Adieu 2009

Hi Friends,

This is an official goodbye to the year just gone by, not only from the calendars but also from the hearts, minds and memories of many of us.

2009 (MMIX) had many important events and stories that took by all of us worldwide. In January, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African-American president of the United States. In March, Sri Lankan cricketers were attacked by few gunmen in Pakistan which led to the banning of Pakistan from hosting any ICC events. In June, Air France Flight en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into Atlantic ocean killing all 228 on board. Also, the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as ‘swine flu’, was deemed as a global pandemic infecting more than 10 lakh people with a mortality rate of over 10%. Then, on 25^th June, the king of pop Michael Jackson died due to cardiac arrest and his funeral had a record breaking audience close to 35 million people and so on.

This year was also seen as the year of economic recession. With giant firms like Lehmann Brothers and many others collapsing and still many who filed for bankruptcy. This was the year when Sachin Tendulkar completed 30, 000 runs in International cricket. This was the year when Tiger Woods announced an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after his past infidelities came to light. And many other things.

Personally, I did not like the way this year went by for me. But, some of the toughest and the biggest decisions of my life were made in this year. I quit my first job (Infosys Technologies Ltd.) to join Capgemini Consulting India Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai; a switch which I actually did not dream of, but never the less it happened. I booked a flat in Mumbai which I consider as a naïve decision of investing a huge amount at the age of 24. My blogs came to life again in 2009. And I hope, it goes on and on with many transformations.

There were many promises made, most of them taken care of, some of them forgotten. There were many commitments made, professional as well as personal. There were new things learnt from Microsoft technologies to blogging skills to some inadvertent matter.  There were many new hobbies grown and pursued, new friends made, old friends re-touched, old bonds revamped, mistakes forgotten and worked over. It was a year which took off life from me in terms of efforts and dreams. It was a year which taught me to the core about deepest aspects of life and relationships. This was the year which gained/lost self-confidence for me.

All in all, a year full of events, which at times demystified me and sometimes depressed me. I bow my deepest gratitude to this year for whatever good or bad it has given to me and my loved ones and pray for the new year to be more fruitful and pleasant for all of us.

Happy new year.

Indians in the matter !!!

GENEVA: The bronze Nataraja in its famous tandava pose gleams golden as it catches the first rays of the sun, bouncing off the glass façade of the international hostel nearby. Scientists, walking briskly to their labs through the chilly mist, cast quick glances at the ‘God of Destruction’, sitting above the tunnel where two proton beams are colliding at the rate of 40 million hits per second. This is where an explosion in a pipe on November 10 last year brought the world’s biggest scientific experiment ever to a halt. This is where rumours of doomsday began. The symbolism of the Dancing Shiva is hard to miss.

But, the Nataraja, gifted to CERN or the European Centre for Nuclear Research five years ago by India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), is not the only Indian presence here. More than 100 Indian scientists have been working since the day the large hadron collider broke down last year. This happened just as 6,000 scientists were starting an experiment that hoped to find Higgs Boson -- the so-called god particle -- by creating conditions similar to that of the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago. The Higgs Boson, incidentally, is a massive elementary particle and its detection would help explain the origin of mass in the universe.

In the 27-km-long tunnel, 150 m below the ground on the Swiss-French border, scientists have been working to fix the problems quietly even as conspiracy theories run riot over “micro black holes” and “anti-matter bombs”.

Tapan Nayak, an Indian scientist, smiles when you ask him about the black holes. “There is no such threat. Here, we are trying to unlock the mystery of the Universe,” he says, fixing his helmet as he whisks down to the tunnel in an elevator. Nayak is joined by a dozen other Indian scientists, engineers and technicians. Indian scientists have been involved in two of the four experiments at CERN.

At the experiment called ALICE, located on the Swiss side of the border, Indians have been putting in place the photon multiplicity detector (PMD). Nayak says it “is truly an Indian detector from conception to commissioning”. Scientists are trying to record the temperature and density of the “Little Bang” – conditions within microseconds of the Big Bang -- with detectors and chips made in India. “Our contribution to this experiment is fundamental,” says Nayak, walking through a mind-boggling maze of wires, chips and huge magnets.

Indians remain key to yet another CERN experiment - the CMS, in Cessy, France. A shiny black road cuts through green fields and yellow forests as one heads to the laboratory. “Here, we are trying to find the god particle to know why the world is the way it is. If we make progress, we’ll be able to explain all physical phenomena,” says Archana Sharma, who has worked at CERN since 1987 and is the first non-European to be given a permanent position at this prestigious laboratory.

Born in Jhansi and educated in Varanasi and Delhi, Archana is the face of India here. She has started a new programme at CERN, inviting Indian students to the laboratory every summer.

The first CERN-India cooperation agreement was signed in 1991 but Indian scientists took five years to get involved with its experiments. Funded by the DAE and Department of Science and Technology, India has contributed close to $60 million to the Big Bang experiment and become an ‘observer’ at this European venture.

“India’s biggest contribution has been its scientists,” says Nick Chohan, a British scientist who worked with Indians to fix magnets that direct the proton beams in the tunnel. “Without their work, this experiment would not take off again. They came here in groups and worked round the clock in shifts and we fixed the problem.” But it wasn’t all work and no play. “We also had fun as we played cricket, organized picnics and had Diwali parties,” says Chohan.

He’s not the only one impressed with India’s scientists. John Ellis, one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, says, “India has contributed, both in cash and kind. Your scientists have been working here for years and have made some important equipment too. Their work is fundamental for the success of this programme. This makes India a strong contender for associate membership of the institute.” He calls the CERN exercise an effort to prepare the “instructional manual of the universe”.

It is also about going where no man has before – into the heart of matter

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/Indians-in-the-matter/articleshow/5280370.cms

Some interesting GK

Answers below

1.       *Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

What? (don't bother to translate)

2.       "A public toilet, where you would not know who used it last“ - Encyclopedia Britannica. What were they referring to??

3.       X is the senior supervising producer. X was born on 6 June 1973 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh and was brought up in Delhi. He studied at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, but continued his graduation in Delhi University. X was a student of the Deshbandhu college in the first year. In the second year, he joined Sri Venkateswara College but he didn’t sit for the third year at all. Both he and his brother dropped out of the college. When they were studying at the Delhi University, their teachers predicted that they both have no future and would sell bananas on the streets. His first solo project was called Find the Road. Who?

4.       Another off the assembly line of “New Maradonas”, X may be the first to live up to that unfair comparison. Javier Saviola, Juan Roman Riquelme and Pablo Aimar have unsurprisingly failed to match HIS high standards despite initial promise. X started playing when he was just five years old at a club which was coached by his father. After three years he moved to Newell's Old Boys. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. Cost of treatment was $900 a month. A big European club offered to pay for his treatment and signed him. The rest is history. Id X.

5.       Fill in the blank:

Janus, Chicago, Memphis, Millennium, Odyssey, Whistler, ____ , Vienna, Red Dog.

6.       Saqib Abdullah a.k.a Skip was born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia in 1984. He is the 3rd and youngest amongst his siblings. Skip attended a Pakistani school in Saudi Arabia. He started a one man band. Name of the band is a Persian word meaning life & existence, while synonymously it can be used as Hope, faith, light etc. Skip's major breakthrough came in early April 2005, when he released his 4-5 year old composition through the Internet for free mp3 downloading. Within no time, his single became a popular hit amongst Desis living not only in Pakistan and India, but also throughout the world. The song became one of the most downloaded songs in India. Name the band.

7.       X and Y teamed up for a film, Devaa, somewhere in 80's. It was later unceremoniously scrapped due to some misunderstandings. X and Y being the giants of bollywood have never worked together since then. X finally relinquished the title and it was Sunny Deol (co star: Amisha Patel)  who was supposed to star in the movie which is due for release this December.

Identify X, Y.

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Answers

1.       Inscription on the Sauron’s One Ring (LOTR)

2.       Wikipedia

3.       Raghuram or Raghu of Roadies

4.       Lionel Messi

5.       Longhorn (these were all Window 7 codenames)

6.       Zeest

7.       Subhash Ghai & Amitabh Bachhan

Addiction

Lately, I have been attending a lot of training sessions. No, not because I am interested in them, but we have to complete 40 hrs of training in a financial year to make things fall in the right places(this is what I guess). The trainings range from technical, behavioral, project specific to latest technologies and so on. And I always thought that technical trainings are boring to attend.

But I was proved wrong by my behavior last week when I was attending a non-technical training on how could be make this world green by being in IT. I had concepts like carbon footprints and all in my mind when I entered the training room. But soon, it rolled out to be something different, irrelevant and hence boring for me. Then I just thought, how did I survive for the rest of the training hours all the year. And I got my answer – Computer. Almost all the trainings had we using the computers and that is the sole reason, why I wasn’t bored.

I mean, we IT people are so habituated to seeing a computer all the time, the very moment when we don’t see it, makes us feel sick. The same way is with outlook. I don’t know why, but I have an unusual connection with my exchange server. The day I leave on Friday to the morning hours on Monday – I am complete dumbstruck. I don’t know what’s happening, I have no clue what I am supposed to do in the coming week, I don’t remember any birthdays or anniversaries, because for all these days, I am away from my outlook which is apparently me, a reflection of me. I am so obsessive about computers that even when I am home, I sit in front of this intelligent box doing nothing. Well, doing nothing means, doing no work. I just enjoy some movies or Seinfeld or some documentaries. But I make it sure that I am doing something which utilizes my mean machines memory. Such is the attraction.

Coming back to the session, sitting idle in a classroom like training room, with a boring (NOM, as he was just doing his job) trainer and NO COMPUTER in front of you, can make you a bit crazy and a lot more weird and restless. I tried to concentrate and add on to the session, but within minutes my enthusiasm saw a deep trench in the graph and I gave up. You see, I do give up things easily. Probably that’s my weakest point. I had to kill my time, so I started writing this blog. Yes, I actually scribbled this blog in my notepad and it had to wait till today to appear on my blog page. And not only this, I also composed yet another blog – Jashn 2009 (a blog about the annual event of Capgemini).

I owe a lot to this weird habit and addiction towards computers – my blogs, my fan following at social networking sites(which does not exist now), a lot of experiments on my home system, my website and my health :P. I am a happy man when I am in front of this chipset device.

Thanks to Charles Babbage (or whoever?) for inventing a computer. I don’t think I, or for that matter anyone, can do much without it :-)

Happy computing.

Jashn 2009

It all began at 3:00 pm on 30^th November 2009 while we left office to head towards Andheri Sports Complex which was the glorious venue for Jashn 2009 (Official annual event of my company). Cutting the noon traffic of Mumbai city we reached the destination at 4:30 pm. The sun was mild and we were amazed as what it could be like.

After reaching there, we got our hands stamped and made an entry. After freshening ourselves, we started to hunt for some snacks. As soon as we started to hunt, there were innumerable platters in front of us. Though helpless, we then tried out almost every item which included chat, pani-puri, ragda-puri, dosa, uttappa and so on. Juices included mocktails, fruit juices, pina-coladas, soda juices and so on. My company has many offices in Mumbai itself. So, being at Jashn meant having to see all other people from other offices as well. After a bit of 'people' hunting and a mouthful of snacks, we decided to settle down. Initially we took the last row in the first section. But very soon, I shifted to the front with one of my friends. The hosts for the evening were Jaggu and Tarana (some TV star). They started with some light jokes, some small games and very soon the event was officially commenced by lighting the Jashn 2009 logo by fireworks.

The jury for the evening composed of wives of the TOP management as well as a couple of other biggies. The evening also had the grand presence of Paul Hermelin (CEO of Capgemini), Salil Parekh (CEO of North America and Asia–Pacific operations – also known as the 'King of the World') and Baru Rao (CEO India and a VP). The evening grew by some subtle jokes, speeches by the biggies and the dance performances. Not for a matter of doubt, Mumbai team won the national dance competition. Also, not to forget to mention about the speech by Paul Hermelin which, I am sure attracted the audience. He was narrating an incident about how, during the initial years of Capgemini, many big people in India had in a way or other worked for Capgemini. He also mentioned that NR Narayana Murthy once worked for a company in France (much before forming Infosys and much before when he worked for Patni) which later was acquired by Capgemini, so in a way, NRN also worked for Capgemini for which Paul Hermelin was a proud man. This narration, sort of bemused me as I am a big NRN fan right from my Infosys days.

As time passed, the hosts announced the guest of the evening and he was Shankar Mahadevan. It took him 30 minutes to make an appearance. During the meanwhile, all the stage was being set for his band and troops to perform. He made a grand entry by singing a religious song and then many of the famous Bollywood tracks. Within few minutes of his appearance on stage, the crowd took its toll towards him. The bouncers and the security guards had a tough time to keep the mob away from him. He took the entire audience at the ASC up high on his vocals. Many exhilarating tracks from Bollywood movies like Don, Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On, etc were presented before the audience. He introduced to his band in a never-seen-before way. He used to sing a raag on mike, and the same raag was then followed by the octopad player. The same followed for keyboard, drummer, lead guitarist, bassist and the tabla. It was breath taking and I was truly impressed by it. Andheri sports complex was the very place way back in November 1996 when the Mumbai crowd and all rock and pop fans witnessed the King of Pop – Michael Jackson perform in front of an audience of around 70,000 people.  When seeing Shankar Mahadevan performing live in front of you can be so amazing, I just could not sum it up what it could be like to even see Michael Jackson. Forget about him performing in front of you. A few girl fans were also reported to be fainted just by his sight. He is truly an immortal legend.

After few hours of his music, people started to scatter in search of dinner. There was a huge variety of dishes. I stuck to a few spoons of Chicken Biryani and then ice-cream and gulab jamuns. It was late in night when the crowd began to walk back towards their homes. So, we also decided to walk back to our buses by bidding Jashn 2009 a sweet adieu.