This Day, That Year…

The year was 2002. The day was November 18. And I had just woken up into a warm Monday morning cooled by the humming Air Conditioners within the confines of my room at Hotel Poonja International in Mangalore. I lay motionless in the bed listening to my watch ticking the seconds off counting down to the biggest moment of my then life – the first day of work. Hours later, I would start nervously, clad in my new shirt, new trouser, new tie, new shoes and new socks, almost spill a drop of sambhar on my trouser, and take the elevator down to catch the bus to work. To Work! How awfully strange it sounded on that day to say I was going to ‘Work’!

It felt so much like a newborn baby, with nary an idea what to expect out of a career – except that, it should be ‘great’. The nervous pride of beginning a career in a dream company overshadowed the nostalgic memories that were being created in those very minutes. It was still like good ol’ college days, and the first few weeks of training meant I would continue to pour over notes and write exams and wait for results. The 90-member class room – where I always sat in the last row – seemed just another extension of the college-day classes.

And when one such session was in progress we were told not to call the instructors ‘sir’ like we were so used to calling the college professors, but to call them by name; it was the corporate culture, after all. “Welcome to the corporate world”, one of the instructors had told us with an ironic smirk on his face. Life was never going to be the same again.

Well, it never was. Five years later, today, there is just the sepia tinted pictures of those days etched in memory. I do continue to work for the same company where my career was born on this day and brought up this far; where I grew from an anxious kid into the stuff that adulthood is made of. Today, I know why it’s hard to write software, why they call customer the king, and why they taught stress management in college. I know age and energy are inversely proportional, and, needs and responsibilities increase with income. And I also know that choosing the seat next to the emergency exit gives you the maximum leg room in flights.

So five years, it has been. Enough time for a newborn to go to school. And that’s how long it has been since my professional life was born. A stutter here and a stumble there, but it has kept moving nevertheless.

We, The Bloggers

“We take your fun seriously”. The caption of BrewHaha was apt to describe the meeting of Bangalore Bloggers. Over forty bloggers from varied professional backgrounds, some with a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (one of them actually queued at Blossoms even before the sun rose for the day) tucked under their arms and a jubilant smirk on their face, made themselves comfortable over bean bags, low-rise chairs, carpets and designer pillows that flanked across the floor at BrewHaHa on a bright Saturday afternoon.

Bangalore Mirror covered the meet in its July 23 edition

It was exciting to see a number of faces hitherto known only by the words in their blogs, including a number of fellow Desicritics. Some of them had suggestions for the Biz/Tech section (me being the section editor) on how we could cover more technological tit-bits and further enrich the section.

The enthusiasm was apparent and before any time lapsed we got into business with a quick round of introductions. Suddenly we began speaking another common language - the language of corporate India - where Mocha Frappes and Cappuccinos meant ‘Have a good afternoon’. The coffee cups began making their rounds as the bloggers – now christened Blogaloreans – went about our stuff.

Blogging is not just a phenomenon. From the days of daily rants, blogging has evolved into a major medium of communication and information exchange that is determined to harness its power to make a difference in whatever ways it can. A few of the bloggers shared their ideas of a Web NGO, Wings – an initiative to help differently enabled individuals take up adventure sports, and a number of other ideas most of which would be formally discussed in the upcoming BarCamp.

The primary aim of the meet was to nail down a list of topics to be discussed in the Bloggers Collective at the BarCamp at IIM-B campus, scheduled for the coming weekend (28th, 29th July). The following are some of the topics.

1. Technical tips for non-technical bloggers
2. What do you Blog about?
3. Social responsibility of a blogger
4. Copyrights and Censorship in blogging
5. IT Laws
6. Mainstream Media versus Blogging
7. Corporate Blogging

These topics are indicative and as is the spirit of BarCamps there would be more of it. I will be co-moderating a proposed debate on Mainstream Media versus Blogging.

This is also the first formal attempt to form a professional community of bloggers in Bangalore. Arun, one of the organizers of the BarCamp conveyed to us that they have formalized certain points with IIM-B for conducting the Bangalore BarCamp every four months in its campus.

This support from the academia and the enthusiasm of the bloggers is sure to take us a long way making this a socially responsible global phenomenon that would not hesitate to raise its voice through this powerful medium and make a difference whenever it matters. And BarCamps are important events to make it happen.

Bangalore BarCamp and the Bloggers Meet

Here’s a chance to catch up with all the faces you’ve known hitherto only through words. The Bangalore Bloggers meet is coming up on July 21st. Anybody interested in taking part or helping in organizing the meet, edit the exclusive wiki setup for the meet and add yourselves.

   Date: July 21

Venue: BrewHaHa
           Near Jyoti Nivas College,
           Koramangala

This meet is a prelude to the Bangalore BarCamp 4 (or BCB4 as it is affectionately called) to be held on 28th and 29th of July at IIM Bangalore. Please visit the BarCamp Bangalore Page to register yourself for the meet. And also visit the Bloggers Collective of the BarCamp as well.

See you there!

Monday morning smiles…

This week’s Monday morning smiles theme is Work-life. Some of those typical stuff that the work-life is composed of – where the trivial line between work and life is virtually non-existent; the “I work, therfore I live” generation.

So there was this guy who was struck by love. I mean, so really really struck that it blew his head off his shoulders and placed a glowing Halloween pumpkin in its place. And that was why I was not surprised to find this line of utter resignation on his whiteboard.

Love is all about a give-and-take. You give, I take.

Some people just love using abbreviations. Like Dilbert says, “The Data bits are flexed through a collectimizer which strips the flowgate arrays and virtual message elements”, when he actually wants to say “I don’t know”, some people try using too many abbreviations thinking it makes them sound smarter. Blame peer competition. One such smartass sends me a mail.

PFA the HDD of EDS with TDD and UT. After GR, please add it to VSS and update VSTS.

Phew. You figure.

People love writing doses of wisdom on their whiteboard, typically famous quotations et.al. For the thing that I’m made of, I create my own quotes of mind blowing wisdom. And here’s what I just wrote on my whiteboard.

I wake up early in the morning, and sleep at night.

Amazing, right?

Monday morning smiles…

This week’s Monday morning smiles theme is Numera Obsessa. There are these kinds of bosses who belong to the species called Numera Obsessa. The characteristic (correction: problem) of this species is that they are way too obsessive about numbers. They eat, sleep, drink and breathe numbers.

And one such, mailed me just before our weekly status meeting, “Kishore, can you quickly mail me the status of your tasks in terms of percentage completed, deviations, dependencies and probability of meeting the deadline? Quantify each of them appropriately.”

So I replied him with a quick mail quantifying each of them appropriately. “Out of my six tasks, three are 84.17% complete. Two are 48.36% and one 12.147% complete. Except the last one, the other tasks have a 74.831% probability of completion by deadline, if all the existing factors hold good. Any deviation of more than 36.16% in the existing factors will impact the probability by 58.12% so may have a 61.37% higher probability of missing the deadline. The last task has only a 31.64% probability of completion on time, because it’s snowing outside and my fingers are 64.72% frozen reducing my ability to type on the keyboard by 41.79%.”

Before the next status meeting he mailed me, “Kishore, can you mail me the status of your tasks, if you are on track with them? A Yes or No will do.”

WordPress says…

The WordPress Featured Blog of the week, for Life and Living.

 The featured post is the New Year Monday morning smiles. Thank you, folks!

Monday morning smiles…

This week’s Monday morning smiles theme is Happy New Year. Over the last two days, every time I hopped around the blogosphere or opened my inbox,  I was greeted with a Happy New Year note. Here are some New Year wishes I got, and in brackets is what my first thoughts were when I read them.

May this year bring new heights, more cheer and a lot of happiness.
(Ah, you really think I can get all three, given that everybody in the world want the same things on this day?)

Wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.
(May you be blessed enough, so you can try a different line next New Year)
 
Wish you all a splendid, successful, safe, healthy, fun-filled and prosperous New Year.
(So many adjectives in a single line? Good work.)

May the New Year bring peace, luck and success to you and your family.
(Bring from where?)

It’s interesting to realize, that every year always begins with the New Year and ends the day before the next one (sorry, bad joke). And every time, we hope the New Year brings all the good stuff unlike the previous year, and we end up hoping the same thing again the next New Year. At times, the process of New Year wishing have become so mechanical that if you just stretch your hand out to someone on a New Year’s eve and keep your mouth shut, you instantaneously get a “Wish you the same” reply.

Well, years come and go. Some of them become those that you would look back with nostalgia in future, and some become the forgettable ones. The most exciting and also the fearful facet of our living is the uncertainty about everything in life. And the biggest gift one can hope for is the ability to smile amid distress. Let this new year teach you to smile, despite anything that life may throw in your way. And oh, remember to smile a bit more on Monday mornings.

Monday morning smiles…

This week’s Monday morning smiles theme is IM Chronicles. Some quirky things that happened over the IM in the past few days.

So I was catching up with this friend after a long time (26 days to be precise – which is very long), so naturally we were concerned about each other’s well being.

Buzz
Friend: Hello
Me: Hey, Howdy!
Friend: I am fine, how about u?
Me: Me neither.
Friend: Eh?

And this one was with my teammate. We were at work and seriously discussing some meaningless things.

Teammate: What you say about that?
Me: I completely agree with you.
Teammate: Wise men think alike.
Me: Yep. But, even we do!
Teammate: Huh?

Carpe Diem of Nothingness

The boogeyman just went to bed. Thin clouds, illuminated by the full moon, were still strolling across the black sky. The moon herself, was shining with the same melancholic fervor that had been the inspiration for so many poets down the ages. Even her craters revealed the strangeness that a beauty could be – like dimples on a beautiful face.

But all that was about to be shaken up when my roommate’s alarm would do what it was paid to do – wake him up, and alarm me. My face resting over a white pillow, still buried under a thick blanket, opened itself to a steady trickle of thoughts – the day is Saturday, first day of a weekend, nothing to do, no plans in place, no plans of planning. I tried to move the blanket away fighting my sleep and open my eyes to the window. But quickly retreated, after being pricked by the strong daylight striking my sleepy eyes.

For a moment, it surprised me how something we spend our lifetime in, can also prick us at certain times. And then we keep going for it again. When I finally woke up in the true sense of the word, the morning shone with all its brightness. It wouldn’t prick anymore. Until, probably, the next morning.

I walked, still thinking of craters and dimples and pushed aside the screen to let the dawn in. The moist roads, overnight rains, cycles slicing through the muddy roads on the far side, a hawker going about his stuff, the crowded roadside tea shop – the day was already bustling with activity for many. I turned over to my coffee table. Ripped two sachets of Everyday dairy whitener, a Nescafe, half teaspoon sugar and sat with the morning papers.

Among other important ones, it’s interesting what all things become Front-Page news in this world - Aishwarya Rai arrived late for a dinner (ToI), Angelina Jolie is pregnant again (Dna) – as though it were going to change all our lives. I skimmed through the pages until I realized I was sipping an empty cup. And after the refreshing dose (long live caffeinity!), I walked back to the window and stared into the vacant sky.

The morning sky veiled the moon. The sun peeped out. The birds chirped. The wind blew softly. The violets shared their fragrance. The trees swayed. The nature was busy. On a day, when I reveled in the bliss of doing nothing.

Monday morning smiles…

This week’s Monday morning smiles theme is City. A queer little encounter with a delivery guy at a Dominos outlet in Chennai made me wonder how different a response I would have got in a similar situation in Bangalore. The Bangalore part is fiction, while the Chennai part is what actually happened.

Bangalore
I walk into the Dominos outlet and tell the delivery guy “Garlic Cheese Bread please”.
“Would you like a Garlic Cheese Bread or Garlic Cheese Toastie?” he asks.
“What’s the difference?”
“The Bread is plain with four slices to a plate, Toastie is toasted bread with six slices to a plate.”
“Make it a Toastie then.”
“Sure.”

Chennai
I walk into the Dominos outlet and tell the delivery guy “Garlic Cheese Bread please”.
“Would you like a Garlic Cheese Bread or Garlic Cheese Toastie?” he asks.
“What’s the difference?”
“Five rupees.”
“Eh?”