Life's Little Instruction Book

• Have a firm handshake.
• Look people in the eye.
• Sing in the shower.
• Own a great stereo system.
• If in a fight, hit first and hit hard.
• Keep secrets.
• Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.
• Always accept an outstretched hand.
• Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
• Whistle.
• Avoid sarcastic remarks.
• Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 per cent of all your happiness or misery.
• Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
• Lend only those books you never care to see again.
• Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.
• When playing games with! Children, let them win.
• Give people a second chance, but not a third.
• Be romantic.
• Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
• Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.
• Don’t allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It's there for your convenience, not the caller's.
• Be a good loser.
• Be a good winner.
• Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
• When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
• Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
• Keep it simple.
• Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
• Don’t burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
• Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets
• Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you'll regret the things you didn’t do more than the one's you did.
• Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
• Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
• Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
• Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
• Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
• Once in a while, take the scenic route.
• Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, 'Someone who thinks you’re terrific.'
• Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
• Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.
• Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
• Make someone’s day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
• Become someone’s hero.
• Marry only for love.
• Count your blessings.
• Compliment the meal when you're a guest in someone's home.
• Wave at the children on a school bus.
• Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.

IISc in News......

Just have a look at this article that appeared on the front page in a recent edition of TOI....

After IIT of excellence, IISc Age to descend on US

In geek circles in India and the west, it's the lesser known, or neglected, elder brother -- a hoary institution that appears to have been on ice for a century while its flashier half-century old sibling scaled dizzying heights of enterprise and fame.

But watch out, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is stirring and flexing its muscle -- and history. This weekend, the Bangalore-based institution founded by Jamshedji Tata in 1908 will celebrate its first global conference in the heart of Silicon Valley, stomping ground for sibling IITians for more than a decade.


Unlike the Pan-IIT meet, which will have Hillary Clinton as a keynote speaker for its July bash, the IISc global convention will not have marquee political names or heavyweight CEOs.

But it will be high-brow alright, with outgoing President Abdul Kalam inaugurating it via video feed on June 22 in what will likely be his last major address to the community to which he once belonged and to which he will return to shortly. The President, incidentally, never visited the US during his term.

Also among the speakers at the three-day meet is James Morgan, chairman of the board of directors of Applied Materials, Robert Birgeneau, Chancellor of UC Berkeley, and R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor.

IISc alumni in the US are only about 4000, unlike IITians, who numbers in the tens of thousands. But then, IISc is also more rarefied - producing only 33,000 graduates in a century and earning a ranking as the top school in South Asia in a recent ''Academic ranking of world universities'' study conducted by the SJTU, China. It also boasts of something IIT has yet to achieve - India's first Nobel laureate in science, Sir C.V.Raman, who was also its first Indian Director.

Just how old is the IISc saga? The story goes that Tata was inspired to start IISc after a chance meeting with Swami Vivekananda aboard a ship taking them from Japan to the U.S in 1893. The IISc proposal was first examined by Lord Curzon in 1898 and it was approved by Lord Minto in 1909.

Although JN Tata did not visit California (he was scouting steel mills in Ohio and Pennsylvania), the heirs of his vision in Bangalore have now decided that they need to be heard in fecund Bay Area, where the buzz is all about IIT.

"IISc has not been known for its branding," says Vas Srinivasan, vice-president for marketing at Sonasoft and IISc alumnus tasked with building the institute's brand. ''When people here think of Indian engineering and scientific talent, they think of IIT not IISc.''

Srinivasan says IISc's pedigree is not in doubt. The institute boasts of some of the top scientific minds in India, and cutting edge research and collaborations with some 150 multinationals, including Boeing, IBM and other US giants. More recently, Indian firms such as Infosys and Airtel also tying into IISc.

Life moves on

One thing I'll have to admit is that blogging is not my cup of tea. But still, this is a sincere attempt to keep this blog alive. I'd like to blog regularly in future. Well, i hope this doesn't turn out to b a "political" promise. I'll try my best to keep it. Coming to the point, almost 3 months of time has gone past since my last post on this blog. So, I'd try to briefly sum up the things that happened in my life in this period of time.

The year 2006 came to an end with a nice gift of 1st sem final exams for me. Frankly speaking, i had to work very hard to keep pace with my classmates. It's all relative grading system in IISc. So, even if a single guy studies, the others have no other option left. I don't know why the other people study so much & so make a poor guy like me also study at par. (Khud bhi aaram se jiyo aur doosron ko bhi jeene do :)) Anyways, that's my point of view. So, somehow managed to get past the exams. For the first time in life, wrote two papers(each one of 3hrs) on the same day, 9-12am & 2-5pm. Need i tell anymore? Was an amazing experience. On 14th of Jan, got the divine freedom(obviously temporary) from IISc. I finished up a few formalities & boarded the train to Nagpur on 15th. This was the longest(continuous) period for which i was away from home(4 1/2 months to be specific). Had a wonderful vacation of 15 days in the hometown. But like all other good things, it also came to an end. Wasn't feeling like coming back here. N while i was packing my luggage, struck a terrible news.....Reults of 1st sem were out. Well, this was the last thing i was expecting to happen in this wonderful sojourn. But the news wasn't that bad as much i expected it to b. Managed to get a decent 6.4/8.0 GPA(Grade point Avg). Anything above 6 was going to b a God-gift for me. Hard Work really pays off, to say the least.

With the beginning of new year, came a fresh 2nd sem. N till now, it's been a far better sem than its previous counterpart. Or rather i should say, experience, which is said to b the best teacher, has taught me how to survive here. Till now, it's only been Movies, food n a number of rounds to MG road this sem. But now the bloody assignments have started pouring in. N i can sniff even bloodier mid term tests coming by. So, this was all about the happenings in my life so far...

On the leaving note, i wud like to share my views on a very different topic. The very much awaited Cauvery river dispute(mainly between Karnataka n Tamilnadu) verdict was declared a few days ago, followed by some violence in Karnataka, coz the verdict was not in Karnataka's favor somewhat. The only reason that i mentioned this thing here is because somebody had said " The next World War will b over water". How true !!!!!