What is "comfort zone"?

In my not so past "past life", I used the word "comfort zone" liberally when I could not justify the reasons for my actions or in-actions. What exactly is a comfort zone? I thought. And how did I break it after 5-6 years?

I would put down my thoughts and let others ponder and comment on them.

I feel comfort zone is fear of unknown. "Unknown", not "New" is the key. We all like new. We all like changes. But only when we feel we have some control over them. Once we feel that will not the case, we use the word and say that we are in the comfort zone, while also hating it.

Now 2 lines on how I broke it. First, I decided on threshold when I will do a change and will be able to justify it. For you, it can be an event at work or home; just take a pick. Next was to try to minimize or control that change, which can be a fall back scenario. Once I had these 2 figured out, it was the matter of waiting for the thresh hold event to occur. Now just be sure to keep the threshold realistic enough or you may never attain it :). Life goes on for others, but remember that it will go on for you too and we all adjust.

You may have already known all this,but I wanted to put my 5 week "out of comfort zone" experience in front of you all. In fact, once I was out, I realized there no zone per say. It was just my fear that quickly disappeared. Please share your thoughts and comments.....

Hyperloop -- what an idea sirji

A line from Airtel commercial but the idea indeed seems fresh but obvious

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/hyperloop_n_1913683.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-elon-musks-hyperloop-2013-5

Revive/Unbrick your dead HP touchpad

Finally a solution to semi bricked  HP touchpad. I bricked mine almost 18 months back and was patiently waiting for a fix to the problem. 

Here is what i have tried in course of 18 months:

1.) Brought LiPo charger and tore apart touchpad and charged battery externally.

2.) replaced touchpad with new battery.

3.) tried home button + power button. 

Nothing else worked and finally rootzwiki has a solution. I came to know that it is not an hardware problem but a corrupted boot loader, firmware or other software issue. I revived mine last night and finally excited to share this with wider audience.

Note: Do not try this on a good working touchpad. This method is only for dead touchpads.

TPDebrick is a program used to "debrick" hp touchpad corrupted due to raw partition, bootloader, A6 firmware.

Symptoms: White battery with question mark in center; Nothing happens on power on; Computer detects touchpad but it never turns on; frustated owner :)

What do you need?

Touchpad, USB cable, OEM Charger, Linux (I used mint linux for the process), Below files:

1.) http://downloads.hel...05hstnhwifi.jar

2.) http://goo.im/devs/j...ebrick-v004.zip

3.) http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/install-adb-and-fastboot-android-tools.html4.) http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Dfu-util

Finally the fun:

1.) Start mint linux

2.) Install ADB and fastboot Android tools in linux. Follow below post:

http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/install-adb-and-fastboot-android-tools.html

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

3.) Install Dfu-util. follow below post:

http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Dfu-util

4.) Download below file:

http://goo.im/devs/jcsullins/tpdebrick/tpdebrick-v004.zip

6.) Download webOS 3.0.5 doctor:

http://downloads.hel...05hstnhwifi.jar

7.) Open Terminal and CD to Download folder - "cd Download"

8.) unzip tpdebrick-v004

9.) Navigate to tpdebrick-v004 folder

10.) Run "sudo ./tpdebrick XX" where XX is 16 or 32 depending on version for your hp touchpad.

11.) Grab coffee. The process might take 10-15 minutes.

12.) You would see "All Done" message at the end. if you see this then you have done your job correctly.

13.) Unplug your touchpad and charge for 8-10 hours. the moment you start charging you should now see a blinling light in center home button.

Sources:

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/38786-tpdebrick-v004/

 http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/install-adb-and-fastboot-android-tools.html http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Dfu-util

Please let me know incase of questions.

Thanks.

Travel to India in Nov?

Chicago, IL (CHI - All Airports) to Mumbai (Bombay), India (BOM)

United has $970 to $1089 travel deals for Nov 30 days to India. Unbelievable and cheap..very good price for Nov even if you have to fly to Chicago :).

Sample Nov 17 to Dec 17 is $970

What do you think?

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130506123147-15077789-it-s-easier-to-be-honest

What do you think? Does it help or not?

Hadoop --Good one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziqx2hJY8Hg

Bombay Talkies is a 4 stories of conflict

4 shorts by 4 renowned directors and a good cast. How can it be bad?

And believe me it is not. For a change, I had read no reviews before watching the movie. In fact, had no idea if it was not one story but was in fact a movie with 4 short segments. Infact, I did not even know the full star cast before the titles rolled in.

I have my own degree of likeliness for each segment, but none the less, all shorts are well acted and do emphasize conflicts, struggles, madness, joy and small victories in day to day life. There are many good moments, one being father telling his son that "achhaar ke dibbe me murraba nahin lana" which is so true and obvious. I found all the statements made in the film were indeed straight forward, true as well as obvious; but stated so effortlessly. Nawazuddin Siddiqu is always impressive but director has used him brilliantly in a scene with  beautiful flute piece (Tagore's music). There are no dialog as the scene progresses I felt immersed with all actors including the child. In fact I liked the flute so much that I went and googled to see whose music was used.

In all segments, there is some reference, direct or indirect, to magic of the movies. My favorite segments were that Anurag Kashyap's and Dibakar Banergee have directed. You may have others. The best thing I liked about film is that is not loud but makes you think. I see "Barfi" was nominated for foreign film category in Oscars, and I think this is a much better candidate this year. Still year is still in teens so there may be others by the time it ends.  

Lastly, the title song is fun and sets the right mood. Go and see the movie when you get a chance. You will see the glimpses of  the society and the impact Bollywood has on millions in India.

Now to end with the title (my favorite that I mentioned above)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63MK70RBowU

My requirements and your requirements...who is right?

Good one for all to understand...

http://tynerblain.com/blog/2006/11/21/ten-requirements-gathering-techniques/

http://tynerblain.com/blog/2007/09/13/elicitation-techniques-2/

Quit Google to become entrepreneur

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-career-interview-with-ritika-sanghi-atlogys/20130430.htm

Technology in future.

http://matadornetwork.com/life/24-incredible-new-technologies-youll-see-by-2021/

Living social security alert

The accounts were hacked though they are saying that the passwords were not compromised. But still asking to change passwords...

https://www.livingsocial.com/createpassword

To the Pi fans - here comes the UDOO ("you do")

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/23/tech/innovation/udoo-android-linux-pc/

Those who don't know the Pi, here you go
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/28/tech/raspberry-pi-inventions-mci/index.html

And here are few ideas if you have $50-$100 to spare
http://piprojects.org/

http://blog.makezine.com/2013/04/14/47-raspberry-pi-projects-to-inspire-your-next-build/

When is the THE right time?

My topic of confusion is what probably is shared by many. How do you plan for something in life? A new job or or a new position or even a new place to move to? My experiences are that I tend to get comfortable with the flow of life when there are least disruptions. 

But is that what you want? Is it good to have disruptions at only certain times in your life? I am not sure what the answer is. Sometimes, I feel that most of us are forced to make decisions only when we are cornered. More comfortable I get with things around me, more difficult is for me to take that first step to change the very same things even when I know that I should risk and disrupt. 

Is there something called THE RIGHT TIME? Or we should plan small changes to steer our lives towards the goal over a period of time? I feel that the latter would again slide us into a comfortable flow that would be difficult to change. What are your thoughts?  Is there a right time for change or change just happens?

A difficult decision

A difficult decision…Whether to stay in US for a short time or for long

Most of NRI’s staying in USA has this burning question at one point of time. It was an easy choice for those who came here in early 70’s/80’s or 90’s as there was a big difference in terms of opportunities, infrastructure and money but now in 2000 era it’s a difficult equation as lot of metro cities in India have seen growth like never before in the last decade. All the luxuries of the world one can enjoy their. The infrastructure is improving with each passing day. The salaries have increased in leaps and bounds. People’s spending habits have changed dramatically. The earlier thinking of keep saving for a rainy day doesn’t apply anymore. Now people want to enjoy their present. With the help of various credit loans it has become very easy to get a car, buy a house and go for vacation to foreign destinations.

So what exactly are the reasons people still want to stay abroad… I believe it’s not just the infra and luxuries but the overall atmosphere. Most of the people who haven’t stayed outside India; they are of the opinion that India is rich in culture and heritage and you won’t get those values anywhere else in the world. The great Indian joint family system ensures family stays close together. Lot of people in India says that there are no family values in USA. After 18 years of age children stay on their own, people don’t believe in marriages or they don’t think twice before going for a divorce. Children don’t take care of their parents when they are old.

But I think that’s not entirely true… until and unless you stay and experience other side of the world, it’s very difficult to comment.

I have been living outside India from last 10 years and I think most of the values especially in middle income class families are same wherever you go. Families like to stay close to each other… may not be the same house but close enough so that they are able to celebrate together or if the need arises they are able to help out each other. Kids staying outside of their homes after 18 years of age; I think it’s more of a cultural thing. American people believe in self independence and they want their children to be self sustaining, mature early in life so that they are able to take on the harsh realities of life later on in a much better way. Many People in India say that parents at abroad don’t spend on their kids’ higher studies which is true but not applicable to all instead I have seen lot of families paying very high tuition fees for their kids out of their retirement savings or they pay a part of the tuition fees and rest the kid needs to take an education loan. I think that ensures that the kid understands the value of their higher education and they complete their studies responsibly to get a better job.

There are special days to celebrate Mother’s Day or Fathers day. Most people in India have issues with that but I don’t see any issue in fact it reminds us out of very busy schedules that we should look back and thank our parents for what they did for us. In fact there is a special day to celebrate for brothers as Bhaiya Dooj and for sisters as Rakhi in India. 

From my experience I have observed that American families are very close to each other and they take care of each other just like the way people care in India.

Obviously there are pros and cons

More to come...

Welcome to finallyStart...

Welcome folks,

After one year of chit chat finally we begin our journey. I know we don't have any target in mind but believe me that's what I always wanted. As they say real fun is in journey not the destination. There are no boundaries no goals. Unleash your talent and just glide in the air. The whole world is open and waiting for you to embrace it.

Wishing you luck and I hope its going to be an exciting and eventful journey.

Lets roll.

Yours Truly
Amit.