Searching information on your machine is nowadays more painful than searching information online - Windows search* companion sucks in comparison to a Google Search .... I discovered the way out by installing Google desktop on my laptop .. the good news is that Google Desktop's latest version 5 is available in Hindi. After Blogger in Hindi - this is the next tool to come out in Hindi. Google sure is surging far ahead of Windows in the vernacular desktop tools segment! *PS: Windows has subsequently come up with its own desktop search tool which does a decent job in searching but like any other M$ app - it crashes a bit too much. The interface is ok, but it does not show any 'text snippets' as in Google Search and the document preview takes ages to load and often causes the system to hang! Google Search UI Windows Desktop Search UI

One of the biggest motivations which drives people towards achieving perfection in work is the (actual or illusionary) realization of the importance of their work. All other factors are merely hygienic - money, designation, working conditions - all merely ensure that one is motivated to perform 'good enough'. However, in absence of the 'work worth realization' (lets call it WWR from now on) - the extra bit of dedication is hard to come by. The best illustration of this would be in the Army. Irrespective of the designation or salary everyone - from the highest ranked officers to the foot soldier - is dedicated to the extent of his/her lives. What motivation can there be to give one's life for, if not the fact that the job is more important than your life, that winning the war is infinitely more important than the salary or benefits you will accrue as a part of your job (if you would live on!). Similarly, have you ever come across a sweeper who makes sure that not eve...

Update: My phone is working again. कब ठीक होगा? is the question that has been asked to me umpteenth time since yesterday. Its as if someone close is ill and recuperating - in a way its something closer .... my cell phone! Indeed, the illness of a cell phone nowadays is no less than that of a close relative. You are prepared to travel long distances to get to the best hospital ... I mean the best service center. You inform all near and dear ones immediately that your phone is out of order and provide alternate contact numbers. You call up the service center every morning to find out if the repairs have been done, and finally everyone asks you - ओह! क्या हुआ उसको? In fact, on reaching the service center - I simply could not help but smile on the perfectness of the analogy. The distressed faces of people (stressed further by the excessive heat) who came with their mobile phones were reminders of how painful it is to have a faulty cell phone! Lets hope my own dear cell phone comes out of ...

Inspired by Shubham , I too list down my journey during July 2006 - January 2007 6 months, 29 cities, 4 countries, 2 continents 9 airlines, 9 trams, 4 national rail networks Locations: India >> Mumbai Pune Delhi Bhopal Jaipur Raipur Bhilai Nagpur Jabalpur Chandigarh->Panchkula UK >> London Milton Keynes Birmingham Edinburgh Cardif Bristol Newtown Nottingham Oxford Reading Manchester France >> Leon Switzerland >> Geneva Zurich Montreux Laussane Luzerne Bern Interlaken Airlines: Air India, British Airways, EasyJet, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airways, Air Deccan, Spice Jet, Sahara Airways Trams: Manchester, Nottingham, Zurich, Edinburgh, Geneva, Bern, Luzerne, Laussane, London (Tube) Train networks: Indian Rail , UK Rail , Midland-Mainline , Swiss Rail Quite and adventure indeed!

Sedentary work and a lazy lifestyle - something almost every young professional faces in the first few years of one's job. I was a typical example - gaining kilos an kilos of weight. Not that I liked it ... but there didn't seem a way out. Some solutions people gave me were - go to a gym, do yoga-pranayam - my response to all of them was - I don't have the time. And it isn't that I am downright lazy! I really did not get a continuous 1/2 hour in the day for any of this (my long hours of net surfing to be blamed probably). In fact, I used to take cabs even for short distances, not to avoid walking but to save time - and it was taking its toll on me! I was at 74 KGs (almost 10 KGs overweight as per my height) when I left for UK in July last year. And then almost a miracle occurred! Simply speaking, I was forced to walk - from home to the tube station, from tube station to the office .... and so on. Without realizing, I started liking the walks - they were not just exercis...

CNN Money has some enlightening statistics about Siberia's (Russia) Tech Potential: "Every year, Russia graduates as many science and technology specialists as India - 200,000 - although Russia is 80 percent smaller by population." "Russia's software exports total $1.8 billion annually; the country is the third-largest software-outsourcing destination in the world, after China and India." "For 30 years Novosibirsk was one of the smartest cities in the imperium, a collective of academics who put their minds to everything from nuclear physics to theoretical genetics, from the space program to the weapons aimed at the great American evil...... ... Now IT offices are springing up all around Akademgorodok's leafy lanes and industrial back alleys." "None of our programmers in Novosibirsk are programmers by education," Intel's Chase says. "They are physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians. They are, first of all, scientists...

[Via: Emergic ] Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans ; aim high in hope and work , remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big! - Daniel Burnham (1846 – 1912)

I am confused! When we were kids - the sentiment used to be high against Brain Drain - young talented students migrating to the US for studies and then work. But today, after the government and 'thinkers' realize the amount of benefits that accrue from the Diaspora - the situation has changed .. we are simply calling it a form of 'Globalization' On the other hand, the country which held the 'Globalization' flag high in the 70s and 80s - the US - is today faced with protests like this . The fight though is not so more on the streets than on the cyber'streets. Yes, anti-immigrant sites in the US are now using Google Bombing in an effort to combat the job-drain problem. Truthfully, I am on neither side of the debate. In my opinion, where you live, how you live, what kind of jobs you do should depend on your own likes and dislikes (aren't there several Indian who are today choosing to stay in India than migrate?) on your talent and its value in the market (...

On April 1, 2007 Maharashtra became the third state in India to ban sex education after Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh . Quite appropriately isn’t it; after all wasn’t it the fool’s day?? Why is sex education important – our MLA’s ask – after all didn’t their generation learn everything there was about sex, without any formal education? By that argument, shouldn’t we ban schooling as a whole? After all, in medieval times, didn’t most people learn their about earning a livelihood without proper schooling – by learning the trade from their parents. Indeed, a return to the dreaded varna vyavastha (caste system) would appease our politicians the most! Ranting apart [Since GreatBong is better at it]– here is my argument as to why sex education is important. On April 4, NDTV released this sting operation [Link via: AlooTechie ], demonstrating how the children of today are not only prone to cerebral exposure to carnal matters through the TV and internet, but can also fall prey to physical a...

In India we hardly ever differentiate between personal space and public space! People happily chat away the most romantic conversations sitting in office surrounded by colleagues all around. The lady in front of me now is doing just that, and the fact that I understand Bengali (language in which she's talking) almost as good as Hindi is making matters worse for me. Its hard to concentrate when on your own report when the person in front of you is planning a weekend trip with her boyfriend!! On one hand its good that we are not too hung up about being 'formal' in office (like it is in the UK) and the fact that this makes colleagues much more approachable helps in better team dynamics. However, I have a firm belief that some aspects of one's life should be strictly personal - like your chat with your boyfriend! One should, if not out of regard to others, but just for one's own privacy move out of their cubicles/bays/seats - somewhere more private to converse privately...