YOU

There comes a time in our life when the word 'YOU' becomes more important than 'ME'. Everything we do becomes YOUcentric. We are prepared to offer relentless service and are willing to do almost anything to make sure that the person representing 'YOU' does not for a moment gets neglected. It is one of those numeous experiences of life. This 'YOU' can represent our parents, our siblings, our children or someone special.

It would be therefore very naive on anyones part to say that they have never gone through such phases. Some of these phase might have come and gone, some might have stayed on and have made a lasting impression in our lives. I often wonder what it would mean to be in such a phase when 'YOU' is a stranger who has made such a lasting impression in our mind. With parents and siblings, one would get the assurance of security,respect,love knowling fully well that no matter what happens they would always be on our side. What about that stranger whom we didnt know a few months back and all of a sudden he/she has taken up such an important position? Fear of what to expect in return is perhaps the biggest concern which preoccupies in our minds.

These phases also come with their fare share of tricks which might leave us shell shocked to say the least. For example, we would have just started to feel the importance of YOU(The person) and some turn of events occurs which actually ends up taking away d person from us. Very tough situation to handle given the mindset which begins to develop. Times like those are really hard and it takes a lot of courage,patience and trust to carry on ahead. It might also happen that our expectations from the other person does not match and we end up thnking whether he/she was really deserving of being the 'YOU' in our lives.

Finally, it has to be said that all beautiful things in life come with their fair share of pain and sacrifice. Our nature always will guide us to make sure that the YOUs in different phases of our lives get our utmost care and attention. Its a matter of destiny whether all these YOUs end up taking us in the same way or not but it goes without saying that the joy of going through such phases is simply priceless.

Here's wishing YOU loads of success,happiness in life.

IT employee

I am not too sure why i being part of the same group would like to go ahead and write something like this but i have got no other choice but to put things into prespective.

Every good thing starts at the beginning and hence i will start with waking up in the morning.In this context what i have realized is there are two broad group of IT employees. One group makes it a point to wake up late and reach office late(They have a valid reason)and then there is this other group who are amongst the few fortunates to see the sun rising from the east(I must admit they would give it a damn if given a choice not to wake up early). Nice, well maintained cafetaria at most of the offices means breakfast at home is a thing of the past. This has got lot of advantages in terms of getting that extra few minutes to sleep and also a few extra moments to relax right before you even start your work.

A typical day's work will comprise of seating in front of the computer and seating in front of it and yes, you guessed it correct, seating in front of it. Here is a very simple way of calculating productivity of an employee. Ask him/her, how many meetings he/she attends and then directly formulate an equation where productivity is inversely proportional to number of meetings attended. Trust me, it works and the rate of success for this equation can be compared to all famous maths equations. Taking a break from work is another area which can become a subject of research. Loo break and Tea break are the traditional ones. Power nap breaks, Sport break, Phone break are some other innovative ones.

There is this prennial rivalry between team members and managers. The managers think that it must be some dirty deeds they did in their previous lives which resulted in them getting such stupid and ill equipped workers. Team members on the other hand keep cursing their luck and often found comparing with other managers. How easy it would have been working under Mr X ?(Oh really?)

The schedule and that ill fated word called 'DeadLine' is something which every single employee curse. If i were to impersonate 'Deadline', then this chap might be thinking that IT employees are chameleons of the highest order when it comes to treating him. When the work is done on time, everybody seems to talk about 'DeadLine' in such a sweet tone. It becomes the opposite when the same employee is pushed to the limit to adhere to the 'sweet' deadline.

Leaving office at the end of the day is another interesting fact to study. There is this school of thought which says that unless you dont leave office late, you actually are not doing enough to showcase your superior that you are 'working'. On the other hand you have the traditional workers who would like to complete their work and leave on time.

It is however important to note that these talented bunch of people continue to make their companies richer and better places to work. They continue to inspire young minds who would one day like to sit in front of a computer and write a piece of code which would do something(God knows what is left to do). Inspite of the ridiculous lifestyles, biological clock turned on its head, these employees keep working like dedicated nerds and thats what makes them special (Doctors & fitness shop owners arent complaining).



P.S : On course to complete 2 years in this industry and i feel we are like those sacrificial pawns in a game of chess. Our kings unlike the traditional ones are a very clever group of people who have learnt the art to strike the perfect balance between annoucing perks and pulling the plug. God save us !!

The Jinnah Bomb !!

A bad election result, another 5 years in the opposition. 2009 is not going well for BJP. A lot of infighting is creeping in the party ranks. The state of Rajasthan is where the crisis started from and threatened to destablize the party. Senior memebers like Jaswant Singh,Arun Shourie demanded a through study of the election debacle and were clearly not in sync with some other senior leaders. The signs were ominous, the Lotus petals of the BJP were beginning to wane.

With the infighting still persisting, in came the shock and awe of Jaswant Singh publishing his book on Jinnah. His ideas, i need not state sent shockwaves across the saffron party and ultimately resulted in he getting expelled. Ironically The point of discussion at this point should be two things:

1. Why the BJP is so hellbent on destructing itself?
2. Why Mr Jinnah manages to create a storm amongst our politicians even now?

The first question cannot be answered clearly now. The process is still undergoing with Jaswant singh continuing his anti BJP remarks and throwing light to a lot of shocking revelations.

The second question is interesting and i still cannot understand why everytime Mr Jinnah's name comes up the Indian politicians are always in a rush to distance themselves from the past leader. Yes he wanted Pakistan, he demanded a separate state but all that is in the past. Why cant we as a nation cant detach ourselves from Pakistan and march towards out future? Why will Jinnah be a reason for divisions among the 2nd largest democratic party in India?

The young polity should refrain from divisive politics and instead be focussing on INDIA. We do not exist with the help of any of our neighbours.Our present and future is not attached with them. Jinnah is a matter of past and its time we make it a historical topic instead of a catalyst for political war games.

Independence Day

Today we have stepped into our 63rd Independence day. Just like every year, this day is special for all Indians and it reminds us of the sacrifice those great people did for us. Independence is a journey. Its not just a victory from some rule.

The legacy which the Mahatma has left should be analyzed and understood. He could not prevent the creation of two nations but surely he left us with a lot of virtues and thoughts which even today makes great sense. Untouchablity, greater independence to women, promoting localized skills amongst millions of villagers are just some of them.

As we stand today on the brink of virtually being called 'The Next Superpower' we must introspect and see how far we have come forward in implementing the great man's ideas. Indian independence is synonymus with the name M K Gandhi and as citizens of this country it is our duty to make sure that the spirit of a free India which he envisaged does not loose steam. We shall become the Independent India which he had in his heart.

Lastly, A very Happy Independence Day to you all.

NDTV's Green Marathon

Tomorrow marks the launch of NDTV's 2nd edition of Green Marathon. I was watching their 9 pm news and it was quite fascinating to know how the effort has helped millions of Indians across the most isolated villages in our country.
62% of India plunges into darkness after sunset everyday and thats quite an astonishing figure. Efforts such as these helps to give momentum to those who with their innovative and cost effective ideas wants to bring about some change and it also gives an opportunity to those who wants to contribute in bringing smiles to poor people.
The media has played a huge role in making these initiatives known to people. There is a genuine effort from different sections of the society to initiate change in various ways and the best we as individuals can do is to be a small part in these efforts.

Congratulations to NDTV for playing its role in lighting the nights of millions of people living in rural India.

A few Two Liners

Dont have time to sit and write something long oflate. Chipping in with these few topics which i found interesting.

1. Pakistan ready to talk about all outstanding issues.
Not a suprise. What started with a surprise joint statement at Egypt has now culminated with Gilani talking about 'talks'. It seems Hillary Clinton has done a good job indeed. It true that at some point of time we need to come to an agreement but at the cost of what? Pakistan wants talks and yet it builds bunkers near to our borders, criticizes our nuke submarine launch. There cannot be talks when the trust level is so low.

2. Ambani vs Ambani

The issue seems to get dirtier. Govt's stance is logical. Gas is a national treasure and why should it be a reason for feud against two brothers? But its the government which has goofed up somewhere.

3. The SC verdict

Its a strange decision to allow a mentally challenged girl to be a bother which by the way was not by choice. It might set a precedence as many are saying but i fear for the child. We dont have such a strong public support system.

4. The English ruling the Ashes

Finally i must end with the English cricket team who are playing so well and looks all set to regain the Ashes. Flintoff will be missed. Ricky Ponting's days as captain are numbered.

10 Years - The Fight is still on.

26th July,2009 marks the completion of 10 years of our victory at Kargil. It just seems to be yesterday when we successfully pushed back the intruders(Pakistani troops)beyond the LOC and responded in a befitting manner to the cowardly act of our neighbour .There is no point looking back to what happened that year. All we can say that we were stabbed on our back by a nation whose objective of snatching Kashmir has been persisting throughout. The attack came just on the heels of our PM's Lahore bus journey. Kargil will always be remembered as the victory of our gallant troops over the sinister plans of the enemy.


10 years down the line we have not been able to change much the way certain elements have targeted us,hold common people in our country to ransom. Great journalists like Barkha Dutt in her documentary try to emphasize the point of avoiding wars but it has to be accepted that India's soft approach to this issue and its perpetrators have led to so many battles. We dont war because of the death of innocent people which includes the soldiers but what about the continuous casualty we are having to bear because of the destructive plans of our enemy? Do we want to fight the battle continously or do we want to end with a decisive blow? Times have changed and to talk of a full scale offensive now is impractical. It is interesting to see how things unfold in future. From my own association with people in the army i can very well say how mad they were not to be allowed to cross the LOC and give the enemies a taste of their own medicine.

Lastly as a mark of respect to those brilliant souls who died fighting for our mother land, here are a few lines which echoes my sentiment;
God, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need.

Jai Hind.

Some Interesting News

Today was an important day for various reasons. The total solar eclipse was the main attraction and widespread preparation were made to observe it. For the first time the Indian Air force made arrangements to record the event from one of its aircrafts. Really once in a life time event.

Meanwhile the Indian society's long term friendship with ignorance continued. In Karnataka, people buried their childrens(as young as 4-5 years)upto their neck or waist and waited for the eclipse to happen. At the end of it, most of these small childrens were found unconscious. God save our society.

Meanwhile the Ajmal Kasab trail is taking an unexpected turn with the convict himself admitting to the crime. A lot of complicacy is involved as to all of a sudden he is ready to accept his role in the mumbai carnage. This case will surely take some unexpected twists.

Elsewhere, the Ambani brothers are fighting like wild animals of the gas suppy dispute. Two famous lawyers Harish Salve and Ram Jetmalani are representing the two parties respectively.

The government is under attack as to why they have allowed Balochistan to feature in the India-Pak joint statement. Pakistan it seems have submitted a dossier claiming Indian hand in a lot of terrorist activites there in recent past. Now thats interesting and shocking.

Lastly, this month ten years ago Kargil happened. Lets just take some time off and pay our homage to those who lost their lives in that battle.

Jai Jawan.

My New Blog

Hi all,

I have created a new blog which is all about Liverpool Football Club. Please visit it at :

http://somenath-liverpool.blogspot.com/

The City of Bandhs-Kolkata

Recently i was reading one article from Vir Sanghvi(Editor in chief The HINDUSTAN TIMES) and i was finding it difficult to comprehend whether he was trying to really praise Kolkata or was simply trying to highlight the facts which we bengalis are so proud of about the city and in that process ridiculing them. Thats another debate to highlight upon but I chose to put this up on my blog simply because Kolkata now a days seems to be on the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

We all know how notorious the city is for its bandh culture. What is more interesting to see is the opposition in Bengal seems to be walking the same path as the communist. Not for a second, i mean to undermine the incident involving the congress workers but why holding the common people to ransom? Why stopping someone to avail his train,flight for an important appointment?Why stopping people from going to work? It is shameful to see that the so called intellectuals of Bengal seems to take it on their stride and accept bandhs as the rightful way of protest against misdeeds. Are we even understanding that we as a city are lagging behind the major metropolis by some distance? Are we prepared to realize that our youths are creating mass brain drains to other states to pursue their studies and jobs thereafter? It is time for the people of Kolkata to understand that living in the shackles of communism will ultimately lead to strikes,gheraos,rallies and nothing else. The opposition led by Smt Mamata Banerjee should try to bring some differences between them and the forces they are trying to defeat. Leading a state is much more than refusing a cheque from the Tatas.

I hope for a reformed Kolkata one day!