I can't believe that it has been one full year since that unforgettable day - Nov 15 2006...
I can't believe that amma is no more with us...
Some events like these happen when we think it should not have happened. It makes you think that there some major flaw in this design of God. It makes you question basic things about your faith.
If at all someone deserved to get a second chance at life, it was her - my amma. Till date I have not come across a better human being who cared so much for all things around her. She made good friends and emotional bondings with not only all people around her but also with animals and plants around her. She truly cared about everyone and everything. Never have I seen anyone go empty handed after approaching her for a help either physically or monetarily. Never have I seen her use harsh words or curse at someone. She was an embodiment of love, care and affection.
I miss her a lot. And that is an understatement...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Reservation Vs Affirmative Action
I recently read in a blog talking about the positives that the affirmative action has brought in black peoples' lives in the USA. And I wrote this comment. I wanted to post it here to ask people here if my understanding is correct.
There is a lot of difference between affirmative action and reservation by quotas. Let me explain by example.
Lets assume there are 100 students writing an entrance exam for a college that has 10 seats. Lets say there are 20 backward students among these 100. Assume top 6 backward students score ranks 3, 5, 6, 17, 28 and 39.
Lets say the policy is to have 30% affirmative action.
In this scheme, the top 10 ranks are scrutinised. They see that they have accommodated 3 backward students who have secured 3,5 and 6th ranks. The top 10 ranks are given the 10 seats. Everyone is happy.
Lets now assume the policy is to have 30% reservation.
In this scheme, the 10 seats is divided into 7 for open category and 3 for reserved category. The top 7 ranks take the 7 open category seats irrespective of whether they are backward or forward class students. Now the remaining 3 seats is filled by the next 3 top ranking backward class students who are actually ranked 17, 28 and 39. The forward class students ranked 8, 9 and 10 are denied admission.
There is a lot of difference between affirmative action and reservation by quotas. Let me explain by example.
Lets assume there are 100 students writing an entrance exam for a college that has 10 seats. Lets say there are 20 backward students among these 100. Assume top 6 backward students score ranks 3, 5, 6, 17, 28 and 39.
Lets say the policy is to have 30% affirmative action.
In this scheme, the top 10 ranks are scrutinised. They see that they have accommodated 3 backward students who have secured 3,5 and 6th ranks. The top 10 ranks are given the 10 seats. Everyone is happy.
Lets now assume the policy is to have 30% reservation.
In this scheme, the 10 seats is divided into 7 for open category and 3 for reserved category. The top 7 ranks take the 7 open category seats irrespective of whether they are backward or forward class students. Now the remaining 3 seats is filled by the next 3 top ranking backward class students who are actually ranked 17, 28 and 39. The forward class students ranked 8, 9 and 10 are denied admission.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
We will miss you Dr.Kalam...
An excerpt from this story:
"In May 2006, President Kalam’s relatives from the south decided to descend on him (as relatives tend to often do). On instructions of the president they were welcomed by his staff at the railway station, and were looked after right up to the time they departed. But the Controller of Household was under strict instructions to keep a meticulous account of all the expenses incurred on behalf of the relatives — all 53 of them. Not once was an office vehicle used for any of them.
"In May 2006, President Kalam’s relatives from the south decided to descend on him (as relatives tend to often do). On instructions of the president they were welcomed by his staff at the railway station, and were looked after right up to the time they departed. But the Controller of Household was under strict instructions to keep a meticulous account of all the expenses incurred on behalf of the relatives — all 53 of them. Not once was an office vehicle used for any of them.
It was made clear by the president that he would pay — not only for the transport of all his relatives to and from Delhi, and also within Delhi, he would also pay for the various rooms occupied by them at Rashtrapati Bhavan and the food that was consumed by them — the rooms at the prescribed rate, the food on the basis of expenses actually incurred.
When his relatives left after a week’s stay, the president was of course sad to see them all go, but he was also lighter in his pocket: the total expenses debited to his personal account was Rs 3,54,924! As we practising lawyers often say in court “the facts speak for themselves”: President Kalam has set a high benchmark of rectitude in public office — worthy of emulation. "Friday, July 13, 2007
Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Found this interesting link which explains about primary reasons behind the various behaviourial aspects of humans. Interesting angles to view things. Makes a lot of sense.
How the Taj help spread English
"The Taj Mahal has had a bigger impact on the history of the world than anything else. If Shah Jahan had not almost bankrupted the Mughal treasury and abolished the Mughal navy to pay for the Taj Mahal than no way could a bunch of merchants from a piddly Island have taken over what at the time was the richest country in the world. Shah Jahan’s stupidity weakened the Mughal empire and it never recovered and the East India company exploited the weakness. Now without India the British empire is just a bunch of loss making coaling stations. No colony other than India ever made a profit for the British so no India no British empire. No British empire and English doesnt become the language of international commerce. Had the Mughal empire survived the language of international commerce and by extnsion that of Slashdot very well could have been Urdu"
Found this interesting observation as part of this slashdot thread
Found this interesting observation as part of this slashdot thread
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
The elusive art of time management ...
I need a crash course on time management.
24 hours does not seem to be enough for a day. It feels like I work for almost all the time that I am awake. No time for exercise, no time for books, no time for entertainment, et al. Have you felt the same way? Well I do and I feel helpless :-(
I am not sure if it is because I am truly loaded with tasks all day or because of my faulty time-management techniques. I have heard people saying that when you really want to allocate time for something you can do it and other things will fall in place automatically. I have always felt that this should be true. But I am not able to implement it.
Our typical day goes like this:
I wonder how other people manage to do so many things on a daily basis. I envy them.
My ideal day remains a dream as of now.
24 hours does not seem to be enough for a day. It feels like I work for almost all the time that I am awake. No time for exercise, no time for books, no time for entertainment, et al. Have you felt the same way? Well I do and I feel helpless :-(
I am not sure if it is because I am truly loaded with tasks all day or because of my faulty time-management techniques. I have heard people saying that when you really want to allocate time for something you can do it and other things will fall in place automatically. I have always felt that this should be true. But I am not able to implement it.
Our typical day goes like this:
- Get up around 6:00
- Tell oursleves that we will leave by 8 at least today
- Make decoction, boil the milk, make coffee
- Keep the rice cooker
- Make curry with vegetable (cut previous night) and let it get cooked/fry it
- Make rasam/sambar and let it boil
- Make something to mix with rice for our lunch
- When the rice gets cooked, mix it with above and make curd rice
- Pack our lunch
- Shave, shit, soap and shampoo when time permits in between all this
- Oh no, it is 8 already
- Have breakfast (sambar/rasam with rice) real quick
- Take the purse, id card, lunch bags, mobiles, helmets etc and rush down the stairs
- Forget one of the above mentioned things and go back to get it
- Leave to office by bike
- Get to Jayashree's office van at 8:30, which was supposed to leave by 8:25
- Reach office
- Work, chat, eat, browse, attend meetings and more work
- Leave office at 6:20
- Pick Jayashree at 6:30
- On the way back home, buy vegetables
- Reach home by 7:30
- Freshen up
- Start cooking dinner. If its chappathi or dosa it will be more than an hour to make 4-5 no.s for 4 of us.
- Cut vegetables for the next day
- Eat dinner. WatchTV during dinner.
- Its almost 10.
- Crash....
I wonder how other people manage to do so many things on a daily basis. I envy them.
My ideal day remains a dream as of now.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Puzzle
A friend of mine sent me this puzzle . It was fun trying to find the answers and navigate to the next page. The craziest clue was "ojofuffo", which turned out to be a very simple one after I spent quite some time trying to crack it.
Anyway, I managed to solve it. If you solve all the clues and finally get to the 23rd page, you would see this message:
GREAT JOB!!
Anyway, I managed to solve it. If you solve all the clues and finally get to the 23rd page, you would see this message:
CONGRATULATIONS!
GREAT JOB!! You have completely solved the FreeStuffHotDeals Hacker Puzzle! Be sure to to send a personal message to BinkelBop and tell him "Woody" to prove that you did it.
Weekend trip to Vijayawada
My ex-colleague Chakravarthi aka Chax got married in Vijayawada on Saturday (23rd). Jayashree and myself had planned to attend the function long back. But due to reasons unknown to both of us, we didn't buy tickets early. We wanted to leave Friday night but we got tickets only in "Jan Shatapdi" express on Saturday morning, which was ok because the reception was only in the evening.
Now, I did not expect "Jan Shatapdi" to be of the same standards as other Shatapdi express trains which are completely air-conditioned. To my surprise, "Jan Shatapdi" was just like other Shatapdi trains without A/C. It was clean, with good lighting, comfortable seats and a food tray at the rear of the seat. We did enjoy the journey.
I had a presumption that Andhra in general was unclean. I don't know why I had this feeling. But I stand corrected now. And how? As the train entered Andhra, we could see that all stations were clean and the platforms were covered with tiles. The tracks were also clean. Have you ever seen that at Chennai Central? I haven't. The city of Vijayawada was also clean in general albeit you can attribute part of it to the heavy rains.
Oh yeah, how did I forget this?. The Vijayawada railway station has an escalator (functioning). I was impressed.
The best part was that I saw people taking the pain to walk up to the bin to throw the paper cups, instead of just using the railway track as the perennial waste-bin as it happens in Chennai. If only people realise. Hmmm.
Now, I did not expect "Jan Shatapdi" to be of the same standards as other Shatapdi express trains which are completely air-conditioned. To my surprise, "Jan Shatapdi" was just like other Shatapdi trains without A/C. It was clean, with good lighting, comfortable seats and a food tray at the rear of the seat. We did enjoy the journey.
I had a presumption that Andhra in general was unclean. I don't know why I had this feeling. But I stand corrected now. And how? As the train entered Andhra, we could see that all stations were clean and the platforms were covered with tiles. The tracks were also clean. Have you ever seen that at Chennai Central? I haven't. The city of Vijayawada was also clean in general albeit you can attribute part of it to the heavy rains.
Oh yeah, how did I forget this?. The Vijayawada railway station has an escalator (functioning). I was impressed.
The best part was that I saw people taking the pain to walk up to the bin to throw the paper cups, instead of just using the railway track as the perennial waste-bin as it happens in Chennai. If only people realise. Hmmm.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Rain rain all day :-)
It has been raining continuously for the past 4-5 days in Chennai. Cloudy, gloomy weather with slight drizzle with occasional pour-downs in between. Its a bit difficult to commute to work and back. I am not able to go out for the 15 minute walk that I do daily in the mornings. Hmmm... but do I mind? NOOO. Its the kind of weather that makes me feel lazy (like it happens in Bangalore). I want to sleep in a nice, warm, cozy bed with soft blanket all day with doses of hot coffee and crispy pakodas from time to time. To my limited memory, I have not seen this kind of weather in Chennai during mid-June.
On the downside, if there is water-logging all over the city for this rain, I wonder what the situation will be in October-November!? No, lets not jump into blaming the municipality workers, the CWSSB, Chennai Corporation, TN government et al. It is WE the citizens who are to be blamed. As long as we keep throwing plastic waste on the roads, in drainages, in the next empty plot in the street and all other places which fancy us, there cannot be any solution to this problem. This plastic waste blocks the drainage and there is no place for the water to go except the roads. We can keep blogging away to glory about all these. But unless we educate the masses about recycling, nothing is going to change.
On the downside, if there is water-logging all over the city for this rain, I wonder what the situation will be in October-November!? No, lets not jump into blaming the municipality workers, the CWSSB, Chennai Corporation, TN government et al. It is WE the citizens who are to be blamed. As long as we keep throwing plastic waste on the roads, in drainages, in the next empty plot in the street and all other places which fancy us, there cannot be any solution to this problem. This plastic waste blocks the drainage and there is no place for the water to go except the roads. We can keep blogging away to glory about all these. But unless we educate the masses about recycling, nothing is going to change.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
I will try to be regular
I come to office daily by around 8:30am and leave around 6:30 pm. That means I am in office for 10 hours - 1 hour more than the stipulated 9 hours. So I thought I will use this extra hour to do my own personal things. First thing that came to my mind is this blog. Why not post things here on a regular basis? That should be good. Finally I made up my mind to blog regularly :-)
Hope I stay put with this new resolution.
Hope I stay put with this new resolution.
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