Forces of Nature

Every other TV channel that I viewed yesterday showed Mumbai's rains over and over again with an increasing count of the number of people deceased. But it is strange that I did not get to see any channel ask, "Where was our weather department?". Couldn't they have forecasted something before the misery started? Or don't we have the technology?
Even discussing this seems quite clichéd. When Chennai was hit by the Tsunami, I wrote on the Tsunami-prevention systems that were to be installed by the government. I appreciated that they had taken a positive step though late. But then, do we need to wait for every single misery to happen before investing in the appropriate technologies? I believe that we need to be more proactive in looking at preventing losses to human life caused by the forces of nature.

It is quite ironic that I'm reading the use of the 4 forces - earth, fire, wind and water - for destruction in the book "Angels and Demons". In Mumbai people have died in the past few days due to land slides (Earth), Heavy rains and flood (Water) and fire at ONGC platform (Fire). Is Air awaiting its turn or was it a part of the rain itself? I do hope the worst is over and things can only improve from here on.

In India we believe in 5 forces - the Sky making the 5th force. I have used 4 forces only in reference to the book "Angels and Demons".
The 5 forces are called "Panchabootham" in Tamil. Panchabootham means 5 demons. I have always wondered why the goodness of nature has been termed as demons. But now I get to see the demonish side of the forces.

A Day/ Night to Remember!!!

Date: 26th July

12:30 PM
The rain outside looks so beautiful!!!

3:45 PM
A mail has come from admin department that buses will start at 4:30 itself since there is some alert on heavy rainfall. Yuppie! I'll be at home by 6:00 PM

4:15 PM
Am outside office. It is raining cats and dogs. Anyways, I have an umbrella. I just need to walk till the bus and board it.

4:30 PM
Have reached the place where the bus stops. The umbrella hasn't helped and I'm totally drenched. But the main question is "Where is the bus?"

7:00 PM
I have moved around this place thrice wading through the knee-high water, but still no signs of the bus. Am feeling too cold in my wet clothes. Better get back to office and stay there for sometime.

7:15 PM
Quite a few have returned back to office. I've squeezed my clothes and worn them again. But still feeling cold. Why don't they switch off the AC? The more important question still remains as, "Where the hell is the bus?"

8:00PM
It is confirmed that there will be no bus. Better decide on how to spend the night. No internet and no phone (mobile has stopped working probably because of getting wet)

12:30 AM
Am still shivering inside the wet clothes. But still it is better get some sleep. It seems to be a bad decision that I didn't sleep much yesterday night owing to shifting of houses.

5:00 AM
Oh! My aching back. May be I shouldn’t have slept bending over the table. Hmm, the rain has subsided. Shall I venture outside?

5:30 AM
In the bus stop. No BEST buses in sight. What is that? A company bus?
"Stop stop" Gosh! The driver didn't even care to have a look. Let me try catching him at the other gate.
I run to the other gate and there is no sight of the bus. Seems it has passed this place before I could reach through the short-cut.

6:30 AM
One hour in this bus stop and still no buses or buses with no space even on the footboard. A company bus is in sight.... is heading to a place I don't know of. What the hell? Let me just board it. Atleast I'll be in a new place
Got the only seat left, the one next to the driver.
Driver: "What time is it?"
Me: "7:00"
Driver sighs, "I have to leave you guys at XYZ location and then have to go to ABC for picking up people"
Me: "ABC!!! That's where I live. Hurray"

So the day is saved again thanks to.... should I say my shrewd (?) decision to board a bus that was going I-donno-where?

Back home, there is no cable TV, but electricity is there. And voila, my mobile has started working and the important question has been answered, "The bus is there picking up people for today's office". But who cares, it's a day I would happily spend indoors at home.

Practical or Unethical?

The following are things that I've found people (certain things include me as well) do without getting hurt by any bit of conscience. They are being termed as practical needs. Are these things practical or unethical?

Showing HRA while staying at one's dad's house

Reading Harry Potter's latest book received by e-mail

Checking personal mails in office

Extending lunch time into hours

Using pompous language knowing that the other person wouldn't understand an iota

Bypassing queues in bus stops/ railway stations

Once at the top...

From the confusions of beginning a career, let's move on to the end of it. Where do big shots go after their successful stints with huge brand names? I've always felt that successful people will spend their lives in the companies where they have achieved whatever they have, and then move onto a posh retirement. But as it seems, these people need more challenges in life.

Look at the recent past and you'll find so many CxOs quitting their high profile companies. The immediate ones I can recollect are Raman Roy, former head of Wipro Spectramind, Vivek Paul, Vice-President and Chairman of Wipro Technologies, and Basab Pradhan, Infosys' global sales head. CIOL even reports that 8 senior executives, including 4 AVPs of Infy, put in their papers within 24 hours of Mr.Pradhan's exit.
I was especially surprised when 2 big names quit Wipro in closer intervals. When I enquired with a friend working there he replied that these things keep happening, but the leadership line so strong that they don't matter much.

Coming back to the topic, what do these guys do now? Vivek Paul is with Texas Pacific Group, a global private equity firm. Raman Roy is expected to start his own BPO or join a small BPO which provides him more challenges. Basab Pradhan is also supposed to open his own venture,
So, is it all challenge that one wants or is it a hunt for more money? Either way, when does this desire satiate? Of all things, why don't these people just stay on top of their original firm and try moving it to higher levels?

Insatiable Expectations II - The B-School Perspective?

Most people from the top b-schools of India whom I have met over the years seem not much satisfied with their jobs.
"I'm doing nothing", "They are pestering me with too much of work", "I would have been better if I had just continued working instead of joining XYZ institute", "They don't know how to treat us", "This is the same thing that I used to do as a mere CA"
These are some of the reasons I have heard in the past few months, if not the past few years. These reasons are quite diverse and differ a lot from person to person. But what does not differ is the tendency to complain. But why are most people unhappy?
One reason I found out is that people have mammoth expectations. Once individuals enter a first tier b-school, they start believing that they will be leaders once they move out of their respective institutions. But the harsh reality is that, though b-schoolers get a head start in the corporate ladder, they still have to fight it out to reach the top. Education in a b-school is supposed to be an ammunition in the corporate jungle, and not a short-cut ticket to reach the other end of the maze.
All said, I wouldn't entirely put the blame on the b-schoolers. When you have 3 or 4 job offers in hand and choose one of them, you are destined to have high expectations in the option that you chose. There is also the fear that by working in the current environment one is narrowing down his/her exit options.
At the end of the day the question is still the same - "Are you happy with what you are doing?". Unfortunately, the answer too seems to remain the same

Suspicion

It was shocking to know that one of the suspects in the London blasts case is a primary school teaching assistant. The news channels yesterday telecasted the parents of the students expressing their disbelief in getting to know that the nice man they knew is suspected for the blasts. Their shocked faces made me wonder if Khan might not be the real culprit. But then, if he is really the mastermind behind the blasts then he would have definitely been good enough to convince a few nice people that he meant no harm.

I started expressing my views to a friend saying, "The main suspect behind the London blasts is a Pakistani school...". I was stopped short by my friend's comment, "Pakistanies are always like this". I have heard similar opinions from quite a few persons and am left wondering why people generalize so much. My opinion is that it was a single person's mistake and the blame should not be passed on to a whole sect. Khan, the suspect, is a British born person with his roots in Pakistan. Think about it, how much would Pakistan have influenced someone who was born and brought-up in another part of the world?

Liar Liar - A Story

My first attempt at a short story....

Shyam limped to his seat talking to himself, "Darn this muscle pull. It pains like hell and the only prescription from the doctor is to take rest. That's the last thing I can do now". Right then Somu entered Shyam's cabin with a worried face. Shyam pointed to the sheets of paper lying in front of him and asked,
"What is this Somu? Why did you consciously under-estimate the project efforts?"
"Sir... we had to show them low costs to get the project".
"You lied Somu"
"The situation was..."
"SITUATIONS KEEP COMING", shouted Shyam, his leg was paining more than before. "No one lies for fun. It is all because of situations and dilemmas. They are still no reason for lying. You know what; all liars should be burnt alive"

Shyam felt the vibrations of his mobile phone in his pocket. Checking the caller's number he signaled to Somu to wait for a minute.
"Mom, shall I call you back after an hour or so?"
"No need Shyam. Just called to check if you are alright. Hope everything is fine"
Shyam remembered the plight of his mother when he told her the last time that he was not feeling well. He pressed his hand over his legs to resist the pain and replied, "I'm fine Mom... am doing really well. I'll call you later. Bye"

"Now, where were we?” Shyam asked Somu.
The reply was, "We were at burning all liars"

6 Months!!!

Frankly, I never expected this day to come. No, I haven't won an award or something of the sort. It's just that my blog has completed 6 months of existence. For something that was started JLT, it has survived pretty well.
The evolution...
First blog
This blog was started just because I needed a login ID to put a comment on a friends blog

First Week
I'm anyways not going to continue with it. So why bother to inform anyone?

Second Week
hmmm. I've put couple of my poems in here. Let me inform some of my friends who like poetry.

Third Week
May be I can write prose as well...

End of The First Month
So I do have the steadiness to continue something for over a month. I'll put my blog address as my yahoo messenger status.

End of The Second Month
College is over. No more free 24*7 internet facility. No more blogging

Begining of The Third month
Ok, I can type things offline and connect to the net for few minutes to just upoad them. Gosh! I'm addicted to this blog stuff But I will stop it once I join my office.

Begining of The Fourth Month
I am not that busy to stop blogging. May be I should continue. New place, new situations.... lots to write about.

Months 4,5 and 6
Regular updations and constant increase in the number of blogs that I visit. It's now a part of my life

For all those who have tolerated my ramblings over this period, thanks and please keep visiting

Music Tag

One more tag. I would have ideally preferred to be tagged when nothing happens around to blog with. Anyways, I guess a tag-blog can follow 2 personal/ philosophical blogs any day. So here goes the muzik tag passed to me by Aks

Some People Whom I would love to mention as the Gurus of Muzik are:
MS, Madurai Mani Iyer, A.R.Rehman, Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi, Ilayaraja, M.S.Viswanathan
Each of these people composed/sung differently from their predecessors.

Last album I bought
As I wrote in the books tag, I don't like buying things and then dumping them somewhere. So am used to storing mp3 rather than buying CDs/ Cassettes.
Last album bought was "En Swasa Kaatre" (Now you understand why I gave that disclaimer before mentioning the album name?)
I bought a cassette of Bombay Jayashree after that. But I don't remember the name of that.


Next album(s) I want to buy
Wrong question.

Last song I downloaded
"Appadi podu" from Gilli

Last song I heard before this post
The starting of Kandashasti Kavasam. Some guy nearby is having it as him windows starting music.

All time favorite bands
Back Street Boys
Euphoria

All time favorite songs (Not in any particular order)
Sorry boss. Listing this is mission impossible.

All time favorite (lead) singers

Male:
Kishore da
Mohd Rafi
Shaan
Sonu Nigam
Udit Narayan
SPB
Unni Krishnan
Srinivas

Female:
MS
Bombay Jayashree
Chitra
Harini

Total songs (mp3s) I have on my comp
I sold my comp few months back. So my collection stays in CD format safely in Bangalore. I have no idea on how many songs would be in there, but surely I am no match for the other music enthusiasts. I keep only selected songs.

Total Music CDs I've burned: 6

I Pass this on to K7, Jam & Ramgopal. Hoping that this music tag is different from the TFM tag in most of your blogs.

Insatiable Expectations

People are strange. If reality doesn't mime their expectations, if the precaution they took turns out to be unnecessary, they feel disappointed.

These lines from "It's Not Luck" by Eliyahu Goldratt have been ringing in my ears continuously. People who know of the career choice that I made last year would understand why I can associate myself with this statement. For the others, just imagine this situation..... You reach a bus-stop and enquire about a bus to a particular destination. The "informed" people there tell you that the bus to your destination will not arrive over the next one hour. Not ready to wait for that long a time you take a taxi. On your way you keep noticing buses to your destination coming right next to your taxi. Wouldn't you feel disappointed? Is feeling disappointed in this situation strange?

I feel that my case of being disappointed is justified. But I see other examples where I don't think they are so. Take the case of my friends who complain, "I bought the share at Rs.10 and sold it at Rs.12. Now it is Rs.13". I would generally try to console them indicating that they have still made a profit. But they are hell-bent at looking at the lost opportunity to make more. May be I don't understand them because I'm not in their state.

Though yet undecided on the justification of being disappointed on ineffective precautions, let me put forth a different question. Do people feel disappointed only when things don't turnout the way they expected them to be? I come across so many people who fail to disappoint with the statement, "It could have been better", even when their expectations are satisfied. It seems to be a basic human mentality to never be satisfied. I guess that's why we call the years gone by as golden years. No person seems to feel that (s)he is at the best that (s)he could be in.

To complete the different view points let me quote a cynical friend of mine. He once said, "If you believe that everything is good, then you wouldn't strive for better things". Maybe the insatiable nature of people does have a good side

Changes...

Climates change....and so do people's decisions.

The rains have subsided and the breeze is still blowing fine. The climate in Mumbai is just about perfect now. From the hot climate that hosted me when I landed in this place, to the current pleasant weather, it is not only the climate that has changed. My preferences too are undergoing a major change. No more do I feel alien here and no more do I feel the urge to escape into known territories.
I had not unpacked my stuff properly in Mumbai as I was not feeling at home here. Now I am slowly settling down. The house hunting is over and so is the wait for my online transaction account. After so many years of being a burden on mother Earth, I get to be self reliant.

With change adding fragrance to the air everywhere, I wonder how many more years it would take for the Wimbledon champion to change