I often see people talking a lot about how frustrated they are with current job even they have just started with a job. But at the end of the day, they really work to the extent that they need to, then I wonder, why they should stress to themselves for thinking about all discomforts. In fact, that time could be spent with a thought process of how they could professionally grow in their life. I have been in the industry for about 11+ years now and I thought, I could pen some of my personal experiences on how one can build a successful career. I feel, one of the most important factor should that we should love what we do; if we are not satisfied with the job we are into, I think, it’s time to explore other opportunities. Switching jobs is not crime but one should have significant rational to switch to a new job. However, it would be even good for both employer and us, if we make a right decision before starting the job to avoid discomfort to the employer. While accepting an offer or even before going for an interview, one should ask to self, “Is this job meant for me? Will I be happy there?” and probably, one more question could be “Will I do justice to this job?”.
In 11 years, I have switched to about 5 organizations but never got farewell from any organization on a bad note. I have switched either for better opportunities or when I realized completely that if I am not capable of particular job even after tremendous effort. I think, it’s always best to start career with a small or medium size company where we can get an opportunity to explore and work with different functions and gain experience. Then over a period of three years, it would be good to look for opportunities in larger organizations. But again, if you and the existing employer are quite happy for each other, then, it’s better to continue so that you may grow to a leadership role in the same organization.
Another requirement for successful career is to be unique and develop extremely strong knowledge on the domain. Plus strong communication skills are important. Further it would be helpful to have ability to network with others in the industry. Sites like LinkedIn etc. that helps to not just network with people but also get updated on opportunities.
September 13, 2011
· 
Srinivasu Chakravarthula · 
No Comments
Tags: careers, tips · Posted in: Articles
Census Experience by people with disabilities
During Census 2001, there were only about 21 million people with disabilities were counted and whereas, there are about 70 million people with different disabilities in India. It is so important that every person with disability get counted and only then it will be easy to approach for reasonable accommodation, accessibility and equal opportunities. So let’s get counted. Remember that Question 9 of Census 2011 is answered effectively and that question is about disability. Here are some of the instances faced by different individuals during the counting.
- Enumerator did not ask about disability
- Enumerator visited home during the absence of member with disability in family
- Enumerator skipped the question 9 but addressed when a member with disability reminds them
- Enumerator did not bother even a family member points out the same
Get counted and share your experience here! Let’s send a collective document to authorities.
February 22, 2011
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Tags: census, disability, india · Posted in: Experience
Thyagaraja Aradhana 24th January
Today is one of the days one who loves and cares for music should remember. Today the 24th January is Aradhana of Shri. Thyagaraja.
Some lines from Wikipedia about Aradhana:
The Aradhana in its present format is not even a hundred years old. Thyagaraja died in 1847. A few days before his death, he had renounced everything and had become a sanyasi. When he passed on, his mortal remains were buried on the banks of the river Kaveri and a small memorial was built at the spot. His disciples returned to their respective villages and observed his death anniversary at their own homes. The memorial was soon forgotten and it was not until around 1903 that Tyagaraja’s last surviving disciples, Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagavatar and Sundara Bhagavatar returned to Tiruvayyaru, identified the place and had it renovated.
Thyagaraja Keerthana by Maharajapuram Santhanam via YouTube
Maharajapuram Samthanam – Thyagaraja Krithi (Youtube link)
It so happened that today, the famous musician Shri. Bheemsen Joshi passed away at Pune. A couple of lines about Shri. Joshi from Wikipedia:
He was born into a Kannada Brahmin family in the town of Gadag in northern part of Karnataka state.[2][3] His father, Gururaj Joshi, was a school teacher. Bhimsen is the eldest in a family of 16 siblings. Some of the siblings still live in their ancestral home in Gadag.[4] Bhimsen lost his mother when he was young, and his step mother raised him.
A performance by Shri. Joshi saheb – thanks again YouTube.
Jai Durge by Pt. Joshi Saheb
January 24, 2011
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Tags: bheemsen joshi, classical music, thagaraja · Posted in: Articles
World Braille Day – three cheers to Louis Braille!
January 4th is the Birth Anniversary of Louis Braille! Louis Braille is the inventor of written script for visually impaired. Watch this video!
See a Video to learn more about Louis Braille
Do you want to learn Braille? See this resource 
January 4, 2011
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · One Comment
Tags: Louis Braille · Posted in: Events
Marriage for a person with low vision – my personal story
If you know me, some of you seen only smile on my face all the time; but might not have seen the tragedy I have gone through. I in fact, would not like to share such an incident on a public platform, but some how, I felt, this story would be handy and helpful to someone in the community.
Again, if you know me, you would perhaps aware that I am a person with low vision and I could see only with my right eye. Most often, community do not notice people with low vision as a person with disability; they can only make out when you have a visible disability like total absence of sight, orthopedic disability, cerebral policy or so. And this is what is the problem. And being a person with low vision person, what I have learnt is we need to be very careful during matrimony process; no matter, if the other party is known to you and your family for a long and if you are relatives. Here is my story took place started in 2007!
While we were in search of my life partner and we came across a girl who happened to be distant relative to us. We went to her place with mediators on a day during May 2007 and we spent at their place from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM (India Time); which means about 7 hours; during this time, we had a lot of chat among everyone, had snacks, dinner, photography and I was as usual was busy with my hand phone talking to my clients and friends! Isn’t it enough for someone and their family to understand that I am a person with low vision. Also, during our chat, we have (through my uncle), we have clearly mentioned about my low vision to her and her parents among other relatives, who were present. And we have told them do take their own time and revert to us, if they are interested. However, they discussed among themselves and came back within half an hour time that “that’s fine, we are OK to go ahead” and we completed the traditional formalities. So that day was one opportunity for them to discuss in detail about my low vision, if they need any clarification.
Nevertheless, they still had another opportunity that is till the time we got married which was a month long. They were quite and finally, the day has come in June, 2007 where we got married at a devotional place that we all believed in. They were quite alright on the day of wedding and the next day too which we have performed Shri. Sathyanarayana Pooja. And that day evening they said “we did not understand his vision problem, our daughter cannot carry a life with him” and they claimed that I am totally blind and they left our place along with the girl.
Both our relatives and her relatives, teachers have tried their best to convince them and create awareness for a long time but no success. Even I wrote her a letter asking her to visit my place along with anyone who she likes and stay for whatever time she would want; if she finds life comfortable, she can carry on, else, we can think further and I was ready to take care of all expenses. There is no response at all.
After a while, we got a message demanding for a huge money and I declined saying firstly, I did not ask her to leave me nor I took any dowry from them and in fact, I have spent for whole marriage including their travel cost.
Then an advocate ran after me insisting me to give him some documentary proof that I am educated so that he can convince; which I was not interested.
Anyway, finally, we had pay them some money and filed a mutual consent for divorce in a court. All I have to say is that whole this story happened just due to lack of awareness and not ready to listen.
Well, my life won’t stop here. Thanks to Shaadi Centre, who found Hema to lead a smooth life ahead! Watch out for a good news soon.
My advice to people with disabilities is when you are looking out for a life partner, make sure, you spend at least 3 months before the marriage either via phone, email and some personal visits and let her / him completely understand your disability and make a decision. Also, it’s important to create awareness among his / her parents and relatives.
Finally, I thank, everyone, particularly, my colleagues at Net Systems Informatics and BarrierBreak Technologies for all the support and help to overcome this tragedy.
Good luck!
December 18, 2010
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · One Comment
Tags: awareness, disability, low vision, marriage · Posted in: Experience
Memories with my teachers
September 5th is a day I celebrate most as it gives me an opportunity to acknowledge all my teachers who have been responsible for the life that I am leading today. Firstly, let me share some of my memories as to how we used celebrate teacher’s day during school days.
While I was studying at ZP High School, Injaram, we used to have a simple function to facilitate our teachers and other Gurus in our village. Some of the teachers who taught us right from 1st class through 8th class are Shri. Poolla Kameshwara Rao, Shri. T Vanamayya, Shri. Vellanki Kameshwara Rao, Shri. Joga Rao, Shri. Sri Rama Moorthy, Shri Acharyulu, Shri. Patnala Rama Rao, Shri. B. Subba Rao (late), Ammaji Miss, etc.
I have studied 9th and 10
Some of the other teachers who are responsible for my growth are Ms. Pallavi, Ms. Dipti Masarani, Ms. Shilpi Kapoor, my tution teachers, Mr. Narasimha Murty etc.
All my teachers, Thanks a lot for all the enouragement, guidance and support you have given. I love you all and let me take this opportunity to seek blessings from each one of you.
Love you all and wishing you a very happy teacher’s day!
What is teacher’s day?
In India, teacher’s day is celebrated on 5th September every year to tribute Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who happened to be a great teacher and advocate of education. Read on at
September 4, 2010
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Tags: teacher's day · Posted in: Articles, Events
Using appropriate elements in blog posts
Most often, I see blog posts where blogs without use of appropriate elements such as headings, tables etc. So thought let me write some tips that one should consider while writing a blog post.
- Never copy and paste from a word processing document or internet page
- Use appropriate heading structure if your post has sub sections; for instance, ideally, your post name would be heading level 1 and uses
<h1>
so next level heading would be
<h2>
and next level to
<h2>
would be
<h3>
and so on.
- If you insert an informative image; don’t forget to add text description to it. Sample code:
<img src="folder/filename.gif" alt="This is a sample image" >
if you use an image that is for decorative purpose, provide a null alt attribute. Sample code:
<img src="folder/filename.gif" alt="" >
- If you use a data table, use semantic markup including table summary, caption and associate headers. Sample table code:
<table summary="This table consist of HTML elements and their use"> <thead> <tr> <th> Attribute;</th> <th> Description;</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>h1, h2, h3...</td> <td >Headings </td> </tr> <tr> <td>a href</td> <td> Hyper link </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
and here is the output:
Attribute Description h1, h2, h3… Headings a href Hyper link - Use appropriate list attributes: If you want to use an unordered list, use
<ul> <li> <ol>
attribute for ordered list. Here is the sample code:
- Unordered list:
<ul> <li>First bullet list item</li> <li>Second bullet list item</li> <li>Third bullet list item</li> </ul>
Output:
- First bullet list item
- Second bullet list item
- Third bullet list item
- Ordered list:
<ol> <li>First numbered list item</li> <li>Second numbered list item</li> <li>Third numbered list item</li> </ol>
Output:
- First numbered list item
- Second numbered list item
- Third numbered list item
attributes and
</ul>
More later! Enjoy writing effective blog posts!
July 13, 2010
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Tags: blog writing, HTML · Posted in: Articles
How to grab a career opportunity?
This article is generic but also, include tips for people with disabilities.
A few years back, for people with disabilities, it was a big challenge to get an employment in spite having extreme qualifications and that was just due to lack of awareness. Employers were not sure, what kind of jobs they could offer to people with disabilities and not sure, if they had to make any modifications in work place and rules. Also, there were not many people with disabilities of such kind with good education.
But today, thanks to the advancement of technology, the scenario is almost changed and people with disabilities could pursue any education like their other counter-parts. Today, almost there is no limit to achieve, just one should have a dream! There are people with disabilities, who are entrepreneurs, IT professionals, Pilots, Executives, consultants, and that too in any industries including, Banking, Education, Insurance, Telecommunication, Airlines, medical and anything for that matter!
Also, perspective of employers too changed, today, employers are willing to employee anyone with suitable skill set, dedication and commitment. Also, in some industries, although, there are employers willing to hire people with disabilities, unfortunately, some times, there are no candidates who would be suitable for the requirement. Here are a few quick tips that a potential employee should consider:
- Make a strong decision of the industry you would want to build your career
- Watch industry for the current trend and market
- Analyze, if you have all the qualities that an industry would look for
- If there is lack of any skills, get trained
- Make a presentable resume
- Apply for the positions only you would be interested and if you have desired skills
- Prepare well before going for the interview
- Make sure, you will carry all the desired documents
- Make sure, you will do a gain basic information about prospective employer such as their industries, culture, values etc.
- Be sure to reach interview venue well on time
- If you would be in need of assistive technology, be open to inform your needs; it’s not necessary that employer would be aware of assistive technologies, but they would surely understand, if you explain
More tips soon. Good luck for better prospects!
July 12, 2010
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Posted in: Uncategorized
How social networking is useful?
It’s been some time, whole world talk a lot about Social Networking. I thought let me share my personal experience with different social networks.
LinkedIn is a professional social networking site and I think, almost every professional use it a lot. Using LinkedIn, one can find people in relevant industry, career opportunities, get information about events of interest, get and share knowledge through it’s groups and much more! Here is how I got benefited by LinedIn:
When there was an opportunity at Yahoo!, a hiring Manager connected with me on LinkedIn and asked if I know anyone in the area of accessibility and would be interested to lead their accessibility initiatives at Yahoo! India R & D. I have forwarded a few contacts including my own profile. Further, things ran into regular job selection formalities and I got into Yahoo! India R & D to lead the accessibility efforts!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! has a such a powerful platform, once you change your status, it will reflect across your Yahoo! networks, including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Pulse etc. Not only that, Right from Yahoo! Home page, you can access to any site you would want by adding them to your favorites on Yahoo! Home page. In addition, right from Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Pulse, you can share your updates with Facebook .
Twitter is a micro blogging site and today’s it becomes very powerful sharing tool on the world wide web! Using Twitter, one can:
- Share what you think in a short message
- Stay tuned to the people or industry you may be interested in
- Spread a news or new development in your life, business or anyting
- You can re-tweet the thoughts of people you follow
- Make a quick notes of a conference
Here is an additional benefit and let me explain how I used it; while I was in any conference, either if I want to meet someone or they want to meet me or even know where I am, it’s difficult to pick the phone and call while we are in midst of too many people. The best solution we have used to send a Direct Message!
This post is being updated… please check back.
July 9, 2010
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, social networking, Twitter, Yahoo · Posted in: Articles
Touching Poem
Thanks to my friend, Firoz who posted below into a mailing list!
I went to a party Mom,
I remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I drank soda instead.
I really felt proud inside, Mom,
The way you said I would.
I didn’t drink and drive, Mom,
Even though the others said I should.
I know I did the right thing, Mom,
I know you are always right.
Now the party is finally ending, Mom,
As everyone is driving out of sight.
As I got into my car, Mom,
I knew I’d get home in one piece.
Because of the way you raised me,
So responsible and sweet..
I started to drive away, Mom,
But as I pulled out into the road,
The other car didn’t see me, Mom,
And hit me like a load.
As I lay there on the pavement, Mom,
I hear the policeman say,
“The other guy is drunk,” Mom,
And now I’m the one who will pay.
I’m lying here dying, Mom….
I wish you’d get here soon.
How could this happen to me, Mom?
My life just burst like a balloon..
There is blood all around me, Mom,
And most of it is mine.
I hear the medic say, Mom,
I’ll die in a short time.
I just wanted to tell you, Mom,
I swear I didn’t drink.
It was the others, Mom.
The others didn’t think.
He was probably at the same party as I.
The only difference is, he drank
And I will die.
Why do people drink, Mom?
It can ruin your whole life.
I’m feeling sharp pains now.
Pains just like a knife.
The guy who hit me is walking, Mom,
And I don’t think it’s fair.
I’m lying here dying
And all he can do is stare.
Tell my brother not to cry, Mom.
Tell Daddy to be brave.
And when I go to heaven, Mom,
Put “GOOD BOY ” on my grave.
Someone should have told him, Mom,
Not to drink and drive.
If only they had told him, Mom,
I would still be alive.
My breath is getting shorter, Mom.
I’m becoming very scared.
Please don’t cry for me, Mom.
When I needed you, you were always there.
I have one last question, Mom.
Before I say good bye.
I didn’t drink and drive,
So why am I the one to die?
July 7, 2010
· Srinivasu Chakravarthula · No Comments
Tags: accident, alchohal, celebration, drink, mother, party, son · Posted in: Poems
