Some lessons 'bout management & work...

This blog is a contribution and more of a handbook for all the freshers getting into I.T, for those who are still trying to get that break in career and get into management. These are some of the basic management behaviors that you'd see in any IT organization and some are those that you'll have to portray in front of the management.

- Management is always right. The sooner you understand this, the faster you'll be recognized.
- Work while you work and play while you should be playing. All work and no play is no good.
- Never go against your boss. Even if your right, you'll still loose the battle.
- Effort and determination can get you places, but direction is what gets you to the right place.
- Never over promise and under deliver. Better to under promise and deliver (This is in co-relation with the next point).
- The more you work, more work will be given to you.
- Love your job and never your company. You never know when your company stops loving you.

The curse of the Credit Cards...

I don think the heading requires any more explanation...Yes, I'm referring to credit cards. The very thing that makes us spend unnecessarily on all those extra clothes, partying n all other luxuries that you think you need right away. In the past few years, I've had an eye opening experience with using credit cards. Unfortunately, I didn't have any friends who were good enough in financial aspects to advise me on how to actually go about using it. This blog is for those who already have one and not sure how to manage it and also for those who are planing to get one in future. Given below are some of the aspects that you should absolutely know about cards.



1. My biggest advise DON'T GET A CREDIT CARD...if its already too late and you've got one, only then proceed to point 2...!!!

2. Use your CC only for planned expenses such as an LCD TV, Laptop, household shopping or that expensive Swiss watch :-) Never use it for drinking/ casual shopping, as these 2 will inevitably end up becoming you biggest enemies.

3. Make sure that you have the EMI conversion activated in your CC, so that any purchase above 10k can be converted to EMI's of 6 or 9 months.

4. To ensure successful payment every time...all the times..., make sure the total amount required to pay always less than your monthly salary or 2/5 of your total credit limit, which ever is smaller.

5. Never use your CC and you full salary together. Follow 1 of 2 strategies...
- Either spend all your money and use a card only for desperate huge expenses which can again be converted to EMI as per point 2 (OR)
- Use your card for all your expenses (be it small or big) and use 9/10 your salary every month to pay it up.

6. Keep an extra CC with Balance Transfer capability, so that you can move around money if needed.

7. If your goin' out for a crazy all night paaardy, don't take your card with you. You don't wanna end up waking the next day wondering 'Why-TF did I buy that extra drink for everyone' and that too with a bad hangover...!



Now, do remember that all these apply only if your working and thereby dependent on your salary for your CC payment. If your running a flourishing business or if your dad's paying your CC bill...then swipe it off AMAP (As Much As Possible) and chill out...!

Revenge of the Fallen...

Although I saw this movie about 10 days back, I've taken my own sweet time for the review only cuz i saw it more than once at Sathaym. being a hardcore Transformers fan, i owe it to Optimus Prime. How was the movie ? Amazing...top notch...one of the best I've seen yet. Unlike the first part which mostly revolved around the Cube, this sequel has much more packed in. Ranging from Interplanetary travel, Multiple bots merging into a single Decepticon, treasure hunting, this movie is all set to remain on top of the charts.



One of the most surprising things i noticed at Sathyam while watching the movie was that more than 90% of the crowd were all 15- 30 yr old. I guess they must've all been fans of the original Transformers cartoon as well. Anyway part 2 has a good mix of comedy, treasure hunting, flashbacks, lil bitmore romance and a hella lotta transforming robots. Although majority of my friends disagreed, I feel that part 2 is way far better than part 1. Flaws however, I havent seen much yet, since i still havent seen the movie like 40-50 times as part 1, but im getting the list all prepped up. Personally, I'd rate this movie a 5 outta 5 and worth watching altest twice in the movie hall.

The Proposal...

Women, at times tend to get too sucked into the career mode and also tend to have a very cold heart when given undue powers in office. As always, I was at Sathyam last Sunday night for ‘The Proposal’ along with a few friends. The story begins in a very similar note, briefly explaining the typical problems that guys, who have a female bosses, face. Margaret, played beautifully by Sandra Bullock is a very successful (& powerful) chief editor at a publishing company. Andrew (played by Ryan Reynolds) is out in New York, struggling to get his book published, working under Margaret for 'bout 3 years. Cunning Margaret, who heartlessly plans to use Andrew to gain US citizenship, ends up realizing that she's been missing out on all the finer things in life. The movie reminds me specially of one of my recent friends, who always manages to get herself tied up with work, work and more work.



The movie as a whole, although predictable like most romantic comedies, has a unique charm added to very beautiful and scenic shots done at Alaska. Added with some nude scenes from the couple and some real funny truths bout guys (...!), this movie is definitely worth 2 hrs on a Sunday evening to relax. I'd rate this 4 outta 5 for those who love romantic comedies. And all you working women out there taking work too seriously, stop for a minute and look around you (at all the good looking men…! he he he) and take some time off…

The re-union of I.T Batch...

Bunking classes, sneakin to movie halls, booze treats for no apparent reasons, having accounts at VSP canteen, late night coffees, xeroxing semester books in the last minute, carrying chits to college, the 'very serious' immature love flings,
sleepless nights, hanging out at chai-wala checking out the so called 'babes of Chennai'...hmmmm.Anyway in the light of me completing 4yrs of work after college, me and some friends decided to arrange for the college re-union of S.R.M Engineerings 2005 I.T batch.



Considering the 120 people from the class, I'd safely assume that only some 80 are left in India and an even lesser number left in Chennai (hardly 30...!). However we had a pretty good number of 10-12, who showed up, all guys only though...No girls invited since it was a booze pardy. Lotta familar faces...same old comments & jokes...I suddenly felt the sheer reality that no matter what, guys will be guys. The entire gang was all excited and interacting the same way we used to, in college.



Same old jokes of Raghu, 'partnership kallai' of Chatti & Ralf, victimised Rajiv, silent observations by me and ofcourse the uncontrolled drinking of all. For those few hours, we were not professional from different industries but the same group of college kids (as in 2001- 05) and i felt that sweet sense of being 16 yrs again. Although the fact that this would be over in a few hours and when i wake up the next day, its gonna be back to same work life, sent a chill through my spine. How i wish those good ol' college days never got over...!



By far our college is the only one in India that I've heard of, to have a 3 star hotel inside the campus with 2 bar's as well and a co-ed hostel too. Come what may i'd say college life was one of the best times in my life and a major part of it goes to the fact that we were all in S.R.M.Engineering College (www.srmuniv.ac.in/). Long live SRMites...Cheers to all...!!!

Linked up with Linksys WRT...

As an update to all, yes, I’ve finally settled down for the time being in Chennai. After a very tiring process of shifting through 3 houses in the past 6 months, I’ve finally decided to stick on to the current house for whatever period I remain here. On account of the same, I treated myself to an unlimited internet connection at home and a decent wireless home networking solution: Linksys WRT Series.

This router has the design that almost makes it look like the windshield of an ultra-modern car. If you consider the cars that you see in futuristic movies and the windshield designs that those cars have, a miniature version of that represents the front of the Linksys router with a slope that starts at the top and extends downwards to the front of the router where all the displays are.



This Linksys unit comes with buttons that you can push to make setup a breeze, encryption that allows you to rest easier because of the extra power, MIMO technology. This allows for an extremely surprising boosting of the system and similar technology that allows you to reach further into your house and reduce “dead zones” where the signal can not reach. Standard specs include 10/100 internal LAN switch, 10/100 WAN port, Wireless radio with WEP, WPA and WPA2, both Personal and Pro. Although I haven’t tested the router in mixed G/N, B/G/N, G only/ N only environments, the router seems pretty stable. In either case most if not all laptops, desktops and even phones are G these days.

All in all, Linksys has been able to effectively combine the beautification of their product with the increase in functionality and that is something that should make users very happy indeed.

Mahabalipuram...

After much though and planning I made a trip to Mahabalipuram last weekend. This place is apparently one of the religious locations located around Tamilnadu, with some quite distinct and ancient artwork. Fortunately last weekend the climate turned out to be comparatively good in Chennai and so, me and my roomy Vaibhav set out on his MH-02 registered CBZ to Mahabalipuram.



Clothes...I-pod...Guitar...we were geared up to have an adventurous trip altogether. Located around 60Km from Adayar, Mahabalipuram is hardly a 1hr drive requiring no breaks in between. For those who prefer to have the cool breeze blowing on your face while you’re on a really fast ride alongside the beach, I’d recommend that you take the East Coast Road, visa vie ECR. The other alternate road, Old Mahabalipuram Road (mostly called OMR) is good for those who prefer a relaxed ride along side most of Chennai latest IT firms and Luxury Apartments. For those who don’t know yet, Hiranandani has started construction work in Chennai and finally we have some apartments of international quality coming up hardly 10Km from Sholinganallur. Inspite of the so called good weather here, having a beer or 2 during a long drive helps keep your head cool.



Once arrived, we unpacked at this Hotel Sunrise, which belongs to a friend of mine. Equipped with comfortable AC rooms and very personal room service this place is definitely worth 1k for 24hrs stay. Also includes a roof top bar, which serves excellent Kalimiri (local name for squids), Fried Sharks, prawns and many more delicacies from the Bay of Bengal. After a quick change of attire, we moved on to the beach and sat down at one of the beer bars located there. We treated ourselves to some real good fried Pomfret. Amazing part was the fish was whole, but the scales were scrapped off & some real spicy masala was added to it through carefully cut slits.



Soon after, we went walking on the bazaar road. I grabbed a marble ‘Chillam’ (Indian name for smoking pipe generally used for pot…!) shaped like a king cobra for Rs.200. Bought two silver rings, both with multiple concentric rings, of bronze to give the ‘witchy look’. Also got myself around 5 or 6 marble pendants, all custom shaped into different symbols. We soon headed back to Hotel Sunrise to finish up with some real good food, tastefully accompanied by some house music. Not sure if I should be writing this part, but to be frank, I was quite drunk by 01.00Hrs and have no idea how I got to the bed at night.



The second day, as per 'The plan', we went sight seeing and for some window shopping. Some of the must see places here are Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance (described in Mahabharata) , five Rathas (all carved out of a single rock of granite), Lion Pillars (pillars within caves), Mahishasuramarthini cave temple (pretty long name…lolz). Some of the caves and other architectures date back as far as 700 A.D and shows the predominant Dravidian art work of those times. Piece of advice to everyone, sight seeing here (especially since it involved climbing mountains and crawling through valleys) was really one of the most tiring experiences that I’ve had. But the look and feel of the experience is really worth it all. Besides im sure it’ll help us all loose a few pounds too…! I incidentally found that Mahabalipuram is also known for its many orphanages which often invite tourists to visit them and donate.



After quite an exasperating journey, we pushed off for Chennai early evening itself, only cause I had booked tickets for ‘The Hangover’ at Sathyam. No surprise, me and my roomie were in quite a hangover, when we reached the movie hall. Movie however, was really good and we really didn’t mind sitting through it inspite of the tiredness. All those who happen to stumble down to TamilNadu, do make a trip to Mahabalipuram, for it definitely speaks volumes of a forgotten history and culture. Besides Mahabalipuram is also one of the ‘World Heritage Sites’ in India and from my end I'd rate it a 5 out of 5 for a short vacation.

The Great Driving Challenge

Off late, I’ve been interested in reading a lot of traveler’s logs and their experiences and I accidentally came across an event called ‘The Great Driving Challenge’, an event for bloggers who travel across the country. It’s a promotional event arranged for couples, by Mitsubishi with 12 day expense paid travel by the Mitsubishi Cedia.

Check out the link http://www.greatdrivingchallenge.com/ for more info on the event and through http://www.greatdrivingchallenge.com/featuredapplications to see the list of all the couples who have registered for the event.

All that is expected is for the couple to make a long trip, get some nice pictures done and write about their entire travel and experience on their respective blogs. Winning Prize…??? Big bucks of 1 million Indian rupee for the winning couple and a host of cool gadgets, mobiles etc for runner-ups. Pretty cool I guess, considering the facts- the vehicle is given, the trip is paid and prize money is not bad. Things that you need to qualify- know how to drive (I mean on long trips of 2000-3000Km…), be married (That’s pretty hard, cause personally…I’d rather give up the 1 million and remain bachelor…!!!) and last but not the least- get enough votes from public to become one of the 3 couples to enter the final event.

As I went through this website, I must say, quite a surprising number of participants have registered for the event, to put their driving & surviving skills to the ultimate test on roads. You’ll also find links to their blogs/ Orkut/ FB/ Twitter/ Flicker, their background info, pictures/ travelogues from their earlier trips, their proposed route for the event and also the list of people who have voted for them or written testimonials for them. All in all, it’s a page worth visiting atleast once daily to see the completion getting tougher, as time runs out and the event finally starts. I went through some of the posted profiles; particularly liked 2 of them and decided to put up a badge for one them below.



Do go through the profile at your leisure and vote for whoever you feel fit & should win the event. Personally, the one I’ve suggested has very good travelogues, testimonials and an exceptional blog at http://drivoblog.blogspot.com/ giving quite a lot of information/ tips for all you people out there wishing to start a travelogue of your own. Voting closes by 17th July and the final event is scheduled to be from 6th Aug till 17th Aug. So let’s gear up and give these love birds a push for the ‘Great Driving Challenge’.

The next Generation…

I’ve got this huge addiction to shopping and more so to impulse buys. So last week after hearing about the new 3rd generation I-Pod at my friends place, I made a quick stop at Bescent Nager and grabbed one for myself. First thing that you’ll notice is the puny size of the device. Undoubtedly this is by far the smallest I-pod yet and perfect to plug on to for a morning jog or while working at office.

However unlike the other I-pods, the controls on this are through 3 buttons only. Two are for volume up & down. The 3rd one here in the trickiest- a single click for play/ pause, double click for next song and a triple click for previous song. Also note that there are no rewind and fast-forward buttons like the v2 and v1 versions. The biggest drawback is that the 3 button control panel is on the wiring of the headphones. This makes the headphones for the I-pod shuffle unique and in other words irreplaceable by headphones from other models in case of damage. On the good side, this key configuration removes the need for the 'lock keys' button. The toggle key for shuffle and series mode is the same as in earlier models. Battery back-up lasts for well more than 8hrs inspite of hearing at a pretty high volume. Decently priced at Rs. 4200 for 4GB it has a good value for money as well.