Unless life be guided by Love Unconfined

Unless life be guided by Love Unconfined
It can’t redeem the pledge made to life divine

Life is an accident of such an amazing kind,
Like how me and you met which is strange of kind,

At such a stage of closeness has love arrived ,
Even heart and eyes of little use it finds.

What a strong bond, love and beauty bind,
You may set them apart, the heart remains combined.

Some times we reach such a stage in the path of love,
Though we stand face to face, we can’t unlock our mind.

I cant express how much my heart that was the centre of your gaze,
That I haven’t yet else where engaged.

That lamp that you had lighted in my heart
That lamp is still aflame, un dimmed, un hazed.

All I have to say is I love you !!!!
More then these words can SAY…

Beauty's indifference is but a pose

Dear to us, no doubt, is beauty's every grace .
But, we fall specially for a simple face.

How can tulip and rose be compared with you,
Weak are these metaphors to illustrate your grace.

The night of separation too has come aglow,
Are these the tears of sorrow or bits of moon ablaze.

The fire of love is such a hell, the sight of heaven which displays,
Beauty's indifference is but a pose, she drops no hint , yet insinuates ....

Two wedding and an anniversary...

Month of August was a very busy month... I had to attend two wedding and of course my own first wedding anniversary...

One wedding that I attended was that of my very close friend Sumanth. I have known Sumanth for last... 24 years.... We were neighbors, Class mates in School, high school, college. He got married to Vasavi on the 22nd August 2005, same day as my wedding anniversary, only a year later.

Sumant - Vasavi

Second wedding that I attended was of Bala with Jayashree. The train journey to a place called Walajahpet - Tamilnadu , about 4 hours from Bangalore - India. The train journey was great, inspite of the temperatures being like.... 48 degrees or some thing. But the whole marriage ritual was great, both Bala and Jayashree were looking really absolutely fabulous in their traditional outfits.

Bala - Jayashree

In between all this wedding and anniversary business, I started thinking about this marriage business,

Marriage is not a ritual or an end.

It is a long, intricate,

Intimate dance together.

And nothing matters more

Than your own sense of balance

And your choice of partner. .

... And by end of all I would say all three of us, Sumanth , Bala and myself have made the Right choice....... I wish both the couples the very best of luck.

Conversation

Picture by Raghav

For years I have held converses with some one in my thought,
For long has a picture lodged with in my head,
I had held it all through as dear as life,
My desire will weep for me for years,
I too once drank the drought from the fountain of life,
I too slept for long in peace sheltered by the flask,
For long did I stroll about in gardens and groves,
For long could I smell my rose in the roses of the park,
Even if reduced to ashes, like the wind borne dust,
For years I will love you always.

Lips

Your lips speak soft sweetness
Your touch a cool caress
I am lost in your magic
My heart beats within your chest
I think of you each morning
And dream of you each night
I think of your arms being around me
And cannot express my delight
Never have I fallen
But I am quickly on my way
You hold a heart in your hands
That has never before been given away

Better future

Last year I visited this school near Bannergata national Park. They had organized a show in celebration of Independence day.
Couple of years back, this school did not have any basic facilities, the students were sitting on the floor, the black boards were in their worst possible state, the passing rate was low and drop out rate high.

Later, one of the clubs (Rotary Mid town) adopted this school and started providing basic facilities, like benches and black boards, Mid day meal, new class rooms and now recently a computer lab.
As a result of all this effort, pass percentage increased and there was a drastic reduction in Drop put rate, Mid day meal was as a matter of fact, an incentive for many of them to come back to school.

I think more and more such clubs should come forward and take such initiateves, to build a better India.

Intoxication

If I drunk a little,
Why this furor?
I haven’t robbed any one,
Nor have I forced open a door.
I am not concerned with wine,
Which the heart detest,
The wine distilled with in the heart,
Is what my heart adores.
There he says; “Deliver the bowl”
Here I say “Endure”
What a queer heart he has,
What a heart I hold.
Every gain owes its’ glow,
To the light divine,
Every breath that we breathe,
His presence underscores.
A blot staining the suns face,
Mysterious are the natures way.

COMPANY

Saintly eyelids look at flowers,
But not for me,
Come around my friend
There will be no entertainment
I want company
I don’t care if we don’t talk.
If we chip our teeth on groundnuts
Or watch
The luminous hand of time pass
I don’t care.
But beware
The milk turns sour
Bread turns green
And the fruits are consumed by microorganisms

In a symbiosis of neurosis
Doing something cheap

Why wait

To liberate this party state.

This border line case

Tending towards inactivity

And disorganization

So come my friend

Come around and frown.

I like the way you ware your eyebrows

Every time you find me this way.

MASK !!

Don’t be fooled by me,
Don’t be fooled by the face I wear,
For I wear a Mask, a thousand masks.
Masks that I am afraid to take off,
And none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that’s second nature to me.
But don’t be fooled.
I give you the impression that I am secure,
That Confidence is my name & Coolness is my game.
That the water’s calm and I am in command,
And that I need no one.

My surface may seem smooth,
But my surface is my MASK.
Ever varying & ever concealing.
But, beneath lies confusion & fear and aloneness.
But I hide this; I don’t want any one to know it.

Each time you are kind and gentle & encouraging,
Each time you try to understand because you really care.
My heart begins to grow wings, very small wings.
But Wings!!!!

Who am I? You may wonder,
I am some one you know very well
For I am every man you meet……

Foresight..

I was in one of those shitty moods this whole week I don't know why....
I thought one way to cheer myself was to just go back and ready my old journals and refresh myself and it worked.

While going thorough my journals I found this piece I had jotted down, called

Foresight..
Foresight is not LUCK. It is always the result of Hard Work . It is never guess work,
It is knowing your environment, so well that the right moves are instinctive. Most important whether in making the most of favorable circumstances or the minimization of bad
Foresight always produces results

I dont recollect when i wrote this but made of sense...

An Ode to Nice Guys

This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal. This is long but Hilarious....

An Ode to Nice Guys

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

BPOs are now moving to villages

I read this article by Nelson Vinod Moses on Indian BPOs and makes me feel proud to be an Indian.

Kizhanur is like any other village in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvallur district, surrounded by paddy fields and grazing cows. But look closely at No:1 Sivan Koil street which is awash with a new phenomenon -- a business process outsourcing version of ITC's e-choupal.
Chida Soft is a village BPO, doing coding on legal paper for an US client. It is run by entrepreneur Sharmila, 25, who supervises the Kizhanur franchisee of Lason India, part of the $170 million Lason Inc, US, an end-to-end outsourcing company that has a presence in the healthcare and publishing industries. Sharmila has provided the real estate, while Lason has invested in the hardware and training.

Outsourcing and India: Complete Coverage

The result? One of India's first BPOs in a village that is run by a resident and employs locals. "Other than IT infrastructure, a BPO does not require good roads or houses. All it needs is abundant people," explains Pradeep Nevatia, managing director, Lason.
The initiative termed 'Lason Village BPO' is to be extended to five more locations in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka by the end of 2005.
Most of those employed by Chida Soft have passed class 10 or above. "I have finished my twelfth standard and was doing typewriting. I am doing well here and have the support of my family. In the beginning it was difficult, but now it is alright," says Poongodi P, one of the 10 girls employed here. She gets Rs 2,000 a month, something she wouldn't have dreamed of earlier. She plans to acquire a Bachelor of Arts degree through a correspondence course.
The Kizhanur centre employs 15 people who work in three eight-hour shifts. Their work involves coding, keying in data and auditing legal publishing work. Having undergone a 10-day training programme by the Lason team, the employees have been generating quality levels of over 99 per cent.
The raw data that they receive get converted into coded data, which are then physically taken to Lason as there is no Internet connectivity. The data are coded according to a style sheet, the rules of which have been devised by Lason's tech team in Chennai.
Though legally the centre is not part of Lason, it is an inherent piece of its future growth strategy. It believes that out of the four cost components that bleeds a BPO, the price increase in communication equipment and hardware will continue, something that both the government or the industry cannot contain. However, what is within the industry's reach is controlling the cost of infrastructure and people.
To set up a 50 PC-equipped BPO facility in a city costs upwards of Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million). In a village, with low infrastructure investments, the costs are a tenth of this. Also, recruitment, training, transportation and food costs are minimal and the high attrition rates and rampant absenteeism that plague city-based BPOs are conspicuous by their absence.
Another company, which has been bridging the digital divide between urban and rural Indian since 2001 is the Delhi-based Datamation group. As part of a unique private-public partnership, it involves non-government organisations to hire and train a work force from under-privileged sections of society. But unlike Lason, the Datamation group owns and operates all the BPO centres it runs.
"We employ about 40-50 individuals in Kuppam (Andhra Pradesh) and in about five to six villages in Uttar Pradesh. The work is primarily data entry and data processing. The employees may lacking English speaking skills but they make up with their sincerity and desire to learn," says Chetan Sharma, founder of the Datamation group.
The guiding philosophy for the initiative comes from a not-for-profit society called Datamation Foundation Trust, while the commercial end is fronted by the Datamation group.
Datamation has also operated Hewlett-Packard's rural BPO initiative since February 2000. The five to six member team that it has there is expected to grow to about 15 in the next three months. The BPO initiative is part of HP's bigger project called HP i-Community in Kuppam, a community of 320,000 people in four villages.
The i-community project includes tele-medicine, turning rural women into entrepreneurs using digital photography, setting up a public grievance system, an online farming information system, an electronic employment exchange solution, among other things.
But setting up operations in a rural area might prove difficult for most BPOs. Lason is following a decentralised business associate model. A central tech team located at its Chennai office delegates parts of projects to about 60-odd centres in and around Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
"About two years back we anticipated a need and went to class B towns and developed a site in Pondicherry and Kanchipuram. Some components of the project which call for low skill sets have to be done in villages, or the work will go to China or the Philippines," adds Nevatia.
The central hub in Chennai employs about 1,000 for the core of the outsourcing activities. The rest is distributed across 60 centres employing 5,000 personnel.
"We went to where the employees were coming from and asked our people to manage it. But we found out that it's better to engage entrepreneurs who will invest in the business because the sense of ownership enhances productivity," points out Nevatia.
So while entrepreneurs invest in infrastructure and hardware, Lason takes ownership of the entire hiring process, training and development and remotely manages and monitors the entire proceedings.
To give it a separate identity, entrepreneurs are given the freedom to brand their operations separately, but Lason ensures that the infrastructure and the systems and processes to be followed are standardised. Lason estimates that 30 per cent of the $25 million revenues that it earned in 2004 came from the smaller centres.
Before moving to villages, Lason moved to tier 2 cities three years ago. It currently employs 300 people in Pondicherry and 400 in Kanchipuram. The complexity of the work outsourced to these centres has increased in the past three years, as have quality and productivity levels.
At the moment, Lason Village BPO and Datamation's vision maybe just experiments. But in two years the shift to rural areas may become more of a necessity, as the BPO industry will be embroiled in a grim survival game. Countries like China, Philippines and Poland will try to copy India's low cost, plenty skilled labour BPO model.
All the other IT and ITES companies are still trying to get their tier two city strategy right. It's only a matter of time before they are also bitten by the village bug.

West is getting not Bangalored they are Indianed...
Jai hind

Five Point Some one....

I was reading the book "Five point some one"- by Chetan Bhagat. This book is about 3 friends who join IIT,and from the very first day they start screwing up on every thing.I would say this come close to Dil Chatha hai. Some where in every page that I read, it reminds me about my collage days.

Guys, there is a constant smile on my face when i am reading this book.

Nags (http://thoughtfire.blogspot.com) and Arun, you guys will kill me if i even mention how i relate to the incidents in this book.
Man some where we lost our innocence, in our hurry to make big bucks and run up corporate ladder, we stopped enjoying the simple pleasure of life.
I think we should stop every now and then and smell a flower or just enjoy simple things in life.

What you mean to me

You are not the air that I breathe,
You are the sweet scent that drifts upon it,
You are not the sounds that I hear,
You are the music of my life,
You are not the food that I need,
You are the nourishment of my soul,
You are not my will to survive,
You are my reason for living.
It is with you that I experience the wonders of the world
It is with you that I triumph over the challenges in my path
It is your partnership that will lead me to the fulfillment of my dreams
It is your friendship that guides me as I grow and learn.