Friends

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Gems may be precious, but friends are priceless.
--Unknown

Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say.
--Unknown

Friendship is one mind in two bodies.
--Mencius

I was just reading through some of the friendship quote & these are some of them that touched me. I felt I identify with these statements a lot. I guess I happen to be one of those lucky people who can confidently & proudly say that "I have a best friend".

What can I say about my best friend? She's the best one can have. I have started feeling special from the time I have met her. I feel I can be myself with her around and there is no need for pretenses. She knows so much about me that if she wants she can blackmail me with it.. But I know she won't as she is a my best friend & she is someone I can trust.

We have had innumerable tiffs & quarrels. But the quarrels never last for more than 5 minutes & the friendship has grown stronger than ever. There have been moments of doubts as what would happen when we are no longer in the same town or place. But I feel friendship does not obey the physical boundaries. Its like: "Once a friend, always a friend". We will always be friends as long as I live.

Undercutting the Undercutter

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A leading ERP & e-business vendor in China has recently been quoted saying that it can get things done for less money than its Indian counterparts. This follows closely on the heels of its starting a new outsourcing branch targeting the US market.

Not surprisinly enough, the average annual salaries of an average Chinese programmer is anywhere between $5248 to $9000, way below what an average Indian programmer earns in an year (average $10000), the report says.

Although China has come up into global market as a force to reckon with, its main business area still remains manufacturing, where there is minimum interaction with the West & the language is not a problem. But for a white collared job where frequent interactions are required with the client, I think China will have serious problems. After all, no one would want their software & the supporting documentation to be developed in Chinese.

Secondly, a single company cannot be called as an industry & a threat to the established Indian Software industry. It will take a long time for China to catch up with India in the Software export race.

Zidane's Magic (?)

Had it been a cricket match; especially between India & Pakistan, people would have cried foul immediately after the match would have ended in such a tight finish and speculated about match fixing. But it was football, Euro 2004 Group B opening match between England and France.

England after leading 1-0 for all the match, inexplicably lost (threw?) the match to lose 2-1. Not doubting Zizou's genius, but to concede 2 goals in less than 3 minutes, its just too much for me to believe. All the experts also said the foul on Zidane was needless. But was it really needless or was it delibrate? Also the second infringement that resulted in a penalty. Pretty hard to believe.

Was the match fixed in France's favour? We won't know. There is so much betting nowadays in Football, I won't rule out the possibility.

There has been a lot written about the fiasco of the Olympic torch run that happened in New Delhi last week. I was really ashamed to see the list of best athletes missing from the names of the people who were the torch bearers representing India. No doubt the Indian Olympic cause can do with a little bit of publicity, but certainly not at the cost of athletes who have sweated their blood for the country & toiled very hard to bring glory to the nation.

It was really shameful to see film celebrities participate in the run and most of them not even able to run properly nor able to hold the torch properly. Is it so hard to understand that importance of the symbol that the torch signifies? They all needed someone to hold their hands just to hold the torch properly.

I sincerely hope that the sports ministry does not do a similar 'Faux Pas' in the future & the athletes get their due in terms of recognition of their effort & monetary benefits. Is Mr.Dutt listening?