Missing India
It's two months since I came to US. And never before have I missed India so much. Every moment I feel that I was better off in India. I have stayed in other parts of world, outside India. I stayed for six months in Korea; seven months in UK. I had come to US before. But never before have I missed India so much as I do now.
What is a "Smiley Curve"?
China is said to be at the flat middle portion of the smiley curve.
But what is this "Smiley Curve"?
The curve is named for the U-shaped arc of the 1970s-era smiley-face icon, and it runs from the beginning to the end of a product’s creation and sale. At the beginning is the company’s brand: HP, Siemens, Dell, Nokia, Apple. Next comes the idea for the product: an iPod, a new computer, a camera phone. After that is high-level industrial design—the conceiving of how the product will look and work. Then the detailed engineering design for how it will be made. Then the necessary components. Then the actual manufacture and assembly. Then the shipping and distribution. Then retail sales. And, finally, service contracts and sales of parts and accessories.
The significance is that China’s activity is in the middle stages—manufacturing, plus some component supply and engineering design—but America’s is at the two ends, and those are where the money is. The smiley curve, which shows the profitability or value added at each stage, starts high for branding and product concept, swoops down for manufacturing, and rises again in the retail and servicing stages. The simple way to put this—that the real money is in brand name, plus retail—may sound obvious, but its implications are illuminating.
The implication of this is that although Americans import huge volumes of manufactured goods from China, most of the money spent on those imports stays in American hands. For e.g. not much of Apple's iPod is manufactured in the United States, but the majority of value added is captured by Apple... Apple made $80 in gross profit on a 30-gigabyte video iPod that retails for $299. Its profit is 36 percent of the estimated wholesale price of $224. [Not to mention the retail profit, if it is sold in an Apple store.] The total cost of parts was $144.
References:
The Personal Computing Industry Center at the University of California
More on the "smiley curve": China makes, Apple takes
Labels:
America,
Business,
China,
Globalization,
Smiley Curve
Philanthropy
NRI doc donates $20 mn to a village
India needs more such philanthropists. Nay, we have to be one of such philanthropists.
Labels:
Philanthropy
Peace of mind
I searched for "Peace of mind" on google. The second link I got was from hinduism.about.com -
Ten Commandments for Peace of Mind
The ten commandments are -
1. Do not interfere in others' business
2. Forget and forgive
3. Do not crave for recognition
4. Do not be jealous
5. Change yourself according to the environment
6. Endure what cannot be cured
7. Do not bite more than you can chew
8. Meditate regularly
9. Never leave the mind vacant
10. Do not procrastinate and never regret
Read the full article for elaboration.
Labels:
Hinduism,
Peace of mind
Relaxed but bored
It is a holiday today. I slept all through the morning and continued my reading of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility in the afternoon. It is good relaxed day. Something that I haven't got in a long time. But I am bored and feeling a bit dull. I need something to keep my mind engrossed and alert.
Labels:
Mood
Back in India
I am now back in India. Getting used to Pune life. Busy in completing a lot of activities that were pending since long. Nothing much to write about. One interesting episode. After coming back from UK, I visited a cousin of mine. He told me of another mutual relative of ours who stays in US. Speaking about his stay in US, he told my cousin, "When I go to US, I miss India, and when I come back to India I long to go back to US"! This is a very common situation of many NRIs. My cousin asked me whether I felt the same. I said that when I love my stays abroad, and when I am back in India, I love the life over here. Baba commented that it's all about considering the glass half empty or half full. On a different occassion, but on the same subject, Poornima said that when we are abroad we long our friends and relatives to visit us, and when we are back in India, we wish we got more time to be alone.
Labels:
Staying abroad,
Staying in India
What happened under Aurangzeb?
"Aurangzeb ordered all Hindu temples to be destroyed. The number of temples destroyed by Aurangzeb is counted in four figures. Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions. Nehru might have known about them, but chose to keep quiet and instructed his historians to downplay Aurangzeb's destructive drive and instead praise him as a benefactor of arts. Since then Indian historians have done the same and betrayed their allegiance to truth. Aurangzeb was the Hitler, the asura of medieval India. No street is named after Hitler in the West, yet in New Delhi we have Aurangzeb Road.
People might say: 'OK, this is all true, Aurangzeb was indeed a monster, but why rake up the past, when we have tensions between Muslims and Hindus today?' The first is that no nation can move forward unless its children are taught to look squarely at their own history, the good and the bad, the evil and the pure. The argument that looking at one's history will pit a community against the other does not hold either.
Today the Shariat has been voted in Kashmir, a state of democratic, secular India, UP's Muslims have applauded, and the entire Indian media which went up in flames when the government wanted Vande Mataram to be sung, kept quiet. The spirit of Aurangzeb seems to triumph."
These are some excerpts from Francois Gautier's splendid article on Aurangzeb and our outlook towards our history.
People might say: 'OK, this is all true, Aurangzeb was indeed a monster, but why rake up the past, when we have tensions between Muslims and Hindus today?' The first is that no nation can move forward unless its children are taught to look squarely at their own history, the good and the bad, the evil and the pure. The argument that looking at one's history will pit a community against the other does not hold either.
Today the Shariat has been voted in Kashmir, a state of democratic, secular India, UP's Muslims have applauded, and the entire Indian media which went up in flames when the government wanted Vande Mataram to be sung, kept quiet. The spirit of Aurangzeb seems to triumph."
These are some excerpts from Francois Gautier's splendid article on Aurangzeb and our outlook towards our history.
Labels:
Aurangzeb,
Francois Gautier,
Indian History,
Nehru
About Scotland and a bit of its history
Haven't you wondered on seeing Scotland's football team playing in world cup why do we have Scotland's football team in the world cup? After all we don't have Maharashtra cricket team in cricket world cup, we have Indian cricket team. So why do we have Scotland (and England and Wales) team(s) and not a British football team? After all England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland are four "states" that make up UK. I am sure you would have wondered. I too could not understand this until I came to UK and visited Scotland.
The reason is that Scotland is not a "state" of UK in a way Maharashtra is a state of India. In fact England, Scotland, and Wales are never refered to as "states" of UK. Even in UK, England, Scotland, and Wales are refered to as countries that make up UK. Well, if England, Scotland, and Wales are countries, then what is UK? UK as the name suggests is a Kingdom. And England, Scotland, and Wales are component countries that (along with N. Ireland) make the United Kingdom. It takes some time to understand this and being here in UK helps.
When I was in Scotland for a few days in November, I spotted a very widespread and conspicuous contempt among the Sctoish people for England and Englishmen. A little knowledge of history of Scotland helped me understand why it was so. All through the Medieval period England and Scotland fought each other, with England often having an upper hand. The way we feel about Shivaji and Rana Pratap, the Scots talk about William Wallace, who fought fought for Scotland's freedom from English occupaction. (He was captured by the English in 1305, beheaded after brutal torture, and his limbs thrown in four corners of Britain. He was 35 years of age then).
(hope to continue later)
The reason is that Scotland is not a "state" of UK in a way Maharashtra is a state of India. In fact England, Scotland, and Wales are never refered to as "states" of UK. Even in UK, England, Scotland, and Wales are refered to as countries that make up UK. Well, if England, Scotland, and Wales are countries, then what is UK? UK as the name suggests is a Kingdom. And England, Scotland, and Wales are component countries that (along with N. Ireland) make the United Kingdom. It takes some time to understand this and being here in UK helps.
When I was in Scotland for a few days in November, I spotted a very widespread and conspicuous contempt among the Sctoish people for England and Englishmen. A little knowledge of history of Scotland helped me understand why it was so. All through the Medieval period England and Scotland fought each other, with England often having an upper hand. The way we feel about Shivaji and Rana Pratap, the Scots talk about William Wallace, who fought fought for Scotland's freedom from English occupaction. (He was captured by the English in 1305, beheaded after brutal torture, and his limbs thrown in four corners of Britain. He was 35 years of age then).
(hope to continue later)
Beautiful Thames
A beautiful snap taken from the Golden Jubilee Bridge on Thames river in London. On one bank is London Eye (the huge wheel) and on the other bank is Westminster (British Parliament) & the Big Ben (the tower with the clock). Rays of of setting sun are beautifully reflected from a skyscraper.
Labels:
Big Ben,
London,
London Eye,
Thames,
Westminster
Let the truth be known to all
There is a quiet controversy going round with a website alleging Rahul Gandhi having gangraped daughter of a Congress party worker in Amethi. As expected, the Indian media has swept the issue under the carpet. If it had been any other politician or celibrity the media would be sensationalized the issue, held its own investigation, given its decision and convicted the person. But not when somebody from the Nehru-Gandhi family is involved.
Internet Service Providers in India have blocked the website. The so-called intellectuals of our country to whom freedom of speech is so important are silent about it. Again that is to be expected. However other websites across the globe have picked up the issue. So you might be able to read the same stuff here, assuming that this site isn't blocked in India.
These allegations may be false. They may be true. In either case, the truth has to be investigated, told to all, and appropriate legal action has to be taken. Unfortunately like all alleged crimes of the Nehru-Gandhi family, this issue too will be covered up. Those who loathe the Nehru-Gandhi family would blindly believe this allegation to be true, many others would blindly believe it to be false, while most of the people of our country would never hear about it at all. And that's not a good thing to happen. The truth should be known to all.
Labels:
Nehru-Gandhi family
Sanskrit
Our President Dr Abdul Kalam on the importance of Sanskrit.
Labels:
Dr Abdul Kalam,
Indian History,
Sanskrit
Surya Siddhanta
I have written only 25 posts in 2006 (of which 4 are still in draft state), compared to 179 posts I wrote in 2004-05. It is not because I was too busy last year or because I have lost interest in blogging (after getting married, as you would be tempted to add). It's because I didn't have internet at home last year. But now I do have internet connection at home, so I think there will be more frequent entries on this blog than in near past. And hopefully most of those entries won't be links to articles from newspapers and other sources.
Having said that, I am too tempted to refer you to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Standard_Time#History
An excerpt:
"One of the earliest descriptions of standard time in India appeared in the 4th century CE (i.e. AD) astronomical treatise Surya Siddhanta. Postulating a spherical earth, the book defined the prime meridian, or zero longitude, as passing through Avanti, the ancient name for the historic city of Ujjain (23°11′N 75°45′E), and Rohitaka, the ancient name for Rohtak (28°54′N 76°38′E), a city near the historic battle-field of Kurukshetra."
Unfortunately, you will never read this in any history book in India. Because the government-published history of India begins with the Mughals and ends on 15th August 1947 (while remaining silent on all the atrocities commited on the people by Muslim rulers in this period). But our great nation existed before the the marauders conquered it and has great stories to tell of that era. We have to read about it and tell it to all. In my own insignificant way I continue to do that here.
Having said that, I am too tempted to refer you to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Standard_Time#History
An excerpt:
"One of the earliest descriptions of standard time in India appeared in the 4th century CE (i.e. AD) astronomical treatise Surya Siddhanta. Postulating a spherical earth, the book defined the prime meridian, or zero longitude, as passing through Avanti, the ancient name for the historic city of Ujjain (23°11′N 75°45′E), and Rohitaka, the ancient name for Rohtak (28°54′N 76°38′E), a city near the historic battle-field of Kurukshetra."
Unfortunately, you will never read this in any history book in India. Because the government-published history of India begins with the Mughals and ends on 15th August 1947 (while remaining silent on all the atrocities commited on the people by Muslim rulers in this period). But our great nation existed before the the marauders conquered it and has great stories to tell of that era. We have to read about it and tell it to all. In my own insignificant way I continue to do that here.
Labels:
Indian History,
Surya Siddhanta
Hindu temples should be for all Hindus
No Hindu temple should be out of bounds for any Hindu man or woman irrespective of his or her caste. Yesterday dalits entered Jagannath temple in Orissa. This is good news. The fact that they faced no resistence is also heartening. The Jagannath temple of Puri is an important temple in our country and every Hindu should be allowed to pray at the temple.
I am reminded of the "Patit-Pawan Mandir" in Ratnagiri. Built by Veer Savarkar, it was the first Hindu temple for harijans. Savarkar appointed a harijan as its priest, who probably was first harijan priest in the country.
Recently there has been a controversy over allowing women into Sabarimala temple in Kerala. I perfectly agree with the RSS's view that women should allowed to enter the temple. Hindu temples should be for all Hindus.
I am reminded of the "Patit-Pawan Mandir" in Ratnagiri. Built by Veer Savarkar, it was the first Hindu temple for harijans. Savarkar appointed a harijan as its priest, who probably was first harijan priest in the country.
Recently there has been a controversy over allowing women into Sabarimala temple in Kerala. I perfectly agree with the RSS's view that women should allowed to enter the temple. Hindu temples should be for all Hindus.
Labels:
Hinduism
Reporting corruption made easier
Anti-Corruption Bureau’s mobile van will be stationed in neighbourhood to register complaints. Read.
Labels:
Anti-corruption,
Corruption
Trip to Scotland
13th November was first wedding anniversary for Poornima & I, and there was no better place for us to be than Scotland! The beauty of Scotland was so overwhelming that I consider it as one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I do not remember any previous trip in last few years to any part of the world (and I have travelled a lot in last few years!) when I was so swept away by the natural beauty of a place. Not even in Mauritius. Scotland was absolutely amazing!! It was inconceivably beautiful.
We left for Scotland knowing that it's a good place to visit. But little did we know that it was going to blow our minds off! The first hint of what really lay ahead for us came during the train journey to Edinburgh. Just as the train crossed Berwick-upon-Tweed, the last town in England on the route, the railway track ran parallel to the sea, less than 100 meters from the shore. Every other moment we could see beautiful blue sea in front of us with flocks of seagulls hovering over it. The wonderful views of sea would only be interrupted by equally thrilling vistas of green trees that were changing colour in anticipation of the advancing winter. Since then it was a journey to the heaven for the next three days.
In Marathi there's a phrase, "DoLyAnche pAraNe fiTaNe". That's what you experience in Scotland ... wherever you go.
We left for Scotland knowing that it's a good place to visit. But little did we know that it was going to blow our minds off! The first hint of what really lay ahead for us came during the train journey to Edinburgh. Just as the train crossed Berwick-upon-Tweed, the last town in England on the route, the railway track ran parallel to the sea, less than 100 meters from the shore. Every other moment we could see beautiful blue sea in front of us with flocks of seagulls hovering over it. The wonderful views of sea would only be interrupted by equally thrilling vistas of green trees that were changing colour in anticipation of the advancing winter. Since then it was a journey to the heaven for the next three days.
In Marathi there's a phrase, "DoLyAnche pAraNe fiTaNe". That's what you experience in Scotland ... wherever you go.
Pathetic Governance
The current central government has absolutely nothing to boast off. It's long list of transgressions run from Oil for Food scam to attempting Mandal II, from toppling state governments illegaly to neglecting work on the Golden Quadrilateral. However it is not often that the Congress' stooges in our media like to admit this. There are a few exceptions like Tavleen Singh, who writes audiciously. Here's an recent article by her in Indian Express (of course, it can't be from The Tabloid of India).
Labels:
Congress I,
Indian Government
Second Trip to London
On Saturday, we went for our second trip to London. We walked across the London Tower Bridge and then spent hours at London Tower. We saw the Kohinoor diamond. I was more interested in Shivaji Maharaj's Bhavani Talvaar (sword), but it has been shifted to another place and is no longer available for display. In the evening we sat along the banks of Thames and ate puri bhaaji which we had packed for the trip. We went to Nilesh Gujare's place for dinner and ate paav bhaaji for the first time after coming to UK. On the whole it was a great trip to a great city, London.
More on password change
But alas! I can no longer escape from the grave danger. I have to change the password. I muster up courage and read the email carefully:
---------------------
From: System Administrator
Sent: Fri 20/10/2006 06:04
To: Jayprakash Keshav Acharya
Subject: Password expiry notification ... Open this mail for details !!!
Dear Jayprakash Keshav Acharya,
Your E-mail ID password is going to expire in next 7 days on 10/27/2006 9:04:27 AM at Indian Standard Time. Change your password NOW!!! It is recommended that you do not wait till the last day of password expiry!!!
Refer FAQ on Password Policy for the procedure to change the password and the precautions to be taken while changing password to avoid account lockouts. Extranet users can refer to FAQ by accessing Main Page -> Mail -> FAQ on Password Policy.
Please note that your password must be a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numeral and non-alphanumeric (special) characters. For example, it may be like "$M1cH37Bo".
Upon changing your password, you need to WAIT at least for 15 minutes, before you can use the NEW password. We recommend you to change the password while you are connected to LAN and just before you logout for the day.
Contact your local CCD for any further help.
Thanks for your co-operation,
System Administrator
Computers & Communication Division
Note: This is an automatically generated message. DO NOT "Reply" back to this ID. Please contact your local CCD for any assistance.
---------------------
Some of sentences in the mail, such as "Change your password NOW!!!" are in bold red, just to make it more frieghtening!! I take a deep breath and click on "FAQ on Password Policy". I am going to do this. I am going to understand this and do it correctly. So I click on FAQ on Password Policy. It opens up. And it is six pages long!! I need to study a six page document just to change my password!!! That's ridiculous. How can anybody be expected to read a six page document to change his password?! Why can't simple things be kept simple? Why are things made so complex? That's the reason I hate it.
---------------------
From: System Administrator
Sent: Fri 20/10/2006 06:04
To: Jayprakash Keshav Acharya
Subject: Password expiry notification ... Open this mail for details !!!
Dear Jayprakash Keshav Acharya,
Your E-mail ID password is going to expire in next 7 days on 10/27/2006 9:04:27 AM at Indian Standard Time. Change your password NOW!!! It is recommended that you do not wait till the last day of password expiry!!!
Refer FAQ on Password Policy for the procedure to change the password and the precautions to be taken while changing password to avoid account lockouts. Extranet users can refer to FAQ by accessing Main Page -> Mail -> FAQ on Password Policy.
Please note that your password must be a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numeral and non-alphanumeric (special) characters. For example, it may be like "$M1cH37Bo".
Upon changing your password, you need to WAIT at least for 15 minutes, before you can use the NEW password. We recommend you to change the password while you are connected to LAN and just before you logout for the day.
Contact your local CCD for any further help.
Thanks for your co-operation,
System Administrator
Computers & Communication Division
Note: This is an automatically generated message. DO NOT "Reply" back to this ID. Please contact your local CCD for any assistance.
---------------------
Some of sentences in the mail, such as "Change your password NOW!!!" are in bold red, just to make it more frieghtening!! I take a deep breath and click on "FAQ on Password Policy". I am going to do this. I am going to understand this and do it correctly. So I click on FAQ on Password Policy. It opens up. And it is six pages long!! I need to study a six page document just to change my password!!! That's ridiculous. How can anybody be expected to read a six page document to change his password?! Why can't simple things be kept simple? Why are things made so complex? That's the reason I hate it.
Labels:
Technology
I suffer from technophobia
Everytime I have to do something new with technology, I am in fear. Most often it is routine task like changing a password. For last several days, I have been getting mail suggesting that my password is about to expire and I should change it. I am panic striken! Everything is working fine on my computer and so I don't want to change my password.
I am afraid that if I change my password, some software will fail. If I change my password, I may not be able to login to corporate network when I get internet connection at home. Or because I am changing my password from my office computer, my laptop at home won't be able to connect to my corporate network. Or I will not be able to login to network because I am changing my email password and since we have common password for email and network login, I will not know whether I should use the old or the new password for logging into the network. If the network password is changed automatically on changing the email password, then the network password cached on my laptop at home will be different from my most recent network password. So I may face problems when I try to connect to corporate network from home. Or the worst of all, I may not be able to login to my laptop at all! :-O I hate password expiry policies!!
I remember my dialogue with Ramna few years back. The company had shifted to newer version of VPN software and had asked all users to upgrade to the latest version. Ramna asked me whether I had upgraded. I said that I didn't upgrade because the older version is working fine for me. He said, "Let me do it for you", and despite my protests he began uninstalling the older version from my laptop. I sat there in mortal fear!! "I NEVER uninstall a software that is working fine", I said. The new version worked fine. But my fear with technical tasks like software installations and password changes remains.
On my desk, I have a phone with 41 buttons!! I don't know why we need more than ten or twelve buttons. Three times in last two days my phone dialed a number that I did not ask it to dial. Today I was toying with some of the buttons when suddenly the speaker phone got switched on and someone screamed "hello!". I hastily scrambled and pressed a few more buttons at random, and thankfully that shut it off! Oh God! What a narrow escape!! I hate this hi-tech phone. :-(
Sometimes some of my friends ask me why I am still using the cell phone that old and outdated. They show me their hi-tech phones that can do magic. Well, they will not understand. All I need is a phone that has ten digits and a button to dial numbers and receive calls. That's almost all that I do with my cell phone. May be once in a while I send and receive an sms or save a number
in my address book. But anything beyond that is rocket science.
I am afraid that if I change my password, some software will fail. If I change my password, I may not be able to login to corporate network when I get internet connection at home. Or because I am changing my password from my office computer, my laptop at home won't be able to connect to my corporate network. Or I will not be able to login to network because I am changing my email password and since we have common password for email and network login, I will not know whether I should use the old or the new password for logging into the network. If the network password is changed automatically on changing the email password, then the network password cached on my laptop at home will be different from my most recent network password. So I may face problems when I try to connect to corporate network from home. Or the worst of all, I may not be able to login to my laptop at all! :-O I hate password expiry policies!!
I remember my dialogue with Ramna few years back. The company had shifted to newer version of VPN software and had asked all users to upgrade to the latest version. Ramna asked me whether I had upgraded. I said that I didn't upgrade because the older version is working fine for me. He said, "Let me do it for you", and despite my protests he began uninstalling the older version from my laptop. I sat there in mortal fear!! "I NEVER uninstall a software that is working fine", I said. The new version worked fine. But my fear with technical tasks like software installations and password changes remains.
On my desk, I have a phone with 41 buttons!! I don't know why we need more than ten or twelve buttons. Three times in last two days my phone dialed a number that I did not ask it to dial. Today I was toying with some of the buttons when suddenly the speaker phone got switched on and someone screamed "hello!". I hastily scrambled and pressed a few more buttons at random, and thankfully that shut it off! Oh God! What a narrow escape!! I hate this hi-tech phone. :-(
Sometimes some of my friends ask me why I am still using the cell phone that old and outdated. They show me their hi-tech phones that can do magic. Well, they will not understand. All I need is a phone that has ten digits and a button to dial numbers and receive calls. That's almost all that I do with my cell phone. May be once in a while I send and receive an sms or save a number
in my address book. But anything beyond that is rocket science.
Labels:
Technology
Weather not so nice anymore
Carrying on from where I left last time - We have moved to a rented house and it's quite pleasant at home. However the weather is no longer so pleasant. It's getting cold and it has been raining since yesterday, and we haven't seen the sun.
Destination Ipswich
70 miles NE of London - that's where Ipswich is situated. And me and Poornima are here. We reached here a week back. Still haven't settled in. We are put up in a sub-standard B&B (Bed & Breakfast ... search for Bed & Breakfast on Wikipedia, if you want to know more of what it is. That's what I did when I first heard the term. I like Wikipedia. It's almost as good as google). Life would be as pleasant as the weather here once we get our own home.
Labels:
Ipswich
Alt-R for reading
Reading Microsoft Word documents is always awkward. It is more convenient to take a print out and read the document. For some reason reading .pdf files isn't so irritating. .pdf documents are "cleaner" and resemble paper documents more closely. Now MS has added a feature to Word in Word 2003 that makes it easier to read Word documents on screen. This feature appears in the toolbar as a pushbutton labeled "Read" (keyboard short-cut "Alt-R") . On clicking "Read" Word reformats the document so that it is easier to read it on the screen. The reformated document is
"cleaner" like a .pdf file. I liked this feature and use it almost every day.
"cleaner" like a .pdf file. I liked this feature and use it almost every day.
Labels:
MS Word
Nice Time
Yesterday was a nice evening. Although I reached home later from work, at 9 p.m., I did a lot things that I don't usually get time to do. I had my dinner, lot of talk with Poornima, chatted on phone with family, went for a evening walk, read both the newspapers (Indian Express and Business Standard), taught Poornima how to do meditation, and shaved for today. I finally went to bed at 12:30 a.m. Today I was up in the morning on time at 6 a.m. That gave me time to do some jogging, few suryanamaskars and some time for meditation. I reached office at 8:30 a.m., swiched on the lights on the floor and got down to work.
About my new car
I got delivery of my car on Friday night. I have already driven more than two hundred kilometers in the first four days. It is running good and I am enjoying driving it. I have taken some snaps of the car, which I can upload here, but I haven't yet copied them on to my laptop.
On the very first day I brought the car to office, some scratched the car. A more than five feet long scratch running from the front of the front wheel to the rear wheel is faintly visible on the right side. :-(
On the very first day I brought the car to office, some scratched the car. A more than five feet long scratch running from the front of the front wheel to the rear wheel is faintly visible on the right side. :-(
Back
Well, well, well ... I am back after a long long time. It's almost six months since I blogged! So much has changed in this time. I changed my job for the first time in my life! I moved out of Bangalore and into Pune. Me and Poornima are staying together alone. So many things have changed in this time. Changing job was a period of confusion. Even now I sometimes dream (in sleep, not day-dream) that I am repenting quit a good company. I think, but I am not sure, that I did the right thing in quiting my previous job. The question is whether it is right place that I have landed into. Let's see how things turn out. As of now things are okay. They would get even better tomorrow when I book Getz!
Most people are too busy living life to ever put life in their living.
-- Doug Firebaugh
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
-- Abraham Lincoln
The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
Writer and reformer
People who live well are experts at giving. They give their money; they give their time. They share their wisdom and their skills. They quickly say yes when asked to help. For them...to give is to love and to love is to live. It's a formula for a successful life.
Steve Goodier
Writer
-- Doug Firebaugh
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
-- Abraham Lincoln
The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
Writer and reformer
People who live well are experts at giving. They give their money; they give their time. They share their wisdom and their skills. They quickly say yes when asked to help. For them...to give is to love and to love is to live. It's a formula for a successful life.
Steve Goodier
Writer
A quote
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Results of a personality test
| Global Personality Test Results |
| Stability (56%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Orderliness (70%) high which suggests you are overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun. Extraversion (43%) moderately low which suggests you are reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive. |
| trait snapshot |
clean, organized, dislikes chaos, semi neat freak, perfectionist, traditional, realist, fits in most places, enjoys managing others, risk averse, good at saving money, prudent, respects authority, high self control, hard working, does not like to stand out, follows the rules, finisher, resilient, takes precautions, cautious, honest, unfamiliar with the dark side of life, practical, dutiful |
personality tests by similarminds.com
A poem
I am not a big fan of poems. I can read one if it has good rhyming in it. I had posted one stanza of a peom in my cubicle when I was in MBT. It's only now that I searched on the Internet and got the entire poem. Here's how it goes.
The Sin of Omission
by Margaret E. Sangster
It isn't the thing you do;
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent,
Are your haunting ghosts tonight.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother's way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say.
The loving touch of the hand,
The gentle and winsome tone,
That you had no time or thought for
With troubles enough of your own.
The little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind;
Those chances to be helpful
Which everyone may find—
No it's not the thing you do,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
The Sin of Omission
by Margaret E. Sangster
It isn't the thing you do;
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent,
Are your haunting ghosts tonight.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother's way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say.
The loving touch of the hand,
The gentle and winsome tone,
That you had no time or thought for
With troubles enough of your own.
The little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind;
Those chances to be helpful
Which everyone may find—
No it's not the thing you do,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
Standing up to one's beliefs
Some years ago a friend of mine returned from an offical trip to US. He wanted to settle accounts of the trip with the company. The lady handling bills made him an offer. "Submit false inflated bills, and we'll split the extra amount". She made this offer to every employee and most of them probably accepted it, some with hesitation and some with glee. A person like me would politely declined it. But Amit Patil doesn't belong to any of these categories. He reported the matter to the company. Not that the company wasn't aware of what was going on. But everyone turned a blind eye to it. She was an influencial person and had good relationship with the CEO of the company. Nobody wanted to offend her. There was lot of pressure on Amit to back off. But he didn't. He pursued the matter and kept escalated the matter up to highest authorities in the company. It bore fruit. Because of his persistence, the company had to take action against the corrupt lady.
Later Amit explained to me, "I had to do it. I believed it was wrong. If I had not pursued the matter I would have fallen in my own eyes. I had to do it for my own sake if not for the company (or society or country)". How to say No, when you don't want to say Yes professes the same philosophy. Every time you don't stand up to what you believe in, you lower your self-esteem. I did exactly that today. I had to do something that was not pleasant, but I believed it was the right thing to do. And I failed to do it.
These days I frequently get BEST's a/c bus between Kanjur Marg and SEEPZ. Except at peak hours the bus is almost empty. At 3 p.m. today there were few people in the bus. There were two teenagers, taking cover on the last seat of the bus and kissing. This was the second time I had spotted them. I wanted to walk up to them and tell them politely, in a soft tone, that what they were doing wasn't good for them. I kept debating in my mind whether or not I should do that. My consciense told me that I should offer this elder brotherly advice, irrespective of how they react. But like the rest of crowd, I just ignored them and got down when the bus reached my stop. It was laziness or lack of courage or lack of sincerity. Or may be a combination of the three and something more. I don't know exactly why I didn't do it.
I felt bad. I know they will never cross my path again, because I am going to Bangalore tonight and won't be coming back soon. My good words may have made some better change in the lives to two young individuals. But I didn't have the courage to stand up to my beliefs. I ignored the dictates of my conscience. I was weak. My temerity has harmed me as much as my society. I want to become stronger than this.
Later Amit explained to me, "I had to do it. I believed it was wrong. If I had not pursued the matter I would have fallen in my own eyes. I had to do it for my own sake if not for the company (or society or country)". How to say No, when you don't want to say Yes professes the same philosophy. Every time you don't stand up to what you believe in, you lower your self-esteem. I did exactly that today. I had to do something that was not pleasant, but I believed it was the right thing to do. And I failed to do it.
These days I frequently get BEST's a/c bus between Kanjur Marg and SEEPZ. Except at peak hours the bus is almost empty. At 3 p.m. today there were few people in the bus. There were two teenagers, taking cover on the last seat of the bus and kissing. This was the second time I had spotted them. I wanted to walk up to them and tell them politely, in a soft tone, that what they were doing wasn't good for them. I kept debating in my mind whether or not I should do that. My consciense told me that I should offer this elder brotherly advice, irrespective of how they react. But like the rest of crowd, I just ignored them and got down when the bus reached my stop. It was laziness or lack of courage or lack of sincerity. Or may be a combination of the three and something more. I don't know exactly why I didn't do it.
I felt bad. I know they will never cross my path again, because I am going to Bangalore tonight and won't be coming back soon. My good words may have made some better change in the lives to two young individuals. But I didn't have the courage to stand up to my beliefs. I ignored the dictates of my conscience. I was weak. My temerity has harmed me as much as my society. I want to become stronger than this.
Today is National Youth Day
12th January happens to be Swami Vivekanand jayanti, and is celebrated in our country as National Youth Day. You can't open a newspaper on 14th Feb and not know that it's Valentine's Day. However you won't find a sentence in today's paper that says it's a National Youth Day, because it's Vivekanand jayanti. Such is the media. So be it! We know better than having expectations from the media. Enough of complaining. Instead, here's a good quote from the Swami Vivekanand:
"The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves! Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God."
"The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves! Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God."
Where is the News?
A lot is said about the prolifiration of news channels in our country in the last decade. However I know very few tv channels that broadcast news. Most of the so-called "news channels" broadcast propoganda. Propoganda with an shockingly unabashed political bias. Free media in our country means freedom to the media to spread misinformation and lies.
What is true about tv channels is also true about the print medium. The media seem to have sold themselves to a particular political ideology, party or family. The worst thing about it is the absolute lack of introspection, and the hypocracy about the nobility of the profession. Rarely does one read an article questioning the media's role in the current state of affairs of the country.
What is true about tv channels is also true about the print medium. The media seem to have sold themselves to a particular political ideology, party or family. The worst thing about it is the absolute lack of introspection, and the hypocracy about the nobility of the profession. Rarely does one read an article questioning the media's role in the current state of affairs of the country.
Need IGNOU contact info
I have been trying to connect with IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) representatives in Mumbai for the last few days with futility. If you know have any contact information please let me know asap. Of coruse, I have browsed IGNOU web site.
Time for new year resolutions
It's the time of the year when you make new year resolutions. I don't make resolutions every year. Many a year it's just, "I will strive to do my best with renewed enthusiam". But this year, I have three specific resolutions to make:
1. Wake up early every morning
This is one thing that I have found impossible to put in practise. In no other activity has my failure been so thorough. Yet I have keep trying. I can't give up. I think this time I will succeed. Because now things have changed. I am now not just responsible for myself. So I feel a greater sense of responsibility. I am hoping for the best.
2. Plan my days well and follow the plan earnestly
Twenty four hours is too less time for a day. There are just too many things to do and too little time. The biggest reason for not getting things done on time lack of planning. I need to plan things well and execute to plan. I have been trying to do this for past 2-3 weeks, with varying degree of success. I think I know enough now to make progress on this point.
3. Concentrate better, think clearly, understand myself better, have healthy self-dialogue and maintain equanimity every moment
That's a tall order. But no one said that life is easy. Good progress needs monumental efforts. I need to make these habits my character. These things should come naturally to me, without any need to make efforts. I hope I will spend a lot efforts to make progress here. But I am not expecting miracles.
[Speaking of miracles, miracles never occur by chance. They are created one day at a time for decades before their effect is visible.]
Let me see how much progress I make and whether I am successful in fulfilling these resolutions.
1. Wake up early every morning
This is one thing that I have found impossible to put in practise. In no other activity has my failure been so thorough. Yet I have keep trying. I can't give up. I think this time I will succeed. Because now things have changed. I am now not just responsible for myself. So I feel a greater sense of responsibility. I am hoping for the best.
2. Plan my days well and follow the plan earnestly
Twenty four hours is too less time for a day. There are just too many things to do and too little time. The biggest reason for not getting things done on time lack of planning. I need to plan things well and execute to plan. I have been trying to do this for past 2-3 weeks, with varying degree of success. I think I know enough now to make progress on this point.
3. Concentrate better, think clearly, understand myself better, have healthy self-dialogue and maintain equanimity every moment
That's a tall order. But no one said that life is easy. Good progress needs monumental efforts. I need to make these habits my character. These things should come naturally to me, without any need to make efforts. I hope I will spend a lot efforts to make progress here. But I am not expecting miracles.
[Speaking of miracles, miracles never occur by chance. They are created one day at a time for decades before their effect is visible.]
Let me see how much progress I make and whether I am successful in fulfilling these resolutions.
Why don't we Progress
If con is opposite of pro, guess what is the opposite of Congress!
No wonder they want to implement reservations in private sector.
No wonder they want to implement reservations in private sector.
After a long time
I haven't written anything for a long time. There are a lot of things to write about. But first, here's one of our photographs from Mauritius. The view from up there was just exhilarating!!
Added on 7 Jan '06:
Many peoply who saw this photograph didn't fully understand it. Just above the date in red (20 11 2005) is a small motorboat that's pulling us. While we are there in the centre of the photograph, up in the air, hanging down the parachute. It's clear when click on it to ENLARGE.
Added on 7 Jan '06:
Many peoply who saw this photograph didn't fully understand it. Just above the date in red (20 11 2005) is a small motorboat that's pulling us. While we are there in the centre of the photograph, up in the air, hanging down the parachute. It's clear when click on it to ENLARGE.
Quote
Only actions give to life its strength, as only moderation gives it its charm.
Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)
Writer and humorist
Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)
Writer and humorist
Back at home
I am back in India after a gap of five weeks ... sans my baggage. I hope it doesn't miss the flight from Zurich today unlike yesterday, and reaches here safe and sound. I earnestly hope so.
It matters not what you do ...
... but how well you do it. As I mature, I am realising that it doesn't matter so much what work you do, as much as how well you do what you do.
There's the CEO of a company, who is all stressed out because of his incompetence at doing the job, and has made life miserable for himself as well as for others, at work and at home. And there's the housemaid, who is so good at her work, that it is she who runs the family, because no one can move a thing without her aid. The latter is leading a more productive and happier life than the former. The maid is contributing more to the society than the CEO. It's better to be a housemaid, who is good at her job than be a CEO, who is bad at his. This is a simple truth that we need to realise, because many of us are struggling to climb the so-called corporate ladder.
I have often experienced that once I realise something, it becames my second nature. It gets ingrained in my actions as if I knew it all along. This is one more thing that I need to keep this in my mind. I should not judge people by their visiting cards. A person's designation doesn't matter at all. The only way to judge a person's success is to know how well he does what he has chosen to do.
There's the CEO of a company, who is all stressed out because of his incompetence at doing the job, and has made life miserable for himself as well as for others, at work and at home. And there's the housemaid, who is so good at her work, that it is she who runs the family, because no one can move a thing without her aid. The latter is leading a more productive and happier life than the former. The maid is contributing more to the society than the CEO. It's better to be a housemaid, who is good at her job than be a CEO, who is bad at his. This is a simple truth that we need to realise, because many of us are struggling to climb the so-called corporate ladder.
I have often experienced that once I realise something, it becames my second nature. It gets ingrained in my actions as if I knew it all along. This is one more thing that I need to keep this in my mind. I should not judge people by their visiting cards. A person's designation doesn't matter at all. The only way to judge a person's success is to know how well he does what he has chosen to do.
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