The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

My uncle gifted this book called “The Secret by Rhonda Byrne” for my birthday. After reading this book, I should say that I didn’t feel anything great about it. But i would accept the fact that the author had made many good points. Sometimes while reading, I felt a bit bored because the author was trying to stress the same point over and over. But on another note, whatever statements the author was trying to emphasize were good. To speak from the heart, after reading this book, I was able to realize and understand the mistakes that i’m doing in my day-to-day life. I can easily consent with anyone that I need to fundamentally shift the way I see and face things in life. I felt its good to bullet out the most important points presented in this book so that it might be useful for others too.

• Humans are like a transmission tower emitting a wave of a specific frequency whenever they think. Their thoughts could be a good one or a bad one. In either case, a wave is transmitted. Thoughts are basically magnetic and according to the universal law of attraction - That single thought of yours in turn attracts more and more of similar thoughts and swamps your mind. The final state of your mind and body are determined by those thoughts that you received. Good and healthy thoughts are going to provide you a happy state of mind while the negative or unhealthy thoughts lead you to a bad state of mind. And that’s why its always important to think good and positively in life.
• Given a situation in life, its impossible to completely avoid thinking negatively. Negative thoughts might come but don’t drown yourself completely with those. Don’t even try to think too much about “what is wrong or what you should not do”. Rather try to think only about “what is good and what you have to do”. The author quotes an example that Mother Teresa once said that she will never participate in an anti-war rally but she said she will be ready to join if it’s a "peace rally". Don’t let the negative thoughts dominate you and make the law of attraction send you more of negative thoughts. If you want to stop the negative thoughts try to meditate for few minutes or try to do some secret shifters like listening to your favorite music, thinking about some pleasant memories. In short, take control of your mind and think only the good ones.
• When you want to reach a goal or when you want to become something in life, always firmly believe that you will reach it and you will get it. Visualize and dream that you are already there and you have already become what you want to. Start loving it. Start visioning it. Start seeing them with your own eyes. A shortcut to manifesting your desires is to see what you want as real. Actions will automatically follow those thoughts and will drive you to success.
• Be thankful for what you are and never complain about your current position. If you complain, remember you are talking about a negative thing, you are thinking a negative thought and you are calling the law of attraction to bring in more complaints about yourself into you. Learn to be happy with what you are. Try to help others in need. Always remember to show your gratitude to others.
• If you don't know anything that your colleagues and friends are discussing about, be ready to accept the fact. Its always nice to be open and accept the not-known things as you don’t know.. instead of trying to put a fake-show. Its better not to speak up if you don't know 100% about the topic in discussion or question. Exhibiting this character reflects a positive opinion about you and makes everyone feel good about you.
• Don’t be over-confident about yourself for everything. But at the same time when you think about yourself, try to feel good and treat yourself with respect and love. If you do so, the law of attraction will show you great things about yourself. Focus on what you appreciate about your friends, colleagues and partner. Learn to love them instead of blaming and complaining. Appreciate and talk only about the goods and strengths. Don’t let your mind to even think about the DON'Ts, When you think good thoughts, talk good things, radiate good energy and reflect good feelings, you become a good person.

The secret behind anything in life is “The law of attraction”. When you understand the behavior of this law and take control of your mind and body, you win your life.

Its GOK's day!!

Today became a special day when 3 of my close friends announced that they are getting married very soon. These 3 call themselves as GOKs - Group of Karthiks. I know them right from day one of my college. 10 years have passed from then. All 3 of these guys are very best in their own ways. I always have had high opinion about them. They have inspired me so much and I have always looked up to them in everything. Have spent so many good and sad moments of my life with them. They have helped and guided me in countless things. I don't have even a small meaning if these 3 had not featured in my life.

After seeing their emails today, I was thinking about them for some time. I recalled some of the funny moments that I had with these 3 and was bursting to laughter. There is a saying that college friendships are the best friendships one can ever have. These friendships will last until the end of our lives. I wish I could continue to keep in touch with these 3 and with their future families for the rest of my life. Replying to their emails with just a congratz is not going to suffice. I'm really clueless how to react and how to express. But i'm very happy for them and will surely pray for their good living!!

Chidren of Heaven

Coming september 2nd, Mohana will be 12 years old. At that age of mine, I always had only one thought continuously lingering in my mind. Once I return back to home from school, I always wanted to play cricket with my friends for a longer time. My parents would never agree to that and will forcefully make me to come home as early as possible to make me focus on studies. Sometimes, when i'm studying, I used to think about how well I played on that day and would be smiling within myself. Playing every evening was the one and only essential need of mine that time. I wanted nothing else. Well, I can say, I had everything else. My studies were monitored and taken care, my daily food was taken care, my schooling was taken care, my homework was taken care, my 'everything else' was provided and taken care by my family. I had to think about nothing other than playing street cricket.

I could not imagine myself how I would have been without any of those carings. Without that, you sure need a very strong heart. A very determined heart. A heart full of hopes and confidence. Such is Mohana's and every other child living like her. I always want to look up to them, when i need encouragement. They are definitely the children of heaven. May god bless them. Happy Birthday Mohana!!

Mohana's Birthday

Today, I was astonished to see my mailbox. I got a mail from Mohana! This is her first mail to me. Her birthday is nearing and she has mailed me to remind about that. I was like WOW.. after reading her mail..

from Udavum Karangal
to xxx@gmail.com
date Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 3:53 PM
subject BIRTHDAY

Dear Uncle

I am.Mohana Vidyaakar Hope this letter finds you in good health and cheer. I will be celebrating my 11th Birthday on 2nd Sept. I seek your blessings on this auspicious occasion. Your generous support is helping me progress in life.

I have many friends and all are fine. Please visit me when time permits.

Your’s Loving
Mohana Vidyaakar


To say the truth, I was so excited to see her mail. My next action was giving a big reply to her mail :D And the next thing in my TODO list is - to contact the concerned authorities in her organisation to make arrangements so that I can call and talk to her on her birthday. And the final action is to make them get her new clothes for her Birthday.

Today, I really felt - I got the answer for the question that reflects in my Orkut profile.

Though I have everything in my life currently, I really would be too down if no one wished me on my birthday. I just imagined.. What would be the case of mine and how i would feel, if im Mohana and if im mailing my (unknown) supporter to remind him that he should wish me on my birthday :( I don't have an iron-heart to bear & munch out such a situation in my life. But, Mohana is.. She is Simply Superb!!


PS: On seeing my earlier post - Mohana Vidyaakar, I got calls from many of my friends to know the procedure on how to help. Only then, I got to know that many were willing to help less fortunate but as they stay in US, they were not knowing on how to do that. I guided them. That post did its job.
And this post too will..

Selvaraj Duraiswamy

When I went to India last time, I traveled via Dubai. After reaching Dubai, I realized much difference in the way people behave and in the way people were treated while in the airport & flight. The reason is: Most of them were low-wage-class people working in a mass and most of them were ‘imported’ from India. Some slept in the airport floor, some roamed endlessly which was irritating to others (not leaving any way for the ones who come behind) and ‘many’ smoked blocking the pathway before smoking zone. Even between this, the airport had good looks and maintenance. Somehow, I managed to reach my Chennai bound flight staying among the crowd who were gushing out once the terminal gate was opened. Nasty!!

I went looking for my seat (window side) but found somebody else was sitting in that. I asked him in tamil (I can see that he is a worker) whether that was his seat and asked him to show his ticket. It was not his seat. Even after I told the same to him, I didn’t see any movement from him. So, I told him – Ok, neenga aen seatliye ukkarunga, naan pakkuthula ukkandukkuraen (you be seated in mine, I will sit besides that). He said ‘ok’ and I went ahead to sit.

Emirates airlines had some good in-flight entertainment – a good interactive software system to track the current place, position, altitude, wind speed, temperature, local time etc., a good collection of Hollywood movies, Wi-fi and good food too. The software was very interactive, catchy and responsive which grabbed my attention. I was getting to see at the various options provided in it. All the time, I was being watched what I was doing by the ‘unknown’ who was sitting in my seat. I realized that he was not knowing to operate the in-flight personal computer system and that made him to watch what I was doing. He never spoke with me and I too didn’t. In between there was some heavy wobbling due to turbulence. It was announced that we must have seat belts fastened due to the turbulence. Even then, some guy who was sitting some 3 seats before me.. stood in the pathway leisurely, raised his hands and was relaxing! A flight attendant came running towards him and made him to sit after having a talk. It’s because most of the passengers were workers and they didn’t understand English. Emirates should know to make the announcements in local languages – maybe Tamil or Hindi.

An hour before landing they gave us the immigration form to fill. The ‘unknown’ sitting in my seat gave his passport & unfilled form to me (signaling me to fill it for him). I readily accepted that and started filling. While doing it, I got to know that his name was Selvaraj Duraiswamy and I thought of giving a talk with him

Me : Selva, Neenga aenna.. Chennai-ah?
Him : Illanga cuddalore-uh.. Neenga?
Me : Naan trichyla porandu valandaen, appa amma vellorela ippo irukkaanga, but most-ah Chennaila daan iruppaen..
Him : Oh ok..

Between I gave his filled form to him.. He got that and continued..

Him : Aenna panna, English Aeluda padikka theriyaadu..
Me : English padikkuradu periya vishayam illanga.. Sila book irukku.. atha neenga vaangi dinamum konja neram padicha podum.. kathukkalaam.. officela vela ungalukku romba illana neenga panlaam..
Him : Hmmm.. Aana pasangala, oru nalla English conventla sethu padikka vaechuttu irukkaen.. Oru vela patni kooda irunda parava illa thambi.. nalla padichidanum..
Me : Oh, ungalukku kalyanam aageeducha?
Him : Rendu kulandainga.. Varushathukku 10,000 rooba kuduthu oorla English mediumla padikka vaechuttu irukkaen..
Me : Nalla padikraangala?
Him : Hmmm, nalla padikkraanga thambi..
Me : Neenga aenna vela paakreenga dubaila?
Him : Naana.. paint vela pa.. konja naalu kadal-la vela irundadu.. apram paint thayaar panra vela..
Me : Oh..
Him : Periya periya paintuh boxah anda aeriyra veyil-la aeduthu vaekkavum vendi irukkum.. Apdiya aellam karinju poiruvom anda veyil-la vela senju.. Mela irundu verthu.. kaal nananjurum.. anda veyil-la vela paakanum.. (a small sad grin)..
Me : Ungala aenna consultancy moolama aalu aeduthu anuppunaangala?
Him : Aamam thambi.. Oru latcham rooba kattunaen anuppuradukku..
Me : Ohhhh.. Aematheettaana aenna panni iruppeenga????
Him : Theriyla pa.. Anda timela aedo thonuchu.. pannanumnu pannaen.. aepdiyo ippo naanum aen kudumbamum nallaah munnaadi vida vasadiya irukkom.. adu podum..
Me : Aeppo neenga dubaikku poneenga.. aethana naala vela paakureenga?
Him : Naanaaah.. kitta thatta naalra varusham aachu..
Me : Oh.. Ponadula irundu ippo thaan India vareengala? 4 ½ varushama.. hayyo..
Him : Aamam pa.. Aen kooda veetla thangi irukravununga aellam, aenna thitteetu irundanunga.. aenna loosu pudichuducha da unakku apdinnu..
Me : Aen, aenna aachu?
Him : Oru kadasi 15 naala naan sariya saapudala.. thoongala.. thaniya sirichuttey irundaen..
Me : Aen, aenna aachu?
Him : Aamam.. aevlo naal kalichu aen pasangala paaka poraen.. thookamey varala.. adaan.. ‘pongada naan oorukku poraen innum konja naal-la’ apdinnu solleetu naan paatukku loosu maadiri sirichuttu iruppaen.. ippo aellarum aenna paakurathukku airport vandu iruppaanga.. (a big smile)
Me : Inimey oorla thaan iruppeengala? Dubai poga maatteengala??
Him : Illa pa.. innum 3 maasam inga iruppaen.. aprom marupadiyum poganum..
Me : Aeengaaaaa.. anga poi kashtap padrathukku ingiye unga kudambathoda irukkalaam illa? Aedavudu chinna businessah aarambichudlaam illa..
Him : Aenakku aeduvum business theriyada thambi..
Me : Aellamae therinjuh porakkuradu illa illa.. therinjukka vendiyadu thaan..
Him : Hmm.. Kadavul puniyathula oru alavukku aen kudambatha mela kondu vanduttaen pa.. illaina romba kashtap patruppaen.. marupadiyum dubai povaen.. innum oru pathu varusham angiye irundu.. sambarikkanum.. aen pasangala nalla padikka vaechu mela kondavarradukkaagavavudu naan poganum thambi..

Me : (was surprised at his words.. the pace at which he told.. the way he told.. his thinking.. moreover the dedication and focus he has got to bring his family up.. though he works in such hot conditions in dubai.. he was wanting to go back and work endlessly to earn for his family.. even at the cost of leaving his family in india.. was really astounding.. pulluh arichuduchu aennakku appo)..

For a while, I was dumb.. thinking his words.. recalling everything whatever he said.. I stood up to go to the restroom. I was able to get a complete view of all passengers. Most of them were low-class workers. It made me think that ‘a whole bunch Selvaraj Duraiswamys are sitting in the flight’ and I’m the one ODD person sitting among them. I’m nowhere near Selvaraj in terms of ‘perspiration, the way to live & urge-to-do-more mentality'.

That’s how the low wage workers from India in dubai are.. Away from India without knowing much about the foreign land.. Working in horrible conditions of dubai.. extended work timings.. family pressure.. kids.. wife.. parents.. separation.. without able to go back and see them.. Shrugging off all these things, they want to work even for many years to bring their family up.. that makes them really great!!

After the flight landed, Selvaraj helped me in pulling my luggage out of the conveyor belt. Then, he suddenly disappeared. Hope he should have seen his family eagerly waiting outside and went running towards them.

The whole incident put me in shame showing me that I’m nowhere near Selvaraj and the whole bunch of low-wage Indian workers in Dubai.

Brother's Marriage

Last month, I went for a short trip to India for attending my brother's marriage. I didn't want to miss that because my brother is the one who is very close to me in my family. Right from schooling, he always guided/guides me in such a way that I won't miss the chances/opportunities which he missed in his career. I was very happy to see all my family members. I'm not sure how many years it will take for us to gather again like that. My parents were very proud of having me and my brother there before everyone. I was convinced that I gave them what they needed all these days. After this, even if I die.. that wont poke my heart too much.

n = n + 3

Its during the same month, I started to blog 3 years before! In this time, my life has changed a lot (atleast more than the number of changes Google has done to blogspot! This is one area where Google is not showing enough focus. Particularly the HTML editor is buggy!) To tell truly, I can see that in the past 3 years I was driving my life in the way I wanted to. I had a good control of it. And no way, I will tell that - life took me somewhere and i just went by that way.

All these 3 years, I have had used my blog for
1) Expressing my view on some crap thing
2) Posting something which I have done in my life

Now, when i had a look at my posts, I found that I have made a total of 22 posts in 3 years (23, if you include this too). The number of posts in a year was indirectly proportional to my idling days. Its was in 2006, I had a huge workload in office, more mental/personal tensions, extreme frustrations, no-clear-goal-on-what-to-do-in-life etc etc. This reflected in the statistics - mere 2 posts in 2006!

Lets see where i'm going to stand in the next 3 years - :( or :) ??

Mohana Vidyakaar

I was dreaming (maybe, like many others) while i was in college like this - "One day, when i get a job and when i start earning nicely, I should start helping some less fortunate in some way." That day came after 3 years of me getting a job which includes nearly a 6 month internet research on the non-profit organizations which are present in and around Chennai. Finally, I decided to go for Udavum Karangal. This organization is really doing a good work! Though, a bit delayed, they are prompt in their responses to our queries.

Mohana is the small primary school going girl whom I started supporting for education in the name of my appa & amma. The nice thing was - Udavum Karangal sent me the photo of hers and they have assured me that they would send even her report card every 6 months!

Here comes the objective of this post - This was posted not to boast about my doing. Because, my doing was nothing big or great to boast. I have seen so many others helping so much for the less fortunate. Mine was a minuscule. I would tell you that, its the duty & responsibility of every human to help the less fortunates. At least, the guys who think that they are quite well settled in life should start doing if they haven't. Moreover, it should be continued for long. Even, I should!

The thing which you reap back after starting off your support is "the extremely-elated-great feeling which one and only you can feel inside. You can never get such a feeling by doing any other great thing in life. I bet you! You can die for that!"

Oracle - First Level Exam

As evident from the title of this post, I'm writing here to tell that I have done a thing which so many others have already done in this world! I mean - I have just passed a mean first level exam of Oracle. Whatever maybe the case - I would say, its worth preparing & taking the exam instead of sitting idle @ home(as i was). Its even more worth if you are gonna face the exam without even looking at the dump questions, not even once! Brave you!

Oracle 10g is available for a free download in oracle website. The highlight is - its available in all major Linux packaging formats. 2 years before, I have seen that daunting task of installing Oracle in Linux. So many manual things were needed to be done in Linux before, during & after installation of oracle. But now, things have changed! I found that this Oracle 10g package comes with a nice "Sit back & relax" GUI installation. Wonderful improvement! ;)

My Recents

I have added a new column called as "My Recents" in the right side of my Blog. This will list down some of the recent things which I did and which I'm currently involved and enjoying with. I will try to refresh this list atleast once in two weeks. It includes the updated date too. By this way, I thought that I can encourage me to do things and give an idea to viewers about my activities.

Though it was not a great idea, I liked it.

LPI

I wanted to trigger myself so that I can get rid of the discouraging thoughts which have swollen within myself. I decided that the best way is to get into something which I will automatically do without forcing or pushing myself to do. A thing, that I can do with a flow. I wanted to gain some confidence which my inner heart is saying that I have lost them. Confidence can be gained only when I’m tested.

So, I decided to go for some certification. I always thought that software certifications are not a way to test a software engineer. But, I went for it because I wanted to trash all my low-feelings within me. Three weeks back, without thinking twice, I went and registered for the first level exam of Linux Professional Institute (www.lpi.org). Even the NIIT center guy was not aware of such an exam. When I told him that I want to register for LPI exam, he just gave a weird look at me. Only after repeating its name thrice, he was able to search for such an exam in his database. As everyone register only for Oracle or Sun Java or .NET exams, he was aware of only such things. And, I don’t think anybody else have ever taken such an exam there. I considered taking RHCE or RHCT earlier. But I dropped them because of two reasons

1) They are very much distribution based. I’m not a full-fledged redhat/fedora user though I started everything with the official black labeled one-cd Redhat 7.0 during 2001. Thereafter I tried out a couple of distros and finally settled permanently with Debian by the end of 2002.

2) RHCE and RHCT are very good exams which really test your brains by presenting a troubled system which you have to troubleshoot. I don’t want to be a full-fledged System/Network administrator because I don’t want to make my career in it.

These things made me to choose LPI which can be passed by a candidate who knows atleast the basics of debian & redhat distros. After registering for it, I came to home atonce and took an online mock exam to just test myself. I passed it very narrowly! Second time when I took, I failed!! Third time, again I passed very narrowly!!!

Earlier I thought that I should take the exam without any preparation. But after taking the mock exam, I decided that I should prepare for it else I might fail :)

Two weeks before, I took the first level exam and completed it. The exam was a bit tough. Had I taken the exam lightly, there are many chances that I might have failed. I was posed with 98 objective questions (Choose the best answer and Fill in the blank) and I got 12 of them wrong. Personally, I felt that the exam questions were good but while answering some of the questions in the exam, I was feeling that the question should have been framed in an even better way. Answered all the questions half-an-hour before the allotted 120 minutes for the exam.

Overall, I would rate, it is worth preparing and taking LPI though the exam questions could have been even better.

Udavum Karangal

/* Hope everyone in this world knows that Im working in Verizon at Chennai's Tidel Park. Earlier I was working in HCL Technologies. One fine day, I fled away from HCL like lovers escaping from their arrogant parents' shackles ;)I was so much frustrated that time. That happened, an year before. Ok, leave it... Its been very long, I updated here. Nowadays, Im so busy @ office that I couldnt spare time for my personal interests. Anyway, I did nothing useful these days to update here... I bought an house here at Chennai in my name with some support from my parents and family. I dont know whether I ll have a family for myself in future. Until now, I dont have big plans. But my parents thought that it is their duty to help their son in having his own house. So I fullfilled that. Also, Some time before I visited an orphanage "Udavum Karangal" which is why Im posting here */

The organization - UDAVUM KARANGAL is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit one and it lays emphasis on involving the community in supporting the less fortunate. It gives residential care to not only the abandoned children but also to mentally challenged persons, HIV positive children, discarded aged people and AIDS afflicted persons who have been picked up from streets and garbage dumps.

Udavum Karangal currently takes care of around 1800 less fortunate people. Have a look at their website http://www.udavumkarangal.org/ Looks nice. Isnt it? You ll automatically say w-o-w, if you again remind yourself that its a non-profit organisation. This website itself reflects the amount of neat and great work Udavum Karangal is doing in other areas too.

Dont miss to have a look at the photo-gallery http://www.udavumkarangal.org/photo-gallery.htm Particularly you should not miss to view the 9th photo in the second row of Children's section.

A Question from your fan !!!

/* This happened when RMS visited my college - Madras Institute Of Technology, Anna University on February 7, 2005. I was invited by my juniors for having lunch along with him. After meeting him, I mailed him seeking something from him. For long, I didnt want to reveal this mail to anyone (I dont know why!!). Perhaps, I think I wanted to treasure it. But now, I have changed my mind. */ 

 Hello Sir, Today I was with you in AUKBC Research Centre, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, India and I was having lunch along with you!!! To tell exactly, two guys were standing and talking with you about HCL Technologies (we did the Indian pronounciation!!!). In that one guy was telling about ATM networks (in which he works) and another guy was standing near him hearing your words. That another guy is me, named Sriram. 

That time I was about to ask you a question which I was thinking to ask you from long ago itself. I thought that today was the time to ask you but I didn't ask at that time, as you were too busy talking with ILUGC and FSF people over there. About me : Iam just a simple dude hanging around and benefited (knowledgewise) with Free software ( GNU/Linux, Emacs, GCC and other GNU tools….) for the past 3 years. 

 Now, at this time you will be delivering a speech in IIT Chennai about Software patents. So I think, I can ask you now so that you can leisurely reply me. This question is something more personal about you and your thoughts. I even thought that you may bang me down, if I ask this question in person today. Luckily I didn't :). 

 While you were working in Massachussetts Institute of Technology… At that time only, you started to think that we have no rights or control over the software that we use and this in turn led to the start of GNU… Now forget everything about GNU, FSF blah blah blah. Why didn't you take the other path that time. I mean, the path which everyone else has taken. I mean, striving very hard and earning lots and lots of money. You could have started some software company and "naturally" as you are very good programmer, I believe that u might have created some very good software. If you had sold the software, you could have been one of the richest now. With that money, you may be having lots of fun and frolic in life and by the way you could have led your Free Software Revolution. 

 Don't tell that "I thought of doing for the society alone and so I chose this path." You could have earned and along with that you could have served the world with FSF. But you didn't do like that.You chose a very different path (not to earn much money for self and serving only for the society) which completely contrasts with others' thoughts. What made you to lead a life like this ? and How you are able to do this ? and How you are able to convince yourself with this ??? With this I finish my question. I think you can understand what I think now. Eagerly waiting for your reply !!! Thanks !!!

---------------------------------------------------------  Registered GNU/Linux User #346087 Free(dom) Software - For the people, by the people, to the people. ---------------------------------------------------------

*** Reply from RMS *** 

On Feb 8, 2005 5:16 PM he replied me 

Why didn't you take the other path that time. I mean, the path which everyone has taken. Please don't exaggerate. It is not "everyone". I mean, striving very hard and earning lots and lots of money. I was not interested in having lots of money. I still am not. Why break my back for something that couldn't make me happy? Many people in the US place other values above having lots of money. And many people in India do it too.

Zippy - The New Entry

It has been almost 2 months, my anna gave me a gift which he bought from US. He told me that he will get me a Laptop. But, as I told NO, he wanted me to tell anything else which I need. I wanted him to buy a mobile as well as an iPod Nano for me. But later, I thought that I shouldnt trouble him and so I decided to ask only a mobile. After doing a small research, I came down for asking him to get Nokia 6630 [I eliminated the option of Sony Ericsson - Poor battery performance, Failure to give more freedom to its mobile users. I mean, the software platform of SE is not open.]

My Nokia 6630 smartphone, nicknamed Zippy is powered by a 220 MHz ARM processor with 7 MB Ram. Below are some of its other specifications.
Phone Memory - 10 MB, External MMC - 64 MB, Camera - 1.3 MP 1280x960 pixels 6x Zoom, EDGE connectivity, USB-Bluetooth Support, Dimensions - 110x60x21 mm, Weight - 127 g, Display - TFT 65k Colors 176x208 pixels, OS - Symbian OS v8.0 Series 60 Platform v2.0 UI.

Upto my knowledge, almost everything is good with this model. The best thing I liked with this model is - its keypad (smooth and good), camera, sound quality and the software platform is open. Until now, I didnt identify even a single bug with its software.

The thing which I felt bad with this mobile is - I noticed that sometimes there is a huge delay between the time when I pressed the capture key (aiming to capture a particular position of an object) and the time, the mobile prepares itself to capture the target. Because of this, sometimes It captures the succeeding position of the object. This happens only sometimes and not all the times. The other thing is : its very hard to open the back cover of the mobile due to its complicated design. Its not a big problem to me as I wont be frequently opening the back cover.

Also another point worth mentioning is : Its good and easy to transfer mp3s and pictures between my Zippy and Dexter :)

GNU, Stallman and me

Stallman, widely hailed as RMS in the internet world is the founder of GNU (Gnu is Not Unix) project, which aimed at developing GNU system, a complete free operating system. He is the founder of FSF (Free Software Foundation) too. He is a guy who values “Software freedom” more than anyone. He graduated from Harvard with BA Physics and worked in MIT Artificial Intelligence lab as a research staff. Then, he resigned from there to start his Software Freedom Struggle. He is the creator of GNU Emacs, GNU Debugger (gdb), GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and various other programs for the GNU System. Refer http://www.stallman.org http://www.gnu.org http://fsf.org to know more about him.

I was doing my 3rd semester during which RMS came to give a lecture about “Free Software” in my college. I wanted to see him. But as usual, I slept. Suddenly by 4 PM, I woke up and started running towards Rajam Hall, alone. A hell of crowd was there hearing the speech of an old, long bearded man. I searched for a seat to sit. Only few ppl were from my college inside the hall. The others were outsiders. Atlast, I found a seat and started listening to his speech more keenly. There stood a guy called MKS senior who came all the way from Singapore to attend his lecture. He played the main role in arranging the lecture and he was standing before the speaker with a tape recorder in hand. I didn’t figure out where Fatso Praveen senior was sitting, that time. But surely he would have present there. Suddenly, some guy started giving some GNU stickers and RMS was saying “stick it in some permanent place. Don’t waste it”. I ran atonce, stood in a queue and somehow got those two useless stickers. But, I had the satisfaction that I got Stallman’s stickers which I bet you, is worth than anything else. The lecture ended after the question and answer session. Finally, I could remember Sriram Senior going near MKS and introducing himself. Still I have the sticker pasted in my Dexter’s Cabinet. Dexter is my damn slow 400 MHZ Celeron system for which I had changed four 40 GB harddisks in the last 3 years of my college! But, still I love my Dexter.

I really liked RMS’s way of life, his principles and thoughts (Surely every GNU Linux lover will). All those things, always, made me to think “Is RMS really a human ?”. Believe me. I really wondered at him. You know, when I was reading about History of GNU in Emacs (an extensible editor. Type C-h C-p in emacs) during 2nd year of my college in Hellkay’s (he loves ppl calling him so) room, I figured out that RMS was in one sided love with a girl called Alix and he named some portion of Hurd kernel so! But, unfortunately that part of Hurd got screwed up and the design was completely changed. I wondered, why does he wants to spoil the life of a girl?! I bet you, no girl can live happily with him. Trust me, what I am saying is practical. Girls may praise Stallman more than the Richie Rich Gates. But when it comes to life, girls will surely prefer to stay along with Gates, which is the safest side. What I mean is, they will ignore RMS. I dreamt about such crap things but wanted to stay by RMS’s side.

It was the second time, RMS came to my college to give a lecture about Software Patents. But this time, I passed out of my college and was working with HCL. Somehow, I managed to get an off day to attend that lecture. But, my good luck, me and Praveen were invited to have a lunch along with RMS at AU-KBC by our CS and IT juniors . Myself and Praveen went there, had lunch along with RMS and some FSF people. Praveen, myself with some juniors stood before RMS and were hearing his golden words. I stood still, trying to keenly understand whatever RMS spoke. RMS enquired about our jobs. When Praveen was explaining about his job, which was based on ATM networks, RMS stopped and wanted him to explain about ATM networks, as he was not familiar with the term ATM!

I gave a top to bottom look at RMS. He had multi-colored hair (mostly black, brown and white) and he was wearing a maroon colored dirty Tshirt with grey colored full trousers (which had a big hole near his thighs!) and some scrap sandals. I wondered that time, “Hey, what the hell is this man ….”. Then, I stood still, gazing at his flute in his pant pocket. After he explained about BSD and GPL licenses, he atonce ran towards Rajam Hall to give his shortest lecture. You know one thing, he tenses like hell, even for small things. When he was done with the lecture, he asked everyone to contribute some useful programs (not money) for free software foundation. Everyone stood up to give him a big applause. But, he told “Sit down, Don’t stand for me. Stand for free software”. Those words must have surely touched the hearts of everyone who were there. One thing was sure in me about him, “He valued money very less than Freedom, software, technology and people”. Later, I even mailed him asking more about him, his work and his thoughts. To my surprise he replied atonce to me. His reply was very brief but it communicated whatever he thought.

But I had something else too in my mind, which I wanted to tell him, but I couldnt. “Stallman, you don’t value money. Thats ok. But it’s not the same for everybody in world (doesn’t mean that I value money more). Your principles and licenses will never fit for a business model. No business person (who values money more) will be ready to adopt free software license for all his products even if you fine-tune it. So, completely eradicating proprietary licenses from this world is not possible as you cant eliminate all the people who are in greed of money. Finally, what I say is “Both must exist”. Free Software paves way for more development of knowledge, technology and freedom in society but proprietary software makes way to earn more money and do some good business satisfying the customers needs. So, in the future, what I believe and what I hope is : Both will exist and both must exist."

Outsourcing and the Indian Economy

The buzz word of today's IT world is outsourcing. My article gives an overall view and idea of outsourcing. Remember, it can be totally meaningless!

Outsourcing can be shortly told as the transfer of ownership of a process to some other organization. Thereby an organization can concentrate on its core products without deviation over others. The supplier will provide strict guidelines regarding requirements and specifications. This is where, outsourcing differs from business relationships coz in business relationship, the buyer retains the full control and instructs the supplier, how to do the work. This outsourcing process will be beneficial as the outsourcer can reduce his costs by giving the work to places where wages are cheaper and quality is high (like India). Thereby he can concentrate in his core area of business and utilize his expertise to the maximum.

A baker in NewYork makes very good hand made cakes and people prefer his handmade cakes than the machine made ones there. So more and more people started buying his cakes and he was very happy. As his business went fine and started expanding, he thinks of giving the cakes to customers in a colorful box. To make those colorful boxes there, in NewYork, is costly. He thought of making them, himself but he couldn’t as he wanted to concentrate more on his core of business in which he is an expert i.e making handmade cakes. So what he thought was giving the work of making those colorful boxes to some company XYZ in India where the making of those boxes is very cheap and good. This is how the need for Outsourcing arises.

It all started with globalization. Big companies started to expand their operations all over the world. And when they came to India, they were attracted by the resources available here and the low cost. What I mean as the resources is the human power mainly. The quality of education imparted to Indians is far better when compared with the US peers. I accept that a lot of very good universities are there in US than in India. But if we consider the education system overall, India is the better one. Good techied English speaking people are available here willing to work for less wages. As the cost of living is low in India compared to US, employees in India could easily afford with those salaries. So, slowly the companies started to expand their operations in India by getting done more of their work here. On the other end, i.e in US, unemployment started to bud. Also the Indian government constructed Software Technology Parks offering world class infrastructure and encouraging foreign investment and promoting software development. India now possesses more number of companies which have obtained the SEI-CMM level 5 than any other country in the world.

The biggest hurdle that outsourcing companies are facing now is the method in which the work is managed once it has been sent offshore. Once the work has been sent offshore, it will be tedious for to schedule meetings with the offshore employees because of the time zone differences. So it is not very easy to schedule meetings and to interact with the offshore employees. The one who guides you in your work may be there in US. There is no possibility of having inperson meetings. So as the communication link is weak, automatically team work will get affected. Eventhough technology has improved a lot, for many things, we need inperson meetings. Also following process based work or proper security will be hard. Project managing technical IT work is more complicated even if it is in the same building. So how can we expect it to be easy after moving the work it to some remote location ?

So, what companies do is they don’t outsource the core of their business. For example if you take Norton Antivirus, they can outsource everything other than their virus definition files and the engine which works around them. Because, they wont like to let their products code appearing in someones website! So normally companies wont outsource their strategic planning, design and development of their architecture. That’s why companies, keep more of their development work in-house and outsource the maintainence work.

BPO, business process outsourcing is the outsourcing of a business process or function of a company to specialized service providers. This includes functions such as payroll, accounting, billing, finance, Human resources and other non-core business activities. It is done by creatively examining the process and re-engineering the way it is completely done. This re-engineering will include putting in new technology to accomplish or modifying the existing technology in a new way to improve the process followed. Also IT enabled services such as Helpdesk support, call centres etc are also being largely outsourced. It is obvious to all that outsourcing creates unemployment in US as most of the jobs are shifted to India. But there are some reports telling that outsourcing saves overall spent money, boosts economy and which in turn is used to create jobs in US !

My Ever Best Post

I have participated in some mailing lists and forums. But the ever best post that I have made, till now is to my powerelex_53 group.
One of my friend, once posted to our group, introducing himself, and felt a lot in his mail that he got dropped out from college and he has to do his remaining one year along with Juniors. For that, I "tried" to convince him by sending this following stuff:

Eric, do u know one thing: Steve Jobs [Founder of Apple Corporation] is a drop out from Reed College. He discontinued after his first semester itself. But he became a multimillionare even before the age of 30. Larry Ellison [Founder of Oracle] is a drop out from Univ. of Illinois. Gates [Founder of Microsoft] is a drop out from Harvard. Steve Ballmer [CEO, Microsoft] is a drop out from Stanford, Michael Dell [Founder of Dell] is too a drop out from Univ. of Texas. And now, Iam thinking, What eric ll be in his future, as he too is a drop out ?

I dont know whether he got consoled after reading the above thing. But it is my ever best post.