அமெரிக்கா

அமெரிக்காவில் வேற்றுமை கண்டேன்
வேற்றுமையில் கலாச்சாரம் கண்டேன்
பல தேசத்து மக்கள் கண்டேன்
அனைவரும் ஒற்றுமையாக வாழக் கண்டேன்!

இங்கு செல்வ செழிப்பை கண்டேன்
இங்கு மனிதருள் வறுமையும் கண்டேன்
அதீத செழிப்பின் சேதம் கண்டேன்
அதை மக்கள் சிலரின் அறியாமையில் கண்டேன்!

பஞ்சமில்லா தேசம் கண்டேன்
அதை பறைசாற்றும் அதன் மக்களில் கண்டேன்
இங்கு தேவைக்கு அதிகமான உணவு கண்டேன்
சக நாடுகளுடன் பகிர்ந்து உண்ணா பழக்கமும் கண்டேன்!

I am in no mood to name this

In a land far far away,
Another day about to pass away,
I am feeling blue,
Dismally looking for clues.

Wavered, exhausted, lost!
Nomadic like an outcast.
Oh no! I am not yet done,
The search for El-Dorado has just begun!

Away from my family,
Away from my friends,
In a land unknown,
I have trodden the road less known.

Is it worth the pain?
Will I stand to gain?
Only time will tell,
With hope I dwell!

Bye Bye

A beautiful day, because today i submit my resignation at Wipro.

Shame on IHF

After all the hype around Premier Hockey League, all the Indian Hockey federation managed to do was kick themselves out of the Olympics. I have been an avid follower of hockey for many years now. I regret to say that the people at the helm of Indian Hockey are autocratic, and it is starting to hurt the game. The IHF is the only instance where the president(KPS Gill) has administered for 10+ years. Many a time, change can be the only solution and its time for a change. Not just because he has been at the helm for such long, but for some blunders which i am going to list below :

1. Horrendous is what i would term at what he did on the eve of the previous hockey world cup. The then coach Baskaran was sacked, and a German coach was appointed with only weeks of preparation left for the world cup. The result India finished 11th out of 12 teams.
2. In the run-in to the Olympics, India's in-form striker Dhanraj Pillay was left out of the squad. And it took some strong political intervention to reinstate him into the team. India though eventually did not make it to the semis.
3. Once again probably the best striker in the first edition of the PHL, Dhanraj Pillay, was not even close to making it to the national squad. The reason stated was that he was not fit(getting old). God save Indian hockey !!!
4. India were unlucky i should say in the previous Olympics and the World cup. Just before the Olympics, Jugraj Singh(drag-flicker) met with an accident, and before the world cup Sandeep Singh(drag-flicker) was accidentally shot by a cop. It was unlucky to lose penalty corner specialists just before major tournaments. But where were the replacements ? Why were veterans overlooked for a kiddie(Raghunath). It was like including Theo Walcott in the English side.
5. A change in coach has happened almost every season. I don't think it will do the team any good.

The list of blunders will go on.... Now what does Gill mean by saying "No Comments" when questioned about this debacle ? Shame on him !!! I got to see some of India's best and worst moments in the last decade. The best(Asian games gold) came when quality players were there in the squad, and the worst came when these clowns at the helm were partying at the cost of national pride.

The divide

After working for almost two years in an Indian software company, i am going to bring to the fore the imminent problems present here. I trying to paint a true picture of the software scene, and this is no fiction....

Considering the employees of a company as a community, i can classify them as "workhorses" and "mobilians". If in a project of 15 members there will be 5 workhorses and 10 mobilians. Mind you, these workhorses would have been Stallions sometime ago, but due to constant bugging and frusturation they would have been converted into workhorses. I would like to quote my TM here, "We expect commited people, not intelligent people"!!!! So getting back to the workhorses, they slog and accept the unacceptable estimates, virtually becoming "Yes-men" to their managers. Of course they do all this for a reason, to earn an onsite oppurtunity. They dont get to see the other side of life or get to pursue their personal interests.

Now about our "mobilians", yes i named them that way for a reason. I can hardly see them not speaking into their mobiles. Anytime of the day, any place it does not matter you can see them chatting away with their BF/GF. They hardly work for 2-3 hours out of the stipulated 9.5 hours. People can be selfish, but i would say this is the "height of selfishness". When people are working for 12-13 hours a day, they are not asking to share their workload, all they ask for is to do your work. I have even seen people who romance around the office, even at their cubes(disgusting!!!!). To contrast here, i should say i hardly receive calls in my mobile. After seeing such people i tried to figure out the frequency of incoming calls to my mobile, and it was 3calls for a week(Mon-Fri). Okay i am pathetic in this aspect, i even went without noticing for 2 days that my connection was barred !!! But too little is no harm i guess.

Now this divide has forced a horrible work culture down here. Any critical activity will always be assigned to the workhorses, and the mobilians always have a ball 24x7, 365 days a year. Managers are not bothered (or rather helpless) to rectify the situation, because they have to meet deadlines. I am really thankful that i have worked under such circumstances, because these really pushed me to plan for my higher studies(my escape-route). BTW i am not a workhorse as described here. If there is any non-conformance by the manager or if he gives an unacceptable estimate, i will be the first to draw flak on him(u can understand why i am his favourite). But put in such a circumstance i do work, because i dont like to quit or go back on my fellow mates. Even as i write this, i have a critical activity that is to be closed today, and i am expecting a long day at the office. I hate my manager!!!!!!!!

Jodha Akbar - A *critical* review

Jodha Akbar, the movie that generated lots of expectations for a typical movie buff. I happened to see it today. I dont understand how i get to watch hindi movies, inspite of the fact i can speak or understand hindi with the same proficiency as greek or latin :) . The only time i watch hindi movies seriously is when i watch it on DVD with the sub-titles on.

Coming back to Jodha Akbar, the movie was really great !!!! The sets were wonderful, the cast was good, Hritik was exceptional, and on on....... I would have loved to say all this had i understood the dialogues :( . I was surprised to learn that another friend of mine who was proficient in Hindi was not able understand it too !!! The movie is full of classical hindi. The dialogues are unusally lengthy... For example there was a particular scene where Aish goes to the kitchen to prepare food for the guests, and Hritik's grandma (i hope so.. i am not sure if it was his grandma :D ) turns up to prevent her.... Just to convey the message "You are not supposed to cook", she speaks a dialogue for 15 mins. And it was 15 mins of bewilderness for me. And because of such bizarre circumstances and dialogues, the movie goes for 3hrs and 15 mins. For me it was a relief to get out of the theatre and get some fresh air.

Inspite of all this, i was impressed with Hritik's performance. And if you are a Hindi movie buff who can understand "Hindi", and appreciate what is portrayed in the movie, pls forgive me :)

National Treasure - Book of Secrets

I happened to hit inox for this movie on Sunday (primarily due to Arun's bugging). From start to finish, i felt like i made an ass of myself by seeing this movie. The movie was outragiously dumb, i should admit it was dumber than Nicholas Cage's previous flick "Next". Atleast i was pissed off with only the last 5 mins of "Next". Nicholas Cage in his attempt to become a box-office hero has faltered once again. I have made up my mind not see any of his movies in the future. You can understand my plight only if i list the movies i got to see of late:

1. National Treasure 1
2. Ghost Rider
3. Next
4. National Treasure - Book of secrets.

In this regard I cannot resist but quote this old Tamil maxim,

"Keppaiyula nei ozhuguthuna kekkuravanuku enga da pochu buddhi ?".