The Raise and Fall of Thyself

Wow. I cannot believe I've been away for 2 months. It pains to remember I promised myself to blog more often only in my last post.

However, I have news. News worth waiting for 2 months? Definitely. Atleast, for me. I've had some tough career decisions to make - learning a few lessons along the way. Not to mention help a good friend make a live-love-career decision. Am not going to talk about that. So, the news? I've changed jobs. Not just jobs, but positions and technologies. Its a big jump from web development into the Cloud. (Sounds geeky? Never mind). Of course, I got the raise too.

The new office is really good - a well equipped cubicle, a great workstation, nice new people, free coffee, basement parking and more. My only complaint - the tiled floors. Back in my ex-company, we had carpets and I could run around, swirl in my chair all with great control and without causing damage to myself or others. Here however, even walking has to be a conscious effort for new comers. Fortunately, indoors is more manageable as I can pretend to be playfully tapping the top of the cubicles while really trying to get something to hold on to at the turns.

Some parts of our new building are still under construction - like near the corridor to the food court. So, this morning when hunger beckoned like never before, I didn't hesitate to go for a quick snack down to the food court all alone. As providence would have it, there was some fresh wood dust over the tiles (and light coloured ones that didn't highlight the layer of dust).

The fall was quick. At first impact, I thought I did good by landing on all fours. Next instant, I was on my nose. I still wonder how I managed that. After resting for sometime on the chair the security guy kindly offered, I set off towards the elevators feeling a growing stinging feeling inside my nose and a swelling on my upper lip. Later examination revealed, one of the incisors had cut the skin inside the upper lip.

It was a bit embarrassing to sit holding ice cubes to my mouth for the next several hours. But believe me, not as bad as a 6-foot framed guy slipping on tiles in front of adults who don't seem to find the tiles a bother at all - and then blog about it in first person. Damn! Read more…

Inflation...or is it?

I know I've been out of action here for a long time now. And I can feel that you missed me! So here I am! Source of idea: chance realization of the truth. I've had this habit of keeping an account of all by expenses. Been doing it since a few days before I entered the corporate world. I joined Photon Infotech, on Jun 13, 2007. A few days before that, my folks gave me some cash to keep and do some "shopping". That I counted as my first income and I started keeping accounts ie. income and expenditure. Later of course, the accounting got more organized and I could tell how much am spending monthly on food, travel, gifts etc etc. Anyway, I opened my old accounts "book" to see how much I spent on a shoe I had then bought. I was pleased with myself to see that I had made a single entry for some clothes and the shoe I'd bought and yet I could know the what each item cost. I digress. The thing is, I got a bit nostalgic and decided to scroll down to see what else I'd spent on in the first few weeks of my employment; esp after my first salary.

Time for a bit of history, we were around 90 people then - the bunch of freshers who had joined on the same date. Human nature as it is, we formed groups within ourselves - mostly by geographical proximity - which in itself was by educational history. We celebrated everyone's birthday, India's IPL victory, Independence day - we just needed an excuse. I must thank my company's environment which allowed for this. I digress again. So, I noticed for the Independence day celebration, we cut a cake - everyone contributed for buying it. Rs.10. That was my share. That's what most of us (in our bunch) would've given.

Rupees ten. The habit of cake cutting has continued till date. That's great really. Two years on and we don't think "its getting boring". However, things have changed a lot. The Rs.10 has become Rs.30. The vanilla has become chocolate truffle (thanks to Kunal for this particular observation). The 180 bucks per Kg has thus become 400. And the 18 to 20 have become 7 to 10. (Kunal, chose to call them 'old days' and 'modern days' for some reason). But I think there is a lesson here. Of course, gifts are non-optional social convention (http://twitter.com/lvshankar/statuses/2322419871). Yet, I have a feeling its not just the economic inflation that's causing this difference. Inflated egos perhaps? I don't know. But I still think there's a lesson here. Leave comments...

~LVS
PS: I need to get new shoes, wonder how much that has changed..lets see!
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For the love of surveys

The other day I was filling up a survey for employee satisfaction in IT companies. Its really nice to know someone out there cares what IT professionals feel about their working environment and how its influences their lives. Though for unaltruistic reasons, am sure people would love a(nother) channel where they can express what they really feel about their bosses and/or subordinates. Agreed, the survey ain't going to change their lives overnight. But it gives the satisfaction of being true to oneself, once in a while. Don't we all love reading stuff on magazines and newspapers (they aren't just news anymore, anyway) which talk about the sad state of IT employees? Especially statements which go "a recent survey suggested that IT employees are...blah blah..". It is something even non-IT people can relate to, because its what everyone talks about!

Personally, am glad that the survey was anonymous. Not that I had complained too much, am pretty happy with my job, so there. Anyway, what makes me glad is that several of my answers are just random. I couldn't help it. The questions seemed so redundant to me but thinking it ought to have a different meaning than the previous but being unable to comprehend it I settle for a random answer. Take a look at some of the questions and you'll know what I mean. (all of the below are yes/no questions)

• my life has a clear sense of purpose
• I have discovered a satisfying life purpose
• I have a good sense of what makes my life purposeful

Another set,

• I feel I can chose the way I live my life
  
• I have the freedom to chose my lifestyle
• I feel I is my right to pick my lifestyle

You get the idea? I didn't. That's why I was scared to answer them. What if the questions were there to check my sincerity in taking the survey? Not that I care. Randomness helps. Just be wary next time you take a survey!

Bored,
~LVS

PS: Still not made a decision on the move.
PPS: Kunal will never buy a PC in 2009. He's just putting vetti scene! :P
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Welcome or Farewell?

We all know how it is these days; ya I mean IT too.
Bankruptcies, closures, layoffs, salary cuts, delayed call letters and all that.

Yet, every company makes an effort to retain employees. They put them into a different stream, train them for that and what not.

Mine too, has always been committed in keeping the good ones. Recently, in order to bring out the 'best of the employees' innate potential they are to launch a programme shortly, which is called U-Turn. As I write this blog, the total structure of the programme is not known fully, but it concentrate on areas like leadership, etiquette (oh yes, that's needed), public speaking etc.

We hadn't a clue about this thing until a few days back. Till then, it was only posters everywhere saying "U-Turn (with a u-shaped arrow) X days to go" and such things. They were even put up at the main entrance. That was pretty confusing for a lot; and scary too! Just imagine, with the situation in the IT industry, a sign that says "u-turn" is read "stop. turn around. go back home"!
Today morning for instance, it was all the more pronounced, with the ominous symbol amidst a lot of balloons, festive garlands etc. I was like, "are they welcoming me, or giving a farewell?!".
Quite an ambiguous sign, I must say!

But then the charming smile from the receptionist was quite a welcome sign :D

Cheers!
~LVS
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The Uncertainty Principle

It has been a year at Photon. During my initial training, and through my project allocations, I have been seated at 8 different places in my office. I understand that different projects are at different floors/bays; yet, I am in only my 3rd (billable) project here.

It is interesting to note that it is only my second PC. My first seat at the company was chosen by chance. Every one of the trainees was pretty excited about the brand new systems running Vista Business. OK, I confess, we did more of fooling around than learning something; played online games, chit-chat, music, remote logging into others' machines (everyone had the same username/password back then!) among other things...

Getting back to our topic, once we were told which projects we'd most likely be working in, we were moved around the floor into different bays. Seat #2. Since it was a relatively new facility, we were still organizing projects into different floors; as a result of which I got my seat #3 in a different floor. This perhaps is the coldest place in my office. One client who sat opposite me even remarked, "oh ya..its pretty cool here" in reply to my complaint that it was too "cold"! This seat also saw my second PC (which I use till now) and was the only empty place left after everyone picked theirs.

Seats #4, 5 chosen by me as a result of having an AC vent directly above my head and error in judgment on deciding on #4. Kunal who sat with his back to mine during seat #1, came to a similar position now :-)

#6 happened once my PM confirmed I'd be under him and was asked to move into his bay (so that he could watch our screens). This is where I was made a billable resource, where I did my first project that was recognized by the client (though not my best here). It is also here where I marked my seat with my name (a lot of people do that, "please don't steal this chair; back pain" are ubiquitous). Soon after this, things went bad for the client and I was moved to a new(er) project. Yes, my 7th seat!

After a month and a half there, am at typing this from my one week old seat #8. Another project, another client, another floor. Actually, this is temporary; until they empty a seat for me in another floor. Guess no one else has moved so much in so little time; anyone?

Am off to my next seat now :-) Will update once I reach my 10th! And, God forbid, it shouldn't be in my other office.

~LVS

Psst: if you're some big guy @ Photon, get me a laptop so its easier for me to move around!
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A trip down the IT high(and low) way...

Blogspot to me : Welcome back!
Me to readers: Welcome back!

With that I announce my return to the bloggers' world after a 3 month hiatus.

Brief, that's what life is. My friend would have made it more pronounced for me.
Two weeks back, around the time I leave from office. It was drizzling slightly. And with the new IT highway under construction, you can imagine how the road condition is. (If you can't imagine, see).

Buses from various companies trying to move, people climbing the half-elevated road to get to the other side for god-knows-what, some waiting for the bus - you know how it is. I figured the buses will take time to leave. Since I had an important appointment, I chose to hitch a ride with my friend/colleague Seetharaman. There was my mistake. Or ticket to an unforeseen adventure, I should say. I could've been as bad as I would've never made it to the appointment, leave alone being late.

The picture is not so very apt. The traffic was worse and it was after dark. And now when I look closely at the road, we seemed to have driven over more stones than I had imagined. During the ride-I'll-never-forget, I never once looked back. Am sure I'd had visions of buses and cars coming down at me like hungry lions at their prey. I often hallucinate those earth movers (diggers) accidentally striking unsuspecting bikers. Pretty scary, yes. Believe me, fear becomes accentuated when you're a pillion rider!!

It was amazing. Amazing how either of us (esp. me) wasn't/weren't thrown off the bike. No. I am not commending on my friend's driving skills. Sheer luck! Or it was because I was literally clinging to the bike with all 4 limbs (When I say or, I mean OR not XOR. For instance, "I'll have a burger or a sandwich" where the speaker will have either one but not both, owing to lack of hunger or money or whatever. This is or as in XOR). Slippery road, strewn stones, mad traffic, he drove oblivious to all. I think he actually forgot he's driving a bike that too with pillion rider. Did he think he was on a gaming console?

After a few minutes of roadrash and much protesting from my side, he turns back talks to me. "I'm driving after a long time da, that's why am excited...I usually drive carefully". Whilst he does this, we're moving at more than 50 Km/h, on a wet road, and some buffaloes crossing the road a few metres away!! He braked hard (he also used his feet, he claims) , skid a few feet, but doesn't want to stop! A buffalo. Nothing is more indicative of the God of Death (Yama/Yamraj). Ok, lets not talk much about that. Phew, we crossed them safely...

On we went, without slowing down once, further north. Down the IT highway where the roads were better. The traffic thinned, the road was dry, yet the driver didn't increase the speed. In fact, though he'd deny it, he was 5-10 Km/h slower than what we were doing on worser roads. Guess the adrenaline ran out of him. Not that I'm complaining, but it does seem odd to me. He could've easily saved his excitement for this road! Perhaps he wanted to scare me, or just a silly show off...

Well of course, I reached my destination with everything I own intact. Thanks for the lift Seetha!

I don't know if this compilation of words does enough justice the "wonderful" ride I had. Why don't you ask him for one?

And..err...that's it. EOP. Don't know how else to end it. Maybe I should have not included this line at all. Aaahh...chuck it..thanks for your comments..bye! :)

~LVS
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ATM - Automatic Turn-off by Microsoft

OK. This is my first blog. I thought I'd write the first article that goes with the blog name. You have been warned, it does no justice to 'Misplaced Soul'. Maybe that's how blogs are supposed to be (anyone agree with me?). However, my friend agrees that mine is a misplaced soul indeed. (I bet he expected me to be a squirrel, for reasons I shall not disclose. Sorry about that!). Even otherwise I do think my soul is misplaced, trapped in 'this prison of flesh' as Stephen Schwartz put it in Thiruvasagam by Ilaiyaraaja.

Cool, so what is this blog about? People who know me won't be surprised to find its content to be a bit Anti-Microsoft-Windows. Let me make it clear here, there's more to it than it meets the eye. Yet more people seem to run into problems with Windows than other OSes. And I don't think its because of the Windows-OtherOS ratio. :)

Yes. Now to the subject. I joined Photon Infotech as a Trainee Software Engineer recently. 13th June to be precise. And as promised during one of our company meetings, we were taken to Sivaji (the BOSS, yes) on the last day of the month. It was a wonderful experience, with people cheering for Rajini's English dialogues and things like '..very clever algorithm...'. Yeah we're IT!! The movie ends, with some slides how India will be, in Shankar's dreams. "May dreams materialize" he hopes, I do too. Just when I join the queue leading out of the hall, my phone buzzes. An SMS. It was my brother. He had checked my new bank account online and had found that my 'first salary has been credited'. Great timing I should say. And I pass my cellphone among friends ahead, behind and beside me in the queue. Everyone is happy to note that. "Congrats!", "Super macha!!", "Oh..." "I was expecting it on Monday", "Ha! What did I tell you!" were some of the reactions.

I came home had something to eat, checked my balance online for self-satisfaction and forgot about it. The next day my father asked me to take 500 from the ATM and put 100 at the temple hundiyal. An auspicious beginning to a spending spree, perhaps. So after Ravukalam (1630 to 1800hrs IST) I started for the HDFC ATM in Besant Nagar. The one opposite SBI. Oh yes, my company got us an account at HDFC. Many a times I had used this very ATM machine so I wasn't at all excited or anything. It even felt boring to be in queue which seemed longer than usual. After some edgy waiting for my turn, the machine seemed to be tired. It wouldn't take my card. I didn't want to break my card, but I did try putting it at an angle. Time for metaphors, the machine swallowed my card like a snake swallowing its prey. Apologies, that was a simile. Anyway, what I was trying to say is the card didn't go in smoothly. Seemed like it was on a choking conveyor belt (chug chug chug chug).

As advised by the bank, I tried to change my PIN. Well, changing PIN was new to me. I was asked for the old PIN. Which, when I entered, was shown as XXXX. Then I was asked to enter the new PIN twice, which was again XXXX. Er...if you're wondering why I haven't taken any Microsoft product's name, here's its entry. The screen went blank, then I get a small window saying "Windows XP Professional. Logging off...". Then .."Shutting Down...". Eeeks! My card is still inside! It did come out eventually, just before restarting.(guhc guhc guhc guhc). Then came the all-too-familiar POST, memory test, Press F2 for SETUP etc. Then the often-seen-on-PCs Windows XP start-up screen. Had to wait 5-6 mins before the screen went blank again. Maybe I was getting a bit nostalgic, but the 'blank screen' looked remarkably like the Windows 98 desktop, just before the icons/background were loaded. Then, a flash of black. The screen is divided into 4 frames (am I over-doing HTML during training?). Not good. I decided to call the security. "Anna...one nimit inga vangalen...ATM work agale..". By that time some programs were starting. I could make out several 'C:\Documents and Settings\ 'something inside a DOS prompt. "Varum sir...wait pannunga...Ahn ippo podunga card'a"(Please wait sir, it'll load). The screen was reading "Please insert your card now". Another person, who was behind me in line, peeped in. "Adhu appadithaan sir ulla izhukum, methuva thaan pogum.." (That's how it sucks in the card).

Grrr! I've had enough with Windows. People support the OS saying "Its great if you really bought it. You're having a version which needs to be Service Pack-ed". Agreed, all software need to be patched. But I don't feel 'Patch Tuesday' is a catchy marketing phrase. However, WinXP is known to break once and recover beautifully. No. The same chug chug chug chug. This time I deemed it better to get the cash out first in case M$ had written code to lock my card in when I try to change the PIN. No again. Double no. First it hadn't changed my PIN and next, when I said I want a receipt for the transaction the same 'Logging off..' etc.
Fortunately, I got to hear the guhc guhc guhc guhc. Well, goodbye ATM and security. "Complain pannunga na..machine seri illa"(Raise a complaint. ATM not working) "OK saar"(Okay sir).

My banker told me I have 10 free transactions a month in other bank ATMs. But I wanted to try at another HDFC ATM. To see if the problems were caused by some time bomb or something. Things went smooth there. No problems. My friends wouldn't believe me when I said HDFC ATM ran on XP. Well, I myself didn't believe it when I saw this. Now I do. Atleast my bank uses a properly licensed version. (Innocent until proven guilty). Anyone heard of any GNU/Linux for ATMs? Author's Note: Or, as I later learnt, what about Windows Mobile or something? I think it'll be a lot cheaper and efficient for banks this way. Don't you think? And oh I almost forgot. The software on the ATM makes sure transactions are atomic. It did a 500 withdrawal and -500 withdrawal when the system had restarted ;)

Please leave comments :)
Thanks,
Bye.
~LVS
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