On my terms

Everybody has them. Office friends, college friends, colony friends etc. etc. Sometimes you even go on and make these classifications in your yahoo messenger. You usually don’t mix them when you socialize. If you are out with your college friends, you would not call over the office ones. Standard protocols.

Last evening, a friend of mine told me about his set of classifications. This chap has gone a little ahead with this classification stuff. When I asked him why a particular person was missing, he tells me “it’s a separate group - the cute ones. I went out with them yesterday.”

Can you believe it?????

When I decided for myself that machine programming is what I want to do, little did I know that I would also have to serve as the global help-desk of all the relatives, non-technical friends that I have.

Ring, Ring.. Ring, Ring..

Me: Hello..
Uncle: Hey Mayank, How are you?
Me: I am fine (Come on, tell me what you gotta ask)
Uncle: Beta, we have run into a trouble. My laptop has got stolen.
Me: Hmm.. (This is going to be tricky one)
Uncle: I had my data on the hard drive (see I know quite a bit, don’t think of me like other ignorant relatives of yours who trouble you with non-sensical questions)
Me: Hmm.. (Ofcourse)
Uncle: Tell me of some technology with which I can take data out of that. I understand we can’t do much about the laptop.
Me: (OMG) So you want to retrieve data out of the hard drive of your stolen laptop
Uncle: Yea.. (Tell me, quick!!)
Me: It does give me ideas about a smart bootup application, but now that nothing of that kind is already installed on your machine, I am afraid that I have no idea about how can that be done.
Uncle: Hmm.. Come again.. (Put it simpler, your nerd)
Me: No, nothing can be done. (I know putting it that simple, I am risking my reputation)
Uncle: But you work in Adobe, right? (You useless fella!!!)
Me: Oh yea, that’s there. (Don’t tell me you are gonna suggest them to throw me out because i can’t retrieve data from a stolen machine)
Uncle: Well then, I think I will speak to a technician I know.
Me: Ok uncle, let me know if he has a solution.
Uncle: Yea, sure..

Want to hear one more, here it is.
This happened once when I was visiting a friend.

Friend: There is a problem in my machine, whatever i type appears in the reverse order.
Me: Wow!! Since when has it started happening.
Friend: It started happening yesterday. Since then it’s like almost impossible to work on it.
Me: Ofcourse, getting used to composing emails and sentences in reverse order will take time.
Friend: This is not funny dude.. Please have a look
Me: Well this looks like a keyboard issue.
Friend: I don’t know.

<we go to the machine, and he shows me typing a few words. The cursor stays at its place as you type, so of-course the words come in reverse order>

I guessed that the left arrow key of the keyboard has got stuck. I picked up the keyboard, and smashed it once. It started working fine.

Friend: (What crap!! That’s not the kind of solution i expected. It’s a computer not a bloody scooter.) Isn’t there like a better solution, you know…
Me: Sorry dude, I wish if I could have achieved this via some fancy software.

He was thoroughly disappointed :). And as you can imagine, my so called reputation went for a toss yet again.

It’s been a really long time off from my blog and my due apologies to everyone (if anyone at all) who likes reading my ramblings. A lot of things were happening around me which left me no time to write. And when there was time at hand, the thoughts were too jumbled up to be put across clearly.

I finally got married.
Raina and I tied the knot on the 8th of May last month. The wedding took place at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi in presence of the entire family and all the friends. It was a lovely experience.After the wedding, the two of us shot off for our honeymoon to Bali. I was pleasantly surprised on reaching Bali. It was far more beautiful and happening than my expectations. Highlights of Bali are the lovely white sand beaches, all sorts of adventure sports and the sea beach restraunts. Those who love water sports must not miss rafting in the Telaga Waja River. After Bali, I spent some time in Australia where Raina is currently pursuing her MBA before coming back to Delhi. For the first time, it was a pain to come back to work.

Apart from this, I was also occupied developing another mobile software that I conceptualized with a friend. However, the project had to be taken down midway, as it required assistance from the operators, and other third party vendors. Sometimes I feel I am rusting. I have produced absolutely nothing after Bluxone. It’s not about the lack of ideas I think, rather very frankly it’s the focus element that has gone wrong. High time I pull it back.

Recently, I got an iPhone for myself. I am seriously impressed with the usability of the product. One must admit that Apple has something about doing seamless design. There products run on their own. You don’t need to figure much out, and when you have to, it’s a pleasure in itself. To tell you about usability, my mom who always had a hard time figuring out how to read and write SMS on my previous Symbian phones, is now completely hooked onto playing games on iPhone (gyroscopic, in particular).There are a lot of things iPhone doesn’t do. It would not let you connect with other mobile over Bluetooth. It wouldn’t play a number of video formats, one needs to convert them for iPhone. It would not run flash content - this one is a serious disappointment. However, in spite of all that it doesn’t do, it does enough to keep you engaged. It has created a wow factor among people about using smartphones. People who never moved on beyond their Nokia 2100’s and never felt the need to do anything more than text and calls on a cell phone, are getting all worked up for getting a iPhone for themselves. Professionals who till now only used a smartphone if their company provided one, are now willing to shell out money to get one of their own. This emerging trend is doing a lot of good to not only Apple, but other phone companies as well. As more people start turning up on stores, everyone in the market gains.

On a different note, how long do you think Symbian can stay in the market if they do not do something drastic about their usability? Their developer support is already an exaggerated example of what drives away even the most perseverant developers. Let’s just wait and watch. It’s going to be an interesting battle out there.

After watching this movie, if someone asks me for a review of the film, I think all I would say is I am not good enough to review Taare Zameen Par. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the entire TZP team for making this movie. I believe that the cinema of this level will go on to educate a lot of us about things which our system conveniently ignores, and will grow us as a society.

Sometime back I read a comment in the newspaper from SRK that however good TZP may be, but Om Shanti Om would still be a bigger success. At that time, I didn’t give much of a thought to that, but now it feels that the comment posed serious questions about the intellect level of the Indian audience. Sad but true.

Since the moment I logged into my WordPress setup to write this post, I have received one email, 2 SMSes and 1 orkut scrap (Can you believe that?) wishing me an immense amount of luck and happiness in the year to come. Nothing personal - of course, my email just figures in the address book when these wishes are sent to all.

It has been a laid back day, not the best way to start the New Year but again does it matter at all. Throughout the day, this thought is coming back to me again and again that what exactly is the psyche behind sending these bulk wishes.

Do you really care for me and sincerely wish that I succeed in what I pursue? I doubt. I have received wishes from people who haven’t spoken to me in years, and are not likely to do that as well in the years to come.

Then why exactly am I getting these emails?
Some people say it’s a good way to keep in touch. I can’t figure out how. In most cases, the email would be sent to trash even without opening it.

As I am writing this, I am getting even more curious. I feel like catching some of them red-handed when they are composing these emails the next time before leaving office on a festive day and interviewing them on what exactly are they feeling at that moment. What’s the urge that makes them convey wishes to all who belong to their address book? If you have also sent one such email this festive season, please spare a moment to think about this and drop a comment with the answer you found (anonymous comments would be even better as it would become a very fair survey then).

Done my bit?

There is a friend I had. He was a very introvert person. When he felt like speaking to someone, he often dropped the idea probably because when he thought about what he would talk, how he would hold the conversation, he had no clue. He didn’t ever try.

But he never misses to send his best wishes via email on every festival.

Email is an easy medium to communicate, or rather just say what you had to say. You don’t have to worry about a lot of factors. It’s simple to shoot off an email to everyone, shut yourself up in your own closet, log on to the favorite social networking site and send a few more good wishes to do your bit. It’s a little hard to drop by a friend, spend a few good minutes to convey that you care. If you can’t drop by, call up. Have a little heart to heart, and you know for yourself that means zillion times more than that pretty email or that animated scrap.

Some things are better done the old way.
Let’s not spam, let’s communicate, and let’s take an effort to touch each other’s lives. Trust me it’s worth it.

It’s quite common to hear people cribbing about how big an idiot their boss is. Most of the times it gets passed on as a joke, or a mere small talk over drinks. What we fail to see is how this phenomenon slowly and slowly eats out the spine of the people. Mediocrity is contagious. When you work with people who don’t inspire you, when mediocrity lives around you all day long, it’s just a matter of time and you become a part of the gang.

Principles of this gang are simple and life comfortable - something you can effortlessly carry on for the rest of your life - and that’s exactly what keeps this gang so closely coupled.

• Principle # 1 - Relax
• Principle # 2 - (Show that you)Respect other members of the gang and don’t disturb them when they relax
• Principle # 3 - Wait. If your senior does not belong to the group, wait - for a few years until you get promoted and then you can start building your gang. Your senior wouldn’t anyways have much of a company
• Principle # 4 - Wait. If your junior does not belong to the gang, wait - he will join soon. A remote possibility is that he might run away - but who cares
• Principle # 5 - Maintain pace. Do things at the pace of the slowest member in the gang - gives most people more time for Principle # 1, keeps the slowest member happy
• Principle # 6 - Question. But never the rules of the gang. Always question outsiders from anything to everything. Don’t worry about sounding stupid, it’s fine. That’s the only way you are going to win over non members
• Principle # 7 - Adjust. Confrontations happen in every group. But make sure you don’t fight over anything important. It can create a chance for a non-member to win
• Principle # 8 - Feel important. Never mind if you don’t do anything important
• Principle # 9 - Exert. That frustrates non-members to the hilt
• Principle # 10 - Communicate. But only over email. That helps with Principle # 5.

Now let’s see what a few non-members talk.

Oh come on, you can’t be feeling bad about all that. You know you can’t change them. Never mind and wait for the day - the gang gates will open. [I DON"T MIND]

Wish if Mz was here, he could have distracted us from this, and we could have gone to our happy selves again. [I ESCAPE]

Yes. [ X -> the cursor keeps blinking here, hands are waiting to hear what to write]

 And then I remember a very dear friend. When we parted the last time, we said together to each other NO TALKING, KEEP WALKING - JOHHNY WALKER. And we laughed ourselves and conviction was all that we felt.

I often wonder what is it that’s so interesting about management education that now a days it’s hard to find fresh engineering graduates who are not trying to pursue it. From the sheer number of people who decide this way, it does not appear to be a well thought decision in most cases.

I understand that not everyone is excited about science and technology. But it’s kind of unbelievable that such a large share of our young talent finds banking more challenging than engineering. Is it just the moolah factor?

Are we such stereotypes? Where is the sense of identity, sense of purpose? Is it all as simple as doing what is usually done?

I am not at all trying to dissuade someone from going for an MBA, but what I am saying is it needs to be well thought of. One should be clear on why is (s/)he doing an MBA, if it is aligned with his/her goals.

The management fever has gone to such levels now that when last evening I said I wanted to cancel the program for the evening with friends because I was feeling a little tired, one of them said I know you must be appearing for CAT tomorrow. Oh common, I would not be hiding it if someday I realize that I need management education to reach closer to my dreams.

In this context, I think the offshore management colleges have a good stand. First of all, they put a bar on the amount of work experience that an applicant must have. When you work for a few years and live on your own, there is a fair possibility that you would develop a good understanding of yourself, and hence would be in a better position to choose the right path. Then the selection process of these colleges does not rely heavily on a test. They make you write your heart out on various topics to gauge the profoundness of your thoughts.

But well yes it’s not fool proof. People who are intelligent enough to get through one of the most challenging tests, are also good enough to churn out fake stories to drive home a few points.

But you know what, hota hai, chalta hai, duniya hai.

Hello folks,
Its been a long time since I wrote last, and my sincere apologies for that. It did feel good when a few friends actually called up to ask me to update my blog. So here I am. Lately so much has been happening in and out of my head that I could never sit down like this to compile a few of my thoughts.

Ramblings

WHAT A RIDE: Sachin Varma, winner of the Chivas Regal Hayabusa – Duty Free promotion 2007, enjoys riding his prize with model Sunalika Sahay
Image Courtesy: http://epaper.timesofindia.com

This is what I woke up to on this Thursday. All charged up I switched on my laptop to get the details of this promotion. For once I thought that they are offering the bike as duty free to promote it. However it was not that way. You know how it is, you see what you want to see. Any sane person would have read that line as “Chivas Regal Hayabusa - Duty Free Promotion“, instead of “Chivas Regal Hayabusa - Duty Free Promotion“.

Well none-the-less, realizing what it was I came back to the paper. Cribbing is what I wanted to do. If you look at the image, you might get an impression that the two people shown in the picture are the ones getting a promotion. Niether is Chivas-Regal there (which I dont care about), nor is the bike covered respectfully. I guess the photographer didnt have a clue of what he was doing. Otherwise he would have done a low-frontal coverage of the bike - keeping the bike in focus and the lucky chap in the background.

Work

Work has been coming along well. I have been working on building up another exciting idea. So far it’s been shaping well. Just that sometimes I feel a couple of extra hands and a brain would have done more justice to things. But I guess you got to do with what you got.

Time and again, I ask myself when will I actually launch myself. Am I getting too late, or wasting a lot of time? I really do not know. I guess what stops me at this moment is the feeling that one guy can not pull it off - may be it’s just a mental block which I need to get over, or may be it makes sense. I am not particularly sure, and that’s why I am putting it here.

If I believe this, then how long am I going to wait for building the right team, and in the first place how do you do that. You can’t just post on a forum that I am on a lookout for partners and start considering whoever responds. You would prefer to work with people with whom you have a history and you think the chemistry is good. But what if none of the people you know want to do the same stuff or the ones who do are not the kind of people you are looking for. That’s where I stand at the moment.

Then I ask myself who am I looking for? Someone who’s desperate to start on his own? No, I think who am I looking for is someone who is passionate about building stuff. First of all let’s create beauty, or let’s get close to it. Whatever is required to do justice to it would be done - be it forming a company, or be it something else.

The desperation of starting up often leads you to compromise on the quality of things you do. And that’s where I consciously try to keep a check on. I had fallen into the trap once, but now I know better.

Clock is ticking on, and now that I realize that let me churn out some code - something which I like doing best.

Sometimes I think how long can our industry work this way on a service based model. Are we waiting for the day when the dynamics, which helped us create this industry here the way it is, make it unfavorable for us to sustain.

I used to believe it’s a matter of time before we jump onto another level and establish creativity, ability and talent as our USP, as opposed to cheaper resources. However now it feels that all this time when we were celebrating and rejoicing the rise of Indian industry, some serious damage was happening in the background. Most of the people in the industry have always worked in this model, and sadly that’s the way they have started thinking as well. They have never made software out of their intrinsic fire. The motivation has always come externally, either to build a good image with the clients, or to prove their ability to their American counterparts. Even when they get delegated by their American counter-parts to develop full products they do it the way they would have done an outsourced back office operation. This is particularly relevant to the Indian operations of big companies like Microsoft, Adobe etc.

So where do we stand - in mid of a jungle of conflicting goals, mindsets and ability. How do we get out of this - I am not sure if there is a collective solution. All I know is that I have to get out of this very soon for my own self. Sometimes all these pretensions of work, fake objectives all around, fill you with so much bitterness that it flows out. I think I will preserve this bitterness - for it will keep me away from all this.

Phew..

Disclaimer : This is not for Raina to read. I am probably the last person she wants to see on the driving seat.

This weekend while driving back from Gurgaon, I was in a little hurry so I was cutting through the traffic in my own usual ways. All of a sudden I see that an Audi is desperately trying to overtake me. It took me a moment to realise that the way I was zooming past, this guy probably got a feeling that I was trying to race with him. People on the raod really get crazy sometimes. How can he even think that somebody driving a very modest Maruti Esteem would dare to race with his Audi TT. Well anyways now that he was so eager I could not say no. And trust me it was fun. My car was requesting me “Why.. Monkey why?? It’s a 3L thing, and I am only 1.3. I wouldn’t match.. “. I told her “see the traffic is on our side. Road rashes in the town are not so much about the raw engine power, its more about how crazy can you get. And for that you dont have to worry“. After this sweet little talk, she was all so eager to take it on. And I must say she is a warrior.
I won hands down. And the rest of the day was spent with head held high. Lol..