On investing

Long time since the last blog! So, here I am, writing another one in hopes of resuming and hopefully reducing the boredom. Feels good already!

For past few weeks, folks around me have been talking about investing. Actually, this is quite popular a topic among us these days. One choice of investment that caught my eye was: real estate. Real estate in SF bay area has been a good investment in past 10 or so years. However, started declining in the past 1 or so years. I have personally invested money in real estate and this is the reason I started thinking about the question: should I invest more? what would be the returns etc. 

While it is not a sure shot return option, it is definitely safer than the stock market. To be exact, the option that was kept in front of me was - lets buy a run-down property, renovate it (as cheaply as possible) and then either 1) sell it or 2) rent it. Here we call it "flip" the property. This is not a bad idea, especially if the property is in areas like Berkeley where the rental market is good given the university is around. For me personally, I don't like this as the best way to utilize my money. And here is why. 

Flipping the property requires some amount of skill and time investment. Do I have the skill? Somewhat. We (Nikita, my wife and I) bought out house and did significant improvements and love the house now. The process taught a lot and we have friends who have gone through the same process. So, I think I have the starting skill set. Do I have time? If one is engaging with a cheap contractor, this will mean more time investment (even with the basics like plumbing and electrical), let alone interior design. I don't personally want to devote that much time to that kind of work. Specifically, I don't see any selective advantage in I doing this work vs someone else. The reasoning I have heard here is that not a lot of people work with contractors and almost always they want a hassle free house. So, we, the flippers, are making premium by providing our acquired skill in dealing with contractors and knowledge on how a house is generally built. This is essentially being a project manager and the investor at the same time.

Given my background of s/w engineering, I feel my time that I would be spending arguing with contractors, can be better spent in learning skills and networking with folks that can open wider set of opportunities. Given our age profile (30s), we can take more risks with our money and invest it on ourselves and the payout can be much larger. For e.g. 100K invested in a well research IPO/your own startup can mean 2-3x in payout. Of course, research needs to be mine and I think I am qualified to do so. But if I keep my time for my contractor, I think I will be missing on it. I can may be make 20% payout in a year at best. 

Another good thing about research is the knowledge learnt can be used to increase the payout in the future years. But here, the payout remains about the same. At best, we will have 10s of houses to flip in a business where payout remains 20-30% annually. 

However, I do think flip is a good option especially when you don't want to risk all your money. E.g. 20% in flip while 80% in a well research business opportunity. Also, as my risk profile will shrink in next 10 years, I would probably try to grow money through other venues like flipping. But today, I will use the money to grow me and then eventually itself. 

Boredom(?)

I get bored very easily. In fact, every couple of days, I tell my wife life is getting boring.
I sat down and started thinking, what exactly do I mean when I say "life is boring" ?

I used to wake up at 9 am or even post 9 am and this has been for past say 10 or so years. I drive to work for about 10 years. In fact, I drive to every place I have to go. I used to eat out every meal until I got married. Now most of the meals are at home, but still frequency of eating out is much higher. The moment we feel lazy, we go out and eat. We watch TV for hours when we don't feel like doing anything. We hardly read. I work long hours and come back home tired enough to eat and sleep.

Looking at this routine of past 10 years, I can definitely say that it is boring. The key word is "convenience".
In my opinion, I have created this life of convenience around myself and this has what has taken the "fun" out of me. It is not that I was bored each and every hour of these 10 or so years.

I worked in a startup in NYC for 4 or so months and then continued that in SF for about 7 or so months. That was such a fun life and the key part was that I was always out of my comfort zone. I woke up at 7 only to run to a subway station in NY. It took me an hour or so to reach. I bought a breakfast bagel or a cheese omelet from a Deli run by Asian family close to office. It was crazy the office as soon as the stock market started. I used to lunch at different places every day. Every day at office was dependent on how our customers were reacting and so it was different each day. At around 9 in the evening, we used to get out of the office and walk into a bar for a drink. We had dinner then some work and retire back at 1 am. Weekend was all about  booze and clubbing.

It was sure crazy and sure fun. NO boredom. Every thing we did was out of our comfort zone and probably that's what we need to do once or so a day to feel not bored.

So, this is hat I am trying to do things out of the comfort zone. I don't want to drive and instead take public transport to office. For some days, I come back home and cook.

Another think that I want to do is to slow down the pace a bit. Rather than try doing a lot of activities in a day or month, do things at a slower pace. Try to take interest in things and not just do them.

I falter

@Copyright: Bhupesh Chandra ( chandra.bhupesh@gmail.com )

A shining star I look into
Love is you
My wonder wall at horizon
I shy away
Purity shines upon you.

A child is life
Your innocence is childhood
My unborn daughter
rides the waves of my heart.

So pure as trust
So dark as sin
My purest sin
I have you all.

Possession is myth
Death is truth
Life a wonder
Do I have you?

I lift a tear
under the burden of sky
I falter. I falter.
Should I drown in the ocean, or
Would you find me,
When the clouds hide me?

Should I walk or fly
Clocks going by
I falter. I falter.
Under the burden of sky.


Should I be the sand, or
Should I be the scent?
Should I burn to be you,
Should I cry to feel you?

I falter. I falter.
Under the burden of sky.

@Copyright: Bhupesh Chandra ( chandra.bhupesh@gmail.com )

Credit history - Guidelines

To be able to have a flourishing house hold, it is important to have a good credit history.

If you are student, coming to US on F-1 visa for the first time, it is very important to understand that credit history is an important element of your economy here. I am from India, and in India there is nothing like credit history being recorded for anyone. Anyways, this philosophy of credit history was not much useful to the US to stop the 2008 economic crash nonsense. Still they stick to it.
In India, the payoff capability for a credit is measured by the earning capacity of the individual. This is NOT how it works in the  US. I earn more than 100K in the US, but I did not have a credit of more than a 1000$ for a long time. Disgusting? In India, I had a credit 5- 7 times my monthly salary. Not only that, I was not allowed to have more than one credit card on account of a bad credit history. I could not take car loans and blah blah.

Here is what I would suggest to a student, especially, Indian students, who have been exposed to an economy completely different than that in the US.

• Open a bank account with a credit union,  rather than going with names like Wells Fargo and Bank Of America. The reason is that they are not well suited for your needs yet. Once you start earning, go ahead and open accounts with them. 
• The big banks are more hesitant in lending you a credit card. Credit unions are not. In fact, they lend you a good credit. Banks like Wells Fargo would offer you a secured credit card which they give you against a collateral. Any purchase would build a credit history for you. They say it is a good starter: But there is a catch. It is good only when you have a larger collateral, say 1500-2000. I started of with $300 which was bad because I thought I would just be able to spend that much for the month. I was wrong.
• Do not spend more than 10% of your credit limit, ie. keep your debt to credit ration as low as 0.1 . Keep spending with your debit card as much as you can for the first year. This is going to build you good credit points. I would spend almost every of the $300 and would refill it at times in the middle of the credit cycle. BAD. 
• It is good to have on of the utility bills or the gas bills on your name. If you are sharing apartment, have one of the bills on your name. These amenities bills also are counted as credit since they are giving you all this assuming you would pay back at the end of the month. This is important, don't forget.
• Time to buy a new car - Yes, you started earning and you want a car. You go for a 8000 used car - all good and nice. You don't want to spend much on a car and that 8000$ is what you saved for a car in the whole of last year. Great. Now DON'T buy the car with a 100% cash payment. I know its cool and sexy and whatever..but you are loosing a chance to build a credit history. If you don't finance this car, no future creditor is going to have a chance to look at your credit performance. You need to do good at 10000 before you could play for a 500000 housing loan. Got it? So, finance the car and pay some interest for next 3-5 years but earn the credit point. They are important.

These few essentials are definitely going to help you maintain a good credit score - > 730 within a year of your entry into the US and in years after that.

Wells Fargo Secured Credit Card

As a student entering for the first time into the United States, little was I aware of the consequences of a wells fargo secured credit card. A secured credit card is a credit card given to an individual against a collateral upto $10000.
I started with $300. As a student, this was all I had. I needed to build my credit history to be able to survive in the US. So true.
Anyways, these are the mistakes that I did and I have learnt from them. Newbies should get some wisdom out of this. One should be careful to avoid these for a better credit score.

1. Wells Fargo reports all transactions as "Secured Credit Card" to the credit bureaus. And not as "credit card" . It seems all my other credit card transactions go as credit card in the credit report. It seems like other banks like Chase and Bank Of America, report secure credit card transactions as credit card. In any case, both BoA and Chase seem to give you a real credit card with a low credit limit, say 500-1000 bucks at the starting which completely avoids the secured credit card. Avoid WELLS FARGO when you enter the US and want to open a bank account.

2. Wells Fargo accounts are good for green card holders and US citizens. For everytime you go and ask for credit, they want you to be atleast a permanent resident of the US. They say the rules have tighten after the 2008 economy crash. Anyways, no other nationalized bank seems to be having the problems.

3. The interest rates are not at all competent unless you have ~20K or so in your account. Other banks, especially credit unions and have a relatively higher interest rates and uniform and fair across all accounts. Therefore, I recommend Credit Unions.

In all, I would say, AVOID WELLS FARGO as your first account as your experience might not be as good as it could be. 

Simplicity and Smaller Footprint

We all come across phases in life. One such chronic phase for me is when I find my house cluttered with all those electronic gadgets and toys and stuff just lying around to be thrown out. Things that I bought less than a year ago were rendered useless by me. And this made me think - Do I lack this foresight? Is is compulsive to buy these new gadgets? Was this desktop really necessary? Does a wireless mouse really solve my problem? This new floor lamp, is it really what I needed? This new drawer chest, is it serving its purpose? My study desk, it is optimal solution the problem I had in hand? These piling receipts and mails and paper, did this new drawer I bought good enough?

Many a times I go from one solution to another for the same problem. For example, I bought a larger chest throwing off a smaller one. I got two floor lamps when one wasn't enough for the room.

And on top of all these there is a day when you have to move to a new location. All you do is to dump every loose document or item or wires or screens in a carton and transport it over. You are 6 months into this new house and you haven't touch that carton yet. That big carton of all the stuff you thought you need and you bought was not touched for 6 months. This is a little disturbing for me. To me it is like a memory leak in a computer program - you forgot to delete the memory after allocation. Being a computer programmer, when I write a program, I try and aim smallest possible footprint on the ecosystem in question. In case of a program, it is the cpu cores, the network bandwidth, the memory, the disk and others. In case of our day to day life, it is the space, the real estate and the volume that it creates that one lives in, the money that one earns, the electrical power that we consume, and most important of all - the precious time that we have. All these resources follow the zero sum rule - you save one, you spend the other. Its you who has to decide which one to save and which to spend. I call this philosophy - smaller footprint.

Smaller footprint urges to solve problems in hand with as few resources as possible - resources that actually matter. Make choices that seem to result in less number of stuff. For example, Alice has a shabby laptop. She saw this new iPad and is crazy about it. She thinks its perfect for her. It gives her flexibility of moving around within the house and not having to carry this heavy laptop. She figured out that all she does is browsing internet, checking mails and watching videos. She decides to buy the iPad. This defies the smaller footprint. Bob, who lives with the smaller footprint mindset suggests Alice to reconsider her decision. He puts forth the following option: Why not wait for a year until the laptop is at the end of its life so that it can be thrown away and buy a lighter laptop, because this seems to be what Alice wants. With iPad she wouldn't get the storage she needs. May be she should go for a chrome book instead if she wants to live on the web. Alice should explore her options, there are options in the market, but probably not easily accessible to Alice. She should consult her developer friends. So rather investing money on ipad and not using for as long as 6 months and in the end using the shabby laptop, invest on a smaller footprint - the solution that you really need.

There is another dimension to smaller footprint philosophy. When I get a problem in hand, the solution to it might not exist or it might not be accessible easily to me. If the problem in hand is genuinely common, a solution to it has a wider impact. Most of the new computer architectures and hardware innovations came across as a result of this. 

Why Smaller footprint? For me - its the satisfaction that I get. It pushes my mind to think about better solutions, cleaner solutions and sometimes optimal solutions.

bewafa mausam

©

ishq sa kuch ho gaya hai mausam se
vajah koi aur do jald hi zaalim
kahin zindagi bhar bewafa mausamtan naa reh jaayein

tamnnaon ki tamanna na kijiye huzoor
tamannagaaro mein se ek tamanna humari bhi hai
gujarish hi jaankar zara mud ke dekhiye
aansuon ki tamanna nahin hai mujhe.


nasha to sirf nazar ka fark hai
nazar mein sirf umar ka fark hai
umar mein to sirf saalon kar fark hai
saalon mein mein mausam ka fark hai
aur mausam mein...sirf nashe ka fark hai.

meri tanhayi ki karo kuch to kadr meere yaaro
naseeb se pehle kab hua kuch mukammal,
saalon sawara meine apni tanhaayee ke is husn ko
kuch hush ki bhi kadr karo mere yaaro.

-bhupesh chandra "baichain"

naseeb in boondo ka

©

hai inka koi naseeb ya nahin maloom mujhe
kabhi badal se to kabhi aankhon se
shayad girna hi hai naseeb  inka

kabhi gaalon par ya kabhi hawaon par
shayad bas sarakna hi hai naseebinka

badal se giri vo meethi boondein,
to nam aankhon se giri vo khaari boondein
shayad naa samjhpaana inhe hi hai naseeb inka

kehte hain boond boond kar saagar banta hai
saagar hi to fir gaagar bharta hai
shayad apne aap ko bhool jaana hi hai naseeb inka

kabhi dil ko kachotkar to kabhi nami to nichodkar
shayad kokh se bichhad jaana hi hai naseeb inka

waqt ke saath mit jaana to hai naseeb sabka
shayad mit kar bhi naa jaana hai naseeb inka

likha hai naseeb na mera aur naa unka
fir bhi har kisi ke naseeb mein aana,
shayad yahi hai naseeb inka.

- bhupesh chandra "baichain"

I love you

With this title of my post, there is a girl who would definitely get panicked. This one might not be the best of my posts and it is not intended to be.

The other day I was talking on phone with one of my friends. He mentioned that I was an overachiever son of my father. According to him, everything my father did for me was no different from what my neighbor's father did for him. And that I went past through many such neighbors and stand out of the crowd today. Conversation was over. Somehow, I was not comfortable with what he said and I had to retrospect to frisk his claims.

I love you papa. January 1 may not be the best day to celebrate fatherhood, but then emotions flowed and I penned down the reasons I love my father.

• He was my only friend when I started walking and wanted to play outside my lawn.
• He bought me the toy bicycles and my first bicycle.
• He gave me a small ride on his Bajaj Chetak before he went to his office every day.
• He played cricket with me when I had no-one else to play with. He tried hard to make me a batsman, while I always wanted to swing the bails off.
• He never said NO to me flying kites. He enjoyed the festival of Makar Sakranti with me.
• He took me to Ramleela every year of my childhood and every year was unique.
• He bought me Diwali crackers and taught me how to burst them
• He gave Rs 11 every Sunday to buy 1Kg of Jalebi because he knew how fond I was of sweets.
• He sent me to a convent school when all of his friends sent their kids to KV. This was the first time when he believed in my intellectual asset.
• He took me to Gayatri Havana every Sunday and taught how to perform the puja.
• He wrote the speeches which I recited to win all the appreciation in school.
• He wanted me to appear for all the competitive exams where I excelled year after year.
• He taught me how and why to read newspapers. He made me sit in front of talk shows and quizzed me on the contemporary personalities.
• He attended every parents-teacher meeting at my school
• He awarded me with an Amul chocolate bar after my satisfactory performance in an academic year at school
• He took me to the barber shop for my first haircut and then he taught me how to shave 15 years after.
• He takes me to a Diwali cracker shop with the same enthusiasm even today when I am 25
• He never said NO for any book that I have ever bought.
• He lived away from my mother for 2 straight years just for my sake and for the sake of IIT JEE. Yes, IIT took those 2 beautiful years out of my parents' lives too.
• He was besides my bed for the numerous times I contracted Jaundice in my teenage.
• He was the one besides me when IIT Kanpur welcomed me.
• He came to visit me at IIT even when I refused to go back home for vacations. He was the one who was more happy to see IIT campus than me.
• He attended my convocation ceremony at IIT Kanpur just to narrate me how beautiful the day was. 
• He has never lost his patience whatsoever and taught me how to be patient.
• He takes me to my grandfather's place so that I know how different his childhood was from mine.
• He made me know how much a farmer loves his land and bullock cart.
• And the most convincing of them, he taught me how to love a father.

The reasons that I just boasted off might be the reasons for every father in the neighborhood. But then how does it matter. Every father deserves a distinguished love from his son/daughter. It is these more non-subtle things that bring me a subtle happiness and satisfaction today. One of my really close friends told me how much I need to be satisfied and enjoy my success till now. I have started to find reasons why I must be happy. Lets not forget efforts of a father , for they might look ordinary but the fruits they bear are extraordinary.

Menucard Of Dreams

@copyright: Bhupesh Chandra (chandra.bhupesh@gmail.com)

Here I go, into the "Restaurant of Sleep", in the "Kingdom of Rest". I looked around with my droopy eyes and ordered the "Menucard Of Dreams".

Out they came, the watch guards of sleep,the boys I mean, and softly questioned, "You looking for something special?". I looked at them, too many of them, and answered, "Oh yes, indeed! Something special, as special as the first rain. Do you guys prepare the "Future"? The boys turned gay, smiles all around, spoke to me, "Oh sure, absolutely. No problemo Sir! We serve the "Future", you taste it the best when you are here at the "Restaurant of Sleep", in the "Kingdom of Rest".

"And so be it", I ordered my "Future". I was excited ,didn't bother to ask the wait time for my "Future".

I was hungry as it was too late for dinner, I suppose. But still too many around, many many around. What must have they ordered? Future? I started rolling my eyes, to every corner of the place. Lots!!. The rich and the poor, men and women, , both coupled and singles, blacks and whites. GOSH!!! they are all here. What's the day today? Nothing I would wish to celebrate of. I answered myself.

To my right was a table. As long as it could be. Perpendicular to the table was a queue. As long as it could be. It was a buffet, they were serving the "Past". The people looked desperate to taste it. But the one's who tasted did not look happy. Tears all around that corner, they ate every bit, cried all around and went back into the queue. I guess, the "Past" was bitter. I shook my brows, called the boys, the watch guards of Sleep, "Why do you server the Past? Don't you see they are crying there. They are in pain." Mused by my inquisitiveness, they said, "We serve it as it sells the best. They like it that way, you know." "OOOOOhhh......"I expressed myself. And the boys left.

I spied again, all over the place. To my left, was a table, again. The table was small. Perpendicular to the table was queue. The queue was small. The folklore was gay and merry. They brought parents and children. They look relaxed.I was curious. It was buffet - they were serving the "Present". Wow!! I raised my brows and came again, the boys, the watch guards of Sleep. "Did you see there, how happy those folks are. Why don't you prepare it more. More the Present, more the happiness." The boys, so smart, mused again, with a smile on face, answered "We sell as per demand. We don't charity, you see. It just that many don't know the taste of the "Present". "OOOOOhhhh...." ! I returned the favor and then the boys left.

So much food, so many emotions, I grew hungry. What is the time? I asked myself as I glanced at my watch "its almost dawn." I grew furious, and angry and shouted to call the boys, the watch guards of Sleep. "Where is my Future. You see, I ordered it long back. I am hungry." The boys look worried this time, a grin on the face, sadly they announced:

We do not know how to prepare your Future. We only prepare the Present and the Past. When we took your order, we gave you time, a time to make a choice, to see the people around, the food around. But we still see you waiting. Definitely you are hungry. So why don't you choose one - Present or the Past, because we don't have the Future, nobody has it. Sir.

The Road, The Walk and The Life

It has been a long time since I have started walking to my office. Initially, I used to take auto everyday, but now I just want to walk. It's a little more than 2.5 kms from my house.
Everyday I start from my gate, filled with confidence and silence, the music of life set to the winning rhythm again, stepping into those porshe BTM main road and lanes, looking around people who stand in the cross roads of BTM searching for an auto. Most of them are girls, so no doubt I take that path.
And I walk further. It is all straight from my home, no turns no curves. I encounter the same signal everyday, the crossing where I spend 2 mins of my time everyday before I find myself on the other side. Those two mins shake my heart with all the fears of being crushed down by a truck or being hit to pieces by a speeding bus, I frightenly look around to find young men/women all hurrying up for their day's work. I pray silently "God, give them the wisdom to safely cross this road. Forgive them for all their mistakes/sins for no one deserves to die on the road". And then I cross the road. I start walking along side a lifeless park. The park is full of stones, no grass, nothing. And besides the park, lies the barren, which has all the life. Little boys playing cricket, men basking in the sun talking the daily issues.."AAh...what's wrong here?". Obvioulsy, I have not been able to gather the answer.
I walk futher, straight and faster. I approach what is called "Tavrekere Main Road." Well, it is certainly not a road, but yes it deserves the adjective "Main"; but still I would prefer calling it a "road". I have never experienced such a narrow lane in my life before coming to Bangalore. Half of the road encroached by illegal parkings and shops, all kinds of shops. Inspite of it being narrow and crowded, ond can find trucks, double decker busses, huge cranes and mighty road rollers. Not one of them cares for the road and it's life. I realized over these days, it is much more difficult to walk than to drive on this road. Driving through this road, is such a waste of time. But for me there is not shorter option.
I almost remember everything now present on this road. I still have a km to walk. I can now notice little boys and girls playing on the roadside, all those games that I have played at their age. I had a public park for my games, but for these children, I guess, the Tavrekere main is their park. Behind the shops, I an see houses. As I walk, I can see more of the dirt and filth that this road encompasses all through it. The houses, some of them beautifully designed and some really shaggy and ragged ones. "Ok, so Tavereker Main houses the rich too, not just the poor..But what kind of wiseness is it to build a beautiful bunglow on a dirty road side. Isn't it like building an IIT in Kanpur??". A mind that started with confidence and silence, with just one thought of reaching the office, was now generating hundreds of them. The music of life started fathoming into the deeper notes, the sadder ones. And then I find a poultry shop, just on the road side, and then another poultry shop , then another.. "Omg, this is a row of poultry shops. It smells and feels death." And then you find roadside hotels besides those poultry shops where people were breaking their fast. They were almost eating on the road, standing and eating with thalis in hand. My mind went silent. I did not want to breathe at all. My legs worked faster. I placed my white handkerchief on my nose. But those children, they were still playing there, around those poultry shops. "Is there no one around, to ask them not to play here. What if they carry all those flues...". And those little "Taare Zameen par", they kept on watching me passing by. I could see their faces, all of them staring at me as if asking me to make a promise, a promise for a better playground than Tavrekere Main, a little more respect and care, something that every human being, especially these "Taare Zameen par" deserve. "Aren't you looking at the wrong face kiddo...".
Finally I cross that stretch and I feel life again. I want to breathe more and more. I have no place to walk on the road, for it's full of autos, trucks, busses, animals, all of them stacked in a jam, the jam of life, created by them and observed by them. I can only look for corners and edges, space small enough to land my feet. Surprisingly, I always get this space. This has been so miraculous and mysterious about Tavrekere main. No matter how much you push in, it can absorb it all.
Everyday when I walk all the way on this road, I am sure I risk my life for there have been ample instances where I closely escaped accidents.. But then this is true for every individual who is walking on this road, for every life blossoming besides the Tavrekere Main Road.
Passing all these hurdles/challenges that tavrekere main poses on me and my mind, I enter my office gate. My office has an upward slope from the zeroth floor to the first floor and at the end of this slope, there is an elevated platform. Almost, every employee takes the lift from the zeroth floor itself, but I always walk that slope. Slowly and confidently I walk up, with the feeling of having won yet another war, I reach the elevated platform. The music of life once again surges up to a winning rythm. I can see the tavrekere main from the platform . I puff my heart with guts, and looked down upon the tavrekere main for one last time before I start my day. I feel confident again to overcome all my problems and challenges that this day has in store for me. With a smile, I look back and enter Oracle.

Off The Track

Many a times I feel how fraud I am. I have been just putting half hearted efforts towards my dealings in day to day life. One of my very good friends, wrote me a testimonial when I was leaving IIT. He wrote that the best thing that I possess is the rock hard attitude. He justified that it suited my kind of personality. I kind of always knew that latently. Lately, today , when I am here at my office at Bangalore, I feel, .. was my friend right ?

"Do you know bhupc, you have lots of attitude". I remember that during my HR training sessions, I irked one of the HR managers when I made a comment and she said, "Do you know Bhupesh, Kanpuriya itne tez nahin hote.". "What?? is she doubting intelligence of IIT Kanpur, I mean does she even know what she means?". I started to think fast. I had to fire back. "Oh really, I am not from Kanpur.", I retorted. Next came her question, "Then where do u belong to ?". "Bhilai.". I replied. And then again she repeated, "Wahan ke log bhi itne tez nahin hote." Roaring laughter spread through the room. I did not understand if they were all laughing on me, or on her. Anyways I got my lesson; do not mess with the HR. From that point onwards I lost my confidence for the day.


It was a nice afternoon and the last session of the HR training. We were being taught how to write mails to our bosses and colleagues. As usual, I was overconfident, and was sitting with my ears closed. "Common on, I have been doing it for the past four years at IIT. My profs weren't less formal than any of your Oracle Managers or Directors...What are these kids going to teach me." Everyone was asking questions and I was sitting (almost spread out on the chair.). Up came the glare (back)at to me. Her again. "So Bhupesh, you seem to be quite relaxed and comfortable about this topic. No doubts, nothing to ask." In the past one week of training, I had got the reputation of a query engine at Oracle, the one who asks all sorts of queries, and doubts. How could have I let them down this time. and so I asked a clever enough question. "Can we use emoticons in our mails to out managers?" At first, she didn't seem to understand what I meant. Probably the word "emoticon" was alien to her. Happens with HR; but this doesn't stop them from being the smartest people in the world, at least they think so. But by the time, the whole class had got what I meant and seem to be admiring, "wow what a question, he did it again, a nice question again...". So I made the HR manager explain saying, "can I use :P, :D etc.. in my mails". She got it.


Now the next move out of that cunning HR mind. If I have asked the question, I must be having some opinion. "So Bhupesh, what do you think about it? What precautions would have you taken while writing a mail to your boss?". Aaah nice move lady. Oh that was simple for me, after all I am from IIT, and had been writing gentle mails to gentlemen at my institute. And there I started complacently "Well, the first thing that I would do is not to use briefs and..aaa..aa.." oops what did i say, I meant to say abbreviations and short forms aka acronyms. OMG, blunder that was. She was fast to catch it "Please don't say you would not use briefs, just the lighter side of it." "F*** , how can I make such a mistake..I was so (over)confident. Shit!!" And the whole class bursted in laughter.


After the long tiring session, I came out of the office, totally disappointed, with a gloomy face. Everyone knew why that was. I was screwed by the HR twice in a row. It was not over; it is going to linger in my memory for next few weeks,for sure. "What do they think of themselves..they are not perfect. I will show them that I am smart enough to pull asses out of them.(After all I am an IITian)..". And I knew..I was making the same mistake again. The mistake I have been making for the past four years, wait...may be for the past 20 years, just took too much of fuel in the past 4 years. "When did this happen? When did I get so much of attitude? Main aise kyon hoon? ..Infact..Main aisa hi hoon..What did my friend thought when he meant I have an attitude which suits my personality... but then, am I wrong when I think I am very smart. Am I not? Am I not one of the most intelligent youth in this country..Don't I belong to the best techonology school in the country..Have I lost the right to be called smartest and the brightest..Is it taking over my life..uff.. my head is paining...I cannot handle this gush of thoughts ..I need to sleep..." And all my dreams I had been dreaming my four wonderful years that are either going to make me or destroy me..It's upto me which way to choose.

Hip Hop Bangalore Malls

After working all so hard in the office for the whole week, the very next thing in your life is the glamorous weekend in the hip hop, most happening Bangalore clubs, pubs and Malls. Someone like me, who graduated out just a month or two back, and that too from a remote piece of terrain on this country would definitely notice the change that has been brought about by Liberalisation and Consumerism through out the country. Well I do not outstandingly revolt against these two phenomenons, but certainly I am not a supporter of either. It's just that I am keen enough to observe things happening around me.

Now, the very next question, what am I going to do. Well, I am here just to enjoy my weekend. So the very first mall that I visited was the Forum in Kormangala. The moment I entered I knew I hated the place. It was damn crowded. I hate crowd, but never ever did a place or a crowd repelled me to this magnitude. I just was not able to think anything except when to leave this place. I started with so called window shopping at the branded showrooms. Levis, Reebok, Nike, Van Heusen, Tom Hilfiger, Addidas.. man the goods are just too expensive. I just happened to like a jacket at Tom Hilfiger and that had a label of Rs 8000 . What am I paying 8000 for!!! At last there was no reason for me to buy that piece of cloth for 8000 just because it had the name of Tom Hilfiger on it. Leave it..lets go to another shop. I had a budget of Rs 800 and was not going to buy a jacket for more than that but in case I had to raise it, Rs 1000 that's it. Too much for a jacket. So what next....and next...and next.. I did the same for every shop. Two hours...just researching on branded jackets..infact their prices...forget quality...the name had all of it. But no one seemed to have a jacket starting below 2000. And finally i did not take a jacket. I decided to quit the plan.
Every where in that place I could see youngsters of my age and coupled!! That is important and remarkable about Bangalore. Every one who has been here for about 4 months has been able to find a so called great match for their life. They want to shop , to move around, hug them and even kiss them, out there in the public place.
"Yukk...how have these people managed to do this, when did my country cut down it's traditionlism and conservationist policies. So is this what the genNext is? Is this was what the watch guards of society warned us about a decade ago when India welcomed liberalization...". All these facts and thoughts crossed my mind at that particular point. I need to sit down. I was not able to take this gush of thougths straight through me. "I need to eat something". I had to find a restaurant. So here it is "Transit". Not a restaurant, but a food court. I had been to a food court earlier at Virginia Tech . That was Schulz hall, if I could remember properly. But then this was India at a Bangalore Mall. Too many cuisines, far too many dishes. In a minute, I got that this place was not for an unprepared guy like me who didn't even knew what means what. But I restored my self to a dosa. A long queue, but finally ordered one. Costly again. Now I had to find a place to sit. It was weekend and almost every one from Bangalore seemed to be pouring in at Forum. Fortunately, found a place to sit. Looking all around , just one thing, the fairer sex with their dates. "Man , am I the only the one uncoupled. Shame on you bhupc . Does it really matter?", I thought the very next moment. "Lets see. So let me eat my dosa. So hmmm...all these people around are wearing branded clothes....hmmm...nice they look dudes and dudess".None had a non branded piece of clothing on their body, except me.

I continued to discover the answer.
"Can't I buy that expensive jacket. I have enough money for that. Everyone is doing it. I don't think that everyone has that enough money..all of them were salaried people, but yes they were all single, like me. But then what about our own industries, the Swadeshi and all that....uff.... it's paining ...my head,.... my heart wants the jacket, my brain thinks too much about my country and my financial status....what about me, about what I want.....This place is making me think it's own way..It wants me to consume what it has for me, at the cost it wants me to pay....Ok I am done. I want that jacket. I will take it. Lets go.. now... "

The next was I went to the showroom, bought an expensive smart looking jacket. And it was brash. I just bought it like it meant nothing to me to spend that much. People just looked at me..probably thinking that they also could have taken that jacket home if they had that big budget for a jacket.
I came out of the mall. Finally I got my peace of mind and the solace I needed. But not yet satisfied. One question still wandering....."is there someone regulating them , is someone watching them .....?" and I thought .."We..yes we all are the ones..the cause and the victims...may be...I need to observe more..a bit more keen...."

Office@B'lore

My first day at Oracle, Lexington Towers, office was easy, infact the first whole month. Never knew that I never knew anything. And then now after a month, they have started assigning me bugs to resolve. Hmm....my first reaction was to check that when the bug was filed and who was the filer, quite obvious. The bug was filed by someone in 2004 and now has left the company, at least does not have his/her name in the company database. Fine, lets not bother about that, lets move ahead and understand the bug. I never knew what I am going to see is a whole lot of 1000 words with 70% being just abbreviations, acronyms. How the hell was I going to understand Oracle's internal jargon? Hmm..but I never loose.after this is what was IIT Kanpur was all about. One can complete his/her B.Tech (in any damn topic) with just a internet connection, an internet browser, and with Google servers up!!! And this is what I was going to do. Google. I could just get half of the jargons on the web, but half of them were still out there. And so started my world of discovering them. Up on my floor(I am on 6th floor) were my other team mates. I must say most of them were really helpful. Finally, with much of the hassles, I was able to understand from them what the bug was all about. One thing more I came to know was that I had nothing to do to solve the bug. :( . All I had to do was to write a mail to the concerned team stating what they must do so that the bug is all gone. Wow!! that was so simple, you work so hard to understand the bug just to come to know that the bug is not yours.

Well that was all of the first bug with no hands on required on the box.


One fine day, I entered Oracle all so enthusiastic and charged up, as I always am. Had the same prototypic south Indian breakfast of Idli and sambhar(with some chutney of course). Right there bhupc was on his desk at 9:30. Wow!! How come I manage my time so good? This was the first applaud I gave to myself on the day. No one , and take my word, only me, never knew what was going to happen on the day next. I was asked to create a view. A view, and what the hell was that. Never mind, Oracle is all about learning and I have done this before, going about and disturbing people to ask them the most trivial of the questions of which they are masters now( I hope so :)) . Back I was at my desk. Had all the information and the commands to install a view. Bang on. I was ready to solve the bug. But wait..These are all linux commands and the machine I have is a Windows machine. Where the hell am I supposed to run these commands? Oh God!!! I am missing something. I was wasting my time. Do hell with my time management. So got to go again and learn where to get a linux box. And then Icame toknow I need to apply for a hosted linux box, another jargon, which means I need to get a physical machine allocated to me in Austin data centre of Oracle. Oh that sounds exciting, I will be soon having two machines. So what am I going to do the whole day. Just littering about. And I did the same for next two days after which I could get my linux box and NIS account. Ah thank God!! It was done...But installing the view was next being challenge....
Moral of the story : The great time managers in the external world just become the greatest when they join Oracle !!!