Today while going through the newspapers I realized that the full moon I saw yesterday was one of the rare celestial events which falls on 2 consecutive days i.e 25 and 26th October in 2007.

I had shortlisted a candidate for interview yesterday and he had another round of interview today. Good news is that the interview went smoothly without a hitch. There are couple of more interview rounds to go. I am hoping and praying that it goes well.

My bags are all packed up and my bus is scheduled for departure to Mangalore @ 21:35 p.m. Yesterday I had bought a finger ring for my cousin sister as her wedding gift, hope she likes it :)

Today morning the chilly weather gave way to bright sunshine. I thought the rest of the day will be bright and sunny. However the fickle Bangalore weather has surprises in store for you :)

I hired an autorickshaw to office and mid-way it become very cloudy and strong winds were blowing across. By the time I reached office it was sunny again :)

Evening after dinner when I looked @ the sky, it was full moon in a clear sky and she was looking very pretty :)

It's been raining for the past week though thankfully only in the evenings. When I got up today morning I could still sense the chilly weather. I looked at the temperature and it read 23 degrees. It's what you call the typical Bangalore weather :)

I have still 2 more days to go before I pack my bags for the upcoming trip to Mangalore. Not much progress @ work today however I am expecting some work and that will keep me busy tomorrow :)

Sunday was special in a way for me. After a long time I got to enjoy an exquisite cuisine for dinner.:) I am talking about the wedding reception of one of my colleague.

I got to sample different varieties of dishes and as the Mac Donald's ad says "I was loving it". It was an exotic vegeterian dish and I would love to say "a Vegeterian's delight".

After a sunny afternoon the weather turned wet again. There was not much activity on the work front as the candidates I expected to interview didn't turn up.

"Nothing is certain in this world except death and taxes" How true can that be? This was something which I realised yesterday.

There was this festival spirit of "Dussehra" and on the other hand there was a death in my neighbourhood. People in the house which is right next to the place where I stay were preparing the last rites for the person who died.

One can't miss the irony. While most of the houses in the vicinity were decked with flowers and banana leaves, there was a bit of gloom which had descended on this house. History has it that Prince Siddhartha who came to be later known as Gautam Buddha was visibly moved when he saw the procession of a dead man. Cut to the present day and age, a single day doesn't pass when we haven't read of deaths caused due to accidents, murder, disease, suicide, depression, homicide and violence.

We have become insensitive about it and it no longer causes shock and awe unless our own kith and kin are involved.

Anyways life goes on. Today I have plans to attend a wedding reception of one of my colleagues in the evening. It's been a long time I have dressed in a suit so I am excited about wearing it for the occasion. The only sore point is the dry cleaner while ironing the blazer has broken one of the buttons. I need to get it fixed :)

You can call it an anti-climax, but yes I didn't dress in the ethnic wear as I thought. The culprit being my laziness. I was back in western casuals. A white shirt and ash grey jeans.

Its Friday once again. Today I took a couple of more interviews. I was impressed with one of the candidates when he was upfront and told the interview panel that he may not be able to do justice to the role.

Our office wore a festive look today on the occassion of "Vijaya Dashami" more popularly known as "Dussehra". Some of the guys were dressed in ethnic Indian wear like Kurta/Pyjama and ladies were looking gorgeous in their sarees.

I am looking forward to the weekend. The weather continues to be wet and as per the Met forecast it will remain that way for a couple of day(s). So here's 3 cheers for a wet weekend :)

The weather has suddenly turned wet since yesterday. It's a welcome change as the day was a getting a lot warmer. At work today I had a meeting with my CRM manager. It was a long overdue meeting. We had a cordial discussion.

I listen to Radio City 91.1 FM everyday @ work. I was excited to take part in a quiz on Radio City and SMSed my answer. I was 100% sure that my answer was correct, however the only problem was that mine was one of the correct answers. The random selection threw up a winner and unfortunately it wasn't me. The prize was a Rs.1000 meal voucher @ a famous restaurant.

Six years back I had won a contest on Radio City and won a dinner date with a leading fashion model. Those memories are still fresh :)

Tomorrow is "Vijaya Dashami" and we have been asked to dress in ethnic wear. I haven't decided yet as to which dress to wear for the occassion. So let's see :)

For the first time while commuting to office I travelled by the KSRTC Volvo bus. The fare was INR 15 about 6 bucks more than the ordinary bus. However the nice thing about the bus is that you travel in air-conditioned comfort and it's quite spacious.

The moment I stepped out of the bus, the outside weather hit me. It was a stark contrast :) On my afternoon stroll, I came as a french tourist. She needed directions to go to "FabIndia" store located in Koramangala which is just a stone's throw from my office.

As I was guiding the tourist I encountered the crossdressers/eunuchs again. I tried to dodge him however he wouldn't let me go. I took out my wallet and gave him 5 bucks. I guess that was my biggest mistake. He started eyeing the whole wallet and wanted the 10 rupee note. I gave in and handed him the money.

I was shocked and enraged when the crossdresser demanded some more money. I just brushed him aside and walked on. My previous encounters were fresh in my mind and this time I gathered the courage to confront them.

The tourist thanked me for my assistance. I was happy that I helped someone. I feel that every citizen is an ambassador of their country and they should do their utmost to see that visitors enjoy their stay in the host country. It's even more important for India which has a dismal 0.5% share in the world tourist traffic.

At work, it was a satisfying day. The test application I am developing has come out quite nicely so far :)

Yesterday was a sad day for me. My Apple Ipod Nano was pronounced dead on arrival @ the Apple store. It's been my companion for more than a year.

The store-in-charge tried to revive it but all his efforts was in vain. He said that the battery was dead and there's nothing he could do. The other option was to replace the battery which costs a whopping 3300 bucks almost half the cost of the Ipod. The new Ipod with a 2GB storage costs around 3500 bucks and the one with a video and 4GB storage costs 7500. So it really didn't make sense to go in for a battery replacement.

I felt like crying that the money spent on the Ipod which I thought will be my companion for some more time has gone down the drain.

How important is communication skills? My answer is...its very very important in this day and age. Take the example of candidates I interviewed today to fill up my position. The communication skills was not upto the mark and the interview with the client for some ended on a disastrous note. A candidate may be technically very sound, however what use is it, when they are not able to express it in words.

It was a hectic weekend especially on Sunday. My relatives had come down and I accompanied them on their shopping trip @ Commercial street and Bangalore Central.

Looking @ the clothes on display in the mall, it was hard to resist the urge to splurge :) Thank god I didn't give in to the temptation.

It's the scourge of the century and has affected millions of people around the world with no cure so far. It's the AIDS disease which has become the bane of mankind. In a world where there still exists discrimination in varying degrees, the less said about the people afflicted with HIV, the better.

People infected with HIV or AIDS have every right to live and work as other human beings. Then why do we ostracise them, sack them from work once it's revealed they are infected with the virus. These and many questions came to my mind when I was watching the movie "Phir Milenge" on Zoom channel yesterday night.

It's a touching story of Tamanna (Shilpa shetty) who gets accidentally infected with HIV once she comes in touch with her love Rohit (Salman Khan). Tamanna works for an advertising agency and gives it her all. She helps the firm grow and wins many awards. When her boss comes to know about her HIV status without flinching even for a second overlooking the good work done by her, he sacks her.

Tamanna is down but not out. She fights a legal battle with help of a lawyer(Abhishek Bachchan). Revathi as the movie director has made a beautiful movie without sounding patronising. This is the second time I have watched the movie and the tears just can't stop rolling down my cheeks.

Abhishek, Shilpa, Nazar and other crew members have put their heart and soul into the movie and it shows. The movie looks a genuine and credible attempt with an inspiring message for hundreds of people like Tamanna.

At work I was barely half awake today and managed to survive the day. There was a small measure of satisfaction when I could resolve a minor problem in an application I was working on.

I need to catch up on sleep which I have been deprived for the past 2 days. Time to hit the sack :)

Normally on a weekend I don't watch more than 1 movie, however this weekend I ended up watching 2 movies..:) I didn't watch it continously but on consecutive days. "Manorama Six feet under" and "The Bourne Ultimatum".

"Manorama Six feet under" is a whodunit murder mystery. It tells the story of an PWD Engineer Randhawa (Abhay Deol) based @ Lakhot, a small town in Rajasthan. Randhawa is suspended for taking a bribe. Randhawa has a hidden talent as well. He is the author of "Manorama" a book which tells the story of a detective. Unfortunately it doesn't sell well.

The pleasant package in the whole movie is Abhay Deol and Vinay Pathak as the cop and Randhawa's brother-in-law. The story has a refreshing feel to it. For a change you get away from the big metros or foreign locales to the dusty towns of Rajasthan. Other cast members Gul Panag as Abhay Deol's wife, Raima Sen, Kulbushan Kharbanda (who plays the state Minister) also lend good support.

The only drawback of the movie is its slow pace and sometimes you feel that the movie is stretching quite a bit. Looking @ it in perspective, the slow build-up seems very much relevant to the theme. Unlike the other "Deols", Abhay has surely started his career on a different stroke and one should appreciate it :)

Now comes my favourite which is "The Bourne Ultimatum". I have seen the earlier sequels and it only gets better. Matt Damon as "Jason Bourne" gets in to the skin of the character. I have never read the book on "The Bourne Identity" but the movie is surely a must watch. It's a high octane thriller with car chases, hi-tech gadgets involving the premier intelligence agency of the world...you guessed it right Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Jason Bourne. Bourne is on a mission to find his real identity.

It's a game of wits played by the CIA which wants Bourne eliminated. Bourne every time not only manages to slip but also gives a bloody nose to the CIA. However to the credit of CIA, there is one person who trusts her conscience and believes that the witch hunt is wrong.

If I were to rate this movie I would give it 4 stars out of 5 :-)

Even though it's a Friday I am somehow not enthused by it. It just looks like life has come to a standstill. The moment I opened my mailbox @ office, there was a mail from my Delivery Manager asking me to meet her.

We had a cordial discussion and she asked me the reason for putting in my papers. Before I could even say anything she wanted me to be frank and not give diplomatic answers :-) That literally had me zapped.

So much to my surprise I opened up and conveyed my concerns to her. She said that she was sorry that I am leaving and she didn't want to lose a good resource. I had already made up my mind, however I thanked her for giving me her time and listening to what I had to say.

Tomorrow I have plans to catch up on the movie "Manorama Six feet Under" The movie has won good reviews. I love the song "Tere sawalon ke" from the movie.

Let's see what I have to say after watching the movie :)

Yesterday I had forgotten to mention that I put in my papers. It was a painful decision to take however I need to move on. I have been away from home since a long time and I want to be with my family + it also makes more financial sense.

I am looking for a possible replacement for my role and I have shortlisted a few candidates. I need to take the interviews tomorrow or probably next week to find the candidate with the right fit.

"Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood."
-- Albert Einstein.

That was the quote of Albert Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi. Yesterday as we celebrated the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of "Gandhi Jayanthi", nothing stands farther from truth. During my growing up years, I always ended up hating Gandhi because I thought he was the root cause of most of the evils plaguing the country such as the partition, his favouring Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India and other factors.

However as I started to learn more and more about him, I realized even with all his flaws he still stands head and shoulders above the rest. Take his book "My experiments with Truth", he lays threadbare each and every moment of his life and his experiences ranging from childhood to even sex. How many people are comfortable speaking the truth about their personal lives? Why would a person who would have led a comfortable life as a lawyer in U.K or South Africa give it up all for a nation.

So much so that even his family has suffered. The recent movie "Gandhi, My father" takes a critical look @ Mahatma. The tag line says it all "One nation's freedom was the price of his family". Mahatma Gandhi fasted to bring an end to riots and not to divide but to unite the communities. He came across as a sincere and committed human being more than a scheming politician.

Contrast that to politicians like the Chief Minister of TamilNadu who undertakes a fast just as a camouflage for enforcing a bandh in his state.

It's not just the politicians but also people like you and me who are more enamoured of the material benefits. Sure the youth of today are more ambitious but it does come with a heavy price like declining values, arrogance, lack of discipline and impatience.

Mahatma Gandhi's writing style was so simple that even a lay person can understand it. These are some of my favourite quotes.

"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind".

"You must be the change you want to see in the world".

I am back in Bangalore after my mini vacation in Hyderabad . It was painful leaving however I need to get back to work. I am eagerly looking forward to my next visit :)