Ive just discovered a beauty. Accounting. Drew up an excel sheet detailing my savings and expenses...I have fallen in love...You know, its not even the numbers....its the AMAZING insights you get when you detail every expense....I mean I can see EXACTLY where my money is going....and as the old saying goes,"If you can track it, you can control it"...now i beleive it... Income growth percentage reduced by half cos of my chennai trip!!!! Dad am not coming....ok am not flying anyway..... Loss because of Air-deccan's cancellation= a shade over 3 percent...Bastards....money that cant be tracked=1290...includes dinner,occasional breakfast and petrol....Is that too much?? I dont know. I know that 'Cyber residency' is not hurting me AT ALL...thats good...

Wrote my first-ever PD(project definition). Sent it to my boss. Boss mailed back saying something to the effect,"Good work,but stop sounding like Al-qaida. Make it a little less belligirent...". I have this problem in written communication. I faced this during my GRE essay days. My essays tended to read like French revolution speeches...lost out atleast half a point 'cos of that(got a 5 in AWA). People are looking for stable,calm individuals...i have to con them into beleiving that I am one. Best way is to edit my mails and whatever I write before sending them. Make it look a lil more mature....maybe even get a copy of Barrons....

Nothing much happening....looking forward to Janauary...new beginnings...new project...classes...FOCUS...cos this is NOT the way to live a life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back in Hyderabad.Back to work. You wanna know what hell feels like? Try explaining what you do for a living, to your relatives. Responses have to be moderated to suit the audience;"IT company", would suffice for the 1980-educated aunts, "Not a call-centre", for more inquisitive pricks. Dont understand what ppl have against call-centres--what would you rather have us do?Register our names in the employment office and wait for 10 years?? And the ppl passing these comments arent exactly setting India on fire.

I am putting a 'morotorium' on further Chennai-visits. You cant keep shutling here and there if you want to make a connection. Unfortunately, have to go in December for ONE MORE DENTAL SITTING!!ARGHHHH!!!! Thats turning into a PITA!!! But have to do it and get it done with. Things are finally taking shape on the community thing that I wanted to do. Nothing concrete. Want to wait till Jan before I make a commitment. A firm commitment is very important in these things;ive seen my dads lions club and they stink!!! May have to make a choice between this and classes.Hmmmm.....tough choice.... But atlest my week-ends would be more productive.

Mr. AA, the intrepid writer of this master-piece of a SOP, called me today. Nice chat. To all those in Chennai who want to shoot him:give him another chance (actually,some American may shoot him afterall). "There are a lotta things to do in Univ. of South California,but I am not doing it da." Oh lord: Why do I get all the wierdest friends??
Leaving office early today. Off to Chennai tomorrow. Have to pack. Have the Graha-pravaesam ceremony on Sunday. The new house has something ive never ever had in my life--a cute neighbour(and now i live in Hyderabad...life...). She's one of those "bubbly types"....have to look her up. Actually, am too old for this inter-flat romance thing. Or am I?? Am looking all over the place ...why not the local neighbourhood. I just have one question for the new-neighbour,"You are not from PSBB,are you??".....LOL!!!!

During my last trip to Chennai, I was saturated with problems(real and percieved). I tore out a page from my sister's diary and started writing all the things that were worrying me:

1.) A relationship gone sour.
2.) An assignment at work, which,I thought was way over my head.
3.) A technical certification I was supposed to take.
4.) General worry about the direction of life.

I drew up an Issue tree about all the above four(yes yes ive been reading too much Mckinsey litreature,shoot me). It was pretty elaborate. I was so impressed that Instead of tearing it up and putting it in the dust-bin(where it belonged), I put it in my bag. Forgot all bout it. Till yesterday. Fished it out from my shaving-kit. Was so shocked to see the damn thing!!!! Life had changed so freaking dramatically:

1.) She was a *&^%%. And universally accepted as one. Proabably the biggest mistake of my life(ok maybe my second biggest,Aravind still rules the chart). What was such a big heart-brake then, is NOTHING now.Hardly think about her. Ive moved on. Will meet and mingle with new people. I may have to shoot one guy undergoing training in Infosys Mysore. He was the one who got me into this mess.

2.) I was only supposed to be a "temporary back-up" for this assignment. More suited work will turn-up in January. BUT,i'll milk this assignment to death in any application I ever write after this. Least they can do for 14-hour work-days.

3.) This thing is my favourite: Boss says,"What course?? Get back to work!!!". Chosen a less challenging certification.

4.) I do worry about this one. But It doesnt control my life as it used to.

Looking back at life, things that seemed so large and in-surmountable seem so dumb and easy now. 12th std. maths exam,First semester mid-sem massacare,tough people in college,tougher people at home...now I can look back and say,"What the heck was all the worrying about??".Wonder why it is so tough to feel that way in the present moment.
Have decided to start a personal diary. Atleast I'll get,"What the heck was all that bout??",more frequently. And trust me ,"What the heck was all that bout??",helps A LOT.

Familiar question. "Do you want to move to Chennai?". No. "Why?"

1.) Have an amazing professional network in-place here. Its just AWESOME. Un-beleiveable. Stretching right to the top.

2.) Starting to form a personal network outside the office/Sambhar gang.

3.) My parents live in Chennai. Though I dont hate them,I cant live with them either. Its something unique--you have to see it to beleive it.

4.) Am hoping some 'un-desirables' from Madhapur would move,leaving me with peace of mind. God please help me with this one.

I know this post doesnt make any sense. Wait till March.

Corporate Lessons....

....Never promise something you cant deliver.
....Once you promise, deliver. Whatever it takes.

Come to think of it, I dont know why this became apparent to me only now.

Confused.....

Yesterday was another boring day in the office....till Raja called me on the Nortel,"Macha...odanae vaadaa". I thought he had discovered some new way of sending Voice Packets through IP. Was sorely dis-appointed. Awaiting me was the one constant thing that has been following me ever since I became a member of the WWW--Really Bad Group Mails. Fortunately I wasnt a member of this group. The owner tried to recruit me,but I dint budge-it had too many loosers as members and I had too much junk on my inbox. I was right about the group:

Ms. 'x' sent the following ,rather innocuous, mail:

Subject: [genius] Read as vadivelu... in GIRI movie> > Read as vadivelu... in GIRI movie>
Nan sari oru round thane nu oru interview ku poneen > Anga 5 per ma, > Maathi Maathi question kettainga. > Ennala mudincha varaikkum answer sonneen. Apram 4th> floor ponga offer vangikkunga nu sonnanuga > Sarinu nanum nambi 4th floor ku poneen. > Anga 8 per ma, > Avangalala evlo mudiyumo avlo question kettanga. > Dhidir nu oruthan HR ku phone a pottu... > machan.. free ya iruntha vada inga oruthan sikki> irukkanu sonnan. > Ange avanala evalavu mudiyumo avalavu ketaan. > Nanum evlo neram than answer therinja mathiriye> nadikkarathu. > Adula oruthan sonnan ,enna question kettalum> samalikiranda > Evan Romba Nallavanu sollitan maaa...


All hell broke loose after that-'Nazi Bitch' Wrote:

AGREED.... TAMILIANS ARE EVERYWHERE... JUST LIKEVIRUSES... DOESN'T MEAN U START SENDING TAMILMAILS!!!!

'X' responded:

Hi ppl,Please accept my apologies for sending out a regionallanguage joke.I just wanted to share a good joke. That is why ispecified 'Tamil' in the Subject heading.But #$%^& had no right in calling Tamilians 'Viruses'.She could have sent out a decent mail requesting menot to send out messages in regional languages oratleast to share the joke in a more common medium ofcommunication.I do not want to remain a member of a group thatallows HATE MAIL to be sent out.

'Nazi Bitch' responded:

I think i've told more than enough times to use "amore common medium ofcommunication"... But ppl don't seem to understandwhen it is told nicely..


This is the point when Raja made that ,"Odanae vaadaa" call. On a normal day I wouldnt have bothered too much about this. But today Raja wanted blood. Bugger took it too seriously. And when I refused aid,he took it personally. So off we went,on our mission to right a historical wrong:

Hi Guys,

This is Rajarajan..........

xxxx/nnnn: If the two of you have any extraneous/parochial issues with life,then please take it off-line. In case you forgot, all of us receive these mails. Whether Tamilians are viruses or not is a great question,unfortunately this is not the forum to address these issues.Btw,I am flattered by the,"tamilians are everywhere" comment.It made my day.

Ram: Please moderate the mails.

luv,
raja

Agreed, "extraneous/parochial" looks a 'lil out of place here. But the Intellectual achievements of the group's membership can be written on the back of a match-box, so I dint bother much.I have a feeling that 'Nazi Bitch' was lil flustered.So her friend responded:

Hi Raja,That issue as far as i understood was made public only to let all the tamilians know what poor non-tamilians have to put up with...and not to portay any extraneous/parochial issues with BBBB/XXXX lives (not that there are any that i know of..)
Regards,
SSSSS.

We sent:
Hi,

Wow!!! You are trying to make such a learned point by calling all Tamilians,"viruses"?? I dont have an issue with bbbbb's message(right or wrong,I dont know/care);I just wish that she had a better choice of words.
luv,
raja

After this, the moderator finally woke-up and called for peace.Nice timing dude.

Amazes me.'Nazi Bitch' is an Educated Indian. From a very previleged background. I can atleast try to understand the un-educated VHP activist;the 'Educated Indian Bigot' confounds me totally.

The first 4 months

One of my room-mates quit 'Cyber-residency' yesterday. Had a fight with another room-mate. One issue.Mis-placed priorities. Funny thing is that the two of them were college-mates-b&*^%$. The guy who stayed back had the gall to accuse me of,"...not doing enough". WTF!!!! You dont open your mouth,you are the most non-political guy in the room,and they STILL blame you!!!!!! Its been a rapid deterioration-i still remember the heydays of August-used to have so much fun. Boozing whenever we wanted,going out,calling-up girls--used to be so much fun. Nowadays I'd be very lucky if I saw two of them together during a week-day. Hmmm.... I guess its natural progression. One of my college seniors warned me about Hyderabad. Apparently,the city has an amazing way of boring its immigrants in 3 months-straight. This week-end was especially bad 'cos some of the co-conspirators outside 'cyber res' were writing CAT and others were preping for GRE.We have planned to buy a TV. Hopefully that shld do the trick.

Chennai is so much better in that sense. You have ballet classes,libraries,Spencers,movies,beaches,pondy,amethyst....... Its a great city to be single. Nahhh...i guess am just missing home. And i wouldnt exchange the freedom that this place offers with anything else.
Tried listing the '10-things-that- I- never- did- before', which i did in the last 4 months of freedom:
1.) Flew alone.And paid for it myself.
2.) Waited outside/went inside a girls hostel.(legally.dint sneak-in)
3.)Slept at 5AM and woke up at 3 PM(Sunday)
4.) Drunk white rum( many thanks to my RECTian friends-u guys are great)
5.) Washed my clothes.
6.) Made up my bed-miss u mommy :((
7.)Tried to pay tax(still trying)
8.) Danced.(it was an office party. and i would do ANYTHING,including making a fool outta myself, to impress my boss)
9.) Called up someone at 3 in the morning(would be killed if i did this at home)
10.) Worked till 3 in the morning(never done that one)

Even if I did 2 of the above-mentioned things in chennai,I would be royally-grounded!! Another issue is that I have some seriously screwed-up timings(half my sponsors are in the US). So i'll be putting my folks thru hell if i was in chennai.Living-alone is fun. Just need to get my support-systems in-place again.

Long day today.Lost in a world of Excel and Powerpoint. Lost count of the no. of times I swore at Microsoft for creating those two incredible applications. Hopefully 'D' would appreciate all this.'D' reminds me of Terry Benedict(Andy Garcia) in Oceans Eleven--cool,calm,under-control and utterly ruthless.


Terry: All right. Now I have complied with your every request, would you agree?
Rusty: I would.
Terry: Good, 'cause now I have one of my own. Run and hide, asshole. Run and hide. If you should be picked up next week buying a hundred-thousand dollar sports car in Newport Beach, I am going to be supremely disappointed. Because I want my people to find you, and when they do, rest assured we are not going to hand you over to the police. So my advice to you again is this: run and hide. That is all that I ask.

Of course,ive never seen 'D' before;only heard his voice on the phone. You see how utterly jobless I am. Anyway talking bout Oceans Eleven, lemme give you the one piece of dialogue that keeps ringing in my mind 300 times a day:


Rusty: Why do this?
Danny: Why not do it? [Rusty shakes his head]
Danny: Cause yesterday I walked out of the joint after losing four years of my life and you're cold-decking "Teen Beat" cover boys. [pause]
Danny: Cause the house always wins. Play long enough, you never change the stakes. The house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big, then you take the house. [another pause]
Rusty: Been practicing this speech, haven't you?
Danny: Little bit. Did I rush it? Felt I rushed it.
Rusty: No, it was good, I liked it. The "Teen Beat" thing was harsh.

Yeah, thats all i think all day and night--"...when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big, then you take the house". But there is that tendency in every man-the need to "take the house".To throw it all away and go for 3 casinos. Me am waiting for my "perfect hand".

Went to the ISB info-session yesterday. If they give admission based on the number of times a candidate attends their info-sessions, then i'd get thru without a glitch. This is my 3rd visit to an ISB event in the last one year(twice in Hyd and once in Chennai). This event was lil different 'cos it was hosted/conducted entirely by current students and Alumini. I know atleast 5 blog-watchers who are interested in ISB. Here's my perspective:

1.) First thing that struck my mind yesterday(unlike the last 2 times) was,"What the heck can I offer this place??". Answer: NOTHING. You see, unlike other Indian B-schools, ISB has a VERY experienced/diverse peer group(Avg.ex.=5yrs). So,unlike other Indian B-schools, I(the humble Indian "IT professional" with 2 yrs work-ex) would be the lowest life-form in the school.I dont think ppl would be standing in line to have me in their study group.

2.) OK, what about placements?? Lets just say that dreaming about anything other then IT/ITeS is pushing the limits of optimism.

Dont get me wrong, ISB is a great school. More importantly,it has a vision. If you are from one of the IIT's, have about 2-4 yrs of work-ex and would like to move into I-banking/consulting,then this is proabably the perfect school for you(heck u get Wharton/Stern professors here at Indian prices). Or if you are a NRI-desi-engg.,looking to come back to the Indian market, then this is perfect for u.

Not saying that ppl with IT background dont do well here.Have read a zillion blogs of ppl who've excelled.Frankly,I am not ready for this place AT THIS POINT OF TIME.Ive spent 17 years of life studying in places where i dint belong;not gonna make that mistake again.Next 2 yrs of my life have to be spent to get to a level, where I am confident of my own abilities. Or atleast am gonna have bloody fun trying!!!

New start....

Hey what the heck....in a new city,new job....finding new ways of humiliating myself.....why not a new blog name/template....i like this one....kinda bright and all....

ISB is conducting an info-session on Nov 13. You can register here. Me not serious about apping in the near future; just going there to have a look. Its also a "team-building","motivational" excercise for the CAT-takers of cyber-residency(thats the name of the place i live in.i love the hyderabadi sense of humour).

Comfort zone.....

Looooooooooser!!!!! Thats what i call a person who works on week-ends. Today ive joined that club. Have some training next-week so am just wraping up some work.It feels kinda eerie here. Am used to seeing many ppl around me.But then its kinda relaxing. Not that I had a totally un-eventful day today.Met someone for lunch. Someone from 'the most snobbish school in chennai'. She wasnt snobbish. Just that when u talk to ppl from this school u end up looking like a total looser. You are always deciding whether u want to impress or shut-up. And when u r deciding,they pull a fast-one on u. But i love to be around such ppl. They help me push the boundary and come out of my comfort zone. Someone once told me,"...you be with the best, you become the best." Very true.

Unfortunately, i dont get to meet such ppl very often. All i get is standard IT company fare.Hmmmm.....may join that film-club in Ameerpet. Freddie is a member,i think. Shld ask him about it. Dont know if i'd fit in. Always been one of those guys who found these "south-azerbaijanian art-movies"things a 'lil pretentious. Part of me wants to explore.The other part wants me to "be myself". Nahhh....i guess i'll go for one screening with freddie and see whats happening. Heck i may meet some Hyderabadi Nawab's great-grand-daughter who's out to get some "intellectual satisfaction".

The 'low-cost Airline' experience

Back in Hyd. Vacation was nice. Lil introspective. Met most ppl i wanted to see. Dental thing about 90% resolved.May have to go back for another sitting. Have to make sure that it co-incides with the house-warming ceremony that we've planned. Its the fruitification of a life-long dream that my parents have had-a house in Annanagar. I plan to contribute a lil bit from my own pocket. May take a personal loan next year. Have to plan this properly(presently doing an excellent job of screwing up my finances;working on a book titled,"Poor dad,Poor dad").

Travelled by Air-deccan today. Very interesting experience. The low-cost air-carrier business has always fascinated me.Remember watching two different programs on BBC WORLD some years ago. One was a HARDTALK with the head of Ryanair.He was Irish and charming.There was a certain romance to the way that the small Irish company was battling a large,well-established British Airways. The other was a spotlight on the young, greek-CEO of EASYJET.They were both trying to emulate the South-west model.And doing a bloody good job at it.

So how good is Air-deccan??? Well, their heart is in the right place. I found the following things to be good about them:
--EXCELLENT web-interface(agreed,it has a STRIKING resemblance to Ryanair's interface).But the point is, it is very robust. And its very easy.I finished the ordering process in 5 mins flat!!! Especially liked the payment section--transfer to and from ICICIBANK.COM is excellent.

--No frills--They REALLY mean it. There's only one air-hostess(a charming lady from the north-east).There are no seat-covers(taking a cue from south-west?? :)) No food(damn,thers no water!!). And thats the way it should be!! I mean how long can u offer 'model air-hostess's' and "Kingfisher-class"?? Kingfisher is bound to bleed in the long-term.

--The price--Well, what can i say? Its cheap!! Came to bout INR 2600(including airport tax). Why dont they reduce the damn airport-tax???


The cons?? Well....

-- Operations.Operations.Operations. They still havent figured it out yet!! You can see it from the way the usher looks at u when u ask for the actual time of departure--utterly clueless. Scheduled time of departure was 5.55. It got postponed arbitarily to 6.30. ABSOLUTELY NO INFO ABOUT THIS!!!! Cmon, i dont mind the occasional delay, but atleast tell me when u are late!!!! There was one couple who were making a HUUUUGE hue and cry near the Air-deccan counter(trust me it was A HUUUUGE SCENE). It turns out that their flight had departed 15 MINUTES EARLY!!!!! Ive NEVER HEARD OF THAT!!!! Am ok with delayed flights, not ok wiTH FLIGHTS WHICH LEAVE before SCHEDULED TIME.(btw,has anyone hrd of this b4 anywhere else on earth???).

--PEOPLE--Too many of 'em doing too lil. I counted about 30 ppl. And thats just what i saw. CMON, u cant run a low cost airline with that many!!!Agreed most of em are out-sourced(engineering guys are expats.they were taking it too easy!!!).

But i think most of these issues can be resolved. Deccan has hired a new COO who used to work in Ryanair. Thats a step in the right direction--learn from the leader!! I think we'll have a world-class low-cost airline in India in another 2 years!! Or atleast it'll be interesting for me to watch the airline space!!!



Note to someone i know:- Agreed, 24th oct-31 oct was tough...I am writing the longest mail ive ever written, explaning everything.Cya Monday.