Layoff in the middle of the week

That's the best way to describe it I think... Today was my last class at MsBA at U of I. But the feeling is not that of sadness. Although yes, I would ideally have wanted a little more time here, but then I guess, this is human nature to want just a little but more than what you have.

So what all did this one year education give me? For one, I am looking forward to the next step (my job) with a sense of eagerness. It is prolly through this tumultuous one year that I realized that change IS actually a part of life. And after coming 10000 kms away from home, away from family and maybe even life, well, how worse can it get :P Besides, just let go... One year with quality professors instilled this faith in me that I am now ready to move forward in life.

But yes I am gonna miss the campus, which was refreshingly different from what I knew. Add to it that Americans don't quite say it on your face, but they do consider themselves the best country to live in (umm not so sure, but nvm). With the shake up that I went through, both academically, and emotionally, I kinda have a clearer path to follow (thanks Prof Jay P Kesan)

What I do have a clear picture about is that happiness is not as defined by west :P. No matter how they paint India (or other non US/european entities) but happiness is actually where your context is... For me, it is in India... But yes, with this degree, I will go back as a better prepared person.

Thanks U of I, u did end up making me a better person. 'Loyal to you Illinois...' as goes our song...

A perfect smile

It has been a while since the last time I had that. An honest, from deep within my heart smile.

After watching this video, I got transported to that time when I used to stand at the same place as the guy who made this video. And as that moment came alive within me, I had a perfect smile :)



I don't know how many times have you done that, but almost every time I traveled in trains, I used to stand at the door, and used to let the gush of air breathe me in, as I breathed that in to me. There was a sense of freedom, a feeling of being one with God's creation... Almost like a real time movie with you in the balcony seat.
And when I traveled 24 hours in trains, I could actually see the day pass through and night settle in. I am sure in our daily lives not many times do we pay attention to this. It was simply awe inspiring the way a totally different aspect of life presented itself. As my cousin says, simple pleasures of life...

And now as I saw in the US, the train doors are closed. What they end up closing is the whole set of experiences I mentioned above. I guess whats missing here are those small openings in our otherwise packaged lives through which, every now and then we could be transformed into a totally different world. One where you could actually observe a day melt into night. Where you could watch a movie where the landscape changed its countenance every now and then. One where when it rained, you could just stretch ur neck out and feel the drops on ur face.

One where you were .... you...

The 'fish' girls

No I am not talking about mermaids. Although that is a great topic of another blog, but maybe some other time. For now I am talking about a special breed of girls who have been given prior education, most probably in convents to use a special word 'fish'.

You see, they are kinda special. You can pretty much single out the 'fish' girls out of a group very easily. They usually have very pretty face, more often than not their legs are chiseled by Michelangelo, they are interested in the same sports which you are crazy about... In short they are every thing you want. The trouble is that some times their resume has a few 'skills' far too much for your palate.

So what is this fish thing? any been-there-done-that guy will know what this stands for. In the male bastion, where there are pretty much no rules about using a particular 'f' word in a friend circle, I guess women folk kind of observe a self constraint. Add to this the general perception that girls are 'usually' the more 'appropriate' folks around and will definitely purge the group from its oral misadventures. So when a girl wants to use the 'f' word, she replaces it with a 'fish'! And they think they have kinda swept it under the carpet. What they don't kinda realize is that for most guys using an 'f' word among guys is way more exhilarating than actually trying to avoid saying it, coz now not only you are pretty, awesome and lovely, but you are bindaas, approachable and cool to be with! what a combination...

So here is the deal. Here is this awesome femme fatale, she has a very pretty face, she seems to have a good head, and boy she loves the same activities like I do, and she uses the 'fish' word too! And that's when all guys in the group begin their 'moves' to bag this prized possession. What adds fuel to the fire is that the actions are not exactly rebuked.

And there I am in the crowd, but kinda better off than other guys, and seem to have made the moves better than them. She and I have been talking for a while now, and we exxactly share our likes and sense of humor. Infact it is going soo well that her 'fish' utterances are coming out now more so often and I am reveling in the fact that she is so much one among us, that I could really think about the next step with her. And maybe a little down the road, decide upon a longer road with her too!

She is wearing a beautiful dress. (Oh! what the hell I think anything will look good on her) Although I never ever notice this stuff on girls, but even her jewelry stands out on her. Her cute little ear rings, her thin and elegant necklace just make their presence felt and simply increase the beauty I have in sight. Down in her arms, her red bangles covering just a little area, enough for them to sparkle just like her eyes, make the road I was thinking about even more impelling.
And there is a ring in her fourth right finger on the right hand.

It is then that the final 'skill' on her resume shows up. She is taken. As have all other such fish girls been in the past. As they say, that no matter how quickly you approach a 'fish' girl, there is always a faster son of a gun, smirking somewhere at you.

over a cup of coffee

On this lazy Saturday, after having done monotonous laundry, eating rather dull lunch, watching a very average movie and then taking bath, and chatting with my cousin in India, I really didn't know what to do to live rather than merely exist.

So I got up and a brewed a cup of coffee, in the most elaborate manner I was ever told, coz after all, it is a lazy Saturday! It was during the making that I realised that the coffee was indeed turning a delight. It had been a while since the last time I took my nose over the brewing coffee to fill the brewed air deep into my lungs. And with a heavy breath, I lost myself into that aroma... It smelt just right.

It was with that coffee that I came out into my balcony, just to melt into the surroundings. I guess God is smiling at me today. What I saw, felt, heard, sensed, smelt around me was as if the whole world was conspiring to invigorate me from within. There is someone playing beautiful guitar just nearby. Sun is almost about to set, and the ground in front of me has turned golden yellow. There is a cool breeze that the trees and I are swaying to. Every sip of coffee I take in simply melts away on my tongue, leaving behind its aroma... I can see coulds up in the sky. They aren't covering the whole space, and a few of them shrug a drop or two of rain on me, sometimes on my feet or sometimes on my forehead. My glasses have become moist by the vapours coming out of my cup.


It could just be the coffee playing on me, but I remembered that prayer that we were taught when we were toddlers...

Thank you God for the world so sweet... Thank you God for the Birds that sing... Thank you indeed God, for everything.

Satirical truth..

I got this forwarded email just now... Although it is a satire and overly critical of social activists, it does bring out the problems as they stand..

As Spiderman movie said, that with great power comes great responsibility, which I think the media in India grossly misuses, especially when Ekta Kapoor makes a serial on Arushi's murder even when her family is grappling with the trauma, or when half informed celebrities make their dull lives more interesting by staging protests that they do not understand the nuances of.

I guess we are developing at a rate much faster than what Indian society can swallow. For it's not about having the latest, swankiest car, it's about reaching a place on time. Or, it's not about having a nuclear family, but about giving people around you freedom of their own...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the
summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed
while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper
next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled
with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor
Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that
Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for
not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in
West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard
in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and
Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational
Institutions & in Government Services.



The Ant is unable to cope with the Reservation, and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes ,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.



Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Congress takes the credit for always caring about the AAM Grasshopeer.




Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India,

..AND


As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers,

.

India is still a developing country…!!!

Vegas Vices

First the disclaimer: Any family member should read this only at his/her own risk, and always pretend that they never did.

Man I so wish I was born at the times of Khajuraho Temples. The reason is either too obvious or it will most definitely be in the due course of this post.

All this while I was struggling to find the right way to sum up my Vegas trip. But intoxicated as I was, it was only now that I could re-gather my senses ( it took 2 days of day long business meetings to get me out of that) to come up and gather my thoughts.

The best way the whole Vegas trip can be summed up in two words is "confused dilemma". At least for me. No let me correct that. I can safely say that for a good number of people from India. Dilemma of what? You see, there is this historic side of India all Indians so proudly brandish and brag about. Well at least we think that out past was glorious (if not the present) and that we proudly follow those traditions in our daily present day lives. In one of my first blogs, I had talked about the great Indian divide. That exists between us the eligible guys and them the eligible-yet-no-where-to-be-seen girls in India, coz their fathers keep them away from us. A very well made documentary film on this by a musician called Ishq Bector is here. (go to the link only if u wanna know how Indian parents 'mind' their kids :D )

So how does this all link to each other? I mean the topic is Vegas, and I've talked about Khajuraho temples, Indian culture, contemporary Indian parents, and then the acclaimed (eh?) new age Indian musician? hehe so at least the 'confused' part of the problem is clear.

So now the other 'dilemma part'. Despite the assurance by the Americans : "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", poor Indian graduate students, who haven't even ever been to a dance bar in India ( trust me!) are left to the mercy of, shall we say 'ladies' in 'non-indian' dresses.

Have you ever observed your tongue become so long that it blasts it way out of your mouth? have you ever felt your neck crane over 180 degrees trying to help your eyes dig deep into certain things that are usually never to be seen? Have you ever had anatomy lessons in the middle of a casino? Have you ever had guys on the roads selling phone numbers of the other sex, instead of T-shirts? Have you ever sooo wanted to be behind a certain curtain, or behind a certain door that the only way you could take your mind off it is by concentrating on another similar curtain and door? How many times the truck in front of you carries a larger than life ad of something that you would want to give your right hand for? and that too at 50 Dollars an hour? :D

If all this happens in Vegas, how can a poor Indian graduate student forget it all in Vegas... But thats exactly where the dilemma starts. The point is, despite all that happening to me, I couldn't do anything but stay/stand/walk on... Call it a culture shock, or sheer cowardice, but anytime such opportunity arose, I couldn't take the dive. For better or for worse. Be it a girl asking me to merely stick my tongue out for a picture, or a guy on the road asking me to just look at the card and the picture on it, I couldn't stand up to the moment. Why? coz we as Indians aren't supposed to do that stuff!!. Damn! now I am confused.

In one of the pubs there, I was standing upright and uptight (God knows why) and just then someone brushed beside me. Her hand came into mine and she held it tight for a split second. In that moment, that split second, I sooo wished it was in Madhya Pradesh at the time of Khajuraho. Just so that I could follow my traditions and glorious past :P

Sorry! everything is reserved

In DDLJ, SRK says to Kajol's mom that shortcuts might lead to immediate results, but they are never long lasting. Instead, the longer, harder route might be time taking and more difficult, the result will always be everlasting.

So when everyone might have watched DDLJ, why am I talking about it? coz the Gujjars are now on the roads (again) demanding reservations for them. Rajasthan is in a mess, and today Delhi is under siege. whoa. It was only recently that Supreme court had allowed the OBC reservation for higher institutes of learning. Mandal was not that long ago. I still remember the day Rajiv Goswami died of self immolation. There was a time a few months back when Sardars were contesting the revoking of their minority status in Punjab!


I was talking to my cousin sister once about this, and she said that given the amount of discrimination that was dealt out to some sections of the society, it actually makes all the sense to go with reservation to help these sections.

I took that point with a pinch of salt. Not because i don't agree to that, but because it seemed to be a very short term solution to a long standing problem. A section of people were already shouting foul coz there weren't even enough seats for the 'general' population.

The amount of money allocated to education in national budget has been 3% this year . I looked up more and found out that US has approx 1/5 of our young population and spends 5 times more on education. India lags behind even latin america and carribean and east and south east asia. That leaves us with the middle east, africa and central asia... click here for more details..

All this when we are touted as the next big thing in the world. We are really being messed around beyond words by our politicos. I dunno what we should do about it, but we really must do sumthing... Something like an Indian Political services on the lines of IAS.

The point is, reservations is a very myopic thing to do especially in a diverse culture base like ours, where if we divide even only the Hindu groups, all communities will become a minority. I also remember a talk about making kayasthas (my community) and OBC somewhere... In no time all communities will begin asking for reservations and blocking roads and burning traffic lights.

The better way i guess is to make govt spend properly in education. people like us must spread awareness about this among others and force the govt (ideally and technically).

Lemme know what u think, and I will add it to this page for everyone to read..

Oh My GAWD

hehe this post was to be about my vegas trip... but that can wait..

u have to watch these videos!! I wonder why did we sell off our premier padmini car!!



and watch this



as they say, old is gold! Go Premier Padmini!!

MS Technology Management : Decoded

It might be a late night with no action in Las Vegas that has prompted me to write this, but, I wanted to put this up for many reasons..

1) Frustration
2) Information
3) Education
4) Entertainment

Like our Marketing professor taught us, I am trying to segment, and then target different audiences of this blog: prospective students for MS Tech Program, bored internet blog visitors, and fellow people looking for jobs :)

So first the history: I was working rather well at naukri.com (India's biggest jobsite), when my boss kinda motivated me to quit my job. Alongside, I was very enamored by the product team at naukri, for it seemed they had the best of both the worlds. There was also a person called Sujith Nair. He was a dynamic project manager at naukri, who was someone I usually looked up to. But being the Taurean that I am, I didn't wanna take that much time (which was anyhow short) to get to where Sujith Nair was. Simultaneously, there were these new chaps recruited from ISB into naukri at seemingly ridiculous salaries... (grrr) and above all, I wanted a change!!!

So came into picture Technology Management.  My research on the internet for Technology Management (on  edulix.com, etc ) showed me a bunch of options, including MBA in Technology Management at Berkeley, MIT, EPFL Lausanne, and MS - Technology Management at UIUC (with one year course duration). I liked MS Tech at UIUC because the College of Business was ranked at 38 in the world (financial times), the program was at UIUC (a campus which has GREAT reputation), and this was a quick one year program (so I could get to earning money sooner). At that time ISB wasn't ranked in the global rankings (now in 2012 it's somewhere around 11 in the world), and IIMs were somewhere in the 100s... (plus I flunked CAT more than once :) )

I applied, kinda after the deadline, and made it in. I was very ecstatic about it!  And then the program started... The fact that MS Technology Management was a one year program made it a very intensive course work. And before we had even unpacked our bags, we ran into our first and most critical Fall career job fair. I did my part of selling, and got interviews from many great companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook (which I couldn't attend, and it turns out to be a VERY expensive mistake :) ), Expedia, Cashnet USA, Capital IQ, ZS Associates etc, and got great feedback from all of them. It seemed they were very interested in the Technology Management program and what it had to offer...But there were 3 things which stood out after this:

1) They weren't sure about what this Technology Management program was all about, and consequently there was a confusion about what profile they wanted me for.Some even asked me 'So where do we place you'!. So some companies interviewed me for a software engineer position and some did for pure marketing... a major mismatch.

2) I wasn't prepared enough with the MBA (which is what Technology Management is wrapped around) training to handle the interviews as yet. After all, it was just 4 weeks since we had come in, and were thrown in to compete with the one year MBAs... I was given a case interview when I didn't even know what that was...

3) I wasn't prepared even for the interviews where I thought I had a good chance. It takes at least 6 months ( in my opinion) to crack interviews at top companies, and I had only 1-2 months of clueless preparation effort. What I learned from this was that you MUST find out the 'what to dos', and 'how to dos' of interview preparation. Use career services, including engineering and business, your contacts and alumni to find that out.

As the program progressed into Spring semester, the whole course started to make sense. It is a great program in terms of what it teaches us... The bigger picture of technology and its management became clearer. I could now see the business value in the code I wrote, which till now I evaluated only on how smart it was and what cool things it could do... The holistic picture of Technology from Innovation, Supply chain, Process Management or financial perspective (like how should we value a dotcom) started appear clearly.

But sadly, there were more things happening in the 'happening' world, and the problem was multi-pronged:

1) some greedy people borrowed too much money and built houses with it, and caused the sub-prime crisis. (why does it always rain on me!!)
2) The fall semester job fair was gone and spring was mostly for internships (which we don't have scope for, unless one goes out of the way and extends the program)
3) The career services department seemed as clueless about this program as the companies were :p

so 'long story short' as a speaker in marketing class said, we have to search for companies, educate the companies about the MS Technology management program, fight the recession (by praying to God) and keep looking for jobs everywhere... The final thing I realized was that this is NOT an easy job.

But with all that said, we went to HP Labs for a visit and made a presentation about commercializing a technology they had developed. They were really impressed with the multidimensional analysis of the technology we presented. So I think we are on the right track... what we need is a lil bit of hard (harder) work, and a lil bit of luck...

For all the people who want to come in to technology management stream, ( from anywhere in the world) please make sure that you have a good amount (around 5 years) of technical experience, so that u have the technology in ur head before coming here to see how to manage it. It also depends on what u wanna be after you graduate from the program (don't join this program to 'enter' the management line). Also ensure that you understand what you want from the program, coz this is NOT a regular MBA and if you want to get into finance, accounting, marketing etc, this is NOT the program for you. this is simple and pure general management with a 'technology' focus (especially at MS Technology management- UIUC). So ur expertise will still be the technology u came from. Next, use UIUC's brand image and network. Make sure u make great contacts in fall semester, coz I m not sure how many would land great jobs then. Use these contacts later when u r ready to take the technology management interviews. Job hunting is mostly going to be a year long exercise, and u must start as soon as u get here. You will get better with time, but start making those contacts as soon as possible.

Good luck. (pray the recession gets over soon)

PS: I did land a job by the end of the may :) I joined this company after my OPT was processed, rather dramatically (But that needs a blog post of its own :) )
 

Confessions of a commitment shirker

This is my dedication to all those ppl who can never get to committing to sumone and then later crib about it :D enjoy!!


I think I have never done the romantic thing
A dozen roses and a diamond ring
many times I have been peeled and pricked
but I really couldn't feel a thing...

So is that a hormonal imbalance or a psychological one?
that I just cannot settle with anyone?

from 'Boys 2 Men' to 'Alanis Morisette'
Their lyrics never really conveyed any sense
Although there were those who 'waited and waited' for me to ask them out,
but got no returns for their perseverance..

heh.. so what on earth is wrong with me?
for she ain't good enuf, whoever she be?
well on second thoughts that isn't quite true.
coz I usually repent when the moment passes through

I guess I vindicate what my teacher once said,
'Oh my child u have an empty head'.... :P


And this is what our fellow commitment shirkers added:

"There was once a time when it was commitment i was afraid of
But now it seems it was actually me the pretty ladies were scared of"

A full lifecycle

One of my fish died yesterday... I did feel bad, but since this was not the first time my fish had died, I was kinda ok with it... So I did the required thing of taking the fish (named Gabdu after the Billoo comic character) out of the fish bowl and burying it out in the ground somewhere...

And today it is raining crazy! I can actually imagine that place where Gabdu is buried, and see the rain water falling on it. slowly nature will start re-transforming Gabdu into itself and after sometime, forces in the nature will use the same matter (of which Gabdu was made) to form another fish in someone else's bowl...

Life always comes a full circle...

And we are growing the fastest in the world...

this video talks about the sorry state of our cities. In which we live under stressful conditions, and eventually die young and unhappy... But I don't think we do anything to solve this... All this when unqualified, incompetent leaders (??? really leaders?) are elected time and again and suck our blood. We do retaliate via comedians who take a dig at them. And we watch this all in our apartments on inverter generated power, and go to sleep by 1 am and get up at 7 am to leave for office early due to the traffic jam...

Did we vote the last time???

Life in exile

If I look out of the window on my right, I see two planes. One is a Continental, and the other is Air Canada. And far away, one plane is getting to taxi to the runway and the other is waiting in line... there is a Chinese American girl sitting in front of me in this waiting arena. If I turn my head up I see a lot of white heads, some Indian heads, and a few African American ones too… far away I can see a Sardar Ji trying to doze off… I think this is as international an experience as one could get.

Thankfully I carried my laptop and had just one movie. Rang De Basanti…
Maybe it’s the movie playing on my head, but right now when I look up, my shoulders become broad by themselves…

It was only recently that I imagined the time when I would land back in New Delhi Airport. And when the whiff of my air would fill my lungs… and that’s when, I think for the first time, I almost had tears in my eyes.

So why the life in exile? I guess the question automatically transforms into what is life in exile. I don’t think I can speak for all Indians abroad, but for the few who do share my thought process, I think it is about trying to test yourself in a new world. The excitement of a different culture, new education, multicolored population… in short it’s about trying out something new…

More as a side effect, what this does to you is that is gives you a totally new perspective about your own self. I wrote sometime back that I felt very responsible for my actions as they could directly be ascribed to Indians in general… it’s a lots more than that.

Kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala… the words from Rang De Basanti… I don’t think I’ve seen that fever in people from other countries. And that’s what makes the side effect a lot more than that… it is here that the complete picture of India screams out from behind the naukri.com’s ultra sleek coffee dispenser. It is here that the news of a 11 year old boy being burnt alive in Delhi pinches a lot harder than it would have, had I been in India. When the MP in Kerala yells at an airplane pilot, it feels a lot weirder now. Road rage, of which I was an integral part, now feels like an epidemic, which must be eradicated. It is here that the dirt that lies within us, although right now 10000 kms away from me, smears my face like never before.

And then when this time on Holi we put one Haldi ka Tika on each other’s foreheads, a huge rush of happiness gripped me from somewhere deep inside… that one Tika was my bond with my culture back home. A feeling that even if I am far away from my homeland, it is still inside me like a single water stream running through the heart of a huge desert, connecting it to Gangotri…

So then back to the original question. Why life in exile? Because without it, I wouldn’t have begun thinking the way I do now. Before leaving India, whenever we won a cricket match, I would say to my brother, ‘Jai Hind’. Now, whenever I read even a small article on India in any magazine, it automatically comes out. While I am making this blog on MS word, it doesn’t recognize a lot of Hindi words. Maybe other Indians like me here will learn the skills to create an Indian version of Word, where I will not have to do an ‘Add to Dictionary’ while writing ‘Sardar Ji’. Bill gates said in his presentation to senate here that India and china have a long while to go before they get the right management structure to parallel that of US. Mr. Gates, I am here to shorten that time gap.

Jai Hind

this video says that a police constable, with whatever salary he gets, gets a 100 Rupee increment in 12 years, and 200 rupee increment in 17 years...

lets do a small calculation. at my last work place my increment was around 50% (i think) and I got around 2-3 lakh increment a year, in 2 years of work. on 100 rupee after 12 years makes 1200 bucks extra after 12 years.

are you serious??? i think we spend that much in 2 weeks on fun and movies!!! no wonder there is corruption in indian police. Guys is that the salary/compensation structure of Indian police?

if with this salary these people are corrupt, i think it is justified. I might just give these guys an extra 100 bucks next time they catch me...

kabhi kabhi hi prayaas hota hai
ek komal si cheez ko paane ka
shayad hi kabhi mujhko ehsaas hua hai
ek meetthe sapne ko chhu jane ka

jisse masumiyat tapakti hai
khuda ki kaifiyat jhalakti hai
kareeb jaun to aisa lage
jaise saari kaaynaat usi mein basti hai

agar hakeekat hai yeh to kya paoon main usko?
ya door se hi usey nihaarta rahun...
kahin is pal ko kho na dun,
khud mein hi is khwaab ko nikhaarta rahun

boy!! where were these people hiding till now!
the singer in the post one below, and the one here!!!




and this one




The world is still beautiful...

Chappals not allowed in 5 star Discs in Mumbai

rofl.. (roll on the floor laughing).

So what is that all about? You cannot wear chappals in 5 star discos in Mumbai and the State Govt is setting up a committee to make sure that people do get to wear chappals in those 5 star hotels.

I still didn't quite get it.... ok if u get a designer chappal made by Rohit bal, or any such fashion super duper entity, and it goes very very well with ur dress, would you still be ok by not getting to wear it to the 5 star disc?

Or if u wear a torn out very ugly looking pair of canvas shoes (the PT ones) to a disc, should you be 'allowed' (as if what you wear should matter)?

At a conference here on 60 years of India's Independence, people were discussing that India has still not de-colonised. And thats what the govt representative interviewed by CNN IBN termed as 'angrezon ka hangover'. I think it is also about the lack of ingenuity on the part of the hotels having this self disparaging rule. Since these hotels and discs are only now beginning to be a part of the common man's daily life, these hotels haven't yet come to terms with the Indian customer, having copied the western way for style, rules, 'manners', etc..

I am sure all the hotel owners must have been very good cheaters in their school times...

Man I am falling in love with this woman...





Seems like out of this world!
Damn she seems elder to me :( (if that makes a difference that is)

When Raju Lost faith in Ganga...

Remember that movie starring Raj Kapoor, 'Jis desh mein ganga behti hai' ? Raj kapoor played the role of a guy from I think Banaras, and goes on to use his sanskar and values to transform a group of dacoits. I think the assumption in the movie was that Raju had complete faith in the values of the mother land.

Cut to Champaign in US. I have met a lot of NRIs here. Some have no traces of India in them, some still have a very thick Indian accent, some dress in ways you wouldn't imagine on Indians, and then on the other hand you would have people dressed in Salwar kameez, but as soon as they open their mouth, you get amazed at the American accent that hits your ears.

It is interesting to interact with these people, as they aren't Indians anymore, but thats what they identified as, or they identify themselves as (when they have nothing Indian in them). So in a restaurant, you would hear an Indian American talking to her American friends talking about Aishwarya Rai and saying that Indian people have beautiful names, and that Aishwarya Rai has a portugese ancestory, as Indians don't have the genes for such beautiful green eyes... Or I heard another NRI in a party saying that Indian people gang up against NRIs coz they are rich and if your car hits a person in India, they would get after you, coz you are a rich NRI and thus you should be punished for that.

I wondered, what was the reason for these people to leave India and come to US... Was it the land of opportunities, or was it something else? I was going for an interview to a Multinational company in a city in US, and my cab driver was an Indian. he said to me : 'Hope that you are interviewed by a white guy. if you get an Indian, he might ask you for money to let you in...'. Oh my God! I thought. I knew thats so not true, but that exposed me to another perception of India, that I have mostly been unaware of. That of a very common man, who still undergoes a very torturous life of subsistence living, where bribery is still the order of the day, and you have to fight for basic amenities. Indians here are either the most prosperous immigrants who live in Silicon valley or they are these poor Indians who couldn't find a place for themselves in India. Probably most of you who would read this blog from India , would invariably have come from backgrounds where we have either shut out the ugly side of India, or have created a comfort zone around it.

So why do people leave their own home country to come to such a culturally diverse land where you are mostly cut off from the main stream? I could come up with a few reasons, but this is NOT an exhaustive list by any means....

Lost faith:

One of the people I know here lost his home to a tenant, went to the courts, got nothing done for years, and then had to accept an out of court settlement, finally paid money to the tenant to vacate his house. In his words, there is no 'enforcement agency in India'. Every time I talk to him about India, I can see his hurt face. The face of a man who expected his environment to provide him with a decent living standard. Most of his words seethe with a latent anger towards the system. He got a chance to get rid of it, and he did. He lives a modest and comfortable life here.

Never had faith:

Some people here came coz they always believed that India wasn't a place for them. They prolly pick up the foreign accent most easily, curse India in everything they see, and eventually become the worst ambassadors for us. I have met these people in parties here, who would narrate their stories in India, when surprisingly all things that happen to them are bad things, and seemingly they find nothing bad in their current country of residence. (I can point out a few right here).

A special third category:

Is of the people who were born here, but were forced to remain Indian at home, and then left out in the open foreign air to convert into what we call ABCDs. These are a very special variety. Some of them would wear salwars and shirts which were in fashion maybe 20 years back, and when you see them, you would think they have just come in from a remote small town in India. But as they open their mouths, they spew out American english, with 'Oh my GAAWDs', 'This is soo kewwool' etc etc.

To a person I met recently, I had to say that India she knows and India that I come from are two entirely different countries! These people evaluate their India trip from the American perspective. So Mumbai trains are 'Sow ppphackked'. And that you have to get into a local train while it is running! (Can't you wait till it stops or till you get accustomed to it??). They are scared of lizards, and almost all lizards fall on them when they are in India (maybe coz they are NRIs and lizards want to punish the rich NRIs), and so on...

Some of the things that happened to them are real, and maybe, as Indians, we are just used to them. I was just reading the article in the Economist : "What's holding India Back", and the reasons mentioned there were pretty much on the above lines. I agree there still are differences in the standard of living here for an common man vs his counterpart in India. Maybe studying these NRIs gives us another perspective of what we need to change in our system to restore the faith Raju had in Ganga...

Why I don't wanna work for Infosys

Well that's because I don't like the Blackberry phone. The blog could end right here, but then if I don't explain it better, you would keep me in the same category as Infosians, who I dislike anyway...

So what's the big deal? It happened like this... We are a bunch of Indian students here at an American university, which is kinda considered one of the best in the world, and we feel quite proud belonging to this place.

Even more so when the job fairs happen. There are companies abound that come here looking for great talent and increase their organization's productivity. All the stalls are brightly lit and the recruiters stand outside their stalls to 'reach' out to the students, so that they could talk to them and see if they are a good fit. Even if they are not, they are more than willing to listen to you and explore whatever opportunities there could be for you. Even if it turns out that there aren't any opportunities available, you would walk away thinking that you had the best conversation you wanted to have, and too bad there weren't opportunities, but you would want to try again...

The stalls are a story in them all together. draped in their company colors, the stalls are all lit up shining bright. These people go an extra mile to get their stalls looking great for people to get attracted like a moth to fire.

So I was having a good time in the job fair, talking to different recruiters, and having a quality time there... And then I walk into this next row of stalls... this row was kinda different. It had mostly hardware and earth moving equipment companies. As I walk down through the aisle, there came this corner... the stall was blue, and it seemed that either the lighting was not done, or some of the bulbs had prolly blown away. The caption there said, 'The world is flattening.. are you ready?' hmm... when i looked around there was just one person in that stall, and just above his wavy hair, I read the name, Infosys...

The recruiter here was kinda weird. He was sitting behind the table stall and was totally screwed on to his Blackberry Phone! a few people passed in front of him, and he didn't seem to notice. I thought it might be his boss on the phone, and I would come later...

So I took a round of the hall and then went back to the stall. This time the recruiter was talking to someone. So as was the case with other stalls, I stood in line waiting. Generally, recruiters tried to give equal time to all people waiting in the line, and made sure that the line didn't feel ignored. But the guy here at Infosys, looks at me, and says 'I am talking to this person, and will take time. You can go and have a round of the hall, and come back after 5 mins.' Well, umm taken aback by that, I smiled and said, OK...

So I took a round and went back to the stall.. The chat was still going on, and now the recruiter was actually sitting on the side of his table and it seemed that it was more of a gossip mode than recruiting. And he was still playing with the Blackberry in his hands while gossiping with that kid...

'aah nevermind' I thought, and moved on to Yahoo.. By the way, I went for the final rounds of interviews with Yahoo at SF, and they have a rocking atmosphere and campus. And ofcourse, you are treated very well there...