The long weekend was an interesting getaway. Sakhib and I decided on thurday night to drive down to Coorg on friday morning. It was a last minute plan and it is only last minute plans that work for me. The drive started on friday morning around 8 30 am. It was a very comfortable drive through the highway. We took a break around Ramnagar in a Barista and drove till Hunsur where we performed our Jummah prayers. We reached Club Mahindra in Marcera at 4 30 PM. Entire drive was pretty good except some traffic jam around Mandya.
The evening in Club Mahindra was pretty good. Cozy is the exact word to describe that resort. A much needed break from the mundane life in Bangalore. We played snooker and had a walk through almost forest like atmoshpere in club Mahindra before having a good dinner and hitting the bed. The night was like the time spent in Hassan many years back where Sakhib and I met only during the holidays. Just talking nonsence before actually going to sleep.
The next morning began with a good session of swimming and a buffet breakfast. It was a filling breakfast before checking out from there. After checking out, we drove to Abbey falls. Met some students over their who guided us to the fort and we had lunch in a mughlai restaurant called Choice. The food was alright but the service was nothing to boast about.
Post lunch we checked into another hotel which was pretty ordinary compared to luxurious Club Mahindra where our booking was just for one day. In the evening we went to Raja seat which was really crowded. Followed by an awesome drive to the Tibetian refugee camp. It was an empty and well maintained highway. The up's and downs were fun. We expected something interesting but everything was shut pretty early. We made a Tibetian friend "Norbu". He guided us through the refugee camp. It was late then so we drove back hoping for an interesting visit next morning.
After a really good drive we got back home and caught up with some IPL action. It was really nice to see Rajasthan Royals beat the Deccan chargers. Now the points table looks very balanced. Other than KKR everybody has a chance. Even KKR can get back if they win every game, ofcourse depending on how others perform. Improbable not impossible.
Next morning, we woke up late and started our return journey at 10 30. Reached Bylacuppe where we checked out the Golden temple and the Tibet camp. It was just like visiting a new country. It was reminiscent of some of the Buddhist temples I saw in Japan but was unique in its own way. There was a bit of India and a bit of China in everything we saw. We had our lunch in a Tibetian restaurant. I had a Thukpa which reminded me so much of Soba(Japanese soup noodles). Sakhib ordered for Chowmein. It was full of Garlic and tasted pretty bad. Overall, it was an interesting experiment.
We drove back to Bangalore in about 4 hours. But we got stuck in a maze called NICE road trying to reach Kanakapura road. We entered Kanakapura road alright but started driving todards Kanakapura(wrong directions on the interchange). I realised if we have to go towards Bangalore we should be headed northwards but we were moving towards south(the setting sun showed us the direction). We took a U turn and drove back to Bangalore. Just to realise the weather had been much cooler in Bangalore in the last 3 days. The trip was fun. The standout feature was the lovely drive and complete lazy time spent in a new place. Especially spending so much time with my cousin after years. Looking forward to more such getaways in the near future.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Naachbo gaibo haarbo re
IPL fever is on and the most popular team Kolkata Knightriders has been in a mess right from the word go. They have got into all kinds of controversies. From multiple captaincy theory to the fakeiplplayer blog ( fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com ) each one has been more interesting than the other. Their game has never matched up with their anthem "Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo re". Rather there has been lots of song, dance and defeat. SRK might have to change their anthem to "Naachbo Gaibo Haarbo re".
Apart from the KKR team Bangalore Royal challengers have also been very disappointing inspite of the money spent on them. For some reason I dont feel like supporting them even though I belong to Bangalore.
My team has been Rajasthan Royals right from IPL 2008. I just love the way Shane Warne motivated youngsters to play out of their skins. We see guys like Yusuf Pathan, Asnodkar and Kamran Khan perform well even under pressure. I believe Shane Warne's leader has played a big role. He maybe a dog off the field but sure is a lion on the field. They will keep winning and the franchise owners will be happy as long as Shilpa shetty doesnt give Warnie her cell number. It will suit their team the best if his communication is limited to Mr. Raj Kundra(co owner).
Everything said and done, I think there is lot more to play for in this IPL and the points table can get reversed in next 5 or 6 matches. I am hoping to see the best of every team but my support has been with the Royals. They may or may not win the tournament they have won many hearts including mine.
Apart from the KKR team Bangalore Royal challengers have also been very disappointing inspite of the money spent on them. For some reason I dont feel like supporting them even though I belong to Bangalore.
My team has been Rajasthan Royals right from IPL 2008. I just love the way Shane Warne motivated youngsters to play out of their skins. We see guys like Yusuf Pathan, Asnodkar and Kamran Khan perform well even under pressure. I believe Shane Warne's leader has played a big role. He maybe a dog off the field but sure is a lion on the field. They will keep winning and the franchise owners will be happy as long as Shilpa shetty doesnt give Warnie her cell number. It will suit their team the best if his communication is limited to Mr. Raj Kundra(co owner).
Everything said and done, I think there is lot more to play for in this IPL and the points table can get reversed in next 5 or 6 matches. I am hoping to see the best of every team but my support has been with the Royals. They may or may not win the tournament they have won many hearts including mine.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Padhey likhey jaahil
With the election fever catching up in the world's largest democracy I cant help thinking are we really the world's largest democracy or something else?
We hear about craziest of the crazy ways the political parties use to garner votes. Most interesting one I read was about few parties in Andhra Pradesh trying to buy the votes of the younger guys bribing them with cricket kits. I wonder how would anybody confirm if the guy who took the cricket gear actually voted to the party he took it from. The campaign has been reduced to a platform for mudslinging. We hear our leaders bash others personalities rather than reach out to the masses. All I can say is we are so much used to the present system, that any corruption looks like an everyday event.
We can always find an excuse for our backwardness in lack of education among the masses or orthodoxy controling them. But I believe it is just one of many causes that has kept us where we are. The most important factor in my opinion that can make a system/country strong is accountability. Whatever you call it, accountability to the system, God or conscience. Unfortunately, the accountability factor is almost absent as far as I have seen in India. And I have seen more of it in many of the foreigners I have worked with. I wonder whats the reason. I dont think they are perfect. They have their own mistakes but when it comes to being accountable for their actions they are miles ahead of us.
Another factor I feel is we always like blaming the other for any failure we might face. Biggest example is India/Pakistan blaming eachother for their problems. Mostly we see the arab world blames the Zionist's or the west for all its problems. Nobody ever likes to stand up and take the responsibility to clean up themselves and their society. Destiny is one truth but unless we take up the responsibility our condition will never improve.
Education goes a long way in making us aware of the world around us and understanding the system we are a part of. What we learn and how we put it to practice goes a long way in shaping our destinies. But sole objective of earning degree's today is to amass wealth? We have many Varun Gandhi's, Mayavati's and Ramlinga Raju's amongst us. All best examples to the phrase "padhe likhe jaahil". All of us have a streak of this educated beast within us. I dont know if we can get rid of it altogether but acknowledging its existance is the first step in solving the problem.
Need of the hour seams to be a value based education system. Especially, the education that begins from home. How and What we all need to introspect. Guess if things dont change in time we could call our progress as uncivilization. And our world would be full of "Padey likhey jaahil". Who would know all the management theories and technologies but oblivious to "huququllah huququl ibaad"(Rights of God and mankind).
PS: Guess, this sums up some thoughts going through my mind when I watch the news channel's or read the paper. Perhaps, my next blog entry will be more interesting :)
We hear about craziest of the crazy ways the political parties use to garner votes. Most interesting one I read was about few parties in Andhra Pradesh trying to buy the votes of the younger guys bribing them with cricket kits. I wonder how would anybody confirm if the guy who took the cricket gear actually voted to the party he took it from. The campaign has been reduced to a platform for mudslinging. We hear our leaders bash others personalities rather than reach out to the masses. All I can say is we are so much used to the present system, that any corruption looks like an everyday event.
We can always find an excuse for our backwardness in lack of education among the masses or orthodoxy controling them. But I believe it is just one of many causes that has kept us where we are. The most important factor in my opinion that can make a system/country strong is accountability. Whatever you call it, accountability to the system, God or conscience. Unfortunately, the accountability factor is almost absent as far as I have seen in India. And I have seen more of it in many of the foreigners I have worked with. I wonder whats the reason. I dont think they are perfect. They have their own mistakes but when it comes to being accountable for their actions they are miles ahead of us.
Another factor I feel is we always like blaming the other for any failure we might face. Biggest example is India/Pakistan blaming eachother for their problems. Mostly we see the arab world blames the Zionist's or the west for all its problems. Nobody ever likes to stand up and take the responsibility to clean up themselves and their society. Destiny is one truth but unless we take up the responsibility our condition will never improve.
Education goes a long way in making us aware of the world around us and understanding the system we are a part of. What we learn and how we put it to practice goes a long way in shaping our destinies. But sole objective of earning degree's today is to amass wealth? We have many Varun Gandhi's, Mayavati's and Ramlinga Raju's amongst us. All best examples to the phrase "padhe likhe jaahil". All of us have a streak of this educated beast within us. I dont know if we can get rid of it altogether but acknowledging its existance is the first step in solving the problem.
Need of the hour seams to be a value based education system. Especially, the education that begins from home. How and What we all need to introspect. Guess if things dont change in time we could call our progress as uncivilization. And our world would be full of "Padey likhey jaahil". Who would know all the management theories and technologies but oblivious to "huququllah huququl ibaad"(Rights of God and mankind).
PS: Guess, this sums up some thoughts going through my mind when I watch the news channel's or read the paper. Perhaps, my next blog entry will be more interesting :)
Thursday, April 9, 2009
New challenges
Last month has been pretty interesting on the professional front. Mu sigma has treated me pretty well so far. Having worked on a single ETL tool for close to four years now I have to reinvent myself to fit into an analytics organization. Analytics is a very interesting field but coming from a purely IT services background I have some challenges ahead.
First of all focussing on the clients business and having to work on any new tool based on the situation. I need to be more versatile and get adjusted to this almost alien atmosphere. Though basics of insurance industry is not rocket science the jargon looks nothing less. I need to get used to the industry specific language. Besides learning another new ETL tool called SSIS and understanding the reporting and dashboards using BO is going to be a new experience. In short there is lots of learning waiting to happen. How I manage to absorb all this time will tell but I believe if you apply yourself and focus on the right areas nothing is impossible.
Besides a new job not much eventful happening. On the weekends I am pretty much occupied atleast in the morning arabic classes. Of late my progress is slow but there is some progress. I have been planning to start swimming but the plan has not yet been implemented. Looks like getting more organised and sticking to a plan is need of the hour. Hopefully, my next entry will reflect some more interesting events and a more organized life. Bye Bye till then.
First of all focussing on the clients business and having to work on any new tool based on the situation. I need to be more versatile and get adjusted to this almost alien atmosphere. Though basics of insurance industry is not rocket science the jargon looks nothing less. I need to get used to the industry specific language. Besides learning another new ETL tool called SSIS and understanding the reporting and dashboards using BO is going to be a new experience. In short there is lots of learning waiting to happen. How I manage to absorb all this time will tell but I believe if you apply yourself and focus on the right areas nothing is impossible.
Besides a new job not much eventful happening. On the weekends I am pretty much occupied atleast in the morning arabic classes. Of late my progress is slow but there is some progress. I have been planning to start swimming but the plan has not yet been implemented. Looks like getting more organised and sticking to a plan is need of the hour. Hopefully, my next entry will reflect some more interesting events and a more organized life. Bye Bye till then.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Welcome to Mu Sigma
It has been three days already in the new company. It is really a new experience. Especially coming from giant organizations like IBM, Satyam and TCS. Things are less organized or should I say they are getting organized. There is no internal messenger yet. This was an ideal timepass. And when there is a problem with the individual systems the IT team is just across the room. In my earlier companies you would end up pinging someone in the other end of the country and sometimes even beyond the shores.
In my last two projects that I was the junior most guy. Here experience wise I am among the senior guys. There are many guys around who have just 1 or 2 years experience. They seam to be more dynamic and flexible. Especially coming from a background where all my work has been pretty similar over last few years it is a new experience and an exciting opportunity.
How exciting or how new the work is, I will know when I start interacting with the client/onsite coordinator. For now I am only going through some documents that will help me understand the fundamentals of insurance industry. Frankly speaking its not my favourite industry but dealing with the data and making sense out of this will be interesting.
At the moment, I am new to this place and trying my best to capture as much information from my surroundings as possible and put it to use when needed. In short an interesting beginning to a new phase in my career. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
In my last two projects that I was the junior most guy. Here experience wise I am among the senior guys. There are many guys around who have just 1 or 2 years experience. They seam to be more dynamic and flexible. Especially coming from a background where all my work has been pretty similar over last few years it is a new experience and an exciting opportunity.
How exciting or how new the work is, I will know when I start interacting with the client/onsite coordinator. For now I am only going through some documents that will help me understand the fundamentals of insurance industry. Frankly speaking its not my favourite industry but dealing with the data and making sense out of this will be interesting.
At the moment, I am new to this place and trying my best to capture as much information from my surroundings as possible and put it to use when needed. In short an interesting beginning to a new phase in my career. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Hum bewafa hargiz na the.... par hum wafa kar na sake.....
After 6 months of code conversion, testing and documentation in IBM. I decided to move on. It was a hectic phase of 6 months especially the long drive to work and monotonous nature of work dint help. It was a challenging role but something so different to what I am used to and within time lines.
No complaint about the nature of work. But the team was down sized to 25% of the initial strength suddenly because the client is a pauper now. We were notified about the release date just 5 days in advance. When we were recruited, we were told this is a very long term engagement and all that gas. But the IT industry runs only on projections and expectations. They don't come true always. Its not specific to any company but the industry in general is in a shaky position and its time to look for a safer bet.
Last week when the rumors of massive layoff's were doing the rounds, I thought I will explore the job market again. Its by God's grace things opened just at the right time. I got a call in a day and after a series of interviews I got an offer. The rolloff news came out just the day I got the offer. It was a very easy decision to make.
By the way I am moving to an organization called mu-sigma. I have been offered a position of Senior Business Analyst. They are into analytics. It is related to the DW/BI work that I am used to. But, I expect this role will help me move up the value chain. Looks interesting and challenging.
All said and done, its all about the projections and expectations. About the real outcome, time will tell. At the moment I feel it is a calculated risk.
Now, when I look back I feel am I really such an unstable person? I have resigned 3 times in 18 months. I feel I have just been as stable as the market has been. I have chased good work and only when the company has given me no choice I made the big decision. I guess the title of this post sums up my position on my current commitment crisis.
Commitment will be back when the employer's are capable of sticking to their commitments. It takes two to tango after all.
No complaint about the nature of work. But the team was down sized to 25% of the initial strength suddenly because the client is a pauper now. We were notified about the release date just 5 days in advance. When we were recruited, we were told this is a very long term engagement and all that gas. But the IT industry runs only on projections and expectations. They don't come true always. Its not specific to any company but the industry in general is in a shaky position and its time to look for a safer bet.
Last week when the rumors of massive layoff's were doing the rounds, I thought I will explore the job market again. Its by God's grace things opened just at the right time. I got a call in a day and after a series of interviews I got an offer. The rolloff news came out just the day I got the offer. It was a very easy decision to make.
By the way I am moving to an organization called mu-sigma. I have been offered a position of Senior Business Analyst. They are into analytics. It is related to the DW/BI work that I am used to. But, I expect this role will help me move up the value chain. Looks interesting and challenging.
All said and done, its all about the projections and expectations. About the real outcome, time will tell. At the moment I feel it is a calculated risk.
Now, when I look back I feel am I really such an unstable person? I have resigned 3 times in 18 months. I feel I have just been as stable as the market has been. I have chased good work and only when the company has given me no choice I made the big decision. I guess the title of this post sums up my position on my current commitment crisis.
Commitment will be back when the employer's are capable of sticking to their commitments. It takes two to tango after all.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Ssup?
Last month or so has been really monotonous. Work has been the same. Comparing different outputs and fixing the defects in the code we developed. It was alright for a week but now its been a month of doing the same work. It has got pretty boring. Perhaps I need a long vacation.
Because of the hectic schedule I am lagging behind with the arabic classes. I have still not learnt the 90 verbs(have to finish 120 by this saturday). I had a poster in my room long ago which read "secret of getting ahead is getting started". Think its my starting trouble that has kept me where I was a month ago.
Looks like my current project will complete by march end. Then should start looking for a new assignment. Lots of rumours have been doing the rounds these days about the layoff's and stuff. But I guess continuous learning and being a bit proactive might help. Eventually whats gonna happen is destiny. We can only prepare.
Thats it for now. Life is slow and my blog's getting boring. Lets hope life gets more interesting and so does my blog.
Because of the hectic schedule I am lagging behind with the arabic classes. I have still not learnt the 90 verbs(have to finish 120 by this saturday). I had a poster in my room long ago which read "secret of getting ahead is getting started". Think its my starting trouble that has kept me where I was a month ago.
Looks like my current project will complete by march end. Then should start looking for a new assignment. Lots of rumours have been doing the rounds these days about the layoff's and stuff. But I guess continuous learning and being a bit proactive might help. Eventually whats gonna happen is destiny. We can only prepare.
Thats it for now. Life is slow and my blog's getting boring. Lets hope life gets more interesting and so does my blog.
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