iTelescope

Apologies! I know that I have been away for quite some time now - but there are reasons! Work being the major sucker followed by personal interests. Moreover, my boss paid a visit I tried hard to spare time, then reversed some - but nothing worked! Anyway, the good news is that I’m back.

Census 2011 Logo

I did miss writing all this time & kept noting them as they happened. To begin with, I hope you are aware about Census 2011. Most state & central government employees have to compulsorily participate in this, over & above their routine responsibilities (pl note 0+1=1). The lady who was doing it in our area was an innovator! Instead of visiting each house & collecting data, she took an iterative, outsourcing model. She took the lift to the first floor, and walked down distributing a form in Marathi to each house. She very calmly told people that the form was very simple (I don’t know of a single govt form that is simple) & that one didn’t need to know Marathi to fill it (I don’t know how Bengalis & Malayalis bought this idea?) Suddenly people realized the importance of Maharashtrian neighbours, and fortunately each floor had one. After putting people to the job, she again took the elevator up to start collecting filled forms. I’m sure with this trick she managed to get home in time for lunch, which otherwise she would’ve had to couple with dinner. Just to note, that innovation is not necessarily rocket science.

Rickshaw Meter

Two notable things happened in the near past, both of which have affected our lives in one way or the other. The first thing: revised auto-fares. As Shubhojit said, this is one thing that makes you feel real poor. What I used to spend both way is what the 3-Tyre boogie now takes away one way. All thanks to the revision graced by skilled instrumentation engineers at garages.

Rupee Sign

The other thing - the symbol that our national currency got - actually makes me feel very proud. It is the symbol of globalization, equality & finally a distinguishing factor from other currencies with the same name. Some websites, like Burrp, picked up the symbol in no time. I’m just waiting for it to show up on currency.

Ambedkar Memorial, U.P.

After news about the symbol hit the stands, people questioned the kind of money that must have gone into its making. But I say, what’s wrong? If someone can spend tons of money raising statues in a city where people don’t have enough, (continue reading…)

It took close to 25 person-hours to get 15 people for lunch. During all this, I got a mail I’d like to share with you. If you are planning an outing with friends, Don’t let this happen to you! We were misled by Burrp on the venue, and landed uourselves at a silly place called Wazawan (naam pe mat jao, hume bhi dhoka de gaya!) somewhere on Military Road in Marol. But in no time we figured out that this wasn’t the place for us! No drinks & too cheap! So we moved to our all time favorite - Chakra and had a gala time!

Quorum: Prasad Gupte, Ivan Quadras, Sandeep Gokhale, Hemant Ubhe, Rohit Jham, Anand Natarajan, Shubhangi Billore, Shilpa Nair, Kanul Wadhwa, Prakash Konduru, Kunal Patel, Drup Desai, Sandeep Shenvi
Drop-outs: Neha Moghe, Vinit Reddy, Parwinder Singh, Sourav Ghosal & Jayesh.

Photos from the Annual Satyanarayan Pooja at Bhatnagar Terrace CHS, Goregaon (E). The pooja was performed by Mrs. & Mr. Umesh Gokarn (303)

Just uploaded the photos taken during the Maghi Ganesh Utsav 2010 at Nandgaon, Murud-Janjira. This festival is celebrated each year around January-end for which the entire Gupte-Chitnis family comes together at their family temple.

Thanks to Chibu (Pratik Gupte) for the excellent coverage of the event with his phone. If you have any pictures to share, pl email them to me at gupte.prasad+utsav2010@gmail.com

The turn-out this beyond all expectation. Apart from myself, Joe, Pranay, Rohan & Vivian, 5 others: Richard Menezes, Akshath Poojary, Jijo Mohan, Naved and Pranab Patel (towards the end) joined. Apart from Jijo & Naved, we were all in the same class in ninth grade.

My farewell saga that stretched over 2 days On Oct 31, Ivan & me had taken the group out for lunch at Jughead’s Pop-Tates in Powai. On Nov 2, my pals were all around me, ensuring a smooth exit. They are indebted me with gifts: a UDY perfume & big box of Celebrations (to celebrate my exit? or my new job?) Guys, I really want to thank each of you for making my stay & exit so much worth remembering. Check out this photo-gallery!

Nature aborts vacuum

Today is a day in my life when I have taken a very tough call: something that is likely to shape my future. I have resigned from my post at L&T Infotech and decided to move on. L&T has been my first employer, and as always, the first cut is the deepest. The couple of things that can make you feel better in such parting is that ‘nature aborts vacuum’ and that ‘the organization is always bigger than the employee’. (continue reading…)

“The Real Winners in life are the People who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better” - Barbara Pletcher

I do not intend to use my blog to publish silly chain email. But this one was a real exception! And for a couple of reasons: It was a pleasure reading this although prolix, and that my friend Rohit Patkar sent me this. Rohit has also been in my good books (of etiquette) for his email habits - sheer quality and nothing else. For other things, he is an atheist. Read on… (continue reading…)

Today, we celebrated the unofficial reunion of the IX-E class. Esteemed guests invited and present were me, Joe Matthew, Pranay Arora, Rohan Nagarmath, Vivian Fernandes, while Pranab Patel & Gaurav Samel ditched us. Puneet Arora and Vinayak Samant also graced the occassion, although they were gone by the time Pranay realized his 20 grand phone has a superb camera.

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I have been feeling very drowsy for the last couple of days. So unlike other times when I’m reading in the bus on the way home, I dozed off for a while yesterday. My specs were placed vertically in my chic checked shirt with a vertical pocket, from where they fell and slid two seats ahead. Without making any correction, I once again placed them in the pocket. (continue reading…)