To all fellows passing out in 2008 to enter corporate world

Hi people...
Nobody can complain about his time in college... afterall it lets us do what we want...
This post is for my friends, for CSE08, for the batch of 2008 ITBHU, and for all students about to leave college and join the corporate world in 2008 in that order....I hope you had the time of your life...

Title: Green Day - Time Of Your Life lyrics

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test, and don't ask why.
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf, In good health and good time.

Tattoos of memories, and dead skin on trial.
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

18 LPA

The batch of 36 with an average of 7.6 LPA was expected to set on a high alarm when we heard of some company paying 18 LPA. Later on we found out that it places in Canada and that it works on website design which diluted all the hullabaloo...
Innovatice Tech Solutions is based in Canada and works on Website Designing. This was the first time I heard of a software company not based in India but recruiting from India
My personal assumption is that for a technical company.... the offer is good.
Can someone tell me how good 18 LPA is in Canada?

61 Years of Indo Pak Relations

India and Pakistan, two of the biggest countries of South east India share much of their histories, cultures, languages and religion yet have always been engaged in military and political disputes. This is an insight into the major events, causes and aftermaths highlighting the military disputes.
1947 First Indo-Pak War:
Click here for detailed report on wikipedia.
Known to most people by the first Kashmir War, this was the first of the four wars between India and the then new republic State of Pakistan.

Causes
Kashmir,inhabited by 75% Muslims was always under conditions of revolts and protests against Maharaja Hari Singh, the pre independece hindu king of Kashmir.Post independence, according to the instruments of partition of India, the rulers of princely states were given the choice to freely accede to either India or Pakistan. Initially,Maharaja hesitated fearing tribal warfare, but later on fell to India's pressure and joined the Republic in October 2007.This accession was questioned by Pakistanis. Pakistani claimed that since 75% of the inhabitants of Kashmir were Muslims, it should be a part of Pakistan.

The War
War began when Azad Kashmir Forces backed by new Pakistan government and (still doubtful) British support,entered Kashmir (Operation Gulmarg) with an objective of occupation of Kashmir, closely followed by other operations



Battling over a period of more than 2 months (Oct to Dec,1947),The occupation of a significant part of Kashmir change hands from India to Pakistan



At this stage Indian Prime Minister Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru decided to ask UN to intervene. A UN cease-fire was arranged for the 31 December 1948.

Aftermaths
Pakistan was successful in having a significant part of Kashmir, though the war was claimed to be won by India.Approximately 2500+ soldiers were killed overall. Kashmir saw use of rifles,light tanks and armoured cars in this war.

1965 Second Indo-Pak War:
Click here for detailed Report on Wikipedia
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965,also known as second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between India and Pakistan.

The War and its Causes
The primary cause of conflicts was usually the Accession of Kashmir, although other border disputes existed, most notably over the Rann of Kutch, a barren region in the Indian state of Gujarat. Though the erstwhile princely state of Junagadh was integrated into India, its borders, especially in the marshlands to the west were ambiguous. This gave rise to a dispute between Pakistan and India.A war broke out in lands of Kutch.Pakistan was succesful in gaining 350 square miles (900 km²) of the Rann of Kutch. General Ayub Khan,Military commander of Pakistan is said to have believed that the Indian Army was unable to defend itself against a quick military campaign in the disputed territory of Kashmir, following a loss to China in 1962. Pakistan believed that the population of Kashmir was generally discontented with Indian rule and that a resistance movement could be ignited by a few infiltrating saboteurs. This was codenamed Operation Gibraltar. However, the Pakistani infiltrators were soon discovered, aided primarily by the local Kashmiris themselves and the entire operation ended in a complete disaster.The Indians pressed on a massive raid on Lahore on 6th September, which was defended by Pakistani troops and later ceased by UN intervention.The war ended in an agreement between Shastri and Ayub Khan on signing withdrawl of forces from Kashmir on 25th Feb,1965.

Aftermaths
More than 6600 soldiers from both sides were killed in the war.This was the largest amassing of troops in Kashmir.The war invloved battles on ground, water as well as in air.The war witnessed some of the largest Tank Battles since World War II.
128 Indian tankswere destroyed, 152 Pakistani tanks captured, 150 Pakistani tanks destroyed.Officially 471 Pakistani tanks destroyed and 38 captured.Both sides lost many aircrafts(50 approx).
Though the war was indecisive, Pakistan suffered much heavier material and personnel casualties compared to India. Both India and Pakistan increased their defense spending and the Cold War politics had taken roots in the subcontinent.The Indian premier, Shastri was hailed as a hero in India.
On the other hand many Pakistanis rated the performance of their military positively. September 6 is celebrated as 'Defence Day' in Pakistan in commemoration of the successful defence of Lahore against the Indian army.
USA declared its neutrality in the war by cutting off military supplies to both sides,leading Islamabad to believe that they were "betrayed" by the United States who were their allies in the Cold War. Another negative consequence of the war was the growing resentment against the Pakistani government in East Pakistan, particularly for the West Pakistan's obsession with Kashmir. Bengali leaders accused the government for not providing adequate security for East Pakistan during the conflict, even though large sums of money were taken from the east to finance the war for Kashmir.Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was apprehensive of this situation, and the need for greater autonomy for the east led to another war between India and Pakistan in 1971..


Nuclear tests.
Attack on parliament 13th Dec 2008

The Other Side Of Trust - US Government and yahoo deal

Courtesy Outlook: 18 Feb,2007
Microsoft's unsolicited bid to purchase Yahoo has raised a key question for antitrust regulators: Does the deal bolster competition on the Internet?

Microsoft hopes to wrap up the $44.6-billion deal by the end of the year. Antitrust experts say the Redmond-based company has its eye on the political calendar—US president George Bush's term in office ends on January 20, 2009. Republicans have historically been inclined to favour mergers and Bush's administration is the same. Should Bush's Republican appointees decide the fate of this case, analysts expect a ruling in Microsoft's favour. But if a Democrat is sworn in as president, it could dash Microsoft's plans.

Robert H. Lande, who teaches antitrust law at the University of Baltimore, says it is not clear whether the deal can pass antitrust muster. If it is not reviewed by January 20, 2009, Lande points out "there will be a new group of enforcers—or at least there could be if the Democrats are elected and they are likely to be more aggressive. They won't trust the review done by Republicans and would want to start over." Members of the US Congress have said they want to conduct hearings into Microsoft's offer. But the final decision will be made by two antitrust enforcement agencies—either the Federal Trade Commission, or the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department.

The "incipiency doctrine" in merger law directs regulators to stop mergers "where the effect may be substantially to lessen competition or to tend to create a monopoly." However, it is not always interpreted thus. Karsten Weide, program director at idc, says if Microsoft purchases Yahoo, it would increase competition as the new entity can better compete with Google. He predicted regulatory problems are not likely. But Lande worries that the existing "three vigorous search engines, three competitors" will be whittled down to two, which will reduce competition and result in less choice for consumers.

Finally, Google has joined the debate. "This is...about preserving the Internet's underlying principles: openness and innovation," wrote David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer. Antitrust regulators will wrestle with these very issues in the coming months.

What enabled the software revolution in India

Times Of India 28th April,2002
The most revolutionary change in India has been the rise of computer software as a world-beater. India is not a miracle economy, but software is a miracle sector. Growing at 40 per cent annually for a decade, it earned $ 8 billion in exports last year. McKinsey estimates that it could earn up to $ 58 billion by 2008, more than India’s entire merchandise exports today. At a seminar on the Indian economy at Cornell University last week, Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy addressed a critical question: Could software have taken off without the economic reforms of the 1990s? Absolutely not, was his conclusion. Infosys started in 1981, but faced heavy weather for a decade. Getting even a telephone was a Herculean task. During the licence-permit raj, a retired government officer had higher priority for getting a telephone than any software firm! To import one computer costing $ 15,000, Narayana Murthy had to make 25 visits spread over 18 months to the bureaucracy in New Delhi. The cost of travel and hotels became almost as high as that of the computer! This idiocy ended only in 1991, when the abolition of industrial licensing unshackled Narayana Murthy and others of his ilk. In the bad old days, an RBI clerk took five days to decide if Narayana Murthy could travel abroad for one day. One software CEO got RBI permission to spend two days in Paris and one in Frankfurt to meet clients. But the clients changed their plans, so the CEO had to spend one day in Paris and two in Frankfurt. He immediately received a show-cause notice threatening him with prosecution! In this manner, controls imposed in the holy name of socialism were used to strangle all business initiative. The mind-set of the bureaucracy changed only when the whole licence-permit raj was dismantled. Tinkering would not have sufficed. The reforms of the 1990s blew away an entire jungle of controls on production, imports and foreign exchange. Current account convertibility made it possible for software companies to hire consultants and undertake global branding without case-by-case clearance. The old system had a controller of capital issues who decided at what price companies could issue shares, if at all. The controller invariably set prices below market rates. He looked at the track record of a company, not future prospects. But share prices are supposed to reflect future prospects, not history. The ossified rules of the controller’s office would have made it impossible for software companies to access the equity market. Fortunately, the reforms abolished the post of controller. Liberated entrepreneurs could not only float shares, but offer stock options to employees. They could even list on stock markets abroad, and so raise billions in equity in New York. But for this, Infosys could not have scaled such heights. Another vital policy change, says Narayana Murthy, was permission given to the biggest software companies in the world to invest in India with 100 per cent equity. This was opposed by vested interests and ideologues. In fact, the entry of giants like Microsoft and Oracle enhanced the competitive environment, and enabled Indian companies like Infosys and Wipro to learn how to keep pace with the best in the world. In the early 1990s, some people said MNCs must be kept out to allow the fledgling Indian software industry to develop. A second, pessimistic school of thought felt that companies like Infosys should wind up or sell out to foreigners, as Parle had done. A third option, regarded as fantasy by the old Left, was to compete with the MNCs and prove Indians were just as good. That is what Infosys and dozens of other Indian software companies succeeded in doing. Far from losing their staff to foreign firms, as predicted by pessimists, Infosys achieved higher staff retention rates than the MNCs. The neta-babu raj assumed that Indian companies were inherently inferior and needed to be shielded from international competition. Software exploded this myth. Open competition led not to the devastation, but the flowering of Indian companies. Standards and skills rose as they never would have in a protected environment. At Cornell, I expanded Murthy’s list of the blessings of liberalisation. Indian politicians and trade unions were anti-computerisation for decades, fearing job losses. They regarded computerisation as suitable for defence and nuclear research, but not for promoting consumer convenience or efficiency. So they gave no priority to software. Had there been a ministry for software with a large Plan allocation, a stifling bureaucratic jungle would have been created. Luckily no ministry or minister existed, and so software was able to take off unshackled by well-meaning socialists. Traditional exports were crippled by the vagaries and inefficiency of unionised ports, railways and road transport. Software exports, however, went over the air-waves and cables, and so were invisible to trade unions and bureaucrats. They were invisible even to bureaucrats in the West, and so escaped any protectionist backlash. The software revolution brought good governance and shareholder value to Indian stock markets. The key here was a little-noticed reform, Manmohan Singh’s abolition of wealth tax on shares. In the bad old days, no businessman wanted his share price to rise much, because it invited an extortionate wealth tax. In such circumstances, creating shareholder value was hara-kiri, so entrepreneurs kept profits black and off the books. The abolition of wealth tax on shares made it possible, for the first time, for entrepreneurs to aim at a 10-fold or 100-fold increase in share prices without committing tax suicide. When Singh introduced this reform, he had no idea he was making possible the software revolution. That reveals the real case for liberalisation. The aim is not to promote this or that sector, but to expand the universe of the possible. The aim is to empower people to dream of things that never were, ask why not, and then just do it. That is how reforms made the software revolution possible.

My First Video

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Rembrandts theme song