Inside my Mind

The What-If Express

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 23:24:00 +0000

One of the Animation Series I love watching is Veggie Tales. It is about limbless fruits and vegetables retelling Bible stories and life lessons. If you are not into Bible stories and life lessons, you will still love it for the silly songs, interesting plots and humor filled dialogues. I recently watched an episode titled “It’s a Meaningful Life”. It is a Christmas themed story focusing on Stewart (Larry the Cucumber). Stewart is happy with his life but a thought always troubles his mind as to what a better life it could have been only if he had caught a football in his past. And then he gets a ticket to the What-If Express. What-If Express is a train which shows you how life could have been if it had taken a different route – in the case of Stewart if he had caught the football. At the end of the train journey, Stewart must decide – stick to the life he already has or shift to the version which he regrets not having. Unsurprisingly – based on what he sees in his simulated What-If life - Stewart chooses his current life.

Why?

We all go through phases in life where we feel that life could have been much better only if we had taken a different decision or only if someone else had done something different or only if things had worked out differently in some way. Most often this decision or circumstance would be way back in the past. When we sulk and think about how great and awesome our life could have been only if things happened differently in the past, then it is time to get a Golden ticket to the What-If Express ourselves. What if you had taken a different decision. What if someone else acted differently. What if the circumstances were different.

In the parallel track of our What-If life, we will find that the situations we face will be different. The people in our life would be different. The same people who behave one way in one track will behave differently in the other track. As the train moves on, we will realize that the What-If life is not that great. In fact, in most cases it would be much worse.

By thinking about the infinite possibilities our life could have turned out to be, we miss out on the finer aspects of our current life. We miss out on our current happiness by focusing on our What-If happiness. We miss out on our current relationships by focusing on our What-If relationships. We miss the joy of paving our way through our current career by focusing on our What-If career. As Stewart realizes at the end of his journey, instead of sulking about our What-If life, it is better to enjoy the life we live and be grateful. It is a meaningful life – just the way it is.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Metamorphosis

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 19:13:00 +0000

I bought a Live Butterfly Kit for my 4 year old daughter so that she can learn and visualize the different life stages of a butterfly. The package came with a cup with 5 live caterpillars (with ample air and food supply inside the cup) and a kit to move them around as they transitioned through the different stages. My daughter was wondering “Where are the butterflies?” because there was none inside the package. During the course of 2 weeks, she learned a lot about how nature transforms caterpillars to beautiful butterflies. It also taught me about our own transformations in life. Our transformations are not always visible to the naked eye but reflects in the way we behave and interact with our ecosystem. Join me in one of the transformation journeys.

1. Munching On

During the initial days, all we could see were 5 caterpillars in a cup doing 3 things – eating, eating and eating. They were always munching on the brown solid food at the base of the cup. They were growing in size each day (or each hour). As they kept eating and kept growing, a 4 year old had the obvious question “Why are they always eating?”

During the early months of my career, I was not assigned to any customer project but only to internal projects. I was doing 3 main tasks each day – learn, learn and learn. I kept learning about new programming concepts, new programming languages and tried solving new challenges. Some learning was voluntary and some was forced by the organization I was working for. After a while, with no real exposure to an actual customer project, I asked my manager “Why am I always learning but not actively using the learning anywhere?”

The caterpillars were gathering the needs for what is required later in their life. But for someone not aware of the future, the eating and growing in size does not make much sense. Similarly, I did not know why I was learning so much early in my career. But I learnt much later that none of the learning was going waste in the future. All I was doing was preparing for my future career and projects. Every concept I learnt was put to use in some implementation or other.

Sometimes, we put in a lot of effort without really understanding why and our view of the future might be limited. From my experience, I can assure you that any learning you do is going to help in some way or the other in the future.

2. Dormant

After a few days, the now huge caterpillars moved gently to the inside part of the lid and started to hang. They started forming a J shape and became completely dormant. Soon the color and texture changed and they became completely still. At this point, any 4 year old would have the question “What happened? Are the caterpillars dead?”

In our careers, we go through “still” phases which leaves you and others wondering “What is happening?”. During this dormant phase, we may not be visible to the outside world as we curl and form a J. But deep inside, there is a transformation happening. A transformation which utilizes all the energy captured during the earlier active phase.

During this phase, the chrysalides were also relocated from the cup to a more spacious net basket. Even in our lives, we are thrown around to a different location and we struggle to find an immediate purpose behind the actions. We do realize later that it all makes sense.

After a 4 year old realizes that a butterfly is going to emerge out of the chrysalis, the obvious question every morning for the next few days was “Where are the butterflies?”. The answer, again obviously, was that we need to be patient. Blaine Pascal said “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”. It is tough for human beings to be dormant and alone. We crave for attention and the need to be “visible”. The human mind is a wonderful but dangerous thing. The only thing which will take us through this dormant phase is patience and the realization that something beautiful is coming up in the future.

3. Bright and ready to fly

Finally, the butterflies emerged. They were beautiful and colorful. And they had a new skill – they could fly. Looking back at the earlier phases – caterpillar and chrysalis – it is tough to believe the transformation. But the earlier phases were essential to the beauty and skill visible in the current phase. We released the butterflies from our balcony. They were hesitant to leave initially – maybe they were getting used to the oranges slices we were feeding them daily. But ultimately, they took the courage to fly into the beautiful vast world to start a new life on their own.

Often people look at the current success (or lack of it) of a person without knowledge of what the person had to go through in the past. Or people look at the current munching or dormant phase of a person without an idea or vision of the beautiful future. We need to remember to look at a career of a person as a whole without looking at the bits and pieces to get an idea of the bigger picture.

I am not sure what phase you are in your metamorphosis journey. Whatever be the phase, always remember that the key words are learning, patience and courage. They will allow you to fly high.

The Other Side

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Mon, 18 May 2020 16:38:00 +0000

“Are we there yet?” – the question on everyone’s mind. Is the worst phase of the pandemic over? Can we restart whatever we can restart? What would “normal” life look like as we come out of the situation? There is no concrete answer for any of the questions at this point of time. Different

countries are at different phases of reopening. Even within countries, different states or regions are in different phases. Everyone is an expert and has an idea on how things should be but the hard reality is that no one really knows what’s next.

During the month of February this year, I remember viewing a video from our colleagues in China showcasing how they are dealing with the virus and the lockdown. I admired the strength and positivity reflected by everyone in the video. Little did we know that the whole world will be in the same situation just a month or two later. The same strength and positivity was required from everyone. The first casualty in any crisis is common sense. If a crisis of a global scale hits us, common sense just seems to disappear – as evident in the disappearance of toilet papers in the stores.

The initial days were a struggle since no one was prepared for this. The daily news kept a tally of the body count. But after a while, it did not make sense. Each human life is precious. Every person who lost his/her life was a father/mother, son/daughter, grandpa/grandma, friend to someone – and to that someone, it is a irreplaceable loss. We have no reason to pat ourselves in our back even if it is proved that the number of deaths could have been higher and we managed to keep it at a lower number. Every life lost is precious. To make things worse, if that is even possible, a few people tried to earn money and fame at the cost of people who were already suffering. I do hope that there is a special place in hell for these self-centered individuals.

Gradually, people tried to see some positivity even in the middle of the pandemic. Not tracking the daily news helps to improve the mood. But what also helps is the great stories we hear every day. We found new heroes in doctors and nurses working super hard to save lives. The humble grocery store workers were putting themselves at risk to ensure that we get the stuff we need. Many donated generously whatever they could for people in need. Teachers put in their best effort to ensure that the kids get the education they need. Virtual get-togethers became the norm. I personally talked to my college classmates after 20 years and my ex-colleagues after 4 years – it makes me wonder why we did not do it before. All the positive stories we heard made us believe that there is still good in the world.

I recently saw a photo taken by Voyager 1 as it sped out of the Solar System 30 years back. Earth was nothing but a “Pale Blue Dot”. It gives a perspective of where we actually are - this is the only place we call home. There is no where else to go – even if we settle somewhere else, I am sure we will take our unwanted baggage of problematic human nature with us. In any sense, we are all in this together. We need hope and a lot of love. A hope that we learn from this experience and turn out to be better individuals. A hope that we are better prepared to handle a crisis in the future and better still, avoid one. A hope that the world will be a better place for future generations and a hope that the current generation will work towards it. A hope that love prevails – love towards every single individual. Love towards all neighbors – near and far – because we are all nothing but neighbors. Hope and Love – all that is needed to take us through this crisis to the other side. And to keep us there.

God – in times of a pandemic

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 13:15:00 +0000

I am not a religious person nor am I a person well-versed in the scriptures. I am just a fellow human being sharing my thoughts with fellow human beings. Not with an intention of swaying your thoughts towards God or away from Him, but to make your own choice.

I have been truly blessed by God in my life. Blessed beyond what I am worthy of. Blessed beyond what I have thanked Him for. There are portions of my life where I felt in control. There are portions of my life where I felt someone else was in control. There are portions of my life where I never understood why things happened the way they happened. And I still don’t understand. But I always felt and knew that He was in control of my life. He had a plan and He knew what He was doing. I tried to understand the plan but failed miserably. Then I realized that I should not even try. Whether I do my part in the plan or not, He always executes His plan. He knows the number of hairs on my head (which is decreasing by the way) but at the same time I am just a small little speck when compared to His mighty power. I always saw God as mighty but compassionate at the same time.

I never thought I will be in the middle of a pandemic in my lifetime. That was not my plan. But here I am. All round me, I see panic and more panic. In the midst of it all, people (not all) are turning towards God. A few religious leaders are trying to cash in on the fear of people. Some others are trying to explain things in a manner of “I told you so” – quoting the scriptures or even worse, quoting their own vague statements from the past. They claim that they understand God’s plan and also the next steps which need to be done by human beings. My stupid brain cannot understand most of the things which are being said. I am still stuck in the question as to why a mighty and compassionate God brought such confusion and suffering to human beings. Is it because of the sin being so rampant in the world? Is it because men forgot God? The answer is simple – I do not know.

I do know – based on my life – that He does not need man’s help to implement His plan. Any man proclaiming that he can do something to change God’s plan and making a name or money out of it is just reserving a place in hell for himself. At this point of time, we do not have to squeeze our brain to understand God’s plan. All we have to do is to do our part. Whether it is by directly helping people who are suffering or by sitting at home and seeking His amazing grace – we all have to do our part. Help your family – near and far. Help your neighbors – known and unknown. Most importantly, never forget that God is in control. We will not understand what is happening – we don’t have to. God has a plan and He is mighty and compassionate.

Take Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 23:58:00 +0000

I started my career in 2000. In those days, you leave work when you leave office. Laptops were reserved for the management team and developers had to work on computers with bulky monitors and CPU units. Work from home was not an option. Even if it had been, we had to hire movers and packers just to take our computer home. Mobile phones were not prevalent – they were bulky, had actual physical keys and you had to pay for incoming calls. The point is that you left work at the office – even if you left office late because of work. Once you are out of the building, you are out of your work clothes. Work did not follow us in a back pack or a small device with a touch screen.

We still found it tough to go on vacations. We were humble developers in an organization which had thousands of the same breed. But we felt important and a feeling that the organization and it’s customers will come to a standstill if we log off for a long time. The mind was always switched on to work.

Technological advances and the era of connectivity has made the situation worse. Enough has been said and written and preached about it. I believe that out of office replies were invented so that people feel bad as they go about setting it.

We work hard so that we can rest later. But “later” never comes till one enters eternal bodily rest. Needless to say, it is just good to switch off from work and get some rest. Everything will work just as fine without you. The organization will continue to exist. Customers will continue to complain. Old issues will get resolved and new issues will come into existence. As they say “life will go on”. To think that you have to carry the burden of the organization or the nation’s economy or the future of the Earth on your mighty shoulders without taking rest is a myth. And it is a myth which exists in every person’s mind. Take time off. Chill and take rest. You will find that some of the issues which were troubling your mind will no longer exist when you switch back on. If your mind is in the right place, you will achieve more in your sleep than in your waking hours.

And the right place is the feet of God. Place all your burdens on His feet and take some rest. Being awake and anxious is not going to help beyond a certain point. The God who gives rest will fix everything while you are sleeping.

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” – Psalm 127:2

Wisdom brightens the face

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:13:00 +0000

I started my career 19 years back. The only meetings I remember attending were monthly team meetings. Once in a while, we had an ad-hoc meeting called by our manager to figure out whether we were wearing shoes and whether our shirts were tucked in (the ideal team to start a career). But otherwise, we focused a lot of our energy in developing code. We regularly had one on one discussions among peers and the discussions were limited to the topic in hand - “Should I right align this control or left align?” or “Should I validate in the front end or backend?”.

I am sure everyone starts their career in an environment where there are few meetings. But meetings become part of life sooner than later. At some point, we reach a phase where we have 2 or 3 meetings at the same time in our calendar. Articles and even books have been written on the topic of meetings. Everyone knows that inefficient meetings take up a lot of productive time but very few have practically implemented any solution. I am not dreaming of providing a solution for the meeting headaches – simply because I do not have a solution.

Recently I was at an internal event and there were multiple sessions throughout the day. I was just a participant and tried to learn as much as possible from the sessions. Attending a specific session was optional and you can choose the topic of interest to attend. I was attending a session along with a small crowd which can be fed by 2 pizzas quite comfortably. As usual, the highly interested group was in the front rows, the slightly interested group was in the middle rows (I parked myself here) and I-just-need-a-chair-to-sit-in-dim-light sleepy crowd was at the back. 10 minutes into the meeting, the presenter decided to pause to take questions from the audience and I think he will regret this decision for the next 15 minutes.

I have been a presenter in multiple events – within my organization and outside. I have also conducted training to a diverse group of audience – from pure technical topics to functional topics to somewhere-in-the-middle topics like Design Thinking. Handling a diverse audience is a challenge – especially if the diversity is spread across multiple parameters like professional experience, levels of interest, number of emails to check etc. But there is always a person who attends a session or presentation to question the presenter or the idea presented by the presenter. That person will try to prove that he is not only smarter than the presenter but also the entire Executive Board of the company he/she is working in.

The session I was in had one such attendee. He questioned everything the presenter had just discussed and literally questioned the whole strategy of the unit we were in (he was in the same unit). But what struck me most was the poise and grace with which the presenter handled the situation. I am not sure whether I would have maintained my poise because I was fuming even though I was just sitting and listening. The person asking the “questions” was hell bent on proving that he is smarter than half the world. The presenter just stuck to the facts and at no point became personal or lost his cool. The exchange lasted 15 minutes but it felt like forever. Finally, the attendee had to agree to move on – much to the agreement of the rest of the people in the room.

The one thing I learnt during the session was not in the slide deck of the presenter. It was in the way the presenter handled the situation with the “smart guy”. I hope I will be at least half as good as that presenter when faced with a similar situation. Sometimes we learn the right lessons at the wrong place.

“Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things ? A person’s wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance” – Ecclesiastes 8:1

Parking in circles

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 03:55:00 +0000

Parallel parking is a challenge which “drives” people crazy. A few cars have the ability to park on their own. But only a few own the few cars. I am not one of them. The last time I parallel parked a car was for my driving license test. I have never done it after I received my license. It makes me wonder why it is being tested in the first place.

Nevertheless, car parking is an adventure by itself. If you are travelling to a big city for work or sightseeing, you are bound to face difficulties in finding a parking slot. Our forefathers did not see any reason to provision for parking space when they built the big cities. They didn’t have cars back then but they should have still planned for it – they are called “forefathers” for no simple reason. But innovation has led us to multi-level car parks. If you sit back and think, the very idea of parking a car in a multi-storey building sounds funny. Which statement makes sense – “I stay in the 7^th floor” or “I park my car in the 7^th floor”? Basements are for cars, not the upper floors. But multi-level car parking exists, and we use them.

We recently decided to enjoy the wonderful flowers at the Philadelphia Flower Show. There are multiple parking options near the Philadelphia Convention Center. But to be safe, I decided to book a parking slot in advance. If you sit back and think, the very idea of booking a car parking slot in advance sounds funny. Which statement makes sense – “I booked a flight ticket in advance” or “I booked a car parking slot in advance”? Nevertheless, I was confirmed a slot and it gave me peace of mind. When I reached the building, I was half expecting someone to hold a placard reading “Welcome Santosh”. There was no one – just a gate with a place to scan my proof of booking. It was a challenge getting the bar code beneath the scanner – someone with a funny bone must have designed the scanner. The only option was to get down from the car and place the bar code beneath the scanner – always a tricky thing to do when you the car is standing in an upward incline. Forgetting to activate the parking brake could be costly.

The interesting part came next - the round and round way to find a parking slot. For every floor where there was no parking slot, you have to drive through a narrow spiral taking you to the next level. This tests your driving skills and this should be part of a driving license test. Of course, to save space the spiral will be as narrow as possible. I expected a parking slot to be reserved in my name. But I had to find my own slot. In some cases, you see the reverse light in a parked car on and you stop for the parked car to leave the slot. Of course, the parked car will take its own sweet time to exit resulting in a traffic jam. If you sit back and think, the very idea of a traffic jam inside a building sounds funny. Which statement makes sense – “I was stuck in a traffic jam near the city center” or “I was stuck in a traffic jam in the second floor of the car park”. Anyways, I did park my car and we had a fabulous time at the flower show.

Recently, I had to park my car at a railway station and catch a train. I was again going in circles in the parking area – this time on a flat surface. However early I reach the parking area, there are always “other people” before me who take up all the parking slots. If I reach by 6:10 AM, the “other people” are there by 6:05 AM. If I reach by 6:05 AM, the “other people” are there by 6 AM. I was so frustrated going in circles in search of a spot that I was about to go back home and skip office. If you sit back and think, the very idea of missing office because of no parking space sounds funny. Which statement makes sense – “I missed office because I was very sick” or “I missed office because I couldn’t find a parking space for my car”? Nevertheless, I was able to park and go to office that day.

The real challenge in driving a car is not parking the car but finding a space to park it. The driving license test should test someone’s skill to find a free slot instead of focusing on parallel parking. I am sure you will agree.

Do not read e-mails

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:13:00 +0000

E-mails is the primary mode of official communication. It sometimes makes me wonder as to what people were doing for official communication before the age of e-mails. Were they sending postal mails across locations? I don't know because right from day one of my first job, I was hooked to e-mails. Initially, I resisted the temptation to keep my Inbox open at all times because I thought "real work" did not involve reading e-mails. I was so wrong because sometimes my manager would send an e-mail and come to my desk to confirm whether I read it.

After 17 years of checking mails constantly, I have learnt that it is not necessary to read all mails. Outlook is always on and I do open mails when they land in my Inbox but I do not read all of them. Fortunately, Outlook does not understand the difference between "open and read" and "open and ignored" - it just says that the mails were read.

Vacation
Free Wi-Fi in your holiday destination is not necessarily a good thing. The smart phone smartly starts syncing your mails unless you sternly tell it not to. And you should tell it not to. A good break from work is always required and it has been said a thousand times that you will be more productive after the break. Life will go one as usual in your office during your vacation - and even if something is urgent, your colleagues will find a way to manage. Chill. Relax. Forget the mails.

Out of office hours
Yes, there is life beyond office hours. Checking mails during after office hours is worse than checking mails during a vacation. Life throws small goodies at you every single day and you are going to miss them all if you have your eyes and mind glues to a list in a small device. It could be an interesting story which your daughter might be sharing or a chore which your wife wants you to do or a critical moment in that soap running and stretching in the television. If you miss them once, they are not going to happen again - except for the soap - and you are going to miss them. Enjoy the finer moments in life because Inbox has enough capacity to hold all your unread mails.

Foul mood
Never ever read or reply to mails when your mood is just not right. The world will look a very dark place in your foul mood. Black letters in a white background may look like white letter in a black background. Every single word will be poking at you to irritate you more. Do not succumb to these irritations. Leave the mails alone and vent your anger somewhere else. Better to ignore than to regret later.

When the sender does not want you to read
Sometimes the sender of the e-mail does not really want most of the recipients to read the mail. It may sound strange but the very fact that an e-mail can be addressed to multiple recipients with an option to copy even more indicates that the mail could be send to more people than intended for. Sounds strange but it is true. I have received mails where I have no idea why I was one of the recipients. It could be just for "keeping in loop" meaning that you can read it later when things turn worse but not now. Or a person could be in the recipient list just to send someone else a message - "I have informed this person and now you better take care of this". If you are one of the recipients who is not supposed to read the mail, respect the sender and avoid reading it.

Urgent but not really
I have seen people panicking like chickens when they receive a mail marked as "[Urgent]" in the subject. Multiple thoughts run around the mind to decide the next course of action. In some cases, the issue could be urgent and might need immediate action. In most cases, the sense of urgency might reflect the mindset of the sender. After a reasonable amount of time, you might get a mail stating that the issue has been resolved - the sense of urgency would have disappeared without you having to do anything. Recognize the mails that need immediate attention and the ones which don't. Be patient - sometimes this is the best solution to a problem.

I am not aware of any golden rule to handle the mails which land in your Inbox. I have seen inboxes with hundreds of unread mails - not a good situation either. The best strategy is to act smart instead of over-reacting. Most importantly, don't read all your mails.

Bang bang

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 11:35:00 +0000

Winter mornings are good. The only trouble is that they are good for sleep. And they get better during a workday. Sleep works in mysterious ways. He had to be at work at 8 and in this part of the world, the sun does not even rise completely at this time. Which meant that when he got up at 6, it was pitch dark outside except for the streetlights and the headlights of some lousy early risers.

That morning, he got up as usual at 6 and started with his morning activities - checking mails, responding to mails and deleting unwanted mails. No wonder his married wife left him - he always favored work before life. Work life balance was tilted firmly in one direction. But they did manage to bring a son into this world before going their separate ways. Strangely, the son was asked to stay with the dad. He worked a lot, earned a lot and took care of his son a lot less.

A bucket list of things was always put on hold in his life. Some stuff in the bucket were normal things like a long vacation with his son, fishing trip with his son, visit to the mall with his son, movie with his son etc. Some were not so normal things like attending parent teacher meeting for his sin, teaching the value of family to his son, giving a good bye hug to his son etc. Anything to do with "his son" was always in the list. There was always a tomorrow to strike things off the list. Maybe once he completed working to his full potential and to his full satisfaction, he will spend quality time with his son and make up for all the lost time. That day will definitely come.

That day day never came. He heard in the news that afternoon that something happened in his son's school. Something which should never happen in a school. Something which sounds terrifying - bang bang.

Fly Eagles Fly

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 03:49:00 +0000

Cricket has always been in my DNA - like most Indians. As a kid I remember waking up early in the morning, finishing all my chores including the bath so that I am not disturbed during a one day match - when they actually played it in the day. But with time, I started spending less time following cricket - even though the duration of the game was shortened with the advent of 20-20. Then I became a father - and had absolutely no time for any sports on tv.

A few months back, we were watching the evening news and suddenly my daughter - who was 18 months old then - got super excited. She loves animals and somehow she identified the eagle in the Philadelphia Eagles logo. From then on, it has become a tradition where I shout "eeeagles" whenever we see the logo and she gives out one of her excited shrieks. She even does that when she sees someone wearing the Eagles t-shirt - almost landed us in an embarrassing situation at a mall once. I even took an Eagles magnet with me when we went to India so that my daughter can still have a look at the logo.

I started following NFL because of my daughter's interest in the Eagles. I had no idea how the game is played and for the most part I still don't. But I have improved a lot and I am spending some time following the team's progress. Believe it or not - they are doing extremely well this year. I have no idea how good the other teams are but I am hoping that the Eagles make it all the way to the Super Bowl next February. Fly Eagles Fly.

I am no angel

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 11:37:00 +0000

I got into the early morning train to Philadelphia and started searching for an empty seat. I take the train to work at least twice a week and it is usually crowded. I managed to find an empty spot near a smartly dressed old lady and I was greeted with a friendly but hesitant smile. As I settled down, she got up from her seat and she started moving towards a different seat. She softly muttered that her nose is a little sensitive. I was not sure what to make of it. Is she referring to some strange smell coming from my clothes which I was not aware of? Is it the smell of the perfume I sprayed before leaving home? (remind me to sue Axe later) The longer I thought about it, the more irritated I became. Or was it something else? Is it because my skin color did not match hers? Is it because my nationality did not match hers? If so, she must be ashamed of herself. How can she treat a fellow human being this way? I would never treat someone like this. As she got off the train, I looked directly at her but she did not look at me as she had her head down - intentional or not, I will never know.

My usual nap followed and the incident was forgotten. Later that evening, I was waiting for my train at the beautiful Philadelphia 30th street station. It has those old style wooden benches which were smooth and comfortable. I noticed a poor old lady who was possibly homeless walking towards the bench. She had a dirty bag which seemed to contain some clothes and other stuff but she did not look like she was travelling anywhere. She gently came and sat right next to me. I looked the other direction and did not know what to do. I needed an excuse to move away from the lady. I quickly took out my phone and got up acting as if I had to make an important and confidential call. The entrance to the men's restroom had a full-length mirror. I saw my own reflection and it hit me – real hard. What have I done. I hung my head in shame not able to look at my own self. I am no angel.

Design - creation and evolution

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 08:10:00 +0000

"Design" is an interesting term. Tough to understand and even tougher implement. Volumes of text has been written on the subject. Some focussing on the global principles whereas others focussing on designing special aspects or focussing on specific fields. I am definitely not an expert on the subject. But I feel that the best designs can be seen in nature. Flowers which show off the palette of colours. The process experienced by a living being right from formation to its utlimate end. No human design will match the simplicity and the complexity seen in nature. Was it God's creation or evolution which resulted in such a design? Big debate and no simple answers. According to me, designers can learn from both.

Creation
God, in His infinite wisdom has designed the whole universe. He has taken care of every single aspect in His design. Which means that He has thought of a purpose for each of the things which has been designed and created. Can we imagine a world which is different from what it is now? What if the leaves were not green and the Earth is not spherical? Very few can imagine such a world. We, human beings cannot play God (or should not). What can we learn from the mind of the ultimate Designer - every single aspect which has been added to a product is added for a specific purpose. The design should reflect this simple fact and we will be left with a simple but effective product.

Evolution
Whatever be the starting point, as time passes things change. Experience results in identification of features which are not needed or features which need to be added new. The result is evolution of the design. The mindset of a designer should be open to accept feedback and to make changes. No design is perfect - even if you have considered every single aspect of usage in the first design - there is always scope for improvement. Accepting feedback and incorporating back into the product will only make the product better. Just as in nature, evolution will continue till the product becomes extinct.

To conclude, good design has to be ensured during the creation phase. An open mind during evolution will make the design better.

Shut Up

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 16:10:00 +0000

Psalm 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God". Even in the corporate world, sometimes it is better to "be still" and keep quiet.

Silence makes you stronger. I always wondered how. I am not a social kind of person. I am little introvert and I always find it tough to grab the attention of people, especially in a meeting where there are more vociferous peole around. So how come silence is powerful?

What matters is the context. It definitey does not make sense to do the hard work and not talk about it. Silence in the right context can be extremely powerful. In the corporate world, it is the situations which define the context. Some of the situations where silence could (not would) be powerful are as follows -

1. Limited knowledge
Some people have a tendency to open their mouths even if they do not have the slightest idea about the topic they are talking about. Some people are so good at it that they get appreciated as well. But this is an effective short-term success which will not last for long. In the long run, people are going to find out that what is coming out is just noise and wind and nothing meaningful. So, a better strategy would be to just listen and them make a point only after you are comfortable with the topic and you have done your own research. Better to accept the fact that you do not know everything under the sun.

2. Political Manipulation
Sometimes, questions are asked just to take a discussion in a direction which a certain party wants to go. You can call it manipulation or plain politics. It is better to keep quiet if you feel that answering a question in a certain way can influence the final decision or direction of a discussion, especially if the question is about a hypothetical situation. If an answer is requested for, an option could be to ask for time to answer rather than blurting something out. An action item in your name at the end of a meeting is not that bad because it gives you enough time to gather your composure and provide a relevant answer in a politically charged discussion.

3. No Responsibility
Not every e-mail in which you are in the "To" list has to be answered by you. If there are more than one person in the "To" list, the wise thing would be to find the topic of discussion and figure out whether you are responsible for providing an answer. Some people just answer every single mail which lands in their inbox and then complain that they have been made responsible for a number of action items. They have no one else to blame but themselves.

4. Not the right time
There is a time for everything. There is a time to speak and there is a time to keep silent. Smart people understand the time in which they are in and act accordingly. In discussions involving a group, it is better to keep quiet till the moderator provides you a chance to speak. Speaking out of turn or interrupting somebody because the words they said irritated you is not going to help. A professional environment has to be maintained with the emotions parked outside the door of the office (not easy to implement but definitely easy to preach). What helps in winning arguments is maintaining a calm posture with a smile rather than vommitting a thousand words at the wrong time.

Of course, there could be many other situations where silence is golden. The fun is in identifying the situations and making the right choice - to talk or not to.

Disclaimer - I am not a management expert. I am just someone sharing the experiences of 15 years in the corporate world.

Queen

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 07:40:00 +0000

Goodbyes are painful. Long ones are even more painful. Add late night flight into the mix and it tends to become unbearable. This is exactly the mix which Queen faced when she was about to board a flight with her husband - leaving the country in search of greener pastures. She had a huge fan following, befitting her royalty, and they arrived in full strength to express their sadness and to convey the obvious message that they will "miss her".

During the long flight to her new destination, she had the time to look back at the stuff she is leaving behind. The people were her kingdom. The memories were travelling with her but the people were not.

Five years back, she joined an organization as a fresh face - alone and tentative. But her social skills and participation in events as a dancer quickly created a fan club for her. Everyone in the campus knew her - everyone means everyone - even the gardener who trims the grass in the campus. As the number of fans grew, she felt like a queen. She needed someone to keep her on the ground. Her batchmate Coder helped her - in a rather annoying way - by reminding her of her inadequancies in the technical department. She always responded back with a piercing stare but never a harsh word in return.

She already had a boyfriend from school - explains the poor academic record. But there were rumours in office about a Dude who was also interested. There were also rumours of a decent proposal. But whatever the chemistry or the lack of it, she never changed her behaviour towards the Dude. Even when he was quitting the company, she was the one to leave him till the gate. She valued friendship more than the random words of less important people.

Her official life was briefly a living hell because of a Villain. Every person faces both good days and bad days in office. But her life was consistently filled with bad days because of the Villain. She was seen jumping up and down (quite a feat considering the amount of mass she had accumulated after marriage) when she did get freedom from the Villain.

During her first official trip abroad, she discovered a Guide. Discovered is the right word because he was with her all the way before but never was a helping guide in any imaginable way. He helped her in all the steps required not only to become comfortable with the place and but also the people. The Guide remained a guide even after her trip and played a key role in her official life.

Many many more people formed her kingdown. She was lucky to have such a group of people (as they say people with big foreheads are always lucky).

As the flight landed and she came out of the airport, she was expecting a friend to meet her. Her friend was already working in the country and she had provided some information about the country already - like the need for curtains in the most important rooms of the homes and the lack of need for top clothing in the beaches. As she met her friend, she saw a group of people who had also come with her. She felt happy again as the introductions began. The queen has moved - and the kingdom has moved with her.

Unleashing the artist within me

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Fri, 23 May 2014 04:22:00 +0000

Take a bow - the beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Thu, 08 May 2014 05:54:00 +0000

I am just a normal dog - a normal dog who blogs. As the light of my life dims, I decided to share my experiences living in the big city – the city of Bangalore. The city is home to thousands of dogs like me. Some of us live in air-conditioned rooms while others fight it out in the streets – similar to the human race.

My life started in a lane in the busy Whitefield area in an empty piece of land right next to a restaurant. The watchman of the restaurant was a kind-hearted man who took care of us. My mom trusted him. Only he had permissions to fool around with us. My mom knew that we were safe in his hands. Any other hand which came near us was shooed away by my mom’s growl and display of fiery teeth. We also felt comfortable with the watchman. I felt that I was his favorite because I spent the most time in his hands.

The restaurant had visitors of all kinds. Cars of all shapes and sizes rolled in. People who stepped out of them were also of all shapes and sizes. Most of the people had an air of superiority about them. I came to know the reason later in my life - an unassuming piece of paper called “money”. The people who came to the restaurant had lots of it. They looked down or avoided looking at others who had less money. But once in a while, a window glass would roll down and a hand with a piece of the valued paper would emerge for the watchman to grab at. Very rarely, someone would stop and smile as they hand him the money. My first impression of human beings was that they are all the same, yet they are so different. The impression lasted a lifetime.

One afternoon, I heard a lot of commotion on the road next to the restaurant. A car with blood on its tyres came into the restaurant. I did not pay too much attention and went back to playing with my brothers and sisters. That evening, my mom did not come back to us. We cried all night. But still mom not to be seen.

The next morning, the watchman was extra kind to us and gave us a good belly rub. I was happy but I still missed my mom. As days passed, we survived with the food given to us by the watchman. One day, as I was playing as usual, the watchman gently took me in his arms. He gently placed me in the arms of a young boy and before I could realize what had happened, I was inside one of those cars. A gentle hand was caressing my head and I fell asleep. Thus began my life in Bangalore – a life filled with ups and downs but still complete in all ways.

The Curious Case of ...

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 05:03:00 +0000

Almost 3 years ago I decided to buy an apartment in Bangalore. The search led to an apartment complex under construction just behind where we were staying. But (and it is a big but) there was an issue - the approach road to the apartment complex was not a road at all. It was just a stretch of mud and dust where the plants did not grow because garbage trucks, cars and cows plied on it.

The builder promised us that by the time the apartment complex is complete in 2013, the road would have come. The road has not come yet and the builder is going at a pace of one brick a day to fulfill his promise. The politicians from the hand and the lotus (no broom then) promised us last year that the road will come 2 months after the local elections and the only pre-requisite was that they should get elected. One guy disappeared because the pre-requisite was not met and the other guy disappeared because the pre-requisite was met. The road never appeared.

But I have noticed some curious cases on this road (I will continue to use the word "road" because Shakespeare did not foresee the existence of such a stretch of land on Earth). I will explain some of the cases and I will leave it to you to decipher them.

The Curious Case of Arayamma
At the beginning of the road (as you leave the main road which is actually a road), you will see a sign or two saying very clearly that this is a private land belonging to Arayamma and not a public road. Legend says that Arayamma is an old lady determined to fight a legal battle or two. But I believe that this name is an invention of a sick guy who wants to get some sympathy like those psychopaths in the social world masquearading as the opposite sex. But whoever it is, they have taken their name too seriously and filled half ("aray") of the road with the board leaving the other half for vehicles and human water waste to pass (road or not, nature always calls). Arayamma definitely knows the value of holding on to a useless piece of land. Or Arayamma sees gold where I see dog waste or two. Curious indeed.

The Curious Case of the solitary slipper
It was a rainy evening and a gentleman was walking on the road. He had just crossed the Arayamma boards which stood in a pool of muddy water and what not. He had just finished his last working day at office and was looking forward to a happy retired life with his son. Miles to go before he sleeps but still a mile to go before he reached his house. For him, the second solitary mile looked more bleak than the sleepless miles. Just then his leg slipped into a pool of water and his slipper got stuck. He received endless useless gifts on his last day at work. No one bothered to give him a pair of slippers. He had no patience to bend down and take the slipper. He threw away his other slipper and walked ahead. The slipper still lays in the middle of the road. A hundred legs, a thousand wheels and a doggy nose have gone around the slipper but it has not left its place. It stood as a testimonial to the state of the road - the untouchable.

The Curious Case of the missing tyre
The sun was beating hard on a hot summer day and the road was getting dry and dusty as ever. A car was parked further down the road from the solitary slipper. A middle aged lady was standing right next to that. You might not find anything wrong with this picture if you hadn't noticed that the car had a problem - a major one. The guideline for cars is to have 4 tyres but this one had 3. The middle aged lady was stylish and she lived in an apartment further down the road. Months of rumbling on the road had it's toll on the tyres and finally one decided to go boom. On it's place stood a temporary stand waiting for it's rightful replacement. You might still think that there is nothing wrong with this picture if you hadn't seen the expression in the middle aged lady's face. She was a picture of poise and she had a gentle smile behind the heavy make-up. A representative figure of all the people who gave up hope and resigned to the sorry state of the road and it's impact.

The Curious Case of the midnight lamp
The area has lots of PGs (Paying Guest Accomodation) and some more are coming up like fungus in stale bread. Speaking of PGs and bread, further down the road there is a bakery with a PG on the upper floors. The PG for gents was occupied mostly by guys (sorry, that was obvious but I had to mention it) who had just joined the IT bandwagon and were looking forward to a fruitful career. Not to mention the painful backaches as well. For some reason, the guys hardly slept. The bakery owner fueled the sleepless odyssey by serving them a smooth mallu chai. The lights and music were always on. Very frequently, you can hear the karaoke effect with a loud exuberant but completely out of tune noise joining the voice of the song. Maybe the stench and smoke from the burning garbage from the vacant plots keep the bachelors and the mosquitoes awake.

The Curious Case of the bouncing ball
The apartments further down the road are home to a number of families. Just like any apartment, the complex comes alive with kids letting out their spare energy by running around and playing whatever games they can invent. Every now and then you can see a teenage boy or girl kicking a football around. Sometimes a stray ball could land on the road and the stray dogs which own half the road have an amused look when this happens - "should I chase it or should I not" - that is the question on their mind. Of course, you can find such teenagers only when they are not busy doing the extremes - tuitions to guide their future or games where the future is guided by them. Also the romantic ones on the phones sometimes bounce on to the road as well.

The Curious Case of the curious eyes
A school near the end of the road ends the story of the road. I have no idea why someone chose this location but they definitely had the noble cause of imparting practical knowledge in their mind. Tiny kids come in vehicles of all shapes and sizes to the school. The kids who live in the lap of luxury get a feel of the "real" India when the bigs holes in the ground toss their big vehicles and them around. You can always see a couple of small curious eyes peeping out of the tint-removed glasses trying to figure out what is happening. The obvious question on their mind is "the teacher told me that there are white and black clouds in the sky but they never told me about the yellow cloud in this road".

What is the lesson we are teaching our kids today? To live on as if a muddy road is the most natural thing to happen or fight for our right for a better road. It is and should be the second option and we are hoping that we will have a proper road soon.

But why the curious cases and a strange title for something about a road. Two clues - first one is the story of Benjamin Button and the second one is to read the blog from top to bottom with time in mind.

Tuna Coconut Curry - my wife's recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 15:30:00 +0000

Ingredients
Marination

1 kg Tuna
2 tsp Chillie Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Lime Juice

Spice powder
Dry roast following ingredients and powder coarsely without water

1 cup dessicated Coconut
2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
Curry leaves (handful)
1 tbsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Fennel Seeds
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Red Chillie Powder
2 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder

Soak 2 to 3 pieces of kudam puli in 2 cups of hot water.

For Frying

1 tsp Mustard Seed
2 Onions - thinly sliced
2 Tomatoes cubed
2 tbsp of Ginger Garlic Paste

Method

Marinate the fish a day before using the marination ingredients.
Fry the fish and keep aside.
In another pan, start frying the mustard seeds.
Once they splutter, add the onions.
Saute them for 2 minutes.
Next add the ginger garlic paste.
Once the onions become light brown, add the tomatoes.
Add salt.
Saute till it comes to a mushy consistency.
Add the spice powder and sprinkle with some water and saute for 3 minutes.
Next add the kudam puli along with the soaked water.
Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the fresh fried fish pieces and let the mixture simmer till it comes to the consistency of gravy.
Serve hot with rice or roti (will taste best after a few hours)

Reservation

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:35:00 +0000

Reservation means “the act of keeping back, withholding or setting apart”. But there are certain types of reservation which do not fall under this definition. We have faced such reservations in our day to day life and I will shortly introduce you to the “technical terms” used to refer to some of them.

Towel Reservation
Long ago an intelligent fellow thought of using his horse carriage to take people from point A to point B since he had lots of free space in the carriage and he could make some quick copper bucks as well. People found this mode of travel very comfortable because they did not have to own a carriage of their own. As time went on, the crowd became larger and finding a place to sit inside the carriage became a challenge. Along came an equally intelligent fellow who thought of using his towel to reserve a seat in the carriage. All he had to do was throw the towel on a seat from outside through the window and the seat was his. People found this mode of reservation very comfortable because not only did they not have to draw their dagger for a place to sit but also they could use their old towels for something useful. It always had to be an old and worn out towel because the time gap between the placement of the towel and retrieving it is sufficient for a thief to make it his possession. Many a towel have been lost and very few have been found in the world of seat reservation.

Nowadays sophisticated IT professionals use their heavy bags carrying a laptop and what-not to reserve a place right next to them in the shuttle or the “red bus”. When someone tries to sit in that coveted place, you will usually hear a stern voice saying “this place is taken dude”. The humble towel reservation has come a long way.

If you are under the impression that towel reservation does not happen inside the office premises, then you have not been to the office cafetaria in a long time. A very sophisticated form of towel reservation is in practice and it is called the ID card reservation. You will find some software professionals entering the cafetaria and “proudly” removing the ID card from around their neck and placing it on an empty table. These software professionals should be levied a heavy fine and their ID cards should be confiscated till they give in writing that they will not misuse the ID card. An even more interesting variant is the use of mobile phones for the same purpose. I do not have any issues with this because someday I would need to change my phone and the software professionals these days carry very smart phones.

Always Reservation
We have to learn to live without unnecessary meetings. We also have to learn to live with unnecessary meeting room reservations. Whoever thought of the concept of recurring meetings did not think about the resource crunch this could cause. Some meeting rooms are permanently reserved till the world ends and sometimes only the ghosts of the past attend these meetings because normal mortals find the meeting rooms empty. But in a way this is good because it cuts down on the unnecessary meetings as the exercise of finding a free meeting room will probably drive the organizer crazy.

If you go to the cafetaria or a hotel at 12:30 PM, you will find atleast one table with the “Reserved” tag resting on top of it. If you go to the same cafetaria or hotel at 1:00 PM, you will find the same table with the same “Reserved” tag resting on top of it. If you thought going to the same cafetaria at 2:00 PM would make a difference, then you are making the same mistake which everyone does because it is the same. My only guess is that the ghosts of yesterday are still stuck in the meeting room and have skipped lunch. Or maybe the table has a broken leg and the only way to prevent someone sitting there is to put this tag. I am not referring to genuine reservations for our guests but the ones which are reserved and never taken.

I-also-reserved Reservation
If you are not careful enough, two towels can land on the same seat during reservation and this could lead to a conflict. The only peaceful way to resolve the conflict is to find out which towel is the one below. But in the land of peace, harmony and fasting for peace and harmony, most of the conflicts are resolved with physical force. The amount of physical force can vary from a soft shove to push the other contender aside and take the seat to a firm hit on the cheek to establish the right to sit on the reserved seat.

If you have not faced the I-also-reserved issue when you are about to enter a meeting room, then you are most probably using remote meeting technologies too much and it is time you started interacting with live people.

What Reservation
In certain parts of India, the concept of seat reservation in trains does not exist. I was passing through one such state when I was doing a course in XLRI, Jamshedpur. The seat meant for 3 people was occupied by 6 people and before I forget to mention, this was in a reserved compartment. Even though I had a proper ticket I was told to “adjust”, not even “kindly adjust”. Even my bathroom slippers were used by someone and when I wanted it back, the guy gave me a look as if I asked for his daughter in marriage. I was smarter the next time and I took the flight to Kolkata but I was a little extra careful when we flew over that particular state.

The concept of a “queue” in some places in our country is very different than what Wikipedia would say and if you think standing in a queue gives you the right to reserve a spot in the queue, then you are very wrong. There could be a hundred or more who would join the queue in front of you and most of them will have a “genuine” reason - right from “just went to the loo” (which would be the nearest transformer) to “I just came to speak to this guy who is my father’s cousin’s friend’s father’s cousin brother”. Some people just do not give a reason - they are born this way and they behave this way.

Reservation, as such, is not a bad word. It is not something which you should not speak about or discuss about. It is a beautiful concept invented by human beings (not by God) to create a sense of order and equality in this unequal word. And it is in our hands to respect and use it properly. I had to put this last paragraph in to fully utilize my reserved number of words for this article.

He and She

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:45:00 +0000

He
He was the younger of 2 children in the family. Guys who are the youngest in the family usually do one thing - rebel. And that's exactly what he did.

Class teachers in school usually define their own categories of students - students whom they love to see sitting inside the classroom and students whom they love to see standing outside the classroom. He belonged to the latter category. Homework has to be done when you are at home and the best way to not do it is to be not at home. Most of his time was spent on the streets.

College life brought its own thrills. His circle of friends mostly consisted of guys who exhaled circles of smoke from their mouth and consumed fermented liquid to keep their body temperature down. Start of the academic year brought great joy to him - not because of his thirst for knowledge but because of the opportunity to rag a fresh batch of youngsters. Some even said that a fresher committed suicide because of the humiliation. He was definitely sad when he heard about this - sad that there will be one less person to rag. Whenever he attended classes - which was very rarely - his presence was 100% physical and 0% mental. Exams were followed by results and his results always resulted in the “F” word, in more ways than one.

Bikes were his passion and he had a bike which was yellow in color - a strange color for a bike but maybe it indicated that there was a softer side in him. But even if it was there, it was miles deep down and no one outside ever got to see this. He didn’t need helmets - they are for people with soft skulls. The favorite past time of him and his other biker friends was to zoom along Fate Road. The actual name of the road was Fatehpur Road and like most road signs in this country, half the characters in the name were missing. But he liked to boast “I was zooming across the road of Fate” and he liked the sound of it. When they race along the road, the end point is usually the statue of the “unknown man” - the name because no one knows whose statue it is. But the birds treated the statue like that of any other famous personality - sit and shit - and the human beings treated the statue like that of any other famous personality - sit and spit.

Parents feel that marriage is the only way to control guys like him. As cinematic as it may sound, it is true in most cases. So they found a girl for him - a girl from a respected and well to do family. It was not easy to find a girl because of his famous presence on the streets. The girl’s parents agreed because they knew his parents and they also knew that their daughter is capable of reforming a guy like him. He was hardly interested in the marriage and he simply refused to even see the photo of the girl. But he knew that finally he will not have any other option but to marry the girl.

She
She was the eldest of 2 children in the family. Girls who are usually the eldest in the family usually know one thing - responsibility. And that's exactly what she knew.

She was the kind of student in school who would not eat for a couple of days if she did not get the first rank in any exam - even if she missed it by a single mark. Excitement for her came from solving a math problem and not from playing with friends. She was the darling for most of the teachers and the only reason why some teachers did not like her was because she was better than their darlings.

Admission to college was very easy as she had very good marks. She got the college of her choice and the subject of her choice. She was one of the college students who treat college as senior school and do not change much. But the competition was tougher and her determination to succeed even stronger. She wanted to join the software industry not because of the money but because of real passion (a characteristic very hard to find). She did get an opportunity to work for an MNC and soon she was climbing up the over-used ladder. As someone in the organization said “she was too good to be true”.

Her parents decided to arrange for her marriage and they came to know about him through a common friend. She saw the photo of the guy and of course he was handsome. But the more she came to know about him, the more she felt her hands full. She took it as challenge and she decided to reform him after the marriage. He became her fiancé.

As she was driving to work one day, her thinking was driving towards the marriage which was to happen in the next few weeks and how happy her brother would have been. She was very close to her brother and he joined college the day she joined work. It was a double delight for her parents. But one of the delights melted away very soon. Her brother committed suicide and the only complaint he had was the ragging in college. This thought process automatically increased the pressure on the accelerator pedal. If only she met the guy who did this to her brother...

Her car came to a grinding halt. Just a few seconds before, there was a loud bang and the four wheeler hit a two wheeler. A crowd of completely unrelated and jobless individuals was beginning to gather and when she saw down she saw a guy lying in a pool of blood. He was conscious - their eyes met. She recognized him. He just closed his eyes - for eternity. The shattered yellow bike was lying right below the statue of the “unknown man”.

They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.

Unarrange

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:46:00 +0000

Super markets - I always wondered what was “super” about them. Is it because of the power given to the shopper to choose? Or is it because of the power given to the shop owner to make the shopper spend more than what is in his/her shopping list? The main idea is that the shopper gets to choose what he/she wants to buy.

I have observed some strange things in super markets which I feel are happening because of the choices given to the shopper. In an ideal super market, the products are neatly organized by the categories they belong to. But super markets exist in a world which is not ideal and you could get to see products at all the wrong places. A brand like Pampers does not go well with a brand like Kohinoor even if you are thinking of basmati rice.

I decided to investigate the reason for this - is it because of the “employees” in the super market or is it because of the “shoppers” themselves? I found that it is a mix of both.

What happens when you are riding a two-wheeler back home and it starts to rain? You try to take cover under a tree. But with trees becoming a rare sight these days the next possible shelter will be under the Metro construction. But you might never know what will fall on your head once you remove your helmet. The safest alternative will be the road-side shops but mostly all places will be taken. The only way would be to park your vehicle and enter a super market. You can always roam around till the rain stops and you are in no obligation to buy anything. Such a shopper is called a “no shopper”. You just roam around and look at the products with absolutely no intention of buying anything. But if an employee catches you and asks in pre-Shakespearean English “Kaan I help you saar” or “yes madhaam”, you can try to ask for a product which does not exist – like a 1.75 litre Coca Cola bottle with a blue cap. The employee will try to search for it and will explain to you with a sorry face that they have “run out of stock”. You can leave the scene with a sad emoticon on top of your face. But if you are not smart enough and ask for a lemon drink in a bottle shaped like Mallika Sherawat, you could end up with a bottle in your hand. Now how to get rid of the bottle? Just go to a section of the super market where you can get rid of all employees and then get rid of the bottle even if it is the crockery section. Whom to blame for the orphaned bottle? I think it is the employee for forcing the shopper to do something which goes against the definition of a super market.

In some cases, you could go to a super market with a clear intention of buying something. Buying a bottle of lime pickle could be your “clear intention” but still it could confuse you in two ways. You confidently march to the pickle area and pick the first bottle of lime pickle you see. Then as you move on to the billing area you subconscious mind tells you that there was another brand available. You go back and see the other brand. You are not able to decide which brand to buy and to make things worse both brand names end with “chi”. This category of shoppers is called “brand confused shoppers”. You pick up one bottle of each brand and as you walk towards the billing area, you decide to buy one brand. But what happens to the other bottle. Just place it in a rack next to you even if the bottle is next to Lindt and Cadbury's.

Sometimes you still go with a clear intention of buying a bottle of Ruchi lime pickle. This leads us to the second category of clear-intention shoppers called as “price confused shoppers”. But then you realize that there are different shapes and sizes of bottles and you do not know which one will turn out cheaper. So you pick up 2 or 3 bottles of different sizes and do some quick or slow math and select one. What happens to the other bottles? You guessed it right. They will be sitting next to Oral-B.

Some people cannot decide whether they want something or not. So they pick up a nice T-shirt in the first floor and after reaching the ground floor, the change in atmospheric pressure will trigger a lot of questions in the brain. Is this T-shirt too tight? Is the color all right? Do I have to buy a jean for this? Is it too expensive? Do I need this T-shirt at all? These shoppers are “just confused shoppers”. After a long list of questions, if they decide not to buy it, they carefully drape the T-shirt on top of a VIP suitcase and make an exit.

By default, the world is full of chaos. The super market tries to bring some order to the products world by categorizing them and arranging them. But ultimately, they belong to the same world of chaos and it has to return to the same state. So what should be done to people who unarranged (for need of a better word) things in a super market? In my opinion, we should honour them for bringing some sense of normalcy to the super markets.

Finding old friends

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:33:00 +0000

Some people are fortunate enough to complete their schooling in a single school and have friends for life. I studied in various schools across Tamil Nadu. It was the time where there no mobile phones, we hadn't heard of Internet (obviously Facebook was a distant dream) and scrapbook used to be made of paper. Not the kind of person to keep in touch with people, I lost track of all my schoolmates in no time.

Surprisingly I have been able to get back in touch with some of them through Orkut. Yeah, I still have an Orkut account and Facebook hasn't helped me in this aspect. Last week, I reconnected with my 7th standard classmate. I saw her name in the Groups for the school alumni and instantly remembered her as she was the only Punjabi girl in the whole class. Surprisingly she also remembers me. What makes this all the more surprising are the facts that the school does not exist anymore and we studied in 7th standard 20 years back. I also reconnected with some of my classmates from 8th to 10th standard. I am not sure what will be the reaction if I were to meet them face to face. Waiting for an alumni get-together to find out.

Grindlewald Grund

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:02:00 +0000

The provider of all answers in this world - Google - says that more than 200 Bollywood movies have been shot in Switzerland. If you add the other "woods" existing in India (Kollywood, Sandalwood etc.), the number would easily cross 500. No wonder, Switzerland is such a famous tourist spot among Indians. I had the opportunity to travel to Switzerland during my recent trip to Germany.

We were three of us and we had booked a package tour. We were not surprised to find that the majority of people in the bus were Indians. I had to keep looking outside the window to avoid the feeling of travelling in a Bangalore Red Bus. We had planned to make a trip to Jungfraujoch inspite of the ultra-high cost of the ticket. What is Switzerland without snow?

Very soon, we realised that we had 2 groups of Indian tourists in the bus - the three of us in one and the rest in the other (the other group was formed purely for the sake of convenienece because I could not see anything common in them). Anyways, the "other" group did some research on the train timings etc. since our guide was more of a tourist-trying-to-be-a-guide. The Indian groups decided to leave the hotel at Interlaken at the unearthly hour of 6 AM whereas the German group (tired of seeing too much snow) decided to leave later. The tourist-trying-to-be-a-guide-who-was-sleeping was woken up and informed about this plan and he instructed us to meet him at Grindlewald station at 1:00 PM the next day.

The 2 Indian groups started from the hotel together the next morning but when we boarded the train, we lost track of the other group. The next time we saw them was at Jungfraujoch. They thought that we missed the train but the fact was that we were in a train ahead of them. They made it very clear that we have to catch the 11 AM train to go to Grindlewald. We wanted to spend more time at the top so we decided to take the 11:30 train.

At the "Snow Fun" area at the top, I met Mr.as-you-wish (the reason behind the name will be disclosed in the next few sentences). He wanted to ensure that we took the 11 AM train but I replied that we planned to take the 11:30 one. He replied back "As you wish". He was no Shakespeare to deliver the dialogue like the title of a play. He was no Shah Rukh Khan either. His expression clearly said that what he really meant was "Go to hell".

The other group took the 11 AM train and we took the 11:30 train as planned and were on the way to Grindlewald. Now there are 2 stations in Grindlwald. This we did not know before and we only came to know only after the incidents mentioned in the next few sentences (sorry, too much of German influence) happened. At the Grindlewald Grund station (which is a station before Grindelwald Main), I saw the confused-tourist-trying-to-be-a-guide running towards the train from the bus. To our surprise (which was pleasant, I should add), the bus was standing in the Grund station. We got down and to our surprise did not find our other Indian friends in the bus. They had somehow missed the bus and our assumption was that they were waiting in the other Grindlewald station.

After half an hour of waiting, the other Indian group came - sweating and panting - after walking in the hot sun (yes, it was "hot sun" in Switzerland). I should have captured the look in their face when they saw us inside the bus. Their face were full of question marks - "How did these guys reach ahead of us?", "How did they know that they had to get down at Grund?" etc. We were not ready to provide answers but they were not ready to ask either. Mr.as-you-wish hardly looked us in the face.

Remember, always do what you think is correct (of course, after analyzing the facts). Do not worry about the Mr.as-you-wish's. They come and they go. But when you reach your "Grund", you might be mightily happy and others would be equally surprised and ashamed. Enough gyan.

Where am I?

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:12:00 +0000

"Tell me about yourself"

noreply@blogger.com (Santo) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:49:00 +0000

An interview usually starts with the question - "Tell me about yourself". The first candidate literally vomitted whatever was written in the resume (which we already had in our hands). So I had to modify the question to "Tell me about yourself which is not mentioned in this resume". This confused almost all the candidates - who were really well prepared to answer the first question and not the modified one - and they came up with some really weird answers. Some of them are documented here for your reading pleasure.

1. "I am a hard worker"
I am yet to meet a single person who said that he/she is not a hard worker. One guy, whose English was as broken as a politician's promise, even said that he "works hardly". I had to suppress a smile which could have evolved into a laughter. Another lady came up with an instance where she was sick during the final semester and still she "worked hard" to be among the top three. Her effort had to be appreciated but the answer to my next question was not smart. The next question was "which is important - health or career?". She promptly replied "career". Maybe she was saying the truth or maybe she wanted to impress me. As a sensible human being, health comes first, not career.

2. "Any problem, I Google"
A very enterprising young guy said that if faced with a problem the first thing he will do is Google. Google should be very happy with such sincere end-users. I am not sure how he will survive if there is no Internet connectivity. Imagine he is driving his two-wheeler in a deserted road when the sun has disappeared and going to a place he is not familiar with. He has to get directions but unfortunately he cannot Google. Suddenly, he sees a lone guy walking along the side of the road. What will he ask the guy? The options are
(a) How do I go to Talakare?
(b) Where can I access Google?
I am sure he will choose option b and get lost from the face of this Earth (or Google Earth in this case)

3. "My main feature is my smile"
As soon as you read this, you could imagine a cute smiley. But this was far from reality. The guy never smiled during the course of the whole interview. He was a nervous wreck and most of the time was busy mixing up words with comical end results. For example, when asked about his hobbies he answered "I like to go for long bikes in my drive". Being a nervous wreck myself when I attend interviews, I was a little sympathetic but his introductory statement set high standards and finally it resulted in a nervous and confused smiley.

4. "The programming language I am comfortable with is English"
This guy was extremely confident and completely incompetent. Usually, you don't read a statement like the one before but unfortunately this was true. The question was about programming languages and the answer was about speaking languages. What can you do other than roll in the floor laughing. But I guess he literally meant that because he couldn't answer any of the technical questions. His English was not that good either.

Taking interviews is a frustrating process. You have to spend time and in the end of it, if you have to tick a checkbox saying "Do not hire" you do not feel a sense of accomplishment but instead you feel a sense of disappointment. But the answers like the ones above make the experience entertaining (needless to say none of the folks who gave the above answers were selected)