Author: anandnataraj

Entrepreneur, Blogger, Traveller, Pet Lover, Networker, Social Drinker, Party Animal, Movie Addict, Startup Enthusiast, Organic Gardner, Avid Reader....

Attitude is what matters


Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference! 

This is attitude;

IF AN EGG IS BROKEN BY AN OUTSIDE FORCE..A LIFE ENDS.

IF AN EGG BREAKS FROM WITHIN… LIFE BEGINS.

GREAT THINGS ALWAYS BEGIN FROM WITHIN.

Need & Greed


A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long.” they answered in unison.

“Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?”

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

“But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,and take siestas with our wives.

In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.

We have a full life.”

The tourist interrupted,

“I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?”

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.

Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City , Los Angeles , or even New York City !

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?”

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years.” replied the tourist.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my friend, that’s when it gets really interesting, ” answered the tourist, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” asked the fishermen.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”

“With all due respect sir, but that’s exactly what we are doing now. So what’s the point wasting twenty-five years?” asked the Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is:

Know where you’re going in life….
you may already be thereJ

This time it is CitiBank


I’m tired of having issues with Banks and getting them sorted. This time issue is with CitiBank. So, here is a small synopsis of what has happened;

I had a Citibank Shoppers Shop CreditCard with number 5189 **** **** 8011 and I’ve been using this card for more than 5 years. On 7th of December I made a payment to settle my monthly dues through CitiBank Online banking. The very next day I tried to book a bus ticket to Madurai and the transaction was getting rejected. Then I loggedin to my Online Banking Account only to find the card to be missing from my Online Banking.

Then I immediately called CitiBank’s call center and after lots of confirmation I was told that my card has been upgraded and when I asked for the current status. I was told that the card was sent for embossing & representative said I’ll be send my card later. When I asked for a commitment on getting my new card. She denied to give a commitment. I was tired of such irresponsible response from bankers.

With lots of frustration I said that was the primary card I’m using and I said I need it badly. I asked her to take a request to push the process. She immediately replied will take a note of my request and I’ll be getting my card based on clearance in the Queue.

I was discussing about this with my CFO and he said this is a Banking Violation and legally banks are not supposed to terminate a service owing to upgrade or new service and that too when a request is not made by the customer. He asked me to file a compliant. But I’m sick and tired of doing it and as usual let me flush it our in my mouth-piece and move forward.

My First Google AdSense Cheque


Yesterday received my first Google AdSense cheque for INR 4,652/-. I’ve been blogging for almost 5 years now and this is the money which I got it from the Ad posted in my Blog. It took me 5 years to accumulate this minimum amount. I’m sure it wont take another 5 years to earn the same money. I must thank all my readers who have motivated me to write often, Google for supporting bloggers by their AdSense model which makes us to earn a revenue from our hobby.

Though the amount is small I’m planning to invest it in some Mutual Funds instead of spending it unnecessarily. Here is the copy of the Cheque.

Rain Rain Rain


These are some of the rarest times in Chennai… Climate is at 21 degrees, it is raining continuously for a week, News channels are happy airing all the scams, wonderful climate to workout etc. etc.

I’m enjoying the most out of these rarest seasons in Chennai… Only sad thing is I’ve been suffering from Cold & Fever for almost a week and was unable to have my favorite ice-creams, cold-coffee or milk-shakes…

Also another special thing about this monsoon is that I’ve been at home most of the time and this is happening after almost a decade… During schooling days we had monsoon running for a week and we use to get 3 – 4 cyclone holiday. All neighbors will assemble in one place and we all use to play carron board as there wont be any power during monsoon those days.

But this monsoon I spent most of the time watching TV, Working from Home & a lot of time for self-analysis. Now it is time to pack bags to Madurai and spend some Cool moments there…

Death of GrandUncle


Went to attend the funeral of my Grand Uncle who expired last Saturday. For me it is an experience which was new because I’m attending my first funeral in a Village & see the emotions of people.

My Grand Mother’s is a big family with 8 sisters and 2 brothers. My Grand Uncle was the last one Kid and he is 66 Years and all other siblings were elder to him. It was really heart breaking to see how all sisters cried and that showed what emotion is, what love is.

All arrangements for funeral were shared by all Village folks and everyone contributed their part. I’ve never seen such kind of participation in Cities.

Then it was normal routine done by my uncles to their father. The had to take a Dip at Kaveri River which is just 50 meters from their house. Though I’ve visited the village a zillion times I’ve never taken a dip in the river and it was my first opportunity to take it. Also we are lucky to see the river full because of the rains.

For me looking at the emotions, participation of people were all new and a new experience.

Lives were at Stake!!!


Yesterday one of my GrandUncle (Grandma’s Brother) died and we had to visit his funeral at Trichy. Since ours is a large family we had a around 10 folks who had to make it. Since it was heavily raining and everyone was not prepared for a drive we decided to hire a TempoTraveller. We all boarded the Van by 9 PM and it was all misery from then on.

  • Because of unavailability of driver the Cab owner has sent another driver who has just completed his 13 hour shift.
  • Immediately we found this guy sleeping while driving.
  • Myself & 2 of my uncle had to engage in a conversation with the Driver to see to it that he is not sleeping.
  • We took 5+ Tea breaks to refresh him.
  • He feel sleep and applied breaks on the middle of the road & we have to thank almighty that there were no heavy vehicles behind us.
  • He slept and he didn’t notice a lorry in the front and I had to alert him.
  • Then twice he would have collided with a lorry.
  • Then he took a nap for 30 min since he couldn’t resist his sleep.
  • In spite of all this agony we were friendly with him. But the gesture was not reciprocated. When ladies wanted to find a good place to get refreshed. We missed a right turn to get to the Petrol Bunk. This guy refused to take a reverse or a U-turn. Instead we had to goto another Petrol Bunk which had nasty toilets.

Then we reached the place by 5.30 in the morning. What would take 3 – 4 hours to travel a distance of 300 KM took us double the time, with lot of stress… The price paid was myself & 2 of my uncles spent the whole night without any sleep… Also the condition of the vehicle deserver another blog…

What worries me is people are getting ruthless and there is not moral values, business ethics. The owner of the Cab has played with the lives of 10 people. He could have told that he is falling short of Driver. But the greed of making money has made him push a person who has already worked for 13 hours and had to drive another long distance and that too in the night.

Human lives have become too cheap these days…

Back after a GAP


For the first time in history I was deprived of Blogging since I religiously started it. Credits must goto Gaza Hackers who kept bringing our servers down and later our own efforts to fix the loopholes and get things back on track.

In the mean time a lot has happened and there are lots to write. I must thank all my readers who have been enquiring about the status of my Blog through emails, facebook, linkedin, SMS etc.

All those message are a great dose of inspiration for me to write. I’d like to thank Mr.Bala Krishnan for following up with the hosts and fixing things at the earliest. Without him it would have taken more time for me to get on track.

Thank you everyone for all your support.

Seasons


There was once a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said “the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.” The second son said “no, it was covered with green buds and full of promise.” The third son disagreed; he said “it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing I have ever seen.” The last son disagreed with all of them; he said “it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.”

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree’s life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. “If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, the fulfillment of your fall.”

Am Bored & Reasons


Am feeling Bored more often these days because;

– Of shrinking friend base…
– Lack of mental sink with loved ones…
– Doing same task at work for almost a decade…
– Retiring from Sportsmanship…
– Staying away from problems for a long time…
– Transformation from dis-obedient to Obedient son…

Considering all the listed points. I think change in my behaviour & character makes me feel bored.

It is strange because people hated me when I was myself but I enjoyed. Today they like me but am not enjoying it.

Should I be myself ignoring others? Or make others happy & keep feeling bored?