A revolution that just started

Why should India be proud of what we are witnessing today? 

The world has seen a lot of protests. People from different nations, different states and different cities, at different times, came to the streets and fought fiercely for their rights and righteousness of their causes but what we are seeing here in India is nothing like anything we have seen in the last couple of decades. Here is why 

1. Five days and five nights of protests with more than 20,000 people in Marina beach, Chennai alone ( and more than 200,000 people all over the state) and there is no single incident of crime or violence. Not a single piece of glass was broken and not a penny worth of property was damaged. 

2. While the national and foreign medias, over the years, have been so busy misleading the rest of world to believe that India is the most “unsafe” country on the planet, the reality we are seeing here is completely different. Tens and thousands of women and kids are on the street, protesting for their rights alongside men for days and nights. 

3. Men, women, kids, students, elders and families are eating, sleeping and living in Marina beach for five days now. The basic necessities are all taken care of. People are bringing food, water, mobile toilets, blankets, pillows and anything and everything that will make the life of these people better. Protesters are often seen cleaning the streets alongside of marina beach every morning. (When was the last time you saw such a thing in a protest?) 

4. Some political parties have been trying so hard to score some political points out of the current situation and most others are trying to divide the protesters using hate, religion, caste and bigotry. The best part is that no one bought any of these, not one soul fighting there. Actually the instigators have all been kept out and made to shut up. None of the political leaders were allowed to participate in the protest. First time in the history of the country, politicians are really scared that people CAN and WILL do anything. 

5. First time in decades, every neighboring state including Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, ignoring all the differences and bitter fights of the past, came together and supported the protests happening in Tamilnadu. 

6. The power of common man has always been underestimated by the politicians and administrators. Years and years of suppression, oppression and abuse, it is time the common man sends out a strong message to the people in power. A message that caused a stir in the status quo. The rest of the states in India may not fight for the same cause but they now know that they have the power to shake the establishments. 

7. A big blow to all the corporate mafias that have been trying to find their ways into the developing and under developed countries and make the people sick and diseased so that they can sell drugs and make millions. A wake up call for all the authorities and regulators of these countries who have been a puppet of such foreign corporates. 

8. Last but not least, a very powerful message from the people of India - "We are okay with globalization but we will NEVER allow globalization and any foreign intrusion at the cost of losing our own identity or well being. We know how to take care of ourselves and we have been doing a very good job at it for centuries".

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of banning jallikattu, you can feel really proud of what is happening now and be a part of the movement. The spirit of the people is only going to get stronger and stronger and we are going to see more changes and more revolutions in the coming days and years. 

Let us stand united and let us learn to fight for our rights!

The God's voice

"Can you go and collect the tickets at the Kiosk Sada? We are just entering the parking lot. Will be there in 2 mins."

"Only 3 minutes for the movie to start Anu. Come quick. I will collect the tickets and get in. You guys come near the entrance and give me a missed call. Will come out and give you the tickets".

I am not ready to miss even the Vicco turmeric Ayurvedic cream advertisement. This is the movie that I have been waiting for so long - "The Dark knight rises".

I ran up to fourth floor, went up to the kiosk, still trying hard to catch some breath. I punched in a bunch of numbers and pressed the proceed button.. damn.. Why the hell can't I get what I want from these kiosks at the first shot? ah.. Never happens. At least with me it never does.. Now this so called software engineer is waiting for the security to help printing out the tickets from the kiosk. huh!..

At this point I can literally feel my shirt sticking to my body, I am still gasping hard and I know my brain has given up processing any incoming information. I just want to pass through these ticket counters and get to the city of Gotham as quick as possible.

Well, anyway.. here I am waiting for the security to get my tickets from the kiosk. Finally... here it is.. thank god the tickets are out... I quickly grabbed the tickets and turned around to go back and get my bag which I had kept at a corner a little farther away....banggg... I just collided with a little boy who was standing behind me with his father..

Apparently I did not notice the queue building up behind me while I was desparately waiting for the security to get my tickets.. I felt so bad for the kid and I went "Sorry.. sorry.. sorry.. sorry... ".. I bent down and looked at the kid in his eyes asking him if he was hurt. Luckily the kid was perfectly fine...may be I just stepped on one of his shoes or something.. but nothing happened.. he did not even feel anything,...

I am so releaved that it was not as bad as I thought.. The boy must have surely thought I am some crazy person or something, saying so many sorries for nothing..  He smiled at me and said "Sorry uncle.. I am so sorry to come in your way"..

I was totally taken aback by the way this kid reacted to the situation.. Think about it.. He is apologizing for a mistake that he did not even commit.. Obviously he would have had no chance knowing that I will make a sudden turn as he was standing behind me expecting me to move forward rather than turning around.. Not only that he was ready to let my mistake just go, he was ready to apologize to me.. that was a piece of divinity right in front of my eyes.. I smiled at him and made sure he is alright before I left the place.. While I was walking away from that spot I couldnt stop thinking how good and innocent this little boy's heart is.. I was just hoping that this divinity will stay with him even after he grows up.. This is the kind of people today's impatient world is badly in need of..

A second later before I entered the theater, I heard the god's voice from behind, going "Why are YOU saying sorry Mannu?.. He should have been careful.. He should be sorry for what he did.. U dont have to say sorry.."..

I turned around and looked at the poor kid and his agitated father. A sad smile just flashed over my face while my hope for the kid was being shattered down..

a WOW moment

Couple of days back when Siva pitched this idea of going to a Dosa place for dinner that KD mentioned a while back, I wasn’t quite sure if I will like their food or not. Well, whats the big deal, we decided to go there finally, anyway. It is this crammed up, greasy looking dungy place where they toss some mean dosas for a mean price, I don't even remember the name of it. I didn’t feel like having anything after I had that White-thing-on-a-Green-thing-on-a-Brown-thing Dosa so I washed my hands and got out for some fresh air. Still feeling hungry, I was standing outside waiting for my roommates to finish savoring the second or third dosas they ordered. They were on a roll and I couldn’t stand there doing nothing. All of a sudden I remembered I saw some Jodhpur sweet shop on my way so I thought, well.. nothing could make my night any worse so why not take another chance? So I went up to this small shop with a big yellow name board that read “Jodhpur sweets & corner shop” ( there is something strange in that name- for some reason I think there is some mistake or a typo somewhere , but I just couldn’t figure out what it is and where it is. This is one of those things that I leave for my readers and language pundits :) )


Anyway, I am standing there looking at a pile of sweet Kachoris lying on a big plate with sugar syrup still dripping down from it and at that moment I knew that is THE only thing that can make me happy and nothing else can. There is this lady, may be 28, lean, tall, clumsy hair, with a rimless specs serving the customers busily. I was about to order a kachori but I just realized that I had only one single 500 rupee note. You know, carrying a 500 rupee note in Bangalore today is as good as carrying no money at all. You can’t get anything that costs less than 500 with a 500 rupee note because every place you go, they ask for THE EXACT CHANGE. If you don’t have any change and you badly need something, don’t be surprised when you are handed back some 200 mentos or 150 cloro-mints or a piece of paper with some amount written on it or some shit like that – the street currencies, so to speak. I don’t like them all. I don’t exchange money for goods I don’t like and I don’t need. So I wanted to tell her upfront that all I got was one 500 rupee note and I will buy something only if she has change to return. From the looks of her, she seemed to know English, at least a little bit, so I said, pointing my fingers to that pile of Kachoris, “One from this. And you have change for 500 right?”. She took a Kachori and put it on a paper plate and gave it to me and said “Yeah. No problem. You first eat”. I was thinking, Man.. these small shops are making some good money these days.. moreover it is already night and she must have had a good business today and she must be having a lot of change for sure.. So I stood there and enjoyed every bite of that Kachori and gave her the 500 rupees I had. She looked at me and said, “ It is 12 rupees sir.”. I said, still holding that 500 rupee note in my hand, “ yeah, but I told you I don’t have any change”. Well, at this moment I am furious – I really don’t want to carry a bag full of jilebis or pakodas just because I do not have the exact change. To my surprise, she quietly turned backed, picked up some money from a box and gave it to me. I looked at it and there were 5 hundred rupees notes. I looked at her baffled and she smiled at me and said, “Come back next time sir”.

I never felt really happy and satisfied after doing any business of any scale in any place in India, until that point... I ran back to the restaurant where my folks were still munching on those dosas, got 12 bucks from them, came back running and gave it to her. She took the money, looked at me while I was about to walk away and said, “Thank you so much sir”.

I am not an MBA and I do not know anything about 'customer satisfaction' so much as I hear that term, but at that moment when I stepped out of that shop, I felt, “WOW!”.

A trip I like!

I just started hating travelling of late. Planning the dates, watching airfares, booking the hotels, packing junk, checklists, cameras, blah blah..I am so done with it. This is not a pleasure trip- This is just an organized crap where fun is sought by everyone involved just coz they paid a good deal of money. There are always around 25 hundred strangers from all different directions waiting to go to the same bloody place where you want to go to, on the very same day, wanting to upload their picture on facebook at the end of the trip and waiting for their lazy friends to ‘like’ it!!!.. Do you see a point? Its just freaking boring, don’t you think?

I believe any trip that involves a planning phase that extends more than 10 minutes is not worth it. Think about getting up in the morning, getting into your car and just leaving the apartment without knowing where you are headed. Have you done that lately? Well, have you done that ever?

Take the car and just get out!. No plan, no destination, and surely, no GPS!!.

I like to go to a gas station where I have never filled my tank before, preferably on a road that is just about to get steep and curvy, may be close to a mountain whose name I have no clue about!. A stop over after 3 long hours of driving and a pitcher of nice chill beer after that!!.

Stop the car somewhere and take a walk, ask someone where you are. Talk to a stranger and talk to a kid - Strangers and Kids are the reservoirs of wisdom, You always get something new and something worth remembering. Stand on the sidewalk and look at people! Just look at them. Don’t observe, Don’t try to pay attention. They are there at that moment, so just look at them quietly. People crossing the roads, kids going around in their bikes, some happy ones and some casual ones. Couples walking by the street with their hands together, guys romancing and girls giggling. Just imagine how the same place would look, if you ain’t there at that moment!.. Picture the same place without people in it!. Give your mind some best possible imagination tests and evaluate yourself.

Walk up to a couple and ask if they want you to take a picture of them. On return, ask them to take a picture of you, but in their camera. Just smile at them and walk away when you get that whos-this-crazy-lunatic look!

Find a coffee place. A coffee shop closed by walls on all the sides will only help your imagination as much as an airport restroom will do. Find a spot where you can see the road, look at the trees and watch the kids. Go up to the waiter and say that it is the best coffee you ever had and you will be back the next day the very same time.

Find a place to crash and get yourself a simple meal. Go for a midnight walk. Just imagine your ex girlfriend or boyfriend is walking along with you, but this time just the way you wanted them to be - quite.

Find a book shop, buy some good books and read a lot! Sleep while you are still reading and find the book upside down on your chest the next morning. Go to a new place the next day and do some new crazy stuff that you haven’t done before. Spend a night or two and hit the road while your heart is still craving for more of what you are doing.

Play some good songs and drive back home.

No pictures to upload and no stories to tell people. Not only that it is different this time, but it is much better..

Again, don’t plan but just do it!!.

Facebook "dislikes"

5 facebook users I humbly dislike and wouldn't mind living without -

1. People who "like" thier own photos and status updates
If you are so obsessed with yourself, why sharing them with others in the first place?..

2. Guys who suggest their friends to me
If I want to be friend with your friends, dont worry, I will find a way to get to them. I didn't sigup for a friendmaker service when I approved u!

3. Girls who write personal conversations on other's wall [such as "Why didnt u turn up for the party last night?"]
This is the last thing I want to see popping up on my homepage while I'm looking for updates from my friends -FB has a message option if you haven't heard before. Use it for Christ's sake!

4. People who have less than 10 friends
Take my words -If u r someone who only 10 ppl wanted to be friend of, chances are no one really cares "what's in your mind".. Learn to live without Facebook!

5. Well, I will leave this one for you!.. after all I don't like to sound too cynical :)

6 grams gold!

If I had known about blogs, I would have written this one a long time ago when it actually happened. I was in my 12th standard then..

I got panicked to see the peon and a police constable entering my classroom and asking my Maths teacher permission to take me to the head master’s room. The 40 seconds walk from my classroom to the head master’s office felt more like marching to the death row. But sometimes life has a pleasant surprise for you just when you don’t expect one. When I walked in to his office, my headmaster congratulated me and told me that I had won a prize in the state level essay writing competition conducted by the Tamilnadu police department a month ago. My essay was selected third best from some 400+ participants and the prize was a 6 grams gold medal. Finally my heartbeat started becoming normal.

The prize distribution ceremony was planned very grand. I received an invitation card addressed to me and my family 2 weeks before the function. I wasn't quite sure if my mom or my dad or my sisters would be willing to attend the function. For them, I thought, it would be just another prize I bring home excited to put it on the showcase with the other ones. Though my dad said he might not be able to make it to the function due to work, my mom and sisters were okay to attend. I was happy that they appreciated the fact that this one was special and certainly different from the other prizes I had received thus far.

Assistant commissioner of TN police was the chief guest for the function. The entire arrangement looked like as though it was some kind of a family function of some minister or some wealthy industrialist. The function was held at Nani Palkhiwala auditorium in Mani school, Coimbatore. A huge number of police higher officials some in their khaki uniforms and some in suites all coming in government cars, meticulous arrangements, spectacular stage decorations, all made me a little nervous. I was asked to sit in the third row from the stage with the other winners and runners. I met my mom and my two sisters outside the auditorium before I got in. They said my father was not able to come as he got caught up with the work. The last few rows were allotted for the parents, guests and others. They said they will be sitting there.

10 minutes before the function started, the huge auditorium was jam-packed with people. I saw only heads everywhere and the place became too noisy that I could hardly hear the person sitting next to me. The function started with a usual welcome note. It took almost 2 hours to get to the prize distribution part. Before the prize distribution, the speaker explained to the crowd about the details of the competition, the topics given to the students, how many schools participated and how the selection process was carried out so on and so forth. I was trying to get a glimpse of my mom and my sisters for almost 2 hours but there was no way I could spot them through this huge crowd. The chief guest said that he would be happy to welcome anybody from the student’s family if they would wish to. I did not worry much about it until I noticed all the first five runner-ups going to the stage with their father or mother or both. There was this one guy (I think it was the second runner up) went on to the stage with 4 other people. They must be his father, mother, brother and sister. Now I started worrying. I knew my mom wouldn’t be ready to come with me to a stage this big. She is a little shy by nature when it comes to such matters; so are my sisters. They wouldn’t mind coming to the stage if my mom was there too, but I knew that wasn't going to happen anyway. Besides, I had no way of asking them if they could come with me because I had no idea where they were sitting. I was still trying to find them in the crowd without losing focus from the names being called on the stage.

It was the tenth and the last runner up award and the assistant commissioner of police was spending at least few moments with every parent shaking hands and congratulating them and giving pose for the photographs. At this point, I started breaking down. I was sure that it would be awkward to go to the stage all alone and collect the award when everyone else was accompanied by somebody from their family. I realized I was missing my dad. Had he been there that time, he would have surely come with me to the stage, I thought.

My father is a retired educational officer and a head master. He always insists that one should not depend on others when it comes to things that one can do on his own. I don't remember him ever asking me if I finished my homework if I was prepared for exam, etc

He never dropped me or walked me to the school except the very first day of my kindergarten.

“School is close by and we know he can walk. Why do you have to go with him to the school like a bodyguard?” he would tell my mom.

He gets furious if he sees some lady on the street carrying her kid’s school bag while walking him to the school. According to my father, it is the first thing in the kid’s life that makes him irresponsible.

“If he is not learning how to take care of his duties at this age, he is never going to learn that in his lifetime” he says.

I grew up with those words and they always make sense to me till this day. Sometimes he goes to extremes and his words would start sounding cold, but if there was one thing that me and my sisters learned from it, it was the “self-reliance”, which has always helped us in our life.

That was exactly the thing that went on in my mind when my name was called on the stage. I decided there was no point in looking for my mom and sisters anymore. I am just going to go there and collect the award all by myself. I knew I was going to be first one to go there without anybody, but I thought it was okay. I was mentally prepared.

I stood up from my seat and walked towards the stage. The crowd gave me a big ovation (Remember I was the first one from the “ winner's category” going to the stage! The names of the first and second prize winners were yet to be announced and mine was the first winner award after 10 runner-ups) I climbed up on those steps and spent a second or two getting a good glimpse of the crowd gathered in the huge auditorium. I went to the assistant commissioner of police, wished him good evening and shook hands with him. He congratulated me for the award and asked “Anyone from your family?”. I took a moment trying to think what to say. And when I was about to open my mouth I saw him smiling and shaking hands with somebody standing beside me. I just turned to my side and there was my father standing right next to me. My father looked at my baffled face and just smiled. Apparently he wanted to be there with me when I needed him the most. I did not thank him for what he did. Never did I get a chance to tell him how much his presence meant to me there on that evening.
I heard somebody from the downstage saying “Can you all please look at this side and smile for a photo?”.
I still have that picture in my home and I consider it way more precious than the 6 grams gold medal I received!

Y M B A F (You Might Be A Facebookaholic if....)

Its been a while since the last post on my blog and I should say it feels good to write something after a long time. I didn't write for a while not because I did not get time or anything; In fact I had a lot of time but I think its because I did not come across anything really special that made me sit and write about it.

Anyway, couple of days ago while I was reading some article I came across this term "Facebookaholic". The term is self-explanatory and you probably might have guessed, it refers to a person who is addicted to Facebook, obsessed with "facebooking", spends really a lot of time on facebook, blah blah..

I should admit I spend a lot of time on facebook but I was wondering if I could call myself a "facebookaholic". I wasn't quite sure. As a matter of fact no one knows to what extend you can let somebody live this addictive, overly-gregarious, so called social life before you can "officially" call him a "Facebookaholic".

Are you a "Facebookaholic"?

I suddenly remembered the famous "You might be a redneck if.." video of Redneck comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

He lists out things that he came up with, which tells you if you are a redneck or not!! ..

This is the youtube link if you have never watched the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7E-isbgwpk

I thought I see a way out of this..I decided to come up with a list of things that will tell you if you are a facebookaholic or not..

Here is the list of Y M B A F (You Might Be A Facebookaholic if....).. :)

• Before you click a picture of something with your camera, while you are looking at the object through the view finder , Instead of thinking how the picture will look, if your mind started thinking what comments your friends are going to add on your facebook when you upload it......................................You Might Be A Facebookaholic (YMBAF)

• You see yourself completely lost in some random thoughts and having no clue of where you are and what you are doing. You come back to reality after a minute or 2 andif you find your fingers still clicking the FaceBook button on the home page hoping to see some new udpates from your friends......................................Y M B A F

• You got a new baby and you upload her photos to a fresh new facebook profile that you just created ON THE BABY's NAME......................................Y M B A F

• After you open a notification email from your mail box sent by facebook with a comment somebody has just posted on your wall and finished reading it, if you ever see yourself opening your facebook page and reading the same comment once again......................................Y M B A F

• If you are feeling lonely and started thinking that the entire world is rejecting you and ignoring your existence because there was no comment added under the photo that you uploaded an hour ago...................................... Y M B A F

• If you have ever visited ehow.com page on "How to kick your farmville addiction"...................................... Y M B A F

• If you upgraded your phone to a smartphone because facebook is blocked by your company network......................................Y M B A F

• If you ever find yourself searching for a "like" button under a painting in an art museum......................................Y M B A F

And the last but not least..

• You stumble upon somebody in facebook and you think you might know him but you are not quite sure. You go to his profile to find out who he is and where he is from.. If you looked totally like an idiot after a minute when you found that dude in your own friends list ......................................You Definitely Are A FaceBookaholic................. :)

:)

A Strange Day Serendipity - part II

[ Please read the part 1 if you have not read it yet..]

So it has been 2 hours since I read that surprising email from my sales force head. Like I said before I don’t even remember what I did for the past 2 hours except that I met Akhila and we are planning to have lunch today after the presentation. The day is still going to get better!!

The AC hall in B block looked almost like a ballroom all packed with white faces, some old ones gobbling the café day sandwiches, some rosy chicks giggling and some tall ones sitting in the front row and flipping through the A4 printouts. I am all set and suited up for the presentation. The first 30 minutes, I have no idea what I said, in fact I don’t remember a word I uttered, but I can tell you from the reaction from the faces, I am here for a big fish today. I am sure. My cell phone rang twice in between the presentation. I know it was from MK. I cut the call. Why should I attend? I wouldn’t be surprised if he had asked me to put him on speaker and taken the control of the presentation had I attended the call. Good I did not.

Guess what? Looks like MY first proposal meeting turned out well. The air in the conference room is overwhelmed with satisfaction and admiration. But I have to wait for another 2 hours for the results. That entitles me for a 2 hour lunch with Akhila. She was also there in the presentation watching me with a lot of excitement. Think she did not have much to do on first day.
So.. here I am sitting with my once-upon-a-time-dream-girl over the lunch table and still thinking how to start the conversation. A strange day indeed.
” You know Ram, I always liked your quietness when we were in college” she broke the silence with a clean sweep.
Now this is the moment most of the guys lose it.
“Seriously? I never knew you liked it!” I fumbled.
As you might have already guessed it- I am bad at this. I am very bad that I lost my book “21 days to become a romantic guy” on the 7th day when I was already behind by 3 days of stuff to catch up.
But still I am observing something in her eye today that kept telling me “You are adorable!”
Again, what a day this has been so far?

There were already 5 big guys standing next to my cubicle waiting for me when I entered the office after the lunch– all of them are either managers or department heads – I know the name of only 2.

“Hey Ram. Congrats man. We got it finally. You pulled it through. Customer has personally congratulated you and you know what? You are travelling to the UK this weekend. Hope you don’t have any issues? Get geared up man. This is really a good news”.
A pat on my shoulder.

“Thanks Nandy. How long is the assignment?” I mumbled as my brain was struggling to process this sudden surge in the information coming in.

“6 months is what is decided now. But you know how it works. It might get extended by another 2-3 months. What? you don’t want to go or what?” he smirked.

To tell you the truth, all I have been waiting until this moment was to get a chance to go to Delhi some day and work in the head office for 2 -3 weeks like how Karthik did.
Man... Free accommodation, free food, additional allowance, places to visit and more than anything else I don’t have to see MK’s face and I can even ignore his calls. That’s pretty much what my carrier objective so far. But not anymore. See how things turnabout in one day. I am expected to travel to the UK tomorrow and will have to spend almost a year there. As I walked back to my cubicle still trying to get my head around this whole thing, I couldn’t help noticing Akhila looking at me with a beautiful smile on her lips. It can’t get luckier any more, can it?

The terminal was not crowded much. Even it was, I wouldn’t have known because this is the first time I have ever been to the Bangalore international airport. I told Akhila not to come but she said she wanted to meet my parents and this would be the best chance for her to meet them. Looking at the way she is talking to my parents, I kind of think they already started liking her. Something to consider seriously, may be once I come back from the UK.
I am about to get into the terminal for check-in now. I said bye to Akhila. She almost had tears in her eyes. Kind of strange for a 2 days old relationship isn’t it?
I went to my mom, gave her a big hug and was about to touch her feet. The moment I bent down, I could hear a big thud and it was followed by a very bad pain on the center of my forehead. Sh**.. what the heck is this?...
I managed to lift my head up, and there is Karthik standing with a wet bath-towel tied around his hip and laughing at me like a jackass.
“Da... Are you okay?” he is still laughing. I am trying to find my glasses on the floor.

“Don’t worry. You are not late for anything. Today’s presentation is anyway postponed. MK wanted to do it on his own when he is in the UK next week.”

“But why is he…?.... “. I murmured, still trying to find where my mom and Akhila are gone.

He continued - “Dude MK just called me. He in fact tried calling you twice half an hour ago it seems.. guess you were in deep sleep, you cut his call.. Anyway he wanted me to update you about the presentation. And one more thing – that rookie he was talking about yesterday... the one who is joining us today?!! – “Rajesh” is his name it seems. We have to orient him today. I hate this stuff man.”
I am almost getting into a concussion now. Still trying to understand what he just said.

“Man... you just fell off from the cot.. nothing else… What happened to you... Are you okay?.. I told you last night it’s not a good idea to go for the night show. Look at your face now…”, he couldn’t control his laugh. So did I.
Good that the meeting got postponed; I am yet to start with the presentation. I am happy at least I did not miss Rajnikanth’s movie yesterday. It really turned out to be a strange day!!!

[ This story is dedicated to all the software engineers with 1, 2, 3 or more than 3 years of experienced, working in a startup or medium scale or large companies, working with stupid or funny or smart managers, working for customers from the US or UK or Europe or even Pakistan. I pray god at least your dreams will come true one day. May god be with you. Amen ]

:-) :-)

A Strange Day Serendipity - part I

I am not sure if it can be called an ‘achievement’. May be ‘accomplishment’ is a better word to describe. Actually it depends on how you see it. Anyway here is the fact. As I swiped my access card this morning to enter the office, I stepped into my sixth year here in this company. I know there is nothing to get excited about this,.. really nothing. I am at least smart enough to know that I will be totally let down if I expect something that would cheer me up here. But it couldn’t have struck my mind even remotely when I swiped my card this morning, the kind of things the day is going to bring to my table as it goes on. It all started with my manager leaving an unusual but an overly cordial smile while walking by my desk. Trust me! That IS strange for the standards of our relationship.

A team from the UK is visiting my office today to review one of the most important project proposals of the recent times. You know, after working in the sales force department so long and working on different project proposals for different customers, I kind of believe that the new projects are not as much important to the customer as they are to the vendors. So be it. For me, it is just another day. That’s the only ‘motivational’ thought, I figured, would get the ball rolling when you work in this kind of a startup company and especially when you work for someone like Moron Kumar. Sorry.. Mohan kumar. Not some kind of a prejudice or anything but I can tell you, the former is more apt and more popular. Except the courier guy and the name-board I don’t remember anyone in the office addressing him as Mohan Kumar.

It is hard to believe what I have ‘sacrificed’ last night for putting together a presentation for the proposal discussion scheduled this noon. I was burning my midnight oil on this presentation and very importantly I could not go to Rajnikanth’s new movie which got released yesterday. Yes. To me, that is ‘sacrifice’ and ‘important’. Something I never wanted to happen again in my life after that fateful summer holidays when I was admitted in the hospital for typhoid. I was in my 5th grade then.

It is my responsibility as the narrator to help you get the clear picture of who MK (Moron Kumar) is and what he does before you get your own opinion. Surely it is not something I like doing but it’s my duty here. Whatever!!
MK is a kind of a manager that no one would ever want to work for but everybody wants to be the manager of. He is as much skillful in pleasing his managers as he is in making his subordinates’ lives miserable. I have been writing the responses to RFPs and creating presentations for him for almost 4 years now. Not once would he let me talk to the customers directly or lead the presentation. None of the documents I have written so far have had my name on them after they reach his inbox. Most of the times I end up sitting right next to the whiteboard during his presentations simply watching the grass grow. (Well, in fact they are my presentations) And I am the only privileged person to hit the enter-key to pull up the next slide when his eyes turn my side. I know, I can really do better than that…

Coming to the serendipity part of the story, here I am.. sitting in my cubicle in front of the computer looking at this email from my sales force head. It reads,

Hi Ram,
I reviewed the presentation shared by Mohan and it looks just fine. There is a change in the plan though.This time we want you to drive the presentation as MK has to look after some dev progress this afternoon.
Sorry for the late notice. I hope this is not a burden for you and you will be willing to take up the offer. MK would have already shared the ppt with you. I am attaching again. You got another 2 long hours to catch up.
Hope you understand the kind of deal we have in front of us. All the best. Come back with flying colours.

Thanks,
Suresh Shinday
Department head, Sales Force.

What can I say? What better chance anyone could ever get when working for MK? 2 hours went like a flash of a second. I don’t even remember what I have been doing for the past 2 hours except one thing. I saw this beautiful girl Akhila from my college joined my project and going to be sitting right in the opposite cubicle of mine. She asked me (never even spoken once in college) to accompany her for the lunch today as this is her first day in the office. Oh boy! Can this day get better anymore?

[ The serendipity continues... wait for Part II ] ... :-)

Mind Your Table Manners

Recently I received a forwarded email from one my colleagues with the subject "Mind your table manners". A nice one explaining the basic table etiquette.
But after reading it, I started thinking, most of these business etiquette tips generally are alien to people who are not familiar with the western culture.
As an Indian who still gets confused with
Which hand should go for knife and which one for the fork,
I believe we have a set of our own table manners may be not in black and white like how the westerners do, but we do have certain right and wrong things when it comes to eating.
Most of the tips mentioned in the email sounded funny to me.
So I thought "How about making every point sound funny?"

Here is the mail and my comments are inline. Did not mean to offend. Read.. laugh and forget it.. :-)
(Forget not to leave your comment)
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It's important to make a good impression at mealtime too.
These are to ensure that everyone at the table enjoys the food and conversation to the fullest.
The guidelines below will give you a good idea of what to watch for.

1. Eat with a fork unless the food is meant to be eaten with fingers. Only babies eat with fingers.

My father still eats with hand, my grandpa too.. I am sure your grandpa also does the same. I am afraid, I have to call them babies from now ?!!! :-)

2. Don't stuff your mouth full of food, it looks gross, and you could choke.

In 14 years of school, I found more happiness in spending most of my lunch breaks in the school cricket ground than sitting and enjoying my food. Never did I worry about how gross my face looked when I stuffed food in AND interestingly, I never choked once :-)

3. Chew with your mouth closed. No one wants to be grossed out seeing food being chewed up or hearing it being chomped on. This includes no talking with your mouth full.

As it is really disgusting to watch some one doing this, you can use this as a trick to irritate your colleagues or customers if you want. Esp. if you don’t want them to be with you for lunch anymore, you can surely give it a try. Believe me, it works. :-)

4. Don't make any rude comments about any food being served. It will hurt someone's feelings.


Yes. U are right. When you are literally starving after a long day of work, and Pavithra serves you a nice plate of Andhra meals with a big beautiful cockroach on it, don’t ever try to make any rude comment. It might hurt the cockroach. :-)

5. Always say thank you when served something. Shows appreciation.

This is interesting. The one who serves me did not choose the best of the menu for me, neither did he actually prepare the food. What he serves was something I have chosen for me and some poor fellow standing next to the furnace, burning all day is responsible for the delicacy of the taste. Where comes d appreciation ? If you really want to appreciate the waiter, give him a couple more bucks in tips. Really makes him happy. He is not working for your appreciations. :-)

6. If the meal is not buffet style, then wait until everyone is served before eating. It shows consideration.

When you are served a piece of hot and spicy chicken kabab OR a savory piece of thandoori and if you wait for everyone else to be served, I would say you are not actually showing your consideration to the chicken. That’s bad! :-)

7. Eat slowly and don't gobble up the food. Someone took a long time to prepare the food, enjoy it slowly. Slowly means to wait about 5 seconds after swallowing before getting another forkful.

Sounds one of the most ridiculous rules of all - "The time spent on eating the meal must always be equivalent to the time spent preparing it".
Have you heard that it takes more than years to prepare a good wine, Man, that is scary. I got to keep sipping a cup of wine for an year?!! :-)

8. When eating rolls, break off a piece of bread before buttering. Eating a whole piece of bread looks tacky.

Isn’t that everyone around me having their own plates of food to look at? :-)

9. Don't reach over someone's plate for something. Politely ask that the item to be passed to you. Shows consideration.

Sounds funny. No comments.. :-)

10. Do not pick anything out of your teeth, it's gross. If it bothers you that bad, excuse yourself and go to the restroom to pick.

How about eating fish, esp. the sardines? I do this after almost every bite.
First of all, I am not going to stand up and announce everyone around me that I am gonna pick something from the tooth - U gotto find out a tactful way of doing this.
Second of all, It will be more unpleasant if I run into the restroom after every bite
Better take that darn thing, throw it away and reach for the next piece :-)

11. Always use a napkin to dab your mouth, which should be on your lap when not in use. Remember, dab your mouth only. Do not wipe your face or blow your nose with a napkin, both are gross. Excuse yourself from the table and go the restroom to do those things.

Oops... To the restroom again?? :-)

12. When eating at someone's home or a guest of someone at a restaurant, always thank the host and tell them how delicious it was, even if it wasn't. Again, someone took time, energy, and expense to prepare the food, so show your appreciation.

I tried doing this last time when I was at my friends house. The most horrible briyani I ever had in my life. Nobody liked it , but I said it is good - because "someone took time, energy, and expense to prepare the food, so show your appreciation" .
Know what? I had to eat almost 2 kgs of it till it was finished. Obvious what happened aftermath!!.. a horrible 2 days..
Have you heard of "Mr.Bean in a restaurant story"? :-)

More at

http://www.gomestic.com/Family/Basic-Table-Manners-for-Kids.520103
http://www.lahacal.org/gentleman/table.html
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Lifestyle/proper_table_manners.htm
http://quamut.com/quamut/etiquette_and_manners/page/table_manners.html

Still More?!!?? no.. please.. Enough is enough.. :-) Thanks

Just A "Practical" thought

Have you ever felt so broken and disappointed when your thoughts, suggestions or proposals are proven worthless by someone with the reason that they are “practically impossible”.

Me: “I think we should do it this way.”
Moron: “Yeah…hum….but see, that is not practically possible”.

Me: “We could have suggested this option, we would have been in a better position”
Moron: “No. We did not do it because it did not seem to be practically possible”.

Moron: “Come on dude. you cant do all that.. Think Practically..”

Moron: “Let’s go with this practical approach alright?”

I often hear people saying this. For some reason this phrase has always made me thinking.

I could remember what happened when I was a kid, think it was second or third grade. It was a Tamil language class and my teacher had just finished explaining one of Bharathiyar’s poems that talks about the damage caused by the religion and caste systems to the country –
I was very much a passive listener throughout my school days (but always liked questions coming from the last row rebels and see how the teachers react to it,.. a different story though).
But this time I thought I will ask –

“If everyone knows the bad effects of the caste system – why have we kept the Community Certificate as one of the mandatory documents for the admission to the school?”

Sure this thought would have flashed in your mind at some point in your life.
This was what I got back from my teacher.
“Well.. this is expected.. My honest opinion is.. It is not practically possible. You will soon understand”.
I stood bemused. I think I am, still.

So whenever I hear someone says “practically”, I get swamped with a load of questions. You might think this is insane, but somehow these funny little thoughts get to my mind time to time.

If what we say is agreed to be correct and sensible by everyone, why is it not practically possible?

Are there two ways of thinking, a normal way and a practical way ?

Should I think twice before I make a decision once normally and then practically? If practical decisions are always correct, actually I don’t have to think normally.

If some theory is not practically possible why someone has to preach this in the first place?

Going a step further,
Are we sometimes trying to limit our thoughts and imaginations by saying they are “practically not possible”? Is it because we always want to play a safe game? Going by the proven theories always?

Small pox was practically impossible to cure until late 17th century.
Flying was practically impossible to humans till 1903.

Are we sometimes trying to use this as an excuse to justify what we did because what seemed practically possible was also easy to achieve?


When you are stuck at cross roads sometimes in your life, call it ethical dilemma, moral conflict or whatever, would you go by what your heart says or by what is proven to be the practical way.

Let’s cut to the chase now. Let’s ask the same old familiar-to-all question once again.

You are hurrying to office on one fine morning. Suddenly you see a person hit by a bus lying on the roadside. Sure he needs some helping hand. Also you know it will soon turn into a police case. Will you reach out to him and help?

I know a person who did so. He was driving down the road and saw a person lying severely injured. Everyone including the traffic police did not do anything but watching the scene. He got off from his vehicle, did not wait for anyone, took him to the hospital and admitted him. The victim was not dead but completely unconscious. This person who admitted him in the hospital, managed to inform the victim’s family members. What happened aftermath was a real twist in the tale.
The police came to the hospital, accused the person who actually saved the victims life that he was the one who committed the accident and filed a charge against him.
How is this? Do you believe this? You have to because this is the truth.
The reason for them to do so was to get the insurance money from this person and grab their pie. After being kicked back and forth between the police stations and court rooms for one whole year, nothing this person could do but request his insurance company to pay the amount. In fact at one point he had to swear in front of the jury that he was the one who actually did it. The worst thing this man would have ever imagined in his life after serving more than 30 years in a government job with utmost honesty, self discipline and dedication.

I don’t want to get into the theories about our corrupted system, law, jury, government etc, etc here.
But I couldn’t restrain myself from thinking,

“If that person had not reached out to the victim, he wouldn’t have gone through all the pain he suffered”.

I am not trying to say that one should not reach out to the helpless. In fact, I am not saying anything. I am not here to make a point. I would better leave it to the reader.

But when I told this to one of my best friends the other day. He goes
“That is pathetic. This should have never happened to him. But you know.. what I am thinking is… Sometimes we should think practically rather than thinking if something is right or wrong”.
I don’t have a word here. Completely baffled.



Now lets try to set a different mood with a different thought.
India has always had this pride to exhibit and teach a unique trait she possesses – “Unity in Diversity”.
We are unique because our country is multi lingual, multi cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic. Absolutely fascinating. No question on the “Diversity” part, but of late I started thinking about what precedes it – the “Unity”.
I know this doesn’t really feel good to talk about or think about but time to mull over the situation in hand.

Issues with the borders, sharing the river water, political and social differences, and problems in accepting each others language, culture and tradition between the states are as prevalent as that of two totally different countries. There have always been conflicts between northern states and southern states. Always been issues between rich and poor states. Take Karnataka –Tamilnadu Cauvery issue OR Jammu and Kashmir issue OR Belgaum border dispute OR the recent Maharashtra –Bihar problems and so on and so forth. We cannot get away with the excuses saying these are “common”, “small” or “impossible-to-resolve” problems. No they are not. These are the “real” problems need to be addressed and need to be addressed in the right way.
People from one state have a name in other states, some times funny but often sound derogatory. State politicians inflict their men against the neighbors for political gain. Most of the time, the central government has to simply watch the show.

Can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible?”

I think so. But think about it. Even if it is practically impossible to achieve, it is important for us to say that we practice it and be proud of it. But Why?
Because if we don’t, then the entire system would collapse.
This is the same case with any country.
People can be easily convinced and emotionally struck by the “practically impossible” words rather than definite action plans.
Take the example of “I have a dream” from Martin Luther King Jr. It was important for him to make the people believe from the bottom of their heart that there will definitely be a day when “the people will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character”. It was not thought of a practically possible one then. But these words were considered crucial to align people in one single line towards one single goal.

The words “Change” and “Hope” are another example of how “practically impossible” things can make history possible. Do you think these words convey any definite plan or promise?
No.
No one can change Washington upside down. No one can change every single American’s life. No one can change how other countries look at America.
Yes. Practically impossible.
But what can be made possible by repeating these words is binding the mass majority of public and make them march towards one common destiny.

So now, can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible. But the more you believe in it, better our country becomes”.
Is that a fair statement?
I am not sure. I don’t have an answer to that.


I am working in a software company where every now and then you get to hear people talking about 100% quality, 100% customer satisfaction, bug-free code and things like that. Guess what! It is universally accepted that “Bug –free code is something practically impossible to write”. I wish I knew this when I was rattled by the questions from my boss after my first ever piece of code failed to run in production.

The closing note is that I have been asking these questions to myself for quite some time.Now I am putting my cards on the table.
Your comments are most welcome even if they are as insane as my questions. Hopefully at least you can come up with an answer to all these. But to me, even that sounds “Practically impossible”.

The Amazing "R" Factor

Have you ever wondered who could have come up with the concept of religion, Angels, Demons and the myths around them– even if someone did, how in the world he or she did successfully manage to spread this mystical theory to the rest of the world? Did this happen in one day? One year? Probably a few centuries?
Was that some kind of a revelation , some kind of a lightening that hit human minds one dark moon night ? Was it a slow and steady dissemination of beliefs, thoughts and conspiracies? Gods, ghosts, beliefs, rituals- who created all these? Where did they come from?


Have you ever given a serious thought – why this world is so divided and every nation tries to safeguard itself from others? Every state ,every race and every community tries to preserve its identity, boasts its beliefs and practices.
Every man tries to own a piece of land or house and acts as a guardian for himself and his family. Who would have come up this idea of owning a territory in the first place ? Why someone had to draw a border around him and announce himself to be the owner of it? Had there been no national boundaries, the entire world would have been one common place for all human beings. Why did not this strike us? What was the reason Alexander the Great had to conquer every single country in the world? What could have possibly driven him to do so? Why were there two horrifying world wars? Why America had to invade Iraq?


Why does one kill another one for living? Why everyone tries to dominate others?

Imagine this-
You are surfing youtube. You come across a horrifying video that shows – how a hostage was brutally murdered by a terrorist somewhere in a desert in Afghanistan– Or a video which shows a real blast in a busy market in India– Or one that shows a devastating earth quake in Japan– or a horrifying accident captured on a traffic camera in America. The video might start with a warning saying –
"Don’t watch this if you are light hearted or weak"

Allright. First of all you don’t know if you are light hearted or not.. But you can feel something inside you that says – “lets give it a try my friend!!”. cant you?

Okay. Now you are watching it – the murder, the earthquake, the bomb blast, the accident – you are seeing people killed , wounded , blooded and horrified.
Its over now.
You feel sorry for them. Of course you do. Because you are a human being after all.
But did you just feel someone deep inside your heart – may be so deep that you had to sharpen your ears before listening– keeps urging you – “C’mon see it again.. click that replay button now… lets see it once again.. its exciting”…
Ever wondered why is this happening?


What could be the driving force for a serial killer? Why human beings are possessive on their loved ones? Some times or.. I should say most of the times, it takes people to their extremes. How many Kingdoms have crumbled down, how many people have killed others, how many peopled have killed themselves in the name of “LOVE”.



On a day off, while lying on a sofa after a nice meal, when you don’t have anything to do, have you ever thought about counting your breaths for a while?. Have you tried stop breathing for sometime to see how long you can hold up?
Did this thought come across your mind- what inside me that keeps the clock ticking? Who controls my breathing? Who makes me sleep?.
What exactly the time in seconds, I slept last night- do I remember it ? Can I try to recollect?... Or… will I be able to figure this out tonight?


Here comes the answer to all these questions. The “R complex” or a “Reptilian brain” - part of the human brain, commonly seen in the vertebrates – something we all inherited from the reptile world during the course of the evolution. George Carlin talks about this in many of his shows – but mostly to add up more fun to his jokes.
The evolution is something that most of us have studied in schools. But not until recently this topic got my attention and made me do some readings on it. There are quite a few theories revolving around this topic and few are most discussed and few are controversial.


One popular theory accepted by most scientists is MacLean’s “Triune Brain Model”
The human brain, as per the “Triune Theory” consists of three parts.
1. The Archipallium or “R Complex” or the Reptillian Brain carries the traits of the reptile world and mostly unchanged in the evolution process. Very similar to the ones seen in snakes and lizards. The way this brain looks at life is simple – “Survival comes first even if it costs a killing”. This guy never sleeps even when you sleep and controls the hearbeat and breating. Very territorial and very aggressive – this part of the brain believes in what its ancestors believed in without asking any question – rituals, religion, beliefs and superstitions.
2. The limbic system ,which is the middle part of the brain, is responsible for emotions and memories.
3. The Neocartex is the intellectual part of the brain commonly seen in the primates. The traits which are exclusive for the primates such as rational thinking, speech and language.

There is always a battle between these three brains and who wins the battles is what decides the behavior exhibited by a person. Very interesting indeed.


Now we know, how we manage to say a big “Hi..” with a beautiful smile to the boss while thinking “I will beat this devil one day!!” .

Influence of media on Indian politics

The journey of the media in India dates back to the days of the freedom movement. It would never be exaggerating to say that Mahathma’s ‘Indian Opinion’ , Aurobindo’s ‘Navashakti’, Bharathiyar’s ‘Swadesamithran’, etc, etc were considered to be the real threats to the British rulers during the independence struggle. The media in India, just like in any other developing or a developed nation of this world has always deeply connected with the political system of our country.

The technological advancement in the communication domain brought into the society what has become an indispensable part of every house, the television. Doordarshan, the public television network started its broadcasting in 1965. The arrival of cable television and private broadcasters paved way to a great paradigm shift.

A significant percentage of Indian population today enjoys a great variety of television channels, satellite radios and internet. Most of the daily newspapers have already made themselves available in electronic form for the internet users- thanks to the latest Information and Techonology tsunami. The rapid growth in the media in last 20 years has created an immense competition among the players which has its own payoffs. The common critique about the media in the recent past is that the television channels and the newspapers have started moving away from playing a critical role for the goodness of the nation to being a mere entertainers. While partially agreeing with this vox populi, I would also like to say that it is we, the people, who decide what is interesting and what is not. We should accept the fact that there are certain things that we cannot avoid.

We might skip the news on a recent satellite launch and Editorial talking about the infiltration, to quickly move to the last page of a daily to see how much Sachin scored against Australia the last night. Or keep surfing the channels in TV to get on time for the “Indian Idol” while not worrying too much about “The Breaking news” or “The Prime time”. This is completely understandable but, again, it is important for us to realize that it is WE who make a program or a channel a successful one or otherwise.

One of the episodes of the popular talk show “We the people” aired in NDTV right after the Mumbai massacre is something I came across recently which stayed in my mind for a long time. Everybody had different emotions to share on the show and different opinions on the unbelievable attack to put down. But what I believe was really an eye opener was, if not all, at least most of the viewers must have realized that there lies a piece of job, a need for a sense of responsibility and a necessity for an immediate action and more importantly an element of danger in front of every single Indian. It was really thought provoking when a celebrity said he would never ever complaint the security checks even if he had to wait in queues in airport for hours. The other touching part of this program was when a taxi driver, happened to be a Muslim, talked about how his family became the victim of terrorism in various tragic incidents. Our media has been our vehicle to carry our stands and opinions to the rest of the world, more than that, to a common man sitting and listening to a radio somewhere deep in a deserted village – and my opinion is, we have done a decent job in achieving this over last two decades.

Having said that, there is no question that the recent trend in media has made itself look what I think nasty and often unacceptable. The private television channels and radios owned or supported directly and indirectly by the political parties have done a great damage to the public respect on the media. It is certainly obvious that this situation prevails even in developed nations such as America. We all know which political party the CNN supports for and which one the Fox channel endorses. But the difference here is, when it comes to a real problem facing a common man or working class people or certain industries or underprivileged communities or women, the very same channels which are viewed as rivals, come together and try to shed some light on the details of the issue to help the government solving the problem rather than making it even bigger and harder to handle.

Is it not shameful that we see bunch of thugs mobilized and motivated by the political parties brutalizing the news reporters and burning the press offices? Is this how our great ancestors perceived our democracy would be? Is this what Gandhis, Nethajis and Patels expected us to do with the freedom they hard-fought for? Any Indian who watches these embarrassing events would agree that we, as a nation stand an example for how badly and improperly a nation can handle the democracy.

One might think that imposing rules, standardizations and regulations on media would help earn the credibility back. I think this would make a very insignificant change and often adverse effects. Any restriction imposed on media and press will have its own repercussions.” A complete freedom of press” is a vital aspect of any democracy – something that we cannot compromise for anything. The current situation, in my opinion, will only change when the channels such as NDTV, CNN IBN which provides public with unbiased news and views should start penetrating the regional languages and state politics. People with astute knowledge on political and social sciences, with the ability to discuss and provide solutions for our deep rooted political problems should come forward and enlighten the common public, more than anything else, a few sensible leaders who can turn the tables and set things right.
Fingers crossed!!