What's the point of Gossip?

Jan 11, 2010

Seriously, What's the point?

Why do we enjoy Gossip so much? It's such a big industry that there are magazines for Gossip. They do only you know what? Gossip. What's that in Gossip that sets off so many people? What do we enjoy in talking in code language like, You-Know-who ran away with You-don't-know-who to Timbutku.

Well, It doesn't matter whether they are happy. Or sad. But we love to have a good time at somebody's expense. By Gossiping about them. Gossip should be changed to Go Piss or something. Why do we have to slander some other person so that we can amuse ourselves over tea? Why do we have to plot the events of someone else so assiduously, or in some cases even the past events when it doesn't affect us in the slightest degree?

I understand that I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm struggling to get an answer. I have no clue why people enjoy gossiping so much when they know that's a ridiculous waste of time. And especially when they know that they could end up causing harm if they gossip publicly about some dude or dudette. Does it stop us gossiping? Thank fuck, no. We need to have a extra satisfactory tea.

"Let's slander the guy who sits on the fourth left cube today, he was staring at the boobs of the lady in red yesterday. How bad of him yaar? He can't do that in office you know, those poor boobs of the lady in red. They'd feel so balatkarred"

Oh, shut the fuck up.

I did see 'The taking of Pelham 123'. Not a bad film at all. At least, there wasn't any cinematic ending as if Denzel Washington walking away with the 100 million dollar via a belated show of humanity by a hard arsed criminal.

Plans for tomorrow

Stop Gossiping, Kill any gossipers I come across, and place their head on a plate and put a sticky on their very dead forehead saying 'This is what happens when you Gossip, mofo'.

Youtube link of the day

Watch this in Youtube

Lost and found and turned around by the fire in your eyes.

P.S I forgot the PS for the last two blogs.

Be thankful for what you have

Jan 10, 2010

As I hung up my phone, after one particularly long and boring conference call with Offshore development team regarding 'Open Issues', I was thinking what the hell am I even doing here? I should be out of this place and hang out on a permanent vacation to a sunny island with blonde girls.

5 Minutes later, I was sending an email to my College group popularising my blog (yes, cheap publicity, but I will not give up till I get 500 followers for this crap lol) old memories kept flooding back. Since I wasted my time in my 12th, I didn't get the college of my preference and the one I studied in, did not have a campus interview. Which basically meant that I had to do my own job search.

After College, I spent 3 months wasting around looking for excuses to postpone my job hunt. Finally it came to pass that I had run out of all excuses and finally packed my bags to the nearest metropolitan city, Chennai. I rented a single room apartment and subscribed for Hindu paper with a special emphasis on Wednesday edition of  'Opportunities'. I was particular about call center interviews because I was fairly confident of landing a Call center job with my English proficiency. We were extra careful about Technical interviews because the Multi national companies had a 6 month clause, that if you were rejected, you can't appear for 6 more months with the same company.

For about a month, I attended numerous call center interviews. I cleared most of the interviews and rejected almost all of them because of the pay package. I was offered somewhere between 2000 to 3500 Rupees for a month, which roughly converts to 77 dollars a month. I kept telling myself that I was worth more and I should wait for bigger fishes to fry.

One particularly harsh and hot September morning in Chennai, I had been to Kilpauk, Chennai, waiting outside Dasaprakash hotel to catch a bus after the interview. Same story, decided not to go for it because of the salary. As usual, I had a white shirt, black pant, tucked in, well polished black shoes, tie in my pocket, and a big file of certificates. It was the classic 'I'm in dire need of a job, will wash cars for money' attire and I guess it showed.

I and my friend Karthick, were watching a lady selling Fresh coconuts for the heat. She'd peel the coconut, make a small hole and pour out the coconut water in a cup and then split open the coconut and scrape the tender insides and give in a plate to customers. She was charging 6 Rupees for one coconut per customer. We were deliberating between ourselves if we should go for one each and then decided that we shouldn't be too greedy and settled for splitting one coconut within ourselves.

She motioned us to wait for a while and when the customer crowd was away, she gave us one and charged 4 Rupees and said she understood. We drank and ate, thanked the lady and boarded the bus and came back to the room. I think I broke down and cried that day. Either that, or I felt extremely bad about the job situation. I made a resolution that I'm agreeing to the next job that I get.

And I did. The next week, I attended a call center interview with Sutherland Technologies, as a Tech Rep for Sony products. I got the job, and took it without a second thought.

I switched jobs to Cognizant and came here to US, but I'll never forget that day when a coconut seller made me feel about my job. I learnt more from her in 2 minutes than I did from most of my college lecturers. I'm glad that I have this job. I thank the Good Lord for giving me the platform to stand on this and write this blog.

Plans for tomorrow

Convince myself to go to office in the morning. Working is not injurious to health. I'll not lose my patience at work and vow to keep a smiling face and put up a brave front. Play FIFA 10 after coming home and watching 'The taking of Pelham 123'.

Youtube link of the day

Watch this in Youtube

 I love the 80's. I should have been 20 when it was the 80's.

P.S I have an amazon widget now, and I have big plans for the widget. If you buy something from Amazon, please go through my blog. This is a trial run for a month and depending on the results, I'll share my plans with you all.

Work hard and Play Fair

Jan 09, 2010

It doesn't feel as if it's a weekend. There's just so many stuff to do. It's hard working in week days and it's even harder to work in weekends. I still managed to rope in a movie today after travelling from Pennsylvania and doing a fair bit of work.

3 Idiots

I saw Aal izz Well with subtitles. It's an above average movie, which tries to make to fun of the stereotypes and it ends up being exactly like that. A Stereotype. Instead of looking for a message, just look at it like a wholesome entertainment and prepare to be bored with a lot of cliched situations and you have 3 Idiots. I don't want to be too harsh, as I had laughed out loud a few times. But not knowing Hindi and having to rely on subtitles means I'm at a huge disadvantage to start off with. I think Chetan Bhagat should be have been credited more prominently for his book.

I could draw a few parallels with some of the characters in this movie with myself. My college Professors stopped short of having a bet to remove their mousche's if I get a job, but I do know that they had convincingly told me that I'd never land a job. I didn't piss on my Director's doorsteps, but I was hardly a knight as well. I've had my disciplinary committee hearings. More importantly, I ended up in college doing IT B.E because I didn't know what else to do and not because I wanted to be an Engineer. I firmly believed that the curriculum makes a mugger out of the student and doesn't allow the student to be 'educated'.

But I do believe that a guy who gives up college in the fourth year to proceed with his love of  'Wildlife Photography' in India will most probably end up as a delivery boy in some photo studio. One of the inherent issues about the movie was, all the 3 Idiots ended up being well off. I don't think it's possible today.

Kareena Kapoor is stunning and the director probably changed the birth place of Chatur Ramalingam to Uganda to avoid stereotyping South Indians, although he gave a slight hint by saying he studied in Pondicherry. Come on eh? Have some balls, it's after all your character. Funny thing, the Chatur Ramalingam bloke looks very much like my Account manager, Sanjay Sarma.

Sanjay, if you are reading this, I do believe that you are alike this character, only in appearance lol.

Plan for tomorrow.

Work, Work, Work and Walmart.

Youtube link of the day

Watch this in Youtube

I can't wait for Lost Season 6. It all ends here.

A new life

Jan 09, 2010

I didn't blog on Jan 08. That's a first for this year. But this is for yesterday. A long overdue visit to Pennsylvania to see some good old friends yesterday. Although I'd have loved to spend some more time with them, I had to come back to NJ to take care of left over business from the week.

It's amazing how a child can bring joy to a household. Babies are all about new life, new hope and joy. You know before hand that you are going to see a new one and you are going to be happy, but every time you see one, it never ceases to amaze me how brilliant the baby made me feel. This is the first time I've met Young Akhil Pillai, and he's a bouncing balloon.

I had originally planned to drive back in the night, and I had to change my plans coz Akhil dude was sleeping when I reached Penn. I'm glad I stayed the night and saw him in the morning. He's a model in the making. I'll put up some pictures very soon and he was such a joy to behold. He gave me so much joy first thing in the morning, and he never cried on seeing a stranger. Some babies are so whiny, but this one is a cool rocking dude.

Wish you well, Mr. Akhil pillai. Also extended wishes to Anbu and Savitha, and congratulations on the bundle of joy.

On the way back, I took the long winding US 202 Local Road back to NJ, and I was amazed at how good the US roads are. The number of sign posts on the road side to keep you on track is akin to the promise of Abraham's descendents on this earth. It was a real pleasure driving lonely in the morning on a long and winding country road, listening to old music from my Ipod. Thanks Jincy, for the Ipod touch.


Plans for tomorrow/today (Jan 09, 2010)

Work. Eat More Dosai. Work. Work. Work.


Youtube link of the day

Watch this in Youtube

I heard this song while driving today morning, and I can't believe how much I liked it before and now. Don't leave me now.

A graceful degradation

Jan 07, 2010

How do you react when you were told that you did shit after you have struggled manfully for over an year in a project giving it your best shot?

Feel awful? Feel angry? Feel rebellious? Feel like killing the accuser? Feel like giving up? How about actually smiling through it as if nothing has happened, not reacting to the politiks and loathsome innuendo and gritting your teeth to actually do the ridiculous activity that you were asked of? Well, with a little help from the friends of course.

Sometimes, we find a inner mettle within ourselves that surprises us. We think that we know everything about us, but then we find that we can run that extra mile when the time comes and grow in stature. And we did grow in stature. There are times we think that our work is not fully appreciated and how we are all unhappy at work. All the more surprising that we are able to take all that shit and sift it through and get the job done.

All in all, should we take pride in not reacting to the shit thrown at us? Where is the spirit of going all guns blazing? Is it worth being a Gandhi in the face of vultures? Can't we just a big fuck off and go our own way? Why be a pussy and allow people to knock on our heads and tread on our toes? Have we been reduced to play the role of the peace makers and shit takers because we get paid?

Is this the graceful degradation? Is it worth it?

To see someone walk out with head held high and with integrity and dignity intact, I would say, Yes. It was a bigger 'Fuck off' with a blatant middle finger in the face of the doom mongers.

Plan for the day

Fucking horrible day. Didn't do anything as planned. Missed the Grocery store visit for 2 days in a row. Just need some sunshine tomorrow. It can't get any worse than this, seriously.

Youtube link of the day

Watch it in Youtube
Hullo, I'm Johnny Cash.

P.S I think this P.S is boring and I'm running out of things to type in this line

Interesting Characters I've met - Part I

Jan 06, 2010

It's already 5 in the morning and I don't really feel sleepy. I'm alert and I'm alive and I feel fine without sleep in nearly 20 hours. Sure, I'll have a hangover tomorrow, but what the hell? As a creature of the night, I deserve the right to pick my time to sleep. As I'm typing this, I'm receiving some outrageous PJ's from SOC (From Orkut). He's in the form of his life, sending PJ after PJ, and he has declared Jan 07th, as the World PJ day.

Here are some samples.

essohcee: One guy proposes to a beautiful girl, she declines. Then the guy appears for a general knowledge exam and fails. Why?

"Ab jee ke (gk) kya karenge, jab dil hi toot gaya"

essohcee:

A telugu family. The daughter is having an argument with the father on their terrace. One point she gets so angry she wants to kill him. So she plans to push the father down from the terrace
Whats her name?

Stanley: how do i know lol

tell the name

essohcee: Pushpa Reddy


Someone said to me recently, that my blogs nowadays doesn't appear to have a point and just a collection of events that occured in the day. So I'm trying a new idea today. In all of my days, I've met some interesting people. Some of them likeable, and some of them not so much. I'll try to write about some who have managed to stay in my memory.

My Piano Teacher

When I was 11 years old, My father wanted to make me an organist in the church, as we had none available at that time. He asked me take Piano lessons. I used to study in a school which is more than 40 kilometers from my house in a nearby town. I was a Day Scholar and I had to travel almost 100 kilometers daily.

With all these in mind, My dad met a couple of Piano tutors in Trichy (Where I studied), so that I could take Piano classes after my school is over and then travel back to my hometown. Which kind of made my life a little bit harder than it already was.

We met the first tutor and after the introduction, the tutor came to know I'm only 11 and that I didn't have a piano to practice in my house. He basically turned me down saying I'm too young and I can't practice because I had no piano. He asked me to wait a couple of years before starting Piano lessons. He may have had valid reasons to reject me, but he came across arrogant and petulant.

Naturally, I wasn't all too pleased to meet the second tutor on the same day after this rather disappointing experience with the first one. As I made to his house with a lot of trepidation, I found the guy to be very gentle, humble and brimming with talent.

His name was SDR Samuel. To this day, I maintain that he's the best Piano player that I've ever seen live. His teachings were nice and mellow. He was a patient guy, a devout Christian and a great teacher. I've heard him play organ in a couple of church services apart from teaching, and the music was heavenly. If you are from Trichy, and you played Piano, there's more than a 50% chance that you've been taught by SDR Samuel. And his students usually played pretty well and they all loved him. I'm no exception.

Although I must say that I started cutting Piano classes and stick to playing football in my school, which incidentally was my favourite pastime ever till my father caught me red handed one day, I still have fond memories of SDR Samuel and his piano classes. I led my Church choir for well over 10 years when I lived in my home town.

Now I miss my church, my choir, and sometimes my Piano teacher.

Here's a word of prayer to the man who taught me Piano. You must be playing in God's choir, Mr. Samuel, your students are testament to how brilliant a teacher you were, and how melodious the music you played.

Plan for tomorrow

Sleep now, Work later, Attend Meetings, and play Guitar.

Youtube link of the day

Watch it in Youtube
Queen, Enough Said. I Want to Break Free.

Extremely satisfying Peccadilloes

Jan 05, 2010

Vicky, Cristina and Barcelona.

There's something contagious about the rebellious feeling. It's such an adrenalin rush to break a rule and be rebellious about it. We all have to live with the after effects, but for a while, it felt that I'm the king of the world.

After another tiring day at office, with a bundle of leftover work, I came home stressed at 7.30 PM. I was contemplating on missing the Indoor football match that I had to play in, to compensate for the work. But then, my rebellious Siamese twin Stan the man, won the argument defeating the Stanley BePolite and not only did I play in the football match, but I also came home, unwrapped the NetFlix DVD and enjoyed Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

I ignored the offshore calls till I could enjoy and appreciate the movie, put my work on hold and lived the three hours for myself. I ran as much as I could in the football match, and I relaxed and enjoyed the movie as much as I can. I had played with a freedom, as if I've run away from the issues at work. I laughed more than I actually would have in the movie, and I was being appreciative of little things that I would have missed.

I'm sure that I'll have to face the music tomorrow at work for missing a deadline, but what gives? I'm ready to face it as long as I have this urge to take the time and live for myself. I'm quite proud of my escapades and I'll forever love these extremely satisfying Peccadilloes. They are like a hidden water stream on a mountain hike. Sudden, refreshing and heartening.

I love the joys of life. However stressful it might be, I refuse to be pessimistic and I'll look for these joys.

Plan for tomorrow.

Go to Subzi Mandi, Get Rice, Eat lunch in Taco bell. Do the pending work double time, because of my discretion with adrenalin.

Youtube link of the day

Watch in Youtube
When I was a kid, My Mom used to sing this song to me. Every day. She used to sing in Tamil.

"Karthavai nalla bakthiyaale

Eppothum nambum neethiman

Etheengilayem avarale
Anbaai kaapatra paduvan

Unnathama kartharai

Sarnthorukuavar kanmalai"

P.S The Indoor football match ended 1-1.

The first hectic day of the year.

Jan 04, 2010.

Boy, I need to take a breather.

It was a bloody long day, and it still hasn't ended. The first working day of the year, turned out to be quiet a nightmare. It started at 9.30 AM and except for an hour break playing my brand new FIFA 10 in PS3, I had quiet a handful to deal with.

One word about FIFA 10, It's awesome. I still haven't played the manager mode, as I've restricted myself to a couple of exhibition matches, but it's very nice to play. Another word about it, I suck at it. Both the matches I played, had to be settled by Tie Breaker. Come to think of it, I'm not all that bad. I can tackle, I can dribble, I can short pass and I can move the ball near the goal. But unfortunately, then I become Arsenal. I can't for the life of me, shoot the ball. In training, I shot from all angles, but in real life, I can't. So, I can never score a goal. More practise tomorrow might just do the trick.

The work shows no signs of letting up. This January is going to be hectic. I need all the help that I can get from God, Managers, Developers, Testers, Bugs, Bug Tracking Systems, Functionalities to pull me through.

Plan for tomorrow

Hard hectic Work as usual, Get the Blu ray disc from Netflix and watch at leisure in the evening. I think I had ordered GI Joe Cobra whatever. Need to watch it tomorrow and go catch my Indoor soccer for the first time this year. I will try to take pictures and upload somewhere.

Yes, I'm getting a break from work and getting some kind of recreation in between, come rain, sun, heaven or hell.


Youtube link of the day

Watch in Youtube
Heard this song as I was going to Lunch today. I remember that this song used to be a favourite song of one of my friends, who lost her best friend to an accident. Not sure if she likes it in his memory, but I thought about her and her best friend whom I don't even know. I hope he's at peace and she's happy.

P.S I tend to put too much spices when I cook.

The first disappointment of the Year.

Jan 03, 2010.

I was hoping that the weekend would pass off peacefully and the disappointments and frustrations will start from Monday at Office. Alas, it was not to be. Waking up at 8 in the morning and looking forward to a much hyped up match and All it took was one insipid performance from Man Utd. You'd think that playing Leeds United, with all their venomous chanting and violent history would inspire the players to produce a fighting performance, if not a result.

But what followed was terrible. We never got started with the match. We did not create a lot of clear cut chances and we were generally outplayed by a side assembled at half the price of Vidic. Poor team selection, players underperforming on the day made sure that the first match of the year would end up in a huge disappointment. Thank you Man Utd. Turn off the game and watch the last game of the Giants this season, and they get absolutely murdered by Brett Favre and Vikings. Thank you Giants.

The Holiday Spirit

Since all my positive energy had been already drained away, I could not conjure up enough gaity to cook fish. In fact, we didn't cook anything fresh today and just put up with what we already have. I had already postponed enough work to last for a lifetime and I had done absolutely nothing over the weekend, and which I'm sure is going to come back and bite me in the arse.

I can see the holiday spirit ebbing away from me. There is no more wanton recklessness in postponing work, laundry and cooking. Life is again returning to a preset order and we are slipping back into the machine world of work, office, food, work and sleep. I'm not going to bitch about how tight my work is, as I'm getting stuffed in the wallet with dollars. But I'd like to do something refreshing for a while, stuff that I actually like at work.

Here I am, watching Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King in TV, reading Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Rings in the computer, and keep baulking at the work in my pending queue. How long does it generally take for the Holiday spirit to wear away? While I was a child, I used to remember the month of January being filled with holidays andthe new year charm remaining almost till the end of the month. With local festivals like Pongal, we used to be in a mellow mood, enjoying and minding our own business.

February usually means the year has finally dawned on us in right earnest. I wish I could take that break now and worry about things in February, rather sweating about deadlines on January 5th.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Plans for tomorrow

Office, Work, Lunch, Work, Travel Home, Work, Dinner, More Work, Sleep a little.
Find time for blogging and keep doing it.

Youtube link of the day

Watch in Youtube.
I hate remixes. But this is well done. Genius stuff.

P.S I love Gulab Jamuns.

The Second day of the year.

Jan 2nd, 2010.

The second day of the year has been the most crucial for me (us) in many ways. In the recent past, most of my resolutions have been broken on the 2nd. I don't know if it's an indication that I set very hard resolutions or I'm very poor at self control. Either way, once a resolution is broken, it's just a matter of time when the resolution is moved to recycle bin from Desktop.

This year turned out to be a pretty boring affair. I spent most of the time sleeping. Watching the FA Cup third round and Lord of the Rings - The Twin Towers aside, eating lunch and dinner were the only activities that I took part in. This year, I have been loaded with work and I've also done some work on the side. Pretty uneventful day, Liverpool drew with Reading, the 20th placed Championship side with most of their stars playing. Can't wait for Man Utd vs Leeds tomorrow morning, it's been 5 years since we played them Yorkshire baddies.

I need a blazer, if anybody wants to present stuff to me, you've been notified. I'm also waiting for the 'God of War' and ]Fifa 10' games for PS3 to arrive. I also saw a film called 'Broken Bridges'. Pretty ordinary film about a country singer and his troubles by Toby Keith. Give it a miss.

I miss my folks back home, and I wish I can meet them pretty soon.

Predictions for tomorrow.

With the amount of work yet to be completed, I'm expecting a very hectic tomorrow. I'm disappointed too, that my first blog didn't get a single comment. I think I should advertise my blog so that people actually read this trash. I wish Man Utd beat Leeds Utd black and blue.

I have plans to cook fish tomorrow. If I do, I'll have the recipes put up here.

Youtube link of the day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c7x2JD_j-0

I've long admired Freddie Mercury's voice as one of the best ever. When some singer does a Queen cover, it hardly ever lives up to the hype. But George Michael has done a commendable job, with a very difficult song to boot.

P.S I've kept my resolution, and in a way, this 2nd day of the year hasn't been that bad.