Jun 10, 2008
Excerpts from the Book - Vivekananda - The Living Vedanta
Swamy Vivekananda ..The Living Vedanta ..by Chaturvedi
Little known facts about Swamy Vivekananda
1) I never knew that he fought for women so much ..he thought America has progressed a lot because of women liberation whereas in India, though we all prey to Shakti as our creator and destroyer ..we still ill treat our women and that's bringing down India and Hinduism.
2) His sister commits suicide (Sati) and that disturbs him a lot during his penance in Himalayas
3) He was born on Jan 12, 1863. His dad was a rich lawyer and was giving away property and money to relatives and Vivekananda asks him why he is wasting money on relatives and what he plans to give him as a son. His dad takes him to the mirror and says " I gave you him - Narendranath (Vivekananda). You don't worry about money"
4) He loves his mother so much that after becoming Vedanta, he never meets her. Few years before his death, he takes his mother and her friend for 2 months vacation to Kanyakumari. When Ramakrishna mission asks him to visit Chennai center, he says I am on vacation and I can't visit Chennai center
5) His friends in Chennai (he used to address them Madras Boys) raised money for his trip. in US, his savings dwindles down to $140 dollars and he writes a SOS letter to Madras Boys to send him money and he can survive till their reply
6) His had same issues like you and me, his brother was in UK looking for jobs and he supported and gave him accommodation in his room and started referring him to his friends
7) After Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he was a big hit in US. He used to stay in Michigan Governor's house for lectures. he charged $1400 per lecture in 1890s. He sent all earnings to the poor in India.Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West and lectured around America introducing the topics (1894-6). Later, he started Vedantic centers in New York City and London, lectured at major universities and generally kindled western interest in Hinduism. His success was not without controversy, much of it from Christian missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.
8) He was against brahmins. He said they created barriers between man and God. He started eating non-veg and occasionally smoked pipe. He wrote about harsh weather in Chicago specially during winter.
9) His life was for 4 decades. His first 2 decades was consumed in childhood and learning, his 20s was transformation into Advaita Vedanta and 30s spent in US/UK trips. He came twice to US/UK. His started in a boat from Chennai to Vancouver and travelled to Boston by train.
excerpts from his wandering days after Ramakrishna's death ..
---------------------------
During these wandering days, Vivekananda stayed in kings' palaces, as well as the huts of the poor. He came in close contact with the culture of different regions of India and various classes of people in India. Vivekananda observed the imbalance in society and tyranny in the name of caste. He realised the need for a national rejuvenation if India was to survive at all. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent on 24 December 1892. There, he swam across the sea and started meditating on a lone rock. He thus meditated for three days and said later that he meditated about the past, present and future of India. The rock went on to become the Vivekananda memorial at Kanyakumari.
Vivekananda Temple on Vivekananda rock at Kanyakumari, India
Vivekananda went to Madras and spoke about his plans for India and Hinduism to the young men of Madras. They were impressed by the monk and urged him to go to the United States and represent Hinduism in the World Parliament of Religions. The Raja of Ramnad, who was originally invited for the conference, promoted Vivekananda as the right person to represent the views of Hinduism in the Parliament. Thus, helped by his friends at Chennai, Bhaskara Sethupathi, Raja of Ramnad and Maharajas of Mysore and Khetri, Vivekananda set out on his journey to the USA.
In one of his lectures in California, the swami described about his condition during wandering days as follows: [2]
“
Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary; for days and days I had no food, and often could walk no farther; I would sink down under a tree, and life would seem to be ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to the idea: "I have no fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!" And I would rise up, reinvigorated; and here I am today, living! Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not, and it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.
---------------
10) Official Indian representative for (PoR) Parliament of Religion was a Bengali. He goes to Boston in Aug end 1895 and meets PoR coordinator and gets himself permission to speak at PoR on Sep 11, 1893. The first week of Sep, he travels back to Chicago and loses his friend's address. He lives on streets of Chicago for few days. His sleeps in cardboard boxes. In the suburbs of Chicago, weak with several days of hunger and cold, they mistake him for a homeless man. He knocks several doors and finally one old lady open the door & sees a glow in his face and takes him inside her home on Sep 10th. He goes to PoR with her the next day ..Sep 11, 1893. The rest is all history ..When he started his address by "Brothers and Sisters of America", there was a standing ovation & applause for 2 mins
11) He was good singer and he was introduced to Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa by a common friend in Nov, 1881. First time, when he met Ramakrishna takes him to a room ..says "where were you all this time" ..Vivekananda himself says his first time interaction with his guru was weird and he thought he was a madman. In his first meeting, Ramakrishna tells him that he is avatar of Narada Muni and he has a mission in this world. Ramakrishna treated his wife Sharada Maata as Kaali and preys her daily like mother. Sharada Maata takes care of him till his last breadth (1886) as he suffered from throat cancer. Instead of critiquing other religions, Ramakrishna converted himself into Sufi Muslim for 6 months and Christian for sometime. He came to Ashram and preached about Advaita Vedanta. Once Vivekanda goes to a bar in Calcutta and Ramakrishna sees something different during evening prayers. Vivekananda admits his mistake and Ramakrishna says he is proud of him as his disciple is courageous to admit mistakes.
12) Vivekanda senses his last days during last phase of his 2 nd trip to US/UK (1899-1902). He was in Greece during June 1902. He tells his friends that he needs to go back to India soon. He says that can't die anywhere else other than his MathruBhumi. His friends in Greece raised money for his trip to India as he needs to pay first class to travel unreserved. He reaches India last week of June, 1902. After reaching, he tells his disciples that his last day is July 4 th, 1902. On his last day takes a walk with his disciple and gives him instructions about Ramakrishna Mission and Mutt activities. He watches Ashram kids sports competition from his window in the evening. He last breadth was at 9:00PM on July 4th, 1902 at 39 yrs of age.
Regards
Venkat Aekka
Little known facts about Swamy Vivekananda
1) I never knew that he fought for women so much ..he thought America has progressed a lot because of women liberation whereas in India, though we all prey to Shakti as our creator and destroyer ..we still ill treat our women and that's bringing down India and Hinduism.
2) His sister commits suicide (Sati) and that disturbs him a lot during his penance in Himalayas
3) He was born on Jan 12, 1863. His dad was a rich lawyer and was giving away property and money to relatives and Vivekananda asks him why he is wasting money on relatives and what he plans to give him as a son. His dad takes him to the mirror and says " I gave you him - Narendranath (Vivekananda). You don't worry about money"
4) He loves his mother so much that after becoming Vedanta, he never meets her. Few years before his death, he takes his mother and her friend for 2 months vacation to Kanyakumari. When Ramakrishna mission asks him to visit Chennai center, he says I am on vacation and I can't visit Chennai center
5) His friends in Chennai (he used to address them Madras Boys) raised money for his trip. in US, his savings dwindles down to $140 dollars and he writes a SOS letter to Madras Boys to send him money and he can survive till their reply
6) His had same issues like you and me, his brother was in UK looking for jobs and he supported and gave him accommodation in his room and started referring him to his friends
7) After Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he was a big hit in US. He used to stay in Michigan Governor's house for lectures. he charged $1400 per lecture in 1890s. He sent all earnings to the poor in India.Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West and lectured around America introducing the topics (1894-6). Later, he started Vedantic centers in New York City and London, lectured at major universities and generally kindled western interest in Hinduism. His success was not without controversy, much of it from Christian missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.
8) He was against brahmins. He said they created barriers between man and God. He started eating non-veg and occasionally smoked pipe. He wrote about harsh weather in Chicago specially during winter.
9) His life was for 4 decades. His first 2 decades was consumed in childhood and learning, his 20s was transformation into Advaita Vedanta and 30s spent in US/UK trips. He came twice to US/UK. His started in a boat from Chennai to Vancouver and travelled to Boston by train.
excerpts from his wandering days after Ramakrishna's death ..
---------------------------
During these wandering days, Vivekananda stayed in kings' palaces, as well as the huts of the poor. He came in close contact with the culture of different regions of India and various classes of people in India. Vivekananda observed the imbalance in society and tyranny in the name of caste. He realised the need for a national rejuvenation if India was to survive at all. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent on 24 December 1892. There, he swam across the sea and started meditating on a lone rock. He thus meditated for three days and said later that he meditated about the past, present and future of India. The rock went on to become the Vivekananda memorial at Kanyakumari.
Vivekananda Temple on Vivekananda rock at Kanyakumari, India
Vivekananda went to Madras and spoke about his plans for India and Hinduism to the young men of Madras. They were impressed by the monk and urged him to go to the United States and represent Hinduism in the World Parliament of Religions. The Raja of Ramnad, who was originally invited for the conference, promoted Vivekananda as the right person to represent the views of Hinduism in the Parliament. Thus, helped by his friends at Chennai, Bhaskara Sethupathi, Raja of Ramnad and Maharajas of Mysore and Khetri, Vivekananda set out on his journey to the USA.
In one of his lectures in California, the swami described about his condition during wandering days as follows: [2]
“
Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary; for days and days I had no food, and often could walk no farther; I would sink down under a tree, and life would seem to be ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to the idea: "I have no fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!" And I would rise up, reinvigorated; and here I am today, living! Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not, and it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.
---------------
10) Official Indian representative for (PoR) Parliament of Religion was a Bengali. He goes to Boston in Aug end 1895 and meets PoR coordinator and gets himself permission to speak at PoR on Sep 11, 1893. The first week of Sep, he travels back to Chicago and loses his friend's address. He lives on streets of Chicago for few days. His sleeps in cardboard boxes. In the suburbs of Chicago, weak with several days of hunger and cold, they mistake him for a homeless man. He knocks several doors and finally one old lady open the door & sees a glow in his face and takes him inside her home on Sep 10th. He goes to PoR with her the next day ..Sep 11, 1893. The rest is all history ..When he started his address by "Brothers and Sisters of America", there was a standing ovation & applause for 2 mins
11) He was good singer and he was introduced to Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa by a common friend in Nov, 1881. First time, when he met Ramakrishna takes him to a room ..says "where were you all this time" ..Vivekananda himself says his first time interaction with his guru was weird and he thought he was a madman. In his first meeting, Ramakrishna tells him that he is avatar of Narada Muni and he has a mission in this world. Ramakrishna treated his wife Sharada Maata as Kaali and preys her daily like mother. Sharada Maata takes care of him till his last breadth (1886) as he suffered from throat cancer. Instead of critiquing other religions, Ramakrishna converted himself into Sufi Muslim for 6 months and Christian for sometime. He came to Ashram and preached about Advaita Vedanta. Once Vivekanda goes to a bar in Calcutta and Ramakrishna sees something different during evening prayers. Vivekananda admits his mistake and Ramakrishna says he is proud of him as his disciple is courageous to admit mistakes.
12) Vivekanda senses his last days during last phase of his 2 nd trip to US/UK (1899-1902). He was in Greece during June 1902. He tells his friends that he needs to go back to India soon. He says that can't die anywhere else other than his MathruBhumi. His friends in Greece raised money for his trip to India as he needs to pay first class to travel unreserved. He reaches India last week of June, 1902. After reaching, he tells his disciples that his last day is July 4 th, 1902. On his last day takes a walk with his disciple and gives him instructions about Ramakrishna Mission and Mutt activities. He watches Ashram kids sports competition from his window in the evening. He last breadth was at 9:00PM on July 4th, 1902 at 39 yrs of age.
Regards
Venkat Aekka
NRIs dos and donts
Recent months, there is a significant jump in number of accidents/violent incidents/crimes committed against/by NRIs in North America.
I sincerely think that everyone of us specially new F1/L1/H1 visa holders should take a moment and look at followin dos and donts
- Importance of planning a road trip is not assimilated among Indian students. In India, asking directions, following safety rules like seat belts, sleeping before long drives are either frowned upon or made fun of. After securing visa, suddenly young desi students lives are getting transformed from BTech to MS within weeks, and they still think it is OK to voilate safety rules. More information on planning for long drives is at http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=34&category=2
- Plan ahead if you are driving by taking sufficient rest/sleep. This I think is the biggest cause of accidents for Desis. We suddenly plan to meet someone in other city during the weekend and all roommates jump in last minute. After reaching, we will have fun ..bdays, movies, drinks, night long cards, partying..we never get sufficient sleep for the long drive next day. If everyone needs to be at school or work we start like 3:00am the night before for 90 mph drive increasing vulnerability for accidents.
- Make sure everyone wears seatbelts and always signup for sufficient driving lessons even if your roommate makes fun of you..it is dangerous to drive on freeways without proper skills
- Make it a rule not take any cell phone calls while driving or any other form of distraction like food, music, navigation maps,
- Get to know about American laws. One example is that everyone should know that there are always cops online as "disguised teens" responding to your chat requests.. definitely it is not worth it to chat on line. ..it is a trap ..if you are bored go to a Desi movie or Telugu Assn function, Temple or visit a Friend or subscribe to MAA TV or watch Brahmanandam comedy clips..lot of fun-filled activities to kill boredom
- Laws here are very strict. Even pushing someone in anger results in a "aggravated assault" felony charge. Property damage, slips on walkways / driveways can result in law suits. That's why Americans are extra cautious about law and very rarely indulge in risky behaviors like arguments in public, road rages, domestic voilence, etc.. They know one can spend years in jail if the other party chooses to press charges.
- Get to know American culture. There are stark differences between our cultures. Americans are good in planning ..recently I was in a salon, someone was calling a stylist for an appointment. She gave 2 appointments 3 months apart. I curiously asked her why the 2nd appointment. She said he wanted to book next appointment also.. he knows when he will be ready for next haircut..how many of us do this kind of planning. Dress code is another big thing in this country. Benjamin Franklin in 19th century itself coached young entrepeneurs how to dress and communicate to be successful in life. We fail to recognize that dress code/maintaining eye contact during conversations/firm shake hands are something that are engrained in this society for centuries ..
- Make every attempt to make new friends and try to be a good listener.
- Never aspire for all the things in this world overnight just because you have a monthly paycheck..sometimes even if you can afford to spend, you might be buying new risks ..like stocks, houses, condos, cars. It's OK to drive around old Chevy Your parents understand you better in an old Chevy ..be yourself and take time to relay your successes backhome> most importantly enjoy your life, celebrate your friendships, get involved in the community..signup for local Telugu Assn, Local Temple membership, volunteer in charity organizations like SpreadIndia, Asha for Education
- Always be connected to our Motherland whether it is visits, calls, reading, movies etc..
Venkat Aekka
vaekka@yahoo.com
http://vaekka.blogspot.com/
May 30, 2008
First Day on the Job - Oct 24th, 1984
Today is my 29th anniversary of my first day at work .
On Oct 24th, 1984, I joined Sriram Refrigeration, Balanagar.Prahlad and myself have started our careers as (GET) Graduate Engineer Trainees (with Rs1400 per month stipend) and never stopped working since then ..It has been a long journey ..
Our designation was graduate engineer trainee with a salary of Rs 1400 per month (Rs 8.75 or 21 cents per hour..wow ..it increased by ~350 times in 29 yrs ..outpacing CPI ..). I was posted in R and D and Prahlad was in maintenance dept.. My job was to help Dr. Bannerjie (my boss) run experiments in reducing heating of motors (in hermetically sealed compressors used in Refrigerators and A/Cs).
We used to start at 6:50 AM from Chikkadpalli on Prahlad's scooter (Bajaj Priya) to reach the Balanagar at 8:00AM.
We are supposed to reach the plant sharp at 8:00AM.
The company rule was to accumulate all tardy minutes from punch card and if they exceed 15 minutes for the month, you will loose 1/2 day vacation (15 minutes late equivalent to 4 hrs of salary deduction ..isn't it harsh).
For example, if you show up at 8:01 on first day and then 8:10 the next day and for the rest of month ..you are on a borrowed time of just 4 minutes ..one more 8:04 ..you are doomed ..
One day I made a bold decision to sacrifice 14 minutes in one day itself for the sake of .... none other than actress Sridevi ..my engineering classmate Premnath was going to US (Dec 84) and I went to see him at the airport at 7:20 AM.
I knew it would take exactly 20 minutes to reach Balanagar from airport. After seeing him off at 7:40AM. I was walking out of the aiport lobby and saw Sridevi waiting for her Madras flight Suddenly I was in a dilemma thinking about my monthly quota of 15 minutes vs looking at Sridevi.
I stood there for 14 extra minutes (till 7:54) and took next 20 minutes to drive to Balanagar . Rest of the month I had to eek out on the remaining one minute .. never regretted on throwing away 14 minutes in a day .. well deserved ..
It was almost a prison once we entered Sriram. We couldn't go out and lunch was exactly for 30 minutes and we would leave only at 4:30PM. Weird thing was the week off used to be on Mondays. When the whole Hyd watched Ramayana Serial on Sundays, we were taking assembly rounds in electrical motor winding shop.
I have learnt a lot from my boss Dr. Bannerjie. He was a UK returned Bengali and originally migrated to UK in 1940s
He married a Britisher and had 2 children.
After 35 yrs of British life and family, Dr. Bannerjie decided to return to India in his early 60s.
He joined Sriram Refrigeration as R and D consultant.
Despite so many constraints to settle in India, he was determined to start a new life in Hyderabad at almost his retirement age..
He had to lower his living standard to make his Indian dream come true.
He went down from 4 wheels to 2 wheels.. Lambretta in Hyderabad ..
One defining character of Bannerjie was that he would never pay bribes..
imagine in 1984 getting (Road Transport Authority) RTA driving license without paying any bribe ..
The whole RTA (license brokers and staff alike) went crazy to see this Bengali old man
..not accompanied by any broker ..talking fluent English ..filling in and submitting applications thru' RTA office windows with no references to "commission"..
It was bringing down a big bribery engine to a screeching halt to let go one application with exact Govt fees with no other accompanying cash/letters or phone calls..
RTA staff never imagined to see a day like this in their lifetime of service ..
Finally Bannerjie came out in flying colors with his license ..
following are his travails ..
First time his license was rejected because application was not submitted thru' broker..
he contested the decision on the grounds that he drove for 40 yrs in UK.
RTA was confused as the customer was offering to take driving test and they had to find the driving test examiner / scorecard for this customer..
Finally he was asked to come with his Lambretta to the open field in front of the office .
He was asked to take his scooter around a tree.
As instructed, he carefully drove his scooter around the tree and came back to the examiner. The RTA examiner again failed him.
Bannerji asked "What happened this time ?"
RTA examiner replied "When you took turn at the tree, you never waved your hand indicating your turn"
Bannerji "Indicating whom ? That stupid tree ?"
They got tired of him and finally gave him the license.
There are many more stories that we can share ...
Hi Prahlad, Have a wonderful 29th working (son, husband, dad) anniversary ..
Venkat Aekka
P.S. Prahlad Venkatapuram now lives in San Jose with his family. His startup Mediaq got acquired by NVIDIA in 2004 making him a wealthy guy.
Jan 20, 2006
down to earth
Last Sunday, I was taking Anuraag (my son) to the soccer game near my house. This is an indoor soccer field in Canton, MI.In the parking lot, 2 cars away from my car (Jaguar), I see a Lincoln Zephyr (smaller, less expensive car than Jag) and middle aged dad with his son coming out to the soccer game.
He resembled our (Ford Motor Company) chairman Bill Ford Jr.- great-grandson of Henry Ford. The chairman who represents Ford Family (owns 40% of FMC) and the company has presence in 23 countries.
He was going to same soccer field as Anu. I introduced myself and he asked me which organization do I work for. He enquired about the soccer score and Anu briefly and left to watch his son's game.
The following day (Jan 21st), he had to make big announcements like plant closings etc. which was covered in the media all over the world. The incident has broken lot of myths about people and their lifestyles .. The incident reinforced hard to believe facts like ..
> Son's soccer game is more important than anything else
He resembled our (Ford Motor Company) chairman Bill Ford Jr.- great-grandson of Henry Ford. The chairman who represents Ford Family (owns 40% of FMC) and the company has presence in 23 countries.
He was going to same soccer field as Anu. I introduced myself and he asked me which organization do I work for. He enquired about the soccer score and Anu briefly and left to watch his son's game.
The following day (Jan 21st), he had to make big announcements like plant closings etc. which was covered in the media all over the world. The incident has broken lot of myths about people and their lifestyles .. The incident reinforced hard to believe facts like ..
> Son's soccer game is more important than anything else
> Rich people do not necessarily drive expensive cars nor employ chauffeurs, while employees are parking Jaguars next to owners of the company
> Weekend before major media presentations affecting 30,000 families is like any other weekend
> Rich people do not necessarily live and commute in rich neighborhoods (Canton, Ann Arbor are mediocre communities in MI)
> Successful people take time to be acknowledge and talk even in a uncomfortable setting
> and many more ..
Down to earth living and taking time to appreciate all aspects of life is key. You can deduce & learn a lot more from this incident.Sometimes we strive so much for things that are not necessarily important like money, social status, etc. The guy who has everything in life is spending time understanding soccer game plans for his son.
The key is to prioritize and control what is driving your life.
Please do not forward the email as it is a personal experience.
Please do not forward the email as it is a personal experience.
Mar 4, 2005
Hiroshima, Japan
Please visualize this ..An ATM machine in Mumbai has unclaimed cash at night. There is a passerby who saw the money,
called the cops about the ATM. Since there is no one to claim the money, the ATM is shutdown temporarily ?
You are in a cab in Hyderabad and you have asked the driver to take you someplace. The meter
showed Rs 500 and cab driver is insisting that he needs only Rs 300. Upon relentless questioning
he meekly admits that he had made a wrong turn and hence the fare is Rs 200 more.
Imagine you are traveling by Minar express from Hyderabad to Mumbai. You got off at Pune and realized that you forgot your expensive jacket in the train. You pick up a phone and call VT station, Mumbai about the jacket. VT station officials call you back in few hours and ask you few questions about the jacket and send you the jacket by mail.
Are you wondering if this is possible at all anywhere in the world …
Having visited Hiroshima, Japan, I wiould say that this is exactly like Japan.
Japan is very very different .. I wanted to add few more verys and one go so far to describe Japan.
Country with few natural resources, no army to defend, so little land (30% livable and rest mountainous) and still is the second dominant economic force of the world. That's only possible with hard working people with strong values engrained to the core. The people are bound, secured and protected by the Japanese culture. Plain hearted / soft spoken people and always ready to help others. It is not putting an act for few hours but being themselves every second of their lives. They will do their best and never get annoyed by anything.. No need of motivational speakers to change thinking as they are natural in thinking positive.
No customer satisfaction training / seminars for the sales guys, would yield the customer satisfaction results seen in Japan. They literally fall over you, keep running, asking bosses, and will get you what you want with a smile. I heard that customer is God and in this trip I have seen and experienced worship (feeling Godly)
This is an attempt to capture my limited understanding of Japan seen in 2 weeks and I think there is nothing different these 2 weeks in Japan and never has been for thousands of years.
90% of Japanese believe in God and at the same time not religious. They are honest to the core, hardworking, respectful of everyone especially to elders like bosses, parents. They don't look into adopting any western cultures and never have immigrated to any country and at the same time never allowed anyone outside to settle in their country. Even child born to a Japanese parent may not be get citizenship automatically..
Trains, Planes and Automobiles ….
I never realized the importance of ISO 9001 until I saw the taxis in Japan. They recently got ISO 9001 quality certification. Cab drivers with white gloves, emaculately clean cars, laced seat covers and dress in Boeing 757 captain like uniform (suit, cap, shoes). I have seen heard a honk and anyone getting upset over his own or other's driving. Driving is a non-event in every day Japanese life. No stress, no construction signs, no peak traffic chaos. Oh God! I miss my construction signs, honks, stares, fingers of Michigan
I have had my visions about Bullet Train. I missed that 70s movie very badly and had to listen in to second hand versions from my friends literally hundreds of times. How one bullet train at 300 km/h speed cannot stop and the rescue train travels at the same speed and someone crosses over using a ladder with two trains at 300 km/h .scary stuff...
While my Bullet train ride was uneventful at 300 km/h and I slept most of the time … relaxing after the ladder episode maybe.
I have seen people mention about train timings and punctuality. Never seen / heard the timing culture of the Japanese. On the dot and the dot is very very small...
Bullet trains going over 300 km/h and are spaced 10 minutes apart.
My friend (who lives in Japan) went to the station and enquired about an 8:30 train. The information desk said there is no train at 8:30. While he was waiting he saw a train go by towards same destination. He asked again about the train that went by. The information desk reminded him that he asked for 8:30 train and not 8:29. The moral of the story is 8:29 always comes at 8:29 and not 8:30.
Prior to this episode, he used to read train #, platform # and time of arrival. Now he always reads time and then finds out about platform # and train #. Suddenly unique key is switched from train#, platform# to train time .. more granular key …
One of the Desis at a party mentioned about the Indian style of re-confirmations every step at the railway station made him miss his Bullet Train. He meticulously planned to catch his Bullet Train and was on the right platform in time and did several reconfirmations at the information counters, stalls, coffee shops and co-passengers. Finally when the moment arrived, his Desi "no-confidence in any system" hormones kicked in and he wanted to confirm one more time with the train official at the platform who would signal the train. He thought who else knows about the train better than the one signaling it. While few passengers were getting in, he took his own course towards the Official...
Desi: Excuse me, I want to go to Hiroshima, Does it go to Hiroshima?
Official: one minute, Sir
waves his flag at the train and replies
Official: Yes, it left for Hiroshima.
The official thought, everybody got in and train is ready to leave and there is no way this Desi will get into it on time. Moral of the story, shed your Desi fears and start believing what you read at the station.
90% of Japanese believe in God and at the same time not religious. They are honest to the core, hardworking, respectful of everyone especially to elders like bosses, parents. They don't look into adopting any western cultures and never have immigrated to any country and at the same time never allowed anyone outside to settle in their country. Even child born to a Japanese parent may not be get citizenship automatically..
Trains, Planes and Automobiles ….
I never realized the importance of ISO 9001 until I saw the taxis in Japan. They recently got ISO 9001 quality certification. Cab drivers with white gloves, emaculately clean cars, laced seat covers and dress in Boeing 757 captain like uniform (suit, cap, shoes). I have seen heard a honk and anyone getting upset over his own or other's driving. Driving is a non-event in every day Japanese life. No stress, no construction signs, no peak traffic chaos. Oh God! I miss my construction signs, honks, stares, fingers of Michigan
I have had my visions about Bullet Train. I missed that 70s movie very badly and had to listen in to second hand versions from my friends literally hundreds of times. How one bullet train at 300 km/h speed cannot stop and the rescue train travels at the same speed and someone crosses over using a ladder with two trains at 300 km/h .scary stuff...
While my Bullet train ride was uneventful at 300 km/h and I slept most of the time … relaxing after the ladder episode maybe.
I have seen people mention about train timings and punctuality. Never seen / heard the timing culture of the Japanese. On the dot and the dot is very very small...
Bullet trains going over 300 km/h and are spaced 10 minutes apart.
My friend (who lives in Japan) went to the station and enquired about an 8:30 train. The information desk said there is no train at 8:30. While he was waiting he saw a train go by towards same destination. He asked again about the train that went by. The information desk reminded him that he asked for 8:30 train and not 8:29. The moral of the story is 8:29 always comes at 8:29 and not 8:30.
Prior to this episode, he used to read train #, platform # and time of arrival. Now he always reads time and then finds out about platform # and train #. Suddenly unique key is switched from train#, platform# to train time .. more granular key …
One of the Desis at a party mentioned about the Indian style of re-confirmations every step at the railway station made him miss his Bullet Train. He meticulously planned to catch his Bullet Train and was on the right platform in time and did several reconfirmations at the information counters, stalls, coffee shops and co-passengers. Finally when the moment arrived, his Desi "no-confidence in any system" hormones kicked in and he wanted to confirm one more time with the train official at the platform who would signal the train. He thought who else knows about the train better than the one signaling it. While few passengers were getting in, he took his own course towards the Official...
Desi: Excuse me, I want to go to Hiroshima, Does it go to Hiroshima?
Official: one minute, Sir
waves his flag at the train and replies
Official: Yes, it left for Hiroshima.
The official thought, everybody got in and train is ready to leave and there is no way this Desi will get into it on time. Moral of the story, shed your Desi fears and start believing what you read at the station.
Hiroshoma Bombing .. 130,000 killed. The whole city brazen to ground .. first time in history an atom bomb was tried on humans. black rain after hours more deadly than the Bomb. Unbelievable destruction to human bodies, skins .. Many school children going to schools got killed (8:15 am).. Current Nukes 1000 times more deadly.. Few cities short listed for bombing on July 25th. 1945 and Hiroshima was picked among them due to its unfortunate clear weather on Aug 6th 1945.
I did mention about mannerisms and friendliness about Japanese people. I was also curious about what is more important to Japs. Some of things that caught my attention while in Japan
Ø Sakhi (rice based) and Soochu (Vodka like) drinks are very popular Japanese drink. BTW it is served cold or hot in small cups (like tequila shots). Sipping hot Sakhi, I felt like getting high drinking tea.
Ø Karaoke rooms are very popular. Family, friends rent Karaoke rooms (sound-proof small rooms) and start singing taking turns in singing.
Ø They are many activities for kids at schools. There are many schools, after-school activities which parents participate. The education, I heard, focuses on character building along with learning subjects.
Ø Desis have slowly started percolating into the system (H1 like visa) and contracting companies take care of the housing, admissions into schools (more support than our US Desi employers)
Ø After work parties are popular – usually 7:00PM after work on Fridays and they meet in a bar and have some drinks and catch the midnight Shinkansen (Bullet Train). Japanese say it is a good communication tool for discussing office politics. No one discusses personal issues, politics, not even make personal calls at work. I went to after-work office party with my Telugu friend and his colleagues and had fun trying all Japanese delicacies and drinks. Everyone splits the bill equally (ABVP – Avery Bill Valley Pay). There is the blow-fish which only few Chefs are certified to cook. The fish apparently has poisonous glands and if he makes any mistake in slicing the fish, he will take down his customers along with the fish and his license.
Ø Work culture is different. The day starts with some announcements at 9:00AM (PA system). People arrive at 8:45 AM and get their coffees etc. and will be at the seat 9:00 A.M. sharp. The boss leads the whole group in few warm-up exercises. At NOON, there will be lunch break for 45 minutes. At 3:00PM people discuss about safety precautions (mandatory safety rule) for 5 minutes – should share few safety tips / stories from home, neighbors, schools etc. At 4:00PM, everyone cleans the workplace and everyone take turns to pick up papers, trash for the aisle. The day closes at 9:00PM except for Wednesdays (6:00PM). Between these breaks, I have never seen anyone taking their eyes off their terminals.
Ø There is no office cubes concept even for the managers. Everyone gets to sit in hall with few conf rooms along the wall. One can make out the position in the company on where he/she sits in that hall. Manager sit along the wall and direct reports take the next row and so on. An Aerial shot of the floor plan can also be the updated org chart
Ø The killer-app "Excel" is making a killing at Japanese work places. Every monitor has Excel open with few numbers / graphs. They write memos, letters in Excel. My friend asked his Japanese friend take few digital pictures and asked him to send pictures next day. Boom .. next day he got a note with Excel attachment. He immediately called his friend and his friend replied the pictures are embedded in Excel
Ø Fashion is a big industry in Japan. Everywhere you see you find people wandering in malls (malls (underground, strip, 100 yen shops). UniClo is a Chinese brand name of T-shirts with good quality/price.
Ø I didn't any see any cop on the street for the whole 3 weeks - no one getting ticketed, no speed chases, no mob controlling cops, no cops on bikes, none what so ever )
Ø Bike is basic means of mobility. Children come back alone at nights from friend's home and get to stay home alone – no laws around child care ..
Ø TV is not as big as you think, no unending soap operas, only few game shows, local news..
Ø Base ball is big and a very popular sport. Golf is picking up.
Ø Lot of recycling at work/home. Cans, coffee cups, burnable trash. Every floor has different recycling bins, you need careful read before you get rid of your trash (almost has as many selections as a vending machine). Talking about vending machines, one can get cigarettes, beer at the vending machine. Wonder how under age drinking is controlled without anyone regulating/monitoring it.
Ø Like every country in the world, there are social changes. We heard that women are opting to separate from husbands in their sixties. They make sure kids complete college and get married before the separation. In western countries, people separate as soon as they disagree while in Japan they wait for decades to separate. For a strong family man like me, it is a tough choice. I told my wife that both look appealing to me ;-)
Ø During my stay I tried to learn Japanese Kanji (symbol language). I asked a Japanese to write Hiroshima. He wrote 2 symbols. One stood for Hiro (means big) and the other one for shima (means island). Since each symbol gets differentiated by # of line, dots, ticks, Japanese are natural artists. Some of things we all need about Kanji
o Kathakana and Hiragana are 2 languages. A mixture of these languages is Japanese. Kathakana is written only with symbols and Hiragana is phonetic (like TV, fox channel, etc.)
o Obviously you can write the language vertically or horizontally (left to right or right to left)
o Water drop , cloud, rain use the same symbol with small variations. You will know the context as you soon as you look at the symbol.
Jan 1, 2005
Jul 24, 2004
Sweden trip
The moment I entered Gutenberg (Sweden) airport, many small things caught my attention. After the passport verification, I found that they have to open a door to let us in. Every other airport I visited have immigration officials sitting in glass cubicles, whereas in Sweden they have doors, officials sit on the other side of the door .. door to heaven perhaps ..
On my way to hotel, I saw a 2 storeyed sized SKF ball bearing with caption "We reduce friction in the world". As you might know, SKF originated in Sweden.
The technology advancement in little things are amazing. Every hotel I visited elsewhere has plastic cards with magnetic stripes whereas Sweden switched to paper cards with digitized personal information. To avoid strangers entering hotels, the elevators start only if you insert the card, I didn't see any stairs next to elevators.
The bathrooms are innovative too.. There is no Left Hot, Right Cold water rules you need to remember .. Temperature setting is on the right and water flow control on the left.. simple and you need not remember "water rules" that change by state in US. In hotels, they solved a big problem of energy wastage. Guests usually leave the lights on when they go out. In Sweden, the lights come on only when you insert the access card. Since you need access card to go, the lights are automatically switched off when you take the card out
The cheapest car on the road is VOLVO - government subsidized. Offices have made lot of small improvements which are simple and innovative. First time I have seen bar stool computer desks. I was familiar with walkups but not "standups". How many times you run next cube for erasers, markers in offices. They solved the mysterious "missing markers/erasers" problem by making them magnetic. They all stick to the white board.. where they belong
The richest man in the world today lives 1 hour away from Gutenburg, IKEA founder. It's like brahmam gari sooktulu "wadla waadu bhoomini palinchunu". He started making furniture in the garage and now is the richest man leaving windows inventor Bill Gates & Walmart owners behind. If you want to be rich make real windows for people.. BlueTooth technology inventor is from Gutenberg.. The list goes on.. Astra, VOLVO, HasselBlad cameras, ASEA, computer mouse. Everything is so relevant to our everyday lives ..
I was so surprised to see everyone with "contended" and "not having issues" look. May be that's key to innovation. In Sweden, mind is doing what it is good at - innovation. We tend to give it a different job .. bring bread to the table .. pay that mortgage every month .. and cool it down with beer if it complains too much about "job satisfaction".
What amazed me the power of socialist economy. The income tax are at 60% to 70%. People give everything to Government and Goverment gives everything back .. The benefits' list goes on and on
> free health care - best in the world
> free schools (best schools afforded by any common man .. no private schools)
> 3 PCs per family provided by goverment
> 18 month paternal leave (for dads too..) per child. If you have 3 children, you can pretty much sit at home with full pay for 6 years at the brim of your career
The taxi driver was telling me that the benefits are so good that he can go to a doctor and complain that he has headache.. after 3 months again complain about eyes..
Obviously doctor will not be able to diagnose and finally puts him on the benefits program .. Life long pay worth $800 per month, free pass to ride taxis anywhere in the city .. paid apartment for life .. One of the managers at Gutenberg said "our definition of poor is not the one who can't afford food but the one who can't afford vacation" I don't think I will hear anything close to this in India in this century
In my own capacity, I tried to rationalize why the country was so advanced. Sweden is a peace loving country. They don't get into wars like we do .. The last war they fought was with Napoleon 200 years back .. World war I and II, Vietnam, India Pakistan, Gulf, Iraq wars have been just evening news to them all these years.
Overall I was lucky to visit "Land of midnight sun". I timed my watch during sunset.. It went down at 11:30PM and came back at 2:30AM. If I traveled 1000 kms north, people said I would see sun going round the horizon 24 hours a day for 6 months ..
Chinna
On my way to hotel, I saw a 2 storeyed sized SKF ball bearing with caption "We reduce friction in the world". As you might know, SKF originated in Sweden.
The technology advancement in little things are amazing. Every hotel I visited elsewhere has plastic cards with magnetic stripes whereas Sweden switched to paper cards with digitized personal information. To avoid strangers entering hotels, the elevators start only if you insert the card, I didn't see any stairs next to elevators.
The bathrooms are innovative too.. There is no Left Hot, Right Cold water rules you need to remember .. Temperature setting is on the right and water flow control on the left.. simple and you need not remember "water rules" that change by state in US. In hotels, they solved a big problem of energy wastage. Guests usually leave the lights on when they go out. In Sweden, the lights come on only when you insert the access card. Since you need access card to go, the lights are automatically switched off when you take the card out
The cheapest car on the road is VOLVO - government subsidized. Offices have made lot of small improvements which are simple and innovative. First time I have seen bar stool computer desks. I was familiar with walkups but not "standups". How many times you run next cube for erasers, markers in offices. They solved the mysterious "missing markers/erasers" problem by making them magnetic. They all stick to the white board.. where they belong
The richest man in the world today lives 1 hour away from Gutenburg, IKEA founder. It's like brahmam gari sooktulu "wadla waadu bhoomini palinchunu". He started making furniture in the garage and now is the richest man leaving windows inventor Bill Gates & Walmart owners behind. If you want to be rich make real windows for people.. BlueTooth technology inventor is from Gutenberg.. The list goes on.. Astra, VOLVO, HasselBlad cameras, ASEA, computer mouse. Everything is so relevant to our everyday lives ..
I was so surprised to see everyone with "contended" and "not having issues" look. May be that's key to innovation. In Sweden, mind is doing what it is good at - innovation. We tend to give it a different job .. bring bread to the table .. pay that mortgage every month .. and cool it down with beer if it complains too much about "job satisfaction".
What amazed me the power of socialist economy. The income tax are at 60% to 70%. People give everything to Government and Goverment gives everything back .. The benefits' list goes on and on
> free health care - best in the world
> free schools (best schools afforded by any common man .. no private schools)
> 3 PCs per family provided by goverment
> 18 month paternal leave (for dads too..) per child. If you have 3 children, you can pretty much sit at home with full pay for 6 years at the brim of your career
The taxi driver was telling me that the benefits are so good that he can go to a doctor and complain that he has headache.. after 3 months again complain about eyes..
Obviously doctor will not be able to diagnose and finally puts him on the benefits program .. Life long pay worth $800 per month, free pass to ride taxis anywhere in the city .. paid apartment for life .. One of the managers at Gutenberg said "our definition of poor is not the one who can't afford food but the one who can't afford vacation" I don't think I will hear anything close to this in India in this century
In my own capacity, I tried to rationalize why the country was so advanced. Sweden is a peace loving country. They don't get into wars like we do .. The last war they fought was with Napoleon 200 years back .. World war I and II, Vietnam, India Pakistan, Gulf, Iraq wars have been just evening news to them all these years.
Overall I was lucky to visit "Land of midnight sun". I timed my watch during sunset.. It went down at 11:30PM and came back at 2:30AM. If I traveled 1000 kms north, people said I would see sun going round the horizon 24 hours a day for 6 months ..
Chinna
Jul 16, 2004
Crossover Generation
This is an effort to capture changes during 80s and 90s. I call our generation as crossover generation because I think it has seen most changes due to the IT boom in these two decades. I graduated in Elect. Engg. from Osmania University, Hyderabad India in 1984. After working for about five years in Hyderabad (then APSEB), I migrated to Detroit, US in pursuit of greener currencies.
We are typically reaching 40s, have 11 year olds and are deep into the jungles of married lives. We are just hearing rumblings of “uncle” now and then from kids, which I quickly ignore obviously. I don’t see myself aging (It’s like I am watching an aging train full of passengers go by, and I am not traveling in it). Enough of digressing, I am talking about some things which were real precious in 70s/80s are now commodities today.
Let me start with Hyderabad and things that were cool back then.
Luna/TVS 50/RajDhoot were in-things. Upgrade for Luna had springs for the rear seat and you can imagine the horse’s power in 50cc. The fuel pipe would almost fill the fuel tank. Does anybody remember the moped “Suwega” ? may be the name (Su-Wega) stood for good speed .. Colorful Chetaks with it's razor sharp edges were accessible to only newly-weds or someone who had access to foreign currency. Today you can trade your old car for a brand new two-wheeler. It has the power of all of the traded 4 wheels.
Maheshwari theatre was just inaugurated and biggest attraction was escalator. The escalator was meant for the highest class - one way only for the last few steps. After the show one has to walk down the regular steps like a pauper. Look at what happens today in Somajiguda’s Life Style mall, you hardly find stairs anywhere
Telephone was a rare commodity. The telephone number to PP number ratio (I don’t know what it stands) was running at 1:10 (could easily be one of the economic indexes). The whole apartment floor would give a number as PP number (neighbor’s number).
Let me digress, my friend’s dad was extremely generous to allow everyone in the street have his number as the PP number. One day it was raining heavily, there was no electricity and someone couple of streets away got a call. His dad finally convinced him to take an umbrella and asked him to inform the called person. My friend reluctantly (almost cursing his Dad and PP guy) walked to his house in darkness. After several knocks at the door, the PP guy opened the door, looked at the sky and said “can you ask him to call me tomorrow”. Nowadays people are talking on cell phones (while driving two-wheelers).
W.r.t IT developments back in early 80s, we saw glimpses of stacks of punched cards being carried by serious programmers in colleges. Keyboard/terminal was a rare sight.
In APSEB It was highly a hierarchical structure in computers. Only senior programmers would touch the keyboards, rest of us were asked to debug by marking COBOL code on print-outs and handover to senior programmers. They would enter the code and tell us next day whether the code ran OK. It was like performing archana in a temple handing over coconuts/flowers and waiting for prasadam back from chief archakas. In fact compute center was like a temple with all chappals near the door.
Most IT changes started in 1996 when Redwood Shores released Oracle
Version 7 & Forms 4. Thanks to stored procedures, event triggers and LOVs that magically brought bread onto the tables of many families here and abroad.
For pre-92 US families (F1 breeds) like ours, the biggest change was having family members / friends around. Social life is richer nowadays unlike early 90s. We don’t have to pleadingly look for potential desi friends in malls. I still have long distance bills (to India) charging $2.50 for the first minute and $1.80 for the rest. They used to compete head-on with the apartment rents. It was earth shattering when MCI announced $1.32 / minute during weekends. Prices have been falling ever since. Calling cards are taking back us into our living rooms back home. The only negative aspect of calling card is by the time you enter the toll-free and pin numbers, you tend to forget the name of the person you want to talk to. I just called Hyderabad @ 9c / min and bored the heck of my family members .. money does many things .. The first browser (Mozilla) I have seen was in 1994. Prior to that I was addicted to soc.culture.indian newsgroup following all the threads and infighting among newsgroup contributors. Slowly Mozilla morphed into rich browser, search engines, travel reservations, e-commerce, online trading, venture capitals, and incubators. Hundreds of start-ups slowly disappeared in the IPO bubble burst resulting in financial misfortunes to lot of our folks. Look at 5 years charts of any big tech company, they all look like a Grand Canyon mountain range that slowly peak and suddenly drop into a valley.
I don’t know what is in store for future, outsourcing & education. With most US universities having tie-ups in India, we will have the same experience as our parents did, see off kids pursuing higher studies at Detroit airport (instead of Hyderabad). With so many IT outsourcing initiatives, they may not come back at all. The generation that has initiated US migration (IT wise) might get stranded in US.
We are typically reaching 40s, have 11 year olds and are deep into the jungles of married lives. We are just hearing rumblings of “uncle” now and then from kids, which I quickly ignore obviously. I don’t see myself aging (It’s like I am watching an aging train full of passengers go by, and I am not traveling in it). Enough of digressing, I am talking about some things which were real precious in 70s/80s are now commodities today.
Let me start with Hyderabad and things that were cool back then.
Luna/TVS 50/RajDhoot were in-things. Upgrade for Luna had springs for the rear seat and you can imagine the horse’s power in 50cc. The fuel pipe would almost fill the fuel tank. Does anybody remember the moped “Suwega” ? may be the name (Su-Wega) stood for good speed .. Colorful Chetaks with it's razor sharp edges were accessible to only newly-weds or someone who had access to foreign currency. Today you can trade your old car for a brand new two-wheeler. It has the power of all of the traded 4 wheels.
Maheshwari theatre was just inaugurated and biggest attraction was escalator. The escalator was meant for the highest class - one way only for the last few steps. After the show one has to walk down the regular steps like a pauper. Look at what happens today in Somajiguda’s Life Style mall, you hardly find stairs anywhere
Telephone was a rare commodity. The telephone number to PP number ratio (I don’t know what it stands) was running at 1:10 (could easily be one of the economic indexes). The whole apartment floor would give a number as PP number (neighbor’s number).
Let me digress, my friend’s dad was extremely generous to allow everyone in the street have his number as the PP number. One day it was raining heavily, there was no electricity and someone couple of streets away got a call. His dad finally convinced him to take an umbrella and asked him to inform the called person. My friend reluctantly (almost cursing his Dad and PP guy) walked to his house in darkness. After several knocks at the door, the PP guy opened the door, looked at the sky and said “can you ask him to call me tomorrow”. Nowadays people are talking on cell phones (while driving two-wheelers).
W.r.t IT developments back in early 80s, we saw glimpses of stacks of punched cards being carried by serious programmers in colleges. Keyboard/terminal was a rare sight.
In APSEB It was highly a hierarchical structure in computers. Only senior programmers would touch the keyboards, rest of us were asked to debug by marking COBOL code on print-outs and handover to senior programmers. They would enter the code and tell us next day whether the code ran OK. It was like performing archana in a temple handing over coconuts/flowers and waiting for prasadam back from chief archakas. In fact compute center was like a temple with all chappals near the door.
Most IT changes started in 1996 when Redwood Shores released Oracle
Version 7 & Forms 4. Thanks to stored procedures, event triggers and LOVs that magically brought bread onto the tables of many families here and abroad.
For pre-92 US families (F1 breeds) like ours, the biggest change was having family members / friends around. Social life is richer nowadays unlike early 90s. We don’t have to pleadingly look for potential desi friends in malls. I still have long distance bills (to India) charging $2.50 for the first minute and $1.80 for the rest. They used to compete head-on with the apartment rents. It was earth shattering when MCI announced $1.32 / minute during weekends. Prices have been falling ever since. Calling cards are taking back us into our living rooms back home. The only negative aspect of calling card is by the time you enter the toll-free and pin numbers, you tend to forget the name of the person you want to talk to. I just called Hyderabad @ 9c / min and bored the heck of my family members .. money does many things .. The first browser (Mozilla) I have seen was in 1994. Prior to that I was addicted to soc.culture.indian newsgroup following all the threads and infighting among newsgroup contributors. Slowly Mozilla morphed into rich browser, search engines, travel reservations, e-commerce, online trading, venture capitals, and incubators. Hundreds of start-ups slowly disappeared in the IPO bubble burst resulting in financial misfortunes to lot of our folks. Look at 5 years charts of any big tech company, they all look like a Grand Canyon mountain range that slowly peak and suddenly drop into a valley.
I don’t know what is in store for future, outsourcing & education. With most US universities having tie-ups in India, we will have the same experience as our parents did, see off kids pursuing higher studies at Detroit airport (instead of Hyderabad). With so many IT outsourcing initiatives, they may not come back at all. The generation that has initiated US migration (IT wise) might get stranded in US.
Oct 30, 2002
Venkat Aekka's quotes (2007 AD)
- There might have been a woman behind man's success..there is definitely one behind his failures
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket.. but my lifetime savings translate to only one egg .. I move the same egg between baskets
- I would rather die but dye
- In marriage, you need to earn respect..If you ask for some midstream..you will loose whatever you have earned ..
- If you don't have plans to spend your lifetime savings ..the unspent monies will end up as numbers in your account ..
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