Fireworks at the Beach

I finally got myself a tripod. Manfrotto no less. The hunt for this stand has been long. I finally purchased at bangalore. I did receive assistance on choosing a good tripod from a fellow photographer - Dr.Deepak V Rao of Bangalore. Thanks Deepak. This was a fireworks show at Besant Nagar Beach. Some shots here.

I was trying to take photos and at the same time was managing the camcorder. There was a huge light pole which I tried to avoid on the beach. But unfortunately most of the shots were bursting near that location and I had to shift the focus there. No, I could not change the angle since I was on a terrace of a house.

Ganges at Haridware - Blog Title Picture

The Blog title picture was taken by me at Haridware (One of the holiest places in India) at night. I was across the river Ganges and the line of lighted shops caught my eye. Took a lot more snaps. A couple of them here. I still have not purchased a tripod!!!
Thank God! I had a steady hand.

Car Accident - India - What to do?

It seems to be a period of unwanted tension & loss.

I had a recent car accident with an ambassador - tourist. At the Nungambakkam signal @ abt 10 kms per hr during rush hour traffic. The tourist car was at fault and his minor scratch on his car due to his rash driving translated in heavily scratched & dented left panel and mud guard for me. The reckless driver's sudden lane change without signalling and aggressive driving tactics left me very little choice to escape.

I went to the Police station and everything / reports were given in my favor. But I did not take a written statement from the driver stating his fault. That turned out to be my mistake.

I was unable to collect on 3rd party insurance due to this small fact. (In US, it is treated differently where the police statement is the final word.)

Car Accident - Not my fault!

Lessons Learnt:
1. Call the cops for report
2. Inform sequence which led to the crash.
3. Show proof.
4. Take photos with you mobile camera of angle of crash, your car and his car
5. At police station, you provide your
(i) Driving license
(ii) Insurance
(iii) Registration
6. Signed statement from police of what happened. / FIR ( If you opt for FIR, the police will detain your car at the police station quoting that it has to compulsorily go for a brake test. Unless your car is damaged beyond use, do not go for this option. It is a test of endurance and you will end up going back and forth between police station. RTO Office and other places as instructed. This could be a point of collection also. You may end up losing more.)
7. Take an original copy of the report from the police.
8. Get a signed letter from the defaulted party that it is his fault and that his insurance company is responsible (I did not do this step alone)
9. Get a copy of his DL, Insurance certificate & Registration.
10. Call his insurance company and submit the data collected. (Take a personal copy first)
11. His insurance company will pay after verification.
12. You can give your car to the service center for evaluvation of damage.
13. Work to an amicable figure which is accepted by the insurance personnel and also the repair person.
14. Your No claim Bonus is intact!!!

In US, if you make a 3rd party claim through your insurance, they in turn will collect moneys from the offending party's insurance and your insurance stays intact. This facility is not available in India!!

My insurance company in India also quoted something like knock for knock policy. In a group of insurance companies, this translates to each insurance company paying for their insured car.
But in the consumer angle, you can still collect from the offending party insurance. (Though in the payment process, external to you, will be made by your company only)

Without a driver attestation owing responsibility for the car accident, you will be left in a lurch and you will have to file a legal case with a lawyer/attorney. That will translate to 5-10 years for settlement. That also translates you to many trips to the court and loss of work time.

Why should "we" the non defaulting party bear the loss?

When are the Indian Insurance companies going to adapt some of the right ethics from their counter parts in US?

Magic Lamps

I was walking to my car the other day and was thinking, it has been a long time since anything mystical has happened around me. What if this street lamp, turns off by itself the moment I stepped under it? I mentioned it to my wife too. And the lamp...

It did! Just that one turned off. (I heard a click)

My wife was surprised too.

About 2 days back, we were walking to the beach and this lamp was not burning, and a wishful thought what if it turned on the moment I stepped under it.

(Click!) It did again! It turned on!

My wife was again surprised.

No wonder, she calls me her Harry Potter!

I am waiting for the last potter series, the Deathly Hallow. And hope that the main characters do not die... We, who take after the characters in our portrait, will like to win over evil always.

Nightouts - Good or Bad ?

Useful Night-outs occur in one of these scenarios:
1. Project Delivery Phase.
2. When the person would like to work "extra" to complete a calculated portion of the work.
3. When the person is unable to complete a standard work within the allotted time of 9 hours.
4. Debugging / Error correction.
5. Correction of a Dangerous Error on a live server.
6. Negotiation Discussions with other geographies on their time.
And maybe just a couple more. I have not mentioned concall here since you are free to leave after the call 95% of the time, except when it leads to a situation of one of the above. And it is always kept in a comfort zone for India and US.

More than a night-out, it must be thought in respect of commitment to the cause, and any reason above will not hurt you or the company, since it occurs on very few occasions and many last a few days and it is never permanent. Being committed means delivery on the promised schedules. This creates a sense of achievement and satisfaction to all stakeholders namely,
1. You
2. Your colleagues on the project / team
3. Project Manager
4. Delivery Head
5. Relationship Manager
6. Practice Head
7. CEO
8. Customer / Client
9. Potential Clients.

Any company to progress must achieve and deliver against forecast results. In order for all of us to grow and excel, we sometimes do night-outs too.

You must also take into account those days where you are not pressed or pressurized for work completion during other phases of the SDLC. And after delivery and signoff, there is always a period from 1 week to 15 days where there is very less or no work at all until you get allotted to a different project.

But most other cases where night outs are made but not necessary:
1. You sit since everybody sits.
2. You are not able to complete the work allotted to you within time allotted to you since you while away your office hours in a irresponsible manner.
3. Come late and go late.
4. Overload - You accept too many responsibilities.
5. Overshoot - You miscalculate the time required to complete the job.
6. Just browsing to spend time.
Here, you not only hurt yourselves but also the company and both stand to lose on health, time and money. Night-outs should not be made a practice since in the long term; it will hurt all the stakeholders.

Tips:
1. Work Smart!
2. If you have over estimated, admit it and try to correct ASAP.
3. Do not postpone you work. Even if you correct in time, test it and correct all errors.
4. Though an UAT will be made from customer side, try to do one from our side. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Quick Office Tips

Excel
1. Wrap text within the cell --> Press Alt+ Enter
2. Move to the next sheet in the workbook --> CTRL+PAGE DOWN
3. Move to the previous sheet in the workbook --> CTRL+PAGE UP
4. Shortcut, make charts --> F11
5. To select the entire column --> CTRL+SPACEBAR
6. To select the entire row --> SHIFT+SPACEBAR
Word / PowerPoint
Align – Justify --> Ctrl + J