"There Is No Indispensable Man" by Saxon N. White Kessinger

Sometime when you're feeling important;

Sometime when your ego's in bloom

Sometime when you take it for granted

You're the best qualified in the room,

Sometime when you feel that your going

Would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions

And see how they humble your soul;

Take a bucket and fill it with water,

Put your hand in it up to the wrist,

Pull it out and the hole that's remaining

Is a measure of how you will be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,

You may stir up the water galore,

But stop and you'll find that in no time

It looks quite the same as before.

The moral of this quaint example

Is do just the best that you can,

Be proud of yourself but remember,

There's no indispensable man.

I'm back

It has been a verrr...y long time that I have posted anything on the blog. This is just an intimation that this blog will come to life very soon - with a lot of pictures and posts.

Dakshin - a nightmare for vegetarians

Last weekend, along with my colleagues I went to this so called "No. 1 south indian restaurent" in bangalore - dakshin in windsor manor hotel. The ambience was quite nice because of windsor manor but the food (i tried only veg) was pathetic except for the papads which were quite good. The starters were okayish including the spicy and sweet vadas. Other than that, nothing was anyway near to the standards which other south indian restaurents in bangalore maintain. I would strongly recommend any veggie guys to not to go to this place.

Poems by Kahlil Gibran

Here's the link.

My second collage 

Human emotions

I just wanted to test out how to upload images.


Human emotions !!! 

Why blogging is the next gen communication?

I was thinking about this in the morning and I couldnt find a good reason for it being so. Is it because it allows a different kind of journalism where nobody restricts what you want to write. You can write what you want to write. Or is it the bulk of people you can move the information to. May be it is a mixture of both. Or it is something totally unknown to me - if that is the case, someone please give some inputs.
Blogging must be important - because Google and Microsoft wouldnt have begun it if it was not. But I dont get an insight into the business model behind blogging. Will it generate revenue at some point of time or is it just a branding effort?

Hurray - my blog is first one on google !!!

I have been waiting for this since past couple of weeks. The day when Google crawls my blog and the day has come. Search for "anurag vyas" and you'll get it as the first result.
Google rocks.

The Sawantdurg Trip - It was not meant to be !!!

We had planned to go to Sawantdurg today. It was Anupam, Debo, Jaat, Ali, Jha and me. We planned to meet at the railway station at 6.15 in the morning. Anupam and Debo must have reached there on time - I'm quite sure. But the other four had no clues about what time it is till it was eleven in the morning when Jha woke up - yup, he is an early riser. When I woke up, I saw 6 missed calls from Anupam - I'm surely going to get a big bashing from him on Monday. I hope they had good time climbing the big rock.
On the other hand, four of us and Nilesh(another batchmate of mine, I'll write about him some time) had lunch at Jaat's place. The food was nice - tasty dal. We decided to go for a movie - Kingdom of Heaven topped the list. We went to Innovative for the 2.30 show. I went with Jaat and Jha came with Ali. Nilesh, as always, was not much interested for the movie. Ohh yes, I forgot to mention that I met my old old wing senior in the college, Santo. He had come with his wife to watch Kaal. But he couldnt get the tickets and so they decided to go for Jo Bole So Nihaal. I took his cell number and then we went for the movie.
The movie was ok - none of us found it very good. Then Jaat and I stopped at the Maratahalli factory outlets. I got new trousers. Jaat never buys anything - atleast never with me. Jha and Ali went to get a duplicate key for their flat's lock. Another thing - my watch fell down and the 6,9 and 12 hours digits got broken. You must be wondering why the digit 3 missed out - actually there is no digit 3 in my watch. Why? Guess.... I dont like this watch anyways, so I'll go bare-wrist till I get a new watch. Nothing more to add.

Some more random stuff

After joining the swimming pool near MG road, I have been less frequent in writing these days. Believe me, swimming is too tiring. On thursday, I was promoted to start swimming the lengths but I was too scared to leave the pole on the sides. I spend all thursday without swimming even 100 mts. The next day I felt a bit feverish and I didnt go for swimming. On saturday, Jaat, Jha, Nandu and I went to watch "Kya cool hain hum" - nice timepass movie. A lot of college kind of jokes - so its overall fun watching the movie. The acting is good. Ohh yes, Isha Koppikar looks cool in the role of a policewoman - it reminded me of Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality. I missed swimming again :(. Sunday is official off - so three days in a row.

I reached the swimming pool at 5:15 today. I got back to the basics again - and on the shallow side this time. Swam for around 90 minutes - a full football game. A lot of new people joined today - began with kicking for 30 minutes. That kid hasnt learnt to swim yet. He is too scared. His mom was very disappointed - I dont know why. People dont have patience at all. I think he'll be able to swim in a week or so. Its normal to be scared - some people are scared more than the others. But I believe they overcome the fear at some point of time. I hope he also does. Oops, its already 11, I have to take leave now.

Office party

We had a party in the office today. The food was nice. Normally being a vegetarian is always painful because you dont have much choice. But that was not the case today. The vegetarian cousine was good, infact pretty good. The only thing I could not taste was the spring rolls. The sweets were my favorite - rabri(flavoured thick milk) and maalpue(small round breads dipped in sugar syrup).

Swimming

Today I called up Rohit(another batchmate of mine) who began to go swimming about two weeks back and told him that I'll join him. I think I am generally impulsive in my decisions, but never mind. I reached his office at 5 in the evening. We went to the Commercial street and I bought swimming trunks. Then we reached the swimming pool near MG road. It was smaller than my college pool. I paid the money and got my membership for the pool.
I learned to float - holding the pipe with hands and flapping the legs to get the lift. The coach's first funda - "Every straight thing floats. But when you take your head out, thats when you have to learn to stay afloat". It was a good first lesson. I was asked to do the flapping for half an hour. But it was difficult - I stopped after every couple of minutes or may be less. Then there was an elderly lady who provided me with some fundaes and called me lazy for stopping every now and then - how can I explain her that it was difficult. Then she asked me to hold some rectangular thermocol object(I dont know what is it called, but it provided some support to keep me afloat) and try to "swim" the width of the pool on the shallow side. It was about 4.5 feet in depth. I swam 5 breadths and the coach said its enough for the day - I could come out. I felt the weight of my legs and couldnt walk for a moment. Rohit had already got out of the pool after completing his 13 length laps. Then we came back to our respective offices.

A nice quote

"Dont let failure get to your heart and dont let success get to your head.". Heard it in Coffee with Karan(Star Plus) with Rishi Kapoor and Nitu Kapoor being the celebrities.

Another nice article!!!

Jha forwarded this link to me.

Trip to Nandi hills

All this began with Jaat having to put night out to finish off his office work. It was 4:30 in the morning when I got a call from him asking if I was coming to Nandi hills. I instantly agreed - I like hills and I like trekking. Jha was the third person with us. We met at the Meckri circle(I apologize if the spelling is wrong) where Jha and Jaat were waiting with Jaat being the driver of his black Pulsar. I was on my black Splendor. Meckri circle has an aeroplane at the centre elevated at about 60 degrees from the ground about to take off. My bike didnt have much petrol. So, I asked Jaat to stop at some petrol pump. We started the journey with Jaat wearing my -0.5 specs and my helmet adorned me. Jha was sitting on Jaat's bike.

In about 15 minutes, we reached the palace grounds(I have been there for some cricket match). Going some more distance, I saw the most complex flyover structure that I have even seen in India. It reminded me of my Seattle trip. Jaat knew the way. But this complex flyover even perplexed him and we had to stop and ask a watchman of some building if this was the correct way. The building had a big banner saying "Walkin Interviews" and quite a few young guys were sitting on the staircase. When we went some more distance, the road ran parallel to a railway line and we came across a railway phatak(a Hindi word for gate). It had the most dangerous speed breakers on both the sides of track. I never notice the speed breakers and always jump as if horse riding whenever I encounter one. There were a lot of coconut trees spread on both the sides with a little more being on the right side - though I didnt count. Ohh yes, I forgot to mention that we stopped at a petrol pump, a HP one. But nobody bothered to come out for a mere bike. Then we stopped at another Indian Oil petrol pump and the guy came out after Jha made a lot of signals by waving his hands in all directions. As it was not the "Speed" petrol which my bike would have got used to, I got just enough petrol to reach there and come back. It was about 2.27 litres for 100 Rs. I thought it was a bit costly.
Moving ahead, we came across a tea/coffee shop on the right side of the road which was getting narrower and narrower. We decided to take a break, tea coffee and snacks. I had two cups(I wish I had a better name for the plastic Tequilla shot size cups) of tea, Jaat and Jha had two coffees each. Jaat got a 50-50 packet and Jha/I got a Parle G. I told Jaat that when I was a kid, I always wondered why the kid that shows in the Parle G biscuit pack is in such a strange state - seems the baby is wondering why he has been photographed. Then we came to a conclusion that the kid in the picture makes same actions as Hagga does. We laughed for about 10 minutes over this issue. The shop was quite cheap - only 16 rs. The walls of the shop were all covered with photos of Hindu Gods/Goddesses with an odd Bhoomika Chawla poster in between. The radio was playing I suppose Kannada Bhajans (as it was a morning time).

Theres a lot to add to this description - the sunrise, reaching the foothill, the ascent, the curves, the pavithra sarovara, antara ganges, hotel mayura, looking for Jaat, the breakfast, the descent and the fast, furious journey back to bangalore. I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow.

a nice article.

I read this article today. It was pretty impressive. So, I thought to share it. Here is the link. Have a nice weekend.

Varun - the Air Unleashed

Yes. this is the name of another batchmate of mine. I'm going to talk about this genuinely genuine, awesomely cheerful, the Maharaja of Jaipur(well, not really), the heartthrob of Don, the one trying to verify something about Papadimitriou(I dont think that people could make much sense of this, but I cant resist the temptation), the smiling face of the batch, hffff.... enough of it. He is currently working for some company in Bangalore and believe me he's working a lot these days. He has already lost 4 kgs. Recently when we had gone to Amoeba and Jha asked me if I would come over to their house to play cards, he blurted out the most unbelievable words of the century - "Jha, these are the most productive years of your life.". Wow, that was fantastic !!! Jha and I didnt have much to say - we never have. Though Jha gave it a try, but all in vain - never try to do that with Jaat. Ohh yes, I forgot to tell you that we call him by the name Jaat. I think I'm feeling sleepy now. I'll try to add something to it tomorrow.

Something good !!!

This is a really nice stuff which I read somewhere. So, just wanted to share it.

I've learned....
That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

I've learned....
That when you're in love, it shows.

I've learned....
That just one person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.

I've learned....
That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.

I've learned....
That being kind is more important than being right.

I've learned....
That you should never say "no" to a gift from a child.

I've learned....
That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.

I've learned....
That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.

I've learned....
That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.

I've learned....
That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.

I've learned....
That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

I've learned....
That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.

I've learned....
That money doesn't buy class.

I've learned....
That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.

I've learned...
That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.

I've learned....
That the Lord didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?

I've learned....
That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

I've learned....
That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.

I've learned....
That love, not time, heals all wounds.

I've learned....
That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.

I've learned....
That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.

I've learned....
That there's nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath on your cheeks.

I've learned....
That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

I've learned....
That life is tough, but I'm tougher.

I've learned....
That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.

I've learned....
That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

I've learned....
That I wish I could have told my Dad that I love him one more time before he passed away.

I've learned....
That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.

I've learned....
That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

I've learned....
That I can't choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.

I've learned....
That when your newly born child holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.

I've learned....
That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.

I've learned ...
That it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life threatening situation.

I've learned....
That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

Rain vs Bowling

It rained yesterday. This is not a weather forecast site - then why am I talking about rain. Just because I love it. I think a lot of people love rains in the childhood - the Jagjeet Singh ghazal "Woh kaagaz ki kashti, woh baarish ka paani" rightly points out how much fun it is for a child to get wet in a rain, to make paper boats competing with the friends, to irritate mom by bringing the wet clothes inside the room.
But as people grow, they lose interest or I would say other interests take over. These new interests are unnatural and sophisticated. Bowling is one such interest which Jaat, Jha, Ali and me are totally crazy about. Almost every weekend you could find us at Amoeba bowling on lane 6 which is Jha's favourite lane as he scored a record breaking 167 on that lane. The slope of lane 6 is just perfect for Jha's franklyn rose style bowling. Jaat is getting more consistent with strikes now a days and scoring much better. Ali still throws ball as if he wants to break the wall. I am not playing well these days, trying to spin like Kumawat which was awesome. Kummi is another fellow college guy whos also working at some software company in Bangalore. I hope to learn his style in a months time and will try to get to the 200 mark :). Anyways it doesnt hurt to aim high.

People leaving my team

One of the guys left our team yesterday and another one is leaving today. Both of them are super excited to join their new teams. I always wonder how long this excitement is going to be - I mean to say that everything begins to seem dull after some time if it is not the kind of thing that you would want to do in life. I would say that jobs are monotonous 90% of the time because people are working for money and not for the sake of fulfillment of their dreams or desires.
When I graduated, I had two offers. Even I decided in favour of money and not the work that excites me. Coming from a middle class family makes you more vulnerable to such monetary attractions - but I dont think such decisions work well in a long run. In my opinion, one should always try to do the things which excites you even if it fetches less money. Money must be a byproduct of your work with a lot of satisfaction and happiness being the main ones. I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with me. Even I would have disagreed to this an year ago.

Lets talk about SNS

Now that I have decided to write something more for the day, let me tell you about SNS (this is not SMS, this is SNS). A very interesting and enthusiastic personality who doesnt give any impression of being that way. A hard core devotee of God and a software engineer by profession, he makes quite a unique person. Half of the times I find him writing something extremely intricate Java code which is very difficult to decrypt for someone as naive as me, the other half he could be found reading a local newspaper online which perplexes me equally(not just because I dont know the script). He spends half of the day sleeping and rest of the time working - I dont know how he does that so effectively. I wonder if there are more people with similar inclinations.

Hagga

Hagga has been a very interesting person in the lives of my batchmates including me. Hagga is not his real name but we call him by this sweet name. A very nice guy who lived next to my room in the 1st year of engineering. We used to play cricket in the wing corridoor which was always full of the waste matters of different kind of animal species - cows being one of them, dogs the other. This kind of cricket attracted a lot of people during the exam times as it helped to relax the mind from the muggoo papers which we had to write. Hagga, afair, was a regular visitor of library in the first year but the frequency reduced drastically with his moving to a new hostel. He was the only guy who could write exams without even taking a nap the previous night. He is a bit nbdu in life :) - though he doesnt agree. The cheerful guy went on to take the management path after realizing the technical world of Cs and Javas doesnt excite him any more. He is a very amiable person and a very good person at heart.

We ended up calling a girl Haggi after we came to know that the guy has a crush on her. Maaf kar dena Hagge.........

Here is a pic of our hagga .

tt and me

I normally play 5-6 games of tt everyday. Dharma is my unofficial coach for the game. I am getting better at picking up his smashes. Hopefully I'll beat him some day. He had asked me to play attacking game. I'm trying hard to do that. But whenever I try, I lose the game. So, I revert back to my own game :). Fear of losing in a short term takes over the long term process of learning to play the game correctly.

Writing design document

I have to complete a design document by end of the day. So, I came early in the morning and began working on it. Have already completed 2 of the 3 sections. hurray !!! But still I have a lot of design to finish.