Conversations and her

She is either very intelligent, or just loves to show off her arguing powers. One day, out of nowhere, she wanted to test me. Usually, I lose the argument, irrespective of the topic of the discussion. Here we go.

A chat transcript.

She: Did you see a soul-mate (past, present and future) when you first looked into my eyes?

I instantly knew that I cannot afford to be outright truthful here. Didn't reply for a long time, pondering over my course of action, and also anticipating the possible repercussions.

She: (Impatient) You didn't answer my question.
He: (Oh no.. Not again!!) Ummm, No.
She: No? You did not see a soul-mate in me? You are lying.
Me: (Trying to be funny, to divert her) Living life with you is enough. I don't want to linger around with you after we become ghosts.

She: You are saying that we were not together in our previous births?
Me: I don't remember. (Trying to remember harder as ever)
She: And you don't want to be with me in your next birth?
Me: Global warming, everything will be over soon. So, I am not thinking about my next birth. :)

She: Oh...
She: Okay ("Ok" would have been fine, but "Okay" is a sign of the approaching storm)
She: (She was reading a book just before we started this conversation) Then, I guess, I will read my book.
Me: Hahahahaha
She: Huh!!!

And after that, we had to continue this discussion over the phone and finally reach a conclusion, well, not exactly, but to a point where she can go back to reading her book normally, and me, well, telling myself, "A job well done" and gave myself a pat on my back. :D I won this time. Yay!!!

What? What the heck!!!

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

People can be so stupid at times. Sometimes, we say or do stupid things, which would make even a donkey laugh out loud. However, there are certain situations where you tend to ignore them. For example, you would just ignore a stupid question from someone when you know that the person is perhaps sad about something, and not in the right state of mind.

But it's really irritating sometimes, when people ask stupid questions, whose answer they already know. The best example for this is when your phone rings, and the other person confirms first that it's actually you who answered. Of course, there are exceptions, but then, at times it's just so obvious that nobody else other than you could possibly answer the phone.

There was a guy, whose name I prefer not to mention. I had this habit of reading newspapers few years back. Whenever he walked into my room, and saw me reading the newspaper, we would go like this:

He: Hey, What are you doing?

Me: Reading newspaper (Obviously)

He: I can see that. Reading what in the newspaper.

Me: So and so article. (Guiding his vision towards that portion of the newspaper)

He: Hmm. What are you reading in that article?

Me: Well, you know, so and so happened. I was just reading that. (Should I read out loud)

What the heck!!! I don't have the habit anymore.

And it happened almost every time he saw me reading either the newspaper, a book or even listening to the radio. I mean, isn't this stupid? I could understand that he wanted to break the ice someway or the other, but didn't he have any another ice-breakers?

Perhaps this: "Oh, you are reading the newspaper! Did you see this article today?"

I would at-least not wonder if he was "BLIND".

There are other stupid questions as well. And the more frequently used one is:


Why do you like Ice cream so much? (Or anything else which I like/love)
It's not that I haven't tried explaining them. For example, a typical response to such a question would probably be something like: "Well, it's cold, it's sweet, and it comes in a variety of flavors".

But then, how do I respond to questions like: 
1. Why do you like cricket?
2. Why do you not like tennis?
3. Why do you have a Citibank credit card?
4. Why are you wearing a black shirt on such a warm day?
5. Wassup?

Ah!!! The last one is one of those, which I answer with a "NOTHING - Nothing at ALL".

Will anything change!!!!

It's been a few weeks now, and everything seems to have fallen in place, for the Government, the Parliament, for the people of India, for the news channels and the internet. "India Against Corruption", seems to have shaken up a few people, actually, a whole lot of Indian population, and everyone seems to be talking about it everywhere.

I wonder if anything is going to change. Mind you, I am a very optimistic guy, so, don't think that I don't have any hopes. But, when you get to see, or hear about bizzare incidents happening almost every day, all around me, all this boils down to a very basic question.

Are we really ready for this change?

I seriously doubt. There was a case of a truck driver being beaten to death by some policemen because he refused to pay them a bribe. There was another incident, where a toll-gate attendant was shot by a person in a car, just because he didn't want to pay the toll-tax. I know a friend, who had to pay Rs 2,00,000 to a doctor for getting a certificate(his was a genuine case).

The policemen who brutally killed the truck driver are perhaps sitting in the comfort of their homes. The other person who shot the toll attendant, has probably applied for bail, and his application would be soon accepted. The doctor would have bought a load of gold and stashed it somehwere in his house. 

I really wish that one day, India would be on the list of the least corrupt nations of the world. But, I doubt that this will happen in a course of the next few years. It would take generations and decades all-together to bring about this change. It's not only about the laws, or the judiciary or the punitive actions by the authorities. There should be a change in peoples' mindset and their thinking.We should change the way we live each day. We should change the way we act each day.

Everyone from the Government that speaks against corruption, doesn't really understand how to tackle it. Or rather, they don't really have the will to eradicate corruption. I would agree that, 50% of the governement officials are corrupt, but the honest ones, who are still the half of the system, get branded as corrupt officials. Why is that so?

1. Until and unless I pay a bribe at the passport office, my application would continue gathering dust.
2. Until and unless I pay donation to some MP, I won't get admission to a private school/college.
3. Until and unless I pay a bribe, my tender would be rejected.
4. Until and unless I pay bribe, I would be the last one to be promoted.

I am not yet talking about the big corporate bribes that large businesses NEED to pay the big ministers to get approvals or licenses to carry on their business. That's another part of the story. A common man, would probably come across a government official, almost each and everyday, who would shamelessly demand a bribe to do what he is being paid for.

All of us must have seen the movie "Nayak", where Anil Kapoor was asked to be the Chief Minister of a state for one day. It inspires me a lot. I also feel that whatever has been portrayed in that movie, is very practical. Given a chance, a common man can do a lot better than most of the Chief Ministers of India. But, in real life, nobody would ever get that chance, and so, our Shivaji Rao Gaekwad will always be remembered as a character of fiction and fantasy of the bollywood.

Let's flip the story. If it were possible, just for a day, to ask Mr. Prime Minister, take leave from his office, to spend a life of a common man, what would he do? I am sure he will be begging for the day to end. 

It doesn't matter if he rides in a BMW. Take away his Z+ security, and let him drive on the pot-holed roads, and get stuck in traffic. Let him try to renew his vehicle insurance. Let him try to get a gas connection for his house. Let him try to get his PF amount withdrawn from the PF office. Let him try to successfully win a contract without bribing a penny. Let him try to dare and complain against a lazy government officer or a dishonest minister.  Let him try to register a complaint in the police station about his stolen TV. 

I am sure he will have a hard time. Just like each one of us go through all these troubles, every single day of our lives. I understand that a Prime Minister is not a super-man and he can't really solve each and every problem of our nation. But then, whatever I can see around myself, or read about in the news papers, I don't really feel that the Government is really trying hard. But again, that's not the point. Even after we would have all the strict laws and the Jan Lokpal setup, do I really feel that, magically, one fine morning, corruption in India would end?

My obvious response is a big "NO".

Until and unless we change, nothing's really going to change. Things like these have to change.

1. People let their children stay in prison for a day or two instead of bribing the police, even if their children are innocent.
2. People don't produce fake caste certificates to get their children admitted into good schools.
3. People themselves stop taking bribes or offering bribes.
4. People should encourage their children to be honest, not only to them, but to everyone else as well.
5. People stop asking for dowry. That's also a kind of bribe.
6. People stop giving dowry.
7. Teach humanity. Be more humane. Killing someone for Rs. 5000/-!!!!! That's not humane.
8. People should pay their taxes honestly, even if they feel that the Government is just eating up their hard-earned money.

So, what am I trying to suggest? As much as we ourselves need a radical change in our way of thinking and acting, our next generation should also be shown the way forward. Only then, the nation as a whole can change. Only then, would we be able to get this contagious corruption thrown out of our culture, our hearts, our minds and our nation. 

I have tried very hard to refrain myself for quite a long time writing on this topic. I am in a frustrated state of mind.

Ooops!!! Sorry...

People lose their cool all the time. So do I. I am generally believed to be a powerhouse of patience. People believe that I have loads of it. But the fact is, I don't have that much. :(

Well, yes, I do have a considerable amount it, but at some point I, too, run out of patience. I am only a human. And I am not perfect.

Anyway, Today, I want to say sorry to everyone at whom I was mad in the past. There are quite a handful of people. Friends, at home and at office. I honestly do feel that I should have exercised more caution then, and perhaps I could have handled those situations differently. At-least, I shouldn't have really shouted at them.

It's a little difficult, however, to keep your cool when people all around you behave crazy. When someone is pestering you, it really takes a lot of patience not to turn around and gag them or shout at them. Most of the time I am cautious. But at times, it gets out of control and hell breaks loose on them. Although I am not violent at all, but people seem to get scared or may be very very angry at me when I shout. It's probably because they don't expect me to retaliate ever. They probably feel like I am not the same person they knew, when I am mad at them.

There have been some instances in the past when I was mad and didn't react at all. Well, most of the times I am like that. Nobody wants to be angry. But sometimes, you have to react, voluntarily or in the spur of the moment. I do, however, at times, regret for my inaction when I should have just blasted off the other person, may be even killed them once and for all.

It isn't a big deal, though, if you can easily shrug off that feeling, and get back into a peaceful state of mind soon, when you could go over it again and decide for yourself if it was right on your part to behave the way you just did. It's perfectly normal to get mad at someone as long as you can ponder over it again and if required apologize for your behavior if you think you were wrong.

Well, I guess, this is not new. Everyone knows what anger can do to a relationship. Everyone also knows that ego is not really a good thing to have. That doesn't help in keeping your relationships if you have a short-temper. We tend to get angry on people frequently who are close to us. It doesn't really matter if you shout or not at a stranger or a person who you don't consider to be close to you. They are not an important part of your life. You are probably never going to meet that stranger again or won't have a life-time relationship with that acquaintance. But that doesn't mean that you could go on swearing and shouting at people on the roads. Your conscience will get to you for that sometime for sure.

Ah!!! I am just talking gibberish. Let's come straight to the point. People, again, I apologize to all of you on being rude or for getting mad at you. To make all those people feel a little better,

"I shout at those people who I consider close to me, hoping that they would understand why I did that"

By the way, Friendship day is round the corner. Those of you who are willing to revive the jagged threads of our friendsip, get ready. :) Happy Friendship Day in advance.

Random post at midnight

Image courtesy: Wikimedia

I was talking to a friend today. He said, "People update their blogs only when they are sad and gloomy. When they are happy, why the heck would they want to sit in-front of their computers typing out their thoughts? Rather they would hang out with friends, have a beer, watch a movie and enjoy their nice time."


Well, I do agree.


I recently started a chain mail and added everyone on my contact list (at-least those I remembered). This time around, the response was pathetic. The last time we did a similar thing, Google had blocked my gmail account for a day stating that the limit of the number of mails that could be sent in a day was crossed. They said that I had sent more than 500 emails for that particular day.  

Dumb!!!!! 

This time, the chain hasn't even been able to collate even 15 links. That's understandable I guess. People have settled now. Some married, some too busy with work and some have perhaps forgotten their old friends. I am not complaining though. That day, I was a little low on work, so didn't know what to do. I was bored of Facebook and Twitter and then I remembered all my friends. :D

Need for a change?

Today, while I was passing by the Legislative Assembly building of Orissa on my way to some place, the sight triggered a chain of thoughts into my mind which was happily thinking about the sky, birds and the beaches before this. When I was a child, before I opened my Social Studies book, I wondered what would people do inside such buildings. I haven't yet seen the interiors of this building but then it wouldn't be much different than the Parliament houses we see on TV, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, apart from being proportionately smaller than the those.

I started thinking about how and whose idea it would have been to create a parliamentary system where countless number of people would be present, half of them sleeping, some of them day-dreaming, and a few ones shouting their hearts out. And then the Speaker siting there, as a king, on a raised chair, throughout the day, enjoying the drama going on the floor. Well, I am sure it wouldn't be anything less than a drama. As for me, I would rate Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav's talks very entertaining. He wakes up the house (read: sleeping members), lightens up The Speaker, and irks the opposition (who try their best to control their laughter).

I even remember, when cable televisions were not around, my father used to specifically wait for the show every day during the winter and the summer sessions of the houses. I could see him wearing a smile throughout the duration of the show, and there were occasional outbursts of laughter, from my father and from inside the television set. As a child, even I found it funny sometimes, the fights, arguments and the sleeping ministers. Ah, it was quite an entertaining program on National TV those days. But, now, I don't see my father even stop on this program while he is browsing through all the movie and news channels. I guess, his favorite stars have all retired, and he doesn't find it entertaining anymore. Me too.

Well, this wasn't the subject matter of this post. I will come to the point now. The moment I passed by that building, a picture of the large hall of the Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha flashed through my mind. I thought, "Is this all necessary"? Agreed, that all the countries do this, and it has been standard procedure for the governments to meet and discuss issues and probably solve them. I wonder if this is the best way to do it, or a change is needed so that we could adapt the systems to match the 21st centuries demands and needs (faster actions and please please please no corruptions and scandals).

Well I know that the ministers actually do work when they are not in the parliament. And most of the work is done outside of the parliament houses and not in presence of virtually every minister in the country. So, why do we still continue to follow this practice of having parliamentary sessions? Can't we just chuck it? If there is indeed something to be discussed and voted for among all the Ministers, can't we have a better system? Instead of flying all the ministers from different parts of the country, the majority of which would have nothing to say, but a "yes" or a "no"?

We have progressed so much in technology, we produce or develop software for the rest of the world, but we haven't been able to use it ourselves. Our governments still use a lot of work and most of them refuse to accept the new hi-tech changes entering their offices. Most of the government offices don't have a website, and the ones which have one, haven't been updated since they were first launched. Well, the list can go on and on, but I don't want to make this post bigger than this. :)

Just one last thing!!! Don't laugh at me please. I am a software engineer, and so, my thoughts would be obviously be related to where and how I work. So, my question is:

"Does our Government follow Waterfall model or Scrum methodology to execute projects?"

I don't think they use any of the methodologies at all. In case they don't, has the time come to change the way our Government works? I would not mind to see an amendment in the Constitution of India, which would require every incumbent to be trained in Project Management, at the very least. I don't mind if they are just graduates, MBAs from Harvard or just plain illiterates. If at all they are required to work, they should be at-least have proven experience or should be trained before they take their oaths. Like the IT companies hire their employees. :D What say!!!!

We, the software engineers, do not take oath, but still fulfill our responsibilities and in most cases over-perform each day. Isn't that amazing? Are we corrupt? I guess, not.

Friday night friend

Who doesn't want a few extra bucks for a few clicks! Even I, at some point of time was lured by those paid survey sites that make grand promises of paying you dollars in return of a few clicks. My initial clicks fetched me quite a few dollars, but very soon I realized that this is just a scam. They never actually pay you.  Well, that's not really what I have in mind right now.

I was just killing my time browsing, and watching TV happily. I noticed my gmail window blink with a new chat message. It was 3:00 am in the morning, and I was quite surprised to see someone ping me at this hour. It was from an old friend. It must have been almost about half a year when I had last talked, chatted or seen him. Here's our conversation.

He: Hi
Me: Hey, long time, wassup?
He: Are you free?

Me: Yup, sort of, just enjoying the Friday night.
He: Can you do me a favor?

(Ah, there he goes, I started thinking about what would he ask for. In a split second I knew exactly what he would be asking for)

Me: Hold on, Are you going to ask me to complete one of those damn MBA surveys?
He: Hehehe, LOL, How did you know?
Me: Dude, you MBA guys only contact non-MBA people only when you need these surveys done.
He: Hehehe, please, yaar, I have to submit this tomorrow, and you are the first one who would be helping me out. It's an interesting one and you will actually like it. I have personally prepared it, keeping today's generation in mind. It's about alcohol consumption, and....
Me: Ok Stop, I don't want to know the details. I will do it.
(@#$!$%&@ a good 10 minutes of my already ending Friday up for those MBAs)


I got the questionnaire within a second of typing out that line. He must have already prepared the mail even before he started chatting with me, all prepared to hit the "Send button". Well, the questionnaire was all but interesting. I really don't understand what are they going to make out of it. Anyway, I just skimmed across the questions, and marked my random answers, and sent it back.

He: Thanks dude, I will mention your name in my assignment. Can you do me one more favor?
(Well, I couldn't think of anything else this time. I brain had gone completely dead)
Me: WHAT? I just did it.
He: Can you send out this questionnaire to your friends and ask them to fill it up?

:@ :@ :@ I clicked on the "SIGN OUT" button right after that.

PS: "He" was actually a "She". :D I have just decided that I wouldn't be doing any more such surveys, and I would refuse any such requests right-away. So, the MBAs, beware. I will not do anymore surveys for free. You have to pay up now.

What a shame!!! CWG

Corruption? Is it new? It happens all the time. Why are we crying out loud this time? Why the hell? Nothing is going to change anyway. Nothing at all. Is only Mr. Suresh Kalmadi responsible? Why only HE?

This is really sad. But, I don't think all these things even matter to us. I am sure, once the games are over, everyone will forget all this hue and cry and get back to there so-called normal life.

The news channels have got their share of news. The politicians have stuffed their banks with money. And who pays for all this? Ah, how I wish I had not paid last years taxes. They are not being used anyway. Half of all the taxes are either wasted, or they go into bank accounts in Switzerland.

I guess, someday, we ordinary people might wake and act against the whole system by not paying our taxes. Let the IT department drag the whole nation to court. And then, probably only then, we will get a chance to ask the Government, the most important question, the question which every Indian wants to ask, the question that has remained unanswered for a long long time....

"Why is our hard-earned money being wasted? Who is responsible for this?"

How many more such instances will we have to witness before our Government and our politicians open their eyes. We probably need to make some noise and shout out loud, and be heard. It's high time. But how?

Kudos Times of India

A few years back, I liked the online version of The Times of India and it was perhaps the only place where I read the newspaper for sometime. As an effort towards saving paper, I had also stopped getting the paper Newspapers. I liked the site, and it was almost updated instantly whenever there was a new story for which you would have to wait for the next day's newspaper.

But, now, the Times Of India site sucks. I have written 2 mails to the editor, regarding my concerns, but nothing has happened yet, and probably nothing will change. These guys still want to sell news on the paper, whereas I thought that they would one day, try and reduce the amount of paper that they use up everyday.

Somethings that I don't like:

1. Ads everywhere: It takes almost a minute for the front page to open, and display some content.
2. The front page of the online version is just sexed up. It looks attractive, thats all, but it doesn't show quality content.
3. They have completely changed the meaning of Headlines. Any new news is a headline for them, and it appears right at the top.
4. When I open the website, I would expect to see the articles that would probably be seen on the paper newspaper. But, the online version, I guess, doesn't have a competent editor. Some guy who maintains the website, seems to be a self-proclaimed editor for the website, who actually doesn't know what should go where.
5. Videos. Aaahhh....I don't like the videos. Most of them are related to things which I would never like to see. And moreover, the videos start with 30 sec ads, yes each one of them.

I was pissed off when this article managed to get into the headlines of The Times of India, today morning.

Woman delivers a 'tweet' child

It might be interesting for some, and I congratulate the mother and the child, but this is definitely not an article for the Headlines of a so-called well known, a leading national newspaper.

I now wonder, if this kind of content that fetches them more money. Is this a well-researched method to generate readership for newspapers/magazines, in general? Do people actually enjoy reading such stories? I reckon, YES. So, then, it's not the newspapers to be blamed. I guess, the "golden" days were better, where every morning, we would eagerly wait for the morning newspaper and then fight over it with other family members, each trying to snatch away their favorite page of the newspaper, and then enjoy the morning tea. Now, It's all about money.

Why Do I BLOG !!!

Everyday I wake up, thinking "What should I blog about today"? In the search for a topic, I try to go back into my past, into my childhood or college days. I am in constant lookout for a topic, almost everywhere. While driving, at office, at home, while eating and before sleeping. I think I am addicted to blogging. But is this just an addiction? Really? Well, I have been addicted to Cigarettes once. But this addiction is certainly of a different kind. Sometimes, when my search for topics do not take me anywhere, I hijack other peoples' blogs to find one. I know it's not nice. But, seriously, I am addicted.

I try to keep my blog updated. If I am not blogging about anything, I try to search for some old pics from the lot I have on my hard drive, which I could upload and write a short description, just for the sake of keeping my blog updated. I jump in joy whenever I receive a comment on one of my posts and make it a point to reply to it almost immediately. When there's no one commenting on my blog, I visit a lot of blogs and comment on their posts in the hope of getting a comment or two in return. I tweet about my new posts. I buzz them too.

So here comes the big question. Why do I blog?

• To beat Kunal at his blogging frequency. I think I will beat him this year. At this point in time, I have a considerable lead. :)
•  Want to be a pro-blogger. Well, every blogger wants to be one. Just write some crap(pun intended) and earn $$$$.
• A hobby perhaps. My other hobbies like music, sketching, painting and gaming have been overshadowed by the tech-driven hobbies.
• It's nice to blog. Of late, I have seen many people mentioning their blog address in their resumes. A lot of companies have their own blogs and encourage people to write some articles. It's all about bringing traffic to their websites. I also have a tech blog on Android which I would like to promote here.:) Android Tips for Developers.
• It feels good when people appreciate your thoughts and comment on your posts. You always want to have more of them.
• I guess everyone wants to be heard. Blogging is a great platform to achieve that.

I am feeling sleepy now. So, people, I am eagerly waiting for your comments. Ah, don't worry, I will approve your comments as you post. I carry my phone all the time. I am an "ADDICT".

Technology Overdose - Overdoes

It's just 21st century and we are being surrounded by more and more gadgets. Makes life easy for sure. But, seems that, we have lost the knack of talking to real people and somehow have started believing on these gadgets/technologies more than on People.

1. Lost in the streets? Open the Google Navigation and ask for directions.
2. No more Newspaper bills. I read it online.
3. Send/Receive mails from the postman? Nah, Email is fast and FREE!!!
4. Cricket match anyone? Big LCD screens at home with 3D analysis of each ball bowled and hit.
5. Meetups/Get-togethers? Video and voice conferences are cheaper than traveling even a mile.
6. Read books? Of course, I buy e-books and read them on my laptop to save paper.
7. Get tickets for a move? Do it online or by phone.
8. Cassettes/CD-Players still alive? Everyone has a portable music player these days.
9. 3+4 = ?? Google tells you now. I don't need a calculator.
10. Buying a car? Dig the forums for reviews/comments.

Orkut, Facebook, Twitter etc are the fastest ways to communicate with people. No doubt about that. But, this really suits our generation where our friends from school stay far away from us now. And it seems that all these things are actually making our lives easier. True to a certain extent. But, for I guess, the story and the experience will not be the same for the next generation.

A decade later, more and more children will be either on Orkut or Facebook. By children, I mean, 6 year olds and up. Most of their time will be spent on updating their status messages or profile, or uploading photos, sharing videos, making new friends, etc. People will have more virtual friends or contacts than the real ones. All this, no doubt, in a way makes you more social, or do they really? Instead of discussing problems/issues with parents/friends, people now-a-days tend to be more open and comfortable in discussing their problems amongst their virtual counterparts. A sense of anonymity gives you the power as well as the freedom of expressing your views, which is good, but it becomes dangerous when people take advantage of this freedom. For example, a Google account of a user, in essence, is his biography. Everything he has done in the past is begin recorded. All his mails, contacts, appointments, location information, searches, videos he has watched is recorded. If it falls into the wrong hands, doomed is perhaps the only word I can think of. I mean, grown-ups would probably learn and manage all this, but isn't it a overdose for the children?

A few days back, I met someone, who I know, is a child, and I was shocked to see his fake Facebook account with hundreds of friends. This guy used a fake name and photo for this account. He has, in short, created a fake person who is completely different from himself. He has a different age, has a job and has also listed his likes and dislikes which is again so different from him. Is this Anonymity? And he is just 13 years old. I tried convincing him to create a real profile, but he didn't budge and said, nobody would want to become a friend that way!!!

Anonymity == FAKE ??

From Wikipedia:  A social network is a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.

A social network is made up of "nodes" and not "people".

NICE DEFINITION

Friday again - Brain Drained Already!!!

Till lunch, I had not realized that it was Friday already. Wow, this week flew away really fast. By the way, I was on leave yesterday. Had a bad stomach upset.  As much as I enjoy Fridays, I hate Mondays even more. The concept of weekdays should change now. It's been there since the invention of Calendar, I guess. All the laws in the world keep changing, why can't this change?

So here is what I propose. The new Calendar system should be called "Corporate Calendar". Here are some of the features that I would like to see.

1. 6 days in a week (Delete Monday)

2. 61 weeks in an year

3. Remove the concept of the Leap year, to make the life of coders a bit more easy

4. Have a 365 days a year, simple.

5. Keep 12 months (else think of more names for the months)

6. First 5 months have 31 days and the next 7 have 30 days

So, how does this work? Since, we have removed the Monday, a lot of people will love this calendar, and would be more willing to adopt this.

6 days in a week. Chuck the concept of Weekdays and Weekends. What we will have is Workdays and Playdays. Tuesday, Thurday and Saturday will be workdays, while the rest should be playdays. That's the main reason why the number of days in a week should be reduced to 6.

Children of the world will find it easier to remember this calendar, after they learn it once. 31 days for the first 5 months, and the rest are 30 days. No leap year (Good news for coders as well). One less day (Monday) to remember. Friday is a Playday, Enjoy without getting bored in office and writing meaningless blogs.

On second thoughts, there shouldn't be any damn calendar here. Why is everything organized in this world? Don't we know that the world, rather the whole universe was created out of random events? Who the hell had the idea to make everything so planned? I love chaos and hate routine stuff.

Hate that calendar and the alarms on my phone. :@

Tea, Coffee and an Apple

It's Thursday. Friday is good friday, so a day off for us tomorrow. Planning to leave office early, and get a good long sleep. After yesterday's showers, Bangalore is still hot. In office, it's been a long day. Coffee, tea and an Apple have kept me busy. The coming days are gonnna be too hectic for me. That's not noce. :-(

Please rain come today,

Johnny is sick and doesn't wanna play,

Location : Kasturba Rd, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka,

Interviews on the other side

At work, these days, taking interviews are a part of my daily activities. On an average I take 3 interviews a day. And that is hectic and boring. To top it, the technology I am into, there aren't many female professionals out there. What a boring job !!

My first question:

Tell me about yourself. Crap, if someone asks that question in an interview, I will break his head.

My last line:

I am done with your interview. I will send my feedback to the HR and he will get back to you. I always used to get similar responses.

At first I thought it would be fun, but now I think it is the most boring job, well, a female candidate might just help now and then. :-)

I have rejected over 2 dozens of resumes till now. Bye , I have another one lined up right now.

Bike Update - Down and Dead

It has been hardly 10 days and my machine has started showing signs of being just a machine. I have learnt one lesson though. Never rely on a damn machine. Mechanical devices are still trustworthy, but when it comes to Electrical and Electronics, no matter how high the reliability of a sytem is, the probability of it failing is quite high at any given time.

So, my battery is dead now. And to add to the problem, there is no kick lever in my bike. They are saying that it would take atleast 2-3 days to fix the battery. WTF. Till then, I have to push and start. Wow, I was looking to join a gym very soon, but now I don't need to. I burn some calories and flex some muscles whenever I want to ride my bike.


I called up the Exide guys, and they said that they will first check and replace if necessary. My advice to people who are planning to buy a bike,

"Do not get a bike without the kick lever"

Time killing

It's Friday. And I am in party mood. But the sad thing is, there's no party!!!!

I will be very busy this weekend, that's for sure. Have to roam around a lot, have to brave the sun. Next Tuesday is a holiday for us. That's a relief.

Time doesn't fly, it crawls when you want it to fly. I have 3 gmail accounts, which I need to check very frequently. Even that doesn't help me kill my time at office. By the way, from next week, it seems that I will be given lots and lots of work. But before that, I am chilling, and trying to kill the 8 hours at office.

I don't know what will happen when that transition comes. From complete idle to loads of stuff, I think I might not be able to handle all this. In a way, I am sure. Let's see.

I get at-least 50 mails a day, to which I have to reply (un-official). Now, it's boring. But have to do it. I try to keep my nails in shape by biting them off.

I don't like IPL and so I am not very excited about it. :)

Second post of 2010

Hello All,
This is my second post of 2010. I don't have a topic for today's blog. I am writing this because Kunal, who is in Gurgaon, has recently shifted to a new place. So, he hasn't got a network connection yet. And that Reliance guy, who had promised him of giving him a Hi-Speed data card has eloped with Kunal's 500 INR. Hahahaha, that means, I have got some more time to write a few more blogs, and start this new year a few posts ahead.

Pole Position Kunal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Google - Conquer the World????

I shiver at the very thought. When I imagine this, although, it might not happen in the foreseeable future, still, it seems that it's not that far, and I can see it happening very soon. Soon enough, that frightens me.

We all know Google, since it's beginning, has been growing by leaps and bounds, (we should find a new word that describes such a kind of growth). Google is slowly penetrating every part of our lives. It's everywhere. And I guess, almost 80% of what we do on the Internet, is being recorded by the Google Servers. It's scary. It's like a big big directory of information on each and every person on the planet, dead or alive, why only people, they have records of each and every kind of organism that ever existed. Well, in a nutshell, all our data is distributed, and exists in the cloud.

All our mails, contacts, and more recently, Google has started saving our documents and pictures (with Docs, and Picassa), then they have our calendar, our notes, then our music playlists, our credit card numbers(Google Checkout), our addresses (needed when you sign in for Google Adsense or Checkout), all of our blogs, and what not. Now they have the Android phones with their OS running on it. So, all our phone calls and messages, can, practically be recorded by Google.

Google's motivation and ambition is to provide free and opens source technology to everyone. Well, for all these service Google earns a whooping sum, which I can't even imagine, through Ads. Well, if you think all this as a favorable ecosystem in which, with Google's technologies, our lives are getting better and better, it's a fairy tale, and we will only hope for the future to pass by us and present us the new world with Google's services.

I am sure, Google, has so much power now with it, that it could change the whole world. In George Orwell's, 1984, we see a world where the Big Brother has the only authority, and he changes the history, the past, the present and the future at will. Just because, he has all the resources of the planet, that he can manipulate. Imagine, if some day, Google really has this kind of power, I am sure, Google will really take over "Planet Earth". Afterall, power is what everyone wants.

I don't say that Google is aiming for it, but somewhere right in the Google's campus, there might be a psychopath, who dreams of conquering the whole world.

No more time, but have to wait

Well, looks like there is no more time left for me. Time would not allow me to do some things that should have been done in the past. Time has left the past behind and is just about to knock on the doors of the future. I cannot even feel the presence of time now. The “now” is already going into the past, so fast.

Hehe, forget time. I just wanted to relax from now on. Till Sunday, I have decided not to touch my still “untouched” books. And I am trying to relax. But, I am not able to figure out how to relax. What should I do to relax ? Even in my sleep, I have had some obnoxious dreams, dreams that were definitely not sweet. Dreams that made me sweat, dreams that woke me up at the oddest hours of the night, and deprived me of the adequate amount of sleep. For the last few days, I had been sleeping at very odd hours, sleeping for not more than 5 hours a day, though I over-slept for a few days. 

So, here comes the question. “What am I worried about ?”

I am not sure. I have never been sure. Frankly speaking, I don’t have any expectations from anything. Well, then, what am I worried about, if I don’t have any expectations? If I were to generalize, I would say, each and every action will always have a “Good” and a “Bad” outcome. Of-course, I don’t want the “Bad” outcome, nobody does, perhaps. But out of those two, who decides which is the “Good” one and which is the other? Probably, that is what I am worried about. 

I expect my journey of life to be one without much pain, but pleasure, without much losses, but gains, without much sorrow, but happiness, and I can see at-least two roads in-front of me. I can’t see beyond a certain point, and so don’t see my final destination. No one has even made a mark on any of them. There are no indications, directions or suggestions for the travelers. One of them seems to be a bit rough than the other. But, that’s what I can say about the two roads till the point that I can see. Beyond that point, its dark. these two roads are only meant for me. Other people will have their set of two or more roads. And it seems that I, now, I have to make the decision, to choose one out of the two. 

I feel like tossing the coin sometimes, since it seems the only way out. And, if I decide to choose one of them, I will never be able to come back into the past, and take the other one for a change. Perhaps, that is what is worrying me. But, the act of deciding seems to be not under my control. I feel that it has already been decided and my mind already knows which road I will take. But, somehow, my mind has stopped communicating with me. Though my mind knows which one I will be choosing, I am not aware of this decision. Perhaps, it’s not my mind actually. Perhaps, it is the roads, that have made my decisions. Perhaps, the road that I will be traveling on is the only real one, the other one being just an illusion. It probably doesn’t even exist.
This illusion, even if I am aware of it, still makes me wait at the crossroads, and contemplate. Isn’t it weird ? 

Perhaps, I should stop thinking any more, and wait till the illusion vanishes. I don’t know now, which one of them is the real one. I will wait till one of them disappears, and then, may be, I won’t be worried too much. I wouldn’t have any choice then, there wouldn’t be a decision to be made. Life would be so simple after that until another crossroad appears.

A day before that CAT, I am thinking all this ? Wow. Seems something terrible, or may be pleasant is waiting for me somewhere. Or may be, I at-last know:

                "Why People Call Me Psycho”