Latest in my random musings

Supporting an unreasonable entreprenuer

2012-01-21T10:37:00.002+05:30

It's reasonable to expect people to donate to charity or to invest for a profit. A combination of both i.e donating to a for-profit venture makes an unreasonable expectation.

During the last couple of weeks, I had the pleasure of supporting one such unreasonable cause: raising $ 8,000 for Arohana Dairy Pvt Ltd, headed by my cousin, Devi Prasad Rao.

With no prior experience and no precedents to learn from, we were very much on our own. A combination of the “Social network” and low tech was what followed:
Facebook, Twitter, Emails, SMSes, LinkedIn, Digg and videos being posted on youtube.

Knocking on your neighbor's door, calling the uncle you’ve not called in the last 2 years, going through your phone-book and spending the better part of 20 minutes talking about their life, then yours and finally about Arohana. I’ve spent every night sitting up late to speak to friends overseas on Skype, spending hours chatting to raise the cash. Old favors were called in and new ones done, finding hotel rooms in Paris, arranging conference calls with Devi so that potential donors can clarify their doubts directly, proof reading a friend's script for a movie! Unreasonable indeed.

While the social networks created the hype and awareness, the personal interactions were more successful. Family and close friends pitched in, big time. We'd end the day by sharing success stories, inspiring feedbacks received and frustrations. Every week we'd have new recruits in our ever growing circle of campaigners and we kept learning. Our pitches got refined, objections anticipated and handled better, FAQs created, a chic, new video launched and confidence that we'd make it. We also realized early on that the race was essentially against ourselves, to be better every day and remain motivated and focused without being over-confident. As the word got out, the money poured in.

From our key supporters, a few rich obnoxious, relatives and a generous grant from HP, we built a backup of guaranteed donations of over $ 3,000 that we could rely on, if required. In the end, we raised $ 8,000 in 31 days without accessing any of these funds. Through it all, we got sore voices, aching heads, puffy eyes, lots of pending work but had truckloads of fun, raising money for a cause we believed would make the world a better place.

The Marketplace for this years unreasonable institute is now open at https://marketplace.unreasonableinstitute.org , check it out

Rock revisited

2011-08-05T23:49:00.001+05:30

Mr.Akhilesh Alva, a cherished buddy and an ardent heavy metal loyalist unlike yours truly shared today the unplugged version of four horsemen and it all started to flow back.

From a time when I used to listen to Britney spears - Hit me baby one more time at full volume with the equalizers in the V(high bass, high treble and no vocals) mode(I swear, that's all I know about equalizers). To where I am now, a bit of a softie and not much of a rock fan. As musical taste has always been, a matter of peers, choices, opinions, taste and always evolution with an ever expanding repertoire. Let me take a look back while the Aces are still high :)

In the life and times of a teenager, identity is all that matters. During these times,
Life it seems will fade away,
Drifting further everyday,
Getting lost within myself,
Nothing matters no one else,
I have lost the will to live,
Simply nothing more to give,
There is nothing more for me,
Need the end to set me free

Meant more that what anyone book, person or song could ever say about what I perceived was happening to me and expressed in a way only Metallica could.

There have been times where we have seen the face of Wickerman in the CFTRI ground right next to home soon after half a strong beer and few chips.

These were the times when a sore neck was the souvenirs to show our mates who weren't lucky enough to make it to scorpions who told us the winds of change are blowing towards us and most beautiful violinist I ever saw only stamped that thought into my head.

A period where 666 was the only number worth remembering and hallowed was the name of him who had remorse on the morning of his end.

To us, they were the sounds that our parents hated so much that we loved them.
To us, they were stuff that yellow shirt wearing poppers could only hate.
To us, The air guitars that I have carried, red fire spitting and black as the night sky had played tunes with slash and kirk, the way only we can. In sync with the greats, Sweat pouring, soul aching, mind churning and absolutely liberating.

Life was sad but still true. The fear of the dark was overcome at 2 minutes to midnight cause we were the riders of the storm.

The end was near but it was beautiful, it was slow, and it was full of love. For the black and the white, For the blood and the tears, For the living and the dead.

BUT NOT THOSE BLOODY POPPERS ;)

Changing the nation and leading the world

2011-03-20T10:10:00.005+05:30

Enterprising is defined as having or showing initiative and resourcefulness. Sounds like a pretty desirable quality to have right, but today there is another BUZZ word : Entrepreneurial, the willingness to take risk and make profit.

It all came about rather suddenly in the weeks of february when all of a sudden, my dodappa agreed to send me and my elder brother a conclave held by "The indus entreprenuer"'s mumbai chapter. Enterprising India - coming together of some highly succesful diverse entreprenuers, fantastic business enablers and all in all, some genuinely admirable human beings.

The focus was "Changing the Nation, Leading the World". They even made a song about it(I'll post the link when I find it), it was a super catchy tune, I swear I've heard before - Something that's stuck in my head even today.

The panel was something to look forward from the word go, an early landing at NCPA meant and we could attend the first session of meet the investors. These were gentlemen with money - to invest in companies of the future. Including the likes of Mr.Sandeep Murthy who heads Sherpalo, which holds stake in some very admirable startups and his portfolio today seems to be filled with companies that will be tomorrows Googles. I clearly remember these words "We dont have enough good companies to invest in, money is not an issue". Its a bit hard to believe, especially if you are in my position. During this meet, we had one entrepreneur interlace his question to the investors with his 5 second pitch, and the response from Murthy was simple - "Sure, lets talk" and getting those words from a VC I'm sure was music to the gentlemans' ears.

That set the tone for the next 2 days - The writing was on the wall

- Identify your customers need and serve it
- Opportunity exists
- Money is available

As the CEO of redbus, Mr.Phanindra Sama put it, echoing the words of JRD tata - "Always figure out ways to solve other peoples problems, that the only way you will get what you want". It is definitely a slow process, but its what customer insight is all about. Often times, it is what you get offered - is what is most important but in reality, if we are to achieve anything worthwhile, with full support, we need to always, keep our customer in mind.

I suppose, that was made great entrepreneurs of all those who claimed that stage on that day and the next, ability to spot opportunity in problems! Case in point, Mr.Ram Karuturi of Karuturi Global networks. As on date, the worlds largest rose manufacturer, based on out Bangalore, catering to 110 countries worldwide, but with farming in AFRICA! He took the problems of Africa political instability and turned it on its head to lower his operating costs. His ideas on managing the show there and ensuring his assets brought him and his company stake holders VALUE was indeed inspiring and reminiscent of the all encompassing indian phenomenon of JUGAAD!

During the days, we were witness to some of the great minds, some who were born geniuses such as Ashwin Mahesh of Mapunity and other who had philanthropy as their lifes' goal - Quitting a top job in singapore, to start a company that provides clean water to millions - A salute to Walterlife and Sudesh Menon.

I could go on and on for another hundred pages on all that I saw and all that I perceived, but let me end by saying this. It takes a lot to give up but it takes even more to GO up.. And I believe that these 2 days have not only given me ideas to GO up, but shown that it is possible and how?

Thanks Dodappa.

Love,

Adi

Joys of campaigning

2011-01-29T17:03:00.003+05:30

First of all, quick update! Its been a very very long time since I wrote.. Almost 6 months and there's a reason why - I'm at home, I got a hundred million things to do which beg for my time, not to mention I continue to watch all the series that I used to watch when I had little to do and was in the EU!! SO, that explained, onto other most important things.. Like the title above.

I'VE BEEN CAMPAIGNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I'M CHUFFED ABOUT IT.

Some background here : I have a very special cousin(no, he's not disabled ;) - ok, that was unwarranted) who's been a quite inspiring for me. SO, he has a social enterprise which aims to improve the lives of marginalized farmers through education, co development, empowerment etc etc... Which I think is a great initiative, so I jumped into the bandwagon and started campaigning for him..

How? well, I have a all my wonderful friends on every social network worth its salt and started putting it up on the wall + mentions to friends I could chat up with and so on.

That was fun, but here's what I saw.......

People love to talk causes
People love to talk about making differences
People love to appreciate people who are making differences

BUT THEY DON WANNA PAY FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, thats an entirely different ball game.

Well, this particular venture I'm talking about is a bit different too, judging by the fact that its called the unreasonable institute... Well, different because you will never see the money you gave away again, its gone... POOF.. and this money will go to support the entrepreneur, not the cause... to go meet PE(private equity) guys who will help him/her scale up the model and make a difference on the ground... LONG CYCLE, agreed... But, there are a hundred million questions asked, some are very tough, some much easier.. And with a lot of effort, I saw 2 distinct patterns in the deals that did finally go through!

- Either people get convinced right away and ask you how much they can part with and how
- or people are least bothered about whatever it is you are doing!

So, been going viral until about last week, an approach that hasnt worked, so after a deep look at the content, and with the eager effort from MR.CEO=>Mr.Devi prasad rao himself, we have had a brand new video and a new campaign....

and TADA, no wait...

thats later...

Last few days in the EU

2010-08-16T14:10:00.000+05:30

Leaving EU in 45 minutes and a million thoughts must be going through my head. No wait, Just a few. This is supposed to have been a surprise visit to India and my parents dont know that I'd be coming home, well... Alright alright, they know I'm coming sometime this week! Happy Now? Well, they had to know that I'm coming this week coz if I didnt tell them, I'd be homeless for a week or so!! So, there!

Anyway, Last few days were very very eventful to say the least, I didnt write about this but the decision to fly from frankfurt was a purely economical one and as the number added upto about a 100 euros, It was, well a no brainer actually.

That said, there happened to be a few things that got missed from the budget.
I was going to be in Stuttgart during the BEER fest!
BA has stupid bag rules
and thats it..

So, what happened?

Here's what should've happened: I should have moved from paris to stuttgart over the weekend, passed the key to the landlord on saturday, and spent saturday and sunday reminiscing over the fact that a year and a half in europe is over(Over Vasu's amazing Indian cooking of course) and got the flight on monday, following a blistering drive in a BMW 520D from stuttgart.

Instead, the moment I arrived, I met Vasu and Shrey, they had other plans! And boy oh boy, was it fun.. Soon after gorging down palak paneer with tortillas, we headed to the shopping area, where there was the annual BEER fest!! :) :), filled with wonderful street music, people showcasing ancient professions, street performers and of course.. BEEER(I keep saying BEER, but you have to remember the place we are talking about here, water is way too expensive here ;) ).. So, after buying a Braun Mixie, which my dad soooooo wanted to have since god knows when, and some perfume etc etc, we headed to a garden restaurant where Dr.Gecko(Vinay GK to the world) joined us for some european summer time action, with the usual suspects and a surprisingly sumptuous Green salad...

Later, we headed back through the party on the road for some well deserved, tried and trusted SUBWAY mit Ice Cream YA!!! Before, ccrashing for the day at about 11pm,..

The plan for day 2 of the crazy adventure was planned up by the now german residents(vasu and Shrey) to go to the renowned(for its cake), Schwarzwald, Black forest. So, we had to leave home at something like 530am to catch the train with which we can catch another train that can take us close to the black forest, and so we did..

Quick thought here, if you thought that the black forest pastry(@ Toot C, Mysore for example) was amazing, well you havent seen the place... Photos be evidence, this is a painting come to life, a desktop wallpaper recreated, Pink floyd set, only with the grass greener, the light brighter and the whole nine yards.

We had an amazing time, walking away in the general direction we thought the gorge(I dunno what its called, will update) was at and in the meantime, kept pulling each others legs, discussing photos, germany Vs france, India and everything else under the sun.

Soon, we were going through what looked very much like the insides of the forest, and then when a german(no points for guessing, he had a map, wasnt lost and we kinda were) told us how to get to the place, we were in the element. In the midst of beautiful landscapes, as clean as a newly waxed merc, with a beautiful stream, place for barbeques, huts, I mean, the works... Wonderful is the best word I can come up with my limited vocabulary, but smarter people would've written poems about it, So why not I just let them..

I'll let the photos give out the details, but eventually, we headed out the forest, after just 2 hours, but with about 10Km walked, with the ups and dow, slippery terrain and everything else to boot. Achievement indeed..

By the time we headed out of the forest, we had been trekking+walking for about 3.5hours and all this with a breakfast that was 2 croissants and a coffee, so were getting a bit tired and started trying to slow down cars we could see, but made sure we made a bit of a sorry and lost face so we would actually get picked up.. And with the very first car, we struck gold!! However, when I asked him if he was going to loffingen, which is where we wanted to go, he said go this way, then turn right and its about 4km, and you're there.. A bit disappointed, but still spirited, we walked on...

In a few mins, we were on the main road to loffingen and with renewed energy to ask for a lift, showed our hand to the first car that came along, and what do you know, it was Mr.Patrick and Pascal, who were the guys in the car who gave us the directions(ref prev paragragh) and they agreed to drive us there.. WOOHOO..

On the way, we discovered that there was yet another beer fest going on in the small village, and these guys had their own store to manage there... And, super lucky for us, this was a fest that took place once in 2 years!!

So, once there, we were educated on the way beer was measured in this little hamlet, in metres!! Say what? Yup, its 10 beers on a single plank of wood of 1 metre, NEATO ;) .. So, as we discussed all that we were doing and India and Blah blah, we enjoyed some german food, don think vasu and shrey did, but I kinda did, No vasu, dont tell anyone ;) ..

Soon after, it was time to grab the last piece of blackforest cake available and scoot through to catch our train back to stuttgart..

There, again we met up with Vinay and following some more beer, said adieu to Shrey and decided to get back to Vasu place.

But apparently, stuttgart had another trick up its sleeve. A beautiful observatory style park on top of a hill. It was an amazing place, super clean as usual but with an amazing view of stuttgart and the black forest we had just been to.

All in all, it meant a worthwhile trip to what I earlier thought was an extended industrial estate.

Cheers to my buddies Vasu, Shrey and GK who made it amazing.

Freedom

2010-07-14T17:38:00.005+05:30

At times, is really over rated. At times, is under appreciated.

Freedom is many things to many people, choice some would say is freedom, MTV would make you believe that "great" looks and lots of friends and of course money to support these "friends" would most definitely be freedom. To a software enthusiast, perhaps open source would be freedom, to someone in North korea, able to express oneself without fear of retribution could be freedom. To a hungry man, food would be freedom.

But these are just clichés, interest to most people is one's own freedom. That which is just, so diverse that we couldn't ever put our finger and say, ok, this for me is freedom. At this moment, if I had a million bucks, I'd be free. If only I had a job, I'd be free. If only I could take a holiday, I'd be free.

Notice how everything is tied to something that isn't there. Notice, the if-then logic. Just observe how we imagine a situation of freedom, yet as a number of great thinkers would put it, never really reach it - like a donkey with a carrot and stick stuck to its head, we just keep running after the carrot. So we meditate, learn eastern techniques, read books, attain craftsmanship, participate in social events, raise our voice against establishment, propagate our opinions, create policies, create religions, belief systems, social orders, weapons of mass destruction, wage wars, kill to liberate and as some misinterpreted texts would proclaim, die to be free!

But we shall never be, for when we create these systems to bring freedom, we in fact are taking it away.

Food for your thought

The humbling jobhunt

2010-07-01T02:53:00.002+05:30

Well, you might have seen the tweet earlier about the jobhunt.. Its hard to accept, but its true..

Its been an experince of a lifetime(as short as that might be); it all started about a year ago when I set my eyes on the internship start....

I dont want to name companies, but lets just call it company A, which is an FMCG major : I started by looking at internships that were posted in english since I believed that with my amazing profile and international master, a call would be just a few seconds away..

But as the past will roaringly tell you, that didn't happen, neither did some of the offers at companies similar to the ones I already had experience in. I have to accept that I didnt try for profiles that meant I would be doing the same job as earlier, but frankly; I didnt really keep my sight too high which could justify the dearth of calls - Even phone interviews, NO : all I had was a bunch of rejection letters and truck loads of introspection!

Things started looking up when I was invited to a national event for people looking for internships in a certain food company; there I had the same problem : le langue francais (french, the language and my inabilities)..

To be honest, until it was a week or so to go before the start of my internship, I had nothing, NOTHING at all.. No idea about what I was going to be doing next.

However, things started looking up when a kind lady in the college, Ms.Nicole POEDRAS, helped me get an offer from one of her contacts. It was going to be in industrial engineering, but things weren't sure: what is the job, how much will they pay etc etc. And frankly, I didnt imagine continuing in a rather technical domain after all the management education received.

So, I rejected based on a hope of getting an internship : thanks to my sheer cockiness of how well I thought I had performed in the interview. And thankfully, I did get the offer, although with a slight delay..

At that point, I had sent no less than 50 applications in about 30 companies all over Europe!

Now nearing the end of the internship, it seems that time has arrived again. But this time, Its a longer term project, and since I dont have the right to stay in Europe, the odds are slightly worse..

I have sent almost similar number of applications within and outside france, so far to no avail.

But, this whole exercise has been rather HUMBLING!

Why?

Imagine, In India, not too many decently qualified engineers leave college without an offer. And based on the way the market is looking in India, there seems no dearth for offers, and based on how my job search went earlier, I was one cocky bird : as far as my employability was concerned at least.

So, based on what the European companies had to say about my applications, which I spent hours and hours searching, preparing documents, and filling out : I didnt really cut the cake.

That, to my mind begs the question : Whats wrong with me? Why wont they even call me for an interview? This is not possible, maybe I'm just stupid, maybe I made a mistake in filling up the appllication, racists, blah blah and more blah.

But, if you look at it another way : A job or an internship has 2 sides to the coin :
1, What you want and what you offer
2. What the company can offer

Unless these 2 sets dont superpose, there is no chance in hell. Maybe they will offer the job to you, but you wont be happy working there etc etc.

So, for the job that I will eventually take, in Europe, US, India, china or timbuktu : I will analyse these 2 sets very well.

I dont know the answers to question 2h yet, So I will focus on question 1.

Figure it out, but to start with.. Be humble and not take things personally, isnt that what corporations are all about.. Collections of persons with nothing personal about it

Anywhere but here

2010-06-17T03:14:00.004+05:30

Often times, this thought comes into our minds that I would rather be anywhere but here. Doing anything but this, being anyone but me.

Its common and stemming from the way we are bought up and learn to live our lives, plagued with myopic visions and glorified futures and pasts, the present would rather just not exist.

Its such a shitty place where I stay, such a shitty job that I go to etc etc etc..

Learn why you think so, see if you can root out the problem, and as we often learn from quality management systems, don't blame, identify, track and plan for a better tomorrow, but to start, you need today.

In the process of cribbing and clutching to the past or waiting for the future, many todays are lost.

Sooner we realise, the sooner we become effective.

I have these realisations from time to time, then slip back to routine..

Now, I'm trying to figure out why that happens to me.

Will share them in the future posts(see what I mean)..

Book ideas

2010-06-12T22:39:00.007+05:30

Being abnormal has been a norm for me. Or rather, had been. At a time when people were going through english grammer and Social science books, I was trying to master JAVA, C, C++ etc.
When I wanted a computer and my dad asked me to get the money for it, I went to the bank manager and asked him if he could give me a loan. That was in class 9. Let me be honest, it was rather overwhelming, but I did it anyway.

In Pre-university, I look up electronics to see what it was all about. It was alright but didnt beat the thump of engines, so had made up my mind that I was going to be a mechanical engineer. And four years later, I was :) and am..

I always wanted to be an automotive journalist ever since I was reading Autocar, BS motoring etc etc and so i start a website and made money too while I was at it. Hope you guys remember carsinindia.com.

Now, If I were looking through the eyes of me, in 10th class, I was living the dream. Working at a global auto major on cars that were still on the drawing board and still am.

So, great going, Cheers..

Why am I telling you all this?

Because, I'm slowing beginning to feel that I might have lost that edge. I seem to be following a path taken by a number of people before me, and it is one of the reasons I'm on this path, since others were successful doing stuff like this.

So, Looking for my comfort zone(which is the tried and tested stuff), and from what I realise, I never did anything worthwhile when I was sitting pretty at home, reading my curriculum, getting marks blah blah tried and tested stuff..
What I'm doing right now, is tried and tested, so I suppose it wont be worth mentioning anywhere.. ANYWHERE

So, what next?

Get off the beaten path : If that's giving up a corporate career(not materialised yet), I swear I'd love to do that, but thanks to financial constraints, my risk appetite is lesser than a 2 year old who just had lunch.. So I cant do that, but that said, I want to begin my journey to regain my risk appetite, and I will.. In time, I will..

In the words of Deep purple Its not the kill, its the thrill of the chase... So, here wondering how to make the kill, the thrill is being lost..

And that brings me to what I set out to tell you : It wasn't so long ago that my dad suggested that I write a book on my experiences in France, and how it may be interesting for people who have not been to France to see through my eyes, what I have seen and experienced. And in the last few days, I've realised its rather easy to publish a book and have been having ideas about how I could tell my story in a manner that might interest the masses.

So, I'm going to find out, with my next project : Will people read something written by yours truly :)..

Another thrill of the chase, maybe I'll make the kill or just find another chase, I don't know.. But you know what I like most about the last 24 years of my existence? FINDING OUT.. And find out, I will..

PS : Would you read something like this?

The Ubuntu Guy

2010-06-09T02:10:00.002+05:30

I saw a person today on the train.. He was fat, young but looking middle aged, had a fat tummy and very thin legs, was holding the newspaper so close to his face, you wouldnt know he had one and was wearing Ubuntu accesories all around..

He had big glasses and all the usual suspects, by which I mean an unkempt beard and general disregard for clothing..

Perhaps, he is the image of the geek most people have and maybe thats why, Linux isnt really cool.. But MAC, is..

Since ofcourse, those wielding iWhatevers seem to look well off, to the eye of the observer, perhaps.. I dont know.

Got me thinking about the perceptions we build around products we use, some blame it on marketing, others on media..

I blame it on the public that builds its own notions around marketing campaigns, or in this case shoddily dressed gentlemen

Thats not your money

2010-06-07T23:15:00.002+05:30

Today, I checked my bank account and realised I have a lot of money.

Thats not been common since I got to France now..

And the amount of money isn't small, not for me atleast. Its about 650 Euros, which is about 40000 rupees, which used to be a couple of months salary for me.

I should be thrilled right, but I'm not. I'm shit scared.

Its not my money and I hate to think what could happen if I don't pay it back, So I will make every effort to clarify where this money came from and pay it back, down to the last cent.

I would choose a clear conscience any day over a full bank account.

But, as I spoke to a few people, opinions were, well to say the least about it... The opposite, and why wouldn't they be? Free money is hard to come by and unless you learn to hold on to what you get, you are bound to lose what you have too, right.. In a way, yes, but I would personally disagree. Money that comes easy, goes away easy too..

How to Vs why: How NOT to

2010-06-07T01:10:00.004+05:30

I'm a user of Ubuntu Linux, which I wrote about a while ago. So, its common for me to use "How to ..........." and the dots replaced by whatever I want to do with linux, and thanks to google, I often have a good response on how to do something.

Thats good, I think, If you are a mechanical engineer who is just lost in Linux for the most part, but what about the same question in our day to day life.

I stopped to notice this pattern a while ago. I noticed how many of my decisions and many things that I do may be influenced by this logic.

Its pretty normal perhaps, its a process we are used to for the most part in our schooling, in learning a language, a trade or anything for that matter. Coaching and teaching for the most part has remained how to. Although the presentation might not be so in your face in a number of subject, you would realise it is so.. Especially considering that we are treated to a number of examples, in solving math for one. What about learning language, often times we are just following a pattern which is shown to us, and that is "HOW TO", and that's how we "learn" how to.

Before we jump into the question about "Whats wrong with that?" Its worthwhile trying to think of another form of thought.

WHY?

Its a question we often never care to ask, though we should. One has never stopped to ask why, and one would probably be better off, had one the prudence.

Because, if one never asks why: one shall but repeat the few "How to's" with increased efficiencies, perhaps, but repeat nonetheless/
Because, if one never asks why: one might never know, why.

Again, whats wrong with that. If I know my objective and I know "How to", I efficiently achieve what I want, reach where I want to be etc etc.

There's just one small difference, have you seen a dog learn tricks? It gets commanded to sit, pushed down to sit, the command and push are repeated and for every time the dog obeys, it gets treated. As far as the dog's objective is concerned: to be treated, it is achieved. But, the dog never bothers why.

It doesn't have to, its an animal, I'm sorry if you love your dog too much, I request that you please focus on the content and not take it personally. Returning to the subject at hand: This urge of why has been bothering me more and more, and I have consciously tried to avoid "HOW TO". AND, AND........ Its been extremely difficult existance. Imagine, asking yourself why at every step and dwelling on that question. Wondering wondering, why am I waking up, why am I sleepy, why am I doing this or that?

I know it sounds silly, but I like to know, because that way, I believe in it and work to make the most out of it. In other words, do it with soul.

There's been a backlash too, if you will, that I have come up with answers to my why question that show that some of the actions that occur in my present are in fact a result of how to, based on a situation to reach or a goal to achieve and never asked for, why that goal, why not something else.

But, I think I'm on the first step right now, to first understand why, not judge and be happy or sad about it. Notice and acknowledge the fact. So that way, decisions and efforts that are taken from now onwards have a good reason why, and the how to? Well, thats for me to decide right, not for someone else to tell me.

OOH, one more things.. I realised I might not want to key in my daily/weekly/monthly updates here, I'm going to be using Rednotebook(journal s/w) for that.

Changes changes all around, but the wheels come a full circle

2010-05-29T02:48:00.004+05:30

Its been a while since I wrote here, and reading back makes me wonder how life seems to be turning another circle.

I think I'll agree with my dad when he said that my 1.5year masters degree might be a great holiday.. I think, more than a holiday, its been a learning experience.

Cross my heart, I'm not the Adithya who left India a year and a half ago. I'm self reliant, lot less cynical, lot less judgemental(sugar spice and everything nice). But, that said there have been some things I notice I had at home that I don't have here, things I just didn't recognize but now, I do.

Before we jump into it, a quick update :
1. Rampant job search, I have become an application machine and have been working on sending applications to all the jobs that seem to fit my profile
2. Internship coming to an end : Need to wrap up my work, be good before I go, so they can remember me as a good guy(which I am actually)
3. Booking tickets back home as we speak : YUP, plan B is shaping up..

And why not, just blew some of the opportunities I had and my passport doesnt seem to help much, it didnt for a while now.

That aside, not too many updates so just putting this up as an unfinished entry, sorry if it doesnt make much sense right now

To do's and To be's

2010-03-29T00:41:00.003+05:30

Aravind, my cousin in the Uk got himself a new macbook and we're talking on skype a lot these days and inevitably, we seem to come back to talking about the same things again and again.

I'm not complaining, but it seems to be the flavour of the season now. For us atleast..

We keeping asking each other where we want be and what we want to be doing there.

Those are some big questions, but figuring out the answers to that seems to be taking up all of the limited processing power between my ears.

So far, we have experimented with a number of ways to answer these questions.
1. Financial approach: how much will you save by doing x, y or z. in a, b or c locations.
2. Happiness approach : what makes me happier? India/europe, working for, entreprenuer, auto/other etc.
3. reason approach : reasoning each possibility with why I want to do it and what gives me that idea.

Long story short, we're still lost. Atleast me, I'm clueless about my decision. I know what I will do if the situation is a:get a job and stay in europe or b:go back to india and I dunno.

Yesterday though, we came up with a predicament. There are mainly 2 types of people in the industry that we see everyday.
1. Those with immense potential who think they are stuck or held back by the place, people or policies
2. Those who aren't extremely talented or gifted but are completely immersed in their work and don't care about options, they are just soldiering on with the job at hand and are getting better and better at it. These are the people who make for ideal employees who have blinds on either side and believe the sole purpose of their existence is to serve their employees or perhaps advance their career prospects with no apparent goal in sight or any great objectives to reach. Average joes at best, but eventually best in class employees. You often find yourself working under such people, I know I am.

Now, the fact that bothered us was that every waking minute of our day is being so badly eaten by the big picture of things to achieve and accomplish. That these time is just passing us by in getting things the best that we are ignoring or are just passing a number of things that we could've done better.

Rather than extrapolating to aravind, let me try to give you an example of whats happening with me. I'm on a limited time contract with the company I'm working for. I have hundreds of strategic problems in my life and with a contract that gets over within the next four months, confused and scared to say the least.

Thanks to the constant bother in my head about what I would rather be doing, I'm not doing very well what I'm supposed to be doing at this moment. The fact that, Right now, at this moment, I should be sending applications, but I'm blogging. Sort of summarises what I would like to express.

Therefore, I resolve to make sure that I focus on the to dos and its scheduling and not the to bes.

Thats not to say that I will not be working on the to bes. God yes, I have dreams and goals and a red ferrari with my name on it, but I wont let my to bes squash my to dos. Ideally, your to dos should flow into your to bes, but until then. I trust this approach will serve me well.

I have a number of thoughts on developing my to bes but its not for now, I have applications to send, shirts to iron and an office to get to.

Until then,

Cheerio

Ideas of February

2010-02-11T14:40:00.002+05:30

Quick update before I get to the topic. I'm in Paris right now, in what could've been a better situation. Well, I have an apartment to stay, thanks to the efforts of Mr.Gupta, but, the internship offer which I have in hand, isn't really in my hand. I don't have the “official” Go ahead from the company which means, I can't really start on Monday(15th feb) as was planned(originally planned for 2 Mondays ago, the 1st, but hey, what the hell).

Meanwhile, I have an interview in a day with another company that I'm very keen to work with, but I don't know how to tell them that I have another offer in hand, so working that out in my head right now, in french LOLZ.. On the plus side of this offer is that I'd be moving away from auto industry to FMCG, but on the minus is the fact that I'd be working in french. Actually, the plus and minus in the previous sentence are interchangeable, right....

That apart, the reason I want to write today is about the ideas that have been going on in my head for a while now. No points for guessing that its about getting back home.

The prospect of going back home has always existed and until recently looked like a long term plan, but slowly, as I think harder and harder about it, especially after coming to Paris, I've been pondering on and on about the possibility. Of going back to all that belongs to me and that which I'm a part of, and indeed that which is quintessentially a part of me. My Home, My people, My life and indeed My love.

Enough about me, lets talk prospects :

1.Given that when you multiply numbers by 70, they are bound to look more attractive, means I can put the synd bank doggie to rest soon.
2.Given that the work environment here maybe more conducive to producing the best in people
3.Given that the systems in the developed world are so efficient and well designed that one is more productive.
4.Living in the developed world, I would be living among people, I might never come to know leave alone be a part of.
5.Living abroad, I'd be far away from home and like I said before, holidays are about leaving home, not going there,
6.The opportunities are immense and everyone knows, the future is in developing nations not in EU or US.
7.The chances of growing, now, seem better at home than here. Especially considering that my education and my exposure here gives me ideas to implement at home that could be game changers.
8.Being an international graduate, I would be in the ideal position for indian MNC that want to go global or for global MNC's who are in India.
9.On the flip side, Indian MNC's aren't known to value foreign education much(purely personal opinion, no supporting evidence), which means low salaries.
10.Also, as I have personally seen in India, employers consider employees disposable which maybe detrimental to my prospects to say the least.

Well, Whatever the case or whatever the prospects, the decision needs to be made and I already have a close friend who is stuck with this decision for the better part of the last 2 years, and I personally feel, he may never take this decision, but end up letting the decision take him. This, is what I hope to avoid. Easier said than done, considering that I have about 7 months of legal stay left here and no real jobs in hand(in India or here) to show.

But, like every moron on the planet, I cling to hope that the doors will open soon enough. Trust I will make efforts to open doors both here and at home. And, I'd like the warmer one, thank you.

Days so far

2009-12-29T09:27:00.002+05:30

Well, I'm into the last week of the holiday and the shift in my life over the last few months can't be better summarized than the phrase Aravind any myself came up with the other day.

"We used to leave home for the holidays, now we hope to come back!"

For those of you who don't know, Aravind is my cousin who lives in the UK and we've been like brothers all of our lives..

That kinda got me thinking why not I come back to India for good, I mean.. The western world if crying that all their jobs are moving there, so why am I moving to a place that's losing jobs?! And, since most of the industrial practices in industry can seem rather disorganized, as a professional, if I can contribute to even a little bit of an improvement, it would be a big boost to my career. Unlike in Europe, where there can only be marginal improvements over a system that works pretty good already. But, those are only assumptions as of now, based on limited experience and no data whatsoever.

But, a quick look at the bank to find out my balance so far truly put me in perspective. I figure, I would require at least 3years of honest saving and living off the skin of my teeth(by Indian standards for professionals, that can only mean no scotch whisky/car/trips abroad, but all else accommodated). and secondly, it would also mean a bit of a cut on the professional growth side of things, since the reason I took up the master was from the impression I had at GM and delphi, where the big boys were usually from Headquarters and MBA's or MSC's.

So, that is settled, unless otherwise warranted, I don't plan to get professionally employed in India. Or is it?!!! Manufacturing, my focus sector is doing very very well in India, and technology is improving at a rate unheard of before, sure the people are less professional, but the country's manufacturing sector is beginning to grow muscles that the world is unable to ignore, sure china can be difficult, but they can't entirely substitute us. International education coupled with an experience in an almost explosive growth scenario can be a huge plus on the CV. But, its not all about the CV. I'm beginning to think less and less about being employable and more and more about being successful. Little plans in the head, which are slowing growing wings, will keep you posted.

On the holiday front so far, its been rather hectic. Had been to Bangalore for a whirlwind visit, meet a certain HR person in a certain company who demonstrated all that is wrong with that company by showing up almost 2hours late and not even hinting at apologising. Later, struggled for almost 2 hours wading through the crowded and perennially under construction, therefore jammed Bangalore. Reminded me of the years past when doing that daily didn't seem much of a hassle.

In the time I spent in Mysore, made a trip with my buddies to OOTY which was exactly like old times when we used to spontaneously hop town, just for the heck of it.. But this time, we actually informed at home before we left, which made it a little less exciting.

There was also the "heaven and hell" trip from mysore to Mangalore. I call it heaven and hell because you find both extremities of Indian road conditions on the same trip and Public attitude now has come down to random bureaucratic cursing!! I don't blame them, since they have nothing to do with the whole fiasco, RIGHT!

Also, enjoyed the sticky sultry and downright tiring weather in Mangalore for a couple of days just to appreciate how much better Mysore really is. The weather at home has been almost as good as it can get. Lazy overcast clouds with the mercury hovering at around 21, HEAVEN man, HEAVEN. As is the case with every indian who has been abroad, you appreciate your own cuture more and your's truly hasn't been an exception, I've been working on speaking pure Kannada, unsuccessfully so! Shopping clothes and masalas is also about done, so I'm about finished with my list of things to do.

But, you can't have everything. So, its back to europe and 0 deg C. It's amazing how I have completely forgotten that I don't have an internship for the February.. Will work harder at it in Nantes, and keep you posted..

Laters.

12 hours in the air

2009-12-16T23:01:00.002+05:30

Today & yesterday, the 14th & 15th of december in whichever time zone, I christen as TERMINAL day. I have been through 3 terminals so far and am typing from the third terminal, waiting for th flight to get to the 4th one.. This is a story of me going from europe's second biggest airport to Abu dhabi international, where I spent 20K rupees(USD 500 approx) in 3 mins and then reached fly ridden Chennai.

The first terminal was CDG(Charles de Gaulle, Paris). That was the mother of all terminals I have seen so far. I spent the night there and took a couple of tours in the free bus to see the complexity of the whole place. It has more flyovers that most small indian cities have roads. Complication seemed to have been the aim of the whole place, or is it because of the volume of passengers? I don't really know, but I know this much. Between 12am and 5am the whole place is DESERTED. Not a soul in sight for miles, except of course homeless people and one or 2 passengers here and there who are spending the night since they have no options(like yours truly).

Before I got there, I read a lot of reviews about the airport and how the staff are the most annoying and unhelpful people hand picked to annoy non english speakers! But, and there's always a but I never had any of those problems. The place was deserted yes, but thankgully for me, I was able to find a nice lady who advised that I should go to 2E or 2F to spend the night beacuase those are the new terminals so it shouldn't be crowded and should be warm. And right she was, I spent a lot of time there, tried to sleep and succeded for about 1 hour until the rotating door which almost worked like a fan blew air at -2degC on me freezing any dream song and dance sequence I may be involved in ;).

So, at about 5 am, I rode the bus back to the terminal where I was suppposed to board my flight and without any hitches, was on my way to the plane on time and found myself, sick from sleep deprivation. Helped an old french lady communicate with the waitress who didn't speak french and moi did ;)..

That aside, I spent approximately 8.5 hours on that flight and reached Abu Dhabi with enough time to change terminals(which I might add was super simple) and a nice lady in a Hijab told me where I could buy a laptop. Now, I went downstairs and a nice pakistani guy sold me a white aspire one for 1499 AED(still dunno how much that is in rupee). And might I add that it took me 3 mins to do that. With that done, I went through another screening and without awaiting another minute, unpacked my new netbook with a cap of a pen, hurt myself(Imagine how restarted my hand eye coordination should be for that to happen!). Anyways, the little thing is all I imagined and more, but it has XP, which I might add makes the little 1.6GHZ processor weep. Will soon replace with the UBUNTU netbook remix, we're talking 6 hours battery backup baby..

The big question now is, will this replace the INSPIRON which I have now.. Don't know, will have to confer with upper management(read parents) and then decide. I think it would be nice though, but I don't carry it around much and the keyboard is super small. Decision pending..

In the next 20mins or so, I was on the flight to India and left the glittering skyline of Abu Dhabi behind only to be replaced by the pitch dark of the Indian ocean. End of the 3.5 hours uneventful flight, I landed in Chennai and was greeted with a warm 26Deg C winds, thank you god..

But as I type this, awaiting information on when my flight to bangalore will leave, I can't believe that I have lost track of what the value of the rupee means. Anything less that Rs.200 looks super cheap, I keep thinking that I would pay twice that..

However, since this is the first time I'm in chennai and since I'm not a big fan of loud tamilians, not really feeling at home here. But, there remains just 120mins between me and meeting my loved ones. That makes it worthwhile I think, you stop caring that in the last 50 hours, you've had eyeshut of just about 3 hours, that you have had to carry 20kg of baggage through the treacherous paris Metro and that you just overshot your budget for the next couple of months by a long shot. Right now, I don't care.. I just care at what time the Jet guys tell me where to get on board that flight, reach BLR on time, and get home.. Catch up on family and SLEEP, the way you can sleep in the place you call home and no matter where you've been and what you've seen. There's only one place you call home, and that place is all that drives me now.

Lets c

Onwards to India

2009-12-14T05:57:00.002+05:30

Trip to India

So, its been about 10 months since I came to france. I have learnt many new things and forgotten few old habits. Now, this section of this blog is not about that. This piece is dedicated to my trip to India. So here she goes..

It all started many many months ago in the mind of a very educted young man, ironically called Adithya ;).. Well, to be honest with you, I have checked the prices to go home during the holidays time and again and kept myself away from checking for months on end by telling myself that if I keep seeing the prices, I'll keep feeling like going home. But, one particular day, when I was feeling super duper down, I worked on the old budget sheet I was talking about to earlier. I worked out that I could afford a trip to India if it costed about 600euros and then there was no stopping my imagination. In the span of about four hours from that point, thanks to mordern technology and available finances, I had a ticket to India with my name on it.

That was the easy bit, the hard bit was waiting for the date and I told myself(again) that I spend time with day dreaming about the day that I leave to India and meeting the Who's who of my life. Not to forget, the amazing food. And so, I worked twice as hard on my internship search and other things important to my career, but I'd be lying if I said I spent anything less that an hour a day with Mysore on my mind. I think I was slowly beginning to drive my friend Anshul crazy, although he was kind enough not to mention it.

That said, all logistical arrangements made, which included transport to and from nantes to Paris and Chennai to Mysore after careful consideration that I wouldn't be able to carry my heavy luggages through the Paris Metro and that TGV's can sometimes be late etc. Then, the gift department taken care of by an amount equivalent to this poor man's monthly grocery bill. I, Finally, on the 13th of december 2009, at 530pm, left my little room. Now, many will know that 13 is not a very lucky number in this side of the world, and so far.. Sitting in a crowded little place, surrounded by baggage with no seat number on my ticket. I report that I would like to confirm that 13 is in fact a bit UNlucky.

Let me explain, all was going well until I arrived at the Le Mans station to change trains to reach the Charles De Gaulle airport of Paris. I had a waiting time of about 1.5hours to my train and I waited without watching the information board which did not have my train on it. With about 10mins to go before my train was supposed to leave, I went ot the information desk to ask what was going on and the man very nicely told that the train was canceled. And then I remembered what I read at the train station in Nantes, there's a strike going on. Thankfully no trains were burnt(you can't burn something which can go fast enough to extinguish itself I guess). So, with something like 5 minutes left for the train leave, the man took an eternity to explain the alternate tickets which I had chosen. I then had to run about a half mile to the train to discover I was in a stuffed train with many like myself and now am writing on my computer with the space I was able to lease on top of a suitcase.

So, memories of India already.. Or is my appetite for strikes and other such uncertainities which I was used to for a long long time reduced?! I dunno, will keep you informed though..

Faith

2009-10-17T03:58:00.004+05:30

Hey guys,

Something new and interesting for today. Atleast for me.

Faith...

Following are the definitions I was able to find on the web about faith..

# religion: a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality"
# complete confidence in a person or plan etc; "he cherished the faith of a good woman"; "the doctor-patient relationship is based on trust"
# religion: an institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him"
# loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person; "keep the faith"; "they broke faith with their investors"

I would like to explore the various versions of the word today, because it has somehow come to haunt me..

Its a bit of a difficult time right now, I've been working my ass off, looking, screening and applying for internships and this is the first time in my life that I have felt a pressure of not having a job in my hand. Pressure which could be a lack of faith, that I may not find what I want or anything at all.. Well, its only the second time in my life that I have been without a job and the first time, I already had an offer from an IT company which I proudly rejected and the confidence that I can ace any interview and there were enough and more opportunities to go around in India, and there was no real pressure if I didn't have a job either, I could always stay at home for a while and look for a job and it was going to be ok eventually.. I had faith..

Why? because I had faith in my abilities? Or, I had faith in the opportunities that would come by? I had faith in my trade/expertise(or the lack thereof)?

Perhaps it was a combination of all the above. I have always been a confident mechanical engineer, and still am. I don't say I know everything, but I know my physics right and you can always use an analytical brain to figure the rest out.. Next, I had confidence that if I ever get upto the interview room, I will collect the offer.. However, I think, most of all, I had confidence because most people who were exactly like me were able to secure employment quite easily and wish their troubles away..

Snap back to the present, reality check.... re-examining the above mentioned factors that could lead to a person to have faith in his abilities and therefore be confident(or in my case now, not)..
- Can't find enough people in the trade, not sure of what I know.. I mean I know stuff, I just don't know if I know enough.. Means more load on analytical skills..

- I don't have the confidence of walking out the interview room with an offer.. Why? because I'm in Europe my beloveds and I don't really have bright ideas about what to and not to do at an interview here.. I will learn, I am sure.. but there is always a learning cost.. Mine could be the potential offers!!

- People like me? Who's that? Where are they? and you can't really compare us because here in Europe, I'm rare... So, finding people whose success, strategies and tactics I can learn and perhaps emulate, is hard if not impossible..

So, there's where faith comes in...

I could use the religious definition and trust in god or the physical one and have faith in myself and my abilities or use Adhvaita and say that since God and I are one, having faith in one is as good as having faith in the other, or both !!

Er, The reason I'm being all philosophical and anal and stuff is partly due to the number of rejected by computer screening type letters(for offers that partially balded you, applying) I've been getting and partly because I'm getting a bit sick of being anal about the money I spend(or actually not, spend), having to think continuously and endlessly about the future and usually more on the problem than on the solution..

OK, that said, I should be working on my strategies and tactics for my upcoming cover letters, CVs and Interviews(faith in god, for this one) to Ace for the future. I have faith in myself that this future is near and bright..

I want to explore this topic further, but I'm hoping for some comments from you guys..

In the mean time - Keep the faith

And she Roared

2009-10-09T02:29:00.005+05:30

cool sunday evening,
a time for reflexion,
a time you may think,
for all thats been,
and all that will be..

The clouds thundered,
the onset of weather,
sometimes feared,
yet mischievous,
for pranks that highlight a day,
a day gone by..

and then a thought occured,
that releases hormones,
that make you twitch,
leave you with a feeling,
of where, what and which..

She sat there hidden,
low under the wooden roof,
resting her wide rubber,
with a mischievous grin,
and an eye for deception..

a body of silhouette black,
and a heart of pure anger,
a purr you can can never mistake,
and roar to set your hear pumping..

Alone we sat me and my porsche,
pondering about the evening ahead,
I opened the door,
and set myself in..

I took out the key,
may the journey begin,
torque on my right wrist,
and a push of my right foot,
and she roared...

mysore memories

2009-09-16T14:37:00.006+05:30

Bonjour a tous,

Its a rainy day today in Nantes, a sign of days to come I understand. The weather is getting colder by the day and the days are getting shorter for sure. My weather forecaster in Cairo-dock tells me that the rate of decrease of day length is about 4mins per day.. I think its a lot more. Anyway, that said, classes are supposed to begin once and for all tomorrow. Good... I have a project to do for the begining of next month and the class of the same hasn't taken place.. WEIRD? Tell me about it..

Anyway, I had a trip to Germany in the begining of this month where I spent a great deal of time salivating at German sports cars at the Porsche museum and the Mercedes museum, also met my old friend Mr.Vinay GK alias Dr.Gecko and his new friend, the macbook ;)..

From germany total

He showed me many photos from betta and the likes, also a video of the race to the clouds which was a race up Nandi hills bangalore. Well, since they were there as spectators, they pretty much stuck to one of the corners and filmed. It was a hairpin bend and the highly untalented sabis and mechanics of Bangalore took to the corner with great aplomb and no technique whatsoever..

As I saw the footage, I was taken back to my rides up betta and my old faithful KA09 EJ 0018..

From byk

The blistering times we had up the hills and down it, scraping away the footpegs, silencer and once... My helmet :)...

Mysore.. What an amazing place. I could go on and on forever about the open roads and constantly enticing corners and how the whole place used to be somewhat of a racetrack for me and my friends. I distinctly remeber averaging close to 80kph through the city and up the betta.. and ofcourse, we all remeber swallowing back the balls that approched the throat more than once..

There was the new and renewed hunsur road, the ring road, kuvempunagar double road, KD ofcourse and a number of the small backroads in Jayalakshmipuram and kuvempunagar where I pretty much knew each bump and hole, the right gear and inputs to just barely manage to get through with my adrenaline racing..

There was also the amazing road leading upto my college, next to vijaynagar water tank which was bumpy and often full of college going girls in their flying activas and dios.. And I used to pass them at 85kph(top speed) in my street, the cold engine begging for mercy.. But the cries falling on my deaf ears..

But the pinnacle of all the roads however was of course BETTA... Chamundi... the thought of the place gives me goosebumps. I can tell you even now each and every corner and roughly the speeds you could do.. And ofcourse the gears I used to choose in my Unicorn.. I remember the treasure hunt that akhilesh, vikas and myself organized and the one where we were supposed to be the safety bikes and we were the only people riding unsafe.. Akhilesh managed himself a crash and we then slowed down.. but untill then, it wa an awesome display of burning rubber.. Cheers Alvesh..

From byk

I recollect the times when we used to ride in the pouring rain, stop under the bridge and some used to say that the rain is too much to go ahead.. some used to set off, bidding the others goodbye and then everyone would say... Hodskolli and join in.. Later we used to get some cigarettes and chips, at the foothills and enjoy them at viewpoint.. HEAVEN..

The uber intellectual talks, the amazingly funny jokes from Nair, body and co.. My futile attempts.. Benema and his 830 deadlines, the lot..

From byk

Its stuff that memories should be made of and I'm glad that mine are. I owe it all my friends who have been such a big part of who I am and how I function. I owe it even more to my city, its beauty and its laidback nature which can make anyone stop and say.. WAIT, life is a jouney.. NOT A RACE.

Why do I say that? Well there are many reasons..
- You will not find as many tea shops as mysore, a place where people come to just chillax.. Nothing to do, nowhere to go.. Just chai and ciggie and ofcourse, your mates

From byk

- The cheap Dhabas, ofcourse you have them in bangalore too.. But, you don't have to travel for hours to reach there, so you could get drunk and ride back in one piece.
- take your bike and go anywhere... Most of the amazing places are just a few hundred kilometers away

From goks

- The number of schools and colleges, which means there are a lot of people with time to kill, so you have a crowd..
- Do whatever, like create a moto club..

From byk

- All amenities available, seriously.. Including imported motorcycles, but as is the case with many a things in mysore.. You know a guy who knows a guy.. Right...

I would so love to get back there, but there is only one problem with places like Mysore.. Opportunities for the masses. but, its selling a kidney. Things will never be the same again.. Its already started with Infosys huddling its sheep by the thousands into town.. Prices are skyrocketing and increasing demand and everything, but it will change the demographics.. Perhaps Mysore will change into something it never was.. But, hey.. Only change is permanent.. Perhaps its a blessing in disguise, who am I to say..

Miss mysore, miss you guys.. Miss everything...

Love,
Adi

Holidays coming to an end

2009-08-27T05:45:00.005+05:30

Salut a tous,

August is coming to a close!!! No seriously, it is.. And I can't believe it. When I came here, I was wondering what I'm going to do throughout the month of august to make it worthwhile. There was of course the first contemplation to go back home for a month and relax, but deeper thinking revealed that I had just go here and combined with the bureaucratic and physical complications involved with the apartment and everything, not a financially beneficial option.

Then, there was the whole part of finding a job for the summer and thanks to my "not so good yet" french skills, didn't really work. Just deviating for a moment here. I had this conversation with my cousin aravind sometime back about part time jobs and how things work and he told me about an interesting event that happened to him. He was not showing up to his part time work regularly and he got a call in the middle of some deep thoughts about his future that he's been FIRED. He couldn't get over the fact that he was looking forward to these dreams as a masters in advanced engineering graduate with all his advanced engineering powers and advanced lifestyle and everything and he got fired from a sandwich shop!!!! Bummer..

Anyway, the next option was travel which everybody thinks everybody in europe does all the time and especially during holidays and they are right and WRONG or I'm not everybody(explained by the skin color I think, I dunno). Travel my dear friends is expensive unless you get a paycheck in euros every month with atleast 4 digits on it. So, that was out of the question.

So, what did I really do. GUESS GUESS.....
.............
................
.....................
.........................
NOTHING... Seriously, NOTHING.. and it felt so damn good you have no idea. Well, let me explain, I spent most of my time playing faceville on farmbook and then cooking so many new things, enjoying my time with my newfound friends from India, learning french here and there and generally fooling around. I did spend meaningful hours on working on my internship prospects but the time isn't yet ripe for the internship applicaitions and hence my progress was at best limitied.

Since I have a little over a week left and my cousin is in germany, I'm planning to go there for a couple of days and visit the heart of the automotive technology, STUTTGART.. and starting today, I'll wake up bright and early at 8am :)

later

I went Kayaking

2009-08-06T00:22:00.005+05:30

For the first time in my life, I went Kayaking today.. And man was it awesome..

I never ever understood the laws of hydrostatic forces the way I did today. I mean, my brain was on overdrive just trying to keep my kayak in the right freaking direction..

Then, I tried really hard to balance out the force in each direction and eventually starting moving forward at a good pace. Only for a small amount of time and then I would turn around violently and I had to push only in one direction to move faster yet kept turning further.

I didn't realise untill I was out of the water what was going on.

Why was I turning around initially? Thats easy, my force on either direction wasn't balanced.

Why did I start turning after a while? Lots of variables... Current density on either side of the boat and everything, but there was something that had to explain why it happened above a particular speed.

Now, thats critical speed.. The speed above which the speed at which I'm pedalling is slower than the speed of the boat. That meant that my oar was actually slowing things down at that end.

Hmmm, apply that to life.. Makes sense doesn't it...........

You can only move as fast as you can accelerate or slower.. Any faster and you lose direction...

Happens to a lot of people and a lot of companies, one causing the other perhaps.. Depends on the case, but happens nonetheless..

NICE

I learnt something about money today

2009-07-24T03:25:00.003+05:30

Hey guys,

Quick update :

My semester is coming to an end
Cute optimization teacher sweeps MLPS boys off their feet and knocks their balls to the ground with some amazing mathematics on EXCEL!!
My grades are looking good so far and headed in the right direction.
Applied for a job with a consultant cum professor, fingers crossed...

I know a lot of the people reading this are happily employed and earning, but at the end of the month you feel you are missing something and you just overspent or something. You get this mixed feeling of having worked your ass off like a donkey and all you have to show is a credit card bill and some shoes and I dunno.... NO SAVINGS!!!! Ring a bell?!

And then, your parents come along and point out how your irresponsible ass doesn't know the value of money and so on and so forth. But, believe you me, I know how hard I had to sturuggle and how much GENERAL ass had to be licked, kicked and what not to earn my 20k take home, out of which the government among other agencies would eat a big share and rest was contributed to the renowned ICICI bank, but hey... I had a good time spending all the money I ever made.

Now, I'm a student and in europe, without a scholarship so I'm a POOR student. Not yet below poverty line, but somewhat vishveshwariah types(for eu residents - He's one of the greatest engineers of my country who used to be really really poor.. Indians & other knowledgable ones - yeah yeah, comment all you want I'm an egomaniacal disrespecful a-hole & I know it)..

So, here I am using all the tools in the world to know where the hell my money is going and still unable to keep track.. I don't really spend on anything trivial but my money runs out quicker than the water in rajasthan!!

So, I used this new tool which I had heard of called a budget. I heard loads about it when I was working and in movies and in every whatever nonsense and I thought.... wait a minute, I know what I'm going to do, I'm gonna make a budget..

SO, I wont be going to India anytime soon... HAPPY??? thank you financial whiz monkeys for cancelling my visit to INDIA... damn...

Let me explain, I got a big packet of money from India as part of my loan dispersal and I'm not planning to ask for any more money from the bank as I'm hoping for a well paying internship, come next feb.. So, I have to use this money wisely for the next 6 months right..

So, I fill out an openoffice calc budget format which I got off the internet which had a nice look to it and filled out my numbers when I filled it out for the next four months, with the allowances for my fees and unexpected expenditure, insurance and so on and so forth......... I realized that I'll be too broke if I buy a ticket home, or travel during the summer or take my ass off this chair.. God is kind, Indeed..

If only I had this sheet when I was working, I probably wouldn't have had as much fun, but had much more money.... HMMM, but, as I have always believed, Think before you decide & not after....

A tout a l'heure

NICE

2009-07-13T03:31:00.001+05:30

" It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about."
--- Dale Carnegie --- Submitted by James Padilla --- Philippines
I recall my officemate saying, " ITS ALL IN THE MIND". You are in control, whatever happens; it's all but a product of how you think. Your options are immense but simple - what will make you happy? No stress? Peace of mind? Try to think "what is essential is simple" and don't let it complicate your life. You are in control.

What did I do yesterday???

2009-07-12T15:05:00.002+05:30

Well,

Think about asking that question.. Think long and hard, then think about what I will do today. You might just figure out what you need to be doing tomorrow..

-ADITHYA

came up with that just now, anyway...

Its all leading up to a post on strategy, which I'm working on personally(while my team of elves work on the christmas gifts, no i'm not as fat as santa, yet ;) ).

A bientot

Career Choices and the ways of the HRD

2009-07-10T03:31:00.004+05:30

Now is a time as good as any for me to think of a career. But, unlike most other times, I'm a bit anxious. There are a few reasons for that,

I always knew, I was going to do my masters in "MECHATRONICS" and then I'm going to be an awesome dude who works on the integration of the fastest growing branch of engineering with the one of the oldest. But, now I'm doing my masters and I'm doing it in something that's quite different. I made this choice because I liked the topic and know I can make a career out of, but the choices are now much much more. But, that is a bit of an issue.....
I never had the financial pressure I have now.
I used to be home, with friends and family and had something to fall back on. ALWAYS.

So, Why am I worried about my career choices. Is it about the money? Is is about the kind of job and how I could get stuck somewhere? Or is it because I think I'm dumb or something and wouldn't be an asset to the company I go to.

ANS: None of the above. Frankly,money is a concern but not an overriding one. I'm not scared of getting stuck, I kind of like it when things follow a little bit of a rhythm which I can break at times and jump with joy, and I'm sure I'm going to be one of the smarter/smart ass guys in the company where I choose to go.

The only thing that bothers me is, optimization. As always, i want to make the best of things. I want to make a decision thats been thought out to perfection and that there exists no bounds for any further grey cell wastage on the subject in the future. And, that ladies and gentlemen is the problem precisely.

I want to make a good decision, an educated on. Which at the moment, although a heuristic(perhaps sub-optimal) choice is the best anyone could make at that given moment. And that can only be done if you have choices, and unless you put yourself in a situation where you have good enough number of choices, you can never make a good one.

Think about it like you are going out to buy a candy. If you go to a pharmacie or the local grocery store, you could pick a really good candy but your choices are limited when compared to say going to a store that sells nothing but candy. Same thing goes for jobs too.

I feel that many people have such an overwhelming idea of what they want to become based on the information that they already have or have recieved in the past that they make the decision too early, and being good managers, stick to their decision, which could turn out great, but could lead to loss of many oppurtunities.

Therefore, I now based on my extensive analysis of what I want to do, has yielded so many solutions that I dont want to decide just now.

But, there are some strategies which I learned from one Mr.Drake of liverpool I want to put to use.

SOON..

keep it locked for updates

Laying old ghosts to rest

2009-07-05T04:38:00.004+05:30

Well,

We are all familiar with that term aren't we. I just chose the topic coz I laid some of my old ghosts to rest today. Had a report pending since about a month now and I'm glad I put that out of the way just now, but I'm a bit worried that although I took all eternity to complete it, I could've really done more justice to it..

May be yes, but maybe no... I'll know when I get my grades I guess, but I'm happy with what I've done. I'm happy I got the idea of what my professor was expecting and according to me, I did pretty good..

That said, it became a ghost because I didn't work on it earlier and it died when the deadline got over, and the deadline got over because there were other bodies that were dieing and were more crucial in terms of worthiness of saving...

Whatever the excuse, I gotta work on reducing ghosts, lets see how it goes..

OOH, wanna add some stuff here about what I did today..

Compressed a huge .wav file to an Mp3, was struggling coz it was apparently not "MSwav" coz it was recorded on a chinese audio recorder.. PHEW, took my life out.. almost considered getting angry at my ubuntu... but order is now restored and life goes on without the corporation up my stinky place.. calls for a good night's sleep...

A plus

the first weekend of the last month of my first semester.. WOOHOO

2009-07-04T04:57:00.006+05:30

Hey you guys,

Salut A tout le Monde(hello all, first lines of code in france.. LOLZ).. Hows it goin...Like the heading displays, its july 4, week 1 of month 6 of semester 1 @ EMN, France..

Before I begin, A recap of today.. Picnic next to the river, followed by shopping for clothes and grocery, followed by awesome kebabs followed by the best Ice cream in Nantes.. It was brilliant....
Wow, feels good.. FRANCE.. and Francais(french in french)..
Question : As good as india?
Answer : As good as the country india? in a few ways better... As good as Home? NO WAY..

Well, I want to start with the positives.. So here it goes..

On the Bright side

I have been learning many things which are going to benefit me a lot in my future, I'm learning these things by listening, interacting and working with people from all over the world which I think helps me even more.

Introduction to educated decision making based on current social, financial and market positions... ;)

I have been working out on a more or less regular basis, meaning that although all the ALOO and Pain au chocolat has been giving me a bit of a tummy, I've been keeping fitter than I used to. Testament to the fact being my not having a cold/cough/fever/headache etc and other regular maladies which were quite common to me in India.

I've been learning a foreign language and getting better at it every day, and as pointed out to me by my Habibi(abdulrahman) makes you feel intelligent.. It does, you should try.

I've been learning team dynamics(thanks to my never ending list of team assignments), which I didn't know in India. Helps you be sly and yet an awesome team worker at the same time.

I've got used to cooking and slowly.... and slowly getting better at it = great news for my wife to be, although her being down makes me very sad from time to time.

Increased (OH) capacity.

And many other more significant things which I cant recollect just now....

On the dark side :

Many new series.. Eating up all my time

The money man, really could use more..

Many other deeply disturbing un-exposable things ;)

Well, All in all I think, its been a really positive step for me, although it feels like I'm building a bridge across two very big mountains while being pushed to the edge at a constant rate. Unless the bridge is built at a rate faster than the push... You know what happens..........

Right now, the question is of choice..

Its like choosing between 3 equally delicious cakes. One of them requires you to solve a puzzle before every slice you can eat the next one is like simple, kinda boring but something you have never had before, and perhaps is boring thanks only to the reviews of others... and another is a cake you've already eaten, each slice being very similar to the last one and it can take a while chewing each slice, so you wont have a life outside the cake...

Not clear?

Ok, the first metaphorical cake is called operations research, its a mathematical kinda subject where you are looking to make the best compromise of things based on pure mathematics. High paying, but requires a high amount of skill to pull off and not necessarily stuff that'll make you a real big upper management type of guy soon, but fun nonetheless..

The second metaphoric cake is called logistics, its just moving stuff around, only its a lot of stuff and a lot of moving... I have no Idea how to do this, but those who are in the field are pretty bored.... SO>>>>>>

The last metaphoric cake is called production management, its stuff I used to do in GM and its fun, I know how to do and it can really take you places, but its not something that I want to continue in life doing, and I know how much time it can take.

The jury is out on this decision and just like last time(GM), I might just go with the offers I get.. Or, Maybe I'll choose. I need to make educated decisions, and I've finished a semester of my education...

Until later,

Bon chance

How much is your time worth?

2009-05-18T16:41:00.007+05:30

I have a proposition for you, I want to buy your time.. I want to literally BUY your time. Lets just imagine that you are a very "In demand" person and some queerly discerning guy like me comes and offers a proposition of spending 2hours of your "precious" time with you. I'm willing to compensate, can you tell me how much your time is worth? In terms of a number that can be monetarily compensated back to you and we call the deal done?

We have always heard the age old saying in so many places "Time is money". I want to now know, how much time is how much money exactly? Assuming that science somehow comes up with a way of extending your time on this planet and you have to pay for every second of extension, then you would know exactly how much your time is worth, but before that.. At the point where science and innovation stands now.. How much is you time worth.

I keep repeating because the way the question is striking me at the heart of my knowledge, how do I cost something I never pay for..

I learnt of a very interesting letter written by Mr.Gates here. He talks about how much he is time he is spending, based on the amount of time invested, quotes that he is being paid $2 per hour. Now, the question is, how is that not enough? So, how much is? Is it the amount his company earns per second today? I'm sure thats more than $2 per second..

Another way of costing was discovered by me on a video by Mr.Randy pausch. A very learned man indeed, explains that if you are working... Take your salary, multiply that by 2 because thats how much the company actually spends on you, convert it to $ per hour and voila.. Excellent, and exceedingly simple for the kind of applicaiton I have in mind.

I want to know, what is my time on this planet worth? I mean how big a cost and revenue am I. Can that be calculated based on simplicities as the balance of money I have spent and earned divided by the time spent here. Perhaps, but what about the future, how much is that worth.

If I want this blog to pay me back for the time I have spent on typing, how much should it pay me back so that I be happy and I call truce with blogspot.

Sounds cynical, but you come to realise that it is an important analysis when you come to think of places which are consuming time. For example, the cost of a faster computer to the time it will take to compute, or the cost of spending time on a slower internet connection. Cost of being stuck in a traffic jam. Sometimes we never bother, because we can't begin to think that deeply about every second we have.

Sometimes, we take solace in platitudes and pithy like "time is precious", "time is money" etc etc etc, but tell me how precious, how much money is how much time.

So, I started by computing how much my education is costing me, per day of class attended. Taking into account, the total expected expenses + the total amount of money I will not earn as I'm studying divided by the number of class that are expected to occur. I have concluded that a day of class cost me round abouts Rs.6500, thats 100 euros and thats roughly the amount I spend on groceries for a month!!!

Thats startling, and thats why I will be on time every time to every class and not surf anymore while the professor is busy boring the class about his "in depth" knowledge. I will be more interested than ever and if that means that I need to buy a coffee for 1 euro to make sure I'm on by best attention, thats too cheap a cost.. I think this stuff works, or is it the coffee talking.... ;)

Lets take a step further, just for kicks...So, I have come to think that as a gross mathematical equation.

cost of your time = Your potential to earn/time you have left

can you compute that.. YES, will you compute that? NO.. Why? because you have no idea how much you will earn, because you don't know how much time you have. But I think thats what targets are for right. hmmm, more on that later..

Spare a thought, you've been reading this blog too long..

PS: Lil video about time

Just realised how I'm gonna be awesome in life

2009-05-14T00:31:00.003+05:30

For those of you who may have been actually interested in this blog and read that a few weeks ago, my life had gone down the drain coz I got bumped a level down at the french class! Well, then it went further down because I happened not to go to the french class for a couple of days and since the class is only once a week and we had a couple of weeks when we didn't have classes on friday. it meant that I didn't go to class for a whole freakin month..

And, as is the french system... My french teachers were pretty pissed and absolutely sure that they had done the right thing putting my uninterested ass back where it belongs.. But, I had done my homework.. I just did 5 mins a day of translating everyday english into french(everytime I wanna type french, I type freaking... Mental block or just mental, dunno). what do you know, I was able speak my friends, so much so that I was the only one speaking in class and UNDERSTANDING... to a point it actually amazed me. While I kept going with the flow that it was yet another brilliant stroke of beginers luck, a certain event proved it wasn't. My old french teacher came to me and asked me if I would like to go the ADVANCED BEGINNER class , whatever that means. But, its a victory... Victory at last, sweet as it tastes, its also a huge eye-opener.

I swear, I never believed in potential... Especially potential other people see in you, because I see potential in everyone I meet. And, as people go on and screw up whatever I thought they could be, I lose my trust in myself at looking for potential. Especially within yours truly.. But then, came along a girl.. Who is the most beautiful and graceful person in the whole wide world and said she saw potential in me. I didn't believe her, because I know deep inside that I can be a person that people want me to be. Make them happy and make them think I can be this big success. But, I always believe I'm not that.

But, I've been playing this drama for so long.. For my parents, for my dodappa(especially), my professors etc etc... That, I have become that person. He exists in me, he who can work less and play hard. Who can actually learn fast, just to impress. Who can think of amazing things and unbelievably screwed but correct solutions, just to impress..

And that guy, today got told by his french teacher that he can progress one level becuase in 2 days, he negated 30 days non work.. Just like that, hmmm..

Old and wise people would say that hard work shows results but I say, use your talent and brain. I know everyone has one, people believe too much in hard work. I say, Machines work hard.. Humans make machines work.. The machine is the matrix around you, make it work for you and work in ways that suit you.. Don't stress yourself, figure out how your brain works, figure out how YOU work.. And work at it..

Why couldn't man stick to XP????

2009-05-01T13:34:00.005+05:30

God,

SOmetimes I get a feeling that I want to be a part of a huge corporation and make these big decisions which bend the time and space around us and usually make tremendous changes to the lines of a company that in fact determine whether or not your salary can be afforded!!! Know what I mean? NO right, well just hold onto that thought and I'll come back to it.

I have 2 examples today about 2 completely different corporations which are dealing with the same line of business but choose to work in completely different strategies and ethics. the first being my current favorite, the CANNONICAL corporation who make and distribute the UBUNTU which is ofcourse free and AWESOME like any other thing in life which is free. But, on the other hand you have the big fat corporation, called microsoft which is bent upon collecting money from you no matter what and is willing to work with other similar american corporations(read DELL) to ensure you have no choice whatsoever in how you spend your money.

Well, Since I have already worked in a big fat corporation which can concoct ways and means to ensure it has a say in how its consumer decides to spend its money, I think I have a fair idea about how this thing works. First, I want to congratulate the big fat corporation how they have ensure that their so called operating system ships to the consumer no matter how bad, sad or slow it is. I mean, today you can't buy any DELL computer without Intel processor or windows vista. That means, I'm esssentially paying and extra Rs.4000(for vista) and atleast Rs.3000(for intel processor), whereas a low life like me who doesn't have the greatest computing needs in the world may have settled for a system without an OS and an AMD processor and motherboard, ever thought of that??? I'm sure you did, but the choice was already made. Anyway, during the last time I did reasearch in India to buy my PC, ACER was the only company which was willing to sell and AMD processor laptop without an OS for roughly the same amount of money as DELL(with an intel processor and vista), sans the international warranty!

Hey, DELL guys... If you could just review that presentation given by the Harvard MBA guy about adding value to your product, could you just include the slide about costumer choice and see how it goes, I for one would be really very very happy. Because, I see what you are trying to do here. You have a contract with Intel to provide you their chips much cheaper than they would if your volumes were lowered on account of the consumer having a choice of AMD, plus you have a contract with windows which sells you a product which they usually charge $70 or so in the open market, sold to you at $30 and you sell it to the consumer at an indicated price of $60 and you save on developing drivers for XP and the other distributions, I mean that Harvard guy may have just made up his weight in gold. I agree, but there is one part that you sorely missed out on. You see I noticed that if I'm a person in the market for a netbook, I shell out around Rs.23000 for one that has a decent size hard drive and ram and yet is small, maybe I'm buying it becuase I haven't too much computer needs or Money. But, I would definitely consider an inspiron 1525, which retails for about 34000 with vista and intel if it wre say 27000, I mean a brand new market. with the existing market intact... What say?

So, Mr.Dell call me if you need more info on that. Anyway, moving ahead with microsoft and their brilliant ways to catch their consumer by the throat - I'm a guy with limited number of friends in france and most of my friends here use vista, mostly because they don't know better and believe thats how an operating system should look. And when they borrow my computer just for some browsing, they are amazed that a laptop this cheap can actually perform that fast! Furthermore, I know of many people who are utterly disgusted for having paid for something like vista. WHy? well, let me cite the case of my very old and computer literate friend who is now down under, he has been working on an old computer with something like 1/2 the no. of cores, 1/2 the no. of GHZ and less than 1/2 the ram as his existing toshiba laptop and is stunned at how slow is toshiba is in comparison to his old ass desktop. He is appaled at how microsoft has single handedly thrown his money down the gutter with an irritatingly slow operating system which never hands over the leash of the computer to the user. Now, even he paid unwillingly for VISTA and now has to live with it, even though he's actally a big fan of the XP, he won't buy it, because he spent his money on the vista... Man, microsoft if you actually had given the choice of operating system, I think you would have canned the vista couple of years ago. But, you are a corporation and you will justify the money invested in the product by ensuring that your sales force can sell it. NO MATTER WHAT, what!!!!! did I say please the costumer.... what costumer, who costumer they say. As far as microsoft is concerned, DELL, TOSHIBA and HP are their costumer because they pay for the operating systems shipped with their computers and dell doesn't care if vista is slow, because you and me have no choice. LIVE WITH THAT.

So, what about cannonical.. Personally, I think its a noble and difficult initiative to roll out free software and maintain a promise of a new release of the distro every 6 months plus regular updates almost every other day. I struggle to think of all the people who take time out to write software for people like me, for free. And furthermore, distributors like cannonical who were kind enough not only to let me download and use the software but also send me a free CD and stickers! wow, you guys rock. But, there are some problems with the way things are moving with linux too, I came across this video where a very learned linux geek tries to explain why LINUX sucks, well don't get me wrong but there are some teething issues even for a basic user like me. For example, I had a perfect ubuntu 8.10 desktop which I upgraded to the 9.04 and my mic got screwed and the system started hanging, then when I did a fresh install, my audio started lagging on skype.. But, these things can be quite irritating at times when you see people with windows cruising with their rather slow, not so steady system which can do everything without the requirement for tweaks.. But, its a price I'm willing to pay because even in life, you know that when everything is working fine... SOMETHING's GOTTA GIVE - like when your windows system wont boot up one morning when you are supposed to give this really important presentatation... lolz... That way, stuff that works on linux keeps working, stuff that doesn't just doesn't.. Linux has a slightly irritaing but predictable way of going about things which I prefer than having Mr.Ballmer or Mr.Gates have their fists clenched on my neck, with a grip tight enough not to let me move and with just enough force left to stop my air supply..

But, even with those problems and irritants, I choose linux.. You say WHY? why do you choose linux over windows(especially when your copy of vista is already paid for)?? Further, why Choose UBUNTU??
WELL ......... Because I can, thats why. Its just a small voice in a big corporate world which counts me into the number of people who login on a vista/xp/mac system everyday. I just want to make my "alilu seve"(squirrel service - something from ramayana) to show that I don't support the strategies of Dell and Microsoft to arm twist me into using whatever crap they dole out at me.

Up and running

2009-03-21T21:08:00.006+05:30

First of all, sorry about the lack of posts the past few weeks. Anyway, been very caught up with a lot of work and partying. But, that said there are a few things that I did do which I'd like to write about.

Going in the decreasing order of achievement ofcourse.

First and most succesful : UBUNTU INTREPID IBEX 8.10 i386.

I have my system running 90%+ on linux, I hardly use windows anymore except for a certain program that I need to do for my work at college which may constitute 4 hours a week, but that apart I'm proud to say that I have been using linux for everything that I do on a daily basis and it works like a charm. The best part however is the fact that its free, free from corporate announcements, free from bugging reminders about registration, free from Viruses!! Yeah, I know. I remember the time when I migrated from Windows 3.1 to windows 98, the word virus did exist before that but It really didn't mean much to me. Since that time in the past, right now the only other time I haven't been running an anti-virus. I think for a computer thats working as well as it is expected to on a regular basis, working without an antivirus today is quite an acievement. And it's not like its barely working. Its damn quick, its response, it never hangs, and it does everything you wanted to ever do with your computer. Its different to windows and thats the reason I found a little bit of pain in the transition but right now, I find windows PAINFULLY SLOW!

one thing though, GOOGLE talk doesn't work, the VOIP part atleast and thats a shame. I know that it works if you don't have a proxy and unfortunately, I do. So, in order to fix that.... This is gonna sound foolish but, I installed windows on top of linux as another virtual system and now I can do google chat on LINUX, woohoo.. Here's a screenshot..

Notice how neat the merging is, I mean yeah my UBUNTU desktop looks way better as it is, but even with windows running on it, its amazing.. and trust me, it works faster than the windows as it is.. because windows can't get any slower, but apparently microsoft have apparently bettered themselves with the Windows 7 which can slow your system more than VISTA can.
Jokes apart, serious word of advice is to move away from microsoft ASAP because microsoft doesn't care 2 hoots about you, all they care is about your money. There is no other way of explaining why a paying customer of Vista can't have the Windows 7 for free!

Next in line is the MLPS course:

Well, let me say that the french do distinguish between a masters course and a kindergarten course and the distinction is the fact that you go home early when you are in kindergarten, quite contrary to the education system in INDIA but Voila, there you are.

I've been dealing with classes from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening, 4 days a week, plus assignments, plus seminars. and most of the assignments so far have been on programming languages you never heard of before and using techniques which you will probably learn as the rest of the course progresses but that said, you are supposed to submit the assignment by midnight this sunday (or) you flunk coz there's no exam for this course.. "Do we have a winner already charlie" - " No I'm afraid not, we have some more downhill to come" - "WTF"

French classes

Hey guys, I swear I act dumb at times but I have a feeling deep down inside that I'm really really smart alright and no matter what you have to say or do about it, I keep that feeling, live with that HUH.. But, apparently my french teachers don't know about it and they demoted me to a level below "Beginner" and I'm like WTF, atleast you could've told me, but no... So, thats been a big dent to my quickly surfacing all encompassing iceberg of an ego. BUt, I'm working on proving them wrong.. Thats what I've done most of my life anyway - "prove them wrong". There's an adage I always remember in such times "To silence critics - Just perform" and thats that folks.

Remember, when you silence your critics, people will believe and know that your's was the best song there was, is and will be..

Au revoir

1 month in france

2009-03-02T04:15:00.003+05:30

The sunday has almost ended and its my one month Aniversary since I left home... Voila..

Amazing, needless to say. I survived, I survived... I'm alive and flourishing in this cold alien place, I'm alive.. What more can I say.

I'm excited that my classes are starting tomorrow and I'll be kept busy with a lot of things to do, I'm working on an organizer kind of thing to help me plan my day and accomplish stuff I set out to do. Keep a good tab on my expenses an everything...

Also, got some news from aravind that getting an internship is now more difficult than ever, but I'm hopeful that I can pull myself through to something. What I want to do is some free intern kinda work during the holidays so that I can seriously boost my CV. Hmmm, that may not be possible in big companies but maybe in assembly lines in small companies..

So far this week, I fooled around with a number of distros of linux and have finally settled for Ubuntu 32 bit, for better or for worse coz its the most userfriendly one i was able to find. THe only thing left to do to complete the setup of the software is the wifi in the college, I'm hoping it shouldn't be a big deal, but thats yet to be seen..

Apart from that, well not much more.. Not homesick yet, I don't think so yet atleast.. But yeah, I do miss many things I don wanna elaborate on here..

I'll keep this entry short coz I wanna crash right now...

Au revoir..

end of week 2

2009-02-16T04:14:00.002+05:30

Hello from the world of the french,

bonjour,

thats how the french would have you say it anyway..

well so far about 2 weeks are up and I'm slowly finding a rythm, no i'm not in the rythm yet, but I can feel it. I know how things work here and how to make things work for me.

I need to learn french, without choice and I think its a good language to learn too, quite nice yeah. And unlike back home, I need to get planning man, I mean time is seriously the king here, if you can manage your time properly and know exactly what all need to be accomplished, you can seriously live a good life here. NO haphazard kinda things here. Thats the best part.

But, hey I just discovered that entire europe stays home on sunday.. thats news, well that means that we only have 6 days in a week. Amazing....

I met a pakistani scholar here who was very kind to vasu, anshul, omar and myself by serving us lunch. It was amazing.. Thank you shaukat bhai..

Apart from that, well there is another week starting in about 10 mins from now and I need to get some sleep and not wake up at 11 like I did today. I need to make a schedule to fill in my physical exercise and also time for reading books and everything. I need to spend lesser time on chatting and stuff. Need to get settled down further.... lolz...

until next time,

Au revoir..

(more french later)

france

2009-02-08T02:14:00.001+05:30

Well, here is my first post...

Always thought I should start a blog and here it is, well.. I have so many things to say to the world after reaching here.

Well, for the record : I'm in France, holiday destination for many... I came here after a lot of looking around and lot of applying. The university here seemed pretty happy to accept me the first time I applied, so I'm happy I fit in somewhere... lolz

Anyway, coming to the actual experience of getting here and even more being here...

I left home on the 1st of february, which was a sunday and today when I'm writing this - well its saturday evening. SO, its been all of one week and my world has been turned upside down. I swear, I miss home. I miss each and every freaking detail about home. Each and every thing i used to do from sunrise to sunset. The freedom I had, the money I had, the friends I had, the family I had and last but not by a stretch of imagination the least...... I miss home food.

But, there have been positives. For starters, the french - No they don't speak great english but hey, what do you know. They are pretty nice people. They aren't known to be that way everywhere I asked about them but my personal experience in the last seven days has led me to believe that I'm welcome here. And for a guy who has left behind everything he had and identified himself by, thats a lot!!

Yes, I do recognise the fact that it was a decision I took and I stand by it. but, the fact that I'm in this place is just kinda hard to believe and digest. I beg you to cut a small piece of the sympathy pie for me and my anguished and overloaded situation here. I live now in a place is 1/5th the size of the place I used to call home, temperature is 1/20th of what i have at home and the stove used to cook is 1/4th the size but the cost of everything is 65 times..

There are so many thoughts plans and things to do running through my head right now, there are so many situations I want to put in perspective at this point that my mind just wants a break. I can almost feel my head overheating in the -1 deg C weather, so I want to take a step back and relax. I really think that the typing I'm doing right now is helping me do that. It wont be before atleast a year that I will be able to return to the place I call home. So, I have decided that rather than emulate my idea of home in a place away from home. I will create a cozy place for me to put my head in at night, create a nice piece of food to keep my body moving in the morning and work in a way that suits the air, water and fire around me.

Wish me luck, I'll keep things posted on this wall