A trip in Himalayas

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A list of cities on the trail


Gurgaon
New Delhi
Gaziabad
Meerut
Muzaffarnagar
Roorkee
Rajaji National Park
Dehradun
Haridwar
Rishikesh
Valley of flowers
Rudraprayag
Guptkashi
Sonprayag
Kedarnath
Gopeshwar
Joshimath
Badrinath
Keshavprayag
Nandadevi Biosphere reserve

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/

It is indeed a very interesting and informative website.

Do I know who are in my neighbor?

 

India shares its borders with 9 countries. I did a small survey to find out how many cities/regions we know in our neighboring countries.

SNo	India’s Neighbors	Capital	Number of Cities/Regions a Male of Age 55, could think of instantly	Number of Cities/Regions a Female of Age 55, could think of instantly	Number of Cities/Regions a Male of Age 25, could think of instantly	Number of Cities/Regions a Female of Age 25, could think of instantly	Number of Cities/Regions a Male of Age 30, could think of instantly	Number of Cities/Regions a Female of Age 30, could think of instantly
1	Afghanistan	Kabul	Kabul, Gandhar	Kabul	Kabul, Kandhar	-	Kabul, Kandhar	Chaklistan
2	Bangladesh	Dhaka	Dhaka, Chatgaon, Midnapur	Dhaka	Dhaka	Dhaka, Itajai	Dhaka	Dhaka
3	Bhutan	Thimpu	Thimpu	-	Thimpu	-	-	-
4	China	Beijing	Shanghai, Beijing	-	Shanghai, Beijing	-	Taiwan	HongKong
5	Maldives	Male	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Myanmar	Naypyidaw (New), Yangon (Old)	Rangoon	-	Rangoon	-	-	-
7	Nepal	Kathmandu	Kathmandu, Biratnagar	Kathmandu	Kathmandu, Biratnagar	-	Kathmandu	Kathmandu
8	Pakistan	Islamabad	Islamabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Mustafabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Gilgit	Karachi, Sindh, Lahore, Islamabad	Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar	Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore	Rawalpindi, Lahore, Punjab	Karachi, Lahore, Delhi
9	Sri Lanka	Colombo	Jafna, Colombo	-	Colombo	Colombo	Colombo	-

*those marked in red are wrong answer choices.

This is a very small sample space to draw any conclusions, however, it is enough to trigger a few thoughts.

First, I called my parents to find how many cities they knew in our neighboring countries. I documented my findings. The second call was to one of my college friends, who is preparing for some management entrance exams. The next thought was to check with a girl in same age window as my friend. So, I called my friend to find out, how many cities she was aware of. She was not available at that time so I called one school friend. It was interesting and unexpected to find that her knowledge was far less than that of a male in same age bracket. So be sure of this pattern for male and female gender, I called my elder sister and a colleague senior to me. To get this table prepared, I talked to about 10 people and four out of ten either did not have time to participate or did not respond to the questions. All of them to whom I talked on this are graduates and working at respectable places.

Though the sample space is too small, I think we can have one conclusion that we are very ill informed about our neighbors whereas, at the same time we know a lot about America and Europe which tells that we not ill informed about the world, it is just our neighbors who we don’t care much about. One more interesting finding was that, because we don’t hear much about our neighbors, we tend to forget even the little knowledge that we learn over time.

The irony is that we and most of our neighbors are always in news and the world is worried about us, and we do not even know as little as that capital of one of our neighbors (Myanmar) has been changed for about 2.5 years.

This indeed is a very humiliating discovery as well as a very important learning for all of us.

G12 (AFP) / G12 (AEP)

We are a group of 12 guys called G12. We never named our group, it was others who started calling us by this name. We liked the name to the group and so we took it.

My Roommate in college hostel was not a member of G12 and he was always confused about the nature of the bonding between the members. He admired it as well as doubted our group. Many times he tried to ask me about these doubts and wanted me to define the relationship. The best I have answered is a smile as I was not sure what words to use to define it. I believe that one could only feel friendship.

Today, the college is over. One of my friend got married and the other is getting married today. I was able to make it to the first marriage even when I was called on a very short notice. However, circumstances are not always favorable, as such I was not able to make it to the second marriage in our group. I dropped a mail to him and thought that I will call him today to explain the same. He called me first and thrashed me for not coming and not informing it, this late. It is then I realized that I should have informed him a bit more in advance. I was not alone to have done this mistake. There were two other members that did the same. I think we had a different perception and did not look into the seriousness of informing late. After all, we are not married or engaged to understand it that well, it is a problem as well as gift with bachelorhood that created the issue; in short we were not responsible enough.

I think the mistake is ours and the best part was that he called and he called to scold. I am indeed sorry buddy. Your call actually helped to define one aspect of the bond; the bond that I understand but I have been struggling to define all these years.

If we consider the first Marriage as a point in timeline, I can put the topic as G12 (After First Marriage or After End of Purity), hence the topic of the post ‘G12 (AFP) / G12 (AEP)’.

Sir! I am out in the open and will enjoy to answer every blow.

‘Oh! I feel sorry that your dreams to become a politician is shattered. I also know that you could not become one, nor this is the time and place.  So, please do not play politics here because I may not be great at politics but I am better than you, plus I am also a better risk taker’, these were the exact thoughts in his mind when he found what was going behind his back.

This was the second time when the same person tried to cross lines with him. He is sad that such people do exist, but also thoughtful if this was done unknowingly or willingly.  They needed to talk in both the cases, before they he decides either to draw lines or to draw swords. The irony was that he never wanted this kind of confrontation but at the same time he would gladly welcome a little change from normal.

The problem with some people is that they do not judge their opponent appropriately, in that case, they call upon themselves something they never imagined. His father used to tell a story of a mathematician. The mathematician had to cross a lake. There was sign board at the lake that said average depth of 3 feet. So the mathematician decided to cross the lake by walking as he was taller than 3 feet. He went and drowned in the lake. The problem was that the mathematician was monotonous in his approach. There was a trench in the river that was 10 feet deep. The sad part is that the mathematician did not apprehend the danger when he was walking in the parts that were shallower than 3 feet. He knew that just like the mathematician his opponent was totally unaware of any danger.

People like him only chose to fight when a fight is forced upon them, and when they chose to pitch in, they wage a war.

‘Lets see! I hope there be some fun in the fight if it becomes inevitable; I don’t know how the blow will come or when it will come the only thing I am sure is that I am out in the open and I will enjoy to answer every blow’, these were the thoughts in his mind before he went back to his place and started his daily work.

Only names change characters are the same

After working in IT service industry for several years, I have understood many things that are best understood when experienced.

One of my colleague who joined the company with me is seriously frustrated and is now planning to exit. His exit will be a loss for me not only as a headcount on work but also as a friend going away. He had full faith in the company’s administration, however, after recent changes in the administration he is shattered off his belief.

Below is one particular course of events that I suppose is one of the reasons of his disbelief in present system.

Scene I

One thing my supervisor told me was that a person is hired to fix things not just to report issues as issues are visible to anyone but the solution is what pays off. This is true. I took it as one of the most important lessons gained in my work experience. There are two things which I encounter I have to deal with, problems related to my work and problems in fixing these problems. As I understand my responsibilities, I am answerable to problems related to my work. For the second task, I have been provided a facilitator. So, if I have any issue which effects my work, I need to inform the Facilitator (Say Mr. F or Mr. f) for help. In my case, I have three such people, i.e., Mr. f1 and Mr. f2 and their supervisor Mr. F.

Same to me, he is hired for finding solutions to problems related to his work and he has been told from Mr. F, Mr. f1 and Mr. f2 that he has been doing it well. He is thankful for this testimony from Mr. F, Mr. f1 and Mr. f2 and assume that they do not lie, he believes that he has performing above average. As obvious, he has encountered many problems to fix things related to his work. Now, comes the role of Mr. F1 and Mr. F2. Thankfully, Mr. f1 and Mr. f2 are always reachable. They have arranged many meetings and earnestly listened to issues. In most cases, he has tried to add his views of a plausible solution when reporting the issue. Again, Mr. f1 and Mr. f2, have been very benign to lend me listening ears. As far as the meetings are considered, he has been extremely satisfied. He knew that after the meetings we all are in perfect sync to the issue at hand.

Scene II

Many days have passed and he has not heard of anything about the solution from Mr. F1 or Mr. F2. Either, he has been habituated to handle the problem or learnt to ignore it, but the problem reported is present and as obvious visible to anyone. With time he has have several of those problems accumulated and wanting solution. This is now effecting his productivity extensively and things he is answerable to are not being answered well or getting answered with lot of pain. It is then he realizes that Mr. f1 and Mr. f2, either are incapable to answer the issue or they are deliberately not addressing it.

Scene III

I am out of my company’s office premises for some company’s work. He along with rest of my colleagues who are equally frustrated from Mr. F, Mr. f1 and Mr. f2's inability or unwillingness to address issues, get an invite from secretary to head of the F clan, for a meeting to listen to issues if any. Everyone got overwhelmly happy. They all accepted the meeting request and reached for the round table meeting. In the meeting they spoke freely and completely. They put before the head of the F clan, most of the issues that they thought was necessary.

Scene IV

Something happened as Mr. F was furious and Mr. f1 as well as Mr. f2 was perturbed. Mr. F called for a meeting. Everyone was invited. People who could not have made it due to some or the other reasons, were also instructed to come to the meeting.

Scene V

We all  are in a meeting room. Shouting, Shouting, Shouting. There were three things he could make out in the meeting.

1. Mr. F shouted that it was not the platform to speak,

2. When people told that there was no other platform, they need something if round table meetings are not for it, Mr. F promised that there will be some meetings to address the concerns,

3. Mr. F did not keep his promise.

Scene VI

It is today. His decisions are made. He is waiting for a right time and preparing himself for the exit.

I am very sad as this will be the second friend at work that I will be losing. And probably, I could be the next. The only reason that I do not have any grudge is because I assume this to be present anywhere.

Hence the title, only names change characters are the same.

Donations for promotion of Education

Today one of my friends came back after appearing for FMS entrance examination. The good thing about FMS is that they, unlike other MBA exams, make the question paper public after the exams are over. So, instead of telling me about the test, he handed over the question paper to me. This guy had been my roommate in past. So, unless something extra-ordinary happened to him, it was clear from the question paper that this had not been a good day for him. Not even a fair day. Still, in-order to testify the obvious, I asked him, that whether the test was good or bad. As expected he replied to me that it was not good. However, the next line he told me was not one I expected. I thought that he will tell me that the test did not go as per his expectations. On the contrary he told me that he expected the test to go bad before he has given the test as he did not prepare for it.

On an average about 50,000 applicants apply to FMS and out of those only about 75 get selected. The annual fee is only about INR 10000. However, the application form costs about INR 750. Thus the revenue per year from application fee is INR 37.5 million where as the revenue generated by program fee is INR 0.75 million. As such the revenue by course fee is just about 2% of the total revenue. The rest 98% is generated by candidates who do not make it to the college. Assuming, no other grants or revenue by research, almost all of the money is coming is from the candidates who were not selected.

Thus when a candidates fails to get into a college, we may think that he/she actually makes a contribution to the college. My friend did it knowingly. He applied to the college knowing that he will not make it. Plus, he made sure, that he does not end up in the college accidently, by not studying for it. I believe, that his act is an example of selfless donation made to for promotion of education and educational institutions. Those who graduate from the college owe to him and others for the contribution.

Well done buddy! Hail philanthropy!

Production Support in IT companies based in India

I was Listening to song titled "Kandho se milte hain Kandhe" from a Bollywood movie "Lakshya" and realized the analogy in production support at night in IT companies based in India & soldiers going on war.

There is an outage call where a single Production support person is up against hundreds of Clients, Managers and other “Stake-holders” and then he decides the following “sathi maine dil me ab than liya hai; ya to ab karna hai ya ab marna hai”. The next line in the song is more important.“chahe angar barse ki bijali gire tu akela nahi hoga yara mere; koi muskil ho ya koi morcha sath har mod par honge sathi tere“. It is when a fellow team member pitches in to help.

War occurs when the highly paid diplomats and high profile politicians fail to come to a peaceful solution or they need more than what is possible by peaceful methods. War is inhumane and brutal. In war the soldiers actually die for a cause not very well understood to them. During the war soldiers are hailed as heroes and treated as great assets to the country. However, at the end of War, the soldiers who fought the war are forgotten. Rightly put are these lines in the song “jeet ki jo tasveer banane hum nikale hain; usme apne lahu se hame rang bharna hai“. Isn't this picture very similar to IT companies based in India who offer production support without proper employee care.

I salute to soldiers of all countries and I salute our Software Engineers giving support. Finally at the end of the “Client’s” day (EOCD) the support person gives the handoff to next shift. The best song describing the moment will be song titled "Hum laye hain kasti toofan se nikalke" from a Bollywood movie "Jagriti".