Random Thoughts

I had a slew of different experiences over the past few days. It was quite thought provoking {and one was hormone provoking too :) }. Dont know what to write about.. has been some time since I blogged.. so this junkier than the usually junk blogs describing those blogs... :) All those who are in need of a good sleep.. please read this...

Job Description
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My job involves the maintenance of a network monitoring application. So you get to work on application development using C++, JAVA etc and at the same time get good exposure to the funda behind different facets of networking. There was a conversation regarding this with one of my friends which just goes to show how the same thing can be viewed in such contrasting fashion by two different people.

friend: hey machhi, how are you... wassup da? how are things going for you at work
yours truly: good da.. just started to come to grips with work... was at sea for the past 6 months.. the shore is kind of visible now.. :)
friend: what kind of work da.. it sure would be pretty high funda as u had always wanted from college
yours truly: actually no.. not quite. i work on. (and all the blah blah stuff explaining the nature of my work)
friend: that sure sounds exciting da.. you develop applications for some of the advanced networking technologies.. you get to learn C++ / JAVA / DB stuff etc.. and also get to know a lot of networking stuff... the best of both worlds da.. your truly becoming a software engineer da.. tech stuff and programming.. that sure sounds like my dream job da.. truly....
yours truly: hey hey.. cool it machchi.. your are calling me a software engineer... I never said I develop software.. i only maintain software.. so i should not be calling myself a software engineer.. Software Mechanic is probably more like it... :)
friend: hmmmm.....
yours truly: and what more you call it the best of both worlds... man.. you really have a taste that is the direct opposite of mine.. i say i am becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none... :).. so you can say i am kind of becoming a Technological Eununch... :)

Here wE GO
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OK Dog, stop sneering. No, I have NOT plagiarized your blog. Have flicked only the title.

Ego is like just every other creation in nature. Too little of it and there is a problem and too much of it and again there is a lot of problem. Too little of it and you get trampled by every tom dick and harry and too much of it, you start swaggering around and take your foot of the ground.

Here are excerpts from a conversation that I had with a couple of friends that made me put on the black hat (refer to the 6 thinking hats by edward de bono to understand this). Each one of us has the urge to proove to the world that we are better than the rest in some form. This is especially pronounced in tamilians. We always try to project the goodness in us or something related to us and contrast it with that is not quite perfect in some other thing not related to us. This ones an excerpt from a talk that I had with my friend of mine working in infy. I found this funny more than anything else.

XYZ: Hi da, hows work at HCL
yours truly: Decent da. Starting to find my foot. Was at sea all along in understanding the project and stuff...
XYZ: Why da, wasnt there a proper induction process into the team
yours truly: it was there man but kind of was not perfectly implemented. everyone was busy with their issues and it could not be done completely.. obviously i am also to blame.. didnt pressurize people...
XYZ: see da.. infylelam.. there is a process for everything... infy is about processes... what this shows there is no proper training process there... I think that is lacking in HCL....
yours truly: illa da... appudi illa.. HCL is a 2billion dollar company.. no company worth can grow to 2 billion dollars without process...
XYZ: no da.. you see in infy.. we ensure that everything follows processes... process is the key.. we bill customers for the processes.. they will pay as they get quality.. in infy.. blah blah..
your truly: hmm... it depends on the people... the manager.. the customer.. circumstances.. everything da. may be everything is pucca in your team but not necessasary elsewhere...
XYZ: dei in infy.. we are like... blah blah blah.. you know in infy we blah blah blah

:).. infy is a great organization.. no doubt. its a truly inspirational organization with a living legend at its head.. but so is the case with many other companies.. to compare anything and everything someone says with what is done in infy is, I feel, nothing but to project how things are done better in infy.. not necessasay :)

The previous snippet was a very mild case of more EGO than necessasary.. perfectly accepteable.. there in no offence in that.. atleast to me. But the second conversation that I had with someone else was really really very irritating.. a truly bad case of a monstrous EGO...

This guy used to work in the same place where I work today.. but his job profile was different.. he worked on the software that goes into the devices for which I develop application software.. we were travelling together somewhere and the topic of conversation somehow came towards the salaries of a lot of our friends.. now this guy has left our organization for another one with a salary hike of above 200%...

yours truly: sarav is cool today da.. he is now earning a lot da.. hes the highest earning member in our class...
ABC: hmmmm...
your truly: has really left everyone else out in this da.. kalasittan.. very happy for him..
ABC: How much does he earn da?
yours truly: Rs.$***** per annum da.. close to two lakhs more than I :)
ABC: So what da.. you know what kind of work I do... you know how much I get... RS. ($+1)***** per annum da...
yours truly: hmmmm... :)
ABC: What kind of junk work are these people doing.. developing useless applications for some useless
organizations.. the kind of work that I do is simply unbelievable.. those people cant even imagine, let alone understand, such high funda tech work that I do.. I work directly on switches and routers.. do they know the spelling of networking... I am an expert in that.. all they can say that they are experts in JAVA.. yuk...
your truly: ok da.. you do what you like.. application people do what they like.. whats the big deal...
ABC: true da.. but they can even compare their work to mine.. for this useless work they will go onsite and do even more useless work.. we are engineers and should give work to our brains da..
yours truly: come on da...
ABC: and for this my uncles and all ask if I cant go onsite.. how can they ask such a question da.. and they are saying my work is not good enough to go there.. useless people.. what do they know.. see da.. in exactly 7 years.. ill be a green card holder... these application people.. hahahaha.. cant even hope to do anything technically tough in life..

I was about to pewt.. If there are two things that I cant stand on this earth, they are hypocrisy and a monstrous EGO... I immediately distance myself from such people.. Here is someone who is greatly affected by the fact that people working in Infy / CTS / TCS etc.. are going onsite and he is not able to.. is very worried that he is not earning enough despite having an insanely high salary... and all the crap that he dished out was becoz of that.. in any case.. I really pit him..
ABC, your life will never be happy.. do things that make you happy.. and never compare... it kills your happiness... your life is not a businees with others' life as competitors...


An open letter to ........
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Dont know who you are and where you are now... but it was great staring at you for two hours from such close quarters :D and getting stared at occasionally too ;)

yaannokkum kaalai nilannokkum nokkakaal
thaannokki mella nagum

This is a wondeful saying from thiruvalluvars magnum opus thirukural. It so beautifully captures the events happening between two people who are mutually attracted for the first time. I understood the real meaning of this last friday when we were travelling via inter city express from katpadi to chennai :)

you certainly had an awesome smile..... an awesome awesome smile that floored me many a times in those two hours.. if only I had a bit more gumption I would have talked to you.. but being the useless guy that I am, I did nothing and am writing it now here...

anycase, hope to meet you someday somwhere again... i repeat... "You have one AWESOME smile"...