Software Industry Through my Binoculars!

During my college days,I used to see IT field as a ticket to quick money as there were of numerous tales of people going onsite and earning in euros and pounds.When I actually joined IT,I came to know that the truth was far from reality. It is such a kind of industry where you can need "DIVINE PROVIDENCE" in order to strike gold.Here are the 3 pros and cons of IT industry.

Pros:

1)Air conditioned offices with coffee vending machines, high speed internet connection, some worldly "beauties" to stare at and flexi timings!

"When you feel like working,the whole office environment conspires against you to make you sleepy"

What else do you need after an engineering degree?? :D

2)Travel around the world(if your lucky) and interact with people around the globe.Only a service industry can give that amount of exposure.

3)You master the art of "Googling". :)

Cons:

1)You are just another brick in the wall.Almost every btech guy you meet turns out to be a s/w engineer.

2)No use of brains in most the projects(support/maintainance types),though common sense is an absolute must!

3)If you stick to the same company for long even your colleagues will doubt your calibre and you would see your package increasing in Arithmetic progression where the common difference is in fraction!

Inspite of all the all the odds,I feel an IT job is a very good option for the tech freaks.Its better to fix null pointer exceptions sipping cappuccino than sweat it out in some odd field job!!!

I would definitely like to join back IT firms in some business consulting role post my MBA.

Registered in Technorati

I registered today in Technorati.com,the most popular blog search engine.Last few steps to get my blog listed :)

PickPocketed....once again!!!!!

After the gruelling B-school season,I've turned a lazy pig.I gormandize,sleep,watch movies,sip capachinno at office and look back at life in retrospection like a philosopher.

Like any other typical day,I left my office sharp at 6.30 p.m,ogled at some techie beauties outside for some time to give respite to my tired eyes and then grooving to the music on my cell,I boarded the "The Red Beauty"(pun intended :)) a.k.a Best Bus of mumbai.

It was as packed as a bee-hive.I sometimes wonder how do ladies and old people manage in such over crowded buses when people like in their mid 20's find it so stifling.Kicking off everyone on my way,I managed a seat and that give a sense of achievement coz. I am used to getting kicked on my back.I peeked outside the bus window,then suddenly the song on my playlist changed...
"I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known Don't know where it goes But it's home to me and I walk alone"
This song always makes me feel how lonely I am in a place everyone's is trying their best to save their own as@%# .My mood sinks in and I think missing my home place and good old school and college days.
Then suddenly the song changed and it was "Ajab pyaar ki gazab kahani"....."Kaise bataye kyu tujh ko chahe yaara batana paye baatein dilo ki dekho zubaan ki aankhen tujhe samjhaye Tu Jaane Na Tu Jaane Na
Then I started thinking "kashi meri bhi ek GF hoti..............".Suddenly the driver gave a sudden break and I bumped against a lady sitting infront of me.Gosh!She gave me such a dreaded look that I felt she would file an FIR against me for harassment.I quickly took stock of the situation and said "Sorry Mam".

I then got close to the front door of the bus to get down at the next stop.Suddenly avril started humming in my ears " Chill out what you yelling' for? Lay back it's all been done before"
I told to myself.."Chill out..itna tension lekar kya milega"

I casually got down from the bus.Just when I got down,suddenly the music stopped.when I looked back at the pocket,there was nothing.Once again my mobile had been pick pocketed.

I asked one of the persons standing on the bus stop to call up but I couldn't trace it back.

A few stats:
Out of my 4 roomies,almost all have been pick pocketed 2 mobiles on an average
In my office,almost all have atleast once lost(pick pocketed) their mobile in buses/trains.

Today I got a brand new cell..guess what..its Nokia 1202..for just 1100 bucks.I've vowed to never again buy a costly set until I am using public transport.

B-School Mania!!!!!!

After working in a non-rewarding IT profile for 1 year,I planned to venture into the rat race for a seat in a coveted b-school.
I spent almost half a lakh rupees for preparation and buying the forms.Slogged my a@# for 1 complete year and at the end of 1 year had eggs to hatch,all credit to the 3lakh strong "frustu" indian candidates.Luckily,I managed 3 calls XIMB,SP Jain and IIM Shillong by virtue of some academic/extracurricular stuff.

Before call:

1)Open pagalguy.com everyday in office
2)Open timesofindia.com,beta.hindu.com,livemint.com,nytimes.com in office.
3)Come back to home,slog like a donkey.
4)On weekends,waste your time on "stupid"coaching classes because you have paid for it.
5)After may,write aimcats every week and get screwed every time,no matter how much you prepare.

After Call:

Shit!!!Now,I realize,MBA is completely a different stuff,not just about QA,DI and VA.
Why MBA?Why IM?Why not MS?What are your long terms goals? such deadly questions start haunting you after you get a call for any b-school.You start showing deep interest in Indian Socio,economical,political,legal and technological issues.

The call ratio will leave you completely dumb!!!

SP Jain:10:1 ratio...for 40 seats in Information Management,400 calls.
XIMB:180 seats...900+calls....ratio much better...........
IIM Shillong:20:1 ratio...60 seats..1100+calls(seats supposed to double this year....)

Lady luck helped me crack XIMB but SHE wasn't very generous with me today.
Today,I got kicked off from SP Jain group interview........no clue why???????

With 1 year of efforts,I have just one egg to sit on and hatch and that's XIMB.

Really never thought of in cl-12 while giving AIEEE exams that engg degree is good for nothing!!!!!

But feeling really happy........I won't have to give these "stupid indian entrance exams" any more in future!!!!!!!!

Social Investment

Recently I came across the concept of "social investment".If you think,it's something to do with charity,then your absolutely wrong.It's a novel concept of offering micro credit to those who need small amount of money to start up a business or any other means of livelihood,mostly in rural areas.

Charity as a concept is not sustainable in a vast country like India where almost 42% of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.We need some sustainable solution through which the poor people can be offered financial help.This is where the concept of social investment crops in.

One of such non profit organization that allow Indians to help their fellow Indians is rangde.Visit
http://www.rangde.org.
Under this concept,you are supposed to invest in multiple of hundred rupees(you can also prefer to invest hundred rupees).You get to see the profile of the rural entrepreneurs who need money and you can choose to select any one you wish to help.This money is then sent to the borrower through an NGO which partners with rangde.
Now comes the interesting part,unlike charity,you will get your money back and that too with interest.This money will be repaid by the borrower in a period of 1-2 years(even earlier than this).You can choose to invest your interest that you earn or put forth more money.It's more like the investment that you make elsewhere but the only difference is that you are helping fellow poor Indians and you also get a small amount of interest on the money that you invest.

I really liked the business model that these people have followed.You can read the details of their business model on wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rang_De

The metamorphosis of Samosa to "Samosa paw"

In Rourkela,the missionary schools flaunt their majestic buildings amidst graveyards.My school (boys school) is entouraged by two girls school.There used to be a graveyard infront of my school and the crowd puller to the graveyard was the "Samosa wala stall".It served some of the best "Samosas with chutney" that my taste buds have ever tasted.We used to hang out in the graveyard,sit on top of one of the coffins,enjoy the samosa and the beauties of the neighborhood girl schools added some extra spice to the chutney!!!Such was the craze of the samosas that people from far off schools also used to visit the stall.It was like the mecca for all school going teenagers.The strategic location(read the girl schools and graveyard) of the stall fetched great business for the stall owner.Not to mention,the taste of samosas shot off exponentially when it used to rain.
After spending 4 years of engineering in momos,half fry and parantha with butter,I am currently in a place where bread seems to be the staple diet!!!I get the same samosa now at thrice the price at which I used to get in school(can't blame inflation for that as it hasn't shooted 3 times....).I get the same samosa in a battered state engraved in two sides of a "paw".(compare with a dead boy covered up in a coffin....poor little samosa!!!)They call it samosa paw.The nomenclature is very simple.If you replace samosa with vada(huh...we call it aluchop in orissa.....in hamirpur we used to call it alu bonda...),it gets chritened to "vada paw".Replace vada by jalebi in a paw,you get "jalebi paw".Replace jalebi with pakodis,you get "bhajji paw".

Now I realise aptness of the punchline of SAIL..."Resources are limited but creativity is unlimited".

These samosa paws are no match for my samosa chutney of st pauls.Amidst all those noisy honking,pollution and pests resembling population of the biggest metro,the taste is hard to decipher!!!

Miss those peaceful graveyards...those lovely school days..those unrivalled "Samosas"......

My maiden trip to Essel World....

This year my employer hosted it's annual "Family Day" event@essel world.It was a sort of outing/picnic to chill out from the daily drudgery.Initially I had decided to chuck it but then with friends insisting,I also decided to venture.

It was really a thrilling experience.I have been always acrophobic and always avoided the adult rides.But @Essel world when i saw little school kids venturing into all kinds of ride,I could garner guts and decided to try it.

I first tried rollercoaster and "thunder"(a ride where you are made to swing to and fro at an angle of 180 degree).Man..my first ride was a bit scary but then I just loved the feel of it.In school,I had solved numerous problems on freely falling objects from a height.This time it was me who was made to fall freely from a a high altitude.Many of my friends vomited during the ride. :)

There was another ride wherein you are made to sit in a rolling wheel.Two persons inside a wheel and then the wheel keeps on rolling at a high speed.You feel nauseating for initial few seconds and then you start enjoying the thrill.But one thing,you blood pressure gets so high then it's almost impossible for you to speak out anything during the ride.

Next I tried a ride called "enterprise" wherein you are to sit on specially designed aircraft type vehicles.There would be many such vehicles tied in a circular fashion and then the circle starts moving at an extremely high speed.Then the circle starts moving up at an angle of 90 degrees.This part was the most exciting part!

I tried 5-6 adult rides but the showstopper was the "Thunder".Seeing the school kids,I couldn't control myself from enjoying rose flavored "ice gola".I almost had it after 5-6 years.So,it tasted great!

I also tried my hands at bowling.Although I didn't rock at it but faired pretty well.Scored 9/10 a couple of times.Not at all bad for a first timer!!!

Essel world was full of kids.They were like pests.They were everywhere.It was for them that we had to wait in long queues for each ride.

It was really a "fantabulous" experience for me.The rollercoaster rides,the rose flavoured ice golas,those fearless school kids et al.Nice way to spend your weekend!!!

Elusive Participles!!!

Despite attending some of the finest ICSE schools,I've never been good at the English language.We all are aware of the well known apothegm "A little knowledge is dangerous".I've been through many embarrassing situations because of the lack of mastery on the language.

In school,we had a beautiful lady named "Natasha" who used to teach us English.She was just out of college and had that "girlish charm" that usually can be seen only among teens.It was a grammar class and she was teaching us tenses.I was a "nut" in my school days and even now many of my friends think of me in that way.I always used to confuse between the different participles of lie and lay.As she said in her usual "as sweet as honey" tone, "Children, lie has got 3 forms: present,past and past participle.They are lie,lay,lain".Unfortunately,God has bestowed on me an extremely "curious" mind which makes me immensely restless.I raised my hand and asked,"Miss,what are the various forms of lay?"She retorted back,"it's lay,laid and laid".Not very pleased with my reply,she asked me to frame some sentences using the the various forms of lay.I stormed my brain and came up with the following answers:
*I lay on the bed.
*I got laid yesterday night.

After replying,I gave miss a " dirty smile" which i normally do when I confidently answer something.Listening to my answer,she got furious.Her "creamy" faced turned "RED".I was in 9th standard and she was some 7 odd years older than me.She frowned,"Idiot,are you aware what crap you are speaking".I was dumb-founded and had no clue where I had gone wrong.She rushed to me and BANG................I received the SLAP of my life!I could feel the marks left by her soft fingers.She was blushing........I still had no clue.She then left the classroom.Henceforth,I was made to stand on the last bench in all her classes.

It was only when I joined engineering college and started watching movies like "American Pie,Euro trip,road trip et al" that I understood I was a real moron to say to a young lady...."Miss.I got laid yesterday night".That was really embarrassing!!!

PS:Though the backdrop of the post is true,the characters and situation are fictional.

Unsolicited "Advertising"

During good old school and college days,I was fascinated by "credit cards".It was like a status symbol to me and I used to look people with awe who had it.As I started earning,I got introduced to the Beelzebub world of "unsolicited advertising".

During my 1st month of job,I got numerous calls from different banks pursuing me to use their credit cards.The voice on the phone used to be so sweet that it was really difficult to resist yourself from applying for one.When I used to battle with "Null Pointer Exceptions"....the girl on the phone would irritate with something like this "Hello sir...mein XYZ ki taraf se neha bol rahi thi....congratulations aap hamari Super value dinning card ke liye chune gaye hain"......,"kya mein jaan sakti hoon ki apki umar aur salary kya hai"(as if planning 2 marry me :D)......et al.
With my first salary of my life,I had applied for some 5-6 credit cards.With my salary proving incompetent to compete with the frequency with which I sweeped my card,I had to set all my credit cards on fire.Now,I just have one and I am happy with it.

The Insurance agents are gifted with a lot of foresight and their phone calls come at such timing which would force you to assume that behind all your bad luck,it was the conspiracy of the insurance agent.Recently When I was sitting in my office with a heavy heart after having broken my LCD of my cell,an insurance agent called up and said....."good morning sir...mein..ABC ki taraf se pinki bol rahi thi....hamari company aapko personal loan dena chahati hai...kya aap batayange aap ki salary kya hai..?".......I got so furious that I felt like banging my office phone but then I thought about my job and cooled down.............

These agents are like pests..."unwanted...unsolicited"..........but without them the big MNC's would flounder coz they are the ones who create customer base for their parent company.

A short travelogue!!!

I've travelled to all the metros in india but none fascinates me more than mumbai,the city of dreams...as they say!

Mumbai falls altogether in a different genre.People know mumbai for 3 things viz. Finance,Bollywood and Local Train.Since independence, India has morphed from a "land Of snake charmers" to a "Land Of BPO's and IT".If you wish to experience the complete metamorphosis process,you can step into any of the well known stations in mumbai,for e.g dadar.

If you want to experience the rural india,venture into the "luggage compartments".People literally travel with their homes and shops.You can easily find a fisherman carrying dried salted fish,fresh fish and imagine going to your first interview by travelling in such compartments.!Even an Adidas perfume can't render such a long lasting smell!

In other compartments,it's much more better.You can also find plastic beauties which hour-glass figures.You can find school children skimming through their notes which reminisces of your own school days.You can also find self proclaimed "fakirs" with long hair and hookas decorating their countenance.They seem like having taken their bath years ago.And yes...one thing interesting..You also find you young chaps questionably close to their ladies and defending them so that none can even exercise their "sense of touch" functionality.When it comes to the senior citizens,they just care a damn about the world.For them the world is encapsulated in the pages of newspaper.Sometimes you can find some foreigners looking at Indians with awe.

The variety that the journey and station offers can spice up your journey,provided you are willing to observer people around you closely and derive fun out of it.

New Year Wishes or Spam???

As per word web thesaurus "spam" is to "Send unsolicited bulk e-mails".On the eve of new year,

the new year mails qualifies to be touted as "spam mails" as it is "in bulk" and it's mostly "unsolicited"(except from a few of your close pals).

People celebrate the new year with such fan-fare as if they've hit any jackpot.They mindlessly wish "happy new year" and get the same in return.

The situation in office is pathetic.You become victim of chain mails wishing you "happy new year".I've turned so allergic to such mails that i simply use "shift+delete" to clean my mail box.Mails aren't sufficient for some who eat your head on chat messenger.

Just consider some figures.Supposing you know 30 people in office and 20 people outside your office.So,it's like 50 people whom you know.If all start wishing each other,there'll be 2450 wishes floating around(assuming if A wishes B,then B also wished A).2450 wishes in a span of 2 days!!!

I am not saying we shouldn't be wishing our near and dear ones.But too many wishes camouflages to spam!So use your wishes judiciously and responsibly.Remember spider man's golden words--

"WITH GREAT POWER...COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES".