pass resolution and also requests state government to drop all cases booked, during the 2-week long campaign, against all TRS leaders, students and others. KCR calls off hunger strike and his son and daughter make appearances in media to explain that KCR is responding well and will appear as soon as he becomes fit to do so.

11th Dec'09 - Rayalaseema and Andhra MLAs submit resignations and go on strike in many parts of coastal and seema regions

13th Dec'09 - KCR talks to his friend, well known media person, Burkha Dutt and clarifies that state resolution is not necessary for the formation of state and praises Sonia and PM for their leadership {side note - Praise is more for saving his life and of course the political life}

14th Dec'09 - Lagadapati sees an opportunity become leader of Congress and makes an announcement to go on strike for Samaikhandhra and later in the day gets arrested in Hyderabad Intl Airport

16th Dec'09 - Jagan joins TDP MPs in Loksabha in supporting Samaikhandhra and clarifies later on that he joined TDP only because he couldn't let TDP take credit for Samaikhandhra movement. Congress leaders from Telangana openly criticise Jagan and wants Jagan punished by high command for joining TDP MPs in Loksabha.

17th Dec'09 - Chiranjeevi joins Samaikhandhra movement and 2 PRP MLAs from Telangana region submit resignations and decide to float PRP Telangana party.

21st Dec'09 - Lagadapati escapes from General Hospital, Vijayawada and seen running into NIMS hospital after getting out of an autorikshaw. The 2-day drama is staged by Lagadapati to prove to the people that hunger strikes in the modern times is not difficult by any means.

23rd Jan'10 - JAC (Joint Action Committee) is formed for separate Telangana and Prof. Kodandaram unanimously gets elected as its leader and all parties join hands with JAC to intensify the campaign for Telangana

5th Jan'10 - Centre discusses with representatives from 8 political parties for consensus on the issue of separate statehood and releases a statement that due consultations would follow.

13th Jan'10 - Kavitha (daughter of KCR), who was known for running beauty saloons in Hyderabad now gets into political groove and announces a boycott of upcoming Jr. NTR starrer, Adurs, in Telengana region, stating producers of movie and Jr. NTR's dad (Harikrishna) are for United Andhra. Producers go ahead with the release of movie and question the authority of Kavitha. Kavitha gets elevated as Leader of Telangana Jagruthi, a social sector organization as per their website (http://telanganajagruthi.org/)

15th Jan'10 - Movie producers insure the movie and save themselves from incurring losses and also accuse Kavitha of sending mediators with a demand for 2 Cr. from producers.

28th Jan'10 - Mr. Chidambaram announces that a committee would be formed to study the issue in detail and submit its report and JAC organizes marches against the announcement

3rd Feb'10 - Home ministry announces the Committee of 5 members, lead by Mr Justice B N Srikrishna to study the separate state demand

12th Feb'10- Central Govt. announces 7 point Terms of Reference of Srikrishna Committee on Telangana issue and also requests committee to submit its report by 31st Dec'10.

16th Feb'10 - Congress withdraws support to JAC, stating that JAC is acting on the orders of KCR and his family

13th Mar'10 - JAC expels TDP in all well knowing that TDP is all set to go out of JAC. TDP sites that KCR is busy maligning TDP and its leadership and ignoring Congress, which in their opinion created the situation as exists.

Sri Krishna committee continues to gather different material on the state of affairs after the formation of separate Andhra Pradesh and assures that the report would be submitted on time. All political parties have met the committee and submitted their views and recommendations.

In the entire campaign, more than 300 people committed suicides across Telengana region and Politicians in Telangana are only responsible for this madness. Politicians in their speeches called for sacrifices and poor (literally, poor) students responded hoping that their deaths will bring separate statehood and their lives will turn around. I wondered how suicide killers are motivated at times but this episode in one way made me to understand how easy it is for some cults (politicians in this case) to play with the sensibilities of poor youngsters at a level that ultimately makes them to put an end to their own life.

I should also mention the role of Congress in this whole episode. They committed to separate Telangana in the CMP of UPA-I but didn't bother to even attempt anything for or against in their first term. UPA-II did not take up anything and caused this mess to take place in the very first place and then adding to all the misery, they under estimated the possible reactions and unprepared to the challenges before making poorly structured statements.

Other national parties, BJP pledged again for separate Telangana where as CPI and CPM at state level are not in agreement with their leaders at national level. Regional parties on the other hand are in a very bad fix. TDP wants to be a formidable party in both the regions irrespective of future developments. PRP doesn't have as much strength but are marching for United Andhra and I am deeply sad at Loksatta's leadership on this subject. I was all for Loksatta launching itself as a political party but in my view, JP did not play any role to turn events from one direction to another in this entire debate. JP's vague responses on what should be the response of Govt. and other complex questions during this entire 6-7 months time strengthened the popular belief that he is still a bureaucrat than a politician and I do not see himself transforming anytime.

So far, the camapaign has caused so much pain to the people of Hyderabad in particular but we as Indians pick up our lives and move on. We have got so used to all of it and nothing affects us anymore.

Finally, what if the separate state is formed? In my personal opinion, nothing worst happens to the people of Andhra Pradesh. The checks and balances in the system take care of many things but some politicians in both regions can gain more control of the system, which means more dividends to them. New politicians would emerge in the new state in particular and would rob as much as they can. India has seen such politicians emerge in recent times and this new state would be no exception to creating some in its credit. I have nothing to believe that the final solution would be unfair to either side. Central Govt. has experience with creation of new states in the last decade and I am sure it can create an acceptable separate Telangana state as well. Some have been arguing that people from Andhra would not be tolerated in Telengana state but my question is, is it possible in a democracy like India? Telangana still has to operate under the Indian constitution and state will have to be responsible, answerable and accountable to constitution, people, courts and many more in the system. So, for people to fear any bias, is baseless if not ludicrous.

I fear nothing for whatever happens but warn people of both regions to find democratic ways to protest and do not fall prey to the politicians.

So much at stake.. Jagan wants to call the shots badly!

2009-11-08T00:16:00.008-05:00

I have come across this incredible presentation on the worth of YSR Family, posted in Telugu Desam official website, and I did some research on the web to validate as much as I can and it seems they got their facts right. Even if they are right about one case, it is just incredible and insane.

For the complete presentation, you may refer to the below link.

http://www.telugudesam.org/tdpcms/scams/bhoomulu/sakshi/latest/ys_scam_powerpointpresentasion.ppt

YSR argued in assembly that he did not become a Mogul overnight but his family had a fortune. In fact, he argued that he paid taxes when he was in school. It is true that his family was rich and had connections with mining companies in Bellary and Gulbarga and Subba Reddy made lot of money legitimately and otherwise. In Andhra, it is YSR family calling the shots and Gali family in Karnataka. Media is just taking notes from these families. YSR openly said that he needed a channel to promote Congress party in Andhra and that is the reason why he got his son to start Sakshi. How stupid is that to say even if it was true?

Media's responsibility is to investigate and ask politicians the tough questions but if media itself is owned by the very politicians, nothing can protect the society. It is sad! It is just astonishing how the faimly's fortune grew over 3-4 years. It makes great sense why Jagan wants to call the shots. YS Jagan needs to have the power to safe guard all his earnings either directly or indirectly. We all have to understand what the poor Jagan must be going through. Stakes are really high! Go Jagan, Go!

YSR - Can anybody fill his shoes?

2009-09-04T16:23:00.020-05:00

Y S Rajasekhar Reddy's death came as a shock to many and it is just sad to see so many people commit suicide over this shocking news. Why does this happen? Can you imagine a death is followed by 300 odd deaths? I remember someone saying some become cults in their era and they are almost living gods to many people. YSR got closer to the people of Andhra Pradesh more than any other Chief Minister not just in the history of the state of Andhra Pradesh but may be in the entire history of independent India. N T Rama Rao was also a cult but he was a movie star first and Telugu people worshiped him for his work in movies and then his populist policies.

One may disagree with YSR on his policies but his political acumen and hard work are undoubtedly admired by not just his followers but his critics. In a state that is so polarized based on caste, Reddys in support of YSR leadership and Kammas in the support of CBN (Chandra Babu Naidu) leadership, YSR captivated the hearts of rural Andhra by his populist policies. My village is full of Reddys and we have been voting in favour of Congress for very long time but loyalties switched this time as Roja Reddy (TDP) ran against a sitting MLA belonging to Kamma caste, Galla Aruna Kumari (Cong.). This is bad for the state but the reality is caste has become a big factor and in some constituencies, it is the single most factor. Such is the nature of politics today and Reddy managed to play the game well in the last few years.

In 2004, Congress needed a miracle and YSR's padayatra, free power promise and 9 years of severe drought not only helped YSR to become Chief Minister but also helped Congress in winning much needed seats at national level. YSR is a mass leader and can communicate eloquently compared to any of his contemporary leaders in Andhra Pradesh. His political rivals lacked the abilities and he excelled in the last 15 years. YSR understood that the equation to win elections is about creating policies that help masses in one way or other; pensions, arogya sri, ambulance services, indiramma housing, crop loans etc helped every farmer. One can argue on the politics of it and delivery efficiencies etc but politically, the schemes worked.

YSR one time was a leader of opposition within Congress party and led the group of dissenters in the party notably during Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy's 2nd term. YSR was very much his father in his early days; factionalism and group-ism were the weapons back then. He transformed from a discontent and frustrated faction leader to a mature and inclusive leader, who led a party like Congress very effectively both as an opposition leader and as a leader of the ruling party in the last few years. Leaving some outbursts in assembly, he maintained his cool and temper very much. It is difficult to lead when in opposition but YSR did so effectively for many years that too in an organization like Congress where power center is located in Delhi.

In a party like Congress, there is no appropriate time to look for successors. Cabinet under the newly sworn-in caretaker CM, Mr. Rosaiah passed almost an unanimous resolution to elect Y S Jagan as the leader of the ruling party. Y S Jagan is first time MP from Kadapa and UPA celebrated 100 days in office recently, which is what Jagan's experience is in active politics. TOI reported that forest minister, Mr. Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, even went on to say that he will resign if Jagan is not the boss. I think this is inherent in our political structure. What amazed me even more was that some legislators wanted Jagan to be sworn in as CM before even the last rites completed. I don't know what to call these crazy idiots.

His eloquence, composure and temper are something that he acquired over the years and Jagan doesn't have any of those qualities at this time. In fact, other political parties in Andhra do not have leaders with skills that YSR has. We all know in the Indian history, Rajiv became Prime Minister not because of the experience but for the last name. Dynasty politics is something we accepted in the past and our political class continues to engage in the very same. Let us hope that whoever takes over lead us in the right path if not the same path YSR chosen.

This is a testing time for Pradesh Congress Committee and whatever High Command/Sonia's coterie decides now will determine the future of Andhra Pradesh politics. Time will evaluate the decisions of Congress but we know what a leader YSR was and it is indeed a great loss to the state of Andhra Pradesh. May his soul rest in peace!

Andhra CM, four others killed in chopper crash

2009-09-03T04:01:00.000-05:00

News item from Indian Express posted on Thursday , Sep 03, 2009 at 1355 hrs.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others were killed when their helicopter crashed on a hillock, about 49 nautical miles east of Kurnool, more than an hour it took off from Hyderabad on Wednesday.

The charred bodies and the wreckage of the twin-engined Bell 430 helicopter were located at 8.30 AM today on a hillock, eight kms from Kurnool, 23 hours after it went missing while flying to Chittoor in south Andhra Pradesh.

"With very deep sense of regret we have to announce the death of YS Rajashekhar Reddy. He was a tall leader and it is a big loss to the country," Union Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in Delhi.

The helicopter appeared to have hit a tree, crashed and perhaps exploded. The bodies were charred and were in a state of getting decomposed because of incessant rain in the area yesterday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Ramakanth Reddy said here.

The Congress Core Group met at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi and indications were that senior minister K Rosaiah will be the Acting Chief Minister before a decision on successor to Reddy is taken.

Reddy's funeral is expected to take place in his hometown in Pulivendala in Kadappa district in southern Andhra Pradesh tomorrow.

Others who died in the crash were Special Secretary P Subramanyam, Chief Secretary A S C Wesley, pilot Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy.

The wreckage of the helicopter was strewn in bits and pieces all over the area in the hillock, Ramakanth Reddy said adding the tail piece is in tact.

The bodies were still lying at the crash spot and efforts were being made by the IAF to bring them either to Kurnool or Hyderabad. He said it will take some time for the operation to end before the bodies are brought out of the hills.

While three bodies were quickly recovered from near the wreckage, one was found a little away and it took some time to trace the fifth, Reddy said.

While the reasons for the crash were not known immediately, Chidambaram said the helicopter, which was going south towards Chittoor, had changed direction eastwards after crossing Kurnool towards Atmakur.

It crashed on a hillock between two villages, one of which is Velugodu.

"The wreckage was found by Air Force helicopters at 0830 hours on a hillock which 8 to 9 km from Atmakur between two villages one of which is Velugodu," Chidambaram said.

Reddy's body will be kept in Lal Bahadur Stadium here to enable public to pay their last respects and would be taken to Pulivendla in the afternoon.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, scheduled this morning, was cancelled as the sad news trickled in.

Several state governments declared mourning and parties also flew their flags half mast as a mark of condolence. Chidambaram said the government was in a state of deep mourning and there was a sense of grief, shock and loss at the passing away of the Chief Minister.

"We share our grief and tender condolences to the family of the Chief Minister and others who passed away in the crash," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi are expected to go to Andhra Pradesh on Friday to pay their last respect to the departed leader.

Elections'09 - Nothing like what I thought..

2009-05-27T22:05:00.006-05:00

This is an interesting election both at state and center but electorate chose to maintain the status quo, which is unfortunate. I will limit this post to Andhra in particular. People of Andhra liked Dr. YSR's last 5 years so much that they want him to continue for next 5 years. In the worst economic times, YS Jaganmohan Reddy's assets grew to Rs. 77cr in 5 Years and it may have well been 100cr, if Mr. Raju did not screw it up for himself and the poor Jagan. I am not sure Governor would have done the same thing if TDP came to power. That is what Congress is, you like it or not!

I think INC won this elections in rural land because of farm loan waiver, which costed the Indian exchequer Rs.71,680cr. In my own village, most of my neighbors are the beneficiaries of farm loan waiver and they just loved it. Farm loan waivers is not new; crop loans got waived in the past and my family was a beneficiary of that. Does it help farmers? Temporarily, yes but loan waivers are not the permanent solutions to solve the problems of farmers. Beneficiaries of loan waivers or any govt. subsidies are the middle class farmers, who also need Govt. help but there are poor farmers who need Govt. help more than the actual beneficiaries. Enough of cribbing on this loan waiver subject! My dad, if hears this, will get mad at me.

At state level, Chandrababu lost trust of the people by announcing alliance with TRS and PRP sucessfully splitted the anti incumbency votes. It would be interesting how PRP builds the cadre and fight the next elections. This is a nice opportunity for PRP to sideline TDP and become main alternative to Congress. But, for that to happen, PRP leadership will have to act smart and work hard to win the trust of people. Congress is now for single state and TDP is for separate state. How strange the politics are and how quick the policies of the parties change!

Loksatta won one seat and I am eager to see what role JP plays in assembly sessions.

A weak Singh 'Remote Control' - By Seema Mustafa

2009-04-30T21:55:00.003-05:00

This is an interesting post by Seema Mustafa in M J Akbar's blog. I am pasting portion of her post, where she explains why Manmohan is indeed a weak PM and how he debased the office of Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh always gets visibly irritated and angry when opposition leaders at home describe him as ‘weak’. During these elections particularly Singh appears to have been under instructions from his “guardian angel” Sonia Gandhi to hit back, and has been doing so with uncharacteristic ferocity that actually sounds a little strange, and even woebegone, coming from him.

But lets get back to the charge that so angers our Prime Minister. Is he weak? The five years in office have provided sufficient indicators that he is. It starts with this gushing praise of the Nehru-Gandhi Family that he has maintained through the years, making it clear that he might be Prime Minister for the ordinary mortals of the country but not for Sonia Gandhi and her family. The Congress president is the one person he looks up to, who his not just his guardian angel but also his mentor, who he owes everything to, and who he can never contradict let alone question.

Is this being strong or weak? In accepting an authority outside the government, Singh has debased the office of the Prime Minister, a constitutional position that has immense sanctity and authority. It is no secret to the Congress party that the Prime Minister can be reined in at a moments notice, and that he is not in position to direct other ministerial colleagues and extract serious work from any. It is true that a Prime Minister is the first among equals in a government, but it is also true that he is expected to provide the direction free from outside intervention. This
is one of the many reasons why a Prime Minister of India is required to be an elected member of Parliament, and not seek his authority from the Rajya Sabha. Not only did Singh refuse to contest the elections for the five years in office, but even now is making a stake for the top job without even venturing into the fray.

For full article, click here .

2009 AP Assembly Elections.. Definitely Interesting..

2009-04-17T20:41:00.010-05:00

It is election time in India and it has been very interesting at national level but Andhra Pradesh assembly elections has everything in it considering the entrance of Chiranjeevi and TDP allying with TRS and Communists to beat the common enemy, Congress. As with every election anywhere at any level, AP assembly elections naturally has unimaginable alliances, huge controversies, costly goof ups, heavy strategies, provocative speeches and some inspiring speeches.

Chiranjeevi's entry was compared to NTR's entry into politics by those who believe that South Indians like their film personalities in politics more than the North Indians. Times are very different now and then. In 1982, there was a need for an alternative as the national party (Grand Old Party in Indian context) became a party that doesn't care for people and Rama Rao felt a need for an alternative to teach a lesson to the Grand Old Party. It is said that Rajiv Gandhi did not meet Chief Minister of AP, Anjaiah back then in Hyderabad Airport and it was one of the incidents that NTR pressed in all his campaign speeches across Andhra Pradesh back then. It was an insult to the Telugu people and NTR cared deeply for self pride of Telugu people and he felt Congress failed in all aspects in restoring the self pride of Telugu people.

In 2009, we face entirely different set of challenges and an alternative to TDP and Congress will definitely be of some relief to people of Andhra Pradesh. But, Praja Rajayam Party did not differentiate itself from main stream parties and I feel that Chiranjeevi will be on the wrong side of political history of AP. He had a great opportunity but his family members screwed his aspirations. He neither has the basic understanding of issues nor has the oratory skills, which were forte for Nandamuri Anna, NT Rama Rao. PRP thought it would sell if they start talking of Social Justice but they will have to define the term to masses and explain what PRP intends to do to achieve Social Justice. Their thinking that this phrase will get them minority votes isn't really well thought about. Chiranjeevi is good as a movie star and people will appreciate him doing just that.

I predicted some alliances in Andhra Pradesh when I poste about Bye elections but the actual alliances are not even close to what I predicted. I could never imagine TRS joining hands with TDP; TDP was for united Andhra and TRS core agenda is separate statehood for Telangana; TRS chief Chandra Sekhar Rao left TDP to start TRS and accused Chandrababu in very harsh words in many instances. I haven't fully learned from the history on the alliances part. Anything can happen! Anybody can join hands with anybody irrespective of their ideologies. I think there is only one party at that values ideology more than wining and that party is none other than Loksatta. Loksatta has been neglected by main stream media but you cannot ignore a party that got 12% vote in the bye elections that occurred in 18 assembly constituencies last year. Jaya Prakash Narayan, founder of Loksatta movement that became political party now, is more like Ron Paul than Barack Obama in Indian context. He talks well in the language he choses to talk. He has highest understanding of issues that country faces and he has experience running the Govt. during NTR's term. He is eligible to run our state but I have mentioned in one of my posts that a guy like Ron Paul cannot win elections as people do not vote for leaders who speak truth. Loksatta Party may not be as big now for media to cover but come 2014 (next) elections, LSP will be a major force to reckon with.

Few incidents that this assembly elections would be remembered for -

1) Pawan Kalyan's comments against the leaders of Congress especially the calling of Shabbir Ali a traitor (telugu word used - "Deasha Drohi")
2) Shabbir Ali's nasty response to Pawan Kalyan's comments and reminding people of the old incident with late Paritala Ravi in which Pwan's head was tonsured by Ravi's gang.
3) Shobha Rani's comments against Roja
4) Roja's response to Shobha Rani's comments where she accused Chiranjeevi and Pawan of casting couch
5) The raise of Jr. NTR as a good orator and future of TDP
6) Jr. NTR's involvemt in an accident that occurred on the way back to Hyderabad
7) Kesineni Nani's open comments to TV9 on P. Upendra abusing Kamma caste
in a PRP meet
8) Posani Krishna Murali scolding Kesineni Nani that there is importance to Kamma caste in PRP
9) Jeevitha and Rajasekhar's continued comments against Chiranjeevi with a hope that Jeevitha will be picked as Mahila President or something in Congress
10) Evangelist Brother Anil Kumar surrendering to the police after cases registered against him for distributing money in Church meetings to people
11) Posani Krishan Murali's temperament in media interviews triggered some speculation on his mental strength

These are just some and it could have been a bigger list if I was in Hyderabad.

I am predicting that PRP will play a key role in forming the Government and also for going into early polls. I am not sure how early it would be. Personally, I want Loksatta to win at least 3 seats this time to have an impact next time around.

Mr. Raju the True Poster Boy of Corporate fraud

2009-01-07T20:09:00.006-05:00

It is shocking and stunning to hear the sensational and astonishingly surprising news on the fraud of this magnitude and proportion committed by somebody who we all admire so much. I still remember meeting Ramalinga Raju in Asia IT Ministers summit sometime in 2003. I was so thrilled that I got a chance to meet someone who has done so much and I always argued with people who raised questions when AP Govt, especially Naidu, granted so many lands to Satyam Computers in and around Hyderabad. Look at the story, today. They have been cheating many investors for almost 20 quarters with some false numbers. What have we got here? Bernie Maddoff in US cheated its investors to the tune of 50 Billion and now we hear from somebody who appeared to be a great leader that all he has been doing is report some damn numbers to exchanges, investors, traders, analysts and who else. I invested in Satyam and enjoyed dividend twice in 2008 (Sep and Nov). 5000Cr cash on the books impressed me and I accumulated when the stock plunged after the recent failed acquisition plans. But, it is now noted that the balance sheet was a joke and Raju surprised everybody.

I saw a colleague or two laughing at those who invested but I wonder how narrow short sighted people are when it comes to finances. If you are investing in LIC, Mutual Funds, ULIPs, Life Insurance plans etc., you may have had lost some money indirectly. So, everybody is a looser when something of this magnitude develops over such a long time and comes to light just overnight. I heard that investors committing suicide in US is highest now than ever before. I am wondering how many Raju may have killed.

It is very interesting reading his letter. He says that he and his family offloaded stake for philanthropic needs but not any other reason. Who is he trying to fool at this stage of the game? Satyam issued statement that Merill has been asked by them to advise on regaining the investor confidence. Now, Raju is his letter asks exchanges to entrust Merill to explore merger opportunities. Merill was probably hired for looking at merger opportunities in the first place but not for regaining investor confidence. I mean this guy is a well dressed crook and I am not sure how he could get away with this for many quarters. What can you say about regulators, auditors and bankers? Man! Who knows? His letter sounds like he thought he will be able to fix it but it went out of his hand and he spoke out. I am already hearing people here compare this to Enron. We will have to wait and see who does what now. They made 61 Cr profit in Q2 but they reported 649 Cr. I am not sure if it ends here. May be there are many companies playing with numbers laughing out loud at all of us. God bless everybody!!

You may read the letter

2008 - The year that was!

2008-12-28T22:01:00.017-05:00

It has been a very long time posting something here. I know I have lost most of my readers by now but it would be a good read for myself sometime in future. Before I reflect on the year 2008 and make some predictions for 2009, I read my 2007 post. I wanted 2008 to be more eventful from personal front and I tied the knot on 10th November. I am going to review the married life sometime into it rather than now. One thing that should have happened in 2008 is to return to India for good after the long and hectic stint with an automotive finance firm in California but I was asked to file for extension just 2 days before and the extension has been approved for another 2 years. I moved to Minneapolis in Feb this year and summer was such a pleasure after facing the cold winter for about 2 months. Winter this time has not been that bad so far but will have to watch what Jan would be like.

Professionally, it has not been that bad and at the same time it hasn't been easy. There are some challenges but as a team, I am confident we will be able to get through them over time. I sometimes think that I have become pretty tough after my previous assignment, which can be proved correct only by working for them again and thinking about working there again sends some uneasiness in my nerves.

I am not sure what 2009 has in store both from professional and personal front. All experts are warning that 2009 will get worse with jobs and economy and I hope time has come to buy an apartment in Hyd or B'lore. From personal front, I am looking forward to having some good quality time as a married man with my life partner. So, I am not looking forward to so much in 2009. -:)

I will plan to visit NY and Florida in 2009. I also plan to invest in stock market more actively this year. No resolutions as such other than getting up early and get to work early in the day, which is tough in this weather but will put every effort. By the way, just for record, this new year was the dullest in the last many many years.

I wish each and everybody out there a happy and prosperous new year! Have good fun and take care!!

Worst financial crisis and magic of words..

2008-10-12T19:32:00.002-05:00

I came across this Youtube video through Atanu's blog. This is funny how these guys put it. There is place for fun even in the worst of times. Have good laughs!!

Hello.. Sarah Palin has got more executive experience!!

2008-09-05T00:22:00.005-05:00

John McCain picked inexperienced and unpopular Sarah Palin as his running mate to surprise many. Her resume in short - four years on city council, six years as Mayor, one year as an oil commissioner and 18 months as Governor. Republicans fine tuned their experience argument by saying Barack does not have executive experience to lead the country. It is no more experience but executive experience. It is out in news that Sarah Palin applied for passport only a year ago. In an interview, Cindy McCain responded to the foreign policy experience question from George Stephanopoulos. I am just pasting the transcript here.
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STEPHANOPOULOS: But she (Sarah Palin) has no national security experience.

Cindy MCCAIN: You know, she (Sarah Palin) — the experience that she comes from is with what she’s done in the government.

And, also, remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.
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The news media is so biased and have commentators, who get their talking points from their respective campaigns. Comedy Central and late night shows are the source of actual political news these days. I watch Daily Show with John Stewart whenever I can. He has a great team that puts news into perspective and he has a way of presenting that no one in the business knows. I am pasting a video in which he criticized Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilley and Dick Morris maintaining double standards. It is a good one!

What a shame??

2008-08-31T22:57:00.018-05:00

Omar Abdullah has decided not to blog in the party official web site (http://www.jknc.org). Read for yourself his last short post titled Alvida. I am feeling disappointed that an young politician gave up something that could have brought, in years to come, more politicians interact with knowledgeable people across the world and in the process learn something to help society and nation. Omar had comments not moderated in the very early days but had to moderate as the language used by some intolerable fanatics could not be put out in the open. Now, his blogging has sadly come to and end. What a shame?

All of us remember the speech he made in Parliament on the day of trust vote. Among the league of young politicians (Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Agatha Sangma and etc.), Omar is the only politician to gain much needed experience at young age by serving as a Minister at center, though he recently regretted working in that capacity during NDA rule. I do not agree with him on everything that he writes but I read much of what he writes. He is a human and entitled to have his opinions; you will agree on some and disagree on some but he should not be abused for expressing what he thinks in open. It is shame on all of us!

On the subject of transfer of land to Amarnath shrine board, I came across this blog post that puts facts for people to understand the politics of religion in our country. Sadly, selected fortunate few in minority community lobby for their own benefit in the name of minority development with their eyes firm on votes. We have to learn to live with it forever!!

7 years with TCS!!!

2008-06-28T21:22:00.002-05:00

This may be strange to many! 18th June came and gone but I didn't think about it in the last 10 days. It is not a big deal but if I look back those days when I joined TCS, it feels proud to have completed 7 years with absolutely no knowledge of what I was getting into 7 years back. Many people makes faces when I say I have 7 years of experience and all of it is with one single company and the company happens to be TCS.

Can we as a society ever accept criticism?

2008-06-07T12:04:00.006-05:00

This is the editorial that appeared in Loksatta (published by the Indian Express Group) on Wednesday, June 4, on the Maharashtra government’s decision to install a massive statue of Shivaji off the coast of Mumbai. The house of Loksatta editor Kumar Ketkar was attacked on Thursday.

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It appears that all the problems of Maharashtra have been solved. People are not only happy and contented but are looking forward to a magnificent future. There are no indebted farmers in the state now, no suicides, no deaths caused by malnutrition. All children go to school, there is no unemployment among the educated as there is tremendous growth of industry as well as the knowledge sector and everyone has been employed. There is no question of the unskilled or the uneducated being unemployed because there is no such person. All the rivers and small and big dams on them have irrigated most of the land, including the drought-prone rainshadow belts. Obviously, there is no food shortage and, in fact, Maharashtra is surplus in food. There is no load shedding and not only is Nariman Point-Colaba shining but the whole state is illuminated. Dr Abhay Bang had espoused the cause of Arogya-Swarajya. That cause has already been achieved and the average lifespan in the state is 100 years.

This great success could not have been achieved without the farsighted leadership, commitment, conviction and vision of the state government. The credit for this goes to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil. That is why the whole state is applauding and saluting their leadership. Indeed, that is why the people of the state are immensely delighted that the duo that rules the state has taken up the grand project of erecting a magnificent statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, right in the Arabian Sea, across Nariman Point, about one kilometre away. The government has decided that the statue will be taller and more grand than the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour.

The very idea of such a statue, mooted by the Congress-NCP four years ago, was welcomed by the whole Marathi people. Such a monument was the necessity of the hour, to announce to the world that Maharashtra is a state of warriors and patriots and the symbol of that spirit is Shivaji Maharaj. That is why Victoria Terminus was renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). Instantly after the renaming, trains began to run on time, crowds could be managed, corruption disappeared, the local train journey became comfortable, like in the European suburban railway, and there were no accidents. Could this have happened without the glory of the name of Shivaji Maharaj that adorns the station now? Then the state and the people took the initiative to rename the domestic as well as international airport of Mumbai. Both are now renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj airport terminal. Like a magic wand, the airports became efficient, employees began to behave courteously, flights were punctual, take-offs and landings perfect, no more hovering in the sky looking for landing spots. Who would have believed this if it had not actually been experienced by the people? Was it possible without the miracle called Shivaji Maharaj?

Naturally, the government felt that having solved all the problems of the people, what remains to be done is to tell the whole world of the greatness of Shivaji. The government has decided to have more than one acre of land inside the sea acquired and filled so as to build the monument, which will attract all global tourists. All facilities will be given to the tourists. There will be a museum near the statue, artifacts of the 17th century, Shivaji’s personal effects, swords and shields and attire. There will also be directives issued by the Maharaj to his administrators on how to govern and make the people happy. Along with the museum, there will be shopping malls, selling T-shirts with Shivaji’s painting. There will be Shivaji key chains, Shivaji gift items, including cutlery.

Of course, there will be no beer bars. So obviously, there will be no dance bars, which the Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil detests so much. There will be perhaps wine, which according to the leader of NCP, Sharad Pawar, is not alcohol. So wine will be sold and served along with Coke and Pepsi and other soft drinks. There will be swadeshi McDonald’s as well as vintage Marathi vada-pau, which has been renamed by Uddhav Thackeray as ‘Shiv Vada-Pau’. There will also be ‘pani puri’ sold by the MNS activists of Raj Thackeray. No ‘bhaiyyas’ will be allowed to do business, only locals will be engaged.

The monument will inspire not only the people of the state but all those who visit Mumbai. The globe-trotters will go back to their respective countries with the message of Shivaji Maharaj, and the glory of the state called Maharashtra, where every person is happy and contented. It is the most ideal place on earth and anybody looking for a role model should look at the creation of Vilasrao Deshmukh-R.R. Patil. Did anyone else think of and visualise such a fantastic idea?

The monument would be ready soon. In the year 2010, on May 1, the state will be celebrating its golden jubilee. Could there have been a greater tribute to the image, symbol and glory of Shivaji Maharaj than such a statue, standing in the middle of the sea, warning all the terrorists to keep off Mumbai, and to keep away from India because the people of Maharashtra protect and promote the idea of a Great India?

The piece originally appeared in Marathi. It has been translated into English by the writer.

Courtesy - Indian Express edition of 6th June 2008.

What lies ahead for TRS in AP Politics?

2008-06-02T00:03:00.004-05:00

This is an interesting bye election in Andhra Pradesh. For those who have not been tracking news, 16 TRS Legislators resigned from the Assembly on 7th Mar'08, shortly after 4 TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) Loksabha MPs subimmited resignations to speaker at the center as it became clear that Congress is not all that serious about separate state for Telangana as promised before the polls.

We had bye elections in 18 assembly constituencies and 4 loksabha constituencies out of which I am only interested in the results of the 16 assembly constituencies and 4 loksabha constituencies. Other 2 Assembly constituencies were vacant as the representatives passed away during the term. All these 16 TRS former legislators did not merely win in the 2004 election on TRS Agenda but won as the major party did not field candidates because of the pre-poll alliance between TRS and Congress. Add to this, TDP leaders could not actively campaign in Telangana due to threats issued by Naxal leaders then. So, it was a free ride in the last election for most TRS leaders and they have successfully claimed in last 4 years that the verdict was clearly a mandate for separate Telangana.

Out of 16 Assembly constituencies, Congress won 5, TDP won 4 and TRS won 7. Out of 4 loksabha constituencies, TRS won 2 and 1 each for TDP and Congress. TRS did better than the other 2 parties for sure but all 16 seats were originally represented by TRS. If 2004 verdict was for separate statehood, the verdict this time is for united Andhra Pradesh. Telangana movement has been active since the birth of states reorganization committee but no movement so far in the history ever came as close as what TRS could achieve. Before 2004 elections, its leaders convinced many leaders at the national level and it appeared that it is all set to separate Telangana from AP in this 5 year term.

The leader himself won the election narrowly this time (won by 15k votes), which is an indication of loss of confidence in the leadership. As a leader, he lost all the credibility and there are not that many leaders in the party to lead the movement now. TRS stood second only in 2 constituencies and also Loksatta did very well considering its ideology and limited resources available with them compared to all other parties in the race.

What lies ahead for Telangana Rashtra Samithi party and its leader, K Chandra Sekhar Rao (popularly known as KCR)? Congress under the leadership of YSR can run the Govt till the year end and call for elections. Or, he may decide to go for polls early and cash in the failure of TRS to impress the people of Telangana. Congress senior leaders from Telangana have been disappointed by Congress high command but now their concerns make no sense as Congress won 5, contrary to the predictions made by some Congress senior leaders. If YSR goes for early polls, Chiranjeevi may not have all the time to build the cadre and strength required to compete. Chiranjeevi's party, planned to be officially announced in August , may be a bigger threat for both Congress and TDP. 2009 election will be very different from 2004 election. TRS will have to fight alone or join hands with BJP, in which case TDP will not ally with BJP. BJP will have to find a partner but who will join them is a question. Chiranjeevi party is another party that has to ally with someone in state. My sense is TRS joins BJP; TDP will form an alliance with CPI and CPM; Congress on its own; Chiranjeevi party joins hands with Loksatta and BSP. This would be an interesting election for sure.

All in brief about the race for nominee!!

2008-05-15T23:40:00.010-05:00

What can you say about the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? There is so much to write but I am not sure what to pick and what to skip. They have been campaigning for about 18 Months now and it is absolutely amazing to see them more fresh than ever. What a roller coaster ride this has been for both the candidates? Barack Obama won Iowa and every political pundit wrote Hillary off. Hillary came back and won New Hampshire the week after and this race has been beating the predictions of all pundits.

It is almost certain now that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee. Hillary Clinton hasn't given up but math is just not adding up for her. He for the first time is leading in pledged delegates and un-pledged delegates over Hillary. One argument that Hillary has been making about un-pledged delegates support that Hillary leads over Barack is no more a case as he picked up close to 25 un-pledged delegates after the big win in North Carolina. Hillary's campaign has made no. of arguments that she is more electable and better nominee to beat McCain in the fall. The latest argument is that Michigan and Florida were won by Hillary. This is absurd argument given that Barack was not even on the ballot in the Michigan and Florida primary elections.

Pundits are now talking about the running mates. Michelle Obama is such a passionate person that I started to think that Barack can very well pick her as running mate. I know this will not happen but Why look elsewhere when your spouse is such a leader? Media has been reporting that most democrats would like to see one candidate pick the other as running mate in the fall, whoever be the nominee. But, having run against each other for 18 long Months, how on earth can they run on the same ticket? First Woman Vice President of America will also go well in the American History, if Hillary agrees to run for Vice Presidency rather than continuing to make it easy for republicans in the fall. Barack is 46 years old now and will definitely run for presidency in year 2012 and/or 2016, if he doesn't win this time but his not winning is less likely given how screwed up things are after the Lil Bush's 8 years. Hillary had already decided that it is either now or for never. There was a time when Michelle said, "America has a chance to elect Obama and the chance is now". I do not remember the full quote but she said that America has only one chance to elect Barack and the chance is now. But, nobody is talking about it now and I assume that was said in the heat of a campaign speech.

John McCain on the other hand is the republican nominee breathing some fresh air now but he had his own troubles to deal with when his campaign was written off in the early days by every political pundit. He managed to win the nomination long back; thanks to some mistakes committed by other candidates and rules that helped his campaign. Rudy Guliani was the most probable candidate but his campaign decided not to go to Florida to campaign with a hope that Florida will anyway vote for him. What a terrible mistake that was? I think democratic national convention has to bend/twist the rules slightly to make the primary election less damaging to the party. Back to John McCain, he is a war hero and was a Prisoner of War during the Vietnam war but can a PoW run the country that is having 60 Trillion dollar fiscal deficit and in the midst of a war that is never ending? Also, he talks very much like Bush whe he talks about real issues such as economy, war, jobs, health care, energy crisis and global warming etc.. We are now hearing that Bobby Jindal, Gov. of Louisiana, is the top most pick for Vice Presidency on the republican ticket. I remember Indian media celebrating when he won as Congressman and Governor. We will have to wait and see what turns out? He is young and conservative to appease the traditional republicans and I feel he should start preparing the ground for running for presidency but he does have the racial disadvantage. It is surprising to see an Indian origin raising in republican politics.

There is only one thing that Barack's campaign had to battle hard to come out clean. It raised lot of doubts about Barack Obama's candidacy when Rev. Wright made some controversial and disturbing remarks about America in a sermon. Fox News made every effort to make it a black mark on the candidacy of Barack but I am surprised how this whole thing was handled by the media. It looked like Rev. Wright is the candidate not Barack Obama. Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and the Fox & Friends show tried their best to destroy Barack Obama and Barack did an excellent job by going air with Chris Wallace the weekend after Rev. Wright did some funny stuff at the National Press Club. It was good to see Rev. Wright clarify on Bill Moyers journal what he felt and I couldn't agree more with him. Mike Huckabee, Former republican presidential candidate and Gov. of Arkansas, who is very close to church on Morning Joe responded that the sermons are rarely written and preachers do get carried away with emotion rather than the substance. I am not supporting Rev. Wright but if 20 Second snippets are rolled again and again on National TV, it ought to raise eyebrows. After watching the complete sermon, I felt that Fox cheated people by not airing the context. Rev. Wright could have chosen better words but when you are preaching in front of a large crowd, words like these get uttered. I think Barack handled it well by speaking out at the right time. Also, Bill Richardson's endorsement came at the time when he needed it most. Bill Richardson, for those who do not know, withdrew from the democratic presidential race after the 3rd election or so, Gov. of New Mexico, and also worked in Clinton administration as ambassador to middle east. If Bill had decided a week before, Barack may have won more delegates in Texas, where Spanish voters helped Hillary.

Coming to Indian politics, lot of states are getting ready for polls and Karnataka's phase I polling was just done few days back. I would like BJP to win this election with absolute majority and winning a southern state would be a great boost for the growing party cadre in South India. Let us see what happens here!

Something that impressed me recently is the transition of Jairam Ramesh from economics to politics. George W Bush addressing a gathering about soaring global food prices said, "When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up". Jairam Ramesh responded, “George Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economics, and the remarks proved again how comprehensively wrong he is". George W Bush is just a joke in many a times but I see the statement from Bush more of what the reality is. You have two growing economies with close to half the world population and population if can afford would like to eat better food. I am happy that at least now, a western president acknowledged that Indian middle class is demanding nutritious food. I see no reason for any politician to take offense rather feel happy for what the middle class is able to do. This is just an example of how politicians want to score points with every given opportunity. No politician will ever listen to likes of Swaminathan on agriculture? One side you have supply side problems and the other side demand is growing. Prices are sky rocketing!! This is such a long post I don't think anybody would ever read this line.

Informed politicians but does society care?

2008-03-19T17:56:00.009-05:00

This is a stunning speech by Mr. Obama on race, politics and constitution. He is such a speaker anybody would go WOW. Hear it for yourself!!

Here is another similar speech by someone, who cannot be directly compared with Barack but stands about at same intellect level as that of Barack. JP for those who may not know is a physician, civil servant, activist and now taking a plunge into active politics in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In this video, he talks about education and politics in India. This speech was delivered sometime during NDA regime. He voices his frustration of Mr. Joshi's policies as Education Minister.

IPL and the current cricket controversies

2008-02-27T21:57:00.009-05:00

After all the laziness and procrastination, I decided to pen down about IPL (Indian Premier League), created by BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) in competition to Subhash Chandra's ICL (Indian Cricket League). What is IPL chasing here? It is MONEY. It is a choice between ICL and IPL for Indian Cricketers a few months back but BCCI as its name suggests controlled all that cricketing action in India. ICL isn't significant anymore and IPL is making all the news. National Media (read North Media) is spending lot of air time talking about whether the players are worth and drawing conclusions on which pack would do best. It is quite evident that there is lot of money and this may become great HISTORY in the world of cricket.

I am of opinion that the ongoing controversies in the CB series involving Andrew Symonds, Harbhajan Singh and Mathew Hayden is very much a conspiracy to market the IPL that is planned to start next month. Is this a good way to sell sports? I think so. Look at what has happened to the sports in United States. Rivalries between teams make the sports very interesting and market forces capitalize that. But, if my theory is true, history would raise hats to BCCI. But, can history prove it? Let us hope not.

Just, look at the facts in brief. Will you not do anything that you think would work in favor when the stakes are so high as this?

Television Rights

On January 14th, 2008, it was announced that a consortium consisting of India's Sony Television network and Singapore-based World Sports Group secured the rights of the Indian Premier League. The record deal has a duration of ten years at a cost of US$1.026 billion. As part of the deal, the consortium will pay the BCCI US$918 million for the telecast rights and US$108 million for the promotion of the tournament.

On the other side, ICL was set up with a US$2.56 million corpus, and with an annual prize of US$1 million.

Let us hope that Test Cricket doesn't die due to this new development.

US Presidential race 2008!

2008-01-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

I have been following the US Presidential race in the limited free time I get. For any Indian, the politics here may not look very different but the elections are definitely way different here and it is not entirely because of the presidential system. The way the primaries are elected is very complex and takes great amount of effort, dedication, resilience and what not to be running for president of US of America. Most candidates announced that they are going to run as back as Feb last year, which means they have been debating on issues with fellow men for about one year and hope they will stay on to fight the other camp for rest of the year. It is amazing how the candidates hold on to what they believe so that they are not called a flip-flopper; John Kerry was believed to have lost the 2004 election as republican strategists started branding him a flip-flopper. Mid-term elections were very much indicative of the fact that Americans are looking for CHANGE. American public is way too frustrated about so many things with the Bush's Govt. and wants to see a change in Washington.

War, immigration, social security, abortions, gay(same sex) marriages, stem cell, spending and economy are the issues not necessarily in the same order of priority to everybody but I think most Americans worry more about gay marriages and abortions than spending and economy. There are very interesting candidates in this race. I particularly liked Mr. Ron Paul, the congress man from Texas running for presidential nominee of the republican camp. He is somebody who is against policing the rest of the world, respects constitution, against taxes and has some radical ideas that if read out of context will be mistaken for what he is. For instance, he said in some context that CII and IRS should be closed down and that baffles not just an average American but all. But, the context was something neither people care to know nor media wants to tell. Despite the efforts of all main stream media to down play or not play Mr. Paul, he has surged in polls and became so popular among the youth and even set a record for collecting highest donation dollars in a single day. He is all over Web, I should say. Youtube has tonnes of videos and it is so informative to listen to him.

Barack Obama is another candidate to watch out for in this race from the Democratic camp. He is extremely passionate, very talkative and if he managers to win, he would be first African American president of States. I am not really that impressed with rest of the lot. Hillary does look promising and if she wins, she will be first female president of America. None of the republican candidates other than Ron Paul look impressive or promising at this stage.

But, the race is just started and it is beginning of the end for most candidates. Joe Biden from dems already announced retirement from running after Iowa caucus. As of now, in both the camps, there are 3 candidates fighting for the primary and it would be very interesting to see who stays on. I like Ron Paul's candidacy more than anybody else but it is difficult to win elections with such a persona. Fiscal Deficit is estimated to be 60 trillion dollars and America needs a president who can bring in some discipline in spending and do something about deficit. Watch David Walker in youtube to know what the reality is! I wish Indian constitution had something of this sort to have good bureaucrats work longer than the term of politicians.

Happy new Year!

2008-01-01T05:09:00.000-05:00

What can I say about 2007? I am not really sure where to start and how to end this piece. As I have mentioned in some of my previous posts, this year was by far the most eventful professionally, though there is nothing much from the personal life. It proves my point that there is not much personal life when you are on-site. This one year taught me a lot more than all the other years put together at work. It was frustrating lot of times, exciting some times, relieving fewer times and hectic through the year. Considering the circumstances and constraints, I think I did a fairly good job in my new role but I did fail in some parts.

It was in December the previous year that I took over and it has never been easy. After working in this setup for one whole year with little rest, I can now leave this behind and move on. It is almost official that I will be returning to India in February and I am delighted to be going back. One month vacation was definitely a break that I wanted/deserved earlier than October but had no options.

I almost killed 3 other people in the car when driving from San Diego. I closed (slept) my eyes and I was alerted by Akhilesh at about right time. If he was sleeping as well, all of us would have been buried. I cannot forget this forever.

I will have to talk about the new year party that I had been to this new year night. This was the biggest party that I have ever been to. It was in Sports Arena - Los Angeles Downtown and 18+ are invited (got to know that some parties had 21+). It was huge gathering by any means and I had good fun up there. I am pasting a photo that I have taken in the party with my new iPhone.

Year, 2008 will have to be more eventful from the personal front. As you can guess, there is clearly marriage standing top in the list and there can be nothing more eventful than marriage. Let us see what happens!

I wish everybody a great 2008. May 2008 bring happy and prosperity in your lives! Be good at all times!

Fun time in brief!!

2007-11-13T02:51:00.000-05:00

I have written this sometime in the middle of my vacation but due to connectivity issues, I could not post it then. Internet could not be setup this time but will definitely try to set it up next time from BSNL. Let us see how that goes.

It has been a wonderful break so far except for the hectic travel. Travel from LA-Hyd can be written as a short story and bus travel from Chennai to my native was very exciting too. I think everybody experiences something funny and thought provoking in every travel. The young woman besides me from LA-Singapore did not think that the pilot was putting all the effort to get us safe to Singapore. That was kind of too bad for someone who is doing her Ph.D. in Civil Engg.. I didn’t know whether to play that ‘Art of Living’ character and quote Lord Krishna or play myself and tell her that pilots are on JOB to get us safe. I just had to tell her there is nothing bad that the crew reported and there is nothing that I am aware of to doubt the reputation of Singapore Airlines crew. I came across another young woman in SIN-MUM flight. It is difficult to ignore a hot chick and it is harder to ignore a lady when she goes, “that hostess was so stupid - she kept my luggage far away”. There was also a bunch of call center agents who had visited their head quarters in LA and returning. The call center boy besides me asked for red wine when the hostess was preparing to serve the breakfast.

I sometimes feel that I should have been in a job that takes me places (like a sales job or professional services job) but unfortunately not everybody gets to do what they like. I in fact thought I landed in the right job when I worked at Dallas for an Analytics implementation but after landing in Torrance, I realized that my assessment of the job was very inaccurate. For a brief period, it appeared that all reporting implementations will be for not more than 3 months and are executed Onsite, which was proven totally incorrect in Torrance. Anyways, let me not complain about Torrance even during my vacation.

In my village, it is definitely something people got used to now. There are way too many people in IT and there are more outside India. ‘India Shining’ campaign best represents the boys who are just completing their under graduation now. There are too many Engg. colleges and there are more jobs now than ever in the field of IT. I received about 3-4 Wedding cards now and all the grooms are Software Engineers and brides are also mostly working women. This I guess explains the result of the boom in IT industry in last 10 years.

It is exciting to be going back!

2007-09-29T23:12:00.000-05:00

I have come close to planning India trip many a times after I came to US but it never worked. With everything that went on, there were many a times in last 6 months that I wanted to take a short vacation and relax a little bit. But, as I have said always, when somebody stays in a project from beginning, all the stakeholders feel comfortable having that resource around. It wasn't any different here and I convinced everyone now that it is already late but I need a vacation. So, it is all decided now and I am ready to fly on next Saturday.

I have not shopped much and plan to start packing from tomorrow onwards. I don't think there is a cost and quality advantage anymore. So, I am just not interested in spending time and money on shopping here. It is so exciting every time I think of next Friday. I am really excited to see my family and my new home more than anything else. Though there are not going to be many changes in my village except that village is older, it is exciting to be going back to village anytime. There is nothing like it. I cannot explain how it feels to be back in Bodi Reddy Gari Palle (no fun, please!).

I will be returning in the 2nd week of November to Torrance, which I am actually not thinking much about at this time. I am just counting days now and there is not even a single organ, which is not thinking about the India trip. I am also trying to have dial up setup at my home. If that is successful, I will be the first to have brought Internet to my village. I am hoping that it works! That is another thing I am looking forward to, after all history will have a mention of me. -:)

Tennis @ Home Depot Stadium, Carson !

2007-08-20T02:08:00.001-05:00

I could steal an evening to watch John McEnroe play against Jim Courier in an exhibition match in Carson, which was followed by Sania Vs Alexandria. Jim won the match in a decider but John was the guy who entertained the crowd throughout. It was so much fun watching these old teens play and I was very impressed about the spirit both the players showed at that age. They both were funny, energetic and more importantly very competitive! John has not lost his style or the on court behavior. Crowd at times shouted the famous catch phrase uttered by man himself - "You cannot be serious". It was overall great fun!

I got a chance to watch Sania from very close this time. I watched Sania lost to Akiko almost 2 years back in Cincinnati and I have to admit that her serve got so much better now and she can now move in the court much quicker than what she was 2 years ago. She also lost some pounds now, which helps her move quicker now - just my theory. Sania won easily against Canadian teenager, Aleksandria, who was not impressive in any of the departments of the game. I am one of those who hated the way the media hyped Sania's performances and the way her mother lobbied for land/rewards from AP Govt.. I found Sania's performance in first round match against Aleksandria a decent performance and she started to limp in the second set, which is a cause of concern given that the US Open is just weeks away. The next day news item was that Sania won against Martina. Martina has been struggling with her fitness this season. Martina is any day a better player than Sania and it is always good to see Martina play. I wish both of them the very best in US Open!

What a journey this has been!

2007-08-19T22:27:00.000-05:00

It is always nice to have some challenges thrown at after all it brings huge deal of happiness when the hard work produces good results. There is no doubt in my mind about my abilities and every challenge has been handled to the best of my abilities and end results have always been good if not best. Pushing myself every day constantly for 4 long months has taken a toll out of me and I think is not any abnormal. I mentioned in my previous post that I signed up for something that I did not fully assess then and when you do a mistake like that there are surprises every now and then. I think I needed this kind of an experience sometime early in my career and this definitely happened at a right time.

I am recharging batteries now to do my best to deliver what is expected of the team. This whole experience got me the much needed visibility in the organization, which is definitely a good thing. This is a model project for reporting and I have been part of this in its toughest of times, which makes the whole experience an experience that can never be forgotten. My Secretariat experience and this experience are similar in lot of respects; SmartGov was awarded SILVER award for the year 2003 by WARIA institute and IBM called SmartGov the biggest ever implementation on Lotus Notes platform and this time it is Oracle's turn to call (not official) the current implementation the biggest ever. I am really proud to have been contributed for the success of these two implementations. The other projects between SmartGov and the current assignment have been successful too but given the size, SmartGov and iQ stand way top. In both the assignments, I have gathered a lot of knowledge in and around the project both technically and functionally and at the same time built so much dependency around me, which makes it difficult to leave this behind and move on.

When you are associated with a project for such a long time, dependencies cannot be avoided. I personally think this is time to move on to something new for a big Customer but given all the dependencies, my personal aspirations are not important to anybody except me. I am sure it will be in able hands to take it forward from here and that helps me move on from here! I wish myself GOOD LUCK and stop right here!

No noice for a while...

2007-01-29T00:24:00.000-05:00

It has been three long months since I visited this place. Last two months have been very different rather difficult at work. But, every difficult situation teaches you something. It is difficult to loose the lesson when you learn something the hard way as I did in the current assignment. I have had many moments of frustration in the current assignment when people around start to question me what I am not responsible for. Bosses are to question and they will not shy away from their duty anytime. So, let me not complain about that!

There are so much of news that made me wonder about so many things. Shilpa's episode is one that surprised me most. I was amazed that Karan Thappar interviewed British High Commissioner, Sir Michael Arthur about this incident in CNN-IBN. I am not so sure if High Commissioner decided to choose Devil's Advocate program on CNN-IBN to answer all the unanswered questions raised by the Indian media. You have an actress here who accepts an offer from Channel 4, knowing very well of what the reality show offers. Does Govt. or bureaucracy need to intervene in matters pertaining to two individuals? It is two individuals who exchanged some words in a reality show and people started to raise doubts about the bilateral relations between India and UK. I did not expect a journalist like Karan questioning high commissioner about the effect of this episode on the Indo-UK relationship. And as it happens every time, netas in India used this opportunity to score some points. We have had Anand Sarma from INC quick to point to the media that his govt. would take appropriate action and take it up with highest levels in London if needed. It was a great win-win situation for Channel 4 and Shilpa and what role do Indian politicians have to play in this matter. Indian press will of course take it up after all it can be served so well to waste good amount of air time. How can British be branded racist community because of the racist remarks made by some celebrity in a reality show. Give me a break! If that is how we brand countries, no country can ever avoid the racist tag.

Ratan Tata became winner yet another time with Corus deal but Singur controversy still makes him wonder about the Indian politicians. Mamata is at a stage where she makes noice now or keeps quiet forever. We are in a country where politicians have their share and role in anything that happens around us. Most important items that our politicians worried about in the recent months are in the order of priority - Dada dropped from Cricket team, Greg not doing his duty, Shilpa crying in a reality show abroad. For heavens sake, we have prices soaring new heights every day and only worried men in the lot seem to be the RBI Governor and Finance Minister while rest of the lot talk about nonsensical issues. We Indians learn to live with politicians of the lowest quality.

AP Politics are no better. This Congress Government gives tremendous opportunity for criticism but TDP has forgotten how to pick on issues when siting in opposition. By the end of this term, I hope TDP learns to be a better opposition so that they can practice their learnings for 5 years after the next election.

My own life at work has not been shaping up so well in the recent past and I have been feeling so low to put it in short. If this had not happened, I would not have discovered some of the weaknesses. Thankfully, I am still young to work on my weaknesses than boast of my strengths. I don't think there is anybody who wants to get associated with failure and I sometimes feel that I foolishly accepted to be associated with this effort that is not quite failure yet but can turn into failure anytime. Anyway, I just want to get done with this and move on!

Male restroom etiquettes

2006-10-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

Male Restroom Etiquette

All men of the world can find common ground in these simple rules of “evacuation” etiquette.

It is hilarious but thought provoking!!

DELL.. Your service rocks!

2006-10-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

A week ago, I was complaining about the 4-cell battery that was shipped with my Inspiron 700m. My battery performance degraded so much after 6 months. In fact, my laptop started to get switched off with no warning when running on battery. This indeed pissed me off but I am out of warranty period recently and was thinking to check for some good deal on web for a 6-Cell battery this time around.

I was happy for those who purchased Toshibha laptops when I heard CNN reporter from Walstreet reporting the news that Toshibha is recalling the batteries. The reporter talked in length about DELL and IBM recalling batteries supplied by Sony. I was hoping that my battery meets all the requirements to be recalled. I checked DELL website and found that my battery is not safe to operate my laptop with. I ordered for a new battery without thinking anything and they sent me a mail conformation that they would be shipping in 20 days.

DELL knows best about setting expectations of the customer. I know how many times I failed miserably in doing that effectively and realised at a later point of time. I should say I am still learning. DELL shipped the battery within a week's time and the new battery has survived for 2 straight hours wihout any issue. Let us see how long this behaves well! I am still hapy with DELL support. They are definitely impressive in all counts!

Questioned by men in uniform!

2006-09-04T01:41:00.000-05:00

It was one of those nights you wouldn't want to experience. I came from San Diego that night and somehow did not feel for beer though it was Friday night. At around 1:00 AM, my roomie wanted more. We went around but did not find any gas station close by that sells beer. I convinced my drunken friend about not putting too much effort for beer. I could get him say YES only when I reached the traffic signal. I turned right and saw a cop car pass by in the opposite road but did not give any damn about that. Within seconds, I see that patrol car following me. He pulled me over and announced on the louad speaker to park my car close to the curb and remain seated. He searched the car with a flash light and asked me if I have anything that is illegal to carry in the car. I said in low voice that there is nothing that I know. This is my first incident of being pulled over by a cop. I was thanking almighty for not drinking that night. He asked for license, registration and insurance. I collected all that in a hurry and passed it to the man in uniform. I just wanted to see how my drunken roomie is doing but could hear him answer something in very low voice to the other officer.

I was occupied with so many thoughts. Officer returned and asked me to step out of the car. For some reason, I started to think that they are going to charge me for something. He asked me again and again if I was drunk. I kept telling him NO. He asked me if I smoked Marijuana or cocaine. I said, "NO, not so far in life". I came clean in all the tests he performed on me to know if I was driving under some influence. Both the officers talked indistinctively and one of them asked me why I tried to run away seeing them. I understood only then why I had to go through all this. I explained him that we made our mind to go home after stopping at the signal and I turned the car right after making sure there is no traffic behind. He returned all the papers he collected and said, "drive home".

Overall, it was hell of an experience and will not easily fade away. I was kept thinking about that whole night. I drove many a times here after I got drunk. I now realise how important it is not to think of driving after drinking. It is not easy going through this kind of shit. It is so scary to be questioned by men in uniform. No, not again!

Property prices may nosedive?

2006-07-05T00:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a news item that appeared in ibnlive..

Is a correction in the property market around the corner? Yes, say experts who contend that property prices could fall as much as 20 per cent in the coming months.

"Property prices have reached their peak and they logically have to come down now as interest rates go up marginally. The prices may come down by nearly 20 pc in the next six months," says HDFC Chief, Deepak Parekh.

Voices in favour of property prices coming down across the country are growing as rising interest rates on home loans has created worries for many.

While industry players confirm that the demand for loans from high networth individuals has declined, they feel taking a home loan will still benefit an end user.

"If you look at people who are buying homes and getting tax benefits, even with an interest rate of 9 - 9.5 per cent, their post tax benefit comes to around 6 - 6.5 per cent. Compare it with the rental you have to pay, when you decide to live in a rented house, instead of buying one," ICICI Head (retail assets group) Rajiv Sabharwal says.

"Living in a rented house means you are also losing the capital appreciation, which may come even at an interest the rate of 10 -15 per cent per annum. Even at such high interest rate, buying an own home goes in the favor of customers, rather than renting one," he adds.

The demand for property has remained buoyant as the volume of property transactions have taken a beating in the past two months due to prices escalating beyond reach.

Consultants believe that builders will now have to readjust the steep prices they were quoting a year to six months back.

"I would say we are soon entering a buyers' market. The buyer will decide the volume of transactions - he will not over stretch his budget and he is not going to be desperate to clinch a deal where prices were going up every week," Chairman, Knight Frank India Pranay Vakil says.

Experts say with the interest rates still working favourably for the end user and speculative interest in real estate slowing down, actual users may soon start calling the shots in the property market.

Wade does it again in game 6!

2006-06-21T00:41:00.000-05:00

I liked Spurs more than any other team but they were sent home by Mavs. Mavs coach, Avery Johnson, brings lot of energy on and off the field. It could be post game conference, an interview to local channel or national TV, he is such a great coach that I started to believe that he just needed a team of 5 to go past any team in the league. Another interesting aspect of Mavs is their owner, Mark Cuban. I added his blog, www.blogmaverick.com sometime last year. You have somebody who is a techie, enterpreneur, and passionate about the team and sport as the owner. He co-founded broadcast.com and Micro solutions and sold both to Yahoo and CompuServe respectively before purchasing Mavericks in 2000. He also invested in sports broadcasting through his venture HDTV. I checked the Mavericks history and was amazed at the transformation that these guys had after he purchased this team. I am also impressed the way Dirk Nowitzki has been playing and leading from front. I did not even care during the last season about this team or any of the players in this team. Jason Terry made a great difference in some of the games with his 3 pointers at a time when they needed that stuff. All that was not enough to go past Wade in the lat 4 games.

Disappointed Mark on his way out

I am feeling so sorry for Mavs. What would be Miami HEAT without Dwyane and their coach, Pat Riley? Shaq did his best too but Dwyane is the man. It is just him in that team who can entertain. Dwyane got so many free throws in both game 5 and 6. I think that definitely made the difference. Both game 5 and 6 were decided in the final 10 Seconds. Games like 5 and 6 would keep anybody at the edge of the seat whether or not they follow NBA. Mavs did not have the luck that they needed to win this championship. Dirk missed few shots at crucial stages and Jason had too many hits that hesitated to find its way into the basket. Whatever said and done, Mavs was definitely a better team than Heat. Wade took the championship title away from my boys. As Avery rightly pointed out, when a player is playing at that level, you have no tricks to stop him.
Avery has so much passion for winning and with Mark owning the team, he can only get better. I am sure they would be a team to reckon with in the next season. I wish Mavs a great post season. I wish them good luck for the next season.

Nothing bad to report!!

2006-06-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

So, nothing bad to report. It was one of those incidents that I was involved in that I better forget and move on. I decided to tell the management that the sooner the decision taken on this subject, the better it is for both the project and everyone around. It is definitely not easy going through all these. I get up in the morning and hope that the incident is over by the end of the day but it keeps popping up everyday. I decided to tell the management that I can't wait any longer. Let us close it , come what may. I am ready to accept any decision. Thankfully, it is closed with no impact on anybody in my team. Every manager is convinced about the reasons that led to the incident and they decided to close this issue with a warning. I am not happy the way the whole issue has been dealt with. But, that is the way it is.

I now know what it is to go through something like this. Will I ever do it again? No way. I had enough of it. I would say that this was one of the greatet lessons that I have ever had to pick at work. I learnt it the very hard way and loosing the lesson is only a criminal offense. There may be 100 easy ways to get things done. But, doing it the right way is what is accepted if not appreciated. So, better do it the right way even if it takes little more effort and time.

100 person hours wasted discussing a silly issue..

2006-05-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

I now know what it is to know from somebody about a mistake that was done as part of work without you realizing that it was a mistake. I am not a big risk taker at work but landed up in a mess that I have never imagined. First was to know from a colleague that this issue had been escalated already and some lead came up to me and asked me if he guessed my name correct. Oh GOD! I hate to be in discussions where it is of no advantage to either of us. I was asked to meet him in a small meeting room and the grilling started. He started probing me as if he had figured out a breach that I could have gotten away with. I told him straight that I had no wrong intentions but just the project delivery that was more important than anything else and that only commitment pushed me to violate a procedure. I violated but with clear approval from one of the architects in the group. If that was not enough, you can very well treat this as a mistake of mine and the reward process can follow. I was never really bothered about what would follow after all life doesn't end with that. I have worked with customers as big as this and dealt with more confidential data than this. But, nobody doubted my integrity or honesty else where. Why would anybody like to even discuss with somebody you don't think is integral, honest and committed? I at least will not even think of discussing but will show the door right away. The big man who started grilling me was not lending any part of his ear to understand the reasons and effects of this violation. I think I did a great job controlling my temper.

I came out thinking that this is end of the discussion and work just goes on. But, my GOD! Unfortunately, that was not end of it. A group of managers (colleagues) asked me and my team to assemble at a conference room at 6:00 in the evening and started to give funda about the confidentiality of data and how that is linked to the business opportunities. Nothing made sense as I could not relate anything that they spoke to what I and my team involved in. We just wanted some of our deliveries to go through and did something that is definitely against the security policy but with permission from somebody who we could not question the authority. What we hear from people who are so concerned about this is that we did not question the authority of the person who approved this. I truly appreciate and understand why the policies are defined. But, if there is a group that monitors all this, they are expected to look at the effects and reasons behind the violation. If it is just about grilling people and telling management that they found this many incidents in so and so time span, I do not see a point. I can understand the reasons why these individuals behave that way. If they have to survive, they should find some dumb incidents and create a big hype about them as if it would have ended their businesses to run.

If using an ID that is not assigned to me to pull some sample data to build a prototype is such a big mistake, I like not working here. I am feeling ashamed to have committed such a mistake that a bunch of jokers are so eager to question. I just could not imagine 100 person hours getting wasted discussing such a silly issue. If I had to deal with this, I would have had a discussion and tried to understand the reasons behind it. Not everybody is as smart! If I was smarter than what I am, I would have not committed the stupid mistake that costed this many man hours. This is the way it is. It is probably one mistake that an individual with any brains can afford to commit in his career. Why commit a mistake and be apologetic about it? Stay away from committing anything that can create some kind of work for few assholes. Let us see what happens now. If I continue to work on this implementation, they played an april fool game with me. I would be very surprised and disappointed if I am not shown the door.

Largest fall In BSE’s 150 Years

2006-05-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

It is the worst single day fall in the history of Indian markets. SENSEX and NIFTY lost 6.7% in a single day. I put all the efforts to understand what went on that black Wednesday in March that pulled sensex down by 300 points. I had no serious reasons as to why the markets reacted on that Wednesday. I thought these things do happen in markets and nothing could be attributed for the fall.

Some of the global investors have been saying that the Indian markets are overvalued at these levels and a deep correction is due. I strongly believed the same thing but never imagined a correction such as this. 860 points in a single day is record in the 150 year history of BSE SENSEX. So, as it happens every time, some of the experts on all the business fora came up with some good reasons for the fall. I have no idea what they are talking about. We had UPA formed at a time when all the investor community expected NDA to return to power. SENSEX crashed by 560 points, SENSEX fell by 460 points when SEBI barred some of the major players from trading. All along, we have been hearing that economy is booming and there is no need to panic about anything that happens in markets. Who didn't tell me that the fundamentals are intact? So, what changed overnight? Someone said that global markets are weak and Indian markets just followed. Give me a break! We are the guys who said that the Indian markets are no more follow Western markets. I think all the experts want to say something sweet.

RBI announced the credit policy in April and made conscious effort not to make any changes to the existing interest rates. People are saying that the raise in interest rates in US caused this 860 points fall. But, what happens to the domestic investor? FII doesn't pay tax for his returns and gets off the market when he wishes to, putting the poor domestic investor at loss. To save the market, PC announced that the FIIs will not be pulled into the tax net. No, Sir! It didn't work. Can you find something else to save the domestic investors who turned to markets at high levels?

My portfolio is perfect synonym for bloodbath. Everything in my portfolio is heading south. It is not a fair game but I have no regrets about playing on this uneven field. You lose sometimes and win at times. With the limited expertise, I am trying to ride with the big fish. Let us hope for a better ride than what it has been.

Different results with same experiment??

2006-05-16T21:31:00.000-05:00

I remember a friend of mine in my +2 days telling me that he had to go to a local school though he had scored very good marks to secure a seat in Korukonda Sainik school. As VP Singh Govt. decided to implement the recommendations of Mandal commission, though my good friend qualified to be in such a reputed school had to end up in a local school that was not bad but not as good as the reputed school that his parents aspired their kid to be in. How exactly it impacted his career opportunities in the years followed is definitely a case for anybody who has been in touch with him. I am sure Sudhakar's teacher would have got him to work little more to score few more marks to beat the reservations, if he was ever following anything that was going on beyond his school walls. But who is to be blamed? Sudha for sure didn't know as a kid what it was not going to that school. I met him 2 years ago when he was looking for a job and we did talk about 1990 reservations that made him to loose focus at times. Who can compensate for his career loss? Arjun Singh comes up with something now to change the system that has not yielded any results in the 56 year history of Independent India.

I recollect another case that happened in my UG days. There was this rich girl, who had access to best of education, with a score as low as 30 could sit in a class that had people with scores up to 170. It is hard not to believe that there were no losers because of this girl. Who compensate for their careers? I look at the qualified students who lost out than the career of this undeserved candidate. Can she really make up for the careers lost? I don't know what confirms me but a poor family suffered because of this very system that got no where even after its existence for years.

Einstein quoted, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them". Another Singh after 15 years expect different results with the same experiment. When Govt. is not capable of doing anything to improve the quality of life for the backward sections, they think of reservations as the tool. We have had enough. We can only plead our leaders to think of something else at least now. Systems mature over years but systems that are managed by our politicians is one exception!

Long long time.. Here I go..

2006-05-02T00:55:00.000-05:00

I am sure at one point you would have thought that this is probably the full stop to blogging but here I am starting to post my experience so far here in California. I have to say something about my journey to west. I missed the flight this time again and had to wait for next flight that wasn't full. I was thrilled to find that the boarding pass had a bold 'S'. It was not the special security check but the route that I took to airport delayed me by 10 Minutes and that was enough to miss the flight.

After sitting idle in office for more than 2 weeks and at home for another 2 weeks, getting to work on an assignment like this is not easy at all. I am feeling all the heat now. I ask myself, "what am I getting into?". Oh MAN! This is not easy at all. You have a customer who has had a vast experience with IT and ready to invest anything it takes to be able to automate anything that is possible remotely. This assignment would stand off from rest for sure. There is loads of work to be done in very short time. This is what I like most. Hope to finish this assignment in good note.

My first impression about LA is not that great. If California license is so hard to get, where did these guys get thier licenses from. Oh MAN! It is just not easy driving on these roads. I moved to LA and Lakers has been doing great. Poor SUNS suffering at the moment. Steve Nash has talent but Kobe is the shooting star of the league. King James is due for something big. The surprise of the pack comes from Sacramento KINGS. I can't imagine they beating my team, SPURS.

What is happenning with Indian markets?

2006-04-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

I was tempted as any other domestic investor looking at the forward momentum in the markets and believed at some point of time that Indian market is the only place for investors to be in. Liquidity strengthening every day pushed me close to the markets. I criticized the valuations when raised by people around me. But, I decided to eneter when I was somehow convinced that there is no right or correct levels to eneter to be part of this tremondous action. Another thing is that I couldn't have afforded anything better but stocks with the little money that I had at that time. I was very impulsive to sell TCS at 1800 levels hoping that stock would lose as there would be profit booking at this levels. But, question remains who can predict these markets and underlying commodities of these markets like TCS. TCS reached even 2000 before losing great deal on this black Wednesday. Unfortunately, I did not own the stocks I sold at that time but owned by my friends but are held in my trading account. To minimise losses, I had to put in whatever I have into stocks that I believed have good potential but only to be hammered by this deep correction on black Wednesday, when sensex lost 306 points on a single day with loosing almost 200 points in a single trading session.

What corrected these markets is the question that is answered by all the professionals but nothing convinced me so far. Udayan of TV-18 was of the opinion that weakness in the global markets caused the downfall. When our maekets trading crazily, I heard him say that Indian markets no more follow global markets. Another interesting aspect is the Dow, Index that was beaten by our Sensex very recently, went up by over 40 points as I write this but Sensex remains to have upper hand even after loosing over 300 points. US Markets have been trading caustiously only because of the inflation worries. I am not convinced of a reason like this about our Indian markets.

But, one needs to look at history before taking a decision on whether to enter or exit. I remember black Monady when UPA was formed almost 2 years back, markets responded crashing down by 570 points. You pick a stock and analyse it over two years and you would be amazed at the growth. One did not necessarily have to know what SENSEX is in those days but just needed a trading account and little bit of money to play with. Those who had entered then made pretty decent returns if they were patient. I will be watching markets on Thursday hoping another fall if not so steep as it was. Another 100 points correction would make frontliners available at attractive prices.

To explain how unreasonable this market is, I was closely looking at SBI. Employees went on a nation-wide strike for 6 days and clearly there were no signs of ending that. But, stock continued to go up from 920 to 1000 only to fall down to 940 as markets corrected. I expected SBI to hit its lowest during the strike after all bank was not functioning at all during the strike. Take a look at MPHASIS BFL. It came up with stunning numbers and analysts even lauded their efforts but stock went down by 3%. Everyone was saying that fresh money should not be invested in equities in the month of March after all SENSEX traded weak in March for the last 5 years consistently but this year it gained 9% in March.

I will only be very caustious and will make sure greed does not overtake the conscience anytime!

Google... Oh my GOD! You diddd!

2006-03-29T10:31:00.000-05:00

I feel terribly bad when I make such mistakes at work. The latest mistake on my part was scheduling two ETL loads at different times in two different environments sourcing from one transactional system. It did create all the chaos at wrong time but fixing that was very much doable. But, almost a day was spent to bring things back to normal! After reading the news item that appeared in Economictimes, I started to believe that even GOOGLE employs people who are in hurry all the time. I had a big smile while going through this news item. Here is the news..

An external user took control of the address after Google employees accidentally deleted the blog.

Google had egg on its face after staffers accidentally deleted the company's main official blog on Monday night and a user unaffiliated with Google temporarily took possession of the Web address.

Google admitted that it accidentally deleted its own official blog on Monday night. "We've determined the cause of tonight's outage. The blog was mistakenly deleted by us (d'oh!) which allowed the blog address to be temporarily claimed by another user. This was not a hack, and nobody guessed our password. Our bad," Jason Goldman, Blogger Product Manager, wrote in a posting on the Google Blog.

A 19-year-old university of Texas student, Trey Philips, noticed that the blog was unregistered during its period offline and registered it. Luckily for Google, Philips didn't seem to have bad intentions. His only posting read in part: "Google, fix your blog pleeasssee! P.S. Just to clear things up, I'm not associated with Google at all. I just wanted to take advantage of this before someone else with less worthy intentions did."

One plus two is three - DMK to MDMK!!

2006-03-29T00:57:00.000-05:00

I was quite taken when I read the news about Vaiko meeting Jayalalitha at Poes Garden to announce the pre-poll alliance that both the parties agreed upon. At one time, I appreciated his enthusiasm when he decided to follow the YSR's formula, padayatra, that worked so well in Andhra Pradesh. That was the time I thought he woukd pull some of DMK cadres into his side but that didn't do the trick.

MDMK is not a party that is as big as DMK or AIADMK but as always power only can keep it alive. He parted ways with DMK long time back but has been supporting as an ally in both at the centre and the state. I am quite surprised with the telephonic discussion that Vaiko had with kalaignar about the seat sharing arrangement in the coming polls. This is what Vaiko had to say when interviewer asked him about the differences with DMK..

On March 3, the DMK conference was about to commence. By 8 am, I spoke to Karunanidhi over the phone. While meeting the press earlier, he had said, 'I told Vaiko one or two [seats] may be reduced.'
I told him over the phone, 'Even if you reduce one or two, you should give me 23 or 22.' He said [he would reduce] 'One, two or three.' I said, 'You never mentioned three earlier.' His answer was 'one plus two is three.'

I said, 'This is jugglery with words. I don't want to compete with you in this.'
I even begged him to give 23 seats but he refused. Then, he brusquely said, 'Let the conference be over. Then, let me think over it.'
By 1 pm, he met the press and said 22 seats would be given to the MDMK. The door was shown to me. It is an insult to my self-respect and the dignity of our party.

What can one say about kalaignar's quantitative skills? I can't imagine a 81 year old man coming up with a talk like this with somebody he has been working with for years. He is one of the founder members of DMK and has been Chief Minister of TN four times. Let us assume he just tried to have a funny conversation with Vaiko after all his wit was well known to everybody. But, this has been made public by Vaiko in a very serious note. I hear from everyone around that Amma did pretty good job this term. People of Tamilnadu have been known for their impatience with incumbent governments. Who would be the Chief Ministerial candidate from DMK camp is another thing I would be interested in. All in all, it would be an interesting election!

F1 season starts! Good Luck, Schumi!!

2006-03-10T22:56:00.000-05:00

It would be great if ESPN telecasts at least the first race of the season if not whole of the season. I would hate to hear from my colleagues who are currently working on an assignment for Govt. of Bahrain if they tell me they missed LIVE action of this race. I am always amazed that country of such size has been hosting Formula One race and more importantly the first race of the season this time. Ferrari has so much to prove to the world this season after that poor performance in 2005 season. Schumi is of course one of the drivers who has been associated with F1 for very long period now and he definitely has the talent to do what is needed of him and the team. Hopefully, this season would make Narain Karthikeyan, test driver with McLaren, a driver to watch out for in the seasons to follow.

I am just waiting to see the race strategies this season as the rules and regulations are modified to a great deal this year. I just put some effort to understand the rules and regulations for this season before the starting to follow this season. I have to say, it cannot get any complex than this! There would definitely be some criticism around these regulations as season progresses but that is acceptable after all this season is not end of F1.

Read through the rules if you watch F1 and not gone through the rules yet.

QUALIFYING:

Qualifying
For 2006, the single-lap system used in recent years is replaced by a new three-part, knockout format, with multiple cars on track throughout the qualifying hour, which is split into two 15-minute sessions and a final 20-minute session, with five-minute breaks in between.

Part one: All 22 cars may run laps at any time during the first 15 minutes of the hour. At the end of the first 15 minutes, the six slowest cars drop out and fill the final six grid places.

Part two: After a five-minute break, the times will be reset and the 16 remaining cars then will then run in a second 15-minute session - again they may complete as many laps as they want at any time during that period. At the end of the 15 minutes, the six slowest cars drop out and fill places 11 to 16 on the grid.

Part three: After another five-minute break, the times are reset and the final 20-minute session will feature a shootout between the remaining 10 cars to decide pole position and the starting order for the top 10 grid places. Again, these cars may run as many laps as they wish.

In the first two 15-minute sessions, cars may run any fuel load and drivers knocked out after those sessions may refuel ahead of the race. However, the top-ten drivers must begin the final 20-minute session with the fuel load on which they plan to start the race. They will be weighed before they leave the pits, and whatever fuel they use in the 20 minutes may be replaced at the end of the session.

If a driver is deemed to have stopped unnecessarily on the circuit or impeded another driver during the qualifying session, then his times will be cancelled.

Engines
For 2006, engines are reduced in size from the previous 3-litre V10s to 2.4-litre V8s. The aim is to reduce costs and improve safety. With similar engine speeds, the change is expected to cut peak power by around 200bhp, which in turn is likely to add around three to five seconds to lap times at most circuits. The FIA may allow some teams to use 2005-spec V10s if they do not have access to competitive V8. The FIA will enforce a rev limit on any V10s to ensure performance is comparable with that of a V8.

Tyres
After a season’s absence, tyre changes during races return to Formula One in 2006. The thinking behind this is that the reduced engine size will offset any performance gain. Drivers also have access to slightly more tyres than in 2005 - seven sets of dry-weather, four sets of wet-weather and three sets of extreme-weather. Drivers must make a final choice of dry-weather compound ahead of qualifying.

Weekend schedule
In a slight change to the Grand Prix weekend format, Saturday morning now features a single, one-hour practice session, as opposed to two, 45-minute sessions. It takes place between 11:00 and 12:00. Qualifying is an hour later than before, commencing at 14:00.

Assignment here coming to an end!

2006-03-07T00:24:00.000-05:00

It has been one tough journey here in Dallas. This experience would be afresh in my memory for very long time to come. I could not enjoy this weather as much as I did in the last summer in Cincinnati. In weather as warm as this, tennis should have been one task in the evening but unfortunately not. I lost 2-3 pounds weight after coming here, which isn’t something I can proudly say. Vishnu, a friend of mine in Cincinnati, would hate to hear that! I am more and more conscious about my weight now.

This implementation for the beverages department of Cadbury Schweppes has been one major experience in terms of dealing with a poorly designed transactional system and the timelines that initially seemed impossible. Colleagues around also make it hard at times but that is the way it is. You got to love it when you get to work with tough people. I am quite impressed with my own skills as this implementation comes close to being called a successful implementation and something that would add enormous value to the business teams. I feel happy as I could utilize all the skills I gained during my stay at Cincinnati for this implementation. It is definitely a great feeling to be able to deliver within the promised timelines; appreciations from customer make this whole experience one of the best.

This assignment would be remembered for the stay at this hotel more than anything else, I should say. Intown suites is worth the money, 2 weeks may be fine but it gets really difficult to live for 2 months. I am either on the bed or in the toilet all the time as if there is no better place to spend time! I will upload few pics into photo blog some time this week. I just need to pass another 3 weeks here before I hear about another assignment hopefully at another place. I came here for a week to install and configure but projects do not end with installations and configurations. I like projects being short term because I give my best only during the first few months into the project and I loose interest as time progresses. As time progresses, I start to think too much about the clock and that makes me very impatient at times. It is good to be out of projects after seeing them go LIVE.

Yet another assignment, set of people, experience and of course place. I expect that to be fun and interesting. There will be some uncertainty after this assignment about next assignment but what the heck; I am all prepared for it. I would like to be part of another assignment that is just starting which would throw another good challenge to deliver and at the same time makes it a great learning experience. I WISH MYSELF A GOOD LUCK!

TN polls: Vaiko turns to Jayalalitha!

2006-03-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

No permanent friends or foes in politics! Read the news item..

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) was on Saturday offered 35 seats by the ruling AIADMK for the May 8 polls to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa announced here on Saturday.

The seat-sharing deal was finalised when the MDMK general secretary Vaiko called on Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence in the city, at around 1145 hours.

After a 45-minute meeting between the two, Jayalalithaa told reporters that all other matters like POTA issue were things of the past. (Vaiko was detained under POTA for over an year during her current regime).

"We are here on a positive note, on a positive matter and we will be making only positive statements," she said. Vaiko said the AIADMK-led alliance would "sweep" the polls. "This is the finest hour in the political history of Tamil Nadu. The alliance is a formidable one".

Asked how it felt while sharing a platform with a former POTA detenu, Jayalalithaa said "It feels great to be friends."

In politics, there are no permanent friends or foes, she said. Vaiko endorsed her views.

Jayalalithaa said the future "is going to be glorious for both AIADMK and the MDMK and the alliance will sweep the polls." She said AIADMK party workers would work for the victory of MDMK and vice-versa.

Vaiko also said, in the campaign, the two parties will work together for the success of the alliance. "AIADMK will get an individual majority to form the government," he said.

Do we have a legal system?

2006-02-23T22:38:00.000-05:00

I remember writing about legal system in India many a times and it proves the fact yet again that they are one of the most inefficient and ineffective Govt. departments. You can look at Jessica Lal's murder, Salman Khan, Gulshan Kumar's murder, Abdul Kumar Telgi's stamp scam case, Bofors for that matter and many cases that were filed during Mumbai blasts, Masjid demolition, post Godhra violence and list just goes on. We need not look close at any trail to say that judgment has been delayed and delayed. Justice delayed is nothing better than denied.

Jessica Lal murder case has been making news for 7 years now. Witnesses turning hostile and police not producing enough evidence to try the suspects are two major factors atleast in these famous murder cases. It is definitely difficult to have all the trails end up in the favor of the victim but what we need to note is Indian Judicial system has a record of 6% conviction rate, which is abysmally low in any standards. Conviction rate in USA in the year 2000 was found to be as high as 55%. I think figure for the year 2000 makes more sense than the figures now as there are more and more suspected terrosrists have been convicted especialy post 9/11. I don't get to read anything that is done in India to improove the rate. We are living in a country where elected representatives talk about chopping off MF Hussain's hands and rewarding 51 crore to the killers of Danish cartoonists. Don't we have bigger issues than this? What a shame!

How many out of 6 are actually the victims of false evidence or fabricated charges? How many out of 6 can’t afford to take the law into their hands just because they are not powerful enough or rich enough? So, what we have is a judicial system that is punishing poor, who can't either afford to appeal to higher courts or fight against the rich.

I just read that a TDP MP, who manhandled a police officer on-duty, has been sentenced to one year in prison by a lower court. He is all set to appeal in High Court of Andhra Pradesh. Way to go, sir!

Infosys may face legal trouble!

2006-02-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

An article appeared in Economic Times dated 17th Feb'06.

Information available on the web says that Infosys Technologies might face a possible class action suit in California from a law firm for allegedly not paying overtime wages to its employees who are working on H-1B visas there.

However, an Infosys spokesperson told ET, “We have read this report and are currently examining the issue. Until we do so, we are not in a position to discuss this matter.”

A class action is generally defined as a practical procedural device in litigation for determining the rights of and remedies, if any, for large numbers of people who have in common questions of law and fact.

The law firm — United Employees Law Group, PC has alleged that it is investigating claims against Infosys offices in California for allegedly not paying overtime wages to ‘immigrant computer programmers’ ie, Indians working in the US on H-1B visas.

It has further said that if a California-based employee, whether a US citizen or a foreign citizen holding a H-1B visa, works in computer software and is not paid at least $47.81 per hour or the annual salary equivalent of approximately $99,445, and works more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, they may be entitled to overtime wages.

The law firm has further said, “If you are an employee of Infosys in California and make less than $47.81 per hour and do not receive overtime wages, you may qualify for damage or remedies.”

Employee files class action suite against Tata America..

2006-02-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

A news item appeared in Economic Times dated 15th Feb'06..

A Nationwide Class Action Lawsuit has been filed against Tata America International Corporation in the US by tge law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP against the company practice of forcing workers to hand over federal and state tax refunds, reports Business Wire India. Tata America is a subsidiary of the Tata group.

Gopi Vedachalam, a Tata America employee, on Tuesday filed a nationwide class action lawsuit in the District Court in San Francisco against Tata America International Corporation, and its parent Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, as well as Tata Sons, Ltd.

The suit also charges that the Tata company has unjustly enriched itself by requiring all of its non-US-citizen employees to endorse and sign over their federal and state tax refund checks to Tata. The proposed class action suit consists of thousands of current non-US citizen employees of Tata working in the United States, plus former Tata employees dating back to 2000.

The complaint charges that most Tata employees in the United States are non-US citizens who work on visas. Tata requires each employee to sign an agreement which states that the employee's gross amount of compensation will be includable as earnings in the United States and reported to the US Internal Revenue Service.

The complaint alleges that these employees are not paid the amount promised them in these agreements. It further alleges that, at least until July 2005, Tata required its non-US-citizen employees to sign power of attorney agreements delegating an outside agency to calculate and submit each employee's tax return to state and federal authorities. Tata then required its non-US-citizen employees who received tax refunds from state and federal tax authorities to endorse the tax refund checks and send them back to Tata.

Under California Labor Code Section 221, it is unlawful "for any employer to collect or receive from an employee any part of wages theretofore paid by said employer to said employee." The complaint also charges that Tata's conduct violates this Code section as well as the common law forbidding unjust enrichment and conversion.

From 2000 to 2003, plaintiff Gopi Vedachalam worked in Hayward, California, as a Tata project manager assigned to Target. Since 2003, he has worked as a Tata project manager for 21st Century Insurance in Woodland Hills, California. "I work hard for Tata and the companies I have been assigned to. I should receive the full wages Tata agreed to pay me, as should all other Tata employees in America. I did not hand over my tax refund checks voluntarily. I tried to recover these wages through Tata's internal procedures, but I was met with either silence or refusal."

Vedachalam wants the US federal court to certify the case as a class action and issue an injunction against Tata, preventing it from requiring its employees to endorse their tax refund checks to the company to the extent it is still doing so. The complaint also seeks compensation and damages for current and former employees who were not paid what they were promised and who were deprived of their tax refunds.

Sensex crosses yet another milestone!

2006-02-07T00:32:00.000-05:00

I am late to the party but was busy in the morning. I just gathered some information and did my part to post what happened with the Indian markets over few years. Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, popularly known as SENSEX was compiled in 1983, which has 30 actively traded stocks. Here is what gives you a picture of the growth of SENSEX from 1,000 - 10,000.

What can actually influence these markets is something that has become hard to understand for someone like me, who isn’t a big investor. I remember SENSEX gaining points even when the financial capital of India was drowned due to heavy rains. Tsunami did some damage to some of the shipping stocks but they were not stocks that could pull this index down. US markets have nothing to do on Indian equity markets these days, which is another thing that one has to consider.

As interest rates go down, more and more domestic funds are seeing Dalal Street as one big option to make some quick bucks. Government policies and financial results are two major factors any investor who is bullish about markets says.

As valuations are at their highest across the sectors, nothing looks attractive to me at this point. But, there is lot of money being invested both by domestic players and FIIs. At these levels, an investor need to have all the information and a big heart to loose if FIIs start to think otherwise, which I hope and wish not. FIIs have been influencing the valuations in a big time.

I have no major holdings and that doesn't stop me from following the markets now and then. If you want to turn your money into markets, you can probably add this blogger to your favorites.

What contributed or driven the SENSEX from 1,000 - 10,000 magic figure? Here you go..

Courtesy : rediff

In Dallas for next 2 months!

2006-01-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

I am here in Dallas after the stunt that I posted in my previous post and been busy with something or the other every night. I am getting used to staying in a hotel after staying almost for a year in a fully furnished flat in Cincinnati. We are not looking for any apartment now as it is decided that the assignment is only there till 31st March and it does not seem to me at the moment of getting extended. This is what happens when you have a customer who is so much strict on money.

Coming to Dallas, nothing has impressed me yet. I am really trying to observe and understand the TEXAN attitude as I have been hearing all along from veterans, who stayed in US for a while. Something that caught my eye in this land are George W Bush Pike, Davenport Rd., OHIO Dr. and etc..

I watched Rang De Basanti yesterday. It is so much humor with positive intentions and anyone who watched the movie would admit that Aamir's team delivered what they thought to spell out through this movie. Aamir has definitely become a brand now in Bollywood. At the age of 40, one has to have so much energy to play characters like one he did in Rang De Basanti with so much ease and most importantly live in the character as he did. Karan, played by Siddarth, is a character that we can relate to at least a friend, who strongly believes that there is nothing that could be changed and better live life as it comes. I just can't single out a character in the movie after all every character did what is needed to send across the message/script. Dialogues in the movie are one big asset. They are well scripted to be incredibly humorous and at the same time has enormous impact if someone watching the movie gives a little thought. There was a group who ignored their brains before heading for the movie and they were making all the comments that they could think to make it more humorous. They were very unsuccessful, I should say! HAVE FUN WATCHING THIS MOVIE!

SSSS!!

2006-01-22T23:14:00.000-05:00

It is little bit better now as far as next assignment is concerned. It is definitely disappointing to be sitting idle without knowing anything about what the future going to be. It is as much frustrating when you hardly have any say in this whole thing. It is made clear to me last week that I would be travelling to Dallas and the assignment is just for 5 days. It is installation and configuring few things for a consumer company based out of Plano, TX. There was so much uncertainity about my travel as the fare was too high and the travel agency worked it out to save close to 400 USD by finding a connecting roue. Hats Off to them!

I would have preferred a direct flight but did not really bother too much about this though I am aware of the potential problems. First thing that I heard from a co-passenger when I was standing in the queue to collect the boarding pass was that all the flights that are leading to Chicago are delayed by two hours. That scared me as my first flight is to Chicago. Fortunately, United Airlines issued me a new ticket and this is direct flight to Dallas but it is a different carrier. I never thought about this special security checks and the delays because of that. I collected the boarding pass almost 45 Minutes before the departure of the flight. I pulled over my trolley bag on to the elevator and that fell flat and rolled down the steps all the way down and fortunately it did not injure any on the elevator. I apologised sincerly to all the three women and headed towards the security check. An officer asked me to pronounce my last name and we got into some lighter conversation as I said that I always curse my grand parents to have such a big family name/last name.

Flight departs at 2:15 PM and there I was with the transporation security officers at 1:45 PM. All was fine till I heard that I have SSSS on my pass and what that means is to go through a special security check. All that I have been hearing from lot of Indian friends is going to be faced by me. Two officers removed whole of my luggage and scanned the whole stuff in it. Regular security checks at the airports are widely criticised and this check is too much to handle. I know what I packed in my bag but I was scared through out. You have two officers whispering each other as if they found something and I was not sure if there is anything that they added recently to the list of things you shouldn't carry in air travel. I lost patience, got irritated with all this but what can some immigrant who for some reason a brown skinned and anyone who is brown is believed to be here to terrorise this very land of opportunities. I always understood the need to do a security check but to this level is way too much on any day for anyone. I rushed to the gate only to find that the flight is already departed. Who is to be blamed? I should have thought about it and probably skipped the Chai Latte at STAR BUCKS. But, that is the way it is. I blame my own self for this and I pay the price by siting idle in this airport for 4 bad hours hoping every minute that something good on the way. Luckily, Steelers Vs Broncos for AFC championship is ON. R'Berger dominated throughout and Broncos never looked good.

I would be back in Cincinnati on next Sunday and prepare myself for trip to India. My friends helped me great deal in cleaning the house and it reminds me about the rent that I have to pay for the 4 days that I extended as the house is not completely cleaned. Let me call up and do that first to save myself frompaying any fines. I should have planned everything better. This has been one heck of an experience!

Catchng up with all the lost sleep!

2006-01-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

It is too much of an effort to sit and write without any spelling mistakes after drinking quite a nit of RAW scotch. One of my Ex-Manager sent me an e-mail asking if I could join at happy hours in one of the downtown restaurants. As ususal, I was late by almost 45 Minutes! Thanks to another friend of mine who started from his work late and that caused the 45 Minute delay. I always wonder why we talk too much when we are drunk. This crowd wasn't exception,man!

There were simply too many topics that ranged from the current work, mergers, acquisitions, technology, racism and etc. Racism in US took longer time than I expected and I was not comfortable talking about it with a citizen of this country. But, sometimes you can hardly keep yourself under control and keeping someone else in control at a time like that is no good attempt. As it happens always, NFL wasn't left wihout a mention. I watched the game between Bengals and Steelers last Sunday. Cincinnati Bengals did pretty well to make it to playoffs this season after a gap of 15 years. They weren't good enough to beat Pittsburg Steelers with Carson Palmer hurting his knee very early in the game. Reserve quarter back, Kitna, made few silly mistakes and that costed them the game.

Coming back to my own life, it hasn't been bad. I am getting up late and on Internet all the time. I am acually liking it now as it is just what I have been looking for. A week break between assignments is really a good thing and that too if you are getting paid for that, what better can you actually ask? Anything more than a week is no good! So, hoping for something to happen towards the end of this week!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006-01-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

I remember talking about onsite opportunity in my last year's post and it happened in Feb last year. I just can't claim that as an achievement but I badly wanted that to happen and it happened. I completely missed out on other things like German-II, and more importantly GMAT. I feel ashamed to say that my GMAT is not going anywhere and it is literally died down now. I am starting this year with a fresh assignment, about which I have no idea yet but hoping that it would add lot of value.
I spent new year night at a skiing resort, Perfect North Slopes this time and drinks was definitely missing this time. But, I can drink any night! Drinks would have only spoilt the night as I would have fallen down many more times and probably retired from skiing on the day I started! Skiing was absolute fun. Two of us picked up well and started to do better than we expected as time progressed. We are even thinking of going to that place once again and take on next level this time. Skiing is one sport you can do well if you have good confidence. Perfect North Slopes had some fire works and some dazzling skiing by their tutors towards the mid night.
Overall, It was good fun! I WISH EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Living with Uncertainty-II..

2005-12-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

Getting released from the project is one thing I like and hate. As someone who hates whole bunch of things about the work at hand, I always think that things would be far better in next assignment. THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE is one that is reminded after joining any new assignment, hopefully not the next one. What is wrong in hoping to work with some exciting folks, face some good challenges, deliver something that is satisfactory to self and others around and of course grow up in the ladder as all these exciting things happen? It is way too much to expect everything but HOPE isn't bad.

I hate about getting released only because of the uncertainty one has live with. It is just as worse as being between jobs but only difference being I am paid. But, what one has to go through during this period of time is something that anybody would not enjoy. Sitting between jobs at this time of the year isn't a good thing as most of the IT management in many companies is actually not in its meeting rooms to chalk out delivery plans. I have been thinking too many things in the last few days and 6th Jan laughs loud at me.

It is just one week and that is just 5 working days and I have absolutely no idea what it is going to be after 6th Jan. I have transitioned all the work and am currently working on setting up a new environment for a performance test that is planned to start in Jan. Over 4 months, I developed so much belonging to the project and it is time to leave all this behind and move on. If I just look back and recollect what it was when I just came in here, I feel extremely happy for what has been done in the last 4 months. It kept me busy all the time and is definitely very satisfactory.

My client manager is extremely happy for all the work done and I am quite happy for her as she asked my priorities and availability before writing to my employer. For variety of reasons, I could not say YES when she asked me if I can stay on till Jan end. When you report to a client manager and there is absolutely none from your management or peer group knowing what you are doing, all the effort you put in will only go not rewarded as much as it deserves. Also, it reached a point where there was not much value addition to me in terms of learning and I started to think it is probably the time to move on.

I need to spend next 2-3 weeks thinking every minute about next assignment. I can only hope to find something better. If there is nothing that matches my profile, I might actually go back to India, which is again not a bad place to work. It may not make more sense if I look at the paycheck, but there is nothing as an employee I can do. I am prepared for anything. YOU MAY WANT TO WISH ME GOOD LUCK. PLEASE DO THAT. I need all the wishes now. I probably have to read some books on Art of Living.:)

Read the post that was posted when i got released last time. :)

Can we miss any of them?

2005-12-06T23:52:00.000-05:00

It has really been long time I have visited this space. I have too many things that deserve to be posted but really not sure what to post and what not to post. Simply to say there were lot of things that made news in the last few days and deserved to be posted but I found much similar opinions on lot of websites and lost interest to post here after reading them. There have been news all around and every item deserved to be talked; soft- spoken Greg and presumptuous Ganguly were first news makers and 1 Billion people can talk and talk after all it is just Cricket. Unfortunately, all is not that well as it seem to be in the Indian cricket dressing room. Discipline is something that Eden Gardens can't maintain and Frenzied Calcutta Cricket fans did their best to maintain the record and be in news for wrong reasons.

Politics got all the coverage it deserved; only difference this time is there are few good things that happened. Lalu is voted out of power is probably one good thing that happened to those Biharis who are jealous of Development in other states in India.

Fire brand Uma Bharathi was behind the scenes for very long time and she exploded like a volcano when BJP chose Singh, not supported by Uma, to be CM of Madhya Pradesh.

What can one say about baby boy Natwar Singh? He is only known to be an author, bureaucrat, foreign affairs expert, politician but actor in him was at his best when he denied his involvement as said in the Volker report. One should have seen him speak to media after the report was made public. It is hard not to believe that he was involved. As usual, we already have a commission formed to investigate the involvement of Natwar and the commission is given 3 Months period to complete the investigation. If we just recollect any commission, we are made to believe that the 3 Months would be extended even if the investigation is done after all the Ex-bureaucrat will enjoy all the benefits in the capacity of chair-persron of the commission. When Govt. demands for reasons that are very clear, an amended report will be made public and that would be discussed in parliament. We are fed up with commissions set up by ruling Govt.s to probe into immoral functioning of its own ministers.
A news hungry country like ours can not miss any of the items. You talk to anyone these days and you are certain that one of these will be debated. We just can't miss.

One famous family and its roots!!

2005-11-13T01:45:00.000-05:00

So tough to create, so easy to erase!

2005-10-24T18:21:00.000-05:00

What happens to the reputation that is being created over years if we have more and more companies getting started here in USA by Indian immigrants in the name of consulting firms? As all of us know, there were more Indian immigrants than anyone else to create software in one of the worst hyped technological innovations of the century called DOT COM that helped world become much smaller than any of us can imagine. I am extremely happy for those who made it to USA then and survived during the worst times when there were not too many opportunities. All those who survived are now the most eligible to become entrepreneurs of the IT Consulting business in USA as they all are close to securing a green card and that gives them the option of registering a company in the so called land of opportunities. As the demand for IT professionals grow in this part of the word, body shopping becomes more and more attractive and the question that remains to be answered is how good it is for the reputation of Indian IT resources.

Most of the Indian students who do Masters here end up on H1 for a consulting firm managed by fellow Indian. I have been seeing lot of people who were not into IT in India find H1 a serious option after all it isn’t easy to find an IT job in India for their profile. USA IT consulting firms can afford to have them come here and find a job in 2-3 months time and earn themselves a hadful of money and earn a minimum of 5-6 USD per hour for the consulting firm he represents.

Americans would have had lot of faith on Indian job seekers but it does not happen anymore as we have too many people at very later ages trying to enter into this money machine as everyone thinks with little interest to learn the technology.
I definitely appreciate the fact that we can only provide the best to meet the demand but we need to have companies started with more commitment to train resources before having them earn for you. Companies started with no commitment and vision will not last long and will only spoil the reputation that we created for ourselves in years. Who cares for the reputation? All they care when they are here is to make money.

I was reminded of working on this post when my manager talked about the made up resumes that she received from some of the known Indian consulting firms based out here in States and the poor performance they displayed at work. I think we need to do justice to what we are earning before we ourselves erase what we have been boasting for years. It is pretty interesting how this business is run. The only business terms that make sense in this world of business are Rate, Layers and Cut!

Created a photo blog!

2005-10-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

I am happy I did it today. Balai referred me to flickr and I set up the account today to make sure I do not have to do too much of work around my blogger for posting. I chose a template which is very simple and I am still not sure if I will pick a new template. Post your comments about the look of the teamplate and I might consider changing it after all the blog is created not just for me. flickr has too good features such as mailing the photo as attachment, auto posting in blogger etc.. I am yet to explore my account at flickr. I will be posting photos now and then. Your valuable feedback would be greatly appreciated. Click here to go to my Photo Blog.

I clicked this!

2005-10-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about having a photo blog of my own to post some of the stuff that I click. I will definitely do that sometime but for now I post it here. Click on the image to appreciate it. I am sure your feedback will help me does it better.

Apple's iPOD Nano rocks!

2005-09-29T07:10:00.000-05:00

Few of my colleagues after a long stint with the retail giant are returning to India this weekend. So, I almost have either a dinner invitation or a lunch invitation daily from either collagues or from clients. One of my colleague really helped me to a great extent when I came here to US in February. I considered his singing skills and his passion for music before deciding on the gift. There was another friend of mine said that he would also contribute and we quickly thought iPOD Nano is the most recent technological innovation in the area of music.
We checked in BestBuy and the sales rep was happy to explain the features and put up a smiling face and said 'Sorry, sir; We are out of stock'. Our next stop was Circuit City and it was no different there.
I was so much surprised to hear from the sales rep at APPLE store that they are out of White Nano's. I somehow can relate only white to apple and really did not want to gift a black piece. But, I just walked around in the store and came back only to see that there is only one iPOD Nano left in the tray. That pushed us hard to buy the black piece though I personally was not very impressive with Black iPOD as I can only think of white with APPLE.
I am not that big misic lover but felt that it is really cool to carry an iPOD Nano white gadget. I wouldn't think of buying one for myself atleast till I see 20GB Nano in the market. Hats Off to APPLE! Who on the earth would have thought of APPLE coming up with a player better than a regular iPOD or iPOD Mini? iPOD Mini was the best as of Y'day and Nano is really cool till I see something else from Apple.

Not too many interested but I was!

2005-09-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

September is picnic month across our organization and we at Cincinnati were no exception. Ride was ofcourse one major concern till the last minute as none of my colleagues who I know well were not really interested and all my efforts in pushing these guys accept my proposal failed miserably. At last, I could find one biggie who had plans to go even if his wife says otherwise and he should be a happy man after all he was accompanied by his wife and kids.
I completely enjoyed the one hour drive as we drove through a rich country side. I myself from a typical village in India, amazed about how rich the farmers are in this part of the world. I can't just imagine Indian ruralhood connected with the urban land as we see here in States. That is first step towards making Indian ruralhood a major contributor of Indian economy, which is fully dependent on TECHNOLOGY now.
Coming back to picinic to one of the lakes here, I was expecting more people than what I saw given the fact that we desis here do not get to gather that often as we work for different customers and operate from different office unlike in India. But, I was very happy to see the enthusiasm among the employees and their families. Kids stole most of the show as expected. 18 Months old identical twins were talk of the show and I clicked a photo of the twins sleeping, which is posted right here.

One year of blogging!

2005-09-18T09:46:00.000-05:00

I just remembered that I started to blog sometime in September last year. I fel good that I could hang on for an year and still have good interest in continuing this excellent piece of work. This is not just one of those initiatives that did not last long.

Many happy returns of the day!

American Falls / Bridal Veil Falls

2005-09-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about posting the snaps that I clicked when I visited Niagara Falls at US Side, on my way back from Montreal to Cincinnati. Click on the images below for better resolution.

American Falls viewed from Canadian Side

American Falls of Niagara, as seen from US Side. Horseshoe falls is visible at the background.

The World is Flat!

2005-08-29T23:42:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking for long time about posting about the book titled 'The World is Flat', authored by 'Thomas L Friedman', winner of pulitzer for commentary in the year 2002. I particularly liked the effort that the author put in writing such a book. It isn't easy writing a book like this as it demands whole lot of facts and collecting facts in't an easy job on any day. He did an excellent job visiting offices of DELL, Walmart and UPS to gather information about the supply chain systems that these successful companies operate with.

I am particularly amazed the way Friedman articulated the whole story of outsouring to third world countries, if I may call them so, like India, China, Philippines and Vietnam. He did mention about the Indian companies like Infosys, TCS, WIPRO, 24X7 and Mphasis ETC.. He talked great deal about Nandan Nilekani, P V Kannan and Jerry Rao in many parts of the book.

Friedman’s list of “flatteners” include the fall of the Berlin Wall; the rise of Netscape and the dotcom boom that led to a trillion dollar investment in fiber optic cable; the emergence of common software platforms and open source code enabling global collaboration; and the rise of outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining and insourcing. It is facinating to see this man realise that there were lot of things happened when he was busy covering news in Iraq.

He remembers his parents in Minneapolis telling him to finish his dinner and study hard as Chinese and Indian brethren are starving. He now tels his daughter to finish herr home work because the Chinese and Indian kids are starving for the jobs and there is no such thing called American jobs anymore in this flat world.

Click here for his Speech at MIT..... Video is really worth listening to!

This gives a sense of what India achieved in outsourcing but there are lot of other things that Friedman did not mention in the book. He may have liked the biggest confererence rooms in Infosys headquarters but that isn't indicative of anything. What Friedman forgot to mention in the book is the traffic jams, quality of the airports, transportation systems and in precise the INFRASTRUCTURE. As a columnist, he only picked the best and ignored the potential problems that needs immediate attention of the Indian Govt. World is definitely getting flatter in more senses than one but digital divide for sure deserves a mention.

Nothing could have saved the car!

2005-08-28T11:56:00.000-05:00

Away from blogging for two weeks! I could have posted lot of things but I was lazy and did not put that extra effort needed to post here. I know I have to be regular here! I had faced few incidents on highways where we all were living dengerously at that moment but could save ourselves from something that could have taken away all our lives. It was definitely the sense of the guy who was driving that saved us from anything worst. One such incident happened on Friday morning while we were rushing to office.

We had Aditya driving at just over speed limits (35 MPH). It was a deep curve to the right and the traffic stopped after RED signal. It was drizzling causing the roads completely wet and the car skidded upon applying the breaks. All of us inside the car knew that he is going to hit the car but nothing that we could think of can save us. I was atleast hoping that the car in the front would pass before we kiss his car from behind. But, all that did not happen as the Friday wasn't just ours.

This is first such experience for all of us except the guy whose car was hit. The guy got down after sometime and asked, 'Guys, Are you all OK?'. Fortunately, we survived with no injuries but our car is heavily damaged. Thank GOD! The only thing that Aditya could have done is to hit the car. Any other thouhgt would have landed us in bigger trouble. He decided in the last second to drive the car into the other lane but was heavy traffic down there. In the left lane, there was a truck passing by. Oh GOD! How many random thoughts in just so short time?

We all are safe and officer charged minimum amount for not maintaining the car. Insurance representative would assess the damage on Monday and only then we will know what premium he may have to pay from now on. Just for my memory, I am posting a pic of the car after the accident.

Yet another good opportunity!

2005-08-15T20:13:00.000-05:00

I always hate working on single assignment for long time as I observed to be loosing the enthusiasm and the commitment to deliver. I can not carry the same enthusiasm that I bring in when I just join the team. The curve always been second half of the BELL CURVE, dropping to meet the X-axis, after 6 months into project. This time, I got into a team which was working closely with me when I was in my previous assignment. I heard a great deal about the team and work (hardly anything good) before I joined the team. I was thinking this project experience will not be of any value addition to me. After loosing on few of the other seemingly great opportunities because of some gap in communication, I felt really unfortunate to have accepted the offer.

Two weeks into the project, I feel no less about this assignment. This experience is one of the challenging ones and I can definitely rate it high in my list. It is all about finances and that makes the whole experience here so complicated and critical. I will not like if this assignment goes beyond another 2 Months, timeline committed when I joined. Hope, it gets completed well before 2 Months and I land up in an assignment that would throw more opportunities to perform and deliver. I still have the enthusiasm and consciously trying my best to keep it up for next two months.

The wait is over!

2005-08-06T12:31:00.000-05:00

It is all over now. It is official that I will be working for the same client in Cincinnati but not exactly on the same project that I was earlier working on. That means I will have new set of people to work with and few new things to discover. Friday was my first day in the project and got to know few things here and there. Hopefully, it is going to be as rich experience as my previous assignment. I was told on Thursday afternoon that I will have to work with a project which is in absolute mess at this point. I am supposed to be working on this mess for next two months time to make sure that it is delivered in good shape to businness. There is clearly a challenge ahead. But, challenges at work aren't something new! It makes life @ work more meaningful!!

What else can I do?

I am happy that I had four days of free time between the assignments and free time means introspection, which resulted to start my GMAT preparation once again. I am back to my beginning days of preparation once again. Dragging too much as I did isn't good thing to do but work sometimes change your plans. I regret it now but there is no point.

I am enjoying my cute laptop (DELL 700m). I had a minor problem with some of the characters being interchanged on the keyboard layout but it is solved. I checked DELL forums and could have the issue resolved. I have installed all the applications I was using except MS Office. I am anyway not thinking of having pirated copy of MS Office on my cutie now. I am using Word Perfect Office trail version now and am fine using that. Word perfect does not give as much comfort as MS Office gives but may be more time with the Word Perfect will solve the problem.

New Official Guide (11th Edition) is out

2005-08-04T13:46:00.000-05:00

It was announced this week that "The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition" is now available. It isn't available through Amazon yet. You can get it from GMAC for $36.95. (Plus $10-15 for shipping)

Here's the description of this new revision to the study guide.
The only study guide with 800 real GMAT® questions—and their answers—by the creators of the test.
In addition to the questions and answers, this guide features:
NEW diagnostic section that helps you assess where to focus your test-prep efforts
NEW organization of questions in order of difficulty to save you study time
a comprehensive math review covering the topics tested on the GMAT® exam (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and word problems)
approximately 270 Analytical Writing Assessment topics
The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 11th Edition contains 800 retired GMAT® questions, with thorough explanations. Answering questions that have appeared on the GMAT® exam before will give you experience with the types of questions that appear on the test. This Guide will help you learn what you need to know to answer the questions correctly.

Between Assignments!

2005-07-30T11:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my last day in my previous assignment and waiting here for my next assignment. It is not even a day I am out of my previous work and it has been real hard already, I can't imagine how hard it is for someone to be between jobs. Living with uncertainity is one of those things I hate the most. I know that I have to be patient and follow up my case with all the stake holders but following up with people isn't an easy thing at all.
There have been lot of dinner and lunch invites last week. It has become tough as there have been too many invites in very short time. I am rushing out now for a lunch with one of the guys I play volleyball with in the weekends.
Everyone asks me the same question, 'WHAT NEXT..'. It is worst to face questions like that as I have no clue. Hopefully, I would be able to answer all your questions in very short time. I think I need to have all the GOOD LUCK in the world to come out of this strange situation.

What next?

2005-07-27T08:21:00.000-05:00

I watched one of the best cross over movies, Flavors and ever since I have been talking about the movie now and then. I was thinking then that they exagggerated the way the resources are fired by US companies. I can't call myself a victim but can atleast say that I was lucky to witness that strage situation. My client manager sent me a message on sametime and it reads something like this.
Hi Changa..
It has been so much easy working with you. I can't explain how frustrated I am right now.
There was some communication gap between me and XXX. As we are in a big finincial crunch, we took a decision in the meeting today to release you this weekend.

Of course, there were more messages praising my competence, commitment and effort. But, it was decided later on to postpone my last day by a week so that there is smooth transition to new team that is going to take over. Don't drag me into discussing about the finances for the new team now. What I hear right now is that they are being budgeted from a different fund.
It started to look as if there are plenty of opportunities but slowly turning out to be a strange situation. If something works out, I would be working in a different city in US. In case of my employer not finding anything for me, I will head to India. India of course not a bad place to be in. So, not worried but really confused about what next. Hopefully, I get to know what next soon and prepare accordingly.

Inorganic Growth History of TATA Sons

2005-07-26T14:49:00.000-05:00

FULL HOUSE
Tata company	Acquired company	Acquisition value (Rs crore)	Year
Tata Tea	Tetley, UK	1,870	Feb-00
Tata Sons (TCS)	CMC Ltd	157	Nov-01
Tata Group	VSNL	1,439	Feb-02
Tata Teleservices	Hughes Telecom India	undisclosed	Jun-02
Indian Hotels	Regent Hotel	415	Sep-02
TCS	Airline Financial Support Services	undisclosed	May-03
VSNL	Gemplex	undisclosed	Jul-03
Tata Motors	Daewoo Commercial Vehicle, Korea	465	Mar-04
VSNL	Dishnet DSL's ISP division	270	Mar-04
TCS	Aviation Software Development Consultancy	4.02	Mar-04
TCS	Phoenix Global Solutions	undisclosed	May-04
Tata Steel	Steel business of NatSteel	1,313	Aug-04
VSNL	Tyco Global Network	13	Nov-04
Tata Motors	Hispano Carrocera	70	Feb-05
VSNL	Teleglobe International	1,040	Jul-05

Coca-Cola Threatens Top Indian Photographer with Lawsuit

2005-07-25T16:30:00.000-05:00

Thirsty Hoarding

Click here for more on this...

Indian Media's creation - Sania Mirza!

2005-07-23T23:46:00.000-05:00

For the first time, I was sitting in the Tennis stands and keenly observing where players stand for the serve, how they position themselves to receive the serve Etc.. I know that watching LIVE Cricket is worse than watching the match on TV. I was expecting that watching LIVE Tennis match would be a better experience than watching the same on TV. It is true to some extent but one has to really work on the break points, unforced errors, first serve rate and etc.. On TV, you always get to watch the analysis but you have to do it on your own when you are in the stands.
I watched the Quarter Final match LIVE, between the so called 'Indian teen sensation' Sania Mirza and Akiko Morigami (Japan). I remember watching the most famous match between Sania Vs Serena in the Australian Open and commented then that she can make it big if she improves upon her serve. On Friday, she did pretty well initially and I was impressed but lack of consistency costed her the game. She generates lot of pace in her shots both forehand and backhand but consistency is the single most concern. Sania was forced to make lot of errors by the opponent, Morigami. One should appreciate Morigami for her skills on court; her double handed shots are real strength. Sania hardly could break Morigami's serve. Sania always looked hopeless, played with no aggression, and lacked consistency throughout. It was big disappointment for all the Indian fans in Cincy. Hope, she does better in doubles.

Click on the image below to note what she achieved so far..

Sania - Career Highlights

I think she needs to be given some time to work on her game but our media back home can't just stay away from her. I wonder what impressed someone to start a blog on Sania Mirza. I am not impressed at all about her game; Slow and lifeless Tennis, I would say. We cannot make someone a STAR just for one performance. Sania should forget Wimbledon Junior Championship and work hard on her game to come out as a real STAR but not a STAR created by the media.

Google Earth!

2005-07-20T20:58:00.000-05:00

Who appreciates and acquires technology? I guess, GOOGLE does it best. I am referring to one of the excellent pieces of software that I experienced and started to tell everyone in every meeting proudly about the way it works. Keyhole Corp was the company who started this project and was acquired by Google in October 2004. Who ever I speak to about this software, they just cannot resist saying 'OOOOH'. I am talking about GOOGLE EARTH. I downloaded GOOGLE earth few days back but really started to experience it only now. WOW! I located the place where I stay now, cropped the image and pasting here for you. Click on the image..

This is where I live.

I strongly recommend this software to everyone out there. What an amazing application? I was not surprised when someone asked me today over lunch if Google Earth offers real time images. Way too much, everyone at the table thought. But, I am not surprised if someone says there is some serious work going on in Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.

I have been hearing a lot about Google Desktop Search too! I will wait for my DELL 700m to arrive. I will try out Google Desktop Search on my new laptop.

Niagara Falls, CN Tower, Saravana Bhavan.....

2005-07-17T18:45:00.000-05:00

It is long time since I posted anything on the blog and there was not anyhing that happened last week except a great dinner by one of the customer teams that works closely with my client. Our team was greatly appreciated for the work that we delivered and dinner followed. One of the best dinners that I had in US of America. What are the other customer teams doing? -:(

We executed our plans this time for a change. We planned to take Friday OFF and head to Toronto through Detroit. As planned, we started to Detroit on Thursday evening and reached Detroit in record 4 Hours time though the traffic was very slow due to an accident near Dayton.

I was expecting the Visa procedure to be bit more complex than what it looked like but to my surprise Candian embassy did a great job. The lady officer at the border checked the passports and did not even bother to strike that Entry type as I got single entry visitor visa. We were expecting her to sign that off and stamp the passport that the immigration is checked. We drove back into US and entered the lane there again to make sure the procedures are complete. Another surprise! This time too, the official did not stamp the passport but striked the validity.

By the time we reached Niagara Falls, it was already 8:30 PM and falls was not very clear. Fire works at the falls was not any impressive! One old man helped us to get to one of the happenning places at Niagara Falls.

There is lot of Asean population in Toronto and I started to think that Hindi or Punjabi is what is needed to survive in Toronto. Indian and Pakistani markets are neighbouring markets and it is amazing to see Paani Poori, Sugar Cane juice and some exotic Indian dishes being served on the road as in India.

CN Tower is defintely one of the wonders. You have to step on the glass floor that is there in 113th floor to test your courage. Believe it or not, Glass floor is just 2.5 Inches thick! Been to Saravana Bhavan in Toronto and enjoyed the Coffee more than anything. Udipi, lot of catching up to do!

Two days of sleep was completely lost and getting to feel good now.

CN Tower

Fire Works @ Riverfront, Cincy

2005-07-05T22:48:00.000-05:00

I remember drinking at Taj Banjara @ Hyderbad on the night of 3rd July last year with two other pals (Vyapuri & Anthony) , enjoying the music of the local band that was just picking up in the city. It was the guitarist, Michael, who got the passes for us that night. I never thought then that I will be watching the spectacular fire works on the night of US Indepence day anytime. somehow, it came through this year and here I was enjoying the fire works and of course the crowd.

I captured few pictures with my Canon s410 and collaged four of them here! Guyz, blame me for the bad photography not my camera. Click on the image, if you have a second..

Fire Works on July4th @ Riverfront, Cincy

Michelin offer £10m refund

2005-06-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

I am delighted!

I was one of those spectators who were watching the race from the stands and booing everytime Ferrari passes by on the track. I was little disappointed about the way the teams pulled off in the last minute but never thought it will come for free. Looks like, we deposited 85 USD before the race and after a week Michelin is so generous to refund the ticket price. Good luck, Michelin! I paste the brief summary of the news item appeared in Google sports below.

Tyre manufacturer Michelin have offered a full refund on all tickets bought for the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, which went ahead without the seven teams that the French company supply. They also offered to hand out 20,000 free tickets for next year's race.

The gesture, which could cost the company as much as £10 million, came on the eve of today's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris to decide the fate of the teams who refused to contest the race on grounds of tyre safety.

A Michelin statement read: "One week after the Indianapolis Grand Prix, Michelin wishes to make a sincere gesture of goodwill towards the people present at the GP, a group whose passion for F1 is encouraging in the development of this sport in the United States.

"Therefore, on our own initiative and in total solidarity with our partners, we have taken two decisions. Michelin has decided to contribute to the costs incurred by the spectators present at the circuit on Sunday June 19 2005 by offering to refund their tickets. This is an important decision, since Michelin is not at all legally bound to do this.

click here for the complete story..

Steve Jobs - You are the achiever!

2005-06-28T18:33:00.000-05:00

We can build Apple!

What it is to start a company like Apple and get fired from there as Board of directors decide that the guy who started is for some reason destroying the firm? What an incredible company he started? Can we forget the technological innovations that Apple came up with? You walk into any Apple showroom and I bet you will say 'WOW'. No doubt, these guys are super cool with their products!

It has been long time I am thinking about posting the text of the commencement address at Standford by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios. He sounded very philosophical at times but it is worth reading. Hats Off, Sir! Click here to read the text of the commencement address. Steve, you will live long!

Here you go if you want to read about why Micrsoft management is pi**ed off at Redmond head quarters about iPOD. Owning an iPOD might become a violation of MS policies! Click here for the complete story.

If you like Steve Jobs and Apple's innovations and ever wonder what his resume looks like, here you go.. I love his resume.

Blogging against the policies...

2005-06-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

Blogging against the policies of your company can put you in big big trouble. I came across the story of a blogger who was fired for blogging something that is against the policies of the company he works for. What a profile this guy has? He interned at IBM, worked full time at Microsoft for 18 months before started to work with the COOL COMPANY, Google.

In his own words, he was part of IBM in the tailend of its era, Microsoft at the inflection point leading to maturity and Google at the beginnig of what would become an empire. He is recently fired for blogging about few things that were not supposed to be revealed to the general public. Google is known to recruit only brainees and am sure they did the right thing having this guy on board. He was little more excited to blog (read bullshit) about few things that were not expected to go beyond google. Read on if you are curious about what he wrote. This post may not be the only reason for Google management to sack him but lot of news portals on WEB carried the news. Google definitely picked on this guy.

This man is now with Plaxo and is currently drafting Internet communication policy for Plaxo.Plaxo is one of those companies who respects the freedom of speech (read blogging). I am quite sure about the security standards and policies of TCS but not really aware if we have blogging policies/rules. I will keep an eye on that for sure.

Getting fired for blogging something stupid is most horrible thing that can happen to anyone and I could sense what Mark Yen would have gone through when he was between jobs. Given his credentials, it is not hard to find a job but leaving GOOGLE ADSESNSE group is something that he can never forget to regret.

Witnessed one of the controversial F1 races..

2005-06-19T20:14:00.000-05:00

I have informed all my friends who I could contact and talked like a kid about my plans to go to Indianapolis for US Grand Prix. I told all my colleagues about it; few responded 'WOW' and few did not have any clue what Formula ONE is. I was quite happy when I found out from the support staff that H row in paddock is close to the start line. But, my camera with 3X zoom could not capture the podium, pits and etc..
What an awful race that was? I wanted to check the pole positions and news but Vodka put me into bed early. I had no clue about the Michelin Tyres controversy and was excited as others in the stands to see all the drivers in their positions prepared to race. Then came the surprise of the day. Immediately after the formation lap, all the drivers except Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi started to head to pits. What the hell is going on here?
It was a race between two strong drivers, Schumi and Barric. They were mad today too, when they competed between themselves. When Schumi tried to overtake Barric and Barric drove his car out of the track, I thought that the Indian F1 star, Karthikeyan has a chance here to make it to podium. Damn, Barrichello joined back into the race!
The race is ofcourse controversial, all the drivers who started the race finished, Narain could win some points, Jordan made it to podium and loud boos rang out from every part of the packed stadium. Can I get to watch a race like this again? Hopefully. not. In a country where Nascar is more popular than F1, you need better races than this to woo the crowds. Photos would be posted soon!

Press Conference Quotes by COO of Indianapoli Motor Speed Way, Click here.

Ruben Barichello, Michael Schumacher, Tiago Moteiro (From left to right)

India's Top 10 Employers...

2005-06-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

Which are India's 10 biggest employers in IT?

These numbers are extracted from 2004-05 financial results released to the press except for Cognizant. Note that CTS is not listed in any of the Indian stock exchanges.

Company	Employees
Wipro (including Spectramind-BPO arm of Wipro)	41,857
Tata Consultancy Services (excluding Indian subsidiaries)	40,992
Infosys Technologies	35,000
HCL Ltd	22,034
Satyam Computer Services	20,000
Cognizant Technology Solutions	17,000
Patni Computers	10,000
BFL MphasiS	8,375
Polaris	6,003
i-flex	4,747

Which are the three largest multinational IT employers in India?

IBM	23,000 (as of Dec 2004)
Hewlett-Packard	13,000 approximately
Accenture	7,000 in IT services

Two buffaloes on loose!

2005-06-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

It is very surpring to see the news that is covered by the American electronic media. I never could imagine that this could be the quality of the news covered by the TV media here. I tuned to NBC in the morning and was taken for a great surprise when I watched the news of the Cow on Loose. This was sometime in Feb, when I just came here.
Jackson Trial is one big news item that none can avoid. Celebrity news sell but not the way as it happens here! NBC reporters busy talking to the legal experts about the possible verdict, Channel E is occupied with True Story of Jackson and CourtTV is telecasting the LIVE updates of the trial as it happens.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie released their latest photos portarying as wife and hubby. What a nice way to be in the centre of the story when you have a movie coming out at a time when none of the producers is so sure about what to do to have a movie run at the Box-Office? Why are movies not running at the boxoffice as much as they used to do is a different subject of debate.
I tuned to NBC before pushing myself to office today and was all OK till I was listening to Iraq, aid to Africa and some murder that happened in Florida. Two buffaloes are on the loose was the last news item before closing the news bulletin for that hour. Celebrities and loose cows can make it to NEWS anytime they want! I am sure Jackson could not have done anything terrible than this to be in news.

10 tips from an employee to boss

2005-05-28T16:03:00.000-05:00

1. Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 5:00 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.

2. If it's really a "rush job," run in and interrupt me every 10 minutes to inquire how it's going. That helps.

3. Always leave without telling anyone where you're going. It gives me a chance to be creative when someone asks where you are.

4. If my arms are full of papers, boxes, books or supplies, don't open the door for me. I need to learn how to function as a paraplegic and this is good training.

5. Do your best to keep me late. I like the office and really have nowhere to go or anything to do. Beside, having no life will help prepare me for making partner.

6. If a job I do pleases you, keep it a secret. Leaks like that could cost me a promotion.

7. If you don't like my work, tell everyone. I like my name to be popular in conversation.

8. If you have special instructions for a job, don't write them down. In fact, save them until the job is almost done.

9. Never introduce me to the people you're with. When you refer to them later, my shrewd deduction powers will identify them.

10. Be nice to me only when the job I'm doing for you could really change your life.

Marat Saffin was too good for Ferrero!

2005-05-28T12:52:00.000-05:00

It isn't easy to stay alone with phone not working and Internet going down now and then. Phone, TV and Internet have always been good pals. I was happy to know that NBC is telecasting French Open. Here is what happened, in Roland Gaross today.

Saturday Stars

I got up late in the morning and tuned to NBC to find Sharapova playing against Anna Chakvetadze. Anna teamed up with the Indian sensation, Sania Mirza in doubles but thrashed out in the second or third round. Anna is not like Sania for sure. She looks promising and has great serve to bank on. She looks hot too, which is essential for a Tennis Star. Coming back to the match, Sharapova did not show any mercy what so ever against the fellow russian teenager and won the match easily in straight sets - 6-1, 6-4.
The self hated man, Marat Saffin playing against the clay court hero, Ferrero is the big match of the day. What a match? How hard it is to play on clay court for close to four hours? I just can't imagine the effort and mental strngth one needs to take up such a challenge. Match was a mix of good serves, long ralleys, excellent drop shots, well timed baxkhand hits and what not. Saffin is known for loosing his nerves and break a racket or two but for a change, he kept his cool throughout the match to post a 7-6 (5), 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (2) victory over Carlos Ferrero. Well Done, Saffin!

IF NOT (DRIVING AND COOKING) THEN

2005-05-22T12:23:00.000-05:00

Though I was told many times that people who have no knowledge of cooking and driving will find it hard to live in States, I never thought too much about it. My roomie dropped me whererver I wanted to be, cooked good delicacies while I was preparing rice. As he left to India, it is time to do it for myself.
I dared to cook DAL the other day. I called up few of my friends who have mastered the skill just to update the procedure that I am planning to follow. They all with good heart validated and wished me ALL THE BEST. Some skills are hidden and if they are not utilised properly will go unnoticed. I had to bring out the cooking skills and DAL was excellent. I was amazed to taste the DAL I just made and in that excitement, I called all my friends to share the excitement.
When my roomie was here, we used to drive to Udipi for lunch in the weekends. Today, I have no idea what to do for lunch. I cannot skip lunch as I am feeling damn hungry. I have just decided to go to Burger King, which is 2 miles away from my apartment. Luckily, one of my colleague called up and asked me if I am interested to go for Star Wars movie. Thankfully, he did not have his lunch yet. Oh MAN! This god damn phone is working for a change. This digital phone is very problematic at times.
It is again a strange feeling whenever I think of dinner that I have to prepare tonight. WISH ME ALL THE BEST!

Be sometimes Blind, Be sometimes Deaf!

2005-05-20T18:45:00.000-05:00

Blind-Deaf
There are two options when you are not impressed about something or someone. Either work towards fixing or ignore what is happenning around. This reminds me of the quote I read sometime back. "If you are the master be sometimes blind, if you are the servant be sometimes deaf". We play both the roles of Master and Servant at different times. So, do what is prescribed. You want to clean up or be part of the crowd?
Just imagine for a moment that your boss is not doing what he is supposed to be doing. Let me say that he is not committed to improve the business opportunities. As a responsible, committed and expressive person, you decided to go up to him and talk to him about the faults with your supervisor. It can not get worse if he thinks otherwise? What an intelligent team-mate does? He would discuss all bad about your boss. Having forgotten to be DEAF, you get excited about improving business by talking to your boss. What happens next is entirely what your boss is. If your boss is anywhere close to a leader, he would definiteky appreciate your effort and act accordingly. Just imagine, you are working with someone who is non committal and isn't those leaders. You have just screwed up few things for yourself. GOOD JOB!

Terrorist in the very Loksabha!

2005-05-16T21:39:00.000-05:00

Raids on Shahabuddin's house have revealed tiger and deer skins, night-vision goggles, laser-aided guns and other arms with markings of Pakistan ordinance factories. Further photos of the honourable MP with some of India’s most wanted criminals have reportedly been seized. - Excerpts from one of the fortnightly news letter.

Most heartening to know is the fact that this very man is sitting inside the strong walls of Parliament. He was part of different political groups that made trips to Pakistan. What did we get him to represent? The story would not have broken out if the gutsy officers Chandrakant Anil and Ratn Sanjay did what most of their colleagues are not practicing. At a time when people are forgetting the civil servants, these two bureucrats took the lead.

Where on earth do you expect a politician of this stature win four consecutive elections? It has to be Bihar. We talk too much about our systems but everyone has to accept Shababuddin's case as a failure of the systems. Who dares to bring in the changes that are badly needed? None at all! Every politician will speak about the changes needed but none wants a flawless system. This is just the tip of the iceberg that is discovered and it is time to clean up the system. When you have Laloo Yadav with 22+ MPs who can make or break the Govt. at the Centre, What do we expect the power hungry politicians to do? Nothing at all!

Tech a look: IIT-ians in world's power capital

2005-05-16T16:49:00.000-05:00

NEW DELHI: It's a potent power statement, in the power capital of the world. On May 20, over 3000 IIT-ians from all over will gather in Washington DC for a pow-wow with their best and brightest.

The event, brainchild of one of IIT's best known alumnuses, Rajat Gupta of McKinsey, will showcase the biggest concentration of Indian professional talent.

From pharma to finance to technology and even woman power, the conference promises face time for all. And kicking off the events will be keynote speeches by Jack Welch, former CEO of GE and Arun Shourie, former minister for disinvestment in the NDA government.

The power of the IIT will be on display, and how. Capitol Hill will fete the IIT-ians with receptions by Congressmen. The participants themselves read like a who's who of global corporate elite, quite apart from the panelists, who include Thomas Friedman, the latest literary convert to globalisation, CK Prahalad of the University of Michigan, Lord Kumar Bhattacharya, Victor Menezes of Citicorp, Stephen Schultz of Lockheed Martin, Purnendu Chatterjee, R Chidambaram, scientific adviser to the prime minister, Larry Summers, president of Harvard University and Jerry Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University among others.

The theme for the conference, predictably is, technology without borders: global transformation and India's role. While the profusion of Indian talent will be for all to see, the presence of top educators from America's prized universities promises to be equally interesting in the light of the current heartburn within the US that the country stands in danger of losing its technological and scientific edge, by keeping out foreign students due to security considerations.

One success!

2005-05-13T23:39:00.000-05:00

One of the new year resolutions that I have consciously taken was to cut down my drinks. I am getting to realize that I am doing justice only now. I think it is something to do with the friends with whom you live with. No offence meant, pals! It feels good to be drunk but it is no good a feeling to be overdrunk. I am ofcourse feeling good. Those who are working on CRs in GMAT would be thinking hard now.

I am watching a Telugu movie titled 'Radha Gopalam' now. Only thing that impressed me to watch the movie was the director 'BAPU'. I just wanted to evaluate BAPU in his new role. He has been wonderful as an art director for very long time. Oh GOD! It is hard to sit and watch this movie though Sneha did good job in the movie. I hate the dialogues and the substance. Looks like, BAPU realised recently that there is something called S*X that dominates when someone gets married. First half of the movie, there is nothing other than S*X.

I have to wach second half of the movie 'Swarabhishekham' now. I wanted to watch the movie as it is directed by K.Viswanath. But, it is a boring movie. First half did not impress me anyway. Just want to complete the task. Catch you guys later!

Infosys goes past TCS in market cap

2005-05-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

Reproducing the news item posted in REDIFF.

Infosys has vaulted past Tata Consultancy Services as India's most valuable IT services company with a market capitalisation of Rs 56,740 crore (Rs 567.40 billion) as of May 9, 2005.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange, Infosys shares surged by as much as 3.74 per cent to close the day at Rs 2,096.85 per share. TCS shares on the BSE moved in a narrow band to close at Rs 1,172.40 per share rising by 0.46 per cent. The TCS market cap on the BSE stands at Rs 56,286.92 crore (Rs 562.869 billion).

Now Infosys is India's fourth largest company in terms of market cap behind ONGC, Reliance and NTPC.

The increase in Infosys share price came even as the company sponsored secondary ADR offering opened on Monday. Infosys is sponsoring a secondary ADR offering on the Nasdaq of not more than 16 million ADRs, against the block of shares to be divested by the shareholders.

This is the company's second such sponsored ADR offering in the last three years.

The offer will close on May 19. The acceptance of the deposited shares will be communicated to the participants by June 8.
On the National Stock Exchange, the Infosys share gained 3.71 per cent to close the day at Rs 2096.60 per share, registering a market capitalisation of Rs 56,734 crore (Rs 567.34 billion). TCS gained 0.66 per cent to close the day at Rs 1,175.25 per share for a market capitalisation of Rs 56,423.75 crore (Rs 564.237 billion).

Headlines!

2005-05-06T06:41:00.000-05:00

What it is to go to University every fortnight just to speak? I have registered with a local Toastmasters Club . If my long term dream of getting into politics is to be realised, public speaking has to be the priority. I have discussed this option with Suresh quite a lot of times. Let me see how things turn out.
Labour Party is back in power. Tony Blair is one of those politicians I admire. He appears to be very passionate, determined, committed and energetic all the time. He has all the qualities that a leader is expected to have. It is surprising to see Labourr Party back in power though there was lot of negative campaign abt the Iraq war. Negativity in the political campaigns worked only in India.
Coming to sports in the city of Cincinnati, People at work are seemingly disappointed by the performance from REDS. Cincinnati REDs lost 12 of their first 15 games this season. Soccer is another fever people live with in this part of the world. Bengals has been doing well in that area.

What kind of blogger am I?

2005-04-30T14:24:00.000-05:00

Just happened to got to know about this questionnaire in What kind of blogger are you? I do not believe in this kind of a questionnaire. No serious but here it goes.

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read.
Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

Look who is moral policing us?

2005-04-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about posting on this subject after seeing the reaction from ShivSena. I should have done it atleast to stay on top in GOOGle Search.:)-
The recent sexual assault on a 17-year old girl by a Police Constable in Mumbai raised lot of questions about the policing in India. What if the rule maker breaks the law? Policing in India is a different subject to debate. Something that irritated me most this time was reaction from our Marathi tiger group, Shivsena.
Shivsena's article in Saamna details that women invite rape by wearing provocative clothes, such as hipster jeans and mini skirts. Oh GOD! What are these guys trying to tell us? Are these guys saying that Indian Men is so beasty that they cannot control themselves. What a shame? What are they advicing the Indian woman? Are they saying that every woman must prepare for the worst when they see a man on the road?
It has been the habit of Shivsena and other like minded groups to come up with dumb logic just to prove their existence. Only way is to ignore them. But, media can't afford to do that either. I was shocked when I read about the recent incident in Houston. What if Gayatri Mantra played in a fashion show? It could be the F-TV, beauty pageants, valentine's day celebrations and list goes on. People are very much concious about what they are doing and need no moral policing after all people do what they enjoy.
The recent order from Govt. of Maharashtra to close down the night clubs/dance bars is another example. There are lot of things that are of higher priority than the night clubs/dance bars for a new Govt to handle. Why do our politicians take on silly things? Mumbai's night life is talked about in India only because of its classv dance bars. How much is the tax collected from these hang outs? What is Govt doing now to have the Revenue receipts constant atleast if not for growth?
AP Govt.'s order to close down all the shops by 11 PM is one another thing that I hated most. Leave it to people. The Govt has to maintain the law & order not by making the city inactive by 11 PM but by having better rules and cops in place. what if the crime rate/freaky accidents go up during the day time? Are we going to have a new order asking everyone to shutdown early in the day? Strict policing is needed not the moral policing.