Saddam, Kerala and some Protests

Finally I am going to put all the past few months junk here!!!!

“Is Saddam Hussein related to Kerala???”

I was quite shocked at this question from my German Friend….

He has learned about the violent outbursts in Kerala following the Saddam Hussein incident, from a tourist friend.

I decided to check it out myself from internet…….

“The State committee of the ______________ has called upon party cadres and units to organize protests against the death sentence awarded to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein”

I am moved by this love & affection!!!!

“In separate statements, _________ party said it would organize `torch marches' at all district and village centers”

I am damn sure George Bush might have seen those torch lights blinking and hung his head in shame, repenting for what he did!!! ….. And of course the many villages in Kerala which does not have sufficient electricity would have been lit up at least for a day

But I have a doubt…… were the torch lights not working during all the recent political scams, mass suicide of farmers due to debt....

“ ________ youth wing has decided to burn United States President George Bush in effigy”

Oops…. That’s too much for Mr. Bush to take. What will happen to his political career without the support from the youth wing of a Kerala political party!!! He is gonna shut himself up in his room in White House and weep his heart out.

“___ Party’s general secretary ____ called upon people of the entire world to raise their voice to save Saddam Hussein's life”

Yes why not… lets have a group cry (kootta nilavaili) so that the entire US gets up from sleep and wonders whtz happening…

“Kerala rose almost like a man to protest against the hanging of Iraq's former President Saddam Hussein with an afternoon hartal called ...”

That was ultimate… Heroic deed!!! One more hartal….. Yes way to go. The US citizens suffered a lot due to the Kerala hartal… Bush’s kids missed school, his wife didn’t go shopping, many companies in US lost a day’s revenue… the day to day life in US came to a halt

The hartal in Kerala must have been a real blow to the US economy!!!

Well …. That was a snap shot of the protests. This was the scenario in Kerala, but many other states would also have done their share.

Is Saddam am Martyr or a Mad man? What right does USA has to take a decision on this issue… there are lot of questions to be pondered upon; I am not going into all that

I do know India is a democratic country and every citizen has the right to express his feelings and opinions.

But what is the use of unproductive protests… just for the sake of it…. Making a joke of ourselves.

There are a lot of burning issues with in & outside our country, which can be solved if we raise our voice and act appropriately.

Meeting Menace

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings." ~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

Hmmm but meetings can be quite interesting

I got to know this during my first job, almost 1 year back.

I was then a fresh MBA grad, straight from college…….. With a lot of zest to transform/upgrade the company I work for.

My assumption was that a meeting is a great phenomenon which helps to generate ideas to transform any company to a Microsoft or GE

Almost 1 week after I joined, I got a mail informing me about the monthly business review meeting…. I felt so honored and started preparing enthusiastically for it. I eagerly went through my MBA lessons about, the Three P's of Successful Meetings: Preparation, Participation, Prioritization and started planning accordingly

It was a monthly review meeting attended by the CEO, VP’s, Sales managers and some advisory board members.

So the day finally arrived……… I came to office by early…….. And by 9.25 walked towards the meeting room, looking with lot of pity at all those who were not supposed to attend the meeting, the underprivileged ones.

The meeting was supposed to start at 9.30 and I was the only one in the meeting room. By 9.45-10-10.30 I think everyone were at their seats. The event started off…….. But very soon I realized that it was done as an unwanted chore, a mega waste of time

During my 6 months tenure there, I attended a lot of meetings and was enlightened by a lot of facts.

1. It is a good platform to sharpen acting skills. How ever bored or puzzled you are, you should not express it……… Pretend as if the mission of your life is listening to the speaker. And to add special effects you should lavishly use comments like
a) yeah, I agree with u
b) yes, very true
c) absolutely right
d) Is it? Oh interesting and so on………..

Go to every meeting that is appropriate for you to attend. Everyone knows meetings are a colossal waste of time, so use them. Never miss the opportunity at wasting time by ducking out of or avoiding meetings. Once you’re in meeting, it’s all about you. You can plan your weekend; think about the movie you watched the night before or book read recently, draw, do some creative work, dream……….. Lot of possibilities explore it.!!!

Always have a lot of documents with you, either soft or hard copy. When the speaker is talking about some number………… pretend to cross check & verify.

The one & only interesting part of a meeting is food…….. enjoy it

The most effective practice to force a speaker to finish his speech is to look at your watch frequently…….. and if this doesn’t work, you can go to the next step of bringing it close to the ear as if to check if its working properly, make sure the speaker+2 others notice this at the same time

On a serious note…….. This was not the case always. I have attended many meetings with serious brainstorming sessions, resulting in very innovative decisions. But Generally I feel we waste a lot of time in meetings and lack of results after the meeting can often be traced to poor preparation, or the G.I.G.O. Principle.

But the end note is……… good or bad, meetings are fun!!!

How I lost 3 months

Yeah…….. I literally lost 3 months of my precious life. It all started in Feb, when I was informed about a new project which I had to manage. It was a small project with team of 5 people. I was asked to dedicate half a day at my office for the new project. I was pretty happy to take it up, since it was my first assignment in the project management side.

So…….. The project started by March first week.

Actually I have been cursed my many of my friends who are in software development, whom I used to make fun of for spending 75% of their life in the office. Their curses started working and my project started growing like a Monster. Number slowly increased from 5 to 27 with in 3 weeks. (Hey on a side note, I know this is not a big deal in the industry, but for me who has never managed a team before, it was indeed a big deal) I was supposed to devote 4 hours for this work initially, but finally ended up praying to God to increase the duration of the 24 hour day. I felt betrayed, like the Great King Mahabali, who had promised to give 3 feet of land to Vamana and ended up giving earth, sky, pathala and finally himself!!!!!

I disappeared from the friends circle all of a sudden. Everybody started wondering If I have found some new love in life………. That I forgot all my friends. Everyday there was a long list of missed calls and unopened messages. I was completely shut off from everything……… The main problem I faced was, adjusting to the sudden change in routine.

Everything in my life was disorganized starting from my home almirah to my office desktop. I started enjoying the beauty of very early mornings and late nights. The person who benefited most out of all this was the house maid. I think she made a pretty good fortune……….. And by the time I realized that many small things were missing from my room, it was too late to blame anyone.

Hmmm but I learned quite a lot of things also, mainly to manage time effectively. (E.g., you can finish bath in 5 min also, I used to take 1 hour before). Slowly I started adjusting to the schedule and by May, I became pretty comfortable. An important milestone of the project was met by May last week and my work load reduced.

But Now I have a problem………. Finding too much time, and I have no clue, what to do with it. :)

There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed


I had the first middle-of -road adventure on 11th march 2006.. I have always crossed the road carelessly, jumped in front of vehicles, heard very good non-dictionary literature and phrases (the std one being have you told good bye to your parents before leaving home) .......... but always escaped somehow. But this time I was caught and that too when there was no mistake on my side.. Something like Murphy's law :-)

I was on my way to the British Libraryto return the books(btb the duedate was march 11, and i have still not returned them, so planning to apply for a loan to pay fine!!!). I usually take a bus since I am not a millionnaire yet to pay the bangalore autowallas, but on 11th saturday I took an auto......... why? coz I had to have a accident, simple. When I reached the destination, i had a chit chat with the driver, since he wanted a multiple of the actual amount(I literally had to tell him that i am not planning to buy his auto :-( )I . Anyways I won the argument but before I could get out completely, he srated off leaving me dancing to find balance. After 1-2 seconds of hi-fi gymnastics, i gave up and fell flat on to the busy road. Meanwhile another autodriver was kind enough to give me one more sweet hit. I think I became semi-unconscious , because I dont remember what happened after that. I was informed that i got up even after the second hit and walked heroically to the middle of the road to recieve my last quota from a Tata Indica(I am happy that after 2 autos , I was hit by a standard vehicle), leaving me totally unconscious on the middle of the road. The Indica passengers were really kind enough to take me to the nearby hospital.

I really appreciate their gesture........because many people wouldn't do so. They were from Jaipur, who were on a vacation.I think I made their vacation memorable, coz their bank balance was Rs.8000 less when they left the hospital after paying all my bills. They fled from the hospital as soon as they sensed the smell of my friends.

I was royally taken to the Medinova hospital @ infantry road. I was given high priority since I had a car accident and had hit my head badly. I think some 7-8 ppl attended me, giving first aid, scanning, stiching and what not. But by God's grace and the thick skin which i aquired over years, there was nothing serious. I just lost some paint , bruises, stiches .......

I went home on satuday night itself. I did not feel much problem and felt I will be alright in 2 days, unaware of what was in store for me. When I woke up next day morning, I could not move an inch and it was paining all over and my face had swollen so much that i could not even open my eyes.

My Mom came from my native place and stayed with me for a week. The best part of the accident was that I could stay with my Mom for a week, eating excellent food, after a looooooooooong time. I also got a 1 week break from my busy office schedule. And last but not the least many of my friends and well wishers called me & came to my house

I'm back at work now......... with a few signs of wear & tear. I dont know If I'm right........ But now I feel the accident was a blessing in disguise.

My experiments with paying guest accommodations at Bangalore,

When I first came to Bangalore after securing a job, I didn't have any idea as to where I can put up. Some of my friends suggested me to be a "Paying Guest" and i too found it attractive. Afterall staying as some one's guest all 365 days of an year is quite thrilling...

So i started something which can be called as a "PG hunt". The first step was getting a publication called Admag which lists details about available PG accomadations. I started off with lot of enthusiasm, accompanied by a friend. I was fascinated by the ads which i found in admag.... post modern house with all facilities:TV, fridge, 24 hours water homely food and what not!!!  I visited lot of places, but was welcomed by dirty, shabby rooms, bunker beds and a lot more :(

Finally I found a places which was neat & clean and stayed happily for sometime. Then i had to shift my job which implied that i need to find a new PG. Started off again from basics...................

I was really happy to find a good place owned & run by a lady from a affluent family. I shifted to my new place with a lot of expectations.

Then started the real drama. I got to eat some of the fabulous dishes of Karnataka, the smell of which is strong enough to put off any one's appetite. If any of you get a chance please taste them(from places recommended by me only) to get the real feel. Avalakki, pongal, uppid and lot more. ( hmmm these dishes might be very tasty actually, but our cook was specialized in spoiling any fabulous dish) This was followed by a torture of Kannada TV programs by the owner, serials which should be given awards for hitech drama and much more. Then a lot of shows depicting something like meanness(thenditharam in malayalam). Finally I was too appalled by the life as a paying guest and took up a house nearby.

Bangalore is a fantastic place, with a lot of opportunities and its cosmopolitan outlook. But I feel the PG owners in Bangalore have suddenly found a very profitable business and they are taking advantage of the situation on the non-Bangalore................

But irrespective of all the drawbacks, all the PG's have presented me an invaluable gift................... friends