Unwritten

Here are some of the posts that went unwritten..

The One With Ginger Garlic Paste
I m not trying here to blame Gaurav..

The King!!
Why does the one who innovates always get

Expectation!!!
Expectation is worst enemy of human being..

Gravity of bad interviews!
I always knew about job search and interviewing process being painstaking...


I would be more than happy to publish the one of your interest..its time to vote!

End of the Days

Yes, I yield...

Sweet Home Alabama!!!

After a hard long 10 months I visited Alabama, which served as home away from home, for more than 2 years. Oh boy..and I could easily feel the difference in the air. That ever green Quad, that frenzy Bryant Denny stadium, those pubs on the strip and those monumental structures on campus where I used to hang out, easily created vibes and made me feel home. It was replenishing to be there and catch up with old buds. And of course, what can be more apt than to see friends taking graduation walk. Trushant, Sarab and Shilpa took walk, this time around. Though not at best of my health during the visit, still had those all night long chit-chats to catch up with the latest happenings, still went for bowling, still enjoyed food at those old hang outs. I still had heck of a time.

But sad part, I missed some of things I so much wanted to do. I was not able to eat sandwich at Schloztsky's Deli (I am sure Mau will able to feel my pain). It was one of my all time favorite in T-town, and I swear, I can easily munch on those sandwiches everyday. I was not able to visit Bryant Denny stadium to see the newly renovated front entrance. Nor was I able to see the extravagant fountain at Ferg. I did not hangout at Black Warrior river and nor did I strolled on the Quad.

But meeting with old pals easily overweights all this out. Vishal and Sarab are now married so was able to meet their better halves, Yogita and Deeksha. I also met my old folks at my office. And I also met Dr. Smith (Graduate Advisor) and it was flattering to still get those kind offers for Phd from his side.

To sum it all up, it was fantastic trip! I am missing Alabama, the home away from home ;)

Sir Dr. William Fendley Jr

This man deserves space on this blogspot more than anyone. This entry should have made its way here long back but sadly I have to write posthumous for him.

Sir Dr. William Fendley was Director of OIRA (Office of Insitutional Research and Assessment) at The University of Alabama. And, I would say I was lucky enough to get in touch with him. He was man of great character. So relaxed yet so responsible, so casual yet so punctual, so prodigious yet so down to earth. I was fortunate enough to have worked under him for more than 2 years.

I would be always thankful to him, to have picked me up as graduate assistant, for the reasons I still don't understand. I can still remember my first meeting with him, dressed casually, carrying measly resume, looking for on-campus job, I met him during lunch time at OIRA lunch room. I can still recall that moon shaped face with green eyes and streaks of gray hairs bouncing out of houndstooth hat, peeking at me through those half moon spectacles. At first meeting itself I was fan of his. And I feel out of words to describe his stature.

But I will always regret for not calling him up before his demise. I made courtesy call to Mike and ended up promising him that I will call up Dr. Fendley. I never called him up. And next thing is, I received call from my friend Priya, who now works at same office about how Dr. Fendley is fatally ill and has been hospitalized. I made call at office to inquire about him, but was told that he is in good health now and should return to office in couples of weeks.

But fate had something bad designed for him, and I receive another call from Priya. Even before picking up the call I could sense something bad coming at me. My blood froze and I was all numb. I was not at all ready for the news coming, and I was not sure how to react.

May his soul rest in peace. Amen!

Catching Up With Lost Time

I have been too lazy to write down for a while and number of posts have reduced considerably, not that I used to write everyday but still. So many entries that affected my life and should have made to this blog space are missing. I have made mind that I am going to catch up with lost time.

Okay, enough of complaints and resolutions, on lighter side, I received an email from one of my friend with following picture -



And with a innocent question as to "Why people blog?"

I surely cannot run my wild imaginations for other people's interest toward blogging, but here are some reasons why i do -

1. It was growing fad. Yes I fell for it ;)
2. I believe, I am a good writer. It's easier for me to put my thoughts into writing.
3. It's one of the best way to let your good friends now what you are up to these days. And the way for them to make sure you are not going insane.
4. Sometimes you feel shortage of audience on topics of your interest, this way you can easily reach friends who you know would surely match your interest.
5. I am not glib talker by nature so writing was the only way to show 'world' my rage on those suckers ;) (Punya you top my list).
6. It was in my "Try Out" list.
7. It would feel so great to read all this 5-6 years down the line and laugh at my current state of mind.
   
8. It somehow gives me feeling of accomplishment.
   
9. It may help me stay put with li'l bit of vocab power that I have. Yes, get me on this one.
10. And of course, blogging is fun..

Yes, I don't need Religion, I have got a Blog!

Current Song: Winds of Change by Scorpions
Current Mood: Inquisitive

Down and Under

Got another Sinus Attack today and I am down with it. Hopefully, would be back on track by tomorrow. Sorry, if I missed your calls and IMs.

Nelson Update: Since I wrote the post, no single day has passed without it.

And, yes, stand-ups are good and hilarious, but going too much personal is sick and filthy.

Peace!

The One With Nelson

It is freaking strange and it has been happening almost everyday for sometime now. Working relentlessly or lying cozily, I try to get hold of my sense's for the Time, and all I see is 'Nelson'. Yes, 'Nelson' made infamous by the famed cricket umpire David Shepherd. 'Nelson' - a score of 111 or multiples thereof is considered as an ill omen. I am baffled as to why is it happening on regular basis that I look at the clock and it is Nelson. Is ill fate awaiting for me in near future? Though I am not a believer of numerology and astrology, but when something like this happens, it kind of shakes your beliefs. And probabilistically, chances of seeing a 'Nelson' on non-military clock are 4/86400 on a given day. You can imagine how disturbing it would be to see such a low-probabilistic number everyday. On the other hand, I think I should say my luck is very strong that I can strike such a chance. What if 'Nelson' does not necessarily bring ill-fate? After all who can prove it is really portent?

And yes, poor Gaurav also gets peck at 'Nelson' once in a while...poor guy! or may be who knows..lucky one!

Pet Names ;)

Eureka! another pet name - "prabhu" and you can surmise how that came. And its contributed by my roomie. And here are some of my other pet names -

1) Lal
2) Chinks
3) Sachya
4) Sachhu
5) Lalu
6) Chinku
7) Lad Sahab
8) Sirjee
9) Chaddi
10) Chinkya
11) Thakur
12) Kaake

I am sure there have been many more but those are the ones I remember. You can contribute if you remember one. And I won't mind you using anyone of these for me ;) Have Balls!!

First Inteview

Neither I am talking about my first ever interview here nor I am planning to change my job. Stop running your wild imaginations. I am going to talk here about my first experience of being on other side of table. Yes, my first job interview as interviewer rather than seeker.

We had open house for USC and I had to interview 5 candidates on-site on a single day. We (our team) had to plan about this well in advance as it is not easy to judge some one within 45 minutes of meeting and it is even more difficult when you have to interview 5 candidates on single day. We planned, all in advance on Who is going to grill on which topics, so that we make sure we do not repeat the questions. I was given responsibilities of chalking out the questions for technical quiz, which I happily accepted. In addition I had to be ready with "good" questions for my share of on-site interviews, I was supposed to test candidates on my favorite topic i.e. Algorithms and Data Structure. Data Structure and C..are you kidding?? I was sure, I was going to have heck of a day!

Well, to say truth I was very disappointed with the quality of students. Oh boy..can you imagine Master's students who are not able to contemplate the idea of Stack and Strings in C. I was shocked to see candidates scrambling when told to write a simple C program to reverse a C string after being told C is their favorite language.

Here are some of the excerpts from my first interview -

Me: Tell me about yourself?
Candidate: Started with usual stuff...and ended with "I have an OCP (Oracle Certified Professional)

Me: Shouldn't you be looking for job as DBA?
Candidate: In short..I am interested in working as Software Engineer.

I followed with some technical question starting from Data Structures, C to OS and XML. None of the answers were acceptable. And then he says "Sir, I would prefer if you don't ask me questions on Algorithms and Data Structures"

Wow..I could not believe myself hearing this and that too from student pursuing his Master's degree in Computer Science on on-site interview!

I thought may be he is more of DB guy as he had Oracle's Certification. So I start asking him DB related question. And then he says something that was incomprehensible

"Sir, actually I would have preferred you not asking me question on Programming and DB. I think there is some kind of confusion. I am not interested in job as software engineer. I would rather like to interview for QA position."

Are you kidding? Do you think we are stupid to allow you to waste valuable time of our colleague? I wanted to say him that rather we would make sure that you do not get chance to waste a second of ours for your lifetime. And all I could do was pity for that guy's father for wasting fat bucks on his fees at USC.

To add it more, I gave thumbs down for each one of candidates I interviewed. Nor was I tough nor did I do that as an aftermath of first interview. It is just that I did not see anyone fit for the job position. And yes, none of them were hired..and I know most of you would agree with me on the outcome ;)


Current Mood: Satisfied
Current Song: Purani Jeans by Ali Haider

The three things

Gossh..it's more than 4 months since my last post, not sure if anyone visits here anymore. I have been too lazy and was trying to avoid Phone Calls, IMs and Orkuting as much possible. Just wanted to have some time for myself, gather my thoughts and contemplate over the aftermath of *too* many changes at my end.

If still don't know, I had to make a urgent trip back home for 3 weeks. But it also means that my name should be at the top of your call list. This trip was so much different as compared to my past trips. My lovely li'l sis is married now and I am still finding it incredibly hard to conceive that. Okay..I should stop this or I would keep on rambling on this.

So I wanted to tell you about the three things I enjoy most while back home in India -
1. Food: Of course this would be the top most item for almost all desi's. And why should it not be? How can anyone get away with those chats, paani-puri, paneer tikkas and what not?
2. Pressure: Believe me after eating all those chatpati cuisines, the pleasure of ultimate pressure at the start of the day is worth everything. I really miss this every morning ;)
3. Freedom: Getting everything at your disposal, be it food or anything else. No pain of doing laundry, cleaning utensils and all...

Mood: Drooling
Music: None