November 1st, 2009

————————————————

It was always fun to hear about a moment when all the people change their time manually to run 1 Hr late. I’ve been just hearing about this from last three years being at offshore Chennai India. All that I used to care about, is the reduced overlap time between the US and Chennai office timings. I used to be little sad when I get to know that “DST is gonna be applied on so and so date….”, which means we may have to stay back in office at least till 8.00PM (for the onsite person to come to office) .

It sounded so foolish, when I heard that some one will change their time manually (and their Govt approves it….!!!!! Ah…. Come on. Don’t be silly).  But, now being at the same place that implements DST(Day light saving time), I could experience all this real fun.

Its November 1st, Sunday, The day next to DST. In general, it will be a very long sleep for me on weekends. I will generally wake up at 11.30 AM or even late. But, to my surprise, I woke up exactly at 9.30 Am (which is actually 10.30AM) and was wondering “why the heck I woke up so early….!!!!”.  Looked at my watch, which showed 10.30AM. For some time, I was so confused and thought that it was just a “once in a blue moon” happening. Later When i found out about DST, I memorized all that i thought about it when I was in Chennai, India. Its all fun to think about it and to be a part of it.

Every morning, I am supposed to get up at 6.20AM. As usual I was late by 1 hour, which surprisingly turned out to be the correct time. Everybody, got up so early and I am sure we will go to office on time today.

lets see what happens…..

Mood: Listening to slow music, fresh in the morning.

Cheers,

Durga Prasad Tamirisa.

Posted in Experience ]]> http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/dst-experience/feed/ 0 Durga http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/a-glimpse-of-my-life-in-us-part-1/ http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/a-glimpse-of-my-life-in-us-part-1/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:51:44 +0000 Durga Prasad http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/?p=250 ]]>

Hi Folks,

Its been ages that I had a look at this space. I am finally back after a very long break posting this from Milford City, Connecticut, US. For those who don’t know this, I have been relocated to US on an onsite assignment.  Started a new way of life here at US. Accustomed to the extremely good environment. Started to understand different things about the culture here.  And of course back to my favorite part time cooking. Trying different dishes on my friends (I pity em).

The entry to US….

My entry to US was a lucky one with out any pains (I travelled with my manager..).  That was my first travel in a Plane and I was thrilled to see the clouds through the window. It was initially difficult to understand what exactly I am having  in the plane. Was it Breakfast? Wat It lunch? or Dinner ? The way air hostess come to me and says “Here is your Vegetarian Meals Sir”, confused me all the time. I was wondering how she found out that I am a vegetarian.  I had never mentioned it anywhere. I finally asked her that question, for which she clarified that my travel agent did this by default for all the travellers from TCS.

The first impression…..

I reached US somewhere in the afternoon and it was very cool breeze that touched my face as I come out of the plane. For the next few days, I was sleeping in Indian sleep times  (which these guys call as Jet-Lag).  The climate was very cool (for me) and I used to wear sweater when I come out. I later realized that, those were the hottest days ever in the near past. This surprised me one more time in US. As time moves on I got adjusted with the climate and I don’t wear sweater anymore.

The Scenerie’s….

I was extremely thrilled with my first travel to office in my friends (Jaggi’s) car. The roads here are so damn good and they are very organized. I liked the traffic maintenance here and the discipline of the car drivers.  The greenery on both the ways is astounding. They give most importance/preference to pedestrians. It is good that The Government cares a lot about people here.

My Apartment…

There were two apartments that I lived in US till now. The first one is Robert Treat, which is been a home for all TCSer’s from ages. Other than TCS there are lot many other Indians that live in this place, which make me feel no different from living in India. We had recently moved to an Authentic beach side apartment called on Joy Road. This apartments has an American community. I now have a chance to say people that I am residing in a beach side apartments, beach is visible form my balcony, its a nice breeze (doesn’t matter as you live in a closed room), beach walk every day, fishing, etc etc. I simply simply love the environment that I am currently.

The habits….

There were some drastic changes in my habits here. I am no more getting a chance to play my loving game Table Tennis (called as ping pong here). No more GBH and CSR activities any more. Unable to find a  nice/appropriate place in my apartment to arrange my Puja idols because we are all used to roam in the room with chappals. I am living in a double bedroom apartment which just has a single bathroom. To adjust with the office timings, I need to get up every day sharp at 6.30 AM. Sounds very tough, but I am making it everyday (somehow). No deviations in office timings. Starts sharp at 9.00AM to 6.00 PM.

Will be back with more updates on my activities.

Bye for now,

Durga Prasad Tamirisa.

Mood: Very sleepy, tired. Going to bed after making an unsuccessful attempt to cook Channa Masala.

Hello All,

I feel very surprising to write this. You know why? I never thought that i can write a review  of a novel, especially a 600 page one. This is a new thing that I have started after coming to my new room. The idea of reading  a novel started on a very ad-hoc basis just by vising a Higginbotham’s store at Chennai central railway station and suddenly buy a catchy book.

And that catchy book happened to be John Grisham’s “The Chamber”. I started reading this book with a very Little passion and believe me it dragged me to read it for three continuous day. I never know how did I do it.

The story starts with a flash back about a Gang of Klansman that involve in a serious bombing of the Law office of Kramers. This will be explained in much reality talking about the way the two kramer twins will be thrown to the Ceil’s of the office floor and all that. He also talks about the media buzz, FBI investigation etc etc.

Sam Cyhall, happened to be a part of this bombing, around whom the story revolves around until his end. He a kind of relatively innocent compared to others that are involved in the bombing. He will be caught by the police for this murder case. And after a long struggle by Kramer, he will be imposed with a death penalty.

The later few episodes, deals much about Cyhall’s struggle to get out of prison and the intervention of few famous Pro-Bono organizations to help him legally. They also flashes you back to the days when Sam was young and was involved in much brutal stuff as part of the Klan.Though it sounds brutal and heartless about Sam, the writer was very effective in create a Good/Decent impression about Sam at the end of the novel.

The writer explains very well much about the circumstances and the thing at Death Row/ MSU (Maximum Security Unit as they call it). It creates lot of interest about the surroundings and the situations inside the death row. He also explains about how they maintain the typical security in MSU. Later he gives much closer look at the Death row, talking about the daily habits of Death row inmates, Their mentalities, their timings, the details about their prison rooms, the way the security system works, the part times of the death row inmates.

The story continues, by explaining much about Sam in Death row. His relationship with the security people. His part time. His friends who only speaks but can not have a look at each other. His hobby of reading the Law books and using a small old type writer to put something on paper. His Habit of chain smoking. The goodies that he gets from his secret brother every month. His dressing in the prison and outside the prison. His mentality. His knowledge in law.

Then enters the hero this novel, Adam Hall.  A  young Law graduate, Just out of his college, approaches a famous law organization and makes a deal with them to represent / help Sam in the death row.Seeing his courage to take up such a tough assignment. The way the writer explains this character is mind blowing. This character shows up his dynamism, confidence, toughness, emotion, and sentiment.  Though he initially hesitates to reveal him as Sam’s grand son, he will be honest to accept it later before all those he had hided that.The initial states of his interaction with the prison personal’s and Sam are much interesting and fascinating.

Slowly, Sam and Adam gets in to business. Sam and his prison \mets always call him a kid (in Law). Probably, Sam know much better than Adam. Adam starts applying his Gang plank appeals to different courts in all the possible ways that he can. He faces many disappointments. He faces may hopeful moments. He also faces some frustrations as well.  This is the part where the author shows his knowledge in Law. This is where I came to know of new and interesting things about US law.

Adam keep getting closer his Grand Fa and their relation will keep on becoming stronger and affectionate. Author keeps track some of the Adam’s relations like Sam’s daughters. But, he is not so successful in using this particular character. This character come in to the picture like a Storm and suddenly goes off somewhere in the air until the climax of this novel. It is during the climax when Sam’s brother comes in to picture.

The Governor of the state, is another important character of this story. He is the only person that sam hated most and he had taken a written contract from Adam restricting Adam to speak to Governor. Governor plays most important role in deciding weather sam has to die or not. Towards the end of the story, author keeps you in the pace of sentiment and almost drags you in to tears in some situations. Especially, when the days are nearing to Sam and there are no much of surprises that Adam can make. He also keeps a the suspense of the story by always keeping a secret character that is assumed to have helped Sam in planing the bombs during the Kramer bombing.  Adam, tries a lot to find about that secret accomplice but Sam never reveals about it.

Towards the end, the story becomes more suspense with all the following questions….

1) Will Sam be Gassed ?

2) Will there be a surprise at the last minute ?

3) Will Governor grants freedom to Sam ?

4) What happens to Sam’s belongings ?

5) If Sam is gassed, where will be be buried ?

6) How are the last moments of sam ?

7) Who are all that witnessed Sam’s death ?

What is the Sam’s Last meal ?

etc etc etc…..

For more details, I suggest you guys to read the novel. Believe me, this very interesting at the end. ………. !

Your comments and criticism are most well come. I strognly recommond this book and I took 10 days to complete this 600 page book.

Regards,

Durga Prasad Tamirisa

Posted in Article, Book, Novel, review Tagged: John Grisham, novell, The Chamber ]]> http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/the-chamber-john-ghrisham-a-review/feed/ 0 Durga http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/a-quick-recap-on-apr-may-2009/ http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/a-quick-recap-on-apr-may-2009/#comments Sat, 09 May 2009 05:36:18 +0000 Durga Prasad http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/?p=240 ]]>

Hello Folks,

Its become a good practice for me to disappear from the blogosphere for a month or two and coming up with a post that starts with an apology for the disappearance. Believe me you would have seen such apologies 3 or 4 times in my posts. Well…!!! Let me start this post as well with such an apology, but in a different way. . I will talk “why am i busy” in this post.

My past one month has been great and I have undergone so many changes personally and professionally. After my sister’s marriage, I started feeling that I am quite capable of coping up with such a big responsibilities in my life (Believe me, I mean it/ felt it).  My sis is doing good now and may fly in few weeks. .

My bike……!! This is big story. No accidents/scratches as of now fortunately. Driving safely with an average speed of 60- 70 on the high way  and finally crossed the mark of 1500 KM. The first service is done and it running pretty satisfactory. I thought of writing a review on it if time permits. But again, I am afraid to write a review because of a bitter comment from an anonymous in the past. Remember the review on HP series…?? Some body named Alex has written a comment back to me scolding me in Greek and Latin, giving me left and right, posting hella lot of links that contradicts my words in that post.

New room……!! This also happened in Apr-May 2009.  It all started when TCS had increased the Travelling Bus charges from 1000/- to 2500/- suddenly. I felt it rude and thought of this idea. Ofcourse, My new bike is a result of this (Thanks to TCS). Taken the bike and shifted my room near office (18 KM) from the office. The room is exactly as I expected, with all the furniture and with the cooking facility. I didn’t care even the rent is quite high compared to my previous room. It happened later that A/C if fit in my room and that solved the issue of this typical summer heat. Arranged a home theatre with my sexy Creative speakers and using my IPOD to play songs in it. No compromise in music at all…..

My office work. I got a top rating this time in my profession and special thanks to the management for recognizing me well. This also opens another gate of hard work. Since I got A grade, The expectations increase and eventually the work increases and so the responsibilities. One way its good to me that I am still learning a lot day by day. These days I am learning much on “How to manage”. I got a VISA in  my hand and now the next question is “When will I fly?”. I am waiting for the answer from my manager and hope they will respond soon.

Friends…!!!!! These two months are been the months where in I didn’t get much time to interact with my Friends personally. However, I have spent lot of my time with one of my best friends (The two Kutty kids and their family). Roamed around the city on bike.

Shopping….!!! Though, I have done lot of shopping during my sisters marriage, I din’t stop to buy stuff. Recently, brought, 3 Pairs of formals and 3 Tee’s in Pantaloons. Bought a new pair of Woodlands rock shoes.

Outing …!!! All my office friendly gang went for a treak to the hills of death which you would have seen in one of my previous post. It was an damn complex and wonderful trek. I always admire CTC for giving such a wonderfull weekend in my life. I made very good use of my Woodland shoes in this trek.

Other than the trek I visited some places in Chennai on my bike which are worth visiting. One of them is the Music Academy to watch the Maya bazaar drama Sponsered by EVAM and played by Surabhi Group. It feels very good to see such a great art from all the members of the same family.

CSR….! There is absolutely nothing that i have done in this front. And for this i got lot of scoldings from my boss Mukund. I hope i will try to make it atleast this sunday.

Well….! This summarizes my life in last two months. So….Now does it summarize that I am busy ?

Cheers !!!!!

Have a great weekend.

Durga Prasad.

Finally, The much awaiting moment had arrived today morning 9:58AM. I got up fast, was there at Vadapalani’s Honda showroom to get my Brand new sexy “Honda Shine”. I was there in showroom for quite some time to finish all the required formalities and finally I got the bike in to my very own hands by 10.50AM.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzup !!!!! Having had a little bit of sentiment at an unknown and undiscovered corner of my heart, My bike’s first visit was to a famous murugan temple in Vadapalani. The darshan and puja at temple took another 1 Hr of my time. It was fun having a puja to my bike by a priest (Ayyangar) who doesn’t seem to know any thing, but still charged me 100/-.

Gurur Bhrhma !!! Gurur Vishnuh !!!

Guru Ssakshath Parah Brahma !!

Tasmi Shri Guravee namah!!!

Our modern priest was supposed to spell out the above three stanza’s. But, then he just manage with the first two bold-ed links concatenating with “Blah Blah Blah blah”.  Ha ha ha ha..!!

However, After the successful puja, I decided to have my first long drive. Where else it can be ? To my office. Started from Vadapalani, Drove to Madhya kailash, and taken the OMR high way. It was fun have a ride on my bike.

It feels really, good when you have a freedom to go out wherever you want and when ever you want. Till now, I didn’t had that chance and Now……. ! It starts…

Photos of my bike follows soon….

Cheers,

Durga Prasad

Posted in Bike, Experience, Office, travel Tagged: Bike, Honda Shine, Omr Drive ]]> http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/new-bike-first-ride/feed/ 1 Durga http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/check-out-my-slide-show/ http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/check-out-my-slide-show/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:39:55 +0000 Durga Prasad http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/check-out-my-slide-show/ ]]>

Hello Dear Readers,

Today I was recalling one of the discussions that I had with the son(Rahul) of a very famous general stores in my home town. This is a very busy store which always has at least 20-30 customers standing in line to get the stuff from the shopkeeper. 

The discussion was basically about the corruption. Well… I mean, the shopkeeper not giving the bills to the customers, thereby not paying the tax to government (Which he is suppose to pay). The shopkeepers son is a  B.Tech Graduate from a famous college in AP. He was asking me the details of a software that he can buy for the use in his shop to minimize the paper work that they are doing currently. Currently, there is no automatic billing system and they give the handwritten bills to the customers which are not accountable and so the money going in to the Black Account.

The discussion went as below.  (Being a techie software professional, I started with first step in SDLC.)

Me: So… What kind of software you are looking for and what are your requirements ?

Rahul: Well…! Not much expensive. It should just be replacing the manual work which we are doing in our shop.

Me:So…. You are gonna give computerized bills to the customers is it ? Does that mean you are staring to pay the tax correctly.

Rahul:Excuse me !!! That’s not possible.  (Hesitated to speak much here).

Me: Sorry….! I didn’t get you. (Trying to be smart to get more info).

Rahul: Well..! Frankly, My intention of this software is not to pay taxes, but just to remove one more worker from my shop (who is working on accounting now), and get more profit thereby.

Me:(Smiling) Ok Ok. I know this is all very common everywhere. But can I ask you one realistic question? (Discussion slowly deviating from Software to corruption).

Rahul: Why not ? Go ahead.

Me: Why don’t you start paying the tax correctly to Government ? What is dragging you back from paying it ?

Rahul: (With a smile and a hesitation on his face). Well..! The answer is the Profit.

And yes ! We can really start paying the tax to the Govt. But, let me explain this to you with a simple example. 

We get a load of 20 Boxes (Each Box contains 100 pieces) of XYZ detergent soap 20 times a month. XYZ is the fastest selling detergent and most of the supplies in our home town goes from our shop as it is 50 PS less than all other shops. But, XYZ gives the bill only once (for 20 Boxes) in three months.

Suppose if we have to start paying tax, We have to ask all our suppliers to do the same. This is not so easy as they are all the big heads under the shadows of political cover.

Moreover, If I pay tax, I should defnitely increase the rates of all the items accordingly. At the same time, the customers will be reduced because of the increase in rates.

If I still have to over come this, I have ask all my co-shoppers to start paying tax as well. For which they will say “Get Lost”.

On top of all this, Paying tax will not let me get rid of paying the monthly bribe to the local tax officer.

So, now you tell me..?? Should I pay tax or not?

Me: —————– (JUST A BLANK FACE)——————–

So, Folks………. Think about this. Where is the root of this problem ? Where can I start, If i have to eradicate corruption ?  Can I be safe/successful in doing this?

I don’t have any answer for all the above questions. Do you ?

If you have have any ideas, Do let me know by commenting on this post.

Regards,

Mood: Very serious – Thinking Deep about corruption

Durga Prasad

Hello Folks,

I know, its been ages that I had a look at this space. Its all because of the tight schedules in the office and too much of travel. However, After a long gap (Almost 4 Months) I am back in to my favorite past time “Relocating Kids from GBH”.

This was the story of another unfortunate (I’d rather say fortunate) kid named Mahesh who got separated from their parents while they are traveling to Vizag. This kid was not that expressive. Surprisingly, This worked out well with the help of our GURU NEERAV MANTRA ie., Sending the letters to some Pseudo address formed out of the discussion with the kids at GBH.

As usual, We reached GBH early in the morning SHARP at 9.00 AM. Muke and Mahi were busy updating trackers and getting the list of new kids that week. Archies was busy watching India VS New Zeland, shouting, jumping, yelling along with kids.   I spoke to kid for a while to get the details of him.

He was not so expressive and gave the details of his Father, Uncle and his school head master. I confirmed that he is not a run-away kid but was really been missed. I went home tried to make out some address with the help of Google and sent letters to three people. I was really not expecting some one to respond to these letters.

To my surprise, His uncle called me yesterday and was desperately asking about their kid. I told them all the formalities and documents and guided them to take their kid back to home. I just got a confirmation call that the kid is been safely taken home.

Looking forward to do more of such relocations,

Cheers,

Durga Prasad.