Late Nights at work...

Well, its nearing 10.20 PM and I am still at my desk, talking to the "Idiot Box" (I call my comp like that.. dont ask me why) and desperately trying to get done with my tasks. Sadly I noticed that I am out of cancer sticks as well.. darn !! This makes me sit back and think (while my script is running in the background.. and oh btw, one run takes 20 mins.. gosh !! can you believe that), what's with late nights and IT professionals.. ?
Time and again, when I used to work in Tidel Park, and was obsessed with doing late nights, everytime I used to come out for a break, I would see the entire smoker's arena, buzzling with activity ! Well, night shifts could be one of the reasons, but the other reason that frequently comes to my mind is.... tight deadlines... ! Which makes me sit and think, do we always run behind impossible deadlines to get deliveries "Delivered" ?? I dont know about you, but personally I have always felt, its the never ending urge to never say "No" when work is assigned to you, for something that has "That is totally impossible given the short time" phrase written all over it !!
A question to introspect, how many times have you wanted to say, Nah.. thats totally not possible, but still felt yourself jumping out of your seats and saying "Oh yes, that can be done" and then walking out of the meeting room with this utmost deepest and most wanting urge to kick yourself for having said that... ! I have always been a workaholic, apart from being addicted to a whole bunch of other things (which I wouldnt want to confess in a blog that is.. lol !), but even otherwise, I must admit I have made this blunder many a times. Dunno if this is the case with us Indian folks in general or if this just one of those wildest perceptions of mine, but I have always noticed that even before we do our ground work which in general terms is called as "Feasibility" we jump to a task and commit our utmost dedication to it.. maybe its the question of "Ego" or maybe its the question of "Reputation" or even sheer bragging, but the point is, we dont seem to be doing our due diligience !
On the other hand, I have watched a lot of Americans work in a different way... In one such situation, we had an emergency at work at we needed a system admin to show up immediately to fix an issue, but it was a weekend and when we did manage to reach out to the person, he politely and in a very politically correct manner expressed his inability to show up at work, because he was busy taking his weekend time off.. !! That made me wonder, had I been in such a situation would I have said No.. I guess not...
That makes me come to the most important question, why do we slog like this ? Why do we always race against tough deadlines... Well the answer is pretty simple. When tasks get assigned to people, and deadlines fixed against them, the people doing the allocation work, always take away atleast 10% of the allotted time and give us only 90% of the time to wrap it up. This in a way is very good, because we are planning for untoward emergencies. But sometimes this backfires when the person doing the estimation and the person who is actually running around trying to get the job done are two completely different set of people, who in no way interact with each other.. ! Ouch. !! that sounds scary doesnt it.. imagine a situation wherein I am giving an estimate of 10 weeks as the time required to build a "NASA space rocket" when I have no clue about rocket building nor have I spoken to people involved in rocket building and gotten their opinions.. Its a tough decision to be honest.. How much of time is required to wrap up something is always apart from being a "Hot question thrown at an interview" also something which requires a lot of experience, a lot of common sense and not to leave out, a lot of discussions between all the folks working on a task...
We all know there is a problem, but its the same thing again "Who will tie the bell to a cat".. I have now begun to sit up and think, why I do I make blunders when telling someone as to how much of time do I require to get done with a task.. and then end up slogging just to ensure that I keep up my word.. Well reality check.. I think I have found my answer... In my case it has always been the sheer ego... "What will people think about my abilities if I say I require more time to get done with a task" that sort of an attitude.. Its very bad to be honest, because to be honest, in a professional world, no one actually cares for others abilities in such minutest details... I have been living in a fool's paradise.. and what adds fuel to this fire ?? Guess what, everytime when someone says, "Oh Krish, well I know he can get this done in a couple of hours".. that's what makes me do the same blunder.. I seem to be getting carried away.. which I have now decided to fix...

All that said and done, as I decide to wrap up this post as well as my day at work.. ask yourself.. "Why do you slog at office" ??

My New Year Love

     Well, new year to a lot of people am sure would have begun in whole lot of different ways... To me this new year beginning was totally different and unique as well I must say.. This new year I experienced what all the movie makers so profoundly portray as "Love at First Sight"... Yup... it was Friday morning on Jan 1st, and as always I was browsing through some portals looking for something... you know.. the kind of a casual net surfing thing... that was when I stumbled into her in a portal... Her pic was so gorgeous.. the write up on the profile got me interested... I read through and almost instantly fell in love with her... after that, it was what all the love smitten people describe as "The painful wait in love"... after three days finally I got to meet her... she was even more gorgeous than how she looked in the pic.. she was neatly wrapped... and she came with a 2 year warranty... yippie.. just as they had promised on the portal on her profile... I even named her instantly.. I called her "Kung-fu Panda"...
Am sure you must be in a shemozzle now... and wondering.. what the heck does this guy mean by "She came with a 2 year warranty".. and are the gals actually putting up warranty periods as well on the matrimonial sites even.. sheesh !! (I can see that surprised look on your face even)! Relax.., let me explain.. well I was as I said, doing some casual browsing, when I stumbled into this beautiful mp3 player from transcend, Transcend MP650.. a sexy 8GB ivory colored piece, which works as a mp3 player, has a built in FM Radio, can store data just as pen drive, can do recordings for you, and comes bundled with software that lets you even lock your desktop or laptop... kind of a personalised key for your own lappie.. now aint that cool... I fell in love with this thing almost instantaneously.. the minute I laid my eyes on it.. just something that I guess I was wanting to have, but never bothered to look around.. priced at Rs. 2,750 this is a pretty cool mp3 player... I was sitting on my laptop from morning 6 AM trying to put all the songs into it, so that I can sway to the beats of my favorite songs, which I tussled with my scripts and got them to work.. and by around 9 I was almost completely done.. It comes with a USB cable which you use it to charge it (yup it runs on a rechargeable lithion battery).. you can also on an alternative, buy a AC charger for USB devices and then plug this into an AC power supply directly...

    I was feeling a bit low, off late, but my dear "Kung-Fu Panda" surely got me all excited and enthusiastic... and oh by the way, just incase you were wondering, what's with the name "Kung-Fu Panda" being given to this player.. well, couple of reasons... first being, I loved that movie.. and second was because, I loved the core concept of the movie.. which was "There is no special ingredient".. its the belief that makes something special.. on a quick glance this mp3 player is no big deal, and am sure there are better ones available in the market, but to me this one is.. which now explains why I feel this as the special ingredient, which cheered me up on the first week of a brand new year.. !!

So there you have it... Krish.. finally found.. "yet" another true love.. ! Lol.. !!!

New Years and New year Resolutions !!

Its six in the evening.. half of the bays at work are empty.. lot of them are out on a loooooong year end vacation and the rest.. well they left early maybe.. am stuck at work.. trying to wreck my head in getting this stupid script of mine to function.. am so engulfed in it that I didnt even notice that I had my headfones on my head, without any song playing for the past 30 mins.. huh !! *** plays some Jesudoss hits on media player and resumes ***

      Its just two days more to go before 2009 comes to a close and 2010 dawns with new hopes and new aspirations and not to exclude new expectations...

New year is a very special day for most of the people... The prominent reason why a lot of us look forward to this day.. New year resolutions... !!! Yup.. from "Am gonna stop smoking from New year" to "Am gonna quit boozing" to "Am gonna consciously work on slimming down".. you get to hear all of these as "New Year Resolutions..".. In fact situation has become so worse that these days.. people even make it a custom to ask.."hey what's your resolution..."!

Well incase that question lingers around your mind as well, and you are dying to ask me the same question.. well.. dont trouble yourself too much.. go ahead.. ask me.."Krish.. what's your new year resolution..."..!!

Well to be honest I havent decided if I wanna have a new year resolution as such.. am gonna chuck all the regular new year resolution topics and am gonna choose a few new interesting ones...

• I have decided, that am gonna start writing a lot more.. trust me, the more I write the more I increasing is this urge to write.. not that am gonna be branded as the next Shakespeare in the making or something on those accords.. but still, if not anything else.. atleast I get to vent out all that I feel like and still have the luxury of "Google" not coming back to beat me up for all the trash I just now posted using their systems.. lol !

• Second resolution.. am gonna seriously start trying to save money for a change.. offlate i become a spendthrift to the core...all with a cause in mind.. incase you are wondering what would be that.. well..its to get to that dream car of mine.. Fiat linea or maybe Honda Jazz !!

• And the third and final resolution.. would be "Work on these resolutions" and not procrastinate till Dec 2010 only to come out with a new set of resolutions.. which just dont get fulfilled.. !!

So.. what are your new year resolutions !! Lol...

My Creations

Just thought of putting up some of my so called "Scribblings"... which I so profoundly advertise as Poems.. lol..

Read on... 

My Buddy
I remember once, I had a buddy
Whom I met at a place I dont remember.
Never did I like him one bit
But a "No" for an answer, he refused to accept.
He stayed with me,
And never left me alone,
At night he would sleep with me,
At walks he would walk with me,
At sorrows he would shoulder my grief,
At joys he would share my joys,
At solitudes he would stay,
At crowds he would hold my hands.
He came uninvited and promised to stay,
Ever since his stay, my life's been a dismay.
When the whole world left me,
He was there next to me,
Just to remind me, he had never abandoned me.
Not many in this world,
Like my buddy coming into their world.
The world calls him "Pain",
But I call him "My buddy".

The End.....
Your words were short
With intentions of wrath
Your words rang a bell in my soul,
For I could not come to terms,
Terms with the fact,
Till today you had infact,
Played games with my heart.

My feelings were hurt,
My confidence in life shattered,
For today you showed me the brutality,
Of what meant a mockery in reality,

I reeled under the effects,
That words of yours had brought about.
I was short of tears to shed,
Because all my tears,
Were shed for you in your times of distress.

With an aching heart and a tormented soul,
I walked away with a smile,
For, I always believed,
Tormented souls should not give away,
Give away their sorrows to this world,
But walk away with a smile,
Though their hearts bled and souls set afire.

Till date, I thought I lived in a paradise,
Little did I realise,
I lived in a fool's paradise,
A paradise which I so fondly cherished,
A paradise which I called "Friendship". 

Silence...
Silence I thought,
Was the one language all feel
But never understand
Silence I thought,
Was the ultimate avenge to the dreaded of mistakes
Silence I thought,
Was the ultimate killer of intimate relationships
Silence I thought,
Was the universal answer to a whole bunch of questions
Silence I thought,
Was the peaceful way to end quarrels
Silence I thought,
Was a clever way of hiding ignorance
Silence I thought,
Was a deadly weapon on guilty conscience
Silence I thought,
Was a smart way to hide animosity
But try as much I might,
I never knew,
What meaning was hidden,
In the long silence of yours....
Silence I guess,
Was your humble way of saying,
What words fail to convey...


Friends or strangers...

We don't hang around together,
But we are friends.
We don't smile at each other,
But we are friends.
We don't talk to each other,
But we are friends.
We don't care for each other,
But we are friends.
We don't enjoy life together,
But we are friends.
We don't call each other,
But we are friends.
I live my life my way and so do you,
But we are friends.
We don't cross path nor yell at each other,
But we are friends.
I don't share your sorrows nor do you,
But we are friends.
I don't share my joy nor do you,
But we are friends.
We don't miss each other,
But we are friends.
No hi's or bye's between us,
But we are friends.
With friends like this
Who needs strangers..?

If I could... I would....

If I had wings, I thought,
I would fly to your room,
Just to wish you a good morning,
Every morning...

If I could sing, I thought,
I would sing a lullaby,
Just to put you to sleep,
Every night.

If I could paint, I thought,
I would paint a picture,
Of your innocent face, at sleep.

If I could wish,I thought,
I would wish for dreams,
Dream of yours to come true.

If I could, I thought,
I would take your pains,
just to see a smile,
Painted on your face.

If I could, I thought,
I would live one more day,
Just to hear you say, That you care for me.

If I could, I thought
I would die today,
Just to prove a point,
That I care for you.

If I could, I thought,
Spend a thousand million,
Just to bring true,
Your smallest of wishes...

If I could, then I would,
Try and make a sense,
Of all that I thought,
And be your friend...

The colors of Memories

Memories are good,
Memories are bad,

Some of them sad, and
some of them happy.

Memories keep us united,
With the loving ones we parted,

Memories keep us going,
Carrying us through life's path, fighting.

Memories bring tears of joy,
Memories bring tears of sorrow.

Some of them like the greens,
The greens of forest, ever bringing
Freshness and calmness to our minds.

Some of them like the reds,
The reds of fire, ever bringing
The heat and pain to our minds.

Some of them like the blues,
The blues of still water,
Creating ripples in our hearts.

Some of them like the blacks,
The blacks of a dark night,
Creating shivers of fear in our bodies.

Some of them like the whites,
The whites of pure milk,
Bringing in peace to  our tormented souls.

Memories are thus,
Of different colors and different flavours.
All reminding us of the word,
That we need to move forward,
Into the unknown called future,
from the known called the past.

Mails mails and more mails...

Well, this was something that I have always found very intriguing to be very honest... Gone are the days, wherein mails only meant a letter delivered to you at your address by the very own local postman... today its called snail mail.. I found that term very funny.. We have grown so attached to emails these days that without emails, its like we cant survive... reminds me of the famous Tamil cinema actor.. MGR.. for all those who have had the chance to look at his movies or atleast a song or two wherein "Thalaivar" as he is so profoundly called in Tamilnadu, shows up, you would notice one thing in common.. he uses his hands a lot... people even on a casual remark say that if at all his hands were tied.. MGR wouldn't have been able to act.. lol.. (Nothing to offend MGR or his die hard fans.. trust me.. am one of them..). Infact even though I barely get emails from people on my gmail account.. I still have this compulsive urge to login to my account atleast half a dozen times a day and to just see the mail box say to me.. "No mails for today.." .. the only people who send me mails are my ever faithful spammers.. from selling all those never heard products to convincing me of getting into a deal with some big shot guy from some remote "Mannar and company" bank in South Africa.. I get anything and everything...

Mails come in all shapes and sizes... from interview emails, to personal gupshup emails, status mails, to clarification emails... scam mails.. name a type and there's a mail related to it...at times I have even seen e-mail wars being waged.. (I have indulged myself in this heinous crime myself..).. but there are some classification of emails, that I particularly found really amusing... e-mail conversations to be specific..
During my stay in the US.. I even got a chance to witness it.. On one particular instant I had brought out a problem which a couple of folks were to discuss and address.. (sigh ! I know.. it sounds so very sadistic for doing the dirty work of pointing out mistakes.. well.. cant help it.. I do it for a living.. what do you expect.. !!).. ok coming back to the instance... so this problem eventually boiled down to two people who were to be working on it.. and I was there in the US at that time..
That day I was seeing e-mails being exchanged by these two folks, and I was literally taken aback... I couldn't believe.. they were conversing in e-mails.. lol.. worst of it all.. their seating arrangements were such that, they had their backs facing to their backs.. (err.. I know that kinda sounded confusing.. come on offer some co-operation here... am trying my best here to explain..duh !) I very timidly went over to one of the folks..and asked.. hey.. can I ask you something.. and he replied.. "Hey krish.. whats up..sure thing.. go ahead.." I said.. "well..erm... why are you guys talking in e-mails.. ?".. His face reaction changed.. and I felt like shoving a sock up my mouth for having asked that question.. I panicked.. quickly re-phrased my question.. and said.. well you know.. generally curious.. don't people in here.. hold person to person meetings, talk to each other and get things resolved.. He burst out in laughter.. and said.. "lol.. you know what krish.. it doesn't work here that way... I understand your confusion.. and trust me..I ain't got no explanations to it either.. but all I can say is.. it just doesnt work that way..".. I gave a shy smile at him and returned back to my desk in a bit of a shemozzle myself...

Just as I am completing this blog entry.. my outlook goes "ting !!"..pops up a window and says.. "You have a new mail".. lol.. let me go back to see what the new mail has to say... So long my beloved followers !!

Keep the mails going... mails.. mails.. more mails... no more bombs away.. its.. emails away !!!

Mundane Journey to Bread and Butter...

First official confession I should admit.. Its about a drive.. Just incase you wondered.. whats with the drive dude !! Well, lets admit, everyone hates going to office.. wherein you swim through traffic jams... get into verbal duels at times with fellow swimmers of the same jam... do a bit of schumi stunts to cross the signal before it goes red.. we all am sure in a way recite the famous nursery rhyme "Fire in the mountain, run run run" in our very own way.. in this most important daily journey to the place which gives you your pay check.."Your Office.." ..

Well my journey to work is a bit different.. maybe I am blessed enough or maybe I am getting too old to hurry up or maybe.. just maybe I dont care too much.. I leave that to your figments of rationality... Well a typical journey to work starts of with me putting on my cherished "Pin-Ball" jacket..( yup..I bought one very recently in Bangalore and am so obsessed with it that I wear it even in the scorching sun..lol..) put on my coolers... (kind a always makes me feel as if I am Mr. Kamal Hassan from the movie Vettayadu Vilayadu.. dont ask me why..) and then waking up the "Civilized Beast". Incase you were wondering what on the earth is this "Civilized Beast"..that's my two wheeled car..my Honda Activa.. its his pet name.. I christened him so..lol..

A typical journey starts off like every other journey..first you walk through traffic snarls and then as I drive deeper into the famous get-away road of Chennai.. viz., ECR..its then I start cherishing the drive.. you dont have traffic signals..unless and until you voluntarily had to slow down to take a quickie looksie at that girl in the bus stop waiting for her TCS chartered service to show up, or were to be cut out by the road romeos of chennai.."Share Autos".. Cool breeze hits your face, you zoom past on the ECR, and as you drive, you get to see a variety of sights.. ranging from "the regulars" wanting to get their daily morning quotas at the TASMAC, to neatly clad "Professionals" waiting for their rides at the designated bus stops.. cows lazying around on the road as if saying "ummm..wassup doc" (Bugs Bunny style).. and not to exclude the speeding pulsarians...

Everyday I get to challenge a few Swifts and City's and zoom past them as they honk and break thanks to our Share autos, while I whizz away in the little gaps..I get to respect the authentic Licensed to Kill Government buses who arent that soft, as their horns might sound..and if lucky I even get to race one or two pretty faces, who are enjoying the drive as well, in their scooty pep's or their Hero Honda Pleasure's or even a fellow Activa..

Today I was lucky enough to spot a Fiat Punto.. I have never seen one up close and just as I was getting all thrilled to take a closer look at this one while I drove.. this dude just zoomed past me.. and before I could say "All hail mogambo" he was gone.. no where in sight.. !

After starting from home and driving for almost 15 minutes is when I reach the famous VGP resorts, wherein the sights are almost the same exact everyday... I always get to see a small crowd posing in front of the weather beaten Elephant heads and camera's clicking away to all glory.. while a speeding love smitten pair, zoom away to their escape land (it could be Mahabs or Kovalam or any other place.. I havent a clue as to where do these guys go anyway..) and then you see the enforcers of law.. our own Chennai City Traffic Police.. busy with catching the speeding youngsters not because they are concerned..because probably their Sub Inspector told them.. "I dont care what you do, today your target is 20 cases by noon".. lol.. which makes me realise.. God ! Everyone has deadlines.. As I drive further, and near the "Ignite" car workshop, my bike slows down automatically.. nah.. I didnt run out of petrol, but its the regular supplies refilling stop.. time to buy a few cancer sticks.. afterall a wise man is one who is prepared for the day, they say.. !!

The final leg of the journey is when I drive through the new Kalaignar Karunanidhi Salai.. join back the OMR.. to reach my source of Bread and Butter.. Office.. !!!

Now that's what I call a Journey to office..

Do I or Do I not, is it ethically right...what happens to all those unknown fears of internet privacy... what will people say.. will I be caught whiling away time.. gosh..the list just seemed endless.. until today..I decided.. yup.. its time to refresh my typing skills.. time to see if I can once again write essays after essays.. and still make sense.. (all those official emails that I sent to people.. most of the recipients complained.. dude.. you write long emails..).. its time to start BLOGGING...

At this moment of great personal triumph.. (.. tears of joy are actually trickling down my cheeks..).. ok ok.. I was only trying to get a bit melodramatic... I would like to say... woooo-hoooo... "Yabbba Dabbaaaa Doooooo" i started blogging as well....

And among a bunch of other people.. the top two that come into my mind, who convinced me, yup.. I should go ahead and commit the heinous crime of boring people to "Instant Death" by starting to blog... are Sakina... and my buddy Ashish.. !!