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September 19, 2014

Celebrating 19 years of an Incredible journey


I woke up at the crack of dawn ,after all, I had a long way to travel that day !  It felt very strange, unlike earlier times, I was not packing the usual stuff  – journals, drafter, compass box or engineering drawing sheet container, instead my mother was up early packing my lunch box. Nor was I going riding on my cycle, it felt weird not to have independence that having one’s own transport offered.  I left from home, just as my housing society  came alive with the noises of daily chores – households leaping into frenzied action with the arrival of municipal water supply, milk man on his errands ringing the cycle-bell, a newspaper boy hurling the coiled newspapers in balconies & verandas , it must be 6:20 am . A 10 min walk brought me to the bus stop at Manjalpur naka ( suburban Baroda). Another short bus journey took me to city-centre of down-town Baroda ( Dandia –bazzar). There opposite the Siddivinayak temple , I anxiously awaited ( obviously after offering my prayers to the temple almighty). Soon a small crowd had gathered all waiting for a company bus.

Surprisingly the bus arrived dot on time at 7 am  -- after everyone had scrambled aboard , I scanned around , there were about 35 people on the bus but no one looked familiar. I settled down as the bus after picking up more passengers en route finally headed east to an industrial town of Halol, about 40 kms. away.  There were no expressways those days and inspite of our driver , driving like a man possessed , it took about 65 minutes for the bus to arrive at its destination at an industrial park.  I got out clumsily, motion sickness written all over my face and  along with rest of the crew ,hastily made our way towards a large industrial shed. While they all walked through the main entrance , I took an adjoining door to a small administrative office, ominously titled ‘Personnel department’ . There waiting for me was quite aptly named  personnel manager ,Mr Joshi .   “ Chewing tobacco (padiki) ” his mouth entirely vermilion in colour ,he welcomed me in that typical tone of people eating padiki, who desperately try to prevent the precious tobacco flavored saliva spilling out of their mouths, before they are ready to spit it out, that is.

“ Samir, welcome to Vijayjyot Seats Pvt. Ltd,   this is your appointment letter, your gross salary is Rs. 1600 , your title is Quality Engineer , this is your punching timecard ,your payroll will be processed based on the time you have punched in.  Saying that he accompanied me to the main entrance ,directing me to the time clock to punch my time card. And punching my time card , I walked in !  

It was 8:45 am  --- 15th October 1994 , and my first day at work at just begun.  I was 19 years of age on that day and it feels surreal celebrating that day 19 years later.


March 2, 2014

My banter from the past -2013 (Part 1) Jan to April

A song in which my emotions are so deeply entangled .... evocative .. moving and soul stirring ... flooding my mind with memories .... 
ख्वाजा जी ख्वाजा जी ख्वाजा जी ... as soon as I hear this .. it feels that it is calling out from my soul 
या ग़रीब नवाज 
या मोइनुद्दीन, 
या ख्वाजा जी या ख्वाजा जी या ख्वाजा जी
ख्वाजा मेरे ख्वाजा दिल में समा जा शाहो का शाह तू अली का दुलारा

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pam8tXa6pkM

Unit testing, Functional testing, Integration testing, Regression testing, Perfomance testing ---- Development enviornment, Pre-prod enviornment, Dev-Test enviornment-- it is nothing short of a MIRACLE that newly developed CODE makes it to any LIVE systems these days. !!! - hahahhahahahah- This post DEDICATED to MY Development team 

The Biggest Learning I get from visiting a Museum is my own IGNORANCE !!! 


Beware of what you post , GOD might already be on facebook.  

An interesting construct -- Managers try to maximize profits for shareholders (i.e bosses), while Leaders try to optimise it, meaning share profits with other stakeholders (namely employees/ team). Therefore Managers get rewarded & promoted, while Leaders get respected & admired. In the short term being a Manager is more profitable than a Leader ! But in the long term being a Leader is far more fulfilling !


Do something really educating & informative this weekend .. Discover -- What Darwin Never Knew !! Pick up from where you left in school after learning the Origin of Species - Natural selection and Survival of the Fittest .. this documentary makes the next leap forward .. and will leave you completely astonished .. !!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOHzY1fuOz4

Sometimes Children stun you with their posits , this is the most recent one from Sakshi ( while she is being taught how to differentiate between a fact and an opinion at school) Sakshi ." Dad, inst every FACT in some sense only an OPINION "


Year - 1997 - Working in Philips, Age -22, and like every Young Man in our country (past , present & future) , completely distracted from work, after all ,didnt the stories from our celluloid told us, it was more important to FIND LOVE than a VOCATION !! Falling in love was far more meaningful that making a career. Proposing more courageous that attending an interview. It was, when I was in one such distracted mind-set, that my boss, who was totally passionate about selling lighting products sent me to JAMNAGAR for a week long market study. With my Aiwa walkman , listening to ' DO LAFZO KI HEY , DIL KI KAHANI ' ,I spent a week, working with the local distributor to survey the market. At the end of the week , I made a nice report , returned to Ahmedabad and submitted it to my boss. I felt satisfied that inspite of my distractions, had done a reasonably good job, until my boss , with his fuse blown, shouted 'what the hell was I up to' and shoved the report in my face , my report was titled " Market Survey Report - JUNAGADH" 


Several years ago I read a newspaper report about remains of a new born baby, found discarded in a garbage bin, whose flesh was eaten by stray dogs. And just now I read about this horrific incident involving a 6 year old girl near Gurgoan Delhi border .... where is this world going....!! I think Mayans had it right all long .. manKIND is extinct, what is left is only a ANIMAL SPECIES called MEN !! God please take care of that little girl ... and every child in the world .. they are growing up not in a human society but in a jungle , full of dangerous sick predators, far more brutal that the Wildest animals !!


What a memorable Valentines day .. simply unforgetable ..such rush of emotions , what a day , got a client sign off to triple our team size !!  hahhahahahahah


Satire is my way of expressing grief --
For a so called PIOUS country like ours, it is very upsetting that a stagerring 35 million people have SINNED and need to wash off their sins in a river every 12 years. WHY CANT THEY SIMPLY STOP SINNING ?  (On Kumbhamela)


Satire is my way of expressing grief --
Maha Kumbhamela is the largest gathering of NAIVE people on EARTH !!


I have such vivid recollection right from my early childhood that sometimes I feel that if I try hard enough, I might even recollect something from my previous birth 


Recently there was a media article on FB being the cause of lot of unhappiness & envy, made me think of writing this small verse ... अर्ज़ किया हे

ए खुदा, जब तू देखे ज़ाहा को आसमान से ,
तो तुझे एसा लगे गा की तेरे इस इंससन के पास बेपहना खुशी हे !
लेकिन खुदा ,झाक कर देख किसी के दिल में ,
वाहा पर तो सिर्फ़ मायूसी और सिर्फ़ मायूसी हे !


It is simply astonishing, that the first English pop-song, I heard in my life, growing up in small town Baroda, 30 years ago, was sung by a Jamiacan pop group based in Western Europe. That pop group was BONEY M . We did not even have a taperecorder those days, but our neighbour & close friends "Hardikars" ,who lived across a small galli , had a basic stereo system. Hardikar uncle,a music aficionado , used to play this very album 'Love for Sale' .. and in minutes the enchanting melody of Boney M used to drift & permeate thru the whole wada. The Reggae music with drum beats had never fallen on my ears before, and it was listening to this music from across the street that got me hooked on to pop music .. Even today, when I listen to Love for sale , my mind drifts back to that Muzumdar wada .. and I feel that very same sensation, I used to get listenning , standing in our apartment window as the sound of Boney M drifted by .. song dedicated to all those who grew up listening to the songs of Boney M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP9JlsMvRxA


Falling in Love is undoubtedly , humankind's most striking 'Hit or Miss' event in Life !! Celebrated in this unbelievably beautifully crafted song ,, the singers posit this conundrum as the song reaches it climax .. whether this is real love or just passing fad .... SOMETHING'S GOTTEN HOLD OF MY HEART !! For everyone whose heart has gotten hold of something .. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC_Z6o4Jb9Y


Producer Farhan Akhtar is contemplating, creating an alternate version of " Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara " ,in which the road trip never happens, so Kabir is unable to sum up enough courage to walk out of his engagement and thereby ends up getting married to Natasha, knowing well in advance,he would never be happy again. Movie is likely to be titled " Acchaa hey, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobora" !! (ON ZMND winning multiple awards)


In 1994 ,while being interviewed at L&T Earth moving equipment division at Powai , in Mumbai . Business Head of the unit asked my hobbies , I plainly answered " listening to music, Sir" . Business Head " Which musician do you like the most ?". I " Kenny G" . Business Head " Ohh Kenny G, even I like him, tell me name of the instrument he plays ? " I sheepishly " I do not know, Sir " . That gentlemen was delighted to educate me the name of that instrument - SAXOPHONE ,, and I have never forgotten even since  hahahahhaahah

But on a serious note .... Kenny G ---- Sentimental ... just listen and if you too grew in the 90s, cupboard full of memories are bound to tumble out of the closethttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHONFub5MPM



One of the profound realizations I had in recent times ----------You can fool anyone in this world, even yourself , but you CANNOT fool your HORMONES !!


Sometimes the most INTRACTABLE problems , can be solved with SIMPLEST of solutions. If every human EATS just enough to meet the necessary calorie requirements-( @2500 calories), WITHIN A DAY , we can ABOLISH, ----- HUNGER and FOOD SCARCITY from this world !!



Being SINCERE is more meaningful than to being SMART !!


Sakshi's latest poser " Dad, why are there only 3 blades in most fans ??" Anyone has an answer please help !!


You cannot have a GREAT LOVE STORY, without having the risk of a grave HEARTBREAK 


That feeling when your laptop is connected to the projector and you are walking senior managers from the customer side through a presentation, and a female colleague pings you " Is that meeting over , SUPERMAN "!! hahahahahha


Everyone is NORMAL , till such time as someone walks in their life and makes them feel SPECIAL !!


Once a friend told me her life's mission was "to help OTHERS" ! I was very touched , who in this materialistic world aspires for such an selfless ambition. As the story would have it, I got into some serious jeopardy, but that friend was nowhere to be seen to help. However, things got better, as they always do and some time later I confronted her " for all of your life's mission to help OTHERS, where were u, when I desperately needed it". Perplexed, she answered " I always told you the truth, my life's mission is to help OTHERS, not you " !! hahahahhahhahahaha

Moral of the story " ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT " 


Planet ain't LONELY, People are !!


Most human success can be attributed to either good GENES or good LUCK or both!!


It took MILLIONS of YEARS for the Solar system and Life to evolve !! But the BIG BANG occurred in less than a fraction of a SECOND, I could never understand, what was all the HURRY !!! 


Facebook mobile APP launched last year provides a daily report on how much of those WISE QUOTES / THOUGHTS / WAYS OF LIVING that you have shared /posted on your FB wall, DID YOU FOLLOW YOURSELF. If a user's score falls below 30 on a consistent basis, the APP will automatically bar him from sharing such WISE Quotes in the future. It is widely anticipated that this APP will result in atleast 50% drop in FB postings ,especially in India ,where on an average each FB user shares / posts 3 wise quotes per day hahahahahahahahahahaha 


Give a man a THOUGHT and make him HAPPY for a DAY !!
Teach a man to THINK and he will be UNHAPPY for LIFE !!
hahahahahhaha 



Research has confirmed that overwhelming majority of people , around 60% are absolutely CLUELESS, about what they want from life, while the rest 40% are only SOMEWHAT Clueless ! 


Eventually we all will become FOSSILS .. our organic matter long decomposed into fuel.. that will be pumped out of a well and into a car , and after experiencing one last trauma of the ignition engine we will be blasted in the atmosphere as carbon-dioxide,, to be unified again with the COSMOS ,from where we came !! - wah wah -- my own circle of life !!




Though late to the Jab We Met party by many years, fell in love with this song yesterday, so evocative ! And for my friends who do not know Hindi, English translation below the lyricis... start your day with the soul soothing melody 


aaoge jab tum o saajanaa
when you come, o beloved...

aaoge jab tum o saajanaa aangana phuul khilenge
when you come, o beloved, the courtyard will be in full bloom.

barsegaa saawan barsegaa saawan jhuum jhuumke
the rain will come down in torrents.

do dil aise milenge
this is how the two hearts will meet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPwTPhFMm3k