The little things of life

I had a problem with my left eye last week and I was waiting at the reception of an eye hospital for the doctor to summon me. It was a pretty long wait and was just getting boring when I spotted this small girl, roughly aged between 2 and 3, with hands hanging onto dear mother’s neck and legs comfortably wrapped around the mater’s tummy. She was fondly resting her face on her mother’s cheek, and sometimes suddenly, as if remembering something, took her mother’s face in her wee both hands and planted a kiss and continued to rest. The mother was busy talking to the receptionist when all this happened and of course, embarrassedly happy but I wondered how this little action was so significant. I mean, 20-30 years later this kid, then adult, will think twice about kissing her mother!

Then, the kid spotted her granny, sitting behind me. She slid down the mother and started half walking, half running towards her. This spontaneity was as if she had seen the granny for the first time, although she had come along with her and mommy to the eye hospital!

On the way to Granny, the kid’s wandering face latched onto something and it deviated from the destination. It walked for a couple of steps and suddenly fell down flat on the ground, intentionally. I then saw that the kid was performing what we Hindus generally do in temples in front of the Lord – genuflect. There was a big Lord Ganesha in the reception hall that I myself had not seen even though I had come to this hospital many times! Perhaps I had not seen it before because of the commonality of presence of Lord Ganesha in every other place these days in some form or the other! At the same time, I mused on how an upbringing of a child can self-motivate it to perform something on its own which it is taught to do or it has seen in adults, even without supervision and even without knowing the intent. This shows how important it is for the child to grow in a good environment.

This done, it resumed its journey and reached the Granny, who received her in the strictest of terms – there was no smile on her face matching the kid’s. Obviously, granny’s thoughts were on the problems of her eyes! Now that the kid was near me, it started shyly looking at me. Whenever I looked at her, it smiled and tried to hide its face at the same time. I returned the smile and tried to entertain her in as much of a way as only a face can endeavor to do.

For some time, it was restlessly shifting this way and that, annoying the granny, who wanted it to be ’Obedient’ and ‘Decent’ and ‘Sit still’! The granny gripped the kid’s wrist in what seemed like a dead-lock and the kid countered its attack in the only form known to her - wailing! Unable to withstand the grandchild’s wailing on top of an already acute issue of the eye problem, the granny let go of the child’s wrist. The child readily escaped and used its freedom to walk back towards mom – the sense of wanting to enjoy the company of the granny somewhat having turned sour.

On the way back to the mom, the kid perceived Lord Ganesha again and again fell flat on the stomach! It was as if the previous encounter with Lord Ganesha never happened! It got up, raised its hand towards the idol, and touched its (kid’s) own heart and repeated this action about ten times – just like how adults do at temples!

After some more wandering – to the nurse’s station, to the TV stand, to the exit door (which made her granny almost follow), to the stairs (which made her mom lie (scare) about cockroaches on the steps), to the elevator doors - it then finally reached the mom and climbed her body to regain her old resting posture – hands wrapped mom’s neck and legs wrapped around mom’s tummy. She stayed there for some time. The receptionist started talking to the girl and the girl was shyly hiding behind whatever mom’s possession she could lay her hands on. This went on for some time.

She got tired of this too after some time and slid down and again started walking here and there. Her walk was very unique. The left leg kicked an invisible football and the right leg made a semi circle for every stride. The hands went all around like a spinner’s bowling action and the head tilted unevenly. It was very comical – so obvious that she had just learnt how to walk and was totally enjoying it! If she were doing this walking action 20 years later, she would be assumed handicapped or labeled as a disabled person!

Once more, she came across Lord Ganesha, and she fell flat on her tummy! The same action of reaching out to the lord and touching the chest n number of times. The whole thing as if it was the first time she was seeing this idol! This time, she went near the idol, touched its necklace and other paraphernalia adorning the idol, and seemed amazed by it. Then, suddenly her granny was called to the consultation room, and her mom picked her up and the trio went away.

I was amazed at how a kid can keep itself busy, by being fascinated at the little things of life and here I was getting bored! Well, to my defense, as long as I was watching the kid, I wasn’t bored, and even I was fascinated by the ‘little things’ of life!

:-)

The Superior and The Subordinate

I was waiting for my manager the other day in his cubicle and saw a unique scene:

~ At the north east end of the floor, I could see the GPM standing at the door of the DM’s cubicle and talking to the DM.
~ At the north west end of the floor, I could see an SPM standing at the door of another GPM’s cubicle and talking to that GPM.
~ Here I was, at the center of the floor, almost a PM, waiting for another SPM.
~ Finally, at the south end of the floor, I saw a bunch of freshers cursing my peers (almost-PMs and PMs) for giving some crap work.

There you go! The complete chain! Majorly, the subordinate waiting on his superior but the superior being a subordinate himself.

Reminds me of what one of my own ex-managers had once told me “Everybody hates their managers.” I have come to realize that while this is not 100% true, it is indeed true in most cases.

Sad but true

It’s a grave situation.
The volcano is seething and seems to erupt any time.
Heard too many negative stories now than positive ones like this.
The fury and furor is palpable.
The mutiny seems to be just around the corner.
The tension is almost tangible.
The frustration is cracking through the walls and the smell of the ensuing flood is in the air.
Like a poisonous gas, it is spreading everywhere.
Its sad but true.

200* !!

There are millions and millions of words written about Sachin Tendulkar but I feel that I will be doing an injustice if I write anything about him because I fear my words cannot be as powerful as I want it to be. Gaurav writes really well on Sachin. I second every word of his. Esp the post on Sachin's 200 and the Sachin generation...

Boy, am I happy today!

:-)

A special day

Today is a special day.
It has been exactly 2 years since Gouri and I first met...

Media

Feb 4th was Bus Day in Bangalore. Posters were put everywhere to encourage commuters to travel in public transportation as against taking own vehicles so as to reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

On Feb 5th, I saw headlines of 2 newspapers. One newspaper said Bus Day was a huge success and showed pics of professionals going in the bus. It even interviewed some non regulars and asked them their experience in coming in the bus. Another newspaper said Bus Day was a big flop. It showed the usual congested trafffic and many cars plying on the road.

Those who read the former would have felt proud about Bangalore and Bangaloreans' effort - miniscule though it might be - towards global warming. The participants in this exercise would have felt happy and the non participants would be encouraged to participate in future such events.

Those who read the latter would have felt helpless and dejected. The participants in this exercise would have felt the futility of their effort and the non participants would feel that such events hold no water and continue not to participate.

Just shows how media interprets a particular situation and what impact it has on the general public.

Boys Day In!

Grandfather, Father and Son
Or should I say
Father, Son and Grandson

Spent one whole night
Under one roof
With no female counterparts.

First time ever

:-)

Thought for the day

I never worked on any weekend in 2009!

:-)

And then there was a trickle...

A company in a developed country wants to make profits. The company has all its employees based out of that developed country. To make profits, they hire some more in a developing country. More work, better too, is delivered at a lesser cost. Since cost to company is less, profit soars. Since no one is fired, it’s a win-win situation.

More and more companies get onto this success formula. It is too good to be true! There is suddenly a huge demand for professionals in the developing country. So much so that the demand has exceeded the supply of college grads.

A businessman who is not really qualified to be employed by such companies of developed countries sees this gap of demand and supply and sees a business opportunity in the form of contracting employees at a brokerage. The contracting business does the talent search for the hiring company, recruits and, if needed, trains the employees for the contractor and augments the companies’ staff as an associate for a defined duration.

This relieves the hiring company to do the painful task of recruiting and training. The company pays the fees to the contractor and the contractor pays a percentage of this amount to the actual associate. So, the hiring company just has to ‘shop’ for talent with contractors for a price. True, the amount to the associate is almost a trickle now, but hey, for a fresh college grad, even a trickle quenches the thirst!

If the company in the developed country had not thought of increasing their profits and had not outsourced, then there would have been no contractors in the developing country. It is this butterfly-effect of one business venture leading onto further business ventures that stabilizes the global economy…and makes this world fascinating to me!

:-)

History repeats

After I returned from US, I was assigned a completely new project in a whole new module. The astonishing part was that I got the exact same cubicle and the same office telephone number I had been using from Jan 2007 to Apr 2009! Incidentally, this is the cube where I have spent the maximum time of my corporate life ever! And, for some reason, whichever office I work in, the office telephone number sticks on to me!!

:-)

Hanuman and Honking

When I was in a temple one day many years ago, I happened to hear a religious discourse going on in the background. The theme of this discourse was on Lord Hanuman and his pious posture of having his hands clasped together in front of his chest, as if saying Namasthe which is a form of either welcome or farewell. The discourse went on to say that Lord Hanuman is also called as the Lord of Vayu (Air). Wiki answers why. Now, the reason for this posture – as given in this discourse – was pretty interesting and amusing. Note that none of the below explanation is mine.

‘Sath’ (Pronounced as ‘Fath’ in ‘Fathima’) in Kannada means ‘Vayu’. ‘Hogbidthu’ or ‘Hoithu’ in Kannada means ‘Gone’. So, ‘Sath-hoithu’ or respectfully ‘Sath-hogbitru’ means someone breathed his last and, literally, that someone’s breath has gone. It is this last breath that goes from the body that is respected by Lord Hanuman. So Namasthe used here is in the farewell form. Lord Hanuman is also supposed to graciously offer this last breath to the Almighty as a form of respecting the departed.

As and when population increased and the rate of deaths proportionately increased, Lord Hanuman was over dumped with this work of bidding Namasthe farewell and hence he got himself the posture of having his hands constantly clasped in front of his chest in the form of paying respect to the ever constant stream of the departed. Yes, pretty amusing.

Now, the correlation. From here on, its my thoughts! Weird thoughts, again!

Honking during driving, I am sure, started – and in most countries, still remains – to correct nearby drivers’ irresponsibility. If and when a driver near you makes a mistake, you honk to create a wakefulness and consciousness to that driver so that the he can correct his irresponsibility before a fatality.

Now, in India, blame it on population, over the period of last few decades, so many learnt to drive that suddenly there are so many drivers in and around you, and so many of them are making mistakes constantly, that it has become inbred in the newborn Indian drivers that honking is a must-do activity, very much hand-in-hand with accelerating, irrespective of anyone actually being around you. And even when the driver in the vehicle beside your vehicle is driving appropriately, or a person is walking peacefully on the pavement, there is this deep-seated fear and uncertainty – or is it certainty! - that he is going to do some rash thing that it is better to honk just to be safe and let the other person know you are there! Even when there is no one around, it is just safe to honk so that no one jumps suddenly onto the road! Such has become the plight. Sigh.

So, just like how Lord Hanuman’s posture has been frozen to one of constant Namasthe, so is an Indian driver’s mentality frozen to honking as soon as the ignition is turned on!

Irony of the day

In order to save the environment in any small way possible,
I took to stairs while going from 2nd floor to gound floor,
Although I noticed the elevator being stationary on 2nd floor,
Almost temptingly welcoming me!

But as I started walking down,
Some one on ground floor pressed the elevator button
And the elevator almost mockingly made its way down empty
And reached before I did.

So much for saving the environment.

Thought for the day

[21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh;
[22] and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
[23] Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man."
[24] Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.

- Genesis [2], The Bible

More you don’t know...

Literally speaking, higher the corporate ladder you climb, farther from the ground (realities) you are. The finer aspects of grass are lost and higher you go, the more you talk in air, making no real sense! I have noticed many senior managers speaking at length about a topic on which they actually have no real clue about but are very conversant with the choicest of words! I remember Sam giving a classic extempore of Board Members in a press conference where heavy duty adjectives and adverbs are used but the essence of the 5 minute speech is in effect null and void, which happens ever so often and is so true.

They even try to add a humorous touch and burst out laughing abruptly as if they made an intelligent remark or, if a joke is told by a junior member, they act as if they understood and guffaw but inwardly, I know that it was a laughter born out of nervousness, out of lack of knowledge. This lack of knowledge always gnaws at their consciousness.

Some truthful ones admit their weakness and learn, break their head and fill this void of knowledge. Rest go with the flow and keep the ball moving somehow, by being on the surface of the water, just able to breath and float and survive. Both are paid equally well. The former think that they are paid well to face situations where they have to talk crap without knowing anything but later break head to fill that void. The latter think that they are paid well just to face the aforesaid situations.

I might have already faced some such situations in the past and I know that I will be facing more such situations in my corporate future. I sure don’t want and don’t like that void of knowledge and I do hope I don’t get lazy and not break my head for things I don’t know. This reminds me of a previous related post.

Irrespective of breaking the head, the irony hit me:

More you don’t know, higher the pay.

:-)

Thought for the day

I some times wonder if I use
USA as a means of escaping from India and
India as a means of escaping from USA.

Qs of the day

Quote of the day:

"When my mother resisted my decision to start working as an assistant in Bollywood at age 16, I told her I wasn't stopping my education. I was just beginning it. I was always very clear about what I wanted."

- Aamir Khan to a Times of India reporter

Question of the day:

How is it that some people are always very clear on what they want, and some are not?!

Quote of the day

To get something you never had,
You have to do something you never did.

- Seen on a cubicle board

Quote of the day

Life is very uncertain.
Always eat your dessert first!

- Seen on a cubicle board

Quote of the day

Don’t go the way life takes you.
Take life the way you go.

- Seen on a cubicle board

Heavenly

Heads leaning on one another...
Arms locked in one another...
On a bench in a park under the cool night air...
Under a canopy of side-by-side arching branches...
Greenery, shrubs and trees all around...
Orion filling the small visible sky...
Not a thought in the world...
Not a worry in the world...

Heavenly!