Thursday, March 8, 2012

We work to live and not live to work

'This is a mail forward to me through a mail, after it was forwarded to her someone....'

‘You have done a brilliant work Rajesh. You have been given….rrrrhhhhh……Raaaajjjeeeessshhhh………… Raaaajjjeeeessshhhh .’- what!! I woke up from a sudden jerk. ‘Raaajeeessshhh… .’…I heard my wife yelling. What’s w/ her? Always yelling for something or the other. I can’t be in peace even in my dreams. Shucks!! Angrily, I kicked my blanket and got down. ‘Raaajesssh….’  ‘Coming Meera..what’s w/ you. Why are you shouting like this..’.
 
I hurried down the stairs.  I saw Meera, my sweet(??!!) wife, sitting in the couch giving breakfast to my 7yr old daughter  Achala. Both looked happy, watching TV.  I got confused at the whole scenario. I came running down, expecting some kind of earthquake, but instead here everything was in place. I looked at my wife & daughter. She smiled at me back.  Now, I more got confused, what’s happening here? Am I in a dream?
 
‘Meera…’
‘Yeah Rajesh…’
‘You called me. In fact yelled.’
‘Yes. You are right!’
‘Everything is fine here right? Why you screamed like that then…’
‘It’s ‘cos it’s going to be 8am now.’
 
 I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. Is she playing some kind of prank? Is this the time for all these? I have to be in office by 9am for a meeting.
 
 ‘Yes. It’s going to be 8am.Right! So…?’
‘Rajesh, don’t tell me, you forgot…today is 27th ‘
‘27th..What 27th?
‘Don’t tell me you don’t remember?’
 
Meera gave me an ‘I’ll kill you’ look. Is it her birthday? No it’s somewhere at the year end. Is it my daughter’s? No no , we celebrated last month only right. Got it. Should be our Anniversary.

‘Hey Meera, How will I forget our Anniversary…’

‘Whaattttttt? ???….Anniversaryy yyy???…..’
 
Got it. It’s not our anniversary. Before I get killed…What’s w/ 27th. What ?? what?? Come on Rajesh!! Think. Nothing hit my mind. I looked at my daughter for a clue. She turned her face away. What’s with all women? Why can’t they be straight forward & say things. With so much work pressure, how on earth I am supposed to remember all the dates?. If I say something, then Meera will pick up a fight, and I will miss the meeting, my whole day will be gone. I made up my mind to surrender.

‘Meera, Sorry, I don’t remember. This medicine I am taking for cough, Something happened..my memory is deteriorating ..What’s today?’  Meera doesn’t seem like buying that excuse from me.

 
‘Meera, please tell me’ I asked in a pitiable tone..
‘Rajesh..You don’t remember at all?’  I moved my head left & right meaning NO. I kept my face like I am a patient suffering from ‘amnesia'.
 
'Rajesh, As part of annual day celebrations, today is 'Daddy's Day' in Acchu's school. I have been telling you for the past 3 weeks. Now don’t tell me you forgot. You already promised that you will go with her to her school'

I couldn’t believe that I accepted for something like that. 'Meeraa..did I??'

'Yes. You did'
‘at what time it starts..?'
'By 8:30am and ends at 1pm'.
 
Gosh!! 9am!! I have such a critical meeting. How I will attend all these.
“Meera, you could have reminded me yesterday right?’
‘Oh I didn’t remind you? Great. I didn’t call to your office. Or remind you in the evening and before going to bed’

Might be I wouldn’t have heard it. Or slipped out of my memory. Whatever!!

 
'Meera! Can’t you attend all these. Why should I??'
"Rajesh. It’s Daddy's Day!...DADDY'ss!!!!!'
'Oh yeah....but. ..'
'But what????...'
'errrh....might be some other day...'
'What? You want the school to postpone the function?'
'No..No…actually. .what..I am saying is..'

'What Rajesh??? What?? Tell me. You promised Acchu and are you going to disappoint her? '

 
I stood there totally helpless. I looked at my daughter. She was all dressed up and ready to go. She looked like, she will cry any time. I saw Meera. She gave me a murderous look. I thought for a moment and my mind raced with many calculations. Important meeting. I can’t miss for sure. Half a day is too much. So many deliverables will get affected. I can’t face Meera again if I don’t go. Might be I can postpone the meeting by an hour and for name sake visit that function and escape to office.

'Meera, I will go, but I can spend only 1 hour..'


'No...that’s not..'

 
Before Meera finished the sentence, Acchu rushed to me 'Thanks daddy. 1hour. Mom, 1hour is enough mom. Please don’t fight mom. Daddy, get ready soon..' she nudged me.

‘Do you know her school name and the route for the school or you want me to tell???’ Asking that Meera threw me an angry look and left the living room. I rushed up, got ready. Called my manager & told that I got stuck in traffic jam and postponed the meeting to 10am.


I took Achala to her school. I felt somehow entering the school, ‘cos it’s the 2nd time, I am entering her school. In fact 1st time. I once dropped her outside her school gate. The school had a big playground, Small Park with all kids playing equipments. Some stalls were put up. So many kids with their fathers moved around here & there.  Suddenly I felt some one touching my hand


‘Are you achala’s daddy?’ – A small kid asked. She had curly hair and bubbly smile.

‘Yes,,,My Daddy..…’ – Achala responded in an excited tone. And some kids ran towards me and Achala started introducing everyone.
‘Daddy! this is Rohit, this is zakir, Anis, Sylvia, Divya..’ – I told hello to everyone.
‘Daddy, Daddy, Zakir is my best friend.’ – I smiled at that cute blue eyed boy.
‘Uncle, Acchu told that you have so much work and you won’t be able to come. She told she won’t come in today. You don’t have work Uncle?’ – Zakir asked me.

I suddenly felt very bad on how my daughter has understood me. ‘No Zakir, I don’t have work’


‘Daddy, they are calling for the games. ‘ . Zakir ran to his father and waved his hands at me & achala. I took achala by hand and walked towards the stage. They were announcing the 1st game. Fathers will be given a sheet containing questions about their kids.  Fathers have to fill about their kids which will be verified with the kids response.

Achala was all excited about the game and she was all set to go. But I felt shivers. I looked at my daughter. Suddenly, I felt very far from her, and the reality hit me, that I don’t know anything about my very own daughter. I blurted out ‘Acchu..we will attend the next game..This one ..’ She gave me a deep stare. I thought she is going to cry or shout or do something. But instead she pulled out a small paper from her jeans pocket and gave it to me. Completely baffled, I opened the sheet.

My name is Achala. My birthday March 21st. I am 7yrs old. I like butterfly. Superman. Dairy milk. painting. dancing. I am in  1st standard A section. I like Dora. Mango. Apple. Fried rice. Jelly. I don’t like banana. I drink  boost.. I like yellow color. My nick name is ‘Honey dew’


And the list went on with small, small spelling mistakes. I looked at Acchu. ‘Daddy, read it, I know they will keep this game. So I wrote it 2 days back itself, to give you if you come. If they ask anything about me, write there. Ok Now go & attend the game’. Most of the things, my daughter has written & gave me, I never knew anything about it. I suddenly felt a lump in my throat. I went to the stage waved my hand to Acchu and got the question sheet. Since Acchu gave the sheet, I came to know about her & I answered almost all the questions. Then they asked Acchu on stage and asked the questions to her. We got the 2nd highest mark in that game. Acchu came running towards me and hugged me. They gave a ‘toy guitar’. Everyone congratulated us. Thou’ I won that game, I felt like a loser. I know, I don’t deserve this. I don’t know anything about my daughter.


She looked very happy showing that guitar to her best friend, zakir . What a kid she is. Understanding that her dad is totally hopeless and don’t want to let her dad down, before others she prepared that sheet and gave to me. The lump in my throat started getting bigger and my heart became heavy. I caressed her hair. What a beautiful smile she has and such big eyes. Does she miss a wing to get qualified as an angel? I have never admired my daughter or even watched her in all these years. She has that cute dimple of Meera’s as well as her eyes. Does that curling lip edges when she smiles, is mine? How I missed all this in my life.

Achala pulled me to the stalls there and I got some eatables and ballons for her and zakir.. She kept talking about the next game and suddenly my mobile rang. Oops!! Is it already 10am. I looked at Acchu . Suddenly her face became dark. She looked totally upset and asked in an low voice ‘Daddy! You have to leave now?’

I looked at my mobile. My manager was calling. It’s already 10am. I looked at Acchu. I looked around. All those happy kids with their fathers. I thought about my school days, where my dad used to come for all sports day, annual day, sit with me, cheer me up. Every day morning, while dropping me to school, he will wait near the gate until my head disappear. Evening, he will come & pick me up in his cycle, and I will be telling him all the stories that happened that day in school.

I saw Acchu. How many untold stories my daughter has kept in her heart to say me? I thought about all those days, where I yearned for a girl child and I wonder, how much of my time I gave her.


I pulled her closer, gave a kiss on her fore head ‘No Honey! I am not going. I will be here only…we will attend all games and roam around whole day.ok?’

‘Really?’ – She asked in an unbelievable tone.

‘Yes sweetz’
‘Thank you Daddy!’ – Achala kissed my cheeks and ran to her friends. School teaches you something or the other always. This time, ‘back to school’ has taught me a wonderful life’s lesson. I called my manager & told that am running high fever and can’t come in today. I know, I can handle things tomorrow. Today my daughter needs me more than anyone can need me in this world. With a lighter heart, I got up; ran towards Acchu, lifted her and gave her a big swing. She erupted into an uncontrollable laughter. The lump in my throat started melting away.
 
Life is often misinterpreted…
We work to live and not live to work…
Search the real meaning of Life… \

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Husband 1.0

A desperate woman writes to the Technical support Guy,
Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as  NEWS 5.0,   MONEY 3.0  and CRICKET 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate Woman
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Tech Support Reply,
DEAR DESPERATE Madam,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.htmland try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default
to Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7..0 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the  Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 under any circumstances (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend:  Cooking 3.0 and  Hot Looks 7.7.


Good Luck Madam!

Tech Support

Friday, May 14, 2010

Does google search look so simple and lite?

Many people have no idea about the amount of energy that is being consumed by surfing the Internet. From the energy of our computers, to the the communications infrastructure linking everything together, to the service providers themselves; each component that assists in the transport or processing of information over the Internet uses energy. It takes a great deal of power to sustain these innumerable connections, but we rarely quantify exactly how much energy we’re using. To illustrate this massive energy consumption, our infographic depicts the energy used in a Google search.



Google Energy Infographic

Google Data:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/powering-google-search.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_search
Light Bulb Data:
100 watt bulb uses 100 watts or .1kw  in an hour
100 watt bulb uses .001666kw in a minute
100 watt bulb uses .0000277kw in a second
Google search uses .0003kw
100 watt bulb uses 1 kwh every ten hours
100 watt bulb uses .0016 kwh in a minute
One Google search could power a 100w light bulb for 11 seconds (.0003/.0000277)
One month’s Google searches could power a 100w light bulb for 4,534 years (3,900,000/.1 = 39,000,000 hours)
Bicycle Power Data:
http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/pedalpower/hec/hpeg/index.html
Average cyclist can generate 75 watts/h this is .075kw  each hour
Average cyclist can generate .00125 kw in a minute
Average cyclist can generate .0000208333 kw in one second
One Google search uses .0003kww
One Google search uses the same amount of energy as a cyclist uses in 14seconds (.0003/.0000208)
One month’s Google searches use 3,900,000kwh
One Google search could power a bicycle for 5,936 years (3,900,000/.075= 52,000,000hrs)
Car CO2 Data:
http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/f00013.htm
Average car exhales 11,450lbs of CO2 each year or 5,193kg per year (based on 12,500miles)
Average car exhales 0.41544kg of CO2 per mile or 415g per mile.
There are 63,360 inches in one mile, therefore .006g of CO2 released for each inch the car moves
One Google search produces .02g or roughly 3 inches in a car
One month’s Google searches produce 260,000kg or 260,000,000g of CO2
One month’s Google searches equal roughly 626,506 miles worth of CO2 from driving
Breathing CO2:
http://thinkearth.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/how-much-c02-do-we-each-breathe-out/
1g of CO2 has a volume of 556ml.
400ml/min of CO2 are released per person per minute
Therefore 400ml has weight of 0.72g.
Therefore in 1 hour the net CO2 released is 0.72 X 60 = 43.2g
One day is 43.2 X 24=1036g or 1.036kg.
One year is 1.036 X 365= 378.332Kg or 0.378332 metric tonnes
One Google search produces as much CO2 as you breath out in 2 seconds
One month’s Google searches produce as much CO2 as you would breath out in 824 years.
Heart Power Data:
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/IradaMuslumova.shtml
Average energy used by a human heart is roughly 2watts or .002kw in an hour
Average energy used by a human heart in a minute is .0000333kwh
Google search averages .0003kwh per search
It takes 6.6 searches to use the same amount of power as your heart uses in an hour(.002kwh/.0003kwh)
Monthly google searches equal 1,950,000,000 hours of human heart beats (3,900,000/.002kwh)
Monthly Google searches could power a human heart for 222,602 years
One Google search consumes as much power as your heart does in 9 minutes (.0003/.0000333)
Home Energy Data:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/esr/table5.html
Average home uses 920 Kwh per month in the US
Google search uses .0003kw per search
Average Home Monthly Energy Usage equals roughly 3,066,666 searches (920kwh/.0003)
Google searches amount to roughly 3,900,000 KWH, this is enough to power 4,239 homes for each month (3,900,000kwh/920kwh)
One Google search uses One 3,000,000th the monthly power used by an average home.
CO2 Volume Data:
http://www.icbe.com/CarbonDatabase/CO2volumecalculation.asp
http://giants.stadiumhotelnetwork.com/information.html
CO2 has a volume of 0.0019 grams per cubic centimeter as a gas.
1 cubic centimeter = 0.001 liters
One Google search creates .02g of CO2 which is 10.52cubic cm or .0105 liters
All monthly Google searches create 260,000,000g of CO2 or 136,842,105,263 cubic cm which equals 136,842,105 liters
Giants stadium has a volume of 64,500,000 cubic feet or 1,800,000,000 liters or roughly 12 times the CO2 output of 1 months google searches
















*Images provided by shutterstock.com unless otherwise noted.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Robovie R3

Robovie R3 all set to assist, freak out elderly and handicapped shoppers this November

The Robovie R3 is the latest in a distinguished line of humanoid bots developed for the purposes of research, discovery, and (a tiny bit of) geeky fun. Following its predecessor's footsteps -- the R2 secured employment as a guide to lost shoppers -- the R3 will be making its mall debut in November of this year, where it'll assist people by carrying their shopping, providing information about nearby products, and holding their hand as it guides them through the crowds. Intended as a way to get elderly and handicapped people back out into the community, this is part of a viability study for the robot's usefulness, and if it finds success maybe its anime eyes and dalek form factor will find their way outside Japan as well. Video of the R3 after the break.



Wednesday, April 14, 2010

16 Rules for Success in business and in Life

1.
Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone.  I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security."  My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."
2.
Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted.  Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work.  It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it.  If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.
3.
When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think.
There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true.  It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."
4.
With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences."  My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."
5.
Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."
6.
Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment.  You can get through anything one day at a time.
7.
Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing.  Never stop improving.  Never stop doing something new.  The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die.  Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way.  Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen.  Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.
8.
Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
9.
Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true.  Anything that is measured and watched, improves.
10.
Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while.  I guarantee you problems will be there.
11.
Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.
12.
Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.
13.
Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn't fair.  You make your own breaks.  You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).
14.
Solve your own problems.
You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge.  Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others."  There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently.  It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."
15.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up.  Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.
16.
There's always a reason to smile.
Find it.  After all, you're really lucky just to be alive.  Life is short.  More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time!"










Rules formulated by BOB, founder and CEO of godaddy.com

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The train that never stops at a station

A brilliant new Chinese train innovation - get on & off the bullet train without the train stopping.  VERY COOL CONCEPT !
 
No time is wasted. The bullet train is moving all the time. If there are 30 stations between  Beijing and  Guangzhou , just stopping and accelerating again at each station will waste both energy and time.

A mere 5 min stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) will result in a  total loss of 5 min x 30 stations or 2.5 hours of train journey time!

How it works (view the movie - in mandarin though!):




1. For those who are boarding the train : The passengers at a station embarks onto to a connector cabin way before the train even arrives at the station. When the train arrives, it will not stop at all. It just slows down to pick up the connector cabin which will move with the train on the roof  of the train.

While the train is still moving away from the station, those passengers will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train's roof. After fully unloading all its passengers, the cabin connector cabin will be moved to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof.

2. For those who are getting off: As stated after fully unloading all its passengers, the cabin connector cabin will be moved to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof. When the train arrives at the next station, it will simply drop the whole connector cabin at the station itself and leave it behind at the station. The outgoing passengers can take their own time to disembark at the station while the train had already left. At the same time, the train will pick up the incoming embarking passengers on another connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof at each station.