Way back in 1977 when a working group on Distributed Systems at ANSI was asked to work on OSI Model ( Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model ) - they had little idea that the concept of distributed systems would one day grow to create the mother of all 'distributed systems' - the Internet. Technically the internet is a massive network of hardware - but conceptually, its a platform (or a cloud if you prefer) upon which Software Services can run seamlessly making it transparent to the users, where the software is running, where the data comes from, which hardware is serving server cycles ... and so on. All this abstraction is possible today only because of the well designed OSI Model which separates the "Presentation" from data and network from the underlying hardware. The OSI model has also helped to come up with protocols like TCP which have made compatibility a non-issue when it comes to connecting computers across the world (which run on different hardw

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As a part of my day job with KPMG, I work with many financial institutions consulting then on their Technology aspects. Indian Financial institutions – especially private banks and funds – aim to leverage Information technology to improve their operations and financial control alike. The top managements of almost all reputed institutions are quite bullish on using technology in all spheres of their work – however when one comes in close contact with the way technology is leveraged on ground, one starts questioning the efficacy of mere top management commitment. What I have observed is that for most line managers , Information Technology is simply about mapping the existing processes on the IT systems, resulting into only the record keeping process getting digitized. The process continues to operate with the same mechanics as before and in effect the process re-engineering opportunities, that an IT implementation offers, are lost. As the Harvard professor on enterprise 2.0, Andrew McAfe

Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak. Second in Line ... A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... what more can I say........

I tried my hand at some amateur literature - attached is a short story I thought up on my way to home on last Thursday. Do leave your feedback in comments below. You can also download a PDF of the story from here . Thanks to my friends Abhishek , Payal, Shubham , Arijit, Somnath, Milind, Sabyasachi and Ashita for doing the proof reading and providing valuable inputs. The Tree A Short Story by Nikhil Kulkarni Murtaza watched with emptiness inside him as they chopped the massive trunk of the huge banyan into smaller prices to be loaded into the lorry. His thoughts went back to the day 45 years ago when he had moved into Mumbai. 20 years old, newly married he came to Mumbai from his native town Meermirzapur in search of a living. When he had told people in his neighbourhood that he was planning to shift to Mumbai after marriage – everyone laughed him off –“ Wahan kya Hero Banega? Arey bahot bada shehar hai – kaise rahega wahan par ?” [Will you become a movie star there? It’s a

So true for India as well - I hope corporates in India also realize it Excerpt from : The "Work From Home" Generation from Read/WriteWeb by Alex Iskold The Good Things No commute: If you live in the suburbs and work in the city ... Flexibility: Working from home likely implies flexible hours - having flexible hours is a huge benefit for example you can exercise during the time of the day which suits them best. Saving money and the environment: having no commute has another big benefit - financial savings. With the cost of gasoline going through the roof, not having to drive is important for everyone. Working from home also has a global environmental benefit. By commuting less we save energy and reduce pollution. Increased productivity: A typical office environment is noisy, people are talking, phones are ringing, co-workers are coming by to chat, and there are always crowds near the coffee and soda machines. At home, these distractions are not going to be present. But, if y

In response to my previous post my friend Payal (who had forwarded me the video) - sent me an email. Her email is almost a blog post in itself - so I thought it would be a good idea to post it here. Here you go ... [ previous post ... there is many a slip between the cup and the lip.] I understand all those pitfalls... all I am saying by that link is that the image of India is getting better in the outside world. I am happy about it ... but I wish there was more substance to it ... Its not just what meets the eyes (infra) that needs to be developed, there are softer concerns too like security and resilience of justice system not to mention corruption and the lack of trust in offices and general life. ऐसा नही है कि US में 2 hours 'stuck in traffic' नही होता, but India में it is more often than not... you know when NRIs come back to India, they always see the "progress" in India.. big malls erected, flyovers etc and think "Hey! India is really shining"

A friends of mine who is in the US, sent me this YouTube link: While this India rising story is fast becoming a cliche, the video nevertheless makes things look quite amazing. And so many Indians abroad seem to be getting more and more sold on the India story. I however believe there's more to it than meets the eye!! :-) The troubles of working (or operating business) in India are quite irking - for example I was stuck for 2 hours today in Ghatkopar - fortunately the habit of having a book in my bag helped me - but imagine the amount of morning productive time I wasted! The stock market which went up and was hailed to stay put even as the US melted under sub-prime, has finally crashed today [ last reported it fell 1300 odd points]. The real estate prices which have been rising in speculation are already falling in smaller cities and while they have stayed put in metros - the whole urban dream seems to be crumbling because of the inability of the governments to be able to suppleme

Its become quite chilly in Mumbai - for the first time in Mumbai I am enjoying 'winters' the way I have known them to be (when I was in Bhopal). Recorded Temperatures in the island city are about 11-13ºC- and especially in Powai they seem to have dropped below 10 ... its a wonderful feeling. And it seems as if Jayant Narlikar's Science fiction which I read in my school days - which predicted snowfall in Mumbai in 2010 - is heading towards materializing. As the McDonald's advert goes - I am lovving it!!

Have you ever been surrounded by a flurry of activities - too busy to even notice that you are out of toothpaste - yet felt lonely and deserted? I keep bumping into this emotion time and again - don't know why! It starts mostly when you are asleep - and suddenly wake up with that feeling of being alone wanting that someone was around to whom you could talk to about the "certain" thing that was bugging you or to simply face another human being. And its not that you don't see faces after waking up - but you simply don't want to share things then. Nothing wrong with these faces, but you think they would never understand - and so your sharing will only aggravate this feeling of being lonely - and you keep mum. One realizes in such times that, after all, each one us has come alone and will go alone from this world - so lets make most of our times while we are here ...