A new collaboration - Manor of the Ardent

The last week has been an eventful week for Satyam and it's associates. First came the declaration of VPP and the knowledge that many of our friends were part of those who were going on sabbatical. By the end of the week Satyam got a new logo and management changes (with many more in the pipeline) and the news that around 400 associates have been called back from VPP within a week. Talk about a committed management.

In between all this, the Satyam blog site somehow went down. Now, as you all know, we have a group of dedicated bloggers in Satyam, and as happens - many of us have become great friends. The first day was spent discussing about why the blog site is down and how much we all are missing it.

By the end of day two, the discussions shifted to what we can do to find a work around - since blogger is blocked in Satyam network :(. Deepak did some quick RnD and found that wordpress is accessible from the Satyam intranet and we unanimously decided to start a collaborative blog. And so, the Manor of the Ardent was born.

Imagine a space with 14 different writers, each with his or her unique style of writing, with a different persepective of live and happenings around us, and different point of views - and you get the Manor - OUR Manor. It is the perfect melting pot of people who have only one thing in common - that they work for or worked for Satyam and know each other by their blogs. All we share is a mutual respect for each other as a person and as a blogger - and our different view points ensure that the space is never monotonous and always has a discussion going on. Welcome dear friends to the Manor.

The page has proven to be a hit - with 1280 page visits, 37 posts, and 396 comments - all in a weeks span :D.

I, being a proud Ardent, invite you all to visit the space, go through the different posts, and leave your comments. Hope to see you there.

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

Random Thoughts

As I sit here with sunlight pouring through my window, all I can think of is how I am going to survive today. You see, the problem is that I have not slept well for the past one week or so. And the crowning glory is that I was unable to sleep even a wink tonight, which means I have been awake for close to 24 hours now. My eyes feel as if they weigh a ton and all I can think of right now is to complete the component I have been developing and run away from office ASAP.

On another note, since my MS is almost complete, I have decided to look for a new job. The only catch is that I want to shift to NCR as am tired of staying so far from home. Lets see what comes up with this :). Pray for me, will ya.

This weekend is going to be special for me as I am going to meet a few blog friends of mine for the first time. We all blog actively on the Satyam blog space - but have somehow never met till now. And now one of my friends is coming from Chennai to meet us here :D. Sounds interesting doesn't it :). The only problem is - as happens with all the programs - we do not have any specific plan except that we are going to meet other bloggers. We planned to catch Angels and Demons at iMax, but could not get the tickets :(.

The thing with blogging is that you tend to forge friendship with people that you have never met or talked to. And since you tend to share a lot about yourself with others (sometimes without realizing this), they know a lot about the real you. So, that initial ackwardness is missing and the conversation really flows.

On the work front, there are plans to shift the location from where my project operates. The new location will be very far from where I stay right now, so am not sure on what I will do when this happens. (The new office will most probably be in a SEZ - far from the city). But am not worried about that as of now - what will happen will happen, there is no point in pondering over it now.

I know this seems like a jumbled post, but the thing is that am suffering from some sort of a writer's block (not that I write well ;)), just like Zeba here. So I decided to write what ever comes to mind - and this is the result.

For now, this is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

Some good and some bad news

Well, the best news first - My friend's mom is out of danger and on the path of total recovery. Although she has a lot of stitches on her face and a dislocated jaw, but hopefully the worst is behind us all.

And the second good news is - I have (finally) cleared the third semester of MSSE with an overall CGPA of 6.24. "What's great about this", you say. Well, for starters, my overall CGPA after 2nd semester was 5.19, and with 5.5 as minimum pass and only one semester to make amends (because in 4th semester we are awarded just a letter grade which does not count in CGPA calculation) meant that I needed minimum 6.19 in this semester to clear the course. (I actually got around 8.1 in this semester) - which goes on to prove that if I just study for some time before the exams, I can pass. (Well, who cares now. This was the last exam I am gonna write in a long long time, now that I have a PG degree from BITS to my name).

Also, after more than one and a half year in the same project, I am finally getting work that I enjoy doing and which is challenging (Hopefully this phase continues). Now if only we were shifted to NCR - and I would be a very happy man.

On the flip side, there are a lot of rumours floating around about Satyam and its surplus employees - again giving jitters to parents and friends alike. Thankfully I have nothing to worry about, and so am planning to stay here unless and until I get an offer from an organization based in NCR. So, lets see what comes of all this. All I can say right now is, don't worry guys. Keep smiling, like Reveda here is doing :).

BTW, keep praying for the speedy recovery af my friend's Mom. I know it helped.

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

Pray with me

For the first time since I started blogging I am not sure about whether or not to write this, and how to express myself.

My friend's parents met with an accident yesterday while returning back from her house. Uncle expired on the spot, and Aunty's situation is critical. The doctors are trying to stop the internal bleeding. Please pray that she recovers.

Am disabling the comments on this post, as all I request from all of you are your prayers.

Will give an update as soon as I get one

Honest Scrap award

Adarsh has given me the "Honest Scrap" award and has tagged me to say 10 things about myself - with full honesty. So, here goes - 

1. I am addicted to Wikipedia and can spend the whole day reading articles without getting bored.
2. I just love to watch the sunset. I also love nature, and greenery calms me down.
3. I love wearing shoes, and practically live in them. Conversly, I absolutely hate wearing sandals.
4. I am a movie buff, although I rarely go to a movie theatre. I usually get the DVD and watch at home.
5. I am a certified bookaholic, and can read practically any genre except for most self help books and the Mills and Boons type novels.
6. I am religious, but not conservative.
7. I absolutely love programming, and have since my class 10th.
8. I love to open my computer and reassembel it again (God! when will the warranty of my laptop end?)
9. I want to do PHd in cryptography, and work in RnD
10. I hate formal wear, and usually go to office in jeans and shirt.

Whoa, that was tough... now, I would like to pass this to the following deserving bloggers - 

Reveda and her Dad

Deepak

Sameera

Vatsal

Ramya

Kadambari

Anne

I really wanted to tag more people, but decided not to. Will do so next time, pakka (That is, if I get tagged again ;)). Till then,

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

A saga of nicknames

We all know about nicknames. Most of us must have one (atleast), ar atleast given some nicknames to their friends or family members.

Somehow, I seemed to have missed the Nickname bus when it passed me by. So, right from school to college and now to job, I never had a nickname - well, actually, a nickname that stuck or was popular enough to make me identify with it.

The first name I remember having (or rather, giving myself), was that of the great Indian comic hero, Super Commando Dhruv (Now I fail to understand what I saw in my skinny little self to do that then, but then that is what being  child is all about). This name never went beyond me - and till end of my +2, I never got another nickname. (The only one that came close was "Tu Fail" - a breakup of my surname - but it was only used during result distribution. Strangely, I have never failed in any exam my whole life, not counting the various entrance exams I gave.)

The same thing happened in college. While I was active in giving names to my friends and teachers, somehow never got named (or renamed) myself. It was always the plain old "Hashir" for me.

And now, even in job, never got a real nickname. The one that came close was Hash, which my onsite tech lead called me once or twice. But thats it. Still no nickname for me :(.

So, seems like my search for the elusive nickname continues. Any ideas where I can find one?

This is Hashir (searching for that elusive nickname), signing off

Over and out.

Meeting a fellow Blogger

How do you react when you meet a fellow blogger. When you see the person you have known and come to admire, for the first time? How does the conversation flow - like it does when we discuss things here on the blogospherse - or like when two strangers meet for the first time?

Am sure each one of us will have their own stories of what happened when they met a fellow blogger for the first time. I too have my share of them :). The first time I met someone from blogosphere for real was when we had a meet last year - with me, Vamsi, Abhinav, and Urvi joining in.

The second time was when I met Maddy. We both operate from the same location (Ohri towers) and the same shifts - but in spite of trying many times we never could meet. Then suddenly one day we met without any plan what so ever - and it was great. Now we keep running into each other, and it is fun to talk to him :D.

The third time it happened was on last Sunday, when I met Abhishek for the first time... and how!! It all started when he bought a bike on Saturday, and in the evening we chatted on phone and decided to go for a ride in the morning. The next morning, I rode from my home to Kakatiya, where he stays - and from there we started our ride, chatting about everything under the sun.

There was no set plan for the ride, and we went where ever our bikes took us. After We finally stopped near Lumbini park and had breakfast and a smoke, all the while talking about blogging, friends, cycling, college days, education system, future aspirations, life, and what not.

Finally we parted at Lumbini Park, with a promise of meeting again in future for more such rides....

If any of you is interested in joining us, he or she is most welcome. We plan to ride on weekend mornings (no specific plans as of now) and gradually increase the distance of the rides. Hope to see you there. Till then,

This is Hashir, signing off....

Over and out

What is happening in our country

I am really surprised and dejected at the state of education in our country. If knowing the fact that most schools here just aim to make money and provide substandard education was not enough, comes the news that corporal punishment is still much of a norm here. 

Most of us would have read about, and already forgotten, the case of Shanno - who was beaten by her teacher so bad that she lost her life. On top of this comes the news of Akkriti, who lost her life because her school could not provide her with required medication for her asthma. If this is the state of schools in our country, then I would rather let my kids study at home rather than go out and put their lives at stake every day.

Many of us will argue that punishment is required, and I wholeheartedly agree with them. But why should punishment mean corporal? Can't we disipline our child in a different way - by making him realize his mistake, and that whenever he does one, he has to pay a price. May be the price is that he has to sit in class while the his peers enjoy a fun activity, or by making him miss something he really enjoys doing. Isn't this a better way of making a child realize that he must pay the price of any wrong he does. Or, do you want to say that we are so cowardly that we can't disipline our children except by beating the hell out of them?

My heart goes out to the two kids mentioned above, and the immunerable others who did not find mention in the newspapers. This post is dedicated to them, andto the hope that such incedents do not happen in future.

This is a pained Hashir, signing off

Over and out

P.S. - I must confess, I too had all but forgotten about these incedents. Thanks to Alok and his daughter, Reveda, for reaching out and bringing me out of my slumber. You can read about what they say about these incedents here and here

P.P.S. - I would like to request all my friends visiting this space to raise their voices against such incedents. We all need to make a stand in our own, small ways, to make a difference.

Blog Reader Appreciation Day

For the uninformed, today is Blog Reader Appreciation Day. So, I would like to thank all the readers of my blog for dropping by, and for commenting on my posts.

Thanks again for visiting my space, and hope you continue to drop by in future also.

This is Hashir, signing off,

Over and out

A confession - and a dilemma

I have a confession to make - I am a complete, hopeless spendthrift. The only time I have saved money in my life is when I had to purchase something. But, after getting a job even this habit has started to vane thanks to the great EMI offers, Personal Loans, and credit cards. Infact, the only reason why I am not neck deep in debt is that I still do have a somewhat sensitive head, which stops me from following all my heart's whims and fancies (though I don't listen to it that much).

Okay, now that I have confessed, let me come to the next point of discussion - which is the current dilemma I am in. Before talking (or rather, writing) about that, let me give you a bit of a background which has given rise it. The thing is, we are Inshallah going to have a function at my place in October/November (and no, I am neither getting engaged nor married, yet). Obvoiusly, when you have a function at home, there are a lot of expenses involved, and I want to support my Dad to the fullest possible extent. This means that I have to start saving from now - since my present bank balance is zero (thankfully it is not in negative).

Now, coming back to my dilemma - it is about whether or not should I go ahead and purchase a bike? The thing is - with Tech Mahindra having taken over Satyam, I can breath more easy now than before, and also since I have already paid the last semester's fee of my MS, so some of my expenses have reduced. So, I can think of buying a bike. The problem is, the bike I want to purchase costs a little over 1 Lakh INR, since my dream bike is the Thunderbird

I have wanted to have a bullet since I was a kid, and the TBTS is that and more. And, I know that I am short, fat, and that I won't look good on the bike - so all my detractors - you have no points to comment on (evil grin!!).

This is my dilemma. Should I buy it now, or should I wait till say August, see my bank balance, and then decide on whether I can take the risk or not. I am thinking on these lines, and am requesting you to think and suggest. Till then,

This is a confused Hashir, signing off

Over and out