My Thoughts !

Yeah, I switched jobs again :-)

I've now joined Eclipse's Platform UI team thru IBM. Its interesting to see that writing blog helped me to land a job. No definitely not this personal blog, but its my other blog Eclipse Tips. This move basically changes a few things. Like now my official laptop is not a MacBookPro, but a Lenova ThinkPad loaded with Windows ** Sigh **. One thing that didn't change is my location. I will still be staying in Coimbatore, working remotely and visiting Bangalore in regular intervals.

Its been a one hectic week @ IBM with all the paper work, inductions, team lunch in Nandana Palace and an team outing in Golden Palm resort ;-) Now that I have some time, I wrote an initial draft of what it feels to be in the Big Blue. Then I looked into each bullet point in every page of the Black Book of "Business Guidelines" and edited the portions which I'm not supposed to reveal. Here is the edited one:

I'm joining IBM as XXXXXX XXXXX and will be seated in the XXXXX XXXXX building in XXXXXX city. Believe it or not, I'm in Band XX and getting an annual income of Rs XXX.XX Crores. There are many things that are good about IBM. For instance the XXXXXX XXXXX software that is used internally for XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX. Now how many companies really do that? Companies with this massive size usually won't XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX, but IBM choose to do it. In case you are not surprised, IBM also XXXXXXX XXX XXXXX XXXX with XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX, so that XXXX XXX XXXX happens. If you ask me one thing I don't like about IBM, it would be: XXXX XXXX XXXX the XXX XXX when XXXX XXXX. Hope you agree with me completely.

Yeah, and the usual disclosure. Any opinion expressed here, in any other blogs, forums, websites, "Letters to the Editor" column in "The Hindu" daily, weekly magazine's sudoku column, my daughter's drawing book and scribbling on the toilet papers, are not necessary my employers opinion, but all my own.

In case you are publishing a newsletter or sending HTML formatted emails, don't rely on the images in it. Here is what I saw when I got an email:


When I opted to view the images, I get the full "picture" :-)

During the Valparai trip, if someone really enjoyed the trip to the core, it would be my daughter. Let the pictures speak:

From Priceless Expressions - 9

From Priceless Expressions - 9

From Priceless Expressions - 9

From Priceless Expressions - 9

From Priceless Expressions - 9

From Priceless Expressions - 9

From Priceless Expressions - 9

At Fiorano, with 10 hrs/day of official work timings and 6 days per week schedule, its easy to get addicted to work. For a break, guys planned for a 5 day trip to Goa last weekend, but then that got shortened to 3 days. I would have joined them, if not for the trip that I've planned with my family. I haven't gone for any trips in the past few months, so I really needed an outing.

I decided it will not be a sight-seeing trip and its only meant for lazing around. Valparai sounded like a perfect place. There are lot of tea estates and many bungalows owned by them for their owners/managers guest house. It will be occupied only for few weeks in an year, so the rest of the time it will be rented out. I've booked a room in the Indraprastha Bungalow, a property of Waterfalls Estate.

Its around 100 kms from my house and once I go above the Aliyar Dam, the road becomes so scenic. Its been raining & drizzling. With greenish everywhere and with the mist, the travel was so good.











We couldn't enjoy all the way till Valparai, as the Bungalow is actually 10kms before the town. The bungalow is built by the English when the ruled. There is a 100 year old pine tree which spells the age of the place.





But don't underestimate the luxuries of the place. Its posh and well maintained. A small garden with a big lawn is the one my daughter loved the most.







Whenever it didn't rain/drizzle, we went out for a walk inside the Tea Gardens. We even visited the Tea Factory in the evening and saw how tea is made from those leaves.









It doesn't come cheap compared to hotels, but not as costly as a resort as well. The owners of this place are very clear that hospitality is not their business. Its both their strength and their weakness. If you want a menu card with variety of dishes or a swimming pool, perhaps its not a place for you. But for a person like me, good food (the care taker Mr Perumal is an excellent cook), nice ambiance, add with the fact that no cellphone network could reach you there, its a perfect weekend getaway to laze around.

If you want to see the entire set of pictures, its here.