VanjiKotai Vaaliban

(¯`·._.·[ ( Sil ) ]·._.·´¯)

Silence, can make you think....
Silence, can transform you...



Silence, is powerful... I'm silent and am thinking.... So is my camera......

Have you ever noticed that random strangers could become your good buddies ? In my case, its true... I was fortunate or blessed with great friends who would make my day and would transform my boring, mundane work life into interesting ones !!! People I have interacted with or met online via blogs, flickr have become great buddies, and I think, when you open up, they do too...  And this post is about 2 good human beings who I met just randomly in a place thousands of miles away from home and my perceptions about them...

Now here's an example,  V, a fun loving party animal, who craves for a lot of attention, a smart cookie, great eyes, doesn't hesitate to talk about anything, bold and carefree, but still keeps you on your toes, great family values, a cocktail lover and most weekends you will find her in clubs and bars hanging with random strangers taking pictures with them..

M, fun loving, great cook, Workaholic, never uses an F word, never drinks, no clubs, no bars, yoga, only wine and in all weekends you will find her in church and even the podcasts she listens to is Gospel and about god !!!! Very religious / spiritual, reads a lot, a polite person, again great family values, someone who believes God is the ultimate happiness...

Now who is an American, V or M... And who is an Indian, person V or M.... If you had ask the same question, 6 months ago, like most, I would say " Hmmm... V an American, M an Indian " That would be my perception, right or wrong !!!  But I was totally wrong !!! V is an Indian, and M an American... 

And my point isn't about who is good or who is bad ? Its about perceptions we make, and in this case, these 2 are two totally different.

Everyone has a perception, something you make, may be due to your past experience in life or via media or your belief... Thanks to the movies we watch, the music videos we download, foreign soft-core porn magazines or just those gossips about celebrities... With all those wrong, not applicable to all info, we make a perception about a country, and think that the people are like that... No matter what, whether its India or US.... unless you experience it, the perceptions at times never change....

Used Hasselblad 500 CM Body , 80mm F2.8 Standard lens, 120mm Back or a new Nikon D300 body ?

I remember the midnight mass I used to go with the family. Christmas, NewYear, Easter where so special to me as a kid, thats when I get a chance to go out in the streets of town at midnight. Never you will have a chance to be out of house at midnight when you are young ...

Dad and Mom, would get us new clothes, we all get dressed up and we start our moped after a prayer. Dad would carefully drive the moped to the church, with me in the front and my bro in the back between dad and mom. I would enjoy the chill breeze on my face, thinking Im cruising the bike of my dreams with great speed although we are riding a moped in 20 MPH. Anto ( bro ) and I, would sleep most of the prayer in the blanket which mom has brought. And we all reach home safe half asleep and would have our christmas cake and sleep to glory.

Years went by and in my teenage, still on my dads moped we would still reach the church for the prayers, but I would leave my dad and mom and gang up with friends, coz we thought that was cool. With my parents not around, and thinking that you are one among the rebels, we would circle around the town visiting all the churches and drooling at well dressed girls in the near by churches. Christmas for me as a teenager is to search for that girl in the church, who I have seen , smiled for many a times, thinking that she is the beautiful girl in the planet and circling around her family to witness her in her christmas dress... Good old days !!!! Although I wouldn’t talk to her, but would make some funny gestures to make her know that she looked great in her new christmas dress !!!

Years past and when we were in twenties, I would visit uncle’s estate where we would celebrate with Wine and chill weather. Aunt makes some great home made wines and it’s our responsibility to finish em or take home. Although it had no effects of getting high, but still Mom keeps a vigil on what we were doing... When I used to live in town, I would gang up with church friends and go out for a tea during the christmas mass, and would walk few miles away from the church, find a small shop and would try our favorite cigarettes. My first cigarette should be the one I tried during a christmas night.

Few years later, dad expired and I moved places from our small town to cities due to my job, but still we would gather for christmas. I would drop my mom first in the church and would pickup Anto in the next ride. With one person missing and you being elder, I would avoid all my gangs and would stay with mom and we return home with the same feeling of christmas !

Last year I celebrated Christmas in Goa, with Venky and </a></a>anitab We had hired a Honda Activa, and we rode at midnight from Candolim to Panjim and attended the midnight mass.

Being away from family, from my friends and from my country, from my small town, this Christmas is different to me... I planned to see a white christmas in Chicago, but the climate was unbearably cold, I skipped the plan and wanted to celebrate christmas in Dallas.

This time I drove to the Church in a car, alone and with only the memories in my mind of my childhood, my family and friends I entered the church “The Prince of Peace” 30 minutes earlier. Yes, its very rare you will find me in church on time, but this time I had no one to drop, I had no one to wait for....

And all these memories flashed in my mind as we lit the candles. The lights were switched off and candle lights illuminating the whole church, we started singing the latin song

“Glo.............ria Glo.............ria in excélsis Deo” ( Glory to God in the highest. )

Flooded with these memories and emotions, I thanked god with endless tears ...

"Flight 26" is one of the favorite XM  channels here... It plays only the best top songs and its a pleasure to listen to it while driving here... And this is one of the favs now. No wonder why this song is in the Top 10 songs for 2007. Although Timbaland doesn't sing much as he is more of a producer than the singer, but he brings great music of late.

Here's "Apologize" from OneRepublic...

Software engineers who just landed in US, please talk to my American and Mexican friends. All I notice in major companies is that WE form a circle and create a gang. Come on folks, you can have lunch with your American colleague, you don’t have to gang up during lunch, isolating yourself and branding yourself a Desi crowd...

It’s ok to look and smile at the white lady in the elevator. You don’t have to put your head down.... talk to them... Tell her that she has a great pair of shoes. Smile and show her we are friendly and social. Don't team up in parties or clubs or dance floors... It's ok to mingle and dance funny and have a good time... It’s ok to talk among each other while having a drink, instead of starring at the lady beside you...

AND PLEASE DONT DISCUSS ABOUT THE PRICES IN THE RESTRAUNT…

This annoys me like hell... It’s OK to spend some money on a good brand of perfumes, a decent pair of shoes and style your hair... You are representing a great organization, a great country ... Lets reflect it in the way we dress, the way we speak, the way we conduct ourselves... It’s OK to talk to my Afro-American friends and start a conversation with them in the bar...

And those few ladies out there who have just reached US for work, it’s OK to roam around the city and learn something new and it’s totally OK to wax your hands. PLEASE WAX and dress sensibly. I know you are the Mistress of Spice, but please use a deodorant, so we don’t smell that Curry you cooked this morning.

At times we don't realize that we are in a different country where respect and self-esteem is closely associated with looks.  And I write this post after an escalation made by Clients in a project executed by a well known Indian MNC

PS : These are my views and are not intended to offend any group or person or race

aankhein teri , kitni haseen
ki inkaa aashiq, mein ban gayaa hoon
mujhako basaa le, iname tu....

I just love the song, the photography, the music and especially the girl....





Its been a long while, I saw any girl in Salwaar .....

Ever wondered how attached we are to a place, a person or a thing... Somehow I'm so attached to the place I live.. Be it Bangalore, or Coimbatore or even Austin Ranch where I ( was ) living...

I had to move out of this beautiful apartment as company pays for it only for 6 months, after that I have to move and find a place on my own. So I had to move and the last one week was difficult.

Moving from a place where you lived and to a new place makes me low. I don't know why, but I felt it when I starting moving things... I can have a great cup of coffee from the Coffee shop near by, sit out and enjoy watching birds, moving cars and even have a conversation with people around... I can walk to the bar, drink as much you can and then walk back home, with no worries about driving or DUI

A place for me, a place called home. Although there were none to welcome me home, somehow I'm used to living alone and enjoying every bit of it... Now I live in a different place, with few guys and share the apartment... I had to get furnitures, a car and this is like starting all over in a new place and looks as if you landed here few days back...

I will miss Austin Ranch... but its time to move on, you may not know, what's in store !!

Take accountability,
That's how leaders are born.

 Be a smart cookie,
that’s how great resumes are built !

So I'm writing this post from the McCarran Airport... Yes, I'm in Las Vegas on my birthday. This is my first Birthday outside the country, but friends were kind enough to wish me either on phone, or by my blog and other networking sites... Thank you all for the wishes, all your wishes made by day !!

Finally I survived 27 as a bachelor, as its the age where most men plan for marriage, if not you, your parents are gonna find one for you.... This year escaped and fortunately I'm still a bachelor and enjoying every minute of it...

I don't know what holds for my future, but hopefully I should still remain a bachelor for my next birthday too... But who knows, time would have the answer... I'm totally against the rule of age deciding ones marriage... Though they have many valid reasons, I think, I'm still not mentally matured enough for a marriage... So let's see...

The next 4 days is gonna be fun as they, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas ;)

Now I have to write about this... This is something I hate in my apartment... It's the TV !!! Its not the TV, but the channels and programs in it... TimeWarner cable does have a lot of channels but very few which I wanted to watch... So you return from work and you are so tired, and you turn on the TV around 7 in the evening, and all you see is crap. The first few channels are all about selling jewellery and shopping networks.... Next comes all the Politics channels talking about the war again and again... Next comes the spanish channels !!! Though the women look good, you don't even get a single word in these channels other than Adios and Si...

Next comes all the music channels ... I always liked the VH1 in India... But this awesome music channels is not a music channel anymore in the US... All you see is the crappy reality shows on and on and on... Anytime you browse VH1, all you find is reality shows which all circles around Sex, women, gays, Lesbians and elimination... And these run for months, so all you see is the same B**ShI* again and again... Now next comes Speed, HGTV and Discovery.. But how long will you watch the same drag races, the same home make overs and documentaries... And for the movie, not much variety here.... Same chic flicks, cinderalla stories targeted mostly for the girls...

So I switched on to http://www.joost.com/ . Joost is an awesome applications and works well on Mac and Windows... You can surf around 15000 channels with a variety of programs and documentaries which are very rare to find. All you need is a good broadband connections and the quality of the shows are good. Try Joost if you are bored watching the same shows again and again.. All you need is a broad band connection. I found some Indian content too.. The best part is its free and you can run your own channel... 

Finally and after drooling on Macbooks, G5s and Mini's, I now own a Black Macbook running Leopard. I never thought that I would see a long queue for the world premiere of OS X Leopard in Texas. And I'm loving this machine... It would take a week for me to understand the shortcuts and tricks in this machine, but its worth it... Finding applications for Mac is a little time consuming as I'm googling apps for P2P, Video Players and LJ clients.



I installed VUZE from http://www.vuze.com/app and oh boy I'm loving all the High Definition Videos in it. Do try it and its fast and looks cool. Now I know why people love Macs... This OS is made with care and class... It makes me wonder how an Application developer should think before Designing apps.

Apple Rocks !!!!!!

So here comes cyberscorpion , the new pest control expert. A new role which I have happily accepted for 2 of my friends here ( M and V ) who live near my apartment. Taking this role doesn't give me a hike, but it definitely makes my day more interesting amidst my usual programming and offshore calls.

And here's the story,Phone Rings ~

V: Dude, there's a big insect in my apartment ! Can you come and kill it ? M is screaming!!! ....
Me : Oh oh oh .. wait.... how big is it ? And you get a reply ...
V: Its big!!!

Totally scared and imagining what that big insect is and with not much time to react, I finally walk towards their apartment, with a can of RAID Insect repellent. Well, what scared me is what could be that big insect? Are they talking about a snake? No... .It can't be an insect... So what is it? Is this is a new kinda insect which you find in America only??? So with all these questions in mind and a little scared, I knocked Room # 37. M opened the door, and was looking so scared....

The way they described about it made me even more scared. The fact is even I'm scared too... I'm scared of Spiders, especially the big ones and scorpions, coz they are poisonous. With no clue on what that big insect is, and acting as if I'm brave, I started searching the whole room... And the RAID repellent I got, didn't work too... So I turn it towards my face to see if the nozzle is open and now it works, spraying all the repellent into my eyes.... Half blinded, I struggle to find the wash basin to clean my eyes first!!! Now think about this, you are in someone's place to help them and finally they ended up helping you!!! I took few minutes to rest and then started searching for the big insect again... Who knows where it is hiding!!! I started spraying the insect repellent on all the books, computers, the book shelves and all the window panes, but no luck....

With tears in my eyes and running nose ( due to the repellent ), I continued my search for around 20 minutes and was about to give up my search, M started screaming again and shows me "THERE IT IS"..... M ran out of the room!!

( rest of the story )

This morning all my Indian friends were asking me... Did you watch the Match ? ... I asked, What match ? ... Dude, India Vs Pakistan, 20 20 match ? When did they make cricket 20 overs match ? Stunned by my reply, my team mate showed me some videos in YouTube... Gosh, I had missed all these fantastic Cricket matches !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And all my friends in LJ had written about the finals... Not sure how I missed it... I ain't a die hard fan of Cricket, and I don't watch the match regularly....and  not many people talk about Cricket here. But good to know India won the world cup....

Now all the News channels would start praising about the heroes, all the Ads would have Cricketers, I can see kids playing Cricket in the streets all over again... every other local match will be 20 - 20. I hope this spirit stays for sometime.... Now I need to watch the finals ... Youtube links anyone ????

The other day I met this Japanese guy, Ken, in a bar near by my place. We discussed about India, Japan, Akira Kurosawa, Traffic, education in India, beer and a lot of interesting stories. He finally asked me, how come Indians are smart. And I explained him may be due to an aggressive eduction system, pressure from the society and so much of focus on education forced on kids mostly by the parents. We were the only outsiders in the bar and Ken mentioned how poor Asian countries are. I said, we aren't poor, we are getting richer and we are coming.... and with an excitement I made a point, " In 10 years from now, we are gonna kick all these butts here, so wait and watch. I'm working for that"....

And today, I take back my words... We can't kick their butts even for the next 20 or 30 years. I always felt that Software is one field in which we are making marks all over the world and this is one way to prove how smart Indians are to the foreign people. Not only Software, India has its own place in most of all the fields and I can't mention about them much as I don't know about them. So I'll stick to software field which I'm familiar a lil bit. But of late, I notice a decline in the quality of software professionals and their delivery. Although we boost ourselves, as a Software Engineer in India, the perspective from here in the United States on professionals in India are disappointing. People here think that offshore is like a back-office to do all the junk work which they can't do. And what's most disappointing is that the, Indian Software professionals who have settled in the US, they don't believe in software delivery from India. And thats valid too.... Somehow, somewhere, we made a biggest blunder in recruiting all the x and y from the pool, considering only the head count and not the quality. In a way, thats valid too from a Management perspective. We need people to run business.

But my concern is all these big software companies want their professionals to be trained and not to be experts. All trainings they provide just give a hands-on and they stop there. They don't train the same set again to an advanced level. Its then that individual's interest to learn more from there or stop there and be happy about it. Not many have the interest to learn as most of the work are simple and all you need to do is follow a document which is written by a developer and do the same support kind of work again and again like a machine. And somehow it has stopped the Indian brain to develop, to debug and write a new code. I see people struggling to take initiative and do a change in the existing system. And somehow we don't realize that one bad day when all this boom falls down, what am I gonna do ? And it has already started, the dollar value is coming down, and with more cost effective Software Delivery centers mushrooming in China, Mexico, Manila, I really don't know how these so called 'trained' professionals gonna survive ? And I, myself will be in the pool too. But I strive hard to be an expert in the field I work on. But what if my whole field is gone ????

I can join a Passport Photo studio... But who will come to my shop ? Or I can become a bike mechanic or setup a tuition center...

On a serious note, is this a fault on the Big software companies which are hesitant to nurture the quality and skill set of a professional or is it the fault of  millions of software engineers who are hesitant to learn and work hard towards a high quality code ? The ground reality is, In a team of 10, only one works effectively in a Software delivery, the rest 9 are dependent or just having a good time reading a blog, written by stupid people like me... ha ha ha ha ha (PS : The time here is 7:56 PM, which mean I'm at home )

My friends Anita, Venky, Shankar and Nish are exhibiting some great pictures at the Chitrakala Parishad.  Please don't miss it. I have to opt out of this exhibition as I had to travel. Anyways, please don't miss this. Bring your family and friends to witness some good photography.

Watsup People ????

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Paarukulle Nalla Naadu .... Engal Bharatha Naadu (A great nation in this world - our India )
-MahaKavi Bharathi 

I'm blessed , to have born in India...

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