First Day at Polaris Software Lab . Hyderabad

Today was my first day of the job at Polaris in Hydearabad. We(my friends of college and myself) are provided temporary residance in a company Guest -house for 15 days.
A cab has been arranged for us to pick us up from the guest house to the company location. In the morning at eight a cab (more precisely a Maruti Alto) picked us up for a small ten minutes drive to the office building. So we reached the company office building more called "The Capital". "The Capital" is a five storie tall and is spread over an area of about 20-25 thousand sq. feet. It is situated between a number of skyscrapers of companies like Microsoft, ICICI, Wipro etc. which makes it look small. But the architecture of our building is, i must admit, much better than any of those.
We were provided visitors' pass to enter the building as it was our first day and hence the enployee pass were not yet ready. The loddy of building was beautifully designed and also had a small indoor garden which accentuated its beauty.
After waiting for a few minutes in the lobby, we were led to a conference room for the commencement of the indduction program. The room was trepizoidal shaped and could accomodate about 30 people at a time. Here we were provided with a joining kit (which had a number of forms to be filled-up and signed), a diary and a heavy -duty book called the Polaris Language Book. So after filling-up the forms we headed for lunch at the cafeterium. Well, the building has in all 3 cafeteria which serve various types of veg-biryanis and few chinese dishes, but then again the rates were nominal.
After lunch it was time for the second half of the day. Two leading-banks' representatives had come to lure us into opening our salary accounts in their banks. The representatives of City Bank and HDFC gave a presentation each, and after pondering over it for a few moments I decided for HDFC. After filling-up the form and signing for 250th time in the day finally my account was opened. I was provided with a debut cum shopping card and a check book then and there itself (all thanks to the readymade account opening kits for fast service) . This was pretty much the end of the day for us at Polaris.

Essay : Technology creates more problems than it solves and may threaten or damage the quality of life

Technology is the use of machines to solve problems which in most cases couldn’t be solved manually. The machines were used to make our lives easier and on most occasions it has succeeded. Development of ‘wheel’, ‘telephone’, ‘first-generation computer’ and ‘atom-bomb’ had been the most useful developments for the mankind over the last few centuries. The last century experienced humongous developments in various technological fronts varying from health-care to nuclear-power. Although most of these developments have been very useful for us, but developments in some fields have created a sense of insecurity and an environment or unrest at the global level.
The first misuse of technology had been in the field of nuclear weapons and in WoMD : Weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear powers in the hands of notorious countries like Iran and Pakistan have been an issue of global concern for the past decade. The superpowers of the world are now conscious about the existence of power with the third world nations.
According to the Pentagon, China has the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile system in the world. The missiles are placed on frontiers of Taiwan and India. These missiles pose a threat not only to the two countries but to the whole world.
These developments have transformed the world to an arsenal possessed by a nation preparing for the World-war.
Setting apart the military developments and taking a look at the advancements in the field of information technology. Julian Assagne’s Wikileaks is also a creation of technology. An archive of the tapes and documents of various private and secret affairs of government is now open to public domain. The views of American minister Hillary Clinton about many nations of the world are unacceptable and has forced them beg pardon from them. It poses a threat to world diplomacy and may result in souring relations among nations.
Apart from the macro aspects, technology has also led to damage to the quality of life at the macro-level. Lethargy has crept into the lives of people as they have become addicted to the comforts of technology. Social-networking has long replaced outdoor sports and computer games have now become the only indoor game at disposal.
It’s not just the humans who are affected but environment also. We are aware of the ill-effects of global warming caused due to the industrial developments. It has been well said the modern technology owes ecology an apology.
Advantages are many but the disadvantages are grave. If world is to be a better place than technology needs to be in better hands.

Emotional attyachar indeed!!!

This season seems to be the one of reality shows on T.V. Our channels today are gushing with a multitude of diversified reality shows. The most popular among all is the mighty Big Boss 3(Colors), in which the contestants (who are mostly losers) spend a lifetime in a small house just to gain the little publicity and of course money. (Never cared much to understand what it is actually about).

Then on V-TV we have Dare to Date, on which we have the two most incompatible people on the planet encountering each other in order to find their love/life mates

in their counter-part (which they seldom do). But in this whole process the TRP is never compromised with.
NDTV imagine then presents us with Rakhi Ka Insaaf. LMAO. Formidable Rakhi Sawant sorts out the grudges between family members and brings them together. I bet she does.
Truth Love Cash (V-TV) and Splitsvilla (M-TV) are two programs I dare not watch. Master Chef India (Star Plus I guess!!) is yet another emotional drama packed cookery show hosted by Akshay Kumar. The Indian Audience surely falls for the food prepared with love and affection and that is what the producers have successfully capitalized on.
Then there is Big Switch (U-TV Bindass). The parents tired with their unruly kids (teenager, mostly) are granted an opportunity to spend a day with some other unruly kid and to act as his/her parent for a day. Whereas the Kid is also provided with a set of Replacement Parent (Yes, this is what they are called “Replacement Parents”) and at the end of the day some close relatives or friends act as judges to decide who had spent a better day without their biological relatives or rather with their replacement kid/parents.
Everything aside, there are two programs I can’t resist discussing about. The audacity and boldness of Axe Ur Ex (V-TV) and Emotional Attyachar (U-TV Bindass) is worth noting. These are the two programs having the boldest approach of all. In Axe Ur Ex, a guy/girl plays pranks on their Ex-girlfriends/ Ex-boyfriends and mind you these pranks are not always harmless. Apart from the public embarrassment and humiliation it creates it might also result in some sort of mental trauma if the victim of prank is not strong emotionally.

In Emotional Attyachar a guy/girl asks the show (Crew of Emotional-Attyachar) to conduct a loyalty test on their counter-parts (Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Best-friend/Wife/Husband……………….. etc.) under the hidden camera. The person being tested is ignorant about the test being conducted. She/he (Person being tested for loyalty) is made to meet an attractive person of opposite sex who enthralls the person and leaves him/her astray. Ultimately it is proved that she/he is not loyal and that too on National Television. Wtf. The public-image of the person is permanently shattered and she/he is left under severe mental stress after the whole hidden camera fiasco.
This whole thing needs to come to an end or else it would be made to do so after something majorly grievous happens.
So this time THINK TWICE.
Jai Hind.

The CAT fever!!!

Getting back to blogging after what seemed like an eternity really feels good. For the past one month or so I'd been busy preparing for CAT and I'd like to tell that it had been an amazing experience. As of now i don't know how successful i've been (the results will tell) but one thing is for sure : i enjoyed myself throughout the journey. At times i felt disappointed, defeated, fatigued but i'd say that in the end everything went well or it is the way i look at it. Whatever may be the results it hardly matters (well not actually, results do matter) but i gave my best shot and i could not have done better possibly. Now just waiting for the results and praying for the best.

Helpless UPA

Slightly digressing from what all i used to write, this time i thought i would write about the government.
Its already been over an year or the second term of UPA in power. The frist term had been a mixture of success and failure. Well, mostly success. But the coalition government ha been totally helpless in resolving some issues of the past whereas new issues have also coe into existence. I would like to cast an eye on four major issues in which the UPA had been totally unsuccessful.
     First and the most important issue is hunger. India has the highest number of malnutritioned people in the world. It is shameful for a country like ours where 70% population is involved in agriculture. The problem is not the lack of food but the government's inability to store it. The farmers produce enough to feed every citizen of the nation, but because of the lack of adquate storage facilities, it all goes waste. Steps must be taken by the Center as well as the State govt. to look into the matter before the  condition further exacerbates.
     Second is the Kashmir issue. The issue which enraged two months back has already taken over 70 civilian lives and the government is still clueless and helpless on what needs to be done. According to me the govt., instead of imposing curfews, should reach the people, the stone pelting youth, talk to them on one-on-one basis and understand their problems. The outrage which is possibly incited by local politcians who fill the people with hatred against the government.Such politicians need to be identified and punished.
     Third problem which the government faces today is naxalism. It has been present with us for years and is going to be if the government doesn't act smartly. Besieging their territory and killing them is no solution. The naxals needs to be talked with and their issues needs to be adderessed and considered. The Center and State govt. of C.G., Zharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Orrisa and A.P. should coordinate their actions and work collectively to find aa solution of this problem. In this context i would like to appreciate to action taken up by Bihar govt to hold talks with Naxals.
    The last but the most important is the problems of UPA within itself. The coalition govt formed by Congress and allied parties are not confortable among themselves. They first need to resolve their internal issues only then can they solve he problems of the nation.

Jain Hind.
 P.S. There is yet another issue which needs to be resolved: Inflation. Well we can just hope that the government gets its acts together before its too late.