I am here to offer my final prayers to my grand mother who left this world 10 days ago.

This place hasn’t changed a bit, still the same old building, the same characteristic disorganized housekeeping, the same topics for small talks. But I still missed the warmth. My grand mother was bedridden for more than couple of years now, but still her presence made the difference.

She was very fond of all her grand children and especially us since we were from Mumbai quite far off and could visit only once a year. We used to get special treatment , choice food (though there wasn’t much to choose from, since they were too conservative to make complex food).

This was a place which never had closed doors. I have never seen this place housing only their family, there would atleast be couple of people more any point of time. And everyone welcomed with same warmth and openness. I believe that was the tradition my grand father advocated, true Indian values.

This place for me was the hub of traditional and spirituAl values. In fact in my childhood I used to sort of hate coming here due to various traditional practices that were carried out here, something which, in my cosmopolitan upbringing, felt restrictive. But as I grew I understood that whatever little I know Abt my religion and my understanding of self and God had its roots here.

Money was never their prime motive. Infact I vaguely remember my grand father (a scholar in English and maths, a school teacher) teaching all his grand children “money is lost nothing is lost, if character is lost everything is lost”.

My grand parents always lived their life modestly, much within their income and in fact always helping people in need.

I hope I would be able to imbibe some of their great qualities.

I am jotting these thoughts as they come from the fav place in the house, the terrace where I had spent many nights sleeping under the open sky (coming to think of it, the only place where I could do that) talking into wee hours with cousins.the other fav place in this place, the wooden plank swing (unchanged for past 10 years atleast), is currently removed for all the activities. I don’t know when I could enjoy that anymore.

I sure had some enjoyable time here, some very fond memories. I would surely cherish them, but sad that its the end of an era.

The two movies in question, Buried and 127 hours. Both the movies, IMHO, had a lot in common but most commonest of them being, they both depressing and bored me to “death”. I felt totally and utterly cheated. I felt cheated of the time I invested to watch them.

Mind you, not every one seem to feel that way. Both the movies are very highly rated, Buried@7.4 & 127 hours@8.2 on IMDB, though as you may have guessed by now, I strongly disagree.

I wont be giving too much details about the movies (just incase you still want to go ahead and watch the movie despite my warning)

Buried is a movie revolves around Iraq-based American truck driver Paul Conroy (Reynolds), who, after being attacked, finds himself buried alive in a wooden coffin, with only a lighter, flask, flashlight, knife, glowsticks and a mobile phone to help him escape before the oxygen in the coffin runs out.

Now, why would any one bury anyone alive and pose as though they kidnapped him? there are easier ways to kidnap than to go through so much trouble.

This movie definitely is not for claustrophobics. The first few minutes into the movie, I couldn’t even bear seeing it, I even felt heaviness in breath (something that I feel when I am in confined spaces).

And most importantly, this movie has nothing positive inside it, including the ending. Infact the ending is depressing.

127 hours, a movie I looked forward to watch, more because of the hype that the music was composed by A.R Rahman and was nominated for Oscars.

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crushes his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Canyonlands National Park of Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life (while torturing us) and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, abseil a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers (Clemence Poesy), family, and the two female hikers (played by Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara, just for glamour element in  the otherwise bland movie) he met before his accident.

Now then again, this movie is completely summed up in the above lines, the entire 94 minutes of it. That’s all it has, a man trapped under a boulder, and trying to free himself. One way of looking at it, the director is a genuius to fill all that 1.5 hrs with just this stuff and still call it a movie.

Anyway, I still endured all that suffering, in order to see a happy ending. But that was not to be. The man finally frees himself by cutting his hand to free himself from the boulder. The gory scenes so realistically shown that some sites mention that some people fainted seeing them.

Movies, as I know them, are meant to be entertainment/fun/have a moral.

I ask myself, “Where the #$#$ is the entertainment element in these movies? Is this where modern cinema is leading to? Is this what the definition of creativity changed to? Am I already out of date ? How can any one love these gory movies with such depressing endings?”

I will wait for time to answer these questions…while I search my old movie database to satisfy my thirst to see “good” cinema.

In case you dont know where it is, and didnt have the time to visit the site before hand, then it is a bit difficult to figure out. Atleast in my case, I got a bit panicky since I was heavily dependent on Google Maps for help, and I couldn’t find it.

But then Wikimapia came to my rescue. This is the link for finding the place.

Read More at : http://sites.google.com/site/mypmpprep/pmp-certified/d-day

I would like to share my experience with all.

Study 

I took my contact hours training exactly one month back and thats when my study started.

The training gave structure on how to go about my study.

I used Rita Book, Fast Trac and occasionally I used audio flash cards. 

Rita Reading First Round

First reading of Rita could be quite difficult. Some times during the reading you might feel the book discouraging you, may be because you didnt understand what it mentioned or because you didnt do a certain process in your company or even since you picked a wrong answer. Dont worry, it just means you have a knowledge gap and you need to concentrate on the topic and fill it up. Have the goal of being PMP in sight.

During the first read, mark all the important points and points that were difficult to understand.

Diligently answer all the questions at the end of each chapter as soon as you complete the chapter. Do not guess the answer, if you dont know it leave it blank.

All the questions that you answered wrong, mark it in the book and DO NOT read the reason given for the correct answer.

Maintain an excel sheet for marks obtained in each topic.

Rita first round reading can take the most time, so dont worry if its taking too long. On an average each topic reading should take around 3 ~ 4 hours of dedicated effort. Some of the topics like Communications, HR and Professional behavior should NOT be skipped or given lesser importance.  

One problem with Rita book (In my honest opinion, might not be the same for others), is that the book is not organised. In the sense we cant understand when the heading of the topic is infact the next process she is talking about, or sub part of the earlier topic, or just additional information regarding the topic she is already discussing. It would have been lot more helpful if she has some kind of hierarchical numbering scheme for topics. That would have given readers a better perspective. Atleast the first time I read I understood the individual topics, but couldn’t knit them together.   

More on this topic at : http://sites.google.com/site/mypmpprep/pmp-certified/mycertificationexperience

A very valid question, a question which many of us face at some point of time.

More so if it is for your first job or if you are preparing an interview after a long time (which means we got rusty in this business )

So I wanted to list out some tips for such candidates

Giving an interview is not just a single activity. It is series of several activities, all of which will contribute on how you face the interview, since these activities would consciously or subconsciously effect the interviewer.
Some of the most significant steps are :
Pre-Interview
1) Resume Preparation: This is the single, most important (and most misinterpreted) activity. They make a sexy resume, but no relevant matter in it. Your resume/CV is representation of yourself to the interviewer/screener before you are called for an interview. It must be a representation of all you have done in a way he expects. It will form the basis on which you would stand out from the other “crowd”.

Most importantly do *NOT* include any keywords that is not true. Nothing more embarrassing than not able to answer questions on a topic you said you knew. This one question may throw you off track and miss out on all the strong points you were able to put across.
Resume preparation activity in itself warrants a seperate blog, and I would do so at some later time.
2) Research : Research regarding
a) What you want your future role to be, would it be lateral growth, vertical growth etc.
b) Research regarding the organization and role you applied for. Believe me there is nothing more annoying to an interviewer to invest time in a candidate only to find that his/her expectations/qualifications are different from the one he/she has applied for.
3) Generic questions : Try to have answers to generic questions like “Tell me about yourself”, “What was the most challenging thing in your previous job”, “Where do you see your self x years down the line”, “Why are you changing” “What do you expect in next job” etc
4) Confirmation : Always get confirmation from either consultant/HR whether the interview is on for the scheduled date and time. Also, if you are unaware of the location make sure you get your driving/reaching details right.
On Interview date :
1) Dress : Very important yet not given much importance by many potential candidates.  Your appearance makes the first (and lasting) impression. Dress in something formal and comfortable. I once had a candidate walk in wearing denims, music player earphones hanging around the neck etc. This sends out a very “casual” signal. Unless the job requires such an attitude, the candidate might be in reject category before he/she is asked any question.
2) Punctuality : Plan to reach atleast 45 mins before the interview time. Being late for an interview not only sends out a wrong message, but also puts the interviewee in defensive and hence hampering  his/her performance.
3) Breaks : Take all the required breaks (bio, water, coffee) *before* the interview. Plan for the interview to extend at least 1.5 hours (or more in some highly technical areas). It wouldn’t help your cause being uncomfortable and unable to concentrate in front of the interviewer, would it?
4) Switch off/Silent mobile/cell phone : Nothing more annoying than getting a call in between of serious discussion
During the interview :
1) Greetings : Greet *all* the interviewers. If it is a permissible local custom, shake hands. Try to get their names and designations (might help later)
2) Questions/Answers : Be a good listener, listen and understand the questions asked. You may ask them to repeat/clarify any question if need be. Questions need not be answered immediately, you may take some seconds before answering the question. Any questions you have, not related to the question asked, should be saved for end. Try to be in control of the interview, give answers in such a way that you stress more on topics that you are strong at, prompting the interviewers to probe more in that area.

3) Non verbal communication : Maintain eye contact with interviewers, try to use gestures wile giving answers. Do not hesitate to use a book and a pen (you must have a pen yourself) where ever required, you may also use white board if the room has one.All this is observed and noted

4) Be honest : This is very very … important. Interviewers with experience can easily see though dishonest answers and this would hamper your chances more than giving an honest answer.

5) End of Interview : After the interviewers are done questioning, you should ask questions you have prepared during your research and get more clarity regarding the role. This also sends out a positive note that the candidate is serious.

6) Greet/Thanks : At the end of the interview, greet/Thank all the interviewers for their time, using their names (if you remember them).

After the interview :
Follow up : You might have to follow up for the results ( might not be required in most cases). Give the company enough time to decide and then follow up.

Each aspect noted above, is a big topic in itself and is a part of interview process.

Right from times when I had noticed well built, fit, smart looking guys in my college, I had aspired to join a gym. But something always stopped me, lets call it mind block. I always thought I could not do it, I many times visited various gyms enquired about payments, even bought track suits but never joined.

Things had gone from “like to join” to “should join”. Fat was showing at places where my trousers didnt like, my laptop bag became a burden to carry, return travel from office became quite tiring etc. So the time had come when i take the firm step and join.

Hence this time around it was different. The little bit of motivation/push that was given by my neighbour did the trick.

We had gone on a gym identification drive, visited several of them . We finally zeroed down on one particular gym which had the most significant advantage, it was near to where we stayed.

Even other wise, Body Basics (thats the name of the gym), is quite well equipped also has sauna and massage center. Reviews from friends was good. It also has A/C too (yes that still is a special feature here, not all gyms have it).

Anyways, we had several rounds of price negotiations and settled for a price late evening today.

We were contemplating since it was late today, should we join on Monday, then suddenly we both decided to join today. We walked back home, got into gym gear, and marched back (that in itself is an achievement to us, since our change inertia is quite high).

We paid the payment and entered the coool gym.

There was the instructor, waiting for us. There were a couple of other people doing advanced stuff, not to mention they were rather good looking girls. I was quite nervous, since this was the first time I was doing a work out (i dont think the ones that i did at 5* hotels count, since they were more for show off ).

The instructor started with a warm up session if simple body loosening exercises.

Then he gave us both to work on various instruments. He used to keep the weights at the minimum. First few felt far 2 easy, in fact I was contemplating whether to tell the instructor I am no child, and he should increase the weights. But then, my better sense prevailed.

By the time we reached some 6 or 7 instruments, my hands were shaking. Man how did this happen. I was feeling exhausted using the minimum weights for minimum number of times, what if… I didnt even want to think.

Finally at the end of some tiresome 45 mins, he asked us to rest. Phew! its about time he spared us. But after about 5 mins, he returned back. He wanted us to do the tread mill…. “Does he have no sense of concern” I thought…

But then as I had promised myself, this would my sincere attempt to stay fit. Hence I forgave him and climbed the treadmill…. I was used to this (remember 5*s ). So I did it for about 5 mins, lost 25 calories (or so it said).

We had a nice chat with the instructor almost made him believe that he was like a friend and that i forgave him.

On the way back checked my height, 175 cms and weight 70 kgs (with my shoes on). Checked the BMI table. Perfect!!!

Left the gym wondering….If I am having perfect BMI then why goto gym… thats a question that i would ponder upon leisurely tomorrow (its gyms off tomorrow)

And then unexplicably dad just drops all the chess coins in dejection. And then they show the son calling from train in evening and playing the game.

This is an ABSOLUTELY torturous ad. The acting of the characters makes it worse. I hope Airtel realises that they are more bad than good with this ad.

Amul Macho : Now a days the amount of exposure and vulgarity being shown has reached new levels in Indian cinema as well as advertising. The expressions of the lady washing the men innerwear is bordering towards vulgarity. I HATE it.

(See it here)

Camlin Ad : WOW! What a imagination. Starts with wailing of “Rudaalis” and a wife beside an husband who is on his death bed. And in a typical hindi movie style, the candle blows off and the husband dies. Rudaalis move in to deprive the widow of all the objects that mark her as a married woman. They take off her bangles etc. When they try to remove the vermilion mark, it cannot be wiped off. They try as much as they can to remove it, but it doesnt get wiped off. And suddenly the husband revives

Then the flash back, instead of using the vermilion mark the man had used Camlin Marker pen long long in the past, and even now it cannot be removed very funny and innovative…Must see

(See it here)

Hence, the better you learn this art the better your life would be.

Being successful in interviews, as is true with any art, requires a diciplined and focussed approach. It is this dicipline that I would like to share with you in the days to come through this article.

I work for a reputed Information Technology company with experience of over 8 years in IT, and needless to say that I have been on both sides of the table.

While taking interviews I have learned many things, things which all candidates need to understand and implement, not only get past the interview stage but also be in a negotiating position to extract the best offer from the company.

For more updates on this article, watch out this space.

The song “Pal Pal” from “Lage Raho Munna Bhai” is a very beautiful song.
It represents a dilemma faced by a person to correct a lie he has told to his loved one. A thing that could cost him his love.
He has no choice but to tell the truth and hope that his loved one would forgive him .
He is ready to go any extent to save his love, but the enormity of the situation is such that he had lied about the very foundation based on which their love prospered and hence he is nearly sure that he would lose his love, but is hoping and praying that doesnt happen.

Doesnt this happen to every one of us at some point of time?

This situation is not restricted to love life, it could be for any person whom you love and respect from ur parents to friends to spouces to children. A day comes when they come to know of some truths that you didnt tell them and you just wish you vaporise from the place. You just cannot see them eye to eye.In this case, the person thinks he cannot tell his loved one this fact eye to eye and chooses to write it out in a letter and present it to her the following morning. In the meanwhile she sees him writing a letter and assumes he is writing a love letter to her and is going to propose to her the following morning.

The emotions faced by these two are so far apart. The girl is rejoicing the fact that the next day her loved one is going to propose to her and her mind is filled with love and excitement.
The person on the other hand is weighed down by the fact that he had lied to her and he might lose her trust and is even more sad seeing the fact that his loved one is so happy thinking he is going to propose to her for being his life partner.

And then this song….(In Red is female singing, in Blue is Male, and green is both singing)

---

Pal pal, pal pal, Har Pal, Har Pal – Female – Every MomentKaise katega pal, har pal har pal – How would these moments pass (by a lover waiting for the love proposal)

Pal pal, pal pal, Har Pal, Har Pal

Kaise katega pal, har pal har pal

dil dil dil dil main machi hai machi – Male – There is flutter in my heart (when I am writing this letter)

machi hai hulchal hulchal

Kaise katega pal, har pal har pal – How would these moments pass (by a lover waiting for the love proposal)

Pal pal, pal pal, Har Pal, Har Pal – Every Moment

Kaise katega pal, har pal har pal – How would these moments pass (by a lover waiting to disclose the truth to his loved one)

O Humsafar .. lagta hai darr .. – Oh my life partner….I feel afraid

Raat kate na.. kabhi ho sahar.. – Let this night not pass away…let there sun not rise

is pal main simate umar – Let us have the whole life in this one moment

Raat kate na.. kabhi ho sahar.. -Let this night not pass away…let there sun not rise

tu jo hai saath mere to dagar - If you are there with me then

lage ki jaise khoobsoorat ghar – Even a road would seem like a beautiful home to me

tu jo hai saath to yeh ambaar – If you are there with me then

lage ki jaise saaya ho sar par - this sky would seem like a ceiling to me

tere kaandhe par rakh kar sar – With my head on your shoulders

yun hi kat jaaye saari umar – Let my whole life pass away

Pal pal, pal pal, Har Pal, Har Pal

kal kya ho .. kisko khabar..- What will happen tomorrow…who knows

lagta hai darr lagta hai darr – I am afraid…I am very afraid

is pal main simate umar .. – Let us have the whole life in this one moment

raat kate na .. kabhi ho sehar – Let this night not pass away…let there sun not rise

accha batao ..- Ok…tell me

dil ki itni saari baaten – These millions of emotions of your heart

kaise likhoge is chhote khat par – How would you cover in this small letter

dil par toota hai yeh kaisa kahar – There is a storm in my heart

tumko pa kar khone ka hai dar – I am fearing I would lose you

pyaar ka yeh dhai aakhar.. – How would you write the 2 and half letters of love (in Hindi script love is written in 2 and half words)

kaise likhoge is chhote khat par – How would you cover in this small letter

Pal pal, pal pal, Har Pal, Har Pal

Kaise katega pal, har pal har pal

Pal pal, pal pal, Har Pal, Har Pal

Kaise katega pal, har pal har pal

dil dil dil dil main machi hai machi

machi hai hulchal hulchal

Kaise kategar pal, har pal har pal

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