Story of a chanticleer!

For those of you not familiar with the term 'chaticleer' it means 'cock or rooster' :-) I just learnt a new word too...

Some of you may already know this little tale but I wanted to put it down to demonstrate the power of 'witness'. Witness is a state where we do not react to anything that happens around us either positive or negative. But it doesn't mean that we do not help those in case of any emergency say an accident. It just means that we are always looking at an issue from a third person angle. The advantage of doing that is it helps us get out of the 'box' or problem per se and view it with complete detachment which in turn will lead to more creative solutions which will be most optimal from all perspectives. Enough of the theory...now let's get on with the story...

There was once a great king in the land of your imagination...he once wanted to organize a chanticleer fight and wanted to see who will rear a chanticleer well enough to make it win. So he donated one chanticleer to every one in his kingdom. So after a few months the competition to see which cock wins was arranged. So all the cocks were put into the fight arena. While all the other cocks were furiously fighting away there was one cock who just stood there unperturbed by all the mayhem surrounding him. All the other cocks saw this cock and thought that this cock must be possessing special powers and hence he is standing there right in the middle without any fear. So as a result none of the other cocks disturbed this one standing in the middle and in the end all the cocks died fighting while this cock was left standing alone. The king asked the great sage who had reared the cock the secret behind it. The sage told him that he only taught the cock to meditate and as a result of that its witness state had improved so much that he couldn't be perturbed by anything. So the king realized the power of the witness state and also realized that meditation is the only way to achieve that state...

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you are eager to meditate now then please click here

My muse...

I have always admired Sudha Murthy for all that she personifies...and I have always desired to be like her...a complete woman from all perspectives. Hence I am dedicating this post to her. She is one of my most favorite person in the world, an ideal Mom, an ideal Technologist, a notable Author, a Charitable person, a Simple person, a Balanced person to the core and above all an Ideal Woman who encompasses all of the best qualities that a human being should possess.

The society in which we live today demands more and more people with character like her. I think if each and every woman today focuses on being atleast 10% of Sudha Murthy then we can all change the society radically, which in itself would be such a great thing to achieve.

Many of you might have already read a lot of inspiring little stories about her like how she wrote a letter to JRD Tata to voice her opinion against the unjust discretion of women, the sacrifices she made to enable her husband Narayan Murthy to start Infosys, her simple style of living, her enormous charitable efforts and so on. But in this post I would like to point out another side of her which is very inherent and may not be very obvious to all at first.

She is basically a doer. There are a lot of people today who do nothing but just give 'empty talk'. But she is a person who is very soft-spoken but at the same time gets a lot of things done. This can only be done by a person who is deeply spiritual and downright humble. Those are the characteristics which distinguish Sudha Murthy from the other 'rich and famous' high fliers of today. These are the qualities which enable her to contribute so much to society without feeling 'proud' about it. I read in one of her book 'How I Taught my Grandmother to Read' that her ideologies are influenced by many people she has met in her journey of life. She is a humble learner as she learns a lesson out of every experience, every person she meets in her life. This is what makes her a truly outstanding personality.

Unfortunately, today we can find a lot of people talking about stuff just to satisfy their ego by dominating a conversations, a lot of people doing charity just to appear in Page 3 of the newspaper, a lot of people learning technology just to get the next promotion and show-off, a lot of people leading a simple life just to get written about...hmmmph....humility like hers is definitely a rare-gem nowadays!!!

In order to be more like her, we need to develop our spiritual side and learn to be humble. These qualities will help us rise beyond normal mortals and will enable us to make valuable contributions to the society. It is high time now since our society today needs great people and each one of us have the innate ability to make a difference. All of us already have it within us...we just need to look a little harder for it!

We can all make a difference and we should!

Little Ganeshas

Just came across this beautiful blog... :-)

Love it, love it, just love it!

Thanks so much!

http://littleganeshas.wordpress.com/

Business Analysis and more

Starting a new blog on Business Analysis and related stuff...Check it out!

He recently turned 6 mos... :-)

This blog is dedicated to my son...a very cute little boy...who recently turned 6 mos...I wanted to chronicle some of the significant events which I remember (when I wasn't sleep deprived and delirious.. ;-)) over these past few months...hopefully my son will read this some day...

When he was born, frankly I didn't feel an immediate emotional bonding with him as much as my husband did...he did feel strange from a different world even though I carried him around for close to 10 months...but the love story between me and my son started slowly but steadily....I was really amazed at how well my hubby connected with him...he was the perfect Dad! So I did feel a tinge of insecurity...would I be able to connect the same way with him...?

As the days went by, there was no room for any kind of doubt...I just connected and bonded so well with him...all thanks to him...he is such a good son, even though he was just a newborn he didn't trouble me at all...it was as if he knew all the things happening with me...he would not cry or shriek even if he was hungry...only if we was terribbllllyyy hungry..yes...I must say, I am probably a lucky Mom...or I suppose all babies are like this...since they are all gifts sent from heaven above... :-)

He started sleeping through the night just as he turned 3 months which was another great blessing...when he started looking into my eyes at around the same time, it was just pure poetry...he told me so much with just one glance of his...the joy can't be described with words...

He always shows so much respect to me...he is so well-behaved, so well-mannered...and he is just a baby! As a mother, I do expect him to grow up to be a good son with all the lofty values like honesty, sincerity, patriotism instilled in him...but again, this is the age where parents don't expect from their offspring but I think I will prefer to expect and try to instill all those higher values in him rather than not expect and doing nothing about it...I expect my son to shine in whatever walk of life he chooses for himself...because he is such a cute little angel...

The joy which he expresses with a twinkle in his eyes and with his smile when he sees me....is something which I can't describe but I suppose every mother feels the same way when they see their children...all the tiny, precious things he does like wake up in the morning and wait for me to get up instead of crying, laugh a merry laugh for any silly things I do even though they are not funny ;-), wait for me patiently when I am busy working on something, be uncomfy with his wet diaper (which I forgot to change) but still smile a beautiful smile at me, gaze into my eyes and narrate an entire fairy-tale, enjoy my company like nobody else ever has or can, share the feeling of warmth which only we two can share, tell little secrets with his naughty smile, cling on to me like I am his heavenly angel, make me feel like a queen and the rest like second-class citizens :-D

I was very worried when the wicked flu visited him when he was around 5 mos old but he weathered that storm like a brave warrior...the wavelength that we share is so amazing, it is just like everybody describes...2 bodies 1 soul...when he is with me he is fearless, he is secure, he is joyful, he just knows that I am there for him...I am just a normal Mom but he makes me feel like I am a super being one with all powers...atleast I know that I am blessed with the power to comfort him, make him laugh, make him secure...

He has also worked so many miracles even without us realizing, he made me and his daddy come closer like never before, he taught me to be more patient and enduring, he made me see the joy in the smallest of tiniest of little things, he showed me that joy is hidden even in the most mundane of things, helped me experience the real joy in giving...

He is now growing up to be a sweet little boy...now he does more of his small naughty things like pull my hair, keep tugging at my wedding necklace (which I feel is his way of virtually playing with Daddy), flip and do a caterpillar scoot to move around, imitate me and others, dance in his own style when I dance for him...he has also started babbling...his first word 'Amma' :-) which again is meant to make me feel special...I guess all babies are programmed to make the Mom feel special for all the efforts put forth by her... :-P

But this blog is about my son and he is one special little guy...I hope and pray that the angels continue to bless him with all noteworthy qualities and that he will grow up to be a great man someday! Here's to a mom wishing for her wonderful son!

Thank you son for making me complete...I didn't realize what I was missing until I had you!

Thanks so much Lord!

Came across this in a chain mail...made me smile...hope it makes you too...

WHY ARE INDIANS SO EASY TO IDENTIFY...

1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and tomatoes.

2. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminum foil.

3. You are always standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.

4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think it's normal.

5. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to stamp.

6. You recycle Wedding Gifts, Birthday Gifts and Anniversary Gifts.

7. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita & Gita, Ram & Shyam...)

8. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere, close to their real names.

9. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says 'No Food Allowed.'

10. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.

11. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.

12. HIGH PRIORITY ***** You use plastic to cover anything new in your house, whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch. *****

13. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends think, but they won't let you do certain things because of what the other 'Uncles and Aunties' will think.

14. You buy and display crockery, which is never used, as it is for special occasions, which never happen.

15. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.

16.. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.

17. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.

18. Your kitchen shelf is full of jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with purchase of other stuff)

19. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).

20. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.

21. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.

22. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old. (And they prefer it that way).

23. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.

24. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.

25. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.

26. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel proud to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light.

27. You only make long distance calls after 11p.m.

28. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight

29. You call an older person you never met before Uncle or Aunty.

30. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.

31. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.

32. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them from getting dirty.

33. Its embarrassing if you're wedding has less than 600 people.

34. All your Tupperware is stained with food color.

35. You have drinking glasses made of steel.

36. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.

37. You have really enjoyed reading this blog

I think we stand out because of some of our habits...but I guess most of them are good habits like we like to recycle and reuse stuff...which is good..right! Above all most of the above points also indicate that we are caring people... :-)

Chak De India...:-)

AEUJNGGUF42E

Reality vs Virtuality

Not really sure if the word 'Virtuality' really exists...but I wanted to blab about Reality vs Virtuality...I have been doing a lot of reading on Social Media stuff over the recent past and I realized that today's world is shifting towards Virtuality and we are slowly losing our ground in Reality...

To cite an example, today we have our profiles scattered all over on the web in the form of LinkedIn profiles, Facebook profiles, MySpace profiles, Twitter Tweets, Second Life personalities...gosh...but are we losing our real self while we are busy building our online self...???

People today are more interested in meeting folks in a virtual chat room or restaurant rather than talking to their neighbor who lives next door! Forget talking, I bet they don't even know who their neighbor is...it might be the same person they are corresponding with online but they will never know!

What is it that makes us all cocooned into our rooms fastened to our mouse...creating virtual personalities? What is it that prevents us from going out and meeting our neighbors or friends? What is it that scares us from doing things in reality which we so easily do in the virtual world?

There may be lot of arguments for 'virtuality' where people may say it is a 'safer' option...but really...Safer??? Is it really safe or are we just scared to put our true self out to the world? To what extent do people's online personalities match their real-life persona? Why all this pretense going on?

Today people blog and have online diaries...while in the good old days a diary was a really personal private property! So have people lost the discretion of what is private and what is not? True the virtual world does give the power to the people to choose what they want out there and what not, but is whatever out there really real ...or just an elaborate fragment of somebody's imagination...

There is a lot of different perspectives from which this topic can argued on, but one thing is definitely true...thanks to virtuality...we have lost touch with reality...no arguments about that!

Keyword based reading…what’s that again???

You must have all heard about ‘Keyword based Searching’, ‘Keyword based Testing’ etc. ‘Keyword based Reading’ is a new phrase coined by Moi…This is a technique which will help you to read up on stuff and get specialized in a orderly way and also harnesses the power of the Internet as you all know we are not living in the age where we just had to depend on the neighborhood library for our daily dose of knowledge. You can use this technique if you are currently working on building your skill-set for the job market or even if you just want to build up your knowledge in a particular field. This technique uses the power of the Internet to sharpen your skills. It is something which everybody already does but I am just putting it in a package...and this is something which works for me…atleast… J

So the process goes like this. Say you want to learn more about the field of Testing.

So as a first step do a research on the set of all the keywords related to the field...in this case System Testing, Unit Testing, Black-box testing, Functional Testing, Regression Testing...etc. So once you have gathered a good set to start from proceed to the next step. Keep this set at a high level and do not have words which are very specific to a sub-field within…

The next step would be to take each keyword and research on the Internet. So document each keyword and the relevant links associated to each of them. It is always good to have a mix of the below for each keyword:

- General info sites like wikis

- Sites with people who have blogged/discussed on the topics

- Sites with podcasts, videos on topics like Youtube, ...

- Sites with white papers

- Sites with online books (good to have a subscription with sites like 24 X 7, Safari)

As a third step, if you are parts of some networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook you might also get additional information related to these topics like webinars, discussion topics etc. Go ahead and attend and be part of these. You can also post questions at different forums to get answers from the expert community. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds of the topic that interests you.

Also to top-off read off-beat things related to the topic like jokes, cartoons etc...if there are any available

So once you have gathered this information go ahead and read and gather as much information as you can. It would be good to first read at a high level and then go deeper in whichever topic appeals to you.

Then finally to ensure that you remember all that you have read, blog about the main points on your personal blog and share with all. If it is something related to a tool or programming language go ahead and download the free trial of the tool if one is available or start cooking…ahem..I meant coding!

Enjoy building your skill-set!

Blowing life back into my blog after 2 years... :-) Life can get very busy sometimes... ;-)

How to write an effective Emcee speech - some tips

18 Must-not-forget Guidelines to make an effective Emcee Speech

As I have the had the opportunity of hosting around 7 shows as an MC (Master of Ceremonies) until now which have also given me the good fortune of having some bloopers...and having learnt from them, I just thought it is time I started preaching (yawn!!!)...so here goes...

1. Always include the ‘Name of the Event’ in the opening statements

2. Signify why the name was chosen for the event by outlining the agenda for the event

3. Welcome the ‘Guest of Honor(s)’ for the evening in the order of importance. Make sure that you have the names of the spouses of the dignitaries too so that you can welcome them too. Always make sure that you get an accurate/updated profile of the dignitary.

4. Invite the performers/guests for the evening on the dias for their performances/speech with a good pre-introduction.

5. If humor/casualness is allowed always try to co-relate some of the names/events which you are announcing to any generic things to which the audience can relate to.

6. Always try to make the announcements more interesting.
For e.g. if you are calling a group of people on to the stage, try to use different analogies to relate to them. Say for instance, you can call one group as the Diamonds, another as Pearls and so on

7. It is not always possible to script any funny anecdotes in advance without knowing how the occasion/audience is going to turn out. Hence ‘Presence of mind’ is very very essential for an effective emceeing, so that you can cook up effective anecdotes/ gags at the time of delivery. Spontaneity always adds more color to your emcee speech.

8. Always have a hand the ‘Pulse of the audience’. If the audience is having a bored look on their faces, then try to bring them back by cracking a few funny jokes. But at the same time try to gauge what the impact would be on the audience. It doesn’t make a good impression if a joke falls flat…

9. If you are announcing prizes always try to pause for a second and have pin-drop silence to build up the tempo so that when you announce there is greater enthusiasm in the crowd.

10. Dress appropriately for the occasion. Wear dresses which would enhance would your complexion. Have generous amounts of make-up especially if you are gonna be up on stage for more than an hour.

11. If you have an Oops, don’t panic. Just say a simple ‘Sorry’ and continue. Admit the mistake and there ends the matter.

12. Learn the names of the people whose names you will be calling out.

13. Always end with a good punch-line. Something which will remain in the audience’s memory when they kind about the occasion.

14. If you know that you will be hosting occasionally, it is always a good habit to collect/keep in mind interesting anecdotes/proverbs/one-liners/jokes over a period of time. It is not always possible to start putting all these ‘audience-punchers’ on the day of preparing the presentation since you may have very less time to prepare.

15. Always make sure that you have the right agenda. Always be prepared to make last minute changes to the schedule and modify your speech appropriately.

16. Always try to use synonyms to not make it sound repetitive. For instance, use 'Please give a big hand', 'They deserve another round of applause'...etc.

17. Ensure that you are not hurting the sentiments of any group of folks gathered while cracking jokes.

18. Always SMILE while you are up there…always makes a big impact.