New Year Wishes

I am still up now! Last time, I was up this late was in BITS.. I think :-/
Anyway, a happy new year 2009! Lets hope this is the year of peace, change and action!

To celebrate the new year, I'll attempt telling a joke..

This incident happened early last year while I was traveling to Chennai via train. As we were approaching Chennai, so went the discussion of my co-passengers..

"Sir, how will you go home?"

"I am thinking if I can take the electric train to Thorapakkam."

"Good idea Sir. Today is Saturday, the Tidel park route should be less crowded"

"Oh No! IT people are a crazy group, they travel any day any time. They don't follow any rule. I will take an auto now!"

B, even with her practiced demeanour of not laughing at a stranger's joke couldn't stop laughing :D! Take a bow, the IT guys! The world thinks we are fools and crazy!

P.S: Now guys, I am not sure if he said Thorapakkam... could be some other place on the route of Tidel park ;). Now, with my notorious reputation of directions and places... this is something you shouldn't mind at all :)

B

Merry XMas and Happy New Year

Amidst this season of gloom and despair, its decidedly a sombre Christmas and New Year.

Nevertheless, lets hope the New Year 2009 brings in happiness and peace in our lives!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009!

B

Secularism!

Strange week indeed.. I started off the week by reading an article in 'The Hindu' about the Kashmir elections. One person from a town had subscribed to something called "Islamic law" for them where people follow the tenets of the Koran. To explain what it is all about, he goes on to say "Men have beards, Women wear the burqa"..

Yesterday, while I was walking out of the temple, we had some women approaching us and telling us to join some function - some foundation for establishing 'Ram Rajya' in India. I did not stand long enough to ask what that entails :-/, Did Lord Ram specify how to lead a country in times of the poverty, illiteracy, terrorism and computers?

I believe both ideas are trivializing the issue and closing your eyes to the reality. This is the land of each and every person irrespective of religion and
you cannot ask somebody of the other religion to just go. Where will anybody go? Jump into the Indian Ocean :-/. India's biggest hope and strength shall remain to be secularism and democracy.

I think its high time schools started teaching children the virtues of secularism and tolerance.That would, perhaps in the long term avoid such incorrect dogmas! But... unfortunately, the bigger issue in our education system is not what it is being taught.. but bringing in people to be taught. :(

B

The little forgotten heroes

I couldn't resist posting this article - Brave constables

It talks about the brave policemen who managed to do the "impossible", if I could say that..Its these people's contribution that we need to be talking more about.

With my maternal family based out of Bombay, we visited the city on an annual basis during my growing years. All through these years, I never knew there existed a "Taj mahal" hotel against the backdrop of the Gateway of India. But one place, I indeed do know about is the VT or the CST station.  We boarded long distance trains to Chennai from this very station or from the Dadar station. Like the city itself, I remember the place as crowded with scores of trains and passengers present all the time. I dread to think what would have happened if the man with the microphone who announces the arrival/departure of trains on a daily basis had not had the presense of mind to warn the other passengers present in the station to move out using the back gate. I believe this truly signifies the "Mumbai spirit" more than anything else - A common man with the presence of mind and the will to help out others. 

Its these men that we need to be proud of in life. In their life, with meagre means, they still end up thinking for the community. Wish more of us were like this..

B

Change coming to India?

I did not walk the rally to Gateway of India in Mumbai. I did not walk the rally in Cubbon Park in Bangalore. All I did was to light a small candle in my balcony. But something tells me, this time its different.. is change coming to India?

I don't know what will happen tomorrow. Will all go back to their own lives and fight their everyday battles..., maybe they will.. but I still think we will make a difference.

So, candles to a "changing" India! Lets usher in a new era..

Anguish

Its ironic that my last post talks about "Unsung heroes".. the last two days of Mumbai terror seem to be a grim reminder of my pledge to pray for them... I am devastated and there seems to be a feeling of helplessness and strangely.. I doubt I am the only one feeling so..

I can't fathom why a man would want to kill others so mercilessly and then kill himself. I can't fathom why the intelligence did not have any inkling of such an attack and was caught so unaware..initially, they did not even know how armed the terrorists were and lost their senior officers. I can't fathom why the leadership which thought "long term" on the nuclear deal did not think so for dealing with terrorism..and most importantly, I can't fathom why we Indians have are so clueless, helpless when we hear such stuff..

And I am tired of the news channels.. I am sure there are other good/bad things happening in the country - lets discuss them as well.. The media with its complete focus on the attacks seem to be doing more harm than any good.. its quite likely the terrorists will get information on the commando operation from these channels. Last night, I saw a panel in CNN-IBN telling how the police system is not prepared for such attacks and how the policemen were not wearing the bullet proof properly.. Oh yeah, they were going to do a cat walk and they should have properly called you for guidance on wearing it.. A bit of common sense in these so-called panels would have helped.. the least you can do in a situation is to support these people rather than find a reason to criticise! I guess I must be void of common sense too.. I watched this nonsense for sometime.. long enough to feel disgusted. And far worse, is the "calls" made by some "so-called" terrorists to India TV! Gimme a break... we are talking about lives here, not damn TRP's.

Last, I pray for the families of the men who died fighting for us, pray for the men who are injured and wish them a speedy recovery, pray for the numerous innocent people who have died or injured.. God.. bestow us all with strength..

B

Unsung Heroes

Today, I was watching the Hindi movie "Lakshya" on TV and suddenly I realised something and was moved to tears..

Death in the family is by far the most distressing and painful thing any person can go through..the pain is unimaginable and that feeling of helplessness when you know you can do nothing to alleviate the pain is very difficult to handle...

The movie talks about the soldiers of the country and how they give their lives to fight the enemy..These people too have families who love them a lot and how distressing it must be for them to lose their sons/husbands in the battle.. We often come across articles in the newspaper talking of some ambush and that 4 or 5 soldies have lost their life. It has become like a statistic.. we read and move on, not for a moment do we think that 5 families have lost their member... 

I think the least I can do is next time I read/hear something like this, I sit and pray for these people, their families, their battalion or task force asking God to bestow them with strength to deal with the loss..

B

Let go

I seriously need a crash course on how to give titles to my "posts". Off late, some of the titles I have given are way awful.. and I believe this one is too..! :(

Anyway, thanks to the new Tata connection at home, the movie I have managed to catch in bits and pieces( on Doordarshan no less!) in the last few days is "Guru", directed by Maniratnam. Its a nice movie with brilliant screenplay and music.. But it made me curious to go and read up a bit about the Dhirubhai Ambani and I found this beautiful quote of his,

"Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India." 

I believe this is a very meaningful sentence and something we should follow all our lives. I often "restrict" myself thinking of some existant or non-existant constraints.. what will people think if I do this etc? Who cares! How much do we care about what Mr.X or Ms.Y is doing? And why would they be any different, why will they think about what I am going to do.. Why should I stop myself from thinking big..

This reminds of an incident in my life. In the first six months of my job, we went on a Team Building workshop for 2 days at ICRISAT. The instructor was a doctor, a pyschiatrist.. if I remember right. The group of people were split into two groups and for one exercise, my group had to wait outside while the other group completed its task. While we were filing out, the Dr came to the door and called me.. And then he said... "Don't hold yourself.. you are good in what you are doing... Let go!". Immediately, I went on the defensive and said.. "No No.., I am not.. blah blah blah"! He heard me out, smiled and went back. Now, I think he was right.. I probably restrict myself a bit.. and its time to "Let go" and  not worry too much about the consequences.. I am not that dumb also :|

So, its time to let go, dream big and work harder on it ! :)

Incidentally, this has been a distressing week as such. Two people on whom I had invested quite a bit of my energy and effort quit.. at the same time! They insist its not intentional or planned for them to be going at the same time.. and I tend to believe it. Anyway, it means I have to chart a new beginning with new folks anytime soon.. Hopefully, I am more prepared this time round and I don't commit the same mistakes I did the last time ;)

Thats about it.. Again "Let go" is my new mantra! 

B

Fear - Is it this?

I heard this about a person I have met... Apparantly the woman is being stalked by a guy for close to 5 years. I don't know too many of the details, but the girl and her family have been unable to do much .. I don't know how true this story is or should I believe it at all in the first place... but what got me thinking is how ignorant I am as a person to deal with something like this.

I imagined myself to be in a similar situation and wondered how I should deal with it and drew well.. a blank :(. We make claims about going to the police or to a lawyer, but how much do we trust them and how does law deal with such situations. There is no tangible evidence available in this case, just a fear pyschosis ....

This led me to think that we know so little of the law of the country. A silly tamil movie "Tamizhan" talked about this and I found it laughable and silly :(. But the point it raised is quite true and relevant - we must know our Indian civil law at a basic level. How many of us know what needs to be done to deal with things like this? Whom should we approach and at what point?

I read a book by John Grisham - the Rainmaker. Here, a black couple lose their son because the insurance company refuses to pay up for the bone marrow treatment that the kid requires. In the course of the courtroom battle, we realise that the insurance company rejects claims over a certain amount all the time primarily because they are convinced the poor claimants(the black couple here) would never approach a lawyer. We are no better ... We don't know our rights, we don't know whom to approach and we certainly don't know how to deal with it.

I read somewhere that US is a developed country where the citizens run to the courtroom for everything.. We may be there in another 40 years time, but till then the current generation must and should learn about our rights and the law.. Any suggestions on how to do it is most welcome..

B

A good one

Sorry, about that rather vague title to this one.. but I really can't think of something nice and descriptive! Just goes to show that I am not in the blogging zone..

Anyway, I happened to catch a good show on TV today in NDTV Profit - Warren Buffet and Bill Gates answering questions posed by students in a graduate school (I presume some business school.. not sure, I started watching in between). I found the interaction brilliant - it was candid, funny and put across the human side of these individuals. I must admit this is the first time I have heard/seen them speak..

I liked the way they took on simple(silly??) questions posed by the students and answered them in a normal and funny way. The things that I particularly liked

- Their definition of success in a non-business scenario.

- How they think that their children will not get all the money they have, but only a part of it. Warren says its against American society to give wealth in dynasty.. their country is about how capable an individual is and how he builds his position of wealth on his own and not given to them.

- How they think the American tax system is not progressive. It taxes all of them in around the same percentages, they feel the rich should be taxed more than others!

- One of the questions asked is how to succeed in your professional life and get into a managerial position. Response was its not only about IQ, its about your attitude.. you must strive to get the best out of others.

- Their commitment to using their money to help people all over the world who do not have adequate facilities

Thats about all I remember now. Do catch the show if you can. If not, next time you get an opportunity to listen to these gentleman.. I'd suggest you give them a hearing. You might just like it!

Ok folks. Bye!

The tangible benefit

In my earlier post on "Intellectual Capital", I had talked about a couple of friends fighting for something they truly deserve. Finally, after a delay of maybe about six excruciating months - they finally got the "tangible benefit" they were looking for! Cheers guys!!

As they say, better late than never.. alls well ends well!

An apology

Close on the heels of my post about avoiding hurtful words, I relate an incident that deserves an heartfelt apology and served as a good, though painful lesson for me.


In my third year of college, I went through some emotionally tough times. It was the sense of loneliness and a feeling of being unwanted in the group.

During this time, I believe I spoke some hurtful words to one of my closest friend. In hindsight, I am not sure I wanted to hurt her.. it was just that I was feeling too miserable and dumped all my frustration on her :(.

I have since apologized to her for those times.. but the incident has never ceased to affect me. This is the thing with hurtful words.. it affects you as much as the person at the receiving end!

Off late, I see these inane stories and TV soaps reeling out dialogue.. people hurt only those they love.. something like endorsing all that nonsense being dished out! I find that hard to accept and doubt its acceptable to anybody in real life.. I think I shall settle for avoiding the words... I don't think I can survive the guilt of having said it to someone!

That moment...

There have been instances in life where I have refused to take that extra effort.. that little step and have lost out on some good, maybe exhilarating experiences.. The ones that come to my mind now are,

- I went to Badrinath, Hrishikesh and Haridwar at the age of 8 accoompanied by my parents and a lot of oldies from the extended family of ours. One day, we were walking this long and rather arduos journey to "Bheeman Pala" - a rock bridge set across the river by apparently Bheema(One of the Pandavas). The myth is that he laid it across to allow his brothers or Draupadi.. I don't exactly remember who had problems crossing the river otherwise. Now after walking about 60%, we decided it was too much to walk and decided to stay back. One of the uncle and his wife went and saw it. Now, to think of it.. I wonder when I will be able to go and see it again..


- Another recent incident was at Golconda fort in Hyderabad. After walking the long path to a dilapidated structure of the fort.. I refused to go in and see the structure! Reason.. I was tired or something like that.. :(. Now, I have quit Hyderabad and am not sure when I will go next and going to Golconda then would be expecting too much...

- During a trip to Haridwar with college mates, the plan was to get up early in the morning and take a "Ganga Snaan". I get up in the morning, feel cold and sleepy and avoid the sojourn. My friends tell me it was a wonderful feeling to be up that early and bathe in the Ganges. Again, when am I going to do that ever....

Now, I won't call the above completely lost opportunities.. there are other things which I would call absolutely irrevocable and cannot ever get back. The above, I may still go down and do them again.. but the question is why did I not?

Now thinking about it, I recollect the above instances. I wonder how many I have missed thus due to that momentary lack of motivation.I shudder to think that I might have lost out on something substantial, something I need because of this...

Is it possible for me to will my mind to do the right thing for me at all times? Does it come via practise? Perhaps it does, and I need to make the effort, a conscious one at that...

5 Years!!

Its an auspicious(??) day today. I completed 5 long years in the same company and become eligible for all those long service awards etc etc. Staying in the same company in IT is a very odd phenomenon these days and my Dad made no bones about it when he wished me last night ;).

Anyway, its still a wonderful feeling to have been for so long and to have achieved this in my first job... Too psenti eh?.. :). Well, part of this excitement is also because I am not sure if any of my future jobs will last this long :), so if i flit jobs like a butterfly then.. I can still tell them(who?) that I lasted for 5 years at one place!

Its been an enriching journey. I have had my share of criticism, scoldings, appreciation, achievements and respect from my peers and manager(s).

But the important learnings are,

- Honesty. Be honest to your work and do the best of your ability.

- Hard work. There is absolutely no substitute for hard work. You need to spend the time and energy to go through all that documentation/code and understand its working if you want to do well.

- Consistency - Work can/is routine at most times. You need to be consistent in your work and derive motivation to not commit avoidable mistakes at any time.

- Communication - Communication in all forms - Verbal/Written is of utmost importance in a global world. You must invest the time to learn and improve it on a day to day basis.

- Criticism - Be open to criticism and take them in the right manner. I have been criticized for my writing structure, not so palatable presentations ( If I were attending it, I would have called it boring! :(), time management etc. These are definite problems and I do try and account for these.

- Trust. It is important that you trust your team and they trust you with the work. Always give credit where its due.

I think I should stop here. Its difficult to condense learnings of years into a few points but these are I would say important for any professional to do well.

So thats about it :) for now. Bye!

Confidence

This is an off the cuff post. I had no plans to post anything today.. but I am doing it to reinforce the importance of "confidence" in my life.

I consider "confidence" as one of the biggest strengths that a person can have in life. Confidence in your abilities to deal with the situation, confidence to solve a problem, confidence to convince another person of your motives and beliefs..basically, confidence in oneself.

I have seen that whenever I have spoken or written with confidence on a subject, the other person invariably understands the situation and the honesty of my approach. It amazes me. I have tried the other way as well.. try to speak with confidence on a subject when I am on rather shaky ground... but its never worked :(. I guess its with my body language... it betrays the fact that I am not too sure of what I am saying!

Anyway, this post is reiterate to myself.. Be confident of what your are doing. If you are still not, there is something missing in your preparation.. Fill the missing blanks at the earliest..

Sorry guys, if this post sounds too abstract. Its just a private message to myself to buck up!

Buck up B!!

Intellectual Capital

Thats a strange title I think. I actually googled on it and got a rather imposing wikipedia description of it..

So, I think I'd rather explain my definition of it... what I mean by intellectual capital is the employee or developer workforce in a software company who apply their intellect to create the product or service. For an Information Technology firm, they are equivalent to other tangible physical assets. Admittedly, I heard about this term in the newspaper - some software company HR person had described them so and how its important to treat and retain them.

Now, my grouse is how many firms ( not necessarily in IT) recognize this potent point of keeping their intellectual capital happy and satisfied. Why is that big(huge) companies don't delve on this point and let their employees be frustrated and disappointed. Why don't they have consistent and effective policies that will appreciate the work of the best and offer them tangible benefits.. If the company is not recognizing it, why doesn't the concerned manager(or supervisor) consider it as his responsibility to fight for the person..

A manager I know says that we should tell them that promotions/hikes/bonuses are not important.. but its the opportunity they get to work on challenging assignments that is more important. Fair enough, if this is how the entire organization sees it. When a decidedly junior( in terms of experience and intellect) gets a benefit in a peer team/group and you are biased against.., its difficult to convince your team.

This sounds more like a rant post... The point I am trying to make is managing is not only about getting the work done but also to ensure the work of your people is recognized and appreciated by the higher management and the organization. The only reason I survived for so long with one firm.. is because I had an excellent manager who ensured I got challenging work as well as good rewards for it.

Why this part has affected me enough to post a blog is because I can see a couple of my good friends fighting what looks like a hopeless battle against an ineffective supervisor and what I suspect, an ignorant higher management. Lets hope they succeed soon.

Its also a reminder to me that If I need to be a good leader, then I need to be sensible to the needs of the people I lead and guide/motivate them to achieve their best!

Cyanora. Its late in the night.. Though I am a night person and follow the London time in India as my friends put it.. I think I should bid goodbye. :)

Management books

I asked a friend for suggestion on management books. He suggested a couple and then made a rather cryptic comment on the authors.. There are two types of management gurus - one who talk generic stuff and quote anecdotes but have actually never been in a company and "applied" their theories and the other are former CEO's, CFO's who relate their experiences and talk of actual scenarios and how they dealt with it.

The person that I am, I decided to explore both types and bought a book in each of the above genre's - Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and Straight from the gut by Jack Welch.

Since the first book got delivered earlier, I started off with it. I have been unable to proceed beyond the first 50 pages without stifling a good number of yawns.. but I am still trying to get past it hoping the next page will be more interesting!!

They say never judge a book by the cover.. Similarly, never judge a book by its first few pages too!! Some of the best books that I have ever read - Ayn Rand's Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged are quite a bore for the first few(600!!) pages.. But once you get past them... its one of the most beautiful books that one can ever find. I have actually went down and re-read all those so called boring pages and understood their actual worth the second time round...


Getting back to management books.. why am I reading them? Thats a question for which I don't have a clear answer.. part of it is to fuel my MBA ambitions, part of it to understand how companies actually work and make decisions and part of it to learn small nuggets that may help me at work. I have realized that by far, the most difficult job is to make others work for you.

So, hopefully the above two books should help me in some manner atleast :)

My First Car!

Ok, guys I am back after a long break.. The reason for not posting earlier is simple sheer laziness :(. I shall try and post more often.. I consider this blog as an extension of my personality and it obviously requires to be nurtured and fed well :D.

Anyway, in this time.. I got delivered my first car - Maruti Swift last week. I still haven't figured out if it means lesser spending or more of it! :D But its a good feeling to own a vehicle at last. This is the first one for our family.

In a freak incident in the factory, my father lost his right hand index finger and with it went our hopes of having a two wheeler. Bro and I had cycles which we rode to school for a couple of years.. But by far, we traveled most in PTC Buses, Electric train and Autos in Chennai. So after all this, its nice to have a vehicle to hop onto once you get outta the house.

So officially, I have joined the bandwagon of people(including the FM/PM ;)) hoping the fuel prices come down :D.

More later :)

After the loss :(

When I promised to write about a light and frothy subject - I was referring to my favourite sport - Cricket. I was planning to discuss about the high and lows this game has brought into my life..

But after that heart breaking 1 run loss by Mumbai Indians against Kings Punjab.. I don't think I can summon up enough pleasure to discuss the game :(. Poor Sachin.. Why is that he always ends up with teams that fall like a pack of cards (or a line of cycles as Sidhu says) whenever he gets out! :(

Well.. I'll save my cricket story for another day..

Travails with Rock Salt

It all started with our packet of iodized salt getting over. As it happens all the time, we forgot to replenish our stock of salt. So my intelligent and ever resourceful Mom decided to use Rock Salt (Kal Uppu in Tamil) to cook our daily meal.

The food turned out to be a lot better than normal with just that extra bit of salt. The aloo karamadhu(curry) turned out excellent last week :). So far so good. Then Amma decided to do most, if not all her cooking using rock salt..

Now rock salt is very unlike the normal free flowing powdered salt that we use. I am told 1 1/2 teaspoons of normal salt is equivalent to about 1/2 teaspoon of rock salt. Anything extra might just make your food inedible ;).

My Dad, a competent cook himself decided to experiment and added rock salt to the Idli batter. There started the problem - the batter turned out salty and the idlis saltier! Now to salvage the batter, we added onions and chillis and made dosas.. they were no better! Dad ate them with a straight face ;). No comments :)

We then added water to the existing batter, my mom's logic - the water will absorb the salt and then we can spill the excess water and use batter to make more idli's :). After all this natak.. what remained was a watery white liquid that can be only thrown away :D. I believe I glimpsed happiness in my Dad's face when he did that :D

And when Dad started making upma, he added all the ingredients.. took the salt, thought about it and called out to my Mom..."Please come and add salt for this upma!". Mom and I couldn't help ourselves and we started laughing out loudly :))

Words

தீயினால் சுட்டபுண் உள்ளாறும் ஆறாதே
நாவினால் சுட்ட வடு
குறள்129

The above is a couplet from Thirukural. I read it for the first time on a PTC Bus in Chennai and immediately mugged it up enough to search through google and get the write verse.

Meaning - Even if you get a fire burn, it will heal inside, but a bad burn(words) uttered by you will never heal.

This is something I feel very strongly about. I hate bad words and more so negative words. I think uttering negative words like "You won't do it, You will not be able to complete this unless... ,I don't have the knowledge to do it.. etc", they all subconsciously contribute to us being unable to complete the task. Well, I haven't done any scientific analysis on it to say its always true - but I believe I am right. You pick any self-help, personality development book and the first thing they say is think positive and a positive person will never utter the above words! So probably, we need to work at our vocabulary first for success!!

I hate to utter bad words and detest somebody using one against me. There have been numerous occasions where I have talked off a friend/ room mate for saying something as silly as "Dog" (Naye in Tamil). I agree they never meant to offend, but I don't like it and I don't think its healthy. I never say them and don't say them to me. Many a times, I fight with my Dad for speaking negative... He has the right to guide me/advise me, but he should not say I would not be able to do it!

From the looks of it, I guess I have projected myself as some saint! I am not, I do use some unmentionables, mostly in English..! The other day I couldn't stop myself from cursing an auto fella in the choicest of expletives.. He cheated me :(. In hindsight, I guess it affected me more than anything else!. Anyway, the point is I make a conscious effort to avoid speaking such words. I do fail sometimes, but its a struggle worth doing.

Anyway, I feel strongly about this, so the topic found its way into my blog! The next time around, I will discuss something light and frothy ;)

Bye then!

Big Mom

Heeding to the wishes of my friend, here I relate the story(!!) of the "Big Mom"..

Who is "Big Mom"..? That is... yours truly! My BITSian name is supposedly Big Mom, but I can assure you no one actually called me by that name except in the first few weeks!

It all began in the first semester. We were about 11 girls from the same class in school at Pilani. At one point of time, we were badly ragged by some seniors..(Who will not if 45 people land from the same school..including the boys?). After that session, I believe I spoke some encouraging and sensible words(Well.. I never cried.. thats all. I don't remember saying anything ;)). So, the gang of girls decided to name me "Big Mom". I was Ok.. I mean Big Mom is not too bad a name... is it?

Then came the misery.. The friends(??) felt it was too long and decided to shorten it. Some of them called me "Big" and some "Mom". Since the latter was confusing, they decided "Big" was the best bet... and it stuck on. All of them :( , except of course the Professors and the boys(!!) called me "Big" at BITS. There were other forms used as well.. Bada, Badi, B..

I was Ok.. as long as it was confined to the walls of the hostel. But more often than not, I had somebody shouting at me at the top of the voice in the corridor... "Biggggggggg.. Hi!". I felt more irritated that anything else responding to whoever that was!

Even now, after so many years... when I bump into a BITSian girl from my batch, they have a confused look as to how to address me :|, and the first thing I tell them is my name! So much for having studied at the same place!!

Now, its an old story and not many people call me so but I must admit, I am relieved! I won't say I am missing too much of my name... but I do miss some of the folks who called me so :). Anyway, its a small world and I will surely catch up with them all!

So, thats it for now. Signing off!

Books

Since my posts are so far and few in between.. I am gonna stop making excuses. This is my next post ;).

I wanted to talk about Books this time and the habit of reading. Ironically, I never read fiction when I was young, my reading was restricted to Text books(:|), Comics and Magazines! I started off in my college second year with the Sidney Sheldon thriller - "If Tomorrow comes". Then came a group of Sidney Sheldon books and loads of M & B's. In the hostel, you got a M & B from almost anybody! When taking it, I used to ask.. "How is it?"!! :) To be fair to the authors, I think most of them had/have similar plots ;).Strange!!

And then I got the reading bug, so to say. Shifted to John Grisham after that. I liked his court room related stuff. I actually had two of his books gifted for my Birthday one year. My friends not sure which book of his was good consulted our Batch topper for the title. I must admit, my friend looked more excited at talking to him rather than celebrating my birthday :D.

Anyway, I continued with this habit in Hyderabad as well. There, I grabbed my first copy of Harry Potter and the rest is history. Refer to my earlier post which talks about my obsession for the Harry Potter series! I also managed to read Ayn Rand's master pieces - Atlas Shrugged and The Fountain Head. Besides all of this, I have also read my share of Self Help books ;).

So what kinda book fascinates me..thats a question I have no clear answer. I like books which stimulate me. Until now, I have enjoyed books that have had humour, have discussed some strong ideas or have been informative.

I intend to carry on.. Next on my list is P.G.Wodehouse, Management books and Autobiographies..

Book Mom

These breaks between posts is not helping. Today's post is an attempt to actually post something rather than having something incredible to say! Still, moving on..

I'd relate an incident which, in hindsight, I reckon has changed my life! I was a timid school student, who by virtue of the school I studied in and my Mom scored good in my higher secondary examinations and got an admission to BITS, Pilani. I was sent there primarily due to Appa's wish.. I still remember his statement - "I will send you even for a sweeping course at BITS. You need to grow up and be independent, you need to get out of this house, you must go to BITS". It helped that about a dozen folks were coming from my class in school... so I was not alone. We reached Pilani, I got a few shocks, met a couple of seniors and tried to decipher the registration process and the time table book and stuff.

Then, the inevitable happened. My parents left for Chennai leaving me to fend for myself. I was devastated, to say the least. To add to the misery, I was ragged by a senior during lunch, I spoke a little and got back more and was branded as "thadi" [arrogant in BITSian parlance]. I was perhaps breaking down, did not want to stay there any longer..:|

My ego or my self esteem did not allow me to cry in front of others, so I was there crying my heart out all alone in the night on the bed and trying to fall asleep. At around 11:15 p.m, I had somebody calling out my name in the corridor. It was a second year student whom I had met earlier and from who I was to buy my text books[We call them Book Mom/Pop in BITS ;)]. I don't know what went through her mind, she said that she had come to take me to her room to give away the books. I was shocked :-(, her wing was notorious for ragging and I was wearing a night suit at that point.. a strict no-no for a fresher. She insisted and I had to go...

I think it was pretty obvious that I was crying, many folks noticed :-( and have told me as well! To her credit, my Book Mom did not once ask why I was crying. She went about and gave me all the books, told me how I should read them and the books that I can use for reference etc etc. So at about 12:15 in the night, I walked off from her wing with a huge pile of books and went back to my room. I kept them all on the chair and looked at them. It struck me then, I have come to Pilani to study and have no business to think about anything else. I have the books that I need to study and that should be my focus. My mind cleared and I decided to complete my education come whatsoever.

Its a fact that those 4 years at Pilani were some of the best years of my life! I changed from a timid naive person to a confident person. And I must thank my Book Mom for this! Good Bless her with the best in life!

I strongly believe that the Divine power sent her to me that night. There was no need for her to come to my wing that night, she could have told somebody to pass on the message. There was no need for her to take me to her wing and give all the books, she could have just decided that I was not keeping well and so should collect the books later. There was no need for her to behave normally and talk about the course work, she could have tried to sympathize and help me out. But, fortunately, she did none of these, but showed me the focus of my life in her own way.

My faith is that when we are down and giving up, we usually find people who talk/ behave in a manner that gives us hope and focus in life. Its happened to me a couple of times with friends, relations and my Mom (especially) dishing out nuggets that have change my outlook and mood in life. So, I just want to thank them all and the Divine for it! :).

Me Back

Ok. I am back blogging after some.... time. Many things have happened during this time. I shifted back home to Bangalore. Its been a pleasant experience until now ;-), and I hope it stays that way!

I am missing Hyderabad :-( ! I used to grumble if I spent more than 20 minutes travelling to work and now my travel takes close to 1 1/2 hours :-(. I am told thats normal here! God, I don't wish to spend my life in any city.. I'd rather be in a two-tier city or a campus like Pilani where you don't waste time on the road! Otherwise, things have been smooth..

Missing folks at work. Its rather strange to sit and work on your own. I am generally taciturn, but with the team and known folks, I can be rather bositerous :D. I am soon going to have sore hands with all that typing ;-) at work!

So, thats about it for now.

Accounts!

I am finally done. I am tired of this "kanakku" business. Having avoided it for four long years.. I was forced to do it today.. and I did it. Rounded it off with a bite of good ol Dairy Milk celebrating the momentous occasion!

To add in, I sent my stuff to Chennai and Bangalore today. Its slowly sinking in.. I am finally quitting Hyderabad, feeling rather psenti. I love this place :)

Chennai

Currently, am at Chennai to attend my friend's wedding.
If I am currently at Chennai, where do I actually belong to ;-). My family is basically from Chennai, now settled at Bangalore.. and I am currently working at Hyderabad :D. Soon I am taking a transfer to Bangalore and settling at home(finally!!).

The thought of going home is giving me the jitters inspite of all the excitement :. I have to "unlearn" a lot of things that I have learnt over these years away from home.. at hostel and at work. I hope its not too painful :-(

Through the day

My mood is not any better now than it was in the afternoon. There is a difference between a conscious decision and a conscious effort, I made the former but did not do the latter! But how does one pep your mood at work :-/. But I am coping and hope I cool off soon. I am tired of this, it looks like I am mourning something!

Moods

Me at work...
Not in the best of moods since last night. I am going to make a conscious effort to bring me out of this! As they say, "Nobody can spoil your mood without your permission", I am going to get outta this.

You have some good days and some bad ones..

Integrity

Two days down the line.. I am still wondering why I decided to blog! I think the reason is to give an outlet to my views and think on a broader spectrum.

I often read interesting things that strike me as brilliant thoughts or ideas.. but thats about it. What I would ideally like to do is to talk about these things and think deep about it. Being the person that I am, I don't find too many people to discuss and end up forgetting it all :-(. I hope this blog will relieve me of this. So shall we get started ;-),

Today, I was reading Business Line and there was a small segment - 10 questions to a CEO. One of the questions asked was - "What do you look in a new recruit? " and the answer is "Integrity".

A great reply! But what is integrity at work? My former manager, a mentor of sorts to me was taking a training to a group of freshers and I was one of them. Being rather terrified of him initially, I listened to whatever he said rather attentively so as to avoid any embarrassing situation.. but alas not everybody thought so. There was this guy who probably snoozed off or whatever and was unable to answer a very simple question. My manager made a curious comment... "So what if you are in training and have not started working as such.. you get paid during the training period.. Don't you?". In retrospect, I believe this is one of the most important lesson of professional integrity, you ensure you do your best for the money you get paid.

Thats all for today folks! More on integrity on my next post..

Harry Potter

Now, that I have started off... thought I'd add about one of my favourite reads - Harry Potter series of adventures.

I started reading the books about 4 years back when a girl who was spending the weekend at our apartment lent the 4th book - Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. Since I had nothing else to read, I casually (;) it is actually a bulky book) decided to read it. All I remember is that I stayed up late for three consecutive nights and completed it! I just couldn't put down the book. I think the most brilliant aspect of J.K Rowlings writing is the way she combines adventure and humour. There are many times when I actually sit and laugh out loud at the antics of Ron, Harry and Hermione :D

Though I liked the book.. I did not go crazy about reading all the other books. I admit, I did not even know Rowling planned to write seven books! Then, the movie "The Prizoner of Azkaban" was released at the nearest theatre. In the midst of the movie, it just struck me.. wasn't Sirius the guy to whom Harry sent owls in the 4th book :-/. So, there went the suspense... I knew all along that Sirius was the good guy :)

Then, I managed to get hold of the other books and started reading them in a random order , Fifth, Third, First and Second! I am not sure if anybody has noticed, but Rowling always gives a small synopsis of previous events when she brings back or talks about a new character.. perhaps to refresh the minds of readers... it has helped me to carry on even without reading the previous book ;-).

No wonder at the end of it, I was crazy about the series and was looking forward to the sixth book. I got hold of the book on the 18th of July 2005 two days after the book was released from my close friend. We decided to share the book.. (Rs. 950 odd for a single book was still too much at those times!). Between that, I had my friend giving me weird messages about Horocruxes et al.

I liked the sixth book. I LOVED Snape! I was confident he is he is the good great guy and will be redeemed in the final book. I fought/argued with anybody who thought otherwise :)

21 July 2007 - I was up and about at 6 AM in the morning, we went and picked the pre-ordered book at 7 AM, packed some breakfast and lunch from a nearby restaurant and started reading. I finished the book at 6 AM the next morning. I told yeah right... Snape is the good guy :D

May I also add that I had taken Monday and Tuesday off from office to relax and enjoy the time.. :D
It has been a great time altogether.

I'll just add.. Thanks JK Ro.

First Post

I have no clue why I actually decided to blog! The last few days, have been having this urge to write something... lemme see, how often I actually write something.

So, I'll start off with describing why I chose this name for my blog. Well... honestly, I chose this name cos thats the first one that came to my head ;)

But... it is also something I strongly believe in. When I was in my college hostel, in the second year, I had a close friend of mine telling me.. "I prefer friends to relatives. I can't choose my relatives, but I choose my friends. They accept me the way I am". These are strong words, but they mean right. I think at some point of time, all of us are looking for someone who accepts us the way we are with our faults and strengths. I certainly do. Let me also add, I do have friends and folks who love me and have decided to put up with all my idiosyncrasies :D

So, there goes my introduction...