I am still in love ...

... with Bangalore weather.

I was in love in with Bangalore weather. And just few days before I was about to announce my break-up with it, officially, on my blog. Because it was becoming too too hot over here. It was becoming unbearable for me to continue staying in love with it. But no. Bangalore weather seems a true love of mine. It did not betrayed me. It has rained here !! Yes, it had rained !!! And as it happens with Bengalooru, it looks like heaven when it rains. Sometimes even I doubt weather an emperor Jahangir was in Bangalore when he had said a very famous quote about a jannat being on earth and being it here, here, here. It was like an oven a day before and now it feels like a heaven.

Bengalooru weather has never betrayed me. Not even a single time. Does not that look hypothetical? How can somebody's love be so much faithful ?? But believe me, you all jealous gals/guys. Bengalooru weather here, since last evening is too too cooool. Just a day before I was really frustrated because of this rising temperature in Bangalore. Since last 3 years (a time since when I am here) it has never been so hot here. Forget about my experience. In fact, yesterday had recorded a highest temperature at Bengalooru in last 25 years !!! Twitter and buzz was full of frustration about Bengalooru weather. I was included in those team of frustrated ones. And so I was about to declare my break-up with my love Bangalore on this blog itself. But no. Bengaloory did not make me do that. Instead, now, it has made me propose her !! So, here I go for it. I bent on my knees. With a flower in my hand and saying:

Bengalooru, I love you.

VLSI design and earth hour

Does not subject look a bit odd? Or may be first I need to clarify what is VLSI design and than ask the same question again. Okay, so as long as this post is concerned take any 'chip design' as a VLSI design. Chips here I mean an IC (Integrated Circuit), not potato chips :). IC. Which makes everyone of ours' life comfortable. Which is used in almost any of the electronic devices you purchase now-a-days. In your washing machine, in your bikes, in your cars, in your PC, in your laptops etc.

So having given this build-up let me start actual post. So, all readers who are also in VLSI field like me must be knowing that now-a-days low power design is buzz word in our domain. Me too felt the need of learning low power designs professionally and so the first question my curious mind asked was, what is the need for "low power design" ??? I asked, many people. I read few books. Almost all of them told me this reasons:

1) For battery operated devices like, laptop, low power design is required.

2) For devices which consumes more power creates more heat. And because of the heat generation, device junction temperature increases and so device's delay/timing characteristics changes unexpectedly leading it to failure.

Perfect. Those are the reasons. And I was about to jump to the heart of low power design techniques leaving "need for low power design" question as answered one. But than I came cross an another book about low power design where-as an author had expressed the need for low power design in completely different dimension. What he said is this:

Another demand for low power design comes from environmental concern. Modern offices are now furnished with office equipments that consume large amount of power. A study of "american council for enrgy efficient economy" estimated that office equipment account for 5% of total US commercial energy and could rise to 10% by 2000. Computers are fastest growing electricity loads in commercial sector. And inefficient energy usage in computing equipment indirectly contributes to environment pollution as well, because enery generation is major source of air pollution.

I was shocked to read that. Very true reason. After reading that I felt that I am also contributing in spoiling our mother earth. I might have celebrated earth hour by switching off the lights for an hour but I am also the one, whose designed chips consumes almost some 10% of the electricity of the nation !! This was like, joining a liquor prohibition campaign and owning a liquor company all at the same time. This what is life is. Life really contradicts itself.

Twitter and a productivity at work

Don't judge about this post content from its title. Because in this post I am not going to show you some never-understood statistics and references to standard literature concluding about productivity of twitter users or some thing similar. But on the other hand it is assured that content of this post do talk about a title of this post. Like me, you may also be wondering about why the hell I am making so much of fuss about a little 'title' of the post, right? Actually, I am also not sure why am I stretching so much on the 'title' of this post. Only reason I have for strething is, that is what had come first into my mind while writing this post.

Okay, first thing first. So I am sure you all know about twitter. Since last few months twitter is in news (if at all you are following) because of many reasons. I had not used twitter until I read in a news that Google is planning to aquire Twitter. After reading the news, I thought, let me check what this buzz is all about. I simply logged-on to twitter and tried using it. Now instead expecting me to explain, what is this twitter all about, I request you to log onto twitter and explore it.

After twittering for few days and following few of my omnipresent friends on twitter, I had completely stopped using it. It was time for me to concentrate on my ever burning and live deadline driven project. Work was very simple but I was stuck in some trivial issue since last few days. So one fine day, I decided to put all of my trials on a paper with a time stamp attached to that trial. I opened a text file. Type command 'date' on Unix terminal. Copied result of it (date command) onto text file and describe about what I have done. I followed this for half of the day. Each 10-15 minutes, I described about what I have tried and what was an expectation and analysis of why it did not happen as per expectation, if at all expectation is not met. And with each description I attached a time stamp. And believe me, because of this tracking, I was able to save my time doing repetative work, which I am habituated to do otherwise. Because I was tracking and aware of what I am trying to do and what is expectation and why is this not working etc. my productivity went up and I was able to resolve that issue in half a day.

Now you may be wondering where the hell twitter comes into picture for productivity. Ok, let me tell you that point as well. If you have already visited twitter, you may be knowing that with each of your twitts a time stamp gets attached automatically showing when you has twittered thhe twit. Only after joining twitter I had noticed this time stamping of a twitts and so I have thought of replicating that using text pad and Unix's date command. If a stand-alone twitter application was available, my work of time stamping could have been reduced. But Murphy is not going let me live happily, looks like. Worry not. Because even if stand-alone twitter application is not available, in currently available twitter web application also you can have your twitts unpublished (private) and achieve same thing :-).

So, next time you are stuck in some trivial problem, log-on to twitter (at your own risk). And yes, don't forget to follow me.

My love ...

... Bangalore weather.

Since last few weeks I was planning post this blog on my love, Bangalore weather. Not because I was happy with it but because I was NOT happy with it. It was hot here since last 2-3 weeks. Yes dear, I am writing about Bangalore only so without re-reading back, read ahead. Everyday I was thinking, "Yaar this is not typical Bengalooru weather, at least it was not like this before some 2 years, I will blog about this". etc etc

As very well said, "tough time never lasts, tough people do". This tough time of facing hot bangalooru did not last long for me (a tough guy :-)) because since last 3-4 days it is raining here !! Rain has made weather over her quite quite good. Well, rain may be coming for sure in each and every part of country. But Bengalooru rain is a bit different. Rain over here is like "your girlfriend pampering you". While in other parts like Ahmedabad it is like "your khalli-equivalent friend is beating you ramdomly".

Today also it rained here and so from my unability to resist myself from blogging, this post emerged :-). But please don't start thinking that life in Bangalore in very cool when it rains.you will have to pay the price for rain -power cut !! Yes, power cut and that is too in Bengalooru. So called IT hub or silicon valley or what not of India. This is as much unbelievable as much it is to believe that it is hot here in Bangalore. At lest regarding power cut I hate bengalooru. Reason is quite obvious because I have stayed at place who has a record of having least number of hours of down time in a year-Ahmedabad.

Anyways, so having said these, its time to get back to enjoy weather again. Ok see ya. Bbye. Have a nice life ahead.

Latest t-shirt quote

Pay hike

I know, you are surprised even reading this words "pay hike". Now-a-days pay-cuts and lay-offs are more oftenly used words in a day than verbs 'is', 'are', 'was', 'were'. Its time of great depression, economists are saying. Could be. Being an engineer, I don't quite very well understand these terms (commerce stream are guys are best at it ). So I allow my horses of imagination to run beyond boundries of knowledge and present you easy solution to have boom time faster:

Release all prisoner been caught in a case of printing fake money. Overload them. Let them burn the mid-night oils. Generate lots of money. And circulate it in market :-).

How does this solve the problem? Ok, here is an explanation. Problem right now is, we are facing credit crunch. Means no money in market. People are spending less. People have started looking for cheaper alternatives. Earlier people were taking auto, now they are using public transport. Nike & reebok users have started looking for Bata prodcts. In summary, people are spending less and so at the end of the day less money getting circulated in market. How to increase this money circulation? He he .. Simple, release those prisoners ... :-) ?!?!

Okay, so till now I did not talk about so called subject of this post. "Pay hike". Lemme do that. Well, subject is not misspelled, I meant pay hike only. And I want to write about pay hike only. Hmm, so do you know any company who is giving pay hike in this situation?? No? ok so, without letting your mind start guessing, let me give you name of it. Its government job !! Heared about sixth pay commision?? As per that, employees salary has been increased !! In this time of great depression !! Private companies need to learn from it :-). Is not it?

Global financial crisis

Coming across this word thousands of times in a day. Got bored of it. Anywhere you go and you will hear that. In morning you open news paper and front page will highlight it. You come to office and people talk about it. 

"Hey, today market crashed by XYZ points", 

"Oh god ! sensex has reached to XYZ points today", 

"Wow ! Atleast share prices where I have invested is going up", 

"When this market will show green-up arrow yaar", 

"I lost so and so amount of rupees" and so on .... 

Than you check your mails and you will see mails warning you about up coming recession in India. From elctronic media to paper media to people media. Everywhere this words are echoing.

Ok. So in amidst of this Global Financial Crisis, there is one person who is getting benefited !! Guess, who is that?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Liquor king - Vijay Mallaya. 

Kingfisher airlines - Good time pertner.

United Breweries - Bad time partner.

So in boom period Kingfisher airlines generates money and in down time United Breweries. What a choice of business ! Hats-off to Mallya.

Liquor addictors can not leave drinking. So no level of inflation can touch this business. In fact, when inflation (or if you allow me to use word 'Global Financial Crisis') comes, more people starts drinking liquor because of stress. If not because of actual inflation stress than because of stress of listening one word thousands of time, people will start drinking it  So more the inflation more the usage. Hmmm ... Quite lucrative business. I'm looking for a change yaar. Anybody? My bed time pertner? Oops !! I mean, my bad time partner??

"Three mistakes of my life" - Chetan Bhagat

Do you like Chetan Bhagat books? Did you like "One night at call centre" or "Five point someone"? If yes, I have good news for you. Chetan Bhagat is back with his third book - "the 3 mistakes of my life"! Release date is 8th of May. Below is the synopsis of book.

In late-2000, a young boy in Ahmedabad called Govind dreamt of having a business. To accomodate his friends Ish and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. Govind's wants to make money and thinks big. Ish is all about nurturing Ali, the batsman with a rare gift. Omi knows his limited capabiltiies and just wants to be with his friends. However, nothing comes easy in a turbulent city. To realize their goals, they will have to face it all - religious politics, earthquakes, riots, unacceptable love and above all, their own mistakes. Will they make it? Can an individual's dreams overcome the nightmares offered by real life? Can we succeed despite a few mistakes?


Chetan Bhagat's blog : http://www.chetanbhagat.com/blog/

Sania needs to learn from Sachin

Coped from Divya Bhaskar Gujarati.

ક્રિકેટર સચિન તેંડુલકરને પોતાના આદર્શ તરીકે ગણતી ટેનિસ ખેલાડી સાનિયા મિઝાર્એ ભારતમાં ટેનિસ નહીં રમવાના કરેલા નિણર્યને બદલવા માટે ત્રિરંગાના વિવાદમાં ફસાયેલા માસ્ટર બેટ્સમેન સહિત એવા ક્રિકેટરો પાસેથી પાઠ શીખવાની જરૂર છે જેઓ દેશના રમતપ્રેમીઓના આક્રમક અભિગમનો વારંવાર શિકાર બનતા રહ્યા હતા.

કયારેક પોતાના પહેરવેશ, કયારેક મસ્જિદમાં શૂટિંગ અને હવે રાષ્ટ્રઘ્વજના અપમાનના આક્ષેપોથી સ્તબ્ધ થયેલી સાનિયાએ ભારતમાં નહીં રમવાનો નિણર્ય કર્યોછે અને તે બેંગલોર ઓપનમાં રમવાની નથી.

ત્રિરંગાના અપમાન અંગેના વિવાદમાં ફસાયેલી સાનિયા પ્રથમ ખેલાડી નથી. તેના પહેલાં સચિન જેવા સ્ટાર ખેલાડીને પણ આ પ્રકારના વિવાદમાંથી પસાર થવું પડયું છે. તેમ છતાં તે આજે દેશના કરોડો લોકોની ધડકન બની ચૂકયો છે.

ભારતીય ટીમ જયારે ગયા માર્ચ મહિનામાં વલ્ર્ડકપ રમવા ગઇ હતી ત્યારે સચિનના જન્મદિવસે જમૈકામાં ભારતીય રાજદૂત દ્વારા એક પાર્ટીનું આયોજન કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું જેમાં સચિને રાષ્ટ્રઘ્વજના રંગથી બનેલી કેકને કાપી હતી. આ સમાચારને જોરશોરથી પ્રસારિત કરવામાં આવ્યા હતા. સચિન સામે ઇન્દોર અને દિલ્હીમાં કેસ દાખલ કરવામાં પણ આવ્યો હતો.

સાનિયા સાથે પણ આવી જ ઘટના બની છે. હોપમેન કપ દરમિયાન તેનો એક ફોટો પ્રસ્તુત થયો હતો જેમાં તે ત્રિરંગા સામે પગ ચઢાવીને બેઠી હતી. આ બાબતે વિવાદ સર્જાયો હતો અને તેની સામે કેસ દાખલ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો.

સાનિયા એટલી બધી અકળાઇ ગઇ હતી કે તે ટેનિસ છોડવાનો નિણર્ય કરી ચૂકી હતી. સાનિયાએ એક સમયે સચિનને પોતાના આદર્શ તરીકે વણર્વ્યો હતો અને હવે લાગી રહ્યું છે કે તેણે પોતાના આદર્શ ખેલાડી પાસેથી પાઠ શીખવાની જરૂર છે. ભારતમાં નહીં રમવાના નિણર્યના કારણે સાનિયાએ વિવાદને આમંત્રણ આપ્યું છે.

કપિલદેવ સામે મેચફિકિસંગના આક્ષેપો થયા ત્યારે તે ટીવીમાં ધ્રૂસકેને ધ્રૂસકે રડી પડયો હતો. સુનિલ ગાવસ્કરે કોલકાતાના પ્રેક્ષકો દ્વારા બોલાવવામાં આવેલા હુરિયા બાદ ઇડન ગાર્ડન્સમાં રમવાનો ઇનકાર કરી દીધો હતો.

જોકે ગાવસ્કરે પોતાની ભૂલ કબૂલ કરીને જણાવ્યું હતું કે અહીંનાં લોકો મને ચાહે છે. વલ્ર્ડકપ ૨૦૦૩ના પ્રારંભિક તબક્કામાં જયારે ભારતીય ટીમ સારો દેખાવ ના કરી શકી ત્યારે ખેલાડીઓના નિવાસસ્થાને પથ્થરમારો કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો.