Greeting cards---Things of yore??

It's really appalling to see greeting cards getting morphed into e-cards.It would be a cliche to
mention that emotions and feelings borne by greeting cards can never be substituted by e-cards.

During my school days,i used to compete with my friends in buying greeting cards.I used to ask for more pocket money from my dad and would buy the most fanciful cards available in the market.I would give the most fanciful greeting card to my school teacher whom i liked the most and the worst card to the one who slapped me for maximum no of times.The fondness to a teacher was a function of two variables,one was the number of punishments that you get(inverse
relationship)and the second was the leniency in giving marks in exams.(direct relationship).

Similarly my best friend would get the most eye-caching card and i would gift my foes some of the ugliest cards available in the market.Every year I would buy a special musical greeting card for my school principal.

As I grew up,joined engineering college,I never bothered about sending any cards to my friends(Who remembers school teachers???).Orkut scraps became the order of the day.4 years just zoomed away.Now,in job life,you just look at the by-gone era with awe.Really school days are the most innocent days of your life.College days are the most exciting years of your life.Job life encapsulates the most "facetious" years of your life.People call it "professionalism","diplomacy".I call it "bull sh**".Pretend more.Work less.

Though greeting cards costs you a few bucks(particularly those pretty archies stuff!),but shelling out a few bucks for your dearest pals is worth it!

Weekend Blues......

During good old college days,all the days of the week were like candles burning at the altar of the
church i.e they were all alike.There were no constraints of completing 8 (billable) hours in college.Any one can bunk any time and treat all the days as weekends.

When one gets out of this comfort zone,one really appreciates the importance of weekends.Friday is always different from other days of the weeks.The whole office looks colorful,
boys look like college brags,girls camouflage to "chicks".But the worst part is that all this becomes banal with time.When one leaves office on Friday,your colleagues wish you"Have a wonderful weekend ahead!".You wish them back the same with a half-suppressed grin.Then comes Monday!

People in official attires look like puppets in a showcase.Females though hail from a different planet.They can flaunt their levis jeans even on a Monday morning but their poor male counterparts have to dress like a scapegoat with a noose,which in professional parlance is called a tie.When you reach your cubicle,your colleagues ask you "So,how was your weekend?".I must say this is the most banal of all the platitudes that I've ever heard and will ever hear!Man..I've been giving the same answer to the same question for the last 18 months that I've worked.Sometimes when I don't have any genuine answers,I try to fake it.Some of the common answers are.."was hanging around with my gf.(..though i've none..)".

Fed up of the same phenomenon from the last 1.5 years,I get out of the office early on Friday and come late to office on Monday(thanks to flexi hrs scheme).After all there are better things to do in life than wishing such "unimaginative" wishes! :D

Corporate Meetings

The whole world is a myth and every assumption is superfluous.Hostel nightouts are supposedly considered to be a solid way to squander time and even i used think so when in college.My whole thinking process went for a toss when i started working.The meetings are just a way to "chillax" and serves little purpose.The minutes are religiously maintained but never re-visited after the meeting is over.Just look at people's faces attending the meeting,they'll look like so coporate honchos attending some board room meetings.But their mind will be as blank as an empty black box.
They sip coffee,jot down notes with much fanfare and suggest some preposterous ideas which they think would even make Edison die in shame.After suggesting an idea they would look around with a lot of hope for some acclamation but who the hell would utter even a single word of praise for really some "Out Of Box" ideas.
At least during college night outs,you speak a lot of crap but atleast 10% of it is useful stuff.The audience participating in such "freaky" talks are generally geeks.Even if they speak crap,you can get something good out of it.The scenario is completely the reverse in corporate life apart from a few "genuine" gems.
But It's not fair to completely lambast at all coporates,it's generally some "royal" few who spoil the broth.At times,it's good learning too.But overall,I strongly believe universities are better learning "temples" than corporations.No wonder,almost 90% of innovations come out of universities and not corporations.It's the universities that power corporations and not vice versa.

Process reLOADED

"PROCESS" is a ubiquitous term in any industry and it's an equally an obscure concept in most engineering colleges.It's a necessary evil(remember "friction" in physics:))Life was must easy and exciting during engineering days when you conceive an idea and start working on it with all vigour but you get sapped of all enthusiasm once you come out of the cradle(read:College).
Thanks to the "not so exciting" process.They say "Client is GOD".If this is the truth,then i proudly proclaim myself to be an atheist.
You get mechanical and life becomes automated.You become a dead programmed device who lacks innovation and originality.You become nothing more than a black box where a definite input yields a definite o/p.
The above two paragraphs captures the mindset that i had when i was a greenhorn in industry.Initially I used to curse these tall structures.But over the time,I've started appreciating it's merits.Processes are required everywhere,even in our daily lives.We need to be systematic in everything(and this explains why I am a big loser in my life).Any way it's never too late to mend.
Actually you can't curse it blatantly because without it,everything goes topsy-turvy.The deliverables have to conform to certain standards and have to be subjected to stern test cases.This is the thumb rule of any service industry.
So,the moral of the story is "STICK TO PROCESS" because these are the best practices that yield the maximum o/p with limited inputs.This is the ONLY differentiating factor between academic talent and professional talent.

Isn't GREEN Diwali Tangible?

Everyday, gallons of ink(figuratively) are wasted in printing articles in newspaper speaking about the concept of global warming and inkling us to go GREEN.I get numerous e-mails in my inbox propagating the concept of going GREEN.There is a lot of fuss around the concept but when its time to act,none of us bother to really act.
A stupendous example is the Diwali itself.It's 12.05 a.m now and people haven't yet stopped ventilating the joy present in their great humanitarian heart by bursting crackers.The noise created by the crackers is so horrible that I had to sit back and take stock of the situation.I had no other way out to express my disgust except in my blog and my tweets(http://twitter.com/pksnith). People eagerly wait for this day which gives them an opportunity to burn their hard earned money.If you deeply introspect,no one really benefits from celebrating diwali in such a wild way.Aren't diya/colourful lights sufficient to commemorate the victory of truth over evil?This attitude reflects a lacuna in our personalities.This is the way we all are groomed up.But now it's time to change.
A GREEN Diwali would be a great gesture to our planet and the international comity of nations that we are responsible inhabitants of earth and we won't malign the life existent on our planet.It's looks like a lot of gyaan but I've stopped bursting crackers from last two years.There is no point in prevaricating.The message is clear "GO GREEN".

Reality Check: http://www.diwalifestival.org/environmentally-safe-diwali.html

My plight in office...........

This is how rigorously I work for the complete year.Coding..coding..coding.....I've turned lunatic....have started questioning my abilities........have gained a lot of flab through out my body....as usual..I give in my evrything to what i do....BUT...............

This is what is my reaction when i see my appraisal ratings.........Get the shock of my life!!!

My life is like the value of indefinite integral with the uunknown constant term.The only way foward is to differentiate this integral and eliminate the constant.Though the extent to which I am optimistic is an oddity,I am trying hard to drive at the top gear......there i go......!!!!

House maid today...millionaire tomorrow......

Though the title might appear quirky but reading through this post,it'll give you some food for thought.In metros,there are as many vagabonds(read:bachelors) whose nature is to survive in filth and to clear the mess created by them,they hire the services of "The great Indian Biee" a.k.a house maids.Apart from these spoilt lot,there are numerous families (who can afford) consider having maids as indispensible necessity.
Let me give you some real life analytics.On an average a maid charges between 3000-5000 bugs for cleaning the house,cooking and washing clothes.This rate is according to current rate of inflation.She works for 1-2 hrs a day and earns 4000 bugs(assume the average).On an average,a maid has got some 7-8 clients(or even more) .So,she has to shell out around 7-1o hrs a day.After a rough calculation,you'll see that she earns more than 25k a month.To earn a million,she needs less than 40 mnths(3 yrs).Her expenditure is paltry.So,by the time she retires( :)),she would have made millions.And note there is a lot of job security for her because getting a maid is not very easy.So the market demand of a maid is astronomic.
Now,compare the plight of a s/w engineer.You have to work like a dog for 10-12 hrs,report for every billable hours,bow down to the whims of your client and seniors and above all..man you can be kicked out any time.....This after 4 yrs of uneventful struggle and fun in a place called "engineering college".Huh....stark figures......this can be attributed the "Great Indian population Explosion" wherein "producing children is a way of life".Competition..Competition....CUT THROAT COMPETITION.

Skyscrapers and Slums.

There are basically two types of relationship that exists between skyscrapers and slums.The first type is a symbiotic relationship where the existence of one is dependent on the other.The second type of relationship similar to the parasite-host.One survives at the cost of other.One of the burning example which bears testimony to my statement is our financial hub a.k.a the city of dreams.
There are two types of skyscrapers that you'll find in a metro.Majestic buildings which seems to mock at the face of the the sky and which scraps off the slum dwellers in and around itself.The second type rather has to allow slums in and around itself because of the construction work.
I shifted to a new apartment(shared accomodation..... :( ) which falls into the second category.When you enter inside the building,you'll find it's equipped with latest facilities as any other posh apartments in mumbai.But once you step out of the apartment you'll be appalled to find the stark differences between the two extremes.There will naked children scurrying across the street and using slangs that i had heard and diligently practiced only during my engineering days.You'll find human shit stinking the streets,i mean the highway.I even found one of the famous cricketer turned politician coming to this slum and canvassing for vote.I mean rags and royality goes hand and hand in this place.
Man....you get a lot of motivation to turn to a philosopher by looking at the plight of human beings,by looking at the fast paced metro life,cut throat competition and moral deprivation.Huh....