MuSiNgS oF a Maverick

understanding Thoreau -Transcendental - Poetry - 1

2009-06-19T08:44:00.009+05:30

It is an attempt to understand the works of the Great Transcendental Philosoper and Poet Henry David Thoreau. Alongside, I would also plan to improve my skills of understanding poetry. Thoreau is not very successful a regular poets. But his poems dealt with his life, his understanding of nature and his transcendental ideals. My first attempt ever to understand poem :)

Theme of the poem –

Henry David Thoreau liked to live in the woods. He spent several years in Walden near Concord in a small house in the outskirts of the city. He experimented by living with basic essentials. He wanted to be near to the nature and experience its beauty. As a transcendentalist, nature has been an influential component for his thoughts. He believed that there was an ideal spiritual state that goes beyond the physical and empirical world which can be understood by the self intuition rather than the doctrines of religions. It clearly shows that the individuals indulgence with simplistic aspects of nature is worthy than the worldly possessions. This poem advocates that living with the nature is most important thing for an individual as it helps him to realise the intrinsic divinity associated with the nature which he already knows rather than believing that he is ruled by the divine. At the same time in the modern context, the poem tries to disown the government and seeks to the individual importance.

Understanding the actual poem

O Nature! I do not aspire

To be the highest in thy quire-

To be a meteor in the sky,

Or a comet that may range on high;

Only a zephyr that may blow

Among the reed by the river low;

Give me thy most privy place,

To run my airy race.

The language of the poem is simple and easy to understand. Thoreau starts by telling some of the uncontrollable incidents of the nature. Then he comes to things he actually wants to get from nature. A refreshing wind among the reeds near the river, Thoreau wants to find solitude to live his simple life. The same tone is continued through the rest of the poem.

In some withdrawn unpublic mead,

Let me sigh upon a read,

Or in the woods with a leafy din,

Whisper the still evening in

Some still work give me to do

Only be it near you

In this part of the poem, he tries to emphasize intangible need to be near to the nature. Even if the moments are rough, he prefers to be silently living with the nature. He expects to work in the pleasant nature.

For I’d rather be thy child

And pupil, in the forest wild,

Than be the king of men elsewhere,

And most sovereign slave of care:

To have a moment of thy dawn

Than share a city’s year of forlon.

He finishes the poem having believed that it is best for him to be in the nature. Rather than being powerful ruler, he wants to be a nature’s child and prefers to learn from the wild. It brings him more happiness to be able to see an early sun rise than the rattling godforsaken time in the city. This highlights the individualistic approach of Thoreau towards his life. He once said that in a society with unjust government, the just place for an individual is prison. He calls “city” where the government rules as a godforsaken place. He advocates that nature which gives him complete freedom is better.

The poem has true ingredients of transcendentalism.

"My life has been a poem I would have written

but I could not both live and utter it" -- Thoreau

One of the phrases I really liked :)

BECAUSE I LIKE TO - a domestic disturbance!!!!

2008-01-31T10:15:00.000+05:30

Its been months that I touched my blog. So not to get years in play, I am writing this article for my fans :) just kiddin.....

Life has been smooth till now. Is it? Uncertainty of future makes it look so. Change is the only thing that wont change in life. So is my life. Where did I start, no vague idea. Where am I headin? no sign in the distant far...yet tryin to connect dots by looking backward....When I look back at my college days, I did not have any hint that I would come back to study again. I always used to think gettin a job is the end of life. This reminds me of my parents "punch line" from my7th board exams. "Work this year buddy, life is gonna be settled!!!". They told me the same thing in my 10, 11,12, B.Tech, Job, even before coming to EUMI.... An immature person, I am, I never understood the real meaning of it..its a vicious cycle.....but i have performed really well with out knowing if it is what I want. So what did I want? simply nothin conventional....I saw people wanted so many things in life as aspirations. The biggest shock was when a friend of mine told me that he was getting married immediately after college, I was confused. Were we that matured?I struggled to see myself as a matured individual. I donno if I am one. But certainly I have become more mature from time I am out of school to the time I am into the school again.
This has brought in me some thoughts of desperateness to prove myself again at each and every point(may be it has become a habit) . But this time, only if I love it. For the first time I fought with my parents and distanced them from my career decisions. I joined TCS with this attitude. I started to detest openly if someone tries to compare me or compare with in any aspect. I grew lot of self respect and lot of over confidence in myself. My job has shown me the impatient world and the lazy minds fightin change. I took responsible roles and worked hard. I made the mark. But end of the day seeing what I am doing and sensing no direct impact on anything made me impatient. What next?? bugged me..I stopped doing the my job following implication..I decided not to do anythin I dont like. Decided to take what I like most and the best...next step!…

I always used to think why I did the job, had I not gone to higher education directly, now I say that my best move of life…I understood several things no book can teach, experienced glitches everywhere which is the spice of life J and most importantly learnt lessons….but why study now? this time I can answer.....because I like to

What did I learn? This time it is not nothing, anymore. I have realized that its the journey that is more important rather than the destiny. If the destiny is so fast, whats the use of having a long life :) so i am happy waiting for the dots to connect soon an puttin in my share of energy!...

too much of soul searchin stuff....happens sometimes....

nothing --- thts all--an idea i thought abt an year n half back

2007-08-08T00:06:00.001+05:30

Whenever man tries to probe into the universe's dimension of time, he will finally be confronted with eternityWhere he tries to understand the dimension of space, he will be finally confronted with infinity।

So there is no begining for the universe...... even the numbers start from -infinity to + infinity, i mean we can not say the begining and the ending।The question ... why we exist? ---> we assume that it leads to the question of how something comes from nothing?the reason of how we came frm nothing is impossible to explain॥ rather we can say why we exist by recognising our own inevitability(unavoidable) Imagine urself going back in time till the begining of universe.....at the moment where ur are being sucked in from somewhere....the begining pt। we are moving into the ultimate nothingness.the thought is wht exists beyond this point? If we carefully study the common meaning of nothing we can discover two distinct references. One reference we make is toward something that has no discernable form or substance, such as a void or a vacuum. Nothing logically wrong in that case. This type of nothing is real and exists. It is actually quite ordinary. But the other reference we make when using the word nothing is toward a different and much more radical concept, that of non-existence.There is a real nothing that seems to have no form, and this nothing is one of the most common features found in nature, space being the most obvious example. If we remove all the ordinary matter from space it becomes a singular expression of nature. The oneness of space makes it a singularity. So actually nothingness is identified with something (oneness.... that is everything seen is one....). Something represents nothing. This nothing is real and it exists. Dictionary defines "nothing" as something that does not exist....it is referring to someobject that does not exist. It makes no real sense. Wht word shld represent a form tht is not a form, a thing tht is not a thing?? Wht concept has no reality or meaning॥?? This is non-existence...which if defined using a meaningful ideaand as the otherwise of tht idea, defies the reality..... We mix these two, nothing tht exist and non-existence and hence we are not able to understand why we r here.......

Nonexistence.....In the use of meaning, the meaning that otherwise defines all things in all languages, a non-existence cannot be described. Nor can it be imagined or conceptualized. It cannot be signified, or resembled, or symbolized. By its own definition, a non-existence cannot even be inferred with any logical coherency. I am saying this to mean that the term non-existence does not belong as a member of any language. Its use is a contradiction in meaningfulness. And there is no escaping this realization once it is understood. So non existence is being defined with a meaningtaking the contradiction of the meaning which is meaningless.....so non existence defined as meaningless idea.......It is the existence and being of the universe that creates meaning, or at least they are intermingled. If existence is meaning ful, the contradiction of it non-existence shld be defined as something meaning less.Only existence allows for there to be meaning, just as only meaning allows for there to be existence. At the heart of the matter is that total nothingness, isn't a possibility. Non-existence by its own definition cannot be. That is a very ponderous statement, but a true one. The most simple logic, and the deepest intuition, both lead to this same realization. There is no alternative to existence. So our earlier time line into the past to search for the beginning of existence can never reach any point of origin. There is no such precipice as the one imagined.If we look into the past we might find a point where our space-time begins from some timeless singularity, a state which continues to exist even after our time begins and travels away from it, or maybe there is some other explanation of being begetting being. But any attempt to find an ultimate beginning from nothing is doomed to fail.So it means a state exists .... a state of oneness which exists much before us and later to us....so there is no begining and ending to the existance.The absence of thingness is just no things. But no things is still a thingThe universe is everywhere we go and everywhere we see. There is no place where the universe is not. Yet we still imagine in a vague way an alternative, as if the universe could stop existing, as if we ourselves might not exist. Its kind of funny really, the way we spend most of our lives thinking we shouldn't exist, not realizing how inevitable and innate we are, and we do so only from making a subtle mistake.

My journey to ADELAIDE .... ofcourse journey back tooo

2007-04-12T11:58:00.000+05:30

On 17th sep, I set out on a mission to reach Adelaide in Australia and present my paper on "Leadership" in ICIIP. I had done a worthwhile thing instead of working. You know I even got a "Continuous learning award" for this.The travel was planned much ahead say 6 months back but I got the tickets a day before only. I was in flying spirits. My boss called me and wished me "ALL THE BEST" an finally he said that I have to compensate this trip of my own initiation by working on all the weekends.Well had it but no probs I have a full week of enjoyment ahead. I know this.

Well I went to the airport to catch a flight to bombay in the early morning. I checked in my stuff and like a typical vooru guy I requested the person for a "window seat". Lucky for me through out the journey I always had "window seat". Then I boarded the jet airways plane to Bombay. I slept in the plane and airhostess used to disturb me for meals and drink etc and finally to get down. Well thts the fun, she would very politely request me to wake and the sound was no way near to my ear. Then finally during the landing ..because of a jerk I got up. Surprised to reach Bombay so fast. I got down from the plane and reached the baggage collection counter. Always I had a feeling that i am going to loose my luggage.

After reaching Bombay I waited about 1 hr for the bus to take me to the international airport. I quickly got down and searched for the singapore airlines flight and reached a counter for the immigration check. I have gone to an empty counter and stood there .... then suddenly I realised that I was in the wrong queue and seen a very big queue 2 counters away. I asked them and realised that It was the same flight i am supposed to get in. I stood at the end of the 2km long line. Long later I could get this completed and moved to customs. That was done and I reached the boarding lounge.

Then I got into the flight and sat in my window seat. The singapore air hostesses are the best I should say. There was one lady Priyanka who is really beautful. Whenever she used to come around I would request for a glass of apple juice. Here in the plane there is access to about 96 movies. I have seen 2 movies "X men3 and Nacho Libre" by the time I landed in Singapore. Singapore airport is one of worlds biggest airports. For a typical person like me, I did not understand what I should be doing now. I dont know if I have to collect my luggage or not. The time for the my connecting flight to Adelaide is about 3 hrs. I went around and finally was able to spot some airport officials, talked with them, found out that I need not collect my baggage here. I felt little easier and went into shopping malls in the airport. The airport was really awesome. I walked till my legs started aching. Then I went to the gate for the process to begin. Here I met a Danish guy also going to Adelaide. He was reading the Kane and Able book. I just asked him if he was going to Adelaide. Thats it, tht is the only sentence I spoke and that fellow never gave me a chance to speak again. He is such a chatter box, I felt Baba is better at times. i anxiously waited for the announcement and barged in to escape from him. But the fate is that he is in my next seat. I had to bear him for the rest of the journey........

Here I should mention one grt thing happened to me. In the middle of the night, airhostess (Priyanka) gave me a packet. It has something like socks in it. After reaching Adelaide I put on these new socks. i came in the evening and seen the contents of the packet. It was written gloves in the contents. Suddenly I realised tht gloves are the socks that I am wearing. Earlier I got a doubt that these socks are very short but convinced logically that singaporeans are short, hence are the socks......sry gloves :))

In the sep18th2006 moring I reached adelaide

a disco with Pam

2007-03-20T23:19:00.000+05:30

Whenever there is a chance, two idle people on this earth get into argument on mostly a topic which can ire me...Ofcourse one is me myself and myself(again) and the other is none other than the first uncle of our batch Mr Pammy(pratap)। After a lot of gap in our series of arguments, from 2 days we have been fighting on why MIS. So i thought why not write an article on this॥ So these are my view points about MIS in regard to my career aspirations. Acronym MIS has two long forms.Masters in Information Systems and Management of Information Systems. The simple distinction is tht they r not the same. Precisely Masters in Information Systems is offered by CS schools of the universities. Where as the Management of Information Systems is offered by the BSchools of the universities. Is tht all ??? So as MIS's offered by CS departments tend to be more technical in the sense of CS and MIS's offered by BSchools are more in the application side of IT to managerial problems. I would like to say that MBA with IT specialization is more or less related to that MIS offered by the BSchools. Infact many BSchools offer specialized masters where in u can do Masters in Finance, Marketing, Information Systems etc. You almost take the same courses offered by the BSchools and sometime very much share the same curriculum of an MBA specializing in tht field. Like u may say MBA - IT might be some what similar to MIS of BSchool except tht the requirements and core courses stuff might differ to some extent in these cases.

In MBA mostly people go and do courses in Depth। I dont mean to say courses across the breadth is bad. I mean majority of people who come to do MBA are for career change, moving into higher position. Suppose I wanted to move into a finance domain from IT domain, it would be very advantageous to me if I do an MBA with more courses of finance(this is prcisely wht i call specialization"). This is precisely true and is same with any degree. You always have a set of compulsory courses and then a set of electives. What i mean is if we take a typical MBA gard who happens to take many courses in Systems, his profile of courses(major+electives) will look very much similar to that of courses taken by MIS grads. For example in the MIS prg I am going to take, I will take the same electives taken by MBA grads and economics grads. And I do agree I wont gain much abt other domains other than IT and its applications. Well in my case I really dont want to do an MBA finance, marketin and sales which are more popular TRACKS (taking more electives of finance etc). I guess MIS can be a good option if u are planning to jump into IT domain. Because in the current class of MIS at LSE , there are many doctors, economists and commerce people who are planning to specialize in Information Systems. But I do agree, with MBA u have more scope. So what ever you want to do, study the curriculum and then decide. Ofcourse u can get carried with brand too. If tht is gonna help you what u want to do, then its also a major factor.

I was in the idea of doing MBA earlier in systems alone। So doing an MIS from management dept would be very much in line with wht i want to do. My sole idea of doing some higher studies is to get into WorldBank. I was analysing on ways I can convert my profile to match that of a typical World Bank guys. What do WB need?? they mainly recruit economists and financial experts. But I am really not interested in doing finance as my career. Well WB also recruits rural development experts. Hehehe, this is my focus area. I am aiming for a career where in I can use technology to fight against poverty. Infact I started touring along with my dad on his camps in various districts. The concept of SHG and its strucure and maintenance was really a great thing(I will write a dedicated article on experiences with SHGs). These things were started by my dad during his days in United Nations and his short interaction with Yunus and Sohaib Sultan Khan. Infact some places in Ananthapur have really came out of poverty with my dads initiatives of about 10years. Whenever I go to visit some yester years places where my dad used to work earlier, I get lot of inspiration to do something like him. Its always a funny thing to realise tht my dad was a researcher in Astrophyics during his studies. Now he works for upliftment of real poor. He says he realised tht he should be doing this kind of work sometime in the middle of his pursuit for PhD. He left tht and started preparing for civils and he became a state government officer. Finally, with many experiences and deputations he joined and worked with international organizations. And now he is on deputaion with World Bank as regional project director. As with each experience I unnoticingly developed an interest in his work. I myself was never sure of wht IT can do to me. I was surprised when my dad told me tht they have developed a management informationsystem with performance indicators to evaluate the development of people, manage ones business. He says IT has lot of scope for the devlopment in any respect. So these words have added strength to my determination. I realised tht if u have an aim anything can be mended to match your way of thinking. I started to look in ways where IT can be made useful to lives of people. I like to customize my profile and make myself an expert in developing systems which can be of benefit to poor. I dont know how I can achieve this but you know I am better than many, I am sure of my destination. Path has to follow or I myself will lay a path .

The passion of doing this kind of things is wht I wrote in my applications. I guess I am happy I realised it. So whereever I go, keeping this aim, I would like to customize my profile to do this kind of things. Infact when I was offered Erasmus Scholarship, I was worried I would be moving away frm my dream, but I have found my specialization of life science informatics to be inline with my idea. I want to study this topic in depth and after which I will take a socio economics perspective of this. I have postponed LSE a little later(because of scholarship only). But I guess after I take up LSE after two years I guess I will find more meaning in what I am doing.

Irony of Life

2007-03-15T15:02:00.001+05:30

What is irony of life? The irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive :)

It is the same with every being on this earth….my situation is like tht…I took a decision that I would go for LSE but at the same time landed in big mess of decision making. I got another admit from Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. So wht is this??? It is a programme started by the European Union to encourage top international students to come from other countries and study in top universities in Europe. Infact a consortium of universities namely University of Edinburgh, University of Trento and RWTH Aachen University came together and instituted a Programme in Informatics. This is called the prestigious European Masters in Informatics. I was selected as one of the 23 persons from applicants from all over the world to the European Union Consortium. Bells ringin….I am on the top of the world. I don’t believe it myself. To speak of the programme it is too sexy and tempting to reject. I got to spend one year at the beautiful abode of angels on this earth at Scotland. Nope, I have to study at this place, University of Edinburgh. This is fine living right. Then after one year I got to go to another breathtaking place called University of Trento(a top technical university in Europe). Guys!!, here the college is itself at the feet of Alps mountains. Its, another damn good place. I got to spend nearly one year here. By chance I might spend some time in Aachen University- Germany (world war stuff). The prg is too cool right…. experiencing three different cultures and stayin in different countries. And you know all this is for free free free. I got this with a scholarship of 42000euros( I will have to work for 10 years in TCS to get that amnt of money :)).

This pic is view from my seniors balcony …

I approached many people and most them gave me one advice to take up this programme.

Vijay Kalavakonda a friend of my dad in World bank sent a mail to me appreciating me…

Dear Ravi,

FIRST, my congratulations on your achievements - I envy you for riches. It's quite tricky on what to advice. Let me start-off by saying that LSE has a good "brand" value BUT so does University of Edinburgh. LSE is know internationally more for it's Economics (incl. health), International Relations, Environment
programs, hence I am not sure how much one will lose by going to an other good and reputable University to do something other than economics. Let me put it this way - I were you I would go to Univ of Edinburgh for THREE reasons: a) Very Good University; b) FULL Scholarship; and c) since it's a NON-ECONOMICS course.

In terms of engaging with The World Bank the best way would be to start doing some ICT (Info Communications and Technology) projects while a) you are still at School i.e., Summer Assignment; and b) short-term consulting opportunity. Given your experience with TCS I don't foresee any problem and I am pretty confident you would do much better. FINAL piece of advise PLEASE DO NOT BOTHER TO KEEP World Bank as your objective since you could do much better and bigger stuff with other technology
organizations i.e., meaning DON'T WASTE YOUR TALENT. If you want to talk to me give me your cell number and I will give you a call.

Hope this helps.
Regards
Vijay Kalavakonda
Financial Markets for Social Safety Net
Finance and Private Sector Development
The World Bank ,Washington DC

And Mr Hanumanth Rao garu, professor at Ohio’s Fisher Business school has adviced me like this.

I looked through the information on the web for the EUMI course. It sounds interesting, and appears to be well rated. Your specialization in life science informatics will position you well for research in the area of biomedical engineering. Companies like GE Medical will be the best places to work, with this kind of background. World Bank is not an option with this training. They are looking more for economists and finance people. IT is not an important function there, although it serves a supportive role.

LSE is well known and has international reputation. Both of those would position you well for a job in the World Bank. I think you should spend some time thinking of what your passion is. Don’t think of World Bank. Think of what it is that you like to do, and what makes you happy. Your background tells me that achieving excellence in your field of option is not difficult for you. You have done well so far, and you will continue to do well. The key is to find what you like, because life becomes more enjoyable then. If I had to pick between the two right now, given the specialization that you have been admitted to, I would pick the EUMI offer. Let me know if I can help you further. I will be glad to.

Rao Unnava

And my dad’s friend Mr Frang Roi has recently became the Asia’s Country Director of IFAD-UNO. And he stays in Rome, Italy. I was thinking that he might be able to help me get into UNO through some internship.

Its choosing between good and bad tht is the easiest one. You are always sure of making a right decision. But in my case, one option is to go for the London School of Economics and Political Science(LSE) and other is to go for the European Union Masters in Informatics. But here I have to choose between two excellent options which is the most impossible situation I am facing now…

Well I got another great idea which was long implemented by Tenali Rama Krishna.I was thinking why I should not do both I will do the EUMI programme and will stay in Edinburgh(Scotland), Trento(Italy) and London(UK). If possible Aachen(Germany). This is the exposure which will make any person better in all respects. I will then join London School of Economics and pursue ADMIS. I guess then World Bank should be a cake walk too

As of now I still have to wait for the scholarships from LSE to really decide on anything. Well working in TCS I am experiencing UNCERTAINITY. Recently the punch line of TCS is changed to EXPERIENCE CERTAINITY. And of course, this is the irony of life

TCS - > LSE

2007-03-05T14:30:00.000+05:30

After a long time no c situation with my r-a-v-i.blogspot.com, I decided to put in some of my recent thoughts ....

I was reading my previous blogs and they r really funny now.....After the completion of my B.Tech, I had some ideas which I no longer like them very much...I decided to take up a job in TCS and work for 2 years and then go for an MBA in Worlds TOP 50 colleges. A very nice aim to chase up in continuation with the job deal. My B.Tech ended with this resolution. After tht I, with a full swing jumped to take up the corporate opportunity that came over to me in the form of TCS. Nice one, I took it up and landed in Trivandrum. The initial learning programme in TCS was nice, boring and gave me weekends to do real joyous ventures into the scenic kerala. I have been to a good number of places in Kerala. Overall, there was not much of techniocal learning but made nice frens and had lots of nice moments to remember for life :)) After i am done with late aug ilp prg i landed back in hyd with lots of aspirations to make it in TCS. I am a sort of guy who cant stand to a downcasted attitude towards me....so i always end up doing something tht brings recognition/personal satisfaction to me.

My experience in TCS has taught me to take up initiative, know tht things can be achieved with patience and continuous pestering, stratgically identify ppl who can do things, theres no one to stop u and if they r bombard them .......With every day in TCS at P&O project, i have developed an attitude to fight for things and in the processu will be appreciated. This was all nice part a general management perspective learnin stuff. But, what ever it is the pay and work are two main things I did not like here. Ofcourse one can love any work and people feel it a sin to dream of jumping companies for the sake of money. I agree with people jumpin companies for sake of money. Why shld one have a tainted look at guys who shift for better package who do the same crappy work anywhere ?? I have realised tht one cant stay back at a place where u dont find it interesting to work and stay..also frequent comparisons of my parents with good for nothin guys frm us really irritated me at times......but regular international publications and travel has soothened this feelin at times.....but I realised if it is not now, then I might get used and will have to stick here....it is now or never kinda.....this situation motivated me to make a move......well fine decided to make it but where to head? I started preparing for the gmat. I worked up a fair and feasible plan to get into some university for a management career...i have researched abt various colleges in canada, europe and us. heheh ..... I guess I can start a consultancy on overseas education for any country and any branch..... My preparation took many turns, with luckily writing TOEFL before the pattern change stuff, then I started to look at colleges which can be got using sole TOEFL score. I as a back up applied to Univesity of Edinburgh, Manchster Informatics ( Business) school and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology which I got unconditional offers from all. These are all very good universities which come in top 50 globally. I thought it is nice to join these colleges and put them as a backup for my further runnin gmat preparation with idea of doin a management study in global top 50 univs. I feel that I just wanted the brand name for what the heck it takes....

One fine day, I was reading abt london school of economics. The management in inforamtion systems course struck to me as something what I should be doing. This way I can use my Computer Science back ground and experience in IT to study for a management career. LSE is global 2nd and comes next only to Harvard in socio/economic/management courses. So I was in no way sure of gettin it but just wanted to put in my papers for it. So I started writing my Statement of purpose which is one thing which I feel is the best writing I had ever made. I did a great deal of soul searching and wrote it to my truest extent. I jorted down all the achievement, projects, papers etc. I contacted a guy frm Harvard presently working in World Bank in this regard. He advised me to be true to myself. He said if you try to customize your profile which many people do it, u end up putting a very common and insipid and bland statement. This is one advice I thank him for my life. I strictly wrote a story of my own without least intervention frm other influences. I could identify a thin line of flow which has been happening in my life. This has gone unnoticed over. But I could catch it and I wrote a reasonable good draft. My dad and my bro reviewed it. Then I left it for a week or so and later i gave it a reading and felt it has to be improved atleast another 1000th level. So I regularly improved it with my dad and bro reviewing the stuff. I dont know why I really put in this much effort into this lse process. I parallelly got my recommendation letters from my professors PK Reddy and Govindarajulu. I have all the required papers, scores and others and applied to lse - admis course offered by Department of Management. I always thought that gettin into top 10, haa...u need to be like an einstein?? But in the first week of January, I had to change my opinion. I am no einstein but was offered place at London School of Economics and Political Science...."ofcourse einsteins are not offered place in LSE" (LSE). I was also told - "Because of high standard of your application and academic experience to date, you are eligible to apply for one of the limited awards from the Graduate Support Scheme". Man this statement from a school like LSE invigorated my spirits.
Now I am heading to LSE with the sole idea of making it to World bank or UNO.

Inner look

2006-03-17T11:23:00.000+05:30

I have been thinking for quite some time on what exactly I am. I wanted to have a clear understanding of me myself and me again.When I ask my friends to describe I guess they would definitely have one word for me..."Voopu". Well this behavior might not be translated to English to a perfect sense.... may be the word "mercurial" might suit that. Well I asked my friends to give me their perception on me. Will add their views as and when they come.

Well let me dig into myself, I found myself a moody fellow. I have observed that my mood of mind can change drastically. The moment I feel bad and immediately I donno if I would be enjoying a chat with my friends. I sit down alone in my room thinking of something that changes quickly. I keep on evaluating many things when do this. I donno if I am very optimistic or very pessimistic. At different situations I am different and also at the same situations I might be different.

I have one strong belief that I can do anything anytime. If someone says that it is difficult or one cannot do I get kind of emotional as if my ego is being hurt and I might land into argument with him for no sake. This could be a kind of overconfidence in myself. This is the reason I guess I will not be able to let others pour in their views into me. I also believe in what all I do. There is never a thing I do without me having a satisfactory answer that it would be useful in someway. This might be self-centered attitude. This does not mean that I am selfish. I believe in helping others. I feel that it is the good done to others will be that matter in the end. I let others do whatever they wanted to do but thing is I don’t tolerate their interference with my way. If I want to do something, I will try to do the thing in some way.

I think I don’t have ethics (as people perceive) as such but I am a man of my own beliefs. It may not be the commonly acceptable way. They might be unconventional. I have my own priorities. Based on the situation I do things based on what I believe and my priority.

Actually I have a mental map of the way things should be done. Till I have that clear idea I will not proceed further. Well I want to be a man having accomplished something and the world should be able to recognize me as a great guy. That’s the aim have. I will by any means or at any cost will achieve that. The road to this is not completely clear to me yet. I will have my own paths ready for me. I know that as I reach to a milestone in my journey my next milestone becomes clear or I will select best option (my interest) and make it my milestone. (Kind of greedy algorithm) It is always the goal that drives me forward. Otherwise I become lethargic to activity. I can clearly say that my present milestone is MBA from global top colleges.

I like completeness a lot. I approach with holistic fundamentals. Suppose if I prefer to read some book. I would a kind of satisfaction only when I read it completely. I don’t feel like having the confidence of reading that if I don’t do it completely. I have a feeling that others watch my mistakes. So I want to be perfectionist. This has its own disadvantages. Well because of this I will not be able to proceed further many times.

When I decide to do something. I always try to do it. I can say that my mind will be filled with only that idea. Many feel that I might be carried by others perceptions but thing is I myself carry myself with my own perceptions. I can say it is like a beautiful dream haunting (possible) me. I take a decision and if I feel I should stick to that, and then it is done - I will stick to that. This is mostly related to what I want to be. I don’t like to change my ideas with influences of others. Even if some one gives me some advice or idea or any info, I will accept it only if I like that. Though in the face of them I would be nodding my head. But I get very angry when my idea is opposed. I would be then ready to pounce on him and attack any single statement made by him with the sole intention of crossing him to talk further. I then get a feel of satisfaction. At that moment I do this. If I feel later that I should not be doing that, I would somehow convey the message of my feeling sorry for my earlier behavior to him. One thing is sure that I dont I like anyone riding me. If someone tries he will have to face the wrath. Well even this depends on the kind of person I am dealing with. If I like the guy at that moment, I will not say anything. If not then is the blowup.

I have the habit of doing things When things are not going in the way I wanted them to be, I really get hysterical and becomes tough towards everything and work till the last moment to keep my track right or some other path that is as good as the one I choose to be going on.

I have observed one thing in my life. Whatever I get or got or gonna get, I think is with my full hard work. I believe in god. Infact I feel that I can share my thoughts with him. I have a placid attitude in the beginning toward things. I usually fail the first time and this really disturbs me. When I am disturbed (almost to the extent of cryin), then I really make tough resolutions and those are done. I donno why but I get real focused (may be I don’t show that out but I keep thinking about that only). Then I work real hard and do that. This has been my regular attitude. I donno why I am not developing the focus is not be default. That’s why, when I wanted to do something, I require lot of motivation at regular intervals. I use my bad situations and think of them when I start deterring, as my motivation to achieve my targets. Like necessity is the mother of invention.

Also I have the habit of feeling things to realest sense. I donno clearly but when I see movies I get lot of confidence. If see some motivational movies, the increment in the level of confidence is tremendous. Also I dont like heart breaking or moving movies as I take things to my heart. I also dont like to hurt others. That’s why I agree to their ideas even if I dont agree. But when I feel I want to disagree, its uncontrollable emergent feeling. I donno but I really think with my heart.

When I do something, I have an answer or some support to the integrity of having performed such an action. Even if from some corner of my heart, I get an indication saying that this might be wrong, but I will support my stance as it is the need that is driving.

I find that I can easily embed myself with any kind of personality, group or situation. This I see that I was able to make people home while talking to me. That’s because I don’t show the superiority feeling to others. Even when I talk to workers, drivers other people even beggars I think they feel that I can be shared their problems. At times I am really conservative. That all depends on my mood and kind of people talking to.

Now that I have the perceptions of my pals about me I will try to analyze them and see if I can improve myself.

Girish Said, “All the comments below should not in anyway affect anything between us, these have been begged by u and only hence given to u. k, now that u r through with the disclaimer, read below. voopu, suddenly attracted to something, with or without reason, keep doing or thinking about that something till ur choopu lands on a different voopu thing or theres some serious trouble that u got urself into and u have to clear it immediately otherwise, mostly a cool guy, in most situations with our group with other ppl too, u r semi cool, semi reserved , with making public speeches or announcements, u r too tensed, sweat flows from ur face like a river and u openly tell and u r highly selfcentred in some situations, ur telugu is okay, ur english has some grammar mistakes like most indians of today, ur sense of humour is in sync with that of most ppl, u need to listen to what ur near and dear say to become better sometimes u go out of the way and tend to do illegal / wrong things when u r faced with a tough situation but u can convince / force humorously ppl into getting ur things work done. hehehe ur physique is good and u can with some personality development course become a model i think, u ought to be in showbiz...............not necessarily movies, but like a show host often ppl with big bodies have bad temper, u dont, this is ur big plus point and often the first thing that ppl notice about u finally, u need some control on your temptationgs”

Pammy said

“ So you wanna know something about you which you donno... So read carefully whatever I write, as this is what I think about you.

1. You are a nice person as far as all the normal issues go...
a. You help everyone.
B. Do things on time (by hook or crook).
C. Are goal oriented and looks like you have definite goals to achieve in life and you are determined to achieve them.
d. The ability to work hard, when it is necessary.
e. Move around with others in a jovial and cordial manner.
f. Exercise daily for better health.
h. Positive outlook towards life and other aspects.
The most disgusting facts about you are as follows...
1. Your logic sucks.
a. What do I mean by that?
For every damn thing you say I did this with my logic. When I was in the first year I always felt like trashing you whenever you
said that. But later on it so happened that you yourselves were kind of making yourself a laughing stock whenever you said that.
2. You talk too much even when you don't know anything about that matter.
a. Even when you lack stats or when you hear a gossip about something/someone you endorse that fact true. Now now, I spread news... [gossip or whatever] but that is far different from what you do... Because I just spread the news but never endorse the fact that it is true/false (I do not wish to say whether what I do is correct or not)... You stamp it as truth always.
3. You are not open to others opinions.
a. You do not agree to any other view or do not even wish to listen what that is. For example (as a case study of your character on this issue), I told you sometime ago... say 2 years back that sentimental and tragedy movies do have market. But, you said only comedy movies have market and no one would like to see a tragedy. But, the sickest part was not this... You lacked points to argue about that and to side line me you were just shaking your head not even listening to what I was talking about. Now, what happened, the truth is here for everyone to see... Lakshmi and Premiste are big hits... they were not comedies... but did run.
4. You allow yourself to be exploited because of your VooPu.
correct or wrong or whether you have any profit from that. So reduce that VooPu and start thinking before acting. This is similar to a. If someone comes and tells you, rey Nalli if you do not go out with Bandus today night to *** then you will not get an A grade you rush out with him without even giving a second thought... This is the kind of VooPu that you have and we have been seeing. Another example, you called me last month and said Pammy I am going to Visu, I was surprised... because therewas no urgency as such for us to hurry... But again you were in the VooPu State... Nothing can be done. You do not sit back and think back for at least 2 minutes about whether the kind of work that you are upto because someone instigated you to do isthat Sumati Setakam poem "Vinatagu nevvaru cheppina vininantane vegapadaka vivarimpatagun... ".

Well as I said earlier all my friends comments have on common buzz word “VOOPU”. This brings to my memory of Jenny having told me once that I have lot of “VOOPU” and I have to streamline in a proper direction to achieve results. I will try to analyze their comments.

personal view of Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan

2006-03-14T12:23:00.000+05:30

THE BALD MAN'S COMB A Story on how to manage your career & your expectations by R. Gopalakrishnan There is a Thai saying that experience is a comb which Nature gives to man after he is bald. As I grow bald, I would like to share my comb with your people, about their career ahead. 1. Seek out grassroots level experience I studied Physics and Engineering at University. A few months before graduation, I appeared for an HLL interview for Computer Traineeship. When asked whether I would consider Marketing instead of Computers, I responded negatively : an engineer to visit grocery shops to sell Dalda or Lifebuoy? Gosh, no way. After I joined the Company and a couple of comfortable weeks in the swanky Head Office, I was given a train ticket to go to Nasik. Would I please meet Mr. Kelkar to whom I would be attached for the next two months? He would teach me to work as a salesman in his territory, which included staying in Kopargaon and Pimpalgaon among other small towns. I was most upset. In a town called Ozhar, I was moving around from shop to shop with a bullock cart full of products and a salesman's folder in my hand. Imagine my embarrassment when an IIT friend appeared in front of me in Ozhar, believe it or not! and exclaimed, "Gopal, I thought you joined as a Management Trainee in Computers". I could have died a thousand deaths. After this leveling experience, I was less embarrassed to work as a Despatch Clerk in the Company Depot and an Invoice Clerk in the Accounts Department. Several years later, I realised the value of such grassroots level experience. It is fantastic. I would advise young people to seek out nail-dirtying, collar-soiling, shoe-wearing tasks. That is how you learn about organizations, about the true nature of work, and the dignity of the many, many tasks that go into building great enterprises.

2. Deserve before you desire At one stage, I was appointed as the Brand Manager for Lifebuoy and Pears soap, the company's most popular-priced and most premium soaps. And what was a Brand Manager? "A mini-businessman, responsible for the production, sales and profits of the brand, accountable for its long-term growth, etc., etc. I had read those statements, I believed them and here I was, at 27, "in charge of everything". But very soon, I found I could not move a pin without checking with my seniors. One evening, after turning the Facit machine handle through various calculations, I sat in front of the Marketing Director. I expressed my frustration and gently asked whether I could not be given total charge. He smiled benignly and said, "The perception and reality are both right. You will get total charge when you know more about the brand than anyone else in this company about its formulation, the raw materials, the production costs, the consumer's perception, the distribution and so on. How long do you think that it will take?" "Maybe, ten years", I replied, "and I don't expect to be the Lifebuoy and Pears Brand Manager for so long"! And then suddenly, the lesson was clear. I was desiring total control, long before I deserved it. This happens to us all the time - in terms of responsibilities, in terms of postings and promotions, it happens all the time that there is a gap between our perception of what we deserve and the reality of what we get. It helps to deserve before we desire.

3 Play to win but win with fairness Life is competitive and of course, you play to win. But think about the balance. Will you do anything, to win? Perhaps not. Think deeply about how and where you draw the line. Each person draws it differently, and in doing so, it helps to think about values. Winning without values provides dubious fulfillment. The leaders who have contributed the most are the ones with a set of universal values ¡V Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King for example. Napoleon inspired a ragged, mutinous and half-starved army to fight and seize power. This brought him name and fame for twenty years. But all the while, he was driven forward by a selfish and evil ambition, and not in pursuit of a great ideal. He finally fell because of his selfish ambition. I am fond of referring to the Pierre de Coubertin Fair Play Trophy. It was instituted in 1964 by the founder of the modern Olympic Games and here are two examples of winners. - A Hungarian tennis player who pleaded with the umpire to give his opponent some more time to recover from a cramp. - A British kayak team who were trailing the Danish kayak team. They then stopped to help the Danish team whose boat was stuck. The Danes went on to beat the British by one second in a three hour event! What wonderful examples of sportsmanship! Play to Win, but with Fairness.

4 Enjoy whatever you do Sir Thomas Lipton is credited with the statement, "There is no greater fun than hard work". You usually excel in fields, which you truly enjoy. Ask any person what it is that interferes with his enjoyment of existence. He will say, "The struggle for life". What he probably means is the struggle for success. Unless a person has learnt what to do with success after getting it, the very achievement of it must lead him to unhappiness. Aristotle wrote, "Humans seek happiness as an end in itself, not as a means to something else". But if you think about it, we should not work for happiness. We should work as happy people. In organisational life, people get busy doing something to be happy. The more you try to be happy, the more unhappy you can get. Your work and career is all about your reaching your full potential. Working at one's full potential, whether it is the office boy or the Chairman, leads to enjoyment and fulfillment. A last point about enjoyment. Keep a sense of humour about yourself. Too many people are in danger of taking themselves far too seriously. As General Joe Stilwell is reported to have said, "Keep smiling. The higher the monkey climbs, the more you can see of his backside".

5 Be Passionate about your health Of course, as you get older, you would have a slight paunch, greying of hair or loss of it and so on. But it is in the first 5 - 7 years after the working career begins that the greatest neglect of youthful health occurs. Sportsmen stop playing sports, non drinkers drink alcohol, light smokers smoke more, active people sit on chairs, starving inmates of hostels eat rich food in good hotels and so on. These are the years to watch. Do not, I repeat do not, convince yourself that you are too busy, or that you do not have access to facilities, or worst of all, that you do this to relieve the stresses of a professional career. A professional career is indeed very stressful. There is only one person who can help you to cope with the tension, avoid the doctor's scalpel, and to feel good each morning - and that is yourself. God has given us as good a health as He has, a bit like a credit balance in the bank. Grow it, maintain it, but do not allow its value destruction. The penalty is very high in later years.

6 Direction is more important than distance Every golfer tries to drive the ball to a very long distance. In the process, all sorts of mistakes occur because the game involves the masterly co-ordination of several movements simultaneously. The golf coach always advises that direction is more important than distance. So it is with life. Despite one¡¦s best attempts, there will be ups and downs. It is relationships and friendships that enable a person to navigate the choppy waters that the ship of life will encounter. When I was young, there was a memorable film by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart and Dona Reed, and named IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It is about a man who is about to commit suicide because he thinks he is a failure. An angel is sent to rescue him. The bottomline of the film is that "No Man is a Failure Who Has Friends". Conclusion My generation will never be twenty again, but when you are older, you can and should be different from my generation. Ours is a great and wonderful country, and realising her true potential in the global arena depends ever so much on the quality and persistence of our young people. Good luck in your journey, my young friends, and God be with you and our beloved Nation.

This is the personal view of Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan, Director( now chairman!) - Tata Sons

What Recruiters want from an MBA Grad!!!!

2006-01-05T17:26:00.003+05:30

This post will give a small overview on the kind of expectations the recruiters have for the MBA grads....

Mostly the ppl who completed their MBA land in jobs through the companies that have a relation with college placement office. These companies would like to go for b-schools which have constantly producing grads of high qualifications. So when we look for the schools, we should also look at if the career services office will be able to land us in the companies of our interest. Look at the companies list. If none of those companies interest u, here is the ring for u to look for some other school. Always it is better to look for the post MBA landing to be some companies which belong to your interest and u shld be confident enought to fit in the right spot.

The top 10 factors that the Recruiters look for in an MBA grad are

1.strong communication and interpersonal skills
2.proven ability to perform
3.cultural fit within the company
4.evidence of adaptability
5.quantitative knowledge/technical skills acquired in the MBA program
6.prior work experience related to the industry, job, or company
7.management knowledge/skills acquired through MBA program
8.story of increased job responsibility
9.A functional area/concentration of study
10.History of leading teams

The top three make the main difference .
Most Attractive MBA Skills for the recruiters
ability to think analytically
ability to think strategically
leadership skills
quantitative skills
oral communication skills
Skills That Should Be Improved by the Grads to make a difference
leadership skills
ability to make decisions with imperfect information
interpersonal skills
oral communication skills
written communication skills

Apart from these, the unreallistic expectations of MBA grads become hurdles in the way of recruiters....
unrealistic salary expectations
unrealistic job expectations
unrealistic view of advancement opportunities

To avoid the pitfall of unrealistic expectations, one should make sure that we thorughly research the careers that interest us, the background of ppl who succeeded in there and finally the salaries these ppl command. Also the school we intend to attend, the location of your intended job, your work experience, and your acad

my "looser score"

2006-01-04T14:27:00.000+05:30

28% are cooler, and72% are more of a loser than you.
What does this mean? You're cooler than half the people! Great work!

My "Stupid Score"

2006-01-04T14:16:00.000+05:30

Overall, I scored as follows: 97% scored higher (more stupid),1% scored the same, and 2% scored lower (less stupid). What does this mean? You are 2% stupid. This means...You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

I am also a wizard.........................

2006-01-03T15:54:00.000+05:30

having checked my nerd score and found that I am a nerd god :)) ....

I was browsing through boleros blog and there I have seen the site on how to be a hero?
I discovered that I am a wizard.....and I am already given a mission to achive a secret stuff!!!!!!

Hello, Wizard.Character Stats: Rogue (6)Warrior (17)Wizard (21)Paladin (8)Your Profile:You're intelligent, educated, and just a bit superior to everyone you know. If you're still in school, you probably make A's, if you're not too bored to waste the effort. If you work, your annoying boss relies on you to solve the problems no one else can figure out. You've never met a puzzle you can't solve. When it comes to leisure, you'd rather read, play a strategy game, or surf the 'Net than run around getting sweaty. You're a brainiac, and you're not ashamed to admit it.Above all, you're a mastermind and a great thinker. You see the unknown as territory to be conquered, and the mysterious as something to be systematically unraveled. You don't have time for fools; you only spend your time with people who can comprehend your obfuscatory convolutions. You enjoy amassing knowledge, both useful and trivial.Your Mission:You were put on this earth to enlighten people. They will listen to you, because they are impressed by your vocabulary, your erudition, and your ability to grasp concepts that invariably elude them. You are the one who has to figure things out, because let's face it - you're the only one smart enough.Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to Discover Something. Something small, or something big. Find an unknown insect in your own backyard. Discover a cure for sunburn. Develop a faster way to get the dishes done. Calculate the number of molecules in the Andromeda galaxy. Discover a comet. Discover SOMETHING.And do make it a priority. The Famous Adventurer of Silmaria has a crystal ball trained on you, and will be noting your progress.A Warning:Try to remember: you're not infallible. If people around you are all nodding and smiling, it may just be because they don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. Check your facts and admit the possibility that even you can make mistakes. Loosen up. Make friends with a Rogue and have him or her try to poke holes in your theories. Who knows; you might actually have fun.On another note - making plans and formulating theories can be quite stimulating, but at some point, you are going to have to actually DO something. Employ a Warrior, if necessary, to put your brilliant schemes into action. Just be sure your instruction manual is written in very small words.

I am nerd god......

2006-01-03T15:45:00.000+05:30

Hi all,

when I tested this during college I was a MIT Stuff.....
Now my talent has increased.......Now I am a nerd god.........
Your Score Summary
Overall, you scored as follows:
5% scored higher (more nerdy), and 95% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:All hail the monstrous nerd. You are by far the SUPREME NERD GOD!!!

Universal rules

2005-12-07T12:21:00.000+05:30

These are some of the universal rules tht are applicable in ones life.... though sounds sarcastic if we observe they r true, atleast after joining job I see some of them live....

1. Lorenz's Law of Mechanical Repair:
> After your hands become coated with grease, your nose> will begin to itch.> >
2. Anthony's Law of the Workshop:
> Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.> >
3. Kovac's Conundrum:
> When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged> one.> >
4. Cannon's Karmic Law:
> If you tell the boss you were late for work because> you had a flat tyre, the next morning you will have a> flat tyre.> >
5. O'brien's Variation Law:
> If you change queues, the one you have left will start> to move faster than the one you are in now.> >
6. Bell's Theorem:
> When the body is immersed in water, the telephone> rings.> >
7. Ruby's Principle of Close Encounters:
> The probability of meeting someone you know increases > when you are with someone you don't want to be seen> with.> >
8. Willoughby's Law:
> When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't> work, it will.> >
9. Zadra's Law of Biomechanics:
> The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to > the reach.> >
10. Breda's Rule:
> At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from> the aisle arrive last.> >
11. Owen's Law:
> As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your> boss will ask you to do something which will last > until the coffee is cold.> >
12. Howden's Law:
> You remember you have to mail a letter only when> you're near the mailbox.> And the last and best :> >
13. Murphy's Law:
> What has to go wrong will go wrong>

Dr. Gopalakrishnan

2005-12-05T10:56:00.000+05:30

This article gives some insight on what u shld consider to shift jobs!!!!

Dr. Gopalakrishnan of TATA Group. Read this article by Dr. Gopalakrishnan - it is really interesting.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side!! Move from one job to another, but only for the right reasons. It's yet another day at office. As I logged on to the marketing and advertising sites for the latest updates, as usual, I found the headlines dominated by 'who's' moving from one company to another after a short stint', and I wondered, why are so many people leaving one job for another? Is it passé now to work with just one company for a sufficiently long period? Whenever I ask this question to people who leave a company, the answers I get are: "Oh, I am getting a 200% hike in salary"; "Well I am jumping three levels in my designation"; "Well they are going to send me abroad in six months".

Then, I look around at all the people who are considered successful today and who have reached the top - be it a media agency, an advertising agency or a company. I find that most of these people are the ones who stuck to the company, ground their heels and worked their way to the top. And, as I look around for people who change their jobs constantly, I find they have stagnated at some level, in obscurity. In this absolute ruthless, dynamic and competitive environment, there are still no - short cuts to success or to making money.

The only thing that continues to pay, as earlier is loyalty and hard work. Yes, it pays! Sometimes, immediately, sometimes after a lot of time. But, it does pay. Does this mean that one should stick to an organization and wait for the golden moment? Of course not. After, a long stint, there always comes a time for moving in most organisations, but it is important to move for the right reasons, rather than the superficial ones, like money, designation or oversees trip. Remember, no company recruits for charity. More often than not, when you are offered an unseemly hike in salary or designation that is disproportionate to what the company offers it current employees, there is always an unseemly bait attached. The result? You will, in the long term have reached the same level or may be lower levels than what you would have in your current company.

A lot of people leave their organisations because they are 'unhappy'. What is this so called unhappiness? I have been working for donkey years and there has never been a day when I am not unhappy about something in my work environment - boss, rude colleagues, fussy clients etc. Unhappiness in a work place, to a large extent, is transient. If you look hard enough, there is always something to be unhappy about. But, more importantly, do I come to work to be "happy" in the truest sense? If I think hard, the answer is "No". Happiness is something you find with family, friends, may be a close circle of colleagues who have become friends.

What you come to work for is to earn, build a reputation, satisfy your ambitions, be appreciated for your work ethics, face challenges and get the job done.

So, the next time you are tempered to move on, ask yourself why are you moving and what are you moving into? Some questions are: * Am I ready and capable of handling the new responsibility? If yes, what could be the possible reasons my current company has not offered me the same responsibility? * Who are the people who currently handle this responsibility in the current and new company? Am I good as the best among them? * As the new job offer has a different profile, why have I not given the current company the option to offer me this profile? * Why is the new company offering the new job? Do they want me for my skills, or is that ulterior motive? An honest answer to these will eventually decide where you go in your career - to the top of the pile in the long term (at the cost of short - term blips) or to become another average employee who gets lost with the time in wilderness?

"DESERVE BEFORE YOU DESIRE" - Dr. Gopalakrishnan,

Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford 2005

2005-12-05T10:44:00.001+05:30

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal.

Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. 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.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky Ð I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me Ð I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything Ð all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much

TCS: Strengths and opportunities

2005-12-05T10:36:00.000+05:30

AS the software services industry continues its march towards "scale", TCS with its numerous strengths is well-positioned to capitalise on the offshoring wave. As it has grown in size and scale, TCS has broadbased its software operations from India by setting up software development centres in other low-cost geographies such as China, Brazil and Uruguay. Some of key strengths of TCS gleaned from the offer document and compared with its listed peers Infosys and Wipro are:

Strong vertical presence: TCS derived nearly 60 per cent of its revenues in 2003-04 from BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and manufacturing. These two sectors — BFSI and manufacturing — together account for 50 per cent of the global IT spend. In telecom also, the company's presence is quite strong. In each of these sectors, TCS is bigger than its largest domestic competitor. In revenue terms, the BFSI practice of TCS is about 35 per cent higher than that of Infosys; in manufacturing, at least 40 per cent higher than Satyam; and, in the telecom vertical, it is comparable to Wipro. Even in newer verticals — life sciences, for instance — it has ramped up quite sharply. Good spread of service offerings: In service offerings, TCS has its presence across the gamut, ranging from bread-and-butter application development and maintenance to testing, engineering services and infrastructure management.

In terms of revenues in 2003-04, the package implementation segment took the lion's share, as it is almost 1.5 times bigger than those of Infosys, Wipro and Satyam. Over the next year or so, it will increasingly compete in large deals with multinational vendors in the area of systems integration, infrastructure management and consulting. Client count and profile: The success of TCS in scaling up its clients is evident from its $20-million and $50-million clients which, at 16 and 4 respectively, number more than its billion-dollar peers. However, Infosys and Wipro have been adding $1-million and $5-million clients faster than TCS over the past year.

TCS has had a string of enduring relationships with clients. Names such as GE, P&O Nedlloyd and SegaIntersettle fall in the 10-20 year bracket, while clients such as AIG, HP, Prudential, Standard Chartered and Target fall in the 5-10-year bracket.
As a consortium bidder, TCS recently bagged a nine-year contract from National Health Service of the UK to provide clinical application implementation and data migration services. Fixed-price projects: The contribution of TCS from fixed price projects at 55 per cent is considerably higher than its peers. The higher contribution from fixed price projects represents both an opportunity and risk.

A higher proportion of fixed price projects show that TCS has good project management expertise and better systems maturity to undertake these projects. In turn, this can also translate into higher gross margins. On the downside, however, any delay in project execution will have to be borne by vendors. Market cap and acquisition currency: Through this listing, TCS is expected straightaway to be propelled to the top of the market capitalisation charts in the IT sector. The listing will also help TCS leverage stock as an acquisition currency to enhance its vertical capabilities or address gaps in industry, technical or service profile.For a large player such as TCS, selective acquisitions through this route may be beneficial, especially given its strong presence in the domestic market. At the same time, TCS will remain exposed to all the cultural, integration and employee retention challenges associated with acquisitions.

wht i'm goin to do?

2005-07-20T16:15:00.000+05:30

Today till the 4 in the morning I have been working on the paper submission and still there are 2-3 days to go....now i sat down to write something in my blog....well my is kida lethargic....very bored with te researh stuff...waitin for the job....

Yesterday I read pam's blog.....he gave a research report on why one shld join a job rather than doin research......These days i started to think on what I should do in my life...wht is it that I want to achieve somethig in my life .... My father indirectly directs me to prepare for Civils but I dont think I can work with so much of dedication for 2 years. It is too terible trauma. Usully ppl perfect with experience but my experience of intermediate in Ramaiah is preventing me from taking such streneous work....Well in life to achieve something we have to work very hard. But the subjects which I should take for Civils never interested me. So in a way I'm avoiding preparing for civils. My interests are in doing an MBA from top colleges of the world. Recently I have heard about some top colleges in SPAIN. I enquired and found that they are excellent colleges. I dont know why but I dont like to go to US for an MBA. It might be because nostalagic feeling I developed over years reg US. So I will not go to US to make my livings. Even if I goI will return very early. My aim is to settle in India with very good salary, very good reputation, one house and a car. I want a simple and a beautiful wife (matured too).... So I think I would better do an international MBA to satisfy my professional urges and egos. So as soon I start goin for job in TCS I would just prepare for GMAT and I'm determined to join in any of the top 50 MBA colleges in the World........

PAMMY writes ON JOB AND RESEARCH

2005-07-19T17:24:00.000+05:30

THIS IS AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY PRATAP.....LIKED IT SO KEEPING IT IN MY BLOG

Why did I choose to do a job over going to US for higher studies?

I am writing this post for my own satisfaction rather than for people to learn something from it. Of late I am being troubled by questions from different people asking me as to why I chose to do a job rather than pursuing higher studies. I would like to come to a logical conclusion by the end of this post as to why doing a job immediately after B.Tech is lot more helpful to a person in planning his future than studying further. This discussion is nothing but the general confrontation in any fresh graduate's mind. I think I have made my choice long back (Say 1 year back) and am a bit stubborn about changing it. So, why does a job entice me more than a MS or a Ph.D? Is it the money? Is it the thing about early settlement in life that a job promises? Have I lost interest with studies altogether? or Have I grown too complacent to pursue studies further? Those are the things which people have in their mind when they ask me that question "Why did you prefer job over studying further?". I think it is for none of the above stated reasons that I prefer to do a job rather than study further. Let us see some points in greater detail... Why do most people do research?
The explanation to this can be summed up as follows...
1. We are pursuing our own interests (ideas) rather than being under someone else's influence (i.e. Working on some crap suggested to us by a project manager etc).
2. I will have better prospects after Ph.D rather than what I would get just after settling with a B.Tech. (Say a research position in IBM T.J. Watson Research Center). And this position would be held in greater esteem.
3. People with average academic scores are doing jobs, so, if I do the same job I will doing injustice to myself. What is the difference between me and that average candidate? (Ego problems)
4. A Ph.D would get me aid in a US university faster than a Masters.
5. I would like to end up in US and will try to get a green card and settle there. For this a Ph.D is better.
6. I am good at studies and the logical extension to that would be to end up doing a Ph.D.
7. My Professor has suggested me that I would be better off doing research than a non-technical or non-research oriented job. Since he talks for my own good, I will do research.
8. My Professor (or someone else) told me that since I am good at technical details I would have better future research side than the other side.
9. A Ph.D or a research job is something where I am being paid to do whatever I would like to do.
10. Academic life is cool without tensions.
11. This field is more interesting to me and I would like to seriously contribute something to this field and earn a permanent name for myself in my chosen area.
12. I want to become a professor and teach students. I would like to be identified as a great thinker in the society.

Now those were some of the reasons which I have seen people give me or seem to find for themselves to do research and Ph.D. From those explanations which I could get, only the 11th and 12th points seem to be the most logical and correct explanations for doing research or Ph.D. The reason why the others are illogical are...
1. Any Professor would never (I say never) advise his student to do a job. Take this for granted. He/She would always advise you to do research. This is because he likes that job and he tries to rub his interests on you.
2. A Professor if he has a research lab would always think of ways to make the lab better, and to make it better he needs better researchers (good and bright students). So, if he finds the spark in you, he will never try to leave you.
3. And again, this thing about research ==> No boring and non-intellectual work is something I would reject as fully wrong. A Ph.D does involve huge amounts of non-intellectual work.

a. First of all, after B.Tech most of them cannot even decide which area is good for them to work on.
b. Even if you choose an area, you will end up working on the problems suggested to you by your guide (true in 90% of the cases). What is so intellectual with a Ph.D. if you cannot even decide what you would like to work on.
c. Along with your own thesis, you will be made to work on various others jobs simultaneously (whatever your guide suggests you to do...). You generally become a readily available cheap labor for your professor doing all sorts of works in addition to what is really relevant to your work.
d. Students pursuing a Ph.D, most of them do not even know what kind of practical value their work really holds out there in the real world. People work on huge theoritical formulae, write big thesis documents etc etc, but how many of them really come out as successful products?
e. A student pursuing a Ph.D really does not and will never understand the practical value of his work. Because, most of the problems are suggested by the guide, he has to believe his guide's words and assume that the work really has some practical value. This I say is nothing but keeping blind faith in some mentor.
f. Some students I have seen trust and develop a bond with their guides to the extent that they start believing that whatever his guide tells him is for his (the student's own good). How can one justify this? To me as far as I have experienced in the lab, any guide works for his own benefit rather than for the student's own benefit. A professor (guide) is as goal oriented as any other project manager in a big company. This sentence is true (as far as I have seen and understood). g. Also believing a professor's ideas or any other person's ideas about your career shows nothing but your inability to make decisions for yourself.
h. Some papers submitted in conferences really look so cheap that you would really feel whether there is really any intellectual element in it.

4. Academic life looks cool to many people, because there is really no control on you. You are free to sleep, play, watch movies etc. All that becomes past time once you join a job. So, people think all this will remain the same if they stay back in colleges. So, Campus life is cool... But, is this statement really so? After B.Tech, most of your friends leave. You will be all alone. Also, if students do enjoy so much then when will they finish their thesis? So, after B.Tech campus life is not really so enjoyable as it was. It really turns out to be boring.
5. Most of them think research means less tension and more of self satisfaction . But is this really true? Most of them really lack concentration and determination. If that person chooses research as his career then he will be doing nothing but spoiling his/her career. Also, sometimes it does happen that people do not come up with great ideas, then for them the period ahead will be terrible (Until they produce a paper). So, is this job really without tensions and deadlines?
6. After a certain point of time, none of the so called researchers really do any research. Their jobs become more of managerial and teaching stuff.
7. Also this thing about people ending up with better prospects after Ph.D than after B.Tech is bullshit. What do people term as "better prospects"? Is it money? Is it satisfaction? or Is it something else? Research is like any other profession. So, if you have interest in doing research it will give you satisfaction and money. Otherwise, it as boring as any other job. And same is the case with any other normal job.
8. If a person does not come up with proper work in 3 to 4 years of study for Ph.D. It will with all possibility go on for another 3 to 4 years. So, what does this mean? That person has literally ruined his career (Is it not?).
9.Also people without even proper exposure to these jobs in companies tend to have biased thinking about the kind of work they will have to do. Someone tells them that a job is boring and they take it for granted. They do not even want to test it out for themselves, to see whether it is really so boring.
10. Though in the beginning research looks interesting, over a period of time you do research only because your livelihood depends on it (Not because of interest, this is true is most of the cases). I may not be able to support this with examples.
Some ideas I have about choosing research as a career...
1. Do research only when you are really interested with the subject.
2. Do it only when you think you can really contribute something to that you are working in.
3. Do not ever do research for the sake that someone suggested it to you. (Will be the biggest mistake you will ever commit in your life)
4. Do not ever use research or Ph.D as means to achieve secondary goals. E.g.: Going to USA, Getting funds etc.
The reason for this is, a career will be more interesting if you have interest in the work at hand. If you choose that career for some other purpose your future will look disgusting and boring to you. Then what about job? Yes, I do agree that after B.Tech all the students who get placed, do some stupid kind of jobs. Say testing etc. But, most of them think that it is the final destination that they will ever get to. They do not look 4 to 5 years ahead of where they are right now. Any company out there will definitely recognize you if you work properly. Your work will change depending on the interest you show in your career. If you really perform well, the work you do also becomes challenging year after year. Also, with (work) experience you will come to know atleast a bit about the practical value of the subjects you have learnt. This will definitely help you later to make better choices afterwards in choosing the areas for Masters or Ph.D. Also, 1 to 2 years of job will definitely show us whether we are really comfortable doing a job or should we go back to campuses to do research. Work experience always counts as a positive entity. So, leaving a job for research is always safer compared to the way round. Doing research (Ph.D.) for 1 year, getting dejected and then coming back will have a huge negative impact on your future. So, working in companies for 1 to 2 years after B.Tech will definitely tell us which career will give us satisfaction. Also we would have a better perspective towards the work we are doing (Say the research work). A job also does focus on your all round perspective like communication skills, team spirit etc which are not of so much importance in research. So, a job in a company would also give you oppurtunities to look into other aspects of your personality other than just intelligence. By shifting your presence from a university to a company will also give you a feel of the corporate world which would be different from what is in the university. Staying back in a campus (to do research) will definitely not give you this experience and there will be no change of environment around you. This I feel does not and will never give you a chance to see your other side like how you can fit into groups, how good are you in interacting with others etc. So, working for 1 to 2 years before planning on masters or Ph.D is much better a choice compared to diving full speed into Ph.D right after B.Tech. I would like to end with a note about the characteristics of the people who tend to do research. Most of them who stay back in campuses, generally becomes introverts (Not true always). This is because throughout their period of study their work environment lacks proper communication between individuals (Most of the Ph.D. work is invidual oriented rather than group oriented). Due, to this most of them (researchers) do lack some amount of team spirit. Most of them become kind of stubborn and unyielding. Egos develop to the maximum. (Also not true always). Most of them seem cut off from the external world around them. So, a person with such attitudes now, can safely opt for research than a job right after B.Tech

2005-06-02T05:19:00.000+05:30

sikkim

Yogaaaah!!

2005-03-11T15:12:00.000+05:30

I registered for the yoga camp in the campus. Till then it was fine. Then started troubles. I should only eat the "Amrita Ahaar"-- food uncooked. So only salads and no main course. I have been eating carrot,beetroot,pineapple,water melon, lemon, cuccumber,raddish, tamoto,salt, jaggery, pepper, jeera, butter milk and it goes. Well I got used to that somehow. Apart from these I have to do the yogasanas. I have been doin them for a week already. But the Surya namaskaram and pranayamam were all really difficult. But I'm doin them all well. I don't know if I lost some weight but other guys like Ragz etc were all losing 2 KG for just 3 days of yoga. Oh god, the weighing machines have started to malfunction. I did not loose anything even having followed every instr strictly. But I'm feelin lighter and my tummy seems to go deep inside. Well hopin that atleast after 15 days like this may be I reduce some weight.

Actually

2005-03-02T00:08:00.000+05:30

It happened all day the same way it used to happen the previous day. As usual I got up late... too late 1PM ... Well got up and went to Bios class. The prof had lot to teach but u know I was in my deep meditation. I even dont know when the class was over. But the class was over. Then it started. Pammy was in his mood of fuckin people who came his way. I was the victim. He started it - the fuckin issue of IIM's. Pammy has a problem with everything, so he again came over with a problem reg admission to IIM's. He says the admission process sucks and needs to improve. Assy joined and gave GYAN. I dont know what happened I started arguing till all are frustrated. Then I left this stupid talk and went for swimming. The girl that came over looked good in water(donno how she looks out). Well in the evening Bolero landed. He got lots of cash today(came from home).Obviously we need to go out. So we went to RB. Till then it was fine, we are comin back in a 7 seater. Then 2 fuckin fellows got into the auto. They were all ok till their place to get away came. One of them is drunkard and this fellow started fighting with the autowala just for 2 rupees. Then all of sudden they were beating each other. Man it is not a fuckin commedy movie they are really hittin. The drunkard hit the auto wala and ran inside his campus, but the autowala chased him and gave his share of punches. It finally ended with unconcerned fellows getting hit. Well had a good laugh.....

My first post

2005-02-25T21:07:00.000+05:30

So finally i'm into this... Well this is my first post and i' m not gettin anything to write. i tried to copy some stuff from others but noooo its my first one and i want it to be my own...
Right there I got one I do not want my poor brain to unnecssarily think and so on...
so when ever i have some time i would try to post some great things about me........!!!!