Espoo

April 5th, 6th & 7th, 2010

I'm yet to get over the fact that I finally got to step out of the southern part of India.
Except for the take-off, nothing really was exciting about the flight to Frankfurt. The below-par economy class seats in the Lufthansa airline were not nearly enough for me to take a nap. Besides that, I was sandwiched between two people who didn't take more than an hour since take-off to fall asleep. So, stretching my legs was out of question.

Naresh, Satish and I had to stop by the Franfurt airport en-route to Helsinki. The break between the 2 flights was about 5 hours. It is easy to notice that the Fraport is one big airport with lots of people in and outside of it. I had to drop my plans to step outside the airport briefly before checking-in for my next flight because of the tiring journey from Bangalore to Frankfurt.

The 2 hours flight from Frankfurt to Helsinki was very nice though. It was a relatively small air-plane and fortunately, I got a seat next to a window. However, the airline didn't have any vegetarian food, which left me starving but, it wasn't much of a hassle.

The Helsinki airport is relatively small when compared to Fraport or BIAL. But the thing to notice here is the weather, the ice-cold breeze pricking every bit of the exposed skin. It was about 2 degrees centigrade outside.

The company had booked a room at Stayat for each one of us and unlike most of the other hotel rooms I've seen before; these rooms looked exactly the way they're portrayed on the hotel website, very nice. "Stay At" is located in a locality which goes by the name "Leppävaara" and the Nokia office is at "Karaportti" which, I guess, is about 5Km from Leppävaara. The local trains are the fastest mode of transport between these places.

It rained and snowed for the next 2 days making it difficult for us to find our way around. However, it'll be spring soon.

Another thing, apart from the weather, that varies a lot from Banglore, is the population. This city lacks people! The only place where I found some was at the local train stop. This is probably because Espoo is a very small part of the town. I'm planning to go to Helsinki over the next weekend to see if I can find the usual "City buzz".


From right to left:-
Pics 1-5: Room
Pics 6 & 7: View outside the room
Pic 8: First dish in Finland ;)
Pic 9 & 10: The local train
Pic 11 & 12: Way to office
Pic 13: The Nokia office

Sachin - The great!

Wednesday, 24th Feb, 2010

I did my best to get back home to catch the moment that was of magnanimous proportions. Alas, I missed it. Nevertheless, following Sachin's innings on my mobile from the start of the 40th over was nerve-wrecking and exciting. Just to make sure that the luck doesn't change, I kept playing the same song over and over again on my mobile.

About Sachin, well, no matter how much is written about him, it just can't be enough, can it? Yet another feat; first double hundred in an ODI since its inception 39 years ago and who better, to accomplish it, than the greatest servant of Cricket himself. There have been instances in the recent past, where he has come very close to achieving it and now that he has eclipsed it, makes me feel as if I've achieved something big, and I'm sure that is exactly how most of the cricket lovers must be feeling right now, a feeling of achieving something personal.

Watching him bat is almost like watching a small child at play, full of exuberance and unwavering concentration. And when someone with that kind of commitment achieves something, it puts a smile on our face. This is probably why what Sachin does on the field matters a lot to us, may be not as much as it used to during the 90's when he burdened the hopes of an entire nation without much support from his mediocre team-mates, but nevertheless, Indian cricket still, very largely, banks on his performances.

So, what is it that keeps this man, who is 36 years and 306 days old, going? More than anything else, I think it is his passion and the love for what he does. The man was born to play Cricket, that is what he does and that is what he has been doing for past 20 years and how!

Despite of the fact that he is a genius, his immense respect for the game and professionalism in his approach to it is admirable and his undying hunger to achieve things, at an age where most of us would be considering a retirement no matter what our profession is, is simply astonishing. And it says a lot about the character of the man. It is the kind of character that will be respected world over. That's the thing with great people, isn't it? It isn't so much about what they do; it is more about how they go about their business.

The more we watch Sachin bat, the more we get to know him and about the character of the man and the more we get to know him, the more we respect, admire and love him.
During the early part of the last decade, most kids wanted to play like Sachin and now, I bet most people want to be like Sachin, passionate and committed to their work. I certainly want to be like him. What you've done for us is service. And for that Sir, I bow down and thank you. You truly are a national hero.

Sachin's retirement is inevitable. And when it comes that, what do you think will be a greater loss, removing Sachin from Cricket? Or removing Cricket from Sachin?
I think its the latter.

Nostalgia

Thursday, 11th Feb, 2010

20:00 hrs – Panic strikes!

Harish (with the phone in his hand and beads of sweat on his brow): “Mom, I had campus recruitments. I finished my technical interview at noon today. I waited till 7:00 PM and assumed that they were not going to announce the results today and so, I came back home. My friend tells me now that I cleared the technical interview. I have the HR interview pending. I need to get back to the college within the hour”.

Mom (to me): “What are you staring at me for? You’re the driver here. What is the point in feeding you every day if you can’t serve us during emergencies? So what if the emergency is consequence of your brother’s ignorance” This is what she had on her mind. However, she chose her words carefully and what she had on her mind transcended subtly into “Naveen, can you please drive him to his college?”
Well, so much for my planning for a nice and quiet evening.


20:15 hrs – You must be kidding mom!

Mom: “Boys, dinner is ready. Have some before you leave.”
Only she can come up with something as audacious during a crunch situation. Come on ma, someone here is trying to take his first step towards planning his dinner for the rest of his life.


New Horizon College of Engineering (NHCE)

Although I’ve lived in Bangalore all my life, I’d never heard of Marathalli until I joined the NHCE back in 2001. The outer ring road, which was relatively new back then, didn’t have a single signal for the entire stretch and not as many as half the speed breakers as now existed back then. The KR Puram cable/hanging bridge wouldn’t be completed until the latter half of 2002. There were no buildings apart from the college for many a mile. Where there are IT companies now, there were what looked like ignored stretch of land once used for cultivation. The campus itself wasn’t all that big. Since 2001 was when NHCE was established, apart from few fellow engineering, BBM, BCA and MCA students, the campus looked mostly deserted.


20:50 hrs – Astonishment

I didn’t expect the college to look exactly the way it did in 2005 when I last set my foot inside the campus. Sure, I’d expected to see few new buildings, but what I saw there was mind-blowing. The auditorium, the students’ clubs, the indoor games room, more hostel rooms, more bakeries. It looked like the college had been overhauled completely.


21:00 hrs – Long night ahead

The HR interview had begun. Lots of kids were awaiting their turn. Harish filled up his form and settled down in the hall with his friends. That the interviews would go on well into the night was expected. I had to find myself a company.


Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan was appointed as the placement manager at the eleventh hour, the man for the crisis when everyone else had failed to do the job miserably. 2004-2005 was a tough year for most of us from NHCE. The college was still relatively new, and we didn’t pin our hopes high on campus recruitments. A year later, some of us found out that getting a job off campus was sheer thrill. Four years down the line, things have changed significantly. Graduates are walking out of NHCE with at least a job each. I wanted to find out how the college managed to do that. I walked up to Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan and got myself introduced.


23:15 hrs – The canteen

Harish was done with his interviews and so were most people. The final few were waiting for their turn. Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan wanted to pick up the souvenir he’d got for the HR representative from his office and I joined him. On our way to his office, we came by the NHCE canteen. It was the best place in the entire campus back then and it probably still is. I have a lot of fond memories of this place. The “gang lunch” stands out particularly. Akash’s and Uday’s lunch, unlike Mukesh’s, Vishwa’s and my boring lunch (sorry ma), were a real treat to the tummy; toasted bread, cheese & butter sandwiches and rolls. All of us would wait for Udi and Aka to open up their boxes and pounce on it. We used to finish the lunch off in a jiffy. Uday, very smartly, used moved to a corner and grab a piece before he brought his box out in the open. Girls called us the “Dog gang” and I don’t blame them. We did look like street dogs fighting for food. By the way, Sreelatha’s home-made rava-idlies were very tasty and special too.
It was disappointing to learn that the canteen would soon be brought down. Sad!


00:30 hrs – Ecstasy and pain

The results were out. Seventy nine out of the ninety were positive. Lots of happy and excited faces yet, there were a few who didn’t make it through. I felt sorry for one pretty girl who broke down completely. Pretty girls always break down easily, don’t they? Why? Or do I find girls pretty when they cry? I’m going no further with this. It was hurting to watch her plead the HR for a second chance. I however, wanted to tell her that something better was in store for her. I couldn’t, but I’m sure time will.


Nostalgia

Revisiting college brought back lots of happy memories and a few sad ones too. Friends, gossips, calk-piece incident (one of us threw a piece of chalk on the math lecturer. Of course, it was an accident. The entire class was suspended for a day), the college strike, Uday flunking the ‘Data Structures’ paper (he applied for re-evaluation and got 30 marks more than what had turned out after the initial evaluation), the fights and arguments with the lecturers, the internal tests were a lot of fun (Mukesh and I used the blank side of the question paper to share the answers. We started it in the 3rd semester and followed it all the way through to the 8th semester and never got caught once. That’s some track record), the chemistry between Vishwa and Menaka Priya (Menakey, as Mukesh named her, was 3 years younger than Akash. Believe it!), the cold war between Mukesh and Uday over the 6th semester project, Cricket, NFS and lunch at Akash’s place, my TVS Champ, Akash driving Uday back home on his TVS Champ, lovely miss Shaani Helen (my most favourite lecturer after Menaka Priya), the dreadful ‘Linux Internals’ paper in the 7th semester, the flopped love stories, these and more, were all quite an experience.
It’s a pity that I now get to relive those days only in my memories and I miss those days and I miss you guys. Nevertheless, life moves on…


P.S:
1) Sorry guys, for posting your pics without your consent.
2) I don't have Sreelatha's pic.
3) Harish got placed in Wipro that night.



1) Akash - doing what he does best, 2) Mukesh, Akash & Uday (L to R), 3) Sonali & Divya (L to R), 4) Vishwa, Akash and Mukesh (L to R) 5) Akash, me & Mukesh (L to R)

Happy Birthday!

Today marks Mahatma Gandhiji's 140th birthday. Most of what we enjoy today is largely due to his life's work. It must have taken substantial courage to gather the masses for a great cause. Many sacrifices must have been made along the way too. When it came down to choosing between what was easy and what was right, Gandhiji chose the later. This is probably why we address him as "Mahatma".
The least I could to do salute the man and his efforts were to close my eyes and listen to his favourite bhajan.

Eeshwar Allah

"Sabko sanmati de baghwan". Sanmati, it stands for peace evoking thoughts. In times like these, this would most certainly help.
I also picked up a clip from one of the Hindi movies.



Very nicely put. The world would be a better place if we could go about doings things in a peaceful manner, wouldn't it?
Happy b'day Bapuji.

Armageddon

It is ironical that I had an exciting long weekend especially after I'd mentioned that I had nothing lined up for it to Pooja over tea on Thursday evening.

Three days, just to laze around and relax. Yet, there was work to be done. The damn Bluetooth thing for the demo was still not ready. Most of Friday was spent on that and then, a hurried trip to the Aashram for the Krishna Jayanthi celebrations. I had to pick up Girija and her little kid on my way. A long 30+ Km drive, but not so boring when you have company. And Girija was some company. What I don't understand is that why most women end up discussing their marriage whenever I strike up a conversation with them. A couple of weeks back, it was Neema and then, it was Girija over the last weekend. What made it more baffling was that I'd never met Girija before. Anyway, I have no complaints. These conversations have never been boring. In fact, they are quite interesting.

Of late, I've been watching the Stargate SG-1 series. This series is about 4 characters, Kernel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and an alien Teal'c, who travel to different worlds using the Stargate network (A Stargate creates a wormhole to another Stargate on a distant planet. The wormhole lets you travel great distances, thousands of light years away in very short time) trying understand alien technologies and find out ways to defend the world from its foremost threat, the Goa'uld, the false Gods. This series has 10 seasons with 22 episodes in each of them. Naturally, you can expect countless hours of pandemonium, especially since the series is based on weird theories. But nevertheless, it is very entertaining and extremely addictive. Although, I spent most of Saturday playing around with the S60 Bluetooth, I watched about 8 episodes of season 5.

In one of the episodes, planet Earth is faced with grave danger. A meteorite, which spans about 135Km across is headed towards earth.
The idea sparked off the devils in my head. Just to spice it up a little, let's just assume that we do in fact have a meteorite heading our way. Let us say, it is just a month away before the meteorite comes crashing down on the Earth's surface. A rock that big in size is sure to wipe out all life on Earth. Sounds Armageddonish? Yes, barring one exception. We don't have a real-life Bruce Willis and his team. And if you're thinking of taking out the rock with a rocket packed with a nuclear war-head, I reckon you stop right there. The team in Stargate had a bigger problem. They find out that the core of the meteorite is made up of an alien radio-active substance called the 'Naquadah', which is much heavier in its composition when compared to Uranium. Triggering a nuclear reaction on this rock would be the last thing you would want to do. The chain reaction would be enough to wipe out the Earth's atmosphere and the oceans would evaporate within minutes.

At this very hour, the world had just one person to turn to. You! The fate of our dear planet lay on you palms. What vivid idea would you come up with that would make you our saviour? The gravity of the situation is demanding. Yet, it requires the best of your mental abilities to see us through this. What will you do?

Answer away!


P.S: If you find the task daunting, you have another option, an easier one. That is to enjoy the last one month. Have as much fun as possible. If this truly is your intention, then let me know the things you would do in this one month.

P.P.S: I was finally able to have the Bluetooth thing working on Sunday. I captured a video of the demo and it has been dispatched to Finland.

P.P.P.S: Neema met with an accident and broke her arm on Thursday. I wish her a speedy recovery.

P.P.P.P.S: Daniel Jackson dies in one of the episodes of Stargate SG-1, very disheartening.

P.P.P.P.P.S: I've contracted almost all the symptoms of Swine-flu. Don't get too close to me!

Cruel intentions

Wednesday, 8th July, 2009

I'd got of the office cab at around 6:00PM. I was walking down my lane and noticed a bunch of people gathered at the very end of the lane. All that I could notice was a state of pandemonium amongst the ones who had gathered. I was curious to find out what exactly was happening. I could spot someone pouring kerosene over something. Just as I got there they set the thing ablaze. It took me a moment to realize that it was a snake, about 4ft in length. Even as it was burning, I could see its tail wriggle. I overheard the neighbours narrating what exactly had happened. Just at the very end of the lane, an old house is undergoing renovation. The construction workers had found this snake hiding behind a stone. One of the construction workers took a log and used it to hurt it until the snake was rendered defenseless. The neighbours were having fun watching the drama. The senseless human, who had killed the snake, had become a hero. And all that I wanted to do at that moment was to strangle him to death.

I might not have the right words to explain the emotions that I went through. What is it that gives us the right to kill a creature that is after all inferior to mankind? It might have been just a rat-snake which is completely non-venomous. Even if it was a venomous snake, did it deserve to be killed by some sadist?
Isn't LIFE something greater than all beings and creation? Isn't it far beyond something that we humans can comprehend? Don't we respect each one of our lives? If so, how different was this snake's life?

I just wish I'd got back home about 30 minutes earlier than I actually did. All that was required was one call to the nearest police station, and they would have arranged for the snake's rescue. Snakes aren't aggressive by nature. Snakes don't run around wanting to kill someone like some people do. You won't find a snake slithering on the streets with its hood up to scare people off. Just as we are scared of it and stay away from it, the snakes too are scared of us and stay away from us. It would never hurt us until we try to hurt it. Even though they're built for the kill, they don't kill for pleasure.

What I saw this evening was completely unsettling. I wanted this man to pay for what he'd done. I looked up the internet and found a famous herpetologist. His name is Dr. Rahmath Ataaz. Dr. Ataaz goes to various places creating awareness amongst people about snakes. I called him up to see what could be done. He told me that all said and done, the snake is dead. The only thing that could be done is to create awareness among people. Had I taken a video or a photograph of the incident, it probably could have been used. But I was so filled with rage, I couldn't think straight. And yes Dr. Ataaz, I guess I'll have to brave, do my bit to spread the word around and not act out of emotion.

If any of you reading this happen to come across a situation where a snake needs to be rescued, you can reach him at +(91)-9845243864.

'With great power comes great responsibility'. Nature has blessed us with brains that carry far more processing power than any other creature, which explains why the human species has survived so many centuries on this planet. Shouldn't we be taking up the responsibility of protecting the ones around us? Not just other people, but more so, the creatures inferior to mankind?

No one deserves to die or to be killed. Not even a venomous snake.

A spirited battle

Monday, 6th July, 2009

I got back home from the gym at around half-past eight in the evening. I’m feeling drowsy already, thanks to the lack of sleep last night after the Wimbledon finals. What a match! Just couldn't get my mind off it. Two of the current best, throwing the kitchen sinks at each other. It was hard to believe that Andy Roddick put up such a fight against the King of the grass court, Roger Federer. Especially, after watching the way he had lost in 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals. You've just got to give it to the guy for making Roger run around so much. It took Roger some four and a half hours to break Andy's serve. Unfortunately, that was all it took for Roger to win his 15th grand-slam title.

Roger Federer versus Andy Roddick. The battle reminded me very much of the famous 1998 Wimbledon finals between Pete Sampras and Goran Ivaniševic, back in the time when I first started following tennis. In fact, Roger Federer has a style that was very evident with Pete Sampras. Gracious, elegant moves on the court, strong forehand and above all, a cool mind.

Andy Roddick, like Goran Ivaniševic, has a very powerful serve. Andy is considered to have the best serves currently. So was the case with Goran during his prime days. Goran was the first left-handed tennis star that I'd seen and he caught my eye instantly, tall, piercing eyes, with serves that would make an ordinary player run for his life. He was a very animated character as well and so, it was fun to watch him play. This particular match, like the one yesterday, was a game of aces. Goran kept piercing Pete's defenses time and again with it. But Pete, very much like Roger, kept his nerves and won it in the end.

The similarities between Roger & Pete and Andy & Goran made yesterday's match look like the one from the past. But, it was good luck that won Roger the title. I guess it’s a sort of luck that rides along the champs that puts them a notch ahead of the rest.

The case with such matches often, is that as the game progresses, you tend to support the underdog, just for playing out of his skin.

There he was playing his heart out, not just against one player, but against the entire crowd. This was very obvious in the semi-finals between Andy Murray and Andy Roddick as well. Murray, being an Englishman had all the support till the very end. But it was Roddick who came out good at the end of the game.

This was the case in the finals as well. Andy seemed like man who had come out with a kind of hope that you'd most often associate with an innocent little child, a hope against the odds. No one gave him a chance. They just thought he'd be a push over, a win for Roger in three or four sets. But the way Andy played proved most of them wrong.

Although Roger won the championship, although Roger stole the limelight, it would be fitting to say that Andy had won a million hearts. It was pretty emotional to see him sob after the match, but he'd left me high on spirits. And to applaud Roger while he was doing his lap-of-honor spoke volumes of the man's character. This was unlike the way Roger behaved when Nadal beat him in the Australian open earlier this year.

Quite often in life, it takes a lot of courage and self-belief to come out as a winner when you've been put down. It’s like a battle against the whole wide world. It takes a lot to fight a loosing battle. But when you fight it out with the right spirits, you'll always be admired.

Anil Kumble, on the day he retired said "To Sachin, the first newspaper cutting I have says Tendulkar, Kumble score centuries in U-15 cricket. When you came into the team, everyone said he would break all records. When I started playing, people said I wouldn’t last two Tests. You had the challenge of proving them right while I had the challenge of proving them wrong."

Success is not just about proving people right or showing them what they believe you can do. It’s about fighting it out all alone, against all odds and proving people wrong. This kind of success leaves an impression, an impression that would never be forgotten. Isn't it?

Cats & Dogs

I was driving back home last Monday at around 8:30 PM. I saw some of my neighbours outside, curiously watching something. I didn't notice anything unusual, but the rest around never took their eyes off my neighbour's house which is to the left of mine. It was almost like the calm before the storm. I stood perplexed.

Moments later, I saw a cat, with its tail up, looking absolutely terrified about something, running and jumping around all over. A second later, I saw a dog chasing it. I could see it in its eyes, the killer looks; it wanted to rip the cat's head off. But alas, the cat climbed up a tree and jumped on to a roof and walked off nerveless. The dog stood there, barking ferociously, until the cat was out of its sight.

We grew up watching Tom being whooped by Spike in "Tom & Jerry". But I don't quite understand the enmity between cats and dogs.

This antagonism is legendary. The hostility is known to have existed ever since the homo-sapiens domesticated these animals.

If we had to take sides, then what do we do? Aren't dogs mans best friends?

What is it about the cat that makes the dogs go wild?

Can't we ever get them to sign a peace treaty?

Answer away...

Curious case of the missing 'Chutney'

Have you come across people who never accept their mistakes? You may have. But, how often do you come across people who can come up with a convincing story to prove that the mistake was your own even though it is one of theirs?

Tuesday, 5th May, 2009

Having breakfast at home on a weekday would mean that I need to have it as early as 7:00 AM in the morning and then I start to feel hungry at 11:00 AM again. Lunch isn't served at the leisure well before 12:00 AM. And once hungry, everything stops until I've had my food. To avoid myself from facing a crisis of this sort, I carry my breakfast to office and have it at the pantry. All is well except one thing, the problem of quantity. My mom can't get around knowing how much is too much and how much is too little.
When I opened my box that day, I found that there was very little chutney. At least, not enough for a couple of chapathis. So, to stop this from happening again, I called up home and told my mom that the quantity was very little.
That evening, at 6:30 PM, when I went back home, I took the box out of my bag and put it on the table. My mom was right there. Very casually, she said, "That is exactly the same amount of chutney that I pack every time". At this point, I knew that I'd made a mistake by calling her up. I told her, "May be you were not aware how much you'd packed". But I knew that she wouldn't let this issue pass-by easily.
At around 9:30 PM, right after dinner, I came back into my room, the rest of the family was in the hall watching TV, when the following conversation took place.

Mom: "I haven't decided what I need to prepare for breakfast tomorrow."
Dad: "hmmm..."
Mom: "Was today's chutney tasty?" (I knew exactly where this one was heading to)
Dad: "Yes, it was good"
Mom: "Your son tells me that what I'd packed was not enough"

She simply couldn't get her mind off it. I wanted to argue, but then, I knew that I'd have to contend with bland breakfast the next morning. So, I had to refrain myself.

Wednesday, 6th May, 2009

I was just about preparing to leave for work at around 7:05 AM. I had no idea that was about to be at the receiving end of a knock-out punch.

Mom: "Here's you tiffin box."
Me: "Leave it on the table."
Mom: "Do you have your breakfast as soon as you get to office?"
Me: "I have it at around 8:30 AM."
Mom: "Do you leave your box inside your bag and take it out just before you have your breakfast?"
Me: "Yes."
Mom: "Do you have a locker in office?"
Me: "Yes."
Mom: "Do you leave your bag inside the locker after you've made it to your work station?"
Me: (Still wondering where this on was heading to) "This is a laptop bag. It is big and wouldn't fit inside the locker."

What mom came up with next was the killer blow.

Mom: "Well, if you don't leave your bag inside the locker, how can you be sure that no one steals stuff from it?".

I felt like pulling my hair out. For a moment I pondered about my work place. Was it a multi-national, cultured company or was it the K.R Market I go to every day? I've heard mom coming up with some crazy stuff, but this one was way too amusing. Why would any one steal just the chutney and leave the chapathis alone?

P.S: To my neighbours in office: I'm sorry guys, she meant no offence. If anything, she was just questioning your character, that's all.

Colin's best

"Whose line is it anyway" is a show that I've been following for a while now. It was earlier telecasted on Star World and now, I watch it on WB. It’s a comedy game show where the host, Drew Carey, uses the suggestions from the audience present to assign roles and scenarios to the contestants. Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles are amongst my most favorite contestants. Colin is witty while Ryan is good with his expressions.
On one of the episodes, Colin was assigned a role of a reality TV host where he finds his wife with another man in the audience. Realizing that his wife is cheating on him, this is what Colin came up with - "Wives are happier than men because they aren't married to women".

A classic from Prakash

Friday, 17th April, 2009.
Heat of Chennai.

Sometime post lunch break, Prakash, Amita and I had pretty much given up on things at the Nokia, JP Morgan block. Being a Friday, most of us tend to do things that aren't too strenuous. We were having a cup of tea each and discussing about the summertime heat in Bangalore, about how hot it is outside. Gradually, geographic location moved out of Bangalore to various other places before ending up at Chennai. And, this is what Prakash had to say about the weather in Chennai.

वहां बाथरूम में भी एसी लगाना पड़ेगा नहीं तो पाता नहीं चलेगा की तुम पानी से नहा रहे हो या पसीने से

It simply means - you need to have an AC even inside the bath room, else, you will never know if you're having a bath with water or your own sweat. I couldn't stop myself from laughing my gut out when I heard this one.

One of those lucky days

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009.
When you've got good luck like this one, who needs bad luck!

The weather outside was pretty cool for a summer day when I woke up at about 5:45AM. It had rained overnight and I could feel the fresh breeze outside. It seemed like a perfect weather for a long drive or may be a party or to just curl up on the couch, watch TV with a nice cup of tea by the side and since the following day was a holiday (23rd of April, voting day in Bangalore), I knew that people in office would see the lighter side of things. I'd successfully managed to crash my laptop the previous evening at the PTP Nokia office and I had to go to the SJR office the next day to have it re-configured. Re-configuring the system would usually take a day and so, I presumed this would be one of my lucky days since I would have pretty much nothing to do at the work place.

Quite clearly, the atmosphere around was pretty casual and so, I decided to dress up in casuals. I chose to wear this nice dark maroon half-sleeve Party Wear Shirt (That is what my dad had to say to sell the shirt to me when he'd got it from Mumbai), made of some very nice linen material and a faded Levis jean to go with the shirt and sport a sublime look.
While pressing the shirt, I noticed that the second button from the top looked like it was just about hanging in there. It looked like the button might come off any moment and it had to be fixed. But I was in a hurry that morning, I had to collect my passport from the Frazer Town post office at 7:00AM before boarding the office cab at 7:15AM and so, I left the button as it was and I knew I had to keep an eye out for it and be very careful while using it.

The drive to the post office was very nice, the weather was perfect. I was still very weary about the button, but then again, a wardrobe malfunction could happen to anyone and in the past, people who've had a wardrobe malfunction have become famous, its a sort of thing that makes a few of them famous. So, if it happened to me, I'd join the likes of Carol Gracias, Kareena Kapoor etc.

I'd stroked a chord with many in office that day, since most of them, like me, seemed relaxed and had dressed casually too. I had a nice breakfast, handed over my laptop to the IT Service for restoration and I'd settled down with my other system to surf a bit around the internet and check mails. The one thing that I don't fail to do first-up is to check the weekly horoscope by Rochelle Gordon and that very day, as the horoscope said, was my lucky day for the week. So, chancing my arms around was affordable, nothing could go wrong.

Naresh, my team mate, agreed to lend me his laptop and use his other system for that day. I had to download some S60 stuff which would usually take about 5 hours complete. At about 10:00AM, I triggered the download and then I wanted to grab a cup of tea before settling down to surf the net. I was on my way to the cafeteria and as luck would have it, the button came off the shirt. There it was, my first Wardrobe Malfunction. Believe me, not even my thoughts of Kareena Kapoor and Carol Gracias could stop me from feeling embarrassed.

I had to fix this problem and fix it in a hurry. Just then, I realized there is a Raymond's Shop just adjacent to the SJR building. So, I hurried over to the shop, picked up a T-Shirt,
which actually looked pretty cool, went into the rest room at the SJR basement to have my shirt changed. While entering the change room, my access card holder got stuck to the door knob and it broke. I'd broken a card holder about 2 months back and this was the second one that I broke. What a lucky day!

Once I had my shirt changed and the access card holder replaced, I thought things would be back to normal. But, I had thought too soon. At about 11:45AM, just about when the download that I'd triggered on Naresh's System was nearing completion, my bad luck came back to haunt me again. Naresh's laptop threw up the blue screen of death.

How could this happen? This was supposed to be my lucky day. First, the button comes off, then the access card holder breaks and then, I manage to crash the second laptop in two consecutive days. But it wasn't over yet. Later that day, I found out from the IT Services that my laptop restoration would take another day to complete. I had no other choice but to leave it with them until I could get it back on Friday, the 24th.

Fortunately, Naresh's laptop had been restored at around 3:30PM. And then, my stroke of good luck had finally come. I had a friend at work place by the name Raghu. He had quit his services with the company about 8 months back. I got call from Raghu at around 4:00PM and he had called me up to let me know that he had transferred Rs. 1000 to my account. Supposedly, he had borrowed some money from me long ago. So long ago, that I didn't even remember lending it to him. But, you see, this was my lucky day after all. Things had to come around.

Nevertheless, it was a very eventful day. Four blows followed by glimpses of good luck. And about the wardrobe malfunction, well, we'd have to agree that it is a sort of thing that happens with the celebrities.

The fresher syndrome - Part 3

The Phases.

Quite clearly, the freshers have to put up with a lot of stuff and they have a shelf-live too, they tend to wear-out too. Almost every single newbie goes through different phases in his/her tenure as a fresher. So, the different phases, as I see it, explained.

Phase 1: I need to get to the top of the world.

July-August is that time of the year when most of the office is on the watch out for some fresh blood to be induced into an otherwise irksome environment. Ah! Those freshers. What with the enthusiasm soaring sky high, a great zeal to take on the world, the charm, the eagerness to hit the top of the world, suddenly most of the office starts to revolve around them. The energy quotient is so high, that the work picks up pace, the social events are so much more fun. (Although it mostly has to do with the changing behavioral pattern of the seniors around, good for the organization though. See "The Fresher Syndrome: Part 2"). The 'Gen-Y' factor these people bring along makes a significant difference, so much as to change the dressing sense of certain few around. You'd find the freshers hanging around together during the tea intervals and breaking for lunch together and think of those old times when you were once a fresher, the impact they bring about is such that you can actually feel yourself egging to go to office as soon as you're out of the bed every morning. Phase 1 of a fresher is filled with energy, creamed with optimism and laced with the 'Gen-Y' factor. Unfortunately, like most good things, this one comes to an end too.

Phase 2: The work pressure is killing me.

Phase 2 is when the mind games begin. Things slowly seem to get hazy. "Hang on; this is not exactly what I thought it'd turn out to be", "I don't see things under my control any more", "Is it just me or does everyone in the group feel the same". If you're loaded with work, you'd say "I've been asked to do too much", else you'd say "My friends seem busy. I'm the one who's free. Has the team lost the confidence in me?", "Why do I get to look after the over nightly builds while he gets to work on some real-time development". Suddenly, the chirpiness is missing, the tea breaks are curtailed and the heads are bogged down. "This one in my group is doing very well at work, I need to catch up". You'd find most of them having frequent BMDs (Bad Mood Days). The smiles are no longer to be seen. The social events are not fun anymore. "What would my team members think of me if they watched me dance like a goon". Quite clearly, the 'Gen-Y' factor is waning away.

Phase 3: Well, what do you know, I don't care.

Phase 3, as I'd like to put it, is the last phase a fresher ends up in and remains in for the rest of his/her tenure as a software engineer. It is what I'd like to call the 'Accepting' phase. "May be this is how it is supposed to be", "Let me ride along the tide and not against it", "Things are not under my control. So, I need to accept the situations as they are", "My friends seem to be busy with their work. Lucky me! I'm free!", "Poor chap. He gets to do some real-time development. And I've got just the over nightly builds to look after. So relaxing", "I've got work to do today. Let me finish it", "I've got nothing to do today. Let me enjoy", "So what if I get embarrassed on the dance floor. I don't want to be the football of others' opinion. I'll get my team members to dance along with me". If you find yourselves saying stuff like these, my lads, welcome to brotherhood/sisterhood of real software engineers and let us all wait for the next set of freshers to join us.

I remember this one incident between my immediate junior and my senior back in 2006. Let's just name the junior "Jr" and the senior, "Sr". On the way back home Sr got some time to talk to Jr, ask him a few questions. Here's the conversation, as re-iterated to me by Sr. Sr, by the way, happened to be my mentor. Watch how Jr goes through the phases within a matter of 20 minutes.

Sr: "Hey Naveen, I got to speak to Jr yesterday on the way back home".
Me: "Good good, what did you guys talk about?"
Sr: "I just asked him a few questions. He gave me the answers. And then I started to prick the bubbles"
Me: "Enlighten me".
Sr: "So Jr, what is kind of stuff you'd like to do here in Symbian".
Jr: "Well, I'd like to build mobile applications, you know, the ones that would really make a difference". (Jr, clearly in phase 1)
Sr: "Really?" (By now, the devil within Sr is warming up)
Jr: "Yes, you're from the PIM team. You must be getting loads of interesting stuff to do"
Sr: "Well actually, I kinda pity you. As a fresher, you'd probably get to work only on some system-wide projects, or the over nightly builds." (Mind games begin as Jr enters Phase 2)
Sr: "If you're lucky, you might get to work on some propagated defects, and if you're really lucky, then you might get to work on some customer incidents".
Sr: "But, getting to work on projects, well, that is kinda asking way too much" (Sr, full of sadistic pleasure)
Jr: "Hmm... well... okay" (I'm in trouble)

1 month later...
Jr quit Symbian and moved to Oracle.

Symbianites from 2006 pass-outs, you know who Jr is, don't you? Well, he wasn't patient enough to wait for phase 3. By the way, Sr is now in UK, busy exploring and clicking snaps and sharing it across to us. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who Sr is. And Sr, good job, and I'm happy you didn't try this trick on me, not that it'd have worked anyway.

The fresher syndrome - Part 2

Antics of the seniors.

If you thought categorizing the freshers was fun enough, let me give you a moment to think about the antics of the seniors. The kind of stuff these rascals come up with might just make you laugh your gut out. So, as I noticed, the common behaviors of the seniors revealed.

Behavior 1: Look intimidating.

It's absolutely amazing how a mediocre engineer turns out to be one of the hardest working when a newbie is thrown into his/her team. You'd find him/her spewing out technical terms aloud, making sure that the new girl/guy around notices. The pace at which the senior walks around in the office would be such that his/her purpose is much greater than that of Mahatma Gandhi himself. You'd generally find these people fret for no reason at all, put up a serious face, eyes almost watery, staying back late just to make sure that the juniors are intimidated.

Behavior 2: Look cool.

"Have you noticed that smartly dressed guy? Wasn't he the shabbiest around till yesterday?" - Clear signs of a new girl in his team. This is a very common behavior. Just throw in an average/good looking girl (in fact, the looks don't even matter) and you'd notice how the dressing sense of a certain few would change drastically. You'd find seniors of this kind cracking jokes, trying to look relaxed almost as if they are the coolest and the smartest ones around. "So you're facing this problem? Honey, let me tell how I fixed a similar issue in the most efficient way", "Oh!, this job is way too easy, I've only done it like a million times before". Remember the "Category three freshers: Girls, don't worry, I'm here to help"? Guys from this category usually come up with behaviors of this sort once they have a new girl joining the team.

Behavior 3: Let me make myself known to all the newbies.

The best flirts fall under this category. They've got this undying hunger to make themselves known to all the new ones, girls and guys alike. You'd generally find them organizing a lunch party, a sports event, may be bowling, but that's the most they can do. Let's just assume that they're not equipped enough to take matters any further.

The fresher syndrome - Part 1

Categories of freshers.

It has been 4 years since I graduated and over the years, I've had a good look at the freshers who've followed ever since. The kind of dreams they have when they step inside the doors for the first time, the kind of attention they get and then the kind of crap they thrown into later, I've had pure fun observing all of these. And if this isn't enough, it has been even more fun to notice the kind of antics the seniors come out with. Let me just enlighten you a little more.

I remember the days when I went through a rigorous training program back at the Kshema campus. This is where I had the maximum fun simply by categorizing the people around me. And since I'd already worked in an IT company for 3 months prior to joining my services at Mphasis, I was not really a fresher any more. So, I assumed I had enough privileges to split the kids around me into different groups.

Category One Freshers: How am I going to survive here?

Most of the lot would fall under this category. Just about anything seems way too tough for these individuals. You would find these individuals at the corners of the training room, feverishly staring at the monitors, scratching their heads and looking tensed. They envy people who belong to "Category Two: I know it all". These are probably the most boring people you'd come across during the training program. And once out of training, they have nothing else to talk about apart from work. "You know what happened to me in the meeting room yesterday?", "I haven't yet figured out how to get rid of this panic", "I have to go to office this weekend", "I don't know what my managers think of me", (To the category two individuals) - "Man, you're so smart in coding. Will you teach me?"

Category Two Freshers: I know it all.

Along the way, you will come across certain people who portray themselves as though their brains were forged by the almighty himself, every cell in them speaks a different programming language, ooh!, they're so smart. Category one people would die to become like one of these. These individuals nonchalantly talk about their past feats in programming; they brood on the appreciations of the category one individuals. Well, actually, they're not really smart. In fact, they're complete morons, the perfect kind you'd find and these are my favorite people. All that I do to have fun is to go by their own way, let them teach me stuff, and then I just wait for them to make a silly mistake. You've got to see the expression on their faces once they know they've made a mistake, especially after they've been corrected ever so carefully by category one individuals, they just come crashing down from cloud no: 9 to ground zero. Once this has happened, they no longer belong to category two, do they?

Category Three Freshers: Girls, don't worry, I'm here to help.

Absolute buffoons, these people are. They just want to be every girl's hero, a savior, when in trouble. They'd do just about anything to catch the attention of the women around. The real fun is when the girl happens to fall under category one, the kind of things they do to console her, pure joy for the rest watching these people in action. "Don't worry, things will be alright", "Do you need some help?", "Can I get you a glass of water? Would that make you feel better?"; The kind of things they do, unsolicited fun.

Category Four Freshers: The cool ones.

This is the best category of them all. People of this category are usually the smartest ones you'd find. Unlike category two individuals where empty vessels make more noise, these individuals tend to be genuinely smart. You're more likely to find them in groups of individuals of similar kind, having fun. They usually finish their work fast and easy and have fun watching the category two morons and category three clowns in action. You'd seldom find them fret about work outside office and it's usually fun to hang out with these people.