2008, that was!....don't know what!

If i were asked to give a title to my personal diary of year 2008, then probably I would give it the name 'The unending game of false promises and hopes', and yes I mean it. This year I have achieved new heights in not meeting the promises that I had impostered myself to commit to, and that too with a religious attitude and a gracious face. I have either mastered the skill of faking my words to sound like a promise or else I am becoming as shameless as a politician resigning with the logic of 'moral responsibility' after the crisis is met and the losses are accomplished. 

I mean all what I am saying!

A glimpse of some of the unmet promises would go like this........

- someone in the office asked me to give a knowledge transfer on whatever I was working on , and then was supposed to move on to some other project. A smooth transition was expected from me, and consciously speaking it was more of my moral obligation to do so. I promised to deliver, but then remained busy (more in the self-acclaimed manner) and never did it. Later I got to know that the guy had to go through all those malicious lines of codes I had written to reach closer to what I wanted to convey there in those lines, and that too without any supporting documents (Now thats very much understandable.....if I am lazy enough not to give KT, then how could I have prepared any document for what I was doing all those months!). 

- Jan,Feb, and March were months when I was busy with campus recruitment. Here, on each college campus I made some short-notes based on my experience and the interaction with the students and I was all determined to come up with a full text of the entire campus story. I even worked on the same for few weeks, and after that I don't know what took away all my enthusiasm and distracted me to an extent that even after so many months the whole file remains to be in the same state in my cabinet.

- I was supposed to train some of the trainees for their better adaptability into the software environment, by mentoring them in both the core as well the soft skills. But by the time they were away from my mentoring they had very well adapted and became skilled enough in bunking the office with ease, browsing all day at office, made our cubicles sound like one of those engineering class-rooms where the teacher is yet to enter, college lingo was back into the work space, non-smokers tasted how cigarette feels like and smokers turned into frequent smokers, guys who had had a hype about drinking started developing some constant taste and started to become biased towards the hallowed old-monk-rum; and the 'core-skills' remained the same, as I always told them 'learn only when you need to work else the effort might get wasted', and they chose to stick to this golden rule and hence their technical skills remained as good as hello.c  or fibonacci.c ! and when the term ended they were asked to give feedback about me and their whole experience, and one of them wrote exactly this line in the feedback form - 'We enjoyed more than our college days' { this was meant to be a respectful comment, thats what I got to know from them later!!!!!! }   

- Sept was the month when Kiran actually asked me to teach him all about the Viterbi Algorithm and how does it actually function in the decoders and its C code implementation, I knew this was tough for me to do, more because I myself know that how stressful it was for me when I had started with it, but despite all the reality and my inability to do so I did shamefully promise that I will not only explain him everything but also provide him with self-made slides and reference material for future reference. Alas! after waiting for three good months he himself has started to make efforts to understand what Viterbi saab wanted to do through his 'life-time achievement' algorithm in the wireless mode of communication. (Good for Kiran, his life and time is saved now!)

- my nephew and niece wanted gifts from their their techy uncle (thats me!) on their respective birthdays, well they were eying and hoping on some techno games or toys I could offer them. And they did inform me about their expectation much before the deadline of their birthdays, but me a proved jerk by now, has made their wait longer at least by an year :(

- Garg expects me to look more like a human being, if not smart and handsome. And I promised her to deliver her the same at least twice, each week. But at the very temptation of looking like Mangal Pandey I let that mustache grow and let my hair curl along its length for months and months. All to be undone at the very moment Garg sees me in the making of 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising' getup :(

- all relatives have promised me to reimburse my telephone and restaurant bills, if only I call them in time and with some regularity (as I have always promised them). But then I am probably waiting for something else to come under the reimbursement umbrella - The Drinks and Ciggarette bills too! Although this couldn't happen in 2008, I guess 2009 would have a bigger reimbursement offer! Hope so!

Slightly ironical, but yes this needs to mentioned here, all my friends would not have much to complain against me, at least this year, I think they have seen me changing me, for sure. Yes, trust me, I am trying my best to become a team player of your definitions (the definition differs from the group to group, and I have many groups to offer my loyalty as a friend, and I currently I am adapting to the philosophy of - Largest common factor). 

Hope I have not disappointed most of your expectation levels!

And before I finish writing this post - Wish you all a very happy new year, hope 

you all make a genuine promise in the year to come, unlike me!

Haan haan.....kaam se jaa raha hoon!

After having watched three movies back to back, and after being away from my lovely shower since past two days and itching my arm-pits at every second moment, I felt like writing something on this page, more because I myself am getting irritated over the fact that - What the hell I am doing since last two days!!!!  And then I suddenly realized that all this could be for the last time, and all this would be possible only when I am back to India again...pata nahin kab!

well this could be last weekeknd before I leave India for long.......as I am actually on the verge of moving out of this country for quite some time, and there are things to which I am looking forward to, but at the same time I am sure to miss the usual life I have had for these many years. Needless to mention, but friends and relatives are the ones whom I am going to miss like anything.

kaam se jaa raha hoon.......wohi.......software engineer waala onsite assignment. I know, you are wondering that - kamaal hai yaar! isne India mein aaj tak koi kaam nahin kiya to pata nahin wahan jaa ke kya karega. Exactly! Ditto! Same to Same!!!. Even I am thinking the same. Dekhtey hain ab meri company kitne din tak tikegi!

Maintaining the tradition of not keeping any secrets about my plans, I told these things to all my near and dear ones......and a quick highlight of the conversation is captured below.......

Mummy - aise kaise chale jaaogey? aisa kya kaam hota hai jo India mein nahin ho sakta hai? Koi zaroorat nahin hai jaane ki.

Papa - Ghoom ke wapas aa jaana. Faaltu country hai wo........aur paise chahiye to phone kar dena.

sisters - You will earn in dollars!!!! Ab tum dollar mein paise transfer karna.

Ravi - yaar! I will miss you (kamine!!!!! please dont miss me ever. I start doubting myself)

Bakar Gang - *Beep* F#$% *Beep* saale.....non-veg khaana start kar dena.....aur plz wahan ki ladkiyon pe thoda sa rehem karna.   {c'mon guys.....I'll miss you guys the most.....ek dum dil se}.

Manager saab - good that u r going.....at least we can work peacefully now.

Female Colleagues - We will miss your unsophesticated talks {O Really!!!!! yaar ye pehle bolna tha na}

Garg - Ab kam se kam daily ek baar to zaroor baat kar lena.

But all jokes apart, I wanted this opportunity since long, afterall we are working in Indian Software Companies and the very way of business of these companies are dependent on the work from other countries and hence going outside for work is more like icing on the cake, other benefits (like monetary benefits) are obviously there, but this one is indeed a confidence booster and a sure way to make you learn so many things in life which would remain absolutely untouched if one doesn't get such an opportunity.

There are things which are sure to be missed when I am not here in India, but then I am more optimitic about learning things right now, and getting some quality exposure is no doubt a great asset for future. 

well well .... I am not really planning to settle down over there.....its just a matter of few months.....and they themselves will throw me out....... :)

and finally, before I finish writing this one, there are certain points which I wanted to say, although I am not one of those whose mother is ill and sister needs to be married soon and father needs a heart operation and younger brother still in college and needs a quick supply of college fees or else the college officials are going to throw him out and hence I should bring home some huge amount of money from Vilayat (like our hindi film heroes), but then everyone likes to earn some extra cash, and so am I. although I see it as a pure opportunity to earn confidence, skill, exposure, and some tourism along with the money and an opportunity to represent your country and showcase its culture and mannerism to others. Thanks god I got this opportunity.

PS : by the time I am posting this message, I am already sitting in Korea and since the day when I started writing this post till date so many things have changed and everything needs to be told. so just keep visiting this page.

Lunch is Free.....so is the sweetdish!

Some fanatics come down to the streets of Mumbai with the most sophisticated weapons in their hands (which our army and police can only dream of), and create havoc on a fateful night, and continue to with-hold the terror for next 60 hours, and put the whole of the nation at a ransom. The whole nation watches the events on TV and keeps himself glued to the chain of events through its minute by minute updates. TV channels find a huge upward hit in their prime-time viewer ship(thanks to the timing of the terror), we all forget our daily soaps, movies and those music channels. We just want to know that what has happened in Mumbai and how things are going on at this point in time. Thanks to these 24 hrs news channels, at least now-a-days we can see whats going on and with an interpretation level decipherable by a common man (but no thanks for making the matters sound a hyperbole).

All the TV channels come out with their bit of stories and the pictures of the locations where these incidents occurred. The Journalists and the News Readers had sleepless nights, and so did the Policemen and Commandos on duty. Everyone worked day and night to either make the information available to the masses or to fight out the terror in the quickest possible manner. And it was indeed an excellent effort (and well met the end result), and any amount of great words for your exceptional work would still lack the appreciation you deserve.

The management of all these affected places (the two hotels or the hospital) made their every bit to save the maximum people without even thinking about the losses they were incurring per minute. They made the lives of all the people easier in all possible manner in their capacity at that point in time. Their business suffered, but they didn't care at all. Kudos to your spirit of doing business with a religious committment!

But while all this was happening there was one section of people (or better we should call them the demi-gods of this nation) was fast asleep. They were bothered about how to sell this incident to its people in the times to come. Someone was trying to say that 'Such incidents in a city like Mumbai are normal things', someone tried to pass on the blame and at the same time tried to self-appraise, and someone just ignored the whole event and didn't even turn up at the scene of crime. This class is none other than the Political Honchos of this nation. Who claim to be the self-acclaimed public servants, but somehow their actions differs the intended intention or the words spoken by them.

When an entire nation is working towards making India shine like never ever, and when almost all the other sectors are working day and night to make everyone think about India with a respect like never ever in the past, why does it happen that whenever one thinks about the politicians of India he get a feeling of disgust and frustration. We allvery well know that India is a nation of ironies, to an extent that it has become the most defining characteristic of this nation in front of the whole world. But still this makes me think that What could be so wrong with this particular class? Why are they like this?

What hurts this nation the most is its political system. Its political class. And the ways in which its political class manipulates things. Why don't we ever see a unanimity over any issue, even during the times of crisis? The Indian masses want to know the abyss of the bad politics these people can play. But then who is to be blamed in the very first hand?

A day after the Mumbai incident was over, and the when the introspection and analysis phase began, we got to see all possible inputs from all the domains of the society, and then, after a long time the pressure started to build upon the government (thanks to media, again). But what we saw as the first step taken by the government to tackle the issue was to sack the Home Minister (Shivraj Patil) and make someone else handle the department (in a politically correct sentence this could be written as an act of conscience and moral responsibility from Mr Shivraj Patil). And then, the Prime Minister of this nation started chanting the chores of 'Lets Unite' , 'Lets stand together', 'Its a time of crisis, and lets fight it together', etc etc. 

Well well...well, I thought these guys have assembled in a room to take some strong and bold steps to fight the terror and make our nation less-prone to such sad incidents. But what I hear is noise and only noise, yet again. Incident after incident the only thing we do is to create some noise, pass on the same noise to the media, and let media churn some more noise out of the same and confuse people and then suddenly some other incident occurs and the chain of events repeats again!

But, This is what India is! And We are like this, We don't mind any amount of delay in anything and everything on this earth. We love procrastination and we also love the flowery words suger-coated with emotional value. especially at the times of crisis. We have a tradition of forgiving people, and we actually believe that forgiving is the best known human values. Sadly, we do not believe the honesty is also one of the good things, and we have forgotten the statement which tends to mean that - Duty done with utmost honest is the best service to the mankind. But as I said - We are like this, and we will never change!

(I just wonder on this statement from almost all the politicians of this nation eversince we got independence - "We are trying to start the dialogue with Pakistan"......what the hell man....since 1947 you just TRYING to start the dialogue!!!!! So when should we expect a result? Next century or after a couple of centuries?)

  

I fail to understand certain things - Why does the conscience of a political person awakens only after a crisis takes the form of the debate for the whole nation, and why does the person have to resign immediately after the mishap?Instead, I would prefer the same person to be in charge for some more time and bear the heat and pressure from all the sides. (By making someone resign you are actually shielding the person from all the sides, and asking him to get underground for the time-being). If Mr shivraj Patil actually had the conscience and moral responsibility then he should have resigned from the politics for the rest of his life-time, and this would have made a greater and positive impact on the future of Congress too. But, we are Indians, and we have a habit of living from Crisis to Crisis, we forget bad things as soon as we get to watch a new movie or a new TV soap, or as the festivals season approach . And I am confident that we the people of India will certainly forgive this UPA government and Mr Shivraj Patil as soon as Mrs Sonia Gandhi would start chanting the words like Gandhi, Indira, Rajiv, Balidaan, etc etc in the next election rally while acting in role of a perfect bahu for the whole of this nation. What a shame on us!!!!!   

I personally believe that these politicians are to be blamed lesser than what the Indian masses are to be blamed for. Why haven't we ever asked for a better leadership? Why haven't we ever asked for any sort of accountability in politics? Why does it happen that once a government goes or a person resigns from his post, the whole trouble seems to have a 'bye bye' effect and the losses are yet again borne by the tax-payers of this nation? (would you believe that this Mumbai Incident has left behind the losses which would be at least 50,000 crores. Who will make up for this loss? Certainly it wont be the government, it will be us - the Tax Payers of this nation). Mr shivraj Patil who has resigned must be sleeping in peace now, and would sure be back into the arena as soon as the Congress starts its election campaign in few months for the upcoming election. And Mr Advani is no mood to help Congress because he very well knows that he could earn much more by giving his statements independently and putting the charges absolutely on the Congress Party Leadership. 

Politics without any sort of accountability is much like saying that - 'Lunch is obviously free, but we will also make you eat the sweet-dish for free!' And I have no doubt that things will not change in times to come, afterall we are Indians and we believe in the policy of forgiveness and resilience. Keep it up compatriots!

Watch this Video, it happens to match my sentiments regarding this whole Mumbai episode here