MyLife

I dont give damn to scars.

2012-02-03T13:55:00.000-05:00

Name : Om Prakash Yadav,
Age : 11
State: Uttar Pradesh, India
Award : Sanjay Chopra Award for saving children out of a burning van

Yadav has burn marks all over his face. On September 4, 2010, he was going to school along with other students in a Maruti van. But all of a sudden, the van caught fire because of a short circuit in the gas kit.

The driver immediately opened his door and fled. But not Yadav.

He broke open the van door and pulled out the others, caring little about the flames that had spread to his face, back and arms.

"I could feel fire burn my body but then I could hear the cries of my friends who were still caught inside the van. I threw my bag and entered to pull them out," he says.

He saved eight children.

Source : Internet.
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Fools

2012-02-02T17:53:00.002-05:00

Some get love too easily to realize how Big Fool they are to just let it go after all the years of commitments over demanding parents. Fools.

The child is grown, the dream is gone.

2012-01-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine posted on facebook

"The child is grown, the dream is gone."

It means a lot.

A Plan is a Plan only if it is thorough & written

2012-01-09T09:55:00.004-05:00

I thought, "Well I know what I am going to do in next 7 days, I don't need to spend time on writing that on a piece of paper with hourly target, that's waste of time. I would rather spend that time on achieving my target".

I was so wrong. I drifted. There was no clear goal. I felt I could easily achieve what I am set out for in few hours of day and wont require full 24 hours.

Let me confess friends, I didn't utilize last 3 days. It went wastefully. I had no target to motivate me. I spent time leisurely. Now I am doubtful if I will be able to achieve what I wanted as the no. of days have suddenly shortened.

Every time I miss on plan, I remember an incident from my job days where I was in the committee of people arranging for business event for the employees and I saw my manager going by nanoseconds( OK, I exaggerated but it was surely in seconds), on each event timing and execution. Initially I thought, what a fool he is to be so pricking but after the wonderful success of the event I realized how right he was and what role his thorough plan played.

Unless I change myself it is going to happen repeatedly. As said in one quote "Life will keep repeating the lessons until you learn from it".

Why Start Early

2012-01-08T06:19:00.002-05:00

Recently I learned the importance of "starting early". One morning I woke up at my first alarm and not waited for second alarm which was due 15 mins later. I told myself, "Amit, it is good to start early" and I was up and got myself ready for the conference I had to attend in Boston.

After I got ready, I waited for public transport but none were in sight and when I looked up their website, it was day off for them. Little anxious, I called up campus police for escort service and they were not servicing either. The lady police suggested if she could get me cab but I said "No, it will be very expensive. Thank You." Now, I decided to walk to railway station as it would take 45 mins which means I will be reaching 3 mins before my train departs from my station.

The good part was, I was not anxious but very calm and steady. With confidence to catch the train, I was walking briskly and kept my GPS on to help me correct in case I was going in wrong direction or path which was not shortest. On the way I asked a lady (who was about to enter her car) for directions to train station just to be doubly sure. My mental directions got confirmed and I resumed my journey. After sometime, while walking down the street I saw the same lady waving and asking if I need ride and I said "Only if you are going in same direction" and hopped inside she car. A small talk followed where she said "I still believe in giving lift to people even though the world has become a big crime place now". I nodded but at the same time got into thinking, "The problems are the same be it India or US. US is 100 times safer than India in terms of police response to crime but look here I am meeting someone who is bothered with the exact same thing what people back home are bothered with. Isn't life problems are similar(if not same) everywhere." Anyways we reached the station and I bid he goodby and thanked her. Next I had to wait for half and hour for my train. In the mean time I spent time reading a conference paper my professor asked me to read and give my opinion.

Coming back to the motivation of this blog, I realized that this control over the situation is due to the fact that I woke up in the first alarm and not waited for final alarm to buzz. This gave me lot of time and I was capable of absorbing any unforeseen situation. Doing things early could be boring and its benefits are mostly unnoticed until we start cramming in last moment which results in stress and anger and frustration and god knows what not.

P.S. It takes me more than one experience to change and hence I am not sure if this will change me.

I Dare

2012-01-01T08:13:00.002-05:00

Let the New Year Begin with many Dares...

P.S : NYE = New Year Eve.

When High Priority ≠ First Thing to Do

2011-12-31T03:48:00.001-05:00

Like a rational mind, I had my plans in order of priority for this ongoing vacation. Things which I thought of high-priority were put on top and things with medium put on bottom. Sounds perfect, right? Well, I don't know about you but I have discovered that vacations are not same as regular days. Vacations are time when if you pick up boring stuff, you could go on and on w/o coming to any conclusion until it becomes dire need. It needs lot of discipline to do boring stuff early in time and no pressure. I have yet to reach that level but for now let's consider I am normal normal.

I started reading a subject (Let's call it S-2) which I like, in the beginning of the holidays and I thought, wow, I am actually utilizing my vacation. I was able to utilize around 50% of the time. One day my roommate suggested that I should rather focus on subject S-1, considering that is higher priority than subject, S-2. That put me into thinking and I started loosing time. I thought that my roomie has a point and I should indeed do S-1 before S-2 at the start of vacation. But there is a caveat. None of them have deadline before start of college so I could play around the schedule and still reach in time. (S-1 is connected with college course while S-2 is an independent study )

I took his advise, moved S-1 on top and kept S-2 away. S-1 didn't had great start and I was fine with it. Slowly I was loosing interest in S-1 and eventually I was dragging myself, losing days. Simple reason, I don't enjoy S-1 as much as S-2 but to take up S-2 over S-1 was tough. You see, I invested time in S-1 and couldn't go back to S-2 just because I like it. But, today I should say, during vacation its better to start with things we like to do than things we don't enjoy. That way we would not waste time on some mundane thoughts of priority as it hardly matters when in vacation. I have decided to record what I have learned & explored in S-1, keep it handy so that when I resume it after finishing S-2, I will have a background and not clear puzzled head.

So, after all this, the plan of action is, I am going to spend coming two days preparing myself for upcoming conference in computational geometry and after I am done, start with S-2, finish that up and then take up S-1, since I will be pushed not by interest but by deadline to finish S-1. As always, don't know if this is going to work but let's try it out and I will come back with how it went.

Giving an example of a sailor who doesn't have modern compass, its only with time he will know where did he go wrong and the sooner he change his direction, the better are chances he will not be laughed at through generations for his foolishness.

What do you think could have helped me realize that before or how do you think I should have drawn my initial plan? Do let me know.

Take Care.

Happy Holidays with Video Podcast.

2011-12-26T06:22:00.000-05:00

Do let me know if you liked it. Not sure how it came out as I can see the image blurred :P.

Bbye.

Waiting for Holy Onsite Opportunity for Years.

2011-12-14T09:41:00.001-05:00

If you don't understand what the title means, possibly you wont understand what I am going to speak below, but if you wish, read on.

ONSITE, chance to work on client position which is usually US, UK or other developed countries, is portrayed as the coveted Champions Cup which each IT Professional needs to win. For many first timers, the lure is of visiting these so-called developed nations where the general perception is, that robots will be seen flying in sky and everyone is super happy as shown on Hollywood movies and it is easy to hook up with the opposite sex and then a small interest in some corner of the heart is to save some money(1$=50). From 2nd timer and above, it is the lure of money.

For both 1st & 2nd timer their bosses use this lure of ONSITE as golden pot which he or she is promised of either in the interview process or after slogging in job for months. Interestingly the distance between the gold pot never seems to increase. It is intelligently placed either the same distance or brought in close proximity to raise goosebumps and Managers will pronounce "You were too close this time, never mind keep trying".

You might observe that some of your friends are indeed getting the gold pot which bolster your confidence in the words of your manager and you keep going round and round and round in some infinite loop until one day you are awaken by a slap on your face. The figure could be rejections in marriage proposal due to low salary, your wife (lucky you.), your mirror reflections when you toothbrush sitting on toilet seat and in no hurry. For many, the realization is painful because it has costed them more Time than the goodness the ONSITE would have brought. As a result of which the employee is disgruntled, will get into arguments with boss and management and finally leave the company.

I am not going to talk about how much he is missed and managers eye opening experience but from the perspective of candidate. Now, coming back to our protagonist, he fails to understand many things like how not every manager is your father like and why he don't give damn to your career progress but is just interested in his/her own which means he would like to go Onsite before he gives you the opportunity (for reason read above). Second, the novice fails to realize that if the manager is dilly dallying ONSITE, then probably he is not worth the company's money which should actually ring a loud speaker to his ears that his skill knife has gone blunt and needs sharpening. He need to seriously look towards taking more challenging projects and move on with life. Getting too comfortable in one chair is understandable but even the chair is tired of your butt marks and wish to get some change. Take chance at least once in Life and you won't regret your cowardly self.

To me, Life is not "A Risk, A Success" but "Series of Risk, Series of Success".

Yatri (Traveller)

2011-11-23T07:07:00.001-05:00

मंजिलें तोह मिल ही जाएँगी, भटक कर ही सही

गुमराह तो वोह है जो घर से निकले ही नहीं

- Shivani Raina Facebook Feed.

From Homeless to Harvard

2011-11-13T03:57:00.001-05:00

I am just moved by this movie called From Homeless to Harvard. It talks about Liz Murray, child to drug addicted parents and homeless but determined. She changed her life from nothing to something.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Murray

It is just big dream and she is perfect example of "Nothing is Impossible if you work Hard".

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2011-11-13T00:36:00.001-05:00

For past few days I was going downhill with my studies. Not focusing right. Loosing the big goal. All this because I didn't do right in one mid-term paper. Before that, I was all charged up ready to take on the world but later that incident, things changed. I started sleeping late, under utilizing my time and was thinking of easy aims and finding fault with US education system(Will talk about it in detail sometime later).

I spoke to him few minutes ago and explained him my situation. He said, If subject XYZ is causing all the pain and making you loose focus, let it go to waste. Don't let one subject ruin your aspiration and life. He gave eg. of a painter (He himself is a wonderful cartoonist), and said, "In Painting, if you are painting one with utmost care but happen to make one mistake, it ruin your all hard work and many a times people just give up because of this failure. Let this not happen to you. You should not get discouraged with one subject but you should keep working towards other subjects and do well in them". He said, if I could cross the threshold and get admission to MIT/Harvard/Stanford for my PhD., my life will become wonderful and worthwhile. Also, I should not entertain the thoughts of "Should I really do PhD?" but do all my preparation as though I really want to be at such elite university for my PhD and then I will see the difference of attitude.

America could be a lonely place for someone who comes from country like India where there are social linkages even between neighbors and you could just go to them and talk without being bothered of invading personal space. There are times I miss such wonderful friends who would just know what I need when I am down. As said, I have some true friends indeed.

Good Night.

Left high paying MNC Job for Civil Service Exam Preparation

2011-10-30T11:36:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine recently left high paying job in an MNC with annual salary more than INR 10 Lakh (approx USD 25K), which is quite high as per Indian Standard to pursue his goal of serving society by appearing in India's one of most tough civil services exam. He has taken a big leap of faith and confidence. I know his journey is not going to be easy but I wish him good luck in all he does. Over the chat I asked how he feels about his decision and he says "

i m happy dude, no regrets"

He inspires me. He tell me what it means to follow your heart. He gives me strength to follow mine. I promised him that I will make him proud one day too by accomplishing something worthwhile in life. Remember, I am still toiling with the Idea of PhD/Startup after MS. I need to make a good choice for myself and do something worthwhile.

To have such friends who gives you strength to aim high is a blessing and I am few blessed ones. My best wishes to my dear friend and pray all his tough times don't last long and his effort pays off well.

Unstoppable

2011-10-24T18:41:00.000-04:00

If your dog doesn't get the bone you are hanging high enough for him to get, chances are he will loose interest and stray away. Contrary to this, if a man is faced with a similar challenge, he can innovate/improve upon his strategy and try a little more long. .....Hmm..I just lost my train of thoughts after the guy in the lab started howling. I will still go ahead and post it as I think I still have a point.

Fire : It can be Controlled.

2011-10-23T16:34:00.000-04:00

I got to share with you all some wonderful research done by one of my friend and his research group at UMASS Lowell titled "Non-Toxic Flame Retardants". It has to do with inventing new coating substance which retards the spread of fire and even prevent burning. US Army has shown keen interest to this project. The coating is made using organic waste. I am excited about his research and may even get you more details after talking to him but at the moment I would urge you all to go to the site and post comments/feedback and spread the word. It is crucial that large number of people know about it to create momentum for its fruition.

Thank You.

Connecting the future dots

2011-10-13T05:42:00.002-04:00

Remember me talking about connecting dots in general and connecting the future dots and how sometimes I have intuition about what's going to happen next by looking at what's happening today. Well I just had a moment yesterday which I would like to share.

For past one year, I am struggling with a questions, "Should I pursue PhD and become Professor after MS or should I start a business after MS?". I am exploring each of these two options by talking with Professors, reading about latest research, and by participating in forthcoming Boston Startup Weekend etc. Yesterday I just happen to attend a technical colloquium at my Computer Science Department on topic based on Forensic analysis of P2P system for Child Pornography. It was interesting topic and the speaker Swagatika Prusty presented it well and handled the questions clearly. I liked it. I learned something new. After the presentation, the usual practice of few audiences forming a circle around the speaker and participating in the discussion happened and I joined the league. There were random topics mostly concentrated around what was presented and then we moved on to career. One from the audience was a Professor from my department and asked the speaker (which if you have noticed is only a second year Master's student at UMASS Amherst) whether she would like to pursue PhD? To which she responded that she is yet not decided but would prefer to be a doctorate student only to be interrupted by the Professor "unless you land a fat paying job" to everyone's humor. Then he spoke about his life, how he was in Israeli army at young age, then went on to start a business where he made good money and told his mother that he doesn't see why he should attend college considering he is already earning quite well. To which her mother responded "You are stupid" which mentally tormented him and he joined college obtaining his bachelors degree and realized that "it is so much fun" and enrolled for Masters degree which again he realized "This is so much fun" and rest all is history.

Now, the story part is over. Next phase that went into my head is, why is the professor speaking about his career decisions, why did I meet another student who is in dilemma of doing PhD or not, why am I here amongst all the infinite possibility and how come each of these things are happening when I am suppose to go for a startup event on coming weekend. Well, Steve Jobs said you can connect the dots by only looking backward and he is absolutely right because connecting the future dots is only probabilistic in nature. Getting obsessed about connecting future dots can make someone dogmatic but I would recommend that he/she should just take it as some form of information and continue doing their daily routines and when the final day of making a choice comes, use these pointers along with regular pros & cons rationality. Making future look like the way you want will disturb the natural order making the future connections only fraud.

Do share your story if you happen to experience the same.

Have a wonderful future

Amit

P.S. I feel so relaxed after writing this topic because I was waiting for a long time for an event to happen naturally where I can make future connections and talk to my readers about it.

How to be smart.

2011-10-12T19:43:00.001-04:00

"It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer."Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Steve Jobs , The Entrepreneur.

2011-10-05T20:58:00.001-04:00

At this moment, I have a mixed feeling because I am extremely sad for demise of Steve Jobs. He has taught me valuable lessons of life through his Stanford Commencement Speech.

He was a great entrepreneur, someone whom I listened live or heard in my life span. He will be remembered by millions.

The second feeling I have today is of accomplishment. I am able to execute a program for which I have been working for more than 1 month as part of my college assignment in Operating System Graduate Course at UMASS Lowell. The Professor has been kind enough to give me flexibility and not penalize me heavily for delay of 2 weeks which I have already done. I made lot of mistakes, I asked for help at places I couldn't find a way out but I kept trying just to make sure I learn in the honest way.

I give credit to my today's success to Steve Jobs for lessons in perseverance.

Thank You Steve. May you rest in peace.

Randomness

2011-10-01T21:28:00.000-04:00

Right now, I have an assignment to choose 1 out of first 15 sections in the book of "The Society of Mind" by Marvin Minsky and write a one page summary of it as homework assignment for Artificial Intelligence Course in my graduate studies.

Since it was not an easy choice where all parts are good topics, I decided to generate a random number using RANDOM.org website between 1 to 15. It may sound lot of unnecessary work for just a number but if you might have faced or heard that some of the best things happens by chance and I thought that if I choose a random chapter rather than going by my bias, it will give me an opportunity to explore something new and who knows it might hold my attention for entire life.

The stage is set.

Get Set Go.

So my random number is 11 and so it is. The section name is "The Shape of Space". Wow, I surely wouldn't have picked this one thinking "What has space got to do with Artificial Intelligence?". Let's see how it works out. Don't let too much intelligence ruin the chance of discovering something new by loosening yourself and giving randomness a chance.

Have Nice Weekend.
Cheers.

Quote Unquote

2011-09-24T03:57:00.000-04:00

A quote from my senior colleague while at Fidelity Investment
"Fire is fire.. there is no small or big in it. As long as it is alive, when the conditions are ripe, it'd burn down even a great forest"

Vasu Palaniandi

Why MS?

2011-09-22T02:47:00.000-04:00

1. To make the better use of my life than being in IT.
2. To contribute to society in my capacity.

She is not unknown to me anymore

2011-09-03T12:28:00.000-04:00

Things have changed tonight. Tonight I no more was watching her from far and thinking what is it she made of and what does she think about me. We danced together, romanced and spoke few words. The moments of togetherness calmed my eagerness to know her for years together. Painfully we parted but I know it was for good.

I love you Mac

2011-08-29T19:58:00.000-04:00

Its been just few days(Got on 8/26, today is 08/29) since I got my first apple product Apple MacBook Pro and I am already loving it. Couple of things makes it amazingly wonderful.

1. Mac OS is a Linux Flavor which makes it virus free and fast. I always wanted to move out of Windows due to its pricing and too much control over user.

2. MacBook Pro is no nonsense system. It doesnt even have unnecessary stickers of Intel Processor/Graphics Card/Apple either.

3. There is a unknown territory (Mac Commands Vs. Windows) and requires few days of learning but after that it is smooth ride. Online reference will help you get started quickly.

4. People who worry about softwares which comes only with Windows installer, look harder for Mac and you should be able to find one. Between MS Office is available for Mac OS too or you can choose OpenOffice to do your Word/Excel/Visio task at zero cost.

5. You dont have to shut down your system completely. Just close the lid and it goes into sleep mode which saves your battery more than Windows sleep. It is safe till now.

6. The power adapter is bidirectional which helps in accommodating to any situation and not struggle with it.

7. Display is very good. Processor is fast and dude you dont have to worry about unnecessary software notifications. Mac OS takes care for you that.

The list is good enough for anyone to be convinced. I just trusted one of my close friend's advise.

Take Care
Amit

Tim Cook's Speech

2011-08-29T13:04:00.001-04:00

Good One:-

http://www.fastcompany.com/1776338/tim-cook-apple-ceo-auburn-commencement-speech-2010-transcript

US F1 VISA Interview at Chennai Consulate

2011-08-18T18:23:00.000-04:00

"I have my US Visa interview today at 7:30 am. Its midnight and am eagerly waiting. Though I am not much worried but normal anxiety do exist. God, help me as you always did to pass this hurdle too. Gn"

After years of preparation for my Masters studies and having secured admission and done with running around for Bank Loan, it was Visa that was left in the end. You may be going to Standford after all the pain but if the Visa Officer see that you are not right fit, he can hold you down and your aspiration by a simple "NO". Hence, unless you are through VISA, it is still like a sword hanging around your neck. It means a lot specially to the ones who are genuine seeker than to those who are looking it as an opportunity to migrate to USA.

My visa was scheduled for 27th June at 7:30 am in Chennai. I reached the office at around 6 a.m. since I was traveling from Bangalore and reached Chennai early morning at 5. I waited for my turn when I could see other aspirants joining in with their files and some along with their parents. It was getting hotter and I could wish I leave asap back to Bangalore.

The security guard signaled for 7:30 a.m batch and I moved along with others. To my surprise I was not allowed to submit my bag because it had wheels in it. I was furious and got further anxious when I couldn't find any other place to secure my bag. Well, I must say "You gotta money in your pocket, you got a way out of trouble". Looks like someone sensed my trouble and offered me a place to secure my bag though he charged me 10 times of what get charged officially. I was in need and with no choice. I concurred.

After taking my token for VISA Interview and security checkups I waited for a while. Since I was early bird, I was still kept waiting since the random number calling still didn't see me. I thought, someone behind the monitor is playing with those numbers and making sure I don't come soon. Anyways, my turn came as a big relief and I swiftly moved to the queue where I was supposed to be interviewed.

I was asked general questions which I answered well and confidently. I could see I was going good and when the final words "Your Visa is approved" came, my hearts knew no bounds. I was elated. Took hold of my documents and marched quickly out of the office lest the VO changes his mind and call me back.

I could now connect the dots of the past where I was preparing for GRE, leaving my job and travel with family. Thank you Steve Jobs for this wonderful lesson.

Cheers,

Amit

P.S. For those keen on knowing what questions I was asked, I would say you may look into popular sites like Edulix etc for probable questions asked.

For those who want to know how to prepare for VI, I have got few suggestions.

1. Get your documents straight. I saw two candidates with missing documents and getting their VISA rejected. Though they tried hard to find in the folder they were carrying but hard luck.

2. Be Honest. Somewhere I read, only if you are honest can you be confident. Being Confident is key to clearing the interview. If you are not, you are unlikely to get through.

3. Be Calm and positive throughout.

I am Android

2011-08-18T09:49:00.001-04:00

I am new member of Android family. Someone welcome me or I will do so myself.

What is Indianism?

2011-08-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

Indianness is not about the country you are born in, or the country you migrate to, it's about your identity and emphasis towards discipline, hard-work, honesty and continuous learning. The values that hold true towards tolerance, and focus on intellectual and spiritual growth. It's your ability to be a global citizen embracing diversity, and believing in peace without prejudices of language, color or skills and abilities.

Harsha G Goolya

Its time I write about my first USA trip

2011-08-15T12:56:00.000-04:00

10/08/2011

I am sitting outside Fox Hall building, walking around UML Campus. I must say, its beautiful but due to summer break its a lonely place. I look around and I feel that I have made right choice. This place gives me one more opportunity to make a great life and nothing stops me. The college has not started yet but I hope it will be equally satisfying experience.

I must say USofA is not as fancy as I thought it to be sitting in India. People over here are same as people at other places with habits & problems. Not every passerby greets you, there are dirty homes, people do misuse benefits etc. But on the other hand, people are polite and cars stops for pedestrians. Everyone is on car. I thought I will be amazed by the various car models and housing but the rapid economic growth in India has equally matched with what USofA has in their streets and their homes.

Oh yes, there is one great news. There is just no air pollution & weather in summer is moderate. There were times I laughed at myself for letting go the easy life I had as an IT professional in Bangalore and choosing this new life of student where I am struggling to find a house, a phone, food to eat & jobless. I know this is just initial hiccups which one experiences due to country and cultural change. Lot of things work opposite here but I will surely adapt. This is one golden opportunity (sun is shinning very bright at the moment) & I will make the best out of it. God help me remain focused & calm.

P.S. Just wanted to add, TV is surely an idiot box here. People talk about cat rescue (I know they have started this in India too), material buying & loads of nonsense go around television. I feel it is important to be away from TV and focus on work & actual social participation. USofA has culture of Capitalism and it promotes more buying. People buy more than what they need. For eg. If I need one towel, there will be an offer where a set of four will be a more reasonable choice than just one. Anyways, I accept this country as it is as each one is different. There are loopholes in my understanding which I am sure will get filled in the days to come where I will learn more and I will come back with updated views.

This looks so right

2011-08-08T19:33:00.000-04:00

Today I updated my profile in Linkedin as my new Title is "Graduate Student, Computer Science Department at UMass Lowell" and the first thing I felt about this new chapter of my life is"This looks so right". I was waiting for this for long and surely time has its own sweetness. I felt, "I am at the right place and I need to make the best of it". God give me strength.

Thanks to all my family and my friends who stood by me in difficult times and I share my future success with them.

Take Care all.

I got the puzzle of time flying at home.

2011-06-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

Haven't you told yourself, "Oh, how come its already 6 pm., some time back it was just 1". You know what, I got some clue :D :D

I have been home these days for past 2.5 months I guess, and when I look back, I say "Holy shit, it looks as if I came just yesterday." Time flies because we mostly end up catching on sleep & leisure around and not busy accomplishing something to measure time. Lot of my time just goes around doing the daily chores, preparing for VISA and talking with mum.

I got my VISA interview coming in a weeks time and I am still confused with what's going to happen in that fraction of time I am going to spend with Visa Officer. Though I got all my documents straight but I cant fully underestimate the tricky man up and his power change things in blink of an eye hence I am trying my best to prepare and rehearse my answers at visa interview for probable questions thinking it might help me not stammer and be concise when required. I seriously wish, it work out in my favor because I together with my dad has been toiling for past 2 months getting loan sanctioned, health report prepared and lot of running for many other things. I would like to specially thank my dad at this moment for helping me out in getting dozens of documents at the first call. It fills my heart with gratitude when I remember the moments when each time he has to take steps to get on the bank building and how he used to walk slowly by holding the railings on side. He surely took lot of pain and I will be thankful to him all my life.

How can I forget my mom. What makes my time at home so wonderful is, knowing I have someone who loves me dearly and someone I need to take care of. She laughs, frown, prod and prepare the best food she can just to make her family a healthy one. Today while watching the movie " The Blind Side", I suddenly remembered of her and thought, "Man, she is not going to be around all time. Spend as much time as you can & capture each wonderful moment you can. I am sure you going to miss her badly one day". I am sure all the mums of the world are amazing women and I bow to each one who toil everyday for the well being for their family and expecting very less in return. Interestingly with my mom, after every meal she prepares she would ask, "Is it tasting real good?", and all of us (my dad, brother and myself), would sing in one tone "Sure it is". This silly act of ours used to make her smile and feel a sense of accomplishment. What a woman.

Sometime, I ponder over my usage of time and how myself who used to keep himself all busy is just spending time doing nothing. Ah, it is envious I know. I think, it is one of its kind of vacation, where I decided to spend time with family before I travel very far from home.

Wish me luck for my interview and that I eventually embark upon my long dream of pursing Masters degree.

Wish you a Happy Day.

Cheers to all parents !!
Amit

So what if we have waitlisted tickets.

2011-06-05T04:16:00.000-04:00

The atmosphere at home is of humor, leg-pulling, critical and have-faith-in-god type. It is real fun to see it happening to us and my dad (who otherwise would have frowned), is smiling too.

The event at home is, we are prepared to embark on our annual long distance trip and this time its to Jaipur, Amritsar & Dharamsala. Well, the tickets for this trip has been carefully planned and booked 2 months in advance only to discover yesterday that our first journey railway from Dhanbad to Jaipur is still waitlisted and has not yet buzzed even by one while others are confirmed. You may call us fool of not noticing it earlier but home has been a busy place in the past one month with visits from relatives and all of us busy entertaining them. I guess the ignorance of our waitslisted ticket has got to do with 2,3,4,5 waiting we got and the high chances we thought it will be approved resulted in non-registration of "Waitlist" in our memory and we were too happy to notice nitty gritty details of ticket later.

Now the situation is, we have got another class of tickets called "Tatkal" in waitlisted but with higher probability of getting confirmed. My brother is heading for Kolkata to make sure he start negotiating with TC (Ticket Checker), from the starting point of Train incase they dont get automatically confirmed.

I guess, I have already confused you with my situation but its not your fault. That's the nature of it and we are totally standing as one family with one-opinion to go about it and surely more than normal faith in God's magic :).

Anyways, we have got all our luggage ready, foods, camera and magazines ready and will wait for the signs of confirmation of tickets and march towards railway station with aura of victory and smiles ear to ear.

Isn't it Fun :D.

Co-Founder Problem

2011-05-31T21:14:00.000-04:00

Here's an imp read for issues related to co-founders. It is a message block from Google Groups.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/headstart-network/ya62uwsCq3c

More about it some other time.

Day 1 @ Home

2011-04-09T12:15:00.000-04:00

9th April 2011

Starting today I have begun my 4 months of home-stay before leaving for my studies. Today was the first day and it went mostly in getting things sorted, arranging my stuff and calling my sisters/friends.

Also, what special happened today was when I heard my mother saying "कितने टाइम के बाद कोई मुझे माँ बुला रहा है और घर में चल पहल है " (After a long time someone is calling me Mom and there is liveliness at home). It was emotional moment as I know I am returning home after 10 years though I have come in between many a times but never more than a week or 10 days but now it is for 4 months. It made me realize that how my mother too earns for the closeness of her child and how dear are we to her.

Interestingly this time, I don't see the rush for me to go and meet relatives, perform chores as it used to be earlier and it is solely because I am going to stay real long.

I also realize that I have a critical goal to achieve and without loosing my mind over random things, it needs to be planned and executed well. Again its a faith which is driving me and am sure it will turn out well.

Enjoy

Amit

P.S. As a writer, I would love to hear from my readers of my blog as what they think about my subjects of writeup and if they would like to see some change in it. It will help me become better. Thank You.

Last few days in Bangalore

2011-04-05T16:45:00.000-04:00

Having done with my job on 31st March, I had one week at my disposal before boarding my Train to Howrah on 7th April 2011. This one week has been deliberately chosen to give me enough time to wrap up my official work and meet my friends one last time before leaving Bangalore. I know I won't be meeting them again even if I do have plan to come back for a day or two. I will miss some of the people and the place in particular.

Bangalore, I consider as the best place for professionals in India. It is cosmopoliton & people are very accomodative and kind compared to other cities where I had trouble of being outsider or not knowing the local language. Bangalore's "Adjust Maadi" lingo makes all work easy. Also, an above average Public Transport system with newly incorporated AC Volvo buses makes it comfortable to ride distances. Being the
"Silicon Valley" of India, it is well detailed on web and you can get easy home delivery of anything . Though autorickshaws are pain sometimes but I happen to meet an honest one once and I took his number and called him eveytime I needed auto service to which he used to oblige kindly. Bangalore also has lot of nightclubs, concept restro & weekend places which helps maintain work-life balance.

So, here what I have been doing around in past few days.

Day 1 :-Friday
Met Marsha for breakfast at Daddy's Deli (A Parsian Cafe, recommended), where we chatted for long discussing topics ranging from office ass lickers, marriage, friends to opening a new business and becoming Professor. She has been very kind to get me some gifts like Mug for being Learning Catalyst and a folder which is coming in good use to me these days to carry my documents around. Thank You Marsha. I will always miss you.

Then went to my investment advisor who asked me to wait for few days before redeeming my NAV's.
Then went to Blossom Bookstore at Brigade Road where I managed to find a book on Operating Sytstem which I plan to read during my vacation time. Finding a book in an unorganized store is hell of a task.

Day 2:-Saturday
The day started with my visit to my counselor at Yashna Trust whose service I am availing for preparing me to appy to US universities. Let me be frank, if I wouldnt have their support, I doubted I would have made it this time. Very professional and years of experience. Fees is not very costly and genuine. It is affliated with USIEF. It was Visa Counselling day and I must say going for that session helped me avoid mistakes.

Later I left for Jayanagar where there was a friends meet planned. We had lunch in a restraurant but since it was the day for Final Match for Cricket World Cup so we didnt talk much over table but glued to the TV screen and following the match. Nothing helped getting us to talk. At times I was feeling little frustrated thinking its my last day and my friends give cricket more preferance over me :).

Then I left for my Mother's sister house closeby where I watched the rest of Cricket Match and celebrated India's Victory. For the first time I was howling on the streets and I didnt feel embarassed because there were other hundreds doing the same. Next morning I left for my temp stay at Marathalli.

Day 3:- I was tired and coming back home I rested for some more time and then in the evening went to meet Raghav at Garuda Mall. He was my teammate in my project for more than 1.5 yrs and I value our close bonding more as friends than colleague. I was looking for a quiet place for us to talk but it was wrong thing to wish in a shopping mall. We went to a restro in 4th floor in the mall which was little pricy. I dont mind it and I think it was worth the choice as we spent ample time talking about lot of things and then Raghav gave me an open choice to select a gift for myself on his behalf. It was tempting and I told him that I will encash this wish later which he refused laughingly and I chose an informal Kurta for muyself. Later we parted and left for home.

Day 4: This was very hectic day I must say. It started with meeting Kishlay (my high school friend) at "The Egg Factory" (St Marks Road, recommended), were you get dishes of egg only. We enjoyed our time together, remembered some old times and talked a bit on future planning. The place was quiet and the food was good lunch. I later took Kishlay for Bangalore Darshan at M G Road and had ice-cream at Lakeview Cafe. I had wondeful time.

Later, I went to Forum mall where Manisha, Shalinee & Amrita were waiting for me. They are my school friends. Since I just came back from heavy lunch I had Lassi. We chatted for long and again remembered some old memories. Also, the news of marriage for all the three girls was broken to me. It is a different feeling I guess when you see your friends getting married. I wished them good wishes for the marraige life.

At the end of this meet, started third with Neha (Originally my friend's girlfriend). She was little dissapointed about her low score in GMAT, so we talked about how to improve it next time then about my friend on his new posting in Pune and at times about my career goals. Later we went to Bayleaf for dinner. We had great time and then we wished each other and left for homes.

Day 5:-
Day 5, started with some lethargy. I woke up late but I had VISA fee to be payed. Since I had heavy food, last night I forgo my breakfast and lunch for 2 glass of sugarcane juice. Went to Sarjapur Office of HDFC, paid my fees and then marched towards ITPL to meet Prabha and give my gift to her as token of Thank You for giving me recommendations for my school application which worked out.

Came back home but later realized that I have few items remaining in my to-do-list. Went to M G Road to get VISA photoshoot and then to a Pizzahut for my Pizza dinner. Tired and concerend if I will get bus back to room, I left Pizzahut as soon as I finished it and fortunately got into the bus which brought me directly to home.

Day 6 :-
It is tomorrow and I have some plans to be executed. It is also my last day where after that I am boarding my train. I doubt if I will be able to write about this day so I will publish it now in its present form and when ever I get time I will update this.

As said, I love Bangalore and being a Bangalorean.

My Last Day at Job

2011-04-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

My farewell mail on second last day at Job on 30st March 2011. I will remember it my whole life.

Subject : Thank You & Farewell.

Hello,

Only an end can assure a new beginning. My stint with Fidelity is coming to an end tomorrow to embark upon a new journey of pursuing MS in Computer Science. I joined here as college fresher and has come a long way which wouldn't have been possible without your support. You have played key role in grooming me as a professional. I will fondly remember being associalted with Fun@Work team at OSG, Fidelity Cycling Group, Voice of Fidelity and Control-M trainer. These were key to my soft-skill developments. Thank You for giving me the opportunity and your guidance.

I would like to take this opportunity to remain in touch with you and request you to drop me your preferred email ID or connect via social networks mentioned below. If I can be of any help, feel free to contact.

Thank You & Wish me Luck,

Regards,

Amit Choudhary

amit_krchoudhary@yahoo.com / mr.amitkc@gmail.com

LinkedinID

Entreprenurship is an Art Not a Job

2011-04-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

Going through my tweets, I stumbled upon this article link (Click Here) by Steve Blank. It talks about how Entreprenurs are Writers and may not be Actors.

Though I dont have any first hand experience of starting a company but I did spend somedays in building a business model and planning. I can think of new ideas, ever ready to puruse new challenges and dont care what will be tomorrow. But at the sametime I have realized that I am sloppy with execution and it left me with low opnion about myself but as Steve's says, you can be an Writers but not actors, so I take my shortcoming with pinch of possibility.

One of the initial comment that caught my attention and I felt is coming from a Horses Mouth (James Harradence) is

Steve:

I agree wholeheartedly with your thought that entrepreneurship is an art. However, it can also be a discipline.

Many great artists are neither crazy nor chaotic nor addicted to the unknown. They accept the potential of failure and realize that creating newness (a sculpture or a new category of product) will require great effort and great patience.

They are also aware of the micro and macro processes at work. Not a highly detailed, granular process, but a big blocks of quantum progress process. They understand and believe, more than most people that:
1) Failure = a chance to learn (10x the learnings from success)
2) The failure & learning must stop for success to occur.

Great artists and entrepreneurs share the ability to see what should be and, either immediately or over time, being right.

Early on, they make practical mistakes and then they gain the tools to consistently make their vision reality (‘Hi, my name is Steve Jobs.’).

The chaotic ones are just immature: either as people or in their craft.

The crazy ones (and I have worked with more than one) leave more potential on the table (as a group) than they capture: avoid them is my advice.

James

Take Care & Enjoy!

The "D" day has arrived. Pre-Lessons learnt(don't want to get biased with results)

2011-03-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

Today is the big day for my so called "Task", and I am keeping my temper at ease even though I feel like kicking my own butt for things that could have been done better. The reason for putting up this article is to analyze my experience with this task objectively and and not after its execution where the chances of getting biased with the result will be high.

1. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
On numerous instances I have heard this parable but failed to understand. My present situation force me to contemplate upon what could have been done better and I am sure to say that the adage holds true/right all time. Proper planning with good brainstorming looks like is the essence of success or way to avoid not superr failure and despair. It is painful to make a plan and more harder to follow it but I guess it is worth the effort and relief from heart burn later.

2. One Size does not fit all.
If a particular plan has worked for one, it may not work for me. Make an individual plan considering one own strength and weakness.

3. Assumptions Kill.
Moving with too much of assumption with air of wise man can overlook a great potential risk.

4. Good Sleep is necessary to achieve good results.

My First Resignation

2011-03-27T09:27:00.000-04:00

Today I am about to send my first resignation. Never before the "Send" button in outlook has been more dreaded to push. But I am at ease and confident that this end will start a new beginning.

Thank you Lord for your constant support and my near family, friends & others to support my dream all through. It wouldn't have been possible with you.

God, I strongly believe that the future has something more beautiful and satisfying stored in for me. Keep your grace as always and help me with confidence to meet future challenges.

Thank You all once again.

Regards
Amit

When in Confusion. Seek Faith.

2011-03-27T09:26:00.000-04:00

I have tried many a times to understand the implications what my decision could make or better to say, find out what will be the exact outcomes of those.

I don't feel ashamed to admit, I was foolish. Yes, I was. How can life's events be predicted when there are infinite possibilities attached to it. For eg, if you divide infinite by zillion, it still remain infinite. Just a bad illustration to show, how even if we have some countable possible outcomes, it can never map possibilities to a finite number.

But one of the thing I have started trusting is my Gut-Feeling or in better words, understanding the series of events. It is interesting to see how a series of events when observed can give a much better idea of what could possibly be the future.These are subtle events that whiz pass very quietly. Getting obsessed about it can make you superstitious but I don't consider being superstition as bad if there is a fair chances of positive outcome. In that case, it will be more appropriately called as being analytical.

I got into this thinking mode by looking at series of events which happened recently in my life. It is hard to convince someone else with my view on this as it is subjective in nature. There's also a possibility that we connect the past events on the basis of result we achieve and high probability of getting biased.

I will have many more instances in life to create some kind of definite pattern. I got to go now and sleep.

More about it later.

Bye

My First Big Step

2011-03-27T09:23:00.000-04:00

In coming few days, I will be free to do what I want without bothering about my boss and monthly salary. I guess I will be living the dream of every free soul. No I am not going to exile. I am going to pursue Masters education in a US School in Computer Science subject starting Fall 2011.

My Visa is still not done and there is four months time before I get my boarding pass. Till then I will be at home with my parents and execute some study plans as its been long since I left college and will rather spend sometime building some muscles before the actual fight than getting knocked down on first blow. Many had advised me to wait till my Visa stamping but I must say, "I was bored to death at job and needed an immediate change". The decision was not hasty and well thought of and it was difficult on my part too, to let go 4 months salary. I said, "Dude, if you don't take chance today, you will regret all your life. Give yourself one chance at least" and then I leaped. It can also be termed as leap of faith because only then can we see something different emerging. If I fail in Visa (pray I dont), I still know that I will be starting something new in august.

I have been waiting for this opportunity for as long as 4 yrs. It was not easy road. I went all directions (MS, MBA, CMI, Finland, Sweden, Singapore, UK) before I got UMASS Lowell. I cannot be more happy. Success has many fathers (remember my old post), well yes and I too have them and they all contributed considerable. My next phase is important in life as I have to decide to pursue one of two career options seriously. No details now. It will be too much talking. Let's wait and watch.

Greatest Oscar Speech : Russell Crowe

2011-03-04T23:42:00.000-05:00

This is the best Oscar Speech I have come across in recent times. Short and clear with a strong message for all.

Books Recommended by Donald Knuth

2011-02-18T04:08:00.000-05:00

You might be thinking what makes me so interested to read books recommended by some one else. I think my reason is I adore this personality, Donald Knuth for his contribution to Computer Science research and he reminds me of my favorite professor Dr. B V Rao, Ex IIT Bombay Professor under whom I did my thesis. I am posting this blog as a placeholder for future reference so that if I land in a bookstore someday, I will have some reference to start and if I like it, I will buy them.

Life A Users Manual by Georges Perec (perhaps the greatest 20th century novel)
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers (captures Oxford high-table small-talk wonderfully)
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (also Oxford but in the 1660s)
Death of a Salesperson by Robert Barnard (who is at his best in short stories like these)
The Haj by Leon Uris (great to read on a trip to Israel)
Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk (in-depth characters plus a whole philosophy)
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee (applied biochemistry in the kitchen)
Food by Waverley Root (his magnum opus, a wonderful history of everything delicious)
The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth (the Great California Novel, entirely in 14-line sonnets)
The Age of Faith by Will Durant (volume 4 of his series, covers the years 325--1300)
Efronia by Stina Katchadourian (diaries and letters of a remarkable Armenian woman)
The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel (biographies of Ramanujan and Hardy)
Hackers by Steven Levy (incredibly well written tale of our times)
The Abominable Man by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (one of their brilliantly Swedish detective novels)
Blasphemy by Douglas Preston (the best novel to deal with "science versus religion" that I've ever encountered)
Blacklist by Sara Paretsky (a brilliant characterization of the tragic state of politics and class relations in America that also happens to be an action-packed murder mystery)
The Travels of Ibn Battutah edited by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (fascinating and eye-opening journal by a 14th-century Muslim scholar)
Murder in the Museum of Man by Alfred Alcorn (delicious caricature of academic follies)
America (The Book): Teacher's Edition by Jon Stewart (has graffiti even better than the marginal notes in Concrete Mathematics)

If you have any recommendations of books for me to read, please post it in the comments section.

Thank you & Happy Reading.
-Amit

Poor Numbers

2011-02-17T02:12:00.000-05:00

"Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything." -Gregg Easterbrook
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. " -Aaron Levenstein
"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull" -WC Fields
"Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable." ~Author Unknown

Great Article on Software Startup Entrepreneurs

2011-02-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

Check this out:-
http://thinkvitamin.com/business/startups-think-again-writing-code-is-not-your-biggest-challenge/

Should NRI Teachers come back to India to teach.

2011-01-27T06:20:00.000-05:00

The Times of India article of "India scouts for faculty among bright NRIs" it is being discussed of roping in Indian embassies for attracting NRI's settled in foreign countries back to India with the lure of teaching their brothers and sisters back home and give back to society. IIMB has already been on hiring spree and IIT's are adapting similar techniques.The single comment by Balasaheb (USA) on this article has drawn my interest to blog about it :-

I have been going to India as a visiting faculty to give lectures on specific topics to Medical College students and faculty. My experience is not very good. In a few places the intellectual level may be high but in most places the faculty has no motivation to remain up to date in their fields, introduce innovative teaching methods or integrate subject matter to provide better understanding of the subject. The curriculum rarely gets revised. Interaction among various departments is nonexistent. Overall my view is that in most colleges teaching is very old style and interest in doing research is almost absent. So my advice is that before you make a move on a permanent basis think twice, investigate the track record of the institution you are planning to go. Local politics is very bad and it will be very difficult for those who have been on the faculty of US schools to get adjusted to the limitless bureaucratic administration that is so ingrained in higher education in India. There are only a few exceptions.

Faculty shortage is no new thing and lack of enthusiasm in teachers is wide spread. Students lack the motivation to do research or basic project without peeping into others work. Changing the mindset of students is a big challenge as most of them desire of well paying job and learning comes second priority. Anyone who wish to come to this country surely need to be mentally strong to fight amongst odds and still rise among it. It is daunting and discouraging but I am sure the satisfaction of achievement will be at least 10 folds.

I understand that each one of us should give back to society. People especially expect this from NRI's thinking they have made big bucks and should be socialist enough to share a few with others. I fail to understand that why do we not consider it of priority for people already in the country and why only to few who have settled abroad. Each one wish comfort and there is no wrong if few among them have ditched the country for their selfish reason because there are still millions who have looted the country by staying here itself and have done very little for anyone outside their kith n kin.

Travelogue

2010-12-13T15:41:00.000-05:00

Recently I have been on a round trip (Bangalore - Delhi - Dehradhun - Mussoorie - Dehdradhun - Delhi - Bangalore). The objective was to have fun, attend my friend's Passing Out Parade at IMA, Dehradhun and meet other friends in Delhi and Dehradhun. The travelogue below is produced in time sequence with Facebook updates.

Learning Continues

2010-12-13T08:06:00.000-05:00

"Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan child".

It is true among common people whereas few uncommon people may treat success and failure alike. Hence you know what to do when you want to please a common person.

Illegitimi non carborundum

2010-12-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock-Latin aphorism meaning "Don't let the bastards grind you down".

Reference : Wikipedia

How to secure 1300 in GRE

2010-12-01T22:58:00.001-05:00

Note : I am posting this incomplete post and not wait any longer for a well-written blog because the message I wanted to convey are clear and it could do more good than harm.Its been more than a year I wrote GRE and hence the current changed pattern could ask for different outlook.

I got 1290 in GRE and it was not easy for me. I had tough time remembering vocabulary and here's how I think you could get that too. Obviously, if you need 1400 plus, my talisman might not work for you. Look elsewhere.

Points:-

You don't need to mug up 3000 Barrons Word. I find it disgusting and useless. The list of words in Princeton-Review and Kaplan books are good enough.
Read minimum five articles one each from Business, Philosophy, History, Art and Literature domain per week. The more you read, the more ideas you get for your writing and it helps in your vocabulary too.
Practice Practice Practice. It was, It is and It will be true for ever. You may disagree but wait till your bitter experience tells you the same.
Practice from ETS Powerprep, ETS GRE Book and Kaplan. There's very high chances that you will get 10% plus minus in your final score compared to what you get in your practice PowerPrep. If you get bad score in practice, it won't harm to change your strategy even two day before exam but you have to be honest about where you going wrong. Just BLUNT HONEST.
First Few questions matter and not last few.
You will fail in your first practice test but don't loose heart. Give your second four days before Final, then you know what you need to change in coming four days if you need different result.
Time yourself. Partition time based on sections and questions. Like, you will spend 15 mins for first 10 questions but 7 mins for last ten questions etc and get it right. I made a mistake and wasn't able to answer last question in maths and I think leaving it blank harms you more than wrong answer in last few questions.

Hope it helps.

I am thankful to many of my friends and online blogs who have shared their experiences and it helped me do better. My small payback to the helping community.

Rebounce

2010-11-28T20:28:00.000-05:00

Having slept at 2 a.m. I expected myself to wakeup not before 8, but I see the clock still ticking 6:50 and me typing my thoughts. In fact I started rubbing my eyes at 6:20 something and was excited over few thoughts in my mind.

I was looking forward to get back to my "task" and once again work towards its success after initial setback. Last night I worked upon it with enthusiasm and music filled in the air. Having done some considerable progress last night, I am determined to reach a decent milestones today as today is the only day left. I have to have a better plan, a plan which is more resilient and accurate.

Pray for me. It is a big deal this time.

Have a Nice Day,

Setback

2010-11-28T10:34:00.000-05:00

The specific task I am indulged in for past few days does not seems to be giving any results and today I had a setback when I tested it . For a moment, my heart sank when the result was not up to my expectation, well it was much below it as my expectations were too high. I threw my self away from workstation and headed for sleep. I couldn't get sleep. The thoughts prevailed in my mind and with few unsuccessful attempts I finally went to slumber. After waking up I called up a friend and motivated him to not loose heart due to his failure in clearing interviews. After the call, I made up my mind to fight back in my own case and not to bother too much about its result.

The game is still on. More about it later.

Take Care.

Faith

2010-11-27T07:58:00.000-05:00

These days I am working on a task whose long term effect I fail to understand. I just have a faith that it is going to get good omen to my life and I should continue striving for it.

A quote from Swami Chinmayananda is keeping me on.
"Faith is what you don't see and the result of which is you see what you believed".

I will come back with how it fared in my case.
Until then.

Take Care

Got Fire at home, dont call Fireman if you haven't paid your service fee.

2010-10-16T00:09:00.000-04:00

Having read an article from TIME which speaks about an incident in Tennessee State, USA I was thinking if it further extends the various moral conflicts the country is already struggling with. The article is about a burning house being left unattended by Fire Officials because the owner didn't paid the annual fire-protection fee of $75 and the three puppies trapped were left to die.

The owner claims to have forgotten to pay the fire protection tax amidst multiple tax payments for current year but I am sure that this issue can be argued well from either side which is clearly demonstrated in the comments section of the article. I wont go to those details and you can have your read of the article here . My attempt here is to express my stand on it.

I hold an opinion that the fire personals should have put-off the fire and charged the Owner 10 times the fee of $75. Any reason to let the house burn and the poor puppies die does not hold good on moral ground. Though what already happened will send a stronger message for those who sponge on others but then if corporal is the way, why teach humility?. There needs to be changes in the law to imbibe such basic facilities as part of one tax and not hundred different taxes where the chances of forgetting is higher than in former.

The ability to forget, sponge on others, go cheap are all human tendencies and majority will fall under this category whose moral ethics comes in second rank to personal/family needs. In solving such cases, political and bureaucratic champions are bound to emerge but rarity is the norm. The willingness for the capitalist to go beyond prescribed duties and act on human grounds will be difficult to digest. In lot of sense capitalism work because it pays for how much you work thereby respecting meritocracy. One problem with Capitalist is people loose focus from quality of life to abundance and there is as a mad rush all the time (God Knows for what.)

Hinduism preaches that it is OK to desire and work for it but craving for more leads to anger and downfall of human life. I support this view and the recent economic meltdown made it more concrete. Buddha has prescribed life of middle path, i.e. anything in moderation. Well I am still grappling with his teaching to imbibe in myself but in few attempts till now, it has worked well. Once I asked my friend Tom L. who is in late Fifties and has definitely seen more world than me, "What is important in Life?. Is it Money or Working for your Passion?" . He responded, "Amit, we need to have a balance.". That answers all.

What's your take on BALANCE? :) Do let us know.

Thank you and Have a Nice day.

India Para Atheletic Prasanta Karmakar win's first CWG Medal in Swimming.

2010-10-10T11:30:00.000-04:00

Having lost his part of right arm in Car Accident and struggling for life for more than a decade Prasanta K. finally shine in 19th Commonwealth Delhi 2010 by winning india's first para athletic bronze medal. His struggle in life described in "I thought I'll work at a swimming pool and earn some money and at the same time I'll also train. But the training schedule was so hectic that I hardly had any time and energy for work,"

The facilities for para team in India is still lacking support from government which is matter of concern for athletes. More story at BBC Sports Link

Very motivating is all I got to say. This is a fine example of perseverance.

I am loving it.

2010-10-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

I started my blog in the year Jan 2007 with a Welcome post and then my second post after 2 years in Dec 2008, I realized that I am not a sort of writer. In Dec 2008, I worked with one of my friend (Marsha) to help her resurrect her dead blog which till today she has been writing profusely which caught my attention. After few talks I asked her what motivates her to write so much and why is she not advertising about her blog to friends via different modes. She responded "I write it for myself and I don't wish to advertise it". That was quite contrary to what my thinking had been. After writing any post, I used to send mailers to my friends to check it out and send their review comments. Some complied most never bothered and as a result I discontinued after sometime thinking its a waste of time.

Well, after I got enlightened and adopted my friend's motto, I have been writing as much time as I could scoop out of my daily schedule. 48 Post since Dec 2008 and counting is not a bad number considering I have another 49 post in draft mode which are little personal or half written or thought about.

Marsha has been quite a motivation for me since then. She experiments a lot around her blog and keep it neat which keeps me on my toe and helps me keep evolving. Thank You dear.

With the months of writing, I have surely gained lot of confidence with writing clear and with little humor though my English grammar still sucks. It has always been pain in the ass, but I am hopeful :). With the success of one of my post which received some 200 views in 6 hrs (Thanks to fellow writer Deepa Mohan for referring my post on her page), it was like a big World Cup Trophy for me :P.

At present I am still sloppy with my grammar but try to write a coherent essay. I don't want to trade the fun of writing with the aim to attract readers as I am sure it will sap my honest motivation and I will slowly fade away like before. I am Tortoise and so is my pace and if you are Hare, I will meet you soon :D

Economics Calling :P

2010-10-05T03:40:00.000-04:00

For past few days I got interested in understanding economics of China considering both India (my home country) and China started at same point and at present it is way ahead of India in terms of attention the world is giving it at least.

Sometime back I read an article where in its comments section someone wrote "If ever there was any competition between India and China, it is no more and China is sure winner". This comment was the trigger point for me to start my exploration. Moreover, I hold an opinion that if you build your masonry by ill treating your laborers, it is only going to crumble down sooner than when you have made your progress with a little bit of socialist approach. A pure communist or capitalist attitude only hurts in long run and create moral conflicts(nor do I say that pure socialist approach would work as I have read about it wrt my own country and how ineffective it is). My stand on China Economics is as good as new born baby's view on God and my journey has just begun.

Weight Loss, I swear.

2010-09-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

After going through my general body check-up I was told that the medical parameters of my body are fit but the high body weight mars the good. I weigh 80 Kg (176 lbs) while the right scale should be 63 Kg (138 lbs) wrt to my height. Like most, I never liked my extra weight but with few attempts when I didn't see the scale budging on lower side, I lost the motivation. Few days back I attended Nutrition Seminar in my office which made me realize the forbidden path I am walking (the pic of man above) due to lack of physical activity and as a fear of that I started jogging in the campus of Agriculture College near my House. I loved the campus. Big, calm and clean.

With two occasions advising me the same formula, one at seminar and the other at doctor's clinic and with days of contemplation I have learnt few things which I would like to share with my readers and also use it as an easy reference for myself. Disagreements are welcome.

1. Health is not like permanent. It goes under constant modifications. If we eat daily, we need to exercise daily too. The natural behavior of the body is to do physical activity which our ancestors where duly involved in but we are lacking considering our desk-jobs and laziness. To bridge the gap, morning jog, running. gym etc have been devised but they need perseverance (as we don't die if we don't exercise for few days unlike food) and motivation to continue for long.

2. Second most important myth that got busted is, You still have to exercise even if you are fit as the chances of stepping into the unfit zone is high and most time we might not even come to know it. Also, if we are fit and we do exercise, it doesn't mean that we going to get thinner and weak but the food we intake will decide our body physqiue.

3. If I am fit, my morality will be high and I will be confident to take up higher responsibilities aim for higher achievement in life. Yesterday I saw the interview of a lady who started Montessori after she started doing Yoga regularly and gained confidence.

4. It is easy to scoff the importance of physical exercise for 20's which will only get materialize at 40's when we will not have enough strength to regain it back completely.

5. My doctor used a wonderful word in his sentence when I told him that I go for weekend cycle ride. He said, "Being a Weekend Warrior will not help. You have to be doing exercise at least 5 days a week". This points our another reality that maintaining good health is like rolling stone up-hill. You roll the stone half-way and then leave it, it is going to come back to foothill and the same applies to body. A month of exercise can only help me pass few levels but if I leave it unattended its gonna come back to Level 0. And with progressing age it will be more and more difficult to roll the stone uphill in future. The earlier the better. Another interesting thing is, after reaching top we cannot get complacent as the top end is pointed and to balance the stone on it needs continuous watch and the same applies to our body.

I dream to participate in Marathon & Triathlon and be in Top 10% list and it is not possible with my belly stomach and low stamina. First and foremost effort is in being Fit and Healthy.

I wish Healthy and Fit life to you and your family too.

With Love,
Amit

Why pay 94 when I can have better at 6

2010-09-04T10:22:00.000-04:00

Today I went for my irregular Saturday BIAL trip. Initially I thought of giving up the idea and doing something else like running but then I thought cycling will be less painful :P.

So I started at 8:10 am empty stomach but soon realized that I am gasping for air as my wind-pipe is all frozen and I need to have something hot. I stopped en-route and had tea in a roadside tea-stall and resumed my ride. This time I was using sports-tracker app on my Nokia S60 cell to measure my efficiency. I took 1 hr to reach my destination. After reaching there I decided to execute my plan of having capachino and to my surprise I paid 94 bucks which led me thinking. Half way to drinking my coffee I realized that too much of it is only going to dehydrate me and hence left the rest and asked for "normal-water" to CCD guy. He said "We serve only bottled water" which again left me cursing them in mind. I went to adjacent shop Just-Booster and asked for water. Very reluctantly I got a small cup of water which I thanked him and drank it earnestly. I started my ride back home but within meters I felt that I need more water and inquired the parking-lot guy about normal drinking water. You may find me miser by not shelling out money for a bottled water but I don't want to encourage myself with that as I feel normal water is good enough.

He asked me to go to the canteen and gave me directions. Initially I thought he is sending me back to CCD but as the target came closer, I had a eureka moment. I saw one clean and hygienic restaurant of shanti-sagar type. I was too happy to see something like this in an International Airport but was quizzed with why is this place in a secluded location and reasoned that the government doesn't want the international travelers to know about how less-costly are basic food here in India. Anyways, forget all these rant of mine. I had my water and also garma-garam Idli. It was amazingly good. I then started off back to home ride and with all pride I have to say that I took 15 minutes lesser than what I took earlier. Coming back home I had hot water bath and had payasam and some sleep :).

For few, who are eager to know where the place is, it is just behind the "Pay & Use Toilet" at BIAL. Dont worry, it may sound dirty but take my word, it is very clean and Hygenic. Ask for Parking-Cafe at BIAL to some ground staff and you should get it easily. As said, why pay 94 when I can have better at 6 :)

Happy Reading.
-Amit

EAT PRAY LOVE : A divorced woman journey within.

2010-08-31T06:05:00.000-04:00

After keeping a hold on this article on my desktop for nearly a week, I decided to take it up and not let the length of the article deter me anymore.

The writer summarize the story of movie EAT PRAY LOVE and how a single divorced woman Gilbert, seeks spirituality to help her life come over the depression. The movie is described as a light hearten with emphasis on complex emotions but with cliche romantic story. I look forward to watch as I love Julia Robert :). The link of the complete NewYorker article is mentioned below. You may find it interesting.

Article Link

Happy Reading.

Your Friend
-AC

Every time an Engineer Joins Google, A Startup Dies

2010-08-13T03:10:00.000-04:00

Few days past, I happen to stumble upon a business article dealing with Entrepreneurship. The writer analyze the situation of poor VC fund returns and blame it to the depleting bright minds in startup business and loosing them to established fat paying corporates. I support the view of the author and would like to hear what is your say? The link to article is mentioned below.

Article Link

In the plethora of feedback comments till now, I loved Becky's Comment mentioned below to ease your time of finding it out in original writeup.

I agree. Young people want security. We have wrung risk taking out of our children's lives beginning in the crib. My cousin convinced her son to take the job with benefits and security (or so she thought) instead of the one that seemed more interesting. While a middle aged person would be more interested in health insurance, etc. it seems absolutely silly that a young person would determine to stunt their growth by succumbing to the idea they have to have complex health plans. Starting a venture and being creative requires risk taking. The free market always encouraged innovation and small companies are more flexible and adaptable to new economies. It has been said that integrity requires 3 things: discernment (knowledge of a subject), taking a position, taking a risk acting on that postition. I have also noticed that creativity requires 3 things that are closely related: learning or gaining basic knowledge, deciding to do something, and taking a risk. For the creative individual, whether in the arts, literature or technology, etc., the possiblilty of public failure and humiliation is scary.

Being at mid-twenties and the urge to let go my regular job to start something of own is hard to repress but doubts cloud the mind with lot of ifs and buts. I hope some day I will burst through these doubts and take my plunge to mysteries.

Wish me Luck and Happy Reading.

Yours,
AC

How to use an One Touch Ultra 2 Glucometer (with narrator)

2010-08-13T02:55:00.000-04:00

Going through this video could possibly give you an impression that I am going through diabetes sort of but Thank God its not true.

Recently my aunt asked me to help her out with her glucose meter which I had no operating knowledge. With a good intention of not using my tricky skill to learn it hands-on and cause damage to the equipment, I told her that I will first educate myself and then teach her. Following day, I was crawling through the web but after lot of poor videos I landed upon this one which was far better than others and have good demonstration of how to use glucose meter. With the view of saving others time on this I am posting it here. Hope it comes in use to some.

Ro-busters Poem

2010-08-07T03:48:00.000-04:00

I happen to write a poem for my team during upcoming office off-site on Monday. It is my first attempt to write something like this and would love to hear your views on this:-

We are RO-Ro RoBUSTERS
Here to save the Good against Bad

Dont Go, Dont Trick. Swipe Your Card
Lest you forget it, Walk back because

We are RO-Ro RoBUSTERS
Here to save the Good against Bad

Know how much you gonna eat, Know how much you wont
Lest you throw it, think again because

We are RO-Ro RoBUSTERS
Here to save the Good against Bad

Be merry, be friendly. Have Fun together
Lest you cross the limit, you not gonna be spared because

We are RO-Ro RoBUSTERS
Here to save the Good against Bad

When Fire Alarm alerts, Walk swiftly to safe zone
Lest you still sit and code, We will kick your butt because

We are RO-Ro RoBUSTERS
Here to save the Good against Bad

:) I think, by this time my dear readers will be searching for dustbin to vomit :D. I am sorry :P.

where did the Amit I know go ...

2010-07-30T13:20:00.000-04:00

Mr X.   Buddy .. you are letting me down ...
Amit     I know. Even I am asking the same question to myself
Mr X.   where did the Amit I know go ...
Amit    I am loosing myself day by day.
Amit    asking what am i upto.
Amit    the situation is not great.
Mr X.   time to make some friends
Mr X.   and bring some color into the life
Amit    this time Mr. X, the spirit in my life can be back only if I know I am doing something i am liking. outside changes are shortlived.
Mr X.   what is that you like
Amit    reading
Amit    working with interesting people and driving
Amit    something on my worn
Amit    own
Mr X.   then you should pursue higher studies ... or teaching ...
Amit    i tried a lot but coudlnt make to any good place.
Amit    Thank you Mr. X for your caring advices. I have fewquestions to answer in coming few days myself.

IIIT Hyderabad PGEE 2010 Aptitude, ECE and Mathematics Exam

2010-07-19T07:33:00.000-04:00

18th April 2010, was the day for IIIT Hyderabad's post graduate entrance exam and I was one among the thousand who appeared for it. Looking at the lack of information in regard to user experience with this exam, I thought of expressing my view on it to help fellow aspirants who may wish to give this exam in coming years.

The test is divided into two sections each of 90 minute. The first 90 minute is for Aptitude test and the later is for descriptive subject based test.

Aptitude test:-
-------------
It was little surprising to me when I saw the question paper compared to what I saw in popular post about aptitude test in web. My test comprises of English Comprehension, R.S. Agarwal level Quantitative aptitude, some logical reasoning but not one from DI. There were mathematics questions from integration and differentiation, probability theory (quite a bit), differential equations, matrices etc,

The level of question does not go beyond undergraduate engineering or R.S. Agarwal types. English comprehension may come tricky so a better preparation may help to sail through.

Mathematics :-
--------------
The syllabus may say the topics which will be covered as part of this section but trust me someone like me can easily undervalue the toughness of the question if he/she has been out of touch with academic for sometime.

The questions are little brainy type and not direct answers or formula based. I could only attempt two out of six . The application of theorems is necessary to be aware of. I am not sure what number of questions will sail me through but I guess 50% will be good enough. In regard to books, I doubt if regular engineering mathematics book can do the justice but I think, something 1 notch up will be decent.

ECE:- (I was earlier given this paper and I peeped through the questions)
-------
It will be difficult for me to express the level of difficulty of this paper but with my first look at it I could understand that an undergraduate course revision will be sufficient to solve most of the questions. The topics covered in this paper can be found at IIIT's website. Questions like effective resistance calculation, digital electronics, transistor behavior were few of the related topics I could see there.

I think this article could be of little disappointment to few who might have come with expectations of knowing few sample questions but I would not wish to get myself into legal battle with IIIT's and hence would abhor from any attempt in that regard. My motive was to share my experience about what level of difficulty one can expect in the exam and what level of preparation one might need.

Wish you good luck,
Amit

P.S. This is my personal view, other test takers can have complete anti-view which is respectable and possible. Please let me know your views and drop in questions if any. Also, I didnt get through the exam when the result came. Looks like Maths is not a great choice to take.

I am moving to new Place :)

2010-07-14T00:26:00.000-04:00

To be in the same address for 27 months and no partner is hell lot of private time. Its time I move out and embrace change and excitement its gonna bring with it.

My First Proposal

2010-06-25T02:01:00.000-04:00

24th April 2010 11:18.

Few minutes back I made my first love proposal in life. I called her up and after few customary greetings and whereabouts said,

"Plan for someday to visit Bangalore, your gift is waiting for you. Also, I want to tell you that my reason for Pune visit was to propose you. I kind of like you and all my friends have been bothering me and saying what a chicken I am of not speaking my feelings. So here I am, expressing my likeness. I don't want to bother you and I am sorry if I have but my intention was to just speak up frankly my feelings.".

To this she said

"Hmm... But Amit, I have always taken you as a good friend and it is good to speak up your feelings. I will surely take it easily and even I wanted to speak to you about something but maybe we will chat and discuss but not now. I need some time."

Me : "Ok. Look man, I hope you take it in right spirits and we stay as friends for long"

Her : "Surely."

Me : "Ok. Thank you. Talk to you soon. Bye".

P.S : Though I was not successful in gaining her love but we still are great friends.

At a junction, the envelope has the route.

2010-06-25T01:55:00.000-04:00

20.06.2010

Today the day started early at 6:30 a.m. as I have to go for CHYK class at 8 a.m. at Malleswaram. I reached on time and in few minutes others arrived too. The class begun with Meghasutram chanting and with chapter 21 (The Path of Divinity) of Kindle Life by Swami Chinmayananda. The discussion was around body, mind, intellect and consciousness. It was discussed that the experiencer will always be subtler than experienced. Like for eg, the eyes see the book and the mind see the eye because the eye is subtler than the book and mind is subtler to eye. Also, the flow of thoughts is called mind but the one which discriminates thoughts is called intellect and the one which observe intellect is consciousness. Confusing isn't it? To me too until I asked my teacher who explained me in clear terms.

During the class it was decided that senior CHYK members will take up Foundation Vedanta Course from coming July '10. I am in for it and also excited. After the class we continued with discussion around how to expand CHYK community and what activities should we plan for coming year. I was dozing most of the time due to lack of proper sleep last night.

Padma and Deepak came to meet Amma after their wedding. It was nice to see them together after long time. I was trying to catch up with my skit team to get their feedback but none got time to look through it. I hope by the end of this week we make a good progress and on next weekend we have substantial material to start our practice with.

After the class I was offered sponsored movie by Padma which she got from her dear bank. I had the option of going home or go with Deepak for Ravaan Movie. After lot of tussle in mind (arsing our of my unaccomplished TO DO LIST) but later decided to damn the list and go ahead with the movie as I thought its OK to bunk sometimes. We reached INOX in time, got the tickets and redeemed our food coupons with popcorn and cold drinks. The movie started with lot of fanfare. Halfway through I was wondering what a nonsense I am witnessing with no substantial story behind it. Deepak felt the same. Post interval, the movie started picking up the interest and intensity. Overall I liked the movie as it was well made and good cinematography. Attention to details was too good. We left theater satisfied with the time well spent.

We marched towards Malleswarm to pick up my cycle. On the way I was praying what if I could go for MLTR concert which was starting at 7:30p.m. and I had 15 mins in hand after reaching Malleswararm. I decided to go for Concert with the reasoning "I you dont go for your fav bands then for what will you go?". After reaching the venue I parked my bicycle with parking fee of Rs. 10/- and headed to counter to get pass for Rs. 600. I did not mind spending that because I felt it way to express my solidarity like other sas noble fans of MLTR. This was my first visit to any Music Concert and hence I was not aware of the format of such programs. The program kicked off ten minutes late and few people came in to play. I was trying very hard to match up the faces in the poster with the ones on stage. At one point I almost felt, "I guess hearing their music on music system is lot better than coming here as it didin't sound as great as I expected". The show got over after an hour and I murmured, "That's it. This is all I get for 600 bucks.Common man". I asked someone standing nearby if the show got over and to my surprise he enlightened me that original band is yet to come. I heaved a sign of relief and waited for MLTR. During the wait, I looked around. The crowd was hep and young. Lovers were swinging in each other arms and some were sitting on floor due to long wait. After doing my round of viewing I just sat thinking nothing but looking at a lady who was jubilant and thumping with joy. Long wait over and the band finally took over the stage. They played their first music and I was sure it was worth all my efforts to come here. I was having wonderful time as I knew the lyrics of lot of songs and was singing with the band and swinging and dancing. The sandal and bagpack did not hinder to the my pursuit of joy in the moment.I was living in the present.

After the concert got over, took my bicycle and rode back home and the first thing I did was post a status message on FB.

" MLTR Concert was amazing. I lost 2 KGs :P with all the jumping around. Also, saw Ravaan and it is a really good movie. Amazing cinematography and attention to details. I now understands what world call Mani Rathnam. Movie courtesy Padma :) "

After doing some mindless surfing I remembered of my CMI results that were due that day. I logged on to the website and my heart started pumping harder when I found the results being declared. I did not open the link to result. I was scared and prayed sincerely time after a long time "God, Please do justice to me this time as this result is very important to me." It can possibly change my life and fulfill my dream of pursing masters and PhD and taking up academic as career but if I don't then I plan to bury my postgraduate plan deep in the ground and start with something new as I am tired of all the continuous failures and looks like I am pursuing something which I am not very interested in. By spending my three years on various exam preparation, I was not able to concentrate on my job as a result I am not able to develop myself as a confident professional in my domain. I remember taking off from office for a month for CMI exam but not actually making the full use of it as most of the time I was haunted by my failures and dim prospect in future. It was surlely not thebest thing to think about but sitting all alone at room the mind use to find its way out. Looking at the link which is waiting to be opened I am thinking of what could be behind it and where will I be in the next moment.Giving rest to all my million thoughts I now open the link and the result is

Following students have been selected for MSc CS:-

C-5010  Biswaroop Maiti
C-5011  G. Vignesh
C-5031  Ramanathan Thinniyam Srinivasan
C-5049  Pranabendu Misra
C-5067  Sandipan Bhattacharyya
C-5084  Nikhil Balaji
C-5127  Gautham Shenoy R
C-5221  Aniket Basu Roy
C-5370  Abhishek Bhrushundi
C-5430  Nitin Saurabh

I couldnt see my name hence I was trying to argue if Abhishek/Aniket acutally refers to me but the surnames give way. I did not get through and later found out that neither did Mrinal. This result was very important to both of us and our career. Not able to get through will open up another million questions/doubts and despair to deal in coming days. I need to decide fast as I realized that it is important to have something to look forward to to keep me going else it looks like a dead end and instill fear and anger.

God, give me strength.

Amit

Look before you leap.

2010-06-22T06:52:00.000-04:00

Many a times I feel the urge to let go my day's job and start something of my own. The dream to be my own boss, create jobs and draw my own fate line motivates me to walk the road less traveled. I believe that being a part of "JOB" for the rest of my life is damning. It is self-depreciation and lowly.

There are project ideas in my mind but I have a fear of shortfalls. I feel that there are certain behavioral aspects I need to develop myself before I could just throw off the towel and jump in to swim on my own. I need to have a mentor, someone from whom I can learn great skills of life and also who can believe in me and motivate me to do more than what I am capable of doing in my current setup. In the past I have produced great results but at present looks like I have gathered dust and needs some cleaning. I would like to give myself a chance of gambling with my dreams and try my luck.

Here's the short list I look forward to conquer. It is a daunting task but am ready to walk this road with the compass of determination and faith.

Focus on 1 Thing. : No shifting ideas. Stick to one even if it looks boring and make it successful and then move to next.
Zero Procrastination : Do things in Time.
Disciplined : Do things in order.
Enterprising : Not settling down without solving the issue at hand.
Uncompromising Quality : Strive for best.
Good Listener : Be open to other ideas.
Strong Technical : Know your technology well.
Zeal to Create : Unless I have it I will only slog fruitlessly.

I plan to be a turtle and move slow and steady than be a glamorous hare who lost the sight.

Go Turtle Go...

P.S. An article that flared my mind into this thought is here . I thank the author for writing it down so genuinely and elaborately for the benefits of other half-baked idiots :).

Tomorrow will be Today.

2010-06-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

Today was not like any other day. Today I saw my fate flip twice in matter of seconds. Take note when I say change, it had the potential of making tremendous transformation to my life and my family in all possible ways which includes bad too.

The risk was high but the gain with all its best efforts was not the best. For that particular level of risk I would bet for something more and not settle down for less. When the master said, "Welcome to my den", I orchestrated loop holes to seep through but still he was happy with the droplets he was gaining until I helped him realized I was an ether. Deep inside myself I didn't wished to be caged while my brothers and sisters yearned for long preservation but rather be set free to draw my own map and ways.

At present, I don't feel remorse about my choice but I cannot assure whether I will lament of my non-existence in near future while my siblings will be still praised upon in shape. Hence Tomorrow is going to be today.

Who-Do-You-Want-To-Be-In-10-Years

2010-04-26T02:56:00.000-04:00

Here's an article I came across in WWW and found it relevant for all to contemplate on.

Who-Do-You-Want-To-Be-In-10-Years

Thanks to the Author Shalin Mantri for writing it based on India Specific.

Also, in the comments section of the original article I found another related link and thought some of us would be to read more on this topic.
A College Education Without Job Prospects

Wish you Happy Read and Serious Contemplation,

Take Care,
Amit

Stanza for a lost FRIEND

2010-04-13T09:26:00.000-04:00

**************************************
Somewhere I was wrong

Somewhere I should have more understanding

Life is full of studies, And

I am still studying.

The above stanza I had written for a friend of mine (GT), in year 2004 to express how the mistake done was unintentional and how immature I was. Well, I finally lost her but I wish I could have made her understand and we could have reconciled. Her friendship is among the most cherished one. To be with her was fun. She was my first girl friend (not love type) and I learned a lot about myself and about feminine nature.

GT, if you happen to read this please understand that I would love to be your friend again any day & any time. Where ever you are, I wish the best of world for you and wish our path cross someday.

Good Bye,

Amit

Dear Friend' s Farewell

2010-04-12T05:44:00.000-04:00

A Quatrain (original :)) for two of my friends, Angad and Palani :-

Day in day out, I meet numerous people
Some stay long, Some stay short
Some I remember, Some I forget
You my dear friend, will be remembered all along

My Golden Rule for my Life.

2010-04-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

For a long time, I have been thinking of coming up with some smart bullet points like those in corporates which will act as my magic mantra I will lead my life by. So I have something to discuss about it now.

To prevent making a second mistake of same time, I started jotting down my experience with first in my journal so that it could act as lighthouse in case I happen to be lost in the same situation.Surprisingly, the number of mistakes have out numbered with what I initially expected out of my level of imperfection and it is hard to keep a note of them or categorize them, so lately I stumbled upon the idea of these bullet points which will be short (not in pages) and will act as quick reference in most of my crisis situation. These will be time tested formulas and I will be adhering to them with blind faith as going through the whole process of brainstorming the possibilities is painful if the conclusion drawn ends up being the same with what I learnt from my earlier crisis, which in most of the case is true.

Please note that, these formulas or magic mantras are tested on specimen called Amit Choudhary so its applicability for you or your girlfriend may not hold true. Kindly use discretion while using them. Apart from above reasoning, I also understand that any kind of rigidity is only expected to bring staleness in life so there is still a hope of challenging the presently proposed mantras and adding a new to the list or creating a whole new one in the future if the present goes invalid.

So, here's those guiding angles which created so much of buzz in my head and now in yours
1. Every second of sincere work is worth it.

2. Misery is permanent. So don't give damn to Misery, enjoy your life, enjoy your work.

3. Be Honest. It surely pays. Little dishonesty in pity matters (professional and life threating is not pity. Lying about dinner or whereabout qualifies) is OK.

4. Be Smart with what you write to others. It surely comes back.

5. I don't claim to be smart and hence I don't mind doing mistakes.

6. Keep a good circle of friends.They are needed to discuss your concerns and booze with.

7. Humility and Helping others will take me farther.

8. Accept others the way they are. Let them change by themselves.

9. Never loose faith in yourself. You know what is right and you don't need certification from others to believe in it but yes just get it reviewed to make sure you are not missing any link.

10. You may wish to review the above 9 points once again.

So dear fellas, what's your take on this.

Bike Workshop @ Fidelity by RAC Foundation on 26th Feb '10

2010-03-06T07:38:00.000-05:00

Waking up early in the morning and getting ready for school has always driven me crazy specially during winter when all I wish, is to sleep under the warm quilt but my sister would come and pour water on my face. The start of the day used to be in awful mood but then riding my Atlas Goldline (the Milkman Cycle model) down the road to school used to calm me down and I used to cherish the moment of competing with motorbikes, fellow bike riders and flouting the traffic signals.

Few months after joining my first company, I stared developing tires around my waist and it was then I decided to start with some health regime. I started with gym which only lasted for two months due to irregular work shifts and pain of waking up early morning. My self-esteem was low as I did not feel good about the shape I was getting in. It was then I decided to buy a cycle for myself. Without giving any second thought or some peer reviews, I went to a bike shop in Gandhinagar and got myself Hero Hawk with 15 gears for 4.5K. It was a good pick for someone with a constraint budget and love for speed. I started riding from home to office. The distance one way was 6 km and I used to enjoy doing it but somewhere down the line I started making excuses and eventually stopped.

The recent bike workshop by Fidelity Cares and FBOTS was a great boost to my dormant passion and going back home I dusted my cycle and was back on saddle. The speakers had genuine interest of spreading the message of eco friendly transportation mode via cycling and I was among the few who got infected with their infectious zeal. They shared their valuable experience and patiently answered to people's concerns and queries ranging from safety on road to eve teasing. The current state of world environment needs no statistics and our personnel experiences are sufficient to vouch for greener lifestyle. Examples of few personalities who have transformed their life from being PULPY to CLASSIC physique by a simple act of pedaling a machine, bolstered confidence in me that this simple act of cycling can change my life drastically too.

The arrangement of new and modern bikes for test drive was a feather on the Cap of the event. Post lunch many people had test drive of the modern bikes which was enough to fuel them and get them interested with riding bicycle for short commute and weekend activities. I drove all the five models available and was amazed by the swiftness with which this bike move and their gear and break mechanism which was an engineering marvel. I have now planned to give away with my motor bike plan but to upgrade my current cycle to MTB (Mountain Terrain Bike). Also, the cycling community (BBC) suggested by speaker is one stop shop for all queries regarding cycling and has amazing set of people to be friends with. I have already started getting invitation for weekend rides making new friends. I wouldn't claim of achieving body build of John Abraham but there are subtle changes which can be seen like few autotwallah's Thumping me Up, my landlady calling me for evening snacks and my office colleagues looking up to me for cycling tips. There are still few inhibitions which I would like to overcome in coming days but the sheer joy of reaching my destination before a motorized vehicle and riding on sideways when stuck in traffic jam and enjoying the gust of wind against my face is no match.

My love for cycle cannot be put in better words then our Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking."

My frank appreication chat..

2010-02-05T08:32:00.000-05:00

Hi How u doing?
Well, I never told you one thing but let me tell you now since I am at safe distance :)

" Your Eyes Are Beautiful".
It was this that kept me staring at you sometimes because I was curious to know what makes it so beautiful. Frankly I am really curious to know the philosophy behind why such eyes looks wonderfull to me at least.

Pls dont mind... I am just frank with my feelings and sharing it away.

Take Care !!
Amit

IndiBlogger Meet in Jan 2009

2010-02-05T08:30:00.001-05:00

Mother, When will I get those awards..

2010-02-05T08:29:00.000-05:00

Jan 2009
Today was All-hands (A half-yearly formal gathering) of my company at Christ College. Looking at the people who were getting Values Championship Award, Leardership Award, Fun@Work Award , I was constantly telling myself, "Amit, when are you going to receive such award. When are you going to be successful in life. When will you stop being confused and rather concentrate at one goal."

I remember asking these same questions last year also at the same setting. I guess this question will keep bugging my head and its good that I know that I am made to create the difference in life.

For now, I just want to continue doing what I am doing i.e. my work and my CAT preparation. There has been an appreciable improvement and I am just want to continue doing my best. If I get sth good out of this I will pursue it else I am going to make myself TECH guru going ahead :)

P.S. I got Fun@Work Award on 21stMay 2010. It was like dream come true where I could hear the applause of 1500 colleagues in auditorium when I was on my way to collect my certificate.

After 45 dusk.

2010-02-05T08:28:00.000-05:00

Dawn -> Dusk -> Dawn -> Dusk -> Dawn -> Dusk -> Dawn -> Dusk -> ..........

Days passed by, change was continuous and someone evolved from something to some other thing. With a wide gap of 45 days, I am penning down my thoughts or better to say got time to reflect upon my past. During this period it was sharpest change I have ever experienced in my life. It was a change from a heedless to mindful, from self-first to family-first, from MS to MBA and with less friends to more friends.

During this period I was home (my native : Dhanbad) for 15 days (Remember I missed the IIIT Bangalore interview ) and trying to catch up with my missed festival feasts and family members. The journey of flight from Bangalore to Kolkata was boring but the forward journey from Howrah to Dhanbad in a local was mind boggling. The commotion and seat sharing reminded me of my old days when I used to have similar flavor.

My mother hugged me with warmheartedness. To my surprise it took me more than 10 mins to recognize my own house where I have spend 10 years of my childhood. The culprit was the 20 months of gap in two consecutive visit to home. I started feeling culpable and in hurried steps was searching all the rooms of my house to extract the hidden past so that I can build my childhood castle around it.

Then what followed was a series of events belonging to specific classes (C++ term). Meeting sisters and family relatives, getting pestered to marry soon and giving a helping hand to my mother in her daily chores. In midst of all these obvious events was a romantic one. I met my long time crush for whom I fought with another suitor in Class 5. It took time for me to recognize her but she was more quick to respond. She is still the same. Studious and sweet. Though she recently got married I have all well-wishes for her from every corner of my heart.

How can I miss to mention my waggling thoughts all time about whether to pursue management or technical as my career. I find it hard to belief today but then in a short span of every 2 hours I used to switch my side with equally strong arguments. Each moment it was ringing in my head, whether at sleep or at wake moments. My head was over exercising to search for the answer and that irked me at few moments.

I bought a new digital camera for my parents (with my father's money though as he didn't allow me to spend mine). It is Canon IXUS model for 11200 rupees. It was great buy and now they are using it quite effectively by capturing all the happy moments at home. Even I took some great ones of mine :).

With one of these dawn, it was end of my honeymoon period at home and it was time to get back to my mundane work life. My journey from Howrah to Bangalore in train was the most dreadful one. I booked side lower anticipating some personnel time and speedy air against my face at window seat. I was complete heart break and distraught when I witnessed "Side Middle" berth in today's Indian Railways seating arrangement. To describe about this experience might take another blog so I just want to end it here mentioning something which I repeatedly told myself through out the journey and smiled. It is "You asked for little fun, God gave you more than that".

I was back to Bangalore and felt at home. The weather at two places was contrast. What followed next few days was getting used to my routine office and finally I made up my mind to pursue MBA. Reasons.... aplenty.

Choice...

2010-02-05T08:27:00.000-05:00

“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels” (Internet)

How I spent my 10 days of leave for MBA Exam Prep.

2010-02-05T08:24:00.000-05:00

I studied some, slept most of the time.. couldn't achieve much of my target, feeling little bit pesky but that's OK. Time which has gone is gone.. Tomorrow is new beginning.

But I still feel that I lack the zeal to crack IIM. I don't know but its definitely not like IIT JEE where the three char mantra was sufficient enough to drive me but this time its something like which fizzles out after every 3 days of refueling. I am somehow finding it difficult to keep the momentum ON.

Today I am at Angad's place with an anticipation that I will study with full throttle but let me be honest, I didn't do much studies rather I did 1/5th of what I usually do at home. I see that even Angad is not as focused as he was during college days which I feel is pretty normal in work life where the priorities of a man change.

I still have got a long way to go considering IIM's call and Amit let me tell you if you don't get sincere about it I would suggest that dude get off and concentrate on something easy. CAT is not your ability. Honestly, I do feel that getting into an IIM's will put my career is secure platform and from there I can be liberal with what I want to do with my life rather than being all time worried which is the situation at present. This is my first and last time and hence Amit give your best the way you did for TOEFL because the value of fight is known only after its defeat and hence it will only surmount with lot of regrets and frustrations which I don't want you to go through.

You still can make it. Just be honest to it.

Vellore Trip and Aftermath :)

2010-02-05T08:22:00.000-05:00

27th Nov, 2009 11:00 p.m.

I am little tired today. I did cleaning of my room and dusted off 3 bins of waste. Also, my CAT exam is coming near, I would say just a week ago and I am not in my best shape.

From 3rd Nov to 19th Nov., I was in Vellore for my brother's operation. It was a near crisis situation in my family where no one could believe that the youngest member will be the first to come under the Operation table for a major operation. He had infection in his left lung due to his past history of TB and Jaundice. It was really painfull to see my brother breathing oxygen through mask and his pulses getting monitored on medical systems. For me it was real test of Man. On the second day of operation, my dad developed pain in his ankles which made it unbearable to walk and my mother was down with mild fever. To avoid any further damage to their health, I advised them to take complete rest and was the only one holding the pillars.

At one point I was feeling little broke and I even tried calling few of my close friends. One realization I had with my conversation with them was, no matter what family members are the only ones who can understand the despair of near ones while for others its going to be a remote connection and empathy will be missing. I don't complain but say that it is a natural behavior and hence when some friend our outside your immediate family is not able to understand your plight you should take it easy and not get furious about there carelessness.

Also quite many things happened during the time I was in Vellore like:-
1. My parents pestering me for marriage.
2. Me putting of Jyoti's call out of irritation of repeatedly asking me to get married.
3. Irritating some nurses in hospital with my Physics of pressure difference and they talking about gravity.
4. Me bribing/ tipping someone out of non-chalance just to avoid any conflict and in the best interest of my brother.
5. Also I gave 50 bucks to a priest to shut his mouth for expressing his desire about devotees not getting sweets and just flowers. Me and my mother, both were hurt and hence I did it.
6. Me going to Vellore Golden Temple and how from the beginning till the end I could not appreciate anything but was simply cursing the management to make me walk for 3 kms. Even after so much of pain I could feel no calmer as it was full business model and little to do with architecture/ devotion.
7. My moments of stealing glimpse with Nurses in my brother's ward and how I feel gratefull for their service.
8. My anger over Canteen chap for serving me chicken puff instead of ordered veg puff and more than than not accepting it as his mistake. I remember telling him "I dont want it anymore, you keep it" even after trying to explain him in calmer voice. :)
9. My Blood Donation for my brother's operation. The whole thing was very moving. It is still hard for me to beleive he went through all this.
10. One day at hospital, I was little pissed of with what we were undergoing and told my brother that he should better take care of himself and not be cause of pain to the family. He was literally furious to me and we couldnt meet eye with an eye for quite some time.
11. Also, I gave one mock cat in vellore which boosted my confidence level :)
12. Read quite a few chapters from The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. It was an exhillarating experience. Got to read the rest but it is little heavy and takes toll on your head.
13. Read loads and loads of newspapers and magazines.. Quite a good time.
14. Was a decision maker on equal platform with my dad after I showed my success with handling the situation.
15. My dad was pissed off on operation day, very tensed and we did exchange few unpleasant glances with each other. I was relaxed and calm.
16. Called up Shailesh Jee and thanked him for all his teachings.

well, i will add as and when i recall more. Got to sleep now. Good Night.

My first baby step in photography ;) : Arms around adversaries

2010-01-20T22:48:00.000-05:00

Sunday Morning in Office : Reproduced

2010-01-17T09:21:00.000-05:00

Sunday Morning in Office.. What a waste. Get some life dude..

Wait.. Wait.. It's different.
No Boss, No colleagues and emptiness all around. Music on speaker while the volume still under civic etiquette. Creativity is having its all time high and relax is the mood. No deadlines, no daily reports and I can take my own sweet time to finish things on my chosen work-day.

The experience of working in such a uber cool artificial setup will match apple to apple with what some of the top tech companies like Google & Yahoo have (at least that's what their Youtube Videos suggest). The employee satisfaction will be high all time. The creativity will sprout in every corner/cubes and all these at no extra cost. If so different and positive can be the outcome, I would like to suggest those tweaks.

1. The employee should be allowed to choose his/her own 5 working days and time.
2. There should be no overlap of employee and his/her manager's presence in office. Proximity kills creativity and induces fear. To sort things out reach out to Graham Bell.
3. People having same taste in music/sports/girl/boy should be allowed to sit together to create an amicable environment. Geese of same frequency improves efficiency.
4. Trust your people. They will surprise you.
5 - 100. Points I missed to suggest or better to say BUFFER :)

Speak Up Fellas...

Please Note : This was my attempt to reproduce my lost matter today morning and I realized, reproduction is never easy and could miss out to originals.

Sunday Morning in Office

2010-01-17T01:34:00.000-05:00

Huh? ...

I wrote this complete blog and when I went to format.. at the end what I see is this blank page.. Now Sunday is no more fun :-(.

Google.. you listening....

Is Honesty the Best Policy?

2010-01-07T09:07:00.000-05:00

There are pros. There are cons. What side do I want to be?

For quite many years I was pretty clear that I want to be on good side of it as I have always felt proud and relieved after speaking out the fact rather than twisting and turning and putting them in self-benefit form. But coming to corporate it is not easy. Instead the one who depicts is the one who get promotion/raise and the one who is a silent worker is left in corner gathering dust.

Buddha said, follow a middle path. Let me tell you, it is not easy. He did not speak about the criterion for the boundary and as a result I am still at fix. Though I lie sometimes about my dinner or availability but that too leaves me feeling guilty.

I don't preach "Honesty" and I keep my virtue (good/bad) to myself nor do I intend to advertise myself :). I am just trying to share my thoughts with you fellow readers and would love to hear your point of view either by a comment here or over coffee (on me:)).

That is why I have this blog name as "deepintolife".. as I like to question myself all time.

With You Always,

Connecting Dots

2010-01-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

"Dreams are not what you have when you sleep, dreams are those that don't let you sleep." APJ

There is nothing great about the above quote. I have come across it close to 100 times considering the speaker is one of the most influential man in my country and the citizens talk about him in high regards. Whenever I read it, I nod my head in approval but never experienced it until today.

My dream is to pursue PhD in a technological domain and I shared this yesterday with my dad. He didn't said, "Have you gone insane?" but rather what he said was more logical answer, "First we need to get admission in a good college for Masters and then will come PhD". I know a friend whose parents freak out at the very mention that his son want to pursue PhD and not start his family life considering he is about to finish his Masters. My dad's response was encouraging. I slept late after watching "The Matrix" and working on my SOP by close to 2:30 a.m. Kept my alarm at 9:00 a.m. thinking that a six and a half hour would be sufficient to reboot my biological clock for a fresh start.

To my surprise, dreams of pursing technology, long hours in library and excitement over studies filled my sleep time and I woke up at 7:00 a.m, 2 hrs before plan. I consider such situation from the view that what ever less than 8 hour I am going to use it as credit for the following night and also ends up grumbling about it whole day. But today is different. I am up, wrote something on my white boards, checked my facebook, gmail etc and now writing this blog. After this, I plan to finalize a document regarding application and get ready for office.

I am not sure if I have got the answer to my question, "What would I like to pursue as a career which will be in alignment with my strengths and goals?". But I am happy to find something that would not let me sleep and something I would love to pursue. Its not an easy task as for the past eight and a half years I have been searching for it and my friends have often tagged me as a confused butt. I have a calendar diary and its more than 50% of the pages are filled with my doubts and queries. It was always a difficult question as there was no fortune teller to guide my future but as Steve Jobs said in Stanford's commencement speech in the year 2005 :

"Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

Ref: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

So friends, All I am doing is keep digging and finding out something that doesn't let me sleep. I wish you have your answer soon.

Have a Nice Day!!

[From: Amit Choudhary] To MBA or not to MBA?

2009-12-18T04:24:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

This may sound like a relevant article for many confused soul like me. Are you same ?. If yes, read on Brother & Sister!
-------

To MBA or not to MBA?
For graduates, personal skills can rate higher than specialist knowledge. Tony Martin weighs the options.

To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/09/mbas.business

Annals of Medicine: The Checklist: newyorker.com

2009-11-29T21:09:00.000-05:00

Annals of Medicine: The Checklist: newyorker.com

How to Identify a Good Person?

2009-10-29T22:51:00.000-04:00

The question intrigued me for past few days after I was condemning myself of believing someone I should have never. This has happened quite a times enough for me to vent out my anguish in search of a good friend amongst the hundreds I meet every month. Being a science student from an academic point of view where there is reason for everything like Stars twinkle due to refraction and changing refractive index in space, I was interested in finding out some equation or theory which when applied to any new entity I come across gives me fair chance of knowing him and at the same time not get emotionally attached only to see me crying later.

The theory I propose is simple but can be easily argued upon since I lack analysis data of over 1000 people and how it faired. But if I have to put it like this why not should I put it in Science Journal and get accolades :). Coming back, here's my theory.

"If a person has basic courtesy in place, he/she is worth giving a shot."

When I say basic courtesy I mean, if he/she needs something from you , they will request and say thank you and not snatch it away with snobbish face and you don't have to go and ask it back as he/she will be alert enough to give back.

I don't mean that my theory is full proof but what I think is, if we can weed out 95 out of 100 it is worthwhile to let ourselves fall for 5 rather than 50. With this we will start with a positive note with 5 and if all five turns out sour we will be better off with lesser grudges and for the rest 95, we will start out with negative taste which overtime can be corrected seeing good coming out of those 95 and hence we may end up surprising ourselves.

Any feedback on my theory is WELCOME..

Stay Tuned!

Deepavali Celebrations in Office

2009-10-20T02:46:00.000-04:00

Pic Courtsey : Arun Kr.

Why Perseverance is difficult ?

2009-10-12T23:58:00.001-04:00

He conquers who endures. ~Persius ( http://www.quotegarden.com/perseverance.html )

Many a times we come across such quotes which act as light house for wailing souls. There are moments of quick fixes where certain immortal figures like Noble Prize winners or an Olympian picture act as panacea but the disease still persist. Of the many moments I have been more conscious of my behavior in the recent times and I realized that Self-Doubt is the Biggest Enemy. There are times when I are doing better than the 90% but I still see the 10% ahead of me and get dispirited of never being able to make it as I am still far far away from my reference point. Also, if the desire to do certain task need regular assurance compared to the ones which we instinctively take-up, the chances of persevering in rough weather further lessens.

Its just a small writeup to test blog post through email feature. More about the topic later.

Love You,

Amit

Incredible Cyclothon 2009 !!

2009-10-11T10:33:00.000-04:00

The joy to participate in Cyclothon started last night when I was not able to sleep due to the excitement of seeing dawn and riding bike with thousands odds which kept me awake till 1:30 a.m. The alarm shotoff at 4:30 and I was not sleepy. Got ready and off to Malleswaram tocatch Bus.

The view on the road to BIEC was awe-inspiring. People carrying theirbikes on the top of Car, tied behind the car, in Motorbike and allsorts of possible ways were on display. I could see how each one waspumped up. On reaching the spot waited for other friends to join inand then moved to collect my bike. The arrangement was pretty neat and it was easy to locate the storehouse. Took my cycle and at around 9,the corporate riders were flagged off. (Pic Courtesy : Rajaneesh )

My joy knew no bounds when I saw the entire stretch reserved only for cyclist. It was enough adrenaline kick. I registered as part of Corporate Cycling of 25 KM and was even able to manage getting 40 oddsfrom my office with the help of Mathew Pylichen, Palani,Harish andothers. Close to the returning point at 12.5 KM, I met Vijay from Philips and we asked each other, "Dude, What say. Should we go for 36?". The prompt answer was "YES". We passed the 12.5 K limit and were able to manage 18 Km and return. With the passage of every KM after 18, it was getting tougher and tougher but the view of all ages participants kept me moving. The urchins at the sides where coming close to shake hand and thumps UP. I felt like a celebrity :). Finally made to the Finish Line and was smiling ear to ear with the satisfaction of self-belief and perseverance.
I am sure each one of us had a gala time and have our own long story to say. Shoot!!

Enjoy !!
Amit

EMI

2009-10-09T15:45:00.000-04:00

The title of this post is inspired by a Bollywood movie sharing same name. I happen to be neglecting to watch this flick for quite some time just because the print was not of good. quality But, today I decided to go for it as pass time during my dinner.

The movie revolves around the life of people in debt with home loans, personnel loans and credit card loans. It shows how much pain and embarrassment loan recovery agent inflict upon defaulters. It staged how a husband and wife plan to divorce due to unbearable pressure of monthly EMIs. In one case, a father takes 10 lakhs to fund his son's foreign MBA studies where the son later drops out in the middle of the course only to see one day how his dad is humiliated by these recovery goons.

Truly, lives of several people is loosing peace because of the desires to have more than what one's means allow due to peers pressure or uncontrolled desires. Also, after watching the movie I felt a sense of relief and calmness thinking that "Good that I did not pursued my MS else I would have ended up taking more than 8 lakhs loan and my entire family's life and peace would have been now mortgaged.

Today, again I have made up my mind not to pursue any plan if its cost is more than 3 lakh loan but rather be satisfied with low risk pursuit so that the welfare of my family is taken care with peace. God I wish all families who are seething under the pain of loan to get out of it and live at peace.
AMEN !!

First UBUNTU walk !!

2009-04-23T09:33:00.000-04:00

After days of procrastination and lots of planning, today I cleaned my system and reinstalled Windows (difficult to get rid of old habits) and love of all free Humans, UBUNTU...

I feel great as it going to be a learning experience and will also get rid of nasty windows "Software Counterfeit" error message and lot of security.

Love You Open Source

Amit

I am Critical Mass

2009-03-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

I was already a mass when I was born but today I became a part of critical mass of my country who has got some responsibility to shoulder (Thoda Gyada ho gaya). Today (28th March 2009) will be considered as my first baby step to add force to already rolling ball of "SAVE EARTH" of moving to alternative mode of transport which is pollution free and keeps your waistline slim. Well I am talking about bicycle as an alternate option which I have been religiously adhering to for past 3 months by commuting to my work which is close to 5 KM (3.1 miles) from my house. Thanks to Bala who motivated me to take this up.

So what is special about today?

Ahha... Today was Critical Mass day in Bangalore. By Critical Mass Day I mean, it is a day which is celebrated every last Saturday of the month where a group of amateur or veteran cyclist, cycle in city and create awareness about bicycle riding as feasible option. It was my maiden tour as I have been missing the earlier ones because of silly reasons which I don't want to remember and make fool of myself.

This time, we met in Cubbon Park where the total count reached 74 cyclist including few women and a cute looking baby girl on her kid-cycle with supported back wheel and a young boy of close to 8 yrs old on a regular bike. It was a great mix of personalities. I was lucky enough to locate my two office colleagues Mathew (the Veteran) and Manu (the Sports maniac) among the mass. Also I started exchanging hands with other people and there was not an iota of discomfort.

Ek baat kehna toh mein bhool hee gaya (I forgot one detail to mention)

We also had Sharada from Arghyam who did a great job by helping us know the quality of water we consume at home by arranging a set of sceinticfic kits and also gave all of us a Biological H2S Strip test kit as gratis. He took great effort and all the people who got water samples ( I got it too from my landlady) has their water tested. Great Service to nation Sharada. God Bless you !!

How can I forget Prashant Mohanty. The man who all time was cracking PJ's and howling at his best voice not to forget he is among the founders so the rest abt him we can discuss in private :).

We began our journey close to 4:30 pm. towards North Bangalore (I felt so good. It was towards my house). Some placards and posters and media attention made it a paparazzi stuff. We headed towards Sainki Tank and then further ahead towards Malleswaram. In the midst we has few stops where we waited for few who strayed from the flock. The quizzed and smiling faces of onlookers was good enough proof that we are making an impression in their mind and a question "What am I waiting for?" to ponder over.

We had our first bike salute (you hold your bike upright) near a temple. The pujaris too came out to bless the good cause and the by-passers thumped Up.

It was coming to an end. We reached a quite location to catch up with air and water. There was an introduction session and I hardly remember 10 names. I am sorry about it but my memory capacity is already full. I have been long planning to get a PHD (Portable Hard Disk). Then what followed was some serious discussion (culprit : Prashant) where he discussed about sharing responsibilities of coming critical mass and more personnel commitment from all of us by means of taking care of blog and coming with self made posters. We all agreed unanimously like primary school kids :)

Finally people started leaving in groups in the direction of their homes. With Sriram, Prashant, Igy and others we planned to eat Idli and have Tea. I was dying to eat something as I didnt had anything since morning. Somehow I missed :P. (The one with "V" is me)

On my return journey my front break wire got torn and I was driving more cautiously back home only to dash on my bed and find myself again starving at 9:45 p.m. Well I did celebrated Earth Day.. No lights between 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m (except my punkah was fanning , :P).

On a pleasent note : I feel blessed to meet you all and making good friends and also kudos to organizers.

Note : To know more about Critical Mass Bangalore click here

Happy Riding,
Amit

Yuva

2009-02-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

युवा

हे युवा

कुछ कर

कुछ आदित्य , कुछ अनूपम, कुछ निर्नात्मक

जो इतिहास के पन्ने में, स्वर्ण अक्षरो में

हो तुम्हारा नाम

अपितु कल ज़िन्दगी तुझसे हिसाब मांगे

और तू अगले ही पल अनंत चिंता में

****** अमित चौधरी********

Gulabi Gang

2009-02-15T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hopping through world wide web, I came across an article about an all-women group called "Gulabi Gang" in a village of Uttar Pradesh. This gang does not support any political party but finds it way out through demanding the rights of people in the villages.

An article with a short video elaborating over their initiative can be found here : Click Here

Happy reading,
Amit

Chromosome ends and human health and disease

2009-02-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

The title may seem daunting to most people thinking what on world do I know about chromosomes and is here to speak of. Gladly, I must appreciate your understanding of my brief (10^-100) knowledge about biology science of chromosomes.

It was Monday and with no extra strain to your brain, it was my office day. I was not feeling well for the past few days and hence decided to take rest instead of going to office and working in air conditioned facility thereby aggravating my bad health. I went out for my lunch and on my way back purchased news papers comprising of The Hindu, The Times of India and DNA (The motive was to do comparative study of available news papers so that I can form a decision about what to order to my vendor). Surprisingly, an ad at the 3rd page of The Hindu caught my attention where it showed a lady (no surprise, right!!) standing quite confidently. I became interested to read. I realized that the lady is a great scientist in the world of biology with great awards to her list.
I found myself in a dilemma because just few minutes back I decided to finish few topics in C++ programming language on account of free time I was having but this news made me think and I asked one question to myself, "How important is this seminar for you?". Back came the reply, " I can study C++ tomorrow but I cannot attend a seminar by someone so esteemed later in life. If I miss this opportunity I will not get the next one. Also its an opportunity to be in an academic setting for few hours which will rejuvenate my eagerness to learn". With this answer I executed my plan and left for the venue on my Mercedes (my beloved bicycle) at around 3:45 p.m. I reached the venue (IISc, Bangalore) at around 4:05 p.m. and was surprised to see that the J.N.Tata auditorium was getting packed with the progress of time. It was the after long time (the first being at IIT Techfest 2005) when I was seeing an auditorium packed with human beings for some science topic apart from normal multiplex audi's.

The program started at its prescribed time of 4:30 p.m. With a brief introduction about the speaker (which I liked) Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn took on the podium. One thing which I have observed in the scientific world that people are highly cordial and they speak soft unlike in management or industry setting where it is usually louder. Also the academicians are seen smiling and speaking with great inner peace which I have always adored. Maybe the reason could be the ecstasy they are always in as a result of the pursuit of knowledge.

She started her topic with a picture of an old Indian lady (I am sure she took someone Indian so that we can easily relate to her) and a curt question of "Why do aging occur?". With the progress of the presentation she elaborated on how our chromosomes plays and important part in aging process. The two important terms she was emphasizing about were telomere and telomerase. How shortening of chromosomes makes some one susceptible to diseases like heart attack, aging and other known diseases. It was though very interesting to know that smoking plays a big role in decreasing the life span of user as it impedes the chromosomes duplicating capacity. Also with her research she was able to proof that chronic stress (be it related to married life, Job or exam etc..) highly contributes to malfunctioning of chromosomes leading to early death or associated medical complications.

It was a new experience for me where I was getting exposed to a complete unknown branch of sceince and though I couldn't compete with someone with biology background, I think I was able to assimilate 20 % of the information while the rest got lost in some interim day dreaming and unknown terms.

Some of the interim thinking/day dreaming I was doing was (i) Can I be someday as good as her ? (ii) Is research my calling ? (iii) Will I be getting calls from universities for my MS? (iv) What if someone bomb the auditorium and lastly (v) There are some really good looking girls in the halls. Will I be meeting such beautiful ladies while I be pursuing my PhD and do I still stand a chance? :)

Layoffs News in 2007-2009 (Global Meltdown era)

2009-01-31T23:35:00.000-05:00

The latest economic crisis has already caught numerous eyes due to its deepening effect. Meanwhile, I got interested in its effect to social life of people. As a part of my project I decided to compile all the news in regard to layoffs that has marred media from January 2007 - December 2009. Also will try to get some of the biggest industry news in this period and some human stories regarding their fight against odds. It will be updated as an when I get to hear something related and also would appreciate if you can help me with this compilation by bringing to my notice similar news (with due acknowledgment to the contributor ).

1st Feb., 2009
1. Violent unrest rocks China as crisis hits (Click here for more details)

30th Jan., 2009
1.NEC to axe 20,000 (Click here for more)

24th Jan.,2009
1. Citigroup to axe 6,500 employees (Click here for more details)

10th Jan.,2009
1. US aerospace giant Boeing to shed 4,500 jobs (Click here for more details)

16th Dec.,2008
1. Fiat lays off 48,000 for a month during Christmas (Click here for more details)

9th Dec., 2008
1. ArcelorMittal to cut over 1,550 jobs in Germany & Belgium (Click here for more details)

Disclaimer : This is just a compilation of the news. The truth maybe sth else but thatz not what I am doing here.

SMS 90088 90088 & Know Directions

2009-01-27T00:06:00.000-05:00

Friends,

Ever wondered you can get directions to a place just by SMSing a message. Yes, its true for now. LATLONG is one such service available for elite Bangaloreans (I mean for all bangaloreans :) ) Its a good news to few atleast who are relatively new to bangalore or find it difficult to remember routes. You just need to send a SMS in a required format at 90088 90088.

Use keyword WHERE to find out where a place is.

For example, use: WHERE tyagaraja nagar

WHERE gnr kalyana mantap NEAR jayanagar

WHERE suranjan das road

WHERE icici atm NEAR south end circle

Use keyword GO to get help going to a place.

For example, use:

GO rajajinagar entrance FROM itpl GO victoria layout TO navrang cinema

GO hebbal flyover FROM dairy circle

The link to Latlong website is http://latlong.in/cgi-bin/latlong where you can test it with demo. The courtsey for finding these wonderfull informations goes to Praveen (http://spraveenitpro.blogspot.com/) whose blog I happen to bounce on bychance. He is a follower of http://criticalmassbangalore.blogspot.com/ BLOG.

Happy Riding,