Receiver

There are three types of people in this world… transmitter, receiver and transceiver.

Transmitter always passes on the processed signal. It doesn’t have inbuilt feature of receiving any data.

Receiver keeps receiving data endlessly. Till the time it breaks down. But it does so without any complaint.

Transceivers are the lucky ones. They transmit as well as receive. They have receiver when they want to transmit and they receive when other transmitter transmits data towards them.

Poor receivers…cant transmit what they have. And transmitter never knows if receiver wants to say something. I wish every receiver gets a transceiver and not the transmitter in life…so that it redesigns itself to become another transceiver.

And may they live happily ever after.

(A noise signal from a true telecom engineer's mind)

Walking Down The Memory Lane...

Looking at the sky stretched over the sea
I went down the memories of you n me

The summer was never so colorful before
It was not just the summer but was something more

Closing my eyes I was listening to the sea
And you came nearby and stood just next to me

We met by chance and befriended by choice
We decided to walk together amidst the tidal noise

At times we talked at times we kept quite
The feeling of togetherness was just so right

We never walked hand in hand for the fact we always knew
The bond of friendship strengthened with time as the trust amongst us grew

But we never had a rule to be together every now and then
It acted as a breather when we parted our ways in those few moments of pain

It took me a moment to realize that you were no more around
I looked at the sky and smiled back at God for the beautiful memories I found

Now that I am looking at the sky stretched over the cool blue sea
It just reminds me of that walk on the shore, with you walking besides me

The First One...

Change always faces resistence. Sometimes its external and sometimes it is internal. I was facing the internal resistence when I decided to switch to Blogger from my previous blog. I am like that...But it just takes one moment to say thats it. I just had my moment.

So here I'm...with few entries from my previous blog I'm enetering the world of Blogger.com ...Looking forward to njoyyyyyy...

How I Wish !!!

Sometimes you know that this is not going to last longer. It will end soon. Still when you realize that it has ended, you wish if it could have continued a bit longer…
How many times in life do we come across such situations?

A picnic with friends…Organized hustle bustle… You don’t fall short of topics to discuss… and the picnic comes to an end.

Sitting alone at a sea shore…looking at the horizon…the sun is about to set…you listen to the music of tides…like nature presents the best audio-visual on stage… and you realize…its time.

A morning in December… alarm rings…you put it on snooze… blanket seems extra warm… mom calls to wake you up…and you wish if you could have slept longer.

In the walk of life you meet someone… become friends…walk with them for some time…only to know that you have to part ways…if not now then sooner… And you wish...

Nothing is immortal…Everything comes to an end…we accept the situation and move on… What accompany us are the immortal things called memories…sweet and sour…yet near to heart…

A friend of mine rightly says… “Memories from past…Forever they do last.”

Some Fond Memories...

Ek tha engineering college, tha Somaiya jiska naam,
Hasi-khushi padhna yahi tha waha ke students ka kaam.

Wahi ki EXTC branch me padhte the ye namune sabhi
Dhyanse suniyega sab, kahani to shuru hui hai abhi-abhi.

Mai aur Sarika 1st benchpe baitha karte the
Hamare alawa sirf Neeta Suman lectures ko suna karte the

Jaha fan ki hawa pahuche Rekha-Dipti waha baitha karte the
Chahe dus baje ho ya baara, lecture ke bich bindhast khaya karte the.

Unke piche baithke Ami-Shalu n Averil SM ko saha karti thi
Ami-Shalu likhneme to Averil sochneme dang raha karti thi

Lecture me professor aaye ya na aaye, Arun jarur aata tha
D’mello ka to aadha waqt library mehi jata tha

Ek that Shot Shanker jo apnihi (GRE ki) duniya me rahta tha
Ek tha Chatu jo har baat ko haste hue kahta tha

Kaustubh n Mani KR ke lecture me kabhi dhyanhi nahi de paye the
Par WN me highest marks inhi donoke aaye the

SM ke lecture me Pandene sincerely sums kiye the
Lekin SM ne term work me use marks kam diye the

Dombivali me rahke bhi Akshay waqt se pehle aata tha
Aur dombivali me rahke Vijay shayad hi 9.30 se pehle pahuch pata tha

Har DCOM practs me Venky naye puzzles diya karta tha
Har din ke last lecture me Nadu ek apple khaya karta tha

Submission karib aate hi assignments badha karte the
Us tension me Ram ke gaane saath diya karte the

Koi ek like assignment to copy sab log kiya karte the
Koi ek ho present to bhi proxies se column bhara karte the

Beet gaye wo pyare din, sirf yaadoka silsila rah gaya
Chaha to tha waqt ko thame rakhna,
par wo to haatose paani ki tarah bah gaya

Alag ho chuki hi raahe par dosti abhi bhi barkarar hai,
Yaad karenge wo yaade jis din milenge hum…
Ab to hume sirf us din ka intejar hai…

-shubhada

Things we learn...

A man remains student for his entire life. And it’s very very true. Almost every moment in our life we learn one thing or other. Sometimes we don’t realize what we have learnt a moment before but some amount of learning goes into our brains. With plenty of free time in hand and mind working at the optimum speed I’m trying to revisit some of these learning moments.
It must have happened with you all too. When you badly want something to happen, it may not just happen that way. It often happens with me. And I say that God must have turned on the inverter circuit before accepting input from me.

What I have learnt: Be careful while asking for something to happen. You never know when the inverter is on. So play safe.

Sometimes you just wish something and you may not expect it to happen…but it happens. (Inverter is off. Or the wish is as minute as noise signal to go unprocessed through inverter.)
What I have learnt: wishes may come true. So no harm in expecting something. If you are too confused whether to expect something to happen or not then leave it to god. He has designed the circuit. He knows it better which signal to process at what time.

We come across a trivial problem in life. It can be anything ranging from mistake in a mark sheet, boss taking credit for our work to not receiving calls/mails from friends. We may react in loud manner. Coz the problem is too small to look at and we link it to many different things and make it big and confusing. So we waste a lot of energy in understanding the problem, reacting over it and then leaving it unsolved.
What I have learnt: no need to put on the analytical thinking caps for trivial issues. Some things happen for no or negligible reasons. Why waste energy in finding the cause which seldom exists. Sometimes its better to ‘Let go’ and ‘Move on’.

Now comes the big problem. These are the problems to which we have seen people around us reacting in different normal manners. But when it takes place in our life we tend to react differently. This problem is too big to have standardized solution. It can be anything ranging from failures in studies, loss in business to failed relationship. When all others react to these problems in expected manner you may simply chose to react differently. Why? For no reason. Big problems may not move you as much as small problems. You remain calm and quiet, think about how to deal with it and start implementing the solution. It demands u to be more practical else you may end up being affected way too much with it.
What I have learnt: That’s the key to success. Be practical while solving big problems. Think wisely. If the problem is too big to have impact on your life you just can’t handle it carelessly. Being calm and composed is the demand of the situation. These are the situations where we learn maximum from our mistakes. If we don’t then we keep repeating the mistakes and landing in trouble. So take a deep breath and conquer the problem.

At the end of the day we know that we keep asking for something or other to God which may not get fulfilled. We wish for something and it may just come true. We make fuss of small problems. And we may remain unperturbed in a big problem. But what matters is what we learn from all these situations.

It’s human to do mistakes. You learn a lot from them. And if you don’t then you keep committing them again and again.

India Vs America

We had this interesting thread on our reply-all chain mails regarding industry oriented research and where does India stand wrt that. And I ended up writing all this in response to mails by my friends kauti, viju and amol. After finishing it I thought I should put it on the blog and discuss it with other friends too. So here I'am...

"I agree with u Amol when u say every research in industry oriented. and if its not then it can not survive. So ultimately its industry which shud initiate this research thing.

Now cut to India...

Yes we are service oriented. Services form a considerable chunk in our GDP. And there is nothing wrong in being a services oriented nation. As far as R&D is concerened that can still happen...provided there is a suitable environment for it. By environment i mean political, social, economincal and technological...to add few dimensions let there be ecological and legal too. Something which we call PESTEL … we say that Indian corporates are not putting money in R&D. Their R&D budgets are low and they are not filing for patents. But why? There has to be some reason behind it.

Look at it this way. Indian financial markets are still not matured enough. We do have dependency on global capital markets and to be specific on dollars. Yes we are an emerging market but with scarce capital. And R&D seems a distant dream till the time we become capital rich nation. R&D expenses do not form a major chunk in balance sheets of our corporates because there is no guarantee that the results will be fruitful. All the big companies like intel, apple n so an can indulge in R&D activities because they themselves are capital rich companies and belong to the capital richest nation USA. Our Indian companies are still finding it hard to remain unaffected from global cues. Then research is certainly not on their list as research is not going to solve their current problems of capital scarcity.

Moving on to chandrayan and other such missions…yes it’s a show-off but a much needed one. It’s a way to demonstrate our knowledge, our strength and our competency. As an Indian even I feel that why to fund such huge projects from our pockets. How is it going to help a poor to earn bread & butter anyway? But when such projects happen it attracts a lot of attention. This gives rise to synergy extension and knowledge sharing. We are no more dependent on other countries to launch our satellites. That has cut down the cost of communications considerably. And we can say it’s a result of competency gained from our so many other projects which may not have impacted common man’s life directly. Yes there has to be some cap on the amount of money we spend on it. That’s why we have budgets and elections.

Research does improve our standard of living and more importantly our standard of technology. It provides competitive advantage to a country. But what’s the use if we cant sustain it. We are a country of 1.15 billion and our per capita income is still not attractive enough. So before moving on to industry oriented research we have to build a strong base. Our industries should become more powerful to dispense money from their pockets towards research. For that they should have strong balance sheets with huge capitals and profits. They will earn profit if there is demand for their products and services. The demand will be there if there is more disposable income with the customer. There will be a higher amount of disposable income if salaries are high. Salaries will be high if the skills demonstrated are good. Skills will be good if proper education and training facilities are available. So we come to basic need of high quality education and learning facilities. GOI is putting money in ambitious infrastructure projects which will help in facilitating flow of know-hows and in turn strengthening industries.

So with all this we can say that yes, we are on right track. So what if our industries are not putting money in research now. They will do it once they get enriched with capital and get the suitable environment. We are the 2nd largest growing economy and we are capable of turning the table around. With n-deal on cards its interesting to see how we will be using it to the best in our interest. "

Yaari Dosti...

Watching ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and thinking about my FRIENDS. Looking back at the journey of life I am recollecting some moments when I met my friends. And thinking how my perception for friendship has changed over the time.

In kindergarten I used to think that everyone who cries when I start crying is my friend. Then as years passed, I started thinking that my classmates with whom I go to school, play and spend most of my time with are my friends. I still remember I was in 2nd standard when I first called my friend on her landline number. And I told my mom “look even I have a friend whom I can call on her number.” Later as days passed I started looking at my friends as safe lockers in which I can keep ‘secrets’. And with this came the expectations… Expectations of guarding the secrets… Expectations of keeping the trust. In school days when competition started becoming stiffer, friends gave some lighter moments. With them I started sharing my success and failures. With this came the emotional attachment. I lost touch with many of my schoolmates later. And few of them I am still in touch are my dear friends now.

Later in college days, I met people having similar goals, objectives and I realized that it is easier to get the comfort level with people if we have something in common with them. It may be the hobbies, interests or lifestyle. So I started looking at my friends as people who look at life in somewhat similar way as I do. Over the period of time I realized that friendship sans expectations has a long way to go. Now whether it is possible to keep this relation away from expectations is still a doubtful question. But one can definitely decrease the burden by removing some expectations.

I know my perception about the friendship will undergo some more changes in upcoming times. And I hope it will change for better. This one relation has taught me a lot. I have learnt to adjust. I have learnt to accept people around me as they are. So now I look at my friends as people with whom I can be myself… These are the people who are there for me in my good n bad times and who let me be with them in their good/bad times… Even though we are close to each other we never enter each other’s private space beyond certain limit.

I must say…having such wonderful people in life makes life worthwhile.

विरोधाभास

दिवसानंतर रात्र येणे हा तर जगाचा नियम आहे

सुखदु:खाच्या खेळातही हा नियम कायम आहे

काही वाईट होत असेल तर आपण चांगल्याची वाट पाहतो

आणि चांगले होत असताना उगाचच वाईट शंका घेत रहातो

जे आपले नाही त्याचीच ओढ जास्त असते

आणि ते कधीतरी मिळेल ही अपेक्षाही रास्त असते

म्हणूनच माणूस मृगाजळाच्या कल्पनेत रमतो

आणि मग विरोधाभासाचा हा खेळ त्याला हळूहळू जमतो

मनात घर करून गेलेले नाटक...

खूप दिवसांनी एक असे नाटक पाहिले ज्याच्या शेवटी लोकांनी उभे राहून टाळ्या वाजवल्या...नाटक होते भैय्या हातपाय पसरी...उत्कृष्ट संहिता, दर्जेदार सादरीकरण आणि विचार करण्यास उद्युक्त करणारा विषय...

एखाद्या सामान्य मुंबईकराप्रमाणे मी सुद्धा 'मुंबई कोणाची? घूसखोरी, अतिक्रमण' या विषयांकडे नेहमी तटस्थपणे बघत आले आहे. साध्या शब्दात सांगायचे तर दुर्लक्ष करत आले आहे. आणि तशी भूमिका असण्यामागे मुख्य कारण आहे अमराठी मित्रपरिवार. अशा विषयांवर भाष्य करून कळत नकळत त्यांना दुखवण्याचा माझा कोणताही उद्देश नाही.

पण तरिही...पण तरीही हे नाटक मनात घर करून गेले. तसे पाहिले तर बाहेरून कोणीही आले तरी मुंबईने कोण असे न विचारता त्याला सामाउन घेतले आहे. पण याचा परिणाम काय झाला याचे उत्तर फारसे सुखावणारे नाही. मुंबईच नव्हे तर इतर मोठ्या शहरातही लोकसंख्येचे जे केन्द्रीकरण होत आहे त्यामुळे तेथील सोई- सुविधांवरील ताण वाढत आहे. लवकरच बाकी शहरातही स्थानिक आणि परप्रान्तीय असे वाद सुरू होतील.आणि म्हणूनच गरज आहे या समस्येचे मूळ शोधण्याची व त्यावर उपाययोजना करण्याची. मुंबईत आलेल्यांना हुसकाऊन लावण्यापेक्षा लोकांना मुंबईत यायची गरजच पडणार नाही असे काहीतरी करायला पाहिजे. ग्रामीण भारतात चांगल्या शिक्षण तसेच रोजगार योजना राबवून हे काही प्रमाणात साध्य करता येइल. तसेच गावागावापर्यंत औद्योगिकीकरण पोहोचवण्याची वेळ आता येउन ठेपली आहे. पण हे सगळे करताना जर काही बाजूला ठेवणे गरजेचे असेल तर तो आहे राजकीय स्वार्थ. नाहीतर नंदीग्रामची पुनारावृत्ती होईल. सर्व राजकीय पक्ष जर आपले हित बाजूला ठेउन देशाच्या हिताचा विचार करू लागले तर भारतापुढील अर्धे प्रश्न कमी होतील.

हे सगळे शक्य होईल जेव्हा नेता अणि जनता यांचे या गोष्टीवर एकमत होईल. हे एकमत घडवून आणण्याचे काम प्रसारमाध्यमे करू शकतात. पण त्यासाठी त्यांना त्यांच्या 'Breaking News' च्या दुष्टचक्रातून बाहेर पडावे लागेल. बातम्यांचा बाजार करणे थांबले की महत्वाच्या बाबी आपोआप नजरेसमोर येतील त्यांच्या.

असो... 'भैय्या' सारखी अजुन नाटकं बनावीत आणि नाटक व चित्रपट हे फक्त करमणुकीकरता मर्यादित न राहता विचार प्रबोधनाची साधनं बनावीत हीच सदिच्छा....आतासुद्धा कानात गुंजत आहेत त्या नाटकाच्या शेवटी सर्व कलाकारांनी गायलेले 'जय जय महाराष्ट्र माझा' , त्यात नकळत मिसळले गेलेले आम्हा मुंबईकरांचे सूर आणि एका चांगल्या कलाकृतीला मनापासून दाद देताना केलेला टाळ्यांचा कडकडाट...

पाऊलखुणा

त्या रस्त्यावर फारशी वर्दळ नव्हती. दूर दूर पर्यंत कोणी दिसत नव्हतं. मागे वळून बघितले तर थोड्या पाऊलखुणा होत्या. पण त्यासुद्धा माझ्याच. डोक्यात विचार आला...कधीपासून चालते आहे मी ? मग अन्धुकसं आठवलं..

एकटीनेच सुरुवात केली होती मी. पहिले काही दिवस फार छान गेले.प्रवास फार चांगला वाटत होता. लांबचा पल्ला गाठायचा होता म्हणून जोमाने चालले होते. मग थोडा थकवा जाणवला. आधारासाठी आजुबाजुला पाहिले..पण कोणी दिसले नाही. म्हंटले ठीक आहे...थोड़े अजुन पुढे जाऊ...मग मात्र फार गळल्यासारखं वाटलं. सोबतीला कोणी असेल तर किती बरं होईल असं वाटू लागलं. सावली तरी मिळावी अशी फार इच्छा होती. कुठेतरी दिसलीही सावली.. पण जवळ जाऊन पाहीलं तर फक्त आभास होता. थोडी हिरमुसले...अचानक खूप थकवा जाणवला. असं वाटलं मी पुढे जाउच शकत नाही...आणि मनात विचार आला...की मी का मदत शोधतेय? मला फक्त मीच मदत करू शकते...ज्या वाटेवर माझ्याशिवाय कोणीच नाही तिथे मी दुसरं कोणी येइल आणि मला मदत करेल ही अपेक्षाच किती पोकळ होती. चूक कळून चुकली होती. मग सुरू झाला ती सुधारण्याचा प्रयत्न. थोडे जड गेले आधी. मग हळू हळू सूर गवसला. पायात बळ आल्याच जाणवलं. आणि प्रवास पुन्हा जोमाने सुरु झाला.

कोणीतरी बोलाल्याचे आठवते... The journey is more beautiful than the destination... त्याचाच अनुभव घेतेय.सावल्या दिसतात अधून मधून...पण मी हसते आणि पुढे जाते...आभासामागे पळणे सोडलेय आता...रस्ता तोच आहे...एकाकी..शांत...पण मी एकटी नाही आता... सोबतीला आहेत माझ्या पाऊलखुणा...

Does it actually matter what people think of you?

Does it actually matter what people think of you? If yes then to whom does it matter and to whom it does not? How does it affect your life? Reading ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey. And it gave rise to the above mentioned questions.

Human mind has this ability to make a convenient choice from the available options. That’s why multiple choice questions seem easier to solve. The point here is that we have this tendency to perceive the behavior of a person in every possible manner. These perceptions become options. And then we conveniently chose one of those options as the behavior of the other person. We label the person as smart, intelligent, sincere, mature, preacher, sentimental, bold, shy, introvert, outgoing etc. The list is non-exhaustive. But are we supposed to do so? You would say what’s the harm in perceiving or interpreting the behavior of a person? No harm. But then keep some space to accommodate the unknown side too. As I mentioned in my blog ‘Faces’ there is always an unknown side of the person. May be good may be bad. But it surely completes the picture of a person in our mind. And that forms the whole perception. Whatever we perceive of a person doesn’t form the true picture always. But we seldom keep that in mind. We trust our judgments and feel that our reasoning skills are strong enough to read the most complex creation of the God. We impose that judgment on our relations and the result is as expected: a strained relationship. Remedy on the problem: Don’t be judgmental especially when you don’t like others to be judgmental about you.

Now the question is ‘does it actually matter what judgments people draw about you?’ It depends upon person and to what stage he belongs. Our journey of life goes through three phases i.e. dependence, independence and interdependence*.Those who are emotionally dependent get affected by what people think about them. They see themselves from other’s point of view. So if the other person thinks they are immature they feel they are immature. They seldom fight with the opinion formed about them by others. On the other hand emotionally independent people don’t get affected by what others think of them. These are the people who know themselves well and don’t require others to certify their behavior. In interdependence stage, independent people accomodate the opinions of others to go ahead with ‘we’ attitude.

So, the moral of the story is if you are dependent then start your journey towards becoming independent and eventually becoming interdependent. People come in our lives and part their ways after some time. The one who is there with you from start to end is ‘you’. Only you can form judgments about you and nobody else. So think twice before forming judgments about others. Or else you may simply lose the opportunity to see the real person.

*-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen

Arranged Marriage-II

When I wrote a blog entry on arranged marriage few months back, I was sure that there will be a sequel to it. That’s why I named it as ‘Arranged Marriage-I’. So on the lines of hindi films, I can say I did a lot of research before writing its sequel and blah blah blah... Jokes apart…In past few months I have seen my friends getting associated with this process called arranged marriage (AM). We had some interesting conversations, brainstorming sessions which has made me to gather those thoughts and write them down in this blog.

Over the period of time, the role of a girl in this AM process has evolved from shy, non-demanding, compromising to the one we call as independent, bold, smart, choosy girl of today. It doesn’t mean that girls weren’t smart previously. But they surely had less choice then. Today Indian girl understands the importance of being financially independent. She is often termed as careerist woman. Kind of life style we are adopting demands double earning. She knows this very well and that’s why she is securing her future first and thinking twice before choosing her life partner. I know the story is not same in all the strata of Indian society. But I am looking at those girls who have opted for professional studies and are perusing challenging careers. In short the change has begun.

I remember one of my blog-buddy wrote in his comments on AM-I blog that AM is as good as job search, because we tend to carry a requirement list to which we keep on referring when it comes to final decision. And there is nothing wrong in it. When you are going to spend life with a person to whom you have not known before, you have to carry a list of criteria on the basis of which you will form your opinion. This list of criteria is different for different people. Having looked at the lists of different people, we can say, it consists of parameters like good looks, nice pay package, stable job. Then guys looks for girls who are homely, who can adjust with their families, n with qualification less than or equal to theirs. Girls look for guys with self owned house, understanding, qualification greater or equal to theirs. Though we say we are advancing in this AM process, some things never change. For example, height, salary and if possible qualification has to be greater/higher for boys as compared to girls. And I don’t see it changing in future too. But there are things beyond these material things. Boys as well as girls should look for 4 C’s: Click, Common, Comfort and Connect.

Two people who want to spend life together, given the fact they do not know each other, are meeting for the first time. Both of them carry their respective ‘lists of criteria’. Both of them have that curiosity to know each other, that hurry to check if the other person fits the bill, and that effort to look cool and comfortable even if they are not. The conversation starts after the exchange of greetings. And things should click right at this moment. Its difficult to define ‘click’. But we can define it as a moment of realization when we can confidently say, “that’s what I am looking for”. Then there has to be some things in common between two people. Now there is no optimal value defined for it. But both of them should have some common interests, common likes-dislikes. In the first meeting one can look for these two C’s.

Based on this one can decide for subsequent meetings, because though not impossible but it is difficult to know a person in a single meeting. I really see those people in high regards who claim that they judge a person in few minutes. In subsequent meetings, the boy and girl should look for the comfort level. How openly you can share thoughts with the other person decides the comfort level. The comfort level gives the sense of security. And it encourages you to open up a bit more. Ultimately, revealing your true selves to each other to some extent, starts building the trust. And then comes the ‘connect’. Knowing each other’s strong and weak points, sharing past experiences, comfortable exchange of thoughts makes u realize if there is any ‘connect’ between you. ‘I want to say something but not able to put it in words. Still he understands what I want to say. I get the intended meaning when he simply smiles on my question. He shares his office problem with me and I solve it as if its mine. I don’t mind if he wants to keep quite or stay alone for a while.’ Then there is connect between the two. You are ready to accept the other person with the things you like as well as dislike if you feel that connect with the other person.

There is no technical reason why one should look for these 4 C’s. But these might just help in taking that one time decision. After all it’s a question of spending life with someone. So any amount of thinking will not be adequate enough.

Not long ago I was thinking that AM is very complex thing and I would never understand it n all. But now, after putting in some thoughts I think I have changed my opinion. Previously if someone would have asked me a question: ‘what would you like to prefer? Love marriage or Arranged marriage?’ I would have said love marriage. But now I think AM is not that bad. Careful thinking is required in both of them. So I think I am indifferent between them now.