And So The Story Goes..

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.. but for there to be a story, must have taken place an adventure.. alright, let me stop trying Yoda-izing this post. ( For those who didn't get the reference, two words - Star Wars )

But the point is the adventure, the odyssey, the ordeal is over. I am back at the best place I can be right now.. home. Thanks to the Rajus, there are around 10K more people just like me waiting for these dark clouds to scatter & give way to bright sunny days. On top of that, some of the people that survived the initial "Virtual Pool"-ing have now been asked, politely of course to resign by the end of the month. This is the best recovery plan that the new business entity has come up with. My best wishes to them. After all, haven't we all grown up to moral values such as "Satyam-eva Jayate" (Truth Alone Triumphs). This particular one is inscribed in all the courtrooms of India. Rajus are going to see a lot of this. Maybe the message will now get home. Somebody must also inscribe "Honesty is the best policy" in their cells.

Anyway, enough of the bhadaas.. Today would have marked my one-year anniversary as a Satyamite, as a professional. In some ways I still am one (still on their payroll), but am I working? No. And that is frustrating, no matter how you try to convince yourself. I wasted a whole month staying back in Hyderabad trying to find some kind of a new job. You wouldn't believe the kind of places I went to. But then, "you are from Satyam.... ahhmm", "how about 40% of your current CTC", "you are over-qualified", "you are an IIIT alumnus, what are you doing here?".... these are various samples of the responses I received. And there were a lot of them. Now, I'm getting ready to get these responses from potential interviewers in the NCR. Wish me luck.

This abundance of free time enabled me to catch some interesting tidbits of "news" floating around. Mr. SRK got detained at an US airport. Never before, only now. So what? Habitually, we Indians find it easy to say "Do you know who I am?". It is indeed very difficult for us to swallow our pride, doesn't matter if it is false ego or a deserved one. So what if a random ignorant official in a foreign country doesn't know you as the superstar you are. Just for once, play by the rules. How difficult can it be? All the other normal people do it. And by the way, what's SRK's next movie titled? "My Name is Khan". Oh!! And by any means, is the theme of this movie anything similar to this recent controversy? But then, SRK has come out and publicly stated that he doesn't need cheap publicity stunts. Yeah, Right!! What were you doing at all those IPL matches in the first season with Deepika Padukone? Does she also own some stake in KKR? There were some issues back then as well. Some BCCI official had objected at the movie-promotion being done.

Mr. SRK, you sir possess a great marketing mind. Just like our beloved Mr. Lalit Modi. He has very confidently stated that all sports authorities need to market themselves & their respective sports better and mentioned the success of IPL. He has conveniently ignored the fact that our cricket-crazy nation will eat up anything that's cricket related, without even batting an eyelid even if a monkey promoted it. And Mr. Modi, for all his attempts (most, if not all, failed ones) at delivering a single charismatic speech, is still better than a monkey. And if he truly believes in his abilities as a super-marketer, he should make an attempt at promoting any other sport of his choice in India. Then, we will see.

Anyway, Liverpool lost Alonso to Real Madrid. And away to Spurs in the first league fixture by the same scoreline as last year's corresponding fixture. The difference being, this time Spurs dominated the game. More than the absence of Alonso, it was defensive frailties after that big collision between Jamie Carragher & Martin Skrtel that did the main damage to us. Both of their goals came from set-plays. Anyway no matter how good Aquilani is, he will take some time to adapt. I think we will suffer from Alonso's departure as much as Manchester United are going to suffer from C. Ronaldo's. And I hate to say this, but I think the title will be at Stamford Bridge next May. And if not Anfield, that is my favoured option as well since Arsenal don't look like the force they once were. But, the top 4 will stay the same. Manchester City might come close though.

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All Shook Up

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I can not sleep. I am spending so many nights awake, looking at the ceiling. I may have a few reasons to explain this to myself. But I am not sure which one or maybe two in particular are troubling me this much. Both my professional and personal lives are a mess these days.

It was 7 January, 2009. That fateful day for around 50K Satyam employees. I do not get frustrated easily. But 15 weeks and too much of failed (yet) efforts to land up with a new (& hopefully better) job later, the frustration is slowly but surely sinking in. Its not like there are no jobs out there. But the probability of getting a job profile you want is inversely proportional to the level of desperation with which you are looking for the new job. I guess in this time of recession, you have to take what you get. But despite my best efforts, I could not convince myself to take up this new job which was offering me a BAD profile and a 10% cut on my current CTC.

One might say what were you thinking. And that why was I even listening to such offers. But I justified that to myself when I came across as yet unsubstantiated but quite strong rumours that the CTC will go down by 10% soon. And then the fact that the 10% variable part of the CTC is already gone. I am looking at a loss of around 19% on the current CTC already. And after one year of service, people in our industry used to get hikes of around 20%. Those were the times.

Money matters but then you can never have enough of it. The profile was BAD and I am happy to have refused that particular offer. And I am thankful to all my friends & well-wishers for without their good counsel, I might have made a mistake which I am sure I would have been regretful of later on.

Life otherwise is fine. Girls are complex creatures. IPL 2 has started. Liverpool are out of Champions' League, but what a glorious exit. Probably the best way to go. The chase for the Premier League title is still alive, mathematically at least. I read somewhere that last year Manchester United dropped 7 points in their last 6 games under pressure from Chelsea. I certainly would welcome any such possibility. We need them to drop only 6 though. Go Arsenal. Go Manchester City. Liverpool is playing great football. Benitez is playing great mind-games with SAF. But all this & league doubles over Manchester United and Chelsea might just go in vain. There were so many draws. But I don't mind this last one with Arsenal. That was a classic football match. Anyway I would have accepted a strong showing in BPL & UCL as good performance in the beginning of the season. And such a strong run-in for the BPL title is good for me.

I added the Google Adsense widgets to my blog today. Do click a few ads. ;)

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2 + 2 = ??

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One would think it is the simplest of sums, but as has been the case many a times, not really.... can be five (Amitabh Bachhan & Shashi Kapoor established this in Do Aur Do Paanch) .... can be <= zero as well.

I had 2 amazing days this past weekend. Friends from good old college days were visiting us - The Hyderabad Gang. I wonder sometimes why do we call all our groups gangs, city-wise. I think it started with The Bang Gang, corny.... eh? I never think of Bangalore/Bengaluru when I register this sound in my head.... ;)

Anyway, it was great fun. Though I didn't exactly do much with the guys, talked a bit with them but saw them doing many things. Someone was preparing grass for 7-8 odd guys, someone was busy changing songs on the music system (almost always asking others ... ye gaana sun tu ... ), someone was busy shouting at him ocassionally to change the songs to ghazals and then crooning the same at the top of his vocal capacity, someone was crying his inebriated heart out, someone was busy smashing all the records (mostly his own) of intoxicated stupidity, someone was getting all kinds of abuse for coming all the way to Hyderabad and not staying with friends. He had to meet his girlfriend. Anyway, it was all fun.

I had gone to a job fair as well on Saturday morning. I wasn't really looking for a job there, just looking at the scenario. It was a big circus and there were no cool animals around, just lame jokers. I guess then and there, someone else would have been thinking the same about me. I certainly did. I wondered what the hell was I doing there and then started having some fun, cracking jokes with my friend who had accompanied me.

Then there was this birthday party I went to, where the guy to girl ratio was a whopping 1:9 and almost everybody was looking absolutely gorgeous. There are always exceptions and one look in the mirror on the wall confirmed this for me. I had a hard time trying not to ogle at the beautiful people.

2 good.... But then I had 2 really bad days. Work is going on alright, not great though. I don't know what is missing, but the zing is just not there. And I am not happy with certain things and a few people there. I am not angry. I work hard on my anger, try to let it go, convert it into something else, something bright. And when I fail in doing this, it gets converted into disappointment (like right now). And then I regret why did I ever start this thing, whatever it is.

I have thought about walking right up to these people and giving them a piece of my mind or maybe discussing this in a gentlemanly manner, but then I get confused if this would be way too impulsive on my part. The fact that some of these people have the most charmingly beautiful smiles doesn't help either. I have come to the conclusion that I should just let things take their own time and let time take its own course. But then again, I get confused what would be worse - saying something and wishing I had not or saying nothing and wishing I had. I don't know.

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V-Week Vanity

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And so, it is over. All the V-mania and the anti-V-mania of course, whatever way you would describe it, the bottomline is it is indeed over. I have not had the good fortune of reading newspapers for these past few days and I can't make myself sit through the atyachaar that our News Channels inflict upon us. So, I am not updated about what happened, what did not. I was too busy sulking.

And these damned movie channels were all airing such beautiful romantic movies you just can't hate, no matter how mad you are. I know already what happened when Harry and Sally met, I know what Notting Hill is all about. (Yes that Ronan Keating song is truly amazing.) So does the majority of their audience. What's the point in airing them at this time? Those who are supposed to feel good watching these are not going to sit through these movies when there are so many other things to do. Why make those feeling lonely more lonesome? Anyway, I had nothing better to do, so I sat through.

All this time, my mind was wandering. And then these promotional schemes, messages, calls were making me more and more irritated. I cursed and cursed and then stopped and then continued with the movies. What else?....

And yes, Dev D is good. Though not a 5-star movie, I would rate it 3.5 on a 5-point scale.

Do not go for Billoo Barber, if you haven't yet. And if you have, you know why I say so.

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Mood Swings

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I am having some trouble with my mood and more so with myself. Generally, I try to stay cheerful. Even if I am not happy, I try to stay not sad. Today again, I am not in the mood to smile. I am hating everybody and everything. And I hate myself for that. I don't want to be this guy, but I can't help it. And this is becoming more and more frequent.

Everybody has their off-days, I guess. So, it must be normal for me also. Thus I convinced myself the first time. It was alright. If I can convince myself, I can convince anyone. And if not, who cares? I had a legit problem the second time, so I think that's ok. One can be allowed to be sad when there is a problem.

But what do I do when lightning strikes me again and again. (Yes, it is from that great Blue song, featuring Elton John.) And some say lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. Maybe it does. And then, I do have a fascination for lightning strikes. OK. My mood is getting better. Another example for the swings. Anyway, people can never get enough of gloating about their own selves and yours truly is no exception.

The song says Sorry seems to be the hardest word.... I don't really think likewise. But feeling sorry for oneself is definitely as hard as it gets.

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To Advise Or Not To Advise

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While reading the blog of a friend, I went through the comments as well, where another of my friends had commented something. I picked it from there and put it as the status note on the Office Communicator.

Then the coding keeda started popping its head up inside my head and I thought, let's write a simple function. Please review.

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void to.advise.or.not.to( )

{ if ( advice == add + vice )

do.not( );

else

throw.exception( );

}

....

....

Nice little function...

And did you notice the 'c' and the 's' ?

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Back To The Blog, Again ....

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Hey Yo!!

The last time I took a break from blogging, it was just for doing nothing. And when I came back to the blogosphere, I started with the same greeting. Hey Yo!! This was what Scott Hall aka Razor Ramon used to start his promos with when he was in his prime, wrestling for the then-WWF and later for WCW. I liked his character and his in-ring style. Nostalgia...

Anyway, I have been out of this world again for some time. At first I did not have anything to post, then when I had something I didn't have the desire to post. Even now I don't have anything, but there is this lack of I-don't-know-what which is pushing me to post again. Maybe its just the desire to do so.

I have been in the middle of a few things in the meantime. I moved from the institute hostel to my hometown, then to Hyderabad to join this job I did not really want to join. Then I kept moving from place to place in this new city. I have now put my feet to rest here in this place which I share with my friends from the institute.

I bought a new bike, then a new watch and now my account says its nearing the reserve. What next? Whoa!! The company goes bust, fake balance sheets and all... biggest scam in Indian corporate history, some say. What now? I don't really know. This ultra-senior guy who heads the business unit I work for says one thing is for sure. However way we all come out from this debacle, we all will be better, more mature people and will thank The Almighty for the experience. Yeah right!! What is an atheist supposed to do? Thank Raju?

I guess I am not one of the worst hit. See, I don't have any responsibilities as of now. Think about the family (wo)men, who have got to pay the bills for their childrens' education and all those other things that come with a family. Whenever I try to think about all these people, whenever I try to count those affected directly and indirectly, I feel disgusted. But I despise those even more who are pointing their accusing finger at all the people in the organization. I guess they forget where the rest of their own fingers are pointing. Such times really expose the nature of people.

I mean, its a handful of the people who are guilty. And I am not going to support them. But at the same time, I am not going to pull my swords out. Who are we to judge anybody? Actually that's the biggest problem we have. We just can't stop judging people. It won't matter to us if we ourselves go the same route we condemn, if nobody was looking. Honesty is indeed rare.

Moving on to the brighter spots in the past few months, Liverpool are doing great this season. They beat Man Utd, beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, came good in the Christmas period, qualified from group phase of Champions' Leauge as leaders. Most of the things are looking great about the team, save for the two big slip-ups against Spurs. There were a few draws, but I guess they are alright since we are still leading. The Merseyside derby is coming up twice and in quick succession. Some would say the Premier Leauge tie is more important than the FA Cup one. Am I being too greedy if I want a win in both?

I think this has become a very lengthy post and I have not even started about things and people who I have been thinking too much about recently. Its better to keep those for the next post, I guess. Until then ....

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