-: Dreamer's Den! :-

2009 ending was not predicted this way, not in any wildest of dreams by any Kannada person.  Yesterday 29-Dec-2009 C.Ashwath the legendary Kannada singer passed away. Very (un)fortunate and very rare to find any person's death date = birth date and Late Ashwath became an example to prove this. 29-Dec-1939 to 29-Dec-2009 :: Let his divine soul Rest In Peace and let his 'kanchina kanTa' (Bronze voice - because of the high pitch singing which Ashwath used to carry on so well and people would be waiting to hear that!) enthrall the gods in heaven! Just 12 hours after his cremation and people still in shock with Late Ashwath's death, there came another major blow and shock to the people. Dr. Vishnuvardhan , the legendary and leading Kannada film industry superstar passed away in Mysore @ 0230hrs this morning (30-Dec-2009). As of now, his body has been kept in a huge ground where people are paying their respects and in the evening, he will be cremated with State honors....

Starting of this month, had to say goodbye to Sydney where I spent nearly 2 months in this visit and more than quarter of this year in the city! Saying bye was getting difficult as the departure date came closer but unfortunately had to...Wish I could have stayed till New Year day when Sydney would be the first city to Welcome 2010 with its amazing fireworks in Sydney Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour areas! YouTube videos of this fireworks will leave you in awe and sydney government will be spending some millions of dollars for this amazing show!! Anyways, back to namma bengaluru life now...had been to office for a week post-return and then took off for couple of weeks (and this also is getting over :-(() On the first week of my leave, my parents and my wife and myself drove to some long-pending 'temple tour'...This was the route taken and places covered. Bangalore -> Kukke Subramanya (via Sakleshpur and Shiradi Ghat ) -> Southadka Ganapathi -> Dharmasthala -...

Somehow, somehow, somehow....I could not blog though I wanted to...sometimes it would be either time constraint or lack of interest or having logged into the blog page, something pops up and distracts.... Anyways, update from past weeks is that I am in Sydney, Australia and its been now 5 weeks away from home...miss all my folks except my better half who is with me :-) 2 more weeks to go before I re-join my folks :-) More later...Will surely blog...

This year, for my family, I can term it as Year Of Surgeries!! The reason being this year saw 4 surgeries till date in my family including myself. I just hope and wish that there will be no more surgeries for anybody in the future! Starting from February this year where I was operated for Retinal Detachment (RD) surgery (a major one), my father got operated for the prostrate removal (major again) in April, followed by my mother on the table for a benign Lipoma (fat deposit) removal just a fortnight back and the 4 th one and the latest being mine (yes, again!), a 1.5hours left eye surgery to remove the Silicone Oil plus the correction for Cataract using ' Phaco Emulsification ' technique...just yesterday morning!! Fortunately my parents and myself are doing fine post-surgery (I am on a week's leave right now) but I believe this is too much for a family in just 9 months!! But if I think bit deeper, as per my principle, "whatever happens, it happens for good",...

I am enjoying this book reading to the core...From the previous post where I mentioned about completing "The HP Way" and "The Toyota Way", I started reading couple of books related to Management! I dream and love to be in the management role and wish my dreams come true...:-) I want to be a Leader more than a Manager :-) Related to this and to understand more of Management wrt Software, I am into the PMP Preparation Guide Fifth Edition by Rita Mulcahy . ( PMP = Project Management Professional) This book really gives insight on what goes into a 'real' project management and its processes. I am feeling that rarely we achieve 50% of the actual PM process!! But anyways, for me this book is a good bible to find out the in-and-out of a good project management process and wish I can start adopting them in the near future!

Last month I got back / resumed my favorite activity - Reading! :-) Till last month, since I was working from a different location which required commutation to the office in my own vehicle, I had lost time to devote on my fave activity - This has happened from past 3 years but now, after coming back from Sydney in June mid, I have a chance of resuming Reading. The primary reason being my office location got changed and now I have to commute by company bus and the best part is I get nearly 45mins time in morning and 60mins time in evening - dedicated to Reading! Hurray !! :-)) From last month, I was reading one of the good monthly magazines in India - Reader's Digest ( RD India ) {March to July series} which fills in lot of knowledge to your mind - lot of things to be learnt! Post completion, I read "The HP Way" - written by one of the co-founders of Hewlett-Packard company - Mr. David Packard...Its very inspirational and tells how HP was built right from a small Garag...

Yesterday we (my family) decided to go to Mysore and come back in evening...It had been a long time and long pending visit to my favorite city :-) Also this visit was by our car and for the first time we were taking our car to a long drive!! So, we started in the morning and my brother drove till Channapatna, where we gave a break for our tummy's :) Then, for the first time I took position in the driver's seat to fulfill my long pending wish of driving on this beautiful road...I drove and pushed my dear car to the max of 120 (could of gone further but my parents resisted me for going :-)) in the Maddur-Mandya stretch...The most lovable stretch is from post Mandya to Srirangapatna...road is good so is the view and the drive :) Finally pre-Mysore, my brother took over again and drove inside the city. While coming back, I again drove from Mandya to Channapatna but could not go beyond 100 as traffic was pretty high at that time :-( Overall, good experience, good drive in a ...

Today it will be marked as THE sad day in the history of world music....The "King of Pop" MJ death has brought so much sadness to millions of his fans, thruout the world...count me in that..:-(( It is so difficult to build an image like his,who is followed by millions across the world...forget the religion and language..the only language his fans know is the pop music by this icon! He has written such a history which can never be forgotten for the many many years to come... My all time favorite will be "Stranger in Moscow", "Remember the time", "Jam", "Thriller",....list will not end so easily.... God should not have cheated MJ and his fans like this...MJ, still 50, deserved lot of life ahead with his planned comeback but...:-( Anyways, the world has to move on...but this will be a very sad day in the music history! RIP MJ, you are always the King of Pop, yesterday - today - tomorrow and years to come...

This is purely my personal opinion and does not reflect anything to anybody! I am on business to Aussie and my deep and heartful condolences to my fellow Indians who are in the troubled times. I too condemn the attacks, I join the protest to treat everybody fair without any racism. But this alone, Melbourne attacks, does not make Aussie bad. Its a very good country and the people here are so nice and helpful. There are always good and bad people in this world - in India, in Aussie and everywhere! So a bad element making this stupid junk stuff happening does not make this country bad. I have traveled lone to many places here and the people around are so helpful and nice. They will guide you if you need and respect you as any other person! Infact, they like Indian food and know couple of Indian places!! Today afternoon, in ABC television, two Aussies were discussing the "Onion Bhaji" (bhajji) - one of the favourite South indian snack!! I know some Aussie people who only sa...

Had this long weekend ending today and thanks to the Queen here, due to her we got a holiday today (June 8) - Happy Birthday Queen! I had a fantastic weekend, starting from Saturday...Lucky me as the weather here in SYD co-operated with me to be too good with all blue sky! :-) On Saturday, went to a suburb in Sydney called Parramatta...Access is thru Rail, Road and Ferry. I chose ferry which takes 50 minutes to reach this suburb. Super it was and I enjoyed the ride to and fro...About Parramatta, it is a nice place to have a one-day visit...a huge park and a huge shopping mall (supposed to be the largest in Aussie, some time back!) The snaps of the same are uploaded in my photo share @ Snapfish; The URL is: http://www2.snapfish.in/ thumbnailshare/AlbumID= 1053264013/a=100718913_ 100718913/otsc=SHR/otsi= SALBlink/ All access requires authentication; here are the credentials to use: username: pradeep.guests@gmail.com password: password On Sunday, went to the much awaited and long p...

AM back to the Harbour city of Sydney and staying in the same place as before..Darling Harbour area!! Winter is in strong force here with occasional rains...very cool outside and very romantic weather out here...(miss you Ro!) Day is very short here...starts at 7am + in morning and ends by 5pm itself..post 5pm, it gets pretty dark and cloudy with lot of rains (some days)!! Overall, weather wise I am enjoying a lot (and hate the blr weather right now!) but missing my dear and my family...anyways 3 more weeks to go :-)

I like the may month very much...reason being its the month with many important days, starting from my parents Wedding day to My wedding day to My birthday to My wife birthday to my father's birthday!!! lots right?? :-) But this time, My wedding day (04-may) and my birthday (today, 10-may!) is special as we are celebrating it in the family this year!! Last year my parents missed my wedding day as me and my wife were out in Dubai and we celebrated it on our own! So, my 2nd year of wedding day could not be missed this time as we are around with my family... With respect to my birthday, last 3 years I have been out of Bengaluru and missed my family on this day...1st miss was when I was in Mumbai for a project from iGate, 2nd miss was my HoneyMoon with my honey! and 3rd miss was Dubai, again with my honey only :-) So this time, my parents and my brother are very happy that I am around...nothing great celebration as such but the presense is more than any celebration...:-) I was gi...

Bit long time gap between this and my previous blog...hmmmm...sometimes it so happens that you want to write/blog but you cannot do it...:-( Anyways, here is some of my updates from the last 10 days! :-) As my post title indicates, I am back to the reality and back with my life...in namma bengaluru :-) Flew back from Sydney on Sunday 26th April (supposed to be on 1st or 2nd may but some last minute changes forced us to travel earlier...our tickets were preponed and reconfirmation was available only on thursday evening!) Prior to our travel on Friday evening, we (with 5 of my colleagues who had travelled) went to watch a 3D film in the World's Largest 3D Screen!! This screen is in IMax, Darling Harbour - 10 minutes walk from where we had stayed. The show was about an underwater exploration for 45 minutes and narrated by Jim Carrey! It was a very nice experience and a awesome huge screen!! On Saturday, we planned and went to the most famous beach in Sydney called the Bondi Beach...

In Sydney now, from past 3 days...but I could not get connect to internet for 2 reasons. 1) its pretty costly at hotel to get a daily net connection {damn them, they dont give net connection for free, unlike Dubai :-((} 2) at office, there were some issues to get net access to all of us here... Now, atleast in office, I am connected to the world and so this blog..:-) Its been a good time here...good place and city, staying in the heart of the city (Darling Harbour) - Harbourside, good hotel accommodation, superb weather (cool and windy), 10mins walk to office, good food (thanks to my colleagues who cook one or the other every day for dinner) Above all, I am taking a good 45 mins walk every morning..6.30 to 7.15am! its so nice.. Not yet explored much in this 'Harbour City' but looking forward for this weekend to do so...keep looking for the posts..:-)

This weekend I will be traveling to the Land of Kangroos aka to the World's Smallest continent and a country...Australia!! I will be staying in Sydney for couple of weeks on a business trip (client site) and then back here... Its the start of the winter/rainy season and the weather is a heaven compared to namma Bengaluru...But I worry if rain plays a spoil sport when we want to tour the places...:-( Work will be pretty hectic over there but overall I believe it should be a good 3 weeks break! :-) Watch this space for more info, right from Sydney!

Its been 6 years since the incident ( http://deepsworld.blogspot.com/2005/03/unfogettable-29th-march.html ) that gave me second innings to play in this beautiful journey called life! But on the other hand the same life made me miss my dear friend forever...:-(( Six years has passed so fast but I just cannot forget that day of 29-march-2003. When I close my eyes, everything comes in front of my eyes, the talk, the accident, the electric shock given by the doctors in a last minute attempt to save my dear friend's life and finally the death announcement...seems as though it happened just yesterday but time has passed by... I miss him so much and tears roll out when I see his snaps... Sometimes god becomes so heartless and acts without any pity to some good people...but I just pray that god to give peace and courage to the family and friends who are missing him forever... Let peace prevail...Miss you Jetty babu forever....

Today it is exactly 1 month that I underwent the major eye surgery! As per my latest visit to the doctor, he said Retina has attached well and things are very fine inside (the eye). Now, need to concentrate on the Cornea portion of the eye where by I need to keep it lubricated (not letting it go dry) by putting eye drops every 1 hour...So, this is in progress now :-) Otherwise, vision is still blur and hazy...Time will only tell if there is any improvement in the vision! Would like to thank the doctor, my parents, my wife, my brother and my friends and well-wishers for the ever lasting unconditional support. Special thanks to my dearest brother who is a budding doctor now; he cared me so nicely post-surgery by monitoring the time to put me eye drops, advising me of how things are coming back to normal and giving me positive assurances! Very thankful to get such a brilliant and patient doctor as my brother! :-)

Yesterday evening, we wanted to go out for a drive in our new Indica Xeta..So, we chose to take the road towards Kengeri and then enter the 'very nice' NICE (Nandhi Infrastructure Corridor) road, get something for stomach in between and come back home... Post Kengeri, we took the left turn to enter the tolled NICE road...its an awesome privately built road for public use and have no issues in paying a mere Rs 16/- for a nice smooth pot-hole free road journey! We didnt want to take the road till Kanakapura exit as it was about to rain heavily and hence we took an exit that marked BSK Outer Ring Road (the exit point is next to PESIT college, near to my home). We happily took this exit but to our dismay, a big board after 50mtrs said 'Road Closed'!! Post this board, it was pitch dark and nothing was visible if the car headlights are not turned on...we could see some small hills ahead...So, obviously we became confused on whether to go back and join the NICE road that leads...

Yesterday, we (my family) did a thing for the first time (formally though) after much 'planning' from past few days! We face 1-hour of load shedding/power cut in the evening time and now-a-days, the cut happens in the apt dinner time! Daily we wane about this power cut but for yesterday it was so nice to have power cut!! :-) Adding to this 'good' stuff was the ever-bright full moon! So, these two 'good' things set the stage for our family moonlight dinner! My family super-chef, none other that Mother India prepared the most-delicious BisiBeleBath (B^3) and thick curd was there to give the 'support' :-) I had brought potato chips from a local store and thatz it...our dinner menu was ready and we were also ready to hit the terrace! We had nearly 45 minutes of dinner and it was just awesome to have in the moonlight! Even the wind was on our side, blowing some cool breezes occasionally. All-in-all the atmosphere was just perfect and nice to have a great m...

I will word this as my unique experience in my life because I had never undergone this stuff earlier in my 28 years of journey called Life and I never want this to happen again in my life...I dont want this to happen to any one else also... Feb 14th will be etched in my book of life for two unique reasons - one sad and one happy! The happy part is that my first car delivery happened on this day and I was very happy for myself and my family for getting a good car (at last!). The happiness is still continuing and will be there in future also... Now, the sad part of the story is that on that morning I started experiencing a reduction in my left eye vision, something like some object has been placed in front of my eye and this is obstructing me to see clearly...I neglected this for sometime thinking that my normal drops will solve this issue but till evening even after many rounds of eye drops, the problem still existed...Then I rushed to a nearby eye clinic where dilatation process was...

And here I present the new member of our family!! The all new Silver Colored Indica Xeta Petrol GLS!!! How is it?? :-)

Guess this...A new member will be coming to join our family and this will be happening either today or latest by Monday :-) Keep watching out for the unveiling of this new member here...very soon!! :-)

Today, my blog turns 3 years old with 220 posts to its kitty :-) !!! Happy Birthday my dear blog !!! This blog has given me the power to express my views and harness my passion to write! Would thank Google for giving us this simple yet great blogging area...

This 60th year Republic Day gave us an extended weekend as it was on Monday. Even the partial Solar Eclipse happened yesterday, which was good in one sense - that we were bound to stay at home during the day time! So, to make good use of the time :-) we rented DVDs of two very good movies, which the second half of 2008 saw! The movies are: ' Vaaranam Aayiram ' (Tamil) and ' A Wednesday ' (Hindi). 'Vaaranam Aayiram' is a very family oriented story (more of a father-son relationship and friendship) with lot of sweet romance added! This film is worth the watch and Surya is superb in both his roles as a father and son also! Sameera Reddy, Ramya (Tamil name: Divya Spandana) and Simran add good value for their respective roles. Overall excellent family movie to watch! 'A Wednesday' is yet another excellent superb 1hr 40mins movie to watch. Its about a fight of a common man post the Mumbai blasts and how our Indian system is vulnerable to any attacks, by a...

Yesterday evening, there were some uninvited guests in my home. They were everywhere, in the living area, in dining area, kitchen, bedrooms and portico (thank god, bathroom was excluded! :O) These guests were none but the sweet Honey Bee's, which can never be sweet if they are in an attacking mode! No idea from where it came, they were all in my house, numbering 10-12!!! We started our 'Operation Honey-Bee' by first closing all the windows and doors of the house and slowly one-by-one tried to clear them off...After nearly 30 minutes of the operation, we declared the house was now safe (and so we all!)...My wife leading the numbers!! Before declaring 'All Clear' (ha ha) I was going to each and every area and scanning each corner of the wall...I was feeling as though I was counter-attacking a terrorist hidden somewhere in my house!! Anyways, it was a good experience! :-)

Confusing title right?? :-) Let me explain...On Sunday evening, we (my wife and myself) planned to visit the Cubbon Park after a very long gap! So we went to this park by 1630hrs and by the time we parked the vehicle and walked down to one of the main areas of the park (Cubbon Band Stand) it was 1645hrs. We knew that every Sunday at 1700hrs, there will be light music from a music group called "Prakruthi" backed by the Asianet - Suvarna Kannada TV channel and here we were there in front of the band stand, right on time, where the stage was being set to start the program. My wife insisted to sit there but I was bit reluctant as I was feeling not-so-interested for the program. But when the program started, I got some interest to be there and listen to the music...Guess what made me interest to be there?? It was this announcement: two Japanese folks from the renowned Toyoto-Kirloskar Motors , Bidadi plant (Bangalore) were going to sing kannada songs and that too near perfectio...

Sign Of The Times - My Submitted photo, published in the Sunday Times Of India, Page 7! :-)

Here you go... http://164.100.80.124/rescal/ Happy Taxing Time! :-)

Shocking and Chilling were the two words that can describe my reaction when I started reading the letter posted on Moneycontrol website, written by the great fraudster Mr. Ramalinga Raju, the great chairman of Satyam Computers! My thoughts, calmness and patience for the employees of Satyam and especially for my very close buddy who is working in this company. This Raju guy has impacted not only Satyam folks but the whole Indian market and the Indian IT industry facing the entire world! It is a big black mark on the IT industry and now things will get much tighten where clients will demand more truth and integrity, which I think is a very huge task. Convincing people is not so easy but this has to be done...to remain in the business! Now everyone is waiting for a full investigation by the SEBI and the goverment to uncover what all *still hidden* by the Raju to this world! Hope things settle down post this and hope to see a bright light at the end of this dark tunnel!

The snaps from our 4 days Hampi and Aanegundi visit, during the last week of December 2008 is available @ http://www2.snapfish.in/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=275950153/a=100718913_100718913/t_=100718913 You need a Snapfish account to view the snaps. Let me know if you need a guest account to check it out...There are around 370 snaps and some patience is appreciated! :-) But I believe you will enjoy watching the snaps and have a 'virtual' tour of Hampi!!

Back to office today, after a much needed loooong holidays (around 15 calendar days / 8 working days!) Not in so good mood for office but had to make it :-((( Wish these holidays comes very often! :-) Not much of activities in the holidays except 4 days of outing; BLR -> Mantralaya -> Hampi / TB Dam -> Aanegundi -> BLR and the rest 10 days, carrying out house work and aloofing around ;-) Anyways, back to work now, first working day of 2009 and hope this year brings cheer to all!

Its time to treasure all the memories and say bye to 2008 , and Welcome the new year 2009 , with a bang!!! :-) Wishing you and your family a very Happy, Prosperous, Peaceful and Joyful New Year 2009!! Let all your dreams come true and let luck be at its best for you, for all your endeavors! Have fun, enjoy the year ahead...Lets continue to pledge and do good to this society and to the needy... Cheers, Pradeep and family! Pledge and Donate Eyes :: Gift Your Sight :: Make It Your Wish! http://www.freewebs.com/ giftyoursight/