Adventures of AdyaMan

You're only given a spark of madness. You mustn't lose it !!

2008-11-16T02:47:00.003+05:30

Generally bloggers are not supposed to copy-paste stuff on their blog but whenever I feel something too good to share with others, I put it here. Here, I present the inaugural speech by Chetan Bhagat for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program 2008. You might already read it somewhere else but for those who didn't read it earlier, it's a must read...

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune 23rd June, 2008

By Chetan Bhagat

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few
days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious
about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for
birthday party - several months in advance - just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs
the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born.. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism.

If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You
will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades - how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease
to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointments cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India . From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right
goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person.
How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved - movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result -at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan - I had
my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it - not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India , so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than
you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill
your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love
yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today.. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You!

Neha... नेहा...

2008-02-19T15:02:00.018+05:30

Guys and dolls.... ladies and gentlemen...

Ahem... I know, I know. It’s been almost three long months since something breathed on this blog. , a lot of water has flown under the bridge since I last wrote ( I know, my usage of English idioms is exemplary. Zabardast...)

Would like to introduce my lady-love/jaan to the audience...
Neha, meet the audience ... Audience, meet Neha *:o)

NEHA... नेहा...
Pronunciation : (nay-ha)
Meaning : Neha means rain and loving in Sanskrit.
Other meanings : yearning, cherished, beauty, rain [1] [2]

All these years, I was yearning for a cherished beauty, who would love me, come rain or shine... and u know what?, oopar-waaley Bhagwaan-ji ne meri sunn lii aur meri Bhagyawaan se milwaaya.

And now, our friends/fans have started pestering us for the complete story, I have decided to pen down a few words about the happenings of the last 4 months - the 4 months which me, my life and my whole perspective towards it.

So, deviyon aur sajjanon... Kahaani poori filmi hai... sit back and relax with a cuppa tea/coffee/nimbu-paani/jaljeera/tequila-shot/cough-syrup(whatever u think can keep u from being distracted)...

Here's a quick narration[in Amitabh Bachpan's voice] - I shall try to be as concise and precise as possible.. but then, brevity has never been my forte.. so here goes nothing:

Ye Un Dinon Ki Baat Hain Jab Hum Paagal Paagal Firte The
Tanhaayi Mein Jab Milte The Dil Mein Hulchul Si Hoti Thi
Jab Yaad Tumhari Aati Thi Chaahat Ke Nagme Gaatey The
Bechain Deewani Dhadkan Ko Behlate The Sum Jaate The
Hum Dono Jaagte Rehte The Jab Saari Duniya Soti Thi
Ye Un Dinon Ki Baat Hain Jab Hum Paagal Paagal Firte The
Ye Un Dinon Ki Baat Hain Jab Hum Paagal Paagal Firte The

'She' breezed into my life...
'She's got the same thoughts as mine...
'She's got a sense of humor...
'She's mature...
'She's responsible...
'She's silly...
'She's strong...
'She's simple...
'She's very human...
'She's independent...
'She's a kid...

We "met" online on an internal mailgroup called TCSTP_PNLN... (for the benefit of the audience, TCSTP_PNLN is a group that I created 4 years ago, when I was moving to London and wanted a medium to communicate and interact with friends in Morgan Stanley. That group went on to become a smash hit, with hordes of people joining it by the day. Absolutely anything and everything under the sun is discussed.)

Here's the complete mail-trail on the world-famous TP group... ;-)))) For the first time , I sensed that girls have a "lipsticks-n-eyeliner" free brain. That they can think of something beyond that. Am sure, that you will love this exchange :-)))) Read it from the bottom...

We got into some lively conversations about CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility), team building to name a few... for a few months, just as 2 normal colleagues would have done. NB: We had never met each other in person.

But the summer of 2007 changed it all...
May 2007:
I return to India
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.

Jun 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.

Jul 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.
Neha leaves for Mississauga.

Aug 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.

Sept 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.
I return to Pune.

Oct 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.

Nov 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.
We break the news to our parents... and have our horoscopes matched... 36/36 gunas matched! Her punditji, however states that ONLY 34/36 matched... (!)

So whenever we end up choosing the same stuff, or saying the same thing - we say "chattees gun aise thode he naa miley hein"... and in some real real rare cases, when we have a difference of opinion, we say - "haan, haan.... sirf chautees gun miley hein - isiliye"

NB: We have still not met each other in person.

Dec 2007:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.
We decide to have the engagement in Dec, so that we can fix a wedding date in the first quarter of 2008. But then, she doesnt get leave and is stuck in Mississauga...

Jan 2008:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.
Haribhai comes to Pune.

Feb 2nd 2008: (GROUNDHOG DAY)
We FINALLY meet in person!

Feb 4th 2008:
The Rokka/Nishchay ceremony in Delhi

Feb 14th 2008:
Well... no prizes for guessing - Valentine's Day!!!!

Feb 15th - 3rd Mar 2008:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.
Shaadi ki date is fixed to 8th of May (yayyyyy)

5th Mar 2008:
Neha returns to Pune.
Shaadi ki shopping shuru...

7th Mar 2008:
I get a call from the office, that I have to fly to Leeds(UK) A.S.A.P..
Wow! That's nice. It's just been just 3 days that we met in person... sahi hai... :-((((((
4 days of manic shopping starts- both, shaadi and UK-waali ...
All the sales reps at Shopper's Stop and Pune CENTRAL know us by now.

12th Mar 2008:
I fly back to the UK - this time to Leeds.

13th Mar 2008 - present:
blah... blah... blah... over Gtalk, Skype, phone, mails and YM.

So, ladies and gentlemen... I proudly present to you - Ms. Neha Jain; who would, on the 8th of May, 2008; become Mrs. Neha Adya... and fill my life with love, happiness and joy.

I need you in my life,
Need you like the air that I breathe,
You become the very heart of me,
And I, I cant believe my eyes,
I cant believe the dream that I've found,
Your love has turned my world around.

Birthday time!

2007-12-10T23:48:00.001+05:30

10th of Dec(each year) has always been a wonderful day for me.. reason being, it's me birthday!

Today was extra special!! I spent time with me parents and brother, Hari... something which hasnt happened for quite a while, clearly...

Pune

2007-09-17T20:18:00.000+05:30

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to la-la-land.. It gives me great pleasure in letting you all know that I am finally back in Pune!!!! Good ol' RBP and Koregaon Park. Dunno how long I am gonna stay here, but I will make the most of this trip back home!

Cheers!

Tagged!!!

2007-06-19T17:40:00.000+05:30

Ah, these tags!

How I love them.. especially, the ones on books.. I just got tagged by SuperGirl a.k.a. $uPaRnA.. who woke up one fine morning(on the wrong side of her bed), only to realise that SHE'd been tagged.. so she writes a nice post and decides to tag 5 of her friends..

and.. as the audience guessed it right, the karod-daalar question she asks herself is:

"WHOM do I tag?"

Surprise o' ssssurprises .... SuperGirl chooses AdyaMan, Anup, Akshay, Vipin and Niri out of her 4,349,906 friends on orkut.com..

Lekin Pushpaaa.... ek chotii si problem hai (Houston, infact we have a BIIIG problem)..

- AdyaMan ko blog update kiye huey chaar-hazaar saal huey hein..
- AdyaMan's brain's turned into a vegetable(umm.. make that bhindi) aur uska bhindi-fry to kabkaa consume bhi ho gaya hai..
- AdyaMan ke brain ko roz 20,000 VOLT ke electric jhatke diye jaa rahey hein..
- AdyaMan's forgotten what it is like to be funny and punny..

I try to think of some more excuses..

SuperGirl takes out this HUGE kryptonite-ray-waala gun and points it to AdyaMan's kan-patti(temple) and gives that smirk and says - "AdyaMan, YOU ARE TAGGED!!! there is NO escape.. i want it ready by this week" (add the sinister, evil laughter yourself).. "else you will have TWO-TAGS to your name"

So, here I am.. I shall try to be as concise and precise as possible.. but then, brevity has never been my forte.. so here goes nothing:

* Total number of books that I own:

Well.. about 7,196 and counting..

7,196?!?!?!

Any sane guy would have given me a piece of his mind..

"Abey saaley, itney books khareedney ke liye charas-ganjaa ki smuggling karta hai kya"

"Are you crazy or something?"..

"hey bhagwaan, itney books? mujhe chakkar aa raha hai"..

"library naam ki cheez ke baarey mein, kabhi sunaa nahi tha kya??"..

And I tell people, with non-glycerine-induced tears in my eyes that "I had to sell off MY ancestral property.. the entire12 acres of cultivated land, four 20-bedroom bungalows, 100 bullocks, 42 sheep and 30 kilograms of gold.. in all.. to buy those books.. and the fancy books-shelves to keep them together and not to forget the $250,000 book-cataloging software I bought from TCS."

well.. 7196 it is..

and this does NOT include all those textbooks, school homework and classwork notebooks and all those "rough-books" which I used as canvases for portraits of the teachers(in school)\professors(in college).. (I sold those portraits and bought books.. thats another story.. will save it for later).. This also does NOT include e-books.. and does NOT include all the magazines and newspapers that I've read for the last 24 years (it does, however include my p'boy collection :-P)..

* Last book I bought:

OBJEK-SHUNNN me-laard.. (or, shud i say.. me-laardess) .. i would like to change the question.. muljimm AdyaMan se poochiye about the "Last BOOKS he bought" ..

I always buy books in 4s and 6s.. (Like Gangu-lee, I dont believe in singles).. The last books i bought were:

1) Srimad Bhagwat : The Srimad Bhagwat itself is believed to be the gem among all the sacred Puranas as it emphasizes on the devotion to Lord Vishnu’s incarnation, Lord Krishna. It is believed to have been authored by the great sage Vedavyasa when he felt a great unrest troubling his soul after authoring the Mahabharat. Although this Purana itself is believed to be a part of Skanda Purana, It is its lyrical beauty and devotion to Krishna that made it most popular. It enlists 22 incarnations of Lord Vishnu, while other sacred accounts of the Sanatana Dharma believe that there were nine incarnations and one is yet to come.

2) Google Hacking For Penetration Testers : Google, the most popular search engine.. recently entered the urban dictionary as a verb. This book by Johnny Long, creator of the johnny.ihackstuff.com.. explores the explosive growth of a technique known as "Google Hacking. By reverse engineering the techniques of malicious "Google hackers," this book shows security flaws and methods of extracting information from webpages you never knew existed..

3) Asterix and the Falling Sky: The adventures of Asterix have always been my favorite read.. it was the main source of inspiration for all my European tra(wails)vel and have given provided me more info about ancient civilizations (Gaulish, Roman, Assyrian and all the 300,000 other).. than all my history textbooks combined.

4) Finding Flow : Kasam hai mujhe Mallika Sherawat ke kapdon kii.. I have read so much of psychology and philosophy in the last 8 months, that I have now turned into this five-n-a-half-foot tall walkie-talkie-brain, who's got the genius for illuminating phenomena that perplex most behavioral scientists and psychopaths..

Till October last year, the most intelligent piece of literature I had read in the whole of 2006 was "Chacha Chaudhary and the return of Mahabali"(the book where Chacha braves the dangerous four-headed buffoons to get Chachi a Mars chocolate bar.. with Sabu's help, ofcourse!!)

* Last book I read:

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (finallly!!! 2 years after i bought it)

* One book I couldn't finish:

The only bouncer so far has been the London telephone directory .... wayyy too many characters .... extremely complex plot .... and too boring..

* Five books which mean a lot to me:

1) The Bhagvad Gita

2) The Asterix series

3) The Harry Potter series

4) The Hardy Boys series

5) _________________

note: I have chosen to omit the details of some books that DO mean a lot, kyonki ye blog bahu-betiyaan bhi padhtee hongee (coz this is a U-Rated blog *;o))

Well.. there are about a hundred odd books in my collection that I havent been able to complete.. Till I recover from whatever I am ailing from, I have lots of stuff to complete.

all's well that ends well(in an oil well).. Bush(the politician and not the other one, you dirty mind.. ) is seeing to it that he(and America and the UK) restore democracy to the Middle-East (hmm.. idea for another post)

Now the people I’m going to tag are rather voracious readers (or atleast have read a lot more variety of books than I have, so I’m sure it’ll make for some interesting reading.) and am gonna tag 10 people (so that I can exact my sweet revenge)

Plus, it’ll give them a reason to update their blogs.. :-P.

Hari Adya (my bro, who's lost in his studies)
Aloke Sarnobat(my long lost cousin, who's lost again these days)
Tulsi Keshkamat(the original SuperWoMan who's lost touch these days)
Shailendra Mathur(who's lost in the Himalayas these days)
Anuj Dasgupta(who's lost somewhere in the Himalayas too)
Neha Srivastava(who's now lost somewhere in the US of A)
Rajagopalan Krishnan(who's lost somewhere in the Poon of A)

I don’t believe in forcing people to do a thing..
Take your time to complete it.

I am not forcing you.
But do it , or I will kill you.

So, bacchon.. that marks the end of the kahaani.. AdyaMan ki zubaani..
kal phir aana .. OK?

Here's a snap of AdyaMan at home and about 10% of his collection of books..

NITTE-grities in college life

2007-05-17T14:43:00.000+05:30

My brother and Quake-fragger in the making -- Hari Adya won the 3rd prize in C-programming at the Knitte++ State level tech-fest.

Click here for more.

Haribhai, we are proud of your achievement!!

From C-Cube to Rubik's Cube

2007-05-08T00:14:00.000+05:30

My latest craze?
.
.
.
.
hmm... Solving the Rubik's cube.

Rubik's Cube (commonly misspelled rubix or rubics cube) is a mechanical puzzle invented in 1974[1] by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.

Originally called the Magic Cube by its inventor, it was named Rubik's Cube in England in 1976 when David Singmaster was selling it at The Open University. Over one hundred million cubes were sold in the period from 1980 to 1982. It is said to be the world's best-selling toy, with some 300,000,000 Rubik's Cubes and imitations sold worldwide!!!!

Speedcubing solutions have been developed for solving the Rubik's Cube as quickly as possible. The most common speedcubing solution was developed by Jessica Fridrich. It is a very efficient layer-by-layer method that requires a large number of algorithms, especially for orienting and permuting the last layer. The first layer corners and second layer are done simultaneously, with each corner paired up with a second-layer edge piece.

Another well-known method was developed by Lars Petrus. In this method, a 2×2×2 section is solved first, followed by a 2x2x3, and then the incorrect edges are solved using a 3 move algorithm, which eliminates the need for a 32 move algorithm later. One of the advantages of this method is that it tends to give solutions in fewer moves. For this reason the method is also popular for fewest move competitions.

Have managed to solve a 3x3x3 in less than a minute now!
Tried the next challenge - solving the cube blind-folded.. here's the video of my attempt:

Not many people know that I had solved one when I was 7.
It's been 19 years now, so decided to make it special :-)

Have the following "unofficial" records to my name, BTW:
- Solving a 3x3x3(best of 10 attempts) : 45 sec
- Solving a 3x3x3(blindfolded) : 57 sec
- Solving a 3x3x3(after a bottle of wine) : 6 min (WOW!)

Some great sites on speedcubing:

TCS Star of the Year - revisited

2007-02-10T04:36:00.000+05:30

Apna aaj poster chapp gaya TCS ke akhbaaron mein, jiski wajah se apun ka happiness knows no bounds today :-)

Literally over the moon!
Feels great!

Not one of my best poses, but posters ke liye chalega boss.. This poster's apparently gonna be plastered all over TCS-UK.. so yes.. methinks me should have taken another shot. (That's quite an old photograph BTW)

30 months in OMR.... !!!!

2006-07-22T00:29:00.000+05:30

30 months in OMR....

30 months.

Of living it and loving it.
Of a vacation from conventional thought, society and expectations.
Of enthusiasm and boredom,
Of hardwork and procrastination,

Of depression and jubiliation.

30 months.

Of learning and unlearning.
Of taking chances and not taking them,

Of MSAS, Sybase and INFA,

Of Autosys, Perforce and JIRA

30 months.

Of making plans and breaking plans.
Of appearing, disappearing, and then reappearing.
Of realizing that pretending to be happy doesn't make you happy.
Or pretending to be smart doesn't make you smart.

30 months.

Of enjoying being with the team.
Of realizing that it's human to mess up.
And it's ok to wear a "cowboy hat" and gleam.
But also knowing that I will improve and clean up.

30 months.

Realizing that things I want to forget,
are the things I need to talk about the most.

Of moving on and wanting something else the most.
Of realizing closure for a new and better beginning.

30 months.

Of aspirations and milestones.
Of challenges and success.
Of building a new life and enjoying every moment of it.
And if there is something I really want to say, its Thank You.

It's been special.

30 months is quite a long time!!!!

30 months, 2 work-locations, 27 team-mates, 2 OMRs, 4 managers, 4.5 gigs of mails, 1 Star of the Year award, 2 Star of the Month awards, 2 appraisals, 1 5-a-side football win(ok, ok, it was the 3rd
place), 1 Word-of-the-Week, 3 different names(and first-last names interchanged!! :-), 2 British summers, 1 Indian monsoon, .... I've weathered it all!

Its time to say the word goodbye from me the project that made me a man and made a man out of me.

I will be out of OMR today. It has been a rewarding experience . OMR gave me an opportunity to learn, grow and enrich many of my skills (and my life as well :-). I owe it all to OMR. I am sure, this will pave my path in all future endeavours.

Now it's time to move ahead and make a new beginning.

Till then, it's Phir milenge, Auf Wiedersehen, Paarkkalam, Adjö så länge, Selavu, Adiós, Totsiens, Tichaonana, Xaire, Do videnja, ciao.... goodbye!!!!

IQ YQ and other things....

2006-07-16T14:39:00.000+05:30

Your IQ score is 175!

You are gifted with the natural fluency of a writer and the visual and spatial strengths of an artist. Those skills contribute to your creative and expressive mind. Insightful linguists can take complex concepts and articulate them to just about anyone. You have a gift with words and an insight into processes and the way people think. These talents enable you to explain things clearly to people as you can conceptualise ideas internally and understand patterns on an abstract level.

* Results as per www.tickle.com

This also probably goes to show that I have the requisite IQ(Idiotic Quotience) and tons of spare time to take such tests.

Mensa, here I come!!!!

Morning Star,Tequila Sunset

2006-05-29T04:15:00.001+05:30

Friday - 26th May 2006

I had lunch and a round of discussion with Mr. S. Mahalingam - Chief Financial Officer and Head, Global Finance and Mr. A. S. Lakshminarayanan - VP and country manager, United Kingdom and Ireland ; with Ester - HR Manager and 3 other Star of the Year awardees.....

[L-R] - Dharmesh, S.Mahalingam, Priya, Ester, Sethu Lakshmanan, A.S. Lakshminarayanan, Chennakeshav Adya (a.k.a. AdyaMan), Avinash Kulkarni

A bit of a flashback for the benefit of the audience....

This snap was taken by Subbu on March 18th 2006; in the London School of Economics; where we had a Open House; attended by a few hundred associates. Couldnt believe it, when Adyaman was awarded the "Star of the Year 2006" award by Mr. LakshmiNarayanan - Country Manager UK & Ireland!

The last couple of years that I have spent here, have certainly been the best years of my life, where I have realised a lot of my dreams and this certainly was the best one of them all!

Coming back to the present....

Ah! Yes.... Then, later in the day, had a discussion with Dinanath Kholkar- the Pune GDC head, Aditya Desai and Pravin Brijwani.... till around 10PM!

We decided to meet again .... Saturday morning at 8.30AM and goto Greenwich.

TEQUILA Sunset
After the customary see-off to the hotel for Dina that evening; there was a change of heart, when AdyaMan challenged the others for a round of drinks. This turned into a competition with Aditya and AdyaMan downing shot after shot of tequillas.... with Pravin playing the role of cheerleader.... This finally cluminated at midnight, after some 10 shots each(the bar ran out of tequilla and time).... we caught the Jubilee back home.

Some day that!!!!

My dream girl!!!!!

2006-05-19T21:14:00.000+05:30

I got this message from one of my schoolmate's(Sumeet Pai) blog....

The girl cannot be displayed
The girl you are looking for is currently unavailable. This webpage creator might be experiencing technical difficulties or some sort of embarrassment, for which you may need to adjust your curiosity settings.Too much of it is not good.
Please try the following: Click the Refresh button, or try again later.Your time will surely come. If you typed the page address in the Address Bar, make sure that the bar served genuine alcohol. If you visit the place often then chances are we'll meet pretty soon, will let you know what you wanted, then. To check your connection settings, click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Connections tab, click Settings. The settings should match those deemed appropriate by the author. The reason you are reading this means you have too much of curiosity or Poking into other's Lives Quotient (PLQ). If your Network Administrator has enabled it, then there's little what Microsoft Windows or I can do about it,probably you can examine yourself and automatically discover new interests in life. If you would like Windows to try and discover them, buy yourself a pair of binoculars and track your neighbour's activities. Some sites require 128-bit connection security. Click the Help menu and then click About Internet Exploration to determine whether you have to right to explore. If you are trying to reach a secure site, which you unmistakably are,make sure your Security settings can support it. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, scroll to the Security section and check personal settings for having cleared SSLC, HSC, MATHS 2.0, SOM 1.0 or EME 1.0. Finally don't annoy this guy below, too much. Simply an unrequired Error Internet Explorer was never so bad !!

27th Wedding Anniversary

2006-05-11T04:26:00.000+05:30

"Wedding Anniversary"

(n) : the anniversary of the day on which you were married (or the celebration of it)
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

My parents were married on May 10, 1979 .... and today is their 27th wedding anniversary. Twenty! Seven! Years..... together! I cannot get to think how they managed it.

I marvel at my parents' colourful and loud "old school" marriage, their complex canvas of undying committment, and how our modern-age relationships pale in comparison ~ this culture and age where our relationships, like our technology, become outdated as soon as they are released, and an update or upgrade is always a mouse-click away, or so it seems.

Our generation?

Well.... We know only how to frantically hack away complex code , but we can't figure out the simple hard-wiring behind our own emotions. Ummm.... well.... most of us(including me) can't even make it through college without breaking up ~~ we're all too quick to hit the CTRL+ATL+DEL keys in our relationships and "irreconciliable differences" is the modern catch-all phrase for "this is just too hard."

They make marriage look so flawless, but if you ask them they'll tell you that it takes a lot of work to have a marriage as happy as theirs and that the work NEVER stops!

I am proud of you ....
Congratulations, Mom and Dad.

We love you guys a lot.
Keshav and Hari ( AdyaMen!)

491 days away from home

2006-05-08T00:44:00.000+05:30

Today, on the 7th of May 2006, after 491 days away from home..... I'm finally missing it....

I've always prided myself on the fact that I am independent, tough and having seen both; the best and the worst that life has to offer; can handle myself pretty well....

But the last week has been pathetic....personally and professionally. I've managed to shove myself into the abyss of depression....

I miss my parents, I miss my brother Tuxy, I miss my grandparents, I miss my Maushi, I miss my home in Mysore, I miss the spicy food, I miss my king-sized bed, I miss my library at home, I miss my morning gym routine, I miss the evening cricket matches, I miss my night walks, I miss our ancestral home, I miss the green sugarcane fields, I miss the single-toothed grin of the old hag who cooks such delicious food, I miss the warm weather and the sun, I miss the smell of the earth when it rains in summer.... I miss all these little joys of life....

I miss you... Home Sweet Home :-(

Proud to be a Chelsea Scum

2006-05-07T20:58:00.000+05:30

Chelsea thump Manchester United to retain title

Chelsea - 3 Manchester United - 0

Chelsea are named "Most-Despised Regime" in professional soccer!!Another crushing blow was dealt to the fragile psyche of Manchester United last night when the Chelsea team ruthlessly scored more goals than the Man U blokes.

Eye-witness accounts from stunned Man U fans tell of deliberately-inflated expectations being shattered entirely at the last minute. Some expressed dismay and an inability to cope with current events without the psychological crutch of a world championship soccer team.

The Man U Manager immediately held an emergency strategy session at the surprise conclusion of the game. Shortly thereafter, his staff released this statement: "People of the world, please understand that we, the Insidious Overlords of Soccer, are not without compassion. We listened to your pleas and the game was supposed to be fixed -- Man U should have won. The renegade actions of the Chelsea team are in no way endorsed by FIFA and they should now be considered to be acting as a rogue franchise."

Following the Chelsea win, the British premier Tony Blair announced in a press conference this morning that "this outrageous act of international terrorism" would not go unanswered, and that he is fully prepared to launch air-strikes and perhaps even commit ground-troops to topple the terrorist-team of Chelsea if they do not immediately turn over and let the other teams win. "We have already assembled a coalition force of U.S. Army Rangers.

If our demands are not met within three days, we will unleash these forces to ferret out the responsible parties and repeatedly body-check them. Then we shall imprison them indefinitely under the terms of the PATRIOT legislation.

Mwah ha ha ha ha! Mwah ha ha! Ha!"

Super Chelsea
And it's super Chelsea
Super Chelsea F.C.
We're by far the greatest team...
the world has ever seen(repeat)

Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea (repeat)

The sound of music

2006-05-07T02:00:00.000+05:30

John Smith(?) once said "After silence, that which cometh nearest to expressing the inexpressible is - music." Music is a vital part of my daily life- I can't imagine how I could endure those torturous hours after a busy day at office if it weren't for my iPod .... a mammoth 60 GB version at that

I've been exposed to a ton of music over the last year or so that I've really taken a liking to. Somehow, it all seems to be from 1975 and 1995. Anyway, here's my pick for the best stuff going in my collection:

Metallica

Heavy Metal.... I can't stop listening to it!
It's maddeningly good! Makes me feel high.... without the dope ofcourse .....

Aaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Enter Sandman

Wherever I May Roam

Sad But True

Nothing Else Matters

Outlaw Tom

ABBA
Upbeat, electronica. Unstoppably good, and it's a long, 70-minute album that doesn't reach out and demand your attention, but just lets you cruise along with it and find its coolness on your own schedule. A great set to listen to end-to-end and over and over again.

Dancing Queen

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

Knowing Me, Knowing You

I Have A Dream

Mamma Mia

Money, Money, Money

Voulez-Vous

Swades
"Swades" or Swade-s (plural of Swade) as I pronounce it, has the music that can make men cry! Watching the movie .... would make them cry bucketloads of tears.

Saanwariya Saanwariya

Yun Hi Chala

Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera

Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera (Shehnai)

Radiohead's Amnesiac
I've been on a Radiohead kick for almost three years straight now. I can't believe how damned good they are. It frightens me. Amnesiac is an ethereal successor to Kid A. It's good for times when you want some really pleasant, vaguely melancholy music in the background.

Robert Miles
Children (Dream version)

Salaam Namaste`

My Dil Goes Mmmm

Morgan Stanley's 9th annual 5-a-side football tournament

2006-05-01T03:50:00.000+05:30

Morgan Stanley's 9th annual 5-a-side football tournament kicked off under cloudy skies and chilly wind and.... the SAFE a.k.a. Settlements team went all the way to the semi-finals and ended THIRD !!

Yes!! a mighty fine display.

And doubly sweet considering the lack of substitute players. Without a doubt, the SAFE-five were the most outstanding underdogs in the tournament. We had the intensity of a kicked beehive. (kicked beehive--that's actually a John Smith phrase. He wrote it years ago. I steal it every time I write something.)

Our star player??James "Striker" Spicer a.k.a. James.... He was so outstanding in the tournament; that you could not work out what position he played in, due to his dominance and moments of sheer brilliance at every corner of the pitch. And I mean that literally.... he took the strikes, played the role of goalie, set up goals for the strikers, defended and got his just rewards. Smashed 8 goals!! Must be a front-runner for the golden-boot award, I reckon.

The strike trio of Andy(4 goals), Dave(3 goals) and Grant(4 goals) were very consistent and showed glimpses of class all the way through. I (a.k.a. AdyaMan) too joined the party and scored 3 of 'em goals!! Andy had 2 brilliant free kicks to his credit, that showed the excellent form he was in. Dave was in his brilliant best!! And some of the goalies stood there flabbergasted, as Grant's powerful free-kicks ended up in the net.

Under the kind of intense pressure were in, especially the constant nagging of the audience and the rough opposition(s), other people would have thrown the game. Well, perhaps "throw" is too strong a word, but I certainly pulled my punches. The main area where we felt we fell short -- on the Achilles’ heel -- was goalkeeping; the goalkeepers kept changing every half (and almost cost us the game when I was keeping ;-)).

We were up against Equity CSG in the first game (we lost badly, 6-2) .... then went on to hammer Quantum IT 7-2 and IBD APG (I guess) 4-1!! And surprise of surprises, we pitted against Equity CSG again in the Quarter-Finals .... they were grinning ear-to-ear when we stepped in the arena .... expecting an easy win .... but we ended up beating them 5-1, thanks to some excellent strikes by Andy and Grant!!

The semi-final was a tough one -- the EC Dev team had some real good players and truckloads of substitutes.... who kept pouring in, every alternate minute. At one point in time, I was racking my brains trying to figure out where that tall skinny guy disappeared.... and lo behold! I find him chuggin' towards me at full-throttle from the subs area. We lost the semis 3-2.

We then; after a few pints of lager; parted ways to have some good sound sleep at around midnight. I reckon we successfully "settled" this "mission" "safe"ly, using all the tricks of the "trade" and showed world how we can rise to a challenge, and do more than just frantically hacking away code!

Thanks to everybody for an incredibly fun evening.

The Universe is again nagging me back to work. I better get right on that.
3 cheers to the SAFE team!!

Godspeed,
AdyaMan

Which Polyhedral Are You?

2006-04-30T17:43:00.000+05:30

You are the rare, the overlooked, yet incredibly useful dodecahedron: the d12. You are a creative, romantic soul. You often act without thinking, but make up for your lack of plans with plenty of heart.

You easily solve problems that stump others, but your answers tend to put you into even deeper trouble. You write long, detailed backgrounds for all your characters, and are most likely to dress up as one or get involved in cos-play.

You can be silly at times and are easily distracted by your own day dreams, but are at the end of the day you're someone who can be depended on.

What do I think, about what this review thinks about me?
In short this review means I'm C.R.A.P.
Creative. Romantic. And. Paagal

Welcome to the Metrix!

2006-04-30T15:14:00.000+05:30

Welcome to the Metrix!! {ermm.... Operational "Metrics" Reporting}

Let me introduce myself.
I am AdyaMan.

{thunder in the background}

Clouded in mystery and suspense......

What is the Metrix?

The Metrix is a world built on clients' aspirations: who they think they are, what they think they are doing and what they want to be.

The Metrix is a world mutually created by us IT people, who strengthen the bond between the clients. It is where they live. It’s their world! They talk to each other, support each other, see what the others buy, hear others’ opinions and identify with or differentiate themselves from others.

The Metrix cannot stand alone, though. It won’t create anything. Stand-alone systems simply do not have aspirations or a sense of attachment to anything. Today onwards the challenge to you as a member of the Metrix IT team is how to develop "The Metrix version 2" for your customers — a world whose centre is your brand and which is inhabited by your customers.

We must do what we must do.

Hmm.... well, the kind of language I have used in that epistle is familiar to me... I too feel at times that I am in some kind of a "Matrix" or the other... maybe or probably LIKELY it is now by the name of "Operational Metrics Reporting" a.k.a. "O.M.R. a.k.a. "Oye Maar" !!!

Now your question abt the character I associate myself most with ....?

Hmmmm,, well my fav is Neo - 'cuz he "gets the girl" - naturally!!! But donno in terms of looks or whatever else (I wish that I was even half as good looking as Neo but anyway....! :-) .. perhaps I would be more like Morpheus (looks-wise) .. or perhaps "Mouse the Hacker" (in terms of the sort of things I do with the PC - I am a bit of a "hack" when I get going!!!) ... or even perhaps a bit of everything a-la "Mr. Smith".

So let me get back to wallow in my own misery by Matrixing/Metricsing .... or whatever you wanna call it!!

So long,
AdyaMan

A brief history of AdyaMan

2006-04-30T13:09:00.000+05:30

[start]
Greetings Earthling.... I come in peace....

I'm basically(other variants - PERLically, C++ically etc.) from Belgaum, Karnataka in India. Most of my childhood and education was spent in Belgaum. I had flashes of inspiration now and then and as a result of one of these flashes , decided to do my Bachelors in Engineering... I would like to say I worked hard on it to get into a good college .. but ... fact is i didnt :-) ..

Engineering was mostly one big blur which stretched for four years .. four years of unshackled fun and games (the computer variety) with intermittent studying binges. I did manage to learn something .. .and it was mostly because I ignored what was being taught in the class and what had to be read for the exams :).

And then there was WORK .... @ Rangsons, Mysore where I worked for almost a year. This was the time I really enjoyed professionally and technically, learnt a great deal of techie stuff and got hooked on to networking (again the computer variety) . I also seem to have started enjoying teaching there, never knew I had it in me !!.

[rant]
TCS (The Chennakeshav Story) began in Jan 2004, when I came down(or up?) to Pune all the way from Mysore. My first real interaction began with the picnic to Mulshi dam(n) and ever since the Pune TCS junta has had to bear my long mails. There were times when I even had to bribe some of them to read my mails. Whew! so much so for my writ(h)ing.
< /rant>

[rave]
Am currently with the Operationl Metrics Reporting a.k.a. O.M.R. a.k.a. Oye Maar project primarily into datawarehousing and working on Microsoft Analysis Services, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, Informatica, Visual Basic, C#, Unix , PERL and umm.... lets see MS-Word, MS-Excel, MS-Outlook, notepad(err.... looks like I have to stop here) .... I've always savored the challenges here and it was a very very important phase in my life .... Met a horde of people and got to learn of lot of good, new, interesting, amazing things (ahem .... not necessarily in that order ;-))
< /rave>

Well whaddya know ... .My life's story in less than a thousand words. There you have it.

[edit]
you must be a sucker for punishment to have read till here and still wanting more ... :)
< /edit>

I read incessantly , usually non academic stuff, except for things like data warehousing algorithms which i really like :-). I mostly read humour and travelogues these days, the libraries have an amazing collection of books which keeps me busy and when I am not reading.... I am surgically attached to my iPod.... else, I usually am playing games( right now NFS SE-II and Recoil .... and at times with people ;-) ..

Now u know me.

Albeit for the time being, the universe is nagging me to work, so i better get right on that.

Cheers!
AdyaMan

< /start>

Adventures of AdyaMan

You're only given a spark of madness. You mustn't lose it !!

Neha... नेहा...

Birthday time!

Pune

Tagged!!!

NITTE-grities in college life

From C-Cube to Rubik's Cube

TCS Star of the Year - revisited

30 months in OMR.... !!!!

IQ YQ and other things....

Morning Star,Tequila Sunset

My dream girl!!!!!

The girl cannot be displayed

Simply an unrequired Error Internet Explorer was never so bad !!

27th Wedding Anniversary

491 days away from home

Proud to be a Chelsea Scum

The sound of music

Morgan Stanley's 9th annual 5-a-side football tournament

Which Polyhedral Are You?

Welcome to the Metrix!

A brief history of AdyaMan