THE CONFUSED GENERATION

Yeah!!! Confused...that's wot I call this generation.

Otherwise how do I explain why my friend got his so-called ex-girlfriend married to his elder brother...
Or why another one of my friend's wife chooses to continue her affair with her ex-boyfriend even after she is married to a descent family and a nice guy...and somehow his one affects me more than the first one.

I really feel like hitting her hard across her face...to call her all kinda names, she being the reason for the misery of the family so close to me.
But she doesn't deserve that.
More so, since she is a victim herself...victim of her own confusion.
I don't know what is she thinking while doing this, cheating her husband, cheating her boyfriend, or herself.
And who is the other guy kidding, romancing a now married woman.
I feel sad for the husband though, being cheated by his wife...

Forget conscience, do people not think about their own future before doing these things...
What is she up do...does she think sailing on two boats will take her anywhere at all???

I donno how to react...
I was very pissed up with the girl when I got to know about it...but now, after pondering over it for a while, all I feel for her is sympathy.

The problem is here...
These girls come from villages, from downright conservative families, where even the girls wearing pants (literally) is a taboo. Being brought up with these families, these girls leave home at at a very young age for studies and later leave to work at one of the metros or Bangalore or Pune. In an effort to be a part of the much forward culture and crowd there, they transform into confused individuals, not able to choose between the values given by their families and the culture that they are currently a part of, and hence get stuck in the middle of the evolution cycle.
Alas....there is nothing we can do about it???

My friend's life has turned into a living hell with her, and I donno how to bail him out of this. I feel so helpless, due to the sensitivity of the matter and also due to the fact that the law favors the women blindly on such matters.

Well...got to think of something and faster too.

MOBILE TESTING 1 2 3...

Testing to see if I can blog from my HTC.
My client has blocked the very little freedom that we had
by banning the news sites, trading sites, and of all other things, the
blogger too...

Now this is what I call 3rd degree torture.
Nevertheless there is always a way out, and thanks to Db for this one...
I always knew you are my little survival kit.

SATYAM BREAKS EVEN

Finally Satyam stock shows up green for us.
Today the Satyam has hit the upper circuit second time in a row...gaining over 10 percent the second time.

This was our loss percentage with Satyam dated 18th May 2009...

This is the one today...

And if experts are to be believed, the share value of Satyam is expected to go up to 100 soon.

Update 11th June :
Satyam breaks the upper circuit yet again...

I TURN A YEAR OLDER TODAY

A very happy b'day to me.

Though it doesn't feel the same now...as it did a few years back. I would stay awake till midnight for people to wish me, and I would be so disappointed if the no. of calls are less to my expectations. And contrary to that, last night when my brother called up to wish me, I was already snoring to glory.
I guess they are signs of getting old... **sigh**

Frankly, I don't want to get any older. It seems just yesterday when I was 17, the best period of my life, seventeen to twenty years of my age. The time I spent with my friends at hostel. I wouldn't count it as my happiest time, but yes it was the greatest learning phase of my life, learning with fun...and the time I made the best and strongest friends of my life.

The time wont come back and now I feel awkward every time
the children in my building call me Aunty( I d0n't feel like one),
my Mom asks me if I have finished cooking the meals(that's something Aunties ask each other),
every time I keep the Savitri upwaas (something like karwachauth),
When ever my SIL calls me Bhabhi(I am the youngest in my family, and there was hardly anyone who would even call me Didi),

Ah!!! How I wish birthdays would come and go by, but won't add to my age.

THE MOBILE HUNT

So, finally Db boiled down to buy me an high end mobile for my b’day.
Saturday morning, he shows me these wide ranges of high end touch screen mobiles in a real affordable range. It’s a surprise to find touch screen mobiles starting from 9.5K. After reading various reviews, we decided to go for one of the two models, the LG cookie and the Samsung Star.

After visiting a few mobile show rooms we almost decided on the Samsung Star which is a relatively new model, and was selling off real fast. At many stores, the last piece was just getting sold at the counter as soon as we reached there. We almost hunted 5-6 stores with no luck. At last we found it at a mobile store in the Forum Mall in Koramangala.

Okay finally, we grabbed the mobile, but just before we were going to bill it, we found that these guys didn’t give any memory card with it. Db wasn’t sure, since he remembered that E-Zone quoted a much lesser price with a 2 GB memory card, just that they were out of stock. So, he left me at the store and went out to call up and confirm with the E-zone people. Noticing that we were having second thoughts, the sales man approached me and agreed to give me the memory card as well.

While I was just waiting for Db at the store, another sales man from the same store approached me:

SM: Maa’m are you looking for that specific model.

Me: Yeah, kind of.

SM: Please come with me, I could show you some nice models in Nokia.

Having nothing to lose, I joined him

He started showing the 7610 supernova and Nokia 5730. But these were not quite the ones I was looking for, I wanted touch screen ones.

Me: No thanks, I was just looking for touch screen phones, in a range of 15K.

SM: Maa'm, Samsung is no brand at all, I tell you, its a total waste of money. You could go for Nokia instead.

Db entered at the same moment.

SM: Maa'm the Samsung touch screen would not last even three months. Take my word, you would regret going for the Samsung mobile.

He started giving some technical faults in the touch screen of the Samsung star. I looked at Db like a lost puppy...

Db: You wanna think about it??? Chalo, let's grab some food, you could take that time to rethink your decision, if you are confused.(To the SM) We will come back...

At KFC, I was still in a state of shock.

Me: I felt like he wanted me to leave the store without buying anything. The guy belonged to the same store, so why did he shoo me off??? I am having second thoughts about the Samsung hand set now, while the Nokia phones he showed me don't fit neither my requirements nor budget. They obviously lost business because of that guy. Do you think they would be on their way printing his termination letter!!!

Db: (He couldn't stop smiling) Yeah sure, But I don't really believe a word of what he said. He looked like a chirkoot to me, for sure he was hoping you would go for the Nokia model after all the brainwashing he did to you...so that he might get his commission, which obviously did not happen. Now, if you don't want the Samsung model at all, we could get the HTC model for you. That should be easy to decide.

So we went to another store and grabbed the HTC Touch Viva.

It's a whole new experience, with the 3G, Edge, Touch Flo technology, Wi-Fi enabled with windows 6.1 along with other features. And the best part is, now I can check my mails at office on my mobile, since web mail and other good and useful sites are all blocked by my client.

So, as they say, everything happens for good, I really thank my stars to have met that sales man, and I just hope he doesn't get fired for this.

PROGRAMMING HUMOUR

I found this on somebody's blog

Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.

When I googled it, some say its written by John F. Woods while others say its written by Martin Golding.
Though it doesn't matter to me who wrote it, what I wonder is, what would that guy have gone through to have come up with this!!!

*ROFL*

BEING POLITE DOESN'T WORK

The reality bites, to say that it doesn't work to be polite here.
Everyone here is in a mad run to nowhere, ready to stomp over the next person, and its a big pain in the neck to get things done.

There's always a incident or a bad experience that acts as trigger point for every post. For this one, its my house maid.
Because of the fact that I have never been rude to her, considered all her excuses, she's been taking me for a ride. I am so thoroughly disgusted with the fact that people don't value others who treat them well, you always have to be rude to get things done.

Considering the fact that I am quite incapable of being rude due to my low confidence, to the point that I don't even make my point said and heard at times, I presume that I am quite incapable of going to the managerial positions in my career.
But I believe one of my biggest strengths is, I know my weaknesses and have the balls to accept them and work towards them. I am gonna take this opportunity to handle my house maid as my first task to managing people. If I can get her straight, then for sure, I will work well as a manager.

ONE MONDAY MORNING...

This Monday morning as I switch on my system, it has a new wall paper on my desktop which has a polar bear sleeping in a ice field, with a flag in hand, which says ' @myEmployer It's Cooler now'.
Just when the AC is switched off to cut costs, and I have a loads of things to complete, neither is it half as cool nor I can sleep like the bear. Forget sleeping, I find the chairs at my workplace so very uncomfortable to sit.
I donno who comes up with these outrageously (intentionally or unintentionally) sarcastic statements.

MA NEW LOOK...

Got real tired of the old template...I guess that's how Geminis are, can't hold to one thing for long...
So changed to something I found more interesting...

Its 2 am already...I almost worked all day on boiling down to one template, finally done now. Hope its looks good...

Gotta go to sleep now, have a long day tomorrow with the fasting...
Not that i am complaining, I got four new Kurtas and a new Tee for this fasting day, So you see, at the end of the day it isn't a bad deal at all!!!
Hope I lose at least a few grams with all the fasting tomorrow...that would be the bonus. :)

Good Night
*Yawn*

ON A SHOPPING SPREE

Me and my team mate, decided to have lunch out today.
As she suggested, we went to Subway to have good food with the minimum calories (that's what I would love to believe). But Commercial street is not the place where you can just go fill your tummy and come back, especially if you are a woman who is not blind, and if you are carrying a credit card, and more so if the money you spend on that card gets billed to your husband, and even more so if you have a good excuse to buy them...

Fortunately and unfortunately (for us and our husbands respectively), the first two conditions were applicable to my friend and I satisfied the other two as well. So, there was no stopping at all...

We had our lunch at Subway, and then suddenly my friend remembers she had to pick some shoe from this shop. We picked it up, but while coming back we crossed so many shops which hung nice kurtas. The shopaholic self got better of us and we ended up shopping some kurtas.
Finally we got an auto and headed back to office, but mid way I found I had left my access card in one of the trial rooms. We rushed back to the shop only to come across some nice Tees. The shopaholic self got better of us again and we ended up shopping some Tees as well.

I am amazed at my capability to spend almost two thousand in less than 20 minutes (my friend spent a few more thousands in the same time).
Db had gifted me a complimentary credit card last year, which I could use and he gets billed for my expenses (some people have all the luck...I know!!!). For some reason he believed that I am not a high maintenance wife...I guess its time for him to revise his decisions.

THE OFFICE LOOKS SO MUCH MORE LIVELY

Of course, one reasoning is I am myself quite lively today . The weather was nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed my ride to office...also after a really long time, I have no mails(=no work) at office. So I can already visualize a day ahead, with lots of blog reading, checking out movie reviews, stock market and wot not.

The other reason is, a good lot of trainees have joined our office recently, and most of them from the same batch whom I trained on hibernate.

One of them has joined my team. Her credentials hasn’t been set yet, so she can’t access the client network (it’s a lousy process here).

She is slim and pretty (just as I used to be when I joined as a trainee...sob sob), wears matching studs and shoes with her dress, for sure runs to the rest room every hour to comb her hair back to shape(her hair is always so organized), doesn't have a single extra hair on her hands or her eye brows.

I am amused every time...

She comes to my desk, smiles clumsily and asks me if she can leave for the day (anyway she can’t do anything for the project yet...so, go ahead darling!!!),

When ever she takes a day off...the next day she gives me a 5 min long explanation on how she had a stomach upset due to water contamination(I didn't even ask for it…its okay baby!!!),

Asks me a lot of outrageously silly questions about the application(its unfair to get irritated with her, the poor thing has got no experience at work).

I find these guys at the cafeteria most of the time. The girls are all carefully dressed, carrying expensive mobile phones. They start giggling at the drop of a hat, I feel as if they are giggling at me once in a while, may be because I am hardly half as carefully dressed and I have no idea what shoes or studs would go with my dress, neither I have time nor the inclination for the same (Okay...lame excuse...accepted!!!).

The guys all wear the oh-I-am-the-stud-here attitude on their face...since they haven't grown their tummies yet. They come with spotless and flat ironed shirts and nice fit trousers...try a bit too hard to keep a professional look while dealing with other people at office (while the others have already lost that expression).

But overall, I find the atmosphere at office quite lively now. The trainees are hovering around the office most of the time, since there is not much work coming these days and also I believe most of them wouldn't have been allotted a system yet...And well, who minds some Hariyali in office, to see some hot chicks and studs at their best. Do we????

*wink*

THE WAIT CONTINUES POST ELECTION RESULTS

Carrying forward from my previous post, the elections backfired me. Though I am happy to have a stable government at this point of time, despite of the fact that Congress doesn't happen to be my favorite...but certainly its better than having the Left or the Commis having a major chunk of seats and poking their long, ridiculous and disturbing nose into the country affairs.

But the stock market has gone up like crazy...2100 points up in a day...i.e almost 18 percent!!! As I heard on CNBC, the fact that you don't have to see Karat's face anymore is worth 500 points up in the market.

All those stocks which were showing up in red since a long time in our portfolio, all went green yesterday. But pity we didn't even get a chance to sell them off, the market was open for hardly a minute yesterday...all our trade requests remained yawning in the queue all day.
Though today the market seems a lot more rational than yesterday, by now its hovering around 350 points up almost, and we are planning to sell off all our shares which have turned green after being in red for a real long time...

पर यह market निचे कब जाएगा यार ??? Damn!!!

AN ENDLESS WAIT

We are waiting for the market(Sensex) to go down, so that we can buy our favorite stocks.
But every time that it goes 200 points down in a day, the next day it goes up by 300 points...

The fact that the market is going up is doing no good for us. Raju has made sure to make Maa Behen of Satyam shares, the and no matter how well the Sensex does, we have no hopes left for them.

Even on every news channels, the so called market guru's seem to have no clue as to why the market is constantly going up. They expect it to fall down sharply sometime soon. They expected the same when the Infosys and TCS quarterly results were out, same when the stress results were out and again when the exit poll results were out...they expect the same when the global markets have gone down each day. But nothing could bring it down, irrespective of the fate of US markets or other Asian markets, the Indian markets have mostly gained. The US market has gone up by 30% in last 3 months, while for the Indian market its over 40%.

Its good news actually, in terms of the best interests of the economy of the country.
But for the sake of investors like us, I hope it goes down, just once, back to 10,000. Maa Kaasam!!! Investors like us will make sure it gets back to where it was and even more.

Hope the election results tomorrow gets us some good news.

MY LITTLE DRAMA

Yeah...I am quite a drama queen you know!!!

All I needed is a week off, to travel to Db's home back in Orissa. But managers are a tough nut to crack you see. Yeah I know, they are answerable to people above them when the billing is gonna slip for a week for one resource, but I really needed these leaves.

My SIL is back home for a couple of months, and with her around things get real smoother back at my in-laws place. She doesn't let any of the relatives lay hand on me, and the most important of all, I don't have to wear sarees...yipeeeeeee!!!
Yes, I have always maintained, she is the best SIL one could ask for, and I am the worst!!!

My manager was hell bent not to approve my leaves, since I took a week off in Feb for my brother's wedding. But I was not the ones who give up so easily.

Manager : You can't take leaves for a week on every quarter. You took a week off just the last quarter.
Me : That was to go to my home, this time I gotta go to my in-laws place.
Manager : (Irritated) This is not done. You can take 3 days leave maximum or go home in the next quarter.
Me : Three days wont help since it takes 4 days in traveling to and fro.
Manager : To what part in India does it take 2 days to reach??? I am sorry, can't approve your leaves.

Damn!!! I am losing...

Me : But by then the deliverables would be done. My leaves are placed at the safest time.
Manager : Its not about deliverables or deadlines, I can't let the billing slip for a week for a resource.

Still losing...

Me : But I wouldn't be taking any more long leaves in 2009. We are done with visiting both the families once in a year.
Manager : No!!!I am sure again you would feel like going home during Durga Puja.

Damn!!! These managers have answers to everything...gotta think of something fast.

Me : (With a poker face)I am sorry. I will have to be off whether you approve it or not. If it would have been my family, I would have stayed back, but you know how it is with the inLaws. They wouldn't be too happy if I said we can't go due to my job.

Manager : (Sympathetic) Hmm...Okay. But no more week long leaves for you this year.
Me : (with almost brimming eyes) unless heaven strikes...Thanks!!!

Ah!!! Victory at last, at the cost of some drama, its all worth it though...
Doesn't matter though, if he would be imagining me being tortured to death by MIL if I didn't get those leaves. मेरे बाप का क्या जाता है !!!
*wink*

CONFUSION OVER A B'DAY GIFT

This is not fair!!!
Its raining b'days for us. The 16th is Db's b'day and exactly after 24 days its mine. Its been simpler for Db, I have a very transparent face, he knows exactly what makes me happy or sad. Also, I have plenty of things on my wish list:

I wanna join swimming lessons.
I want to have a keyboard (musical keyboard).
I have been trying to make a new painting since a long time, my oil paints are finished and I am being so lazy to get a new pack.
My bean bag burst last week and ever since I have been wanting to buy another one.

So you see, Db has plenty of choices.

On the other hand, Db has been moving towards sainthood with a steady pace.
Talk about shopping, and he has plenty, talk about books, he hasn't got the time, talk about partying, he doesn't drive when he even sniffs alcohol (that's fair though), talk about good food, he says "Arrey Dal Roti bhi chalega".
He hates TV, doesn't like watching movies, isn't a great music lover, hasn't got any intrests other than the stock market and investment books.
I am totally blank, as in what the heck should I buy him that makes him happy.

Huh!!! Talk about people who are difficult to please!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

NOK JHONK!!!

We met one of Db’s friend’s this weekend he is married for two months now.

They had the smitten looks in their eyes, the ones you find very normally in the newly married couples.

Me (to Db's Friend) : I don't see you online these days. I think earlier you'd be online almost all day earlier **wink**

Db’s friend: Yeah, that’s right!!! These days I hardly come online if I am not in office.

Db : Don’t worry, you’d be back in action in a year.

Me : #$%&*^$$*

Me (To Db’s friend’s wife, Ann) : So how is married life???

Ann : It’s been quite good.

Me : So you guys started fighting???

Ann : No, not yet. **blush**

Db’s friend : That’s because I don’t say anything, I agree to whatever she says. **Grin**

Ann (To me) : You really believe that???

Me : Of course no. Men just take pride in saying that, it’s always the other way round.

Db : You heard that joke??? Why do they say mother tongue and not father tongue…because the father hardly gets to speak!!!

Db and his friend: ROFL.

Me and Ann: Men will be men!!! **Frown**

Db : Life changes after marriage dude!!!

Me: Acha!!! Tell me how it changed for you. Earlier you would have to worry about your food and cleaning; now you have KANTA BAI (me) to manage all that stuff. The only change I feel is, marriage has made you lazier.

Db: Before my marriage, I used to watch at least two movies in a week at a multiplex. Now I don’t!!!

Me: Don’t lie!!! That’s because you don’t like watching movies anymore. It’s always me who insists on going to the theaters. It’s you who always say no, movies always irk you. Even last week, it was me who dragged you to the theater.

Db’s friend: Oh!!! Which movie was that???

Me: Tasveer 8 X10

Db: See, now you know my plight.

Db, Ann, Db’s friend: ROFL

Me: Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

WORKING ON A SATURDAY

Damn!!!
At office on Saturday...I admit that an ex-employee of Cognizant shouldn't crib about it. At Cognizant, there was hardly any Saturday that I didn't work. But this the first time in last 1 year and 8 months that I am working on a weekend.

Oh well!!! You could cry fair on the fact that Thursday was an holiday due to elections, and we are compensating for the same. But before saying that just take a look out of the window. What an lousy weather!!!
With such weather, to work at office is the the last thing I want to do. The best thing I can think of is to lie on my bed with a hot cup of tea and watch some nice movie.

But here I am breaking my head with these damned ajax tags, which in turn also refuse to obey my commands. Even they want me to get the hell outta here and leave them alone.

Yawn!!!!!

ON RELATIONSHIPS...Err !! !NOT REALLY!!!

We had this discussion among frenz today...on this lesser known movie called 'Ankahee', starring Aftab and Esha Deol. Aftab falls into an extra marital affair with Esha who happens to be Miss World, and he claims innocence to his daughter on the pretext that being wooed by a Miss World got too tempting to resist.

Well...I'd say fair enough. If likes of Brad Pitt, or for that matter John Abraham are craving for my attention, it’s certainly a tough choice to make. And let’s face it that for men, the choice is easier to make.

But my dear friend begs to differ.
She says why does a man have to get attracted to other women. There is absolutely no reason why he should be going after another woman, since he gets all he wants at home. And since I don’t look at a man with tainted intensions, why should he?
He He He!!!...people are actually so naive is it!!!???

I remember, Db once mentioned this girl at his office who’d dress too provocatively. And every day during their status meetings, the guys found it really difficult to keep their eyes off her assets. He was worried she might notice him someday and report an incident. He was relaxed when the girl was shifted to another team.
So, Am I supposed to feel offended or insecure!!!???

Of course, No!!!
All men without exception do look at women, and with not very platonic feelings, and if a man claims that he doesn’t look at women, then either he is lying or he is gay. Period.
So if some likes of Miss World, or Universe, or may be some real hot chick is flirting with you, it’s certainly difficult to ignore her.

What I feel sad about, is women of this generation also believe in this concept of PATI PARMESHWAR. Men these days have much more exposure than it used to be in older times, and life now is too fast to think and judge. We all need our share of independence, and also, this present generation is not half as emotionally strong as our previous generations. Also keeping at par with changing times, even the men shouldn’t expect a hundred percent loyalist women.

I do not welcome adultery, nor do I ask people to sit and mourn if you discover one. But it shouldn’t come as a rude shock.
Give your spouse enough trust and freedom so that he doesn’t have to come back and lie to you. I believe, as long as your spouse feels his freedom, and can talk about anything under the sun, you maximize your chances of a loyal spouse.

MY FIRST TRAINING

Today was the first time I gave training to a bunch of freshers at office. Earlier the kind of sessions I had taken, were more to do with the application we developed, and we gave sessions on its development and usage, which is kinda simpler task. Giving trainings to freshers, on technical topics is another level of job altogether.
I volunteered for it. Not that I was interested in sharing my knowledge with the trainees...rather it was of a compulsion to secure my appraisal ratings.
Yes my dear friend, my company expects me to take 2 certifications (one technical and one domain) in a year, conduct 2 trainings, receive a few more, submit some learning assets to the company's internal portal site, create two reusable components in a year, not more than 1 unplanned leaves per quarter...and of course maximum customer satisfaction with zero slippage on deadlines...and more!!!

And we thought, Hitler was dead!!!

To safeguard my appraisal ratings, I took up this training on Hibernate. It went on pretty okay...the first five minutes I was a little nervous, but later I am sure the class got jumpy of me. I kept asking a lot of questions to the back benchers and the smiling faces. Very soon, there were no more smiling faces in the class room.

Well...overall it was a not-so-bad experience
At least I could get the fear out of me...

; )

I had a college get together today.

Met quite some old friends from college...few of them whom I was happy to meet, few of them I wasn't too happy to meet...few whom I met with a bear hug, few I greated with a smile and a few I shook hands with. It was a overall good experience...with one of them which was a really good one.

As a child, my Mom called me Baby.

When I reached my graduation, my immediate juniors called me Didi...while most of them either my age or even elder to me.

When I joined Cognizant as a trainee, for the first time, I was addressed as Maa'm.

Aur ab, building ke bacche mujhe Aunty bulate hain...I meet the kids in the building, and their parents prompt them...

'Beta...Aunty ko Hello bolo...'

Some part inside me goes...

'Argh !!!!Aunty kisko bola...Tu Aunty, Teri Ma Aunty, Tera sara khandaan Aunty...!!!'

Feels like a long time, a long way....the distance between Baby to Aunty!!!

But at the gettogether today, a friend of mine had got along her younger sister whom I had met long back when I was in college. She called me Didi.

After a really long time, had someone addressing me as Didi.

Achaa laga :)