Unveil the Other Side

The season of festivals is just round the corner. It was Onam last week. Last year I had a story of how different onam had been to me. Come this year, it was no less. It was a fun filled day at office. So what was unique that made the day stand out from the rest. With a mail sent out to everyone in the organization about just 20 hours before the events brought a rise in activities on all floors. I could hear whispers, tittles and tattles about each of the 3 events - Pookolam, No-fire cooking [yes literally no fire was to be used, no microwave too :) ] and Best traditionally dressed person. It was decided that a group of 6 would make a team for both pookolam and no-fire cooking competitions. I was a part of the latter group and I tell you leading a project is cent percent easier than thinking something on the fly to cook without fire. Finally we had a menu fixed just before we left from office but was not sure how we'd pull it off. The plan was to have a frui...

Time passes by, days roll, years grow and so do we. Its one more year added to my career-life. Going a few years down the lane , I can see myself sitting in front of the interviewer who seemed funny not because of his behaviour or his attire. He was asking questions way beyond the thinking capacity of an engineering student still in her last year of the course. Yes it wasn't simple to get into an MNC. Especially getting placed through college was a dream come true. I was selected!Hmmm something must be really wrong with those guys thought I. Later did I get to know that it was a part of stress test they were carrying out on all the candidates. I had cleared the test , Not bad, my patience level was way too high. Dont expect that now.. Pleaaaseee! If I go back to the days of my training - Thats going to be another blog in full [some other time please]. Gosh! No I did not want to be trained on Mainframes - Not knowing the fact that its gonna be an alltime high and evergreen in the I...

A friend of mine has been a keen observer when it comes to computers and technology. Today afternoon he told me something about his observations, which usually goes unnoticed by majority of us, but indeed he was cent percent true - so is this post up here in my blog. This funny friend turns around states aloud : " When they can't find a right suitable match for this girl for more than a year now, how can they find one for me????". We were all as confused as you are at this point of time. How many of us give attention to those tiny pop ups that pops up on our computer screen when we open up a browser for searching a piece of code, or to watch something online, or to connect with the social friends or something different. Everyone would have come across the advertisement sections in most of the pages we browse, but we give little or negative attention to these details. However this Gentleman, a friend of mine , about an year ago opened up Yahoo homepage and guess wha...

This happened yesterday afternoon when a colleague sitting next to my desk dialled a number on the landline AND.... ( I could hear what this Colleague XYZ was speaking of, however the dialogues from the other end is assumption thats been made based on the context. My intent was not to overhear the conversation. I had just then returned from the pantry with a cup of hot cappuccino in my hand and while sipping it away,each word delicately slipped into my ears. It wasn't intentional at all! ) The conversation started off like this. Colleague : "Hello , this is XYZ calling and I hold a credit card from your bank" Bank rep: "Hi XYZ, This is MNP , how could I help you with that?" Colleague : "Actually I have this card with me from about 2 years now and I have not used it at all. I want to close this card" Bank rep: "Sure sir, could you please hold on for a minute ?" Colleague : "yeah!" : His face goes straight when the music ...

New Place , New Environment and to spice it up People say " Change is inevitable and growth is Intentional ". Here I am in the phase of life where there is some change to note it down. Yes! Its the job or I could put it better this way - The time I spend during the day, to earn a living, is now being spent in a completeltly different place. Its been a while since I wanted this change but was waiting for the right move and the right time. When the tasks you perform gets into a monotonous routine, it rather does no good, but indeed help the dislike percentage to raise in every aspect. Same was my state couple of months ago and thats when I decided to sign up in the famous J ob hunt sites . Peter Drucker - a management guy has said " Company cultures are like country cultures. never try to change one.Try, instead, to work with what you've got " . To this I add another clause " If it doesn't work with you , its time to move on. " As I believe in my ow...

Taken by a ride with this Guy's wonderful statements. There is a not so tall , not so heavy Guy in one of the neighboring teams at office. I write this article not to demotivate his learning abilities , neither to insult his english conversation skills. Fluency is a great deal when it comes to any new language. What makes one perfect is not the way he/she uses atleast 4 to 5 high vocab words in a sentence. What matters is that the meaning should reach across the table, the listener should be able to grasp what is being communicated. Do we really need " utilize " when a three-letter word, " use ", will nicely suffice. " Risible " is a lovely word, but is it worth sending your readers to the dictionary when " laughable " is at hand? Isn't this a good question. New to corporate world and also new to handling english at the pace today's MNC's are going at, this Guy was hesitating to even utter a yes or a no. Literal translations fro...

Are you sitting on your bed wide awake in the middle of the night ruining your peaceful sleep and the reason thats killing your sleep - " The thought of the menu which need to head the breakfast table next morning ", maybe something more of the odds like " What outfit to dive into in a couple of hours? ". Sometimes it gets even worse with the silly questions loitering in the brain shell, the kinds like " Do I have the exact change for the ticket,so as to enjoy the bus ride with no hazzles tomorrow? ", " Is the car fuel empty to its dry point, did the needle go unnoticed at the end of hectic schedule today? " Do these ever end?????? We get worried of such subtle things every night, thinking of the morning that's due. The mornings are probably spared for serious matters to be tackled. My way of dealing such random thoughts is to kick them hard into the lonely backyard and snooze back to my sweet dream. How about throwing some light and sharing ...

“ You have crazy drivers here, but none can beat one from India ” – Stacy a tough lady in her mid-forties made this comment as one speeding car passed us. We were seated on a bench waiting for a bus on a mid-summer afternoon in Seattle, US. I acknowledged “ That’s true .” She picked up the conversation and went on about her experience in the early 90’s. She was in Chennai in 1994 for a span of 20 good days on a business trip. Peter, Rebecca and Frank accompanied her. This is how she describes her experience. As I landed in the Chennai airport I could feel the heat from everywhere. It was pricking me. I hoped not to turn into a boiling chicken by the time I check into the hotel booked for a group of four who flew down all the way from Kansas City to this well-known city in India - Chennai, the then Madras . The fun had just begun. People stared at us as if we were directly out from an animal park or probably, we were the missing clowns from the famous Jumbo Circus runnin...