Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Interesting Colleagues!

Colleagues can't be called as friends or buddies. But certainly they are acquaintences. Some colleagues also turn up as good friends ... it all depends, same taste and similar thoughts can unite people and make them do a better team work. It's almost 12 years since am working ... and I've seen varying types of Colleagues. Today I would like to highlight top 10 colleagues, whom I found to be very interesting. I shall also tell you why I found them interesting ...
1. Name: Vijay Krishnan
Name of Organization where I met him: STG International Limited
Why I found him interesting: He would smile at every individual and say 'Hello', his respect for individuals and his very IIM classy working culture impressed me the most. From him I learnt to respect one and all around, learnt to smile at work place. He was perhaps the most knowledgeable and qualified in that organziation, but had absolutely no head weight!
2. Name: Mohan T M
Name of Organization where I met him: STG International Limited
Why I found him interesting: Simple, Hardworking and Focussed - This was about Mohan. A humble guy from Turuvekere made it big by heading towards California. His plus point was his simplicity. He inspired me to work hard in life.
3. Name: Raji (Rajeshwari)
Name of Organization where I met her: Microcon Internaitonal Limited
Why I found her interesting: Cheerful, herself & happening this was how she was. She spoke her mind and had a great sense of humour. She believed in having fun in life. From her I learnt to 'laugh' and to stay cheered always.
4. Name: Aditya Menon
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: He was our boss! Aditya was one of the most genuine persons we can find in this world. He had a golden heart ... to help out anyone who was in need, his talks would impress people and his mind always chased challenges. He was kind, professional and classy. I picked up articulation skills from him. I also saw how someone being at top can still be so humane!
5. Name: Regunathan
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: Regu inspires people to live a balanced life. He used to cook when he was a bachelor and had utmost discipline of life. He always cheered friends and worked very hard to deliver modules well on time. From Regu I learnt that simple living, high thinking can be wonderful!
6. Name: Mohan C Nair
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: Sense of humour, intellectual discussions and multi-tasking ... these qualities associate with Mohan Nair. He is one of those guys who are technical but posses abilities to manage multiple things at the same time.
7. Name: Anoop
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: Extremely friendly & great Customer Support ... Anoop is one of those rarest of rare guys we can find. His working style was very unique ... he was casual in his attitude delivered superb results at work!
8. Name: Karthik Krishnan
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: Wit, Brains & a Multi-tasker ... a guy who simple enjoyed and lived every moment! So much can be written about Karthik ... he did everything ... singing to playing keyboard ... coding to desiging software ... badminton to running race ... eating, cracking jokes ... uh karthik, Hats off to you!!!
9. Name: Sujith
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: A Cool Worker, does not crave for any attention ... from Sujith I have learnt A LOT. He is a thorough professional who speaks less but delivers more. He is a team player, and takes complete ownership of tasks. It's like if you tell Sujith ... you don't have to follow-up!!
10. Name: Uday Kumar
Name of Organization where I met him: Visual Web Solutions
Why I found him interesting: Talks uncensored ... he is perhaps the most straight forward person I have ever met ... he asks questions without getting diplomatic. He lives simple and thinks very high. An intellect, an avid reader ... he loves travelling. He inspires me in many ways.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Ya Ali ... this song goes on even after it has stopped!

Ya Ali Rehem Ali ... Ya Ali, Yaar Pe Qurbaan He Sabhin ... Ya Ali Madad Ali ... Ya Ali, Yeh Meri Jaan Yeh Zindagi ...
Am sure most of us have heard this soulful song from the movie 'Gangster'. To me it is more than just a song, it is an interpretation, a saga of love. This song tells us that Love is about Giving ... , it defines love as Self-less.
When I heard this song first, I was stunned to know how intensely a singer can render a song ... definitely Zubeen Garg (Assameese Singer) deserves highest rank score. He proves in this song that singing is not everyone's cup of tea, singing is a task we assign not only to our vocal chord but also to our heart to involve ourselves in the mood of the song passionately. Then the beats, who can deliver supreme recording results other than our youngest music directr Pritam Chakraborty? And this song would have been 'just another song' if it had not had the Syed Quadri's lyrics. He has perfectly matched the mood of the situation, poetry & intensity of love.
I don't think any of songs in recent times have touched my heart like this one has done. It is special and very intense. It is definitely a copy of the more soothing original 'Ya Ghali' from Prince. Arabic version is very soft, very original and it has it's own mood set. But what I liked about Pritam was he made it better in Urdu, adding more pain and passion using the same tune ... sometimes when we copy and make it 'better' than the original, it is worth an effort, right?
Madad Ali, Rehem Ali words are the sayings of Shia Muslim who seek help from Imam Ali, as they believe he is a messenger of Supreme Allah. These words slowly blend with the various aspects of a man's love to his woman. He wants to do everything possible for his love ... even if it means destroying his identity! I am more impressed with the second stanza where Zubeen sings 'Bina Tere na ek pal ho ... na bin tere Kabhi Kal ho ... yeh dil banjaaye pathar ka na isme koyi hulchul ho ..' i nthese lines I identify a man who does not want a life without his lover.
The situation is equally touch if you've watched the movie ... Shiney Ahuja trying to come out of his dreaded gang of gangster forver for his love (Kangana), backdrop is a durgah in Korea ... bloodshed and impressive dialogues by Gulshan Grover ... parallely Kangana dreaming of a new life with an unknown man who is cheating on her ....
Indeed, this song goes on in my mind even after it has stopped! Ya Ali, how beautiful is the feeling of true love ...

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Bangalore City - Now and Then ...

Bangalore has always been a special city, a garden city! An old Bangalorean will always recollect those heritage buildings on the streets of MG, Basavangudi or Malleswaram. From cosmopolitan culture to cool climate, Bangalore had everything to offer. And the food ... the concept of 'by two' originated from Bangalore for 'Filter Coffee'! Eating 'designed Masala Dosas' as a part of evening out was also a Bangalore thing! Who can forget 'Darshini' self-service? When I first came to Bangalore, I remember rose gardens in Jayanagar 8th block ... I remember the 'darkness' we experienced before rains at 4 PM itself! I also can't forget those dropping flowers at Jayanagar 4th block BDA complex, and the foot path shopping. Our brief visits to Banashankari or Basavangudi used to be pleasant ... I used to envy kids who actually grew up in Bangalore, reading books at the World Culture Library opposite to Krishna Rao Park. I perhaps missed all that ... everything in Bangalore appeared so fresh, neat and calm ...
Then happened IT! Then the era of ample job opportunities in IT, BT and manufactoring sectors started emerging ... people from all over the country started migrating to Bangalore for it's very 'offering' interms of Job, Cosmo Culture & Climate.
I started noticing heavy streets starting 1994 ... for those days, a few extra vehichles or loaded buses were quite a lot for us to digest. Then came 'buying power' for middle class ... every family wanted to own a car (small or big). So many cars, so many people by 1999! The change in climate of Bangalore was noticable by this time ... lot of dust, pollution and littered streets! Still Bangalore was Bangalore ...
With increase in IT companies and other related Service Industries, In 2000 series of years ... Bangalore became more and more conjusted. Now in 2008, it's almost over. The golden era of Bangalore perhaps is over.
Words like 'traffic', 'slow down', 'jam', 'sorry I am late', 'ok I'll give a missed call when I reach there' became very coomon ... today attending functions or meeting family and friends are no longer pleasant occasions. Who can travel from Jayanagar to Malleswaram happily to attend a cousin's wedding, it takes about 2 hrs in slow moving traffic ... and when we reach Malleswaram finally, we don't exchange pleasantaries ... but we say 'Oh god, what traffic!' meeting our cousins. It probably takes 20 more minutes for us to hydrate our body, wipe our faces and then see the Groom & Bride.
Everything is changing ... paying excess tax for absolutely no development in city is frustrating for working class. Whether we blame the government or citizens of Bangalore for negligence towards the city, at the end of day we are just 'blaming' and not 'making a difference'.
So how can we make a difference? A very good quesiton that arises in our minds ... I think it's a very tough question to ask ourselves. We can do 'bit' of something to make a 'bit of difference', if not for us ... for the forthcoming generaiton.
We are a 'Cosmo Culture City', yes but we can't be 'only Cosmo'. In my view, uplifting local language is important as remembering our roots. I hardly see Kannadiga's speaking kannada ... either it's 'not cool to speak Kannada' or it is 'lack of realization of importance of mother tongue'! It's strange, when we take a direct flight to Bangalore from Singapore or Bangkok ... all are talking only in English! I am sure 90% of them know Kannada ... but how can they speak Kannada in a International Flight? But if I take a direct flight to Chennai from any internaitonal city, almost all are speaking proudly in their Tamil Language. Isn't it worth praising? So I think, by respecting and valuing our mother tongue ... the forth-coming generation will carry on our Bangalore Culture, both Cosmo and Local.
Also .... how much time does it take to plant and adopt a few trees around our house .... water them and protect them! After all, we need oxygen to breath. There are so many schools and Hospitals that have ground space to plant trees, can't we donate a few tree guarde and honge saplings? Imagine growing trees for our next generation .. they too can feel the breeze of chill air, right?
Cleaning our house is important, also more important is keeping our parks and common areas clean. We must realize throwing plastic is the last thing one should do in environment. It just spoils! Lets not use plastic or throw plastic ... we know we are harming nature.
Concept of Car Pooling or once in a while taking public transport can make HUGE differencce to air pollution. Why don't we attempt?
If we are driving, lets follow rule of traffic ... lets not forget .. there is no shortcut for anything ... not even to overtake someone to prove our ego against them. We are not going to make a big difference by reaching our destination 5 minutes early ... so lets not change lanes or arrogantly drive on roads.
Much more to think and much more to do as Citizens! Voting right candidates who can administer, develop also is very important. With these small steps, Bangalore Now can resemble the Bangalore Then!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Rebellious Young!

Young one's are always cute and young one's are often rebellious.

They always do what is 'not to be done'. When we see kids doing all kinds of naughty stuff we don't usually think this can even happen with ther species, not just human.

My kitten 'Panda' always jumps in the garden much against his mom 'Kitty's' wishes. She likes him play but does not like it when he strays in outer areas or when his game never ends! Panda is rebellious in many ways, he gets into the house and runs everywhere just to get a glimpse of this inside world of his owner ... where-as his mother prompty eats her food and walks out.

A very similar incident happened this morning in my garden ... when I saw this young Maina Bird sitting in the window pane. It was very cute, was not very confident of reflex-flying ... it wanted to spend sometime at lower levels of life ... like a window pane. It was simply rebellious and bold to come down from his nest. After a while when my cat 'mee's it shifts on a hibiscus tree. Then comes his parents, angry and frightened of a situaiton like this .... they are perhaps in their own language scolding the younger one for this rebellious act. They were screaming, yelling and finally the younger one flew to the electricity wire and made it it's base. I was wondering ... like it happens with us, we control the younger one's ... scold them and later console them ... it much be happening in the world of birds too. Questioning, Reasoning, Consoling ... all such emotions do exist in birds, just that we don't watch them or understand what we hear of them.

A young rebellious Maina in every sense reflects qualities like innocence, adventurous, curiousity. It was an episode I watched today and felt no matter what we are, who we are ... as young we rebel and our elders correct us. This must go on ... regardless of the time and era. That is when the incidents can get exciting, if all young one's were obedient all the time ... whats the fun?

Focus on Ourselves!

Today ... I went on thinking 'what makes my day perfect?'. Is it about cooking good food for family and relishing it later at office? Or is it finishing all queued up tasks at office? Or is it a nice evening I get to relax on my sofa watching my favourite song on TV? There could be so many such things that define our day as 'perfect'. Perfection in diet or perfection at work or a perfect relaxing evening, uh?
Sadly, I later conclude .... these are just important elements of our day. A battery of such incidents can perhaps make our day 'Perfect'. It's important to note down what can add value to us, our day and eventually our life. What makes us get balanced in life? This thought can conclude a few things that we may like as a part of our daily routine ... overcoming complexities of day to day situations we may face. A thought like this is nothing but a 'focus' on ourselves. If I focus on myself suddenly ... I get all kinds of thoughts like 'I have to still loose weight', 'I have to get more healthy', 'I have to work better', 'I have to work out everyday', 'I have to get a new cat' or 'I have to go to parlour!'. We have so many things queued up for us, our mind and body. A focus on ourselves can 'polish' our life, I think.
Today I think if I focus on myself .... from my diet to my fitness to my hobbies to my workfront improvements .... I might actually end up having a 'Perfect day'. And life is all about experiencing ... good and bad both, but if we are close to making our day perfect, I bet we can touch most of good experiences through-out ... right?
I am seriously considering balancing my day between many things I like and I have to do. My agenda for this month is 'focus on myself'. A conscious decision to make myself a person with substance. A conscious effort to improve in my efforts and to get better results from myself. I promise, after a month I shall come back and blog if such a conscious decision to focus on myself helped significantly or not ...