Snow!!! n no where to go!!!!

It looks like the end of the world here,
I really do know, how dooms day would feel like now.
I miss, the lady of my life,
And the situation,
Is adding to the misery in my life.
Events are freezing,
With the snow breezing,
I really do know, how dooms day would feel like now.


Peace creating melancholy,
Darkness creating gloom.
With white in a dark background.
I really do know, how dooms day would feel like now.


Nature delivering a subtle message,
Creatures dwelling in a warm passage.
The bizarre evening, without a sound,
Darkness scattered on the ground.
I really do know, how dooms day would feel like now.


Thoughts moving fast,
Feeling a little lost.
She is not around,
Yet, life goes on without a sound.
I really do know, how dooms day would feel like now.

OOPs!!!! m Brain DEAD! My brain's Drained!!!!

My friend and I , decided to randomly look for pics (read chicks), on orkut.... (and i must quote "we were not diggin in for chics, what we were trying to find out , is to see the number of ppl posin in front of the "BIG BULL" , "NIAGRA", "GOLDEN GATE".... or in general, the general American Scenic!!!!!! And to be honest, the number of such hits were astounding....,, it got me thinking about BRAIN DRAIN..... I have to admit, "M a horse in the race toooo".... Its a virtual, Brand building for the American tourism industry...... with students oozing out of every available university... there seems to be a certain oomph!!! in posing in front of such picturesque, and with the women here!!!!

This is not intended against the general desi public here!! cause m one in the bunch.. oops!! heap... so far i have pics, with my torso placed in front of , Niagra... , Golden Gate bridge..., Pittsburg...., Brandy wine Falls...... and lots of other pictures worth pasting on a social networking site!!!! Of course, this is not against the idea of using a networkin site... check the albums out sometimes.... These days there seems to be a lock on the pictures, but, i managed to find plenty any way!!!! try ur luck on.. i managed to kill a lot of time!!!!..

A crack At the BAck!!! What the %@#$!!!

It is true that, the Grey cells of an average human brain cannot comprehend all of what it sees!!!!! In this case, I am truly average, and my less than average discrete grey cells, cannot seem to decipher the whole logic of, walloping a persons spine on their Birth Day.... (Keep in mind, "they are only getting older") Called birthday, BUms or is it Bumps!!!!!!!!!
And besides, over the years, the birthday celebrations have only intensified... the new rule , is that you actually plan for the birthday in advance (so much for being proactive!!).... This brings a whole new meaning to the term latent usage... "for stale food stuff".... This is probably the only week in the year , when virtually nothin at home, n i mean NOTHING, hits the trash can!! (Wonder where all that goes)I guess u could figure that out!!!!!!

It turned out to be a little like, the war against the Nazi... But only in this case Hitler is not allowed to retaliate... and this is a total "Blitzkrieg"!!! I never understood that term , while it was taught to me in school.. , but having seen my rommie, experience it... understanding "Blitzkrieg" is not a problem , ne more..

Being cornered and cocooned, by a handful of his best buddies, (Including me!!), he so gracefully accepted the offerings , without retreat... And guess what? By principle we put on new clothing, while celebrating our birthday. That does not hold good any more!!!!!!!!! All you need to buy, is a heap of shampoo sachets, a wire brush to scrub the stains of celebration, detergent!! and no more bath soap.... and tonnes of room fresheners..
I sat back and reflected on this in, the pungent odor , which was the aftermath of the celebration... The more and more i thought about it... I realized that, what I once considered to be an average brain of mine.. was actually Brain dead... It could not comprehend the essence of a birthday celebration......!!!!!!!!

I don't think anymore..... I follow the tide.....






Pic: Courtesy: My fellow rommie, who so gracefully walked out of the massacre.. with a can of Hershey's Chocolate sauce in his hand!!! I guess he dropped some of the sauce on himself, his clothes look stained!!!!

Million dollar smile...

A smile... so innocent... wonderin where i found it???

Asoga, a small village in Belagum district, well known for the song ' nadiya kinare' of movie Abhiman being shot there.

River Mallaprabha flowing by and the rich soil has let the fields be green with paddy...

When i had been there with daddy... i prefered staying out than joing him in his colleague's house.

Cocks and hens around, buffaloes grazing, men on cycle with cut grass, women washing clothes, kids playing around in midst of rich green paddy fields...

I must thank myself for carrying the cam... else wouldn have been able to capture these moment...

This kid here posing for a photo rushed home and got his new shirt ('new shirt' to kids in other city and town would be the one bought just then from the shop, one which isnt washed even once...) held it on him and was ready...

I asked him to better wear it... and duh...! see the way he has worn it... but that goes unnoticed, for he is so happy!!!!

He also called his friends and just was there standing ready to hear the click... His smile so innocent.. free of all the worldly affairs... unbothered of studies, and wats stored in future...

His innocent smile worth millon dollars... i bet cant find such anywhere else...

Design process...

Desiging... Well desiging to we people is something as simple as sketching a pot for our garden or a table top. U have a pencil and a few sheets... something clicks u and its there on the paper with in seconds... so the design is ready... is tht all?? Wat next?? Wat about bringin it to its form... 3D form?? sure u want to... And so here comes something unexpected to make our design impracticle... Since we don wanna face this ' something' we follow a process... we follow some steps...

First of all we make ourselves clear with wat do we wanna design... a dress or a table top or some simple poster? that is THEME.
Second we list the things that inspire us to design for the theme. That is the INSPIRATION.
Now brainstrom to help ourself come up with the right design from the inspiration and make it fit in any theme selected.
Then comes understanding of the material to be used and the technicalities without which it is pretty impossible to bring the design to its 3D form...

So designing is pretty simple... isnt it???

Culture Overseas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

16th of September, at Akron.... over.. 200 Indians at the University of Akron...
The occasion was that of Ganesh Chaturthi... And to be honest to all the readers, i have'n quite experienced, a Ganesh Chaturthi celebration of this magnitude. Marked by, a certain diversity in everything that we do, and every principle that we follow, we Indians manage to carry our culture, so very well to every place that we set our foot on.




I go by the belief that this kind of an exposure is what actually teaches us to appreciate, our culture and a diversity that it carries.

I decided that I have to write something about diversity today. What exactly is Diversity?
I asked a friend once- She said , after a long pause "common ground!!! Different ways of perceiving !!! not perception!!!!" ...
Then I released I should ask more.... I'll probably come up with interesting perceptions,..
"Diversity is different cultures, staying together, sharing stuff from different backgrounds. A man coming over to a new state, and developing a sense of brotherhood!!"
----- Now why did the topic of state come into the picture?

"Diversification.... err , u understand right!!!!"
-----Nope I did not..

"people from different regions develop different kinds of customs based on the avaliability of goods, weather conditions etc,....."
-----I do acknowledge this one.

"religious tolerance among people who are different"!!!
-----A good one! But why is the definition restricted to only religious lines........

"it is got nothing to do with a particular aspect... but it is different aspects of a particular thing"
-----A very interesting definition Indeed!!!!

"a thousand opinions for one idea"
-----Is'n this a good one!

Well, why is diversity a topic based on religious beliefs? Why do we discuss people from a state in India, moving to a different place? why is it just, customs? Isn't diversity about understanding and appreciating any kind of a difference, on humanitarian lines. Isn't diversity a difference in the way we perceive things that we see and acquire as knowledge.With terminologies like, Bio- Diversity , diversity management, diversity Issues (Used by HR specialists)" the spectrum just widens. And if i google for it, i'll probably land up with more definitions, in fact there is also a magzine called DiversityInc????. So what is diversity??????
What's your take on it???????-----

Picture Perfect!!!!

It was the first week of August when my BIL read (Brother In law) gifted me with a Sony- Cyber shot.. A digi cam of my own. I loaded that with a 4 GB memory stick, and with 7.2 MP in my hand.. i decided while i was in the US Of A, i am going to make a hobby out of this.

As of now.. I have managed to keep up at that, and pick up a few good snaps.
To start with , this is what i captured at Brandy Whine falls@ Cuyahoga Valley. The water drops off from a height of about 60 feet. And this is the best I managed to capture of it. Not a bad start!!!!. This was shot at about 8:00 PM, in the landscape mode.

"The rock layers of the 60-foot-tall Brandywine Falls can be read like a book. Each chapter covers millions of years, as ancient seas left behind sediments that were compressed by added layers. The rocks here at the base of the falls were formed more than 400 million years ago.

Brandywine Creek and the"bridalveil" cascades began about ten thousand years ago after the last glacial retreat. The falls have now exposed the harder, yellow-brown Berea Sandstone looming over the softer, deep red Bedford Shale. Since sandstone is more resistant to erosion, the shale below is frequently undercut. As these layers wear away, the story of the earth continues to be revealed."---- source http://www.nps.gov/archive/cuva/visitonline/brandywine/BWFalls.htm.

Maid of the Mist.....

NIAGARA

A prelude, to the great water fall..., i chased this log for quite a distance before i could get this.. What is seen in the background is Canada. I tried hard to include the buildings in the background, and the pink light emanating is the light flashing on the water fall from the Canadian side..... So i guess... the beauty is not just in the fall...!!!!! On further improvisation i managed the second.. And it took me 8 shorts to get these two...

The pictures were shot @ 8:30 PM, Resolution 7 MP, in the twilight Mode...

Rendezvous’ --- AT the Regional Transport Office...

Well... Never thought i'd blog again.... I totally attribute that to the lethargy that has, sort of crept in, owing to a certain new social life..... that I am gaining on..

But this, i thought is worth a script.. Plan to make a play out of this someday.... May be when I am 60, and my kids have abandoned me....... cause I am sure that this act would hold good 60 yrs from now... OOPS!!! 40 yrs from now..(& 60-40 , is not my age).....



On this fine Monday morning, I decided to get my license done.... That thought only flashed me after a horrendous crash, a week in the ICU, and three months of bed!!!!! SO it was time I moved my butt, n got that licence after all....



STEP 1) I need an LL??????

Luckily I did manage to pass a LL test 6 years back. When, I was legally eligible for it...(OOPS!! did I give away my age!!!) .. I knew that could save me from a second round of direction test... I managed to dig that licence, out of a certain pant, that was awaiting disposal for like 4 yrs now.... n trust me, the waist size was a joke, have well surpassed it now, n have shattered the numbers usually associated with the girth!!! Now, that was irrelevant piece of information.. Whats important was that i managed to find it , n was half a days work..... I was really proud of my dad.. to preserve old stuff (read nostalgia, or latent implementation). He'd probably use that as a cloth to wipe the table. The Black pant was awaiting its turn.. N now it had served its purpose. It actually rescued me from the agony of a written test at the Y'pur RTO.



STEP 2) Gosh!!!!!! It has expired!!!!

Now a six year old LL.. how could I put that to use...!!!!!!

Well... Thirty ,30 Bucks and a signature later.... Its alive again.. Rite..

Well.. we are probably the only nation , who don believe on revision of policies... That's again irrelevant ... for now..!!! I have a whole write up abt that in the pipeline, where i met this Ex- IAS Officer, who was instrumental, in scripting the Indian IT Policy, and the VTU, syllabus for the IT related Fields. Has been six years since he was involved in that, n the poor policies are still the same.... No revisions, no amendments.. nothin!!!!!!!! History and its relevance today, rite... no technological advancement could cause any rework on those policies and syllabus... Start OF the Art.. to STALE OF THE ART!!!!!!!!!! .. the man is fuming.......





That's besides the point.. NOW, back to the Licence..

So how difficult could paying up, Rs 30 and getting an attestation be!!!!!!! Welll.... Trust me.. the crash was indeed a pleasurable experience compared to this!!!

ACT 1:

THE SCENE: AT the Y'pur RTO , 10 AM......



I walk up to the third floor, or a three story building.. It seems like a busy day there. On a second glance i realised, that 50 % of them are vendors who expedite the licence process, for a certain fee..... trying to entice prospective customers....



The third floor, has a section to the right , and one to the left, with tonnes of employees!!! and a help desk right ahead.. The desk was a white wodden table with its Ply ripped off, n obviously no customer care executive there!!!! what were u expecting??????



I moved to the section to my right.. cause there was no crowd there...

To the security guy there..

Me:--- LL renewal ge yelli hogali...
Guard:--- Two Wheelera, Four wheelera...
Me:--- Two Wheeleru
Guard:---- Opposite side hogi..
Me:--- Ok thanku.



At the Left end now, i passed the Help desk... No hELP there!!!!!



To a person sitting at the cash counter..



Me:-- Sir, LL renewal...

Cash Counter Person: Why you came for that here.. Second Floor, for LL.. ( Now the english was uncalled for, but i looked like a dued on that day, with a pair of denium and Reebok T.... that should have provoked the language assault..)



Now, I Had to go to the Second Floor... Passed the Help desk again... !!!! Don't ask!!! I did not find help...

Second Floor--- There was quite a crowd there... to the Man at the entrance.....

ME:--- LL renewal.
Man At the Entrance:--- SHow.


I flash my LL...



MAn At the Entrance:--- Third Floorge, hogi.. Counter alli 30 Rs pay madi.. cheeti thogondu kelage banni. (bunny me!!!!!!)

Third Floor-Well.. M at the third floor again. N , yes. I did pass the help desk.

Went to the payment counter, he pointed to the last person on that counter, when i flashed my LL.



I went to the last person, in the counter. The man must have been in his late 50's , awaiting a retirement. he had obviously just walked in. I was the first on that line.. So had a close look at his way of starting work. He cleaned the table, with a piece of Newspaper. the Keyboard, was quite a piece. The monitor, was an epitome of Cathode Ray technology... in its inception...

So the man, wiped all his belongings, including the keyboard.. and sat down to start work for the day. Opened the cash box.. N looked at me.. Rudeness, was all over him. I flashed the Licence and said "renewal". 30 Rs, he said. Luckily I had the exact change. We waited for the computer to BOOOOOOOOOT... Once it was done, he started to type in my details and finally clicked on print. The poor dot matrix printer, had not been reloaded with ink in like eons.. It managed to print the first receipt, and not the second.

Now what would the man do, CRISIS!! and he had no clue, that there was no ink. He told his collegue that, the printer was DAMMAR!!! ANd his friend suggested to use the other printer.... Now, that was too complicated to execute... A change of printer, How do i DO that!!!! SO he decided to write the receipt!!!!

He delligently wrote it, and signed his name, on it...

this was a 15 minute process , at 10:15 AM... GOSH!!!

ACT 2:

Second Floor--Now I am back in the second floor...

The setting, consists of about four tables, two on each side.. One side was empty, and the other had a person, sitting there writing something in a log book. There were a couple of helper ladies there.. HMMM!! i have to dig into their job profile sometime...

Well, the only man seated..



Me:--- LL renewal madsa beku..
Seated Man:--- Fee pay madi...
Me: -- Finish sir..
Seated Man:--- OK.. wait madi, sir will come.
Me:-- OK sir..



I walked out and sat on a bench. After dusting it off.....LOL!!!

I was there for abt 15 min.. And there were quite a few people there and they had this pink slip in hand.

I walked up to this good looking gal:::::::Hehe.. Hehe, and asked, she told me it was the renewal slip. She had her friend with , who was filling the form too...



So i went in again..



Me:-- Sir, Pink slip
Seated Man:--- Wait madi, Sir will come.
Me:--- Sir, kottare , nannu iyegale fill madabahoudu

I actually had forced the man, to do something that was not on his job profile. He went out of his way to bring me the slip!!!!!!!!!

I now filled the slip, gaping at the two women..

was about 11:20 now, and all of a sudden , everyone started to rush in... Alas , it was the Sir. He had set foot into the office...
I was in line after the two ladies.....

Sir to the lady (read chic) before me,

Sir:--- Yenamma, ishtu latu..
Lady (Chic)-- Sir, class itthu ..
Sir:-- Neevu helabaku, RTO tava kelasa ithe antha..
Lady (Chic)--- Sir , they wont let us go sir..
Sir:-- Akshatha, Hmmmmm. Nannu nimma principal ge helthini.. Akshatha ge licence mada bekku antha.. he will LIVE(Pls reade it as : leave)

That man was drooling, looks like he had'n seen a lady in ages...

Then My turn:

Sir:--- Yenappa, hand written. How will I know original or fake.
Me:-- Sir original, malle printer, alli ink illa. Thats why...
Sir:--- Ok , mathe male hogi CTO signature madkondu banni (bunny me!!!!!)

Only if I had BOOBS he'd probably signed on my LL renewal form.. Sadness!!!!!!!!!!


NOw I am Back on the Third floor, and yes I pass the HELPLESS Desk!!!!!

I go to the person who did the receipt and, he screams at me and says, sign alli idhe nodu..
NOw thats some temper...

Back in the second floor!!!!!!!! I walk to Sir, tell, him that the accountant said he has already signed.. and he says..

Accountant Illa .. CTO....

I walk back up, and its 11:40 by now.. and this is probably my fifth trip upwards...N yes the Help Desk does feature!!!! N we better not discuss that...

To cut the long story shot... I run around to find this CTO, character, and no one on the floor know who, or what CTO is???!!!!!
Alas, i walk back to sir down, n m pissed now,

Me:--- Sir, no body knows the CTO sir, they don't even know what that means.
Sir:-- Chief Treasure Officer Appa... male, right alli
Me:-- Sir, i have walked up and down like 10 times, neeve banni (Bunny HIm!!!!!!!)LOL
Sir, calls one person there, and says "CTO hatra karkondu hogu" That man cribs, and asks me to follow him. But between the second and third floor, there are like 40 steps, and a lot of people, he catches hold of this young lad, and says " Le, CTO ge karkondu hogu, sir anna",
and he says"ok anna".
Now I have had a change of hands.. . and i walk up the remaining 20 steps, with this lad... he pauses abruptly near the HEEEEELPPPPP DDDEEESSSKKK!!! to talk to his friend... At this point of time , i Am almo0st ready to burn the place down.... he turns to me and asks..

Lad:--- Yara Hattira, sir
Me:--- CTO
Lad---: Sir, avara hesaru
And i walk from there without a second glance.. enter the chamber to the left, bardge into the superintendents room, and ask him who the CTO is,

He says, Finance alli, last table!!!!

FINAL ACT::

I walk to the last table, there is a huge Queue there, and a man says to me, "belage inda kaithideve, inna bandhila"

Thats it.. i put the receipt in my bag, and walk out of that RTO at around 12:45, after a 15 minute wait.....

Then the Licence::: Who the F%^& wants it!!!!!!!!!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As on date, my Licence is considered valid, cause, the Sir in the second floor, sealed on my Licence, but did not sign, and no body seems to realise that. I managed to get my four wheeler LL done, using that LL, avoiding a test. And even the signatory, did not realise that my OLD LL, is not totally renewed, and lacks the signature...

HUH!!!!! so much for a system........

N my time.......

N yeah, the HELP DESK was empty , on my way out!!!!!!!!

My Perception-- RESULTS!!!!!

How many of us actually, foresee working through the day, and not crib..... how many don't suffer from a MOnday Blues, syndrome....


to a large extent , our lives revolve around our jobs, is'n it?????? We spend most part of our day working, and the rest of the day, inevitably depends on, what , where, and how, we worked....!!!!!!!


Recently, i was out on an Adventure camp, with a batch of consultants from one of the top notch database management companies...... the idea was to break the ice between them and deliver them back to their cubicles , as a functional entity, usually called a TEAM!!!! I had at my disposal, 48 hrs, n a lot of adventure activities, i could use to my credit.


This is my third job, in the two, actually 1.5 yrs of a certain Career... Made some erratic decisions... n made some good ones... Hey!! but no qualms on that... " we gotta keep walking" ... rite!!!!.. , "its what we learn from it, that's imp"....n the cliche surfaces again.





ASK QUESTIONS


Rule 1, in my experience book, is to ask as many questions as possible......

I recently read this article by SUBROTO BAGCHI- Titled " the cucumber seller of Chennai", a fantastic article about, his encounter with a cucumber seller in Chennai.. It flawlessly describes, information, as a tool to self advancement....


Tho, m not a software engineer by profession, i have been watching a bunch of novice s/w professionals work at our software development centre.... Guess they are writing a CO DEC for video streaming , on a wi-fi bandwith... I realised this bunch of really intelligent girls and guys, who were plugged on to their computer, were diligently carrying out the work assigned to them at the, start of the day... I had been closely following their work pattern and this helped me trouble shoot the consultants , who werep part of the camp.

The consultants who were a part of this camp had just executed a certain project presentation, n were down n out, cause, their presentation din manage an iota of appreciation from their project manager, n team lead....
WHERE DId they GO WRONG!!!!!!!!

THats when i realised the value of RULE 1: to them the project was really difficult to execute, and the presentation was something, that they had to work even harder on... but wht they did not put into perspective was the end user.... the CUSTOMER!!!! and the only way they could have eliminated this disaster was to find out where their tool is to be incorporated.. n more importantly, by WHOM... and the best way to have achieved is to ASK.
I always find it easier to work on something or executing a certain task, when i know wht the end result should be..or whom it is targeted at.... i guess thats where marketing has the edge, u r tuned in with the customer... Thats the kind of awareness i found missing!!!!!!
But again its my perception, n m not a s/w engg...