Its been a while since I wrote here but I was planning to write about this right from the moment when I came back from my Panipat trip during holidays on 15th August.
I went to my Mausi’s to meet all of them and spend time together, especially, my cousins who are 9 and 8 years old. When I reached there and enjoying my evening tea my 9 year old cousin asked me “Bhaiya, are you on Facebook?”. I was amazed by this question from a 9 year old girl and I intentionally said no to see her reaction. To this, the 8 year old cousin said “Bhaiya, I know you are lying, this is not possible” I asked him “Why this is not possible?”, he said “you are a computer engineer and you work in a computer company so you must be on Facebook” with the agreement nod of his sister. Well, I didn’t asked her why she gave such logic but I refused her about the fact that I am on Facebook.
After some time, I was resting in guest room and of course I was checking my mails and Facebook, both of them came and caught me on Facebook. They said “Dekha, humne kha tha na ki aap jhooth bol rahe ho. Bade log kehte hein jhooth nahin bolna chahiye aur aap jhooth bol rahe ho, aapko sharam nahin aati jhooth bolte hue..” I was clean bold on this and said “Aisa kuch nahi he….this Facebook is not good things for children like you… children should not use it”. The younger one said “Why Bhaiya, we have our friends on it, we can do lots of things”. Whoa!! these little ones have their friends too on Facebook.
Once they saw that I do have a Facebook account, she asked me to add her on Facebook, She typed her name in the search box and showed me her profile. I asked her
Me: Who is this girl in your profile pic?
She: Kya Bhaiya, you don’t know her? She is Hannah Montana!!
On a serious note,I was not aware who is Hannah Montana till the moment she told me.
Me: Nahin, I don’t know who is she?
She: Bhaiya, Hannah Montana comes on cartoon network and she is Miley cyrus who is also a singer in real life.
Me: Oh, now I got it who is she but why you have not put your original pic in your profile?
She: Bhaiya!! don’t you know that girls do not put their original pic on social networking websites?
OMG!! From where she is learning all these girly stuff which actually is correct.
Me: No, I don’t know, why so?
She: I don’t know, one of my friend in school told me
Me: Oh, that’s why you put Hannah Montana’s pic. But, from where you come to know that she is Miley cyrus? Did your school friend told you?
She: Yes, Hannah is my favorite and I searched about her on Google.
Now, there was no point in acting strange about Google in front of these two so…
Me: Google…hmm… so you know about using Google.
She: yes Bhaiya,we use google.com to search about our subject.
He (who was silent): I searched about an essay topic which my madam gave me as Homework using google. It is very useful.
I was quite amazed to see how much these two know about the things, both of them know how to operate a laptop and use Internet.Now, I realize why parents in US and Europe needs Parental control in almost every media related things.
Their Mom called them downstairs, after 5 minutes I saw that she accepted my FB friend request and after a minute, I got a gmail chat invitation (she must have got my gmail id from my FB profile page), I got a video chat incoming call from her after I approved her chat request. Both of them started giggling from downstairs and started mocking me with the photos of me and my fiancée which I uploaded in my FB account.
One of my other cousin who is 9 years old has started using the modern lingo on the FB like she used to write
so what as so wat,
for sure as fosho,
Happy Birthday as Hpy Buday
Ouch as aawwcchh.
I wonder whether she has changed/modified these spellings in her mind as well or it is just for the online purpose (I don’t think so).
I was thinking that how fast this generation is going by using all these facilities and how and where they would be after 20 years.
Shining India needs Parental Controls too.
On 26th of July (Yes, you are right…on my birth day) I was coming back to Delhi in Taj Express from Agra (after spending the wonderful day or to be honest, after celebrating my birthday in a most fantabulous way with my fiancée. Oh man!! what the day it was… well, that is not the part I am gonna scribe here) and in the train I came across a man who was actually using his power (the position power) for someone. Stan lee said, power comes with great responsibility
I was seated on my reserved seat and in the same row just two seats aside an educated,sophisticated middle aged man was seated who also boarded the train from Agra. From his attire and gadgets I barely took a minute to get that he is from IT industry and he is at some kind of Senior position. I didn’t paid much attention to him after all he is not the only one who requires my attention so I shifted my eyes from him to other things in that coach (you know what I am talking here 
I was very much indulged in my novel and my ear’s radar was trying not to intercept voice signal emitted from this guy but I was not able to read when I heard a loud conversation between him and his colleague, may be his junior or may be his team mate. I was not able to hear what the person on the other side of phone [poosp] have said but I guessed what he might have said to him….
Boss: Bhaad me gya project and Bhaad me gayi deadline.
Poosp: something something.
Boss: Dekho, I don’t care… I want that person to be out. I don’t need that sluggish useless person anymore.
Poosp: something something.
Boss: You just do what I am saying to you, talk to HR and prepare his resignation for asked to leave. If you want then I can write a mail to HR right now.
By all this conversation I got the hint that this man is going to fire that person. I started thinking about that person, whatever may be the reason behind all this is it really necessary to fire that person from the company. A manager has the power to recruit a person and also to play game with that person but does firing is so required?
This man was deciding the fate and the very next morning events of that person by adjusting his big round ass on the accordingly small seat of train and he was not thinking for a moment that what that person is gonna do when he will come to know that his boss has shown his position power.
I wanted to go to this person and say to him “Please calm down, it is a matter of somebody’s daily bread…please think calmly….is firing the only option you have got…may be you can release him from your project so that HR can decide what to do with him.” but I didn’t did so. Instead, I started staring him just to make him realise that I am getting all the things about which he was talking on the phone.
When I was staring him, he saw me and he continued
Boss: You just inform him to go for a three days leaves with immediate effect. I will write a mail to him for this keeping HR in CC.
Poosp: Something something.
Boss: When he will come back after three days then HR will handover him the pink slip and he is out.
Poosp: Something something.
Boss: talk to Prashant, take his feedback in mail and keep in CC.Once I get this mail from him I am gonna send this to big boss right away.
Now we can say that this is may be one of the disadvantage of smart phones or blackberry which can actually decided somebody fate instantly.
I continued to stare him, I looked at him from top to bottom then bottom to top and made a very weird expression just to show him how big asshole he is. I knew that this act of mine is not going to change the fate of that person but still I can do this only from my side. That man continued blabbering on his smart phone for another two hours and I continued staring him with different time intervals.
What I think is that may be that person has done something so big that his boss is not able to tolerate but still is firing the only option left. A boss has the position power but he also has the responsibility towards his team members and his project.
Power and responsibility (Poweresponsibility or Respowersibility) comes with a big deal and we must use it in a manner which is right for all not for individual.
We never know what our life and fate (lemme combine these two words in one and call it “lifeate”) has decided for us. We only see our present, react accordingly but our lifeate knows our future and for that different things, moments, situation comes across us in day to day life to teach a lesson every day.But, we being a cool and careless chap don’t care to see what lesson our lifeate wants to give us behind anything….. chod na yaar…kya funde de rha he….don’t take life seriously….aa chal…let’s have a beer,take the world and paint it red…
Well, that was jokes apart 
Étranged Strange. One such thing happened to me today when I was shopping in a Garment store.
As most of you know that I am now engaged and behind this there was a big typical arranged marriage process which has five to six stages in total (Explanation of stages will come sometime in other post).So, two months back on a very fine evening of Sunday I met a girl with her parents at a coffee shop in Noida for the same purpose, meeting went well for both side but later on something didn’t worked so this chapter get closed and my process of arrange marriage again took U turn to start from stage one.
Today that this girl came across me in the same store when we were walking towards each other from the opposite direction (Face to Face) . In the very first glance I was not able to believe that she is the same girl to whom I met at that Coffee shop but to confirm that she is the same girl I looked at her cell phone which she was carrying with her (Actually, she has a very fundu cell phone, when I met her for the first time and got the chance to talk to her in private i.e. when her parents left us for a while to talk then the very first thing I said to her “Hey that is a very nice phone, which model it is?”) and got confirmed.
As we came closer we both knew that it is a situation in which we can not ignore each other, so, she smiled, so do I and I was asking my brain to tell her name. She was just three steps away before she say anything and I was still jolting my brain to give me her name. The moment she said “Hi!!” I said “Hello ######” (don’t think I abused her with that hashed word, I can’t reveal her name so it is mapped with hash character 
######: Hello!!, You are…..
Me: Ankit.
Like all girls, she didn’t remembered my name (Girls, no offence please).
######: Ya, Ankit…so how are you?
Me: Well, I am pretty good, thanks, how you doing?
######: I am fine, just doing some shopping.
Me: Yes, I can see it.
######: So…..
Me: So….
An awkward situation in which both of us were fighting to find more words or to end the conversation. Thirty seconds passed with no further exchange of words with sharing of smiles towards each other along with one of the Lady Gaga’s track in background .Finally she broke the silence and out of curiosity she asked…
######: So, what’s going on at your end?
I knew what she means to ask but I said..
Me: Everything is going fine.
######: O.K. Good and what about your arranged marriage process? Is it still going on?
Now she came to the point.
Me: Well, No, Its over, I am taken.
######: Oh!! good….Congr8s… Best of luck for your new future life.
Me: Thanks!! and Best of luck for you too.
######: Thanks.
Now, it was time to end it….
Me: Ok, I hope every one is fine at your home. I didn’t thought we could come across like this. It was nice to see and talking to you again. I should take your leave if you don’t mind.
######: Ya, sure, I also didn’t expected it. Every one is fine at home and I hope the same at your side.
Me: Yes, they are. Bye.
######: Bye.
I moved to billing counter queue and thinking about what had just happened and why did it happened, what’s the purpose of it….with my eyebrows and shoulders lifted towards sky and lips making an expression of étrangeté I said… “Who cares about the lifeate lesson behind this…..let it go..” paid the bill and walked out the store.
Such situations are really strano and Lifeate bhi na pta nahin kab aur kahan kis se aamna samna karwa deti he.
“What the hell is going here? what these loads of vehicles are doing here?”…. was the thought in my mind when I was crossing JSS Engineering college (I usually cross JSS Engineering college on my way back to home from office). Later on, I realized that these vehicles were parked outside JSS college due to the semester exams of Uttar Pradesh Technical University.
How can we forget UPTU and its semester exams which are used to happen in Dec/Jan and May/June of every year. It is like we have just passed out from this university but in reality its been 5 years now since we became graduate from this premier university (premier word used of course in sarcastic way).
Time has really passed out like a rising smoke from a fire. All those days and time started to flow in front of my eyes when guys from Electrical and Electronics branch came out of examination hall with plane face and song “ye kya ho gya rama re….” on their lips. Some times the same situation happens with guys from other branches also.
Each and every student has a same question to vice chancellor of this university “Saale tere baap se bhi ye paper solve nahin hoga to hum kya ghanta ukhaad lenge is paper me? padhaoge UP board k school jaisa and paper banaoge IITian waala”
There is a saying for all graduates from UPTU: From this university if you have passed your graduation with out a single back(supplimentary paper) then your degree is just a waste. Getting back from UPTU baba is a chamatkari prasad (a divine offering) which bless you to have a good and successful professional life.
Each and every moment spent in our college life is precious and unforgettable. Some times I feel…
“Those were the days and those were the time when we used to enjoy and dance on our own rhyme.All those moments and all those weird whims became a smoke which get flown with the wind of time.”
I hope every UPTUian feels in the same way.
“Of course I can do it and why in the world shouldn’t I? I am engineer not a MCA or BCA like you.”
Above was my statement when one of my colleague said to me “Why are you taking pain to get this component solder on this STB? Why didn’t you told him to pass this matter to admin guys so that they will arrange a electrician to do it.Btw, why are you trying your hand on it when you can’t do it, can you?”
Actually, while working on the STB (Set top box) I came to know that a particular electronic component need to be solder on it which was supposed to be done by manufacturing unit of the STB vendor.So I asked my boss about it and he asked me whether I can do it myself or not.
I said yes to him not because of the fact that I will save some bucks to the company or to the project costing but because of my interest to open things and repair them either in right manner or by Jugaad.
Well, now I feel that my engineering is not completely waste. It is of some use in day to day life. It’s good that in first year of engineering students have to learn ED (Engineering Drawing), carpentry, machinery, electricianity etc so that a Engineer can do anything. ( as proved in jokes between Engineers and other people).
Some body has said “Things you learn in your life anywhere or anytime will not go waste. At some point it will become useful.”
PS: Later on, I realized that My boss is MCA. 
Most of us who are working in IT industry have heard or even said "It's a small IT world, our paths will cross again", I realised this saying holds totally valid the moment I met a person in my office.
Eight months back I was striving for a job change, one day my resume got short listed by a very big product based IT company (lets say it as XYZ) in Noida (Sorry, I can't disclose the name) and they schedule me for a Face to Face interview. I was very excited and little bit nervous about my F2F interaction as this is the company for which I always wanted to work. On the scheduled day (which was going to be a big day for me) and time, I was there sitting on the couch, reading faces of other candidates, inhaling and exhaling to keep myself cool and waiting for my call to have F2F interaction. Half an hour passed and I was called for the interview, I entered the room, one skinny man and one short guy was there and things got started.
It was a good shot from my side in Linux and programming although I was not able to give two answers from the shell scripting. I thought shell scripting part will not matter but I never imagined in my dreams that my lack of knowledge of two shell script commands will really matter.....Yes, I was not selected and my feedback was "Candidate is not good in shell scripting". By just asking two commands in shell scripting they decided my fate with that company. My expectations and excitement got shattered like a glass fell from a window pane from 20th floor of a building. I came out from premises of that company, looked back and said "Better luck next time big boy and Fuck those interviewers, they are not capable enough to see your capabilities".
My job change spree continued, after a month My company got some new requirements and they included me in the interview panel for hiring new people, so, I was taking interviews and giving interviews outside :).
On a Weekend Walk-in drive, I was there in my company taking interviews. I got resume of one candidate, I went to the waiting area and called up the name, the person holding that name stood up and I was completely flabbergast to see him as he was the same short guy who took my interview in that big company XYZ and rejected me for not answering two shell script command.
When he saw me, he also got that who I am and what he did to me.......OMG!!....what the moment it was... I intentionally saw him from top to bottom to top and asked him to follow me. While I was leading him towards interview room I was giggling, jumping on my feets, my eyes were gleaming like Devil's eyes and I was thanking to god for giving me this auspicious chance to take my revenge. The only thing which was roaming in my mind is "Aaja Beta, aaj table ulti ghoom gayi he....main batata hoon tujhe interview kise kehte hein". When he was sitting in front of me, my teeth were pressuring each other from top to bottom, my fingers were clenched together, I was thinking like what should I do to him but my professional etiquettes asked me to control....
I took his interview for 1.5 hours, asked him load of questions making him pale and gave my decision to HR team. I took my revenge and I didn't took my revenge.
This was my first experience of small IT world.
After Diwali 2010, I relocated myself to a new rented house in a society and you won't believe that one fine morning in my society I met that guy again. We crossed each other by looking each others face, we didn't talked but our silence talked a lot.
So, it is not only IT world which is small in fact whole world is small.
PS: Those who know me well can figure out what exactly I did to him, rejected or selected.
This morninn I was thinking about it and asking myself, what is Addiction? and that moment the Pantry boy of my office came and placed a cuppa tea on my desk. I was looking at this cuppa tea whether I should take it or not, suddenly, I felt that my heart and my brain are talking to each other and saying some thing to me.The conversation as follows:-
Heart: take it.
Brain: Don't take it, you already had two since morning and this'll be your third.
Heart: C'mon dude! grab that nicotine liquid before it cools down.
Brain: Heart, why are you forcing him to take that, it'll harm you.
Heart: Dear Brain, I am insisting him to take it because it'll make you feel relax. You are the master of the body after all, you need to work so hard for every part of the body.
Brain: Nice to know that you care for me but if m the master then you should listen to me.
Heart: Don't you worry Boss, I'll make a situation in which this body will do some work out and that hazardous nicotine will get digest.
Brain: Are you sure about creating such situation?? I have not seen a situation up till now where I need to send a signal to this body to do workout.Ultimately, I need to take care of all mangled things in night when this lazy, careless body is sleeping.
Heart: Boss, you crib so much...don't you.....c'mon grow up....trust me... send signal to hand to grab that cuppa tea.
and I grabbed that tea and gulped it.So, I feel that addiction is something which your heart always ask you to do again and again being it for tea/coffee, cigarette, alcohol and..............love.
Technically, our Brain is controlling us but logically our heart is controlling our brain and supersedes it sometime (may be all the time).
PS: Yes, I am addicted to Tea.
Where ever you are on this planet, I wish you a very Happy Valentine Day
and I hope you will celebrate this day in a same manner as I am
celebrating it from the past 26 years.
To be a lil bit more romantic, every year is a valentine year, every
month is a valentine month, every day is a valentine day and every hour
is a valentine hour (skipping minutes,seconds and nano seconds) but
let's stick to this single day to celebrate it with whole world.
I hope we will meet soon (although 26 years have passed in waiting) and
make a gr8 pair to remove the tag "Single" from our social public profiles.
Till then buy yourself a good dinner, a bunch of flowers, a good gift
and enjoy this full of love day.
Your's Eagerly and Desperately Waiting.
Ankit
