Life or something like that !!

Today was a long day !!

2011-08-06T01:36:00.003+05:30

Half awake and sleepily, I look at my mobile, oh boy couple of missed calls and message from my wife. How long did I sleep? What's the time? 8:45 in the night. So I slept only for 45 mins. Time now for quick chat with wifey and then quick dinner.

At 10 pm back at room with couple of articles, one text book chapter to be read before I could try my hands on the case to be read for tomorrow's strategy management class.

Flashback to 7:30 am the same day. Grudgingly I am getting out of my bed. Its time to get ready fast, have a quick bite at the mess and run for the class. Professor is already in the class and next hour and a half is about how to manage a world class operations. After assimilating concepts of operations research in the previous term we are learning operations management this term. Though explained in manufacturing terms, fundas are on managing supply chain.

Next two class, for full three hours, are on corporate finance management. Again we have had our finance base created with managerial and financial accounting in earlier term. So how would you raise capital for your venture? Shall you go for debt or for raising money through equity? Should you consider approaching a venture capitalist or go for private placement?

At 1:30 in the afternoon, its time for a quick lunch. And by 2:15 we are back again, just in time, for economics class. So is trade between two countries good? What if one of the country is small in GDP? What is absolute advantage and how it is different vis-a-vis comparative advantage? Why import tariff? Why quota? Ohhh, enough for today man!

But no. There are another two classes lined up for today. Change is only constant, they said. So there it is, gyan on how to lead and manage change. Using case professor is explaining the nuances of change management. 4 teams have come prepared with their analysis of cases and making presentation. Once teams are done with their presentation professor takes over and summarizes the learning from the case.

7:30 PM - Finally we are through with a long and grinding day.

Back to current time. It is already 1:00 am and I have just finished two articles to be read before I start with the case. Thankfully tomorrow ( today?) classes starts at 10 so I can still stretch some more. 2:30 - done with the case. Time to hit the bed !!

It Depends !!

2011-06-20T01:10:00.000+05:30

It has been exactly a couple of months since I came to Joka Management,
as IIM C , situated at Joka in Kolkata, is known among the taxi walas. And it has been nothing less than a roller coaster ride beginning day zero. Sometimes these two months seems like two years and at other not more than two weeks.

There is no single way of doing things, no right solution. The very first lesson we had on day zero when we were introduced to the nuances of case methodologies. With each passing days there were some aha moments and also challenges to our structured, rational and straight jacketed thought process, mainly shaped by our background in science, technology and engineering. But unlike technology life is not predicable and so does the business, and people who are at either side of the business. As they say at times one has to unlearn to learn. Now I can vouch for it. When at the end of case analysis you find all 44 people have come up with different solution for the business issues presented in the case and prof says that there is no right or wrong solution and all these solutions can be correct then the engineer brain becomes very uncomfortable. Every technical problem has a single solution after all, even though ways to getting to the solution can be different and every way of solving the problem can be logical justified. But business is not technology. In these two months my brain , which tried to rebel initially, has understood and accepted the fact that management is fluid. Technology is not the indicator of life, business and management surely is.

Among all procedural pre-readings, lectures, quizzes, assignments, exams, projects there have been quite a many aha moments. You start to understand and appreciate the reasons behinds seemingly incongruous things. Like, why cokes and pepsis of the world spend fortune on their advertisement.

By the way do you have any idea that the cost of your Dell laptop can depend on who uses, workers or managers, the staff canteen at assembly plant at Dell? Things in business are not as straight forward and simple as it is in engineering. For quite a few questions the answer is "It Depends!!". And as you'd realize in business and management things really depends on many factors.

Even though BCG and HBR attribute Honda's success in US in 1960s to Honda's well crafted strategies when in fact it was by fluke Honda tasted initial success, and answer for quite a few things is "It Depends" I am loving it !!

Que Sera, Sera !!

2011-03-23T23:57:00.002+05:30

Life is difficult.

This is a great truth, one of the greatest truth. It is a great truth because once we know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. -- M. Scott Peck in The Road Less Traveled.

There are only so much one can influence when it comes to things that affects one's life and its future course of action. Some one rightly said that there is future of desire and then there is future of fate. To some extent life is sum of the choices one makes, but even then not every thing can be planned and turned out to be as much as planned. But one thing among all this, that is very important is ability and strength to accept the current situation.

Sure plan ahead and take steps to make planning a reality but then be aware that things may not turn out the way you have planned. Have strength to accept the outcome. Be happy if it turns out to the way you had planned and if that is not the case, collect the broken pieces and move on. Why me and other such questions can only aggravate the suffering and delay healing. If you can do something to get the favourable outcome , do it or else just accept.

In the future when you look back at the turns of the events and try to connect dots, every thing will fall into places, everything will make sense. For events which are not making sense, wait some more :). In the end, everything will be fine, if it is not fine, picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!!

Whate will be, will be!

So Why Raavan Was Flop!!

2011-02-07T14:19:00.001+05:30

"Amit?" called out professor one, P1. "That's me" I replied. "Lets go".

And I followed P1 to the interview room, where another professor, P2, was going through my profile file. After exchanging pleasantries P1 asked about my job profile and responsibilities. I told them that I take care of all aspect of project management.

P1 - "How would you explain project management to a lay man?"
I started to explain taking example of going to a movie and building a building. While doing so I must have used couple of project management jargon. P2 interrupted and asked if I am a PMP? I answered in affirmative. He went on to ask couple of questions from project management , like that of Gantt chart, PERT etc.. He then asked me to draw a network diagram. I managed to answer them satisfactorily. P2 then said he was done and asked if P1 had any question.

P1 - "In your essays you have mentioned that you read books. Which book have you read recently?"
Me - "Simply Fly".
P1 - "But that's a management book. What other books have you read?"
I mentioned books of other genre which I had read. One of them being Harry Potter.

P1 - "So you follow Harry Potter. What is the name of the sport he plays?"

P1 - "And how it is played?"
I explained based on what ever little I remembered about the sport.

P1 - "You have written that you are a movie buff. Which is the movie you have seen?"
I told him whatever the movie was and went on to explain the storyline of the movie. P2, who was just observing me all this while, asked if I have seen Raavan? I said yes. "So what do you think why was Raavan flop?" his next question. "Ouch, let me think" I thought. Then I went on to explain what I thought could be the reason of that movie being a flop.

After that they said that they were done and asked if I had any question. I asked them something, wondering if that was all. There wasn't any regular interview question like why MBA? why now? short term , long term goal, no quants questions. They didn't even check my certificates as is norm with IIM C. Yeah, they did ask if offered an admission what kind of accommodation I'd prefer, another norm in IIM C interview.

And so I came out of the interview not knowing what to expect. Because of my fickle mindedness by the time I started application for IIM C I had only 3 weeks left before the deadline. I wrote the essays thinking these essays could be used as working draft for other IIMs and ISB application. But even then I wrote with full conviction and being true to myself.

Only with the final admission offer I understood that it indeed is one's overall profile , consisting academic performance, GMAT score, professional career, leadership potential, essays & recommendations and interview, which gets you in.

Now I am looking forward for one great year ahead.

The impatient generation!!

2011-02-03T16:50:00.001+05:30

We? Nah. In face we are the transition generation. As teenagers we stood in the queues to pay electricity bill, to get cash from the bank, to get reservation in the train, to buy ticket for movie and what not. By the way in those days not many houses used to have a telephone connection.

At the turn of new century things changed drastically for us. As adults, with the advents of credit cards and internet, we hardly needed to stand in queues for things, especially things mentioned as above. Along with these there have been influx of quite a many private service providers for things affecting our daily lives. You just give a call to customer care and someone comes down to collect cheque for the payment. Businesses now have facility to remind consumer of their due payments or car servicing and things like that.

So far so good. We are now used to fast and efficient services and rightly so. But looks like things need further improvement if I go by my experience today.

With financial year closing there are quite a few investment policies for which due date is nearing and I thought of paying dues for all of them today. I chose to go offline mode for this.

I started with Bajaj Allianz. To pay the premium all I had to do was to give the cashier my policy no. and then make payment by the credit card. The whole process took not more than 10 min. including waiting time. In fact I always have same good experience with them.

Next in line was Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual. With places directory app on my android phone I searched for nearest centre of Kotak. Though the listing has a phone no. also , phone was constantly busy. Anyway, based on the addressed I got in the places directory I reached the centre in no time. Shock no. one, they don't issue receipt the same day if the payment is made by cheque or dd (I wonder who makes dd for this purpose) and the bigger shock, they dont accept payment by card. What the hell? A bank as big as Kotak Mahindra does not accept credit card because they don't have the machine. I thought of paying by cash, but there system was down. OMG. #fail. By the way I tried to pay online also, but their system says no due.

Next was ICICI Pru. All these years I have been handing over the cheque for premium to the agent and he has been very good in his services. This year has been different. Again the places directory came handy in finding the office location of ICICI Pru. Once there they asked me to fill a form for making payment by credit card. There way is little different. Even they don't have credit card swiping machine but they can facilitate offline. After taking necessary details they gave me the acknowledgement.

So if big banks like Kotak and icici still don't accept payment by credit card I don't have patience to go and withdraw money from bank and make payment. I am better off using on line mode of payment. I just did for LIC :)

Dream dreams, no one else can see !!

2011-01-28T17:05:00.003+05:30

Sometimes you wanna run away,

But you never know what might be coming round your way,

'coz on a day like today, the whole world could change....

There are dreams. And then there are childhood (teenage?) dreams. I have been pretty good at studies and like many other capable students in India I wanted to be the part of selected few at Indian Institute of Technology for my graduation. By the time I reached into class 11th, my goals were clear. First, get into IIT and then go for management studies from Indian Institute of Management. In India for an intelligent science student the combination of IIT-IIM education is zenith of academic qualification. And that became my dream.

Slogging 10-12 hours daily during 11th & 12th and then for another year after that, I could not made it to IIT and settled for second best in line for technical education in India, REC. At that point of time there is only so much one can do and instead of further (especially in Bihar and UP guys keep trying to get into IIT for 2-3 years after there intermediate!!) continuing my pursuit for IIT I joined REC. And never regretted that. A significant part of me is ME because of my association with the college.

After I was done with my graduation I started my professional career. The task in front of me was pretty cut out. Work for couple of years, write CAT and get into IIM. I was little cocky of my abilities and used to be damn sure of getting a call for GD-PI post CAT. Nevertheless, I never compromised with my preparation for CAT and once again slogging started. I used to devote 4-5 hours a day, apart from office, for my studies. Being from Hindi medium background (yes, I did my complete schooling in Hindi!) English used to be my Achille's heels. Hence most of my time went into improving my English language skills. I was quite comfortable with my quants. But the result, mere 92 percentile in CAT. I fell flat in my first attempt.

Subsequent attempts resulted 92(again),94 and 96 percentiles. After 4 attempts, sincere attempts I ended with no call and a broken dream. It was not about studying for MBA, it was about studying for MBA at IIMs. By the time I stopped my attempt for CAT (My work experience was going towards higher side for 2 yr MBA from IIMs), couple of IIMs have started 1 yr MBA for experienced professionals.

I waited for a few years before taking GMAT, first step towards these executive MBA. And another year for having leadership experience. Meanwhile I was married and professionally doing reasonably good. IIM remained my unfulfilled dream, but routine life started taking toll towards that. I wasn't sure if I'd apply for MBA.

But then "When you know what you want the whole world conspires you to achieve it". It was around July last year, by then the application process for admission into IIMs were already started but I was still in two minds. Due to changed circumstances at my present organization I decided to give it a last shot. I had decided if I don't make it to IIM this time then that'd be it.

But that was not to be. I am indeed going to IIM for my MBA this year. I am part of class of 2012 of PGPEX at IIM Calcutta. But surely miles to go before I sleep :)

Somewhere there's a place for you,
I know you believe it too
Sometimes if you wanna get away
all ya gotta know is what we got is here to stay, all the way!!!

Lyrics (c) Bryan Adams.

We are like that only!!

2011-01-27T13:44:00.002+05:30

February-March is the time when almost all salaried person makes last minute hurry to plan for tax savings. Various investment options are explored and invested in, so one can have tax saving. So far so good.

"Hey, do you know some travel agent? And medical shop?" Another usual conversation around this time. Remember, usually this is the time when you have to claim leave travel allowance and medical allowance. Which is reimbursed on actuals. Well, how many of us need to utilise entire amount of medical allowance and lta? Not many. But hey, both are part of my salary, my hard earned salary. Why should I give tax to govt. on these. So, I'll find a travel agent and medical shop , who can give me bills for the entire amount which I am entitled to in return to a few percentage of the amount. That way I retain the tax money which was in fact suppose to go to the govt. Its my money after all.

But when Mr. A. Raja and Mr. Suresh Kalmadi does the same, then it is corruption !!!

Are we not like that only.

Cinderella's Shoes !!

2011-01-20T13:32:00.005+05:30

Year was 2001-02 and time was not really good for we guys in the final year of engineering. Recession had hit the usual buoyant mood in the campus. There were few and far between companies coming for the campus recruitment. One such company was X, which came calling for us. They conducted a written test, mostly on business awareness, as part of their recruitment process. Those days I used to regularly follow a business magazine, BW, and this magazine used to have a regular quiz on business awareness. After the written test of X, I was totally confident of getting through to next round as this test had almost all the question referred from the magazine BW. But to my utter surprise I was not called for the interview, the next round.

A test which was to test you on business awareness and where you have answered almost all the questions correctly was not enough to get you the interview call. I was shocked. But that was it.

Later I mailed the guy, who came to our college for recruitment on behalf of X, explaining my stand. I wasn't expecting a reply to this mail, sent by a disgruntled student. But a few days later there was a reply from this gentleman. While explaining his company's recruitment policies he asked me to recall the story of Cinderella. He asked me "Amit do you remember Cinderella's shoes? Its about the right fit of the shoes and the feet.And it does not really judges the size of the feet." Something similar goes on with the selection process, he said closing his mail wishing me luck.

And the lesson stuck with me. I went on to finish my academics and went back home without a job. Around a month later we received a mail from college's TnP about a company, perhaps last visiting our college for our batch, coming for recruitment. I was again back to college. This time I was through to second round after aptitude test. My first round of interview was OK except that I told the interviewer that I wanted to work of couple of years after which I'd like to go for MBA. As opposite to other guys I wasn't called for second round of interview. But to my astonishment I was one of the selected student.

And thus I started my professional journey 8 years 7 months and 10 days back. After exactly 3 months from now I am going back to academics with the hope of another level of transformation. First level came with the association with REC Warangal. Which taught me to believe in my capabilities; be myself and true to myself; aim high and perseverance and not to miss out Cinderella's shoes :)

Are we to blame!!

2010-03-20T20:50:00.003+05:30

It was a summer evening when my little bro came home after his play hours. And along he brought a little , bruised and almost dying , sparrow. He had found it near his play ground and out of child like curiosity he got it home to see if we can save , at least try to save, its life. There wasn't much chances of survival of the sparrow, which had not even properly grown wings and looked like attacked by some animal, but being children for us nothing was not possible unless tried. So we started operation save the sparrow.

We put dettol on the bruises and applied ointments. With cotton we poured drops of milk to its mouth. Which the sparrow seemed to be taking in. Then we let it rest. We had a discarded mechanical mouse catcher , which was made as its nest.

The sparrow started responding to the care taken by us and gradually its bruises started healing. In an week or so it had fully recovered and in the process all of my family members developed a liking, an attachment towards it. We continued feeding milk to her and it continued growing.

It seems that the sparrow also started recognizing and associating with us. In the day time it used to fly here and there in the house and as soon as we used to come back from school or papa from work it used to come to us. flying from me to my brother to my sis. It used to sit on the shoulder of my dad. That was very unusual for a house sparrow , or we never heard of any. Strangely it never flown out of the home and remained within it. Playing around with us all and then sleeping in cosy bed , prepared especially for it in the mouse catcher. We were getting used to its presence in the house.

One morning when got up and were expecting to see the sparrow , it wasn't around. First we thought that perhaps it has flown away but when we saw its nest it was still there but in the pool of blood , dead!! Previous night we missed to close the gate of mouse catcher and perhaps a mouse killed the sparrow.
Boy , were we sad. It was like loosing some near one. We buried the bird near our house. That was a short but intense relationship between humans and a bird.

This happened some 16-18 years back. Now I have been living in Hyderabad for last 8 years and I don't think that here I ever saw any sparrow. Once ubiquitous house sparrows are not around. Who is responsible!!

On World House Sparrow Day!!

Phatela jeb sil jaayega!!

2010-01-02T11:02:00.005+05:30

jo chaahega mil jaayega

Tere bhi din aayenge chhote,

achcha khaasa hil jaanyega

And so goes lyrics of one popular Hindi number, which Ganja and I used to sing along around 8 years back. Year was late 2001 and we were in final year of engineering at REC Warangal. IT slump of 2001-02 saw fewer and fewer companies visiting us for campus recruitment and most of my batch mate, including me, were left high and dry. Cut to 2009, things have changed for all of us, settling in life now.

Christmas holiday of this year resulted in a long weekend and gave me an opportunity to have a short trip to my alma-matter, now NIT Warangal. Early morning on Christmas day I, along with my wife and a close friend, started for Warangal. Once we reached there and were inside the campus I was like wow, all old memories of college days became live in front of my eyes. I felt like I am reading stories from an old book. College was being given a face lift after becoming NIT 7 years back, but the underlying essence remained the same. All the places in the campus had some or other memories associated with it. We roamed around entire campus, I reliving those good old days.

First year classroom reminded me that I used to sit on the first bench, without fail. One day I was little late to class and Kiran had occupied that place and I was like how dare he. Being holiday classrooms were closed but I could open windows. Opening each window and peeping inside the classroom brought some memories or other from that room. Second year’s room reminded me of Robot, who used to teach, no rather read out from the book in very robotic manner, and hence the nick name. By the time we were in third year my regular sitting place has almost reached to the last bench (one of the reason, among others, was my tallness :-O). A chalk fight in classroom on back of IAKR, third year. And HOD asking me to leave the class for not attending his previous lecture, final year. Krishnanand caughting Jhakki in his attempt of proxy, drawing class. Mistaking a professor for support staff, design class. We standing outside the examination hall and many of us still trying to cram, before commencement of exam, civil department, usual venue of our exams.

Entrance of our department, where we posed for photograph during last few days in college. The graveyard abutting the boundary wall of college , where we ventured late night about 1 am when we were returning after watching a night show of some movie. The audi , in front of which Chaudhary and I sat and discussed our future. SAC, spring spree of 2002. Main entrance to the college , we were stopped from entering as it was way beyond permissible time of 11pm. NCH and NSH , attending PPT from companies. Boy , there are quite a lot of memories from those days. I would not go on recollecting memories from our hostel area , essentially most eventful of all places.

By 3 in the afternoon we were through with campus. Then we ventured into the town. There was this Kalinga dhaba where we dined for 50 bucks (those days we hardly had money). Public garden , the usual venue for intro after ragging. Amrutha hall, where we used to watch movies in just 16-18 bucks in the comfort of AC.

After reliving all these and many more memories from college days for an entire day we came back to Hyderabad in the night.

Attending this college has influenced me in many ways.All the four years attended here were enriching. I was getting prepared for the real world. My thought processes were refined here, my world view changed, interacting with people from all parts of India helped me broaden my horizon. Few of my beliefs got strengthen, others got shattered.A significant part of me is only because I attended this college. Getting a degree and helping me start my career were just bonus.

Going forward, Rukne ka nahin, thakne ka nahin, life mein chalte rehne ka

So Where Are You From? !!

2009-12-19T14:53:00.006+05:30

The other day I was at the eye clinic , waiting for my turn to see the doctor. There was this old lady sitting beside me and we striked converstaion. She asked where am I from? Ummmm , lets see.

I was born in Gaya , brought up in Motihari (Both in Bihar). Then in Narsinghragh , a remote village in south Jharkhand. Then next 8 years I was in Jamshedpur , where currently my parents are settled. Then I moved out to Warangal, in Andhra Pradesh , for my graduation. After which I have been working in Hyderabad close to 8 years now.

So where do I belong to? Bihar . where I was born. Or Jharakhand , where I was brought up. Or Andhra Pradesh , where I studied and then currently working?

Am I a Jamshedpurian , where my parents are settled now and where I frequently visit. Or am I a Hyderabadi , where I stay to earn my living?

Or am I an Indian?

Anything That Can Go Wrong Will Go Wrong !!

2009-11-23T12:02:00.000+05:30

Who is the Murphy anyway?

Who ever he is, he makes his presence felt when you are least likely expecting him. Sometime he acts as spanner in the wheel and other just a deflated tyre. But for sure you , me and others are affected by him day-in , day-out. Him affecting us can be minimized but the thought of altogether removing his presence would be a foolhardy one.

However we can be better prepared to tackle anything and everything which may, potentially, go wrong.

By paying attention to detail. Even before you start executing, a well thought out plan should be in place. This is the "well thought out" part of the planning I am stressing at. Proper care should be taken in initial planning so as to capture all necessary activities needed to complete the task. While listing down activities you would know what could possibly go wrong while executing the task. And that's where you need to have your contingency management in place. Which can be arrived at by "what if" analysis. What if one of your key people falls sick !! What if your development system crashes!! This analysis will help you identify possible areas where things related to your project can go wrong. You can anticipate them and can avoid them by taking proper care during execution or you can be well prepared in case the event occurs.

Even after paying proper attention to detail at various stages in the project things can go wrong. Now use those learning as your experience but make sure that next project onwards these learnings are put in to practice. Or still better learn from others mistake.Please remember that everybody needs help sometime. It is good to learn from one's mistake but it is still wiser to learn from others mistake. Perhaps at organization/team level a document capturing what went wrong in a particular project and what was the learning, can be maintained and shared. Just to ensure that same mistake is not repeated / similar situation dont repeat.

Sooner or later, something fundamental in your business world/ the factors contributing the the success of the project will change. As Andy Grove said "Only the Paranoid Survive". Being paranoid helps you to analyse ,to be better prepared. Be paranoid , but be sure that you act as well. Otherwise being paranoid is sure sign of failure. Dont overdo.

But one thing is for sure that in spite of one's best effort shit happens and then you dont have any other option than to accept it. Dont fret , take lesson and move on. You'd be better prepared for future.

I want my money back!!

2009-11-14T11:28:00.002+05:30

When was the last time you saw a movie almost entirely shoot on sets? And foreign locations for songs? That is very 80s man. Add to that childish situational comedy and sub standard acting by the male protagonist. You have Gazab Kahani of Ajab Prem. How many Indian Christian you know who speaks Hindi with forced English accent, the female protagonist and her family does so in the movie.And oh, add to that Atif Asalam’s voice for Ranbir Kapoor.A full two and half hours of atyachar.

Not even a month back RK gave appreciable performance in Wake Up Sid and in APGK he was almost pathetic. A director’s actor?

So you can’t speak Bihari!!

2009-11-08T16:35:00.001+05:30

No, I can’t. And wait a minute there is no language as Bihari. It is the way we speak Hindi out there sounds like altogether different language, aka Bihari or perhaps a new dialect. Well it is not a dialect either. It is Hindi with regional flavor and some accent to it.

You find many dialects of Hindi being spoken in Bihar, one such dialect Magahi (Magahi paan, beetle, is famous all over India) is what my folks speak. And I don’t know Magahi as well. In fact hardly many in my generation speak Magahi. That is sad. Essentially languages are very integral part of any culture and with most of us confining ourselves to English lately its matter of merely a decade when not many languages would be around. In face I read somewhere that every year 400 languages are getting extinct every year (?). Can something be done about it?

Technology, Entertainment, Design!!

2009-11-08T16:29:00.003+05:30

So TED was here, here in India for three days. TED talks going for three whole days in Mysore. But I could not attend those sessions. Reason: money honey!! It was too costly for me to attend. Well never mind, there is always next time. But there is addition to the To Do list and someday I don’t only want to be in the audience at one of those TED sessions but I want to speak at one. Hopefully on the topic related to technology and design.

I can motivate people !!

2009-10-31T13:32:00.001+05:30

Not really -- they have to motivate themselves. You can't motivate people anymore than you can empower them. Employees have to motivate and empower themselves.I can motivate only myself. If I have to motivate my people to deliver result then perhaps they are in wrong job.

Having said that, an environment, however, can be set up where they best motivate and empower themselves. The key is knowing how to set up the environment for your people. Essentially you can be enablers for others to be motivated[self].

I am exploring the ways to do so for my team. Obviously organizational level parameters like money, career growth and skill development , recognition etc are already in place. What I am looking for is team level local enablers.

The Strange Relation !!

2009-10-27T17:43:00.002+05:30

We had recently joined the college and were under the process of “getting introduced to seniors”. For R Basu, my classmate who was from West Bengal, the usual question asked was if he and Jyoti Basu, the then chief minister of West Bengal, were related in some way? Obviously that was not the case. And that’s what R Basu used to tell. But you know seniors; they were never giving up on the question. Fed up one day R Basu said yes there was a very strange relationship between him and Jyoti Basu. Strange relationship? As in? He replied “ We are strangers!!”

Eats, Shoots and Leaves !!

2009-10-25T11:24:00.001+05:30

That's about the red Panda you find in the Himalayan mountains. And sure enough they don't go around shooting as the title suggests. Its about red Panda's food habit and I intend to say that they eats shoots (mostly bamboo) and tree leaves. An unintended comma distorts whole intended meaning of the sentence. Which could have been avoided had attention to detail been paid.

Paying attention to detail does help. Be it professional front or personal life. You put clothes in the washing machine , put required detergent , let in the water and switch on the machine. But did you put the water outlet at proper place? Missing to pay attention to detail on the process of getting your cloths clean using washing machine can flood your entire house. I did that twice :-O.

Shipping application/delivering product/concluding project on the deadline promised looks to be a wishful thinking. But I know this is very much possible had attention to detail is paid at various stages of development cycle. To begin with, estimation goes wrong and this has cascading effect on the project time line. Lets take example of software development. One thing is for sure that developers are a helluva optimistic lot of people. The time estimation is usually based on gut feeling and experience. And that is certainly not a scientific way of estimation. Experience could be one parameter but coming out with the estimation solely based on it will not give you justifiable estimation.

Striving to do the task right first time should be the approach taken. Once a task is assigned it is very important to understand ,before you begin with implementation , what needs to be done. Then comes how it would be done. Essentially what all activities or sub tasks would lead you to completion of the task. So understand and analyse the task and break it down to several sub tasks. Once this is done , write down all the sub tasks. Review the list for some missing steps/detail. Refine the list based on self review.

Now get the list of sub tasks peer reviewed. Iterate through above two if needed. Then consolidate the list of sub tasks. Essentially now you know all the steps leading towards completion of task. This list help you in having control of what needs to be done and will help you arrive fairly accurate estimation of time. At any point of time during the development you can correctly measure the progress and rightly adjust the time line, if needed.

I categorise the whole process : paying attention to detail. Though this is against the normal instinct , inertia acts against this once included as part of regular process will significantly help one to be in total control of development process.

वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम !!

2009-01-21T15:56:00.000+05:30

Watch Kenya sing for India :)

I Am Too Busy !!

2009-01-03T23:48:00.005+05:30

....to attend this meeting!!

Well one of the most common trait of being Indian in India is not being punctual (Incidentally same Indian when in other countries on business becomes very punctual, huh!!). We, at office, have this daily status update meeting. And sure enough apart from usual issues like not sticking to the agenda of the meeting, late start and hence later finish of the meeting was norm . We tried many things (like some games, yes games!! and monetary fines etc.) but in vain.

Then some time back we hit upon this idea of a ball with " I am too busy too attend this meeting" written on it. And anybody coming late will be made to hold this ball for entire duration of the meeting. And guess what? It worked. Now within the grace period of two minutes everybody is in :).

Not a nice way to make respect time but effective nevertheless!!

Go Beyond Lighting A Candle!!

2008-12-28T00:05:00.003+05:30

A candlelight vigil , as described by Wikipedia, is an outdoor assembly of people carrying candles, held after sunlight. And this is in vogue.

There was this unfortunate terror attack in Mumbai and we all saw public outcry and their angst against political establishment. Every citizen of this country started wanting to do something for his country. But what can an individual do? Oh wait; there is this novel idea of a candlelight vigil. A symbolic solidarity for victims - of Mumbai terror attack or Jessica Lal. So we lit a candle, join people in-mass and that’s it. Our part is done. We feel content. At least we joined the peace march. We did our bit. Then we, The people of India, go to hibernation till something else happens.

All this is good. At least we still have some feelings left of our country and countrymen. But this is not it. We need to go beyond just lighting a candle. Otherwise that is just hypocrisy.

Or what else you say when you see people not bothering to even stop when there is some accident. It personally happened with me. I was pillion rider with a friend. He somehow lost the balanced, bike skidded and both of us fell down. By the time we got up at least 5-6 people on their bike crossed the site but none of them stopped to help us. And no, there were not aam junta. This happened very near to my office and all of them must be working one or other IT company in the IT Park nearby. I am not denying that in general people don’t help but there have been many cases when they pretend not to see anything. God forbid, but had there been any casualty these very people would have participated in a candlelight vigil shouting slogan against govt's negligence to maintain proper road. Hypocrisy, I say.

Or what else you say when you see people not following a queue. And then complaining about slow working of government officials? The other day I asked this lady if she mind coming in the queue. Instead doing so we snapped on me saying that that is how she get canteen coupon daily and no body objected. And mind it this happened again in the canteen of the IT park. Hypocrisy, I say.

Or what else do you say when people refuse to follow traffic signals and lane rules . I was waiting at a red signal and this gentleman behind me was honking continuously for I refused to give way to him to cross the red signal. Hypocrisy, I say.

Or what else do you say when people, including me (I even don’t have a voter Id card and I am past ten years the voting age. Shame on me.) don’t exercise their franchise but keep cribbing about the govt and its policies. Hypocrisy, I say.

Armchair intellectualism is good for discussions but that does no good. Now is the time to stop talking and start doing. Lets go beyond just lighting a candle. Lets be change at root level and the bigger changes would follow suit.

And We Stand United !!

2008-11-29T22:57:00.004+05:30

In paying tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in fighting the Mumbai terror. We all deeply mourn the loss their families we as nation have suffered. This is heartening though to know there are still few who don't care for their lives even when they are at the line of fire when they are doing their duty. The India salutes you all. May your soul rest in peace.
Amen!!

What Next !!

2008-11-29T12:20:00.006+05:30

Lets face it, our current government has been a complete failure in tackling the securities issues. And intelligence department,, huh,, is complete farce. I know a person working with IB , claiming that the department runs on paper clippings, news articles and its source of information are media coverages. Even if you take that with a pinch of a salt, that is like WTF?.We need complete revamp of intelligence system.Not to forget about change in help at home department. Some news paper rightly commented that Shivraj Patil is the most incompetent home minister ever. Home , foreign , defence and finance ministry all need some dynamic and aggressive leaders. Not to miss the prime minister. All these guys needs balls to take some decision above from party politics. Do they have in them to take some decision and stand by it , similar to testing nuke??

Thats for government , lets look inward at ourselves, we the people of India. Proud to be an Indian?? For what ?? The poverty , the backwardness, the petty politics, the vulnerable security. Huh!! We are no where near even China. The all this talk of being superpower is just bullshit. To be a superpower , a developed nation we have to rise above just armchair intelectualism . Now is the time to stop talking and start doing.Most importantly change in attitude of each and every citizen of India is required. Boss it is not somebody else problem. For God's sake ye nahi chalta hai. Change starts from within. Lets be the change neccessary to make India the superpower. Enough is enough.

I Am Scared !!

2008-11-28T22:21:00.006+05:30

Yes,I am scared about safety,my safety,safety of my family,safety of my neighbor.Who is responsible for our safety? I don't want to be another victim of a blast or a bullet. Who will ensure safety of each and every citizen of this country?

Its gross , its outrageous. Whatever happened in the Mumbai.

An event can change the whole course of life for somebody. Now is that time for India. Life will not be same again for us, Indians. We have to stop being indifferent, we were not being tolerant. We were indifferent. There is no Mumbai spirit. People were just indifferent. It didnt happen to me, thank God. Next day everything is normal. God damn it!! How can one ignore what happened in trains, and continue with one's daily life as if nothing had happened. That is not tolerance for God's sake. That is indifference to reality. As long as I am not directly affected that is fine. I dont care what happened yesterday and carry on with my own life. That is escapism. Turn back face the reality. If this time we dont do that , we , as nation, can never rise up. Enough is enough.

And That Aint You !!

2008-10-03T21:44:00.007+05:30

The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

Stumbled upon this quote from Rocky Balboa.

{(14 - 11) != 2} !!

2008-08-19T23:56:00.004+05:30

Nor (11-8 ) is equal to 2. Stupid!!

Whats Your Name Sire ? !!

2008-06-23T17:30:00.005+05:30

"Hello sir, I am calling on behalf of Tata-AIG. Can I have few minutes of your time?"
"And that would be regarding?"
"About some products of ours".
"I am busy, please give me a call some time tomorrow."
"Okey sir. May I know your name sir??"

WTF?

So these tele-marketers just pick up any no. randomly and call up. Without even knowing the name of the person, forget about having other relevant information of the person they are calling up. Some time back I had registered my no. in NDNC Registry. Now it was time to make to complaint to my telecom service provider. I called the customer care and lodged a complaint against violation of NDNC service.
If you are constantly bugged by different companies for takeing credit cards/loans/insurance policies and what not , it is time to register your cellphone no. to NDNC Registry and putting an end to all unsolicited commercial communnication .

(Don’t) Be a Balti!!

2008-04-21T13:57:00.002+05:30

Kyunki jo balti nahi hote hain o chori karte hain.
Blatant plagiarism on Ibibo.Check out this link and now go through my old posts. This is bloody bull yaar !
I tried to contact the author of the post , but there is no way I can contact him without registering with the site and proving how big a balti I’m. I have sent my concern to the owner of the site using contact us link. Lets see what they have to say about the same.

Customer Care !!

2008-04-15T13:07:00.004+05:30

In continuation with previous post , I saw contrast in services provided by E-Zone (the seller) and Eureka Forbes , Whirlpool (the actual products). I assume that it was fault of E-Zone that they didn't inform Eureka Forbes of the our buy , and hence delay from their side. But once aware of purchase they immediately sent a person to install the purifier. And this guy did a great job. They even followed it up by calling and inquiring about installation and satisfaction of service. At the other end I also got call from Whirlpool for proper installation and working of refrigerator. They called me up quite some time to ask for my convenient time so that they can come down and demonstrate. That is how you create good feeling for your customer.
E-Zone , take a clue from them.

E-Zone Sucks !

2008-04-15T11:40:00.002+05:30

Visit E-Zone only to check out products of various brands and their prices. Once you have made up your mind based on the features you are looking for in a particular product, just get out the shop and visit regular old timers electronics shop to buy the stuff. Treat E-Zone only a place to compare features of a product and perhaps prices too. Coz , even if you save few bucks here they have pathetic after sales support as in delivery itself. Once the money is paid they think there part is done with. You will not receive the delivery of the goods as promised.
I bought a tv, refrigerator and a food processor from this place. Surprisingly they did deliver tv and refrigerator on time but missed to deliver food processor. Then started endless calls to ezone. With every call all I here is by tomorrow the stuff would be delivered. As they say, tomorrow never comes. I needed to go back and threaten them to get the delivery next day.
Once bitten twice shy!! In my case I repeated the mistake of going back to them for buying water purifier. They do have all available brands for the product and that’s where they stand out. But I wish they do take bit effort to service that as well. So I bought the water purifier and they promised that somebody would come within 48 working hours to install it. That day being Saturday 48 hours means coming Tuesday. Fair enough. It was only after three such Tuesdays and n numbers of calls to them the installation was done.
Buying a product does not stops with paying for it. The whole buying experience start with the visit to the store and not until you have started using it the involvement of the company ends. So having competitive price (I doubt if they are really competitive) is one part of it. Any company needs to ensure that they have support for customer till they start using the product and also after sale proper service. Only being cost effective does not suffice. You have to support it with equally good support and service. Unless E-Zone does that , my verdict is E-Zone sucks.

By the way we are almost done with setting up our home :)

You Are Invited!!

2007-12-25T00:30:00.000+05:30

It all started around seven months back, when our parents exchanged our phone numbers and then passed it on to us. Yes people , marriage was definetly on cards. As things would have it, early may this year Ruchi and I had our respective phone numbers.

We spoke couple of times over the phone before we decided to meet in person. And one fine day, around mid may, I landed to Pune to meet her. We spoke in length at Barista , and by the time it was time to say tata , both of us knew that we had found the one. Yes , we had found someone to grow old with , and share the set of artificial teeth when we are old.
Next six months were roller-coster ride for us. With all roothna-manana to sweet nothings. From our dreams to all our nightmares.All our similarities to differences. All success and failures.All apprehension and reassurance.Irritation and affection. We had it all. Amidst rising phone bill, late night phone calls and leg pulling of colleagues we got engaged on Aug 4th.
Come Jan 19th and high phone bills , long hours spend on phone and early morning spicejet flight to mumbai (enroute to Pune) , will be history.

That is the day Ruchi and I are tying nuptial knot at Ranchi. Haldi, Mandap (on 17th Jan) and Dhritdhari (on 18th Jan) preceeds main marriage ceremony and will at my residence in Jamshedpur.Join our celebration of beginning of our new life together.

Paris!!

2007-09-25T01:20:00.000+05:30

Dolfinarium,Harderwijk!!

2007-09-18T00:33:00.000+05:30

Putten!!

2007-09-18T00:31:00.000+05:30

Brussels !!

2007-09-15T03:23:00.000+05:30

Amsterdam!!

2007-09-15T03:22:00.001+05:30

Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!!

2007-05-13T00:49:00.000+05:30

What a man Richard P Feynman, 1965 Physics Nobel laureate , was. As Hans Bethe, another Nobel laureate mentions " There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can habe no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician."

Few quotes from the book of same title as the title of this post:

Be explicit. You can not just hope that I've cought on by osmosis. :)

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that.

Everybody needs help sometime!!

2007-05-05T00:12:00.000+05:30

Even Spiderman does. Spidey 3 turns out to be okeyish type. Watch if you are a fan of Spidey!!

Fighter!!

2007-04-30T11:02:00.000+05:30

Kyunki Fighter kabhi haar nahi manta!!

Taken from here.

Late Night Teleconference!!

2007-04-12T18:44:00.000+05:30

It was a long five way conf call with old friends from college. What a delight it was. Nadeem is in Bangalore, Nitesh in Kolkata, Sashi in Raighar and Rajesh in Mumbai. Call lasted 2.5 hours. Really had a good time pulling each others leg and going back to good ol college day. Nostalgic journey!!

I happens only on Orkut!!

2007-04-12T18:30:00.000+05:30

A sample friend request

Passionate about making new married felame friends ... (Still trying to explore the reason why?) If your persuasions matches with me .. add me as friend or message me ..

Wierd,huh!!

New Addition!!

2007-04-09T15:40:00.000+05:30

A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Surely You'r Joking, Mr. Feynman!

What a delight - (1)

2007-04-09T15:37:00.000+05:30

To watch Ghulam Ali performing. He was here in Hyderanad as part of TOI's Hyderabad Fetival!!

Vishy is no. one!!

2007-04-04T10:18:00.000+05:30

At last. For very long, as long as I have known Viswanathan Anand as Indian chess player at international level, he has been no. 2 player in international chess. Finally in the latest list of FIDE ranking he gains the title. Congartulations Vishy!!

Hyderabad gives a damn!!

2007-04-04T10:17:00.000+05:30

To the bandh called upon in support of reservation. Unlike Chennai where people supported the move (going by pictures of deserted road which otherwise used to witness traffic jams) here in Hyderabad traffic condition was as usual. Only thing missing from the road was rtc buses. One thing which I didn’t anticipate was police machinery doing their job. You can see traffic cops doing their usual duty despite the fact the bandh is backed by Congress, the ruling party at state as well at center.

Way to go Hyderabad.

Things To Do - (3)

2007-03-16T00:00:00.000+05:30

Watch Aurora australis/Aurora borealis.

Things to learn - (1)

2007-03-13T00:37:00.000+05:30

More dance steps !!

Joy in small things - (2)

2007-03-13T00:33:00.000+05:30

Travelling in a khatara bus and listening to hindi songs cassestte in which small dialogues from movie precedes the song reminiding you the good ol days :)

Doctor's marriage!!

2007-03-13T00:24:00.000+05:30

Recently been to Mathura to attend a friend's marriage. That was over all a good trip. One thing that stands out is that during the course of the trip I used almost all modes of transportation on land and air. The trip started from Hyderabd on 9th march and culminated back to Hyderabad on 12th march.Hyderbad - (by flight) -> Delhi - (by car) -> Mathura - (by bus) -> Agra - (used cycle riksha when in the town, by train) -> Hyderbad (by auto back to residence)!!

It was nice attending doc's marriage at Mathura on 10th night. Here is wishing all the best and a very happy married life to you Doc and Kopal!!

Joy in small things - (1)

2007-03-13T00:20:00.000+05:30

When you drink water like this :)

image couretsy http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/

Tajmahal - The Engineering Marvel!!

2007-03-12T22:28:00.000+05:30

"Magnificent" was the word came into my mind as soon as I saw this view of The Taj. Asthetic beauty apart, did you know that The Tajmahal is a symmetric structure. Not only the main structure but other accompanying structures are symmentrical to the main building. Its very clear from its floor plan. Only thing that is out of proportion in the whole scheme is the grave of Shah jahan, wchich was added later. Taj mahal is one of the finest example of beauty and only after you see this you can appreciate its true beauty, both asthetic and technological.

Entry in the wikipedia mentions that their wasnt a single architect but this project demanded talent from many people. Same entry mentions that the whole project could had been costed more than $300 million. The poet Edward Lear once wrote: “ The population of the world is divided into two categories. Those who have seen the Taj Mahal, and the others”. I am happy to belong to former category :).

The inspiration behind the tajmahal ,as that say, is the love of Shahjahan for Mumtaz, and after visiting Tajmahal, I also think that such a beautiful structure couldn't have originated but from the most beautiful emotion - "Love" !!

floor plan courtesy http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home

Goal - (1)

2007-03-08T21:43:00.000+05:30

Get a score of 780-800.

Things To Do - (2)

2007-03-08T21:36:00.000+05:30

Watch Federer playing in grand-slams/masters cup, before he retires!!

Being a mother !!

2007-03-06T21:25:00.000+05:30

Means having a job most challenging, full of responsibility and accountability and if done properly , the most fulfilling and satisfying one. This post is for Prashanti, a good colleague and Shweta, a very dear friend, both of them are entering into motherhood.
Richard Branson, Lance Armstrong , Jack Welch and Subroto Bagchi, among others have attributed their success in one form or other to their respective mothers. Parenting is a full time job and the role of mother, between two of the parents, is more important because of obvious reasons.
I strongly believe that it is the foundation of childhood upon which one’s personality, behaviour, character is built. Its during childhood you got to inculcate values, ethics, integrity, strength of character in your kids, so that they grow up to become a good, disciplined and responsible citizen.I am sure you’ll raise your kids to be a great human being before they become a good engineer/ doctor/ model/ singer/ sports person/media person/ politician/ writer/ actor.
Here is wishing you both all the best.

Things To Do - (1)

2007-03-01T21:34:00.000+05:30

Attend TED conference!!

Past is the Prologue!!

2007-02-11T01:25:00.000+05:30

What makes a movie, movie? Stars? Story? Entertainment value? Cinematography? Dialogue? I'll say its the amalgamation of all these and more. Consider movie as an art form and watch Black Friday, the release of this movie delayed for three good long years. The movie is essentially adaptation of the book by same name , though i have not read the book and usually movies made as adaptation of book does not create the same effect of book (Harry Potter being exception :D), this movie stands out from other such effort.
The way the story is presented, without being judgemental and showing the facts with emotional dittachment is remarkable, movie is based on 1993 bomb blast in Bombay. Going back in the past and unravelling the plot. Cinematography is good, all the scence captured with red frame, showing interogation by police , interspersed with original clippings of Babari Musjid demolition, and blast sites creates good effect.
All the chacters have done justice with there respective roles. Aditya Srivastava, as Badshah Khan delivers a powerful acting, characterising an accomplice of Tiger Memon, on the run after the blasts. The way he portrays his helplessness, his frustration on being on the run , is just too good.
Now Kaykay Menon.He is such an wonderful actor. He is just outstanding performing a cop, at times ruthless, at other frustated. Menon delivers all nuiances of emotions with perfection.
All other artists gracefully fits in the larger scheme of the plot. The director , Anurag Kashyap, with his directorial debut (a movie which finally released) finds himself in the genere of director whose film can be watched just because he is the director of the film.
If you really like no nonsense movie for its art value, this movie is a must watch.

ख्वाब !!

2007-02-09T23:01:00.000+05:30

आधे अधुरे ख्वाब जो, पुरे ना हो सके,

इक बार फिर से नीन्द मे,वो ख्वाब बोने दो !!

Life is no movie!!

2007-01-27T00:06:00.000+05:30

and events would not turn out to be the best possible available option in a situation.

If this were one of the Hindi movies Hassan and I used to watch, this was the part where I’d run outside, my bare feet splashing rainwater. I’d chase the car, screaming for it to stop. I’d pull Hassan out of the backseat and tell him I was sorry, so sorry, my tears mixing with rainwater. We’d hug in the downpour. But this was no Hindi movie.

Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner.

Resolutions 2007!!

2007-01-26T23:54:00.000+05:30

Okey, resolutions are meant to be broken and I, on the same day sat in front of TV and watched The Bigg Boss and have been following all the actions regularly ;-)

I think when anybody makes a resolution, mostly that is to suppress some desire or other (As in not to watch the rediculous and nonsensical tele masala of Bigg Boss), and at times to make onself move out of her comfort zone (Like from tommorrow morning I'd leave my bed at 6 in the morning).Mr. Krishnamurti's take on desire.

Why are we tortured by desire? Why have we made desire into a torturous thing? There us desire for position , desire for position, desire for fame, sexual desire , the desire to have money , to have a car, and so on. What do you mean by desire? And why it is wrong? Why do we say we must suppress or sublimate desire, do something about it?
What’s wrong with desire? You have suppressed it. Most of you have suppressed desire, for various reasons – because it is not convenient, not satisfactory, or because you think it is not moral, or because religious book say that to find God you must be without desire, and so on. Tradition says you must suppress, control, dominate desire, so you spend your time and energy in disciplining yourself.
Now, let us first see what happens to a mind that is always controlling itself, suppressing, sublimating desires. Such a mind, being occupied with itself, becomes insensitive. Though it may talk about sensitivity , goodness, though it may say that we must be brotherly, we must produce a marvelous world, and all the rest of the nonsense that people talk who suppress desire – such a mind is insensitive because it does not understand that which it has suppressed.
Whether you suppress or yield to desire, it has essentially the same because the desire is still there .You may suppress the desire for a woman, for a car, for position; but the very urge not to have these things, which makes you suppress the desire for them, in itself a form of desire. So, being caught in desire, you have to understand it, and not say it is right or wrong.

Disappointed, Just Laugh It Away!!

2007-01-09T23:14:00.000+05:30

Is it just happening to you or everyone around you? Are you wondering if your expectations are too high? Are you doing something wrong? Maybe! Have you taken the time to understand that you will be disappointed often and that you must be prepared to deal with disappointment?

STOI

In the year 2007 -- 1.

2007-01-06T15:12:00.000+05:30

No fooling around with the idiot box. No more bigg boss and likes ;)

One Hour at Charminar!

2006-11-04T15:53:00.000+05:30

Mere thought of visiting a Muslim majority area used to elicit apprehension in me. I am a Hindu by birth, but I would rather call myself agnostic. Being born as Hindu and brought up in a Hindu society had its effect on me. I do respect all religions but there used to be certain trace of doubt toward Muslim, perhaps media had some role in that owing to Hindu Muslim rift. Its not that I never interacted with any person born Muslim, if fact few of my friends are Muslim, but the interaction was limited to one to one, in class, in hostel and likes. I have never been to a place surrounded by mostly Muslims, till we decided to visit charminar one night during ramzan. I had been to charminar earlier also but that was in broad day light.
Prejudiced and apprehensive, like many other Hindus, that we were, reached the charminar area at around 11 pm in the night. The rational behind the daring move (perhaps I can term it that way) was we could be assured of their moderate behavior owing to the fact these are holy days of ramzan. And to our utter disbelieve the whole area was bustling with activities, chaotic traffic, a large no of people, male, female and children doing their rounds of ramzan shopping. Shops, road side eateries all doing brisk business at that unmanly hour of day. Initially I was feeling insecure, conscious of all my activities fearing a wrong move can create a havoc, perhaps exaggerated but that’s how theoretical ideas and belief differs from first hand experience.
Adjacent to Charminar there is Mecca musjid, still apprehensive I decided to go inside that. Few meters inside the courtyard a small boy asked me to take my footwear in hand before I venture further. I freely walked around in the courtyard and till the inner court of the musjid. Slowly but surely I was getting over my apprehensions. Outside the musjid a fruit vendor mentioned that during holy days of ramzan this market place remains open round the clock. Later we interacted with some other vendors and involved in a light hearted banter with few local boys. By the time we decided to push off after spending around an hour there I was at ease and all apprehensions were gone for good. Now there wasn’t any difference in my theoretical belief and practical idea vis-à-vis Muslim community.
I do believe that all religions, Islam included, teach tolerance towards other, spread of goodwill and all other good things. It is perhaps misunderstanding and misrepresentation of traditions and culture which is leading to create this kind of popular intellectual belief.

What shall i do now, sir!

2006-10-21T01:57:00.000+05:30

I am Santosh, 13 years old boy. I used to work in a road side hotel, but the other day the hotel owner told me that I can not longer work in that hotel, for that matter any other hotel, restaurants or home, as the govt has banned working of children at these places. I must be happy, you may think. Yes, I indeed was. I never wanted to work. I wanted to go to school as Shainky bhaiya, at whose house my mother works as maid, goes. But there are five more mouths to be fed at my home and that’s why apart from my mother, who works at few houses in the officers colony near our slum, and father, who works as daily wage laborer, I and my younger sister, all of 10 years, who helps my mother in her work, used to work. But now, after this ban no body is employing us any more. The earning hands in the home have reduced. And it is becoming very difficult for our family to survive. Should I be happy?
Just because we are poor does not mean our parents don’t love us. Any damn living being loved their offspring. We work not out of love of it, rather necessity of feeding family members drives up to hotels and other work places than to school. This ban, I must say, like few other govt initiatives (like reservation for OBCs; 100 days of mandatory work in rural areas etc) stems from right intention but the execution steps are misplaced. They are working on symptoms rather than the disease itself. Do you think after they had enforced the ban I am going to school? No way. I am trying to persuade the hotel owner to let me work in the hotel and in a day or two we will go back to work. Nothing solid or fruitful will come out a ban like that. With a ban how are they ensuring the enforcement of the same. With time this will become just another govt fad. Somebody was mentioning the getting primary education is my right as an Indian citizen. Oh my right? You said I am being cynical? Well if stating facts makes me cynic, then yes I am being one.
Okay, let’s analyze the problem, possible solution, govt’s intention and execution.There are few instances where govt.'s intention behind implementing a policy is good but the policies , in these cases only address the symptoms of the problem than the problem itself. Like 100 days guaranteed employment in rural areas. This does not address the real problem of unemployment and unemployabilty but is rather short sighted solution for above problems.Similary in my case all we need is access to education, health and learning of employable skills. Once these are provided they no longer need to ban child labour. If that is done there would not be any child around free to employed in these trades. All that i, my family and others in my situation need is these basic life supporting plans and execution and not the ban on child labour.

Makes You Happier?

2006-10-16T11:07:00.000+05:30

Perhaps :)

(c) http://www.gapingvoid.com/

Creative moi!

2006-10-10T19:38:00.000+05:30

Well picasa hai na.

Media Planning?

2006-10-09T23:26:00.000+05:30

Another addition!

2006-09-23T23:52:00.000+05:30

Everybody loves a good drought
The big moo
India unbound
The romantic manifesto
The camel club
Q & A

Technology, Entertainment, Design!

2006-09-15T11:00:00.000+05:30

About the latest ideas in Technology, Entertainment and Design, also Business, Science and The Arts... any subject area offering something fresh and important.

Now Google.org!

2006-09-15T10:58:00.000+05:30

Guys at google never seizes to amaze us. Check this out.

Day 0!

2006-08-28T17:00:00.000+05:30

Today is day zero of "I know what". And I better make it to the end.Be strong. BOL to me :)

Whatta Ride!

2006-08-27T23:13:00.000+05:30

Riding the bike in the rain. Whatta joy. I love it :)

Ganesh Chaturthi!

2006-08-27T20:29:00.000+05:30

@ my apartment.
It was after quite a long time saw some kindda cultural event with kids putting up some skits, dance and songs. And all of them were enjoying themselves.In the colony back home they used to have these kind of events on 16th jan, 15th aug and 15th sep (engineer's day) and it used to be great fun. Did somebody say growing old kills all fun! And to add that kids of 10-12 years have started calling me uncle :-D . I am not that old yet!

Rum is not bad!

2006-08-25T23:42:00.000+05:30

Well that makes it vodka, rum, wine and champagene ;)

Life Insurance!

2006-08-21T18:49:00.000+05:30

Two billboards cought my attention while coming back from office today. Both of them for life insurance and from non financial companies ; Bharti Axa life insurance and Reliance life insurance. Though Reliance had presence in financial domain represented by Reliance Capital , it is completely new venture for Bharti. So diversity seems to be in thing for big enterprises.

There is nothing as baggage from past, whatsoever!

2006-08-19T09:41:00.000+05:30

Today is the new day, start afresh :0)

Last Mile Connectivity!

2006-08-08T16:36:00.000+05:30

The last mile is the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. And last mile connectivity is real time head ache for the service provider. In essence how a service/product provider connects to the consumer is determined by the process/method of last mile connectivity.
     Same holds good with any service or the product. Okay you, as a service provider (as in service industry) and product manufacturing company, got a great service/product to offer with all those features and everything. But Success of the same depends apart from quality the way your last mile connectivity elements works. For example, if you are offering a product then sales person and in case of service also the person representing your organization becomes face of your product/service and hence they are your last mile connectivity. How successfully and efficiently you get new customer and then repeat customer depends mostly how your front line workers do their job. In most of the cases they are real representative of the company and their behavior can really make or break your customer base.
     And if your company happens to be in service industry then boy you gotta be very serious in selecting these guys. Suppose you are running a restaurant. It offers some fundoo delicacies, has reasonable pricing, good ambience but front line staffs are rude, late service is norm, and proper care of customer is not taken. Then your business is doomed. Similarly how the sales person selling your product deals with customers can really be decisive factor in the overall sales pattern.
     Few days back two incidents made me think this. I had heard of Bose’s soundDock and one fine evening thought of checking the same out and landed at the Bose’s shop at somajiguda. Yes they manufacture sound systems which are perhaps the best in the world but it was the way the sales man, Naveen received us worked as aha effect for the customer. Despite knowing that we were only looking for ipod speaker he went on showing other music systems which at that point of time, for that matter in coming few years also, I could not afford, I am sure he had already made out that given our reaction but that never was visible from the way he kept on entertaining us. He even invited us for the demo of their home theater fully knowing that we would not be buying that. But sure, he was successful in converting us a potential customer. And few years down the line I would certainly think of going for a Bose system.
     Compare this to the attitude of sales person at the showroom of world space. We entered the showroom, stood there for about a minute. No body cared to attend us. I called up a sales guy and asked if anybody would attend us. He told he would have had we asked for some assistance. WTF? You are not displaying some clothing or shoes; where we can browse and if required ask for your assistance. You yourself gotta demonstrate whatever damn radio receiver you are selling. That was major turnoff. I wasn’t in any particular mood of getting a subscription for world space, but who knows mebbe after demonstration I could have opted for one. So he turned back a potential customer. What is the use of having a showroom at Prasads when those guys are not getting you any or less than forecasted customer.
     Sometime back Rashmi has rightly pointed that there are salesman and then there are sari salesman.

Yun Hota To Kya Hota!

2006-08-02T12:38:00.000+05:30

Rubbish! Key sara sara, what will be, will be. Put on your sincere effort, plan and execute but have the courage to accept the result. No point in brooding what if? Yun hota to kya hota? Aisa hi hona tha . As they have said in Geeta, karm kiye ja, fal ki chinta mat kar. So put on your 100% for the cause but be prepare to accept the result in its full totality and take responsibility. Don’t just sit there and watch, do something. Nothing will happen if you don’t try. At least give it a try. Just do it.

Web 2.0 !

2006-07-24T11:00:00.000+05:30

Content generation (as in blogging; uploading various kinds of files) and consumption thereof is the single most important idea WEB 2.0 is based on. Then there are many social networking sites around, friendster, myspace, meetup, orkut, yaari , hi5 , ryze , linkedIn to name a few. Few web 2.0 companies are coming in this space. Then there was sixDegrees.com that last from 1997 to 2001.

More or less all these networking sites can be said to based on the concept of six degrees of separation , according to this anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries. And almost all of these sites offer same features, scrapbook, testimonials, photo gallery, and blogs. All of these come for free. Then ad remains only way of getting revenues. Then like no of eyeballs for TV programs, no of unique user define the sponsorship. But with so many sites around on the web wide world, which is not limited by physical boundaries, what could be ones usp?

As identified by The Guardian, It's an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will "interact" with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it. They go on to say with respect to youtube, again a content generation and consumption site for sharing videos,
The numbers are revealing: each day there are 100 million downloads and 65,000 uploads - which as Antony Mayfield (at http://open.typepad.com/open) points out, is 1,538 downloads per upload - and 20m unique users per month.
That puts the "creator to consumer" ratio at just 0.5%, but it's early days yet; not everyone has discovered YouTube (and it does make downloading much easier than uploading, because any web page can host a YouTube link).
Apart from networking sites and video sharing sites , there are other web 2.0 companies based on the idea of content generation and consumption like photo sharing site flicker , bookmark sharing site del.icio.us , blogs feed sharing site bloglines , and the online encyclopedia wikipedia .
So sharing is the future of web. But with that marketing and revenue generation for these companies would be redefined. How? We have to wait and watch.

Updated: Few India specific social networking sites (minglebox , humSubka) are coming up.More about web2.0.

Whisky tastes aweful!

2006-07-13T22:56:00.000+05:30

Even if that is 12 years old black label :-0)

When will this stop!

2006-07-12T11:27:00.000+05:30

Or will it stop ever? This is reality of present world and we have to live with cowardly acts of terrorism. I don’t understand what point they are trying to drive home. I hate to say but terrorism acts cannot be prevented, we can hardly take proactive measures but perhaps reactions can be channelized in proper way.
If you want some help or can provide some, please visit Mumbai help.
Post script : Or perhaps a more efficient intellegence can help prevent these acts.

Champs are made of stuff!

2006-06-30T12:20:00.000+05:30

Long time since I saw a tennis match. Yesterday, second round at Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal (2) vs. Robert Kendrick (237). After trailing behind 6-7, 3-6 in first two sets it was 5-6 in the third set and Kendrick was serving the match point at 40-40. But champions are made of stuff, somebody rightly said. Final outcome of the match which ran for 3 hours and 40 mins on the center court, Nadal wins by 6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4. He survived 28 aces of Kendrick. Boy the grit, determination and confidence of the no 2 were worth watching. Not to undermine Kendrick’s effort. He maintained his cool and was very poised unlike Nadal, who after winning each point was exuberant. Over all a very good match.

Amateur Photographer!

2006-06-26T21:40:00.000+05:30

Trip to Srisailem, through lens!

2006-06-26T21:04:00.000+05:30

Apan chalein Srisailem. Abids in the early morning.

Road to Srisailem. Hardware park , nanotechnology park, fab city etc. are on this stretch of road.

Sonali and Priyanka. Check out the tree tunnle in the background.

Jana bahot hai door.
Reservoir at Dindi dam.

Ruk kyun gaye? Badhe chalo.

Our small group in front of the temple.

Step roads leading to Srisailem.
We! In front of the dam.

Somebody told these are Kerla boats.

The Temple!

2006-06-26T16:22:00.000+05:30

I am Hindu by birth and never entertained my choice on my religion. I am spiritual but not religious. I am not a believer and perhaps also not an atheist. Usually I am neutral when it comes to religious issues. I neither go overboard with religious rituals nor is it like I don’t step in to a temple. At times I do visit temple with my folks. Things I like about temples are peace and serenity. Apart from temple I had only been to church hence I cannot compare different places of worship. So when we visited Srisailem over a weekend I been to temple also as a customary visit. The temple complex, whose existing buildings date from the 2nd century AD, is the Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy Temple, it is one of the 12 'Jyotirlingas' in India as well as one of the eighteen most sacred goddess shrines, or Shakti Pithas. Shiva is worshipped here in his form of Lord Mallikarjuna, and Shakti, his consort, as Sri Bharamaramba Devi. Two things I found unusual here; first the shivling was submerged in water and every visitor was suppose to get a water kalash full of water and pour (I could not recall better word here) it in the small water reservoir , in the middle of which shivling is situated , I presume. Another unusual finding was ticket for darshan of a palna in a sheeshmahal kind of place.
Tthis temple has a shrichakra also.

Parasite!

2006-06-26T15:56:00.000+05:30

During the Srisailem trip something involuntarily made me think of John Galt. Okay, I very much understand and acknowledge the divide between haves and have-nots. And by Indian standard I am doing reasonably well. I am a libertarian. Also I believe charity is one thing and free market is another. And two should not be mixed. I am a supporter of free market. Free market is all about demand and supply. You got a skill, a product or a service and if there is demand for the same in the market, you can exchange the same in lieu of something tangible, say money. The cost is determined by the demand. And with time there evolves minimum price for items being traded. Unless I am not exploiting you by underpaying you should not demand more for your services/products/skill. Your skill has a worth and I can negotiate, okay, but can not force my will to you. You are free not to trade with me. But once we have arrived at a negotiated price that’s what I am going to pay you. And you better accept it and don’t try to play it out with my emotions. If your service comes with the aha effect then I don’t mind paying you extra but then you should not demand that as your right.
Now why I am babbling this? There was this cab driver who had been such a dude during the trip whom we did pay 50% more than agreed upon price. And then there was this boat man during the trip who was constantly pressing us to give him extra bucks, asking price for my watch and showing his bare wrist, as if I am responsible for his misery. A parasite? Huh!!

PS – Sorry if I am taking this to extreme. But I have already requested you not to mix charity with free market.

A Saturday well spent!

2006-06-26T15:00:00.000+05:30

24th June, 2006

4:10 AM:
Trring trring hellomotto. Trring trring hellomotto. Snooze. Soon after another alarm goes off. Okey guys lets leave the bed and get ready. Fast! Call Laddu. Check if Samars are up. Bansal ko jagao. Ask him to check with Arshi, if she has wake up. Arre amitji jaldi karo , bus aa gai hai. Dekho dekho mishraji hasn’t taken bath. Meanwhile Laddu and Sonali has already boarded the bus. Abe Doctor jaldi nikal. Hume fir Deepak aur Priyanka ko bhi pick karna hai.

5:30 AM:
After dropping Mishra, Bansal and Laddu near an ICICI bank atm we went to pick Samars up.” Sir come down to the main road, as the height of the bar on the road leading to your home is too short for the bus to cross.”

5:45 AM:
We all (9 of us) are on our way to Srisailem.

With couple of halts and photo shoots on the way we reached our Saturday getaway. Had darshan in the shiv-shakti temple . It was almost 12 in the noon , and it had been almost 8 hours since we were awake and were very hungry. We had parked the bus in the premises of Punnami and few of us were contemplating having lunch at the restaurant. And then the best part of the trip and the pleasant surprise, Sonali and Priyanka had already planned for the lunch and had prepared puri and sabzi for all! Thanks guys, you are the best!

After lunch we started back. Made a stopover near dam. There we saw unusual boats. And the boating experience there was the second best thing during the trip. With all that spinning boat and play with water and the photo shoot, it was amazing. Something at this site made me think of Ayn Rand and John Galt.

At around 4 in the evening we hit the road back to Hyderabad. We played antakshari , dumb c and no dare only truth :-0). He had gala time on our way back.

We landed back in the city at around 9 in the night. Had our dinner at Reshmi’s and finally at around 12 in the night we were all back to our bed, dreaming happily about the one of the best outing.

PS. All of you are amazing guys. Love you all!

Don't grow old...!

2006-06-22T18:40:00.000+05:30

Many people are afraid of growing old.
I'm afraid of growing old and boring.
Many people are afraid of growing old, alone.
I'm afraid of growing old, insane.
Many people are afraid of losing their looks.
I'm afraid of losing my dreams.
Many people are afraid of losing their youth.
I'm afraid of losing my soul.
When you're 15, 35 seems ancient.
When you're 35, 15 seems juvenile.
A turnaround in a split second - two decades zoom past and
before you know it, it's only a mile to the next millennium.
Don't fear age,
it's a right of person-hood.
Don't fear death- it's life's greatest jest.
Don't grow old - you don't have to.
Don't date because you're desperate.
Don't marry because you're miserable.
Don't have kids because you think your genes are superior.
Don't separate because you think it's fashionable.
Don't drink because you have troubles.
Don't gamble because you think winning is inevitable.
Don't philander because you think you're irresistible.
Most likely, you're not.
Don't associate with people you can't trust.
Don't cheat.
Don't lie.
Don't pretend.
Don't try to buy your way into the kingdom of God.
Don't dictate because you're smarter.
Don't demand because you're stronger.
Don't sleep around because you think you're old enough and know better.
Don't hurt your kids because loving them is harder.
Don't sell yourself, your family or your ideals.
Don't stagnate.
Don't regress.
Learn a new skill.
Find a new friend.
Start a new career.
Don't live in the past.
Time can't bring anything or anyone back.
Don't put your life on hold for possible Mr. Right.
Don't throw you life away on absolutely Mr. Wrong because your biological clock is ticking and you can't afford to have your eggs harvested before the new millennium.
There's always a mad rush to something, somewhere - but victory does not always belong to those who finish first.
Sometimes, there is no race to be won, only a price to be paid for some of life's more hasty decisions.
You can't always go with the throng who could be wrong.
Sometimes, you have to be alone to be enlightened.
To terminate your loneliness, reach out to the homeless.
To feed your nurturing instincts, care for the needy.
To fulfill your parenting fantasies, get a puppy.
Don't bring another life into this world for all the wrong reasons.
To keep yourself warm, buy a jacket.
In the long run, it will be less complicated and less costly.
To make yourself happy, pursue your passions and be the best of what you can be.
Simplify your life.
Take away the clutter.
Get rid of destructive elements - abusive friends, nasty habits and dangerous liaisons.
Don't abandon your responsibilities, but don't overdose on duty.
Don't live life recklessly without thought and feeling for your family.
Be true to yourself. Don't commit when you're not ready.
Don't keep others waiting needlessly.
Fall in love - it's the greatest thing on earth.
But take care and remember, after the fall must come the rise.
Go on that trip. Don't postpone it.
Say those words. Don't let the moment pass.
Do what you must even at society's scorn.
Write poetry. Love deeply. Walk barefoot. Hold hands.
Dance with wild abandon. Cry at the movies.
Take care of yourself.
Don't wait for someone to take care of you.
You light up your life.
You drive yourself to your destination.
No one completes you - except you.
It is true that life doesn't get easier with age.
It only gets more challenging.
Don't be afraid.
Don't lose your capacity to love.
Pursue your passions.
Live your dreams.
Don't lose faith in yourself.
Don't grow old.

Just grow up.

picked up

Few good lines!

2006-06-22T15:24:00.000+05:30

Why is it important for you to always win?
Do we really need a reason for our every action?
So life continues by trial and error
If any part of your uncertainty is a conflict of your heart with your mind - Follow your mind!'
"I realize, small aim is a crime" - Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam
Smile please.! No one is worth your tears.
You're not wrong. You just expect me to be the perfect person I am not. :)
In hindsight, everything is easy, all pain is avoidable.
That one extra mile is what makes all the difference. Go for it!
It is incredible how the mind comes up with justifications when it suits our personal purpose.
Truly loving another means letting go of all expectations. It means full acceptance, even celebration of another's personhood.
There is just a thin line between asking for a rational explanation and cribbing.
Does this sound too idealistic? Maybe. Does it make business sense? You decide. Is it better to die trying? Any day.

© if any is duly acknowledged.

Hyderabad , from a distance!

2006-06-21T23:52:00.000+05:30

A little too far.
Door door tak badal.
Badal hi badal.
Aur badal.
My cam comes with 12x zoom :0).
Above pic without zoom.
A concrete jungle?
Good heavens..
Approaching ground.
Near.
Nearer.

Enough of denial!

2006-06-20T18:37:00.000+05:30

Okay! I have been such an a$$h@l* all these while. Denying, till this very moment.Come on face it, accept the reality you damn fool.

Cold Calling (Messaging)!

2006-06-12T18:31:00.000+05:30

Scene 1: You are in a meeting and ping ping , buzz of your cellphone indicating arrival of a sms.

Dhoolpeta Spl! To set CALLERTUNES like Oka Naatito, Nippulu Pedavula, Maa Area, The Beginning, Vastavaa & More, Call 123419. Chgs Rs 6/min.

Scene 2: Sunday afternoon, you are trying to get a good afternoon’s nap, ping ping , another sms on your cellphone.

Play the Football Quize, SMS GOAL to 123 and win a trip to visit Football Crazy Goa. SMS Lucky or log on to www.hutch.in to get prize details. Rs 3/contest SMS.

How irritating. Even after my repeated requests to Hutch that I don’t want to receive any promotional messages I am still getting them and with good frequency of at least 2 a day! First they said I need to change setting of my mobile phone, then they did some settings at their end but without any effect…… I am fed up with this cold messaging (cold calling!).

Clean City , Green City !

2006-06-08T22:11:00.000+05:30

The oldest Shopping complex - The Kamani Center

View near kharakai river.

Another view near kharakai river.

For a change cattles in the field and not on the road.

A small basti!

This road is in Adityapur. Those who had been to this area around a year back just can not believe this :-0).

The river kharakai.

The kharakai bank.

Still the bank of river kharakai.

That small hillock is made up of fly ash.

Jamshedpur is surrounded by small hills.

The time square @ Jamshedpur.

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.

Going towards Bistupur.

Still going towards bistupur.

Still going towards Bistupur.

And the Steel city.

A birds eye view of the city.

Gai humari mata hai!

And you said he needs Reservation!

2006-06-06T17:26:00.000+05:30

Read this (you need to change the date as 03-June-2006 and then select region as Jamshedpur in City NewsLines in left column). Tudus are native of Santhal Pargana and come under ST category.
By the way 180 to pack bags for IIT from Jamshedpur (you need to change the date as 01-June-2006 and then select region as Jamshedpur in City NewsLines in left column). And that includes my cousin Shainky :-). Congratulations and way to go dude!

You Would Just Love'em!

2006-05-30T14:33:00.000+05:30

My Dady Strongest!

2006-05-30T14:31:00.000+05:30

(c)Bill Watterson
Click on the image for clear view.

My Best Friend!

2006-05-30T14:10:00.000+05:30

(c)Bill Watterson
Click on the image for clear view.

Cool Mom!

2006-05-30T14:09:00.000+05:30

(c)Bill Watterson
Click on the image for clear view.

CAHQTOOC* !

2006-05-30T13:48:00.000+05:30

What do they think I am, an engineer?
Mothers are the necessity of invention.
I hate being good (or trying to fake it).
Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words.
Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around.
You know what we need, Hobbes? We need an attitude.
I flunked a test today, but I don't mind.
It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.
I just can't identify with that kind of work ethic.
As a math atheist, I should be excused from this.
This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen...
I can always get by on my good looks and charm!
Homework, I command thee, BE DONE!
How rude.
My dreams are getting way too literal.
I've been good all day so far.
The longer you wait for the mail, the less there is in it.
People pay more attention to you when they think you're up to something.
Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.
I'm happy, but it's not like I'm ecstatic.
I'd explain it, but there's a lot of math.
I asked Mom if I was a gifted child...she said they certainly wouldn't have paid for me.
Another genius foiled by an incapable assistant.
From now on, I'll connect the dots my own way.
I love the culture of victimhood.
Reality continues to ruin my life.
I liked things better when I didn't understand them.
Is it a right to remain ignorant?
I'm bored.

Taken from here .

*Calvin and Hobbes Quotes Taken Out Of Context

Another Lesson!

2006-05-30T12:34:00.000+05:30

(c)Bill Watterson

Ethics, huh!

2006-05-30T12:28:00.000+05:30

(c)Bill Watterson
Click on the image for clear view.