A Rainy Day!

It rained in the morning!

Not like the sweeping downpour that only lasts for an hour but leaves no traces behind. No, today it was the more persistent variety that flood lanes.

Today was also office day. So in spite of the killing desire to loll on the bed and get up late, I had to get up, do the bachelor chores and get ready.

But that was easy.

Once outside, I could see that the much talked about Noida's infrastructure was coming apart. The roads were jammed and the streetlights were unsurprisingly not working. I had a first-person view of a free for all. How there managed not to be a pile-up, only god knows.

No buses were going to my office's side, though normally they do. I am not too fond of buses but sometimes take them if I have enough time as they do save me a lot of money.

We, as in me and my flatmate managed to get an auto but the bugger refused after initially agreeing. What made him change his mind that I'll never know.

It was getting late. My flatmate was getting edgy. The furrows on his brows became a permanent fixture. I took myself out of the scene (mentally) to view the world (or so to speak). It was beautiful. The puddles on lanes and roadsides, the cloudy skies, the pleasant weather- it was amazing. I know I'm taking this far, but it felt breathtaking.

But the world seemed to mind. They were in a hurry to get on with their lives and the weather somehow was not permitting. The roads were jammed not because they were too narrow but people had no patience.

What have we become?

We can't even enjoy what we see around us? The beauty that we so crave for and often pay astronomical amounts on a vacation is right in front of us. Why then we choose to ignore?

Has our lives become so neat and arranged that we reserve the time we can admire the beauty of nature?

I have lost a lot of things over my adolescence- my innocence and part of my conscience. But I still haven't lost myself. I want all the good things in life too but not at such a cost.

So that one day I look back and still recognise myself.

So that one day I realise that I have not wasted myself in this pursuit of Unhappyness.

So that one day when I sleep for eternity, I know it has been a life well spent.

Office Office!

Office is a remarkable institution- it is the melting pot of all kinds of people. But before I start off on a boring piece of multiculturalism, let me neatly divide the office population into three groups-

1. The Intellectuals- A rare commodity. They hardly belong here, they do not like their work, their hobbies do not match with the rest and amusingly, their hobbies can actually become their full-time work(??) if there was no pressure from conjugal life, kids, parents, belly(food!) etc. So how to identify them? Simple. Their clothes are "thoda hadke"(distinguishably different) and their talk all the more so. They utter long lost poems in Urdu, listen to Ghazals and Thumri, yet have an encyclopedic knowledge of classical English literature and western music of the yesteryear's. Their movies do not play in the PVRs or Waves. They wait for the Osians and discuss Bergman (may his soul rest in peace) and Goddard. They seem to agree that there were only two directors of any class ever born in India- Satyajit Ray and Ritwick Ghatak. The Benegals, Sens and Ghoses are just pretenders!
2. The Half-Intellectuals- A far more common breed. They are stuck in the middle. they sometimes like their work, sometimes they don't. They are torn between their mediocre tastes and the promises of higher thinking. They are also aware of their limitations- they are too materialistic and crass to evolve into the first group. They like their junk food, Action movies, Harry Potter to discard all the pedestrian stuff. To them, My Brother Nikhil, Swades, Black etc stand for cinematic excellence. Their reading habits follow the bestseller lists.
3. The Workers- They do not seem to think. They do work, they are happy and then they party.Chilled out people, their life stands for many things- gadgets, parties, food, family and even work! They like career planning, usually aware of how to grow their money and somehow they are also not at peace, in spite of the fact that this is what they wanted to do in the first place. As for ID, look for KJo and Jlo fans, people who've heard of Britney Spears but not Morissette, and swears by the crappy business books that come out every week.

In the end, we all fight with existentialism and indulge in 'bad faith'. Profound, huh?

Bollocks!

P.S. - In case, you're curious where I belong, look in the middle.

Opinions

We all have opinions on everything- life, work, men, women(!), books, movies, art etc. But should we have opinions on people- I mean how they are?

Its a difficult choice. Its one of my beliefs that no one behaves in a few particular ways. Human behaviour is a perennial fliud motion. Its never static, always under the influence of one thing or the other- it could be circumstances, the base instincts, the upbringing, the peer pressure and so on. At most, human behaviour can only be imagined as a fliud which takes the shape and contour of the vessel that stores it. And if the vessel breaks, the spirit flies and no predictive forecast of the behaviour would have any meaning.

But then the post-modernists say that even each and every medium can be interpreted in a different way, based upon the ideology you follow, the circumstances that you're in, and the world that exists. But do these intangibles also follow a fluid state?

The world is a sum of the parts. But some has more influence on how the World behaves than others. Take for example Armani, Hugh Hefner or George Bush. Do they change? or are their behaviour constant?

Their behaviour is again governed by a complex set of factors, the state of the world being a pretty crucial one. So here we are in a circularity- men who decide what the world should be are governed by the world themselves.

I need some clarity on this.

Till then I make an oath that I will not have any opinion on anyone.

But I will on books, movies, places and so on.

A little free time in the week of madness!

Yes, I've been given a project and the sacrosanct norms of client confidentiality requires me to stay silent on the details.

But I won't stay silent about the volume of work. For the last couple of days I had been leaving at 1 AM. And i come to office at 9-30 AM, not so sharp :)

15 hours of work! Hell, they don't pay me that much!!!

Now that the boss is not in today, we have a little vela time, and this is how choose to use it.

I must be mad!

But then I am what I am!

P.S.- They should get more clients from China, Vietnam etc etc.

Delhi girls are like no other!

Delhi girls- stuff that dreams are made of?

All right, let me get this correct. I am not writing about my fantasies or publishing material on the web fit for a guy's wet dreams. This is about them -yes, them. And not their details (my more unsophisticated friends say stats!)
Delhi girls are seriously like no other. They have a hugely different world-view (mostly centre-left but customised to individual preferences), awesome skin (and hair) and very active S & D status. They are also quite experimental (and I hope you get what I'm referring to. If not try DPS). They are also extremely knowledgeable (they read their books and papers), smart (quick, perfect accents but not usually cocky, but I've seen that type also), argumentative and accomplished in professional life.

The ideal image of a modern woman?
Yes and No.

Why yes? Their uninhibited lifestyle (pubs, male friends, boyfriends, sex, short-term relationships, smoking, drinking, even drugs) are all good signs. Do not get me wrong here. Some of the things mentioned in the last parenthesis are habits and overdoing them might land you up in trouble- social, moral and physical.
But there should be acceptance of such lifestyles- if a man can smoke, so can a woman. The process takes long, there will be people talking about it and there will be people staring at women puffing. But there should be a conscious effort to dismiss such talk and discuss that it is not such a big deal (wherever possible). If a man can move on from one relationship to the other, then so can a woman. Right now, such a man is a stud, and the woman a slut. That needs to change.
Lets emancipate our women from the stereotype of the "Indian Woman"- principled, traditional, homely etc while we (the male species) are free to so whatever we like. Some argue that we (men and women) should both practise such rigid lifestyles to maintain "purity" and what not?
The reply is that most often it is not possible, and even if possible, maybe not desirable. A man (and a woman) should have the right to do as he (she) chooses.

Without getting adrift, we were talking about Delhi girls. They are a odd bunch. They mostly come from illiberal families (let me be careful here- this includes traditional, repressive joint-family settings and modern nuclear settings where new money rules and so rules extreme pragmatism, the preclude to neo-con ideas, if you know what I mean). So I feel that, more often than not, women trying to prove a point, trying to break out, and with a vengeance. That explains the unsavoury incidences.

It is instructive that NCR is also not a safe place for young women. It fits into my hypothesis- the society is still medieval. The man still thinks women are inferior and are sex objects. The frequent rapes are, I believe, are a function of the prejudices and the mindset as well as arousal.
The problem is, uninhibited lifestyles may make the men believe that women are mere playthings and treat them so. Ideally, we would like them to accept the women with her own independent lifestyle. But a scantily-clad,tipsy woman can also be declared an easy.
There are two solutions and they are both reinforcing. On one hand, the men of liberal disposition should make it a point to try and change their brethren's mind. Just a small chat does wonders. I have tried it out. There is still doubt on the sceptic's mind but it does help.
The women can use their learning and wisdom to make good role models. Role models, accomplishments etc do make men realise that women are just part of the human family and can in no way be a toy, a plaything; a human being with either less, equal or more intelligence and skill.

The Delhi girl can do this- they get the best of education, they are smart and there are plenty of opportunities in NCR to prove your mark. And why just stick to NCR? We are children of globalisation right. Its time to justify our lineage.

Its time to change- not just our lingo, our clothes and the work. Its time our society changes.

Not all who lead are Leaders!

Leaders strike fear into the opposition and not their followers.

Think about it.

Think long.

Do not bark orders. Do not keep your people in perpetual fear. Do not make them tremble. Do not create situations so that they curse your parentage behind your back.

Embrace them, inspire them. They will deliver their best for you.

The whole world runs on incentives.Discover the right ones, invest in people. For that, you need to talk to them. If you cannot, if there is some reason you find it difficult to open up to people, get someone who can. And always converse with that man.

Accept failures. They teach you a lot.

If this is reading like a stupid sermon, I cannot help it. I am in that mood.

Discrimination in Corporates?

As part of our orientation session, we were made to attend different PPTS- one of them was made out to be particularly important- the one on Harassment and Discrimination.

It was detailed, simple to understand and was being delivered by our Country Head, an amazing speaker. But there is one thing that struck me as odd. And that I'm going to discuss in detail below.

The policies were admirable- I'm sure it had all the bases covered (if you know what I mean). If a person felt aggrieved/concerned/uncomfortable etc with respect to any other person's behaviour or misconduct, they are advised to prompt the matter immediately to the authorities.

Even the age-old problem of "who will guard the guards" problem has been dealt with by having a lot of people responsible for the matter. Once informed, the authorities will launch and investigation and based on the findings of that, will take action.

Sounds all good, on paper of course.

But suddenly, as a response to a question, he cites an example (only to illustrate how our company is concerned with its employees) where a female employee had been a little doubtful that after dropping her and her colleague, the cab driver kept checking them out with his rear-view mirror for a brief second or two and then drove away. Upon reporting this, the cab agency was informed and it was made sure that the driver was fired. Furthermore, the company also chose another agency to run the pick-and drop facility.

Tell me if I am wrong but isn't this unequal treatment? The white-collar, B-school guy gets investigation, an attempt to speak out his case, perhaps even a case for settlement. If there has been an misunderstanding, s/he gets an opportunity to clear it.

But the semi-literate, rustic and unsophisticated cab-driver gets fired from his job- no appeals, no investigation. Even his agency is not spared.

Do we blacklist the recruitment agency which forwarded the CV of the wrong-doer in office? No.

Do we blacklist the campus from where he came from? No.

I understand that it might be easier for the driver to shrug off his 'crime' and get another job, but is it essential that we have a separate set of rule for different classes?