1/27/2005

KK ROCKS

I had been to KK's concert and it was one of the best concerts that i have been to in my life .will give updates a little later
5000 CELEBRATIONS

wella after this site has fully loaded after u've come here....just do scroll down and check the visitor number of the site.As of now at 7 25 am on a thursday morning it's 4995 ....the 5000th visitor to this site would get a treat from me.All u have to do is when u see the no 5000 on my site meter , do email me or leave a comment on my blog.(be honest )

I guess it's time I start ....as my mother keeps reminding me to go to office............

1/24/2005

Well, being back to Chennai ..is great and driving along Old mahabalipuram road is so much better than the good old Hosur road...at least one dosen't face so much of traffic jams....in chennai ,more than in bangalore. I had a great weekend at saarang,IIT-M ..butthe rock show there on saturday night was a big letdown....

but there's more to come ..with KK's concert tommorow evening..shall give more updates when i reach home as i am busy warming the benches at work.

1/19/2005

H O M E A T L A S T


I shall be hitting Chennai tommorow morning all set to join and report to my Chennai Office.I just got my release mail last night...and after a long time spent a tension free,COBOL-free night on the campus.I've never slept so well for the past 1 month.I do feel a little nostalgic of all the lovely memories Bangalore has given me during this 95 day MAINFRAMED holiday.

I guess Iwill be missing that lovely morning mist and chillness that prevails here ...only to be otherwise found inside a refrigerator (especially when ur in chennai :-)) ,my dear cubicle B16 at FF2 ,but anyway home is where heart is ....so dear chennai....HERE I AM...........arriving.

For chennai folks I wudnt , have a mobile number to contact me...as I will be surrendering my HUTCH bangalore connection tonight...and would get a number only tommorow after reaching office to have the corporate connection in Chennai.



1/14/2005

TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

I just happened to come across my school's official website...from dilee's blog but tch tch...the website provider's ugly name comes up when the site opens.It felt good to see photographs of some of my teachers who still work in the school....amidst the new recruits.The last time I visited school was on pakistan's independence day -aug 14.....when I had been to adjacent school ST Micheals to write the recruitment test for Cognizant which I had easily cleared.I just happened to visit the school then for about 10 minutes ...taking a peek into the cycle stand where I once used to waste time...in the mornings ,bunking my prayer sessions to gossip with my friends in the name of arranging the cycles ,as we had a competition every week for the best maintenance of the campus..by the respective groups...and some of the groups went like this ....hmm....all of them were mountains neelkant,kanchenjunga,nangaparbat and ......................ya...kailash. I've represented all the houses during my 8 year assosiation with bala vidya mandir.

I then went to the auditorium to see the very place where a quiz master was born....(hey thats me) .......the very place where we people used to arrange ourselves in a so called line to assemble for the prayer, ...after which I remember we had to pass through the jungle gym- our play area for lower classes , some teachers(like thayumanavan,ramesh,sethu) used to stand and monitor the condition of our shoes and punish us by asking us to take a round of the whole school.Man that was some fun!!!! and last but not the least the Aaya's little home in between our basketball court and the girl's toilet.I was a regular visitor to the local aaya's place ,whenever there was a cricket match on...her B/W tv used to provide us the scores and updates. One instance I can never forget was March the 13th 1996 when India played Sri lanka in the semifinals of the 96 world cup, the aaya's little dwelling was filled with more than 12 students ....when jayasuriya and kaluwitharana were out to consecutive balls....the amount of roar and excitement ,we people had at that moment was to be experienced only at that moment,in that little place .I could have taken leave ..on that day....but sadly cudnt as I had already met the princi and vice prici for special leave as I was one among the few who took leave on march the 11th after attending half a day school as australia played the kiwis at chepauk. One of my friends dileep decided not to bunk school for the chennai match and take leave on the 13th when india were playing .

Q well .on a quizzical note ...what connects kartik kannan and dinesh kaarthik
(the indian wicketkeeper now ) ?

A Both played as substitutes under dilee's captaincy :-)

Someday when I am in Chennai ,I must make it a point to visit my teachers.....and of course the hallowed turf as my classmate dileepan puts it.

I guess I have a lot more to contribute about school ....but as of now I am mainframed ....with Infy..have some work..... so will update later.


1/13/2005

Sometimes I just think Why cant chennai have a dedicated hindi music channel....I 've so much got used to listening to RADIOCITY 91FM and its mellifluos tunes ..in bangalore . Chennai should have a channel that plays english and hindi music also....as we have 2 24/7 tamil music stations in SURYAN FM and RADIOMIRCHI 98.3 .... I must say life is just all that bit better with the arrival of my "love of life" WM-FX195 SONY WALKMAN ..as the day is spent listening to radio city . There are a few RJ's here who are as famous as suchitra ramadorai of 98.3 ....like vasanti hariprakash of "guud morning bangalore" and darius"simply adjust maadi/top 8 at 8 " .

Anyways I guess its hightime I feed "her " with some food..so gotto go 2 foodworld and buy a pack of batteries..
YAADEIN...........


. Sometimes memories are the only tool that provides some kind of a comfort especially when one is alone.I was just walking down memory lane this afternoon ..of my tour to Hyderabad in early jan 2003, exactly 2 years back. We were there only for 5 days ,but it felt as if we were there for many more days. What was so exciting then was that we (aanand,kishore,prasanna and myself ) college students (halfway into our third year ) had gone there officially to attend a summit called the partnership summit where many corporate honchos and political leaders gave their views on various topics .This was the first time I was interacting with world famous people on a personal scale …and we delegates were allowed to question the speakers and I did put up a few questions …and received immense satisfaction when my questions were answered by these people.This was my introduction to corporate life…..and not to forget the lunch we had with these senior people.On this tour we got to hear biz talk from people as famous as Bharti’s Mittal,C.K.Prahlad,Marty subrahmanian,Ramesh Vangal,jairam ramesh,Ashok soota,Ramaraju,Ministers of defence ,US government,LK Advani…..and literally the who’s who of the Indian corporate world .

The first two days we were lodged in a place called gachibowli in the IIIT campus .To come out of wilderness from vel tech engineering college to another technical institute like the International institute of Information technology was a huge thing for us …seeing a campus full of greenery ,excellent buildings and in general the campus by itself was like being in dream land for us.Where else in the world would one get up to hearing rock music at 6 am …and have a canteen that was 24 hours open and the biggest of them all –have a guys hostel right adjacent to the girls hostel.It was fun staying there and roaming all night through the campus…and the highway on which the college was situated.

The next day we were to shift to another place in the city where one of my mothers friend lived.I knew her all along as Parvati aunty for the 20 years that I had existed.She was my mothers friend since the time we were in Hyderabad.(I was born in Hyderabad…and stayed there till I was 4). . Parvathi aunty stayed with her mother in Hyderabad. She, due to certain family circumstances had not married and was living supporting her mother. I remember when we stayed there …..the whole house seemed as if it sprang to life …..as instead of two …now there were 6 people in the house and parvathi aunty was busy serving us ….food and other delicacies.I knew what it must have been for them,as she had no children,so she was so pleased seeing us ,she took extra special efforts to make sure we were comfortable.

Her mother,probably a septuagenarian too took great efforts to make sure we enjoyed our stay there.Every thing from being dropped at the hotel where the summit was held to the time we were in their house …was made enjoyable to us.It was a small 2 bedroom flat …….where we 4 guys managed to get into one room and spend a couple of nights there.Parvathy aunty’s mother had seen me since I was a baby ..and was seeing me after a gap of something like 17 years …and when the time came to part ..she seemed very sad .I paid my obeisance to her by kneeling down on her feet to have her blessings…..She was so happy to see me doing that …..I could feel it in her eyes,…as tears were slowly collecting in the edge of her eye …without actually showing she was emotional. Soon after I left their place she rang up my mother and was complimenting my mother for having such a nice well mannered son like me.

Generally elders ……have a lot of affection amidst memories of a child they had seen when it was newborn and now here that child was ….grown up…to be a responsible lad who still remembers them.The fact that I had remembered her , gave her a lot of joy…as it was 17 years later that I was meeting her.
Last afternoon as I was glancing into my computer …..skeptically seeing a piece of code …whether the syntax was correct………I got a call from my mother that parvathy aunty’s mother had passed away……and for a second it seemed as if the world around me had frozen………her memories flashed like a powerpoint slide show…..one after another …….and hence this post ..dedicated to this lady………..whom I really revere .


1/11/2005

of forwards and the mindset behind it

I tend to notice that more often than not , one tends to receive emails as forwards than the normal mail conveying information.It's not that I am against forwards....but it gets boring to see a repetition of the same mails popping in by the dozens.Infact it's years since I actually forwarded messages,and even when I send group emails to all my friends It's something that I type on my own. I just noticed this as I was about to sleep last night.

well seeing the other side of the coin..one would argue that a person sending forwarded mails is actually sharing information with others,but I totally detest that theory as I know the mentality of we " working proffesionals " I tell u, we some how or the other have to pass time ...without tasking our brain so much.......just have to fill in the check boxes and click on send, and we continue doing this monotonously till we are bored even with this activity....after which we say.."ok they pay me somuch..lets do some work" and inbetween work when u recv a mail , u are only too glad to take this as a welcome respite and forward it across.

When the odd forward comes , I dont mind reading it ...but when the same forward comes from different people at different instants of time ...that too flooding ur inbox with a ferocity of closing it down, only then does it become tiresome reading them.

It's not that I forward only my own stuff, there are times whenever I have sent the link containing a good article , but it's just that its boring to see people sending forwarded mails hardly caring whther we read it or not....but more so just to make sure they have some activity to while off their time...and its become so mechanical...these days........

to catch up on college gossip , My dear friend L.G.Ganesh has got a job in bangalore and would be coming here on the 19th morning via the rajdhani express, but i am not sure whether I would be in bangalore to receive him as I still haven't got confirmation from my department as to when they are going to releive me..officially its 18th...but only time will tell.I heard that my college is planning an alumni meet on the 26th of january,I wouldnt mind going there but whats what's the point going there all alone , when most of the guys wont turn up,as they dont want to re-enter hell .



1/10/2005

SHE'S BACK

I remember her first coming to my house on the 27th of august 2001 on a "as -usual-sunny" chennai afternoon.I instantly fell in love with her..it was'nt just her looks ,but her innermost quality that has won me over.I am now not lonely in bangalore...as I went home last weekend and decided to bring her for accompanying me ....for the last few days in bangalore.I dont get to see her that often but it's just that we sleep together.I've cherished the nights we've spent together in bed.....staring at the moonlight that would seep in through my window.I know her only well for 3 years...but the kind of bond that has developed between us is really strong....as she has stood by me in times of distress offering me support and of course through moments of ecstacy..... read a small post on her,pls read the article titled ek choti si love story...click here ....that I wrote sometime back in 2002.....

Her father passed away some time back........he was called AKIO MORITA.......yes he was the guy who invented the SONY WALKMAN ....... :-) that I own now....

well u see I have this habit of getting attached to inanimate things...and the latest victim is my desktop....in office.

1/07/2005

wow it feels so good to head home......I am mentally fagged out staying all alone in bangalore and with the ever increasing pile of unwashed clothes...and the luggage that just keeps increasing as I keep buying books....I am going to dump every thing in chennai ...and come back to bangalore .

INcidentally the bangalore sun too would have lesser admirers than the chennai sun...as I literally had to run towards the shade as I have got used to chill bangalore weather and after 2 and a half months this was the first time iwent out in the afternoon.
CODE...........................ARGH..........


every damn software engineer I come across ,be it in the bus ,or while going to eat...or while just walking...seems to be thumbing across a copy of DAN BROWN'S DA VINCI CODE.......it seems to have become a rage in the office.....here.THe strangest part is I have become so dumb , that even as a books gets famous I hardly have the craving to read it.Thats how harry potter passed by and now it's dear Dan brown..............

may be I too shall thumb through the copy of that book sometime after I am "mainframed"

1/03/2005

LIVING VS EXISTING


Its really amazing how much of a factor attitude plays in life….it is just the difference between living life and existing . For the past few months I’ve been just existing , not living life because I seem to have closed many avenues of life, just to make sure I have one channel running….. why? One might ask…its more so because of the insecurity involved in completing that task successfully,especially if one has’nt done something well previously . This way of just physically existing without any goals in life,over a long time could prove really dangerous to one’s career and I am in the process of learning that.

In these 79 days that I have stayed alone at Bangalore,I have realized that I just didn’t have the right attitude to live alone and live it responsibly. I ‘ve learnt day by day that whatever habits,Thoughts and strengths I had were like a drop in an ocean and there’s so much of myself that needs corrective action in many fields…may it be living alone and adjusting with the available resources and people around you,how muchever one detests them..I’ve realized this all too suddenly,when my lackadaisical attitude towards programming made me feel like an alien here and a fish out of water.The corporate world expects you to do things on time and there’s basically no one out there to protect you and advise you on what to do and what not to? And one bad impression could have a lasting effect on the whole career itself in terms of promotions.

In all these 4 years living with programming which “ I terribly hate “ and the various tasks involved in learning it …(as I am supposed to be a software engineer)…has made me take life with same approach as I would do with programming and tech stuff….and the insecurity created there has spilled over into normal life and hobbies and has made me what I am. Well looking at it now, life isn’t all that tough ,but one just needs organized and honest planning to lead it comfortably.I’ve probably derailed in this track of life ,simply because I haven’t found things going my way , the way I want it to be…and that disappointment stems from the fact that I tend to believe a person completely and when some one disappoints me I tend to take it a little too personal and feel a lot about why he/she had wronged me.So to say I am yet to find any friend who thinks on the same lines as I do and whom I enjoy being with…..I have many close friends…but some somewhere down the line if A has 15 good qualities ,he somehow tends to have a couple of qualities I just abhor……..but one has no choice to accept these things and move on as friends…… so the lack of an extremely close or caring friend..somehow has made life a little boring to live with. At this point there are probably only a handful….who would really be the guys to hang around with, or with whom I would be at ease……


Another cause for worry is that I generally prefer taking the first step,leading things and managing various activities.While organizing these things ,invariably I have found some rascal who talks behind my back or mocks…while I sit back and do the work….and surprisingly the crowd I have mingled in school and college have been of the type which prefers to sit back and relax and pass comments on the one who actually does the work. somehow or the other my enthusiasm in doing a work would be accompanied by jealousy or there would be some problem creator wherever I have been …and after some time that would affect the way I work. Take for example the college symposium ..which I was so glad to work for….that literally 90% of the planning and work was done by me before the symposium.I literally gave my heart out working 15-20 hours in a day …..and just on the day of the symposium a few lecturers and students decide to have their own spoiling every damn thing and then blaming me ….To add salt on the wound …they fail me in my labs…

So the environment and the people around have also contributed to me just losing that interest in life.So all these factors over a period of time have made my life not so interesting.Its like u trying to come up to the surface of water after being repeatedly being pushed and shoved around deeper by evil. As a result the confidence takes a beating and one tends to suffer mentally……and that’s what probably happened to me all these years.So something that I have learnt is that people are not meant to remain the same as they were,and yeah...now I have learnt to recognize and inoculate the sinners from the saints.


life in general is never as linear as the idle world is ……..but its for us to make it as linear as possible customizing it and tailor making to our requirements and not get turned off by the boulders …but to find ways of passing the boulder successfully. This lean patch of life has happened at a time when relatively ,one can still manouvere his way towards building his life, as I compare life currently like a wet cement mould that thickens as we grow older….the cement has’nt fully dried,so I can still make ramifications and corrections before the hardening takes place .So I am feeling happy that I could at least identify the source of problem (or rather debug it , as I am supposed to say)…and doing it in loneliness is even more satisfying .When I talk about loneliness..its the fact that I am away from suffering with none of my close mates nearby....and the song playing on my desktop just echoes my feelings at this point of .(SHAAN)

ankhon me sapne liye
ghar se ham chal to diye
jaane yeh raahen ab lejayengi kahan....
mitti ki khusboo aye(chennai ki.... :-) ) ,palkon pe aasoon laye
parkon pe reh jayega yadon ka jahan
manzil nayi hain.anjana hain karvan
chalna akela hain yahan.........

tanha dil , tanha safar,
dhunde dil tuje,phir kyon nazar....


I am all set to live life once again after being marooned on the sea of no hope (as in the cape of good hope in Africa ) Well on a technical note…I sign off ……hoping life works like this SQL query…….

DELETE sorrows FROM life UPDATE life SET failure_flag = "NO" AND success_flag = "YES" SELECT happiness, prosperity FROM life WHERE year >=2005 INSERT INTO life VALUES ("friends","dreams") GRANT smile TO all REVOKE enemity FROM all ALTER TABLE life add dreams CHAR(INFINITY)

1/01/2005

THE YEAR THAT WAS……………………2004


This is just an account of the year so far....if curiosity is killing you to c , how the years went by ...just refer to the archives ection of my website www.katchucrap.blogspot.com in the months jan 2004 and jan 2003


Jan1 –wake up to plaster-of-paris free hands…after my left hand fracture had fully healed and the plaster had been removed last night….

Jan 3 –Go to Sify to collect my project details for my internship and rejoice at the same time when Sachin after a long draught scores a century against the aussies at the SCG(241*) .

Jan 23- Get caught in college for bunking college model exams..as I had gone to saarang(cul fest of IIT MADRAS)…but am let off as I do a comedian vivek style englipish”as I am suffering from fever……………..” what I actually said was I had been to IIT to present a paper on birdwatching….the IIT tag is enough for the so called exam cell fellow to feel that my leave was genuine…and thank heavens he didn’t know what birdwatching meant.

FEB 6- am elated as I receive two interview calls from symbiosis pune for their PGDBM course and am over the moon.

FEB 7 to 16
The right time for making money as I lap around rs 3000 in some allied events at Hindustan engineering college in their various department symposiums.

FEB 9-
finally the college authorities give –in and decide to stop classes for the semester as we plead with them saying that we need at-least a months time for our project

FEB20
–Board the train to pune from home at 6 50…making it one of my most loneliest trips …..and keep vomiting in the train…….

FEB21-
as the day dawns …I am reminded that the world has endured me for 22 years …and this is the first time I would be spending my birthday all alone and in a new city.
My interviews at symbiosis goes of well ….

FEB 22:
The final interview on day 2 is also over at symbisois..pune, and I am free by 4 30 pm , but by the time I come back to the room and pack…its already 7 and Guess what…after “hindi-ing” around for some time I tend to miss our gaana and mama machan language (which I terribly hated in college !!!),so I run to the theatre near by which is screening “pudukottai lerundu saravanan” paying 90 rs in a multiplex there…and at the end of it I am convinced….that I could have jumped off the Niagara falls than to have watched that movie.

FEB-25-MARCH 10
- Have the time of my life …roaming around with my friend prasanna as both our projects supposed to have been done at SIFY and IOCL are shelved bcoz of the short period our college gave us for the internship…and the fact that the companies wanted us to start doing the project from December last year. WE decide to buy a project from a “potti kadai” in one of the small bylanes of vadapalani………


MARCH-14
just chance to meet an astro-guy…who is supposed to be prasanna’s uncle’s friend and get a few encouraging signs about my future….never did believe him initially ….but found out afterwards in course of time that every syllable he occurred about my future was coming true………

MARCH-18 – Its my cousin’s marriage , but also happens to be my last symposium at Bharath engineering college.to which I make a quiet slip after the food is served in which I happen to win the paper presentation event and the quiz…….. so that’s the last drawn salary …from symposiums while at college.

MARCH-25- The next day my project review Is supposed to be and my project that I paid 4000 bucks is not yet ready….and that guys goes on and on……and it moves over into the wee hours of the next day……at 1 30 am..where he says that the project as some errors and he consoles me with a cup of “tea” at one of the corner side tea shops…but I don’t give up …and finally the project executes….at 3 30 am…after which I return home at 4 am …promptly miss the college bus as I over sleep , and then to reach college in time I take the arduous option of biking 50 kms on roads where highway lorries literally play Kabbadi.

My college computer hangs just while the execution is about to show up and the day passes off as miserably…and I decide to drive to my friend’s room nearby and take his cpu and rush back to college and show the execution of my project…….and finally just have enough strength to lie down flat in my friends room after all that to-and-fro biking..

APRIL 7- The final semester exams start…..

APRIL 22- The whole family takes a trip to Tirukkadiyur…. A temple town in interior tamilnadu to celebrate the 80th birthday of my grandfather…and we are lodged in a 100 year old house..with pillars running down every room and “thinnais” .The simple beauty of the place bowls me over…and the best part is the family get2gether of 20 people in that old-style house….

MAY 5- Its our last exam and no one’s mind is on the exam as we realize that all of us are going to part with each other and it was quite an emotional day for most of us…I stayed up late with the guys and went home only at 11 pm…..

MAY-6 We start on our 16 day trek to the Himalayas ..by boarding the sick “GT express” .
MAY 10: The coooolest t day in my life…as I was skiing at 13000 ft at practically near zero temperatures.
For more on the tour….refer archives section of my blog in june 2004 .

MAY-23- The tour ends and we are greeted in Chennai and told that Polaris is conducting its recruitment that day….so I get off from the rain and head straight to the venue…and after 3 hours of standing and getting baked in the 43 degree sun, I break through the pushing of the crowd and manage to write the test……

MAY-26-
health becomes worse and my vomiting problem is getting more severe… admitted in the hospital….and get to know that My small intestine has 4 blocks and that is preventing food to get digested properly….and these are the initial stages of TB….

JUNE 04
– am released from hospital after this damn complex operation was performed and I can hardly walk for a month with a plastered stomach covering the cuts and stiches of the stomach which was operated. I am just out of hell(hospital) as life was tough taking in “drips” and injections as food and struggling to breathe as a pipe was inserted through both my nostrils right into my throat ….going down to the stomach…….so drinking water was something great then………

I miss quite a few recruitment tests in this period and rue upon my bad luck………

JUNE 12: I was informed of the Oracle –walk in and decide to somehow make it to bangalore to write the test,so 3 of my friends along with me …travel by car to Bangalore to write the test.I am the centre of attention there,as I go there draped in a “veshti”(dhoti ) as there is no way I can wear a pant with all that heavy plaster on my stomach……

I don’t get through that day and the next day for the walk in at Kyocera at Bangalore , the test was cancelled.

JUNE 19:
I Also attend the oracle walkin at Hyderabad and hard luck there also…but I somehow enjoyed the trip with my friends…burning mid night oil reading tech books and past papers and the fact that they took good care of me …

JUNE 20:
I travel for the first time in a jan shatabdi train from vijayawada to chennai and I am quite impressed by the train as it offers chair car like comforts for the price of a II sit.

JULY 3RD- I am called up by polaris after a long time ..for my tech interview and it goes of well at their navalur campus…..

JULY 4TH : A group of we six friends from college book rooms in a hotel in Bangalore , to prepare for the 2nd oracle walk-in and as we go to the centre , we find that at 7 am , there were people who had queued up from as early as 4 am………and guess what…due to the huge rush of candidates…the test was cancelled……..this was like rubbing salt in my wounds………

So what do I do for the remaining 12 hours…..as my return train to Chennai was only at 11 45 pm…so I decide to watch two back to back shows of “hum tum “ and “lakshya”.

JULY-11TH TO AUGUST 1—Every weekend was spent in bangalore writing recruitment tests and hunting 4 jobs…….

JULY-26th..very nearly made it to HCL technologies ….but happy for my friend Anand who made it through .

JULY-27 received my “offer of employment letter” frm POLARIS and the call letter to write the INFOSYS test…..

AUGUST-9th
…I am supposed to report at POLARIS on OM road…but destiny decides otherwise as I qualify in the Infy test on 8th and am going to attend my Infy interview on 9th on the same road.

AUGUST-20th –17 23 pm….I receive a mail from Infy that I have been selected and I am elated ….
AUGUST 29th …I also clear the TCS test and the feel good factor is great. I also manage to coax a long-time-internet friend called krithika to try out blogging…so that was the 4th person I managed to do so in 3 years .

SEPTEMBER 1st to 7th- This weekend is also spent in Bangalore(7th consecutive weekend in Bangalore) watching the Natwest trophy…which unfortunately is not aired in chennai due to the CAS affect.

SEPTEMBER 16th- 4 of my friends decide to visit Tirupati to thank the lord for having showered us employment. We enjoy a crowd-free tirumala as we get darshan even though
It’s the start of the brahmotsovam festival that day.The temple sports a festive look ,decked up and lighted….

SEPTEMBER 23RD –I become a fan of mohammed rafi…after I attend a SPB conert where he rendered some of rafi’s songs….now I would have something to shop in a music store after I have exhausted all possible kishore’da’s combinations.

OCTOBER 18TH- I Report at Infy Bangalore and that’s where I stay for the next 76 days (today being the 77th day in Bangalore)….I realize that INFY is the IIM-A among the IT companies ……the way this place is built…taking into account the lush green gardens, the landscaping etc etc …….this is like living in dream land……..
And I am really impressed by the work culture at Infosys Bangalore…

OCTOBER 24TH : I Fool 2 girls in my batch , pretending to call them from HUTCH and telling them that the HUTCH network has detected them sending lewd messages and hutch was going to speak to her HR about it…..One girl was so tensed and scared that she was nearly on the verge of a break down (don’t worry Krishna mishra …I will not reveal your name ) ….I had real fun doing that ………..

NOVEMBER 18TH: I try out swimming for the first time in my life and discover painfully chilly swimming can be in an 18 degrees Bangalore evening,but am soon comforted by an hours session at the jacuzzi and steam bath…….W O W .

OCTOBER-19TH- DECEMBER 31st--- I tend to wonder why people
commit suicide …and court issues “death warranties” ……as I have discovered
one better way …to kill a person……ask him to learn Mainframes…….on a dumb
matrix like blue-green screen.

Things I learnt here

Every Software Engineer continues his state of chatting or forwarding
mails unless he is assigned work by external unbalanced manager.

Bugs can neither be created nor be removed from software
by a developer. It can only be converted from one form to another. The
total number of bugs in the software always remains constant.

JANUARY 1-2005 : I AM JOBLESS SITTING AND TYPING THIS
AND YOU ARE EQUALLY JOBLESS TRYING TO READ THIS.
------------------------------------------------------------
"Your future depends on your dreams" So go to sleep
REGARDS
KARTIK KANNAN
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12/29/2004



I was quite suprised at the turn of events in chennai last weekend.I would have loved being there to see such a phenomemen of seeing the sea waves coming upto 10 metres.I was initially shocked receiving the news from one of sikkimese friends here at Infy on sunday that Chennai received a jolt at 8.9 on the richter scale.......but later after browsing the web..I found out that the epicentre was not in chennai.

But the sad point still remains that so many people passed away in this tragic incident.It pains to see one of the natural attractions of Chennai being submerged in water and ravaged by the killer tsunami.

I am planning to stay back till the 3rd of january ...as I am still to collect my release letter and the fact that Infy has its corporate awards function here in the amphitheatre in the bangalore campus and it's something I wouldnt want to miss,especially when NRN is talking .

12/26/2004

LIFE IN THE STONE AGE ..........

I am learning what life is at infy.......bangalore initially was great fun ......keeping in view MG Road and brigade road.........and the weather........but nothing comes close to chennai .....I am just waiting to get back home.........as I dont have a house to live in here....just keeping my luggage in my friends, 10th century single room lodging , near office close by at electronics city.I had to shift from my previous place at BTM layout as the previous house i was staying was too expensive and was only for a period of 2 months from oct 22.....and life here at Infy is extending a little bit into 2005 ...so I am sleeping and having bath in office .


the place where i have kept my baggage reminds me of avadi where my college was and some classmates stayed there........with ditches running over and small houses networking into much smaller ones....having a near fuse tubelight...just having enough light to inspire maniratnam to start a movie . the houses here seem to have cleaned and swept ages back...and the bathrooms and toilets are having cobwebs .......and yuck...........cant talk further...and shops ...the ever ubiquitous tea shop or "potti" kadai...that is on the route from my friend's place to infy.....Inside these houses 6-7 people stay ,with clothes and unwashed socks strewn about the place lending a dirty smell where puking would be an understatement. Some guys in the adjacent room make their room with a heavenly touch as their room is filled in cigarette smoke as they unmindfully keep playing cards

..oh......I really miss the comfort of home ...all i have to talk to are the matrix like cobol screen which hardly seems to reply back to me as it cant understand my language and keeps saying "mac cc error " .......I am fed up and ...........slowly am gathering the pieces to make life better once again ..........

But life is slowly looking up with some great company at nights and wee hours ........all studying for the exam on 30th ....




12/21/2004

S W A D E S ' E D

I am presently listening to the soundtrack of swades again and again as I am totally bowled over by the movie as well as the music ....and if time permits I might go for a night show of swades(re-run) in bangalore's posh PVR cinemas with my friends.We hardly have any work in office as all of us are keenly waiting for our compre results....as only if we clear the compre test, will we be posted to our respective IBU's(Internal Business Units). My friends here are busy watching movies from 9 am till 6 pm.

I preferred to go around the campus and enjoy the lush greenery of the campus ..as tommorow will hopefully be my last day in the Infy campus at Bangalore ,unless i happen to flunk in the compre ,as we are to proceed to our respective DC's tommorow afternoon.The results are expected at 9 in the morning.......so tommorow is D day .........in a way .

And the biggest scoop ....I have some how coaxed my HR here to give me a posting to Chennai...and guess what she has accepted it .so I should be reaching Chennai on the 23rd afternoon and joining office on the 24th in the retail department of Infosys ,Chennai(if all goes well in my compre results !!!!!) ,but there lies a catch ...I am on transfer to chennai only for 3 months after which i have to return back to the western coast of mangalore.

till then its the " T I M E 2 D I S C O "


12/19/2004

COMPRE OVER...........

My final exams at INFY are over...but the results are yet to be out.They probably will be out latest by tuesday morning... so waiting with unabated breath to hear that I have passed the test.
As of now I am to report to the Mangalore office on thursday morning.but lets see what is in store as I still fancy myself getting a chennai posting in case the HR decides to agree to my request for a transfer to chennai on medical grounds.

So its been a good weekend so far...on friday evening I happened to watch "SWADES" ..first day release in a theatre called swagat in jaya nagar.It very closely resembles those horrible moss balls ,theatre of Avadi...and the theatres one would find in suburbs...Anyway I enjoyed the movie ...and if it were'nt enough yesterday i decided to splurge in a shopping mall called forum,where I went to the LANDMARK book store..purchased books and music for about 700 rs and decided to go for a night show in the highly luxurious and opulent PVr cinemas ,where the ticket price was 150 rs..More so like our STUDIO-5 theatre in satyam complex....(chennai).

The movie i went for was VEER ZAARA ..and it was another captivating movie....with some good compositions from A.R.Rehman.

More updates later...as I am just basking out here................wow ..life was never so cool.

12/14/2004

N O E D I T I O N O F A B L O G P O S T W I L L B E T H E R E F O R T H E
N E X T C O U P L E O F D AY S ......................

i am busy preparing for my compre test.........

GOD SAVE ME ..........I am decoding hieroglyphic script........


I am framed .............

Yes this is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

How terrible! For no fault of mine, I was dumped into this, I was framed. It still is a mystery. My involvement in the case was made up and I, a lay no man with no locus standi in the whole issue was pulled into it and framed. The pity is that even the Court is in a mood to accept it!

How terrible! When I wanted to be Open and frank about the system, they tell you that they allow all whistleblowers to be open and free, but I was targeted and Framed. But why me of all the greats? Why Me?

How Terrible! Now that I am framed I need to console myself, maybe try negotiating a settlement with ‘em. While they out-right reject any kind of such – un-professional – behaviour, I will still try my luck. My comrade in this nasty operation is a guy who was to be framed, but got it right, and was let open into the system, for free…..as kalyan puts it



CLIMAX REVEALED:
If you are still not familiar with the event, I was put into Mainframes for training. That’s two months of coding in COBOL and its like *#&@%&(#^*. L and i have my exams in 30 hours


12/11/2004

SWAMI AND FIENDS

It pains to see the kanchi seer , being subjected to all this torture in jail,even though his conviction is yet to be proved and the courts seemingly not being able to arrive at a decision are adjourning and postponing his hearing.Apparently the police are not able to gather real evidence againts him,so they try to keep some commoner surfacing and saying that the "swamigal" had an illicit relationship and had behaved in a manner unbecoming of him...as is the case with the latest "monica lewinsky' ke" like usha. This case will finally end with sri jayendra saraswathi swamigal being exonerated of all charges and aqquited from the vellore prison(the latest shankara math).

It really is comical to see people like jayalalitha and karunanidhi talking ill about the respected pontiff....when they themselves are struggling to keep afloat in the sea of cases filed against them.they may have been acquitted in some cases,but thats only because they are politicians and can manipulate the judiciary as it were a magic wand.The Tamil nadu goverments insistence that jayendra saraswathi swamigal or a man in the street -all are equal before the law,does not seem to include the well-cushioned-political class...who are basking in the air conditioned corridor of their offices......losing count of the crime's they have commited.

It further pains to notice that some people here at work seem to refer to the pontiff as "avana jayendhran thaane" ,when he is such a revered personality...but more than blaming them ,when the media ...(Sun news or SUN tv ...whichever it was ) openly said that "jayendran" was caught...will the same sun tv.......say the same about karunanidhi .....like "karunanidhi matti kondran" ..no it would'nt , it would refer to him as "kalaignar karunanidhi ".it is that extra ounce of prefixing that respectful tag that is in question...and some people who without thinking a minute on what they are speaking "jayendran , athukku enna achu, antha case ". I guess people reading this blog can very well understand what I trying to say...as there is a line between making people understand my post by merely saying things in vernacular.

Magazines ...try and sensationalize this issue by trying to go overboard by revealing only one side of the picture and trying and speaking to irrelevant people and finding newer witnesses...rather than speak to people of the mutt or related persons

Jayalalitha sure knows how to call the shots and command attention.the pontiff's political connections have proved to be a like rubber soles on a granite surface,where he made a few post poll utterances about jayalalitha and Also entered into active politics with respect to the babri masjid-ram janma bhoomi case.The anti-conversion laws that the pontiff advocated,seemed to draw an empty vote bank for jaya in the recent elections and the politicain that jaya was...made the pontiff for violating the "law of the political jungle"-IF YOU ARE GOING TO NURSE A SERPENT IN YOUR BOSOM,DONT PISS IT OFF.

what happens of we people who are in tamilnadu.....governed by people who are more bothered to avenge their share of political problems against each poiltician...when each person comes to power he/she makes sure that the oppssing ruler gets embroiled in all kinds of police cases ,wealth cases....u name it...and amongst all this it is we people who are affected as we have to chose between the devil and the deep sea ,when it comes to voting.For the past 15 years and the years to come .......I dont see this DMK vs ADMK political battle for power ending....this seems to have more fireworks and intenseness than a India Pak encounter. Worse ...is to come is evident when u have people like rajnikant who is expecting to contest to become a chief minister.He keeps denying the claims......but produces movies which hail him as "thaliavar" , "leader of masses" as his recent few movies having political undertones suggest .Some of his movies like BABA....PADAYAPPA are sure giving his indications of entering to the gallery of political lions . I think a few more movies ...too had some poltical dialogues linked with it...but am not able to remember the names of those movies as I am not a very avid watcher of his movies(never did conform to my taste).


coming back to the original point it remains to be seen what happen's in the pontiff's case...at best what can happen is rajnikant can star in a movie as the pontiff and the climax can feature rajnikant becoming the chief minister getting support from the president of mars and venus and bush coming and shouting "enga sanga thalaivar rajni thaan....." ................... whatever ------- RK Narayan's classic "SWAMI AND FRIENDS" be rechristened in this kali yuga as "SWAMI AND FIENDS "

12/09/2004

"ANGALORE" SYNDROME

yesterday morning when I came and sat at my cubicle,I was browsing through some material for our project , with the m,usic in my headphones on.All of a sudden shrieks were heard all around....some frantically happy and some with a frown on their face..I happened to turn around..and see my friend madhu who glanced from her cubicle with a frown on her face and I heard her saying that she had a got a posting to "angalore" and so had I . I thought it must be Bangalore.........and was a little sad ...but nevertherless happy that I didnt get PUNE or some other far off place.But my so-called -little happiness was shortlived as I discovered that it wasn't B"angalore" but M"angalore" . I am now posted in the retail division and I guess I have to soon acclamtise soon to being a Mangalalorean.......who has extensive knowledge in mainframes.

I report there on the 23rd of this month and have no active swaps as such......... tell me which sane trainee would want to swap mangalore with chennai/hyderabad/pune/bangalore ?
Anyways I was initially a little sad, as still some visits to the doc are pending in chennai with regard to my stomach operation that was performed in may.I have spoken to my HR regarding this matter and she said she would look into this matter,and gave me the info that Chennai DC has no space right now...and it would be a little tough for me to get chennai.....I guess I gotta take life just as it comes...

I have a week to go before my comprehensive test......and I am in the process of preparing for it...meanwhile I have to subject a small project in mainframes.....which is also going on parallely.
so life's just chugging on.......on a shatabdi like Infy express.....


12/08/2004

oh...........no agony reloaded..........I have got Mangalore as my posting..............not even bangalore............ :-(

feel like kicking myself on my stomach.......I have been
good news and bad news

well i cleared the test with the required A agrade and the bad news is that I have been allocated bangalore as my posting...........boo hoo not chennai..........well all i can say that the girls of bangalore are damn lucky to still have me here.......!!!! :-)

12/06/2004

I am presently listening to the instrumental soundtrack of KAL HO NA HO ,which seems so soothing and calming to my ear,as I have just written my test for DB2....and i desparately need an A grade in it...to compensate my C in cobol...or an A in CICS ,the results of which havent been published yet. Its damn unnerving waiting 4 the results as If i dont have an A my CGPA out of 5 WILL GO DOWN MARGINALLY FROM 4 TO 3.93...which means I have to attend a round of VIVA VOCE after the compre test,which I heard is just done to screw people as it is a very tough round....and failing which I am put on the long cycle.I just dont want that happening....Life is suddenly so tough as i know the agony of a 79 and the ecstasy of a 80 in the results of the two tests awaited.

My brain is just not functioning......and to add to the misery was the rumour that our postings would be announced today.even that hasnt come......the last time I remember I was on such a brink of dissapointment was in my 7th semester......where we had an interdepartmental quiz...in which I had performed badly and for the first time I faced an elimination in the prelims as far as college quizzes were concerned(I had won every single quiz till then......) and the 6th sem results were to be announced that day......and I had my doubts regarding a subject where I performed badly......so would it be elimination + arrear that day? :-( changed to :-) in a few seconds ....when some of my friends who had seen both the results told me that I had been succesful that day.....and at that moment my joy knew no bounds....it was as if the the seeds of doubt that had been planted in my mind were uprooted instantly..........and had got what I wanted........

But will history repeat ? only time will tell.........pray 4 me.......ppl

12/03/2004

COBOL NIGHTMARES

I just gave my cobol retest today and the paper was much tougher than the main test....and so the pressure is increasing for me to get an A grade in the 1 remaining test , that's DB2.....failing which I would be put into the 4 and half months long cycle....

the funda at infy is as follows
:6 individual subject tests: at least B grade and if a C is obtained then it can be compensated by an A in one of the subjects.
1 comprehensive test in which atleast a B (65 and greater ) is required.

I have now got a C in cobol and desperately require an A in the next test on monday to avoid "follow on " . complicating matters further is my visit to chennai this weekend.On the other hand I desperately need a respite from this programming world........(whether i code or not )


Last night I stayed back at the campus as i just didn't feel like going back home.I wasnt coding........just as I was browsing through the servers on the bangalore network , one good soul had put' 7 g RAINBOW COLONY", a new tamil flick on the hard disc.....and I didnt miss an oppurtunity to see the film.I saw it all alone on my PC ......as the sound isnt very loud on the speakers here,so had to insert my earphones.

I have been given a huge manual for which I have to learn code at home to start our 2nd post project on monday.Next week would be the last week I would be in bangalore,burning the midnight oil over pieces of code,as I by 21st december I hope to have my return ticket to chennai,which I hope they will post me.Bangalore is a lovely place ,but staying alone is really boring..for a "anything -but-organized" guy like me . Hey but home is equally boring...but atleast I dont spend 66.67 % of my salary on eating and rent.But I've heard from my friend who works at the Chennai Infy DC, that life is all about minding ur own business , unlike Bangalore DC where there is so much of "entertainment" at the work place..

just as the proverb goes , neccesity is the mother of all inventions....I am learning.....CODING IS THE MOTHER OF ALL TROUBLES...........


12/02/2004

So training classes at Infy finally ends.from tommorow we have a post project blah..... blah..... uptil 12th of december .......and we have our final comprehensive test on 16th and 17th december.Last night as i was travelling through jayanagar.....the chill winds of bangalore(18 degree) reminded of the lovely time I spent here in this garden city.Well actually I haven't ventured much into bangalore,but the city's lovely settings have really bowled me over,but nothing quite like chennai.I just happened to stumble upons krib's post on a "trisha video" which he saw....and that for sure would hae set the cash registers in burma bazaar running.

I would to know my posting in chennai by the 6-7th of this month.I am planning to come 2 chennai this weekend to meet family, as I hear that my dad is posted to good-ol delhi .......so its more of a reunion......and the fact that I have to sign my bond letter at infy.My first salary has been credited and I am slightly over the moon, just thinking of plans to blow it up.........

hmm...lotsa things are in the pipeline.......but somehow I am also a little cautious...as I dont want my money go down the drain....so rightly to put it in shah rukh khan's words it's seriously "THE TIME TO DISCO " .I plan to buy something tommorow evening ...after office before I board the bus to chennai.
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO MAMMA MIA by ABBA .........in office .

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