Work hard...Party harder!!!

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

college kids!!!

I am not sure if i should feel sorry for my juniors in college and other folks going to college now in Chennai or feel J looking at them.
When i went back to India this time there were just 10-12 channels being telecast if you dont have a set top box (most dont) out of which none were worth watching! there was no Mtv, channel V, Sony etc. shat do college going kids do without these channels? As far as i can remember all i did in college with the exception of the 2 weeks during the exams was to watch TV, talk to my friends about the programs i saw on TV over the phone and then chat online about the conversation in the night till like 12-1 am and then start fresh all over again the next day. so the question is what do they talk about now?
Another thing is in college I did what i wanted to...period. If i didnt like a prof. i didnt like him/her and i just didnt give a damn. If i didnt feel like attaneding a class i didnt simply because i didnt have to explain to anybody...no internals no shit like that + i got my bachelor's degree from Madras University (SVCE) and if you know a few tricks you can be assured of a decent score although there was always a degree of uncertainity. I understand thats not how it works now....and for some reason anna university seems to be bent on screwing their students.

But then on the other hand with the current economic boom in India it looks like all you need is a B.E degree to get a software job with a starting pay of over 200,000 /year. in the good'ol times when I graduated on campus jobs didnt come that easy esp. with the kind of reputation SVCE had with companies coming oncampus...thanks to my seniors for that!!
Internet/Phones and cell phones have become dirt cheap now and i think thats pretty cool. it would have saved me the severe tirade i used to get from my dad once every 2 months when the phone bill was sent home!! I still can remember the days when i used to go out on the evening of the day the bill was sent just to avoid my dad!! sounds petty now bit then i used to get seriously screwed for this!!
Above everything i envy college kids because they are in college...the one place Id give anything to be in..amongst my friends...acting irresponsibly, bunking classes just having fun. how cool was that?
I guess ill keep talking about my college days even after i turn 80...i am foreever ready to relive them.....ofcourse such is the great college i went to...Sri Venkateswara college of Engg(SVCE)!!!

India Trip...a detailed account!!

quite contrary to what i had mentioned before this is my first blog from India and i have been here for three weeks already. I just have been generally lazy and my dialup connection speed hasnt really inspired me to write either. However suddenly a thought struck me yesterday...this is the vacation i had been dreaming about ever since i got to the U.S and blogging is the only way i can save the memories of the good times i have been having here. tommorow, it will exactly be 3 weeks since i got here and i feel like i really havent done 25% of the work i wanted to do over here. 3 weeks just went in a jiffy and all i did was eating and sleeping. When i get back to the US the one thing i probably wouldnt regret not doing is eating as for the last 3 weeks i have been literally stuffing myself with as much food as i possibly can. Infact suffering from indigestion and an upset stomach twice in 3 weeks is itself an indication enough of how much i have been eating, esp. considering the fact that i generally have an iron stomach.

I decided i am going to try and remember what i did since i got here
12/6/04 - got home at around 10.00am...had a delicious bf of dosa and south Indian filter coffee..didnt do anything much...just chilled out in the house...gave everybody their gifts. had a terribly upset stomach.

12/7/04 - didnt do anything worth mentioning...Sindu was sick and so she bunked office.

12/8/04 - went to Landmark and bought books and cds. Had chat from a store in spencers and also punjabi samosa from food world. Spencers has changed quite a bit and the 3rd phase is awesome.

12/9/04 - went back to Landmark to return a book as i realized the same book was available in half.com at about 1/2 its price. Arthi dropped home from work in the evening and was chatting with her for a while. Mohan chittappa and Vinod also dropped by to see me.

12/10/04 - went to ritchie street to buy adapters. much to my surprise i really didnt like the place with its crowd. Sadly the same street where i could spend hours drooling at the goodies and gizmos it had to offer was now annoying. I had originally planned on spending 2-3 hours there but just got my stuff and left the place in under an hour. While driving back home i drove via marina and was filled with mixed emotions. Just too many memories associated with the damn beach.

12/11/04 - went with Appa, Amma, Sindu, Ramesh, Ani, Mohan Chittappa, Usha Chitti and vinod to Mansukhs. Had some 2-3 rounds of chat followed by basundi for dessert. hmmmm....good stuff!!!

12/12/04 - Went out with Balaji to spencers and then later to the beach and then at 7 pm for oceans 12 followed by dinner at Karaikudi....had delicious south Indian Parotta with i think Egg curry. Also had some chat in Spencers followed by Masala Kadalai in Marina beach.

12/13/04 - went to Ayush for a full body ayurvedic massage on my Mom and Sisters insistence. It was comforting and cool. Got myself and amma ice cream from Movenpick on my way back home. Earlier in the day i went out with amma and bought sandals for myself.

12/14/04 - Went with amma to Vivek's in Vadapalani to check out A/C and Washing Machines...bad service. Then went to Sri Krishna Sweets to buy Mysurpa. From there we drove to sindu's office, picked her and Datta up and then Lunched at Aanghan a new restraunt opened up behind Gangothri in Cathedral Road. Had Panneer Tikka which was truly out of the world. Later after lunch we had ice creams in Gangothri and dropped Sindu and Datta off in their office and drove to spencers. Just roamed about and finally had coffee from java city. Came back home and relaxed.

12/15/04 - Went with amma to Rathna stores and I bought her a new cooker and some other stuff. I also bought a belt in Globus. We then went to Chips and Chats and had some chat. I bought a flower bouquet and we drove back home. After a while i then went to Adyar for Arthi's Engagement. The engagement was boring for me as i knew nobody except Arthi. I then went to Besant Nagar beach and walked along the shore for 45 Minutes and then drove back home.

12/16/04 - I cant remember what i did but i doubt it was anything special. I think i went to Just casuals and bought a shorts and a shirt. then went to Kellys and Dropped sindu off and played with Ani for a while.

12/17/04 - Went and picked up a Van Huesen Shirt...some sale was on. Later was wondering if i should have? Went to Mussafir movie...night show...ok movie...typical masala..Sameera reddy looked smoking hot though.

12/18/04 - Took Amma and Ani to Ayyapa poojai in Mylapore. On the way back a stupid Jackass bike guy smashed his bike into my car that was then stationary causing a huge dent in my rear bumper. I was begining to wonder if i should be driving in India. In the evening i went with Appa to rathna stores and then later we all excluding Ramesh went for dinner to Dhaba..ok food and nice ambience but too pricey though!!

12/19/04 - Lunch at Mohan Chittappa's place. It was delicious and filling. Janaki Periammai, Athimbar and Thathi came to our place in the evening. They have bought a new Maruthi 800.

12/20/04 - Sindu bunked office. we did some major suthifying!! Went to Spencers where i bought a pair of formal Arrow trousers, and couple of cotton shirts. Had some chat from Shri Mithai in the 3rd Phase. We then came back home..had Lunch and left again and i bought a pair of formal Woodland Shoes and also leather sandals.

12/21/04 - Went to Naturals, a upscale beauty salon where a haircut costs 200 bucks!! My sis had a coupon for 300 bucks so i got a shave for 50 bucks and a Olive oil Head
Massage for the rest of the money. came out starving and ate lotsa stuff from foodworld. In the afternoon i gave the car for service. got back the car later in the night with the dent been taken care off and also the best part with the A/C working..and working well.

12/22/04 - pretty dull day till the evening. the Evening was horrible. Sindu was supposed to leave and just before we left home to Kellys appa thought Ani had fever. We went to kellys and Mummy took Ani to the Doctor just to avoid risks. I was playing around with the camcorder to see if i can connect it to the computer. Ani started crying because mummy took him to the hospital and after crying really loudly non stop for about 40 minutes...he just stopped and passed out...jeez!! all of us got the shock of our lives and we rushed him to the doctor. the doctor wrapped a wet towel around him and after about 5 minutes he regained conciousness. we rushed him to child trust hospital. I drove the the hospital and i have to admit never before in my life have i been as scared to drive as i was that day. Finally well we later came to know what happened to him was whats called a febrile seizure and is a relatively common occurence in children when there temperature shoots up and it seems it happens in about 3-5% of the children (looked up at it online).

12/23/04 - Left to the hospital early in the morning with coffee. Ani was ok. his fever hadnt subsided though. I spent the whole day in the hospital. i was there till about 9.30pm.

12/24/04 - did pretty much the same thing like the previous day. spent almost the whole day in the hospital, reading "are you afraid of the dark" by Sidney Sheldon.

12/25/04 - was there in the hospital till the evening. In the night went to China Town with balaji. China Town had a great great ambience and was kinda pricey too. I treated Balaji for my internship. Then went to sathyam and saw Swades. Good movie. I thought it was very well made though the first half was kinda slow. I just love the songs in the movie. met Mayee in the cinema.

12/26/04 - Horrible day!! I woke up with a severe headache, backache and also an upset stomach. My dad woke me up saying there were tremors. My friend who had stayed over in my house told me he had woken up because he felt the bed shake. It was not until a few hours later that i realized the seriousness of the issue. Like my BIL said the irony of the situation was that thousands of them had been washed away by the killer Tsunami waves just 3 miles away from my house and i didnt even realize it had happened. I heard the Marina beach is a ghastly site...i still havent had the guts to visit the place not because i am scared the tsunami will hit again but then because there are just too many sweet memories associated with the beach and i dont want to look at the beach in any other way than i have imagined it to be. Ajay and Vijay came home in the evening and we were chatting for a while.

12/27/04 - Felt much better but since the back ache persisted i decided against taking the bike. SInce my dad had taken the car i took an Auto to Spencers where i met up with Arun. Ajay Kumar & vijay in typical desi style came late. We went around for a while and Vijay bought a pair of Jeans. From there we went to Satyam and I saw Swades again.

12/31/04

I tired to post all that I had written earlier in India but then the connection sucked so I couldn’t! This being the last day of the year has been pretty good soo far. The A/C arrived promptly today morning and early noon guys from Samsung came and installed the A/C. Now all that remains to be done is to install the A/C power socket. I will be leaving in a few minutes to drop Sindu off in the doctors place (Andal…her new found pediatrician for Ani) and to go and collect my altered trousers from Lifestyle. As of now I plan on going for dinner with Ajay and Vijay to Savera tonite unless we make other plans at home. I guess that’s it for the moment…..signing off now.

to be continued......

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Ciao Ag Comm!!!

I know...I know...you guys must be thinking I am crazy to be writing a new blog when i havent completed my previous one...but then today happens to be a day of rather mixed emotions!!

This is the last blog i am writing from my office (current office!!) using the slow Dell Precision 330 with just 256 MB of RAM. I was thinking abt it today and i cant beleive its been 6 months since i joined this job...time just flies by soo fast...it feels like i just started yesterday. Its been a wonderful job though and i got to work with some gr88 ppl, not to mention all the new applications I learnt. Thinking abt it I learnt to use Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver and frontpage.

Well...Well..I have really enjoyed working here and will miss working here. Those long pro-democratic party conversations with shamick (prior to and also after the elections)...bugging Subha in her office, covering for Jonuse at her desk while she's gone...short walks via the medical center parking structure to Starbucks, esp. letching at those sexy automobiles parked there...i guess are some of the priceless moments ill probably never get back!

But what the heck? thats life and you got to move on...after all I survived leaving SVCE...this cant be very difficult!!


Wednesday, December 01, 2004

my friends...they are the best!!!!

For sometime now i have been thinking about writing atleast the names of all my friends who have influenced me and are to an extent the reason behind i am where I am today. If there is one thing i cant complain about in my life it would be my friends....they have always been there for me when i have wanted them etc..etc. (u know...all that kinda senti stuff) So i decided the least i can do is to mention them and write their names in my blog. I know there are a zillion people who have helped me and since its impossible to write all their names down i am just gonna write down all the names i can think of now..if by any chance you think i have left your name out please understand that i have had a loon week, very little sleep last night, stressful 2 weeks before this one and excuse me!! Starting from school....
School - Gill Adarsh
- Sachin
- V.R Harish
- Geetha...(my first real friend i guess...i met her in 1st or 2nd grade and were the worst of enemies..i once was soo pissed with her that i threw her lunch out..she complained to the teacher and i had to share my lunch with her..but we eventually hit it off i guess and were the best of friends till 8th grade and the i totally lost touch with her till the magical reunion 8 years after, in her college. thanks to Padmavathy who got me her info...She now works for CTS in Chennai and we chat regularly)
- Suman
- Megha
- Lavanya
- Vasanthi (She was one hard working kid...my mom used to teach her and i hated her then because i used to get compared with her all the time..she eventually got into medical school i heard)
- Prasanna (graduated from purdue recently...great guy..and neighbour..we went for cricket coaching togeather..both of us loved the 1.25 rasna in shanthi cool bar!)
- There was this one guy i cant recollect his name now but anyways he wasnt a gr88 friend of mine but both of us shared a common passion which was to repair and restore fountain pens..i remember my hands were always stained with diffrent colors of ink during my 5th grade and i was never satisfied with the way my pen wrote and always used to take the nib and the feeder apartto try and make it work better. I learnt a lot abt pens from this guy!!
- Abdul - my key competitor in my 8th grade..i guess he eventually did better than me in acads but then i was the opening batsman for the under 13 team in my school, volunteer to make sure student leave the school in the evening without pushing each other etc. I remember I was an volunteer and so i used to leave class 15 mins early every evening and also used to come to class 15 minutes late every morning. that was such an awesome time...i did well in acads...played a lot of cricket, was a volunteer so got to bunk class, was in the best school ever and didnt really care abt chicks !!!

- Pavithra - we used to sit togeather in 5th grade and join erasers and sharpners in line and make a train out of it. She was a brilliant kid and as usual i was carefree abt studies
- Iqbal Ahmed - he was my kite buddy..we used to do a lot of stuff togeather like stealing other's food, flying kites,play hockey, oor suthaling (yes i started back then in school). I remember once when we made a lot full of manja and applied it to the thread and made some excellent manja thread. I used to absolutely love flying kites back then!!

Balalok M.H.S.S

G Balaji - Awesome guy...my best friend...i can write pages just abt hima nd the stuff we have done togeather...he currently works for TCS and also has a gf now which his parents know off. He might get engaged in less than a year. i must have roames almost all the major streets of madras with this guy. I guess in less than a week ill start doing it again!!
Ajay Kumar - nice guy and kinda senti too. we also went to college togeather. and i guess i hanged out with him countless number of times. we used to do combine studies for our exams.
Vijay - Nice guy works for TCS now. we went to the same college, he was in IT though!

hmmm like i mentioned i have a long list of gr88 friends and and currently running out of time to finish this so ill leave it at this for the time being and will continue tommorow. Please dont forget to check in tommorow....it will have my friends from SVCE and UK.
God my friends....they make me love my life!!

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Guess who's back????? back again....

been a looong time since i wrote...actually about a month..but in between my Indiana trip, Thanksgiving shopping, Pittsburg visit, thanksgiving shopping, arrangements for my internship, thanksgiving shopping there was little time to write. There are many things i have been wanting to write about though like doing 110 mph in a 2004 Ford Taurus, driving from cincinnati to Lexington (80 miles) in a record 50 minutes, driving for 4.5 hours (250 miles) at one stretch, shopping for over 100 bucks in one evening...all for clothes for myself etc.

Anyways just for the record (the entire town already seems to be knowing!!) I got an internship with Contech SPX and Ill be starting in January, around 24th. The plant i will primarily be working in is in Auburn, IN which is about 25 miles north of Fort Wayne. It looks like i will be living in Fort Wayne (either alone or with a roomie with a room for myself in any case)

I advanced my trip to India since i got the internship (cost me an extra 200 bucks!!) and so I am off U.S soil this saturday (12/4) and plan on getting back on 1/16/2005.
still got lotsa stuff to buy to take home. I am still not sure what I am going to buy Ani, my 1 year old nephew. When he was born I told my sister I am going totally pamper him and buy him all that he wants and so i need to go get him something...(I am a man of my word you see;))

Guess thats it for now...will write more often here after esp. since i am going to be India and most of the folks who read my blog happen to live in the United States..I shall totally absolutely burn it in to them...you didnt think i am going to let go an oppurtunity like this..did you???

Cya then!!

Friday, October 29, 2004

Folks at UK - FYI

Starbucks Cafe in UK clinic sells its delicious Pastries, Sandwiches and Salads for just a dollar on Friday evenings after 3pm. When I went there today i saw the steep price cut and treated myself a delicious creme filled chocolate muffin...ohh boyyyyy it was awesome..and that coming from a "not exactly chocolate fanatic" means something doesnt it?
Well i did the basic research and found out that since UK Clinic Starbucks is closed in the weekends...they try to sell the stuff off because they cant anyways sell it the following Monday...thus the price cut!
So just go treat yourself!!

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Things I want to have/do within 6 months after I get a Job!!

1) The new apple Ipod photo (40GB ofcourse!!)
2) 40" (or more) flat screen HDTV (ofcourse with cable connection...sun, sony, etc.,)
3) Lazy Boy Recliner with a built in massager..capable of reclining upto 180 degrees
4) Minolta Maxxum 4 SLR camera..along with wide angle(as less as it could possibly be to 28mm) and telescopic lens(100mm to as much as the camera could support)
5) Bose Home theater system with digital acoustica(5.1 or 2.1)
6) Build my own desktop...P4 or the then latest processor with the then Max. Clock speed...2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD Rewriter, 20" LCD Monitor, Joy Stick and Gaming Steering wheel, Sound Blaster Live sound card..connected to my Bose Home theater system, Radeon X800 Pro 256MB DDR AGP Graphics Card
7)Bring my Parents here to the United States of America!!!
Phew....pretty small list eh?

ending with a quote i liked...

"The great tragedy of Science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact."

P.S - check out
http://www.methodshop.com/mp3/articles/rejectedipods/index.shtml
I found it amusing!!


Monday, October 25, 2004

50 coolest websites!!

hey guys
time magazine has recently published a list of 50 coolest sites. SOme of the sites listed are really cool and worth checking out!!
check out
http://www.time.com/time/techtime/200406/news.html

Definitely worth a visit!!!

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Love at First sight!!

Those of you who thought you would never fall in love think again because i was certainly wrong..I guess its just about meeting the right..
Ok...i got this $10 gift coupon from Wildcat text books and I went there this afternoon to use the coupon and after about a half hour search around the shop trying to find something around $10 I went to this corner of the shop and wham!! there she was!! She looked stunningly beautiful, with all those breathtaking curves in her body...ohh boy she was smoking hot. Her reflection on the shining floor added to her incredible attractiveness. It took me about 30 milliseconds to make up my mind and I decided i wanted her and was gonna have her at any cost! and you know what...i did have her..i brought her straight to my bed and ahmmm ahmmm!! Now she is just beside my bed so i can look at her the first thing in the morning when i wake up.
Ohh yeah I did buy her...she was cheap for what she was worth..and now she's hanging in my wall..
well folks you will get nothing for guessing she's a 30 X 25 inch Ferrari F-40 poster ofcourse in the Ferrari red!

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Funny thing!

I recently came across something which i found extremely funny..It was what John Kerry said during one of his recent campaign speaches...
It goes like this
Kerry: "Recently a person was talking to President Bush and he told the person his usual story about Praying to God and Flu shots....I guess he was right...thats what one needs to do with him as the president...Pray to God to get a flu shot!!"

Aint that hilarious??

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Life's like that!!

There are different types of people in this world but the type I hate the most are the type who day in and day out make you feel like a total loser not that they do it intentionally (which actually makes you fell all the more lousy!) but they just unknowingly make you feel that way!! And the worst thing that can happen to a man is to have to interact and be in constant touch with that person. Nothing will shatter your ego more than that! Trust me...been there...done that!!

Some of these people might actually be very nice helpful people which again makes it all the more worse because it is easier to feel like killing an asshole..its almost like you are gonna kill him/her and s/he being an asshole makes you feel less guilty abt doing it when the actual reason is that s/he got something you think you should have!

I once used to wonder why when 2-3 ppl compete to become partners of a law firm, and eventually one becomes a partner the rest quit? the reason now is clear to me..Imagine there is no way you can work with a person who holds a position you think you should be in...and the worse thing is the person is gonna walk upto you and say.."I think we all deserve this...too bad you didnt make a partner"..yeah rite thats exactly when you feel like taking a 10" titanium knife and butchering that person!

This holds true for relationships too...there is no way you can get along with a person who is going around with the girl you once loved. No matter how hard you try you just cant get along.

The logic is simple..no matter how much of a loser I am and how far that is true, deep down all of us want to be winners and picturize ourselves as winners and so just cant stand a person who makes us feel the other way round.

Inflation hits me hard!!

damn them...inflation is taking its toll and ridiculous things are happening. like for example Starbucks has increased coffee prices by 10 cents. so a tall cup of regular coffee now costs $1.50, Grande $1.70 and Venti $1.80. This increase means an additional 50 cents expenditure for me every week which might not be much for many but for an already broke person like me is a big amount!
Donations are welcome...please address checks to "Venkatesh Gopalan"

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Secrets to success!!

These are some quotes i found in a website..i kinda liked them...I am sure you would too...i am posting these in my blog to read them when life reaches that rock bottom low point..when you feel like a total loser...read these then and i am sure they will raise your spirits!!

Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams In the long run, we only hit what we aim at

. .
SECRET 02 Life is what we make of it, always has been, always will be Life itself cannot give you joy, unless you will it. Life just gives you time and space, it’s up to you to fill it

. .
SECRET 03 Every day matters

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SECRET 04 Never, never, never, never give up
Make a success of living by seeing a goal and aiming for it unswervingly. You never really lose until you stop trying


SECRET 05 Champions believe in themselves even if no one else does In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can They can because they think they can


SECRET 06 To move the world, we must first move ourselves
Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right
It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves

. .
SECRET 07 You become a champion by fighting one more round. When things are tough, you fight one more round. When you get into a tight place and it seems like you can’t go on, hold on, for that’s just the place and time that the tide will turn

Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown

. .
SECRET 08 A mistake is only a mistake if you don’t learn from it
Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they are supposed to help you discover who you are. If I had to live my life over again, I’d dare to make more mistakes next time
. .
SECRET 09 You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. Challenges can be stepping stones or stumbling blocks. It’s just a matter of how you look at them. The purpose of life is to live it, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience

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SECRET 10 Always imitate the behavior of winners when you lose
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SECRET 11 Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

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SECRET 12 Winners make goals, losers make excuses

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SECRET 13 Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty, fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars. Get busy living or get busy dying Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. When you play, play hard. When you work, don’t play at all.
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SECRET 14 The key to achievement lies in being a “how” thinker, not an “if” thinker
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SECRET 15 The path of no risk is the biggest risk of all
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SECRET 16 It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before...to test you limits...to break through barriers Fortune favors the brave. To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.
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SECRET 17 Fix your eyes on perfection and you make almost everything speed towards it. Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone expects of you. Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. We only learn our limits by going beyond them

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SECRET 18 Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later

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SECRET 19 It takes time to be a success, but time is all it takes
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SECRET 20 Do the little things well now. In time great things will be presented to you waiting to be done. The beginnings of all things are small In creating, the only hard thing is to begin
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SECRET 22 Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb...that is where the fruit is.

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SECRET 21 How do you know so much about everything? was asked by a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was 'By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant.
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SECRET 23 Seize the day
Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work. Opportunities are seldom labeled


SECRET 24 Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do

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SECRET 25 Knowing how to win is the first step, we must also know how to make use of victories
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SECRET 26 Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock . If you gotta lose, lose ’em right Be faithful to that which exists within yourself

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SECRET 27 Promise, then perform

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SECRET 28 Only from the alliance of everyone working with and through each other, are great things born.
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SECRET 29 From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that never miss the opportunity to give encouragement. There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.

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SECRET 30 Early one morning, an old man was standing on the beach throwing back starfish that had washed ashore in the night. The man was weak and very old. Each throw took a little more energy out the man, but he kept on throwing. The beach was covered so you could hardly take a step and not find another dying starfish. A young man approached the shoreline and asked the old man what he was doing. He replied “I’m making a difference.” The young man looked around and laughed “A difference? There are probably a million starfish on this beach, you can’t possibly think you will make a difference. The old man picked up another starfish and said “It makes a difference to this one...” and threw back into the sea.

. .


May the road rise up to meet you;
May the wind always be at your back;
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
May the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
You’ve failed many times. Although you may not remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn’t you? Did you hit the ball the first
time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out alot. R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on. English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 715 home runs. Don’t worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. You don't have to have the lead if you have the courage to come from behind

To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don’t worry about the darkness, for that is when stars shine brightest

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory is a benediction.

Monday, October 04, 2004

The land of diversity!!

Despite how much I have hated my life and continue hating it ever since I came to the United States, and despite how much my life sucks rite now I cant sometimes help wondering how lucky I am to be able to goto a school in the United States..especially after the cross cultural workshop I just attended.

The cross cultural workshop was great fun especially because i got to meet ppl from diffrent parts of the world and the best thing was we all kinda got along amazingly well, evident from the fact that we were up till 2.30am Friday night (technically saturday morning) playing, singing..we even had a pillow fight!! We left the Natural Bridge at 3pm saturday afternoon with everybody else's contacts vowing we will soon meet up again and have a "reunion of the cross cultural workshop of fall 2004" and Oh..boy and I am not even going to start off about the trek we had up the mountain to the natural bridge on Friday evening.

Coming back to the point which is diversity, I got to meet people from Columbia, S.Korea, China, Malasia, Vietnam, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Ivory Coast, Ghana and ofcourse United States and India. In which other country in the world can this possibly happen? I think one of the reasons the United States is a superpower is because of the diversity i.e. because there is a huge population of people from diffrent parts of the world in the American workforce who bring their culture and diversity to their jobs, giving the workforce more options and methods to do the job.

In a nutshell what I like about the Unites States is that I dont have to lose my identity as an Indian or give up my values, religion...not even my food to live here. I can be myself and am sure i will still be accepted in the society. After all its the diffrences that remove boredom from our lives and bring in variety!!

Ok...rite now my boss from Poland wants me to help him out with some stuff so Ill continue l8r..

Thursday, September 23, 2004

For coffee lovers!

How to brew great coffee at Home??

There are 4 critical things to brewing great coffee. They are

1) Proportion

Accurate measurement is the most important step in brewing good coffee. As a general rule, use 10 grams (2 rounded tablespoons) of ground coffee for each 6 ounces of water (0.17 liters).

2) Grind

It is important to use the right grind for your coffee maker. The length of brewing cycle and type of machine will determine the approximate grind. Too fine a grind or too long a brew time will make the coffee bitterness due to over-extraction. Too coarse a grind or too less brew time produces watery coffee.

3) Water

Coffee flavour is greatly influenced by the water that is used. If tap water has any unpleasant taste, it will be transferred to the coffee, so use of filtered or purified cold water heated to just off boil(195-205 F/91-96 C) is recommended.

4) Freshness

For best results, make your coffee fresh each time you serve it. Coffee can be kept warm over a burner for about 20 minutes before the flavour is affected. The principle cause of flavor loss after brewing is continuous heating. Once brewed, coffee held in uncovered, heated containers (a glass pot on a warming burner like in most gas stations!!) will retain optimal freshness for no longer than 20 to 30 minutes. Continuous heat will break apart the organic materials, and the coffee will develop a sour or bitter taste with smoky overtones. Heat will evaporate the water, condensing and cooking the flavoring compounds that remain.

Thermal containers are a better way to hold coffee. They are insulated and airtight, preventing evaporation, and will retain the aromatic compounds of the coffee. Because the coffee is not subjected to continuous heating, the coffee can be held for as long as 45 minutes before flavor characteristics will begin to change and dissipate. If your brewing equipment cannot brew directly into a thermal pot, immediately transfer the brewed coffee to a thermal container.

How do I know this? well folks for the benefit perpetually broke coffee lovers like me who cant afford frequent visits to the nearby Starbucks cafe, i just tipped a starbucks waitress 10 bucks and convinced her to let me know the secret of starbucks coffee!! So all tipe mentioned above comes from the world's best coffee makers!!

As for me I just finished a grande cup of Starbucks coffee - Guatemala blend! Blew a freaking $11.60 hole in my wallet (Including the $10 tip to the waitress!!)

to know more about history of coffee goto
http://www.starbucks.com/ourcoffees/coffee_edu2.asp?category%5Fname=History+of+Coffee

To know more about coffee growing regions goto
http://www.starbucks.com/ourcoffees/coffee_edu4.asp?category%5Fname=Growing+Regions

And also to know more about brewing great coffee you could visit
http://www.virtualcoffee.com

Hope this helps...signing off then!!

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

-feeling sick, anxious, tired, bored and totally disinterested with life right now
-wanna break away from routine and set out to explore the world.
-want to spend time lying in solitude under the sun on a virgin beach with shallow water, warm breeze, cold drink and doze off to sleep...........
these are the things i feel like doing right now!!



Lets do it!!

whats is with Indian Women and sex?

Recently I was talking to a girl and casually mentioned something about sex and guess what happened? she looked at me like i was from Mars or some entirely diffrent planet. Fortunately she wasnt very close to me cause if she was she would have probably forced me to go on my knees and beg to the great lord for mercy!

I mean seriuosly dont understand this! do most women dont know about sex or just act ignorant about it or do they think it turns men on if they act ignorant?

We are in a world where it is an accepted fact that "even the queen has 2 legs" then why this taboo? It is understandable to feel uncomfortable talking abt sex to parents but to friends i think should be totally fine. It is probably because of this ignorance or the attitude to not discuss abt it that the number of sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in India. On one side there is westernization and sexual liberation happening is most major cities in India and on the other side there is this attitude soo many ppl have, both put togeather i think is leading to an environment where ppl do have sex but are too shy/shameful to admit it!

Root cause analysis
From the knowledge I have of having interacted with Americans (of approximately my age) whom we can consider much more sexually liberated than us, I understand that they not only feel comfortable talking about sex but also are not ashamed to say "they have done it". So why are Indians shy to admit it?

The logical answer to that question would be that our Indian society in general does not accept leave alone appreciate pre-marital sex. However here in the United States sex is accepted as a part of life. married or not a girl and a guy when in a relationship are considered to have sex. period. no cuss no fuss!! A girl and a guy are still expected to be "chaste" during their wedding. Its been that way in India ever since the instituition called marriage was found! I am not sure when that was but sometime before Christ was born would be a good guess!
Frankly speaking it was that way in the United States too until the last few decades.

So why is that the people in the United states changed their attitudes about sex but where as other parts of the world did not? but before we get into i was wondering Men and Women have come a long way from the time of the early man to the current situation. So it is reasonable to assume that everything men and Women do has a reason. so why is it that there evolved a "no pre-marital sex" rule?

One reason i could think of is that in the old times before contraceptives were invented/discovered it would almost be impossible to have sex with multiple partners as the chances of getting a woman pregnant was very high. It would also be difficult to say who fathered a child esp. since a new born child needed considerable care and protection as diseases were widespread and mortality rates were high. Moreover because of the seemingly different roles men and women had to play in everyday lives they were physically separated for most part of the time hence it made it almost impossible for the either sexes to meet and socialize. Another reason valid particularly for people in India is the existence of child marriage where children were married when they were less than 10. so basically the had sex when they were old enough to know what it is!

But what happened? things changed (atleast in the west) where as contraception was discovered and pppl changed their attitudes abt sex and understood that it was nothing more than a physiological need of a Human Being.

Things didnt change much in India though where still age old customs was followed How can it be? sex is the need of a prefectly normal human being. Its altogeather natural to feel an attraction for a person. how can anything that contradicts laws of nature ever be right? what about bachelors and spinsters? are they supposed to die as a virgin? Even scientifically sex brings about a lot of harmones which are good for both the body and the mind. If something is good for you why would you want to refrain from it just because of ancient customs which dont make any sense anymore?
I am not for adultery or dishonesty in a relationship. I do certainly feel that when one is in a relationship you have to be totally committed to it. What I am for is to make sexual relationship between couple acceptable independent of their marital status!!

So my advice to fellow Indians....throw out the chastity belts you have in your minds and go out and have fun..but be sure to be safe!!


Friday, September 17, 2004

Life's (should be) like that!!

Sitting beneath the sun, on this beautiful summer day, beside lake Zurich I was enjoying the cup of coffee along with the double chocolate mint brownies. Tired of shopping in the Bahnhofstrasse in the shops of Chanel, Hermes etc., it just felt like being in heaven at the Sprungli Café just overlooking the Lake at the end of a 2km stretch of shops of the Bahnhofstrasse. The coffee served was delicious just the kind of coffee i liked..strong and full of flavour and aroma and whats best you get a bottomless cup of coffee!

I was looking at what i had just bought..50ml of Eternity by CK, a light blue Linen shirt and black shades by Giorgio Armani, a black pure wool suit and crocodile leather wallet by Hugo Boss etc., when the hot looking waitress with never ending shiny long legs, wearing a light brown skirt, well above her knees (obviously!!) and a cleavage showing low neckline white "lacy" cotton top asked me if i wanted some more coffee. i was about to begin a conversation with her when something more sexy appeared on the road in the background, a marlboro red 612 Scaglietti (for the benefit of those who dont know..its Ferrari's latest sports car, V12 which goes from 0-60 mph in less than 4 seconds). I quickly asked the waitress to fill my cup without taking my eyes off the 612 which quickly zipped past the street out of my view. I looked at the waitress again, she was serving coffee to a couple sitting to my right, she really didnt look that attractive especially after looking at the 612 and decided she was not worth asking out!!

I then focussed my attention to the work at hand, the double chocolate mint brownie. It was delicious and had a rich chocolate topping with some mint filling. After finishing the brownie i devoured some more junk food till i could eat no more. I then just streched and looked at the world pass by me. God this was heaven! At the moment it felt like i had everything one could ask for, gr88 job, money, power, bachelor life..god this is heaven on earth!
"beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep beep beep beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep beep beep beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep beep beep" rang the alarm as I got up on a Monday morning sighing! Damn i wish i atleast had dreams like this more often!!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

My schedule!

Folks,
this has more or less been my schedule for the past 3 weeks...I am getting bored and tired of it but just dont see how to change it. After all said and done...i have to agree I am after all a lazy guy!
9.00 am - Wakeup
9.30 am - Have Breakfast - (Coffee and Waffles...mostly)
10.00 am - Take a shower..get ready to goto office
11.00 am - arrive in office..work, check mails etc.
5.00 pm - go back home..if there is no other work to be done and by work i dont necessarily mean value added office work!
5.30-6.30 pm - Everybody Loves Raymond
6.30-7.30 - Seinfield...mostly else do some reading
7.30-9.00 - either cook or read something...The Seven Minutes...one of the most lousiest books i have read to date...dunno why i am still reading it!!
9.00 - Dinner
10.00 pm-1.00am - depends i generally either watch TV, or a movie or goto Youngs..i do almost anything other than sleeping.
1.00am - time for probably my 4th or 5th coffee for the day..have coffee do some reading, eating, talking etc.,
2.00-2.30am - time to goto sleep..thinking i am not going to waste tommorow and will do something constructive and also will get up at 8.30 am...
Tommorow never dies!!

Thursday, September 09, 2004

The right choice??

Yesterday i was flabbergasted when i heard "The dick" (VP, USA) say :-
"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice," Mr. Cheney told a crowd of 350 people in Des Moines, "because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."
I mean what the f$&@..first they screw up and do not take any action the 8 months preceding the 911 attacks despite repeated warnings from the CIA and the FBI and several other leads indicating that Al-qaida was planning to attack a large attack in US soil..then they attack Afganisthan and Iraq..which is altogeather a diffrent story i am not going to even get into..but what astonishes me the most is that Bu$h and "the Dick" are actually running for re-election and campaigning, asking ppl to vote for them for the way they handled the country after 911?? gosh...if they hadnt screwed up there would have been no 911 at all!! the way Bu$h is learning nursery rhymes when the country he supposedly leads is under attack(as shown in farenheit 911 and also "the rise and fall of the WTC, an american icon" in the History channel) is something I will never forget..
This is not to say Kerry is a great leader...but me like many others beleive in "anybody but Bu$h". I wonder what Bu$h has done in 4 years for the economy, Jobs, Helth care...or what he plans to do if re-elected. I think it is important to address these issues..i till date havent heard Bu$h talk about trying to reduce health care costs or increase the jobs...
"God bless America...if Bu$h gets re-elected God will be the only one who might be able to do something"
It was interesting to read what one blogger had written abt "the Dick":-

I think Cheney's comment was spot-on. Look at what he said:

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice," Mr. Cheney told a crowd of 350 people in Des Moines, "because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

"We" made the wrong choice four years ago, and we were hit hard. Let's hope we get it right this time.