A few good books ..

In one of my earlier posts titled "The Master Keys", I had listed some of the things one should definitely do. I had also mentioned that the irony is that I myself don't engage in all the "recommended" activities. One of such activities is "Reading good stuff".

Frankly, I never had the time; probably because I never had the interest or the patience :-) Well, I have changed to some extent and for the last year or so, I have managed to read quite a few books. The good part is that I have enjoyed reading most of them. So, for those of you who are still struggling to start, you can do it too. Without wasintg any further time or real estate on this html page, let me list down some of the books that I would definitely recommend to you all -

• The World Is Flat - This one from Thomas L Friedman is a must read for folks into IT. It was good to read someone talk about the importance of China and India in the overall global economy. Some of the real world examples on the world flateners especially WalMart & UPS were too cool.
• Wings Of Fire - I like books that are less than 300 pages because I still don't have patience to go through a really long book (I really struggled to complete the one on top). This one is an autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam penned down by Arun Tiwari. It was interesting in parts and inspirational over all. If I have to take back something from this book, it would be the fact that inspite of his modest background and a lot of failures early on in his career, Abdul Kalam really went on to achieve great heights.
• The Greatness Guide - This one and a few others by Robin Sharma like the Leadership Wisdom are excellent ones. I still haven't read the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, but I was totally impressed with whatever I read so far. I liked this book because it is not too verbose and is very neatly organized into 101 chapters, some of which are absolutely "must-read".
• Freakonomics - This one from Levitt and Dubner is again an excellent one. Just about 200 pages and a lot of data related to some of the real world problems and perceptions. It is more of a human behaviour & perception book rather than an economics one so don't get scared away by the title. Some of the data & analysis presented in this book is just too good.
• Beginning Algorithms - This one by James Ross & Simon Harris has to be one of the best written books related to computer science in my opinion (disclaimer: all I have read so far is some text books during my under grad and grad school and some books on programming languages). Agreed the focus on JUnit tests is a little too much and not useful for many of us, but the way it explains the data structures & related algorithms makes it a must-read for every software programmer. And by the way, the example code is in Java.

If you happen to read this post and in turn want to recommend some books to me, please do that. Bye for now and happy reading ..

:PM

More Cricket? Redirecting ...

Since cricket is a my favourite sport and the world cup is on, I realized that it may be worthwhile to start a new blog dedicated to the cricket world cup.

Here is the link to my world cup dairy: http://kriketworldcup.blogspot.com

Cheers
:PM

Forecast Change ...

I first had the title of this post as "Change in Predictions .." but having worked in a supply chain company for quite a while, I changed it to "Forecast Change ..". I know that was unnecessary information and hence let me jump straightaway into the cricket field.

This post is an addendum to my earlier one .. with Akhtar, Asif & Razzak ruled out, I am forced to downgrade my ratings on Pakistan. All three are match winners .. and I especially rate Razzak very high. Instead of Pakistan now, I feel Kiwis would be there in the semi-finals alongwith India, WI & Sri Lanka. Kiwis must surely be on a high after amazing chases against Australians and their middle order, especially, seems to be rock solid now. As for the finals, it wil be Apna India Vs WI/NZ.

Before switching back to work, I will take your permission to make a change to my playing eleven as well. I'll play Munaf instead of Pathan and bring Pathan in as an all-rounder only if Sehwag fails in the first 2 games. This is considering Pathan did not do so well in the last domestic game he played ..

Thats it for now .. have a good day! Will be back with something different next time ..

:PM

Cricket World Cup ..

I am back after a real long gap and this time with views on one of my interest areas - Cricket. The world cup is starting in a month's time and I personally feel this will be one of the most exciting editions simply because almost all the test playing nations have very good teams and it is practically impossible to put your money on any one team. It will surely be one heck of a tournament and I can't wait for it to get started ..

Now I would just use this space to list down my playing eleven for India and also the strategy that the Indian team should adopt. My eleven (in the batting order) would be -

1. Robin Uthappa
2. Saurav Ganguly
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Virender Sehwag
7. Mahindra Singh Dhoni
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Ajit Agarkar
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Anil Kumble

Coming to the strategy, here are a few points -

• Knowing the Carrebean pitches, I would have Tendulkar, Sehwag & Yuvraj bowl at least 15 overs between them, thus eliminating the need for a specialist 5th bowler in the playing eleven.
• Unless Kumble gets injured or really loses his touch, I would always play him ahead of Bhajji. And I will never play them both in a game.
• I would open my bowling attack with Irfan & Zaheer since it is tough to swing the white ball after 10 overs or so. It may not be a bad idea to have Agarkar open as well instead of Zaheer. Now Zaheer is my No. 1 bowler but he can deliver even if he doesn't oepn teh attack.
• Munaf & Sreesanth are very good too and can be brought in if others flop.
• In case Uthappa fails in more than one game, have Sehwag open the innings and play an additional bowler in this case.
• Have Agarkar, Zaheer & Tendulkar bowl in the slog overs (avoid Pathan & Sreesanth at any cost).

Now coming to predictions, I feel WI, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India will make it to the semis and either India or Pakistan will lift the Cup !!

Thats it for now .. signing off ..

:PM

The "Master Keys" !!

Here I am, writing again, came back sooner than I expected.

Based on whatever little I have read & experienced, I would like to jot down 7 points that, in my opinion, are key to happiness. I call them the "master keys" -

• Be positive and optimistic. It is quite easy to blame anything & everything. Instead, look for positives in everything and you shall be happier.
• Work like there is no tomorrow. Take every assignment as a challenge. It is easy to say that your job is monotonous & boring but say that only after you have mastered every aspect of what you do and there is no one better than you out there. Someone rightly said "Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference".
• Play harder. Take time out whenver you can. Have tons of fun and your definition of fun can be anything - going out for a movie, going out to shop, trekking, swimming, reading books, playing cricket, dancing, hanging out with friends .. anything! Make sure you plan a vacation with your family/friends at least once every six months. Don't ever miss out on fun!
• Exercise regularly. It is very important especially these days when stress levels are high and we hardly get any physical activity. You will feel fitter, stronger, healthier and energetic. You could hit a gym or play tennis every morning or go for a swim on evenings .. choose whatever suits you but please be regular! Apart from physical activity, I'd also recommend mental exercise .. the easiest would be to grab the morning newspaper and spend 10 minutes with a sudoko or a kakuro puzzle .. with time you will be good at it and you will feel good!
• Read good stuff. Rightly said, knowledge is power. Read whatever interests you .. it could be technical literature or autobiographies of great personalities or religious books or some international bestsellers. Remember, knowledge is a treasure that nobody can steal!
• Listen to music. As they say, it is food for the soul. And listen to whatever interests you .. ghazals, sufi, soft rock, hip-hop, latest bollywood offerings or even the golden oldies from Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh or Lata.
• Try to be good to others. Help the needy whenever you can, be polite to others and always smile :-)

The irony of this blog is that I personally don't follow all of this .. but as I am getting older I do sincerely plan to follow all of this and more ...

:PM

My "First blog"!

This is my first blog and I promise to keep it short (and for me promises are not meant to be broken!!)

I will start with an observation of mine that Internet is back bigtime. After the painful dotcom bust, there was a lull for quite a few years. Someone has rightly said "Everything has a cycle". And expectedly last couple of years, we have witnessed a lot of action and as a result, a lot of innovative and exciting ideas in the internet and the related technologies - Open source, Wikipedia, AdSense/AdWords, Blogging, Internet telephony (Skype/Gtalk), Internet Video (YouTube/Google video), Orkut, Google Earth .. to name a few!

Google has definitely been one of the major (innovative yet profitable) players on the internet and, in my opinion, has reinforced the fact that if you have a cool product or a service, you can make a difference. The company must be an inspiration for many a folks who do want to make a difference through their own cool ideas. And in my humble opinion, a "cool" offering is the one that has:

• simplicity - is simple & intutive yet effective and hence attracts new users easily
• speed - is faster than the existing applications .. because most of us are short on time & patience
• speciality - is unique in someway and has something that others do not offer

There are a plenty of areas yet to be explored and there is a huge opportunity for people who wish to make an impact. All that is required (I am sure everyone knows it already) is to have an "idea" and then implement that keeping the 3Ss (mentioned above) in mind.

Internet blogs are one of many "cool" concepts to have captured the attention of worldwide users .. and I too decided to get hooked !! My agenda is simple - to publish my thoughts on various topics and once in a while share stuff that will be useful (hopefully) for at least someone out there!

I will park my pen here .. and hopefully come back with something interesting ...

:PM