Time Tested Laws

How true...

1) LORENZ'S LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

2) ANTHONY'S LAW OF THE WORKSHOP:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

3) KOVAC'S CONUNDRUM:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.

4) CANNON'S KARMIC LAW:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tyre, the next morning you will have a flat tyre.

5) O'BRIEN'S VARIATION LAW:
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

6) BELL'S THEOREM:
When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

7) RUBY'S PRINCIPLE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS:
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

8) WILLOUGHBY'S LAW:
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

9) ZADRA'S LAW OF BIOMECHANICS:
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

10) BREDA'S RULE:
At any event, the people whose seats are farthest from the aisle arrive last.

11) OWEN'S LAW:
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

12) HOWDEN'S LAW:
You remember you have to mail a letter only when you're near the mailbox.

Boss' Expectation

A butcher watching over his shop is really surprised when he saw a dog coming inside the shop. He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back again. So, he goes over to the dog and notices he has a note in his mouth.

He takes the note and it reads, "Can I have 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please". The dog has money in his mouth, as well. The butcher looks inside and lo and behold, there is a ten-dollar note there. So he takes the money and puts the sausages and lamb in a bag, placing it in the dog's mouth. The butcher is so impressed, and since it's about closing time, he decides to shut up shop and follow the dog. So off he goes.

The dog is walking down the street when he comes to a level crossing. The dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the button. Then he waits patiently, bag in mouth, for the lights to turn. They do, and he walks across the road, with the butcher following him all the way.

The dog then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable. The butcher is in awe at this stage. The dog checks out the times, and then sits on one of the seats provided. Along comes a bus. The dog walks around to the front, looks at the number, and goes back to his seat. Another bus comes. Again the dog goes and looks at the number, notices it's the right bus and climbs on. The butcher, by now, open-mouthed, follows him onto the bus. The bus travels through the town and out into the suburbs, the dog looking at the scenery. Eventually he gets up, and moves to the front of the bus. He stands on 2 back paws and pushes the button to stop the bus. Then he gets off, his groceries still in his mouth. Well, dog and butcher are walking along the road, and then the dog turns into a house. He walks up the path, and drops the groceries on the step.

Then he walks back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself against the door. He goes back down the path, runs up to the door and again throws himself against it. There's no answer at the house, so the dog goes back down the path, jumps up on a narrow wall, and walks along the perimeter of the garden. He gets to the window, and beats his head against it several times, walks back, jumps off, and waits at the door. The butcher watches as a big guy opens the door, and starts abusing the dog, kicking him and punching him, and swearing at him.

The butcher runs up, and stops the guy. "What in heaven's name are you doing? The dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for the life of me!" to which the guy responds: "You call this clever? This is the second time this week that this stupid dog's forgotten his key."

Moral of the story.....

You may continue to exceed onlookers' expectations but shall always fall short of your boss expectations.

Honda Accord Ad

Read the story below and then go watch the link that is all the way at the bottom!

There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it. The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work.

They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions. The film cost six million dollars and
took three months to complete including full engineering of the sequence.

In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime. However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history.. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free viewings" (Honda isn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial!). When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it
immediately without any hesitation - including the costs.

There are six and only six handmade Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film. Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls,floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) are parts from
those two cars. The voice-over is Garrison Keillor. When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten.

They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real.
Oh... and about those funky windshield wipers. On the new Accords, the windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start doing their thing automatically as soon as they become wet. It looks a bit weird in the commercial.

*Note You will require Flash Version 6 to play this*

http://www.steelcitysfinest.com/HondaAccordAd.htm

Joke : Don't wait too long!

Once upon a time there was a Prince who, through no fault of his own was cast under a spell by an evil witch. The curse was that the Prince could speak only one word each year. However, he could save up the words so that if he did not speak for a whole year, then the following year he was allowed to speak two words. (This was before the time of letter writing or sign language.)

One day he met a beautiful princess (ruby lips, golden hair, sapphire eyes,) and fell madly in love. With the greatest difficulty he decided to refrain from speaking for two whole years so that he could look at her and say "my darling". but at the end of the two years he wished to tell her that he loved her.

Because of this, he waited three more years without speaking (bringing the total number of silent years to 5).

But at the end of these five years, he realized that he had to ask her to marry him. So he waited ANOTHER four years without speaking.

Finally, as the ninth year of silence ended, his joy knew no bounds. Leading the lovely princess to the most secluded nd romantic place in that beautiful royal garden the prince heaped a hundred red roses on her lap, knelt before her, and taking her hand in his, said huskily,

"My darling, I love you! Will you marry me?"

And the princess tucked a strand of golden hair behind a dainty ear, opened her sapphire eyes in wonder, and parting her ruby lips, said "Pardon?"

Les Catacombes de Paris

Hold on...Iam not posting anything in French here. I happened to remember a TV programme I watched a few years back about a trip through the Catacombs of Paris. A Catacomb happens to be an underground cemetery consisting of chambers or tunnels with recesses for graves(quoted verbatim from www.dictionary.com). I came to know through the programme, that in Paris there exists an underground cemetery, in which bones of generations of Parisians have been stored in order to solve the problem of overpopulation in the cemeteries of the capital.

A fresco on the wall of the Paris Catacombs

Although the Italian Catacombs in Rome, are much older than the Parisian Catacombs, Iam still posting about this since the trip through the labyrinthine Catacombs which seemed to run into a maze, was really scary. I vaguely remember that the people who had entered (I believe they had taken the permission...were searching for some treasure...but returned empty-handed). I learnt a little bit more about the Catacombs from this site.
http://membres.lycos.fr/houze/english/
Be sure to read about Philibert Aspairt there. I deliberately posted a "cool" fresco, rather than something bizarre on my blog.

Some people might have noticed that I don't post my views/comments about incidents,happenings as much as I like making a note about general things. That is because my views are as restless as my blog itself. So I believe there is no point bothering myself and my readers with my views. And I somehow like making notes of the things, which I have watched, listened, read over a period of time, so that I can comeback in future to refer. I should say, that the blog is an ideal online diary.

I want to be a Pilot

This morning I was switching the TV back and forth between two programmes- one was the programme on creating AIDS awareness in India which featured Richard Gere and the other was a programme on National Geographic Channel called "Mission Udaan". This was an unique programme in the sense, NatGeo together with the Indian Airforce conducted a selection campaign to pick up one aspirant who would be picked to fly one of the most advanced Fighter jets - the Russian Sukhoi SU30. The selection was conducted in three Indian cities Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. From each city 10 people have been shortlisted and from these 30, one finalist would have the envious job of flying a Sukhoi. The first episode which was telecast today had shortlisted 30 aspirants, Iam eagerly looking forward to the second episode where I think I would get to see all the selection drills for a Pilot.

The selection process was certainly demanding. It consisted of a medley race where you had to run end to end on all fours and then running backwards. There was then a group task where the group would be given certain equipments and would be asked to accomplish a task, this was then followed by a Group Problem Solving Exercise and a personal interview. During the course of the interview, I found that many incumbents told that it was their ambition,dream,goal,desire to fly a plane/to become a pilot/to join the Indian Airforce.

I instantly remembered that as a kid, I would often say that I wanted to become a Pilot one day. However the thought soon petered out and I became "truly interested!!" in other professions like Painter, Architect, Train Driver, Agriculturalist, a Kung-fu fighter(after seeing Bruce Lee movies) and not to mention a Poultry farmer. But then I ventured into GIS projects and Cartography(map-making) after my MBA before settling(hope so!) to be a SAP consultant in an automotive company, doing all these things But I still enjoy the thought of flying(of course not as a pilot). I make it a point to get a window seat on a flight. I like peeping out of the window and to see a real map on the ground with my own eyes. I can find an instant similarity between what I see through the window and what I see on satellite imageries and topographical map sheets. The buildings are all a stack of toy boxes, the rivers are winding snakes and the clouds...its indeed an experience to fly above the clouds and to peep through the window. Flying was the first thought which used to fascinate me as a kid, and Iam still fascinated by flying objects...so don't blame me if you find lot on my blog about Aeroplanes and stuff.

20 Airbus Crashes a Day

I happened to see a programme on TV today which was held in Hyderabad on Oct 22 to increase awareness about AIDS in India. Several actors from the South Indian film Industry had come together to participate in the song and dance show organised by the Heroes Project in order to spread awareness about AIDS in India. This project is being spearheaded by popular Hollywood Actor and Social Activist Richard Gere.

Richard Gere with Kamalhassan and Kalanidhi Maran

Speaking on the occasion, Richard Gere said that World over an astounding 8000 people die of AIDS. He equated the same to 20 Airbus crashes a day and all the passengers succumbing to the crash. Hard reality...which is difficult to digest.

Read more about it here...
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2005/10
/26/stories/2005102601010100.htm

"India is growing at an extraordinary pace — it will soon become one of the world's leading nations. There's no doubt about that," says Gere. "But a social problem like AIDS needs an enormous amount of work here. And the actors could be a catalyst to set it off."

Stating that they have divided their campaign into two sections for the North and South of India, Gere says, "I don't pretend to know all the answers. But I find that the South is very different — in the rhythms in which people talk to each other, the actors they admire, and the way they deify those actors." And then, there are the fan clubs, which do substantial social work. "You wouldn't find that in America... And there's much more social responsibility among the actors in the south."

Gere has been coming to India "for close to 30 years now, initially on a spiritual quest... I think there is something deep inside me that connects here." That's just one of the reasons he stays. The other is to engineer change. "I have seen the mistakes my country has made, and I want to find a way to keep India from making the same mistakes."

God...

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed:
“Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease”?

To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over -- 5o million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 0.5 million learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbeldon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD “Why me?”. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD “Why me?”

Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Sorrow keeps you Human, Failure Keeps you Humble, Success keeps you Glowing, But only God Keeps you Going.....

A touching story by Tagore

I read about an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and her student in Tony's blog. I am reminded of a short story titled 'The PostMaster' by Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian Nobel Laureate(for Literature), which is in complete contrast. It is about a city-bred individual who takes up a job as a PostMaster in a remote village in Bengal and an Orphan girl named Ratan. It is a poignant tale narrating the affection between the two. While the girl looks upto the Postmaster as a well-wisher and guardian, the Postmaster tries to see his Mother and his Sister in the girl. I tried to get the URL of the story, but could not manage. I have given the link to a movie review based on the story. The movie is titled 'Two daughters' and has been directed by the eminent director Satyajit Ray.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=51378

If somebody gets the link to the story on the web, please share it. The end to the story is indeed very touching. Iam reminded of a piece from H.W.Longfellow's poem 'The Theologian's Tale: Elizabeth'. It compares very much with the story.

"Ships that pass in the night and speak each other in passing;
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence"

Did I feel the same way when I left Delhi(my home for 6 years) for Indore a couple of days back...may be... that's life.

Meetings...

Bothered by the plethora of meetings happening at the workplace, my colleague shared a quote on 'Meetings' which he had read somewhere. I found it good and here it is...

'Meeting is a place where hours are wasted and minutes are noted!!'

New place...New start

I know I have not posted anything for the last two days. The reason being I was busy organising my transfer from New Delhi to Indore, Madhya Pradesh in Central India. Yesterday was also the first time I sat in a tiny 48 seater aircraft. Being used to the mammoth Boeings and Airbuses...this was certainly amusing to me.

Coming to this new place, professionally there are some differences in the work environment. Although it is the same company, earlier I was in a Corporate environment, now I would be working from a Manufacturing Plant. It means getting up early...Office starts at 8am and the city(where I reside) is approximately 40 kms from the Office, which means more time spent in commuting. Blogging is becoming more of a habit now, with new-found friends and more visits to my blog, so I guess I will find time even here to post regularly.

Leaders

Excerpts from the book 'Winning' by Jack Welch

During his long career, Welch mentored a generation of future CEOs. His rules of the game.

One day, you become a leader. On Monday, you're talking and laughing with colleagues about life and work, and gossiping about management. Then on Tuesday, you are management. You're a boss. Suddenly, everything feels different-because it is different. Leadership requires distinct behaviors and attitudes, and for many people, they debut with the job. Before you become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

These are my eight "rules" to become a good leader.

#1 Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach and build self-confidence.

The team with the best players usually does win. And that is why, very simply, you need to invest the vast majority of your time and energy as a leader in three activities.

You have to evaluate-making sure the right people are in the right jobs, supporting and advancing those who are, and moving out those who are not.

You have to coach-guiding, critiquing and helping people to improve their performance in every way.

And finally, you have to build self-confidence-pouring out encouragement, caring and recognition. Self-confidence energizes, and it gives your people the courage to stretch, take risks and achieve beyond their dreams. It is the fuel of winning teams.

Too often, managers think that people development occurs once a year in performance reviews. That's not even close. It should be a daily event, integrated into every aspect of your regular goings-on. Customer visits are a chance to evaluate your sales force. Plant tours are an opportunity to meet promising new line managers. A coffee break at a meeting is an opening to coach a team member about to give his first major presentation. Think of yourself as a gardener, with a watering can in one hand and a can of fertilizer in the other. Occasionally you have to pull some weeds, but most of the time, you just nurture and tend. Then watch everything bloom.

#2 Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.

Leaders have to set the team's vision and make it come alive. How do you achieve that? First of all, no jargon. Targets cannot be so blurry they can't be hit. You have to talk about vision constantly to everyone. A common problem is that leaders communicate the vision to close colleagues and it never filters down to people in frontline positions.

If you want people to live and breathe the vision, "show them the money" when they do, be it with salary, bonus, or significant recognition. To quote a friend of mine, Chuck Ames, the former chairman and CEO of Reliance Electric, "Show me a company's various compensation plans, and I'll show you how its people behave."

#3 Leaders get into everyone's skin, exuding positive energy and optimism.

An upbeat manager with a positive outlook somehow ends up running a team or organization filled with ... well, upbeat people with positive outlooks. A sourpuss somehow ends up with an unhappy tribe all his own. Unhappy tribes have a tough time winning.

Work can be hard. But your job as leader is to fight the gravitational pull of negativism. That doesn't mean you sugarcoat the challenges. It does mean you display an energizing, can-do attitude about overcoming them.

#4 Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency and credit.

Your people should always know where they stand. They have to know how the business is doing. And sometimes the news is not good-such as imminent layoffs-and any normal person would rather avoid delivering it. But you have to fight the impulse to pad hard messages or you'll pay with your team's confidence and energy.

Leaders also establish trust by giving credit where credit is due. They never score off their own people by stealing an idea and claiming it as their own. They don't kiss up and kick down because they are self-confident and mature enough to know that their team's success will get them recognition, and sooner rather than later. In bad times, leaders take responsibility for what's gone wrong. In good times, they generously pass around the praise.

#5 Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls.

There are times you have to make hard decisions-let people go, cut funding to a project, or close a plant. Obviously, tough calls spawn complaints and resistance. Your job is to listen and explain yourself clearly but move forward. You are not a leader to win a popularity contest-you are a leader to lead. Don't run for office. You're already elected.

Sometimes making a decision is hard not because it's unpopular, but because it comes from your gut and defies a "technical" rationale. Much has been written about the mystery of gut, but it's really just pattern recognition, isn't it? You've seen something so many times you just know what's going on this time. The facts may be incomplete, but the situation feels very, very familiar to you. Sometimes the hardest gut calls involve picking people. You meet a candidate who has all the right stuff. But something nags at you, and you're left with that uh-oh feeling. Don't hire the guy.

#6 Leaders probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action.

When you are an individual contributor, you try to have all the answers. When you are a leader, your job is to have all the questions. You have to be incredibly comfortable looking like the dumbest person in the room. Every conversation you have about a decision, a proposal, or a piece of market information has to be filled with you saying, "What if?" and "Why not?" and "How come?" Questioning, however, is never enough. You have to make sure your questions unleash debate and raise issues that get action.

#7 Leaders inspire risk taking and learning by setting the example.

These two concepts often get lip service-and little else. Too many managers urge their people to try new things and then whack them in the head when they fail. And too many live in not-invented-here worlds of their own making. If you want your people to experiment, set the example yourself.

Consider risk taking. You don't need to be preachy or somber about your errors. In fact, the more humorous and lighthearted you can be, the more people will get the message that mistakes aren't fatal.

As for learning-again, live it yourself. Just because you're the boss doesn't mean you're the source of all knowledge. Whenever I learned about a best practice that I liked at another company, I would come back to GE and make a scene. Maybe I overstated the case, but I wanted people to know how enthusiastic I was about the new idea.

#8 Leaders celebrate.

Why does celebrating make managers so nervous? Maybe throwing a party doesn't seem professional, or it makes managers worry that they won't look serious to the powers that be, or that, if things get too happy at the office, people will stop working their tails off.

There is just not enough celebrating going on at work-anywhere. I harped on the importance of celebrating for 20 years. But during my last trip as CEO to our training center in Crotonville, N.Y., I asked the 100 or so managers in the class, "Do you celebrate enough in your units?" Even knowing what I wanted them to say, less than half answered yes.

What a lost opportunity. Celebrating creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high five. Work is too much a part of life not to recognize moments of achievement. Make a big deal out of them. If you don't, no one will.

I am often asked if leaders are born or made. The answer, of course, is both. Some characteristics, like IQ and energy, seem to come with the package. On the other hand, you learn some leadership skills, like self-confidence, at your mother's knee, and at school, in academics and sports. And you learn others at work-trying something, getting it wrong and learning from it, or getting it right and gaining the self-confidence to do it again, only better

Driving Licence of a Woman in Iraq

Wonder how they will identify her...

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

This post is a tribute and also an admiration of the incredible power and reach of the Internet. What made me admire...read on. I was searching for info on my most favourite Cartoon series Tom and Jerry. To say that, I was surprised to know that Tom and Jerry are more than twice my age would be an under-statement. I was stunned to know that the first and Tom and Jerry cartoon came in the 1930s. Yet it appeals to me and even the present day kids.

Similarly the TV serial which used to come in Doordarshan in the 80s 'The Giant Robot' - it seems was produced in 1965. As Iam typing this, Iam listening to 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' by Pink Floyd. Being, not well-versed with Western Music(for me Western Music was only Michael Jackson the King of Pop), I used to think (not a long time ago),that Pink Floyd is a contemporary musician. Some searching on Internet, and I came to know that Pink Floyd's period was the 60s and the 70s and it was a group of musicians. Call it my ignorance or anything...if not for the internet I would still not have known about Tom and Jerry, Giant Robot, and Shine on You Crazy Diamond. Iam filled with a child-like enthusiasm when I get to know these titbits of information.

BTW, the song is great and I learnt that it is a tribute to one of the members of the Pink Floyd Group, Syd Barrett who died a lunatic. "Shine on You Crazy Diamonds" happened to be the Motto of the Aravali Hostel at IIT Delhi(Year 2000...if Iam not wrong!), from where I took a liking to the line and googled to find its source. A Salute to the Internet for letting me know. Shine on...

People Learn From Their Mistakes!

This was a hilarious e-mail forward, that I want to share with all you guys...no offence intended.

A. The first photo was taken when the Chinese president went to US.

B. The second photo was taken when Bush went to China .

Do not Give Up Hopes any time !!

Joke: US version of Diwali

A young second generation Indian in the US was asked by his mother to explain the significance of "Diwali" to his younger brother, this is how he went about it...

" So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a bitch, and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something...

Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so.. he decided to get his wife and his bro along... you know...so that they could all chill out together. But Dude, the forest was reeeeal scary shit... really man... they had monkeys and devils and shit like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked ass with darts and bows and arrows... so it was fine.

But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man, and also his bro, Laxman, pissed... And you don't piss this son-of-a-gun cuz, he just kicks ass and like... all the gods were with him... So anyways,you don't mess with gods. So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys..Dude, don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys... just go along with me, ok...

So, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's ass in his own hood. Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest...and anyways...it gets kinda boring,you know... no TV or malls or shit like that. So,they decided to hitch a ride back home... and when the people realize that our dude, his bro and the wife are back
home... they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice... and they didn't have any bars or clubs in those days...so they couldn't take them out for a drink, so they, like,decided to smoke and shit...and since they also had some lamps, they lit the lamps also... so it was pretty cooool...you know with all those fireworks... Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks... and you know, what, dude, that was the very first, no kidding.., that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks... you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff, you know. And, so dude, that was how, like, this festival started."

Problems people faced with Computers

Here are some problems. People who know nothing about computer, but buy a computer often faced these problems.
1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key"
to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking
where the "Any" key is.

2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her
mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover
turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.

3. Another Compaq technician received a call from a man
complaining that the system wouldn't read word processing files
from his old diskettes. After trouble-shooting for magnets and
heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was found that the
customer labeled the diskettes then rolled them into the
typewriter to type the labels.

4. Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her
defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the
customer along with Xeroxed copies of the floppies.

5. A Dell technician advised his customer to put his troubled
floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked
the tech to hold on, and was heard putting the phone down,
getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.

6. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his
computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting,
the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of
paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting
the "send" key.

7. Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program,
so a Dell tech suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I
got me a couple of friends," the customer replied. When told
Egghead was a software store, the man said, "Oh, I thought you
meant for me to find a couple of geeks."

8. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his
keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his
tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day,
then removing all the keys and washing them individually.

9. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was
enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an
invalid". The tech explained that the computer's "bad command"
and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.

10. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support
couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring
the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what
happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I
pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The
"foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.

11. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her
brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the
unit, plugged it in, and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for
something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed
the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"

12. 1st Person: "Do you know anything about this
fax-machine?" 2nd Person: "A little. What's wrong?" 1st
Person: "Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back to
say all she received was a cover-sheet and a blank page. I
tried it again, and the same thing happened." 2nd Person: "How
did you load the sheet?" 1st Person: "It's a pretty sensitive
memo, and I didn't want anyone else to read it by accident, so
I folded it so only the recipient would open it and read it."

13. True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is
this Tech Support?" Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my
warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech:
"I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's
attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me
if I seem a bit stumped, It's because I am. Did you receive
this as part of a promotional, at a trade show? How did you get
this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?" Caller: "It
came with my computer, I don't know anything about a
promotional. It just has '4X' on it."
At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he
couldn't stand it. The caller had been using the load drawer of
the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the
drive!

Working...

Joke : Airlines Announcements...

Lufthansa Airlines

Passengers on a Lufthansa flight heard this announcement from the captain :"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry to inform you that we have lost power to all of our engines and will shortly crash into the ocean".

The passengers were obviously very worried about this situation but were somewhat comforted by the captain's next announcement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we at Lufthansa have prepared for such an emergency and we would now like you to rearrange your seating so that all the non-swimmers are on the left side of the plane and all the swimmers are on the right side of the plane after this announcement all the passengers rearranged their seating to comply with the captain's request.

Two minutes later the captain made a belly landing in the ocean. The captain once again made an announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen we have crashed into the ocean. All of the swimmers on the right side of the plane, open your emergency exits and
quickly swim away from the plane.

For all of the non-swimmers on the left side of plane... -Thank You For
Flying Lufthansa- ".

------------------------------------------------------------------------
British Airways

"This is Captain Sinclair speaking. On behalf of my crew I'd like to welcome you aboard British Airways flight 602 from New York to London.

We are currently flying at a height of 35,000 feet midway across the Atlantic."

"If you look out of the windows on the starboard side of the aircraft, you will observe that both the starboard engines are on fire.

"If you look out of the windows on the port side, you will observe that the port wing has fallen off."

"If you look down towards the Atlantic ocean, you will see a little yellow life raft with three people in it waving at you. That's me your captain, the co-pilot, and one of the air stewardesses. This is a recorded message."

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delta Airlines

At the airport for a trip, I settled down to wait for the boarding announcement at Gate 35. Then I heard the voice on the public address system saying, "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Delta Flight 570 will board from Gate 41."

So my family picked up our luggage and carried it over to Gate 41.

Not ten minutes later the public address voice told us that Flight 570 would in fact be boarding from Gate 35. So again we gathered our carry-on luggage and returned to the original gate.

Just as we were settling down, the public address voice spoke " Thank you for participating in Delta's physical fitness program."

'Me' in a Pencil Sketch

This is a pencil sketch of me done by buddy Dyeaneshwaran, during Traffic Engineering Lecture Hour in Transportation Seminar Hall, Anna University during our Final Year B.E. - 1998 A.D.

A Quote on 'Friends'

This is a quote which I read a long time back in Reader's Digest. I penned this and posterized it using MS-Photo Editor to give it this look.

Word Wise - 3

Some English words which have their Origin in Arabic

1. Checkmate - From 'Shah' + 'Mat' meaning 'The King is dead'

2. Alcohol - From Al - Kuhl meaning Essence. Its also said that Arabic chemists came to use al-kuhl to mean “any fine powder produced in a number of ways, including the process of heating a substance to a gaseous state and then recooling it.” Some say that the word has a Chinese Origin.

3. Admiral - From 'Amir - a - Ali' meaning 'Commander of the Sea'.

4. Gibraltar - From Jabal Tariq, the "mountain of Tariq" after the general who led the Muslim conquest of Spain.

Jawaharlal Nehru Pictures

On the occasion of the 116th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru today, also celebrated as Children's day, I searched the web for something interesting and landed on this site which has some rare pictures of Jawaharlal Nehru.

http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/jawaharlal_nehru.htm


The above Postal Stamp image which is again from the same site is a rare one, not only because it features a coin, but also because Nehru is shown without his cap.

Mozart's Requiem

I bought a CD of Mozart's Requiem, a few days back. The Requiem is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Mozart and is also shrouded in mystery. Although I have not listened to it fully and have not been able to appreciate the composition and its beauty, it had a different feel from the few Western Classical Music compositions that I have heard so far.

See above the image of Mozart's original handwritten score of Requiem.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart known as one of the first Master Composers along with the likes of Bach and Beethoven, is said to have composed the Requiem for his "own funeral". It is said that he had received a commission from an unknown intermediary of Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach for writing a Requiem(a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person)Score to be performed on the anniversary of his Wife's death. At his death on 5 December 1791 Mozart had only been able to complete the first movement of the Requiem's score—the Introit: Requiem—and to write part scores of nine of the following 13 sections.

Read about Mozart's Requiem here:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Mozart%20Requiem

A few more points of interest:

- It is said that Mozart burst into tears and could go no further when it came to the Lacrimosa, of which he only had written the first eight bars.
- Mozart passed away five minutes to one on the morning of December 5th, to be buried a day or so later in an unmarked grave.
- After her husband's death, Constanze Mozart claimed that he had a premonition that the Requiem was an omen of his own coming death.
- Though it was expected that Constanze would entrust the completion of the work to Mozart's pupil and constant companion Franz Xavier Süssmayer, instead she asked Josef Eybler. He later gave up the task and the unfinished score fell to Süssmayer in the end anyway.

Khudiram Bose

Years ago, I had read in "Young World" of The Hindu newspaper about an Indian revolutionary named Khudiram Bose who was hanged at the age of 19. I was somehow suddenly reminded of him today and Googled to find this link.


http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/freedomfighters/
khudirambose/index.htm

He is credited as the Hero who threw the first bomb against the Britishers. From a very young age, Khudiram Bose had a patriotic fervour, so much so that he gave up his studies and joined revolutionaries who were fighting against the British, for freedom. In 1908, the revolutionaries planned to kill Magistrate Kingsford, who was very cruel against any uprising against the British and had got many revolutionaries killed. Khudiram Bose and his friend Profulla Chaki were entrusted with the job of killing Kingsford. The plan was to throw a bomb at Kingsford's Coach and kill him. Unfortunately, the bomb killed three other people as Kingsford was not travelling in that coach.

Profulla to prevent himself from getting caught by the British shot himself dead. Khudiram was arrested after a long chase. Afterwards a case was filed against Khudiram. There were two lawyers on the Government's side. There was no one at Muzaffarpur, whom Khudiram could call his own. Then a senior advocate Kalidas Bose by name came forward to argue for him.

The pretence of a trial took two months. In the end, the Magistrate read his judgment sentencing Khudiram to death. Even when the judgment was being read, Khudiram did not show even a faint trace of fear.
The judge was surprised that a boy of nineteen years accepted death so calmly. "Do you know what this judgment means?" he asked.

Khudiram replied with a smile "I know its meaning better than you."

The judge asked, "Have you anything to say?"

"Yes. I have to explain a few things about making bombs."

The judge was now nervous that Khudiram might make a statement explaining how to make bombs and thus teach everyone in the court. Hence he did not allow the boy to make a statement.

Khudiram had not expected justice in a British court. But Kalidas Bose yearned to save Khudiram. He appealed to the Calcutta High Court on behalf of Khudiram. The judge of the High Court also under- stood Khudiram's nature. The fearless eyes and the determined face of the boy filled him, too, with wonder. He confirmed the death sentence given by the lower court. But he postponed the date of the execution from August 6, 1908 to August 19.

"Do you wish to say anything?" the judge asked.

Khudiram said, "Like the heroic Rajput women, I wish to die for the freedom of my country. The thought of the gallows does not make me unhappy in the least. My only regret is that Kingsford could not be punished for his crimes."

Even in prison, he was not at all worried. As death approached his face grew brighter. He thought that the sooner he sacrificed his life, the sooner he could be born again and fights for the freedom of his Motherland. This is not mere legend. Khudiram put on two pounds in the jail!

...And I went Mind Shopping

Please find a Poem in Tamil, which I wrote over an impromptu thought yesterday night.

Teddy Bear and the 26th US President

The stuffed toy bear "Teddy Bear" owes its name to the former US President Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore or "Teddy" as he was fondly called by press and people was very fond of hunting. During one of his hunting expeditions, he came across a small bear cub, which also happened to be one of his most unsuccessful days at hunting. But still he refused to shoot the bear, since it did not have a chance of defending itself. The next day, cartoons appeared in local newspapers of the President and the bear cub. A toy manufacturer took a cue from this incident, and promptly created a stuffed toy bear and named it "Teddy Bear" which became an instant hit.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/presidents/roosevelt/bears_1

The next time you see a Teddy Bear, remember it owes its name to the magnanimity of an US President.

Philatelic Terms

I was searching the web for description of the philatelic term MNH which is commonly mentioned in Auction sites like eBay and I came across this site.

http://alphabetilately.com/glossary.html

It gives a good description about philatelic terms with examples(although they are in the US context). There is an interesting story which is mentioned in this site, regarding the invention of postage paid stamps. Rowland Hill, the man credited with the establishment of cheap postage and the use of postage stamps in England, was inspired to develop the concept by witnessing a scene in a country village - the postman presented a letter to a village maiden, who glanced at it, then handed it back, saying she could not afford to pay the postage. Hill, in sympathy, paid the postage and handed it to her. Once the postman had left, the girl confided to Hill that she did not want the letter at all, since the message it conveyed was written in a private code on the exterior, and she had read it when the postman first handed it to her. Whether the story is true or not, it illustrates the major weaknesses of the older system, in which rates were very high, so most mail was sent Due, and the recipient was under no obligation to pay it.

And what does the term MNH mean - it means Mint, Never Hinged.

A hilarious forward from Infy Bulletin Board

-----Original Message-----
From: Adheraj Singh
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 2:12 PM
To: Students05
Subject: Must read:discussion on infy bulletein board........its
just too gud...

Hi
This mail demonstrates what happens when you leave a bunch of bright engg. with absolutely nothing to do. Also shows how many people in Infy were on bench at that time.
Discussion in Infy’s Bulletin Board. Talk about twisting, well in this case mutating, the subject of conversation . Make sure you read from bottom to top for maximum enjoyment. Please do read the whole of it...
...... READ FROM BOTTOM TO TOP
Cheers
Adheraj


-----Original Message-----
From: Aniljoshi
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 11:39 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: German’s ,Jews, Aryans

We sit before the monitor staring into the pixels, making faces the whole day like monkeys. And you claim that you are not in this monkey business? Beats me!!
ANIL JOSHI
-----Original Message-----
From: AnandV
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 11:13 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: All Infoscians are dravidians
Subject: All Infoscians are dravidians

My theory is first step to identify software engrs.I’m more interested in showing that software engrs are not monkeys (bcas they are not aryans) which my house owner believes!!!
-----Original Message-----
From: DHRUVAV
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 11:09 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: All Infoscians are dravidians
Subject: teachers and dravidian

Your theory only proves that Software engineers are not
aryans.Therefore
they can be any thing other than aryans and not only dravidians.
-----Original Message-----
From: AnandV
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 11:04 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: All Infoscians are dravidians
Subject: All Infoscians are dravidians

B’cas only teachers (arya’s) are aryans. So all software engr’s
are
dravidians.All Infoscians are software engrs........Hence the proof...
-----Original Message-----
From: raghavendrak
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 11:00 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Aryans- H aryana

Let me get it clear.Are u suggesting that all people in haryana
are
monkeys?????
-----Original Message-----
From: ashokkm
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 199910:59 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Aryans- H aryana

No, Only the native of Haryana are are aryans b’coz U just
remove the ‘H’
in Haryana so it becomes aryana.Agreed or not????
-----Original Message-----
From: raghavendrak
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 10:54 AM
Posted To: General
Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: German’s ,Jews, Aryans are Indians

Then even monkeys are aryans!!!!!!(I think they too have 10 fingers).
That’s what ramayan says. So all vanars were also aryans!!!
-----Original Message-----
From: Aniljoshi
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 10:50 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: German’s ,Jews, Aryans are Indians

How logical!! Now I could easily prove that even Africans are
Aryans. They
have 10 fingers- so they are aryans. They have 10 toes on their
feet - so
they are aryans. Thanks for proving that all are aryans.
ANIL JOSHI
-----Original Message-----
From: Kedardesai
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 10:40 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Proof:German’s ,Jews, Aryans are Indians

Indians invented the decimal system. Ravan(Jew) had ten heads,
Ram’s
father(aryan + German)had ten chariots (Dash-rath) etc.Thus , the
base is
10. There fore they are all Indians
-----Original Message-----
From: Aniljoshi
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 9:58 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/Germans

Germans don’t play cricket. So cricketers can’t be germans. QED
ANIL JOSHI
-----Original Message-----
From: Dinni Lingaraj
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 9:56 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/ Germans

It just occured that a better subject would have been “CRICKET”
but this
one stopped ....”Are our cricketers Aryans/Germans ?”
So we got to solve this one !


-----Original Message-----
From: Aniljoshi
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 9:55 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Major fallacy/Aryans & Germans

Let the ‘intellectuals’ decide... you will know who you are soon enough.
ANIL JOSHI
-----Original Message-----
From: Yeshwant Dattatreya
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 19999:39 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/Germans

OH BOY!! WHO ARE WE?
-----Original Message-----
From: ashokkm
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 19999:37 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Major fallacy/Aryans & Germans

According to maxmuller, Aryans came from Middle East.
According to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Antarctica was the home place
of Aryans.
And Swami Dayanand Saraswati says Aryans were originally from
India b’coz
the place “saptsandhav” that is described many times in their
book is
nothing but Doab region between Ganga & Jamuna.
And One theory according Bhagwandas is that Aryans were
originally from
India then they went to middle east and after some time they
returned back
to India.
So there are different theories about the origin of Aryans but
recent
belief is that only India was their native-land.
-----Original Message-----
From: Aniljoshi
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 19999:37 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/Germans

So, at present we are at a point where MK’s son is a Russian,
implying MK
is a Russian. MK is a ardent follower of Ravan who is a German
Jew. Looks
like the german govt running Karnataka(see our previous
discussions for a
proof of it) is conniving with the Russian govt at Tamilnadu (who
support
German) to fight the Italian Govts reps at 10 Janpath road. Some
heavy
international politics we have going on here. Wat’s d’ya say man!!
ANIL JOSHI
-----Original Message-----
From: amajumder
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 9:21 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/Germans
Importance: High

Might be Russians too.. that explains why MK’s son is called
STALIN.
-----Original Message-----
From: raghavendrak
Posted At: Friday, September 03, 1999 9:13 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/Germans

Say this to the DMK and they’re gonna kick u!! according to them
ravan was
a dravidian and was attacked by ram as ram was an aryan. So if
ram was a
german, and assuming he was a ‘hitlerite ‘aryan, then ravan must
have been
a jew!!!
-----Original Message-----
From: Aniljoshi
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 1999 6:57 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: MAJOR FALLACY- Aryans/Germans

No, on the contrary it proves that Ravan was a German since it
was he who
owned the Pushpak Viman. The passengers could belong to any country.
ANIL JOSHI
-----Original Message-----
From: vishnoor
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 1999 5:44 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: major fallacy...

After defeating ravana .... Sri Rama flew back in Ravana’s
pushpak vimana &
This is what the Mordern Lufthansa is . It is the modern version
of the
older pushpaka vimana.
The pushpak vimana was “driven” by hansa or swans....
The insignia of Lufthansa is also a swan... This further proves Sri Rama was a German Hail Rama ....

----------
From: khandelwalh
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 199912:54 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: major fallacy...

the argument is wrong.
the conclusion is fallacious

-----Original Message-----
From: vishnoor
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 1999 4:44 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Mithla

Rama was an aryan ;
Germans claim to be aryans so Rama was a German Hail Rama....

----------
From: ashokkm
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 199911:53 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Mithla

And what about Home minister Advani & Noble Prize winner Economics Dr.
Amartya Sen???
-----Original Message-----
From: Sudha Vedula
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 19994:02 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Mithla & Maithili

God Shiva is also a foreigner because
Mt.Kailash is in China. Buddha was also a foreigner because
Lumbini(?) is
in
Nepal. So was Guru Nanak, because Talwandi is in Pakistan. So was
Porus. So
was Gandhari.....:)
-----Original Message-----
From: Vikas Sharma
Posted At: Thursday, September 02, 1999 10:14 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Mithla & Maithili

Recently one Congress leader, in defense of Sonia, quoted that
Sita was
also a foreigner because Janakpuri is in Nepal.
-----Original Message-----
From: Pranav Chandra
Posted At: Wednesday, September 01,1999 1:10 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: Mithla & Maithili

Maithili is a language which derives it’s name from the region in
Bihar
where it is spoken, the old kingdom of Mithla.
There is a reference to the area even in Ramayana- Janak( Father
of Sita)
was king of Mithla and has been referred to as MithlaNaresh at
many places
in RamCharitraManas - therefore Sita was also called Maithili.

----------
From: Subhashis Roy
Posted At: 1999”N9OE?1”ú 13:03
Posted To: General
Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: what is Maithili ?
Importance: High

Maithili brahmins are known for their gastronome qualities !!!
-----Original Message-----
From: yogesh_pm
Posted At: Wednesday, September 01,1999 12:12 PM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: re: what is maithili

Maithili is a language spoken in central bihar. It has its own
literature.It has its root in the old kingdom of that area.It is
similar to
Hindi.
-----Original Message-----
From: himanshudas
Posted At: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 9:06 AM Posted To: General Conversation: What is Maithili?
Subject: What is Maithili?

Hi!
Who or what is Maithili, in context of Indian literature?

Communication at its best

Programmer to Team Leader :

“We can’t do this proposed project.**CAN NOT**. It will involve a major design change and no one in our team knows the design of this legacy system. And above that, nobody in our company knows the language in which this application has been written. So even if somebody wants to work on it, they can’t. If you ask my personal opinion, the company should never take these type of projects.”

Team Leader to Project Manager :

“This project will involve a design change. Currently, we don’t have any staff who has experience in this type of work. Also, the language is unfamiliar to us, so we will have to arrange for some training if we take this project. In my personal opinion, we are not ready to take on a project of this nature.”

Project Manager to 1st Level Manager :

“This project involves a design change in the system and we don’t have much experience in that area. Also, not many people in our company are appropriately trained for it. In my personal opinion, we might be able to do the project but we would need more time than usual to complete it.”

1st Level Manager to Senior Level Manager :

“This project involves design re-engineering. We have some people who have worked in this area and others who know the implementation language. So they can train other people. In my personal opinion we should take this project, but with caution.”

Senior Level Manager to CEO :

“This project will demonstrate to the industry our capabilities in remodelling the design of a complete legacy system. We have all the necessary skills and people to execute this project successfully. Some people have already given in house training in this area to other staff members. In my personal opinion, we should not let this project slip by us under any circumstances.”

CEO to Client :

“This is the type of project in which our company specializes. We have executed many projects of the same nature for many large clients. Trust me when I say that we are the most competent firm in the industry for doing this kind of work. It is my personal opinion that we can execute this project successfully and well within the given time frame.”

What I get paid for...

A rather hilarious forward which I received...a must see for every SAP consultant. But Iam still trying to learn these tips(Iam a slow learner you see!)

Top 23 answers you need to know to be an expert SAP Consultant
1. The absolute No. 1 answer: it depends how you configure it.
2. That's not a good translation from German.
3. That's in another module.
4. How did you get there?
5. That's a good question. I’d like to see how that works myself.
6. That will be in next release. I haven’t actually seen it.
7. You wouldn’t want to do that.
8. Let's try that and see what happens.
9. That's a BASIS question.
10. I don't know, the "expert" will be here on Monday. Be sure to ask him/her.
11. That's not the way it's supposed to work?
12. You'll never need to do that, but if you do, call the hotline.
13. Trust me, i know what I’m talking about.
14. An ABAP/4 report can be written to get that information.
15. I'm sorry I have a plane to catch.
16. It's a BUG.
17. Let me call the programmers in Walldorf.
18. OSS is down.
19. It's been fixed in the next release, but you don’t want to upgrade at this stage.
20. Please wait a moment, the system is down.
21. Did you check your user parameters?
22. Must be a GUI problem.
23. And the most important answer if you have no idea at all: That’s outside the scope of what we are doing.

Praise and Inspiration

I got my very first comment on my blog from buddy Thirumurugan today. Needless to say, I was happy and was inspired to write more. I was just thinking, how good must one be feeling when he/she receives a hearty praise. I used to pretend that I am above praise and recognition at my workplace and I would keep doing my duty. It was only a matter of time before I realised that I was fooling myself, since internally I was craving for praise and recognition. It has been proved through scientific studies that praise inspires human beings and animals alike to perform well and do better.

As always, I googled and stumbled upon this quote from Mary Kay Ash, a successful entrepreneur and founder of the Mary Kay range of Cosmetics and Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation - "No matter how busy you are, you must take time to make the other person feel important."

Iam reminded of a famous inspirational speech by Winston Churchill at the House of Commons, immediately after taking over as the Prime Minister of England on 13th May,1940 at the height of World War II. - "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. Victory victory victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror."

Read it here...
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=391

Finally, again Courtesy Google, an inspirational quote by Zig Ziglar, which I think one should remember while praising and inspiring others..."If you're sincere, praise is effective. If you're insincere, it's manipulative."

Again...

I know its been sometime, since I last posted. But I think I have valid reasons not to do so. One, I was engrossed in the festivities at home during the Deepavali season. Two I have come back to my workplace at Delhi after a three-month stay at home in Chennai(of course...not on a holiday). Three, Iam busy packing for my journey to Indore where my professional and personal life is getting transferred, w.e.f. 20th Nov 2005.

The three month stay at home was really enjoyable although a bit hectic, considering the time spent in travel from Home to Office. It was the longest period I stayed at home, ever since I first went to Delhi in 1999 for my MBA. I got to meet some old friends on 3rd Nov on the occasion of Wedding Reception of buddy and fellow Gemini Berlin. It was indeed amazing to see my old friends as middle-aged men with some of them showing signs of graying and some sporting a paunch(not to mention my own looks...but its me who is posting...so others will tell about me). Incidentally, I sported a Greek-God look for the wedding reception(???!!!), which met both admiring and jealous eyes(ha ha ha). Those who were present on the occasion would know. I googled for Greek Gods and found this site. It might be interesting to some. This dotcom lists all Gods including Aztec, African and Mayan Gods among others. On the lighter side, its now upto you to associate me with your favourite Greek God(both bouquets and brickbats welcome).

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/index.php

I browsed yet another site, which I stumbled upon through Thiru's blog...check it out. It might soon change the future of navigation on the web.

http://www.dontclick.it

Will try and keep updating my blog as often as I can...till then...