Thursday, July 31, 2014

Running to "Stand Still"

Guys, It's not about U2's popular rock track "Running to Stand Still". I just picked this title for my ramblings . Too much of sports and movies in the blog for a few weeks, so back to some serious thoughts today.

How many of us have not heard the phrase “When will you settle in your life ?” or “You should settle in your life”.

During the school & college days, everyone from your mom, dad, relatives, neighbors, neighbor’s neighbor :)… literally everyone would have advised you to settle in life. What do they really mean by settling in life ? . Without understanding much, I also nodded myself that I should settle in my life !

But as the time moves on, now I observe that the word “settle” is also keep moving. It involves constant change at every phase of your life.

When you’re in the final year of the college education, you’d have heard “Get a good job and settle in your life”. After lot of hard work and struggles,  you get a decent job.

Then everyone will start “You should get married and settle in life”. After getting married, within months parents and relatives urge “When you will get kids and settle in your life ?”. Yeah, now you have a beautiful kid too.

Then, all friends and relatives say “Wow! great! you’ve a lovely kid ; A great family. Now why don’t you get a decent two bedroom apartment and settle down in your life ?”

After so much pressure , You take 40-50 lakh loan. Work hard to pay-off your EMI’s , Work 24 hours in office ; Sacrifice the time for your kid and wife ; forget about your vacations and holidays; don't even get a chance to think about your old friends, and start living on a mechanical routine for the next 15-20 years.

By the time you complete your loan, your kids will be grown-ups. By this time, the word “Settle” would have deeply penetrated inside your brain and will make you to yell on your kid as “You should settle in your life” on his school/college final years :(

Now you see, how one word has made you into nothing but a money making machine. If you make all the money without being happy then there is no point working in a job or living in a million dollar apartment, right?. The word “settle” has killed all your happiness and peace to the root and still made you think that what you are doing is right. Doesn't that sound ridiculous ? Yes it does. But this is the reality.

How many of us are willing to break this social pressure and live a pressure free / worry life?. Me neither !!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Saivam - Movie Review


Watched Saivam a few weeks ago, and even started writing  this post on the same day; but one or the other stuff kept blocking me to complete the post. finally today, am hitting the publish button 

The story of Saivam revolves around three characters Kathiresan (Naseer) , his Granddaughter Tamizh(Sara ) and her pet Rooster Pappa . Kathiresan is expecting his sons and daughters along with their family for the village festival. He is very happy and excited that his entire family of three sons and a daughter are under one roof, but that joy doesn’t last for long , as a few unfortunate incidents occur in the family.

When the family finds out that a Nerthikadan (promise of an offering to God in return for a favour:), which was giving the “Pappa” the Rooster as an offering to their God was a long overdue. But things get even worse as the Rooster goes missing. How the family collapses & recovers after this, is rest of the story.

A clean, fun filled family drama given by Vijay and his team. Vijay has managed to choose some of the best casts for this film, the boy Shravan (don’t know his actual name) , and the house servants were too good. Songs and background score are OK. Clean dialogues and light hearted family moments makes this simple story a good movie.

One the flip side - the duration of the film but being a family drama maybe it needed the extra length. And also am not happy about the main characters performance (Naseer has little underplayed and Sara is a li’l overdose). And couldn’t register other characters in mind (could have selected some known faces). However, I should appreciate the whole team for giving a complete family film, after a long time.

Not a great one; but definitely a decent one time watch!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Parthiban Kanavu - by Kalki


Yet another historical novel from the great writer Kalki. The plot is on the Cholas and Pallavas  - ancient empires of Tamilnadu.

The Cholas are serfs of the Pallavas. The Chola King Parthiban survives with a heart burn of his forefathers lost the glory of Chola dynasty to Pallavas, he always wants to regain the pride of ruling their own land and expresses his dream to his son “Vikaraman”

One day, Parthiban takes his son to a sacred hill temple, leads him in to a dark secret hall in it (No one other than Parthiban has entered or had an idea of what’s there in the hall so far). Young Vikraman was amazed to see that Parthiban has portrayed his dreams as painting all over the hall , the scenes of battles and glories of Cholas.

In the main battle scene, the Royal elephant does not have a rider. Parthiban says that "the hero of Chola dynasty is yet to be. When the hero steps forward to lead the war and frees their land, his image will be drawn onto the Royal Elephant, and Parthiban's dream will be realized".

But, Parthiban dies in battle shortly without seeing his dream come true. And that’s his son Vikraman who got inspired by his father’s dream, wins his mother land from Narasimhavarma Pallava , and become the hero of Parthiban’s dream.

Reading Kalki’s historical novel is such an awesome experience….He takes you to that age, makes you to travel with the characters , feel as you’re living in the story plot.

If you plan to read “Parthiban Kanavu”, I would suggest you to read “Sivagamiyin Sabatham” first. This Novel is almost like a sequel to Sivagamiyin Sabatham, you can relate many characters and incidents between the novels. I am sure, you’ll get an amazing experience when you visit Mahabalipuram next time, after reading these 2 novels.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Prob'ly the best video on Child Abuse Awareness

Child abuse is a grave issue; and our society is always hesitant to talk about it. This video not only educates us about the problem but also provides a solution.

Finally A Video On Child Abuse That Every Kid Can Watch And Learn From. Show It To Your Kids Tonight ; originally published at www.storypick.com

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Velaiyilla Pattathari - Movie Review (Tamil)


Writing a movie review after a long time ; that too a Tamil movie for the first time, VIP takes the spot !

Velaiyilla Pattathari is a milestone in Dhanush career – his 25th Film. It's an comedy/drama flick,  on the plot of rising unemployment and growing frustration among the youth., Movie is produced by Dhanush and directed by cinematographer, Velraj.

The whole story is around Dhanush , a civil engineering graduate who is still in search for a job while his younger brother is already working and earning well. Dhanush wants to work only in the field he studied for - Civil Engineering. Finally he gets job in his field, but there he faces trouble from the villain in a public welfare construction project. How Dhanush beats the villain and complete the building construction work is the remaining story.

Amala Paul plays the role of a doctor, while Samuthirakani and Saranya Ponvannan are cast as Dhanush's parents.The performance of Samuthirakani is decent ; tired of watching Saranya in Mom character :( Anirudh's backdrop score is so noisy, but anyway most of the audiences like that blast.

The screenplay is good.,especially the first half (2nd half is more cinematic). Anyways, nice to see Dhanush back to his "Yaradi Nee Moghini" form, must be quite refreshing after his acclaimed (but box office failed) ventures like Mayakam Enna, 3 and Mariyan.

Director Velraj made a decent debut as director. Dhanush seems to be hitting the magic at Box Office after a few years !

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Google Maps Now Available in Hindi


Undoubtedly India is one of the big internet users of the world. Google has launched Google Maps in Hindi. Starting today, people will be able to see Hindi names for cities, localities, important roads, as well as popular points of interest such as public parks and schools, on the new Google Maps and on Google Maps on Android.

To view Hindi name labels on Google Maps, enable Hindi as their preferred language on your device. From a computer, you can change the language preference to Hindi on your Google account settings or by selecting the “Hindi” option at the bottom of the page on the google.co.in home page.

On Android, you just need to select the Hindi option within the “Language and input” menu found in phone’s ‘settings menu’.

Once Hindi has been chosen as the preferred language, people will be able to see Hindi names directly on the map. These new labels that are visible on Google Maps today have been created by transliterating English names to Hindi, or, translating the English names to Hindi and ensuring the text resonated with local dialects.

It’s definitely a tactical as well a welcome move from Google, to bring-in many Hindi-speakers coming online for the first time.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Steps to buy a Used Bike in Bangalore


Was trying to buy a used 2-wheeler in Bangalore; but had no idea on how to start about and on the procedures/legal formalities involved with. After a big round of investigation with some of the experts/colleagues/brokers, now i got a clarity on the whole buying process. 

Thought of sharing so that it may help some of you.
  1. Meet the seller 
  2. Get the bike properly checked by your mechanic
  3. Check documents
    • RC book (registration book which has the one time tax paid entry also in it with receipt number and RTO's stamp on it).
    • Check if the RC book has a stamp of the loan by any bank HPA with(bank's name) ... bank seal. If the seal is there you need form 35 signed and stamped along with the NOC letter from the bank stating the loans are clear.(the RTO charges a nominal amount for canceling the loan entry in the RC book)
    • Valid Insurance (which is mostly transferable on the new buyer's the name) you need seller's sign on the insurance transfer letter for the same. Ensure the transfer paper is there ready and signed.
    • PUC valid and updated.
    • check the chassis numbers and the engine numbers on the RC book are matching with the machine.If you feel lazy and still confused just go to the concerned RTO/RTA office and get your papers checked from some agent or some clerk.
  4. check the transfer papers and get it signed
    • Transfer papers in form of FORM 29,30 AND 28 (one copy of 29,one of 30 and 3 copies of 28,28 is required only if you need the NOC to transfer the vehicle to a new city other than the vehicle is already registered in).
  5. Payment
    • Get sales letter cum receipt on the stamp paper for the deal to avoid complications which could arise in the future.You should also sign a delivery-note saying that the vehicle and all the related responsibilities are yours from now onward and give the seller a copy and keep one with yourself. Get the seller's sign on the sale receipt with a copy of his Photo ID.
    • make payment
  6. So what's next? Go with seller to RTO to deposit the forms and collect receipt ?
    • how soon can you get the ownership change paper and NOC from RTO?
    • anything else before the bike is given for a full service ?

Friday, July 18, 2014

What Will You Be When You Grow Up?

“What will you be when you grow up???” – This is probably one of the questions every one of us would have heard a thousand times, during our school days.


I was also no exception, heard it a million times! Someday, I replied my real wish freely and sometimes got influenced by the peers/parents, and in some odd-times, I did not really have any answer but silence.

So for a change, now I asked a same question to some of my friends (who are parents of 4-8 years old kids) – “What do you want your kids to be when they grow up?” – I got a wide range of responses. But no one really said that they want their kids to pursue a specific profession as an engineer or doctor; No one really said that they want anything in particular. What all they want is their kid to grow up to be a good human being, well-educated (doesn't matter what stream it is), just be happy & healthy, a better life than the what we had!

And I asked the same question to my daughter and a few of her friends in the age of 4-8. And their reply also completely put me surprised. My daughter wants to be a Chef and an Artist. Her friend aspires to become a lawyer; the other guy sees him as Car Engineer. Singer, Dancer, …and the list continues….

So, here’s my take:
  • There’s an ocean of difference in the way parents of today view their kids (compared to the our generation), what they expect from their kids and the kind of life that they want for their kids
  • Today’s Kids are also really well-informed. Kids express themselves freely. Gone are the days when we hidden behind our parents or looked for permission to respond to any query…

Feel really happy about today’s generation of parents and kids !

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Happy Men's Day !

For the 1st time , someone has written something good for men also.....  !!
========
Who is a MAN
A man is the most beautiful part of God's creation who starts compromising at a very tender age.
He sacrifices his chocolates for his  sister.
He sacrifices his dreams for just a  smile on his parents face.
He spends his entire pocket money on buyng gifts for the lady      he loves just to see her smiling
He sacrifices his full youth for his wife & children by working late   at night without any complain.
He builds their future by taking loans from banks & repaying them for lifetime.
He struggles a lot & still has to bear scolding from his mother, wife  & boss.
His life finally ends up only by compromising for others'   happiness.
If he goes out, then he's careless 
If he stays at home, then he's a lazy
If he scolds children, then he's a monster 
If he doesn't scold, then he's a irresponsible guy
If he stops wife from working, then he's an insecure guy
If he doesn't stops wife from workin, then he's somebody who lives on wife's earnings 
If he listens to mom, then he's mama's boy
If he listens to wife, he's wife's slave
Respect every male in your life. U will never know what he has sacrificed 4U.
HAPPY MEN'S DAY"
Which never comes..

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

I believe in God - but...

A recent share on Facebook is the inspiration of this post. I read today, and it certainly made me to think..

The story is plotted around a dispute between the priests of a baptist church and a local Bar owner.

The Bar Owner begins construction on a new building to increase their business. The local Baptist church doesn’t want the Bar in their locality and they start a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. They begin to pray that God would intervene and stop the bar.

A few days before the bar is scheduled to open, a heavy lightning strikes the structure and burns the complete bar building to the ground. The people of the church are surprised but pleased - until they received a notice that the bar owner is suing them. The bar owner contends that the prayers are the sole reason for the collapse of his building. But, the church goers and priests deny the charge.

The trail goes to the local court and the judge become clueless and goes away with a remarks as "At this point I don't know what my decision will be, but it seems that the bar owner believes in the power of prayer and these church people don't."

How will you reach if you were in the position of the judge? Do you favor the bar owner who believes the power of prayer to his core or the people who chant bible all the day and discards the existence of God?

The story may be an exaggeration of its essential moral, but isn't the reality today? Don’t we set aside our faith, and it’s pride, when faith becomes problematic sometimes? Do we really stand up for our principles, their beliefs and proudly proclaim them, even when they bring some discomfort, difficulty, money-wise or otherwise?

Monday, July 14, 2014

Terrific tournament finishes with a tremendous final


That was a very, very close game! Normally these last minute goals are a specialty of Lionel Messi, but this time it was the other way around.

I cannot say that Argentina lost. They too fought equally well., but it’s their over defensiveness paid the price !!! You can’t be lucky to take the game to shoot out every time  & win it.  Sorry Messi & team, Germany is definitely a better side.

Germany played well throughout the tournament and looked like a team who really played like a team and not relying on any star players. Although individual brilliance is important, Football is a team game and the TEAM became champion.

Congrats Germany , you deserved this world cup!!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Who's Going to Win - Muller or Messi ?


The final stage is all set-up for the battle between Germany or Argentina.

Who do you think will be lifting the FIFA World Cup Trophy of 2014 ? The Magical Messi or Mighty Mulller.

It's the FAQ of the moment and an absolute difficult one to answer. Anyway, the world will know in another few hours !, sitting in front of the TV :)

Google Doodle of FIFA World Cup 2014 Finale


The doodle animation for the finale salutes and celebrates the world cup run of all participant nations, with the national flags of the top 32 FIFA World Cup 2014 teams waving with pride all around the stadium.

The final Google Doodle of the FIFA World Cup 2014 also signals the end of this season's soccer madness which brought together the sparkling eyes, throbbing hearts and tumultuous conversations of spectators all around the world at this World Cup.

Google Doodle is awesome as always. Creativity at it's best !!!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Grow-up Sharapova haters !


Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp ….everywhere there was a cry on Maria Sharapova’s comments about Sachin. Don’t you feel, we just over react?

A few days ago, in a press meet, Maria Sharapova mentioned that she had no idea on who Sachin was. There’s nothing fishy about it; and that matter should have ended there itself. What is wrong, if a Russia born lady living in the USA does not know about our Sachin Tendulkar.

How many of us Indians know about our own legendary players? One of my colleagues had no idea on who Mary Kom is. Another guy saying Mahesh Bhupathi plays Olympic :) (Olympics is now a sport and not a sporting event). How many of us know about Baichung Bhutia? Pankaj Advani?

Grow-up Indians! Especially, the stupid Indian media who can write/telecast any crap just for their TRP rating.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Union Budget 2014 – What is there for me

Arun Jaitley has presented his maiden budget today. There were so many announcements, statistics, plans, changes,... which I don’t and don’t want to understand . All I noticed was, what is there for me , for a normal salaried individual. 

There is some good news (not good enough though !)

1. Personal income tax exemption limit raised to Rs 2.5 Lakhs
There is no change in the tax rates, only the no-tax slab has been updated. Now the first 2.5 lakh is non-taxable.

2.Tax exemption limit under 80C raised to Rs 1.5 lakh
Presently the investments and expenditures up to a combined limit of Rs 1 lakh get exemptions under Sections 80C, 80CC and 80CCC of the Income-Tax Act., which is increased to 1.5 Lakh.

3.Housing loan interest exemption increased to Rs.2 lakhs 
This is something reasonable. Deduction limit on interest on loan for self-occupied house raised to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh.

Happy that there’s a little relief. But it’s just not sufficient for most of salaried people who are paying Income tax through the nose.

An unregistered real estate broker makes many lakhs in an year , but has never been covered under income tax. A road side merchant (who sells just tea, Cigarette and some snack, in front of my office) makes more money than me, After all his bribe to the local rowdies /police/politicians…etc, still he’s able to make out 200-300% profit on his business, but has never paid income tax in his life!

How government is going to regularize these things. It’s always the poor salaried class has to tolerate the burden :(

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

World Cup Semi Final 2 - It's Messi Vs Robben !


Man, Germany has set a new standard for the Semi's :) .I wish, at least today’s battle between Netherlands and Argentina to be an exciting tough fight.

On chart, the Dutch look a bit stronger than the Argentina.... But we never know it’s semi-finals !! Messi could turn the things around and create some magic !!

There’s no doubt about Messi’s magical skills. But, Robben is also vastly talented but a big cheat too!. His acting skills can impress any referee and turn the things in his favor. Argentina may not be used to this game.

Though my mind says’ its Netherland who’s going to win, still my heart wants Argentina to be in the finals. Let’s see whether it’s Messi or Robben who could lead their country to the finals against mighty Germans.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Indian Railway Budget 2014


How many of you have gone through the first Railway Budget of Modi's government? Ok, lazy people like me can read the highlights of the union budget here

It doesn't feels like a populist budget, where there are only announcements and no implementations. This seems to be a budget made with a future Vision. Many of the new proposals (that’s presented in todays’ budget) should have been implemented years ago. 

But at the same time, where are the action/execution plans for the visions ? As moneycontrol.com describes, it is “Clear on path as much as unclear on detail”. We’ll have to wait and see how much really is feasible and made possible by this new government!
~  OK, enough of serious economics , let me share something lighter. As usual the budget was the topic of today’s lunch. And see below some of the super recommendations from my friends/colleagues , that are missed in todays’ railway budget  ~

Must have's that are missed in the Railway Budget 2014:
  1. Need seat belt for the toilets in the train (it’s a must, huh?)
  2. Little longer chain, which is holding the mug in toilet  (yes, verymuch needed :)
  3. Drum for spitting specially when it enters Bihar , West Bengal
  4. Comb with long handle to start the fans
  5. Automatic adjustment of passenger watches as per train delay. Declare it train light saving ! 
  6. Provision to open window in AC coach
  7. A mat near toilet area for all wait listed passengers, it’s so sticky man !
Do you want to add some more :) 

Sri Subramanya Swamy Temple - Tiruchendur

Lord Muruga’s temples used to be in hills and mountains, Tiruchendur Temple is so special that it’s located at a sea shore. It is also one of the six major abodes (Arupadaiveedu) of Muruga. Tiruchendur is one of the largest and most powerful temples in India. Me & my whole family are loyal devotees of Tiruchendur Subramanyar (a.k.a Senthilandavar). It is situated at Tuticorin District, Tamilnadu ; about 60 km south-east of Tirunelveli, 40 km from Tuticorin and 75 km north-east of Kanyakumari.
The gushing tides of “Bay of Bengal” wash the foot of the temple. All the pilgrims cool off their foot or take bath in the sea before they enter into the temple. People do visit and take bath in another miracle water “Nazhi Kinaru”. It is a small well, pours crystal clear and sweet to taste water, which is just about 50 feet away from the sea.

As usual the darshan starts with lord Ganesha shrine inside the temple. Then you’ll get the glimpse of sanctum of lord Subramanya. Main God Sri Subramanya Swamy’s Idol is just about 2 feet height and he is so elegant and charming that devotee's eyes would wish to rest there forever.

You can also go and visit the Pancha Linga shrine (5 lingas), which is under a cave, right below the sanctum. People say that the lord Subramanya performed puja to the Pancha linga to overcome his anger after killing the demon Surapadman. Inside the cave, there’s a narrow opening to the sky thru’ which Lord Devendra also offers his prayers to Shiva. As it’s believed that the lord subramanya himself performing puja to the lingas, no one else is allowed to perform Puja here.

Next is the Utsava murthy - Shanmugar is just right next to the sanctum. The Shanmuga idol itself has a big history/story to trace behind. It’s believed that in the early 17th century AD, Shanmuga’s idol looted away by the Dutch government and was carried away in their ship. There was a sudden storm and the Dutch grew afraid and threw the idol into the sea. Vadamalaiyappa Pillai, an ardent devotee of Lord Muruga saw a vision of the idol's position in his dream. Immediately, he and several other devotees rushed to the spot where as foretold in the dream a lemon was floating and Garuda was flying over the spot. They dove into the sea and recovered the statue. We still can see the salty sea burns on the idol.
On the outer sanctum, there is a Maha Vishnu sannidhi (with a Ranganatha shrine curved on the sandal stone rock ). Then there is the Kalyana Ganapathi shrine. Outside the temple, you could visit the Valli cave temple, where Valli hid herself when Lord Ganesha took the form of an elephant and frightened her, to help Lord Subramanya during His romance with Valli :).

Skanda Shati is one of the grand celebrations here - corresponding to the six days of the war over the evil forces. Devotees undertake fasts, prayers and devotional singing to Lord Muruga and most of the devotees stay in the temples during these six days.
Dedicated prayer during the Skanda Shati viradham would come true, personally my family has experienced it. This is truly one of the most powerful temples, would wish to visit at least once every year.

Monday, July 7, 2014

FIFA World cup 2014 - The tournament of Goal Keepers !

Julio Cesar (Brazil) - Keylor Navas (Costa Rica) - Manuel Neuer (Germany) - Tim Howard (USA) - Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria) - Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico)

Though Football is undoubtably a team game, poor Goal keepers are always left alone. And I feel that the reputation and recognition also barely come for the goal-keepers. Except some greats like Oliver Khan, it's mostly Messis', Ronaldos' and Ronaldinhos’ who steal the show.

But the 2014 FIFA World Cup is an exception, we have witnessed some of the all-time great goalkeeping performances in tournament history. Some of the matching winning saves have earned so much name and fame to the Goalies. With an extraordinary work under the box, they have become a Hero for their country fans!

I would tag this FIFA World cup 2014 (so far), as the tournament of Goal Keepers ! What would you say ?

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Saturday, July 5, 2014

What to write today ?


Someday, I am filled with so many topics to write about (obviously, I won’t find time to write even a single post on that day). But there are some real hard days, I’ll have so much of time, but completely dried out of thoughts.

Not only me, I guess, so many new bloggers out here will also feel it difficult to make out a topic for the day.

When I was googling, got into this page, The ultimate list of blog ideas by Digital Marketer has given a deep insight in content creation for your blogs. Check out you’ll be astonished!

Friday, July 4, 2014

R.I.P Orkut !!!


India’s first social network crush Orkut is now officially announced as DEAD :(

Google launched this social networking site in 2004 and it became an obsession among every one in India in year 2006. I was a 2004 passed out grad and Orkut was the only medium which kept me connected to most of my School & College friends. My Orkut memories are still fresh !

Although, many people from countries like Brazil and India still remained loyal users of Orkut until Facebook took over the spot in 2010., still never took the pride in US, that’s the reason for it’s fall.  Took a hit by Facebook’s popularity, google had decided to close the door for Orkut a couple of years back itself, and it seems that the official word has finally come.

Google engineering director Paulo Golgher scribbled in his orkut blog 
“Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to bid Orkut farewell (or, tchau). We'll be focusing our energy and resources on making these other social platforms as amazing as possible for everyone who uses them," 
Although no one will be able to create a new Orkut account now,  the existing users will still be able to till Sep 2014. If you want to transfer your photos or any important information from Orkut profile you can use Google’s free transfer service named Google Takeout that will allow you to transfer data to your Google+ account, till Sep 2016

Farewell Orkut !!!

Happy Independence Day America !


I am always interested to learn something new about the history, people and culture of the country/place wherever I go. The story of American Independence was also so exciting and inspiring when I started to read. I did give an attempt to write about it too,

Read the full history of July 4th , that I wrote in this blog under the label “History of the US

Happy Independence day to all my US friends !

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

India at the FIFA World Cup


While cheering the Football Fiesta at knockout stage , I also feel down that our nation with more than 1.2 billion couldn’t even qualify for the league……..

Countries like Costa Rica and Bosnia which have population less than 40 lakhs are there in the grand stage and making there people proud, so why can’t we? Even Honduras have made it to the big league, this countries even doesn’t have the capacity in matching with our States if we compare them on population and budget allocation. But they have talent for the game which we don’t have!!!

I was surprised to know that, India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals (as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents). But the governing body AIFF decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that timeL. Reason shown by AIFF was that there was the “cost of travel” (Source: Wikipedia)

Every World Cup reminds us Indians of our limitations in sports, some of which may be inherent. However, if the government were to integrate sports into schooling and promote talent more, India’s chances at playing in the World Cup may increase.


Let see when we Indians would be given an opportunity to cheer for our team in Football World Cup !

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Mid-Career Crisis

During a conversation with my colleagues, this topic came-up and I thought of writing about it here.

Employee with,
  • Less than 5 years of experience: - Feels Job is good and Salary is decent
  • 5 – 8 years of experience: - Not happy with the Job and expects frequent Salary hikes and multiple job changes(Not everybody but definitely most of the crowd)
  • More than 8 years of experience: – Forced to live with same job, even if the job satisfaction and salary is not on par.

When employees are in first phase, everything looks quite amazing and things are smooth to them. When you are in second or third phase, then experience will be different. In Job search, he finds No takers due to more experience and high cost. 

A recent glance to job portals shows, they only want people with less than 8 years of experience for most of the technologies. Even in existing projects too, companies are looking for people with less experience to save costs.

It is quite understandable from companies point of view about costs. But what about the employees at mid-level?. As the experience grows-up be it a technical resource/Lead/Manager, struggle starts. Question arises as what next? 

Company says “People should look towards management roles. But how many manager roles are available?”. As per pyramid theory, while going up in the ladder, opportunities are less and competition is more.


Many of us are not an exception to any of those above mentioned phases. But the question comes up is, how can an employee sustain in industry with growing experience and less opportunities?

You can share your thoughts !