Rain God's wrath on Mumbai!

Above what you see is the sion railway station in Mumbai and not some river. This year Mumbai has recorded an all time Indian record of rainfall reported as 94.4cms in 1 day in some parts of Mumbai. My goodness!!! Just one thought strikes my mind, Gods must have used high power, fire extinguishing kinda hose pipes to drench (rather flood) Mumbai. The earlier record was at Chirapunji, the ever raining place in Meghalaya standing at around 84cms in 1 day.

The mysterious 'it'

Jayachandra's Blog
I want to say it and clear any air of confusion, but I feel,
    air of confusion is the only thing that can save my skin if I fail.
I am selfish to have it all for myself, but I feel,
    then I'd be restricting other's freedom to choose
I dream of a cordial return for it, but I feel,
    before anything I should prove myself
I want to express it aloud, but I feel,
    *that* being tacit makes it more enjoyable

So what then is 'it'? but as I said, 'it' is mysterious for the above reasons

;-)
Jaya

Ethical confrontation...

Jayachandra's Blog
I've the burning desire to pursue a full time MBA from any IIM. The rigorous curriculum it has, the sheer value of its brand in the market and all that are extremely enticing. But I'm here to blog about something totally different. The lifestyle that I'd have to encounter there. From whatever contacts I have of my batchmates or seniors at IIIT-H and from the info they shared directly or in an insinuating fashion I mapped lifestyle at IIMs to one with extended levels of freedom amongst its students, lavish parties that too very frequent all throughout the year. Till here it's fine. But parties where boozing is the commonest thing! This sounds uncomfortable for the reason that I've promised someone dear that I'd not touch it and now if the colleagues around force me or butt me to take it what can I answer my conscience? I believe I have the art of diverting the attention when the issue targetted against me doesn't quite make me comfortable. But I doubt if that can help me beguile some of the best (cunniest?) of the minds of the nation. Even if it does one or two times, it can't come for rescue everytime there is a party. I heard that every weekend or once in 2 weekends there would be parties during some parts of the year. Staying away from parties is a foolish idea, especially social interaction being the first a manager is expected to acquire. Not just it's something I should acquire merely by my nature itself I can't confine myself to my room when everybody else share a lighter moment. I knew I'd have to confront this moral issue long back even before I promised her. I even said honestly take my word that willfully or unless there is no utmost compulsion I would not even touch it. But she didn't feel convinced. And having understood that if I don't promise then I'd imprint a dark scar on my own character in her view I reluctantly gave the word. Though it was reluctant it was an honest promise and my conscience simply doesn't entertain any breach of it whatsoever. Well! as I write about it, I begin to feel a sense of confidence that things can be worked out just the way I want them to be. Afterall, every individual out there has his own professional attitude and so would I assume mine when someone tries to push hard on that aspect beyond my tolerance levels.

Thanks to Film Industry!

Early in the beginning when veterans like NTR, ANR, Saavithri reigned the film industry (henceforth F I) it used to have a revere amongst audience. The characters on screen are thorough tested masters having the skill of acting and expressing feelings naturally soaked into their personality. And people had all the reason to become fans for those silver screen stars. Thanks to Film Industry!

The gifted bunch had their life time full in the industry till they either retired out of it for physical limitations or couldn't endure anymore their own performance on the screen with their swamped organs, drooped eye-lids, cheeks etc. there by making a voluntary get out. The later generation too was respectable, with hard working and or sensible personalities like Chiru, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Soundarya making their mark in the audience. The entry barriers still remained high, choosing only the worthy lot who could truly entertain audience, to feature on the screen. Thanks to the Film Industry!

With the F I getting wide publicity and increasing returns, slowly "mass" elements began to be the center of attraction towards the later phase of second generations reign. And also the quality of concepts presented, art work involved, all dwindled proving a death blow to the industry in some significant way. And 'movie' stature has degraded from 'a memorable item for at least a year long' to 'even unbearable for 3 short hours'. But the lucrative things with minimal or zero efforts that movies have turned out to be... every tom, dick and harry began to feature on the screen. Now predominantly movie actors are no big celebrities to awe at their performance or anything near to that. Neither do they prove to be anywhere close to being handsome or beautiful. But still, Thanks to Film Industry for the subtle reason that it had made the world looks all the more beautiful. It is helping people to admire their better halves in a better manner. If a stout, footling with a drunken face can feature as a heroine on the silver screen, males can rever their otherwise not so charming wives/loves as 'angels'. Similarly if an uncouth bumpkin with half-bald head can claim to have a huge fan following, females can admire their otherwise not so handsome husbands/loves as living 'Apollos'. Isn't that a favour bigger than what F I could do to society in its first generation. It certainly is!
So join me in thanking the F I once again. Thanks to Film Industry!!!

Back to good looks!

Jayachandra's Blog
Finally I feel I'm free. Free from haunting by my own self. That gentle yet picking apart discussion on Monday with Venkat was reeling every moment all these past three days infront of my eyes. A thought that would not make me relax till I get a skeletol integration of service APIs with Axis2 working. Today, only when I saw my test client doing a descent job I feel relieved from the pressure. I have all the potential but for reasons so petty and insignificant I've put my productivity at stake. Thank God, I was able to redeem my expectations once again, that too amidst several tiring works in this week - granma's medical check-up, visiting sister's place and dad's visit. I always knew, you would be on my side.

Let me talk to myself!

Its time I accept Venkat's assessment of my performance at office with due seriousness.

I am falling short of my expectations. Just about a month ago, I've boomed to a better off position with my self-driven reforms in the way I work. This was, of course, aftermath of the bitter appraisal I got last April (compared to what I expected). It would have been lovable if I continued in the same tempo. What satanic evil came over upon me, I only don't know (may be I'm lieing here) but the productivity levels across last week days have gone alarmingly low. Especially after taking the ServiceAPI functionality onto the shoulders. Thanks to my PM for politely pointing to that, lest I would have continued to lax and doom myself into a laggard. I just can't afford to be so, one more time. I've assumed that role enough times and savoured myself with its bitter consequences 'n' number of times and I just don't want to undergo all that nasty phase one more time.
Another serious issue is my office timings. Just for the sake to be on time, I've moved from Miyapur to Madhapur at the cost of increased cost of living. Forgetting of that fact, I've recklessly disturbed my schedule by a clear 2hour margin. What am I achieving here? Just to be solaced by everyone that I am being in office past 9P.M and eventually I begin to think I'm working a lot, even though I don't move an inch in my work for 4 days in a row. Absolutely absurd! Okay, now I take this in a serious tone, unless there is some inevitable cause I would not be late to office even by 5 minutes. Sharp 9P.M I MUST be here. And unless my self longs me to continue my work, I'd not work beyond 7 or 7:30P.M in office.
On the efficiency levels at office. I believe I've made a lot of progress in being awake and working with vigor in the post lunch sessions also. I've to make it a point that I'd continue the same everyday and would not loose the tempo even a single day hence forth. Also it's enough social service that you are doing already, cut short your reasonless affection towards the orphanage home, at least in the things that you are doing at the cost of office prime time. This is the golden oppurtunity that you have in your hand to mould yourself into a person of extreme technical calibre. Use it to the fullest extent, giving a due attention to build your career on the management front as well.

Thanks

A great Scholar!

Long back I came across the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda from the homepage of a dear friend of mine. I then book marked it as one of my favourite. Now again the second time I've come to see this old friends homepage I remembered that I bookmarked a page when I browsed his site earlier and opened the "Complete Works of Swami Vivekanada". I should thank ____ (should I fill it with the word 'God' or with 'environment around me' or with 'my internal metabolism'...I only don't know << immediate effect of reading the works of Vivekananda) whatever is appropriate, for giving me the concentration with which I have gone through appreciating the man and some of his works I've quickly read. I'm not here to blog about greatness of Hinduism or anything like that, but I wanted to rever the personality that Vivekananda is. One word that I could rightly think of is SCHOLAR. That would yet be an incomplete description of the great personality that he is. I've gone through the Volume 1 of his works. Most of them are elocutions rendered at 'The Parliament of Religions', Chicago 1893 around September timeframe. My mind tried to read the works as if narrated by the owner himself addressing a gathering of other several vivid scholars. The confidence in his speech shows that he has mastered the science of the religion inside out and he himself is free of any doubt in what he is practicing - only a very serious study could get anyone to that level. The spontaniety that you see in his speech speaks of the 'beautiful mind' that he is. The vocabulary he displays shows the grip he has on English. What does it take to gain that grip on a foreign language at that time of the world where there are no superb technologies like 'internet' around. The more I envision each scene of the articles I read, I could not help appreciating the learnedness, spontaineity, focus on the topic, outstanding presentation skills of this man. The exercise had a multitude effect on me across several orthogonal directions, but just that the limitations of my mind's articulative powers and of course the time and work place constraints (these are certainly insignificant factors, though) restrict me in unfurling all the experiences I had in my mind while going through those articles. I'd say these works of Swami Vivekananda are a must read for anyone and everyone.

Usability issue with Blogspot

The number of posts that appear on the blog page are some 'n' (default 10) number that we configure in one of the settings. But that shouldn't mean we just have 'n' posts on this blog. Generally, non blogspot readers would scroll through post after post till the end and think that it's all of it in the blog. There is no next or more link in the end that can hint readers that there are more posts. The only work around I see, as of now, for one to read all the posts in the blog, is to click on the last post link provided under 'PREVIOUS POSTS' heading in the right column and from the page that comes step into the next set of 'n' number of posts posted earlier to that.

Fellow blogspot bloggers & readers of this blog, help me if you can!
Is there some configuration setting somewhere, that I can turn on so that I can hint my blog readers that there are more posts than that are displayed in this page full?

Queer phrasing!

I happened to read a mail sent to all the employees of a company by its HR/management team asking them to apply for an internal vacancy position. I read the first line which goes...
"We are pleased to announce the following vacancy..."
The more I looked into it, the more queer it turned out to me. Especially the use of *pleased* made it interesting. Was the earlier guy in that position such a whack that he threw the management into a tizzy and they are now *pleased* that he has been successfully sacked?

Imagining episodes of fun!

Someone said what can one plan about a birthday. That looked strange to me. Its once in an year that you get your birthday and the day when you can be all smiles whole day. How can one not think about it. Long back I've imagined how the scene would be on my birthday and I loved my imagination so much so that I penned down the whole episode that reeled through my mind. I did do that then, but not knowing exactly when it would come to use. But looks like this imagination I penned down can be used to answer someone now.
This is just a self imagination, though it never happened that way. But nevertheless, makes a good read.
Read on...

[START]
Its 23rd october and I was kind of excited about the day after, because its my birthday.
"Should I start my flat decoration now?", a question flashed in my mind. "Na Na let me keep it aside for tommorrow. Becuase doing it with all my friends would be more fun", thats the immediate answer to myself. Cake delivery is due only at 3P.M tommorrow. So all morning one can have fun at least in the name of flat decoration. How funny would it be to imagine Phanikumar holding the ladder on which Deepu is counting seconds as he efforts to stick a piece of ribbon to the ceiling, whose concentration is being constantly disturbed by Bindu pointing repeatedly at non existant locations on the ceiling to stick the paper at. Such prime locations (as she claims), which she only doesn't know, let alone Deepu locating them in such a critical position, are being suggested just for the fun of seeing Deepu's and Phanikumar's agony. Meanwhile as if to assist Deepu to identify the non-existant spot Phanikumar lifts his head and elongates his neck and when is about to take his right hand off the ladder to point at his interpretation of Bindu's description Deepu yells 'Orrreyyyy! nichena paduddi bey'. And everyone around burst in laughter. Having realized he was fooled Deepu climbs down without sticking the ribbon and asks Bindu to do the job as he watches the fun. For which Bindu adorns her standard template 'pleading, innocent' face and resorts to sentimental dialogues that appear convincing to Deepu, but put Jaya (me) in the trouble to stick that ribbon at the ceiling. Cleverly and secretly after coming to an understanding that Phani would hold the ladder with all due caution, JC climbs it up and sticks the already glued ribbon just for the sake of it and gets down in a giffy. As I congratulate my ownself at the nice way I stuck the ribbon others scorn their faces saying it was stuck a few miles left to where it should have been. Keeping self love aside, when I analyse the contour I too see the point. But then when I claim that it is all Phani's fault for not holding the ladder properly, he goes agape with that piece of apple that he greedily bit, almost dropping to floor, if only not caught by Vinod, relaxing on the floor with legs up in the air. Thrilled at the timing of the catch, Bindu says 'too much, Vinod!'. As she was expecting a cordial return to her compliments, on the contrary, Vinod reads out a detailed analysis of the situation and points out Bindu as the root cause for the mishap. This gets, except for Bindu, unanimous approval from all the members. And cashing her confusion, Deepu forcefully places the unclean plate in which fruit peels are lying astray and asks her to go and get it cleaned. Having none coming to her rescue, Bindu slowly walks towards the wash basin.... wah kya episode hai
[END]

Doesn't that sound as a good day of healthy fun. If yes, and if you don't have the habit of imagining, its time you start cultivating it.

Friends! The treasure I possess

***********
I had huge plans to celebrate my b'day this year (October 24th). But not even one of my 6 good friends turned up to be with me on that day. There were some other friends around on that day, I did cut a cake, I did wear my new suit. But nothing could delight me. All my heart felt was that I was celebrating before zero audience. At least had one in those six been by my side I'd have cheered up a lot. So dry, passed my birthday. There is no fault from anybody. Everyone had their reason. And reasons are so strong that I (who is so adamant in attitude) myself couldn't ask them to stop their works and be present for my b'day. Three days (Oct 22nd,23rd and 24th) holidays in a row at this time of the year when its over 3 months since everyone is into their first job and haven't since been home all long, everyone would like to go home. Phani and Deepu long back planned their trips to home towns. Even I wanted to go home, if not for my birthday at that time of the year. So I didn't feel like stopping them. Vinod's grandma's first death anniversary amazingly coincided with my birthday and his father wanted him to be in Tanuka on that day. So he couldn't come. And the girls too had their own reasons. All in all no one could come, and at the same time no one including me could help that situation. So b'day went dry. I cursed my fate at the end of the day, and then soothed myself saying everyone's reason is a strong one. And after all, its no big deal than just one other b'day in a 100. I went to bed.
*************
The day after (October 25th), I woke up in a pretty usual way. Had yesterday been anything memorable or different I would have reminded about it to myself. But since it didn't go any special I didn't have any traces in my mind that its the next day after my birthday. I was in the same mindset when Deepu called me in the afternoon and said, he was coming to TCS building to take a file from Naresh. I was in the same mindset when he again called me in the evening and said Phanikumar and himself want to meet me now that they are close to my office at Durgam Cheruvu. I agreed and I had no clue that they are going to surprise me. I even said, "Bindu stays nearby she would also meet you ppl. Shall I get her along from her office when I come down". He said "okay!" in a very casual style that I could no way get a hint that I'm going to pick up the actual master mind behind the surprise that I'm about to experience.
I went to Raheja IT Park and picked Bindu and went to Durgam Lake, where I found a whole bunch of them already awaiting our arrival. There's Vinod, Deepu, Visu, Naresh, Phanindra and later Phanikumar joined (actually this guy was sent earlier to pick Bindu to the venue, it turned out that I intervened in between to do his job). Only after seeing the gathering and the gift packs at a distance I understood they gathered to celebrate my birthday. It was a total surprise to me. I cut the cake they brought. This time my dressing isn't any great, neither is the day October 24th but I really felt that I'm *truly* celebrating my birthday. On my ride back to my flat that evening I critically thought and realized how lucky I am for having such a nice friends circle for me.
*************
I feel so great in the company of friends. They might not shower dollars on me, but if they are away I feel like I lost something valuable and precious. They might not solve my problems, but worries remain at a distance when I'm in their company. None of them is a bully in personality, but I feel very strong when I'm with anyone of them. They are no energy syrup, but I overpound in tremendous enthusiasm and vigor when they (and only they) are around. I'm not a cheff, but I feel like experimenting cuisines when we all meet in some den (flats where we individually live). Its no great thing if Vinod resides in Madhapur, still I feel to quit the regular work and be there with him in the evenings. Its more than a pain to drive 30kms to KundanBagh on a saturday (weekend) morning, still to meet Deepu and Phanikumar I don't mind risking it. I know very well that I'd late by an hour post lunch to attend office, but still I'd try to snatch a quick lunch with Deepthi at Minerva whenever I go towards Somajiguda in the afternoon.Every time Bindu and I eat at Chilli Peppers ambience is all the same, but still I'm enthrilled to go out for a dinner with her. Mails are quite a common thing, but even an casual "Hi" from Pranathi makes me defer my bug fixing and reply to it.
That's me, that's the way I'll be.

Signing off
Jaya

How to Change the World!

How to change the world

I've a few more miles to go before I read and implement the concepts of the book in my custom style. But I still would like to host the link on my blog, so may be some of my blog readers who are enough fit can take a stab at it.

How to change the world

Diet's impact on alertness

I'm back! Today morning I've seen in one of the add-on edition pages of 'The Hindu' newspaper an article by Yandamoori Verenernath (is he the same guy famous for his masterpiece telugu novels???). He has unfurled some basic facts about the diet one takes and its impact on ones alertness at study. I liked the way it's written, because it gave substantial evidence to drive the point that's being stated. And the article certainly would appear to be a useful for a guy like me who never till now used to properly understand why he can't conquer sleep when it comes to studying, even after great amount of self meditation to concentrate on work/study. The notable points that I wish to share with all the fellow souls who happen to detest their ownselves on the same grounds are...
(1)refrain from eating sugar(sweet) items before/during study or work.
(2)Take as much water while at study/work as you can

The reason behing (2) is that water keeps one fresh. I've tested the same today and I am convinced. The small gulps of water I took at intervals of time boosted my freshness at least by a noticeable amount, promise!

Explanation for (1) needs some background. Sugars and milk contain very simple carbohydrates that are easily broken into amino acids releasing energy into blood instantly. Whilst food items like nuts, grains etc. contain complex carbohydrates, breaking whom into amino acids and realeasing energy is not instantaneous and would be a gradual process inside the stomach. When you eat sugars/milk etc. they are instantly broken down and a gush of energy is released into the blood cells. And once the food is exhausted there is a shortage in supply of energy to cells compared to the previous levels. These fluctuations in the energy flow into the blood and brain cells results in a dormancy state and we tend to get sleep. So its advisable to have more of nuts, grains and other complex carbohydrates that continue to provide energy in a gradual and all through out the day uniformly. And make it a point not to have sugars/milk before and during study/work.

There was another convincing reason given to a related but different issue - why after a heavy meal do I get sleep. The reason is that, heavy the meal more is the oxygen required to digest it. This oxygen requirement is partly fulfilled by taking it from brain. This leads to a sedative state called SLEEP.
The author reiterated a proven fact to distribute the required 2500 calories of energy from food intakes in the ratio 40:25:10:25 amongst b'fast, lunch, snacks and dinner respectively.

So my mantra from now on is going to be
'Eat b'fast like a King and lunch like a pauper'. Post dinner if I need to work then that would be a pauper meal or else it can be the normal dose.
With these facts known, I hope I'd be able to add more determinism into the quality of hours that I'm spending at work.

Thanks Yandamoori, for all your advice!!!

Heights of wild guessing

Question:
---------
What's the purpose of breakout rooms?

Answer:
-------
No idea!

But that would sound silly, isn't it? So let me guess something and answer. (Naturally I saw the dictionary meaning of 'breakout' and the first meaning is 'to escape from jail'). Dart! evoked the natural 'I know all stud' to guess a beautiful guess. (In his naturally detective style...) Since breakout is 'to escape from jail', 'breakout rooms' must surely be rooms into which prisoners who try to escape are falsely lead and trapped. Woooow! that appeared a mindful!

Correct Answer:
---------------
They are small rooms typically with less than 8 seating capacity intended to provide space for holding small-group meetings, team discussions, case presentations and other team or small group work.

Conclusion:
-----------
Never over act/think, you could fall flat on your nose.

Lunch at Shikaar

Celebrated my professional anniversary along with Vinod over a Lunch in a Mexican restaurant! hmm... not bad.

Tom Yum Soup - tops the list of all my favourite soups here onwards. Lemon flavoured, clear soup with chopped chillies and prawns. It tickled my palate very much
Mutton Hussaini Kebab - ummmmm delicious, the nuts in between made it even more tasty.
Tawa Biryani - not so great compared to the above delicacies but not bad either.
Peach Melba - The vanilla was enticing, the peach was ripe. All in all, its good.

Those who didn't have time to give me company should now repent what they missed, for it was a party from my side.

P.S:: 'Shikaar' restaurant falls definetely into the expensive sector. Rs.550/- for two members is definitely expensive, isn't it?

Not going to be a dumb day

Its not going to be a dumb day. I have my best buddy Vinod. And also he has agreed to wake up and get ready to come for lunch with me. I'm going on a lunch with him. I know, God will be on my side. I knew it won't be as dumb as I feared. Thanks Vinni!