Not to forget the delectable, glad-she-is-back Chitrangada Singh.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi -redux
Saw Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi again and it still packs a wallop. Some amazing writing has gone into the making of this masterpiece.
Not to forget the delectable, glad-she-is-back Chitrangada Singh.
Not to forget the delectable, glad-she-is-back Chitrangada Singh.
Google News sucks
I had earlier written about my dissatisfaction with Google News. I never find the most relevant news within the first 3-4 news items displayed in each section. Also, I don't quite comprehend the logic for showing me news in the recommended section. Does it do some profiling of my web behavior to produce that list? Well, I would want to remove the recommended section altogether, but can't. right now. And it wastes the most previous space on the web-page.
Anyway, here is the screenshot from Google News India today. Enjoy.
Anyway, here is the screenshot from Google News India today. Enjoy.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
How the Indian IT Industry can cope with the US recession
The US downturn is slowly but surely redefining the Indian IT paradigm and if the Indian IT companies are not watchful, they may lose the outsourcing advantage soon.
The signs are for all to see. US employment fell for the first time since 2003, manufacturing declined 5.3%, first time house buying - a good proxy for economic health - plunged 8.1 percent in December. Technically, it might not qualify as a recession, but according to Warren Buffet, “by common sense definition”, the U.S. economy already is in a recession.
A December, 2007 report on the Indian tech sector by Morgan Stanley says the uncertainty in the United States may delay tech spending in the first half of 2008. Margins are already under tight pressure due to the weakening dollar. With Indian IT salaries rising 10-15% a year, the overall operating margins have been reduced to 6%. The major crisis in the US financial markets has had a ripple effect on all sectors and it might be a while before things start looking up. As Lakshmi Narayanan, Nasscom chairman and V-C at Cognizant said, "The current situation is not temporary. It is the new baseline. The industry will have to learn to operate under the new parameters." Anecdotal evidence suggests that fewer development projects from existing clients are coming through. The sales cycles have increased and winning new customers has become increasingly difficult.
If there was a major watershed in the Indian IT Industry post Y2K, this is it. After the dizzying growth of the last 10 years, it is time to pause, reflect and realign strategies. If the industry has to survive, then it needs to adapt to the changing market scenarios quickly. Talk of a software upgrade.
Diversify Globally
For far too long, Indian IT industry has focused on the US. Yes, US accounts for about 60% of the total IT spending. However, IT spending of American companies is slipping. It’s also been a long time since US firms embraced the outsourcing model, so further growth seems very limited. With that in mind, the Indian IT firms need to focus their attention on the other markets, especially Europe. Using UK as the base, software firms can branch out onto mainland Europe. There will be a certain amount of language and cultural resistance in countries like France, Germany, and Netherlands, that Indian firms will need to grapple with. Language training and cultural orientation should form a big part of the foray into Europe.
The potential of nearshoring – supporting the the clients from offices located geographically closer to them - in the context of IT, also needs to be tapped fully. Customers are looking for IT service providers who are located closer and culturally similar. With respect to Europe, the East European countries satisfy both these criteria. Moreover, East Europe has a large number of skilled software programmers. According to Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO of outsourcing powerhouse EPAM, the so-called "Soviet heritage" of traditionally strong engineering education is responsible for the region's large pool of trained professionals. The cost advantage of India over such locations is also significantly diminished as salaries in Eastern Europe are not significantly higher than those in India.
The need for nearshoring is especially highlighted by the fact that many UK IT service providers have recently invested in 3 global delivery centers in Eastern Europe (others are in Morocco and China). Such nearshore locations will be able to service EMEA and South East Asia region, and their capabilities cannot be replicated by similar centers in India. Many global firms want to continue offshoring, however they are looking at non-India based partners as a way of addressing the issues of talent shortage, salary hikes, and high turnover which are becoming more acute in the Indian IT sector. Such firms are even willing to back development centers run by Indian giants elsewhere, purely from the standpoint of flexibility, business continuity, and seamlessness in global operations. Hence, Indian IT companies should establish a strong presence globally through delivery centers in emerging regions, so as to maintain its existing business and gain a bigger portion of the IT revenues pie.
Local Foray
With the rupee gradually strengthening against the dollar, it makes imminent sense to enter the local markets decisively. Indian IT market is growing at a compounded annual rate of 21%. Indian companies have been traditionally slow in embracing IT, but are now adopting technology at a breakneck speed. A few large multi-million dollar contracts like the Bharti-IBM, Dabur-Accenture and SBI-TCS deals should make the rest of industry sit up and recognize the potential of the Indian market. Some of these deals have been jaw-dropping huge – TCS’ $140 million deal with BSNL, Wipro’s $80 million and $60 million deal respectively with HDFC and Dena Bank equal, if not exceed, deals of similar nature with international clients. The opportunity is not worth ignoring.
South East Asia is another region where IT big-wigs can focus their energies. China, Korea, Japan, Australia are big markets, and Indian firms should make a firm thrust in capturing them. The region can not only be tapped for local markets, but also be used as satellite facilities to support their Indian counterparts.
Tighten Recruitment and Retention Processes.
Since the last few years, the composition of IT resource pool has undergone a substantial shift. Earlier, many reputed companies only recruited engineers through campus placements. These placements were also carried out in Tier 1 colleges. The selection process was tough - base criteria was first class academic qualification, followed by test of GMAT style logical questions, and a rigorous interview process. Only the top few got through.
However, the demand for Indian IT services kept getting bigger. Post dot-com bust and 9/11 tragedy, business conditions in the US became tougher, and companies wanted to focus on key operational and strategic functions and outsource technical application development and support to the experts. India as an IT destination offered notable cost advantage, better flexibility, 24/7 support and improved accountability.
To cater to the rising demand, there has been a mad rush to recruit more people. No longer is a 4 year engineering degree a de-facto selection criterion for recruiting candidates. Now, companies have started hiring from non-engineering colleges. Recruitment cells are covering lower ranked colleges during campus placements. Consequently, the quality of new recruits has gone down noticeably. Figures suggest that only 25% of the total graduates in India have employable ‘production-worthy’ skills. With the recruitment net thrown far and wide, the statistics about production-worthiness is reflected quite closely amongst the new joinees. Not only are the much celebrated analytical skills poor amongst such fresh hires, but even basic communication skills are a cause for great worry.
Fewer contracts in a sluggish economic scenario would automatically drive down the break-neck speed of recruitment. However, instead of a complete stop to all recruitment, the IT industry should use this period for a meaningful introspection and a substantial realignment of its hiring and retention processes. The employees who have demonstrated continuous below par performance need to be put on notice. They must be mandated to undergo training programs to hone and upgrade their skills – technical as well as inter-personal. In the absence of any significant improvements, they should be let go. At the same time, campus and lateral recruitment of high performing individuals needs to continue. It will help restore the balance in favor of a more productive workforce.
Address the Skills Shortage
Concurrently, this quiet period needs to be used to get the existing resource pool ready for the next big wave. Most programmers are too caught up in the daily quotidian tasks to catch up on the latest technical advances, and appreciate the breakthroughs that will sweep the IT world. To address this gap, workshops and technical trainings to educate the workforce should be held at regular intervals. Similar sessions on soft-skills and cultural orientation programs should be conducted to make the people more customer-centric.
Service Oriented Architecture, Software as a Service, Cloud Paradigm (or desktop virtualization) are emerging as some of the biggest IT trends. Additionally, platform consolidation is the biggest IT change that many CIOs have on their radar. Much of the work coming along will be governed by these trends. The software designers should be brought up to speed on these new trends, and the programmers trained on the technologies that underline these trends.
Improve Productivity
Addressing the skills shortage amongst the existing employees will partly lead to better productivity. But a concerted effort is needed for flexible and savvy use of the existing resources. The recent growth of IT has left many organizations with massive shortage of middle level managers. To fill the gap, untrained software engineers have been promoted to managerial roles - far too quickly, in my opinion. At the same time, the inter-operability found in foreign tech heavyweights– where senior staff continues to be technically hands-on even after 5-10 years – is not to be seen. In India organizations, such resources tend to be entirely devoted to administrative tasks and managerial reporting.
Resolving this can be fairly straight forward. Technical tasks should form a sizable portion of a project lead’s tasks. Technical advancement through training and project work should be an integral part of a manager’s appraisal criteria. For smaller projects, senior resources need to be encouraged to code themselves, thereby reducing the overheads.
Simple tools like word and excel, if used effectively provide fantastic productivity gains. Trainings on such desktop tools need serious thought.
Some Indian IT organizations have world-class in-house systems. But there is still a tremendous scope in making these functions quicker and simpler. What better time to get those things fixed than this slack period? Programming is one of the most intense and focused activities, and any hindrance to it – availability of software, training material, access issues – should be resolved speedily through a system that exists to support the programmer more than anyone else. There is a sense that the rapid and reflexive adoption of security management controls like BS7799 has done more harm than good by cramping creativity and adventurous spirit of the computer programmer. An elaborate review might be in order.
Upside down in a Flat World
Cut-throat competition from global players and the falling dollar has squeezed the margins for typical run-of-the-mill work. Yes, consulting is a niche that eventually all Indian IT companies would want to get into. But basic factors like maturity (dearth of experienced consultants), perception (image of Indian IT firms as application developers and implementors) and location (failing of global delivery model in primarily client based work) will hinder any real inroads into the consulting space.
The trick is to innovate – not necessarily do different things, but do things differently. In that regard, the focus on innovation of some of the top Indian companies is a step in the right direction. Wipro’s Applied Innovation Framework lays down a roadmap for systemic change to deliver sustainable business benefits. An illustrious case in point is Wipro’s transformational engagement with Credit Suisse. In this trailblazing flex-sourcing model, three primary ownership models (captive, outsourced, co-managed) have been employed together, in effect to cater to different business requirements. It is a risky manoeuvre which has paid off handsomely, as evident from the remarkable growth of the Credit Suisse account within Wipro.
Summing IT up
This is indeed a tricky time for the Indian IT industry, but there’s no real reason to panic. The IT guns showed great character and resilience during the years following the dot com bust. They are wise enough to read the signs and realize that change is in order. With a slight course correction and an unswerving view on the long-term, the India IT industry can emerge stronger and bigger.
Update - CIOL has put the article up in the features section. It's edited haphazardly, but still, feels good
The signs are for all to see. US employment fell for the first time since 2003, manufacturing declined 5.3%, first time house buying - a good proxy for economic health - plunged 8.1 percent in December. Technically, it might not qualify as a recession, but according to Warren Buffet, “by common sense definition”, the U.S. economy already is in a recession.
A December, 2007 report on the Indian tech sector by Morgan Stanley says the uncertainty in the United States may delay tech spending in the first half of 2008. Margins are already under tight pressure due to the weakening dollar. With Indian IT salaries rising 10-15% a year, the overall operating margins have been reduced to 6%. The major crisis in the US financial markets has had a ripple effect on all sectors and it might be a while before things start looking up. As Lakshmi Narayanan, Nasscom chairman and V-C at Cognizant said, "The current situation is not temporary. It is the new baseline. The industry will have to learn to operate under the new parameters." Anecdotal evidence suggests that fewer development projects from existing clients are coming through. The sales cycles have increased and winning new customers has become increasingly difficult.
If there was a major watershed in the Indian IT Industry post Y2K, this is it. After the dizzying growth of the last 10 years, it is time to pause, reflect and realign strategies. If the industry has to survive, then it needs to adapt to the changing market scenarios quickly. Talk of a software upgrade.
Diversify Globally
For far too long, Indian IT industry has focused on the US. Yes, US accounts for about 60% of the total IT spending. However, IT spending of American companies is slipping. It’s also been a long time since US firms embraced the outsourcing model, so further growth seems very limited. With that in mind, the Indian IT firms need to focus their attention on the other markets, especially Europe. Using UK as the base, software firms can branch out onto mainland Europe. There will be a certain amount of language and cultural resistance in countries like France, Germany, and Netherlands, that Indian firms will need to grapple with. Language training and cultural orientation should form a big part of the foray into Europe.
The potential of nearshoring – supporting the the clients from offices located geographically closer to them - in the context of IT, also needs to be tapped fully. Customers are looking for IT service providers who are located closer and culturally similar. With respect to Europe, the East European countries satisfy both these criteria. Moreover, East Europe has a large number of skilled software programmers. According to Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO of outsourcing powerhouse EPAM, the so-called "Soviet heritage" of traditionally strong engineering education is responsible for the region's large pool of trained professionals. The cost advantage of India over such locations is also significantly diminished as salaries in Eastern Europe are not significantly higher than those in India.
The need for nearshoring is especially highlighted by the fact that many UK IT service providers have recently invested in 3 global delivery centers in Eastern Europe (others are in Morocco and China). Such nearshore locations will be able to service EMEA and South East Asia region, and their capabilities cannot be replicated by similar centers in India. Many global firms want to continue offshoring, however they are looking at non-India based partners as a way of addressing the issues of talent shortage, salary hikes, and high turnover which are becoming more acute in the Indian IT sector. Such firms are even willing to back development centers run by Indian giants elsewhere, purely from the standpoint of flexibility, business continuity, and seamlessness in global operations. Hence, Indian IT companies should establish a strong presence globally through delivery centers in emerging regions, so as to maintain its existing business and gain a bigger portion of the IT revenues pie.
Local Foray
With the rupee gradually strengthening against the dollar, it makes imminent sense to enter the local markets decisively. Indian IT market is growing at a compounded annual rate of 21%. Indian companies have been traditionally slow in embracing IT, but are now adopting technology at a breakneck speed. A few large multi-million dollar contracts like the Bharti-IBM, Dabur-Accenture and SBI-TCS deals should make the rest of industry sit up and recognize the potential of the Indian market. Some of these deals have been jaw-dropping huge – TCS’ $140 million deal with BSNL, Wipro’s $80 million and $60 million deal respectively with HDFC and Dena Bank equal, if not exceed, deals of similar nature with international clients. The opportunity is not worth ignoring.
South East Asia is another region where IT big-wigs can focus their energies. China, Korea, Japan, Australia are big markets, and Indian firms should make a firm thrust in capturing them. The region can not only be tapped for local markets, but also be used as satellite facilities to support their Indian counterparts.
Tighten Recruitment and Retention Processes.
Since the last few years, the composition of IT resource pool has undergone a substantial shift. Earlier, many reputed companies only recruited engineers through campus placements. These placements were also carried out in Tier 1 colleges. The selection process was tough - base criteria was first class academic qualification, followed by test of GMAT style logical questions, and a rigorous interview process. Only the top few got through.
However, the demand for Indian IT services kept getting bigger. Post dot-com bust and 9/11 tragedy, business conditions in the US became tougher, and companies wanted to focus on key operational and strategic functions and outsource technical application development and support to the experts. India as an IT destination offered notable cost advantage, better flexibility, 24/7 support and improved accountability.
To cater to the rising demand, there has been a mad rush to recruit more people. No longer is a 4 year engineering degree a de-facto selection criterion for recruiting candidates. Now, companies have started hiring from non-engineering colleges. Recruitment cells are covering lower ranked colleges during campus placements. Consequently, the quality of new recruits has gone down noticeably. Figures suggest that only 25% of the total graduates in India have employable ‘production-worthy’ skills. With the recruitment net thrown far and wide, the statistics about production-worthiness is reflected quite closely amongst the new joinees. Not only are the much celebrated analytical skills poor amongst such fresh hires, but even basic communication skills are a cause for great worry.
Fewer contracts in a sluggish economic scenario would automatically drive down the break-neck speed of recruitment. However, instead of a complete stop to all recruitment, the IT industry should use this period for a meaningful introspection and a substantial realignment of its hiring and retention processes. The employees who have demonstrated continuous below par performance need to be put on notice. They must be mandated to undergo training programs to hone and upgrade their skills – technical as well as inter-personal. In the absence of any significant improvements, they should be let go. At the same time, campus and lateral recruitment of high performing individuals needs to continue. It will help restore the balance in favor of a more productive workforce.
Address the Skills Shortage
Concurrently, this quiet period needs to be used to get the existing resource pool ready for the next big wave. Most programmers are too caught up in the daily quotidian tasks to catch up on the latest technical advances, and appreciate the breakthroughs that will sweep the IT world. To address this gap, workshops and technical trainings to educate the workforce should be held at regular intervals. Similar sessions on soft-skills and cultural orientation programs should be conducted to make the people more customer-centric.
Service Oriented Architecture, Software as a Service, Cloud Paradigm (or desktop virtualization) are emerging as some of the biggest IT trends. Additionally, platform consolidation is the biggest IT change that many CIOs have on their radar. Much of the work coming along will be governed by these trends. The software designers should be brought up to speed on these new trends, and the programmers trained on the technologies that underline these trends.
Improve Productivity
Addressing the skills shortage amongst the existing employees will partly lead to better productivity. But a concerted effort is needed for flexible and savvy use of the existing resources. The recent growth of IT has left many organizations with massive shortage of middle level managers. To fill the gap, untrained software engineers have been promoted to managerial roles - far too quickly, in my opinion. At the same time, the inter-operability found in foreign tech heavyweights– where senior staff continues to be technically hands-on even after 5-10 years – is not to be seen. In India organizations, such resources tend to be entirely devoted to administrative tasks and managerial reporting.
Resolving this can be fairly straight forward. Technical tasks should form a sizable portion of a project lead’s tasks. Technical advancement through training and project work should be an integral part of a manager’s appraisal criteria. For smaller projects, senior resources need to be encouraged to code themselves, thereby reducing the overheads.
Simple tools like word and excel, if used effectively provide fantastic productivity gains. Trainings on such desktop tools need serious thought.
Some Indian IT organizations have world-class in-house systems. But there is still a tremendous scope in making these functions quicker and simpler. What better time to get those things fixed than this slack period? Programming is one of the most intense and focused activities, and any hindrance to it – availability of software, training material, access issues – should be resolved speedily through a system that exists to support the programmer more than anyone else. There is a sense that the rapid and reflexive adoption of security management controls like BS7799 has done more harm than good by cramping creativity and adventurous spirit of the computer programmer. An elaborate review might be in order.
Upside down in a Flat World
Cut-throat competition from global players and the falling dollar has squeezed the margins for typical run-of-the-mill work. Yes, consulting is a niche that eventually all Indian IT companies would want to get into. But basic factors like maturity (dearth of experienced consultants), perception (image of Indian IT firms as application developers and implementors) and location (failing of global delivery model in primarily client based work) will hinder any real inroads into the consulting space.
The trick is to innovate – not necessarily do different things, but do things differently. In that regard, the focus on innovation of some of the top Indian companies is a step in the right direction. Wipro’s Applied Innovation Framework lays down a roadmap for systemic change to deliver sustainable business benefits. An illustrious case in point is Wipro’s transformational engagement with Credit Suisse. In this trailblazing flex-sourcing model, three primary ownership models (captive, outsourced, co-managed) have been employed together, in effect to cater to different business requirements. It is a risky manoeuvre which has paid off handsomely, as evident from the remarkable growth of the Credit Suisse account within Wipro.
Summing IT up
This is indeed a tricky time for the Indian IT industry, but there’s no real reason to panic. The IT guns showed great character and resilience during the years following the dot com bust. They are wise enough to read the signs and realize that change is in order. With a slight course correction and an unswerving view on the long-term, the India IT industry can emerge stronger and bigger.
Update - CIOL has put the article up in the features section. It's edited haphazardly, but still, feels good
Monday, March 31, 2008
Youngistan and Jashan Mana Le
The youngistan ad by Pepsi is definitely better than Coca Cola. May be by virtue of triple star power crammed in 30 sec slot, or the funny alien impersonation, or just the plain irreverence of it. On the other hand, Hritik's Jashan Manale ad for Coca Cola tries to play it cool and ends up being indifferent.
BTW, did anyone notice the neon blinking SRK (Supermarket sign is malfunctioning and only blinking the letters S R K). Smart.
BTW, did anyone notice the neon blinking SRK (Supermarket sign is malfunctioning and only blinking the letters S R K). Smart.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
MapmyIndia buggy ride
MapmyIndia is getting better by the day. But seems it uses some weird algorithm to arrive at the route to travel between two points on the map.
I tried a route starting from Kandivli East to Dadar East
and here is what it calculates to be the optimal path.
The path goes through Aarey Colony, Filterpada and Powai Naka, which are big bootlenecks to quick transit. Even on the parameter of distance, the route is longer, compared to the most suitable one - Take the Western Express Highway till Bandra, then through Dharavi onto Sion, Matunga, final stop Dadar.
I tried a route starting from Kandivli East to Dadar East
and here is what it calculates to be the optimal path.
The path goes through Aarey Colony, Filterpada and Powai Naka, which are big bootlenecks to quick transit. Even on the parameter of distance, the route is longer, compared to the most suitable one - Take the Western Express Highway till Bandra, then through Dharavi onto Sion, Matunga, final stop Dadar.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Litun
Litun (She was known something else then :-) used to work in the same account as me. She was generally in the world of her own, which was remarkable coz people in IT have no world of their own. I am not sure she was cut out for the technical drudgery (I am so cut out for it, they have invented the neologism IT drudger especially for me), and good thing, she's gone on to do her MS.
Anyway, if you are not satisfied with the incoherence on this blog, go patronize her blog.
Anyway, if you are not satisfied with the incoherence on this blog, go patronize her blog.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Commmunist Left are Chinese cronies
Left is silent in the face of Chinese atrocities. What conclusion can one draw apart from the fact that they have been pimped by China
They never protest when China sells arms to Pakistan, when Chinese intrude into Arunachal Pradesh, and claim parts of India to be theirs.
It's obvious that their loyalties are only with the Chinese (may be they get kick-backs).
Update - Also opposing the India-US 123 nuclear deal
They never protest when China sells arms to Pakistan, when Chinese intrude into Arunachal Pradesh, and claim parts of India to be theirs.
It's obvious that their loyalties are only with the Chinese (may be they get kick-backs).
Update - Also opposing the India-US 123 nuclear deal
Friday, March 14, 2008
If it hadn't been for cotton-eye joe
The ground split the day Cotton (Kapas) Gill was born. He was the child of the netherworld. But the devil didn't want him, so dumped him on earth. Cotton was found with a hockey stick up his ass. The sun doesn't shine in the whole of the netherworld, so no one noticed the violation while he was there.
Yes, Cotton Gill was a man who was violated from his birth. It tormented him during his childhood, and his adulthood. No girl would dare come close to him due to the stench of blocked crap. He was full of it.
He decided to take revenge on the poor hockey stick. But what did Cotton know? The hockey stick was getting all knotted up, cursing the heavens for having to suffer such wretched ignominy.
In his quest for vengeance, Cotton started destroying everything related to hockey in all of India. He systematically side-lined good players, removed good coaches, neglected all facilities irreversibly destroying them, installed his cronies in important position.
He bled hockey to death.
He pilfered huge sums of money meant for development of facilities, training and equipment. He had heard from presidents of other sports associations that money relieved constipation. He tried, but the blockage remained. He swallowed more cash, but still, no relief. He tried Eno, but now he was regurgitating crap
With each passing day, the hockey stick ensconced itself firmly inside Cotton and kept travelled north.
A day came in 2136, when the stick struck his heart and tore through it. The aorta ruptured with a dreadful noise. His lungs turned red and blood started cascading from his tongue.
Cotton withered away. India rejoiced. It got hockey back after almost 60 years.
Yes, Cotton Gill was a man who was violated from his birth. It tormented him during his childhood, and his adulthood. No girl would dare come close to him due to the stench of blocked crap. He was full of it.
He decided to take revenge on the poor hockey stick. But what did Cotton know? The hockey stick was getting all knotted up, cursing the heavens for having to suffer such wretched ignominy.
In his quest for vengeance, Cotton started destroying everything related to hockey in all of India. He systematically side-lined good players, removed good coaches, neglected all facilities irreversibly destroying them, installed his cronies in important position.
He bled hockey to death.
He pilfered huge sums of money meant for development of facilities, training and equipment. He had heard from presidents of other sports associations that money relieved constipation. He tried, but the blockage remained. He swallowed more cash, but still, no relief. He tried Eno, but now he was regurgitating crap
With each passing day, the hockey stick ensconced itself firmly inside Cotton and kept travelled north.
A day came in 2136, when the stick struck his heart and tore through it. The aorta ruptured with a dreadful noise. His lungs turned red and blood started cascading from his tongue.
Cotton withered away. India rejoiced. It got hockey back after almost 60 years.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Firefox add-ons - Piclens, Tab Effect, Febe
Piclens is like a photo viewer that hovers in the background and activates when you are browsing pictures on Firefox. It allows to view them as album with a slideshow and full screen. Slightly large in size (1 MB) but a fantastic utility nevertheless.
Installed another recommended one - Tab Effect . It adds effects when a current tab is changed. But it got a bit boring after a while. Have disabled it now.
The baap of all is FEBE backup add-on. The brilliant thing about it can back up all the add-ons, themes, preferences, bookmarks, history, permissions. I have configured it to backup just my add-ons, so I can install them on other desktops that I use. The restore can be done with one click of the button.
Here is the status report at the end of the back-up.
Installed another recommended one - Tab Effect . It adds effects when a current tab is changed. But it got a bit boring after a while. Have disabled it now.
The baap of all is FEBE backup add-on. The brilliant thing about it can back up all the add-ons, themes, preferences, bookmarks, history, permissions. I have configured it to backup just my add-ons, so I can install them on other desktops that I use. The restore can be done with one click of the button.
Here is the status report at the end of the back-up.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Sage works well
The Firefox addon Sage works beautifully. The sites that were inaccessible due to the megalomanic proxy bot are now accessible. Indiauncut for one
Only thing remains is to get RSS feeds of other banned sites plugged into Sage.
Only thing remains is to get RSS feeds of other banned sites plugged into Sage.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Bollywood and Cricket in Australia
Based on the recent India-Aus cricket spat (the fracas is infinitely more entertaining than cricket), can I make a hypothesis?
I think the number of movies shot in Australia will dramatically reduce. Australia has been a popular shooting location for Bollywood films - Dil Chahta, Sunday, Salaam Namaste, and Chak De India to name a few. I don't think it will last.
The reason being that Indian movie makers are big cricket fans (some like SRK and Preity Zinta have already bought IPL teams) and I don't think they will take the unrelenting abuse from the Aussies lying down.
Keep watching.
I think the number of movies shot in Australia will dramatically reduce. Australia has been a popular shooting location for Bollywood films - Dil Chahta, Sunday, Salaam Namaste, and Chak De India to name a few. I don't think it will last.
The reason being that Indian movie makers are big cricket fans (some like SRK and Preity Zinta have already bought IPL teams) and I don't think they will take the unrelenting abuse from the Aussies lying down.
Keep watching.
Bollywood and Cricket in Australia
Based on the recent India-Aus cricket spat (the fracas is infinitely more entertaining than cricket), can I make a hypothesis?
I think the number of movies shot in Australia will dramatically reduce. Australia has been a popular shooting location for Bollywood films - Dil Chahta, Sunday, Salaam Namaste, and Chak De India to name a few. I don't think it will last.
The reason being that Indian movie makers are big cricket fans (some like SRK and Preity Zinta have already bought IPL teams) and I don't think they will take the unrelenting abuse from the Aussies lying down.
Keep watching.
I think the number of movies shot in Australia will dramatically reduce. Australia has been a popular shooting location for Bollywood films - Dil Chahta, Sunday, Salaam Namaste, and Chak De India to name a few. I don't think it will last.
The reason being that Indian movie makers are big cricket fans (some like SRK and Preity Zinta have already bought IPL teams) and I don't think they will take the unrelenting abuse from the Aussies lying down.
Keep watching.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bhau Wow!
MNS to start Marathi classes for non-Marathis
This is just hogwash. Not a single class will take off. Shiv Sena and by extension, MNS, are not doers just ransackers.
This is just hogwash. Not a single class will take off. Shiv Sena and by extension, MNS, are not doers just ransackers.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Mirthful world
The Onion has a useful world atlas for dummies.
Before you get upset about how India is represented (truthfully), have a look at other countries of the world. Funny.
Before you get upset about how India is represented (truthfully), have a look at other countries of the world. Funny.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mithun Chronicles - School Days
Mithun remembered a day from his school, he was in the 8th grade and on the cusp of adolescense. The class was geography - his favourite subject. The teacher was a short stout lady, who was teaching islands that day (Wisdom No 5 -"Every man is an island, but then some lands are also islands" Fact No 2 - "The biggest island is also a continent"). It was a boys schools, so all teachers had abandoned their civility, mild-mannerdness (if any) and a general caring nature in the interest of self-preservation. The geography teacher bellowed,"What does Sri Lanka resemble?".
Class fell silent, heads dropped. Mithun had done some homework the night before, interspersed with sideway glances at 'Yeh jo hai Jindagi'. He loved the sitcom. Mithun was confident he knew the answer. His hand shot up. "Yes, Chirag", the teacher said.
Mithun was used to teacher's persistent nominal gaffes, and blurted out "A tiger! Sri Lanka resembles a tiger".
The teacher paused for a second. And then burst into the most devilish fusillade of laughter. The class followed suit. Visualizing the scene now, it seemed as if all the fingers were pointing in his direction, as all the jaws went full circle in delirious amusement and heads bobbed back and forth as if trying to send their noses into orbit.
Tears streamed down Mithun's face. He couldn't believe that all of the class was mocking him. His friends were giggling underneath the desks. Mithun sniffled, "Agreed, Sri Lanka may not look like a tiger, but why am I being derided for saying what I think is right. It's the teacher's fault anyway. I am sure there is some association between Sri Lanka and the tiger. It's Madam's fault she didn't make it clear. Else it would have registered. It surely would have”. "
Mithun wiped his tears and sat at his desk staring at the blackboard.
Class fell silent, heads dropped. Mithun had done some homework the night before, interspersed with sideway glances at 'Yeh jo hai Jindagi'. He loved the sitcom. Mithun was confident he knew the answer. His hand shot up. "Yes, Chirag", the teacher said.
Mithun was used to teacher's persistent nominal gaffes, and blurted out "A tiger! Sri Lanka resembles a tiger".
The teacher paused for a second. And then burst into the most devilish fusillade of laughter. The class followed suit. Visualizing the scene now, it seemed as if all the fingers were pointing in his direction, as all the jaws went full circle in delirious amusement and heads bobbed back and forth as if trying to send their noses into orbit.
Tears streamed down Mithun's face. He couldn't believe that all of the class was mocking him. His friends were giggling underneath the desks. Mithun sniffled, "Agreed, Sri Lanka may not look like a tiger, but why am I being derided for saying what I think is right. It's the teacher's fault anyway. I am sure there is some association between Sri Lanka and the tiger. It's Madam's fault she didn't make it clear. Else it would have registered. It surely would have”. "
Mithun wiped his tears and sat at his desk staring at the blackboard.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Menace - se Mumbai hogi fishing town
Fasnastic. Cabs are off the road. Personally, support the reasons. But also glad that there is less pollution. Cold weather is not good, the smog just refuses to lift, and that's why we have so many chest and throat infections around.
Anyway, I wish all non-maharashtrians gang up and go on strike on a single day (ADA switches of electricity, UP cows refuse to be milked, bhaajiwalahs refuse to do business, Palanpur Jains stop trading diamonds, Bombay House shuts shop and all bawas deliberate on how to advance the Parsi clan ("I got an idea. Why don't we have more sex?").
Future of any city depends on business. I had a fascinating conversation with a kurta trader (Jain btw) a couple of days ago. His view was that, Bombay's reputaton as a trading hub (may be not as a financial capital) is being fairly quickly eroded. A lot of new jobs have moved to Pune, textile manufacturing (Girgoan to Bhiwandi) has been usurped by Surat. Gujarat has done away with octroi - one of biggest roadblock (literally) in an efficient business transcation. Infrastructure has improved leaps and bounds there. Smallest of towns there are now buzzing with business activity. Narendra Modi is a zealot (my thoughts), but he is a superb administrator (his thoughts and I am inclined to agree), who has improved the lives of average Gujaratis and made one thing that they are good at - enterprise - easy.
It's increasingly common to see massive paradigm shifts in the blink of an eye. If Gujarat and other states continue the onward march and Bombay continues to plagued by governmental neglect and mental bigotry, then Bombay will return to how it was - the land of the kolis.
Anyway, I wish all non-maharashtrians gang up and go on strike on a single day (ADA switches of electricity, UP cows refuse to be milked, bhaajiwalahs refuse to do business, Palanpur Jains stop trading diamonds, Bombay House shuts shop and all bawas deliberate on how to advance the Parsi clan ("I got an idea. Why don't we have more sex?").
Future of any city depends on business. I had a fascinating conversation with a kurta trader (Jain btw) a couple of days ago. His view was that, Bombay's reputaton as a trading hub (may be not as a financial capital) is being fairly quickly eroded. A lot of new jobs have moved to Pune, textile manufacturing (Girgoan to Bhiwandi) has been usurped by Surat. Gujarat has done away with octroi - one of biggest roadblock (literally) in an efficient business transcation. Infrastructure has improved leaps and bounds there. Smallest of towns there are now buzzing with business activity. Narendra Modi is a zealot (my thoughts), but he is a superb administrator (his thoughts and I am inclined to agree), who has improved the lives of average Gujaratis and made one thing that they are good at - enterprise - easy.
It's increasingly common to see massive paradigm shifts in the blink of an eye. If Gujarat and other states continue the onward march and Bombay continues to plagued by governmental neglect and mental bigotry, then Bombay will return to how it was - the land of the kolis.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Arajak
"Mummy, mummy, mein bahut bore ho raha hoon"
"Ja baher jaun khel mitran barobar"
"Mummy, naahi, mitra sagale seriously parikshe chi tayyari karat aahe"
"Tu pan abhyas kar na mag"
"Chchya, yevdha traas kon ghenaar? Kaka chya navane guruji malaa paas karnarach"
"Hehehe..(in an indulgent tone) Shahana maajha por. Thik aahe, mag kaay karnaar aahes?"
"Hmm, maahit naahi. Vichar karto, te navin Uttar Bhartiya aale aahet naa aaplya societit, tyancha thoda chal karun yeto"
"Thik aahe, pan tujhya chaalitlya mitranna gheun jaa. Maarmari jhaalich tar tu palun ye. Te nistartil sagale"
"Yes M'am!! Bbbyyyyyyyyeeeeee"
"Bye Raj! Aik, yetanaa tya baniya kadun 1 kilo tandul gheun ye haa! Kaay re!! Aiktos kaa??"
"Ja baher jaun khel mitran barobar"
"Mummy, naahi, mitra sagale seriously parikshe chi tayyari karat aahe"
"Tu pan abhyas kar na mag"
"Chchya, yevdha traas kon ghenaar? Kaka chya navane guruji malaa paas karnarach"
"Hehehe..(in an indulgent tone) Shahana maajha por. Thik aahe, mag kaay karnaar aahes?"
"Hmm, maahit naahi. Vichar karto, te navin Uttar Bhartiya aale aahet naa aaplya societit, tyancha thoda chal karun yeto"
"Thik aahe, pan tujhya chaalitlya mitranna gheun jaa. Maarmari jhaalich tar tu palun ye. Te nistartil sagale"
"Yes M'am!! Bbbyyyyyyyyeeeeee"
"Bye Raj! Aik, yetanaa tya baniya kadun 1 kilo tandul gheun ye haa! Kaay re!! Aiktos kaa??"
Here goes the sun...
Worrisome signs in the IT martket are evident from the news from TCS and IBM.
I think software business as it - volume driven, mass recruitment, US focus will be definitely dead or be very close to demise in 5 years time.
We should be seeing a stablisation of business and resources if not a drastic reduction in that time.
We already are seeing poor resource quality in the haste of recruiting new resources and it will be impossible to use such guys in any useful way. I am primarily embarrased about such guys travelling onsite and screwing up the reputation of everyone at offshore.
I am also not convinced of our average project management capabilities either. We do well in support/maintenance projects, but invariably screw up in large development programs. When the push comes to shove, then these 'bad' managers make their resources work over-time.
In times of crisis (when the projects dry up) these issues will become major headaches.
Katlene ke tarike dhoondhna abhi se shuru karna chahiye
I think software business as it - volume driven, mass recruitment, US focus will be definitely dead or be very close to demise in 5 years time.
We should be seeing a stablisation of business and resources if not a drastic reduction in that time.
We already are seeing poor resource quality in the haste of recruiting new resources and it will be impossible to use such guys in any useful way. I am primarily embarrased about such guys travelling onsite and screwing up the reputation of everyone at offshore.
I am also not convinced of our average project management capabilities either. We do well in support/maintenance projects, but invariably screw up in large development programs. When the push comes to shove, then these 'bad' managers make their resources work over-time.
In times of crisis (when the projects dry up) these issues will become major headaches.
Katlene ke tarike dhoondhna abhi se shuru karna chahiye
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
