saturday night, before our party at the shack, i had a heated discussion with murarka over frankies.
we were strolling along shivaji park, and the topic came to the movie 'i am legend'. this led to talk about american movies and their 'save the world' themes. this moved to heroics in indian movies, and murarka ignited a fire by saying indians are too cynical of themselves. somehow, someway, this twisted around to nationalism and pride.
my stand was that pride needs a reason, whereas murli thought its too convenient and non committal to be proud of a country only when its doing well.
but what do you think? is not overzealous pride the doctrine behind hindutva? what about jehad? admitted, jehad is about religion, not region, but the simile is intact.
i stated that i am proud of india now, when its growing at 9% and etc etc. would i be less proud if it were growing at 4%? yes, definitely. is that wrong? i don't know....
but how can one be proud of being indian when something like godhra happens? admitted, it was the action of a few and is not to be extrapolated on to the population, but does a similar mindset not exist throughout india? do you not see mini godhras in kashmir, nandigram, bihar, UP, andhra, etc?????
is pride without reason not bordering on hubris and arrogance?
if you're proud for no reason, what motivation is ultimately left to strive for improvement??
or do u think i'm not nationalistic/patriotic enough?
but perhaps this question of what has my country done for me and what i should do for my country is better left to a later blog
Monday 17 December 2007
Sunday 16 December 2007
another nice weekend.....
hello all!!!
well i had another nice weekend. and that matters to me most....
see weekdays are usually swallowed in the bulk by office hours....and it can get pretty monotonous....so i try to ensure i do as much as possible over the weekends, and meet as many people as possible also
true to my goal, friday night i went out with priyanka. after a long session at the gym, i picked her up and we went to colaba, to a very nice little place called basilico's and ate a delectable meal with soup, entree and desserts with a juice. then we went back home and watched a movie called 'cube zero', and i dropped her home at around 2. the evening didnt end on a very pleasant note though....
friday i had office, but being a victim of disguised umemployment thanks to the to-be-launched shadow rm program, i left around noon.
met up with shek, shef and suhail and we watched 'i am legend' at metro adlabs, which was quite a nice movie. then we dropped shef home and went to bandra, where we met dipu. he was to take us shopping, but being dipu, he got us lost as usual, so we just walked a lot, had some sugarcane juice, and then went to G7to watch 'heartbreak kid', which was also quite nice.
got home around 9, to find murarka waiting for us. shek had gone with shef, and dipu with his other friends. so the remaining 3 of us went and had some frankies at tibbs, walked a little along shivaji park, then went back to bandra. we were looking for a club called 'dusk' till we found out it had closed a year back. so we ended up back at our favourite haunt, hawaiian shack. the crowd was more barren this time, but the three of us had a nice time drinking, dancing and checking out!! got home and slept by 2....
sunday i went to pixie and prasanna's for lunch. they have a nice place in kalina, and it was nice catching up with them and having some nice food.
got home around 430 and played xbox with the gang. evening was spent cleaning, with even shek in the hygiene mode somehow!!! there was a party going on in the complex, which we checked out. dipu came over, and ruchi he and i ordered dinner from dominos, which was free coz it came late and the order was wrong to boot. then we watched 'carry on in the jungle' on my lappy, and the evening was concluded by a nice walk around the block with dipu and shek.
aaah.....the feeling of achievement!!!!! :)
well i had another nice weekend. and that matters to me most....
see weekdays are usually swallowed in the bulk by office hours....and it can get pretty monotonous....so i try to ensure i do as much as possible over the weekends, and meet as many people as possible also
true to my goal, friday night i went out with priyanka. after a long session at the gym, i picked her up and we went to colaba, to a very nice little place called basilico's and ate a delectable meal with soup, entree and desserts with a juice. then we went back home and watched a movie called 'cube zero', and i dropped her home at around 2. the evening didnt end on a very pleasant note though....
friday i had office, but being a victim of disguised umemployment thanks to the to-be-launched shadow rm program, i left around noon.
met up with shek, shef and suhail and we watched 'i am legend' at metro adlabs, which was quite a nice movie. then we dropped shef home and went to bandra, where we met dipu. he was to take us shopping, but being dipu, he got us lost as usual, so we just walked a lot, had some sugarcane juice, and then went to G7to watch 'heartbreak kid', which was also quite nice.
got home around 9, to find murarka waiting for us. shek had gone with shef, and dipu with his other friends. so the remaining 3 of us went and had some frankies at tibbs, walked a little along shivaji park, then went back to bandra. we were looking for a club called 'dusk' till we found out it had closed a year back. so we ended up back at our favourite haunt, hawaiian shack. the crowd was more barren this time, but the three of us had a nice time drinking, dancing and checking out!! got home and slept by 2....
sunday i went to pixie and prasanna's for lunch. they have a nice place in kalina, and it was nice catching up with them and having some nice food.
got home around 430 and played xbox with the gang. evening was spent cleaning, with even shek in the hygiene mode somehow!!! there was a party going on in the complex, which we checked out. dipu came over, and ruchi he and i ordered dinner from dominos, which was free coz it came late and the order was wrong to boot. then we watched 'carry on in the jungle' on my lappy, and the evening was concluded by a nice walk around the block with dipu and shek.
aaah.....the feeling of achievement!!!!! :)
Tuesday 11 December 2007
dis-organizational behavior
how can a company be so disorganized???? i hate it.....
i'm working with a bank, in their private banking division. a slot 1 placement, which i chose over goldman sachs, AIG and icici structured products. a very respected and coveted job, revolving around client relationships. a starting salary at a CTC in 7digits, with bonuses capable of jumping to 30-40 lakhs in 3 years. dream job??? i thought so.....
well it started off as a farce....there's hardly any client relationship management...mostly sales. every product you try to sell to every client, without even attempting to analyze their portfolio and see what should be invested into by who.
but thats the nature of the job. this complaint is about the company.
this conglomerate is a gujarati company. needless to say, it's very aggressive.
this was highlighted to me at the very start of my career. first of course i had to sit twiddling my thumbs for 3 weeks as i wasnt assigned a silo. when i finally was, my silo head (SH) asked me to sit tight for another week while they closed deals on an ongoing product, coz of course their sales are more important than good HR and employee relations.
then of course, the daily irritations of an attendance muster which records your punctuality, as if you're a freaking junior school kid. and the surprised looks people give you when you leave at 615.
how about the branch meetings, where the topic is always either discipline, or the lack of it in selling a product (2 evergreen lines are "this is a very good product guys" and "yeh bechna hi hai!!")??
moving on, we had our induction programme for 2 days on 27-28 august, almost 3months after joining, as compared to month long inductions or year long trainings offered by more professional banks.
the 2-3 lectures i've received from the SH talking about how i'm a resource the company is spending a lot on, and i have to justify the cost.
the total lack of team spirit, no parties, 2 lunches in 6 months, with conversations revolving around clients (admittedly, this might be an easy topic, but try something more unofficial man!!)
the puppetmaster, who bitches and whose voice is always heard by parties that favour him
the 1 and a half day offsite to an inexpensive location like sri lanka, sponsored by jp morgan.
but what really is the icing is the new restructuring. after we've worked for over 6 months, and achieved at least some sort of results, they're taking our work away from us. no new meetings, existing clients & follow ups go to other members of the silo, and we get to be shadow RMs. this involves basically working as EAs to some senior RMs. of course my SH showed no faith in me and asked for another MT to be assigned under her. not that i wanted to be that MT, but it was basically a show of confidence. although my results have been better than hers so far.
the point is, y after 7 months? is it a signal that our work is not good enough?? that we have no talent to even do a job like this which requires no intellect at all, just an ability to chatter like a monkey? how can they induce so much uncertainty in an employee's life? first those insane reviews for all, now this for us???
its all so bloody GOOD!!!!!!!
job openings, anyone???????????????
i'm working with a bank, in their private banking division. a slot 1 placement, which i chose over goldman sachs, AIG and icici structured products. a very respected and coveted job, revolving around client relationships. a starting salary at a CTC in 7digits, with bonuses capable of jumping to 30-40 lakhs in 3 years. dream job??? i thought so.....
well it started off as a farce....there's hardly any client relationship management...mostly sales. every product you try to sell to every client, without even attempting to analyze their portfolio and see what should be invested into by who.
but thats the nature of the job. this complaint is about the company.
this conglomerate is a gujarati company. needless to say, it's very aggressive.
this was highlighted to me at the very start of my career. first of course i had to sit twiddling my thumbs for 3 weeks as i wasnt assigned a silo. when i finally was, my silo head (SH) asked me to sit tight for another week while they closed deals on an ongoing product, coz of course their sales are more important than good HR and employee relations.
then of course, the daily irritations of an attendance muster which records your punctuality, as if you're a freaking junior school kid. and the surprised looks people give you when you leave at 615.
how about the branch meetings, where the topic is always either discipline, or the lack of it in selling a product (2 evergreen lines are "this is a very good product guys" and "yeh bechna hi hai!!")??
moving on, we had our induction programme for 2 days on 27-28 august, almost 3months after joining, as compared to month long inductions or year long trainings offered by more professional banks.
the 2-3 lectures i've received from the SH talking about how i'm a resource the company is spending a lot on, and i have to justify the cost.
the total lack of team spirit, no parties, 2 lunches in 6 months, with conversations revolving around clients (admittedly, this might be an easy topic, but try something more unofficial man!!)
the puppetmaster, who bitches and whose voice is always heard by parties that favour him
the 1 and a half day offsite to an inexpensive location like sri lanka, sponsored by jp morgan.
but what really is the icing is the new restructuring. after we've worked for over 6 months, and achieved at least some sort of results, they're taking our work away from us. no new meetings, existing clients & follow ups go to other members of the silo, and we get to be shadow RMs. this involves basically working as EAs to some senior RMs. of course my SH showed no faith in me and asked for another MT to be assigned under her. not that i wanted to be that MT, but it was basically a show of confidence. although my results have been better than hers so far.
the point is, y after 7 months? is it a signal that our work is not good enough?? that we have no talent to even do a job like this which requires no intellect at all, just an ability to chatter like a monkey? how can they induce so much uncertainty in an employee's life? first those insane reviews for all, now this for us???
its all so bloody GOOD!!!!!!!
job openings, anyone???????????????
i hate bugging taxi drivers who keep talking and showing off and laughing at the most irrelevant of things....just freaking let me listen to music or sleep or whatever!!! go fuck off!!!!! i'm ur sworn enemy, u swine and scum, for ur refusing me a ride to nearby places. u haughty bastards who love to exploit the meager power u wield over us......die u mucky undersides of workmen's boots!!!!!!
Sunday 9 December 2007
last night
well the day had started off on a low....i was late getting to office due to a long line at the cng filling station....my reception there was frosty coz rukshana blasted me for a fuck up that lost us a client. my meeting scheduled for 2 pm was handed to someone else due to the upcoming shadow rm program. though this left me free about 2 hours early, i still had mixed feelings about my work being taken away from me, almost as if i was deemed irresponsible
anyway, met up then with suhail and mayank sharma (their dce friend), and we went to colaba for a nice lunch at dilli durbar followed by pastries at theobroma....god i love that place!!
we got home after that and lazed about for a bit, watchng the indo pak match and admiring dada and yuvi. shek and shefali got here by around 530, then after dilly dallying a bit and playing xbox, the 3 of us went to pcp and joined the gym, finally!!! spent about an hour there on the treadmill, jogger, and cycle, along with some crunches. i think we would have been dead after that, but for the crazy stretches those maniacs made us do.....so instead, feeling refreshed, we went home and had our baths and all.
then all of us (shek, suhail, sharmaji, shefali and i) met up with avantika and harsh and went to hawaiian shack in bandra. now HS is always a nice place, this was my 3rd or 4th trip there. the music is good and the crowd is great. but this time was extra special i think.
but first things first.....we ordered lots of starters coz we were famished after the workout. i started off with a smirnoff, then shifted to beers. i think i'm starting to hate other drinks in comparison. harsh was very drunk by the end, think he'd already had some before joining us. watched sharmaji being crazy and going up and talking to just about any female he set eyes on.
no, what made the nice more special than just the very nice time catching up with people and hanging out with my best friends, was the fact that for the 1st time, i was able to gather the balls to go up to a female and ask her for her number.
see, the way it happened was there were 5 females on the ground floor, in a corner, and about 3 of them were hot. 1 was totally sloshed. so suhail and i got there (near the end of the evening, after almost losing them) and struck up conversation. the female i originally liked ended up all over suhail, while i was after the one who suhail found best. unfortunately, the placed closed aout 20 mins earlier than expected, so i couldnt dance with her. we helped them take their drunk friendout, where i finally asked for her number (with shek acting drunk behnd me). now given my luck, she was 25 and engaged, they all were (she looked about 20-21!!). but the important thing is i did it, and i survived. as i learned from sharmaji (slightly unlikely to learn something from him), rejection is part of the game. think i can do it again....look forward to the next party!!!!
in epilogue, we searched around dadar for a place to eat after that....starters werent enough. but at 2am, every place was closed....so we just went home, and slept around 3 i guess
nice day :)
anyway, met up then with suhail and mayank sharma (their dce friend), and we went to colaba for a nice lunch at dilli durbar followed by pastries at theobroma....god i love that place!!
we got home after that and lazed about for a bit, watchng the indo pak match and admiring dada and yuvi. shek and shefali got here by around 530, then after dilly dallying a bit and playing xbox, the 3 of us went to pcp and joined the gym, finally!!! spent about an hour there on the treadmill, jogger, and cycle, along with some crunches. i think we would have been dead after that, but for the crazy stretches those maniacs made us do.....so instead, feeling refreshed, we went home and had our baths and all.
then all of us (shek, suhail, sharmaji, shefali and i) met up with avantika and harsh and went to hawaiian shack in bandra. now HS is always a nice place, this was my 3rd or 4th trip there. the music is good and the crowd is great. but this time was extra special i think.
but first things first.....we ordered lots of starters coz we were famished after the workout. i started off with a smirnoff, then shifted to beers. i think i'm starting to hate other drinks in comparison. harsh was very drunk by the end, think he'd already had some before joining us. watched sharmaji being crazy and going up and talking to just about any female he set eyes on.
no, what made the nice more special than just the very nice time catching up with people and hanging out with my best friends, was the fact that for the 1st time, i was able to gather the balls to go up to a female and ask her for her number.
see, the way it happened was there were 5 females on the ground floor, in a corner, and about 3 of them were hot. 1 was totally sloshed. so suhail and i got there (near the end of the evening, after almost losing them) and struck up conversation. the female i originally liked ended up all over suhail, while i was after the one who suhail found best. unfortunately, the placed closed aout 20 mins earlier than expected, so i couldnt dance with her. we helped them take their drunk friendout, where i finally asked for her number (with shek acting drunk behnd me). now given my luck, she was 25 and engaged, they all were (she looked about 20-21!!). but the important thing is i did it, and i survived. as i learned from sharmaji (slightly unlikely to learn something from him), rejection is part of the game. think i can do it again....look forward to the next party!!!!
in epilogue, we searched around dadar for a place to eat after that....starters werent enough. but at 2am, every place was closed....so we just went home, and slept around 3 i guess
nice day :)
rekindling.....
its been about a little over 6 months since i shifted to mumbai...
its been a very mixed period....i've had the frustrations to work, the trials of living with people outside family, the irritations of a slowly choking city, and the highs of beings with friends, meeting people, doing things, having no restrictions outside of those that are self imposed
but all these different experiences, while giving me a mixed outcome of life in mumbai, have created a whole new world of memories for me.....a world that's new since i'm now working. its a world which is routine to an extent, which negates the need for a camera. but i want to save these memories. i'm posting a new blog right now, but i hope its the first in a line of many, so i can then look back at these moments fondly.
sitting with the laptop on my lap, tv on in front of me, tuned in to vh1, shek sleeping like a log, after a lunch of dominos pizza and garlic bread and coke, read newspapers strewn about, pillow propped up behind me. sounds nice, doesnt it? a nice, slow sunday that feels like home. worth remembering, even if its trivial. the grains of sand to fill the spaces between larger stones.....
its been a very mixed period....i've had the frustrations to work, the trials of living with people outside family, the irritations of a slowly choking city, and the highs of beings with friends, meeting people, doing things, having no restrictions outside of those that are self imposed
but all these different experiences, while giving me a mixed outcome of life in mumbai, have created a whole new world of memories for me.....a world that's new since i'm now working. its a world which is routine to an extent, which negates the need for a camera. but i want to save these memories. i'm posting a new blog right now, but i hope its the first in a line of many, so i can then look back at these moments fondly.
sitting with the laptop on my lap, tv on in front of me, tuned in to vh1, shek sleeping like a log, after a lunch of dominos pizza and garlic bread and coke, read newspapers strewn about, pillow propped up behind me. sounds nice, doesnt it? a nice, slow sunday that feels like home. worth remembering, even if its trivial. the grains of sand to fill the spaces between larger stones.....
Saturday 26 May 2007
the pursuit of happyness
what is happiness?? is it merely the absence of sadness?
i've experienced happiness. i've experienced emotional neutrality. but it's the sadness that i notice most, when i experience it. somehow the happiness goes by as a feeling, not as a realization of feeling. with sadness its different. i think that might to an extent account for the second question.
i raise this rhetoric because i'm experiencing a sense of deja vu. in a few days i'm off to mumbai for my job, and while i'm terribly excited, more than at any other change in life before, the creeping feeling of sadness is snaking its way through me again. i love home. i loved my campus in lucknow. i loved home.
and the second i fell in love with campus, i knew i could never be totally happy at 1 place again; because there would always be at least one other that i would miss.
and as we grow, and experience more, there's always going to be more to miss. is life supposed to be this complicated?
i'm more ready for change now than i'll ever be in the future, but now is just wen i feel i'm settling back into home. it's a shame to have to leave it, and my family, and my dogs.....
but these shoes will trudge on i suppose....
i've experienced happiness. i've experienced emotional neutrality. but it's the sadness that i notice most, when i experience it. somehow the happiness goes by as a feeling, not as a realization of feeling. with sadness its different. i think that might to an extent account for the second question.
i raise this rhetoric because i'm experiencing a sense of deja vu. in a few days i'm off to mumbai for my job, and while i'm terribly excited, more than at any other change in life before, the creeping feeling of sadness is snaking its way through me again. i love home. i loved my campus in lucknow. i loved home.
and the second i fell in love with campus, i knew i could never be totally happy at 1 place again; because there would always be at least one other that i would miss.
and as we grow, and experience more, there's always going to be more to miss. is life supposed to be this complicated?
i'm more ready for change now than i'll ever be in the future, but now is just wen i feel i'm settling back into home. it's a shame to have to leave it, and my family, and my dogs.....
but these shoes will trudge on i suppose....
Wednesday 23 May 2007
europe is a lovely country!!
europe is a lovely country!
some may dispute the fact. not that about it being beautiful, no one can dispute that, but the one about it being a country....
however, i beg to differ. i dont think those places there with names like germany, france, austria etc are countries. atleast not from my indian viewpoint. it simply does not take a mere 6 hours to cross a country. it should take 30, like from kashmir to kanyakumari. and the fact that europe as a whole is more homogenous than india.
no sirree, these so called 'countries' are actually pseudo-countries, tiny imitations, mini-nations, cheap copies (except they're quite expensive, not cheap at all!!)
but europe is beautiful nonetheless
some may dispute the fact. not that about it being beautiful, no one can dispute that, but the one about it being a country....
however, i beg to differ. i dont think those places there with names like germany, france, austria etc are countries. atleast not from my indian viewpoint. it simply does not take a mere 6 hours to cross a country. it should take 30, like from kashmir to kanyakumari. and the fact that europe as a whole is more homogenous than india.
no sirree, these so called 'countries' are actually pseudo-countries, tiny imitations, mini-nations, cheap copies (except they're quite expensive, not cheap at all!!)
but europe is beautiful nonetheless
Wednesday 16 May 2007
a mockery of the legal system
moral policing has now spread to the courts. with a spillover of dockets, hundreds of cases in the backlog, cases relating to murder, rape, abuse, suicide, etc. the jaipur high court issued an arrest warrant against richard gere, for....get this....kissing shilpa shetty on the cheek. apparently it goes against the indian moral senses.
richard gere has done more for india thru his work for AIDS awareness than the jaipur court. luckily the US doesnt have an extradition treaty with india. or who knows how many foreigners would be incarcerated for trying to help????
richard gere has done more for india thru his work for AIDS awareness than the jaipur court. luckily the US doesnt have an extradition treaty with india. or who knows how many foreigners would be incarcerated for trying to help????
much ado about madeleine
really.....is it necessary??
seems like a worthless cause....i dont know the reaction in india...but here in europe it has been headlines on every news show, and breaking news at the tiniest hint of news
when you see people being kidnapped by the dozen in the lesser developed parts of the world, why should this one person be so important?? making her a cause for greater good...pah
firstly the parents were at fault, leaving 3 kids unattended to party. next they create a huge uproar, get people to support them, people who have no better cause to pursue apparently, and then these people pile on the pressure on the authorities. this pressure now causes the police to start naming random people as suspects, just to imply that they're making progress. in this hunt, it's the suspects whose lives are being ruined; their names dragged through mud!!
for the family this might be a huge tragedy....but for strangers??
seems like a worthless cause....i dont know the reaction in india...but here in europe it has been headlines on every news show, and breaking news at the tiniest hint of news
when you see people being kidnapped by the dozen in the lesser developed parts of the world, why should this one person be so important?? making her a cause for greater good...pah
firstly the parents were at fault, leaving 3 kids unattended to party. next they create a huge uproar, get people to support them, people who have no better cause to pursue apparently, and then these people pile on the pressure on the authorities. this pressure now causes the police to start naming random people as suspects, just to imply that they're making progress. in this hunt, it's the suspects whose lives are being ruined; their names dragged through mud!!
for the family this might be a huge tragedy....but for strangers??
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)