Sleep well..

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment - Gautham Buddha.

Sleep well...

Little fumble in the begining

It started during my engineering and still haunting me even during my 3rd project. With 3 years of experience and making silly mistakes. doesn't look good.

Have to be little careful in coming days.

Relation ships, bonding, being good etc etc

Is it really necessary to respect each and every person? and respond to everything ? Give me a break, i am fed up.

Finally got the project

Its a worst economic crisis. where ever you go, people are talking about lay offs in IT sector. scary articles in the web ravaged confidence of many people. Of course reality wasn't too far, i witnessed many lay off's and lay off plans.

It was before the month of appraisal, i took my decision to leave company and join a new one. Many suggestions around and top suggestion was "Leave the company after appraisal". Senior managers to associates, every one suggested the same. I made out my mind to leave. Economic crisis was not very strong during this time. I wasn't comfortable with the salary offered by new organization, but i was and am still looking for an on site opportunity.

Unfortunately, crisis continued strengthening itself day by day. Projects we expected slipped out. 3 months of wait. No Project, speculation going around about lay Off's internally. Filling time sheet for bench timings. Forget about on site, it was struggle for existence.

Fortunately, we bagged a big off shore project now. A ray of hope is again clearing its path to an onsite opportunity. But its tough time a head now. we got hell lot of work and it is to be completed with the help of few new comers. Lets see how things are heading...

No MBA !!!

Certainly No to higher studies. No reason to spend much time thinking abt it. Just not because am not interested in MBA, just because i am enough lazy. 24/7, most of the time, i will be on internet (Only entertaining forums :-)), movies, tv etc. Changing the habits is a big pain. You have to sacrifice lots of interesting things and concentrate on things you will never get interest. Better to leave thinking about this MBA or any other higher studies just because they are not going to happen and its better to keep our mind away from such illusions (that i can work out MBA).

seems i am out

Start up company and spent almost 30 months with a great organization. Not it seems, i am almost out to take oppurtunity with another company. My new company certainly ranks bigger than my current company in all aspects. Its good time to talk and write about my experience with current company known as Accenture.
It was on March 4th, 2006, i took offer with this company and joined on March 16th 2006. 2 days of induction and i had no training as all other college passouts have. I was told that i will be working as vendor to Microsoft Corporation and i will have to attend interviews with them soon. Around March 25th, i have been interviewed with Microsoft and i was asked to join team in Microsoft on April 10th.
Although i never dreamed about Microsoft or any other big organization, it was great thrill starting with this client. My role was not to develop any software or any patches, but to support the applications developed and patches applied. More than technical skills, this role requires Strong communication skills and ability to work in shifts and more patience. i thought about moving myself to technical role, but i never strongly tried on that side and never stopped myself from doing justice to the job i am doing. All i have in my mind is "do justice to your job, what ever the role you are in". Paralelly i joined Corporate Social responsibility team in accenture (A community to volunteer social responsibilities), i sticked on to that job as well till today. Later i have taken some trainings and i helped interviewers in my company. It was great experience for me as a starter in corporates to step myself into all activities. Ofcourse there were many bad times, when i was badly scolded for my poor work and poor email communication. Once, i was asked not to come to office for 2 days for the blunder happened due to my poor email communication. Ofcourse, that was first and last worst thing happened.
After one year, management decided to move the project from our hand to another company. During this time, i thought of changing technology and move out from shifts. there are certain policies which states that i can change technology after one year in project. Afterall, policies are implemented by people and the consequence is they didnt allow me to change technology. Again i am into support project. I had very tough interview. It is a tough because i am naive technical guy. As there was some urgent requirement and claiming that i have good attitude, they took me in.
There were no night shifts in this team and support work in this team is very much different from what i did in previous team. As my technical capabilities are high, i was kept away from technical work. Soon there were night shifts in the team and i was asked to start it. During this time, i worked closely on all issues with US team though they are oceans away from me physically. During this time, i imbibed many skills. Everything was going fine till now.
A bad day has come where i was asked to stretch myself after night shift, i did it. next day, i was asked again. I strictly said NO this time and my manager bounced back with big disappointment mail. I made it a big issue and asked them to roll me out from project. I didn't get the roll off from project, but a bad image against me that i dont have that so called attitude. Things were not that interested though there was good work. same story continued for another 6 months and then it was little smooth than former.
This is one story and another was i have placed a request to send me onsite due to my financial obligations. Request was not processed and i didn't see any movement of request. I lost hope and strictly thought of taking up another oppurtunity. Now i got another oppurtunity and i decided to change.
30 Months journey with Accenture was really great and the culture is good. After all in India, always politics dominates professionalism. I saw people, who do not like people who work for 8 Hours. For that matter, Problems started for me in second team when i rejected to work for 13 hours in shift. All it matters is people (mostly veterans in company) who follow policies when they wish to and when they think that their *()&*( will be safe.

The Chef

Recently i prepared tasty and spicy biriyani. This was my first attempt and prepared in an attempt to keep myself away from electronic goods (System, Mobile, TV) . Here are the requirements and procedure


Ground Zero Requirements -


-> Gas Stove and Cylinder with enough Gas


-> A Knife


-> Cutting board


-> A bowl and a cooker


Preparation -


-> Chop onions using cutting board and knife


-> Chop tomato


-> Chop Carrot


-> Chop beans..add more vegetables you want and you like


-> Chop Chillies


-> Get a packet of biriyani powder and Garlic paste


-> wash rice well and soak rice in few cups of water (depends on quantity of rice)


Cooking -


-> Pour Oil (if available add ghee too) in the cooker. when heated enough put all the saute items


-> add onions and saute. Add all items (along with Biriyani powder, salt and Garlic paste) and saute well for 10 minutes.


-> Add rice along with water


-> Put the lid and wait till its completion.





here is the Tasty and spicy biriyani

Ofcourse i took a snap after dinner. Believe me, it was good enough.

India - a land of great think tanks

Recently, i have come across many igniting articles/Blogs on topics comdemning attack on media,questioning Indian citizens about who would be Indian Obama and so on.......
While these blogs are eye-openers and thought provoking, huge number of comments supporting those articles are equally thought provoking. But unfortunate no body talks about what is to be changed and what role the author wants to play during that change. Person who is addicted to web opens his eye after watching so many blogs. this guy opens blogs/discussion boards and post his views. back to normal life. Another set of people, who are not addicted to web opens their eye after watching TV programs like 30 minutes. With in these 30 minutes, media elaborates on a topic and cover every part of that event (they will obviously put a question mark on future and ask us to wait and see rather than suggesting an approach to face the issue). watch the TV, discuss with your neighbour and go to work next day.
Unfortunately, all these think tanks are turning their thoughts into dreams. Our politicians generated apathy towards politics. our politics is full of dynasty rule and cult leaders. Definitely, It is not an easy road to drive on. But there are few things, every body can do. Like software engineers, who spend most of their time infront of web can spend their week ends creating awareness on government policies and one's rights to un educated people and people living below poverity line. NRI's keep funding organizations which are doing good...so on...Politics is not a unique way to serve others and blaming politicians is not the only thing you can do...

Managers

This is my second project and this is 27th month in job. After completing my graduation in may 2005, i have spent some 8 months on trainings on various technologies. SQL, .NET, Java, J2EE..
My institute made me a guy, who is adaptable to everything. Ofcourse i was under the same impression that i should be ready to accept any job.
In March 2006, i got into an organization. i was asked to attend client calls. I was very enthusiastic and cleared interviews. i was placed into project within 15 days. I did what i was supposed to do for one year. After one year, time has come to change my project. My project moved to another organization.
Drama1 -
Day 1 - I informed my manager that i am no more interested in the work i am doing and want to change the kind of work i am doing.
My manager happily accepted and promised me that he would be taking care of everything.
Day 2 - My client side manager got a call from another manager inquiring about my abilities at work. My client side manager informed that, my profile has been pushed to another project where similar work will be there. Now it is clear that my manager is not going to stand on his promise.
Day 3- I enquired about a vacant position, which suits my interest and updated my manager.
Day 4 - My manager shouted and almost barked me for not keeping him updated and ruined that oppurtunity.
Either he didnt help me or he didnt allow me to get into the place, where i am interested. I have made up my mind to leave company, if i get a chance rather than running around managers to change my work.
Second project -
I struggled a lot initially, but it was a better project than older one work wise. 9 months passed in project and it was the time i was around 2 years old in industry. I got an offer from another company. I went to my manager and informed him that i am going to leave this organization because i am getting good pay, which is not good enough to deal with my expenses.
Drama 2 - I asked him for an onsite oppurtunity where i can earn money to get rid off current financial concerns.
My mgr happily accepted and asked me to groom myself technically and he is going to take care of rest. He also said that his first step would be to take me out of the team after talking to my client maanger and sending me to another location in 6 months.
Months passed away with no update. I mailed my manager asking to meet. He is busy busy busy and almost indirectly indicated that he cant send me onsite.
Drama 3 - Again situation aroused, where my project is moving away (Please dont think that all projects are moving out because of my performance. They are moving out for other reasons).
I met my manager and asked him about onsite oppurtunity.
This time, he went a head and quoted few country names and project names where he can push me. i was little excited that this time, i may get an oppurtunity.
I was waiting waiting waiting for the update on it.
Suddenly i got an update that my project is going no where and is staying back with my organization. My manager didnt exhibit minimum concern by updating me.
Oh god, how many times, these guys do false promises and talk what every they want...
Ofcourse i have come across some good managers as well - But they didnt stay long in the project to help me. May be my bad luck.

Trip to Mahabaleshwar, Pune

A hill station located 100 kms away from Pune. It has got around 14 points for tourists to visit and enjoy. you will find lot of yummy strawberry's around this place and lot of hills around. Krishna river, which serves Maharashtra and Andhra originates here. This place has got a historic Mahabaleshwar temple (a must watch, but didn't watch :( ). Before i visited, i read in web that it is a summer capital. But after visiting this station in core summer, i seriously disagree the statement. Left one is the picture i got in web before visit and right one is the picture i took during visit.

Then visited Pratap Gad, the place where afzal khan was slayed by Chatrapathi Shivaji. This place is a sort of relief to me out of whole trip after travelling Mahabaleshwar under burning sun.

April 30th 2008 - I was said that bus will be reaching secunderabad at 7 PM. Seems, i am the only punctual person around. Bus was very late and it left hyd at 10 PM.

5/1/08 8 AM - bloody bus dropped me at Pune (The horrible travels i am referring to is kesineni travels, mark it as a final alternative for your travel any time).

8:15 AM - i reached my home, beautiful and safe pune, took me in 15 minutes. Nischal (My brothers child, 2 years). I am surprised to see him talking more and more.

9 Am - Siva and Srinu reached my place with a tavera.

9:15AM- we started at viman nagar

10:30 AM - Had Maharastra special Pav Bhajji at Home for Pav Bhajji. This Pav Bhajji was great, but smirn off sucks at that time in hot summer

12 PM: we reached Mahabaleshwar, Siva boasted a lot about parachutes and beaches in Mahabaleshwar. But to my surprise, we could not find anything more than dry hills there.

1 Pm: we stopped at Macro garden where lot of strawberry's were found. we purchased strawberry milk shake and mixed fruit jam and left that family garden.

2 Pm - we were taken to few points where we can see dry hills from the top. that was a good view.

2:30 Pm- we were taken to other point, where we can see dry hill again, but this time a little of krishna dam covered.

2:45 - monkey point, few monkeys and again hills.

3:15 Pm - again hills. this really frustrated me. Mahabaleshwar has got around 14 points, around 10 points has got similar scenic view.

we thought that this is not a right choice for summer.

we thought of moving to Pratap Gad and then watch Sun set point and leave this Mahabaleswar. Sun slowly stepped down for that day and we had good journey to Pratap gad. we reached Pratap gad at 6:00 PM. we have decided to take a guide to this historic place.

Guide started with entrance and explained about Maharaj Shivaji starting with assasination of Afzal Khan. He has show us the place where Afzal Khan was slayed by Shivaji. Ofcourse that place is not open to visit now because Govt has stopped visitors to that place keeping in mind that communal differences, that may arouse.

We have shown lot of interest in listening to history lecture by this old guide. Later we saw Bhavani Mandir, where Saaligrama of Shiva and Sword of his senapathy can be found. We stood surprised to see the weapons used to break stones after hearing that fact that those weapons weigh 40 Kilo's.

Later we saw punishment point and Shivaji's Idol. we came to know that Britishers destroyed maximum part of the fort after assasination of Shivaji, which is sucking.

Seenu boasted a lot of Maharaja's and stood there thinking himself as Maharaj for some place in his previous janam.

Siva , seenu and me. we reached pune at around 10 PM. This is our last photograph after have good long day under sun.

Mothers day - To my Mom

My father use to spend most of the time at work place. Like all other's mother, my Mom took complete responsibility of our studies. She is a perfectionist. She is not as educated as we are, but her common sense and patience mad her a good teacher to us. we always had schedules in home. After coming back from school at 5 PM, we should take snacks and then play and then come back at 7 PM, fresh up and start doing home work and all till 9 PM. if tutions were there, we had different timings, but rarely we went to tutions. we never dare to skip schedules :-). To my knowledge, we rarely use to waste rice items in house by throwing them out. Like, My Mom's estimates on cooking rice was too good. This helped my father a lot in handling financial things properly. My Mom never left us free during our schooling, but gave enough freedom, while we completed schooling. with all these, we have grown up as matured boys and took responsibilities very soon.
I cannot give anything to her on this day and explain her, what she has given to us. I have seen her feeling proud when people talk good about us. I have seen her feeling bad, when some body in my circle points us out wrongly.
what else i can expect from God, such a wonderful family...

Che Guevara

To outline about Che, Che was a marxist, Politician, Author, Medico and guerilla leader during 1950's. Che is Medico by profession transformed into combatant during the confrontation where more than 60 out 0f 82 in Gueara's army were attacked and executed. Che played a vital role in Cuban revolution under the leadership of Fidel Castro against imperialism of United States. Castro appointed Guevara as chief official at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform INRA and later President of the National Bank of Cuba BNC, while allowing him to retain his military rank. Later Guevara lead Congo's revolution and aimed to export Cuban Revolution by instructing local Simba fighters in marxist ideology and foco theory strategies of guerrilla warfare. he cites the incompetence, intransigence and infighting of the local Congolese forces as key reasons for the revolt's failure. Later that year, ill with dysentery, suffering from asthma, and disheartened after seven months of frustrations, Guevara left the Congo with the Cuban survivors. (Six members of his column had died.) At one point Guevara considered sending the wounded back to Cuba, and fighting alone until the end in the Congo, as a revolutionary example; however, after being urged by his comrades and pressed by two emissaries sent by Castro, at the last moment he reluctantly agreed to retreat. A few weeks later, when writing the preface to the diary he kept during the Congo venture, he began: "This is the history of a failure."
Guevara was reluctant to return to Cuba, because Castro had made public Guevara's "farewell letter" —a letter intended to only be revealed in the case of his death—wherein he severed all ties in order to devote himself to revolution throughout the world.

Later Guevara trained bolivian military army secretly and later his capture and execution happend in Bolivia.

Few impressive things about Guevara are -

1. His tour to latin-america during his studies, where he witnessed poverity and later responded

2. His vast knowledge by reading numerous books. It was said that in adolescent age, his house contained 3000 books.

3. His brutality and ruthlessness and harsh disciplinary treatment. During the guerrilla campaign, Guevara was also responsible for the execution of a number of men accused of being informers, deserters or spies.

4. His tours to various countries to export marxism and help revolutions.

Few things to be doubted are -

why did Cuba exiles community oppose Guevara? Exiles inturn helped CIA in finding Guevara. This leads to a doubt about what this brutal boy did in Cuba after revolution...

Abovephotograph of Guevara is termed as "Most famous photograph of the world"

Ego-nomics

Egonomics – by David Marcum & Steven Smith

The word ego has a negative reputation and usually equated to words such as “inflated sense of self importance,” “arrogant,” “self-centered,” “insecure,” “close minded,” “defensive,” “conceited,” “condescending” etc.

In one of the experiments, people were asked to take part in a “bidding war.” Individuals were paired and were asked to compete with each other in bidding for one dollar. The goal was to get that dollar for less than a dollar but one could spend up to five dollars to get one dollar. People were split into two groups. People in Group-A were told, “If you are the kind of person who usually chokes under pressure, or you don’t think that you have what it takes to win the money, then you might want to play it safe. But it’s up to you!” Group-B wasn’t given any instructions. As the bidding soared, the people in Group-A, who had received the “ego threat,” let their bids escalate higher in almost every instance – spending $3.71 to buy one dollar.

This sort of decision making plays out every day in all aspects of our professional and personal lives. We throw good money after bad; entrepreneurs stay engaged in unprofitable projects; CEOs buy companies because they get locked into escalating bidding war (also referred to as the “winners curse”). Organizations are rarely short of people with enough talent, drive, desire, IQ, imagination, vision, education and experience. The issue is too much ego – costing companies millions, and in some cases, billions of dollars.

Is ego all bad? Not really. On the positive side, ego is an asset. It sparks a drive to achieve; and tenacity to conquer setback. Words such as “self-confidence,” “self-esteem,” “open-minded,” “ambitious,” and “confidence” come up. In fact, lack of ego can lead to insecurity, hollow participation, and apathy.

In the book “Good to Great,” Jim Collins describes “Level 5” leader as someone with 1) intense professional will, and 2) extreme personal humility. Collins deals with the question … what allows ego to take their organization to good, but without humility never allow them to move to great? Why does it appear that ego is something we must have if we want to succeed, but having it often interferes with the success we pursue? Can we learn to be humble? Can ego and humility coexist?

As individuals, we have a number of personality traits. These include: Assertive, flexible, charismatic, decisive, optimistic, courageous, etc. When we don’t mange the intense power of ego, these same traits become weaknesses. For example:
Strength Weakness
Charismatic
Paints a vision; inspires others; keeps people motivated.
Manipulates bad ideas to sound good; substance for style.
Dedicated
Doesn’t let obstacles overcome the end in mind; finds a way to get things done.
Wouldn’t consider alternatives; resists change; cuts off creativity in the name of “getting things done.”
Optimistic
Keep things in perspective; can help people get through difficult times.
Wouldn’t listen to bad news; rejects bad news as a lack of faith.
Diplomatic
Invites diversity; understands the dynamics of group process and facilitates discussion.
Becomes political; creates division and sets people against each other; focuses on who wins than on which idea is the best.
Ego Balance Sheet
The book describes 4 warning signs of out of balance ego and three ways to overcome it.

Warning Signs:

Being Comparative: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something,” wrote C.S. Lewis, “only out of having more of it than the next man.” In being comparative, we fixate on someone else and it makes us less competitive. (“Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good as someone else.”)

Being Defensive: As we move up the leadership ranks and become visible, we are expected to be “perfect.” It is as if we are not allowed to have flaws … leading to being defensive. There is a vital difference between defending an idea and being defensive. The motive behind defending an idea is to let the best argument win. When we are defensive, we defend our position and who we are.

Showcasing Brilliance: Showcasing isn’t about making our brilliance visible – it’s about making it the center of attention. The more we want or expect people to recognize, appreciate, or be dazzled by how smart we are, the less they listen, even if we do have better ideas.

Seeking Acceptance: Leadership is best reserved for those who don’t need a leadership position to validate who they are. Being aware of what people think is a sign of great leadership. Becoming oversensitive to what people think of us keeps us from being true to ourselves. Tom Brokaw once said, “Here is a secret that non one has told you: Life is a junior high. The world that you are about to enter is filled with junior high, adolescent pettiness; pubescent rivalries; the insecurities of 13 year olds; and the false bravado of 14 year olds.”

Three principles of egonomics:

Humility: A characteristic of humility is constructive discontent. Without causing loss of confidence of lessening the importance of what we have achieved, humility craves the next level of performance.

Curiosity drives exploration of ideas. Curiosity gives us permission and courage to test what we think, feel, believe to be true … reminding us we don’t know everything about everything.

Veracity is the habitual pursuit of and adherence to truth. It helps make the undiscussable discussable and closes the gap between what we think is going on and what’s really going on.

I particularly liked the visualization – imagine two end of ego spectrum (“ego empty” and “egotistical”) as two magnets and you in the middle. You are constantly pulled to one side or the other. At the center (and only at the very center), the magnetic pull has little effect. As you deviate from the center, you slowly get pulled towards one or the other end; the stronger we get pulled; and the harder it is to make it back to the center.

The key is to constantly check your-self and stay balanced – by constantly practicing Humility, Curiosity and Veracity.

Is Bhajji a controversial guy?

Too many things happened during series of australia. For the sake of win, ponting and few ozzie players did too many things during second test.
-> Kumble had accused aussies for not playing in the spirit of game
-> Sachin allegedly sending a text message to sharad pawar raising red flag to australian tour unless ban is lifted on Bhajji
-> Disciplinary action taken on sunny for commenting Mike Proecter...
The match loss and much respected kumble and sachin speaking out didn't made us think much about Bhajji's issue. Single thought ran on every body's mind, Symonds/Aussies team is the center for all controversies.
After the recent Harbhajan/Sreeshant issue during IPL matches, it is evident that Harbhajan is a bad tempered boy. Though the controversy has been sorted out immediately with an apology to paceman, this behaviour is unacceptable when you are under 100 camera's.

A little change in habits to make the life interesting

change your principles frequently to make your life interesting. For the first six months of the year booze a lot. For the next six months, go worship god. For next six months, go around girls..
Like this, keep changing your attention towards different things. this concept will be very interesting . Few things i would love to change now are
1. Go to Office in time, come back in time..
2. If you are feeling sleepy, go to bed without second thought. If you are feeling bored, go through some interesting books. If it is week end, go and meet some friends.
3. Wake up during early hours. Be fresh..
4. talk less..
Ofcourse, it is tough to implement all. But even then, i feel like its good to implement few things atleast.
Obviosly, if i say somebody that i am changing habits, a question arises in everybody's mind. Why would one change his habits for no reason?Any strong reason?
My answer is NO. i am just trying to do what reaches my mind at that point of time. Let me try it.

what's God's gift to us?

I have the habit of thinking what God has given to us? and Ofcourse i sometime compare with that of others. In bad situations, i think God has given more to others than me and in other situations, i think i am superior. one day morning at 6:30, , In a neutral environment,i felt that compassion towards others is a great gift to me by God. Later i thought, it is true.
why would one need compassion towards others?
very simple answer, to become a complete man.
there might be many meanings for this. But compassion is a gateway to one's happiness and others happiness. I dont ask you to give too much to others in such a way that our generosity will be taken as advantage by others. First respond with your heart and then leave it to your mind to decide what is to be done.

Not a good start

Alright, 6 days gone in 2008, Nothing has gone interesting or good. Although its short period to calculate year's fate, but there is always a sentiment that a good start will boost confidence. But anyway life is a two-sided coin, you cannot expect one side always.
Its really surprising how time is moving, i have completed 2 years in my company, i have completed > 20 Years, i have completed my studies. whats next yaar, this year completes and next year comes. It seems life is nothing, saving ourself in job (some times pulling others leg, which i hate to the core), Going out for shopping or movie with wife ( in case of married) or with friends. Wow, for this life which has always two sides, people try to pull others legs in job or real life...interesting..why don't people understand that if they pull my leg, trouble will come in others form. Leg pulling is ok, but committing brutal things for self satisfaction is too worst. Apart from charity i need to do few more things it seems (All i can do is at this time only, because i am bachelor). Many people are crossing their limits to satisfy their soul, which is not at all fair. They need severe treatment. I will try some new way to do this and make my life interesting and challenging.