अच्छा है... (All is well)

Sometimes we so casually respond to the equally casual question, "How are you?" with "Ya.. I am (we) (are all) fine".

We may be keeping a poor health, or facing a critical problem but we hide it from people. There could be various reasons for hiding it, probably from the near and dear ones, so that they do not worry too much.

Unlimited Happiness

Life is such that, a small event in one's life can bring unlimited happiness. It is just a single line in a 22 page visa decision page document, that changed the mood of one entire family!

Well so far so good, waiting and hoping the rest from here on goes off smoothly.

WC2010 fever

Well, the entire world is gripped with this fever now. The first & second round matches have thrown so many surprises. Who could think of Germany, France and Italy (as of now, they are 1 down to New Zealand).

So one can watch the matches live on the "links" available, which I do not want to share here for obvious reasons :). But there are some good alternatives. NDTV has come up with a cool match cast concept. The match is "cast-ed" live using icons and alerts. Try it out here. Another option is the BBC live commentary. But it seems, it is not available due to rights restrictions.

Whatever it be, The World Cup does bring in a fresh dose of enthusiasm in the sport each time in me. I have Brazil as my favourites, let us see....

Those days and those nights

I am happy that my last post evoked mixed response (and some emotions) from either side of the roles in which my friends work in their respective jobs today. I was also reminiscing my initial days in the industry, the associated struggle and slogging overtime. Oh! how very 'a dedicated resource' I used to be.

I also remember this ghazal by JS and CS. I used to hum this ghazal during my walk from Janpath to South Avennue, 11'o clock at night, to catch Bus Nos, 620, 604 or 680 to Moti Bagh or Sect-8 R K Puram. That ticket cost me Rs. 2/= instead of Rs. 5/= if I took the bus from Janpath!

The Superman of a software project

This post is dedicated to the supposed "Superman" of a software project. In any software project, you will find one or two blokes who have this habit of taking on the responsibility of the entire project on their heads, even when there is no need for such drastic actions.

Over the years I have analysed some traits of these "Supermen":

1. The basic habit of "I'll do all" comes from the fact that they wish to become the "hero" of the project.

2. In their hearts they are so insecure about their position in the project/organisation, that they start to involve themselves in all unnecessary tasks, be it trivial or complex.

3. These guys are naturally poor at time management. You will find them slogging till late hours just to prove to management that they are the most "hard working" blokes around. (And also "secure" their insecurity mentioned in point no. 2 above).

4. Naturally, their output in terms of quality is pathetic, since only a "real Superman" can work 10-11 hours a day and produce a decent quality.

5. At the end of the year (more precisely after the appraisal cycle), they will always complain to the management that they were not rated appropriately.

Well I understood long ago, that in this trade, you need to work smart and not slog. And also the fact that pick up only that much work that is possible for one to do within a decent time with a decent quality in it.

God bless the "Supermen"!!!!

Panchatantra - Doordarshan

Felt so nostalgic today, after listening to the title track of Panchatantra. This serial used to be aired on Doordarshan when I used to be a kid.

Those were the initial days, and this title song struck me even then. Though I could not recall the entire track I distinctively remembered the "Ye pachatantra hai..." and the "kudrat ke jaadu hai isme". Jagjit's unique style of rendering caught me quite young, though the actual "bug" bit me during my typhoid recovery days listening to one of his most masterly works, "Sajda".

Here's the lyrics of the track in Devanagari:

यह पंचतंत्र है (२)
जीवन कि हर उलझन को सुलझाए,
बंजर धरती तोड़ के ज्ञान उगाए।
यह पंचतंत्र है (२)

कुदरत के जादू हैं इसमें,
धरती कि खुशबू है इसमें, -- (२)
यह भटके रही को राह पे लाए,
यह पंचतंत्र है (३)

Basic equation

Life's basic equation is:

sadness = happiness

This equation always holds true at every moment in one's life. It is just the way we interpret certain events that lead us to believe that one side of the equation is not balanced. But in reality every event cancels out some other or maybe itself on the other side of the equation. Because the equation above is a net zero, if we move either on the other side, our great sages wrote volumes and volumes on 'Karm Yog'. Do your duty, worry not about the results. However we are ordinary mortals, and it is hard for us not to try to run after increasing the right hand side of the equation almost with our eyes and minds closed.

Anyways, the weather here is so funny, one moment it snows or rains, the next hour it is bright and sunny. And about my separation from my beloved, I can only think of Ghalib's wonder sher:

ने मुज़्दा-ए-विसाल न नज़ारा-ए-जमाल, मुद्दत हुई की आश्ती-ए-चश्म-ओ-ग़ोश है.

"Neither there is the good news of our union, neither the sight of my beloved; It has been a while that there is peace between my eyes and ears!!" (discounting the fact that my ears have a slight advantage, since they have the privilege of hearing her voice over the phone!! :-D )