India is everywhere??

During the past few weeks, there has been a huge increase of "Indianess" on American TV. Today in the John Colbert Report, they had a new report called as "Paging Dr Mandhvi" that started with a song and dance sequence. In teh Colbert Report, Steven talked about India waging a war against New Zealand and imagining how would that be - with India's army dancing in the typical Bollywood/Tollywood style and New Zealand's army as "Lord of the ring".

To top that, the next advertisement was of some vitamin drink that showed bolloywwod style dancing and tabla music in the background.

Well, I am not stating that America is mystified with the Bollywood. Bollywood is seemingly the most silly thing that India represent. Americans fail to understand why on earth do we Indian's dance around trees in absolutely perfect synchronization. So if that is being displayed in the mainstream american media, then we know India has arrived. Yoga, Sandeep Cabarwal ( of the "We all walk in different shoes" fame from Kenneth Cole, Goa, Taj Mahal, Mumbai, Shilpa Shetty is already very well known in the world.

Though a few foreigners still imagine that Indians travel to work on elephants and its the land of snake charmers and other mystique, most of them have realized that India has arrived.

Mumbai Terror attack

Mumbai is in chaos now. Its very sad so see such events happeneing in India. I shudder to think what's going on in the mind of thousands of people who are out on the streets. Its events like these that tug at your heart and kill any hope that you have of going back to your country.

I was just discussing this with one of my collgues and I was like, ist impossible to do anthing in big cities like Mumbai, NY etc. The only difference is in the intelligence. India needs to invest in security and Intelligence.

Nowadays, I am reading a book by Gurucharan Das - India unbound. Each page in the books has so much information about the history of India - it amaze me. I was reading through the chapter where "The Green Revolution" is described and therefore i thought it was apt to blog about it.

1950s: Famine in India, a common occurrence.
1961: India on the brink of mass famine.
1980: India is one the of world's largest exporter of rice. Famine has not occurred since.

A number of events transpired between the 1950s to 1980's that made India self sufficient in food. It all began with the untimely death of Nehru, appointment of Lal Bahadur Shastri (creator the slogan of "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan and also the promoter of the "White Revolution") as Prime minister. Shastri was a modest man - he was home grown ( unlike idealists like Nehru/Gandhi) and feeding India was his first priority. He appointed a scientist, Swaminathan, as the Minister of Agriculture. Now, Swaminathan was a very learned man and he came across an invention of a Mexican variety of Wheat by Norman Borlaug that produced 5 times of a normal wheat crop. India imported 150 million of this variety of wheat (by chartering flights) and experimented with it in norther west regions like Punjab, Haryana etc where water and fertilizer was in abundance( a prerequisite for the crop). To the amazement of everyone, the same results as in Mexico was achieved in India and eventually, India was self sufficient in being able to feed its rapidly growing population.

Swaminathan's efforts are commendable especially since he had to loop through a number of bureaucratic hurdles to ensure the success of this project.
There was this line in the book that struck me "Indian democracy is not used to bold actions by its leaders". But Swaminathan was adamant. He also put forward a proposal, amid criticism, to raise the price of wheat. the reason he gave for this move was, " the farmers need some incentive to move from the normal wheat to the high yeilding variety. The policies have to be changed in conjuction to the change in technology". How right he was, especially in those days of socialism.


Moment of Zen:
Has it occurred to anyone of the irony that, when education was a privilege, many learned men and women would get into politics (Like Nehru, Gandhi) and be so effective in sharing their ideologies. But now, when education is a no more a privilege ( in the urban areas), mostly uneducated people get into politics?

Ambani brother's handshake spurs rally in market

Just yesterday, the headlines of TimesofIndia.com was how Advani had mediated the Ambani brothers to shake hands. My thoughts on reading the article was, WHAT? Why does that have to be a damn HEADLINE in a newspaper? Family feud,Family reunion are a common fact of life. Newspaperps should do a better job at reporting (maybe about how farmers in Nagpur, or anythign else that's important). Anyways, Today morning I was proved wrong (once again!!) The handshake by the Ambani brother's led to a rally in the stock market with the market gaining 464 points. WHOA!!! Lesson to be learnt, N is that the ambani's are not just another family. Together, their net worth is 6.10 billion $. So anything that they do , is IMPORTANT. For e.g, if they sneeze, an epedemic may occur. If they brush their teeth with "Oral B Sonic" , the sales of teh brush will multiply.So at the end of the day, N. Never doubt the ambani brothers.


Today's Moment of Zen:
Money is the source of all evils. This has happened in the past..(Ambani Brothers) Its very sad but it has happened in my family and if the past is a precendent, it will continue to happen always.

This and That....

Democrats ask Automakers to prepare a plan in 12 days that describes how they will spend the aid money and what steps they will take to take the auto industry out of this mess.
My view: I think that the auto industry needs to be saved. The entire detroit and michigan area depends on them and everyone will be bankrupt. By providing aid to the industry, the govt is not only saving these companies but also its employees and hence the small businesses and the people

On another note: the rate at which the stock market is spirallying down is really scaring me now. My portfolio is at 50% loss. Though I am not much bothered about teh portfolio( well, it will get back to green, in maybe 5 years??) , i am concerned about the panic it is creating in the market. There are layoffs everywhere. The job market has practically frozen (esp in the tri state area) and teh jobless claims is at a 16 year high. Citi has announced layoffs of 53000 people. Freaking 50000. How will they run that mammoth of a company? JPMorgan is about to layoff 10% of its IB division. There is mayhem everywhere.

And in these moments, a feeble mind turns towards solace. Listen to this and I promise you it will bring a smile on your lips.Interview With God


My Moment of Zen today :
Today I went to a popular Thai restaurent, Village for lunch. Usually the place is crowded and has a minimum 30 mins waiting period. Today, the place was empty. We were the only ones in teh restaurent , that too at 12:30 which is when all the employees from the sveral corporate buildings go out for lunch. The reason is obvious. Most of these buildings are running at 50% (or less?) capacity nowdays and many have started packing there lunch from home ( the refrigerator on my floor is full). This is what is called as the trickle effect. When the "greedy" corporates go bust, its not only the employees who suffer but all the several small business owners who depend on them. And that is why I think the 700$+ billion bailout is neccessary - because its not only bailing out the corporates but all the people in turn.
Update: The senate has just passed a "extened" jobless benefit bill that will benefit those who have been jobless for more than 7 weeks. I wonder how much the US treasary is worth :D

Will Obama take away my job?

I have been an Obama supporter from Day 1. He has the poise, the charisma and the grace to be a president and turn America around. May be not necessarily in a single term but I forecast that Obama is going to be the president for many more terms to come.

Anyways, the question for this blog is will Obama take my job away? I am an IT worker from India who works on projects of US MNCs. Talk to anyone in India and they will tell you how much of a hype the media has created on Obama's words that he will bring back jobs to America.

My analysis tells me mny things
1) Obama has not said anything like he is going to ban outsourcing. What Obama has said that he is going to stop "subsidizing" outsourcing. They claim that right now the govt subsidizes anythign that has bbeen outsourced and therefor ethey are going to get rid of those "tax-breaks" . So outsourcing will be taxed like any other American labour is taxed. If such incentives do exist and are repealed, then there may be some slowdown in outsourcing so instead of 30% growth, there will be 15% growth.
2) Obama has also mentioned that he is not against globalization or putting up walls around america and that it is very difficult to bring back the jobs that have already been outsourced. So he says that the governemnt has to create more jobs like buil dmore schools, improve the infrastructure and build bridges etc. More students need to take up maths, science etc.
3) In my opinion, big companies will see more value proposition in outsourcing and therefore will go ahead with it, inspite of the tax breaks. However, small comapnies like RiteAid will need to evalute a lot of cost/saving and growth forecats before they think outscouring will be profitable.

Obama Campaign's paramedic LIVES IN OUR APARTMENT COMPLEX

On entering my apartment complex mail room I see this guy bending over one of the mailboxes. Since his mailbox was just below my mailbox, I patiently wait for him to finish.  So the conversation goes like this

He: Is your mailbox on this side too?
Moi: Yes.
He: I am sorry, there are so many letters in my mailbox. (Truly enough, his box was full of letters)
Moi: That's okay. Take your time, I will wait.

(After 30 secs)
Moi: Were you out on vacation? This is A LOT of mails.
He: No No. I was out on work for a month. You see, I am a paramedic. I was out on Obama's campaign ...
Moi: Wow...That's so cool. (Excited) Did you get to meet Obama?
He: Oh yes. But, its done. I am done. Finally home after a month.
Moi: (Still grinning) Nice. Welcome back.

After he left, I was excited. Imagine. A paramedic from Obama's campaign lives IN OUR APARTMENT. On top of that, we are neighbours (Yes, I followed him ). HOW COOL IS THAT?

There are so many professions out in the world. So many important ones. Its a pity that children in India are exposed to so few professions. When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an engineer. Not because I wanted to , but because my father wanted me to. And I didn't want to disappoint him. Don't get my point wrong. I love being a computer engineer. I love using technology to solve complex problems. Technology didn't fail to amaze me then and it never fails to amaze me now. But just being out in this world and hearing about what so many people do, simply amazes me. There has been times when I have heard about what people do and I say - There are people who actually do that?  One our trip to Hawaii this January, we were talking to one of the Deck Hands on one of the cruises and he was telling A and I about how he reached Hawaii (By travelling as a deckhand on one the commercial ships) and how life is difficult for him here in Hawaii. The instant thought was - complete you education man. Life will be easy. But will it be? Tell this to thousands of job less people now.

Anyways, talking about interesting jobs - did you know there is an internship program for the White House. The profile for the job is "In addition to normal office duties, interns attend weekly lectures, volunteer at special events, participate in tours, and contribute to a community service project in the Washington, D.C. area. White House Internships are unpaid positions and participants are responsible for arranging their own transportation and housing. Approximately 100 interns are chosen each spring, summer, and fall to participate in this highly competitive program."  And guess what, getting into this program is more competitive than getting into a Harvard MBA program. Guess this is what it takes to nurture future leaders. Wish there was something like this in India where youngsters would get to have a look at the Rashtrapati Bhavan/ Prime Minister's Office more closely and maybe, develop some interest for politics.

Chandrayaan - India foray into the space race

Oct 22nd was a landmark in the space history of India. Chandrayaan, an unmanned lunar exploration spacecraft, was launched with 5+6 payloads to study the moon's surface. Over the next 2 years, the remote sensing satellite intends to study the lunar surface for visible, infrared and xray frequencies to produce a complete 3 d map topography of the moon.

China's first manned mission in 2003 triggered the second international space race (the first one was between USSR and USA during the cold war). China, having completed the space walk and now planning to launch a space station has become the third space superpower. It is in response to the chinese program that India has prepared and launched its maiden space mission to put an object (beyon the gravity of earth) to orbit the moon.

This step can be seen a India's first step into the global league of space faring nations.
Benefits
1) Shows off the strategic capability as an emerging economic and military power on the world stage
2) Morale-boosting social benefits
3) Commercial use of statellite launching technology.
4) potential military applications.

Cons:
Most people do not see the benefit of diverty rs 200 crores to a space mission when the country has high levels of poverty. I feel that though India has high levels of poverty, though the scientific benefits and the knowledge and expertise gained from this mission will not be immediately apparent, the returns will eventually be more and aimed at improving people's lives. In fact, when India' first planned to put satellites to orbit the earth, there were similar questions. But that operation immensely helped India as India is now oen of the largest operators of remote sensing satellites and also places satelites into orbit at a very low cost as compared to other nations. So there is a huge commercial benefit.

The commerical statelltie launch business estimated to be arnd $2billion and this will enable India to get a larger share of this pie. Last year, India put an Italian satellite on space for a fee of 11 million dollars.

Mission
The satellite is currently orbitting the earth in an elliptical orbit. On saturday november 8th, additional velocity will be given to the spacecraft to enter the lunar orbit. Once this is done, the spacecraft will be slowed down so as to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit. It also carries a Moon Impact probe that will be sent to the surface of the moon. This is done to qualify technologies required for future landing and to prove that an object can be sent to the pre selected location of the moon.

MNS and the anti bhaiya campaign

I left Bihar and moved to Chennai and then NOIDA and then Pune and Mumbai. I could move freely between these states because I am an Indian and its my constitutional and fundamental right to move anywhere in India. This is because I am an Indian first and a Bihari next.

This whole MNS issue threatens to challenge our national itnegrity and unity.

Well, if Raj Thackeray is bothered about people coming into your city and making it deplorable, there are many things that you can do about it other than abusing or terrorizing north Indians. Beating some defenceless students from Bihar or taking aways the livelihood of a poor taxiwalah does not reflect the pride that maharashtra stands for. My husband is a maharahstrian and I know and belive that maharashtrians are very calm and are an intellect community.

Since this topic has been coming up in almost all the states like Tamil Nadu, Assam Maharashtra, Karnataka I guess it is high time something is done for it.

1) Making Marathi compulsary as a third language: I think its a non issue. Even though i think people should have a right to choose what they learn (like I had), in order to give credit to the issue of "giving the local culture credit", they can make an attempt at learning the language. Its not going to make anyone less mharashtrian or less Indian or less bihari.
2) Displaying Marathi signboards. All corporations should have an option to display thier signboards in english or any language that they choose. However, to give credit to local people, they can display the name in the regional language in small letters.
3) Movement of people: There is nothing that can be done without hurting caliber. People of india are allowed to go anyhwere and set up buisness or jobs as long as these jobs are willing to take them. If you want local people to get jobs, educate them and train them and make them competitive.
4) Mumbai is what it is because of contributing of not only the local but also from outside the city. Instead of abusing them ,appreciate their contribution to the economics of the city and make them appreciative of the culture. Show them your culture and they will appreciate it. How many of the non maharashtrians don't participate in ganapti? My uncle is a bihari but celebrates all 10 days of ganapati.
i) Promote ad financially support Marathi literature and poetry.
ii) Hold festivals like Delli Haat and showcase the regional culture
5) Crime Rate: Has it been proven by any independent, objective study that the currently high crime rates are linked to immigrants and which immigrants?
6) Mumbai is not maharashtra. Why don't you put your attention and finances at work in the rest of the state to support those farmers.
7) Why don't you crate employment generation schemes in a small town so people don't have to migrate.

US India Nuclear Deal - what's in it for anybody?

India's Energy needs
India with its double digit growth pace needs more and more renewable energy alternatives to meed its growth demands. However, India does not have natual energy mediums like fossil fuels so it has to rely on imports and natural eneregy to do so.
The current energy sources allocations are
Thermal Power 66%
Hydel Power 26%
Solar & Wind Power 5%
Nuclear Power 3%


After the above has been stated, lets discuss NTP.
NTP stands for Nuclear Non Poliferation Treaty. The basic spirit of NTP is that all nuclear weapon contries keep the nuclear weapons to themselves and provide civiliean nuclear technology to other countries in exchange of their refusal to produce nuclear weapons. 5 countires have nuclear weapons: UK,US, France, Russia and China. NTP proposes non poliferation, disarmament and using nuclear tech for peaceful purposes.

Ideally, India along with Israel, Pakistan and North Korea have not signed the treaty. NK had signed the treaty, violated it and then withdrew. Isreal is belived to have nuclear weapons but has a policy of opacity. India and Pakistan both have nuclear bombs.

Why wouldn't these countries join?: the 5 counties did what ever they wanted and then developed the NTP to prevent others from doing the same. India does not want to sign the treay as China has nuclear weapons and India and China have border disputes.
A few countries like N Korea as well as Libya have found to violate trety inspite of having signed it.

US Nuclear Deal (123 aGREEMENT)
About the deal
According to this deal, US will supply technology and material to India to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes and in return India will allow the UN's nuclear watchdog group access for inspection to its 14 out of the current 22 and all future civilian nuclear power stations. However,India has the right to decide which reactors are civilian and which are military.

What's in it for US and other countries
1) Lead to better relations between India and USA and establish close relation ship for future.
1) US,France and Russian companies will be allowed to build nuclear reactors in India. Canada can supply Uranium.
2) US is looking for ways to offset China's groing dominance in Asia and India with its nuclear energy will be ableto support the groing economy and therefore chanllenge China's growth.

What's in it for India
1) Alternative sources of nuclear energy to support its growth
2) It demonstrates that US is ready to build a long and enduring relationship with India.

Pros from the world's point of view
1) Since the NTP has failed to force India to allow inspection of its nuclear facilities, atleast this open will allow some of it to be reviewed for the international commitee, The piece cites proponents of the deal who argue that some international oversight over India's nuclear program is better than none.
2) Benied denied access to nuclear fuel was working against India developing as an emerging power. So this agreement is taken very favourably by India and seens more as a symbolism of the relationship between India and America.
3) Recognizes India's history of volutanry safeguards and strict control over its nuclear technology.

Cons from the world's point of view
1) Lead to arms race in India as Pakistan has already opened a new reactor in 1998 to develop weapons grade plutonium.
2) By giving access to India inspite of it not signing the NTP, US itself has undermined the treaty itself so when they present the case to other countires to sign, it will have no effect. Esp with North Korea.
3) Pakistan claims that it has the same behaviour as India and it too should deserve the same perks. But Pakistan had a history of poliferation esp with a general selling some nuclear technology to Iran.

How did the pact get signed when there are so many political consequences
Each country is going to reap huge profits by sellign nuclear material/technology to India. So as the Marx would say "Follow the Money"

Sleeping under the stars

There is a french window in our apartment against which we have our makeshift "diwan" basically a mattress with a number of pillows on it. I love to sleep on that and watch the stars ...

“A bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There’s the life for a man like me,
There’s the life forever.”

Robert Louis Stevenson “The Vagabond”

Found a new blog

During my quest to find some information on diversity in America, I stumbled upon this awesome blog, written by a stay at home mother of 3 young boys in florida - She is humourus ,witty and a beautifyl writer. I spent about 3 hours reading her past blogs and spent a few girly giggles....I hope I could write as well as her..

Iceland on sale ?????

Hahaha...Okay someone goofy has put up Iceland on Sale on Ebay.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUKLNE49906S20081010

c'mon people, don't you have somethign better to do ? And c'mon "me" don't you ahve something better to blog about? ;)

Anyways, the same thing had happened when Lehman went bust - someone had put Lehman on ebay. Both the times - it was certianly funny - especially the questions asked . hilarious.

McCain - Palin : The comedy of errors

For someone who has been following the Presidential race for the past few months and has been watching "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" for most of the information on the race, the past few months has been highly entertaining.

My husband and I never forget to watch the above mentioned shows everyday. Yes, Evryday. And in that 1 hour you will usually find us laughing out loud, looking at each other in disbelief, uttering the phrase "how stupid can one be" numerous times , among other things. At it seems, we love the show for its satire.

Yesterday we were just talking about how pro-obama teh entire media is. Or is it really? I think and hope not. The media is teh single largest force that shapes ones opinion and it would be largely irresponsible for the media to be pro one candidate.
But then why do we keep hearing funning and unbeliveble things about McCain and Palin while we don't hear such things about Obama and Biden. the answer is : because McCain and Palin give fodder for the news much more than the other party. The 24x7 news concept survives on juicy tidbits. If they become fair and give each candidate equal coverage, they would have to be very selective on material for republcans and thus lose some good juicy news. While they would report less popular news on Obama which would in turn be very boring. And also, because I think they exhausted all news on Obama during the democratic prelimanaries. That period was high exposure for both Obama and Hillary as it was highly contested and bitterly faught. Hillary left no stone unturned on Obama and so everything is now old news.

Anyways, this post is not on the responsibilities of the media but on McCain and Palin. If you have been following the race, you would know how utterly foolish and stupid both the candidates are. I respect McCain and all the expirience and knowledge that he has. But he totally blew that respect when he chose Palin as the running mate. Does he really think women are so stupid that if Hillary wasn't running, they would choose *ANY* woman? For that matter, anyone who wore lipstick? What he doesn't get it is people realized that soon after the republican convention. I must admit, I was impressed by Palin after her speech at the GOP convention. (Though, I must add - there is something wrong with her face when she speaks). At that time, we thought that maybe after all McCain did a good thing. But that impression soon turned into dirt after she said that her foriegn policy expirience comes from Alaska's proximity to Russia. C'mon, haven't we had enough of those douchebag and ignorant talks in the past 8 years. The Daily Show and Colbert Report thrive on that. Do we really want Tina Fey to come back to Saturay Night Life for the next 8 years? The answer is "No". McCain - you lost it. People are not stupid. They no longer want or can afford the war. Keep the war in your pockets so you can take them out once we come out of the economic crisis. you can solve both. Both issues need money and money doesn't grow on trees.

Btw, an interesting talk on how Mccain is asking Goldman Sach employees for money. i think its a fart news - but nevertheless - entertaining.

http://wonkette.com/403408/mccain-begging-money-from-goldman-sachs-employees
Btw, if you haven't watched Tinay Fey on SNL - i highly recommend watching it. The entertainment factor is 20 out of 10 ;)

IT's finest hour

I was reading this article on CIO.com on whether Y2K was the most overyhyped flop of the centure. It's very interesting to note the persepctive of both side of the issues.

Non IT ( those who didn't know what was going on ) thought that nothing happened when the clock struck 12:00 am that day. I guess everyone was disappointed. They had expected to see "banks losing all the money they had in their vaults, [airplanes] dropping from the sky and general global unrest" instead of a non event. On Jan 1 when everyone woke up to a non chaotic morning, the general consensus would have been that the money went down the drain. Nothin was supposed to happen and nothing happened.

IT people howeverbelive that a lot of work was done (in the background ) for years so that "nothing" happened when the clock struck 12:00. This was what had happened and as expected (due to all the effort that went into it). So the effort was successful.

I remember my family had gone to Calcutta for New Year's celebration to my uncle's place. So when the entire family was out celebrating and wishing each other "Happy new Year", me and 2 of my cousins were in front of the computer watching the clock ticking away to midnight. We were holding our breadth as we neared 12:00 am. I don't remember what we expected to happen but I guess I would have thought the computer would just start showing those gibberish signs and then "swoosh" and it would break down. But, disappointedly nothing happened.

Coming back to the debate, I think it was overhyped, especially the part of everyone's personal computer stopping unless some fix was doneto it. Many people earned a lot on that fear (esp with the prices of PC being so steep, noone wanted to risk it). I agree that a lot of leagcy code as well as hardware that was used to run the banks and the airplanes and hospitals and other electronic systems had to be updated and clearly the IT community achieved a mammoth task through hardwork.
So, though the Y2K was a little overhyped, it was not a flop show.

I liked a particular comment " I guess it's just human nature to expect to get something for your money. When the goal is to not get something, the concept is too novel for most people"

Ikea's lingonberry sauce

If anyone has had the lingonberry sauce at Ikea, they will understand my need to dedicate a post to it. :) I had the typical meatballs with lingonberry sauce the first time I went to Ikea. It was awesome. The favour is a little sweet,a little tart. I absolutely loved it.

Yesterday, I went to Ikea (for the second time ever) and after 2 hours and a Ikea blue bag full of beautiful little stuff, I headed straight into the restaurant and picked up a bottle of the lingonberry sauce. And the first thing I did when I reached home was , yeah you guess it right. Popped the bottle open and had so much sauce...that the bottle if half empty now :) I should have got another bottle :(
Anurag and my in laws loved it too...I can't wait to go back and get another bottle.

Btw, was going through the wiki site for lingonberry and came acorss the fact that its a wild fruit. I am wondering if i can find it anywhere where I live...:)
And in Russia, they are sometimes used as a mild laxative...woops :)

TINA and TATA

Did you know
TINA: There is no alternative
TATA: There are thousands (of) Alternatives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TINA

awesome, ain't it?

witnessing the fall of Lehman Brothers

12th Sept 08,Friday: It had been in the news for sometime now. Talks were on with KDB and BOA. During the weekly team lunch at "the Village", Jersey City , it was a common consensus that Lehman needed Fed's money for survival. Everybody but me was pretty sure that we would get the money from fed. I had a nagging doubt. How many companies can the FED save? Most importantly, why should the taxpayers pay for this mess. The corporates don't give bonuses to the general public when they reap huge profits - why should the taxpayers bail out these corporates? But as Yong pointed out, it was in the nations interest. Lehman's failure would cause a ripple effect and take down many others with it, so it was in teh nation's interest that the govt will save lehman. We had spent weeks wishing and praying for some miracle and hoped that monday will bring some news

14th Sept 08,Sunday: I received a call from my lehman manager asking me to report to work early and confirmed the news that Lehman is filinf for bankruptsy tonight. I didn't know what to think. Lehman was a giant. I was so proud of the company. I loved teh wrok culture, I loved everything about it.

15th Sept 08, Monday: I reached office at 7:00 pm to find ell the employees packing their stuff. I was shocked, I asked "Why are you packing". Everyone was like : "Get your stuff out, we don't know if we will work tomorrow". The entire morning was spent talking to everyone. Everyone was so sad. It was surreal. I didn't belive this was it. We spent the entire mornign going over ft.com and online.wsj.com. Heard everyones interpretations.Eventually we were called for a group meeting. Our SVP thanked each of us and said how proud he was of each one of us. The usual morale boosting things. Tips were give on outplacement services, resume building and networking to find more jobs. Most joked about it. One guy actually offered his car to transport our stuff from office and amazingly, even offered to store our stuff in his apartment for one week. He ,very quitely, also put out an ad saying he was looking for a roommate :). The common consensus was that for a while its good to get out of financial services and education was topped the list. After hanging out for some more time, we were called into the meeting with TCS managers. Nothing as usual was said. Hang tight and continue to come for work (unless you are kicked out).

16th Sept 08, Tuesday: All the employees working from home. We have started working on production issues. There is a rumour going on that the cafe downstairs is closing. So everyone is rushing to buy stuff with the remaining balance from thier cards.At around 3:00 pm we hear that our division is being bought by Barclay's. The UK national anthem is being played on the trading floor. Evrybody is waiting with a baited breadth. At 5:00 pm we hear that all US IT employees are part of the acquisition. It was a relief.

17th Sept 08, Wednesday: Barclay's announced that it will take 10K out of the 13K employees in NA. Some were seen calculating how many in NY just to see thier chances.

18th Sept 08, Thursday: We have started working as usual as Barclays Capitals.


It was a very surreal expirience to be in this situation. I knew I would not be affected, I was a consultant so I woul dbe placed in another company. So I was watching the entire episode with an interest. I felt bad, definelty. Like I said before, I was very proud to be working for Lehman. It was not the largest of the IB firms. But it had a very good brand name. I had seen the work culture and I absolutely loved it. They would do anythign for you- as an employee. They made you work hard , but also took really good care of you. The most difference between my previous company and this is the people. I have always believed that people make a company. Whatever brand name /work you do - at the end of the day its the people who create/exceute those startegies. If a person at any level is a flab, the entire tree below that person will suffer. So it is very important for every level to be very strong. My previous project in this cpmpany had a manager who I believe is a flab. But the current manager is as good a manager can be. He takes care of us, treats us like human beings - and it broke my heart to see them so worried. Their entire life savings had just puffed in front of them and they could do nothing. Employees ,righly so, were very bitter. Everyone had expected the govt to bail Lehman out. If they could do it for Bear, then why not Lehman. Bear was very small as compared to Lehman. But the govt had failed lehman. Noone could get over this fact.

I agree that the govt did the right thing. During the Bear episode, no one was ready for this. It was unexpected so teh govt had come forward and had given them a lifeline. Lehman had had time to prepare for this. Its been 6 months now. The top guys had seen the balancesheets and they knew it was coming. But they did not react quickly. In the last month, they kept pursuing KDB and rejected good offers from other companies. Its said that Fuld, made teh same mistake that all long serving CEO's make : felt that his company was worth much more than its market price. It was a terrible mistake. A chance lost that could have corrected so many things. Fuld lost his post, but his shortsightedness caused so much uproar. So much money, so many jobs were lost. On top of it all, faith was lost.
Some news articles:
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto091520081657170568&page=2
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4761890.ece

Bored....

...to death

Lost PAN Card

Exactly 1 and a half years ago, I had lost my PAN card, along with my wallet in the Elco market in Juhu, Mumbai. I was devastated. In 5 days I was boarding my flight to NY so I knew it would take another trip back to India to get another copy of my PAN card. My credit cards - I was not so worried. Just a few phone calls and they were disabled, but it was my PAN card that I was most worried about. Primarily because the Indian Govt. is not so good on the technological front. Long queues and babugiri is rampant.

For all these while I did not care to get a copy of my PAN card. I didn't need it and I had a laminated xerox copy of it. But now after all these days, I felt the need for it (Read: Investing in India). I has a bad feeling about the whole process knowing that it would take months for the whole process. 2 hours of googling and here I am with the answer. It as easy as filling up the online form , attaching a few documents and submitting it. And voila, your application is submitted. No queues. No paan stains :). In fact to top it , they even provide you with a tracking number so you can track the progress of your application - which is pretty cool. And sweet lord, the card is mailed to you in 3-4 weeks.

Computers. Where would human race be without it!!

PS: Those who want to know the details on getting a new/lost PAN card, this is the link http://www.tin-nsdl.com/PANIntroduction.asp

Migraine

I have this throbbing headache since morning, rather since yesterday afternoon. It just doesn't seem to go away. I skipped office today. Slept through most of the day. Everytime I would get up, i would slowly get up to see if its gone. And then the throbbing would slowly creep back in. I am so frustated, more so because I know that when this pain goes away , the other side of my head will start throbbing in another 2 days.

Its like clockwork, every month same pattern. One side starts hurting - lasts for 1-2 days and then after 2 days the other side hurts. And during these 2 days, I have about 5-6 head ache medicines - none of which seems to work.

Migraine is defines as "..is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily experiences, painful headaches, and nausea. It is a common condition which affects women more frequently than it does men" Wiki.

[Update]I tried a cool compress and ginger...Guess what..My Headache is gone....Awesome!! No pill popping next time.

India's First Individual Gold Medal - Jai Hind

As I logged into my pc today in office and opened the customary timesofindia.com for my daily dose of desh ka news, the headline caught my eye - India's pride: Bindra's tryst with destiny . Wow...what a way to start my day. As I read through the article, I could feel myself filled with pride. It didn't matter who Abhinav Bindra was, but he had made India proud, won us a gold medal and this was no doubt a historical feat. But when I came to the part where the article said " Hockey's eight gold medals notwithstanding, the last coming 28 years ago, this is the first time that an Indian has won an individual gold since modern Olympics started in 1896. "..I said, WTF. Not one Indian has ever won the gold medal...not one? Shit. Wish Kho-kho was an Olympic game ...

I know that India doesn't have the resources - money and facilities - to compete in sports which requires the latest equipment,resource and training that other countries take for granted. But...Wait and watch World, with all the FII's pouring money into India's booming economy, with US corporations sponsoring Kolkatta's local Durga Puja - where do you think the money will go? No no.. the middle class won't eat even more (causing further global food shortage .... c'mon how much can we eat)..the extra money will eventually reach the masses ( after the corporations and politicians have had their share) ..And we will be able to generate clones of Abhinav Bindra. And then we will take over the rest of the world ( the first half has already been taken by India's IT and BPO service ;) ) .. And while you are at the article take note of [quote]"Will this not change his life? "My life will go on. I hope it changes the face of Olympic sports in the country," he said. [/quote] Amen. Inshallah.

On a serious note, I recommend everyone to watch this video. Filled me with immense pride to hear our anthem.

Bindra, next time you win the gold medal, please do a victory dance and laugh a little and show a little emotion. We modest Indians do not like to create hulla bullah at everything - BUT ITS AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL AND THIS WAS THE FIRST FOR INDIA.

And while you (the reader) are watching the video, take pity on Zhu Qinan, sobbing like he won the last place. Zhu -C'mon. Its not like you came last, you WON the second place. I know there is a lot of difference in the gold and silver medal and I understand that you tried your best, but look at the brighter side : 1) you won the second place 2) You won the gold in Athens 2) you are only 24 years old. There is always next time.
And please, don't cry. Olympics is a show of sportsmanship. Show it, please.

The Video:



[Update on 12 August 08] Heard that Mittal had helped Bindra financially. This link

Shame Shame Shiv sena

Just heard that shiv sena has "and" BJP has been secretly funding off Naxalite movements in Mumbai (link). WTF....How can the great sons of Mumbai soil cause grief to marathi manoos.....I only wish that this investigation is followed upon and the guilty are punished...And btw, Shiv Sena, Narco Analysis is a well accepted evidence in court and is definitely not a test in which "a drugged person might talk any rubbish" .

The whole politics scenario in India is going to the dogs. Everyone just wants to stay in power. They will do anything - read murder, bribe, shoot chairs and what not at others, join opposition parties etc.Even the supreme court judges are fed up. I just wish the judiciary had some power over the executive committee. ( well, probably then the judiciary would be more corrupted..its a vicious circle!!)

On another note, why is the entire Gandhi parivar hopping off to Beijing? Especially since the trip is sponsored by us, the taxpayers? Accepted that Rahul and Sonia are invited . The question is why is Priyanka and her husband going? Shouldn't Manmohan Singh and his wife or rather the president go instead?

PS: On second thoughts, I wouldn't recommend the president going since she will end up embarrassing India yet again ( Remember the Mexico incident?)

Dabbas @ office

Just noticed, since the economic downturn, the dabbas in the office refrigerator has increased at a constat rate to the point that there is no place left now for more dabbas...

Shiv sena - what are you trying to do?

I am aghast at reading this article on TOI today. I wonder what do they want to prove? I feel so sad to think about India nowadays. As the entire world is progressivng towards the future, letting go of thier inhibitions - India is going backwards. Racial thoughts are being injected to the general public liek never before, the government is trying to divide the nation based on outdated and unneeded thoughts like castes an races.

Relaxed

Since for the past 4 weekends, we did not get an oppurtunity to stay at home and relax, I was in desperate need to stay at home and do nothing (expect probably study for my impending GMAT exam). This weekend ,we did just that, from afternoon siesta to tennis, from rajma to breakfast in bed

It started with a little cleaning expedition on Friday since we were expecting company for the weekend ( which eventually got canceled due to the weather). Saturday was lazy wherein we did not do anything in particular except a little shopping and lots of doses of idiot box.

Sunday was even better. It started with fruit, ice cream, lassi for breakfast, then a game of tennis ( in which I sucked big time), then the usual weekend grocery and idli lunch at JQ SQ. This followed a nice afternoon slumber for 4 hrs and here I am writing the post - utterly relaxed and with a nice warm cup of tea.

Monday,here I come!

Mumbai Indians to Aami Mumbaikars

A passing thought, what fun would it be if Raj Thackeray suddenly raises his head and declares that only "Mumbaikars" can play in the IPL Team, Mumbai Indians. The selection criteria would be any one who has forefathers staying in Mumbai for 100 years are only eligible and at point of time would not have left the soil of Mumbai. The justification would be the countless cricket hopefuls of Mumbai who would never otherwise get a chance at playing since players from "outside" mumbai are clogging the team.

As I laugh out my thought aloud, my marathi husband simply smirks

on my 27th birthday

I have always had very high expectations from life from childhood to alduthood...in fact this bubble has never bursted even now..
When I was small and in school, I dreamt of First prizes and hounours in schools and sports...when I moved to high school I dreamt of cool colleges (dreams flamed by album videos of everyone playing basketball in cool wooden courts)
In college I dreamt of nice importatnt jobs (among other thinsgs ;)) where i was there to save the world...had amazing perks...with vacations in exotic locations to owning beautiful apartments and homes..pretty far fretched now that I think of it.The bubble soon burst and the last year of college was spent in dreaming of *any* job (where I was still saving the world)
Then I got my job and then after a lot many months, I realized how useless my dreams were. All my life I had dreamt of something better and had worked really hard for it...When I was young and small, I got many of my dreams fulfilled...maybe because my dreams were realistic and somethings I could achieve. But as I grew older, my dreams got unrealistic ...and I think I stopped trying to fullfill them. I stopped trying hard and started dreamsing more...and then got frustated that my dreasm were not getting fulfilled...and this went into a vicious circle. The more I got frustated , th emore I dreamt of my dreams getting fulfilled without me trying ..maybe bceuase I had tried so hard all my little life and had seen other getting everything without trying...and fort once I wanted that to happen to me..but it never happened...whenever i stopped trying hard..things just tubmled down..maybe I should stop dreaming...