New task or old task

Some people like to do only what they already do well. Other people prefer to try new things and take risks.

Of the two options - doing things again which I have already done well and trying new things, I will like to choose to try new things and take risk. There are several reasons behind my choice which are explained below.

First of all, doing some old thing which I have already done in a remarkable way is surely a boring task to do. To do that task in a superior way, I must have done that several number of times. Without performing that task more than once, I would not have got mastery in that task. Therefore, if somebody tells me to do that task as I can do that well, I will simply refuse to do so. Because I will not get any new experience by doing that same task. I cannot taste something new by again executing same problem. Instead, if I do something new challenging work, I would rather gain a new experience. For an example, in my office, I have already mastered one algorithm. I have solved many problems by dint of that algorithm. So my boss tends to give me only those tasks which can be solved with that algorithm. Here, I am not able to experience or learn some other method of solving problems. Therefore, I wish to take another problem which can be solved with some other method.

Secondly, by doing some new things and take risks, I can gather much knowledge. If I continue to do some old thing, my knowledge gathering will be stalled. To me, if someone does not increase his/her knowledge, then he/she is stagnant. That kind of people will be of little use to the society. By involving with something new, by taking risk, we can acquire precious knowledge. This knowledge will help us to lead a better life. We can also pass that knowledge to our posterity. For an example, while driving I try to explore some new route. Most of the days I end up circling around same point. But, sometimes I found one quick route to go to some place. If I would have taken same route every day, I could not have known that such route exists. So, my knowledge about the routes increased by taking a simple risk. Like this we should take risk and try new things in other fields of our daily life too.

Finally, to perform any task, some amount of skill is required. That skill will be developed, when we do that task again and again. At some point the skill will be at apex. Then, there will be nothing to develop to perform that task. So, to develop another skill, we have to try new thing. In today's society, to survive smoothly, multiple skills are needed. Because, may be, some day or other the only skill someone developed will be obsolete. That day, the person will have nothing to do to earn his/her livelihood. If he would have tried new things beforehand, he would have grown some other skills which might be useful in stressful days. For an example, in the time of recession, all bankers and software engineer lost their job in USA. But, people who had mechanical engineering or construction engineering knowledge, continued to survive. So, if a software guy would have learnt little mechanical or civil knowledge then he would have little sorrow on those days.

Therefore, to make a gist, it is advisable to try new things and take risks because by doing so, we can make ourselves and our society better in many ways.

Large or small company

Some people prefer to work for a large company. Others prefer for a small company. Which you would prefer?

If I would have been given a choice between working in a large company and a small company, I will definitely choose to work in the small company. There are various reasons behind my choice. Those are summarized below.

Firstly, in a small company there are less number of people. If there are less number of people around, there will surely be less number of opinion over a matter. Therefore, it will be easier to come to a consensus in a small company. On the other hand, in large companies, there are more people who will throw their own opinion and it will be tougher to decide one policy or something like that. Moreover, in small farms, as there are less people, it is possible to pay attention to everyone's opinion. Nobody will feel left out there. But, in large industries, it is almost impossible to do so which I personally don't like. In fact, who does not want to share his/her opinion? So, in small companies, scope of contribution in terms of decision making, is much better.

Secondly, every well-established company should have a well-structured team, be the company small or large. Now, in large companies, generally in lower level, people are asked to do some regular work like filling XL sheets properly, maintaining data etc. These works just take time. These require minimal special knowledge or brainstorming. On the other side, as there are less number of people in small companies, everyone has more responsibility. Everyone has to be focused on building team. Somebody has to do some low profile jobs, but he/she too has to take some responsibilities towards building team or towards betterment of the company. This task of taking responsibility will eventually teach many traits to the people. People will get experience more form this. That will help them in real life also.

Finally, as small company does not spread in the market more, they have less dependency on current situation. But, the large companies have such dependencies. If situation goes wrong, then large companies will collapse all of a sudden. Employees in large companies will lose jobs. But, small companies may not suffer much in some adverse situation as they had little correlation with current market and hence they have learnt to stand on their own foot. For an example in the time recession many large US companies like Goldman Sachs, Deustche Bank, underwent bankruptcy. But, then also small companies were alive.

So, to summarize, for having a better place to contribute, a better working environment, a less dependent job I will prefer to join small company. 

Learning facts vs learning ideas

It is more important for students to understand ideas and concepts than it is for them to learn facts.

I totally agree with the statement that it is more important for students to understand ideas and concepts than it is for them to learn facts. I will explore various reasons behind my agreement.

First of all, students are very quick to grasp anything they read, listen or experience. Now, there are number of facts they come to know in course of their study. They can learn or memorize all of them. But, many facts may have similar underlying ideas or concepts. So, if the students start to assimilate those concepts instead of the facts, they can gather more knowledge in same time. For an example, the questions - "Why ice floats in water?" and "Why parachute does not free fall?" has the same answer which is the principle of buoyancy. That means, those two facts have same underlying ideas. So, if a students understand that principle correctly, then he/she does not have to waste time to learn those facts separately.

Secondly, facts are temporary. Those will not be asked anywhere except during the examination. Student should learn something from the ideas or causes of those facts. From that ideas he/she can make impact on his/her own life. For example: a student can readily learn about Abraham Lincoln's personal life or his credits. But, it is necessary to understand the ideas of Lincoln's or what made him Abraham Lincoln or what was in him which brought revolution in the history of USA. If a student can capture all the periods of his failure and how Lincoln overcame those failures to get success, then he/she would be possessing more wisdom than anyone. Moreover, the student can implement those roads of success in his/her life.

Finally, memorizing facts is very much painful and confusing. Student can gradually start to lack interest as learning mere facts may seem dull to him. Then he/she will study just to pass an examination. Proper motivation of education will be destroyed then. Schools will then create many Encyclopedias instead of scholars. This is dangerous for society. Because, to evolve society or make improvement within society, people who have practical knowledge are need. People who just have memorized some bookish facts are no use of the society.

So, to make education proper, to convert students to responsible citizens, to make our livelihood smoother, stress should be given to grasp ideas and concepts instead of facts in schools.

Mode of travel

Choose one of the following transportation vehicles and explain why you think it has changed people’s lives.

·         Automobiles

·         Bicycles

·         Airplanes

There are many modes of transportation which have evolved in last few decades. To me, the transportation which changed people’s lives most is Airplanes. There are several reasons behind my thought which are described below.

Firstly, now-a-days airplanes is the quickest vehicle for transportation. Previously people used to rely on motor vehicles which took much time to traverse required distance. Now, if someone has to go somewhere very urgently, within a short notice then he has to move fast and airplane is the best possible way to do so. If he availed other automobiles, then he might not reach destination in time and it would be a big loss to him.

Secondly, to cover long distances like from one country to another or one continent to another, airplane is the first option which comes to our mind now-a-days. As airplane made this travel easier, the relationship between two countries has been better in many ways. For example: now countries can do import-export business between them very quickly and in much simpler way. Moreover, other countries’ political characters are now able to make a frequent visit to a country. US president Barack Obama’s recent visit in India is one of the example of such growing relationships.

Apart from that, people can travel to other countries very easily now. Previously, to visit foreign countries, ships were the only means to do so. By visiting other countries, we experience a different culture, different lifestyle and so on. As, people are now able to travel to other countries very easily, it is also profitable to countries having heritage sites like Cambodia, Vietnam; natural beauties like Switzerland, France; cultural diversities like Egypt etc. So people are now visiting foreign countries to have some lifetime experience and Airplanes only are making that possible in an easy manner.

So, to make gist, Airplanes have changed peoples’ livelihood as a whole. Distance is not a matter of bother due to advancement of airplanes.

Money - what should we do?

Is it better to enjoy your money when you earn it or is it better to save your money for some time in future?

When people earn money then he can do two things with that money – either he can spend all the earned money towards enjoyment or he can spend the minimal amount and save the rest for future. I would prefer to keep a balance between these two. Basically to me it is better to follow little enjoyment and much saving when we are young and the reverse when we grow old. There are several reasons behind this opinion.

First of all, when we are young, we are full of energy. If we start enjoying too much, then definitely all the earned money will drain out. There will be nothing left for future. Now, for future money is indeed needed. Because, the fact that today we can earn does not guarantee that this earning is permanent. So, to make survival sure for the future, at younger age we should largely save the money we earn. On the other hand, if we are old, there are very less to think for the future, unless we think about posterity. But to me, old people should not restrict themselves from enjoying the money they earn and should leave their next generation independent.

Secondly, when we are young we should also think for our family and their well beings. We should prepare for their sudden illness, children’s education and so on. If we expend every penny behind enjoyment, then we would have nothing or very little left to execute those and we may face problem then. So, for that we should not expend unnecessarily much for our enjoyment. At old age, children will mostly be adult and they then can live their own. Moreover, children can take care of their parents. So, that time, if we earn money then we should not hesitate for enjoying.

Lastly, money is never all about only enjoyment or saving. It is something bigger than that. There is a huge part of society who cannot earn money as much as someone needs for livelihood. If we think that we have much money for enjoyment, then for some moment we should stop and thinking their situation, we should utilize some money towards them – like donating in some trust etc. That may also be some sort of enjoyment, when we will think that we are contributing toward the mankind.

So, in a nutshell, money should be attempted to save as much as possible when the future seems to be wider because nobody can tell what will happen tomorrow.

Back after one year

So, after a long time I started expressing myself. Don’t remember really, when is the last time I wrote something. Anyway, lot of things happened in the previous half-year. I will state those one by one:

1.       Last visit to Chennai (probably): Pb was about to leave qualcomm in a few days. So I thought I should meet him for the last time. I had one holiday on Friday. So, I grabbed the opportunity immediately. As usual I went Chennai by bus. The bus delayed a lot and I reached Pb’s place at around 8 AM which is much late that regular. I remember that day we bought fish and cooked it for lunch. It was delicious. We thought to watch some movie, but that time there was no good movie running in any nearby theatres. We had our dinner at Xtreme Barbeque. It was a quite good experience for me. We watched “Bonkubabu” in youtube together at night. Next day I had to return. We had out dinner at Sea Breeze which was costly but excellent. Specially I liked the ambience. Though we did not do any special activity like going outside or watching movies but it was really a good change for me.

2.       Going Home: At the end of May I went home. Lar time I went on February. This time I went on Friday and came back on next Saturday. Didu came to our house. So it was much fun. She came there on week before I came. On Saturday afternoon masi also came to our house. So it was more fun with Rima, Bonnie and all. There were lots of foods certainly. It was my mother’s summer vacation. So, there was no point to become bored. Everyday there was at least couple of special menus. One day I went for my Puja Shopping. I bought two sets of shirt-pant (with my father’s money ;)). Next Friday I went to my masi’s place. She cooked a lot. And everything was hell lot delicious. So, at last, it was time to leave. With a broken heart (once again) I had to come back to Bangalore. This time my flight timings were little bit odd. I had flight at 8 pm from Kolkata which landed at around 10:30 in Bangalore. Though I reached my apartment safely. Next day I and Nilanjan went to Tommy’s place to his newly shifted apartment. We had our lunch at Decker’s lane. The lunch was more than better if not the best. We came back at evening and prepared us for regular weekly grinding in our respective workplaces.

3.       Celebrating excellency award with the team: So, this was my first experience of getting acknowledged in Synopsys. Though my credit in this process is very less, but who will stop me from celebrate? It was a half day outing with my team. Everything went as per plan. First, we went for bowling in Amoeba, Garuda Mall. We really enjoyed this sports. I scored a good 130 which is a respectable score. Swarupda scored perfect tens in his last five hits. His ability for this sports was worth watching. Next we had some mild snacks. We were not preferring to have much food as we were preserving space for the grand dinner later. After bowling, we went for the movie “Now You See Me 2”. We knew from the beginning that this movie was not upto the mark. But we did not have much choices left. Still, the luxurious cushions in the movie hall gave us comfort and the movie was okay-okay type. In the interval, Joydeepda and Swarupda bought some pop corns in spite of our relucatancy to eat. Needless to say, me and Abirda did not take much of that pop-corn.  As soon as the movie finished we hurried to “The Market” restaurant which I booked beforehand. We reached the restaurant in time. Upon reaching we told the receptionist that we had booking for dinner. But to our utter surprise she told that there was no booking made in my name. There was little confusion between us. However, in the very next moment manager came and resolved the issue by making our seat arranged in one place. The buffet was most awesome among those I have ever visited. It had variety of menu in every course. Prawns in starters was too delicious to describe. Pizza also was excellent. In the main course each and every item was worth to taste. We all liked the ambience also. Seriously, our test buds got recharged in this restaurant. We finished our grand dinner at around 9:30. After that we (Abirda, Neha and me) took one cab and came back home with lots of good memory.

4.       Visiting coorg: Just after my team celebration, I had plan to visit coorg with Pb and his friend Himadri. I met Himadri twice before this. So, he was not total unknown person to me. Pb came to my place in the morning and we had to take bus at night from Mysore Road Satellite Bus Station. We went there by means of metro. We ate a lot in a nearby A2B. When we got into the bus we realized that the situation was horrible. Someone vomited on a seat and unfortunately Pb took the seat. However, he changed his seat but his pants caught the foul smell. However in this circumstance, we reached Mercera bus stand at around 5:30 AM. We booked one hotel beforehand. But the hotel receptionist told that we would be alloed only after 8:00 AM. So, we started to roam here and there. We asked some local cab drivers about the cost of sight-seeing. After eight we occupied the room. The hotel room was upto the mark. 

We booked a cab from the hotel’s contact. That day we plan to visit Thala Cauvery –  the source of river Cauvery, abbey falls and some nearby places. Thala Cauvery was about 100 km from hotel. The road was around the hills. The journey was too good. On the way, we visited one temple. The more we were nearing Thala Cauvery, the weather was getting bad. It was becoming foggy outside the car and visibility was decreasing gradually. Though the driver was very skillful and he drove us safe to Thala Cauvery. We did not see much there as we heard lot of praise of this place. But, the weather made the environment quite amazing. After enjoying Thala Cauvery, we started to climb downhills. We had our lunch in Green Restaurant. There the food quality was quite good and they served a good amount of food in one dish also. We were hungry that time and finished all the foods. After our lunch, we headed for Abbey falls. The way to abbey falls was too muddy. And it started raining then also. We had to walk a few meters to reach at the spot. We avoided the poring with the help of umbrella. The view of abbey falls was mind blowing. In a small area, Cauvery was down pouring in full force. And the roaring of the falls thrilled us. People were taking selfies (as usual) with the falls as background. We had little difficulty while coming back as the rain got heavier, but the pleasure of viewing the falls neutralized the effort. Next we went some park which was not worth visiting and it was raining also. So, we came back to our hotel. At evening we went out for a walk. There was one big spice shop and chocolate shop. We headed for those. Though the chocolate shop was closing at that time as the shop workers were bound to mosque. Spices in the shop was good to smell. But we did not buy anything. Next we had our dinner in a nearby restaurant. We order one curry which was full of tulsi leaves. This was too funny. Overall dinner was not bad. After dinner we came back to hotel and went on sleeping.

Next day we went for Rafting, Dubbare for elephant safari and one Budhist monastery. Water rafting was good. This is my first experience of the same kind. At one point the guide threw every one of us out of the boat. Obviously we all had life jacket. This was also a good experience. For first few seconds it was little bit scary. But when everything settled down, I started to enjoy. After rafting was completed we changed our wet clothes and headed towards Dubbare. In dubbare park there was nothing much to see except some deer. To make the situation worse, it was also raining quite heavily. So, we did not spend much time here and told the driver to take us for lunch. In lunch we ordered one chicken starter and fish meal. In fish meal there was huge amount of fishes. We relished the dishes. Having our lunch, we went for the Budhdhist Shrine. The shrine was situated in a calm place - outskirts of the main city. We liked the place and took some pictures. There we three took one tender coconut water each. Next the driver took us to a spice shop. But we did find very small things to buy. After that our cab driver cropped us near bus stand. That day we bought plenty chocolates. Those chocolates really tasted excellent. At around 8:30 PM we had a light dinner. On 11 PM we boarded on the bus which was bound for return journey. Overall this tour to Coorg stamped a sweet memory in my memory canvas.

5.       Going team lunch with Bogdan: Bogdan Moisa is our team-mate in office who works from Romania. He is very close to us. He visited Bangalore few days back. Whenever I heard the news of his visiting, I was very much ebullient. Not because I got an opportunity to meet him, but because we will have another team lunch. This time we went Shigri Global Grill in Kalyannagar for the lunch. This was my second visit to Shigri. The first one was also with my team-mates on the eve of my welcome lunch. This time, we visited on Eid. With us, we had our PV team also. The restaurant was very much crowded. That day we had an offer which stated like “by giving extra 30 bucks you would get unlimited pepsi”. So we readily availed the offer. I started starters with high energy. As usual I was finishing starters specially the prawns. Abirda and Sourasishda also was eating like anything. Unlike other times, this time I put a bit more emphasis on main course. The main course was quite good. I liked the sweet chicken preparation. I ate too much rotis which was also very good. In desert, rabdi-jalebi was too good. I took many of them. At around 3:30 PM we finished our lunch and came back to office.

6.       Jog falls: On the eve of 15^th August, we got an extended weekend as 15^th August was on Monday this time. We (me, Nilanjan and Tommy) planned to go Shimoga in this long holiday. The primary to go to Shimoga was to visit Jog falls. It is the highest falls in India. On Friday night we saterted our journey from Majestic. This time we booked Airavat club class keeping in mind my previous horrible experience in Rajahamsa. Our bus was at around 11:57 PM from Majestic but it started with a delay of 1 hour. Though it was good for us as the later we would reach Shimoga, the more will be the chance to check into the hotel.

We reached Shimoga, abbreviated from Shivamogga at around 7:00 AM. From Shimoga bus stand we we directly went to hotel and they allowed us to check in. The hotel was value for price. Entering the hotel room, we quickly took bath and got ourselves ready for day’s trip. We asked the hotel receptionist about how to go Jog falls. And he told that he can book a car for us. We agreed him and he readily booked a car in which, after having breakfast, we started a long mesmerizing trip to jog falls. The hilly road to jog falls was one of a kind. There were lots of trees at both sides of the road and that scene was seriously enthralling. There were two cities on the way – Talguppa and Sagar. After completing around 2-hour journey, we reached Jog falls. The view of jog falls was scintillating from far. The clouds were rising above from the point where the falls water was touching the ground. I have never experienced that scene in my life. Though there were stairs to reach at the bottom of the falls, we did not take the risk to go down as the number stairs was around 1150 and if we go down it will be very difficult to climb those stairs. We stayed for couple of hour there and then got back to our cab. We told our driver to stop at good hotel. He took us to one hotel. It was good if we forget the fact that the foods were too spicy. We ate a lot there. After lunch we headed for Ikkiri where Aghoreshwara temple is situated. The temple sculpture was quite similar to Hampi. We were there for around 45 minutes. After this we again headed for Shimoga. We reached there around 5 PM. As there was quite daylight, me and Nilanjan decided to take a stroll around the city by walk. Shimoga is well decorated city. One surprising fact is, there are lots of doctors in Shimoga and also lots of clinics. Don’t know what made the population of doctors so higher there. Anyway, while walking we had coconut water, sweets, sugarcane juice from different shops and all of them were excellent. They gave one huge glass of sugarcane juice in just Rs. 10/-. After one long walk we came back to hotel. We had one light dinner at 9 PM. After coming back, we made next day’s plan.

Next day, we planeed to visit Kelathgiri, Kemmangundi, Mulayangiri and Babubudangiri. Mulaygiri and Babubudangiri is on Chicmagalur district. In Kelathgiri, there was a temple beside a falls. Many people were taking hoky bath in that falls. Kemmangundi is situated somewhat in higher altitude. There, weather was too misty ans it was raining periodically. Basically there was a park and around that there were many viewpoints. But we were unable to view anything because of mist. After Kemmangundi we tried to Mulayangiri and Babubudangiri, but the road was blocked due to heavy rain. So,we had to return from midway. We had our lunch in one roadside hotel. That day, at dinner, we went to royal orchid hotel where they were serving buffet. The buffet was low price and quite good too. I especially liked the fish pakoda and gobbled a handful of them. After filling our tummies, we went back to hotel. That day, Deepa Karmakar’s gold medal vault match of Rio Olympic was there. We watched that very enthusiastically, but to our utter despair she finished in fourth position.

Next day was our last day in Shimoga. That day we had to visit Tayevarekoppa tiger and lion safari which was situated only 9 km away from Shimoga. We took an auto and went there at early morning. Before that we checked out from the hotel. The safari cost was only Rs.70/- per person which is very low. Safari was quite good as we saw tigers and lions. Some were roaming unchained. We also had opportunity to see tigers’ mating. The safari was of one hour. There was also a zoo. We spend another one-hour roaming in the zoo. Next, we had our lunch and headed for Bangalore by another Airavat club class with sweet memoirs in our hearts.