Is Rape offence pardonable ?

NO.....For many years now I have been reading news papers and coming across innumerous columns about "Rape" cases, many including elderly men taking advantage of girls who dont even know what is being done to them.Whenever I read about these kind of news I am ashamed to be categorized with these individuals as humans and I conclude they are not humans.

We were having a discussion on this topic at office and one thing I realized all of us agreed that these cases should be dealt at the earliest and the only sentence for such an act should be death sentence. Even the death sentence is not going to provide any relief to the victim who had to go through an ordeal which I as a "man" will never be able to comprehend.

But atleast it will send out the right message to these "animals" that if you are found guilty, no pardons, no appeals, straight death sentence.

Many Human Rights people may not agree with me but honestly I dont care. To me Rapists are nothing more than pests and as we do with all pests, terminate them before they mulitply.

The Age of Notworking...oops..Networking.

Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Hi5 are just few of the names that come immediately to my mind when I think about networking. Its amazing how with the advent of mobile phones and all these amazing sites people are always hooked and connected. Networking takes priority over many f daily needs or rather we push our daily need till a point we cant have a control just to continue our networking.

Today when I look at kids in 7th-10th grade or even college, I just am unable to figure out if I had more fun or they are having more fun. I guess the answer is not straight-forward.
Today there are times when I have observed that individuals who are busy networking don't get time to network at home. While they "Net"work the only thing they do for their families and themselves is "Not"work.

Well Am I saying its a bad thing? Absolutely Not !! Right from being a kid I have learnt "All good things in measured quantity". I am too addicted to networking cause I like to know what my family &friends are doing once in a while, see their pics and also share mine with them, also vent out my frustration in my statuses.

But today looking around myself I kind of get the feeling we are reaching the "age of networking" and "notworking".

Kotchi Kotchi Karte ho..Tharoor koi baat hai...

Ok..So Tharoor resigned.. Sweat stakes were returned..blah blah....I guess that was the intention behind revealing the names of stakeholders on Twitter....

Round 1 - Lalit Modi

Now that the tip of iceberg has been just seen more will be follow and to do that the IT sleuths may have to do as was said in the movie "All the Presidents Men" ....just "Follow the money"

From the whole incident one thing is for sure...while the men in the middle "sweat it out or fight it out" the men behind the scenes "milk it out"

Using Airtel Blackberry As Modem

I am sure there are many people like me who are trying to use their Blackberry on Airtel Connection as modem (data-card) to browse on their laptops. The sad part is when you call 7070 (tech support), they say they do not provide support for the same.

So after lot of googling, researching, trial and error on this topic, I have successfully managed to connect my Blackberry to use it as a modem and browse internet (especially since I am on the unlimited plan).

So how does it work? Here are the steps

1) Please see that you have the Desktop Software is installed
2) Go to Control Panel --> Click on Phone and Modem Options
3) Click on Modem tab and you should see a Standard modem.
This gets installed along with your blackberry desktop software. If not there, you can download the modem driver from the blackberry website ( But it surely comes with package)
4) Select Standard Modem and select properties
5) A new window for Standard Modem will open
6) Click on the Diagnostics Tab and click on the Query tab, you shall get something like this

ATQ0V1E0 - OK
AT+GMM - BlackBerry IP Modem
AT+FCLASS=? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT#CLS=? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT+GCI? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT+GCI=? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED

ATI1 - Research In Motion

BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI2 - Research in Motion BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI3 - Research in Motion BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI4 - Research in Motion BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI5 - Research in Motion BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI6 - Research in Motion BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI7 - Research in Motion BlackBerry IP Modem

7) Click on the Advanced Tab and enter the following extra initialization command
+cgdcont=1,"IP","airtelgprs.com",0,0

8) Click OK and close the window
9) Now go to Network Connections (in Control Panel or also in start-up window)
10) Click on "Create New connection" and then
- Select connect to the internet, click on Next
- Select Setup My connection manually", Click on Next
- Select "connect using a dial-up modem", Click Next
- Select "Modem - Standard model" ONLY, Click on Next
- In the name enter the name of your choic e.g."Blackberry Dial-up"
- Enter *99# as phone Number to dial, click next
- Select "Anyone's use", Click on Next
- For Internet account information leave everything empty (user name,password) ,
- Uncheck the 2 options, click next
- Check the "add a shortcut"(If you want the connection shortcut on Desktop),
- Finally Click ON FINISH

Now to connect
- Connect your Berry to the laptop and run the Desktop Software. THIS IS REQUIRED
- click on you new connection and dial and you should be connected and you can browse.
- On the blackberry you should see "Modem Mode Enabled"

Well hope this helps. HAPPY BROWSING :)

Are we Satyam in our dealings?

Recently Satyam (Satyam by the way means True, Truth) has got itself a sure spot in all newspapers, online news lines due to the recent confession by the ex-CEO Raju. The dirty laundry is coming out quick and heavy and has become point of conversation for almost every house whether or not they are directly affected. Everyday we hear SEBI statements and how all auditors who could not ( or probably chose to not) prevent the scam to reach such proportions are coming under the scanner.
Even in my home my brother and me have had numerous discussions around this and other issues which are hitting the IT industry, probably because both of us hail from the same industry.

But what Raju had done on a big level I have in my 8 years experience seen employees, colleagues, friends ,senior management and even sometimes parents doing at smaller levels? For example, I remember when I was relocating the guy from movers and packers asking me "Sir, kitne ka bill doon? " I was surprised and told him to give me the bill according to what I was suppose to pay him for the services. Then he explained that professionals like me used to ask him to give the bills close to their maximum limit provided by company and they would give him and extra 1000 Rs more than the actual charges for doing so.

Every IT professional as a part of growing up understands the importance of honesty and integrity and infact from time to time it is professed by their companies but yet for a mere 10-15 K or even less they let their ethics go for a toss. And these individuals are like a virus because they soon start rubbing this onto other individuals who are still considering if this kind of practice is ethical or not. And one of the most convincing theories that I have heard at all levels in industry is "Company makes so much profit on us and gives us peanuts". Individuals convince themselves that actually what they are doing is justified and does not fall in the purview of ethics.

Once this happens these things start happening regularly. It is sad and deplorable what Raju and few of his associate have done but one thing you have to give to Raju that he had the courage to tell the truth. Maybe he was forced by his situations, but yet he did. Many in such situations would have taken the extreme path especially in the Indian way of thinking. But my question is do we as individuals every think on our dealings. How we have progressed as individuals, living a lavish life style and yet not 100% honest in our dealings.

In early days the money was less, the struggle was more but the ethics were stronger. Today as the educated youth embarks on his/her journey to gain popularity, wealth and admiration from near and dear ones, they start losing their moral self. Not all but most according to my 8 years experience. Its high time we start looking into ourselves and start treating all our personal and professing dealings ethically because if we don't, today when we are just software engineers we can convince ourselves that our unethical wrong doing are justified and tomorrow when we turn out to be leaders of organization and families, we will impart the same unethical practices justifying them as ethical. And one day when it reaches the peak and we are exposed and embarrassed in front of the entire world and then we will sit at some corner hidden from the world questioning ourselves

"Was I Satyam in my dealings?

Wonder if Arjun could have done this

=

Michael Johnson - struck by BOLT !!!

Watch Michael Johnson's reaction to Usain Bolt's winning time at Beijing. Its amazing !!! Wonder what would the record would have been had Bolt celebrated after crossing over the line...

From Round to Right !!!

After eating an awesome chicken sizzler with team, and being called "expanded" in different styles and languages, I have decided to write a quick blog on my newest resolution of getting from the round shape to the right shape.


The ask is difficult and let me tell you....I just love to eat...ice-cream, chicken and almost all things that contribute a human to attain the designation called "obese"

As of today I have set a target where I shall in next 6 months reach from 39-40 diameter to at least 36 diameter.. Difficult it is, but what the heck, challenge is to attain the difficult target.

In case I am successful to do so, in 6 months I shall post a successful blog with a before and after image of mine and if not, this blog should be considered a rush of blood in the mind and heart; which my stomach overcame along with the support of my taste bud.

Why will I remember 14-Feb-2008 ?

14th February, all around the world marks an occasion for the cupid to play games but for me this year i.e. 2008 it marks as the day where I got up in the morning and did not have to get ready to go to work. A day where I was "jobless" because a day back I bid farewell to my first job. So how does one feel when you have worked in an organization for 7 years and then you decide to "move on". I don't know about others but I surely had a sinking feeling, a feeling of losing my comfort zone, my domain which I had earned all these years working post my graduation.

When I returned my badge, I felt very weird and like in the movies, when a person with lost memory, regains his past, my 7 years flashed in front of me. I remembered my first day when I entered into one of the most beautiful campuses and felt proud to be part of one of the top IT companies in India, rememberedthe fun that I had with friend duing my training period, my countless night-outs (not in clubs partying but in front of the computer debugging code), remembered my awards and achievements, my trip to Taiwan, US and so on.

At the same time today, I am feeling anxious, excited and happy. Anxious because in a day's time I will be moving into my new job, Excited because of the new learnings, challenges and opportunites that await me and happy because I have moved back to Mumbai,the place where I spent my life till I had to leave it for my first job.

On my blog, I would like to thank all my friends, colleagues well-wishers in my first job who have helped me to grow as an individual in this world, both professionally and personally and would like to end this post with Robert Frost's lines (needless to say my favorite lines)


"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep"

Relocation within India- Useful info

Hi All,

I am currently going through a painful experience of relocating from Bangalore to Mumbai. Now there are few things that, if you are relocating for the first time you should be aware of. If you do not have a vehicle (car/bike) for transportation then the relocation gets more easy.

Well in case you have a car/bike following are things you need to ensure when relocating within India:
- Get NOC ( No Objecting certicate) for the vehicle which wish to transfer from the current RTO where the vehicle is registered and state tax paid.
- For that you need to furnish the information of the RTO where the vehicle will be transferred to.
- If the vehicle is more than a year old be sure the emission test are done and the insurance is renewed as they are required for the NOC to be done
- If the vehcile is under hypothecation, then you need to get the hypothecation cancelled before you apply for the transfer or get an NOC from the organization on whose name the hypothecation is done. I will always suggest the former one but may vary from situation to situation
- For transporation within India you can use the services of any interstate transportation. www.transportmart.com is useful as it has list of all the mover& packers also list of people who provide vehicle transportation. Typically for a small car like Santro, Wagon-R and Bike like Splendor, Wind 125 combined the total transportation cost between Bangalore and Mumbai will be around 6500 INR.
- Once your vehicle reaches the new place where you are going to reside than you need to pay the life time tax (LTT) for the state or you can pay a yearly short term tax, in case you are going to relocate again.
- Once the LTT is paid in for the new state, than you need to furnish details at the RTO which will be sent to the old RTO where the vehicle was registered which will reimburse your LTT paid in their state ( This will be subject to deduction for the amount of time vehicle resided in the old state).

In addition one month before you date of moving
- Make a checklist of things you need to do
- Get all your bank/credit card information updated with your new address or the c/o address.
- See that all your outstanding dues are completed for landline, Internet and also the utilities.
- In case you are going through a mid-month cycle, see to it that in all your electric bills, gas bill you have a little higher amount paid than the previous bill depending on your usage which will even out once the new bills come in post your leaving the place.
- Plan your packing and moving so that its not a rush when the deadline approaches.

Well rest all is common sense and may wary from person to person.

Some useful websites
Transportation - http://www.transportmart.com/
Bangalore RTO - http://rto.kar.nic.in/
Q&A on interstate vehicle transfer : http://www.indiacar.com/askanexpert/drpasricha_ans.asp

Hope this information is useful and Happy Relocating !!!!

Australia won at Sydney...with 14 players !!

The headlines does not tell you that it was the expected result but it was a decided result by the match umpires and referees. It was interesting to see Michael Slater saying that the Indians should move on. Let me tell you simply, had the number of atrocious decision that went against India, gone againts the Oz, they would have shown their true colors, that would include all the "be brave" former players and also the media.

In my memory never have so many decision gone against a single team. This is one of the most forgetful matches for the simple reason it was not won by a team, or lost by another but it was ruined by the 3 jokers. Its high time the umpires are fined and suspended if they alter the outcome of a match so badly. Mr Bucknor, who with a straight face maintains an internal grudge with Indian team, please go ahead and retire. Mr Benson, please go back to umpiring for school matches till you understand that the referral is taken from the fellow umpire and then the third umpire, and certainly not with Mr Ponting and Mr Clarke who will not walk even if the ball goes to the first slip.

The BCCI should get into the act and get some action against the referees, because its too taxing for the cricket lovers to witness a good game being spoilt by bad umpiring.

As for the Indian team good going guys. I believe this was a great match which the entire team played against the 14 players on the field. Tendulkar, congratulations on your century and Kumble, you are true fighter.

Bhajji, Australian team at times are sore losers, so if they cannot get you out, they play mind games. They instigate you and then put some rubbish claims. I have seen Mcgrath and Shane Warne saying worse things and getting scot free.

All in all, an interesting test match, but an un-even match as 11 players of Indian team had to battle it with the 14 of Australian team.

Happy New Year - with a video

Happy New Year to the folks visiting my blog. Starting this new year with an advertisement which I really like from the "Lead India" TV series.

The Art of changing clothes

The "Rock" Show

Each of us comes across incidents which we think over and just can't stop laughing. I have many such incidents which I remember but the one that stands out happened during my first year engineering.

Our college till that time had not had single "Rock show" which was surprising as other college's in Bombay used to always host such a mega event. The reason for that was the authorities of the institute were very conservative and of the opinion that "Rock show" play a very strong role in disrupting the smooth functioning of the college.

During those time we had a cultural department which used to take care of the activities. So the representatives of the of the cultural committee gathered courage and went with a lot of skepticism to ask the Head of Department the permission for the rock show.

Here are how the events turned out

Representative of CC - "Sirr..uh..we are thinking of hosting a "ROCK SHOW" in December"

A gulp, followed by a silence of 2 minutes ... the other 3 members trying to think now we are going to be blasted


HOD - Hmm..that's a good thought..

A sudden surge of blood filled with happiness and surprise flows across and then comes the statement that has lived life long with most of the students of the college

HOD - Few of the "Rocks" you can use from the Geological department and but where will you get the other rocks for the show
Then iit was extremely difficult to manage a straight face, but with all the courage we looked at each other, asked for more time for research, left his room and burst into a stomach aching fit of laughter.
That incident stands out as the most humorous incident of my life and has always been a topic to share a laugh whenever we friends meet.

Well all said and done what is a life when there is no humor in life ;)

For you..A thousand times over

Dearest Khaled Hosseini,

I write this letter to you to thank for one the most soul touching and incredible work of fiction I have read in recent times. I had bought this book two days back from my office book store and two days after it I have finished reading it. The thing about this book that led me to read it in two days straight was not that it was thriller, or was literature rich book, but for the simple fact that my soul kept stirring, my eyes getting moist, my minds trying to picture the changing picture of Afghanistan, where I have never been.

All the characters that you depicted were just so realistic and in the end I just could not decide whether Amir, Hassan, Rahim, Suraya, General or Baba I liked the most but for sure I did like all of them as each of them in some parts of the story represented me, a human. One thing for sure, I did hate Assef from the beginning. Your writing made me hate him and in reality I am sure I do hate such people. The tears that moistened my eyes are a tribute to your writing because, I feel so different after reading this book, I feel that around the world there are people, children who suffer enormous and do not lose the humane personality and people like me whom the Almighty has granted most of my wishes and has not even given 1/20 of the pain of suffering that Sohrab or for that matter Hassan went through and yet happiness eludes me.

There is so much to write to you about the bonding that you showed between Hassan and Amir, Baba and Ali, Baba and Amir and all the other characters but when it come to writing I wish I had a small percent of your skill.

To me your work of fiction is more real than any current affair book I must have read in recent times.

In the end if somebody asks me would I recommend this book I would want to answer
" For your writing.. A thousand times over"

Tashakor,
Sajid

Award winning UNICEF ads

I got this interesting forward which featured the award winning UNICEF ads. I really liked them and wanted to share with everyone who visits my blog.

Hope you all like them


This one is on "Women Equality"



This is one is the best of the ones I saw which brings forth the "Save animals" theme.



The below to convey a very good message for "Safe Driving".




Indeed some very smart brains came up with this witty and thought-provoking ads. Congrats to all the minds behind these excellent final messages :)

Why I dont want to move again?

Its been a year since I moved to New Jersey for my work and in two days I will be shifting back to India. The excitement of leaving for India has been totally setback by the month long moving activities that a person needs to do. Of all the activities, the most taxing one is "Packing" for the Air-travel.

The thing that I hate about packing is the limitation of luggage one can carry ( within free limits) and the limitation of human-beings ( including me) to give away stuff or leave behind stuff. And as the image suggests I am a victim of my own administration as I should have seen this coming and administered it accordingly.

Well, I am still struggling to get the right combination of things I need to carry and things I need to give-away and the clock is ticking but hopefully, the mix will be met and I wont have to go through the embarrassment of moving luggage at the airport due to weight restrictions.

But one things for sure, if I have my way, I do not think I want to make short one year- two year trips any more.

After this ordeal the best thing that awaits me is that I am back to my home-country where I feel at total ease and comfort.

Well, hopefully my next blog will be when I will have settled back in India :)

VISA Power

Great advertisement !!!

What a waste of iPhone !!

The Google effect

I read this article on MSNBC which talked about Yahoo CEO Semel stepping down and I thought for a moment what Google effect is doing to big corporations. Lets see who gets the axe next as a part of this effect.