Winning is Everything……Definitely not Participation….

Ever since our childhood days, I am sure every one of us were encouraged that “Participation is everything and not winning”. Teacher, friends and parents have always used these words to pacify the situation whenever there is a difference between friends, classmates and siblings. But I for one never understood the logic behind such a stand. It is agreed that these words are very soothing to the majority because everybody can’t win in the same competition. I always felt how bad it would be for the winner who is instantly deprived of the elation the winner feels. Though I was never an activist in my life, I always wished if there is anybody who can stand up for all the winners in this world and yell at the top of their voice that “Winning is Everything”. A recent TV talk show has 2 take-aways. The first one has fulfilled my wish where as the second one was a completely pragmatic observation.

1. It’s always the losers who believe and say that “Winning is not everything and participation is more important”.
2. It’s usually either the rich or a complete loser who continuously brag that “Money is not the only important thing in life”.

How many of us would really pardon him if MS Dhoni says the same about world cup?

I guess it’s time for winners to completely stand up and take the entire credit even if it hurts the majority/losers. When everybody talks about India being a super power, it has to be imbibed in its culture. I was badly disappointed when many measures were initiated to de-stress the students by replacing ranks with grades in schools. I strongly believe that students should be taught about how to handle the pressure rather than completely removing the pressure.

So Winners…Next time make sure you take a bow and enjoy the moment…

Getting used to new..

I have been reading a lot of blogs since some time which span across technology, automobile, business and general. It is here that I realized there is a new wave of acronyms available to use. So I took the effort of compiling them all. Some of them are really hilarious and creative.
• FAB : Features Advantages Benefits
• FAO : For Attention Of
• FBO : Failing Better Offer
• FEAR : Forget Everything And Run
• FIFO : Fly In Fly Out
• GAG : Great And Good
• GEKIS : Goes Early - Kids In School
• GTTM : Going Through The Motions
• IMHO : In My Humble Opinion
• JAWS : Just Another Wage Slave
• JUT : Joined Up Thinking
• KISS : Keep It Simple Stupid
• LAST : Listen Advise Solve and Thanks
• LIAR : Look Into All Results
• LIMP : Lacking In Much Personality
• LOBNAH : Lights On But Nobody’s At Home
• LOMBNI : Loads Of Money But No Idea
• SWMBO : She Who Must Be Obeyed
• CHAOS : Chief Has Arrived On Scene
• NFPA : No FUC*ing Practical Application
• DRT : Dead right there
• BOHICA : Bend Over Here It Comes Again (Used for Contract Negotiations)
• PEBCAK : Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard
• ALS : Always last to show
• BLS : Bring lots of stuff
• PSOR : Problem Solved, Operator Removed

10 Things I Want to Do Urgently...Wondering When I Can Do???

1. Buy a cycle and go on a long ride during week-ends
2. Photography as a hobby
3. Join the bikers club and participate in club rides
4. Learn how to fly a remote operated toy plane
5. Learn horse riding
6. Go on a safari and camp out in a jungle
7. Drive Bugatti Veyron
8. Sky-diving or Deep-sea diving
9. Attend a get-together of school friends
10. Road trip to Himalayas

After 211 Days….

Finally I am doing today what I have been planning to do in the last 211 days – updating my blog. This delay was largely due to so many things happening. We moved into our new flat, got a few things done, sold my Karizma, booked Activa and cancelled it, enquired and shocked after looking at the waiting period of RE Classic….
The most noticeable thing in the list above was moving into our new flat which happened in June. The picture in my earlier posting is the lake behind our apartments. Post marriage, little did I imagine that Pune would be my base city. This city has made an impression on me and it was a pleasant one. Above anything, the climate will have the best impact. With so many picnic/vacation/holidaying spots around it, Pune is the city either to start your career with or end with. The later part is what the city is best known for – Pensioners City.
I guess I am getting bored with whatever I am doing in my current job and I attribute it largely to completion of 3 years in June-2010. So I guess I will have to rehash my CV to venture out. I have seen my peers going out over the last 2 years. But I will be going out with a completely different set or reasons. Going away from the reasons, these 3 years simply zoomed because of so many tasks I have been doing. Hope the next employer is also exciting. I guess my next blog should have a update on this as I am keen to make the jump.
In 2010, it rained for 6 months in Pune. Starting in May, the rainy season is extending till now. But who complains when it rains in Pune? The view of rains from my living room makes me rave about Pune. After parting with my Karizma, this rainy season was completely dry for me considering that I used my car for every drive including the one for groceries which is around the corner of our society. This coupled with my wife’s plans of owning a 2 wheeler made us hunt for one in Pune. After so many test drives and reviews, we zeroed in on Activa. After realizing that Japs are very poor in resolving labor issues, we cancelled it this week-end. During all this, I couldn’t resist my temptation and checked RE Classic. With a waiting of 10 months, the spirit was dampened even before it could ignite a passion – 4 wheels carry a body and 2 wheels carry a soul.
Breaking away from the habit of seeing every stupid movie, 2010 has been good for us in terms of viewing enjoyable movies. Barring Kites, my all other views have been good. RGV didn’t disappoint with Rakthacharitra, NBK was at his best in Simha, NTR successfully experimented with Brindavanam, Rajni stole the show with Robot, Salman bashed everybody with Dabaang are some which I could remember.
The long drives were also good. Especially the drive to Kaas plateau was splendid. I could best describe it as a huge carpet of flowers. Our recent drive was to Shirdi which we completed in a day. My VDi is due for its 30K Kms service and should get its fluids refilled apart from getting a few bandages.

I guess I have written about every silly reason why I didn’t update my blog for the last 211 days…

Coming soon....

With IPL coming to an end, i guess its time for all the movie trailers to start flashing "Coming Soon"....So taking a leaf out of this marketing technique which never reveals the actual date, i am posting the below image. This image is going to reveal a lot about my future $@#%^&*()_+....

Project Cost Control

Cost control in engineering projects happens to be one of the many responsibilites given to me. In my latest attempt to re-ignite the passion for reading books, i started scrolling through a huge collection of e-books i had and stumbled upon the following image which was clearly capturing the entire essence of "Project Cost Control"..


While it might appear very simple theoretically, the individual elements such as schedule, milestones, progress, expenditure, cash-flow, forecasts and resources can send shivers down your spine. It is no strange thing that "Project Controls" has become a very important thing of "Project Management"...

Redefining “Breaking News”….

Long week-ends have become very rare in 2010 due to errant holiday schedule. But this week-end has to be forgettable one for all the wrong reasons. Before you all jump to any other conclusions, I would like to put the onus on the “Breaking News” aired by different news channels all through 3 days thus making us embarrassed. In a growing and vibrant country like India, media for some stupid reasons kept on bombarding with news about Sania-Shoaib-Ayesha triangular love story endlessly. For all the mayhem created by media through this week-end, we could all probably label this wedding (if it happens) as the wedding of the century. Till this week-end, I had some gratitude for a couple of news channels for maintaining the quality of news aired thus differentiating themselves from channels like Aaj Tak and India TV. I even appreciated these two channels in my earlier blogs and expectedly these two were on my favorite channels which I can’t miss to watch every day. Quiet surprisingly; even these two channels were airing this piece of crap day in and day out with different interpretations and analysis. I am sure there might be some group of people/gossipers who are interested only in that kind of news. But there are handfuls of channels available over there to feed them with this senseless news. At least these two channels who are quiet famous for their 9:00 PM news should have limited themselves and avoid declaring it as breaking news.

Before some of you start comparing this to Tiger Wood’s saga shown world over in a much gigantic way across all forms of media, we all should understand that at least that news had got some economic impact and Tiger Wood’s himself was or even may be a great sporting personality. So this can’t be a justification for airing this news (sorry I meant crap). While one is famous for her t-shirts rather than her game, the other has recently become famous for dressing room politics which has brought down an entire cricketing team.

It’s not that we don’t have news to air during this time. For once, we have IPL which is being touted as window to start India’s supremacy which could have been a very interesting article for discussions or analysis. And for all those ardent cricket haters, I am sure there may be other kinds of social, political, entertainment news which was completely ignored during this time. I was surprised to know that the sorrow thing which happened in Pune which involved an MBA graduate was wrongly reported in news channels when I read today’s paper. But this marriage saga was captured meticulously with minute by minute detailing AKA 24/7 paparazzi. I assume even both families must have been badly embarrassed by this idiotic media coverage. If they don’t, I pity every common Indian because he has no choice anymore. All news channels have become experts at “Sensationalism”…..

Mr X accepted to marry Ms Z after she got her engagement cancelled with Mr. A…Ms Y says that she is still next to Mr. X who in turn says that he was cheated..Ms Y says she has all the evidence to prove where as Ms Z says she knows the truth and has belief in god…Mr X lands in Hyderabad in Ms Z home…Ms Y’s dad complains to police..Mr X conducts a press conference with much hype only to disappoint our ever hungry media says that lawyer will take care of questions..Mr X gets questioned by police who snatch his passport..Ms Y says something…Ms Z and her dad again say something…

If you all are wondering what this stupid stuff is, then this is just a prelude for the endless crap shown in news over the last 3 days.

Disclaimer: I am personally not against either of the families. But as a citizen of this country, we deserve to see better news. Even a re-hash of some earlier talk shows should have made some sense rather than airing this crap…

Types of Project Managers

If you get in my way, I'll kill you!
- ideal project manager

If you get in my way, you'll kill me!
- somewhat less than ideal project manager

If I get in my way, I'll kill you!
- somewhat misguided project manager

If I get in your way, I'll kill you!
- A tough project manager (eats glass, live cats, etc.)

If get kill in will way I you.
- dyslexic, functionally illiterate project manager

I am the way! Kill me if you can!
- messianic project manager

Get away, I'll kill us all!
- suicidal project manager

If you kill me, I'll get in your way.
- thoughtful but ineffective project manager

If I kill you, I'll get in your way.
- project manager who has trouble dealing with the obvious

If a you getta ina my way, I gonna breaka you arm.
- project manager from New York

I am quite confident that there is nothing in the way, so no one will get killed.
- project manager who is about to get in big trouble

If you kill me, so what? If you get in my way, who cares?
- weak, uninspired, lackluster project manager

If I kill me, you'll get your way.
- pragmatic project manager

Kill me, it's the only way.
- every project manager to date

Finesse of Random Trips

The word random in this context is synonymous with unplanned, hit-the-road and proceed kind of a trip which usually happens on week-ends. The charm of these trips lies in the unplanned nature which is laced with special tea on road-side stall, a sweet corn rubbed with salted lemon, lays chips of all flavors, countless sprite bottles, boiled ground nuts and many such kind of stops which rejuvenate you for the next week. We made many trips of this nature to Lonavala, Narayanpur, Shirdi and few temples around Pune.
One such random trip was to Shirdi recently where we did a road trip if about 750 KM in two days. This trip was to cover Shirdi-Nasik-Triambakeshwar with an over-night stay in Shirdi. Lack of any reference to such kind of trips on the preceding day is what makes these trips exciting. Living in a fast growing city like Pune has become synonymous with week-end drives to nearby places which boast of season dependent beauty.
Likewise, we did a trip to Lonavala few months back when our college mate came to Pune. Instead of stopping at water-falls in Lonavala, we proceeded a little further to reach the Amby valley which is like a paradise. Without much description, I would like the below pictures to narrate the beauty of this trip…