Friday, December 31, 2004

24th New Year !

Happy New Year 2005 :)

Lets welcome the new year with a lot of smiles
And make use of the opportunities to create your own styles
Nurture new relationships that will take you miles
In this fast-paced world, may love be the glistening tiles

Often have you wondered how much more you wanted to do
So make sure any bit of time, in waste you dont shoo
Time is always on the move, and so are you
But make your actions carry passion all the way through!

Life is but a stage and we are born actors, out of the blue
Life is but a cage and we are wandering about like animals in a zoo
Life is but a school of thought and experience teaches us lessons
Life is but a temple and living it equals prayers, moulding us into better persons.

Let this New Year bring happiness and flourish
With many a lovely memory for you to eternally cherish
So live life as it comes living it to the fullest, and let me finish
By wishing you a Very Happy New Year - lets start by being bullish!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Career woes

Sometimes you feel you are just doing ordinary work, when you are capable of doing extra ordinary things. When this conflict arises, a lot of things which seem to be minor are exaggerated in one's mind and leads to restlessness. It makes people think that what they do is not really worth it. But what they feel they might be doing otherwise is a question to ponder about. A lot of people are very precise in their decision making abilities and know what they want in life. $$$. If the other guy gives a $100 extra, just forget it and jump jobs. Having been brought up in India, where humility and loyalty are not inculcated but inbibed, I find it tough to go with this trend. In a place where loyalty has no place in the dictionary and everything goes by the needs of the business hour, it is tough for a "traditional" guy like me. Although I know I have the "stuff" that gives you value, and I can "brag" about it to anyone who might care to listen, I am used to getting accolades by the platter, I never had to ask for one. Incidentally, you are never paid for what you are worth, but for what you are "willing" to be paid. In my case, sadly I was "willing" to be paid low being forced by the low-key economy at that time. And ofcourse, bosses are not bosses for nothing, they try to get the "stuff" from you without giving in much on their side.

This conflict in the mind gives rise to the scenario that you must rebel, not only against your bosses, but against the society you are brought up in (with its set of values like loyalty), in order to get your worth, OR do you stay and try to turn the tables upside down, try to get the corporates to change their stance and make them value people, not just their "stuff". Ofcourse, the former is by far the easier and more practical, and a lot of people opt for that. There is this unquestionable argument that if you have the "stuff", you can grow in any organization, regardless of the size and your current stature. But, if you believe in the first place that you are capable of doing extra-ordinary things, why cant you start right now? Starting small helps in this regard!

I would say it is the fear that your "prime" might be well past before you can achieve what you set out to achieve. The question is, in essence, do you want to get more money or do you want to make life better? It might seem redundant, but I feel that the money-life relationship is linear, but life-money is exponential. Ofcourse, for the corporates, it aint easy as well. While they might still whine about their individual salaries, when it comes to employee benefits, they always see it as a "cost". I was perplexed when I found one simple truth. What we call "pazhamozhi" or "sayings" are actually derived from reality. One such saying goes "Even if you win a rat race, you are still a rat". Could really feel the impact in the last meeting I had with my boss, when I heard the phrase "you programmers are crap....", should I mention the rest?. Although I was amused thinking of what would happen if none of "us programmers" turned up for work just one day... I understood technology and innovation comes with a price tag....branding...of the creators!

To come back into the dilemma I am facing, I can see a lot of people (Well, those who care to read through this) say "you should ask yourself what you need in life". Just think about it, its always about not what you need, but its what you get, which in turn is always not enough! On the other hand, your company has to think about what you need! That change is what I am striving for, and I guess at this point of time, it appears totally ridiculous and crazy to everyone. I might falter and get frustrated to join another company (when I am past my breaking point), in which case I might succeed as an individual but fail in my quest, or I might stick around and even manage to change the way the corporates think (supposing it is possible), but fail miserably in my personal life. So this is the risk!

I always tell people that "You always have temptations. Its a personal choice whether you want to take it or not". Lemme conclude by saying that the choice I made 6 months back is under review...

Random Access
The search has just begun !!! (to focus and redefine....)

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Dreams...

Well, a lovely poem on makki's site http://watdoiright.blogspot.com/2004/12/dreams-i-like-to-dream.html got me thinkin on this one....

Dreams...

Dreams are for people to believe
Are a way in which they can relieve
The pressures of everyday life, and to leave
Every night thinking of what they could achieve.

Discoveries and Innovations, come not from working hard
Nor can you aspire to become a painter, artist or a bard
It is from the darkness of the night that ideas bombard
After which creativity shapes them and reaps the reward.

Dreams are something commonly understood as metaphysical
But to those who live it, its a beautiful rendering of a musical
Most of it seems so natural that people often construe it as practical
After all, its a cruel joke played by the brain for sadistic pleasure, in optical.

To those who are in doubt and diabolical
It is a way to recuperate, biological
To those seeking hope, its symbolical
Of the power of the unknown, albeit illogical.

Dreams are for you to think big and build careers
But more importantly, its a way to meet your inate fears
More often than not, its full of happiness and cheers
And even to the most hard-hearted soul, it adheres.

But alas, everything has a flip-side, and so does a dream
It doesnt visit the past and the future aint as lovely as it may seem
The brain is made to overwork to project wishful thoughts and beam
And almost every dream is too few and far-fetched to redeem.

All it does is last a night
With no immediate solution in sight
You dont really need it by right
If you hold onto yourselves, tight.

Dont let dreams amplify your plight
Dont let dreams take you on a fantasy flight
Dont let dreams fool you into thinking you are elite
Dont let dreams misguide you into taking things light.

However, dreams have lived on for ages, everyone knowing it, despite
Keeps haunting you in your sleep, day in and day out, without respite
As irony would have it, when it is at its height, its equivalent to a blight
But surely, whatever said and done, dreams are a delight :)

Random Access
The search has just begun !!! (to begin my dreams...)

Monday, December 20, 2004

Bangalore Bonanza

(Dedicated to mahesh balaji aka makki who gave me a whirlwind tour of blore)

Long long ago, not so long ago and its even bad to mention how long ago, I was on the verge of entering the Silicon valley of India. I had great expectations as I was on a vanity fair, and the usually irrational PI was also helpful in getting me a hamlet to stay. As the saying goes, all roads lead to Forum, and thats where most of the blore gals (and obv the guys) were hanging out. But pride and prejudice allowed me to instantly and consistently take an aversion (maybe cos I had pizzas for lunch thrice, dinner once and roamed about with 5 different groups of friends there in 4 days). Thank God I spent some time with my aal so that I dont show my tempest.

Whatever the shakespherean language that I try to inculcate, thanks to my journalist friend, still havent been able to figure out the intricacies of the blore people. MG Road and Brigade road are so famous that I was waiting so badly to get to have a glimpse of it.. But MG Road turned out to be Main Gaali Road. But surely being caught in the rain near Trinity church is a bad idea and with makki assuring me every half an hour that he will come soon, it made me wonder if I need Sherlock Holmes to decipher. I am too sleepy to talk about the escapades, but I will surely be back with more...once I am done with a satisfactory snore.

Random Access
The search has just begun !!! (from slog to clog to blog to dead log...)

Humble lesson in management!

For starters, its a BIG BAAAAAAAAAAD world out there! Juz bak home from a gruelling 87 hr work-day. Yeah, been there at office for the last 4 days. Everyone has this fantasy of staying back all weekend at work and doing work. Its a fantasy cos nobody gets to do it. All nice things have their end...but this was a "dead end". After getting a big dose of "encouragement" from my boss on friday, I got so frustrated that I just wanted to finish my work and prove that I can do it. "it" is often used by IT people to mean something which is supposed to be really big, but is often quite simple. But in this case, it was something I had never thot i would end up doing! I realised halfway during the "day" that I am actually doing other people work and that people I was supposed to manage were so good that I couldnt talk a word. I vowed tht I would hear no more from him and that I will do my best and finish off the work before I go home. And the result....

I dint expect praise, I dint expect consideration, but i never did expect the outcome of this episode! - a good half an hour lecture on time management and how I had made my staff come to work on weekends for a coupla hrs and how it reduces employee productivity (dude, im there for...dammit!)

I told him I wont be coming to office tomm cos I am feeling sick. Then shud have seen the look on his face...."oh my god, MY project will get delayed". Well, I told him that I would love to come tomm, but what to do, I am too tired to even raise a finger!