Spoo!
Feels great when I have come back to blog after a long long time. And this time its after a great refreshing experience :) Well, Blogger has been too kind to me to show whats new in it and remind me that I can use these great features! Not bad at all!

That apart, let me share what my experience was. To put it as a one liner it could just be said that I had been to Infosys for an academic talk...but it was much more than just that!  Its been two months since I have started visiting Infosys but today was special. All the excitement started when I received a mail from Mr. Narayana Murthy Sir about a talk in Infosys from the Chancellor of a university. That was just enough to make me wait for this day!

And today was right here! To start with, the security person who gives me a "Visitor Pass" everyday at the gate, called me and said "You have a special pass today!". Great hospitality I must say. And then I was lead into a beautifully decorated banquet hall and an auditorium. The facilities were mesmerizing. By the time I stood on my feet and recovered from the amazement, the talk began.

It was given by Dr. Robert Easter, Chancellor and Provost at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The topic of the talk was "Information Technology and the 21st Century Food and Agriculture System". Here are some of the interesting points thrown at us:

  • The big challenge of this century, Do we have enough food? (Food for thought indeed!)
  • The shift in the eating habits of people in the developing countries...gradual shift from staples and cereals to vegetables and meat.
  • If green revolution revolutionized the world in the 1960s, its the turn of biology and Information Technology to do it now!
  •  How IT can help agriculture in terms of guidance, prediction, management of resources and energy and also the logistics of the farm produce. (Kind of Supply Chain Management problem)
  • IT for Animal welfare in agriculture.
  • Bare necessities of micro farmers which IT can help with, like production technology, market information and fertilizers.
The talk was followed by a Q/A session which was interesting and informative. On the whole it was a great learning experience to know what we could do for the society!

Talking about the dignitaries at the event, it was a small gathering of around 50 including industry experts and academia. We represented the latter part when a whole bunch of students and faculty were there. Industry experts included SETLab heads at Infosys and research heads from other organizations. We could meet a few of them too! And not to forget the dinner was also great!

The most memorable event for the day was when our Director Sir came to me and said "Did you look at the first slide about the University of Illinois? We are not even a speck in front of that!" Well he actually made that comment after watching the slide that said there were 23 Nobel laureates fro U of I. I would like to tell him, Sir, we would be there sometime soon!
 
Spoo!

It’s a season of FIFA 2010 and the fever has definitely caught up all parts of the world. It also has caught up the young guys who play in the play ground near my place. Each evening when I went out for a walk in the ground, I used to see them play with the cricket bat and ball. But this week it was all different. I saw five teams play football and was amazed and amused. What caught my sight was that there was this team of boys of around 12-15 years of age. The image I got after seeing them was that they came from one of the posh schools in the locality speaking the “cool” form of English and naming each other with the most famous footballers of today. I saw a “Rooney”, a “Ronaldo” and a “Beckham”. I was taking my usual path and when I was almost near the goal post, I saw a poor child all of 6 years staring at the ball. All he wanted to do was just pick the ball when it went out of the court and give it to the boys. He was also cheering them in the language he knew and the game went on…

After I finished a couple of rounds, I saw these boys hit a ball outside the goal post and within a blink of the eyes that poor boy went running behind the ball. Well, that was expected, but what I did not expect was this! As soon as he caught the ball, he called out for another four guys to just feel the ball. And they all came closer to see the ball and played with it for a few seconds until one of the boys in the team asked them to hurry up and return the ball. This was not uncommon in our country but I felt a strong comparison with that of capitalists and the poor, the policies, the law and everything else. Let me explain how.

Let’s go back to a decade earlier when the United States ruled the world in terms of technology and economy. (It’s not that they don’t do it now, but it was stronger before the recession). And the developing and underdeveloped countries were aplenty in the world, which waited for help from the riche rich. So comparing that with the football team, here is what I saw. I could compare the rich boys with these strong countries who have the money to buy whatever they needed and be always joyful. They had their own limits to cross and formed a different cult. That poor guy at the goal post was one of these poor countries who always waited for a missed opportunity at the goal post. And of course try and utilize every missed opportunity along with other fellow mates. Was this not how outsourcing started? Not that we are slaves or so, but that we had the knack of utilizing someone else’s opportunities waiting for it all the time. And that’s what put us where we are today! I was completely lost in these thoughts for few minutes. And when I came out of it I saw that the football team was continuing their game and the poor boy’s team started cricket on their own and of course indulged in the same! Is this inspired by today’s way of the world? I gave up thinking!
Spoo!
Coming out of the feverish blues, I was just analysing the other day as to what would be the worst (or rather call it best) way to hurt a person...Not that i am that bad to do it, but i am sure many of us would have at least been a victim of this, if not the cause :P So finally i came to a simple one liner that said hurt his/her ego and thats the most worst/best way of doing it!

I know its a well known fact but just mulling over what and why is the 3 letter word so important in ones life. I dont believe in people claiming "I am not an egoist" coz the sentence itself shows it all :P, but if one could say it from his/her heart that means they have achieved something great in life....May be something deserving more than a Nobel.....Sadly i have not yet come across someone like that, though i would love to :)

Psychologically i think the 3 letter word has a great impact on everyones' lives....Sometimes its a motivator to achieve something great in life...And many a times its the breaker in a relationship. Good that only humans can enjoy its benefits and pitfalls! (Imagine if every atom on earth had ego.......It would be a sad life to live) But giving it up like a saint is something not very practical i think coz at the end of the day "you"  live for "yourself" or rather "i" live for "myself".

Knowing this, why should someone's comment hurt your ego? I think its purely because "you" love "yourself" more than you love anyone else. And coming over this fact is something that i can never do :( Or may be i don't want to try.........

And will trying help? Well, i don't really know because day by the day you count the number of achievements "you" have done in life rather than what the "others" have done. And as the number of days increase, so will the number of achievements.Even if its a failure, you don't bother to count the "others" failure but only "yours"....So eventually its "you" all the way down.........

So when someone hurts your ego, its "you" who will be hurt and its obvious that you can never forget something/someone who hurt "you"! So the next time "you" are hurt, just forget it thinking that it was not "you" but "your" ego :) Sounds funny? Well, thats one idea that i have, to forget and forgive who hurts me :) :) (Thankfully, there have not been many..........)

Now you know the best way to hurt someone and how you can help yourself come out of it or nurture the wound :)
If someone has tried some other better ways of beating it, just put in a word here :) "I" might follow "you"!!!!