To be or not be...
I am not very good at literature but this particular phrase pretty much sums up my state with respect to my work. It has been a long time since I posted anything here and not without a reason.. Yaar kannu pattucho I had enough work to keep me busy all these days and add to that this 90Kms daily travel to and from office would make sure I don't have any time left for myself. When I had something to do I felt the lack of work was keeping me restless but after been busy for sometime I just don't understand what's wrong.. My satisfaction is pretty low about what I am doing. It's hard to express what's going on in my mind.. I've heard people getting burnt out at a later part of their career but this is not that either.. some big change is needed for sure.. the trouble is I just don't know what the change is..

Standard Motors
Every Morning when I travel to my office there are only two landmarks I anxiously look for – one is the huge Ford hoarding and slight glimpses of Fiestas in hundreds parked near Ford factory. The other is a sad sight of once an impressive carmaker The Standard Motors dying.
As a kid I knew standard motors as the only carmaker in TN and was dreaming of seeing it inside someday. That was partially fulfilled when I saw the factory in ‘Aboorva Sagodarargal’ song.
The past six months would probably be one of the most painful sights to see for a car enthu like me. It was during this time I’ve been noticing the erstwhile standard motors factory being stripped brick by brick giving way to a glossy IT park. There isn’t much left now and it is just a matter of time before even those skeletal remains get destroyed. Every time I see those remains it reminds me of how I failed to enter my dream field and came to IT. And the parallels don’t end there. It was in my 3rd/4th standard my interest about cars grew when I got hold of a full fledged Auto magazine and started reading even though I couldn’t understand anything in it. It was a Foreign Auta Mag .. (Australian if I am right!).. I don’t think there was any Indian Auto Magazine circulating at that time. I went through that magazine so many times that I still remember the car models covered in that edition.. that book was a treasure for me. After looking at those beautiful cars I could find only one model on road closest to what I saw in that book – the Rover derived Standard 2000, and thus it became my first dream car. It was around that time Standard Motors got into trouble failing to make much headway with the Standard 2000. Little did I realize then that, just as my first dream car died.. my dreams would die as well.

Nokia N70
Buying something out of first salary is always special. But it took me 7 months after joining to spend on something (apart from my day to day expenses). Hyderabad-la iruntha varai nammala Mumbai anupurennu company-la solrathu oru weekly ritual. So I wanted to have something that would be a good time pass there and what better time pass is there than listening to music! So I zeroed in on Nokia N70 Music Edition. N70 romba nalla model thaan – it does everything it is supposed to do and lives upto all the expectations.. as far as the functionality goes I am pleased… so gr8 buy illaya?? Hmmm not exactly.. buying a mobile phone for 15.4k is one thing but keeping it safe wherever u travel is another. Yenga ponalum periodically I would check if it is with me or yevanaathu sutotanaanu. Phone kizha vizhuntha I’ll have my heart in my mouth. Even if I slip somewhere I’ll first worry about the phone falling down. Similarly every small scratch would be painful as if I was hurt!! If it rains the first worry? Phone would get wet!! Inga naane ninayuren !
Gone are those days when I had a max of 60 Rupees in my pocket and happily traveled even on footboard worrying about nothing. At that time I would bring that 60 Rs back home safely as the only thing I had to buy was bus ticket. Mazhai, veiyil… yentha kavalayum illa. Now I have a decent savings account and with it comes a debit card and a ‘lifetime free’ credit card. Ithungala vera paathukaakanum athuvum Chennai maathiri crowded city-la. As you acquire more assets they start controlling you and steal ur happiness but inspite of knowing that u r not prepared to leave them either- catch 22?

My first major buy has taught me an important lesson. Not to spend heavily on something unless necessary. But I have a bad habit of repeating mistakes. It would be a real big test for me when I go shopping for a car in the future. The car enthusiast in me has to be tamed – a huge task!

“ India Shining ”

A forward mail about India’s progress which I received from more than one person reads..

”Whatever may be the feelings of common man and middle class in India and also leftists and socialists ,what with rising price of essential food items, power shortages, crowded roads, high cost of housing ,water shortages etc… Business leaders all over the world are mulling over their 'India Strategy'..”

Then the forward jumps to some amazing stats.

• 9.3% growth
• 3rd Largest economy by 2050
• Youngest productive populationReal estate to be $50bn by 2o10
• .....
• ...

And all these stats/projections are from some the biggest names in the globe - Gold man sachs, PWC, Merryl Lynch.

The forward goes on to say that India is fast becoming a powerhouse in the world economy.

So??

So… “Should we not cheer up and forget our day to day problems ?”

You are right Mr Anonymous whoever you are!!

You forgot one thing though… what is the use of all these giant projections if the common man on the streets does not get anything out of it? You may be a high flying executive going places and you may proudly say that ur country is doing gr8 but so what? If the common man cannot be given his basic necessities why would he be happy? Neenga nilluna nikkanum.. utkaaru na urkaaranuma? Silar luxury car-la ula vantha athuku mathavan santhoshapadanuma? Namaku kidachathu palaruku illa nu puriyaada?

The beauty of statistics is that u can play with them as u like. Whatever may be the objective, numbers can be used to prove whatever you want by carefully selecting them. You have done a good job by projecting your feel good factor. Now let me try to do the same to prove my point-

So how is the economy growing? Scorching pace – 9.3% WOW!! Post liberalization things have changed dramatically after all!! Till now service sector and more precisely IT has played it’s part. How do you expect the economy for a country like India to depend only on Services to grow? Yes Manufacturing has grown and your manufacturing prowess is beginning to show but don’t u see that these high numbers have been coming only periodically from the manufacturing sector? Please look into the split of your merchandise exports – Why is commodities (ores and minerals) and oil (refined from crude imports) increasing so fast if it was your manufacturing that has delivered on the export front? Is this not because of mere increase in global demand for raw materials from us rather than a structural shift? Your IT growth is still based on cost arbitrage brought about by certain endowments in your favor and you need to do a lot of to sustain it and it is practically impossible for IT alone to help growth.

You were talking about “young population” weren’t you? Please go back and see ur employment data more carefully. Rate of unemployment of the same young population is disproportionately high and you haven’t utilized them. Why is self-employment increasing so rapidly (don’t tell me it is because of sudden spurt in entrepreneurship). The rate of growth of employment post liberalization has reduced especially in the rural areas and agriculture isn’t keeping pace. Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data shows a decrease in the already low organized manufacturing labour in absolute size.

Why is agricultural output not growing inspite of the fact that a major part of our population is dependent on it? If you tell me that the dependent population on Agri is reducing that is because of your neglect which has made it unattractive for those people to continue. Why would anyone come to the city to live in slums anyway? And do u think u can take such huge number of people out of agri even in the future?

You would argue that poverty has been reduced. Why don’t you look into the poverty details – officially you take 1973-74 as base and include price index which leads to… a whopping Rs 328 per month for a person to meet his daily expenses on goods and services!! Imagine urself getting that amount and then try to be happy about India Shining!!!

And for God’s sake don’t link patriotism with “India Shining” myth.. this happened when I had a heated argument about this sometime back. A person may disagree with the claims made but still be patriotic. And let’s face it how do you expect a person who does not get his food to even think of all this?

I am not an economist. Nor am I great at this kind of analysis. I have merely reproduced some stats from well known economists I’ve read over time. I would have been happy had I remembered rest of the numbers I’ve seen as well… try googling and please look beyond popular media.

Idiots travel on footboard

And I was one of them some time back…
Chidambara Vilas, Sri Krishna, Thangam, Velankanni PP... all these names will be familiar to anyone commuting in the Trichy-Thanjavur route. For a few like me these are parts of a wonderful past that would never come back. Studying in one of those self-financing engineering colleges u cannot expect all the staff to be knowledgeable ….Niraya per book-la irukuratha vanthu re-telecast pannuvanga.. atha naanga directa book-la irunthe padika matoma? So u need an external motivation to attend college and I had one very strong motivation - the half an hour travel from training center to college on foot board (mind u I am not kidding!! I had one of the highest attendances in my dept every semester :D ). I was not alone, lot many college goers would enjoy that travel. Among them was my set of friends. Couple of my friends (read kiku and pavikutti) would have already boarded in Trichy and will be sitting in the last row waiting for us. Velankanni PP was our favorite bus in the morning as it would be reasonably crowded compared to other buses and we can comfortably travel in it (athavathu vasadia footboard la nikkalaam!! mathathula thothanum... romba strain u see!!). Antha bus conductor-um namma friend thaan so no issues at all. Foot-board la kaathu vangitu friends oda kathai pesite pona… the day will have a gr8 start.
For someone who has always traveled to school two streets away the 30 KM travel to college looked very difficult in first year. As ever I started with a ‘safety clause’ from my parents in the early days – College bus la mattum thaan poganumnu. Traveling in college bus can sometimes be the worst experience with all the faculties traveling with us.. free-a irukaathu. And our Thatha driver will be using the Brake pedal more than the accelerator to make sure that it takes atleast twice the time to reach the destination. Aiya was traveling by this bus for sometime but athuku mela thaangala. So I shifted to mofussil buses. Arambathula I took bus pass and traveled in select buses that allow passes but later I realized that the trouble of traveling in them is not worth the money and thus I shifted to other buses. Initially I’ll travel on foot-board only if there was no other go but found it to be so enjoyable that I started to travel on it regularly. Add to that KKPs comedy on board. We’ll have elaborate discussions about everything there.. as if we had no other place.
Looking back it all looks a little stupid to take such risks but I cannot deny that I enjoyed every bit of it.
After completing BE it was 3 long years before I actually traveled on foot board (this time it was out of need :) )– that was once in Hyderabad – it evoked all those fond memories but it wasn’t as enjoyable as it used to be without my friends, without those discussions about KKPs adventures (or should I say misadventures! ), without those gossips, those last minute revision before exams.. the list would never end.. and all this in just a span of 30 minutes everyday.

Success of a political gathering (Maanadu)

The success of a mass political gathering is directly proportional to –

• The amount of money spent for the gathering
• The number buses that bring ‘party cadres’ to the city
• The number and size of the cut-outs
• The number of hoardings and those strange titles for leaders (stranger the better!)
• The number and size of the ads for the function
• The Media attention for these events (lately this is not an issue as all major parties have their own channels)
• The number of tube lights glowing at night and the amount of power stolen for them
• The number of power cuts because of these
• The number of traffic jams it causes, the number of vehicles / people caught in them
• The number of road blocks and de tours on the road
• The level of hardships a common man faces
• The number of curses from the common man
• The number of police deployed
• The level of stress / headache experienced by the police
• The number of dignitaries attending the function
• The size of the Garland / shawl for diginitaries
• The number of black cats, white cats and pussy cats deployed for these dignitaries
• The total number of productive man-hours wasted
• Last but the most important - The level of distraction it creates from the pressing needs of the nation and from any crisis the party faces. This is one of the easiest of all we've seen.... afterall public's memory is shorter than Ghajini - Sanjay Ramasamy's memory and every election is equivalent to a date in 50 First dates.
  
  Any gathering that has a high score on most of the above criteria will be considered a ‘roaring success’

Growing up as the only child

What are the things would u associate with the only child to his parents?

U get everything u ever wanted - and u can be sure that u'll get the best of the best too... most of the times even before u ask for it. As u r rarely given an oppoturnity to ask, u are also regarded as a nalla pulla... ithu yeppadi iruku?!! :D

U r the King - U have ur say in whatever matter in the house no matter how young u r. Once I made a overnight change of stand to buy a different washing machine after ordering for one brand because I saw the new one in my friend's house!!.. they agreed and somehow it turned to be a good decision as the new one proved to be better. Paiyan sonna correct a thaan irukum :D

U don't have to fight with anyone - Ofcourse no competition u see... so by default u r regarded as a saathu paiyan too ;)

U r the best - U don't have to prove anything.. poi solla kooda thevai illa :P

And the list of luxuries goes on..
Whatelse...well u need to train ur ears to a lot of NOs too ( yeah yeah u r given everything alright but there is a 'safety clause' attached to it as u r 'special')

U - Appa school-la tour porangalam!
Dad - Pogattum!!
pogaraya nu ketutavathu NO sollalame :(

U - Shuttle tournament Ranipet la nadakuthu
Mom - So
hmm...ungaluku news sonnen.. :(

First Rockshox cycle in the area nammalathu thaan... gr8... and u r allowed to roam around a HUGE area .. our township.... athoda radius 1 km thaan irukum.. athuku velia NO

U -Appa Scooter kathukuta ?
Dad - innum 18 vayasu agala....
neenga yeppo brake inspector aaninga? : (

Car.... mooch!!! :(


Somehow I have come to live with these NOs too.. afterall it is all in good intention .. except one NO they say to themselves..they care so much about me that they have stopped caring about themselves. Little do they realise that the only thing that would make me happy is to stop worrying about me and start taking care of themselves.

Life on Bench ....

You: saar.. no work saar..
Your Boss: 'enable' urself for now ( athavathu vetti velai continue panna solraru)
1 month passes

You: saar romba 'kathukuten' ippo vela kodunga saar
Boss: Technology A thaan kathukute... B therinchuko (rendume thevai illa enbathu vera vishayam)
2 months pass

You: saar... still no work saar
Boss: koncham wait pannunga.. proj vanthidum
2 more months

You: saar romba bore adikuthu... nethu veerasamy kooda paathuten ...yethavathu work kodunga saar
Boss: itho koduthuduren
3 more months

Boss: Now I'll appraise u....
You: appraisala!! #$###&& :O

Boss: As u were not doing productive work .....u r given the lowest ranking
Ur mind: Ada paavi !!!

Yenna Kodumai Saravanan Ithu?!! :(

Number of Indian Billinaires - Is this really a matter of pride ?

After reading this article I was not sure if this is really a matter of pride for us ( I am sure the popular press would make it out to be one ). At one end we have this 'elite' billionaire club and on the other hand we still have the poorest of the poor who couldn't feed themselves... capitalism at it's best!! This only goes to show these 'reforms' have only benefited the upper crest and if at all there was any trickling effect to the masses it hasn't happened at the desired pace.

How not to enter a B-School !!

School mudikum pothu... itho mudinthathunu ninachu yemanthu ponen.. marubadiyum college.. college end la appa ini padipuku oru kumbudunu ninachen.. again I was wrong ...

My dad really has good memory espeically when it comes to me. He remembered my 'Asai' ( !!! ) to do an MBA that he promptly sent the application for BIM and I wrote the exam just for his sake than for anythingelse.. romba mattama mark vanthida koodathunu slight preparation panninen. I forgot all about the exam after writing it. There was only one month for the training to get over and to be full time employees... bang came a call letter out of the blue for interview. Sari naama thaan interview sothapal king ache... enna perusa aga poguthu?!

Normal interview sothapals thaan... but this interview was different... I almost had a job in hand and this was only a formality for the sake of my Dad and Mom. So I went in without any expectations. All through the interview I never had the end result in mind because I didn't really care. It ended as a very funny interview for me. The GD before the interview was slight sothapal but kind of OK.

I was back in chennai for the final stint and the training came to an end and the job was offered and we had few days to join. Coming back to Trichy I informed my parents about my illness and I was promptly operated. BIM results were out when aiya was on hospital bed recovering. By this time my parents were very worried about sending me to chennai and were praying that I'll get through BIM so that I'll stay nearby. On the other hand I was not sure whether that funny interview would be enough to enter a well known b-school.

Though I was told that b-school standards are coming down I never realised it until I saw my name in the BIM list :P . Now this result has put everything into confusion... whether to go back to the company where I'll be reporting to those two buggers and wait until some customer really chooses us and risk my career in that place or go do an MBA. The choices in front of me was really hard caz all my struggle would go to waste if I decide to do MBA but on the other hand the writing was on the wall... the dept was heading no where.. at the end I had to take the hard decision of doing my MBA.

B-school ulla pona kanna kati katla vita maathiri irunthathu... more on that later.

Ulagam Urundai - Friedman was wrong :P

I have moved to the same locality in chennai where I was staying after three long years. My friend KKP is kind enough to accomodate me in his house. Lot of things have changed since I left the place three years ago but every place I see reminds me of those magical nine months with my friends here... Ulagam unmayilaye Urundai thaan!!

Now that I've told about this place I'll tell you how I came here almost 4 years back....

Engg final year.. vanthathu just naalu company for campus interview ( number thappa iruntha naan porupu illa!)... antha naalu company layum kotai vitachu.. antha nerathula u need to have some motivation to continue illaya... besides I was desparate to come out of electronics.. there was only one way to come out.. do an MBA... eureka!... and that is how I informed my dad that I'll do an MBA but I didn't proceed solidly on that front beyond a point... it had it's impact after a long time though.

Engg um mudinthathu.. enna seiya... velai thedalama? At that time I had an eye for embedded systems caz that was one field that would take me closer to my dream field Automobiles!!.. so I decided to do a course in embedded systems and that is how I came to chennai to this place for my training. The company promised me a job once I am successful in the course. So now aiya was a trainee in a CMM level 5 company (koncham peethikalam ... thapilla :P )

But things weren't easy after coming to chennai. After coming here my health detoriarated. I came to know that I'll have to be operated but didn't really want to tell anyone about it. If my parents come to know they'll discontinue my stint at the company for sure and take me back home... the worst thing possible caz I wouldn't get my dream job and my future will also become a question mark. So I took the boldest decision of my life (looking back it also looks to be the silliest!! ) - to postpone the operation and keep the whole thing to myself until I get my job.

Things were already difficult... but as if that was not enough we had a bugger above us in the training. One thing came to light after interacting couple of times with him - this guy is definitely a fake and all his 'experience' were only on paper. Add to that there was another bugger who completely lacked practical knowledge of anything in the field and if at all this guy was really working somewhere before it would have been as a teacher (ofcourse thappa teach pannitu thaan). All the trainees in the dept were locked in the company politics between these people and there was hardly much happening and whatever we did were out of over own interest without any input from them.

Disillusioned other guys started applying outside but I was stuck in a dilemma.. applying outside at this stage would only jeopardise my chances of working in anything related to automobiles as the jobs on offer for someone like us was predominantly in application software. Many left before the training was over.. I somehow held on hoping goodtimes will be back... goodtimes were back but there were lots of twists to it.

Missing Hyderabad... this time for real

My scooter time and again proves that it is out of control.. if my previous post from Hyderabad was unexpected this post is a complete surprise for me... yes I am posting this from chennai :D . I never thought I'll move to chennai so early nor did I imagine that the whole process would take less than a week. Somehow things fell into place so fast and here I am.
While it is natural that you'll tend to have positive things to say about a place only after you leave ... there are many things in hyderabad I really miss. In the past 8 months I've come to know more places in Hyderbad than I know in chennai. May be I will go back to Hyderabad someday ( hope it is not for a stint like the one I had just now :) ).... but looking at the pace of change hyderabad will also become just another overcrowded jungle like other metros by then.

Still bidding Adieu to Nizam's City

I never even dreamt that this post would be from Hyderabad. I've heard about uncertainties in hitech companies but the kind of confusion about my location is ridiculous.. my travel has been rescheduled n number of times in the past 5 months. While I say this thoughts of me leaving the city this weekend also lingers ... yeah there is also a plan to send me to Mumbai by this weekend. I had some work until now (no no definitely not busy :D ) and even that is not there for me this week. I never thought being idle would be so difficult for a person... yeah it's really hard to just whine away ur time doing nothing!! Certain other things stopped me from posting for the past 3 months - 'Don't waste ur time with this' nu niraya advice..... atha comment a potu iruntha kooda yen blog a yaravathu paduchu irukanganu santhoshapatu irukalam ;) Anyway.. I have sometime today to post this and I hope to post more frequently as long as my status 'unknown' continues.