Free E-Books!

I am doing quite a lot of research on free E-Books these days. Here are a couple of links that I have discovered. Hope this would be of some use!

http://www.gutenberg.org/about/
(Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. )

http://www.esnips.com/web/eb00ks
http://esnips.com/web/ebook9999
http://www.esnips.com/web/abhisbooks
http://esnips.com/web/ebooks4u
(Lots of English fiction and nonfiction books are loaded here)

http://www.esnips.com/web/pgwodehouse (For PG WoodHouse)
http://www.esnips.com/web/calvinnhobbes (For Calvin Comics)
http://www.esnips.com/web/literature (For Classic English Literature)
http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1 (For Classic English Fiction)

http://fictionbook.ru/en/search?search=english
(Albeit a Russian Website, it contains lots of English Fiction Works)

Kudos to innumerable people who shared their collection over Internet!
Happy Reading for All!

A mentoring session in my organization

Today I had a session with one of the senior persons in our organization. I wouldn’t call it a session anyway; it was more like an informal chat. He made questions like where do I put myself in 5 yrs, 10 yrs and so on which reminded me of placement days! I don’t know how relevant these questions are in this fast changing world. Yet, there are many pearls of wisdom one can garner from the experience.

Some thoughts to ponder after the discussion!

• If you think you are comfortable in your current job, then its time to move on!
• Learning slackens once you reach 5 years of experience as you end up doing more of a coordination role later on.
• As you grow, your job depends the most on others’ contribution and inputs and hence people skills matter the most.

It felt nice that I had this session. I love what I do, and guess I got enough to mull over from this session. I need to redesign the way I work so that I brush up my skillet and still retain the excitement. A long way to go!

Living in a Daze!

Yes! That's what is happening with me since a week or so.. I am suffering from an intellectual amnesia and have stopped reading, writing and ofcourse working. Recently I caught up with a lovely book called "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Couldn't finish it until now, though the book is quite engaging. Ensconced by these mighty cubicled life, guess my aptitude to work dropped to an all time low. Well, guess its time to say: SOWMYA, WAKE UP!!!!

Playing the role of organizer- Part II

Yet another event organized by me! I can observe my reaction and the learning I got from organizing two makjor events. I was always kind of passive in organizing events was concerned. Since my childhood, I am one of those organized and obidient chaps who finishes her work in time. I rarely took initiative to organize events, and to compare. Somehow, I guess I have always enjoyed being a part of the participants or the audience. Guess, times are changing now.

When I ended up in my project in a Business Analyst role, I had no clue of what I am supposed to do! I thought its all about generating reports and presentations. Soon, I came to understand the unique culture of our project. I work in an ideation lab (a concept which is recently catching up!), so the kind of work I do is not quite imaginable at the first. I call myself as an unofficial mouthpiece and I have to interact with inumerous departments in our small office to get things done.

I have to run white paper presentation contests, and organize industry awareness sessions, discussion forums apart from the regular documentation demands from my role. Most of my work (almost 70%) goes in coordination and networking. And I love what I do (exceptions apply). Once a very good friend of mine told me that if u can give your job 6 out of 10, you should be happy. Guess I can give my role a 7. Playing my role can be fun. I know few people who play basket ball and darts in the office cubicle!

I have discovered quite a lot of golden truths along the way.
The key to make things happen is effective follow-up. (Matlab, you have to run after people until your work is done. Never trust on the memory of people, as I cant trust mine.)
Things often happens in the most unofficial way under the official cover!
Relationships matter the most in any organizing context.
However foolproof your preparation can be, there is always a thing to run in the end!
And last but not the least, Njoy what you do and the work becomes worthwhile, smile and the world smiles along with you!

In Search of a Soulmate..

Did you ever feel that you were missing someone you have never met? Richard gets this right, when he writes this in "The Bridge Across Forever". This is the book which I love for putting a complex emotion like love in elegant and beautiful manner. Another one which I loved is "Love Story" by Erich Segal.

There is a need for someone in life, who can stand by you through thick and thin. It's just not the despair that you can’t brave this world alone. It's a nagging feeling of being incomplete, a desire to be unconditionally loved, and longingness for completion and compatibility. Big words and I wonder if they can ever be true.

Do you believe that a Mr. or Miss Perfect exists for you? I do. For me, life is a journey of adventures, a path of struggles, a valley of joys, small pleasures and little achievements, of failures and learnings, of longing and emptiness, of triumphs and patience: all packed in a mission to discover LOVE and a desire to reinvent oneself in a growing feeling of warmth and affection of the loved ones.

What do I expect from my Mr. Right? A person who respects my independence and freedom of thought and action, who never tries to lead my life as his own, and is sensitive and sensible to my character. Seems like a tall order, isn't it? But who knows, I might even get lucky! The only thing that shatters dreams is a compromise; hence, I will close my eyes and resign myself to sleep.

Rowing to my Delight!

This weekend was an absolute fun for me as I had a gala time visiting Mahabalipuram. I chanced to spend some time at Muttukadu lake. I'm with a friend and together we hired a row boat to add to the fun. The experience was worth the half an hour waiting we did at the lake front. I have never boarded a row boat before and it was quite an enchanting experience to observe the sinuous waves and the serene atmosphere. I begged the rower for a role reversal. He readily agreed, willing to share his work with us. So here we go, rowing our way in delight under the ample guidance of our bemused rower. I never realized that rowing requires so much of observation and strength. I had quite a lot of fun and sealed the day with a sumptuous dinner at Copper Chimney!

My trip to Hyderabad

Albeit short, this trip to Hyderabad was a delightful one. I spent a day there watching a fabulous Telugu movie called Style. This movie is based on a bunch of guys who were dedicated to Freestyle dance. A couple a good songs, sensible performance by Lawrence and a great deal of fabulous dance made it quite an enjoyable show. I chanced to have a glance at the new IMAX and the Prasad multiplex and took a long drive to the Necklace road. All these brought back the memories of the nostalgic university life back. I went to my old Osmania Ladies Hostel, catching up with the old times. Nothing has changed much, apart from the colour of the walls. (Got a recent white wash!). The same old Bawarchi restaurant and the same RTC X roads flanked by theatres on either sides, at times it's nice to live the old times again, though for a short time. Nothing changes much apart from the soul within!

My Convocation!

I went to Pune on this 21st of Jan. 22nd Jan was our batch convocation at IMDR. The moment Chennai Express reached Pune, every grueling moments of the 23 hour journey was forgotten and I was giggling like an idiot! I never know that I was suffering from such heavy dose of nostalgia! The train journey was quiet enjoyable, thanks to my batch mate who gave me a good company. I went to my old flat at Mini Apartments on Bhandarkar Road. Everything seemed so normal…

I met an old friend there. He became sick without proper food and a lot of tension in life. Well, he is working in sales in the financial sector and guess there lies the reason for his unbalanced life. Financial sector frightens me with a strenuous work life. I just wonder about those poor souls who are facing the heat! I spent the evening with another friend over dinner catching up with the old times. Nothing changed infact!

On Sunday Morning, I had a great time running to the railway station for booking my return tickets.. That was quiet a long walk which rejuvenated my old memories. Infact, I went for walking for about 4 km a day throughout my stay in Pune.  I went for the convocation dressed in the Maroon Sari, a tradition of IMDR. I was feeling curiously strange as the convocation discussion was a little off the track. Surprisingly, I was a little tensed! Ultimately I was called on the podium as I stood first in Lady Students of our batch. I won a cash prize called “Late Shri. S.G.Barve free studentship.” Well, I felt strange that they decided to have a prize for a ladies topper and that ended up to be me of all probabilities! I was happy that the most creative award of the batch went to Reema Sahay. Who else? I can never forget the beauty and simplicity of her poems.

After the convocation, I had a grand lunch with my Mentee. There is a thing called Mentorship in IMDR where one senior takes the charge of one junior in the process of begadofying and guiding. That’s quite a fruitful relationship as it creates the pegs and relationships across the batches. After that hearty lunch, I went to my relatives place. I love their daughter, who is just 6 years old. She is too sweet and pleasant. Infact, I extended my trip in order to spend decent time with her.

My Observations

One thing that echoed common among a lot of my batch mates is disillusionment, as their expectations are no match to the kind of profiles in which they all ended up. I could sense the dilemma and the turmoil. Life has become a struggle in work life with the emerging challenges. The desire to keep the dreams alive is dwindling and life is rolling in pursuit of mundane tasks. Sad, yet true. I felt little lonely in the campus, guess that’s because of the lack of the comfort factor. A lot of things changed, isn’t it? That’s all about my convocation..

My first collage!

Today I submitted my first collage for the TCS library week competition and I'm quite satiated. The feeling of participation can do wonders, isn't it? This week is kind of dull for me and I was wondering how on to spend it. This collage competition came as a blessing in disguise. What got me engaged is the thought process and concentration which goes in making a collage. I even participated in crossword and matchup (albeit with a great deal of help from pals and google!). Well, it sure leaves a feel good sensation.

Apart from the Collage, I also participated in Crossword, Matchup and Book Review. I ended up winning a prize in Crossword by fluke!

A typical MBA frustration!

This is a mail forward I have received. The author, who wishes to remain anonymous, has poured his heart out on the kind of frustration he is experiencing over his job.  His mail follows now..

*****Am sitting with the feeling of absolute aaram. No work only aaram, I'm developing this excellent habit of managing time pass effectively soon, i would write a book on effective management of Time pass or 101 ways of better time pass.

The day goes like this:

Soon after reaching their desks, everyone is excited about reading mails and all, once they are done with it, it calls for a round of breakfast with tea coming from there is like a big thing but, then we have after all come for work na?

Staring at the screen gives no clue as to what is expected of u or what ur tasks are anyway, it at least gives the impression, that u r involved in something and thinking about it deeply. Then, no longer than half an hour from breakfast, it calls for a tea session, where the usual topics of Bosses, our company etc. are discussed. Coming from there is like: there is now only a small duration to be passed before we assemble for lunch. Gone for lunch means at least 1hr. or may be more effective time pass. After coming back, the messenger starts and then no turning back, coz laziness grips u, so it feels better to gossip sitting on desks only but its not before long that somebody volunteers for tea, and asks for any more volunteers. Surprise!!! all the laziness is gone suddenly and there is a new wave of chalo chai peene, and what better than terrace for it?

After coming from there, a fresh new wave of excitement grips u that soon it would be 4:45 so, we will go down to canteen, come back at 5:30 or something and leave. But don't think anyone sits till 4:45 too. every now n then out of nowhere, somebody comes up coz he is not in a mood to work and then suddenly u find, a small group of similar feeling waalas has formed and sounds of laughter emanate. Its 5:45 PM. Yippes. Bhaago. and no turning back. Don't know where is this going to take us. *****

I felt a little sad reading this mail. It's a clear example which demonstrates that how lack of initiative can affect the way of life of a person. This is something which usually happens for a typical MBA who ends up in a traditional company. Life is less of challenge, more of patience. I wonder how many are being equipped to deal with it. Everyone has a vision of how his/her life should be. Maintaining balance is absolutely essential. In an IT industry, where the companies have to have surplus capacity to deal with the capricious nature of the clientele, this kind of situations are not rare. The onus lies on the individual to make his own way. That makes the journey more interesting, isn't it?

Why do I blog?

Interesting question, isn't it? Its been an year and half since I have started blogging. I can see that I am totally hooked. I like the idea of expressing oneself for oneself. It gives me an immense satisfaction to key in my thoughts, ideas and expressions just for the sake of it. Yes, also the fact that I spend the better part of my day in front of the system also helps.

I like reading some of the blogs too. Often they are quite introspective and bring out the true side of the person. Quite idealistic the blogs are, aren't they?

My learnings in six months..

Its kind of easy to mention, yet difficult to collate. The work life has been a little shocking to start with, yet it got normal with the passing days. But its still different from what I am used to! I spent a great deal of my first two months at Trivandrum, with beautiful scenaries and a ligament tear to deal with. Days passed on with no sense of purpose and clue as to what I am doing. I am never exposed to the working life of software industry earlier and I had a feeling of back to school with strick schedule and hostel work. We had quite an interesting time, dealing with the corporate expectations. I guess, even the company is perplexed as to what to do with the 200 odd MBAs attending the training. After the gala time and the tension of the allocations, I finally landed up at Chennai. The training process gave me an enriching perspective on the working style of IT industry. With companies having 30% of surplus capacity so that they don't suffer opportunity loss, it was quite difficult to see the kind of roles I could play. Yet, I got lucky (I hope so!) to get into a demonstration oriented ideation lab which prototypes the next generation ideas on telecom platform.

Luck got a different dimension in everyone's life. Some curse it, some love it and some doesn't believe in it. Its good if it works in your favour and its better if it doesn't. The work life brought in a new culture. It means marriage to your desk, professional relationships and new challenges! Often you like the job, often you won't. Often you blame the fate, often your boss!

I got to learn a lot of new things from different people. I had my own Oh! Shit moments as well. Yet, through all this flow of life, I can find that the importance of learning is tremendous. I should never let the fire of curiosity die. If that happens, there would be no difference between the dumb terminal on which I am working and my own little brain. I realized that one needs to have a clear focus on the career and which direction one has to mold it into. Its like this old saying: " If you don't know the destination, the road doesn't matter."

I feel good in my job profile as it keeps me in touch with the industry leaders and influential persons of the TCS client companies. At times, its simply amazing to hear what they have to say. I work with a group which tries to make technology as a part of human life and the implications are far more prominent than one would like to believe. The fight in the telecom industry for the customer mind space, the importance of presentation, the need for innovation and the struggle for market share brings in a level playing field for all the companies big or small.

Marketing still rocks for me, yet I could see the mutual dependence among the different functions for the proper organization of the company. It added a new respect with which I view this functions like HR and Finance. I may not be a great number cruncher, yet I can appreciate those big heads in front of the screens working furiously on Excel. What impresses me the most is the ability to touch people's lives in a pleasant fashion. Some of the people I met really amaze me with the kind of confidence they exude and the smile with which they carry themselves. Impressive experience is what I had until now. And many more miles to go!

My first six months of work life!

I have completed my first six months of work life and am waiting to complete another! The experience has been quite eventful till now! Guess this is the time to reflect and learn! I used to have a director at IMDR who always emphasized on the importance of reflecting after experience to garner learning. Guess I would listen to him this time! Well, I had an interesting team get-together with my collegues at MGM resorts. We played cricket, handball, and sealed theday with a gourmet dinner. The heavy moment of the day was when we had to bid farewell to collegue who is leaving to UK the very next day. He is our project lead and somehow I grew comfortable with his guidance. Yet, life has to move on, isn't it? The ambience of MGM is perfect for team events. The resort has cricket pitch just beside the beach, and it was quite fun to play the match as I have never played cricket earlier! No wonder, I ended up duck-out (rather ducked out!). I had quite an eventful day, yet I had to back to office on Saturday! So more to key on in further posts..

Playing the role of an organizer..

Working in my project, I can never define my job in specific terms. The job description and the definition varies day by day! Guess I like it this way too. I have organized a paper presentation event in my organization and it taught me a lot of things. The first lesson is how to follow-up. I came in contact with a lot of honchos of TCS. I was a little nervous as I had no clue of the corporate hierarchy. In the end, I realized that what I was experiencing was a mental block towards authority. Somehow, it reminded me of Bhupi's lecture on the start of Second Year. Strange are the ways of memories, isn't it? Organizing this event brushed my co-ordinating skills for sure. It took a lot of coffee and headache to see that event happen. Well, I can't undermine the help of my project team the day before the event. They sat with me till night 10 PM working on the minor details which even I missed. Finally the event was a great success, thanks to my boss! He did a great oration and kept everyone awake. All in all, it was sheer fun in the end!!

Flow of life..

I have this feeling that it been ages since I wrote something nice. I seriously don't know what to post and I consider it serious! Life has become so simple and predictable out here that there is monotony creeping in. Its been almost four months since I came to Chennai and I already feel as if I have settled down. I guess I got adjusted in the office life as well. Everything looks so comfortable, isn't it? Still I can't explain this strange feeling of intellectual amnesia. When I was in IMDR, we used to discuss about dream jobs. An article written by my senior denying the existence of a myth called "dream job" caught my attention. I wondered about it then. I got placed in my dream company and when I look back now to those days, I know how true it is. A dream can never be a job, atleast for me. And, when there is ia purpose or an aspiration chasing you, it would never be a job.

I remember reading a book titled "elephants and flees". The author compares the huge and heavily manned organizations as Elephants. How true! Working for a multinational manning around 50 thousand personnel is indeed complex, especially in a mammoth IT company where the hierarchies are not defined properly. Guess the charm has worn out! Life has become too comfortable even to crib, and rhythm it has achieved is not particularly to my liking. Need more action and variety!!

A few days back, I registered myself on my college website and was surprised to receive a reply back. The desire to see the outside was high during those college days and now, I long for that cocoon type comfort again!

Perils of being an Absent-Minder-Part 1.

Yesterday night I realized what could be the disadvantages of being absent minded. It means jogging back to my office at 10 PM and wondering that no one picked up my keys! Yesterday it was very hectic for me at office. (Please don't stare at me, people in IT companies can be working too!). It was raining cats and dogs in Chennai for the whole day, and believe me, its not a pleasant site because of the water logging on the streets. In Pune, I used to enjoy rains, but nowadays, they became a big issue as they flood the roads in Chennai. I left office at 9 PM and reached home promptly by 9.30 PM only to realize that I forgot my house keys in office. So it was back to office again at 10 PM in rain swearing all sorts of curses which I could mumble for myself! I titled this post as part 1 as I never know when my forgetfulness will make me jog again! Hey! But it was quite enjoyable also. Otherwise I never thought that I would ever jog to my office at night 10 PM!

Cool Site!

I was browzing through the net and accidently I hit upon this site (www.biztactics.com). Its a easy read, no-nonsense website which talks about the most successful marketing tactics in simple stories. How I wish Philip Kotler is written this way!

Quote of the Day: A bad worklady always blames her tools!
It struck some nerve as these days I started cribbing a lot..

My home trip!

I finally managed to reach home for Diwali and had a gala time at home. Yet, I can't resist myself from posting the way I reached home. I couldn't make the journey on 28th as all the trains in Chennai Central towards Andhra Pradesh got cancelled. To much of my chagrin, the situation continued for days. Finally Coromandal express got started on 30th and I was happy to get a berth and became an innocent victim of the diverted train route. God! The train took 30 hours to reach my home town(actual time is 10 hours). Good thing is that I got to see the whole of Rayalaseema: the Kadapa, Anantapuram, Karnool, Prakasam districts. It was quite a tiresome journey and an interesting one too. One can actually observe the resilience, patience and tenacity of the people. I finally reached home and my only regret is that I lost around 3 days due to the journey.

I did plenty of shopping at home and even accompanied Dad a couple of times for the morning walk. Being at Home gives me a sluggish sense of happiness. Khana, Peena and Sona. Did nothing apart from that. I took two days to get back to the working life!

I left the cell at home as I wanted to buy a new one in Chennai. Andhra Pradesh is cheaper when it comes to buying of cells. I did quite a lot of research and finally I found that there is not a single cell which has an ideal brain and beauty combo. I stayed cell-less for a couple of days deciding which one to buy. Interesting part is that during those days I felt strange happiness and freedom. I got so used to mobile that I felt that something is missing. Talk about Techno-Addiction!

P.S. Finally I ended up buying Samsung's SGH-X620 on 14th Nov. Though its not from Nokia, this mobile covers the basic functions like FM(very much needed in Chennai), Cam and voice recording. Looks quite handy too. Yes it fits the bill!

The classic Indirect Proposal..

BOY: I need someone to talk to ..
GiRL: I`m alwayz here for you.
BOY: I know.
GiRL: Whatz wrong?
BOY: I like her *s0o* much..
GiRL: Talk to her.
BOY: I don`t know.. she`ll never like me.
GiRL: Don`t say that. You`re amazing.
BOY: I just wanna tell her how I feel ..
GiRL: Then tell her.
BOY: She won`t like me.
GiRL: How do you know that?
BOY: I can just tell.
GiRL: Well, just tell her.
BOY: What should I say?
GiRL: Tell her how much you like her.
BOY: I tell her that daily.
GiRL: What youu mean?
BOY: I'm alwayz with her. I love her.
GiRL: I know how you feel. I have the same problem. But he`ll never like me.
BOY: Wait. Who do you like?
GiRL: Ooh, some boy..
BOY: Ooh, she won`t like me either.
GiRL: She does.
BOY: How do you know.. ?
GiRL: Because who wouldn`t like you?
BOY: You..
GiRL: You`re wrong. I love you.
BOY: I love you too.
GiRL: .. so are you going to talk to her?
BOY: I just did.

Got this as a forward. Somehow I feel that this conversation depicts the hesitation, self-doubt and love quite convincingly.

Back to Normal with a Bang!

I declare with indecent happiness that life has returned back to normal in Chennai. The rain got stopped in the night itself. I can't believe my eyes when I saw a little sun today. I wanted to mention about my day Yesterday. I reached office like a drowned rat at 9 AM only to find myself alone in my project. The rain was such that I couldn't even go back. Added to that, I got work which kept me engaged till 2 PM. There were a lot of SMS circulated stating the condition of city. A few roomers about the current wires dangling on the roads. A lot of water logging on roads and it was difficult to find the path. Auto drivers had their hay day charging 50 bucks for 2 kms. I somehow managed to reach home by 6 PM wading my way through knee deep waters to catch an auto!

Yesterday night was another affair alltogether. There are 9 girls along with me in my hostel and we booked tickets today night. We were anxious to know about the weather reports as we were wondering whether our trains will get cancelled or not. Yet, the funnier side never rests. We chatted our way till the wee hours of morning and had quite a lot of fun too. I guess it been ages since I last indulged myself in girly gossiping! :-)

Now today morning, its absolute bliss! The same sun in Chennai and the same old day.. As if yesterday is just a nightmare. I am hoping to catch train today to reach my hometown Rajahmundry. Hope it arrives and reaches in time! Happy Diwali to all. I just can't wait to see my Mamma!