Review: Boyz N The Hood

In August, I bought a Philips DVD player to watch recordings of my wedding. Clubbed with it was an offer of getting movies free for a month from a new DVD rental service, named 'Seventymm'. Initially, I was not bothered about that, but one day a marketing person called me up from Seventymm and reminded me that to use this free offer, I need to start in August only. I said ok, as for initial one month, I don't need to pay anything. At the end of call, lady reminded me to an initial deposit of Rs. 999 which is refundable. She asked me to pay this amount to the guy coming for delivery of movies, and paid this amount from her account at that time. Unfortunately, I was not there when delivery guy came to my house, thus, thousand buck note, in its crimpled state remained in its old home; my pocket. First pair of movies, I received had 'Boyz N The Hood' and 'A King in New York' starring Charlie Chaplin.
Boyz N The Hood was the suggestion of my one of co-worker. He did his MS from USA and had spent much of his time with blacks there, so, he borrowed his views on this mostly from his friends there. This movie is a story about blacks living on the margin of American society. It gives piece of real life problems faced by them. It can be easily classified as a propaganda movie as it depicts the black neighborhood as a hotbed of drugs and crime. However, director has done the justice to the topic and kept is script as much realistic as movie can be. Movie focuses on four black friends growing up in a black neighborhood. Story start with there school life to their admission to grad schools. Two die and other two succeed in moving to a grad school. The story can be same as for slum area in any of large metros where life is considered cheap. Their struggle to survive and getting accustomed to the crimes happening in their surrounding which nullify their sense of right has been shown in a very realistic way. Some loose the grip and life, some survive.
Movies with complete black theme use foul language and it is no exception. There are lots of mouthfuls. Acting is pretty good. Everyone has lived there roles. Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube and Fishburne are exceptional. Overall a great flick, not an entertainer but a great stuff to watch.

Big Fat Indian Wedding

Photos of my wedding, in between the dunes and sand storms of Bikaner. By the way, my hometown where the reception took place is also land of dunes, but not of sand, they are salt dunes with a big, white, stinky salt lake spread for more than 5 kilometers in width.

Caught!!!

Smile please!!

Food for thought

Mud mud ke na dekh, mud mud ke

Squeezed
(Me, my bride and my cousin sister)

O' Brother! Where r thou?
(Me, my bride and my cousin brother)

Reception
(my aunts)

Family time
[My Mom (in orange, standing in back), my Dad (far left), my elder brother (far right), my sister-in-law (my brother's wife, second right), parents of my sister-in-law (standing in between my mom and dad)]

Old ladies wishing a happy life
[My aunts with my mom]

Only gents
[My uncles with my dad]

Cough up the money>>treat time
[My friends on a lunch treat]

More photos from Nandi hill visit

Moon lit highway, empty roads, speedometer reads 100 kmphs

Climbing up in fog

Dark forest of middle earth

Death slide

Going down

Cloud riders

Dopy

Take a plunge

Down down down

Dawn dawn dawn

Good morning

Clouds clouds go away

Inching close

Clouds win the round

Sun getting back

Fight goes on and on

Who said fluffy are losers

Great ocean of clouds

Running away

All days work

Child labor

Sun Moon

Looking down

Competition

Relieved finally

Photos courtesy our cameraman cum photographer cum friend Sudarshan Gangrade (guy in blue shirt) and thank God (as our driver was heavy on happy water).

journey to the clouds

Yesterday, I went to Nandi Hills which is 70 kms from my place in Bangalore, 1478 meters above sea level. As per history, it was the summer escape for Tipu Sultan. There is one temple called 'Yogi Nandishvara', made by Cholas. We started around 4:30 am and reached their in halh and an hour. Journey was fast, rather very fast. We were not sure of the route and kept on checking, asking passerby for the right route. Thankfully, there were many bikers going to the same destination and confirming the route was not a big pain once we got out of Bangalore.

Through out the journey, we kept the stereo sound very high to keep all of us in our senses. Anyway, we were not that sleepy, as all had slept for a complete afternoon, just a day before. It was full moon night, unfortunately it was cloudy, so no star light.

The climb journey from nandi hill bottom to top was quite picturesque. Road was good, with very small inclination, U-turns were like turns car-racing tracks, so, it was quite an easy drive. Full moon, added with clouds in early morning gave an impression of fog at early dawn. Anyway, when we reached top, it was morning already. Many people had stopped in between the climb and were enjoying the cold scenery there. Some were quite intoxicated and were floating. We took many breaks for clicking some snaps.
The hazy scene reminded me of my childhood, when I used to go to school in early winter mornings, fog making visibility of zero and we need to find directions using either our sixth sense or hands. Fog at the same level, still occurs but the durations are very small, now when kids leave for school in winter morning, fog gets vanished like thief after stealing.
Looking down after we reached a little higher was simply breathtaking. Moonlit peaks, floating clouds, twinkling village lights below, its really hard to express there beauty in words. Sun was getting up and moon had gone down in dumps, we were still on the way to the top.
It was cold and I had started just as I was dozing off, so, took no jacket. Till we reached the top, my hairs were wet due to mist and had become spooky.

Settling in Banaglore

After a little overstretched journey of my hometown, brother's place, uncle's home, aunt's town, friend's marriage, unsettling my stomach, I was back in Bangalore for settling down. Digestion system went on strike, just after touch down and mass conservation theory became true for my body universe. Sighhh..that was great ice-cream in my friend's marriage.

New town, new place, new job, new company, new people, new babes and new house. For few days, I dumped myself at one of my friend's place. That stay was cut short by unusual arrival of my friend's family. I took my luggage and moved to another buddy's home but this time paid stay. Life is not cheap, nowadays. In between, I toiled here and there for a decent rental flat. Ohh..I can't manage with just a single room, big future plans. Nonetheless, 3 days of marathon walk turned my body into a skeleton. Finally when my body refused to even move, I had to settle down with my friend's advice with another friend's flat, which had one empty room.
Bangalore, through out this period showed calm and coolness till 2 days back when it broke down started crying. Tears fell down so heavily that traffic became complete chaos. Trees fell down, some computers got burnt, and some might have also lost their homes due to water clogging. But it was nothing compared to what Chennai sky did with me last year. Now, its again cool breeze to heal my body and polluted air to take in my black lungs, darkened due to smoking friends. I have a dark heart, so what? Its clean, can't a black thing be clean? I got a clean black heart. I dream, sleep and sometime even try to think in complete dark. Darkness always generates fear in humans but I was always indifferent to it.
Hey, back to my senses. So, where was I? Ohh..my new home, its just near by Bangalore airport and the location is such that it comes in direct path in taking off and landing flights. There sound is little bit uneasy to bear but it gives a great view from the roof. There two more guys staying in the same flat. Correction, 2 guys and 1 gal more. One guy's girlfriend also stay put there only. That’s a good thing as this couple is very playful and keeps us all entertained. Food again is another benefit. Though, I take my lunch in some nearby restaurant to my office but dinner is cooked by this couple only.
Settling in Bangalore has been turned out to be exact opposite as I had thought off. City is crowded, food is even worse then Chennai, good food is available but its too costly, decent south Indian food is even scarce which was a commonality in Chennai, traffic though till now have appeared harmless, people are jackass, some even worse than chennaites, though firm is good, same kind of timelines, many colleagues are from my college. So, overall I am just scampering through.
Ohh...recently, I found a new way of begging here. Some kids with some books and copies, one small para written on a copy on their inability to pay school fees and pleading to help them. I checked those kids, if they even know reading and writing. Fees were 1500 bucks, damn; even I read in free school, how they can charge this huge fee. When asked, kids told me that their miss wrote this. For my black heart, I even had little bit kindness and gave them 5 rupees, but as soon as I passed another signal, there were more kids, similar pack of books and copies, begging with a note. Beggars are getting creative. Whoever forced those kids and sent them with that note was simply asshole.
For my office work, boss is very enthusiastic, not because of me but because it’s his new job too in new responsibility which he wanted to with off course huge pay. He has even planned an induction program for me that too for one month whereas induction program itself is unprecedented in this firm.

Last week in Chennai

Chennai, even in the last week of my stay is completely drenched up in rain. I had been unfortunate or fortunate enough to witness the heaviest rainfall in Chennai in recent times, last year. For the last one year, in my stay, I found that Chennai is not a dry place as local people crib or outsiders have an image. Though, water scarcity is self-made problem in Chennai. No wonder, many people suppling water tanks and cans are proliferating from this business. Most surprising thing for me is that Chennai is the only metro having no municipality water distribution system. There are no pipelines. Its really hard to think of any small town without their pipeline for water distribution but Chennai competes with outskirt villages in this.
When I came to Chennai, I heard this a lot that Chennai doesn't have proper rain for many years and underground water is finishing out. In short, Chennai was supposed to be facing huge water shortage. It was last year June. After that Chennai had little rainfall in August and september, I thought water shortage is real. But soon I realised that as per Chennai weather, rainy season, itself start up in november, which is winter in north. In october end, sky had started bursting, november soaked everyone completely and in december, it was flood in many areas. It was a surprise for me, as heavy rainfall and flood was unexpected, also I had seen even more heavier rainfalls in Bombay without floods. Flood in Chennai was not due to very heavy rainfall but due to complete breakdown of drainage system. Most of the roads were flooded, vehicles stranded, trees fallen and complete electricity black out. Many people were happy as they got extra holidays and many were completely broke as rising water took all of there belongings. As people ignore the people in slums, these news of loss didn't make big headlines. Though, when relief process started, entry of politicians making huge donation, showing their upmost kindness and large heartedness for the poors grabbed the headlines.
Other then, farcical water problem and fat, thick headed politicians, other thing, I have noticed in Chennai is the anti-feelings for outsiders. Initially, it was surprising as Chennai doesn't have many outsiders, but then I realised that its built up in the local society from the past. Local tamils are far more godfearing then I have ever seen anywhere. In the same place, they are so simple as well non-questioning to authority. Criticsm of anything is subdued and is not well accepted. So, as an outsider, its very easy to deal with local tamil people. In words of a rajasthani businessman, "ye log chutiya bahut easily bante hain", meaning tamil people are very easy to fool. Tamils also use generalisations far more than anybody else. Outsiders, coming from anywhere, find this behavior as huge business opportunity and have cashed in for many years. No wonder, local regard outsiders with skepticism. Added with it, outsiders who regard locals as pot of money, with no questioning of their hard or unreasonable money squeezing behavior become arrogant and cheap. Soemtimes, they are ready to go any low for money as nobody going to point that out to them and their is no shame if eveyone ignores their stupidity.
For the local tamil culture, I found very few things which can be called their own. As priest (brahmins) class came from north, they brought their value system with them. They were the only one to write the traditions and pass them among commons. Attachment to north for these priests seem to be very strong as they have hardly written anything specific about these local people. What has been written includes their impression of these people, not the original. Most famous hindu epic, "Ramayana", mentions about south as land or demons, devils, black, big, bad people. This image of black demons just passed on to south india with the priests from north who were following this epic as religious, sacred text. Their hatered and lack of written history about tamil's past resulted in inferiority complex. Again, no wonder, how political parties here use these feelings to stay in power. Riots against brahmins and Hindi language in 70's look more reasonable now. Many political leaders, highlight the tamil history of before the northern priest came and rip it for their benefit. In tamil society, powere distribution is completely scrued in elite favor. Elite here is composed of mainly, brahmins (coming late from north) and business classes (like periyar). Its not just economic power, its same for religious or political power. Tamils had been long ignored and made to feel low about themselves that they find new political power which came through democracy, amazing. Popularist, here really cash in for this. People are so exasperated by their humiliation by elites that they are ready at the first instant for supporting the person, movie star or anyone who shows them a little kindness. Other misgivings about that person become ignored as even being regarded by a popular personality is considered as a huge reward.
So far, I am moving out of Chennai for now but I have my fingers crossed as I may lend up here again in future.

Religious priesthood

I just noticed the difference between the selection processes of religious clergies in between Hindues, Muslims and christians.
In Hindus, priesthood is decided by blood only. Son of a priest becomes a priest. Though, times have changed a bit as brahmins, the so called priest class have moved in other professions too. But still, only a brahmin can become a priest, for which you have to be born in brahmin family. Other classes, don't have this option at all. Previously, it can be said that kids of priests had only this option, he wished ot be priest or not was irrelevant.
In Muslims, clergies (maulavi) are selected from the young students passing out of 'madrasas' (muslim's religious teaching centers). These madrasas are run by religious organisations and are funded by religious donations. Most of these are located in poor areas and young students who don't have any better access to education lend up here. Regions with poor access to modern education like western Pakistan, Afganistan, many parts of rural areas where muslim population is high (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh) and Bangladesh are hot breeding grounds for these madrasas. Parentage of a pupil is not regarded as important in clergy selection. There is no class difference, so this option is available for all. People, out of no better choice, lends up in this. People though may not like this work but it is only option for many suffering in poverty.
Christians, have more liberal selection process. People have choice and mostly people who adopt to priesthood, do this by their own personal choice. Their is no class difference and parentage is also irrelevant, so, this option is available for all followers. They don't have religious teaching centers like 'madrasas' for young ones. Religious teachings start only for those who opt for becoming priesthood. It is hard to say that they didn't have the religious teaching system but their teaching system has developed and assimilated in modern education system. So, you have many missionary funded school teaching modern education only, though they retain few part of religious way but not so strict. Also, students coming out of these schools have equal footing as of other students under modern school system and can opt for any other profession they wish for. People become religious clergy, mostly out of their own willingness.
Now, these different method result in different level of religious learning and adherence to their religious beliefs.
In Hindus, as teaching start from birth in the priest family, passing of the values and religious beliefs is most stringent. These beliefs become just part of life, reason explaination are foregone. Many people lend up in this profession out of no choice, so their are hard feelings and high frustration which result in rebellion against religion. Priests due to the frustration and lack of reasoning, loose their beliefs completely and end up without any benefit of religion. Most of the time, people add their fancies in the religious customs to just entertain themselves. Rigidity of social culture gives in completely to the priest class people. They try to compensate their frustration by utilising their authority for different personal means. Through the time, religious teachings which are passed on by father to son become contaminated by personal fanaticism and loss of reasoning.
Muslim system, give a little choice as per parentage is concerned, so, lesser rigidity. Teachings start from young age, which is mostly rot learning. Students, though can get some relief and acquire some reasoning in their family which is separated from their religious teaching system. Clergies though being trained in religion for a long time, still have access to real life, so, frustration is less, though many become relatively close to the outside world, as they don't have access to the vast knowledge arose in recent times due to scientific development. Most of them, who don't have strong family bonding due to any reason, become rigid in their adherence to religious beliefs. Clergies, with their lack of knowledge and reasoning skills, end up as religious fanatics and fundamentalist.
Christians have made themselves little bit more flexible and kept themselves updated with latest scientific developments. Their priests ahve lesser frustrations compared to other religions, I mentioned above, as its their personal choice. Also, they join priesthood in later stage of their lives, so, they are already updated with the real world and new innovations happening around. Their thinking thus have more flexibility in terms of accepting new changes. They also go through the same modern school system, thus they understand the importance of reasoning. Still, there are fanatics in this fold also but their number or percentage is very less with compare to Muslims or Hindus.

Packing my bags

Finally, I decided to move to Banglore and accepted the job offer there. I sent a mail to other company which also offered me a job. No love lost as I talked to my senior who forwarded my resume in this firm. So, I have started packing my bags and I am planning to move in the end of this month. Lets see, how it turns out there.
Last night, I was talking to that restaurent owner, where I usually take my dinner. He has been offered to open a branch near my current office. I tried as much as I can to make him accept this offer. Though, it will not be helpful for me as I am moving out but atleast others will be able to get some good food. I spent around one hour, assuring him that he will have huge number of customers there and he will be able to manage with his higher food prices. Currently he charges a little more than the food caterer in the office, but current food quality is so pathetic that most of the people are ready to shell out more bucks to get decent food. I hope, this deal gets finalised as this new guy offers good quality food.
One interesting comment from one of my collegue left me little bit shocked. I was asking him about the comparison of some B-school from his own. His comment was "there is no comparison, that school is just another street side one, our is much reputated one". It would not have made me laugh, if his college had been 'a good reputated one'. Both of those colleges hold similar reputation and there is no difference in their rankings. This is simply amazing when people expect from you that you don't classify their college as street-side one but don't spare some other college. Its more like, to move up, you push others down, so that you are more visible and be counted in higher ups. Here, its simply prestige issue, more like a kiddy way. People don't want to grow up and are dependent solely on pushing others down to keep their differentitation. Even remebering this dialogue is enough for me to go in laughing riot.
Still to talk to my boss and push my relieving date a little sooner. Good luck to me :).

Another weekend gone by

This weekend, I watched two movies, first 'The Fog' on saturday and 'Being Cyrus' on sunday. On saturday, it was just way for passing our time, movie was mediocre, edging just on absurdity. Some may like ghost tales, revenge stories and a sight of ghost ships but I don't share any of these likings. Bad for me, I with two of my friends (one half bald US returned and another aspiring GULT movie star) spent two miserly hours, most of the time snoring. The Fog was supposed to be horror movie and we were just 15 minutes late for another movie 'Goal', after that 'The Fog' was the only option. Movie had Smallville (TV serial about Superman's life as Clark Kent) star Tom Welling as main actor, actress Maggie was ok in her role. Movie started with director trying half hearted effort to make us laugh (to have a contrast when horror is shown). To cut story short, it was another remake of 'The Fog' (1980 movie) but revenge takers here came from ghost ship, not from the lepor colony as in the old one. Story was throughout crying for a good script. It was simply pathetic.
Next go was 'Being Cyrus', it was a free show as one of my senior had got free tickets for this show and asked me and other two friends to join him and his boss's family. Movie was having interesting story and twisting plot but failed to match the emotional intensity, it was trying to show. First half was ok type and all actors were superb. Second half, though having quite interesting twist, was not up to the mark. Story became vague and main actor, Saif Ali Khan, who was looking convincing in first half, failed miserably in second. The cool murder scenes were lacking the emotional quotient, except the old man, nobody had the facial expression appropriate for the scene. Over all, director was confused what he wanted to make, a comedy (offcourse for box office reasons) or a serious thriller movie (that was the story for). Movie was hanging in between both of these. Saif Ali Khan, didn't seem a right choice for the main character, though, he did put good effort. Dimple Kapadia, Nasarudeen and Bomi Irani were perfect. Simone Singh and the old man also did their part superbly.

This week

I finally able to get hold of my reporting manager and told him that I am leaving. He still able to manage an exit without finalising my release date. Still, I am hanging here. Good thing was as I had kept it clear that I was not enjoying my work in my review, so, manager was already expecting this. This way, I was saved of in giving any explaination or bide more time as I have already spent four months after my review.
Apart from work, there was nothing on other fronts. I again spent my weekend in office (half day only) and on sunday evening, I went to watch "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". It was such a pathetic movie that I just spent my two hours cursing myself to choosing to watch this movie. This movie is together with "The Polar Express", as some of the worse fantasy movies, I have ever seen. Both were made targetting small kids, and I know I am not in their target audiences but still kids also have brain and they even can't digest some crap passed on some kid's movie. For the complete two hours, kids sitting around us kept crying or running away. We were not even lucky to have some sleep in between as couple sitting on the back seats sincerely contributed to the chaos that was there. During interval, we were thinking about quiting but hail 'persistence', we decided to toil for another hour. It was a bad start for the week.
Finally, after so many days, I was able to push over some more pages of "The Mating Game". Book is nonetheless is good but author just putting straight front, wavers from the topic too many times. For the last week or so, it has become a perfect recipe to put me in sleep. Though, its really have too many facts which eveyone must know to understand their origin and biological behavior.
Yesterday, I finished updating documents assigned to me and now I am waiting for their review. I put my other collegue in the loop, so she can handle any issue after I leave, though I am not sure if she can. But anyway, now, as soon as this work gets over, I can move out.

An inch further

Last night, I was staying in office till 4 am. I admit, I spent my most of the time in office but it can't be interpreted that I am workaholic. I stay in office not because of work but its more of need to stay with my office desktop. It has internet connection which I can't even dream of getting at my home (In India, even bullock carts are faster than internet connection through phone lines). I am addicted to comp and net, since my college time, so, its not hard that I prefer my lousy room than my cubical.
Today morning, I had a meeting with my boss at 10:30 am. I was just made it in time. Meeting's subject was my future, what else may be boring than that. I was planning to put my papers, thus, it was my boss's game to delay it as possible. We talked on all the issues I have. To my utter surprise, it was one of the most polite discussion I had with my boss. It's really true that when you are leaving, your boss put his/her best foot in front. I didn't have that many problem with this as I was all set to leave and that too with solid good reasons. Talk came around after covering work, office culture, company culture, opportunities in company, futuer goals, ethics to my attitude and academic background. Campus placements had just finished in B-schools and media was all gung-ho with the high salaries. My boss had a point of view that this is unacceptable that one guy is getting such a huge salary. Damn, his common sense, my boss is just quick enough to read numbers and read headlines but he simply failed to read the background of that mammoth salary guy. Boss, though being trying hard to be polite spared me with his thoughts on B-schools but didn't miss to point it out that you should judge yourself with your performance, not the institute.
When people crib about B-schools and high salaries, its more of issue of person's frustration of not having it in his/her pocket. Most of the people aspire to study in these schools, still, these same people start criticising when they find themsleves, not lucky enough to get through. In industry, people give very high value to certifications and work experience in strongly reputed firms. Work experience of a techie, worked in 'Google' for 2 years is considered better than 2 years experience in some other IT company, say Infosys. Previous company's brand makes all the difference as people expect techies to be more professional and intelligent, if he/she worked in 'Google'. The attributes associated with the firm's brand, add up with it's employees credentials. Not only that firm's follow certain practices to have such a brand, they also have strict procedure for selection. Its same for academic institutions. They build their brands with certain strict practices, be it selection criteria or be it academic rigours. If you can survive the rigours of study in an IIM, you can handle the pressures in industry very easily.
Another point, my boss was hard on was that all IITians should do PhDs and all those who do MBAs after IIT are wasting governments precious investment in these institutes. This was simply enough to give my kind of guy a stomach trouble. People consider IITs as hardcore R&D institutes, though it is far from reality. People compare IITs with other indian engineering colleges. Many of these engineering colleges are run in single small buldings, have only graduate students as faculty memebrs, have few flask, tools in small rooms to show for a laboratory. Compared to this, IITs with their huge, lush green campuses, with highly educated faculties with rich experience and accolades, large laboratory halls are dreamlike. True that IITs have far better facilities than any other indian technical institute. Government has spent a lot in IITs. By a common man's point of view, it may appear that IITs are worldclass high tech research institute. But the truth is that IITs don't stand even in comparison with world's top technical institute. Though they have great faculty, great students and large campus, but a great techincal institute also requires high-tech machinery in their labs, testing tools, cutting edge techincal equipments. Sadly, all these require even more money which our petty politicians can't let go beyond their bank accounts. Building these kind of equipments, also need a complete industry back up, where new research can be utilised in economical way and high end technology research can be justified. Again, in India, in the name of technology, we have calling centers, IT body suppliers which instead of developing new products are just happy in serving western corporates. Students entering in IITs are just another kids with little bit better academic performance on the average. Thanks to our society and strong parental control, most of the kids dream of either doctor or engineer. Segregation brains start from school. First preference for most of the students, after their secondary board exams remain 'science', those who were not that lucky to score higher marks in board exams end up in other streams. Here, there are always few courageous students who choose to take other streams, inspite of scoring high. Some have family limitations or particular sub-society's negative preference towards going away, thus they also end up in 'Arts' or 'Commerce' streams. 'Commerce' stream, I guess is most lucky here to get many students who choose it by their first choice, as it is neither considered easy like "arts" nor it is attractive anough for indian parents to push their children in it. Next step of filteration takes place through higher secondary board exams and entrance examinations for different engineering & medical institutes. Medical profession has recently been loosing its steam as most of the doctors end up in small town with meek government salaries. Recent industrial growth has also spawned a better opportunity space for engineers. Preference for secure career and higher pay check make most of the high academic performers in engineering institutes. Even among them, IITs stand out, as I said previously, 'dreamlike'. Lucky few who make it to IITs are protected by the campus walls from the rumbling day-to-day common life. Four years, students chase their dreams, enjoy their time and some even get spoiled by freedom of mind. Though, IITs are not doing much of work in research but they provide a great step stone for students who jump in the plane and fly to greener pasture of US. US, with its great education institutes harvest this brain crop with gusto. Most of the IITians who have interest in research, end up in US universities as these provide much better opportunities and have much better facilities than what an IIT can't even dream of. Some, who are idealist or just don't have any interest in research either end up in industry or top indian B-schools. Strict selection process of these B-schools even filter out this crop. After going through these many filtering nets, when people end up in industry, they are asked that you don't have experience. Bullshit!!!
After carring the burden of high expectations continuously to this age, managing to move in pace, leading the crowd, standing out, you are told that you haven't done well enough!!! Bullshit!!

A dilemma

Normally, people say that it’s hard to get a job but my recent experience taught me that it’s even harder to leave a job. I am not talking about the problem of indecision or confusion to leave or not but I am talking about being released from your employers. Now, as I have got another offer, I am trying to get off from my current firm. Boss's ego is hurt and as always he is too busy to talk to me. What I want to talk to him is that I am leaving. Though its not a new thing, he was already trying to avoid me before. Initially, I was little unsettled but then I tried to make some inroads. Alas, I thought I got it during my review last time but after those 2 hours, it was again the same thing. It may be common when juniors try to avoid their seniors because they tramp you, rag you, it may also be common that a boss tries to not to see someone when he/she is pissed off on him. But in my case, it was not both of these cases. Boss was not pissed off but he was little unsettled by my academic background. I tried hard to belittle it but again, when you are arguing on a point and you show any authority, it is easy to assume that you are showing off. Damn, you have 10 years experience and it makes you an authority in your field then why can't a specialization from the best reputed institutes regarded be the same. I don't have experience but what I have learnt in my education is a gain. If somebody spends 5 years working in a particular sector and other spends 5 years in studying the same sector, who will be regarded more knowledgeable? Both have put their best efforts to get to know about this sector. One has live experience and other is having better perspective and more information. You learn either by doing it yourself or by studying how others do it or did it. Both of these have their advantages and disadvantages. By the current scene, it has become impossible to do everything on your own and also you are just human. This limits learning by your own experience. People, who are working, also learn from other person's experience and rationally it will be always more you learn from others than on your own. In academics, you are not just reading about others experiences but you are learning from one of best peoples who have worked in the industry and now they are teaching in these institutes. They are sharing their experiences with the students.
Again, I am going in the Catcher in The Rye's way, loosing my main topic, on which I started. I sent a mail to my boss that I need to talk to him 2 days back. I was asking that he suggest an appropriate time when I can call him, as he is outside the country we can't talk face to face. I was waiting that at least he will give time for the next day or so. Today, I talked with my HR; she had no idea about the process and asked me again to get approval from my boss, first. Evening time, I noticed that just in backside cubical there was a meeting going on with my boss. He was getting updates from one of the manager. I can't understand why he is ignoring me. I don't have any clue on what he will gain from delaying my release. I am aware of the bitter experience of some of my friends who were simply chided while leaving the job. For one guy, it was so painful that he was about to break down. His boss, though was not the culprit, in the picture was his boss's boss (I will call him super boss). Super boss, known for his temperament, was shouting on his juniors on why this firm has highest attrition rate in the industry. Though the cause was in front of everybody's eyes, nobody dared to point it out to him. My friend's boss was not willing to be rebuked again by super boss, so he cleaned his hands and told my friend to contact super boss directly. Result was same, super boss shouted like Tamil movie heroes shout in movie climaxes. Asshole is more appropriate for this kind of super boss. In the last moment, my friend had decided that they give him releasing letter or not, he will not come to office. He did the same, he paid his due and left with a letter from HR that he has submitted his papers. New firm was more lenient and nobody asked him about his release letter.
Another friend was lucky enough in changing his jackass boss in the same firm before leaving the firm. He got away easily, only with one month delay and paying for three months salary. Another was even luckier as he got a replacement on his post. The point is not that all the bosses in this firm are screwed. There are some good ones also but are rare and they themselves move out on first opportunity. When, I talked to some of my friends working in other firms, it’s same there too. Bosses behave in the same way and good are rare. So, why do we have this huge number of people in responsible position with lack of common sense and no rational?
It's the bureaucracy, set in by our old rulers to exploit us and now set in our genes, killing us everyday, day be day, moving towards complete destruction. That’s a little too heavy sentence for my day :). But can't help it, our society is built on metaphors and it fits the current condition perfectly. We, as a society are still not able to get out of the rags our colonist put on us to make fun of us. We are still showing those rags with pride as of we were naked before and this is the only piece which defines our current civilization from barbarous, inhuman past. Honestly, we can't take criticism, we are afraid of truth which can show our inaptness. We hide them; push them under the mate, till these remove the land we are standing on. Let’s face it; we are living in the age of denial and delusion.
What the hell, for the ages we are living in the age of denial and delusion. It was not just colonists who were crude enough to exploit our stagnation; we had our own pure blooded people who set this wheel of destruction in motion. Our society was not always like this dumb, we had the most inquisitive brains of their times, our society used no to hesitate in questioning anything and following the reason.

Feeling stupid

At the job, everyday I am feeling being stupid to work here. From boss to colleagues, most of them talk so dumb that sometime I feel that banging my head on a wall is better than hearing them. I realized my mistake of joining this firm in the first week only. In the intoxicated state, I also blurted out this to some like minded friends. After 10 months, I am still toiling here and these like minded friends as per my advice have left this firm. In the first week I almost cried on my stupidity but again I thought it was just vodka. I don't feel easy to leave the ground. So, I just stretched my mistake this long. Every second, even being here make me remind of this mistake. Most of the people here don't have any common sense and above all they show their dumbness with utmost pride. Some even show attitude of a frog in the well. They don't like contradictions or arguments of rationality. I have to counter them by being complete assertive. I really wonder how people can survive with this complete irrationality. It's really strange, how feeling of being inferior is fixed in their minds and their lack of questioning this assertion is also surprising. They don't even have rebellious attitude to grow from their ignorance. They want to be happy with dirt and cry foul if someone try to clean it. What the hell, why they want to stay in mud pool, to stink and rot? I can understand one thing that this stubbornness might have rose due to the cultural clash with north and west. They tried to save themselves with cultural invasion by being stubborn but now the feeling of being looser is granted as normal. Sometime, it makes me feel that calling them pig is appropriate. But again, it’s not in my nature to tell someone that you are dumb. I can argue debate and reason but tell them outright that you can't do it, is not my way. Unfortunately, here I have just this option, they even expect me to tell them that they can't do and leave them. Either I have to take everything on my own and just order them and treat them like slaves. It's more like a dog showing me his ass and a stick to beat him up.

Taxi no. 9 2 11

I was hard on spending my sunday in usual lazy fashion but one of my friend called me around 7 pm and without much ado, I ended up in movie theater around 9:45 pm. We were well ahead of movie showtime of 10:15, so, we just hanged there to see some babes standing around. [calling them babes is just a way to feel postive, truth is, there was only one girl who could be classified as a babe, other were, uh..oh...its Chennai, babes here just clinge to their mom's arm]. I heard some good things about this movie from my friends, so, I was not that pessimistic mood.Movie started with booming sound of 'Sanjay Dutt', a short introduction of two main characters in flashback. This was in proper 'bhai language' and both the so called 'chapters' had quite interesting background. Every morning in movie started with huge shout 'ayyo', which was more than enough to alarm any dozing soul. As the story started, it appeared crisp with no added usual' masalas' of bollywood. Sonali Kulkarni was as last time I have sen her in 'Dil Chahta hain', sexy and sensual, with playing her role as wife of Nana Patekar (Raghu) with perfection. Whereas, Sameera Reddy, partnering John Abraham (Jai Mittal), looked fat. She has gained a lot after her last outing in 'Musafir'. She was ok in her role. Story roled on with Raghu and Jai's fighting for their egos. Patekar, came up with some superb dialogues and his appearance of a psycho type was perfect for his role. John had his share of audio but crispy dialogues were given by Patekar only. So, we were saved as John with his 'hip' looks was not shouting like a streetman. Movie made everyone laugh with its intensity and satirical dialogues. They were not far from reality. Good thing was director didn't try to put any cheap jokes in between. It was refreshing, as its a rarity in hindi comedy movies. Comedy was not stretched to the hilt and two hours, I spent there were spent chuckling. John Abraham (Jai), was used properly as he is not known as good at acting, Patekar, as usual brilliant, others pitched in with good performances. Overall, this movie was made with some brain. Worth a watch for two hours of pure entertainment.

Another monday

Thats monday for me. I hate it, raze it, burn it out, hammer it down, but like a dog's tail, it's there, laughing at me, booing me, challenging me to do it again. I don't hate my job that much but it's just that I have better places to pass my time than my office.

Changing times with blogger

On the weekend, there was not much to do except watching a cricket match, a movie, a short trip to a friend's home and reading. In the mean time, I was able to get through many blogs. Most of them were from my juniors. After going through all these, I realized that most of the blogs are starting from first quarter of 2005. Many of regular bloggers started from last of 2004. After looking at so many blogs and reading some good posts, especially on blogcritics, I realized that different people have blogs for different reasons. Ahh.. That’s not a new thing; everyone knows that different people have different views, different thinking and different motives. But the most striking thing that I noticed in most of the blogs I read today was that none was anonymous. Most of the juniors had blogs for sharing their thoughts with all of their friends. Blogs were updated with long breaks and were read by also the same contact group. Some US blogs were for flaunting, writing anything to get noticed by random surfers and get more hits. One guy was stand out, I was able to dig in his 3 blogs, all were on very specific topics, mainly information related to that topic, not his thoughts. He was successful in getting more traffic by pinpointing some general stuff available on net and putting at one place. That's same all the big blogsites are doing. They collate interesting stuff from internet and put it at one place on their blogs. Blogs have become more like magazines, with added functionality of getting updates daily. When initially blogs were launched, idea was that blogs will give people an online diary, where they can share their random thoughts with an option of not giving their identity. Now, blogs has become just a name, you can just keep updating a website with some random news and can call it a blog. People are making money out of this as ‘adsense’ and other tools are paying money for getting more hits. Bloggers are putting the posts to sustain and grow their number of viewers. It’s the same thing done by news and other websites. So, difference is getting thinner between the blogs and normal website. Blog has become more of a personal website for bloggers.

Making economic gains out of blogs is great but isn’t being bound by this against the idea of starting blogs at first place. Blogs were started to give people a free space to let them share their thoughts without any limitations. Economy gain has now bound the ideas with making bloggers aim to retain and growing their viewers. It is the same limitation all newspapers and magazines share with blogs. They also try to retain their customer and publish only those articles which can help them to retain their reader's interest.
Blogs have an advantage in this, as there are no constraints on who is blogging (in most of the countries), everyone have their own space. It’s the different thing that they get noticed or not. On ‘blogcritic’ there was one post (I forgot the link) that more than 70% blogs are not read by anyone (except owner himself). Some use blogs to share their thoughts with close friends but sending a group e-mail or just general chat session or talk is enough for this. To share your thoughts with your friends you don't need a blog, you can just talk to them or send a mail to your mail group.

I will try to divide bloggers, in the following categories:

Journalist/Reporters: These bloggers are professional writers and they use blogs as another let out of their articulated expressions. Their blogs make most of the popular blogs.

Students/Teens: These bloggers put general thoughts and their day to day activity in their blogs. Most of them are full of pictures and use fancy templates. These blogs are viewed by their friends circle mainly.

Common: These bloggers also put their day to day activities and general thoughts on the blog. Added to this, they use blogs as a let out of their grievance against their employers. These blogs help these bloggers to keep in touch with their old friends.

Creative commons: These are the bloggers with some purpose; either to show off their writing skills as writers or showing information on a particular topic. Reason may be any social issue or just funny bones, they get selected audience. Some even use this mode to get more viewers and earn through adsense.

I have to limit this post, as I have some work to do. If someone can add more then it will be great.

Life as it is

Every day, I am learning new things about life. The thing which always puzzled about me was that why I get week knees so often with no apparent reason. I deduced from my experience that I give more importance to people with whom I interact, I just focus on that person and forget about myself. My experience, age, achievements all go for a toss and there in front of others I am completely focused on controlling them with what I can pull. As per my nature I value honesty too much and (damn, sometime I regret it) I simply am a pathetic liar. Positive side of this is that I get trust from people of being a good and sensitive guy. But what the hell, this is not going to stop when I stand in their run; they all feel not a pinch when they toss me away. I agree I am down-to-earth; I attach myself to my belongings, my friends and my past. So, I need to learn some Buddha’s teaching of moderation and letting go any want of worldly things. But the most important thing I desire is trust from everyone I meet. This sometime makes me look too naive or simple with no air of attitude. Some of my college friends told me that I don't of any attractive personality and I am hardcore idealist. But then I am learning moderation, and I find myself always doing the balancing act in any confrontation between my friends.
So, what did I learn from my upbringing by idealist parents? My mother is a religious lady and has a rebellious streak but keeps it in control and normally throws her tantrums in home only. My father is socially a nice guy but has very less time for his family. Also, I never felt that he is part of our family at all. Though when I was young (I am youngest in my family), I used to love my father and used to think that I will also become a doctor like him. But soon reality dwelled on me and me and my elder brother decided that whatever happens we will never ever go to medical profession. Yes, I hate this profession. People who love this normally give a very lame argument that they want to serve the society but they are really dreaming. Its materialistic society and being doctor is your job that will give you yours livelihood. You will sometime save lives, you may help somebody to regain their health but truth is you are getting paid for it. Sometimes you may provide your services for free but it will always be rarity, not the norm. So, how people will see you?

When being doctor was a novelty as there were very few educational institutes and also people were not that financially strong, people regarded medical profession as sacred. Though doctor's life is same as it was, they do the same thing though load might have become more; people's perspective about this profession has completely changed. In past, getting medical care itself was a prized service. Most of the towns, cities were not having doctors and people regarded themselves as they regard many other rare things. Respect was attached to this profession as life saving and health benefits were also novelty. Now, doctors are in every street. Though, ratio of number of doctors and population in India is still pathetic compared to any developed nation but now people don't see doctors as rare species. Professionalism and business sense has also crept in the medical services, thus you have so many nursing homes, hospitals owned by business families only for monitory reasons. They still emphasis that main motive is social service but everyone knows that this is far from truth. Doctors are regarded in same way as salesman selling their services, and Indians have little narrow vision for service providing people. Thus, doctors are clubbed in as same as teachers, servants and stage performers. Though they all are very different professions but Indian social mentality forgets the differences completely and put them in same bucket. On the same note teaching profession has also suffered the same fate as medical. Now, doctors are considered as they doing their work because they are being paid for it, negative impression has become more prominent.
My father has made his career completely on his own. He didn't have big support from family as family itself was fighting for its survival. He lived in an orphanage as my grandfather had died when my father was 11 years old. As for numbers, family was huge with four sisters and three brothers. Elder brother of my father had to stop his education and start working as peon (its lowest level in government offices). My father and his younger brother were put in orphanage as family was not able to afford their care. My father's elder brother then fought hard with his work and study, after some years he was able to complete his school and moved in for teaching. My father had a good education record and he was a merit holder in secondary board exams. My grandfather had died because of TB, lots of booze and no medical care, so my father had decided that he will become doctor and stay in his hometown. He got in medical college and with some hiccups was able arrange some financial support through scholarships. He finished his MBBS and started his practice. Money was always a sore point for family at that time. Also, with this kind of harsh beginning no one can expect my father to be very sensitive, he never had much experience of family so he treated and treats his family as he treats others. He used the same scale to judge us, his children, as being used by outsiders to judge us; "You need to perform and show your value to get any recognition". There was no support except some critical comments. We (my brothers and I) always were got criticism from him for anything we did. As he believed in old Indian philosophy of pointing out only negative things for perfection, he followed it to the hilt. My eldest brother broke down first; he was put in military school to chase my father's dream of air force pilot. After rigorous ragging, brother lost the stream and came crashing down, running from hostel and making hell of his exams record. My father, never got any sympathy, so, he never showed any and kept on pressing hard my eldest brother to the cliff, from where he fell down, never to stand again. My eldest brother, with some years delays, finally able to clear his school but had a depression problem to carry on. My second elder brother, who dreamt initially of becoming an ace pilot was chasing my dad's other dream of making him a doctor to carry on his practice. Second brother was lucky enough to get some support from teachers in his early school life and when he finally finished his school with great colors, he rebelled. He went for engineering, not because he loved it but for getting away from medical profession. As for his poor fitness, going to army was not an option. When I was in school, everybody expected me to become doctor as I was the last hope for my father to carry on his practice. But I hated it as I said previously. For me, being doctor was never an option. I loved the sky, stars and rocks floating around in vast space. Father considered as a waste of time. Though my teachers also supported my interests but they can't be part of my family duel. So, my astronomy books and notes usually came under scissor and discouragement. At that time my second brother had already got in engineering college, so, I thought that’s the way out. I was not so great in studies but managed fairly. After schooling, I had to drop one year as I was not able clear entrance exam for engineering just after my schooling. I was not staying with my parents, so that was ok, though my uncle was always there to keep my father's tradition of criticism. I was aiming for aerospace and was afraid of getting good rank in entrance exam which may give chance to my father to push for some of his doctrine. My father now had to compromise as he had realized how much we hated doctors. My tutors were left wondering when I told them that I don't want higher ranks. They considered me as some nerd as I was good in numbers and physics. Somehow I was able to scrap through the entrance exam and got call from some of the best engineering colleges and there I did one of the many blunders in my life. To give me support in my blunder, my father was there with me. I chose other engineering stream, instead of aerospace as per my brother's misinformation about aerospace's prospectus. I pulled myself miserably through four years of engineering. Best part of all this was that I was having some close friends who with their different upbringings had complete different views about life. In last year of college, due to one of my senior's encouragement, I went for an entrance exam for management. Again, I was able to scrap through that exam and went to one of the most prestigious institute. Irony was that I was not aiming for that institute and was aiming for another institute with less rigorous academics, I faired poorly in interview for that institute. So, next 2 years, again I spent wondering about what is life and all that stuff. I simply was and am careless in my academics and my record shows that. I always found myself doing something I don't like. Astronomy was one pet hobby which survived my father's criticism and I still carried it with wherever I went.
I inherited my father's way of judging everyone with the results. Intentions, faith, optimism were not part of my outlook. And most criticized subject of my scrutiny was always me, myself. It gave me lots of doubts about being me and my capabilities. Good thing was I also inherited my mother's rebellious streak. I put myself down (no need for others) but still I continue to fight, keep on stretching myself. Though I try to keep myself calm but I panic normally when given of lots of time to decide. In new and changing conditions, I find myself without fears and lesser doubts. Give me more time, I will go down the well; ask me instantly, I will be hold on to myself. My most of achievements were mainly due to my short jumps only. I am so good at putting pressure on myself that other pressures seem minute. So, now I have so much experience in working under pressure.
From the recent experience, I finally realized that judging by results is good, rational and right way but right intention is also important. Truth is in public you will be judged by results only but in your private circle, it’s the right intention which is more important. I still have a long way to go in changing my outlook but as I am, I can't stop. Family is there for emotional support only and without it you become a ruthless machine. Machine may function with complete rationality, but human mind with its imaginations stay full with doubts which choke its function. Rationality helps in finding the right path but emotional support is needed for the courage to walk on that chosen path.
"Have the right intention and honesty, judge yourself in terms of this, leave the results for others. Love your family and friends which keep you going. Love everything there is, not what is not and work for what you dream to get. There is no way down other then your self-loathing, so cheer up and keep running."

Freedom of expression in India

First the news which I am going to talk about; "Controversial book on Rajiv Gandhi withdrawn". This news state that a book was withdrawn by publisher because it contained some controversial comments by author on the former indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Comments were about Gandhi's naiveness as a politician and one about Bofors deal; calling him as a traitor. As for reality, we can't say somebody is naive politician if many indians just feel great after a look on him, they will walk many miles, stand in hot sun jsut for a glimpse. This discription is of more like a film star but thats the Gandhi family, politicians with a touch of glamour. Even their current generation is maintaining this hype and in the same way indians, mostly rural, consider them more than any movie star. I am in no way in agreement with this stupidity but I am also no way against people's foolishness. If people want to believe in someone then they are sa free as me in not believing in one. Now, the author's (author of the controversial book in the news) views can't be claimed right or rational but repressing it or banning it is even more stupidity. If someone is shouting wrong things then the right solution may be to show the facts to him or anyone who wants to see, it will be utter foolishness, if I try to put a cloth in that person's mouth and choke him, so that he can't speak.
Repression gives him more creditibility and this is the same thing politicians have done by pressurising for withdraw of this book. They call themselves better politicians but this whole issue shows their thick headedness. This thing also shows that most of the indians in power are not argumentative, they prefer pledging their obedience to their superiors and demand the same from their juniors, no place for arguments. Submission should be complete as per 'Brahmins' or the indian power holders. This culture is just not limited to political powerhouses, its a norm in every institution in India. Be it a corporate house or some government's bureaucratic offices. Superiors, not only in work even in educational institutes demand adherence to their words of mouth, they don't feel oblige to explain anything. No wonder, indian education system stinks of hypocrisy and it chokes creativity. While talking about education, media even shows their narrow mindedness when blaming this suffocation of human mind on few institues which though not been free of this culture still offer a passage out of this strangulation. People talk about brain drain, in the same breath they talk about these institutes being responsible. Yes, they are responsible because choking brain always look for a way out to freedom and thankfully these institutes have build a reputation of giving people a chance.
Again on the point of freedom of expression, indian powerholders always preferred yes-man than a person questioning their judgements, even our god wants complete submission to his/her authority. The way indian culture suffocated and braught down to her knees in front of agressor outsiders is just not part of history, its in the nature of indian society.

Festival of colors

Through out the years, the perspective of people has been changing with times. Their priorities, their customs and rituals take a complete new shape with the moving social scenarios and popular thinking. Festivals as a mean of social gathering and 'collective entertainment' has always been very important for all societies, be it Christmas, be it Id, be it Diwali or Holi. All festivals have a common theme of uniting families, friends and at large societies. This communal gathering serves the purpose of making everyone feel as a part of a group, this helps him to relate with the larger group. Thus, festivals become a mirror of social priorities and their unity. Disintegration of a society as such will appear first in changing festival rituals.

Anyway, some days ago was 'Holi', a festival of colors as per Indian tradition. People celebrate this by putting different colors on each other, some keep it dry and some drench others with water. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a small town, so, I had a luxury to listen to all popular holi folk songs and as well being witness of HOLI in full color. When I was young, I used to love the Holi for its songs (not the movie songs), people used to start preparing one month advance for Holi. For complete one month, a small group of young lads used to sit under a tree and used to sing folk songs with 'Chang' (also called Dhapali, a kind of drum). As a kid, I loved it so much that I used to sing these songs with a steel plate in my hands and circling around a candle on a stool. Though, I was just 3 years old at that time and I don't remember the scene that much but my parents still remind me of that whenever there is any mention of Holi. As for the colors, we used to play with water only. My elder cousins used to play with colors but not many hard colors (not easy to remove) were available in the market at that time. All the other elderly people were content with 'Gulal' (dry colored powder, mainly herbal only). People used to hurry up visiting their friends and relatives in early hours of the day and rest of the day, streets were marked red & blue, rainbow was splashed through out the road and people with their faces painted in odd colors appeared like aliens. It was a complete merry-making day and Holi fever used to stretch even for some days after Holi.
When I joined a boarding school at the age of 10, Holi was marked with mud and lots of dirt smacking. It was bad and dirty but I most of the time used to run away from this (most of my friends used to do the same with a very small success rate). I was lucky enough as my home was in just nearby town, so, I used to survive this Holi onslaught unscathed. My friends who were not that lucky, used to run and hide in forests, backside of our hostels. But they were hunted like police used to hunt for 'Virappan' (A bandit from south India, sandalwood smuggler) but with a great success rate. Most of the friends used to give in before evening and had joined the mud party. Still, it was fun as we used to get some good food in our mess. Joy and merry used to make us forget about everything else. Vehicles passing in front of our school used to play Holi songs in full volume and we could hear these even from our classrooms which were well distance away from the front boundary wall.

When I went to college, again hostel (Bombay), so Holi was still with its lively pace. Though in college it used to be just colors and water but still you can't expect us to be dissent, after all its college life. There used to be a small fountain near by our hostel mess and on Holi it used to be filled with color. Everyone, in the start had to take some dips in the pool and throughly present himself to the color onslaught. It was considered inappropriate to have a normal skin color (no black or white, specially light brown) on this day. I admit that I missed Holi in my last year as I went on a bike trip with my friends. We went to a small seashore town called "Murud" and I got some bruises to show while returning. It was not an easy ride as we were a large group, 7 bikes. We lost our way and few parted away on Mumbai-Pune highway, got caught by police, paid fines as bikes were not allowed on that express highway (why the hell, road is there for?), made a mess of our financial plans and even contemplated going back. Finally, when we were passing through Alibagh (another small town, famous for its seaside Villas), we caught up with our parted friends and thankfully some money from an ATM. When we reached our destination, we were relieved but soon were in tight spot as it was a holiday and all liquor shops & bars (most important) were closed. After bugging one local guy we were able to get some beer from his house and then we proceeded to pass on that afternoon in hot sun & beer. One of my close friend, always famous for his drama antics (necessary attribute for getting babes), pained us with his untimely act of being drunk and out of control. We finally got back with one bike loosing its breaks two (including me) getting some bruises on knees.

It was Mumbai, with its loads of lively 'Krishna' (Hindu God, famous for his antics with local babes on Holi) fans, so, Holi was celebrated with gusto enthusiasm in the city. Small suburbs used to have their own competition and on the day you could find many young groups strolling around with colors. Girls and boys both used to be part of these groups. Sadly, with one of the most pathetic male-female sex ratio in world, our campus had to satisfy with the small bunch of girls who used to dare to come out of their hostels. No complains, it was still a good time (after all you should use your scarce resources well).
When I went to Ahmedabad for my management diploma, Holi spirit was little bit down as people were not that open. Inhibitions due to slightly higher number of girls and seriousness of some career caring individuals; it was a small affair, limited to one rain dance party in front of girl’s dormitory. Still, it was not that bad when it was in full flow.
Now, the saddest part, I am in far southern mega town in India, which is populated by some highly intellectual people without any common sense. Holi is not even considered a holiday here. Forget Holi, many people don't even know why is 'Diwali' (a Hindu festival of light and booming sounds of crackers) celebrated. I came to office as usual, though, I was able to notice few colored faces on bikes, who appeared to enjoy there college days. I called up my home and wished them 'happy holi' but even at home it was no festival mood. Times are changing. When I visited last, everyone was too busy to plan for Holi, gone were the days when groups used to sing. Now, on the Holi, police remain on high alert as people are desperate to find any reason for fight. My town has a large population of India’s two main religions and it has already witnessed some bloody rites in past. Holi, has been become a victim of this communal tensions. As for the youths, they all have gone to big cities for their livelihood (including me). Town, now appears a black & white photograph of colored joy in past. My mother cribs that Holi is dead now. People from cities are more willing to spend their money on valentine or some father/mother day cards but playing colors is considered as non-urban and countryside ritual. It doesn't mean that they don't enjoy playing colors but the importance of this festival in our lives has gone down. It’s the same story for other Indian festivals. They are all either dead or dying slowly. Some festivals are surviving in dance performances for foreign tourists and some are supported by government’s cultural committee. We are so busy in chasing dollar dreams that we forget our own diamonds. May be some day, some foreigners will make a documentary on these lost festivals and grand Indian heritage then we will say, "ohh!! We used to enjoy like this.”

So, again on the point I was talking in first paragraph on the importance of these festivals for social unity. As a human, we have very small memory; we tend to forget that we are part of any larger group if we are not reminded of it again and again. Festival as social gatherings used to serve this. Nowadays, popular western festivals are more based on individuals or at best couples. Westerners also have their 'Christmas' which serve the same purpose as Indian 'Holi' or 'Diwali' but we Indians don't celebrate 'Christmas' that much as most of us are non-christens. We are happy to copy western non-religious festivals as these are considered 'modern'. Even westerners are not this much narrow minded in loosing their own gems for other's glittering stones. Holi is already almost gone, now limited in some hostel boundaries, other small festivals are not even in the picture. Is it a sign that our society is dissolving down to oblivion? It's still a long shot but symptoms are already here.

Labor issues in IT firms

I was just browsing through the news sites and I came upon this article about Infosys (a leading Indian IT company), "Infy likely to go through a mid-level crisis". It says that Infy is facing a shortage of mid-level employees. Percentage of employees with 3-5 year experience is decreasing, though at starting level company is hiring at unprecedented rate. Blame is given to the slowdown in 2002-03. This is not just a problem with Infy but also with other leading Indian IT companies. People don't regard them as ideal companies to work for or as aspiring place to work. With increasing number of IT players and MNC's owned ODC, competition for skilled employees was expected to go up. MNCs by entering Indian market are increasing not only the pay checks but also by their improved HR practices, raising the bar for Indian IT firms. This is already been a much talked phenomenon. The other news which made it interesting was news on CNN website. "Microsoft's labor troubles" was the heading. The causes for employee crunch were different from what listed for Indian companies but the sharp contrast was visible. Microsoft, though now being not considered as an aspiring firm to work for by techies in US, is still able to pull high skill techies in India. They are really pushing hard to increase their strength in India. Though, at managerial level Microsoft is not hiring much in India but the boost its hiring is getting is unparallel. More interesting fact is MS is hiring experienced techies mainly which previously worked for Indian IT majors. So, whereas Indian IT firms are facing mid-level employees’ shortage, MS is trying to fill it labor gap in US from hiring techies in India. In India, you still not have that many options in deciding your career. Infy and other Indian IT majors recruit freshers in bulk, so most of the engineering graduates end up in one of them. With entrance of MNCs, they have more options to choose from only after they get 2-3 years experience. MNCs which are loosing their charm as innovating firms in west are cruising to India where due to lack of other options people don't give much importance to these factors. Yahoo and Google are also hiring in India but their focus is mainly on high skilled techies (5+ years) experience. For managerial jobs, still these MNCs have not shown the will and their hiring at this level is minimal.

The expectations of western employees and Indian employees are at far end of spectrum with each other. Indian employees give very high importance to job security and firm's brand image. In brand image they don't consider if the firm is fun to work in or highly innovative but major importance is given to the fact that if the firm is financially strong enough to last long. On the same track, pay cheque become a major issue. More the company offers, more the Indian employees will be happy. Indian IT firms don't have a proper employee review system and employee being thrown out due to poor performance is a rarity. TCS (Tata consultancy services), though is trying to change this. These kinds of appraisal schemes give more emphasis on experience than person's performance. People can't move up the hierarchy without spending certain number of years in the lower level. This system is borrowed from Indian government bureaucracy which very famous for its inefficiency. This system strangles any creativity and innovativeness in their employees. Indian government system is also one of the remaining antic from colonist era. In times of British occupation, strategy makers, innovation and creativity were considered British property and Indians were not allowed in their scope. Government bureaucracy was developed in such a way that employees couldn't question the authority of their British superiors. Indian industry has retained this structure as to facilitate authoritarianism. Indian IT firms made some modifications initially to this system but as they grew authoritarianism crept in. Now, the same is crippling their growth. MNCs with their open culture and special rewards for being creative and innovativeness, provide a much better alternative to Indian techies. Though, they are not much accustomed to utilize this opportunity in a best way but time stand by them. Big salary, much higher financial strength compared to Indian players and open culture pull Indian techies out of slumbering Indian firms to MNCs. Microsoft is utilizing this talent pool in a big way and it’s the same story for other IT MNCs. They are all opening big shops in India.
But question, how long this advantage will remain with MNCs? Indian IT firms, in no way emphasize on authoritarian culture but they fail to eliminate this from their employee's mentality. Indians have very high interaction with government bureaucracy than any other system and its effect as a valid system or way of life on people's mentality are obvious. Indian IT majors though don't propagate authoritarian culture but their own culture is not strong enough to train new people joining in and impact their way of life. From this argument it’s obvious that MNCs with not so strong culture will not able to alienate from this Indian way of life. Authoritarianism will creep in their too and may snub the growth of MNC's Indian operations. Stiff competition is the only remedy which can keep firms on their toes to keep warding any negative attribute to enter their culture.
One of the major negative effects of authoritarianism is very high attrition rates in companies. Firms with this kind of culture loose their employees and difference between high level management and entry level employees become wider and wider. It’s the same happening in Infy and MS, though in different geographical regions. MS is trying to stretch itself and stay afloat by expanding in India, whereas Infy and other Indian IT majors don't have this option. China and other East Asian countries are still in their infancy in terms of IT education. In some of developed Asian countries, with their own strong markets, local firms have already passed on this stage. Though, almost all the Asian countries suffer from colonialism effect, as they all try to catch western countries by just coping their system. Japan and South Korea are example of this with authoritarianism being part of their industrial culture. Both these economies are struggling to maintain their high growth rates. Japan is loosing its own culture as more and more youths are looking to west for ideal system which can utilize their skills in better way. Pride of heritage is also getting lost as people relate heritage with the struggling economy.

Humans’ best prize their identity and when they find their identity behind the time, they loose charm in their life which further deteriorate their efficiency to stay with time. This cycle eventually eliminate lagging cultures which fail to improve themselves.