Ant & Grasshopper The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter ,the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
Indian Version
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house. Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance). Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers. Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath '. Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter. Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services. The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV. Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'. Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '. CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden ' Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly . Many years later... The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley . 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ...
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country !!!
It's time to wake up and start doing something in this matter otherwise it will be too late......
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Nice Story..
A great note for all to read it will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking.
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man wasallowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain thefluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room 's only window. Theother man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, theirjobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.
Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, hewould pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he couldsee outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of theworld outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played onthe water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked armin arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skylinecould be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man onthe other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn 't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind ' s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptivewords.
Days and weeks passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only tofind the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take thebody away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be movednext to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and aftermaking sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his firstlook at the real world outside.He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
Epilogue:
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can' t buy.
"Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present.Enjoy it.Live life to the fullest."
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man wasallowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain thefluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room 's only window. Theother man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, theirjobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.
Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, hewould pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he couldsee outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of theworld outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played onthe water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked armin arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skylinecould be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man onthe other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn 't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind ' s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptivewords.
Days and weeks passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only tofind the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take thebody away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be movednext to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and aftermaking sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his firstlook at the real world outside.He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
Epilogue:
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can' t buy.
"Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present.Enjoy it.Live life to the fullest."
Safe Holi.................
Let's all pledge to generate awareness about the various harmful effects around Holi Celebrations and celebrate an Eco-Friendly Holi this year. Here's how we can do so.....
ECO-FRIENDLY HOLI
Harmful Effects of Chemical Colors In earlier times, when festival celebrations were not so much commercialized, Holi colors were prepared from the flowers of trees that blossomed during spring, such as the Indian Coral Tree (Parijat) and the Flame of the Forest (Palash), both of which have bright red flowers. These and several other blossoms provided the raw material from which the brilliant shades of Holi colors were made. Most of these trees also had medicinal properties and Holi colors prepared from them were actually beneficial to the skin.
Over the years, with the disappearance of trees in urban areas and greater stress for higher profits these natural colors came to be replaced by industrial dyes manufactured through chemical processes. Around 2001, two environmental groups based in Delhi, did a study on all the three available categories of colors available in the market — pastes, dry colors and water colors. The study revealed that all of these three forms of chemical Holi colors are hazardous.
Harmful Chemicals in Holi Colors According to their researched fact sheet on Holi, the paste and powder colors contain very toxic chemicals that can have severe health effects. Danger of Wet Holi Colors Wet colors, mostly, use Gentian violet as a color concentrate which can cause skin discoloration and dermatitis.
The Holi Bonfire Burning of fuel wood to create the bonfire for Holika Dahan presents another serious environmental problem. Many groups are now advocating one symbolic community fire, rather than several smaller bonfires across the city as a way to reduce wood consumption. Others are also suggesting that these fires be lit using waste material rather than wood.
Holi Safety Tips Some Tips & Suggestions to make our Holi Safe & Joyous:
The best option would be to play with natural homemade colors. Our skin and hair will feel pampered with the use of skin friendly natural products. If natural colors are not possible, then ensure a better quality of colors. Buy colors from a reputed shop or vendor. Make sure that the face is well creamed before and after the play. Apply thick coating of nail paint on the nails - both fingers and toes so that they remain protected. Oil the hair well so that the color doesn’t stick on your hair and can be washed off easily later. If you are prone to skin allergies, avoid playing with Gulal altogether. Going to a dermatologist (skin specialist) serves no purpose, after the damage is done.
Natural Homemade Colors:
1) Mix Turmeric powder in water to get bright yellow color water or use turmeric powder as dry yellow color powder.
2) Mix Neel (used for whitening clothes) with talcum powder to get blue color powder Mix powdered Rakta Chandan in water to get red color water.
3) Mix Turmeric powder and Katha to get orange color water.
4) Mix Mehendi powder in water & strain it to get orange color water.
5) Soak Palash Flowers (called Flame of the Forest Flowers) overnight in water to get bright red color water.
6) Boil Beetroot in water to get bright red color water.
7) Boil Palak leaves in water to get bright green color water.
8) Soak Rose/Kewra flowers in water to get colorless but fragrant water
ECO-FRIENDLY HOLI
Harmful Effects of Chemical Colors In earlier times, when festival celebrations were not so much commercialized, Holi colors were prepared from the flowers of trees that blossomed during spring, such as the Indian Coral Tree (Parijat) and the Flame of the Forest (Palash), both of which have bright red flowers. These and several other blossoms provided the raw material from which the brilliant shades of Holi colors were made. Most of these trees also had medicinal properties and Holi colors prepared from them were actually beneficial to the skin.
Over the years, with the disappearance of trees in urban areas and greater stress for higher profits these natural colors came to be replaced by industrial dyes manufactured through chemical processes. Around 2001, two environmental groups based in Delhi, did a study on all the three available categories of colors available in the market — pastes, dry colors and water colors. The study revealed that all of these three forms of chemical Holi colors are hazardous.
Harmful Chemicals in Holi Colors According to their researched fact sheet on Holi, the paste and powder colors contain very toxic chemicals that can have severe health effects. Danger of Wet Holi Colors Wet colors, mostly, use Gentian violet as a color concentrate which can cause skin discoloration and dermatitis.
The Holi Bonfire Burning of fuel wood to create the bonfire for Holika Dahan presents another serious environmental problem. Many groups are now advocating one symbolic community fire, rather than several smaller bonfires across the city as a way to reduce wood consumption. Others are also suggesting that these fires be lit using waste material rather than wood.
Holi Safety Tips Some Tips & Suggestions to make our Holi Safe & Joyous:
The best option would be to play with natural homemade colors. Our skin and hair will feel pampered with the use of skin friendly natural products. If natural colors are not possible, then ensure a better quality of colors. Buy colors from a reputed shop or vendor. Make sure that the face is well creamed before and after the play. Apply thick coating of nail paint on the nails - both fingers and toes so that they remain protected. Oil the hair well so that the color doesn’t stick on your hair and can be washed off easily later. If you are prone to skin allergies, avoid playing with Gulal altogether. Going to a dermatologist (skin specialist) serves no purpose, after the damage is done.
Natural Homemade Colors:
1) Mix Turmeric powder in water to get bright yellow color water or use turmeric powder as dry yellow color powder.
2) Mix Neel (used for whitening clothes) with talcum powder to get blue color powder Mix powdered Rakta Chandan in water to get red color water.
3) Mix Turmeric powder and Katha to get orange color water.
4) Mix Mehendi powder in water & strain it to get orange color water.
5) Soak Palash Flowers (called Flame of the Forest Flowers) overnight in water to get bright red color water.
6) Boil Beetroot in water to get bright red color water.
7) Boil Palak leaves in water to get bright green color water.
8) Soak Rose/Kewra flowers in water to get colorless but fragrant water
Let There be Light...
HIV Knowledge
Its good to be well informed about HIV. There was a story on junk somedays back where it is said that a boy got infected by HIV virus byeating pani-puri. And there have also been rumors where people are affected by the HIV virus when they got pricked by an HIV infected needle in theaters which is rubbish.So read along!
I have seen this below mentioned mail floating across group email & I feel its my moral responsibility to correct all misconceptionsregarding HIV /AIDS.I asked my friend mayank who is serving as Brand Manager (Product Manager) handling anti HIV/AIDS portfolio (called asAntiretroviral Drugs) in Ranbaxy to help me to spread awareness about aids and clear the misconceptions about it.This what he has to say.
1) HIV (virus) requires ONLY Blood or Semen as medium to transmit from one body to another.
2) HIV cannot transmit even through Saliva(mucous) i.e . even if HIV-infected patient coughs or smooches and another person is exposedto his sputum (cough) or saliva, the virus still can not transmit because concentration of virus particles in sputum is almost NIL & exposure to air anyway kills virus in fraction of seconds.
3) In case an HIV-infected person gets an injury (like the cut in below mentioned story) and he is bleeding, the virus can transmit toanother person only if another person has a cut/wound in his body & that too when blood from both person comes in contact with each other (this is also very very rare unless bleeding is very high) and not otherwise.
4) HIV can never survive in any other liquid medium also other than blood or semen (& please for God sake ... never in Pani Puri wala pani).
5) Even if one drinks an HIV infected blood (or semen) of someone (ingest through Gastro Intestinal track), the virus can not survive intheacidic pH of stomach. Highest extent of acidity is 0 (practically not possible) so imagine 1 as pH which is in our stomach. (This pH can burn your own finger in less than a second if you dip in that acid).
6) Exposure of less than 1 second in AIR KILLS the HIV virus( hence story of needle pricks in Cinema theatres is a crap). Even if bloodfrom a wound (of infected person) dries up (blood clot), the virus dies and can not infect anyone else.
7) HIV transmission is ONLY an INFECTION i.e.entrance of virus in one's body. It DOES NOT MEAN AIDS.
8) An HIV-infected person (after entrance of virus) can progress to a condition of AIDS only after 8 to 10 YEARS (not in 15 days as in thePani Puri story).
9) It is not HIV (virus) that kills a human.....the virus attacks immune cells (cells that fight against foreign pathogens/antigens) andhence a person's ability to fight against infections & diseases slowly diminishes and person ultimately dies of a disease which could be assimple as TB.
10) Most importantly, HIV is no longer a dreadful disease ... it is "*CHRONIC MANAGEABLE DISEASE*" just like Diabetes or Hypertension.
11) If there is anything you need to be careful from to prevent HIV is Unsafe sex, Blood transfusion (check before taking) /Blood donation(use sterilized needles only) and any blood contact during an accident or so where amount of bleeding is very high.
PLZ O PLZ spread this message to avoid rumors and to educate people
Its good to be well informed about HIV. There was a story on junk somedays back where it is said that a boy got infected by HIV virus byeating pani-puri. And there have also been rumors where people are affected by the HIV virus when they got pricked by an HIV infected needle in theaters which is rubbish.So read along!
I have seen this below mentioned mail floating across group email & I feel its my moral responsibility to correct all misconceptionsregarding HIV /AIDS.I asked my friend mayank who is serving as Brand Manager (Product Manager) handling anti HIV/AIDS portfolio (called asAntiretroviral Drugs) in Ranbaxy to help me to spread awareness about aids and clear the misconceptions about it.This what he has to say.
1) HIV (virus) requires ONLY Blood or Semen as medium to transmit from one body to another.
2) HIV cannot transmit even through Saliva(mucous) i.e . even if HIV-infected patient coughs or smooches and another person is exposedto his sputum (cough) or saliva, the virus still can not transmit because concentration of virus particles in sputum is almost NIL & exposure to air anyway kills virus in fraction of seconds.
3) In case an HIV-infected person gets an injury (like the cut in below mentioned story) and he is bleeding, the virus can transmit toanother person only if another person has a cut/wound in his body & that too when blood from both person comes in contact with each other (this is also very very rare unless bleeding is very high) and not otherwise.
4) HIV can never survive in any other liquid medium also other than blood or semen (& please for God sake ... never in Pani Puri wala pani).
5) Even if one drinks an HIV infected blood (or semen) of someone (ingest through Gastro Intestinal track), the virus can not survive intheacidic pH of stomach. Highest extent of acidity is 0 (practically not possible) so imagine 1 as pH which is in our stomach. (This pH can burn your own finger in less than a second if you dip in that acid).
6) Exposure of less than 1 second in AIR KILLS the HIV virus( hence story of needle pricks in Cinema theatres is a crap). Even if bloodfrom a wound (of infected person) dries up (blood clot), the virus dies and can not infect anyone else.
7) HIV transmission is ONLY an INFECTION i.e.entrance of virus in one's body. It DOES NOT MEAN AIDS.
8) An HIV-infected person (after entrance of virus) can progress to a condition of AIDS only after 8 to 10 YEARS (not in 15 days as in thePani Puri story).
9) It is not HIV (virus) that kills a human.....the virus attacks immune cells (cells that fight against foreign pathogens/antigens) andhence a person's ability to fight against infections & diseases slowly diminishes and person ultimately dies of a disease which could be assimple as TB.
10) Most importantly, HIV is no longer a dreadful disease ... it is "*CHRONIC MANAGEABLE DISEASE*" just like Diabetes or Hypertension.
11) If there is anything you need to be careful from to prevent HIV is Unsafe sex, Blood transfusion (check before taking) /Blood donation(use sterilized needles only) and any blood contact during an accident or so where amount of bleeding is very high.
PLZ O PLZ spread this message to avoid rumors and to educate people
Saturday, March 1, 2008
realITy check
It's a topic that has been oft debated - that
Here's how Indian IT companies operate (Infy, TCS, wipro and the second string such as mastek, satyam, patni etc). Hire engineers in bulk, never mind that they are not computer scientists or electrical engineers - if they can write a few lines of code in C/C++ and are academically decent, they're hired . After all, they dont need brilliant engineers - just people who will do as they are told and reasonably intelligent enough to get the client's work done, and bullshit their way out of it if they don't. They'll rarely make CAD software for Electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. Instead they will develop "end to end solutions" for banking, finance, inventory management, website development, etc. By develop I mean code, not design - there is a huge difference between the two, something which I will touch upon shortly. One important thing to note is that the HR in most IT companies dont give a damn about individual interests. They will put you wherever they need someone to slog for them and they wonder why so many people leave!!!
What is the nature of the work? At least 70% of the international projects in most indian IT companies is maintenence - i.e someone else has already developed an application. All you need to do is add more features/change behaviour as per client's request .Then there’s production support,which is worse.It is almost call center work-ensure that the application runs normally and if it fails get it up and running ASAP. Take calls from the client, update on the status. In a sense, like a car mechanic - I didnt get an engineering degree to be a car mechanic - I got it to design the car! Finally, if you are lucky you get development - write code. But then, writing code is easy - it is like manufacturing a car. What is not, is designing a system that works efficiently. Typically, foreign clients get the design done by the likes of Accenture,
Why is it so hard for desi companies to do design? The've not tried hard enough (yet) to get into this space. They just dont have the competence to get the job done. Desi companies are amazing at procedure oriented projects - if there is a procedure in place telling us what to do, we can do it. They dont have the experience (and therefore the brand equity) to attract IT consulting projects. Consulting is largely a reputation driven business. In order to build such a reputation, desi companies need to hire high-flying consulants - they dont come cheap. Even after all this, there is no guarantee of results! How many software products come out of Indian cos? IFlex is the only company to have a product successful worldwide. Making products is expensive and again, there is no guarantee of success - why risk it when services give me an assured income?
Why do we need to get into high end IT - consulting and products? Simply because the algorithm of low cost, low margin services will run it's course in the future. As payscales rise in
Indian companies thus have 2 choices - identify and set shop in countries where the low cost, low margin algorithm can be applied or enter into high end IT, which is independent of geography. I believe the latter is the better route - it is a high margin business and reasonably high tech. What is even better, is coming up with technology - like Java, efficient databases, advanced operating systems (Like Sun, Oracle or Microsoft). That is real tech. It's not that we can't do it. It's just that we dont want to risk it. But, nothing venture, nothing have! Desi companies’ dont even do proper R&D!
Finally, a true story. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) was huge in the chip manufacturing industry, making almost 60% profit. They could have got into chip design, and potentially, designed low cost chips. However, design is a risky business - what if the chip bombs? TSMC chose to stick to it's core competence - fabrication. In time, TSMC's profits have declined to 20% or so... they're still number one, but don’t make as much money as they used to... Are we learning yet?
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