Live Life King Size

India vs Sri Lanka

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:50:46 GMT

Top 3 batsmen get century each :)

Wow, what a match !!!!!!!!

Gautam Gambhir 167

Virender Sehwag 131

Rahul Dravid 108

After 101.0

Cartoons These Days

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:54:32 GMT

This happened a few days ago. I was alone at home and hence was lazily surfing all the channels on TV to find something interesting to watch or spend time. The usual pick is HBO followed by other movie channels or some Discovery/ NAT Geo Channels.

Some one odd reason nothing seemed to be interesting at that time. Suddenly came across cartoon channels. It instantly brought back odd memories when I used to watch cartoons back to back for hours. My favorite was Tom and Jerry, Mogle, Donald Duck, Swat cats and lot more. I thought let me watch some carton just like old times.

I was in for a complete shock for what I saw. In my school days cartoons were all fun and humorous but what am I seeing now. God!!!!!!!!!1 A kid starting at a Girls Breast!!!! A guy giving a girl a Smooch!!! and lots of sexually explicit material on a Cartoon channel!!!!! Is this what the kids are met to see ?

Only yesterday I saw in a newspaper that Govt is trying to ban a game called the Rape Game made by some idiots in Japan. Where on the earth we heading towards.

Disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alternative Job

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:28:29 GMT

Being in IT industry for the past 5 years has made me tired. Same office, same seat, same computer, same code, same food, same .... I hate to go to office now a days.

When I got this job 5 years back it was a dream come true, but now I have stopped dreaming. I must confess that working in a Product based company, I am leading a comfortable life compared to others working in a Service based company. Good salary, No restrictions on Dress Code, No restrictions on Timings and many other facilities. But over the time I feel its still not good enough (Am I being greedy). What ever it is I need a change.

IT industry brings with itself a lot of other added features, i.e Obesity, Junk Food, Stress, Loss of Sleep, Laziness... Every time when I met my friends (All from IT Industry again), the usual topic of discussion (other than marriage) is quitting the current job and starting something new.

Two market segments never seems to be majorly affected no matter what the condition is, One is Food and other is Education. A few topics came up last time when I met my friends, i.e starting a Hotel, a Coaching Institute, Hardware supplier to a big company and many more.

If we want to start a hotel then it needs to be something unique. For example, Hyderabad Biriyani -- Specialize in Biriyani's, South Thindies which specializes in pure South Indian dishes that you usually don't find in other hotels. (We waited for 3 Hours just to have coffee in that hotel)

As my friend Sudi pointed out we have around 50,000 Engineering Students coming out every year.
So that's 50k + 50k + 50k + 50k = around 2 Lakh Engineering students at a given point of time considering 4 years Engineering course. Being professional in IT industry for past 5 years has given us enough knowledge that we can easily take up coaching for these students (Trust me what you learn in college is nothing at all).

Everything needs investments and patience until the business picks up. But if there is one thing that I can right now jump on and start concentrating is "Agriculture". Once upon a time I was forcing my Dad to sell out all the land we have in the village, now the situation has changed, forget selling, now I a more eager to buy any land that's available.

We already have land in our native and some part of it has Mango Plantations. Remaining part of the land is vacant and is used to cultivate seasons vegetables.

Farming is not so easy. You are always at the mercy of Nature. But if things go well then its the best investment you can make. Remember that money earned through farming is totally legal and Tax free (I think so).

Our farmers use the old fashioned way to do things. Thanks to Internet and new R&D, we have loads of Information available to make farming in a better and profitable way. Of course I would not be concentrating on farming as the primary source of income but it would be parallel with some other job.

Another thing that can be easily done is setting up a small resort in the Farm Land you have. Lots of IT people would be waiting to get out some place calm in the weekends. What better than a peaceful farm house away from all the traffic and noise. Not a bad idea na. I had been to once similar place in Ooty. Its called the Parson's Valley. The owner had a few rooms for the quests to stay in his farm and on the other side he was cultivating carrot in his farm. Two incomes from a single place.

Updates

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:35:39 GMT

1) Finished my Nike Human Race last month (Clocked 75 Min for 10 km, Few min slower than previous 10k run). A great party organized by Nike after the race.

2) Came back from YHAI Udupi Beach Trek, 3 day program. 2nd Day trek was 16 Km done in 8 Hours. Completely sun burnt and tired after that. Will never again travel in a Private Bus especially in a sleeper couch.

3) Gained weight (Again) almost 7 Kgs more than my Least weight in resent months. Diet starts from now.

4) Got a new car yesterday, Hyundai i10 Sportz. Finally i own a car. (I really don't consider my old Maruthi 800 as a car any more)

5) Planning to Quit the job. In fact the whole IT career. Hopping I could get into some other alternative career. This will take some time but some day it will.

6) .. .. ..

Arrived Yesterday

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:26:24 GMT

Hyundai i10 Sportz

A dream come true :)

From Missln

Updates

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:28:36 GMT

Good News:
1. My Car loan got approved. (Not as much as I expected, but never mind)
2. Finally the Income Tax Department is processing my Tax Refund, was quite surprised with their response.

Bad News:
1. My 4-wheeler Driving License was rejected. I flunked in the test. Disappointing :(

BSA Cyclothon Bangalore

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:26:57 GMT

Dated: Sunday 11th Oct 2009
Event: BSA Cyclothon Bangalore
No of cyclists : Around 7000
Cycling Experience: Great
Event Organization: Worst, No proper Water, No proper food.
Distance: Elite (65 KM), Amateur (36 Km), Corporate (25 Km) and many more.....

Too lazy to write the whole thing, so here's the link for a well narrated blog describing what happened yesterday in detail from Srikanth...

Blog about the event and our brush with misfortune and come back: The Blog

Photos from Srikanths Canon Camera: Photos of the event

Wake Up "Sid"

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:37:49 GMT

Saw this movie yesterday. From the promos one could easily make out the story line. Its got be a story of a Rich, Spoilt guy who is having a blast during his college days and later goes though mid life crisis and then becomes a very talented guy once he finds out that life is not just about spending your Dad's money. A romantic touch is also added by including Konkana Sen.

Many of us (including me) would feel this film is inspired by "Lakshya" staring Hrithik Roshan. Well actually the baseline of both the movie might be the same but in the later part, both the movie take different paths.

I would not call this a great movie, but not bad either. Nothing so special that would leave a memory in you even after coming out of the theater. You can not really compare this movie to Lakshya. Well Lakshya was a better movie any day.

I would go with 3/5 for this movie.

Busy Weekends

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:15:24 GMT

Weekends have become quite busy these days...

Last weekend went out for a trek (That turned into something else, a whole post is still pending)

Next weekend I am off to BSA Hercules Cyclothon Bengaluru on Oct 11th. Its a 50km cycle ride to be held at Nice Mysore road. Got lots of company for this one....
Cost: 120 Rs (About ~ 2$ )

On Oct 24th I am off to another 10k Marathon run organized by Nike. For this event I have not got any company still, but i am rearing to run again :) (Hope it rains that day. Its always been a dream to participate in such events in rain). In the previous Sunfeast 10k run i could finish the race in just over 60 min. This time hope to do it under 60 Min, Wish me luck
Cost: 600 Rs (About ~12$ )

Lazy

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:14:26 GMT

Feeling Very Lazy ...............

No Mood to do anything

Waiting for the new iTunes setup to download and complete installation so that i can go to bed.

(Ops, closed the window by mistake, thank God LJ remembers what you had typed earlier and saves it as a draft, just in case .... ) Technology for the lazy guys

Shopping Spree

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:58:14 GMT

A shopping spree denotes a playful and “devil may care” attitude in a single shopping trip where lots of money is spent. A spree can be defined as a carefree or pleasant outing, in the pursuit of purchasing goods.

Got myself a new Mobile Phone: A Sony Ericsson W705

From Missln

Ordered for a new Casio Protrek Triple Sensor PRG40-3VDR

From Missln

That would make it the 20th Watch for my collection. It's still on it way to India from US. Sujay suz_me has already got the deliver of the watch :)

Got a couple of Shoes, that takes the count to 23 :)

Got a couple more jackets, that takes the count to 17 :)

Don't I love shopping :)

Happy Engineer’s Day

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:56:53 GMT

You can be a Doctor and save lives…

You can be a Lawyer and defend lives…

You can be a Soldier and protect lives…

But why to play with other’s life???

So we simply became an Engineer to screw up our own life 

Happy Engineer’s Day

Final Destination 4

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:49:02 GMT

Watched this movie on Saturday. Feel it was the greatest mistake that I have done this weekend :).

I could have rather slept at home than watching this movie (and saved some money too)

It was like paying just to see people die onscreen. I know its the whole theme or the concept of Final Destination series but this one went over board. The first movie was brilliant and last sucks to the core. It was disgusting.

I would rate 0.5 / 5. My suggesting, you can skip it safely.

Indian way of doing Bussiness

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:34:25 GMT

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in Washington D.C. One from Bangladesh , another from India and the third, from China .

They go with a White House office to examine the fence.

The Bangladesh contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well", he says, "I figure the job will run about $900. ($400 for materials, $400 for my team and $100 profit for me)".

The Chinese contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700. ($300 for materials, $300 for my team and $100 profit for me)".

The Indian contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Indian contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from China to fix the fence."

"Done!" replies the government official.

End of Life

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:24:55 GMT

Recently noticed the two things I use the most are nearing there so called "End of Life..."

I am talking about my Bike (7 year old Hero Honda Splendor) and my 2+ years old Sony Ericsson W580i Mobile.

Off late the bike is struggling to keep up. It even struggles to climb a steep road on 1st gear!!!
For the past seven years I never had an complaint against my bike, it was best I could get. So sooner or later I might have to tell good bye and move on towards a new one. (Sooner or later as in a year or so)

My mobile is also at the verge of complete collapse. Every time I drop the phone my mistake it splits up into 6 pieces. I need to collect all those pieces and reassemble it, and guess what, it still works!!!!!!!!

Just waiting for a reason to change my mobile but not until the current one is still working...

Life !!!!!

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:06:27 GMT

Simplifying Life:

1) Deactivated Face book, I never understood or used it properly
2) Closed Twitter, again never was able to use it properly
3) Closed eBay account. Don't want to do any shopping there
4) Closed all my Mutual Funds, Now no more worries if the market goes up or down. Such a relief. Hell with money making with shares and funds, I am happy seeing my money lying in my Saving Account. No more Blood Pressure seeing the market crash every now and then :)

Complicating Life:

1) Switched over to Tata Sky+, (DVR), just to watch Roadies that would be starting soon
2) Finally ordered for the Casio Pro trek watch, Cost me a fortune but never mind :)

PS: It's been a long time I wrote a blog, just now noticed a neat "Detect" button next to Location that automatically detects where i am !!!!

From an INFOSCION to a POLITICION - Nandan's Chronicles - 2

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:30:33 GMT

Got this in a forwarded mail today, again not sure its true but still sounds like its true.

A nice read... Here it is...

Continuing my tryst with capturing the life and times of Nandan Nilekani in his new avatar as a Cabinet Minister, here is what he had penned after his first day in the Parliament. The last entry stopped when the House was just about to begin. Let’s see what happened thereafter….
The House was in pin drop silence. I was brimming with anticipation and excitement!!!! Manmohan had informed me that my introduction was one of the important points of the agenda. I hoped that I will be able to make my speech properly. After so many interviews and conferences, I was nervous today!!!! After the Speaker indicated that the proceedings of the House could begin, Manmohan formally introduced me to the entire House. He mentioned that as the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India, I was responsible to ensure that each and every Indian had a digital smart card as a proof of his existence.

Manmohan spoke about why I was selected and also some references to the various projects executed by me in Infosys were mentioned. The House listened with rapt attention. I was asked to say a few words and I did exactly the same!!! I thanked the Government of India for having given me this opportunity and I assured the House that I would strive to successfully deliver this project. The Speaker then formally inducted me into the House and before the proceedings could move any forward, there was a small commotion on the other side of the hall.

It was Minister of Textiles who had a comment to make before the next point on the agenda. He made a request that I should be attired in a more austere way instead of a flashy suit. It did not go well with the image of a minister who should live to serve the common man and should be less ostentatious in his habits. I stood up to reply. I offered my apologies to the Honourable Minister and assured that I shall be in a more acceptable dress next time. I felt that he was right. We also used to have corporate dress code in Infosys. So it's here as well!!!!

I sat down and felt somebody nudging me. I turned around and to my surprise; it was the former Indian skipper and one of my favourite batsman Mohd. Azharuddin. I remembered that he had recently won the elections. I smiled at him and mentioned to him that I used to like his game very much, shaking his hand. No Rolex, I noticed. Azhar told me that he would “fix” me an appointment with an Italian designer who had designed his dapper Kurta suit. An Italian designer in Milan doing Kurtas!!!!! I made a note of this and reminded myself to give this example to Friedman for his next book,” The World Markets are flattened”.

Since there was no doubt about the “Fixational” capacities of Azhar, I told him to give me the details and I would consider. The proceedings of the House went on with numerous bills being debated and passed as I sat as a passive audience waiting for my project’s turn to come up. After the lunch break, it was the moment for me!!!!

MY PROJECT”S FIRST REVIEW CAME UP FOR PRESENTATION.

I was at sea. My laptop did not have any reserve power. I went to Manmohan and apprised him of the situation. I was sweating. He calmly replied that this would not be a cause of concern. I was flummoxed!!!! The Speaker asked me to explain to the House on what were my plans for the Unique Identity Project. I replied that I have a plan prepared for 30-60-90-120 days’ milestones and I have presentation to make for which I need a power socket, a projector and a screen. I had no idea what was going to happen after this.

The next couple of minutes were a complete jolt for me. I was completely in a tizzy. Let me just summarize what happened. A Joint Cabinet Secretary Committee was set up to judge the feasibility of my request. The Under Secretaries for the Ministries of Power, IT and Broadcasting will prepare a Viability Report after scrutinizing National Security threats to my request. This was because the power socket comes under Power, laptop comes under IT and projector comes under Broadcasting. I have also been told to reconsider my timelines of 30-60-90 days and start thinking in terms of years. Probably, they are right. I did not have the foresight in this matter.

The summary of the issue is that I need to come up with a more inclusive, democratic, comprehensive long term plan for this project to be executed over the next five years. I have also been given a presentation slot 3 months from now (by which the issues related to the power cord etc will also be resolved). I am filled with mixed reactions. I was planning for a quick resolution; the management wants a strategic solution. I come out of the House and text Murthy.
“You won’t believe it but these guys work just like us. I am on a NATIONAL BENCH for the next three months!!!!!!!!”

iPod Touch update 3.0

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:04:26 GMT

Yesterday I found that I could update my iPod Touch firmware to the new 3.0 release. It costs me almost 9$.

The update took around 45 Min and at the end everything seems be working smooth as before. Later I uploaded a couple of new songs and decided to go for a walk listening all the new songs that I had just transferred to my iPod.

But something was not write. I switched on my iPod and was walking as usual but soon noticed that the songs are getting changed even before they are complete. At first could not make out the reason for this stranger behavior. I was sure it had something to do with the new firmware upgrade.

The songs kept on changing very randomly and even started to irritate me. I just switched off and completed my walk. Came back home and searched what went wrong to my iPod that was working just fine till yesterday. Then got to know a new feature that's got added to 3.0 release that has "Shake Shuffle", so every time you shake the iPod the song changes, Ok Great and this feature was turned on by Default.

Ha finally turned it off and back to enjoying the music on my iPod again :)

Internet Problems

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:03:23 GMT

My internet problems never seems to die down. After switching n number of service provider, I recently tried with BSNL. Every thing worked great for first two months. Things started to go hey-wire from May.

First the phone connection is dead for 18 odd days and then the internet is dead for another 7 days. So in the entire month of May I could use hardly 4 to 5 days of my internet but still had to pay the full amount.

Come June, I used my internet for the first 5 days and after that the phone line again goes dead. In spite of repeated complaints and even visiting BSNL office there had been no proper response from them, my phone line is still dead. Its already 21st today and will have to pay one more month full bill with out using it.

Ok, enough of it. I don't need this any more. Out goes BSNL, Hell with it. In comes Tata Indicom Photon +.

It cost me 3500/- Rs for the USB modem. I have opted for 750 /- Rs per month plan where I can use 120 HR in a month. The speed claimed according to Tata is UPTO 3.1 Mbps but what I have seen is it usually varies between 1.1 to 2.4 Mbps and that's good enough for me.

I don't know for how long this one will work now!!!!!!

Sunfeast 10k Run

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:53:24 GMT

Yesterday I got my photos for the Open 10k run that was held on 31st May. Along with the photos we also got to know our timings for the event. I took 1 hr 12 Min to complete 10 Km run.

Hopefully I will bet my record next year.

Poem!!!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:22:54 GMT

Not sure if true, found it in one of the forwarded mails.

"This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of 2006, Written by an African Kid

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray

And you calling me colored??"

Camping at the last camp site, sarpass trek

Tue, 19 May 2009 05:18:50 GMT

It was a lovely way to end our trek, This was our last camp site. It was more than what we could ask for. This place is called "Bhandak Thach" also nick named as "Switzerland of Sarpass Trek"

Phone line swapped

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:43:26 GMT

I came back home after a long holiday in the Himalayas only to find my BSNL phone line dead. Now with out the phone line, broadband will not work!!!!!

I tried connecting with dial up connection on my other phone line (TATA Indicom),<>/i but as we all know Dial up sucks. Took almost 10 min to upload one single photo....

Finally decided to raise a complaint in BSNL for the dead phone line of mine. The next day I woke up and again checked if my phone is working and walla its working. I was so glad to back surfing using the broadband.

But sooner I kept getting calls on my BSNL phone line for a lady called "Mary". All the calls was for the same lady, I got tired of telling people that no one called Mary lives here.

Then some doubt crept in my mind. I cross checked the number of phone line (basically I called my mobile number from my land line so that it shows up the number) Guess what it was a different number.

I tried calling my land line number using my mobile. I can hear some phone ringing over the mobile but its not the one in my room.

Ha, so much for the BSNL repair system. They have swapped my line with some one else's....

Now I need to again run pillar to post to get this rectified. God sometimes I hate BSNL.

Sarpass trek

Fri, 15 May 2009 01:27:23 GMT

Done with sarpass trek, will be posting about the trip and the photos soon. Currently sitting in Delhi air port waiting to checkin my luggage

The group was 51 strong in the begining, 3 people had to because of some family emergency.

The day before we were supposed to leave we got to know that 2 people expired on the way to sarpass due to severe cold.

Hearing this news the strength again reduced. So now we were only 44 members.

After 3 days of trek the weather went bad again, some more people dropped out. The team group strength was now 29

After reaching the next camp the camp leader again warned us about the bad weather and the heavy snow storm that was happening.

The next day again some more people dropped out. We were now reduced to 21 members. Inspite of the warning from the camp leader regarding the weather and the risk we were about to take, we decided to move on and complete the trek.

By 12:30 pm on the 5th day of the trek we crossed over the sarpass. This is one of the best trek that I have done so far. The first time I saw snow fall I was playing like a kid. We spent 2 whole days in ice. The experience was great. Something I will not forget. Was totally isolated from outside world. Lots to catch up with and tons of mails to read

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

No Lunch

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:11:46 GMT

We were have a catering service serving us from past couple of months. But in the resent days many of our colleagues started complaining about the quality of the food. The food committee finally decided to switch over to a new catering service.

The old caterer was informed yesterday about termination of this contract from coming Monday and that today will be his last day... That's since the contract with the new catering service will start from Monday only

But I guess the old caterer got angry with the fact that his contract was terminated did not send any food today.

People waited till 1:00 but still there are no food served. When the HR called the old catering service at 1:00 only then they came to know that no food is arriving today....

HR sent a mail that we need to manage today's lunch by ourselves since its too late for any alternative arrangements.

So today the whole office went out for having lunch....

And we as usual went to Hyderabad Biriyani for a delicious Chicken Biriyani :)