The First Half of 2010

“Change is the only constant thing in this world.”

Today marks the end of the first half of 2010. This has been “the most happening” year in no uncertain terms. There has been a constant change around me in terms of projects, people and personal affairs (related to relatives, friends and self).

After working for 5 years in one project group, 2010 finally ushered in a breath of fresh air and I moved into a new module. It was a pleasant change, especially because some of my old team mates were in this new module and the merge into the new module seemed seamless.

Couple of my friends bought new houses. Many of my friends got married. Many gave birth to their offspring. Many gave good news of being in the pipeline to give births in the latter half of the year. Many who were in onsite returned back. Made many new friends.

But the hardest part was many near and dear ones no longer were ‘near’. A huge number of colleagues - who are close friends too - quit (or went onsite) in the first half of the year and considering how good each one was, not just in terms of skill set but also character-wise, it was considerably a big loss – a void that can never be filled, even though, the cliché farewell mail typically says “I am just a click away…” I am just thankful that I got to meet such wonderful people who enriched my own life albeit for a short period of time. It is rightly said thus:

Endaro Mahanubhavulu Andariki Vandanamulu…

The Weighing Machine

Whenever my wife stands on the weighing machine and see the scale go higher than she expected, she smiles.

Whenever I stand on the weighing machine and see the scale go higher than I expect, I grimace.

It is strange how one machine can bring about two diametrically opposite emotions.

The Open Fly

Today I saw a fellow lady employee in the campus in Western formals who somewhat seemed inappropriately dressed. I couldn’t place what was wrong with her apparel until my eyes fell on the trousers. Her fly was open! It looked outright odd! Its one thing to have a man’s fly open but it is another thing altogether to have a woman’s fly open!

She passed right by me and I had half a mind to tell her about it. But I wanted to avoid the embarrassing situation. I could have told the lady friend who was with me to inform the lady employee about it but I was embarrassed even to tell my lady friend!

I am not sure if I was right in not telling and avoiding one embarrassing situation than allowing her to walk around all over the campus creating more embarrassing situations.

What the ...?

Seen on a cigarette box in big font, covering almost one side of the box:

SMOKING KILLS. TOBACCO CAUSES CANCER.

Then why are you manufacturing it, dude?!!

The Marital Transaction

Recently I was subject to witness the preliminary discussions being held for a marital occasion. Suffice it to say that it was not pleasant. I sensed negative energy all around me. Suddenly, somewhere, the topic had diverted from the joyous union of a male and female to a completely noncommittal business transaction between the girl’s side and the boy’s side involving money, gold, gifts, etc. There were demands, bargaining, raised voices, etc. It was outright disgusting. It was at times like this when I wish I am the eldest in the group and everyone abides by what I say. Being in the minority (both in age and thought), I was outnumbered by like-minded people who spoke of everything that surrounded ‘Male Chauvinism and Supremacy’ but very much meant that in one way or the other.

I wish I had the guts like Ananya Swaminathan to stand up in front of elders and be counted. I don’t. So I left midway during the discussion.

I choose to ignore what I cannot stand.

Run Vs Walk

I have never seen my 20-something-year-old neighbour walking. I have been seeing him since 2+ years and everytime I see him, he is always running. I see him get out of the house and run, either to shop or to college. I see him come home running. It is as if his thought is ‘Why walk when one can run?’ He is like Forrest Gump. Imagine the amount of time he saves by not walking!

I wonder, just supposing, if he encounters some kind of muscle tear or wear at the age of 40+, his doctor would then ask him ‘Why have you been running all your life when you can walk?’

:-)

The UPS

Whenever there is a power shutdown, the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) kicks on. This is the norm in every other household and commercial establishment nowadays in India.

For me, this indicates that the Government is unable to provide electricity but the citizen is able to afford alternate means of electricity on their own. It shows that the Government is unable to provide basic means of living to it's citizenry 24*7 but the citizenry can take care of itself without Government's assistance for a few hours. Its like a slap on the Government!

If only this was true for water too...Welcome the Rainfall! :-)

The Mehndi Man

Two innocuous looking men sit on the pavement of Jayanagar 4th block and apply magnificent mehndi on girls’ hands. They are experts. They can complete intricate designs from fingertips to elbow for both hands within one hour. Since they are so good, there is always a queue of girls waiting in glee to get their hands all painted, be it weekday or weekend.

The fare charged for fingertips to elbow for both hands is Rs 500. Lesser the distance from the fingertips, lesser the amount, subject to a minimum of Rs 150 (which covers just the palm). If the Rs 500 takes about 1 hr, the Rs 150 takes about 15 minutes for the mehndi man to apply.

They usually start their business by about 10 am and go up to 10 pm. The demand for them is less in the morning and more as the day progresses. Assuming an average income of Rs 300 per hour, the daily income of one mehndi man is Rs 3600. (I am sure this is the bare minimum because every time I have seen them in evenings, they have a huge queue; and almost every girl gets the Rs 500 service) Assuming they work for 6 days of the week (weekends are when they get more customers), this would imply their weekly income is Rs 21600 per person and monthly income per person is close to Rs 1 lakh with almost zero investment on equipment and real estate!

So these simple looking men on the pavement applying mehndi on girls have a gross annual salary of about 12 lakhs per person and completely non taxable because there is no bill provided and transaction is all in cash. They don’t even have a shop. On the contrary, its better not to have a shop and not to expand as having a shop will only eat up their profit in terms of taxation, real estate, shop equipments, etc. And in any case, girls prefer mehndi on pavements (thinking they will be cheaper) than mehndi applied in shops (thinking it will be costly).

So.

My happy-happy mehndi-laden wife finally came to where I was waiting and my hour long wait came to an end. I stopped thinking further on the mind-boggling intricacies of small-time lesser-known Indian economy.

My First Interview

Today I participated in my company’s recruitment process by being part of the Interview panel. For the first time in my life, I conducted an interview. It was akin to Man playing God. You suddenly have power to enhance lives or ruin hopes. In other words, you have power for one day to help the organisation grow and make it better. That’s a better and diplomatic way of putting it. I have come a long way since I attended my first interview…

Note: Incidentally, my first interview for employment - about 8 years ago - happened in the same campus where I conducted my own first interview, albeit it was for a different company.

My Two Cents

I have noticed that my wife brings out the humour in me.
I tend to crack more jokes and have more laughs with her than when I am with anyone else.

My wife says I don’t make pals easily.
Although I hate to admit it, its true.

After my friend Adiga informed me, I started noticing the weirdness in Harsha Bhogle’s cricket commentary.
His commentary is full of statistics and numbers revolving around cricket but it is not actually about cricket.

After my dad informed me, I started noticing that Bangalore traffic is filled with ambulances and their blares while it was not so much in yesteryears.
Reminds me of cities like New York and Boston where it is a common occurrence.

We had 9/11 and 26/11 but the dates do not signify a common month.
Life would be so much simpler if we standardize one date format, one metric unit, one method of driving system, etc across the world.

There are so many people playing farming in Facebook.
If even half of them plant real trees and get their hands dirty in the mud instead of playing on the net in the comfort of their homes, this world will become so much better.

When I go on train journeys, I get to see vast farm lands filled with lush greenery.
Somehow this has a soothing effect on me and it makes my travel that much more enjoyable and desirous.

I realized that mornings are never my own and I never get to enjoy the ozonated oxygen early in the day.
Except on weekends, but that’s when I prefer bed than fresh oxygen.

Many soap operas emit heavy negative energy and revolve only around sadistic schemes within the family.
Life will be enriched if happiness of co-existence mixed with humour (remember Dekh Bhai Dekh?!) is shown more than just disappointments mixed with revenge.

I think I will stop here.
I am feeling sleepy.

16000 Hours

In a year, we have 365 days.

Counting out the weekends, we get 261 days.

Counting out 20 days of leaves and holidays, we get 241 days.

Considering 9 hrs per day, we have 2169 hrs per year.

Approximating my corporate life to 7.5 years,

I have worked for over 16000 hrs as a Software Engineer.

Does that mean I can never make a mistake in my profession on any given day?

PS: No offense meant to the ill-fated pilot but just an observation. It just seems silly to quote a huge number of professional hours against a person to show his infallibility.