Spoken words

My team and I, recently had the opportunity to interact with clients who happen to be French. It was to be an informal (with stress on informal)   meeting, over teleconference. The objective of the meeting was to " get to know each other ". So people, both on-site and offshore, were supposed to talk about themselves, their hobbies, talents etc etc.  Powerpoint slides were prepared by the offhsore team, amidst the tight schedule of work and stuff. Anyway, no one here cared to even write anything beyond 4-5 lines. If at all anyone wrote a lot, it was just about their academic excellence and the amount of work experience that person had - studied here, studied there, worked 5 years here, 4 years there and so on. I thought this presentation was supposed to be this way, and filled in two lines about what I studied and how much(or little) my work experience was. Ahh well... there were other more interesting thing on my mind than this stupid video conference. When the meeti...

The only sort of pirates that i was familiar with, were the types that sell/download pirated software and movies ( No wait... the other pirate i know is Captain Jack Sparrow... Ahem ). But then, all of a sudden, the Somalian sea pirates ( some prefer to call them terrorists ) are all over the news and in the Gulf of Aden ...! And they have a quite a crafty racket set up. Their modus operandi involves using fast motor boats to get near merchant ships, clambering onto them, holding a gun to the crew's head and demanding ransom from the owner of the ship. And this plot of their works, as some of the demands for money were met by the shipping corporates. In fact it worked so well that it has begun to happen a lot more frequently than one could ever imagine. Eleven raids in ten days, and a about seventy five ( and constantly rising ) in this year alone, seems like a desperately frantic attempts by the Somalian pirates to make a quick buck. Equipped with a few large Russian-built "...

The global financial crisis has affected almost everyone. Either its the looming danger of losing your job, or the fear of complete closure of the industry itself. In this current scenarios, as small and large companies are desperately trying to be in the green, cutting down on the excess workforce seems to be the first viable solution for them, as generating any profits seems definitely seems out of the question. So spending so much on operational costs seems most "wasteful", given the fact that they are getting back very little in return. Cutting cost by other means, certainly was of some help, but wasn't enough. Like the lavish perks showered on the managerial level have been choked this year. So no expensive gadgets, leather handbags or luxurious Caribbean cruise for them this year. Others got their salaries cut down significantly, or were denied the raise that was promised to them. Companies planning to come up with new launches have put their plans on hold. But thin...

First of all I am happy that George Bush is not the President of the United States any more*. And second, i am happy that George Bush is not the president of the United States anymore**. And finally, i am happy for Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. And i guess he is black too. Not that it should make a difference, or be even considered as a statistic or a record. But i suppose it is a big deal, and gives a lot of hope to many in America. As well as a reason to celebrate for those who share their roots with him, back in Kenya.   He does have quite a lot of hot stuff to handle right now. The economic crisis is just one of them, and what a big mess it is. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will soon have to be handled and sorted out, as cleanly as possible. And i bet there are several other diplomatic and political problems to face as well. He has promised a lot to the Americans, frustrated by wars, terrorism and economic problems . And everyone hopes that he de...

I was absolutely clueless about what's happening to the world markets, and the economical jargon confused me beyond any hope. But i knew that what was happening could or will in some way affect us, whether we understand it or not. And guess what, i had nothing better to do other than stare at the news on TV. Well... from what i understood, it all began with America's very generous credit policies. Which meant that credit or loans were given to almost anyone, without even ascertaining the fact whether that fellow could pay it back or not. Mostly these loans were provided to purchase houses. As more and more loans started to be given out to buy houses, the land value too skyrocketed. Accordingly, the loan amounts given started to become even bigger. Now coming back to the fellow to whom the loan was given, might not even be eligible for the loan for whatever reason it might be.   The banks didn't scrutinize much the details about him, and just gave him the loan. Even if he ...

Today, that is on the 10th of September, scientists will be attempting to recreate the "Big Bang" event, at the Swiss-French border. Yes, to recreate the event which gave birth to the entire universe. Atleast, thats the theory. Truly a one of a kind experiment, which would allow the scientists to see never before seen particles, elements and objects such as the black hole and inter dimensional worm holes...! All at a small and manageble scale. Hopefully everything is well contained and in control...! Apparently it has also been speculated that the experiment could even lead to the End of the World..!! Just imagine the whole world getting sucked into a black hole inside out..!! Gasp..!! Ahhh well...  According to the sources, the experiment is roughly as follows :  At a purpose-built underground centre near Geneva, the scientists are carrying out limited tests on a multi-million euro machine called the Large Hadron Collider. The ultimate aim is to recreate condi...

It seems my prayers as well as of the prayers of the one billion population has finally been answered. We have finally a reason to celebrate a sportsman, and that reason is not cricket. An incredible win at the 10m Air Rifle event and it must have taken more than mere prayers for Abhinav Bindra to achieve this. India finally clinches an Olympic gold after 28 years and its first ever in an individual event . Really it came as a pleasant surprise when i happened to see the news on television. At a time when everyone least expected, we have made it to the medals tally on the just the 3rd day of the games...!! For those of you who missed it, here is the points table of the finals of the 10m Air Rifle event. And see how close the competition was...!! Amazing..! 1. Abhinav Bindra (India) 700.5 2. Zhu Qinan (China) 699.7 3. Henri Hakkinen (Finland) 699.4 4. Alin George Moldoveanu (Romania) 698.9 5. Konstantin Prikhodtchenko (Russia) 698.4 6. Peter Sidi (Hungary) 698.4 7. Stevan Pletikosic ...

That is the motto chosen by China for this edition of the Olympics...! And what a truly spectacular opening ceremony the Chinese put up..! Their years of tradition and culture reflecting in their efforts. The whole world was awed by the way they set off one of the most awaited sporting festival of the year...!! The effects, stunts and the fireworks were some of the most incredible stuff that I had ever seen. It was a sign of what they are capable of. It was a sign of even more breathtaking performance by the Chinese athletes...! Fielding one of the largest contingent, they are determined to prove a point to the world...!! They are here to show that they can beat the world, the best of the best. Watch out world : Here come China...!!! It must have been truly spectacular moment for each of the 10,500 athlete to be present in the middle of such fan fare. Being watched by 100,000 at the National Stadium and billions through their TV sets. They were the central focus, and not the world lea...

Just ONE more day for the Olympics - one of the greatest sporting event of the world. To bring glory in Olympics is one of the highest honor that a sportsman or sportswoman can achieve for his/her country. For most of them at least, sports is the only cause for existence. Their commitments and their country's support ensures that they succeed in their attempts. When the right amount of passion is put in to it, scooping a bucketful of medals comes as no surprise. When most big countries eagerly await their countries to top the list, we wait for ours to at least come up on the list.... Anyway, for us Indians, as usual its time just to pray for at least ONE or TWO medals. Even a bronze will do. We will make them a hero, give them a couple of awards, a good government house and job ( unless they already have all that ) and a few days of fame. End of story. And then what? Soon the Olympian will be lost from the memories ( like many have ), till some news comes up that he/she is de...

The Solar Eclipse ( Eclipse - Greek for "abandonment" ),is one of the most feared phenomenon in almost every part of the world. Probably because the all seemingly powerful sun is rendered helpless by the moon. Since people attach great importance to such power and might,the entire event turns into a time of fear. But seriously all the superstitious beliefs were conjured up at a time when people didn't know what caused this "unholy " event to happen. But now we do know why it happens. However even today, at a time when people are digging up water on Mars, all this stigma attached seems very ridiculous. One thing for sure - the fear of the eclipse is a world wide phenomenon and cuts across various cultures and traditions, irrespective of their education background. Certainly though, a certain precautions need to be taken during the eclipse... for scientific reasons of course. So i fired up my favourite web browser (Mozilla - FireFox 3 ) and went to and did some r...

As if we didn't have any problems within the country, now we have the neighbour skirmishing the borders. Hmmm... well, we all know that the neighbour and the terrorists are waging the "war " with the same goal on mind. After all, we all know from where the terrorists get their technical expertise from. Whether they are working together at this particular time or not, is not for me to deduce. Highly possible though. Somehow the human minds work well while planning and executing evil. Create chaos within the country to demoralize us, and then attack from outside. And i may go as far as to suspect that probably they had a hand in creating the political confusion as well. Ummm.... well...Maybe the idea is a bit far fetched, but thought provoking indeed. Somehow the external aggressor can be tackled comparatively quite easily, because you know when and where they will strike. The internal chaos may be hard to predict and control. The reason for that is the availability of...

For how long can our dependence on fossil fuels go on like this? I think it is high time that we begin to give importance to smaller energy producing sources. The schemes that were suggested to be suitable only for small or rural settlements (like gobar gas, wind mill, solar) need not be looked with the same view any more. With so much energy available for FREE, its just a matter of tapping and utilizing it. Instead of large corporations controlling and distributing energy, its time that we all took it into our own hands. Every house can contribute to energy production. May it be through, solar, wind, water or bio-fuel. Store and use what each each house requires and share the rest with others. I haven't done the math but i suppose its possible. This might seem quite imaginable at first, but it might work with a few sacrifices like judicious energy consumption, discarding Air Conditioners and so on. As for mobility, i believe walking and bicycles will fit the bill perfectly. Not on...

Oil or black gold as one calls it, has enslaved us for decades. We cry about its rising price, bicker about over dependence on it,complain about its harm to the environment, yet we cant seem to function without it. And as one had predicted it a very long time ago, it will get over one day. And this, what we see today is just the beginning of things to come. Already a few wars have been fought over it, from time to time. Sometimes the reason isn't so obvious, but mostly it is. Soon enough, there will be more such brutal endeavors to take control of the ever diminishing resource. Up to a point when there is none to spare at all. Thought there has been a whole lot of research and development (at least i assume so) in this field, we still haven't moved on to the next big step in energy sources. Other than probably nuclear energy for electricity production ( which is always under wide spread debate for various reasons ). For a country like India, which imports a large percentage of ...

Finally the seven week long cricketing carnival is over and the Australians get to keep the cup....again.That makes it three in a row and four in all. Somehow it was not too much of a surprise for me or anyone else. It had to be them. Actually i don't know What could have prevented them from getting it this time. Sri Lanka could have been considered as a remotely possible hurdle ( some might disagree ), but that was not to be. The rain interfered match had its share of excitement. Though it got delayed by se veral hours due to rains and the overs getting reduced. Yet it had a lot of action when it finally started. Gilchrist, who didnt have a very good run at this World Cup so far, showed his abilities mercilessly against the Sri Lankan bowlers. The Aussie fans had a lot to cheer for. I think it was his innings that made the difference. Sri Lanka did make a descent start with Jayasuriya and Sangakara showing good temperment. Unfortunately they were not good enough. With the rain p...

The Virginia Tech horror It has happened in A merica time and again. Senseless violence in an educational institution. It is claimed to be the worst ever such shooting but it certainly was not the first. My deepest condolences to all those who died at Virginia Tech . And also to their family and friends. But no matter how much i feel sorry for them things can't be undone. However, lessons can be learned from it. Such that similar incidences do not occur again. As for the assailant, I don't know in what way killing so many people, some of whom he probably never knew, would satisfy any of his grudges or problems. Surely it was not a spontaneous action. It was quite well planned. With videos and pictures of his intentions being sent to the media before he did the heinous deed. He was most certainly psychotic and needed to be handled carefully. It seems he did show signs of a crooked mind, which were unfortunately ignored. A timely action and this terrible event could have been po...

As expected the debates and the blame game is on. Indian cricket is being analysed and dissected by experts, the cricket board, former players, the shop keeper down the street, the milk man, the bike mechanic, my neighbours and almost everybody ( Not my mom though. She hates the whole game.). Everybody who has a mouth has an opinion. Who is to be blamed for the poor show at the World Cup? One or all? What changes should be done in the team? Should X quit and should Y be the captain? Many questions to answer and every one ready with one. Quite surprisingly Greg Chappell had a very neat answer. He had a lot to say regarding the pathetic performance.Chappell had claimed a lot during his unabated bashing of senior Indian players a couple of days. For one thing he blamed the Indian seniors for poor sportsmanship. He said that the seniors operate like the "mafia" . He also claimed that "They hammer and abuse them because they feel threatened by the junior players and don'...

As far as I know, it was India's most terrible performance ever in the World Cup(I was not born when it supposedly happened the last time, so i can't be a judge of that). The Indian team has certainly shocked the enti re nation with their pathetic performance. It was unbelievable the way they went down so meekly against their opponents. Even against average opponents like Bangladesh, their loss was very disgraceful. No one expected them to be beaten by teams of such caliber. It really is very embarrassing when something like this happens. Seriously, the only team that they were able to beat since the tournament began was Bermuda - a team composed of part time players and weekend cricketers. When it came to playing against professional players we had our backs against the wall, waiting for the trigger to be pressed and our heads blown off. India was considered to be one of the strong contenders for the world cup. The reality was quite the opposite. Not even being able to make it...