Womania!!

Symptoms: Cash strapped, nerves jangled, pulling out hair in frustration, mentally exhausted???

Cause: All symptoms can be traced back to the one and only creature on earth who walks on two legs, talks non-stop garbage and does not have any brains.


Sounds familiar?
My male friends, you have just been struck with Womania, a deadly disease more potent than any other disease known to "mankind". Skeptical? Hard to believe? Come on man...death cant be worse than being slave to the whims and fancies of a creature who will make you dance to her tunes. Atleast in death you don't have to suffer everyday.

Whoever coined the term the "weaker sex" must surely be a nutter or might have found the term too ironical and become enamored with it. Weaker sex, my foot!!

Ever been faced with a stubborn girlfriend who refuses to budge even when she knows she is wrong (for people who read too much into things - No I havnt fought with my girl lately). Or ever been confronted with a barrage of tears and wailing, leading you towards your doom. Someone has rightly said "Tears are the tool which a woman uses to break a man's will"

Alternating between anger/crying/wailing/emotional blackmail, men are subjected to multiple weapons of mass destruction. Did Bushie say "Shock and Awe"!! Better get Osama to marry a woman. A woman in his life would have him and his cronies running helter skelter, more effectively than any American bombs can.

Back to the bigger terrorists then Osama. A woman in your life is a sure recipe for disaster. The method and the timing may vary, but the outcome is all too predictable. For once a women makes up her mind then nothing can halt the forthcoming destruction.

You know you must be out of your mind, but you still end up doing crazy things to please her. For nothing can move a woman's will - except perhaps diamond jewelery, expensive gifts and the classis candle light dinner. All of course guaranteed to burn a hole in your pocket, that is, if you are not stripped off your pants(my undies don't have pockets as I don't relish the thought of a hole being burnt through them).

Why can't women simply understand that men are rational creatures who can't understand that a "Yes" means a "No". No way!! depending on the time, the location and the mood, similar things have different meanings. Or men have more important things to remember then "the 2nd anniversary of our 6th meeting". Or the perennial classic complain from women "Men are more interested in cricket". Do we ever complain about you watching "Koffee with Karan" and the "Kyuki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi"?? Its ok if you drool over a gayish anchor and cry with the bitching ladies, but a Sachin square cut is a pain in you a**(beep beep).

Someone has rightly said "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus". Being closer to the sun has surely addled their brain.

Will end before any female species decides to set her will against me.

Signing off,
Shubham

Shubham Bhai Professor!!

When an opportunity comes your way, grab it with both hands. That's exactly what I did last week...

You see for years I have been at the receiving end of the tyranny of professors. Year after year, lecture after lecture...they all drolled on...trying to stuff in more and more of the Pythogrus theorem, thermodynamics, balanced equations - which never seemed to balance for me... killing any semblance of life within me. All I ended up was with a numbed brain - from the mindboggling info, sore butts - from hours of of sitting on the back bench, sore ears - both from listening to the pointless drolling(atleast for me) and from being pulled hard because of ah...we can skip that part.

So you see that I had years of pent up emotions inside. A total of 18 precious years that this education system had taken away from me. So when the chance came to ventilate years of frustration I promised myself that I will make it count.

As part of my job I am supposed to conduct training session for new recruits. Since it was my first time(first time is always special ;)) I was determined to do justice to all my sufferings. All charged up and with a poise of a rhino braced for the kill, I entered the training room - trying to project myself as a no nonsense man. Reaching the front of the classroom I turned around and announced "Hello guys, I am Shubham and I will be your trainer today". Pausing to see the effect of my sudden entrance and the dramatic announcement I looked around.

Stunned faces and gawking eyes were visible throughout the room. People stared at me and whispered among themselves. This was totally unlike the grand impact I have envisaged. Agreed that I don't look like the academic type(cant help my good looks and the hip image) but still this is not what I expected from "my students". Man tell you this new generation have no values left in their system..this is no way to receive a faculty. The entire generation is rotten!!

Recovering quickly I blurted out "Er...I will be taking the training session today. We can probably begin with the introductions". That was the beginning the most hilarious round of introductions. Person after person introduced themselves as "Arun, Hyderabad Cognizant", "Priya, Kochi Cognizant", "Amit, Bangalore Cognizant". It crossed my mind to repeat to my pupil SRKs dialogue from the movie Chak De(for the uninitiated when the members of the girl's hockey team introduced themselves by their name and the states which they belong to, SRK boomed and stuttered "We..We ar..are representing In..India not the S..States"). SRK got away with claps and cheers but I dont think a similar remark would have been appreciated in the current environment. Satisfying myself with a sigh and eager to roll out my special preparation I let go of this moment.

And so it began. As presentations after presentations, slides and slides, gyaan after gyaan were dished out to the audience, I watched with sadistic pleasure the tell tale signs of the lecture having the desired impact. Heads began to droll and eyes began to have a dazed look about them. People kept changing they seating postures, I assume, or rather I am sure, to give relief to their by now sore butts. To make proceeding more enjoyable(only for myself) I began throwing questions, making sure that the target would be some poor guy whose eyelids were fluttering. The startled victim would blurt out some answer. But when a man is on a mission, nothing can stop him. Questions after questions until the resolve would finally break and the victim would hang his head in shame, or probably trying to avoid hurling abuse.

When I was finally finished pleading looks and near tearful eyes looked at me begging for mercy. But as they say a momentary outburst is not enough to alleviate the sufferings of a lifetime. Savoring the moment of triumph I gleefully thought of the next chance to ventilate my feelings. A thought crossed my mind - Bring them on.


As they say "Revenge is a dish best served cold"



Signing off for now
Shubham

Chennai Roundup

Hello....back again after a long long haitus...
Been busy with loads of work so neglected this blog.
But promise to again get it up and running.

Work in Chennai has been real hectic and demanding. Add to it the long work hours and a back breaking journey to and from office(situated in the city outskirts) and you get a perfect cocktail guaranteed to ensure unbridled misery. Man why do these IT companies have to operate far far away from civilization? Do they fear that the staff will get frustrated and run away? So as a preemptive step just take out any possibilities of anyone reaching the city without being half dead.

Seems like we are working in some secret laboratory building some super sonic missiles. The only missile I possibly foresee emerging from our office is me throwing one of those steel plates on the head of the canteen guys. A few more of his version of paneer butter masala and diamond chapatis and we would have a homicide in the canteen. We understand that too good a lunch would mean post lunch sleepy effect but still this is no way to treat people. All we get is the damned podi, dal ki-maki, gobi 65 karela 65 bhindi 65....man what the hell is this 65??? some diet plan the HR is enforcing on the employees? Wont be surprised if this is some idiotic HR conspiracy to cut costs and boost employ productivity. Simple. Give some darned food, people eat less, take less time to eat and obviously people cant sleep on an empty stomach. Man no B-school would teach you this kinda resource optimization. Hats of these smiling assassins!!

Recently we had a fire drill in office, another nerdy and futile exercise. Imagine volunteers laughing and shouting "Fire, fire". Hard not to mutter curses on being disturbed in middle of some important assignment. Reluctantly goaded myself out of the building and only just about managed to overcome the temptation to whack the guy on his head. I understand that it is important and for our own security. But dont make it a big joke.

The drill incharge was another joker among the pack. The nutter was shouting "Run, Run" over the loudspeaker. Run where?? the city is 25 kms away. Never knew job profile also included being a marathon runner. Though it stuck me that if ever a fire happens I will run to the canteen and throw the canteen guys in the fire.

As they say in every tragedy there is an opportunity...


Signing off for now,

Shubham

Adieu to Hyderabad

Its not been even two months for me in Hyderabad and I am preparing to bid farewell to this place. For I am shifting base to my company's head office in Chennai.

These two months (minus a week :)) have been full of ups and down for me. The excitement of my first job, the first salary, the sudden feeling of responsibility, the travails of settling down in a new city, the new friends I have made, have all been experiences worth living through.

I have been lucky to have the best set of colleagues possible. The apprehension of being in the first job, and the anxiety over getting things right was all wiped out by the help and friendliness of the lot. It has been great fun being with the lot and settling into the new job. Have thoroughly enjoyed their company and of course making the mickey out of them :). They have been a great lot of guys and "the..well...".

Another thing that made the first job even more emotional was the retirement of dad. Just the right time to take the mantle, eh! But missed being with my family on the occasion. How I am longing to meet them and my niece Illarika is something only I know.

Its been my first experience staying in South India and I would say it hasn't been a bad experience. Had some issues earlier on but guess once we got over them the stay has been pleasant. Now as I move into another dreaded location I hope my doubts about the city prove to be wrong.

Adieu Hyderabad...even though the stay was short yet the experience was vast


Over & out
Shubham

My first salary

Its been one week since I got my first salary. Always dreamt of this day. Had been postponing buying a lot of things just to ensure that I was able to pay for them from my own pocket. Enough of wasting dad's money....but would say when it actually came down to spending from my own account I had a few goose bumps. Not easy to spend one's own hard earned money, eh! Was lot easier to buy things when you were not directly paying for it :).

Decided that the best thing to do would be to get gifts for the family....helps in washing off the guilt when you get down to your own shopping :). Bought watches for my parents first thing. Was fun to buy for your parents as usually its the other way around. Thought sending it to them as a surprise would be gr8. Had promised lil sis an iPod from my first salary..there goes one item from her evergrowing list...not that I mind...she is such a sweeto!! Guess its the right time to do things that I always wanted for my dear ones.

Di's gift is due and so is one for my just born niece Illarika( i know i know...it sounds more like a name for a witch...have already told Di). Anyways this is just the beginning guys..have to do a lot more for you.

Just been a week into this newly found empowerment but am already feeling why people cherish their first salary. The sense of happiness from buying even small things from your own earned money is immense. And gosh!! suddenly you feel the urge to spend more responsibly.

Anyways Over & Out for now,

Shubham

One month in Hyderabad

Hmmm...its been more than one month for me in Hyderabad. Definitely not a great stretch of time to be able to write about the city but still would like to share my experiences.

When I had been asked to join in Hyderabad for my job I was congratulated from all quarters for getting a location like Hyderabad. And from all what I had heard about the place from my peers this seemed like a great city to live in.

Lets get facts first. Whatever may be the claims to the contrary Hyderabad is not a cosmopolitan city. Atleast not from the one month experience of my friends and myself.

Our travails began right from the time we started looking for a house on rent. Now Hyderabad inspite of being such a developed city does not seem to have many professional real estate agents. Rather we have individuals masquerading as agents and trying to fleece IT guys. It was a real effort to locate a house which is decent & within your budget. Out here you are charged outrageous rents for even the most trashy of houses.

Coming from North India another thing that hit us real hard was the lack of cheap places where you can have north Indian food. Though if you are ready to shell out 100-120 rupees per meal then you have no dearth of choices. But come on!! 100 bucks for dinner?? Had a real hell of a time until we managed to locate a real nice Rajasthani restaurant. It was like an oasis in a desert for us :).

But it would be unfair to say that everything about the city is bad. There are some real good things about the city. The main city area is a great place to visit. Some good malls for shopping and hanging out. The Hussein Sagar lake is an awesome place for an outing. There is good crowd comprising of youngsters and especially girls :) out there. And the food out there is quite good albeit a bit expensive.

The Hussein Sagar Lake: Great place

The weather is a great plus point of the city. A cool breeze nearly all the time keeps the temperature in control. Have really enjoyed the weather to the hilt. And boy the Hyderabadi Biryani is a must have. Would definitely put on hold all your curses on idli, sambhar, rasam, dosa...

I could go on & on....the rubbish traffic, no driving sense in people but then you tend to take that with a pinch of salt........Enjoy the good with the bad!!

Over & Out for now,

Shubham