Tuesday, January 31

Back to the Floor - India

An amazing program on BBC World, for people not so familiar with the corporate business hungama. The founder of a major enterprise works for a day or too at the shop to understand how thing flow from the rock bottom. That includes working in factory floor, customer care, dispatch counters, inventory, and a selection among all such positions. Ideam being the top getting to know the nitty-gritty problems hampering the system.

I had a really bad experience going through the railway-crossing close by doraiswamy subway in my beloved singaara chennai *sigh*. Some experience, all thanks to my wrong choice #-o.

Other countries with similar and even higher population densities are more disciplined and organized, whilst the bourgeous Indian populous is caught in a rat race for *everything*.

Am just wondering :-?, what if politicians aer urged to venture under mufti into such situations to experience it all. My call for such an show would be them to
  1. drive past choosen railway-crossings.
  2. [to be filled by you...]
Trust me ;), they'd receive enough foul language to be startled. Wonder how many would be able to handle the situation in the 1st place :).

Friday, January 27

Unsaid

Humans are wierd!!!

You wish to say something to someone - something personal, special, reciprocative, acknowledging. But then we don't for umptine reasons. On the otherhand those who speak out get the badge of being brash blah ... blah ... blah.

The former live their lives for tomorrow, which is uncertain and end up missing that which they shouldn't have let past. The excuses are as much variegated as well, from just buying time, to avoiding confrontation, to burying things unsaid to being friggin afraid of the outcome. They loose some moments when they have nothing to loose. In time they look back earning for that lost moment.

The later live their life the very moment, projection to tomorrow being their ideal rathen than living in anticipation. They never loose that which belongs to them, and let go of that which does not.

What do you do?

Tuesday, January 24

Tea Time Stories @ Office

Inspired by incidents narrated during office Tea times and other wise ... ooh btw I work, Tea time is 10 mins ;)

Mr. OS: Why is satellite phone so expensive
Mr. KK: Coz the satellite is so high up in the sky n we down here ... got it ... :->
Mr. OS: The why is it more expensive to talk from an airplane, its closer to satellite r8 :-?
Mr. KK: b-(

an incident after a couple of guys return back from a trek, Mr. Ra and Mr Aj on the road way back to their barracks and a Passer By (Mr. PB) makes a conversation

Mr. PB: hey Ra n Aj ... u guyz had gud fun?
Mr. Ra: sure we did ... the sun, the sand, the stars, the sweat above all, just awesome
Mr. PB: now why do I get the feeling Ra, that u'd gone much darker whilst Aj is as white as ever?
Mr. Ra: well u see I am 1/2 feet taller than him, so more closer to the sun ;)
Mr. PB: b-(
Mr. AJ: =))

Wednesday, January 18

Changing India

Three entrepreneur's under the same roof - Dr Prannoy Roy, Narayana Murthy and Bill Gates, and what do you expect? An insight into how they changed the facade of the world's industry.

The program title is quite a misnomer and I was left disappointed. Murthy'n'Gates would have been more befitting. And much of what was spoken is available in other texts. Questions were not tactful and inciting :(. Nevertheless, I was most amused by Mr.Murthy quote about indians (search for 'ad nauseum' in the link provided, thats how he describes indians talking). In fact this interview with murthy is more suited for the topic, and much more insightful with an indian perspective. I highly recommend reading it.

I have nothing for or against the icons of M$ and Info$y$, for both are visionaries I have a profound respect for. But I would have prefered honouring our Murthy to be the first to speak up. And more than that, the wall mounted flat screen always displaying M$ was again disheartening. So much to the pride of being an Indian. Such trivial things are only seen by pedestrian's as I.

I am not going to glorify or deify these individuals, but am gonna take the other stand. What is it that these individuals have changed in India, and what is that these people have not done that the present generation CAN.

Let me quickly delve negatives that have proliferated with M$ and Info$y$ prevalence in india. These are killer attituted's that has perclorated into the generation of the day, and most people living out oblivious to it.

The Poison Inside

In the interview, Mr.Murthy did brag (deservedly) about bringing in a lot of wealth and spread it with his employees. Do read these articles by Vatsan - IT, Effects of IT Growth for alternate perspectives on this. Above all this I am pressing on the fact that the current generation is being groomed into becomming - cheap, loyal and a deligent labour force for the industry, IT just being the spark for it.

A very common recommendation from folks in any society (and more insisted in ours) goes as follows - get Good Grades, get Education in a Premium Institution, work for a high Paying Multi-National, procure Property swiftly, get Hooked in life, get buzy with it (your contribution to the nations population), secure a Sinecure Position in an organization, and live out doing what is asked of you in your professional and personal life. An individual's capability in these respect is how he/she is gauged in society. Giving into this, most individuals priority becomes to settle in life. You decide what portion of the population is into this cycle!!!

India is promulgated by many as being host to much of the brightest minds in the world. Let us see how convincing that is. Just consider the influx of people into IT. Order of the day - competence of an individual and relevance of knowledge are being obviated. Added to this, the lucrative nature of this work pulls in people without any flair to pitch in. A little further I shall explain that much of the IT Engineers in India are not expected to think, in fact if they don't think the company finds it easy. This only gives leverage to pedestrian people and leaves the elite in stupor for having been grossly under-utilized. So stop blaming such individial amongst those leaving the country in hopes of finding a more engaging work.

Industry too has its role to this. In a race to gain market share more indian companies have arraigned themselves with an array of certifications. What companies in the west take decades to achieve, is completed withing half a decade or even less. And this invariably enables them to perform the work with some of the dumbest of the minds. Good from a commercial perspective, but what of the people working such. Never does an engineer get to actively engage more than a few months in a year. This is what is sought of the eager young minds of tomorrow, by mass of the IT industry.

Another common find is job-hopping. In hopes of finding a more engaging work people keep flocking around only to be reminded of - "A known devil is better than an unknown angel". And then finally giving in to certifications. Here again, I have not met a single individual as yet who has genuinly been certified. A question bank helps the individual skim through, and leaves him incapable of doin anything practically.

At this juncture, am just wondering as to what is the quality of the work being produced by the pupulous by virtue of bring the brain-power of the world. And do look back (if u have not already) at this article which came quite a while back - Silicon Valley / Coolie Valley of India. And I have refrained from mentioning how the IT companies harbour much of the above attitude, left as an exercise to the readers.

and the profiting outsiders ...
after so much of what is happening inside. What about the external factors fueling many of our societies follies.

I'll start with a briefing on outsourcing, on which the whole world is cashing on. For the contractor's it is a profitable business by virtue of it being service driven. And for those giving the contract, I can think of these minimal advantages.
  1. Cheap Labour = Lower Production Cycle Costs.
  2. Easy to procure resources (eve easier as Indians are so very ready to work onsite for $'s and £'s) when in need.
  3. Indian's are contractors, which means they can get these human resources to do any crap they want.
Service driven model is more prevalent in India because of our traditional inclination towards a secure life. Risks are never harboured in our culture and companies even boast of the system being capable of paying when employee do not work (benched when said brashly) *sigh*.

Moreover by offering our services mostly to the west (for obvious commercial reasons) or alien nations, we are not being self sustaining. Why don't we see Indians comming up with as many innovative ideas as other, contrary to so-called brain power? Bluntly said, our society is moulding more cowards in our ever increasing population than before.

Indian IT population is a Rook in the Redmonds Game, Period.

Not too surprisingly, M$ realized that India (and labour force countries like china and japan) is a major contributor towards its goal of becoming ubiquitous. I have observed ever since my schooling days (school as in non-college) that M$ technologies are always recommended towards a prospective future. And if I am not mistaken M$ has invested in RnD at selected premium institutes, and I don't see it as totally altruistic.

The huge IT work force that India possesses becomes one of the driving factor to prevalent and choosen technology. M$ is looking forward for more professionals specialized in their RAD tool, as eventually the tending to zero-effort in finding professional will push more of the industry towards them. I don't see M$ looking for great innovation or such from out vast pool of professionals as much as they brag about it. And shamelessly we are playing along with the giant.

Accepted that there are only two sides, M$ and MicroISV's as they are being called. But consider the competence of japaneese with their PS3 and Nintendo racing easily against the raw power of the XBOX 360 from M$. The PS3's cell technology is a generation ahead of the rest. This is what they pull out of their brain power. And in India, we provided extensive testing services for a USB interface driver on the XBOX.

How long is India gonna keep saying we are growing ... no period


What have Mr. Murthy and Mr. Gates changed in India?

Both these individuals are visionaries with their own dreams. And each one is bending and moulding their world's of influence towards it. Trying to fit in benevolence to their worlds withing such.

Gates has been driving and bending his nation and much of the world along his dreams. He is moudling the world as he sees fit and definitely has a corner for India for it capabilities. If I might add, he even explicity stated whilst answering audience questions that Indians are more of a resource pool than a talent pool. He has definitely done his part towards making IT change the face the the Indian economy. But there is more to our economy than what we see at the facade.

Murthy on the other hand has been towards building his empire in India, and he has. Without any doubts he has bestowed a good amount of wealth, prosperity and good life to his employees. Though at the outset it is good prospects, a generation of people are now laid back from innovation though not his intention. And yes the economic divide is much wider thanks to the IT boom, and proliferation of outsourcing to other industries therefrom.

I ain't going to make any judgemental statements here. You are entitled and encouraged to add your perspective and have your say.

Comming back to Changing India

Where do we go from here? There is so much that Gates or Murthy are not looking forward to in India from their business perspective. The trend of Indian industry moulding into being Services oriented is not the best we can pull out.

By providing service we are making life easier for others whilst making it just better for ourselves. There are enough of mason workers in India, and very soon china is going to pick it all in that respect (in a decade I'd say). So lets move ahead into being engineers.

India needs this generation and the next to come up with innovations which will prove to be Solutions for us and other nations. Just as our services are, we can provided solutions that are highly competetive cost-wise and put our brain-power to good use. It is time we reap what we sow, and not just a percentage of it. Needless to say a burst of entrepreneurship in the minds of our youth.

Last but not the least, bright minds leaving the country to work for someone else. It is a global society and I am not against it. Give India back for all the opportunities that it has given you, for it is you moral obligation to give back to the society that served you.

Tuesday, January 17

Do You?

Have you ever been absent minded enough to call up one of the people on you contacts to ask for your mobile number?

Oh yeah!!! I didn't stop there, I addressed that person as 'loosu' (an idiot in tamil) and then asked for it =)).

I don't have a bad memory, but certain things just blank out all of a sudden. Temporal Black-Outs, You still remember it but just don't recollect it at the spur of the moment. Just like Writers Block, this is Flow of Thought block. Me messing around patterns seemlessly is quite prevalent, and now this too #-o.

Thursday, January 12

Like Fate of Doctors & God

Doctors and God share similar encounter with humans.

As long as they work, people believe in them staunchly.
The moment they let you down, you speak despicable of them or show your backs.

But since it is an axiom that god is perfect, many people have learnt (rather got used) to forgive him. Doctors though are not so fortunate. The human body works withing the confines of science. Fortunately or unfortunately the mind is an altogether different beast, for it works beyond contemplations and reason.

Just a thought ... a dead mind in a live body is called a Zombie ... what about a live mind in a dead body :-?

Tuesday, January 10

5 More Minutes ;)

On a normal day how many times do you wake up to the sound of your alarm, look @ the time and feel lazy n think 5 more minutes shouldn't hurt and set it to snooze?

I even have an alarm clocks which can be set to buzz @ two difference times. Still no luck :( . And my mobile gives up snoozing after 1/2 hour past the alarm time :D.

Was just wondering as to how many "5 more minutes"* have I ever reached :-?. I know someone who does know it ;), coz everytime I request em to wake me up the response is - "5 more minutes" ... right? :D

*conditions apply: each "5 more minutes" does not equate to 5 minutes duration

Sunday, January 8

Why Not?

Well well, many software professionals do seem to lack spoken and written skills. So you not make it official to blog for a certain amount of time a day, say 1/2 an hour to 45 mins.

Just like lunch hour, I would recommend companies to provide blogging hours :D. That way engineers will develop good reading & writing skills ;). Just a thought!!!

Well I am disconnected and therez so much pending posts, and I feel a bit guilty doing it from office :p. So I gt jinx my work for every post I make :D.

Thursday, January 5

Lost in time ...

Ever started a day when you are not sure what day-of-the-week it is, lost track of time? And how often do you infer it from the clothes you are supposed to wear ;).

Well I started the day thinking it was thursday. And then realized I was not supposed to were a t-shirt today (now don't embarass me by asking why *blush*). And then the supplimentary fact that I did not see chidambara ragaseeyam the night before ;) was assertion enough. Final confirmation from my gf of course.

Yippie only 6 more hrs to go for the weekend ... am supposed to be happy but am not ... coz I am still unplugged #-o

Sunday, January 1

Welcome 2006

First post for the new year :).

Unlike every other year, this time I did not get to do some retrospection over what happened. I have to admit I am extremely addicted to internet, and having been disconnected @ home for almost 2+ weeks now was driving me nuts ~x(. I've been running away from home like crazy. Only yesterday did I spend about 4hrs+ @ home awake. Its like a vana vaasam for me :D. I couldn't even send personalized wishes to lots of people (adding fuel the the fire was the fact that I didn't have ISD facility) still managed to wish them all somehow. But then sweet wishes always makes up for it all, esp when your are in deep sleep and someone calls up to wish you. And I did get an opportunity to meet Lalgudi Jayaraman jee, GJR Krishnan jee and Vijayalakshmi madam at their concert @ Mylapore Fine Arts.

A good beginning for me, more specifically musical one. My guru and senior students were playing violin from 11pm to 12:15. It was Hare Rama as we crossed mid-night and bhaagyaada lakshmi baaramma to begin the new year :), a mangalagaremaana start.

WISHING THE BLOGSPHERE COMMUNITY A BOUNTIFUL 2006!!!

I still gt write a whole lot of synopsis of kutcheri's I'v attended as yet. Hoping to do it all that soon. Adios ...