Mr. Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. He was the project manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, that it would be time savings. He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

‘Are you from the software industry sir,’ the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.

Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

‘You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized.’

‘Thanks,’ smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation.

‘You people always amaze me,’ the man continued, ‘You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.’

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. ‘It is not as simple as that, my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it. It is complex, very complex.’

‘It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,’ came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. ‘Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket  between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?’

The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. ‘You design and code such things’.

‘I used to,’ Vivek paused for effect, ‘but now I am the project manager.’

‘Oh!’ sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, ‘so your life is easy now.’

This was like the last straw for Vivek.

He retorted, ‘Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work.. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.’
‘My friend,’ he concluded triumphantly, ‘you don’t know what it is to be in the Line of Fire’.
The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

‘I know sir. I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire’.
He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.
‘There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom.In the morning when we finally hoisted the Tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive.’

‘You are a…?’

‘I am Subhedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the "Safety and Welfare of the Nation foremost followed by the Safety and Welfare of the Men" he commanded and his own personal safety came last, always and every time.’

‘He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir. I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire.’
Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop.
It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subhedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight. ‘It was nice meeting you sir.’

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This hand had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour.

Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

Source: Email Forward

Once there was a small kid on earth. One fine day it came to know that god is distributing apples to humans in his place at heaven. The kid was so happy to receive that news and it went with lot of enjoyment to heaven to get the apple from god. There was a big queue standing to get apple from god and this kid also joined in that queue. While it was standing, it was fully excited and thrilled for the fact that it is going to receive in person from god’s hands. Its turn too came and the kid showed its both the hands to receive apple. God gave the apple but unfortunately the tiny hands couldn’t hold that big apple. Apple fell down and got wasted in mud. The kid got so disappointed. The ministers near the god informed that if the kid likes to have an apple from god again then it has to again follow the queue. Having waited for so long the kid didn’t want to return back to earth with empty hands so it decided to wait again in the queue.

This time the queue has become even longer than the previous one. While waiting in queue, the kid could see lot of people who returns back with apple in hands and utmost satisfaction on their faces. The kid was so much disappointed and thought why me alone didn’t get the apple in hand when all others were easily able to get it. What is the sin I did that I alone should suffer like this. Now the kid was so scared that it should not miss the apple again. Again its turn came and god gave the apple to the kid’s hands and after giving the apple god spoke to the kid.

“My dear child, last time after giving you the apple only I noticed the apple I gave to you was a rotten apple and that’s why I made that to fell down from your hands. Having given you a rotten apple, I felt bad for you and I wanted to give you the best apple in the farm and that time the best apple in the farm was growing and that’s why I made you to wait such a long time in the queue. Here it is. Now the apple that you have in hand is ‘The Best’ apple in the farm till to date. Enjoy.”

So, friends, sometimes it happens as even after we put our 100% dedication and commitment things may get delayed or things may go wrong. Believe that god has something great for us and that’s why this has happened. Always say, ‘Gratitude is absolutely the best way to bring more in one’s life’.

Believe this and see the world… Your world will also look green..

Source: Email

Outsourced

I am watching a movie called Outsourced in star movies. Itz an old movie, released in 2006.

Synopsis

Outsourced is a modern day comedy of cross-cultural conflict and romance. Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) spends his days managing a customer call center in Seattle until his job, along with those of the entire office, are outsourced to India. Adding insult to injury, Todd must travel to India to train his new replacement. As he navigates through the chaos of Bombay and an office paralyzed by constant cultural misunderstandings, Todd yearns to return to the comforts of home. But it is through his team of quirky yet likable Indian call center workers, including his friendly and motivated replacement, Puro (Asif Basra), and the charming, opinionated Asha (Ayesha Dharker), that Todd realizes that he too has a lot to learn – not only about India and America, but about himself. He soon discovers that being outsourced may be the best thing that ever happened to him.

Itz not finshed yet but seems like a nice film. It shows a forigner’s life in India, due to the  cultural and all. I missed itz first 15mnts.I want to download and watch . Why dont you? Sorry, don’t download. Go for the original DVD

Best Picture The Departed Director: Martin Scorsese

Best Supporting Actress : Jennifer Hudson

Film: Dreamgirls

————————————————————————————

Best Director : Martin Scorsese

Film: The Departed

————————————————————————————

Other Awards

Animated Feature Film: Happy Feet

Art Direction: Pan’s Labyrinth

Cinematography: Pan’s Labyrinth

Costumes: Marie Antoinette

Documentary (feature): An Inconvenient Truth

Film Editing: The Departed

Foreign Language Film : The Lives of Others

Makeup: Pan’s Labyrinth

Music (Original Score): Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla
Music (Original Song): An Inconvenient Truth
“I Need To Wake Up” – Music and Lyrics by Melissa Etheridge

Sound Editing: Letters from Iwo Jima

Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls

Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Departed

Writing (Original Screenplay): Little Miss Sunshine

Honorary Award: Awarded to Sherry Lansing

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Honorary Award: Awarded to Ennio Morricone
For his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music.

But if u write =rand(100,50) in MS-word(2000 or xp) and press ‘enter’ key. See what happens?

NIta continues, A well begun story is half done, especially with a 7year old to ignite your creativity. She bet Rowling’s kids are really proud of her. If my(Nita’s) kids also have asked all the right questions, may be even I would have writen a billion doller successful story. But till that happens, someone please tell my kid a story.