ITS NOT WORTH IT...

Date -- 15th August 2010
Place -- Times Square, New York City


Its a Sunday, so Times Square is not as crowded as it would be on any regular weekday... Most of the people roaming there are tourists or people who have to work on that weekend... 


Its India's Independence day... A few Indians are roaming and checking out the place... They are visiting NY from India and are enjoying the place when a street side violin player asks them to stop... He says -- Today is your Independence Day right, this is my tribute... And he plays the Indian National Anthem on his violin... 


I am not kidding, he plays Jana Gana Mana perfectly on his Violin... The Indian family stands upright in respect for the national anthem, that too played by a non-Indian, on India's Independence day... It is a matter of such pride... 


Once the anthem was done, they are about to leave when one lady in the group of Indians asks her husband -- "Please can you give me a dollar, we should tip him a dollar"... The husband's reply -- "Its not worth it" 


And he just walks away... The lady does not know what to do, she just follows him... 


I can not imagine the look on the face of the artist, but I can say for sure that he will never play India's national anthem ever again...  I am at a loss of words... 

US vs THEM

Scene 1 -- 
Circa 1997. I was in my Second Year of Engineering. I was a crazy cricket buff like every boy of that age. I was attending a coaching class for CMA (Computer Methodology and Algorithms) but my mind was totally hooked on to the India-Pakistan cricket match going on at the same time. It was the old age where there were no cell phones, forget abt cell phones with web. So, every 10 minutes, some student had the sudden urge to visit the restroom (read - neighboring restaurant)  and check out the score. The scores would then secretly circulated in the room.
The professor noticed this and he gave us a 10 minute break to go and check out the scores. After we came back (after India won), he asked -- DID THEY WIN? -- and my Q was -- WHO THEY?. Pat came back the answer -- INDIAN TEAM. I did not know how to respond. Is the INDIAN team not OUR team and hence, should the Q not have been -- DID WE WIN? How could be discount himself from the Indian team?


Scene 2 -- 
A friend who has acquired US Citizenship. We were talking about some irritating habits of Indian tourists and the reasons why they are considered one of the worst tourists across the world. My friend suddenly said -- THEY ALWAYS THINK THAT THEY ARE ONE UP, WHEREVER THEY GO... My answer was -- HOW CAN U ALIENATE YOURSELF FROM THEM? and his response was -- I HAVE A US PASSPORT, I AM NOT LONGER AND INDIAN AND HENCE DECLINE TO ASSOCIATE MYSELF FROM THEM... Just because you get a 4*6 sized blue booklet with a different emblem embossed on it, your habits do not change... 


Scene 3 -- 
A Pakistani friend again with US Citizenship called all fellow Pakistanis "THEY ARE LOSERS AND CHOKERS.. PUT THEM UNDER A LITTLE BIT OF PRESSURE AND THEY WILL CRACK... "'


I am stunned how people can conveniently associate or disassociate themselves from a group just to get an upper hand... And how long before they do it to their family purely because they do not meet their "high" standards... How can they decide who is "US" and who is "THEM"?


Strange are the ways of life... 

SILENCE PLEASE...

We have heard this line (okay, phrase) so many times in courtroom scenes in umpteen movies... The slightest of discord in a court room and the person in the black cloak sitting on the biggest wooden chair in the courtroom uses the opportunity to bang the gavel against another wooden block and yell "Order Order, silence please"... 


After the recent move, I moved to another floor and am sitting amongst another team... Me and another colleague are the only 2 who are sitting here and the reason given was -- "You two are independent workers, do not need help from anyone, so you can be placed away from everyone else"... The other colleague who sits adjacent to me is the most silent of all my co-workers and the only 2 words we exchange every day is -- GOOD MORNING... True, there is no GOOD NIGHT or any other discussion in the day... 


Its as good as working remotely, except... 


The rest of my neighbors are very loud... Sometimes, the volume gets so annoying that I just stop working and go to the restroom just to get some silence... Imagine, at some point of time, there could be up to 3-4 different co-workers talking on 4 different calls and its SO bugging... I am least interested in learning all the resource crunches, application enhancements, bug fixing reports that you are involved in... I ask that you speak in a tone where the phone which is less than 1 inch away from your lips can hear it and no one else can... It is basic courtesy towards your colleagues... 


The only saving grace is that they talk only about work and it is not any personal discussion... 


Sometime I wish I had a wooden gavel, just like the person with a black cloak, and I could bang it on my desk and yell "SILENCE PLEASE"... 

King and Queen without a kingdom...

S's uncle and aunt visited us over the weekend... They arrived on Friday and left on Tuesday... S took the opportunity to take a couple of days off and relive her childhood days when she spent more time with this couple than with her own parents... They pampered her a lot then and things have not changed by much now... She is still their little daughter... 


During their visit, we spent a lot of time driving around, showing them the place, took them to the mountains and had great food... Their company made the 3 days more enjoyable... 


Life is so good when you have family along with you... At this age, we are capable of taking care of them and looking after them, just like they did when we were kids... Although, what we are doing today is just an ounce compared to what they did for us, it gives us immense satisfaction to do so... Even if we are dead tired, we never hesitate to make that extra cup of coffee for them or drive that extra mile to ensure that they get the food that they are most comfortable eating... 


When it was time to bid a goodbye, everyone had a tear at the corner of the eye... And when we came back home after seeing them off, the house seemed so empty... 


This reminded me of something my BIL said a couple of years back... They were staying in Delhi then, away from rest of the family... My BIL is used to being with family... The stay in Delhi was very lonely for him, in spite of having sis and nephew for company... So, he used to urge my parents or his parents to visit Delhi regularly... 


Once his parents had stayed with them for about 3 months... As soon they left, my parents visited them, again for 3 months... When my parents left, I asked him -- now that its just 3 of you, your life of king-queen and a prince must be so good... His reply was, "I am a king without a kingdom... What is a king and queen without his kingdom?"


Today I understood what he meant... Experience is a BRUTAL teacher, but boy, you do learn from this teacher... 

LET IT GO?

This is probably a part of growing up... up the corporate ladder... 


A few weeks back when I was talking to my manager about her experiences when she climbed the ladder, she said that the most difficult part was compromising on a few things which she never wanted to... 


She was an ace developer... Her coding was flawless... When she became a manager, she could only tell WHAT needed to be done and not HOW it should be done... Basically, the focus on "getting it done SOMEHOW" instead of "getting it done PERFECTLY"... 


I am in the same boat now... Only escalated stuff comes to me... Something that is way overdue before it has come to me... And at that time, I have to get it done from someone else... So there is no room what so ever to get it done perfectly... 


In her words -- a badly baked cake delivered on time is better than a superbly baked cake delivered late -- and its so true... "Time to market" is so important in today's market... 


But for someone who puts so much pride in the quality of his work, letting go his high standards is too difficult to digest... Probably, every good developer faces this conundrum when he/she takes the next step... Anyone who scales this base, is ready for the journey further up... 


Now is the real test for me... Am I ready for the journey up or do I just want to keep cleaning this base?



Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Dad turns 66 today...


One more birthday where my celebration is limited to a phone call... 
One more birthday where he says "Miss you Son"... 


First time, he told me "I am getting old son, I can not do it all by myself"... 
First time, I am so sad on my dad's birthday... 


Not for the first time, he has decided to continue bravely, alone... 
Not for the first time, I have failed him as a son... 



Tweaking words...

India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test.


India gets a 11 run lead in the first innings and Sri Lanka is struggling at 87/7 in the second innings. Somehow, the Lankan lower order batsmen fight it out and take the score to 267 all out. And due to this, instead of chasing a manageable 100 in the 4th inning, India end up chasing an imposing 257.


Fair enough for every cricket fan to be pissed off... But when I was reading Cricinfo.com at 10 am on Friday EST, there was an article by Sidharth Monga titled "India pay price for defensive mindset". When I checked the same page at 1 pm, the same article was titled "India pay price for poor mindset".


So, what changed between 10 am to 1 pm? The game for the day was already done way before 10 am, so how did India's mindset suddenly change from defensive to poor.


Was it a gimmick just to get more people to read the article? Did something happen during the press conference at the end of the day where Dhoni did not answer the author's (or may be Cricinfo representative's) Qs politely? Or was the author suddenly enlightened and became more knowledgeable in cricket strategies in a matter of a couple of hours.


Strange... 

Where is the creativity?

S forwarded me this email a few days back about a contest to write a fictional story for 500 words max which would start with the line ” On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to the Chennai station “ 


This is what a guy wrote for the contest……. and surprisingly, it was adjudged the best short story : ))





On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to the Chennai station. At once I was held back to see someone in that position during midnight with no one around. With curiosity taking the front seat, I went near the body and tried to investigate it. There was blood all over the body which was lying face down. It seemed that a ruthless blow by the last train could have caused the end of this body which seemed to be that of a guy of around my age. Amidst the gory blood flow, I could see a folded white envelope which was fluttering in the midnight wind. Carefully I took the blood stained envelope and was surprised to see the phrase “appraisal letter” on it. With curiosity rising every moment, I wasted no time in opening the envelope to see if I can find some details about the dead guy. The tag around the body’s neck and the jazzy appraisal cover gave me the hint that he might be a software engineer. I opened the envelope to find a shining paper on which the appraisal details where typed in flying colors. Thunders broke into my ears and lightening struck my heart when I saw the appraisal amount of the dead guy!!!!! My God, it was not even, as much as the cost of the letter on which the appraisal details were printed…. My heart poured out for the guy and huge calls were heard inside my mind saying “no wonder, this guy died such a miserable death”…  As a fellow worker in the same industry, I thought I should mourn for him for the sake of respect and stood there with a heavy heart thinking of the shock that he would have experienced when his manager had placed the appraisal letter in his hand. I am sure his heart would have stopped and eyes would have gone blank for few seconds looking at the near to nothing increment in his salary.  

While I mourned for him, for a second my hands froze to see the employee’s name in the appraisal letter… hey, what a strange co-incidence, this guy’s name is same as mine, including the initials. This was interesting. With some mental strength, I turned the body upside down and found myself fainted for a second. The guy not only had my name, but also looked exactly like me. Same looks, same built, same name…. it was me who was dead there!!!!!!!! While I was lost in that shock, I felt someone patting on my shoulders. My heart stopped completely, I could not breathe and sprung in fear to see who was behind……… splash!!! Went the glass of water on my laptop screen as I came out of my wild dream to see my manager standing behind my chair patting on my shoulder saying, “wake up man? Come to meeting room number two. I have your appraisal letter ready”.



When I read it initially, I liked the story... But, when I read it again, I was really surprised... And, disappointed... 


Surprised because, the writer had such a good opportunity to come up with an amazing story, and all he could come up with was appraisal and pay hike and suicide... And, disappointed because, such a short sighted viewpoint ended up winning the first award... Just imagine what would be the thought process of the judges and what would be the quality of the fellow contestants... 


So, I challenged myself to come up with a better essay with the same restrictions -- 500 words -- and here is what I came up with... 



On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to the Chennai station. Observing closely, I saw a small light there and inferred that it was a man searching something...
Suddenly, he stood up and leapt in joy as if he had found a treasure... As he rose, the nearby lights "enlightened" him and he realized that his clothes are very dirty... A train approaching that track ended his stay there and he climbed the platform...
As he passed by, I could make out that he was well-educated and in mid-20s... The current state of his clothes belied the expensive brand that they belonged to... My curiosity overcame my exhaustion and I followed him into the restroom and struck a conversation... He was elated and it took him some time to explain the story...
He took the metro daily from office on his way back home... He stood near the door just so that the breeze made the ride bearable... The train stopped at Chennai station for 2 minutes... The most important 2 minutes for him, every day, for the last 4 months...
While his train stopped on track 4, another train on track 5 stopped simultaneously, waiting to go in the other direction... She waited on that train, right near the door, every day, just for those 2 minutes...
She first caught his eye on a routine day; nothing special on that day... But that day made all the days since then very special... Every day, he ensured not to miss that train, and those 2 minutes... Probably, she did the same...
Soon, he dared to smile... She responded... He didnt sleep that night... The smiles grew bigger with every passing day... He then dared to wave... She just reciprocated with the smile... He persisted… she relented... Soon, weekends were a curse…  Mondays were a blessing...
But he never dared to talk to her... How much ever he tried, he could not... This had been going on for a month now... He desperately needed an opening...
And then today evening, eventually she did it... She removed her earring and dropped it near the track during those "2 minutes"... She gave him the opening he needed...
It took him some time to realize it, but the train was moving already... He could not wait until he rushed back to Chennai station... By the time he reached, it was dark already... It was not going to be easy, but it was now or never...
It took him eternity to locate it... His clothes were soiled and knees hurt... His fingers were bruised and back hurt… He searched for an hour before he could locate that diamond earring wrapped in a paper with her phone number on it... It glittered and gleamed, just like the glow on her face...
As he proudly showed that sparkling earring to me in that dimly lit restroom, I could see the same sparkle in his eyes...



So my readers, I am seriously looking forward to hearing back from you about what you think...