Lost in Translation

Probably it was born real, and perhaps it lived for the next twenty some years. But it was late when he realized that it was dying. It too has been the victim of the inevitable plague that has outspread to almost every grown adult on this living earth. It is developing the same symptoms, exhibiting the like behavior and transforming into something he once thought was fascinating; like a young boy eager to work that blade on his first facial hairs, not realizing that this would bring him to the point of no return.

When he was young, it was innocent. And it made him innocent. It made him curious and it kept him ignorant. It made him an artist. But as he grew, he made it numb; he disregarded its questions, reprimanded its creativity and defeated its ambitions. Eventually most of his kind choked it to death, while it tries to breathe in the rest. Some call “it” attitude, others originality, I see “it” as religion.

If only Darwin walked amongst us today, he may have considered replacing the word “Fittest” to something demeaning, as men never took the word a superlative for genetic evolution. As for “fittest” before him were barbaric, who showed no guilt while killing a fellow mortal. And the fittest now are callous, who are happy to kill themselves for the same financial transcendence.

Most of us have become the human batteries plugged in ‘The Matrix’; only important to this world as a dead energy source. Just the difference is that the matrix here is real, made by the big corporations which seem to have read the phrase right to left and thus believe in “Policy as their Honesty”. The moment you are plugged in, this matrix starts influencing your senses, and the longer you stay, more it desensitizes your abilities to think, question, challenge and act human. And eventually, there comes a time when you become one of the Agent Smiths, propagating it to the coming generations. And those inexperienced young minds, ignorant of alternative and imposed by the said rules of the matrix, never even realize the possibilities that could have been otherwise.

None of us were born to follow. It was us who chose to let rule body over mind. And in pursuit of earning our daily bread and all luxuries that follows, we ignored to question the written, challenge the convention, derive a justification and adopted the world and its system ‘as-is’ than thinking what it ‘could-be’

I guess Picasso shared the same sentiments when he quoted “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”, but was soon overwhelmed by the world and phrased “Good artists copy, Great artist steal”.

They may call me young, they may mock my naivety and they may say I will grow with time, but I can still feel ‘it’ in my bones. I wish it could die in me, for I may turn into one of them and cross this great divide that has developed within. If only I could evade this turmoil, prove myself wrong and follow the sheep in front of me, will I be able to “rest in peace”. 

But then it must live, for it is he who is me, and it is who shall set me free..

-Sarthak

My Time of the Month…

I always thank God for giving me birth as a man. And please don’t mistake me for a male chauvinist, as I have always believed women to be a greatest living being on this planet, but for the obvious fact that I cannot even envisage what it takes to be a woman, to endure giving birth to a child, to sustain love and harmony on this otherwise ruthless planet driven by ego and dominance.

However, nature in its strange ways of balancing things didn’t spare me from suffering, and hence every now and then I too get my periods. Though slightly different from the feminine, this is the time of the month when the hormonal imbalance expels these boiling thoughts and ideas out of my head, putting me to utter unrest. 

I live a normal life, and every day I lived has taken me a step ahead. But some part in me has always pushed me to perceive distant horizons beyond my worldly impaired vision. And these ideas often outreach the chores of claiming my daily bread and leave me at the crossroads to choose between the easy present or the arduous future

But the far looks blur, irresolute head concur, 

And apprehensive of failing craven I defer… 

Yet unable stopping this feeling to recur.

So during all these years, I learned I forgot,

Few days I earned, some days did not…

Sometimes had none at times had a lot, 

People I loved, someone I lost, 

And though many at times I sought, 

Could never push down these bubbling thoughts.

And these passing thoughts or ideas have now become the ironical periods in my life, making me feel proud for I posses the divinity of creation, yet leaving me with pain of not being satisfied with the simple life I have got. So when they come, suffering from mood swings, I too end up bloating these e-sheets giving myself another day, and the world another point of view…

I-M-Patient

I still remember the day at school when I received the certificate for scoring highest in my Moral Science exam (ironical, but true). I guess somehow I was able to put down in words the lessons we were made to learn throughout the year; the lessons of Honesty, Perseverance, Repentance and of course, Patience. However, the world now seems to make me realize the mistake the school authorities made, not for believing me a better person for the award, but more for teaching those lessons in first place. Those Fathers and Sisters would have never thought those values they tried to imbibe in will be so mocked today by the telecommunication companies, demanding every juvenile to be an ‘impatient one’ and prophesying the benefit of “SpeedLiving”.

And we indeed have attained tremendous speed, but our fast pace missed out on one important factor, described in physics as velocity- “the direction in which it is attained”.  And this negligence to our orientation has what caused us to travel may be a light year in distance, yet no displacement, or useful movement.

We observe it every day, people breaking traffic rules thinking how it will make them reach their destination a minute earlier, and fixed cursing the traffic jam the next turn ahead, caused by someone more enthusiast than them, never realizing the balancing act of nature. And I suppose many of us are not yet convinced that mobile phones actually do work without wires, and considering it as a part of our social responsibility to corroborate the said, my heart goes out to those daredevils who bravely accept the challenge to use it while driving!

Frustrated by the buffering of videos, streaming of podcasts and booting of laptops, a common man today in a sense wishes  to attain what only a few scientists believe to be ever possible – to travel an hour in a minute, a day in an hour! Spending less time embracing and appreciating what we see or hear than pondering more on what is to come, our impatience often seems to dominate the serenity and satisfaction with its environment of anxiety and restlessness, making us the patient of impatience. And with the time racing against the human now, I may not be surprised seeing operating systems of future opening a window or playing a video as a response to one’s mere thought (Though, it may prove a little embarrassing for a curious teenager sitting with his family)

They say “time is money”, but when being called a miser by saving every penny is not considered an honorable title, why do we cherish the idea of being crowned impatient? How often do we realize that racing a circle can lead to only one end - that of ours! 

When traffic lights are seen as racing lamps, and broken roads F1 tracks, the next time you rush to save yourself those few seconds that you think you can, remember that

"Need for Speed may make some time, but Speed for the Need can make life..."

- Sarthak

IN conSULTING!

It was the December of 2007 when I landed into planet Pandora, the Big O and coming from an acquainted background, it didn’t took me much time to connect to my new Avatar – The Consultant!  

I was an “Associate” then and it took more than an year for my company to knight me as one of their “Staff Consultant” (Though it sounds embarrassing than “Associate”, guess the company’s intention behind this awkward designation was to convey the message of having adopted me as one of them!)

And even before I could adjust the back rest of the chair or get my own coffee mug, I was exiled to the far end of the habitat earth to fix a shattered architecture, the kind of environment I had never ever seen before.  There were more issues than the product had features, more complexity than it promised to reduce once implemented. Thankfully, after two months of lots of trials and even more of errors, I somehow sailed through the ordeal along with 8000Kms across Indian Ocean. Guess that’s why Vasco Da Gama called it “Kaap Die Goeie Hoop” or the “Cape of Good Hope”.

Sorry if I sounded little off the topic above and coming back to consulting;  which Ironically is tough as there is not much of “coming back” involved in the profession, and even tougher to be speaking “on the topic” for long!

Still haven’t got my coffee mug, this time I was called “urgently” from my vacation for yet another “critical” assignment in Mumbai (Don’t be amused by the language, I am sure all managers use these important sounding words even while making love to their wives!). Fortunately, this time the manager decided to “brief” us before our mission (And I must tell you, it’s a rare occurrence in here). In the next 8.5 minutes, we had our orders clear from the captain… To infiltrate enemy’s camp, get the intel on the deployment our patrolling party had done, and highlight the weak zones in the perimeter. (In short, prepare an audit report on the work Big O had done before and recommend performance improvements!)


And for the coming week, we did just that; by-hearting our boss’s sentiments. Our report was crisp, our report was tough, and worst, our report pointed back to us! This was when my boss got over his emotions and wiped off all the measured pain-points in the report and left the generic “English” in it for us to explain to the customer, and I learned my 2^nd lesson in consulting!

Since then, my odyssey has taken me to vivid places, projects and accounts. And as per Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, it was impossible to map my project with location and my skill set at the same time. So whether it be the ‘JTA crash’ in Gurgaon, or the ‘JMS hang’ in Chennai, my ears have become oblivious to the helpless cries of people who pay for my expenses.

Not sure if this is what is called to be IN ‘con’ SULTING …

Guess we’re losing IT...

It hasn’t been too long since the day I was first introduced to a cell phone and I still remember how I was captivated by the sheer technology the device had got, as now humans could connect to each other on the move! That was yet another day I bowed to the great masterminds of technology for bringing this world closer and making it a better place.

But that was then when the world saw a revolution, when science portrayed itself as art with the beauty of human connect. But alas! Most of it that followed seems to be driven more by commerce than by the idea for enriching lives. Guess that’s the reason why, when it wasn’t enough selling high definition LCD TV for 4 years in a country with no HD signal so far, they decided to make our 2 inch movie actors on tiny mobile screens sparkle in HD! (If only they also provided magnifying lenses with it)

It may be that since I have just started swimming and nudging only the shallow waters, I am quite oblivious to what lies in this deep, dark ocean of IT. So it’s fairly possible that my vision of IT is a consequence of the deviation due to the change in refractive index between my ‘solid’ eye v/s their ‘liquid’ business. But then, as they say, ‘the first impression may not always be the last impression, but it sure is the lasting one’, I am a victim of my own disparity..

Not considering (while acknowledging) the few of the bunch who are actually trying hard researching good for the society, I guess most among the rest of us are busy reinventing the early man’s iconic wheel and, despite searching on the great ‘G’ to get the specifications for that perfect design, end up delivering a bumpy ride to the customer. And then when the poor soul comes back with his misery, we always have an ‘upgrade’ or ‘change request’ waiting for him… After all, the guy ‘we hired’ to decide ‘our vision’ had written customer centricity on the top of other statements!

And all thanks to the great business schools of the world that taught some the art (yes they claim it be an art) of selling refrigerators in Alaska, now our customers have got more ‘solutions’ than their problems, which eventually becomes a bigger problem, for which of course our geniuses would have another solution.

Remembering the prayer from my school that read “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins...” it feels ironical how we skip our lunch for work, put in late hours depriving our loved ones of our presence at dinner and yet claim to be “earning for our daily bread”. Isn’t it too much of a sin to beg pardon for? And the greater paradox comes from our corporate giant’s mission statements, while some proclaim making the “world a smarter planet”, others blow their horns about spreading “information” and “applying thoughts” which at times appears so fancy, it makes us completely overlook the intention printed between those lines that they as well as we vowed to ourselves the day we entered these air-conditioned, access regulated, fully carpeted, cubicle separated, electronically driven flamboyant jungles with coffee fountains that “We couldn’t care less about innovation before our own pockets to flood out and the business cards to read a designation more important than the name! ”

Concluding IT, and borrowing the spirit from Mr. Perfectionist’s recently released art that embarked upon the spirit of striving for excellence and let success follow, I lift my eyes above & beyond these high rise enterprises, lighting up its windows as the sun fades away, "mocking stars of this pseudo galaxy..."

- Sarthak

Flying 'Low'

“A body at rest will stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force”

I guess this brilliant ‘law of Inertia’ by Sir Newton does not merely applies to physical bodies, but also has an emotional quotient to it. And so it must, as it is well capable of defining the human psychology to resist any undesired change in their lives.

Of the two kinds of people in the world, I am one of those who do not appreciate a change until changed. And flying (or should I say traveling) is one of those transitioning phase which depresses me the most. From the long waits during check-in to the pressure-dropping ear-numbing crammed economy cabins, there always are noises of baby(s) crying in perfect harmonic imbalance with that from the engines just to add the cherry on your ‘icing’ misery. And then there is God who doesn’t seem to care less and callous to my boarding prayers, never bestows me with a ‘nice girl next seat’!

But then drearier to the sleepless hours and Lilliput Lavatories is the phenomenon I explained above. And this time more than the physical movement it is the change of the state of the mind, the fact that these closing doors will open to the new, sometimes unfamiliar worlds and you may not see the same side of the sun. Nevertheless, the gush of new wind soon carries away these feelings and you start embracing the new horizons, realizing how worthless would it have been being averse to such a momentary phase in life…

When change is the only constant in life, better play the other variables and keep the equation right…

My Maths is Grey...

This blog goes out to my good friend turned colleague turned better friend - Odysseus a.k.a ChotuFundoo! (Though I wonder why and from where he finds himself 'Chotu' :p)

The story sets back at Le Meridian, Abu Dhabi (did I mention any good things about my Big O? Paying such extravagant bills is one of them) when we started on our as usual discussions about the section of the world we live in. And with the 'rich' oxidizing agents around, the discussions soon found themselves blazing in philosophical flames and that’s when I found the dramatic title for this blog.

When it comes to Maths, perhaps Ody and I are separated by few light years. While he still teaches the bizarre theorems and formulas to engineering students, I have to use a calculator to pay my Sodexhos. And on that evening he obviously couldn’t hear me offending the subject with my theory of perception, which unlike his math’s 0 or 1, realizes everything in shades of Grey.

A part of the human magnificence is the ability to judge: to examine, evaluate and conclude, and we have come a long way deciphering nature’s code in identifying the good from the bad and the ugly. But the spirit of our judgment has always been a good follower and seldom questions the socially adopted norms, rather trends in the world around us. Thus the events in our life are more defined and coded than perceived, and are conceived more as per classical maths’s one rights or zero wrongs. But never do we realize that the need of ‘pi’ came only after a man’s observation and admission of wheel to ease his life, and then the ‘pi’ contributed by making the wheels uniform and making the ride smoother.

Living on theorems is good, but then I feel more important is to use your insight first before applying the said formulas on life. Learn to examine with the senses, evaluate in the head and conclude from the heart, and then apply the math to make it work better.

Life’s not eternal, better feel it than calculate.

The Vicious Circle

A few days back, I paid my tickets to New York …

And for those who know me as a frequent flyer, my less privileged super-subset of “The Big O” pays much of it debts to The God’s Own’ed’ Country – The Gelf! (That’s how most of my country-friends deep down south patronize their coconut and shrimp state) while the rest of it goes off smoking at the weed capital of the world.

So as you may have realized, I am talking about the new movie by Kabir Khan. And the guy has certainly earned my (and perhaps millions of others) attention and respect for One: making the 3 sizzling hot “all face & body” attractions to act more than reveal (May this reach the ‘K’offee ‘creamer) Two: keeping it clean from any ‘out of the blue’ dance & romance but three; and most importantly “putting an honest attempt to stimulate in ‘da kool and hep’ generation of today a thought that there can be more important news in this world than your ‘pal’ winning poker on ‘your Face and in his Book’

However all his brilliance ended up in contradiction, when he made the 'monotonous yet versatile' Irfan Khan point 'Mr. White' Neil Nitin Mukesh to the young pasta loving lad winning baseball match and made him feel less sorry for loosing his friends but winning “the white respect for browns”.

But wasn’t the kid’s father shown “accepted” in the beginning of the story, before he was accused, abducted and tortured for being a terrorist? How different must his childhood have been from his son? How can his soul be assured of the lightning not striking the same place twice?

The oblivious world has always followed the fallacious order of “They shall sin.. Thy shall pay”. “An eye for an eye” aggression or “no eye to cry” callousness has never been able to address the sacredness of humanity. Why did we start following Mr Darwin’s beautiful theory behind “the survival of the fittest” so reprehensibly?

Always remember the classical adage “as you sow so you reap” , and before you tangent any such “ring of fire” just remember to

Be Human …

The Bird ate my Outlook!

I say here we go again … (1973 is one of my favorite James Blunt's song)

A Big thanks to everyone for their super-kind words on my 1^st attempt (so what if I had to search online for their meanings.. that’s what these blogs are about anyway, isn’t it ? ;o) And who knows .. I may clear GRE this year without Mr. Barron’s ‘abase, abash’ help!) But it has certainly given me enough motivation to go-bonkers.

My company “The Big O” (no! I dont work for any porn industry .. I never got my chance 'in' :o( ) has finally made me move to Mozilla Thunderbird. (So now you are sure I.T’s not porn!)

Actually I do not work exactly in “The Big O”, lets just say that my organization was one of those unwanted child that you try to avoid first, neglect later and then espouse last!

I mean no offence to Open Source (I am one of it’s greatest 100.000.000^th admirer), but I found Outlook way better. However using Outlook 2000 was like fighting Megatron (the Transformers robot) with my Stone-Age ‘slow, gray and ugly looking’ IMAP spears and axes, and that too without Megan Fox by my side. (I guess she is the one actually "Transformed" from the "chubby cheeks of Hope & Faith" to by far the sexiest body on the silver screen"

Ok Guys, enough fantasizing; while Girls, please continue and take your own time to get motivated ;o)

Ok so the Big O was in no mood to get me an upgrade. so now Thunderbird it is! But this transition was never too easy. I am one of those urban-organized species who urges on having every bit of information find its proper.. it’s perfect place. So as it would have it, I had more PST's (that's Mr Gates’s propriety format for storing local mails in folders) than clothes in my wardrobe. (which always is a mess :D)

Never mind this Bird looked a smart one and had this “import” feature in it. I selected Outlook and pressed the import button with a winning smile. But it wasn’t too late to realize this “piece-of-cake” import has goofed up the icing on the top (message header) and introduced these HTML tags all over to embarrass me. (Yes I don’t know HTML … happy?)

After trying dozens of third party apps and gadgets, my struggle still looks far from over. Guess I have to live with it …and wait for the sunrise when the world wakes out of this tyranny...

Live, Love or get Lost!