Durga Durgoti Nashini

T20 .. 20 years later !

Well, it's been quite some time that I have kept myself away from the scribbling pad of my blog, knowingly and unknowingly, as I was too much into the happenings in my personal life, my marriage to be precise. I definitely have something to share about the ceremony, the new life, the trip to Mauritius and much more. But I thought the Indian Crickets team exploits with the T20 tourney have forced myself to shun my recently acquired laziness and write a few lines. ! 1983 was the last when Kapil Paaji along with the other greats of Indian Cricket lifted the Cricket world cup. I was a Young kid then. But the sheer energy and passion generated out of this win in the smaller yet dashing version of cricket has been hard to let go.I had to submerge in it. I did submerge and could realise the joy of the cricket fans in 1983. Well the tourney symbolises youth and the achievements of the youth. Needless to mention that without the Walls, Dadas and the Sachins Indian team was a depleted lot. But the fearless manner in which they had gone with the business is best represented by Juvraj with his towering sixes. Ravi Shastri was made to heave a sigh of having to witness his record being repeated. The final was well fought with the teams matching each other in every respect. Pakistan paid dearly due to some false shots by their premier players. At the end the spirit of the tourney was high as the game was played with due sport man spirit , with least of animosity, barring a few lines from the Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik during the presentation ceremony. The captain, (With due regards to his abilities) seems to have forgotten the fact that he does not represent a religion, neither is he the ambassador of their religion...when he said "I would like to thank the people of our country and the Muslims all over the world for their support" . Now hang on Shoaib, how could you be so agonisingly immature or astonishingly uneducated to miss out on the fact that India itself has a Muslim population more than your country.... Shah Rukh is a Muslim, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan also are and so is Abdul Kalam, our ex-president. I don't want to go to the details of who they supported but please do not bring religion into Sports. Leave this one thing alone. And if you want to really thank some one , thank Humanity for allowing to to be what you are... for allowing you to be able to stand in front of millions and say what you have been. Please get out of Prejudices !!!!

Liv & Dada turns 30 !

Liv Taylor turned 30 this July ..Liv has always been one of my favourite charming holywood divas. I just admire her smile and screen presence. She has turned 30. So am I :) A post with few of her charming photos !!!

Nonte & Fonte

Well one recent picture I took along with a colleague of mine in our lab..we happened to wear the same shirt that day...so we thought it could be reason enough for a snap ..an more of a reason for a blog post :)

What are we upto now a days ?

If you are interested in knowing as to what we Nevisians are upto now a days , you might as well read our blog -

http://www.nevis-blog.com

...Some fundas from our office of CTO is actually quite an absorbing read ! :)

Delhi Chalo

Today is Netaji Jonmo Jayanti...and it was netaji who said the famous one liner ..Delhi Chalo . I had been to Delhi for the last few days..my first visit to the Capital. Photos to follow.....

Rehearsal for the republic day showdown :)

Gone with the King

He did not want himself to be hanged with his head covered with black cloth.He wanted to embrace death with open eyes, fearless and ruthless as he has been...defiance in the face of death. His life reminds me of King Porus and his famous battle with Alexander.When porus was facing certain defeat with his army succumbing to the strategic genius of Alexander, there was his desire to be treated like a king when in captivity.Unfortunately Saddam Hussain did not receive such a treatment from the U.S army.Right from he time when he was braving the Americans with his Scud missiles, fighting them out again in the deserts with his loyal Bathists, till he was caught from his underground hiding, he has defied the world and the universal opinion.He was a dictator, an emperor who ruled with utter disdain, with mind-boggling camouflage as his clones would suggest.But deep down somewhere in my heart, I have a bit of resptect for this tyrant, his bravado, courage, royal flair suggests he was a real king.

Merry Christmas

Wishes for a colourful and merry christmas to all of you !

Goa trip...

The last weekend was a good time as I went to Goa. Goa was calling for sometime but could not manage time out of my schedule to go there.It happened twice that I had to cancel the ticket to Goa the very last day to honour some professional commitments. Goa caught my immediate attention with it's splendour and charm.I must admit Goans have tremendous civic sense as the city is very neat and clean.I guess the govt is also active in keeping the city clean to keep the tourist revenue flowing.The traditional christian houses are pretty, conveys a royal and sophisticated touch as was evident on our way to Miramar beach in Panjim.We also went to Calangute beach , an attractive tourist destination, and went on for sea surfing in a motor boat.That was exciting! True to my nature , I loitered around in the streets of Panjim talking to people, savouring a biscuit and a cup of tea now and then, trying to understand Goa and it's culture! Oh yes ..we did take pictures too.Last but not the least, the night bay cruise on a ferry was something worth remembering...dancing to the tune of traditional goa musical/dance performance ...oblivious of the surroundings....didn't realise when I emptied the beer bottle in hand :) I must go to Goa again!

Daddu ke karnaamein ...

This is post in recognition to Daddu's (Moinak Ghosh) karnaamein , his accomplishments and exploits with OpenSolaris. This bring back memories of Chennai days when Daddu was my room mate along with Girish and Srikanth.Those were good times, times when we had all sorts of fun.Daddu with all his interests in Linux(Should I say any clone of Unix ?) was the mastermind of all programming tricks... now daddu has made it to the Economic Times and we are ecstatic. Congratulations from D-25 folks and the other intruders !

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1798092.cms

Unblocked !

Well , it's not the ISP/Govt (Whoever !) who unblocked my blog.There are ways to do that. One way is through http://www.pkblogs.com/. There are other ways too! For FireFox users there are web based proxies that would sort out the issue and bypass the blocking. Check out https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2232/

I can access my blog again and I am happy ! Well .. you see...there are ways :)

Blocked !

The Indian Govt and DOT has asked the ISPs to block a few blog sites.It came into action yesterday. I was wondering as to why I was not able to view my blog.This step was taken after the govt decided to limit spreading of informations across the web, a counter measure against terrorism , especially after the Mumbai blasts. I am not sure if at all this restriction would be lifted and if it would be ..when would it be ? Till then we shall be able to only post and shall not be able to view our/others blog. I have no reaction to such an action -- is it against freedom of expression/speech ? Will it really help to counter terrorism ? Are we going the China way ? Only our Govt can answer these questions.

Mumbai bomb blasts!

History has repeated itself! The memories of 1993 blasts has been rekindled.Yesterday was one another day of terror, a day of misery, destruction and death.Mumbai is bleeding once again.. thanks to a dastardly act of terror! The serial bomb blast has left hundreds dead and injured.Some how as Indians we seem to have accepted the fact that such acts are bound to happen and we should get over such times and march ahead. One more incident, setting up of one another investigation committee, another round of terrorist hunt, blaming our neighbours with renewed vigour, parliament house chaos , opposition parties crying foul, Manmohan Singh's message of peace and noncompromise with the culprits.... where will it lead us to ? Is there any end ? Let's hope all your relatives/friends in Mumbai (if any) are doing well. Best Wishes !

Rang de Basanti !

Exactly one and a half years later got a chance to see my native again! It has been a long time since 2004, December...my last visit to Agartala. As soon as the flight was descending, reflections of the past was going through my mind...the days of my youth..those happy days..things were so simple and peaceful here at Agartala...the innocent smiles, the caring and sharing, the lucid jokes , the close knit family ties, Bicycle sojourns enroute teacher's house for tution ... pretty nostalgic I was feeling!! The new airport has been architected really well ... Our Pune airport looks like a kid in front of the Agartala airport...as we were entering the city, one thing which did strike my attention was the change in the quality of the roads...not a single pot-hole!! The betterment of the roads in the entire city bears testimony to the fact that at least some effort is being taken by the CPI(M) Govt !! Lenin would have been happy indeed ! The next surprise was when I heard that our Tripura Engineering college has become a NIT.That should do the confidence of the aspiring engineers in Tripura a world of good. Another interesting observation was the mushrooming of Gyms in the streets of Agartala..good to see people going to Gym to shred some calories :) The only bad part of the stay was the summer heat at Agartala.It was terrible to say the least ! On board the Jet airways flight on my way back, I heard the hostesses saying .. "asha hain aap ke jatra sukhadh raha hain "... I thought ...yes ..both my stay at Agartala & the flight journey was "sukhadh" ... Bon jour till we meet next !

Cricket @ Nevis !

Nevis Networks intra company cricket match it was today...! Had to pull my sleepy soul from the bed with definite inherent protests from the body as to if this really is worth an effort getting up at 6.00 in the morning to play a cricket match.Now hey!..isn't cricket our "Game of passion"("Game of Nation" being hockey !!!) ?? So I had to do justice to the millions of cricket loving fans' emotions. motion which says play this "Gentle Man's " game in the right spirit. I thought I might just add some fighting spirit too apart from being in "right" spirits. That took me to the ground where our cricketers were busy defining the rules of the match and setting the batting pitch length...quite an effort without Ground Stuffs!! The game started with our folks cheering as we went to bat first. And voila didn't we bat well..we scored a pretty decent total of 142 in 20 overs.I contributedwith 37, which fortunately was the highest score :) Lot's of runnings, appeals,throws,wides,no balls and sweat ...the atmosphere was electric.We had a brief interval of 15 minutes before the opposition went in to bat.A round of cold drinks,water,glucose went in underneath the hot sun.We did bowl well and bowled with vengeance !! They were bowled out for 106 ! Huh ! performance ..isn't it ? I did get a couple of wickets and so was adjudged the "Man of the match". Happy news, obviously..so thought of sharing it with my father.. I called him up but got a nonchalant reply :)... "tumi jodhi man of the match how , tahole baki ra kemon khelowar bojhai gelo "...in bengali..which means if I could be the man of the match, then one could be sceptical about the quality of otherplayers...A fitting tribute isn't it ? :( Wonder if ever any Tendulkars,Dhonis and Sehwags received such a complement for being man of the match !! But all in all it has been a good sporting Saturday .

Want to be somebody ?

How to turn from Nobody to Somebody

That's what the article header says..I have certain points against what has been written.No strong feelings ..but just that it's not possible to get certain things as has been mentioned in this article as I firmly believe that the power to procure themis not in our hands.."we simply do not control them" ...got this from some mail source ... if you happen to read my blog ...share your comments...!!! Any way read on ....

Kaushik


"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts..."

William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Centuries have passed. These lines from Shakespeare are as important now as they were when he had written them. Every infant born in this world has a part to play; some play it better and are remembered for their great performances for centuries to come while others are who merely perform because they have the obligation to do so are the ones who become one in the huge crowd of side artists whose entry and exit goes unnoticed.What is your pick? Do you want to lead a normal, regular life just as any Tom, Dick or Harry did or do you want to make a mark? Do you want to make yourself a known entity, by becoming the most known face in your neighborhood, your social circle or your professional circle? Have you assumed that this is not possible and already have given up all hopes before even trying? This is simply not done. Nothing is impossible, you just need to know some basic tricks, implement them and see the difference. So, are you ready to learn the tricks? Let’s get started:

Communicate:

It doesn’t cost a penny to stay connected, just a little bit of effort. You can utilise the time which you would otherwise be spending to see a useless dramatic daily soap on television or catching on with an extra hour of forced sleep for this purpose. Smita Chandra totally agrees. She has been married for the last thirteen years and had a ten year old boy. Till the time he was young, she never thought of doing something on her own but now he is busy in his own life and is capable of looking after himself. Chandra recently started a business selling basic household products and has been pretty successful. She gives all the credit of her success to her connections (not with the underworld), she made it a point to be friendly with her neighbours and the families of her husband’s colleagues. Even if you are a professional it is a good idea stay connected with the colleagues and the boss of your previous organisations, you never know which channel will fetch you an unbelievably great opportunity in future.

Develop "that unique something":

Having that something which nobody else has really gets you noticed. That unique thing can be in the form of the way you talk, dress, a special kind of a gesture or anything else. Not necessarily should it be better than the others, just different. Shabana Azmi has that and so does Nandita Das, Smita Patil again can’t be forgotten. They did not have the conventional Indian beauty but they groomed themselves in a style very different from the other run of the mill pan cake painted beauties and it surely paid off. They have made a class of their own. Yashowardhan Birla is known for his funky style but then you can’t forget President Kalam’s unique hairstyle. Create some style which will make you a part of the unique brigade as uniqueness sells.

Create your own path:

Following the familiar routes as the common masses can only take you till a certain point. If you want to achieve greater heights and reach unknown destinations you have to create your own path. There surely is a lot of risk involved in taking the unknown path but then it is a risk worth taking. You might fail in the process but you might also succeed. Narayan Murthy is the perfect example in this context. Having completed his M Tech from IIT Kanpur took up a job in Paris, came to India taking up another job. In 1981Murthy founded Infosys Technologies along with six software professionals. In March 1999, Infosys became the first India-registered company to be listed on an American stock exchange. Today he is given the credit of placing India in a very strong position on the Global IT map. If he had not taken the risk of creating his own organisation today he would have had been working in some good organisation on a very senior position but his success would nowhere be close to what it is now.

Gain Expertise:

Have you seen the recent Bollywood flick "Home Delivery?" The movie did not do very well at the box office but the central character aka "Gyan Guru" played by Vivek Oberoi cannot go unnoticed. Opinion is always in demand. If you can mould yourself as an opinion provider many people will look up to you. The mantra is to become a pro on any subject. If you are a professional try to become the best in your field. Have some trait that is exclusive to you, it’ll place you on a different ground away from the crowd of generic idiots.

Create a reputation:

Creating a reputation amongst the general public helps. It shouldn’t always be on the positive side. Your name can be synonymous to that of a good person or a bad one. We are here talking about how to become a somebody to a nobody, that somebody can be a Dawood Ibrahim who is amongst the top names in all the most wanted lists or a simple Anna Hazare who is second name for rural development and people’s power in India. But please try to become someone like Hazare and not Dawood. Select the correct partner: A correct partner can do wonders for your reputation. Gauri Khan, the pretty wife of Shahrukh Khan is known for throwing great parties. It surely helps Shah Rukh maintain a warm relation with the industry people. Salman Rushdie’s name makes you think of his beautiful and talented wife Padma Laxmi. She surely adds to Rushdie’s class. Sudha Murthy, the better half of Narayan Murthy again is a good example of being the correct partner. So, while selecting your partner for life lookout for a special something which that person has the ability to complement your personality.

Get money:

The power of money remain unquestioned in today’s materialistic society. The more you have the more successful you are considered. The obsession has gone to such an extent that people no longer bother to think about the sources from which the other person has earned money. He has it and that is the only information needed. There is nothing like walking into a place and saying, "I need to spend a lot of money," to get you noticed. Bharat Shah was sent to judicial custody as a result of earning money through wrong practices; he is out now and still holds a very important place all the parties of the movie circuit. His image was not at all shaken that episode as he has loads of money and is the main financer of most of the Bollywood movies.

The big move:

Making a big move can do wonders for you, you can’t instantly become the most sought out person from a simple nobody. It can be in the form of a big merger or maybe a very strong speech or anything of this nature. But just don’t make a big wrong move as Uma Bharti did, it can finish you off. Think and plan properly before taking that big crucial step.

Achieve power:

This is the most obvious way of becoming a somebody but achieving power is not an easy task. Mukesh and Anil Ambani were lucky to have a father like Dhirubhai Ambani. They inherited power from their father. But the making of Dhirubahi was not easy, he went through lots of ups and downs to reach where he did at the end of it all. Power can come in different forms maybe as the head of your family, secretary of your society, or the being at the top most level of your organisation to name a few. It is tough to gain power but not impossible, you just need to keep moving with proper determination and focus. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. There is one on a million chance of being born great, if you are so lucky nothing like it. Greatness being thrust upon you in today’s highly competitive environment is next to impossible, people here are ready to snatch what you have, chances of them giving away so much to you is simply not possible. This leaves you with only one option; achieve greatness on your own. Follow these tips and add some of your own to move towards to becoming a somebody. Hope your journey is successful and we all identify you easily in the coming times.

Expressway

This new year got a chance to ply via the Pune-Mumbai expressway. The more we were speeding in the expressway, the more I was getting amazed at the engineering effort it took to create the expressway. It was nothing less than a freeway in the U.S..an engineering marvel really. Wonder why such efforts could not be replicated in other parts of our country..may be we should keep our fingers crossed and wait for something similar to happening other parts of our country ..possibly in North East :) :) not being overly
ambitious ..right ??

Saalsa .. The Indian way !

Nevis folks lets it loose to the tune of "Kajraa re" from Bunty & Bubli !

Nevis Time !

Nevis Time it was ! Last Monday we had our Company Announcement in India/Pune.We had a gala evening at an exciting location in the suburbs of Pune.All of our company folks including the top management were present.Had a host of events including mock sales deals, fashion shows, dance performances, speech etc.. and a range of delicacies and drinks !

Here's Vinod Dham lighting the lamp of Nevis' success in times to come !! watch out for some more photos....

Amra Bangali ! (We are Bongs !)

I got this piece of article from my friend Samrat !
Speaks about us, we Bongs ! Worth a post ! :)

One phrase every Bengali worth his sweater has grown up with is "thanda lege jabey".It is the ultimate warning of impending doom, an unadulterated form of existentialist advice. Thanda lege jabey. Thou shalt 'catch the cold'.'Catching the cold' comes easy to Bengalis. It's a skill that's acquired almost immediately after birth. Watch a Bengali baby and you would know.Wrapped in layers of warm clothing even if the sun is boiling the mercury,the baby learns quickly that his chances of survival in a Bengali household depend on how tightly he can wrap himself in cotton, linen and wool.Bengalis have almost romanticised warm clothing, so much so that Bengali art has found eloquent expression in a form of quilt-stitchwork called kantha. I'm sure wool-shearers even in faraway Australia say a silentprayer to Bengalis before the shearing season (if there's any suchseason). I'm also sure the very thought of Bengalis sends a chill down the spine of many a sheep.In winter, the quintessential Bengali's outfit puts the polar bear to shame. Packaged in at least seven layers of clothing and the head snugly packed inside the queerest headgear, the monkey cap, he takes the chill....head on. Easy lies the head that wears the monkey cap. With a pom-pom at the top, it's not just a fashion statement; it's a complete fashion paragraph.I remember strolling down the Walk of Fame in Hollywood on a pleasant Mayevening. My eyes scanned the glittering stars on the asphalt - each an odeto a Hollywood heavyweight. Suddenly, my ears caught the unmistakable Doomsday warning - 'thanda lege jabey'. I stood transfixed. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is probably the last place one would like to get caught 'catching the cold'. I turned around. There was this Bengali family braving the American chill. The young brat of the family was adamant thathe didn't want any more clothing but mom wouldn't have any of it - "sweater porey nao Rontu baba, thanda lege jabey." I need not translate that. Mom won, and the family - sweaters et al - posed for a photograph.For a race that is perpetually running scared of cold weather, Bengalis have a surprising affinity for hill stations.Probably, warmth of heart is best preserved in shawls, pullovers and cardigans. In an age when you are judged by how cool or uncool you are,the warmth that the kakus, jethus and mashimas exude can melt icebergs.I wouldn't trade that warmth for any amount of cool.However, the monkeycap may look cool without the pom-pom.