Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Time's Up

Last Day mail in my Office. Its a bit late to publish the same. But its better late than never :). Here is the mail


At 5 O Clock today the id amrish_paigude@Infosys.com will cease to exist. After almost 3 active years and 19 passwords, this id will be deactivated :)



The journey in Infosys has been eventful and great. Starting from the training in beautiful Mysore campus to a long bench in Pune DC which was followed by two awesome projects. It has been great learning throughout.



There were many firsts with Infosys for me. My first job, my first salary, my first professional id, my first stay away from home and many more. It will always stay in my heart for that.



I knew that this day would come when I will have to leave the organization. But leaving Infosys makes me a emotional. I will miss my desktop which had all kinds stuff on it; those long FC chats which got over with a realization that there was too much of pending work; those coffee breaks that got me going; that clicking on send button and then running hard for catching the bus; waiting until 9 PM and then boasting in front of friends the next day on how much work I do; that fighting on sports BB for the team that I like; that bus journey of nearly two hrs daily where I slept, I chatted, I read books, I studied. But most important of all, I will miss you all. I don't know when I will experience it again. Maybe never. I would like to extend my warm and sincere thanks to all of you for your support.



Though this Id will end, we will keep in touch on amrishpaigude@gmail.com . Also, I am always available on Orkut and Facebook :)



I wish all of you best of luck for your future endeavors and hope that our roads cross sometime in the future :)





With Warm Regards,

Amrish

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Smileys :):)

Lot of days since I wrote the last blog….
A Lot has changed since then… including me :)
Did not have any spur to write a new blog but this one just to make up for the time :)
This blog is a tribute to numerous smileys that I have sent and received

Truly speaking, chatting is not my forte… I was averse to chatting before I was on a long bench in my company. But things changed, bench went away and I became a regular chatter so much so that once my team lead had to tell me to stop chatting :D
I think that smileys are integral part of chatting. I never knew how to use smileys correctly(I still don’t know that. Many a times I still goof up with some of the smileys :))
But are we actually in the same mood as the smileys that we send? Or do we react the same way as the smileys?
Are we happy when we send ":)"? and for that matter are we really sad when we send ":("?
Do we really laugh when we send ":D"?or do we really cry when we send ":’("?
I think not. You can never know the actual feelings of the person in front by just looking at the smileys he sends. I have sent :) even when I was sad just thinking that other person might smile. I have also sent :( even when I was laughing just to console the other person :). These smileys are mostly deceptive.

Other interesting thing about my smileys is that I still don’t know when to use ":P" and ";)". I mostly goof up between them (just as I goof up between the terms lunch and dinner :P)
In Microsoft Office Communicator(the messenger that I use in office), there are lot more smileys. They mostly remain unseen by me. But I like one among them “|-)” (the ones who use communicator might know its vast significance ;))
Once I had actually played a war of smileys with my friend with the vast number of smileys available on communicator. The result was obvious. I lost big time :).

Anyhow, these smileys have become integral part of life now. My day starts with a smiley and also ends with it :). They help u convey emotions(which many a times aren’t true but it soothes :)) and carry messages in itself. Nonetheless, these smileys make u laugh, make u feel sad, make u cry without actually having to do it :).

Long live smileys :)

Monday, March 15, 2010

It rained that day

I was taking a nap in my office bus(as usual :)) and just as I was about to go in deep trance, I woke up suddenly with a few droplets of water on my face. I couldn’t sleep after that nor could I avoid being nostalgic. Memories started pouring in along with the rains and I went back to my childhood.

I remember myself playing in the rain, jumping in the puddle and splashing the water over the friends. My friend got enraged and we had stopped talking for next few days. But those were innocent fights and I didn’t fear losing my friends. It was fun :). I wish those times are back again where there was no ego, no fear of losing friends and the silence between the friends didn’t last long.

Then the memories of my (first) accident got in. Due to rains, the brakes of my bicycle didn’t work and to my folly I started racing with my friend who was in Auto Rickshaw and just as I was going on one side of road to dodge rickshaw, a stone of considerable size came in between and I tumbled. My face was bruised all over and I got stitches just below and above my eye. My eye was saved by a whisker. The friend immediately acted and took me to the hospital and was treated accordingly. Eventually my bruises healed. But we(friends) became close to each other :). The other day he called me to tell me that he still remembered that incident. It feels good that the childhood friends still remember me :)

The next memories were in my college. It was my last year and I used to go to college to study. The final exam was in rainy season. When it rained, me and one of my friends (he) used to sit in the shed just outside our college library ("पावसाच्या किनार्यावर"- the term that was coined by me for the situation :)) watching the rain. We used to say that we couldn’t study in that romantic weather (for no reason and no one in mind) and it was more of a excuse for not studying and getting to do timepass. Looking back I think I was better then with no weird thoughts in mind, with the future secured (with placement in Infy I thought my future is secured) and enjoying the solitude :)

The next set was in Infy though. That day too it had suddenly rained in March and it poured hailstones. Me and my friend were completely drenched, collecting the hailstones during the rains and eating them like a child. People might have thought that it was unprofessional but it was one great thing to do I thought. We didn’t think what other might say or feel. We were just being ourselves :)



After this memory, I realized that my stop was nearby and I had to get down. What a timing it was. Even the bus didn’t feel that more memories should pester me :). While getting down from the bus, I changed my mind to look for a shelter or take an auto home. I decided to walk the whole stretch of 1.5 kms just soaking myself in the unrestrained rain. It was a time I didn’t care about other people, not thinking what people might say and felt great for enjoying the moment with people sitting in their cars and honking their horns at me. People were looking at me with envy, not able to drench themselves especially when I did not fear cars splashing water on me as I was already wet.

These rains when they come suddenly bring back the memories galore :). But along with them brings the thoughts that I wish I could change many things and that the things were better earlier. Somethings cannot be changed. But it also gives the hope that the things would be good in the future as they were sometimes in the past.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Yet another Year

Like every year, 18 February arrived again. Each time this day comes, I wonder why I am so enthusiastic about it. But since last two years I am not keen on celebrating my Birthday. Actually, I feel this is the day for others to celebrate. I just enjoy with them. Nothing memorable happened on last two b’days and I was not hoping for the same this time too. And truly speaking, it is the only thing which I hoped that turned into truth in last whole year.

This year was one hell boring year in my life. One that shattered all my expectations and one of the years in life which made me believe that I am on a wrong path. Nothing happened in a year more than the routine offc and home stuff but gave me some valuable experience.

A Boring year (really!!!!!!)

Writing about that I feel that I am where I was a year back i.e on 18th Feb 2009. Nothing has changed much about me.

1) I had felt that this b’day would be celebrated in US but to the extreme ignominy I m still here doing the work keeping false enthusiasm on my face and told by many that they thought I was in US L

2) An Extra “S” is added to my Job Status. This “S” has done nothing much. My seniors still know that I m a SE. My juniors are still to know what it means and my Peers are not that appreciative about it. That extra “S” did not even give me a salary rise. I forgot to write it in two of my applications that I am a SSE now. Even I m hesitant about it

3) My friend count is also same since last year (actually those ones whom I am currently interacting almost regularly). I actually met less new people this year. So I am to blame for that.

4) Chelsea did not win the UCL when we were most deserving to win it this time around.

5) Lastly, My height and weight have also remained constant.

Frankly speaking, there was nothing much that could happen. And yes it didn’t happen J.

Learnings –

1) Don’t trust your instincts always. Don’t be positive always. Try to be negative sometimes. It helps.

2) The stuff written in books (especially those imaginary ones with a moral) is all their thought. It is nowhere near to reality. So don’t trust them.

3) If you do good to people, don’t expect back people to be good to u. Having less/no expectations helps.

4) I can live without friends. Actually friends are always around. But somehow I am not.

5) You don’t get everything you want.

6) Coincidences do happen. Don’t read too much into it. It is because we read into it that we know that coincidences have happened. Its just the normal life going on.

I know this blog is quite negative. But that’s the state of mind I am into. Nothing happening. Life leading nowhere right now. Its not too great. Probably after my mindset changes I will write a positive one.

p.s. – I have written a blog after nearly 1.5 years. So spare me if anything’s wrong. Expect me to write blog often now since I have time right now.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Border Gavaskar trophy and the Rise of Dhoni

India won against Australia to win the Border - Gavaskar trophy 2-0. It was one of the most convincing victories of Indian team in the recent times. I was confident of Indian team winning the tournament but I thought it would be something like 1-0 or 2-1. India has now proved that India can be the best team in the world cricket. It gave India many positives, but the greatest thing that has happened, is the appointment of MS Dhoni as the new Indian captain.
Dhoni has already proved his worth in the 20-20 World cup when India won the first 20-20 world cup with a completely new team. He not only introduced te new players but made most of their abilities to win the world cup. Also He has showed great faith in youngsters who are the future of Indian cricket. He has again showed his talent as a captain in One day also when he captained India into winning Commonwealth Bank series by beating Australia in Australia. By making use of the available talent, Dhoni has placed Indian cricket in a different league. We are now considered as the best team in 20-20, One day and the day is not far when India will be crowned as Numero Uno in test cricket also.
Dhoni has the ability to lead from the front. He leads by example. He plays when the team needs him. Other players can look to Dhoni as an example. I can only compare him to the great Indian Captains such as Kapil Dev and Mohd. Azaruddin though he is more ruthless than both of them.
Dhoni is a great blend of Ruthlessness with respect. On pitch he may appear ruthless but is very mellow at heart. He can answer the aussie aggression with same vigor as he respects the seniors. He gives answers to the opposite team in the language they understand. It is the greatest quality that leaders have. The way he asked Ganguly to lead the team in the finalovers of the game and the way he called on Kumble to receive the trophy shows the humblenes that he has towards seniors in the team. He even lifted Kumble - the greatest bowler ever to played for India and also one of the best spinners in the world cricket - the day he retired from the cricket.
Other good thing that happened that one youngster will join the Indian squad now. He may be Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina or any other but he surely will be a value addition to the team in Batting as well as in fielding. Some may feel it bad that Ganguly Retired but there are plenty of players those can take his place and can even play better than him. He is "statistically" the best captain of India till date, but can anyone forget the World cup 2003 finals, where he decided to bowl first even when the pitch was conducive to batting. People may blame it on Indian bowling but it was because of these bowlers that India had reached the finals of the World cup. Apart from Srinath all the bowlers were relatively new and it was a suicide to take bowling first in the match Also we cannot forget the rift that tried to create in the Indian team just to save his captainship. I have a decent respect for him for his batting but not as a person. It is useless to compare him to legends like Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid. I dont understand how people do such wierd things of comparing him with them.
One negative from the series is the Retirement of Anil Kumble. He was not only the best bowler in Indian bowling history but also one of the greatest spinners of all time in World cricket. The person taking 619 wickets, playing for 18 long years and still has left a big dent in the Indian team. People say that youngsters are ready to replace him. But can anyone name a youngster who has the ability to take 619 wickets???? Certainly not. Does any younster have the ability to take 10 wickets in an innings?? Ceratinly not. Does any youngster have the courage to bowl even after having a fracture and that too twice(the last match that he played, he got 18 stitches)?? Certainly not. He will certainly be missed. Who will wrap up the opposition tail end who keeps disturbing the Indian cricket??
There are certainly lot of Positives and Negatives but the greatest plus point is the Rise of Dhoni as a sole leader of the Indian team.