About their wives - as said by people

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry.That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
-David Bissonette

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.
-Sacha Guitry

After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together.
-Hemant Joshi

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
-Socrates

Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.
-Dumas

The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, "What does a woman want?
-Sigmund Freud

I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.
-Anonymous

"Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays."
-Henny Youngman

"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years."
-Sam Kinison

"There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage."
-James Holt McGavran

"I've had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me, and the second one didn't."
-Patrick Murray

Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up.
-Nash

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once...
-Anonymous

You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted to.
-Henny Youngman

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
-Rodney Dangerfield

A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.
-Milton Berle

Contrary Proverbs

All good things come to those who wait. BUT Time and tide wait for no man.

The pen is mightier than the sword. BUT Actions speak louder than words.

Wise men think alike. BUT Fools seldom differ. The best things in life are free . BUT There's no such thing as a free lunch .

Slow and steady wins the race . BUT Time waits for no man .

Look before you leap . BUT Strike while the iron is hot .

Do it well, or not at all. BUT Half a loaf is better than none.

Birds of a feather flock together. BUT Opposites attract.

Don't cross your bridges before you come to them. BUT Forewarned is forearmed.

Doubt is the beginning of wisdom. BUT Faith will move mountains.

Great starts make great finishes. BUT It ain't over 'till it's over.

Practice makes perfect. BUT All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Silence is golden. BUT The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

You're never too old to learn. BUT You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. BUT One man's meat is another man's poison.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. BUT Out of sight, out of mind.

Too many cooks spoil the broth. BUT Many hands make light work.

Hold fast to the words of your ancestors. BUT Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.

The land of Sand

On sep 7, the land of sand was overcast by around 4 PM by ... what else.. sand. Heard from people here that this was a "softer" version, more like a breeze (if u want an anology, and am damn-good bad in that) See it for yourself.

Now, this is a view from the balcony of my house, on a normal day.


This was how it looked on the day of the sand-breeze.

Shift+Delete Software Engineer

Its been quite sometime since I last blogged. It was a long transition period for me, with my brother's marraige and then the much awaited resignation drama from my last software company. In fact, when many of my friends were resigning and moving out of the company, I used to think how I have to go about this job. I have had long "teetee-hours" thinking of how to present my resignation to my project manager/HR without spoiling anything, if and when that time comes.

And the time did come. It was May 23, 2006. And with all the build-up, its natural to expect a gem of a presentation, so much so that my project manager would have personally taken care to see me off till the main gate. Nope. It was a major screw-up. Infact, you can use this as a good sample for "how NOT to give a resignation speech".

On the D-day, I come to office a little early (by around 9 itself). A swarm of butterflies were making a visit to my stomach. I still couldnt figure out why they came at that time. Poor guys, so many of them, so little space (hey, seriously, the crowd was big). In fact, they were not going to fire me, I am quitting. It really takes a skill to make a mountain of a mole and I was having a high percentage of success right at that time. I dont know if others go through a similar routine, but since this technically was my first proper resignation, it was kind of eerie to go through that process. (the other resignation needs another blog).

I didnt want to give it as the first news of the day to my project manager, and so, waited it out till 1030 AM. And did it seem like a long time. I've heard people say that, when waiting for your lover, every minute will seem like 1 hour. Now, in this case, I was waiting for 1030 to come. So...????????

At exactly O-1-3-0 hours, I took my notepad, my visa which had come (now, here I need to tell that some people before told that they were going to some other job when actually they entered some of the competitor companies. So, I took my visa as proof of my honesty and validity ). It went something like this;


Me : Dear San (named changed on purpose - ha.. how i wanted to use this phrase), I ... well... because of some personal reasons, and.. you know.. health reasons.. I .. I ... have decided to .. move out of SCM.

San : I expected this for quite sometime now. I could see this from your performance in the last few months. (to be honest, in my 4 years of work, to my personal observation, I was actually performing better in terms of delivery schedule only during the last few months. man, now I am getting the creeps on the definition of "On-time" delivery).

Me : I otherwise have no problem in the working environment or the company.

San : I cannot accept the "health reason" as a reason for you for quitting.

Me : I am not making things up here, and I have the visa to show that I am really going to the gulf.

San : You should have told about this earlier (like how, San, I may or may not go to the gulf in about a month or two or whatever time the visa comes, so, I may or may not resign from the company, so please plan accordingly. That would sound like the weather report, isnt it. I still am trying to understand what prompted him to ask THAT question to me. )

Me : Since the visa validity is only till end june, I need to go before that. Please relieve me by that time.

San : Let me see. Send a mail to me and HR.

Me : Thanks San.

Let me be honest here. I had to edit the above dialogue so much so that the whole conversation is twisted to the extent of the appearance of a better conversation. When I came out of the cubicle, I started breathing better. It was like thriller movie to me.

Then, things went from one to another and it was the last day of my life as a software engineer. So many tatas, so many "keep in touch" words, mails; although I was and am not that good/effective in keeping in touch with my collegues at SCM. It all was sentimental. I must say this company was more like my second home where I was so comfortable working, what with a whole cubicle to myself and 8 computers (including two Mac systems) to work with, you cudnt ask for a better work life. But, life had planned something else for me. I take this opportunity to thank all my friends and collegues for being there for me at all times. It was wonderful working with you people.

I am copy-pasting my byebye mail I sent to all my collegues.


I wanted to write a totally different "Bye bye" mail to you all, but the moment I started thinking (oops.. not thinking... its just... ..mmmm.. a.a.a...... ahem..). well anyway, when I started doing that, my eyes darkened, my heart pulse rate started increasing, the adrenalin started rushing, my brain started sending all the alarm signals.... and it ended just like what I am writing now.

I wanted to write about all the good times I had in SCM, about all the wonderful people I met and worked with here, about all those "thrilling" TTP sessions, those "heart rendering" driver releases and the immediate "congratulatory" bugs, which luckily ended up on the better side of me.. (or is it the only side SCM has??? mmm...), but didnt know how to put it down properly. Then there were the weekly meetings, the monthly salary deposit mails, those quarterly bonus payments, the yearly appraisals, those project reviews, the CFO/CEO/COO announcement sessions, the daily pantry sessions, the war against food poisoning (yup... its food court food alright ), those traffic diversions, the friends' meet.... etc...etc... so much to be happy about, not that much talent to put it in words.

So, then I decided to apologize for any or all of the actions that had hurt anyone during my life in SCM. But then, people in SCM are "choooo chuweeet" they would have forgiven me that very moment. I dint want to hurt anybody's feeling by sending an apology mail. So, I trashed that mail also.

OK,

What do I write now?

mmmm.......

Here's a try:

----------------------------
Dear All,

Today is my last day with SCM professionally. I am moving to the middle east to take up business with bin laden, dawood ibrahim, ... well u name it, i have it (he he cudnt resist the nag). On a funnier note, I am taking up business as my career. I want to thank you all for helping, guiding and supporting me to throughout my life in SCM. My apologies if I had hurt
anyone by my actions or words.

Thank you very much.

I shall be mailing you from ajosephantony at yahoo.co.in or gmail.com,

Now that needs your mail IDs... so, please do drop them in.

Thanks and Regards,
Joseph Antony, A
-----------------------------

How was it? Good? OK? However it was, thats me ;-)

To all my friends (aka collegues)

Thanks a lot for everything.

Wishing you the best in life.

Joseph Antony A.

Complications of English

A nice forward. Cudnt get a better place to store it.. ;-)

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.


2) The farm was used to produce produce.


3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.


4) We must polish the Polish furniture.


5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a strange language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in

which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"


You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP."

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we

awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened

UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. I f you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP .

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so........... it is time to shut UP.....!

To Nerd or not to Nerd

Am a Cool guy.... ;-)




Computer Geek? Am I? Naah...

A P J Abdul Kalam

A simpleton's rise to the First Man of a country is no ordinary feat. It beckons hard work, sacrifice and the will power to move up the ladder.

A P J Abdul Kalam.

Posted in over a centurical sites, I want to post this as a self remainder and to all those who want to have a better India. I have interspersed my personal comments in white (those will be the BIG white empty space between paras. I did this just not to spoil the flow/feel of the original passage.

---

I have three visions for India.

1. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands and conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards, the Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we always respect the freedom of others. Joe:[Joe]: I'd say we were busy fighting among ourselves to actually notice things getting looted out of our country. One ideology of our people is that if you are down, we will pull you up. But, when you go above me, i will do all means to pull you down.That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM.

I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.

2. My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Joe:[Joe]: When petrol sells at Rs.17/L in pakistan and Rs15/L in malaysia, we are getting it at Rs.48/L. Man, are we growing...Our poverty levels are falling.Joe:[Joe]: Yup. People die faster to avoid the face of poverty. And at the quality at which census/surveys are taken, obviously we WILL find a decline Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Joe:[Joe]: You sure can say that again. Indians: known for cheap attitude, back-stabbing, foxy nature, known to pull down their own people Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

3. I have a THIRD vision.

India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of Space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr. Brahm Prakash, the father of nuclear material. I was lucky Joe:[Joe]: India is infact surprised (to the level of being shocked) to see such brilliant people come out and shine inspite of its "memory-ONLY-tuning" educational system architecture to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

I see four milestones in my career: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the Project Director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that has launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of scientist.

After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994. The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon.

One day an Orthopedic Surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet round. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients.

In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis (weighing 300-gram) calipers and took them to the Orthopedic center. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. Load on their legs, they could now move around!

Their parents had tears in their eyes. Joe: [Joe]: I Love this man. Buying Joy from others' happiness. That was my fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories, Joe:[Joe]: People here LOOVEEE blood, especially when its from someone else. They drink it with their eyes, sit back, complete a whole weekend discussing, "feeling" for the people affected, and DO NOTHING ELSE but we refuse to acknowledge them.

Why?

We are the first in milk production.Joe: We are also the nearing first place in population

We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.Joe:We are number one in AIDS disease

We are the second largest producer of wheat.Joe:We have a rating of 2.9 on corruption scale (0 being the most corrupt). Check here

We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan; he has transformed the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?

Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is: She replied: I want to live in a developed India.

For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an Underdeveloped Nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.

YOU say that our laws are too old.

YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work; the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say.

What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the Stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything.

DO YOU? Similarly YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs. 650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else."

YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon? (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost."

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination Jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston?

We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU, who can respect and conform to a foreign system, in other countries but cannot in your own, you who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. It is the same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?

He's right.

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who are known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse? "It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But it is definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work Miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of ridding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians,

The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....

I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"

Lets do what India needs from us.

Thank you
Abdul Kalaam

The original link

Coffee Life

This is a forwarded mail I got, which actually hit the nail right on the centre of its head.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned.With a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain,plastic, Glass, some plain looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said:"If You noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up,leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So please, don't let the cups drive you. Enjoy the coffee instead.

A Chat

This is the full transcript of a discussion between a friend of mine and me over ipmsg . "J" stands for my lines and "X" stands for my friend's lines.

J: -so, both have gone to shanghai? then, shud be possible to get some earphones.

X: both have gone to the same place ;-)

J: okie dokie

X:-so u can very well get good Chinese EarPhones :-)

J: noooooooooooooooooooooooooo.. not chinese...

X:-ahhh.. now u ve turned sensible

J: what.. so, u wont get any good quality earphones from there? i mean branded ones?

X -can get.. i never siad u wont get.
but its highly probable that u end up buying fakes ;-)

J: okok. better not even try then

X -"I can only show u the way.
-The choice is yours Mr Anderson"
;-)

J: U know what I will choose. Why ask me. The answer is there.

X: -Im lost..
in the MAtrix ;-)

J: ITs very easy to get lost. You need to choose between the past and the present. The future leads automatically.

X: -No.. I disagree..
-Past is Past..it leaves u not a chance for a choice..
-the choice is when u move from preset to future.

J: The past is what you were. Present is What you are, as a result of what you were.
The choice you made because of the past is what makes the present.
Based on the choice of the past or the present determines your future.
If the past choice and the present are the same, your future is already decided.

X: -No...No.. No..
- In the past u have done something , the result of whic is ur present.Agreed Fully..
-this is because u did stick on to a choice u made..
-this lead u to what ur today.
-Now life gives u new choices.. not entangled with the chices u made in the past..
-here is where u can change ur present..
-get out of the conventions.. clear your on paths..
-but let me tell u this path is not Rosy..
-traps are there all around that make u fell Booby...

J: Agreed.
-Now life gives u new choices.. not entangled with the choices u made in the past..
I have a disparity here. Life gives you new choices based on the choices you made in the past.
Its these choices which bring about new choices.
If you are going to choose the same old choices you made in the past, that is NOT going to lead you to newer avenues.

X: -What ur telling me is how it has happend to the majority on this present world..
-and its that majority's decison that ur trying to support.
-i think i need some time to put what i want to put down the way i want it to be put.
-.. " Ill be back" ;-)

J: Astala vista baby... ;-)

RSI

Repetitive Stress Injury.

An Article

Yoga Excercises to release the stress.

Compliflying Life

I recently read a blog from one of my friends on their experience with Air Deccan. It brought back those wonderful memories of the day I travelled in Air Deccan.

I (un)fortunately once had the honour of using Air Deccan from Bangalore to Chennai. The flight was scheduled to take off at 1815 hours from bangalore and reach chennai by 1920 hours. I had planned to go to a book shop that evening to get some books.

Time: 1715 hours IST
we (the passengers) were asked to check-in the baggages. I was happy at the thought of flying first time by a propeller plane. With no check-in baggage, we (my relative and me) directly went to the boarding counter and got our boarding cards. Then had our personal check-up, got my hand-carry stamped and went into the last lounge. Now, it so happened that there were about 4 more flights at that time to Chennai. 2 air sahara and 2 jet airways.

Time:1800 hours IST.
We got an announcement over the public speaker that our flight is delayed by one hour because of technical difficulties. Not a surprise. It was acceptable. After all, we are Indians and they are providing the cheapest service (nope.. this is just an after-effect acceptance of travelling in air deccan).

A little probing revealed that the flight was not in a situation to take-off and so, they had asked a flight from Goa to come to bangalore as an alternative. We went out as there was no point in sitting there.

Time: 1930 hours IST, aka 1800 Abu Dhabi
The goa flight had come. So, we rushed in to check-in (again) and do all the security checks (again). Then, we got the next dosage of air-deccan special. The goa flight has come and has started developing technical difficulties. So, the flight was delayed by another 2 hours. Now, at this juncture, one air sahara(or jet, i dont remember) had left for chennai.

Some shrewd people cancelled their air-deccan ticket and booked in either air sahara or jet due to take off at 2200 hours approx. But, I decided to stick with the "poor man's" Emirates. So, we came out again to wait for the actual(???) arrival of the flight.

Time:2030 hours IST, aka 1800 baghdad
Some gentleman started arguing with the staff there and ended up getting us all a buffet dinner at the airport itself, courtesy Hotel Asoka.

Time: 2200 hours IST, aka 1830 cairo
Some more people booked in the 2200 jet airways and air sahara flights and left.
We are waiting.

Time:2300 hours IST, aka 1830 GMT
We are waiting. A flight between hyderabad and bangalore had just come in. If God wills, this flight will/may not generate technical problem and allow us to reach madras within a day. So, for the third time we checked-in and passed security. By this time, the security personnel and us started developing a rapport and were discussing about life (wow.. isnt that something for someone who had been (pissed-off )squared ).

Time: 2330 hours IST, aka 1800 Mid-Atlantic (man, we are nowhere now)
All other flights to chennai for the day have left. We were contemplating a cab drive from Bangalore to chennai. It cost around the same amount as air-deccan.

Time 2345 hours IST, aka 1800 Still Mid-Atlantic (man, we are still nowhere now)
Suddenly we were asked to move to the flight. It came as a rude shock to us. But, still not believing, we moved to the flight. A Total strength of 10 took the flight. At approximately 2350 hours, the propeller pushed us into the air.

Time 0100 hours IST, aka 1800 Greenland
We landed in Chennai. We were happy that the flight actually flied without any problem. On reaching chennai, we came to know that there were people actually waiting to travel to bangalore by our actual 1815 hours return flight. We were not the worst affected, after all. Wishing them atleast a "journey" home, we reached home.

Motivate, Inspire

Remember those times when you feel down and out. When that feeling of a heavy iron rod sitting in your heart tugging to break it apart. When you wish that it just breaks away. When hope goes jaywalking.

What pulls you up at that time?

What pours the fuel to light up the fire when calamity washes you up.

Sometimes, loneliness feeds the sadness; but its a trickle compared to the power sadness evokes.

Sometimes, a Soothing word is all we need.

A pleasing scenery always makes you forget the source of worry for atleast sometime.

Sometimes, a motivating speech powers up the inner soul like a rocket fuel that we are ready to take on the world that very instant.

The President's speech in the movie "Independence Day" is one such speech. I had goosebumps all over me when I was seeing the movie in theatre. If they had given a gun to kill anyone in sight at that time, my friends and myself would have gladly killed everyone else in that theatre.

Here is the transcript.

---------------------------

Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in this history of mankind.

Mankind -- words should have new meaning for all of us today.

We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.

We will be united in our common interests.

Perhaps its fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution -- but from annihilation.

We're fighting for our right to live, to exist.

And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice:

"We will not go quietly into the night!

We will not vanish without a fight!

We're going to live on!

We're going to survive!"

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!

---

MP3 Audio of the speech

My Life...

This Is My Life, Rated
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Mind:	5.2
Body:	4.5
Spirit:	7.2
Friends/Family:	6.5
Love:	9.1
Finance:	7.8
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Pet(rol)rifying...

To err is human. But, to really screw up requires a sub-super-human being, alias an Indian. I dont know how, but, we Indians (yup, that includes me too) are so annoying skilled in assuming what others think.
- We assume that the other person will stop his vehicle if we push ours into the middle of the road.
- We assume that its OK to skip the red light when there is no traffic on the other side.
- We assume that it is OK to take the right side of the road if the road is free.
- We assume that things will work out fine when we make a blunder and NOT tell anyone else about it.
- We assume that people will forgive us for our mistakes and things will be smooth if we do not talk about it.
- We assume that things will be fine if we are able to pacify the person we hurt.

The problem is that everybody around us think the same. And we end up cursing the others and the system, thereby justifying that "red-light skipping" today, or the "had to rush-through in traffic" situation.

A beautiful example to this is the incident that happened on my wife's birthday. We were having our dinner at our house when my sister-in-law called us up and told that their one month old Toyota Innova had coughed up to a standstill. We were shocked. Its TOYOTA. It just cant stop. Something HAD to have happened. We rushed to the scene. Then, we knew. ASSUMPTION was the brain behind the situation.

Till that incident, I had no idea whatsoever that
a) In petrol bunks, the first row is for diesel vehicles. the second row is for petrol vehicles.
b) Diesel also has an UNLEADED counterpart to petrol.
c) All Diesel vehicles will be stuck with a "DIESEL" label on the fuel tank. If there is no sticker, then it is petrol.

These information were not known to my relative at that time of filling the vehicle for Rs.500/-

Now, this petrol station did not put any board specifying which row was for petrol and which one was for diesel. Hence, seeing the "UNLEADED" sign, my relative assumed it was petrol and got his vehicle to the first row.

There was no sticker on the fuel tank cover, to specify the fuel type. The Toyota people ASSUMED that everyone in India will know the "Knowledge Point 3". Now, the petrol bunk person assumed that since they have parked in the diesel slot, it must be diesel. So, he did not tell/ask anything to the type of fuel to fill in the tank.

Hence, diesel was filled instead of petrol. The moment, they started it, the engine became very upset with the "bad food" being fed to it and started choking. Fortunately, they identifed the problem as soon as they left the fuel station. So, they stopped the vehicle at the bunk itself and caught up with the guys there. First, In true Indian style, they said that "all Innova are diesel only sir". Like true chennaivacees, these people had to threaten them of taking them to consumer court to make them accept their mistakes.
Mistake 1: They should have put up a board specying whether the slot was for diesel or petrol
Mistake 2: They must ask the customer what fuel they need to fill (petrol/diesel and the type of petrol/diesel (ordinary, super efficient, super screw up, et al).

Why these are mistakes? Well, all other (atleast those which I have seen) fuel stations had a board and specified clearly the type of fuel being used, and all consumers were asked the type of fuel they need, and also the ZERO value is shown to the customer before fuel is pumped into the vehicle.

So, they ended up towing the vehicle to the Toyota service room and speny 3000/- on the whole. The good news for them though is that since it was a petrol vehicle and diesel filled, the engine would not get damaged as diesel is a little more viscous than petrol. If it had been the other way, they can well assume a better screw-up of the engine.

I was more surprised that a company like Toyota, who dedicate themselves to quality, had left these little details on assumptions. They however had not missed it wholly. They had put "petrol" on the inner black cover of the tank. Anybody without an xray vision will miss it easily. Hope things dont go the "assumption" way while desigining safety kits in cars.

Next time when you go to a fuel station, be sure of the fuel you are feeding your vehicle.