Sometimes I think I shouldn't say this, or shouldn't say that. Not that what I am saying is wrong but just that for some unforeseen reason I always seem to sound quite insistent (at least to me). For some time now I have wondered whether to spit out my opinion or not and to my dismay this question seem to be occurring quite frequently now a days.
The free tips, consultations have started to slow down now and I hope to bring it to a prematurely end in the new year :) I believe "That which is free is never appreciated", so I guess the "not to anybody's use" e-mails, the "have you booked this" smses and "why don't you have a look at this" calls will stop from hereon in.
"The only constant thing is change", do I believe in this ?? Now more than ever.
- Sridhar Ramakrishnan
- About me? Thinking about it, describing yourself is such a difficult task and I am puzzled how some guys out there do it so seamlessly. I am what you can call a “Yours Ordinary Programmer” and come from an already overwhelming group of people calling themselves the “IT Guys". So here goes my space mostly with things I don't know why I wrote in the first place. For those who feel it is non-sense thanks for your patience and for those who feel its quite good thanks for sticking your neck out "Be the change you want to see" Cya, Sri
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Thursday, 23 December 2010
On an Icy Road and In Retro mode...
Its snowed again in the UK, this time far worse than last year. It's called the "Big Freeze" and with it comes the usual Motorway congestions, train cancellations, airports at a stand still. In spite of all this here I went to London (again) this weekend.
I usually like to travel late in the night guess I am more comfortable with the dark. So I had this wonderful Indian dinner with lots of chicken curry and ready to hit the road once again. Took me around 20 minutes to clear the snow atop my car and after that I was on another nocturnal safari. Roads were Icy, not much traffic and my eternal companion to give me company (read my IPOD).
What is it about old songs, probably our facination with the past and our disturbances with memories, not clear what but there is some invisible magic in there somewhere. Something like a Gateway to your past where all thoughts just coming gushing in the mind, whether you like it or not and to add to the fun suddenly the mood to appreciate the beautiful lyrics, the artistic poetry etc etc.
As soon as I switched the Retro playlist on the IPOD it was a state of trance. I don't know much about music but whatever takes your mind off your world should be "pure" in some way or the other:) So when SPB sings "Nilaave Vaa", "Mandram Vanda" you almost want to fall in love and Kishore's "Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi" such simple music yet makes you go crazy and then "Yeh Raatein, Yeh Mausam" so soothing and mesmerising.
A hundred miles seem like just a few,
Time stands still and frozen,
A magical pleasure and a state of ecstasy,
Music: A Gift, A miracle of unknown powers !!
I usually like to travel late in the night guess I am more comfortable with the dark. So I had this wonderful Indian dinner with lots of chicken curry and ready to hit the road once again. Took me around 20 minutes to clear the snow atop my car and after that I was on another nocturnal safari. Roads were Icy, not much traffic and my eternal companion to give me company (read my IPOD).
What is it about old songs, probably our facination with the past and our disturbances with memories, not clear what but there is some invisible magic in there somewhere. Something like a Gateway to your past where all thoughts just coming gushing in the mind, whether you like it or not and to add to the fun suddenly the mood to appreciate the beautiful lyrics, the artistic poetry etc etc.
As soon as I switched the Retro playlist on the IPOD it was a state of trance. I don't know much about music but whatever takes your mind off your world should be "pure" in some way or the other:) So when SPB sings "Nilaave Vaa", "Mandram Vanda" you almost want to fall in love and Kishore's "Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi" such simple music yet makes you go crazy and then "Yeh Raatein, Yeh Mausam" so soothing and mesmerising.
A hundred miles seem like just a few,
Time stands still and frozen,
A magical pleasure and a state of ecstasy,
Music: A Gift, A miracle of unknown powers !!
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Happy Carrotian !
It's a big post, be patient and try to read the whole thing, the most important part is at the end...
So in this dream....
I was "Yours Ordinary programmer" and I joined one of the IT company in Bangalore. Funnily the name of the company was Carrot. Not sure why carrot appeared in my dream, probably something to do with my mom who used to give me a glass of carrot juice everyday I went to office.
So here I was a happy Carrotian (that's what people working were called), fresh from college, wanting to achieve something and take myself somewhere..without knowing where that somewhere is anyway :)
Carrot seemed to be good, I liked working there, the people the place everything. Then Mr Murphy striked again !! Something had to go wrong you see. The people who matter started to make policy which was both funny and didn't quite make sense to most of us POWs. Don't get it wrong I didn't mean Prisoner of War but People who Only Work !
So here was this aged gentlemen coming once in three or six months telling the POWs how Carrot need to grow more and if it does in a couple of months they will buy BeetRoot as well etc etc. It happened for a long long time and then my creative streak got over and I came up with a list of policy that could make Carrot better for both Carrot and the POWs. So here is what I wrote..funnily I remembered everything I wrote in my dream...
Hi fellow Carrotians.....
As part of the companyz vision to "GROW" and "GROW FURTHER" the following policies would do good to both the company as well as the employees to enable Carrot to reach milestones in the field of "SOFTWARE SOLUTION" and "TO CREATE EMPLOYEE DISSATISFACTION TO THE FULLEST".
POLICY 1:PAY - N - PARK
As part of Carrot's vision (which is to grow and grow older) it is hereby informed to the employees that parking facility will no longer be free in the company campus. The new parking fees will be collected from everybody except people with GRADE 4 and above (technically they should have money i guess). The parking fees are as given below:
Two Wheelers : 3.75ps/-
Four Wheelers: Rs 5. 50 Ps/-
A monthly parking pass can also be availed from the front office. The cost details are as given below
Two Wheelers : Rs 59/- ( U can save some money by availing this )
Four Wheelers: Rs 100/-
Non-Carrotians can also park their vehicles inside the premises but they will have a different fee structure as below:
Two Wheelers : Rs 10/- Per Hour
Four Wheelers: Rs 20/- Per Hour.
These coupons will be delivered to the NON-Carrotians by the employees who are in free pool (those who are not yet allotted a project) so as to utilise them also in this noble cause..
POLICY 2:REUSE OF COFFEE CUPS
After detailed analysis of the usage of coffee cups, it is come to the notice of the senior management that much of the cups used either leaks or wasted. So it is has been decided that a plastic cup will be given to every employee and he/she can drink coffee/tea/badam milk only on their respective cups and therefore helping in cost-cutting. Sharing or exchanging of cofee cups is strictly against the company policies and necessary disciplinary action will be taken ( Like, making the culprit drink the cofee from the wending machine).
POLICY 3:USE OF INTERNET KIOSK
The internet usage policy will further be strengthened to make it more useless for the employees . So a marginal fees of Rs 25 per hour will be collected from those who will use the internet kiosk so as to reduce the risk of the employees watching unauthorized websites.
POLICY 4: LUNCH HOURS FIXED FROM 1-2PM
It is hereby informed to the employees that lunch hours will be fixed from 1 to 2 pm and during this time all the power system to the workstations will be switched off. This is to reduce unwanted system usage at non-working hours. In case of emergency this policy can be relieved with the approval of your respective project manager.
POLICY 5: REMOVAL OF DAILY SNACKS
The snacks given on a daily basis will now be made monthly. This is to facilitate cleanliness in the cubicles and also as a gesture from our part on the health of our employee.
POLICY 6: LIFT USAGE
It is hereby informed that employees often misuse the lift by simply using it for getting to one floor above or below. Therefore lift access is now open to only those people who follow in the following criteria:
1. Grade 4 and above. (Without going into finer details they are people with a little bit more money)
2. People whose weight is above 75kg and below 35kg.
POLICY 7 : ROTATION POLICY
Not a major change has bought to this policy, just a slight modification.. "ROTATION POLICY" will now be called as "ROTATING POLICY" , from the recent happenings it is very clear that it is the policy which is rotating and not the people.
Most of my friends..oops sorry colleagues liked it and I was happy seeing how stupid my creativity was..So after a couple of days I got the same mail to my inbox..everything was right except the fact that...
someone else was credited with writing it...Then suddenly I woke up from my sleep and only did I realise...
It wasn't a dream :))
So in this dream....
I was "Yours Ordinary programmer" and I joined one of the IT company in Bangalore. Funnily the name of the company was Carrot. Not sure why carrot appeared in my dream, probably something to do with my mom who used to give me a glass of carrot juice everyday I went to office.
So here I was a happy Carrotian (that's what people working were called), fresh from college, wanting to achieve something and take myself somewhere..without knowing where that somewhere is anyway :)
Carrot seemed to be good, I liked working there, the people the place everything. Then Mr Murphy striked again !! Something had to go wrong you see. The people who matter started to make policy which was both funny and didn't quite make sense to most of us POWs. Don't get it wrong I didn't mean Prisoner of War but People who Only Work !
So here was this aged gentlemen coming once in three or six months telling the POWs how Carrot need to grow more and if it does in a couple of months they will buy BeetRoot as well etc etc. It happened for a long long time and then my creative streak got over and I came up with a list of policy that could make Carrot better for both Carrot and the POWs. So here is what I wrote..funnily I remembered everything I wrote in my dream...
Hi fellow Carrotians.....
As part of the companyz vision to "GROW" and "GROW FURTHER" the following policies would do good to both the company as well as the employees to enable Carrot to reach milestones in the field of "SOFTWARE SOLUTION" and "TO CREATE EMPLOYEE DISSATISFACTION TO THE FULLEST".
POLICY 1:PAY - N - PARK
As part of Carrot's vision (which is to grow and grow older) it is hereby informed to the employees that parking facility will no longer be free in the company campus. The new parking fees will be collected from everybody except people with GRADE 4 and above (technically they should have money i guess). The parking fees are as given below:
Two Wheelers : 3.75ps/-
Four Wheelers: Rs 5. 50 Ps/-
A monthly parking pass can also be availed from the front office. The cost details are as given below
Two Wheelers : Rs 59/- ( U can save some money by availing this )
Four Wheelers: Rs 100/-
Non-Carrotians can also park their vehicles inside the premises but they will have a different fee structure as below:
Two Wheelers : Rs 10/- Per Hour
Four Wheelers: Rs 20/- Per Hour.
These coupons will be delivered to the NON-Carrotians by the employees who are in free pool (those who are not yet allotted a project) so as to utilise them also in this noble cause..
POLICY 2:REUSE OF COFFEE CUPS
After detailed analysis of the usage of coffee cups, it is come to the notice of the senior management that much of the cups used either leaks or wasted. So it is has been decided that a plastic cup will be given to every employee and he/she can drink coffee/tea/badam milk only on their respective cups and therefore helping in cost-cutting. Sharing or exchanging of cofee cups is strictly against the company policies and necessary disciplinary action will be taken ( Like, making the culprit drink the cofee from the wending machine).
POLICY 3:USE OF INTERNET KIOSK
The internet usage policy will further be strengthened to make it more useless for the employees . So a marginal fees of Rs 25 per hour will be collected from those who will use the internet kiosk so as to reduce the risk of the employees watching unauthorized websites.
POLICY 4: LUNCH HOURS FIXED FROM 1-2PM
It is hereby informed to the employees that lunch hours will be fixed from 1 to 2 pm and during this time all the power system to the workstations will be switched off. This is to reduce unwanted system usage at non-working hours. In case of emergency this policy can be relieved with the approval of your respective project manager.
POLICY 5: REMOVAL OF DAILY SNACKS
The snacks given on a daily basis will now be made monthly. This is to facilitate cleanliness in the cubicles and also as a gesture from our part on the health of our employee.
POLICY 6: LIFT USAGE
It is hereby informed that employees often misuse the lift by simply using it for getting to one floor above or below. Therefore lift access is now open to only those people who follow in the following criteria:
1. Grade 4 and above. (Without going into finer details they are people with a little bit more money)
2. People whose weight is above 75kg and below 35kg.
POLICY 7 : ROTATION POLICY
Not a major change has bought to this policy, just a slight modification.. "ROTATION POLICY" will now be called as "ROTATING POLICY" , from the recent happenings it is very clear that it is the policy which is rotating and not the people.
Most of my friends..oops sorry colleagues liked it and I was happy seeing how stupid my creativity was..So after a couple of days I got the same mail to my inbox..everything was right except the fact that...
someone else was credited with writing it...Then suddenly I woke up from my sleep and only did I realise...
It wasn't a dream :))
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
VirundhOmbal
....in Tamil means "Hospitality".
Don't know any culture that doesn't encourage it's people not to be hospitable. Probably one of the very few things thats common amongst the trillions of cultures, race and religion. In India for instance every guests is considered a "God". Sounds pretty simple but what a wonderful principle !
Recently I had paid a visit to some of my friends. Their spouses had joined them in the U.K and this was the first time I was visiting them. The signs all pointed to a family house: the cutlery systematically arranged, the food with the desert, the tea (which always seemed to be more tasty), the hand towels always at the correct place, everything spic and span !
With the exception of my college pals this was the first time I was visiting a friends place after they were married. And to my surprise the welcome dished out made me feel very comfortable (I have had some interesting experience with people who were about to embrace the holy communion)
So many of us are so busy with work and have time for all the silly things we have kind of willingly forgot to remember the little things that count. A sweet smile @work, a heartfelt thank you for a friend or a warm welcome to your house, all this makes a difference. Makes the place we live more special, after all what is life without a little bit of people around?
In the age of "Kaam khatam Aadmi Khatam" (Once the work is done, forego your friend) Thanks Mr Suresh and Mr Bronnyl for giving me a taste of values we have been known for years and it was an immense pleasure experiencing your hospitality "The Big Fat Indian way" :)
Don't know any culture that doesn't encourage it's people not to be hospitable. Probably one of the very few things thats common amongst the trillions of cultures, race and religion. In India for instance every guests is considered a "God". Sounds pretty simple but what a wonderful principle !
Recently I had paid a visit to some of my friends. Their spouses had joined them in the U.K and this was the first time I was visiting them. The signs all pointed to a family house: the cutlery systematically arranged, the food with the desert, the tea (which always seemed to be more tasty), the hand towels always at the correct place, everything spic and span !
With the exception of my college pals this was the first time I was visiting a friends place after they were married. And to my surprise the welcome dished out made me feel very comfortable (I have had some interesting experience with people who were about to embrace the holy communion)
So many of us are so busy with work and have time for all the silly things we have kind of willingly forgot to remember the little things that count. A sweet smile @work, a heartfelt thank you for a friend or a warm welcome to your house, all this makes a difference. Makes the place we live more special, after all what is life without a little bit of people around?
In the age of "Kaam khatam Aadmi Khatam" (Once the work is done, forego your friend) Thanks Mr Suresh and Mr Bronnyl for giving me a taste of values we have been known for years and it was an immense pleasure experiencing your hospitality "The Big Fat Indian way" :)
Monday, 13 December 2010
3+ years on but unlimited memories...
Moved to a new house this Saturday so I guess its so long Boston Road. And for some insane reason I wanted to write this one from the old house, so here I am alone sitting in my room reminiscing the past and welcoming the future.
As I removed all the Godfather posters I remembered the first time I got them and my friends helping me out to have it stuck all around my room (I am never good at this). Then it was time to pack the mugs that I bought from Germany, Austria, France, Italy and so on, flashes of my Euro trip came gushing into my mind. And then there was this small teddy with "Passed" written on it that I got when I passed the driving test.
I had packed almost everything but subconsciously was aware that I had to do one last thing. The one thing I never wanted to do but knew it had to be done. I dismantled the home theatre system and as I went on disconnecting the wires I could recollect all the films I saw there, the photo albums with Hindi songs at the background, checking mails and in fact decoding live issues on a 84" screen and of course the all time 100 movies with Gaggy..
Sipping a can of Coke with pizza I stare at my blank wall, I am neither sad nor happy, but just a wierd feeling, I guess this house shall always remain some where in the corner, after all here is where I learnt all the tricks of the trade, saw strangers turn friends and funnily friends who wanted to be strangers..
Thanks to all the Bostonians.
Rakesh for his katchori, samosa, Kishore songs during cooking and our dinner sessions together
Pooja for Pudina Pulav, dhal makani, Yogurt Theory, "Hello Mrs Jones" and our dinner sessions together
Sowmya for the daily breakfast, afternoon lunch, our dinner sessions together and so much more
Suresh for his amazing Rasam, Tamil songs in the morning and trying to get me gyming
Lohith for his huli saaru, company to MANU matches and our films together (Andaz apna apna)
Sangeetha for raagi muddes and jolada rottis and calling "SRIDHAAAAR dinner is ready"
Gaggy for our AFI top 100 together, PS3...
Ashok for football matches, our cricket matches together and your morning tea
Vinith for our Immigration discussions, Man U matches and giving me company during my work from home...
Cheta for telling no everytime, comfortability theory and for giving me nice company...
Meera for your dishes which you always think you sussed it and for me writing this memoir in the first place :)
And finally a toast to 9 Boston Road
For being my first house in the UK, being the home away from home and teaching me things about life, people and many other things ;-)
As I removed all the Godfather posters I remembered the first time I got them and my friends helping me out to have it stuck all around my room (I am never good at this). Then it was time to pack the mugs that I bought from Germany, Austria, France, Italy and so on, flashes of my Euro trip came gushing into my mind. And then there was this small teddy with "Passed" written on it that I got when I passed the driving test.
I had packed almost everything but subconsciously was aware that I had to do one last thing. The one thing I never wanted to do but knew it had to be done. I dismantled the home theatre system and as I went on disconnecting the wires I could recollect all the films I saw there, the photo albums with Hindi songs at the background, checking mails and in fact decoding live issues on a 84" screen and of course the all time 100 movies with Gaggy..
Sipping a can of Coke with pizza I stare at my blank wall, I am neither sad nor happy, but just a wierd feeling, I guess this house shall always remain some where in the corner, after all here is where I learnt all the tricks of the trade, saw strangers turn friends and funnily friends who wanted to be strangers..
Thanks to all the Bostonians.
Rakesh for his katchori, samosa, Kishore songs during cooking and our dinner sessions together
Pooja for Pudina Pulav, dhal makani, Yogurt Theory, "Hello Mrs Jones" and our dinner sessions together
Sowmya for the daily breakfast, afternoon lunch, our dinner sessions together and so much more
Suresh for his amazing Rasam, Tamil songs in the morning and trying to get me gyming
Lohith for his huli saaru, company to MANU matches and our films together (Andaz apna apna)
Sangeetha for raagi muddes and jolada rottis and calling "SRIDHAAAAR dinner is ready"
Gaggy for our AFI top 100 together, PS3...
Ashok for football matches, our cricket matches together and your morning tea
Vinith for our Immigration discussions, Man U matches and giving me company during my work from home...
Cheta for telling no everytime, comfortability theory and for giving me nice company...
Meera for your dishes which you always think you sussed it and for me writing this memoir in the first place :)
And finally a toast to 9 Boston Road
For being my first house in the UK, being the home away from home and teaching me things about life, people and many other things ;-)
Friday, 10 December 2010
The feeling of being heard !
I am the kind of a guy you would not want to meet whilst at work. Firstly because I ask a lot of questions and secondly I don't sit quiet if I don't get any answers. So I haven't had it good whenever I pay a visit to a Government office in Bangalore.
Some years back mum had sent me to enquire about the water bill we received (we were charged around 3500 rupees instead of around 120 which was norm at that point). I politely went into the billing section and after playing musical chair in there finally got to the guy who was supposed to look into it. The first thing he spoke was "Its because you used so much of water" the tone of the reply best not described here. He was an elderly looking man so gave him all the respect his age deserved and requested him to look into our past bills and there he was telling me its not his job and making fun of me in front of all his colleagues. Now he had done it and I pulled a chair told him I was not leaving until he corrects it. After around an hour it was all sorted out (I am not going into finer details since it doesn't make pleasant reading)
Then it was taking a Demand Draft in the State Bank of India and the aunty at the counter was so busy discussing her daily routine that she accidentally forgot there were people at her counter. So I went over and told her that there are people waiting to which she responded "So What". I made sure she never talked about her daily escapades again @ work.
I think if you need things to change you got to take the initiative however stupid you might look in front of others.
Recently I wrote to my local MP in Bristol regarding some issues I wanted to raise. On a bigger canvas it was neither a burning issue nor was it something very important. But it was an idea, an opinion to improve something around you. I had a lot of satisfaction when I mailed the letter, I didn't hope anything will come out of it, but I had played my part, I had made myself heard.
FAST FORWARD 8-9 DAYS
I received a letter from the House of Commons thanking for my suggestion and that they will look into it. It was personally signed by my MP with the parliament stamp on it. It felt good, it always feels good if you are heard ! It made a difference to me and I am now going to continue troubling "those who matter" :)
Some years back mum had sent me to enquire about the water bill we received (we were charged around 3500 rupees instead of around 120 which was norm at that point). I politely went into the billing section and after playing musical chair in there finally got to the guy who was supposed to look into it. The first thing he spoke was "Its because you used so much of water" the tone of the reply best not described here. He was an elderly looking man so gave him all the respect his age deserved and requested him to look into our past bills and there he was telling me its not his job and making fun of me in front of all his colleagues. Now he had done it and I pulled a chair told him I was not leaving until he corrects it. After around an hour it was all sorted out (I am not going into finer details since it doesn't make pleasant reading)
Then it was taking a Demand Draft in the State Bank of India and the aunty at the counter was so busy discussing her daily routine that she accidentally forgot there were people at her counter. So I went over and told her that there are people waiting to which she responded "So What". I made sure she never talked about her daily escapades again @ work.
I think if you need things to change you got to take the initiative however stupid you might look in front of others.
Recently I wrote to my local MP in Bristol regarding some issues I wanted to raise. On a bigger canvas it was neither a burning issue nor was it something very important. But it was an idea, an opinion to improve something around you. I had a lot of satisfaction when I mailed the letter, I didn't hope anything will come out of it, but I had played my part, I had made myself heard.
FAST FORWARD 8-9 DAYS
I received a letter from the House of Commons thanking for my suggestion and that they will look into it. It was personally signed by my MP with the parliament stamp on it. It felt good, it always feels good if you are heard ! It made a difference to me and I am now going to continue troubling "those who matter" :)
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