Architectural Scenic Prague (Czech Republic)

Recently Czech Republic was included in the Schengen states...so I included Prague, the capital city of Czech Republic in my European Voyage for my christmas holidays with my good friend Sohel...I liked Prague for mainly two reasons....first it was totally different from Germany ;).. secondly for the architectural buildings...it was freezing with temperature hovering around -5 °c through out the trip...Prague situated on the river Vltava surrounded by small mountains has beautiful castles and bridges...the most striking feature in the city are the architectural scenic buildings....the small Eiffel tower in Prague gives the panaromic view of the city...St.Nicolas Church, Old Town Square, St. Vitus Cathedral were worth visiting...they dont use Euros and they have their own currency Czech Kroners...with lot of Exchanges situated in the whole city offering poor rates and the brokers coming in to picture offering some good rates ;)...but the expenses were similar to Germany not a big difference...On the whole an interesting trip with many funny incidents...;)

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Timeline 2007

If at all one year which I want to forget in my life, it will be none other than 2007, had disappointments and failures through out the year and the amount of happiness which I got in this year was very minimal.....Anyway it was a year which taught me many things and I hope I come out of this rough patch soon!

January: Just finished my Project work for my MS and spent most of the time for the report writing, some classes in MBA and the part time job.

February: Took part in the Case Challenge in Leipzig Graduate School of Management, it was a lovely experience to get to know the real insight of management case challenges. Went to south Germany for skiing...really tough sport for a fat guy...with some interesting stories happened during that trip...it was a lovely experience...

March: March was fully occupied with the spring school for my MBA....had interesting lectures from Profs around the world...in the topics of Product Development, Supply Chain Management etc...had a chance to go to CEBIT, Hannover...it was a huge industrial exhibition which I have ever seen...

April: Went to Stockholm, a nice European city....with the date comedy...went to catch the bus before one day....:)))).... Went to India with out informing my parents to give them a big shock....lovely moments...still resides in my eyes when I met my mom after a gap of 19 months....Chennai heat was scorching me....ate nice indian food...met all the well wishers....and increased my weight by 10 kgs ;)

May: Returned from India with lots of energy but to hear the sad news of my application not selected in the H1b lottery....it very badly hurted me.....since I was banking on that for long time... Continued with my European Voyage to Netherlands....lovely small country....visited Amsterdam...the sex capital of Europe....the country side of Netherlands were awesome...especially the tulip gardens.....

June: Was about to start my thesis in Lufthansa Systems....another sad news....my supervisor changed to another department so my thesis got cancelled in Lufthansa Systems....another disappointment adding to my H1b news.... went to Puttgarden...island in North Germany....had a wonderful time with my MBA classmates....with some interesting incidents.... ;)

July: Had a wonderful send off party in my part time programming job....felt really sad when I left the job just because that job provided me everything....great boss and colleagues to work with...interesting work....good decent salary for a part time student....Finished with my MBA exams and headed to Berlin for my Master Thesis....

Aug: Totally new life....new work...new city...new people.....I felt really lonely in Berlin after a wonderful time in Hamburg....made some nice friends afterwards....a holland girl named Coreline gave me a good company in the beginning of my stay in Berlin....she definitely helped me to forget all the stress I had in my intial part of my thesis....

Sep: Was approaching quarter century of my life.....was thinking to do something memorable....went to Switzerland to celebrate my 25th anniversary....the trip which would stay in my memory through out my life....simply no words to explain.....thanks to my MBA classmate Andreas who provided me the accomodation and motivation to visit Switzerland....

Oct: Went to Brussels, Belgium and also to the coastal side of Belgium....it was a nice trip with my senior Sanket....a happy news to cherish in october... I was ranked 3rd in my MBA and received the study award 2007...it was a award which I cherished just because the class is international.... Went to Dresden with Coreline.... a nice city to explore for one day....

Nov: One of the horrible experience with my Professor during my mid-term presentation....I will never forget this in my life....the embarassment which I got during this presentation.....nothing seems to be going well for my Thesis....with the topic...with the supervisors...with the Professors...with the simulation....just counting the days to finish it off...

Dec: With lot of rejections for my job search in Germany....attending interviews through out Germany....with horrible time with thesis and report writing....I am praying to finish this year soon!

If I look at 2007....many things happened....lots of trips....lots of fun....lots of disappointments...lots of failures....all in all a mixed experience....I hope 2008 gives me some sense of relief and peace which I am looking for....want to defend my thesis with the great Prof. Killat...want to finish off my MBA....get a job in Germany.....and more importantly....I am seriously looking to search my girl.....;)

Tschüss 2007
Sathish Kumar S

Classical Munich(München)

Recently I included Munich (München auf Deutsch) in my European voyage. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, Berlin being the first, Hamburg the second and Munich comes third. Its the captical city for the state of Bavaria. Munich has architectural buildings, amazing transportation and I could see the Bavarian culture in Munich...the moment I say Bavarian culture what comes to my mind is Wurst, Pommes, Beer, Skiing and the big stomached old people...heheheee. Marian Platz, Deutsches Museum, Nymphenburg Castle, Olympia park are some of the places worth visiting...The city has to be visited during octoberfest....unfortunately I visited in a wrong time where the weather stayed really bad....it was freezing....covered by mist and I couldnt see the streets properly...if weather stays good in any European voyage...ordinary girl will become gorgeous...if the weather is bad, even the beautiful girl will look pretty ordinary....heheheeeee. Munich definitely not comparable to Zurich! ;)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Diwali

The festival which brings smile, joy, happiness for every Indian is none other than Diwali.....the festival which can never be matched with any other Indian festivals...I still remember my childhood days when I start counting the days in my calendar before one month for the grand day...getting up early morning, taking oil bath, wearing new clothes, bursting crackers in competition with neighbours ;) grand sweets prepared by mom and not to forget the special programmes where the heroines come with traditional sarees for their interviews...(god knows where those tradition goes when they dance in romantic song with heroes...heheheeee), get together with friends, going to cinema theatres, standing in a big queue to get the ticket for the newly released Deepavali movie...Oh Boy, I miss those moments....its third successive Diwali which I am missing and makes me feel really sad...I sometimes ask myself what life I am leading here....and my heart replied, "well, thats abroad life Sathish :( "

Sathish Kumar S

Sudoku Puzzle

Whenever I travel in Metro trains, I find the Germans playing this 9*9 matrix number game. I asked them what it is they said to me its called "Sudoku". Unfortunately I didnt bother to learn or play this game. The reason why I say its unfortunate is, I was not asked in an interview to solve this puzzle but instead propose an algorithm for solving Sudoku and implement in JAVA hehehe....Boom....I was given the laptop and Eclipse IDE. It took me one hour to solve the puzzle manually since I was playing for the first time. Then I started to code and try to implement some logics but unfortunately couldnt end up implementing 100%. My dear fellow computer science engineers and programmers, give a food for your brain! One thing which I missed during coding is to remember two important concepts for implementing this, Recursion and Backtracking!


Sathish Kumar S

Philosophy....

Recently I read a beautiful philosophy from one of my friend's orkut profile...thought I can publish it here ...Here it goes....

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch; Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young

Sathish Kumar S

Abruncha

Recently I was invited by my best German friend Micheal Kitzelmann for a dinner when I went to Hamburg. Its always nice to hang around with this guy just because of the fact he is a lovely person. When we were having our dinner and drinking, other Germans asked me how do you say cheers in your language…I just thought for a moment and said…we say cheers….they replied…no that's English…and asked again whats cheers in Indian languages…then I convinced myself there exists no word equivalent to cheers…definitely drinking is considered as a taboo in Indian society and admitted to them there is no equivalent word to cheers in Indian languages. Then they decided to coin a new word equivalent to cheers in English, Prost in German. The new word is "Abruncha"…..so my dear fellow Indians, if any westerner asks you the equivalent word of cheers…please remember "Abruncha" heheheeeee J

Cheers oh no Abruncha! ;)

Sathish Kumar S

Study Award 2007

Smart Henning and Vibuthi Indian :)

In the midst of all depressions, disappointments and tough times, one happy news came for me, I was ranked 3^rd in my MBA class and I received the Top Study Award for the year 2007. It's a good feeling just because of the fact that the class is international where the students come from US, Germany, China, Russia, India and other European countries and everybody trying to prove their supremacy.. I didn't receive much success in my Master of Science as MBA but I always knew that I can do the blah blah things better than the technical things…nevertheless, my heart still stays for technical things…;) I should be honest to say that MBA exams were far below in standards than the examinations we have in India….who cares…at the end of the day a cash prize of 200 euros…you could have guessed what I am gonna do with that prize money...another city in my European Voyage….;)

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Historic Dresden

Recently I included eastern city of Germany, Dresden in my European Voyage...In my opinion, Dresden is definitely different from rest of the German cities...most of the German cities more or less looks similar....Rathaus, Bahnhof, TV tower, Tram running across the city....but Dresden was totally different from other German cities....thrashed in the second world war...Dresden was built completely new and named Neustadt....but the altstadt(old city) was simply amazing...old picturesque architectural buildings with elbe river flowing across those maginificient old buildings...Dresden, the capital of saxony...I could see east European culture in Dresden...quite different from west Germany.....the weather stayed absolutely fine....and it was sunny all along...A day to remember!

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Orkut

World is a global village....World has shrinked a lot...World has become small.... all these statements are true because of one great internet application ORKUT ;). Million dollar thanks to the Standford University Phd guy Orkut Buyukkokten from Turkey who has done a remarkable job in this century...He has united people from different corners of the world...brought people under one umbrella...I got all my school, college and corporate friends from wherever I left...Could you believe...I talked with my 10th standard crush girl yesterday;) ...its all because of this great internet application....I am so addicted to this site where I couldnt resist myself of not logging everyday...Yes ofcourse for a person living in Devil's workshop, Ghost native (Germany), Orkut is definitely the best place for keeping in touch with all the friends in different corners of the world....Hats off to great Orkut Buyukkokten!!


Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Mitfahr

Mitfahr is an excellant concept and cheapest means of transportation between the cities in Germany...The person who owns the car when he is travelling from one city to another city advertises in the website mitfahrgelegenheit.de, the other travellers who wish to travel in the same day just contacts the person who is willing to accompany and travels with him/her...Its a dual benefit concept where the owner of the car gets his share of fuel cost from other travellers and for the mitfahrers(travellers), its definitely the cheapest means of transport when compared to air, buses and trains...I loved travelling in mitfahr a number of times between Berlin and Hamburg and had a chance to meet really nice people...I am not sure whether this concept can be implemented in India...If you ask me...I wouldnt do it in India...because I am not sure whether I will safely reach the destination....;)

Sathish Kumar S

Black and White --- The effect of flash....;)

Recently a funny incident happened to me during my visa extension in Hamburg. When I was giving the passport and my passport size photographs…the visa officer was saying in German…I need a new photo and not the old photo…then I decided to take a new pic in the automat nearby. I just sat and took in the automat, unfortunately the photo came too dark…where I couldn't see myself in the picture…;) I thought machine didn't work properly then I thought…well…machine can take whatever is there…;) it cant create a new face…heheheeee

Photo without flash which visa officer rejected:

Then I gave this wonderful beautiful photo to the visa officer….after half an hour he called me and said…oh man…this photo is too dark….put some flash on your face and take another picture…heheheheee…Then I had to go to nearby photoshop, asked him to put more flash on my face and showed the previous photo and pleaded him not to repeat what the automat did….Thank god he managed to get a decent one which goes into the passport….In one way he is right…the picture has to be clear in the passport….but there is another moral to this story….can you guess what it is…never never choose bride or bridegroom by looking into the photos….simply because the bride or bridegroom can apply the strategy of applying flash on their face and make them fair…heheheeee…so always choose after meeting them…ok? ;)

Photo with flash which visa officer accepted:

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

My Dream Trip to Switzerland

Whenever I saw some big mountains, wonderful landscape in Tamil and Bollywood movies, I used to wonder whether is this place existing on earth or in some other planet…but people next to me says…oh thats Switzerland…Yes it was always my dream to explore this beautiful place on earth….then I thought before I complete 25 years on this planet, why don’t I push my self to explore this wonderful place on earth…Thanks to Andreas, the American, my MBA classmate who was doing his internship in Switzerland provided me the accommodation and motivated me to visit Switzerland. I made so many trips with my parents, with my friends, but this trip which I made alone is one of the best trips of my lifetime.

Jungfraujoch:

The top most point of Europe situated at an altitude of 13,638 feet above the sea level. To be honest, I was standstill for few minutes at this place. There are various moments in life which one cherishes and for me Jungfrauhoch was definitely one of the lovely, sweet, memorable moments I had in my life. Ofcourse, I had many disappointments, I sacrificed many things, I lost many things to reach this point but this Jungfrauhoch provided me a great healing to all those words mentioned above….ya…at the end of the day…life is a compromise….Ok..no more sentis and emotions..lets get back to Switzerland…;). The train from Interlaken to Jungfrauhoch is a masterpiece of human brain. The train passes via huge mountains, valleys and finally to the glacier. Actually the train pierces in to the mountains and reaches the top…Jungfrauhoch is bit expensive, but if one doesn’t make it to Jungfraujoch after coming to Switzerland, then they are missing something.

Movie Jungfraujoch

Gornegrat:

Of all the mountains I saw in Swiss, Gornegrat is a rocky mountain. No ice, no trees, no greenery…just rocks…rocks rocks everywhere…but Gornegrat is really a huge tall mountain…Andreas accompanied me to this mountain and he termed it as Afghanistan type of mountains…and he didn’t like that mountain somehow….oh he is an American na..thats why he didn’t like Afghanistan type of mountains…heheheeeee….We traveled in his car to reach this place…it was a nice experience of traveling in a car with scenic mountains and valleys all around and one more great experience…in order to cross a huge mountain in Goppenstein, they pierced the mountains and built a tunnel and interestingly only trains can travel inside this tunnel….so what….we had to travel by car in the train…heheheee….

yes…the car gets into the train and the train pierces in to the mountains and gets back to the road…that was a new lovely experience I had….I liked Gornegrat, this mountain gives panoramic view of the neighboring mountains like matterhorn which appeared to be funny for both of us for some reasons hehehe and it was damn quiet out there on the top….ate spaghetti on the top of mountain at an altitude of 3136m…the train ride from Zermatt to Gornegrat is also a great experience…we decided to trek between one station and ultimately ended between long stations…heheheee…that was also a nice experience of trekking and had a chance to practice American accent with Andreas…heheheeeee ;)

Movie Gornegrat

Pilatus:

Pilatus is a funny little mountain of all the mountains in swiss just 2132m above the sea level, this reminded me of our little Kodaikanal, Ooty type of mountains….the ride to Pilatus is an interesting one….a cable car runs from Luzern to Pilatus….Pilatus didn’t fascinate me much….but top view from Pilatus was good…could see the city of Luzern, the beautiful lakes…there are two ways to reach Pilatus…one way is cable car…nother one is the Train….this train reminded me of the mountain train in Palani hills in Tamil Nadu….quite similar to that….I loved traveling on that train…traveling in any mountain train is always a great experience…

Movie Pilatus

Titlis:

I would put Titlis next to Jungfraujoch…in my opinion, Jungfraujoch and Titlis are the two places which one should never miss in Switzerland. The ride to Titlis is simply amazing than Jungfraujoch…because its not reached by train…its reached by cable cars…oh god…how did they construct that…I have no clue whatsoever…I could see German mechanical Science in all of the cable cars, mountain trains etc…you know cable car was revolving while going into the top….Hats off to the German mechanical brains…its just few brains which is making millions of people happy….Thanks to Science and innovation….well research always works…. I am not for research even though I am doing my thesis in a research institute…heheheee

Movie Titlis

Interlacken:

Nature at it best….with two mountains converging and a lake across the mountain…oh god…one of the pleasant sceneries and sites I saw in my life….The ship ride from Thun to Interlacken is a must ride. Oh god, I have no words to explain. I am not exaggerating anything probably if you see the pictures then you will agree to my sentences…I even thought of writing the article about Swiss during my ship ride….but I was only halfway through….there is a express train running from Interlacken to Thun called Goldenpassline…my goodness…one of the best train journey I had in my life….its just a feast to the eyes….Nature at its best…

Movie Interlacken

Niederhorn:

Niderhorn gives the panoramic view of the Thunerlake. I don’t want to repeat by saying the cable cars, the mountain trains which takes to the top…its implicit by now….all those rides are simply incredible…I loved Niederhorn for some reasons….I prefer greenery for ice…with two mountains converging, the lake piercing the mountains….and u get to see that from the top of the mountain….I loved it…I simply loved it. Once again Nature at its best….!

Movie Niederhorn

Zurich:

After seeing big mountains, glaciers, landscapes, lakes….big cities didn’t fascinate me much…any typical swiss city has a lake surrounded by mountains….there will be boat rides across that lake…and there will be architectural buildings across that lake…hehehheeeeeee.. Zurich is really huge….the airport looked really huge and gigantic…Just sat on the tram and had a city tour….Zurich nothing much! ;)

Movie Zurich

Luzern:

Nothing much difference between Luzern and Zurich…almost the same….lake, mountains, boat rides, architectural buildings..hehehheeeeee…I just had a feeling Luzern reflects swiss culture…with the buildings being very historic and it’s the commercial capital of Switzerland…had a chance to see some watch showrooms which were breathtaking….

Movie Luzern

These are the places which I explored and to be honest I just covered 60% of Switzerland.. still places like St.Moritz, Torino and Geneva are worth visiting….but after three to four days of traveling to big mountains, glaciers, lakes…you end up saying every part of Switzerland is same…..heheheeeeeeeeee…I should mention about the Swiss transportation system…I thought German rail transportation is the best connected system but Swiss rail system definitely surpasses its neighbor. Amazing connectivity between the trains, mountain trains, ships…


In my opinion, those who spent some time in Germany, for them exploring Swiss is a cake walk….the transportation system is just the replica. I shelled out money like anything…they use Swiss franks and not Euros but they accept Euros in some places. My wallet got a lot of beating...never mind ...I didn’t even think of whats the exchange rate and what are those denominations…well…when you have something pleasant before your eyes…currency notes are just paper notes….if I don’t spend in Switzerland, I wont spend in any part of the world…well earning is all for happiness….ok no more fundas….heheheeeee…


Could you believe I took 1000 pics, I couldn’t even have a gap of 5 minutes between the shots…I was damn crazy clicking with my camera….if you are interested to see the pics…just get back to me….More importantly out of all the things….Weather stayed absolutely classic….in any European Voyage, if the weather stays good…half of the trip is successful…I heard from Switzerlanders that this week is the end of Summer and Autumn and after this is all about rain and cold….Thanks a lot to weather god infact I bribed her I guess for five days ;)


I always find Switzerland as a unique place on earth…they didn’t involve themselves in the second world war, now they are not part of the European Union, they use their own currency…and why not they have one of the best landscapes on the earth…so they have every reason to be unique….In my opinion, Switzerland is one of the richest countries I have seen….it looked so grand in all the places and more importantly its damn expensive country in the world I guess.

Switzerlanders speak dialect of German. I never thought one day I would visit Switzerland and I will communicate with Switzerlanders in their native language…its really fun talking in that dialect….it remembers me of Srilankan Tamil heheheeeeee…..language is not a big problem because all Switzerlanders speak decent English than the Germans…..heheheheee and ofcourse its an international tourist spot and they have to…


After all these great experiences, came a big shock while returning to Berlin…when I was doing my check-in, the receptionist said, your name is not in the flight…boom…my heart just stopped for a moment…the reason is simple…she typed satish instead of sathish….missing the “h”…which most people do…hmm…that was a nice experience….If you have made up to this line of my article, thanks a lot for your time…and if you want to visit Switzerland…just get back to me, I will guide you to explore Switzerland at the maximum….I really thank god who gave me this opportunity to explore some wonderful places on the planet with my hard earned money during my student’s life.

Hats off to Switzerland!
Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Bubbling Brussels......

Its been a long time since I took my back bag on my shoulders to explore some beautiful parts of Europe….All of a sudden, Belgium came in to picture. Belgium is a small bubbling country of Europe with interesting facts with population of just 6 million, with three different languages….northern part of the people speaking Flemish which is similar to Dutch, southern part speaking French and eastern part speaking little bit of German…

First we went to a city called Liege from Aachen, Germany….small city nothing really interesting in this city except for some few French chicks..;)….then we went to Ostende, the coastal line of Belgium…nice beach stretch….drenched ourselves in the freezing waters…more importantly had a chance to see the sunset on the coastal line…..it was simply amazing….the last time I saw the sunset was in Kanyakumari before 10 years….then came the important problem of accommodation….we haven’t booked the room…it was totally a last minute plan….googled around in the eleventh hour ;) and found a youth hostel in Brussels which was pretty good


Brussels, capital city of Belgium….in my opinion, the city looked quite rich…with some sky scrappers….old picturesque artistic buildings…I use this three words for every city in Europe ;)…well….Europe has a culture na….hope the people living in America agree to this…;) hehehe…Royal palace, EuropaWorld are some of the important spots…and the city looked amazing in the night…Then we went to a great historic place, Battle of Waterloo…this place is definitely worth visiting…they created a huge conical artificial mountain with Lion on the top….and the Battle field is now a paddy field…heheheeeeee

This place was in outskirts…and there was no proper transportation to reach this place…we tried for some lifts….with the cars coming on the highways….where the people ended up looking at us as if we were from another planet…heheheeee…ultimately we ended up in a taxi….heheheeee..while returning back I had to take nachtzug(night train)…this was the first time I traveled in night train in Europe with sleepers …is Europe so big to be traveled in a night train…hehehee ;) All in all, a very nice trip and Belgium will reside in my memory in the years to come…

Sathish Kumar S

Film shooting in my room

One fine morning on saturday, a man with two kids knocked my door....and asked me......excuse me sir...will you be in a position to rent ur room for our film shooting?.....oops....I was standstill for a moment.....I am totally new to this place.....I hardly know anybody.....I just said to him give me one day to decide.....he was so pleasing which made me to think twice.....after discussing with couple of friends here....then I thought whats wrong in giving the room....I vacated the room and kept my articles in my friend's room.....at the end...more importantly I received 200 Euros for it which is my monthly rent....:)

Sathish Kumar S

Atlast a Test victory abroad !!!

Atlast a test victory abroad.....oh no....series victory.....that too in England....definitely one of the most cherishing moments for Indian cricket after their worldcup debacle in Carribean. Weather god released them from the jail in Lords but clearly outplayed the English team in all departments. There were many speculations about Dravid's decision of not enforcing the follow-on....but at the end of the day what it mattered is a series victory....The quote from Cricinfo was absolutely right..."After some years Dravid will not be remembered for his decision of not enforcing the follow-on but remembered with the likes of Ajith Wadekar and Kapil Dev who have snatched victories in English soil....2-0 or 1-0 series victory is purely academic". Kudos team India! Definitely moments to cherish on the eve of India's 60th year of Independence!

Sathish Kumar S

Sreeshanth....You are the man!!

Many Criketing pundits have been criticizing about the behaviour of Sreeshanth......Oh he shouldn't have done this....that....But in my opinion....I was very happy that he has world of guts to do that....Hats off to you Sreeshanth.....Nobody comments or talks when f**king aussies(Warne or McGrath) or Mr. Great Pietersen does some sledgging.....but poor Sreeshanth gets most of the blame when he shoulder barged with Vaughan and when he danced against Mr.Nel ....I am sure those comments are nt going to stop Sreeshanth....and why should he stop....I thoroughly enjoy Sree's retaliation to the Whites....Whether you take wickets or not, but always entertain us with your retaliation...Keep going Sree.....!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

India's 60 th year of Independence

When I look at the calendar, it says 15^th August 2007, oh 60 years of Independence….where are we standing in the global world….definitely far ahead where one could have imagined before twenty years….Thanks to IT revolution and globalization….Kudos to the space programme….Hats off to leaders like Kalam who instigated some fire in the bloods of youth…Well Well...India moving...marching foward ...Great...Amazing...Wonderful....Excellant!

Just one side of the coin…..on the other side….there are many things which I think have to be addressed…

1. When are the caste system going to be abolished…..When will a situation arise when there is no column for caste when one fills form for Engineering Applications….When are the reservations going to end….?

2. When country will be ruled by scholars, intellectuals, brainy guys…..cant we not survive with out the presence of karus, jayas, laloos and sonias…. When the shitty politics will change to ganges….?

3. When are we going to stop fighting with our neighbour …stop spending huge Vitamin M for weapons and siachen glaciers…(Money spent for Siachen glacier in hour = Giving monthly salaries for 1000 teachers)

4. When can one get a situation where he/she doesn’t have to pay extra Vitamin M for getting their driving license ;)

5. When are the traditional horrible superstitious myths (dowry) going to stop ?

6. When are the people going to stop dying because of hunger and starvation ?

7. Last but not the least, When are we going to get a situation where one can choose his own girl to marry…heheheeeeeee ;)

In my opinion, long way to go…..I want to be realistic…..Unless the present social, societal and political system changes, one can not expect anything miracle. I experienced the pain of leaving the homesoil for the purpose of education, money and career, I hope my grand children will not face the same situation and they should be here just for vacation! Will it happen ? It all lies not in the hands of politicians but with one billion people!

Happy Independence Day!
Sathish Kumar S

Stronger Rupee = Stronger India

Recently I read an article about Indian Rupee getting stronger against US Dollar and how is it beneficial for us.....Amazing article.....thought of publishing it here.....Hats off to the author!! Here it goes.....

Let us answer this question first.

What type of economic strength is preferable to India?

A) A strong Indian economy, fueled by its cheap labor due to a weaker rupee against dollar, where the Indians end up working in shifts, late nights, whole nights and what not… Only doing low profile jobs which foreign companies want to offload to India, so that they can concentrate on high end works and become even better. For instance in the IT field -providing BPO services, support and maintenance work for products…

OR

B) A strong Indian economy, fueled by its strong innovations and products, no matter whether the rupee is strong or weak against the dollar… Where Indians work only in regular office hours of 9 to 6, developing cutting edge technologies and solutions, selling our world class products both inside and outside India. For instance in the IT field - developing operating systems, compilers, databases, etc. all coming out of India…

I do not deny the fact that the IT boom in India came to a large extent because of (A). Well and good, we have had the benefits of our cost being cheap in western markets due to a weak rupee against dollar… We have had our share because of this advantage in the past two decades…But at the same time, doesn't it make sense to move towards (B), instead of crying foul against rupee becoming stronger against dollar…?

What a pity…!

Indian IT companies are feeling bad because rupee is becoming stronger against dollar…! Reason, their profits will go down when the value of rupee is stronger, as every single dollar that comes into their account now means lesser rupee than earlier… ( If for instance, earlier they used to get 47 rupees for every dollar that comes in, but today its about 40…! )

But isn't this a matter of celebration…?

Our rupee is gaining importance internationally and is becoming stronger again… How many of us know that in 1947 when India got independence, 1 Rupee was 1.2 U S dollars…? These Indian IT companies instead of relying on a weaker rupee for their profit should now look at coming out with innovative products and technical solutions.What have these companies done in the arena of core system products…? Why don't we have any operating systems, compilers, database systems, development platforms etc coming out of India…? Why don't we develop tools like Photoshop or Flash? We have talent, but they all are working in American companies on these products…

Can not our Indian IT companies setup at least small teams to develop such products…?

Instead they are planning to make their employees work on saturdays too…! So that their profits can increase due to extra hours the employees put in… As if India doesn’t have any other option other than cheap labour, workaholic labor…!!! Are there no brains in India who can setup companies developing products and make money just by printing out more serial numbers and burning their product DVDs? If Indian companies continue to depend on its weak currency, then how would Indian economy survive in a world where allcurrencies have equal value?

Survival of the fittest… Only greater innovation can help us in that case…

We need to have knowledge and technological advantage if India wants to become a superpower, not low cost based cheap labor advantage…! Let the Chinese do it… I hope that rupee becomes more and more stronger so that Indians are forced to use their brains and come up w ith innovative products and next-generation technologies, than to provide low end services… We need to create a situation where other countries line up to buy our F-16s, to buy our operating systems, to buy our mobile phones and I-pods, to buy our Boeing, to buy our own Mercedes…! And a stronger rupee means we can easily afford foreign trips…! A stronger rupee means Indians can buy things anywhere in the world on par with developed economies…!

We don’t have to spend crores of rupees then to buy a Boeing. W e don't have to pay tens of thousands of rupees for international air travels. A stronger rupee means greater international exposure…There won’t be a difference between buying a Maruti and buying a Mercedes…! One can go on a trip to the Grand Canyon just like the way one goes to Ladakh or Nepal…! How do you think American citizens are able to tour all over the world…? Because, they earn more…? N O. But because, their currency is stronger…

And this is where a strong rupee will lead us to…!

Providing low end services is definitely not wrong… It gave us a very good start in the 90s…But that should definitely not be the bread and butter fueling our economic boom indefinitely in the future… For the simple reason that it can't continue to do so any longer… Other low cost destinations, cheaper than India are already coming up in the world…

Let us move ahead… Become more innovative…

The journey has just started…

This is just the beginning of all the beginnings…

Sathish Kumar S

Frustration at its core.....

Past three months has been really tough for me to handle some disappointments....as a result frustration at its core...as the saying of Murphy's law goes...."Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time," or, "Anything that can go wrong, will," or even, "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment").....this is very true...

1. I didnt get selected in the lottery for H1b US visa...damn...there wasnt any lottery in the previous years...just from this year the number of applications grew....

2. My thesis at Lufthansa Systems got cancelled because the supervisor changed to other department.....

3. The scholarship grant for my final year thesis got rejected...I was damn sure I will get it....well Murphy thought it other way...heheeeee

4. Now the present thesis at Fraunhofer Institute, Berlin....too early to say about it....but hoping it doesnt get included by Mr. Murphy....;)

5. A million dollar question of job search in Germany....:((

I am just fighting hard to pass this horrible time....I dont want anything.....just results for my simulations for my thesis and defending the thesis well......I hope and pray Mr. Murphy doesnt sit in front of the chair during my thesis defending....;)

Oh god please take me out of this horrible time!
Sathish Kumar S

Tschuess Hamburg

A day has come to move out of my lovely city Hamburg...for my Master Thesis in Fraunhofer Research Institute, Berlin in the field of Hybrid Networks. I am going to definitely miss Hamburg for six months....a lovely city with amazing transportation....scenic elbe river...picturesque artistic buildings and not to forget Reaperbahn.....;) Berlin, the capital city....new life...new people...new work....bit excited....but bit concerned about the new challenges...lets see how it goes....when I write an article after six months my experiences in Berlin....I want to make it memorable....:)

Life for me is nomadic
But that has made my time fantastic!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Abschieds Party (Farewell)

Atlast the last day has come for me in my student job CIS-Solartechnik.....the job which gave me a great satisfaction, a great intelligent boss to work with.....lovely caring colleagues and not to forget the penny it gives for my bread and European Voyage....it was really emotional on the last day....when my boss Juan gave me a gift and congratulated me.....I certainly couldnt control my tears...one of the best satisfying thing happened for me in Germany is this job...Certainly a day to remember.....!

Sathish Kumar S

Summerfest 07

Every year in the month of July, our university celebrates Sommerfest ......it can be called as rainfest since it heavily rains all the time during this day....but other than that its a nice setup of food stalls from different countries....cultural programmes from different sections of people....my friend gokul sang a song from Bollywood....it was well received by the audience..the food and the mango lassi was awesome...typical south indian food....all in all a day to remember.....!

Sathish Kumar S

Barmberg

Recently we had a chance to go to South Germany, city named Barmberg to visit one of the sponsors of our MBA studies, Brose Automotive....It was a nice drive in the autobahn(German National Highways) from Hamburg to Barmberg.....with scenic landscape, picturesque valleys and mountains....stayed in a good hotel and ofcourse had a great dinner(free...hehehe)....Definitely South Germany, Bayern is god's own land......a trip to remember!

Sathish Kumar S

Schwerin

Recently we had a chance to go to a castle in the North Eastern part of Germany, Schwerin......a beautiful castle located in a small island.....the members for this trip were really awesome.....with Phd guys, their parents from India....their wives......kids.....more or less a family trip.....there were some situations where the son has to open and drink the beer bottle in front of the father.....:D with some matured Phd guys preparing some lemon rice...heheheee finished all in one stroke......all in all a very funny and interesting short trip.....

Sathish Kumar S

Shivaji

The much awaited Shivaji movie by superstar Rajinikanth was released atlast. We had a great opportunity to see the movie in Hamburg on the first day....thanks to Ayngaran distributors...honestly in my opinion, the movie didnt meet the expectations....there was a great hype given to this movie....may be for Rajini fans this movie would have been so great.....nothing special about the movie except for Shreya's beauty and Rajini's style......Out of all the Shanker's movie I would give Shivaji the last rank....heheeeee....Shivaji....NO LOGIC ONLY RAJINI MAGIC....

Sathish Kumar S

Puttgarden, North Germany

Recently I had a chance to go a beach in North East of Germany named Puttgarden with my MBA classmates....In my opinion not certainly the best of beaches in Germany....but decent enough to hang around when the sun shines....many funny incidents happened in this trip...one of my friend got drunk to the core and we have to take him in the cart....barbie queue was good....the youth hostel provided a decent place to spend some time....and more importantly the weather stayed amazing most of the time...

Sathish Kumar S

Date Comedy

I totally forgot to narrate a funny incident which happened to me in recent times. We were scheduled to go to Stockholm on 05.04.2007.....we were busily preparing for the trip...with everybody in excited enthusiastic mood....we were searching for our bus to Stockholm....unfortunately we couldnt find our bus to stockholm.....we thought oh god we missed the bus....and we asked the concerned officials....the guy asked us the ticket and saw and said....guys you came so early.....I asked immediately...how many hours before.....he said 24 hours.....I couldnt control myself laughing on that moment....we returned back home with full of comedy by eating all the stuffs which we packed for the trip....An incident to remember!

Sathish Kumar S

My Dad

I have been writing about my experiences and about my good friends, how could I forget to write an article about my father, symbol of grit and aggression....to be honest I am no way related with my father....i am poles apart from him...heheeeee....he is hardworking to the core whereas I am lazy to the core....he has never tasted alocohol in his life but I never missed the chance whenever there is a free alcohol...hehehee...he is exactly just half my height...never gets excited or emotional for anything in life whereas little happiness will make me to fly....heheee....only resemblance between us is...we are both dark and we get angry very easily....heheeeeee....

What amazes about my father is calm and composed nature in all the situations of life...I have never seen him emotional or sentimental or excited...to give couple of facts....I didnt see him cry or weeping when my grandma died...may be since he lost his father in younger age when he was in 9th standard and had to work(weeving) while studying perhaps would have made him really grit and strong.....even when I reached Chennai from Germany after a gap of 19 months without informing them...he was the one who opened the door...to be honest...he didnt say a single word....he just gave a smile.....just a smile and no reactions or emotions.....I was standstill for a moment....:) well thats my father.....

Other thing which I loved from my father is, he never crossed my privacy or questioned my decisions...he has never interferred in any matters...he gave me absolute amount of independence where a son could imagine from his father....to be honest, this independence made me to do the things what I love to do....he never expects anything from me...I am sure he will never expect anything from me even in the future...since he happened to be a railway employee, we could travel in AC free of cost....;) I travelled to all parts of India with him from north to south and east to west...infact this motivation which I obtained from him made me now to explore different parts of Europe....:) he never motivates or discourages me in any part of time in my career.....when I got school 2nd in 10th standard and informed him.....he didnt say anything....when I got medicine seat in 12th standard...he didnt say anything....when I got a job in HCL through campus interview......he didnt say anything.....when I came here for my Masters in Germany...he didnt say anything.....well he wont say anything if I marry a blond european girl and stand in front of him...heheeeeeeeee

What I admire about my father is the peace which he is having...I can bet one of the happiest and peaceful guys I have ever met...has his own way of life....with engaging most of the time with gardending, household activities and reading books in the night before he goes to sleep.....I sometimes think why I cant be like him....as I mentioned before, I am no way related with my father......:)

I still remember this question during my campus interview for HCL in college....the HR guy asked me who is your role model....I answered without any hesitation, my father is my role model...why not he is definitely my role model....I wanted to be like him with utmost peace and satisfaction with whatever god has given....but what to do...human mind is sometimes so demanding......:( I still remember the way he used to iron my school clothes, I still remember the way he used to sharpen the pencil and keep it ready before the exams....I still remember when he took me to hospital in TVS 50 vehicle when I was suffering in typhoid fever during final year of my engineering, I still remember when he bought a separate TV for me to watch the cricket match and not to fight with my mother during the serials....I still remember the way he packed my clothes and luggage before leaving to Germany, I know my father gets angry very easily but I know behind that anger is a great amount of love and affection....

I love you appa!
Sathish Kumar S

Crazy Amsterdam

Recently I included Amsterdam in my European Voyage...a crazy, bubbling, enthusiastic city of Europe....with amazing long streets, huge architectural buildings, picturesque river flowing across the city and not to forget the crazy night life existing in Amsterdam....;)...its a city full of museums but I am not a guy who cares about art...so went to wax museum, sex museum and torture museum...;)......it has some amazing parks with lush green fields and city's tranportation is fully occupied by trams and bicycles...I guess they use more bicycles than in Indian villages...;) and fortunately weather turned out to be awesome with sunshine most of the time....Not to forget about the Dutchmen, they speak awesome English and I find the Dutch to be more open than the Germans during my short stay....

I had a chance to explore the country side of Netherlands, Vollendamn and Marken, simply amazing green fields and typical countryside houses....with small boats and yatches strolling in the riverside....Had some heineken beer in the sunshine and chilled ourselves in the hot sunny weather of Holland...took tonnes of nice pictures but ofcourse wasting most of the time for that...;)


Keukenhof, the place where the tulips are grown, the most important thing to be seen in Netherlands, one should have definitely seen this place in tamil or telugu cinemas..(anniyan...oh kumari)...but unfortunate thing which happened in this trip is...the tulips have gone...the tulips grows only in the month of march, april and mid may....unfortunately this year, it disappeared before two weeks...but the garden at Keukenhof has a very good garden with many varieties of flowers grown there...On the whole the trip to Netherlands was a memorable one and will reside in my memory for the years to come....:)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S