Mission:My Life

Shifted

2006-02-21T14:23:00.000+05:30

The only thing constant in life is change. And as with all things it was time for this blog to change. My blog is now at a new URL.

The URL of the blog has changed from
http://ljm26.blogspot.com/
to
http://lucio.wordpress..com/

If you are not redirected automatically please click here
Life Goes On

Corruption

2006-02-20T14:41:00.000+05:30

I watched the movie Rang De Basanti yesterday. I must say it is a very good movie and the best thing about it is that integrated the whole theme of the freedom movement with what is happening today in our country. We may have driven away the Britishers from our country but today we are slaves to corruption. Corruption is a bigger threat because it is so deeply rooted in our country’s system today that totally eliminating it will be a Herculean task. It is like a termite eating away into the well being and progress of our country.
Another thing that keeps bothering me are the amount of taxes that are being levied on the common man everyday. Day in and day out talks and discussions keep happening on imposing more taxes and after all this also I do not see any improvement in the living conditions of the common man. The roads, hospitals, schools are in a bad shape, some people still dont get tow square meals a day. The only thing that is happening is that the ministers ‘ and babus’ pockets are overflowing.
Where is our country headed?
I would take this opportunity to salute all the brave men and women who risk their lives everyday to ensure that I can sleep and live in peace!

New place

2006-02-16T10:10:00.000+05:30

On 1st Of February I moved into a new place. It has some of the things I was looking for. It is cheap, the locality is decent, and above all there is a T.V. for which along with cable charges I have to pay just 200 extra. I was quite happy when I moved in, but all my happiness went for a toss because early in the morning at around 5:45 am there is a call for prayers from the nearby mosque (just for anyone who does not know… It involves a holy man shouting out something over the loudspeaker loudly). I sleep at around 11:30 after watching T.V. and then just because of the shouting I wake up and then I somehow cannot fall asleep again. My situation is aggravated by the fact that the person in the adjacent room switches on the TV at 5:45 in the morning. I feel like going over there and breaking his TV into million pieces with his head!. I just cannot adjust to this.
Now I begin the tedious process of searching for a new place AGAIN.

Back from oblivion

2006-02-13T16:49:00.000+05:30

I have not been blogging since I dont know when. It is just that the desire to blog disappeared somewhere. I had lots to say but did not feel like putting it down like I used to earlier.
During the time I was not blooging a lot of changes have happened in my life. The first major one being that now I have a team of two guys reporting to me and the second being that I have moved out of the current home.
I will write about each of the change separately so that I have some matter to write about during the time I am restarting my blogging. I must have probably lost a lot of readers during the time I have been off. I hope I get them back and so also I hope that I get more readers

Response to Akanksha's Tag

2006-01-12T09:34:00.000+05:30

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
1) Software Engineer
2) --
3) --
4) ---

I am not as old as it may appear. This is my first and only job.

FOUR MOVIES YOU WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1) Matrix(Any part...even though I have not seen the third part)
2) Terminator(1 and 2 not 3)
3)
4)

FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE LIVED:
1) Goa
2) Bangalore
3) Mumbai
4) ----

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
1) CSI
2) Becker
3)
4)

Its been so long since I last watched TV that I cannot remember the names any more...but thats about to change soon.

FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE BEEN ON VACATION:
1) Bangalore(Before I started working)
2) My cousin's place in Goa.
3) --
4) --

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1) Mixed Grill Sizzler( Available at JukeBox in Koramangala)
2) Fried Fish.
3) Grilled Pork Chops ( Available at JukeBox in Koramangala)
4) Pork Sorpotel( Prepared only by my mom or any of her sisters)

FOUR PLACES YOU WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1) On a bike riding like there is no tomorrow.
2) On a beach with lots of babes
3) Portugal.
4) High up on a mountain(preferably in Goa or Switzerland)

I cannot think of anyone to tag.

First post of the year

2006-01-04T12:09:00.000+05:30

Its been a long time since I wrote my last post. The causes for this being overwork and a serious lack of creativity (‘I am getting too old for this shit’ –Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 4 I think). As far as new years eve is concerned I did nothing like every boring person on this planet. I was awake though and went to sleep at around 1. One of the reasons being that I am alone in my apartment now that my friend has got a Govt. Job (read Dream Job for me and for him) in Goa.
So now begins the task of finding new accommodation coz I seriously cannot afford to pay the rent single handedly. I hope I get a moderate independent room or something coz I am very finicky about sharing my living space. I am one of those persons who has a huge body bubble.I shall start the hunt today by purchasing a copy of Freeads or Admag.
On the job front despite my best efforts I have been unable to get a new job. Hope new year changes that. Now another thing that bothers me in this office are the really really tiny cubicles that have been made to accommodate a staff that does not exist (thanks to the over exploitation).

Thoughts about Love

2005-12-20T10:15:00.000+05:30

Call me old fashioned but I believe in true love. I do not believe in the love that lasts only while the going is good. Everyone can say the words ‘I Love You’ but how many of us really mean it when we say it. I have heard many a stories of true love and I really admire those people about whom I have heard.
Nowadays the new mantra that seems to be going on is that the love is there as long as the going is very good but the moment the going gets tough all the love in the heart goes down the drain. I do not know whether this is right or wrong may be nowadays the priorities are different but I ask one question what happens when you r old and weak and all the jobs that u have held or all the laurels u have achieved cannot take care of yourself and what if in your lifetime u had found that one person who would be there with u through the ups and downs and sicknesses in life? But then again there are no guarantees in life that you will find the person or thing that you are looking for!

Holiday rush

2005-12-13T16:49:00.000+05:30

Tomorrow I have a task ahead of me which is more like a rat race for prized tickets on a Volvo bus to Goa. The funny policy of the KSRTC is that they do not accept advance bookings more than 9 days in advance. I donno what is the logic behind this but then I did not bother to find out also. It is probably some fool sitting over there who thought that booking more than 9 days in advance would hinder his lazy activities. Anyways tomorrow is the D day when I have to beat all the other people who wanna go on a Christmas holiday to Goa and get tickets. I hope I am successful in my adventure.

Update: I did not get the tickets. Apparently they were sold out even before I could get to the dealer.

Sick Leave

2005-12-13T14:18:00.000+05:30

Yesterday for the first time since in my work life I took a sick leave. Part of the reason for this is that till September I could not take any leave (that was a part of being a trainee). In the morning I called the new Project Leader( I have been transferred to a new project as of yesterday) and told her that I was ill and that I would not be coming to work. I thought of having the whole day to myself free from the stress of office…lo and behold the project manager of the project I was leaving calls me to try and come atleast for an hour to office. I declined.It is my day off and first one at that…i wasn’t going to let him ruin it although it partly ruined it coz then I was thinking what major emergency had come that they had to call me when I said I was sick. Anyways I did not go… I stuck to my guns that I was sick and could not come. These guys wanted me to come on Saturday and Sunday to work also. I have given up hopes of my situation in this company ever improving.

Curse of overwork!

2005-12-07T10:20:00.000+05:30

I think the curse of overworking and working on weekends follows me around. With effect from Monday I have been shifted to a new team which till now were doing things at a proper pace and coming to office and going from office in time and not working on weekends ever. Today I get the news that quite a complicated task has to be completed by Friday and otherwise we have to come on Saturday. This means that either we overwork these days and finish it off or come on Saturday and maybe even Sunday to finish the work.
I really donno what to think or say about this except that I am very disappointed with my luck. But the show must go on. Life Goes On no matter what.

Beggars can't be choosers.

2005-12-06T11:47:00.000+05:30

Three weeks back I answered a test for a company. I cleared the first round and answered the next round the results of which they said will be mailed to us on Monday the current day being Saturday. This was three weeks back. From Monday I have been calling them regularly only to hear that 'By Tomorrow' you will know the result. Last week I stopped calling them regularly and I called them up only once. Then today as a last ditch attempt I called em up again and the guy told me some stuff about vacancies and said that the Project Manager has to give his approval for the posts to be filled and said that this will be done by the end of the week after which I will be informed about the same.
I cannot do anything about this since I really really want that job so that is why I will keep my hopes high and call em up on Friday. I hope it is worth the trouble I have taken. Otherwise it was for the best that I did not get the job.

Euphor(b)ia

2005-12-05T09:45:00.000+05:30

I made the biggest mistake of my life when last week I bought tickets to the Euphoria show yesterday organized by IFIM(Institute of Finance and International Management… whatever International management is supposed to mean). The show was supposed to be gin at 5:30, so I was there at 3:45 and very happy to be early coz I had the seats that I wanted… all was well till a usher comes and tells me that we will have to remain outside till the soundchecks are done. I have been to a lot of live shows and rock shows of many a better bands and never has such a stupid excuse been given to drive people out of the venue.
This was not the end of the story as then people were asked to stand right outside the grounds. At around 6:00 we were told we can enter the ground but not the venue since the sound check was still going on. Then there we were standing like fools till 7:30 when they finally let us in and the show finally took off at 8:00
My thoughts:
What sort of a management school is this when they cannot even decently manage a show by some not so big band and where the crowd was so little that the organizers were more than the crowd?
What sort of a sissy band wants to do the sound check by keeping the audience out. If they have such performance issues(pun intended), they should see a shrink or try out something.
Then to top up matters, the band had no material of their own and decided to murder songs like ‘With or Without you’ by U2 etc.
By and large the worst show I have ever attended in my life… I mean I have attended free shows that were better organized than this gimmick put up by IFIM and the event management group who call themselves Cosmic Meltdown Crew.

Today

2005-12-02T17:27:00.000+05:30

Today has been a very hectic day. Just now I have finished solving the issues that were assigned to me. I have been working non stop since morning to stop thinking about all the things that are going wrong in my life.
I have decided not to think about all the things that go wrong instead to try and focus on what has to be done to keep going despite the odds. I think it is time to take the odds head on rather than running away from them. This way either I will persist or I won’t… I really don’t care. I am just going to go on without stopping to think why things happen the way they do. It is troublesome when you cannot find the answer to your questions. So my solution to this situation is to stop asking questions that are never going to get answered.

Yesterday

2005-11-30T12:32:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was one of those days when I woke up in the morning totally sane and went to office and did my work. When I was coming back from office I got into one of those moods where I feel like hitting or throwing out (read launching high into the air) things and people that annoy me. The reasons yesterday for me to get annoyed were
I was in a hurry and I see a herd of people (all women) standing and gossiping and not letting me go when that was the only way for me to go.
I got past these women and I heaved a sigh of relief only to be obstructed by some drunk who was dawdling away to glory on the narrow lane. He was so dirty that I did not feel like shoving him into the nearest drain or something so there I got held up.
Then finally I boarded a bus. Normally the bus is just leaving as I enter but this driver just stayed there for another 5 minutes for apparently no reason whatsoever.
And the icing over the cake was when there was a huge traffic jam and a distance of 20 mins normally took me almost an hour.
I guess it was just one of those days!

Men's Rules

2005-11-29T12:02:00.000+05:30

Here is a nice site I found http://funny2.com/mensrules.htm. Some excerpts from the link.
Sometimes we are not thinking about you. Live with it.
Ask for what you want. Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it! (This is my personal favorite)
We don't remember dates. . . .Period!!
Most guys own three pairs of shoes - tops. What makes you think we'd be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?
Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us. We've been tricked before!!
You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
Christopher Columbus did not need directions, and neither do we.T
he relationship is never going to be like it was the first two months we were going out. Get over it. And quit whining to your girlfriends.
ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
We are not mind readers and we never will be. Our lack of mind-reading ability is not proof of how little we care about you.
If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

Conflict of interests

2005-11-25T09:43:00.000+05:30

I have had this particular misfortune of being misunderstood for the good actions that I do towards others. Its only the good actions that are misunderstood. The bad actions are always taken for what they are meant to be.

As a result of this all I get many a times for everything good that I try to do is are kicks. Every time such a thing happens I vow to my self that I will only look after my own interests and then somewhere down the line I forget my own rule and get doing something that I should not be doing and then the cycle repeats all over again.

I agree that many a times the motive or purpose of my actions may not be clear but at the same time there are times wherein the purpose and intent of it are very clear but alas the same story. I really donno where I am going wrong or what I am doing wrong for this thing to happen.

This phenomenon if I may say so has led to many a relationships being soured, friendships broken etc etc, part of this is because of the fact that I am a very unforgiving being by nature and even if I forgive I just cannot forget what happened try as I may.

Here goes another empty rule ‘I will from now on look after my own interests’. Lets see how long this one lasts.

The War

2005-11-23T11:43:00.000+05:30

Excerpts of a dialogue between my Project Manager (R) , Project Leader(J) and me.
(Whatever I remember )
Time 6:50 pm. Date 22nd Nov 2005. Venue: Near my cubicle
Here goes
Lucio to J: J I have completed all the tasks assigned to me for the day including one that was to be done later.I am leaving(we address everybody on a first name basis).
J to R: R who will going to take up the issues(In her classical English).
R to J: Assign the issues to someone because I want you to look at some other problem.
J to R: Ok I will assign them now then.
R to Lucio: Lucio solve these issues, they are few and are trivial(even then they take time is what I thought to myself)
Lucio to R: Ok assign them to me and I will come and solve them tomorrow.
R to Lucio: I want u to solve them now.
Lucio to R: The only reason I finished the work assigned to me at 6 o’clock even thought it was major was because I wanted to leave on time. I really cannot look at it now.
R to Lucio: What if I want to assign more issues to you tomorrow.
Lucio to R: As soon as I finish these I will look at the new ones.
R to Lucio: No I want you to look at them now.
Lucio to R: Now is not possible because I have to leave.
R to Lucio: What is the problem?
Lucio to R: I am really tired and I want to leave.
R to Lucio: See it is not everyday that we ask you to sit late… jus 3 more days u will have to sit late and do it.(ya ya to that)
Lucio to R: It is really not possible
R to Lucio: Doesn’t J sit late everyday, doesn’t B sit late everyday(they do so coz they not complete the work assigned to them)
Lucio to R: Silence
R to Lucio: See do it and leave.
Lucio to R: No it will not be possible for me.
R to Lucio: I am sure if u can finish the work assigned at 6 in 45 mins this will hardly take you any time.
Lucio to R: I am not sure of that and in any case I cannot do it now.
R to Lucio: ( Almost scowling now) we will talk to you about this later then. Ok then.

I leave at this point.

Connection problems

2005-11-21T18:33:00.000+05:30

I am sick and tired of the service given by Airtel and the various shops that sell Airtel connections. About a week back I purchased a prepaid card from a shop which by the looks of it looked like an authorized Airtel franchisee. I submitted all the documents that they told me to submit. Then all of a sudden last week Airtel sends a message saying that the documents have not reached them and that they will disconnect the connection. When I called up the help line the idiot across the line said that maybe the documents are rejected maybe they haven’t reached and that is why the message came. Now this was plain irritating coz he could not give me a concrete answer as to what was wrong.

Then I went to the shop to ask them what was the problem and to sort it out… that was another huge mess coz apparently the person who processed the documents ‘forgot’ to tell me that a proof of my local residence was required and that I had to fill the form up again and submit all the documents again… Now this really cracked me up coz I did not have the time to run up and down trying to get the documents and photograph again. I told them my situation in a very measured tone and then I got some things done but not before submitting copies of my license and office ID card. They told me that the connection would be released today afternoon. Today it has not been done till now and when I tried to call up the shop nobody is picking up…

A real sorry state of affairs. I did not expect this from Airtel!

Decisions

2005-11-18T09:22:00.000+05:30

Whenever I make a big decision whether it is to buy something or to do something, the hardest part for me to do is to tell my close friends about and family about it. I do not know why, may be it is due to the fear that they may something against it. So more often then not I end up acting on my decision and then telling others about it. This is harmful I know because many a times the actions cannot be undone if the decision was wrong. I just cannot seem to get this into my head.

Office news

2005-11-16T09:24:00.000+05:30

There have been many new developments in office these days. First of all many of the top guys are either leaving the company or thinking about leaving the company for better companies. There was a recent move to transfer many of the people, me included, to Bombay. Then there is another rumour that all the offshore projects are going to be moved to Bombay because of a lack of management at this centre since there is no centre head to take care of matters.The entire centre over here is in a massive disarray due to people leaving their jobs etc but yet nothing is being done to prevent the high rate of attrition. I don't think anything will be done also since the top level management knows that as long as there are bonded labourers in the form of trainees(my former position) that there is going to be someone to overburden and get the required work done.

As far as my project is concerned today is the internal coding completion deadline and by Monday the internal testing team is going to test the entire application so the work is just going to increase. I do not know how long I can withstand this type of a pressure.Another good thing is that the person who has been 'bunking' work under the pretext of being ill and attending her MBA entrance examination classes has been reported to the Project Manager but I do not know how far that is going to have an impact on anything because she is in very good books with the management and generally has a way of talking that melts people.

I just hope that I get another job soon and can say GoodBye to this miserable place!

Another Untitled Post

2005-11-15T09:08:00.000+05:30

The blogger's block this time has been the worst ever. I just could not think of anything to write about and even if I thought of something then I just could not put it down. I wonder if anybody else has ever experienced this type of thing.

Anyways, the work life sucks as usual... even more now. I went for an interview on Sunday, it was good but since my experience did not match their exact requirements they said the dreaded words 'we'll get back to you'.

Ever since the salary cut thing about which I wrote in my previous post I try not to work late in office. We were called to work for the weekend, I came on Saturday for about 2 and a half hours and left and did not come on Sunday.

So now I have to begin work and I hope to able to write regularly from now on...

My 'SICK' company!

2005-11-05T15:37:00.000+05:30

I am in major trouble in office for not coming one day because I was sick. My only mistake was that I told a colleague of mine to inform the project leader about my absence. So now as a result they are going to cut my salary for one day and for the one hour that I came late one day. This is just because of the fact that the Project Leader does not like me because I speak my mind. This project leader is the same person who cannot speak a sentence of proper and articulate English about whom I had written a previous post.

In my team there is this other woman who is on leave claiming that she has been operated near the tail bone and claims that she cannot sit or stand. Now I happen to know for a fact that she travels 30 kms everyday to attend MBA coaching classes. I doubt her salary is going to be cut coz she is ‘Miss. Goody2Shoes’ and is in good books with everybody. This woman cannot deliver a single piece of quality code, I on the other hand finish my work well in time sometimes earlier than the deadline along with all the quality standards (they accept this fact about me but do not appreciate it) but that does not matter coz I am not sweet and do not take time to talk to everybody and being nice to everybody (I do not get paid to talk is what my belief was… I guess I am wrong).

I want to talk to these people why I do not get paid extra for working late or coming on weekends but get a pay cut if show up late for work? So far they have been avoiding me. I have my resignation in hand an am ready to give it if they do not reverse their decision of cutting my salary. I do not know what else to do because I am sick and tired of delivering quality work that does not hold any value to these bloody ******s. I am ready to take my chances in some other company.

Back to blogging

2005-11-05T10:35:00.000+05:30

Well for the past few days…umm make that many days I have been suffering from the most dreaded “Blogger’s Block”. I have not been able to pen down anything although there were plenty of things that happened. My professional life is at an all time low. My friend Akanksha’s valuables got stolen. I had a terrible stomach upset.

On the good side I got a call from a consultant with a request for my resume. The recruitment is for a seriously major software company(the name is secret till everything gets finalized atleast till the interview/test level). I went home to Goa and came back refreshed.

I think this is where I should end this post. I will rant more about everything in a later post.

Introduction

2005-10-20T18:12:00.000+05:30

I do not think anyone has written a post to introduce someone to the blogging world…so I thought to that I will set a precedent by introducing a very good friend of mine Akanksha who has recently started blogging and here is her blog Inside Out

My mind

2005-10-19T12:24:00.000+05:30

I am not feeling like myself for the past few days. My mind seems to be lost in some thoughts over which I have no control. I am easily distracted and whatever the distraction I don’t even follow up on the distraction. My situation is such that I am not even excited about going home. I have achieved a truly moronical state of existence.

Earlier I used to smoke and it used to give me some sense of direction. Now that I have quit I really do not know what to do. The only thing driving me a few days back was my job search which for a moment seemed to be getting somewhere now that hope is also dwindling by the second. So at the end of the day I have nothing to look forward to and to top it all off I can see the impossible workloads coming my way soon.

My friend who was in Goa has come back but now that I was used to living alone all of a sudden he is huge obstruction… I cannot switch the lights on and off as I lke(coz he sleeps at weird times), I have to wait to use the sink etc etc. I really do not know what is the problem!

New mail account

2005-10-17T12:20:00.000+05:30

I now have a brand new 30GB mail account at 30gigs.com thanks to maca. I just gave away the invites I had. I will get new ones soon I think. Till then if anybody wants one please leave a comment and I will distribute them.

Writing about nothing

2005-10-17T11:15:00.000+05:30

Nothing interesting to write about today. My mind seems awfully silent today. It is like I have no thoughts but when I was sleeping or at least trying to sleep there were plenty of thoughts enough to give me a sleepless night.

I have recently heard about a new mail service called 30gigs.com which gives around 30 GB of space and I have also heard that it supports attachments up to 200 MB in size. I have been trying to get my hands on an invitation since it is in the beta phase and registration is by invitation only.

Job status(A followup)

2005-10-14T14:41:00.000+05:30

After my last job interview went down the drain, I received a mail from a consultant for a good company (not as good as the previous one) saying that there was a vacancy and that my CV had been short-listed. Later they called me up and told me that my interview is scheduled for today. That was last week and the end of the story. Yesterday I called up the consultant since no details were sent to me regarding the interview…she tells me that she herself has been trying to get in touch with the company officials and that she has been unable to allocate a date for my interview. So that means that my interview has been postponed. Now I hope that it at least happens. This is the only ray of hope that I have right now. I did not know getting a good job could be so difficult for people who have experience too!

Rains

2005-10-14T14:31:00.000+05:30

I had a very bad day with the rains yesterday. I am inherently lazy and do not carry an umbrella with me. So when I was going to office in the morning all of a sudden there was a very heavy shower and as a result I was totally drenched by the time I got to office. In the evening when I went out and was coming back after dinner, it started drizzling so I thought why waste time and started and set out to go home but the moment I stepped out and was far away from any sort of shelter the rains got worse and as a result I was totally and completely drenched by the time I got home. The most annoying part is that I never seem to find an auto when I am looking for one, but they are a dime a dozen when they are not needed.

The single greatest problem with the rains out here is that it comes without warning and there is no specific sign for you to know that it is going to rain. It is really sickening to walk on the waterlogged streets.

United we stand

2005-10-13T12:19:00.000+05:30

Yesterday at night when I was praying in the church a sound disturbed me. It was the crackling sound that comes when there is water in the wax of which the candle is made of. This candle was placed very close to another candle(the two candles were touching each other). This candle started flickering because of the water and the water was getting sprayed around the candle and into the fire of the other candle also. Now this candle almost went out but its flame was only sustained because the fire of the other candle was very close to it. The flame of this candle got restored to its original intensity but the other candle started losing its flame because of all the water that was sprayed into earlier but this flame too survived because of the other candle's flame.

I wish we humans were always like that. Ever willing to help one another even if it lands us in trouble sometimes. I wish we could have someone to rely upon no matter what and deep down that confidence should be there to say that no matter what happens, I can always rely on that 'special somebody'.

Meeting

2005-10-11T14:13:00.000+05:30

Today blogger is giving me a tough time. When publishing the blog the page goes into a sort of infinite loop wherein all the time the percentage is shown to be zero.

Enough of complaining about blogger. I will migrate my blog soon. I have had a very hectic day yesterday wherein the full day we had a meeting to design the structure of the database. Today morning also I was busy with the meeting. The worse part is that now time has been given to that foolish woman to decide on how she wants to go about doing the menus. The meeting is now scheduled for 6 in the evening. I hate this.

This woman is in the process of deciding how to create the menus for the past one week and today again she wants time. I feel this is utter nonsense. Why should a meeting be scheduled at 6? It is downright stupid and insensitive towards people who have a life! These poeple do not have a life and they cannot let others have a life too.

I wonder if the full IT industry is like this or is it just my company?

Domain name

2005-10-07T16:05:00.000+05:30

I am thinking of buying a domain name. I would like to have lucio.com but it has already been booked by someone. So I am thinking more on the lines of luciospeak.com

It costs around 495 per year to have one domain name. I donno whether to but it or to carry on using the url provided by the blog site.

I am wondering how much of a difference does a personal url have compared to the normal url provided by the blog provider.

I will think about it for some time and then decide whether I want a domain name or not.

New blog

2005-10-07T14:25:00.000+05:30

I am currently facing some problems with blogger. For exampe Raj wrote a comment the other day on one of my posts and somehow that comment is not visible on the post.

The other day I tried to upload an image. The popup said that the image was uploaded to blogger but on the post the image was not visible.Then later when the image uploaded properly the feed to the blog was wrongly pointed to the link of a non existent image.

I am currently testing a new blog site which works on wordpress and its link is here Life goes on!. I have written a post on it. Please do read it and also feel free to give feedback about the new blog.

For now I am going to be writing my posts on blogger. Maybe sometime later I will move to the new url.

Resource crunch

2005-10-07T10:14:00.000+05:30

One of my team mates is ill and has gone to Goa(her homeland and mine). So out of the two programmers in our team, I am the only one left. I do not think she is coming back any time soon because she is one of those persons who beleive in staying on the bed longer than it is necessary(The kind of person who will use anything as an excuse to be lazy). Right now the work pressure is not so much but I dread the day when it will be. There is no other person available to take her place as most of the people who know .NET have either left or are preparing to leave. So I am expecting that if she does not come back soon I am going to be in very deep trouble.

This is not to say that she is great programmer but 'something is better than nothing'. I only hope that either she comes back or the manager finds another person to take her place, otherwise this going to be another nightmare to bear.

Funny English

2005-10-05T10:30:00.000+05:30

Some funny sentences and words.

1.Is Kiran?(When trying to say something like ‘May I speak to kiran?’ or ‘Is this Kiran speaking?’ over the phone)
2. I am UI( When trying to say I am an expert on UI…that is User Interface)
3. Ee( When trying to say a simple word like ‘He’)
4. Ponsor (When trying to say ‘Sponsor’)

These are not a figment of my imagination but actual sentences and words spoken by the female module leader whom I have mentioned in my earlier posts. Now this woman was supposed to go the U.K. to meet with the client and implement the software. Unfortunately for her and fortunately for the client, her trip was cancelled and she is now sitting in the cubicl next to mine.

How can someone even think of sending her to the UK?

The day that was yesterday

2005-10-04T10:19:00.000+05:30

Went to a bike showroom yesterday unfortunately it was closed by the time I reached there. The most frustrating part was that I had to wait for more than 45 minutes to get a bus. Finally I boarded a bus that went half way to where I had to go. To make my situation worse it was raining very heavily and I had to walk through the rains to get an auto to go home. The roads were flooded and it was utterly sick to walk in the rainwater with shoes and socks. The only good thing was that at around 9:45 at night I found a good samaritan auto who agreed to reach me even though he did not know the place. The best part about this guy was that he charged me the exact meter fare and not one and a half times the fare as is the normal practice after 9pm. May God bless him.

In office my desk has been shifted to another floor coz of the renovation work in progress. The full center is being renovated. As a part of the renovation process the cubicles are being made very small and close to each other and the full setup looks like a cyber café and a very cheap one at that. There is absolutely no leg room to speak of and no privacy at all. It’s a whole mess.

Suspense over

2005-10-03T17:43:00.000+05:30

Finally the test for the company is over and the news is that I did not make it through. I was feeling very bad yesterday and the most painful part about such things is when I had to tell everybody about it. I felt rotten when I had to tell my mom and friends that I did not make it.I really wanted to get a job in this company.

On the brighter side atleast the suspense about the interview and test is over and my long standing wish of getting atleast one interview/test call is fulfilled. I hope more of such interviews happen. I don’t mind the disappointment as long as there are more interviews to answer. That atleast keeps the hope alive that I could get a job somewhere. It is much better than sending your resume to people and receiving no reply whether it was accepted or rejected or whatever the status.

I am hoping that I get a good job soon and am doing everything I can to make it possible.

Tagged!

2005-09-30T16:58:00.000+05:30

I have been tagged for the first time by Raj

The rules are:1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 other people to do the same.

The fifth line of my 23rd post is:

I am sick and tired of the Project Manager’s antics

Nice line considering the situation it represents the situation I am in.

I now tag.

Monica Atje
Gangadhar Ambati.
Jenn.
Johnny Retail.
Jaime

Lonely and apprehensive

2005-09-30T16:44:00.000+05:30

My room mate is going to Goa today for a week or so. I am going to be alone again in the house. It is really painful to enter a lonely house. Plus I have no T.V. also to take my mind off things. It feels really miserable.

The plus side of this is that there is no competition for very important resources like the bathroom. I hope he has a safe journey and comes back safely to give his share of the rent for the house.

I am really apprehensive about the walk in I have to attend on Sunday. I am really looking forward to getting that job because from what I heard it is a very good company. I know my odds of getting the job are very low but what the heck…it does not hurt to try right?

I am praying and hoping hard to get that job. If I do I am seriously going to give a ‘kickass’ party to my friends.

Ray of hope!

2005-09-29T15:13:00.000+05:30

After posting my resume to people and companies, today finally I see a ray of hope coz I finally got a reply from one of the consultants to tell me that my profile has been short-listed and that I can attend the written test and the interview after that. This recruitment is for a company that I have had my eyes on for quite some time. I am very happy regarding this and I am really hoping to get in to this company. If I get in then it will be a dream come true for me (My dreams never come true… that is another issue). This is a walk in test and interview but still they short-listed, which means that the standards of the company are high.

Now I wanted to know just how high their standards are. So I called up a friend of mine who recently got a job in that company jus to know the complexity of the questions they ask at the interview. The types of questions that he was asked were so complicated that I feel like a novice in my field. It feels as if I do not know anything. So now I have started looking up for material to read and hopefully study so that I at least don’t end up making a fool of myself at the interview.

I hope everything goes well and by some cosmic chance I clear the interview and get a job. I know it is a bit far fetched but I will try nonetheless. ‘God helps those who help themselves’. Otherwise I will know that I tried and that I have to try harder next time.

Rantings for today

2005-09-27T15:06:00.000+05:30

These days I am obsessed with finding a new job. I am working relentlessly to get a new job. In my efforts I tried contacting a guy who used to be in my team but was kicked out for being very dumb (I have mentioned him in my earlier post). He is currently working in a very good company. Now this company requires a referral for anyone to apply for a job. I was hoping to get a referral from this guy. To my bad luck the mails to his account are bouncing!

The fact that the bond is over and I am free is now beginning to set in when I think about doing things I could not do legally earlier. It feels good to have rights to take a leave etc like normal employees. Right now I am eagerly awaiting my pay packet and the pay slip coz I need the pay slip to get a vehicle loan for my bike. My friends are already asking me for a treat because I got a raise. Maybe I will give them one too coz I feel generous these days.

Went for the movie ‘The longest yard’ on Sunday. It was a nice feel good movie. The story fit the criteria ‘All’s well that ends well!’

Blogging spree

2005-09-26T15:40:00.000+05:30

I had a meeting with my project managers today. They wanted to know if I had any concerns or issues with the team and the company. I told them some stuff, which was troubling me. Again there were promises made with the clause that all the promises would be implemented if everything goes well! In short nothing is going to happen at least in the near future.

This is my third post today and I think this a rare case of “Writer’s(Blogger’s) Unblock” coz today I just feel like writing and writing to my blog. Atleast this blog is a great way for me to get my mind off things.

Things to do with the raise

2005-09-26T11:15:00.000+05:30

Now that I have got a raise and my salary has crossed the magical 1.5 lac per annum mark , I can now apply for a credit card. I have heard some bad stuff about credit cards from some banks so I intened staying away from those banks. Also I am not very keen on a credit card but the various perks of having one are seriously taking their toll on me and thus I want to have a credit card.

Also I have been thinking of finally going in for a bike. I had my mind set on the Bajaj Avenger but now suddenly since yesterday I am considering the Enfield Thunderbird. I just hope that I can get a scheme where there is no down payment. Otherwise I will have to wait till I have enough cash to pay for the down payment. I am really sick and tired of being a pawn in the hands the whimsical ‘auto wallahs’ from Bangalore. I am really longing for the independence that comes out of owning a vehicle.

News

2005-09-26T09:48:00.000+05:30

I got my certificates back, which was great sigh of relief. Also I have got a raise since I have completed one year in the company. My best friend has left the company because she got a very nice job offer in another company. So also another colleague got a job in the same company. They are both going to get very nice pay packets and from what I have heard about the company, the working conditions are very good.

I am frantically looking for a job. The job search sucks since for the past few weeks I have been posting my resume anywhere and everywhere where there is requirement for people with a job profile similar to mine. I am yet to even get an interview call!

Everyday I open my mailbox and keep waiting for some sort of reply from the companies to which I have applied to but nothing comes. It is really really very frustrating. To make matters worse the workload over here is increasing and the workforce is decreasing which means that lowly developers like me who don’t get jobs anywhere else will get harassed and overworked even more.

I am really praying hard for a new job and I hope my prayers get answered soon. I am reaching the ‘end of rope’ as far as my patience and hope is concerned. I hope I get atleast an interview call soon.

I'm free!

2005-09-20T09:47:00.000+05:30

Today I complete one year in this company. I am happy because the bond is over and tomorrow I shall have all my mark sheets and other documents in hand so that I can start applying to other companies. Today the H.R. has asked us to meet them. I think it is to discuss the various formalities etc and I hope they give us our mark sheets today.

The very fact that the bond is over is a huge burden of my chest. The bond made me feel like a prisoner in a cage who cannot do anything outside the 4 walls of the prison. When the company was giving me a tough time I could not say to myself that ‘I will leave this company’ coz if I had left before the bond period was not complete I would have to pay the company a hefty sum just to get all my documents back. What was even more frustrating was that I got into this sticky situation myself. Nobody had a gun to my head when I signed the contract to take up this job. Anyways I have paid a heavy price for my mistake and I don’t intend making the same mistake again.

Today the entire reality of being free has not sunk in. It is slowly sinking in. I wish it sinks in all at once. My salary is also going to increase although it is still going to be much less than what my colleagues in other companies get, but something is better than nothing.

Job!

2005-09-16T16:13:00.000+05:30

My friends are getting job offers and interview calls these days. I am yet to receive an interview call. I am waiting for my chance to get a good job but I do not expect to see any great miracles to happen within a short time. Looks like there is some time left for me to go before I get to make my jump out of here.

I am feeling quite bad though coz it seems like my qualifications are just not enough to at least get an interview call from at least one of the many many companies I have applied to. But this feeling lasts only for a short time. I am happy for my friends though because they will get to go out this miserable company. I hope my number comes soon.

From Monday I begin work on a new project. I hope the situation is better in the new project, although I hope coz like Shaggy said in his song Hope ‘And this hope That keep me holding on
On and on
And this hope
That makes me carry on
On and on’

News

2005-09-15T12:17:00.000+05:30

I took a break yesterday from writing to my blog coz I felt that I was getting too engrossed in the statistics for my blog. I forgot the reason why I started writing this blog in the first place. It was to air my opinions out to anyone wants to listen (read). Instead I was tending to write on topics that I felt would bring in more readers.

I do not mean to say that I don’t appreciate the readers of my posts. I love it when I see that people visit my blog and I feel very happy when some people take time not only to read but to also write comments.

Yesterday I had a review meet (a sort of appraisal) with my project leader. I got rated enough to get a raise. The main reason I lost points in this review was because of my ‘people skills’ which I admit aren’t really good but they aren’t very bad either. But I was rated very low for that. What I don’t understand is that if my work is not getting hampered and neither is other people’s work getting hampered due to me, what is the big deal in having people skills. I am here to be a developer and not a public relations officer.

Anyways I have been told that once you cross the threshold the salary increment will be one and the same for all the other trainees like me. Otherwise I guess all the good work that I do will not matter coz of the people skills that I don’t have.

Bugs and testers

2005-09-13T14:08:00.000+05:30

Every morning I come to my desk, sit down, have a look at the list of bugs that has been assigned to me for the day, then work to solve them, finish solving them and go home. I am fed up of fixing bugs. To make matters worse there is a tester who gets some sadistic pleasure out of keeping bugs open. Even if the bug is closed according to what the client has asked for, this fool will find some foolish and illogical way to keep the bug open. Upon asking him for a reason in keeping the bug upon the answer usually starts with “ I feel that…(then some nonsensical reason follows)”. Who cares what you feel and don’t feel…let the client do the feeling, you just do your job that is verifying whether the programmer has done what the client has asked or not.

Next week I shall be in a new project, the only sickening part of that project is that it is going to be managed by the same people who were managing the earlier two projects I have worked on and made my life miserable during that time.

Boring meeting

2005-09-12T14:26:00.000+05:30

I have a knowledge transfer (where one person to thinks he knows something tries to educate the people who don’t know anything) meet today. I am supposed to be put into a totally new project, which has just come in from Dubai. The only problem is that my head is in a total disarray because of lack of sleep.

I am having a sleep hangover that has been stopping me from understanding things fast. In short I have become sort a sort of a moron today. I don’t know how long that meeting is going to last or what is going to be discussed. I just want it to get over fast because I want to go home early today.

I wish the meeting gets postponed to tomorrow or something.

Empty promises

2005-09-12T10:04:00.000+05:30

The world is full of people who appear to be very giving. When you go up to them and ask them for any help or assistance they will always appear to be eager to help you out but not at that time but some time later. The problem is that the ‘sometime later’ never comes. They always have reasons and excuses to cover up for the promises they have not fulfilled.

Another set of people exist who will promise you to do everything that is asked for or anything that is needed but when the time comes to put the words into action all that they have are excuses and some of them even go so far as to rebuke you for questioning why they did not honour their commitment (this is usually before giving the excuse).

This is not the end of the story. They expect you to think that they have not done anything wrong because they have a reason. In my opinion reasons don’t make wrong things right. The worse part of the situation is that the world is full of such people and they just don’t seem to change.

The only remedy I can think of for this problem is ‘Self help is the best help’. So the next time you feel like asking someone to do something for you, try even harder to do that thing yourself. You will get the work done also and it will save you the trouble of ‘Empty Promises’ made by others.

Am I a sadist?

2005-09-09T13:36:00.000+05:30

I am very happy today. Yesterday I got the news that one of the module leaders in my team has failed her MBA examinations. I hated this woman coz she had a personal vendetta against me right from the start. She is a good friend of another teammate in my team and to burden the load off the back of her ‘friend’ she would put it on my back.

People may think that I am a sadist… I am only in the matters about the people I hate. I like it when something goes wrong with them and in turn I would not mind if they feel happy when something goes wrong with me (I like to keep everything balanced).

She on her part does not seem to be very sad about the fact that she has FAILED!!! I guess she is too stupid to realize the fact that she has FAILED. I call her stupid not without reason. She does not understand anything in a single go. Everything has to be told to her twice and even then she fails to get the gist of the issue. She is only good in forming ‘cliques’ with female members of the team and indulging in plain gossip.

Right now as I am typing this post she is busy with some useless banter with three other team members!

Football

2005-09-08T11:34:00.000+05:30

I feel like a football. For two days I am in one project for the next two days I am in another project. I get informed in the morning that I am in the next project. Today morning was one such morning wherein the project leader of the second project that I have worked for comes and tells me that I am in that project for the next two to three days (I hope they do not ask me to work on a Saturday, otherwise I will have to got through the routine of feigning an illness).

I am sick and tired of the Project Manager’s antics. I am hoping to get out of this company as soon as possible but the problem is that I am not even getting an interview call for all the jobs I have applied to. I sent my resume to one company through a friend of and even they have not called me whereas my other friend not only got a call but got through also, it is another thing that he is not interested in that other job.

Till I get another job I guess I will be a football for these project managers to play.

Spam

2005-09-08T10:09:00.000+05:30

My blog has been spammed. I have a piece of friendly advice for the spammers or would be spammers for that matter. Please do not waste your ‘precious spamming time’ on my blog because of only one reason...I do not have many readers and those who read the blog do not read the comments. I think that should be reason enough for any of you spammers not to write publicity comments on my blog.

I am happy though that somebody atleast found my blog among all the other blogs. I only hope that in the future some genuine reader finds my blog.

Taxes

2005-09-06T16:56:00.000+05:30

Fuel prices are going to rise again(as if they were not high enough) since the international prices have gone up and our government does not want to cut down the taxes on fuel. The cable operators are on a strike because the government has imposed the same tax on them again(double taxation). VAT has already made my life miserable.

All this means that the common man is going to have to reel under a more heavier burden.

Regarding taxes with context to the double taxation of the cable operators I feel that the Government is now become bold enough to rob the people without any justification. Not that justifications help, they only make me feel as if I matter, now that is also not there. The government officials are no better than ordinary petty thieves...atleast they use their brains to rob, these guys have power and authority to rob!

I would not mind to pay taxes (not exhorbitant ones of course) provided I could see my money doing some good. All I see is that politicians are going on foreign trips and spending lavishly on themselves and their relatives while the common man is suffering. We pay so many taxes but still government hospitals do not have the funds to buy and maintain necessary equipment, the roads are in a bad shape due to paucity of funds, children are better off not going to government schools and I could go on about this.

All this makes me very angry but I cannot do anything. I have a right to vote but whom do I vote for when I know that they are all as corrupt as they come?

As Benjamin Franklin once said ''In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes"

Book Worm

2005-09-06T10:38:00.000+05:30

Picked up a book the other day called 'Secrets of the Code' edited by Dan Burnstein. According to the author it is the unauthorized guide to the mysteries behind the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

It is basically a compendium of various articles from various books through which the author wishes to present to the reader what is fact and what is fiction in the Da Vinci Code.

I found the beginning interesting as most of the questions the author wishes to anser are the same questions I had in mind when I read the Da Vinci code.

I will be reading the book these days if and when I am idle. I may include more posts about the book. In short I will be a book worm these days

Untitled

2005-09-05T15:43:00.000+05:30

I have been looking at the statistics for my blog all day today and it has not registered even a single hit today. I guess today is going to be a dry day as far as blog hits go. I hope tomorrow will be a better day for my blog.

Yesterday Bangalore registered 34 mm of rainfall. I am only referring to this coz I was stuck because of and could not go house hunting the entire evening.

The other irritating part is that my new shoes got wet in due to the rains and if that was not enough I got water splashed on me by a car and a bike. I can forgive the bike rider coz there was water all over and he was riding very fast to avoid the watery area but the car driver was blind i guess coz there was a small pothole filled with water which he could have easily avoided but he did not!!!

Went house hunting yesterday...saw a nice place but am in two minds regarding the same coz I cannot get the type of room I want. But if bad comes to worst I will take it.

Hell I cant get a title for this post...

House Hunting

2005-09-02T10:56:00.000+05:30

The landlord at the place i stay has started troubling me. I am on the lookout for accomodation. I just want a nice place with a T.V.(that is a must). I would prefer to stay somewhere close to my workplace only so that I do not have to spend much time on travelling.

I plan to start house hounting this weekend(I hope I do not have to come to work this weekend).

Naming convention for storms

2005-09-01T14:27:00.000+05:30

I overheard somebody speaking about the naming convention for storms. According to him the names of the storms and hurricanes are in alphabetical order per year. It means that the first storm in the year will be named with name starting with the alphabet A, the second one with B and so on.

The latest one being hurricane Katrina. The name suggests that this the eleventh storm this year.

I donno how far this information is correct.

Bajaj Avenger

2005-09-01T09:32:00.000+05:30

I have been very happy ever since I read about the launch of the Avenger by Bajaj.So I just could not resist writing a post on it.

The Avenger is the replacement to the Eliminator. I liked the look of the Eliminator very much so i was very happy that Bajaj decided to carry on with the same look for this cruiser also. The best part about this bike that makes me very happy is the fact that it is priced at roughly around Rs.63,000 which is roughly around 30,000 less than the Eliminator.

The reason for this price change is the engine coz Bajaj has replaced the Kawasaki engine with the Pulsar 180 engine.

My cousin owns an Eliminator and I have been dreaming of one cruiser ever since.Looks like God has answered my prayers, I hope to own the Avenger very soon!

Back from exile

2005-08-31T14:14:00.000+05:30

Been some suffering from a writer's block, in my case a blogger's block for quite some days but today I am back to writing.

Met a new set of employees(trainees) that have been recruited by my company. Actually met two sets of trainees. One batch was hired quite some time ago. The batch that was hired earlier appears quite chirpy. It was the first day of the other batch. They were quite apprehensive.

I think the reason why one batch appears quite happy is because they are in training and the training is taking place in a separate building away from office. The poor people do not know the amount of trouble they are in.

I personally would like to see them after one month of working in this office. Even when I joined there were people like that but today they are just like me...totally desperate and looking for a way out!

Wonderful site

2005-08-24T16:53:00.000+05:30

My friend recently invited me to join a new site called mywallop. It is a site about networking and blogging and sharing of files,pictures, music etc. It is in the beta stages and therefore requires an invitation to join in.

As far as look and feel and pure functionality is concerned this site is miles ahead of all the other sites I have seen... It is really a site that one needs to see to beleive. If anyone of you readers needs an inviatation please leave a comment on this post.Please do not forget to mention your name and mailing address in the comment.

Bad food!

2005-08-23T14:15:00.000+05:30

The food served in the office canteen was seriously so bad that I dont think even prisoners on death row will be served such bad food.

When these new caterers first started out, the food quality was quite good. Now as the time is passing the food quality is getting worse. I think it is due to the fact that the company is paying the guys less money so they are cutting down the costs by serving bad food.

Today they have acheived the heights of serving bad food. The sweet dish they served had gone bad, it was even smelling bad. One of the dishes was just some non descript vegetable floating in water.It is unthinkable as to how such bad quality food can be served in an IT company.

Another problem is that certain people seem to like such food. But somehow neither me nor my friends like this food, I think it is because we are not from Bangalore and our food habits are totally different.

I wish someone has pity on us and improves the condition of the food that is being served.

Amusing song

2005-08-23T09:33:00.000+05:30

The lyrics of the song 'Turn me on' by Kevin Lyttle amuse me a lot especially this part 'Let me hold you Girl caress my body You got me going crazy You turn me on Turn me on…….. Let me drive you Going all around meYou got me going crazy You turn me on Turn me on…….. '. These words should be said by the female and not the male just because these are the things a guy is supposed to do to a girl and not vice versa as our singer would like.

As if that was not enough, he goes on to say 'Hug me, hug me Kiss me, squeeze me, Hug me, hug me, Kiss and caress me'.This was simply too much for me to take.

All said and done about the lyrics, the song has a pretty nice beat to it and if one doesn't pay much attention the lyrics it is a nice song to listen and enjoy.

Futile efforts

2005-08-22T12:20:00.000+05:30

The project I am working on is on the way to be scrapped since the client seems to have found another provider. On friday evening we were asked to revert all the changes that have been done as a part of phase 2 of the project. I have been working on implementing the changes for the past 3 weeks and suddenly this.Another thing is that we the developers have been filling the timesheets as idle time even though we have been working like crazy. This is done so that accountability can be maintained.

This was fine with me because i expected that from today onwards I will be idle since the phase 2 has not yet been given the green signal, now suddenly the module lead tells me that I have to continue working on the phase 2 changes even though phase 2 has not been cleared, I said OK but I am not doing anything because I do not want my work to go down the drain and also why should i work if I am telling the company that I am idle. It doesn't make sense to me. The only logic behind this silly activity is that the project manager does not want to see us idle even thought he wants us to fill our timesheets as 'Idle time'.

I donno how much of this nonsense I can stand!

Does humanity exist?

2005-08-22T09:46:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I read(I did not read the newspapers for a long time) about the murder of a young girl by some killer right near the Gateway of India.

What shocks me is not the murder itself as I am become sort of numb to murders coz they happen ever so often but the fact that it was done near the Gateway of India where there are hundreds of people at the time of the incident and none of them did anything to help the victim or stop the killer. Instead what I read is that the crowd stood behind watching the story unfold in horror. This man not only killed the slashed the girl's throat, he also attacked her friend who tried to stop him.

This man was no big body builder nor was he carrying an AK 47, he was slightly built and carrying a kitchen knife. How difficult would it be to disarm such a man? But nobody did anything, they just stood there watching. That is not it... Some of them had the audacity to whip out their cell phones and take pictures and recordings of this incident.

In my opinion the witnesses should be punished first. I just cannot understand how someone could stand there and just look when an innocent person was being killed. Would these same people be standing and watching if their wife,sister or mother were in the place of the victim?

I never thought that humans would stoop so low. It is despicable to say the least. I have no words to even chastise those cowards who just kept on staring and taking pictures.

My heartfelt condolences to the victim's family and I hope the friend of the victim(who was injured) gets well soon.

WHY?

2005-08-17T15:15:00.000+05:30

I had a heavy workload yesterday. Today I am looking forward to the evening coz i have some plans for the evening. I hope my work gets completed so that I can leave early today evening.

My for the day sucks as i have to correct and optimize the web pages programmed by a developer who was a real fool or some sort of a crazed psycho i really donno. This guy has done things in a way that truly defies my logic or that of any other programmer/developer who has come across this guy's work.

He was fired last week after 8 months of we putting up with the useless work that this guy did. He was like a burden on our team as we the rest of us had to do his work since according the manager 'He can't do it so you please do it'. My question here is Why was he hired if he cannot work? and why is he being paid? And secondly why are we not given any benefits for doing extra work?

As i said in my earlier post, this company that I work in seems to encourage mediocrity and ignorance and make others pay the price for somebody's incompetence. This makes me sick. I hope the next company I go to is better.

I have asked the manager all the questions i have raised in this post but he stuck with the same old dialog of his...'Do not look at it as if it is your work or his work treat it as team work'. So I just ask myself now "WHY?"

I am back.

2005-08-16T14:12:00.000+05:30

Came back from home today... Am totally tired and sleepy. To make matters worse I had to come to office today as I was absent on Friday. I have no regrets about going home though. I had a very relaxing weekend there as I somehow totally managed to forget about the grim realities of my frustrating work.

At home I met two of my very close friends, also managed to get in touch and speak to another old friend of mine who has changed a lot in his outlook towards life and friends. I personally felt that he is become somewhat proud of the fact that he has completed double graduation and looks down on people who are not 'Double Graduates'.I feel that degrees and courses should have nothing to do with friends and its not like I have no ammo against him in that... Whatever degrees he may acquire... I am an Engineer and am mighty proud of the fact.Anyways he is a different person and so am I.

As for the other two they are the same guys i knew. They are both doin well in their respective fields, one of them is a software engineer and the other is doing a course to get a job on a ship as an engineer.

Now i am hoping to go home for my birthday. My mom made me aware of the fact that this will be my first b'day when i am not near her... I dont want that to happen.

Going Home

2005-08-11T10:24:00.000+05:30

Today i am happy coz i am going to Goa today. There is one small problem though, I haven't told my office people that i am going today so they have planned work for me till tomorrow. I plan on completing whatever i can today itself and going coz tomorrow i will call em up and say that i am
sick.I hope everything goes well and get to enjoy the two days at home.

I had to do all this coz i could not get a ticket to go home tomorrow due to the heavy holiday rush.So instead of going home one day late i decided to go one day earlier.

Another good thing is that my friend who works in Bombay is also coming down.If all goes well and it doesn't rain heavily in Goa we hope to have a party and some beach hopping just to catch up on old times and to relive the good old days when beach hopping was the only activity we did.

I also plan to do a lot of riding coz i really really miss it. I just love to ride.Be it a huge 500cc monster or a teeny tiny 80 cc scooterette, there is nothing to match that feeling when u can feel one with the elements and yet go wherever it is that ur heart desires...oh what a feeling.Someday i hope to own a Harley Davidson(What is the harm in dreaming)

I will be back on 16th to my same old frustrating life...but now i hope to have some really unadulterated fun!

I begin

2005-08-11T04:06:00.000+05:30

I am a new blogger... i didn't even know what a blog was all about till some months back and now after reading some decided to write one of my own.

I always thought of writing a diary but never got around to starting one so decided that this is a more convenient way of putting down my thoughts.

Unwell

2005-08-10T17:35:00.000+05:30

I've been listening to the song Unwell by MatchBox Twenty and i feel that it kinda suits how I've been feelin these days.

I am away from home, have a job that frustrates me and has driven me to the brink of insanity many a times, my financial situation is at an all time low. To sum it all up nothing in my life seems to go as planned.

I keep thinking about all these things and it makes me very sad. At such times i think of all the other people who are in situations worse than mine, this is what has been keeping me sane all these months. I do say a prayer for the lesser fortunate when i think of them.

Prayers are a great source of peace in this 'Dog eat Dog' world for me. They give me a sense of peace coz i know that there is someone up there who will atleast hear my cries and is in a position to help me.

I used to feel very lonely at times. The worse part was that i felt very lonely late at night and at that time anyone who could help me feel better was sleeping.I used to smoke to feel better.Now i have quit.I miss the calm and peace of mind that is characteristic of nicotine.I prefer not to think about it though.

I miss my home land a lot.A very strange thing about this is that i miss my homeland more than i miss my home and relatives. I wonder why? Is it because i dont love my family?But that is not true! Or is it that i am very patriotic? I guess i will have to find out the answer for myself.

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

2005-08-10T16:23:00.000+05:30

People think I am a loner coz i do not have many friends. Well may be i am but i guess its ok coz i do not trust people much and i think that they are all there when the going is good but will leave my company at the first sign of trouble in my life. Some of them stay a little longer but in the end its all the same, u have to brave the storm yourself.

Another very queer fact about people is that they are never there when u need them, there is always some reason or the other why they are not in a position to help.This is true especially in office. As a person, in office i expect my colleague to be at her/his desk most of the time, but apparently someone wanted to chat or some one was cracking a joke which makes her/him leave the desk and be somewhere else in the whole wide office except in the place where they are supposed to be!!! while i am here deparately ringing the extension or messaging the person.

I know they would be willing to help 'if they were there'...but that is the whole point,they are never there when needed.So what am i supposed to do? and how different is it when u r lonely and have no one to help?Can anyone answer me or is this also one of those questions to which i must find an answer to.

A new ray of hope

2005-08-10T15:51:00.000+05:30

Today i met a friend of mine online and he told me about some job openings in Goa(that is the state i come from) for people having work experience in .NET.

So i am thinking of sending in my resume to the company and hope to receive atleast an interview call.

I currently work for a company that is full of blood suckers who in a very strange way seem to encourage incompetence and laziness. I am seriously losing my mind looking at all the stuff that is going on.

Why haven't I left my job?? Well that's coz I have a bond with this company for one year and also coz i dont yet have another job to go to.So here i am counting the weeks till my period as a bonded labourer comes to an end on 21 September.

I hope to get a job in a better company so that i can get out of the mess that i am in. May be it will just be the cliched situation of 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' but i am willing to take my chances.