The only 'Man' who shares my bedroom!

Before you start on your thought trains, let me announce: We have been blessed with a little 'blue' bundle! It all happened in a splash second and in my world the 'second' counts to almost 18 hours. The 'blue' bundle was supposed to be delivered a week before Christmas. When the amazons, ebays, pcworlds, royalmails are struggling to deliver Christmas and new year presents in time, the eternal postmaster delivered ahead of schedule!!

Generally people who are happy when projects are delivered before schedule, why do they get tensed and stressed when some projects like the above are pre-delivered? I can say why... 26th November - A fine Monday morning, (20 odd days before actual release date) I was anxiously wakened up by the in-laws to the fact that the development team lead (my missus) has given signals to go to delivery. Oh my God! Though the hospital bags were sort of ready, we had never visited the labour ward i.e. the production environment wasn't rehearsed... Ok now its time to show the leadership skills... Got a big sheet of paper and wrote on block letters 'ON LABOUR' - chucked that sheet into hospital bag, grabbed all things what i cud, and rushed to the first floor car park.

Now from the floor 1, i had to cross four more floors to go down to streets - a bizarre parking arrangement (visit me when the blue bundle sleeps - you will know how!). Onto the streets, tick the GPS follow the route to M3, cheer the missus and chant some religious mantras to keep the spirits up, comfort the in laws that hospital isn't far away and motorways are always free(on a Monday morning 7:20?) and manage to hold the car onto a straight line!!

M3-M25- chertsey - signs to st peters and now what? Search the labour ward parking. Ok early morning got a better parking slot - throw the sheet of paper with words 'ON LABOUR' on top of the car dashboard, that way i wouldn't get a parking ticket (and i did not). After 18 hours of struggle ending up in C-section, the blue little bundle cried! My heart felt appreciations to the whole crew in St.Peters. They are a great team.

Ok everything settled? by now two days of the week had passed by. As usual after release, there were quite a few hiccups and by the 8th day when things started to settle, the mother in law had a heart ache - run to West Middx emergency - things looked okay and everything looked like normal, but not - Friday morning the heating system went down - what more can u ask? To complicate the missus ran high temperatures...

Ok everything settled? by now a fortnight was over. What next back to office and join the fun... Wednesday the 11th December - a prat came and hit my car on the rear, causing me a neck strain! And now, here i am giving an account of high drama of the last three weeks.

Ok everything settled? btw the blue bundle is to be named as 'Achyuth' pronounce 'achu-th'. to be named after a quality of Hindu God Vishnu - indestructible, a hero who would outlive challenges - reminding his birth style. His naming ceremony will be web casted live... wait for the URL link!

Ok to the title - The only 'Man' who shares my bedroom! - now you know him!

Vola Barcelona!

A week off to sunny spain, especially as winter sets in UK is a nice one to embark. I was off to a Microsoft Tech-ed conference. I am not intending to blog about technology, but more of the spainish jubilations. I got to stay on a 7th floor hotel suite looking onto the 'Mar'(sea in spanish), such a nice break! Thats a nice view from one of the windows :)

One night we went out to taste the paellas! my colleagues kindly checked around to make sure i get a veggie paella. I was knackered eating such a heavy nice dinner. The next evening was at the rock cafe and a nice spanish dinner, followed by 'Soberanos' and 'Sangrías'. Back to bachelor's life! the next evening was the one that i would cherish for years to come... i went out to hunt for photos on Gaudi's architecture. I have heard about his style, but did not imagine such a splendour... Just no words to describe this marvel. This cathedral is considered to be Gaudi's masterpiece. Antoni Gaudi was a deeply religious man who became even more single-minded about his faith in Catholicism with age. He devoted his last years of life entirely to the design and construction of this cathedral, even living onsite. Apparently this church is expected to be completed in 30 years!

With a feeling of awe, i picked myself up and looked into the metro map for reaching the La Rambla! Took a L2 from Sagarada Familia to Clot and a L1 from clot to Catalunya to be struck by another awe! Its a famous touristy landmark and the moment you start walking on the wide street, you would be transported into a different place and time and i was... I strolled, sauntered, and slowly the foot started to slog, i decided to get into a small street which looked to me like a palace courtyard with fountains in the middle and royalish chairs in all corners, a perfect place to give my achy feet a chance to respite... After some God knows how long, i decided to venture back into the ramblas and found the La Boqueria - the famous market, a colourful market that reminded the mexican market in San Jose, California... (Yeah i could see where the influence is from).

After spending quite a long time in the market buying nothing but clicking a lot with my canon, i decided to call it a day and to end, I relished a falafel with pita bread and boarded the T4 to selva de mar - the place where i stayed... ha, wat a nice place to stay and enjoy... I would love to go again and have some great fun... I love barcelona... Mucho Gracias.

A thought on outsourcing...

Many reports, case studies, research papers have been published discussing the pros and cons of outsourcing. I have been reading, thinking on this particular subject for quite some time - i would say at least 7 years :). A pain is a pain - irrespective of whether an Indian or American or a Norwegian feels it. So its always hard to justify outsourcing completely, coz' someone looses the job and the wealth pattern shifts - philosophically speaking this is bound to happen... But how do we justify to the employees? When an organisation does it, some of them might accept and move on, a few crib and remain, a few quit, some are forced to quit, some grow hatred over the sourced in citizens. btw, this blog does not relate to any views of the company i work for or its intention to progress in this vein...

Couple of days back, as I 'drove' to my office in a stuffed M4 queue, i tuned into the local Asian radio channel... MissyD the DJ pitched the topic. Lots of westerners are turning to Indian, East European countries to get their health/medical related problems sorted out. The numbers from UK just for this year rose to 70K+... The DJ added that infact a few take a quick flight to Hungary for a dental check. Turkey, Singapore were in the top providers' list. The services includes anything from a heart surgery to dental care to laser eye ops. The DJ's objective on that topic was different. She was interested to know the service feedback...

But this set the ball rolling in my mind... the key benefits that the individual go for such medical services overseas are : cost-effective, better care & attention, no more long waiting times/list and above all good quality. (Sounds the same set of benefits for an organisational outsourcing)

Does this bring the above argument to a full circle? When people look to save a quarter when it matters to their individual monetary budget, why would the big organisations not do it? People want to save costs, get their services quicker and also in a better quality, why would the companies not do it - From a capitalistic view, companies are formed with a sole aim to make money. So they are better placed to source-out. Though this significant point does not answer the cons from an ethical and pure moral point of view, (business & moral? -oxymoron) it definitely counters the argument in a much better strength and would at least challenge the pseudo-nationalists who throw scorn and hatred on the sourcing-in country nationals.

Trip home is never a Vacation.

Yes - I always say to my friends that a trip back home is never a vacation. One among the zillion things I often think about is 'coincidence'. Trip to India was to celebrate the seemantham and valaikappu function for my missus. - Back home, pregnant woman are pampered with these ceremonies and I wanted my wife to enjoy them - she did! that's a diff thing. The word coincidence comes back to highlight. Though the trip's primary reason was something, it turned out to be different later. My dad had a tough time, with his health hitting a real low - He suffered a intestinal bleeding - Melena. The coincidence: I was next to him and was able to share my strength etc (He is an important person in my life - i can write many many blogs about both my parent's contribution to my success...) But it was not just my strength, most importantly the team of doctors, family and friends all of them had their share to aid the old man. So all through the trip, i was on my toes. But i also did a few things - met my long time good friend after 3 years... we had a bit of tiff running between and that was put down, had some real bachelor's day fun time etc etc... so i had my share as well

Returning back to the beautiful isles, i was hit with a flurry of project activities... here i am a month after my return sitting and blogging to keep in touch with netizens... lots to chat, Ram Sethu, T20, rugby, brown's balti, etc etc... Above all, my agilerfragile is pending long time!

C u soon...

India-Pensive Day!

Phew, a busy month has kept me away from blogging and all other activities... Today is the day 60 years back alien rule of anarchy ended and a self-rule of anarchy started! But nationalism has not gone dry. People still holiday and celebrate with interesting TV shows, new movies and also hoist a flag and self appraise the growth by comparing Pakistan, Bangladesh or appreciating how our IT services shine and how Naryanamurthy's Infosys or Azim Premji's Wipro do etc... Remember months back i blogged that I wouldn't show my pessimism? I still stick to it, trying to wear a brave mask...but my fingers are not able to...

I opened the papers with a deep sense of nationalism to see the tricolour majestically fluttering, but couldn't find one single pic in any of the top Indian newsletters. I kept refreshing the pages minutes before typing this blog, nothing yet! But my day was made by BBC - The British Broadcasting Corporation - exactly at 7:14 this morning they showed PM unfurling the tricolor and the rose petals softly falling down... That sight and single moment has no match!!!

I am not sure how the Indian media handled the I-day back home, but in Britain the people who divided and ruled us for at least four centuries handled gracefully, honestly and with grit... The last couple of weeks' prime time were all about Ind/Pak related actuals - as is - how both the countries are today, positivity ebbed; in spite of a busy schedule i seldom missed those shows but yesterday it was about partition, self admission: as to what mistakes the contemporary brit officers did, how the transfer of power was mis-managed etc etc. That needs real guts to openly accept and self-criticise that too 60 years after the event.

I have recorded a few off those shows, i think its really essential for us to understand the roots of problems and the unbiased history... This will put us in best place to understand contemporary issues and aid in dealing them better.

Some pictures to celebrate the day!

Shambo Mahadeva!

Last Saturday i heard about Skandavale from a friend... It was interesting to know about a place which is similar to Pazhani hills - abode of Lord Murugan. The curiosity to visit the Hills heightened... Could you imagine non-indian priests performing Hindu ceremonies etc... I decided that i would one day go over to Skandavale. FYI: Skanda refers to Lord Murugan.

So the next day i visited their website and found this controversial news. It's really a delicate issue to handle - as a Hindu follower i signed the petition; but as a good citizen should i follow the rules? If i look at the supporters views, the government could have given some more time... why?

A. The bull was not infected, but a carrier only
B. The effectiveness of the tests are still debatable
C. A similar case in Devon was given more time
D. the supporters were ready to pay extra money to get tests from US that's more conclusive

Given all the above, my heart feels for Shambo; having said that would the Government start slaughtering AIDS infected or carriers? What about people who oppose death penalties? what does blue cross say about these?

On a different note, people appreciate non-pujaris doing Hindu ceremonies in places like Skandavale, would they agree the same in India?

I did it!

In the limbo world of browsing, I bumped into robinsharma's blog... I visit his blogspace once in a while for some good pep-tips. I spotted a suggestion that was to use the summer time to the full and an idea was to re-do a thing that you would have done in your childhood days and the one you would have not done for years together..

Today i got a chance to do something like that: I was very eager to do, the ambiance was perfect, forecast for the weather was coming true, it was all raining, gloomy. The rains started pouring, lightnings flashed, thunders thundered... it took me to my teenage days and to add i was working from home too. It may be a perfect day for me to do what i wanted to do, this i have done this many times in my teenage. But when i was teen and when i wanted to do this, my parents would not allow me to do that. Now i am married, and my wife would not be too happy if i did that. But today all conditions were set, no one was home; but i felt a bit shy to do in this civilized world. How could a grown up man like me do it? that too in daytime??

I told myself, i have to do now or i have to wait for a day like this... though England is a nice place where such days come in abundance, today was a special day - Friday, weekend, you could let go your tensions, but what would people think of me? - who cares so i did it - yes i changed my clothes into PJs and straight walked into Rain! whooohooo! Walking in the rain again - people looked at me from their cars like what? i did not care - i enjoyed every step of it and got fully drenched!

Vaaji Vaaji!

Thousands of blogs, thousands of reviews, thousands of comments - the tide has not fallen down: yep about Sivaji - 'The Boss' few like Anuradha SenGupta of CNN-IBN came out with a stark review.

Just rewinding back to my college days - I used to be an ardent Kamal Hassan fan boldly facing the outnumbering Rajini Fan club... I have to mention this incident... 1997 i was preparing for my Master's exams and the local Rajini Fan club blared music on his birthday (12 - Dec); i cannot forget this... The blaring songs at 5:30 AM irritated me to such an extent, i dared those guys and my parents kept me in check - lest it became a big problem around the locale... I used to hate Rajini & co to such an extent... I still disapprove such a mad following... but years passed on...

I don't fancy calling myself a fan of any actor - may be my age or my exposure to global cinemas - French, Spanish and a few other cine craps... 'Things changed'. I was in US of A when 'B to the A to the B to the A' - BABA released; My sister, bil & co we payed around 10$ each and waded through the hyper charged fellow Indian fans, managed to get a few seats in the 4th row from front!!! Watched the movie in such a disbelief - the movie a big flop; but what i disbelieved was the Indian fan's behavior in a foreign land - ignoring the Gora shaming us etc...

I think i actually learned something... hey its an entertainment, its meant to be fun and can be enjoyed as long as its okay to your neighbours... coming back to Sivaji:

I was actually awaiting the release - long queues (in fact theatre staff sold snacks in the interval - within the screen premises) the brits would have not seen such a fanfare - third day after release we made it! everyone enjoyed the fanfare, people around me were talking about their college day rajini releases; other rajini related movies - which director directed him the best; why he is such a great person, his religious attitude etc etc etc... I can't believe myself - a man who used to hate Rajini & co, awaits for Sivaji release!? (partly due to the media hype)

As people did, i too found loopholes in story etc, but truly enjoyed the movie - 100% entertainment. I enjoyed the mail forwards about people queuing in 'Bangaluru' PVR theatres; How tax people were reaping entertainment tax benefits; corporates sponsoring gold class tickets to their star employees; rajini's salary and what not...

Just think for a moment about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and other magical, mystical movies - going rounds, why not Sivaji - it may have many holes, less of logic but it was truly an entertainer - our armchair critics like Anuradha should do a sense check and see CNN-IBNs reviews on Harry Potters! Also people need to unwind and keep away the learning - should go for entertainers rather than finding faults...

friends c'mon: go on throw away your masks and have fun - unwind yourself and watch Sivaji the Boss!

Conserve Space and Grow Trees!

I have travelled to quite a few countries and a common theme across Europe is conserving space especially while building houses. Given their space to people ratio, they have to come up with innovative ideas to build houses effectively and they do. Another key aspect to their houses is the garden area; what ever be their house size, a considerable area is left open for garden. Notably in UK, they could use a bit more space for houses- but they don't; if you could go around the core London (btw do you know London is the smallest capital in the World - Square Mile City), you would observe huge parks, zoo, etc etc. Their population does increase, but their building style has necessarily not encroached into this huge natural wealth and every house does sport a nice garden (inspite of the sloppy weather)

I think this particular aspect should be picked-up by other countries that are developing/building new cities. I grew up in a town Neyveli, India. This is a planned city with neat right angling roads with lots and lots of trees! The speciality of this town/city is no-one can buy a land/property and the whole city is local body controlled. (I don't know if this has changed in recent times). I lived in a 'E' type house for my whole Neyveli life. Though we had a choice to move to newly built posh residential apartments, we never wanted to. Why? our 'E' type house had 13 mango, 5 coconut, 2 neem trees and a lemon, guava, orange and jack fruit tree each. Apart from these we had lots of crotons, climbers etc etc. It would look like a mini forest if we went out on vacation etc... After my Father retired and we left Neyveli, the house went onto another employee's lease, who built a forecourt, chopped off the play area and not sure what happened to those trees...

Anyways these days People seldom respect 'Nature' and are just interested only in their welfare - so why a sudden thought? I recently visited Birmingham Balaji Temple @ Dudley. The temple tower in picture is the outermost tower of the temple. If you notice closely, you would find curtains hanging - yes this temple tower hosts the residential apartments for priests!!! That's an idea. I am not sure back home if we would agree to such a design. Would we?

Software Models

If you like to discuss software models, feel free to browse my blog@http://agilerfragile.blogspot.com/ - I am starting a new set of topics in this blogspot...

ta,

Back to Blog Space

After long time i got some time to sort out my blog space... Watch out for some activities in this space

Appreciate the new idea

It has been a long time since i posted my blogs. I was busy on two goals; both progressing well - well don't ask me what they are; I shall announce when they meet the targets... I have a few things to blog... one of them a series of research articles on scientific analysis to date Mahabharata... I wish i get some solid time in starting that series... Today a peculiar article from The Hindu (India's leading English Daily)... Service station on the move

This is a brilliant business idea, but initially i wished it to fail... off late with too much money, people back home why can't they drive to a garage and get their cars cleaned??? why should they be such lazy bums? but then i though hang on a minute; its a good thing from a different angle... lets say 1000 of those potato couches chose not to drive couple of miles to wash their cars = 2000 miles of petrol is saved and less pollution; indeed the service car that cleans the other car indeed has to travel around that 2000 miles - so the petrol is anyway spent.. so one idea could be if this servicing company could drive to the offices where people work then the business can grow as well as less amount of gas...

Well we all wanted to be lazy that's why we started inventing many things and this business is one such... so none to blame but all...

Anyways what a great business idea.. Wish you all the best

The pot calling the kettle black

Starting the new year blogs with a bang!!! No prizes for guess about the subject, its obviously about Shilpa Shetty & Big Brother. Some jealousy feelings brimming and words are frothing in BB. Thats the whole fun of BB. 'Racism Cries'!! Both the governments involved (UK & India). Nice one for politicians. Should they need one better chance to show their oneupmanship in battle against Racism?

Anyways coming back to the crux of the issue: Who calls who as racist? Indian Gov to inquire about the claims??? The govt that intends to provide religion based reservations, caste based reservations, the one who cannot protect its own citizens going through racial abuse internally, the gov that watches like big brother when its fellow states fight each other on names of culture - Dravidian parties etc? We have created states on lines of lingusitics and call names on neigbhouring states, do we have right to speak against racism? are we not hypocrites?

What do i call on the 'Fair & lovely' ads? What shall i say when cricket tests have Whitewash & Blackwash wins? As a country of men who tend to use Fair & lovely, we don't qualify for this game. I am sorry. Let the Pot not call Kettle Black. World, please read the article that Monty had to take stress therapy for the fear of racist calls in aus? Why wouldn't the Indian gov fight against these issues? B***ks. Shilpa is happily going to win BB and earn 3 crores but we all are going to end up fighting for nothing. Above all, please let us understand that these are inherent erroneous human qualities. Yes until the day we have countries, boundries and similar dividers, racist feelings are going to be there.

Man by inherent nature sees things in positive and negative shades, so he will see differences and comment about it. In the modern society unless untill it becomes a case of real abuse (Cruel or inhumane treatment) hyping up things like these would create further fissures and divisions in society. Compared to yesteryear world, its a lot better place to live, please don't overhype and do more damage. It also shows how suppressed we have been, deep in our hearts; thats why even a slightest provocation is enough for us to pounce on such issues. We have been suppressed for 400 years plus, so it is fair enough on our side of the population to call foul on such things (even though we belive in ahimsa) and worst of all we do the same thing to our own fellow Indians and others. Thank God! India had Ambedhkar & Periyar, lest some upper caste houses would be burning. Calm down my friends and chill-out, look shilpa is reaping riches and she is going to go back to bollywood and be happy with more films on the horizon. A good actress indeed!!! Losers are the commoners as usual...

Happy new year all!

No wonder i decided to be positive in my blogs, very less things to post? No not all. Very less time to post actually. The last 2 quarters were busy, first of the 2nd qtr packed with a fab india trip and 2nd of the 2nd busy firefighting office project deliverables. Its an interesting year that has passed by and the new year beckons with couple of major goals for me... Lets see if i grab those goals.