The Eccentric Engineer's Blog!

Things to check before joining a Small Scale Business!

2012-02-02T11:15:00.000+05:30

Early morning blogs are awesome feeling! I'm writing a blog in morning after long long time.

In morning, I got to read a interesting article regarding things to check before joining a small scale company. Irrespective of those important lessons, I would like to share some valuable experiences of mine, especially how I bumped up when I joined a SMB (Small & Medium Business) recently.

First lesson for all you to know as much as possible about the company which you are going to join. Most of the time, a job offer comes from a friend or may be friend's friend. Well, in that case, talk to you friend who offered you the link to the job. Discuss the possible surprises at the company when you join.

People who always worked in MNCs & other large scale organization mayn't be the right people to ask for help. Talk to someone who has come from a Small Scale organization in your industry. Once in a while you have to take a risk to quit your comfortable position and try out something new. The risk involved into joining a SMB is much higher than joining a well reputed organization.

One word of caution: Be ready for bumpy ride. Wherever you land up, there're always going to be more surprises than you expected before joining. So data collection is one such aspect you must do very seriously. No complains later...It's always your choice.

If there's no other alternative but to take a risk, then make sure that there's always a exit plan ready, if risk becomes too big to handle. I missed this point when I recently joined a SMB. Why exit plan is important?

Certainly, your plan of joining a small business might fail overnight. Some of the policies or some benefits which you expected to get before joining might appear a false story. In HR parlance, it's called as 'Employee psychological contract'. It might never get full-filled. Even at many occasions, getting a regular salary might become mammoth task. Be ready with exit plan even before you decide to join small business.

Here's is the checklist to go through before bumping on a small business opportunity:

Get the maximum information about the company, its clientele, the position offered.
If possible, try to check the financial details of the company.
Are you going to join a new project or a old project left mid-way by someone?
Check out HR & Company policies, if possible. Check the appraisal cycle, promotion plans, rewards & other benefits with your friends.
Discuss the benefits/non-benefits of the position with your spouse, before making decision.
Check out your priorities in life before making such transition. If your priorities allow you to take risks, then surely take a risk.
Always keep backup ready. Discuss the same with your close mentors or may be with your family for backup plan.

Small businesses offer lots of learning potential to anyone who is open to the real business challenges. But it is always coupled with the lots of risk. It's not always the smooth ride. Keep expectations at minimum & be ready to expose yourself to maximum learning experiences.

In the end, keep backup ready. Exiting at right moment is always a good option.

Modern world- Curse of distractions!

2012-01-30T17:33:00.002+05:30

As I'm sitting in my office to concentrate to build or write or even develop something, I just can't do it. It's too much noisy out here.

Sometime, it's just desk phone or my mobile or it might be even Outlook email popup or neighbors phone or heated customer arguments on phone or vendors calling for payments or stubborn supplier looking to get RFIs or my own team members or etc etc...It's too much!

And on the top of it my own urges of Internet surfing & checking emails...Too bad to cope up!

Have you ever faced the difficulty in coping distractions of all sorts at workplace?

Some of the above in list of distractors can be clearly avoided, but it needs practice. I have decided to put my phone on silent and remove the receiver off the desk phone while concentrating on something important.

Just try this for a week-

Login to your pc/laptop early morning. Download all emails in Outlook & check all those in one shot without getting up from place. Close Outlook.
Then check all social emails etc. Log off.
Prepare the task list with priorities.
Start shooting them from topmost to bottom.
After shooting at least top 3-4 tasks from list, just re-open outlook & revert back.
Check if there's something new otherwise close Outlook again.
Repeat it till you clear everything on task list, possibly.

Once you are done (I hope with all items), you are free to utilize your time the way you want.

But in most cases, it doesn't happen actually in that way. You either have to allocate the tasks to someone & wait till the revert comes from allocatee. That's fine. Just don't forget to follow up with those whom you allocated the tasks.

If tasks become unmanageable allocate them to team members. Don't burden yourself. Or don't get obsessed with work.

Be smart & deliver! That's key!

Things to learn from IRCTC!

2012-01-30T17:15:00.003+05:30

Wow! What a frustrating afternoon today! I just can't bear it anymore.

For past 2-3 hours I have been trying to book a ticket to travel to Mumbai by all means possible(?), but the transaction couldn't be completed somehow.

Frustration apart, let's learn to be patient first. It's not easy to book a ticket here.

What's now? I should wait for some more time possibly but vacant seats won't wait for me. If it's that urgent then I should go to ticket counter & book it directly. But it won't be possible at present.

IRCTC has always taught me to be patient. In a hyper speed blazing fast world, it reminds me the old theory that resources hogging or shared resources would at the end might not deliver the results all the time. Somewhere you would reach a point beyond which performance isn't guaranteed.

Let's be more patient! Let's hope I could book ticket in my next effort!

The Impulse Blog!

2012-01-30T17:04:00.002+05:30

I often have this impulse to start a new blog every few weeks or may be months. Today, I avoided the one just now.

Reason is quite simple for me. Being someone who keeps on pondering about things now & then, I tend to get lots of different thoughts regarding the things around me. What's so impressive about these thoughts that they are completely original & tend to linger a long in my head.

The urge to put these thoughts in blog is what I call as impulse. I can't start a new blog for every new idea or new thing in my mind. Who knows what will happen to that impulse after few hours or may be after few days?

I used to keep a small notebook in my pocket while traveling, in which I used to jot down all such impulsive thoughts & ideas. But later on, I started avoiding it, don't know why?

Then thought came to my mind- whyn't utilize my existing blog to share my thoughts? In my attempt to better utilize my idle blog pages, I have decided to share it here henceforth.

Isn't it better? I would end up saving efforts to keep on running every other blog site I started. I can better manage my existing blogs & at the end, it's not about how many blogs you write or where you write.

It's what you write it or not...that's it.

Day 0:Not a single bitter word ever to anyone!

2010-09-27T13:35:00.004+05:30

The title itself looks quite funny. But I am serious. This may appear irrelevant to few, but within 2-3 days, I would be starting a journey, which I haven't taken yet. And name of journey is- Save my relationship.

I often found myself troubled by things. Either people trouble me or I tend to get troubled by their nagging demands. I often found myself at receiving end, when I should have been in driving seat. Reason- my habits and my attitude.

All is not well. It's hard to convince myself. I lost the person closest to me, all because I couldn't hold on my harsh words or anger. I almost lost my relationship yesterday. I simply don't know how to react. I simply don't know, how to be in relation with someone so beautiful. I overreacted. There's no reason. There's no place for it.

Why I tend to become upset? Why I can't cheer up my debacles? Why can't I understand that I am a human? Why I tend to speak harsh words when I am upset? Why? Why?

For me, next 30 days would be the most critical days of my entire lifespan. I set off on the journey to change few things in me. These are old habits which are pulling me down all the time. I let myself down when I threw my relationship away. It was anger, it was all frustration, but the moment I realized it, I lost everything. It's hard to say sorry. I don't have words. It's too late.

So, I have decided to throw everything I have, to save it. I dragged it down. I made it vulnerable. I made it little important. I really don't know whether I will be successful or not, but I want to do everything to save it. Everything! At any cost!

First thing in the journey would be; see what's missing or what is the pain area. Where I am lacking too much despite all attempts? I have tried to figure it out since morning. The closest answer is: my own nature and negative attitude. Moreover, I failed to understand the demands of being in relationship for long. I assumed and taken few things granted. It sucks now! I failed miserably.

Let me try it. I am trying to figure out everything to make it a success. I am charting a plan to save it. Change my habits. Change the way I think about the relationship. Understand more. Listen more. Hold on to triggers. Hold on anger as much as possible. Take deep breath. Talk to partner as much as I could. Hold on positive thoughts in head for long.

Just cheer for me! I really need your help to fix it up!

The Life That I Have...

2010-08-01T13:13:00.004+05:30

It's been pleasure to write on an occasion. And if it's Friendship Day- ‘To sone pe suhaga’! I would certainly miss my sweetheart today, who isn't with me, but staying away at far away place in southern India. As always, I missed her a lot.

I came across the title of the post while reading the poem, by same name, by English screen writer Leo Marks. This is in fact a legendary poem, written during WW-II time. Let me re-iterate those beautiful words here once again. All I can say is that, life wouldn't be so beautiful and complete, if ‘You’ weren't there ‘My Sweetheart’!

Happy Friendship Day to ‘You’!

The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause

For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours
And yours

Random Thoughts on Religion!

2010-03-29T00:03:00.006+05:30

How often when you felt alone, depressed, unhappy, sad, unlucky and negative and decided to visit a religious place to find some soothing comfort? I do it often. Living in Delhi and sitting on extreme pressure nozzles underneath, I often felt it necessary to have my own cushion system, where I can rest my head and take off my burdens to revitalize myself. For many of you, family forms part of such cushion system. But then staying away from family requires you to have your own auxiliary support system alive to keep you going.

I often visit Jama Masjid, situated at very heart of Old Delhi. The place is revered by every Muslim on the planet and many others from different religions. I am one of those non-Muslims, who revere Jama and often found peace sitting near Holy Water inside mosque. If you have visited Jama before, you would easily know how tough it is to reach out there at first place. Don't take me wrong. But every-time I sat inside peacefully ignoring the trauma outside mosque, I realized how fleeting peace is. What trauma am I talking about? What makes me unhappy?

I have seen people in pain all the way down to last step, sitting on footsteps of Jama and begging for anything from money to food to every passer by. I have seen people sitting on roadside outside every famous temple in India begging for food etc. Jama is no exception. But then if you enter inside, you will see entirely opposite picture. It appears to me a false illusion- God resides inside temple/mosque/church. I strongly object this view point. People have spent years in praying but never realized this simple fact that, God has deserted the place long back because we human beings have never understood what religion is all about.

Religion is personal affair to everyone. India is sort of exception, where religion is assorted as public affair open to discussions and debates all the time. People sitting inside temples/mosques etc are the most revered people after God himself. At many places in India, you would find the middlemen have taken role of deity and deity itself is happy in sitting at backyard of middlemen and watching tamasha over religion. We Indians are bizarre in that sense.

For me religion is one of my identities bestowed upon me by birth. But when I grew up I have understood that though this identity is unique, it suffers many drawbacks. Being religious or pious or spiritual always confused me. I assumed no identity thereafter. I grew up as a Hindu, but why can't I revere or understand other identities aka religions. What religion has done to human race in modern era? Our false notion over this eight-letter word has created the biggest mess on this planet. You sit down solving any contemporary problem suffering by human race and you will find religion has some or other role in it. Why? Was religion misunderstood? Or is it that we failed to understand it? What problems has it solved for you? People begging outside religious places many not form core problem of human race and some of you may point it to socio-economic blunders suffered by policy-makers; I owe these problems to religion and partly to education. After all, religion is meant to help us and not to mess up matters.

Religion is compassion. It is hard work. It is respect. It is fulfillment. It is honesty. It is pride of nation. It is sacrifice for goodwill. It comes in many forms. It's not just praying and following religious texts line-by-line, completely ignoring the reality outside. Religion is practice and not theory. It is the facts we see and we sense. It's what we do and not we wish to do. Religion is what we do it to others. Religion is peace!

So next time when you visit some religious place, think twice. The place we revere may be all deserted by God long back and drama we do inside is mere just a big joke. Don’t be fool. Be religious but don't be blind.

idiosyncrasies of life

2010-03-21T22:38:00.002+05:30

I am not a partygoer human. Usually, I decide to skip these social events for sake of something else. But last Friday, when I was invited to an IPL party, I couldn't resist my temptation.

But the drama started way before I could reach the party. How confused I am? I decided to skip the party- reason it was conflict of interest for me to attend the rival's party. But then after much much deliberation I jumped on the chance and decided to swing away the negativity from coercing my thoughts. Before it was too late, I was heading towards the venue. And by the time I reached the hotel, I thought it would be great to join Chennai Super King & Delhi Daredevils on dance floor. But it wasn't that easy for me!

Certainly, I must admit, attending Page3 parties is not an easy going experience; especially for those who don't like to be in spotlight. Here people chase you down till you are exhausted. The insatiable hunger of fame, money & pompous extravaganza stirred many questions in my mind. I was all alone. Only companion I had was my mobile phone. So I decided to socialize on Twitter. I kept on updating my followers about the event, with occasional snaps and tweets. It was going ok.

After spending around 2-3 hours in the party, I decided to pack up my bags. Nothing eventful happened to me. I couldn't talk to anyone. Only person I talked to was Mutthiah Muralidharan, the Lankan great, whom I congratulated for win.

It was a bumpy ride- no doubt about it. But that could be because, I always admired simplicity in my life. Socializing, without a cause troubles me a lot. There's nothing wrong in partying, but unless I feel comfortable with these event, I would prefer to skip them. Not a good choice! But I am like that only!

New Year's Resolution- What's that?

2010-01-03T16:21:00.008+05:30

"May your all troubles last as long as your New Year's Resolutions." said Joey Adam correctly. And last time, when I heard of New Year's resolution, I knew it wasn't my piece of cake. It's perfectly alright for me to start New Year without much deliberation on resolution part. But after reading this article, I started thinking seriously about keeping at least short term career resolutions, till I find something better to resolve about. Sounds funny?

Time has come when I should make my new year's resolution public. The bitter truth (?) is , I don't have anything to make public this year, except the impending TAX statement in March. And if you are reading it correctly ; this year also I am going to miss the resolution boat with big margin.

On 1st Jan, I woke up to find myself in midst of slumber at noon, while mobile phone was ringing aloud. No one heard of it. Boss was on-line. That's something really bad to start a year with. And while I was literally running off from places to place on first day, I made it a point; never commit something serious on first to anyone. You could probably not in mood to deliver. And with lots of commitment failed to materialize at start, it took away my mind off the resolution topic.

Till this weekend, when my friend, Sameer interrupted my slumber on early Saturday morning.
"Are you busy?" he asked.
"Of Course not. But,” I was trying to put off receiver.
"I am getting married this month," he straight-a-way came to point.
"That's great man! Congratulations!” I was thinking of something else to say.
"So finally my last year’s resolution got fulfilled Atul! Last year you remember, we decided something?” he continued his babble.
It suddenly opened my eyes with bang. "Oh! Yes! yasssssss.....!" I exclaimed.
"I stick to it and getting married this month, what about you man?" he was chiding me now.
"Yes, I remember it now. Great yar....you have done excellent job. May be..." I stopped in between. I was again feeling sleepy.
"Come to marriage. You are exclusively invited," he put off receiver in haste.

Finally someone got it right. I was thinking and re-thinking about myself. But I couldn't make it a point, when did I promise myself of getting married next year? But anyways! I didn't mind the invitation!

So it's true; I am still not sure of my new year's resolve. It's tough to accept few things as it is, but for last couple of years I found myself figuring out resolves for first few weeks of year, without much success. And then I forget about it, till someone reminds me of mine at the year end, when there's noting much to deliberate about .Of course, I got few things to write about on my blog site, but that happens naturally without much resolve or hard work. And that's why perhaps I don't mind having my new year's resolution in place. As a blogger, there are few things in pipeline for next one year and I will be more than happy if I could deliver value through my blogs. It's more than just commitment for me!

Remembering D.L.Bapat Sir!

2009-11-10T00:24:00.006+05:30

I often consider myself privileged and there is good reason for it, though. Looking back to my bumpy career ride, where I always dwindled from one choice to another, it made me wonder, how D.L.Bapat Sir could stick to his passion, in spite of living amid commonplace people. It took me some eleven years back, way back in 1998 when I was a kid learning to demonstrate my ability in front of veterans like Bapat Sir.

My first impression was, how can such an old man play the mind game of chess, without losing concentration for long? I think he must be somewhere in between 70s that time. Only thing I didn't know that time was his craftiness and genius, amid wiz kids of my time. I don't remember his overall standing at the chess event, but I am sure he must have done far better than expectations.

Later through a friend's connection I came in contact with him. He used to stay nearby my home. Whenever I visited the place, I always found him engrossed in chess game to an extent that he would not even notice your arrival. It was a typical setup of two chairs with wooden stool in between, where chess board was set up. He used to sit on a particular chair facing away from main entrance of home, perhaps to avoid distractions on road. Many times he played alone, replaying old classics of GMs or IMs and finding better moves all the time to improve his own game.

"Play some good openings", he advised me once. "You play well , but you should be well aware of different openings. It's a foundation of good middle game. It helps you to avoid pitfalls"

Though I never done well in learning openings, I often wondered how he himself can recall his own games played some years back. "You should practice till you don't find it going better", he was always ready with answer. He always believed in hardwork.

"And drink lots of Nimbu Paani, it helps it keeping good eyesight...hahaha". Humor survived amid tense chess games. He always outplayed others when it came to ease out tension. Perhaps secret of his long living wasn't nimbu paani or chay patti , but humor accompanied with passion. Of course he had many good reasons to laugh about, he seemed content with his life. Perhaps playing chess thas aught him something more than just looking at sixty-four squares.

I accompanied him to a district level chess competition first and later to one state level chess competition. The later one was disastrous for me; I lost most of my games. But he continued to do well. "You lack continuity...you aren't prepared for such events", he was ready with diagnosis like a real chess master.

"Will you coach me then?" I asked. "Why not!!!’’, he was already ready to teach secrets of mind game. I was pleased to hear that.

Later during my college days I discontinued playing chess, though I occasionally visited him. I remember old Marathi songs used to play all the time in background. His wife was very fond of it. He really didn’t bother about surroundings. If you are visiting him during his tea break, you could get to chat with him over tea. I found him very comfortable to talk- age was no bar, neither the expertise. He was very open about his opinions and talked freely. His dream was to start a chess club in town like Ahmednagar and encourage young chess players. He had some good collection of old chess book. "I want to start a chess club. I got some support from people. We got good books in library too. You will be the custodian", he had a job for me.

"Me? Thank you sir, but ...", I wasn't sure of my new role, though I never became custodian.

Later I came to know that he started the chess club, but by that time I lost touch with him. I moved from Nagar to Pune for higher eduction and matter got worse. Though on few occasions I met his grandson, who is a distinguished chess player himself, I never met him after wards.

And today when I came to know about sad demise of Bapat Sir, I felt bit alone. The whole chunk of fond memories of time spent with him, hidden somewhere for so long, rolled across me vividly, just like it happened just yesterday only. I never trained myself for profesional sports after that.

He was the real gem who envisioned making chess big in small town for youngsters. For him chess wasn’t just a mind game, it was passion, a dream. Very few people hold such dreams and dare to talk about it openly. He was the best tutor I came across- a real champion. Despite limited resources in hand he had done great job in laying foundation of game like chess in my home town.
He has shown us the way.
Now it’s up to us to carry it forward. I always remember his one advice all the time and try to obey it even it in real life- “Avoid blunders, they cost you a lot. You lose!” Above all, he was a great human with personal touch.

I will always miss you Sir!

May your soul rest in peace!

Amen!!!

Yours only

Atul

In Spite Of Gods!

2009-10-18T10:27:00.006+05:30

I often wondered how things unfold in front of you. An ardent devotee of God/Goddess of the town, I started feeling pity about the places once I worshipped. I felt so since I have understood the realities of Indian mind set and perhaps, yes that's the reason I am feeling not so great about being Indian.

The truth is scary. In spite of so many God/Goddess temples across India, there is little peace and we are running hey-day to nowhere. Every other day I find new temples are coming on roadsides or in new localities with little perception on things, we do daily. Building temples are OK, but then y'day I had been to few temples across my home town and the picture I saw was scary. I was just scared of myself and felt sorry for God, who is relishing the feasts inside (or being fed by devotees). We are a poor country but we still don't understand the value of waste-food. Still we have crores of Indians going empty stomach every night. We offer little help to those who are really in need of it and keep on feeding and flooding temples with our offerings, assuming that these karmas are counted as good-deeds. Do we really need to know this? What we do? Are our temples clean? Just look outside the temples/mosques and what you will see is ugly state of mind- God Resides Inside Temples Only. False!

When shall we understand the pity state of life we live in? Please stop building temples and running for peace. There is no escape from realities around and don't be unsympathetic about it. Don't assume things as told by generations to generations. We are just what we think of ourselves. An untidy nation who has no sympathy for cleanliness outside places of worship. We think it’s a duty of someone who should be taking care of it. And hence, our temples are in sorry state, with little peace. So whenever we go to temples/mosques or any other places of worship, look outside. You may notice something which needs to be addressed. And even our God/Goddess wants it too….The Best Form of Worship!

Zafar Mahal-Mehrauli

2009-09-29T23:49:00.010+05:30

Let the pictures itself speak about Zafar Mahal, Mehrauli. The mahal stands alone amid encroachment by neighbouring houses. There is no one to listen the pain except few gamblers, who were busy in playing cards. Will we ever understand the importance of our past? The funny thing is that the structures/monuments like Zafar Mahal are the only witeness of our past glory and we are the truning deaf to them. Though these pictures may appear flat, my attempt was to show the pain of dying monument in ignorant state, in the very heart of Delhi.

When going gets tough!

2009-09-14T18:34:00.002+05:30

Sometimes you really wonder what's happening with you. This wasn't the first time you felt so; but then when you return home in evening you ponder, What! The Day passed? I was really worried about this initially but lately I started taking it easy. After all I have spent more than a year in Delhi and now I am part of the attitude of a typical Delhite, which says Chill Man! Why to worry?

This evening is one of those evenings which made me realize that not necessarily every suffering leads to moksha. It's not necessary to suffer all the time without a purpose and then cry foul. Why should I be doing? If you think there's some better way to do something, then why am I not in position to find it out and live in that way? Why? What makes me worse in that sense? Am I committing myself to something before I jump out and do something weird? Then why should I suffer all the time without any purpose?

I really don't know, but then I don't want to find answers to these questions either. I am used to it. As said earlier, I often beg pardon to myself to find something meaningful but after some time it gets normal. It doesn't trouble me a lot. Why? What sense does it make it to try one idea and leave it in half-way before I reach to conclusion- this's not working out, try out something else. This is what I am becoming! Have I destined to become a jack-of-all? My feeling and my desperation has gone beyond simple wishes and grown into nightmares which certainly could have been avoided. But I am like that, being a Delhite I will never change. But perhaps yes, some day I will be someone I always wished to become. Till then Good luck with my emotion! I needed to convey it and this is the only place where I can do it without fear! Good Shot!

2009-08-09T01:05:00.001+05:30

Culture

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Is Blogging a Powerless Profession?

2009-08-06T09:13:00.005+05:30

I may be wrong. When I wrote the title of this blog post early morning, before leaving for office, I had few thoughts ringing in mind since last night. I had gone for dinner at my sister's place. While we were enjoying the dinner, our discussion headed through number of topics from telecom, life, blogging & when it came to photography, my jiju got excited. He told me that if you could go to India Gate & write about those children who sell balloons out there in mid-day heat, it would be great. His point was let make people aware of plight of children. I simply denied.

When I came home, I was still thinking about my impromptu reaction to his idea. I wanted to clarify myself, but I didn't do it. Why I denied? May be because, I don't want to use blogs to portray plight of children in India. Same goes with my photography. Till date, I have avoided writing on and taking photographs of children on streets. Am I afraid of reality? Why I shouldn't be doing it?

Perhaps, I know the reason. It all starts and ends at blogging. Writing a good blog is different than working on them. Perhaps, I would never do it. You may call me a theoretician. I would perhaps write on them, who knows! But then, what difference does it make? Will I be going to help them out? Will I be working for betterment of their lives? Perhaps, No! I will portray the picture and then stop. People will come and read. They will appreciate and forget. It hardly matters, what you write. I may be pointing fingers at our inability to implement good ideas into real world. We hold enough of knowledge to help people out there, but this knowledge hasn't helped us yet to good extent. Why? Because we wrote, we proposed, we talked, we discussed and then we stopped. We didn't work it out. It makes real difference.
That's why I don't go after them!

Dilemmas on destination

2009-07-30T23:11:00.003+05:30

One thing was clear to me this evening. More I think, more it engulfs me. Whatever it is! Perhaps sitting in a room and thinking about few things in life, I missed the moments. I enjoyed few and missed a lot. When you think, you are going to miss this; you shouldn't have lost it at first place. Then why am I bothered about it right now? What's that something still eluding me?

Perhaps, I am not clear of my own ideas. I am still in the middle of decision making process. At the end of the day when I start writing blogs, I feel more connected to myself. I enjoy this. Then why am I not doing it all the time? Perhaps, I know. I can't make money out of my hobbies. Pursuing hobbies are the most enjoyable part of the day. Believe it or not. But then, I will have to strive hard to make money out of it. After a short assignment on photography I realized it. I can take good photos provided I don't associate my work with any expectations. Being professional means work defines your boundaries. You are aware of what is expected from you. You serve people. That’s something great, but then I do it because I enjoy it. There is nothing more in it. I should be free of all expectations of all the people around. I can't shoot it freely; it hinders my sight. It pressurizes me.

Anyways, for time being I held my thoughts back to straight-a-way. No peeping. No love affairs. No fun with camera. Let's get on to work as usual tomorrow morning. Perhaps, I am given an opportunity to do something better of it. My work is what I am. It shapes me. It shapes my thinking, knowingly or unknowingly. It tries to take best out of me. But still I am open to every possible idea coming in my way. Perhaps, I am destined to fiddle with life in my own way, just like everyone does. Perhaps, I am still not going to drive myself to limit to pursue something on my own. My own ideas are still my own. My own love affairs are still my own. So I accept it as it is. Who knows! Tomorrow you may find me doing something radically outrageous. Someday I am going to do that; it's just a matter of time!

Please don't allow Bill Gates to join UID Project

2009-07-29T23:31:00.004+05:30

I am surprised to see no reaction from media, on recent statement by Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, where he publicly showed interest to join Government of India's Unique Identification Program, headed by former Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilkeni. But then Gates is well recognized in India for his philanthropic work through Bill & Melinda Gates foundations, where foundation is funding various projects of interests, like fighting spread of HIV/AIDS, in India. So should I be skeptical about this one? What's wrong this time?

Actually there's not much clarity on UID project or its implementation. Mr. Nilkeni has recently joined the office in New Delhi and met petroleum minister Mr. Deora to discuss the possibility of using gas distribution coupons as an identification card in the initial phase of project. Though it's yet not clear what has gone in the meeting, Mr. Nilkeni must be quite clear of his objective as a project lead. Perhaps, Gates is trying to make a point when he said; technology is the key in combating many problems faced by Indian, which also includes the identification dilemma. Though I ant’s aware of any meeting in between Gates & Nilkeni, if he had met Nilkeni, then there is high likelihood of MS joining UID project. Why? Infosys & MS partnership has long history in software industry, but in this project it could prove fatal.

If MS joins UID project in future, it's still not clear whether it will join as Technology partner or as a funding partner through Gates foundation. If MS, joins for philanthropic reasons then we could assume that the UID database will remain secure in hands of Government (I will be still skeptical but lesser). But if MS joins as a technological partner, which seems to be more likely alternative, then partnering with an American Organization for such a critical project might lead to security concern over database of more than billion people. MS's security records are known world over, but real fear comes from the fact that, MS gets to handle such an important database, which it could exploit for its own business in coming year. There are many ways by which it can do it.

As mentioned in interview, MS could initiate a countrywide project of opening bank accounts for all people who don't have any account based on UID card, which in turn involves financial data exploitation. Perhaps, there are other ways to do it, but as far as my concerns go; I have serious doubts about Microsoft's intention of joining UID project. Mr. Nilkeni, be careful; this is altogether different world.

Looking for some inspirational words!

2009-07-27T00:56:00.008+05:30

I do believe in inspirations. I am often on lookout for something or other to boost my morale when faced with crunch situations . I always carry two inspirational books with me, first one 'The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success' by Deepak Chopra and other one 'Finding your strength in difficult times' by Davis Viscott. I often refer to them whenever I feel so. But for those who aren't aware of these books, and looking for some quick inspiration, let's remind ourselves:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the men who points
out how strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face
is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, who
comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and
shortcoming; but who does actually strives to do the deeds; who knows great
enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the end knows in the end of triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst,
if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never
be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor
defeat"

Tomorrow with a new day ahead, no Monday morning blues after reading this quote. Need to fight valiantly on work front in coming weeks, irrespective of goals and targets, which often come and go. The most serious problem faced by me is about dilution of spirit, which needs to be addressed through my own philosophy of work. Till then Good Night folks!

Remembering Kargil war Heros!

2009-07-27T00:07:00.005+05:30

Today we are celebrating 10yrs of Operation Vijay, in memory of Kargil war heros. It was today, on 26th July 1999, last of Pakistani intruders returned home from Kargil. The Kargil war was much debated among elites about the strategic failures of Indian Intelligence and consequential failure of defense forces during initial phases of war, while accessing the strength of intrusion. Though later we managed to fight an brave attempt to rescue our territory with valiant display of courage, many still feel that the number of casualties of Indian soldiers could have been avoided if we had acted on time. Let's not get into it. I was just watching some news reports on Kargil war memorial, where relatives of martyrs paid homages to their loved ones. It was emotional. It was their bravery which saved the face of nation from despair of strategy failures. Perhaps, some of us mayn't understand the pain of losing our loved ones at war front and are too busy to remember our war heroes. After all, it's getting into dirty politics. But for those who feel proud to be an Indian, let's prey to 'Al-Mighty':

'May their souls rest in peace!

May God gives enough strength to the families who bear the brunt of loss!

May their sacrifices give us sufficient wisdom to learn from such an tragic and totally avoidable war experience in future!

Amen!'

Let's join me in sharing sorrows of those families, who displayed the courage in enduring the loss of their loved ones, for nation. God Bless Them!

A Truly Indian

Solace at Jama

2009-07-26T23:13:00.004+05:30

Sometimes I wonder why I often visit Jama? What compels me to visit? What attracts me towards Jama? Last Wednesday, I just packed my bags, took half day leave from office, took my camera with me and drove straight-a-way to Jama. It was quiet late afternoon. Sun rays have brightly illuminated the western walls of Jama. It was a usual day. By the time I was in, it was evening Namaz time. I was standing at Northern Gate, alone among people, just walking around. Everyone has some or other reason to come here. I wish, I had known mine. After walking around for sometime, I sat at holy water square. I was just listening to myself. I never felt so peaceful and quiet. I closed my eyes. I just didn't want to ignore my inner voice. I felt close to 'Al-Mighty'! Perhaps, I found the reason to be there. I found deep solace. I felt satisfied. I felt calm. I sat there till it was dark. Innumerable thoughts were coming and leaving. I was just listening to them. I hardly uttered a word. I felt someone was listening to my thoughts. I opened my eyes and looked around. It was long time since I closed my eyes. It was dark around. I realized it's time to move on, not before a small prayer. I thanked 'Al-Mighty' for such an peaceful experience. It was much needed. Perhaps sometimes there is no reason to fall in love with someone. It just happens and you even can't explain it to yourself. The more often I come here, more I fall in love with it. Whenever I feel tired and frustrated with mundane worldly tasks, I come here. Jama revitalizes me to stand again and face it off. Perhaps, it's more than that. I just can't deny my love for it. For me Jama is the eternal symbol of peace and love; for humanity.

Matka Pir

2009-05-31T23:03:00.003+05:30

Matka Pir-I
Originally uploaded by The Eccentric Engineer

This place is a special mention. I wandered a lot across Delhi but found peace at very few places. After Jama masjid where my heart lies all the time, Mataka Pir is just newest addition to my list.

It is situated just opposite to National Sports Club of India on Mathura Road at southern end of Pragati Maidan. In nineteenth centaury a wandering mendicant Shaikh Abu Bakr Tusi Haidari, a qualandar himself came from Iran and settled in Delhi. He set up a khanqah on a mound beside the Yamuna and began to attract fame. Few people would hardly recall the original name of Matka baba, now famously known as and place where he set up khanqah is known as Matka Pir.

The devotees come here to seek saint's blessings, make offerings of rose petals and shakar dane (which I did too), and when their wish comes true, make offerings of matka-usually filled with sherbet-at the shrine. Once tree trunks are overloaded with matkas, they are taken down again to make room for new pots.

As I climbed up few steps and reached shrine, what I got to see has touched my heart. Devotees from different religion were offering petals & shakar dane to Pir Baba. Few old Muslim women sitting nearby were reading holy Koran. Few other devotees were sitting quietly with deep serenity on face. It was peaceful gathering. A devotee sitting just outside the shrine was offering prayers with harmonium. The tree where all offered pots are put up resides just beside shrine. I got to click few pics without offending devotees much. I tried using Low depth of field with widest aperture opening in aperture priority mode maximizing the exposure. Though I tried to capture the tranquility of ambience, I feel there is certainly some more room to improve the captures.

Remembering Safdarjung!

2009-05-31T17:02:00.006+05:30

Whenever I plied to Central Delhi by bus, I always looked curiously a deserted tomb near Safdarjung Airport while crossing it. I often wondered whose mausoleum it would be, located at very heart of city, in deserted state. But one Sunday afternoon I decided to quench my thirst by getting off the bus at SJ Airport and explore the place myself. What I found was the Tomb of Safdarjung- the man behind many famous landmarks in Luteyn's Delhi . But my thirst refused to quench by mere visiting the place, so I decided to explore the history behind the deserted architecture. Though, he was not among the best to scribble on a blogpost, I would still like to remember him through this blog.

Safdarjung was Nephew and successor of the first Nawab Wazir of Oudh. He was appointed Governor of Oudh by Mohammad Shah and later elevated to post of Wazir by Ahmed Shah. His real name was Mirza Muqim Abulmansur Khan. Now as a discerning reader, you might be thinking, then how did his tomb lies in very heart of Delhi, if he was governor of Oudh?

Safdarjung's interests lay not in Oudh, but in Dilli (Old name of Delhi). Though not a Mughal by birth, he rose to become powerful figure on the political stage of Delhi that, after Aurangzeb, produced a succession of ineffectual rulers, mere puppets in the hands of wily wazirs.

Shortly after Nadir Shah's infamous sack of Delhi in 1739, a civil war broke out between power Safdarjung & equally powerful rival minister Ghaziuddin Imadul Mulk. Safdarjung laid claim of Old Delhi while later claim to Shahjahandabad.

The war continued for six months in fringe area of both cities till finally Safadarjung was defeated, when he retreated to Oudh and died near Faizabad on 25 Sep 1754. His body was brought back to his beloved Delhi, and buried in grand mausoleum built by his son, Nawab Shujauddaulah.

If you have visited other great monuments in Delhi, like Humayun's Tomb, Red Fort or Jama, Safdarjung's tomb just shows off no affluence of any sort. It appears to be robbed of its glare long back, symbolizing the decline of Mughal Empire after his death. It was colourless show. It looks drab. It doesn't invoke sense of beauty. But yes it got some mysterious attraction which compelled me to write about it. The photo I took is the place where great Wazir of Oudh was buried. The photo invokes sense of sadness of death of Wazir who died in defeat and longing to come back to Delhi which never got fulfilled.

The Storm Dancer!

2009-05-31T15:59:00.004+05:30

DSC_01610001
Originally uploaded by The Eccentric Engineer

I love energy and while dancing it just spills over all around. It is boundless. It shows off in your movements. Dancing is energetic and when you are surrounded by cheering mob, then it’s just the perfect scene to capture.

I came across one such energetic show of dancer at Surajkund Mela. The dancer was supposed to perform in group, but later she took on stage with storm by her movements. Actually there was no stage at all. She danced all alone on clay flooring. I call her ‘Storm Dancer’. It appears that she is spilling her energy all around, everywhere. It’s arduous. It was daring. It was tiring. But yes, unless you hold lots of energy for joy steps, you just can’t get applauded. She was so involved with herself while performing that hardly she bothered about anything. It was her involvement that engrossed me. It was her energy I envied.

When I saw her dancing, I just couldn't stop myself from capturing her movements. In traditional way, if you have high shutter speed to capture objects in motion you just freeze up their movements. But resulting shot just lacks motion. I wanted to show the movement, I wanted to show the motion and best way to show is to blur the center object. The movements of dancer captured are the heart & soul of this photo. With slowing down shutter speed in Shutter speed priority mode with sensitivity of 200 for maximum exposure, I just tried to capture what I thought would engross viewers.

Live Blog- American Idol Example!

2009-05-28T23:30:00.003+05:30

I have read about it quiet often but didn't get chance to see the impact of it. Live Blogs are nowadays considered yet another medium to communicate with viewers or readers who are indeed not in position to watch the event live or in real time.Gone are the days whenTRPs are considered only measure of viewership of an event, bloggers have simply challenged the mere concept by Live Blogging!

The idea is astonishingly simple. As you are watching any event in real time, you start posting it on blogsite immediately, Live. People who are visiting your blog page will get to read things about the event live, just like a radio/TV commentary of a match/event.

The idea of ‘Live Blogging’ is not very much popular in India yet, but in ‘West’ where bloggers try to un-cover number of events by blogging in real time. Earlier I read about some industry event where expert bloggers are hired to post their views about the event 'Live' on their blog-site or official event webpage so that readers or visitors could get to read about happenings online or offline later-on. It simply changes the perception of a viewer. It creates direct impact. It not only adds depth to the telecast but also adds much needed authenticity to it. Now coming back to the event, held on 20th May, was no small one. It was the grand finale of 'American Idol' and contestant Kris Allen who won the title, unexpectedly received more votes as compared to his contestant Adam Lambert, who was perceived to be winner earlier by many people. Interestingly, the blog was posted on a New York Times website, under Art category. This example shows the impact of blogging as a medium separately.

One more beneficial aspect of writing live blogs is that anyone can read them offline after the event was over to get detail sequence of events unfolded during entire show. It’s like reading the flashback. It simply gives power in the hand of viewers to re-blogcast the event anytime, anynumber of times to experience it again & again. Now while I didn’t get to see the finale of American Idol, after reading the blog posted on NYT Page, I got to read entire details of the event starting from Guest appearances to end duet. Hadn’t someone post it, I wouldn’t be able to know/read/see the event. It simply recreated the entire scene while reading! Engrossing!

If you are interested in writing live blogs, do visit the NYT Blog on ‘American Idol’ below:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/live-blogging-the-american-idol-finale/

It's an interesting concept awaited to be exploited in Indian context.
Good Luck!

Value of Money!

2009-05-06T14:53:00.004+05:30

There is something special in every small incident happening around you. Every incident which takes place around carries some meaning towards it. All you have to do is to look carefully & care for it.

I was traveling by bus from a small town Bhusaval to Pune. The State Transport bus was moving in un-usual pace, stopping at every possible halt & carrying as many people as it could. It was high summer time and bus was packed to its capacity or rather packed exceeding its capacity. People were drenched in sweat. For me, no respite despite sitting at window. I was sitting on a seat just behind the driver. It was too much noisy & hot sitting there , but it also made me easy to keep an eye on my luggage, which was interspersed at various locations inside the bus. We were moving towards next big halt on the itinerary i.e. Aurangabad. We were just twenty km away from it. Everything was going well.

Bus halted again. I looked outside to see where we were now. It was Fulambri, a village near Aurangabad. I was very much irritated by frequent stoppages by bus, but what a poor guy in scorching heat could do except murmuring about something to himself. Two mid age women got into bus at Fulambri. I didn't notice them particularly at start, but later I regret I should have known their faces. Bus drove off. The women who just got into bus were standing in lobby beside me, in front of exit/entry door. They both appeared to be farm workers, a very poor class of workers , who work on daily basis on different farms across different villages, depending upon the requirements of work availability at a particular farm. They started chatting after getting into bus. The topic was some marriage, which they are going to attend in Aurangabad. It was going usual.

Soon the bus conductor asked them for ticket. One of ladies asked how much she has to pay for two. He replied forty rupees. Both were shocked. Both looked at someone sitting at back seats. They were cursing him in Marathi. They blamed the person for their misery of paying high ticket money for such a short journey. It appeared that either they didn't have that much money or ticket rates were very high. For another moment they couldn't decide what to do! They were just confused & bewildered. Then one of them said to conductor, "It is very costly! We could have traveled to-and-fro in same amount, had we been traveling by private Jeep" . Conductor has nothing to do with the argument. He was just doing duty. He ignored the argument completely. All he wanted was ticket money. Both ladies stood helpless for a minute or two. Then one of them paid the amount. Both were upset. They stopped conversing for few minutes. For me, I never saw someone so unhappy after paying for bus tickets. It was different altogether.

In India, you just can't have enough money for everyone. People are very poor. All we have to do is to just peek outside our routine world & see how much value money has. For a person like me ,who could easily afford the luxury of spending forty rupees on any trivial thing in my life, it was a big lesson. Forty rupees still carries lots of value. For those farm workers, it could be like spending whole day's earning in one shot. I felt pity for myself. I could think of innumerable incidents where I behaved like an spend-drift, and here two people traveling with me didn't have even that much of money with them. Please folks be careful! Money carries lots of value! Howoever meagre amout it is for you, it still carries lots of value. We might be earning five or six figure salaries but when it comes to basics of life, we are still naive! Be careful while spending money in life! Just care for those who don't have enough of it! Think twice before making choices while spending money! It really makes difference if we understand it! It really makes difference if we care for it!

My First Travel Blog-Live from Train!

2009-05-01T05:24:00.001+05:30

(The photo was taken just before the start of journey at NDLS 5:30am in morning)

This is something different. I have never done it before. I am leaving Delhi, going home on vacation. Just now I boarded a train. It's something amazing. I am wrting my first travel-blog sitting from train compartment. Isn't it amzaing?

Train journey to home was something I was really excited about for past few days. I have always preferred to travel by train all the time. There is no particular reason for this, but I really enjoy them a lot and if your journey iteneary goes via heart of India; then excitment is justified.

I reached just on time at NDLS. Station had desrted sort of look. Regular hustle bustle was missing. Not to be surprised; this might be an off season to travel by train. There were few passengers standing on platform, others were in either slumber or sitting on benches waiting for their respaective trains. Some found benches suitable to take rest, but one thing was sure; all of them were in slumber irrespective of the ambience and neighbour with whom they found peace. Something really funny. While moving on platformm, I found at least 10-12 people, sleeping side-by-side in a area of 3x3 feet; you never know what you will get to see when you start your journey.

I got my reservations done well before I actually planned my journey. I knew from start and from my earlier experiences that travelling without a confirm ticket is something like traveling without your luck. You need to be lucky to get confirm ticket; if you are in waiting list. I never got a ticket confirmed, may be because I don't plan my journeys well in advance or may be because I didn't mind too much about reservations. But yes, I know without a confirm ticket you would have to struggle a lot and roam in and around TC to get it confirmed somehow, by hook or crook. Possibly, I am a naive person in these types of crooky things; so I always tried to get it confirmed while booking it or via a agent. This time, I had to break up my journey. This is something new I am trying out. Let's see how it works.

I got on to my compartment. I was really surprised to see my name missing from chart put up on platform. I approached TC for help, but he was helpless. In early morning time; you just can't expect something better than this. He was wearing some pity look on face, which I noticed before approaching him for help. He was bit rude to make it easier for me. I showed him the confirmed e-ticket. It was okay. I didn't need his permission to get onto train.

After boarding onto train and after getting comfortable, next thing I did was opening my lap-top & start putting my thoughts on paper. I was really excited to do it. Somehow, even before boarding the train I dreamt of writing something all the time about the journey, live blog-cast. There is nothing particular about journey. Neither, I am updating people about any event. It is just my journey blog; the Travel blog.

Train left NDLS on scheduled time. Felt nice to see trains are matching the schedule. Next halt was Faridabad. The gentleman sitting next to me was traveling alone to Mumbai. He got confirmed ticket only up to Bhusaval Junction, so he was bit worried about the journey after Bhusaval. Sardarji & a man in forties were sitting in front of me. Sardarji was a cheerful person; he had to get off to Faridabad. The other person will be accompanying me up to Gwalior, a beautiful & palatial place from Madhya Pradesh. I asked people to excuse me for some time and took a much needed break. I badly needed some sleep.

After a brief sleep of an hour or two, I was waked up by TC. I was really in good deep slumber and woke up all of a sudden. It really disturbed my sleep. I tried to sleep after that, but couldn’t manage. As it was around 7:30am, it appeared that whole compartment was woke up all of a sudden (may be due to arrival of TC) & got busy with something or other. Though most of the people in my section were still asleep, I barely managed to take some sleep. By the time I was fully awake, train has crossed Mathura Junction; one of the favorite places I would love to visit for its sheer energy & joy. I got off the bed, took refreshing walk around & came back again. I was really curious to see who are the people in other sections & what are they buy with in early morning. Most of them were still asleep, some of them (Old pals) were chit-chatting & having their breakfasts. Some were busy reading books; magazines etc, few others on upper birth were busy on phones. Children as usual were trying to grasp into the environment & are curiously peeking into everything possible. They are just giving hard time to mothers who are still feeling overdose after last night half-sleep. A child has just entered into my section, waited for few seconds staring at me. Then all of a sudden, his mother came into scene from nowhere, scolded child for disturbing me & took him of. Poor Child! There is no freedom for him.

I decided to have some nice breakfast & tea, though I knew Indian Railways isn’t the right place to fulfill my desires. I ordered dip-tea. I was really scared to see the colour of tea poured in glass. It was colourless. It was so bad in taste that I decided to throw it off. But after realizing the ground realities, I decided not to do it. I didn’t have any other option. I went on having some hot cut-lets. Those were really nice. My crave got satisfied for time being, so I decided to put my thoughts on paper and here I am continuing writing my travel blog.

I am reaching Agra junction now. It’s 9 in morning. I suppose we are running on time. A foreign couple in next compartment will be getting off here; I suppose. Outside view was really bad, lots of garbage dumps were seen (welcoming us?) while entering the city. I could see many rag-pickers mainly children wandering & collecting dumps; such a bad view. But this was we learn from very old days, we are in India & this is not an unusual sight. Train has entered into Agra station. Let’s peek outside & see what’s there on station.

Unwelcome scorching heat welcomed me as I peeked outside the compartment. Platform was very much crowded; after all I am in the city of Taj-Mahal, the world famous monument of India. I got off the compartment & drove straight a way into crowd. Some platform vendors were selling food items famously known as Pethas. I really don’t understand anything about them, so I decided from to buy them. After a minute of two, I got onto train again. We are leaving the station now. Let’s see what lies next!

(Incomplete:)

Celebrating 25 Years of Presense! -Maggie Noodles!

2009-04-24T21:01:00.000+05:30

"Mummy! Bhuk Lagi Hai!"

"Bus 2-Minutes!"

I have been hearing(watching actually) this advertisement for years now. This simple, sort of tagline symbolizes a brand name of a food product, in FMCG market, which is perhaps the most widely bought & eaten food product across country among all ages of people. And it boasts to have added value to your life without taking more than "2-Minutes" of your daily life and that too for last 25 years!

Yes! You guessed it right! It's Maggi Noodles! One of the most respected & trusted fast food item in India. In fact, if you play the jingle of Maggi anywhere anytime, 9/10 children & 10/10 grown up adults would recognize it without fail. It could be perhaps the No.1 Top of Minds brands in India and nothing has changed actually in last 25 years of its presence in Indian FMCG market. In fact there is no other product exists in Instant Noodles category in the market, and even if something other than Maggi exists, it is too little to take note of it.

Maggi noodles is a brand of instant noodles manufactured by Nestle. The brand is popular in India, South Africa, Brazil, Nepal, New Zeland, Australia and ; in several countries it is also known as "maggi mee". Maggi noodles are part of the Maggi family, a Nestlé brand of instant soups, stocks and noodles. With more than 15 flavors in stock, it is widely tasted & admired for its Original Maggi Flavor, which is still one of most widely eaten flavors of Maggi. There are some other flavors like Chicken, Cheese, Ata, Rice, Masala and Tomato which are very popular, but still there is no near second to popularity of original flavor. In fact in India 'Maggi Noodles' is recognized as a genre of products known as Instant noodles.

I don't remember when I tasted Maggi first time, but ever since I tasted it I never found anything buggy in it, particularly about anything. There was hardly anything attractive in taste, it was commonplace. But I still like it. An extra-ordinarily created ordinary food product. Nothing much in recipe, the real taste comes from a small pack of seasoning you add to boiling water & Maggi cake. The best part of the recipe is that it takes a little time to cook something of best know taste without much of ingredients & hassles of cooking. You don't have to be a cooking expert or something like that to make it. And except water, everything comes readymade with the pack itself.

The idea of Instant Noodles was a killer innovation (Killer Food Product). The term Killer Application is often used while mentioning something like E-mails or Chat which revolutionalized the way we communicated with each other. The same could be said for Maggi Noodles, which has literally revolutionalized the way we cooked & eat food. There was no single food product available in world which could be cooked in less than "2-Minutes" without much of recipe. It was a brilliant idea of Nestle Team, which later created a separate market of Instant Noodles itself. Hardly anyone could think of the revolution brought by a simple food product in our lives. It is enormous. And even after 25 years of dominating more than 90% share of market, there is virtually any competition. So people often say, "There is virtually no room for any new thing in Instant Noodles".

Recently National Council of Applied Economic Research named Maggi as No.1 FMCG product in the country. With virtually no controversy surrounding the product & no competition in market, we would see many more coming years dominated by Maggi Noodles. So whenever I imagine the future food habits of coming generations, I find Maggi Noodles would find the Top Place in our kitchen years after years. So don't be surprise to see our grandchildren eating Maggie and shouting same slogans, we shouted for last 25 years.

The best part of Brand Maggi is its adaptability to local food habits. In fact it is the secret of success of Brand Maggie. For Example, with growing health conscious class of people, it has recently introduced the "Ata Noodles" made of wheat flour instead of much widely used refined flour in other noodle products. This has created a positive impact among particular class of subscribers such as health conscious mothers who prefer Maggi as afterschool snacks for kids at home. Recently it has also introduced "Rice Noodles", but they have to still grab the attention of people. And when you are living a fast pace life, you find Maggi more and more suitable to your pace. It is just synchronized to your life. That could be another reason of its immense popularity.

Creating a fast food industry was never easy. No one could actually speculate it. It's something different. Cooking something in just "2-minutes"without taking any outside ingredient except water could be compared to idea of innovation of Internet Search Engine. It looks trivial now. But we could hardly think of efforts & belief of people who created the very idea of Instant Food with great perseverance; that it would be the one of the most successful ideas ever introduced in market.

Maggi is just not a food product. It is more than it. It is original concept. It is lifestyle. It is a new food habit. It is a great idea. It is the cheapest branded food item available in market. It is the most widely eaten food product among all class of people. It is omnipresent. Forget about its omnipresence & our dependency on it, can we imagine our daily life without Maggi? Replacing something like Maggi may not be possible, as there is noting like Maggi available in the market. It is irreplaceable! It is the default food item an urban subscriber buys blindly while shopping in bazaars. I never had a single doubt about the authenticity of the product ever purchasing it. And many of us agree with me. We simply trust it. So what is the recipe of creating such a great food product? They say, "Creating a superb taste needs a vision of adding value to food habits of people, it is just more than satisfying crave". Maggi is the perfect example of it. Don't you agree?

Bass "2-Minutes!"

And see it yourself!

Mercury Rising!

2009-04-21T00:03:00.000+05:30

Summer is exhaustive in Delhi. No matter whatever you do, you just can't escape the heat . Delhi is heated up, solid heat. In Mumbaiya language someone would say "Kya solid heat hai yar! " In Delhi, you actually don't complain. For an outsider like me, no escape.

Apart from impending elections, the summer heat has actually made lives of Dilliwallas miserable. Though, Elections have no visual impact on daily lives, soaring food prices make me nervous all the time. Delhi needs no reason to cheer this election. Virtually no campaigning in and around Sarita Vihar, I really doubt whether elections are due in next month or not. May be summer heat has drained the enthu of party workers. No one would deny the impact of summer heat on party campaigning in Delhi.

Basically, I would be undergoing my first whole summer stay in Delhi. I arrived in Delhi last June. So heat wave (Lu) was subsiding by that time. After coming to Delhi, I came across number of intimidating stories of winter cold & summer heat, separately. People around me spent innumerable amount of time telling some chilled & heated stories around the corner of Dilli weather. No wonder, I have lived up all weathers in Dilli, much before they actually arrive. But I feel, summer seems to more daunting & exceedingly difficult to bear.

Every morning, you wake up and open front page left bottom corner of ToI to read temperature stats. Yesterday, it was 40+, forecast for today was 41 around. Mercury is rising. No A/C in room & no fridge, we are surviving on hope to find some time to get some fixes in life. Though, I am still reluctant, I think it's better to be late than never. Costs of buying new A/C & fridge would bring down my whole monthly budget. But somehow, I need to go for it.

As far as summer is concerned, I need to prepare myself well for coming month. Possibly drinking as much as water as I can is one of the best solutions, to stay away from heat impact. May is considered to be the hottest among all. Before we burn our self enough enduing animosity of heat in Delhi, it's better to spend some bucks and buy those summer necessities. I really wonder, what a common man must be doing these days? How would he survive? Frequent power cuts is also on rise, specially at nights, when you feel there will be no more hindrance to peaceful sleep, you find yourself sweating in the middle of night. With no other alternative, you get up, deeply anguished, light up a candle & wait till electricity returns. No wonder, I have undergone this procedure a number of times & its not unusual for me to spend night in complete darkness.

Jama-Photo Blog-II

2009-04-19T23:59:00.001+05:30

I was mesmerised by it...I fall in love...You have just no other reason for it...It's beautiful...It's marvellous...It's heart of Delhi.

A view of Zakir Hussain College Area from top of Jama....

Timeless beauty...

Purani Delhi...

Delhi-6...Endless...

Jama...My impression never changed...

Jama- Photo Blog-I

2009-04-19T23:44:00.000+05:30

I know if I would love to visit a place again and again...It would be Jama Masjid...No reason! I find it peaceful! It's beautiful.

Little fellow....God bless you...

A difficult try...

One more angle...one more view...

You just can't make it more beautiful....

Sun is shining from west...

Horoscope or Horrorscope?

2009-04-19T22:24:00.000+05:30

"Difficult", Sameer sighed,"What kind of hand is this?"

"How do I know?" I retorted

"Amn't asking you!" he said,"There are lots of cross-lines showing prominently" He was holding my right hand.

"Does that mean I will be making too many cross connections in life?" I laughed. After all what a Telecom Engineer will interpret from cross-lines.

"I am serious! Atul, you should be careful. Your love & work life will be going through rough phase", he was still looking at my hand carefully.

"Tell me something new Sam. You told me this last time also" ,I was bemused.

"Will you be serious about it? Can't you take it seriously at least for a second", he said it angrily.

"What? I am not getting what you say. Tell me Sam, if I take it seriously then will the problems vanish?" , I was prepared for argument.

"Look, there is no point is arguing on this. I know it better. And for God's sake be careful", he smiled and left. I didn't stop him. It was usual for me.

This was in year 2006. In between years, we had good rapo. We talked to each other many times. He was gentle and nice. Though he advised me on every occasion, I didn't mind it and never took it very seriously. After all he was like an elder brother to me.

Then I moved to Delhi last year. I met him in May last year. That was Saturday evening. We were sitting at tea stall on Karve road.

"Atul, be careful in Delhi. You are a emotional person. Don't fight with seniors", he again started.

"Sam, I know yar! Tell me why I shall be fighting with senior? Do you have any good reason to support your statement? I will be careful yar! don't worry", I assured him. He smiled again.

During last year, according to his prediction I went through OK phase of my life. I never complained about anything. Life was going fine. And then one evening, while I was walking on pavement along India Gate, my phone rang.

"Atul, what's up yar?", Sam was on line.

"I am fine. Tell me about you. How are you dear?"

"I am fine too. Atul! did you remember what I told you last time when we met at tea stall?", he asked suddenly.

"Sorry! I don't", I said, "But why? What's wrong?" I was irritated.

"Atul! why don't you be careful yaar! I told you na be careful. You will be at receiving end" "Ya! Ya" I interrupted him. "You will never understand what I wanted to say. Please be careful in next 2-3 months at office", he hang up.

I was about to call him immediately, but I stopped myself. I was very irritated by his phone call all of a sudden with a warning. What sort of person is he? Can't he explain me it detail. I came back home. My mood was changed. I was not happy.

I never took it personally whatever he said to me. I treated it as friendly advice. After all, having a difficult life ahead was nothing new to me. I had gone through it many times. And if I am not wrong, we all have number of bad patches in our journey of life. I was no exception.

That was the last time I talked to him. It was December. I came home. I was upset. I didn't mind his advice, but I felt he was dominating my thoughts. I became careful. I chose not to fiddle with life anymore. I became serious sort of person. Every now and then his voice rang in my head. I wanted to call him but didn't call him. I was scared to tell him that I am taking his advice seriously and behaving myself. I didn't want to tell him. I wanted to keep it to myself only.

He also never called me after that. Three months have passed. During this time, under work stress & work load I forgot what he said. I forgot about him. I forgot why he called me up last time. I just didn't remember it. Life was going fine with usual bingo!

Today, while strolling around in park I suddenly had a thought about him. I searched his number in my phone book. I didn't find it. I searched it again. I was missing his number. I remembered, I deleted his contact details after India Gate phone calls. I reacted to his remarks.

I didn't try to find his number. Nor did he call me again. It was surprising for me as well. Nothing actually changed in last few months. I witnessed some of the tough times in my personal as well as professional life, but I never thought about it as such. Actually, I didn't remember his advice while going through the drama of life. I accepted whatever comes to my way, as if I never knew Sam, as if I never took his advice. I forgot what horoscope was.

Horoscope never changed anything. I don't know what it is actually. I am still the same person before knowing the fate and I will be the same person again even after knowing what phase my life is going through. It really doesn't matter actually. We often mistakenly over rate few things in life. Horoscope is just one of such things. Predicting the fate of a person is never easy. You don't need to read line carved on your hand to know it. What you need to remember is that, no matter what horoscope says it will be up to you to decide what it means. If you are clear of it, just ignore it. Never follow something blindly.

Do you really need horoscope to believe in yourself? You decide!

Good Night!

Missed 'Voting' Opportunity!

2009-04-08T23:17:00.000+05:30

Have you ever thought that besides having a voting card and being eligible for voting you still need something more to cast your vote. Any guess? I feel you need luck more than anything else to cast a vote. It sounds foolish, Alright! Let me explain to you then...

I was never The right person doing right things at right time. But after qualifying for voting in 1999, I had always dream of casting a vote in every general election held. I am not averse of politics. I will never be. Thanks to Dad. He is a keen political observer, not professionally but occasionally he comes to me and asks my opinion which keeps on dwindling all the time.

I have grown up hearing discussions on politics in my family. Though I was never part of it, I found them amusing. Mrs. I Gandhi was his favorite. He was Pro-Congress earlier, now I never bothered to know. He is known for his Pro views among friend circle. Or rather he was. He doesn't have the same notion now, but he still carries some Pro mindset about elections. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to stand in long queues unless you have some reason for it. I was wrong.

Earlier I detested it very much. I never understood why my parents stood 30 min in a queue at a nearby polling booth, during last election. I never comprehend the essence of casting a vote. No one bothered to tell me about it. Neither my Dad. I was disinclined. Some years back, after I voluntarily decided not to vote anymore, Dad came to me & said quietly "There is no need to declare war at polls! It doesn't make a difference what you say unless you do it" Somehow I realized that I was making some mistake, but I wasn't ready to accept it.

I always viewed casting a vote is a waste of time. Never mind, many of us still carry the same notion. On day of polls, I often watched news curiously.For me numbers are interesting. And if Pro views are winning, I was more happy. I felt like He was winning. So watching news at the end of day had become must do task. It was obvious. Dad always insisted on knowing the things at first place, before we miss it. I really miss him now. He will again follow the old routine he followed during all elections. When many of us will be casting a vote this General Election, I will be watching the news again, but regerting for not casting a vote again. A missed opportunity! I will have to justify it, to myself. But often it makes a difficult decision to travel back home only for casting a vote. My leave request was rejected politely. There is always some or other work in pipelines, unless the other end is closed.

We often carry some kind of hope every day. We hope something will be better today. We all do! Something! It could be anything. And Dad carried the burden of hope, for past three decades that something will be better this time. It doesn't make a difference, who wins. It really doesn't make a difference when you say a single vote makes a difference. It doesn't make any sense, when you have kept faith alive for decades. He is different. It hardly makes any difference to him, what you say. Democracy is his favorite, casting a vote is his "Must Do duty" for Nation. Democracy always won and will always.

But anyways, I will be a mute spectators of drama of democracy once again. I really miss my home. Once again my Dad will wake up early on 23rd April and will be among the first people who casts vote. Mom, follows closely but independently. And me, still waiting for my turn to cast my vote. Better luck next time Atul!
Good Night!

April Fool !

2009-03-31T22:37:00.000+05:30

Wow...1st April is coming...How nice...I mean apart from getting salary which will enable me to survive whole month, there's something special about this day. You can make anyone fool (Don't do it with your boss) and you can be fool yourself too...a day of becoming fool....

I don't know whose idea was it to have such a wonderful day! I mean you wake up as usual and undergo all routine things, you still don't have any idea of what date is it today...you are about to reach office...you are literally running through tasks...you want to catch the 9:30 local or you want to reach before your boss reaches office...etc...you rush to bus stop....hire auto/taxi, get into local..and suddenly mobile rings..."Hey, yar aaj chutti hai office ko" You are shocked...you try to comprehend the thing as fast as you could...but no luck...you call the person back...or you try calling someone else...Same reply...Wow...Am I in dreams? Nope...Wow...Is it? You get off the bus..you are happy...you feel like Wow! A complete Day off...You are walking...You don't know what to do now...And suddenly boss calls you "Idiot! where are you? Can't you come on time at least on 1st day of month?" And you recover from shock....someone fooled you....you are fooled...My God...You look at road...you are angry...Oh! Yes! it's a 1st April...Oh yes...I forgot it yar...How dumb I am...Am I not a fool? I am...how can I forget 1st April? Mad...

Life goes on...and it will...there is no escape from routine...but days like 1st April will always remind you that you can still escape from mundane life...not permanently but for sometime and still have most of the fun you could think of...by becoming a Fool...

Enjoy!

Days come and go!

2009-03-26T00:06:00.000+05:30

Only easy day was yesterday...How true it is...I feel it is the best description the way I live here in Dilli...Today I got up late...wanted to wake up early as usual, but couldn't make it as usual.

Aunty came on usual time. I admire the punctuality of people. And you know I lack it. You must appreciate what you lack and someone is doing it. It's a great virtue. One thing I want to mentioned it down. Though it sounds like I am writing a diary, it is not. I just want to share my loneliness with this space & time. Nothing else.

Office hardly change. Nothing changes, I don't expect it. I often reach bit late despite the fact that I stay near to office. But real thing missing out these days at office is work. Everyone is complaining out here about no work. High end drama. God only knows what is going to happen to me. No one to blame, I start day with email check, then comes some respite with little talk on plan of action. Today there were some surveys were pending from my end. Some more are still due. Finishing out some tasks.

Afternoons are more boring. You can't go out for a walk now. Reason Sun..March heat...it's getting hotter day by day. No respite.

I am trying to figure out some things in life. One of it, how to better utilize my time in office. There are some learning coming from NetAct end, but it is not in continuous mode. I need to work hard for it. I mean, if I become enough proficient with it, I know I can add value to myself.

I am bit scared of writing all these stuff out here. I know it could be wrong. But there is nothing satisfactory than sharing your thoughts with someone. For me, with all you readers.

I am bit apprehensive about recession. May be I am wrong. Carrying out daily work is getting tough day by day. I am learning new things, but with slow pace. I need to pace it up. Whatever I do, I must learn to carry it ahead and finish it off. Leaving something unfinished is not what I want to learn. Learn man...

In eve, I had been to Lajpat to pay the bill of Netconnect. I got to see, the demo of India's fastest Net connection card by Reliance at speed of 3.1Mbps. Wow! gr8! let me check it out...I guess it works on EVDO...may be you can call it 3.5G...It claims to provide service to 35 cities across India...But investing into it a costly affair...you need to pay 3.5k for modem and plans are also costly. I have to really think about it, if I really need it or not.

Yesterday I saw the job opening of TIFR. It is so confusing in life, that now I am almost settled in my job here in Dilli. But every time, TIFR advertise comes and I get distracted. I really don't know whether I want to work there or not? What is the profile of work? Computer programming is not what I am looking for! Certainly nope! I will not. What I appreciate about TIFR is the freedom at work place. Emolument is good enough. And beside that it's Government job in Pune. What else you want in life? Ok relax...I am just ignoring the fact that it is FTA of 3 yrs, I mean fix term assignment for 3yrs only. Then what next? Let's think about it sometime later.

Aunty made only Dal-Chawal. Anand bought Roti-Sabji. So nice of him. He joined health club yesterday. Let's see, how long he continues with it. Good Luck man...

Sita talks a lot yar. She accompanied me to Lajpat. And all the time during 30min drive in auto he was talking nonstop. Garrulous! Nitin Sir was as quiet and indifferent to her as he could. I was sandwiched between them. Why people keep on talking so much? Why they just don't understand that I am least interested in you life or rather what you had in dinner last night? Not antisocial but still...Bapre...

Blogging is exhaustive...and I am tired now...The day ends here for me. Tomorrow, will start up with same zeal and continue with updates. Till then Good Night!

Colors of Daryaganj Book Fair-Photos Blog!

2009-03-25T23:24:00.000+05:30

Jama ...Beautiful.... Meena Bazar mein apka swagat hai...

Book Lovers jostling of space on road...

Mess over book bazar...a usual sight in purani Dilli

Where are you looking Uncle?

Gogia ji...what is the color money?

No Chic-Chic...are bhai ye Mumbai hai ya Dilli...

Dilli Gate...witness of history and still goes on...

Aren't they standing still???

Sorry Dude...but it's hard to survive here...

Asaf Ali Road ....

Colours of Daryaganj Book Fair:Continued

2009-03-24T23:13:00.000+05:30

The only I missed at Daryaghanj all the time is good company. Being lonely at a book fair sometimes makes you crazy. I am not a lonely planeteer, but it happened to me by chance.

Loneliness can happen to anyone. No one wishes it, nor I wished it. When I was posted in New Delhi in last summer, I hardly thought of going it long way alone. You have few options when you are alone. If you are a hobbyist, then there is nothing like being alone. And I feel Delhi has taught me something more than what I have been realizing these days.

Wandering at Daryaganj, often alone is a pleasure of its own kind. I mean there can nothing near comparable to it. I had been wandering alone to many places, but I never found peace at one place before. But Purani Delhi offered me peace. Whenever I felt like going, one of the reasons I know I would go is to find peace. It may sound weird to some if you tell them you are going to have some peaceful moments at one of busiest places in Delhi, but yes I know what I am talking about.

Sunday afternoons are rest period. But mysterious attraction pulls me towards this place. I had clicked some snaps of the place. Here I met Mr.Gogia, a numismatist by profession? Am I right? I can't say. You get first impression very wrong. At least I got it. I was walking on sidewalks, briefly putting up at different stands and suddenly I came across him. He is about 70 years old and looks like a Hindu priest with long beard. His face tell you some story, if you look neatly. He wasn't smiling. He was apprehensive of every bystander at his stand or at least I thought so. While I was closely looking at his coins collections, he asked me to stand up for a moment and wait. I stood up wondering at the collection of coins he has got.

You can say every shop tells you a story here. Some goes back before independence who witnessed more than anything in last 60 years. I often wondered what this place was upto? Here stands the grandest mosque of Asia , here stands the Red Fort who was built by Moguls, saw fall of it's own founders, here Pandit Nehru delivered his famous speech of independence. What a moment it was! If you have to know it, you have to know this place. This is not about structures. This is not about chowks nor it is about people. It is something more than that.

After Gogia returns to his shop, while I was standing patiently, some more people gathered at his shops. As usual, he was shouting at them not to touch anything on display. But obvious! hardly anyone can understand the pain he took to collect some of those coins on display. Later I came to know, that he has gone to buy a File Folder to show his collection to one of the onlookers. How nice he was! I was damn sure now, he will give me one good click. I politely asked him for the same. He agreed instantly. I was happy. I sat down and tried to capture the facial expression of man, who was more than happy to sit on sidewalks selling(?) his collections gathered painstakingly. It's amazing to capture the expressions of a hobbyist when he is in his full zest.

Joy never erodes the ages of some places. More the time passes, more beauty gets added. Here it is eternal. You become more beautiful, if you are growing in ages. There is no age defined for a place like Daryaganj. How old is it? I don't know. I simply don't want to find it out. But the charm is holds with it is refreshing. It's refreshing to visit it often. It doesn't matter how crowdy it is, it doesn't matter how untidy it is. It is just what it is. I just like it. I mean you don't have to hide anything. What you see is the reality. The dirt, the dustbin, the animals, the crowd,mess of electricity wires hanging down, and many many more things. It's nondescriptive. You have to come to see all this. Beware, accepting something as it is is tougher than what you could think of.

I was about to reach the end of book bazzar. That the end of the day. I got to see some of the best readable books on planet, if I am not wrong, during the journey of around 3 hrs. The last stall I visited had a rare book on display. It was about "Why are we here & finding the meaning of life through photographs" What a book it was. Though I didn't buy it, if you are lucky enough to get a glimpse if it, please buy it. It's a wonderful book.

Journeys never end. And my short journey from South Delhi to Daryaganj for the day ended here. I was standing here, at end of road looking back. What I could see is only people, books & joy flowing down the streets of Daryaganj.

Colors of Daryaganj-I

2009-03-22T22:38:00.000+05:30

Life on Sundays at Daryaganj starts early, or at least I suppose. Reason, whenever I reach to surf in the heaven of book lovers late afternoon, I could see many of them packing. I always wished to spend whole day here, but I think I have to give up my habit of getting up late to fullfill this desire.

I have been frequently visiting the Sunday book fairs at Dilli Gate for months, and believe me it's still refreshingly new to me. If I fail to visit them once in two weeks, I really start missing them. There are only two kind of Dilliwallas, first they know about the Sunday book fair and love to roam around footpaths of Daryaganj. The other one, no need to talk about.

As usual, Sunday started late and by the time I got off the bed, it was well past noon. Now, there was no more time to waste. I hurriedly took shower, had BF and got in to bus, headed straight for Dilli Gate. While on bus, all the time I was just wondering about the things I ever wanted to do in book fair. I often wanted to click some snaps of the place, but couldn't manage any. So this time I decided to carry my SLR with me, but I was apprehensive of book sellers, who often are reluctant to pose for a photo. Ok! Let's give a try!

After 45 min of travel in blue time, finally I reached Dilli Gate. Such a relief. Sometimes it's very exciting to travel in blue line thinking about something more exciting, like I do. I often try to imgine better things like surfing books or eating parathas etc during painful journey in blue line. All the time in bus, I was excited to take some snaps and now after landing at Dilli gate, I was wondering how am I going to do it? After all, its not that easy, I suppose.

After getting off the bus, I headed straight to Asaf Ali Road side of book fair. Its better to have a plan while roaming in book fair. Now, I am used to this place, so I could plan something in advance. For new comers, no advice. Only thing, during Summer carry a water bottle with you & wear shoes, and of course start early in a day, may be in late morning. There was no usual rush at place, though there were few bibliophiles at stands, but usual rush was missing. I was just passing by all stands. I wanted to start from far off end of this heaven on street, and was in hurry to get on.

After walking down some distance, I reached the first book stand on Asaf Ali Road. It was a pleasure to start with novels though I am a reluctant reader of novels and often despise reading them. For me short stories are better to read always. No need to read till end of book, to know what mystery lies in plot. Once I read in Ruskin Bond's book that, if you want to read a novel start from last page of book. I suppose, he is also not to keen on finishing off these long long stories spending days & night on same plot.

The book I bought today is my favorite one, "The Drinker's Companion" . It was kept under some other books. But I could spot it with eagle's eye. Last time I saw the book, in a library under reference section with no issue rights. But this time I was lucky to grab my own copy. I literally jumped on book, and without much bargain I bought it. I often wondered from where the hell these booksellers get these copies and why do they sell them at such cheap price. For me, every book I bought is a priceless collection.

At end of the road, I got to see some more collection of books namely "Disney Knowledge Book", "The Complete Motorcycle Handbook", "Atlas of Universe" "Gandi: A Autobiography", "Gitanjali" and many more. Why someone would sell them for 50-100 bucks? But, they were selling it. And I was just more than happy. May be it's some kind of social service to book lover.

Bye the time I reached end of Asaf Ali Road, I spotted a rare book known "Palkhi: A Pilgrimage" written by D.B.Mokashi, translated in English. This rare translation, was about Pilgrimage of Warkaris of Maharashtra during month of August. The book was in good condition, and I was in no mood to skip it.

I rarely go on shopping of technical books though I am very fond of them. But yes, I read them cajolly and try to ignore them while passing by. This is unnecessary indulgence, which I try to avoid. After all they hardly give you pleasure and here at Daryaganj I was looking for some pleasure reading. One such book, I often skipped is on Antennas. I could spot the book anywhere from 1000 books and still I won't buy it. It sounds funny, and still I don't know when will I buy it. But one thing is true, whenever I came here I skipped buying that one book always.

While passing by a book stall, I couldn't stop myself wondering when I saw a book seller sitting under his umbrella holding it tightly to protect from sun. It was funny, I mean who would go on holding an umbrella for whole day. But poor guy was doing it patiently, while quenching the thrust of book lovers despite the pain of sitting under March Sun. I wish he could manage it in better manner next time. After all, selling books on sidewalks is living for many here. And when it comes to living, there is no half truth. What you see is vivid reality.

Continued: