Off due to chicken pox

I'm back to office after 7 days. I was down with chicken pox for the last 7-9 days. I was off from work for a continuous 7 days and thats the first time in the last 3 years.

Chicken pox(CP) is an air borne disease and its absolutely non-seasonal. There are several myths surrouding CP. Traditional myths and regional myths for the attack but the technical reason is a virus named varicella-zoster. I wonder why scientists name viruses or diseases in so tounge twisting way.

CP generally shows up many visible changes in your body for easy identification. Itchy scalp, small insect bite sized blisters growing up to red lesion all over the body. The blisters start generally from scalp, face, trunk and then crawl to lower body gradually if the intensity of CP is more. You will feel a deep urge to scratch the blisters. A big NO to scratching. Scratching leaves you with scars once the lesions are healed after CP. Sometimes these scars may be life time. You may not be able to get rid of these scars at all. So, NO scratching at all. Resist. A logical suggestion is to trim your nails so that the scratching and the impact can be minimal if any. The blisters grow in to lesions and then form up to a crusty layer. Cautious not to prick or remove that crusty layer until it fall off itself after complete healing.

The whole thing may last for 7-20 days depending on the intensity of the attack. The sooner you identify the disease the sooner you can be treated and the sooner you can start healing and the sooner you will be fit again. 

Food: Though there is no restriction on diet but spicy, oily masala foods are better to be avoided. Simple meal will not harm you. Meal with as little salt as possible. Generally spices, salt slows up the healing of blisters.

Medication: No standard medication is mandated for CP, as it will take its course no matter what. But its prefered to take the minimum medication to speed up the healing of the blisters/lesions, avoid any fever, avoid body pains which are quite common problems turning up during CP. Neem leaves or twigs are generally considered as best medicines for CP. I donno the technicalities of it.

Clean & Tidy: Doctors suggest to avoid bath for the first 4-5 days when the seriousity of the disease is at its peak. And even traditionally its suggested to avoid bath for the first 5 days and thats then disease is to expected to take a downtrend after the 5th day and that was true in my case. Just keep yourself clean with fresh clothes, tidy and dry surroundings. Stay at home. Avoid general contact with people as much as possible as CP is highly contagious.

And dats it!!!

I was badly bored though with a TV, laptop, internet, books, lots of movies, ipod. I always thought it was possible to stay at home for long durations provided all the above. But, i was wrong.

Vehicle Insurance

Its peak time 7:30PM. Obviously it is then you get to see some traffic police ACTIVE at the signals. If you have lived in india for a while now, you get what i meant by active. The CI or SI sitting beside on a bike or in a patrol vehicle and some constables trying to catch the terrorists. I mean the two wheelers. This is a regular scene you will get to see at major junctions or traffic points. These extra active constables makes sure to let go the autorickshaws or APSRTC buses, running autos etc leaving out huge cloud of black smoke. Its doesn't look like pollution to them. But they would certainly stop the two wheelers with full gear helmet, registration certificate, pollution check, insurance papers etc. What the f***...you guys? Is that what you are trained for? Is that what you are asked to do?


Last friday, i was on my way to home from work. I stopped at the red signal. I was in the first lane of the crowd. Just a moment and i felt a snatch of my bike keys. It was a traffic constable asking me to come aside. I understood its going to be Rs.100 or so bang to my wallet. I showed him all the required papers except the insurance. I never renewed my bike insurance after its expiry after the first year of purchase. Somehow i didn't see the need of it. I was sure. I thought its just waste of money and its true with most of the people. But a four wheeler should have a insurance. May be i am ignorant.


He insisted on the insurance. I lied. I said that the bike was sent to regular servicing and i missed to place it back in the kit after that. He was still looking at the traffic to see if he can get some more prey.


He: "300 fine"..in a dominant voice
Me: "Sir alaa kaadhu...choodandi plz",
He: "Peddha sir akkadey undu. Velli receipt thecchuko."
Me: "Choodandi sir"
He: "Insurance ledhu ga. Fine 300"


I was quitely looking at him. I know i dont have to plead him further. If something was serious he would have directly took me to the peddha sir. He gave me a glance and signalled me to come aside behind a parked vehicle. It's clear now.


I took out my wallet and pulled a Rs.50 note. He looked at my face, "Fine 300". I kept back the Rs.50 note and pulled out Rs.100 note. He gave back my keys and other paper. Woww!!! now i dont have to pay any fine. Rs.300 fine has vanished with a Rs.100.

Me: "Sir! Fine 300? Not required? :)"

He gave me a wierd shyful smile worth Rs.1000 and asked me to leave immediately.

I googled to see if really an insurance is mandatory and found this.
But, why on this earth motor insurance is mandatory? I dont see any logic behind it. Its my vehicle. I know the risk i am living with. I know the loss i have to bear if something nasty happens. But why do government insist on having an motor insurance? But again,  what is the point of making it mandatory? Can some one explain this please? Indeed the constable was true about the fine too. You can see it here.


What about medical insurance? health insurance? Are all these mandatory in india? I need to hit the google now.

Pega CSA Certification - PRPC 6.1

Ok! Pega CSA is my second certification. One before this was SCJP Certification in 2009, where i excelled with 89%. I know, 89% is bad considering many 90+ & 95+ or even 99+ percentiles you generally hear about. The reason was that i didn't depend on dumps. Infact, i just spared 10-12 hrs going through the dumps. But i'm happy with 89% i scored in SCJP.

Fast forward to 2011 and now its Pega Certification for a Certified System Architect(CSA). I know theres lot many CSAs out there in the Pega community. But its special for me. I was the only one being trained at my companies Hyderabad location. So, the formal class room training went for some 16 odd hours and a bit of bootcamp and a small poc compromising 5 screens and some database interaction was all that i had. Ofcourse some 10-15 days went into preparation for the CSA certification. So, you see, its not a formal training phase by any trainer who is trained to train people. 

I accomplished 91%. I'm really really happy about it.

One point to mention is, there was some parallel formal training happening at my companies bangalore location. It lasted for more many days of class room training followed by a rigorous training & practice schedule on bootcamp etc. and that too by a regular trainer who is trained to train people on PRPC. But as the odds look out as even sometimes, i surpassed all those who had that formal training. Its not hyperbole nor i intend to exaggerate. But, i feel proud to achieve this.

Kudos to my friend cum trainer BhanuPratap for his effort & experienced insights.

Again for CSA too, i didn't depend on any dumps and all that helped me is the training notes, fast track material and more importantly some thing called as bullet points(any one who is preparing or cleared CSA will know about it). So, my bit of advice to future aspirants of CSA in contrast to what many others advice is, don't mislead yourself by concentrating on dumps. Get the concepts right & straight and you can hit it.

Maruti Suzuki is ON by the EON

Have you ever watched an advertisement on tv or paper or somewhere for Maruti Alto in the recent past? I haven't. But, why would they advertise for the best seller of the country? Why would they advertise for the model which sells around 20,000 units per month across the country? Then, Why now? Yep, you guessed it right, competition boss competition.

Maruti woke up from the deep slumber it passed in to after the launch of Hyundai EON. Now India is ON. Well Maruti is the 1st to take the shock on. Now Alto is advertised on blue screen, freebies offered, cash discounts & more importantly Maruti Suzuki introduced the limited edition Alto Xplore, mere hours before the unveiling of the Hyundai Eon. Now, the Xplore gets over 10 new features and now imagine leather Seats in an Alto.

Till yesterday Maruti Suzuki didn't have much of resistance for the Alto. After the Maruti 800 is stopped in Tier 1 cities, Alto took the top seller slot. Most prestigious Tata Nano tried its luck to take on Maruti 800s market, but ended up as a dud due to many reasons.

                                                                      Hyundai EON

The competitive pricing starting at 2.69 lakhs to 3.71 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi) by Hyundai EON
And
The first in segment gadgets like driver airbag, tilt steering, gear indicator
And
The modern fluidic design and very stylish looks
And
Best-in-class interior quality, fit & finish
And
Hyundai's after-sales & resale at par with Maruti....makes it the perfect competitor for Alto.

With this shot, Hyundai EON registered a whooping 6315 bookings in the first month even before the deliveries started. Its no surprise if the EON take the best seller slot very soon.

Its not late before Maruti Suzuki do something before its best seller king is dethroned by EON.

Alto looks Grand ma where as the EON looks stunning Grand child

I sometimes wonder why would still someone choose the outdated looking Maruti Suzuki Alto over Hyundai EON. Now, you all new Alto owners, plz don't bang your heads!!!