Bill Gates departs...

Bill Gates dies in a car crash and ends up in front in front of StPeter

St. Peter says I don’t know what to do with you. You’ve created many jobs and helped a lot of people in the new electronic age, but you’ve also been a royal pain to some of our big contributers. I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you have a look at heaven and hell and choose for yourself.

So St. Peter shows Bill heaven, with the clouds and Angels and harps, and Bill thinks to himself: “OK, as far as it goes.”

Then St. Peter shows Bill hell, with scantily clad bathing beauties on a tropical beach with palm trees and Bill thinks to himself: “This is a no-brainer!”

So Bill says to St. Peter: “I’ll take hell!”

Two weeks later St. Peter thinks to himself: “I wonder how Bill is doing?”

So he drops by hell and finds Bill chained to a wall, consumed by flames and screaming in agony.

“Where are the bathing beauties, where’s the beach?” Cried Bill. “This isn’t what you showed me!”

“That”, said St. Pete, “was a demo.”

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For all you Bill bashers, he is leaving Microsoft today. Growing up as engineering students, we were all fascinated by his rags to riches story.

Inspite of all the pain that Window is, we cant live without it.....So hats of to
you Bill,you will be missed...and definitely the 'Bill Jokes' which were so part of our office lunch conversations ...

Like father, like son

'Father calling, father calling...call back'.....Thats how normally my dad leaves me a message. With voice messaging still being very rare in India....dad thinks this is some kind of telegram service and treats it in the same manner! One of my friends`s fathers misatkes GPS voice direction as being the voice of his american girlfrnd named GPS!

I often wonder, why does Indian culture places so much emphasis on mothers, with fathers being sidelined. There are reams of Indian literature about Krisha-Yashoda...and tons of Indian movies, songs placing so much emphasis on mothers. Not to take anything away from our dear mothers, but are our fathers in any way less responsible for our upbringing, our success, or do they love us any lesser?

If I think about myself, a major part of my personality is shaped by how my father is,and that may include good as well as bad. My dad has always been famous for his full on non-veg parties, and his philosophy was that if someone has come to our house for food, he/she should always return fully overwhelmed,and completely satisfied.
I thinks this is something which has come to me subconsciously, and I make sure
that food never falls short....if its wasted...so be it.

My dad has often heard complaints about how he treats servants in our house. They are as important part of our family, and sometimes more, than us. 'Sar pe mat chadao'...ppl would always tell. While starting my American sojourn, I worked in a restaurant while I was doing my Masters . It surprised me how well I could mingle with anybody and everybody in kitchen, how easily I could relate to and form frienships with people from each and every strata of society, and if anyone has to take credit for it...it has to be him.

'Son calling, son calling...thank you dad...and a belated father`s day'.

Eternal Search !

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is behaving like a jilted lover. After the Yahoo fiasco, he is still searching for 'search' business.

There are rumors of Microsoft eyeing Facebook, and Steve rubbishes them as just rumors. 'Search is where it all starts'....he has to say.

Hmmmmm....Will anything come out of chasing Google in its own game...google is miles ahead and its not going to give search to you. Facebook, as analysts are mentioning, might be the best bet right now, for targetting content based ads.

Coming to Yahoo....its rumored they are now luring new hires by adding severance package, and a lot of top execs are leaving...is it true?

Lets take a ring side view and watch the match ...Microsoft-Yahoo-Google.
Unless ofcourse you are an employee of either of them :)

Such a desi !

I wonder sometimes why is word 'Desi' here in the States has such a negative connotation. The moment you are planning to watch a bollywood tear-jerker, go to an indian restaurant , attend a bollywood party...or for that matter simple things like having a desi tv channel....people are like....hmmmm

I have nothing against embracing the new culture, trying new things, and trying and adapting your lifestyle to make it more in sync with your current surroundings...'WHEN IN ROME, DO THE ROMANS...-)

But arent the same things which are keeping you close to your motherland...they remind you of your roots, and keep taking you back to the lanes ,cities, places where you have spent the most formative years of your lives. Innocent friendships,mindless blabber at nukkad shops...

And havent we all heard about the 'circle of life'....when people are in the last stages of their lives,dying so to say, they want to be in the place where they were born...why is it so?

For me, its the Times of India webpage which still starts my morning ... CNN can wait.

Mere pass iPhone hai !

I have camera,ipod,gps,camcorder,laptop...kya hai tumhare pass...haan
Mere pass iPhone hai!

Sounds too good to be true.... Come July 11 and a lot of us are planning to line up on Apple and At&t stores across the states to get the new iPhone. People who were reluctant to get it earlier, now with a price tag of $199 for 8GB(which costs $399 now), are all game for it....But is it really what it promises?

Lets look at the data plan, which has gone up by $ 10. This means 69.99 per month if you’re going to use both internet and voice features....so since you have to sign up a contract of 2 years with at&t, you end up paying 10*24 = $240 more than what you were paying for usage...so the total cost of ownership and operation is up by $40, and thats only for 2 year period:).....

Is it still a good deal....?

To go or not to go !

One of the colleagues in my office has decided to go back to India, for good. Which brings me to the oft repeated debate which keeps on going among Indian diaspora ( and I assume among immigrants from other countries too ) is to go back to your country or not.

In my opinion,and this is just mine, key is to be flexible. I have seen people claiming they are going to go back after X milestone, but once X is within reach, Y comes in picture. On the other hand there were people claiming they wont ever, and finally packed up and went back.

What is the cirteria ? Once we come to states to study etc, priorities are much different. Your idea of life is cars, clubs, games,materialistic comforts...things which are little difficult to avail in India in a very short span of time. And then comes that period of time when you have got all that, and you are in different 'ashram' of life so say, married with kids etc. Domestic help, which is so difficult and out of reach in States for an average person, children`s educational concerns, ,longing to be with your family back home.....rules change.

hmmmm....that reminds me of some calls I have to make to India...cyao.

Choices - They make or break you - Or do they?

I was often told , at the very end, when you sit back and analyze your life, the result would be the sum total of the choices you make in life.

Is it true ? Do we as a person have individual traits, charatcteristics which define the path of our life, or ultimately the choices we make carve that path ? Or our traits, characteristics lead is to make a particular choice which in turn forms the toto of our life?