Thursday, April 30, 2009

Chill out !!!

Yesterday, a Group of Researchers from various parts of the world (me and my friends:-D) were discussing about the current status of IT Industry and how to increase the productivity, to overcome the slow down.

There were many innovative, inventive, interesting, incomparable ideas had come-out during the discussion.

The top recommended and most appreciated idea was to “Serve Beer instead of tea/coffee”. And these are a few reasons, why Beer should be served at work.

• It reduces stress; ensures a happy work atmosphere.
• It leads to more honest communications.
• It makes everyone more open with their ideas.
• Employees will openly tell management what they think (obviously, what management wants not to hear :-D)
• Increased job satisfaction because if you have a bad job, you don’t care ;-)
• It will reduce leaves/vacations because people would be happy to come to office.
• It makes the cafeteria food taste better.;-)

What you say?

Monday, April 27, 2009

First Impression – say it all ?

This Sunday, I went to T.Nagar for some Purchase,along with my friend. We saw a girl,very familiar to us,who also works in the same campus as we do!

My friend remarked "She looks like a mallu".

I agreed," it is written on her face, she must be from Kerala".

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- Yes, sometimes when we meet/see people in our lives, we may not know them in person but we sometimes make a guess "this person has to be from Andra...this person appears to be from north india.." even before we hear them speak or speak to them. Sometimes you can be easily misinterpreted.

I thought of recollecting some events over last four years where people at work posed me strange questions!!!

1) "You look like a vegetarian guy"
It was my first team outing for a Dinner. We went to Residency for dinner. I was having couple of non-veg starters in my plate and my then manager asked me "do your parents know that you take non veg?". He was under the impression that i was a vegetarian guy eating non veg food without my parents knowledge.

2) "Pon.. Are you a Keralite?"
This is one of the frequent questions, I’m facing. During this 4+ years, morethan 50 people have asked me the question.Even when i was at my client office(UK), few Keralites posed me the same question.

3)"You look like a married guy"
This question was asked to me by one of my colleagues. I was wondering what made him ask such a question. Is it because of my appearance or a few silver lines in the head? What made him to think like that ?. He said, I was looked very matured for my age and hence he asked me such a question!

4)"You don’t look like a guy from that College"
There were 2 senior PMs from my college, in my first company. Both of them used to say “you don’t look like a guy from ACCET”. I’m still wondering, what made them to think like that.

5)"You look like that guy"
Many of my friends, remarked me that I’m looking like one of the Heroes of Tamil Cinema. One of my teammates was seeing some of the college photos and remarked why do I have some actor's photos. I had to tell him it was me in the Final year;-D

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Interestingly none of them asked me whether I was from down south or from village!!! I would have been happier if someone asked me such questions whether I am from south tamil nadu.

I have mistaken some before even speaking to them. I had a bad impression about one of my colleagues, before I spoke to him but later happened to meet him through a common friend of mine and my first impression about him was totally wrong!

First impression is the best impression they say! but it need not be true always.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Should I stay late at office ?

I left my office (for the day only ;-D) around 6PM yesterday; It’s been quite a longtime,I left for home in the sunlight. For the last two months I used to leave by 8.30-9PM.But this week, our client is on vacation (moreover there’s no much work), so I decided to leave by 6PM.

Around 6-6.30pm, I reached home.
My neighbor aunty greeted me at the gate, "Enna Ganesh evalo sekkiram vandhuta?"

I really didn't know how to reply for that question. I am sure many of us might have been in such situations. People think at times if u work in IT or ITES , you have to come home in midnights or working in weekends is mandatory. I had to slowly and clearly explain to her. We have to live my life according to my Client, his timings, his location and his vacation.

I parked my bike and climbing on the stairs, to home at first floor. Again a little girl asked the same question, "Uncle ! Enna Project overa? sekkirum vandirkeenga?"

After finishing dinner, I decided to call my Mom. My brother picked the phone and asked "At home? Enna vela illaya ennaiku?"

Generally I share most of my office happening with my family. I always keep them informed about me. Again I had to explain him about client’s vacation.

My Dad, started with the same question….
…..
…..

I was tired already.
I didn’t want to explain further.
Edhey kelvi ennum evalu peru kekaporanganu theriyala.

I’m wondering,
"6 maasathkku oru thadavai 6 manikku vandha evalavu kelvi ketkurangaley, appo Benchla irundha velaya vittu thorathitangala nnu ketppanga pola"

What shall I do ? I can't blame them.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

IPL - Ranji Trophy

Yeah!!!! The IPL is just a few days far. No one can deny that the last year IPL was a huge success and this time also many expect the same. There are many appreciations and controversies on IPL.

And whatever critics might say, I strongly believe the IPL has unearthed some real talents. Lots of talents (MS Gony,Pragyan Ozha and Amit Mishra…)have come to limelight, through the match. Due to the IPL performances - Shane Watson gets a recall in place of an injured Mathew Hayden. Morkel, Shaun Marsh… also got a firm position on their nation team.

We have been playing Ranji Cricket for many decades, which can’t even stand near the success of IPL. Every one knows the reason for the state of Ranji – Local politics and Politicians. Also BCCI has failed to generate public interest in Ranji Trophy ( I feel,BCCI shall also tender the Ranji teams, to Preity/Shilpa/Bipasha...;-D)

In IPL, everyone expect only the Performance. If you perform you are in, if not no politician’s relative will be able to help. Because this is run as a business by (some) corporate. This I suppose is something good, and this thought came out only because of IPL.

Whatever it is…. Now despite the IPL happening in South Africa, the live telecast on the TV remains on the same time. So we don’t need to watch some reality shows(full of drama), screaming serials, and worst of all a lecture of wrong facts in NDTV,CNN(called NEWS;-D) every evening.

Hey, I can watch Sehwag and Gambhir hitting the ball every few days. Pity, I really did hope to watch a few games at Chepauk, Chennai ;-(.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Italian Job [2003]


“The Italian Job”- One more blockbuster on my DVD gallery!!!.

Genre: Heist - Action drama
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron,Donald Sutherland…


The movie starts with the heist of $35 million worth gold, without firing a single bullet. Excellently shot on the beautiful waters of Venice.

The plan was devised by Charlie Croker(Mark Wahlberg) and executed along with his team: Steve(Edward Norton), computer genius Lyle(Seth Green), wheelman handsome Rob(Jason Statham) , explosives expert Left-Ear(Mos Def) and veteran safecracker John Bridgerwith(Donald Sutherland)).

The heist is clean as per the plan and successful .Their longtime dreams could finally be realized.

But what they didn't expect was one of their own team men - Steve, turns against them, and knocking off the rest. His plan was even better, and was executed to more or less perfectly. He consolidates himself as all of the team are dead and leaves to US with all the gold in his possession.

But Only John Bridger looses his life on that hit and all other survive. A year later, they again devise a plan for their vengeance against Steve, who’s settled in LA with his gold. They pull- in Stella (Charlize Theron), a beautiful (WoW ;--D) safecracker, who’s the daughter of John Bridger also for their Revenge.

The team moves to Los Angels to accomplish their goal. The rest of the movie is about , how they defeated Steve and got their gold back. Complete action packed story!!!

What I Say :<
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It’s fast paced action drama, with clean screenplay. All the characters are suited very well. Especially Charlize Theron !!! She looks so beautiful, and her acting and car driving skills match that in the movie. I should admit that after watching the movie, I've become a big fan of hers ;-)


I should also say that there are many logic flaws (like Indian action film, they also didn’t worry about the “Logics”).There are many un-answered questions in the story itself.

Beyond all these bugs, the screenplay makes you to feel great. I really like the movie very much. I would recommend a “Must Watch”.

Monday, April 6, 2009

The Last Samurai [2003]


Directed by: Edward Zwick
Written by:Edward Zwick,John Logan
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe,Timothy Spall,


I had heard about “The last Samurai” for a long time; but didn’t get a chance to watch the film, till this weekend.Really a great US-Japanese Flick !!!

The summary of the movie is,
Japan in 1876 – For centuries Japan has been an isolated country, preventing itself away from the world. So it is still an old age, agricultural nation. The new emperor Meiji decides to modernize his country. He opens up Japan to the world, bringing in railways, telegraph, firearms and Western suits.

Not everybody is happy with these changes. A Samurai named Katsumoto revolts against the flaws in the name of modernization. The Emperor hires an American Military Captain – Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) to train his army to fight against Katsumoto.

Algren leads the Emperor's army in a battle against Katsumoto. The small Japan army is defeated; Algren is wounded and captured. He is taken to Katsumoto's village as a prisoner.

During his time in the village, Algren gets impressed with the Samurai and their way of life. Gradually he is converted to their cause. He joins Katsumoto in his battle. In the final battle Katsumoto is defeated and killed, but Algren survives to tell the story.

What I say :<
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"The Last Samurai" is a long movie (2.40hrs) and many of my friends who like the movie also admitted that they slept at least once during the movie :-D. But not me.

I liked the movie very much; even watched many scenes for the second time too. No one can deny that, It's an beautiful film, lovingly shot with some extraordinary fight and battle scenes.

If you love periodic -action-drama kind of movie, this is for you...