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August 04 Be nice to others, no don't! That is the mantra...All of us have been taught to be nice to others, try and extend help to others and be accomodative as and when possible. They taught us that being nice to others gets you others feel good about you.
No longer, I would say. Today, if you are nice, the first thing people do is to take advantage and make a fool out of you. Not just in everyday life, but work place, family, everywhere. Let us define, what is being nice. First of all, trying to be as accomodative as possible. Help others, go the extra mile so that others are happy. Never knowingly hurt others heart with words/actions. Most important of all, feel good and talk good.
Today, if you are nice to others, you become the loser. Worst thing, your close aides make fun of you, term you as incapable and teach that you have to be smart. I know there is just a fine line between smartness and cunningness. Smartness to you may mean cunningness to the other and vice versa.
Take work place. Those who keep constantly complaining on others and thereby showing how they are better seem to grow quicker than those who seldom complain on others. More than growth, it is imperative for one to find fault on others and thereby highlight one's strength, to survive. Even appreciating the other person is very very precious or usually well orchestrated.
Take family. If you are kind, people take you for granted and don't hesitate to utilize maximum resources from you. The moment you start questioning, you become "suddenly bad"
Take social life, in Trains/Buses/Auto/Traffic, everywhere, you got to have the "I am first" attitude else you would be left behind not just in traffic, but in life.
Fortunately/Unfortunately, I have the genes from my mother who doesnt know cunningness and I would remain like that throghout my life. I am fine being left behind, for I will always have the last bus to catch
 At least it gives a sense of satisfacation that I did what I feel is right although others keep compalining to you on that.
Cheers !!! July 07 Welcome to Indian Railway Seating SystemIn this post, I am not talking about the priveleged Chair Car, II A/c, I A/c & Unreserved compartments. These are spared from the hassles I am talking below (Unreserved is next to hell but that is a choice you make and you only have to blame yourself for doing that)
Take a typical case of Train journey. Most of us travel by train and know that if you take up a Sleeper Class or 3rd a/c you more or less have the same compartment model - 3 tiers opposite to each other and 2 in the side. Now, there is this additiona middlel tier introduced in the side berths as well last year, thanks to our ex Hon. Railway Minister who thought just like how they can accomodate as many buffaloes in a court yard, they can accomodate people as well. Everytime it is a thrilling experience before you get to know your actual seat number. Why is this?
Scenario 1: You get a confirmed seat and say the number is 18. Typically this means that you need to find where is 18 and sit over there. In normal cases, there would be 3+3 in the normal cabin and 2 in the side cabin and there are around 9 such cabins so totally it makes it to 8 * 9 = 72 seats. This would mean 18 would be in the 3rd cabin middle seat.
Now with the introduction of the side middle berth (literally like stacking up buffaloes, goats), there can be 9 people accomodated so 18 would go to side middle in the 2nd cabin itself, for sleeping. The reason for this is that, they accomodated the old numbers in the bottom and top of side berths and the additional ones in the middle. Again, this person has to sit in the normal cabin as a 4th member. We all know how people behave when it comes to sitting in trains. They try to expand themselves as much as possible as if otherwise, their ticket charge is not fully utilized. The reason why the side middle person has to sit here is because, the side berth already can only have 2 people sit comfortably and if a 3rd person comes, not only he has to sit with his leg on the way (not to forget people who carry heavy luggage and dont bother hitting your leg on the way) but also he may be in between the 2 people who usually are from the same family / friends / colleagues, etc.,
When it comes to the trains, people want to sleep as early as 7pm which reminds me of my child hood when they ask me to go to bed then. The funny part is, these people would not go to bed at their homes till 12pm but train, they either want to sit occupying maximum space or sleep. This would mean that the middle berths have to come down and the side middle person cannot sit.
Scenario 2: You managed to some how sit as the 4th person and anxiously waiting for 8pm to go for sleep. If you thought that was all, the TTR would come and say, side berth is removed and all your seats are re-arranged. This is implemented hapazardly in certain trains (Gareeb Rath?) and still not implemented in some trains. This would mean that not only 18 but everyone from cabin no.2 now has to pack his/ her things and move to next cabin. Again reshuffling and all the hassles.
In certain trains, the TTR gives the middle berth unofficially to the RAC folks for money although middle berth is not there.
Needless to say, this can sometimes happen even in the middle of the night. When it happens to you in 3rd a/c (more so if you booked in tatkal), it really pains.
Now isnt this a truly great experience
July 01 How does it feel when someone endorses you...Its good to appreciate others. It always brings in happiness and the momentary adrenalin pump for the person whom you are praising. While these days praising other person is done as an orchestrated activity (you praise me => I praise you) or done to inherently show that "He/She did help..but you know what, I am the person behind the scenes".
In corporate world, it is even more tougher (Refer to the story where two IT professionals go through a forest. When they see a Tiger, one of them quickly pulls out the sports shoe form his bag. The other person asks, "Do you think wearing this shoe is going to make you run faster than the Tiger?" and the other person replies "I dont need to run faster than the Tiger. I just have to run faster than you").
But, today, I received an endorsement from one of my ex-colleagues (http://www.janakiramm.net/) in Linked In and needless to say it was a selfless one without any hidden agenda. It was very heartening to see it. I am putting here below the transcript.
"I know Harish for more than 3 years. I admire Harish for his mastery over ASP.NET. He is undoubtedly one of the best ASP.NET developers I have come across. His blog is the best ASP.NET resource on the web. Harish is very focused, honest and hard working. Attend any of his sessions and you know what I mean"
To summarize, there are two things I want to say. Praise others often and praise them without any hidden agenda.
Hope you will praise this post
Cheers !!! May 01 Friday evenings and me!For the benefit of non-it folks, I want to explain first. Friday evenings are party (rather were) times in most of the Software companies. Everybody gets casual on Friday evenings considering the next 2 days of relief. (Now I dont want to tell the actual fate in many companies that force employes to work on Saturdays and in certain cases Sundays as well).
But in a realistic software company model, fridays are parties. People try and leave early, some people try and work from home to avoid the hassle of driving forth and back. Others try taking off and do a myriad of things to extend the bit of the day to the weekend mode.
Also, most of the team dinners (team building activities) happen on Friday evenings since its a time to chill out given that most of these end up being drinking party and the folks dont have to come to work the next day, being Saturday.
However, in my 10 years of career, I have always found that some how or other, I screw up on Friday evenings that I can't leave early. Either it would be a demanding work or something that is a burning issue or in certain cases, an installation/uninstallation I started which seems never ending.
Also, the anxiety that the next 2 days, I might be totally off from system, makes me dig up and complete everything in my task lisk ending up having to do the extra bit. Now, I am not trying to show that I am the hardest working guy. It is just that, I suck when it comes to time management and efficiently planning work so that this doesnt happen. Also, that nerdiness in me, asks me to check that extra bit of everything before I feel comfortable.
Believe me, I have done this when I started my career - initial 2 years, became experienced did the same, got married - still did the same and after four years of getting married, I am still the same (while I type this I am at office trying to install a new product and that took hell a lot of time and is continuing). The only difference is that, before marriage, people dont bother to call me and ask where I am since they know for granted that this guy comes late home. The recent (rather 4 years) is that my wife calls up and asks when I would come. Invariably I would say in another 15 minutes I am starting and end up spending one more hour.
The reason for this post is that, today I got the infamous call from my wife who said that "I know its Friday evening so you end up at home only after 9pm" and kept the phone without waiting for me to react.
For all those out there envying Software professions and their huge pay checks (imaginary) these are some of the things which you can find in most of the folks. We have seldom seen sunsets and had very rare occasions to come home in the evening and then going out for shopping / functions etc.,
Cheers !!!
March 02 Jab We Met - 6 years and glowing memoryIts hard to believe six years have gone by since I met this wonderful young woman whom I share my life with. One fine day, I walk into a brand new work place and as I wait for my peer mentor who would be briefing about my roles and responsibilities, I never knew that the peer mentor would be a life partner too.
There are a lot of things that gets hidden when you see this person who comes across as a soft spoken, quiet persona. Secondly, the amount of detail that goes into everything she does surprises me. Everything has to be perfect for her and that is one source of our arguments on a day to day basis.
I am a poor guy in romance, I never possess the art of making others admire out of what I talk and most of the time end up as a hopeless guy with a sense of humour.
For a person who never bothered for perfection, who never took life seriously and who thought a computer and internet could solve everything out in the world, she came as a clean sweep showing the real world out there and dealing with life.
I repeat what I said 2 years back - Manaivi Amaivadellam Iraivan Kodutha Varam which in Tamil means, Getting a Good Wife is God's Boon.
Cheers !!! February 14 Valentine's Day - Yet another add-on to our CultureBelieve me, Valentine's Day was never our culture. It never was meant to be hyped up as much as it is done these days in India. I vaguely remember of someone talking about Valentine's Day until the mid 90's. Thats when this fever caught up with India.
Some of the funny things I noted about Valentine's Day is that, people no matter whether they are committed or not, they always turn up in Green to show up they are free. Girls do come in green, but are a little skeptical. They still wait for this day to see who proposes to them. As always, they can dispose
 but they still want to hear from every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to propose.Greeting Cards, Gift Shops, Flowers everything gain rapid sales on this day, not to mention the different marketing tactics they provide.
Ok, the first time I knew about Valentine's Day was when I was in my school final. I was pretty Open
at that time but unfortunately the school uniform was white and blue so couldnt show up.Anyways, if people have fun (and they know the limit for fun) its good to have these days because these things add a little cheer to the day-to-day hustles.
The other funny thing (culture) that has come up in the past decade to India, particularly down south is the Akshaya Thrithiyai. Now this affects me the most because it involves Gold (which is expensive from the day I could remember). I will write about this in a separate post, and it wont be long before I write since Akshaya Thritiya is also fast approaching.
Cheers !!!
January 14 What should I do when I spill water on my laptopSuprised by the title of the post? Well, this would be the question that you might have when you end up spilling water on the laptop, particularly over the key board. Believe me, I had the experience twice and was able to overcome it the second time by following few quick steps.
1. Plug off the laptop immediately from Electric Power (this would save you a fortune)
2. Shut down / Log Off
3. Remove Battery Power from Laptop (this would save your battery)
4. Hold your laptop upside down so that the water can drain out
5. Take a fine piece of cloth and start wiping it, more in the edges of the keyboard and in between keys. If your laptop set came with a cleaning cloth, use the same. Make sure the cloth itself isnt damp
6. Leave the laptop free for 2 - 3 hours until it gets dried.
7. You can call the technician so that he can open the laptop and further wipe off/ clean off any water / dampness
Your laptop should be fine in a day's time. Note that the time between you pour water and you plugging of electric power determines the intensity of the damage that could be caused and needless to say, it is directly proportional. The longer you take to plug off the power cord, the damages could be serious.
Its not the water / coffee that spoils your laptop but the electricity that flows during the time water plays inside. This leads to short circuit burning the circuits / transistors inside. The fatal thing that could happen is your Mother Board going for a toss. It would cost you a dear 30k ranging upto 50k for quality mother boards.
Never attempt to open the laptop internals yourself and attempt to clean, you may end up damaging it more seriously.
If you follow the 7 steps mentioned above, you could save a few tens of thousands and probably a few heart aches.
Cheers !!!
November 01 Its Diwali Again !!!Its that time of the year when lights seem to be everywhere in India and wherever Indians live. Its Diwali again and I couldnt be more happier than this. Diwali in a way brings the family together in India and its a festival of lights..hold on I am not going to write a 2nd standard essay on Diawli :)
My advice to folks is that wherever you live for work, staying away from family, relatives etc., take a break and visit your folks. Atleast that is one of the reasons for why you are working hard. Remember the golden theory 50% is personal life 30% Work life and 20% Social Responsibilities could be arguably a great composition of the so called "Work Life Balance" AT the end of the day all of us work for having a peaceful personal life and if you miss these small happy moments there is no point in working hard.
This Diwali celebrate happier and I bet money is not a thing that decides the level of happiness. It is the togetherness, joy and giving to others whatever you have that makes the degree of happiness.
I am more excited about this Diwali than ever and I hope you carry the same happiness in your life.
Happy Diwali !!! August 14 60 Years of Independence60 years of Independence and what a time to come when India is shining the global arena.
We deliver the best talent in the world, cater to the second largest population in the world, hold the first largest employer of the world and continue to be the best country in the world.
We excel in Information Technology, Astronomy, Mathematics, Sports and Cultural Activities. We are the second largest film industry in the world.
We speak more than 250 languages, have more than 200 cultures, 33 States each one speaking their own language and yet excel as a nation.
We have the best institutions in the world and rich cultural heritage that challenges the world's top countries.
We never invade any country, nor introduce cold wars. We show happiness to everyone in the world. We have the best prime minister a country can have in Dr.Manmohan Singh. We just bid farewell to the best President anyone can have, Hon.Dr.Abdul Kalam.
We had one man whos bare body posed a serious threat to machine guns and tankers of the opposition.
We take pride in what we are.
We, the People! We, INDIA !!!
Jai Hind !!! July 30 Deteriorating health condition in s/w professionalsWell, I am gonna talk about something that is commonly discussed among software professionals and their parents - deterioriating health of software professionals. In India everything spreads fast be it epidemic, population, hot trends in jobs etc., With India almost completing 10 years of employment in software companies (although it started as early as 80s, I consider the hard core IT Companies more or less came in the late nineties or atleast aggresively recruited people during this period) there are millions of software professionals out there in the country.
Its common nowadays for a father / mother saying that my son is a software engineer as compared my son is an engineer/doctor, during the yester years. Every year candidates from all forms of engineering (be it mechanical, instrumental, chemical) enter into software industry. Many of them with the passion to work on the silicon chip, most of them behind one of the following reasons
1. Job trend
2. Parents forcing them
3. Money / Foreign Opportunities (wonder where the term "onsite" came from, must be from this industry)
4. High standards of life, night life, opportunity to work with opposite gender closely etc.,
Well, I am not abusing them, in India, everything works like Idly Shops. If there is an Idly Shop running good business in a street, there will be 10 of them coming up there.
Ok, coming back to the main thread, with millions of software professionals out there, the common health problems arising are
1. Obesity
2. Stress
3. Young age heart attacks
4. Physical Disorders including indigestion
5. Eye Sight, Muscular diseases
Reasons
1. Burn Outs due to excess working
2. Uneven diet habits
3. Too much of junk food
4. Constantly staring the monitor (while I type this, my eyes are burning)
5. Sitting all through the day
Solution
1. Dont accept to work more than 10 hours a day even if your lead / manager demands to. At the end of the day productive work can be done only for 8-9 hours and the rest who slog just hang around
2. Stick to regular eating habits and avoid missing breakfast (one of the primary causes of heart attack)
3. You are not going to listen to me but try avoiding junk food (look whoz grabbing pizza)
4. Give relaxation to eyes and see whatever pleases your eyes (it can be greenery or the girl with green dress sitting next to you)
5. Try standing and coding for some time. If you are in a closed cabin, try dancing for 5 min, jumping, running within the cabin etc.,
Well, these are my little tit bits to have somewhat healthy life for software professionals. At the end of the day, stay healthy to code better.
Cheers,
Harish. April 30 Getting a good wife is God's BoonThere is a popular song in Tamizh which quotes "Manaivi Amaivadellam Iraivan Kodutha Varam" meaning Getting a good wife is God's Boon and its not something everyone gets in life, owing to various factors.
A Good wife is not one who is beautiful, rich or educated. There are umpteen factors which decide whether one's wife is good and one is blessed with the dream partner.
Having said the above story, I am blessed with one, thankfully and I really thank God for the same.
Last week, I turned 28 and suddenly realized that I am into my late 20s and becoming or atleast need to become little responsible. Also, the same day I had to start early morning for a flight on a business trip. I got up at 4 am and without the interest to disturb my wife, I started my activities and was getting prepared.
When I came out after a shower, I was surprised to see that Lakshmi had already set up a beautiful Birthday Cake with Candle. It was a relishing moment early in the morning and surprising that she had kept it so secret.
So, I cut the cake at 5 am in the morning and celebrated the birthday.
I kept smiling all through the day for her kindness and the pleasant suprise she gave.
Thanks Lakshmi, I am lucky to have you as my wife !!!!
February 21 Finally I visited United States - Part 2United States of America is for sure, a great place for people who visit it first. It continues to remain a great place to live if one gets accustomed to the culture.
I went to Washington Seattle where our Company's Head Quarters is based. Quite a good place.
I was amazed to see the Traffic Regulations and how people follow the same. I was surprised to see that people work hard as well as enjoy their lives very well. People stood and said hello to me, knowing that I am foreigner.
There is an enormous crowd of Indian people out there. Lots of Indian shops, restaurants. You wont feel missed out of the chores.
I visited a nearby waterfalls, a skiing place and quite a few hills out there, a chilling prospect ?
Looking forward to my next trip and holding back my comments till then. Top 9 People whom I admire for their sheer brillianceEarlier I put a post on Top 7 I.T. Industry professionals whom I admire. I thought of following it up with a similar list of people whom I admire for their sheer brilliance. I am sure I would miss many of them which I want to put, but anyway wanted to share it
Ms.Jayalalitha, Ex-CM, Tamil Nadu
Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, Hon' President, India
Srinivasa Ramanujam, Mathematical Genius
Kamal Hassan, Actor, South Indian Cinemas
Mani Ratnam, Director, Indian Cinemas
A.R.Rahman, Music Director, Indian Cinemas
Sujatha Rangarajan, Writer, Journalist and Screen Play writer
Kastoori Rangan, ISRO
Late Dr.MGR
They have been phenomenol in what they do. And one common thing you can find in all of them is Courage.
Cheers
Finally, I visited United StatesIts a dream for many Indians, many in the South especially feel proud to say that my son is in U.S. I have been in the industry for close to 8 years now. Its a miracle that I didnt visit U.S. all these years. Somehow, I either skipped it, or moved out of companies when I just got my Visa process started.
This time, I didnt miss it. I had to visit U.S. for an internal conference, which I dont want to dwelve much into. But the fact that visiting United States first time can make you a little paranoid, with people saying 10-15 different things about the procedures there. It all starts with the Visa Interview.
One must admit that Visa Interview and getting a Visa is still an uncertain process and if you are lucky, you would get through. Having said that, in United States, most of the Indians living, (I am talking about the recent immigrants due to the software industry) are from small tinsel towns and 2nd - 3rd tier cities with, their parents visiting them frequently. So, language or culture is not a criteria for getting Visa and if you have the proper answer to the questions, you get the Visa, depending on the mood of the officer.
Ok, thats about Visa Interview. Well, all the above hold good only if you are travelling personally or on a Business Visit. If you are backed by a Corporate Company, the chances of getting Visa is very high.
I will talk about the trip and my experiences in U.S. in my next post.
Cheers Horsley Hills - A good place for vacationDuring the last week of December, I took the decision to keep away from Computers and concentrate on family. This was one of the longest period I have been away from Computer, ever since my marriage when I was 10 days away.
Ok, where did I go? what did I do?
We went to a place called Horsley Hills. Horsley Hills is a nice little hill station south of Andhra Pradesh, quite close to Bangalore and Chennai. In fact the place is just 1.5 hours drive from Tirupati, the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The nearest town is Madanapalle and you get Government buses and reasonable cabs to Horsley Hills.
Horsley Hills is a cool hill station, with close to 12 hair pin bends, but the journey is quite casual up the hill and the village on the top of hill is a very less populated area.
AP Tourism has the biggest resort with good parks, view points and sit outs. The rooms range from as low as Rs.800 to Rs.3500 based on the type of accomodation.
This place is just getting prominence and it isnt too cold as one would expect. In fact, the place has just started attracting people and gets filled up during summer (according to localites).
The language spoken is Telugu and a little bit of Hindi.
Not a great place to stay for more than a week's time considering the taste and quality of food that is given in the AP Tourism Hotel over there.
If you plan a sudden trip and are running out of ideas, Horseley would be a good place to stay away from the hustles of life.
It is nearer from Bangalore, Chennai and quite far away from Hyderabad.
Cheers !!!
November 25 What it takes to be successful in life?Well, I know I am trying to become philosophical of late, pardon me for that, but definitely wanted to share this information for the benefit of everyone.
Many of us aspire to be successful in one or more of the following things:-
1. Career
2. Family
3. Love
4. Sports
5. Other things like Personal skills
While some of us achieve to become this, some feel that they aren't lucky enough. I am going to repeat the same story which has been beaten to death - Belief
Whatever field you wish to aspire, first believe in yourself. Today I was watching a TV Show and was very surprised to get a valuable piece of information from the show (nowadays, TV Shows become more of a celebrity branded movie magazines)
"If you put your heart and soul in whatever you do, competition is not a constraint"
While this is very true, I would just like to add, choosing your right path. Many of us may be good in drawing, art etc., and you should not try to be successful in software development then. You will be a flop there.
Following your heart and chosing the right track for you, is perhaps the most difficult decisions to make in life. But, once you do that, then sky is the limit for the success you can get in your field.
Kamal Hassan felt and knew that movies would only work, Shah Rukh felt that acting is the only thing that would be successful for him. They all stuck to their passion and have been the outstanding stars in their fields.
Having said this, the difficulty we have is, most parents force us to take up a field which is popular, rather than which is closer to your heart. But, even if you stick to that for some time, work in the back ground for the career of your desire and then, boarding on to it, must be just a matter of time.
Well, am I in the career path I wanted? Definitely yes, though in the mid, I started focussing on a surprisingly special field (Surprise is not about the field, but about a person chosing that track).
If you want to know about that, well, post it in the comments, and I would share the experience.
Best Wishes for you to shine in your career.
Harish. November 23 Appraisal vs Resignation - Very TrueThe following is an excerpt from the "Appraisal vs Resignation" Joke that floats around in different flavours in emails and websites. Very true one though, having worked with some Service Companies, I have found that every point in the joke is true
Appraisal
Resignation
November 20 The second minor accident in my lifeWell, its expected if you drive a bike. But not for me. I drive a bike very slowly and never tried any of the fancy stuff that guys do with bike.
In fact, I learnt driving a bike quite late and for some reason, I never caught up with the Bike fever which end school - college guys get.
let me come to the story
Myself and sweetheart were driving down a short cut road to an important conference. It was mid day and no one would expect even a tinch of vehicles, forget about traffic since it was also a Sunday.
While I was slowly but steadily driving, there came a bike all of a sudden from a small lane. The speed in which the guys in bike came showed how reckless they were, particularly when they are coming from a lane and joining a road.
All I did was to apply a sudden brake to stop colliding with them. My vehicle along with me and my sweetheart, fell down upon the road.
Luckily, there wasnt any vehicle coming from behind and some people helped us get up. The nasty bike guys fled the scene. Some body was kind enough in getting us a glass of water and also one of them noted the bike number and gave it to us.
We werent hurt much except for my sweet heart who was badly bruised in her thigh and also had mild problems walking.
For me, I realised it a little late when I couldnt lift the vehicle for putting the stand.
Anyway, they say it is "Dhrishti" etc., but, for me, its the second accident and the first one when I am driving.
Praying to God to keep us away from any such in future. November 15 Top 7 People Whom I admire in the field of Information TechnologyThe following are the people whom I admire for their sheer brilliance in the field of Information Technology
Of course there are many other people whom I like very much in this industry, but these are the people who come to my mind immediately when I think about Information Technology. Cheers !!! November 01 Weather having its time on me
Its been quite sometime the weather is having its time on me. I have been travelling frequently over the last 2 weeks. However, I have been quite cautious with regard to the Water and wherever I go, I insist on drinking only hot water. Recently, I am getting cold quite frequently and the Septum Deviation problem with my nose is haunting me quite some time now. Gone are the days when I could have ice-creams, fridge water (commonly referred in middle class families for cold water). The fact that the weather in Hyderabad is quite cold and that for the past 2 years, I am serious stuck with nasal problems is quite serious. Here, i m sitting all day in a conference room and requested the Security to turn off the A/C. Conference rooms are always quite cool and become extremely untolerable as the day progresses. The seasonal rains in Chennai and Hyderabad seem to bring in lot of water borne diseases every year despite warnings from the Government. In this regard, I advise all of you to have only boiled - hot water to save from any seasonal diseases. Hoping to recover soon !!! |
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