My Tryst with our Epics

I am fascinated with our epics which are possibly the most well written scriptures across civilizations. Their importance can only be realized by those who feel the society is in the chasms of deep troubles with insecurity, immorality and crimes pegging us in from all sides. I feel relieved when I read them through Rajagopalachari’s immortal English renditions or even watch their serialized versions done so wonderfully some two decades ago. My tryst with the Ramayana and the Mahabharata began at the infant age of 3-4 years when I used to bother my Grandma for bedtime stories whenever she used to come visiting our house. She is not much educated but her fabulous command over the religious scriptures used to awe me a lot. She has also derived much of her gyan from them and uses to straighten us even to this day if at all we deviate. Since that tender age, I got fascinated with the scriptures especially the Epics.

I used to wonder how someone can become so perfect like Lord Rama. He was an excellent fighter, was a dutiful son, a responsible brother, a protective husband to Seeta, and finally proved to be the ablest king of this land. Such was his perfection that the Mahatma envisaged a Ram Rajya in this country and said that it has become all the more relevant in this modern age when people would get corrupted.

I was amused at the folk tale of the larger- than- life Rama, his birth as Lord Vishnu’s incarnation on this earth to slay Ravana, the Rakshasa king of Lanka. Rama’s decision to follow his father’s orders to leave for the forest, where uncertain dangers lay in waiting, was really touching. His grief at the loss of his wife proved that he was unaware of his divine origin and displayed emotions just like any normal human. Finally when he set course for Lanka with the help of the Vaanar Sena it concludes that one shouldn’t neglect the poorest and the weakest. They can help you on any day of your need.

Rama’s return to Ayodhya after slaying Raavana is still celebrated in the form of Dussehra and Deepawali, especially in the north. Rama’s story can be an inspiration to any individual. I believe, on how to perform one’s duties. However we can only strive towards perfection, not be entirely perfect as that is the domain of the Supreme Being.

The Mahabharata impressed me even more with an authentic display of present day strife in the form of a war between brothers of the Lunar Dynasty. It is called the Mahabharata as legend says it weighs more than the combined weights of the four Bharats-RigVeda, SaamVeda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda. Having more than 1 lakh slokas, the beautiful story of the Kuru Dynasty was brought alive by Sage Ved Vyas in poignant terms. From the story of Yayati to the Pandavas’ final journey, it is full of intricately woven tales of Administration, Management, Political Science, Diplomacy, Military training, Valour, Romance, Devotion and so on. You name a field and it is there in Mahabharata. More importantly, it contains the Bhagavad Geeta, the sacred teachings of the Lord given to Arjuna on the battlefield which culminated in the Lord showing the Universal Form to Arjuna.

Although the 18 day Kurukshetra war was a foregone conclusion as the Pandavas were under the care and guidance of the Supreme Lord Krishna from their birth onwards, my heroes in this epic are Bheeshma and Karna. Bheeshma, formerly known as Devavrat, the son of Ganga, was born as a result of a curse by the Brahmarishi Vasistha as he dared to steal his cow Nandini. He was actually one of the Vasus, the lesser Gods, more appropriately, Pravasa, the Sky God. His perfection was also like Lord Rama, almost equal in valour, strength, knowledge. The future King of Hastinapura, he sacrificed his material pleasures through a terrible vow or pratigya to enable his father to marry his love. In due course, he got the boon of ichcha mrityu from his father who was clearly impressed. Withstanding the long suffering of Hastinapura and saddened at the plight of his kingdom due to the constant infighting between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, he was finally defeated by Arjuna when he took off his weapons. The story of Bheeshma is unique in the sense that he didn’t breathe his last till he was sure of Hastinapura’s transition into safe hands.

The story of Karna is a mixed bag of misfortunes and wrong company. Ignored by his mother at his infancy, he was the greatest among all Pandava brothers in all aspects. However he was weakened by his repeated support of Duryodhana’s eveil deeds. His consideration that he was forever in debt of Duryodhana, caused his downfall and final defeat in the hands of Arjuna. It sends a message across all of us that however good a person is; he will surely go down if he starts quivering from the paths of justice.

All conflicts and wars in our societies and homes are all mirror images and micro forms of that Great War of Kurukshetra. However the truth and the righteous will always prevail in this never ending war however beating they have to take. I hereby end this narrative with a respectful bow to the two great epics whose importance in this cruel world have increased manifold.

The value of Education

The world has progressed a lot since the folks of stone age started making clubs and weapons of stones and rocks to defend themselves. The discovery of fire,wheel, agriculture, and barter were important points in human history as the human race took very critical steps forward in the history of the civilization. Compared to those times, nowadays development and advancement has been too rapid and sometimes they are frighteningly fast.

As different knowledge domains have diversified with increasing expertise, so have the complexity of the education system in India and abroad. Education system nowadays have become too proficient in collecting advanced Guru Dakshina by charging hefty fees. A high profile MBA from a highly rated Business School can set you back by as much as 10-15 lakhs for the 2 year duration course in the country. The logic must be something like we are taking care of your placements, our brand name will be attached to your resume for ever and we have to pay salary to the profs. and you have the luxury to sit in AC classrooms so you have to offer us a small token of your savings. A well accepted status quo nowadays but is education for sale? Too trifle a question to dismiss it at the first instant,isn't it? Do they radically transform students overnight or in 2 years? More important is the question whether people apply the values, they have learnt in educational institutions, to their social and personal life.

How many IIT engineers, IIM grads and AIIMS doctors have really contributed to the welfare of the Indian society and how many among them have really cared to even contribute something back to their motherland? Now think about this: how many of them have become big shots and have made "big"? How many of them migrated to other countries in search of better opportunities? Is brain drain really justified? People say that in absence of facilities in India they migrated to earn name, fame and money.

To put it across simply, my hats off to those who have stayed back and have worked for the development of the country. May this country rise from ashes like the mystical Phoenix. May this great nation regain its past glory and greatness.

“Save our Tigers” by Aircel: Is it a little too late?

One fine morning I was greeted by a nice cute ad showing a young tiger cub being the centre of an emotional scene and with Dhoni, Kiran Bedi, Suresh Raina and actor Surya claiming that they fully support Aircel’s newest initiative to Save our Tigers whose numbers they claim stands at only 1411.

Lets go a little back to the era of the Raj when maharajas and nawabs used to go hunting for what not and this addiction was passed onto the invading East India Company’s footsoldiers. These people hunted the kings of the jungles so badly that the majestic Cheetah went completely extinct from India and is now restricted to only the African Savannahs.

I am sure the generation x, y, z, bla bla won’t even know that the Tiger is the national animal of the nation. 15-20 years from now, I imagine people will identify it only from vintage pictures in books or stuffed carcasses in museums.

I still remember Bill Clinton visiting the Ranthambhor National Park in Rajasthan in 2000 while on a visit to the country. The tiger last attracted the people’s attention at that time. Now I remember reading news articles in leading newspapers that tigers have been exterminated from that National Park. Another national park Sariska has been added to that wonder list where tigers have miraculously vanished to the surprise of the local authorities.

More surprising is this became known to them when not even a single pug mark was recorded in Tiger census record. The Kings simply fled the country for their lives, or they might have vanished into thin air or some deep rooted smuggling mafia have put an end to their hapless lives in this country.

Just two weeks back I read in another popular news magazine that the famous Corbett National Park, the success story of Project Tiger is now a favourite haunting spot of urban kings, who organise night shows and all sorts of nuisance parties. Not a surprise as I feel they know that no tigers will come to haunt them as they are already dead by now.

I don’t give Aircel’s initiative much chance of success as it will fizzle away too quickly amid all this confusing chaos our nation is under.It might be a marketing ploy in this age of cut throat competition or their owners might have soft corners for our national beast. However I think it has all come a little too late. It is high time we get conscious of all the dangers the varied flora and fauna of this land are facing and should extend every possible help for their conservation. otherwise, the tiger will join the cheetah in becoming a dodo in this nation and our wise politicians will have one more arduous task in their hands to choose a new national animal.

An Open Letter to HP: Part II

Dear Sir,

With extreme regret I am writing my final letter to you. I wrote my earlier letter in the 3^rd week of September,2009 with full details of services endured by the notebook dv9312tx between July 2007-September 2009. The warranty is valid till November 2010. For your reference I am re-uploading it to Rapidshare as it was 3 pages long.

http://rapidshare.com/files/289767949/hp_original_letter.docx

I won’t deny it but HP India contacted me soon after I posted the above letter. Two customer care executives spoke to me over phone. Inspite of my repeated statement that the notebook suffers from perennial problems and even 4 services couldn’t rectify the defects, they continued to stress on the idea that I should once again take my notebook to the nearby service centre. This would have been my 5^th service. Already the notebook is using its 3^rd system board with nvidia graphics,2^nd LCD panel,2^nd Fan and 2^nd optical drive.

However, taking into account the endless loss of productivity and business hours which I have incurred on account of this notebook, I have decided not to go for any more service as it would only temporarily rectify the problem and delay the motherboard failure which is imminent after every 4-5 months.

What has frustrated me is that each time an executive contacts me I have to explain them everything and begin from level zero. And each time they have said that I need to go to the service center. Sorry but I have run out of patience. Even after spending Rs 72000(Rs 65000 for the notebook and additional Rs 7000 for extension of warranty), I have not got the desired level of satisfaction from the product which I purchased based on my prior positive experience with HP from 2001-2002(2 printers and 1 notebook).

I am extremely saddened to inform you that I have to opt for a new notebook in future as it has become virtually impossible for me to store my valuable data in a notebook which is so unreliable. Moreover I work in a private sector bank, so a reliable machine is very crucial for my day to day work.

Hoping for a patience reading.

Thanking You

Yours sincerely,

Pranjal Patowary

pranjal1984@gmail.com

An Open Letter to HP : Part I

Sir,

I have been somehow holding off my feelings for the last one year or so but suddenly it felt so overpowering that I had no other option but to write a letter to you conveying my experiences with HP in the recent past. I have been using HP products for the last seven years. The product portfolio as of now includes inkjet printer and two laptops. My satisfaction with the printer and the Compaq notebook assured me of HP’s quality and forced me to go with HP yet again. As a result, considering the reliability of HP products and their superiority vis-a vis the other market competitors, I decided to purchase an HP Pavilion dv9000 series notebook. That series was one of the highest end consumer laptop models in the summer of 2007. Since I am an enthusiast user of notebooks, I purchased the gleaming new HP Pavilion dv9312tx from Dotcom in Chennai, India. The purchase date was 1st July, 2007. The notebook came with the following features:

Intel Core2Duo T5300, 1024 MB DDR2 RAM, 240 GB dual hard disks, 256 MB GeForce Go 7600, Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit OS version, 17 inch screen(1440x900), DVD+RW burner, Intel 3945 abg Wi- Fi capability, 1.3 MP camera, HDMI and 4 USB 2.0 ports.

Serial Number: CNF7190LQB

Product Number: GJ156PA

Total cost of the laptop was Rs 65260.00 plus one old Toshiba Satellite A60 notebook.
I bought this notebook primarily for its multimedia capabilities although occasionally I would play a few games as well. However, since I joined an MBA programme in the same month, I felt it would be a worthy companion since the large storage capacity would help me in storing high quality management videos and the large screen would help me in preparing attractive presentations.

All went well for the first six months. I could watch high definition videos and play games due to the GPU and also was involved in quite a lot of presentations. Also because of the HDMI port I could connect it to an external LCD and view HD content.

1st Service:

Gradually the laptop started overheating and the keyboard became loose. One of the keys even came out. I took the notebook to HP Service Center, Peters Road, Chennai on 16-01-2008. That was exactly 6.5 months from the purchase date. The fan and keyboard was replaced. I received the laptop back on 19-01-2008. Case number was 2216429725.


2nd Service:

In the month of September, 2008 the laptop went dead. There was absolutely no display on the screen and on turning it on, the LCD remained dark. There was no BIOS display. I read in many web forums like Anand Tech, Notebook Review and even HP’s own Business and Consumer support forums about the faulty Nvidia Graphic cards which led them to overheat and burn prematurely. But I resisted the temptation of doing further experiments of my own and took the notebook to HP Authorised Service Centre, Gandhipuram, Coimbatore on 26-09-2008. I had to wait till 03-10-2008 to receive my laptop. However it was repaired with a new system board and I was tense knowing fully well that it will only be a matter of time before the new board burns out too. I was informed by many individuals that HP has extended the warranty by another 1 year on certain notebooks with specific product numbers. I visited the HP site and was disappointed to know that my product number was not listed. However I enquired HP India and they told me that my warranty is valid till November 2008. Case number for this service was 2603259966.

Renewal of warranty:

Knowing fully well that it would be dicey to continue with this “premium” laptop without an extended warranty, I purchased a 2 year Care Pack on 31-12-2008. The Care Pack number is G05UINAC908A. That was again after I was e-mailed by HP India several times that now I have the option of renewing my warranty within 90 days of expiry of my 1 year original warranty.

3rd Service:

Hardly 3 months had passed since I bought the Care Pack that my DVD Writer died. I was amused simply because I had used it only twice in the nearly 2 year period: for creating HP Recovery Disks. I normally don’t burn DVDs and prefer to carry all my extra data in external hard drives which are much more reliable in my opinion. In addition to that the Quick Launch Buttons died without a reason. The case number for this service is surprisingly missing. I don’t know why. May be the service centre’s carelessness or my own indifference.

Again I took it to the HP Service Centre, Coimbatore on 17-03-2009. The notebook was returned on 27-03-2009. By this time I was frustrated as I didn’t spend more than 65,000 bucks to get a lemon laptop that seemed to develop one problem or the other over a short period in addition to the already defective system board/GPU combo which fries every year although I am using a notebook cooler. Money is hard earned Sir and before making a purchase decision, I normally sit down and do a thorough analysis of all brands before selecting a particular product. It may simply be anything-a digital camera, a notebook, an LCD TV, a washing machine or even a refrigerator. There are factors like reliability, consistency, price/performance and finally product reviews which go into the customer’s mind when he/she makes their decisions. At least for the record I follow this process and I expect the company on the other side to honour the commitment and faith reposed by me on its products. However the saga with this notebook doesn’t end here. One latest addition makes the list truly complete.

4th Service:

This incident is very recent. Green lines appeared on my display and all dark colours were replaced with an ugly light green shade. I wasn’t even able to type properly because visibility was minimal. I promptly took it to HP Authorised Service Centre, U.N Brahmachari Street, Kolkata on 04-09-2009 and was given a case number 4603379253. I was told that it would be returned in 4-5 days and only the display cable needs to be changed or repositioned. The notebook was returned on 19-09-2009.
The service report says only the system board was changed for the “umpteenth” time. However I found that they have even changed the LCD display. Because the plastic generally found on top of newly bought laptops was present on the panel. Also Everest Ultimate Edition diagnoses it as Chi Mei Display whereas previously it was recognised as an LG-Philips display. Worst of all, when I talked to the service engineers, they refused to acknowledge the change in LCD panel and they claimed that only board was changed.

I didn’t argue with them as I had already made up my mind regarding my next approach. On coming back home, I found that on turning the num lock key on, even normal alphabet keys started producing numbers. I am sure while changing the system board, they might have misplaced the keyboard ends. Please be aware that it is a complete full sized keyboard as the notebook is 17 inch.

Final words:

I was once a great connoisseur of HP products and have even recommended them to my near and dear ones for years. Additionally as a part time system administrator in my organisation: The Federal Bank Ltd, I am asked to recommend brands of IT products and also to troubleshoot them. Please advise me what to tell them if any such query is asked by them.

Sir, this letter is not meant to belittle your valued company or its products considering the fact that I am an HP user myself for years. Every word of it has spontaneously resulted out of my experiences with an HP product for the last 27 months. But what pains me a lot is the fact that my investment in this high end laptop (by 2007 standards) has gone waste. I am also a staunch follower of the statement that an organisation can prosper more when it keeps count of its Triple Bottom Line and how strictly it adheres to it. I eagerly wait for your reply so that I am convinced that HP indeed cares for its regular buyers.


Thanking You
Yours sincerely

Pranjal Patowary
pranjal1984@gmail.com

Kerala Travelogue: Part II

With another Sunday on the horizon, we decided to go for a trip across Kochi. The day was 2nd August. Around 10 am, we boarded a public transport bus from Rajiv Gandhi Bus Terminus, Aluva to Fort Cochin. Each was charged Rs 17 which made us aware of the fact that the journey to Fort Cochin is definitely going to be long and arduous. The bus journey took more than an hour, however the journey was definitely a treat for the eyes as the bus snaked around the major landmarks like Marine Drive, Shipyard, Naval Base INS Dronacharya, Mattancherry before stopping at Fort Cochin Bus Stand.

Fort Cochin is a nice and tranquil place with the cool sea breeze constantly hitting our faces which swept away the tiredness and anxiety from our minds. The sentry which greets any visitor to that place is the Santa Cruz Basilica just adjacent to the Bus Stop. The nearby backwaters made for a perfect backdrop to the innumerable stories and legacy of this spot. Chinese Fishing Nets can be seen from a very close viewing distance and natives say that they were installed there in the 15th century itself. The sea looked very rough and ferries were plying all over it. We proceeded to the Beach area which was tiny. A large portion of the sea shore is rocky in nature. So tourists were frolicking in the limited available beach space. The beach was, nevertheless, littered with coconut fronds and maybe due to the offseason, wasn’t maintained properly. The distant horizon was marked with boats and ships of varying shapes and sizes. Marine Drive can be seen from Fort Cochin itself and the skyscrapers looked like tiny matchboxes. Our next stop was St. Francis Church. Excitement soon turned into despair as we found it locked as it was a Sunday and we were a tad late.

Nearby was Mattancherry, hardly 2.5 kms from Fort Cochin. The major landmark is the Mattancherry Palace built by the Dutch for the Varma royal family. It has now been converted to a museum with full grants from the Archaeological Survey of India. The halls were adorned with Ramayana Paintings which described the story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya and his war with Ravana, the demon king of Ceylon. They were very vividly made and the figures looked life like. The next hall was filled with inscriptions and cartographic references describing the history of Kochi and how it was inhabited. The rich traditions of the Jews and the biblical references are also mentioned through pictorial representations. Further down, we can see the portraits of the Varma rulers and their descendants and ministers. The royal articles prevalent during those times have also been neatly preserved which gave an idea of life in Kerala during those times.

In Mattancherry itself, located in the midst of an idyllic Jew Town is the famous Jewish or Paradesi Synagogue, one of the oldest in South Asia. It is a Jewish place of worship and located a km away from the Palace Museum. This was my first visit to any Synagogue and I wondered about the similarities of religions all over the world and how their adherents worship their Gods in a similar manner. So different we look outwardly, but how strangely similar are human nature and ways of life I thought. The entire Jew Town is littered with antique shops where collectibles are found ranging from a few rupees to lakhs of rupees. They are worthy places of visit for those interested in taking back home some nice memorabilia from their Kochi trip.
The ferry services in Kochi are another notable attraction. Countless of them ply through the lakes and backwaters carrying daily commuters, vehicles and tourists. Kudos to the state govt. For maintaining the daily ferry services between the different islands which has eased congestion to a large extent. Also the low fare of 2 rupees is attractive and many people take advantage of the facilities. For that purpose, boat jetties are located along the islands’ coastlines. The most famous of them is located near Marine Drive which is an upmarket area of the city consisting of swanky shopping malls, showrooms and the like. Various delicacies can also be seen being offered here and there which adds to the charm of the place.

Visiting Kochi is a rewarding experience in terms of the beauty and tranquillity of the city and its environs. And especially during the monsoons, one shouldn’t miss the opportunity of being drenched by thundershowers while boating in the lagoons. Definitely on my recommended places to visit list.

Kerala Travelogue: Part I

With training rigour slightly easing itself from my neck, I decided to visit some nearby places in and around Federal Heights, Aluva to unwind myself. First on the list was a quaint locale called Cherai Beach. Around 20 kms from Aluva Bank Junction, it is a long stretch of verdant sandy beach in Vypin Island, Kochi. Regular buses ply onto Paravoor, a transit point towards our destination and onwards to Cherai. Our journey date was 26th July, a Sunday and we started our trip in the afternoon hoping to catch the dying glimpses of a setting sun in the sea waters. It took almost an hour to reach Cherai from Aluva and we proceeded the last few metres on foot as a bridge was under repair. Lovely backwaters and cool breeze emanating from them greeted us. The salty smell of the sea tinged my senses as it was almost a year since I visited the Marina Beach. Upon reaching the exact location, I was thrilled to find hordes of tourists already soaking themselves in the cool waters. It was simply gorgeous and simply unexplainable to describe the view which I enjoyed of the setting Sun although it was briefly obscured by a few clouds in the horizon. The water was however a little murky which can be explained by the intermittent showers happening around this region quite recently. I also got very involved with some mouth watering delights especially fried delicacies cooked at the beach huts. By the time I arrived in Aluva, it was already 8 pm and I was satisfied and relieved knowing fully well that there are lots of exciting places to visit in Kochi. Also I was a bit irritated knowing that I have to wait another week for those peek-a-boo opportunities of slipping away from Aluva.

The media is crass, isn’t it? Or is it?

The media is an information reporting medium which brings real time events to normal public. The medium might be in the form of print media like newspapers, magazines, online media or even the most popular one, the multimedia telecast by means of radio or TV. I feel nauseated by the deluge of senseless journalism prevalent in our country, in particular. So thought of letting vent to the feelings. I believe the media has a very responsible role of shaping our minds, especially the younger generation. With values and morals plummeting to an all time low and people mistaking tradition-stickling for out datedness, the situation is expected to get even worse in the near future. So along with the education system, the print media and the TV media have a very important duty to collectively shape the virgin young minds in the same manner a potter shapes his clay pots. Rudimentary, isn't it?

So continuing in the same vein, the media should be impartial in publishing news articles. So what is the progress so far? Channels like Aaj Tak have been reduced to the shadows of their former past. It has become a terrible blot in the history of impartial journalism in India. Instead of just presenting the news in a polite and unmodified manner, they force their anchors to modify it and present it as their opinionated mouthpiece. I feel very sad when I recollect those golden days when Aaj Tak was a news bulletin in DD Metro and it then garnered some of the highest ratings for any news programme in India. It had also won numerous awards. All changed in a moment when TV Today-a division of the India Today Group acquired the rights for it. Yes you got it right. This is the same group which banged itself in the wall by redesigning the legendary India Today and converting it into a piece of trash which it is today. Same is the case with some of the newer channels who want more TRP ratings instead of having a Quality Control system in place while delivering news. News of politics, entertainment, administration and sports are regularly delivered with their own “moral” admonishings and sermons as to what has been righted or wronged in the process. Who has asked for your opinions dear sirs/madams? We only want the news. Please we are intelligent enough to interpret it and form our own opinions.

We have to just look at channels like BBC or CNN to gauge the glaring differences in the presentation of objectively-filled content to present the true and accurate picture of an incident instead of the Indian disease of glamorising an incident by terming this as Exclusive and what not. True, we are not as developed as our counterparts in the other side of the globe, but the least we can do is being true to ourselves and not to produce a deceptive picture of an incident. The credibility and reliability of most of the TV channels are at stake. There is no external force behind their undoing. And what have they done to bring back the trust? A big zero. Absolutely nothing. Most of the channels have become mouthpieces of either political parties or large business houses parroting their diktats.

The print media has become even worse. Most of the front page news and editorial articles are nothing but copy-paste from their websites containing blogs by non-descript people,given a thumbs down rating previously by online readers. The same pathetic opinion pieces are regurgitated again and again till the normal reader cries out of fatigue. Large national newspapers' reporting has gone rock bottom with tepid reporting aimed at “I don’t know who.” Gross spelling mistakes give these so called “Largest Daily” papers, a pock marked look. This ruins the vocabulary of the ever growing youth. Either there is a problem with their spell checkers or there is gross carelessness on their part. Irrelevant news is highlighted unscrupulously to attract attention of the public who otherwise would have simply neglected it.

Another issue is the high decibel voice of the newscasters which would virtually make you deaf if you continue listening to their nonstop chatter at normal TV volume. You have to scale down the audio level of the device several notches down to be able to distinguish between noise and voice. I wonder where these people are being imparted training. Nasal grunts and hisses are too common in channels like Times Now where the anchors try to impress you with their unnecessary use of squeaks and squeals. This makes your news watching sessions a nightmare. TV news casting and anchoring is an art and the quality of art depends on the quality of the artists.

All in all, news and views in India has become all the more lethal agent, nowadays capable of rendering your skulls immobile by inflicting painful headaches.

Finally got rid of jobless tag!!!

After joining the Federal Bank Staff College on 19th July, it has been a really comfortable stay in the cool environs of Aluva,a suburb of Ernakulam. The Staff College is a 11 storey high rise called Federal Heights. It is located just yards away from the bank Headquarters,the Federal Towers. The roof top is a decorated rope garden and the night views are delightful. The people here are nice,simple and friendly. The food provided in the mess is simply awesome with fruits,chicken/mutton in nearly every meal with calorie rich delectables like ice creams, fried vegetables, pulaos and ethnic Malayali food being splattered here and there. The accomodations are in line with 3 star hotel facility with a room being shared by 2 officers. The lecture hall is fully air conditioned and has a gallery like seating system for the students. The faculties are vastly experienced and are mostly Fed Bank old-timers with their designations being either Chief Managers or Senior Managers. Class timings are from 9:30 am-5:00 pm. All our Amrita friends are here except Ajit and Manu who didn't join. We are having a jolly good time. On Sunday, we are planning on a reunion of our batch mates who are staying nearby.

The training period will end on 8th August after which we all will depart for our respective posting locations. I have got mine in Kolkata. Feeling a bit nostalgic since I was there for a month during my Summers in 2008. Our initial designations will be Probationary Officers and after confirmation will be Assistant Managers. That's it for now.

Where is India heading?

Well with the General Elections over last fortnight and the Congress govt. coming back to power, there were exclamations of huge relief all over the country,especially the media and the so called free lancers and free thinkers. The stock market rose expectedly by nearly 2000 points and analysts seemed happy that a stable govt. has been voted to power which bode well for the country during such a self created recession.

However several questions remained unanswered. What happened to the Mumbai attack victims and what happened to the very same people who had raised their voices against terrorism? Why is Indian law so snail paced and bureaucratic that it took more than 4 months to formally file criminal charges against the perpetrators?

What will happen to the Naxal infested places and what steps will the new Govt. take especially after a much weaker army of a neighbouring nation finished off the world’s supposedly deadliest guerrilla army and its leader in a matter of 3 years? Has the govt. thought of any agenda to solve this age old problem prevalent in Andhra, Jharkhand,West Orissa, Chhattisgarh and East Maharashtra? Whenever and wherever I have gone, people always comment about North East and Kashmir but not a single one cares to recognize this fundamental headache that is gradually eating away the integrity of this nation. What will the govt. do and how will it react if tomorrow’s youth across the length and breadth of the country take up arms and follow the Naxalites saying that politics is nonsense.

Why are the Indian people not far sighted especially when it comes to deciding their future and electing leaders who could have done better in tackling this country’s perennial problems? Only 58% of the electorate voted in this elections and in Mumbai-the centre of India’s deadliest attack just months ago, the turn out was around 44%. Or do us Indians are so selfish that we exclaim “What is there for me” at each and every instant? Is it a part of our inherent culture that we look for our own personal “faidas” and benefits rather than leaving a much stronger and prosperous country for our future generations? Ha it looks like we are so blinded by self glorification that we don’t even reason for a moment for what the future lies for our descendants?

Is merely writing in newspapers,blogs and giving speeches enough to provoke the gullible Indian public or is it a platform for us to prove our own opportunistic tendencies? See that. We have to look for the greater good at each and every step. I am not denying the fact that personal gratifications are important but we should also think of the future while taking a decision for our very own kith,kin and self.

A fundamental doubt I have which has been troubling me is why I can’t speak freely of my own religion? Is it banned in a “secular” country like India? If I am proud of my religion why can’t I proclaim myself as a proud Hindu? My being a Hindu has nothing to do with my political or professional ambitions or even presence or absence of any political or cultural affiliations. Although Hinduism as a religion constitute more than 80% in this country, why are we being loathed whenever we talk about our religion in open forums. Why are we bracketed as anti-secularists just because I am claiming to be a proud Hindu? In any case I am not belittling other religions or communities. So,why this hypocrisy and pseudo secularism? Can anyone please clear this point?

Oh and I almost forgot the main point and veered away from it too much. So how come more people participation be ensured in the democratic processes? Has the Govt. made any attempt to find out the several problems hindering non participation? The problems are manifold like sheer disillusionment with the system to inability to caste votes because of mismatch between enrolment place and work place. Or is the govt. happy that turn out is low so that it can maintain its power?

Now I ask a lot of questions,don’t I? What to do? None have been answered so far and going by the set patterns, there is extremely low probability that they will be answered in the next 5 years.

That's all for now. Will again come back.

The Earth Hour: When is the next hour?

And the lights went off and the planet was engulfed in darkness! Newspapers around the globe flashed the now monotonous pictures of great cities of the world switching off their mundane lights. Also particularly notable was the uniqueness of all these photographs. All the montages featured showed two pictures side by side. One was that of the area in an otherwise ordinary night and the other showed the very same carbon copy, the only difference being most of the office buildings and great monuments were devoid of lighting. The very next day, the Earth Hour was claimed as a great success as if the objective had been achieved in a single stroke of display of human concern for the environment which by the way has already passed the point of no return.

Now just to paint a grim picture of the very scenario in black and white mode, we take you to the Beijing Olympic Stadium in 2008. The fireworks and laser display enthralled the crowd and drew tremendous applause from them. I would have bowed down to the human race if they had displayed some common sense and had minimized that tremendous wastage of electricity and "what not" energy source on the days of the opening and closing ceremonies. I am sure some million electron volts could have been saved. What about the hugely insane amount of electricity being used to light up those neon signs in Miami and the casinos in Las Vegas? But of course, why would the Americans care? They would claim that all households in their country might have access to more than enough power (of course electric) to run all their electric appliances. Of course you should also take into concern that each household over there would contain electrical appliances found in sum total of minimum of 3-5 Indian households. So what they are using in those above mentioned tourist havens are just surplus power (not my theory). I certainly hope so and certainly envy them if that is the case.

But this is only the beginning of the problem. The Earth Hour, which was recently publicized to a frenzied extent, was observed by many nations. Whether that power saved was for the global human population or for their individual national public is a question which has confused me. Because here in India, I can tell you that negligible households would have turned off their power. Of course by "households” I mean low income and middle income households which constitute almost 90% of the total households in this country. I am talking about our own families and our neighbourhood Uncles and Aunties. How many of them would have switched off their lights? None. The reasons are manifold. As a payee of Electricity Bills, they will seldom waste Electricity in their homes so they don't need to perform short cut penances and indecent austerities (like the Earth Hour). Secondly leave the rural areas, even Tier 2 cities and Metros experience solid power cuts as a form of retribution from the Government. If you persuade these people to shut off their lights, the situation will be akin to a bull in a china shop. I am not taking that bullshit propaganda fed to us (in the form of ads and posters) by the media saying that WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) has started this initiative. If WWF wants to save this planet ask them to go to Brazil and stop those timber mafia and avoid denuding the Amazon rainforests which provide almost 15-20% of our planet's oxygen. Here we are in the peril of not getting enough pure oxygen to breathe into our already soot filled lungs and now these organizations are behind our butts to virtually force us to switch off the lights. They will be more than happy to show the figures they have achieved in persuading people to give up lights. That will make a crowning achievement indeed (sigh). Sorry I don't have innumerable PCs, Vacuum Cleaners, Dish Washers, Plasma TVs, Frost Free Refrigerators and so on. So I am not wasting any power on unnecessary indulgences of the body and mind.

So how many years before nobody will be there to celebrate this "auspicious" hour? Nobody knows this gem. Development and concern for nature can't go hand in hand. And no I can't see neither deteriorate. The temperatures will continue to rise and the polar ice caps will continue to melt leading to rise in sea levels worldwide. So humans of coastal areas beware. And yes humans will be the only species remaining after all the rest will be decimated. Last I heard there are only 1500 tigers in India from 8000 or so during Project Tiger initiation. Replicate this for each and every visible species and you get the answer. Ice or sand will conquer since desertification will occur. So no amount of making documentaries or talking green will save this planet. And no don’t get afraid I am no member of any Doomsday sect. It is still some hundred years away (I hope) before this happens. You know the Earth is a tough nut to crack and that sucker will not go down to us humans without a fight. Take my word on this.

Snapshots of Windows 7

As mentioned earlier, I have attached some screenshots of the Windows 7 Operating System. However it is still in Beta and a lot of the intended features might not be included in the final version. So enjoy these pictures with a grain of salt.

The Farce that is Indian Democracy

Well it was a pretty ordinary day as usual and I was travelling by the city bus. Some of the passengers were idling their time away by discussing what they want their kids to become when they grow up. A majority of them raised their voices in favor of professional careers like medicine, engineering and the like. Some of them went far as to suggest careers in Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and God knows what. I am sure a lot among them wouldn't be able to even spell those. Of course there will also be a group who will see themselves as belonging to the elite intelligentsia of the society. They want their sons and daughters to get the plumpest corporate jobs, preferably in the continents of North America, Europe or Australasia. The very same group will also vouch to possess a comprehensive knowledge of all arts and sciences and will supposedly suggest "bright" careers to others. It seems we Indians are never short of this perennial crowd of "Career Counselors".

As I had nothing else to do, I decided to have a go at them and asked them how many of them want their kids to join politics. "No way am I going to let my kids rot in this hell”, came their prompt and equivocal reply. "Politics is dirty”, said another."Where is the janitor to clean this mess, then?" I mumbled to myself. One reply amused me like no other-"Indian Politics has become a den of Mafias and Goondas". Oh what eloquence in that statement! By the way, that janitor statement reminded me of another incident where former Indian cricketer Manoj Prabhakar was giving an interview to a high profile news channel during the infamous Match Fixing controversy in 2000. Mr. Prabhakar said and I clearly remember it thus: "The entire game of cricket has become a huge pile of ****. I am only trying to clean it up and while doing it I have soiled myself as well." It was another matter that guy was banished and nobody has heard anything of him since.

In this most populous democracy, politics has been a multifaceted topic ever since Freedom from the yokels of the British Empire was obtained in 1947. M.K. Gandhi's lieutenant J.L Nehru ruled this country for the first 17 years until he passed away. Just a couple of years later, his daughter Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister and except the Janata wave from 1977-1980, she was the authoritative voice in Indian Politics for almost 14 years. The father-daughter combination not only saw off the turbulent wars with neighboring Pakistan but also marked new developments where India established itself as a noteworthy regional power in South Asia with advances in Agriculture (Green Revolution) and Industry. However once Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards during those volatile early 80s ,where the Khalistan Movement was countered by "Operation Bluestar" , and her son assumed charge it became clear that the ruling Congress party had contracted a disease which has not been alleviated since. This new infection was Dynastic politics irrespective of talents, skills and abilities. This disease has now assumed epidemic proportions spreading across different political parties all over India. Political parties are always busy anointing new successors and them dressing them in the same colours as their parents (mostly fathers). In a way it ensures that the party remains in their family’s grasp. The head of the family becomes the CEO of the party and it is run like a family business akin to Marwaris and Gujaratis(no offence intended). It is this pitiful sight that has nauseated normal hardworking citizens when they think about this field. In fact the situation was so bad that the former President of India Giani Zail Singh offered to sweep the floor of Parliament to appease Indira Gandhi. Please note that Mr. Singh was also a member of the Congress.

Also what is with this new trend where there are more parties in a state than there are castes? In states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, this rapid spawning of political parties happen more frequently than the hatching of tadpoles and they all claim to cater to the needs of specific castes. This caste system is a disgrace to this country and can actually be equated to Racism in the 50s’ and 60s’ United States and Apartheid in South Africa till early 1990s. The ancient texts mentioned castes as a function of profession and not of heredity. Even then it should be banished as it breeds disunity and feeling of hatred exploited by others for propaganda purposes. Outlawing of this dreaded system can go a long way in reducing the number of parties and in bringing sanity to the hallowed portals of the Parliament House.

Education and literacy should go hand in hand. A lot of the older folk might claim that higher education isn’t worth the time and pain required to accomplish it but it is only imperative from the successes of Western democracies that both are complimentary to each other. It should therefore be made mandatory that candidates seeking a vote from the general public should at least have completed their graduation. But then this is the land of seemingly mind boggling antics and as it goes, mass faking of certificates might happen. The Election Commission comes here and it should be given more enforcement powers to make sure the Elections are held in a free and fair atmosphere.

The sense of responsibility is missing especially among the urban citizens. A majority of them carries a “Who cares?” kind of mentality. Most of them don’t care to go for voting during the elections. The urban youth has the responsibility to choose a stable government at the Central or state level. Only a stable government can ensure a strong, prosperous and secure nation. The other hindrance is the large number of urban workforce being deployed out of their domicile states. The system is such that you have to be in your own home state to be able to cast your vote. A slight modification in the system is necessary to facilitate a larger turn out in the elections which seems to be dominated by the rural electorate. Although there is something called the anti defection law, steps should be taken to ensure that political parties don’t change their coalition after getting elected. Pretending that they stand for a particular set of ideals and then changing allies without rhyme or reason to get closer to the majority mark is just a rude slap in the face of the innocent and gullible voters who had voted for them.

Finally the youth should come forward. Taking an important part in the administration of the second most populous nation and to maintain a stable functioning of its affairs remains one of the biggest challenges. If the educated youth dominates the proceedings from now onwards, dynastic politics will be wiped out in no time. The sense to serve the people of a country and to aid in its overall development should be in there in every individual. If this happens, former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam’s vision of a developed India by 2020 will be quite easily realized.

The next Windows from Microsoft

It is now more than 2 years since Microsoft released Windows Vista in January,2007 to much fanfare as the successor of the 2001 released XP. Although it was quite robust in security, network connectivity and stability,Vista was dog slow as compared to its predecessor and consumed a huge amount of resources. The Average Joe was at a loss. Come February 2008 and the Service Pack 1 for Vista was released. It improved the file transfer speeds to a significant extent and also plugged any security holes which remained.

In the meantime the Redmond based company announced that they were planning to release Windows 7-an incremental upgrade from Vista,by late 2009-early 2010. I am going to shortly mention the features which have been incorporated in the next version of Windows.

Latest Windows 7 build: 6.1.7000, 7th January,2009

New Features:

• Internet Explorer 8
• Windows Media Player 12
• Better support for multi core CPUs
• Improved boot performance
• New version of Windows Media Center
• Security Center renamed to Action Center
• Redesigned Calculator with better features and functions
• New items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.
• Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar.

Features Removed:

• Classic Start menu user interface
• Windows Media Player Mini-player
• Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail and Windows Calendar
• Windows Meeting Space
• InkBall, a game
• The numeric keypad from On-Screen Keyboard
• Microsoft Agent 2.0 Technology
• Windows Sidebar (replaced with Desktop Gadget Gallery)
• Windows Ultimate Extras in the Ultimate edition

Editions:

• Starter
• Home Basic
• Home Premium(Available through Retail & OEM)
• Professional (Available through Retail & OEM)
• Enterprise
• Ultimate

I will be covering the snapshots of Windows 7 in the next post.

"Jai Ho", UPA Achievements and Pinki

Really heartening to see an India themed motion picture getting 8 Oscars.Yes, I am talking about British director Danny Boyle's much acclaimed "Slumdog Millionaire" which swept the Academy Awards on 23rd February,2009. India's very own A.R Rahman won 2,one of them shared with Gulzar and Resul Pookutty won a shared one for sound mixing. The last time another India themed movie won heavily was Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" which won 8 in 1982 which fetched an Oscar for Bhanu Athaiya in costume design. I watched the movie a month back and I think the director has made a fair amount of research in making the movie. Although India's own Bollywood bigwigs haven't taken the movie so seriously(atleast before the Oscars), I think rather than nitpicking on the errors and a false image found in the movie we should instead harp on the positives and the bitter truths embedded within. The wheel will move forward only when an effort or some kind of force is being exerted from behind which is sadly lacking in us Indians.

Images of Mumbai policemen idling in their vans while a Muslim person was set on fire by a Hindu mob, Teacher clobbering the pupil with a book on his head which I feel is the worst form of physical violence, Children kidnapped and then blinded for better earning as beggars are just some of the countless scenes which provoked me to think about the inflated economy and the overhyped glamour and progress of the nation being continuously pummelled through our heads in a grotesque way by the indomitable mass media. At the same time, the story of the boy Jamal and how he rose to be a Crorepati from the slums and the final quote mentioning that it was written in his destiny also points to the fact that every individual irrespective of his/her social background, education and culture has the ability to come up trumps in their objectives.

Hardly had the Oscars been given away, our very own UPA govt. spokeperson trumpeted that their "good governance"(I wonder what that means) has brought Oscars for the country. I think Rahman,Gulzar and Pookutty should together sue this person as he is babbling nonsense. What has happened here since 2004 is known to all. Why turn a blind eye and display your abyssmal failures as some sort of sugar coated candy is beyond my understanding. Oh by the way O protectors and rulers of our country! Are you even remotely aware that some 250 innocent civilians were butchered between 26-28 November,2008 in Mumbai? The dead are long gone and weeds have grown in their graves and yet conspiracy theories still continue to flower up. That this kind of senseless pogrom can't be the handiwork of 10-12 millitants can be realized by even people having brains the size of pea nuts.

Anyway, lets leave these awkward questions and move on to something more encouraging. On the same day when Slumdog won. another short documentary"Smile Pinki" by Megan Mylan showcasing the travails of a U.P. girl born with cleft lip won the award in its category. The issue is really one of concern as there are countless people born with this birth defect and it can be easily corrected by a simple lip reconstruction surgery. However, the social stigma which the cleft lip defect brings upon the person can't be described in mere words. I really appreciate the documentary and look forward to watching it.

Nothing more to pen right now. May you all have great weekends.

A deathly calmness!!!

Over 60 lives were lost when a series of bomb explosions took place in Assam at around 1130hrs today(30/09/2008). The blasts didn't take place in a single place but were rather scattered all over the state,with Guwahati taking the maximum damage with 33 lives. Most importantly nearly 400 lives(TOI report) are still in critical condition. So the final toll is most likely to rise. What has surprised me is that the bombs were exploded in strategically "secure" locations like the Deputy Commissioner's Office, the Ganeshguri area just a few hundred metres from the Chuef Minister's official residence. Almost all the bombs,which exploded in Guwahati were done via timer devices and kept in vehicles. Favorite haunting ground of the public like shopping places, markets were also not spared.

This topic is not created to publicise the report or some propaganda related activity but rather to introspect the after effects and to mull over the future of our nation which is deteriorating day by day. The Times of India the nation's largest selling English daily posted this astounding fact on its website that

"The country has witnessed 64 serial blasts in six states in less than six months leaving 215 people dead and nearly 900 injured. "

Seriously what is happening? What about the basic security of innocent citizens who are busy in earning their daily bread? What about the basic moral values which separate us humans from the creatures of forests and oceans? Or is it some mindless dilly-dallying between the predator and the prey? Who is the hunter here and who is being hunted?

The figures above only seem to put any reader to a seemingly endless vortex of disturbances and confusion as these questions gain strength after every such man made casualties. This is not some skyscraper collapse or some dam break. For God's sake, this is cold blooded murder of human beings using modern and sophisticated weapons of mass destruction. Oh wait a minute! Weapons of Mass Destruction-did I mention? Oh no! WMDs, the same convoluted phrase oftly repeated by the president of the strongest country to make it an excuse to invade Iraq. What are WMDs doing in India? And worse still how can some groups of murderers gain access to it?

The country has a huge ever burgeoning population,I fully agree and worse the density is simply too high in heavily conglomerated urban clusters. So even a small accident can cause heavy casualties. But if these same clusters are being subjected to WMDs, Oh no I don't even want to imagine the extent of damage possible.

Well I am still confusing you ain't I? What is the point of this topic then? After every accidents or disasters or terror attacks we Indian seem to forget one thing

To learn from past mistakes and to correct the existing loopholes in the system.

Can we do it then or shall we continue to suffer and accept it as our fate? The time for reckoning has come. It was the same laid back attitude which led the people of this land being colonized by invaders and trading companies going back to the time period of PrithviRaj Chauhan's rule in Delhi. I guess we still haven't learnt from our mistakes. What those mistakes are and how can we correct them?

Yes my friends, this topic was created to invoke these very questions on your minds.

Bye then.

Let all the victims' souls rest in peace.

Milk the cow until it runs dry

NVIDIA is a Graphics Processor manufacturing company that specializes in making graphic cards and chipsets for Personal Computers around the world. Based in Santa Clara, California ,it raked in close to 5 billion dollars as revenue in the last fiscal year. Such is its dominance in this segment that its monopoly is virtually unchallenged,although another company ATI, a subsidiary of chip maker AMD tries desperately every now and then.

The story goes on.. I am not writing this piece for NVIDIA's glorification but rather am trying to reveal and analyse the opportunistic behaviour of this company due to good faith reposed on them by the public. NVIDIA makes Graphic Cards for both Desktops and Laptops all over the world. In case of laptops the mobile GPUs(Graphics Processing Units) are manufactured by NVIDIA and supplied to various OEMs(Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Dell, HP, Acer, Asus,etc.

The current mobile GPU series is the 9 series which was released 3-4 months back. Regular users of laptops containing the 7 series GPUs experienced intermittent failing of their graphic cards almost ranging from a year ago and is still continuing. When these complaints were conveyed to the respective manufacturers like Dell, HP,etc, they expressed helplessness. In most of these cases, the GPU failed when the laptop was just out of warranty. So users had to shell out almost 350-400 dollars(15k-20k) to get their laptop motherboards replaced. In case of laptops the GPU is soldered to the motherboard. So one has to replace the motherboard itself if it fails. NVIDIA revealed the design problem in its GPUs only around 6 months back and that too only for the 8 series cards. They had a subpar substrate applied to the card during manufacturing which caused these cards to overheat and fail before their expected lifetimes. The following cards have been documented by users to have this problem:

Go 7200,Go 7600,8400M seies,8600M series.

But NVIDIA still refuses to acknowledge this problem in all the cards. Worse of all they have not done a product recall and have kept on masking this problem . In fact they have been quite successful in creating an impression that nothing actually has happened. But the true repurcussions of this calamity can be gauged only by looking at the number of complaints at HP and Dell's consumer forums.

Is there any hope for the thousands of affected customers who have been milked by the respective manufacturers and now have been ignored by means of obnoxious excuses???

Ethnic Responsibility!!!

It seems that politics in India has taken one step back again. Recently the elected MPs from the state of Tamil Nadu protested that Tamil people in Sri Lanka were being harassed. They demanded the Central Govt. to intervene saying that the Tamils of India and those of Sri Lanka are linked by a common thread. Unless the Indian Govt. intervenes they are ready to resign. What about those innocent and gullible common people of the state on whose votes they had become MPs at the first place. The most presposterous idea is what right has India got to intervene in Lanka's internal security and political manners? So does this mean the MPs from Punjab will resign because Punjabis in faraway Canada are being mercilessly beaten.!!! They are now Canadians and India can't do anything. What about Biharis living in countries like Mauritius and Guyana? What about Pakistan interfering saying that Muslims in India are harassed? Same is the case with Tamils in Sri Lanka. Although ethnically similar, they belong to different nations now and interfering is out of the question.
Knowing fully well the disastrous consequences faced by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces in 1987 under the able stewardship of Late Rajiv Gandhi(loads of sarcasm he he) , Indian Govt. shouldn't bat an eyelid before dismissing these so called bunch of sycophants and restoring order among the administrative machinery of this particular state. I also hope that this Govt. won't blow away this last bit of hope the T.N public has kept on it.

Long live the sanity of Homo sapiens race.

Latest versions of softwares available

1. iTunes 7.6.2.9 (57.01 MB)
2. AVG Free Edition Antivirus 8.0.100 (45.57 MB)
3. VLC media player 0.8.6f (9.28 MB)
4. Mozilla Firefox 3.0,Release Candidate 1 (7.15 MB)
5. Internet Explorer 8 Beta1 (14.43 MB)
6. Real Player 11.0.0.446 (12.67 MB)
7. Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (22.37 MB)
8. Open Office 3.0 Beta (144.45 MB)
9. CCleaner 2.07.575 (2.76 MB)
10. K Lite Codec Pack 3.90 (13.47 MB)

It is recommended not to use beta or pre-release softwares because they are usually meant for testing purposes only. The manufacturer is not responsible if the particular pre release software crashes the machine on which it is installed. The above mentioned softwares can be downloaded by just typing them in Google and obtaining the links mentioned therein.From now onwards,I won't provide the actual download links but only the latest version numbers available for each software and the corresponding download size. It is the prerogative of each user to find the exact download location for each software he/she desires from the internet.

Happy downloading.

The Kolkata Detour,Part 2

Whew !!! Finally Calcutta is cooling down with the Rain God himself showing so much mercy that Kolkata Knight Riders were routed at Eden yesterday. Park Street was under a foot of dirty gutter water. I had gone to the Reliance office in the evening to pay my net bills and had to be trapped in the office for an hour because of the thunderousmonsoon carnage being lashed on the hapless commuters.Of course got a chance to see some of the "Bong Babes" over there. At night I and Girish had our dinner in a Punjabi Dhaba in Sudder Street-the favourite haunting place of the so called "firangis" -of all races and creed. The food was yummy and it reminded me of Lajpat Nagar's Dhabas in Delhi where I stayed almost 6 years back.With the weekend coming to an end and the dawn of a new week, both of us were quite apprehensive of the future happenings of the day as we were told that we will almost start our "project" by today. As Girish had mentioned, our original live ERP project had been postponed because of irreversible reasons. So we hoped that at least before arrival of dusk, we will be clear on our project. But lo,what happened!!!Mr. Dey introduced us to the project manager(PM) who gave a lengthy lecture on the deliverables and other crap. Half of the day was already gone by the time we met this chap.Then it was almost 6pm when the help & support guy set up our desks with brand new sexy black DELLs. By that time PM passed by us and entered the HR office. That bloke was busy chattering with the ladies inside. And we thought he would finally inform us about our projects and at least introduce us to the team managers before we leave.Imagine our consternation at finding out that this fellow had already left for his home.Then the time was 7 pm. We were badly pissed off.Girish was out of control and yelling about the awful place and its
people.He was feverishly insisting to return home as soon as possible.What else can I say? If these companies claim to be professional, the least their managers could do is just to have the basic etiquette and courtesy of treating their summer interns in a "proper" way. And this PM didn't even give a damn for us or our project. We are utterly disgusted at this fickle minded behaviour of people at BOC. For three continuous days we have been sitting in the chairs idling away . And progress is so slow that sometimes I feel that this is the local MLA's office with its damn-care attitude and lethargic way of life. Nothing else to do but to hope for a better tomorrow.