Thursday, May 31, 2012

We are What We Choose

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story

Well said lines by Jeff Bezos as he shares his experience & learning while building Amazon


My Song

Smile an everlasting smile, a smile can bring you near to me.


Don't ever let me find you gone, cause that would bring a tear to me.


This world has lost its glory, let's start a brand new story now, my love.


Right now, there'll be no other time and I can show you how, MY LOVE.


Talk in everlasting words, and dedicate them all to me.


And I will give you all my life, I'm here if you should call to me.


You think that I don't even mean a single word I say.


It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away

                     BOYZONE - WORDS



This is one song which I dedicate to my love.

This is one song which I own

This is one song which makes me smile in my sorrows

This is one song I will never be shy to sing in front of 1M people

This is my song & forever

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Cochin – Munnar – Alleppey

Take me away
This is what my heart said to me and I backpacked for a mini vacation to Cochin, Munnar & Alleppey. Throughout my journey as a traveller I kept exploring Kerala beauty
Munnar:
Termed as a ‘scruffy little town’. On leaving the noisy traffic of the hectic town, the countryside unfolded into lush tea plantations, all neatly cropped and trimmed to the hill-sides. The beauty of twisted roads, which meandered like a smooth grey stream amongst the brilliant green of the tea leaves.
Face felt the clouds, eyes blessed with deep intense mountain views, heart felt peace at Top Station view. Never felt so close to nature.

Kundaly Lake:
Water, mountains, land, clouds… this is heaven where the sky meets the land

Tea Factory:
Not being a big fan of tea, I still walked in to Tata Tea Factory. After watching a documentary on how Munar was formed & how it became what it is now, the whole journey was so impressive that I have a new respect for this land. Going through the tea making process was interesting…so much so that I have got badly & deeply addicted to green tea.

Cochin:
First thing that impressed me in Cochin was the cleanliness that’s maintained across the city. People out there are very helpful & genuine. Could somewhere feel gender equality and at Fort Cochin witnessed all together a different style of fishing.

Alleppey:
The web has so much to say about Alleppey, but somewhere the hidden agenda of me visiting this place was to see how it could be the best venue for weddings. As I entered I just got the right feeling and I had 2.5 meter dosa welcoming me to this backwaters city.
The beach in the evening was so peace giving and I just didn’t wanted to move away. That evening was crazy; long drive to nonstop 26 Km paddy fields, running around the city to taste my favourite keralite dessert Unniappam and enquiring into almost 10 + restaurants to check if plain rice & sambar is been served.
Guess what Alleppey has amazing sea food, people eat rice for lunch & chapattis or appam for dinner. It rained all night that day & early morning it was houseboat that was waiting for me.

Backwaters:
When I stepped into our booked house boat I just couldn’t believe, that it had almost everything that any house would have- TV, AC, Bed, Washbasin, Tub, chairs, sofa, cook, housekeepers etc. The journey begun & I knew that the next 24 hours are going to be the most memorable. Witnessed life of people staying at backwaters & for a while envied them..but as the day was ending I realized that their life is very tough. When I woke up early morning I could just see water around me & that view was priceless.
Travel has become my latest hobby…opps let me correct it, it’s become an addiction. 
More stories coming soon :-) 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Acknowledge

U may not understand
U may fail to express
U may never believe
U may not reciprocate

But never fail to acknowledge someone’s feelings

A feeling is always true & pure as it could be, so respect it.
Don’t let time teach you this… it would leave you with lots of guilt, pain, regret & tears.
Life may not give you another chance.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Being a woman in the corporate world

Every time that I stood on the stage to deliver a talk
Ever time when I was resolving my customers issues
Every time when I was training geeks
Every time when I was representing my company in a conference
Ever time when I was signing a partnership deal

I was proud of being a woman in this men dominated tech corporate world.

It no more surprises me, when I find myself the only lady around the table in a strategic meeting. There is this perception that woman are good in marketing, testing, graphic designing, documentation. It’s time that we empower more woman in programming, leadership, management domain.

There is lots said, but let me share in my experience of being a woman in this tech corporate world for 5+ years and working in different job profiles:
Corporate trainer: I have seen guys raising their eyebrows, surprised & commenting when they saw me waking in the training room as a trainer. Somewhere notorious, teasers, hard to handle and most importantly had huge egos. In spite of all this, I knew I was there to impart my knowledge. I didn’t take things personally; my passion towards teaching was high. I just didn’t teach them to programme C, VBscript, Android & Java but make them feel coding as a poetry.

Server Consultant: My US customers used to be so excited to hear on the other side of the call a ladies voice & each time I got into a call to resolve my customers live production server issue..they made me feel so special & never failed to compliment and send me nice gifts. I guess a lady can easily empathize and be patient with a customer whose app server is big time screwed up and I just did that.

Programmer: Each piece of code that I wrote, each module that I built, each APK/WAR/EAR that I created… they were like my babies. I assured that they are well built, clean & had a long future and defect free.

Evangelist/Presales: It’s a very glamorous profession, but for a female at times a wrong act, message, move can lead her to no where. We are scanned from top to bottom, offered drinks, smoke and long drives… but with time you pick up the art to get away from all this & get your work done. There is lot of assumptions about ladies being in this field, but I always found it a nice challenge to clear these clouds.

Technology Writer: A woman is expressive & especially when it comes to me let it be my blog or technology freelancing that I do, I always write from heart. I get many offers for technology writing, like lately it being Digit Magazine. I just wish I get more time for my writings.

Business Development: I face very few females in this field, and I wonder each time WHY ? We talk finance, revenue share, branding, strategy, business goals, vision, competitors move etc. When I get into these meetings I feel like I am getting into boys club. Being a teetotaller & vegetarian I have learnt to manage myself to talk business in pubs, parties and most of the times deals getting finalized in the smoking zone.

Well throughout this journey, I never felt bad, hated men or regretted for being a woman. My dirty secret is that today wherever I am is majorly because I am a lady and I am proud. I get lots of attention & compliments which I really enjoy it to the core.

So ladies my message to you’ll is “Technology is a beautiful world, come in…we need more ladies. We have so much talent within us to drive innovation, lead business & change the world for better. I am enjoying myself here…. do join me, I am waiting….

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Dedicates




Why do we hurt those who love & care us the most?
Why we expect to be understood without expressing ourselves?
Why do we realize their importance once they are no more around?
Why can’t we live with people without whom we can’t live?
Why right looks wrong in their presence and all looks right in their absence?

*This post is dedicated to those lovely people who make my life beautiful and I failed each time to express to them what they mean to me.