I do have a feeling that, if I tell people what I am going to do next, I somehow reckon the work that I intended would not succeed. My DJ thing which I said, I was looking forward to in the weekend did not work out as the DJ, who I am supposed to meet, evaded me ( not sure what's there in his mind) by putting an excuse. I am not a super mind reader that can scan yours and take a print out, I might be wrong as well. So I could not try my hand. But I am not going to leave this unfulfilled wish of mine biting the dust. I have a t-shirt that has a caption saying ' I never give up' . Time to grab some inspiration out of it and work my way hard be it pestering, nagging or shelling money out of my pocket. I have to play once on the players, atleast for the two .wav CD's that I got burnt.
Beyond that, we had three days off, with Monday being a festival day celebrated in Northern India. Karva Chauth as it is called, is followed by women for their husbands to live safer and experience the torture created by their dear wives, for a little longer. Women do a fast ( if I am not supplying the wrong information here) and have their dinner in the night, only after seeing the moon. What if the moon was hiding behind the clouds ? Do they assume the light behind the clouds as the moonlight and feast on the varieties of dishes that were made ? Or what if it was a no-moon day, were my immediate doubts. Satanic brain, satanic doubts. Nonetheless, one has to sincerely appreciate their dedication and I feel the culture and family relations are strong in India till date, only I guess, due to these. What a traditional - mawkish - lunatic geek I am.
Any head on the shoulders bloke would have had a whale of a time for having three days off. And me, considering what a lazy bug I am turning out to be, with no belly yet - being the sole exception to my slim frame, spent my off days on bed watching the ever so dirty idiot box. This time it's dirty not only for the programmes it airs, but also of the dust that it is covered it. No, I am not going to clean it. May be I am trying for the best dust rested on TV award. If I clean the dirt, who is going to sort out the hissing noise that is generated continuously, the TV mechanic obviously. Unless he fixes it, I am not going to clean it and how does the mechanic know if my TV is alright or not, I have to make a phone call. So now you know how long it might take to wipe of the smooth soft dust.
I am not going to tell my adventures next time. In the first place, I shouldn't have shouted to the whole world, that I am trying for a DJ. Mistakes happen with everyone and if we try not to repeat the same, we would be better off in life. But there is always room for just that required number of mistakes only to console ourselves later, shrugging and saying, after all we are human beings.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Looking forward to...
I hope this weekend would be a little different from the previous ones. Atleast I am not cribbing this Friday in my post. That is one change. Second change is at the end of this post. So smart people can just scroll down, read the change and can close the window.
My travails with my network continued till this Friday. It was a small network setting, which our IT folk did not pay any heed to and instead concentrated on downloading drivers from the net. One has to use a screwdriver when it's needed and a sledge hammer when it is required. This stupid thing, brings a well known tale into my mind. Americans while going into space developed a super pen that works without the ink getting frozen, developing a fine tip and taking into consideration, all the crap that goes in space. That is the result after spending lot of money, resources and energy into the project. And Russians simply used a pencil in space. (Credibility of the story has to be established) Thinking that the same principle - go to google, search for drivers, download them, download their patch versions as well, as a Diwali gift - without actually addressing the problem is not the mantra all the time.
This week I was little eventful in moving my ass and went out doing little things for my own. The usual routine would be, get back from work at 7 pm and lie on the bed and watch the idiot box for couple of hours , wait for the dinner to be delivered, again watch for an hour, until I get to see few clippings of 'Comedy Junction' and then go to bed ( read as sleep, coz I will be on the bed all day long as I don't have a chair in my room) at 11:30 pm - thinking, phew, I am not having enough sleep and am just not able to sleep before 10 pm. Truth is I would get up at 8:30 am ( even in summer) , having a solid 8 hours sleep and still yawning and struggling to get up in the winter. Wanna sleep, sleep and more sleep till I get retarded and brain becomes stinkingly stale . Daddy says, nope. Yeah, I know, how people who sleep only for less than 6 hours would think now.
I went out to my friends place last night and burned couple of CD's of the songs that I like. Only a couple because, I wanted to burn my CD in .wav format, not in .mp3 . Am I nuts to burn music in incredibly bulky wav format. You don't stop asking questions, do you? And for that I had to download mp3 to wav converter and those that are available are only trial versions. So that allowed me to burn only 30 odd songs and some CD players do not recognise mp3 format. You got an answer now, happy? It's been like what, three years since I bought my second hand laptop and it's been in the cupboard for more than half its lifetime in my under, and I feel sick dodging the question, how is your laptop? I would not dispose it off, that soon and neither I don't have any plans of buying a new one. Old habits freaking die hard. I have my laptop for namesake and have friends laptops for usage sake.
So I could talk to a DJ in a restaurant cum pub and he told me to come with my own music, so I could try a hand on DJ'ing. You heard it right, DJ'ing. He told me to convert the music format and said, Just come with 10 or 20 CD's . I was like what ??? I said okay. I am all geared up this Friday. I am going this evening with two CD's and still doubtful whether this would work on his machine. I am up for something today. I shall be happy if he allows me to play couple of songs atleast for my couple of CD's. Hoping that things would go fine. I am already pumped up and at the same time my heart is beating a little faster. I would post more of my adventures with the music next week. I am really looking forward to this second change on this fantastic Friday.
My travails with my network continued till this Friday. It was a small network setting, which our IT folk did not pay any heed to and instead concentrated on downloading drivers from the net. One has to use a screwdriver when it's needed and a sledge hammer when it is required. This stupid thing, brings a well known tale into my mind. Americans while going into space developed a super pen that works without the ink getting frozen, developing a fine tip and taking into consideration, all the crap that goes in space. That is the result after spending lot of money, resources and energy into the project. And Russians simply used a pencil in space. (Credibility of the story has to be established) Thinking that the same principle - go to google, search for drivers, download them, download their patch versions as well, as a Diwali gift - without actually addressing the problem is not the mantra all the time.
This week I was little eventful in moving my ass and went out doing little things for my own. The usual routine would be, get back from work at 7 pm and lie on the bed and watch the idiot box for couple of hours , wait for the dinner to be delivered, again watch for an hour, until I get to see few clippings of 'Comedy Junction' and then go to bed ( read as sleep, coz I will be on the bed all day long as I don't have a chair in my room) at 11:30 pm - thinking, phew, I am not having enough sleep and am just not able to sleep before 10 pm. Truth is I would get up at 8:30 am ( even in summer) , having a solid 8 hours sleep and still yawning and struggling to get up in the winter. Wanna sleep, sleep and more sleep till I get retarded and brain becomes stinkingly stale . Daddy says, nope. Yeah, I know, how people who sleep only for less than 6 hours would think now.
I went out to my friends place last night and burned couple of CD's of the songs that I like. Only a couple because, I wanted to burn my CD in .wav format, not in .mp3 . Am I nuts to burn music in incredibly bulky wav format. You don't stop asking questions, do you? And for that I had to download mp3 to wav converter and those that are available are only trial versions. So that allowed me to burn only 30 odd songs and some CD players do not recognise mp3 format. You got an answer now, happy? It's been like what, three years since I bought my second hand laptop and it's been in the cupboard for more than half its lifetime in my under, and I feel sick dodging the question, how is your laptop? I would not dispose it off, that soon and neither I don't have any plans of buying a new one. Old habits freaking die hard. I have my laptop for namesake and have friends laptops for usage sake.
So I could talk to a DJ in a restaurant cum pub and he told me to come with my own music, so I could try a hand on DJ'ing. You heard it right, DJ'ing. He told me to convert the music format and said, Just come with 10 or 20 CD's . I was like what ??? I said okay. I am all geared up this Friday. I am going this evening with two CD's and still doubtful whether this would work on his machine. I am up for something today. I shall be happy if he allows me to play couple of songs atleast for my couple of CD's. Hoping that things would go fine. I am already pumped up and at the same time my heart is beating a little faster. I would post more of my adventures with the music next week. I am really looking forward to this second change on this fantastic Friday.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Force India, eh..
I am contemplating as to what I should be writing, even before I wrote the first word in here. I've thrown a rule of thumb last week. If you don't want to blog, don't blog. I am not heeding to that rule now and may perhaps be waiting for a disaster to happen at the end of this one ( but nothing happened as I am typing these last words in the braces before publishing this post).
To talk something other than cricket, here is a chance now. I was never one of those guys who is interested in Formula one ( F1 ) and motoGP racing. Infact, I never found F1 exciting until I watched the last race of the season in the weekend, which decided the drivers championship. It was breathtaking. I haven't followed F1 before as closely as I did in the weekend and I doubt if I follow it the next year. But boy, it was an incredible race on Sunday, and the 70 odd laps finished in a jiffy. Three blokes were competing for the Drivers championship and Lewis Hamilton was all destined to take the championship as a rookie driver starting at second pole position, P2. P1 for Massa, P3 for Kimi Raikkonen and P4 for the grumpy Alonso.
The five red lights blinked off and drivers were off to a flying start and in just a matter of seconds, Hamilton was pushed to 4th place and minutes later, was pushed to 18 place after having problems with his car's gear box. And there will be only 22 people contesting a F1 race, making that to 11 pairs and each pair contests as a team, driving one car maker, say a Ferrari or a Toyota, or a BMW. It was shocking to see and I thought Hamilton's car choked when it mattered. So everyone thought it was curtains down for Hamilton, and Kimi driving the Ferrari or Alonso in McLaren-Mercedes could be the drivers champion. Hamilton was lucky to be still racing after a dreadful failure in the gear box. First time I felt, that F1 was a strategic game. You hear that often in the circuit, that a team with the best strategy would claim the title. Had it not been for the 3 pit stop strategy, I bet Hamilton would have won the title. He just needed to finish at 6th position by the end, but destiny had other plans. He finished at 7th position at the end of the race, sharing equal points with his rival team mate Alonso on 109 points. 'Ice Man' Kimi finished off the season at 110 points and was extremely lucky in claiming the title. For sure, Alonso with his peevish attitude and grumpy face will be changing the team before the start of the next season and it is interesting to see, who would partner Hamilton. Never knew motor racing is also a team game. McLaren Mercedes loss is Ferrari's gain, handing both the drivers and constructors championships to Ferrari.
What's more interesting for an Indian spectator is Vijay Mallya was in the nick of things again. One can never keep him quiet, be it the Whisky acquisitons, be it the Kingfisher airlines, or let be the Kingfisher - AirDeccan joint venture. This time the UB group chairman has a added a new feather in his cap, holding a stake in Spyker Ferrari team. It would be rechristened as 'Force India', in the next race. I find the name weird, but it's not me who acquired Spyker Ferrari. He is keen on introducing F1 to Indian soil and has even quoted, F1 can be the next big thing that Indian youngsters could be looking besides cricket. Delhi - Greater Noida is contemplating over a F1 circuit. It should meet global standards for sure. But the magnanimity of the project and the expenditure that goes in developing and maintaining the track, is worth a wait for the public. Assuming that racing hasn't really picked up in India as yet, it really has to been what the bureaucrats are upto. They should be licking their lips as they have a great opportunity to fill in their already overflowing bank accounts or donate a resplendent diamond studded pendant to their promiscuous partner.
And if I am talking about F1 or motoGP, credit goes to my colleague who fed me with the F1 and motoGP stuff, race after race for few weeks. He explained the rules, the strategies and ofcourse I paid interest in understanding the sport and learned most of it through the commentary. I felt it ridiculously boring at times, ( F1 still is, but motoGP is more interesting because you get to see more overtakes there) but I am here talking about the same sport. Things which you may not like first up, will eventually be liked by you over due course of time. Give some time for the dust to settle down before you make yourself a clown.
To talk something other than cricket, here is a chance now. I was never one of those guys who is interested in Formula one ( F1 ) and motoGP racing. Infact, I never found F1 exciting until I watched the last race of the season in the weekend, which decided the drivers championship. It was breathtaking. I haven't followed F1 before as closely as I did in the weekend and I doubt if I follow it the next year. But boy, it was an incredible race on Sunday, and the 70 odd laps finished in a jiffy. Three blokes were competing for the Drivers championship and Lewis Hamilton was all destined to take the championship as a rookie driver starting at second pole position, P2. P1 for Massa, P3 for Kimi Raikkonen and P4 for the grumpy Alonso.
The five red lights blinked off and drivers were off to a flying start and in just a matter of seconds, Hamilton was pushed to 4th place and minutes later, was pushed to 18 place after having problems with his car's gear box. And there will be only 22 people contesting a F1 race, making that to 11 pairs and each pair contests as a team, driving one car maker, say a Ferrari or a Toyota, or a BMW. It was shocking to see and I thought Hamilton's car choked when it mattered. So everyone thought it was curtains down for Hamilton, and Kimi driving the Ferrari or Alonso in McLaren-Mercedes could be the drivers champion. Hamilton was lucky to be still racing after a dreadful failure in the gear box. First time I felt, that F1 was a strategic game. You hear that often in the circuit, that a team with the best strategy would claim the title. Had it not been for the 3 pit stop strategy, I bet Hamilton would have won the title. He just needed to finish at 6th position by the end, but destiny had other plans. He finished at 7th position at the end of the race, sharing equal points with his rival team mate Alonso on 109 points. 'Ice Man' Kimi finished off the season at 110 points and was extremely lucky in claiming the title. For sure, Alonso with his peevish attitude and grumpy face will be changing the team before the start of the next season and it is interesting to see, who would partner Hamilton. Never knew motor racing is also a team game. McLaren Mercedes loss is Ferrari's gain, handing both the drivers and constructors championships to Ferrari.
What's more interesting for an Indian spectator is Vijay Mallya was in the nick of things again. One can never keep him quiet, be it the Whisky acquisitons, be it the Kingfisher airlines, or let be the Kingfisher - AirDeccan joint venture. This time the UB group chairman has a added a new feather in his cap, holding a stake in Spyker Ferrari team. It would be rechristened as 'Force India', in the next race. I find the name weird, but it's not me who acquired Spyker Ferrari. He is keen on introducing F1 to Indian soil and has even quoted, F1 can be the next big thing that Indian youngsters could be looking besides cricket. Delhi - Greater Noida is contemplating over a F1 circuit. It should meet global standards for sure. But the magnanimity of the project and the expenditure that goes in developing and maintaining the track, is worth a wait for the public. Assuming that racing hasn't really picked up in India as yet, it really has to been what the bureaucrats are upto. They should be licking their lips as they have a great opportunity to fill in their already overflowing bank accounts or donate a resplendent diamond studded pendant to their promiscuous partner.
And if I am talking about F1 or motoGP, credit goes to my colleague who fed me with the F1 and motoGP stuff, race after race for few weeks. He explained the rules, the strategies and ofcourse I paid interest in understanding the sport and learned most of it through the commentary. I felt it ridiculously boring at times, ( F1 still is, but motoGP is more interesting because you get to see more overtakes there) but I am here talking about the same sport. Things which you may not like first up, will eventually be liked by you over due course of time. Give some time for the dust to settle down before you make yourself a clown.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Computers or Doomputers?
Yeah, I understand the title was not really an ass-kicking one. But I feel it can still convey the point that I am trying to say now. So you installed both Linux and Windows on your machine. Both are working fine and you only work on Windows all your life, even though you know, it only needs you, to go to the loo for it to come crashing . You still like patched up Windows because it is freaking user-friendly. And you logged into Linux after 4 months, after struggling to remember your password and finally succeeding with the correct password after 10 valiant attempts. You are working on open source -highly appreciated, safe and secure Linux. Everyone says Linux is pretty good and whatever you do, Linux is tied barbwire hard that nothing can get into it or leaked out of it. But if you are that sort of bloke where you delete a file, which you felt is not related to the kernel and try to reboot the system to work in Windows, and you see a Grub error, boy, you are in for some trouble.
It took one long day for our supporting staff to allot sometime only for me and keep the Windows up and running. Not at all a tough job to repair Windows, but our staff, you know. Yeah, I am compassionate to my colleagues even though I was freaking irritated with their delay in attending the complaint. Don't you have those sort of blokes around you? I bet you do. Government emulated corporate mantra says, you live and let others live. I am not a super IT geek who co-authors in Computers Today. Just a normal user like any other, facing the brunt of computer emitted rays into my eyes, at times seeing imaginary dark spots when I turn my head from the monitor and look into the white light.
I had problem with Linux this time and yet I am taking a dig on Windows. How fair is that?
Problems often encountered with Windows users:
1. You are a first time user and, you don't know that your drive can be split into two separate ones. You put all your stuff in one drive, the 'C' drive. System crashes, you crash.
2.Okay, you can relatively navigate through Windows, better than the first time user. But never really felt the use of using an other drive. You have your videos, pics, movies, not to mention your 'those' videos in your normal drive, C drive, and you are negligent to transfer them to the other partition. System crashes when you were fiddling with your system folder and you really want to crash the monitor, but better sense prevailed.
3. You are neither a novice nor a half learned bloke. You are close to an expert. You did pretty well to segregate the stuff into your partitions. And you do it very regularly. But you suddenly uploaded important stuff and it is sitting neat on your desktop. You forget that and start working with your coding, downloading, hacking etc. You don't know. You see a blue screen saying, Kernel inpage error because - it did not rain when you wished. Bosh !
In addition to the aforementioned instances, staring the monitor all the time continuously would trouble your eyes. Experts say, for every 20 minutes one has to take their eyes off the monitor and look somewhere for half a minute. How about staring a buxom girl? You surf the internet for everything, and you are not maintaining your, otherwise, then and then contacts with your friends. Your relationships are spoiled. You are into work all the time and the result is the same as before. Spinal cord problems and back spams are not too far away. You eat voraciously and slouch on your comfortable chair, thinking, this is the job I wanted, only to know few years later, that you should have had a constant blood circulation to your limbs and muscles. You preserve all your data in the computer and you would think of a back up only when your data is lost. Are computers really there to help us or to hurt us?
I still say I am innocent and I din't know what I deleted in Linux that caused the Grub error.
It took one long day for our supporting staff to allot sometime only for me and keep the Windows up and running. Not at all a tough job to repair Windows, but our staff, you know. Yeah, I am compassionate to my colleagues even though I was freaking irritated with their delay in attending the complaint. Don't you have those sort of blokes around you? I bet you do. Government emulated corporate mantra says, you live and let others live. I am not a super IT geek who co-authors in Computers Today. Just a normal user like any other, facing the brunt of computer emitted rays into my eyes, at times seeing imaginary dark spots when I turn my head from the monitor and look into the white light.
I had problem with Linux this time and yet I am taking a dig on Windows. How fair is that?
Problems often encountered with Windows users:
1. You are a first time user and, you don't know that your drive can be split into two separate ones. You put all your stuff in one drive, the 'C' drive. System crashes, you crash.
2.Okay, you can relatively navigate through Windows, better than the first time user. But never really felt the use of using an other drive. You have your videos, pics, movies, not to mention your 'those' videos in your normal drive, C drive, and you are negligent to transfer them to the other partition. System crashes when you were fiddling with your system folder and you really want to crash the monitor, but better sense prevailed.
3. You are neither a novice nor a half learned bloke. You are close to an expert. You did pretty well to segregate the stuff into your partitions. And you do it very regularly. But you suddenly uploaded important stuff and it is sitting neat on your desktop. You forget that and start working with your coding, downloading, hacking etc. You don't know. You see a blue screen saying, Kernel inpage error because - it did not rain when you wished. Bosh !
In addition to the aforementioned instances, staring the monitor all the time continuously would trouble your eyes. Experts say, for every 20 minutes one has to take their eyes off the monitor and look somewhere for half a minute. How about staring a buxom girl? You surf the internet for everything, and you are not maintaining your, otherwise, then and then contacts with your friends. Your relationships are spoiled. You are into work all the time and the result is the same as before. Spinal cord problems and back spams are not too far away. You eat voraciously and slouch on your comfortable chair, thinking, this is the job I wanted, only to know few years later, that you should have had a constant blood circulation to your limbs and muscles. You preserve all your data in the computer and you would think of a back up only when your data is lost. Are computers really there to help us or to hurt us?
I still say I am innocent and I din't know what I deleted in Linux that caused the Grub error.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Is India a safe place to live ?
What made me to come up with a post that rummages through a series of ghastly incidents which have taken place over an year ? The two Breaking News flashes that CNN-IBN was covering yesterday when I switched the idiot box at 7 pm with an intention to relax but ended up getting petrified to my last toe nail. I am a man and I admit whenever I am afraid. There are blokes who get freaking scared when they are trying to change their shirt and a rat runs over their feet whistling and wagging it's tail. They jump all over the place and yet when you ask them, Were you scared, you would be subjected to a condescending look and a reply that says, 'Man, be a man'. You will become a jack ass for few minutes, if not for a lifetime, for such an idiotic question. To add to men getting scared, I was once flying from Hyderabad to Delhi through a airline that boasts of the tag, India's coolest airline, but landed after a 10 min roller coaster ride in mid air due to turbulence. That scared my daylights off and I told my co-passenger sitting next to me, Boy, it's a roller coaster ride and I am scared. He asked me, are you not into adventures? What the,beeping, adventure experience is going to save you if incase your flight comes crashing in less than a minute? I wished he had a rocket engine tied to his back and sent to space all alone with a leaking oxygen cylinder. The air-hostess instructions before take off - put your oxygen mask first, take out your life jacket and blow air if the aircraft lands in water - would all work well when your flight hasn't taken off. Lesson learnt:
If you are a man, don't ask a man whether he is scared because they are never going to admit that. Ask a woman, she might come closer to you and if lucky, you can even get a hug.
A bomb blast occured in a mosque in Ajmer killing a couple of people and injuring a few. It happened soon after Iftar - the day long fast that Muslims observe in the month of Ramzan.That was one to start with the latest. A suicide militant attack on a police reserve camp in Srinagar with no casualties reported as yet. There was a Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad, an other sensitive place and a soft target for hooligans, when people were offering their religious prayers, in September. A Jemma Masjid blast rocked the country capital New Delhi, last year. One can add never ending list of madly triggered blasts claiming innocent lives. Police say there is a pattern going in the blasts. Investgating sleuths say, anti-social activists attacked Hindu temples and shrines previously and of late they are targetting Muslim dominated areas so as to trigger communal riots in the country. News reporter muses, Is it not safer for us to venture out on festival occasions and celebrate as before? As if this is not enough, Delhi blue line buses, the Government run transport, run over couple of persons everyday as if it's their norm. The death toll has risen close to 100 over a ten month span under the Blue line wheels. I don't have any statistics of enormous road accidents and local crimes happening all over the country. The same gruesome incidents can be going around the world with varying levels of intensity. I was shaken up with yesterday's blasts and now I am composing myself to compose a post. Allaying my fears to rest slowly and looking forward to the weekend.
And Corruption ! Corruption is escalating to untouched heights. You name a Government sector and you find corruption is their embedded right. You had a clean slate before taking up a job and your slate is scribbled, twisted and intertwined with corruption and bribes after working with government bureaucrats. Now we know why Indians living abroad do think twice to come back and settle, after treasuring relatively peaceful life and enjoying better than best comforts in comparison to their homeland. They do get paid handsomely and eking their livelihood in a much quieter environment and there is nothing wrong with their thought process, why the heck do I have to go back to India and struggle? They are right. It takes a total shift in your life style to adjust with the rising population, enough stuffed pollutants in your nostrils, the weird and uncalled blowing of horns and screams and driving your bike or car in metros is like playing a game of Roadrash or Need for Speed, in your computer. I don't feel safe anymore.I cribbed last Friday, I am cribbing today. I don't want to make it a habit. Need to relax and chill quickly, so I can come fresh to work on Monday.
But if you have a thinking that says, I was born here, I have my family and roots here, I feel I am welcomed when I step on this soil, then nothing can deter you. I belong to this land - The land of Gods, the land of temples, the land of snake charmers and elephants, the land of superstitions, the land of CULTURE, the land of an burgeoning economy. You may take an Indian out of India, but you cannot take the Indian out of him. Come what may in the future. I am an Indian and I would like to be buried in this mud.
[Views and opinions expressed by the author are his own and are not presented to offend any section of the people]
If you are a man, don't ask a man whether he is scared because they are never going to admit that. Ask a woman, she might come closer to you and if lucky, you can even get a hug.
A bomb blast occured in a mosque in Ajmer killing a couple of people and injuring a few. It happened soon after Iftar - the day long fast that Muslims observe in the month of Ramzan.That was one to start with the latest. A suicide militant attack on a police reserve camp in Srinagar with no casualties reported as yet. There was a Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad, an other sensitive place and a soft target for hooligans, when people were offering their religious prayers, in September. A Jemma Masjid blast rocked the country capital New Delhi, last year. One can add never ending list of madly triggered blasts claiming innocent lives. Police say there is a pattern going in the blasts. Investgating sleuths say, anti-social activists attacked Hindu temples and shrines previously and of late they are targetting Muslim dominated areas so as to trigger communal riots in the country. News reporter muses, Is it not safer for us to venture out on festival occasions and celebrate as before? As if this is not enough, Delhi blue line buses, the Government run transport, run over couple of persons everyday as if it's their norm. The death toll has risen close to 100 over a ten month span under the Blue line wheels. I don't have any statistics of enormous road accidents and local crimes happening all over the country. The same gruesome incidents can be going around the world with varying levels of intensity. I was shaken up with yesterday's blasts and now I am composing myself to compose a post. Allaying my fears to rest slowly and looking forward to the weekend.
And Corruption ! Corruption is escalating to untouched heights. You name a Government sector and you find corruption is their embedded right. You had a clean slate before taking up a job and your slate is scribbled, twisted and intertwined with corruption and bribes after working with government bureaucrats. Now we know why Indians living abroad do think twice to come back and settle, after treasuring relatively peaceful life and enjoying better than best comforts in comparison to their homeland. They do get paid handsomely and eking their livelihood in a much quieter environment and there is nothing wrong with their thought process, why the heck do I have to go back to India and struggle? They are right. It takes a total shift in your life style to adjust with the rising population, enough stuffed pollutants in your nostrils, the weird and uncalled blowing of horns and screams and driving your bike or car in metros is like playing a game of Roadrash or Need for Speed, in your computer. I don't feel safe anymore.I cribbed last Friday, I am cribbing today. I don't want to make it a habit. Need to relax and chill quickly, so I can come fresh to work on Monday.
But if you have a thinking that says, I was born here, I have my family and roots here, I feel I am welcomed when I step on this soil, then nothing can deter you. I belong to this land - The land of Gods, the land of temples, the land of snake charmers and elephants, the land of superstitions, the land of CULTURE, the land of an burgeoning economy. You may take an Indian out of India, but you cannot take the Indian out of him. Come what may in the future. I am an Indian and I would like to be buried in this mud.
[Views and opinions expressed by the author are his own and are not presented to offend any section of the people]
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Characters in a team
It was all tailor made hectic Monday yesterday. It's a monday morning and oh no, he should be quite busy is the artificially created character that takes rounds in the corporate world. I agree that they are genuinely working persons scattered in the world, who would be having a really pain in the, beep, hectic monday. And talking about characters, I was going through this round table discussion in Cricinfo, which talks about how important is to have characters in a team. I do read Cricinfo blogs and they do write sensibly. Again, the word cricket gives you a feeling as if snakes and lizards are crawling on your skin, not for you chicks. It was a good article and every team needs characters. Sure, each one of us is an artistically etched typical character on our own, who would never try to change despite the shortcomings highlighted by your friends, but what me mean by character is, the whole team should be able to laugh with you and they should feel your absence if you aren't around. Sort of your, happy-go-lucky Aman ( played by Shah Rukh Khan) in the movie Kal ho Na ho, who has a solution to every problem of yours. We are not getting into movies now.
You are a team comprising of five different people with varying degrees of professional experience and everyone has a view point on how to handle a task and then there is a team leader who is the ring master. The team leader has got his own ring masters over him. An ideal team (of five) would be a team comprising of a pompous chatter box, a sarcastic yet point talking bloke, normally your funny chap, a calm - always on the mission sir - who sort of gives you a feeling while you enter the team that he is THE guy who is working on a 10 year old algorithm for the safe return of a space craft from Mars - geek, and then the poke in your face ever present nuisance bloke who is like a metal pin in your otherwise delicious chicken piece ( for non vegetarians) or a rare type of grass grown in the Savannahs found in your tasty sandwich ( for vegetarians), all with qualified expertise to get on with the job. And watching the ring master having pains and gains managing this rare collection of antiques in the team is the real fun. I said it would be an ideal case, so chances of that sort of team existing, is possible, but rare.
After the character description, (now I am wondering, if I too can etch characters a bit) the real character is the one who mingles well with the team. He is the one who understands the job quickly, efficiently and does it on time. Talks only when needed when it comes to the job and yet makes everyone comfortable in his team. A quick learner and a good listener. Should not hesitate to address a point to his higher officials. If you are doing that,you would automatically gain respect, though he would hardly be known his value in his company, because, don't expect your company to appreciate you genuinely saying, Good job dude. If you are chatter box that could assist you in becoming a decent character as well. Show real concern to your colleagues and listen to their cribbing. That sort of gives a solidity to him and to your stature as well. You are having a social gathering, and people should wait for your arrival, to take the proceedings from there on. And then, there is a real character, where before his entry people are having a good laugh and a banter, and after his arrival the group suddenly goes hush - hush and converses everything in a low voice for the first few minutes until they get comfortable with that bloke, only to have a whale of a time later.
You are a team comprising of five different people with varying degrees of professional experience and everyone has a view point on how to handle a task and then there is a team leader who is the ring master. The team leader has got his own ring masters over him. An ideal team (of five) would be a team comprising of a pompous chatter box, a sarcastic yet point talking bloke, normally your funny chap, a calm - always on the mission sir - who sort of gives you a feeling while you enter the team that he is THE guy who is working on a 10 year old algorithm for the safe return of a space craft from Mars - geek, and then the poke in your face ever present nuisance bloke who is like a metal pin in your otherwise delicious chicken piece ( for non vegetarians) or a rare type of grass grown in the Savannahs found in your tasty sandwich ( for vegetarians), all with qualified expertise to get on with the job. And watching the ring master having pains and gains managing this rare collection of antiques in the team is the real fun. I said it would be an ideal case, so chances of that sort of team existing, is possible, but rare.
After the character description, (now I am wondering, if I too can etch characters a bit) the real character is the one who mingles well with the team. He is the one who understands the job quickly, efficiently and does it on time. Talks only when needed when it comes to the job and yet makes everyone comfortable in his team. A quick learner and a good listener. Should not hesitate to address a point to his higher officials. If you are doing that,you would automatically gain respect, though he would hardly be known his value in his company, because, don't expect your company to appreciate you genuinely saying, Good job dude. If you are chatter box that could assist you in becoming a decent character as well. Show real concern to your colleagues and listen to their cribbing. That sort of gives a solidity to him and to your stature as well. You are having a social gathering, and people should wait for your arrival, to take the proceedings from there on. And then, there is a real character, where before his entry people are having a good laugh and a banter, and after his arrival the group suddenly goes hush - hush and converses everything in a low voice for the first few minutes until they get comfortable with that bloke, only to have a whale of a time later.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Split Friday
It's been a week since I last posted. No, it's not a gaffe and neither I have a protocol to post a blog every week. I can pretty well lie as well putting an innocent face. If you are a blogger and you haven't had any incidents or things to write, better don't write. A simple tip, but a very important one. But again, you have a chalk and an eraser in your hand and want to scribble on the board. Who is stopping? Not many people follow what they say. I probably want to consider myself in that category, but no dear. You lose your word, you lose your respect. Homosapiens do say one thing and do the other and at times they don't act to their conviction. Animals don't. That gives a chance to shout on, split personality? A bit later on that. I am thinking to convert this blog into my personal diary at this point of time, but no, no plans in the near future, not in the coming 3 or 4 light years. So you can still visit then and then. But most blogs do talk about their own life which sort of sucks if it's not having content or if it's not interesting. Quality not quantity, right? Wrong. If someone is writing couple of terrific lines in his post and expecting his readers to comment on that, not me mate. I do write like what, solid three paragraphs and I barely receive comments. Solid for me, can be liquid to the reader. Dig your brain, post your thoughts, no matter even if they are dirty, and there are readers who would admire your sincerity. Reading others blogs can also be an addiction, in addition to other online addictions like - chat, movies, poker, games, hacking etc, which I was discovering it of late and if you don't find a post there, you long for it, provided you have ample time to hang on the net.
Sensitive yet interesting point, is split personality which most of us are and would scream outright from the bottom of our lungs to disagree. I haven't done a research on split personality, to comment on it, but to what I guess from the title and observed from the movie Anniyan (where the hero has multiple disorder personality, or something close to that, which is a much advanced version to what I am trying to talk now) I thought I would throw some light, candle and a kerosene lamp on to the subject. Women who do not like the subject and find the topic eeek...ridiculously scary, may stop reading right here. Men who feel what the heck is this fellow trying to say and pondering to quit reading and yet, simultaneously thinking, Oh do I come under split personality category, are called as Women from now on. This is a cheap trick to compel you to continue reading.
Split personality is a personality that has a split, if you go by the name. No attempted joke this time. Often, you can figure out the meaning of a complicated discombobulated (more than once, I am trying to put my diminishing GRE vocab in my posts) word from the name itself. You behave in one way - the soft, cultured, naive, honest, obsequious bloke in the office and at the social gatherings. And you are a brash, demanding, rustic, equivocal, domineering person with your comfortable folk around? You don't have to satisfy all the criterion to come under the subject category. If you exhibited any one of the antonym characters at some time, to those you initially portrayed that termed you as a good person, Rock says, you have a problem and calls it a split personality. Dint you yell initially that no I don't have one ? Oh yeah, you call it, ethics of normal life, to behave in a cultured and dignified way. Okay. So then, why can't you be the same way with the closely associated people around you? No, it is not possible because we have to behave the right way at the right place or else you would be put in a mental asylum. Agreed. So you agree that your personality varies from people to people? That means it's split and hence a new definition of split personality has risen this Friday evening, when infact most of the younger folk would be drenching in alcohol and clubbing today and I am here blogging and redefining my own terms. Very few people can carry the same way inside and outside. They do have an identity for doing so, but that may have been tagged with a heavy price. All meek people do curb their natural instincts and act accordingly to the situation. As long as your contrast in personality doesn't vary in striking proportions you will be given a chance to live and move freely with the people. And if once your monkey mind takes total control over you and your actions, you've only got yourself to blame.
Sensitive yet interesting point, is split personality which most of us are and would scream outright from the bottom of our lungs to disagree. I haven't done a research on split personality, to comment on it, but to what I guess from the title and observed from the movie Anniyan (where the hero has multiple disorder personality, or something close to that, which is a much advanced version to what I am trying to talk now) I thought I would throw some light, candle and a kerosene lamp on to the subject. Women who do not like the subject and find the topic eeek...ridiculously scary, may stop reading right here. Men who feel what the heck is this fellow trying to say and pondering to quit reading and yet, simultaneously thinking, Oh do I come under split personality category, are called as Women from now on. This is a cheap trick to compel you to continue reading.
Split personality is a personality that has a split, if you go by the name. No attempted joke this time. Often, you can figure out the meaning of a complicated discombobulated (more than once, I am trying to put my diminishing GRE vocab in my posts) word from the name itself. You behave in one way - the soft, cultured, naive, honest, obsequious bloke in the office and at the social gatherings. And you are a brash, demanding, rustic, equivocal, domineering person with your comfortable folk around? You don't have to satisfy all the criterion to come under the subject category. If you exhibited any one of the antonym characters at some time, to those you initially portrayed that termed you as a good person, Rock says, you have a problem and calls it a split personality. Dint you yell initially that no I don't have one ? Oh yeah, you call it, ethics of normal life, to behave in a cultured and dignified way. Okay. So then, why can't you be the same way with the closely associated people around you? No, it is not possible because we have to behave the right way at the right place or else you would be put in a mental asylum. Agreed. So you agree that your personality varies from people to people? That means it's split and hence a new definition of split personality has risen this Friday evening, when infact most of the younger folk would be drenching in alcohol and clubbing today and I am here blogging and redefining my own terms. Very few people can carry the same way inside and outside. They do have an identity for doing so, but that may have been tagged with a heavy price. All meek people do curb their natural instincts and act accordingly to the situation. As long as your contrast in personality doesn't vary in striking proportions you will be given a chance to live and move freely with the people. And if once your monkey mind takes total control over you and your actions, you've only got yourself to blame.
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