Why should Life move on ??

Just like I have, I am sure you would have also heard this phrase at least once in your life. When things go wrong. When life screws you. When you are unhappy. When you loose something most precious to you. Everyone has this age old adage to add. “Don’t worry Life Moves on”.

Everyone expects you to forget things, forget your wishes, forget your fantasies, your goals, and your aim. They expect you to stop dreaming and get down to reality. Face the hard facts that you have lost. You couldn’t achieve what you had set out for. That you are a loser. That FATE dealt you a bad hand. That it was written in your destiny. It was not meant to be. They expect you to deal with it and move on.

I disagree with such people. Why SHOULD life move on? Why should people be content with what they have? Why not strive endlessly for something they could not achieve at the present moment. Of course I agree that it would lead them to pain and misery for a short time during the pursuit. But when the goal is achieved, the satisfaction, the happiness the contentment achieved can wash away any hardships, any pain, any sorrow, any wounds inflicted upon the way.

But sometimes, this does not hold true. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can’t get back what you have lost in your life. Sometimes you wish you were GOD to turn back the clock, set the wrongs and right, undo things and get back what you have lost. But that’s not possible. You are not God and you have not created a time machine either I suppose.

So my dear friend at these times what would you do? Do you DEAL WITH IT, forget about it. Let it go. Or in other words, MOVE ON IN LIFE?

I leave that for you to decide. I am not a preacher. I am not some guru to show you the divine light and set the wrongs right.

I am just a human being who knows in his heart, what he would do. When the next time someone says “Move on in Life”.

THIS IS COSMIC BLASTING OFF…

Campus to Corporate – III (PART -1)

It’s now been 1 year 2 months and 12 days since I came to Kochi to work for Tata Consultancy Services after I was posted here finishing my Initial Learning Program at Thiruvananthapuram.
Thiruvananthapuram is the capital of Kerala one the Southernmost states of India. And Kochi is the economic hub of the same state and a port city.
So anyways I came to Kochi and got inducted on the very fist day of my arrival in the relationship of International Monetary Fund [IMF]. Now I can’t tell you much about the work that I did there as it’s confidential. All I can say is that it was Microsoft .NET web development project. My team consisted of 3 gals and 3 guys including me and my Team Lead another guy. I had to work my ass off to understand what the hell was going on during the first 15-20 days of work as even after completing my ILP on the same technology I didn’t know shit about it. I learned on the job and did a half ass job of making things work somehow (I realize that now).
Now TCS follows a Onsite-Offshore delivery model which in Layman’s terms mean that some of the team sits on Client site and some on the offshore delivery center here in India. Now our Onsite was in Washington DC (USA). So all of your requirements were directed from Washington which has a time difference of about 12 hours with India. So we used to work our ass off the whole day (Morning 9-6:30) to get what the Onsite wanted us to work upon and then call him up at 8 in the night where he again gave a whole new set of directions which he wanted us to implement right at that moment. So everyday I used to be in office from morning 9 till 11 in the night. After that I somehow got home in a cab and then the same started all over again the next day. This continued for about 4 months or so and then we finally finished off the work (or so it seemed). After this I was told that I would be released from IMF as they did not see any future need for my skills and that the new relationship which was starting up WORLD BANK needed my skill sets more then IMF.
So I was politely asked to ship off to the World Bank relationship.

Now World Bank didn’t need me to work on .NET, but something called Adobe Flex (which again I hadn’t even heard of). So once again I found myself dreading what the future might hold for me. Another tech another steep learning curve.
Surprisingly WORLD BANK (here on referred to as WB) had a pleasant surprise in store for me. They sent me on an all expense paid training to Bangalore to get trained in Flex. The training was being conducted by a trainer who had been flown in especially from Adobe USA to train us, now the company paid for my flight tickets, my lodging, my food, my travel etc. And overall it was a much enjoyed training experience in Bangalore. On my return I was told that the Flex would start soon and so we were supposed to wait for sometime till the project came. I waited for about a month or so without any work, enjoying my self.
This is where I would like to stop today and tell you about my experiences in WB in the next installment of the very late presumably last part of my journey from Campus to Corporate.
Until then…

THIS IS COSMIC BLASTING OFF…

Pursuit of Happyness :)

It’s been quite a long time since I wrote something. It’s 0000 Hours on Easter Sunday and I can’t sleep. I don’t think this post would be quite so long as my past ones, as I don’t have anything to write about. But still here goes nothing.

Humans have always learned from their mistakes, their past experiences, they have learnt by observing things, by studying various situations and predicting as to what might be the outcome in most of the cases. They have put these learning to good use and also taught the same to coming future generations by recording these findings and preserving them by writing them down or by word of mouth.

Isn’t that how the humans have advanced over the generations? By learning from their forefathers, by religiously following the written word, and if need be, improving on it.

But still there are times when this is not true. When we tend to neglect what is plain in sight to behold and wish for the unreachable/unfathomable/improbable to occur.

When we defy our own logic and commit mistakes which we know would lead us to further misery and trouble.

It’s probably the tendency of the human mind which always wishes for something that it knows it can’t get. It’s been the same since time unmemorable starting with the legend of the first human beings, Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. Probably they are to blame for the state the human race is in today.

Never satisfied with that they have and always in Pursuit of Happiness, where happiness doesn’t only suffice to get the bare necessities. Where the human being is always in a constant rush to get more and more.

Now do I have any advice for the world which might just enlighten them enough to save mankind? Err.. sorry to say but not at all. I am also one of the endless minions running the rat race to a end which does not seem to be in sight.

My only advice would be as Mr Bobby McFerrin said:

Here is a little song I wrote 
You might want to sing it note for note 
Don’t worry be happy 
In every life we have some trouble 
When you worry you make it double 

Don’t worry, be happy……  

This is COSMIC BLASTING OFF …

 

 

My Experiments with Pain

I have no idea why I have started writing this, or what I am actually writing in the first place.

Its just that I felt the urge to scribble something new in my Blog so opened up a Open Office Writer and have started banging on the keys. You are welcome to close the page or navigate away whenever you want to.

I have been at home now for the past 12 days on vacation. I started off from Kochi on the morning of 2^nd October (Gandhi Jayanti) alone on a 40 hour long train journey which would take me through all the stated of the so-called-south-India : Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and also Maharashtra thrown in for a change.

Slept for the most part of the journey on my quiet Upper Birth under the sheets, (beacuse it was A.C. Compartment). Then I descended down onto the crowd somewhere near Salem (TN) I guess, when I heard some people down there talking in Hindi.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear someone speak Hindi after a long time and I sat among them just to hear the sounds.

During the journey I ate some world famous crappy Indian Railway Pantry food (which was somehow gulped down).

Reached my Home Town Raipur on 3^rd Night at 23:30 I guess. My brother who had already arrived that from Mumbai came to pick me up at the station.

Since then it has been quite a boring time here in Raipur as none of my friends are presently in Raipur and would be coming here only at the end of October.

The most interesting thing(s) which has happened after I came to Raipur have been my numerous visits to the Dentist. I had to have a RCT (Root Canal Treatment) on one of my Lower Molars.

Its already been 3 visits to the Doc, with strange new experiences every time I go there.

The first time it involved a lot of Drilling and Screwing around (Ahemm..Ahemm..) with screws of course (what were you thinking ) ? The Doc went on drilling in after injecting me with anesthesia of course and it was like a mini-mine inside my mouth. There was dust coming out and some strange burning smell (although I am not sure know what made that). Then small sharp screws were put in there and poked and pushed around till I started bleeding. Then the doc did some more poking around and took a couple of X-rays and after 30 minutes declared that now the bleeding has stopped so the poking can continue the drilling FULL SPEED AHEAD.

The second visit was like going to a Mechanical Foundry shop.

The doc lighted a fire right next to my chair and started melting some strange metals on the fire,

then he took that molten thing and pored it right inside my face .

There was a strange and ominous sound with a lot of smoke coming out of my mouth that indicated that the molten thing had missed my tongue and settled where it was supposed to be.

Then came the filling of the Silver in my teeth and its polishing. I felt like the crown jewel was in my mouth it was being polished for the Queen’s wedding or something.

Then the third visit called was to remove most of the silver and molten thing and do what else…but drill some more holes. Its like dentist’s work is not to plug or cure the holes in people’s teeth but to make more business for themselves and drill countless holes in each and every patient they get. They actually have a large variety of drills and drill heads at their disposal which they display right on their table with pride. Its like some mechanical workshop rather then a doctor’s clinic.

I was told that something called as CAPING would be done on my next visit ,and for that a mold of my teeth needs to be taken. So some gooie pink color stuff was thrust into my mouth onto my teeth till it got solidified like cement then pulled out. It tasted like some really bad peppermint toffees or something of that disgusting category.

Tomorrow is my third and final visit to the doc. And then I am off once again for 40 hours on a train journey through half of India, starting at 23:30 hours.

Hopefully the next time you hear from me I would be having all my teeth intact and would be working again in Kochi .

Till Then….

This is COSMIC BLASTING OFF !!!

Wish you were here :(

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,

blue skies from pain.

Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?

A smile from a veil?

Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?

Hot ashes for trees?

Hot air for a cool breeze?

Cold comfort for change?

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.

We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,

Running over the same old ground.

What have you found?

The same old fears.

Wish you were here.

is I.T. Life ??

I start my day by sitting in a chair,
Giving my monitor a hard cold stare,
By evening I am done with another coding,
Oh this has become a routine so boring.

Like all I entered this field with great hope,
Jobs were many and there was plenty of scope,
Dreams of joining the likes of Gates,
And a chance to make money in the States.

Thus I entered the world of bytes,
Only to realize that reality bites,
Coz a programmers life isn’t all that cozy,
The bed of software isn’t all that rosy.

Seeing the monitor all day and night,
Have taken the power of my eyesight,
Late to bed and late to rise,
Has made me wealthy but not healthy and wise.

Working holidays, busy weekends,
No time for family, no time for friends,
My job steals most of my time,
Helplessly I watch this crime.

Just for a few bits of money,
I forego those moments with my honey,
When I should be out having fun,
I am telling a comp whats to be done.

I hate you I cant get away,
Coz I need the money you pay,
God to thee I pray,If there be one show me the way.

This is Cosmic Blasting OFF !!

From Campus to Corporate PART-2

Now this is the part of the journey which I have to be really really careful in telling you all. Its more like a high wire act then a blog entry. I cant divulge any information about the internal workings of TCS without facing consequences.

Believe me there are consequences who better to know this then my buddy Vishnu

(for further reference refer to http://vish-sicksadlilworld.blogspot.com/)

So now lemme see what all I can tell you…

Well lets start at the beginning. I got to peepul park and found that my room mate is Saransh Panda..a fellow mechie from my own college..who had suffered more or less the same fate as me in his 7^th sem as well….but that’s a story for another day..another time…now moving on….

We were on the 2^nd floor and as luck would have it…surrounded by girls rooms where ever we turned. Now you can understand as to how big a culture shock that can be to a Mechie after he has been Condemned to Four years of chick less state in a building cut off from the rest of the world in a corner of his college.

Monday came..we went to the training center and around 250 of us got stuffed into a big auditorium. And I found out that I was in Batch T-108 with around 40 people in all and around 25 of them from the same college “SHRI RAMDEO BABA KAMLA NEHRU ENGINEERING COLLEGE ” (pheewww…..) or SRKNEC for short….now this was a name that we were gonna hear a lot..and I mean lot of times in the coming months.

It was a great batch I loved it, and still miss almost all of them..except a few minor exceptions. My roomie nominated himself to become the CR of the batch and I was forced by others to become the Library CR [DAMN !!!].

Then came 2 days of watching different movies and dozing through end less presentations.After which all we got to know that Kabir Bedi is a very good orator and to us he was one of the Founding father’s of TATA Empire.Then on the strike of the clock in the third day our training started.

Man we were taught different kinds of things…more then half of them seemed useless to a Mech Engg.

The favourite of all this for me was of course the Basics of UNIX, and all the team work and communication classes.

Now I am not gonna bore you with the tests and all….apart from the fact that around 150 of us flunked the first Mid test including yours truly .

We gave the re-test and almost everyone cleared it.

Test and classes continued and our batch went for outings….as we were in kerala (which I thought was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me…..i later realized how very wrong I was). We went to Kanyakumari..started off at 2 in the night and reached there at 5:30 in the morning to see the sun rise..but as luck would have it there were clouds and we could only glimpse the sun at around 8 when it was high in the sky.

We often went to Kovalam Beach in TVDM city…which is simply awesome….i have never in my life seen such a clean and beautiful beach…you would never get tired of it.

And yaa I almost forgot to tell you that I also met SWATI SAUNDATTI at ILP (Don’t kill me for mentioning you sooo late in the post)

We had some good times…some bad times…but all that is not a part of this post

Now I got placed in .NET stream…so I had to learn C#, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, SQL SERVER, .NET FRAMEWORK..all this for a mech student in around 15 days time..and then clear objective type tests…lab evaluations and also make a project using all this..

So naturally I had work my ass off…I learned C in one day..C++ in 2 and then went on to learn C#…and all the rest of the stuff….Man O Man those days were hectic…from morning 9-5:30 in the classes and then from 7 till 2 or 3 at night in the lab studying on my own…I never thought I was capable of so much slogging and learning so fast…

Even then I still flunked the first end test…now this infuriated me like anything.i had missed the cut off with just 0.25 marks….it revived me to spend a few more hours then I was already spending..doing a limbo between the lab and the hostel.

Finally I cleared everything….lab….written…viva and all….

And the day came for the Branch Allocations for our base branches . The worst possible case that I could imagine was that I would be placed in Chennai..but how could I forget the love of lady luck for me…I got Kochi…..

So I left all my friends behind and very sadly left for kochi…..

P.S. I am not happy with this post and would be editing this in the near future…so don’t kill me….

THIS IS COSMIC BLASTING OFF…..