China house

"China house".. sounds so funny.. Sridhar named our Corner House (Ice cream parlor) as China house few days back. It's been long time since china house treat happened. Sridhar & I were given confirmation letters by our PM as permanent employees of Sarnoff. On 05th March, we finished six months of probation period. We are successful in creating enough impression that, we can be permanent here :). Ramanan who always wants not to be a work freak, found this as a reason to jump out of office.. Sridhar & I are such icecreamhoars that we never say NO to it. And Ramanan catched our weekness. As it happens everytime, Sridhar and I've choosen the same ice cream with dry fruits. Raman always complains about our gayness in our tastes. Thanks to china house ppl for preparing such great ice creams.. For a moment I felt as if I am eating best icecream that's ever made.

I don't like it!!

I thought of my professional life differently and now leading it the way every other fresh graduate engineer leads.. I dreamed of leaving office early and engaging myself in some other activities when I was in IIT.. but now, the way I lead my life has become so monotonic.. though work is fun at office, I still don't like the point that I come very late in the evening. I feel like I became a computer maniac browsing net all the time. Thinking of joining some institute to learn flute. Now I got my digicam.. but still not getting time to get photographic skills except on weekends..

Started taking snaps..

Last week, I was pretty busy with my cam.. exploring new things. I was so eager to finish the manual to learn using my Canon S2 IS & its full capabilities. Apart from learning functionalities of cam, I read few tutorials available in websites like Canon, Kodak. Now I feel like I read enough of theory.. hence started experimenting with that. Check out these random snaps in my album. And dont forget to comment about them.

Random Snaps

New Year.. New Colors..

Back to office after a long vacation of 10days.. Wayanad became the destination to roam around during Christmas. Enjoyed that trip with my roommates and micro people batch. Went home after that to celebrate my brother's birthday. Was very nice. He enjoyed it. that is what I wanted. Although nothing so special celebrations for this new year, Naveen & I had great time. Roamed around in the city on his bike. I usually like to ride at night. That was awesome. Forgot to tell about the Colors.. It is all about my Digicam. The long waiting digicam is finally reached its destination on this new year. Planning to become a good photographer.. Donno how things are going to work.. But have lots of hopes and excitement. This is my first artistic pic that I am uploading.. Write your comments about it.

Music & Melodies

I am not fond of much music & songs. Sorry I should say I "was". Donno how it happened ? but suddenly, started listening to good songs & appreciate them. I used to ask the question to my dear ones like why do they like musik ? And what drives them & what joy do they get ? Now time has arrived to question myself. I started feeling the hidden melodies in tracks.. May be I ignored them before.. But ultimately.. some refreshment to mind. Can be much more than that.. need to discover that treasure. I was deeply disappointed after knowing that Sainikudu was a flop at box office. This is the first movie i guess, I downloaded the audio songs & enjoyed the most. The Audio is superb.

Back to blogs!!!

Its been a long time since I left IIT and my blogs. Life changed a lot in this span. My continuous long student journey got a break. I hope its just a break but not an end. I joined Sarnoff on September 4th as a Software Engineer. Bangalore is a nice City. The climate is superb but traffic is worst. After a good amount of search for house, Sridhar Cheruku found one in Indiranagar. Cheruku, Srihari I are staying in a 2BHK house. Slowly I adapted myself to professional life. Office resembles our SPANN lab in IIT. All colleagues are very friendly. Learning new things.. Thats all for now..

powered by

performancing firefox

Finally I uploaded it!

Thnq video.google..

Watch the video prepared by my friends on the occasion of valedictory function. for more info, refer this posting

don't forget to switch on your speakers :).

If you want to watch the larger resolution video, visit this url

Save trees!

Dont think that I am goin to write about saving trees again like previous post.. This is all about my b'day on 25th June.. Most memorable one, celebrated by my friends.. Then you might wonder why did I titled it as Save trees.. and what is the relation with my b'day.. Coming to the point, I planted a mango tree today.. sorry Its not only me.. Sridhar, Namita also helped me.. so it become friendship tree. Only after doin this, I thought of posting blog about my b'day.. I had enough bumps on the day.. was very painful.. but the moments and happiness cured that pain.. Sridhar never gave bumps to anyone as far as I can remember.. but I became exceptional.. The most surprise thing on this b'day is a phone call from my dad at night 12:00. He never wished me at 12:00 for my b'day before. I felt very happy for that. Many friends have called and wished me. I got good gifts.. incidentally or accidentally, got 3 watch gifts. As this is goin to be final treat that I am giving to comm group, I thought of a big one. Utsav became the vennue for that.. apart from our comm group, Deepthi, Radha, Raghavendra were also present.. thats it for now.. It is already late.. time to go bed.. have enough work to do tomorrow..

Save Trees!

A picture is worth more than 1000 words.. It is not just the tress will help you in this kind of situations.. but this is just to remind you that grow plants. Think about our mother nature some times.. Plantation doesn't mean that you need huge space around your home.. a small growing plant in a pot outside your carridor will help in eco friendly nature. Atleast grow a plant on your b'day, once in a year.. the immediate result is "satisfaction". Try this out from next b'day :-).

I AM ON HUNGER STRIKE!!

Oh! sorry.. The title should be I was on Hunger strike. I m very busy with project.. so didn't find time to write.. I have participated in hunger strike for 24hrs to protest against reservations. It was 2nd day (22/05) of chain hunger strike that was initiated in IIT Bombay. With out hesitating, I gave my name to participate on 2nd day. 17, 35, 46.. These are the numbers on 1st, 2nd and 3rd day.. I don't have the statistics after that but came to know that the response was good.

I never expected that I might involve this kind of activities.. but felt happy that I did it for a good cause. Star News & Times now new channels have covered our protest and there were interviews as well. First time I was on small screen. But unfortunately, I couldn't see my self as that was live show. Pandey gave good points in the interview.. "Arjun Singh should implement reservations in Parliment first.. Ask him to give his minister seat for an OBC candidate" Pandey said. At first I thought passing 24hrs with out doing any activity is difficult so took few novels for me & my friends. Believe me, I read only one page.. Later on didn't find time to read at all. There were brain storming discussions on the issue of reservations. Few professors have also visited that place and supported us. Damn government not caring the striking doctors at all..

Today after reading the news about Supreme Court asking the center to give reasons for hike in reservations, I felt really happy. Here is a mail from my friend Narasimha regarding reservations.. go through it.

Death of Democracy!!

Just by reading the title, one can guess what am I goin to write about. Yeah! its about the hike in reservation. At last protest "fire" has also touched the doors of IIT Bombay. Yesterday, we around 600 students had formed a human chain outside our campus and carrying banners and placards. It was non-voilence protest. We have informed the police about our protest and nothing bad happened as such.. Five to Six News channels have come and of course, few news paper's journalists.. It is first time in my life I have participated in such a kind of move. Sridhar & I coordinated ourselves to hold a banner, "Death of Democracy" was written on it. We stood there from 4:30 to 6:30pm. I really hate this govt. for its act.. I saw the news.. the way police treating the protesting students is horrible..
As the banner shows in the photo... I believe that concentrating primary education is a must instead of post graduate education in India. I came to know that there are some reserved seats which are left vacant every year.. that means there is a lack of eligible students. We can only fill those vacancies only if students are provided with basic stong primary education.. so government should focus on that. There is no point in increasing reservation at higher level.. becoz I have observed that people who are coming through reserved category to higher education are economically good although not rich.. but can get jobs and support their family after graduation. If the reserved seats are increased, the quality of education decreases... our level of talent pool in this country looses its importance globally.. So the global industries move to competing countries like China to hire man power... We say that India is a democratic country. What exactly the word democracy means.. ? I found the meaning in dictionay site.. "The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community".. Where is the social equality in our country ? do you believe that we acheive social equality by increasing reservation ? At least I feel that supporting the backward classes economically if they are willing to pursue higher education after getting through common admission test procedure is the best option available.. I have put my views here.. If you have time to read.. go through the following articles which I have gathered in this issue.. But believe me they are worth reading to get idea about the issue.

1. Propagonda - Which we distributed
2. OBC Reservations: An IIT Professor's view
3. Mail from an AIIMS student

Power cut!

Although there is a new trend of power cut once in 3-4 days for 5 mins recently in IIT, nothing special to describe about that except today's incident. It was around 9:10am. I am not wrong.. its AM only. These days I am getting up "early" in the morning around 8am by missed calls from my friends.. Just because of project meetings.. Sumo calling us early in the morning for project discussions daily.. of course he is just calling us to lab in the morning but.. he himself is not able to make at that time... what ever it is, my way of life changed.. I am now concentrating well on my project... being hectic, not getting time to write here. neway.. its a different part of story.. I was taking about power cut today which made me to find some time to write here.. I started to lab. can u guess ? what would have happened ? wht is the relation b/w power cut and my way to lab ? okk I will come to the matter.. I was stuckup in hostel lift bcoz of power cut. Suddenly it was very dark inside.. I didn't see the display.. so don't know where I am.. I thought of informing my situation to some one. Sridhar striked my mind. I called him. But before he could do anything for me, I dared to open the lift doors with my hands. Thank god! I am already in ground floor.. (came to know when I saw through small gaps). Finally, came out with out much difficulty and cloed the door again the same way I opened them. Thats the story.. I hope this would be my first and last stuck up in lift.

Jack died :((

Jack.. died 3-4 days back when I upgraded my machine to Fedora Core 5 from FC4. The surgeon had no other option than to say sorry.. Got confused ?? Its my user name in Linux box. I removed that account while upgrading to FC5. hopefully, he will come again in my next installation ;-). The new FC5 is amazing.. I worked for 2 days to get mind blowing looks to my desktop. You can have a look if you wish to see my desktop here

Late again!!

I don't know when do I become punctual ? As usual, got up at 9:29am.. was supposed to be present in VIP Lab by 9:00am. I got up by a strange although not a dreadful dream. I don't even want to say sorry to Sumantra... bcoz he asked me to come before 9am. Last time I told that cycle got punctured.. It was 9:50am when I saw the clock in VIP Lab. Sumantra said nothing.. but I saw this mail in my inbox..

Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 09:29:24 +0530 (IST)
Subject: Waiting!

...inside the VIP lab - come fast!
Thanks, Sumantra.

The final day has come!!

For the last 4 days.. I was very busy with many things.. like attending parties.. preparing videos for our valfi.. lab sysadgiri etc. First thing is Job treat from Qualcomm ppl (Kasi, Nami, Uday) & Kal. They gave party in hotel Tunga Paradise in Andheri.. a three star hotel. Earlier they planned to give us treat in Taj near Gateway of India.. but finally decided with Tunga on 27th as they realized that they aren't yet joined in job and filling their pockets. Although the food was not upto the expectations, first time in the history of Comm group parties, alchohol has entered. three of our batch enjoyed beer, vodka (don't know exactly). Strange thought has come to my mind to take a snap with beer glass (as if I m havin it) .

Next day our comm group decided to have a group photo session as Shilpa will be missing us.. (she is goin to Italy to do her project) and she won't be here when we leave. had nice group photo session.. same day I was busy in making videos for our valfi day.. We were in lab till 5:30am.. believe me.. I never worked like that for project till 5:30 in morning.. by the time I reached my room.. partly day light was there.. I could see sky clearly through my window.. Neway.. we really worked hard to create those videos.. So you can expect when this kumbakarna would hav got up on the next day.. of course kumbakarna can't live with out food so painfully, I got up at 1:30pm otherwise I would hav slept throughout the day.. In the evening, we went out for shopping.. all of us bought new kurtas.. then we got an idea to wear kurthas for our valfi day.. Bechari Namita.. she had to buy new jeans for this plan.. we went to Rajdhani after shopping.. stuffed my stomach with Rajastani & Gujrathi food.. The situation was like I can't have anything more.. really a heavy dinner..

The valfi has come(30th, April).. all wore kurtas for that occation.. the plan has worked out.. our comm group was something special in that occation.. as usual, we used our lab camcoder.. unfortunately, the food was so pathetic.. worst part is that no body was following Q system.. It was very difficult to manage.. This is really bad.. I don't know when do people learn good discipline.. Of course, even I am lacking that.. The profile reading has started at around 12:30am. We had some problems to setup projector intially.. I felt sad.. as I know the hard work we paid to make the videos.. but fortunately.. we were able to play with the settings and video has come but not the audio. Then we got an idea to put the mic near laptop.. "something is better than nothing, isn't it ?". We started with Pandey's profile.. he become very emotional when he was asked to say few words after profile reading.. I read Prasad's profile next.. I don't know how much he was able to understand as we wrote partly in hindi. Next was mine.. my profile was stared based on the fact that I am the youngest of our class... (in fact, under age boy to get mtech admission :)). Kalyan has read my profile.. my friends composed it very nice with fun masala.. all enjoyed it.. atleast I enjoyed... I got the feeling like I am lucky to have them as my friends.. though we were not together in the begining, as the time passed, we become good friends and the two years have passed unknowingly.. Only 2 months are remained.. neway.. looks like I am getting senti now ;-).. Last but not the least, Kalyan's profile was read by Sridhar. After this we had small photo session.. to recall these moments after we leave this place.. Next Vasanth's room became our halt to watch the videos we made.. by the time we finished watching those moments, we realized that it is already 6:00am. Once again.. I saw early morning day light through my window when I was sleeping.. I didn't expect that I will see it so early again..

Here are the profiles:
* Uday
* Prasad
* Me
* Kalyan

Interesting!!

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But, the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades.
So, to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger & went farther than ever.

The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days,
the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish & freeze them at sea.
Freezers allowed the boats to go farther & stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh & frozen & they did
not like frozen fish.

The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish & stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin.
After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately,
the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste.
The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So, how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan?
If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?

How Japanese Fish Stay Fresh:
To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank.
The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired & dull, so we need a Shark in our life to keep us awake & moving?
Basically in our lives Sharks are new challenges to keep us active and taste better...

The more intelligent, persistent, & competent you are the more you enjoy a challenge.

"If your challenges are the correct size, and if you are steadily conquering those challenges, you are Conqueror.
You think of your challenges and get energized. You are excited to try new solutions. "

Gateway of India!

The day has arrived.. even though I have been staying in Mumbai for last 2 years, I went to Gateway of India today.. It all was a sudden plan.. In fact, Suji has initiated.. Sri, Kal, Kasi were also there. The boating in Arabian sea near Gateway of India is a wonderful experience... It was for 30mins. I was looking at the waves... the boat was cutting those waves.. as this is summer, the sea is calm.. But I could feel the wave when boat was moving.. We were disappointed by the notice "Photographi is strictly not allowed orders by Indian Navy".. (You are right.. But i typed it as it is..) In the middle of jouney, when I was looking the sea water, the sea hit me with a wave.. My face became fully wet.. I tasted the water, very salty.. probably sea might have impressed by my wave gazing and wanted to kiss me once.. There were some big ships around in the horbour.. the 30mins have passed very fastly.. After that we went to Marine drive.. Though it is not first time, I enjoyed the cool breeze coming from the sea.. we sat there for some time.. It was dinner time.. we were looking for some restaurant.. there is one ice creame shope.. the icecream smell was coming outside of shope.. last time I missed it.. I have choosen "Honey Nut Crush" flavour.. was very yummy.. I thought I will never miss this icecream when ever I come this side.. After that we had dinner in Suvidha restaurant.. back to room by 12:00.

Speech by Mr.Butch Jimenez

This speech was delivered during the commencement exercises of the UP graduating class of 2003 by Mr. Butch Jimenez, the youngest commencement speaker in the university's history. He once dreamed of doing so, and it came true!!!


Butch Jimenez, head of PLDT's media and strategic communications department, delivered this speech at the UP Diliman Class 2003 commencement exercises - Manila, Philippines



What's better than...?

Let's start off with something really simple. What's better than a long speech? No doubt, a short one. So, you guys are in luck because I do intend to keep this short. Now, let me take you through a very simple math exam. I'll rattle off a couple of equations, and you tell me what you observe about them. Be mindful of the instructions. You are to tell me what you observe about the equations.

Here goes: 3+4=7, 9+2=11, 8+4=13, and 6+6=12. Tell me, what do you observe?

Every time I conduct this test, more than 90 percent of the participants immediately say, 8+4 is NOT 13, it's 12!

That's true and they are correct. But they could have also observed that the three other equations were right. That 3+4 is 7, that 9+2 is 11, and that 6+6 is 12. What's my point? Many people immediately focus on the negative instead of the positive.
Most of us focus on what's wrong with other people more than what's right about them. Examine those four equations. Three were right and only one was wrong.

But what is the knee-jerk observation? The wrong equation.

If 10 people you didn't know were to walk through that door, most of you would describe those people by what's negative about them. He's fat. He's balding. Oh, the short one. Oh, the skinny girl. Ahhh,'yung pango. Etc. Get the point? It's always the negative we focus on and not the positive.


You'll definitely experience this in the corporate world. You do a hundred good things and one mistake-guess what? Chances are, your attention will be called on that one mistake.

So what's better than focusing on the negative? Believe me, its focusing on the positive. And if this world could learn to focus on the positive more than the negative, it would be a much nicer place to live in.

Better than working hard

We have always been told to work hard. Our parents say that, our teachers say that, and our principal says that. But there's something better than merely working hard. It's working SMART. It's taking time to understand the situation, and coming out with an effective and efficient solution to get more done with less time and effort. As the Japanese say, "There's always a better way.

"One of the most memorable case studies I came across with as I studied Japanese management at Sophia University in Tokyo was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies.

The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a box of soap that was empty. It immediately isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management tasked its engineers to solve the problem.
Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast.

But a rank-and-file employee that was posed the same problem came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Clearly, the engineers worked hard, but the rank-and-file employee worked smart. So what's better than merely working hard? It's working smart. Having said that, it is still important to work hard. If you could combine both working hard and working smart, you would possess a major factor toward success.

Better than dreaming big

I will bet my next month's salary that many have encouraged you to dream big. Maybe even to reach for the stars and aim high. I sure heard that about a million times right before I graduated from this university. So I did. I did dream big. I did aim high. I did reach for the stars. No doubt, it works. In fact, the saying is true: "If you aim for nothing, that's exactly what you'll hit: nothing." But there's something better than dreaming big.


Believe me, I got shocked myself. And I learned it from the biggest dreamer of all time, Walt Disney. When it comes to dreaming big, Walt is the man. No bigger dreams were fulfilled than his. Every leadership book describes him as the ultimate dreamer. In fact, the principle of dreaming and achieving is the core message of the Disney hit song, "When You Wish Upon a Star". "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are; anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do," as Jiminy Cricket sang. But is that what he preached in the Disney Company? Dream? Imagineering Well, not exactly. Kinda, but not quite. The problem with dreaming is if that's all you do, you'll really get nowhere. In fact, you may just fall asleep and never wake up.

The secret to Disney's success is not just dreaming, it's IMAGINEERING. You won't find this word in a dictionary. It's purely a Disney word. Those who engage in imagineering are called imagineers. The word combines the words "imagination" and "engineering." In the book "Imagineers," Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, claims that "imagineers turn impossible dreams into real magic."

Walt Disney explained there is really no secret to their approach. They just keep moving forward-opening new doors and doing new things, because they are curious. And it is this curiosity that leads them down new paths. They always dream, explore and experiment. In short, imagineering is the blending of creative imagination and technical know-how. Eisner expounds on this thought by saying that "Not only are imagineers curious, they are courageous, outrageous, and their creativity is contagious." The big difference with imagineers is that they dream and then they DO! So don’t just be dreamers, be an imagineer.

Better than vision

You must have all been given a lecture at one time or another about the importance of having a vision. Even leadership expert John Maxwell says that an indispensable quality of a leader is to have a vision. The Bible also makes it very clear that "Without vision, people perish." So no doubt about it, having a vision is important to success.

But surprise! There's something more potent than a vision. It's a CAUSE. If all you're doing is trying to reach your vision and you're pitted against someone fighting for a cause, chances are you'll lose.

The Vietnam War is a classic example. Literally with sticks and stones, the Viet Cong beat the heavily armed US Army to surrender, primarily because the US had a vision to win the war, but the Vietnamese were fighting for a cause.

In the realm of business, many leaders have visions of making their company No.1, or grabbing market share, or forever increasing profits. Nothing really wrong with that vision, but take the example of Sony founder Akio Morita. He did not just have a vision to build the biggest electronics company in the world. In his biography, "Made in Japan," he reveals that
the real reason he set up Sony was to help rebuild his country, which had just been battered by war. He had a cause he was
fighting for. His vision to be an electronics giant was secondary. What's the difference between a vision and a cause? Here's what sets them apart... No one is willing to die for a vision. People will die for a cause.


You possess a vision.

A cause possesses you.

A vision lies in your hands.

A cause lies in your heart.

A vision involves sacrifice.

A cause involves the ultimate sacrifice.

Just a word of caution. You must have the right vision, and you must be fighting for the right cause. In the end, right will always win out. It may take time, and it may take long. But if you have the right vision and are fighting for the right cause, you will prevail. If not, no matter how sincere you are, if you are not fighting for what is right, you will ultimately fail.

Two final quotes

The first comes from the Bible, which says, "To whom much is given, much is required."

"There is no destination beyond reach of one who walks with God."

A final review:

* What's better than focusing on the negative? Focus on the positive.
* What's better than working hard? It's working smart.
* What's better than dreaming? Imagineering.
* What's better than doing something for yourself? Doing something for your country.
* What's better than a vision? A cause.
* What's better than a long speech? Definitely, a short one.

Hope you would like to look at the person who gave the speech and so here is the youngest commencement speaker in the university's history

Menardo "Butch" Jimenez Jr. Menardo "Butch " Jimenez Jr.

Source : http://www.up.edu.ph/jimenez.htm

Most vivid rainbow...

Wonderful, isn't it ? Not a photoshop trick.. Of course, I haven't shooted this pic.. I got this by fwded mail from my friend. I wish, I would see this kind atleast once in my life ;-). It has happened at February 2, 2006 at Elam Bend (McFall, Missouri).

Sensex hits an all-time high of 12,040!!

I don't know much about stock market.. I wanna know about it.. But just for time being, I wanted to post this image..
source of image: rediff.com