- The Outlander -

Did You Know?

2009-11-10T00:36:00.001-05:00

Bing.com

2009-05-29T14:33:00.001-04:00

Researcher finds reference to Shivaji Maharaj in foreign newspaper

2008-12-26T01:37:00.000-05:00

An extract of the letter written from Aleppo, which had appeared in The London Gazette of February 1672: “Two day since we received Letters from India, written by the English President residing at Surratte (Surat) who acquaints us with the daily fears they have there, from Sevagee (Shivaji Maharaj), the Rebel, who having beaten the Mogul in several battles, remains almost Master of Countrey, and takes the boldness to write all the European Ministers in Surrate (Surat), that if they refuse to send him such and such immediate presents of Money (which as he puts them would amount to vats sums) by way of Contribution, he will return and ruine that city; That he exacts the like from the Inhabitants, who certainly would comply with his demand, but that the officers of the Mogul, being there hinder them. Which puts them into an extreme Streight, and causes other daily to convey away their richness; many also embarking and transporting themselves into other parts, to avoid the storm they fear will fall up on them”

Update on United Airlines Story

2008-09-11T20:05:00.003-04:00

http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/update-on-united-airlines-story.html

GOOG automated news crawling mistake wipes out $1.14 billion dollars

2008-09-10T17:29:00.001-04:00

From MSN Money: UAUA Intraday Chart

This is a sobering example of the impact a little 'bot can have on the world! (from http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/10/203233&from=rss)

"The Wall Street Journal reports that Google News crawled an obscure reprint of an article from 2002 when United Airlines was on the brink of bankruptcy. United Airlines has since recovered but due to a missing dateline, Google News ran the story as today's news. The story was then picked up by other news aggregators and eventually headlined as a news flash on Bloomberg. This triggered automated trading programs to dump UAL, cratering the stock from $12 to $3 and evaporating 1.14 billion dollars (nearly United's total market cap today) in shareholder wealth. The stock recovered within the day to $10 and is now trading at $9.62, a market cap of $300M less than before Google ran the story."

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program 2008 - Chetan Bhagat

2008-09-08T12:35:00.001-04:00

''Good Morning everyone, and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases, discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel - continuously. The second is to guard it against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life too seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking life too seriously - that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. "What did this failure teach me?" is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts , having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken too seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere that you took something too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works (rather, most of the world works). People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who think that I am more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose the college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will keep the spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any other moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - "I come from the land of a billion sparks".

Thank You. ''

Reunion of Christian the Lion

2008-08-16T00:16:00.001-04:00

Pakistan's President Parvez Musharaf on Daily Show

2008-07-16T20:27:00.001-04:00

Sunil Bharti Mittal on Entrepreneurship

2008-07-16T20:15:00.001-04:00

Amazing dance on Britain's Talent Show

2008-04-30T17:55:00.001-04:00

2008 Mustang Bullitt

2008-04-30T04:32:00.002-04:00

- Only 7000 being built -

David Heinemeier Hansson at Startup School 08

2008-04-24T05:31:00.002-04:00

<div><a href='http://www.omnisio.com'>Share and annotate your videos</a> with Omnisio!</div>

Guy Kawasaki interviewing Steve Ballmer at MIX '08

2008-03-16T16:45:00.001-04:00

Watch Steve Ballmer and Guy Kawasaki Keynote

EyeJot Prepares Video Email Service for SMBs

2008-02-27T05:13:00.001-05:00

Eyejot is doing great!

Travis Barker Remix Soulja Boy

2008-02-24T21:23:00.001-05:00

Yuvaraj 6 sixers in an over - IndiavsEngland T20 ODI

2007-09-22T16:04:00.001-04:00

Charlie Rose - An hour with Bill Gates

2007-09-21T03:22:00.001-04:00

Our chief himself :)

Mustang Chase

2007-08-05T16:31:00.001-04:00

Directions to San Jose on a camera :D

2007-08-02T06:22:00.000-04:00

Car capped at 113 :D

2007-08-02T06:21:00.000-04:00

Moooooo

2007-08-02T06:19:00.000-04:00

Weird Chinese Chicken

2007-08-02T06:17:00.001-04:00

Sexy Feet

2007-08-02T06:17:00.000-04:00

Hong Kong or China Town?

2007-08-02T06:14:00.000-04:00

Pooling with Meeta

2007-08-02T06:13:00.000-04:00

Rental for cali-trip

2007-08-02T06:11:00.000-04:00

Horn Puppies :D

2007-08-02T06:09:00.000-04:00

With my lil horn doggy

2007-08-02T06:08:00.000-04:00

Cool pic on the way to Sacramento

2007-07-31T01:25:00.000-04:00

Cali-trip

2007-07-31T01:21:00.000-04:00

Dream of Californication

2007-07-21T13:29:00.000-04:00

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R

2007-06-10T00:43:00.006-04:00

- The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R Super Sport -

A gift to myself for embracing the next quarter of life :-)

Indian National Anthem - by A.R Rehman

2007-06-08T07:41:00.001-04:00

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger

2007-05-28T04:56:00.000-04:00

European Commision adopt English

2007-05-28T04:09:00.000-04:00

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as Euro-English (Euro for short). In the first year, 's' will be used instead of the soft 'c'. Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard 'c' will be replaced with 'k.' Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced by 'f'. This will make words like 'fotograf' 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent 'e's in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' by 'z' and 'W' by 'V'. During ze fifz year, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou', and similar changes vud of kors; be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil b no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

- 520 HP - 8 Liter - V10 -

2007-05-19T05:44:00.000-04:00

My new found glory!

2007-05-18T01:56:00.000-04:00

Cinco de Mayo

2007-05-06T19:24:00.000-04:00

Been thinking of getting the GT 500

2007-05-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

MacBook

2007-05-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

YES! I finally converted.... j/k!
But, I am quite impressed. APPL even gave me a discount for working at MSFT :-D... oh, and finally I got an iPod!!

Note this time in History :)

2007-05-05T07:42:00.000-04:00

Late nights on VideoMailz (previously iVastoo). I like the new name better :-).

Blatent Blunder

2007-05-05T07:24:00.000-04:00

How poor does one have to be to cross the line?

Ambience @ Home

2007-05-05T07:19:00.000-04:00

'95 5.0L V8 - 320 HP

2007-03-31T07:19:00.000-04:00

'01 3.8L V6 - 200 HP

2007-03-31T07:17:00.000-04:00

Windows Live Shopping

2007-03-24T18:33:00.000-04:00

Wonder what happened to Windows Live Shopping?
The beta is over and it now points to MSN Shopping.
Quite interesting....considering Chris Payne left Live Search.
FYI: Chris Payne had initiated Live Search back in 2000!

Its a beautiful day!

2007-03-21T23:29:00.000-04:00

That was a busy month!

2007-03-11T23:35:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Corporate Campus

2007-03-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

Visit to Space Needle

2007-03-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

A very old picture of my baby sister!

2007-01-29T05:54:00.000-05:00

Isn't she adorable? I think this was probably in '95 ....

New Year '07 in Sammamish

2007-01-01T05:53:00.000-05:00

Halloween 2006 @ Windows Live Shopping

2006-11-01T05:24:00.000-05:00

Sleepless in Seattle...

2006-08-17T06:58:00.000-04:00

RC Boats

2006-08-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

Days go by and still I think of you...

2006-08-08T23:31:00.000-04:00

Florida

2006-08-08T20:19:00.000-04:00

Last day in Philly

2006-08-05T06:01:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Museum of Art

2006-07-29T20:21:00.000-04:00

Punk's birthday

2005-12-10T06:16:00.000-05:00

Barren Times ...

2004-10-17T22:59:00.000-04:00

Look into my eyes..... I am the closest link to GOD...

So, I decided to take the plunge!

But, think about it...

One less thing to worry about

And I am beginning to like it...

I think you too should join da club!

- The Outlander -

- The Outlander - Returns!

2004-08-04T21:59:00.000-04:00

In the beginning... Guess where ?

So, here I am working on my Toshiba, hunting for jobs.

Yes, I was experiencing dial up!

To top it off the outside temperature was just about 100 degrees.