2009 - Looking back...

Wish you a very happy and prosperous 2010. Hope all your wishes come true this year.

This has been my longest vacation in last 6 years since joining IT. Though its not as relaxing for a vacation this time, it feels nice to be out of work for a change.

Looking back, 2009 had been an amazing year for me. The new year began in a train bound to Ahmedabad. We were on our way to visit Bhuj and Kutch there. It'd been one of the best trips yet.

The day started with offer letter from IBM and followed by NSN on 2nd. Putting down the papers on second week was a different moment altogether- filled with agony, confusion and above all excitement as well.

Nortel's fall was another big moment this year. Mike Z couldn't help the giant stand the game. It's been fun to look for new articles on allaboutnortel.com every morning.

The Bangalore stay had too much fun into it. Looking back, I attended many concerts this year. Pankaj Udhas, Wadali Brothers, Kailasa, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam, Shilpa Rao, Runa Laila and the list goes on...

New work also brought about many new friends with it. An interesting work, filled with many interesting people and lots of fun. I sat at 5 different locations this year (though changed job only once)- Kulupwadi Road, MG Road, Hosmat, Manyata.

Number of trips I had gone would probably give you a figure on how much masti we had in the year- Kutch (Gujarath), Ganapatipule (Maharashtra), Dandeli, Chikmagallur, Mysore, Kollur-Kodachadri, Nandi Hills (Karnataka), Madurai-Rameshwaram-Dhanushkodi, Yercaud (Tamil Nadu), Delhi. Its been a journey well travelled. And I could learn some more about photography (checkout albums on orkut).

And to top it all, the best achievement of the year had been finding my soulmate. It got fixed by September and life has been more of fun since then. It makes us stronger when we know that there's someone who's going to be with us no matter what we do.

The year 2010 begins with a grand opening. I'm all set to marry Jesi on 3rd of Jan. Hope its going to be another rocking year this time just like 2009.

Once again wishing you all a very happy new year...

Google Chrome OS on its way

After successful release of Chrome browser, Google is own its way to eat up Microsoft’s trademark Windows with its new Chrome Operating System. Check out more on the Google OS preview event here.

Celebrate World Toilet Day Today

It’s not just the dog but toilet also has a day these days. Today is celebrated as World Toilet Day.

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous day to all of you. I hope you all had an amazing celebration today morning, but I couldn’t contribute too much because my stomach was working normal.

I wish I had a friend whose birthday matched with the toilet day. I checked my orkut friend list for any matching birthday after reading the article “Celebrate World Toilet Day today”.

Jack Sim has made some valid points regarding the situation: “The toilet has always been an intimate part of human civilization. But these days, there is a stigma associated with sanitation habits and the ‘toilet culture’,”

Jack abandoned his business and established WTO (World Toilet Organization) in 2001 for the same cause. “Toilets have to catch up with the growing standards of living in India, hence the need to privatize them — fast,” He adds.

So wish you all a very happy toilet day.

P.S: From the book “Mother Teresa: a biography”:

No task was too menial or disgusting for Mother Teresa to undertake: One sister, repelled at the thought of cleaning the toilet, hid herself away. Mother Teresa passed by, not noticing the Sister in the hall. Seeing the state of the toilet, she immediately rolled up her sleeves and cleaned the toilet herself. The sister never forgot the experience and applied herself more fully to her tasks.

Johns the bachelor...

A special gift to Johns on his d-day... Congrats on the big occasion

Reviving the blog

It’s been so long since I posted something on this blog .

Today, I was feeling like posting something stupid online. I was amused by some amazing blogs hosted on www.wordpress.com today and was planning to actually post something on my yet-to-be-open blog.
The layout of a blog is as important as the content and I was not quite happy with the way my blogspot space looked like. I wanted to post a picture behind my blog title, add something more interesting etc… I was under the impression that there’s not much on blogger that I could customize.
I just gave a try and looks like blogger is highly customizable stuff. You play around with the html code and you get something that would make you happy. I feel a bit more relaxed when I see my blog’s layout now. I don't think I would need any other blogger service now.
Next step is to revive the same with new posts. Lots have changed since my last post: promotion in life, lots of trips, new friends etc…

I hope to post more about them soon.

Congratulations India

The people of India has made the right choice again. Congratulations to Congress and UPA for the clear mandate it has got in the 2009 elections.

The verdict shows that people of India has voted for:

• A leader who is a man of action than words (Manmohan Singh).
• Selflessness and Sacrifice (Congress leadership team).
• A team against an individual (BJP fought this election portrating strong leader).
• Honesty against corruption (Fall of Paswan, Lalu, Mulayam, Maya, Jayalalitha).
• National cause that has led many of the narrow minded regional players sit aside.
• Performed parties on a regional level (Bihar, Orissa).
• Communalists and terrorists (UP against Maya, Kerala against PDP-CPM alliance).
• Vibrant and youth India (Shashi Tharoor, Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot...).
• Optimism and Hope (Fall of left).
• People-oriented development (Fall of Singur/Nandigram model development).

Here are some of the big moments of this election:

• Advani took it personal with Manmohan calling him weak multiple times. People thinks the other way.
• Narendra Modi: Nobody questions his development agenda for Gujarath, but nobody also questions his role in the post-Godhra riots. When the commandos were fighting it hard in Mumbai against terrorits, he is the first person to make a political gain out of this by blaming government at the very moment. People did not buy this argument. 26/11 was a failure of our system, but nobody buys the argument that the government was at fault. The so-called strong leader of BJP made some stupid statements when asked about the Kandahar story, where a cabinet minister had to accompany three terrorits to resolve the hostile situation.

• Lalu Prasad Yadav: One of the most celebrated Indian politicians openly admits that it was a mistake not to go with Congress.
• Ram Vilas Paswan: Last time's king maker not getting a single seat.
• Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh: Kingmakers sitting not knowing what to do now.
• Mayavati: Please come up with a national cause next time. India wants a prime minister who can see other's problems as well. Manmohan is Sikh but very well understands every single individual of the country.
• Jayalalitha: Long way to go maam.
• Prakash Karat: Somnath Chatterji put it in the right way: Being a narcissist won't help the country/party.
• Pinarayi Vijayan-Ma'dani: It's time to rethink.