Saturday, October 29, 2005

Tagged.....

Now everybody is doing this these days, so I thought Why not me too? After reading Tony's post I thought let me try it out myself also. Its pretty difficult to think of seven things, because dreams and ideas keep on coming in my mind each and everyday, but I never tried to pen down those ideas. So, its pretty difficult to sit down and think of all the ideas in one go and then write them also.

Seven Things that I plan to do -

1. Opening my own company.

2. Going to Switzerland

3. Retiring from permanent job and doing whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like doing it

4. Getting up early morning (I am trying it)

5. Writing a book. Have the concept and material in my mind, but never got time to put it in writing

6. Owing a Mercedes Benz - S Class

7. Making an Robot, that works exactly as a human being

Seven Things that I can do

1. Work continuously for hours and hours

2. Keep quite for lengthy periods of time.

3. Read books and novels non-stop for hours

4. Learn about anything new

5. Keep up whole night, probably even 3-4 nights in a go

6. Talk with friends for hours and hours

7. Remember each and everything

Seven Things I can't

1. Tolerate liars

2. Stand in a queue

3. Wait for anything

4. Watch Hindi movies

5. Sit idle for a long time

6. Watch someone wasting time

7. Learn to swim

Seven Things I say most often

1. Sirji

2. Khotya (Punjabi word for a donkey)

3. Abhi ho jata Happy Birthday

4. Well

5. Sahnu ki lena Gurdas di karmayi tau (Punjabi for - Why should we be concerned about Gurdas's engagement)

6. Let's see

7. Tussi dil te na lou ji (Punjabi - Don't take it on your heart)

Seven People I’ll like to Tag

1. Ankita

2. Kaush

3. Nitin Madnani

4. Nupur

5. Ricky

6. Sadik

7. Shantanu


Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Getting up early!

Now - getting up early has always been more then Mission Impossible for me. I have tried to get up early many times earlier also, but always in vain. But, hurray - today I was able to get up at 7 a.m. Oh yeah, 7 a.m. might not seem early morning to you, but a person who is used to getting up at 8.30 or 9 a.m., 7 a.m. seems like midnight. All the credit goes to my blog friend Nupur, who shared her - "Do Withouts" a few days ago and asked others also to share their's with her. And as usual I like a "shareef bacha"(innocent kid) told about my Mission Impossible. Then she urged me to get up early, go for a jog and maybe if I could find a good-looking gal in the park, it will be motivation enough for a week. The idea was great and I also started thinking that maybe like Hari of Chetan Bhagat's novel - "Five Point Someone" - someone like Neha might bump into me. So, I slept at 11 p.m., hoping that early sleeping will make my getting up easier. Yeah, 11 p.m. is early for me as I sleep at around 1-2 a.m. But, then your body clock gets used to a particular routine and even after lying on the bed for an hour, I was totally awake. Then I thought, maybe I should start reading something boring - that might make me sleep. But, for that I will have to keep my eyes open and maybe some part of my brain also open and reading was never boring for me, so I just dropped that idea, closed my eyes and started concentrating on the blackness. When I fell asleep, I don't remember.

The next thing I heard was the alarm of my cellphone - it was 7 a.m. I closed it and got up. This is the most critical moment - because, whenever I have tried getting up earlier, I start getting the thoughts - "Let the world go to hell - a little more sleep won't hurt anyone". Moreover, most of the times you get very wonderful dreams in that part of the morning sleep, so the odds are almost always tilted towards going back to sleep after switching off the alarm. But, today I did get up, partly maybe it was because that I had told Nupur that I'll get up and it wouldn't fell nice to tell her that I slept like a Kumbhkaran today also.

After getting up, I deliberated whether I should go for a jog or not, because it would have taken almost half an hour and I wanted to reach office by 9 a.m. Moreover, being a thin fellow, with no fat to burn - I took it easy - or maybe I am too lazy. If I can maintain this schedule of 7 a.m. for a few days continously then I might shift my getup time to 6.30 a.m. and squeeze in a jog too - meeting someone like Neha is tempting nevertheless.

The real fun started after my reaching the office. After getting ready and commuting I reached office 10 min before 9 a.m. The security man give a strange look at me - saluted me and I went inside. The office was totally empty and I was thrilled to be the first one to reach there. Office buses reach office around 9.05 a.m. and I was excitedly waiting for that moment only - to see the expressions on the faces of my juniors. Everybody was shocked to see me there - they never expected to see me at that time. Some even asked me whether I was all right or whether something had happened. I really loved those moments - grinning.

Till lunch it was fine but after that I started feeling drowsy and sleepy and by evening it has gone worse. Maybe my body clock will adjust if I am able to keep up this routine. But, I know the hardest part is to keep doing it for a long time, without any skips, so that it becomes a part of your habit. So, mission is not accomplished yet, the hard part is yet to come. Let's hope I keep it up fot the coming days also – chances are slim.Thanks to Nupur again.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Understanding

She – “So�

He – “So, what�

She – “Shall I go now? I have some important work�

He – “Yeah of course, you just came……. Shall we meet on 19th?� Getting irritated and angry….

She – “Well, I’ll try….. Oh, but 19th has already gone, it was ….. (seeing the small round watch on her wrist)….. 4 days ago�

He – “Yeah, I waited for 3 hours�… Getting more angrier

She – “Oh I am so sorry, you understand my problems… na….�

He – “You don’t understand me� Getting more angrier..

She – “Huh…. “

He – “Do you think I am a fool?� Getting even more angrier

She – “Now who said you are a fool?�

He – “You think I am a fool? You don’t understand me�

She – “Please try to understand my problem….� … From her face it looked that she’ll start crying in a few moments…

He – ‘WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO UNDERSTAND ME?�

She turned and left…

He kept looking in her direction for a while then turned around in the opposite direction and left.

Both are 25+ in their age and both have plans to get married in the near future. Now, whole of this episode kept me wondering and thinking… With that sort of understanding…..Happily Married????? Doubts, doubts, doubts…. Of course I don’t have any personal experience to backup my doubts and maybe I might have been blowing things out of proportion in my mind…But, hey, give me a break – Can’t this have been handled in a better way – Both of them could have sat and one by one could have tried to explain his/her side and the other could have tried to understand it. Hmmm. Maybe, I was witnessing it as a third person and was not involved in the situation, so it might be easier for me to say all this, but then also I can’t get over the fact that it’s no way you can expect everything from the other person without putting effort from your side.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Workaholism

There a strange thing about us youngsters these days. Workaholism is a disease thats engulfing us more and more with every passing day. And yes, I am not a spectator in it, I myself actively participate in it. I don't know, what makes most of the guys crazy about work, including me. See at my office, most of the guys, stay late till 9.30 p.m. everyday or even later and are on their desks at 9 a.m. the next day also. Doing work, work and work - as if nothing else mattered in life, and maybe it even doesn't. Most of the Saturdays are also spent in office and if not there, the weekend goes in sleeping and performing other essential life dragging tasks.

No, its not just me - its not just people of my office, this disease is prevalent in almost all of the software companies - all over India. When we were in college, we used to dream, dream a lot - that once we get a job and have money - we will enjoy. That will be life man - we will have money and all the worldly pleasures will be on our feet. But, that seldom happens in reality - you might have got all the money that you might have dreamed of - but you never get much time to spend it. Somehow - some other things start controlling your life.


" Competition!!!
Thats what its all about..... and especially if you are in the IT industry...where things change every minute, if you don't catchup and keep yourself up to date - you will be left behind!

And I guess... thats the fear in your mind and in the minds of all ur workmates and others in this industry....." -missnupur

Well right I guess. The reason is absolutely right. I started remembering a reading somewhere - It went something like this - A very wealthy person who had worked like a mad dog in his whole life was on in his death bed and someone asked him - "What he wished for?" He said that - I wish I had spent more time with my wife, with my family, with my friends. I always wanted more money, the more I had - the more I wanted. Every year I wished that after this year I will slow down, spend time with my wife, with my kids, but that year never came.

To put things in right perspective, I have been working in this IT industry for the past 6 years now. Earlier I was just a workaholic like others - mad about work. I think I also have the record of maximum hours spend in office in a month, but that was long ago. Now, I have started having doubts about all this workaholism and mad race. There is no end to it. You cross one ladder, then try to jump to he next one - madness goes on. Trying to search meaning of life - what's it all about. No clues, nothing.. totally blank....


"hi there, competition is everywhere in every field because new things and new innovations are being made everyday. But like you said, it is indeed important to slow th epace down..question is how? Its hard once you get on the bangwagon to get back off. Like nupur said, hard to catch up once you get off." -kaush

Yeah, exaclty - Its like saying to a runner, who has been winning one race after the other - "slow down man, let others also win".