A Post

Its been a while since I've posted something onto the blog. And this post is to break the silence and keep the blog active. Its neither that I forgot about the blog nor that I became busy. Its just...just...nothing. I wanted to break rather kill the silence very desparately since a while but nothings actually happening.

But am still here...Will hit back and get the blog onto the runway pretty soon...

Life

Life - Its the ultimate sin, a game with no rules that you're expected to win.

Do anything and everything to win the race. At the end of the day, all that matters is a VICTORY. When we win, nobody asks how we won. All they see is we cheering, laughing and shouting with triumph. They will look up at us. If we are victorious, we will have people on our side.

So, its not the road we take to reach the destinatin is important. Well, it has its own importance ofcourse. But it is we reaching there, no matter what, is more important. We reaching there as fast and effectively as we can changes the perspective of the world towards us.

There were days when honesty mattered the most. The path we choose to win used to have an utmost importance. I am not saying that there is no honesty these days. Every person has atleast a bit of honesty. But, does it have the same seat since the olden days ? If you ask me, the answer would be a straight NO. Selfishness has overtaken honesty. Is anyone out there who oppose me from heart ?

The best methodology to follow is the good old "saama daana bheda dandopaya". Do whatever it takes to win, but work your heart out in doing that. Its your race.

Do or Die. There is no try. Emerge as a winner not just as a mere participant.

You Play - You Live...You Stop - You Die

Change

This weekend I am expecting a change in my 8 months of stagnant, dry and lifeless life.
A change that would change my course of life, atleast for a while. The change that would bring a twist in my life. Deliverance of destiny.

I don't know if I really don't kow what that change is or I am just pretending that I don't know what that would be. All I know is this is not the change which I really really wanted all these days.

Since two months, I knew there would be a change but didn't know when its gonna occur. But now, I know when that change is gonna come into picture.

I have two roads infront of me and the beauty is, I don't have any option to choose. Both are closed. In next couple of days, one of them will be opened and I have to take that. No questions.

And I am all set (Am I ?) to welcome the change into my life.

Change is unavoidable.

Yet another enthusiastic recruiter

In December 2008, I received a call for a SharePoint Developer position.
And the conversation follows...

She: Hi. We have a requirement for SharePoint Developer. Can we talk ?
Me: Oh, ya sure. Go ahead.

She: We are looking for a candidate who has 3 years of experience in SharePoint. How much experience do you have in SharePoint ?
Me: 3 Years.

She: How much experience do you have in SharePoint 2007 ?
Me: 1 Year. (Mind you...I received this call in December 2008)

(It was fine till here...Now starts the best part)

She: Oh. Am sorry you don't fit for this position as we are looking for someone who has 3 years of experience in SharePoint 2007.
Me: ??!??

I couldnt resist asking her if they are looking for someone who has more brains than Bill Gates.
I tried explaining her that SharePoint 2007 has been released in second half of 2007 but she was not ready to listen at all.
She said, "Sorry, we want someone who has 3 years of experience in SharePoint 2007" and she hung up the phone.

Why would I be looking for a job if I have the ability to develop an application 2 years before Microsoft did.

Karlstad

Karlstad is one of the cities in Sweden. For me, it is the second best place on earth.
This is where I lived for 2 and a half years while pursuing my Masters.
Its soo nice place to live in...Wow. I miss that place a lot.

When we are abroad, we tend to think that it would be good if there are Indians around. But believe me, people are not the same once they are out of India.
Exceptions are always there, ofcourse.

In the whole city we were only 4 Indians and we were happy about that.
Initially there used to be 10 to 12 Indians - senior students. But they all left in the first couple of months.

If you want a peaceful, calm, happy, out of politics, clean life...Karlstad is the place.

Tom Hanks

I have seen a lot of movies enacted by Tom Hanks and am really impressed by his acting.
He is one kind of a brilliant actor. He gets donned into any character easily. The way he portrays the characters...Man, he is so awesome

Some of his movies which I like the most are

Forrest Gump - Its a story about Forrest Gump - a simple man with low IQ who achieves great heights with good intentions.
The Terminal - Its a story about a man without a country becoming resident of JFK airport.
Cast Away - Its a story about a man surviving alone in a deserted island.

In the above movies, he played three completely different characters

India away from India

Irving - The place I live. Its a small city in Dallas county, TX.

In one of the Hindi movies, a character says that every fourth person in America is an Indian. In Irving, the person who is coming in the opposite direction, the chances of him/her being an Indian are 80%. I hardly see any American around. After Indians I see Afro-Americans and Mexicans.

I never felt away from India here. Irving is like a mini Vijayawada. Believe me, am not exaggerating.

I have a friend living somewhere in Florida. He has to drive for 60 miles to go to an Indian store. But here in Irving, there is an Indian store/restaurant at every 3 to 400 meters. Not just Indian stores, there are Indian restaurants, Indian tiffin centers, Indian snacks place and a lot.
There are so many Indians in Irving that there is a park called Gandhi Park.

Some of the Indian hangouts are
Our Place - One of the very famous Indian Restaurant.
Hot Breads - It looks like a typical bakery on the road side in Hyderabad.
Other places are Aahar, IndyaFusion, Sarigama, Masala, Chaat Palace, Taj, Mayuri, Rice&Spice, Rice 1 Roll, Swadeshi Cuisine, Swadeshi Plaza, Indian Bazar and a lot.

This is one of the reasons Indians prefer Dallas to settle.

The New (?) Tool

I would like to share one of my many awesome experiences with the recruiters down here

A couple of days back I received the following job listing

Skill	Experience	Need
ASP.Net	Expert	Required
ASP.Net for SharePoint	Expert	Required
SharePoint Workflows	Expert	Required
SharePoint MOSS 2007 including BDC	Expert	Required
Microsoft InfoPath 2007	Expert	Required
CorasWorks	Intermediate	Desired
Positive Work Ethic	Expert	Required

After I received her email, she called me and the conversation as is...

She: I have sent you a requirement. Have you gone through it ?
Me: Oh yes. I did and I am comfortable with the requirement.

She: Are you comfortable with ASP.Net ?
Me: Yes, I am.

She: Are you comfortable with ASP.Net for SharePoint ?
Me: I am comfortable with the whole requirement.

She: Well, its my job to ask. Are you comfortable with SharePoint Workflows ?
Me: Yes.

And it went the same way for the next two skills.

She: Are you ok with CorasWorks ?
Me: No.

She: Are you comfortable with Positive Work Ethic ?
Me: What ??!??

She: Are you comfortable with Positive Work Ethic tool ?
What the.... ? When did a tool called Positive Work Ethic come into being...I had to tell her what Positive Work Ethic actually is...

People like this try to find jobs for people like me...Poor We...

Idle Me...

I was never so free...so idle...so workless...so blank ever in my lilfe as I am now...
And here is what I discovered...Its too tough a job to sit idle without doing anything
Its been ages since I have gone out...even for a small stroll
All I do is sit infront of my system from the minute I wake up and and and thats it...
So, I've decided to pen down, rather key down my encounters with life...with people and use the time - the only thing I have now is all the time in the whole world, productively...

Vijay - The Campeador

Hi Folks,
When I first heard of blogging...I thought "What the heck..."
I never thought I would start blogging
Then I thought where do I have time to blog...
Later I thought I should start blogging...
Finally...here it is...

Bem Vindo...