I woke up a bit late. It was a Monday morning. I had worked all night on Sunday, trying to figure out what was missing. What...what...what is it that is not in place? All the pieces fit together perfectly in the puzzle. Except one. There was a small gap, but it was the most important part, since it fell right in the center. I did not care to get out of the bed. I lay there and looked hard at the missing place in the puzzle; I had stuck the jigsaw to the roof, so that I could look at it when I lay down. Enough of this. I was tired and needed a stroll. I got out of the bed, took my walking stick and climbed down. From where I stood, I could see what I had made, my painting. The grass looked beautiful, lush green with mist settled on the tip, the serene blue pond in the center, the trees surrounding it, which had the first set of flowers just beginning to bloom, all the animals in circle around the lake and quenching their thirst, without bothering to disturb one another. I took a deep breath. This is what life is about, the satisfaction of seeing your work look so beautiful, so comforting. Still the nagging in my head did not stop. What is it that I need to do, to make this beautiful paint exquisite? I sat on a rock near the pond wondering, what to place in the puzzle to complete the painting. At that moment, my cane fell down near the foot of the rock. I stooped down to pick it up and it struck then. I looked at myself in the water and found out what was missing. Myself. All that the painting needed was an intelligent organism, a wise creature which could think and act. Something with the sixth sense, something which is capable of making wise decisions. I sketched the painting with the new creature, two legs, two hands, a face and a body, sitting on the rock. I stood away from the painting to inspect my work. It looked splendid and fit perfectly in the picture. I noticed this creature needed 2 final things; A name, and a companion. Name to separate it from the other living and non-living beings, and a companion to make sure it does not feel lonely. So I thought I shall name it source: Man and named the companion Woman (same source ;)) Now it was complete. Just like I had given the other "animals" the ability to multiply, I gave man too the power so that Man would not be the last one on earth, but many generations. I marveled at my creation, that I had made the near perfect invention.
I admit, I made one mistake. I gave a feeling called desire in man (more desire in woman). Man started growing his family, just like I wanted him to, Man gained knowledge and power and money, just like I wanted him to. Everything was fine for a few years. Then desire came in man to have one community, have a leader, give the leader more power. Desire led to anger and envy. Then man started fighting with man to become leader. Woman fought with woman for more desire and envy. The fight between 2 men grew into a fight between 2 communities. I saw my creations killing one another, Oh! my children lay in a pool of blood and it was all my fault. I thought I will give a few more million years so that they would live happily. However, I was wrong. Man can never live happily with another man. As long as 2 men are together, there will always be hatred, jealousy, pain and suffering.
I thought, enough is enough, I will put an end to this misery, I will use Man's own creation against him. I waved my cane and there was a lightning, a flash, a cloud and everything went silent. Absolute silent darkness everywhere. When the dust settled down, I stroll once again to inspect the end. The grass is all dried up and burnt, the trees stand naked, thin leafless branches jutting out, the pond is dried up and has carcass of animals and man lying there, there is a stench everywhere. To put an end to man's sufferings, I had destroyed all my creations.
I knew I had miscalculated, I knew I had a bigger task at hand to cleanup this mess, I knew I had one more weekend to spend trying to create the perfect creation.
Jun 28, 2009
Mar 11, 2009
Why Not To MockUp
One of the keywords to be eliminated from a Project Manager's dictionary is "Mockup". Never tell the development team that the project they are working on would be a demo/mockup. Better, do not take up the word *Mockup* anywhere (in SRS, Specs, SDD, team meetings, the likes). The mere mention of this term kills the morale of the team and sends everyone back to the stone-ages. I had this experience after seeing my team's boost dropping exponentially just because the sprint we were working on, got termed as a demo sprint.
I do not blame the developers for this. It is natural tendency of any human being to concentrate on the more important topics which would be beneficial to him/her in the long run and neglect the not so important parts out of their day to day activities. Rather, it is the duty of the Project/Program Management to keep the morale of the team on a positive note. The moment this "Go-Get-It" spirit drops down, there is no way (and not even with a Viagra) that it can be brought up.
As like everyone, I feel bad to see my efforts are wasted at the end of the sprint. Need a day of R&R to rejuvenate.
I do not blame the developers for this. It is natural tendency of any human being to concentrate on the more important topics which would be beneficial to him/her in the long run and neglect the not so important parts out of their day to day activities. Rather, it is the duty of the Project/Program Management to keep the morale of the team on a positive note. The moment this "Go-Get-It" spirit drops down, there is no way (and not even with a Viagra) that it can be brought up.
As like everyone, I feel bad to see my efforts are wasted at the end of the sprint. Need a day of R&R to rejuvenate.
Feb 24, 2009
SlumDog makes it big. But what's in it for me?
I was reading the newspaper today morning (the notorious Times Of India), and was pained to see 4 pages on SlumDog making it big in the Oscars. When I turned to the 5th page, I saw an article on 2 kids in Bangalore drowning in a drainage. I fail to understand which of these news is more important to the Indian audience. We have terrorism in various parts of India, people dying due to hunger, poverty, disease and all that the media can think of at this time is to publish 4 pages of not so useful information in the front page.
Personally, I do not have any grudge against SM making it to the Oscars. As an Indian, I am proud of this achievement, and I think Rehman deserved it. But then, Rahman deserved this for Roja, Swades, Lagaan etc. which were much better than the one he is receiving now. When I was browsing Rediff.com, I saw this video of Anil Kapoor (Duh???) talking about how it was like to stand on the stage and receive an award, how it is a great day for India...blah blah blah. Coming from Anil Kapoor it makes sense. He has not seen a single box office success throughout his life, so making it to the OSCAR's would surely boost his image. But I think overhyping this just degrades us further in front of the global community. It sends a signal that India is a 3rd world country and it is finally making it big. I feel India has more potential and it is not necessary that we be recognised for our efforts through a foreign award. When all of this was happening, the media did not talk about Smile Pinki or the little girl who, when I last heard, was waiting for her passport and visa to travel to the awards ceremony. I think, the international audience likes to see the slums and poverty of India. Any movie which talks about this makes it big. There was this novel called "Shantharam" by Gregory David Roberts which was about the life of a escaped NZ convict in Dharavi. The book became a bestseller. Slum Dog talks about how a slum kid makes it big in the "Who wants to be a millionaire?". But there is more to India than just slums. We have a rich culture and heritage (infact more than any other country), we have friendly and loving people, we have a joint family system still in place which is not there anywhere else. We need these kinds of movies which showcase our talents than our miseries.
Now the various State Governments would confer awards for casts haling from their state. Lakhs and Crores of money would be paid to the protagonist and his kins, row-houses and farm-houses would be "donated" to them. And all of this from the innocent tax payers' money. We pay taxes for better roads, infrastructure, water, food, and basic necessities. But the BABUS think that feeding the millionaires is more important.
I would not entirely blame the media or the press for this kind of a behavior. We, the people, should understand what is of importance to us now, we need to shed off the veil of "We are like this only" until then, it is just one man's cribbing against the system.
JAI HO.
Personally, I do not have any grudge against SM making it to the Oscars. As an Indian, I am proud of this achievement, and I think Rehman deserved it. But then, Rahman deserved this for Roja, Swades, Lagaan etc. which were much better than the one he is receiving now. When I was browsing Rediff.com, I saw this video of Anil Kapoor (Duh???) talking about how it was like to stand on the stage and receive an award, how it is a great day for India...blah blah blah. Coming from Anil Kapoor it makes sense. He has not seen a single box office success throughout his life, so making it to the OSCAR's would surely boost his image. But I think overhyping this just degrades us further in front of the global community. It sends a signal that India is a 3rd world country and it is finally making it big. I feel India has more potential and it is not necessary that we be recognised for our efforts through a foreign award. When all of this was happening, the media did not talk about Smile Pinki or the little girl who, when I last heard, was waiting for her passport and visa to travel to the awards ceremony. I think, the international audience likes to see the slums and poverty of India. Any movie which talks about this makes it big. There was this novel called "Shantharam" by Gregory David Roberts which was about the life of a escaped NZ convict in Dharavi. The book became a bestseller. Slum Dog talks about how a slum kid makes it big in the "Who wants to be a millionaire?". But there is more to India than just slums. We have a rich culture and heritage (infact more than any other country), we have friendly and loving people, we have a joint family system still in place which is not there anywhere else. We need these kinds of movies which showcase our talents than our miseries.
Now the various State Governments would confer awards for casts haling from their state. Lakhs and Crores of money would be paid to the protagonist and his kins, row-houses and farm-houses would be "donated" to them. And all of this from the innocent tax payers' money. We pay taxes for better roads, infrastructure, water, food, and basic necessities. But the BABUS think that feeding the millionaires is more important.
I would not entirely blame the media or the press for this kind of a behavior. We, the people, should understand what is of importance to us now, we need to shed off the veil of "We are like this only" until then, it is just one man's cribbing against the system.
JAI HO.
Yet another useless post
I have this feeling to write about the numeric system since a long time, but somehow in all the chaos around me (deliveries, deadlines, dependencies), never found the time or the urge to pen it down (or key it down). I woke up early today morning (around 6:00 AM types), and had a lot of time for office. So, I thought, why not now?
We have always known (and come to acknowledge it as a fact) that the numeric system starts at 0 (I am talking about a real life scenario wherein 0 is the least and 100 is considered to be complete). Infact, it is so much embedded within our system that we have stopped (or never started) questioning it. But is this really true? Why is 0 considered to be the start of all numbers and 100% completion means that the task is completed? Is it because cent means 100? If so, why was cent fixed to be 100 and not 10 or 1000? These are really confusing questions to answer. When we say a task is nearing 100%, we immediately think that it is nearing completion and all the sub-tasks within this task are fulfilled. How about thinking it this way? When we say a task is nearing 100% completion, it could also be thought as the "pending" sub-tasks are nearing 0. Which means, 0 could now be taken to be the completion value. Then the notation 100 loses it's significance. The same is with a graph of the amount of knowledge a person gathers over life. It is said, this graph curve is sharp in the initial stages (like childhood, adolescence) and starts tending to be come horizontal in the later stages. It is attributed to the reason that the grasping power of a person tends to go down with age. Also, the person starts implementing the knowledge he has gained so far in real life situations rather than learning something new.
Then could this also be considered here as below. When we plot this graph with the age on the X Axis and the brain capacity on the Y axis, the graph shows a different picture eventhough the final goal is the same.
We, as human beings, lack the will to question the facts. We are "taught" at school that 0 is the least, and the more we increment, the better. If only we could reverse this order, we would stop being human beings and become GOD.
Aham Brahmasvi
We have always known (and come to acknowledge it as a fact) that the numeric system starts at 0 (I am talking about a real life scenario wherein 0 is the least and 100 is considered to be complete). Infact, it is so much embedded within our system that we have stopped (or never started) questioning it. But is this really true? Why is 0 considered to be the start of all numbers and 100% completion means that the task is completed? Is it because cent means 100? If so, why was cent fixed to be 100 and not 10 or 1000? These are really confusing questions to answer. When we say a task is nearing 100%, we immediately think that it is nearing completion and all the sub-tasks within this task are fulfilled. How about thinking it this way? When we say a task is nearing 100% completion, it could also be thought as the "pending" sub-tasks are nearing 0. Which means, 0 could now be taken to be the completion value. Then the notation 100 loses it's significance. The same is with a graph of the amount of knowledge a person gathers over life. It is said, this graph curve is sharp in the initial stages (like childhood, adolescence) and starts tending to be come horizontal in the later stages. It is attributed to the reason that the grasping power of a person tends to go down with age. Also, the person starts implementing the knowledge he has gained so far in real life situations rather than learning something new.
Then could this also be considered here as below. When we plot this graph with the age on the X Axis and the brain capacity on the Y axis, the graph shows a different picture eventhough the final goal is the same.
We, as human beings, lack the will to question the facts. We are "taught" at school that 0 is the least, and the more we increment, the better. If only we could reverse this order, we would stop being human beings and become GOD.
Aham Brahmasvi
Feb 18, 2009
Top 10 places to work in India
1. State Bank Of India
2. Vijaya Bank (Bangalore)
3. Union Bank Of India
4. BSNL Customer Care Center
5. RTO
6. Tata Indicom BroadBand (Sales)
7. Reliance BroadBand (sales)
8. Hathway Broadband (sales)
9. Passport Office
10.Ration office (Ration = Place where you get subsidised rice, pulses, cereals, etc.)
I really envy anybody working in either of these places. You should really be lucky to work here, because, not all places pay you for not doing your work. Also, you need to be mentally and physically strong to do the same routine for 25 years (i.e. do nothing). If ever I am born again as a human in my next life, I pray to God, "Do not make me so incapable so as to join Google or Microsoft, place me in any one of above 9 organisations".
2. Vijaya Bank (Bangalore)
3. Union Bank Of India
4. BSNL Customer Care Center
5. RTO
6. Tata Indicom BroadBand (Sales)
7. Reliance BroadBand (sales)
8. Hathway Broadband (sales)
9. Passport Office
10.Ration office (Ration = Place where you get subsidised rice, pulses, cereals, etc.)
I really envy anybody working in either of these places. You should really be lucky to work here, because, not all places pay you for not doing your work. Also, you need to be mentally and physically strong to do the same routine for 25 years (i.e. do nothing). If ever I am born again as a human in my next life, I pray to God, "Do not make me so incapable so as to join Google or Microsoft, place me in any one of above 9 organisations".
Feb 16, 2009
The Black Sheep In The Family
Being a South Indian is not easy. In SI, if you have not travelled and stayed abroad for more than a year, you are not a true software engineer at all. Infact, you are not even a human being. The general statement is "How long have you been in this business? You mean, in these 4 years as a software engineer, you have not travelled to the US/UK/Japan (ofcourse you might have travelled for 2 weeks but that is not considered).
TRAVEL = 1 YEAR STAY AND EARN IN DOLLARS. In that way, wherever you have been, the currency is still the same. You earn in dollars in US, UK, Germany, Azarbhaijan, Zion etc.
And most the questions come from relatives (your parents cannot ask you cos they are fully aware of the issue at hand). But the U(ncle)s and the A(unty)s have more or less hard coded this question in an infinite While loop. And there are 2 companies that they are aware of: Infosys and Wipro. So if you are working in one of those small companies like Google, Yahoo or Adobe, then, forget it. You are a good for nothing chap. Cos, you did not make it to I/W. It does not matter if you are doing documentation or admin or desk cleaning, you are still working there man. Come on. 10 in every 50 South Indian family members works in either Infosys, Wipro or Cognizant.
When my relatives look at me, they murmur behind my back: "Every family has a black sheep". Being a South Indian is not all that easy.
TRAVEL = 1 YEAR STAY AND EARN IN DOLLARS. In that way, wherever you have been, the currency is still the same. You earn in dollars in US, UK, Germany, Azarbhaijan, Zion etc.
And most the questions come from relatives (your parents cannot ask you cos they are fully aware of the issue at hand). But the U(ncle)s and the A(unty)s have more or less hard coded this question in an infinite While loop. And there are 2 companies that they are aware of: Infosys and Wipro. So if you are working in one of those small companies like Google, Yahoo or Adobe, then, forget it. You are a good for nothing chap. Cos, you did not make it to I/W. It does not matter if you are doing documentation or admin or desk cleaning, you are still working there man. Come on. 10 in every 50 South Indian family members works in either Infosys, Wipro or Cognizant.
When my relatives look at me, they murmur behind my back: "Every family has a black sheep". Being a South Indian is not all that easy.
Feb 11, 2009
The Crow, The Fox, The Lady and the Donut
We are aware of the story of a crow which stole a salted donut (vada) from a poor lady (who was preparing the same on the roadside). The fox stole from the crow by pretending to be a fan of the crow's voice. When the crow opened up it's mouth to show it's singing skills, the donut dropped due to gravitational force (Damn Newton) and the fox ran away with the piece.
For a long time, people have concentrated on this story and did not talk about what happened next? That's because what followed was a chain of chemical reactions (welllll...not exactly), some law suits, a few angry (a.k.a juicy words) and an All's Well That Ends Well. As you already know, I have a PhD. in human psychology and, I thought, this is the right time to make the world up-to-date about what really happened later.
The lady initiated a law suit against Jon Doe (since she did not know whom to initiate the law suit against). The crow initiated a law suit on Fox since it knew the culprit. To support it's case, it bribed a few more crows and brought them to testify against the fox. The fox denied the charges laid on it, and asked for substantiating proofs. Meanwhile, the lady was following this crow vs fox lawsuit and she thought "Better to side a known devil than an unknown friend". So she stood by the fox. What the crow did not know when it stole the donut was that, the lady was an ex lawyer who, in troubled times, had taken to making donuts. The Lady represented the fox and pleaded her client not guilty. The crow salted the jury (meaning bribing the jury) and tried to tilt the case in it's favor. But the judge favored the fox, since the judge and the lawyer had an affair before the lady became an ex lawyer. The crow lost the case, and a lot of money (remember it had paid it's friends, the jury, the plaintiff, the bus driver, the postmaster etc.). The fox thanked the lady and the judge and every one lived happily ever after.
"Creative comments are welcome"
For a long time, people have concentrated on this story and did not talk about what happened next? That's because what followed was a chain of chemical reactions (welllll...not exactly), some law suits, a few angry (a.k.a juicy words) and an All's Well That Ends Well. As you already know, I have a PhD. in human psychology and, I thought, this is the right time to make the world up-to-date about what really happened later.
The lady initiated a law suit against Jon Doe (since she did not know whom to initiate the law suit against). The crow initiated a law suit on Fox since it knew the culprit. To support it's case, it bribed a few more crows and brought them to testify against the fox. The fox denied the charges laid on it, and asked for substantiating proofs. Meanwhile, the lady was following this crow vs fox lawsuit and she thought "Better to side a known devil than an unknown friend". So she stood by the fox. What the crow did not know when it stole the donut was that, the lady was an ex lawyer who, in troubled times, had taken to making donuts. The Lady represented the fox and pleaded her client not guilty. The crow salted the jury (meaning bribing the jury) and tried to tilt the case in it's favor. But the judge favored the fox, since the judge and the lawyer had an affair before the lady became an ex lawyer. The crow lost the case, and a lot of money (remember it had paid it's friends, the jury, the plaintiff, the bus driver, the postmaster etc.). The fox thanked the lady and the judge and every one lived happily ever after.
"Creative comments are welcome"
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