Lance Amstrong.. one of the most popular sporting icons in history...

why am I so late in saying three cheers to Lance Amstrong, the winner of Le Tour De France, his seventh title in a row... he sure is one of the most famous icons in the history of sports.. could not help posting couple of his pics..:-)

Lance... a cool pic!

Lance... Seventh straight title @Tour De France!

Terrorism in the new world!!

i am amazed at the increasing no. of terrorist activities the world over, almost all culminating in casualties and endless sufferings, leaving behind a plethora of questions unanswered.. after 9/11, it was 7/7 and going by the irrational deeds of terrorist outfits, we would be left without any choice of euphemistic names for such incidence in the near future..

it doesn't really require an academician's clear cut thought process to see that bomb blasts, explosions, shootings, kidnappings for ransom and hostage dramas are no means for a just solution to the cause they are fighting for.. they merely help to add to the list of victims! and the surprising fact is that, most of the suicide bombers, or those who are carriers in any other way, do not really understand why they do it in the first place..

unless people the world over learn to love each other with compassion, empathy and a deep respect for human rights, it is yet another name calling..

so long
roy

Parting blues!!!!

i have started counting the days with a cant-express-in-words attitude.. come next saturday, my wife would have left trivandrum to join State Bank of India at Bangalore.. she is flying to Lucknow on the 2nd to attend the month long training at SBI Staff college.. back again to bangalore, this time with a definite locale for posting.. it feels really good when you think about the damn good career she has landed up on.. it is tough 9 years after college, with a family to care for.. you really need enormous amount of energy, patience and a never-say-die attitude to hit big at this stage.. it is painful when you leave your 2 year old in the visiting room and the elder one left alone in the bed room to complete that piece of find-the-way for mickey mouse game.. it hurts to part the little one when you leave for class at 9:00AM in the morning.. and you are not going to be back until after 4:00PM.. it took about a year to fulfil her career dreams...

looking at the brighter side of life, her getting employed is exciting.. it's a dream come true... papa is proud indeed..and so are the little ones:-)

on the not-so-brighter side, it's tough for papa and the kids to leave without their mom, albeit for a few moths (Hopefully..so..).. i know, i would miss her more than anything else in this world..i was always late from work.. missed the house-hold commitments quite often, of course due to occupational hazards... had to say not-at-the-moment to her numerous requests for dining out or for taking the kids out to the beach... and there was those small fights, and our share of arguments...:-).. but then, the mere feeling that she was there for me, everytime, was enough to get me going...

it was a powerful hand wielding the wheel..you just sit back and relax, taking everything else for granted.. never bothering about those background chores happening!! doing laundry, washing dishes, sending the elder one to school, without ever missing the school bus, reminding about dwindling stock of vegetables, fish and grocery... hope papa would survive the challenging tasks ahead!!

on a concluding note... life sure rocks.. after all, parting is such a sweet sorrow, especially when it is for a good cause...

so long
roy

Celebacy! Not out of choice.....

i was quite amazed at this news snippet in the morning newspaper.. china's ever increasing gender disparity is a grave concern for the people and for the policy makers alike.. increasing number of males looking for female partners!!! i have heard of people choosing a celebate's life out of choice.. but this is beyond my imagination.. you gonna choose a single's life style just because there are not enough girls... LoL...

this has been atributed to a penchant for the boy child... i would imagine, in any a patriarchal society, girl child is treated with disdain... unless people change their attitudes & beleives in the age old ethos, nothing is gonna change... all you see would be celebates ruling the state..?

BTW, what would you call such a government? any takers...?

so long
roy

Induction programmes and the like..

the week just passed has been hectic in more ways than one... we had a bunch of youngsters joined our team on the 11th of july... never did see such a 'huge' recruitment drive in the past.. the guys and gals are awesome though... i am amazed at their enthu to learn new stuff.. looks quite natural when you are just outa college and all excited to conquer the corporate world.. i could not help recollecting the days when me too was a novice in a totally new environment..fresh out of college... new people, new rules, and an altogether new agenda for life.. LoL... looking back, all i see is the beauty of those days, when i joined as a graduate engineer trainee with one of the leading govt. of india r&d organization in the city.. amazingly friendly people... amazing work culture.. and it was with a sense of pride and joy that i left the place five+ years later.. my first love.. it sure did rock!!

three cheers there!!

so long
roy

Random notes again..

it has been a while i blogged anything.. was literally out of touch with fellow bloggers.. i saw myself back in action this morning.. visited all the blogs in my roll.. simba, atta girl, dave, suhas, zarine, anil, future mba girl, the list is endless.. and am back to mine to give u an update as to whats happening with me..

i had posted elsewhere about deepthy's selection in State Bank of India as an Officer.. the posting order has come and i see that she has been assigned to Bangalore circle.. me, with my little ones, waiting for those four years of 'away from family all alone' period.. i would imagine her spending about 4 years in Bangalore itself before the slimmest chance of heading for a posting in the home turf.. it is painful to be away, especially for her.. i would be around with the kids, barring the times when i spend at office.. for her it would be tough.. tough office hours, hectic schedules, and to boot, all alone at a never-been-there city...

on the brighter side, getting into SBI as an officer is an achievement in itself, for her and for the family.. it adds a secure feeling to life per se...

looking ahead, i would see papa and kids heading to bangalore in every three days' off.. i need to get a crash course on managing two-to-four year olds in a train, all alone!!! tough times ahead.. am sure it brings in more joy and excitement than the parting.. in the end, it is the feeling of well being that counts..

so long
roy

MNCs-Sponsoring-Indian-Acads...

couple of days ago, i came across yet another MNCs-Sponsoring-Indian-Acads stuff... P&G is 'investing heavily' in the department of chemical engineering at IISc Bangalore.. dubbed corporate sponsorship, i would like to peel of the euphemism and address the facts.. thinking along the funding lines, this is something to brag about.. on the other side, it is saddening to see indian brains developing emerging tech for MNCs right inside Indian Institues of repute... and the MNCs sell out their products in the indian market itself, reaping huge profits..

what if our institutions of higher education and research do work with local industries, developing technologies and taking up research work for them? this calls for only a slight change in attitude at either ends, academia and industry... moi waiting to see something hapening on this lines...

so long
roy

Street kids show the way...

early this morning, i was on my way back from my regular work out session at palayam.. the steet was kinda deserted due to the hartal declared by a political party.. the pavements opposite the church was abuzz with activities.. grownups squatting on the naked floor, brushing aside the rigors of the bygone day... old men and women still dozing off under the comfort of those worn out rags.. kids dotting all over the place playing a game of push-n-pull...

i could not ignore a little boy of about 8 years crossing the road with a small vadai in one hand and a glass of piping hot tea in the other.. a litte girl, she should be around 4 i guess, was running frantically towards the boy, apparently to get a bite from the vadai.. the boy took a quick small bite and handed over the rest to the little girl.. she grabbed the peice and was about to run back to her mother.. a small piece of rock blocked her way and was thrown off-foot..her face hit the ground, her little hands were buried in a pool of dirt.. the boy threw away the glass of tea and ran to his litlle sister.. he grabbed her up in his arms and kissed her cheeks left and right.. the little girl was no more crying.. instead, i could see her smiles amid tears rolling down her cheeks, still holding the piece of vadai in one hand and her drooping skirt in the other...

it was an amazing and sweet scene of love and affection.. of caring and intimacy...the selfless brother sacrificed his morning meal, i am sure it was going to be his sole meal for the day, for his little sister.. a street smart example of love and caring unlimited....

back home i told this anecdote to my daughter.. and she just ran to her little brother and kissed his cheeks.. papa likes to cherish those ephemeral moments of joy for ever!!

tell this anecdote to all the kids you come across and am sure they will learn the value of love and caring.. and their world will definitely be a better place than ours!!

so long
roy

Life is beautiful..

more of a personal note, i have been thinking about writing a few lines about my wife's long standing desire, enthusiasm and assiduous struggle to get into State Bank of India (SBI), the largest public sector bank in India and the World's largest employer in the banking segment... i would cherish the news that she made it into the final list of candidates selected for the prestigious position of Probationary Officer.. she is all excited- and so are me and the little ones-and the euphoria still hangs in the air... all around our little kingdom..

couple of months would see her taking up a career in banking- am not sure where.. it doesnt really matter either.. what matters most is the culmination of all her efforts and hardwork into a dream career.. it was tough for a housewife, with two kids and a software pro husband, to prepare constantly for one of the toughest competitive examinations in india and emerge victorious.... all i see is her tenacity and never-say-die attitude in achieving what she wanted and what she had been dreaming of since graduation... and am sure the kids have played their own roles in sharing this victory... spending times with their toys while mom struggled with those basic high school maths... early to bed listening to papa's bed time stories while mom browsed through the day's newspaper, without missing a single news item...

yes, this indeed is a victory well deserved.. but not without the blessings of the omni-potent powers up the heavens...

blessed are the kids, excited is their papa...euphoric is their mom...

so long
roy

The tagging game..

came across this interesting game from fellow bloggers.. especially simba and attagirl..

the crux is to write about your recent reads, five or so, and then tag five of your fellow bloggers.. they are supposed to write about their recent reads and tag five others.. the game triggers a chain reaction..

i am interested because:

1. it gives you an idea as to what others are reading...
2. you kinda figure out what books you aughta read, from others' reviews..
3. again, you could avoid no nos outright...
4. and yes, it helps to keep your blog rolling..

nobody has tagged me as yet, so i would be writing as an untagged blogger... LoL..
of late, am trying to revive my once thriving reading habbit...i wouldn't reach the figure five, but you could excuse me for that..

currently, i am enjoying Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies.. an amazing collection of short stories.. i would definitely recommend this book, if you are the kinda reader looking for short stories with a difference..

and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller would make a wonderful reading am sure.. sujatha has already given an articulate review on her blog..let me go finish the book...

so long..
roy

Of driving and dreams.....

one of my fellow bloggers wrote about the increasing no. of road accidents these days...i don't want to delve into those statistical details... but would love to drive home
the point that it hurts.. and it leaves behind unfathomable pain and trauma to the loved ones..

a mother, who is under-educated, is all left to fend for her now orphaned family..kids who are forced to fend for themselves or dependent upon the unconcerned relatives..
and a father who stares into the darkness having lost his wife and children..i know, going by this, you would come across numerous such tragic facets of road accidents..

there is no point cursing the govt for the lack of well lit and 'pit free' roads... there is absolutely no point blaming the PWD or DoT for digging up the walk ways and leaving them as open as a bare sky.. if you are a driver, you are responsible for hundreds of lives on the roads.. you and your fellow roadies.. and there is no point cribbing about factors totally out of your control..

the moment you are behind the wheel, think about your famiy, and with equal importance, think about the families of your fellow drivers on the roads... and of those pedestrians on the walk ways.. your loved ones are looking forward to meeting you back home... your wife waiting to share the trivia happened at her work place that day.. your little ones anxiously waiting for a pack of chocolates... your mom waiting for that placebo which would cure all her ailments...

and keep your eyes wide open, you would see countless faces, sharing the same feelings, all around!!

if you are reading this, take care while driving.. obey the traffic rules...
you are dear to many...dont fail to see the beauty of their dreams..drive carefully; you should spend those joyous moments with your family all day, every day...

cheers...
roy

IIM B or XLRI??

well.. been thinking about this for a while.. i am on my way to an MBA from a leading B School in India, without quitting my job.. XLRI was a good option, considering its standing in the B School rankings, its strong alumni base, wonderful faculty and best of all, the campus component.. i was excited and was packing up my bags to chennai to attend their interview.. but the moment i noticed IIM B's announcement of their general Management Programme, there was no second thought.. B is going to be the place where I do my MBA... a dream degree from a dream school... phew!!! am not hiding myself from the academic rigor and grind... it would be tough to survive the B School game..

but.. dont you think it becomes a lot easier, when all you see ahead is the beauty of your dream and nothing else?? wouldn't it be a lot easier when you think about those wonderful days you gonna spend at B campus??? at the start of the programme and while summing up...??

wouldn't it be a lot easier when you think about the very strong alumni base of B and the wonderful fraternity you are going to be associated with?? affirmative indeed... so, it is gonna be B, unless destiny brings me something else..... and July would come with the final list of candidates selected for the programme.... till then, i keep counting the days, keep my fingers crossed....

wish me good luck pals...

so long
roy

Random notes..

at times, i just sit back and contemplate.. it is fascinating to visualize your short life in such short frames, which give it an animated fervour!

about my education, my career, my loved ones.. the last, sans everything else, make my life complete and sweet!

looking back, i wonder why would i ever want to pursue a techie's career?? and that too in the clique circle of the so called nerds?? why didn't i say a frank yes to a career with the print media, which seemed lucrative and promising?

may be because i was intimidated by the sheer load of responsibilities in the press? where everything you think, speak, and write go noticed the world over? and you get rated by what you write rather than your integrity and morals?

well, for an ardent student, who loved poetry, loved to read everything from PG Wodehouse to Sidney Sheldon to Neruda, a career with the print media should have been a natural choice.. but life is so unpredictable that you, at times, end up in the wrong street...and there you see the compromise between your passion and the bread winner... hehe..

beleive me, am not that cribbin' type you come across in everyday life...

yesterday, i was lying on my bed, looking up at the ceiling.. trying to spot the happiest moments in my life.. and within moments, i said voila....

it is the time when i read out those enid blyton bed time stories to my little bundles of joy, who keep clamouring for more until they are fast asleep...

it is the time when i sip a hot cup of cofee with my wife, discussing all those trivias in our life...

it is the time when i drive my daughter to school, listening to her non-stop conversations, about her friends at school, her class teacher who gifted a small red crayon to her, her new boy friend who said a cheery hello, her new found passion for free hand sketching, and all about those numerous cartoon characters that she watch on CN...

it is the time when i call my mom and say sorry for not being able to call her so often...

it is the time when i say my prayers to God, thanking him for His numerous blessings that make my life full!

so long
roy

Packers and Movers...

yup..u guessed it right...we just moved outta our old office.. it was kinda getting stagnant in terms of space, in terms of coziness and in terms of look n feel... the building was in a low profile residential area.. sans the silence and homely ambience, it was kinda lacking professionalism, failing to accommodate an increasing head count.. and that led us to this setup, a three storied building beside a main street.. i would not say i was thrown offback by the look of it.. but would vouch for the cool ambience, spacious work spaces, reception, office and cool cofee hangouts.. we occupy the first floor..while writing this, i am looking out to the thick coconut grooves,dancing to the tunes of evening breeze... all the way up.. all the way down... and thats the new office..

ye.. i missed it.. our parking lot rocks!!!

so long
roy

XLRI Interview..

my XLRI interview for PGCBM is just 15 days ahead.. looks like i gotta brush up from the ground up.. having spent 10 yrs in the IT industry, i am looking forward to an interview centered around my experiences so far, about the companies i worked for, my accomplishments in the work place, the challenges i faced etc... as mundane as it sound.. i also need to work on my eco. and fin basics.. stocks, shares and the functioning of stock markests.. have planned to browse through a few back issues of ET.. reading through the past six months' Yojana would be another idea..

and i have written something called a SoP, my Statement of Purpose, which explained in lucid terms why i would ever need a MBA at this point of my career..i dont think it was bombastic, rather i was being truthful to myself in putting my thoughts on paper.. !

am excited to be at Bangalore after a pretty long time, albeit to face an interview board consisting of eminent faculty from XLRI.. and taking an interview now is cool, bcos i have a job at hand.. if i get through, it is a dream happening.. i know i will do well in the course, however hard the grind is going to be.. it would be a helluva lotta opportunity to leverage on my strong organizational, inter-personal and excellent language (u read it right.. hehe) skills while working with my fellow students coming from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, and the faculty who are experts in their chosen areas..

okay, it is time to wish me good luck... i will write about my interview experiences soon after it happens.. till then, let me have random musings here..

so long
roy

The new pontiff..

and yes, in less than three weeks’ time, the new pontiff has sworn in… Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, from Germany has been elected the new pontiff.. the 78 yr old, a close associate of Pope John Paul II, is touted to be a very good administrator…

I was watching those exciting moments on BBC worldwide.. the white smoke emerging through the chimney signifying the success of the conclave of cardinals in electing the new pontiff.. the red curtains, parted in the middle.. thousands thronging St. Peters’ Basilica, waiting to get a first glimpse of the new pope.. his very first address in Italian… indeed, they were moments of great joy for the 1 billion Catholics the world over and to all those who see the papacy as something very special..

am really looking forward to see Pope Benedict XVI leading the Catholic Church and the world population into the new era.. an era of universal brotherhood, compassion and love…

The pack of those 50 elites...

the United Kingdom has just announced the top 5o international BSchools, whose students get that automatic edge over others, while applying for work permits/higher studies in UK. i am not at all surprised to see all the biggies in the list.. HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Cornell, INSEAD, Duke Fuqua, MIT Sloan, MBS UK, Said UK etc..never thought Boston University’s Management Programme to be that great to find a spot in this coveted list.. the thought that simply beats me to the ground is the fact that none of the premier indian Bschools find a place in this list.. not even IIM A!!!

it is time to sit down and brood over the whole bunch of criteria that define the rank of a Bschool.. it is highly subjective and might vary from one rating agency to another, though in a miniscule proportion…but that doesn’t mean a thing for the IIM A (or for that matter any of the Six), one of the best Bschools in the APC region…

so long
roy

Beauty marries professionalism??

i think am falling in love with the new look of my favourite newspaper.. indeed, i was a bit nostalgic on the very day when the revamped daily hit my verandah..maybe because i have been reading this daily for more than 10 years... maybe because the content management did suit well to my taste.. maybe because i loved the monday, friday specials and saturday's young world for their traditional attire, mild colors, orthodox type settings with the marketing eye taking a back seat...? well, i dun quite know.. one thing am sure about, i started liking the new look much earlier than i had thought.. nostalgia sinks in slowly.. paving way for creativity, professionalism and innovations...

thanks to mario garcia of garcia media.. the world's most popular newspaper architect..three cheers there!!

so long
roy

Tests, interviews and more...

oye.. it's time to write something about my wife's test and interview experiences for the past six, seven months... to cut the story short, she has been trying to get into a career in banking, especially with one of the public sector biggies in india..and so far, the future looks rosy, more tests, more expectations.. and yeah.. more travel for her..

if my memory doesn't decieve me (i am not good at keeping a tag on anything..) she is through with about 10 written tests for the posts of agricultural officers and the more glamarous probationary officers.. bank of baroda and oriental bank of commerce were the first of the bunch to come up with their short list for interviews.. and i could see the very first smile on her face, signifying a sense of relief, a sense of accomplishment.. all those burned mid-night candles were suddenly abuzz with lightings.. and i guess, her interviews went well with BoB and Oriental Bank.. she had a tough time with the BoB panel, especially with their psychologist..

well.. i was planning to talk about her experiences with State Bank of India, the largest bank employer in the world and the one which offers the most sought after banking career in india.. after a nerve wracking written test, she managed to barge into phase ii, a GD, wherein you get to lock horns with a bunch of studs and a personal interview, where you face the professors from IIM Lucknow..

her GD went well, she was in a cool group i guess... the topic on WTO carried them well over 15 mins of healthy debates, without ever getting into a fish market ambience.. and the interview went well too, though she had to convince the pros. of her career aspirations at this stage, when the husband is supposedly well placed and the kids are not yet through with their KGs.. i know, it is her dream career, ever since she started preparations for Bank Officers' exam.. for the moment, let the family, papa and the kids, keep their fingers crossed..

i want to see her successful..because i see the beauty of her dreams.. a career which offers her financial freedom, embracing the challenges that come with it..
and the kids would love to see the same too..

PS: she is not yet back after the GD and Interview at IIM Lucknow.. the train is running late and i will see her at about 10:00 pm tonight..

so long
roy

Grim statistics...

world health report 2005 is just out.. as usual, india retains its position in key categories.. child mortality rate, for children below the age of five, is stated to be around 10.6 million world wide, out of which 25% are in india.. again, if you drill down, deaths due to inadequate nutrition accounts for about 50% in india.. the report has shed light on lack of healthcare facilities for pregnant women and associated still birhts, infant mortality rates etc..

i have said this before and will continue to raise my voice on this over and again.. unless our govt. takes note and address the fundmental issues like poverty, lack of drinking water, lack of proper healthcare facilities, child labour, illiteracy etc., we would not make it anywhere..even with the never seen before growth rate in the IT and related sectors and technological breakthroughs happening elsewhere..

the progress you see is not for real unless you are a snob!!

imagine india with a growth rate of 8% with the disturbing statstics on child mortality rates and poverty related issues...
do i make sense??

so long
roy

Contrasting faces of development..

leading mobile handset manufacturer, the finnish giant Nokia, is setting up its production facility in sreeperumbudur in tamilnadu.. calling for an initial investment of $100m to $150m, this would offer about 1200 odd direct employment opportunities.. a boon to the local people indeed..

i have said this before.. any manufacturing facility would bring forth a noticeable change in the living conditions of people around, as a direct benefit of employment potential, triggering nation building and PCI..

and somewhere in the vicinity, kerala and andhra, touted to be the destinations of multinational IT and consultant biggies, which would be havens for white collar workers, with ever increasing income levels..

in metro mumbai, 3 lakhs slum dwellers have been ousted as part of developmental projects.. the govt. failed to provide proper rehab to those hapless souls....demonstrators protesting the ouster were badly beaten up by the police..

in another part of the world, in Combodia, primary school kids own their own lap tops, sponsored by MIT's project to narrow down the ever widening digital divide between third world countries and the super power houses..

back to kerala again.. project akshaya brings the ICT revolution to the masses, talking about wired villages and wireless hot spots.. info on your finger tips is the key..

in sharp contrast, our fellow beings in tribal settlements and tea estates meet with a dire state of affairs with the onset of the scorching summer, with no jobs, making their day to day ordeal a tough battle for survival... and deaths from starvation are no longer a news now.. we choose to close our eyes and ears to such stark realities of life, the endless human sufferings..

these are the progressive, rosy, grave, amusing, revolutionary and dire situations in a few parts of the world, cases in point..

where are we heading to? pause, take a nap and think about the so called digital divide? should we give an ear to this tech-induced jargon and miss out some sleep on that? or is it wise to address the grass root issues such as providing proper housing, means for a steady income, sanitations and potable water to those millions in the outskirts of India Inc.?

to improve the living conditions of all those millions desperately trying to eke out a living in the slums and pavements across India Inc.?

unless we are successful in addressing this core developmental issue, running after technology to narrow down the so called 'digital divide' would be ludicrous. lest it should be like show casing a beautiful bride with a stinking nose and a bad breath!!

enough has been said...

so long
roy

What kind of blogger are you??

LoL... someone gives me a cool rating to my blog... ROFL...

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few

What kind of blogger are you?

End of a papacy..

Pope John Paul II succumbs to the gamut of health problems that have been plaguing him for long.. the funeral is going to be held on friday, in a function attended by dignitaries and political leaders from the world over... i know it sounds cliched, but would reiterate the fact that we have witnessed the end of an era, an era of powerful papacy, with a deep rooted belief, innate strength, confidence and a hitherto unseen respect for human rights..

am anxiously looking forward to see the next pontiff in the reigns.. hopefully, from asia, africa or latin america.. LA is home to 50% of the total roman catholic population (about 1 billion).. and am not surprised to see the new pontiff from any of these soccer loving nations.. india too has a fair chance in the papal game... well, but nothing would be predictable when the entire process of electing a pontiff is so complex, so meticulous...

so long
roy

Biz round up...

Forbes' official list of top companies in the world has just been released.. Citigroup wins the rest hands down.. Microsoft, after its chief software architect Bill Gates being crowned the richest person in the world, has been pushed down to the 47th place.. bad sales and net value of assets have been attributed for this down turn.. and the first 20 slots go to companies from the US.. cos from india failed to grab a place in the list...

while the dragon land china is heading to a massive growth in IT, it would be interesting to note a few statistics.

number of CMM Level 5 companies : 1
number of companies with a head count more than 200 : 1
net worth of companies : less than that of any IT biggie in india

on the flip side, as NASSCOM, vice presdient has rightly pointed out, india has nothing much to cheer about.. the net worth of indian IT cos is less than that of IBM... how zz that?

and here ends the wait, ex NCR CEO Mark Hurd is appointed the CEO of HP after the ouster of Carly Fiorina...

so long
roy

Stories that steal your hearts....

yesterday night, i was reading the Smelly Dog, a Guid Blyton story to my kids.. this has been my habbit for the past few weeks, ever since my daughter's school closed for summer vacation... it was about 11PM and i was almost on nerves to catch up with some sleep after a couple days' misses.. the elder one, my daughter, would never sleep until am through with at least one story from Guid Blyton.. she adores blyton i guess, especially the animated pics, with less yet articulate text, in neat large fonts... the pics are invariably big and colorful...

well, i was half way through the Smelly Dog.. my daughter was all ears and the younger one, my two year old son, was desperately trying to tear off the pages.. occasionally he would throw up random questions which are enough to throw my daughter off her nerves.. a fight starts and would never end unless one of them screams on full throat and runs back to the bed room....

sans the fights, the Smelly Dog was a good story... my daughter was all praise for Splash, the stray dog in the story and Betzy, the little girl who was rescued from drowning in the sea by Splash himself... sympathy, adventure, heroisome, feelings galore..

my daughter thoroughly enjoyed the story.. as usual, it was my turn to throw a few questions, as part of summing up...the younger one was dozing off, with his mouth wide open and shorts stripped half way down... my daughter kept on talking about Betzy and Splash for quite some time, until she too was lost in sleep, with her hands holding me around, her cheeks against my heart.. mama was already half way through.. love and togetherness unlimited:-)

am sure, my kids are gonna remember me for the rest of their lives for all those stories and the interesting characters who steal their hearts:-) papa's delight:-)

so long
roy

Updates from the biz world...

pepsico india cheif indira nooyi has unleashed her plans of big
investments for the subcontinent to give a fillip to the beverages
and snacks segment..

aptech leads the IT training instis in china for the third
successive year.. NIIT is trailing behind at number 3 slot.

cognizant sets up their 30 acre development center in coimbatore..

airlines operating in the indian skies fight it out for luring the
skilled manpower.. the industry faces an acute shortage for piolts
and technicians.. key contenders in the race Air Deccan, Jet,
Sahara India, Kingfisher and the state owned IA..

surprising info from ET.. skilled oil rig operators earn thrice the
salary in comparison with tier 1 bschool grads!!! the former's
typical salary comes to about 3lakhs p.m... am stumped!!! are you
not?

piece of info... the catchy 'ZEN' from the maruti stable means
Zero Engine Noise.. i own a Maruti Zen VX, but never knew this
three letter secret!! ignorance unlimited!!

so long
roy

Am all for euthanasia..

the topic, per se, is controversial, sensitive and much debated these days.. and past week's terri schiavo case is good enough to put everything in perspective.. all of us would appreciate the need for euthanasia well if we try to be a little more empathetic with the victims.. their pains, sufferings and the bland life ahead.. it is without a purpose that people live out a vegetative state! the last thing they want in life is a chance to see yet another daylight.. euthanasia is the only answer, however hard an antagonist tries to oppose the advocates..

again, it's always easy for us to ignore some one else's sufferings, we want them to survive, we pray for longer tenures for them... but the moment you are responsible for taking care of the victim, your perspective changes..you are fed up with those mundane, boring, nauseating, tiresome patient care! and you become an ardent advocate of euthanasia, albeit not being able to stress the need for it openly, which will invite the wrath of those self proclaimed human rights activists... LoL...

come what may, euthanasia is the only answer to those endless sufferings... are you with me on this?

so long

roy

Good evening.. me Nik Gowning...

the name that all hardcore BBC afficionados will recall even after a coma.. the anchor man who takes presenting news to newer dimensions.. the person noted for his remarkable intelligence, quick wits, and unmatched presentation skills.. watching the world news when Nik is in command is a pleasure in itself.. you are sure to be engrossed in that charismatic voice, mannerisms and superb, flawless langauge!!

i remember watching Nik during 9/11.. he was on air shortly after the tragedy, reaching out to people around the globe, which called for utmost care in choosing each and every word..and few would pass that test with laurels..the coverage won him the 2002 Hotbird Award.. am so passionate about watching Nik in action every night that i finish my shower and dinner well before 9:00 PM.. all set to see the handsome genteel face on screen...

tend to look at a brief profile of Nik?? chek this out...

so long
roy

UB Rules..

else where in the biz world, UB group, the vijay mallya owned liqour giant is all set to rule the kingdom with the recent acquision of SWC, known for its flagship bottle, Royal Challenge.

within six months, we would witness one of the biggest mergers in the liqour markets the world over. UB group is gonna consolidate and merge its acquisitions, SWC, Herbertsons (known for Bag Piper), McDowell's and Wilbey's, paving way for some key international acquisitions in the near future.. watch out!!

Oracle's Larry Ellison has finally subdued SAP in taking over Retek.. the battle was on for about a week..

and InteactiveCorp takes over Ask Jives, a key search engine on the net.

and to conclude with a ray of hope.. india is destined to be a key manufacturing base for MNC players in the IT related segments.. the strong economic growth put up by india is cited as the shot in the arm...me wondering when india qould be able to overtake china, the forerunner in the race, in the manufacturing segment? will it ever happen?

on an after thought, i am a wee bit concerned about the US criticism on india's bad recrod on curbing women and child trafficking.. if the situation gets worse and we slip ourselves into tier 3 (worst situation) category among countries that fail to curb human rights violations... unless we see through it and take a strong stand with legal bindings, the situation is sure to get worse.. and will adversely affect the prospects of doing business with the MNC giants, especially the ones from papa's own country.. another pain in the **s duh!!

so long
roy

Tough times..

life is a drama indeed.. and you tend to believe this strongly when coming to terms with harsh realities, when you are caught unawares by the sudden turn of events.. traumatic and painful.

i was passing through the same phase when my vehicle collided with another driven by a fledgling, old gentleman.. it took a while for me to accept the gruesome incident.. the bonnet of my car was almost crushed to pulp.. sans me, and my colleague in the passenger side.. looking at the brighter side of life, we got out safe and unhurt..

this would be the right time to reminisce the support and empathy shown by my dear colleagues, when i needed them most.. all of them stood by me, showing great deal of composure and equanimity... with an occasional pat at the back, holding my hands, or just murmuring, it's okay..we gotta get on with this..

THANKS a MILLION pals..

so long
roy

The Steel Magnate..

Lakshmi Nivas Mittal is the third richest man in the world, as per Forbes' latest survey..closely behind the IT supremos Bill Gates and Warren Buffet..

i was quite surprised by a few related facts..

LNM's steel empire spreads across four continents and fourteen countries..mittal steel's production capacity is well over 70mt..and not even a minute fraction of this is being produced in India.. the indian touch being limited to only the men at the helms, including his son aditya, a Wharton alumnus, who is heading the M&A division.. with the acquisition of america's international steel group,, mittal would be the no. 1 player in the world.. a rare feat indeed for some one from the hardcore manufacturing sector..

in terms of turn over, mittal surppasses the Ambanis' reliance by huge margins... and IT stalwarts Infy, Wipro, TCS and the like would look like mere shadows.. why did india miss out the chance of grooming up such a terrific entrepreneur? red tapism? beaurocracy's arrogant and obsolete technicalities? lacking infrastructure?

on the flip side, where does india's no. 1 tata steel, being in business for almost a century now, stand in comparison with Mittal who is crossing just the 30 year mark in business? talks volumes about doing a hardcore manufacturing biz in india?

tail ender..operating from UK, Mittal Steel's majority of employees the world over are indians... something to cheer about..?

so long
roy

Here you go, Hi Tec.....

Itinerant National Resdients (INRs), LoL... never heard of this before? me neither..INRs are those hapless high flyers in the corporate world who are on the wheels for about 250 days in an year.. the tremendous growth rate in the IT and ITeS sectors, the never befroe boom in the manufacturing sector and the newfound outsourcing mantra called BPO have all made travelling an occupational hazard for most of the top level execs..

we have the indian MNCs who created a niche for themselves, the oldies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and the newbies such as CTS, iFlex etc., who deploy their execs all across the world.. a large chink are on work permits and a significant percentage keep doing the rounds.. a decade ago, a foreign visit was a dream for any employee in the private sector.. and it usually remained a dream! only the president or CEo used to travel and that too a couple times a year! and the same was totally unheard of in govt., except the trips undertaken by beaurocrats to attend conferences or to study specific schemes, draining the coffers..

today, if you look around in your neighbourhood, you see a software engineer working in US or UK or atleast in the middle east in every house who cared for their children's education.. a US VISA is no longer a dream.. working in your home town and moving around the world is all the more fun and exciting... we see a new found enthusiasm in the business secotr all over the world, which brings down geographical barriers, and hardcore nationalism.. it's all about expansions, mergers and acquisitions, all translating into massive ROIs..at the same time creating a new breed of millionaires.. you see lots of them these days..

being a part of the clique, am excited...but ever cared to look at the flip side?

essentially this transaltes into a much wider gap in income and living conditions between the haves and the have nots..and the gap continues to grow in leaps and bounds..the only solution to improve the living conditions of the ordinary mortals would be to strengthen our own manufacturing secotrs, which would bring forth a thousands of employments, not limited to those with the two letter degrees (read BE..).. and give more stress on our agriculture sector, it is heartening to see the allocations to priority sectors topping the bar in the recent budget... this would definitely bring forth employment and food security, the two pillars of progress!!

everytime you get excited about an infy or TCS setting up an office in your town or in any of the high-tec cities in india, think about this too..how would they transform the lives of ordinary people? no way..the respective local governments are snobbish enough to miss out the much more larger picture..

now, each time you hear about a factory being setup in your town or in any of the industrial estates, think about the employment potential it can generate for the less educated mortals..imagine those house wives with their robes wrapped tightly around their waists getting a full time employement, so that they can proudly send their children to school...marry off their over aged, under educated, daughters.. taking care of their ageing spuses.. is this all about shaping up a society at large??

yet, am clueless why our govts are running behind corporate biggies to setup shops in the states rather than encouraging local entrepreneurs and thus losing out the deal?? less investment, more returns, and a tremendous impact on the lives around.. will we ever care? this beats me to the ground!

PS: musings from a meeting we have had with the Directot of a Software Tech Park..

so long..
roy

BEQ '05

i was watching the fifth regional finals of Brand Equity Quiz on television, the biggest such event in India Inc., held at Hotel Hyatt Regency Calcutta.... conducted by ING Vyshya and managed by '360 degrees', BE every year has been a show in itself. this would be their fifth edition of BEQ, if my memory doesn't deceive me:-)

thirty nine teams vied for the top slot from calcutta this time.. and the fierce battle was won by 'the team invincible' Eveready, comprising Mrs. Jayashree Mohanka and Mr. Sreedhar... gosh! i was amazed by the wonderful show put up by the duo.. the lady is a real stud, a phenomenon to watch out for in the national finals.. quiz master Derek O’Brien had a whale of a time in his home ground... i shoud not miss the question which pushed the Eveready team ahead by a whisker and into the mega finals... they answered 'Tommy Hilfiger' when asked who holds the designation of Principal Designer with 'Tommy Hilfiger', the up-market apparel brand!! that saw them to the national finals to be held in April.. i am really looking forward to the show to see Mrs. Mohanka back in action..

for those who are uninitiated into the wonderful world of quizzing:

DEREK O’BRIEN began his career as a journalist but soon shifted to advertising. A decade ago, he quit his job as creative director at Ogilvy & Mather to launch his own company Big Ideas. He is the host of the country’s longest-running corporate quiz show, the Brand Equity Quiz, and the longest-running knowledge game show on Indian television, The Bournvita quiz Contest. Recently, he launched his dream project, KQ School Advantage. The CEO of Derek O’Brien & Associates, Derek O’Brien lives in Kolkata with his family.

Biz Jobs stuff your bags full!!

final placements in the BSchools across the country witnessed a phenomenal increase in the no. of job offers and also in terms of salaries.. no. of foreign offers were quite high in almost all the tier 1 Bschools, compared to last year's statistics..

for the sake of records, an IIM A lad bags up a $1,50,000 PA.. the offer was reportedly made by Booz Allen Hamilton, a consultant biggie.. though the figure itself is mindboggling, me wondering why the companies never disclose the Net THS.. that would be something revealing i guess. the CTCs can amaze you but can't give you a real picture.. well, am i trying to say, those grapes are sour??... anyways, kudos to the young future managers.. they deserve this indeed..

apart from that, why do I have a penchant to watch out for corporate ousters these days? the past evening, i was reading a peice on AIG (American International Group).. apparently, the CEO Maurice Green has been ousted citing over age and the need to transfer the reigns to the younger generation... AIG stands justified in their decision, but that doesnt deter us from saying HATS Off To Maurice for building the corporate powerhouse that AIG is today...

so long
roy

Random notes

Call it Quits…

the past week saw couple of sports’ ever admired personalities bidding adieu to the game. Garry Kasparov, who has been reigning on the top spot for almost two and a half decades, called it quits in Linares after a memorable meet with our Vishy, who was always trailing just behind.. end of an era and beginning of another!

Corporate ousters galore?

America inc. witnessed couple of embarrassing ousters in the recent past.. Ex HP CEO Carly Fiorina got sacked citing the failure of HP-Compaq merger.. the lady with an iron will failed to deliver the ‘much inflated’ expectations..

but what if she gets appointed president of the world bank? well, if things really work out in her favor, she would land up there soon.. stay on the race lady and hit the bull’s eye…

the case of Harry Stonecipher of Boeing is something ‘sexy’… he has had an affair with a lady executive and it was getting messy and the news reached every nook and corner of the aircraft biggie.. is that anything to be embarrassed about? quite an individual perspective.. I would say no.. but the morals of the CEO should be in place to lead from the front. this is my 2$ on the issue…

so long
roy

An inspiring diction from the Mindtree COO..

hey, here is an inspiring speech by the Mindtree Chief Operating Officer Subrato Bagchy.. i was captivated; am sure you would..

on a side real note, the speech transcends me to my own childhood, when my mother struggled to educate her lads, in the midst of financial crisis and the mental trauma brought about by my father’s demise.. she was deep in trouble, and I would imagine it was her nerves and never say die attitude saw us through…we received the best education available, bolstered by a very powerful and principled personal grooming…three cheers to my mother, who is my greatest idol ever in this world!!

Here it is for you...

"I was the last child of a small-time government servant, in a family of Five brothers. My earliest memory of my father is as that of a District Employment Officer in Koraput, Orissa.
It was and remains as back of Beyond as you canimagine. There was no electricity; no primary school nearby and water did not flow out of a tap. As a result, I did not go to school until the age of eight; I was home-schooled.

My father used to get transferred every year. The family belongings fit into the back of a jeep - so the family moved from place to place and, without any trouble, my Mother would set up an establishment and get us going. Raised by a widow who had come as a refugee from the then East Bengal, she was a matriculate when she married my Father.
My parents set the foundation of my life and the value system which makes me what I am today and largely defines what success means to me today.

As District Employment Officer, my father was given a jeep by the government. There was no garage in the Office, so the jeep was parked in our house. My father refused to use it to commute to the office. He told us that the jeep is an expensive resource given by the government - he reiterated to us that it was not 'his jeep' but the government's jeep. Insisting that he would use it only to tour the interiors, he would walk to his office on normal days. He also made sure that we never sat in the government jeep -we could sit in it only when it was stationary.

That was our early childhood lesson in governance - a lesson that corporate Managers learn the hard way, some never do. The driver of the jeep was treated with respect due to any other member of my Father's office. As small children, we were taught not to call him by his name. We had to use the suffix 'dada' whenever we were to refer to him in public or private. When I grew up to own a car and a driver by the name of Raju was appointed - I repeated the lesson to my two small daughters. They have, as a result, grown up to call Raju, 'Raju Uncle' â€" very different from many of their friends who refer to their family drivers as 'my driver'. When I hear that term from a school- or college-going person, I cringe.

To me, the lesson was significant - you treat small people with more respect than how you treat big people. It is more important to respect your subordinates than your superiors.
Our day used to start with the family huddling around my Mother's chulha - an earthen fire place she would build at each place of posting where she would cook for the family. There was no gas, nor electrical stoves. The morning routine started with tea. As the brew was served, Father would ask us to read aloud the editorial page of The Statesman's 'muffosil' edition - delivered one day late. We did not understand much of what we were reading.
But the ritual was meant for us to know that the world was larger than Koraput district and the English I speak today, despite having studied in an Oriya medium school, has to do with that routine. After reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatly.
Father taught us a simple lesson. He used to say, "You should leave your newspaper and your toilet, the way you expect to find it".

That lesson was about showing consideration to others. Business begins and ends with that simple precept.

Being small children, we were always enamoured with advertisements in the newspaper for transistor radios - we did not have one. We saw other people having radios in their homes and each time there was an advertisement of Philips, Murphy or Bush radios, we would ask Father when we could get one. Each time, my Father would reply that we did not need one because he already had five radios - alluding to his five sons. We also did not have a house Of our own and would occasionally ask Father as to when, like others, we would live in our own house. He would give a similar reply, "We do not need a house of our own. I already own five houses". His replies did not gladden our hearts in that instant. Nonetheless, we learnt that it is important not to measure personal success and sense of well being through material possessions.

Government houses seldom came with fences. Mother and I collected twigs and built a small fence. After lunch, my Mother would never sleep. She would take her kitchen utensils and with those she and I would dig the rocky, white ant infested surrounding. We planted flowering bushes. The white ants destroyed them. My mother brought ash from her chulha and mixed it in the earth and we planted the seedlings all over again. This time, they bloomed.
At that time, my father's transfer order came. A few neighbors told my mother why she was taking so much pain to beautify a government house, why she was planting seeds that would only benefit the next occupant. My mother replied that it did not matter to her that she would not see the flowers in full bloom. She said, "I have to create a bloom in a desert and whenever I am given a new place, I must leave it more beautiful than what I had inherited".
That was my first lesson in success. It is not about what you create for yourself, it is what you leave behind that defines success.

My mother began developing a cataract in her eyes when I was very small. At that time, the eldest among my brothers got a teaching job at the University in Bhubaneswar and had to prepare for the civil services examination. So, it was decided that my Mother would move to cook for him and, as her appendage, I had to move too. For the first time in my life, I saw electricity in Homes and water coming out of a tap. It was around 1965 and the country was going to war with Pakistan. My mother was having problems reading and in any case, being Bengali, she did not know the Oriya script.

So, in addition to my daily chores, my job was to read her the local newspaper - end to end. That created in me a sense of connectedness with a larger world. I began taking interest in many different things. While reading out news about the war, I felt that I was fighting the war myself. She and I discussed the daily news and built a bond with the larger universe.
In it, we became part of a larger reality. Till date, I measure my success in terms of that sense of larger connectedness.

Meanwhile, the war raged and India was fighting on both fronts. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Prime Minster, coined the term "Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan" and galvanized the nation in to patriotic fervor. Other than reading out the newspaper to my mother, I had no clue about how I could be part of the action. So, after reading her the newspaper, every day I would land up near the University's water tank, which served the community. I would spend hours under it, imagining that there could be spies who would come to poison the water and I had to watch for them. I would daydream about catching one and how the next day, I would be featured in the newspaper. Unfortunately for me, the spies at war ignored the sleepy town of Bhubaneswar and I never got a chance to catch one in action. Yet, that act unlocked my imagination.

Imagination is everything. If we can imagine a future, we can create it, if we can create that future, others will live in it. That is the essence of success.
Over the next few years, my mother's eyesight dimmed but in me she created a larger vision, a vision with which I continue to see the world and, I sense, through my eyes, she was seeing too. As the next few years unfolded, her vision deteriorated and she was operated for cataract. I remember, when she returned after her operation and she saw my face clearly for the first time, she was astonished. She said, "Oh my God, I did not know you were so fair". I remain mighty pleased with that adulation even till date.

Within weeks of getting her sight back, she developed a corneal ulcer and, overnight, became blind in both eyes. That was 1969. She died in 2002. In all those 32 years of living with blindness, she never complained about her fate even once. Curious to know what she saw with blind eyes, I asked her once if she sees darkness. She replied, "No, I do not see darkness. I only see light even with my eyes closed". Until she was eighty years of age, she did her morning yoga everyday, swept her own room and washed her own clothes.
To me, success is about the sense of independence; it is about not seeing the world but seeing the light.

Over the many intervening years, I grew up, studied, joined the industry and began to carve my life's own journey. I began my life as a clerk in a government office, went on to become a Management Trainee with the DCM group and eventually found my life's calling with the IT industry when fourth generation computers came to India in 1981. Life took me places - I worked with outstanding people, challenging assignments and traveled all over the, world.
In 1992, while I was posted in the US, I learnt that my father, living a retired life with my eldest brother, had suffered a third degree burn injury and was admitted in the Safderjung Hospital in Delhi. I flewback to attend to him - he remained for a few days in critical stage, bandaged from neck to toe. The Safderjung Hospital is a cockroac infested, dirty, inhuman place. The overworked, under-resourced sisters in the burn ward are both victims and perpetrators of dehumanized life at its worst.

One morning, while attending to my Father, I realized that the blood bottle was empty and fearing that air would go into his vein, I asked the tending nurse to change it. She bluntly told me to do it myself. In that horrible theater of death, I was in pain and frustration and anger. Finally when she relented and came, my Father opened his eyes and murmured to her, "Why have you not gone home yet?" Here was a man on his deathbed but more concerned about the overworked nurse than his own state. I was stunned at his stoic self.
There I learnt that there is no limit to how concerned you can be for another human being and what is the limit of inclusion you can create.

My father died the next day.
He was a man whose success was defined by his principles, his frugality, his universalism and his sense of inclusion. Above all, he taught me that success is your ability to rise above your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. You can, if you want, raise your consciousness above your immediate surroundings. Success is not about building material comforts - the transistor that he never could buy or the house that he never owned. His success was about the legacy he left, the memetic continuity of his ideals that grew beyond the smallness of a ill-paid, unrecognized government servant's world.

My father was a fervent believer in the British Raj. He sincerely doubted the capability of the post-independence Indian political parties to govern the country. To him, the lowering of the Union Jack was a sad event. My Mother was the exact opposite. When Subhash Bose quit the Indian National Congress and came to Dacca, my mother, then a schoolgirl, garlanded him. She learnt to spin khadi and joined an underground movement that trained her in using daggers and swords. Consequently, our household saw diversity in the political outlook of the two. On major issues concerning the world, the Old Man and the Old Lady had differing opinions.

In them, we learnt the power of disagreements, of dialogue and the essence of living with diversity in thinking. Success is not about the ability to create a definitive dogmatic end state; it is about the unfolding of thought processes, of dialogue and continuum.
Two years back, at the age of eighty-two, Mother had a paralytic stroke and was lying in a government hospital in Bhubaneswar. I flew down from the US where I was serving my second stint, to see her. I spent two weeks with her in the hospital as she remained in a paralytic state. She was neither getting better nor moving on. Eventually I had to return to work. While leaving her behind, I kissed her face. In that paralytic state and a garbled voice, she said, "Why are you kissing me, go kiss the world." Her river was nearing its journey, at the confluence of life and death, this woman who came to India as a refugee, raised by a widowed Mother, no more educated than high school, married to an anonymous government servant whose last salary was Rupees Three Hundred, robbed of her eyesight by fate and crowned by adversity - was telling me to go and kiss the world!

Success to me is about Vision. It is the ability to rise above the immediacy of pain. It is about imagination. It is about sensitivity to small people. It is about building inclusion. It is about connectedness to a larger world existence. It is about personal tenacity. It is about giving back more to life than you take out of it. It is about creating extra-ordinary success with ordinary lives.

Thank you very much; I wish you good luck and Godspeed. Go, kiss the world."
Subroto Bagchi, Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting

Whats hot in the Biz world?

elsewhere in the corporate sector, the ERP giant SAP locks horns with the DB biggie Oracle to acquire the medium sized minnesota based Retek, an ERP solution provider to SMEs across the USA, mostly into the Retail business.. this would be termed as the lack of the biggies' capabilities to cater to the needs of those small and medium segments.. inorganic growths are here to stay for a strong foothold in the market.

Hindustan Lever is going to be rechristened to Unilever as part of the latter's strategy to position and project Unilever as one and the same corporate identity everywhere..

and back in the BSchool world, IIM B rocks the final placements this season with record number of foreign offers:-).. enough vicarious feelings!!

so long
roy

The HBS shows the way...

arguably, the world's best BSchool, the hallowed portals of HARVARD has drawn a new line of ethics for those would be managers!! one hundred and thirty nine of its applicants for the forthcoming academic year have been ousted from the list of applicants for hacking into a security flaw on the HBS website.. the students 'hacked' the site to look at the list of candidates shorlisted for the next round of admission process well before the list was officially out.. HBS spokesperson was very firm on making their new line of thought on corporate ethics pretty clear.. the news is all the more relevant when we have numerous corporate scams rocking america..

i was not surprised to hear the same act repeating at Stanford, Warton, Dartmouth, Duke and MIT Sloan... me wondering why all these BSchool sites got hacked during the admission times? and if a candidate 'happened to' bump on to the confidential info accidentally, why blame it on his ethics? if there was ever a deliberate 'hacking' in any of the said Websites, i am with the adcom for sure.. after all, for any individual, success in any career is marked by remarkable personal integrity and a clean sense of responsibility for his/her actions..

anyways, the BSchools are enjoying the last laugh, i guess... something to watch out for the Biz aspirants.... it would be interesting to see how the whole bunch of issues turn out to be in the days ahead...

so long
roy

BSchool Dreams Again..

well, else where in my blog, i wrote about the satellite based MBA programs from XLRI and IIMC.. the key attraction of these programs would be the fact that you don't need to quit the job to pursue your dream degree.. the classes are delivered at your nearest Direcway Center, and are held thrice a week.. the timings are quite convenient too.. starts at 6:00PM and would continue till 9:00PM.. and believe me, the course doesn't come cheap, you gotta shell out around 1.75lacs for XLRI and 1.65 for IIMC... anyways, i dont care about the fee at the moment, all i need is an XLRI brand name for an HRM management degree..the classes are handled by none other than the XLRI faculty.. and the campus component, a week at XLRI jamshedpur, would expose you to the rigors of the program right there.. you get the chance to interact with the professors and fellow students..

well, am looking forward to their Nov 2005 intake.. the admisson process would be stringent, based on your work experience and performance in the interview.. and 14 more months from then on, i would be an XLRI alumni... sounds goods, eh?

so long...
roy

I love ET..

well.. when I say, ET, it means The venerable Economic Times from the Times Group.. the pink paper that I love to immerse in... to read right from the title to the mundane news at the back page.. it has been a while since I fell in love with the pink daily.. two years, to be precise... the in-depth coverage and analysis of business issues is something that makes it very special.. pink dailies are noted for their abstruce handling of subject matter, which might appear greek and latin to the uninitiated... ET never intimidated me, rather it is a wholesome reading experience.. u get to understand the corporate biggies, from pharma to IT, from steel to hosiary, from cement to petrolium... if you have an interest in stocks, ET is something i would strongly recommend... if you are a BSchool Aspirant, like me :-), ET is a must read... most of the issues come with reports on news and events from tier 1 BSchools in india...going by that, i can speak volumes on typical ET contents... ET is here to stay... right on top of the biz dailies and magz in india... go, be an ET subscriber yourself...:-)

so long
roy

Sania Mirza, the Glamour, the Hype and the Glitz...

sania mirza is the new avatar on stage, the teenage icon, the symbol of youth, full of energy and passion! well, the girl next door is suddenly in the news, after falling in the top 100 bracket in women's tennis.

the media is full of sania saga, with her glamarouns, sexy blow-ups.... and the girl herself is living a far surreal life I guess.. well, what does this ranking, supposedly belonging to the elites in women's tennis, bring forth? am sure it is top class for any indian lady, taking the pros in the tournament till date.. and winning a WTA torunament in the home town adds to the already spinning euphoria....

dont you think, we- the media, the tennis fans, and the readers/viewers at large, miss the larger picture? the ranking that sania enjoys at the moment is mediocre when comapred to world standards.. you have the venus sisters with their powerful shots ruling the game, you have the talented, beautiful, russian teenage chics bringing a new wave of glamarous tennis to the living rooms.. you have other bunch of talented ladies, europian, american, emerging with a new found enthusiasm.. is the indian lady game enough for them? well, she would be.... she would make it, sans the media glits and glamour... sans the hype and fanfare that throws her into seventh heaven... that throws her inside a ring of tight lipped security forces... that puts her own right to privacy in peril...

let's be realistic and give a big hand to this lady with the nerves to bag a grand slam in the near future... let's not spoil her chances by being over enthusiastic and unreasonably liberal in adding to the euphoria that surrounds her...

cheers to you sania... miles to go before you sleep...

roy

People For Animals??

this would be an interesting anecdote.. couple weeks ago, i was on my way to my office.. it is fun to walk during the morning hours, the streets are kinda buzzling with activities.. the street vendors showing up in groups with their wares for the day.. the fisher woman with a bunch of fresh catch from the beaches.. the diary shop selling the freshly arrived packaged milk.. all these make my everyday walk eventful and memorable..

it was impossible to ignore the wayside scene.. two boys, with shabby outfits and unkempt hair, were beating a pair of bulls almost to death.. the poor souls were screaming,with tears rolling down their cheeks.. they were tired and finding it difficult to raise themselves on their legs... the boys continued to beat them with an iron rod.... i was shocked to see this barbaric act.. with my temper in check, i asked the boys to stop beating those poor creatures.. ignoring my warnings and threats of informing PFA, they continued their cruel rituals...

back at work, i called up the city office of People for Animals and explained the whole incident to their volunteer - a middle aged lady, i guess- on phone.. she asked for my contact details and gave me a detailed class on how I should proceed further to move the case and work for the cause of those poor animals.. well, i was supposed to go to the PFA office, register my complaint, get back to the scene with the concerned PFA Activist and charge the case.. it was demanding and required almost half of my day, something that required an afterthought... finally, I did decide to decline and keep my protest within... meanwhile, those rustic lads were in action, gettng the life outta those hapless souls... and they had the last laugh I beleive... wither PFA? is that the way it is supposed to act? am clueless...

BSchool Dreams...

well, it has been a while I blogged a piece.. i was supposedly busy all these days, but being truthful to myself, i was not. i was kinda lazy to grab myself up, to jot down something.. and this post, would probably, see me back in my spirits!! ahem... ahem!

going back to a bschool after a few years stint in the industry has always been my dream and now is the right time to do so.. mostly, because I am knida getting an inner urge to do an MBA, the work place demands a scientifc basis now, rather than sticking to the ad-hoc and time tested decision making approaches, I would like to apply my management and analytical skills to do that. and getting myself trained would be the only solution..

being a bit prudent, quitting my job to pursue my dream is somewhat outa question now.. i have a family to support, kids are growing up... their schooling is important to me.. well, everything points to the need for financial stability.. and i might as well think about the DirecWay option to pursue a satellite MBA from XLRI or IIMC.. the courses are pretty expensive though, I need to shell out around 2lacs for an XLRI programme spanning 14 months!!!! seriously thinking about applying for the next in take... wish me good luck!

so long
roy

X'mas is round the corner!!

X'mas is round the corner, with all its colors and hues.. stars and lightings.. ornated X'mas trees...santa and the pool of gifts he brings in for the excited kids....carols and singing church bells..the sweet aroma of x'mas delights... and time to bid adieu to 2004!

I wish you Health...
So you may enjoy each day in comfort.
I wish you the Love of friends and family...
And Peace within your heart.
I wish you the Beauty of nature...
That you may enjoy the work of God.
I wish you Wisdom to choose priorities...
For those things that really matter in life.
I wish you Generosity so you may share...
All good things that come to you.
I wish you Happiness and Joy...
And Blessings for the New Year.
I wish you the best of everything...
That you so well deserve.

Merry X-mas and Happy New Year to All; my dear colleagues, friends and well wishers!!

Slice of Life!

this has always been my favorite sunday column in The Hindu ever since I started reading this national english daily. and millions of readers across the world would vouch for the same.. it is amazing to see the ease with which the columnist handles subjects as varied as food, country life-life in the rustic parts of kerala in the early fifties-art, science and tech, fashion and education! it is through his columns that I came to know about the traditional tamil dishes, festivals, customs and family values.. the language is simple, elegant and has a special aura attached to it..

now, who is the columnist am talking about?

answer here...

X'mas Lunch

being a gourmet of good foods, can't help writing about the much awaited X'mas lunch at my home...

we gonna start with a sumptuous breakfast.. palappam and beef stew, with lots of shredded bell pepper... enough to tickle ur taste buds to the root.. hehe... for the veggies, we will have a mixed masala with cauliflower and potato! and mind you, the appams are gonna be piping hot..

lunch would be strictly traditional.. am not ready to compromise the charm that my mom brought with every X'mas lunch on table.. cake and wine would give it a kick start..
appams would do a second round.. this time with an add on chicken curry, with a semi-thick gravy.. beef fry with coconut cubes and curry leaves will be any non-veggie's delight... we like white rice cooked to perfection.. seer fish prepared in the traditional way goes well with the rice... regulars like aviyal, thoran, mezhukku puratti, kalan, achar and papad would be the other accompaniments... you can have a liberal helping from ada payasam or gothambu payasam... but i would vouch for the latter any day!!

yes...we will have my friend Naz, his wife Geet and their son Sidharth for the X'mas lunch this time.. all of u, feel free to join us:-) winks:-) JK.

all my friends and well wishers...

here is wishing you a very happy and Exciting X'mas and a fantabulous new year!!

cheers
roy

Transmission!!!

I was on a sabbatical again.. said no to blogging, tv and even my favorite past time reading books.. could not say no to my regular work out because of physiological reasons.. did i feel better? probably yes.. rather i would love to believe that way....

and did 'transmission' give me a break? maybe, i could, kinda identify with Arjun, the SW Consultant... again, i could kinda appreciate life in the US for a SW Engineer, even during the SW Boom.. but was never captivated by the author's style and language... the former was non-existing and the latter, immature, to say the least!! i did also come across a few grammatical errors in the book! amidst these personal skirmishes on the book, i did feel a compulsive obsession to carry on and almost through with it.. certainly, transmission, is not a great literary peice nor would it stand anywhere near Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things, in terms of style and language.. i would not say it is worth investing your time and money on transmission, but would be a good read if u can grab a copy from the nearby library.. sounds good?

PS: Hari Kunzru was never effective as a techno-fiction writer... i stand by this and would never read a Kunzru book in the same line..

Dish it out at Culinary Olympics..

After a much predicted disappointment in Athens Olympics, India, sure can look forward to the Culinary Olympics to be held in Italy.. I don't think it is tough for us to grab a few Golds there, considering our culinary backgrounds.. We have the famous Mrs. Thankam Philip, Nimmi and Pritam Oberoys, Tarla Dalal etc.. So, why wait? Let our contingent comprise of these gourmet cooks!! I am sure a few medals are on our way!!! Food, if not Sports... A couple of Golds for India, in in an Olympics, would no more be a dream...

Padmashree Thankam Philip is gonna be Olympian Thankam Philip.. Feels good, eh?

PS: Me a gourmet myself....

cheers
roy

Haiku again....

The winds wafted through the window
The Cicadas chirped
Wet nights.. Dry dreams..

Christopher Reeves passes away!

What does this news mean to me? Me wondering too..

In 1995 the world watched in shock as Christopher Reeves was injured in a horse race. He was once superman, flying across our television screens and in an instant his life changed forever, he could no longer walk on his own or breathe on his own. Superman had fallen and the world watched in horror. You gotta read 'Still Me, his candid and lucidly written autobiography... This book tells in detail of his struggle after the fall. I just loved the book, motivatioinal, rejuvenating and sometimes sweet!

Outsourcing the Indian Way?

Ludicrous was the decision of the Chairman of Planning Commission Mr. Montegue Singh to include representatives from the consulting giant McKinsey and the World Bank to its consultative committee.. Is it not the kind of privilege and decision making power we enjoyed thats in peril? And I don't think we lack visionaries in any area, be it economics, finance, statistics or agriculture. Again, it is never possible to ensure a disiniterested stand or proposal from these third party 'consultants'. We dont have a clue about their corporate allegiance either.... do we? The left parties did demonstrate their antagonistic ideals against the decision.. But again, the same ideology let MNC Consultancies chart out vision documents for West Bengal, the strong hold of leftist ideology.. hehe LOL... The hindu made a strong mockery of this stand in its editorial dated 05 October. Outsourcing the Indian Way.. eh?

Religious fanatics sabotaging Kerala's secular culture!

Looks like Kerala is no more the pieceful, secular, God's own country... Recent incidents prompt me to think that way..Early this week, northern Kerala witnessed one of the most criticised religious outrage and narrow mindedness when religious fanatics attacked the sisters of Missionaries of Charity!! They are the ones respected across the world for their outstanding contributions to the upliftment of the downtrodden.. The miscreants alleged that the sisters were trying for religious conversions in their areas of operations, mainly among the poor, for whom even one meal a day is a luxury.. The sister superior refuted the allegation by revealing some statistics.. To say the least, their driver is a Hindu, who has been with them for the last 20 years or so.. Is he a christian now? Did they ever propose a conversion? I would love to believe No.

And a couple days after this gruesome incident, a church in this city was set on fire. The altar was destroyed completely!! All this happening in a 100% literate and secular state.....

It is time to take stock.. What do education (which translates to literacy?) mean to us? Do the educated youth of today grow up to be mature and responsible citizens? Or are they just becoming pawns under those demagogues, the wicked and narrow minded politicians, who play dirty games to win over the opponents!

So, it is time to isolate these religious fanatics.. It is time to think and behave more pragmatically to prevent any further sabotaging of our religious tolerance, harmony and peace! And be it the God's Own Country in the true sense...

so long
roy

Introducing career options to school kids!

Today I wrote a small piece for an NGO involved in educating bonded child workers. They need to introduce different career options to children in the age group 6-13..

Well, here goes my piece!

Kindergarten Teacher

Dealing with kids in the age group of 3-4yrs, those little bundles of joy, is fun indeed! Playing hide and seek with them is seemingly easy. It’s plain simple and straight forward. The kids understand what you are up to, what you are trying to teach them. But teaching a child to sing a song, paint a picture as specified and to write numbers and alphabets is altogether a different game! It requires immense patience, love and a hundred percent dedication to what you do. At times, you need to recite a rhyme a thousand times. The same goes true for action songs etc. And teaching them numbers and alphabets is no child’s play either! While there are prescribed syllabi and textbooks for teaching in higher classes, teaching in KG classes requires creativity and boundless imagination. You need to device new strategies each time a new aspect, which involves some learning, is introduced.

If you love being with kids, this profession is for you. All you need is a Montessori Certificate or a Nursery Teacher’s Diploma, after your Plus-Two! Being with a bunch of kids, all 3-4 year olds is an experience; it is like you are in a beautiful garden with flowers all around! And remember, you are the gardener grooming those lovely flowers!

so long
roy

Careful when you leave a job...

yeah, today i was reading through Janet Murray's article on this topic. this is my second job in life and i had to say quits just once:-, well i didn't make any farewell speach either.. the guys there were pretty cool and professional.. made lots of friends, was active in the clubs, dramatics, literary etc..

as the author puts in, leaving a job in a ceremonious way has its own blessings... you never know when you would end up right back to square one.. hehe.. can't help recollecting a similar incident from my previous organization.. the guy was a senior, in his early forties, kinda famous for his genteel and chivalric manners.. he quit mid-way to join an MNC in the city... the farewell speech he made was inflammatory.. plain insults and bashings galore... well, people were upset by this callous attitude of a guy of his stature! three yrs down the line, recession hit the SW industry.. job cuts rudely threw off thousands across the country.. this gentleman lost his job.. well, much to his chagrin, he was found requesting for a contract position with his earlier firm, which he had bashed in full throats.. humiliating, to say the least!!

so, here goes my two cents, beware, be gentle and nice when you make a farewell speech!

so long..
roy

Random thoughts..

yeah.. been away from blogging for a while.. life has not been that easy going as i wanted to be.. office work, parenting, studies (oh.. yeah, i prepare for CAT this year!!)..

the year ahead is more important for me for reasons more than one.. trying my hands at CAT again, dreaming an IIM education.. i am sensible enough to apply only for the doctoral programme (fellow programme, as it is christened by IIMs) in information systems area, which would give me an opportunity to learn the underlying principles of management and to continue further in an area where i have put in almost 10 yrs. of experience... so, here is a dream.. get into an IIM (A, B or C, doesn't matter where I end up), graduate as a Fellow and opt for a career in teaching and some consultancy.. nothing like it.. u wont really realize the beauty of my dream, however articulate i am, in explaining my career plans..

yeah.. struggling with basic school math for CAT is tough.. even if i manage to tame math, there comes DI... it is just life and death, fight it out with people half my age and win!! i am excited!! God bless me this time...

and the times are yet again crucial for my wife as well. she had to forgo her job as a Research Associate with her alma mater (college of agriculture, trivandrum) a few months ago to take care of our son... nowthat my sis has come down to look after him till december, she has started dreaming again.. applying for bank po posts and preparing hard to get through.. so.. the year ahead is important for the family.. God bless us!

Blame it on ???

he.. true... cant help thinking about the higher education sector in Kerala.. it is in absolute peril... ran outta all adjectives to qualify the state..

u just turn around and ask the auto guy for the nearest engineering college.. throw off rs. 10 (thats the minimum fare), and u are there, in front of a newly built (assembled) engineering collage (yes, i mean it.. collage)... courses galore, specializations galore.. starting with MCA to BTech to MBA.. hehe... believe me, it sucks... u dont really need to crack the state entrance.. a rank of 38000 will get u a BTech in IT (the buzz word today!)... i would say, all idiots clearing +2 in kerala would end up with a seat in an engineering college... but the future doesnt seem to be rosy for most of them.. getting an admit and getting placed are different matters altogether..

the bottom line... the cream of the batch go to the venerable instis in the state.... College of engineering, Trivandrum, TKM Kollam, MACE Kothamangalam, GEC Trichur, NSS Palakkad, GEC Kannur and REC Calicut (present NIT)... others end up in the typical run of the mill types...

PS: i would envisage a plethora of job openings for commerce grads (who are in short supply) compared to the techies... but then who would dare to choose BCom over engineering? blame it on the snobbish parents...

India did shine in Athens....

kudos to the brilliant perofmance by Mr. Rathore, India's only saving grace in Athens.. barring that single silver medal, india returned void.... and our sports authorities would continue to say, this is only a beginning.. we have created history.. etc... hey, some one please tell me, when will we pass through this fledgling phase? in another 30 yrs??

on the flip side, am quite happy about china's (rightly called the asian lion) performance.... second only to USA in medal tally.. ma waiting for the olympic edition where china tops the winners...

ma back at work after a week's off.. been to my native place for Onam... i was in need of a break..

only 80 days for CAT 04... gotta run:-)

so long
roy

The charm of Haiku..

haiku, for the uninitiated, is one of the most important form of traditional japanese poetry; terse, pithy and cute... it was through a friend's blog that i came to know about haiku... spent a couple hrs trying to understand what haiku is all about... boy, i was captivated by the beauty of these pieces of poetry... though, haiku by birth is japanese, you can write a haiku in any language.. english, spanish, finnish etc.... it is all about sticking to the set of guidelines, which define a typical haiku...

take a shot at these samples from the web.... amazing indeed!!!

An old pond!
A frog jumps in-
The sound of water.

The first soft snow!
Enough to bend the leaves
Of the jonquil low.

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

and needless to say, ma became a hardcore haiku aficionado now.. and my piece will come here in a couple days....

me outta town for a vacation...
adieu to blogging for a while..

so long
roy

Dramtic moments from Athens!!

i missed the drama unfolded in the Olympic aquatic stadium yesterday.. 21 yr old american aron peirsol cruised to victory in the men's 200 m backstroke.. he was well ahead of the silver medallist marcus rogan from austria... it was heart breaking to see the score board showing DSQ against peirol's name.. he was disqualified!! well, you are on cloud nine when you come to know that you have won a gold for your country in an Olympics.. nothing beats the feeling.. and it is deadly when u hear that the medal is going to be stripped off from u... anyways, it was a life for peirol.. moments before the award ceremony, he was cleared of the 'foul'... a technical error from the lane referee... kudos... he is there on top of the world again...

the austrian was disappointed too, albeit for a moment.. but he was quick in shoving off that euphoria... let me quote from rogan straight away...

"For a moment, I thought about gold and the idea was just beautiful, but after all, it's fair like this. No medal is as beautiful as a friendship."

coolio.... i love that....

on a side tragic note... doping rocks the indian contigent again, with the latest entrant being sana macha chanu... three cheers there lady.. keep the spirit up:-)

and india's only hope for a Gold, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi surrendered to the german duo Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler... quite an unceremonious exit.....

so long
roy

Kudos to the Dreamers!

Dreams... as brazen as they come
Red as roses and soft as a feather
Taking you to the most intriguing fantasies!
The vicarious fulfillment of cherished wishes!

For a moment, you think
Am living that long longed life
Ephemeral... yet gratifying
On a real note, the physical world, where you face the harsh realities
Is no fantasy!

Learn to dream, if that does come easy..
And kudos to the dreamers!!
You are a bunch of awesome acheivers...

And thats the end of my reverie...
Am back at work...

so long
roy

Corporate Whitepapers??

ma writing all types of tech docs these days... starting from feasibility reports to random evaluation notes.... guess what, i end up churning out at least couple of docs every week.. the CEO goes for a prospective customers' meet, the sales manager making a presentation on extra features in an imminent product release, the content for new promotionals.. i need to come up with docs for all such trivia..

ma doing a bull **itting write up on prop-up blockers... hehe.. we need to convince a few of our tech savvy customers as to why our latest application falls victim to those little monsters called pop-up blockers... so it's docs all the way... corporate bull **itting:-)

so long
roy

The cute hurricanes???

a monster hurricane thrashed through the neighbourhoods of florida, demolishing hundreds of buildings, putting 13 people to death... the culprit is charlie.. all those hurricanes do invariably have sweet names.. the ones which rhyme with love, sophistication and politness....

see the list for a start.... the smiling, unscrupulous assassins??

Arlene, Bret, Cindy,Dennis,Emily,Franklin,Gert,Harvey,Irene,Jose,Katrina,Lee,Maria
Nate,Ophelia,Philippe,Rita,Stan,Tammy,Vince,Wilma...

the list is endless... and the best of my picks, irene...:-)

so long...
roy

Wither capital punishment.....

14 august 2004, the day when dhananjoy chatterjee gets hanged to death for raping and murdering a teenage girl.. well, this was a controversial case, started in the early nineties.. his mercy plea was rejected by the president and is waiting for death sentence... am not sure about the timing for the execution...mebe, in the wee hrs.. all i can say is that capital punishment is so barbaric and has to be abolished by legislation...

well, the antagonists to capital punishment include well known film maker aparna sen and magsaysay awardee mahasweta devi.... anyways, the president had a tough decision to make and he did indeed make a choice...

the man did commit a heinous crime and it has been proved. but it is not fair to kill a man just because he killed somebody... we really do not have the right to take away the lives of fellow beings.. that extra wisdom.... thats where man raise above the rest of the animal
kingdom... a life sentence would have been more justifiable.... am hoping the legislation would change for better:-)

so long
roy

The sole winner in Athens Olympics!!

came across this truly inspiring news while reading through the morning newspaper today.. 16 year old Dana Nasarella will represent Kuwaiti Women in Athens Olympics.. she is the first woman athlete representing her country.. kuwait is slowy yielding to the liberals, thrashing the fundamentalists' intransigence on various issues.. women enjoy more freedom in the society these days, barring the right to vote of couse... coming to Dana... she will compete in 100 M sprint.. the fact that she is nowhere near world standards', clocking a mediocre 13+ sec, is not going to be a deterrent.. and am sure she will finish last in the very first heats itself.. but thats a different story... it is the spirit of participation and the taste of freedom!! nothing else matters... way to go dana...

so long
roy

India in Olympics...

hey.. time to watch out for those breath taking moments when indian members compete in a handful of items (as ever..) in the Athens Olympics... well, here is my take on India's would be achievements..

athletics, the 4x400m relay squad with beenamol in the lead has a slim chance to barge into the semi finals.. the US team looks formidable in this exciting event..

anju boby george, if she can keep up the tempo and raise her performance level under severe pressure, she would end up with a bronze... and there is no doubt about her entry into the finals..

binu is not game enough for 400 mtrs race.. not world class to say the least.. india's shooting team led by Sunny Thomas is a cool squad!! we might end up with a couple medals from the shooting events...

leander and mahesh would bring a coveted Gold from the venerable olympic venue... reasons enough to celebrate for the indian contingency??

so long...
roy

Snapshots from Hell!!

I knew that this book is famous.. And got a chance to grab a copy during last weekend.. I was not disappointed either. A wonderful creation by Peter Robinson. A must read for all BSchool aspirants I would say... I was captivated... Didn't even close the book once I started reading... Lay your hands on this book... A must read indeed.....

so long
roy

The CAT Game...

Belling a CAT doesn't come easy, especially when it refers to the entrance exam to the venerable Indian Institutes of Management... And this is going to be my second shot at that monster of all exams.. Have joined TIME's test series... And the first of the series started yesterday, 01 August.. The test was easy by all means.. Did pretty well in English, as I always do.. But messed up maths and Di.. miles to go before i sleep... DI needs lots of practice... have decided to try atleast one set a day..

Today we had a buffet lunch at hotel Mascot, KTDC's flag hotel in the city.. the menu was fabulous... our relatives, who are NRIs based in UK, pretty much enjoyed the food.. sudesh has even decided to stay there for a couple days... and am back to office at 4:00 PM...

Sabbatical!!

I was away on a sabbatical, for almost two months.. this blogging thingie never came up in my mind. been busy with office work, plus the usual burdens of house hold chores.. of late, the work pressure has been tremendously high... guess, the Bschool rule (8:59:59) could be applied at my work place, albeit on a lighter scale.. guess what, we are a wonderful bunch of guys at work.. and no gals there:-)... maybe, that adds to the stress of my colleagues?? most of them are bachelors!!

again, on the personal front, ambili had to forgo her job to look after the kids.. the old lady, who used to take care of the kids, left all on a sudden, citing some weird personal reasons... and the kids ended up on their mother's lap... but, i know, ambili always wanted to work.. she loves to have a job, an income of her own.. financially independent... etc.. maybe, it is only a question of time before she got the job she always wanted to have....

and it slipped my mind... CAT is three months away... shorter than that... gotta be in full steam from now on.. TIME Mocks start tomorrow.. and am at office, blogging away my leisures..

so long
roy