Random thoughts

Hey people - technically been a member of this blog but haven't contributed at all. Can't sit in front of the computer screen and write - being a software engineer I become sick when I see my home PC despite it's obvious speed, ease of use and efficiency (It's a first class P3 450 Mhz 16 GB Hard disk, 256 MB RAM :P oh and did i mention Win 98! )
I prefer to converse preferably one way conversation where I give my "considerable gyaan and wisdom" to any soul unlucky to come within my range. Off course this means that while Abhinav buys a car, Danny travels, Deepak gets a bike and Anish an SLR I pay hefty phone bills!
All this leads me to the perfect profession for a guy like me - a manager.. Somehow managed the mini miracle of clearing the unpredictable CAT this year -three calls the best of which is from IIM B. What's interesting is the one month after I got the news. I have seen the reaction of people around me - mostly happy with my mini-success. I have another obstacle to surmount - The interview and group discussion (GD) session.
A GD - more like a place where your true self reveals yourself. I have had people trying to shout me down, impose themselves even make wisecrack statements in the middle of a serious discussion. Nothing is more entertaining than a GD where the topic is abstract - I have inwardly laughed at some interpretations people provide.
The interview - well this is where the candidates whole life is laid bare - you have no idea which part will be picked on next. Some technical, some HR, some philosophy and a great deal of tension and stress.
An interesting concept was the Bootcamp session I attended. 2 days at a hotel with 99 other IIM aspirants from diverse backgrounds. A mix between a batch get together (there were 7 NSITians from our batch!) and a serious preparation session. Yours truly took everything seriously - there were others doing the same - still others indulging in fun and games - some guys chatting up girls (yours truly was on probation clamped by you know who).. I met some interesting young people - budding managers of this country. Some aggressive and pushy. A doctor - the most popular guy in the session and having a heart of gold. A naval officer who tragically has lost the use of his right arm in an accident while on duty - off course I chatted him up on all topics Naval in nature. Found him to be a rather bright and courageous man. A girl - soft spoken and quite shy but with a smile that lit up the room.

Also present was the redoutable Banga - with his baby face and sweet voice - ever helpful, always jovial. And Bansal - we two must have listened to a particular Ghajni song (guess which one!) 25 times (Banga might disagree here - it seemed like 150 to him!).

All in all a fun lil trip

Moving my stuff

I am moving all my personal (and non NSIT-group related) posts to http://anotherratintherace.blogspot.com/. I am hoping to clean up this blog and use it for what it was meant in the first place. Catch me at both these places now...

Of Crucio & Verbalists

Quite some time back, I had gone for a particular quiz where the audience was asked to explain the meaning of the word 'cruciverbalist'. Being a bit too immersed in the Harry Potter lore, I shouted out "one who hurts others by using harsh words" (I am sure most people can understand this - whether you have read any Harry Potter or not). Only when the quizmaster actually laughed at my answer did I realize that I had done something quite stupid. And almost instantly I realized that the word actually refers to a person who solves crosswords.

And well, that seems to be the flavor of the season - Crosswords. To be precise, as Thomson & Thompson say, Cryptic Crosswords. I first came to know of this kind of crossword in college, when a few school friends of mine (and at that time in a different college) introduced me to the world of cryptic clues & crosswords. But it was only at Adobe, that I managed to get a hang of it. A colleague of mine & I would sit down and attempt the crossword, regularly. But we were never really able to proceed further than 10-15 answers. And we thought, that even that was pretty decent, Hindu crossword's difficulty level being what it is. That was until now. We just picked up this old habit again. After a long time. It has been 3 consecutive attempts in this second stint of ours & Lo Behold..! We have come close to cracking the entire crossword ( bar 3-4 clues each time) twice. Yes, we believe that the crosswords are sub-par, and we vent out all our frustration for that on Nita Jaggi ( the current Hindu crossword compiler ), but still, solving almost the entire crossword is another feeling altogether. Conceded that we had the help of an ace quizzer cum cruciverbalist today, but we were matching him as well..! 

How I wish I had a scanner and could upload these 3 attempts of ours, all the insane & inane) rough work, guesses, cuts & crosses. But alas..! Still, for now, crosswords rule..!! Cryptic Crosswords, to be precise.. :)

PS: The blog post is badly structured for a reason. Look out for the cryptic clues embedded within the post... :)

Life on the Farm

Clarification :(especially for Stanford people) this is a real farm, my father's ancestral place in Kerala.

Three roosters they were true,

all day there'd be much a cock-a-doodle-doo.

Then my uncle caught one,

a Christmas stew was done,

and now there are left just two.

[well, the cow is getting old,

and the goat is a mite bold,

I guess their turn would be coming soon too...]

3 things my friends should/need to know about me

1. I love to drive with my car's windows rolled down & my elbow on the door.

2. I love sarcasm & subtleties... And nobody does it better than johnny.

3. I get angry & out of control very quickly...

3 things most people do not know about me

1. I love the number '3'. I consider it my lucky number... :D

2. My first nickname was krishna.. I was born on janmashtmi, and barring this year & 1998, it has always rained on my birthday. Plus, the year I was born, my dad could not see me till about a week after my birth 'cause all train services had been disrupted due to torrential downpours..!! :-)

3. I love palak paneer (Ok.. this one some people might know... :-D )

My lost Photoshop Express account

Long ago, I had made an account on photoshopexpress.com (henceforth, psexp). Now, to create an account there I needed a US residence address. So I created a whole new email-id with a US residence, and I created my photoshop account.

Much enthused by this 'victory' I uploaded quite a few pics and played around with them. One result is my profile pic on blogger. I quite liked my work ( my only digital art, per se ). But, pretty soon, I managed to forget this email-id which was my psexp login id as well. I haven't been able to log-in since and my album is lost! 

I request all & sundry to make various combinations of abhinav & gupta & '.' & 101 & mail them to me. I am sure the email id was something of this sort.. I have tried quite a few combos but none have worked so far...

examples:

abhinav.gupta101

abhi.gupt

abhinav.gupt101

abhingupta101   etc.. etc..

Any help is appreciated :-) you know where to reach me..!

3 Answers

And now for some answers.. you could frame the questions as you wish:

1. Hurrr.... !!

2. Mard bano.. be a man..!

3. Pimply pimp...!

A 'chocolat de France' for anyone who can guess the 3rd :-)

3 Questions

I have just 3 questions that I want answered. Let's begin:

1. How many people does it take to read the time off a binary table clock?

2. How many people does it take to make a binary table clock?

3. How many people does it take to actually make a person shut up from talking about binary table clocks?

Answers when you answer. :-)

Happy Birthday Johnny

Hey John, here is wishing you a very happy birthday indeed! :-) Have a great day mate..! Remember, "this too shall pass...!" :D 

Tere Bin...

Random post.. absolutely love the lyrics.. It is the only punjabi song whose lyrics I do understand..!!

Rabbi's good..!

'ere go the lyrics :

tere bin / besides you

sanu sohnia / my love

koi hor nahio labhna / i shan't find another

jo dave / who'll give

ruh nu sakun / peace to my soul

chukke jo nakhra mera / and indulge me

ve main sare ghumm ke vekhia / i have gone and seen it all

amrika , roos, malaysia / america, russia, malaysiana

kittey vi koi fark si / there wasn't any difference

har kise di koi shart si / they all had some condition

koi mangda mera si sama / some asked for my time

koi hunda surat te fida / some were fascinated with my face

koi mangda meri si vafa / some demanded my fidelity

na koi mangda merian bala / none wanted my demons

tere bin / besides you

hor na kise / no one else

mangni merian bala / wanted my demons

tere bin / besides you

hor na kise / no one else

karni dhup vich chhan / shall shade me in the sun

jiven rukia / (the) way you paused

si tun zara / slightly

nahion bhulna / i shan't forget

main sari umar / all my life

jiven akhia si akhan chura / you said, looking away

"rovenga sanu yad kar" / "you shall weep in my memory"

hasia si main hasa ajeeb / i laughed a strange laugh

(par) tu nahi si hasia / but you didn't

dil vich tera jo raaz si / you had a secret in your heart

mainu tu kyon ni dasia / why didn't you tell me

tere bin / besides you

sanu eh raz / none shall tell this

kise hor nahion dasna / secret to me

tere bin / besides you

peerh da ilaaj / what druid

kis vaid kolon labhna / has the cure to my ills

milia si ajj mainu / i found today

tera ik patra / a note of yours

likhia si jis 'te / on which you had scribbeled

tun shayr varey shah da / a varis shah couplet

park ke si osnu / upon reading which

hanjnu ik duliya / a teardrop fell

akhan 'ch band si / what was locked in the eye

seh raaz ajj khulia / was revealed today

ki tere bin / that other than you

eh mere hanjnu / these tears of mine

kise hor / won't be kissed by

nahio chumna / none else

ki tere bin / that other than you

eh mere hanjhu / these tears of mine

mitti vich rulnha / will wither in the dust

Courtesy : rabbism.blospot.com

07/12/2008

To all those who know what this day is ... Happy seventy-twelfth..! :)

Happy 13th

It is the 13th of something that had probably gotten over around the 8th... :-D But still happy 13th..!

And yeah, this time around, it was Thursday, the 13th... Fingers crossed...! :-)

Disappointments

October 2, 2008

October the 2nd is here, and diferent people remember it for different reasons. During one conversation at office, my manager was talking about it being a dry day, a colleague (who loves to just go home & chill-ax) was jubilant about getting a holiday mid-week, I was thinking of all the markets being closed ( & dad and Sandy being unable to book their cars today ), while another colleague ( Bulb ) was plainly pre-occupied about it being the day on which Ramadoss's anti-smoking law comes into force. Still others were busy planning out-station trips to make use of this extended weekend, while others, who have come far away from home to work at Adobe, were going back home. The jigsaw-dudes were busy putting the pieces together (and mighty long it is going to take them to do it), while the newspapers were busy telling us that Gandhi is the toast of the web-space this week... 

But there was one person who had nothing to do with 2nd October on her mind, all she cared for was catching a glimpse of Imran Khan. So we went, 4 of us from office, to the

neighbourhood mall, to sneak a peak of Imran Khan & Minnisha Lambha. Well, we managed to see 'Suited-Up' men with their trophy wives & kids tagging along, lots & lots of bouncers, even a trained K-9..! But nahh, an hour passed, we finished our cups of mochas & cappuccinos, but they were still nowhere to be seen. But just as we were leaving, the 'little one' did manage to see someone.. Here is the pic.. Guess who ?

Of Japs & Brits

There is this one particular author whose works I really like, Kazuo Ishiguro. I have read two of his books so far, Never Let Me Go & When We Were Orphans, and currently have a third on my shelf, The Remains of the Day. I hope to start reading it soon ( like 5-6 more ). 

Despite the fact that I don't usually go for books by their popularity and just pick them off the shelves, I find it quite surprising that almost nobody I know has read his books. If anyone is reading this entry, well, I would recommend his works. You would be pleasantly surprised. 

And yeah, as you must have guessed, he is a Japanese. And this leads me to a confusion, do I call him Kazuo-San or Ishiguro-San ? Hmph, I'll never get the hang of this.

Google Chrome logo

Amidst the hue & cry raised by Google Chrome, a small albeit decent amount of attention was focussed on the logo of Google chrome. Check this story out for more details. Do not, for anything, miss the video on the page as well...!

Raman

I have been working at Adobe Systems for over a year now. I have written about my life at work & my friends a few times. But I haven't yet written about the man to whom I owe it all. Raman Nagpal. 

He is a true leader, a man with a towering persoanlity ( both literally & figuratively ). Ask anybody in my team , and I mean the 100+ strong Print Technologies Group, and they would all tell you that they are inspired by Raman, awed by him, shocked by him, and most importantly respect him.  A lot. Every man & woman here knows that he is a brilliant person, with a razor sharp mind, it is never easy to fool him, as emplyees frequently fool their managers ( :D ) He needs just a couple of minutes to get to the bottom of any problem, and see the idea in its entirety. I could go on & on... But that is not why I wrote this post.

His most endearing quality, and that is the reason why I work at Adobe, is his knack of picking a person and backing him to the hilt. That is what he did to me. While in my last year at college, I was offered an internship by Raman, during the course of which I worked on an interesting project under him. On the basis of my work, he offered me a job here. And that was despite my disastrous interview just a couple of weeks back. He called me & told me that while he knew that I had basically sucked at my coding interview, but he had received a very positive response in others, and he personally also felt the same after having worked with me for a better part of my 4 months at Adobe. And the reason he was offering me a job was nothing but his willingness to back me inspite of my having been rejected in my interviews. 

Since then, well, I have had the good fortune of having worked with him on something or the other a number of times. And each experience leaves me further in awe of his ability to think of crazy ideas, execute them, and prove to the (higher) powers that be at Adobe, that it ain't so bad to think out of the box, something that Adobe magnanimously fails to do...!

Time & again, he thinks of crazy stuff and it is precisely this crazy stuff that helps me land up a patent here, a spot award there & many many interesting interactions with great minds at Adobe, be it Shantanu, Naresh or Ajay. 

It might sound very inane & tacky, but I am forced to make a comparison. Harry was accused of being Dumbledore's man through & through by Rufus. Well, I confess that I am Raman's man through & through. I hope, as he put it, that I don't let him down. This one is for you Raman.

Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh

This is a beautiful comment I read on Mayur's blog : "The light burns dim in the lamps of the needy, and in such light a thousand revolutions thrive!"

Naaiice..!

Anwar

Nauheed Cyrusi.. 

That's the name that has been stuck in my mind the last couple of days. And some can guess why. She has acted in all of 10-11 movies, one of which was Anwar.

Though this movie was trashed at the BO, and though I haven't yet seen it, still, the songs are awesome. Songs like Aankhen Teri, Javeda Zindagi are quite

 beautiful. And so is Vijay Raaz, a wonderful wonderful actor. He lies firmly in the list of the precious few method actors that Bollywood has produced. I have been t

old that, if not for the story, Anwar is a must watch for his acting. 
I would love to watch the movie, if anyone is willing to watch it with me..! :)

Btw, all the TV Channels are hell-bent to inform me that it is

 Daughter's Day tomorrow. All right, I give in. Happy Daughter's day to all daughters of the world..!