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Introduction
The BbyB Beacon is an
electronic publication to keep the members of Bit by Bit
informed about the current affairs of the company. It contains
announcements of important events like training programmes,
Management Review Meetings, etc.
Contact
Information
Any contributions to the newsletter
in the form of technical articles, or items of general interest,
are welcome. Please send them to padmabaliga@bbyb.sdc.int or padmabaliga@bbyb.com
Editorial (top)
Dussehra
- Different Ways of Celebrating
"Dussehra" or "Navaratri" is
the most popular festival in India that finds many manifestations
all over the country. But in every case Dussehra celebrates
the success of good over evil. This festival is dedicated to
the worship of Goddess Durga Mata and her nine forms.
The nine nights
that comprise Navaratri are set aside for the worship of the
Trinity in the female form. On the first seven days people
worship Durga - Goddess of Energy, Lakshmi - Goddess of Wealth,
and Saraswathi - Goddess of Knowledge. On the eighth and ninth
days people perform Yagnas to honour Durga Mata and bid her
farewell. The 10th day, on which the goddess killed Mahishasura,
and Lord Ram killed Ravan, is celebrated as Vijayadashami.
All these days
are considered to be very auspicious days - to start new ventures,
begin ones education, buy a new home, get married, etc.
Navratri celebrations
differ from region to region, and are influenced by local myth
and religious beliefs.
In North India
and particularly in Delhi it is marked by plays known as Ramlila
that recall the life of Rama and the episodes of the Ramayana.
The Ramlila is staged in various localities, and people offer
puja to various deities. On the tenth day effigies of the demon
Ravana and his brother are burnt, along with fireworks.
In Himachal Pradesh,
a week-long fair in the hill town of Kullu, is a part of the
Dussehra celebrations. Deities from the temples in hills are
brought in a procession to Kullu to pay homage to the reigning
deity, Raghunathji.
In West Bengal
and in other eastern parts of India, elegantly decorated idols
of the goddess Durga are installed and worshipped. She is considered
as 'Shakti', the cosmic energy that animates all beings. On
the tenth day the images of the warrior goodess Durga are taken
out in huge processions and immersed in rivers and lakes.
In the South,
especially Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, families
arrange dolls, toys and images of god, and prepare an elaborate
spread of lamps and flowers. People offer puja to a different
deity each day, and also for vehicles, machinery, books, musical
instruments, etc. Women traditionally exchange gifts of coconuts,
clothes and sweets.
Mysore - the city
of Palaces, celebrates ten days of Dusshera in royal style.
The palace is illuminated for a whole month during Dusshera.
It witnesses a majestic and colourful procession with elephants
and horses, dance and musical events, as the Mysore Maharaja
goes from his palace to the temple, through elegantly decorated
streets. The torch light parade and other events enliven Mysore.
Chamundi - the deity of the Mysore royalty is worshipped with
pomp and show. In fact it is the most colourful celebration
of Dussehra in the world.
In Tamil Nadu,
the first three days are dedicated to the worship of Lakshmi,
Goddess of wealth and prosperity, the next three days to Saraswathi,
Goddess of learning and arts and the last three days to Shakti
(Durga).
In Kerala, Navratri
signifies the beginning of formal education for every child
aged 3-5 years. While puja goes on in the temple for all the
ten days, it is only the concluding three days which are important.
In Maharashtra,
people decorate their doorways with torans made of flowers.
Here, Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Durga while Vijayadashami
is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. People worship different
deities and offer puja to tools of trade, vehicles, machinery,
books, etc. As evening falls, people worship the Shami tree.
The leaves of the Apta tree are collected and exchanged among
friends and relatives as gold. In Gujarat people celebrate
with the Dandiya and Garba dance.
Wishing
one and all a very Happy and Delightful Dussehra!
Projects
News
StaffBank (top)
During the month of September, the StaffBank
team was busy with implementing change controls, fixing
bugs, version releases, upgrade scripts, etc.
Raghu had been to the UK for a series of
meetings with BHP.
Usha was busy with change controls and looking into day to day issues. Dilna,
Smitha and Jaya were engaged with various change controls.
Om was busy with Royal Surrey dataprep, data merge and Mesals (Northern trust)
Dry run and Go live.
Deepak was working for Royal Surrey web release and BHP 141 issues. I was working
on version releases, upgrade scripts and sorting out day to day issues
Sreedhar was working for NHSP 141 Go live and Staff Roster release for Guys
and
Chaitanya looked into StaffBank issues and SQL utility. Rachana was working
on KPI reports and script wizard.
Poornima and Jayashree were busy in testing StaffBank upgrades and change controls.
Prathibha for StaffBank
MESaLS (top)
It
has been a rather busy month for MESaLS. We have just
released a Beta version of the forthcoming version of MESaLS
application to BHP. One of the Northern Ireland sites,
Ballymena, had a dry run for the current version
of MESaLS and are currently in the process of going live. They
will be going live on 4th Oct 2007. Bradford is also
going live soon and currently dry run work of their data
is in progress. Bexley will be going live in about
2 weeks from now. All in all, it has been a hectic
month of September for us. We expect to be as busy
in October as well. Read about it next month.
Shashidhar for 'Team Mesals'
Sepia (top)
We released another version of Sepia with a few enhancements
and a couple of minor bug fixes. We also had some data preparation
work for one of the Users of Sepia. Other
than this, it has been a quiet month for Sepia. Find
out what happened in October next month.
Shashidhar
for Sepia
Other
News (top)
The Princess Arrives
Naveen and Aruna’s home
has been crowned with a new princess, one who has already won
the hearts of her parents. Aruna who had been confined to the
house for most of her pregnancy delivered a little baby girl
on the morning of September 21st. Known for her radiant smile,
we hear that she hasn’t stopped smiling since. BbyB congratulates
the lucky couple and the lucky baby.
Farewell to Jayashree
Jayashree, the Test Team Lead at BbyB, bids
farewell to the company she has considered her second home
for the last 3 years. She says that she makes this change very
reluctantly and only because her new job is at a place close
to her house which will enable her to spend more time with
her family.
WE WERE GAMAS IN THE LAND OF LAMAS!!
(Malovika reports on her trip to Leh and Ladakh in the company of Raghu, Usha
and hubby Sreedhar)
Click
here to read .......
Colleagues
Cognizant (top)
This
month, we get to know better 2 colleagues who joined BbyB
on November 2nd 2006 and were part of our second batch
of trainees. Meet Dilna and Sephali – smart, committed,
fun-loving but career driven. Dilna describes herself as
a straightforward and fun loving person and everyone knows
Sephali and her pleasant smile.
FAST
FACTS
Dilna: Her
hometown? Kumily, a
few kilometers from Thekkady in Kerala
Sephali:
Her hometown? Bhubaneshwar, a temple town
and the capital of Orissa.
Dilna: Joined BbyB because: It
is the right place for a fresher like me to start
my career.
Sephali: Joined BbyB
because: its cool ambience and good working
environment.
Dilna: Secret of her
height - Sorry...... that’s a top
secret.
Sephali: What she frequently
dreams about - Good food is always on
my mind.
Dilna: Likes cooking? Oh,
yes, I enjoy it and cook quite often.
Sephali: Favourite foods? Dosas
in Bangalore and fish curry and sweets back home.
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DILNA
TAKES THE FLOOR:
How do you like working here?
As this is my first job I
was a little anxious, when I joined, about the new environment,
but found that everyone here is very friendly, helpful and
co-operative.
How do you spend your weekends?
In the weekends I go to my sister’s
place and sometimes I go out with my friends. What I like doing
most is listening to music, watching TV and reading books (at
least I am always trying to....)
What is the meaning of your name? Is it Dil
na - without ‘Dil’ or ????
I believe that Dilna is the name of a flower.
But those who are jealous of my outstanding name will pretend
it means 'Without Dil'.....
You appear to be a silent person. Are you
really so?
Nobody else will say this.....At
least those who know me won't say that I am silent. Actually
I am very talkative (Believe me...itz the truth)
Does anything make you cry?
Ignorance from loved ones
What are your likes and dislikes?
I like listening to melodious music, exploring
new places which are very close to nature, an evening walk
with my friends.... visiting a good restaurant ... hot and
spicy food. And I like to spend most of my free time with my
family.
I hate people who lie for no reason and hate
teasing somebody for their weakness.
Any incident that made you very angry?
No such specific incident.
But I do get angry if people talk without understanding the
situation properly.
What are your future plans?
To become a good software professional.
SEPHALI SPEAKS UP:
What made you come so far
away from Orissa to Bangalore?
Hey, Orissa is not so far
away, just an hour and half by air. I have been in Bangalore
for one and a half years for Bangalore is the land of opportunities.
Being the only employee from
Orissa, how did you feel when you first joined the company?
It didn’t bother me
much. I understand this is part of the deal when you are out
of your hometown and working in a place like Bangalore. I must
admit that, at BbyB, not even once did I feel out of place.
Have you learnt any South
Indian languages?
I’m taking my first
lessons in Kannada and Malayalam. I can understand only 0.00%.
How do you say “I like
to work in BbyB. Colleagues here are very good” in Oriya?
Mote BbyB re kama Karibaku
bhala lage, Aathare Colleagues mane Bahooot bhala......
Tell us about something funny that has happened
to you.
I keep bumping into things
at home because I am thinking about some thing else.
What are your ambitions?
Not too big – Just want
to start and run a company like BbyB.
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