Well guys, you would have come across this question "Why should one join a startup???" I guess this question has been asked for quite sometime now. This question seems to be moving around quickly lately because the number of startups are exponentially increasing in India and particularly in Bangalore. There could be a lot of answers to this. Some of the most famous answers are "you will get to learn a lot in a short span of time", "your career growth will be faster", "everyone in the company will know u and u will know everyone and hence it will be a very friendly place to work", etc. Similarly there could be reasons for not joining a startup too.
A few common reasons given are "man, your startup might fail and u could become jobless", "dude, are u ready to work for 14-16 hours???", "there wont be any facilities for employees da... no free lunch, no free transportation", etc. Frankly, both sides of this argument are reasonable. It's up to the individual to decide whether to join a Startup and Slog or join an MNC and Marry.:)
I willingly joined a startup after my M. Tech through campus recruitment. I have already gone through both sides of the coin in 3 months. Some days, I have worked for 16 hours a day. Some days I have skipped dinner to complete my work. But I learnt a lot of interesting things. And I know everyone and everyone knows me:) I will share with you guys the one reason, apart from all the answers and reasons discussed (or not discussed) above, as to why I am very happy for having joined this particular startup. Here goes...
I joined in August 2008. The entire August was spent time-passing. Go to office, surf, have lunch, take a small powernap, surf, go for a tea break, surf, go home and sleep. Life was good. Then they told that you have to come to Chennai for training for 15 days. In Chennai I actually had a trailer of what a startup is. From day one (day four to be precise), I started slogging. Everyday my guide used to tell me to learn this and then do a sample project on what u have learnt. First of all, learning that thing was difficult. Second, I had to implement a sample project too. Those 15 days were quite hectic. Then they sent me back to Bangalore and life was good again. Before sending me, they told me that next time u will have to stay in Chennai for a month. "Ok no problemo" was my reaction as I was eager to get back to "home sweet home". Then came the moment of truth when I landed in Chennai for the one-month stay. I was put in their search module(on my request actually!!!) and they wanted me to implement Search v2.0 because one of them had already implemented Search v1.0 earlier. The difficulty was Search v2.0 had nothing in common with Search v1.0 at all. I had to start my module from scratch. Scratch as in scratch. I was the first person to put a semicolon in Search v2.0:) I feel honoured!!!. I had little time to complete the whole stuff as my company had plans to go for an alpha release. "Search v2.0 has to go into the alpha release" is what I was told. So I started slogging from day one. Slogging, slogging and more slogging. During my previous stay in Chennai, it was trailer. Now it was the whole movie and its sequel. That one-month was hectic. I worked on Saturdays and Sundays too. Everyday was a work day. Everyday I worked for 12 hours minimum. It was bad. Luckily, I was able to complete what was assigned. Now, coming back to that one reason why I am very happy is that my module is already integrated into the alpha release and my module is online on the internet and my module is being used by tens(if not hundreds or thousands) of people already. All of this happened in 30-40 days. 30-40 days!!! Scratch to internet. Can u believe it??? It feels damn good when I see my module on the internet and people using it and giving feedback (positive or otherwise). Its an incredible feeling. Seeing my module on the internet in just 30-40 days. Wow!!!
"I was at the right place at the right time" is all that I can say.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
What really is Intelligence???
Hmmm... lets get started.
What is Intelligence??? Webster's English Dictionary defines it as "the ability to learn or understand; the ability to cope with a new situation". We intelligent humans learn and understand from day 1. We always learn new things, we try to understand the concepts and we adapt to new situations. Without intelligence, we could not have come so far. The technological advances that we have made is immense and marvelous. The two greatest innovations, especially since the last 50 years or so, are the computer and mobile phones; they have changed our world so much that "Six degrees of separation" is actually reduced to three. These things are not possible to accomplish without intelligence. But can we (pro)claim ourselves to be intelligent???
The answer is NO. Why??? Because we don't know what constitutes intelligence or how to measure it. Comparing to animals, we are more superior and that's why we call ourselves the Intelligent Animals. But how do we know for real that animals are not intelligent??? What constitutes intelligence??? Sure... we built rockets and animals didn't... no denying that... but maybe animals didn't think building rockets to be intelligent. They must have thought "Building rockets??? What a waste of time!!! Let's do something better". Maybe they have done something better... Maybe that has changed their kingdom forever... Maybe we don't even know what it is. Maybe we are not even looking for it. Maybe the animals are intelligent. Maybe we just claim ourselves to be intelligent. Maybe the animals are laughing at our pathetic state. Maybe the animals are making fun of us because we think ourselves to be intelligent. Maybe what we do is dumber than the dumbest. Maybe the true definition of intelligence is not even known to us. Maybe thats why we consider ourselves to be intelligent. Maybe we are the dumbest of all the species. Maybe living in more than 3 dimensions is intelligent. Maybe animals are already capable of it. Maybe animals know what happens after death. Maybe they pass this knowledge to their children. Maybe they know what is there at the end of the universe. Maybe they don't need rockets to find it out. Maybe they can travel in dimensions which we can't even comprehend. Maybe they don't need a language to communicate. Maybe they communicate with all the species. Maybe they communicate with God daily. Maybe they have mastered telepathy. Maybe they don't need college education to become intelligent. Maybe school and college is only for the dumb ones like us. Maybe they know the answers to everything. Maybe thats why they live so peacefully. Maybe thats why they are not in a rat race. Maybe we are last in the race. Maybe they are telling us what intelligence means. Maybe they are trying to tell us what happens after death. Maybe they are trying to tell us what can be found at the end of the universe. Maybe they are telling us that rockets are a waste of time. Maybe they are trying to tell us answers to all the questions we have. Maybe we are not listening. Maybe we are not even trying to listen. Maybe mankind is deaf. Maybe mankind is blind. Maybe we will never find answers to anything. Maybe we are not even progressing in the right direction. Maybe we will never become intelligent. Maybe I am wrong. Or maybe I am not.
Quotable quotes from Chennai
This blog is going to be really short. So please bear with me:-)
Recently I had been to Chennai on official training. I overheard a couple of quotes, some in Tamil and some in English.
1. We are not worthless. We are just useless. (hard fact!!!)
2. Truth is independent of what people think is the truth. (makes sense... don't u think so!!!)
And my favourite (regarding a father-son duo):
3. He didnt touch a woman. His son didn't leave a woman untouched. (superb... no comments!!!)
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Dark Knight
Finally. That’s right… finally I saw it. The only reason why I saw the movie was because my friends forced (some even threatened) me. There was one more reason actually… it replaced numero uno Godfather in IMDB rankings. So I decided to check it out first hand. Is it really such a good movie??? Is it really worth the hype??? Has Heath Ledger really acted that well as claimed by many??? I am not a fan of all these ...man movies – Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. But “Curiosity kills the cat” and I had to find the answers.
As always, my cousin and I went to see the movie. He had booked tickets online at Fun Cinemas. Our experience started off on a bad note. The ticket vending machine was malfunctioning and we couldn’t get our tickets printed though my cousin swiped his credit card twice. We had to go to stand in line at the counter. (I wouldn’t even try to explain our experience waiting in the long queue) Once we got our tickets, we rushed to the theater as we were already 5 minutes late. Searching for our seats we found that someone had already occupied them. When questioned, they told that they mistook their seats for ours. How dumb!!! Can’t they differentiate between 18 & 19 and 20 & 21… God help them.
The moment of truth arrived. The first scene was that of a bank robbery. Nothing great in that scene… you get the first glimpse of the Joker though. Lesson to be learnt from the first scene: “Never trust anyone”. The movie progresses… Batman appears, Joker appears blah blah blah. I do admit that some scenes are good… like the one where Batman goes underneath the truck which Joker is driving and topples the truck… or the scene where its written “Slaughter is the best medicine”… that was really funny… or the scene when Batman (in his ordinary human being avatar) says “It was your idea”.
I still have no answers even after seeing the movie. It’s just an "ok ok" movie. There is nothing extraordinary in this movie that sets it apart. It has no good action sequences, it’s not fast paced… it’s just another movie. So why exactly is this movie considered to be great??? How did it generate such hype??? I guess the marketing team did a very good job… hats off to them. There is no other logical reason for the movie’s success. As it was Heath Ledger’s final movie, maybe it added to the hype. Maybe fans of Heath Ledger paid their homage to their favourite star by generating more hype around the movie. There could be one more explanation: Mass hysteria.
I know my friends are going to comment on my opinion (maybe on my English too), some of them who are Batman-fanatic psychos might even take it personally but that’s that. All in all, ITS DEFINITELY NOT WORTH THE HYPE. I learnt my lesson. (I guess you all know which lesson I am talking about... for the not-so-intelligent ones, read the blog again)
As always, my cousin and I went to see the movie. He had booked tickets online at Fun Cinemas. Our experience started off on a bad note. The ticket vending machine was malfunctioning and we couldn’t get our tickets printed though my cousin swiped his credit card twice. We had to go to stand in line at the counter. (I wouldn’t even try to explain our experience waiting in the long queue) Once we got our tickets, we rushed to the theater as we were already 5 minutes late. Searching for our seats we found that someone had already occupied them. When questioned, they told that they mistook their seats for ours. How dumb!!! Can’t they differentiate between 18 & 19 and 20 & 21… God help them.
The moment of truth arrived. The first scene was that of a bank robbery. Nothing great in that scene… you get the first glimpse of the Joker though. Lesson to be learnt from the first scene: “Never trust anyone”. The movie progresses… Batman appears, Joker appears blah blah blah. I do admit that some scenes are good… like the one where Batman goes underneath the truck which Joker is driving and topples the truck… or the scene where its written “Slaughter is the best medicine”… that was really funny… or the scene when Batman (in his ordinary human being avatar) says “It was your idea”.
I still have no answers even after seeing the movie. It’s just an "ok ok" movie. There is nothing extraordinary in this movie that sets it apart. It has no good action sequences, it’s not fast paced… it’s just another movie. So why exactly is this movie considered to be great??? How did it generate such hype??? I guess the marketing team did a very good job… hats off to them. There is no other logical reason for the movie’s success. As it was Heath Ledger’s final movie, maybe it added to the hype. Maybe fans of Heath Ledger paid their homage to their favourite star by generating more hype around the movie. There could be one more explanation: Mass hysteria.
I know my friends are going to comment on my opinion (maybe on my English too), some of them who are Batman-fanatic psychos might even take it personally but that’s that. All in all, ITS DEFINITELY NOT WORTH THE HYPE. I learnt my lesson. (I guess you all know which lesson I am talking about... for the not-so-intelligent ones, read the blog again)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Just a thought
Mobile phone has become a basic necessity of our lives. It’s hard to find a person who doesn’t use one.
Each and every person is familiar with PhoneBook, where you can store your friends’ names and their respective phone numbers. Consequently, when your friend calls you, it checks his/her number with the set of phone numbers that you have stored in your mobile and displays his/her name on your mobile screen. Ex.: Consider that Michael Jackson is your friend and you have stored his mobile number, which is 767 5464, in your mobile. When you get a call from 767 5464, it shows “Michael Jackson calling” and not “767 5464 calling”.
Let’s say that you get a call from a stranger. By stranger I mean a person whose phone number is not stored in your mobile. Hence, his number will be displayed on your mobile. What really happened is this – when the stranger initiates a call to you, he sends his phone number to the base station. The base station then finds you and forwards that phone number to your mobile. Your mobile would then check if that number is stored in its flash memory. In this case, it hasn’t been stored and hence would display his number on your mobile screen. My question is “Can we not have a ‘look-up system’ in place which will retrieve the name of the stranger and then forward both his name and number to you rather than forwarding just his number???” I think this feature will be very useful.
Each phone number is registered under a name. With this look-up table whenever you get a call (or an sms), you will at least know the name of the person/organization. Will building such a system be overkill for adding just one feature??? Will this system be an overhead to operations such as call or sms??? Are there any other constraints, technical or otherwise??? Why hasn’t any mobile/base station company implemented this yet???
Each and every person is familiar with PhoneBook, where you can store your friends’ names and their respective phone numbers. Consequently, when your friend calls you, it checks his/her number with the set of phone numbers that you have stored in your mobile and displays his/her name on your mobile screen. Ex.: Consider that Michael Jackson is your friend and you have stored his mobile number, which is 767 5464, in your mobile. When you get a call from 767 5464, it shows “Michael Jackson calling” and not “767 5464 calling”.
Let’s say that you get a call from a stranger. By stranger I mean a person whose phone number is not stored in your mobile. Hence, his number will be displayed on your mobile. What really happened is this – when the stranger initiates a call to you, he sends his phone number to the base station. The base station then finds you and forwards that phone number to your mobile. Your mobile would then check if that number is stored in its flash memory. In this case, it hasn’t been stored and hence would display his number on your mobile screen. My question is “Can we not have a ‘look-up system’ in place which will retrieve the name of the stranger and then forward both his name and number to you rather than forwarding just his number???” I think this feature will be very useful.
Each phone number is registered under a name. With this look-up table whenever you get a call (or an sms), you will at least know the name of the person/organization. Will building such a system be overkill for adding just one feature??? Will this system be an overhead to operations such as call or sms??? Are there any other constraints, technical or otherwise??? Why hasn’t any mobile/base station company implemented this yet???
Friday, July 18, 2008
Oh GOD!!!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
It's a small world after all
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines technology as "the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area". Definition or not, we can't argue about the fact that technology has indeed broken all barriers, geographical or otherwise. Very complex things is made to look simple (though it ain't!!!). We all love to send sms... I love to send group sms though. Though SMS is an acronym for Short Messaging Service, to me it means Simply Message Send maadi :-) During my tenure at my previous company, I was (un)fortunate to see the actual code of the SMS protocol. Believe me... you wouldn't send an SMS if you saw how complex the architecture is. And SMS is a baby compared to Calls. But its simple to use and that's the beauty of technology.
Just now, I had a first-hand experience of how technology has changed our lives. "I am just a call away" really isn't applicable only to neighbours. My close friend who is currently pursuing his M.Sc abroad asked me to give a book to his cousin and gave me her number too. I forgot to take that number with me and went to his cousin's house. I realized I had no number... hmmm... what to do now??? I called my friend and told him to tell his cousin that I am waiting outside her house. Within 20 seconds, she came out and picked the book from me. 20 seconds is all it took for the message to pass from India ---> abroad ---> India. Its that simple. Hats off to all those who slog to make our lives simpler and simpler.
It really is a small world after all...
Just now, I had a first-hand experience of how technology has changed our lives. "I am just a call away" really isn't applicable only to neighbours. My close friend who is currently pursuing his M.Sc abroad asked me to give a book to his cousin and gave me her number too. I forgot to take that number with me and went to his cousin's house. I realized I had no number... hmmm... what to do now??? I called my friend and told him to tell his cousin that I am waiting outside her house. Within 20 seconds, she came out and picked the book from me. 20 seconds is all it took for the message to pass from India ---> abroad ---> India. Its that simple. Hats off to all those who slog to make our lives simpler and simpler.
It really is a small world after all...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
one sandwich = Rs. 175. Any takers???
We all like to go to theaters, watch movies and have a nice time.
I always wanted to go to PVR Gold Class atleast once. I had to wait nearly 40 months for that to become nanasu from kanasu. One fine day, my cousin (duh...) and I decided to watch a movie in Gold Class. We wanted to make our first-time experience special :) So we sat down and listed out all the movies that were currently being screened at Gold Class. Due to lack of options, we decided to go to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. My cousin had booked the tickets online for the 7:30pm show. So we decided to leave house at 6pm. To our bad luck, we got caught in traffic and then in rain and then in traffic again. It was 7:35pm when we reached Gold Class. I was cursing my cousin for being late and vice-versa. To our good luck, the movie started at 7:45pm or so. As soon as we entered Gold Class, we were offered a glass of "Appy Fizz" each. I had to drink both the glasses :( Then we went inside the movie hall. There were 32 seats (four rows of 2-4-2 seats) and by God, it was houseful. (the reason why I was astonished is that each ticket is Rs. 500, India is definitely shining)
The barcaloungers were awesome. The cushions were really soft and it could recline to 180 degrees. We actually saw the whole movie horizontally :) During the course of the movie, one of the theater staff came with a menu. We had a look at the prices and then at the food items. One sandwich = Rs. 175!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I thought "ok maybe the quantity will be good..." and ordered a sandwich, thereby drastically reducing the weight from my wallet. Let me explain the quantity now: exactly 2 slices of bread, 2 tomato pieces, 2 cucumber pieces, a couple of chips, some cheese spread I guess, a lettuce leaf and a small cup of ketchup. Lets evaluate the actual cost of that sandwich: exactly 2 slices of bread - Rs. 2, 2 tomato pieces - 25 paise (a kg of tomato costs Rs. 10), 2 cucumber pieces - 25 paise (one whole cucumber costs Rs. 3), a couple of chips - 25 paise, some cheese spread - maximum Re. 1, a lettuce leaf - 25 paise maybe and a small cup of ketchup - Rs. 3. That comes to Rs. 7 tops. A reasonable price considering we ate in Gold Class would have been Rs. 50. But it was Rs. 175!!! The entire time we ate, we cribbed and cribbed. The irony was that we kept asking ourselves "Which stupid guy will pay so much for a sandwich???"
"Haasige iddasthu kaalu chaachabeku" - lesson learnt.
I always wanted to go to PVR Gold Class atleast once. I had to wait nearly 40 months for that to become nanasu from kanasu. One fine day, my cousin (duh...) and I decided to watch a movie in Gold Class. We wanted to make our first-time experience special :) So we sat down and listed out all the movies that were currently being screened at Gold Class. Due to lack of options, we decided to go to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. My cousin had booked the tickets online for the 7:30pm show. So we decided to leave house at 6pm. To our bad luck, we got caught in traffic and then in rain and then in traffic again. It was 7:35pm when we reached Gold Class. I was cursing my cousin for being late and vice-versa. To our good luck, the movie started at 7:45pm or so. As soon as we entered Gold Class, we were offered a glass of "Appy Fizz" each. I had to drink both the glasses :( Then we went inside the movie hall. There were 32 seats (four rows of 2-4-2 seats) and by God, it was houseful. (the reason why I was astonished is that each ticket is Rs. 500, India is definitely shining)
The barcaloungers were awesome. The cushions were really soft and it could recline to 180 degrees. We actually saw the whole movie horizontally :) During the course of the movie, one of the theater staff came with a menu. We had a look at the prices and then at the food items. One sandwich = Rs. 175!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I thought "ok maybe the quantity will be good..." and ordered a sandwich, thereby drastically reducing the weight from my wallet. Let me explain the quantity now: exactly 2 slices of bread, 2 tomato pieces, 2 cucumber pieces, a couple of chips, some cheese spread I guess, a lettuce leaf and a small cup of ketchup. Lets evaluate the actual cost of that sandwich: exactly 2 slices of bread - Rs. 2, 2 tomato pieces - 25 paise (a kg of tomato costs Rs. 10), 2 cucumber pieces - 25 paise (one whole cucumber costs Rs. 3), a couple of chips - 25 paise, some cheese spread - maximum Re. 1, a lettuce leaf - 25 paise maybe and a small cup of ketchup - Rs. 3. That comes to Rs. 7 tops. A reasonable price considering we ate in Gold Class would have been Rs. 50. But it was Rs. 175!!! The entire time we ate, we cribbed and cribbed. The irony was that we kept asking ourselves "Which stupid guy will pay so much for a sandwich???"
"Haasige iddasthu kaalu chaachabeku" - lesson learnt.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
(Showing) Ignorance is bliss
Everyone has heard about the age old saying that “Ignorance is bliss”. One of my colleagues has added a nice twist to this: “Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed”. So, we all know how important it is to be ignorant.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
How to save petrol??? Increase traffic!!!
Recently petrol prices have touched a whopping $140 a barrel on the international market. Every nation is working on various strategies which would lower petrol consumption. Some of those strategies include use of renewable/perpetual energy sources such as wind energy and solar energy. One (stupid) strategy would be to increase traffic, resulting in traffic jams!!!
Call me stupid but petrol was saved!!!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Why I love YouTube
YouTube today is the rage among people of all ages. Some use it for watching their favourite songs; some use it for watching the “greatest catch ever in cricket history” again and again; while others use it for educational videos. It is highly unlikely that someone hasn’t heard about YouTube.
So my friends, now you know Why I Love YouTube.
PS: We had a nice laugh about the incident though. I haven’t spoken to her since.
My dad describes me as
Karnatakada Kanmani, Kannadammana Kanda, Kantri Kariya, Kempapurada Kitchenninally Kari Kallinamele Kuthukondu, Kaalu Kenne Keriyuttha, Kyie Kadiyouttha, Kari Kaapi Koka Kola Kudiyuttha, Karnana Karma Kathe Krishanana Kyeli Keluttha, Kattalinalli Kannu Kattikondu Kanasu Kaanuttha Kuthiddane Katte.
Disclaimer!!!
The soul purpose of my blog is to express my feelings (good and/or bad). It does not, in any way, offend anyone (un)intentionally. All opinions expressed by me are mine alone and none should be held responsible.
PS: just for formality so that I dont get sued:)
PS: just for formality so that I dont get sued:)
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