"Time Please" :)

"Time" is the most valuable of all things that you are blessed with. With "Time" anything can happen. Alas! I always realize its value really late. This realization pops up in the high time that too and fades of with time eventually.

However, the realization this time is really pressing one. So many things, mountains of tasks, multitude of desires and millions of plans pending to be done and all of a sudden there is a timer that has come up. Until the moment the timer started off I was not bothered with a deadline for all the lovely plans that I had made for myself. With the timer set in action, there is a twirl of restlessness that has arouse.

With a titanic change in pipeline, it feels like time is passing like running water. Chaos, restlessness, dilemma and the sweet simple urge to stop the moment and live it to fullest fulfilling all my sweet desires and plans is what runs through the mind non stop. I wish my sweet little brain gets some time to accept the impending change and adapt to it.

This feeling is all due to one big weakness called "Procrastination". I have realized this way that no wish, desire or plan should be left undone for long, "Do what you love and love what you do", no matter what effort, time and resource it takes. Activities should never be left to be done in future. Make out time out of your so called hectic schedule for all the long desired interests and wishes. Else they'll stay undone for ever. Get them done, live the moment and relish the little experiences in life. These are what make "Golden memories".

A Child's Play

Being a child was so much fun. Life those days was ruled by one's one wishes. Tantrums and naughty acts filled the canvass of life those days with a multitude of emotions and joy. Now, when years have rolled over and one can no longer be called "child", memories of those days still flash now and again. With time and age, come up responsibilities, commitments and restrictions. Time that was once surplus is the most precious one these days.

However, the monotonous lifestyle rips off the joy and pleasure over time. One needs to be active, engaging and creative to feel the essence of life. There is great difference between existing and living. People have been saying "Live life to the fullest!". But, in the chase of success, achievements, career and all worldly possessions, people forget to live their very own life. People can't afford to find leisure and relaxation. Every moment passed is accounted and comes with expectation of being spent productively.

Moments are no longer spent for joy and peace. Hobbies and activities have rusted in the attic. Life of this sort would deprive one of true happiness and enjoyment. There has to be a perfect delicate balance among the various priorities in one's life. Hobbies and recreation should be followed with interest and continues sans expectations of any achievement out of it. Else, it won't count as a hobby!

Painting would have been every child's favorite pastime. It is said to improve your creativity, enhance patience and refresh nervous coordination. Still, people despite of liking it, don't make it a point to spend even some time for it. With all the regret of seeing myself turn my life into a monotonous mechanical one, I decided to spend some time having fun and tried my hand at painting after a really long time. This left me with a painting that looks just like a "Child's play".

True joy of commitment

I still remember my first day in VMS CDN, when I joined as a fresher, oblivious of corporate life and responsibilities. Yet I had a belief that I am on my way to acquainting knowledge and new friends.

First steps

It felt great to be out of the college cocoon and to work on a real project. I was excited about working on a really interesting concept of data delivery and services.  The fact that I could learn how the giant World Wide Web and its services work made me more excited about VMS. Still I had a concern about working with new people, getting acquainted to corporate processes and all those thoughts that haunt every fresher.

Auld langsyne

The first few days at VMS CDN are really memorable. It was a detrimental phase which changed the way we lived. Days were no more defined by lectures and breaks, instead we started getting used to several coding and process related tools. Enthusiasm was high among the team members, everyone was eager to make a head start with VMS. From managers to Technical lead and SSEs to freshers, everyone felt a sense of commitment towards the team.  Mentoring plans were framed to initiate knowledge transfer among the team members. It was great to see how availing the team members were when it came to helping each other with knowledge and competency improvement. The company of such dedicated and adjuvant team mates contributed towards the building of a warm team atmosphere.  At the same time there was a surge of motivation among the team members to contribute their best, which in turn encouraged other member to do their best for the team too.

Magic of working together

Just like everyone else, I hate solitude and love to be accompanied. Thanks to Agile, it helped to keep solitude aloof through “Pair programming”.  Being an Agile team, pair programming was put through in VMS. This really worked wonders for the deliverable as well as for the team members. With pair programming there was no room for un-clarified assumptions and knowledge gap. It was planned that freshers would be paired up with the senior members of the team so as to familiarize the fresh members of the process, the domain knowledge and all the strings that come attached.  It was only through pair programming that we could gain more knowledge about the domain, listen to expert advice, learn from each other’s experiences and gain hands on knowledge on the tools that help in crafting high quality deliverable  Apart from improving the team competency and deliverable quality, pair programming helped sew up a strong bond among the team members, who now started spending the most time with each other. This thrashed up all communication gaps and crafted a strong team.

Yes you can!

Doesn't it feel good when your team shows belief in you and stays by your side during every phase that you go through? Such was the feel that the VMS members had for each other. It was great to see the way senior members vested their faith on fresh talent, encouraged them so as to bring out the best.  Contributions and innovations like CI compliance melioration, CI effectiveness were all the result of support and encouragement provided to the stakeholders. Effort and dedication never went unperceived. Team members were awarded and recognized for their achievements through several means including iteration level awards and honor boards thereby building up the team morale.

Coalesce of Work and frolic

As we know “All work and no play does make a team dull”, play and work were blended together in VMS. Dart, Carom and many more games were brought in to enlighten the team. These games had a refreshing effect on the team. Amidst strenuous discussions on efficient algorithm design and developments, a small game helped refresh ones thoughts and come up with better solutions with ease. Moreover amiability and cohesion among the team increased many folds through these games.

Scope for competency improvement

There were ample opportunities to improve ones competency through the numerous trainings that were organized. Knowledge sharing sessions on the project proved beneficial to understand the real time usage of the developed products.  The CI issues found and resolved by the team were also sent across so as to help others resolve the same with ease.

Happy to help!

It is worth mentioning that the helping tendency of the team members has contributed to the team’s achievement as a whole. No matter what the situation, one could always seek help from the team members.  The generous attitude of people to spend time on solving each other’s issues and clarifying doubts, even amidst hectic release schedules is admirable. Harmonious relation and interaction between the test team and the development team resulted in high quality deliverables.

Nostalgic School Days!

Schooling seems the most difficult phase as a kid but as we grow up, we wake up to the realization that those were the most effortless days in one's life. One's schooling plays a detrimental role in molding their attitude. For most of you schooling would be the most carefree phase. I always cherish my schooling memories as those were the days when I did every silly thing that came to my mind.

I was lucky to be in the same school for over ten years and hence school was my second home. Knowing almost all your school mates and teachers personally makes you feel at home. Being one of the most notorious kids and yet being loved for your notorious acts makes you feel gratified towards the people around you. It was during those days that I found my best friends for life. Friends with whom I grew up, who were partners in all the silly crimes I committed and who were always there for me to rely upon.

Our school was really liberal and hence was very notorious too. With less of punishments and more of fun,we could learn things the fun way. Thanks to our teachers who made learning fun by coming up with all innovative ways to impart knowledge. There was less of reading and more of listening. English classes were the best for each of us used to feel bad when it ended and that was the only class for which we used to wait with super excitement. Writing surprise articles, playing skits, listening and comprehending to tapes and even recording our own radio show were some of the things we used to in our English classes. The thought of those things excites me to relive all those days again. There used to be group article and debating contests during English classes where we used to feel the spirit as we had to compete against the haughty boys of our class. Despite all those tiffs there was great unity when we had to compete against other classes. All the plans and plots that were done to ensure that just our class wins were awesome.

Troubling class mates, teachers and even principal of our school made those days much more exciting. Things never took the serious turn as even the school administration was quite happy go lucky. Most of the times even they used to have fun in all our notorious acts and ended up just warning us with a sweet smile. Over the years, the experience we had was priceless. Learning things the fun way and being full of the joys of spring was just amazing. The friends I made those days are my best friends for life. Knowing one another for more than a decade, growing up together, committing all silly crimes and having similar interests builds the strongest bonds.  Those were the days. Full of fun, frolic and education, those days make us feel nostalgic forever.

Expressions

Expressions are magical
But never just surreal.

You get what you see
and reflect what you feel.

Ever sheer with lucidity,
yet at times shoddy.

There is smoke,
There is mirror.

Its what you perceive
and its what you give!

Iktara :)

It was yet another day at work, hectic yet satisfying day. Sauntering down idly while waiting for the very dedicated security guy to arrange for my cab, I decided to set some music into my ears. As soon as the lovely instrumental music of iktara from Wake up sid started off, I found myself nostalgic.

“Orey manva tu to bavra hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre

Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte....”

As the lovely song played, I could see myself down memory lane, memories and moments running down my mind. I realized the "change" around me and inside me in the past three years. These have been the most happening days of my life, I could feel the very first day when I stepped into this all new city, yet found it so amicable. New relationships blossomed and it felt wonderful to find great friends among total strangers.

Carried away by the song, I browsed through the pictures clicked with my phone and I could feel the change in the past few years. People, situations, relationships and thoughts have changed. I said to myself "Change is good"! Thoughts on how much change one can bring to one's own life was overwhelming. Life is all about doing the right things, yet things do go wrong at times. The essence is learning from events and adapting oneself.

Live the moment and never regret! Its all about being consent. Cherish moments and relationships, they truly add color to one's monochrome life. I felt all thankful to this wonderful song from Wake up sid for arousing in me the sweet realization of the precious moments in life! Iktara :)

and it goes on....

“Orey manva tu to bavra hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre

Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

(Nainon ko moond moond)

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

Kaise main chaloon, dekh na sakoon

Anjaane raastein

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Dheeme bole koi iktara iktara, dheeme bole koi iktara

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Sun rahi hoon sudh budh khoke koi main kahani

Poori kahani hai kya kise hai pata

Main to kisiki hoke yeh bhi na jaani

Ruth hai ye do pal ki ya rehgi sada

(kise hai pata… kise hai pata)

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

(Nainon ko moond moond)

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

Kaise main chaloon, dekh na sakoon

Anjaane raastein

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Dheeme bole koi iktara iktara, dheeme bole koi iktara

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara..”

Black and White!

They are contrary but are considered a clan and often spotted not much without each other. Interestingly this metaphor applies to human nature too. Human nature is rather very bewildering when analyzed with pessimism. Look at it with optimistic glasses and you'll find them relatively frank and apprehensible. No one is perfect and yes I have learnt it much.

I love analyzing people around me and used to have the habit of categorizing people as either bad or good :P. Yes, I know, whats on your mind now. But I am no longer the same. I am a bit matured now, when it comes to human psychology :). Bliss! Nevertheless perfect too. Analyzing people is pretty much a great experience. You get to know the constructive and destructive qualities. I have known people who love to put up a notorious cloak and talk about their mischief, yet strange but true, they'll be the first to help out a person in trouble, with a clean heart lacking any hidden intentions. Then again we have the so called "goody-goody" clan who never wait to think about ways to project their virtues and yet don't miss an opportunity to bad mouth others to depict their superiority over the rest. These superficial characters are hard to decipher but once you get to taste their medicine you will never fall for their ill plots. You can never feel aura with these people, instead there will alwyas be an air of hostility haunting you when you are around them. Don't be dejected, its not just you or me who have seen people of this sort, instead they exist everywhere. Whats life without a pinch of salt? Learn to handle them tactfully with a humorous attitude. Let them know not to take you for granted.

Hopefully there exist openhearted people too who have still kept humanity alive in our community. Support them and make them feel great for the virtues they hold. Yet again people are not perfect. These cherubs may come with their share of not so appreciable qualities. But still it can be assured that such characteristics will never be a threat to the well-being of others. Though imperfect they will always lend a helping hand when you so much look forward to it. Unlike the so called "goody-goody" one's who get lost somewhere when people look forward for help.

Learn to have an optimistic look. Life is not to make use of others. It is to understand and be supportive to others. There may be a joy of pride in pointing-fingers at others, but it deprives you of the self respect that is very much important for pride. Take people as they are. Don't trust anyone blindly with the way they project themselves, a good mould need not always have a safe shadow. Adding to this, a so called bad egg need not have skeleton in the closet. Good is not really good and bad is not totally bad. Trust the true sense of a person. It is hard to uncover, but once discovered will give you an eternal bliss irrespective of what the discovery was. Trust none blindly and don't judge a person by how they behave with you during the rosy days. This will give you a great outlook on the people around you and save you from falling prey to the plots of evil attitude. Everything is just black and white!

Its all a gimmick

Years down with memories infinite

Wrapping bonds that no spider can weave

Time fades but moments engrave

You find yourself bonded beyond your sense.

Happiness is now being with your bonds

Its not what you made, but its where you grew,

The folks who saw your naiveness as a child

Your care as a kin and forfeits as a kith.

But they vanish time out of mind

It is just auld langsyne that existed

For none but yourself

Those were bonds that were just non enduring.

Its all a gimmick

All because it was sans trust and sans faith

Was bond that was never expected and wished for

Over the time they dont exist instead they hurt

Hurt with criticism and infidelity

Its then you realize it was all a gimmick!

Joy of achievement

No matter what you do,

No matter how you do,

If you succeed,

There's no big deal,

But when you do what you love,

You feel true joy

Sometimes in life,

You can't do what you like,

Still you can try to like

what you do,

But still you'll be gleeful,

when you do what you really love.

But not all are lucky

to do what they love,

Still there's joy,

In hoping to achieve

the distant dream

to be fulfilled

in near future

So try to love what you do,

Still hold on to what you really love,

There'll be a day when you can do,

what you really want to do,

Still try to be the best,

at whatever you do,

who knows you'll like,

things when you feel the sense of achievement..

Taj - The Coastal Queen

They came from the sea,
Like Mermaids whom no one sees,
They were all set to hurt the queen,
The queen of all hotels,
The serene Taj!

They were just some guests,
But were loaded with terror for the rest.
Terror engulfed the heritage,
De-voiding it of its tranquility,
Arousing in it all fears.

It was our coastal castle,
A home away from home.
At the sight of it,
My heart smiled,
But now i was seeing it cry.

Gun shots and grenades echoed,
Fire blazed high in the air above.
The Queen was still alive,
Calm amidst all hue and cry.
She was Taj! Our beloved Taj!


Wasabi and Golden Dragon,
the beautiful eyes of queen,
Were blinded with shots,
The queens elegance was slowly killed,
But still the queens heart still lived.

The Queens crown,
The heritage dome,
was burning like Rome,
While its bejeweled interiors,
were now left with burns and scars.

Pigeons were scared away,
never seen singing for the queen anymore,
the queen stood crying at its fellowmen's death,
and saw warriors shed blood to save her,
Staying mute with all the pain.

It was an attack to divide us,
An attack to kill the queen,
But the queen lived,
So did we,
Having gained the lost unity.

Patriotism bubbled,
Riots vanished,
Unity came up,
And the queen tried to cope up.
Long Live Taj, Our coastal Queen.

The Magic Of Positive Energy

Ever wondered how you would have been if your thoughts were different from what you possess? Just imagine how your life would have been if you had thoughts contrary to what you have. The answer for me is and I guess for most of us would be that our life not be the same. It would just be totally a turnaround. So we realize that our thoughts play a prime role in deciding our lives. It is our thought that decides what we turn out into and what we are.

Our thoughts can be either positive or negative. In my case formerly it was totally negative. I always looked at the negative side of every event. I had a blind faith that i may depress myself by expecting any positive result, in the event that my expectation goes unfulfilled. But eventually, I started feeling that I am running out of hopes. I am running out of wishes. Then i thought, why should I stop wishing just considering, the fear of my wish staying unfulfilled. It made me feel that there is no life without wishes and expectations. Expectations and wishes are the roads to improvement. Only by expecting and dreaming, we will try to change our lives and ameliorate ourselves. In simple words, I started gaining positive energy since then.

One of my friends’ words on positive energy played a vital role in bringing about positivity inside me. This friend of mine always talked about positive energy and suggested me to read the book "Secret - The Law of Attraction" by Rhonda Byrene. Initially I was reluctant to think about positive energy and positivity. But slowly when I realised that I as lacking positive energy, I started reading the book. To be honest, I was totally moved by it. It gave a whole new meaning to life. I started feeling how drastically positivity can change our lives.

After talking so much about positive energy, I would like to tell what positive energy really is. In simple words, it is just looking at the brighter side of everything. It is about having a good hope and the feeling that everything happens for good. Now just think how many times have you failed in your life? Once? twice? or countless times? And what have you learnt from your failures? The reason for the failure and how it can be avoided in future, or have you gained the fear of failures and wishes. If the answer is latter, then it means you lack positive energy. So one has to break the binds of fear and start living with hopes. On should realize the fact that success always comes after failures.

To accompany my stand on success and failures, I would like to bring to your notice the success story of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was just an ordinary person like all of except that he lived with extraordinary dreams. Right from his childhood he had been struggling hard to survive. As a child, his mother had put him up for adoption, and later he was adopted by a mediocre couple. As he grew up, he eventually joined a reputed college whose fees were too high for his parents to afford. Amidst such financial troubles, Steve tried hard to make a living. He could not even afford for a square meal. So he used to visit the Hare Rama Hare Krishna temple to take the benefit of the free meals provided there. Ultimately one day Steve just dropped out of college, owing to his financial problems and just joined simple free calligraphy classes for fun. Through those classes he learnt the magic of fonts and all their technicalities. Slowly, Steve started working on his skills and one day came out with the Mac. Mac was a great success. He incorporated the calligraphy skills that he had been acquainted with and created a milestone in the history of computers, “Fonts”. Just wonder if, Steve had not dropped out of college, would we have had the wonderful fonts we enjoy these days? Steve struggle dint end just with the success of Mac. He had much more to experience. Apple, the company founded by Steve, fired Steve one day. It was a blot from the blue for Steve. But the challenging spirit of Steve, made him start new ventures and finally he got his control on Apple again. Today, he is the messiah who has given us out of the box gadgets like iPod and iPhone, that will never be called just an mp3 player or a yet another mobile phone. In an interview Steve Jobs had quoted

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.”

So friends, I would like to conclude that every one of us, has to be and need to be positive. Positive energy is the root to success and happiness. After all if we lack positive energy and don’t believe in ourselves, who else will?

Delhi Turns Boggy With Lashing Rain

Indias capital Delhi drenched hard as it rained buckets this noon in Delhi. Waterlogged pits, Flooding roads, Cars turning into ships and uprooted trees were a common scene in Delhi today as Delhi witnessed a 2 Hour Marathon Rain. Traffic was pulled off, trees were uprooted, roads were flooded all owing to the lashing rains in Delhi. As it rained cats and dogs in the capital, the whole city witnessed a halt and all the buzz in the buzzing capital was hushed by the gushing rains.

Mumbai has been witnessing heavy down pour every year, but it is first time that the National Capital has witnessed a maniac rain. Most of the parts in the city were almost flooded in the marathon rain that started at around 2.30 p.m. Delhi received 74 mm of rainfall in just two hours. This heavy downpour brought the day temperature in Delhi down to 22 degrees Celsius.

The whopping rain left severe implications on various aspects of the city. Traffic was jammed up, flights were cancelled, roads waterlooged and low lying areas submereged. All this accounts for the poor civic maintance and the pathetic conditions of essential infrastructure in the Capital. While a Capital should be a role model to the nation with perfect civic implementations, the Delhi civic structure has proved to be stain.

Adding to the trouble was the Delhi Metro construction. The areas under Metro construction have loosened sand and mud already. The lashing rains have worsened the situation in such areas making them unbearable.

Traffic in the city jammed up for hours as roads were flooded with water. The unattended manholes and potholes in several places added to the pain of drivers. Cars and bikes were starnded in the midst of the heavy traffic for hours. Emeregency call lines were set up to bring the traffic under control. Public was advised to enquire the traffic status of concerend areas with the emergency traffic helplines before stepping out of their houses.

With the troubling rains, the city administartion got into troubled water for poor maintance of roads. The administartives started a blame game to get a clean chit for themselves. Authorities said they were helpless and the blame game began between the civic agencies.

Within an hour of the rain, there was chaos on the Delhi roads with reports of waterlogging on several key, arterial stretches, delayed flights, red lights going on the blink and choked drains. Waterlogging complaints were recorded in around 12 areas, trees uprooted in 14 places and traffic messed up almost on every bus road. Even flights out of the national capital were either suspended, rescheduled or cancelled. A portion of the new domestic terminal building was damaged due to the rain and a bit of roof fell down. This has brought to question, the quality of cnstruction in vital places like Terminals that must are expected to be rigid.

All that matters under such situations is the power of public. Public can engage in helping out the starnded ones and take initiatives to clear up the uproooted trees instead of waiting for the municipal authorities to come up and take clearing up actions. Such scenarios bring out the unity among the people of the city and will bring up the true spirit of the city. The Mumbai spirit is worthmention, when it comes to managing crisis like heav rains. Once when it rained buckest of 98 cms in Mumbai, causing, cars and buses to be stranded for more than 8 hours, the kind heart of the public reflected in the helping hand lend to the suffering people. Local people of the nearby areas brought food and water to the passengers who were grid locked in traffic. These actions restore ones faith in humanity and refreshes the commom bond shared by us, the bond of being an "Indian".