2006, What A Year It Was!

I will outline my postulates based on my experiences in the year 2006 and I will look at initial reflections and plans in the New Year in a later post

I feel that the year 2006 was extremely important for my career. It was the year, in which I learnt/I was taught the art of office workmanship. There are some things that happen for no apparent reason and sometimes some things just don’t happen when everyone’s expecting! I don’t have too many examples to prove my point but I feel that I have experienced the best and worst of my still nascent career.

There are ‘sayings’ that everyone believe in and should hold true in any competitive office environ and I did not believe in them. This is probably because I am/was naïve or some other reason that I am yet to figure out.

With whatever little comprehension skills that I have, I have tried to give shape to my postulates about surviving office environs! I will not take anyone’s name here; still hope no one gets offended; it is just an honest self assessment. Nothing more. Nothing less

1. It is very important to be in the good books of not only your boss but also his chamchaas. Bosses have a wide range of arsenal in these parasites to sting and bite using these breed of people. Their talent cannot be underestimated. But I feel that somewhere down, we need to draw the line and say to yourself that, come what may, I will not cross that line! When you stoop once too often, it becomes a rule rather than an exception.

2. It is very important to earn respect from your peers. Respect need not come on the back of that ‘all important’ assignment you successfully did in the project, it can come riding on a variety of shapes. I feel that respect should be always commanded and never demanded, so to speak! Always respect your peers and give credit where it is due. Credit should never be withheld because of personal grudges or prejudice.

3. Never get romantically involved with only ONE. This is the most important among all others and only applies for men. If ‘it’ goes wrong, it disturbs your mental balance, clouds your clarity of thought and judgment. The bad feeling lingers on and one, even when the outcome is written on the stone, loud and clear! You don’t have control over your heart but I feel that you need to assess your priorities, think about possible downsides, think about every possible reason to avoid that person in question. I have the three equations about this:

Not enough prospects = Too much concern for one

Too much concern for one = mis-focusing the energy

mis-focusing the energy = missing other opportunities

4. Always highlight your work. They say that you cannot put down a good person for too long. I agree, but here in software industry, the pace of change is such that, the phrase “for too long” has different connotation. Announce, Highlight, Shout and in fact basically do whatever it takes to accentuate your work.

5. Humour. This is one thing not every one is blessed with, but you can always laugh at others jokes. Get that sense of humour or if you don’t have it, get that ‘nonsense’ of humour!!! Laughing at oneself should be strictly avoided in presence of noobs and detractors.

6. Choose your friends carefully. It is always better to go along with your ‘type’ of people, but having said that, you should be in talking terms with all.

Those are some things that I can think of now and I am sure, people who read this can relate to their environs. You can add yours in the comments but I only want the aspects you experienced first hand.

Can you work as content writer for us?

Yes, that particular question was posed by a manager of a pretty decent start-up company. I was a little perplexed to start with and then it sank in! I always knew that I had somewhat of a better linguistic skill than my peers of equal education, but even i did not expect a job of this kind even in my wildest of my wildest dreams.

Now talking of unexpected things, who would have thought that a son of doctor parents who studied science till 12th, whose only aim in life was to 'achieve' a medial seat would end up doing his masters in computers and then go on to start his career in in PPC Marketing company and then join a software firm, not as a programmer or a tester but as a SEO expert also looking after their PPC operations. I am sort of webmaster for 12 websites which are mirror sites of my company's main website.

I dont know whether this is good or bad but i feel that anywhere i work, i end up loving the work without having any regrets of not doing the job i was trained for. Maybe I am optimistic...maybe not! Maybe I am resigned to the will of my destiny... I don't know!

After not achieving a medical seat, i shifted my career focus to computers from science which i would say is 180 degree turn. Then after masters in computers, i end up as a SEO cum PPC manager cum webmaster...? What the hell I am I doing with my life guys, can anyone tell me?

A day in a hospital as a common man

There are many advantages of being born in a well educated family and especially if both your parents are doctors with good enough experience both as public servant and private entrepreneur. All my life I was a never a patient with serious enough ailment to be admitted in a hospital. I wasn't even involved with someone remotely sick in our family to be admitted in a hospital. My granny was a extremely healthy person, who died without too much of a fuss! So it can concluded that I am a zero when it comes to admitted someone in a hospital or taking care of.

When I was needed to admit my mother in a hospital recently, it was a horrible experience even before I could take her to hospital. She developed some sort of dizzy feeling caused by imbalance in the ears. (People with medical background will know that the primary function of ear is not hearing but maintaining the equilibrium of mind with sensory organs. Ears are biological equivalent of a gyroscopes used in flying objects)

When we took her to the emergency centre, it was already in complete chaos. Security guards were harrassed by people eager to meet the patients in the emergency ward. My dad went in to register in the registration, there also it was full with people. It was difficult to seperate the patients from their attendants. My mother was unable to even stand here and there at the registration counter, there were a hundred people each eager to get registered. No wheelchairs, no stretchers, no nurses, no doctors, absouletely no one to help! After a lot of heated arguements, we got to know that since my mom is not too serious, we had to take her to the outpatient wing, which is about 200 meters from where we are. We had to take her on our shoulders there and there, you wouldn't imagine the scene, there were about 500 people crammed into the millennium block. It was as the British call : "organised chaos!"

If a doctor has this kind of experience, then, i can't even imagine what would a illeterate person without any money and contacts would feel there. I had known crowds in hospitals but they were all government run hospitals in villages, where there were crowds only once a week.

Finally, we were able to convince the security that the person in question was a hospital a staff and thus they let us go in. My mom's colleagues came to see her and she was on her feet very soon. I will not forget the harrowing experience which i had to go to, simply cos it was my first experience as a ordinary mortal and not as a 'son-of-a-doctor' experience. I cannot but feel sorry for the innumerable deaths caused by improper diagnosis or situational inadeqacies of hospital staff. Health care, for the Indian govt is all about 'buildings'. They just dont care what kind of people they put in the 'buildings'. All they do is build monumental concrete structures and forget the matter. Hospital should have heart and soul, helpful attendants - people who can calm the relatives of patients.

Government run hospitals are gone to the wolves and the private hospitals are run by the wolves! Take your pick, where would you take your loves ones :)

Two Deaths and a Great Job for me!

Yeah, If i were to summerise the last one month in one sentence, it would that. "Two deaths and a great job"! Our family friend who my mom considered as brother passed away. He was a diabetic for a long time and fell down in his home. He suffered internal bleeding in his head and this eventually lead to this death. His kidneys has gone kaput and was surviving on dialysis.

I hated that guy cos he was extremely selfish kind of person but when the news came about his death, I really bad, more than when my grand mother passed away. He was partially responsible for the death of his elder sister and her husband. He was sort of person who when you ask for some help , did everything with his mouth. Only lip service! The other demise in our family was the son of my mama .Again he was a adopted mama, quite different from the other mama who passed away. My mom says that he did everything in his control to help us whenever the need arise.

May their soul rest in peace!

Ok, now comming to the job part.....I joined a reputed company, so reputed is it that, some of my friends have become envious of me. I never thought that something like this could happen to me...All thanks to my friend due to him I got into this new job. My compensation almost doubled, responsiblities halved, confidence quatrupled, the whole outlook towards life in general has changed. This job probably makes or breakes my career in software industry. The greatest challenge now is to make sure that I keep enjoying the work and not get bored too quickly. I guess this was my problem with my earlier job. I start off everything with a bang and then very soon the initial euphoria dies down and I tend to go through the motions. I need to find ways to keep enjoying the work. Any tips guys??

After I joined the new company, I was wondering about what to write in the blog-some sort of memoirs kind of thing about my previous job or initial reflections about new job. I decided to look at the future and and here it is........!

Your comments are highly appreciated!!

Lage Raho Munnabhai & Munnabhai MBBS

Both the movies have the ability to pierce your heart. I feel that the momentum created by the first was carried forward by the second with equal aplomb. Slight change the characters was needed to make sure that it doesn't turn out a cliched 'me-too' kind of movie and they were modified but the whole feel of the first one remains, which is the unfelt strength of the movie. Usually the second movie fizzles away, simply unable to keep the momentum - there are many like, Terminator 3 which fall flat on its face! When Terminator 2 was released, the computer graphics industry was probably in its infancy and only the super rich movie studios could afford the graphics used in the terminiator 2. Ten years on, it wasn't just the big budgeted producers who could afford snazzy graphics, what with whole animated movies like Antz, Ice Age being released with animated characters as stars!

Now comming back to the movie contrast, the second munnabhai is probably better simply because it had to live up to the enermous expectations created by the mega success of first one. The emotion charged scenes are the ones that makes it worth watching particularly the scene where jimmy shergill's conversation with his father and the request by the RJ(sanjay dutt).

I feel the relevancy of Mahatma Gandhi in the present society, aptly dubbed "gandhigiri" was well superimposed. The victory of truth over other is what seems the message of the movie. Hard to implement in the real world i guess, but i feel that it can implemented in a personal space. If you love someone, go and tell him/her honestly how you feel....hmmm , now i know how gutsy that good 'ol mahatma might have been.

I feel that saying 'sorry' for your mistakes is the hardest thing in this planet. How good it would be if we can cultivate this habit of saying sorry...yeah it is better said than done. In the scene where sanjay dutt reveals that he is not a professor, knowing fully well that she will not like, that is when you realize how much or to what extent truth hurts!

While watching that movie I remembered other movie "liar liar". Jim Carrey is a lawyer or attorney in that movie. So he is by default a lair. He gives all sorts or excuses for not keeping promises to his family. So his son wishes that his dad never lie in his life. That is when you realize how much a lie can help in your life or how much it is useful. I sometimes feel that lying to save someone or save someone's love or life is much more valuable than saying the truth and letting someone die or something!

Birthday Month Once Again!

So one more august has come and gone and I added one more birthday to my life! This was my birthday number twenty eight and I think from now on I enter the twilight of the best days of my life. Not that it was bed of roses or everything was hunky dory till now, but from this year onwards, I feel that the daily rumblings of personal and professional life would take a greater toll on my mind and body. I have my ageing parents to attend to, I have my challenged brother to attend to, I have my sister to attend to. I had my responsiblities even before but they were hidden at the back of my mind. Maybe I have mellowed a bit and the 'chalta hai' attitude towards my responsiblities seems to be fading away. Life looks a hard grind and probably, unconsciously, my mind is gearing up for the innumerable battles that lie ahead.

For the first time in my life I felt myself not part of hip and happening crowd or should I say, I felt a little old to be considered among that crowd. I was always in company of friends for whom age and things related did not matter. That was maybe becauseI was in college and we didn't have time to check things as mundane as our age, when we had many other important tasks like love and crushes to attend to! The whole 3 years of my PG life was spent like a paid holiday where we had to just enjoy overselves with examinations here and there momentarily halting the three year party.

My sister too celebrated her birthday on 14th August and for the first time in my life I gifted her somthing substantial. I gifted her a Nokia 6030 and the spark I saw in her eyes after seeing it was something worth more than the four thousand odd bucks that I paid for it. All this from my hard owned salary, which made the gifting her even more sweeter for me.

Nagarjuna Sagar Trip and Write up!

I am sorry that, I could not post more often but i guess you might forgive me cos I was really stressed out due to various incidents and aspects, as always, nothing new I guess. sigh! This is post is classic case of forcing myself to write something although i dont have much substantial to say!! There were some incidents that occured that i better dont say or better still procrastinate the issue, yes it is good hangover from college days. The more I think of my college, the more i would want to relive those days once again. Wish i had a time machine, Oh yeah, what a wish! isn't it?

My Nagarjuna sagar trip was average and nothing substantial or meaty, but i would remember for the first that i did, yes there are a first in my life. I acted in a play . Apart from that there wasn't anything to say about.



A writeup about the whole trip, hope you people like it and here it is :

“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”. Many of us might have read this proverb in our schooling. So keeping this caveat in mind we at NetElixir have planned a vacation for Annual Conference 2006 in a far off secluded spot, Nagarjuna Sagar. We reached Nagarjuna Sagar which is 120 km from Hyderabad or 90 miles, snaking through the highway at pretty decent speeds at 2PM. The journey itself was adventurous one with us eating our lunch in pipes, guys shouting and making faces at strangers for no apparent reason! Now you must be thinking, what hell were we doing in a pipe? Well the answer to this question would be –Pure adventure!
After lazing around the lake surveying, scanning for pretty innocuous looking ladies, we headed for the swimming pool while the ladies dozed off! It was quite a sight looking at your office mates in their trunks and underwear playing in the water like, well, your regular office mates! After a quick photo session for the sake of posterity, we headed for what is called Ethipothala falls. It is an irrigation cum sightseeing facility built amidst backdrop of valleys sandwiched by beautiful hills dressed in the finest coat of natural greenery that you get to see in this part of the world. Again this was followed by photo session while this time it was sort of hurried due to failing light.
Back at the hotel, it was time for alcoholics to get their share of heaven’ n hell bottled! While they got their share of ‘height’ others got on with displaying their pent up natural talents. It was quite fun looking at their innocuous songs and poetry, who until a day ago were breathing down each others neck in the competitive office space, each trying to get their own share of office glory. It’s a good way of releasing the pent up emotions this way. This was followed by dinner and then off to bed.
The next day was a hectic one, what with each of three teams having to present a short play. This was the high point for enjoyment and fun. Never did we ever think that this would be so much fun. There were quite a few surprises, what with expected contenders for the prize losing out and stupendous performance from totally unexpected quarters. We need to do this more often just to recharge our self from the daily activities in the office. The next time, I am sure, we would be lot more prepared and I am sure would be even more fun. Thank you Mr. Udayan for this brilliant idea!
Then Mr. Udayan started specifications for our future course of action with a brief presentation on past, present and future of PPC search marketing industry as whole and our company in particular. We could see the whole story of our company unfolding before our eyes in a dramatic, emotional way. Nobody gives a damn to past history if the future is secure and clear. Alas! It doesn’t happen that way. The future of a company is always the resultant of the decision it took in past. We can be happy at our decision to chart our destiny in a relatively nascent industry. From a market of $952 million to the present $6 billion is astounding growth from any which way you look at it. We are proud to have made the correct decision and the results are loud and clear to all to see. NetElixir has grown from a nondescript, one room venture into a vibrant, industry driven, talent fuelled, technology engined super nova! All this couldn’t have happened without our strong fundamentals, clients and values. The future looks bright for our clients and we are ready for any challenge that the future holds for us.
Meritorious employees were presented with cash awards and excellence certificates. This concluded our stay at the resort and after which we headed for Nagarjuna Konda, which is a Buddhist monastery of historic importance. The monastery is an island force formed by a dam built to store water. The journey to the monastery was on a small motorized boat which took enough time to think and review ourselves on a personal note. We would say the journey to monastery was very enjoyable. This concluded our vacation and then it was back to work with renewed and revitalized vigor to last one more year!!

I think i am turning into a wierdo!!

I think i am turning into a wierdo!! I dont like the normal kind of music, I dont like normal 'hit' movies, normal people find me complex and hard to befriend, my way of thinking about various aspects is so much different from the mainstream that either they are funny or too complex. Till date, I haven't found a single person who can be called as 'my type'. I always get the feeling that i am so much different from others that there isn't a single group where i can fit in. The people who i thought would be great to be friends turned out to be the greatest enemies that i can think of. I have tried to adjust to whatever 'type' of people i come across with lot of effort, heartburn and all the feelings that anyone can think of.

Donno why i am blabbering here about this, but i feel that a person must find someone who is his/her type. This makes living in this wild wild world so much better.

Another interesting sher for you guys:

Fir na simtegi agar dosti bikhar jayegee
Zindagi zulf nahi hai jo fir ne sawar jayegee
Jo kushi de tumhe , thaam lo daaman uska
Zindagi ro ke nahi has ke guzar jayegee

I am bored!!

I am so happy that after so many days, my blog which was in cold storage has suddenly sprung back to life and I'll take all the credit for it. LOL There were always many things to write about but somehow i could not force myself to write. I get the feeling that I am pretty much settled in my job. Although I look like I am a lot less worked when compared to others, but i can't help on this. I am missing my Devils Dungeon. I dont know about others, but I am definitely 'college sick' . That ramshackle room no 16 was a playground for my senses. Never thought how empty and sense of longing I would feel without Devil's Dungeon.

Your never get what you want in life and that is a very important lesson to learn early in your life and it is not without reason they say " You never get a contended life at any point. You should always have some arzoo left in you life, which makes the next day, something to look forward to. A life without any arzoo is a bland life devoid of salt 'n pepper!!

The amount of money i am earning is biggest concern for me at this point of time. My parents want me to get married and settle down, nothing wrong with that but with the salary i am earning now, I cannot afford a wife !! There is a perennial stuggle going on between me and my mother about my marriage. Donno who wins!!

Interesting shers(couplet) that i came across on the internet:

Zindagi motaj nahi manzilo ki,
waqt her manzil dekha deta hai..
Marta nahi koi kisi se juda ho kar,
waqt sab ko jeena sikha deta hai.

Khushi mile to hus na sakhe,
Ghum mile to roh na sakhe.
Zindagi ka yahi Dastoor hai yaaro,
Jise chaha use paa na sakhe
Our jise paaya use chaha na sakhe.

I am Hurt by the attitude of my friend

I know many people who display megalomaniac behaviour about their intelligence and often these kind of people have a poor opinion about the intellectual capabilities of others. There is this person called X, who was also my classmate. Never thought how poor a opinion 'X' had about my intellectual ability all these years untill i met that person for some kind of business proposal 'X' offered. The business was nothing new and I knew and heard a lot about this during my previous stints of umemployement. What was extremely funny was the way 'X' messed up the straight forward business logic into a complicated thing and then present it to me, pretending it to be a new brand new concept. Then, as if to justify the messed up logic , started a lengthy explanation, as if i am the dumbest guy on the planet. X went on and on, revising and then asking silly question in between, liberally seasoning the monologue with quotations from autobiographies of Bill Gates, Azim Premji etc. The most insulting thing was, after completing the hammering, X askes gingerly "Did you understand anything!"

Gimme a break Mr Einstein, I have a life to live with my meagre intelligence, so test your skills on someone else.

Wierd Women Behaviour!!

There were many girls in my life and some of them are still remain from the college days. One thing I have noticed about their behaviour with respect to men is that there is a set pattern with all of them. All the women that I met were unsure about what they want from men. Maybe they were unable to express through words or they expressed conflicting or paradox-like behaviour. What I concluded that ,Women, generally dont say what they desperately want to and expect others to understand what is unsaid! Why cant you women just say it and be straight forward like men!