The Economic or emotional slump???

Being a software professional during these times of “economic slump” is perceived by a majority of the population as a huge risk. The same profession that was considered “the best” by the same people just a few months ago is now considered a gamble.

I hear many people saying that the trouble in being a software engineer now is that we are expected to be proactive, trying to push ourselves further and come up with innovative ideas. I say, is that not something any professional has to do during the entire span of his/her profession? I do not restrict the statement above, as one applicable only to software professionals. Any one, doing any job… Is not the value we add to our job or hobby or service, the factor that sets us apart from others? Do we not look for the best person to stitch our dress, the best maid to clean our house, the hotel that offers our the most sumptuous dinner and the transport agency that takes us to our destination faster than the others?

When we expect the best from others, don’t we have to stop and consider the fact that others also, would naturally expect the best from us? True, no one can be perfect, but we all can strive to be better than what we already are. No one can stop others from firing you, but you can make sure that they accept you in some other company. No one can stop your unfair manager from showing favoritism, but you can definitely focus one’s energy on things that will hone your skills. That definitely is more worthwhile than cribbing about your manager over whom you do not have control. True talent and sincerity can not ever be ignored for a long time nor will it go unrecognized.

Finally I believe that whatever an individual truly wishes, heart of hearts, is what happens to him/her. If one says aloud, “I want to be the CEO of a great company” but inside you also think, “Me..CEO?? (sigh) I am not even able to get my energy recognized by my team…how do I become a CEO?”….. That is what you truly think…you believe that you don’t deserve to be the CEO and you don’t become one. Finally, people end up saying that nothing is fair in life

Let us start each day positively and progress towards our moments of glory, with an alert and eager mind. I believe “Tough times never last, but tough people do!”

Hurray

This is to share with you all the happy news that I have won the first prize for my article "Monday Morning Blues", in the blog contest conducted by sitagita.com.

U can check out the article from the archives in my blog or check it out in the following url : http://sitagita.com/blogcontest/winning.html

I welcome your comments.

Elementary, my dear Watson….

Boredom… This is something I face everyday of my professional life. From the lack of interesting things to do, boredom in my case has come to lack of anything to do(sometimes)…! I sit in office day after day….wondering where I went wrong…choosing my company or my profession.. Maybe I should have stuck to writing as a career option, or teaching which was once my dream job 

I used to think I was the only person with this problem… then I realized to my dismay (and a kinda impish satisfaction) that most of the people around me in office are sailing in the same boat. I then began to study the various techniques people employ to overcome this “everyday” problem.

There are some masters in this art of dealing with boredom. Many of them deceive themselves, making their minds believe that they are actually busy. They do things like scrolling their inboxes many times…refreshing it…reading old useless mails multiple times…playing sudoku…taking one hour to compose a single line mail…trying to compose the mail in which they update the week’s activities(no activities done.. but u need to boost the manager’s ego that his project is doing something great)

I have even heard many employees say, “I was very busy today, lotsa forwarded mails to read…”

So what do I do to overcome this problem and leverage this opportunity to make my time fruitful? What can anyone possibly do to ward off the danger that an idle mind heralds?

I discovered that blogging is quite a good way of bringing out our creativity and in some cases, letting out some steam too. Definitely better than pointlessly chatting about the latest gossip with your team mate.

Sometimes.. only when I blogged, I discovered that I really had an opinion about that issue…that I really had such kinda vocabulary… that I was able to spin off a blog entry so quickly..

That is when I discovered the fact that whatever we do very well, is the one on which we have spent the greatest time. A lazy person will always be lazy, unless he starts doing something and spends more and more time being active. If you sleep for 12 hours a day… you will be an expert in sleeping. If you spend 5 hours a day practicing dance, it will show in your performance.

It is the simple phenomenon which all of us just brush away with “Oh that is so simple. We know this since kindergarten”. What we do not realize is that all the greatest concepts on earth are SIMPLE.

Is nt that what the greatest detective and one of the sharpest minds in the literary world often used to say while explaining his seemingly impossible deductions of apparently complex cases?
“Elementary, my dear Watson”

Friendships – Do We Have Time for Them Today?

Time is the most precious commodity nowadays. Strangely, it is the only commodity in the possession of every human being in perfectly equal quantities, irrespective of his social status or any other humanly devised taxonomical term. In the age of globalization, when people get paid for devoting their time for any particular task, do we have time for people?

One day you get a call….”Hi…how are you…Remember me?”

Now that is quite a dangerous question… You have been in this situation before and you know it’s a deadly trap.. If it is one of your long forgotten cousins – you had better camouflage your poor memory by humming a hawing and keeping up a small general talk until mother arrives in the scene to take charge of the phone and at least save you by telling out aloud the name of the person at the other end. Then you sigh and forcefully take the phone from her and say.. ”Oh Satish… How is your girl friend da…Sumi right? You still have to give me a five star chocolate as I did not tell your dad about her the other day.. It has been 5 years since you got married to her!” (As if you knew all along that it was Satish to whom you were giving details like the exact altitude and dimensions of the clouds today)

But there is one breed of people and the memories linked with them that one shall never forget… Even the little tug of war you had with the bunny rabbit toy in LKG… The way you both had tried to bury your fallen milk tooth in the school ground… The exact number of idlis he took from your tiffin box during Chemistry class in the tenth standard…. The chalk pieces you threw at each other… The hours you waited for the result of the semester exam… The cups of coffee.. The movies… The teachers you had made fun of.. The classes you bunked for a nice afternoon siesta…

Is there not one huge archive of memories that seems to evade any new age memory ruiner like job stress or marital problems or the omnipresent traffic.. Don’t those memories always bring a smile to your lips when you reminisce about them… Don’t you leave out everything and rush to the hospital when you hear that your friend has met with an accident…? Don’t you plan your leave to attend your best friend’s wedding? Don’t you pray (albeit hurriedly) for your friend too when you stand before the gods every morning in your pooja room? Don’t her triumphs make you proud? Don’t you think of your friend when you get news about something she is desperately in need of…? Don’t you pick up the phone just to listen to her voice when you feel down?

Well…. Did anyone just say that people do not have time for anybody these days?

I say, we always have time, for those who matter, for those who care, for those people whom we care about.

Blood ties - we have none.

We dont always have fun

We are not colleagues

We dont meet up all days

We do argue

confide and giggle

We think things through

We laugh and we tickle

We are there for each other

Now and forever!

My dear friend,

Let us be the same

Till the end!

Let them fall…..

One of the games I have seen children play is blowing air near floating feathers – to keep them floating. How beautiful and graceful it is to watch the light and cute feathers gently rock left and right like a small boat on waves….. How our heart goes out to the pretty thing….. We blow air to keep it floating. After a period of time we tire of pushing air out of our system forcefully….. Did anyone ask us to keep the feather suspended in air? Did it request your breath? Did it say it did not like the comfort of lying down on mother Earth?

A feather or anything similar that obeys the law of gravity like leaves, dandelion, dust, raindrops or even a ball, is bound to fall down. And let me assure you, they do not mind it! Indeed they want it!

What is the point of trying to do something to change something which you know does not need to change? Or what is the point in holding on to something that you have to let go, in the name of silly sentiments? Why should you exert yourself for something that does not require your effort?

Let us learn to let go of things that have to be let off….things which have to be let go, things which do not require us… things which hurt us when we try to hold them back….

Let the raindrops tumble down… Let the feathers float…. and also…. Let them fall….!

Am I alluding to something here? Let me let you think :-)