Srikrishnak

Few days back I rcvd a complementary gift from this organization for being a member for one year. I was happy to receive this piece A three in one Alarm, Radio cum Torch light. However with in two days it spoiled. I looked for any warranty card, but to my surprise I even dont see any sort of brand name even. I was so disappointed with the club now I am seriously thinking how soon can I cancel the membership. Not because I'vent received a good complimentary gift,(to be frank I least expected n I dont care) but the value they are giving to the customer. If they cant give it I dont mind but when you are giving it should be something coming from the prestigioug club. This piece is representing the club and its a token of appreciation. Now after looking at the quality of the gift which seems to be given just for name sake or for their "records" purposes I lost my confidance that they can deliver quality services to me in the future.
Monday most importantly I have to call these guys to check how can I cancel my subscription.

Today I logged in to Dell indian site to order one PC. But to my amagement I realized that Dell wont do direct selling from its website. : Quite puzzled I called the cust care and I was wished by a cute (ofcourse voice) executive. I was told that due to security reasons and credit card issue they dont sell online. What an absurd reason. I can say credit card theft or crime in India is possibly amongs the lowest in the world. We have such a great pool of IT professionals who does wonders. Still we dont have the online sales by Dell.
Really couldnt understand Dell's stand here. Anyway I endup to visit IBM website and I could see their price and product online. Finally I decided to go for IBM.
One thing I realized after buyin the PC was all these companies just overshoot the customer. I dont need a computer with all the crap mentioned in the spec. I just need a computer for my browsing and occational video chat. Still I end up going for a P4. The price is indeed high but no options.
Letz see how the performance like.

Guess most of the people around the world are busy doing budgeting for the next FY. Still I wonder how this managers come up to say please forecast for your expected and unexpected projects. How to cater for the unexpected. Do I need to go for Dogberts school or bring him down here as a Consultant. ;) Anyway the better part is end of the day boss can always say thats why you are getting paidup.
And we have to continue. Aaarghhh..time to stick my head to the excel sheet again.

This classic analog wristwatch has a built-in high-quality FM radio that provides clear audio when you plug in your headphones, allowing you to get up-to-date radio broadcasts without having to carry a separate device

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Waiting for the models to hit the market. Really this is what I dont understood. When 3G wasnt launched everybody was talking about it and lot of plans n promo. Now when people started talking about 3G not many models available in the market.
Dont really understand the vendors business plans. Anyway I am considering two models as my 3G phone. Nokia N70 & SE P910.
Personally I am a bit inclined to Nokia but I have to think about the features as well. I guess I've to spend more than 1K. So I am going to wait till the best(atleast better than my first 3G Handset Motorola A1000).

A good article on WiMAX & 3G. Many people say that WiMAX is a disruptive technology which can lead to doom the 3G operators. But IMHO as well as it seems that both will complement each other. Each one have their own pros and cons.

Link:http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Nov2005/2259.htm

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

Albert Einstein

Ever heard of web ?. I know the answer is YES (Unless you are reading this on a peace of paper which was printed by a Indian IT pro at office during office hours.)
Then how about WEB2.0 ?. Some interesting facts about it.

In our initial brainstorming, we formulated our sense of Web 2.0 by example:

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation--> search engine optimization
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management systems --> wikis
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication

Source: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Sometimes I really go mad just thinking over why this happened like this or how could this happen. This thoughts will cause such a headache and pain even if I stay at work I couldnt concentrate. My biggest forte is concentration. At the same time its my weakness. I should concentrate how can I get rid of this weakness. I dont want to think constantly over something which annoys me.
I want to focus on my own self. Today is another day where my productivity was almost dropped by 50%. Only till noon I workred. Then I went downstairs to have my lunch where I saw the worst food ever in my life. I came back with a Coke and started work. But couldnt . Still I am lost why it happens. How can I answer

The "rootkit" piece of XCP software, developed by British applications maker First4Internet and used by Sony BMG to restrict copying and sharing of music CDs, is already highly controversial because it acts like virus software and hides deep inside a computer where it leaves the backdoor open for malicious hackers

Sony BMG earlier this week said it would recall some 4.7 million CDs with the software, after the discovery of the first computer viruses last week that took advantage of the weakness.
The XCP program will installs itself on Windows-operated personal computers when consumers play one of 49 CDs from Sony BMG. The program forces consumers to use a music player that comes with the program.
Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5960222.html

I heard one person saying about Singapore government and the way they do things. This guy was pointing that BKE (Bukit Timah Expressway) was named wrongly. At first it gave me the same impression but later I realized that even for this also Singapore government/LTA has got a standard.
The standard says that

Singapore's highways are all identified by TLAs (three letter acronyms): ECP, AYE, CTE, PIE, KPE, BKE, SLE, TPE, KJE.
the first letter ----> first letter of the name
Second letter ----> second stressed letter

So East Coast Park came as ECP, the way we pronounce

For a director who has built his reputation on sweeping social sagas like Elizabeth and Bandit Queen, Shekhar Kapur seems to have found an unlikely muse: the humble cockroach. With its waxy wings and furry antennae, this six-legged critter will be the star of Kapur’s latest production, aptly titled ‘The Suitable Cockroach’. “If you can make a movie about fish and ants, why not make an animation film on cockroaches,’’ Kapur told TOI from London where he is shooting the Golden Age, a sequel to Elizabeth. “I have been developing this character for the past year. It will be one of the funniest I have developed till now,’’ he said.

Being produced for an international mobile phone company, the $2 million animated music film, will be available for download to mobile phone users. It’s not only the cockroach content alone, but even the brief runtime which is something of a novelty for Kapur, whose productions usually last over three hours.

• Six Sigma service standards. That means 99.999999% accurate
• 40,000,000 units delivery
• Provides consultancy to Fortune 100 MNC's.
• Share their experiences with top class business schools like IIM's
• One of their biggest fan is Prince Charles
• Special VVIP invitation to Prince Charles wedding
• Thier work is not affected by heavy rain or storching heat.
• "Probably the best group in service industry" by Forbes.

All the above description could be best suited to a top class MNC or a business entity which specialized in services. People may think all the employees are graduates from world famous B' schools, working with all the facilities and handling the latest gadzets at their disposal.

However the reality is different here.

• 95% are illiterate
• Group consists of 5000 people with an average age of 45 years.
• No organized work flow or established procedures.
• Transportation is only by means of a cycle or by foot
• Charge customer about USD4 per month. ( Service includes every day irrespective of holidays)
• Remembers about 35 customers addresses on an average

This is about Mumbai Dabbawala, which literally translates in to "the one who carries a box". Its a century old profession which became integral with Mumbai's culture. Mumbai city is probably the most dense city in India with 19,373 persons/Sq.Km. This city the main transportation is by using the Local trains. Its very common to travel for 2 to 3 hours to reach work place. In this situation for a common employee its tough to go home for lunch or have it at a hotel. So many workers have a cooked meal at home sent by a caterer who delivers it to them at work place.

Collecting the "Dabba" at the workers home and delivering at office place and then transporting the empty dabba to home is the prime job of "Dabbawalas".

In this process there are different "Dabbawals".

Collecting Dabbawala, who travels on a bycycle, collects dabbas from homes. Most dabbas doesnt contain any addresses ( Because most of the Dabbawalas are illiterate), just some color codes or cross marks. Then the dabbawals takes them in to a sorting place where all the "dabbas" are sorted based on the color codes.

This boxes are sent to different places by the local train ( usvally there will be a special car for dabbas alone). Then on the arriving station the boxes are collected by "Local Dabbawala", who delivers them to the offices. The empty boxes after lunch are collected again and sent back to their homes.

On an average each box will change "Four" person hands. Still end of the journey it reaches to the right person hands at the right time.

They are accurate and punctual. Weather it shines or rains ( remember the terrible monsoon seasons in Mumbai) the Dabba reaches to the office at lunch time.

My last trip to India it happened to see these people during working hours. I was really amazed by their work. No management guru or B school can teach us this kind of working harmony and devotion to work. I have got all the best gadzets and facilities to improve my productivity and I often goes to seminors and classes where the professionals try to tell us how to avoid mistakes to do the right work. Still we are prone to errors.

The answer is simple. For them the work is life. Without the money they cant survive. They have to deliver the Dabba. Otherwise they themselves cant have the meal. Sounds a bit sad but at the same time I've learnt something very important.

A warm welcome to me ;)

After a great and memorable holiday came back to Singapore. Seems like I started liking singapore as well. May be have been staying in this place for quite some time. Anyway one good thing is the moment I landed @ Changi, I felt the change. Immed I remembered the pending work and commitments. I am sure the air is filled with these things in Singapore. No wonder people are so hardworking and work oriented.
Came back home and throwed the baggage. This weekend I have to clear the mess otherwise its gonna be tough for me n for the rest to stay with all the unwashed clothes and packages.
Then I have to find some time to edit the videos. Its almost 3 hours, and I have to spend atleast 2 to 3 weekends.