Happiness

Some thoughts that were on my mind lately,
People always have pre set conditions to determine how they are going to feel with regard to favourable or unfavourable events. Like, "If I win the game I will be happy, or "if I lose my job I will be sad". We end up miserable when we set too many conditions upon ourselves when we set out to pursue happiness. Only to end up disappointed when happiness remains ever elusive. If your state of mind was sad to begin with, a good circumstance will temporarily lighten up your day, while a bad circumstance will further push you to the brink of eternal despair.
I am no exception here - as far as dealing with difficult circumstances are concerned. After some setback, my first impulse is to crawl into some hole and stay there for eternity, shunning everyone and everything that comes in my way.
But I think that I have learned. :)
Happiness like all pure emotions is nothing but a state of mind, inert and unbounded with any conditions. So free up yourself of these conditions and think beyond.

Conference Calls

With Global working model used by all Software dev/ IT companies conf Call are the norm, every now and then. You tend to have a conf call with yr extended teams in other part of world, maybe like twice a week or so. And everybody tend to use the best of their communication skills. Even humor is part of such conference calls, sometimes ppl just try to put a catchy line/small-talk joke which just lightens the normal serious mood of the Conf Calls
But sometime back a much more funnier thing happened.
We were discussing a new feature the other cross functional team has developed and we wanted to sync up on all the possible impacts. So a conf call was scheduled on a Monday morning.

Some folks including me attending the session from office directly and Some other folks who are in other location over the IP phones, including a teammate who is actually late to office but taking the call from home.

And the conversation went like this.

Convenor/Driver of the meeting: (calling him 'Rushal')
Rushal: Let's get started folks or are we waiting for somebody to join..?
No answers as such from room and from otherside that they are ready.
Rushal starts with setting up the agenda for the Call and chalking out what all he is gonna touchbase in the whole session.

Rushal: I am gonna give first a Introduction to 1 and 2 and then I am going to talk about the content dependent on 2 and its implications.

Phone beeps with sound of somebody joining the call.
Rushal: Hi, Who joined ?
Mayank(My teammate attending from home and taking the call from his mobile): Hi, This is Mayank from so and so team.
Rushal shares greetings and continues with his talk.
Suddenly some krrrr.. krrrr.. thud sound comes from the phone.
Rushal: (to extended team), folks what happened what is that sound. Are you still online, or you are dropping off intermittently.
Mayank: (telling innocently) I am getting some Carpenter work done at my house.
(He doesn't realizes that all that thud sound is actually audible to everybody.)


Mayank: Hi Can you tell me how to mute the Call.
Everybody In room:(Some whispering, Some Telling in their conscious minds) Just use the mute button on yr Landline or the options and then mute on yr mobile phone!

Rushal: use *06# to mute the call Mayank.
Mayank: ok thanks!
(I guess Mayank followed the advice and mutes the line.)
Rushal goes on telling about the new feature. In between he tries is everybody awake and not gone in open eye sleeping mode. :P
Rushal: Any questions as of now!
Rushal: Mayank are you there..? Ask me any doubts that you have around this.
(No reply from Maynak)
Rushal: Mayank you able to listen us...?
(Still no Reply)
Somebody from the crowd replies: Yeah, Mayank has muted his line.

Everybody joins the small laughter stroke. They couldn't just resist of visualizing Mayank Speaking/Shouting into the phone,"Yes I am able to get hear you folks!" :D:D

Conference call goes on further for nxt 1/2 hr and finishes off.

Mayank Reaches office in second half of the day.
He tells that he didn't realize that he is on mute and was actually munching in some words when asked by Rushal. Everybody tells that if you were on yr mobile you could just have used mute from options and all... Nobody is ready to control their laughs, remembering the whole innocent words of Mayank asking for how to mute the call...:D:D

Ain't sure that I have put this as candidly as it happened. But it was real fun seeing this all happening.
And don't tell me that i am making fun of my Teammate, I am not.
Monday morning Blues can be bad! :P

Interesting conversation/ Guy feels mortified strangled

This can happen to you too so this message is for you to be aware of such things. I have 2 colleagues, and for there privacy sake I am gonna call them Venkat and ummm... Shruti.


Here is the interesting conversation.
Shruti has ordered some masala dosa at cafeteria canteen, the cafeteria guy comes back with a masala dosa, and Venkat also just joins in to order some thing.
Venkat: Hi
Shruti: Hi! :)
Shruti(to cafe guy): Can you give me some more sambhar!
Cafe guy goes in to get sambhar in 1 more bowl.
Venkat: So you like sambhar, is it ?
Shruti(still may be in morning blues): Ae I don't understand Tamil, talk in english naa!
Venkat:(taken aback, uses all mind buffers to recall did he speak in tamil ?, realizes he spoke all in english only.)
(Feels strangled, embarrassed, Turns head left and right still confirming words.)
(shruti doesn't realize and is actually waiting for venkat to explain, what he just spoke.)
Venkat: Wake up shruti, wake up! aaeyo aapa! pa--paah!
Venkat: I just spoke in english only!
Shruti burst and laughs just to realize her mistake, venkat feels just mortified. :D

Moral of story: I will ask Venkat sometime. I just can't stop laughing at it now.

The first thing that I am gonna do is to share this post with these 2 folks by mail.
a.k.a. Venkat Please reply with Moral of the story that I should be putting here. ROTFL.

Language Issues in Bangalore

I guess the percentage of population settled in Bengaluru(Bangalore) but are actually from other parts of country is ~47% (Search key words migrants, bangalore, time of india and you will land up links.)

But still you can find this very common.




That's a BMTC a full day pass and I can't read anything from it, except the BMTC written and the hologram which says all over multiple times 'Valid'. You can still find some old buses painted with Route numbers written in Kannada only. Seeing those special buses you run thru all yr brain memory inode to find matching L0 Block, But to no avail. (Sorry! couldn't resist WAFL touch.)

And Bang! here is another one, the new govt is giving a thought to implement rules that all number plates on all vehicles registered in karnataka bear the number plates in Kannada.

Some local MLA's indulging in painting Kannada number plates.

Why they have to do that ??
I have no reasons and thoughts that I can come up with a pro reason to this, can't think of how pathetic the guys who are actually framing rules.

Just for further addition, I am very much interested in learning kannada and there is no issue(Ask people around me and they will tell how ), I have tried in past and intend to do this in this 2009 with much more perseverance.
Let's see..

UPDATE(14-Nov-2009): I realize that lot of google searches can just lead to this page, Please be don't have any thoughts about any language issues in Bangalore now called Bengaluru.
Bangalore is definitely counts in cosmopolitan city and No doubt on that. Thanks.