Home, Work And Everything In Between

Four months away from my beloved blog – what led to it and what kept it there is beyond the scope of this space. Wait, did you just believe that? There is nothing that I wouldn’t write about in this space, except about annoying team mates and ass-holic managers (wait, did you just believe that too?) To say that it has been a very challenging and a busy time at work would be a blatant lie. Let me just get it out in the open – I was suffering from ‘Writer’s Block’ (ok, stop smirking now). Too much of tweeting has taken away my ability to write anything beyond a couple of lines; and the constant butler-English of my teammates doesn’t help either.

I have grown to be much more restrained in expressing my anger and patient in handling, let’s just say, mosquito problems at work. It is amazing how a socially-challenged guy with no personal life whatsoever makes it his advantage simply because he has more time at his disposal as opposed to normal people who have a life outside of work (that it is filled with monotony and cribbing and long crying sessions is a different story).

Under such testing circumstances, one morning, I was on my way to work in the office cab. After picking me up, the driver picked up this Telugu guy (my love for the language is no secret). When someone speaks Telugu, I am automatically all ears – it is such a sweet-sounding language. There were two other people in the cab and they had ear-phones plugged as tight as possible into their ears.

This Telugu guy (TG) receives a call on his cell phone. I am all ears because I was hoping he’d speak in Telugu. Instead, he started off in English. It was probably a call from a survey agency or a matrimonial site or a gym, I don’t know. And I could only hear one side of the conversation, so I had no idea what the topic of discussion was.

TG: Hello.

TG: Yes. I did it for 7 minutes.

I got curious.

TG: I was doing it for the first time.

At this point I was almost giggling.

TG: No, I haven't tried it that way.

I was like, what the hell… Technology has improved very much-ah?

TG: Yes, I'll recommend it to others.

Why is nobody else listening to this? People, take those earphones out of your ears. This man is making history here ;-)

After this, I couldn’t really concentrate on anything he was saying. I was controlling my laughter so much and I wiping away tears from my eyes, my stomach hurt.

That was probably the only happy day I spent at work in the last four months. One day in four months, you say? Well, I at least had one day to boast about in a line of work I not-so-secretly hate. All you people hating your work, in your faces!

But love it or hate it, life goes on. Work is a part of it – probably the worst part of it. But it goes on. You need people to make fun of, people to crib about, people whose head you want to chop off, basically people you hate – but you need people to hate so you can appreciate people who you love more. Too much philosophy is not good for health. So I stop now.

10 Things I Wanna Change About My Office

It is no secret that I hate the profession I belong to. Well, I don’t exactly hate it; it just annoys me so much. Maybe a few changes at the workplace that could make it a wee bit better?

10 things I want to change about my workplace:

1. The annoying teammate a.k.a ‘Kosu’ Read about him here
2. My office timings – from the current 11:30am to 8pm to an early morning shift (say from 6:30am to 3pm or so) – just so I can leave office early while the rest of them still have a good 6 hours to slog. Yes, I am sadistic like that. It would also work because that way I’d have the entire evening to myself to do what I enjoy doing like going for a run or something as simple as having a plate of paani puri which my late evening shift doesn’t allow me to.

What I wanna do

If only anyone would pay me for sitting in the last row, by the window, sleeping half the time, sending text messages to those innumerable friends (whose faces we still book sometimes) the other half without the knowledge of the lecturer, making rockets with paper, life would have been so much cooler. But no sir, nobody shows you the cake AND lets you have it. To be frank, I have never really understood the whole concept behind being in a job. Apparently, you can’t live with your parents’ money forever. And no, it is NOT funny to say, “I can live with their credit cards.” It is not appreciated (experience teaches you an awful lot).

There are many other things that are not appreciated. So I could not be a bicycle rider because I was in India; not in the Netherlands. I could not join the Army because all my friends laughed it off when I said I wanted to do it. I could not become a spiritual Guru thanks to the likes of Swami Premananda/Nithyananda types. I could not be a teacher because according to my mom, I was made to become something better. I could not be a journalist because my cousins were all pursuing their engineering courses. I could not be a news reader because my cousins were all planning to do their M.Tech/PhDs. Oh my God, why did you come up with the whole concept of cousins? They were all my dream jobs at one of time or the other. And they were all brushed aside because I was too young and too naïve to make my own career plans. But nevertheless, they were a very important part of my growing up process.

Currently, if given a choice, I would like to be a writer. It is something that gives me satisfaction, makes me feel as if I have achieved something great. But on the down-side, there is something that we all like to call ‘Writers’ block” that affects me every now and then. I sit in front of my computer, I have some thoughts in my mind, but they just refuse to come out as words. But there are days when the words just pour out like Champagne. Finding a balance between the two AND making a career out of it is no easy task.

Another career I am fascinated about is that of a behavioral skills trainer. I like to teach and from whatever experience I have gained from being a silly IT professional over the last three years, the average Indian IT professional lacks basic manners – from emailing to eating – it shows in everything they do. Since customer facing roles are on the rise, most companies would need their engineers to put on their best behavior while talking or emailing or chatting with their clients, which is where I would come in. I have a flair for making good communication (now, don’t you start rolling your eyes, if there is anything I do well, that is TALK. Don’t take that away from me!) And I like teaching. So what better than to combine the two things I like and make a successful corporate career out of it?

I am also good at organizing events and shows. So event management is an area I could dwell into. But I am not really sure about the roles and responsibilities there and so I cannot comment further on that.

Another career that I find very interesting is in the Advertising field. I like advertising and have always taken part in such events at school and college level, but I am sure that is not how the field works in real life. I would, for sure, love to be a part of an advertising campaign. Also there is some very good money involved in it!

But if there is one job that would supersede all the above and be “the one” dream job, it has to be the one where I am allowed to sit in the last row, by the window, sleep half the time, send text messages to those innumerable friends for the other half without the knowledge of the lecturer, making rockets with paper…

This post is an entry for a contest in Blogadda called MY DREAM JOB. This contest was an initiative by BLOGADDA and Pringoo .

After-hours... ;-)

What is deal with people who like to sit around at office long after they have reached the minimum number of hours required at work and completed all their pending work? Beats me. This guy I know works in a shift that lasts till 10pm and he ‘prefers’ (actually is fond of) sitting at his desk until after 11pm as opposed to the other (normal) people try to get the hell out of office sooner than possible. I am sure most of you have come across such specimens in your teams/acquaintance-circles. Why would anyone sit at office without any work to complete even after their 9.5hrs/day is over? The reasons I hear the most and my reactions to them are:

1. I get bored at home. We stay far away from our families and it just gets boring at home.

• Really? What about taking up some hobby? I mean, there are so many great books to be read, so many interesting movies to be watched. You could learn to play some music instrument; you could join a gym/yoga class. You could actually clean your room.
• But then, hey, the guy I am talking about is someone who hasn’t heard/read anything beyond Telugu – and I have nothing against Telugu. I consider Telugu to be one of the sweetest sounding languages. And the fact that the guy is not well-read or well-informed is more the reason why he should start reading at least now. Better late than never, right?

2. At office I get free internet. At home, I don’t.

• You stay at office so you can watch utterly stupid videos on youtube for free? Or checking out your own Shaadi.com profile (coz trust me, no one else will, if you continue to stay glued to your computer).
• What about going home and getting freshened up and heading out for a walk? Believe me when I say the world has more things to teach you than the world wide web.
• Hell, go to a bar with your friends!

3. Hey, I get free unlimited coffee here.

• Huh? Haven’t you heard of ‘Nair Tea Shop’ which is there in every gali of every city in the world? (I love Nair Tea Shops – they are the best!!!) It is an understatement to say that I think you are pathetic enough not to spend Rs.5/- (or less, depending on the size of the shop) and rather prefer staying at office to drink free chai!
• The company pays you well enough to buy a chai/coffee for yourself, I am sure!

4. I want to read a Telugu e-newspaper.

• Hmmmm, errrr, hmmm… What were you doing since morning? Don’t tell me you worked the entire 9.5hrs and had no time at all for reading a newspaper.
• Unnoda kadamai unarchikku oru alave illaya da?

5. What the hell is your problem? It’s my wish to stay as long as I want. Who are you to ask me to leave?

• Oooooh okay, dude! Chill… It is not my problem. If it is anybody’s, it is yours. Remain the pathetic guy that doesn’t have a life outside of office!
• I pity the one you are going to get married to, though.

6. I like to stay late at office.

• Well, you got me. I have nothing to say about this. If staying late at work is what your heart desires (yuck), then so be it.
• That is one statement that makes Sandhya go mute! You have achieved it, big boy!!!

So people, just make sure you are not the guy in question. I have nothing against people staying back at office after work hours if situation demands it or if there is any pending work to be completed. But otherwise, is it really necessary for you to remain at office and not have time for your family and friends and pets?

Have any of your friends told you genuine/whacky reasons as to why they stay late at work?

Enna koduma sir idhu...

The last two weeks have been most eventful. And I’m a lot wiser now. Really. Not buying it?

I have interacted more with managers in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years and learnt how to talk to them – the choice of words in an email, the tone of your voice in a telephonic conversation, to be persuasive in a subtle way – I am well on my way to become a manager myself. :-P But then God help those who become my subordinates! :-P

It is so funny when you go and stand in front of your manager and tell him,

Me: I just came to remind you that I’d be on leave next week.
Manager: Which days, Sandhya?
Me: Hmmm, three days and the other two weekdays are holidays.
Manager: What? The whole of next week?
Me: No, just three days.
Manager: But you won’t be at office throughout the next week?
Me: (Silly fellow, isn’t that obvious?) Hmmm, yes. I’m planning to go to my hometown, you see.
Manager: Why didn’t you inform me earlier?
Me: Actually, I did. I informed you three weeks back that I need three days leave and you actually approved the leaves.
Manager: I did?

It’s so funny when managers try to think hard, you know? The look on his face made me think that he badly wanted to answer nature’s call, but somehow nature wasn’t calling him as often as it has to. :-P And needless to say I was controlling my laughter and had to rush out of the ODC to a nearby conference room to laugh it off.

And then I headed to Coimbatore – to spend an awesome week there with Amma and Gaya and Paatti. As usual, the city was at its enchanting best - not very hot, not very cold, chilly wind and the slight drizzle and the magnificent hills surrounding the city - they are all still there. The city is just soooooooo beautiful. Since it was Navrathri time, we had visitors during all evenings to see the Golu. My cousin Nithya had come with her two daughters, aged 4 and 2 to see the Golu and the elder one – Harsha – sang devotional songs so beautifully (with actions) as her teacher (who was also my teacher when I was in school) and I couldn’t stop moving my hands in action just like her (although I stayed away from singing along for good).

For years, it has been me who stayed back while the others said ‘bye’ and left and come November I would be the one taking off – away from Chennai, away from my work, away from a lot of great friends I have made here, away from the beaches, away from my extremely patient roomies, away from a great team at work, just away from life as I have known it for 2 years now. And I do hope everything goes on well post my ‘bye bye’ from a city I have grown to love.

But of course, ‘Lighter Side…’ will still be alive and I will continue to post here – all the details about where life takes me and what it offers. And yeah, I will be available on Orkut, FaceBook, Twitter, etc. So, I don’t really think I would be missing the gang of friends I have made in the cyber world. :-)

When the going gets tough

It has been a hectic day at work with my on-site folks demanding to know the status of tickets that are pending with me, and at the same time my offshore manager asking me to work on creating a knowledge base loading me with technical jargons like cloud computing, knowledge base (yeah, right!), Drupal and a bunch of other stuff that most certainly did not sound English. At the end of half an hour of hearing such words, he goes on to clearly mention that my on-site manager should not come back complaining that project activity is getting spoilt because of this internal work. The next few days are sure going to be tighter than the t-shirt that few of the girls at work wear.

Now, to those of you who ask what I do apart from cribbing about work – I don’t do anything much, I say. Effect of watching Quick Gun Murugan, you see. I thought the movie would be out and out funny – instead it turned out to be a very loud, repetitive affair, although there are a few funny moments; like the one scene where Mango Dolly (Rambha) says she failed to win a beauty contest, QGM responds, “It is not IAS. You can try again.” And if you consider that funny, God save you!



My room mate V came back from California after an 8 week stay there and told me the storyline (or the lack of it) of Bruno. Well, to most conservative girls (I know nobody is going to accept I am either conservative or a girl, sigh!) the movie sounded sick and she said she couldn’t understand why people were ROFL for such cheap comedy. She told more about how she saw so many people kissing in public – let me tell you that this was the same person who changes the channel during a kissing scene in any movie. Well, what can I say? Time changes, people change…

Good news from work – we have finally gotten our porcelain cups back at the pantry and done away with the paper cups that were brought in last month, in a bid to avoid the spread of swine flu. I wonder if swine flu is really gone (or is in its receding phase) or we all think it’s gone because the media is not creating frenzy over it these days. If latter is the case, haven’t we all become puppets in the hands of the media?

From Sivakamiyin Sabatham to Calvin and Hobbes

All was fine during the last week and the weekend. I read ‘Sivakamiyin Sabatham’ and finished it and became crazy. What a plot! What characters! I pity the non-Tamil folks for missing one of the best books ever written. I became crazy because I could live each of those characters starting from Mahendra Pallavar to Paranjothi to Sivakami to Maamallar to Gundodharan! Didn’t Gundodharan remind you of Aazhwarkkadiyan?

I had gone to Coimbatore for the weekend, spent a blissful (read: lazy) couple of days, participated in the Ganesh Chathurthi Pooja, ate kozhakattai (modaks), sundal – all of which mom fed me while I was happily sitting and watching TV. I didn’t have to move a thing around! Now, that is what I call life! I couldn’t go for the procession because going for the procession meant I’d miss my train back to Chennai (which I would have done whole-heartedly, but Amma wouldn’t let me). So I had to come to Chennai, away from Amma (sounds senti? I know…), Gaya and Paati, away from the pollution-free atmosphere, away from affectionate neighbors, away from Siruvani water (Gosh, haven’t I written about all these earlier?) – In short, I felt as if I had been thrown out of a protective shell, all alone and vulnerable, into the cruel world that has even more cruel managers (no, not my immediate manager, but the big shot snob who is… well, a big shot).

Back at work in the afternoon shift (which is when work is a little more hectic) I somehow found time to remind my manager about a request pending with him for approval. That **** calls me up and says he is not my manager and he hasn’t interacted with me and all sorts of crap. He was the one that did my appraisal 2 months back. WTF!!! The worst part was the way he talked – humiliating me and almost accusing me for the “crime” I committed. Agreed he is a visionary, agreed he has served the organization for over 10 years, agreed he is intelligent and all that, is he a good manager? Doesn’t half of your managing ability lie in the way you communicate and your choice of words? Perhaps he was pissed off at someone else for some other reason, but does that give him the rights to talk to me the way he did?

All I have got to tell him is, “Thambi, I know where you live.” :-|

And yeah, any stories on your managers are welcome at the comments section. After all, we all have each other to cry to. Poor managers don’t even have friends to rant to.

I’m now reading Calvin and Hobbes – and rolling on the ground laughing – in a bid to forget silly managers!

What the heck...

I really need a break – a break from work and this away-from-family life. I want to go to Coimbatore and live a lazy life for one month. I just don’t want to think about work or anything related to it for one whole month. But after one month, I want to come back – to this same project, in the same company. Is it possible?

I want to leave my job, go to a small hill station and start working there (the job description does not matter) and live there in a tiny house with a fire place. That is it. I want to be away from all this pollution, tension, stress, heat, sweat and all the bad things that are in the city. As much as I love this fab city and the city life and the friends I have made here, I want peace of mind. Everyday when I get ready to go to work, I feel like I am getting ready for some kind of cruel rat-race that has no finishing point. I feel like I am being forced to run the race whilst I prefer sitting at home and watching TV – well, who doesn’t prefer that to work, you may ask. But shouldn’t we all be doing what we like to do? Shouldn’t we all enjoy what we are doing instead of cursing our managers for dumping us with work? If we were ‘passionate’ about the field we are working on (Oh my God, I wish I’d at least like my job) we wouldn’t be cribbing and cursing, would we?

How many of us are stuck in the wrong job – any job that you don’t like to do is a wrong job with respect to you. I am sure I am. I know I have already cribbed about this in my earlier posts, but hey, my manager just gave me another bunch of issues to resolve and I am still stuck at my stupid ol’ job. I promise, once I move out of this job and start doing what my heart desires, I’d stop writing such boring posts. Until then, you could find a job that suits me best (only if you have already read my earlier posts and know which field I belong to).

I know it has been really boring for you to read – it was just as boring for me to type it out, but I had to vent it out to someone and I chose you! ;-)

PS: Written in a very confused state of mind

Mahabalipuram

I have a bad news… I have to shift my work location from one office at Sholinganallur to another one (well, at Sholinganallur)… But I soooo don’t want to shift. This office is close to the bus/auto stand than the other one and I have just made some really good friends with the pantry/cleaning staff. Another shift, another routine of making new friends, another new system and desk – it is going to be tough. But as most of you are going to say, “Change is the essence of life”; anything and everything has to change some day or the other. I am someone who is open to change and pretty adaptive; but I prefer staying in one place to keep shifting like a nomad – specially to a place which is less accessible from the main road.

In other news, I, Sabal and Rejith had gone to Mahabalipuram last Sunday afternoon and had a whale of a time there. The pictures are up on my Orkut/FB profile. Do check them out if you have the time and patience! And after seeing the pictures, I am sure you would admit that I am stuck in a wrong job and ‘Modeling’ (not the modeling in IT terms) is what I should be doing. ;-) For people who disagree, I would like to inform you that you are eligible for the quota for the visually-challenged.

Of Hari Sadu and the rest of us...

2 years of working in the IT industry has taught me a lot of things, besides writing really confusing emails, even more confusing self-appraisals (which I like to call self-aapu), where to keep my mouth shut (yes, I do that sometimes) and some stuff like that. But more than all these, I have learnt to observe people – you do not have much choice when you are on bench for almost a year before you get your first ever project. But hey, I am not complaining. I, in fact, liked the observing part so much so that I wish I was on bench and there was no recession ;-)

There are different types of people in the IT world. There are a few similarities – they all have the dog band (company ID card) around their necks, they all wear formal clothes (although a lot of them look funny in them), they all are good at staring at their computer screens (work or no work) and they all are in the process of losing their sense of humor (if you didn’t at least smile to yourself until this point of the post, I bet you are a part of the great Indian IT field).

And yet, there are so many different kinds of IT professionals.

The “Visionaries”: These are the ones that always think, feel and breathe their projects. You can usually find them sitting at their desk with their heads so close to the computer screen that you think he/she has a romantic affair with the monitor. At the cafeteria, they tend to sit alone, have lunch (while replying to business emails through their blackberries/laptops) and leave - all without attracting much attention from anyone nearby. Chances are these people were toppers in their colleges. Chances are they are already/soon-to-become project managers, who expect/would expect their subordinates to be like them too. They are well on their ways to become “Hari Sadu”s (for people who don’t know Hari Sadu, you are already becoming one. So please watch more TV and catch the naukri.com advertisement or at least google ‘Hari Sadu ad’)

The “Friends”: These are the people who like to spend time with their friends so much so that that is probably the only reason they come to office. They do complete their work on time and efficiently so (although they seem to hardly do any work from the outside), but would rather hang out with friends after work hours than romance their computer screens like the Hari Sadu’s. They are very good team players and make friends with everyone around them very easily. At the cafeteria, these people make the largest group, taking a lunch break of over 2 hours and a tea break of 45mins (twice a day). Chances are these people were the most popular guys/girls in their college. And there are lesser chances of them becoming project managers; although they could consider taking up a job at the Human Resources.

The “Snails”: These are the kind of people who are extremely hard-working and sincere in their efforts. In fact, they work as if the company’s profit depends on just what they do, but are not fast/ efficient enough in their work. They also, like the Visionaries spend very little time at the cafeteria and slog for long hours and still end up working during the weekends. They were probably not very bright students in their colleges either. Neither do they make good team players as their speed slows down the team. Tough luck, people!

The “Kids”: The freshers. They are just out of college; they think their managers are “cool” people (oh puhleeeze); they think their company is the best (oh puhleeeze, again); they are hyper-active and enthusiastic; they are generally found lunching/taking a break with their college-mates (who are still in the same location) and sending Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Evening and other equally dumb forward mails and make complete use of the internal email portal. They are forever online on the internal communicator and have at least 3-4 chat windows open – in short, they are still kids and think IT life is actually like how they show it in the movies. They have a long way to go before their eyes open up to face reality.

The “Players”: These are the ones who are eternally on the bench. Your truly was a part of this group until April 2008. But then, I had to start working (big sigh…) Anyways, the only things that interest this group are blogging, surfing the net pointlessly and downloading small flash games (remember Copter, Bow and Arrow, Beat Him, Sudoku and the rest). I can hear a lot of you saying that this is exactly what I still do at work, but hey I am in a project now and there are no complaints on me (really, ask my PM)…

I am sure there is the whole “Others” category – people who don’t fit into any of these or are a part of more than one category. But this has been a long post already and I should probably save my words for a next one.

Nocturnal? Not me!

Last week I had to work in my first ever night shift and I was as nervous and excited as my friend when she was ponnu paathufied - the traditional “seeing the bride” ceremony before a marriage where the groom’s immediate family (of at least 30 people) visit the bride’s house and ask the bride to do everything from sing to dance to even code a bug-free Java program (God, I am never going to get married) to climb Mt.Everest (That, I may be able to achieve). Anyway, I had a longish weekend from Friday evening to Monday night. And finally, as with all weekends, Monday (night) too came too early.

And I was at office sharp at 8:30pm, waiting for my first ‘ticket’ (To know what this ticket means, read: ITMARK me!) with all the curiosity of a little pup in a new home. And then work started flowing my way and never stopped until it was 6am the next morning. It was as if I was bowling the best I could, but I had an in-form Jayasuriya batting; with my captain shouting (swear words, obviously, duh...) at me at regular intervals. Talking of which I am thinking of the Indian Cricket Team’s performance (or rather the lack of it) at the ICC T20 WC, which I shouldn’t be unless I can afford my posts to contain really objectionable words.

2 nights passed by without any major hitches and on the 3rd night, it was a little less hectic and I was a little more hungry than usual. At around 2-ish in the night, my stomach started making these strange noises, not unlike Barkha Dutt does on her shows. Also, I realized it was as empty as her head. I then understood what they meant when they said “Empty vessels make more noise.” However, I was prepared for such ‘situations’ and had bought a bag of Potato Chips (I could actually use a lot of calories, you know) for the night and started munching on it like I’ve never seen food before. I felt quite full at around 3-ish (actually, the chips packet had become empty) and I headed to the pantry to have some tea. On the way to the pantry, I was startled by a hyper-active frog and almost fell down (which was so not funny!). Apart from the frog thing, there was nothing much eventful that night.

The next morning, I slept till 10:30am and then got up to have breakfast (No sir! No matter what, I never skip food) only to find my stomach turning and twisting and before I could know, I was puking all over the place (quite disgusting, yes!). But still, I went ahead and had some curd rice and was about to take a bath when I heard the water pipe farting big time; there was no water in the tank and there was no power to switch the motor on – which also meant no sleep during the afternoon. We (I, the cute-guy-next-door, his roomie, another neighbor) did everything we could from bringing an electrician to calling up the EB folks and nothing worked (I could actually understand how helpless Dhoni felt during the WC matches).

That night, again I was at office at 8pm and called up my PM, who has been extra-ordinarily kind and gracious and supportive (I hope he reads this before writing appraisal comments) and told him (actually, reminded him) about India and power cuts and took leave for the rest of the week and bunked night shift. Now I am back in the day-shifts and am sleeping through the day at work (which is not very unusual), but unable to sleep during nights (and that is killing me). And I feel so bad for my BPO friends. May God give them the strength and courage to go through with it. :-)

Busy bee!!!

I am writing this post after a rather long gap... The reason for inactivity being "my hectic schedule" at office [Note to the readers: STOP LAUGHING]. Jokes apart, I have been inactive because the past 2-3 weeks have been quite uneventful to say the least. To prove this, let me give you my daily routine.

7:30am - Wake up like Ishaan Awasthi (in TZP) with a broad smile before falling back on the bed and twisting and curling and thinking (seriously) about going back to sleep again when my room mate comes and whacks my ass asking me to get up...
7:45am - Finish brushing (To make things clear, contrary to the popular opinion that I don't brush, I don't even open my mouth before brushing and I use sign language and a series of mmmmmmmms to communicate with my room mates until I am done with brushing)
7:50am - Do basic exercises (skipping, aerobics... Just to help blood circulation and stay healthy. Otherwise, there is no other reason for me to exercise. People who know me would vouch for that. For people who don't know me, I am 5'2" and weigh like 40kgs and am badly in need of another 6kgs to look healthy.)
8:10am - Go through the newspaper and read as much as possible until the bathroom becomes free.
8:25am - Take bath (Yes, I do that too)
8:40am - Get ready (hmmmm... this includes tying up my hair, which takes up quite some time, thanks to my new haircut that was sister's stupid idea)
8:50am - Walk towards auto-stand, plug earphones and listen to radio.
9:15am - Reach office (late again!!!)
9:30am - Finish checking mails (forwards, of course) and go for breakfast.
10:00am - Back at my seat thinking what to do. (This part of my life is called "Confusion")
10:05am - Read from NDTV.com
10:15am - My dear friend Yals pings saying "Hi" and we chat for around an hour.
11:00am - Coffee-break
11:30am - Back to my seat thinking what to do
11:45am - Some of my friends here inside my ODC come over to my desk for a chat. So, chatting and pulling each other's legs eats up God-knows-how-many minutes and by the time we are done with laughing and stuff, friends from other ODCs call/sms/ping asking us to get our asses out so that we could go to the food court for lunch.
1:00pm - Lunch-break
2:00pm - As my desk tempts me for a post-lunch nap, I try fighting hard agianst it. Finally, I get up and go to the carrom-board table and play for a while until sleep gets disappointed and goes away.
3:00pm - Back to my seat thinking what to do
3:15am - Check for new emails. There are so many of my friends who have a similar work schedule and hence I receive a lot of forwards. So this takes up quite some time.
4:00pm - Coffee-break.
4:30pm - Back to my seat thinking what to do
4:45pm - Idea!!! Think about what to write in the Daily Status Report (DSR)... The client wants to know, "Endha aaniya pudunginom?"
5:00pm - No idea as to what to write in DSR. So turn towards my team mate Vinod and ask him about the same.
5:05pm - Vinod is seriously thinking as to what to write. [Naanga dhaan aaniya pudungave illaye!!!]
5:30pm - Finally, we have something to write (I seriously don't know how or what the tasks in the DSR mean, though I am the one who sends it everyday!!! And finally, our disgusted onsite co-ordinator ends up saying "Neenga pudunginadhu poorave thevayilladha aani dhaan, poyi pudungunga po")
5:45pm - Carrom-board table
8:00pm - Leave for home
8:45pm - Reach home
9:00pm - Change clothes, wash my tiffin-box and get back to the remainder of the newspaper and read the supplementary.
9:30pm - Dinner
10:00pm - Plug earphones and listen to radio.
10:15pm - Chatting with room mates starts slowly and continues until 11.
11:00pm - Good night, Sandhya...

You tell me now, where do I have the time to write a post??? Poor Sandy....

The techie that I am...

On a tiring day at office (playing carrom board, walking around the office, talking to my (huge group of) friends, total-damaging my friends and getting totally damaged), I was reading the soft copy of The Bourne Identity" . I turn around to see my team mate talking to our IT Management Services group personnel. I move towards my team mates seat and listen to what they are discussing seriously. I notice that my team mate's hands are busy clicking the mouse and writing and rewriting some code that was very new to me (I can hear you saying, "Like you know the other codes of your project"). But hey, back to work (Yes, work!) I hear them talking about VB Script, I see a few batch programs and they crack some joke about Microsoft's products (Hell, who doesn't? except me, who don't even understand such techno jokes, leave alone cracking one!)

And then IT DAWNS ON ME - they are talking like computer engineers - professionals - working in the IT indusry. And me... Was reading something (not working), that was not a computer magazine (no!) or an e-mail (which is not a funny forward); but a novel... My team mate turns towards me and says, "Hey Sandhya, you are done with reading your novel?". I, the dumb-ass that I am, say, "No, just taking a break!!!" for which he replies, "Oh!!!"

I am sure he must have thought, "This girl doesn't wanna learn anything, she's not interested in her job." I can only thank God for making him my team mate and not my PM (else my already pathetic appraisal grading would have been worse). This makes me think if I actually fit in here in the IT industry. It is not that I am not bright/smart enough (trust me guys... For those who already know the real me, please shut up and don't totally-damage me with your comments); it is just that I don't wanna sit and romance my computer and unix and java and perl and all similar things (seriously, I have a problem identifying what is what when it comes to programs and software). I'd rather read a novel (there are so many books to read - books that do not have techie terms (I'd like to name a few of these techie terms, but I don't know any, hee hee) and books that do not have pictures of new computers/laptops that are really cute - although I can understand the pictures part of such books).

I simply can't be a techie... So, now I'm thinking what I am good at.

1. Eating - Although most of you might have your doubts about that; I do eat a lot, it is just that I don't gain any weight.
2. Talking - I can talk nonstop for how many ever hours (I should be able to give RJ Dheena a run for his fame). My friends even tell me that Kareena's character in the rom-com "Jab we met" was vaguely inspired by me. (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you - read in Vivek style). Oh my God, I should be an HR person (any place where non-MBA grads are recruited as HR personnel???)
3. Chatting - I guess that comes under talking too...
4. SMSing - That too is talking??? Come on people... There is nothing else to write in this list!!! Anyways, I can text without seeing the keypad at a great speed.
5. Playing - Carrom board. One of the (read Only) things that motivates me to come to office everyday.
6. Sleeping - Yes... I sleep lavishly....
7. Shopping - I am a girl after all (for everyone who has had a doubt on that - FOR THE RECORD, "I AM A GIRL")

I guess I am feeling too hungry and sleepy to include more in the list of stuff that I am good at (though most of you, by now would have gathered there is actually nothing more to add to it)