Punch the keys

Two months of notice period have passed, and I arrive at the last day in office. Like most people, I too am bad with goodbyes. I want to leave with words that would leave behind some portion of my experiences, but know that whatever I say would not do justice to it. There would always be the few people, who made my stay great, that I would not be able to say bye to properly. But then it is my hope that I would definitely be keeping in touch with them in the future. So in that sense, it is not goodbye but until the next time! For a long time I was wondering what I would say. Goodbye in itself is sufficient, but feels bland to me. I mean, in this age of digital and social media, we could always keep in touch. Most of you would either be already on my Facebook or Google+ or LinkedIn list right? So it is utmost ease to keep in touch in the future. But I still have the nags to put in more words, possibly because I am getting older. I hear that folks talk more as they age. And given the...

How is it possible to mess up coffee? I can understand, messing up tea. But how can someone mess up making coffee. I did not think this was possible. But, of late, I have been advicing collegues visiting my end of the work floor to avoid coffee from our pantry. The reason? It sucks! Absolutely sucks! The first time I tried it, and found it bad, I only attributed it to the possibility that the milk was to blame for it. Nay! Not just a possibility. I declared that the milk was the culprit. Definitely the milk. The next day, I was not so sure! But then I reasoned that it has to be. How can someone mess up coffee? It was not possible I say! Even though I noticed that it was a new guy at the pantry making the coffee I just could not reason that it could be the person messing up. Yes, we are pampered a bit. There is a guy, who is stationed at the pantry at our section of the company floor, whose sole duty seems to be to make sure that there is a steady flow of tea, coffee, badam m...

Recently my friend told me that he never knew so many things were made in Belgium. He had come back from an official trip to Belgium and, ever since his return to India, had been seeing stuff that were marked "Made in Belgium". Have you come across this kind of experience too? I know I have. When my wife and I were expecting our first child, we started to observe pregnant woman. I mean wherever we went, we would encounter at least a couple of them. Be it near the office, shops, restaurants.. It was crazy and funny at the same time. I have been trying to find if there was some word to describe such a concept. Even though I searched some, nothing comes across that fits well. Very strange how the senses zoom in on the familiar. Like for me, of late, I have been quick to catch any FLS that is part of words. Especially when they are in capitals. For example, I was quick to catch the FLS on the sugar packet on my desk even though it were upside down. I had not noticed it earl...

Its a new year... not even a day old, this year now..    But the clock will tick on this one too, just like it did on the previous ones... Only 366 days this one has to pass away..    yes, look at the bright side, one day extra this year.  People rejoice and are all excited all over the globe.    Merrily chanting away the wishes and cries happiness at the newness of the year. No one knows when the new year turns to old.   Is it just the next day that the "new" year becomes a regular year? Or does it last longer.

Recently I have found myself doing at least one online transaction every day. No, I am not exaggerating at all! I travel between Coimbatore and Ernakulam on weekends and that requires two ticket purchases. Thanks to even bus booking being online, I just log on to purchase the tickets. But in the past couple of weeks or more, I have not only been buying tickets online. I have been paying my taxes (yes multiple), paying bills(yes lots of them), buying stuff from books to a mobile. Everything is online! Isn't that cool. I love it because I get it delivered at the address I want. The only thorn is when the bank decides to play cranky. It gets really frustrating like yesterday when I had to try four times before I could finally book my seat on the bus. The problem is that since site blocks the seat for 30 mins or more so that there are no double bookings. But since my bank failed to complete the transaction, I would need to wait for about 30 mins to book the same seat. Finally afte...

I read this great news about the Medical Council of India deciding to include topics of medical professionalism such as Ethics etc in the course curriculum. This is a welcome move, given the number of cases that come up in the news paper about malpractices in the medical profession. I would say all professional courses should have such kind of topics taught. Although it is definitely up to each individual to practice what they have learned, either in school or in their own homes, it does not help that these topics are totally avoided in the mainstream of education. Topics on ethics, time management, stress management are topics which would be helpful in any professional's life. As it is today, these topics are all swept under the carpet. Is it a cultural thing? Or is India just late into creating genuine professionals via its education system? Whatever it be, we must get started somewhere. I am afraid very few rotten scoundrels are enough to spoil a majority of the nice folks ...

One of my favorite on screen characters is that of Captain Jack Sparrow essayed by Johnny Depp. He is such a natural at it that you don't see the actor at all in the movie. Anyways, today he was in the news for having dropped by at a school near the place where he was shooting. The story has it that he went to the school because he had received a letter from a girl asking his(Captain Jack's) help in a mutiny! And voila, he appears at school in full costume. Thats one wish granted :) More about it at -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11498980  

Yessss... I am back online at home. It has been now 4 weeks since I was waiting, thanks to the professionalism of Airtel Broadband Coimbatore! The Airtel folks still do not have any idea when they can give me a connection!! So, I decided to contact a local operator, who's advertisement I saw hung up on the electricity post on the road leading to my apartment gate. That was on 11th may at 7:00 pm that I called. The guy on the other end took down my number and request for details and promised to have one from his sales team contact me. Within 10 mins I got a call back and was given some preliminary information on some of the plans. The guy who contacted me said he could reach my house in 15 mins if that was ok. I was only happy to! They promised that I would have the connection in 48 hours and they kept their word. Now I wonder how much time the landline from airtel is going to take. Thanks to mobiles, I can now afford to wait. But internet was something that I really wanted at h...

Have you noticed how the new generation is able to pick up the available technology like they were born with the know how? I have always wondered at my daughter being able to deftly weld the mouse, while I remember struggling to get the co-ordination going when I started off. I remember my father's comments on the same topic when I was a kid. I had heard him saying that he was struck by how I was so quickly able to pick up the operations of the TV, VCR or the lift, whereas he has some reservations. He has all but given up operating the mobile and constantly asks my mom to handle the mobile :) Am I getting old? Or is it that now that I am mature I hesitate thinking that I may damage the costly stuff? Whatever it may be, it is a wonder how quickly and naturally my daughter, her cousins and their generation has absorbed the usage of all the technology around them. Be it computers, mobiles, gaming console any thing at all. A few minutes tinkering with the stuff and they are ex...

Sometimes we get carried away by whatever we are doing or what circumstances we are in that we assume that all the people in the world are in that very state of mind. We forget that circumstances and the associated choices are different for each and every person. As I write this piece, I am pulled into thinking about the darker shade of life that exists in the world. But for my own moods sake, I will ignore that for contemplation at a later time. The reason for this line of thought, is my excitement in finding the various tools and possibilities in the internet era. I was so immersed in all the stuff around that I felt everyone was in the same page. It sure helped when I was able to add a comment on my friends facebook wall and pat, get a reply. Or when I would forget my password for an application, just click on the “forgot password” link and had the password sent into my mailbox in under a minute! Or have help or tutorials found for problems I was stuck with within 10 minutes. Oh t...

This weekend has been the last of a set of long weekends.  We had off days either on a monday or a friday since end of September. I was called in or had some pending work in all of the other weekends and so it these weekends were not very great for me. As a matter of fact, I was cribbing a lot since I was not getting to enjoy the days "off". So I decided that this was going to be the one I enjoyed. Thankfully, I was to spend only about 3 hours in office. All the rest of the time I had to myself and family. To finish off the weekend, my family decided that we would go off on an outing. The unanimous destination being the panambur beach at Mangalore. My elder daughter loves to play in water. Be it beach or the swimming pool, the touch part is to get her out :) The beach was relatively free when we entered in and got ourselves settled. People started to move in a bit later, but still the crowd was not as much as it was on our earlier visits. Here are some photos that we ...

It is getting hot by the day here. I am going out to get fish. Nope not to buy raw fish or to catch fish ;) but to buy fish fry from narayana's hotel. This is an old joint in mangalore which is very famous for its fried fish. Even posh hotels are said to have this item on their menu. I have heard that even the Taj at mangalore has it. And the menu item is not prepared the narayana way. Instead, these hotels buy it from Narayana's and sell at a higher rate. Why not go to Narayana's and have it? Well, i mentioned that the place was old, didn't i? I should also add that it is a place which may not suit the delicate tastes of a posh audience. It is situated near the harbour and has the fisheries smell till the good old olfactory adaptation does not kick in. Also, the place even though so famous, is no more than a shack, serving rice and fish. Talk about specialization! Well I am travelling in an auto so got some time to tap in these words. Live in action. ;) While try...

Today spent a lot of time, about 16 hrs and more, on going through the internet and exploring social networking. Phew! There are so many sites and applications that have come up that contribute to this phenomenon called social networking. Just to name a few, MySpace , Orkut , Hi5 , Facebook , Friendster , LinkedIn , Twitter ...... And the list goes on. Have a look at List of social networking websites to get an idea of the HUGE number of sites that are available and the different categories they cater to. It is so easy to get lost among the plethora of web sites and applications. Every now and then, I get a mail from an acquaintance, inviting me to this new cool site that he or she has created an account on and which will help us keep in touch with each other. Of this list here are My Favs: LinkedIn - Caters to professional connections. Facebook and Orkut - My friends are spread across these two networking sites. Twitter - lets me broadcast myself to all ;) I never used...

A very nice article on how even pilgrimages are not given their due respect. May God give these "leaders" wisdom and understanding. The Hindu : Open Page : Haj hijacked

I have a collection of movies that I don't mind watching when I am bored. Let me try to recall some of the movies that I don't mind watching again and again. There are so many of them and I whenever I am bored, I love to watch scenes of these movies. Kung Fu Panda - I love this movie. There are so many wise words this movie has especially the comments that the wise master oogway makes. Oh just writing about it makes me want to watch it again. "Quit, don't quit. Noodles, don't noodles" Ocean's Series - The style with which this movie has been taken is amazing. So many actors and characters that are to be portrayed. There are Bourne Series - These are an awesome set of movies. I love to watch action/spy movies but this series gives it a real good angle and touch. The script has deviated from the book, but is very very well written to make it a good movie watch. Shrek 1 - The sequels of the Shrek series are not so great. The first was the best a...

There is an explosion of cameras. What with all the mobile phones having these built in. All around, even if it is shopping malls, theaters, roads anywhere you go you see camera's clicking :) I remember a time when people with camera were much sought after in school or college trips and functions. Now a days its video clips and 5 MB minimum camera with anyone around. Looking for mobiles without camera? Best of luck! There are so few mobiles (other than of course the base models) that come without camera. Look for a phone without cam but with mp3 feature and you know what I am taking of. There was only M600 a year back which was of this category. I don't see any models coming up too. It just is not business sense I guess when people are looking out for mobiles with higher MB camera's. One more reason, to keep your smile on always. Don't know which camera is clicking you.

It has been four years and more since I became a father. Along the way there are so many memories that I thought I would never forget. As we get busy with our daily lives, these memories are shelved somewhere at the back of my mind. It was the next time that I became a parent, and went through a Déjà vu that all those shelved memories come back. I am so thankful to God to having blessed me with my family. I was just going though some of my older photos and realized yet again that time does fly.

WOW! I had been trying to use Ubuntu or some version of Linux for some time now and have not been able to make the switch. And now, for the past few weeks, I have been running on Ubuntu at home. How did it happen? A lightening strike! No, No quite literally a lightening strike. Let me explain. Like many homes now days, we too, have a desktop and laptop. Both were running on Windows XP. A couple of months back, the performance of our laptop started to degradem and I thought it was time for a re-install. So I started off with the Windows installation, which I must say is pretty straightforward. Well, straight forward, provided the CD/DVD drive works. As in my case, the installation stopped half way through as the CD could not be read. This left me in a lurch. I now had a laptop but no OS installed on it. The windows re-install had aborted in the middle which left the system unusable. The alternatives at this point were to Contact the support center. Replace the DVD drive Try and bo...

I went with my family to shop in Big Bazaar today. We tend to avoid Big Bazaar because of the crowd and ambiance. Whats wrong with the ambiance? Well ! When you think of it, nothing unexpected. You see they make it very clear in the name itself that you should be expecting a bazaar. It is really noisy and crowded. Not just the typical Indian style bazaar. Here they use microphones to rant out a steady flow of announcements/offers. And that too not just one announcement at a time. There are multiple people who would be making the announcements. So you can imagine the amount of noise. Couple that with the chitchat and discussions of the shoppers, the background music and the cyclic advertisements on the television sets hung up from the ceilings.... The first time I had the "Big Bazaar" experience was at Hyderabad. There were people shouting out the offers using megaphones. My wife, my sister-in-law, my kid all of us were shaky after the crowded and noisy experience. We found th...

When I moved to Mangalore, I looked for an apartment which was decent and had a reserved parking space. Yes, I specifically looked for reserved parking. I did not want to go around looking for parking space after a hard days work. And I got just such an apartment. However, recently I have been having quite a bit of trouble with the car parking at my apartment. Even though the parking is reserved for me, I have been finding some other car parked at my space. Why? It seems that some owners did not pay up for separate car parking and hence do not have reserved parking. So they just park it at any place they want. They can see that it is marked for use by another flat number, however this does not bother them. They, and their guests, just feels free to park where ever the heck they want! Why do people just think "me! me! me!"? Can they not be considerate enough to think about others? Will we not change? I find very few incidents where I find someone acting considerately to their ...