Random Ramblings

It is Friday afternoon and I just finished organizing a baby shower for one of the employees in our department, we had delicious Mocha Chocolate Cake and some fun games. I am ready to leave for the week........just some random thoughts put together in a blog....

1.Thalaivar SuperStar became Super Grandpa on 10/10/06. Being the hero of TN, he distributed sweets and Rs.1000 to all Appollo Hospital staff on this joyous news. Poor Dhanush (whose role isn't too significant as son-in-law, he is 25 yrs old and is younger to his wife Aishwarya) told media that his son would be named by Thalaivar on a grand auspicious function.

Inspite of Rajini attaining grandpa status, his fan crowd and status of hero amongst Tamilians is still at its peak with the successful shooting of his next mega budget Sivaji.

2. Heard that the new movie "The Departed" that has all the major star cast is very bloody, more so that Munich for its violence. So, wondering if we should go for Jet Li's Fearless instead tonight?

3. Want to make some gobi manchrian this weekend.

4. Want to go watch the Pumpkin Patch festival and carving at some close downtown.

5. This huge piece of choc cake that I ate this afternoon is still lingering in my mouth, maybe workout during the weekend?

More meaningful blogging next week......................Happy Friday!!!

Indra Nooyi of Pepsi: An Inspiration to All Indian Women

Indra Nooyi is President and CEO of PepsiCo, Inc as of Oct 1. As many of us are already aware of this, I am drawn to this not only in seeing the elevation of Indra to CEO, but also the fact that everybody has noticed it.

Indra has been ranked amongst the top 50 most powerful women both in Forbes and Forture 500 company magazines. Prior to this, she was Senior VP and CFO of Pepsi, US and played key roles in the Tricon spin off, acquiring Tropicana, merger with Qaker Foods and also in the public offering of Pepsi Cola bottling group.

Unlike other Indian CEOs what makes Nooyi distinct and special?

First of all, she is a woman, an Indian-born girl who garduated from Madras Christian College and IIM, Calcutta. Her fiery urge to come to the US in 1978 to pursue her Master's degree in Public and Private Management at the Yale School of Management was aptly rewarded.

Secondly, she wasn't an American, but an outsider. This implies that she had to be twice as good as her peers to be considered half as good in a white dominated corporate environment. Her first job at the Boston Consulting Group for six years gave her the strategic background and later enabled her to join Motorola as VP and Director of Corporate Strategy and Planning. Later, her move to Asea Brown Boveri as part of the top management team brought her career graph higher.

She joined PepsiCo in 1994 and broke the glass ceiling by clawing her way up the ladder to become President and CFO in 2001. In her current position, she is responsible for all of Pepsi's corporate fucntions, including finance, stretegy, business process optimization, innovation, investor relations etc.

Lastly, Indra's uniqueness comes from the fact that she wears a sari to attend PepsiCo's corporate events and thereby comes across as a woman proud of her Indian heritage and upbringing. This has made other Americans look to her with a difference and they welcome the genuine woman that she has become. It has opened up a whole new vision for the Indian CEO's, especially the stereo typed Gupta, Dutta Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who have changed their names to blend in with the Americans here unlike Indra's distinctiveness.

Interviews from Business wekk and other articles talk highly about Nooyi's other responsbilities as mother of two daughters and a wife to her husband Raj. She claims that her religious nature and background that she maintains in her puja room at her Connecticut home along with Lord Ganesha's grace always help her handle the several roles that she has to play at home and at the office. Her extra curricular activities aren't limited to playing the electric guitar at office parties, but also span reading a book everday between 11pm to 2 am to keep herself up to date on innovation.

To the average American, Indra Nooyi's CEOship at PepsiCo has come to symbolize the "entry" of the Indian woman immigrant. Today, as Indra stands apart as one of the most successful and powerful businesswomen in the world, she personifies that for Indians to come up and rise in the corporate ladder here in the US- education, hard work and moving into lucrative areas such as finance, HR, law, medicine, entertainment and engineering makes the difference. We need to take the paths that Jews have undertaken before and inspite of the 9/11 after effects, understandably, we would still need to work through to carve a niche for ourselves.

Nooyi deserves to be noticed and applauded for her feats and for drawing the attention to Indians breaking the bastions for top positions in corporate America. She may not be the first immigrant to get there, but she definitely has made a difference with her grand entry.

Kudos to Nooyi who is an inspiration to all Indian-born US educated career women!!!

Indian Women: Job versus Career?

This has been a long pending blog topic for me and finally here I am writing about something that is of great significance to me. It has always been a struggle for me to clearly distinguish between a non-working woman (which is easy to comprehend), a woman who has a job and a career woman.

The differences have never been more pronounced in my entire life than when I got married. I come from a household where almost every woman, except my grandmother, went to work and also took care of the house. My husband comes from a family where the older generation women haven't gone out trying to be the breadwinner but have stayed home baking the bread for the family. Does that mean that one is better than the other?

First of all, everybody has a right to choose their life and decide what they want to do with it. In my grandmother's time, even the SSLC educated women had to stay home and go through a rough patch with their in-laws and going to work was as impossible as having an interest to pursue higher education. Even if that happened at home, cooking, housework, doing services for the older in-laws and having babies were the priority. Even focussing on your husband was taboo without the in-laws consent.

Two types of women personalities emerged out of this experience when their daughters and sons grew up-

The women who were supressed and deprived of a lot of rights in their younger days grew to become aggressive mothers who educated their daughters (our mothers) and sent them to work and got them married and still urged them to continue working so that they would have a better life than their mothers.

Another type of women personalities who went through the same hardships and even forgot to think independently, taught their daughters and sons to have a good education and imbibe the family values and tradition of respecting the opinions of the older generation and that staying home was not a bad option, but a wiser one to raise a good family and let the man be the sole breadwinner. This was applicable to the daughters-in-law specifically who got married into these households.

As a result, the same two types of mother personalities evolved with the ones having daughters and going to work themselves, supporting their girls to go overseas for graduate studies and welcomed the idea that their daughter should also have an equal partnership in matrimony and contribute to the economic upliftment of the quality of life by going out and working, be it here in a software company in the US or in Bangalore.

The other kind of mothers who themselves weren't employed in their life, did not urge or encourage their daughters and daughters-in-laws to have a job. Instead, their focus was on telling these women, in fact, many of them who are independent in all ways that neglecting the husband and home to bring income wasn't necessary and frowned upon as having too much freedom etc.

But, sadly these people (includes the spouses of non-working women) never see it that way. With the changing trends in the world's globalization, Indian women are storming traditional male bastions both in India and here in US. They are pursuing careers these days. Of course, there are many women out there who are satisfied with just having a job to earn money and gain economic independence. But, a lot more women these days are churning out to become career oriented- they want to do more than a job, they want to pursue personal and professional goals. Even though that kind of change is slowly happening, the success rate isn't that high yet. Such kind of career women don't have their path cut out so easily- they need to be able to climb the professional ladder and yet make sure that they are successful in the home front as well- right from organizing the house, ensuring that the equally hi-tech husband does his part of the home chores and also raise kids in a western environment. And the higher you grow in your position, the more challenges one must face. If it is a business or marketing position, then travel becomes part of your job description.

Finally, since many women have the tendency to play superwoman- trying to excel in all her roles, planning and maintaining the work and balancing the personal life becomes critical. Also, this career graph can never be plotted without the complete support of the spouse, not only in a verbal fashion, but also to sort out all issues that evolves, since a career entails sacrifices and compromises.

Hmmm......have we come a long way from our grandmother's generation.....keep the spirits alive and share your comments.

My first Golu

This year Navarathri turns out to be slightly different than the last couple of years. Living in Bay Area and visiting the golu sale at Komala Vilas on El Camino Real made me buy some dolls as a last minute thing and keep the golu last weekend with whatever other stuff we could find at home to fill the padis. With K setting up the padis and offering his thoughts and me arranging the dolls, it was truly a couple effort. Spent the last weekend going around to friends places for sundal and golu visits. And, it is our turn to play hosts this weekend.

Looking forward to Sarawasthi puja, SPB Light music concert etc. for this last Dussera weekend.

Happy Friday!

From Aloha to Mahalo- A Trip to Maui, Hawaii

Aloha (Welcome)to Maui- During the long weekend for labor day, K and I made a quick vacation to Hawaii. Out of all the islands in Hawaii, we were highly recommended to go to Maui, because it offers the right blend of sea and land for all visitors. Narrowing it down to stay in West Maui, our pick was the Kaanapali region. Kaanapali extends over 500 acres lined with nearly three miles of white sand beaches. It also has a lot of sea resort hotels, golf courses and shopping centers. Route 30 is the only highway that takes you along the coast and we were fortunate to rent a convertible and just the drive along the coast from the airport to Kaanapali on Route 30 with the covertible top down was an unbeatable experience. What a way to begin our holiday!

Our stay at the Kaanapali Beach hotel was pleasant and relaxing. Like most other Maui hotels, ours had a private beach where snorkelling, deep-sea fishing and just swimming on the beach and lying out on the sand with a sun tan lotion were some of the activities.

Our agenda for the 5 days was packed-

Day 1- Arrived at Maui in the afternoon and drove to Kaanapali and settled into Kaanapali Beach Hotel and enjoyed the sea

Day 2- Maui Activities Orientation Breakfast and Parasailing

My first parasailing experience at 400 feet height was a totally scary experience. K and the rest of our boat folks witnessed my fear of water and heights and although I was so afraid of doing it, with a lot of support and literal hand clutching with K, I made it- the experience was an adventure for me.

Day 3- Road Trip to Hana

Hana highway is filled with around 720 sharp curves, hairpin bends and about 50 single lane bridges and a trip to Maui would not have been complete without doing the Hana drive. We played tourists on a luxury van since we had to go 180 miles of a most scenic route and would be gone for 12 hours. I had taken enough Dramamine to keep my motion sickness under control and managed to survive the day long trip. Although the road is in excellent condition, but by the time you are done with the trip you will feel that you are trained for the Monte Carlo Gran Prix, if only you could make these turns at quadruple speed.

But, all this is for the wonderful sights and photographs that we took at several stops our local tour guide made for us. My favorite spots were the Ke-anae peninsula, the black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa State Park. The lava tube down at the bottom gives you a beautiful view of the ocean waves.

The Hana coast gallery was an afternoon stop for doing local shopping. The waterfalls all along the route are really a nice sight for the eyes. We also made a stop at Kipahulu where we visited the Palapala Ho'omau Congregational Church and the burial spot of Charles Lindbergh. Since our guide cum driver was a really enthusiastic localite he took the narrow road off the highway to take us there.

After a long day we were back to our hotel in Kaanapali at around 7.30 pm almost twelve hours after our departure that morning. The trip to Hana was an exciting and awe inspiring experience.

Day 4- Haleakala Sunrise and Mountain Bike Ride down the Volcano

We were up the next day at 2 am to be picke dup by our van to go up the summit of Haleakala to watch the sun rise. A few photos of that are also posted. The temperature up there made our hands and face freeze and we were provided with leather jackets with hoods and hot chocolate to await the sunrise. The sun slowly started to come up around 4.30 am and was fully up by 6.30 am. We then made the 36 mile mountain bike ride down the the volcano to the sea of Maui, Hawaii. The tropical fauna and the fresh morning air along with a great bicycle ride experience was the highlight of our trip. We reached the land in about 3-4 hours and had a great breakfast at a small town.

The Luau at Night- The Royala Lahaina hotel hosts a traditional Hawaiian night of food and entertainment for all its Ohana (family). Even visitors are considered a part of this big ohana. The Imu ceremony of burying and cooking the pig, followed by drinks from the open bar with an all-you-can-eat buffet (that had quite a few vegetarian dishes to our surprise) was worth the money we paid for this event. Dinner was followed by the hula dance, a traditional dance retelling the stories of many Hawaiian legends followed by a fire knife dance in the end made the evening a remarkable one. Also, eating beside the ocean with a bunch of people and watching the sun set were an added bonus to the Luau.

Day 5- Drive back to Kahului Airport and took a flight to SFO.


West Maui's panoramic view along with its variety of vacation activities, sight seeing places etc. make this a memorable trip.

The HINDU in digital form

The HINDU, India's largest newspaper will now be available in digital form as of September 10, 2006 at this link-

http://epaper.thehindu.com

Niagara Falls- A Sight to Behold

Spent the last week vacationing in Boston, visiting my old school and taking my parents to see the Niagara Falls up in Buffalo, NY. The weather was glorious and we stayed at the Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel and spent 3 days there, just relaxing and taking walks along the falls and Niagara State Park. The US side of the falls, the horse-shoe shaped one paled in comparison to the size of the actual Niagara, seen from the Canadian side. All it takes for an entry into Canada, is a mere 20 minute walk along the Rainbow Bridge to go from the US side. Of course, you would need a valid visa to enter the US again, such as a green card etc. But, really enjoyed the grandeur of the Canadian portion of the falls and highly recommend it to all visitors, its definitely worth seeing than the US side of it.

Off to Mauii in Hawaii for another vacation with special K tomorrow.

Happy Long Weekend!!!

Leave of Absence Update

What with the usual office routine and working on a Compensation Management class outside work, was swamped with assignments and projects. Last class is tonight and can't wait for our final presentation to get over this evening. Have a trip to visit my parents and family in Boston and a mini trip planned to Niagara falls all of next week. Back to Bay Area for a brief time at work to catch up on stuff and them off to Mauii, Hawaii with special K for the Labor Day weekend.

Will blog the travel stuff as and when time permits.

A Man and his Mood Swings

Well.....I guess my motivation to blog, inspite of the decreasing number of comments comes from the fact that there are so many things I would like to write about, vent and rant and rave about. So, here goes some of my thoughts from an article that I read recently in Hindu.

Quite often we come across articles that talk about women's moodswings, tempers or even a group of men who comment about their inability to understand their wives moods etc. and rarely does a writer or columnist go about discussing a man's moodswings.

An article that i read recently made some nice reading material on how a man has his mood swings.

In reality, most women only have mood swings at predictable moments, even if some of them are for the worse. But, a man's mood swings are extremely unpredictable and can blow you off your feet in no time. So, how do many women who can hardly fathom the basis of such anger get to cope with their men is a question that all of us must ask.

Although there are several moods a man can go through, its basically the following three moods that he expresses while being in a relationship.

The first one, being the possessive streak. This one stirs up occasionally when you talk too much about another man or praise his deeds or make a comment on his appearance and can cause him to go either really quiet or just answer in one liners or monosyllables. This mood shows on his face and lasts for a while atleast and makes the woman jump into asking explanations and apologies. The best way to handle this type of mood swing as per the writer of the article is to first tell him the reason and then assure him that he's the one for you. If this doesn't work and he still acts immature, then be upfront with him about his childishness and even then if he doesn't act normal, ignore him for a while and he will run to you soon.

The second mood is the general "I hate everything all of a sudden". This mood happens out of the blue, especially if he doesn't get his own way either at work or if he is simply too bored of a routine in his life. When this pops up, its good to boost their ego slightly by doing things his way or performing his favorite activities etc. without overdoing it, since this may become an expectation in the long run.

The third and last mood is the "stubborn mule" mood where he will stick to his guns, no matter what and expect you to toe the line as per his demands. He would argue or have the final word stating that he is right and offer his reasons for being right come out of a logic. If this is reasonable, then the female folk out there can choose to listen or if his demands seem too unreasobale, then the best way is to walk away since you can do much better.

Anyways, thought this was an interesting analysis for sharing with the bloggers....

New Outsourcing Terminology

Was reading last month's TIME magazine, and was amused at some of the outsourcing terminology that was mentioned. India, which is currently at one of its peak periods with its offshore outsourcing business is now the talk of most work place conversations within the US.

Bangalored : It refers to India's high-tech hub, and it means your job has just moved to India without you.

As many of us are aware, India's IT giants such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS etc. are all tapping the outsourcing boom by hiring quick-coding, English speaking, low paying techies to do their back office tasks and programming stuff. But, Bangalore is busting at the seams, in terms of its heavy traffic, narrow roads, pollution and lack of more space to expand. Not only that, the turnaround time for Indian engineering colleges to produce highly skilled employees isn't fast enough to keep up with theglobal trend. Hence, US and other foreign counterparts have also started looking beyond India and China at Phillipines and Eastern European countries to outsource their work.

But, the Indian software market giants are not disgruntled at this. Infosys and the others have slowly started exploring outsourcing campuses in China and other parts of Asia and across the world. These companies would recruit talent from other global areas and provide six months training in India before these folks are employed outside India.

So, the next term evolving is:

<em>Globombed- This refers to someone whose job is outsourced to China, Romania or elsewhere via India.

Interesting information- Geography is soon becoming insignificant in terms of where jobs can go and how they are done in a cost effective and timely fashion.

Comments and thoughts?

An Interesting Picture

One of my friends sent this to me as a forward and I thought it would be good to share with the bloggers, let me know your comments-

Fireworks and Jazz Show at Stanford Lively Arts for July 4th

We celebrated the 4th of July this year a day ahead with a jazz band performance and firworks. Took my parents to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band performance at the Frost Amphitheatre in Stanford on the evening of Monday, July 3rd. This was the first time we were going for a jazz concert and my folks thoroughly enjoyed the event. In fact, my father was making comparisons to the classical music concert, its "thaniavarthanam" to the jazz band which had its own equivalent solos by its guitar, bass, drums and cello players. The group was an African American team of men over 55 years of age who had come from New Orleans to perform at the Stanford annual event. Afterwards, the beautiful fireworks show started and lasted for a short 15-20 minute duration with my parents staring open mouthed at this glamorous display of light and color patters. We managed to click a few snaps which turned out ok.

Spent the 4th at home enjoying a well cooked south indian lunch made by my mom.

A Grand Experience- Las Vegas & Grand Canyon

Last weekend was the final tour to Las Vegas and The Grand Canyon with my parents before they head out to the east coast next week. We managed to make the quickest 2 day trip to Vegas and GC. We took a 1 hour and 30 minute flight from San Jose to Vegas on Friday morning and checked into The Imperial Palace hotel on the casino strip area in Vegas. Afterwards, we walked to most of the nearby casions such as Cesar's Palace, Parisian, Aladin's place, Bellagio, The Mirage and the Flamingo. My parents who had already been exposed to the slot machine in Reno, tried their luck on the Vegas arena and won $5. But, we did lose a lot more than we had planned to play with.

Every time i visit Vegas, its a reveletion to me, the newness of the casinos, the interiors of the shopping malls and forum shops and the crazy crowd around you which makes you feel how far away from reality you are. Although i had warned my folks that the people in Vegas were a lot different from the cultured, quiet lot in the Silicon Valley, nevertheless, they were in for a shock. But, overall doing a Vegas trip once in a way, especially for those who come from another country shows them a very different side of US. Lastly, a piece of advice to all those planning a Vegas trip in June- the heat was indeed untolerable, going upto a 110, even if Chennaites are used to that sort of temperature, the blind direct heat of the desert in Vegas makes you think twice about travelling at this time of the year.

Our second day started with a day trip to the Grand Canyon in Arizona with stops at the Hoover dam, Kingman canyon and a few native Indian stores on the way. This was a tiring 5 hours up and down day trip to the GC from Vegas, but ended up being a worthwhile one. I loved the native indian jewellery, esp, the colored stones and sterling silver sets.

We spent about 2-3 hours at the South rim of the Grand Canyon and absolutely loved the beauty and color of the canyon. We walked for a while from the Mather point to the conservatory and rode the canyon shuttle bus to the canyon village shops and Bright Angel lodge.

Our bus tour to the Canyon was through a Chinese owned tour company that we've used for all the tours and trips to take my folks around and for a reasonable fee of $89 per person we were provided breakfast and lunch along with a great tour guide who knew the right places to stop.

A wonderful experience and a trip that i will remember for a long time inspite of the tedious journey.

Weekend Getaway- Lake Tahoe & Reno

Last weekend, we made a road trip to Lake Tahoe and Reno. On a sunny Saturday morning, we loaded our car with a bag full of food- idlis, tomato chutney, capsicum rice, potato curry, curd rice and snacks. Carnatic music CDs from India, ipod and the camera went in next and we started our 4 hour trip to Lake Tahoe. Since my parents were accompanying us and i wanted to horne my freeway driving skills, special K let me sit behind the steering wheel and took charge of the audio controls.

After a brief stop for a breakfast of idlis and hot coffee at Starbucks, we made it to Lake Tahoe at noon. This is my first trip to the lake and i was awed by the size of the lake, it seemed to stretch forever, as long as the eyes could see and was a shining blue. We played in the water for a while, ate lunch and drove to the local beaches.

Later around 3 pm, we drove to our hotel in Reno, checked in our bags and walked around the downtown area where the casinos are located. The streets outside had a cheap and poor appearance, though once one enters a casino, its all very different. Cigarette smoke, perfurmes, food odours etc. inside the casino make you aware that there are no windows inside. We played ths slot machine and won and lost some money, $20 investment for all 4 of us.

My mom was taboo to playing with any more hard earned $$$ and so we ended up going back to our lousy hotel room to eat rotis and sabji that we had brought from home. On Sunday morning, we drove back to the newly opened Southern Spice restaurant on El Camino Real in Mountain View for a father's day brunch and got home afterwards.

Recommendation- Visit Lake Tahoe during the summer for a nice day trip and probably spend a night there. Reno isn't worth a visit.

More about casinos on my next blog after my coming weekend trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

Adjusting Time

A Consultant is a person who borrows your watch, tells you what time it is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it.

Recently, a conversation at work on how each of us had our time set differently on our watches prompted me to blog on this.

In today's world of high-end luxury accessories, a wristwatch worn by almost everybody has become a vital sign of identity and fashion. Be it an old watch passed on through generations in the family or a luxury watch, every watch is totally unique. A watch is viewed not only as a basic essentiality but also considered to be a symbol of status or a personality identifier.

These days wearing a watch is not so much about telling the time anymore, since you have the time all around you, in the form of ipods, flashy mobile phones, in the car, on your computer and at work. Its all about expressing your self, depicting that you have arrived.

So, what is it in our watches that make us tick?

For those of us who have our watches adjusted to run faster- I am one of those folks who always has my watch, alarm clock, home clock adjusted 10-15 minutes ahead of the regular time. I guess this allows me the extra time to stop my alarm and sleep for a few more minutes and yet not be late for work. It also helps me feel that the day is moving faster, lunch time comes quickly and the time to go home is also there fast. All in all, it affords me to be lazy without costing a great deal. There is a widespread misconception that people who have their watches run faster are extremely active and fast paced, while the truth is the opposite.

For those of us who have our watches adjusted to run slower- I guess these are the folks who think that punctuality isn't their cup of tea. You perhaps feel that the entire notion of "time" is an evil plot to put shackles on a free spirit. So, what if i go a couple of minutes late for a team meeting, i could show them my watch and tell them that this is the time i have on my watch and so here i am, even if it means protecting myself. I guess these would be the folks who would like their day to drag by longer, so that they can have all the extra time possible.

Finally, for those folks who have their watches run on the regular, correct time- Well, you are the rigid ones who value your time as well as others time and lead an efficient life managing your tasks within a given time frame.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this kind of time keeping.......

Thoughts on First Year Anniversary on the Job

"If" by Rudyard Kipling

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired of waiting....
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more- you'll be a Man my Son."

06/06/06- It is not my wedding anniversary, but this date marks my first year of work in a full-time position. After grad school and internships, volunteer work etc., its indeed a nice feeling that i have completed a year in my current role. I was greeted by a bunch of flowers and a token of appreciation gift left on my desk by my boss when i opened the door to my office this morning.

Just thought that i could share and express some of my experiences in the past year.

For most part, i can say that my first year on the job has been a breeze. Being in HR and handling a team of 50 employees requires some skill and a lot of it can be attributed to the friendly and mentor kind of support that i have from my supervisor. Also, i have a majority of folks in my group who are nice and don't cause unnecessary problems, except for a few of them without whom my job would have been less challenging and interesting. Negotiation and conflict resolution skills cannot be acquired without those "troublemakers".

Also, there is an emotional piece that is tied up with working in a non-technical field. The pay scale for support staff in most organizations doesn't compare to what its technical folks earn. Just picture this scenario: You are offered a HR or Finance Analyst entry-mid level position with an organization. And let's assume that they offer you an annual base salary of $60,000. You are probably satisfied that you have you are off to a good start in your first position. And then your friend or roomate gets a job at the same company as an engineer and gets an offer for an annual salary of $70,000. What is your reaction? You are upset and start thinking negative thoughts. "He/She can't speak good English, has a terrible accent, can't write gramatically correct sentences, etc." Pause for a minute and tell yourself that an engineer doesn't need those skills that a HR or Finance person needs. But, times are changing and HR is being viewed more than just a corner for idle chit chat, it is looked upon as a strategic business partner to add value to the company.

I can hear my supervisor's words run through my mind as i type this- She keeps reminding me that life/career is a marathon and a good start can and will make a difference. Her exact words to me- "You must remember that you probably have to work for another 35 years. So, even if that is a sobering thought, why do you let what someone earns in 2006 bother you so? After all, when you hang up your shoes, it could be 2040. So, don't let the first few years of employment fox you, instead keep work hard and play hard."

Finally, my mom who used to be a working woman and I often have this arguement. She keeps telling me that as a woman one needs to decide whether they want a job or a career. "Having a job is to earn money and gain economic independence. Taking it up as a career is to pursue personal and professional goals." Ultimately, it all boils down to having a good work-life balance which we all need.

Going Away for the Long Weekend

We are off to LA and San Diego for the long weekend starting tomorrow.

For the first time, i am going to be travelling by a Chinese Tour Bus and not drive, so will come back and blog about the experience.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and Travel Safe!!!

The Da Vinci Code- Movie versus Book

It was a rainy weekend for the Bay Area folks. Managed to convince and drag special K to watch The Da Vinci Code movie on Sunday, inspite of the critics giving it a C+ on yahoo movies. Like most folks, i was hooked onto Dan Brown's book a while ago and then went on to read other Dan Brown novels. Anyways, wanted to blog about my experience both in reading and in watching the movie.

Let me start with the movie.....Inspite of the not so good reviews that it received, it is at the top of the box office weekend releases making a $77 million just within the US. The most fascinating aspect of the movie even before its release, that has been tagged with the high-profile book is its overwhelming public interest and controversy. In fact, i believe that the extra security, press coverage, protests world over etc. all added the boost and expectancy to the movie. A huge chunk of the movie's success has to be attributed to the success of Dan Brown's work of fiction that has generated both the curiosity as well as the displeasure of Christianity followers world over.

What I liked about the book:
When i first started reading the book, my first one by Dan Brown, i was amazed by the fastness with which i turned pages to keep reading. The contents covering a wide range of topics such as the history of Christianity, the Holy Grail, Priory of Sion, the works and paintings of Da Vinci, sightseeings of the Louvre in Paris etc. woven perfectly into an interesting tale of fiction.

What i liked about the movie:
This is one of those movies that every individual who watches it is going to have their own opinion of. Basically, there would be two categories of audiences- those who have read the book and watch the movie, like myself and those who haven't read the book but watch the movie. Tom Hanks fits the role of Harvard symbiologist Robert Langdon only to a point and could have performed better. Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu has been picked for her French accent, but could still have emoted better in several scenes. The albino killer monk really matched Dan Brown's description and Teabing'c character were well transformed on the screen.

It has been a while since i read the book and when i watched the movie, the book kept coming to me. With the numerours twists, plots, codes to decipher, flashbacks etc. in the book along with the other Christian concepts, i always had to keep up with what i was reading and the movie made it complete and clearly more understandable for me.

Finally, from a neutral perspective as a non-Christian, i keep thinking about the controversial elements that this movie has kindled and upsetted people and drew my own conclusions. On a personal level, except for the core fact that Jesus, the son of God had an offspring with Mary Magdalene, i thought that the dialogues spoken by Tom Hanks portrayed Jesus as a mortal with diving powers or a divine soul born in a mortal universe. Of course, its extremely hard to believe and accept that Christ has left behind his bloodline, it does shatter/ question the belief system of the church that Christ was single, lived and died as a savior to protect his followers on earth. The portions of witchcraft and the periods where women were burnt alive, existance of the Priory of Sion and certain other factions of the book/movie have distressed and angered the Roman Catholic Church and its followers. But, amidst all the protests and negativity expressed by the religious groups world wide, it looks like the movie hasn't suffered a loss at the box office.

Would be interested in reading some of your thoughts on the movie, especially from those who watched it without reading the book.