Understanding Life

Hero around the World and imbibed/absorbed into Microsoft,Hyderabad

2009-11-21T05:06:00.003-05:00

Congrats Pranav.

Pranav Mistry(The meaning of the name Pranav is 'Praise; salutation')

This is a person of a great importance for his work and attitude. Do not miss the last 30 seconds of the below video along with the 12 minutes of his inventions and information which makes us feel if its derived from Ramayana/Mahabharata.

" http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tv/TED-India-Pranav-Mistry/videoshow_ted/5231080.cms "

His words:
"I am a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab. Before joining MIT I worked as a UX Researcher with Microsoft. I received my Master in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from IIT Bombay. I have completed my bachelors degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Palanpur is my hometown, which is situated in northern Gujarat in India."

His Accomplishments.
http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/

'AKSHAR' won 'Best Paper' award @ USID2007
I presented my work 'AKSHAR' at USID2007 conference in Hyderabad, India. The paper got selected as 'Best Paper'. (Jun, 2007)
QUICKIES on ZDNet
ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das introduced my research 'QUICKIES' to the world in the 'Future of Sticky Notes'. See the video. (Dec, 2008)
My talk @ USID2008 conference in Bangalore, India
I gave a talk on 'Bringing Intelligence to Everyday Objects' at USID2008, Bangalore, India. (Sep, 2008)
'Inktuitive' and 'QUICKIES' at IE08 in Seattle, USA
My work 'Inktuitive' and 'QUICKIES' got presented at the 4th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE08). Seattle, USA. (Jul, 2008)
'QUICKIES' was in NEWS across the world
My research work 'QUICKIES-Intelligent Sticky Notes' was featured in press across the world including ...
Discovery Channel News
Popular Science
The Tech Herald
Gizmodo
Engadget
Slashdot
...& many more. for the complete list, visit 'QUICKIES' project page. (Mar, 2008)
'TaPuMa' @ Ambi-Sys08 in Quebec City, Canada
I presented my research 'TaPuMa - A Tangible Public Map' @ International Conference on Ambient Media and Systems (Amby-Sys 2008). Quebec City, Canada. (Feb, 2008)
QUICKIES @ IUI08 in Canary Islands, Spain
I presented my research project 'QUICKIES' at the ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI2008) in Canary Islands, Spain. (Jan, 2008).
INVENTION OF THE YEAR 2009
SixthSense wins INVENTION OF THE YEAR 2009 award by Popular Science (June, 2009)
What people say about his idea? :http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranavzombie/3332966291/
i3D2009
I presented a poster on 'inktuitive' @ ACM SIGGRAPH i3D 2009 conference in Boston, USA (28th Feb, 2009)
'SixthSense' was featured in NEWS across the world
My research work 'SixthSense' (also known as WUW - Wear Ur World) was featured in press across the world including ...
New York Times WIRED News FOX News Mumbai Mirror
Times of India The Sydney Morning Herald Slashdot
Engadget sina.com CNET NEWS The Sun The Gazette
Le Monde
...& many more. for the complete list, visit 'SixthSense' project page. (Feb, 2009)
TED2009
Pattie and I unveiled 'SixthSense' @ TED2009 in Long Beach CA,USA (4th Feb, 2009)
TR35
Won Technology Review TR35 2009 Young Inventor Award. (August, 2009)
HCII2009
Presented a paper on project 'Quickies' @ HCII2009 in San Diego, CA. (July, 2009)
Microsoft Research
I joined Microsoft Research in Redmond as a Research Intern for the summer. (June, 2009)
His research and photos: http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/#PICTURES

PT or FT in MBA , Praachi Speaks

2007-12-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

Real benefit of PT is money - you can work while you go to school..at times there can be some tuition reimbursement via your employerFurther if you plan to stick to same the industry go for PT----reality is that it's almost impossible to shift career 180 degrees using your part time degree. PT taught on sundays or week nights generally. Thus it takes a great amount of effort to get an MBA and keeping a full- time job in addition is always going to be tough. Time constraints => networking in PT may be minimal Also the FT MBA folks may not recognise PT folks as part of "their" network. At Chicago GSB part-time MBA, for example, the range is 2 1/2 - 5 yrs so time span is generally more than 2 yrs here.(Part-time MBA programes are designed to meet the needs of busy managers and can be taken over two or three years
FT - better recruiting/job opportunities, can join clubs, activities => being much more part of the campus + can devote all your time to your studies and career search.If you are going to switch career going FT is almost a requirement But a career shift, will most probably erode all your previous work experience benefits.It may hurt your ego to be treated as a fresher ---- this is a reality. Applicants are generally intimidated to have a debt but in reality most of the top 20 programs will pay you a pretty good return on investment....Then in FT you get to do an internship to "test out" whether you like the industry or not, you will be getting loads of clubs and company events to see what all the industries are about, and finally, most importantly you will get a "brand name" that will lead into doors in many of the industries you wish to work in. The internship is key for career changers.So Is that worth losing 2 years of 100+K salary, promotions, and being 150+K in debt, just to earn roughly $150K/year --- and to be in a job that makes me happy...well IMO the answer is YES
Recruiting of part-time students is minimal compared to full-time...(In FT program you can go to a recruitment event frequently throughout the year).I think so this is because schools are judged on th basis of FT students, however reason often given for such a move is that the education of part-time MBA students is often funded by their employers, and that the school does not want to be an instrument in separating the student from their current employer. These schools believe that the part-time student whose education is funded by the employer ethically owes working for the current employer at least for some time beyond his/her graduation....so they do not want to lose the same to PT students...to mention here OSU is different from alot of the elite programs in that the elite's usually do not open up their FT career services to PT folks but at OSU, the PT students have the same access to recruiting events as the FT folks .

Ref: Praachi gmat help group. Special thanks for your help.

4 liquid stages of life

2007-03-11T17:20:00.000-04:00

Courtesy hareesh

idiot proof (not proff)

2007-03-11T15:42:00.000-04:00

Seen on coffee cups : "Careful.The beverage you are about to consume is extremely hot."
Seen on roads : Stop signs. For no reason, you're supposed to stop.
Seen on roads : Yield.
An advertisement: We are the best brand of ----- because we are the best.

a bottle of 'smart water': "you hold in your hand a bottle of vapor distilled, electrolyte enhanced water. once you remove the cap and tilt the bottle into "drinking position," water will begin to flow through your body, purifying and rapidly rehydrating you. if you find the idea of being purer and moister disturbing, please place the bottle back where you found it and continue on your dirty, arid way".

towel machine in the restrooms: "unsafe to put your head inside, might cause serious injury...blah blah.."

forest: 'don't shoot anything except photographs, don't kill anything but time'

PhD

2007-03-11T14:22:00.000-04:00

Click the image to view it clearly.

Can we do anything on this?

2007-03-10T23:14:00.000-05:00

United States has provided and made life easier to live , survive and depend more and more. This is swiftly perculating across the world.

we know male is considered the bread earner and the female as the house manager. Its a festivity to get married to take such defined responsibilities and continue the sustenance of persistently deteriorating human life(!) on deteriorating world(!).

Merger of bonds, relationships is such festivity and is celebrated elaborately back in the country.

Regardless of how we are brought up or grew up, grandness of the event depends on the present situation of the social bonding and more rightly the capability of the bread earners in the family and the optimum resources at the approriate time.

Luckily the presence of continuous watch and planning to invite, remind cousins from every string of the blood relations along with the friends along with strong event planning by like minded cousins did realise a grand presence and i can say 'success' in that event.

All these boils down to the importance of one major asset to realise in the near future for a grand career which is expected in the developing technological life : "Event Management".

Event Management is a multi-million dollar industry, growing rapidly, with mega shows and events hosted regularly.

Surprisingly, there is no formalized research conducted to assess the growth of this industry.

The industry includes fields such as the MICE (Meetings, Incentives and Events), exhibitions, conferences and seminars as well as live music and sporting events.

The logistics side of the industry is paid less than the sales/sponsorship side, though some may say that these are two different industries. (courtesy Wikipedia)

IIM Indore graduates bag hefty pay packets

2007-03-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

Source-rediff business: march 2nd 2007:
Pay packets in the range of Rs 50 lakhs or Rs 5 million (international offer) and Rs 18 lakhs or Rs 1.8 million(domestic offer) per annum were offered to the passing out batch of the country's youngest Indian Institute of Management, Indore, during placements.
"A total of 329 offers were made to 115 students of the eighth batch, which included 12 international offers and an average salary of Rs 12 lakhs (Rs 1.2 million) per annum -- an increase of 45 per cent over last year," IIM Director S P Parashar told reporters on Wednesday. He said 67 companies participated in the placement process and among which 29 took part for the first time. On an average 2.8 jobs were offered per student during the placement.
"The most satisfying aspect of the placement process was that 25 per cent of the batch has been placed in consulting firms of international repute," Parashar said.
In the IT sector, besides Oracle, Capgemini, Headstrong, Cognizant, IBM, Tech Mahindra and Covansys -- Infosys also came back to the campus with an international offer of $110,000 per annum, he added.

do ur job like this

2007-02-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

click the image to see what happens
on moday morning(blue door)
to friday evening (beige door)

Oops Concepts…

2007-02-19T21:43:00.002-05:00

Oops Concepts…

class Indian_Bachelor_female_professional
{
double styles;
short skirts;
long time_to_understand_problems;
float mind;
void knowledge();
char non_co_operative;
}
;

class Married_female_Software_Professional
{
double weight;
short tempered;
long gossips;
float hopes;
void work();
char unstable;
};

class Female_Engaged_software_professional
{
double time_on_phone;
short attention_on_work;
long boast;
float on_cloud_nine;
void understanding();
char edgy;
};

class Indian_Newly_Married_software_professional {
double dinner_invitations;
short time_at_work;
long lunch_breaks;
float talks;
void bank_balance();
char hen_pecked; };

class Indian_husband_wife_software_professional
{
double income;
short temper;
long time_no_see;
float new_software_company;
void lov
};

Class Guy_who_wrote_this
{
Long time_on_bench;
Void work();
}

only for software engineers

2007-02-19T21:43:00.001-05:00

why 5 fingers

2007-02-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

lesson first or exam first

2007-02-19T21:35:00.000-05:00

How man learnt stuff

2007-02-19T21:14:00.000-05:00

Friends donot let you fall

2007-02-19T21:08:00.001-05:00

Creativity in Engg

2007-02-19T21:05:00.001-05:00

SHAKE_ROY_bacchan

2007-02-19T20:50:00.000-05:00

FUN pulse

2007-02-19T20:45:00.001-05:00

Some basic facts of life which applies to the Software Guy !!!!..................... Like us

Bank Balance
First Week : 10000
Second Week : 1000
Third Week : 100
Fourth week : 10

Conveyance
First Week : Auto ("I can afford it")
Second Week : Share Auto ("I would like to share. I am selfless!")
Third Week : Bus ("Public figures should travel bypublic transport")
Fourth week : Walk ("Good for health")

Girl friends
First Week : Eena, Meena, Tina ("I can BUY love")
Second Week : Meena, Tina ("I have enough girl friends")
Third Week : Tina ("I am loyal to her")
Fourth week : "Huh! There is no pure love on earth!"

Mobile Maintenance
First Week : Frequent outgoing calls ("This is what mobile is invented for")
Second Week : Restricted o! utgoing calls ("I should not create unnecessary traffic on mobile lines")
Third Week : Rare outgoing calls ("Mobile should be used in urgent situations only")
Fourth week : Only incoming calls ("I am not going to call her until she calls me")
And last....but not the least...

Boozing
First Week : "Come, let's go to Goa and freak out!"
Second Week : "Man, there is nothing in Goa. Let's go to Lonawala."
Third Week : "The best place to booze on earth is our house itself. what say?"
Fourth week : "Drinking is injurious to health"

Africa wild

2007-02-19T20:24:00.000-05:00

Elephants wade through swamp grass in Kenya's Amboseli National Park

Zebras thunder across plains punctuated by mysterious circles in the NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia

After 6 beers

2007-02-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

Sound intensity

2007-02-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

stagnant_inflation

2007-02-19T19:47:00.000-05:00

http://lifeusa.blogspot.com/2006/06/gold-stagflation.html

As previously mentioned. Gold rate rose to a new high of 670USD+.

STAGFLATION soon?

be boss.

2007-02-19T19:46:00.000-05:00

Dream as a boss for a while for a programmer.
Demand what u want in a word
http://www.subservientprogrammer.com/main.aspx

rich indians

2007-02-19T19:12:00.000-05:00

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal

25Billions

Resides in LONDON

company in NETHERLANDS

INDIAN

Left India in Mid1970's to inodnesia and rescued family stell plant,

then expanded in Trinidad, Mexico,

in 1994 family problems raised him as an individual, stocks in 1997,

Now: world's largest steel maker by 2005."MITTAL STEEL"

Ratan Tata
a bachelorchairman of the Tata Group

Parsi family in Mumbai

DOB: December 28, 1937

turned down an IBM job offer

holds a degree in Arch & Structural Engg from Cornell

joined the family business in 1962

Advanced MGMT Program from Harvard in 1974-1975.

group chairman from in 1991

Tata Indica in 1998: first 'entirely Indian' passenger car

Padma Bhushan, on January 26, 2000

Mukesh D Ambani
DOB:April 19, 1957

BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Bombay

MBA from Stanford University, USA.

Reliance Industries Limitedjoined Reliance Industries in 1981

brain behind Reliance's backward integration from textiles into polyester fibres and into petrochemicals.

The world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar

in-charge of Dhirubhai's dream project Reliance Infocomm. but went to his brother Anil.

chain of 'Reliance Fresh' retail stores

Nandan Nilekani

CEO and managing director of Infosys Technologies from march 2002

IIT Bombay

After graduation, he met Narayana Murthy, who then led Patni Computer Systems's software group, seeking a job.

leads the company with Narayana Murthy having retired in August 2006.

married to Rohini, an English-language novelist,

children: Janhavi, Nihar. speaks Konkani at home.

Padma Bhushan by the Government of India:2006

Time Magazine:100 most influential person in the world

Azim H Premji

Chairman of Wipro Technologies

DOB:July 24, 1945

Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, USAfamily business(small cooking oil company) at 21 after sudden demise of his father

employee strength of 57,000. , $2.4 billion

Time Magazine:100 most influential person in the world

Padma Bhushan by the Government of India:2005

Anil D Ambani

$13.5 billion

chairman of Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources Limited.

June 4, 1959

joined Reliance in 1983

independent Member of the Rajya Sabha, resigned on March 25, 2006.

bachelor's degree in Science from the University of Bombay

MBA: Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim

Sunil Mittal

chairman and managing director of Bharti group, India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service.

started his business in 1976 with a capital investment of Rs 20,000.

K V Kamath

managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, the largest private bank in India.

December 2, 1947,

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Kumar Mangalam Birla

June 14, 1967, eighth youngest billionaire outside India.

chairman of the Aditya Birla Group:

Grasim, Hindalco, UltraTech Cement, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Idea Cellular.

chairman of the group in 1995, at 28, after the sudden demise of his father, Aditya Birla.

chartered accountant , MBA from the London Business School.

Rahul Bajaj

chairman of the Bajaj Group

reins of Bajaj group in 1965.

risen from Rs 72 million to Rs 46.16 billion.

elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.

alumnus of Harvard, St. Stephen's and Cathedral.

2007-02-19T18:34:00.000-05:00

2007-02-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

Wonders can come from anywhere.
Find it in yourself.
Nice day.

Guys any idea what this image is ?

2007-02-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

Belive that hate and love are almost the same. Find a mirror in you to find it.

Check the proof.

Hate and Love kills

People hate not to love;People love not to hate.

Wonder why love and hate revolves mostly around girls? lol. just joking.

"current" mischief

2006-10-09T20:56:00.000-04:00

MORE TROUBLE at the airport. Security officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport arrested a woman for bringing two bottles of C2 green tea on to a plane. They thought that if she mixed the contents together, they would become C4.

My mother-in-law sings in the church choir. She has a falsetto voice and falsetto teeth.

I have been feeling like a bicycle these past few days. Two tired. So I decided to join a health club. I couldn't take Pilates because I don't know how to fly, so I settled for aerobics for senior citizens. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down and perspired for an hour. By the time I got my leotard on, the class was over. The advantage of going to keep fit classes is that you die healthier.

In England, my aunt started walking five miles a day when she was 60. Now, she is 97 years old and nobody knows where the hell she is.

I entered my wife for the TV program Trading Spouses but nobody wanted to swap so she entered The Biggest Loser. Will she win? Weight and see. If she reads this, I'm dead. I said to her this morning, "Golf or sex?" She said, "Wear lots of sunblock."

A missionary started teaching English to the tribal chief. "This is a tree," said the priest. "Tree," said the chief. "This is a rock." "Rock." "That is the sun." "Sun." The priest was very pleased with the chief's progress, but suddenly they came across a couple having sex in the bushes. Hurriedly, the priest said, "Man riding bike." The chief pulled out his spear and killed them both. "Why did you do that?" asked the priest, "I have spent years trying to make you civilized." The chief replied, "My bike."
courtesy: Mr Bull. more articles from this guy follow the link:

Munna Bhai Resume.

2006-08-14T18:38:00.000-04:00

Munna Bhai

Objective: To obtain a challenging position as a Crime Implementation Analyst (CIA)

Education:
* B.S. (Crime Technology) Tihar Jail, India, August 1994
* M.S. (Criminal Sciences) Virginia Prison for International Smugglers and the Unlawful Activists (VPISUA), August 1996.
Thesis: "On escaping from high security prisons like Alcatraz with minimal efforts"

Coursework:
Cop Psychology, Plastic Explosives Technology, Bomb Controls and Timer Device Theory, International Smuggling and Drug Trafficking, Object Oriented Crime Design Work

Experience:
* Research Assistant, LTTE Labs, Jaffna, Aug 1990-Aug 1991
* Worked on the prestigious Belt Bomb project * Developed instant death cyanide capsules in orange, strawberry; and mint flavors (Patent# 007,13,666)

Summer Internship:
Dawood Ibrahim and Haji Mastan Associates, Bombay, June1987-July1990
* Worked as a hitman and was responsible for many supari style killings
* Participated in election rigging in Bihar and made hafta Collections

Honors & Achievements:
* Won 1980 Gabbar Singh Memorial Award (given to child prodigies in crime)
* Member, IPKF (Indian Professional Killers Forum) student chapter
* Performer of the year in 2004 General Elections in Bihar & U.P.
* Strong hold on Govt. & NGOs.
* Specialized in extortion,illegal construction business & fake academic degree supply.

References:
* Dr. Charles Sobhraj, Full Time Prof., Tihar Jail, New Delhi
* Dr. Chandra Swamy, Visiting Faculty Tihar Jail, New Delhi
* Dr. Dawood Ibrahim, Overseas Projects Manager, Dubai

Funny forward about an Indian Mom

2006-08-14T17:46:00.000-04:00

Indian Mom
A Mom comes to visit her son Kumar for dinner.....who lives with a girl roommate Sunita.

During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how pretty Kumar's, roommate was. She had long been suspicious of a relationship between the two, and this had only made her more curious. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Kumar and his roommate than met the eye. Reading his mom's thoughts, Kumar volunteered, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Sunita and I are just roommates.

"About a week later, Sunita came to Kumar saying, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver chutney jar. You don't suppose she took it, do you?" Kumar said ,"Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure."

So he sat down and wrote :
Dear Mother:
I'm not saying that you 'did' take the chutney jar from my house, I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the chutney jar. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
Love,
Kumar

Several days later, Kumar received an email from his Mother which read
Dear Son:
I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Sunita, and I'm not saying that you 'do not' sleep with Sunita. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the chutney jar by now under her pillow...
Love,
Mom.

Lesson of the day: Don't Lie to Your Mother...........especially if she is Indian ! he he he he

How is life in Singapore? a thought

2006-08-14T16:07:00.000-04:00

I was searching for my name with few other keywords and i ended up with this link in google. This gives a sip of life in Malaysia from an IT guy's perception. (Rambling, vettifying) I believe most of the people may have not experienced life in various cultures(corporate) of the world and may be we need to know them to figure which places better suits our profile. I am pretty sure for a lazy bum like me Malaysia is out of picture based on this review. Work ethics(a big word) in a given company also affects our lifestyle along with overall work attitude of the nation. And this may make the decision easier if we have to choose from. From last decade "choice" to the career maker is declining(relative) as observed by any youth to 30-40's atleast in united states.
This needs us to modify ourselves to fit into the companies profiles. how far can it go. just a thought. thats a back door for modern slavery(big word once more).

Few amatuer photos of Vegas trip.

aug7

Aug 12, 2006 - 152 Photos

Trip to vegas contd--2

2006-08-10T04:20:00.000-04:00

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But still few highlights of the trip.

Summer sunny day trip to Hoover Dam & Lake Mead.
NewYork-NewYork Casino ride.
Bellagio Baccarat in casino.
Bellagio Music Fountain show from 540 ft high.
Bellagio Theme

Paris-Paris Eiffel tower view

Paris-Paris Eiffel tower

Alladin Show.

Spice Market Buffet.

Trip to vegas

2006-08-10T02:14:00.000-04:00

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But still few highlights of the trip.

Summer sunny day trip to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.

NewYork-NewYork Casino ride.

Bellagio Baccarat in casino.

Bellagio Music Fountain show from 540 ft high.

below topics in the next post:
Bellagio Theme
Paris-Paris Eiffel tower view
Paris-Paris Eiffel tower
Alladin Show.
Spice Market Buffet.

Can we afford to Complain?

2006-07-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

Nothing new but still intrigues me when i see such comparision charts. worth a look.

Random indian songs in this location

few funny links.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6840222160412623256

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=622185101836519587

http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~sivann/pub/swf/fight.swf

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6815781973393100875

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id\u003d1674437
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id\u003d1679753
ignore if any links are broken.

Views on the Indian tech industry:

2006-07-09T09:44:00.000-04:00

Courtesy Ritu sharma. Phd Student

It's a topic that has been oft debated - that India's tech industry is a lot like the Chinese manufacturing phenomenon - Low cost, reasonable quality, minimal innovation . I was an employee of a huge IT company in India (what the heck, it was TCS) and have, in the two years in their employ, developed certain opinions and concerns about the direction of India's IT revolution.

Here's how Indian IT companies operate (Infy, TCS, wipro and the second string such as mastek, satyam, patni etc).:
Hire engineers in bulk, never mind that they are not computer scientists or electrical engineers - if they can write a few lines of code in C/C++ and are academically decent, they're hired .
After all, they dont need brilliant engineers - just people who will do as they are told and reasonably intelligent enough to get the client's work done, and bullshit their way out of it if they don't.
They'll rarely make CAD software for Electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. Instead they will develop "end to end solutions" for banking, finance, inventory management, website development, etc. By develop I mean code, not design - there is a huge difference between the two, something which I will touch upon shortly.

One important thing to note is that the HR in most IT companies dont give a damn about individual interests. They will put you wherever they need someone to slog for them . I've had one HR person tell me that they will put me in a project where they get maximum money, regar dless if I am interested or not. And they wonder why so many people leave!!!

What is the nature of the work?
At least 70% of the international projects in most indian IT companies is maintenence - i.e someone else has already developed an application. All you need to do is add more features/change behaviour as per client's request .
Then there's production support, which is worse. It is almost call-center work - ensure that the application runs normally and if it fails, get it up and running ASAP. Take calls from the client, update on the status. In a sense, like a car mechanic - I didnt get an engineering degree to be a car mechanic - I got it to design the car! Finally, if you are lucky you get development - write code. But then, writing code is easy - it is like manufacturing a car. What is not, is designing a system that works efficiently.

Typically, foreign clients get the design done by the likes of Accenture, IBM, etc. The designs are then sent to desi companies, who actually do the coding at a cost much cheaper than IBM or accenture. Thus, all we do is donkey work. It is not technology - it is programming.

Technology is a new idea, paradigm or design - programming is implementing that design. Thus, most of the people in IT waste their engineering degrees, doing mundane programming, until they are made project managers - after which they spend their lives approving timesheets, conducting appraisals and sucking up to the client . Wait a second - shouldnt an experienced IT professional be doing advanced stuff and leave the bullshitting to MBAs?

Why is it so hard for desi companies to do design? The've not tried hard enough (yet) to get into this space. They just dont have the competence to get the job done. Desi companies are amazing at procedure oriented projects - if there is a procedure in place telling us what to do, we can do it. They dont have the experience (and therefore the brand equity) to attract IT consulting projects.

Consulting is largely a reputation driven business. In order to build such a reputation, desi companies need to hire high-flying consulants - they dont come cheap. Even after all this, there is no guarantee of results! (Lately, Infy is trying to get into this space, I'm told, so good luck to them. I dont think TCS is though :-)) How many software products come out of Indian cos? IFlex is the only company to have a product successful worldwide. Making products is expensive and again, there is no guarantee of success - why risk it when services give me an assured income?

Why do we need to get into high end IT - consulting and products? Simply because the algorithm of low cost, low margin services will run it's course in the future. As payscales rise in india and the rupee appreciating wrt the dollar, margins become more and more slim. In time, India may not be as competitive as say Brasil or Russia - the American cos will take their projects out there! U can see trends in the manufacturing sector - earlier Taiwan was the manufacturing base for American cos, then SouthKorea and then these days, China For too long have we been stuck in the procedure oriented IT services. It is time to invest in consulting and products, and take Indian IT to the next level, or else I fear we will remain stuck in this low end nonsense. .

Indian companies thus have 2 choices - identify and set shop in countries where the low cost, low margin algorithm can be applied (TCS seems to be taking this route) or enter into high end IT, which is independent of geography (Which Infy is trying) . I believe the latter is the better route - it is a high margin business and reasonably high tech. What is even better, is coming up with technology - like Java, efficient databases, advanced operating systems (Like Sun, Oracle or Microsoft). That is real tech. It's not that we can't do it. It's just that we dont want to risk it . But, nothing venture, nothing have! Desi companies' dont even do proper R&D!

Finally, a FACT. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) was huge in the chip manufacturing industry, making almost 60% profit. They could have got into chip design, and potentially, designed low cost chips. However, design is a risky business - what if the chip bombs? TSMC chose to stick to it's core competence - fabrication. In time, TSMC's profits have declined to 20% or so... they're still number one, but don't make as much money as they used to... Are we learning yet?

PS: Work at TCS drove me so crazy; I quit to do a PhD :-)
Ritu Sharma Research Assistant
Department Of Applied Economics & Statistics
Room 229, Barre HallClemson University
Ph: (864) 656-3279 (O) (270) 556-7454 (C)

Gold - Stagflation

2006-06-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

Most gold is produced in mines
Heap leaching is process of making gold using low grade ore with a cyanide solution.
The average cost worldwide to produce gold is about $238 an ounce, according to the World Gold Council.
There are about 155,000 metric tons of gold in the world only one third is used for investment.
Gold prices fall on rising interest rates but can US keep on increasing the interest rates? then there is a possibility of stagflation.

"stagflation" — a miserable blend of a stagnant economy and inflation. With stagflation, prices continue to creep up even as joblessness keeps many of us out of work.

Reservations in India.

2006-06-07T20:38:00.000-04:00

Are all companies getting readyfor reservations in India? Few are making their applications compatible. Indian reservations can be used commercially for web services too. take a look he he.

Jaunting into my monthly expenses

2006-06-02T11:17:00.000-04:00

This month it’s my turn to prepare the expenses for our shared apartment. Being single, sharing is more comfortable right? If you are thinking this write up is all about what would be our expenses of a desi then you are drifting. Coming back, I noticed remarkable numbers in the monthly expenses that I saw earlier made me nostalgic of good old days.

Thinking of this year a decade ago is something to cherish about.
Graduated from school into an unknown free/open life, first visit to best city in S India,
first visit to a peer educational institute in Chennai(Madras), staying in a metropolitan city more than a week( lengthiest stay other than my home or hostel), getting selected to get into all the possible local engineering colleges, explored internet world, created an email account for the first time in life, spending double the money than all the expenses put together of the previous decade, first PG15+ flick . All these happened almost in a stretch of 12 months. The expendable capacity increased a level up even though the standards almost remained same. Thanks to JNV Samithi(my high school) who maintained facilities that provided almost a decade long scope of survival and sustenance, with the emotional and financial boost, helping me to cope out of stagnation in the crunch ridiculed with lack of monetary amenities.

Next four years was a different world and lifestyle that improved the thought process helped to move out of the small niche of people and experience rest of the world. It’s a huge leap to my dormant almost vegetative life (yeah that’s true) while family still continued with financial crunch which grew bigger than a black hole in all shades of life until recently. I have to thank the god, people around me, friends and as well my parents who shadowed me from that. My uncle played a great role in providing me the moral support, shade and financed almost all of my good years until my brother could rescue for a while. This tiring saga ended soon with a decision after my graduation to leave the country for higher studies (?). God knows what is learnt more, but sure it changed the three basic things life needs: mental, physical and emotional health. After a 6-year long stay with such life I feel proud to see the improvement in: way of thinking, capability to expend, amenities, abilities, career (err...). Chala akkuva ayyindhi kada.

Coming back to actual thoughts away from the past, when I looked into the expenses those numbers were similar to the one that I had spent a decade ago but in Rupees. If not 44 times (conversion rate of USD) life may have improved four plus times. Hope the expendability at least doubles every decade (happening until now). Did I reach the threshold already or is it still sky the limit? Let’s see in the next decade.

Remebering (Titans)friends from childhood

2006-05-17T03:25:00.000-04:00

Its a tough reality that there will be very few people who remain friends from our childhood until we settle. I think that remembering the names of our Chaddi Dosths is little tough foget to find who are in touch, What say? A small effort remebering them. Thank you guys you inspired my life in a worthy direction.

Badri is one of my 4th class friend who was in touch until 2002. He is a MED working somwhere in South India.
Srinivas Waman : recently got in touch during my India visit. He is a hard working guy expecting a great future in his Business curently located in hyderabad, got married and has a months kid. Happy parenting dude.
Shirisha: our calss topper in 4th&5th. I happened to meet her in my Engg Counselling. Interesting thing is that She recognised me and remembers herslef as our Monitor(class leader). What a shame huh? ;->
Krishna Yeruva: he is my cousin and in regular touch. Did his diploma in Bangalore and slowly settling near my schooltown. He recently started a small school and its growing. good luck Krishna.
Geetla Ravi : he is in regular touch. he got married, did his Engg, completed masters, and gained lots of experience in Engg in India as well as US. He settled in US and having a happy life. He is calm and fun guy but highly energetic and brainy. He is the second most intellegent guy i ever met.
DRKR: Recently married, works in a teaching field and stays in hyderabad. Easy going, calm, Shrewd and accomodating guy. He has good career ahead in his life. good luck ram.
Kontham Srini: Funny, sensible, innocent(?), comforting, neutral, easy taking guy. works for an MNC, recently made a visit to US and had great time together.
Bandari Naveen: works in teaching field . Dude, he is the only person in our complete freinds who is working at that highest post. Seriously its true. He is THE principal for an Engineering College. He is a cool guy with an MBA background. He will surely rock in his life. this is just a begining. We had good time in my recent vist to India.
Kankati Madhu: Working as an EE near my school town. He is the person who i trusted the most in my school. He is the best coordinator for any activities. He has good management skills. He got married and brought a brand new car recently.
Taduri Dheeraj: Working as a s/w engg in US. friendly guy with a bit of comedian instincts. We got to meet recently for a get-toggether. hope i get more time with friends.
Todapunoori Santu: Most intellegent guy with far foresight of life. He is the only one i knew of who has planned abt his marriage and the girl at his 7th grade. Hats Off buddy, he stuck to his plan. He married 7 years ago and settled happily ever after........
Koo Anil: lost touch in between . ocassionally meet him thru conference calls.
Panjala Srinivas: Friendly and intelligent guy with lots of innocence in his character. He studied Engineering in the same collge. his career was not a rollercoaster. He is having hard time making his career. I wonder sometimes how such a talented guy is still struggling in his life. His life still intrigues me. Krishna Mohan(his 4 year roommate) Any help?
Voruganti Mahe: He is the humble friend who helped me the most both financially and emotionally when i desperately needed. Thanks a lot Mahi. Some of my achievements are just 'cos of u.
A Shyam : good friend from class 6. innocent, hard working and net savvy guy. Settled in Hyderabad
Ponnam Raghudeep: I gladly call him my younger brother who shared good times and still in touch. He has a new girl friend and settled in a s/w job recently.
Bodduna Krishna: One more brother. He is laadla of his family. settled in hyderabad recently.
G Vinod : funny and intersting guy recently came in contact. he introduced me to Orkut. thanks Vinod.
Rammohan V : He is an icon of Hard work and perfection. He sticks to his rules. He is working as a s/w engg.( came off-shore recently) after his bachelors. Got married and has a kid.

there are more i could remmber after i started this. i will write more abt them slowly.
Jagan Soma, Asimuddin, Raghu Jali, Srinivas G, MS Reddy, Rajendra Prasad G, Durgesh K, Parimala V, Pavan P, Gopi Burra, Srinivas Puli, Raj Kumar Billa, Shatrugna B, Shekar Gaddam, Satish B, Omprakash P, BSS Koteshwar Rao, Hyderuddin, Yaasmeen, Radhika V, et al.

Pet names?

2006-05-17T03:00:00.000-04:00

I was thinking of my names people take ( pet names not the names u think of ) and wonder if someone can have these many (lol) . Lets see the history of it.

niRu is my childhood petname preferredd by my parents, relatives and childhood class mates. btw i was in three schools before i attended board exams: Sacred heart school, godavarikhani. St Claire Convent School, Jyothinagar. Jawahar NavodayaVidyala, Karimnagar)

When i entered JNV i had a dream of creating a big organization and planned for an approriate name. That idea gave me a new name : niDar which represent my complete name. You may see this name as my organisation one day. Also my first name is well known in my schools.

After i went to Bachelors(kits, wgl) people started using the Nick name: DAS which is one of the middle name. In my 3rd year i was searching for nidar in the net but i ended up getting the nidarreddy as my id and few started using that name. After i got to the Masters(ttu, tx) they preferred my last name. Every job gave me a different name(mainly Visa, Fanniemae, Citi, Mobilcom) : Niran, Reddy, NirunJhun, NiranHan (Spanish) , Mettu, Niranjan, ...........

So there are 5 pet names for me to claim. Sometimes different names helped me . when someone calls i dont recoellect that person i may depend on the name they called and make a guess. Cheap trick huh? one secret revealed.............

Gold prices still shoots up

2006-05-01T00:52:00.000-04:00

Gold price is increasing everyday. Yesterday South Indians may have tradesd around 25 thousand kilos of Gold in one day on the occasion of New year(i guess TamilNadu). the present price in the midst of Iran Tensions increased the Troy Ounce rate to 650+ USD. I believe it may grow beyond the 1000 USD expected mark by the end of the year. Is this a good investment now?

other side of the coin

2006-04-29T12:22:00.000-04:00

This is a nice presentation contrasting the worst with the best. (please click the above link)
courtesy Prakash, PA, United States

Life after Visa job-1

2006-04-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

Life has taken lots of turns these days. its long i have been to blog. i think i can move back and start blogging regularly. This blog has less of cribbing from now on. thats a paradigm shift in my career. From California i moved to North East to a Mortgage company late september 2005 into a more time consuming project. but slowly moved to other group which decreased pressure and office time drasticaaly and helped to spend quality time for myself.

Article from TATA's Chairman

2006-01-19T12:11:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: Opinioned by chairman of TATA sons.

Mr. Gopalakrishnan succeeds Mr. Ratan Tata as Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd., the holding company for many of the Tata Bluechips like Tata Steel, Tata Motors,Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Voltas, etc., Possibly he is the first non-Tata person to head the Tata Empire.
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 passe 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 have stuck to the company, ground their heels and worked their way to the top. And, as I look around for people who changed their jobs constantly, I find they have stagnated at some level, in obscurity!

In this absolutely 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 organisation and wait for that 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 superficial ones, like money, designation or an overseas 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 that company offers it current employees, there is always unseen bait attached.

The result? You will, in the long-term, have reached exactly the same levels or maybe lower levels than what you would have in your Current company.

A lot of people leave an organisation because they are "unhappy". What is this so-called-unhappiness? I have been working for donkey's years and there has never been a day when I am not unhappy about something in my work environment-boss, rude colleague, fussy clients etc.

Unhappiness in a workplace, 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 tempted to move, 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 as 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 me the job? Do they want me for my skills, or is there an 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 time In the wilderness?
"DESERVE BEFORE YOU DESIRE"
Dr.Gopalkrishnan, Chairman TATA Sons.

google pack takeover

2006-01-19T11:32:00.000-05:00

Google has innovative ideas in its armor it may release one after the other and make their share price grow exponentially. One product of it made me think more than the present package in the google-pack . My prediction is that it may involve deeper into our lives and fast enough and may take over the other big IT companies that are providing proved free services. Having the package at one place reduces effort but may hurt our pocket in the future that may depend on the policies of the Google. This product is not part of their 70% core google search services and may create a huger chunk of revenue as it starts a small fee in the future for the growing bundle. I personally support Google strongly but consciously request not to ignore other companies presence in the market that may aid to drive better services for us in the future too. Reference:http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/make-your-computer-just-work.html

Gold still growing

2006-01-19T11:06:00.000-05:00

Gold still soars to all time high even after 40 days it been high. It may slowly subside as the festival season slowly drops after 22nd Jan.
fin24.co.za comments as "The gold price is expected to trade in a range of $490 to $550, with an average of $521 in the first six months of this year. This is well lower than the $564/oz it reached this week before tumbling lower as investors took profits."

I am pretty sure that the gold will rise upto 600 in an year as i am expecting from last few months.

Google hire

2006-01-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

Google is hiring at a higher pace with novel ideas. It's worth take a look at the few of their processes from san Francisco Chronicle. Hats off Sergey and Larry.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/18/GOOGLE.TMP&type=printable

Life

2006-01-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

Life

My experience in Vancouver Canada:

2006-01-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

Any foriegner(Alien) in US is required to cross the border to get their visa renewed. We can either goto our home country or visit neighbouring country's consulate and get the process done. Canada and mexico has couple of consulates. I visited Vancouver's consulate and below are the details of the trip.

I made an appointment with nvars for 9 am, august 22 on June 27th. Entered Canada (YVR) through United Airlines on August 21st at 10 pm. Customs, port of entry is less than 15 minutes. Took 65 Canadian Dollars. Took cab (28/-) to Vancouver downtown (Bus charges 12/- 6:30 AM to 12 midnight ‘yvrairpoter’). Booked a hotel 1 km away and one month ahead of time for 50/- a night.

US consulate in Vancouver is 1075 w Pender St. that is near to sky train stations: Berrard St., Waterfront, and Granville St. Closest is Berrard St. Sky train connects New Westminster and King George (Surrey).

Reached hotel at 11PM (15Km from airport). 24/7 convenience stores are available. Had dinner in Denny’s at Berrard and Robson. Requested 6.30 wake-up call and walked to consulate by 7.45 AM. They are less than 25 people by then. There are separate lines for Citizens and non-citizens.

10:00 PM: Reached airport
11:00 PM: Reached hotel
06.30 AM: Woke up
07:45 AM: Reached consulate.
08:35 AM: Entered Security
08:40 AM: Verification and Fees pay and NUMBER assigned.
10:30 AM called my NUMBER for finger printing
10:45 AM called my NUMBER for Interview
10:50 AM paid reciprocity fee.
10:55 AM accepting Receipt for the passport and left the premises.
03:00 PM entered to pick up passport.
03:12 PM out of consulate with Visa in the Passport and I-797. (Imp: Check for any errors)

Security is in Ground floor.
Documents req: Passport and Appointment letter.
Copy machine is 4 blocks on Berrard St. and Star bucks is next to the building.
Do not bring any electronics, bags except plastic covers, 2 pocket folders.
No material should be sealed.

Then move to ‘Passport Verification’ in mezzanine floor.
Documents Req: D-156, D-157 photo, signature, 100 USD cash, I-797(one sheet).
Going forward rest room is not available, so use the one in this floor.
Then they will assign you a NUMBER, keep all those documents and request you to take the lift to 20th floor.

To avoid this process again DONOT hop out of the lift in any other floors. Reached 20th floor and remained seated in the 20th floor lounge for almost 2 hours.

Then they called my NUMBER for finger printing and then for the interview.
Documents they usually asked for F1-H1 are your OPT card, I-20’s (you will have more than one due to SEVIS program), and PAY slips. Where as H1-H1 were asked only pay slips. I would recommend following additional documents to be handy while you are with the interviewer (they did not ask any one of the 35 applicants who attended until 11AM): Company Docs, SSN, Degree certificates, transcripts, Tax documents, utility bill, and bank statement.

Most of the questions asked up to first 20+ applicants from 8 am-11 am:
What do you do?
How do you know this company?
What products do you work on?
Remarks (23/24 applicants are granted visa. Rejected is a graduate from Scotland and citizen of Indonesia).
If you have some document missing provide a valid reason why u don’t have (Example: can I have your OPT card? Ans: I did not carry it officer as I worked on my OPT 15 months earlier and OPT valid dates are already expired)

Then after the visa officer is satisfied with documentation and my answers he requested me to pay the cashier on your right or west of the building away from the entrance. I paid the reciprocity fee of 50 USD (USD) by providing the evaluation sheet from the visa officer. We can pay with Credit/Debit card or cash. Took that receipt and submitted it in the counter next to the visa officer as suggested earlier in the end of the interview. The person who accepts that receipt in return provided a receipt in red and white with a number on it. This receipt is used for retrieving our passport from the Consulate at 3pm. Any one can come and pick this document and I-797. They should go through the security and all Don’ts mentioned apply to the pickers.

Came out of consulate from west end exit and down to elevator at 11 AM, walked to hotel, dropped the consulate baggage and headed to 550 Robson St. for lunch at Indiagate hotel (I don’t recommend). Then watched a movie at 900 Burrard St. which is 13 minutes away from consulate.

After picking the passport at 3-3.15pm, checked for errors and securely stored. Boarded a bus ½ block away to Stanley Park (5 minutes). Boarded a 20 minute free ride with 14 stops in the park (Frequency of the busses is 5 minutes, 6.30 pm last bus). Best spots are Aquarium, Prospect Pt. and Third beach. Returned to sky train station (bus #19) and took a trip to King George station (8 dollar all day pass) and returned at 9 pm. Had dinner at Thai restaurant on Berrard and Smithe St.

Left Canada at 7 AM. So after I picked up my passport at 3pm, I reserved yellow cab for pick up at 4.30 AM with my last name and hotel address as reference.

Other info:
Be aware of your cell phone charges. They may work with high charges. May plan a toll-free number calling card.
Climate is pleasant (22‘C). Overall temperatures 10’C to 22‘C and may be raining.
People are nicer, Downtown is safer and quite.
Bad place to expect speeding traffic.
Active Downtown Street. is Robson St.
Good places to visit in one day stay
a) 4 blocks NE is CN IMAX.
b) 8 blocks E is tower view called “lookout” @ 555 W Hasting St.
c) 12 blocks W is Stanley park (100 acres free trips available). Daily rental bikes are available 4 blocks SW from consulate.
d) 12 blocks E is Vancouverchineesegarden near Stadium/China town Skytrain station.
Good places in a 3 day stay
a) 10 miles W from W Georgia St. near to consulate is Capilano Suspension Bridge & national park.
b) 4 miles SW of consulate is University of British Columbia (name of the Vancouver’s province) (990 acres).
c) Try ecotrailscapes.
d) Towards E is Banff national park towards Calgary
e) Towards SW is Victoria Island on a floating plane or a cruise.

Any questions can be yahooed to nidarreddy or follow my profile.

Hope this will be a good compendium for your enjoyable fun trip to Vancouver (YVR), British Columbia CA.

A day with United Airlines

2006-01-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

There are good sites to find good deals in continental US. few such websites are kayak and sidestep. I was planning to get an earlier flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), charlotte NC to Washington and reach office. So I was looking if there is any good deal and I called the united airlines to find if its possible to pre-pone(opp of Post-pone) my ticket to earlier flight. But they denied that request from a customer service office in San Salvador. I searched sidestep and I found a ticket from united airlines for 62 bucks including taxes and other charges. I was overwhelmed and confirmed the ticket. I reached the airport 2 hours before departure time and I see that my name is not found in the list. I showed the confirmation code and my last name then she revealed that there is a problem in the united airlines reservation system which may move the tickets to the next month same day , same time flight for all the over booked tickets. in the last minute there is only one vacancy available in the flight so she allowed me into the flight. I entered the boarding zone and she took away my baggage even before I could realize and gave me a token . she did not even gave me a chance to take my passport from the carry on baggage. As its single 1.5hr flight I was confident of getting my baggage safely when I reach the destination. I asked the cabin crew of the carry on luggage and she asked me to check at carousal-1 of IAD airport. I reached there in 10 minutes and waited for almost 2 hours for the baggage. I enquired for the lost baggage report area for United and found next to carousal -3. There I found umpteen bags around it. So I got terrified and waited an hour more to fill in the form a d explain the details. I reached home 6 hours after I started from charlotte without proper identity with me except my license. After a week long struggle calling the airlines customer service with long wait times. They found a baggage which resembled my description and as there is no scanable code on any carry on checked baggages they should be identified manually. So I received the luggage after a week struggle and neither United nor airport takes responsibilities. And as its a carry on luggage they claimed for COD(charge on delivery) in my lost baggage receipt. I thought I should never fly with United. Somehow I ended up buying a round trip ticket to Chicago which does not have connections. Unlucky bit my ass hardly enough that I ended up 2 hours delay while leaving Washington and 3 hours delay in return with missing baggage. I did not hear anything from them even after 8 days. The worst part is that I do not get any compensation from baggage delay ( I paid insurance amount for this ticket with the earlier experience) as their listed delay is less than 3hours(2.47 min) and I did not stay in any hotel in that journey. Interesting this is that ticketing servers were down for United airlines from 4PM and I reached the airport at 4.10 PM and ended up waiting in the line until 6.30PM for a 5.55PM flight. And as the information is not available they did not take off until 8.50PM which makes it 2.55 hours delay. I strongly recommend people not to buy such insurances for single flights and do not buy tickets from United Airlines.

Gold rush

2006-01-03T02:53:00.000-05:00

Gold is swinging to its great levels last month. its slowly raising and i strongly believe that it may reach 600USD per troy ounce sooner. I am planning to invest early febraury. check live prices.

Changes in this last year

2005-06-07T19:44:00.000-04:00

Hi Guys,
This blog will help me remember all the people who touched my life from last one year which has affected a lot in my career. Hopefully my experience may help to look at least part of their life in this story. I will try to make it chronological.

I first thank everyone who had helped me all the way and continuing in my effort to survive and help others. I completed my thesis in engineering with the help of 3 and was looking for the possible full time positions. I should thank Dr P for taking his precious time in sorting out my thesis to my best efforts (lol). I completed my thesis and making the patch work and i got a call from one of my Tech mate who is working to offer a small part time job even before i got my MS graduation certificate. So i got my paper work ready and started to move all over US in the name of the Job. My first job in US outside the School in neither flowery nor an odd job that i should neglect. I started to work and the team size is 13 and had a great time even though the work is not interesting. Just imagine you are given an SUV with fragile equipment worth 20 Grand and perform onsite survey. Responsibilities involved driving at 25 Speed within city limits and off the highways from Evening 6 PM to 3 AM continuously for the 45 day stretch on a hilly City like San Diego covering approximately 220 miles a day. Believe me the If you have a passion of Driving in your life and growing you work here it can die in no time. I lost one my passions of my life forever. It’s not over. I worked there 45 days in San Diego and from there we moved to El Centro, an agriculture based town that is 120 miles East of San Diego. This trip has changed my career abruptly but for good. In snapshot, it’s a great experience that has taught me things like Team skills documentation skills. San Diego is a lovely place and happens to have the best and costliest houses next to Bay Area (San Jose). This City has many great things in the areas of Natural beauty (Forests, Beaches, Houses, Tourism, Water park, and near to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Tijuana (Mexico Border). look at this photograph san Diego .
I will share the experiences of El Centro tomorrow. Last word: If anyone is planning to San Diego Let me know i can help them with few tips in Tourist places, Night life, stay, career opportunities and possible expenditures in that area.

May 2005

2005-06-01T14:29:00.000-04:00

Today we may have noticed or not India is in News for an Active Volacano. Need not worry , its in Barren Island in Andaman. This location is very near to Sumatra that is the epicenter of the Tsunami 6 months back. Small info on Andaman Islands : The Andaman Islands have some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the world, and there are a variety of places for visitors to engage in these sports. Most of the best beaches and coral reefs are found on the other islands (not South Andaman Island), where the capital, Port Blair, is located. Foreign tourists are allowed a thirty-day permit to visit the Andaman Islands.

For Bay area guys: There ia good deal in Fry's on 60GB external harddisk for 100 USD after 50 MIR. ez bus 2.75"X5.25"X0.5" Apricorn , Thanks Vishnu

If you are looking for career in MBA you may use the resources compiled by a doctoral student in IIM bangalore : www.anuragjain.com . thanks Anurag

A good article about Family and job:Courtesy Newyork times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/25/opinion/25miller.html?ex=1117771200&en=edf3ccbb0d838461&ei=5070
Thanks Aaron.

Test Page

2004-06-09T03:41:00.000-04:00

test page