AnuragSayz

Industrialization Of Love

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 19:35:00 +0000

Online dating is not a new phenomenon. Every aspect of human life is going online. It was, rather a natural evolution of “connected humans” to take their love life online. Now it is spreading like wildfire. There is absolutely no control. What we are witnessing is industrialization of love. The driving principle behind industrialization was mass production. Thus making things cheap and readily available in huge quantities driving up the consumption. Industrialization was making huge inroads into every aspect of human life. Almost everything that humans desired and consumed was coming out of huge assembly lines. New products were being launched in the market rapidly. Industrialization had answers to all our problems.

With the advent of the internet, human being witnessed the second phase of industrialization. Internet worked as a catalyst. It broke all geographical limitations that industries were struggling with.
However, it also opened new avenues, which were untouched by industrialization. Finally, humans had the tools to address the emotional needs of mankind at a mass level.

We decided to industrialize the most important need of any human being, “LOVE”. By this time, society was struggling with love. Love was becoming scarce and hard to find. People did not have time to invest in love. We did not have the patience for the courtships to take its due course. Love had lost the speed at which society was changing. It was time to strap on boosters to love. Knowledge of industrialization along with the reach of the internet was the only hopes.

In spite of the fact that industrialization of potato chips created an entire generation of good for nothing couch potatoes. We did the same to love what we had done to potato chips. Mass-produced love and made it readily available.

Now, love was everywhere, it was in our bathrooms, bedroom, kitchen, while driving, while eating. All we had to do was take the phone out and love was served, fresh, in bright colors, in high definition with theater like audio quality. Zillions of dating apps and websites mushroomed up. Subscription to these online dating platforms skyrocketed. Obscure algorithms fueling these apps promised the best possible match. If you were a woman, the idea of handpicked good looking, guys from all over the world being home delivered was being shoved down your head. Now you needed a brain instead of a heart to fall in love. And of course fingers and a phone. It was fascinating, no more dressing up, no more dinner’s at restaurants, no more anxiety of the unknown. Sitting in your dirty, smelly, stain ridden clothes in the comfort of your bedroom, you could approve or reject someone. That amount of power was unheard of.

How your picture appeared in your profile was everything. Your charm, your smile, silkiness of your hair, your mannerism, your sincerity, the mysticism of your eyes nothing mattered. All you had to do was look good in your pictures and write fancy words to describe yourself. I think, the online dating revolution gave a boom to the dying art of photography. It was no more a tool of NGC reporters or glamour photographers. Everyone wanted a good camera and great profile photos.

Choices were enormous. Suggestions for possible matches were customized for a love seeker. You had options of white guys, not so white guys, brown guys (I had to say this. I am from India), mixed guys. All body types were available for grab. From fit, iron pumping, protein shakes crazy guys, to guys with a little extra weight. You could literally choose between malnourished to an obese person and everything in between.

It even gave us, the brown lot a glimmer of hope. We could now try to date a white girl. We did not have to worry about smelling like curries or our hairy chest, or giving blank looks at jokes our Indian brains had failed to comprehend or nodding our heads for everything. We did not have to spend hours in obscure corners of a bar fantasizing and staring at beautiful white girls at a bar. We just had to swipe right or left. Yes, that true, “left”. Now a third world, poor IT guys on H1B could actually reject good-looking American women. That was a lot of power my friend.

But in this quest of making love available to everyone at their convenience, the ultimate sufferer was love. Love was an object now.Devoid of any layer of softness, purity, authenticity, feelings, tease, emotions. Online dating had brought the beautiful art of dating to extinction. It feels like nothing more than eating another packet of potato chips.

Hope you liked the blog. Happy reading.

My Tryst With Gun

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 12:37:00 +0000

I was looking to buy a cheap top of the line laptop. Cheap and top of the line sums up every Indian’s disconnect between reality and want. We always want the best but do not want to spend the money that quality commands. In the ideal world of an Indian guy, Mac books should be sold in Dollar Tree. When I set out to buy a laptop, obviously I stated with the best possible specifications. I wanted a 12- or 13-inch laptop. Should definitely have SSD. Processor has to be i7 or i5. Even though I will use it just to watch movies or browse cheap deals. With these specification in mind, I set out to look for a laptop. I found a lot of them. From mac books to Dell XPS to HP elite. These were really good laptops. But the only issue was that they were expensive. My determined Indian mind dismissed these options labelling them as glorifying examples of crony capitalism of USA. How convenient of me. Humans (read it as Indians) always come up with such convenient incorrect baseless generalization when the reality is far from the bubble that we have built in our heads.

I started looking at other avenues. Undeterred and oblivious of the realities, I was adamant to find a laptop with specifications wort 1000 dollars that can be bought in mere 300 dollars.

That is what I call an iron willed Indian. After months of patiently mining though all possible deals online, I finally found something that fit my needs perfectly. Hard work had finally paid off. Sense of achievement was unreal. I was proud of myself. Once before I had felt such great joy when I was able to get the genuine copy of Microsoft Office for mere 10 dollars. This achievement had reaffirmed my believes in my immigrant Indian roots.

I had found this prized catch on website called OffersUp. The seller was quoting a firm 350 dollars. But we Indians are infamous for driving hard bargain. So even though I agreed to pay the money he was asking for, I was confident that at the time of sale I will still be able to squeeze in 50 dollars. There was one slight glitch to this entire design of mine. The guy selling the laptop was a Mexican. That made the deal a little complicated. We both are brown. We both are cheap in our own rights. Both countries have great cuisine. But other similarities are really not worth bragging about. We both love USA. It is our favorite destination. We both love to make tons of babies in USA. We are equally cheap. We smell weird. And we are responsible for the immigration mess in USA. But India has slight edge over Mexico. We do not have Al Chapo and the cartels. Yay.

Never mind, a date, time and location were fixed for the sale. It was a mutually agreed location. Parking lot of a StarBucks. I arrived 10 mins early. Canvassed the area. Thanks to my expertise I had gained binge watching of Netflix for all series related to FBI, CIA, NSA. Now I was well settled in my car, listening to Bollywood music. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I get a text from the seller that he has arrived. I regathered myself that had veered a little on the nostalgic journey to India on the music of Bollywood. It was action time.

The first look at the guy instilled me with confidence. He was smaller than me. Unlike most Mexicans he had no neck tattoos. So, any affiliations to any gangs was ruled out. The outdoor seating of StarBucks had a lot of white Americans cherishing their coffee. That quelled the fear of getting mugged. I approached him confidently. After exchanging the pleasantries, I told him I had only 300 dollars. But he was firm on his price. He still wanted to make a deal so he leaned in his car to show me other models of laptop in my price range and this pulled his T-shirt up a little. It unveiled something that can scare the wits out of any Indian. He was carrying a gun. He was not pointing it at me. It was holstered on his waist all secure and safe, leaning in his car had just revealed the face of the gun.

Indians have funny relationship with guns. We are scared of them. In India, let alone the civilians, even cops do not carry guns. Few cops that carry guns are antique looking, non-scary world war two ear guns.

I was praying for my life. I was scared. I went blank. No questions asked, voluntarily I handed him 350 dollars in cash. Bought him two cups of coffee and thanked him as if he had offered me his kidney for free. I took the laptop, and drove straight to my house. Felt as if I was running for life. Even in these dire circumstances I could not over speed, because that would have costed me money (cops and speeding tickets). We are true to our immigrant roots, come what may. The silver lining, it was indeed a great laptop.

Hope you enjoyed the blog. Happy reading.

Beard and Brown Skin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:46:00 +0000

I love to grow a beard. A good, well-grown and groomed beard looks cool. I can attribute two reasons for my love for a beard. One, I am lazy to shave and two, I really like beards. Ok, enough drooling over beards. I feel adding an Indian perspective to anything really makes it interesting. I hope that this is an interesting take on beards by an Indian guy living in the USA. The key words to heed here are “Indian guy”, “beard” and the mighty, but strange, USA.

About a year and half back, I grew a beard and I liked it. At least, I thought it looked cool. Then, things started to happen in my life that I had never experienced before. I started getting attention from completely strange, unrelated, unknown people. Random people would come up to me and compliment my beard. What really made those compliments interesting was the places where I got them.

A few compliments made me happy. Like the receptionist at my work. I have been coming to the same office for almost a year and she never noticed me. Then beard. I mean, a weird thing happened. She noticed me

. She said, “A beard looks good on me.” That was definitely an achievement for me.

Something similar happened with my beautiful neighbor. Our doors are less than 5 feet away. We share several common walls, even our car parking is next to each other. Still not a smile, nor a glance from her for almost a year. However, fate had something else planned for me. The beard happened again. She smiled at me one day. I guess it was because of my beard. I am sure it was my beard. Because in the past year, I have done absolutely nothing to transform myself into the good looks of Ryan Gosling. I know, you can judge me all you want but I like him.

Weirdest of the compliment I received was in the men’s room of a strip club. At strip clubs, men are supposed to appreciate the gorgeous women in neon lingerie, not other man’s beard. Instead, if all you can think about is another man’s beard while you are holding your “little john” and peeing, then it is certainly not a glorious place to receive a compliment.

I was enjoying all this for a while. Then a realization happened. I think a story is incomplete until the realization part. You can have happy moments, then not so happy moments followed by weird moments in your story. However, it still needs a realization, an awakening moment. That is what makes a story complete. My moment of realization happened at a traffic light. I saw a white dude. Not just any white dude, but one with a gorgeous beard. While I was still admiring his beard, another thought came to my mind. What if, I change the skin color of this white dude to brown? No other change whatsoever. Just the color from white to brown. That, my friends, was a scary thought. He could very well make it on to the FBI’s most wanted list. He could have dark cars tailing him. Perhaps, even a drone hovering over him. At the same moment, while my mind was running amok with these theories of mine, I happened to see myself in the mirror. And the realization moment I have been building up so far in the blog happened, I noticed I had a beard. I was in the USA. And I was “Brown”.

I went straight to the hair saloon and, now, I am back to being a humble immigrant on H1B visa working in IT, trying to make some money in the USA.

Hope you enjoyed reading the post. I would love to hear back from you.

Things Indians Do in USA - Frugality

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 16:15:00 +0000

One thing that stands out and perhaps unites all Indians living in USA is frugality. It cuts through the entire social barriers and divide. Irrespective of what gender, religion, looks, color an Indian belongs to, frugality in USA really unifies us as one. It gives us a sense of pride and achievement. We squeeze in every penny. We have been doing it for so long that it has become part of our DNA. I am sure, by now even few of our genes have altered itself as part of human (Indian) evolution.

First reaction of a marine on hearing the word “go” would be to grab his gun. For us, the first and natural reaction is Groupon. We do not do buy anything in spur of moment. We plan it, meticulously. Like a military operation. It does not matter how much, every penny counts. We can spend hours looking for ways to get five dollar off on a five-dollar purchase. It is not easy. It is a tight walk between being a cheapskate and profligate.

You name a service or a category and we have saved money on it.

Netflix Subscription: Four or five family shares the same subscription. Making it almost free. As if you bought the subscription from Dollar tree.

Phone lines: I would say more the merrier. Ten or twenty people group together and get a phone connection. It brings down the cost. What is interesting is, they are not part of same family. A ten-line phone connection would be saving money for at least five families.

Credit Cards: We love opening new credit cards. Every time we have to make a trip to India. Open a new credit card, which has no interest for the first year. In addition, look for a card, which gives cash backs or credits for spending a certain amount in first three months.

Referral Bonus: We love this. From apartment rental referral bonus to bank account opening referrals to new electricity connection referrals. You name it and we have done it. It is a major revenue stream for many of us.

Free inaugural subscription: Many video streaming websites offer first few weeks’ free subscription. We are sucker for such offers. To give you a perspective, you can watch the entire “Game of thrones” on HBO now by using their first month free subscription. Cancel it after a month and then wait until the season nine comes. Then create a new email id and whola you are all set.

Rounding off dollars: We save every penny even when it comes to tip at restaurants. If the bill amount with tip is 20.72 dollars. Then it is 20.72. Not 21 not 23 not 25. We have got so good at calculation 10 or 15 percent of any amount. We are correct and precise to the last decimal.

The list if just never ending. Nevertheless, it is fun. At the end of the day, every dollar saved is a dollar saved. Not that we are not paid enough, it is just the way we are wired. If we have to look at the bigger picture, all third world struggling economies can take some inspiration and ideas from us and save a ton of money. No austerity drives, no tax hikes. Just follow the damn Indian way.

In the spirit of full confession, I am an integral part of this thriving community in USA who are on a mission to save money.

Hope you liked the post. If you have your experiences and thoughts to share, I will be happy, as long as it does not cost me money.

Happy Reading.

MONSOON,UMBRELLAS and GENDER DIVIDE

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Monsoons are one of the most awaited phenomena bestowed upon us by the benevolent almighty. Rains do a lot of good to the mankind. It is a boon to farming, replenishes water table and water bodies. It provides much awaited respite from the soaring mercury. The entire flora and fauna (natural and man-made) gives out a very fresh, washed and vibrant vibes. Raindrops falling on the parched earth to quench its eternal thirst is quiet an emotional and spectacular sight to watch. Intermingling of thirsty earth and restless rain drops is like two passionate lovers reuniting after a long agonizing separation forced upon themselves by the destiny, with a hope of never separating again and ignorant of the fact that every meeting culminates into a separation.
Love prevails all around riding high on the mood and sentiments marked by marriage of thirsty mother earth and rain drops with purity at heart. Feeling of togetherness and reunion becomes the mood of the season. But this feeling of togetherness suffers every time it rains in my office.

Large and beautiful umbrellas have been provided by my office management to facilitate the journey of their employees from their respective buildings to the main exit without getting wet. But we mortal souls, so engrossed in the utilitarian aspect of life, fail miserably to understand the real purpose of such facility (I guess even the office management is ignorant about the same). These benevolent
umbrellas are actually cupids, selflessly trying to maintain the natural order of things – “The state of oneness, the state where both the genders mingle freely and there is not room for distrust”. But unfortunately this natural order of the society has served a great deal due to the insurmountable wall of distrust and inequality that exists between men and women.

A usual evening scene outside my office building on rainy days is quiet agonizing for someone like me who is a great advocate of oneness between the two sexes. Few lucky men and women can be seen dragging their tired body, arranging their bags and lunch boxes towards the main exit under the umbrella, ALL ALONE. Majority of men and women wait desperately for a UN proclaimed umbrella to commence their journey ALL ALONE. Now the point I am trying to make here is why this aloofness. Few of those who share their umbrella are entirely based on the similarity of gender one has with the one carrying the umbrella. The adherence to this strange principle which thwarts any intermingling of souls of opposite gender (known or unknown) is unfathomable. But unfortunately, this behavior displayed by people in my office actually reflects the sentiments that exist in our society today. This deep divide between men and women is heart wrenching. Such feeling can be attributed (to a small extent) to the suspicion with which the society always sees a man and woman together. Even the tones of virtues (that’s what parents proudly addresses these otherwise crappy things), regarding how to deal with people of opposite gender that is implanted into us forcefully during the course of our upbringing plays a major role in deepening this divide. Time and again we are reminded by our parents to have a cautious approach while dealing people of with opposite sex. People might contradict me sighting examples of harassment that few belonging to one gender has to undergo due to few belonging to the opposite gender. I completely agree to them but most of these harassments are manifestation of the restrictions that the society has created which hinders the free intermingling of the two sexes. Ops almost got carried away from where I started; lets come back to the umbrella story.
The favorable atmosphere provided by the rains is wasted due to our inhibitions about intermingling with people of opposite sex. We can sing praises and drool over the song sequence glorified by the great Raj Kapoor and Nargis Dutt in which they walk together under an umbrella completely drenched in rain and love. But still when it comes to actually imbibing and implementing those learning, we just love to refrain ourselves. If we actually look at the construct of umbrella, we can observe it is perfectly cut out to instigate and spread the feeling of togetherness. The umbrellas that we have here in office are too big for single use and a little small for shared use. And that is where the fun lies. For many restless souls, wandering in search of love, this walk could be their “KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI MOMENT”. The accidental rubbing of shoulders because of the falling rain and quest to fit into the umbrella, the unintentional touch of the fingers in order to hold the umbrella upright resulting in those blush full glances exchanged combined with the dampness around and the intermingling warm breath are potent circumstances for the love to bloom. Unfortunately we deprive us of such situation due to our reluctance. It is not necessary that love will bloom ever time you share the umbrella with some one of opposite gender. Even if does not happen, sharing of umbrella can make your rather solitary journey to the exit a little more interesting and you will get to meet new people.
Due to environment concerns, car pooling has gained significance. I guess to bridge the divide between mankind; umbrella pooling should be the next FAD.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER and COMPANY TRANSPORT

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 05:56:00 +0000

For most of the software engineers, irrespective of their designation, salary package and sex have commuted in company’s cab or bus (company transportation). You must be wondering, what is so significant about these travels, people across the globe do that. The remarkable things that make these journeys so interesting are the way software professionals conduct themselves during these bus rides. The range of activities that are performed on these travels is worth taking notice of.

Designated pick up points are where this journey starts. Catering to prayers and wishes for reaching these points on time is one of the most important activity that keeps our almighty occupied early in the morning. The amount of traffic these prayers generate can easily bring down any powerful server. For the winners, I mean those who manage to reach the pickup points on time, the joy is boundless. This feeling of victory can certainly dwarf the feeling that you get after coming first in NAT GEO’s Amazing race.

The scene at these pickup points, though short lived is quiet interesting. You can find software professionals forming small groups and talking among themselves. The group formation is basically determined by the number of years of experience one has (birds of same feather flock together).Group comprising of senior professionals usually talk about the news paper headlines, politics and state of country’s economy. The passion and authority with which they talk can give
finance ministers a run for money. The group comprising of younger breed (often addressed as SE’s and SSE’s) are very consistent about the topic of discussion every single day. With great fervor and passion, invariably they indulge in mass vocal molestation of their supervisors. The range of people falling under this category of supervisor varies from immediate supervisors to even the CEO. All these activities come to an abrupt end at the first sight of approaching company’s bus. The diffusion of the feeling of togetherness that these groups share as the bus approaches still perplexes the elite group of gentlemen studying human behavior. This phenomenon can be compared to an intense love making coming to an abrupt end because of a premature ejaculation.

The moment you step inside the bus, quest for most convenient and strategically important seat begins. If the bus is empty when you board it, it becomes all the more confusing to decide on where to sit. A strange feeling of un-touchablity prevails inside the bus. Everyone prefers to sit alone (as long as they can). Seat selection process is quiet interesting to watch. Factors influencing this process is thought provoking. Being software professional and constant fiddling with codes helps us make this selection process a little simpler. We software engineers have a tendency to solve any problem (popularly known as issues in software world) with the help of algorithms. The moment we board the bus, our super processor BRAIN executes thousands of algorithms and comes up with the co-ordinates of a seat that best suits your requirements or rather desires.

Those who want to quickly get down after reaching office prefer the front seats. Guys bearing “LIFE IS A DRAG. DEFICIENCY OF VITAMIN FUN” looks on their face, occupy any available seat without much thoughts. The ever enthusiast young SE’s and SSE’s, fight it out for the rear seats. Professionals who peep out the window with fresh air on their face and gazing through the streets with an oblivion look prefer window seats. But their supply of fresh air is cut short by the ladies if they get the slightest hint of “BAD HAIR DAY” syndrome.

Selection process for strategically important seats is awe-inspiring. These are those much coveted seats, which are occupied by software professional every single day with just one hope that they get to sit with someone very beautiful and attractive person of opposite gender. (The male dominated part of my brain wanted me to replace the phrase “person of opposite gender” with the word DAMSEL. But these feelings were suppresses brutally by my strong adherence to the principle of Gender equality. ---“Hope my wife is reading this.”). Those boarding the bus at a later stage transform their eyes into an efficient laser target finder, if the seats are available, they lock their desired beautiful prey and occupy that seat without wasting a single second. For professionals boarding the bus at the initial part of journey, this task is little difficult and complex. Like true stock market professional, they analyze tones and tones of history data (these data comprise of seating patterns followed by person of their dreams), apply all theories of probability and forecasting and decide on a seat that has the highest probability of the person of your desire to come share the same seat you are in.

During this bus journey, you will find some avid newspaper readers. They valiantly fight out the adversities like lack of space to spread open the newspaper and strong wind. They munch on every possible news that the benevolent paper has to offer. Those news paper enthusiasts who take pride in “not spending a penny but still managing to read news paper” display great improvisation to achieve this. They devise and display prime adaptability and flexibility in their body posture, so that they can read from their neighbor’s paper with later having no hint about it. Book readers do not display any interesting characteristics apart from the skill to stick on the same page through the entire journey.

As always, the fairer sex indulges in what they do the best “GROOMING THEMSELVES”. In spite of the adverse terrain (the ever shaking and jumping bus) they are able to draw perfect colorful lines over their sensuous and curvy body part glorified by the ever beautiful Angeline Jolie( in short, their lips). It’s a delight to watch then accentuate their deep, gorgeous, men killing devise called “eyes” with black colored pencils ( when it comes to admiring women’s beauty, the turf gets a little slippery for me and more often than not, I get carried away). For love birds, this is the only time to rejuvenate their love life. All fresh and bubbling with high levels of energy early in the morning, they make the most out of this journey. Good moments spent during these rides are their defenses that they erect to fight out the miserable life they are have to experience once they reach office.

The activity in which majority of these software engineers indulge during this ride is sleeping. Quick naps taken during these rides helps them to abate the phenomena of “SLEEP DEPRIVATION” that becomes an indispensible part of you once you become a software engineer. They have mastered the art of sleeping in ever jolting bus so well, that five minutes into the ride and their head gives up to the gravitational force.
Hey friends the destination “COMPANY” has arrived. Need to get down the bus and start my day at office. HAPPY READING.

LIFE is a BUFFET - Enjoy every byte you take

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Food, I am a great admirer, consumer and promoter of food (self proclaimed). Variety is what turns me on. So naturally buffets are something that makes me experience bliss. Eating and admiring is just one aspect of loving buffets. Drawing analogy about life is another (rather a new aspect). Sounds absurd, just grab your glass of beer, sit back, relax and let me take you to the lanes less treaded to bring out the amazing learning that buffets have to offer about life.

Buffets are famous for the number of delicacies that are on offer to pacify your tantalizing taste buds (undoubtedly the best thing about buffets). Various impeccable aromas oozing out from the numerous dishes of different vivid color and texture swirls around and cast an unbreakable spell on the foodies who are ever eager to munch on these delicacies with grace and respect. Likewise life also offers you with differ colors and aromas. At times its sorrow at times it is happiness. Whatever be the flavor, you (the foodie) should always be ready to embrace them with respect, dignity and grace. I think colorful life is what makes it for a whole sum life.

The sheer number of delicacies in a buffet can be intimidating or rather inviting and confusing. The untamable heart, ever tantalizing tongue and bubbling stomach with gastronomical juices pushes you hard to relish everything at once. If you give into such formidable internal desires all you will be left with is an overloaded plate and intermingling gravies, losing their identity and charm. Such situations manifest into wastage of food, devastated taste buds and a hunger quenched but unsatisfied you. We
can look at life on somewhat similar terms. You can overload you life if caution is not maintained. Our mind and heart churns out numerous thoughts (can be read as Ideas). Most of these thoughts are lost in the subconscious self. Some become your hobby, few become your ambition and some become things that you just want to do. One cannot cater to everything that is mentioned above at once. Any such attempts will certainly make your life overloaded and unmanageable. Sitting in too many boats at once is a perfect recipe for disaster. Depending on your need and liking you ought to prioritize things. Take things ones by one and accomplish them.

Buffets can be best enjoyed if you take in your plate the number of dishes that you can relish at once. In spite of being your favorite dish, it should be eaten in moderations as it will leave room to try out other recipes. Moderation formula also helps you get rid of unpleasant food quickly. Similarly a balanced approach is what makes life a rewarding experience. In such situation your bad decisions or mistakes will be over quickly. And your good decisions are quickly replaced by happiness of another good decision before the happiness from the first one becomes stale.
Eating food is not a serious business. It is an art. Food is best enjoyed when eaten at peace. Take a bite, munch it and enjoy every ounce of pleasure it has to offer. And before you jump over to another byte, take some time, admire the world around with the lingering immaculate taste in your mouth. Similarly life should not be taken too seriously. Do not get too engrossed in work or the dreams that you are chasing. Take a break, smile at people around you, admire the nature and mingle with friends. Be a part of your children growth and innocent chats, share the pain of your ageing parents. And you would be surprised to experience the satisfaction and peace you can derive from such activities.For those who have managed to read through miles of literature presented to you above (congrats), must be wondering if even one sentence written above makes sense, then why life is not as easy as having a buffet. The answer is pretty simple. In a buffet, you decide what gets onto your plate. But in life you do not realize what is coming at you until it has arrived.“SHOCKS AND SURPRISES” is what makes life worth living. Enjoy life.

The Turning Tide – BIHAR losing its edge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:56:00 +0000

Scams, Corruption, Lawlessness etc are few of the terms that in most situations (if not all) were used to highlight the state of Bihar. Bihar has always been in news for all wrong reasons. But situation seems to be changing. It would be premature to draw any conclusion at this point of time, but certainly things are changing. What is really shocking is the fact that states that enjoy the tag of being pro development and forward looking have been the breeding ground for some of the most infamous scams of year 2010.

States like Karnataka and Maharashtra were the in forefront of scams reported in 2010.Even the infamous 2G scandal which topped the charts of scams last year had absolutely no connection with Bihar. I really wonder, Bihar which has such a glorious legacy of being in the forefront of all such activities has suddenly lost edge. Bihar’s inability to give this country any major scams in past few years can be a subject of case study in any of the prestigious management institutes.
News like Husk Power generation, peaceful and fair elections in Bihar and magical growth figures have contributed further to strip this state (to a certain extent) from the tag of being a corrupt and scandalous state. On a lighter note, if the same situation persists for some more time, Bihar will face a serious identity crisis.

Prolonged emission of these positive vibes from Bihar can pose a serious threat to the social architecture of this country. Just imagine the amount of change that people of this country will have to undergo if the term Bihar and Bihari’s become synonyms for development and progress. It will be something like people adjusting to the fact that Osama Bin Laden is a great saint of all times. I guess the entire history will have to be re- written.
I think enough of me trying hard to give a different perspective of things happening in this country and Bihar. I am really happy to witness the tremendous growth and development potentials that Bihar has shown. All appreciation for people of Bihar who are a part of this great change. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

What is office working hour

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:18:00 +0000

“WORKING HOURS” in Software industry is one of the most misunderstood and misused word. Generally working hour means – The legal amount of time the company wants its employee to spend in office (productive and non productive hours is a matter of debate). But that’s the legal or the documented part. Its real implications are completely different.

Right from the birth of civilization (please read as Software industry), the society has been divided into two. First part comprise of the elite few or the oppressor or the tyrant (please read as the manager or supervisor or the team lead, different words but they all mean the same in this context) and the second part comprise of the innocent oppressed class or the proletarians, glorified by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (please read as the poor software engineers).
This divide has led to different interpretation of the word “WORKING HOUR”. I bring here the manager’s interpretation of this word.
For managers the word working hour is the most infamous and popularly used trapping devise. And the victims are who, any guesses, you have got it right, it’s us the poor software engineers working under them. For managers, working hour or office hour has only the start time but there are is no end time. We are expected to reach office at the correct time and never leave office after that (I mean that’s the ideal office hours as per managers). Leaving office on time is like practicing untouchablity or involving in act of low moral and social value for the managers. Working minimum two to three hours after you legal office end time is what managers encourage.
For them these extra hours spent in office is very much part of normal working hours. Apart from that, working on weekends (Call of duty as described by managers) is another obvious and inherent part of Legal office hours in the eyes of managers. The story does not end here; managers who are real managers (I mean the real software industry managers) are very secular in their outlook towards the different days in a year. They are secular to the extent that they treat a working day and a holiday with absolute equality. So that this phenomenal progressive secular outlook translates into “only working day and no holiday” for us. The Consortium of managers has even appealed to the literary society of world seeking a change in the famous saying “All work and no play makes jack a dull boy”. And if their appeal is accepted the saying will change to something like this “All work and no play gets jack in good books of managers”
And why we poor oppressed class are so scared to challenge this prevalent exploitation is that fact that WORKING HOUR plays a significant role as far as appraisal ratings are concerned. Quality and difficulty of work comes second to the number of hours spend in office as far as securing good appraisal comments are concerned. Long working hours no holidays and coming to office on weekends combined with no compensation is what makes us an eligible candidate for good appraisal.

ECONOMIC RECESSION- SOFTWARE INDUSTRY THEN AND NOW

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 07:12:00 +0000

Recession of 2008-2010 (you may disagree with the time pan) changed how the world was perceived. Strongest of economy felt the heat. Some crumpled and some survived. One of the worst hit sector was software industry (IT industry). In order to survive, the entire software sector underwent radical changes. The term “Cost Cutting”, once found only in management book and managerial talks was now the most dreaded monster. Right from the office boy to software engineer, everyone was aware of what this term meant and the amount of catastrophe it can create. Innumerous relentless mayhems were organized and executed by organizations.

All of a sudden things that were considered the basic requirements or our inherent rights became luxury. At first the number of drinks offered selflessly by the innocent office vending machine was reduced to just tea and coffee (tea or coffee). As the recession intensified, the vending machines itself were removed from the shelf. The place which once was the epitome of gossip now portrayed a much disserted look. Most of the software engineers considered that place as martyrs land.
Next to fall victim of recession was the ever rumbling and rattling printers. Printing the entire book was now an unheard concept. Even single page print outs like train tickets or movie tickets were a rare phenomena. Restriction on vending machine affected just the employees but restriction on printers shook the entire society. Family members, friends now had to go out and get their print outs from local cyber cafes.

Even the air conditioner (AC) and bulbs were not spared. AC off by 6:30 pm (which is like just the start of work for most of the software engineers) and most of the floor gave a spooky look as the most of the bulbs were switched off to cut cost.
Concept of team outing and fun activities were termed as waste of money and time. Add to our misery was the fact that we were now required to stay more time in office without these facilities. Roaming around and taking frequent breaks were sufficient enough to get your name in the list of people to be fired next.
But the glorious days are back. Things are returning to normalcy. Vending machines are again proudly serving the beverages and printers are again rumbling and snoring to the top of their voice all round the clock. We can once again oblige our friends and loved ones by getting free print outs for them. The office gossip has again picked up. The entire floor seems to be bustling with activities (non productive). Floor activities are something that now we look forward to, and team is back in place which used to plan the team outings.

TEAM PLAYER - Favourite term on Software engineer's resume

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:52:00 +0000

Team player is a word which can be found on almost every software engineer’s resume. It usually signifies a person who can gel well with the team and believes in team work.
Getting along with the team is a good thing. This virtue has a lot of advantages, your team members can fill in for you in the hour of need, you can always have company on weekends for booze, movies etc.

But the most important attribute of being a team player is team work. Now this is where this innocent phrase is highly misused and misinterpreted. For managers team player means a person who can collectively work towards achieving team’s goal. This means the entire team shares a part of work individually, they work in full sync, and finally they deliver what was required in time. But for the team members like me who are very lazy and who have mastered the art of dodging all the responsibility coming their way, the term team work is a savior. To them, team work means the entire team working on the same piece of work, rather than looking after different pieces of work individually. As a result no individual team member is accountable. Sincere members of the team put in honest effort to complete the work and we lazy souls keep ourselves indulged in planning for week
end and other extracurricular activities, because we know the job will be completed on time. It helps us to create a deceptive circumference around the work that has been assigned to the team, so that their non participation in work goes unnoticed.
They sprung up to the centre stage when it’s time for credit sharing. For that too, they do not have to sweat much, because any ways they were a part of the team that delivered following a team work model.
I guess most of the software engineers will agree. Lest see what you have to say. Just share it here.

MALE DISCRIMINATION - Yes it Does Exist

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:29:00 +0000

Male discrimination is still considered a rare phenomena. But unfortunately every sphere of our society is glorified by this discrimination. Be it the public transport system, ticket booking counters etc, you can find separate seats or queue for females. Is that not discrimination. Those who advocate the female rights defend these separate arrangements for male and female as a step to bring up the females to the same level as males. Some even try to cover this prevalent discrimination under the shadow of “CHIVALARY”.

Acts like offering seat to a lady (even though she can pull a chair and sit), opening doors for her (even if she can pull the doors and make hey way in or out) are expected to be performed by man if he wishes to qualify for the tag of gentleman. My question is why there is no mention of a reciprocal behavior.

Quotes like “Ladies first” is so well accepted in the society. But no one seem to care about “Gentleman first”. During argument with females one invariably hear sentences like “Don’t you know how to talk to a lady”. Most of the behavioral sessions are aimed at how to behave with a female. When I joined my organization, during induction I was given a long session on how to behave with female employee.Does that mean men are suppose to be taken for granted as far as these things are concerned

What I mentioned in the above paragraphs are just some of the discrimination that I have encountered. Unfortunately, these discriminations have become such an indispensible part of our life that most of us feel that’s how it is suppose to be. Society loves to create favorable situation for females. The saddest part is we men, are ignorant and unaware of these discrimination. On the contrary the females are much more aware of the discriminations that they are subjected to. On internet, tens and thousands of female activists can be found advocating that women should get an equal share in everything. I agree to them completely, but I advocate for an absolute equality. There has to be an absolute equality in society as far as gender issues are concerned.

I am a great patron of women working shoulder to shoulder with men, but at the same time the above mentioned inequalities should be removed. Instead of laying down different set of rules for men and women, we should have universal rules which apply to both sexes equally. Any change in universal rules will again create discrimination. A divided society can never prosper.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER AND WEEKEND FUN

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:30:00 +0000

Friday is always a special day for a software engineer. And there are obvious reasons for this.
Coming of Friday marks the beginning for a lot of things. Let me enlighten you on this one by one.
1)For many, especially bachelors it marks the beginning of two day celebration (Counting Friday night and Saturday night) of booze commonly known as DAARU PARTY. They try to make maximum out of these two days as far as tryst with alcohol is concerned. It is a great opportunity to replenish the alcohol (MADIRA-Made famous by Harivansh Rai Bacchan) content of body, so that we can have a state of bliss for rest part of the coming week. It also gives you the much necessary state of mind to deal with crap(can be debated) work that one does sitting behind the computer and turn a deaf ear towards managers irritating hymns and loathes ( It’s a fact, no debates)

2)For many (you can include me too) it’s a day which starts with the optimism of getting a chance to check out hot babes in office. Witnessing the transformation of same aunty types into real damsels on Friday is a spectacular phenomenon.

3)The whole joy of Friday rockets to all together another world if it also happens to be a salary day. You just feel so happy and strong from inside, it appears as if you just had a shot of some super powerful steroid.

4)The story is little different for married guys. But certainly it’s not bad. They get much needed time to spend with their better half and experiences bliss. Fine dinner coupled with movies add to the enjoyment (pardon me if this point does not have some masala things. My lovely wife also reads this blog).

5)In the above points I said a lot about the boys so it will be injustice to them if I do not mention anything about girls. My secret wish of spending a day with girl invisibly (do not let your imaginations fly) just to observe her behaviors’ and actions has not been fulfilled yet. So I do not really much about them. Whatever I write from here onwards is just fiction.

6)Girls especially the smart ones might spend the weekends deciding on the list of boyfriends they have to date. And if they really do it, mind it my friends it must be one hell of a task. Many factors influence this selection process. I guess a boy can be removed from the list color of his teeth does not match with the color of her bangles. Boys with potential of sponsoring movies and exclusive dinners have rather high chances of being on the list.

7)Growth of Indian economy depends on the number of consumers the quantity of consumption. Consumption on weekends (buying of dress or other things are included in this) is the major contributor and guess who tops the list. No points for guessing, it’s the women.

I guess I will have to stop here as you all will be waiting to accomplish either any one of the above or something else. Whatever it is ENJOY your weekend.
Keep pouring your ideas. So see you on Monday

LAST MAIL BEFORE LEAVING A COMPANY

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:46:00 +0000

Hi ALL my readers,
I have composed a mail which can be used as a last e mail before leaving the company.
Feel free to use it. Hope i am not contributing to the attrition rate.
And yup pour in your ideas to make it better.

----HERE IT GOES---

Someone has truly said in Hindi “ Har mulaakaat ka anjam judai hai”.
I don’t know where to start from, words betray me. There is so much to say, so many people to thank.The rampant emotions inside me make me weak and jittery. I know my stint with (company name)cannot be conveyed in two words, but I will have to do it.

BYE BYE

Yes people, today I am saying good bye to (company name). For me (company name) has been a home away from home.Growing with (company name) was fun. Met some really wonderful souls. Formed some impregnable bonds and have got tonnes of memories to cherish forever. Ok OK I should stop this description of my emotional journey here before you guys get bored and hurl those coffee mugs at me.

So its thanks giving time.

I truly and deeply thank the following people.
The security personals at the main entrance for helping me find a parking place every day (NOTE: if you were using company transport, you can give credit to them).
My team members for their high mental strengths to tolerate me.
My supervisors for …….....(thinking….....)
……... still thinking...……
…….still thinking...……
…....goggle ing...……the search did not yield any result…..
……still thinking…….
OMG nothing is coming to my mind and oops google has betrayed me too.
Ok on a serious note for guiding me, encouraging me and showing me the rite way always ( this sentence can be deleted depending on ur relation with managers).
The cafeteria guys for letting me take extra sambar, chutney and curd for free.
Dhaba guys for the parcel so that I do not have to cook at night.

After thanks giving its time for the lucky draw.
Anyone who replaces my (company name)e-mail with my personal e-mail id will get free lunch coupons for three generations which can be used in our cafeteria.
And who ever calls me on my cell (mobile number)can include their friends, relatives and neighbors in the above mentioned free lunch coupon scheme.
I have nothing more to say Fir milenge

ARUNDHATI ROY - KASHMIR CONTROVERSY

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Arundhati Roy’s statement about Kashmir has created quite a lot of heat. More importantly sparked a fierce debate between the patriots and those who advocate about fundamental rights. Patriots are terming this incident as sedition and the patronage of fundamental rights as dissent.
The views of those terming the statement made by Roy as dissent can be very well be summed up by the following comment given by US Supreme Court

“It is poignant but fundamental that the flag protect those who hold it in content”. They argue that dissent and disagreement is what makes a democracy complete. They also highlight the inherent tradition of India being tolerant. Under the umbrella of these arguments, these patrons of democracy and fundamental rights try to seek a “no legal action” status for ROY.
But the present situation that exists in India demands something else. Under the pretext of upholding the fundamental rights and tolerant nations’ image, the unity and solidarity of India has been compromised on many occasions. If this dangerous trend is not curbed at this moment it will not be a distant reality when we will see India crumbling into many small countries.
Government should show some grit and conviction and should act immediately to put an end to such heinous acts dome in the name of democracy.

AMEERPET TO AMERICA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 08:06:00 +0000

To some the title might sound strange but that's how it is.First a small background on Ameerpet and America.
Ameerpet is a area in Hyderabad,India which is famous for software training institutes.America - I really do not need to say anything.
I recently came Hyderabad for sometime and thought of discovering Ameerpet.
The first impression that came to my mind after visiting the place was CRAZY. Indeed it is a crazy place. all around Ameerpet you will find training institutes. You name the technology and you will get it. Be it different modules of SAP or Oracle or Data warehousing,Mainframes,C etc, at least one training institute is

available for you.You will be surprised to know that one street in Ameerpet is known as SAP street as it has the most concentration of SAP training institutes. This entire area is flooded with banners, posters, hoardings advertising about different institutes and the courses they offer. As the training institutes are in abundance,there is a cut throat competition for luring the students.All modes of payments are available for enrolling into any course. Installments option is there. Special discounts are offered for those who can make one shot payment of the entire course fee. Apart from this the fee can be further negotiated depending on your negotiating skills.

These training institutes have also created a market for cheap photo states, printouts and stationery You can find scores of shops offering these services. And when there are so many students visiting this place everyday how can the dhabhas and hotels be behind. They too have sprung up like mushrooms offering fast food to real meal to customized take away.
You will find sea of people on the roads quickly making there way to training institutes.All the first time visitors predominantly comprising of people who have come to inquired about the courses and training institutes will have a very confused look as this place is laid out in its most unorganized way. Some will have a very satisfied and happy look on their face as probably they were successful to find out the suitable institute for themselves.
Most of them have one dream get trained in Ameerpet and get a job in America. I really do not know how many of them are able to full fill this dream. But certainly the experience of exploring this place was a great experience

CAT 2010 STARTS TODAY

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 02:10:00 +0000

Route to the mecca of Indian MBA , IIM opens today with the start of the enterance test CAT. This year CAT is being conducted in 20 phases in around 9000 centers as compared to 17000 centers last year. Scores of aspirants were seen outside the exam center lining up to try their chance to bell the CAT. The company providing support for conducting the online CAT exams said, it has made all necessary arrangements for smooth conduction ok exam. Last year CAT entrance went online for the first time and ran into problems like servers crashing.

I wish all the CAT aspirants "ALL THE BEST

From my pen---MAN,WOMAN AND DISTRUST

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Man and woman rather say males and females are the most complex and probably the best (the writer of this blog does not claim any authenticity of the highlighted word) creation of the almighty. They are inseparable in all respect. And in my personal opinion, they are created to know and mingle with each other. To alleviate the divine debt of almighty, they should try and explore each other shedding all inhibitions and suspicions, diving into the great depths of love and intimacy, demystifying the secrets of Kama, twisting turning draping around each other, erupting and surrendering to the exothermic, rampant and volcanic burst of feeling and desire.

Ops...Almost got carried away.
But the ground reality reveals an entirely contrast picture. Instead of love, closeness and intimacy between man and woman, there prevails a dark and ugly realm of mistrust and suspicion. I realized this when one of my female friend refused to stay in a paying guest (PG) accommodation just because their would be neighbors were males. This unfortunate incident made me ponder and I realized it was not an isolated incident. This impenetrable mistrust against males is omnipresent. Most often man is looked at with suspicion by females. There exist an unbreakable strong wall, behind which entire female population want to secure them and look at us with accusing and denouncing stare. In this land of Mahatma Gandhi, who devoted his life towards eradication of practice of untouchablity, females keeping such distance with males are making the later feel like untouchables.

From past the society has broadly permitted the interaction of man and woman only after certain rituals are performed to which the society is witness. And to my dismay the woman of today’s generation are still holding on to such rude practices with more fervor and determination. Just look around, public transport, offices, and educational institutions everywhere the divide is pretty evident. Technically this situation can be explained as two devices whose integration was inevitable have just become incompatible.
I am not denying the fact that in past the female community has been exploited by male community, but let’s try and get to the root cause that has led to such sad situation. Such catastrophe has been brought about because the female population has always prevented and denied the natural order of things i.e. free intermingling of man and women. So man’s curiosity and strong belief in god’s profound concept of oneness has led to such incidences. Man should and must always thwart such evil forces that try to keep the long cherished dream of almighty from becoming a reality.
So instead of defeating the designs and jeopardizing the noble motive of oneness of man and woman as conceived by the almighty, we all should work together to demolish these walls, shatter distrust and endure towards oneness.

From my pen---OFFICE VENDING MACHINES

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:49:00 +0000

Hi to all my readers. My never ending urge to serve my readers with something different and probably interesting to munch on has brought me back to blogging. For last couple of weeks a cute little invention of man kind, probably one of the most remarkable inventions for offices caught my attention. To witness and analyze the plight of this wonderful invention in this era of recession made my heart ache and cry with agony and pain.

So here I bring down the curtains. I am talking about the office vending machine which has rendered its relentless services to one and all directly or remotely related to the office.It has obliged every one in office by catering to their most erratic of demands at any time of the day. Be it coffee, tea, milk, complan, bournvita or any other drink, the vending machine has never let us down. But the recession time has done a lot of damage to the rare personified glory that the vending machine was privileged with. Its existence has been reduced to a beautiful white pigeon in a golden cage which could provide just hollow visual pleasure but could never bestow you with eternal bliss which our soul would have otherwise experienced seeing the beautiful pigeon fly freely in the open. Apologies, got little carried away in the rampant flow of emotions.

For ages vending machine has been corner stone of all office activities. For those freshers, just out of college and coming to terms with the complex corporate life vending machine is their only link between two worlds. It reminds them of the love square (shops near the college where guys and girls can be found roaming around) which is always bustling with life. And how can employees forget that great march of hunks and dudes leaving their critical work and hastily making their way towards the vending machine arranging their hair and clothes. What is worth noticing is the fact that this mass exodus is brought about because some of the beautiful ladies were spotted going to the vending machine. But in this recession time all these actives are incidents of past, and the beautiful lanes leading to vending machine are all deserted. The fear and ugly face of recession has so strongly obscured our visions that we have forgotten to look at the tiniest joy that beckons at us. And the greatness of METALLICA sums it all in his beautiful words “But the memory remains”.

The vending machine area has always been the ware house of all office gossips and politics. In the good olden days employees used to chuckle with each other with sip of their favorite drink that had obviously come out of vending machine. Just one sip of the divine beverage from vending machine would make them speak like experts on matters like politics, chicks, how managers should perform, which girl or guy to watch out for in the office. But now most of these employees are busy talking to the job consultant or updating their resumes or zipping through the slides on technical subjects that will help them get a good and stable job some where else. It must be a heart wrenching sight for the poor vending machine.

These days area around vending machines looks like a deserted village of any war stricken country. One more reason for such painful sight is the fact that for management of the company apart from the basic beverages (coffee and tea) coming out of magical vending machine all other beverages starts appearing as luxury and the such services are stopped in the noble quest to bring the operational cost to minimum. No respite from there too.

Apart from stopping the fancy beverages the basic drinks are also reduced by programming the vending machines to give out half cup at a time. The full cup option no more works. I wonder what if such astute creativity would have been shown towards any projects the company would have been in a different shape today.

The magical beverages that ooze out of vending machines have also been famous for solving complex of the coding issues or fixing the naughtiest bug in the code. In the good olden days if some one was stuck some where in the coding all u needed to do was to just take a break, sip the magical beverage that the selfless vending machine has to offer come back and the issue was resolved.

The examples are numerous, the vending machines have been an indispensable part of all small and big events of the office. To most of us these vending machines would appear as dumb piece of metal and plastic but if you try and ponder it signifies a lot. It shows how lively and satisfied people are in the office. This silent, innocent spectator has a lot to offer to us. In spite of all the cut backs and conspiracies to de-glorify the vending machine, it still serves you with same passion. Like most of us trying to cope up with the deadly blow of recession the vending machine is also working hard to avert these effects but at the same time unlike us it has not lost the essence of life. Because even today, amidst all the adversity that coffee still tastes the best.

From My Pen---THE APPRAISAL SAGA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:35:00 +0000

So here I am, once again ready to offer my readers one of my experiences which I had a stint with recently.

I must say it was amazing to meander through the valleys and mountains of feelings and emotions that I was exposed to. Must say an intriguing ride . Before we start, a little enlightenment on reference in which I am using the word APPRAISAL. In this article appraisal means the battery of parameters on which your performance is judged in your organization by your managers. So we can say the ratings that we get in appraisals decide how good or bad you are at your work.

Usually appraisals create a divide in your office which has three categories. The first is the satisfied lot which obviously has received good ratings and end up getting substantial increment in their salary. The second one is the unsatisfied, back stabbed, deceived (sometimes adjectives just do not seem to end) etc... Who are at the lower end of the rating parameter. And certainly there chances of monetary gain are pretty bleak. And the last lot is the one who have got less rating and accept these ratings with profound humility with a vow to improve upon the next time.
But as I have mentioned in my previous article “ONSITE EUPHORIA” I belong to the era of recession. So certainly my experiences differ from what most of you have had. In this doomed time of recession, appraisals redefine the whole categorization of work force that I just explained in the above paragraph.

Now the most blessed lot (the one with the higher ratings) is the most helpless. Good ratings but no monetary gains. It feels like a bunch of thieves who have taken all the pain in planning and sneaking into a bank which has already been robbed. So even though they enjoy the rare and prestigious privilege of robbing a bank but ultimately they end up getting nothing. And their entire fraternity looks at them with sympathy. The situation for the second lot is almost similar. They still continue to curse the top management of being partial, insensitive, biased and what not. The third lot is completely wiped off and is replaced by a new group of scared employees who have received the lowest ratings as their jobs are at skate.

Appraisals also do a lot of harm to the managers. Appraisals during good times used to create a strong lobby of employee (with good ratings) in favor of their managers. So managers could easily win and oblige a lot of people. But the situation completely changes when it comes to appraisals during recession. All they are left with is enemies (I know that is a little exaggeration). Almost the entire office strength irrespective of their ratings contribute generously in cursing their managers (as if it will help them attain moksha).

Now comes the most important part of this appraisal drama. It is called the one on one session or the grievance session between employees and their managers. But recession has not spared these sessions too. Now it is more like a banging session (in Hindi we can say a BAJAATE RAHO session). I guess the readers are intelligent enough to guess who is at the receiving end in such sessions. What is quite interesting to see in such sessions is the inability of managers to explain the employee why he or she has been rated less. Reasons for low ratings are also worth mentioning here. This is the time when managers get real creative and come up with kick ass (pardon me for my profanity) ideas. Some are said they lack communication skills, while some has been rated less because his shirt fail to appeal the eyes of his managers some day, while some of the employees were victimized because of bad mouth odor (just kidding). The only blissful moment during this session is when sharp legitimate logic wrapped in soft words of the employee tears the poor opponent (hope you all know who the opponent is) into shreds. Even though you emerge as an undisputed winner of these BAJAATE RAHE session, but still it leaves you disappointed because the ratings have been given and nothing much can be done until the new appraisal cycle comes.

Considering all the above facts, I strongly feel why such risky affairs are entertained by any organization where the respect and integrity of managers and honesty, sincerity and hard work of employees are at stake. I just don’t understand why the top management of any organization tries to jeopardize the peace and harmony of any team or project. During recessions such activities should not be carried out.
Why can we just wait for the dark night to get over peacefully? Why do we forget the bright sunny day is inevitable.

From My Pen---THE ONSITE EUPHORIA.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Getting an onsite opportunity is something every software engineer from India looks forward to.

For those of you who are not very aware of this term Onsite, let me explain you.
An onsite opportunity is getting a chance to go to your clients’ country and working from there for them at a very low wage.
So why that such opportunity is considered as once in a life time opportunity. It’s not that software engineers are bunch of crazy travelers who are always ready to land in some unknown terrority, build some crazy software there and life after that becomes a cake walk for residents of that country.

Let me try and throw some light on it.

Onsite opportunity means a crazy increase in your fortune (as you get paid in dollars).Ya this is an obvious reason. But there are many more reasons why software engineers are ready to slay anyone who tries to diminish this dream of theirs even to a slightest extend.

Now let’s pen down some such reasons.

Your status is increased because now you are an America returned guy.
Out of nowhere you are the choice of millions of parents who somehow want to marry their daughter to an “American returned “. I don’t know what happens onsite, just guessing the environment their adds to once potency. Just kidding.

It gives you an opportunity to possess those much coveted electronic gadgets, whose reviews you can only read in web site like cnet.com sitting here offshore.

A very insignificant reason is that it adds to your learning of business and technology, but I would say it is just a default inevitable phenomena but not the reason that takes you onsite.

Another reason which is insignificant but could not be ignored because it gives you an opportunity to fulfill your dreams that you have nurtured in your innocence heart seeing the Hollywood hot chicks I mean to say Flicks.
Now enough showing you guys a rosy picture, all above mentioned things were taken from holy and pious books written in the era of “Booming Software industry” and “Healthy economic Condition”.

To me (I am a fresher), after writing the above things, just one thing came to my mind --Disclaimers displayed before all the K series soaps of Ekta kapoor “This is just a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to reality”.

I am a child of era where most of the signs of booming economic era have faded away and some are in the process of becoming history.

In this era the meaning of onsite has changes completely.

It has become from good to bad. It is like a nightmare which keeps tossing you in your bed (I don’t know how married couples keep up their sex life in such condition...Oops me and my perverted mind ;) )

Now a day’s onsite opportunities are less (using plural just to bring about some smile on my readers face). And even if you get lucky enough and is selected to go onsite, the whole process when your project lead whispers such bliss full words into your thirsty ears till the day of your journey(which eventually turns into a black day of your life) takes everything out of you.

So let’s share the pain.

You are selected for onsite work, everyone around you closely or remotely related to you starts celebrating. The entire home town of yours as well as the company you work for comes to know about it as if someone has erected big banners displaying this message. You get tired of telling everyone of the date you are going to fly. It becomes completely impossible for you to keep a track of requests and demands of things your loved ones want you to get then from foreign. All of a sudden the budget of evening snacks, busicts, and tea shoots up as visitors just keep pouring in.

Mothers of most eligible and beautiful daughters keep paying visits to your house and you just try to maintain that decent smile on your face even though your hormones are pushing harder to bring that look of desperation while talking to their daughters who were once unaffordable and out of your reach .
You go on a complete shopping spree. Everything you or your family members lay hands on becomes yours, thanks to the credit card. You, who once was all against using credit card now all of a sudden becomes a staunch supporter of it because you think that you will clear everything in the first salary that you get onsite.

Apart from this you indulge yourself in playing host to those countless party just to celebrate your onsite going. All these spending are taken care of by credit cards.

After all this hoopla when the d day arrives, the same project leader who once had become AN angel after choosing you for onsite sheds his virtual image and like daemon whispers the words of death in your ears. Your entire world crashes down.

All the statements of those credit cards that once made your shopping a pleasure starts haunting you. You don’t know where to hide your face as you have to answer the same question individually to the entire world that “YOU ARE NOT GOING”

And wow, form king to a popper in just a moment. Then starts the continuous rounds of cursing your project leads and sympathy from your loved ones. And hatred for those in whose sympathetic eyes you could only see the disappointment that you could not get then what they had asked you to bring from foreign

After all this has happened, in agony you sit back and reflect on the events that has changed your life.And at the end of the day the brutality of this reality brings a tinge of smile on your face because you now you know in this age of cost cutting and survival what an “ONSITE EUPHORIA” is.

FROM MY PEN--A strange feeling called love

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:35:00 +0000

Nothing is as beautiful as love. It is love which makes life worth living. But there is strange mystery surrounding this word called LOVE. Time and again i have tried to attach a meaning to it, but have failed miserably all the time. After all this vain efforts i have realized one thing, this feeling of love cannot be expressed in words. This pitiable situation of word can be understood because words can describe only mortal things. Love is immortal, i can be only experienced but not described.

The more one tries to curtail love by describing it with helpless words, the more stranger and complex it becomes. And at one point of time, when this futile chase to define love turns into desperation then into frustration, one gives up. I find it very astonishing that the same which cannot be defined even after exhausting the entire dictionary can be felt, enjoyed and experienced by mere silence. So if experiencing love is so simple they why it cannot be described. This question punches me rite into the face of we mortal beings. It brutally exposes the inefficiency of we human beings. Through science we have tried and seeked answer for all worldly phenomenas. We have left no stone unturned to satisfy our hunger of attaching reasons for all the events that take place in this universe. But it is a pitiable paucity of science that reason for existence of love which is the perennial source of life has eluded it.

RELATIONSHIP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:19:00 +0000

As always my restless mind after wandering through the numerous valleys of thoughts something that cold be very easily termed as projection of an empty soul finally decides to take a halt and churn out its opinion on RELATIONSHIP.

Let me first take some pain and try to figure out what relationship means to me or the meaning of relationship that I have understood in these twenty odd years of my existence.

To me relationship is a connection which a human being establishes with people around him or with things he posses or wishes to posses or his thoughts or his work, action.
Relationship also means the degree or authority one lends to any thing be it living, dead, material, real or virtual to impact his life.

Most of us have had some relationship going and have felt pain, stuck, devastated because of these relations. Sometimes the part with whom you are in relation with hurts you and sometime you are in
pain because you think you have hurt the other part involved in the relationship. So why to get into a relationship at all. Why can’t we save ourselves before hand from the pain by not establishing relationship?

The previous question might seem absurd to many because a world without relations is from what a human soul can perceive. What harm in that, after all think on such line could save you from a lot of pain. After all that is what is the ultimate goal of live “life without pain”. What will happen if we shun all relations, cut all connections and exist as single unconnected unit? This world will be a lot happier place. Your actions will never hurt any one neither do their actions. You will never feel obligated or tied down. A sense of freedom will prevail in every nook or corner of this world. This would end suppression and exploitation of weaker section by stronger section as in a society without relations such sections will cease to exist. Just individuals no groups. It would remove the concept of society to a greater extent if not completely abolish it. No pressure from society, no interference from society.

I personally such concept which has the potential of simplifying our lives and making it happier is worth trying once