We do not remember days, we remember moments...

Sikh religion...

क्या आप जानते हैं विश्व की सबसे मंहंगी जगह ( ज़मीन ) 'सरहिंद' (पंजाब), जिला फतेहगढ़ साहब में है - जो मात्र 4 स्क्वेयर मीटर है।
क्यों हुई ये छोटी सी ज़मीन सबसे महंगी जरूर जानिये - रोंगटे खड़े कर देनें वाली ऐतिहासिक घटना।
यहां पर श्री गुरुगोबिंद सिंह जी के छोटे साहिबजादों का अंतिम संस्कार किया गया था।
सेठ दीवान टोंडर मल ने यह जगह 78000 सोने की मोहरे (सिक्के)
जमीन पर फैला कर मुस्लिम बादशाह से ज़मीन खरीदी थी।
सोने की कीमत के मुताबिक इस 4 स्कवेयर मीटर जमीन
की कीमत 2500000000 (दो अरब पचास करोड़) बनती है।
दुनिया की सबसे मंहंगी जगह खरीदने का रिकॉर्ड आज सिख धर्म के इतिहास में दर्ज करवाया गया है। आजतक दुनिया के
इतिहास में इतनी मंहंगी जगह कही नही खरीदी गयी।
दुनिया के इतिहास में ऐसा युद्ध ना कभी किसी ने पढ़ा होगा ना ही सोचा होगा, जिसमे 10 लाख
की फ़ौज का सामना महज 42 लोगों के साथ हुआ था
और जीत किसकी होती है..??
उन 42 सूरमो की !
यह युद्ध 'चमकौर युद्ध' (Battle of Chamkaur) के नाम से भी जाना जाता है जो कि मुग़ल योद्धा वज़ीर खान
की अगवाई में 10 लाख की फ़ौज का सामना सिर्फ 42 सिखों के सामने 6 दिसम्बर 1704 को हुआ जो की गुरु
गोबिंद सिंह जी की अगवाई में तैयार हुए थे ! नतीजा यह निकलता है की उन 42 शूरवीर की जीत होती है
जो की मुग़ल हुकूमत की नीव जो की बाबर ने रखी थी , उसे जड़ से उखाड़ दिया और भारत को आज़ाद भारत का दर्ज़ा दिया।
औरंगज़ेब ने भी उस वक़्त गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी के आगे घुटने टेके और मुग़ल राज का अंत हुआ हिन्दुस्तान से ।
तभी औरंगजेब ने एक प्रश्न किया गुरुगोबिंद सिंह जी के सामने। कि यह कैसी फ़ौज तैयार की आपने जिसने 10 लाख की फ़ौज को उखाड़ फेंका।
गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी ने जवाब दिया
"चिड़ियों से मैं बाज लडाऊं , गीदड़ों को मैं शेर बनाऊ।"
"सवा लाख से एक लडाऊं तभी गोबिंद सिंह नाम कहाउँ !!"
गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी ने जो कहा वो किया, जिन्हे आज हर कोई
शीश झुकता है , यह है हमारे भारत की अनमोल विरासत जिसे हमने कभी पढ़ा ही नहीं !

***कुछ आगे ***चमकौर साहिब की जमीन आगे चलकर एक सिख परिवार ने खरीदी उनको इसके इतिहास का कुछ पता नहीं था ।
इस परिवार में आगे चलकर जब उनको पता चला के यहाँ गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी के दो बेटे शहीद हुए है तो उन्हों ने यह जमीन गुरु जी के बेटो की यादगार ( गुरुद्वारा साहिब) के लिए देने का मन बनाया ....
जब अरदास करने के समय उस सिख से पूछा गया के अरदास में उनके लिए गुरु साहिब से क्या बेनती करनी है ....तो उस सिख ने कहा के गुरु जी से बेनती करनी है के मेरे घर कोई औलाद ना हो ताकि मेरे वंश में कोई भी यह कहने वाला ना हो के यह जमीन मेरे बाप दादा ने दी है।
वाहेगुरु....और यही अरदास हुई और बिलकुल ऐसा ही हुआ उन सिख के घर कोई औलाद नहीं हुई......अब हम अपने बारे में सोचे 50....100 रु. दे कर क्या माँगते है ।
वाहे गुरु....
वाहेगुरु जी का खालसा,
वाहेगुरु जी की फतेह जी

Sunaa hai .... by Ahmad Faraz...

Just found some beautiful lines of Janab Ahmad Faraz ....

sunaa hai log use aankh bhar ke dekhte hain
so us ke shah’r mein kuchh din Thahar ke dekhte hain

sunaa hai rabt(closeness) hai us ko Kharaab haalon se
so apne aap ko barbaad kar ke dekhte hain

sunaa hai bole to baaton se phuul jhhaRte hain
ye baat hai to chalo baat kar ke dekhte hain

sunaa hai us ke badan ke taraash aise hain
ke phuul apanii qabaayeN(tunic) katar ke dekhte hain

Need to innovate ...

What is it & why should I do it?

Outsourcing to India - Beware of pitfalls

Outsourcing is not the new word in IT anymore. Roughly $300bn was spent in 2015 on global IT sourcing services. Out of which total contract value was around $70bn so stats speak for itself. But size of industry has nothing to do with the individual success though it clearly emphasize the needs of dos and dont of outsourcing industry.

My experience with Norway says that here the trend is to integrate one business service to another business service. In other words more B2B integration is being sought for. B2C is not the area where Norwegian companies are outsourcing but B2B.As norwegian companies are concerned about the long term commitments and lack of comprehensive development and maintenance expenditure so companies prefer to try outsourcing B2B model and select the IT service provider which has been tested and succeeded in nordic market.Norwegian companies does not believe in relinquishing control to IT outsourcing provider and so mainly keep their own key people and also invite key members of outsourcing team for onsite experience. Surely it helps in understanding as cultural gaps can be minimized.

Sometimes IT outsourcing works and sometimes it does not work.When it doesn't work then usual biggest reason is delayed project delivery(i.e lack of project mgmt) on vendor's side and cultural differences.Here is the example Tomra production ( https://www.tomra.com ) which failed in its outsourcing venture. Here is how it story :

Tomra offers food shop and customers advanced solutions for monitoring and operation of 75000 reverse vending machines around the world.Tomra outsourced development of a new computer system to an Indian IT company. For 2 years they kept the Indian company on the project, dozens of employees worked in both India and Norway.After two years of collaboration Tomra canceled the outsourcing agreement. While reflecting upon the failure, Tomra management gave following 4 prime reasons :

Failure-1: Tomra thought they would get access to unique IT expertise and increased capacity using outsourcing. Which they could not manage.

Failure-2: Tomra couldn't document the requirements in such a way that could manage the ambiguity and rework( and consequently delay in delivery)

Failure-3: Tomra believes that geographical distance in addition made cooperation difficult.

Failure-4: Outsourcing provider's staff had a different attitude to ask critical questions about bosses and customers. They said yes to suggestions and input from Tomra when they should have said no.

Post failure statements from Ole Aleksander Mortensen, TOMRA :
We were not comfortable with continuing the process with the Indians. We had lost confidence.
We have made further progress in five months with a small team here at home than we did during the two years of the Indian company,

"The mistake companies make is that they do not see differences in the work culture in other countries and the problems it causes" - Steinar Koffeld, Vivende(which helped Tamara)

Post failure, Tomra has following advice for others :
- Understand requirements for formality in the agreements in the current low-cost countries
- Use a lot of time on the agreement with the company you outsource to.
- Use extreme with time specification of the agreement.
- Important to have enough 'onsite' resources so that the communication flows between the company and the supplier. Have earmarked employees who work closely with the company you have outsourced to.
- Anchor solution internally, so that everyone who will work with the process understand why the outsourcer and that they support this.

So is it all about work culture or cultural gap ? No, it is not. And of course it is not about Indians too. It is ALL about project management.

Living a lost dream - Pottery

There are things that we wanted to do in life but somehow we never get the right opportunity and time to fulfil these small wishes and time flows like river. Ever since I was a kid I was fascinated by pottery to be specific 'Kullar' ( local indian handmade tea cup made of clay) . There were many potters living near to my grandfather's house so I watched them very closely. Never had the courage to let my feelings exposed to the world.
Few days back on FB, I got know about the workshop where a polish artist Izabela Baranska invited the enthusiasts to come and join the pottery workshop and somehow I could not stop myself but registered for it.

How to find jobs in Norway ?

Where to find available jobs ?

Research shows that as much as 60 % of all available jobs are never advertised through the regular channels. This number may be a bit too high, but the fact remains that many vacancies are never published.

How do you find jobs that are not advertised? Be creative and use as many different channels as possible. Take direct contact with employers and send open applications or presentations of your qualifications. If you already have contacts in Norway, use them to get information about job seeking.

Often there will be many applicants for jobs that have been advertised. You will find many of these advertisements in Norwegian newspapers, but it is becoming increasingly common to use the Internet as a channel for advertising. Many vacancies are now only published via company web sites, and some companies will only accept applications submitted through their own electronic application system.

Trade unions can also be good sources of information. Use Internet search engines and branch registers such as the Norwegian Yellow Pages (www.gulesider.no), to find relevant company web sites and contact information.

The largest Norwegian vacancy database is www.nav.no, but there are several others. You can also call the NAV Service Centre EURES on tel.: +47 800 33 166 to ask about vacancies.

Source: www.nav.no

List of vacancy databases:

www.nav.no
www.eures.no
www.careerjet.no
www.deltidsjobb.no
www.finn.no/jobb/
www.iktjobb.no
www.ingeniørstillinger.no
www.inkludi.no
www.jobbdirekte.no
www.jobbnorge.no
www.jobbsafari.no
www.jobbsøk.no
www.jobb24.no
www.journalisten.no
www.karriereguiden.no
www.karrierelink.no
www.karrierestart.no
www.lederjobb.no
www.legejobber.no
www.medrec.no
www.monster.no
www.norwaypost.no/jobs-in-norway.html （English)
www.rubrikk.no/ledig-stilling-jobb/
www.statsjobb.no
www.stepstone.no
www.stillinger.no
www.traineeguiden.no
www.tu.no/jobb/
www.universitetstillinger.no/ledige-stillinger
www.zett.no/vis/rubrikk/jobb.html

Recruitment companies / agencies:

* www.academicwork.no
* www.adecco.no
* www.aktiv-personell.no
* www.backup-personell.no
* www.elanit.no
* www.personalhuset.no
* www.Pipeline.no
* www.proffice.no
* www.kellyservices.no
* www.manpower.no
* www.temp-team.no
* www.xtrapersonell.no

Recognition of higher education:

If you have a higher education, it is recommended that you apply for general recognition of your education before/when you apply for jobs in Norway. The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) provides general recognition (level and scope) of higher education from other countries. This means that NOKUT can grant you credits and, if applicable, provide general recognition of your education/degree as being equivalent to a university college degree, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, or a PhD degree. See www.nokut.no for further information.

Source: www.nyinorge.no

Checklist / What to do before start working:

Residence permits: If you intend to work in Norway for more than three months, you will need to registrate with the police.

Contact the local police office or a Service Centre for Foreign Workers , to apply. Bring a valid passport and/or ID-card and your working contract.

Special rules apply for nationals from the new EEA-member countries Bulgaria and Romania. You will need to apply for a residence permit, and may start working as soon as you have submitted an accurately completed application with all the necessary documents enclosed.

Check with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration for more information about how to apply and for actual forms.

Tax card and national ID-number: When you work for a Norwegian employer you are required to pay tax here. Therefore you will also need to apply for a tax deduction card at the tax assessment office where you live. To do so you will need to present your passport, as well as complete an application form ("Skjema RF-1209"). Also bring a valid residence permit if you have one. Once you have been issued a tax deduction card, you should give this to your employer.

Together with your Tax card you will also apply for a national ID-number or D-number (for persons residing in Norway 6 months or less). The national ID-number or D-number is stated on your tax deduction card and is used to identify you to the authorities.

If you will be staying in Norway for more than 6 months, you will need to report a change of address at your local tax office.

If you are in Oslo, you might apply for both a tax card and the ID- or D-number as well as report the change of address to The National Population Registry at the Service Centre for Foreign Workers.

Bank: In order to receive your salary, you need to open a Norwegian bank account. Note that most banks will require an ID-number or D-number as well as your passport as identification. Also bring your working contract. It is a good idea to check with more than one bank to get the best terms.

National Insurance: As a rule all persons working in Norway are automatically insured under the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme from their first day of work. This is administered by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service (NAV). You can obtain further information at your local NAV office.

As an employee you are obliged to pay a national insurance contribution. This amounts to 7.8 per cent of your wages, and is deducted together with tax withholdings. If you do not pay tax to Norway, the national insurance contribution is to be paid to your local NAV office. As a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme you will be entitled to benefits according to the Norwegian national insurance legislation. If, for example, you need to see a doctor, you are entitled to use the Norwegian health services in the same way as residents of Norway.

If you wish to apply for a Norwegian Health Insurance Card, or need information on health services, please contact the NAV Health Service Administration Service Centre.

If you are entitled to child benefits or cash benefit you will need to apply for this at your local NAV office.

Types of NRI accounts in India

1. Non-Resident (External) Rupee Accounts (NRE Accounts)
NRIs, PIOs, OCBs are eligible to open NRE Accounts. These are rupee denominated accounts. Accounts can be in the form of savings, current, recurring or fixed deposit accounts. Accounts can be opened by remittance of funds in free foreign exchange. Foreign exchange brought in legally, repatriable incomes
of the account holder, etc. can be credited to the account. Joint operation with other NRIs/PIOs is permitted. Power of attorney can be granted to residents for operation of accounts. The deposits can be used for all legitimate purposes. The balance in the account is freely reportable. Interest lying to the credit of NRE accounts is exempt from tax in the hands of the NRI. Funds held in NRE accounts may be freely transferred to FCNR accounts of the same account holder. Likewise, funds held in FCNR accounts may be transferred to NRE accounts of the same account holders.

2. Ordinary Non-Resident Rupee Accounts (NRO Accounts)
These are Rupee denominated non-reportable accounts and can be in the form of savings, current recurring or fixed deposits. These accounts can be opened jointly with residents in India. When an Indian National/PIO resident in India leaves for taking up employment, etc. outside the country, his bank account in India gets designated as NRO account. The deposits can be used to make all legitimate payments in rupees. Interest income, from NRO accounts is taxable. Interest income, net of taxes is reportable.

3. Non-resident (Non-reportable) Rupee Deposit Accounts (NRNR Accounts)
NRIs/PIOs/OCBs, other non-resident Individuals/entities are permitted to open these accounts. Accounts can be opened by transfer of freely convertible foreign currency funds from abroad, or from NRE/FCNR accounts. Deposits can be held jointly with a resident. Deposits can be for a period from 6 months to 3 years, and can be renewed further. Accounts may also be opened by transfer of funds from the existing NRE/FCNR accounts of the non-resident accounts holders.
The principal is non-reportable; interest can be repatriated. There is no income tax on the interest.

4. Non-Resident (Special) Rupee Accounts with banks in India
NRIs/PIOs presently have the facility of maintaining bank accounts and undertaking financial transactions in India subject to certain exchange control regulations.In order to simplify the procedures and to provide greater freedom to NRIs/PIOs for putting through financial transactions in India, NRIs and PIOs are now permitted to open bank accounts in India, which will be at par with rupee accounts, maintained by residents. They can now open Non-Resident (Special)
Rupee Accounts with banks in India which will have the same facilities and restrictions as are applicable to rupee accounts maintained in India by residents relating to repatriation of funds held in these accounts and/or income/interest earned on them. The scheme, which has become effective from April 15, 1999 provides that the procedure for opening such accounts is the same as that of domestic accounts of resident individuals. The existing facilities for NRIs/PIOs to maintain and operate Non-resident (Ordinary) i.e., NRO account, Non-Resident, i.e., FCNR account also continues. The repatriation facilities available under these accounts will continue as before.

5. Foreign Currency (Non –Resident) Accounts (Banks) (FCNR (B) Accounts)
NRIs/PIOs/OCBs are permitted to open such accounts in US Dollars, Sterling Pounds, Deutsche Marks,Japanese Yen and Euro. The account may be opened only in the form of term deposit for any of the three maturity periods viz; (a) one year and above but less than two years (ii) two years and above but leas than three years and (iii) three years only. Interest income is tax free in the hands of NRI until he maintains a non-resident status or a resident but not ordinarily resident status under the Indian tax laws. FCNR (B) accounts can also be utilised for local disbursements including payment for exports from India, repatriation of funds abroad and for making investments in India, as per foreign investment guidelines.

Whatsapp and friendship

Few days back , I joined whatsapp and here are some thoughts :
- Technically , It is light-weight and very fast for media files like pictures, videos etc.
- It is great way to connect with group of friends from the same domain. I am so fortunate that that I met lot of my class-12 friends via this group and it helped us in realizing that down under, we are still same kind of people as we were in 1992. As it happens in real-life, some of these friends were not my best friends then but this group converted them to best friends because best Friends are the ones who keep in touch with you when they go away from college no matter how busy they are...It also stamped again that heart never grows old...Our heart is as fresh and bubbly as it was and we are equally or even better sensible when it comes to 'non-sense' :). The fact is that we have grown over these years and developed a level of maturity and earned the titles like Dad,Sir,Damadji,Jijai... and don't get time to be ourselves again. The group has offered the opportunity still we all are not same so some of us are always sharing and active on this group and some of us are show up as and when need arise but what is important here is the 'feeling of togetherness' . No matter how busy are we , we read and listen to each-other and smile ( if not via emoticons ) and are always there for each-other.
- Yesterday a friend from this group sent the following song and I who always think that our bollywood songs capture emotions very well was positively surprised...

Fate chooses your relations, you choose your friends - Jacques Delille

Pay it forward ....

Heartening Message...Even when nobody cares about you 'Be good' and you will be facilitated with smile if nothing else :)

Concept of consent...

Språkrådet...

Comparative property price around Oslo

I always think how about selling my house in Oslo and buying a house in nearby areas which are conveniently connected with Oslo and offers quality amenities/housing as well. Recently, I found one article which helped in my search. With little bit of effort, I manage to get all in one place for the sake of simplicity ....

I don't like you because 'WHAT' ?

Human behavior seems to be complicated, specially when it comes to liking and disliking others.We get along with some people and at times we don’t get along with some people because of one or the other reason.Fundamentally it is found that our behavior comprised of one or more DISC properties. Never analyzed DISC in so depth so cant comment much on it but still I wanted to categorize some very common situations between 2 people to understand it better:

eg.
A- Me
B- Other person(important to me)
C- third person

I experienced that A does not like B because :
Case 1- A has violated something universally accepted principle or philosophy. eg. A is abusive or swindler.
So I should not like a person who is 'universally' on wrong side... in this way, Am I helping him or society ?
Case 2- B is doing the things which A thinks 'B should/must NOT be doing'.
So in other word I want the world to behave the way 'I want'... am I narcissist ?
Case 3- C doesn't like B so over the time A starts disliking B.
So in other words,I am so weak that I can't have my own belief system... am I meek ?
Case 4- If B doesn't like A then it does not matter if A likes B or not.
So in other words,I am insignificant for other person and just have 1-directional relationship... am I wasting my time?

I guess before liking and disliking a person, we should always get an answer to following question :
"do I value the differences other person has and do I seek to understand it well ?" and if the answer to both is 'Yes' then most probably , we are on right side.

How many Indians are in Norway ?

"So how many Indians are in Norway?" has asked me today. This was the same question that was thrown at me few days back but I did not have the correct answer so I thought that I would get the exact figure today and now I have the number(at least for a year ) . As on 1-jan-2015, Norwegian govt's statistical department website(www.ssb.no) says that there are 18568 Indian immigrants in Norway and this includes following :

- Born in Norway to Norwegian-born parents

- Immigrants

- Norwegian-born to immigrant parents

- Foreign-born with one Norwegian-born parent

- Norwegian-born with one foreign-born parent

- Foreign-born to Norwegian-born parents

So it means it includes both NRIs+OCI/PIOs.

Can we do so many things and so good ....here is example :)

In today's hectic life , it is not possible to do the things one by one. Many time when I have involved myself with multiple assignments and could not justice with some of them then I always think how could other people do the same in similar situation. In the situation like these quote like following helps and motivates to be on right track and be focused ...

Colors of food ...

Opportunity ...

Richard B. has always inspires and fascinates me with everything that he does in his life because he has a belief in himself

and he uses HIS CONVICTION and grab the opportunity and then uses HIS SKILLS to make sure

that HIS CONVICTION become reality for others....

I know this is not the traditional management style of doing things ...not every success is pre-defined :) .

Sardarji Barah Baj Gaye

I proud that Sardars are part of Indian diaspora. They are doing great job in promoting the honesty, loyality , integrity and patriotism. No surprise that their social integration in Norway is seamles....... but but ...Still many times we joke about the Sardars even without knowing how great this community is ......so here is the myth buster....

During 17th Century, when Hindustan was ruled by Mughals, all the Hindu people were humiliated and were treated like animals. Mughals treated the Hindu women as there own property and were forcing all Hindus to accept Islam and even used to kill the people if they were refusing to accept.That time, our ninth Guru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadarji came forward, in response to a request of some Kashmir Pandits to fight against all these cruel activities. Guruji told the Mughal emperor that if he could succeed in converting him to Islam, all the Hindus would accept the same. But, if he failed, he should stop all those activities. The Mughal emperor happily agreed to that but even after lots of torture to Guruji and his fellow members he failed to convert him to Islam and Guruji along with his other four fellow members, were tortured and sacrificed their lives in Chandni Chowk. Since the Mughals were unable to convert them to Islam they were assassinated. Thus Guruji sacrificed his life for the protection of Hindu religion. Can anybody lay down his life and that too for the protection of another religion? This is the reason he is still remembered as "Hind Ki Chaddar", shield of India.

For the sake of whom he had sacrificed his life, none of them came forward to lift his body, fearing that they would also be assassinated. Seeing this incident our 10th Guruji, Sri Guru Gobind Singhji (Son of Guru Teg Bahadarji) founder of khalsa made a resolution that he would convert his followers to such human beings who would not be able to hide themselves and could be easily located in thousands. At the start, the Sikhs were very few in numbers as they were fighting against the Mughal emperors. At that time, Nadir Shah raided Delhi in the year 1739 and looted Hindustan and was carrying lot of Hindustan treasures and nearly 2200 Hindu women along with him. The news spread like a fire and was heard by Sardar Jassa Singh who was the Commander of the Sikh army at that time. He decided to attack Nadir Shah's Kafila on the same midnight. He did so and rescued all the Hindu women and they were safely sent to their homes. It didn't happen only once but thereafter whenever any Abdaalis or Iranis had attacked and looted Hindustan and were trying to carry the treasures and Hindu women along with them for selling them in Abdal markets, the Sikh army although fewer in numbers but were brave hearted and attacked them at midnight, 12 O'clock and rescued women. After that time when there occurred a similar incidence, people started to contact the Sikh army for their help and Sikhs used to attack the raider's at Midnight, 12 O'clock. Nowadays, these "smart people" and some Sikh enemies who are afraid of Sikhs, have spread these words that at 12 O'clock, the Sikhs go out of their senses. This historic fact was the reason why some Sardar smiles over that person as he thinks that his Mother/Sister would be in trouble and wants sardar's help and is reminding him by saying off 'Sardarji Barah Baj Gaye'.