Yesterday I did something I never thought myself capable of doing. I donated half of my first month’s salary as charity. I’ve been thinking of a good place and a good way to make a contribution, and this happened unexpectedly. I know I’m not a philanthropist, and I must say I did feel a tinge of pain when I saw the receipt for the donation. It wasn’t entirely unselfish, since the international lifetime membership that I received in return for my donation was indeed an appealing prospect.
Still, in the end, I feel it is an investment well made. I have seen the organization working to feed poor school children and have often felt that I haven’t been doing anything to help out in such a noble cause. I even have a chance as a member to serve the children for a day in a year as a volunteer and I look forward to the experience. I hope the money is well utilized.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 22, 2004
Apples and tapeworms
Routine, it creeps into life like a worm in an apple or a tapeworm in the intestines, completely undetected until you realize it is too late. Let me elaborate. Here’s a description of my daily routine.
I wake up every morning and do the same thing. Get the same milk, light the same stove and boil it. Then I drink the same coffee, do the same morning chores and let the same maid in to clean the same house. Then I get into the same thing and drive to the same place where I get to meet the same people and do the same stuff as asked to. Then I eat the same thing for lunch, and do the same thing in the afternoon as I did in the morning. Come evening time, I get back into the same thing and go back to the same place I came from in the morning. Occasionally, just for kicks, I crash into auto-rickshaw drivers and damage my car bumper a little more. Evenings and weekends represent a "break" from routine, when I meet the same person I met last week or month, instead of yesterday. Then I return home to cook and eat the same stuff and get back into the same bed at the same time every night.
And we say we lead interesting lives. That’s modesty.
I wake up every morning and do the same thing. Get the same milk, light the same stove and boil it. Then I drink the same coffee, do the same morning chores and let the same maid in to clean the same house. Then I get into the same thing and drive to the same place where I get to meet the same people and do the same stuff as asked to. Then I eat the same thing for lunch, and do the same thing in the afternoon as I did in the morning. Come evening time, I get back into the same thing and go back to the same place I came from in the morning. Occasionally, just for kicks, I crash into auto-rickshaw drivers and damage my car bumper a little more. Evenings and weekends represent a "break" from routine, when I meet the same person I met last week or month, instead of yesterday. Then I return home to cook and eat the same stuff and get back into the same bed at the same time every night.
And we say we lead interesting lives. That’s modesty.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Ring-a-ling-ding!
So we were in his office, sitting down and having a serious discussion. Then he got a phone call. Without hesitation, he picked up the phone and answered it. It turned out to be a telemarketing call from a credit card company, so he hung up promptly. Two minutes later, the phone rang again. This time it was the Vice President of the company asking him for a favor. The teleconversation lasted 15 minutes until he finally hung up again.
All this time, there was one subject who wasn’t part of the picture. Me. I was in the room before the telephone calls came. During the first call, I wondered if it would take long. Then the second call came, and I knew it was all over. I was sitting in the room for 15 minutes, trying my best not to lose my train of thought that had been the conversation with him before it was interrupted time and time again. All the while I wore a stupid expression on my face, hoping no one would peer into his cubicle and notice an utterly jobless person sitting for 15 minutes with nothing at all to do.
All of you have encountered such a situation numerous times. And you have been on the other side, receiving calls when in the middle of a conversation. Who is supposed to be given priority? The person in front of you, or the unknown caller? I believe that the person in front of you is more important, and the phone should be ignored unless you are expecting an important call at that time. If the phone is picked up multiple times during the conversation, it becomes a nuisance and gives an impression that the meeting is not worth the personal attention; I’d rather talk to this stranger because he seems to be of more interest at the moment.
Of course, there is always the call-back feature in every telephone which can be used when the personal meeting is over. Any thoughts and suggestions on this topic welcome.
By the way, did anybody want to issue a death warrant against telemarketers who call at the office? I'll be the first one to sign the bill.
All this time, there was one subject who wasn’t part of the picture. Me. I was in the room before the telephone calls came. During the first call, I wondered if it would take long. Then the second call came, and I knew it was all over. I was sitting in the room for 15 minutes, trying my best not to lose my train of thought that had been the conversation with him before it was interrupted time and time again. All the while I wore a stupid expression on my face, hoping no one would peer into his cubicle and notice an utterly jobless person sitting for 15 minutes with nothing at all to do.
All of you have encountered such a situation numerous times. And you have been on the other side, receiving calls when in the middle of a conversation. Who is supposed to be given priority? The person in front of you, or the unknown caller? I believe that the person in front of you is more important, and the phone should be ignored unless you are expecting an important call at that time. If the phone is picked up multiple times during the conversation, it becomes a nuisance and gives an impression that the meeting is not worth the personal attention; I’d rather talk to this stranger because he seems to be of more interest at the moment.
Of course, there is always the call-back feature in every telephone which can be used when the personal meeting is over. Any thoughts and suggestions on this topic welcome.
By the way, did anybody want to issue a death warrant against telemarketers who call at the office? I'll be the first one to sign the bill.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Bangalore - metro or bust?
Bangalore - a city known for its lush gardens, scenic beauty and great weather all year round. Bangaloreans claim that the city is an Indian metropolis with a modern outlook. It is supposed to be the heart of the booming Indian software and electronics industry.
Sure, the illusion lasts for a week. But let me tell you what Bangalore is really like when the smokescreen clears. For the metropolitan city that it is, embracing people from all over the country, how about having a street sign in English or Hindi, for God’s sake! All road signs are in the local language, Kannada. Even the public transportation has signs in Kannada alone. I thought Chennai was bad when they insisted on putting up anti-Hindi protests everywhere. But at least they compensate for it by writing the bus destinations in English as well as Tamil!
Now to the root cause of the problem, the people of Bangalore. The state has been aptly named "Kar-natak" (make a scene). They have imposed a seven-week moratorium on all non-Kannada movies here, meaning that movies in all other languages will be released only seven weeks after they have released in the rest of the country. This is supposed to uplift the sagging Kannada film industry, since nobody, not even a Kannadiga, watches their lousy movies otherwise. Has anybody heard of anything more preposterous than this? Maybe Thackeray’s plan of driving all non-Maharashtrians out of Mumbai came close. That’s the way to say welcome to all the money-makers in Bangalore, who don’t belong to the state at all, much less speak the language.
How about the booming electronics and software industries here? Well, here’s the truth behind that affair. The incentive they had to set up shop in Bangalore was massive tax benefits. The spawning of these IT Parks and Electronics Cities has resulted in massive traffic problems since the small city is not built to handle such expansive growth in such a short time. It has also led to some of the worst roads possible - remember what Mumbai was like in the monsoon? Since the industries that started the problem barely pay anything as city taxes for improving the infrastructure, the condition just gets worse by the day.
The whole charade is led by a dysfunctional State Government with a Chief Minister who has effectively stopped all the infrastructure work that was in progress before he came to power. He couldn’t even form a cabinet of ministers for a month after he took office! And despite direct orders (requests were ignored a long time ago) from the Prime Minister of India himself, this guy has yet to fill a single pothole in the city’s most congested and despicable road.
Even with the "modern and broad" outlook the Bangaloreans have, companies still prefer to recruit only from local colleges, preferably Kannada speaking populace. During official meetings, they speak almost exclusively in Kannada, so a non-speaker (like me) is absolutely flabbergasted in all weekly meetings and conferences. And to think that the French are snobbish!!
Still, one learns to get around. For all the deriding remarks I made about the people here, I must say this: they are very helpful in every way possible. Some of them even go out of their normal routine to help a stranger out, which is unheard of elsewhere in the country. They are also very conscious of their image and communicate very well beyond the language barriers that exist. Even though Bangalore is a sleepy little town, people sure are active during the hours that the city is awake. Not too many lazing around, it’s a nice thing to see. Take in the good and filter out the bad, that’s what I am here to do. While in Bangalore… "Namma ooru, Bangalooru!"
Sure, the illusion lasts for a week. But let me tell you what Bangalore is really like when the smokescreen clears. For the metropolitan city that it is, embracing people from all over the country, how about having a street sign in English or Hindi, for God’s sake! All road signs are in the local language, Kannada. Even the public transportation has signs in Kannada alone. I thought Chennai was bad when they insisted on putting up anti-Hindi protests everywhere. But at least they compensate for it by writing the bus destinations in English as well as Tamil!
Now to the root cause of the problem, the people of Bangalore. The state has been aptly named "Kar-natak" (make a scene). They have imposed a seven-week moratorium on all non-Kannada movies here, meaning that movies in all other languages will be released only seven weeks after they have released in the rest of the country. This is supposed to uplift the sagging Kannada film industry, since nobody, not even a Kannadiga, watches their lousy movies otherwise. Has anybody heard of anything more preposterous than this? Maybe Thackeray’s plan of driving all non-Maharashtrians out of Mumbai came close. That’s the way to say welcome to all the money-makers in Bangalore, who don’t belong to the state at all, much less speak the language.
How about the booming electronics and software industries here? Well, here’s the truth behind that affair. The incentive they had to set up shop in Bangalore was massive tax benefits. The spawning of these IT Parks and Electronics Cities has resulted in massive traffic problems since the small city is not built to handle such expansive growth in such a short time. It has also led to some of the worst roads possible - remember what Mumbai was like in the monsoon? Since the industries that started the problem barely pay anything as city taxes for improving the infrastructure, the condition just gets worse by the day.
The whole charade is led by a dysfunctional State Government with a Chief Minister who has effectively stopped all the infrastructure work that was in progress before he came to power. He couldn’t even form a cabinet of ministers for a month after he took office! And despite direct orders (requests were ignored a long time ago) from the Prime Minister of India himself, this guy has yet to fill a single pothole in the city’s most congested and despicable road.
Even with the "modern and broad" outlook the Bangaloreans have, companies still prefer to recruit only from local colleges, preferably Kannada speaking populace. During official meetings, they speak almost exclusively in Kannada, so a non-speaker (like me) is absolutely flabbergasted in all weekly meetings and conferences. And to think that the French are snobbish!!
Still, one learns to get around. For all the deriding remarks I made about the people here, I must say this: they are very helpful in every way possible. Some of them even go out of their normal routine to help a stranger out, which is unheard of elsewhere in the country. They are also very conscious of their image and communicate very well beyond the language barriers that exist. Even though Bangalore is a sleepy little town, people sure are active during the hours that the city is awake. Not too many lazing around, it’s a nice thing to see. Take in the good and filter out the bad, that’s what I am here to do. While in Bangalore… "Namma ooru, Bangalooru!"
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
A Letter from the Editor
Mr Anonymous commenter,
You've got issues. Real issues. Your critique is indeed an interesting insight into your psychology. To say that your one comment made me stop blogging, how self-engrossed and egocentric are you? There have been a bunch of things - like not having internet connectivity for 3 weeks when I moved to my new apartment in Bangalore, for instance - that stopped me from blogging all these days. Its not nothing to do with some insignificant character's urge to lecture me on what a blog is.
Mr. walking-talking-Merriam-Webster, if you really need someone to listen to your lectures, go teach some Minnesota school kids who might even be ready to listen to you. And FYI, a blog can be whatever the creator wants it to be, and if you keep it as a Princess Diary that you write into every night, that's your problem.
Oh, and Mr. Khalid Mohammed, do you have something better than the lousy critiques you generate to show for your talents at blogging? Lets see it!
The next blog is directed at Bangaloreans in general and people like you in particular, have fun reading.
You've got issues. Real issues. Your critique is indeed an interesting insight into your psychology. To say that your one comment made me stop blogging, how self-engrossed and egocentric are you? There have been a bunch of things - like not having internet connectivity for 3 weeks when I moved to my new apartment in Bangalore, for instance - that stopped me from blogging all these days. Its not nothing to do with some insignificant character's urge to lecture me on what a blog is.
Mr. walking-talking-Merriam-Webster, if you really need someone to listen to your lectures, go teach some Minnesota school kids who might even be ready to listen to you. And FYI, a blog can be whatever the creator wants it to be, and if you keep it as a Princess Diary that you write into every night, that's your problem.
Oh, and Mr. Khalid Mohammed, do you have something better than the lousy critiques you generate to show for your talents at blogging? Lets see it!
The next blog is directed at Bangaloreans in general and people like you in particular, have fun reading.
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