We are the champions!!!

Come on you Reds,
Come on you Reds,
Just drop the bottle and use your heads,
For 90min we'll let them know,
Who's ManUtd - here we go !!!













And that's exactly what happened yesterday at the Millenium Stadium,Cardiff !! ManUtd won the Carling Cup Final against Wigan Athletic by a whopping margin : 4-0 !! with goals from Rooney(2), Saha(1) and Ronaldo(1) !!! It was an absolute battering for Wigan who had already done themselves proud by reaching the final.

Anywayz, it's time for celebration for die-hard United fans like me !! I know the Carling Cup is nothing great but atleast we've salvaged something from this season. And it's the first cup we're winning in two years!!! YEAAAHHHOOO-YIPPPEEEEEE!!! And hopefully, it's the start of a great era where we go on and win everything in the years to come. Here are some more pics...

99 cents well spent

wow....i just had to post this even though I'm late for football practice. I just got this piece of info from Google News.

Ever heard of Mr. Alex Ostrovsky?
(No??? Damn....Where have u been all these years?????)

LoL..i'm just kiddin. He isn't anyone famous but he's just become very famous in the last 24hours.
Well, you might ask - what did he do to suddenly become so famous?

Ok. All he did was pay 99 cents to download "Speed of Sound," a song on the Coldplay album "X&Y," from the iTunes Music Store, the Internet music shop by Apple started less than three years ago.

He did not know it, but it was the billionth song the site had sold, and Apple was not about to let that go unnoticed.

So at 12:45 a.m., Mr. Ostrovsky's phone rang. It was an Apple employee, telling him that in addition to the song, Apple was giving him a 20-inch iMac, 10 iPods and a $10,000 gift card for the iTunes store. It is even establishing a scholarship at the Juilliard School in his name!!

God! how lucky can an old man like Mr.Ostrovsky get??

Did i say old?
If i did, sorry, and get this --> Mr.Ostrovky is just 16 YEARS OLD!!!!

Phew..talk about getting lucky. And by the way, Apple sure knows how to reward its customers.

Corporate skills and MAFIA

Working in an internal RnD project (we call it MIST here- MindTree Incubated Showcase Tech) has its advantages. You get to meet and interact with prospective clients or partners who are (or atleast seem) interested in adopting your techno. We've been demo-ing our Digital-PVR tech (I'm proud of it!) to people from Logitech, TI, AMD, etc. Today afternoon we had to show a demo to a team from Philips. All the demoes usually follow the same script - The team from our company tries to impress the outsider using lottsa tech jargon, making it seem larger than life. ( wait a sec, isn't it? ;-0 ) The client alwayz puts on a bored face having the 'yea-yea-sowhatzthebigdeal-you-bozoes' look. And then he/she asks some totally irrelevant question which throws everyone off track. Or if it's a prospective tech-partner, they can't help but show off their tech-database too, so they try and ask some absolute-bull-tech doubt!! I've even purposely given them the "Are-you-that-stupid-dude?" look. I know you're supposed to flatter these people, cos else your company loses prospective clients (read cash) but God! there's a limit to everything right?! (No, I'm not an Airtel Lifetime Validity sim- card owner either!)

Anywayz, today's demo went off damn well. Reason? We had our domain's Business Analyst with us. You have to hand it to these guys, they can bullshit about anything and everything, and do it very well too. Even without knowing half of what actually happens, they can convince the client to believe what they say, using choice words. They do their job much better than the Tech-leads who goes "umm..yeaa..hmm..well we..duh" boring the client to sleep.
It's something you gradually learn in life - Having the "street-smart" skills to make people believe what you say is very important. VERY. It's more effective to have the ability "to think on your feet" rather than have like 10 prof. degrees under your belt and still not be able to make people believe you. To be able to sell toothpaste to a person with no teeth; now that's how good you gotta aim to be.

This reminds me of a game I've started playing recently - MAFIA !!!!! (Thankyou Sibin,Kutty,Gaurav for introducing me to dis rad game!!) We play it every afternoon during lunchtime - about 10 to 15 of us. It's basically a battle of wits where you have innocent (villagers) and evil (mafia) players. And a couple of other roles as well such as the cop,disabler,doctor, village idiot etc. The game is run by the narrator or God. Anyway, the game proceeds in such a way that the villagers try and find out who are the mafia among them and vote them out. The mafia in turn try and vote out innocent players without revealing their indentity. The game is won by the villagers when all the mafia have been identified and voted out, else by the mafia when they are in greater majority.
I can't explain everything about the game cos i'll need like 2-3 pages, so for more info abt the game go here

It's a great game simply because the underlying concept is similar to what i had said earlier.The trick is to be able to bluff well and convince other people to believe what you say, cos basically every player is suspicious of each other. It's just not what you say that is important. Mannerisms and body-language matter too.

"You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll get the chance to put the knife in."

The ability to think smart. And fast. And lie blatantly if needed. These are skills required in the Corporate world. And in the real world too right?

Until next time guys, sharpen your C-skills (not the ANSI kind, though that doesn't hurt) and stay alert.
Meanwhile, let me go back to playing Mafia with my mates :-)

Bangalore's Couples! You're being watched!

Roaming through Garuda Mall yesterday with my sis and bro-in-law, I couldn't help but notice so many couples walking around as usual. Hmmmm... .... ... ...(no! that was not a sigh due to the fact I'm single,) in fact, I made up my mind on the spot to categorize the various types of cupid-struck couples that i saw. Here's what i came up with -->

1. The most common type - The "sensible" type -> Here's my fav kind actually. They are the pairs that walk around with hands tightly clasped together, laughing and having a good time. They are totally free and are out on care-free date! dats it! Hmm..love it!

2. The next type - I'd call them the "break-up-any-minute" type. Though they walk together, their hearts are as far apart as the North and South poles. Their faces are always in opposite directions, scanning every 'opposite-sexed' human walking by. Hahaa..really funny to watch them, its like their faces throw out an SOS cry - Save me from this guy/gal!! lol.

3. The 3rd type - The "quiet lovey-dovey" type. They're just lost in a world of their own, floating i guess on love-skates instead of actually walking. Man! U could get a complex just watchin them. Most of them are in the 'shoulder-waist' lock where the guy's arm is around the girl's shoulder and the girl's arm is locked around his waist. Very romantic dude. My type? I'm not so sure about that.

4. The "We wanna show the www (whole-wide-world) that we're in love" type. Hahahaaa...makes me laugh just sayin it! They do everything possible to show to everyone standing in a 150-m radius around them, that they're crazzy bout each other! Ok Ok..we get the picture... no no nooo!! There's just no stopping them! a few words that are heard by eavesdroppers who just can't help but overhear cos these ppl just wanna be heard--my sweetie-pie, my honeycombs, my darling, my sugar, my sugar-candy, my sugar-coated bun, my knight, my princess,.....makes me wanna say my Lord - Save me!

5. The "super-dependant female" type. Weird. Yet Funny. The guy walks around with a pompous self-satisfied look on his face. The gal is clinging on to the guy as if to say "If i let go of you, I'll dis-integrate into a million sub-atomic particles!!" Hehehe....very funny i must say. Makes the guy feel all bloated up. Or does the girl do this on purpose. Hmm..I wonder.

Well, that's that. 5 broad categories. I think it could still be divided further based on looks, clothing, etc ;-) but that's not needed right? Enuff is Enuff. Say what we may, but we defintely can't avoid them.

Bangalore's couples.

Plenty of food for thought.

Candy for the eyes too ;-)

SHE qualities

Today's travel to office was a drag. It took approx. 2.5 hours! (Believe that!) Not suprising actually, considering i had to travel all the way from Marathahalli to R.V.Post. And change 3 BTC buses.Aaarrrgh! Anywayz, the journey was not without incident. I got to witness a Live accident right in front of me when I was standing at SilkBoard Bus-Stop. This taxi driver (Indica) smashed right into a school bus at the traffic light. No guesses for who won- The bus obviously! The Indica got bashed in pretty badly. Anyway, the driver went crazzzzy and walked right up to the bus driver and proceeded to start a verbal and then later a physical quarrel. He knew it was his mistake, no doubts, he just couldn't wait to pick up a fight i guess.

Well, earlier, while i was walking to the Marathalli bus-stop, this guy walks up to me and asks me for 8Rs. At first, i didn't even throw him a second glance, and kept on walking. However, he called up again, "Please Boss, I'm not begging!!". Something in his voice made me stop. What do you call it? Unmistakable Sincerity?? I stopped, turned around and listened to him. He went on to say that he had lost his purse and needed exactly 8Rs. to get a bus to his house. He said he'd been asking people for the last half an hour but no-one was believing him. Something in his eyes made me believe him. Honesty?? I looked in my purse but didnt find any change, not even a 10! So i sadly had to tell him that i sincerely didn't have the money. I was even willing to get some change but there were no shops nearby and I really was late for office. So i told him not to worry, and that others walking that way would surely help him. The man had what i call "SHE" Qualities. Sincerity, Honesty, and (ok something i added to make a word outta it..) Earnestness. Not something all "shes" have, but something I would surely like my "she" to have though. ;-) That's a topic for another day though.

The sad part is, most people don't believe those who are sincerely in need. Reason? Being paranoid after hearing countless incidents about cheaters,thieves etc? Maybe. Or Just plain indifference? Likely.

Anyways, I stood waiting at that bus-stop for like 20 more minutes till i got my bus, and I could see that this man was keeping on asking people for help. In vain. I'd like to think that they didn't have change too and so couldn't help him. But somehow, I don't think so.

Is the grass actually greener?

It's been a few years now, i'm not really sure since when though, that I've been hearing the phrase - "The grass is always greener on the other side." Well, i'm sure all of you have heard it too. Hmm...however, (pushing my specs back up my nose bridge in slow motion) have you ever thought of how TRUE this rings in your life?

Ever since your childhood days when you were a lil gal/boy and were sitting bored doing school homework when your favourite cartoon show or rather WWE (WWF in those days) was on TV, haven't you sat and thought "Phew, i wish i were in college..I'll have soo much more freedom, be able to do anything i wanted when i wanted etc!". I bet u all have. I have too. Well then, lets fast-forward to like 5-7 years later where you're sitting in your college classroom having to listen to a boring Theory of Programming lecture, where the professor himself looks so sleepy that he could drop dead anytime, and you then think, "Man! Even school was better than this! College is sucha drag, not at all what i imagined it to be! Anywayz lemme just pass out and get a job and then i'll be set free..making my own money...and will be able to do anything i wanted with it!! That'll be ultimate".

True again na?
you're maybe right now thinking "aaahhh...yup i've thought about it that way when i was fed-up with all those assignments those Profs used to keep pouring down on us as if they were Gods giving us their showers of blessing!" If so, You're not alone, we're all there with you in d same boat.

Ok...fast forward again. Present day situ. Most of my batchmates and my friends are now sitting bored in their cubicles reading this blog.(Hey guys, wazzup??!! Juz wanted to say hi!) Okie, so now everyone is tied down with this "F**d-up software industry, where we have no life, only weekends which are just too short to enjoy."

So now what does an ever-postive-chap-workin-as-a-bloody-slave-for-an-IT-company do?
Again he thinks "Man..I want a job that's really kool and has loads of cash! Hm..Now who has a job like that?! I know.. a Manager!"
So what does he do? Runs along and buys the next CAT application form the same day!!
He decided to do an MBA!!

And again the cycle continues. Let's see. What's happening here folks?
This is the classic case of "What I have now is not good enough.That Life is better! I wanna live like that!"

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE.

It is. It exists everywhere.How else will you explain the average poor Indian saving money and getting a plane ticket to the US of A to live the "American dream" or even better, the mallu gets a passport with the help of his father-in-law's uncle's brother's grandfather's neighbour's help to go and make it big in Dubai, or in his own accent, "Thubai"! How else will you explain us Indians running off and drooling at the sights of the California beaches while the Californians themselves come and drool at our Kovalam or Marina beaches. The Chinese runs along and buys himself "Mumbai Chicken" while the Mumbayya himself loves "Shanghai Noodles".

It reminds of a Floyd song,

"Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
though down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever."

The song is aptly named "High Hopes". And that's exactly what it signifies of us insignificant humans, always in search of something we think is better, or rather, thinking of those 'good ol days', those same old days we used to curse when we were living them! Alwayz dreaming and having High Hopes of something better than the present day, instead of actually enjoying the present moment we have.

So what I think is best to do, is to totally enjoy and LIVE the moment instead of simply existing and then wishing you had something better. Cos that better day may never come, and today might the BEST day in your life. You've just wasted it away.

Like the white rapper Matt Mathers sez - "That's why I Seize the moment, try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it, cuz I consider these minutes Golden."

Consider EVERY moment of your life GOLDEN.
And OWN it and LIVE it.

Until next time...

Oh Staney Boy

Staney Boy went to a garden.
Staney Boy ate a banana.
Staney Boy drank milk.
Staney Boy put on his bunny shoes.
Staney Boy said "Is it"
Staney Boy asked a girl "Is it."
Staney Boy asked a boy "Is it"
Staney Boy went both ways.

This blog has been hacked.
Staney Boy.

[THIS AMAZINGLY STUPID AND SENSeLESS poem was posted by my project-mates Umang-poloolop-Saini and Rajat-Mr.SexyHair-Khanna, while i was away at another machine and had left my machine unlocked. Being a considerate team-mate and showing some appreciation at their wicked yet cant-help-but-laugh humour, I've decided to not delete this post. hehe..There you go guys!!]

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

The much-awaited footie tournament that me n my team-mates were looking forward to, ended in bitter dissapointment on day-2 itself. Instead of painfully recounting all the painful happenings..i've decided to post the toruney report itself that I made for the team. By the way, today is my sis's B'day too...so Happy B'day to ya chechi!!! :-) yea n yesterday was my dad's B'day actually, so happy belated B'day to you pops! :-) ok..enough of b'day greetings, guyz go on read d report itself ->

It was the Best of times; it was the Worst of times. Well, that was one way you could sum up MindTree Soccer Team's showing at the Genie Corporate 5ers tournament, which kicked off on Saturday, Feb 11th, at the HAL Sports Club. Both the MindTree teams (A & B) had been drafted into tough groups having some very good teams like Accenture BPO, ICICI, and Progeon. The MindTree Soccer Team’s kit colors comprised of bright Blue, Red and Yellow symbolizing MindTree’s own DNA of Imagination, Action and Joy.

MindTree Team-A started off their tournament challenge with their first match against Fidelity. Each game consisted of two 15-mins halves. The game was very tight and well-contested, but alas, in the end, the Fidelity team squeaked through with a 2-0 win. It was a similar tale for Team-B also in their opening match against Tawant which ended in the same scoreline. Though morales sagged initially, both teams quickly regained their spirits and were soon looking forward towards their next matches. Team-A's next match was against their group's top side, Accenture BPO, who had routed all other teams in their group. This made the MindTree team even more determined to perform well. And My-Oh-My! What a brilliant match we had! The match was literally fought tooth-and-nail from start to finish. Team-A shot into an early lead via an unstoppable shot from Sharath from an impossible angle. However, the Accenture team counter-attacked and equalized just before half-time and could have got even more had it not been for some superb defending from Vikash, Kumar and Om. In the 2nd half, Team-A again got their act together with great some great passing moves courtesy Vinod, Vivek and Santosh. And surely enough, MindTree surged into the lead again through Sharath to make it 2-1. Accenture laid siege on the MindTree goal but Team-A hung onto the lead with some exceptional goalkeeping from Goalie Som who seemed to have some kind of force-shield between the posts. That was how good he kept throughout the tournament and seriously deserved the Best Goalkeeper award if there were any on offer. Team-A won the match 2-1 and this was followed by wild celebration by the MindTree faithful who never stopped cheering their team from the sidelines. This kindled hope that MindTree Team-A could now make into the Pre-Quarters provided they won their remaining two matches against AOL and Aditi respectively. Alas, this did not happen due to a combination of avoidable mistakes at the back and also injuries to key players, and the absence of a few others who didn’t turn up. Team-A had been eliminated in the group stage itself. The news was a shock to one and all and took some time to sink in.

Matters were to get worse as even Team-B were eliminated from their group following losses to ICICI, Progeon, and Accenture IDC. However, a key point to be noted was that both teams gave it their absolute best even when the chips were down. This was especially shown in Team-B's match against Progeon, where down 0-4 at the break, Team-B absolutely battered the Progeon team in the 2nd half and even pulled back a goal through Patil. It was such a great display of courage and self-belief that it drew applause from onlookers and even their opposing team! The defense led by Bejoy, Mohit and Guru ran every blade of grass and tackled every ball that came their way. Midfielders Deepak, Kiran and Staney literally ran themselves into the ground. The forwards, Saikat, Das, and Patil tormented the opposing team's defense to no end. Goalkeepers Varun and Biplab also put on a very brave and brilliant showing.

If there was a prize for the most energetic and enthusiastic team, there would be no second guesses. It was undoubtedly the MindTree Soccer Team!! All the players put on a wonderful and fair display that would have made any MindTree Mind proud! Even our Cheering Squad led by our dear Guru was easily the best in the tournament, always backing and supporting the MindTree Team even when the going got tough. Alas, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Unfortunately the MindTree Soccer Team was not successful this time. However, a lot of important lessons were learnt watching the way other good teams like Infosys, HP etc played. This had made the MindTree Soccer team even more determined to practice harder and they vow to bring back the Cup at the tournament's next edition in June. Let's wish them All the Best!!

until next time... remember ->
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

keep doing your best all!

stan_da_man signing off...

I'm Coming back to you!!

wow....long time since i came here....its been like 3 months i guess. well, thats how i can be at times - partial state of hibernation or laziness in other words. ;-)
Well, i've decided to b more loyal from now on...leeetssszz zzzzeeeee....
Anywayz, d past 3 months have flown by pretty quickly... my sis got married last month. Had a whale of a time then..phew...2 weeeks @ tvm is a luxury yaar!!

Hey, btw, me went last Sunday for the Bryan Adams concert right here in B'lore!!! phewww..wat a peformer...wat a voice..was held spellbound at times. 2 GUD! anywayz, me n somu n shyam n sumesh..(wow that's 4Ss) were right up there in front...and were waiting in the queue since 4pm! we entered inside at 6:30...the Superfuzz Bigmuff (winners of d Campus Rock Idols 2005) played a gr8 opening act but i don't think they got the appreciation they deserved. or perhaps...the crowd was soo crazzy waitin for BA they cudnt accept anything lesser. Anywayz at about 7:45pm the man himself and his bands runs onto stage and blasts into 'room service'..amazing moment ddueeeeddeeee.....crazzy madness..heheee... he sang like 25 songs..gr8 unplugged versions too. well...that concert has re-ignited my tab-based guitar-learning drive!!! hehe...i've again started downloading tabs and learnin songs again...Heaven, Everything i do, All for love....

Anywayz, me posting some pics from d concert..check it out!

stan_da_man signing off..till next time hopin all u out thr remain on Cloud#9 4ver!