2011 beckons

Human tendency has it that we always seek a fresh start at various points in our lives. It may be due to the monotonous nature of existing activities or being fed up with present scheme of things etc. One such important day is ofcourse the New year's day.

With hope we welcome the new year and for various reasons we believe that this coming year will allow us to achieve what we always wanted to, give us a chance to correct all the wrong things we did and more importantly allow us to make ourselves better human beings.

2010 was a mixed year for me. Personally and professionally i endured mixed fortunes but overall i have moved ahead,learnt things and grown as a man. The appreciations and success have urged me to strive for more, the failures and dissapointments have made me more determined. I have firm reasons to believe that beyond a certain point, our destiny plays an important role in shaping our lives. Considering that our efforts will remain consistent, i am convinced that destiny is like a sea saw. You can ride smartly along with it, you also need to endure the wrath of it. There will never be a perfect balance which will put you in an utopian environment forever but it also true that it will give you enough opportunity to go and grab your opportunities.

2011 will be a crucial year for me as it will determine the path which i will take in the next couple of years. Like a dakar rally driver, i am all set to maneuvre my way ahead. I dont know whats the path going to be like. It might be smooth, it might be bumpy.

I wish that everyone around me have a great year ahead. 2011 here we go :)

YOU

There comes a time in our life when the word 'YOU' becomes more important than 'ME'. Everything we do becomes YOUcentric. We are prepared to offer relentless service and are willing to do almost anything to make sure that the person representing 'YOU' does not for a moment gets neglected. It is one of those numeous experiences of life. This 'YOU' can represent our parents, our siblings, our children or someone special.

It would be therefore very naive on anyones part to say that they have never gone through such phases. Some of these phase might have come and gone, some might have stayed on and have made a lasting impression in our lives. I often wonder what it would mean to be in such a phase when 'YOU' is a stranger who has made such a lasting impression in our mind. With parents and siblings, one would get the assurance of security,respect,love knowling fully well that no matter what happens they would always be on our side. What about that stranger whom we didnt know a few months back and all of a sudden he/she has taken up such an important position? Fear of what to expect in return is perhaps the biggest concern which preoccupies in our minds.

These phases also come with their fare share of tricks which might leave us shell shocked to say the least. For example, we would have just started to feel the importance of YOU(The person) and some turn of events occurs which actually ends up taking away d person from us. Very tough situation to handle given the mindset which begins to develop. Times like those are really hard and it takes a lot of courage,patience and trust to carry on ahead. It might also happen that our expectations from the other person does not match and we end up thnking whether he/she was really deserving of being the 'YOU' in our lives.

Finally, it has to be said that all beautiful things in life come with their fair share of pain and sacrifice. Our nature always will guide us to make sure that the YOUs in different phases of our lives get our utmost care and attention. Its a matter of destiny whether all these YOUs end up taking us in the same way or not but it goes without saying that the joy of going through such phases is simply priceless.

Here's wishing YOU loads of success,happiness in life.

IT employee

I am not too sure why i being part of the same group would like to go ahead and write something like this but i have got no other choice but to put things into prespective.

Every good thing starts at the beginning and hence i will start with waking up in the morning.In this context what i have realized is there are two broad group of IT employees. One group makes it a point to wake up late and reach office late(They have a valid reason)and then there is this other group who are amongst the few fortunates to see the sun rising from the east(I must admit they would give it a damn if given a choice not to wake up early). Nice, well maintained cafetaria at most of the offices means breakfast at home is a thing of the past. This has got lot of advantages in terms of getting that extra few minutes to sleep and also a few extra moments to relax right before you even start your work.

A typical day's work will comprise of seating in front of the computer and seating in front of it and yes, you guessed it correct, seating in front of it. Here is a very simple way of calculating productivity of an employee. Ask him/her, how many meetings he/she attends and then directly formulate an equation where productivity is inversely proportional to number of meetings attended. Trust me, it works and the rate of success for this equation can be compared to all famous maths equations. Taking a break from work is another area which can become a subject of research. Loo break and Tea break are the traditional ones. Power nap breaks, Sport break, Phone break are some other innovative ones.

There is this prennial rivalry between team members and managers. The managers think that it must be some dirty deeds they did in their previous lives which resulted in them getting such stupid and ill equipped workers. Team members on the other hand keep cursing their luck and often found comparing with other managers. How easy it would have been working under Mr X ?(Oh really?)

The schedule and that ill fated word called 'DeadLine' is something which every single employee curse. If i were to impersonate 'Deadline', then this chap might be thinking that IT employees are chameleons of the highest order when it comes to treating him. When the work is done on time, everybody seems to talk about 'DeadLine' in such a sweet tone. It becomes the opposite when the same employee is pushed to the limit to adhere to the 'sweet' deadline.

Leaving office at the end of the day is another interesting fact to study. There is this school of thought which says that unless you dont leave office late, you actually are not doing enough to showcase your superior that you are 'working'. On the other hand you have the traditional workers who would like to complete their work and leave on time.

It is however important to note that these talented bunch of people continue to make their companies richer and better places to work. They continue to inspire young minds who would one day like to sit in front of a computer and write a piece of code which would do something(God knows what is left to do). Inspite of the ridiculous lifestyles, biological clock turned on its head, these employees keep working like dedicated nerds and thats what makes them special (Doctors & fitness shop owners arent complaining).



P.S : On course to complete 2 years in this industry and i feel we are like those sacrificial pawns in a game of chess. Our kings unlike the traditional ones are a very clever group of people who have learnt the art to strike the perfect balance between annoucing perks and pulling the plug. God save us !!

Common Wealth Games - What should be the priority now?

Heard about someone named Suresh Kalmadi recently? Shocked by all the allegations? Wondering what will happen to CWG? To begin with, please dont be shocked and surprised about all these scams and allegations. More importantly, we are India and from small college fests to big events like this one, we are used to these last minute patch ups.

A bit of digging up on the matter of how sport in general is run in this country will actually make you wonder how did we get the right to host the games in the first place? I would also wish to state that in India every sport is run by a politician who in addition to being a MP/MLA also take up the responsibility of heading this institutions. Now the mismanagment of each and every sporting activity in our country happens because they are headed by incompetent people who simply dont understand sports. It goes without saying that these people also make a lot of money during their tenure.

So the question which i am trying to bring forward at this juncture is the need to set our priority. Yes, the guilty should be brought to book. Suresh Kalmadi needs to answer so many question but is this the time to concentrate on him or is it not the time to concentrate on the athletes who are coming to India to play? Is this not the time to think how many medal we can win and who are our best bets for Gold? Make no mistake about it, India will host a successful CWG simply because the situation demands that. India is an economic power and these games are usually the best medium to showcase that.

From the Berlin Olympics to the Chinese one, games have always been the symbolic representation of power. India realized it and hence pitched in for the CWG with the ultimate target of hosting the Olympics. This message should reach us loud and clear and the medium through which it should reach(Press and Electronic Media) must understand quickly that while it is very good and important to play the role of public police, it is also naive to miss the core intention of hosting these games. The media needs to understand that they are not doing any good by subscribing and inlfating the negative reports about CWG. As a matter of fact, those who are shouting so much about the games village should take a look back at the Manchester or Vancouver games where althletes were made to stay in University campus. They should also check reports of how Athens was so much criticized prior to the Olympic games there. In the end all these games were a success.

Let the games roll on, let it be a success. We will have time to bring the culprits to the book. Now its time to unite as a country and project ourselves as worthy contenders to host bigger events like Olympics and Fifa World Cup.

Barrack Obama - IT's all going wrong

I have reasons to believe that in Barrack Obama every single US citizen saw a hope which could take them out of the misery created by George W Bush. The war against terror,the economic crisis led to the need of a messiah at the White house who could begin afresh and give the stars and the stripes a new direction.

Based on the present situation, it seems that all those hopes were tailor made for an idealistic environment where everything goes according to the script. Current popularity charts indicate that Obama has lost a lot of ground and he basically does not know how to steer America out of the economic slowdown and at the same time create employment and stick to his political views.

Being an Indian, it is imperative for me to understand what the only superpower in the world does and how it affects my country. Historically, USA has always been an honest bilateral partner but the reationship has been based on the situation at a particular point of time. When Pokhran happened, the relationship went to an all time low. Similarily post 9/11,relations started taking a positive turn. Based on recent events it becomes quite clear that there is some amount of tension going on between the two countries. Obama wants to ban outsourcing. He does not want jobs to be shipped out. To put his views into action, he is trying to bring in policies which will indirectly hurt India Inc. But is this only about Obama trying to fulfil what he promised? I dont think so.

Surely, USA knows that to counter China she will need India as a strong partner. The 'brutal' growth of China will outpace USA and the only way for Obama and his successor to delay it or perhaps change it is a strong relationship with India. What then makes Obama to flex his muscle and hurt the Indian IT industry? The answer lies in the Nuclear Deal. The USA wants India to involve more of its companies in the entire chain of producing nuclear power. That will lead to more number of US companies earning higher revenues. India on the other hand wants to choose from a wider base of countries. She wants to do business with other nations in the NSG. This conflicting interest is causing a lot of problem for Obama.

India on the other hand must understand that she is rightly poised to take her growth story to another level. China's growth defies economic logic and it is anybody's guess when it will collapse. India's fundamentals are strong and barring our own callousness i dont see any reason why we cant continue to grow.Is it not the right time to send a strong signal to US and tell them that we can and we will grow irrespective of their support and they MUST STOP these arm twisting tactics? Is it not the right time to send a message to the IT industry top honchos that the government wont compromise with national interest?

According to me, the time has come to stamp our authority and make America understand that they need our support more than we do because the Chinese dragon is after them and its catching up fast !

Promoting a Film

The reason i decided to put the 'Kites' image is because this was the latest movie which released with such huge promise that it almost led us to believe that the entertainment quotient of '3 Idiots' will be surpassed. It is not surprising that the film grossed a very handsome figure in its opening weekend. Afterall, a world wide release should fetch you considerable amount of money.

The point which struck me was the immense effort which goes into the promotional event before the launch of a film. It almost makes you to believe that this particular next film will be the biggest hit ever. Film makers have realized the importance of a good opening weekend and they are trying to attract as many movie viewers as possible. The launch of a film can typically have Amir Khan in disguise or Vidya Balan moving around with her hair left open. The most serious promotion i have seen is by Amitabh himself when he appeared for an exclusive interview with NDTV on the eve of his movie Rann. In yet another example, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena went onto justify their inter religion relationship on the occassion of Kurban.

All these activities seems to confuse the ordinary movie goer in the sense that a false sense of expectation sets in. Best thing to do is to go and watch a movie with an open mind and more importantly not to get overwhelmed by the artificial promotional drives.

Next movie i would like to watch: Raavan(No, i wont read the reviews.I will just go and watch !! )

A tragic day for Indian civil aviation

It has been a difficult day for Indian civil aviation. The worst plane crash in over a decade has left everyone shocked. Condolences to the victims family members. All we can do at this moment is to just accept that such a terrible incident happened.

The Mangalore runway has come under the scrutiny but as per the minister in charge,Mr Praful Patel it has met all the international norms and standards. While it is important to understand that this is not the time to point fingers,eventually the cause though needs to be found out. I believe it was just an unfortunate accident caused probably because initially the plane didnt land at the right place. It was a shame watching the media waiting to pounce on the minister like vultures.

A bad day to sum it up.