Watch this space

Mmmmmm...

What I am going to show you now is, highly pleasing to the senses, especially to taste or smell :).

This is one of the very few things experienced during the live in, that can be shared with y'all.

And before you get any ideas...

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On your marks









Get Set









Gone









I named it as Pepper Chicken with Egg Fried Rice.

Gobi Manchurian










Chikkan Biryani with Raita










Planning to start a food blog very soon. Will keep the recipies there.

3 Things

1) Read something really interesting... and it is so true. The average age of a technical person (IT) in India is 26 and an average age of the same in the US is 36.

I lose on about 10yrs of work ex when it comes to learning from the folks around me.

Thought: The (IT) girls fall in the same age group as above in India :D
Second thought: ghhhhh... as if they are any good :(

2) This happened sometime back... thought its a worth mention. I had left the sliding grill in my bedroom (which opens to a garden) open before I slpet for the day. Got a shocker the next morning to find 2 lil cats sleepin by my side on the bed in the cosy blanket. No no, do not get any ideas.

3) Purnima has been cracking interviews like crazy... 3 in 2 days.

They did everything except for missing the goal!! Didn't they?

I was with the French coz I love Zizooo (will talk about him later), first let me comment on the mind set of the Brazillians and some of their fans.

It's simple, as per Brazil, the opponents do not have the right to score a goal against them! I messaged a friend (obv a Brazillian supporter) about Zidane being at his best and the reply that came was in agreement with me but arrogantly stating that Brazil will still win. I think this was the same mind set which the Brazillian players carried into this match. How?

When watching the highlights (don't know if the samba fans will watch), check the ball which was volleyed home by Thierry Henry! The moment Zidane pushed the ball in the air, there were a couple of major defence disasters which Brazil made : -

1) 5 white shirts with only 3 yellow ones checking them in the danger zone! WHyyyyy?
2) Shocking that it was, to clearly see all other 4 yellow markers simply standing next to the D's line doing nothing but just waiting for the party which they could be a part of after the match.
3) Amongst those 4, was Roberto Carlos (supposed to mark Henry), with his hands on the hips and probably catching up on his breath for his next unsuccesful run with the ball towards the french goal.

Les Blues, who were again brilliant in their study of the attackers which Brazil had. I wouldn't blame Kaka for not being part of any of the moves but would compliment French on checking him throughout. It was Malouda if I am not wrong, who just wouldn't let him master a move in the mid-field.

Okay, enough of ittt!! Let me talk about the Maestro.

Some how felt that he carried the composoure of Steve Waugh, skill of Lara and passion of Leander Paes when he played for his country.

Zizoo was at the heart of almost every French breakaway.

Just one word for him Finesse..

Grrrrrrr....

I can't love them and can never hate them!!

Reflection of My Mood Nowadays

I feel drunk but I'm sober

I'm young and I'm underpaid

I'm tired but I'm working, yeah

I care but I'm restless

I'm here but I'm really gone

I'm broke but I'm happy

I'm poor but I'm kind

I'm high but I'm grounded

I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed

I'm lost but I'm hopeful baby

And what it all comes down to my friends

Is that everything's just fine fine fine

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is giving the finger.

7 +or- 2

Imagine when you are putting the pieces together in your mind, to come up with a solution while you analyze the problem. Problem could be to come up with a business strategy, or to come up with the Domain Analysis classes for a given Business Domain, might be to come up with the list of methods in a class.

Well, could be just to come up with a brilliant dish, given the recipe, or to fix your love life in a way where you keep everybody happy except yourself ;). For a mum it could be to bring up her son well enough, considering the given external environments.

Life is all about putting the pieces together while considering the so called time axis. Aint it?

To cut the crap and come straight to the point, we have the fastest machine in the world to solve all our problems as per the given constraints. Yup the BRAIN.

But isn't there a point when we get mentally confused or are at an erratic stage or when things go hay-wire in mind? And we feel that the given problem/situation is too complex to be solved.

What is this intricacy? This COMPLEXITY? How to unravel?

The answer is simple. Even this machine has a maximum capacity to run a number of parallel processes. To be precise it is 8. The brain can only run 8 parallel processes at a time. Whenever we try to exceed this number, we face problems or difficulty to solve any problem.

Hence the concept of decomposition, so that we deal with no more than 8 things at a time. The Europeans call it a 7+or-2 problem.

We could use this theory to keep things simple and thus answer some unanswered questions.

Some of them applied in the Software industry could be : -
Q. Max no. of blocks in a block diagram?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of PLs under a PM?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of TLs under PL?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of team members under TL?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of methods in a class?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of objects in a sequence diagram?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of departments in an organization?
A. 7 +or- 2

I have a feeling though, that it is not a Mars/Venus issue, but the female brain's capacity is much more than male's anyway. Though a man would still not use the whole and the woman might still exceed her maximum :).

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PussyCat Dolls

What worse could follow after such a caption to this post. I better not write anything uncultured or profane considering the audience that I have to my blog (nor do I have the skill to write such stuff).

No, its not the name of the last X-rated film that I saw. (Btw, anyone having a blue movie with that name is surely running out of good porn). It's also not any of those (so very direct) exotic cocktails which are consumed these days.

Well, some of my snooty friends might just discard my existence after reading this post.

APPARENTLY, this is the name of some (one woman) band/group which grabbed my attention sometime back with their new (super hit) track called "Don't Cha..."

I am hiding my face while writing this, but I don't believe that there'll be any guy who will disagree with the lyrics of this song, some of it goes like...

Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me...
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me... Dont cha, dont cha

Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me...
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me Dont cha, dont cha

A pefect no. to hip hop with a Hottie (of course dat can't be your gf here).

I heard it the first time at the most appropriate place (as far as the lyrics are concerned) -> a STRIP BAR in the US. (I can see the ladies nodding with agreement now)

Do not miss the video of this song. Btw, I should start writing some meaningful posts now :(.

Before Palolem - At Baga

Could have got a better tattoo, but decided to go for the dolphin as I was wearing one too...

After Goa Blues

The pic reflects my mood, not because I had to come back to the jungle after a brilliant vacation in Goa but because I came back earlier than I had expected.

X had to fly back on the 2nd so the rest being fond of x, decided to go back that same evening. I could have always stayed there alone (which I wanted after he left) but me declaring to stay alone would have made others think twice to stay back (which I did not want). Thus followed the crowd who had followed Mr. X and landed back in pune sooner than expected.

Felt sick after a day of coming back, I mean who the f*** wouldn't visit Arambol with all that time in hand. I can just say that company matters a lot, in this case may be for everybodyelse as they decided to wind up from Goa when a friend left.

Anyway I could really unwind with this break from work and had the most lazy, laid back, tranquilizing vacation with my good friends.

SPIC-&-SPAN

I was traveling in the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) of Singapore, when someone, hesitatingly pointed at my shoe.

I, for a flash of a second thought that he liked my blue ID shoes before I saw this piece of paper which possibly belonged to him. So rightly knowing that he was pointing at that crushed paper, I picked it up and gave it to him. He too quietly (crushed it even more) and put it back in his bag.

I did not know where to look and started relating to those stories which people/teachers tell you about how aware and dutiful these chinks are about keeping there city absolutely clean.

The snap shows this chap cleaning one of the big aquariums in Sentosa's under water park.

Unaccustomed Driving

This ain't about the smooth drives at 90mph on the freeways of the US. It's not about the Buick Le Sabre that I drove. Neither about the so easy to follow driving-rules/directions. Also not about the religiously followed lane driving (which apparently if followed in India, might cause an accident).

This actually, is about something which was quite strange for the natives and a pretty normal thing for me to do when I am driving back in India. Infact some people might have been amused or prolly could have enjoyed the moment.

I stop at a red light confused whether to go straight, take a left/right. Pretty obvious for me to just pull down the glass and glance across inside the car halted next to mine. The person gives me this strange look but then in a flash gets back to what he/she was doing i.e. listening to the music or simply wait for the light to turn green. Next second, that person sees from the corner of his eye "me waving desperately..", becomes pretty obvious by now that I need help.

Next thing I do is quite casually enquire about the exit (or the way) to take for some xyz road.

I used to find it quite amusing when my team lead in the US (an Indian) would go out of his way to even sometimes draw the maps on a bloody tissue paper or on the white board in the conference room, but would make sure to always give us the correct directions in writing.

It did not take me long to realize that any person, new to the place and driving, would just need a detailed map of the city to reach to the destination. Of course why shouldn't they, when there no paan walas, auto drivers or x y z to be seen hanging around at every corner of the street.
There are just roads and zooming cars.

Yes, the MAPS are something absolutely invaluable for anyone driving in the US.

I still remember the looks I used to get at those red lights. I guess after a while I actually started enjoying irritating those firangs :).

Wanted to write about my experience of driving the car I rented in the US for month.

Nahhh... It ain't what you see. This is the HUMMER. Man, couldn't keep my eyes off it. Jaw dropped and next word which came outta ma mouth was... aaaaaawesome.

I hope this guy doesn't sue me on putting this snap which was taken without his permission.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Don't you dare think that I wanted Australia to retain Ashes.

It's bloody irritating not to watch even a single ball bowled because of the fucking tiff between the cable operator and ESPN Star Sports.

I checked out the news, in which a guy held this poster proudly which said "I missed my wedding for this". And here I am, absofucknlutely helpless with no fault of mine and missed one of the finest series played.

Please join me in giving a BIG EXTENDED MIDDLE FINGER to whosoever, resposible for this shit.

First Presentation in the corporate world

It is quite an expected statement which people make, after doing something successfully for which, they might have been a little nervouse to begin with.

They say... "It wasn't a big deal" or "It was actually a piece of cake".

Do I need to say more?

To be honest I was relieved more than anything. Something which was off my shoulders and the relief was also to suggest that it did not go bad at all. The IT Business school from where I did my masters had helped me a lot in letting me face the audience with the confidence that I do now. After giving some n no. of presentations at the school (which carried a significant weightage in our assignments) this wasn't something which would give me a jittery voice or a not so confident look on my face.

Ok, coming back to where I work @ "International Business Machines Global Services India", I thought giving a presentation would be a heavyweight task, but it turned out to be a storm in the tea cup.

My boss was the last one to leave the room, and said something which would not make me feel on top of the world, but just to let me know that I did well. I had few of my team mates come up to my desk and congratulate me on quite an informative/useful presentation, they thanked me for the time and effort I had put in.

Three possibilities : -
1) The audience has been void of some basic, clear and informative presentations for some time now!
2) The audience underestimated me.
3) I am actually quite good at presenting.

I go with the first one.

One thing that hit me after all of this was over : - For us (Indians) personal praise or appreciation means much more than the material benefits which follow after the success. It could apply to everybody in general, but to us, it surely does.

Sania Mirza

This post is not about how much I love her (game) and blah blah... Also not about the interest and intrigue surrounding the 18-year-old Indian in locker rooms, media centres and viewing galleries around the world. (Oh how can I forget) Nor about how HOT she looks...

I saw her interview with some News Channel, after she won her first round (US Open) against the American Mashova Washington.

I somehow got this feeling to relate her to the Maestro Sachin Tendulkar some 12-13 years back (when he too, was a teenager). And wondered how different she is (in her attitude) as compared to the (then teen) Master.

Not that I do not like the way Sachin handles the media nor am I in a position to question Tendulkar's very down to earth Media friendly attitude. But I simply loved Sania's (coming on to the face) attitude with the media personnel. I felt it made the person taking the interview a little vulnerable. She made a very good balance of being polite, up front and most importantly made sense of whatever she talked about.

I am simply amazed to see how the circumstances can make one so mature at that age. (Well Sania can always stop me here and say that all this maturity comes at a cost of losing her boisterous and whoopee teen years. blah blah...)

A little off the track but I might want to relate this attitude to India's global brand strengthening and booming economy in one of my future posts.....:) Of course not taking anything away from our new champ.

Pre Tournament (US Open 2005) Interview

To Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova
Press: What do you think of Sania's Game
Kuznetsova: "What has this got to do with the US Open?"

ME: She kicked your "US Open champ ASS", earlier in the year at Dubai. REMEMBER!!!!

YO babe!! We are all behind ya... go grab it...!!!

PS: Mature in attitude but lacking some in the game when our babe lost the 3rd game in the final set after being 2-0 up. Went for 3 mighty (ambitious) strokes (may be as she had broken the opponent's serve) quite silly but very much like me ... ;)

Do you like Apples?

Will crosses the street and approaches the plate glass window and stands across from Clark, separated only by the glass. HePOUNDS THE GLASS to get Clark's attention.

WILL (cont'd): Hey!
Clark turns toward Will.
WILL (cont'd): DO YOU LIKE APPLES?
Clark doesn't get it.

WILL (cont'd): DO YOU LIKE APPLES?!
CLARK: Yeah?
Will SLAMS SKYLAR'S PHONE NUMBER against the glass.

WILL: WELL I GOT HER NUMBER! HOW DO YA LIKE THEM APPLES?!!
Will's boys erupt into laughter. Angle on Clark, deflated.

Ok, the above is the extract from the script of the movie "Good Will Hunting". People who have seen this movie can relate to it. The above act takes place when Matt Damon (Will), embarrasses Clark (Mr. Harvard) and gets Minni Driver's (Skylar's) number.

The first time I saw this movie, was in my College hostel room, on my comp. As soon as this act got over, I (hesitated) but asked ma friend to take it back as I could not get the joke. To my surprise no one in the room could get it, and all willingly accepted to go back and watch the whole thing again.

There is always this feeling and a childish thrill to watch something the second time (especially a humourous act) when you know that you hadn't got the joke in the first place, not to mention the confidence to nail it the second time you see it and go... "ahhhhh ... that's what I thought"..

But horrors of horrors... I was stunned not to completely get it even when I saw it the second time. Did not have the balls to declare it in the room, that something was wrong with my sense of humour. But to my relief, one of my friends got up, paused the damn thing... and asked openly to all, to explain him the joke. For a moment, all of us looked at each other (still no one ready to accept that they hadn't got it) and tried to explain it to the (humble) friend of mine of what it could mean. This was easy, as one could make out the context of the whole act.

But then till yesterday, I was never confident of discussing this joke in a social gathering, with the fear of being the only one who hadn't got it. It turns out that there is whole god damn thread/conversation on the net, which discusses this joke and the possible meaning of it. Felt good to know that I am not the only person who was not aware of this American slang possibly used in the early 90s.

Well, Parin (one of the victims in the room) came up with the exact (if not exact) meaning (of THEM APPLES), and quite honestly told me that some American chick had informed him of it. And as I had mentioned it before, the moment one explains you a joke (which apparently sucks out the humour from it) there is this feeling inside and you always go ... "ahhh... i thought so..". Well, that's what happened with me :-).

WILL: WELL I GOT HER NUMBER! HOW DO YA LIKE THEM APPLES?!!
or
WILL: WELL I GOT HER NUMBER! SCREW YOU / HOWZ THAT !!

Quite honestly, it was pretty easy to make this out from the context, but then there is always that itch to know the history behind a humourous phrase or where could one use such a phrase.

*Relief*
PS: One of my fav movies, would post about it sometime. Here is the SCRIPT

Colloquial American IT/Business Jargon

I don't know, how much of these terms are used in India. Some might be used of which I was not aware of, but majorly these could be the part of American colloquial.

Can be helpful if one is working in a global team.

1) "Putting it on the table" - Believe it or not, this phrase has different meanings in the US and the UK. Ok, it could be used in these forms, "Putting the thoughts on the table" or "Table down the thoughts".

What it means in the US: When you say that you are putting "something" on the table (during a meeting), it means that you want that thing to be discussed and would want to have an open discussion before taking a decision or coming to the conclusion.

What it means in the UK: When the same thing is said in Europe or specifically in british terms, it would mean that you have taken a decision and putting it on the table for others to take a look. But it would never allow a further discussion.

Just in case if this term is used by your foreign counterpart, be aware of which part of the world he belongs to, if any doubts then be clear before taking a decision.

2) "Converging to a RatHole" - This generally happens during a session of brain storming. During the discussion there might be a small disagreement on something which might lead the conversation to a totally different trip. After sometime people realize that they deviated from the main topic or "find themselves converging to a rat hote".

As far as usage of it is concerned, it could simply be "lets not get into a rat hole". It would thus mean not to corner oneself.

3) Sleep on - This, I believe should be pretty global and most people must be aware off. But just in case...

It means, to think about (something) overnight before deciding. Thus if not clear about things in general I might say during the meeting that "ill sleep on it and we can put it on the table tomorrow" :-)

4) TBD - To be determined (This acronyms is used quite often)

At the EOD
A: Should we expose this method to the client?
B: Hmmm, not sure we might have to consult C
A: ok, so m putting this under TBD

5) Follow the sun - Oh boy.. should I let this one out ... It's actually a term used in my project but this is something in general and every IT professional (with a entrepreneurish nature) should be aware off :-).

These days after so much of outsourcing to AP (Asia Pacific) region the number of people in the team in our part of the world is increasing rapidly. Thus, it becomes important to work around the clock because of a huge time difference between India and the US. This term basically suggests how to make this time difference the strength instead of a weakness.

Imagine, my boss in India assigns a work to me (assuming m in the US) before leaving for home and finds an email when logs on the next morning with the work done. In between these 12-14 hrs, I might have done the same to my European counterpart and so on and so forth. Thus it is nothing but to follow the sun and delegate work in such a fashion that it gets completed without anyone losing sleep.

It won't be long, before people in a global team start replaceing their 12hr clocks by 24hrs clock in their homes and offices to save time and meet the customer's demand.

Should be appending this list as and when I come across new terminologies.

Michelle Pfeiffer

From where the hell suddenly Michelle popped up? I am kinda watchin a movie of hers as m typing this.

Sheer beauty... I mean check out her upper lip, aint it simply kissable. Wowww...

She has the grace too, and of course I like her as she is a brilliant actress ;-).

PS: Had to google to spell her surname right!