Panner Noddles

Aha..finally I can comment on the food out here..and there's no darn person who can stop me from doing so. For those of of you who don't know me well, I am a pure vegetarian (yep..no eggs either) and one of the greatest connoisseurs of vegetarian delights.
I was delighted to learn on the very first day that my company had a pure vegetarian cafeteria. This came as a surprise as one would've expected company cafeterias to serve non vegetarian food as well.
Here's how the menu at the cafeteria goes...You can either indulge yourself in the north Indian meals or order sandwiches (grilled and swimming in cheese and butter) and a fruit bowl. The alternate cafeteria serves south Indian food and some common Chinese items (veg of course). Now this particular item, "Panner Noddles" is quite frequently spotted on the menu. No prizes for guessing the actual dish!!
The food which is actually as bad as their spelling, is very uninviting and the vegetables served are almost always swimming in excess oil. Food at any mess elsewhere would definitely give this guy some competition. And due to the lack of options at the cafeteria, one has to either go hungry or hunt for alternatives nearby (which mind are very hard to find!!)
The verdict: The caterers have not only managed to deprived the non-veg lovers their meat but also ensured that they wouldn't be recommended elsewhere to serve their so called food!!
I need HELP!!

Bumped!!

So I am here at the Oasis Mall..It's in Koramangla for those of you who haven't heard of it (A big Lifestyle store there)..and guess what I see at the video game arcade zone..Bumper cars!! The last time I had gone on one of these things, I was a wee lad crashing into my dad again again and again..The temptation was too hard to resist, so I stood in the queue, awaiting my turn. A little boy came running just as I was about to enter, saying that he wanted to go..but hey, who's the kid here! I promptly refused the boy and told him that I was ahead of him in the queue and that he should wait his turn..There..in your face little one!! Finally, I hopped on to one the cars and started "bumping". It was too much fun and for just 40 bucks for one go, it was totally worth it!!

IPL

6 weeks of pure entertainment has finally come to an end...59 matches..full of 6s and wickets..

The cheapest team in the IPL, the Rajasthan Royals ultimately stole the thunder from Dhoni's boys in yellow on the last delivery of the match. Who knows what might have happened had Pathan been caught earlier..But this is entertainment..and the crowd loved every single delivery bowled.

The DLF IPL has really managed to bring out some hidden talent in young Indian players, and this will certainly do wonders for Indian cricket.

Lalit Modi...hats off...you certainly came up with something other than new ways of trafficking drugs..

Human Network

The company came to MIT's campus for recruitment purposes. They selected 12 individuals, and promised them a pay package that was by far the best the college had ever seen (till then).

MIT stripped the selected students of all other privileges (such as giving the examination for any other recruitment). The students didn't complain either, well..duh! They were getting a biggest paycheck!

But alas!! It has come under recent observation, that the happiness of the selected individuals was short lived..The company, which did not present the students with the offer letter at the time of recruitment, handed it over only 2 days back..with a handsome reduction in the compensation promised!!

This has come as a shock to many, as the company which happens to be the leader in its field, is in fact now offering a lesser package than its primary competitor.

You still want to join this company run by thieving bandits, shrewd hippo-crates?? 

Then all I can say to you is, "Welcome to the Human Network"

Magazines for free!

So you want to read cool magazines online eh? Something worthwhile to do while you're at work :-)??
Search no more..I'll tell you a way to read magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Playboy (yeah baby!!), PC Magazine etc. for free!!
This only works for Firefox/Safari users..
FireFox Users:
Enter “about:config” in the location bar, followed by “useragent” in the filter. Change the value for “general.useragent.extra.firefox” to “Mobile Safari 1.1.3"
Restart Firefox and point it to http://imgs.zinio.com/iphone/

Safari Users:
Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced and check the option that says "Show Develop menu in menu bar."
Open the "Develop" option in the browser menu bar and choose Mobile Safari 1.1.3 - iPhone as the User Agent.
Point Safari to http://imgs.zinio.com/iphone/

There..work day is completely ruined!! Enjoy!!

How fast is my Internet Connection

Okay folks..the one question that goes on all our minds as we suck bandwidth from the corporate world..Just how fast am I downloading?? Is my intenet faster than that other guy? Well think no more, this page allows you to test your speed and provides you with a cool interface too..So start testing and dont forget to post me up with your results!!

Speed Racer

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer; He’s a demon on wheels….
The first thing I did after leaving the theatre was to check my surroundings. Unbelievable! I was still able to tell the colours apart!
Barring that, well, the movie was good. It had all the twists and turns (no pun intended). The movie’s a good adaptation of the cartoon series…Now you know why the name sounds familiar. The film starts off with Speed (yeah that’s the guy’s name) racing in his Mach 5 (no, it isn’t a real car), competing with the ghost of his brother (who was killed in a car accident sometime back) lap (for those of you who are wondering what I’m talking about, please don’t bother…this movie ain’t for you) which incidentally happens to be the lap record.
The baddies see a nice racer in Speed and want to rope him in as their team racing driver. But Speed’s pop, Pops (yeah that’s his name!) has other plans.
Caught amidst the confusion and chaos that ensues, Speed must make a choice between the baddies, who’re ready to offer him the price and a superb new car, and Pops who thinks its time Speed quit racing, fearing that Speed would meet the same fate as his brother.
With all the dirty driving and slick action sequences, it'll truly engage you for 2 whole hours, and trust me..you'd want to have your seat belts on!
Go Speed Racer...Go Speed Racer...Go Speed Racer...GO!!!

Eclipse SDK

Before I started working at Cisco Systems, Inc., I didn’t even know the existence of the various IDEs for software development.
Eclipse is probably one of the most advanced IDEs available to use today, supporting languages such as Java, C++, C# etc. Of course, one can easily download a plugin (A type of extension) for Eclipse and there…it now works for Python/Perl too!!
Eclipse is primarily used in the development of plugins, which the user primarily uses while developing software using Eclipse. Once the plugin has been developed, it can be used as a part of the Eclipse SDK.
Eclipse also offers the user to create Rich Client Platform (RCP) Applications. An RCP application basically runs without you having to install Eclipse on your system. So basically, you as a user, will typically develop a plugin to be used with Eclipse, and if it all you want it to be run as a standalone application, all you have to do is to build an RCP application out of it, which is simply a matter of seconds!!
I have personally used Eclipse and it’s very easy once you get to know it, barring features such as GUI development (which truly speaking is a royal pain in the a**), as my team mates would tell you.
Get your hands on this free SDK and start developing today!

Microsoft Accounting 2008

Microsoft, well, they don’t leave out anything do they? They’ve come with yet another software for office use, and trust me I’m not talking about making presentations, reports or spreadsheets here.
MS Accounting lets you handle your accounts easily and can also generate appropriate results in the user friendly Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word formats. This allows the consumer to easily gain knowledge about his bank accounts and he has all the information he needs right at his fingertips.
Creating ledgers, vouchers, invoices etc. were never easier, all it takes to get started is a download from the Microsoft Download Centre
Start accounting today!!

Jeffrey Archer comes to town

Bengalooru (I don't know if I got the spelling right) was graced with the presence of the greatest storyteller of all time, Lord Jeffrey Archer today.
He made his grand entrance at the Landmark bookstore, at Forum. I being one of his favourite readers left office early to meet the maestro. Like all celebrities I expected this one to be late too, but no, he was quite punctual and entered the bookstore at 7:05 PM. He was greeted by flowers and he did well to show his appreciation by patting a little girl on her head. I really wonder what she was doing with a copy of his latest, "A Prisoner of Birth" in her hand. She'd barely be able to read the title. Landmark, of course had displayed an array of Archers all along the bookshelves, and it was indeed hard to not be able to locate an Archer.
Lord Jeffrey Archer is supposedly on a tour of India, promoting his new book.
As in the original itenerary, he was supposed to read out a few lines from his latest venture, this most unfortunately did not happen because of time constraints.
However the night wasn't over and I muscled my way through the crowd to get a copy signed. He shook my hand and wished me luck for the future.
P.S: For all the Archer fans, he's ready with the plot for his next 3 books

Iron Man

One word to describe this film…“Awesome”.
This tells the story of Tony Stark, the man behind Stark Industries, which supplies weapons to the military for war purposes.
Tony is on his way to demonstrate a new weapon to the military, during the course of which he’s captured by Afghan terrorists. They want Tony to build a fancy new weapon which they want to use for mass destruction. All the parts for the weapon to be assembled belonged to Stark Industries. Tony decides to break out, and to do so, he builds himself a suit, a suit that would allow him to shoot the baddies and escape captivity. He’s successful in the attempt, but the suit is completely destroyed.
Now he’s back (and demands a hamburger...ordered from Burger King if you please…silly Americans!) declares a shut down of the weapons division of his company.
He must find all traces of his company’s weapons which are being used for the wrong purpose by terrorists. How can he do that? He builds another suit, this one better in every aspect (complete with an in built computer) and decides to hunt down all terrorists and destroy the weapons.
But the terrorists are shrewd…they know Tony’s weakness…and his secret!!
Catch this film as Iron Man impresses you with some 22nd century graphics and gadgetry that even 007 wouldn’t mind using…