Very recently i quit company H and joined company O for a hike that raised quite a few eyebrows!! All the time when i was serving my notice period in company H, i thought the salary that i would be getting in my new company would be good enough to meet the ends and also to have decent savings. But little did i know, that with the new job would come a new location and which is as of today, giving Delhi and Mumbai a tough competition for "the most expensive city in India" status.
Welcome to bangalore!
Maddening traffic. Sky high rents. Street dogs chasing the bikes. Pubs, Malls, Discos,Multiplexes. 30 storey apartment complexes. 1 bhks within just 250 odd sqrft.
Just some of the common sights u d see here.
But not everything abt bangalore is bad. If u are single and eat outside daily, u have lots good clean and cheap places. The local population understands Hindi. So u dont have to learn the local language to bargain it out with the auto driver!
You have some real beautiful serene townships...like Defence colony in Indiranagar for instance. Was put up there during initial stay when company provided the accommodation. Couldnt believe that u can have such green place within a city which is known for its "Traffic blocks" and congested living quarters. Wonder, when would i have enough salary to buy a flat there!
For the last two weeks, i have been on house hunting mission but without much success. The rates they ask for a 1 bhk makes me faint! Cannot believe that its almost 3 times what i paid back in chennai and has lesser facilities!
When i got my offer letter, i thought it was a good enough salary for me to settle down in bangalore...and here am not even able to take a 1 bhk!!
I remember my mother telling me once that no matter however you earn, its only sometime before u get a feeling that u are not getting enough! To remain happy in
what you earn is quality in itself.
And that makes me think! Whether i want to be rich or to be happy? But are they not related somewhere? Some where yes! If you have the money to get what u want and do what u want to, u ll be happy! i will be. i get sad when i see my friends venturing into differnt things and i have to sit back and watch them just bcos i dont have financial bandwidth to do so. Agreed...that money is not sole reason for the happiness!But still........
So coming back to where i started.....how much salary is a good enough salary?
May be there is noting like a 'good enough salary'. With the increase in salary, the human greed also increases and our dissatisfaction with the pay is only resulting phenomenon.
PS:I know its a tottaly rubbish blog, but then i didnt have anything else to write on as of today!! :-)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Happy bday to me!!
And another year of my life goes by! Less midnight bday wishes and less excitement. I guess, am getting old!
Or may be its just that iam getting more lonely.
Reminds me of the good old days...back when we were in school, how my friends would pretend that they ve forgot my bday for the entire day and then before we left school, would ask me stay back and then.....surprise!
Though it was never a surprise( as i would always know about the surprise from the very begining itself) , it was always fun to be acting as if u were completely taken aback and that a surprise cake was the last thing u expected!!
College days were completely different! The standard practise of celebrating bday hadnt changed in decades in our college. The room mates would wake u up exactly at 12 and carry u to the tv room where everybody from the hostel(except the warden) would be already present to make a "dhol" of ur butt! They hit u so hard, that for the next few days u prefer to stand than to sit! And u cant say a word!!
In the final years, a new custom was also introduced where in they would drench u with cold water. And then comes cake cutting...
And then Hexaware days, corporate style. Team mates arrange a cake, they circle around u while they sing happy bday and u cut the cake. They wish, they eat and then they go! If u are lucky some guys would come and smash cake on ur face! But chances of that are very less! Pucca corporate style!
This time it was a complete aberration. Stood up in terrace at midnight hoping against all hopes for a call which never came. But somewhere inside i knew it wouldnt come. But there is no harm in pinning some hopes anyway! And after all things have changed quite drastically from last year. A call did come, from the best of my college mates. And some good old friends! Thank u guys! I started this year of my life with a smile bcos of u guys!
And so here am sitting in The company. The last 20 min while i was writing this blog, it was almost like a flash back for me. I thought this happened only in movies!!
Or may be its just that iam getting more lonely.
Reminds me of the good old days...back when we were in school, how my friends would pretend that they ve forgot my bday for the entire day and then before we left school, would ask me stay back and then.....surprise!
Though it was never a surprise( as i would always know about the surprise from the very begining itself) , it was always fun to be acting as if u were completely taken aback and that a surprise cake was the last thing u expected!!
College days were completely different! The standard practise of celebrating bday hadnt changed in decades in our college. The room mates would wake u up exactly at 12 and carry u to the tv room where everybody from the hostel(except the warden) would be already present to make a "dhol" of ur butt! They hit u so hard, that for the next few days u prefer to stand than to sit! And u cant say a word!!
In the final years, a new custom was also introduced where in they would drench u with cold water. And then comes cake cutting...
And then Hexaware days, corporate style. Team mates arrange a cake, they circle around u while they sing happy bday and u cut the cake. They wish, they eat and then they go! If u are lucky some guys would come and smash cake on ur face! But chances of that are very less! Pucca corporate style!
This time it was a complete aberration. Stood up in terrace at midnight hoping against all hopes for a call which never came. But somewhere inside i knew it wouldnt come. But there is no harm in pinning some hopes anyway! And after all things have changed quite drastically from last year. A call did come, from the best of my college mates. And some good old friends! Thank u guys! I started this year of my life with a smile bcos of u guys!
And so here am sitting in The company. The last 20 min while i was writing this blog, it was almost like a flash back for me. I thought this happened only in movies!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
My take on Women's reservation bill
The more i see a feminist, the more i am convinced of their uselessness in uplifting women's status in society. Its fair to believe that man and women compliment each other. However, to say that, men and women are equal on all fronts is closing your eyes to facts. God made men more physically powerfull than women so that they can protect them. Similarly God made women more emotional so that they can love their men and children and guide them to lead a proper life. This no where means that men shouldn't help their partner in kitchen or a woman shouldnt go to office. It just means that, in situations where men are supposed to lead, women should respect and allow them to do so. Same is expected of men in situations where a woman can handle things better.
Woman has always been portrayed as a symbol of motherhood and compassion from centuries. The most strongest bond between two humans is that between of mother and son.Women along with men also understand that these are no easy things. They should start taking pride in what they do instead of challenging men. To have peace family, man and woman shouldnt challenge each other, rather they should support each other.
Back in the days when men would go hunting for livelihood, women used to stay back at home taking care of the younger ones.There was nothing called like 'feminists' those days and there was no 'women's right commission' also. Since today you have less risky ways of earning your livelihood, the feminists started complaining for more freedom, liberty and god knows what all!
The point i am trying to make is that men and women are made for different purposes in life. There is nothing like that one is doing a more important job and another is incapable of doing it. What women do is no less important than what men do. Feminists should understand this more than the society as such, as i feel, the very reason they make so much noises is that they themselves feel inferior about themselves. Why would some one who feels to equal with their counterpart ask for reservation?
My take is that a person who is capable of being true representative should to go to parliament irrespective of his caste,creed,colour or sex. The only determining factor should be the ability of a person to lead the mass in all respects.Whether in the form of men or women...nation wants deserving leaders and not those people who takes the help of the unfair and a completely idiotic concept like reservation to reach the positions which would decide the future of the country.
Woman has always been portrayed as a symbol of motherhood and compassion from centuries. The most strongest bond between two humans is that between of mother and son.Women along with men also understand that these are no easy things. They should start taking pride in what they do instead of challenging men. To have peace family, man and woman shouldnt challenge each other, rather they should support each other.
Back in the days when men would go hunting for livelihood, women used to stay back at home taking care of the younger ones.There was nothing called like 'feminists' those days and there was no 'women's right commission' also. Since today you have less risky ways of earning your livelihood, the feminists started complaining for more freedom, liberty and god knows what all!
The point i am trying to make is that men and women are made for different purposes in life. There is nothing like that one is doing a more important job and another is incapable of doing it. What women do is no less important than what men do. Feminists should understand this more than the society as such, as i feel, the very reason they make so much noises is that they themselves feel inferior about themselves. Why would some one who feels to equal with their counterpart ask for reservation?
My take is that a person who is capable of being true representative should to go to parliament irrespective of his caste,creed,colour or sex. The only determining factor should be the ability of a person to lead the mass in all respects.Whether in the form of men or women...nation wants deserving leaders and not those people who takes the help of the unfair and a completely idiotic concept like reservation to reach the positions which would decide the future of the country.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
RiN v/s Tide
The recent Rin ad has raised quite a few eyebrows here and there. There have been ad wars in the past between competing brands, most famous being the cola wars in 90s. But an outright attack of this type without an element of humor must be unprecedented in the history ad wars.
What made cola wars popular was the way the used to take a dig at each other, which more often than not, involved an element sarcastic humor.
However this one was more like a punch on Tide's face.It would be quite interesting to see how Tide would respond to this campaign.Seems like they have already filed a legal suit in Mumbai high court. But it wouldn't be surprising to see if Tide comes with a campaign of their in retaliation.
I followed Pepsi-Coca cola ad war with lot of interest which always displayed a lot of creativity in the way pulled each others legs but even in its peak time, i don't remember if they ever came up with such a direct assault on each other. Onida while taking a dig at Nokia, does take the name in the ad but does so in a very smart manner.Audience love when competing brands take a dig at each other, provided that they do it with an element of humor so that it remains in audience's minds for quite some time. Remember the famous Shahrukh-Hrithik fights over Coca-cola and the very funny Sprite-Mountain Dew campaigns.
Whatever it is, i personally felt disgusted seeing the ad as it violated all norms of healthy competition. Not just that, as a person who loves creative ads, i didn't find anything in the ad to say that it was even an 'OK ad' except for the acrimonious attack on a competitor brushing aside all business ethics.Time will only tell if this campaign is just a start of big dirty war between the HUL and P&G.
What made cola wars popular was the way the used to take a dig at each other, which more often than not, involved an element sarcastic humor.
However this one was more like a punch on Tide's face.It would be quite interesting to see how Tide would respond to this campaign.Seems like they have already filed a legal suit in Mumbai high court. But it wouldn't be surprising to see if Tide comes with a campaign of their in retaliation.
I followed Pepsi-Coca cola ad war with lot of interest which always displayed a lot of creativity in the way pulled each others legs but even in its peak time, i don't remember if they ever came up with such a direct assault on each other. Onida while taking a dig at Nokia, does take the name in the ad but does so in a very smart manner.Audience love when competing brands take a dig at each other, provided that they do it with an element of humor so that it remains in audience's minds for quite some time. Remember the famous Shahrukh-Hrithik fights over Coca-cola and the very funny Sprite-Mountain Dew campaigns.
Whatever it is, i personally felt disgusted seeing the ad as it violated all norms of healthy competition. Not just that, as a person who loves creative ads, i didn't find anything in the ad to say that it was even an 'OK ad' except for the acrimonious attack on a competitor brushing aside all business ethics.Time will only tell if this campaign is just a start of big dirty war between the HUL and P&G.
Monday, March 1, 2010
What a fortnight it had been!!
"When was the last time u did something for the first time" was the tag in my orkut status for past few days and not without reason!
Last few days have been phenomenal for me. We had a small get together with my college buddies at Alleppy in a houseboat. It was as good as any of our college tours. As the concentration of antiquity increased in our blood levels, our minds wandered back to those days of pure madness, leaving behind the corporate and professional etiquette. Thank u, Jaggu.....without you driving the show, this just wouldn't have been possible.
This would remain embedded in my memory for years to come.
Back in Hexaware, it was farewell time for me. When Shan spoke at length about my achievements in Hexaware and at my project, i wondered if i really deserved all that.When Hari said, that i was handpicked form the best of peoplesoft guys to get trained , i was completely rendered speechless. Final when Ram said "Make your mark wherever you go" i was inspired.
Two days later, it was again time for me to do something i had never done before. To fly and to fly in King Fisher. It was excited like a kid as i approached the airport. Sitting in the backseat of the cab whose bill would be reimbursed by the company, i felt like a King as i admired the streets of Chennai for one last time.
At the airport, it was quite easy to understand why KF is the most preferred airline. They were better looking, more cooperative and showed more skin than any of their competitors. The red bird herself was as such was not very smooth though.
Bangalore traffic drove me mad on Day1 itself. I was surprised to see drivers taking tickets while they are driving. What can be more risky on road...that too on roads of Bangalore.
Back in the company i had a dream start. I was late on day 1 which prompted the HR to speak a few words extra on the need to cultivate qualities like punctuality,sincerity, dedication and few more, which i had mugged up in primary school moral science classes.
The HR lady collecting the documents almost fainted when she saw the no. of arrears i had! She gave me a look which was her own way of asking me "What the hell are u doing here?". i just smiled giving my silent answer which remained same throughout all the viva exams,i attended in my engineering days "i don't know!"
First day at work. I was very excited to be called for a meeting. One and half hours later when i came out of the conference room, i felt as if i am coming out of Thrissurpuram. There was a customer escalation and so it was all "dddddimmmmmm" "ddddoooooommmmm" inside. People exploding here and there. I sat there wondering if i really belong to this place.
And now finally am leaving for the day. Back at my guest house, i get really good food. what makes it more special is the fact that its FREE! I hadnt been eating there as some idiot had told me that i would have to pay for the food!! So i need to compensate for the days lost also!
Last few days have been phenomenal for me. We had a small get together with my college buddies at Alleppy in a houseboat. It was as good as any of our college tours. As the concentration of antiquity increased in our blood levels, our minds wandered back to those days of pure madness, leaving behind the corporate and professional etiquette. Thank u, Jaggu.....without you driving the show, this just wouldn't have been possible.
This would remain embedded in my memory for years to come.
Back in Hexaware, it was farewell time for me. When Shan spoke at length about my achievements in Hexaware and at my project, i wondered if i really deserved all that.When Hari said, that i was handpicked form the best of peoplesoft guys to get trained , i was completely rendered speechless. Final when Ram said "Make your mark wherever you go" i was inspired.
Two days later, it was again time for me to do something i had never done before. To fly and to fly in King Fisher. It was excited like a kid as i approached the airport. Sitting in the backseat of the cab whose bill would be reimbursed by the company, i felt like a King as i admired the streets of Chennai for one last time.
At the airport, it was quite easy to understand why KF is the most preferred airline. They were better looking, more cooperative and showed more skin than any of their competitors. The red bird herself was as such was not very smooth though.
Bangalore traffic drove me mad on Day1 itself. I was surprised to see drivers taking tickets while they are driving. What can be more risky on road...that too on roads of Bangalore.
Back in the company i had a dream start. I was late on day 1 which prompted the HR to speak a few words extra on the need to cultivate qualities like punctuality,sincerity, dedication and few more, which i had mugged up in primary school moral science classes.
The HR lady collecting the documents almost fainted when she saw the no. of arrears i had! She gave me a look which was her own way of asking me "What the hell are u doing here?". i just smiled giving my silent answer which remained same throughout all the viva exams,i attended in my engineering days "i don't know!"
First day at work. I was very excited to be called for a meeting. One and half hours later when i came out of the conference room, i felt as if i am coming out of Thrissurpuram. There was a customer escalation and so it was all "dddddimmmmmm" "ddddoooooommmmm" inside. People exploding here and there. I sat there wondering if i really belong to this place.
And now finally am leaving for the day. Back at my guest house, i get really good food. what makes it more special is the fact that its FREE! I hadnt been eating there as some idiot had told me that i would have to pay for the food!! So i need to compensate for the days lost also!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)