just like that

Talking to an old pal(?) made me realize that even if you try hard to maintain a camaraderie with a long lost friend, at times a bruised ego dosnt allow it. I think its practically very difficult for people to let bygones be bygones. Although you accept the present and intend to carve a different future the past always catches up and leaves you dumbfounded. And I think we should just let it be! There is no point in reveiving a friendship thats gone sour. Rejoice in the fact that are some beautiful moments and memories left but no friendship. There is a limit to every effort and the limit is even smaller when the effort is one sided. You should probably seek solace in the fact that you tried and it didnt work. Off late I seem to have developed an 'anti-midas touch', everything I seem to touch turns it to something of even inferior value. But I am not complaining. There is an antidote to every person and phase in life. That much I have realized!

Probably this post is just to reiterate the fact that you cannot let anyone ruin your sense of being. The following lines just came to my mind....

Ek baar waqt se,
lamha gira kahi
wahan dastaan mili,
lamhan kahi nahin.......

ho sake toh ismein zindagi bita lo, pal joh yeh jaanewala hain...................

In love...... with what i do

Almost everytime i crib about my deadly schedule and think I am doing nothing apart from work, comes a moment that makes me realize that I would have preferred it in no other way.

A module that should have been checked in ages (read 2 days) ago is still on my machine because the scripting guys are stuck with a problem of their own. As grep cannot do a pattern matching spanning multiple lines we probbaly have to go with sed/awk/gawk. Exactly 24 hours ago I knew nothing about them and just knew the theorotical functionality of grep. But now I have written a small shell script and have tried grep and awk already. Now we are to take a call on having awk(or whatever we choose) installed during our rpm installation as it is not preent by default on linux system, unlike grep.

Ok so my post is not about that technical issue, it is about the fact that I should not really be complaining about my over the top schedules which have stayed like that for many months now. The past 24 hours made me realize(once again) that i wouldnt want it any other way. I can simply occupy myself with anything......grep, awk, reflection, palak paner, custard pudding, masakali,........absolutely anything!!!! Being in this field has probably taught me to be occupied and happy at the same time. Does not mean I do not indulge in whining; but I am resilient faster ;)

Walking the talk

It’s really good to see people not just complaining but actually lending a helping hand and doing their bit for the upcoming elections.
In the image you can see Anu holding a banner and urging people to vote……Well done anu!!!!

I hope each one of you takes some time out and gather information about the candidates in your constituency and vote for the most promising one. Let religion, caste and party take a backseat. Its only the individual’s performance and credibility that should matter! So go ahead……and VOTE!!!!!!!

What a day!

As I walked into my cubicle, my manager said he wanted to talk something urgently. Realizing something was amiss I went to the conference room where he declared - "Prameela, you are moving to the Goa office for 4 months". I was shocked and too stunned to react. After 15 minutes of deliberations I decided things wouldn’t change unless I create a hue and cry and decided to talk to all the seniors against this abrupt decision. All of them seemed to be hell bent on moving me to Goa.

I wasn’t really against the idea but I did not like the way they were choosing things for me. I mean I should at least have been asked. But times are bad and I was obviously concerned that I couldn’t do anything if these folks were serious and adamant. Finally I got a call in the evening from the seniors and we decided to meet for the final discussions in the conf room. They explained me their point of view while I put forth my own. Deliberations and arguments flew thick & fast and within 10 minutes there was chaos. Soon my team (and few other folks) walked in and shouted "Happy April Fools' day Prameela"

Oh shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s all I said.

Now there is a video showing my not so nice reactions with people, my mails etc that are being forwarded and making me feel like a pucca IDIOT

Why the hell don’t I remember dates?????????????????

Dignity of labour - better explained

I was planning to write this one for long, but its finally now that I actually do.

I had known Sharma uncle only as Arun's father and Arun and me weren't best buddies, so naturally the interaction was limited to some general talk. It was only when Arun moved to Canada and asked me to run a few errands for his parents that I got to know this lovely personality. He doesn't read blogs, else would have whacked me for this one.

Sharma uncle was a Delhi based businessman and quite a amiable one too . I had helped him in a few market research presentations and thats how I got to know him better. He is horrible with the computer and he is what you would call a call center's 'NIGHTMARE'. I still remember his discussions with a poor call center executive over his newly bought and not working printer. He was fuming over the horrible 'piece of junk' the reputed company had dared to sell him for such a steep price. It hadn't been working and he was all set to sue them. I just happened to be there when his temper had reached a crescendo and he was all set to knock the poor call center executive's head through the phone. I happened to read the manual and realized that there was actually a switch that had to be turned on. When I did it for him he thought i was a genius and thats how it has always stayed. Naah!!! I didn't take efforts to change that either :D. And yes, he also apologised to the poor exceutive on the other end for his inexperience in handling the 21st century kids and gadgets. :))

He had opened a new office in Pune and it was fully functional for 3 months. However he hadn't yet visited the office so when he came down to Pune to do so he asked me if I would join him. I agreed and reach his office (very close to Magarpatta) just on time for he would have killed me if I would have been late. I met him getting out of his car and as we were about to enter the premises the guard stopped us. He asked us for our credentials to enter the building premises. I obviously didn't have any. I looked at Uncle and the look on his face told me that he didn't have any either. The guard refused to let us in. I tried to reason with him but he told me point blank - "Koi bhi aake kuch bhi bolega toh hum maan lenge kya?" (Do you think I am gonna listen to any tom dick and harry who walks in). As soon as he said that I thought there was gonna be something horrible happening, I mean the guard was stopping the owner of that god damed office. I looked at uncle apprehensively and he was cool as a cucumber...he didnt react at all and was infact smiling as I tried to talk to the guard(s).

After about 20-25 minutes there came another man who was the branch head and the guard promptly saluted him. Mr. Akhil (I dont rem his name..but lets christen him with that), the Pune office's head started shouting at the guard. He told him that Sharma uncle was the big boss and he had committed a crime. The guard's face lost its color and he stood meekly facing Uncle.

But you know what this Delhi based, owner of so many offices did? He patted him on his back and told him - "Sahi hain! acha laga yeh dekhke ki aap apna kaam sahi tarah se kar rahe ho. Aaage bhi aise hi kaam kaarna. Agar aap aaj humein andar jaane dete toh humein sochna padta ki guard ki zaroorat hain ya nahin humein." (I am glad that you didn't let me in else I would have second thoughts on having you as a guard to my office.)
Saying so he took out his wallet and handed over some money to him. The guard's face regained its color as he went back to his proud posture again. Mr. Akhil was dumbfounded by the change of events.

And me, I will never forget the lesson. The Pune branch has now been merged with the Mumbai one and is no longer operational. I haven't met uncle for many months but I often get mails about his company's announcements. I know why is he so successful at everything he does, he respects everyone and is so very honest to the term - dignity of labour

humming....

tujhe kya gam tera rishta,
gagan ki baasuri se hain,
pavan ki guftagu se hain,
suraj ki roshni se hain......


If you dont remember the lines you are not in sync with one of the most amazing music albums in recent times....its from Masakalee of Delhi-6
Sounds a lot like Gulzaar, but its not...its Prasoon Joshi

Identifying a true reader

How do you identify a true reader. I just gave an alogirthm to my friend Vikas.

1)S/he never has the best books of any author.

2)When S/he plans to buy this best book, s/he thinks, “I have read this book. Let me buy something that I haven’t read”

And so S/he never has any best books of any author :D


p.s - Vikash's comment on such a well written algo
"this happens when a software programmer becomes a bibliophile :P
They see algorithms everywhere :D "