13th Dimension

3KM!!

2008-09-21T15:42:00.002+04:00

Yesterday, I ran 3 KM in 20' 35'' which is pretty bad by any standards.

I would like to finish 5km in 25 minutes.

Will keep this blog updated in the progress!!

:)

Rules gone wrong

2008-09-17T10:51:00.004+04:00

In Dubai, Getting cabs is quite difficult. Specially during the Iftaar hours.

One such evening, after waiting for around 30 minutes, I decided to use the public transport (Bus) to reach my hotel. It was rush hour and all the seats were occupied.

In the next 5 minutes , I came to know about a novel rule which specifies that the Ladies in the UAE are not allowed to stand in the travelling bus and there are reserved seating spaces for them. Quite Thoughtful !!!!

But If those 6-8 reserved places are full, That means the ladies are not even allowed to board the bus. On the other hand, Men can still enter and stand in the back (There is ample space for that in the bus).

So if you are a woman, you are not allowed to stand in a moving air-conditioned bus. However, It is perfectly ok for you to stand at the bus stop in sizzling humid 45 C !!!

The Burj

2008-09-17T10:39:00.003+04:00

When do you know if your product/services does not need any marketing?

When your competetors start taking pride in associating themselves with your product. (In any remote way)

We came to Dubai and stayed in a hotel for the first few weeks. The hotel not a bad one at the first place. But at the reception, those guys are stressing too much about the room with the great view they are giving to us.

A room was with a view of another hotel, Burj Al Arab!! wtf!!

They wanted us to upgrade and leave? or they wanted us to feel bad at our misfortune of staying with them and not with Burj? :) Nevertheless, we kept the curtain closed...It was too bright outside :)

Accountants

2007-04-23T16:43:00.000+04:00

My 3 years stint in consulting made me wonder that why I always end up having men as client side contacts. I used to envy friends who used to boast of going to business lunches with hot clients. While I always used to end up with obese and bearded beer-guzzling hard-laughing kinda fellas.

They do not enquire about my affair, arrange marriages, vegetarianism and other socio cultural aspects of Indian society. They never tickle my emotional quotient. Rather they talk about elephants, snakes, logic of naming long leg as a position in cricket, kamasutra and IT industry.

Then I discussed with Smita. After her 2 minute sympathy and 20 minute scolding, I got the divine enlightenment. Accounting! I interact with accountant and you hardly find women in accounting departments. Then my imagination ran wild. Somehow I could see all the accounting terms are/can be related to women. No wonder most accountants are Men. Tavajjo farmayen....

Discontinued non current assets (Ex girlfriend)
Short term debt (fling)
Other Long term debt (Mistress)
Total assets (Ahem...)
Total liability (Wink...)
misc. expenditure (self explainable)
adjustment ( you never care about me)
Goodwill account (Sending a flower)
Work in process (I am getting ready...........)
Accrued undefined benefits (No comments)
Misc Income ( A local train ride)
Warranty (faith)
Paid in capital (hehe)
Sunk cost (khilaya maine aur khaya kisi aur ne)
Intangible amortization (shaadi...lol)

And men always wonder if it is in black or red? (I am talking about balance sheets.. you perverts!!)

No wonder....

IT - Stand up comedy

2007-04-19T15:57:00.000+04:00

Recently noted this line and couldn't resist to share....

What do information technology and standup comedy share in common? Just like a well defined project and a great punch line ….It's all in the Delivery

Segmentaion concepts

2007-04-13T14:03:00.000+04:00

Just like consumers in marketing, one can segment IT janata as Innovators, Early adapters, Early Majority, Late Majority and laggards.

4 yrs ago, People smirked when a group of people signed on a paper and rushed to check out "Let us C" from library. Yes, In those days, for a major in systems you were supposed to clear a C test. Finance and marketing brains Tsch Tsch ed the nerdy losers who wanted to get into systems. Little did they know that these were the innovators.. An idea, whose time was coming, stocks getting ready for the Bull Run.

Then placement season came and with innovators, here comes the early adapters. They attended interview, and cleared. For some strange reasons, they are even more excited then the innovators about their future life in IT. Consider this conversation with an EA dame after the placement on the beach

EA: Hiiiiii!!!!! Beautiful day no?
I: <> uhh ya, very much. You didn't go into water?
EA: No I am not feeling well, just came as my roomie was coming. So when is your joining date
I: 17 May, urs.
EA:Letter is yet to come. I called up the HR lady, they are finalizing the plan. Hey, I want to learn Java from you.
I : I don't know Java
EA: Then what do you know
I: I was DBA
EA: So can you teach me database
I: I mean, uh... Yes, but it is difficult....to teach.....Oracle, which is one of the database just by book
EA: still, which book I should take for that?
I: Why you want to learn oracle.
EA: Then what should I learn. I want to learn something that is useful
I: I need one more beer. You want?
EA: No, Tell me no, what is most relevant and easy to learn in 2 months.
I: you don't need to learn any software; they will train you on some ERP I guess.
EA:I know ERP, I read a lot about it before interview. Do you have a cd of ERP?
I: No, I am going in water. wanna join?

Our early adapter was soon writing sql statements in posh training room in Hyderabad. Early majority were attending induction programs of various marketing companies across Indian cities. They were worried of their posting location and simultaneously mailing resumes to EAs. Innovators were copy pasting and changing fonts as pre sales consultants. They were the most Hep of the lot.

Six months later.........

IT industry had welcomed EMs. Late majority were more worried on IT savvyness of resumes then their quarterly targets. EM was tense as they were allotted into a maintenance project. EAs were filing visa papers and not sure if pre-sales is time well spent. Innovators had started reading blogs and chatting with friends

I : Why did you shift from marketing to IT?
EM: I always wanted to be in IT, but I first wanted to learn about industry and then join as a domain consultant. you know, you can not got in business from IT, but from business you can always come to IT. I decided this move long ago.
I : Hmmm... How much time you were in the industry?
EM : 4 months

One more...

I : So what are you doing these days?
EA: I am in pre-sales. Very busy maaaan.
I : ya, I can imagine. So are you already handling RFPs on your own?
EA: oh ya, I have 3 RFPs right now but there are all small one's you know.... 2 millions etc. reaally pained to do so much work for such tiny deals.
I : <<>>
EA: So, what are you upto?
I: uh.... I am in solution architecture. I am working on e-strategizing business performance by synergizing best of breed approach and enabling cost effective corporate governance model. I am trying to sell the idea to couple of our big accounts. Let see... <>
EA: <<>>

It has been long time since then. I am sure the same routine must be followed by younger batches. :)

And what our IT professional doing now? Most of them marrying, job hopping, buying homes, orkutting and making babies. Some are also writing blogs. Some are innovators and some are laggards in different aspects.

The story continues.......

Geneva Auto show

2007-03-09T19:57:00.000+04:00

Geneva auto show is on. It is in dear old Palexpo which is right next to airport. I saw some of the buses from our office. Actually, the auto show is in the Palexpo and buses show is outside.

The buses were not looking that great or different (At least from outside) but I am sure car show will be worth a dekho.

Planning to go there on weekend.... just for window shopping though...No money.. :(

How will you go out? Kaise?

2007-02-25T21:49:00.000+04:00

I went to a museum in geneva. You can call it swiss planning or simply pessimism, our museum had more emergency exits then normal one. Much more!!! So much so that we had to spend a long time finding a way out from 5th floor. Then we asked for help.

With our tooti phooti french, we asked one french gentleman. But we committed the mistake of pointing towards one of the emergency exit and then uncle ji explained for good 10 minutes that the exit is for emergency only and hence should be used only in case of fire. What happens next was amusing.

My friend replied that we understand that these doors should be used only in case of fire. Unfortunately there is no fire right now but still we need to go out. so please tell us how to go out normally? How do people get out from here without emergency?

I remembered the time when Archana madam used to ask me to go out of class after not doing those sanskrit homeworks. Uncle had the same expression while pointing towards a direction. And this time also, i was so happy to go out :)

Making of a release...

2007-02-20T19:13:00.000+04:00

Decided finally that I will be relieved of present engagement and will return to India after next release of project. Good for me and my future plan of settling down. However, I just thought that I would be away from the chaos, which has occupied past 5 months of my life. Its called CiS and I will miss it in a way.

Jotting down some terms that were central part of my work during past few months. Loved them, hated them, lived through them. And it will be interesting to read this after few years. :)

Business requirement document, System requirement specifications, Versions 1.0,2.0,2.1,3.0,6.0, Change requests...........
Smoke testing, System testing, System acceptance testing, user acceptance testing, production acceptance testing......
Business scenarios, systems test cases, business test cases....
Sandbox server, QA1, QA2, QA5, Pre prod, Production server, Migration, release notes, deployment....
Input files, Output files, xml files, pdf invoices, ADM/ACM, DCO/DCR, Payment file, Reconciliation file.....
Airline, Agent, Cargo, settlement, Intercompany, Monitoring......
Release 1, 2.1, 2.2, user manual.......
Development, tech-ops, Maintenance, Training, Madrid Hub, offshore, development team, testing team, business....
Bugs, Issue, RADAR......
Montréal, Geneva, Madrid, Bangalore.....
Financial reporting Unit, YMQ Section, Local Section.....
Country, product, Article....
VAT, Reverse charge mechanism, 9(2)e, 0%, Local VAT registration number......
GL code, Topman, Chart of account.........
Database, Code, IDS schema.....Davos, St Moritz, Locarno (Meeting Rooms).... :)

Customized Ringtones

2007-02-02T19:27:00.000+04:00

I called up a friend in India and listened to the ring tone "barso re megha megha. " for some time. Now I don't think that there is any such thing like personalized ring tone in Europe. Even if there is a concept, It is unlikely if this is commanly used. So, I wonder how a European will react if they happen to call someone with such zingtak ring tones. "Lets call that indian guy whose wife sing songs before he finally snatches the phone and starts talking. But she sings well uh....”

And If this actually happens, One may want to change the ring tone to Gabbar singh's..."sooar ke bacchhon" :))))))

hmmm....

2007-01-19T12:23:00.000+04:00

The problem in living in a civilized and developed society is that it is so predictive and boring. Here you know the exact second when a train/tram/bus will arrive. I mean I like punctuality but not when train will start moving exactly when the second needle of clock will touch 12. All vehicles slows at yellow, stops at red, moves at green. All shops close at time. Even local temperature, humidity and sun index seems to read papers and then decide how they should behave that day. Looks like the country is moving in sync like all pars of a Swiss watch. You just have to tick as per your destined move. And you call this a free country?

Freedom is India. You feel excited when you hurl at every empty auto that can potentially take you to MG road from mission road. He stops, you said MG.... and he speeds away. After all he is free. If you are lucky, he ponders for a second and then utters 70 rupeezaa, or double meetraaaa. hehe I mean, unless you in a hurry, the suspense of whether next autowala will stop or not, how much he will demand is a killer gamble. You are free too. You can get in or get down from bus/auto/trains anywhere. You can get liquor anytime. Just put 100 bill in that hole in shutter at 2.30 in night and hic your preference. You will get your stuff and change.

India is so full of options, choices and preferences...Bhai saab, thoda jaldi chalao............. bhaiyya, bhutta jyada sekna........... heero, left se lele..........uncle corner seat milegi ?.........ek meetha banarasi, choona jyada kattha kam.......... orange pineapple mix, without ice.....................solve any 3 from every section.............chachaa, 2 by 3 chai.................fixed ya floating.................munna, ye paani le jaa, doosra la................aeee, khisko jara? .....................market gira ya utha................mineral water ya normal water...............marketing ya finance................... ya dual....................ise pack kar do............chutta hai ki nahi?...........kidhar utarun aapko?................congrees ya bjp.................english movie ki hindi?..........love ya arrange??.................billable ho ya unbillable..............buffet or a la carte...............day shift me hai ya night me..............kya khaoge ? north ya south ? ......................chai coffee?..............flat kharidoon ya land.....................

But the only place where you can exercise your option in Switzerland is for pizzas. And if you are a vegetarian like me, you are doomed.
Un pizza Margarita' sil vous plea........... Merci!

Conflicting

2007-01-17T17:39:00.000+04:00

Ever wondered what could be the most ironical thing about workplace when you are in alien country and terribly homesick??

When every morning you get up and rush to office that is in an international airport...

Update

2006-07-29T17:01:00.000+04:00

Hope you guys are fine.

No post from quite some time..........I have been quite busy since last two weeks. Working on lots of creative writing (pre sales) these days. :)

There is a 3 week assignment coming along at geneva starting on 14 Aug. I am planning to go home before that. lets see.

More stuff to come soon. :) Take care.

My first fiction

2006-07-15T09:55:00.000+04:00

Nothing could be better then meeting an old friend after 6 years, that too in a land so far from your country. It was a pleasant surprise when I got Dhananjay's mail last week. He is in Philly, staying with his friends and working for a VLSI design company. I am at Hartford, 4 hours drive from his place working as a financial consolidation consultant. A domain where my knowledge is as little as a consultant should know. I decided to drive down in my rented Nissan at his place and had a nostalgic weekend. Now driving back to Hartford on a deserted I-84. It is 11.30 in night; tomorrow will be start of another long list of deliverables and workshops. But work is the last thing I want to think...

Driving during night is always fascinating. It is more so when you are alone, in another part of the world on a deserted high way. No towns on sides. Just planes for miles and a constant humming of your engine. Vast plains on both sides of roads stretched to eternity. There was no moon, just bright stars spread with such beauty which you can't imagine staying in those busy business streets. A perfect setting for thinking about life!!

From dusty town of Nimbahera, it has been a long journey for me. Life is interesting!!! It is about setting parameters of success based on expectations of society and then chasing them. But this concept of “success” itself is hazy and mostly determined by one’s purpose of life. And here lies the disillusionment. Is becoming successful (As defined by society) should be our purpose of life. Or is it that purpose itself is very personal for every one and hence the Success factor also varies with every individual.

Some people understand the purpose of their life and set goals according to that. And not by what society force them to. I feel they are luckier and happier then me. They live life on their terms. But then there are people like us, most of us, who chase dreams which are not ours. With every pop of champagne there is whisper which politely ask us, " Is this what you want buddy" Among applauds and celebrations, we always chose to ignore this question. Like many do. But it is difficult to ignore this question now. I looked around and lowered the window slightly. It is cold. I was driving at constant speed, not too fast, not too slow. This is what people may say, being in peach with myself. I suddenly felt closer to nature, to life and with myself.

I love thinking about life. I was always a day dreamer. But when you grow up and you are forced to project yourself as extrovert, it is difficult to find such time for yourself. I noticed on side, some exit was approaching. My exit should be easily 90 miles away. Less then 2 hours…. I changed lane, and focused on road.

Equally lucky are those for whom purpose of life is just achieving success. Chasing those parameters of success set by society. You keep on getting them and life moves on. No worries of purpose and all. Probably as they say, ignorance is bliss.

A truck overtook me and bends a little awkwardly. A turn too sharp for its momentum I guess. Then it suddenly braked. Jesus... I don't know how I managed to avoid it. I controlled the steering and looked back. The truck was stopped half covering the road. I cursed and decided to move on. A few seconds later I looked from my rearview. I could see the headlights of the truck far away. I think it was still there. Must be some drunken fellow… I thought and decided to move back to my thoughts.

And when I try to map myself into those parameters of success, the illusion broadens. I am not sure what I want from this life, the purpose. Also I am not too exited running behind the parameters as set by the society. I am somewhere in middle, confused, scared and may be alone. I looked at the planes on starlit night. They were beautiful. Then there was this Milky Way. I am not sure when last I appreciated that. Last 5 years were busy.

The truck incident had shaken me up. I pondered over the idea of pulling over and stop for some time. Rationally it was risky and unusual of me but I felt like doing it. Surprisingly there was no fear. Sometimes you just want to be on your terms instead of what you are expected to do logically. I stopped the car, came out and looked around. Pure stillness; Heaven. The wind was slightly chill but I liked it that way. I thought about my family, my love and my friends. Back in India, it must be afternoon at this time. They must be busy in their work or having lunch. Will they be remembering me at this time?

I leaned on bonnet and tried to think what I am doing so far at this place in night when I must be near to those people who matter to me most, people who love me and worry about my well being. Isn’t it a purpose of my life to give them all happiness and support? What I am doing here then. Am I on right road of my life? And if I am lost, is it too late to go back to basic and try to find the right path? Excitement is missing. Life has been predictable yet successful. Full of achievements but yet useless. I looked around to see if I can spot any alien creature spying on me. No red eyes, no green skins around me. I smiled as I looked up in sky to spot some half human, half bat creature. There was none. I decided to move on and got into car. I looked back at rear seat to see if I have any company of some serial killer. Hard luck. I turned the key and expected car to disobey. It didn’t. I turned on the light. What if there is some strange sight on the road. Nothing but long stretch of tar vanishing into darkness. Finally it is time to go home. I sighed.

Journey after that was eventless. I crossed some exits and decided against stopping anywhere. Traffic was still very less. I saw red blue lights of an ambulance rushing past me. As I took right at my exit, I wondered over stillness of the town. I felt need to be with people who matter to me. Chasing dreams, jobs, money was unattractive suddenly. I am nearing discovering my own little purpose. No more onsite assignments for me I decided. I will go back, look for a house. It is high time I should propose to my love and marry her. Bring parents home and find a role which can give me money and time in the correct measure. Yes, it is time to restructure my life finally and not those financial processes.

I stopped in front of my building. The moon was rising from the horizon. Another beautiful sight. This was a great Trip. I got into my apartment and felt like having tea. I put water to heat and changed. There was no milk but I had developed the taste of black tea so it was ok. Sleep was miles away from my eyes. I was so exited about my future. I switched on the TV with mug of tea in my hand. I browsed some channels while lost in my thoughts. Some teen age comedy show was up at one channel. There was this cooking show on another. Someone was trying to sell some fitness equipment. A movie based on some war, Vietnam may be. A news channel reporting some accident on highway. I stopped momentarily as I looked at the images behind the TV Reporter. The car involved in the accident is same as of mine. Camera moved slightly as I looked at the number plate of the car.

I looked at my mug. The tea was feeling tasteless as its color started fading. Slowly.

IT Branding

2006-07-12T09:47:00.000+04:00

The concept of branding is as old as Ramayana. They used Ram branded stones which floated happily on water and resulted in strong ties with our island neighbor. Funny things they used to do in those times. World is more mature now and hence we are branding IT organizations.

IT branding is an interesting topic, and let me tell you, if you have read some good books and can claim that you have published a paper in a magazine that actually published then you can walk away with a 7 figure salary and all expense paid trips abroad. So let’s do some analysis of topic.

Earlier brand was just a logo/picture to be used on SOWs, NDAs, PPTs and MOMs. Now we are realizing that it can actually define the value of an organization. I recently came across a job opening in a large Indian IT organization for corporate brand manager. Some one told me that the incumbent may get double of what we dynamic and charismatic consultants are getting. Hmmm....That should make our life easy. Now we can happily ruin projects and get away with it because the brand is good and the client should be happy paying for the feel good factor. After all, it’s a 'wow' feeling that counts and not those boring deliverables. So, If one knows the spelling of brand, knows how to google and can read and speak globally then impossible is nothing. Of course an MBA degree helps.....

Still, for the uninitiated in branding, here are some clues on how to rub your shoulders among branding biggies during free booze parties.

Lesson#1: Branding is about giving it some personality. Your target audience should associate your company with the person and his/her attributes. If you have seen Tiger Wood ad, then you know what I am up to... I loved the act of hitting blindly to a bell on a foggy morning. Yeah, that’s what IT consulting is all about. Just make sure that those costly Golf balls are billed!!!!

Lesson#2: Build a relationship with your target market based on that personality: This is critical, Now since you have identified your personality or in the process of same, just try to see how your organization’s target segment may be attracted to the personality. Somehow they should believe that your 'personality' is in sync with their mission. For example, if your target market is competitive and appreciates someone who takes problems "head on", you should seriously consider Zinadine Zidane in your branding exercise!!!!

Lesson#3: Reinforce the relationship and trigger recognition with consistent visual symbols. Hmm...Now your brand has a personality and your target segment is obviously associating with them. Next step you should create a logo or punch line which is either a) very generic or 2) extremely confusing. If it is very generic then it will work anywhere. If it is extremely confusing then you will have nice time bending it to suit your different customers. (You can confirm my theory by looking into punch line of all IT companies.)

You may ask why I am not into branding then...... :) because I am about myself.

Life's like that

2006-07-06T19:47:00.000+04:00

First days in job are always special. One thing is that you are obviously exited and "fire in the belly" factor is in place. You yearn to put all those skills in work which you had learnt in B-School. You are ready to take on the world and rise the corporate ladder. fast. You want to implement strategies, redefine visions and shift paradigms of every concept that you encounter. You are also worried of people getting laptops and attending Visa interviews within first month. And you start comparing your corporate future with them.

After Induction, I joined the office at MG Road. No posh campuses for me. Just a plain old building. As I press the button for 6th floor, the lift shook but my confidence didn't. Some handshakes happened and the HR lady introduced me to my practice head. I spent next two days in setting up comp, changing passwords and exploring intranet sites. Some ppt based trainings on data warehouse started after that and time flew.

Some time in my second week, I was asked to provide help in pre sales. That was a welcome move. No coding for me at least. Now for most MBAs in IT, coding is as outrageous as foreplay for any self respecting Indian. Anyways, So I was asked to put together a presentation on our capability in some domain. I googled, used some other resources and came up with a strong mind boggling, thought provoking corporate presentation. I used all my learning which was taught in my Managerial communication classes during MBA. prof Nutty must have given me at least B+ for that. (This was great by mine and good by any standard)

I sent the ppt to my manager and waited for appreciation mail. Then I dreamt... What if he copies BU head also while appreciating my effort. May be BU head will Fwd to whole SBU with words of encouragement for a young MBA with less then one month in business and such a great vision. The CEO will in CC. I imagined a mail by him also before evening. What next then..... some great business wins because of my vision, great client benefits, me getting some best employee award, meteoric rise on corporate ladder. Hmm....

"Please come over"...I came back to earth as I saw the mail from my manager. By the time I reached his desk and could understand the meaning of his smile, my Arial Black Font 18 was converted to Verdana 8. I digested a comment on my incremental framework slide........ "Aisa lag raha hai ki machaliyan ud rahi hai."

That was painful, specially when you are an MBA and think that your knowledge about ppts and client presentations is much more then a techie. My (un)learning started as my manager edited and redesigned the presentation. (I respected what he created in next 30 minutes.) I learnt a lot from him in next 5 months, then handled some stuff on my own. And till date, the mentorship and respect is maintained.

So those were the days, funny days. I did some real serious and intense work in last 2 years. Consulting on an area where I had Zero knowledge, Leant a tool called HFM and implemented it. Managing account was next. Some times I was working 15 hours a day for months, and sometimes absolutely no work. I got some appreciation mails. And once " Guys, you are a bunch of Em Bhi Heys, You seriously need to put your sh!t together" :)

One company ,two eventful years, three beautiful countries, four states and five assignments.
What next??

Deep meaning

2006-07-06T18:22:00.000+04:00

"A purple squirrel is animated on the screen. Your task is to click on him. If you are successful, you win. Win or lose, the game continues without pause. Only the squirrel knows."

This site is amusing and pointless, kinda like life!!! :)

Good one

2006-07-06T13:40:00.000+04:00

Sent by someone who is very close to me and a great correction factor in my life........ Smita.

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are!!"

Week and the Work

2006-06-16T14:05:00.000+04:00

I am suddenly finding myself among lots of action. Lately I have been roped into presales by the practice. Considering there is no immediate assignment coming in near future, I am also happy putting my creativity in churning out incomprehensive ppt slides. As they say, If you can't convince them, confuse them!!! Then my Geneva based client mailed the delivery guys. They want me or one of my friend to come there for 3 weeks and churn out some change request document. I don't mind another trip there but its sad for working on something on which you don't have full belief. Anyways, That's still a month away even if that will happen.

There is some motivation to come to office due to pre sales stuff but the problem is the hectic and uncertain hours that I have to put in. Last 4 days went in developing a financial consolidation software. This is one area where I know something and I was genuinely interested to get the project. We sent the proposal and estimation Thursday early morning. Today I came to know that our proposal was rejected. I am kind of disappointed by this but then this is a part of pre sales. You win some, you lose some.

I am planning to make a framework on financial consolidation stuff based on work done during this RFP (Request for Proposal) response. Its in my mind from a long time but avoiding due to laziness. I think its time to add some dope there and make the concept look attractive.

And this is friday!!! Yippeeee!!!! Planning to read book and watch football over the weekend.

Sunday

2006-06-11T15:31:00.002+04:00

A lazy Sunday for me, Got up late after watching football till 2. Read Sunday times to heart's content. My flatmate Kuldeep made some delicious tea and then I lazed around for some time. Meanwhile had a Subway sandwich and came to office. Checked mails, chatted with a friend, made some additions to the blog and now off to crossword at residency road.

Its been a while since I’ve done some serious reading.. The last thing I read was Zaheer by Paulo Coelho. It was not very impressive. Hope to find a good book to read.

My Induction

2006-06-11T13:17:00.000+04:00

It is more then 2 years in my present job, time for some retrospection.

I got placed after some dramatic events in my b-school(Will write on that soon). After graduation, I went for a 2 month long vacation and then landed in Bangalore with lots of expectations and uncertainties. It was my first proper job as the company for which I worked earlier did not qualify as a “normal” organization. I didn't had a proper recruitment or undergo any induction there. Or for that matter we had a pathetic lay off also. I used to go to office, worked and earned some money. Also, I learnt to write sql queries and manage databases. I realized there that one may dislike the HR ,but it’s actually them that makes a company. You can hate them but you need them and definitely can't ignore.

So when I checked-into 5 star guest house of this top IT MNC, I was impressed. More interesting was a well planned 3 day induction program. I felt like I had arrived in life. Induction started with a bang. We were about 70 MBAs from top b-schools and the sense of accomplishment was in the air. A bunch that will race to become MDs and VPs in IT industry!!! A dynamic HR kid told us about what to expect for next 3 days. Some future MDs raised their concerns about duration of coffee breaks and whether snacks will be provided. Some also checked if there are some good female faces around. We all cursed HR for not having a friendly recruitment strategy.

Then, one by one different BU heads came and discussed about their business. That was fun. Some guys started asking "strategic" questions. Some others jumped in and proved that they knew the BCG model. They suggested that we should keep our cows, sell dogs and invest in stars. Wow!! I felt proud of myself as I had recommended precisely same in almost all marketing case studies. I felt like a consultant. It wasn’t surprising to see all the presenters smiling. This saga continued for three days and I got to hear words like GE McKinsey matrix, product life cycle, process restructuring and trajectories of industry change by fellow mba recruits. Presenters kept smiling as I felt bad for those who were taking notes.

On last day, we got our id cards and a company shirt. We also got to meet our high profile CEO. That was an ego pampering event. After the meeting most guys took out their mobile and started chatting with hush hush tones. I regretted not having a girlfriend to impress. However, that's another thing that we never got to meet the CEO again!!!!

More later about my first days at work….. :)

IT Case studies

2006-06-07T10:39:00.000+04:00

It is a pain to do a project. It is even more difficult to complete it in time without any escalations!!! But the experience of preparing a case study after 'successful' completion is some experience which can not be easily compared to anything.

I am tired of jotting down my ideas on how my previous project had tremendous positive impact on balance sheets of fortune XXs and hence on the economy of a world power and hence on world peace….. These case studies make me believe that I am the sole cause of all good things happening in this world.

Business objectives, our solutions and client benefits, ...just 3 headings and it gives ample scope of such high quality gas that it is enough to make anyone believe that if something great has happened in the recent world history, it is me.....:) !!!!

Thank God, I am an MBA!!!

Update

2006-06-05T11:50:00.000+04:00

Just back from a visit to Pune…. a memorable one indeed!!! It is real pain to be back in office specially when you don't have much deliverables. I am doing lot of self learning these days. Finished an overview on Pharma industry and was planning to read some stuff on manufacturing line where my practice has lots of business. However, got some ppt on data modeling and decided to complete that.

So here I am, once again, sitting on my desk, tired of reading about data modeling for 2 flat hours. Too much enlightenment for a day I guess!!!! Planning to go for lunch now...

Quarter life crisis??

2006-05-31T14:07:00.000+04:00

Some thing which I wrote few days back and shared with some close friends....

Guys, This one is something serious. It is 8.10 in night and I am at office, Not because there is some mission critical kinda stuff happening here or something, Simply because it is raining outside and there is absolutely absolutely nothing to do at home or office. Today's highlights was that I shared some desperate PJs to few friends, normal activity of Fwding mails of one set of friends to another set of friends, Showed my face to my manager - twice, discussed on creating customer delight to one stranger, rushed to ATM at brigade road, took out money and had lunch alone, attended a soft skill course introduction. A day of such great achievements and I am feeling sick. A friend in Infy called up to ask if I know some interesting websites to pass time as his next bus from e-city is after half hour. We cribbed about Bangalore rains. Made fun of a guy who is probably as hopeless as we are, Then my practice manager finally called up to tell that my next assignment is delayed again and that means that another one week of same life. Hmmm.....

Life is strange; 2 months ago, while going through unending saga of meetings, deadlines, preparing MoMs, status reports, editing headers and footers of design documents and (p)leading offshore team, I used to dream about life of pre-sales, a peaceful cup of half tea, a walk on brigade road admiring dames, and zimbly freedom. IT nirvana!!! And today I am hating the way I have wasted last 2 months of my life......or rather 2 years....or may be 4!!! Am I a generalization of an IT disabled MBA? According to a Fwd, It is also called Quarter life crisis!!!

One of a similar case study like mine is frustrated as he doesn't know where he will be after 5 years. Sorry boss, but I am not even sure about next week!!!! During these testing times, I remembered what Diro used to ask us, WHY??? Why are we doing what we are doing?? What is that we want from our life. A good Appraisal ?? Hike ?? Money (How much is good enough), Winning the Rat Race?? (They say that winner will also be a rat only) What is affecting/driving us?? Peer pressure, parental pressure or a pressure created by us only?? Why I was happier when I was just a Techie and earning 1/4 of what I am now? What is happening Machan??? Why life is such a complicated function of alternatives???? Why am I writing this crap???

I think, I need some booze...

PS: Don't worry, I will be ok tomorrow...

Dreamy morning

2006-05-25T11:25:00.000+04:00

Today morning I had a look at TOI ascent; there was this half page advertisement of my organization on last page. In that, among those normal techie jargons and job descriptions, a beautiful girl was smiling at readers inviting them to apply for those nerdy positions.... Good!!

If only I would have seen that ad during my b-school days, I would have got a straight A+ in my misleading data assignment!!! Because it is now more then 2 years in this company and I are yet to see any dame of that caliber to distract me from my work. I sighed in retrospect and proceeded to take bath.

And yeah, I also went for a walk in morning....Hope that continues...

XX L

2006-05-24T15:50:00.000+04:00

You have to bear the pain as I have decided to pen more nonsense about me. You are also warned that if you decide to ignore this piece without honoring a proper read, you will face bad luck for x years where x = (10*Your waist size in inches)^0.25. Just assume that your waist size will grow @ 7.75% compounded annually and you will be even more concerned. So better read this or start running.Guys, I am putting on weight; that too in all the adorable areas. My super consciousness realized it a few minutes ago as the button of my trouser died a martyr's death. It popped out with a pitiful sound as I decided to shift my weight uncomfortably on seat after I stared at my computer screen for a good 13 minutes. (I am precise because my screen saver is set for 13 minutes) The button found its way to the floor, rambled for some time and stayed there lying face up. It was an emotional moment for me, though I must admit that I also felt relaxed beyond imagination!!! I picked up the button as a souvenir of this (Potentially) life changing event and gave a quick visit to the washroom. some readjustment of belt, some minor tucking out of shirt and I am at my voluptuous best again.

kind of disturbing indeed, I am filled with a sudden guilt of going to Subway for lunch and having sub with extra cheese, lotsa toppings, ice tea etc.... calories, calories, calories.... Its time to make some rang-de-basanti changes in me. I decided of joining some football club or at least some gym for the nth time but suddenly felt hungry again at the very thought. Decided to discuss the same with a friend over a cup of half tea on the terrace but couldn't resist the temptation to take the lift.
I think, I will start something from tomorrow morning. 10 Kgs in next 6 months seems to be a nice target. otherwise one day my would-be better half will find her better 'one and half' in me!!!! :))Will keep you updated on this...

First blog

2006-02-03T19:08:00.000+04:00

This is my first Blog.
I am a regular blog reader. This habit started with casual readings tempted purely because of sheer boredom. Some blogs are nice, light reads. Some are controversial, out of sync & some are just an attempt to reach out to the world. Some bloggers ask for advises & some are with just thought provoking intentions. Not sure how many of them are true (and original) But they fulfill sublime needs of bloggers to put their views/happenings in life in public.

Similarly interesting are comments. They are full of appreciation, sympathy, desperation & more. One can see all emotion there too. :) I am not an arts/philosophy person but one can do PhD on these blogs & comments.
My understanding is that these blog serves many purposes. For bloggers they are a gr8 way to reach out, express them & in the process know him/her better. Putting thought on paper is not a very easy task. It is a process, which teaches a lot to you. You get to know a lot about yourself. Your problems, hopes, dreams & solutions too. Also, for others, reading blogs gives an opportunity to look life in altogether different perspective. It is indeed a very enriching experience.

So here I am. This blog will be everything about my life. Full of everything which this first blog is all about. Hope this blog will serve its purpose for me & others.