2013 - With new year comes new Resolutions !!

First, let me wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year !!

Given below are some of the resolutions I plan to abide by in this new year.  I'm not sure how long will I take to achieve any or all of them , goal is to get it perfected around 2 months from now !

1. Wake up early by 6 AM - Well, I've been practicing waking up early (than usual) for the past few days (usually i wake around 7 - 8AM most days , including holidays), and I've found  that the quiet time you get alone in the morning is totally worth the hassle.  And moreover, if this article is any indication, then, most successful people are early risers.  It also gives me sometime to read up on any interesting tech, or explore more on the ideas I might have.

2. Exercise daily for at-least 15 mins - I've been practicing this as well since the past few days.  I've to admit, this adds a huge amount of difference to how positive you are when you start your day.  I have not been lifting weights, but just simple push ups and ab exercises.  Even the small 15 mins duration, helps me boost my self confidence and makes me cheerful at the beginning of the day.  In my opinion, starting a day on a cheerful note does increase your productivity in that day.

3. Join a Gym and work out for at-least 4 days in a week - Now, this is something I've been putting off since a long time.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but seems that I'm too afraid that I'm gonna fail at this. And whenever I make up my mind to enroll, something at the back of my mind tells me not to, and pulls me back. But, with winter around, and chances of going for running/walking are at an all time low, hitting the gym is a must to stay fit.

4. Blog twice a week - This is basically to improve my writing skills as well as bring some thoughts out of me in a creative way.  Not that my English is bad, but I feel I've lot of room for improvisation, especially when it comes to articulating my thoughts/ideas in a creative and simple manner. Also, being a techie, one of the most important aspects of my job is to explain to the non-techies in a way they understand.

5. Avoid unhealthy food - Note that I've written 'Avoid', not 'Stop'.  My goal is to avoid eating junk whenever / where ever I can.  For ex: If I've a bowl of fruits / veggies vs a fried snack, guess what would I pick ? Hope you get the idea.  Indulging once in a while is no issue, but I don't want to gorge only on unhealthy food all the time, especially when I have an alternative.

Anyway, that's about it.  Would love to revisit next year and see how many of the above I got to meet !

Taxonomy of the manager species !

Here's a brief list of the kind of managers I've got the opportunity to work for in my career so far:

1. Control Freak - Thinks he owns you.  Controls every minute detail of your work.  Would throw a tantrum if you don't include him in emails.  Will cause a ruckus if you spring a surprise at him, always wants to be the one in control and hates anyone who challenges his authority.  You can grow as long as you don't threaten his position.

2. The Dude - He still thinks he's in his twenties.  Makes lewd jokes and remarks about fellow colleagues.  Discusses the latest pop videos , movies, rock concerts to show he's one in the gang.  Tries too hard to impress everyone and takes everything as a joke.  Believes in team work.  If you are under one of these "Dude's" find the nearest exit and bail out.  Unless you like splitting tab for the beer at TGIF !

3. The "Delegator" -  Believes everyone knows their job. Gives little guidance or support to the team.  His way of conflict management is to make everyone shake hands with each other. Does little team management.  Acknowledges your existence once in a while (mostly when you put down your papers).  Believes that his job ends at delegation and collecting status reports.  You learn the art of ownership under such people, but he'll do little to take your career forward.

4. The "Wannabe" -  This is by far the worst kind.  Runs his team on the principles laid down by "Philip Kotler" , and quotes frequently from popular "self help" books.  Always on a high of meeting deadlines and always on one toe trying to get things to perfection.  Believes in the company values, would sell his liver if the bosses ask and expects to get the corner office by hook or crook.  Will try everything in his capacity to achieve his goals.  Easy to spot - they come in formals , keep using words like 'in the loop', 'synergize' etc, usually the first to come to office and the last to leave.  Can be seen hanging around on weekends as well, if you dare to step in.  These are another bunch to avoid !

PS: Just my opinion, not intended to offend anybody !!

Melancholy ....

Some days are just off, you just wonder how to pass the time and indulge yourself in random activities.  The activities themselves don't have to bear any meaning for you, you just do something as if your mind is stuck in a cycle of indecision and laziness.  And, before you know - BAM ! Its 2 AM in the morning and you are still staring at your computer monitor ! Where the time flew ? 'Ah life sucks !', you declare and continue staring, randomly browsing, munching away that unhealthy snack that kills you a little every single day, and again make another resolution (in vain). to change yourself and upgrade your life first thing the next morning.

The cycle of melancholy that seeps into your life every once in a while, is a cruel master.  It makes you its slave. It eats away any form of energy you would have.  It engulfs your mind, clouds your judgement, pulls you back into boring and lifeless routine activities. It prevents you from accomplishing anything, and makes you surrender yourself involuntarily to it.  But from time to time, it does ensure that you remind yourself how of miserable you are as a person and while you do it laughs and jeers at you.

Yet, it happens to all of us, happens to the best of us, happens to the worst of us, and almost anybody who fits the description of a mortal human being.  Melancholy is perhaps one of the constants of life, like change.  It cannot be avoided, it cannot be planned for.  Its always lurking in the corner, sneering, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce on you at a time when you least expect it.  And when it does arrive, it saps at your motivation and slowly gnaws its teeth at your character.  

The only escape from its dark, cold and foreboding touch, that I know of , is to wait.  Simply wait until it settles away, don't try too hard to push it.  It begs you to do it, it derives pleasure as you try to shake it off from you.  It laughs at your efforts on curing yourself.  It loves a fight as it knows its gonna win at the end.  So, instead, make it your friend.  You don't need to necessarily like it.  Treat it as one of those friends / relatives who you have to shake hands with once a year at the family gathering.  You hate it, but you have to deal with it and move on.  Just wait for the unpleasantness to get over, and then slowly, collect back what's left of yourself and surge past it.  Melancholy hurts, just minimize the damage you allow it to do on you.

(link for the image : http://www.phocabulary.com/melancholy)

Intellectual property use / abuse ?

I find that, in recent times, one of the most abused area in tech business, to make a quick buck is Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).  Not a day goes by without reading some tech company suing some other company over some insignificant piece of design, which I honestly doubt the creators would've even stolen consciously ! From protecting ownership, this IP has become more of a tool for cash-strapped companies to make a quick buck.  You know , kind of , legal extortion ! I feel as if this IPR, while on one hand protects the rights of ownership for the individual, is stifling creativity and innovation.
       Lets take the simple example of touch screen phones.  Now, Apple invaded the mobile phone market around 5 years back with its iphone 2G, and changed the landscape forever.  Not only did it bring up a barrage of copycats, it also, brought with it a slew of lawsuits, with every company suing every other company.   So, how do the other companies escape the charge , if they can't afford the royalty ? They just have to re-do everything from scratch.  You already have this touch screen technology here, but instead of building upon it and improving it, most other companies are spending so much of resources on just re-inventing the same thing, albeit with some minor difference ! Google has a search algorithm which gives excellent results, but can MS improve on that ? Or can anyone improve on that ? NO !  MS has an in-house group spending millions of dollars to do the same thing which google has already accomplished ! Why ? Because the algorthm is an IP of Google.  You either cough up millions of dollars in royalty, or make your own thing from scratch.
     Now, please dont mistake me here.  I'm not saying its right to steal the hardwork of others.  But, I wonder, if our progress will be the same, if we start restricting sharing of knowledge using tools like IP and copyright ? What if Newton had patented the 3 basic laws of physics or if Alexander fleming had patented penicillin ? Would the world have been the same ? Netwton wasn't wrong when he said, "If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of giants", I wonder, can anyone else in this day and age, dare make such a statement ? Well, they can't if they do, the giants will sue them to eternity.
     Although it seems more like a hope as of now, I wish these tech companies learn to live together and still go in for a healthy competition and not sue one other over crazy insignificant IPs.  It doesn't help the industry as a whole, and can only make it stagnant instead of taking it forward. Here's to hoping for a healthy competition .... signing off for now .... catch you in some time :)

Oh Well....I got promoted !!

YAY !!

Got promoted to Senior Engineer.  Nice happy occasion.  It was quite some time since I had been promoted - maybe 3 years I guess.  Spoke to some of my family members, but I had to sugarcoat my new role - you know, Senior Engineer in India, is a post, you get after 2 years into the job.  Not after 8 years.  Funny how much difference the cultures make.

Anyway, this is good news for a many reasons.  First, I don't need to worry about the next promotion for atleast another couple of years.  So , it means, I can just focus on my job, and not worry about impressing anyone.   Second, I don't need to work my ass off pulling 16 hour work days.  Working for 10 hours as I do generally and pulling in a late night whenever the work demands should suffice.  Its really refreshing to get out of the rat race and finally be able to do what I want.  Which is write good programs, learn some interesting stuff on directx, learn some basic photography with my DSLR, and get to explore this country I'm living in currently - Korea.  Not to mention , spend more time with my wife and daughter along the way :)

Oh by the way, I plan to shift this blog wordpress from blogspot in sometime.  Still figuring things out on how to use Wordpress.  The main reason of the shift is the wordpress support on android and well, I see that its much more robust than blogger.  Only downer is that it doesn't allow me to post google ads.  Not that, I've too many readers here who would make me rich.  Are there ? lol !  Also, another idea is to keep this blog as it is, and have another blog in wordpress to talk mostly about my technical ramblings.  Let me see how it all works out.

Anyway, signing off for now....good night !

Why India is 'Startup starved' ? A theory !

More often that not we hear grandiose stories from silicon valley of how a acne covered geek working in his grandmother's basement found the solution to that 'obvious' problem which everyone overlooked and eventually made millions. And stories like facebook time and again prove that the 'American dream' very much exists even today in US. But while in our own silicon valley - Bangalore, the story is almost the converse. We have very few tech heroes like mark zukerberg, the last known public figure of rags to tech riches is the now retired ex chairman of India's 3rd largest 'services' company - 'NR Narayana Murthy'. Even after NRN founded infosys some 25 years ago, hardly are there 25 such companies to boast of in the 'silicon valley of India'. I wonder why. A little bit of idle browsing and talking to peers and colleagues in the industry, I feel partly, India's age old social structure and cultural principles have a significant contribution.

Let me explain.

1. In India, social obligations are way too high compared to the west. For ex: An average American has to play the role of a husband, a father perhaps and then a good worker. Its quite manageable. Compare that to an average Indian. He has to be a good father, husband, brother, newphew, grandson and whatnot while balancing his work life.  There are some families I know of where one person feeds everyone from grandfather to his kid brother.  One single guy.  I can only imagine how stressful would it be for that poor soul to just juggle so many relationships, while balancing his career.  Where is the time to think beyond the box ? 

2. In the west, a techie studying in college, has little or no obligations to his family, other than to perhaps pass the course if his father paid for his tuitions. In India, not only has the son / daughter need to pass with "flying colors", he needs to provide support for his family, clear his father's debts, secure money for his sis' marriage, ensure enough bank balance is present to fund is little bro's college fees etc etc. And believe me, I'm not talking about a very far fetched scenario. Many of my friends who passed out of college, have done all these. So the risk taking attitude in Indian students is way too less compared to their counterparts in the west.  I mean, how am I supposed to think of "denying" that high paying job from an "IT services" company, when my dad is neck deep in loans because of me ? The guilt of "wasting" their parents hard earned money is way too high among Indian students if they don't end up getting into a proper company after their course ends.  Starting a company is something that's only in the movies or for some rich kids is the general perception among the middle class.

3. In the west, a working techie has little responsibilities.  If,  overnight he gets an idea which he finds worth 'entrepreneuring' on, he just can pool his savings so far and start right away. In India, we are expected to save for ourselves, our kid's marriages, college education, buying a house, a car so on and so forth. We need to ensure that not only our future is "safe",  but also that our kids get into good colleges, get married and have their own kids.  The responsibility just doesn't end till they are 18, you need to ensure your kids have a spouse and job too.  Basically it means, we just don't have the right to spend what we earn. And to think of investing all that in a 'startup' ? The person should be nuts.

4. Its ok not to get married in the west. Nobody raises eyebrows, or make you a social outcast.  Complete opposite in India, and this plays a significant role in shaping your career. In India, its pretty tough to be belonging to middle class and not be married if you are beyond 30. Almost everyone will be breathing down your neck forcing you to tie the knot. And two years down the line, you "should" have a kid and buy a house. You are left with very little time for experimenting with your life, making mistakes or failing which is more often than not what happens with most start ups. The room for error is very less, so most people just tend to take the easy risk free path of 'employment'.  Like the quote from 'The Wire' - "you can't lose if you don't play".

Having said all the above, I don't mean to say that India cannot produce entrepreneurs. Its just that the social and cultural aspects of our society has quite an impact on our youth in shaping their thinking. Very few have the courage the break these social barriers and emerge successful.  These are the guys about whom we read in books and newspapers. Unfortunately such numbers are far and few in between. Here's to hoping more such success stories happen in 'India's silicon valley'. Signing off for now....catch you later !

Random Tidbits

Hello random reader, there's no power in my house, so having nothing better to do than ramble on random topics.
Games:
I've almost completed 'The Witcher'. I'm in the epilogue fight with this creature called 'Zogyl' and stuck there. The game has turned out to be a lot more tougher than I had anticipated, especially after chapter V. Taking down the human enemies is pretty easy, but there're hardly any, and most of the enemies from Chapter V are mutants or monsters. And they sting and hit fast, and geralt stands like a mute spectator. Ah, so much for levelling up and being a badass witcher ! Anyway, the story is pretty average, but the gameplay is what's keeping me from leaving this game. Also, the lore is pretty awesome. You actually feel like you are living in those times, the towns are designed beautifully and the NPC walking on the streets make some interesting remarks. Anyway, more in the upcoming review once I complete the game.
Movies:
I hardly watched anything new these days. Last I watched was 'Shutter Island'. Its quite good, but nothing fantastic. A bit over-rated I would say. I wanted to watch 'Peepli Live' so much, but I just can't get time. There's still a whole big hollywood backlog - 'The Losers', 'The expendables', 'A-Team', 'Prince of Persia' , thats just from the top of the list. If I start adding the inconspicous and criticially acclaimed but not mass marketed movies, it'll continue to grow.
Other stuff:
I've started driving by Car to my office, which means, no more soaking in Bangalore rain. It adds the additional burden of having to sit through traffic jams for hours, compared to a two-wheeler. In a two wheeler, you could just zip/zap/zoom and cut across most 4 wheelers, mocking them, sniggering as you squeeze to the front. In a car, you sit and curse at the two wheeler who just whizzed past you ! But overall, I would prefer a Car on a rainy day over a two wheeler. It has also helped me keep up with some of the latest bollywood/kannada songs.
Inception Review:
I've been waiting for Inception 6-8 months before the movie released in India. Christopher Nolan is one of the most talented directors out there (watch memento) and a new sci-fi big budget , DiCaprio starring movie , what could go wrong ? And indeed its true. There's nothing wrong with the movie. Its as perfect a sci fi movie can get.
The premise of the movie is a bit 'above the head'. DiCaprio specializes in a rare skill, which has him enter people's mind, hacking their dreams and stealing their secrets for his employers. One of his vicitims offers him a new job - 'inception', which is basically the opposite of the what DiCaprio does - planting an idea into someone's mind. And what follows is a maze of brilliant CGI imagery, psychological games, some amazing stunts, car chases and what not. You can think of the wildest possible idea, and the movie gets wierder than that. Insipte of its complicated plot , the movie holds your attention, mainly because of the excellent narration. You sit on the edge of your seat, waiting to see how the movie unfolds as you are transported into the surreal world of dreams. I literally shouted 'shit' when the cinemas halted the movie for an interval.
DiCaprio walks away with the acting honors in the role of a 'psychological spy' with a troubled past. Overall the hero of the movie is the script and of course - 'Christopher Nolan' for daring to attempt such a movie and walking away with applause. Its pretty difficult to make a movie like this, more than the CGI stunts, its hard to get the concepts across to an audience. And Nolan succeeds very well in this regard.
I would rate the movie - 9.5/10. The 0.5 deducted for not providing a proper closure confusing the audience. Go and watch the movie if you like immersing yourself in a surreal world for a couple of hours. Good chances are you are gonna ask yourself at the end of it - 'Is this a dream?'

Oh, the power is back....so see you later. Let me go slay that big monster in 'The Witcher', and you go back to whatever you are doing. See ya....

2010 Reboot

Alright folks, time to get this blog out of hibernation :)
Let me begin this reboot by what I plan to do with my free time in the upcoming second half of this year:
1. Try to complete my video game backlog.
2. Start a mini-project of my own.
3. Learn a new software.
4. Update this blog regularly and give it some sort of personality !
Let me talk about point 1 today, more on the other topics, in the coming days :)

Video game backlog
My video game backlog is at an all time high, thanks to my personal/professional life. Work at office is way too demanding and deadlines are tighter than ever! Combine that with the day-day tasks of running a family, well, I've very little time for video games. But this is my passion, and my hobby, and I hate to see it die. So I'm planning to spend at least an hour on weekdays and two on weekends.

So here's a quick rundown of the games I plan to complete in the coming days:

1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Alan Wake
3. Dragon Age: origins
4. Final Fantasy XIII

I give the above games 2 months of completion date. The main problem with the above list is the inclusion of 2 mega behemoth RPGs (that's "role playing games" for you non-gaming freaks). And there's also the release of Mafia II looming ahead. But somehow I plan to squeeze this in my daily schedule and complete the above games. I've started with RDR currently, let us see how well the plan works out. The biggest spoilsport and the spanner in the works seems to be the power cut. Today there was no power for like 4 hours. But then, whats the fun in achieving a target without any roadblock eh ?