The playing field is being leveled... or is it?

I am working in one of the top multinational company – Infosys. The people who are sitting at the top are people who make or break international news everyday. We get to read articles on NRM sir, Nandan, on our desktop on a regular basis. One of such news was the interview of Nandan by Thomas L. Friedman (Pulitzer-winning New York Times columnist) about his book ‘The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century’. Friedman was interviewing many Indian entrepreneurs for a television documentary. What impressed me most was the intriguing way Nandan answered Friedman’s questions. Finally this is what he writes in his article for New York Times (only a part of it…)

At one point, summing up the implications of all this, Nilekani uttered a phrase that rang in my ear. He said to me, “'Tom, the playing field is being leveled.” He meant that countries like India were now able to compete equally for global knowledge work as never before — and that America had better get ready for this. As I left the Infosys campus that evening and bounced along the potholed road back to Bangalore, I kept chewing on that phrase: “The playing field is being leveled.”

“What Nandan is saying,” I thought, “is that the playing field is being flattened. Flattened? Flattened? My God, he's telling me the world is flat!”

Here I was in Bangalore — more than 500 years after Columbus sailed over the horizon, looking for a shorter route to India using the rudimentary navigational technologies of his day, and returned safely to prove definitively that the world was round — and one of India's smartest engineers, trained at his country's top technical institute and backed by the most modern technologies of his day, was telling me that the world was flat, as flat as that screen on which he can host a meeting of his whole global supply chain. Even more interesting, he was citing this development as a new milestone in human progress and a great opportunity for India and the world — the fact that we had made our world flat!

When I read this article, I was impressed by the way Americans are getting moved and bugged by leaders of modern India. The phrase stuck to my mind too, “The playing field is being leveled”. Indeed, it is. The likes of NRM sir, Azeem Premji, Sameer Bhatia have created so much difference in the growth of our country.

The columnist came to India just to write about the ways Indians have captured the whole world of IT industry. But I am not here to talk about just the IT industry. I am here to talk about INDIA. That is what concerns me more than just the IT Industry. The topic I am about to embark upon is a controversial one, lots of debates, hunger strike have been made on it but what have we achieved – Nothing.

I will again say the phrase, “The Playing Field is being leveled.” Are we trying hard to grasp the true meaning of this phrase? When I saw the news, Reservation is a major issue. People are coming out with rallies, hunger strike. Govt is giving out staggering figures. I think someone was talking about 63% reservations in TN or Chennai (not sure about the data). Come on folks, I don’t see any leveled field here. I don’t have a solution for this situation as I am biased to the whole situation. Nandan’s phrase doesn’t fit in this case, that’s all I can say.

I get a forward saying Saurabh from AIIMS dies of Hunger strike against reservation. Media doesn’t want to cover it because its controversial. I don’t know whether this is true or false, but if it’s false why don’t the media say it is. I enjoy every bit of coverage from NDTV when it comes to cricket, natural calamities others. Today I feel that even if this news of student dying for a protest is false, I feel media folks are professionally heartless bastards. They want news but are also puppets in the hands of politicians.

Leaving Reservation I come across another hot topic, Dan Brown’s controversial book Da Vinci Code. Based on this best seller, the movie, Da Vinci Code created ripple among the Religious communities in India.

I am getting too controversial now. Nandan’s phrase was regarding the IT industry of India, for me it’s more about India. Being a vast country and a secular nation, it’s hard to get a leveled field. The corrupt politics and the infected judiciary system have left the common man frustrated, miserable and helpless. From Jessica Lal’s case to millions of scams, we have seen how ineffective the system is.

But then, we are hopeful like always. If IT industry has reached this milestone, living with the same system, having the same type of people, we will some day find a similar solution, a similar ground to solve the problems.

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Disclaimer

All material of this blog is author’s own thoughts and views. They are no way related to his company or his employer.

Dreams

I have always been a sleepy head. For me sleeping is the most important thing in life; the saying in Hindi ‘Soge to koho ge’ (If you sleep you lose) doesn’t apply. For me, it’s like eight to nine hours of sleep on weekdays and up to twelve hours on weekends. People ask, “Why do you sleep so much?” I tell them gently that I love to watch dreams. The best part is, I can remember each and every dream I see. I can even recall the dream I had day before yesterday! It’s a gift God has given me. At times it is hard to think of it as a gift, especially during exam times, as the fear of a blank paper comes to me very naturally. My dad probably had it too; maybe it is in the gene pool. What ever it is, for most part of my life, I have enjoyed what I saw.

I recently met a friend of mine - Rajni. She likes to listen to other people dreams and then analyze their “inner meaning”. According to me, everything happens for a reason; if I can remember dreams and love to sleep, I find a friend who likes to listen to them and analyze them. What! Confused? Well, it’s a weird world out there and we play the lead roles.

On one of our outings to CCD (oh for all my Infosys folks, its Café Coffee day and not the CCD, where we put our network/hardware problems) she and I got into an argument about the dreams we see. She was adamant that a person can remember dreams only because he or she is under extreme stress and is unable to have a sound sleep. She continued with the argument stating that we go into an unconsciousness state when we sleep, and people who can remember dreams are in a state of sub-consciousness, and the stress on the grey cells intensifies, and that their mobility throughout over nervous system makes us remember what ever we are stressed about. And I went “This doesn’t happen with everyone!”

God, or whatever the unknown force that drives me, never has made me feel stressed out. I have never felt any strain when I get up in the morning. Actually, when I don’t have nightmares, just the simple dreams, the mornings are lovely. My morning moods are totally dependent on how great my dreams were…

Rajni is those nagging kind of gals (no offense to gals) who do not agree so easily. She kept saying “You will have some sort of fallout in the morning. There has to be fire if you see smoke!” But this is not the way logic works with dreams, my dreams at least.

The meeting ended without any solution; do we see symptoms of stress in the morning if we remember any dreams, or do we not! This thought kept lingering around my mind. How ironical it was– contemplating if I had stress in morning because of my dreams was so trying, I found myself not sleeping that night!

The next day I got up with splitting headache. The whole night my brain was trying to check if I was stressed while I sleeping. It was like my brain was sleeping and at the same time keeping a check on how “the brain” is sleeping… Gosh… Even the medicos won’t know how to (and probably wouldn’t want to) correlate this to medical sciences. Any how, a drug during my breakfast brought my head back from hell. I realized that I need a final answer to this whole mystery of STRESS or NO-STRESS.

“Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” My head was a big mess, so I tried doing some experiment of my own. I called up my family 2 nights in a row, one time intentionally fighting with them and other time just having a casual family chat. The days I fought, I had thoughts of my elder brother and my mom (whom I am more close to) in my dreams. Hope now you see where I am going in this experiment. No? Well, even I wasn’t just sure even after 2 nights.

Gaming freaks like me spend quality time learning how to play new and advance gaming technique. So the next experiment was to play varieties of games and see how my dreams “react”.

Sometimes we try so hard for things and mess up the whole process. Too much violence and bloodshed and long hours on PC wore me out so much that I hardly had any dreams. Too bad, the plan just blew up in my face.

So this time, I called a Gal (okay guys no whistling and all – I fancy her, but right now no sparks…). She and I got in a long conversation about each other’s family and before I went to bed, she said something interesting (sorry, not to be disclosed). The night was one of the best. I was walking all throughout the dream in a park (I am also a nature freak) and a soothing song was playing in the background.

Okay enough mushy talks, back to the point. Now I was sure, that dreams do stress our mind to certain limit. The limit is decided by no one, but us. We are the controller of our own dreams. Well actually, it’s my own theory about me and how I want to see my dreams. Even now, I go around doing some small experiments, trying to mould my dreams the way I want them. They don’t produce a perfect result but yeah, most of the time they are the way I want them to be.

Coming back to my friend Rajni’s thought. I met her again (no not in CCD, it was in the college parking lot) I asked her if she can spare sometime about her theory of dreams and the morning stress. She was pre-judgmental and growled that I would again go against her theory and that she wasn’t interested in listening. But that lasted only for few seconds after what I said.

It was simple to make her understand that the stress she is talking about it nothing but the pressure we put on our self during our working hours. I hardly get this because I don’t have any tension for me to get stressed out. I see and enjoy my dreams, as in the evenings, I tend to loosen myself with evening strolls or a good laugh with friends. TV is not much part of my life (apart from cricket), and I don’t watch too much of “kyun ki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi” sagas. So the stress symptom my friend Rajni was talking about was actually present in me every morning. It was just that the stress levels were so low that I was totally enjoying my dreams. The same level shoots up the roof the moment I go under pressure, be it exams or some fight with friends.

A middle line was drawn between my friend’s theory and the one I postulated. And we were both happy standing on it admiring what the other is trying to show. She wanted to discover the lighter side of dreams. I was not very much inclined knowing the darker side, but one can never admire the beauty of happiness until sadness envelops at least ones.

Disclaimer

The author has used the name of his company during this write up. His intensions are not to harm the name, any of the divisions or any employee of the company. There are no hidden meanings to the usage.

Perfect Morning

So here I am again, boring my blog. I wish this blog of mine woukd never meet a real genie; it would just wish to be human and beat the crap out of me… Another start of another day and the thoughts came rushing in, how perfect this morning is… Or is it??

The Perfect Morning

As I get out of my bed at 6:30, I feet the cool early morning breeze on my face, greeting me a great day ahead. Messy hair & a foul taste in my mouth, I reach the washbasin, looking at myself in the mirror. With brush in one hand and the hot kettle full of boiling water, I managed to make a steaming cup of early bed tea - God bless the soul who discovered this holy-herb.

As the newspaper-wala sends down the missile, aiming always for the balcony fern, I grab hold of the paper and run towards the loo. Sorry for being so disgusting, but the relief on a human’s face right after S/he comes out of the loo, is quite similar to the satidfaction of having emerged victorius from a battele. Sweat dripping down your forehead unless of course you have fan in your loo.

<> As the cookoo clock strikes 7, I run in for a shower, filling the whole bathroom with the aroma of different soaps & shampoo. Dripping wet from the bathroom, I grab my towel trying to say the Hanumaan Chalisa (Holy book having Sanskrit verses on Lord Rama’s devoted pupil – Hanumaan). Opening the wardrobe, I look for the day's formal wear.

As the clock strikes 7:30, I am all set to hit the road. Taking my bike out from the garage, I say hi to my neighbour - Pillai uncle, reading news paper in his veranda (wishing to get a glimpse of his beautiful daughter).

The Weather is great and I drive down the long stretch of road… Reaching right on time for the 8 o clock office, I chew my breakfast peppered with some gossip from my colleagues - who is going out these days, which pair broke up recently and which friend got screwed by His/Her PM recently…

AH!!! What a Morning…

The Not-So-Perfect Morning

As the alarm screams in my ear as early as 6:30, I get up to a sweaty, hot and humid morning, telling me "you better get ready for a long lousy day". Reaching the washbasin is a problem thanks to last night's party. The beer has given me a big hangover and shaky feet. Brush in one hand and mouthwash in other, I try to remove the smell of alcohol from my breath. Why are all the utensils always dirty? They sure will be if I don’t wash them! If I do wash them, I'll have to wash them again as I will use them, getting stuck in a vicious circle. So I leave the utensils behind, deciding to grab some of the brown liquid from the office vending machine.

The stupid newspaper-wala is never on time and today when he was on time, he throws down a different language paper, which I would have to take to our next door neighbour, Pillai uncle for translation. I run to the loo, no longer having the desire to hold it, when suddenly my mother's call holds up the whole scene. She screams at my poor eating habits & for not meeting my local guardian regularly. Now the mood is gone and no matter how hard I try, the time has passed and I will have to bank on the office restrooms in case nature calls-in during this lousy day.

As my never-to-trust watch strikes 7:15, I know, "I will be going late." I run in for a quick shower, coming outside dripping all over the floor (again forgetting my towel in the hurry). Cursing the habit my parents inculcated in my early childhood to spend sometime in the morning to Worship God, I, hardly remembering anyt of the versus from the Hanuman chalisa (Holy book having Sanskrit verse based on the Lord Rama’s devoted pupil Hanumaan – I think so, not sure though), Finish reciting it quickly, thinking "Even God isn’t up so early!" Now, searching for my clothes from a messy pile in my room, I finally get hold of some crushed formals. Ironing them takes away some precious time, adding to the delay.

At 8, finally when I leave my place, I say hi to our neighbour, Pillai uncle, who gives me an ugly scowl because of last night's booze-party at my place; the thought of getting a glimpse of his beautiful daughter drives me cold, for her dad would butcher me into tiny pieces if he ever came to know that I was thinking of her.

The long stretch of road is full of pot-holes and my aging bike is finding it tough to get the beating. Reaching late at 8:30, I miss my breakfast and have no time to chat with my friends, who are already neck deep in their work. I reach my terminal only to be summoned by the PM …

AH!!! What a Morning…

Thoughts of Love

If love was an ocean, but you were afraid of water, would you stand in the sand & look at it waiting to feel the mist of the waves, or would you take the chance, dive right in and not think about it?

To love is not a part of things, or a part of life.

To love is the WHOLE of things, and the whole of life.

In my heart is my love for you, and in my love for you life whole is.

Dont know who said it and how it ended up in my diary, all i know is that it will give me immense warmth when ever I think of anything that had,have or will have to do with love...

In My Dreams…

In my dreams I don’t stop thinking
& I laugh when u start winking.

In my dreams I like your smile
& I stop that moment as to cherish for a while.

In my dreams I like your touch
& I kiss you because I love u so much.

In my dreams U always try to hide
& I feel stuck in a scary tide.

In my dreams U dance around the ocean
& I just stare you hiding my emotion

I wish these dreams just go on
& I keep seeing U from Dusk to Dawn....

Rose day...

Payar mein akele hai hum... To kazaj pe likh diye humne appne gum.....

Aaj Bahut koobsurat lag rahe ho tum,
Bahut Paayare lag rahe ho tum,
Duk to iska tha ki uske saath ho tum

Gulaab to hum bhi dena chahate the,
Do alfas to hum bhi kehena chahate the,
Par aawaj to uski he sunna chahate ho tum

Duur se tumhe dekte hein hum,
Uski Baho me muskarate ho tum
Aant me chale aaye hum yehi soch ke
Aakhir kush ho uska haat thame tum....

Overcooked brain

Yo.. Hu... I got it all wrong. Blog is not your story book... You don’t write only stories... It’s a place where you can write your thought... In my case about my life, in a very pathetic writing skills... I need to improve and what better than keep on writing till either the people around you scream at your little tiny grammatical mistake or you get so sick of your English that you pick up Wrenn Martin (if that’s the author name) and go to elementary school…

I realized that I was chasing things the wrong way… I should first get the basic right. It happened late but at last it happened. I used to get mad when ever things go the way I don’t want them to… Now I get mad and then I start doing the things I intend to do. This way I like it all along as I know I won’t be getting mad at a later stage… Jezz I am already mad… I guess I am… Again CONFUSED…

So here on my blog, I am blabbering because I am bored at office, my day’s work (visiting orkut, checking mails and chatting with friends who are busy in their project) is over and lunch hour is still half n hour away, so I will just talk about the incident that happened last evening.

MY PARENTS… All you kids, don’t get sad. They are of course the reason we exist (and the reason at times I think why? – this is a complete different topic and will be discussed later time of my life – if that happened…)

My DAD called me up and asked me all about my well being and my eating habits and the Complete Reference of Arpit’s life (by Herbert Schildt). I was mad and furious, but then again… I was all along mad; they woke me up at 10:30 in the night. I just slept after a long day of sitting on Bench… Yeah my project has just come to an end and I was deported to bench.

So after his overflowing loves of thoughts were over, it was my mom’s turn. She started with the same old question, “beta, how many meals you had in the day, hope you didn’t skip the breakfast.” What else a lady, devoted to her 2 kids, will ask. I said, yes mom, I had 3 meals a day… Actually I twisted the answer; I had lunch, evening snacks and dinner. Her mistake if she thought I was talking about breakfast, lunch and dinner. How can a bachelor, living in Chennai in a hostel and currently having no girl friend around will spend nights – watching late night TV. So I am bound to get late to office and breakfast then becomes just a luxury.

So now the topic comes what did my dad do cause of which I am bugging you all… Actually bugging Microsoft word, I am typing this whole blog here with so many typos. Anyways, my dad said, “If you want to gift us something for our marriage anniversary then give all your tensions.”

WHAT??? Where this question did on GOD-EARTH came from? Thankfully, I won’t be sleeping tonight. My parents have concern about me. Probably its old age or just the distance and me going to Delhi not very often.

But when I got up this morning I realized, it’s not the old age and probably not the distance. It’s about me and my past habits. I have done things which they don’t appreciate and they have done things which I kind-of disagree. How to draw the line where we both can stand and feel everything is right? Tough question! Beats me!!

All I can say… SHITS HAPPENS… And it will continue to happen… As one of the lovely lady in my office said, all day long I am busy with the 4 letter word –

W-O-R-K…

“I” will also be doomed with the same fate till eternity… For my parents my love is eternal and the only problem is I am too big to go and kiss my mom (on the cheek ofcourse) or hug my dad (that is quiet tough now with his bulging tummy)…

It was amazing for my parents to say this over the phone and I know its not the end. They will continue to love me (conditionally or unconditionally). As for this blog, my dad might read this blog and then… He will either do morning walks for the tummy or just give me a sumo tackle. That will be end of my blogging days…

ADIOS…