First Day at Polaris Software Lab . Hyderabad

Today was my first day of the job at Polaris in Hydearabad. We(my friends of college and myself) are provided temporary residance in a company Guest -house for 15 days.
A cab has been arranged for us to pick us up from the guest house to the company location. In the morning at eight a cab (more precisely a Maruti Alto) picked us up for a small ten minutes drive to the office building. So we reached the company office building more called "The Capital". "The Capital" is a five storie tall and is spread over an area of about 20-25 thousand sq. feet. It is situated between a number of skyscrapers of companies like Microsoft, ICICI, Wipro etc. which makes it look small. But the architecture of our building is, i must admit, much better than any of those.
We were provided visitors' pass to enter the building as it was our first day and hence the enployee pass were not yet ready. The loddy of building was beautifully designed and also had a small indoor garden which accentuated its beauty.
After waiting for a few minutes in the lobby, we were led to a conference room for the commencement of the indduction program. The room was trepizoidal shaped and could accomodate about 30 people at a time. Here we were provided with a joining kit (which had a number of forms to be filled-up and signed), a diary and a heavy -duty book called the Polaris Language Book. So after filling-up the forms we headed for lunch at the cafeterium. Well, the building has in all 3 cafeteria which serve various types of veg-biryanis and few chinese dishes, but then again the rates were nominal.
After lunch it was time for the second half of the day. Two leading-banks' representatives had come to lure us into opening our salary accounts in their banks. The representatives of City Bank and HDFC gave a presentation each, and after pondering over it for a few moments I decided for HDFC. After filling-up the form and signing for 250th time in the day finally my account was opened. I was provided with a debut cum shopping card and a check book then and there itself (all thanks to the readymade account opening kits for fast service) . This was pretty much the end of the day for us at Polaris.

Book Review: The Godfather

The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Genre: Fiction
Pages: 446
The Godfather is my first Mario Puzo novel and perhaps his most popular one. I was particularly curious about this book because of its title and I knew it’s based on Mafia families and Mafia wars. The 446 page long novel is partitioned into 9 sub-parts or ‘books’ (as the author calls it) and further it has 32 chapters in all; each chapter dealing with a different era of life of the protagonist: Don Corleone. The story is dated on the days following II World War and location is NY City. Don Corloene is a just and a very clever character. He is revered and respected formidably by each and everyone around him and I dare not write a wrong word about him as it might upset his followers.
The story revolves around the life of Don however enough importance is given to all other characters as well. Other characters includes Don’s three sons, a daughter, his wife and many other people whom Don has done some favor during his life.
The story falls light on the hierarchical structure of an Italian Mafioso Family. Don heads the family tree followed by his councilor or consigliori and two captains called copregimes. It also tells about the code-of-conduct among the Families.
The story has been written in third person and hence each event, as it happens, is seen from a different person’s perspective and hence the story never seems monotonous. However the narration, as compared to other contemporaries is not up to the mark. Also there are too many names (of characters) stated in the story, so I had to turn back pages at times to recall the character. The author had, at times, digressed too much.
On the positive part, the author has done plausibly well to keep all the characters involved in main story. The language is simple and story is very interesting.
Rating: 7.6/10

Book Review: The Time Machine

The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
Genre: Science-fiction
Pages: 148
The story is about a time traveler who has travelled through the future and now he shares his experience about the journey. He has worked up a time machine which he uses to visit future – to the year eight hundred and two thousand seven hundred and one A.D. (I don’t quite understand which year the author is talking about).
The author has put forth his imagination of the world of future in a beautiful way. He talks about two different breeds of people who will survive in future : The Morlocks – Undergrounders and The Eloi – Upper-worlders.
The language is simple and comprehensible. But at points the narration is not picturesque. The starting and ending is very strong and impressive. Author has kept me interested and involved in the story. But I think the narration could have been better. The genre is Science-fiction but there is not much of it. You should read the book if the world of future fascinates you a bit.
Rating: 6.5/10

Book Reveiw: The Monk who sold his Ferarri

The Monk who sold his Ferrari – Robin S. Sharma
Genre: Fiction (Motivational)
Pages: 208
The monk who sold his Ferrari is a motivational fiction novel through which the author has tried to shed light on the secret of eternal happiness.
This was my first novel of its kind and also the first one by the author. Before reading this one, I had a prejudice that these kinds of books (motivational ones) are just a waste of time. I mean who doesn’t know what to do and what not to do. These are for people who are not clear with their aims and thoughts. But after going through it my opinion was changed. The book has an ocean of practical knowledge and I think everyone should read such books once in a while.
The book is on the story of two lawyers: Julian and his sub-ordinate cum friend John. Julian is a very successful lawyer and possesses everything one could ever dream of. John reveres Julian and wants to be like him. But Julian is not happy or rather satisfied with his life. He has a heart-attack which changes the course of his life. He decides to go to India in search of spiritual enlightenment and true happiness. It’s now that his life takes a u-turn and becomes more beautiful. The transition from a corporate stooge to a monk is what the story is all about.
Overall there is not much of a story line in the novel. It’s just the motivational part that is emphasized upon. So if you are looking for a good and light story it’s not quite the book for you. Language is always direct but at one point the author has shifted from narration in first person to third person and back to first person which is bizarre.
I’d like to recommend it to people willing to read their first motivational novel. (I haven’t read any other motivational novel and that is why I think so).
Rating: 7/10

Book Reveiw: The Kite Runner : Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hossieni
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 206
The novel is mostly about how the lives of the people of Afghanistan had changed during the latter half of twentieth century. The story revolves around the life of a boy Amir who narrates the story. He was born to an effluent Pastun(Sunni) family in Kabul. He had a love deprived childhood and had only one friend Hassan who was a Hazara(Shi’a). Communities in Afghanistan are divided along the lines of classes in which the Sunni’s are considered as masters and Shi’a as slaves.
As the story moves on, the condition in Afghanistan also changes, first due to the atrocities of the Russians and later due to the brutalities of Taliban and Mujaheedin. On the other hand life of Amir also takes turbulent turns. So I’d say it’s not just about Afghans and Talibs but there is a lot more in it. The story is full of emotional content.
The narration has been done very patiently and elaborately (which at times get boring). The story takes a few unpredictable twists which makes it all the more interesting. But I’d say that the ending was not up to the mark. The author has made abundant use of Farsi phrases followed by an explanation for each one of it. Overall the story is amazing but the language was slightly dull.
Rating: 7.2/10