I'm lovin it...

I still remember my first attempt of playing TT and making history of playing TT like Shuttle. its been more than 2 weeks since that history happened and i have surely come a long way from there.

I also remember days when my partner-in-crime was all crazy abt this game and jumped out of her seat to just play a quick 5 min match! I had to literally pull her out of the TT room cos she almost started to live there! Later did i realize that the game is addictive! Now I am going through this phase and she is being my savior! you see, there must be a reason y I call her partner-in-crime!

Would be unfair if i failed to mention my very patient coaches :), yes i have 2 coaches, one is a zoo-zoo in disguise and the other is a short sober cute chap (Note: he is not my team mate). Both of them are great players and have superb patience. They were majorly responsible in making me play TT ..the TT way!

Now that I have finished my vote of thanks to the nice people, I have to mention this other nice guy who had a reverse effect on me! His laughs and jokes about my games has actually motivated me to get better. If not for him, I wouldn't have stormed out of the TT room and finished my work for that day. If not for him, I wouldn't have been determined to go back to that room and prove him that I am getting better!

No matter who has what impact on me, this game is gonna be in my favorite list for some more time and I continue to bug each and every team mate of mine for a quick 5 min game :)

Like they say in the McDonalds Ad: I'm lovin it!

Reel or Real?

He was young, he was naive, he was loving, he was brave. He loved his school days, he loved his friends, he loved his mom and he loved his life! Until somebody came home, somebody who was far from caring, somebody who gave him no love, somebody who treated him like a slave. Somebody was his Step-Mom! He longed for mother's love, he longed for his father to hear him out, he longed for peace of mind, he longed for happiness. One day when he thought he had enough of what he had, he decided to move on. He did not want to live there anymore, he wanted to live life to the fullest, he wanted to live life his way!

He was 17, he was penniless, he was a drop out from school and he had no clothing. He dared to face the world, he dared to do what he wanted to, he dared to strike out on his own! He sat in a train hungry but strong, poor but bold, lost but on the way to his destiny! That was when a wise old man spotted him. The old man was kind to him and took him home. Gave him a job, trained him, fed him, gave him shelter, made him capable, independent and self-driven. He got back his life, his love for life, his motivation to grow! He wanted to achieve more, be a BIG man, be the BEST!

Days went by, and he kept getting better. He found his better half and got married to her. She was the wise man's pet daughter. She was pretty, she was elegant, she was hyper, she was supportive. They struggled, they innovated, they did all they could to earn the buck. They made washing powders, they made leather gloves, they did all they could and all they should. They had no tv at home, they had no money for meals, but they saw every movie in town. They were satisfied with the small happiness in life and had no complains about the toil. After 6 years of wedlock, they were blessed with 2 lovely kids.

He did everything for his kids. He gave them good education, made them self dependent, made them the best kids in the family, he made them capable to live the life they wished for! He became the best dad, the best husband, the best son-in-law, the best brother-in-law, the best Kid brother..Simply the BEST!

HE is my DAD! He deserves this post and lots more. Love you dad!

if <> QAE then?..

(For the non-amazonians, QAE - Quality Assurance engineer aka Test Engineer aka Bugger!)

Sometimes I wonder, If I was not in "IT" what would I be doing? Am I destined to be a QAE? Ofcourse not! I rather not blame destiny for "What I am today" and for "What I wanted to be"...As a matter of fact, back in school, I intended to do something which was not-so-popular, not-the-IN-thing-to-do, not-something-which-brings-fame. During my 10th grade I was almost convinced to stop my "boring schooling" and do something different. I was impatient, I wanted to get where I wanted to as fast as I could. I was busy applying in other interesting places, preparing for entrance exams and aptitude tests. I was just not set to go the mundane way!...

However,the appearance of the big fat book of sample question papers from NIFT made me sick (Initially)! They had all kinds of questions, which according to me, were not relevant to what they teach! I remember troubling my favourite Maths teacher for cracking the "problem solving" questions (Ironic! I ask Problem solving questions in interviews these days). The only part of the paper which i really enjoyed practising was drawing. Draw a construction site, a showroom entrance, a jewelry store, a fly over, moods on a toothbrush! - More than problem solving my brains worked better here! I had a flair for art (I think i still do, somewhere in one corner of me)

If you haven't guessed it yet, I wanted to be a fashion designer! Somebody (an ignorant) said, "Why do you wanna spend rest of your life doing tailoring?? " i.e. after seeing my NIFT application. - She had no clue who a fashion designer was and compared it to being a tailor. Guess what, I was already a tailor much before 10th grade. I was an "asst. tailor" to my mom and I needed no degree to be a professional tailor. Tailoring did spark the passion for fashion designing in me, but both are not the same!

So, if i had cleared the entrance exam, I would have had a Bachelor in Fashion designing than a Bachelor in Computer Applications. I would have studied 2 years less and started a boutique before I got my first job as a "Trainee in Marketing"! The "SAK" fashion store in Spencer plaza would have been mine. I would have designed some outfits for few of my "actor" friends. I would have played with dyes, needles, pearls, appliques, threads and ribbons and not the mouse, keyboard, laptop, RSA tokens, chat apps and websites! I would have been a "Fashion Designer Sakina" than an "IT Professional Sakina"!

Hey! That does not mean I dont like what I do right now! I was just talking about my Original Plan A which is now a Plan B of my life!

Speechless

When i was all set to write stories about all the events in the weekend, i found myself out of words. I had no words to explain the joy, the ache. the awe, the fatigue. the triumph, the defeat. the preparation, the output. The union, the cut off. The side effects, the after effects. The gambol, the grind.

So many words, but none can spell out the fantabulous weekend I had!
Hope you all had a good weekend too. Welcome back Manic Monday!

I hate...

Few things worth hating!
IGNORANCE - People ignorant to reality, ignorant to their duties, ignorant about other's feelings.

Artificial ACCENT - Heard your US returned friends talk english? Even a foreigner would not have that accent!
LIES - Don't lie unless it brings out some truth! No! dont lie PERIOD!. Its irritating..

DUMBNESS - ever met a colleague who has a blank look for every question you ask ?? UUUHH Hate it!

WHISTLES - Go jump the wall, sing a song, Dance in the bus or just smile to get my attention - whistling?? an absolute NO!
ARGUMENTS - Gosh! Such a waste of time, mind and voice!

How does it feel when

How does it feel when...
Your old looking home is newly painted?
A favorite old outfit is given a sleek new look to fit you perfect..?
A stony non-existent road suddenly has cement platforms?
Your old bulky monitor is replaced with a sleek thin HD monitor!?
Your old room get new curtains...?
Your rusted Window AC is replaced with a smart Split AC?
Your Maruti 800 is sold to buy a new Civic!! (Make that purple Civic)?
Your old shoes which gives blister on your feet are replaced with a new Reebok pair!?
Your old messy hair is reformed to beautiful straight hair..?
Your smile is reformed after 1.5 years of metallic torture! (Braces on teeth)?

It surely is a happy feeling..and that's exactly how my blog feels with its new look!

Never say Good BYE!...

Yesterday one of my good friends said goodbye to her job, the sangam (Our gals gang) and the city! It is sad to see somebody go, especially when you have had some very good times together. Our sangam is gonna miss her for sure! And she is gonna miss us too! Take care Ranju!

Well..her farewell actually reminded me of mine when I left my previous job. My resignation was a surprise to me! My previous company was like home. I was never out of company for a cup of coffee or just a chit chat. I always had someone to drive me home (when it was late) or just check on me when I was not well. I knew almost everybody on the floor and was so easy to get things done. People knew what I was best at and I never had to prove myself on it. You may ask, if it was all rosy there.. why did u quit!?! Guess what...I dont have a convincing answer till date. (I would leave the answer for another post altogether)

The farewell from my team was just too touching and overwhelming. A huge card with zillion wishes, a beautiful watch, a good bye with the clause "come back soon!", an empty smile on my PL's face. A "Dont go" plead on my manager's face...That's when I really felt the pain of saying "good bye" to something which was almost a part of me!

But the good part is.. I just said goodbye to the Job..not the People! I still have my outings with them and keep in touch with them by all means... And I am thankful to my ex-company for not only giving me my better half for this life, but for next life too! :-))

P.S: If this one was too senti for you, let me warn you, this is just a trailer of a huge 4 hour Subhash ghai movie ;-)

Side effects...

As days go by, my walk in the clouds seem to be hitting earth. The walk is getting painful by the day and I am inclined to crib big time here! But before i get on to my cribbing mode I am obliged to first tell you the progress I have made since my first walk! So here it goes...

Day 1 : Holding the Side bars of the tread mill, totally scared. Walked as if i was climbing the Himalayas!
Day 2: Was excited to walk with my new shoes :) didn't find the pain of walking as I was concentrating on the shoes!
Day 3: Going steady with 4.5 kmph and guess what. I did'nt need the support of the side bars. I swing my hands to glory!
Day 4: 4.5 kmph looks jujuby and I complete my walk with ease! No sweat, no Pain!
Day 5: I get a little ambitious and increase my speed to 5kmph. Was overwhelmed with the calf muscles showing signs of pain! But overall manageable..
Day 6: Today! I forgot about yesterday's signs of pain and started the walk. Reached 5 kmph and was panting in no time. My stamina and my leg pain were competing with each other for almost a kilometer and then the stamina lost against the pain. My right leg felt like its gonna tear apart and i was limping on the treadmill. Slowed down to 3.5 but no comfort. With tears almost rolling down I call for my personal trainer for rescue! He takes charge, checks the area of pain and very calmly says "These are signs of muscles reacting to the walk. Take rest and you will be fine". And guess what, he was right! I stretched for sometime and I was just about fine.. All I need is a good night sleep and I should be all set for tomorrow

Before i sign off, 2 things to mention (reminds me of my ex-PM: He would say "2 things" and actually mention 3)..
1. If you are a good observer, you might notice that i have not accounted for 3 days (from the day i started). That was again suggested by my personal trainer to get some rest as my first walk gave me a blister on my feet!
2. My personal trainer is the guy sitting next to me right now, staring at his laptop and refreshing my blog to see if there is a new post - aka - my husband...

Defective day...

Sunday, the most awaited day of the week! This is the day we choose to chill out, catch up, clean up and just do things which do not relate to work! However, that is not what actually happened to me today, and since the actual day did not match the expected day I am obliged to raise a BUG for the day! I know am being a typical QA and my developer friends who are reading this would have already lost interest in the rest of my post....well...Nothing new!! ;-) I am still gonna be a pain and a typical QA and go ahead and raise my SEV-1 bug!

Defect Title: Sunday did not go as expected
Defect Description:
Please find the steps to recreate and expected vs actual result below:
Steps:
1. Have a hectic week from Monday to Friday
2. The hectic week should not only be due to work at office, but also work at home.
3. There should be atleast 1 guest visiting home for 2 days in a week
4. A 45 min walk on tread mill should be done daily
5. Saturday should be at home and atleast watched 1 movie
Sunday expected to be: Sleep more, rise late. Eat late, eat more. Pamper your feet with a nice pedicure, but dont have a bath :-). Clean up the evergrowing mess in your wardrobe. Get your torn slippers repaired. Stick the radium stars on the ceiling. Listen to music all day. Spend time with folks. Go shopping. Go to the terrace and view the world.

Actual Sunday was: Woke up early, ate early, got ready early to make sure I am on time for the cab. Went to work. Took a little less than a dozen interviews. Played 1 hour of Table tennis. Got back home in the same cab. had a walk in the clouds. ate early and now typing this!

Since the actual result is deviated from the expected result the issue has been filed.
Please call me if you have any issues in recreating the defect.

Severity: 1-Critical
Priority: 1-Critical
Assigned to: LIFE!
Status: OPEN

A little background to the above madness. I was qualifying candidates on their defect writing skills today! Hoping to get back to normal soon! ciao...

Another one on the list...

Just about i thought that my series of first time experience is coming to an end, another one just popped out from no where!! This one was not only the first time, but also one of the most surprising ones..this one made me sleepy, a little happy, a little curious and a little broke ... This one gave me a metal head and a smoky halo! This one smelled nice, felt nice and looked nice (after it was complete). If you are getting too carried away, get back to reality!!! I was just talking about my first "Hair SPA" :-) The first and the best!

work hard, have fun, make history...

Every morning as I walk into my workplace, these are the words I see on the glass doors at the entrance "Work hard, have fun, make history".

Talking about "work hard"..all of us are expected to work hard at our jobs, but its totally up to us to do so..or may be our managers ...;) Who ever it may be, the general belief is "get a job, work hard and you are settled for life" - and the counter for that is "If you are settled, you are dead!" So, when combined it would be something like "get a job, work hard and die!?!" - oops i stop here and get on to what I really wanted to write!..

Coming to having fun, it again depends on the individual. If you are not a fun person, no matter where you go,or what you do, you wont have fun! SIMPLE! However, I don't belong to that herd of not-a-fun-person..so i continue writing about "having fun". And that brings to the point I am really trying to make: I discovered my new way of having fun (besides putting mokkai, talk talk talk talk, jump over all the team outing plans and so on and so forth...) it is TABLE TENNIS!! The fun part here is, I tried to play TT like Shuttle!! :-) I almost always forgot that we had a table in between and the players need to use it. Surprisingly, I picked up pretty fast and played my first game (doubles) with my very-patient and teachable team mates :-) This new found fun activity would continue for some more time until my team mates become impatient and non-teachable..lol!

That brings me to the last point - "Make history!" Honestly, I don't know who makes history here, but I sure did!..SHOCKED???!!? No, I have not stood for elections and I am not winning them either...I just played TT!! even better, I played TT like Shuttle!! Find me one guy who can do that??? :-P That's good enough history to make! LOL...

Signing off...

Blogging...

It was yesterday when I realized that blogging was just not possible when you are either, Tired or Busy. For me, it was both! I missed blabbering out here in this space yesterday (I wonder if anybody else missed it...) and today I wish I can make it up..I have a couple of lined up talking about one more of my "first" time experience and (as usual) lots more pointless things ;)..

Cooker of the day!

Its almost always expected for a new "daughter - in - law" of the house to take care of the kitchen when the Home ministry (i.e. mom - in - law) is out. And in most cases the daughter - in - law does take up the responsibility with no complains :) Today being one of those days ,"I" - the daughter - in - law received the title: "Cooker of the day" (You can congratulate my husband for creating this title). Now, to keep up with this new and creative title, I tried to get a little creative with my cooking skills and started on with the menu of the day to be "Paneer capsicum with Roti and halwa", but by the time I surveyed the fridge and the kitchen, all I could make was "Black Dal with rice and egg bhurji" (actually not bad for me). Now that the cooker has done her job, I am impatiently waiting for the "Hogger of the day" to comment!

P.S. I can cook and this is not my first experimental cooking experience. So am pretty confident my new title will remain intact until the home ministry is back to pavilion :)

A walk in the clouds..well, not literally!

Well, after my first ever post on my first ever blog i still have another "first" time experience to talk about! YES! its my FIRST WALK! A walk which started from 1.0 kmph and gradually increased to 5.0 kmph and then steadied at 4.5 kmph until it was back to 1.0 kmph. The fastest (for my standards) and the most brisk walk i have ever had till date..A walk with no scenaries, no spectators, no road side stones, no blaring horns! A walk which took me no where from where I was but i still went 3 kms further! A walk filled with fear, sweat, questions and answers. A walk with my BEST friend (no extra points for guessing the "BEST friend"...its me, myself and ME!)

If you are still scratching your head on what it was, it was "MY FIRST WALK ON THE TREAD MILL"!! YES!! I finally made it! I finally bundled up all the courage and will and stepped on to that huge instrument yesterday! Its indeed considered as one of my biggest achievements of my life. (Considering the fact that I have been planning this act for more than a year)

I am sure my friends are proud of me, so am I :) Hoping to continue this effort for more than just a day :)) Wish me luck!

First time as a blogger!

They say there is always a first time..your first award, your first job, your first crush, your first punishment, your first step to the kitchen (ahem...), your first bulb, your first date, your first kiss...and the "first" list goes on!!...But let me mention this first...This is the first time i have attempted to start my own blog and guess what...its my first POST!!! :))

OK..I guess as a first timer, i made my "first" impression pretty good here and I should actually move on to my blogging...

I never imagined i would name my blog "self obsession personified"..actually i didn't even imagine a blog of my own..but now that the unimaginable has already occurred..I hope i will live up to the name of the blog and make sure I have "I" mentioned enough number of times here to make sure that "I" am projecting the right amount of self obsession...

stay tuned...there is lots more of my piece of mind to be typed down :)