Kudos to CCS Team

Brian Sharpe, StaffBank Help Desk personnel at Baum Hart, had sent an email regarding the client's opinion of the CCS System.This is what he had to say:

“Thanks for this (CCS Database Changes). Much appreciated. And Alyson told me yesterday how pleased she was with the system and our efforts. Well done!”
Alyson is the client who works with CCS.

Three cheers to the CCS Team.

Wedding Bells for Shashi

Shashi finally tied the knot with Kavitha on 26th June at Dwarakanath Bhavan. Most of us at BbyB attended the wedding which was organized very well. The bride looked resplendent and Shashi, who was beaming away, looked dashing. He set out on his trip to Kashi ( a part of the wedding rituals) most unwillingly (although cheered on by all the BbyBers), and looked quite relieved when his father-in-law-to-be called him back. Watch this space for the wedding pictures!

Stress-buster holiday

As the temperature cools down with the brief, intermittent showers we have been getting, everyone at BbyB has begun to unwind and relax and get into the right frame of mind for our bi-annual stress-buster holiday. This year, July 15, 16 and 17 will see us headed for the sylvan surroundings of KGudi, a Jungle Lodges Resort. BbyBers, get ready to let your hair down, and have a blast!

Two days of pleasure – Bheemeshwari Trip

Imagine – no traffic ahead, no blaring horns, no billboards, and no potholes! Yup, it’s possible only if you are heading out of the cranky city of Bangalore. The last weekend of May was our date in destination paradise – Bheemeshwari, a nature camp on the banks of Cauvery.
This trip meant to be a treat for the StaffBank project group was indeed a delight for all five senses. The team members comprised of Sharada (the only person not working for StaffBank), Uma, Pratibha, Vidya and Arun who lead the way in his Santro while Arun Kumar, Bijo, and I (Malovika) cruised along with Sreedhar in his Palio. Of course Raghu and Usha blazed along in their Honda CR-V on the Kanakpura Road.

Talking about blazing through, the four-hour drive was something the car drivers were totally enjoying. We whizzed past the Art of Living centre, a few ashrams and a couple of villages.
After three hours of driving the scene changed from open farmland to a less habituated jungle-like scenery. The green hills seemed closer now.

Cool wind in our hair. Trees blurring away. A song on our lips.
One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, Arun skid on the road!
Five, six, coz’ he picked up speed.
Seven, eight, couldn’t drive straight.
Nine, ten, all is well!

Sounds cryptic? Well, the story goes that Arun was burning rubber, probably imitating Shahrukh Khan from the Santro Ad (by the way it was a stuntman, Arun). We were safely behind him pacing our way in the Palio, going through the narrow wet road, when out of the blue, Arun had to negotiate a bump and a slight turn of the road. As soon as we reached the spot, we saw the Santro zipping left to right and jumping to a sudden halt. Fortunately no one was hurt and the car steered clear of any tree or rock.
“Arre bhai yeh Josh machine nahin hai. Hosh mein aao”, exclaimed Sreedhar and group.
The car had run over a slippery patch. Well, that was the story that Arun told us! Anyway, all said and done, it was no major mishap.

This time the car pool leader changed to Raghu. The landscape got denser as we snaked uphill. The incident and the scenery gave me the chills of Kaal, the movie. (By the way Usha, it was a better choice over any family drama movie… but it would have been even better if the tigers had eaten up the producer of the movie Shahrukh Khan instead!). The woods were lovely dark and deep and just one road to follow… suddenly we saw the Cauvery appear alongside. We could barely contain our excitement! Destination was close and Mother Nature beckoned us.

“At last Bheemeshwari!”
It’s a splendid location right on the banks of Cauvery (haven’t I said that enough already!). Despite a long drive we were far from being tired. Bheemeshwari nature camp had refreshing surroundings. The accommodation was made up of cute n’ cosy “Log Huts”. The exterior and the interior walls, ceiling, the steps, railing and the floor were all wooden and resembled authentic English cottages. Our log huts had a nice view of the Cauvery river barely 20 metres away! Nothing could have been more awesome than the sight of the greenery and the calm river flowing.

The place was bubbling with excited people, many were seen monkeying around. We didn’t lose much time and dived right in to have some fun. Swinging, rolling, jostling around on all fours – our ancestors would have indeed been proud of us!! Scratching your head wondering what I am talking about? Well, to start with there were plenty hammocks; a couple of rope swings hanging down from high tree branches; but the most breathtaking part of the whole ensemble were the resting nets that were tied wide between three-four trees almost ten feet from the ground.

Swinging time!!

Sharada and I took the swing immediately. And no, gravity didn’t pull us down but we actually managed to have a lift off!! Somebody mentioned there would be an elephant ride but who cared, swinging this way was even better! As if two weren’t enough we had three on one swing! Usha, Sharada and I made everyone wonder if the tree was strong enough to bear our weight.
The swing was really quite addictive, as everyone wanted to have a go at it. Some were a little hesitant and needed a push; and who better than Sreedhar and Sharada to provide the extra push? Soon enough we had Uma soaring high, almost touching the sky! Then Pratibha and Vidya got on it together. The pushovers (Sharada and Sreedhar) were just about getting too fierce with their job and unfortunately, on the first push, Vidya lost balance and fell while Pratibha hung on to the swing for dear life! Arun and Uma rushed to rescue Vidya before the swing pulled back. In the process our heroes put themselves in the path of the swing. Fortunately no one was seriously injured or bleeding. Uma and Arun were bruised while Vidya was in a state of shock for some time. Arun took good care of her and she soon rejoined the group.
Having learnt the lessons, the pushovers were careful with others. We also saw swinging bachelors Bijo and Arun Kumar in action as they took to the swing together arm in arm!

Meanwhile Raghu was giving Usha some pointers on how to conquer the hammock before it flipped her over. Usha managed to rest herself at the right spot but had problems getting her legs up at the same time. Raghu’s persistent encouragement paid off and Usha finally got the hang of it.

Caught in the net!

If you thought that was tricky then read about a more challenging task of climbing the rope ladder to reach the net. Athletic Uma had no problem climbing up the dangling ladder, even Bijo and Arun Kumar reached the top with agility. I took a lot of time, cursed a bit and screamed for my mom a lot before I rolled on to the net. Pratibha climbed up charmingly with no fuss. Adventurous Usha was next. She had given up twice already but this time Raghu had dared her to complete the mission. To scale the final two steps leading to the top, Usha was cheered on, as well as jeered at, at times! Some of us had even started betting on whether she will give up the third time or make it. However, Raghu was dictating every movement for Usha. At last, Usha was on top of the world! And someone lost the best.

Well, you have heard how faith can move mountains… the next person is a shining example of that – Sharada. With strong will power and determination, Sharada managed to scale the rope with fewer antics than Usha and myself. She got company from Sreedhar and finally seven of us were enjoying a bird’s view of Cauvery and our nature camp. It was so peaceful and restful that we didn’t realise it was almost lunch hour!

               

After a tummy-filling lunch the StaffBankers headed to their respective log huts. Did I mention they had AC? Yup! Imagine forest surroundings and you have cool AC in your rooms! Perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon nap.

Taken for a Ride!

The evening program began with a boat ride. We sat in the cute Roja-boats (round ones like in movie Roja) and the boatman took us for a short cruise along the riverbank. At a nearby small island we decamped from the boat. We spotted some fresh crocodile prints and even some elephant dung! The boatman told us that crocodiles are common underwater while elephants and deer come here often to drink. Some picnic-makers were swimming in the shallow water.

Arun and I had no such luck. Bijo on the other hand took over Arun’s fishing line and managed to catch a fish. Unfortunately the hook was stuck in its gills and the boatman claimed it was pointless to release it injured. Obviously he had planned it for dinner and tied it to his boat. We all felt very sad for the poor fish.
The weather began getting heavier and the boats returned before it started drizzling. The rain washed out our plans for a campfire as well. But that didn’t dampen our spirits a bit. The group sang away the rest of the evening till dinnertime. Last day
For the next day some had planned to go trekking to see the wild animals grazing and bathing in Cauvery. However, the log huts were too cosy and Sunday morning kept all of us indoors till breakfast time. There was one last thing to look forward to in Bheemeshwari – Elephants!

This was the most satisfying experience of the trip. We were face to face with young baby elephants, a mother elephant and a huge male tusker who was taking people for rides on its back tirelessly. The communion between the baby elephant and the mother was a sight to see. We fed them grass and leaves which the baby elly promptly swiped out of our hands sometimes even mistaking my hand to be food! We followed the mother-baby pair to the riverbank where they had a quick bath. But this cleanliness was short lived as soon after they covered themselves in mud!

I have promised myself to come back here for more, this time for three days and capture the beauty and peacefulness of Bheemeshwari.

S V Malovika Rao

News From Abroad                                                                                            (top)

Generally, the version was well received and the users were very enthusiastic about the new software they had started using. It was a big leap forward for them as the software they were using earlier was not as comprehensive as Mesals. There were minor niggles which resulted in the go-live being delayed by a day, which were eventually overcome with some good effort from the team. There was good progress on the usage of the software for the first 2-3 days after which they started experiencing operational problems because of some strict stock allocation measures used in Mesals 4. They have subsequently put Mesals on hold for the time being, giving us time to modify the features which are harsh on their operations.

The team has put in good efforts over the last few weeks. Ajmal and Muthukumar, relatively new to the team, have done a good job when it really mattered, almost negating the effects of some senior members leaving at the crunch time.

We have quite a big list of clients waiting to go live on Mesals 4. Wigan and BRC – Wales, both of whom are new to Mesals, will go live in July. After this, there will be Gateshead (users Mesals 3 web), a new client in Northern Ireland and a lot more coming in over the next few months. That is a big challenge indeed. I am expecting the team to put in equally good effort over the next few months to meet this challenge.

Thanks to the team for all their hard work and good luck for the future.

Latest from NAEP Conference

I have just been informed by Mark Gorman that they are getting a very good response for Mesals at NAEP conference. A lot of prospective customers (some of whom are currently using a (Mesals / BHP) competitor's software) are showing a great deal of interest in Mesals 4.

Naveen

BHP's Cheltenham office is on the third floor of this building   CBR and Roger in BHP's    Cheltenham office        Simon helping out Jo with Mesals   in Solihull   Solihull office - Mesals users at    work          Solihull stores - Mesals Netpad       in use

New Recruits                                                                                                          (top)