Queen of the sea

Queen of the sea

It was a mega event suppose to happen in 3 of our life. Last year September Raj, Nikhil & me were venturing into South east Asia trip.Marked Cambodia as a final destination. At the same time some one was also testing fate beyond cozy cubicle of software company. After hitting early morning dew soaked lovely Singapore aerodrome:

Raj said, "you know what ? If I'm not here, I would have been attending national geographic mission navy selection interview, if gets selected the winner can spend a full month in 'Indian warship."
I joked "chillax maga; not a big deal & it's not in your blood to be in warship :)".
He said, "but Chethu is going for it".
I looked at him for a minute; I thought it might be a guy since the name was boyish- Chethana.
I asked him, "you never told me about this guy"
He said,"it's not a boy, it's a girl"
I asked "who's Chethu by the way ?"
Raj said "she frequents swimming with us, you've seen her, shes works as an HR in a software company"
I was perplexed. "software girl & navy ?! and spending one month in the war ship!"

It was kinda unbelievable. Then I remembered a lean, silent girl with attractive cheek bones, who frequented when we were busy bisecting waters of swimming pool at NGV.

Mind you, this blog is not about our amazing trip to tallest Hindu temple complex in the world; but a tribute to a grittiest girl I've seen in the timid herd of fake safe harbor: Software Industry. Yes ! you heard me right :)

In Seam Reap of Angkorwat, while browsing internet there; Raj announced in huge voice, 'Maga, can u believe: Chethu, made it to final team of selection". I was spellbound ! Since, Indian Navy has involved in it I knew it's not just another boring & ordinary TV reality show,

Nat Geo has collaborated with the Indian Navy and is now all set to embark on a journey on the high seas with battle stations and live weaponry, for the mission of a lifetime. It will showcase the uncharted world of the Indian Navy, replete with warships, submarines and missiles.

When we hit Singapore domestic air lounge, we got to check free Internet. Raj yelled : "hey maga ! you got to believe it ? Chethu, has just moved to final confirmed team". I can imagine how he might be feeling with enthrall. he ushered - "Oh maga, i wanna be there, i wanna be there maga, it was my dream too"

Nat Geo Mission Navy will provide five civilians a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the Navy. The civilians will be trained and imbued with the courage, grit and determination that is synonymous with the Indian Navy. The most resilient, deserving and valiant of the five finalists will have the Honor of sailing with the Indian Navy's Lehron Ke Sartaj on an international tour.

We said bye-bye to Singapore after 15 days of rocking trip; first thing I did after reaching Bangalore is checking what is this 'mission navy' is all about.

All participants will undergo an interview round, followed by rigorous training to test their physical and mental attributes. The reality format will focus on the culture, working style and other facets of the Indian Navy.

The docu-reality show went on air in January 2009. On the first episode, they showed -all aspirants running 5 kilometers non-stop. One macho gym addict guy was yelling on the camera: " hello ! that's it, these are time passers doing beeline, look at my biceps who can compete with me ?" once the run is over, he was begging for the water in mid way :) !

Event was a real herculean task oriented. More tougher than expected. Very endurance demanding. Chethu climbed one by one step to get to top slot.

I couldn't just stop admiring when she jumped out of roaring helicopter and zoomed into dark ocean and swam to far off boat. I was observing her body language. She looked so composed & elegant when she was about to jump into waters. Imagine the monster waves evoked by helicopter on top of her head and the kind of breathing power one need while zipping fast into dark ocean waters ?! Then I thought, 'yes Chaitanya has it. She is the one & she is not just another lean girl, but she is the real macho. May be even macho's couldn't have done it !'

Finally, can you believe a Bangalore girl made it to national level show who is also our friend ?!

The hindu writes:
Life was very normal for her, leading a monotonous life and working as a HR executive till one day she decided to seek some adventure. And Chaitanya Datla went on to challenge her physical, mental and emotional limits to emerge the winner of the National Geographic Channel’s “Mission Navy: Lehron Ke Sartaj”.

One joke I had to share:
Other-day we friends met for the dinner at Bobby's dhaba at Ulsoor. I was kidding her, "hello my brother Chethu how are you ?". she said something, which was kinda real sarcastic comment as well "yes ! you are right I'm your brother. Because they thought, surely some boy might win at the end. so the award was named as -sartaj, which is meant for masculine :) "

But it was won by our own Chaitanya, the next door girl.

But the more cheerful news came in just today: An adventurous Chaitanya Datla won the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award' presented by President.

Link : President presents sports awards to Chaitanya Datla

Djumba the echidna

Djumba the echidna

Picture - http://tinyurl.com/Djumbaa
Djumba the echidna celebrates her first birthday at the Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria, Australia. So cute !

Ignorance would have been bliss :)

Ignorance would have been bliss :)

{Photo courtesy - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/3852507233/}
This story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Hotdogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hotdogs.

He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his sales. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more a more raw material and buns and sold more. He recruited more supporting staff to serve more customers. He started offering home deliveries. Eventually he got himself a bigger and better stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from college, joined his father.

Then something strange happened.

The son asked, "Dad, aren’t you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?" The father replied, "No, but tell me about it." The son said, "The international situation is terrible. The domestic situation is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times."

The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, listened to the radio and watched TV. He ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly. So the next day onwards, the father cut down the his raw material order and buns, took down the colorful signboard, removed all the special schemes he was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic. He reduced his staff strength by giving layoffs. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his Hotdog stand. And his sales started coming down rapidly and so did the profit. The father said to his son, "Son, you were right". "We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you warned me ahead of time."

Moral of the Story: It’s all in your MIND! And we actually FUEL this recession much more than we think.

{ Via forward mail }

Bulb eating, Cuban Tree Frog, Florida

Bulb eating, Cuban Tree Frog, Florida

This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead, having cooked himself from the inside. I'm happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don't think he was very happy when I took his light away.

photo and caption were submitted to Your Shot by James Snyder at nationalgeographic. Check more interesting photo's submitted by users. I personally liked photo of Lazy Animal– The Sloth

The Sexologist

The Sexologist

A man boards a flight from Delhi to Mumbai and takes his seat. As he settles in, he glances up and sees a gorgeous woman boarding the plane.He soon realizes she's heading straight towards his seat and eventually, lo and behold, she takes the seat right next to his.Eager to strike up a conversation, he asks "Business trip or vacation?" She turns, smiles, and says, "Business. I'm going to the annual Sexologists Convention."

He swallows hard. Here is the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen, sitting next to him, and she's a sexologist!
Struggling to contain his excitement and maintain his composure, he calmly asks, "What's your business role at this convention?"
"Lecturer," she says, "I use my experience to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality."
"Really?" he says, swallowing hard. "What m-m-m-myths are those?"
"Well," she explains, "One popular myth is that African men are the best endowed when, in fact, it's the Tamilian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that Frenchmen are the best lovers, whereas actually it is the Bengali. However, we have found that the best potential lover in all categories is the Sardar."

Suddenly, the woman becomes a little uncomfortable and blushes. "I'm sorry," she says, "I shouldn't be discussing this with you. I don't even know your name!"

"Venkatraman!" the man blurts out. "Venkatraman Mukherjee! But all my friends call me Joginder Singh!"

{An email forward}

Swine flu ( H1N1 flu )- some facts

Swine flu ( H1N1 flu )- some facts

“I agree with you that swine flu awareness is needed, but there is no need to be panicky and join the publicity propaganda carried out by media and others which acts as a vehicle to spread misconception than to spread scientific information.

These are few facts about swine flu when discussed with the leading epidemiologists.

1. Swine flu, that is H1N1 flu is not new, first detected in 1987
2. Infective stage of flue is 5 days, 1 day before and 4 days after onset of symptoms
3. The best way to prevent it spreading is asking patient having symptoms of flu like fever cough and running nose to take rest at home for 4 days so he does not transmit it
4. Masks are of limited value if any, in this disease, it can spread through droplets on your skin, through contact etc, and I have seen that the masks in Pune are worn as fashion statement, while walking on road today morning I saw people wearing masks coming out for a morning walk with their dogs!, many wearing masks around their necks, and so on, infact these masks shall act as the vehicles to carry the virus, instead, avoiding crowded places or cinema halls or malls where airconditioners are on, is advisable, because you get recirculated air, where the virus density multiplies
5. Death after H1N1 flu is not common, infact infections like measles is taking toll of thousands more every year, and we are oblivious of the facts. Swine flu is being blown out of proportion by media trying to create hysteria among lay people.
6. Fever accompanied by respiratory distress, should be immediately notified which is likely to be a complication of H1N1 flu
7. The mortality is less than .01 percent of those affected, that means may be one in 10,000 affected is likely to suffer the life loss.
8. If you remember, 2 years ago SARS was blown out of proportion, what happened? Humans develop immunity to the virus, the same is going to happen, we develop immunity in due course of time, the virus is in the air, you can not stop it, our body is already developing the immunity so nothing to panic.

We need to take care of children and elderly who have less immunity and do not let them go to crowded places that is all .

we must start this campaign of not to be afraid of this flu and let your daily work continue as normal, no masks for ordinary citizens, health care workers or specific exposed to lot of crowded environments may be benefited, not proven.

I am amazed to hear that people are selling masks of RS 20 each which are available to less than Rupee 1 in the market.See who is getting benefited ?
Please spread the scientific info, do not join the band wagon and stick to science, that should be the order of the day.” - Dr Deepak Purohit

- An email forward

Stint with Antivirus herd

Stint with Antivirus herd

Some times a forwarded file from a friend or a crack for your winmobile software. You never know, if the downloaded file is a virus or a clean software. However clean it looks, there are lot of ways computer gets infected by virus/malwares. It's always advisable not to open unknown files directly in desktop.

One safe way is to scan the file with many AntiVirus softwares, as most of the time one AntiVirus may not able to find the black spot. Also it's not advisable to install all available AntiVirus wares because they stalemate the system altogether. I found a free, safe and viable solution to scan with all available AntiVirus wares called - VirusTotal.

VirusTotal provides a fantastic online service that analyzes suspicious files and facilitates the quick detection of viruses. Here's an interesting statistics of its usage on how many files were scanned and what's the common virus/malware affected user's system.

One of the safest & novel solution to open such suspicious files in desktop environment is using sandbox-based isolation program. I rely a lot on Sandboxie.

>> Try free virustotal to be in safe side

Sky Fighters, the french hot sausage !

Sky Fighters, the french hot sausage !

{My movie of the week - Sky Fighters(2005) }
Never miss this one ! an authentic aviation aeronautics movie to make u gasp for more and more of sky bird's aerobatics. For fans of modern military aircraft, this movie is not to be missed. Some Trivia's of this movie :

1. Working in cooperation with the French Air Force, director Gérard Pirès was able to get some of France's top gun pilots to do the aeronautic dogfights that were used in the film.
   
2. Initially at the start of the shoot, the Air Force had some particular rules regarding the minimum distances the aircraft could be together or be above the ground, but by the end of principle photography, the daring pilots got permission to bend the normal safety rules, thus allowing them to do maneuvers normally never seen (or possible) outside of actual combat.
   
3. By the final days of filming, the initial minimum distance the pilots could fly above the ground (500 feet) had dropped to a tiny 10 feet, and the distance between the planes in the air (a varying range, usually of several hundred feet) had been reduced to a minuscule 3 feet, thus allowing some amazing shots that could otherwise never have been pulled off

>> More force and more throttle