ExpertDabbler

Year 2004
He1 and He2 are colleagues and roomies. They both work for a leading IT company in Chennai. They are staying in a small groundfloor portion of a big house in Kilpauk. The house belongs to Duraiswamy, father of L~ , a good looking 24 yr old girl. She is a colleague of He1 and He2.

L~ comes to the guys room often to have a chat particularly with He2. He1 smells something

He1: “Ennada nadakudhu unga rendu perukkum?”

He2: “ Yaruku da? Onum purilaye?”

He1: “Dhoda, enakke va? Unakkum L~ kum irukara romance dhaan da!! Ennaku theriyum machi!! Idhu madhiri ethanai pera parthirupen?… Ellam irukaradhu dhaan!! Veetile elam theriyuma?” (He winks)

He2: “Dei Dei alpame yenda un buthi ipdi pogudhu?… indha adolescent mentality a vidu… nama enna 10th std pasangala?… Yenda oru payyanum ponnum pesina adhu love a daan irukanuma? Engalukkulle apdi ellam illai. Ava enakku sister madhiri da. Engalukkule irukaradhu healthy friendship. Naan avanga family la oruthan…

He1: Correct!!! , maapillai na family la oruthan dhaaney ..??

He2: (turns serious) Inge paar, idhu nalla illai, adhaan sister madhiri nu solren illai? nee inime ennai avaloda serthu vechu pesaradhai niruthalai, aprom nadakaradhe vera…. Idhaan last warning.. One more time and Namakule friendship kettu podium.. naan vena indha rooma vittu poidaren da, ennale dhaaney ellam…Ipdi pesina andha ponnu name kettu pogumda!!!

He1: (surrenders now) “Dei Dei sorry da, naan edho velayatuthanama pesitten, inime indha topic pesalai ok va?”

Over the days L~ comes down and talks as usual. Sometimes even He1 used to think that they are friends after all. There was nothing to suggest anything else from their behaviour… But his instinct told him otherwise.. Ana sister nu ellam scene podaraaney!!!….

Years roll by, He1 joins a new company, goes for a long term onsite assignment, He2 joins another company in the city and whic is located in another corner of the city, they both vacate their rented kilpauk accommodation. They part as friends, promising to stay in touch. Every once in a while there is a mail exchange, but usually there is nothing but only forward mails between them…

2006.

He1 is in office When he receives a call from He2.

He2: Machi epdi da irukkey? pesi evlo naal achu?

He1: super da raasa, am so happy that u called now. Supera iruken…Nee epdi irukke? Enna vishayam?

He2: Summa daan rombo naal achey nu!!!

He1 knows He2 well. idhu summa call illai….payyan enamo matter vechirukaan…

They talk abt cricket, Asin, politics etc etc…for a few minutes and then He2 comes to the topic.

He2: Dei innaiku evening 6.30 ku Move n Pick la meet panlaama?

He1: (Ennadhu Ithanai naalum illama dhideernu) Evening kadi da Scrum status call nu mokkai poduvangua onsite la irundhu.. hmm. Seri innaiku escape agidaren.. oru naal status la naan llena onnum kurainchu poidadhu…seri da naan varen…

But He1 is thinking… Why Move n Pick specifically?

Evening at Move n Pick

He1 is waiting for his friend and thinking at their times together in kilapuk in L~’s house. Btw what had happened to L~? Is she still in touch with He2? Maybe she is married by now. I should ask him that…

After about 10 minutes He2 comes along with L~!!!…Whoa, talk about coincidence!!!

They both enter the shop.

He1: L~ unaku 100 ayusu. Ippo daa unnai pathi ninachen…neeye vandhitte. How r u?

After the initial formality talks. They order something to eat.
Then He2 takes out a cover.

He2: “Hm. Machi marriage fix achu da…”

He1: Wow, congrats da!(really ecstatic) ada naaye yenda ithanai naala sollalai… avlo dhaana namba friendship? Yaaru ponnu?…!

He2: Adhu oru periya kadhai. Naaa aproma detailed a solren.. kovichuadhey Neeye paaru! Unakku theriyadhadhaa!!!

He1: Takes out and opens the invite. It has He2’s name and some other girl’s name – starting with S—-.

So, this He2 and L~ were really nothing but friends after all. Nama daan ivlo cheap a yosickarom? He said to himself. Evlo sandhoshama frienda vittu kudukama avanoda marriage ku invite panna vandhirukka!!, he admired L~ for a second…

L~ gets a call in her mobile and walks out of the room smiling to answer that…

He2 opens up.

He2: neraya prachnai da avanga veetile. Unakku daan theriyume!!

He1: Ennada prachnai. Enakku epdi theriyum??

He2: Dei Dei onnum theriyadha madhiri nadikadhe da!!

He1: Dei enakku sathiyama onnum theriyadhu….detailed a sollu…

He2: Indha marriage ku L~ veetile bayangara opposition…

He1: Dei. L~ veetile edukku oppose pannanum??. Koopta vandhu kalyanam attend pannitu poitte iruka vendiyadhu dhaaney!!!

He2: Adhu epdi da ponnai pethavanga avlo easya othupangala!!?

He1(Thalai suthing now): Dei ennada solrey? Enakku onnum purila!!!Invitation la unakum S— kum marriage nu potrukku?? Idhuku L~ veetile edukku oppose pananum…?

He2: Ada kadavule!!! .. Adhu L~ oda chella peru da!! Unakku theriyadha? Avanga Family la avalai S~ nu daan kudpuvaanga!!!!

He1: Adangoyyaa!! Yenda brother sister nu paasa malar scene ellam kaatiney? Ippo love na ennada artham??

He2: Apdi dhaan armbichudhu machi.. but you know perspectives change da.. Idellam ippo sagajam da…Are you seeing someone?

He1: Illada!!

He2: Adhaan ! Nee innum pukka bachelor unaku idellam puriyadhu…

He1: Vasthavam dhaan da! Thangachi, Deemed to be sister ellam lovera maridaraanga, enakku suthama purilai!!!

He2 gets a call. L~ aka S~ is calling from outside…

He2: Idho vandhutten ma!!!

Snaps the phone… and gets up
“Machi aduthu shopping ku vera poganum… adhan unakku apdiye invitation vechutta oru velai mudiyum nu inge vara sonnen.. Inime edhai yosichalaum rendu renda dhaaney yosikanum!! Perspectives change da… unakku ippo sonna puriyadhu!!!

Nama innoru naal pesuvom enna?

Marakama vandhudhu enna??? Padma Ram kalyana madapam.. Kodambakam High road… Pazhaya Ram theatre.. Avasiyam vaada!! Bye!!!

He2 gets another missed call and is already running….

He1: “BAH!!!!”

Once in a while, you get to read somehting which throws you completely off-guard. You are smiling, chuckling, nodding your head in agreement, awe of the philosophy and what not. Its all the more fascinating that the subject matter is not some new-age philosophy but hard nosed topics like management.

Would you like to work for a company which has among other things,

No dress codes,
No fixed timings,
No compulsory meetings to attend,
No HR departments,
NO Network security,
No Receptionist,
No Access control,
No Titles,

And Where you decide

when to come for work,
where to sit and work,
what salary you will take home
whether to attend a meeting or not,
if its perfectly ok to be on the beach on a monday morning,

The employee turnover is 1-2% when the industry average is 18%.

The company’s books are open to public.

The CEO’s salary is public, talk about transparency…

And what if such a company has been showing 2 digit growth every year for the past 14 years, and in a country that has seen the worst of recessions?

I am not going to give you any links to read. You please run a google search for the title of the post and devour everything google throws you, including the Wiki entry.

The purpose of work is not to make money. The purpose of work is to make the workers, whether working stiffs or top executives, feel good about life.”

Via Dinesh

Ironically the Congress party, which to this day rides on Nehru’s legacy seems to have other ideas
I also happened to read a very good India Today Cover Story in this issue.
The organised sector accounts for just about 20% of the total private sector jobs. The rest fall under the unorganised part. So its not as if the Corporation drainage cleaner will soon be driving his Merc, thanks to Arjun Singh…

Even if private sector reservation is enforced (i would dread that day and would most likely resign ) chances are the corporates will in all probability have some seats vacant for want of candidates under a particular quota. Or maybe, companies would put a brake on direct recruits and instead would hire their own ex-employees as consultants who would not come under the purview of employees. Nothing can be won through legislations…

The Congress government would like us to believe that a few palliative measures like quota is enough to cure the cancer of caste in India, in the process giving inferiority complex to genuine students in the backward and SC/ST communities.

The real chemotherapy lies in building more educational institutions, improving primary education, providing financial and mentoring assitance to the needy at the grassroots level.

My ex-employer used to do this on a regular basis. Every year, students form poor background would be selected and the company would sponsor their entire education. Not only that, there will be a member from the company who would be a mentor to the kids to give them inspiration and guidance as and when required. The kids had access to those assigned associats. I personally know a lot of kids have benefitted from such measures. It would be even fine if the Govt sets up a fund for this purpose and asks the relatively well off guys (even guys like me) to contribute. I would be more than willing to contribute not just financially but also through volunteering. But then.. *sigh*

I know all this will have the same effect as “Sevidan kadhile sangu oodharadhu” but then oodharadhu en porrupu, and this blog belongs to me and only me, so oodhitten and oodhikitte iruppen, as and when i feel like.

This weekend, i wanted to click Museum and Art Gallery, but as luck would have it, i was late by 10 minutes to get the tickets for the day…
So decided to go to Anna Nagar Tower Park and click something….

அடுத்த வாரத்திலே இருந்து மறுபடி School….என்ன கொடுமை சரவணன் இது!!!

Amid all the furore about the proposed reservation, i was reading this piece with interest. It’s interesting to know the ideas of the so-called Ivy league in the US with regard to their admissions…

I really enjoyed this piece

Élite schools, like any luxury brand, are an aesthetic experience—an exquisitely constructed fantasy of what it means to belong to an élite —and they have always been mindful of what must be done to maintain that experience.

In the nineteen-eighties, when Harvard was accused of enforcing a secret quota on Asian admissions, its defense was that once you adjusted for the preferences given to the children of alumni and for the preferences given to athletes, Asians really weren’t being discriminated against. But you could sense Harvard’s exasperation that the issue was being raised at all. If Harvard had too many Asians, it wouldn’t be Harvard, just as Harvard wouldn’t be Harvard with too many Jews or pansies or parlor pinks or shy types or short people with big ears.

A few days back there was an interview in THE HINDU by MK. He says that even in athletics there are some concessions for handicapped person blah blah.. i dont know how he can equate BC guys with a handicapped person. Hey, even a really handicapped does not like being given undue concessions and sympathy. The worst part is, nobody protested to this anology. Just goes to show to what extent a majority of the society are being deprived of their self-esteem and confidence in the name of concessions and social justice.

The problem is, we dont want to acknowledge the real gaps in our society.
We dont want to look deep and find out how the really deprived are getting their education in rural India. How their horizons are stifled not because of their birth but because of acess to information at the right time through their kith or kin and finances.

We dont want to look at the plight of poor but brilliant students across the country. Fixing these things would imply hard work on the part of the government at a more fundamental level. No politician wants to do that now. Afterall, it does not translate to votes.

On the other hand, stretching reservation to all sectors translates to votes, and whats more is easier to implement.

I should also point out that the so-called merit and quality of the student issue by anti-reservation camp also looks shallow to me.

If a BC guy scores a mark or two less than an OC guy and joins a professional course, then merit and quality is an issue. But if more OC guys with lesser marks join the same course through management quota, then it is not an issue
I know so many guys who beloned to the so called forward communities who scored even less than me and who ended up in BE in payment seats. What about their merit standing then? Should they be allowed to build the bridges and building swhen they complete their BE civil or not?

The anti-reservation lobby is being symbolised by the challenges faced by Rangachari’s son who studies in DAV chennai and who has been preparing for IIT ever since his 8th standard. They do have some backing so that their voices are atleast audible.

The pro-reservation lobby is being symbolised by what concerns a wealthy bus-owner’s son from Coimbatore who wants to do BE so that he commands a good dowry in the marriage market. His community is politically powerful. This group has a better backing and so their voices are the loudest.

Let’s take the case of one Marimuthu, a poor 17 year-old whose native is somewhere between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur. What’s his chance of knowing about the IIT’s, IIMs and IIScs and RECs and AIIMSs of the country, much less making it there in the later years? Not much. But he is conveniently forgotten in this whole debate.
He does not fit into the scheme of things of those two opposing camps.
Not that he could care less. He has already made up his mind to take the TNSETC night bus to Chennai. He is coming to join as a labour in Saravana Stores T Nagar. Hail Social justice!!!

When a writer of Malcolm Gladwell’s caliber writes a glowing blurb for a book, it sure prompts people to buy. To be honest, that was the key for my decision to buy this book. And in the end I was happy I decided to go by Gladwell’s blurb.

At the outset, we should make one thing clear. Freakonomics has as much to do with economics as Namitha has to do with acting. It depicts what if a pozhudhu pogaadha brilliant economist decides to analyze why people do what they do, with the help of tonnes of data. According to Levitt, Economics is a subject with immense array of tools for analysis and enquiry but very little potential for intriguing questions. So he applies these time tested statistical tools to some intriguing questions and manages an engaging non-fiction best-seller.

Some of the highlights of the books include the fascinating insights into the factors that contributed for a dramatic decline in US’ crime rate in the 90s. Not to mention some revelations about Sumo wrestlers’ match-fixing, the nightmare of a life that street drug dealers manage to live and the part played by Sudhir Venkatesh in this research.

The downside of Freakonomics is that it almost sounds too light and playful. The chapters are chapters and paragraphs are paragraphs just like that.
It’s almost as chaotic as the world wide web.

But Freakonomics shows how to analyze and present it in a manner which makes for interesting reading. It reminded me of some sections in Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal. I know I am making a weird comparison but this book was so reminiscent of detective’s work in that novel.

All in all, Freakonomics has interesting implications and can be applied in a lot many situations even in an Indian context. If only I had the brains of Levitt and the tonnes of data he had access to, I would start with a series of questions and try to find out the success and failure of the reservation system in India.

For me, Gladwell did not disappoint though one can argue this book was written by Dubner and Levitt. Maybe, we should pose a freakonomics kinda question about the factors which prompted people to buy this book:-

Was it the title?
Was it that the rave reviews ?
Effective publicity? or
Gladwell’s blurb?

But never mind, go and find it out yourself. After all its not often that one associates the suffix -nomics with interesting reading material

This has to be one of my favorite spots in chennai. It’s not just the bhakthi factor.. for i am almost like an agnost. I think it’s got to be something more. I dunno what…This place has a kind of calming influence in my mind.

I shot this on saturday evening. I avoided the traditional straight on angle since i felt it was too two dimensional. i felt this angle captures the mood and atmosphere which goes so wonderfully with this temple…

Went to Guindy National park this noon.

And before i forget, Guindy National Park is a place for children and for families. Yep, you read it right. A lot of vayasukku vandha children are playing amma appa games there and might soon be in the family way

The below one was taken sometime back..It’s the Muttukadu boat house in the ECR..
The photograph is pixelates due to extremely low light conditions and i think i used ISO 1600 or thereabouts..

The last few days has been abslutely hectic at work(idhai neenga nambiye aganum!!!)
Anyway the update from my side is, check out www.expertdabbler.com.
For now, i am running it in dasblog. My friend’s machine has doubled up as a server..

Maniya danks da!

Planning to write some thozil reedhi yaana stuff there for now.

Let’s see..

And oh yeah, wish me luck!