Friday, October 24, 2008

Diwali...bang..bang..@Office

As diwali approaches closer,the office is entangled in a festive mood.The exuberence is there..no doubt...but not because of yet another festival but because of the oppurtunity to go home and meet your near and dear ones.
The term "Software Engineer" is at most time misleading.The term "s/w engineer" is a synonym for "couchy potatoes".....tired brains.....horny spectacles...dull faces..bulky bodies [:)]......hence ...Festivals like diwali are one of the most awaited festivals for the entire s/w community.
The vigor for the festival can be well judged by the fact that people apply for leave well before 1 month in advance......they just keep their eyes glued before the web-leave site to see the status of their leaves.
Even i applied for the diwali leave well before 1 month and got it approved.I am leaving for my home tomorrow.....cheers.....Happy diwali to you all..have a blast... [:-)]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Celebrations@OFFICE

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Today was the last working day before diwali in my office.So,the atmosphere was electrifying.There were two competetions viz..."rangoli competetion" and "cubicle decoration competetion"...sounds weird rt???yeps..bt it's true...and as usual...i participated in none of the

events [:)].
Only the teams with high ratio of the "fairer sex" participated....don't ask me why??Just rake your mind and you'll come up with the evident reasoning...bt any ways..i got my share of sweets and i am happy the way things have turned out for me today......
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Thursday, October 23, 2008

The enigma of mumbai local train....

Only folks from Mumbai know what this is all about for the ones who have to travel through train.....
A recent incident saw one such hapless victim falling prey to the overenthusiastic nature of Bombay's local train commuters. Our hero, a man from Pune, wanted to go to Matunga, but as luck and trains would have it, boarded a fast train not halting at his destination. He panicked on realising his mistake but by then the local had started moving. On seeing his plight, a sympathetic co-passenger decided to come to his rescue. It seemed that he had been commuting by that particular train (6:03pm Kasara Fast) for the past 6 years and had noticed that the train always slowed down just before Matunga station and crawled at a snail's pace while passing through it. He told the man to jump out of the running train as it slowed down and that with a little bit of fleet-footedness, he would make it safely on terra firma. However, knowing the man's inexperience, he added some words of caution:
"Keep running the moment you jump or you'll fall. Just keep running." He stressed the word "running" lest the man not know thelaws of motion. The train did slow down just before Matunga station and at the prompting of his mentor, our hero jumped out of the train and started running as if all hell had broken loose. What he didn't realise, of course, was that he was running parallel to the train instead of running away from it. Meanwhile, the train slowed down further, so that the man was running faster than the train. In the process, he reached the door of the next compartment and the footboard commuters there pulled him in thinking he was trying to board the train! To his agony, the train picked up speed and sped past Matunga and his new co-passengers started to congratulate him on how lucky he had been, until he told them that they had actually undone what he had done with great difficulty. Those standing at the door of his "ex-compartment" had witnessed the whole drama and just couldn't stop laughing at the poor man's situation, while he grinned sheepishly.
Yeh hai mumbai meri jaan......................

Monday, October 20, 2008

My mundane odyssey in BBS....

The title looks a bit tricky ...rt???must b wondering wtf is this BBS??well....no need to rake ur brains..
it's an acronym for best bus service..of mumbai...can't be lauded as the life-line of coz dis tag is the 
sole proprietery of mum local trains...[:)]but it's definitely the life-line of the those timid newbies like me
who can't even think of plying by train on a daily basis...

  When i first landed in mumbai...i was filled wd awe seeing the local trains n local buses..the way the local trains
are packed...even "yamraj" won't dare 2 step his foot in d crowded trains...In last 5 months,I have travelled a lot...so
much that now i can realize why lf in mumb is termed so "fast"..coz...u almost spent about 20% of your time travelling...
            
              My day starts with a BBS and ends with BBS...now you understand why this BBS is so vital for any mumbaiker..
as What i don't like the most about these buses is the behaviour of the co-passengers..particularly those of opp sex.
The buses r packed to such an extent that if passengers are thought as atoms ,then the interatomic distance will tend to zero and the atomic
density will tend to infinity.. :) lolz...just a metaphor..another warning....if by mistake you dash again any gal or even an old lady,
they will give u such a glare dt u feel dey will charge u  wd physical harassment case..oh my god!!!! how can dey even give 
an innocent fella like me such a glare...hence i make it a point to always keep distance wd species of opposite sex...

           Whatever be the case..it's not less than any adventure to travel by BBS daily...some may term is as 
"Bloody bus service",.,..but i still hail it as "Best bus service"...it's cheap...it's accessible...it's the 
common man's "Palace on wheels"....he he... :)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

One Minute Manager

Recently i read the book entitled "The One Minute Manager" by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson.It's a hugely popular book,though I wasn't aware of it's popularity when I picked up this book.To be honest,what propelled me to choose this book at first was the size of the book.But once I started reading,I realized what a gem of a book it was!

          The author explains the intricate concepts of management in a very unsophisticated way which any ordinary person(like me :-))can also devour.He has wrapped up the whole concept behind a dexterously woven out plot.The key secrets that the author speaks about are the 1 minute goal settings(1 page,max of 250 wordS),1 minute praisingand 1 minute reprimand.The author has explained preciseley how and why these techniques work.

         Even though I am not a voracious reader,I still enjoyed this book.I gobbled up the whole book consisting of some 100 odd pages in 2 days.Hats off to the authors!!!!!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Freshers in S/W company...

Freshers in S/W firms are like chickens among cocks and hens.Freshers for a software company are like termites.As termites eat away the wood,so does the freshers.Inspite of having many web based filters like "websense".. :)....none can stop them from orkutting..orkutting is like a religion..
Ask any fresher about the number of proxy servers and proxy by-passing s/w he knows.....
   
               You feel stifling in a s/w firm when you join it straight after college.You have to control your tongue,think twice b4 u speak anything....no mc..bc...xtra... :-)..if u start conversing with some college mates in your cubicle and some "desi" slang utters from your mouth..the pple in your cubicle will stare at you as if you have committed some grave crime and should be shot on spot.

       One can bored in a corporate world looking at the same faces everyday..the same dull faces with horny spectacles....horrible...they look like some lemon which has been deprived of it's juice and squeezed.
            
      n yes....no "time-pass items"..it's like a crime to oogle at any gal....u can only discuss some major hot fixes n trackers with them...as if they are about to get some major patent in their name...:)
 
 Inspite of this s/w comp..r a cool place...."not to work"...."but to hang around...sip in a cup of coffee....engage in some college gossips....reading blogs..orkutting....and enjoying yourself"...
    ....after all who doesn't want to get paid jsut for browsing net.....he  he... 

                         

Yeh hai mumbai meri jaan................

Mumbai.......the city that never sleeps...the city that's been christened the name "amchi mumbai".......the city that's lauded as the financial capital of india..the city that cradles the bollywood in it's arms.These are some of the chronic features of this city.But there's lot more that adds extra aura to this city.
                 I've been staying in mumbai for last 5 months and i was amazed to find the warm-heartedness of the mortal beings inhabiting this place.I've travelled to many places in india but when it comes to the general public...a.k.a "aam janta"...mumbai is unparalled.People won't misguide you any time.Recently i was travelling at 12.00 midnight.I was travelling by a different route..so i had forgotten my way to home.I was a bit apprehensive about the fact that travelling in a city like mumbai can be dangerous but i had no other way out.I asked a stranger on the way for showing me the path...u won't believe it that man walked with me  about 1k.m just to show me the path.How many pple would do that at 12.00 at night.... 
                  I am not a marathi..but still i love the spirit of mumbaikar....The only things that feels you with awe are the  crowded local buses and needless to mention the local trains...."the lifeline of mumbai"...recently i lost my cell in the bus... :(...

                                                "Mumbai simply rocks!!!!!!!"