Posts filed under 'General'
A short story that I wrote over the weekend. It’s a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any person or incident.
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He meets her on the Internet and very unusually they fall in “love” with each other after a brief chat session. Two “lovers” from diverse cultures and city are brought together by fate and technology. In truth by technology but the two strongly believed it was fate. They exchanged their cell numbers so they could share their happiness and sorrow. This meant endless hours of naughty “love” chirping and philosophical discussions 24/7. A special “happy” ring-tone was set especially for her so he could single her call out from the various others on his cell-phone. When verbal communication was unable to express itself satisfactorily, they would turn instantly to messaging. Wherever they went, their feelings followed just like that through the never-ending tender vocabulary. Tragically she was committed to someone and he was fully aware about it. Yet he believed there was the hand of god that drew them closer to each other everyday and each night. He was full of hope and positive and she thought there was nothing that could separate them. Despite her background she promised to be with him forever.
Continue Reading June 8th, 2008
I realized that I have not written on my blog for a month now. You might wonder what the matter is. It is just that I have mastered the art of developing excuses for postponing matters. Things seem to be back on track after I came across this
article and realized I needed to do something about my behavior.
Over the past month, a lot of things have occurred around my natural surroundings; some not worthy enough to be mentioned publicly. To begin with, I had started to write a short love story which I managed to complete half-way and paused at a point when it became interesting. It’s too early to say if I have abandoned the idea but I have managed to put it off under the pretext of my ever increasing “mood pangs”. I have often put my work off by saying I do not get enough time which is not true. I have plenty to do but as I said I have learned to postpone things for unexplained reasons.
My daily exercise routine is another victim of my laziness. On early mornings I find it difficult to motivate myself to get out of the coziness of my blankets and work out those muscles to keep healthy under the pretext of sleep and rest. Somehow I think I need to push myself a bit more than I usually do (if at all I do) to kill this pest called procrastination. Let’s say for encouragement — if I am able to respect my personal commitments and time, I am also bound to do well in my professional career. And now I feel nice to have pushed that button and publish this post. I must say thanks to Cindy Loughridge for writing this eye-opening article. Thanks so much Tina.
Technorati Tags: late, procrastination, postponing
June 4th, 2008
I wouldn’t be misplaced if I say the internet is like my first home, since I spend more time there than on real earth. It’s a virtual place where I love exploring its alleys and partake the various benefits almost all free of cost — reference websites, address books, social bookmarking, email clients, et al. In short while I am surfing, I have a global passport of visiting any place without worrying too much about safety unless I download something that’s detrimental to my system. During my office hours, I am advised (rather compelled) to curb my sojourns across the information superhighway to protect the internal network where thousands like me are traveling on business purpose. Every morning though I check my mailbox for any new communication which I might have received during the course of the night. And while doing so I cannot resist the temptation of visiting the
spam folder (or bulk email folder depending upon the client you prefer), to see and be intrigued at what the underground world has offered me today.
As compared to the rest, the amount of mails that I receive could hardly make anyone envious of me. It’s understandable considering my reserved stance and I am not regretting it one bit. However reserved I choose to be, the spam folder receives more (unsolicited) mails daily no matter how much effort I invest in protecting my online identity from the evil world. Although the spiteful nature of the content ensures it ends up automatically in the spam folder which I prefer to call a prison, thankfully to be “executed” (deleted) in a time bound fashion.
There are various kinds of spams which keep pouring in and some are truly funny judging from their subject lines. A particular one talks about ingesting “pills” that would assist in increasing the size of a certain inane part of the body and guarantees “instant success” after convincingly quoting a few testimonials from its “satisfied” customers (almost all of them women). There was another that asked me to “forget the doctor” and rely simply on the online medication, a sure shot prescription for disaster to be precise. Another one purportedly from an African nation promises millions of dollars in cash if I sent my reply to the sender. The sender was convinced that the money belonged to a head of state who has died in a conflict. There are more such mails which offer cash incentives, immigration promises and “lucky draw jackpot” prizes, all with the single aim of luring the unsuspecting reader and drawing cash. There are many who go for the kill and get “killed” themselves in the process.
I believe that spam by its nature has a tendency to reflect the undercurrent moods and trends of the society. From individuals who want to “show-off” their programming skills by writing a virus program to porn stars wanting to make a quick buck by inviting you to their online domains to cloudy pharmaceutical “companies” selling their shady concoctions — it’s a marketplace where restraint must be exercised at all levels. In such a scenario, it’s reassuring to find a facility like the spam folder which entraps spammers although it’s not successful in its duties at every time. There are some (mails) which end up in this black hole much the same as our Bollywood storyline, as they await my arrival to free them from the clutches of the villains. Alas! there’s no smart spamming system available which could tap into human emotions and filter the good from the evil. It’s a sign of the long road that the research and development community have to cover to ensure a solution to this long standing menace.
There is a definite purpose behind each spam and each spammer is defiant in his approach. It’s an act of mischief in a bid to challenge the hubris that would eventually efface your modesty and self-belief until you succumb to your own downfall. On several occasions I have witnessed my friends who got sold on an attractive subject line and clicked on their own sorrow only to find their livelihoods being wiped out completely. The “Spam” button should be used freely to lock up those with bad intent and help protect the democracy of the medium. I ensure that I do not open a mail that appears to be from a concerned person but is in reality a wolf posing in a lion’s hide. Look around and you might find a few in your inbox as well. You know what to do now.
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Technorati Tags: email, spam, junk mail
April 25th, 2008
I have a strong belief in the term customer experience. It matters to me since being a usability professional, it deals with the user’s satisfaction levels. Personally my priorities for purchasing a product ranges from brand loyalty to my expectations out of using the merchandise but if the after sales service is not provided, the product remains underutilized sitting on the investment which I made. Almost any time I decide buy something here, I shudder to think if the company would remember me as their proud customer and provide timely help when I need it. My experience suggests that never happens to be true. I went one of India’s biggest shopping extravaganza, to buy a wallet of my favourite brand. Having finished the deal, I set about dumping my old pouch and started transferring the cash and cards when I realise that the INR 895 (about USD 23) container did not have a pocket to collect the coins. This excuse was enough to promptly ask for an exchange within 10 minutes of purchasing the wallet.
Continue Reading March 30th, 2008
When existence becomes boring, painful and demanding. When drudgeries of life begin to overtake you, it’s time to immerse yourself in nature’s arms. I have always loved being
one amongst nature and as a member of the honourable
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), I could not have left the chance of exploring the deeper jungles of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park go unnoticed. So here I was on a Sunday morning in my trekking gear (without carrying the most important kit of all - water), joining a group of nature enthusiasts at the entrance of the park and of course my dear friend Hemant who was giving me company with his Nikon D40 and the works.
We made our way towards the deeper portions of the park called Silonda, which is a natural habitat for most wild animals including the famous leopards and the spotted deer. That also includes a variety of birds and vegetation that one must not have known despite spending half the life around this vast green expanse. Sadly most visitors to the park have rarely explored the real beauty and have turned the area into a lovers paradise. The first sighting of the morning that got everybody excited was a pair of colourful Kingfishers. Soon the cameras were pointing in that direction, the professionals peeking into their dark funnels wanting to capture this gifted moment for posterity.
The path to our rendezvous passed along a small village with thatched houses. The sun had just woken up shining mildly across the landscape that was littered with greenery, scampering fowls and a few kids getting ready for their daily wash. A little later we turned around from the paved road and prepared to enter into the arms of mother nature with a visible glee on our faces. Our walk through the dusty lane had begun. Nature indeed had surprises waiting for us. As our tour guides Sanal and Vithoba unearthed the secrets for us, everybody especially the kids were dropping their jaws in awe. The secret mother nature goody bag included trees that had medicinal qualities - one plant is used by tribals to treat some puss infected wounds, ants that chew the bark and build “pagoda” shaped nests out of the morsel, a “hitler” bug that lives in the dry leaves, a bird that literally sounds “I will beat you” when he’s calling out to his mate; not that it has any evil intentions for his partner. The group consisted of some expert bird watchers who could recognize a species by their calling sound. One such teenager was carrying a manual of birds that were found in the Indian sub-continent and showed me a particular sketch of a bird after listening to its sound (birds are difficult to be spotted in the forest environment). I was happy to see his latent enthusiasm. The guides then told us that the forest can be experienced in its full glory during the monsoon season when one gets to pass through the overflowing river and see a variety of anthropod and insect species including scorpions. During this season the forest is surrounded by tall bamboo shoots and fog which makes visibility difficult.
After walking for around 2 hours without at a stretch, we reached a dry river bed where we settled down for a round of drinks and food. A monitor lizard was basking in the afternoon sun on one of the boulders. The camouflage didn’t work for it as some members spotted it and thus began an elaborate photo session that would have made any supermodel envious. It however seemed unperturbed by the unnecessary attention it was drawing. Meanwhile I looked for an obscure spot in the terrain to rest my suffering carcass. For someone used to walking on the leveled tarred surfaces of the urban cityscape, mobility on the rocks and the uneven surfaces with the camera load could mean a huge challenge as my photographer friends would agree with me. The trek ended on a high note literally when the group congregated on a small hillock and began introducing themselves randomly while I rested my aching feet once again on the rock surrounded by some grass. At this stage I had no clue if I was thirsty or hungry. But I was feeling elated after that physically gruelling walk through the jungle and having made it this far. On our way back we saw a pair of Chital (spotted deer) behind a thick growth and we all stood in our tracks to watch the animal in its natural surroundings. Just then an enthusiastic mother bellowed gleefully to her son that alerted the Chitals who made a dash for the deeper reaches of the forest. The only sighting of a wild animal for us today (even if it was a spotted deer) was ended quite abruptly to our disappointment.
As we made our way back to our respective civilizations, leaving behind the visions of the flora and the fauna, the lingering freshness of the air and chirping of the forest birds, we promised to be back in nature’s arms very soon.
Technorati Tags: environment, borivali, sanjay gandhi national park, bombay natural history society
March 16th, 2008
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