My Reflections....

New Found Status…

2011-08-18T02:55:00.000-07:00

In 1983, when the whole India was celebrating world-cup win, my parents brought me into this world. And now when India celebrates another world-cup albeit after 28 years, I too am celebrating the entry of Jr. into my life. Yes! We had baby girl on 7th August. And there is another coincidence – all 3 (me, wife n the kid) were born on Sunday. In typical Indian style, all the family members went on treasure hunting as seen on cowboy Hollywood flicks like Indian Jones, McKenna’s Gold. Only difference is here the treasure is not gold but features and behavioral characteristics. Though not concluded, we all agreed that she looks like her father predominantly. After the usual distribution of sweets and financial tips in hospital, the mom and kid were brought to home. One noticeable difference for my wife was days became longer and nights became shorter. Since the kid was born in noon, her day and night cycles are kind of weird though it is expected of any new born and that’s the best part of having a kid in your life. The experience gets more adrenalin pumping when you carry the baby in your arms. A sense of pride and responsibility descends upon you and you will be left with awe and surprise after looking at the baby sleeping warmly in your arms. Well somebody a few months back asked me about proudest moment of my life. Whatever they were until now faded before this moment. During the first ride to the pediatrician for the first dose of vaccinations, the car got the sticker – “Baby on Board” and the driver got the sense to drive sensibly. Wonder who the driver is – that’s me. And when you reach the hospital, sitting along with many parents and kids, a mischievous idea surely strikes– you tend to compare your kid with others always ending up with rating your kid as the best in all. Probably every parent goes through this during various stages of his kid’s life though at variable levels. Life has started to pick up the pace like a ODI cricket match where you start scoring more aggressively from a particular over. Probably that over just started in my life. 10 years from now, you would realize the number of events that have happened in life.
By the time I am penning this blog; my mind is busy thinking of names for the kid. It’s going to be another round table conference in the life to finalize the name only to change it at least a couple of more times before finalizing it. It happened with me and is bound to happen with my kid as well. And when christening, the family tradition (aka parampara) has to be considered. Then its going to be wait for accomplishment of milestones. These include moments like sleeping on stomach, crawling, sitting, standing, walking and uttering of words like amma/ma. Each will be a big reason to celebrate and we are planning to capture every moment using photos and entries in baby book. The first teeth, tonsuring of head and piercing of ears shall complete the list for the first year. I guess I shall stop here to enjoy the moment before thinking too far.

New Mobile Connection – Nightmare

2011-05-23T02:15:00.001-07:00

Without getting into details, I had to change my mobile number twice in the last 6 months. The primary reason for this change was rather silly as Maharashtra has two mobile circles and to avoid roaming, I had to change the numbers. Not long ago, all of us believed how tedious job it was to update all your friends about your new number. But with the advent of social networking sites, cheap SMS rates, email address to everybody, the job of updating your friends has become very easy. By now, some of you might be wondering where‘s the “nightmare” part in this. So let’s start by going a step ahead and talk about all other places where you want to update.
1. Bank accounts - In spite of having net banking, phone banking and mobile banking facilities, a well known bank still wants you to come down to their bank and submit a application form to update. And then they take 7 days to update. Banks – Are you listening? Please automate the systems
2. MF Investments– Should I give a written application to every fund I invest in to get my number updates? Kidding? Yes, there might be a system for updating your KYC. But is it for mobile number updating also? Nobody knows. Everybody wants me to visit their fund management house and submit a written application. Thank god, at least there are offices in my current city.
3. Loan accounts – When your loan account holder calls to update his number, why can’t you do it by checking the basic credentials. No doubt there are so many defaulters who simply change their contact details and never bother to inform the bank.
4. DTH – I believe changing the Registered Mobile Number (RMN) should serve the purpose here.
5. Motor Insurance – All this while I was relying on service center guys to call me and remind me when my car insurance was due for renewal. I guess I will have to put a reminder to track it manually.

When UID plan was planned, Mr. Kishore Biyani suggested to Mr. Nandan Nilekani using mobile number as the UID number. Nandan refused and said the UID shall be a combination of alpha-numeric and special characters. Whatever be the reason, the mobile connections and the classification of circles are beyond logic. Agreed that MNP has been rolled out amidst huge hype, but what’s the use if it is confined to only a circle. Should we wait for another 3-4 years to see it being rolled across circles?

Somebody told me that in Maharashtra, you have a place where women can update their name post marriage and the same would be updated in all the records. If this true, why can’t there be such a system for mobile connections also. I take a new connection and then I update this place and all my bank accounts, investments, loans are updated. Rest of them upon intimation from me can then check with this place and update their records. Cmon India, we design processes/tools for the west. When are we going to set our houses right?

New is not always better!

2011-04-18T02:22:00.000-07:00

In a sequel to my earlier blog, all I can say is that new is not always better. I will keep the creative juices flowing and reserve a special update to describe my experiences and the choices I have made...

New year....New city...New home...New company....New job...New boss.....

2011-01-22T06:52:00.000-08:00

I guess the list of “New”s ends there for now.

After cooling my legs in my first job and getting over with “first job blues”, I decided to venture out and took up an assignment with a rather unusual company. The word “unusual” signifies only the change in the industry and the LOB.

With many questions, perceptions and aspirations I joined my current organization. The experience so far (sine 03-Jan) has been pleasantly surprising. I am looking forward to carry on the same feeling with vigor and enthusiasm. Also, working in my new job in Mumbai has been very uncharacteristic of living and working in Mumbai. The entire credit for this goes to my organization. B'coz, this is unarguably the only big company in the country which provides residential facilities to its employees and this facility is superior to many other private residential societies in the city. And the mere fact that this facility is right across your place of work, you can literally walk to work. Probably I will be laughed at during some point in my life in the years ahead for not traveled in the local train in spite of staying in Mumbai.

A year back, I would have never imagined that my second job would be in a hard core manufacturing company. But that's how the life is with so many surprises. I have to be honest here since I made the decision of changing job pretty quickly to ensure my initial impression of the organization doesn't change. This impression was formed during the interview. I hope am not wrong with my perceptions....

I am consciously not mentioning anything about my organization as my division head has said the following things during our formal interaction with him...

“Don't be judgmental initially since you have joined here from another company. Every thing here is well thought of here by people who have been in the business in the decades”...

Now I realize that its true. When you step aside and start thinking about anything here, you shall understand the logic and this is the very reason why I am avoiding penning down my impressions/thoughts/perceptions about this organization.

This new job has exposed me to express way and I have traveled on it already many times enjoying every KM of it. The drive now has become more of psychological drive where you keep to yourself small milestones to cross which makes the entire drive enjoyable and forgetful to avoid any stress.

You will have to love this city to enjoy it and that's what I am doing it currently. The life has suddenly become a sprint from a marathon in Pune. Waking early in the morning and rushing to office and come back early in the evening. The latter part is the most interesting and enjoyable aspect of my current job.

I am here trying to re-invent myself and enjoy every minute of it. Wish I have all the luck going in my way...

Winning is Everything……Definitely not Participation….

2010-12-09T01:34:00.001-08:00

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..

2010-12-01T00:49:00.000-08:00

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???

2010-11-16T04:04:00.000-08:00

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….

2010-11-15T02:41:00.000-08:00

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....

2010-04-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

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”….

2010-04-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-23T22:23:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T00:13:00.000-08:00

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…

All These Days…

2009-11-09T04:32:00.000-08:00

I happened to see my blog today and that’s when I noticed that my last blog was posted long ago….

There’s a lot that happened during this time. We went to Vijayawada during Dusshera. This was a much needed break after stress filled 3 quarters in 2009. And then we came back to Pune and that’s when I realized what I was missing a lot. No prizes for guessing!!! I was actually missing my bike rides. So I immediately took upon the task of getting my bike to original form after messing with its handle bar which kept me away from riding the bike. One fine morning when the state of Maharashtra went for polls, I set out to get my bike repaired. I spent the next few days trying to source parts from various parts of the city and finally the bike is ready to be driven. And this is where I learnt that its very easy to get any kind of automobile spare part in Pune. One should have patience and little knowledge about the shops and the accessories available out there are end less.

After staying close to two years in Brahma Suncity, I and my wife understood the intricate details of owning a flat in big residential projects. Guess this would help us a lot in our flat purchasing efforts which might get started soon. The most important thing which we understood is that society formation is the critical thing in ensuring a head-ache free stay in these big projects. The lack of society is always exposed in Brahma Suncity during every week-end and during festivals like diwali. These are the kinds of places where watchmen are employed in little numbers and even these are reduced to star gazers who look lost during nights. You are either disturbed by a late night party or a fight between two residents over an issue which nobody else can understand.

After the outbreak of swine flu in Pune, we didn’t see many movies in multiplexes. So there was some void in the ways we went about spending time during our week ends. There were no movies, no window shopping and the fact that our last movie Love Aaj Kal was a completely boring and forgettable dud led to a lull. However we quickly got over these feelings after we watched All The Best and Azab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani both of which were comedies with 0 story. I guess I need not review them as there are many people who are paid to do so and I don’t wish to rob them of their livelihood. But watching movies in Bollywood E-Square, Kharadi has reminded me of my city where movies were the only source of entertainment. Hero’s entry would be acknowledged with whistles and heroine’s entry with strange sounds (no stupid ideas here please) which will always make your movie watching experience livelier. I still laugh when I saw people clapping to the introduction scene in Sarkar when the protagonist goes about beating the bad guy with a dumbbell in a large than life way.

We finished celebrating Dusshera, Diwali and the New Year is fast approaching. This possibly explains the express pace at which the current year is progressing. That’s actually good news as the next year is always like India’s next cricket match which always look positive and exciting until the time you realize that hope is endless.

Its been quite some time since I have gone on long drives. So there is nothing much to write about…

My sister got engaged on 1st Nov and the marriage is scheduled for 19th Nov, which is exactly on the same day I got married 2 years ago. Our family is busy making all the arrangements to welcome my BIL into our family on 19th Nov and I would be joining the preparations for these arrangements on 13th Nov. I would be taking a break for another 1 week which should rejuvenate me comfortably for another 6-7 months and any kind of stress can be handled with either long drives or a 2-3 day break. This celebration will be the only get together/function in our family for the next 2-2.5 years after which my next sister would get ready for nuptials.

After I come back from my vacation, my professional life would be busy in preparing for the year-end reviews and reports. And before we get over the habit of correcting 09 to 10 whenever we mention date, it would probably be the end of first quarter in 2010.

Catch you all later….BTW I modified my comments section which will enable you to comment without revealing who you are. So you should and without fail comment now….

And today is a Monday…..

Interesting Fwded Mail...

2009-08-21T05:14:00.001-07:00

After a long time, somebody fwded an interested mail. This surely is a stand out from the regular donation, fwd or die, donations, bill gates donating funds etc kind of emails which keep pounding you.

This mail has reminded me of how a child thinks and tries to reason about the functioning of any machine around him. We grow-up questioning everything with anxiety in childhood. Thus this series of pictures is a tribute to how far an imagination can stretch...

Team Awards....

2009-08-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

Week that should not have passed by….

2009-08-04T03:45:00.000-07:00

Almost 2 years of safety driving came to an end on the evening of 28th July’09. Everything was fine till 19:30 Hrs on that day. A few more feet and I should have been on a good tarmac on my way to home and suddenly the bike crashed and I was all over the road. I couldn’t believe for 2 minutes that I had an accident until I regained my senses with some help from passers-by. And I am back on my feet and rode back to my home after this freakish accident. There were minor scratches but the biggest of them was on my right knee. I lost count of hits/scratches/cuts on my knees, especially the right one took. It being a knee will usually take a little more time to heal because of simple physics. I had a small DIY first-aid with Dettol, cotton and gauge cloth. The next day I took a break and worked from home. And finally the day-after, I gave my bike to Castrol bike zone for repair-work. This damage though a small one costed me 4000 bucks and I have applied to claim insurance. But on the positive front, the same side of the bike got damaged again which took a small dent a couple of months ago while the bike fell to its right when parked. So I would be getting a near-brand new bike. And this accident has given me all the motivation to go in for small modifications. I am going to start with only clip handle bar for the time-being. May-be, I would go in for a much wider rear tyre and more powerful bulb in the head-light in the near future. If I get more inspired, I might even go for performance modifications which include K&N etc. I have completed 2 years and out or warrant which though comes with many ifs and buts.

And on Saturday, we decided to watch Love Aaj Kal though we understood it was pathetic from reviews. We had to watch it because we couldn’t get tickets for a Telugu movie in Pune. Now that’s something I should feel great about. Love Aaj Kal was pathetic, immature and unbearable. There are two things evident from the movie. Saif can’t dance and Deepika can’t act. Both are equally attractive in their own ways none of them can’t carry a movie on their shoulders. They either require a strong/good story (Eg- Hum Tum or Omkara) or a other actors in the same movie who can entertain (OSO, Bachna Eh Haseeno) to make us watch them. Imtiaz Ali tried his hand at a movie aimed at current generation. I believe that would have been achieved had Saif told Rishi Kapoor to mind his own business when the latter starts giving advices. That’s what Kareena says the station master in Jab We Met…..

It is very disheartening to see myself limping around office answering every question regarding the reasons for my condition. I wish to fully utilize my legs ASAP and get on my bike…

And again there is one more month with no holidays during week-days. Come September and they really start pouring in making weeks more enjoyable.

Any BTW we managed to book tickets for telugu movie, Magadheera for Monday. I should have already watched the movie by the time i could migrate this blog from MS Word file onto web.

Time is running….

2009-07-13T04:09:00.000-07:00

First 6 months are already over in 2009. Now this is what it means when somebody says life is on a fast track. Around the same time last year, I was consoling myself that “It’s only July…” But after 365 days I am reminding myself that “It’s already July…”

IPL-2, Elections, T20 World-Cup, Budget and many other inconsequential have finished. Delayed or no monsoon has taken away the fun part of Pune life to a large extent. Lack of plush green locations is dampening our spirits. Lonavala & Khandala are synonymous with Pune life but these days’ people are hearing very less mentioning of these two iconic places.

We finished 6 months and these 6 months is really a so-called fantasy period in professional life. You get your increments, bonuses, budget surprises and few other pleasant things. But after that fun part is all over. The real number games start in the 7th month and continue till the fun part starts again. Targets, estimates, short-fall, back-up plans, what-ifs, how to…? And many such tough words begin to ring in your ears. In simple words, you begin devising “strategies” to convince others that 2+2 is 8 and not “6” (I mean it and it’s not a typo). But this is the real fun part of working.

Let’s talk about something good to hear and read about.

India has lost the T20 world-cup. Who cares when Indians have a weak memory and ICC is making life easy for us. I sympathize with Afridi when he says what it’s too early to have the next edition with-in 9 months. But his excuse was exciting, “Pakistan will be known as champions only for 9 months….”

Elections are over. Congress government at center is no surprise while it was a complete shocker at state level (Andhra Pradesh). But the loss of PRP has made us happier than the disappointment caused by TDP’s loss.

Then came the budget. I was wondering why Indian media tries to blow everything out of proportions now-a-days. First it was elections and then came the turn of budget. In both the cases, each incident was advertised as “Biggest in Indian history…”.If Dhoni doesn’t look at Sehwag in a photo-shoot, the next thing you see in the media is an altercation between them and a rift in the team. Some sections of media even went ahead and said that budget is the much need quota of steroids to the stock market. Sensationalizing the issue has been the main agenda for “some” media channels. But they are doing a very good thing of not letting government take people for granted. The idea of blowing things out of proportions is scaring many politicians and frightening them by constantly reminding them that they can be in the hot seat of tomorrow’s 9 PM talk shows where a simple many-to-one arithmetic rule is followed.

These 6 months have also seen the fall of GM and an attempt to reclaim the lost fame by FIAT India. While GM was a ticking time bomb, FIAT unsurprisingly grabbed all the attention of automobile critics and reviewers. Both FIAT and Yamaha are trying to regain the lost ground by launching fantabulous automobiles. Only time can tell how successful they can be in the long run considering the ASS and cost of spares.

Recently I have been feeling the urge to take a break and go on a vacation. Well the necessity of taking a break is not too far as we might be having a ceremony in my home @ Vijayawada.

If this year’s calendar is a friendly for all those people waiting for holidays during week-days, next year might be a disappointment considering that many of the standard/national holidays would be either on Saturdays/Sundays in 2010. We already lost August-15 this year.

I am hoping to make my next blog more pictorial with some scenic snaps which I plan to click in my next long drive which we are planning in the next couple of weeks. So let’s kick some dirt before the lands start drying up, before the hills start losing the green sheen etc (You know where I am going with this!!!)…

Before anything, its time for mid-year review.

And for all those music lovers, dont forget to listen to Dhan Tana Tan from Kaminey. Vishal Bharadwaj can make anybody look rustic. First it was Saif and now it is Shahid. I vote for this flick as the most awaited movie of the year.

GM Crumbles & Files Bankruptcy - But Why?

2009-06-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

Why has the world's best known car company gone bankrupt? Before making very general statements, lets understand the actual reasons which mad this iconic brand AKA American giant go kaput....

A killer combination - In a nutshell, very high labour costs, rising competition from foreign car makers, a frightening spike in fuel prices, freezing of credit, the collapse of the American economy, drop in sales caused by lack of purchasing power among Americans due to the recession, etc have formed a lethal concoction leading to the bankruptcy of the iconic carmaker.

However, General Motors's problems run much deeper. Here's why. . .

Over the years, protesting workers' unions at GM managed to get the company to agree to contracts that provide lifetime benefits to the members. This excessive cost of lifetime benefits pushed labour costs through the roof.

These costs have now reached an unmanageable proportion and the automotive giant just does not have enough money to either make these payments or to keep the company afloat, given the decline in sales and plummetting profits. Expansion, upgrade, new investments were totally out of the question.

Reports suggest that GM is paying more than $1,500 per car that is built as just benefits to people who are not even working for the auto giant any more. An interesting bit of statistics says that the cost of steel used in a car made by GM is less than what it pays its retired union members in terms of benefits.

Added to this is the huge pay that GM workers draw even for low-level jobs at the company.

The company does not have much cash and even if it adds receivables to this, it accounts payable and accrued expenses are many times higher than that figure. Even adding the company's current assets (inventories, equipment on lease, etc) to this still leaves it way behind it current liabilities.

The first signs of GM's gargantuan financial troubles began to surface in early 2008. When by mid-2008, the prices of furl touched a historic high, there was a stunning change in consumer behaviour with Americans deciding to keep off big fuel-guzzling cars and SUVs in favour or smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. The sudden rise in the price of oil, the deepening recession and the falling sales led to Detroit's Big Three - GM, Chrysler, and Ford Motor Co - almost throwing in the towel.

Car loans too were difficult to come by as banks, already reeling under the world's greatest financial crisis, decided to freeze credit. More and more people failed to qualify for loans, leading to a huge drop in car sales. A study conducted by the car firms said that the historic spike in fuel prices was the '500-pound gorilla' that almost single-handedly kayoed GM.

Is this a lesson for everybody? A company which ignores the ground reality is bound to face the same situation. Everything in this world has to evolve over a period of time and failure to do will also result in doom. Change is the only constant thing in this world and innovation is the only way to succeed. Will this be the begining of the climax for the current recession or is it a curtain raiser? Obama's speech on the day of filing this bankruptcy has a lot to understand and interpret. But again can we learn from this slowdown and avoid any future re-occurences? By saying so,are we defying the laws of nature-that everything has to see ups and downs. Can somebody really forsee a situation where "Everything that goes up stays there"...But one should really hope to see only one recession in his lifetime!!!

IPL and ZooZoos!

2009-05-29T02:14:00.000-07:00

IPL is over and T20 once again proved why its such a lovable form of sport. Before the start of tournament, nobody would have given Deccan Chargers any chance to win the second edition. But the unexpected has become the reality and thats the thrilling aspect of this format.

After a long time, one was glued to the TV set even during the commercial breaks. Welcome to the world of ZooZoos!ZooZoo, a ridiculously cute marketing campaign dreamed up by Ogilvy and Mathers India (O&M) and brought to life by ad-filmmaker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films.ZooZoos are strange all-white alien-esque humanoids who run around on our television screens, chirping in their incomprehensible language and breaking into belly laughs at the drop of a hat. They're silly. They're funny. They're adorable. Most importantly, they're a massive success and a marketing miracle. The client? Vodafone.....

One story/service explained per day, 30 days in total. O&M did this to draw viewers into the ZooZoo world, so that they looked forward to and anticipated each new instalment.

With only Rs 30 million (Rs 3 crore), O&M was able to finish 30 different ads. Each spot is roughly 20-30 seconds long. The economics of this ad campaign have been beautifully planned because creeating the same viewing experience using cartoons would have costed 10-15 times more. Now thats the reason why we call Indians as the most effective people who can surprise the world.

So how did O&M shoot this visual treat...

In order to create the otherworldly animated effect, only women of slight build -- and occasionally children -- were cast as ZooZoos, to enhance the contrast between their big heads and bellies and their tiny limbs. The women came from Mumbai dancing troupes and ballet groups, which explains the ZooZoos' fluidity and grace, despite their goofiness.

The sets were done in neutral greys, to draw maximum attention to the ZooZoos. One minute the ZooZoos is super-happy with an ear-to-ear grin. The minute the ZooZoo is frightened, its mouth pursed in tight 'O'.

The ZooZoo campaign represents Vodafone's second impressive knock at the IPL. Last's season's irresistibly-cute-tiny-dog-chases-things campaign made the pug India's temporary canine of choice. But although no animals were harmed in filming, the spots still drew the ire of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA. Vodafone, by using bodysuit-clad humans in the ZooZoo spots, has pleased PETA. So much so, in fact, that the ZooZoo campaign was awarded by the animal rights group earlier this month.

ZooZoos, everyone loves them!

Drive to Shirdi

2009-05-22T21:34:00.001-07:00

Its been quite some time since we have gone on a long drive. This thought has been urging me to go on one and this time we went to Shirdi, an exact 200 KM drive from my parking. Quite contrary to what we thought about the condition of road, it surprised us with the newly laid tarmac. It took us about 210 minutes to drive to Shirdi and was never a tiring journey. A lot of credit goes to my car for the driving pleasure it offers.

08-May-09_7:30 AM - Left from our home. Reached Shirdi by about 11 AM and checked into a hotel. Apart from the temple visit, i was also looking forward to some authentic Andhra food available. All those yummy onion dosas and thalis activate my taste buds instantly. We had a darshan in the afternoon and it was pretty fast and satisfactory. Then we had a short nap and went again for darshan and this time it was arathi. Again, this went on very smoothly.

09-May-09_7:30 AM - Today was the big day as it was my first love's birthday. We went for a early morning darshan at 3:00 AM and it was a very good experience for us. We could feel all the early morning freshness and spiritual enchanting which was very enlightening. We actually had plans of going to either Nagpur or Aurangabad but had to stop because we had to attend a puja ceremony at 13:30 PM. This was Sai Vrat which is done by almost every couple very frequently. It was a very short one and done very crisply. Then we had lunch and headed back to Pune. The journey back was also very exciting as we were on the right kind of road by twilight.

The road to Shirdi from Pune Via Ahmednagar was good and newly laid. So all those people who are planning to go on this trip can look forward to some good driving experience right through the heart of Maharashtra, Sugarcane fields. An occasional stop for freshly squeezed sugar cane juice on road side is highly recommended. A nice photo shoot near the wind mills will add to your memories in your photo album.

Have you heard this tale? It is the tale of two contractors and scope management

2009-05-22T03:58:00.000-07:00

In a mythical land - rain laden at this time - exists a beautiful historical community called Avondale. Avondale has seen its trials and tribulations over the years. Most houses were built before the great depression and have withstood hurricanes, tropical storms, and few ice storms here and there. Today we are going to focus on one particular house on winding way. The owner of this winding way home wanted her fireplace to work. It had been sealed since she bought the house some 20 years ago. So a year or two ago, she hired Jethro - a contractor to open up the sealed fireplace and make it a gas fireplace instead of wood burning. Jethro promised he could get the work done in a month and half. He proclaimed it was "no big deal", he had done this before. He could start tomorrow.

Our home owner was pleased, her request would be satisfied. In the late fall, she would sipping warmed cider by a warming fire. It was early May now.

Unfortunately as goes the tale with this contractor, there were some sudden items which popped up - here and there. The fireplace plugging took longer to remove than anticipated, apparently the gas line needed to be extend to the fireplace - this needed to be fixed. The nice remote control to turn on and off the gas fire was not clearly understood as being needed by Jethro. Time continued to slip by some days Jethro showed. Other days he was no where to be found. Maybe he suffered from the salt water flu - a common affliction of surfers in the Florida area - our homeowner mused. Come early September, our homeowner saw the finish touches about to be completed and was hopeful. All that was left was the inspection. Unfortunately, the 1921 Fireplace apparently needed to be hurricane proof, and it currently wasn't. Surprisingly to Jethro, the code had changed over the last 90 years. So throughout the month of October and a most of November, the fireplace was made hurricane proof. The homeowner watched her next years vacation funds going towards the hurricane-proof fireplace as she wondered why had they gotten here and how had so many things changed.

A couple of years went by and our homeowner decided to once again endeavor into home improvements. This time, she wanted to get the kitchen remodeled and replace the electric stove with a gas stove. She went with a new contractor Stan. Stan was the man. When our homeowner invited Stan into appraise the work, Stan took a couple of moments and explained how the process would work and the actual work with the kitchen remodeling and replacing the stove. They both agreed and then Stan said something different. "Let me share with you a little bit on how we are going to assure we understand the same things. I'm going to provide you with a binder notebook of what I understand we are looking to accomplish. I'll have one too. Yours will be here in a couple of days. I have a few things I want to check to make sure it is right. In a week or two, let's sit down together and review making sure we have everything right. You'll sign both copies, and I'll sign both copies. After we understand what is needed we can decide when to start. Along the way if something comes up or changes, just let me know. If I see anything I'll discuss it with you. We can evaluate the changes together looking at the implications and see if the juice is worth the squeeze. Then we will both sign the updated changes and add it to our books. This way at the end we will compare what's in our book to what was done. " Our homeowner was a bit hesitant as work wouldn't start right away, but was willing to try something new. She was suspicious of the time involvement this would take from her. She got the book a couple of days later, and there were some minor changes - it didn't take long to review about half an hour. A week later she and stan reviewed the book together and agreed to what was needed. During the construction, there were some changes here and there. Stan and her evaluated them together. All changes had reviewed the downstream effects to budget, resources, and schedule. Some where good suggestions for now, others were good for next years home improvement effort. When all was said and done, Stan and our homeowner compared the delivered work to what was in the books. Everyone was on the same page, and work had been delivered to schedule. If the change needed a schedule change, and it was an approved, then the schedule changed to accommodate it. Our homeowner reflected on the two construction efforts and realized taking the time to plan was good, but collaborating on suggested changes was what really made the experience pleasant.

Courtesy - http://www.anticlue.net/archives/000917.htm

DDIS VDi

2009-05-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

The above letters are synonymous for a monstrous engine....

I am happy to have a VDi as my first car and it never disappointed me. 10800 KMS and still in love with this beauty which makes you go crazy on road tempting you to challenge the dynamics of nature.

The real pleasure starts at 2000 RPM with the adrenaline rushing. Roll down the windows and you could hear the wind gushing in and that explains this beast's power. With a mileage of 20-22 KMS/Litre, you will definitely look for week-ends to unleash the beast. If Seabiscuit needed another horse to stare in its eye, this just needs a gentle push of accelerator and before you could realize, it generates raw power which will make you go wild.

Yes,its got its own problems which are irrevelant and biggest of them happens to be rattles. With a nice ICE set-up in your car, you can definitely ignore them and enjoy the ride. Maruti Suzuki really is the company in the country to own a car from. Their service really makes you fall in love with the brand and creates an eternal bond. I really dont fancy owning any other car other than from maruti stable in the future. Their service network coupled with the right attitude of their serivce men is simply superb.

And coming back to car, this engine,DDIS has been a sensation from the day it was launched. Though its the same as in FIAT PALIO, LINEA or TATA VISTA, Maruti has tweaked it to perfection and that is clearly visible from the VDi sales numbers which simply outnumber their nearest competetors inspite of having a 2 month waiting period. I still remeber numerous pre-lauch reviews of recently launched cars which claimed that this will be the end of DDIS. And after their launch, i see more of them lying in showrooms rather than on roads. I am tempted to name what these cars are but resisting out of respect to these giants which failed to read Indian consumers pysche. We Indians are smart and doesnt get fooled by silly claims. What happened to IPhone and Fabia are two small examples which cease to stay out of your memory...

Apart from its crown jewel (engine), the other biggest USP of this car is its ability to give confidence to the driver. It gives you a feeling of having complete control on the road and drives as if it is tightly grounded. This gives that extra ooooomph feeling to the entire driving experience which makes you drive more and more. Agreed that the rear leg room is congested, but a DINK is really not bothered about the rear seats. You buys cars and you buy engines. But in VDi's case you buy both and thats the rear feat which Maruti has achieved. They had a world class engine and by the time they launched DDIS in India, they had a proven car design in the form of SWIFT LXi/VXi/ZXi which was already doing wonders. I still remember one of the auto shows where the reviewer compared the driving experince with a merc. The comparison itself is sufficient to underline the engine's capabilities.

I still love to polish my car on every Sunday myself and get it cleaned inside-out. Its my prized possession and my second love. Its the perfect statement when Maruti says that,"India drives home in a maruti".....

2 Years of Professional Life

2009-04-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

Suddenly at the end of a very hectic day, i realized that i am on the verge of completing 2 years in profession. I still feel that i joined my current organization only a couple of weeks ago. I still wonder how the 2 years passed by so quickly. I guess the reason might be because of heavy work from day 1.

More than anything i am happy for assimilating very valuable knowledge which is never taught to anybody anywhere. "How to deal with people?" is something which i have learned so far and will love to learn on anyday. I have dealt with people on both the sides of the horizon. This helped me a lot in estimating the type of attitude required from me to deal with different kinds of people. It was difficult, frustrating and irritating in the initial days. But later i learnt the secret of considering every meeting as an adventure rather than a head-ache. This has helped me a lot in trying to make a discussion out of a boring meeting.

Also, i have learnt the art of losing some arguments to win bigger ones. Ultimately life is all about giving some and taking more. The fact is that one cant win everything and cant be in lime-light everyday. For you to win a bigger battle or be in the lime-light, you have to lose some insignificant battles and intentionally let someone else take credit for your work. Mark my words!!! These small sacrifices/doings will propel you into lime-light automatically with minimum effort.

But one thing i want to get rid of quickly is to come out of my obsession with the word "Sir". Though not required in a MNC, i somehow got addicted to using while interacting with senior people condisering the fact that i was fresh out of college. But these days i have realized the fact that there are only a very few handful of people around me whom i will be addressing with "Sir".

Now the reason i wrote this blog is to let the management students coming out of colleges understand about what to expect from initial years of career. Its not only marketing strategies or financial caluclations that should be expected. Its actually the art of dealing with people in your organizations that one should look forward to.
These experiences are worth more than anything else atleat in the initial years as they lay a solid foundation for one to build a career.

Bye for now!!!

Six-Sigma GB Project - DMAIC

2009-04-07T01:59:00.001-07:00

I have completed my Six-sigma project which leads to a certification in Green-Belt. Below is a short description of the problem statement, solution offered, tools used and brief description of each tool.

Problem Statement

Customer is an OEM who manufactures and market the ozone generator system, which is used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. There is no centralized tool available in ODC which tracks rework and defects data across all the projects. More than 10% of schedule slippage will be cost to Oaces and defective deliverables are also affecting the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI). Every resource spends about 15%of his annual billable MH doing rework which is resulting in a loss of revenue.

Our Solution

The situation demanded a procedure which could measure and reduce rework in offshore design projects. Complexity Rating (CR) is required which is dependent on historical data, design activity itself, stake-holders, decision making process, resource skill set and technical aspects of the project. The biggest risk for this rating would be subjectivity which can be progressively minimized using historical data. Generating CR would be interactive process between PM and framework. The advantages of CR are as follows:

#Tool to help PM identify manifestation of complexity within a project process
#Plan resources in order to minimize the impact
#Identify the factors and issues influencing and contributing to complexity in design teams
#Will help minimize the gap between customer expectations and actual project achievements

Identification of defects closer to their point of origin will help in reduction of rework MHs.

Through this project we have identified the need for phased reviews of every project. Based on the CR of every project, a reviewer is identified in SOW. These phased reviews will help us in measuring the following.
#Errors-Potential Defects that are found during the phase that created them
#Defects-Errors that escape to the subsequent phase or delivered to customer

Based on these parameters, we can measure Total Containment Effectiveness (TCE), Phase Containment Effectiveness (PCE) and Defect Containment Effectiveness (DCE).

We have also identified the need for utilizing the services of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) during requirements capture phase. The primary objective is to assess the adequacy of the documents/inputs received from client which are used for compiling the Statement of Work (SOW).

We also proposed the requirement to compile Minutes of Meeting (MOM) and query tracker which has to be made mandatory in Project Planning Document (PPD).

Proper buffer selection, efficient time-line and scheduling techniques also assist in reducing rework. Resources should also be trained to properly categorize rework into one of the following.

#Rework-Defects
#Rework-Change in Inputs
#Rework-Vendor/CM

Tools Used

#Define & Proposal Stage - Project Charter && TMAP
#Measure Stage - SIPOC
#Analysis Stage - PMAP As is Process && PMAP for Ideal Process
#Improve Stage - FMEA
#Control Stage - Control Plan

Brief description of tools used

Project Charter

Defines plan of actions, current situation, overall plan, proposal and business impact,formal project approval, defined task, team, budget, business outcome and schedule

Thought Process Map

Thought process map is a live document that is used to list down what we know and what we don’t know. It is a document that closes out when the project is finished. What we don’t know is discussed with the customer so that the requirements are captured in depth with clear specifications. This tool helps in developing the thought process going in a design at various levels in different phases of the project.

SIPOC

The acronym SIPOC stands for Suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers. A SIPOC diagram is a tool used by a team to identify all relevant elements of a process improvement project before work begins. It helps define a complex project that may not be well scoped, and is typically employed at the Measure phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology.

PMAP

It is a hierarchical method for displaying processes that illustrates how a product or transaction is processed. It is a visual representation of the work-flow either within a process - or an image of the whole operation. Process Mapping comprises a stream of activities that transforms a well defined input or set of inputs into a pre-defined set of outputs.

FMEA

FMEA is a tool, which helps us to identify the failure modes in advance and allows us to anticipate the effects of failure in the design, before hand. This helps us in fine-tuning the design from the identified failures. Function map eases in identifying the failure modes as the design is more or less clear at the block level.

Control Plan

Control Plan makes sure that the experiences and practices are documented for other engineers to refer in their designs in future

Convocation is over

2009-04-07T01:48:00.000-07:00

Convocation is over!!!!

Lot of ambiguity and loads of disappointment from the way it was organized. Looks like it was done in a hurry. But, it was managed in the best way it can be considering the number of students, time and many other intangible issues.

And we got the diploma…that’s the most important thing which has been well taken care of during the entire episode. The guest was worth telling to all my colleagues and friends unlike many colleges who invite an unknown personality trying to make a VIP out of the guest. In our case, guest was Dr.John Hood, Vice-Chancellor-Oxford University.

I met all my friends whom I intended to meet and hoped to see them again. We had a dinner party at Barbeque Nation, Kalyani Nagar. To some extent, the scorching sun has dampened the spirits of roaming around the city. But this gave us ample time to sit and talk about our professional experiences and a lot many other things.

I and my friends truly missed Appa Rao who recently shifted to middle-east. His presence would have brought in the unpredictability factor which was a characteristic of his decision making. Also, we have missed Danda Arun Kumar who again is famous for his ambiguities which is again predominant in his decision making.

College had seen a transformation in its infrastructure with new hostel and academic blocks newly constructed. It has got a bigger hostel, new academic block along with a vast library to accommodate the growing popularity. This popularity is in spite of not investing even a single penny in advertising. I have seen everybody who is associated with this college saying that it is the “IIM of Construction and Project Management Sectors”.

I seriously recommend for all the engineers who want to pursue a techno-managerial course which would establish them in the industry in a big way. I am not cynical by recommending it to only engineers as only they are eligible. A course in project management with some wise career decisions coupled along with some smartness will put you always in lime-light in career. Situated in Pune combined with a history of more than 25 years makes this college more reliable. Its association with many industries will help in taking care of placements which is the most important parameter of any post gradaute course

Well, all this while I was talking about NICMAR (National Institute of Construction Management And Research.....

TOLL FREE NUMBERS IN INDIA

2009-04-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

Today morning i recieved a rare "useful" forwarded mail. Such mails make you belive that not all forwarded mails are useless. This mail contained all the important toll free numbers ranging from banks to healthcare. So i thought of sharing the info with everybody. God bless the guy who compiled all this data.

Airlines
Indian Airlines -1800 180 1407
Jet Airways - 1800 22 5522
Spice Jet - 1800 180 3333
Air India -- 1800 22 7722
Kingfisher - 1800 180 0101
============ ========= ========= =====
Banks
ABN AMRO -1800 11 2224
Canara Bank - 1800 44 6000
Citibank - 1800 44 2265
Corporation Bank - 1800 443 555
Development Credit Bank - 1800 22 5769
HDFC Bank - 1800 227 227
ICICI Bank - 1800 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI - 1800 22 4848
IDBI Bank - 1800 11 6999
Indian Bank - 1800 425 1400
ING Vysya - 1800 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1800 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank - 1800 11 2300
Punjab National Bank - 1800 122 222
State Bank of India - 1800 44 1955
Syndicate Bank - 1800 44 6655
============ ========= ========= =====
Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio -1800 22 6006
Maruti - 1800 111 515
Tata Motors - 1800 22 5552
Windshield Experts - 1800 11 3636
============ ========= ========= =====
Computers/IT
Adrenalin -1800 444 445
AND - 1800 425 6664
Apple Computers - 1800 444 683
Canon - 1800 333 366
Cisco Systems - 1800 221 777
Compaq - HP - 1800 444 999
Data One Broadband - 1800 424 1800
Dell - 1800 444 026
Epson - 1800 44 0011
eSys - 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy - 1800 444 888
HCL - 1800 180 8080
IBM - 1800 443 333
Lexmark - 1800 22 4477
Marshal's Point - 1800 33 4488
Microsoft - 1800 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334
Seagate - 1800 180 1104
Symantec - 1800 44 5533
TVS Electronics - 1800 444 566
WeP Peripherals - 1800 44 6446
Wipro - 1800 333 312
Xerox - 1800 180 1225
Zenith - 1800 222 004
============ ========= ========= =====
Indian Railway Enquiries
Indian Railway General Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Central Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Reservation 131
Indian Railway Railway Reservation Enquiry 1345,1335,1330
Indian Railway Centralised Railway Enquiry 1330/1/2/3/4/ 5/6/7/8/9
============ ========= ========= ========= ========= =====
Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier -1800 44 8585
AFL Wizz - 1800 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1800 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd - 1800 21 4560
DHL - 1800 111 345
FedEx - 1800 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers - 1800 11 3456
UPS - 1800 22 7171
============ ========= ========= =========
Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony -1800 11 1188
Anchor Switches - 1800 22 7979
Blue Star - 1800 22 2200
Bose Audio - 1800 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1800 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners - 1800 444 222
DishTV - 1800 12 3474
Faber Chimneys - 1800 21 4595
Godrej - 1800 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps - 1800 33 4555
LG - 1901 180 9999
Philips - 1800 22 4422
Samsung - 1800 113 444
Sanyo - 1800 11 0101
Voltas - 1800 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1800 44 5432
============ ========= ========= =========
Investments/ Finance
CAMS -1800 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund - 1800 22 2300
Easy IPO's - 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments - 1800 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund - 1800 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley - 1800 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund - 1800 222 626
LIC Housing Finance - 1800 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund - 1800 22 3040
Sharekhan - 1800 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund - 1800 22 0101
============ ========= ========= ====
Travel
Club Mahindra Holidays -1800 33 4539
Cox & Kings - 1800 22 1235
God TV Tours - 1800 442 777
Kerala Tourism - 1800 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1800 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - 1800 22 9900
Sita Tours - 1800 111 911
SOTC Tours - 1800 22 3344
============ ========= ========= ====
Healthcare
Best on Health -1800 11 8899
Dr Batras - 1800 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline - 1800 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson - 1800 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic - 1800 22 5292
LifeCell - 1800 44 5323
Manmar Technologies - 1800 33 4420
Pfizer - 1800 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek - 1800 11 45 46
Rudraksha - 1800 21 4708
Varilux Lenses - 1800 44 8383
VLCC - 1800 33 1262
============ ========= ========= ===
Insurance
AMP Sanmar -1800 44 2200
Aviva - 1800 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz - 1800 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance - 1800 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life - 1800 227 227
LIC - 1800 33 4433
Max New York Life - 1800 33 5577
Royal Sundaram - 1800 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance - 1800 22 9090
============ ========= ========= =======
Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand -1800 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group - 1800 111 000
Marriott - 1800 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza - 1800 111 222
Taj Holidays - 1800 111 825
============ ========= ========= ======
Teleshopping
Asian Sky Shop -1800 22 1800
Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1800 11 5225
Tele Brands - 1800 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping - 1800 447 777
WWS Teleshopping - 1800 220 777
============ ========= ========= ========
Others
Domino's Pizza -1800 111 123
============ ========= ========= ====
Cell Phones
BenQ -1800 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones - 1800 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist - 1800 11 1211
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Advanced Validation Techniques in Excel

2009-04-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

Assuming that one knows validation in excel, i am posting this blog which desribes advanced validation techniques in excel.

First let's talk about the problem/scenario which will help one in visualizing what i am talking about.

You have a column in excel where you have defined a drop-down list of items using simple validation. If you require the entries of drop-down list in another column vary in accrodance with the selection made in the first column, these advanced vaqlidation thechniques will help you.

The first column should be defined in the basic way of creating a drop-down box-either by defining a list or by including in the definition field itself. This should be very easy (Assumption!!!)

Now the corresponding items of drop-down boxes must be named with exaclty the same name of the primary list. Let me now take an example.

Option - 1: Numbers which will include 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
Option - 2: Alphabets which will include A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H....
Option - 3: Symbols which will include !,@,#,$,%,^,&,*,(,)

In this case Numbers, Alphabets and Symbols will be your primay validation column. Based on the selection in this column, the next column should include items in drop-down box. Now these items should be included in a different column and their lists should be named as Numbers or Alphabets or Symbols-which ever applies. Then in the second column, include the following formula. This will automatically inter-link the primary and secondary columns.

=indirect(Primary Column Cell No)

Now there is another problem which might arise. IF somebody changes the selection of the first column after making a choice in the second column, then one can use the following formula to highlight the error made. This should be defined in the conditional formatting of the secondary column.

=ISERROR(MATCH(Secondary Column Cell No,INDIRECT(Primary Column Cell No),FALSE))

Now this completes the procedure of creating linked drop-down boxes with loose ends tied.

I assume that i was clear enough in describing the problem and solution. In case if i am wrong, one can leave a message describing their question which will be addressed.

College Convocation!!!!

2009-03-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well!!!At last....

Our college management finally woke up and anounced the date for convocation-4th April'09. Its exactly 22 months back when we joined HAIL and finally getting a chance to meet some of my good old friends who otherwise come up with weird excuses for not plannig a trip to Pune.

The convocation is just a couple of days away and friends will start pouring in very soon. Parties, roaming and making fun of old days...NOPE...this wont be the situation this time around. Working till late friday evening and then attending the conocation on Saturday Morning in your Sunday dress is the most practical way of life...it just seems to be the easiest way.

And back to office on Monday...Life has become so routine that we really miss some good things which we did on week days couple of years back...MON, TUE, WED, THU, TGIF and then the week-end comes and again the count starts...and if there is a holiday on a week-day you feel bored as it breaks the rythm and suddenly the next day becomes hell down under...

Well, finished (almost) my second year in Honeywell and also my Six-Sigma GB certification which was running for the past 6-8 months....Some times it feels really bad to comprehend the fact that one is facing the worst recession (or fear) in the 2nd year of career...Well on the positive side, it has made you stronger both emotionally and keep your feet grounded....

After completing my GB certification, i set my target on PMP certification which should be started any time soon....

Amidst all this, i have give my car for servicing...the first 10K Kms have been enjoyable and satisfactory...well i have reserved another posting to describe my experiences...Achtung!!!!

Well..this is not a monday moring nor a stress busting posting...but will start posting more frequently...

Till then keep missing me...

Sumbody, plx press the fast fwd button...

2008-12-08T04:06:00.000-08:00

December is the month which looks very long in a year. The moment November ends, everybody start to think that its only a month for the new year. But this 30 days actually look stretched and you feel like pressing the fast forward button if atall this world can be controlled by a remote.

At the moment, i feel like Dec 1st came long time back but the joy stop there as its only Dec 8th today. See, thats what i am talking about. Really, just like everybody else, recession is hitting everything..:-)

These days many people talk about economy slowdown, recession, bad market and if somebody dares to question them what these actually mean, be careful as you will come across many definitions which any seasoned economist cant even dream of.

But, these people are true. Really, recession is effecting many things and its causing many plans go haywire. For some, this recession has been positive and when i say this, i really mean by prospective home or car buyers. Logically it has to be bad for those who are selling these.

Strange thing flashed across my mind!!!I belong to a generation which has possibly seen many surprising/shocking things. To name a few...

1. Terrorist attacks (9/11,26/11,7/7 etc)
2. Biggest Economy Slowdown
3. India's growth
4. Indian Cricket and Cricketer's Histronics
5. Indian Political Scenario (This is shocking) and many more.

And coming back to the point, i am looking forward to many interesting movies lined up and few visits by relatives which can actually make life exciting which otherwise has gone into a mode which is "9 to 8: 5 Days a week" routine where weekends are as valuable as gold and weekly holidays are as valuable as diamonds and leaves if planned properly are even worth more.

And like many fellow Indians i want to sign off with all the respect by saying "HAIL INDIA-HAIL ARMY/NSG/POLICE"......

Unimaginable Terror

2008-12-02T00:33:00.000-08:00

Nov 26th 2008....

What started as a pretty ordinary day turned out to be the worst nightmare....

it was all going fine that wednesday. India won the fifth match in a row and many of us already started planning for week-end which was due in 2 days.

Right after the match got over, we were browsing through TV channels and came across a news that there was gunfire reported from many parts of Mumbai. It was initially reported as sporadic gun fire, the reported as gang war and it took some time for everybody to really understand what was happening. What should be "Good Night" for every one turned out to be shocking after realizing that it was actually a terror attack.

For the next 62 hours, everybody saw and cried. The only question which flashed across many a minds, "How could this happen?".

Finally when the mission was over on Saturday morning, the real stupidity saw the day light.

Many facts were revealed about how our government had information about an impending danger and how lacuna in various establishments were exposed.

This might be the first big terror attack which was widely covered by the media and thus every "Stupid Common Man" has felt the shock and shared the pain.

It would be really great if the same media prevents the same "Stupid Common Man" from forgetting this attack. We should remember this attack and be more cautious and prevent our great grant old men/"woman" from making us forget about this attack.

I am deeply moved by this terror act and deliberatley avoiding the media coverage with a simple aim of not getting depressed. This attack has left a unerasable image and i want every one of us to atleast remember this national shame.

We cant say this as failure of government or intelligence because even the most powerful country in the world, America was also a victim of this terror.

The actual failure/success is judged by the actions taken by our government to tell the world about a single word, "BEWARE".

After 9/11, there was a strong message sent out by the Americans. It was simple but the most threatening.

"If Americans find even a unexploded bomb on their streets, they would go to the extent of destroying the people, country who were by even a sheer suspicion thought of being involved in the act"

Our government by snapping diplomatic ties, or snapping cricket, or by even building up of army across the border will achieve NOTHING.

Its time to send out the message loud and clear. Please do it. If it fails to do so, everybody will start to belive one simple fact that India has to have somebody over there who can be blamed for every terror attack and this is preventing India from taking action.

Stop being a country preaching non-violence as this is the era of terror and war.

SAP......

2008-11-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

<<>>.....and finally i am bitten by this three letter word....i was hearing about this for a long time in different contexts.....after Honeywell has deployed...there is no more "running away" from it....somebody in my department smartly quoted....its the only way to work...and supposed to be very user friendly....

this has all happened in a span of 7 days though we know the storm was coming 12 months back.....but i personally feel its the best thing that has happened to me professionally in the recent time.....

aah...BTW....i was reading a blog very recently where the author was in ever increasing admiration of South Indians....well one has to understand the fact that much of the chandrayaan team was from South...well i don't want to wage a argument over here...the point i was trying to make was that Andhra has a big role to play in SAP....my colleague was quoting about the presence of telugu's in this domain...

this reminds me of a very funny joke...almost a year back many people believed and perhaps still...the best way to get into SAP is getting into a bus and go to Ameerpet...find a SAP institute which offers training with live project facility...and dreamt of big break in SAP overnight....i from the bottom of my heart respect who made it....but at the same time pity all those who couldn't...this also has been the story line of many telugu movies these days....

i am tired and am in desparate to sleep...GOOD NIGHT....

Blogging...great way for fun during work....

2008-11-03T18:13:00.000-08:00

And finally i remembered the most important thing.....that i should write....

And this i am doing beacuse of my attempt to break away from a stressed life....

Now i understand why it hurst you badly to sit in a office with many empty seats around you...i just thought of showing up in my office after a very long week-end (also diwali break) and was finally left trying to keep my self awake with nobody from my regular group of friends to disturb or get disturbed...done all the things which i could imagine doing in a office to see time run like a usain bolt...finished saying hi n bye to everybody in my phone book....assimilated a lot of unwanted knowledge about so many interesting things which otherwise are good discussion starters....finished pressing refresh button 101 times before kumble bowls his next bowl only to remind myself that Australians are cruising ahead....amidst all this the best things that can ever happen to me was getting nostalgic about my blogging....

all these days when i was away from my blogs...a lot happened....a trip to goa....lots of late night stays in the office....a great part with all the office colleauges....a trip to my native place...and ofcourse diwali....and also a lot of bad things to hear everyday....

trip to goa was very much needed and it came in the right time and rejuvenated...this trip coupled with a long drive in SWIFT was more intersting as i let the beast go wild on the spectacular road between pune and kolhapur...at one point i was racing with the actual beast-TATA SAFARI until my wife reminded me that i was driving a swift and not a HONDA CITY (most probably,my next car)....the drive was not very tiring and we reached goa with high energy levels...though the energy levels were little dented by a big dent on my car by some nasty crook....it doesnt take much time for goa to forget all that (actually thanks for the insurance guys and MARUTI guys)...we had a real good time....this being the first trip for my wife...we had covered all the beaches...had lunce and dinners at a variety of places with varying contrasts in ambience...but felt that theres lot more in goa left to explore which ofcourse will be done next time...and finally my wife has completed one long pending wish of seeing a beach...

and then came the trip to my native place....Vijayawada....it was all very flashy trip as i had to visit so many friends and relatives given the little time i had...nothing flamboyant to write about theis trip except that it gave me some nice time to spend in my home with my parents and sis....

lets discuss about the rest after a little while....

Forgot But Not Lost.....

2008-07-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

I was inactive for some time now and i am completely aware of that.....

Some of my friends were wondering about my absence but that has multiple reasons of which some are believable....its upto you to pick the believable one....

I am getting back to blogging and please bear with me as i am having a huge hang-over of my new car...so my blogs will have a heavy dose of references (might be stupid to some of you)......but the point is "I HAVE GOT A NEW CAR".....

And well....i am also busy with my work (i said u will have to pick n believe some reasons)......

hmm....forgot about cricket.....for some strange reason it has taken a back seat....strange that politics are indeed interesting....seen this kind of stuff only in movies till 22-July-08....

Also, i feel i can write about eating joints in pune....credit goes to my wife....she motivates me to explore my wild side of tasting a variety of dishes...

In between all this....my B'day came n went suddenly....silent ofcourse only for the world....it was exciting for me n my wife....

And BTW....this is not Monday morning.....

50/50 Rule Vs 50/70 Rule for S-Curve

2008-04-23T22:34:00.001-07:00

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED that the "linear 50/50 rule" doesn’t seem to work well on your projects? That is, if you have an activity such as Prepare the Product’s Documentation, Code the Product’s Modules, or Run the System Test Scripts, when half of the allotted time for the activity has elapsed, you are 50 percent completed with the activity. Yet, when the remaining 50 percent of the time expires, the activity has not completed? This is a common problem on projects with activities that are made up of multiple so-called equivalent-weighted tasks.For example, if we have 100 pages of material to write in 20 days (Prepare the Product’s Documentation), we expect the progress of writing the pages to represent a linear progression. That is, each page takes the same amount of time to write and that five pages can be expected to be completed every day. But the reality is that if you are only 50 percent complete with an activity when half the time has elapsed, the activity is almost certain to be completed late.So, what can we do different? When planning an activity made up of many tasks that are approximately of the same level-of-effort, do not use the linear 50/50 rule. Instead, use the "S-shape curve 50/70 rule." That is, when 50 percent of the time has elapsed, 70 percent of the work must have been completed. The remaining 30 percent of the work must be completed in the remaining 50 percent of time.Let’s look at the exhibit to better understand what happens. The S-shape curve is common for planning many types of endeavors. It suggests that progress usually is slow at the start of an activity, builds to a peak when productivity is at its very best, and then slows again during the more difficult phase of completing the activity. Almost every activity you take on in life tends to play out this way. This is why many of us say we are on schedule midway into an activity, and believe we are, yet often are late in completing the activity.
THE NEXT TIME you are creating a plan for yourself, or are working with your team or project members in creating a plan, make sure that your plan takes into account the realities of the S-shape curve. Furthermore, when your progress is being tracked, show the planned progress as an S-shape curve where the vertical axis depicts the quantity being measured, such as the number of pages to be written, modules to be coded, or test scripts to be run. Then report your actual progress against your plan that is depicted as an S-shape curve.

Geeta Saransh about Project Management

2008-04-23T02:23:00.000-07:00

This ones really funny.

Will discuss about this very soon...

By the way this also is a part of my series.....

CCPM-Student Syndrome!!!

2008-04-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

In the first part of the series on CCPM, let’s discuss about Student Syndrome.
When a lead drafts a schedule with budgets for every task, it is no surprise that they build buffers into every task. They justify this by using a simple word “In-Case”. But this simple theory is one of the major reasons for schedule slippage and that’s what student syndrome is all about.
Student syndrome refers to the phenomenon that many people will start to fully apply themselves to a task just at the last possible moment before a deadline. This leads to wasting any buffers built into individual task duration estimates.
Though building buffers into every task be seen as a plan with good intention, the latest possible start of tasks in which the buffer for any given task is wasted beforehand, rather than kept in reserve.
This phenomenon is visible in all forms of work/business. This same behavior is seen in businesses; in project and task estimating, a time- or resource-buffer is applied to the task to allow for overrun or other scheduling problems.
But what’s the solution for this?
On the face of it, the most recommended solution is to cut down budget of every task by 20-25%. In other words, minimize or remove individual task buffers. To compensate for this build a cumulative buffer and start performing buffer management. Sound Simple!!! But the real problem lies in implementing it successfully. The most common problems encountered are:
Convincing project leads for reduction of task buffers
Amount to be reduced from task budgets
Identification of critical areas or critical path
Building cumulative buffer into the critical path
And finally adhering to the schedule and managing it
We have a lucky to have a panacea to the all the above mentioned problems. That’s what many management gurus call “Change Management”. In my next post, I will be elaborating on the execution of the CCPM process.
I am learning a lot these days and I am interested in sharing my learning. Oops!! I am not preaching any philosophy…..not in a mood and will never be….

And we have 3rd test match and IPL coming very soon……Lets see what our “Devils” have in store for us.

Well!....Well!...Well!

2008-04-07T03:10:00.000-07:00

Let’s talk about some interesting Project Management concepts.
To start with lets talk about Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM).
Starting this week, I will be extensively writing about my experiences with CCPM.
So you can expect some interesting stuff which is not discussed in books.
Lets get back to some serious business and gain some gyaan…….

Big Day!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

Day has come and gone!!! Not a day to cherish. I hope everybody understood what I am talking about. Hike!!!! Its one day which reminded me that %ge figures can be misleading as long as the absolute figures are not revealed. It’s the day for which everybody around me was waiting for. Everybody has their own reasons though. While some made it the decision point to make a shift or not, others wanted to know about the company’s (manager’s) perception of their work. Anyhow company gave me the maximum it could and I am happy as there was a perfect balance (actually more) between expectations and my work. As I said previously it has got nothing much to cherish and so let’s end at this point.

Towards the end of my first year in Honeywell, the boundaries of my work have expanded and I am made responsible for many processes. This should justify my promotion to a senior level position. However I am constantly reminded of not getting complacent and keep looking for new horizons.

Well that’s enough for professional life. It’s been 4 months into my new mode of life and everyday seems to get more n more exciting. Long bike rides, candle night dinners, star gazing are some of the many things which come along with this new mode of life.

India has arrived….

2008-03-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

And finally Dhoni’s devils have done it. Infact they did it in style. The last edition of Commonwealth Bank series is won by India.
Somebody please teach Aussies that sledging is a part of cricket. They have been thinking it otherwise for some time. This should bring the curtains down for Aussies dominance on cricket. Dhoni has everything going his way. He got what he wanted from selectors and gave every Indian what he wanted.
Well that brings this long cricket series to an end. Well as SRK rightly said, “Picture abhi baaki hain”!
This win will sure raise many questions regarding “seniors” which Dhoni will surely be able to answer in his own style.
This also means that I will be writing more about my work in blogs rather than about cricket.

Great Sunday…

2008-03-03T04:50:00.000-08:00

Super Sunday was what media has christened 02-Mar-2008 as. And they had rightly predicted. Double Whammy for Indian Cricket. Isn’t it?

Just when all the multiplexes were drying due to lack of cinemas, Sachin and Under-19 colts gave me a reason to think that week-ends can be enjoyable even in the absence of good movies.

If Praveen Kumar provided ignition early-on, Sachin and Rohit gave it the all important fuel to sustain and burn down the hype which Punter boys have built around them. Playing India seems to be night-mare for Australians now-a-days. If they could say they feared Laxman the most in test team, they should fear the whole Indian team. This team has reinvented itself. No fortune teller could have predicted this. T20 World-Cup winners, Series win against Pakistan, Many first-times (first test win in Perth and first ODI win in SCG) all speak for themselves.

And if they could win one more on Tuesday, this team surely would become invincible. This would add a pinch of salt to injury and would make Symonds and Hayden keep quiet for a long time to come. I am sure Dhoni would be preparing for his speech on awards ceremony which should be satirical in pay-back mode.

This series might be the last one for Australia to win ODIs comfortably (Only if they can this time). It’s because Cricket Australia is suddenly facing dearth of quality players. Gilly, Tait and Hoggy retired because of their own personal reasons. India at the moment has the strongest bench in the cricket world. How could one imagine Suresh Riana, Zaheer, Karthik, R P Singh, Sehwag and many more not present in the playing XI and still India is winning? And we even have many players performing big at Ranji Level. BCCI has made the right move by launching IPL.

One news channel has this sports analyst who rightly said, “Suddenly Indian team is at home under the captaincy of Dhoni”.

You might be wondering why I am writing all this. It’s Monday morning and so…..

Have a nice week….

Somebody pls solve this mystery…..

2008-02-27T01:06:00.000-08:00

Suddenly the days in 2008 have started to look very long. The 9 hours between 10 AM and 7 PM suddenly look like 90 hours. Not much work and not exciting any more. Some of my colleagues call it pre-appraisal feelings but I seriously feel this has got nothing to do with that. I tried many things to come out of this vacuum. My IPod is my major stress buster. And many-a-times even rediff homepage provides some relief. Somebody pls tell rediff guys to post more and more interesting news and somebody please put some sense into my N/W administrator. All the sites are blocked and the great saying, “Computer without net connection is a piece of junk” is getting into my head. Suddenly eBay, guruji, auto and many more such sites are blocked. Wait a minute! Why are the job sites accessible? Is this some signal or a professional way of spying on employees? Anyways let’s get back to the point of discussion. What is this lull and why has it crept in? What’s the solution for this?....

Anyways there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I have decided to pursue some certifications such as CAPM and GB and these should provide me the necessary relief with some future returns. May be in a day or two I will kick off the plans to start ground work for these certifications.

In between all this, I am seriously enjoying the Cricket series in Australia. Focus has somehow shifted to sledging from winning matches. I seriously think this sledging might turn the tables ON for ODIs in this new age of 20-20. I am planning to thank BCCI guys a lot for scheduling so many Indian matches this year which will help our stay in offices a little less boring.

By the way our Railway minister has turned out to be brand ambassador for Indian politicians (Perception Based). I think this is the first year in which I have followed the budget and credit should be given to the mystery which I mentioned earlier and rediff.

Finally one thing I really enjoy doing for killing time and having fun is “Research on Cars and Bikes”. 10 months back I did the same thing very extensively and bought Karizma and it’s simply amazing. Somebody pls take consultation services from me regarding bikes in India. Bcoz I will be cut-off from this segment very soon. The reason being my new research and this time it’s on cars and it was pretty simple this time. It was simple because my wife does the wishing part and I will have to abide by it by not deviating much from her choice. And the choice is Chevrolet Aveo 1.4 Limited Edition.

And finally the most boring of all, “Jodha Akbar” which was more of a forced watch for me. Seriously it was an over-stretched chewing gum. I suggest Asutosh should break it down into parts, do some cosmetic modifications, again stretch it by 10 times and release it on telly as a weekly serial. I am sure it will be a big hit bcoz of entry of Hrithik and Aishwarya into the world of telly.

Thinking of Role-Play

2008-02-06T01:46:00.001-08:00

I was thinking of different role-plays and the following one seems to be a perfect one considering the gravity of the situation.

A little boy went into a store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits. The store owner observed and listened to the conversation.The boy asked, "Ma'am, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?"
The woman replied, "I already have someone to cut my lawn.""I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now." replied the boy.
The woman responded that she was very satisfied with the person who was presently cutting her lawn.The little boy was even more perseverant and said, "I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach, Florida."
Again the woman answered in the negative.With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver.The store owner, who was listening to this conversation, walked over to the boy and said, "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."The little boy replied, "No thanks, I was just checking my performance on the job I already have. I am the one who is working for the lady I was talking to!"

This should work with me but.....

League of famous bad men

2008-01-31T03:42:00.001-08:00

Classic photo which brings all the bad men in one visual treat.....

Searching for the same in typical bollywood style......

Cars, Cars and Cars…..

2008-01-16T01:00:00.001-08:00

Wondering, what it means!!!!

By the time Nano hits the Indian Roads, every middle class Indian will evaluate the pros and cons of buying a car. And majority of them might as well go ahead and make the final decision in favor of buying the car.

But what does this mean and what repercussions does this have on our country?

This makes me remember an answer given by a famous critic to the very famous question, “Why does India lack Infrastructure?”

The answer was spontaneous and witty, “Because it never felt the need”. He supported this by quoting examples from many countries which felt the need long back and invested heavily in setting up the infrastructure. Obviously India is also realizing the need now and it is visible in many areas.

Ratan Tata gave middle class Indian a reason to feel happy. But at the same time he also gave an urgent need for other automobile giants to “re-think, re-invent and re-strategize”.

Above all this lays one major contribution by Ratan Tata to our country.

Tata Nano should be an eye-opener for our government to speed up the growth in infrastructure sector. Otherwise, we may have cars to ride, but we may not have the roads.

Will the government wake up and realize the pending danger of suffocation on Indian roads.

And if it does, Hats off Tata! You have done it again.

Globalization and Offshoring of R & D

2008-01-08T00:49:00.000-08:00

A recent Hindustan Times headline proclaimed how "India centre engineers played key role, filed 40 patents for Vista"
The article said: While Bill Gates and his global team celebrated the launch of Microsoft Corp's much awaited Vista operating system in the Times Square and elsewhere in the world, the city of Charminar had its own reasons to exult. Some 330 engineers in Microsoft's India Development Centre at Hyderabad engineered some of the most important features of the software — and filed 40 patents to prove that. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer had during his visit to India in November taken time off to party with the engineers based in the Hi-Tec City complex. Five years ago, when Windows had launched Windows XP with 40 people involved from Hyderabad, it was a case of developing individual technologies in parts (for e.g. Internet Explorer) in India and integrating them with the global team from Redmond.

Well, articles like this just reinforce the point that large organizations are globalizing research and development, leveraging skills and talent cutting across ‘time and space’ boundaries.

Its no more, "Think globally, act locally".
Its only, "Think globally, act globally".
“In a flat world, the national boundaries become less significant, and the winners are those who capitalize on capabilities available globally.”

Advertising-Its all fun....

2008-01-07T23:38:00.000-08:00

Advertisement In A Long Island Shop: Guitar, for sale....... Cheap...........no strings attached .
Ad.. In Hospital Waiting Room: Smoking Helps You Lose Weight ... One Lung At A Time!
Seen on a bulletin board: Success Is Relative. More The Success, More The Relatives.
When I Read About The Evils Of Drinking...I Gave Up Reading.
My Grandfather Is Eighty And Still Doesn't Need Glasses... He Drinks Straight Out Of The Bottle.
You Know Your kids Have Grown Up When: Your Daughter Begins To Put On Lipstick.. Or Your Son Starts To Wipe It Off .
Sign In A Bar: "Those Of You Who Are Drinking To Forget, Please Pay In Advance."
Sign In Driving School: If Your Wife Wants To Learn To Drive, Don't Stand In Her Way.
Behind Every Great Man, There Is A Surprised Woman.
The Reason Men Lie Is Because Women Ask So Many Questions .
Getting Caught Is The Mother Of Invention.
Laugh And The World Laughs With You, Snore And You sleep Alone.
The Surest Sign That Intelligent Life Exists Elsewhere In The Universe Is The Fact That It Has Never Tried To Contact Us.
Sign At A Barber's Saloon In Detroit: We Need Your Heads To Run Our Business.
A Traffic Slogan: Don't Let Your Kids Drive If They are Not Old Enough Or Else They Will Never Be.
Sign In A Restaurant: All Drinking Water In This Establishment Has Been Personally Passed By The Manager.
Sign On A Famous Beauty Parlor Window: Don't Whistle At The Girls Going Out From Here. She May Be Your Grandmother !

Call these punchlines!!! They will sure get more attention than a big celebrity can...thats what everybody does, "Cost Cutting"...Isnt it?....

How about Taare Zameen Par?

2008-01-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

American's expectations- Japanese Perfection

2008-01-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

This one captures the attitude of Japanese towards quality.....

They're still laughing about this at IBM:
Apparently the computer giant decided to have some parts manufactured in Japan as a trial project. In the specifications, they set out that they will accept three defective parts per 10,000.
When the delivery came in there was an accompanying letter. "We, Japanese people, had a hard time understanding North American business practices. But the three defective parts per 10,000 have been separately manufactured and have been included in the consignment. Hope this pleases you."

By the way i have started to work on Six-Sigma project.

PMP Certification

2008-01-02T00:26:00.000-08:00

With my knowledge in Project Management i tried to capture the PMP certification process.

Getting PMP certification is not a simple process. But with an exam strategy it would not be that impossible. You also need to have certain educational standards and Project Management experience. A major misconception is that Project Management experience means people think that they need to be Project Manager all along. But Project contributor experience is also valid for the certification. PMI doesn’t look for Manager title, but the real Project contribution experience is sufficient. That means a Senior Developer or Business analyst who contributed to projects are eligible for PMP certification.

Lets look into basic requirements:
35 contact hours of formal Project Management education
If you have High School Diploma:7500 hours of Project Contribution experience
If you have Bachelor’s Degree:4500 hours of Project Contribution experience

Then Steps that you need to finish to appear for the exam:
Register yourself at http://www.pmi.org
Then fill-in online application
Once PMI reviews your application and approves it, you will have 1 year to write the exam
From PMI.org you can apply for the exam. Pay the fee on pmi.org web site. Then they will send you confirmation number.
Links will take you to Prometric.com web site. Using the confirmation number you can schedule your test at a center near to you.
Appear at the Prometric center and finish the exam in 4 hours.

About the exam
PMP exam will be based on PMBOK guide 3rd edition. So need not to say 2nd version is no longer valid. Please don’t follow 2nd version books at all. There is hell lot of terminology change in 3rd edition
It will be 4 hour exam and will have 200 questions in it. Out those you will be marked only for 175. The trick part is that you will not know which are those unwanted 25 questions.

Tips to fill-in your application
PMI categorized all project management processes in to 5 groups. Those are Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring, and Closing.
When you submit your application you need to categorize your experience in to these 5 process groups.
Typically we have 2000 working hours in a year. Aproximately 500 hours in a quarter. You have spread those hours across the 5 process groups.
For example in software industry if you are a developer or lead most of the time you spend on Implementation. So Executing will occupy majority of your project. If you are a Business analyst most of the time you spend on Initiating and Planning. If you are Coordinator or Project Manager you will spend mostly on Monitoring.
You have to think about your projects and calculate hours you spend across these process groups. If you calculate those figures on working sheet, then you can fill your application with ease.
In software industry Projects roughly have 10%, 30%, 20%, 30%, 10% of division across 5 process groups. This is just rough division.

Limitations of Project Management Software

2008-01-01T22:48:00.000-08:00

No one can doubt that project management software is a great tool to help PMs save a significant amount of time. As every other software, applications like MS Project or Primavera are just tools. They do not execute the entire job for the PMs. It is unacceptable to expect a computer to manage the project, it just manages the vast amount of data that large projects require to store. Any PM software has three major limitations.

1. Incapable of establishing project objectives
2. Does not define define project tasks or dependencies
3. Does not determine and manage project constraints
4. Does not perform the risk analysis

As the significance of having a proper statement of work (SOW) becomes more and more apparent, project management software should consciously take a secondary role in a project system since their power can only be exploited when the project is defined correctly.
So PM tools can only help you do the work efficiently and effectively but will not do the work for you. Learn to use them but dont expect them to replicate the "Project Manager".

Does the PM have to be a technical expert?

2008-01-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

10 years ago, most organizations felt their project managers had to be the most expert member of the project team. The PMs were the technical gurus and the theory was they would have influence to direct the team due to their technical mastery. This didn't work too well when the team was bigger than 2-3 or when they involved people from non-technical areas who thought the guru was a geek.
This thinking provided a nice career path for subject matter experts but far too often the technical experts wanted to do the technical work of the project. This was just fine on very small projects with one to three people. However, as the size of the project team increased the technical guru had to move into the people management business and deal with other functional areas. Very often the gurus were not too good at cross-functional stuff and did not want to manage people in the first place.
Today, many organizations have suffered through the mis-management and failed projects led by technical gurus. They recognize that project management is a separate set of skills and that a project manager can control a team made up of people who are more technically expert in their disciplines than the PM.
So I'm a strong advocate of having PMs who are expert in managing projects and don't feel they need to know more than everybody on the project team.
In simple words a balance should be achieved between technical and managerial skills to become an effective "Project Manager". What do you think has made Saurav Ganguly the most successful captain? Any answers!!!

Poject Management???

2007-12-28T00:08:00.000-08:00

Project Manager is a Person who thinks Nine women can deliver a baby in One month.
Developer is a Person who thinks it will take 18 months to deliver a baby.
Onsite Coordinator is one who thinks single woman can deliver nine babies in one month.
Client is the one who doesn't know why he wants a baby.
Marketing Manager is a person who thinks he can deliver a baby even if no man and woman are available.
Resource Optimization Team thinks they don't need a man or woman; they'll produce a child with zero resources.
Documentation Team thinks they don't care whether the child is delivered, they'll just document 9 months.
Quality Auditor is the person who is never happy with the PROCESS to produce a baby.

Boxing Day!!!

2007-12-27T01:37:00.000-08:00

And finally boxing day has passed by. First test match has started and is full of surprises. Great batting partnerships and great collapses all in one match and perfectly eligible to be called as a thriller. But the climax is almost revealed albeit a bit early.

The tag line for this could be "Perfectionists Vs Legends". We have many legends but legends have their own weaknesses and our Indian team is no exception.

I thought this year after being the best in my life would end on a dull note. But the last few days of 2007 would be more exciting if only my efforts pay-off.

Next year is a leap year. So i am planning to do something special on February 29th and that obviously becomes something "Very Special".

More importantly the college convocation which should be finished by now is postponed to april (most probably!). So had to wait a little longer to meet old buddies.

Also, one batch of my juniors have left Pune after successful completion of course.

My Learnings...

2007-12-24T00:22:00.000-08:00

Its 6 months into my new job responsibility and the going was good till now. I should say this..."I am one lucky guy" (Oops!!!Touch-Wood). I am Projects Controller (APM) in my department and I was responsible for initiating and steering PM concepts such as EVM, tracking and monitoring etc. In this period i was very successful in adding value to my CV (anybody listening???).

My career path for the next 6 months (after that???) looks promising. My next big assignment here would be to implement Project Server 2003 from scratch and this i think would move me into big league ( The Leauge of Special Men!!!). In this period, i will be leading a six-sigma project and this tops my wish-list.

"Hope for the best, Plan for the worst"!!!!

This is how my life is at the moment.

Busy week...

2007-12-24T00:11:00.000-08:00

I was nominated for a corporate award for the first project i worked on.Big day is on 27Dec'07(so busy for the first half of the week).I along with my boss will be competing for this and this would be a big career achievement for me. I am hoping for a repeat of history.

I developed Balanced Score card-Dashboard which was a very big hit in my BU. Enjoying every moment of the fame.

Another year ended...

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

Another year ended and this was the most happening year in my life till now.

Everything has a reason and i have so many to feel so....

I am married and this tops the list ( it has to in any case.....)