R Raghavan

2009-05-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

San Francisco City - A Travel Guide

Recently I visited San Francisco for a weekend Trip. Here is a quick tip guide.

Lets assume you land in San Francisco Airport which is what I did. First lets go through places to go, followed by Getting around modes & finally some Tips

Places To Go in don't miss order :)

1. Golden Gate Bridge

Probably the best of the city is taking a walk across the Gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge. You can get a MUNI Bus to a spot near the bridge n take a walk and/or take a Blue & Gold Bay Cruise on boat. If you have time and want to make the most of it, go for renting a bike that you can use to ride along the bridge to the other side,VISTA point from where you get a better perspective of the City. Bikes are available for Rent near Pier 39.

2. Coit Tower

This is a nice tall pillar like Tower closer to the city from which you get a great view of the City/the Golden Gate & Bay Bridge. You can also catch view of Crookedest Street,Rocket shaped Building etc.

3. Pier 39/Fishermans Wharf

A very popular shore side area with lots of things to do, there is an aquarium around "Aquarium of the bay", nice chocolate shop full of varieties "Giradhelli Chocolate Shop" & lots of other fun activities. The Bay Cruise start from nearby this spot.

4. Alcatrac Jail

The best way to view this place is via Bay Cruise, its a historic Jail with a proper Holywood Movie style feel to it. Probably not worth enough to drop by and take a tour so a boat ride across it should suffice.

5. Exploratorium

Its a science museum, although I didnt get a chance to go inside for a science freak there might be things to keep u interested. The small pond n dome near it are also nice picnic friendly spot.

6.MOMA - Museum of Modern Art

Another interesting spot in downtown is the Modern art museum, Its a well laid out, non clutering type museum full of art, From Sculptures to Photos to Fun Videos this place can keep a museum/art person engaged easily for an hour or two. Even better, its there right in the centre of the downtown. A park opposite to it in the middle of buildings is also a nice place to relax for a moment.

7. Crookedest Street

This is exactly as the name suggest. Take a walk near the most crookedest street you would have probably seen in ur lifetime. :)

8. Civic Center

Another place to drop by as part of visit would be this Civic Center. Its a nice capitol type building. I didnt visit inside but the view from front is good.

9. Market Street & Rail Road Ride
You will pretty much end up visiting this road somehow or the other. This is a main connection street with a lot of shops/public life & attractions. Just a quick walk few block will give a nice wholesome experience of the people n the culture. Taking a Rail Road trip might be another fun way to cover this place.

10. Aquarium of the bay

This is small but a nice aquarium with two long subway type view of the fishes with a tunnel under water. Not a majestic one but they have some pretty neat fishes giving a good view from within the tunnel. Make it if time permits.

Other Places:
There are few other places in SF which I couldnt make it,but might interest you like the china town, few more museums, Presidentio park, couple of beaches along the coast.

17th Mile Drive is an scenic drive for people with time in their pocket. If you got couple of days make sure to visit Yosemite National Park as well..you wont regret visiting Yosemite for sure.

Getting Around Places
1. BART - To get to city from Airport
2. CalTrain - To go to near by cities
3. Muni - Covers most of downtown with 100s of buses n train routes
4. RailRoad Trains - For Tram ride covers 3 major roads

Other Tips
What I did is pick up a San Francisco City Pass for around 60$ which included entrances to 6 places including Bay Cruise/MOMA & 9 days unlimited bus Ride on Muni Buses/Trains. Would highly recommend this for entrances & mainly getting around city in Buses. No cash change needed & can quickly hop in & hop out of buses.

You also have Bus SightSeeing which should take you around if you are not a "on my own on my legs" type person.

If you have Heavy luggage & want to get rid of it I would suggest dropping it in GreyHound Bus Depot near 1st Street-Market Street junction for 4$ for each 4hours. Quiet safe but ofcourse dont leave any highly valuables in the bag.

If you are traveling directly to City from SFO Airport: Take the Bart Train from Airport(Accessible via connection train from terminal) to Civic Center/Union Square. You should be able to connect to most places from here.

Have a Nice Trip...

2008-07-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Learning Leadership from a Cricket Match... :)

Many a times during cricket commentary we hear so much about the role played by the Captain on field in Leading the team to victory. I used to wonder so much as to how can a captain all by himself play such a huge role with individual players have more to do in it.

Today, I learnt a lot as the Captain of my office team,a lot about Leadership.

We breezed through the first two rounds and were in the quarters today.

We set a target of around 75 to the opposition to be hit in 12 overs.

Over first 5 overs were superb and we had the opponents in the back seat.

It was time to decide for me,whom to give the next over to bowl.And I picked a new guy who hasnt bowled before and that over went for around 24 overs and the match was in their hands with that.

A Very Small incident but I leart a lot of Lessons especially about leadership.

When In doubts, take the safe known option. Risks are very risky :)
The guy I choose bowled well during practice,but didnt have much match experience and crumbled under pressure

Aggression is good, but it can fog your mind if outside the limits
I was my most aggressive self,and I am so only in the Cricket Ground otherwise Am very calm composed and thinking individual. My over aggression costed the match. I did think before asking him to bowl, but I knew I was in doubts and didnt take a calculated decisions.

Risks Are good, but may the risk be taken with enough thought to it.
I knew giving him the ball was a gamble but i never evaluated the match situation, we had enough bowlers doing good and this bowler was never needed to bowl.

Last but not the least,isolate personal feelings during critical moments.
One of the main reason why I choose to let him bowl was because he was left out in both the previous matches even though he wanted to play and bowl. I asked him "Are you confident buddy" before giving him the ball and he didnt sound confident enough and I knew that, but on that split second I choose to let him bowl.

There were comments later "It can happen" "Tough Luck,we had a bad day" "We did very well that one over changed the game" etc etc...I agreed to most of it, but at the back of my mind I felt I played a HUGE ROLE. It was my decision to pick him over another guy to give him a chance, It was my decision to give him a chance to bowl over others. I saw the person and gave him more importance then the team and the match.

On paper we were a far better side the the opponent...by the results was speaking otherwise.

He failed me, in turn I failed the Team....A uncalculated decision proved to be a risky gamble.

2008-02-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

"All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players"

How true is this! In life we live a lot of moments, we cross a lot of people;friends, family, relatives, acquiantances. We speak, we speak our heart out, sometimes we listen, listen intently. We hear about some incidents in their lives, we share our relationships.

Sooner then later, we realize how true is the fact that the whole world is just a stage play. There are chapters in this play. Sometimes some people are on for some scenes and move on to a different play. While some stay, they keep coming and going.

Maybe its not many plays, maybe its just one big play, and every person is seeing the play from their point of view.

We could call it a Movie instead, but that doesnt make sense as movies have retakes,change in scenes, scene deletion,sometime even cast change. While a play is real life, live it,live it till the end.

One would wish life is like a circle, if it can start where it all ended. On the retrospect it does :). Life never ends, When one door closes the other opens. Maybe in this round of the circle you meet different set of people but you still get to live life the way you want.

"All the world's a stage,And all the men and women are Actors", Actors who have the license to act. Ability to cry,laugh, make others laugh,sometime make other cry. Act as if they are happy, act as if they are sad, act as if they are acting.

When I realized this, I feel a deep sense of power within me. I realize that life is totally under my control. My happiness, my sorrow, my goals, my hopes n wishes. Its all contained within me. I have the power to write scripts for all new scene. Correct all the mistakes in past scripts. Redefine my life as I go. I decide whom I am going to act with, I decide who has to leave, and who has to stay always. I choose to expect more, and Its me who decides to compromize. I decide to shout aloud and I choose to stay calm.
I LIVE MY LIFE THE WAY I WANT as the Stage is mine and all others are MERE players.

2007-09-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

"She's Always a Woman To Me..."

2007-09-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

Realizing the Power of a SLR Digital Camera.....

2007-06-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End --

Saw this movie, recently. First Time I saw it, I probably didn't not enjoy it much since I had prejudice as to how the movie should be and what nature of scenes to expect. Something i created after enjoying the first two parts. But, slowly I realized how well the scene has been woven together leading to the Climax. Decided to watch the movie again , and thoroughly enjoyed all the scenes. Sadly, Jack Sparrow the cunning yet innocently good Pirate didn't have enough scenes to his credit. Poor Jack had to share the screen with Barbosa, Will , Liz, in even ppl like Sao Feng, Theo Dalma , n Cutler. :(. I probably expected more for jack coz enjoyed watching him , his walk n his talks in other parts.
Most Enjoyed Scenes:
Travel to the forbidden Land - Look out for the giant water fall
Jack in Forbidden Land - Mad jack n the stone crabs
How they return back to real world at sunset. Up Is Down - Rocking the ship
Ship Wrek pirates get together - Dialogs n Funny acting n characters
Climax - Awesome Fight between Flyin DutchMan n Pearl

Over all recommend the movie....must watch for all.

2006-09-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Best Friend's Call!!

Not always do you call some one as best friend and end up not hearing his/her voice for a very Long time, by definition it defies the very word Best.On the hindsight, sometime so many things happen in ones life that we never realize that friendship like any other thing in life is bound to change. Probably the friendship itself doesnt but atleast how things are surely does.Coz "Change is the Only Constant thing in Life".
On 19th August 2006 at exactly 5.04pm , when i was at my apartment Party hall celebrating Krishna janmastami my
phone rang. To my surprise, a name which has not appeared on Screen for ages now was displayed as "calling...".
i couldn't believe my good fortune. It was my Best Friend!!!! She stopped speaking with me technically more then a year ago,and literally some months ago.... :).Reasons aplently.!!! Interestingly, two years back , she has wished me for Janmashtami told me I will get lot of Gopikas, and for some reason i ended up getting a few,or maybe not just a few :P.The call was intended to wish me for the recent improvements at my work. Glad that the message had reached her :P. I always wonder how really are we programmed at our mind and what is the role of our heart. It so strangly fascinating
that its our heart that is the Super User of ourselves. How much ever we try to go by mind, we fail to do so. And its really amazing that the ,otherwise monotonously beating heart gets filled with happiness when you hear someone so close.
Whatever it may be, i was a happy and satisfied guy that day. Somehow someone had completed the equation, ascertaining the fact Frienship is indeed a miracle.

2006-08-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Aug 10th - The Airport Story.

Its was the day when two of my close friends were leaving abroad for higher studies. Call it coincidence, call it destiny, call it whatever. But to realize the fact it did take me a long time.

I was at the office at around 11pm where my mobile rang, it was the first friend who rang up and spoke the words " hi da, am leaving to US in a few mins" i was dumb struck, i had no clue he was leaving tat day morning itself. I told him, "u shd have called me yesterday da , will surely have come to Airport to send u off" He Replied "its ok". A Sense of Guilt surrounded me, i realize it was me who shd have called him before and asked the details, it was too late, i wished him best of luck.

Its on of those few moments when i realized, how much work has made u move away from Buddies, i want to very badly change this!!! :(

The day proceeded, and night fell. I returned home at around 8pm(surprising my parents a lot)
, my last week average was 10.30pm.

This time around, i knew tat my second friend was leaving and i was all set to send her off, more so over to over come the guilt of the morning. She too was a dear friend as him and we shared lots of nice moments from College life especially doing final year project.

I called her and fixed the timings when i shd be meeting her and where. Initially it was the airport itself, but then later decided to make it to her house so that i can help with the luggages and also get to meet her friends and family.

At around 11pm , I was at her house and as expected it was filled with friends and luggages :). A few of her friends i had met earlier and other were new, hello hi's were exchanged. Then my friend appeared all hep and happening..adapting to US Culture already. We left to the airport at around 11.30pm and the flight was at 1.
Fortunately, her neighbour was a airport employee, he could sneak us through a shortcut right to the airport parking area !!!!!! We were invitied by a crowd trying to enter the port being pushed aways by mighty gaurds. Suddenly the images of 8.00pm NDTV news flashed across my sight, A possible AirBlast was evaded in London and it was causing a roar across the Globe as the blasts were expected to be more voilent the 9/11. Securites were tightened and alerts raised.

It so happened that my friend was flying for the first time and she was not used to the formalities of Airport, not that she cant handle it. but worse was in store.

She bid us bye, and moved through the crowd into the airport, followed by her father and her neighbour who will be allowed to enter along with her ofcourse. After losing sight of her, we[Father,her school friends and myself], move to the right of the entrace, in an attempt to see through the glasses to spot her inside. Unfortunately, the check-in counter she has to go was at the inner side of the building. All we could see was people travelling through Air France. After a little while, i saw a dad n mom frantically waving at probably their son from ouside, but the son never bother to respond even though it looked like he was looking directly at them thorugh the glass, It was then when i realized that its only we who could see inside becoz of the light there and ppl inside dont get to see us, unless the come to the glass and press there head at it.

We waited for a while , and the girls[her school friends] left losing hope of seeing her and moreover it was getting really late for them. Before leaving I got the chance to pull the leg of one of her friend as she was pointing to some Pony Tail Girl inside ,claiming that she used to work with her. :). It was nice fun, she almost hit me,as i kept irritating her.
They left, and its was her father and myself waiting and my friend and the helpful neighbour inside. i could feel the ansiety in her father as it things were getting late, and we were not sure why it was. Few ansious moments passed by, and the neighbour appeared with the message "She is In, will be boarding the flight anytime now alls fine!!". Some relief. He continued "we need to ask her to show the First Flight ticket, as she was changing flights later". I gave her a ring , no reply. Tried again. Her father asked me to try the other number she has. And try, It rings she pick and replies in a hurried voice. I gave the phone to her dad.
It seems that for some reason the Plane has to go via London, and they have got strict command "NO HAND LUGGAGES" she was carrying a huge bag in hand will all sorts of things. If that bag is going to get checked it , there was no was she is going to get those out again. She had to take out all she would need docs,dress, cash maybe also who knows whe she will get it in hand again. Further the bag was not locked as it was not intended to be checked In. and she had to carry cash and other valuable in that. All she had was a Thin File where she had to keep the documents and all other things. She had no other plastic bag with her. We had absouletly no idea whats in store. The Neighbour tried his best to persuade the security over phone , but in vain. not Allowed was written in the Wall for all passengers.
He then went to the field where he is allowed and to check whats happenning. He found that friend and others standing on the ground waiting for the flight. Due to heave rush the flight was parked some distance away, and these people we going to get taken by a Bus. meanwhile i had to go for a coffee to keep me awake at around 1.15pm :) . He came back and was dissapointed that if he had carried a bag he could have given her.
we called it a day, there was nothing more we could do, she will be all by herself from then on, pursuing her dreams.
Probably it was too much for a first time flyer and a father, whose daughter is leaving abroad for higher studies....probably not, maybe they were always prepared for all this. But, to be part of it and to see it from nearness, it was quiet some experience. realized that in life...
"Small things in life, are more meaningful then the bigger ones!!"

2006-07-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a month!!!!

I got that photo last month , which inspired me to blog it. After that i have not blogged nor been in touch with friends. Work is dissolving me, like those two lil SUGAR CUBES that dissolve in my Tea Cup every day at work. Maybe they cursed me and it is getting to effect in a big way.
HWS : Hectic Work Syndrome ....i hate it , and i am loving it. I have got mixed feeling about it :)

People say its a phase which will get phased out and i believed it immediately, did i have an option persay?

2006-05-09T05:11:00.000-07:00

This is Going to Change the way i LIVE!!!

2006-05-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

2006-05-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

2006-05-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

I was Born in,

FEBRUARY :

Hence (I,I am,I have,void)

Abstract thoughts.
Loves reality and abstract.
Intelligent and clever.
Changing personality.
Attractive.
Temperamental.
Quiet, shy and humble.
Honest and loyal.
Determined to reach goals.
Loves freedom.
Rebellious when restricted.
Loves aggressiveness.
Too sensitive and easily hurt.
Gets angry really easily but does not show it.
Dislike unnecessary things.
Loves making friends but rarely shows it.
Daring and stubborn.
Ambitious.
Realizing dreams and hopes.
Sharp.
Loves entertainment and leisure.
Romantic on the inside not outside.
Superstitious and ludicrous.
Spendthrift.
Tries to learn to show emotions.

2006-04-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

First VEMANA IT Alumni Meet.....

The much awaited day came and it came with a bang!!! It was on 22nd April when the Alumni from all the passed out branches met together and the suprise guest was none other then the Old Princi Dr K Ranga himself.
For me it was great to meet up with my batch buddies , but the alumni association had more to do with it. I always wanted to be a part of such an association and be a working member there...its has started off very well and support has been extended by alumni from all batches..may god bless the association for a great future of selfless commitement and growth.

Here are a few shots from that day:

2006-04-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

"The Happiness in Learning...."

Learning something new,something not known to us earlier something useful,something fun andenjoyable...is always a great feeling. Leaning new SKILLS as it is told,creates new datastructures in our brain and provides new APIs with which we can perform actions on them :). Glad that learning new skills is not as simple as it was in MATRIX, where we just have to load a Learning Program and close our eyes when we open magically we know how to fly a Copter. Am glad that its not that easy since..the process of learning,making mistakes learning from them and then finally matestering the skill...all in totals gives us immense happiness and satisfaction.Well the blog came up as am learning a few skills..such as drivin car,playing snooker and others at my work..i realize that all these are not unique skills,not something great and too many have this skill to keep count,but still it gives so much freshness and completeness within ourselves when we too learn. Something to prove that there more in Small Things for us, then the big ones.....

2006-03-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Its HOLI time!!!!

yepppeee!! It holi time and it was the time to get coloured..... spl Thanks to my Office Bus Friend who called me to play holi...otherwise...there would have been no time or push on a busy day. What more i got one packet of RED color left to bring back home and put on my bro!!!!
I forgot to take my cam there else could have had more colorful shots on this blog...

2006-03-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

Mindblowing Match of the Lifetime : SA Vs Aus 12th March 2006, South Africa

Man oh Man!!! what an incredible match. Never have seen a team change a mammoth total this well stored a huge 434/4 highest ODI total, and what an unbelievable chase was on get on the gutsand chase the total is simple mindblowing. Excellent performance by almost all in South Africa..Especially Smith 90,Gibbs 175 and finally Boucher 50, who finished it down the drill...

My bro rightly said: All management gurus need to mark this as a the best possible CASE STUDY as how to come from down with all beliefs, perform and win in testing conditions...(lotsa criketing words i guess),our indian team got to learn a lot from this, if ever we have to win the world cup!!!!

2006-03-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

Innocent of Being a School Kid...

I have always wanted blog about this, so many times we see these cute school kids returning from home or waiting for the school bus or van. If only we had little more time in our lives to just stand there for a few seconds to look at them. Believe it or not those few moments if ever we get to spend will really show us a different perspective of our self. It will bring out the kid within us, hiding under the shell of being matured or responsible. How heartening is it to look at the kid happily running around with nothing to fear, nothing to worry, hopefully no deadlines to meet and no targets to achieve. Without doing really much of all those things they find happiness in simplicity, in innocence and in life. Look at ourselves after doing all those things followed by a paycheck the month end; we still need lot more to find that happiness in life.

Pardon me am not ridiculing all those who work hard in life to fulfill their dreams and hence happiness. Am only trying to preach the possibility for finding happiness easier, simpler and sooner. ItÂs the Âgive me moreÂ attitude that makes happiness so unreachable to us. Being a go-getter is needed undoubtedly yet thdoesntesnÂt require us to miss out on the happiness which is always there within us.

2006-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

"we are here for a reason, for it was a memorable season"

To Look at those sparkling eyes...
the guy almost dies,

Relationship makes such ties
of the wise and the other wise

Far away she resides,
life has taken sides

Pain is hidden in his eyeswhile,
the smiles are full of lies

"we are here for a reason,for it was just another season"

Like those waves that touch and go
no point in staying low

unconditional your love might have been
worry never,since god has seen

tomorrow will always be bright
let yesterday go out of sight

whatever u say for things to heal
it will remain as a special feel

fighting it will lead you nowhere
there are many those who care

"we are here for a reason,for it was a memorable season"

2006-02-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

Elegance Personified

Yes, that I how I choose to describe what I saw today while sitting at the entrance of my college. I was waiting to meet the dept HOD, and was getting bored as he was attending some meeting. My eyes slowly glanced across the college entrance from corner to corner; suddenly something caught my eyes, and then my attention. If you haven’t guessed what
I am speaking about yet, probably you don’t know me that well :)
It was a girl about to ride away on her scooty. Man what an elegance species of Homo Sapien they are, it was really amazing and heart breaking to see her softly hold the bike, sit and kick the stand up. How in the 7 Heavens do they do such a monotonous movement so elegantly? To add to the kick of the situation I saw her pull that fortunate vehicle back and start that engine with a soft touch, only to realize that she is riding her way out of the college gate and onto the main road, finally she slowly speeds up that piston converting that motion to rotation of the wheels and hence riding away from my heart and the love of that moment. My heart sinks and am back to the reality just to find a guy in a Pulsar [Definitely a Male] and sigh away searching for Scootys[Undoubtedly a Female].I wonder how love stories can be such short lived but fortunately it happens every now and then. :)
P.S: I am not a brand ambassador of neither Home Sapien (F) nor Scooty but I am an innocent admirer of both with due respect.

2006-02-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

Rendezvous With My subconscious

The Story of how I almost managed to drive right through what could have been the most disastrous accident in my life.

It all happened on 2nd Feb 2006 (Yesterday). Man this is hell broken, am having such a bad patch of my driving and the roads.

It was around 5.25 pm , I was happily riding back from office,and after having quick dash to my office gym. Fortunately traffic was mild as I left early. I had almost reached the end Hosur Road and was nearing the Silk Board flyover. It was a normal evening for me sun shining bright and me happily singing some song I had made up,to while away the riding. Little did I know what was going to happen ahead of me on the time frame just a few seconds away.

There was just a Car and a Cycle ahead me, car right in front of me about 200mts away which is consider very safe by hosur roads traffic standards and the cycle to the cars right some 100mts ahead of the car at the near side of the median.Car was driving at around 70kmph and me at around 60kmph and cyclist about 10kmph yet ahead of the car simply because the car hasn't yet overtaken it.

Then the most dreadful moment happened, the cyclist blindly took a right not noticing the car behind and the car driver saw it and tried to avoid a collision. But at 70kmph its not that easy to change your path. The car vrooomed ahead,tires squeaking and the car took a zig - zag path as the driver applied the break. Relative velocity got the better of me...As I inevitable neared the collision.

[If I had taken left I hit the car and right I hit the cyclist] Believe me my mind was not in control to make those decisions.
Guess what I just rode STRAIGHT as if there was no car or cycle ahead and I have no clue why my mind didn't work at that instance. It was my sub conscious that saved me...Like a HARD REAL TIME Operation system that was hiding in me.

Those few second I really felt I had something more then my mind,called SUBCONSCIOUS which I had no control of,yet it did the right thing for me..."Drive straight" or is it maybe simple that my subconscious never directed me to drive straight...It just stopped all the signal to my brain..So that it stops working and thinking whether to go left or right or apply the break[none happened], just due the inertia of motion of my vehicle and the direction,I went straight and almost got saved from what could have been the most disastrous accident in my life.

Seconds after I cleared the collision, I had the guts to turn back and some angry HAND raised at the stupid cyclist...Fortunately there was no vehicle behind me for almost 500mts avoid any collision with the car oscillating wildly on road, Believe me I swear the car driver was the HERO, If he had it controlled his car that well to avoid hitting neither the cycle nor me...Maybe he say me behind or maybe not..Still GREAT WORK at the steering.

My blood pressure had jumped up and my face looked paIe,i managed to give a full smile to my parent and hide the tremor for a while. Thank god I had my parent home that day else I might have never recovered from it.

I calmed down only after narrating the story a few times quiet animated to my mom,followed by a nice coffee and a face wash....

It all came to an end...I was fine...But the incident has left a lasting impression in my head.
"The Rendezvous with my subconscious"

2006-01-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

Educated to become Irresponsible...

Yes,thats the word I have got for the set people who have learn a lot still don't know the simplest of simple things in life.

Wondering what I am speaking about its none other then the state of Drivers on Road creating these unproductive congestion just to satisfy their ego that they were the ones who reached the Congestion Point first ha ha losers real losers pretty soon they come back to earth just to realize that they are ahead of none and its not a 100mts Olympics Race to reach this point. Its simple a futile effort to make life worser for one and all.All that knowledge,all that money, and all that experience,on road has failed to enlighten their small mind to let go their ego,to let go others to drive away understand everyone is getting late to office or back home,but closing all possible outlets on the road doesn't make any sense.

I know I am not perfect with traffic rules,but I am sure am far far sensible. Today morning I was in a middle a terrible congestion from a junction met by 5 Cross Roads 4 of then narrow ones.Vehicles from every direction successful reached the junction.But its just too late,many other have done so sooner only road where vehicles were moving a little was to my left but that to was fast getting filled up by those most irresponsible citizens(The ones I was speaking about in the previous para).The second these people see a queue on road waiting,god gives them the intuition to simple take to the right hand side drive a free passage for those fortunate ones can digest atleast those bikers who come front maybe even those auto guys who were born with a driving license,but never the ones who sit inside those Santros,n Sumos who simply see to that they block any possible route for exit.

Back to the scenario..Road to the left was moving and vehicles are lined up at the road to my right to go through that moving road peacefully...an auto and Qualis try to block that passage from behind me.....
I simply rotated my vehicle 90 degree so that neither of them can block it..Everywhere else its a jam. I thought of the simplest rule to congestion clearance...Block all the routes and clear the one that is most free flowing.

I got a sense of relief and success when I saw a few vehicle move ahead and clear the way..not for too long when someone blocked that simply by moving their car in between,well supported by an auto.I realize that I failed badly,wanted to get down and throw a Stone at the car,but feared that I might get booked on a nuisance case :). Fed up I myself took the left and found my way out between those vehicles just to find a Huge Car blocking the road I had to take...what can I say..."IT ALL HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA"

2006-01-24T03:31:00.000-08:00

Whacky Weekend In Chennai!!!

This blog post is a typical snapshot of the activities i did last weekend from 2oth Jan - 22nd Jan in Chennai.
It started of with a visit to my childhood house in Annanur(now Thirumullaivayil) with my dad.Following it was a my stay in my moms cousin house(also the place where my mom and uncle grew up.Saw the Mirror which my mom used to stand before for hours together when she was young :) )

Then met Few of my friends from Sindi Model Senior Secondary School,Chennai....
Next day was filled with Cricket in excess.
Morning 6.30-8.30 - ground cricket with office tigers team
here n there lotsa - Cricket 2005 Pc Cricket with brother
afternoon 2hrs - Indoor cricket

Had been to the popular Marina Beach,Chennai almost after more then 4-5 years...with my family,moms cousins arun and prabhu and thier friends sarathy,bhaskar,karthik and Mouli...
dont remember when was the last time i spoke sooooo much....
its was a hell of a blah blah blah

Atlast Salty Beach Water Waves find me

Boating @ Marina (not me someone else :) )

Evening Sky Near Beach Filled with Kites.Also seen in the Light House

It Gets Darker

Had also visted relatives house for Lunch that same day..was fun good food,good people around nice experience when compared to the monetonous me,myself and my house experience in bangalore.

Finally Ended up with having nice tiffin @ Murugan Idly shop for dinner!!!!
And surprisingly next days WL - Wait Listed ticket confirms and am on my way back to Bangalore....

2006-01-17T01:42:00.000-08:00

TGWIN - Thank God We Are In Novell

2006-01-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

Significant events of 2005 in my life

(Not in any order)

My Best Friends Wedding.

It was probably the most memorable event in my life so far,to see my best friend getting married and move into married life.Was fortunate enough to attend it at the muhurtham :). Those few moments where her life takes a turn.

Getting Sisters from Juniors.
Best find of the year 2005 was to get a gang of sister from my super-super juniors. Used to spend awesome time during my college lunch hours in their class and in BDA Complex(next to my college).

Microsoft Student Ambassador.
Me and few other fellow student champs were made as Student ambassadors glad to get that recognition for our contributions as student champs to the community.

Personal Planner (module of Pragati-Open Source Project Tracking Tool at Novell Software Development (I) Pvt Ltd)
If there will be something I will be proud of till my lifetime it will be this tool,me and my team(Sushma,Swetha and Tabassum) started to develop under Mr.P Abrachan our project manager,mentor and the tools client.It was for this tool I got introduced to 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Personal Software Practices(Yet to finish both the books,details are too heavy to digest by my little innocent brain :) ).Developing this tool in novell was a great experience and it totally changed my perception towards products,analysis,oodesign,testing and what not. Today am still continuing my work for Pragati at Novell only because of the opportunity I got to work on Personal Planner.Thanks to all who were involved with me on this and while in novell
[My Team] Abrachan(PM),Satyanarayana(Dev),Krishna Kumar(SQA),Sridhar(Dev),Hari Krishnan(Designer-planner is good looking even to my eyes only after the design he made),Pavan Kumar(SQA),Kishore(SQA),Arunodayanath(statistician),J Veeraraghavan(MD) and Never to Forget Shalini Madhavan(Dev-was also handling all the communication with my college team who were working on Pragati).

The End...College Life and Begin...Work Life
The Much awaited Paradigm Shift in my life happened on August 3 2005 ...The day I joined Novell as a consultant was one of the most interesting career decision I took with absolutely no idea where its leading me to. I am still in the process of understanding the consequences as it goes in Matrix Movie: "We never make the choices,the choices are already made,we are here to understand the REASON,The PURPOSE of our very existence"

Parents Decision To Shift to Bangalore-End of Am the King style Bachelor Life :)
just kidding am still the king in house,that's what my family says...And quiet interestingly I agree to it.!!!

Working for Placement activities in my college[Vemana Institute of Technology]
Again I was fortunate enough to join hands with Mr.Prachet Bhuyan(HOD CSE dept),Mr RaviKumar(HOD ISE dept) and Cool Dude Sat(officially called as Satish,Student[ISE dept]),to work on all placement activities in the first half of the year. It used to give me immense satisfaction always to be part of this team and while working with companies that come to my college for campus placement.

New neighbor's arrive
Roshan and Divya moving in as my neighbor's was a pleasant event I don't want to miss talking about. They,my another neighbor sister Shalini and myself are still continuing to enjoy life time passing,almost gossiping(but not really coz neither of us enjoy gossiping)

Modern Ramayana Play by my college mates
Moving to more fun...Was the modern ramayana play that we enacted for our last college fest. Probably would not have been a significant event for many but for me it is as I was compering and also because of the loads of fun we had doing it.
[WE] Myself(Compere and as Ganguly),Rakesh(Lakshman),Arjun(Munna Bhai MBBS),Vikram(Rama), Nagaraj(Mass-Hanuman), Kalyan(Ravan), Sushma(Sita), Uttam(Cirket(Munna bhais dost)), Kaviraj(Audio Journalist),Darshan(Comedy News reporter)

College Graduation ceremony
Was significant as I was able to walk on to the dais and recommend our college Management to improve the placement facilities which I wanted to do for a long time improved a bit over the period (ofcourse nothing to do with me going and telling :) but atleast I got that satisfaction).Yet to become excellent.

Novell Brainshare Europe 2005
Pragati and personal planner got exhibited there and won lots of admiration. Proud to be part of the team involved.

Trip To Mahabaleshwar with Family
Man!!! How can I ever forget that for a heavenly trip to Mahabaleshwar near Pune Maharashtra. Spent the best moments with family after a long time. Terrific family reunion.

Two New Friends in life
Got two new friends after college life and interesting neither of them are from my office he he.Already have started raising hand or smiling at soooooo many people in office whenever we crossed for lunch or othertimes.People Networking and adding new nodes to my network never slows down.

Looks like this blog post will never end maybe because I am the type of person..Who will see even the smallest event in my life with utmost significance and enjoy them heartily.
If by chance anyone feels I have missed out one such event...Please send a angry mail to my inbox for me to apologize and add it to the list. :)

2006-01-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

Friends Birthday Party on 31st Dec 2005

2006-01-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

18 Rules for Leading Life

2006-01-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

12 Inspiring Words

Time
Making optimum use of it ensures that goals get achieved than we could imagine.

Success
Symbolic Proof that we are moving in the right direction.

Vision
Anticipating new trends and evolving to satisfy them.

Quality
Withstands the tests of time and endures forever.

Target
Raises our level to display extraordinary performance.

Technology
Provides the cutting edge to become faster,better & More Accurate.

Dream
The power to convert fantasies into graphic reality.

TeamWork
Rising above the competition.

Satisfaction
Enriches true feelings and makes our world happier.

Relationship
Co-operation strengthens ties into a lasting association.

Achievement
It inspires you to rise & reach the top of the world.

WINNER
The power held by a winning combination is phenomenal.

2005-12-12T03:34:00.000-08:00

Thavamai....Thavameerunthu..."A Tribute to Fathers"

Yesterday I saw this movie "Thavamai Thavameerunthu" by Cheran tamil director. A Classic Movie depicting the Value of a Father in ones life. The kind of sacrifices he does and the pain he goes through in doing so. A must watch for a sons and daughters who are becoming adults, earning and becoming independent. The movie as advertised is really a Novel on Screen moves so intriguing and swallows the audience into it. It also speaks about various aspect of family and togetherness. Doesn't give anything on a overdose just the perfect amount of love,pain,suffering,and ofcourse happiness.
Movie goes to a pleasant ending which itself is masterpiece.

Hats off to Saran....He gets added to my must see director.

2005-12-09T01:29:00.000-08:00

Seminar in my College!!!

Had got an opportunity to get back to my college for giving a seminar on FOSS.in and final year project.After attending the event and collection loads of info i wanted to share it with someone. When i realized my college juniors wanted to attend the event but couldn't do, made up my mind to given a session about it.
Immediately I approached my college HOD Mr.Prachet Bhuyan and Mr.Ravikumar to plan it up. They had suggested that I would be rather useful if i speak from final Year Project perspective.
The session went very well, had just put down all the thinks which I would have told to my junior regarding final year project, on the slides. It was quiet interactive and I could feel the rush in me....Which I USED to get when I had given seminars during college life. Alls well that ends well. After a long time got a opportunity to go to the nearby restaurant with few of my college lecturers for a nice hot COFFEE :) . Am still not out of it...Hoping that my juniors will really get benefited.

2005-12-09T01:20:00.000-08:00

My TeamImage Created by C Harikrishnan To be printed on T- Shirt
Having Dinner with my Team....i dont believe i belong there..as there were MDs,PMs,SQAs,Sr Techs,Graphical Designer and who not...but i was always treated as part of the team. My first entry into software industry is in such a team and am learning from the people with experiences. Typically a fresher would want to be in a team of same age. But the kind of acceptance that was given to me here...be it by words,or my ideas....i feel i was never really left out. Hats off to thier Proffesionalism.!!!

2005-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Ice Cream With sisters!!!
Sunday i had been to Corner House a popular Ice Cream shop in Bangalore where we get delecious ice creams with lots of variety apart from the standard ones, for treating my dear sisters gang (college super-super juniors). Had lots of fun and ofcourse lots of ice cream guess its quiet well seen in the snap....
Used to spend time almost daily during lunch hours in college with them...nowadays after work started looks like get togethers like such are the best way to keep the Dear ones Near :)

2005-11-27T22:35:00.000-08:00

Bharathiyar Songs...

I had always wanted a collection of bharathiyar songs with me..finally yesterday got an awesome CD..am listening to them and working in office...somehow i believe it will improve my productivity.
His song are so meaningful and soothing....my all ttime fav is Nalla thor Veenai Saidhaen athai nalam kaeda puzhidiyhil viduvathundo (means: I had done a good thing how can i let it go to dirt)

2005-10-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

Rain Rain Go Away !!!!
Its has been raining cats & dogs in Bangalore...half the city is floating.
All due to extensive colonisation of low lying valley areas...Man Proposes God Disposes.
Today morning, i had a great time coming to my office through lakes....my bike was smoking like a chain smoker. A very important entry point To IT Land towards Electronic City on Hosur Road...was heavily gaurded by Police and Co..to prevent innocent passer-bys like me from entering.Result: Start a Journey to Office through unknown routes. What will have to be faced in the way...only time had anwered. Ended up drivin across deep water and roads worser then the ones i have got used to.Am now waiting for my shoes to dry up to wear them back!!!!!
As the old poem goes..Rain Rain Go Away...Little Bangalore wants to Play.

2005-10-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

Self Motivation is the key...
Today am facing a situation where i need to be assertive,proactive and highly self motivation. As a fresher in software industry my experience as how it works is minimal probably due to the fact that i remained more techie in my college life.I knew people who had good exposure to industry its types,the way it works and environment etc...I sometimes feel i should have put some effort on that by interacting more on such matter.
"Lack of pressure and enough challenge has made me underperform"
I need to self-motivate,self-organize,self-plan and try to do more work as i know i am capable of doing more,doing better then what i have been so far...
Its all about pushing myself first to my limits and then beyond it....

2005-10-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Back to Business!!!

After a long week break at my Native in Chennai,am back to work. I had been to chennai,as my granny expired last week and i had to attend the rituals. I wanted to support my Dad & Mom who were the sole forerunners of the rituals..and had loads of work and responsibility on them. Thank god..they got few supportive hands..from other members of my dads..family.
Since almost 4-5 years i have not been in touch with most of my relatives and cousin,spending a week with them now., was really a new experience.
My long week trip with those lonely train journeys provided me the oppurtunity to redefine my goals in my work life. I understood where i am,what my roles are and slowly started to realize how to achieve the 7 habits of Highly Effective people in my life.
As it say, Every thing in life is created TWICE. I have created my Dream once in my mind...its the time to fulfill it.

2005-10-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

My First Blog!!!
From the day i learnt what Blog stands for,I had always wanted to start blogging...but that was around an year ago...and today i am here typing my First Blog Hoping I nurture and build this habit.