[at] 25 !!!

Always wanted to do this... Just 25 min to go though ... so ppl please ignore errors, if any... There will be many...

Will be mostly like Rapid Fires:

BEGINning on a serious note...

NULL;

END; /* Just today wrote a PL/SQL block */

Birthdays After joining 'Nirvana':

• 24-Sep-2006 - In a party with Friends (Also, lost my Nokia 3300, first mobile phone)
  
• 24-Sep-2007 - Bday@Jakarta.
  
• 24-Sep-2008 - Bday@Vietnam.
  
• 24-Sep-2009 - Bday@Jakarta.

What after 25 more years?
Well, if everything goes well, a restaurant @ Mumbai, where I will prepare 'Chef's special' every evening.
Rest of the time, would like to have a small fan club and just blog!!!
That's retirement plan! World's best job, as it is rightly said...

What drives you?
IT humor, and the fact that I actually get paid for doing that.

Whom do I idealize?
Scott Adams (The Dilbert Guy). Follow him blindly. He's our GOD, if you are in IT industry. Read - THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE.

My best slogans: # All are copied from somewhere #

• No one knows what I do, until I stop doing it.
  
• Success means, never having to wear a shirt!
• IT PREAMBLE
  ===========
  "We the Unwilling, lead by the Unknowing, are doing the Impossible for the Ungrateful. We have done so much for so long, with so little knowledge that we will one day qualify to do anything with knowing Nothing."
• Water is good for you. Unless you're at the bottom of the ocean with an anchor tied to your ankle. Teamwork is like that.
• Home is where the .bashrc is
  

A birthday gift you always wanted:
Well, believe or not, I am trying to do this from a long time. Get 7 black plain t-shirts, and get the following printed, one note each:

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday :P

But my MOM ain't gonna allow this :)
But I've more than 39 black T-shirts now in my closet!

Dream Sunday, may be 10 years from now?

Get up @ 8.45 am in the morning... Call up 2 of my best friends... Find out the matinee movie being played in the nearby theater; while cursing 'em for being Kumbhkarans... Complete daily chores (includes 'bath'), and walk out of my house, tricking my mom to NOT know that I did not have that glass of milk, wearing shorts (may be the best brand) and a simple T-shirt... riding that lovely bike of mine... may be doing a Swades...

After the movie, discussing the movie, as we used to, a few years back, in the PG, playing Table Tennis...

One Samosa Pav and then the amazing AAREY Lassi (whose taste is the same from last 10 years) ...

And then running back home for lunch... Yeah... You cannot miss this!

A nice Vietnamese Coffee in the evening should conclude it!

Well, did someone exclaim that we would be married?
The trick is to sacrifice our cars for 'em, and ask 'em to what women do best... Shopping!!!


P.S.:

• Retirement job (Chef's special and blogging) does not mean the IT industry bores me. I just love the IT world.
  
• Nearby theater means the one having lowest fare, with lowest crowd; where you can actually by pop corn, @ pop corn rates.
  
• Asking them to shop implies that they'll bargain (some peace for our soul).
• For all the enthusiasts ( I know there would be none), here's my current contact: +62-87886078609.

There's a surprise waiting for me, back @ home in Mumbai... but no one would tell me, what it would be...

When I look back at any point of my life, I will definitely remember these 25 wonderful years... A toddler just born... who cut his birthday cake with friends, when he was 1... who required help from mom and dad both for oil, tie and shoes... who looked more into the clock than his books for the clock to strike 4:30pm, to play until 7... who then went ahead to use a fountain pen... went to the college, using Mumbai Local trains... who bunked lectures for canteen... loved Mithibai College... who made decision to take up Computer Engineering, just because he may have a computer... to the engineer Don Bosco shaped... learned from DUCS (DBIT Union of Computer Scoiety) ... to an IT fresher... to understand the business processes... who then stepped first time on the plane... who grew into who people call a IT professional... to what I am, commenting on everything the life showed me...

Ten Travels of my professional self

How ever, one (read 'I' ) may blame one's workplace, I am what I am, and what I am is because of my first and current work place.

Well, I have to confess that I am a lucky lad! While possessing no special *skills* whatsoever, it seems I was the chosen one. Customer Travels, formed an integral part to shape my personality that exists today. I have had the opportunity to travel 10 times (of which 9 were international), the log of which I constantly update and share with Ajay and Nirav (very few {only} of the real names that you'll ever find in my posts. Thanks mates!)

Cities visited (in ASC order of where first visited):
- Jakarta, Indonesia. [Count=3]
- Singapore [only a few hours...]
- Larnaca, Cyprus. [Count=1]
- Hanoi, Vietnam. [Count=2]
- Malaysia [only a few hours...]
- Hyderabad [Count=1] ... Well, I consider this to be international :)
- Dublin, Ireland. [Count=2]
- Pune. [Final_Count=1] ... Local onsite < style="font-style: italic;">Nirvanas (codenamed of course)? How to behave, and whom to talk, were his biggest problems then... he even confused the domestic airport with the international one, for God's sake!

Well, I have just loved every place I have been to. However, Indonesia remains a special one, being my first travel, and Vietnam, the most adventurous of all...

Immense confidence is what I have gained...
Have opened up my mind in real sense...
Have unlearned to learn...
Changed my definition of good and bad...
Adapted... Restructured...Revised...

If you met me three years ago, then hey... its time for a new introduction! From you waiting for an introduction from someone, to you introducing your peers... From a Yes Sir... No Sir... kind to a fundae philospher... From just a plain listener to a strategic dictator (too many exaggerated adjectives, ahem!)... its been an amazing journey!

And why am I writing all this? Coz, a lot of memories are springing back to life... my tenth coincides with my first ... as I am currently *back* to Jakarta!

P.S.:
Next Post - My first travel!

A must read - God's Debris

Everytime, I find something interesting, I end up promoting it so blindly, that people think I work on commission!

So, in relation to some conversation, I suggested the book - God's Debris, by author Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame), to two people whom I happen to know. Of which, he finished reading 80-pages (the book is just 131 pages), and could read no further.

The preface of the book is most important:
1. This is not a Dilbert book.
2. Might Hurt religious sentiments and understandings.

Its a nice read, which questions God's existence, his omnipotence! One indeed, needs to keep an open mind while reading this book. It took me one flight, and two lazy Saturday afternoons to finish this 135-paged book for the 3rd time.

After all, there is only one Avatar at a time!