Happy Bath-Day to you.....

yup...another B'Day and one more year added....I share the Bday month/week with Gandhiji and my sister...yup 2, 3, 4 of Oct...dono if that's what made me resemble him in stature :( ...but happy that my sis escaped this non-genetic b'day disorder and is not as skinny as i am...

Bday was fun in childhood...i used to wake my sis up from bed and wish her Bday and the next day she would wake me up and wish me...and we used to take our snaps on our bdays...but once sis moved out for her studies, the photosessions came to an end...coming to celebrations, we were very fond of celebrating each others bday in our own sweet ways...yeah..sweet...chocolate ways....i would get her chocolates and the next day she would get me...but all with papa's money :) he was our common banker..he used to say..."you both celebrate each other's bday..but each time its my pocket that gets emptied"...once sis moved out for studies and then later me too, the wishes were restricted to calls and greeting cards. She never missed sending it...this time also she send it all the way to US ...and i did something different this time...i send her a cake...though the cake was lot different from what i saw online, she was happy with my gesture...i believe she never celebrated a bday like this..came as a total surprise for her...



ok..back to my bday...this one was quiet different from previous B'Days....my 1st one in US, 1st one with the new set of friends here..and it was different indeed...it was more of "Bath"-Day for me than a "Birth"day or "BAR"-th-day, the way people generally expect a guy of my age to celebrate bday...it was around 11:50 at night and the friends staying near to my apartments..all with a bag in hand...gifts???? no way....those contained the substances for the holy abhishekam on me...its was my bday and a Friday...what else do they want..no one was in any hurry to finish the bash and return....so around 12,it started with me cutting the icecream-cake..was yummy i must admit...i could taste only a bit and rest was on my face and head...since our floors are carpeted, i suggested going to the bath tub, so as to avoid the later cleaning up process..which i have to do the next day...
so there i was stading in bath tub, awaiting the inevitable....i closed my eyes...wow..it was icy cold...beer...on my head, down my body...i would have preferred that in my mouth rather than on head..i did try to dart my tongue out and sip few..like a snake would do....ok ok..i agree..even dogs do.....instinct u know..the taste of beer!!!..anyway i enjoyed the beer bath.have heard it smooths hair..next was coke...though i dont have the have lice or dandruff on my hair, i liked the pesticide treatment...ice cold coke...next was the worst...i almost felt like an idli sitting in a plate in some rural SouthIndian hotel...yeah..a week old sambar...yuk...the smell was horrible and i almost puked...but in photos it looked like someone puked on me...i immediately opened the shower as it was too stinky...i thought that was it...but soon came egg..smashing on my head one by one..i wanted to look up and see if some hen was sitting over my head, who is hurriedly laying eggs and lessen its weight...these days even animals can be beauty conscious..you never know!!! Have always heard that egg white is good for hair. even though i didnt have the time or opportunity to remove the yoke, i felt that helped. Party was not over yet, then came the chocolate shake. I would have gladly opened my mouth if not for the egg and the sambar that was still on me. Finally they said with a sad face.."everything is over. we didnt have a good collection for him"...if this wasnt a GOOD collection then what was??? they left the bathroom and i was busy cleaning myself of all the mess, partially relieved that the ordeal is over.
Once i was out of the bath, everyone was standing there, rubbing hands and saying....dress up and come..its exercise time...
little did i know that the worst was still to come...and like an icing on the cake, i was lifted in the air(effortlessly i must say) and thrashed...none wanted to miss out and each was taking turn and beating me...few from left side like a Maradonna kick...and from the right like Jackie Chan...and i was like a Bollywood villain...getting thrashed and never getting a chance to retaliate..but the ordeal doesnt end there..the worst thing was yet to come...cleaning the bath tub next day....yuk...i really appreciate the people working in municipalities in India..i understand that they are doing a tough job. Cleaning my bath tub, i suddenly started giving respect to the job they do.. and finally it was by afternoon that i finished everything..took shower and become a BDay boy...
so it was all Bath-Day and Bash-Day for me ..rather than Birth-Day !!! and now am eagerly waiting for the Bdays of my friends...yes PayBack time..

tackling an IT Bug

wonder whats Sev 1??? there are many definitions to it...most common ones could be ...a developers nightmare...a testers delight... and these are one of those "Tickets", which you get free of cost, is use less and can cause you lot of heartache...
yup..Sev 1 or Severity 1 is the crisis situation in IT, when the testers are not able to continue finding (the immobile) bugs in the code, due to the presence of a larger BUG..and they raise a Sev 1 ticket for that..(i am still clueless on why they call it a ticket and defect a BUG)..and once raised, the developer would be on his toes..trying to fix it up..and worst thing is..Sev1 means 24hrs you got to banish that BUG. ie in a day, you need to trace it, catch them red handed, put spray/fix on it..


I have this friend of mine, who happened to be a regular diet of this BUG. He already is like a straw and if more bugs attack him, he would soon be a tooth pick. and BUGS would find it hard to trace him in the plate. Daily when i lunch with him, the common conversation would be around the new BUGs that have come up..And wait...dont take this guy silly...he has his own ways of dealing with this...may be the IT readers would be benefited from this..

1. As soon as you get a Sev1, look if there is any other system involved in it. Just look around the error and if you happen to find, raise the defect in their name. that would take care of the defect for a day. And by the time other team analyze and come up finding that the bug is in your own code, you are safe.

2. Never attend defects that are less that Sev1. Let it qualify and compete with other bugs and come up to Sev1.(He would always be having 2-3 Sev1 in his kitty. So no time for less severe ones)

3. And this one is a approach you can use to keep your managers at their bay. This can help you extend the deadline by a day or even two

Day 1:
morning:
M: Hi T, what about defect# 1234?
T: Hi M, I am still to look into it. I was busy with few other stuffs.
M: oh. OK. I hope you get it fixed soon. Its Sev1.
T: Yes. [ :( ]

afternoon:
M: Hi T, how is 1234?
T: (1234 is doing fine...its me who is suffering) Yes M I just now started looking into it. I got some leads on that, I am working on that.
M: Thats Great

evening:
M: Hope you are done with 1234..
T: Hi M, the initial ananlyzis was not right..but i have got another lead and I am investigating it. should be done by tomorrow.

Day 2:
morning:
M: Hi T, I guess its roses in the morning. you are done with 1234 rt.
T: (gulp!!) err..T, i think the defects root cause is still to be found out, when i check its interaction with system A and its outbound message to system B, the exception raised in that has an essence of system C's outbound message that comes to our system. So we would need to investigate on the possible chance of this error from an outsider perspective, taking all the 3 systems to be culprits.
M: (?????????) I guess you are working hard on this. i hope this gets resolved soon.

by noon:
before M pings
T: Hi M, seems to be an issue with system X. I have raised defect against them.
M: [:S] ok.

and T remains busy till evening or may be night, gets in touch with all the resources possible and gets the issue sorted, which obviously would be a defect in his code. And by next day he is good to go.. In the mean while system X would be searching for possible solution, to which they are not even remotely connected. By the time they realize it, T would have got the issue fixed.

man...this really works... T has learned to survive....



[pic - A Bug's Life]

a sweet battle....

he was hot...

she was cold...

he was relaxed...

she was sweating...

he was used...

she was misused...

he was precious...

she was cheap...

he was respected...

she was kissed...

he was tall and dark...

she was short and pale...

he earned people money...

she looted them of money...

he gave people designations...

she gave them destinations...

he was every mans dream...

she helped every man dream...

he took people atop skyscrapers...

she took them to skies and beyond...

he made people envy and enemies....

she made them content and friendly...

he never lost anything...

she lost her everything...

still...she manage to keep people happy....she is always my sweetheart...my Corono Extra...love you lots...

they battled with each other for me...and i fell for her...she won over him...

the "I" factor - "I", what "I" like, what "I" assume

Following are few truths about me, what I like to do, what I assume the person I am. Jotted down in the order that occurred to me.

1. I am dynamic.
2. I can love a person to utmost extent and hate him/her the very next moment.
3. I don’t value relationships of any kind.
4. I am very independent person.
5. I feel I can live without anyone being there in my life.
6. But I will be there for them when they need me.
7. I hate lying. I don’t do unless it’s inevitable or for a good cause.
8. I am open-minded.
9. I love to spend time alone in beach.
10. I am frank. I tell straight on face, whether the person like it or not.
11. I used to be a very soft person, easily get hurt.
12. But not anymore. As I said #1.
13. I hate being in debt.
14. But I love to help others in need.
15. I day dream a lot. I belong to the skies.
16. I am very bad in keeping in touch (phone/mail/chat).
17. But good friends when the person is near me.
18. Incoming calls in my mobile is more than the outgoing. That substantiates #3, #4, #5, #16 and #17.
19. I am the laziest person I ever have known.
20. I would love to meet a lazier person. Just to learn more from him/her on the art of laziness.
21. I love girl child than boy child.
22. I like to have twins (preferably identical).
23. My dreams include me
a. being a superhero.
b. getting abducted by ET and they imparting superhuman powers in me
c. topping the chart as most eligible bachelor in world
d. becoming a billionaire(did i miss the word MULTI??? oh my gosh i did..).
24. I think I am very intelligent.
25. I can’t think of any other person who is wasting his/her life the way I do.
26. I am adventurous.
27. I am creative.
28. I love smiling and spreading that around.
29. I am very good in PJ (Poor Joke)/instant humor. That’s why I believe in #27.
30. I believe I am in wrong place of the world, doing wrong job. Follow up of #25.
31. I would love to learn guitar, martial arts, swimming.
32. I can spend hours, doing absolutely nothing.
33. I love my sister a lot.
34. I never express my love for anyone.
35. I can be a nightmare/turnoff for the gal who would love me. Reason being #34.
36. I love to party and hangout @ pubs/discos and other happening places.
37. But I have hardly done #36.
38. I hate vegetables. I live on non – veg.
39. I hate cruelty against animals. (Man is a social ANIMAL, and putting him to starvation is also cruelty.)
40. I love to grow hair (about 5”) and beard.
41. I love driving.
42. I own a luxury car(2nd hand), bought within 4 months in US. The quickest and costliest in my team.
43. I am on debt now. (just a matter of 2 weeks and I will be back to #14)
44. I don’t go to temple. I am neither for nor against God.
45. I love photography.
46. I am lean. But healthy.
47. I have lot of friends, majority gals.
48. I hate commitment/responsibility of any sort.
49. I am bad in taking decisions (Libran trait).
50. I pity myself. But never works for betterment.

Anyone...feel free to have this in your blog too. The idea of this post was inspired from few other posts i read...

Friendship day...

Like every year, I expected lot of phone calls..from my near and dear, who wait for the entire year for this day to come...to wish me and other friends..to show and let others know that they do care and value the gift of friendship..to let know that they haven't forgot their friends even in this rat race that they are in..
But as someone said, the only thing that doesn't change is change itself..the day is over in India and its almost noon in US...not a single call till now...no calls...no personalized mails, no greeting cards...hmmm...things are certainly changing..but thankfully got few wishes through Orkut, and a forward through mail...
I cant blame them...all are not like me..still idle in bed, with laptop in hand..thinking of how to cut the rest of the day...others have their own things to take care of....time is changing...so are things around...so do the relations...after all we came to this world alone....have to leave alone...and rest all are passing relationships...

aaah...who cares...even i didnt call any of my friends...so how do i expect them to call me...life is fun...be independent...enjoy life...

from "no strings attached"...to.."life is cool"

{on empty stomach on a Thursday night...after visiting few excellent blogs}

some times i wonder how good it would be, to live a life with no strings attached... no relationships... no commitments.... no responsibilities...at times i find all these as a burden.some thing which shelves me away from my true self..the independent me..the joyous me...

i know a lot of people will disagree with me in this front...but still...

i have lots of interests - traveling, blogging, photography, but its very disturbing fact to me that, even with lot of time in my hand and the resources readily available, i still don't do anything towards fulfilling it.

I have been in this new place for almost a month - "the other side of the world" as i used to call, when in India. A place which offers a lot for people with travel interest - the land of Statue of Liberty, White House, Times Square, Wall Street Bull, Miami , Key West...lots to list...thats for the traveler me.
I have 24/7 high speed, broadband , wifi internet connection and a personal laptop...for the blogger in me.
I am the proud owner of Canon S5 IS, the best point and shoot camera, as per my knowledge...for the photographer in me.

Being an Onshore coordinator, weekdays are hectic for me, will have enough official work to do and coordinate even on reaching home. But weekends...i am absolutely free from Friday night till Sunday night...a time i can happily blog or visit near by places, or try out my photography skills in this beautiful countryside...or at least try to learn photography in the first place.. i know just obsession wont do, i need to really learn the art of capturing images with life...
but.....what do i do on weekends??? either remained glued to my chair with hands running through the keyboard like Saantana on his guitar...or with mobile fixed to my ear like a call center guy - rightly termed by my roomies. yes. my weekend is restricted to one activity alone...chatting chatting chatting...this is all because of those strings attached to me...the relations....at least now i must learn the lesson of life..enjoy the essence of life...give at most importance to oneself and ones own happiness...

{gulping one bottle of beer on a Friday evening..and watching movie "Happy Days"}

actually life is not that complicated as i think it to be.. i can still find time for my hobbies by reducing the time i spend in front of laptop...i needn't try to cut those strings as such...(i know its a hard job)
closed my laptop, took out my camera and shot few sunset pics from my balcony in "Manual mode"...i was happy...finally some image is getting captured...(earlier when in Manual mode, i ended up with a black/dark image)...felt happy..good...a fine start to my hobby..

aaah...bad print...if at all they are doing piracy, why dont they do it in a better way...huh...

{my 2nd beer on my way..destination- stomach}

the bad print spoiled my whole mood..was a good movie..entertaining...aah..wish i had a time machine..just press of a button and back to college....and there is some excitement in untold romance...i really like the chemistry between the 2 main characters...aah...movie getting to my head or the beer??? my typing speed has increased..so it got to be the beer at work...ok...what next??i dont want to watch this movie this way..in such bad print...

{3rd beer opened....}
hmm...my teeth is real strong...i had no problems in opening my 3rd beer...
hey life is really beautiful...why didn't i realize it earlier????
{few more gulps...}
logged in to gtalk....my best buddy...deepu is online....

me:da...me having corona...mexican..3rd on the way....
D: da...me too...my 4th..
me: i ll soon jump to 4th da... :)

there ended the conversaton. felt good...am not alone..

{11:50pm}
something pricking me in the back of my semi unconscious mind....production move...yeah my code is going to production and i need to ensure its certified for production...GTH...i thought...yeah...Go To Hell.... i know the changes made..is not a big issue even if it goes next week..dono y the clients are making a big fuzz abt it...

{1:02am}
yeeks my code is still not in production...did the testing team fail my code? then client gonna say..GTH to me...so will my senior management.. nail biting moment..all the "life is cool" feeling the beer had given is taking a big U turn now...life is not so cool...:(
talked to my offshore..she said..u sleep now..in case of issues, i shall give you a call...those were more than assuring words...esp since i have been sleeping past 2am for past 3-4 days...
so off to sleep...with nightmares of my mobile ringing with call from offshore..
{7:02 am}
i suddenly woke up from my sleep and switched on my office laptop...
1st mail read "you can sleep peacefully...ur code is certified" - from my offshore
so life really is cool....

few learning i got from this 24hrs in my life:
1. all emotions are temporary...
2. don't take any decision in haste...
3. take things lightly, don't think too much emotionally
4. there is no mood that cant be corrected by 3bottles of beer{statutory warning: not advised to follow}

lessons life taught..but which i never learned

Sipping on a beer and sitting in the balcony of this country side apartment...i was thinking....who can be the greatest teacher...other than our own life...but as some great personality said..life is a difficult teacher...as it gives the examination first and lessons later..but what if we lose the examination after repeated learnings???

There are lot many lessons life has taught me...but which i never learned..i sometimes feel..i am a coward...cos i never wanted to admit these harsh realities of life, which was no where close to the dream i had about my life and those around me...i always tried to run away from these...

lesson 1: love and care yourself more than anything or anyone..cos no other person can ever return the love you give, in the same intensity..this is a lesson life has repeatedly taught me..but i fail to learn each time and now i have decided...its high time i start loving myself.

lesson 2: never interfere in others life, doesn't matter who that person is to you or how much ever freedom that person gives you. They may not really like it.

lesson 3: never take anyone for granted. Whether it be parents,friends or gal/boy friends or spouse. everyone is a different person from you and they have to be treated different. never expect them to read your mind and capture your untold feelings. There is nothing like "silence speaks a lot" its utter stupidity.

lesson 4: be selfish. under any situation, be selfish. see how u can feel better out of the situation and how you can escape unhurt. fools are those who care for others, sacrificing one's own happiness for others.
as well said by Chanakya in THE POLITICAL ETHICS OF CHANAKYA PANDIT
"Give up a member to save a family, a family to save a village, a village to save a country, and the country to save yourself."

lesson 5: When you give something, don't expect anything in return. And if you are of the expecting kind, then never give. They don't deserve it.

These are few of the many lessons life has taught me....but if you want to find happiness, better follow...thats my motto for now.