ramblings...

Am I Livin' It Right ????

2006-10-08T01:04:00.000-07:00

Confused.. Dazed.. Bored...

Those r the states that define me now a days... depending on
a. Its a weekday -- Dazed + Confused
b. Weekend -- Dazed + Confused + Bored

Life's been a drag ever since I landed back in India. Now don't I sound like a snobbish, phirang return, critical, is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta Indian. Well I am nuthing like tht.

When you are used to having a group of friends around 24*7, and then suddenly find urself with everyone gone makes u fell so lonely. 4 plus yrs in the same org, makes you want to move on. But where to go? There are so many questions with no answers... So difficult to decide on what you want... coz i don't.. and don't know how to find out. Coz "I've read all the books but can't find the answer". What describes how I feel now a days may be the lines by John Mayer

"Coz I wonder sometimes about the outcome
Of a still verdictless life
Am I livin' it right ?? "

"So what so I gotta smile on,
Its hiding the quite superstitions in my head
Dont believe me... when I say I've got it down..."

"Everybody is just a stranger and thats the danger in going my own way
But i guess its the price I have to pay "
Still everything happens for a reason,
It's no reason not to ask myself, if I'm livin' it right?"

Well I guess it might be
"Quarter Life crisis or a stirring in my soul
Either way I wonder sometimes
Am I livin' it right ?"

Hypocrite or What ???

2006-09-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

Wenger concerned English clubs are losing their soul

LONDON, (AFP) - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on Friday expressed his concerns about the number of foreign owners of Premiership clubs.

The Frenchman lined out a first XI in the Champions League on Wednesday without an British player in the line-up.

But he believes that something is being lost as a result of the takeover of top clubs by non-British owners.

"This trend (of foreign ownership) does worry me. Generally you want the clubs to be in control of their own destiny. If you suddenly have 20 foreign investors who buy 20 English clubs you are in danger," Wenger told Arsenal's magazine.

"The manager is foreign, the players are foreign, you need to draw a line. England doesn't control it any more.

"I feel the soul of football in this country is first granted by the owners of the clubs. Here, for example, at Arsenal I feel I am really at an English club.

"Traditionally the people who owned the clubs were first and foremost supporters. If that ceases to be the case then the clubs lose something."

Hypocrite or what ??? Guy who has half the French national team playing for him...saying this.. This is why Man Utd rules all.. They are no FrenchARSES, no LiverSPAINS....Promoting Home Grown English Talent :). When all clubs were running after big names across the globe Sir Alex decided to go for Mr Michael Carrick.

Glory Glory Man Utd...

Bye Orange County.

2006-07-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

My last week in Orange County California had only 1 purpose..... FOOD. I ate thru 3 Mega Lunches and 2 huge Dinners in a span of 4 days. But it was fun. Although my stomach didn't feel the same way.

One of the things that I find most difficult, is saying Good-Byes to friends. And saying Byes to all the people at my client side, before returning was difficult and awkward. I made 3 really good friends - 1 Mexican, 1 Japanese and an Indian, and have been relatively successful in convincing them to visit India soon.

Since last sunday I am in NY at my sisters. it's hot and humid here, but NY has the buzz and life which no other city does. My 3rd visit to NY and I still havent got enugh of it. On my this trip to the US I was also able to visit places like San Dieo, Chicago, LA, Vegas and NY. But visiting and touring thru all these cities I realized one thing. No matter where you go, the best place in the world is wherever your friends are.

PS: The last line of the blog is from an ad i read somewhere during one of my tours of a city and I cudnt agree more with it.

Cheaters... Disgrace to Soccer !!!

2006-07-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

Check this Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QSHB-AQZ1E&feature=Views&amp;page=1&t=t&f=b

Portugal were a disgrace to fair play this World Cup. A team that didnt desereve to get the far it got in the competition. No doubt Ronaldo is one of the best young players around with great skills, but such behaviour is not expected and not pardonable from a player. I agree that all players do it, to some extent, but Portugal were worse than as Mr Siddhu wud put it "an Indian Cycle Stand".. there aint even a need to push one before they all come DIVING down....
And whats even shameful is that this team is being coached by a Brazillian, and it is hard to digest the fact that a Brazillian coach would stoop down to such tactics. Also when there is no need to, with such a taleneted side.

And Ironically Portigal got beat by a goal on penalty won by a classic piece of flop by Mr Henry. No doubt there was contact, but his theatrical act deserves a nomination in the Oscars :)..

Hmm well then may be not Ironical, may be Justice !!!

Vegas.. Here I come !!!

2006-06-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my friend I decided to do it at the airport. Well its only a 1 hr flight from Orange County to Vegas so doing it on the plane was kindda difficult. Anyways waiting at the airport for the flight is quite boring. But the nice faces around sure makes it easier (The girl in orange is cute). One thing tht never stops to amaze me here is the amount of automation this country has. Basically giving the power to the consumer. I can check in sitting in my a/c office and can also print out my borading pass. how cool... I dont see no reason to believe tht such kind of automation is not possible in India. With such huge IT intellect tht India has it shud be as easy as snapping your fingers...I hope I see tht day soon. May be Indian software companies are way too profit driven going after the dollars and euros all the time. Hope some of them catch sense and do something for our land. I agree tht these projects will not bring in the big bucks but they r necessary.

So the quaterfinals of the world cup started today. I could only watch the 1st half of the Ger V Arg game. Now if someone asks me what do I miss the most of being inschool/college days. I think my answer wud be being able to bunk and take a day off anytime you want :).. Paapi peth ke liiye kya kya tyagna padta hai :(( .. My first world cup quaterfinal game miss since USA 94. The game was interesting. Argentina had loads of possesion but never had a really threatning attack. And then the lottery of penalties. But Jens Lehman proved his worth and vindicated his selection over Oliver Kahn. Hmm second world cup in a row the goalkeepers are keeping Germany in the cup. I can't wait to watch the matches tomorrow. Go England.. Go Brazil... I'll be watching these from my hotel room in Vegas :))

Tht Girl in orange was lookin at me. I turned..we had eye contact.. did she smile ??? ..

We have big plans for Vegas and I am hoping to win some bucks if not a million dollars :)... I promise if I win a million dollars I will donate some of it to some chaaritable institue. I hope tht brings me some luck. Murphy stay away. U have done enugh causing the fire in Grand Canyon and forcing us to drop that from the trip. Ok my flight has been announced gotta go.Bye girl in orange.. I see she is actually working on some Differential problems.. Cute girl with brains :)

Now I am writing the last part of this blog at the LAS airport waiting for my friend. Now guess what is the first thing that you see when you come out of the Airplane???......
.......
Slot machines.. these guys have put up slot machines at the Airport at the Gates... it doesnt stop to amaze you :) .... Well lemme go try my luck !! Pray for me !!!

PS: Now I have done it at 2 Airports :))

Vegas Baby !!!

England opens campaign with a Win.....

2006-06-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

England played thier first WC match today against Paraguay. I had to wake up at 5:30 am to catch the match live. Now there arent many things that would make me wake up that early on a saturday or for that matter stay up late a night. But a Football match (that too with England in it), is worth all the effort :)). Being an England supporter it was a good result for us. We Won. But I would be the first to point out that this definetly wasn't a good performance by the team. They didn't gel together and were playing nervous at times. England definetly needs to play much better if they have to live upto the hopes of a football crazy nation and those of many others around the world. They looked content with the 1 goal lead and didn't push for the second one. At times it felt as if no one wanted to have the ball. The forward line for England doesn't look too promising. Crouch definetly isn't the answer. Also one player who needs to pull up is Ashley Cole, he made a lot of mistakes, which went unpunished against a not so skillful Paraguay side, but won't be the case against better opposition.

But not everything was negative for England... remember they did WIN. Joe Cole had a good game and showed why he is one of the looked out for upcoming attacking midfielder. Lampard got a a few good looks at the goal and was only denied by some good saves by the keeper. And Once again Beckham showed the world why he is the best crosser in the world (but he needs to get more involved, he was a non-factor in the second half). The biggest positive for England was that inspite of not performing well they still managed to squeeze a win, signs of a good team. Hopefully they only get better from here and with Rooney back soon would have a very realistic chance of going for the Cup.

Some Facts about the Match:

The 4th minute Goal was the second fastest for England in World Cup History.
The 8th minute taking off of the Goal Keeper was the fastest in World Cup History.
This is the first match in World Cup History with a 1-0 margin that was decided by an own goal.

Keep Cheering for England !!!

And yes before I forget.. Justine Henin Hardine won her 3rd French Open title today :) and I have an NBA Finals game 2 to catch tonight. Hoping the Dallas Mavs make it 2-0. The weekend so far has been good I hope it continues the same way :).

Need Vs Requirement

2006-06-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

The topic of one of the IM sessions I had with my friends on the Chicago trip was "The Indian Software Industry". Well we were all trying to figure out what the future holds for the IT sector in India and how we can ensure it’s a rosy one. One of the points was that we have to move up the value chain :) (Doesn’t that sound so clichéd). Important is to know how can we do it. It did get me thinking and here's a point of view.

Till now we have been consumed with "Client Requirements" and fulfilling them on/before time. And in doing so making sure we provide them with the highest quality (minimum bugs/rework). Couple this with the low-cost and we have a winner. But the low-cost advantage is not going to stick with India for a long time to come. As the Indian economy grows stronger and the Rupee appreciates this would be less and less of a factor. Already organizations are exploring places like the South-Africa and Philippines, which in fact has prompted some of our IT-giants to open offices at these places. Wait till China catches up on English and then we would be scrambling for jobs as realized by the manufacturing industry in US.

I think we now need to move towards "Client Needs" and understand what exactly the business needs of our clients are and how we can help them fulfill those. This is how we may move from being a "Service Provider" meeting requirements to being a "Solution Provider" fulfilling business needs and helping business's stay competitive.

So next time you get some requirements don't just start on them blindly. Wait and ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. Why does he need this? Or does he really need this?
2. Is there a better way to implement the Business Need?

Try to understand the NEED....!!!

Chicago Trip

2006-06-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

I left work early.. really early (12:00 Noon). Now those who think "wow tht rocks, leaving work so early at client location", well I did have to compensate for it. I went in early (read 7 am) everyday that week. My shuttle to the airport had me waiting and when it finally showed up as expected it was a Mexican driver. Now that is something very common with California. Most drivers, lawn mowers, Janitors, fast food restraunt employees are mexicans. Some say it is the close proximity of the mexican border with california that we find so many mexicans here. But what most people dont know is that California and parts of Texas were originally part of Mexico. California became a US territory only in 1847 after a war :)(and they ask us to exercise restrain). And now California is the most populous state in US and any of them are immigrants.

The plane ride was ok, they don't serve anything other than water and juices on a domestic flight. NO solids.. sucks. As I was cursing myself for not having eaten before boarding the plane I heard the captain announce " Ladies and Gentleman on our right you can have a gr8 Arial view of the Grand Canyon ". Shit!!! Shoud have taken the window seat :(.. Anyways I did get to see some of it and understood exactly the meaning of the word rubberneck.

I got to my friends place at abt 1 am. Some background here. This trip was a reunion of 7 old college friends. Now two of these during the past 4 yrs have gotten married..to each other .. and were playing our hosts. Listening to thier stories of how they got together, convinced each other and the parents and finally got married, had us all bemused.

Over the next 3 days all we did was talk, eat, talk some more, eat some more. Now what did we talk about. well everything under the sun. Starting from Friends (GF/BF), fiancees, work, Old college days, future of India, Arjun Singh, etc.. etc.. All the gossips were interrupted by sessions of IM. Being with old friends made me remember my other grp from work (Miss u guys). And yes we did do some of the normal tourist things of moving around the city. Chicago downtown is cleaner than manhattan, but given a choice I wud prefer to be in Manhattan any day. Being in Chicago also makes you feel as if the Whites have come to visit India.

The trip bak to LA was adventurous to say the least. A storm caused my flight to be delayed till 8:15. I tried to check-in at 7:30, only to realize that they rescheduled the flight at 7:45 and I was too late to check-in. They put me on standby for the next flight at 10:00 pm, but being a long weekend the standby (waiting list) never cleared. So I was stuck in Chicago for an extra day. But I consider everything in Life as an experience and the important thing is to learn from them (Now don't I sound like a philospher). So what did I learn from this fiasco.. Just a few tips to anyone who happens to miss a flight..

1. Get urself on the standby for the next available flight and get urself a backup boarding pass for the next flight with some seats on it.

2. Try to get on a plane flying to an airport close to ur original destination.

3. Try some connecting flights if no direct flights are available.

4. Ask the airlines to book you on some other Airlines. Likelihood of this hapening is pretty low, but still worth a shot.

5. Finally if your flight is delayed keep looking at the monitors regularly for the updated departure time, as these are "Estimated" and can and will change. I learnt it the hard way.

Happy Flying !!!

Korean BBQ

2006-05-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

One of my work friends had his b'day last week and we took him out to a Korean BBQ place. He is Japenese, but we cudn't find a good Jap restaurant so decided on Korea. I really like the Idea of takin out the B'day boy for lunch/dinner and make him feel special. This is not exactly how we made our friends feel special. Well getting your ass kicked is now a tradition, it aint a bday if there aint no ass kicking :). This was then followed by painting the face with the cakes and finally the "Golden Shower".. now don't get ideas.. its just a "Beer shower".
Anyways I won't DIGress anymore... so we went out for dinner to this Korean BBQ place. The speciality of the house is that each table has a BBQ grill in the center and you are served with plates and plates of raw meat(read beef), Pork, Sea food and yes chicken too..We have to cook the food ourselves on the grill. It was a nice experience, doing a BBQ, but more than the food it is the time you spend just chatting and goofing around while the food cooks (which takes a while) is more fun. Although I must say I enjoyed the food a lot too... and added few more items to my list of wierd things I have eaten. I got to eat a Cow's Tongue... its tasty, but chewy...but not chewy enough like a squid.
And ofcourse no bday can end without a cake so we had some delicious cheesecake to top it all... Hmm Hungry Kya ???

Scream

2006-05-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

Eeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.....oooooooohhhhhhhhh......
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. that is all I heard whole of yesterday. It was as if I was watching a Horror movie from the 80's.. but the only difference being that there were no bloodbaths, no gory images and the screams were not screams of horror or of people dying.. these were the screams of pleasure and thrill and everyone had big smiles on their faces. Yes I had been to the 6 flags magic mountain adventure park. One of the most thrilling and fun experiences I have had. Sitting on all those roller coaster rides makes you feel so out of control. And then wasting your money on all the silly games tht there are in the amusement park, trying to win :), makes you feel so stupid. Some of the rides are really scary. Imagine yourself having a freefall from a hieght of 1000ft and the fall gets broken just in time, but wait thats not the end of it, you are then throw into few successive inverted 360 degree head over heel turns followed by some spins in all possible angles. And this was just one of them, there were many more :). Being at the park made me feel wowed by the engineering marvel and how it has brought smiles to the faces of so many people. And being an Engineer it made me feel proud.. not that i am doing anything even remotely Engineer like.

But there are a few downers of going to an amusement park, especially on a weekend. The long, winding, never ending queues. I had to wait for 2:13 hrs to get to do a ride. And to make it even worse is when you have a couple right ahead of you that can barely keep their hands, lips, etc.. off each other. You are trying to not look, but cmmon, it too darn difficult, and god it makes you feel soooo lonely...

6-2 to me

2006-05-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yes.. I finally took a set off my Tennis Partner. the scoreline read 6-2 :). then ofcourse he beat me the next 3 of them. but they were close. I am getting close. I have 2 more months to win a match against him, before I head back to India.

Metatarsal... Not Again !!!

2006-05-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

What is it with the England Football team and the Metatarsal bone... It certainly is the "Haddi" in thier "Kababs". The papers call it the "Curse of the Metatarsal" and I quite certainly agree. If my memory serves me right, I think this is the third time in a row that before any important competition the Metatarsal has played the ghost for the English camp, and twice to the same player. And they say Lightning does not strike the same place twice !!! For WC 2002 it was David Beckham and for the last two times its been "wonder kid" Wayne Rooney. He broke his Metatarsal in the Euro 2004 and now just before WC he's broken it again. It is so agonising for us fans not to see such an amazing player in action (I can't even imagine how bitter Wayne would be).

I was so looking forward to this yrs cup (I still am), to see Ronaldinhio, C Ronaldo, Rooney and Messie. 4 great young players, each vying for the elusive dream. It is so heart-breaking to not see one of them play, especially when the English camp depends so heavily on him. The England team without their killer striker does not even come close to being champions. I know Owen is fit, but he hasn't been the same ever since all those Hamstrings pulls. This also calls in question why Mr Fergusson kept playing Rooney even when ManU was down 3-0 in the 79th min and with little chance of catching Chelsea in thier league match and the race to the cup. Don't get me wrong being a ManU fan it absolutely pains me to see the Million Dollar Boys take the Premiership title. Instead of The Blues they might as well be called The GREENS coz that is whatz driving them... the CASH, the MOOLAH !!! And even after spending so much to build a team like that the best they could do was the League Cup... THEY SUCK !!! CHEL$HITS...Atleast the ARSEHOLS could reach the UEFA championship finals, where ultimately they are gonna have their ARSES kicked by Ronaldinhio and co. Anyways point being wouldn't it have been better to take Rooney off and not risk an injury which he ultimately sustained, that late in the game.

Anyone reading this plssssssssssssssssss pray that Rooney has a miraculous recovery in six weeks time (I have my fingers, hands, legs crossed) . For a better WC. For better competition. For England FC.

Champion Champion Ole Ole Ole !!!

Work

2006-04-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

Thts all its been for last 2 weeks (including weekends :(().. i am neck deep in it, trying hard to stay afloat. but its been interesting work so tht helps... Guess what !!! even now i am actually monitoring a cycle..and the goddamn month-end cycle is on so my Jobs do not get any Initiators sending them into an endless wait.. (for those who didnt get a word of wat i said in the 2 lines above....i cud explain u..but then u r better of not knowing).

I recently started playing tennis, although I havent picked up the racquette for sometime now. And desperately want to start hitting some balls soooooooooooon. I surprised myself at how quickly I picked up the game and am able to match my tennis partner (whos been playing since he was 11).. Ok Ok... I am able to match him sometimes..for most parts the sets are 6-0..ofcourse to him.. My closest with him have been 7-6 (7-4 in tie breaker). We have a bet to see if I would beat him before leaving for India :))... I definetly wud.

Courtsey my tennis partner I was invited to Easter Lunch at his place in San Diego. he's a Mexican, so was the food..and it was amaaaaazing. Other than the Salsas, Tortillas, nachos, I was lucky enugh to get to try the "Carne Asada". It is marinated grilled beef served with tortillas, but I was interested just in the beef :))... A meal i'll remember for a long time.

Oh well... my job finally got an initiator, but sadly it has abended..a SB37.. nuthing much.. but I got to restart my job.

Coffee it is....

2006-04-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

"God made coffee on the Seventh Day, So he could face Monday Morning"... How True :)). I read this amazing quote at one of the coffee places that I regularly go to.

About a month or so back one my colleagues had asked me "What wud I miss the most from USA, when I return back to India".. and my answer at that time was "Food". No doubt the food in this country has so much variety to it and the portions here are humungous :).. Its always a struggle to finish them off. But last few weeks have made me change my opinion. I think the thing i'm gonna miss the most is gonna be the Coffee (.. doesnt that tell u wat a foodie i am :)). Yeah it will be the Coffee. Not that we dont get good coffee in India, but still there is no concept of "Coffee to go" back home. You have to go to a coffee place, order something, sit back.. relax.. wait for 15 mins for your order to come and then sip it slowly... agonizing the people waiting to find a seat. So you see its more like a project in itself, to be undertaken only by thou who have thee patience and thee time to kill.

Someday a Starbucks or a Tully's would hopefully come to India too.... I'll be waiting.... Eagerly. After all its God who wants me too :))

Unwritten...

2006-04-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

Every now and then a song comes along with which u can really relate to. And it sticks. For me at this moment that song is "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. The lyrics of this song are like my life story. I bet there wud be many others who wud be saying ...yeah mine too.. i guess thts wat makes it a gr8 song.. it touches all human beings.

Here are some lyrics from the songs

"feel the rain on your skin
noone else can feel it for you, only you can let it in
noone else can speak the words on your lips,
drench yourself in words unspoken,
live your life with arms wide open..
today is where your book begins..
The rest is still unwritten..."

I cud probably go on and on coz i love the song so much and probably coz i know the lyrics by heart :).. i dunno i somehow always tend to remember the lyrics of a song if i hear it 2-3 times....

the song goes on to shout "Release your Inhibitions".. i guess thats what i've been trying to do, no thats wat everyone tries to do in some way or the other...everyday... and for me starting this blog is also a part of that process. Everytime I hear this one it fills me with renewed energy and positivity :).. God! what wud we be without Music?

So here's too "Livin life with Arms wide Open"...

The First One

2006-04-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

Finally !!! On a lazy Sunaday afternoon, in the suburbs of California, I the king of Procrastination got around creating my first blog. Hopefully the first of many to come :), but given my track record of getting "Easily Bored" with things, i really wonder how long would i be able to continue. As with many things in Life it took someones satirical (inspirational) comments to get me to do this... this time some of my dear friends. But now that I have started .... it feels nice :-)