Sunday Ruminations...

This is my third post on reservation.. but i have a feeling that the protests have hit the dead end.. ( Arjun Singh is such an @ss#ole ..) i sincerly hope the goverment realise its folly but i guess the stakes have been made so high that it will be a political 'harakiri' for goverment to now back down.. and there are now voices in this f***n goverment (sorry for being so impolite .. but i can' help ) of extending this to private sector too.. we are seeing a method in this madness.. the goverment now says that it will increase seats to compensate for loss in seats to general category (due to reservation.. ) this is absurd.. i dont think premier colleges have the bandwidth (in terms of infrastructure, teaching staff..) to afford such a seat raise.. already the teacher-student ratio is pathetic... it will only go more down.. but one thing that's bothering me is why the goverment is not going for a monetary-based quota instead of caste-based.. i don't think that even a single soul in this county would be against reservations where the seats the allocated on the families monetary condition.. every party.. every individual.. every student in this country will support such a move and it will be politically correct as well as electorally sound .. but why goverment does not have that kind'of nerve to go for it i don't understand.. maybe the officials in the higher echelons of the goverment ( mind you they are there becuase of reservations) do not wish to share the spoils of reservations with the really-backwards..

~For Those About To Rock ...We Salute You~

work-'karma' @ workplace

Does 'Living Karmic life' in Tech. Sector has any bearing or has 'Karma' as we generally know it, lost its relevance in these days of technology.. Karma as far i know is a cycle of 'cause and effect'... 'if you do good things, good things will happen to you - if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you'. is the simplest of definitions one can attach to Karma.. The effects of all deeds actively create present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life. The idea is that the beneficial or harmful effects one has on the world ( Read Software Industry here.. ) will return to oneself...
Of-late i have started doubting the existence of 'karmic life'... though i am a non-believer i still believe karma as an inherent principle of the universe( something like quantum physics..) without the intervention of any Supernatural Being. so eventually whatever you sow.. you are going to reap that.. however i have a feeling that this is being lost in this mad mad rat race thats evident in Tech. these days.. consider this...

Exhibit 1 : The 'show me the money' angle : you have just joined the organisation.. but you are willing to quit becuase the other company down the street is offering more...

Exhibit 2: The 'escapist' angle : you join the company.. the initial honeymoon period is over.. the going gets tough for you ,you quit the organisation.. for greener pastures..

Exhibit 3: The 'sleeping colleagues' angle : you are in a team.. and the team is full of people who don't work but still are complaining or bossing around..

Exhibit 4: The 'inner circle' angle : there are some born-politicians in the team who seem to be in good books of some whosoever and form the inner circle who is out there to kick your a** .

Exhibit 5: The 'why-not-me' angle : people who seem to be jealous that others have got the oppurtunity even though they were denied that & they are not willing to consider why it was denied to them...

Now the real question.. if these people are growing in profile/salary & oppurtunities so where is all this talk of 'Karma'. it seems that i have fooled myself sticking to the notion that someday some semblance of sanity will return and those who have made shortcuts will suffer.. but seriously i doubt if that will ever happen.. i don't mean to say that i am a kind'of ideal employee doing always right.. i have many shortcommings, i too have made mistakes but then i tried not to repeat them and learn from my experiences... but where is the incentive (or even recognition ) to excel.. i am caught in a situation where it doesn't matter if i work or not.. the results will always be same in the end.. (nothing at best.. ) as for money its important but then it's not paramount.. what's important is the need to 'deserve it' before you 'desire it'.. ditto for position & recognition.. i always thought that i made correct choices sticking to a job in past 2+ years.. but on second thoughts i am not so sure of the choices made.. on hindsight i feel whats more important is not the amount of work you do.. but how much 'high voltage' impact you make even if you have done/achieved nothing..
Maybe there is nothing of 'Karma' in software.. the mistakes of past never come to haunt you... instead these mistakes ( read job-hopping.. ) just makes your pay packet more and more fatter....

~Wish You Were Here~

Symptom Of Our Times

Well i recieved this joke through a mail that correctly describes the days of our lives..

Manmohan Singh to Bush Jr. : We are sending Indians to the moon next year.
Bush Jr. : Wow! How Many?
Manmohan Singh : 100
25 - OBC
25 - SC
20 - ST
5 - Sports Persons
5 - Terrorist Affected
5 - Kashmiri Migrants
5 - Minorities
9 - Politicians
and if possible...
1 - Astronaut
Bush Jr. : Me too interested.. Maybe Osama is hiding there or WMD are hidden there..

The way things are going it looks like we would be having quotas in trains and planes as well.. possibly the pilot shouting that the plane will not move untill the reserved seats are full..

~Burning Down The House~

Sharp Left Turn Ahead

Hmmm... i usually don't write posts on politics.. but this has to be an exception... the assembly results in four states are out.. and there are no suprises as to who the real winners are.. Left parties undoubtedly.. the losers seems to be the ladies brigade (..Jaya and Mamata ...thank God !! ) the mainstream parties are nowhere in the reckoning.. and the left appear to be gaining strength with every elections.. that is surprising when you consider that we are in midst of a red-hot economy and record-breaking growth rates.. the left is not only continuing to hold on.. but it has found more recruits and reached out to newer areas for its 'hugger-mugger' policies... this trend of left revival is not only specific to india but is being seen worldwide.. all of americas except US and Canada has turned sharply left.. leaders like Hugo Chavez of Venezula have become the new poster boys of leftist ideology and student campuses... most of mainland and eastern europe is left-leaning now.. this is ironic.. there is no major total-communist territory left (China hmmm.. is part-communist and part-capitalist..).. no such great difficult times.. no wars.. no food scares.. and yet more and more people seems to be embracing it.. I think the world-wide behaviour is more of an aberration.. people experimenting with leftism politics as an alternative to centre and center-right politics.. but here in india their resurgent influence is plain good organizational support and lack of alternatives.. so what is rise of left bode for india.. futher slow reforms.. and no fuel hike in short term.. as Mr MS gets his acts together..

Btw.. Hail Capitalism .. i todya earned a tidy profit on Reliance Petroleum Listing.. :-))

~The Sounds Of Silence~

Realms of Unreason

i just finished filling my appraisal form.. another worthless exercise in name of processess .. i counted eight web pages of questions and answers before the final submit button.. i am sure the managers is not going to read this *bullshit*.. but anyways the page validation required that i fill all the fields of the questionnaire.. damn these questions.. just to give you some quick insight.. there was a personal enrichment page where one can specify the training programs that one wishes to take.. and it consisted of certain exotic titles like 'lateral thinking' and 'six thinking hats' (Boy, sounds interesting.. but i am fed up with my one thinking head.. what would i do of six.. ) then there were certain subjective things like.. 'Things the organization should do and should not do' ( ..the answer is as easy as the question .. pay your employees well.. i thought they would have figured this out by now.. ) also there was a list of smilyies (.. each face suggesting levels of your approaval or not..) for a huge list of questions.. same old questions and same old answers.. and to cap this all .. there was a question.. 'How many candidates did you refer to XXXXXX during the current review period' .. ( i suppose by referring candidates you are buying an insurance policy with the company.. ;-) ).. all this is a sham.. a big circus if you could call it.. i knew the questions ..and the answers and what i am going to say in the review meeting... and what my manager is going to say.. and what my salary hike will be... its all premeditated.. all planned out..

I guess the real battle is in the brain...

~Runnin' Down A Dream~

For What Its Worth

does loyalty pays in long run... or does sticking around for too long actually makes you little out of sync with the times and your abilities.. Big (company) v/s Startup.. Services v/s Products... these are some crucial questions i will be grappling this week.. my second appraisal form came up for filling.. will be doing it tommorrow.. so by next week (appraisal review meeting..) i guess i will be needing answers of the above very 'genuine' questions and some 'idiotic' ones also (sample this... where you see youself three years down.. not surely where i am today.. by the way me thinking of opening an aashram in tibet these days ;-) ) the grapevine has it that the salary hikes will be paltry this time.. (even in these Good Times.. Good Gosh !!!) so you must be thinking now the obvious question is... if the food/coffee machine in the other company down the street better than ours or not.. ( i always think money is a non-issue.. but again i may be wrong.. ) but you know what... situations and circumstances are hardly that crystal clear ever... one sunny morning another bin laden.. another building.. another cause .. same bust.. everything else ends up in smoke.. though i also don't believe that you should live in a relative comfort of your surrounding ( pigeonhole is the correct word.. ) i do not want to be taken for granted.. not even by myself.. nor by abilities questioned.. neither should i get so complacent that i reject or even maybe fear change.. but then i don't want to quit just for the heck of quitting.. defining *self-satisfaction* ( i doubt if there is such a thing.. ) is a tricky buisness i guess..

~I Heard it Through The Grapevine~