I'm Humbled

One of the best things about working at onsite is the exposure that you get in terms of all the wonderful people you get to work with. Not that you dont get to work with people at offshore..Its just that it is an entirely different crowd.


To understand the impact of it, you should know how an Indian IT outsourcing company works. Much of the IT workforce in India, is the handpicked, fresh out of college novice engineers and graduates, eager to proove themselves to the world.

Since the recruitment is an yearly excercise, each year, the workforce would see an addition of new faces, and the previous year's recruits would climb one step ahead in the ladder of seniority within the organisation.

By the time we are 3 -4 years expereinced, we become ( or at least feel that we become) somebody in the organisation. We dont attend friend's marriages saying that we have a critical delivery to make, and we are in control..We think twice about applying for a leave even when our grandparents are on their deathbed, thinking that the system would crash without our esteemed presence.

Atleast I was one among the above crowd...a certified workaholic who used to burn hours in
office, and feel as if i am an all important part of my project...

All these changed the day I landed at onsite and started working with people who had been working with the bank for 25-30 years..people more or as old as my dad .... people who set up the system from scratch..designed these huge parody of events which now is our bread n butter..

Each day is a new experience for me..There was this day when, while going through some files on my shelf, I came across hand written notes about our banking system carefully filed up..It was dated 03 -Jun-83 ..when I was jus 4 months old. The person who wrote the note is still around and working.He is such a sweetheart and after I told him this incident, makes sure to get me chocolates daily :)

Occasionaly we do have those informal round the table talks when people sit around and share their stories of the initial dyas at the bank and the starting days of the system.

There were many interesting stories shared. Among them the most memorable ones were about those days when mainframe developers ( at least in our Croydon unit) used red and green flags positioned around the offcice to comminicate that IMS was Up or Down.


And there existed a time, when there used to be only a single compiler, and people had to wait for turns with their code to get it complied.

Whew I am really thankfull at this point for the technical advancements..else i would have had to have many endless days waiting in queue :)

Yesterday as we were having our TCS christmas lunch, I was chatting with one of my old friends here.He is a gem of a man, and it was a great experience to work with him for one or two assignments. I particularly like him, because, he treats me like one little girl, and always gives me a namaste, every time I cross his path. Well in between our conversation, i popped him a question.. Mr C, How long have you been with the bank?and he says, I'm afraid I've not been here for long..just 27 -28 years.

It amazed me.It humbled me..His experience was more than my age.We who complain that we cannot continue in the same project for more than 2 years becuase we feel that our learning curve is not climbing up..should look at this man and learn our lessons. 27 years in the same bank- same system, and even now, when we Oooh and aah over his experience, he very humbly says GBS ( Global Banking System of Bank of America, for which I am currently working ) is a vast system. I dont know even 10 % of it.

Now that is called humility.

In presence of these great colleagues, I am humbled..

Being in Love

Once someone very dear to me told me that love is a mutual feeling..something that lights a spark in both minds.For me it is a singular emotion.Something that I alone feel ( or felt as it would be more appropriate.)

To love and to be loved are two different things..as I read somewhere long back. In every relationship there are two..the one who loves, and one who is loved.

For my part , I have never known what it is to be loved...offcourse I have my dear parents who literally love me to pieces, my very dear friends, and the multitude of relatives who at the very sight of me pounce on me and smother me with their affections.. But there has never been that someone special, who as theory goes, add rainbow colours to your days and dreams.

But still I have been in love..

Being in love is when you know it is not possible but you keep hoping for miracles.

Being in love is when the very thought of them brings a lump to your throat

Being in love is when you visit and revisit your memory to bring out those precious moments of togetherness, and the wonderful conversations you shared.

Being in love is when you wish you had the Alladin's lamp which would grant you just one wish...oh just that one wonderful wish..

Being in love is feeling a bit sad even at the happiest of days just beause they aren't there
to share it.

Being in love is when you strike up conversations, just for a bit of information about that someone.

Being in love is when you wake up each day, wishing that things were different and cry yourself to sleep.

Being in love is when you wish there were painkillers to sooth aching hearts.

Being in love is when chaotic thoughts fly around your mind, and you cannot harness your thoughts.

Being in love is when the pain still remains, even after what seems like eternity.

Like what Linbaba said:

Where the the end has a lot of hurt still you never can get out of it ... you exist a day more ... fight till the next morning ... maybe somewhere hate the person ...but still remain in love - Shantaram

You bet..It hurts like hell ...

Syncredibles turn 4 today

Its been four long and succesful years since i started off the stint as an IT professional... Yes it was 4 years ago this day, that the batch of 24 ( Later to be named as Syncredibles) joined the Initial Training Program of Syntel India Ltd.

In the infinitessimally cold basement training rooms, of Syntel, 21 Mount Road, Saidapet Chennai, a wonderful friendship was forged between 24 people and their 2 trainers..Great friendships..I'm proud to say, which have withstood all the Borsalino test of time and circumstances.. Great friendships, which makes all of us to reach out for one another, this particular day, to revive the memoreis of those 3 months well spent..beautiful memories, which adds colour to our yesterdays.

We had our own promo also..'Consider IT Fun'..which was a punch on the original one of the company -Consider IT Done.

Since then, I have revisited more than 1000 times,the entries made in my diary during those days. There are the first words and letters of Tamil that I learned, which Princy used to very patiently teach me.

There are the wonderful memories of womens hostel in Adayar, It's terrace and balcony, where i spent hours in the night glued to my mobile. The pizza hut in Adayar, were we used to burn our money and time...The countless trips to Besant Nagar beach..
CA realia, Quizes, last minute studies, copying, Softskills training,waiting for the project, the heartbreaks over going to Mumbai, the annual day,Final case study..Hotel Sangeetha in Adayar, where we used to have 'Blind love mixed with Honey' ( a popular icecream flavour)..
The final farewell party at the Dhabba, the big soft toy I got as my Birthday gift, our team winning the cricket match.......

When I start writing, the memories, still evergreen in my heart, come rushing in..

Over the years changes have come over everyone. Quite a few of us have quit Syntel and Joined other companies. Some are married, and some already with kids.

I was the first one to send out the group mail this year..Thought that most people would have forgotten about all that. was really surprised to hear from quite a few, that they wanted to be sending the first emails..Keep up the good spirit guys.. Let us hold those memories very dear to our heart..

Couldn't help thinking about my life as well..I feel like laughing now, when I think of the old me, who was scared of even my own shadow..I have come a long way, and Im really proud of being what I am, and what I could achieve in the past 4 years..There were lots more that could have been done, but staisfied with what I have gained.

This batch gave me some of the finest of friends, who played vital roles in shaping my destiny...
Gave me some of the best moments of my life..

However far we are, I'm thankful to God that this one day unites us together, gives us a chance to retrospect on our memories, and provides us the helping hand to plough on..
Long live Syncredibles.

Long live the Syncredible Spirit

Its a loong wait

Waiting for update from people is such a painfull thing.If there 's only a single task to be completed, its fine.Today, I have got too many of those little little totally unrelated ones to be completed and all of them pointing in every imaginable direction.

There is one report to be send out for L&D which I have been following up for ages, and just now it was send across to me sans the one column which is relevant for me.After the gentleman in
L & D UK comes up with sensible reports,I have to consolidate and send them across to my L & D counterpart in Chennai so that she can come up with learning plans devised to screw up our appraisals for the next quarter.

Then there is this weird project for which even the end users are not clear of the requirements. Almost every other call has ended in nothingness, without anyone getting even one penny worth of information.I quite belive that this one is Jinxed, like couple of other pixie projectsthat I handled.We 've had a flurry of development leads and TDM's running in and out.Now myself and S are more or less screwed to it.
We've grinded and filtered the requirements a zillion times and have packedthe dust and bits off to business for their final approval.Still waiting for someone to come up with the approvals.

Then there's this BJR for another one, that keeps creating funny unidentified reports.( For once, the JCL's are choosing to be proactive I guess).Need to follow up on that, and need to fall at the Test leads feet for the approval for Defect Tracking excel.I have already send 3-4 emails, and made couple of courtesy calls to his desk to prompt him into action, but nothing seems to be working.

Above all have commited myself to a 4 day trip to paris, for whichI should hunt and come up with documents, before the friday appoinment with the French consulate.

Over all this, I 'm having a 'Near the corridor' seat which exposes me ( and my PC) to everyone who is passing by..something not to be preferred when you dont have anything interesting to do.

I opened a mainframe screen and typed F7 F8 for almost an hour, spoke to my parents and scores of others whom I never really had a chance to speak tofor the past couple of months.There is another one hour meeting coming up and nearly 2 more hours to while away, before the day ends.

GRRRRRRRRRR..feeling angry and irritated, at having to depend on so many people to complete what I am supposed to do.

I pray for you dear Mumbai

For a long time I was not getting time to Blog..but i didnt want to be writing what I am writing today..Yes the mumbai blasts..

This was the city that housed me for nearly a year,the place were I started my Career.As every other person who has been to Mumbai knows..There is no other place on earth like this.

Right now I'm in London..One of the most happening places in the whole world, but this place doesn't have the soul, the feel, the diversity, the true spirit of living as you see in Mumbai.

Day before yesterday, India' so called financial capital saw the start of her worst moments in recent history.
A group of 20 people had freezed the city for over 60 hours combating the best of indian Armed forces.Around 200 innocent lives have been sacrificed, over idiotic ideals .This leaves me wondering....havent we had enough of this religious fanatism..

Yesterday went through the orkut profile of the slain major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. He was just another person like us, adding music videos, visiting places, enjoying life..and all that had to be brutually ended, at the hands of some unknown person.

What are we gaining out of all these. All these people who are out there killing, ..do you have a consicence, when you kill someone and deprive someone of the love that they deserve.
Do you people have a family of your own???

What do you aim to achieve out of all these..you say it is for retribution..Once you go through mental agony yourself, and know how badly it hurts, why do you go around doing the same mistake to others..
Which religion are you following that doesnt teach you to love your fellow human being..

My plea to all my brothers and sisters out there ...Dont be a fanatic. The one life you have, spend it constructively..Heaven is not someplace you go after you die. It is the same place that you are in right now and its your responsibility to create it.

To all the politicians out there..we've had enough of your crap..nothing more is needed.Take steps to protect the people who have put trust in you.

Finally salute to the brave souls who laid down thier present for our better future.You people have made a sacrifice that we ourselves cannot think of doing. To tell the truth. this one day, I am ashamed of being so away from my motherland, and doing nothing of significance to my country.

Yet am proud this day that I am an Indian. I have the strength of my Willpower to carry me through all the ordereals that life throws my way.. Long live India . Jai Hind

I AM STRESSED-A one scene drama

SCENE 1

A lunch treat for a small group of 5 ladies and a gentleman( I pity the guy).

Infact he is hosting the treat and is more or less a silent spectator.
Five ladies around a table is more than enough to rock the world..
and soon all are pitching in on one topic after the other.

Now i feel i should rightly give a background sketch of the main speakers

Lady A: the classic example of a typical call center customer.
To open an excel sheet she needs clear instructions like :

At the bottom left most corner of the screen, you see a button which
says start. click on that, and you can see a big list-> choose all programs
............. even after such a detailed instruction, she would want someone
to give her a live demo of how to do it.

Lady B : was continuously on the to be thrown out list of employees
for the past 3 -4 years, who by some quirk of fate happens to be still around.

Lady C: rightly labeled as DANGEROUS- being the captain
of the blame game team in office.

Lady D: From a far off land called India

Lady E : (a number one optimist) and Gent G( The host and a true gentleman).

D, E and G are more or less silent onlookers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start of Show

Lady A is pretty dissatisfied with how things are turning out at office.
They have wiped out an entire team of efficient people and replaced
them with an entirely new team.

The Old team while it existed took care of everything - Now the whole team
is new and after so many years in service, Lady A is actually expected to work !!!!!!!
A is right now learning that there is lot more things to actual work other than opening and
closing excel sheets. To Top that the last day she went back home to find her teenage child
waiting for her to prepare dinner....

A : "Oh..All these pressures at work is leaving me stressed.On top of that
last week, when i went home, my child was waiting for me to tell *** what to cook...
All the work in office, and then this at home...I badly need a stress break.."

D thinks of her Indian colleague who had to put in a normal 8 hour shift at work, go home to a baby son who had 105 degree fever, stay up with him the entire night ,cook and clean for the family and then come back to work again the following day, repeating the same schedule for over a week. Being Indian inevitably makes you end up with having another grown up baby for a husband. (For all the men who can take care of themselves-the above line was not meant for you).And unfortunately being a so called Contractor, not being entitled to any of these Stress leaves..... The poor thing apart from the occasional ribbing she did to her other lose female friends, never opened her mouth to spell STRESS...Or may be Stress has a different perspective in Indian terms ????

Lady B is worried about the fact that no one is thanking her for what she does(?????)

B: "After all the work 'we' did, no one ever came back with a Thank you note. Oh already in this difficult circumstances, it is so stressful that no one has the courtesy to tahnk you for what you do to them.."

( Leaves D wondering who the 'we' are ??? )

D: 'Ahem'( all the thoughts run helter skelter through D's mind only)..but no one usualy gets thanked for doing what they are paid to do. D thinks of herself and the lot more nameless faces in India, slogging with not so much a nod of the seniors heads in their directions, and to top that, all the little red circles, on the appraisal sheets for ' additional activities ' not done..When was the last time she got a thank you?...

While D is busy ransacking her brain, C has newer issues and concerns regarding the impending crisis in the banking sector.

C:" The present crisis is pretty bad...If recession goes on like this, will our salaries be cut? What will happen to all the mortgages. I feel 3 months salary as redundancy pay is not enough..Oh I do have sleepless nights thinking of all these.."

D thinks of the millions or rather billions of people in the great country called India, who have never had the umbrella of the government to depend on, in times of crisis. The millions of souls who would be having sleepless nights, coz tomorrow if the job is lost, it means they are out on the streets..

Thankfully at this point , lunch is served and the disussion moves on to the mundane daily aspects of life, the kids, partners and offcourse gossips about the managers.

But the conversations still linger on in D's mind long after wards.May be stress has different dimensions across continents . May be stress ,like beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. But somehow D felt, on that day, that her race was better equipped to handle the day's when sky falls down..coz they expect nothing from life..not even Please and thankyou, but continue to slog without ever thinking of taking a single stress leave.

The morning when everything went wrong

Whew!!!!!! glad to be back home n blogging.. today was
THE morning when everything went wrong.

7:00 AM TRRRRRRRRING..What's this outlandish
sound????

Open eyes..look around..its my mobile...says 7:00 AM -YUCK
Angry looks at it..too cold to get up..shoot one hand out and
grab mobile...more angry looks.. switch it off.

Hmm..there's still time for a half n hour nap

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..............


8:45 AM open eyes and look at alarm clock
8:46 AM rub eyes n look again
8:47 AMJump up in fright...already too late

8:53 AM Open cupboard ..look at dresses..
Why can't someone invent a simple enough dress code
for women yaar..?????

8:55 AM Grab the best bet- damn this one is also orange
Wore another orange yesterday-Who asked my mom to get me
3 orange dresses?? ????

8:57 AM Again look at alarm clock..Oh God getting too late...So
who cares if this is also orange-Im gonna wear this

8:58 AM run to bathroom..why does this place have to be so
infinitessimally cold...nyways helps me from sleeping off.

9:30 AM ready for office..oops..bulb lights up..havent done
anything for breakfast...no time to cook..

this means breaking my second resolution of eating properly
3 times a day ( first was to get up early which already stands
broken)

Hmm..not in a mood to break 2 resolutions in 2 hour span
Grab a noodles pack and drop in bag..will cook something in
office..

9:35 AM struggle to get the lunch box, and umbrella in the bag
BIG trouble with the SMALL bag..GRRRRRRRRRRRR
struggle goes on till 9:45

9:45 AM run out of house..thankfully owners are in.i dont have to
close n lock the doors

9:48 AM reach the bus stop..oho have to cross the road.. Oh no
here goes my bus...

9:50 AM manages to cross over. next bus is after 7 mins..
can still manage to reach without crossing the 10:15 mark
( This is the personal worst case deadline i have set for
myself)

9:52 AM Why are there no people around?? usually this stop is
crowded??? ..wondering why why?? ..looking around..

9:53 AM What is that yellow board over there??
THIS BUS STOP IS TEMPORARLY NOT IN USE????
Are you joking???

Oh God no !!!!!!
there are only 4 more minutes for the next bus.. RUNNNNNN to
the next stop..

usually this is an easy task, but try running on the slippery
road, in a giant winter coat and with a bag stuffed with
lunch box n stuff on your back- then youll know

9:59 AM HAPPA HA HAYYO..managed to reach the next one..Lo
bus 's coming..

10:09 AM Get down at East croydon station
Get set go (ususally a 7-10 min walk to office, but now I have
a deadline to meet)

10:15 AM On time..Haven't lowered my standards further..Whew!!!


Thankfully from that point everything went fine.Thats about the
wonderfull morning i had today. Got to log off now.
Have to eat and sleep early.Tomorrow, I have a call to attend
at 9:30 and CANNOT afford to be late.

Why do I get angry?

Why do I or we in general get angry?

Today I was supposed to send aross a completed monthly
update to my colleague back in India, for which I was
waiting for necessary updates.I had send across the
necessary emails a day back, but even then, I had to
do a lot of remindings and reminder mails to get
things done..and guess what?? at the end of it all
I ended up fuming at my colleague.

Thankfully this time there were no verbal triades..
just a few heated sessions via office communicator.
The poor target of my fury anyways had reasons for
delaying the update, coz he was held up in some
issue resolution today.

I guess I end up feeling angry, when there is some
level of expectation from my side, which is not
met..this is surprising for myself, coz i used to
be a person with the patience of a saint. Dont know,
at what point i started to change..

Depending on the level to which the person is close,
the expectation level varies.
It is a complex theorem..Expectation versus, closeness
vs understanding..

Of late whenever I catch myself boiling over any issue,
i try to do a self analysis..why am I feeling upset
/angry? and surprisingly almost always the answer is
the same..i expected things to be done this way, and
it was not..I expected someone to understand and
work proactively, but he/she did not..
i expected this..i expected that..

So who is wrong here??? Me for having wrong expectations
or others for not meeting up to my standards???

Guess its a 50 50 way out..I should be able to broaden
the spectrum of my expectation, to accomodate others,
at the same time see to it that i dont always give in
to everyone..

Well today I just did that..After I cooled off a bit,
dropped a mail to offshore stating we were unable to
produce the report, and that we will get things done
at the earliest.

If tomorrow, somebody is angry with me, I can go back
and blame them for expecting more.!!!!

The night bird

Today being a lazy saturday,and outside temperature plunging to
more depressive levels, there was nothing much to do,except
surfing the net.Came across an amazing picture of Arizona night
sky while haunting the photosites.

On seeing the vast expanse of stars spread across the inky
black sky, I am realising that I have never seen a star
after coming over to Croydon.( Except for the very few times,
I've been to my brothers place in Birmingham).

I've always been in love with the night , and the stars.

I love mornings, with all the promises of a new day.

I can tolerate lengthy afternoons.

I admire sunset and twilight when its neither day nor night
and the sky still red and fiery from the dying Sun.

I love it , when the night falls, and the stars come out.

But the time of the day that I love the most, is when it
is late at night.

I like the quiet and the peace.Its the only time of the day
when I can here my alarm clock ticking.

Back in Chennai, my apartment happened to be near the Beasant
Nagar beach.So there was nothing like peacfull nights.
But apart from the occasional police patrol vans and bikes
without silencers,it was pretty quite.

Here in Croydon, my room overlooks our garden, and the
neighbours one on the other side.Again as the houses are
far from the main road,it is pin drop silence after 8 or 9
in the night.So I get to enjoy very peacefull nights, the
silence broken only by the sound of my fingers hitting the
keyboard, my alarm clock ticking and the ocasional hiss of
the water pipe.

Its the time of the day, when I take resolutions, ( due to
be broken the very next day), cry over my troubles,pray,
think, write, read ,listen to music, scrap old friends on
Orkut,plan for the next day -in short the time when I am
myself.

I do miss the stars though.

Back in Kerala, we used to sleep out on the terrace on hot
days.I still remember those nights, staring up at the sky
and the stars, and feeling very insignificant.
I also used to have crazy dreams about how my Prince would
drop from the starry sky...all craps, but I wish i still had
the power to believe in the magic of those dreams--If ever
they came true.

There were also countless nights under the stars, in my
grandparents place, which even now is one of the few places
on earth without proper internet.Those nights used to be fun,
listening to the dogs barking in the distance, the rustle of
the winds which made us kids think that fairies were around,
the faint strains of music from the fields,where people used
to stay awake all night to guard the crops.
We cousins used to keep talking to each other, whispering
and giggling,refusing to go to sleep-finally forcing our
grandmother to get up and give us both a sound slap

I do miss those days.

B tech days in Adoor used to be even greater fun.I can
remember all the parties,Talks, frenzied last minute
studies,on the hostel terrace under the night sky.
There are also the countless excursions and campfires
to remember.I still remember the day I got the campus
placement, lying on my back on the hostel terrace
gazing at the stars and feeling on top of the world.

Even when my Career took me from Kerala to Chennai-Mumbai
and back to Chennai I never lost my love of late nights,
and stars.
The nights spent on Beasnt Nagar beach with the ILP gang.
The late night talks on the terrace of the womens Hostel
in Adayar.

In Mumbai, hostel terrace was open only till 10:00PM,
and since all lights would be switched off by 10, there
was nothing interesting to do.So I was forced to keep
aside my nocturnal habits for some time.

Second innings back in Chennai was even better, as I moved
to stay in Beasant Nagar.All my weekend nights, for the last
2 years were spent on the vast expanse of Elliots beach.
There is a collage of good and sad memories that keeps
rushing in.
One of the vivid memories is about the day when i had the
worst personal crisis of my life.Lying down on the sand,
listening to the waves crashing on the shore,staring up at
the starry sky,hot tears blurring my vision, feeling the
raw pain gnawing at my heart.

Those late night trips in cabs, from Sholinganallur to
Beasant Nagar, with only the cab driver, 3 other sleepy
colleagues,cows on the road and radio mirchy to keep me
company.

Here in Croydon, I still stay awake at night, but there are
no more starry skies.Even if we can see the sky , it is only
through the windows coz the climate doesn't not permit
sleeping out, and there are no terraces .But I still know
that the stars are out there,and I still sleep late.

Writing this down has brought up memories of lots of
nostalgic moments.
Let me go to bed now coz its too late even for the night
bird.Even though I can't see the stars, I can still think
of the starry nights, and dream of my prince galloping away
on his white stallion in the moonlight.

Start of Winter

It has started to be cold here.Last week temperature dropped
as low as -3C.Its still october. I cant imagine what it will
be like in December-Jan.
England is supposed to have the dreariest climate in winter.

I dont know which is most horrible about winter:

/Sleeping on beds with icy springs.

/Getting up in the morning and putting your foot into icy slippers.

/dreading the washing days, when you have to take out icy semi
dried clothes from the washing machine, and go out to the
freezing yard, to hang them.

/struggle with the bathroom taps to get the perfect blend
of hot and cold water in the bath tub and end up
burning/freezing myself in the process.

/countless other little little things that literally causes
a shiver to run down your spine.

Getting up in the morning and motivating myself to take a bath is
the biggest challenge that I am facing nowadays.

When I was a small kid, we cousins back in India, used to play
games where we imagined we were in some cold country and
wind was blowing outside the house n all.We used to have lots
of fun huddling under the blankets, and pretending that it was
veeeery cold ( even in the sweltering heat of India).

Now..so far away from home i am reliving those childhood
fantasies..except that i now dont need to pretend about
being cold.

Luckily we have the luxury of having a single tap for hot n cold
water.It allows you to get lukewarm water, on opening the hot n
cold ones simultaneously.In my colleagues place, they are having
separate hot n cold water taps.Yesterday,I had the laugh of my
lifetime, when he demonstrated, how he managed to brush his
teeth while shuttling hands btw hot and cold water taps.

Its ok when it rains. Somehow i feel that the cold is reduced
pretty much. But on days that are windy, it just is impossible
to walk.When it snows, it is slippery as well.

Another thing is the shorter day cycles.Its for the first time
I'm seeing Sun setting at 3:30 -4:00 PM

I've started wearing my winter coat now.With my kiddish
framework, it was pretty difficult to find myself a coat.
The one that I am having now, was given to me by my
sister in law ..pure white in colour,and reaching 2 inches
below my knee..with a high collar.Its slightly large size makes
me look funny though i dont mind as long as I am not cold.

I feel like the pathetic little characters in Oliver Twist, turning
my coat collar up high, and walking along the streets in an
oversized coat,hands in pocket head bent ,feeling the biting cold
eat into my cheekbones.

I'm still waiting to see my first major snowfall. Because its the
first time,I am pretty excited about the season..and i guess this
excitement will pull me through the months to come.Also there is
Christmas and the countless parties to look forward to.

Diwali 2008 in Croydon

Today is my first Deepavali, in a new country, and minus
new clothes..But not feeling sad..coz even thoguh you miss
the fun that you have back at home,celebrating deepavali
here is a bit of a different experience.

The Indian community here- the perfect blend of first
generation IT contractors like me, and the UK born confused
Desi's celbrate Deepavali (or Diwali) as the festival is more
popularly known in much more interesting ways.

First thing is the use of crackers. Here we do not have the
liberty of bursting crackers and most of them make do with the
you tube version of recorded fireworks..Off scourse we have
controlled fireworks here also, but not like the fun we have
back home..and with crackers costing 2 for a pound, i think
this is the better option.

New clothes and sweets and fun is more or less the same as
back in India.Here people make more of an effort to get together
and share the joy

You can definitely see an interesting mixture of customs though..
we have all the desi dances, Bhangra, and even Dandiya on Diwali
day :)

Atleast this is one occasion, when every Indian voluntarly
becomes a cultural ambassedor, and doesnt mind being an Indian
even if its just for a day.

Excellence in our work

Was realy impressed by the story regarding excellence, which I have added in the week calling.It made me sit and think, if I am excelling in what I am supposed
to do.

How many times do we compromise, on something.

Not running that extra test case to make sure that things go fine.

Notice a weird message on the screen on the last day of testing,
and choose to ignore it ,thinking ''Hmm everything is working fine
as expected in the BRD.So why should i bother''.Or ''let the user
raise it in UAT. I will fix it then.''

How many times have i assumed that things will be fine,and
ignored what I was really supposed to do?
We see so much of injustice,pollution, crime,all around us,and
all of us do sit and complain. Its all because,someone is deciding
to lower the standards just a little bit.Someone out there is
thinking twice about putting in that extra bit of effort.

Scary huh??

Well its not the civil services bad guy who is always the villain.
We are doing the same thing with our jobs. Not only when it
comes to the test cases, and project work. Every day that we
come late to office,we are lowering our standards,and creating
a bad image for our organisation.
Every day when we do not send a proper update, we are failing
to excel in what we are supposed to do.

I remember the days when I was fresh out of ILP, and working for a project in Mumbai.Being a fresher,I and another guy in my project, were given documentation work only.It was quite disappointing, as everyone comes out of ILP dreaming to be
a master coder

We used to do the works assigned, carefully, but never used to review it that much,thinking it to be some work of least importance.

And one fine day, we made a reasonably big blunder in one of the reports.

My team lead, being the nice guy that he was, did not scream at us,but sat us down and gave us a nice talk. I do not remember all that he spoke about.Half of it was all about the report , and its importance to business etc etc..
But I still remember one sentence

'You wont always get to do what you want in life. But you can always try to beth best in what you get to do. '

You would have trained to be an architect:but the first years of
your career,you will be doing nothing, but drawing straight lines
on paper.Unless you get your lines straight there,no one is going
to trust you with building plans.

If all strive for excellence in what they are doing,imagine how
wonderful this world would be.

IF - Rudyard Kipling

One amazing literary piece which holds a lot of value in todays
world of deceptions:

IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,I
f you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!--

Rudyard Kipling