Former or the Later?

Dad used to give us a measly Rs. 20/- per month,
in that we were not only able to eat stomachs fill,
but we were able to save too!!!
Now we earn a sum of 20K, we have no idea
where it goes, let alone saving it!!
Which was better, the former or the latter???

6 subjects per year, 6 different teachers!
One project since we joined
and just one manager!!
Which was better, the former or the latter???

We used to make notes;
we used to study for ranks!!
Now we scan thru our mails;
we struggle for our ratings!!!
Which was better, the former or the latter???

We have still not forgotten the people
in the next section!!!
Now we don't even know who sits
in the next cubicle!!!
Which was better, the former or the latter???

After getting back from a tiring play,
we used to do our home work!!
Now who knows/cares about home;
all we do is just work!!!
Which was better, the former or the latter???

We knew our history and economics!!
Now let alone reading books,
we don't even catch up with the daily news!!!
Which was better, the former or the latter???

We had an aim in life;
behind our backs we had our teachers!!
Now we have no idea about the
future nor do we find any
one who would tell us anything!!!

These few lines that I found in the internet really took me back and made me think about it this early morning!

Three Months Chennai

"Life is a book, one who doesn't travel has read only one page of it."

I enjoy travelling . It all started from my 11th grade when I was put up in a residential school in Coimbatore, I started traveling. June 2006, I came to Chennai for a corporate training after completing my college. The training was for 3 months and I had to stay in my Aunt's house down in south Chennai near St. Thomas Mount.

This is the third time I had been to Chennai; first was on 1993, second trip on 2004 and the now in 2006. The moment I stepped in the soil of Chennai, I smelt the flavor (should I say so?) of electric trains. My Dad had already given me enough instructions as how to reach my aunt's house, "You'll reach Chennai Central, get out of the station and don't heed the voice of auto drivers. Keep walking straight until you find a subway, get in there and you will know how to get out. Once you're out you'll be heading directly into the entrance of "Park Station". Get yourself a ticket and climb over to the next platform, never try to step into the tracks to cross. (Shhh.. did I mention that I didn't use the over bridge to cross the platform?) Now, wait for the next train that goes to Tambaram .When in train watch out for station names where ever the train stops, also try to remember them. Don't forget to jump out of the train when you see the station named as St. Thomas Mount." This was more than enough for me and it took me to my aunt's house. Thanks Dad!

I took an auto from there to reach home. I knew that I am going to have a good stay there. God provided me with everything that I needed. (More than what I needed). Good church, a dynamic youth fellowship, happy family environment and many more. My training sessions were for about 4 hours 6 days a week and had to cover huge syllabus. In spite of all the studying part, it was the children who always kept me entertained all the time and refreshed my brain. This blog is dedicated to all the children who kept me going all my days in Chennai. Cheers!

Let me start from the eldest.

Keren, my niece. She is pretty and I love her so much. She has a good talent on crafting and keeps nibbling with things. She is also a pianist and has recently completed her 6th grade. She plays in the church too. The little one is Felicia.



Matthew, Keren's brother. He is an amazing guy who keeps track of all sports channels. Either be it cricket or football, he will have the latest scores and updates in his finger tips. Do I call him a "Cricket freak"?


Silas, my nephew. He is just another computer freak. He spends hours on computer games and is capable enough to find cheat codes from the internet. He is interested in trying out every possible thing in computers. "Did he crash it anytime?" No idea.



Sunil, Silas' brother. Scientist, philosopher a genius... what would I say about him? He is always silent and is immersed in deep thinking about how to solve problems in nuclear reactions and rocket science. He would become one, I'll bet.


Felicia, my little niece. All the days I were in chennai, she used to sit on my lap and play. An active pretty girl. The last time I saw her, she was speaking. She is obedient and is very good in taking care of her belongings.

Thank You Kiddos!

MyGirlFriend

Now a days I seem to spend most of my time with her. Yeah, she has become a part of my life in less than a year and always steals most of my time. She is not that pretty as other girls out there, but, she still suits the best for me. She is lovely, intelligent, she understands me and always try to coupe up with my speed. Her face is always bright, she has this habit of winking at me every time when I look directly into her beautiful eyes. Her lips, the rosy cheeks, sorry I cannot explain everything; she is mine! I am in love with her.

She always hangs around with me where ever I go, neither be it for the church nor for shopping, friends house, neighbors place, she is always there to accompany me. She has her own standards, style of making things happen and she helps me a lot in my work too. When I am in trouble, I always have her for my rescue. I can rely on her when I need things to be done as fast as possible. One special thing is, unlike other girls she doesn't take a long time to get ready. Give a word, 2 minutes - boom; she is ready.

She is always encouraging, a never give up heart. At times she feels to be on a hot stove when ever I start eating her brain for a long time, but she would never give up.

Wondering what her name is? I call her "Debbie" though her parents have named her as "IBM Think Pad". Yes, she is my laptop that I daily use and I am crazy about her.

Looking out for me? I'd rather say go and search a good "Debbie" for yourself.......unlike me!

Lift and Shift!

"Lift and Shift", this term is actually derived from the IT corporate world. It explains the process involved when US based projects are outsourced to various other cost-saving(cutting) countries like Brazil, China and yes, big time INDIA. India is considered to be the fast developing or outraging IT market for these kind of business. There are lot more involved before and after "lifting and shifting" the project, but I don't wanna screw up everybody by writing them down here.

"Lift and shift" does have a real hard impact in my life. It really meant what it should when I had to pass through such situation and experiences.

It was on a Saturday the 31st May 2008, long awaited weekend has finally come. I had several plans for the evening. We were three friends staying together in a rented a house at Hyderabad. The place where we stayed is called as Moti Nagar - a very bad place nearly 6 KM away from Hi-tech city. After completing our half night shift we were still in bed sleeping, knowing that we had nothing to do this day as it was weekend. We all had different plans for the evening, we decided upon the place where we could take dinner after going for a fabulous shopping spree. Yeah, our salaries were already credited and as usual, it doesn't stays there keeping quiet. Unexpectedly I heard a knock at the door. Now that I've been disturbed in sleep, felt very lazy to get up from the bed and open the door, so was waiting for some one else to open it. As usual none of my other two friends refused to move a single muscle. The lot fell in my name again.

I woke up, went to the main hall and opened the door only to find it was one of the broker assigned by our land lord waiting for something. He had come here early that morning (it was 11:30 AM in fact) to inquire when we were vacating the house? I was completely flummoxed. I woke my other friend Robin and here started our traumatic experience. Early in the month , we had told our land lord that we will not be paying the rent as we will be vacating the house by month end. He too agreed. We, being lazy guys, didn't put efforts to search for a new house in the place where we liked. The month is already over, we thought one of us will ring the land lord and get permission to stay in the house for one more month. We being too lazy didn't even bother to do even that. I knew the high risky step that we were going to take.

By this time our other room mate Abhilash woke up too. The broker was demanding us to vacate the house as soon as possible. Robin rang the land lord *now* and told him the situation of we not having found a house yet. He was least bothered to listen to us. The next thing he said really blew us. "New tenants are waiting in the downstairs, so please vacate". By this time we knew that there were no second chances except to vacate the house. Still, sheer try again, we called up and asked for one more day extension and promised him that we'll vacate the next day, Sunday. There was a green light.

This broker guy offered to help giving some contact nos from whom we could find a house easily in the place of our preference. After he left, we sat down and were looking each others face for quiet sometime without uttering even a single word. We all knew deep in our hearts that we will be without a roof this evening. All our plans for the evening were shattered too. How sad!
We were ready within no time to start our house hunt. I really didn't know where in the heavens we will get a house in one single day.

Abhilash had his bike, Robin joined him and I was left alone. We agreed to go in real opposite directions for the house hunt. I came down to Secunderabad by bus and that almost took 2 hours. The broker whom I already knew has shut his shop and had left for the day. All my hopes were gone, I still roamed for about 3-4 hours and didn't find a single house. By this time, Robin had found one but was not satisfied. He called me up to say that we can have this for emergency. Having found any, I returned back home and reached by 11:45PM. Robin and Abhilash were busy packing their things. There was supposed to be our last day under a roof.

We packed all our things by 3:30 Am Sunday and were ready to vacate but, didn't have a place to go. I was not much worried but still had some hopes down in my heart. We again planed to search until afternoon then get back home on either successful or unsuccessful status. We took the same directions as yesterday, the only difference is we were out for the hunt by 7:30 AM. Which also means, we haven't had enough sleep.

I prayed that we might get a good house and I strongly believed in it. I reached Secunderabad even before the broker opened his shop. The moment I said that we need a house right now, he started looking at me up and down. But I explained the problem clearly, now he was willing to help me. He showed me couple of houses but they were worth less. He then took me to a different broker. This new-broker was polite, he also spoke good english. Now I knew and hoped that we already got a house. He said it is little expensive but he would negotiate with the land lady on behalf of us. I said OK.

I was riding behind him on his bike and he was taking us exactly to the place where we were desperately looking for. It was 1:20 PM. The moment he showed the house, I jumped in joy! My heart was overfilled with happiness on having found a good independent house. The land lady was sweet too. I couldn't wait to callup Robin and tell him that we found a house in the place where we liked. He had to travel another 45 minutes to reach this place, until then I was jumping and dancing on the road out of immence JOY.

I had one more work pending. I was supposed to take the Bible study on James the same evening and I haven't prepared much. Robin and Abhilash reached by 2:45PM , we payed the advance, had our lunch and left for the old house by 3:30PM to bring back our things. We finally hired a mini-auto by 4:45 PM, loaded our things and waved bye bye to Motinagar by 5:20 PM.
On the way back, sitting besides the driver in the auto, I opened my Bible and prepared for the Bible Study.

We reached our new home by 6:10 PM and I rushed for the study which was scheduled at 6:30 PM. The Bible Study went well, later as I kept meditating on James, as it dealt directly on how to live our day-to-day life, I was able to relate many things from my life and it helped me to a greater extent.

I was back at home by 9:00PM and we all went for dinner. We were happy about the new house, it was nearer to my Church too. I thanked the Lord with a grateful heart. He proved himself faithful again.

Computer world! But whose?

Two big software giants, one huge market, they seem not to mind each other but there is really a wild competition within. The way they rule the world by the products they develop is really amazing. Yeah, it is Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Both have their own "Operating System" OS, commercially available for the consumer world, OS X (Macintosh) and Windows respectively.
Which is greater, efficient, robust, secure, fast and stable? It is not that easy to validate them on all these aspects.

IBM, I would say "The Father of all" was first to manufacture personal computers(initially the "microcomputer", built with Intel 8088 microprocessor) branded as "IBM PC" . It wanted an operating system under its hood to make it fully functional. In 1980, IBM approached Microsoft CEO Bill Gates (possibly believing that Microsoft owned CP/M "Control Program / (for) Microcomputers" due to the Microsoft Softcopy, which allowed CP/M to run on an Apple II). But it was actually owned by a company called Digital Research. IBM was sent to Digital Research, and a meeting was set up. However, the initial negotiations for the use of CP/M broke down—Digital Research wished to sell CP/M on a royalty basis.

IBM came back to Microsoft again, by this time Microsoft purchased 86-DOS initially known as qDOS ( Quick and Dirty Operating System) from Seattle Computer Company which developed a variant of CP/M.) allegedly for $50,000 and called it as MS-DOS. This was re-branded as IBM PC DOS to run on IBM PCs (in fact IBM licensed it in no time) but, Microsoft kept developing MS-DOS within and distributed them to other IBM PC compatibles.

Believe me, there were 'n' number of other DOS distributions too. "PC-DOS, DR-DOS, Novell DOS, OpenDOS, FreeDOS, FreeDOS 32, GNU/DOS, PTS-DOS...etc"

Microsoft Corp. :
Personal Computing started with this three letter Operating System "DOS" Disk Operating System. Microsoft released its version called MS DOS in 1981. IBM PCs gained the majority of the market running either MS DOS or IBM PC DOS. All these were on a black and white screen and was command driven. It was all MS DOS for the majority of the personal computing world until late 1985 when Microsoft released something called Windows 1.0. It was not a complete operating system, rather a GUI extension over MS DOS and gained little popularity. Windows 2.0 was released in December 9, 1987 with little extended features. It was Windows 3.0 which came to the market in 1990 gained much popularity and had a few of Microsoft Office applications. It also supported overlapping of windows and improved capabilities of its native applications. Later we had Windows 3.1 in 1992, Windows NT in the same year (32 bit, first of its kind). It was after Windows 3.11 Microsoft came up with a new consumer oriented version in August 1995, yes it is Windows 95, the most successful version of operating system in its series. Windows 98 in June 25, 1998; Windows Me (Millennium Edition) in September 2000. The next release made a revolution by living long in the market from 2001 - 2007, Windows XP which still remains the most preferred operation system for the personal computing world. The latest - Windows Vista was released in January 2007.

Apple Inc. :
Well, what's special with Apple? At any cost, it's already bitten - the apple. To tell the truth, I knew very little about Apple until when it released this small little white biscuit kinda thing called "iPod" which revolutionized the way the world listen to music. Later, when I tried to make a little study on this company, there were quite many things which literally put me in surprise. Here is the history if you want to know.
Those were the days when Microsoft was pouring all its energy on MS DOS to capture the market and was also walking with its collars raised. Believe me, Apple Computers Inc. ( this is how it was then called and is recently re-christened as Apple Inc.) was already computing in the Graphical User Interface world, isn't that great?

The first product from Apple was Apple I in 1976 which was sold with out a monitor or a keyboard. It was hand designed and manufactured by Stephen Gary Wozniak, (co-founder of Apple Inc.) in Steve Jobs living room. Later when they ran out of space they shifted their manufacturing division from living room to the garage. Apple II was introduced on April 16, 1977. Jobs and several other colleagues were inspired to build a fully GUI driven computer after seeing Alto Computer in Xerox PARC in the year 1979. Project Apple Lisa started in 1979 and after 3 long years of development, it was released on 1983. While Microsoft was still in hype with MS DOS, Apple, in contrary had its first leap into the GUI world. Apple Lisa was the first personal computer that had a mouse with it. Apple Macintosh was released in 1984, it was more enhanced than Lisa and was a huge success. Jobs resigned Apple ( chucked out from his own company?) in 1985 and founded NeXT. Macintosh Portable in 1989 which was bulky, Macintosh PowerBook in 1991, System 7 in the same year, Power Macintosh using IBM's PowerPC processor in 1994. It was on December 20, 1996 Apple bought NeXT which made Jobs come back into Apple again. August 15, 1998 - iMac, Mac OS X (operating system based on NeXT's OPENSTEP and BSD Unix) was released in March 24, 2001. Mac OS X aimed to marry the stability, reliability and security of the UNIX operating system with the ease of use afforded by a completely overhauled user interface. Several versions of Mac OS X were released and were named after "Big Cats" namely Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard which is the latest.

Isn't it really amazing that Apple was the first in introducing many revolutionary products to the personal computing world? Right from the GUI interface, the mouse, True Type fonts, yes Apple (Steve Jobs) was the one to design the True Type fonts. Apple also changed the way we listen to music after introducing iPod and now the revolutionary iPhone. I really wonder what in heavens are they developing next that would blow the world.

Now, whose computer world is this? Apple or Microsoft?
Apple: Really cool looks, beautiful desktop themes, hard and stable unix kernel within, fast, secure and also comes with a beautiful hardware.
Microsoft: Huge market value, occupies the majority of the desktop market, Vista - equally good in look and feel as Mac OS X and also secure.
I would say it's neither of them but all YOURS. When Apple could have stared in a garage, Infosys in an apartment, I'm sure that there are many such garages and apartments vacant all around the world. I don't literally meant that you have to start from there, but I would like to make you understand that there are equal opportunities for each and every one to start a revolution in this industry in particular.
I liked the speech given by Steve Jobs in Stanford University, I'm really thrown back by the phrase that he used. "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". All you need is a creative mind, thirsty heart and a will to do something. I love computers,this made me write this blog. Linux is my Operating System and I love it.

It's May 10th

The month of May always reminds me of some special thing that happens in almost all the churches. Yes, the VBS - Vacation Bible School. I never missed a chance to attend or take part in VBS.

I remember the days that I spent in Wesley Church, Kotagiri. Being summer, March, April and May are considered to be the months of flowers, the Flower Show happens in the month of May and Ooty will be overcrowded. We usually have guests in our house during this season.
Guests at home, I become the tourist guide for them. This brings a clash between touring and VBS and I refrain myself from going there. My parents would desperately want me to attend VBS while the tourist guide post will be handed over to my brother, yeah elder brother. He is 7 years older than me, "Berlin Paul".

All the time in Wesley Church - Kotagiri, I've either attended or volunteered VBS. It was during my college days that I involved myself in playing the role of a Director through Scripture Union. My first location as a VBS director was in Ooty. Bro. Kirubagaran was the lead and I backed him as I knew to play guitar. There were two other directors and this was their first experience so they had to learn so much. Even I had to do the same thing. Unfortunately I couldn't be there for the last three days as I had one last semester exam on 9th. I missed the final day programme.

The next location on the same month (starting 11th -20th) was in Trichy itself, the place I studied. It was in Burma colony near Ordinance Factory. Here my college mate Bro. Shelton Bright was taking the lead. We both had a nice time all the days growing more and more closer to Him. This was my first VBS where I was present for 10 days as a director.

I still had one more round to go. This was with Bro. Kirubagaran again in a remote slum just for 4 days. I stayed in his house where he also runs an old age home named Shalom. We commuted by bike almost 12 kilometers one way. We also had 2 more people who joined us to help. This was in the year 2005.

Next year May 2006, I was sent to Tanjore, St. Peters church. This time I was in trouble as the team lead didn't turn up. We should be 5 directors in all but we were only 3 and one of us had no prior experience playing the role as a director. I called up Mohan anna (SU staff in trichy) and explained him the situation and he asked me to run the whole show. The next morning we had 2 more people joining the crew, finally we were 5 in all. I should mention about Charles Wesley, one among the two who became my best companion and co-operated with me through the entire course. This VBS was a learning curve in my life as I had to take the responsibility of each and evey activity that was going on.

So what is significant of May 10?
Yes, it is the final day programme which ends the year's VBS. Being a director, this is when you've got to pour out all your energy to make it a success. It is mostly because that the parents of all the children will be present and they are gonna witness what their child has learnt all these days.
It begins with a public procession where every child with a crown on the head, march across their locality. The procession ends in the place where the rest of the program is scheduled. One main thing to be considered is that you start on time and finish it on time. You bid good bye to the children, apologize with the teachers if you had not been kind to them during situations, etc etc. Some time you cry or the teachers cry, the children wouldn't let you go, all this happens.
Today, there are numerous children in various churches celebrating their last day in VBS. I remember them all and wave them good bye! I pray that every child grow in the fear of the Lord, reflect Him in all they do and be as living testimonies for Him.
Good Bye! Meet you all in the next VBS.

Good FRIDAY - the BAD?

I usually work in day shifts, yes, US day shifts. Well, that means I sleep in US nights and work in US days, i.e. India day - I am in the 7th heaven and India nights - I am jamming the keys of my ThinkPad. Confused? It's damn sure that by this time you should have understood the way we work and how prompt and clear we get our jobs done :-D.
Why did I mention all this, any clue? Yeah... to make myself clear that most of my post gets timestamped one day older than exactly it should be. In regard with this, I work on the MST time zone (Mountain Time) and now the time is 13:32 PM Friday the 21st March 2008, it is Good Friday. But, It's already Saturday in India.
Good Friday - what is BAD? Why do we call it as Good Friday when Lord Jesus was crucified in the cross? Isn't that should be called as Bad Friday? This is one of the questions that many of my non-Christian friends ask and some of the Christian friends too.
I had an argument with one of the Professor in a stress interview with 600+ students in the auditorium witnessing me literally sweating from head to toe and blabbering to his questions and this is how it went...

Prof: Do you think 13 is a unlucky number?
Me : No, it's not.
Prof : Have you ever heard people saying this thing?
Me : Yes, I've heard it. Some of the western flights doesn't have a seat numbered 13.
Prof: and no 13th Floor, 13th room too. Many more.
Prof: Do you know the significance behind it?
Me : No, I don't.
Prof : Paul, you are a Christian right?
Me : Yes, I am.
Prof : Have you ever seen the painting of the Last Supper?
Me : Yeah, the one by Leonardo-Da-Vinci. I've seen it.
Prof :That's right and his master piece was the painting of Monalisa.
Prof : Can you tell me how many disciples were with Jesus in that portrait?
Me : Blank........ ( calculating....12 disciples +1 Jesus so 13. But wait, was Judas there? "Bulb at the right moment". Yes he was there) Totally there were 12 people. Oh no, sorry, there were 13 of them. ( By this time I know I am pulled down :-( )
Prof: Well, what happened to Jesus after that?
Me: He was crucified.
Prof : Now, don't you think that 13 is an unlucky number?
Me : No it is not.

Now the professor got a bit screwed up with me and he goes like this.

Prof: Okay, tell me what is the purpose of Jesus coming into this world?
Me : To save mankind.
Prof: Well, did He accomplish His purpose?
Me : Yeah, He did.
Prof : No, He was killed in the middle.
Me : Yes correct. There can be no salvation and forgiveness without a blood shed. Now, it was His blood that saved you and me.
Prof: I've been with my Bible for 18 long years and I know what it is all about.
(Being a Professor in English Literature that too in a Christian institution, he obviously has read the Bible)
Me : He defeated the satan on the cross and He rose up again on the third day as prophesied.
..........
I end up with this because we have the answer now. If you want to know the results of the interview, please meet me in person.

Yes, we call it as Good Friday because that is when Jesus defeated Satan on the cross, taking our sins, transgressions, shame..... all over Him and saved us once for all. Now we are saved by His blood.