UK Diaries
Chapter 1
I had been waiting for her for quite some time now.
She asks how my day has been. I say nothing but smile.
She collects her stuff; her shift is over.
I gather my stuff, what I had been waiting for is now with me.
I get out; she follows.
We walk to the parking lot.
She puts on her leather jacket, I fit into my hoodie. It is chilly.
She gets into her Volkswagen Passat; I hunt for a precious thing in my bag
She puts on loud music; I find the piece of paper
She fires up the engine, I pull out a pen.
She screeches to a start; I fill in the usual fare on the taxi receipt.
She disappears; I think about submitting fake bills to claim real pounds, cha-ching!!
Place: ASDA-Walmart cash counter. Time: Irrelevant.
I had been waiting for her for quite some time now.
She asks how my day has been. I say nothing but smile.
She collects her stuff; her shift is over.
I gather my stuff, what I had been waiting for is now with me.
I get out; she follows.
We walk to the parking lot.
She puts on her leather jacket, I fit into my hoodie. It is chilly.
She gets into her Volkswagen Passat; I hunt for a precious thing in my bag
She puts on loud music; I find the piece of paper
She fires up the engine, I pull out a pen.
She screeches to a start; I fill in the usual fare on the taxi receipt.
She disappears; I think about submitting fake bills to claim real pounds, cha-ching!!
Place: ASDA-Walmart cash counter. Time: Irrelevant.
An excerpt from a chat with a friend who happens to be a DBA on the occasion of us completing 4 years as IT Donkeys :)
Participants:
-------------
Me, Maddy
Messages:
---------
Maddy: gj
Me: Ladke
Maddy: bol bhai
Me: Kuch nai
Me: Sala 4 saal ho gaye
Maddy: haan yaar...
Maddy: buddha ho gaya
Maddy: aur abhi bhi mereko kuch nahi aata :D
Me: Hahaa
Me: I've learned some things
Me: Like how to handle ppl/ manager
Me: How to idiot banao them also
Maddy: he he
Me: In short, the 1st chapter of office politics
Maddy: sometimes i feel why do we get paid so much to run some queries... me alters and u selects :D then i realize these bloody companies charge billions of dollars to client for this service and we actually end up with peanuts
Me: True
Me: Man this chat is so going into my blog :)
Maddy: abhi mera case lelo... i am here for L3 kt tasks
Me: Ok
Maddy: once transferred some of the guys here will leave 80 euros per hour wala project and we'll do L3 and what do we get paid for that
Maddy: GHANTA
Maddy: :)
Me: That's the industry I believe
Maddy: yeah... so we should be humble when we switch or ask during appraisal
Maddy: even if deep down we feel.. jyada toh nahi maangra
Maddy: :P
Me: That's the only chance we have to rip em off
Me: Once u join, things reverse
Maddy: u know what.. i think because of us IT ppl.. the cost of living has increased and others too suffer
Maddy: kerala mein in 25 lacs mein mast 3 bhk wala bada ghar banta
Maddy: idhar maa ki aankh 1 bhk mein kahun duur city ke bahar
Me: Hahahaaa
Me: And here in mumbai that 450 sq ft cage costs a crore and 27
Maddy: :D
Maddy: ek common system hona chahiye.. ppl should have ranks like in defence services and pay should be according to that
Me: Fuck man , back in my home city I can get a lake palace for this much dough
Maddy: there should be a commitee which decids on the rank of he ppl as per their work
Maddy: :)
Me: I object my lord
Me: If so happens the head of that commitee would become a virtual demi god
Maddy: dude.. here we have lot of such commitee where ppl rule.. in my suggestion there would be only one
Me: We need an anna hazare in IT
Me: U r a super strong prospective candidate
Maddy: ha ha
Me: Let's stage an uprising for the IT lokpal bill
Me: I am an awesome supporter
Me: I can light candles and forward emails
Me: ;)
Maddy: din bhar anshan karenge and raat ko tandoori and do do patiyala tika ke aish
Me: Of course, khaana hi padega
Me: If you a dba falls sick, imagine the business impact :D
Me: We can make good money
Maddy: u goof up something and i won't be there to look into the issue and we'll blackmail
Maddy: super
Me: Let's put in a rfp with the indian govt for this
Me: I'll draft up a business plan
Maddy: jhakaas
Year 2010
It has been more than a year since this :
and more than 9 months since this :
and nothing has changed. Life is still as unpredictable as always, office sucks daily as it has for the past 4 or so years and theres nothing new, not at least now or in the near future. I miss Pune! Its that time of the year when I feel like this, again :
The year is now inching towards its end. I need to do something to remember this year by. Man I'm bored. Thats does it....I'm makin some calls and heading off to Goa. Anybody who's interested, free and/or not providing weekend support to critical business applications are invited.
For some motivation theres always YouTube :)
Happy New Year people !!
Facts
After being berojgaar for a whole day, I joined a new software company, but the enthusiasm faded rather too quickly than I had imagined. Waiting to hear from my manager I was made to spend my whole day in the library (for the first time ever in my life !)
# 1: No matter what IT company you join, you will be treated as a dork.
# 2: Your perceptions always lead you astray and you end up in a more bigger, fancier looking shit hole no better than the previous one.
#3 : Your manager is going to be a super asshole and no one ever is going to give a damn abt you.
Maaaaan.... !! This whole IT thing is such a drag !!
So, its finally here !
21st or 22nd July 2007
A few days after the 30 of us, bunched together as Batch 4, had commenced our life as SW trainees. First week of training was in its full swing and the hearts were overflowing with enthusiasm. Time passed we got to know each other, we were made to train together blah blah ....and to sum it all up things were going good (not from the financial perspective).
I was just out of college. To leave behind the typical college lifestyle was really a challenge but the real pain , in my case, was to part ways with my friends. CS final year, thats what we were called. Maaaan that brings back memories, sigh !
I had stepped on pune platform with a preconceived notion that all carefree life style is now history and all I'm gonna get here are die hard developers (mostly marathi speaking) who will only look up from their TFTs to either attend a meeting, fetch water or go take a leak. I was correct but only to a minimal extent. Before I knew it the batch of 30 had churned out many great people, FRIENDS !!
When I reflect back on time I can vaguely recall that the idea of finding friends in a foreign state had been a far cry, but all turned out to be beyond expectations. I had a bunch of ppl I could call friends, have lunch/tea with . That half an hour of tea time used to be a bliss, a stress reliever like none other.
But whenever I turned to get back at my desk a thought always crossed my mind: " Lets see for how long the good times continue". It has been more than two years now and the time is finally here when the chapter of "My first IT job" finds its place in respective memoirs. Just a handful of us are left here and its just a matter of time before each and every one of us finds himself in another well paying, better organization (with aliens of course!).
Everyone I met here are wonderful people and probably another bunch of gems would be hard to find !
p.s. I am not lucky enough to get to leave my stinkin organisation yet. This post is for ppl who are to/have resigned or are flying onsite.
TOTA
New York.
Farjiest movie of all times !! I remember clearly that at one point of time I was scared that I will be bored to death. Any scene with Kat missing was a burden. Anyways the movie sure did use a fantabulous term.... TOTA :D (Slang for hot chicks). Guys definitely knowthe definition of TOTA but its actually surprising that the gals have the term's definition all mixed up! (as shown below )
GJ: Your fundas abt TOTA are mixed up
R : :)
R : :D
R : please explain then
R : :)
R : i m going on neil and johns version of tota
R : they called katrina tota
R : katrina = nice
R : so katrina = tota
We dont call some girl TOTA just because shes nice ! We call her TOTA long before we even know that shes nice or her name or anything for that matter. Its more like, u see a cute chick (cute means more like HOT ) and a voice calls from within TOTA TOTA !! Its difficultto put it into words or even formulate a precise definition of a TOTA ! I guess you have to be a guy to know whos a TOTA and whos not !
I like TOTAs :D
Google Voice
Sounds awesome !! Just check out its home page here. I just cant wait to get an invite and try all the stuff out. The only thing to be given a thought is the second link on the page.... "Listen in - Listen before taking a call" . Chances are I might not hear anything but some person breathing on the other side :). The only way to find out is to check it out first hand !!
p.s. I hope their services are available in our unique country.....India !!
p.s. I hope their services are available in our unique country.....India !!
Aarghhh !!
Yes! That’s what I was burdened with all evening yesterday. One stupid website goes down for one hour and I being the only person working, gets bombarded by a series of crappy emails (Yes, I work for technical support). Today I get bored like anything coz there hardly any work. I’m already done listening to songs and troubling people in my chat list and it’s not even 4'o clock!
Life was never so unpredictable.
p.s.: Posted from the work place @ 3:48 PM IST
The Zoozoos
Simply marvelous characters ! Genesis of Prakash Varma, ad film maker and the director of the new Vodafone Ads being aired during the IPL. It had been long since such ads (like the Intels Blue man Group ). Unlike most ads they communicate the message right across. Here is my favourite:
