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“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman
Merry Christmas
Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas and a great year ahead!
Techdivine Creative Services
www.techdivine.com
Few Blog Posts from the past: Back on Our Dear Readers Demand:
Year:2008
Tomorrow onwards I start working in an open office. During renovation, the old traditional layout is being changed from a cabin (large rooms equal to or bigger than a living room) to medium sized cubicles and work stations. It looks impressive since the office is renovated. But it is only partially complete and the full looks with atrium and all other things would get ready in the next few months. So the full impact would be felt when the office is fully renovated. It would be a transformation worthy of notice-perhaps equivalent to an expensive cosmetic corporate surgery.
The first feature that I observe is that the Personal Computer occupies the pride of position, It is kept smack in the middle of the working area and the chair faces it. It seems as though the main function of most employees is staring hard at the computer almost the entire day. It is perhaps equivalent to keeping a note counting machine on every banker’s table as every banker ultimately deals with money. My belief is that computer is one of the tools we use in the course of our work. It could be a vital tool or an accessory (like a belt or a tie) depending on the individual and his position in the hierarchy. But that seems to be the accepted concept today. I am reminded of the cattle shed in some parts of Mumbai (Tabela in local language) where the cattle is tied and faces a trough containing the feed. Unlike human beings they are not let out as there is no space for grazing in Mumbai.
The second striking aspect is the positioning. The consultant informed us that the concept is that there should not be eye contact from one work station to another. This reinforces the concept that though other human beings are close by, they are mainly distraction to be avoided. So though they are visible and audible, ignore them and ensure that they are able to ignore you. So no loud conversation to spouse on buying evening’s requirement (she would come late, so pick up children, and keep dhal ready etc.), mouthing childish and sweet words or threatening words to growing and troublesome kids (do Maths home work beta, is the Hindi homework over, didn’t I tell you to…), romance within or outside office.
The third striking aspect is the mobile phone with varying ring tones. I recall a senior executive well past retirement age having the ring tone of Dhoom going off when he was making a serious point at an important meeting. They can be quite annoying. When someone else has a ringtone identical to yours, then you could get irritated thinking how could he have the same ring tone. So what would result after few days of annoyance is more subdued ring tone and many executives walking up and down the corridor murmuring into the telephone looking serious and sometimes focused clearly on domestic issues ( mama, I told you it is not possible this week….., did the plumber come? has the maid come and cleaned baba’s school dress?)
The fourth would be learning new techniques on seeming busy on important assignments while doing nothing. But that perhaps would not be difficult to any Indian working person.
Now, I wonder who invented work station. The word “work station” seems to give an impression of a temporary halting place – like railway station- and not a place where we spent a large portion of our waking time. It sounds like a station for working and nothing more. Perhaps it is an American usage where most things are impersonal – even family relationships. Every child is expected to have a separate room. A parent cannot go into his grown up children’s room without permission. So places without privacy are perhaps temporary habitats by their standards.
So off tomorrow to the new working station. Let me see how all of us working there fare. My hunch is that some of my colleagues could complain and look back to the glorious past and identify the fault lines loudly.
Open Office – Part2
It is nearly a year since I wrote the last blog. During that time, I visited Bhutan. It is an out of the way place for Indian tourists. I enjoyed it. My wife told me recently that she now appreciated the stillness of some of the places we visited in Bhutan. If anyone is interested to know more, do write to me. I have kept a diary of this visit and good photos also. If you enjoy chill climate in summer, seeing deep valleys, winding roads, waterfalls etc. then this is the place. It is not that expensive also.
My grandson put in 11 more eventful months to his 9 months of existence. The growth in the first three years of existence is said to be more that what happens in thirty years of existence in the later part of human life. So he started walking, communicating, speaking few words and being utterly mischievous. He has a lovely smile, which I am sure will break the hearts of many maidens who are yet to be born. He gave us a new perspective to life and living.
The open office grew on me. I became comfortable listening to the daily menu communicated by my office neighbor to the cook. I came to know the calling tunes of most colleagues. The older the person, the more dashing is the caller tune. Older persons do not change caller tune. The younger generation love change and that includes caller tunes also.
Most telephone conversations are conducted in loud tones. Except when confidential calls come, then everyone is capable of whispering on phone. The difficulty arises in concentrating on reading lengthy documents when the atmosphere around resembles a railway station. Then I remember Hindu philosophy which expects us to concentrate irrespective what the outside world resembles.
Share market crashed in an unbelievable manner. Many of us saw lot of paper wealth being extinguished on a daily basis. There is a muted recovery now. None of us are confident this would sustain or reach the old heights. Still some rise in Sensex is comforting.
What are most disturbing are job losses. For the first time in my 33 years of working life, I am seeing middle and junior level officers and executives losing jobs due to economic down turn. Management graduates are not getting placements even when they belong to good or great Institutions. This has never happened in the past. The situation in non metros is said to be equally bad. Small and medium enterprises are having great difficulties in surviving. I am not sure what is the level of job losses or erosion, but it is bound to be significant.
I had a lingering suspicion about IT related jobs as I could not fathom how far an average IT engineer would travel in his career. As a person coming from administrative side of business, I felt they would plateau out fast. Today’s scenario seems to confirm my belief that an IT person needs to contribute significantly to business to progress beyond the Rs. 25/30 lacs hurdle. Am I right? I would love some feedback on this rather instinctive rather than informed view.
USA has lost its charm for many Indians. The risk of being unemployed in a foreign country is frightening. India at least offers some kind of security within the bosom of the family or its extended version. Any way we are used to misery, somehow we will pull on. Would a father consider giving a qualified girl based in India to an IT bridegroom based in USA today without some qualms? Hard to say.
Why did I absent myself from blogs? Well, the creative urge dried up. I could not dream of something to write. I started and then left it midway. Today I decided I will scrawl something. I will be encouraged if I get 3 comments or criticisms or feedback. Does a person write for own satisfaction or for someone else to read, appreciate/criticise? I think both.
So, what do you say?
Let me know your views on the same
Anjeneyan
Image Source:
Personal Trip Clicks
Ups and downs!
I was in the middle of a promenade tonight, weary and tired, trying to look at the sky and wishing to see a shooting star! Wanted to make a wish, desperately!
Ok, alright, my day was not ideal and I was hoping for a tweak or two for tomorrow’s sunrise. I waited and walked. About two hours had passed, after which I realized, now those were two hours I am never going to get back.
I was at the patio of my building and Mumbai’s greenhouse gasses had wrapped up most of the colors of the sky and I could hardly see any twinkle above either.
So it was two hours of vacant murky space that I was staring at moving around in concentric circles. I got really tired of something, perturbed and a wee bit irritated at “yours truly” for further wasting time and hoping to make the night better which evidently did not happen. I decided to go back downstairs and go home. Then I said to myself, I am an artist, a writer, an inventive individual, ahem! Frustrations and depressions are part of the routine; I should not give up so easily.
I came back and kept walking and by then my Mp4 player had given up its verve. I guess I had burned out more than an hour of its battery already today while travelling while nothing was getting done.
As I stood unmoving I heard a ruffle in between the trees and it was growing loud.
As I stood staring at that place where there was not a soul and was so quite that I could take notice of my own breathing, the ruffling sound grew odd and suddenly through those moving leaves there was stillness again in the air as I heard my heart beat. I saw something.
My beat and rhythm of the heart matched the flapping wings of the beautiful dove that just flew right above me. It looked gorgeous. It looked serene. It felt and filled my heart with bliss.
It would sound such a cliché if I said that as I kept looking at that bird, it disappeared all of a sudden. But I guess I have been fed with too much of scientific proof and theories over the past two decades of my life, so I would quote it as, “ As I watched the bird that slowly disappeared into the darkness of the space….” But I really and with all honesty felt that it had suddenly disappeared.
Remember, I am also an artist. So I have to speak my mind.
It was such a beautiful sight and I was taking in and savoring the blissful scene when all of a sudden I bent down with a jiff as a huge bat flew so low, it could stomp on my head and make my day dark, again. So much for the bird of bliss eh!
But I guess that is what life is all about. The white and the black. The good and the bad. The right and the wrong. The ups and the downs. Hmmmm…… I got it then. So without wasting too much time I finished the work that I had and then keyed in these lines and will now go back to reading something before I am off to bed.
Just hoping, that tomorrow when the dove flies again, it would not be followed by the winged messenger of the scary space.
Now we all know, that’s not possible……
It’s all, Black and white….
Every dawn has its night,
The sun shy’s down with its moonlight
Every moment screams of pain
Every day it sure can’t rain…..
As I sit here and quote the dreams,
I pray to self for I should clearly see
With a shiny shoe as I would run off to work
Do something that would polish my dream….
Now I really don’t mind the darkened days
The wreckful memories of early days
I want to breathe and beat the pacing heart
For I would see my goal clearly again today……
Ananthanarayanan V
techdivine@gmail.com
image source: One world
For a friend: Interpreting dreams!
Choked by a crab
What happens when you dream that you are being choked by a crab? Nothing, you get up, have a glass of water and go back to sleep again.
Normally it is said that when you dream of something like the one above, it shows that there is very less connection between your mind and your heart and you act on impulses. It means you have emotions that have been suppressed for long and you need to be more open with your feelings and express yourself. And as for crabs, they represent tenacity, meaning you might be too clingy and stubborn with something and not ready to let go off that.
Does interpreting dreams have something to do with our way of life in the society? No. But dreams and dreaming about things mean a lot and have a prominent place in human psychology.
Normally it is stated that those who act on impulses and are very aggressive in nature dream less than the apparently more socially acceptable figures in society.
The reason being, it is stated that dreams are nothing but your sub-conscious telling you want to do something that you might know to be right or wrong. Something you would not want to do in public. Hence those who are brought forth in society as people who say things as they are and act on impulses have fewer dreams as they speak out and react about what is there in their mind such that there are lesser thoughts in their sub-conscious running hitherto.
Is that why many researchers say that animals don’t dream much…… hmmm…… let me just hope I be more human and get more such dreams day in and day out…… but always remember, as the old quote goes:
Dreams that come true sometimes can be as unsettling as those dreams which don’t!
be well & happy dreaming!
Ananthanarayanan V
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