ExpertDabbler

Does anyone know the difference between Lifestyle and Wills Lifestyle?

Lifestyle is the retail arm of dubai based Landmark group. Wills Lifestyle is the retail arm of ITC group.
To make matters worse, both have their branches in Citi center

BTW, Landmark, as in the Landmark book store founded by Hemu Ramiah, is now a part of the TATA enterprise, Trent ltd.

Aaga motham, Landmark TATA vodadhu, Lifestyle Landmark odadhu, Aana idhu vera adhu vera… bah!
RIL Ambani odadhu. REL - um Ambani odadhu…. Aana idhu vera adhu vera!!

Crazy mohan, visu’s dialogues are easier to understand anyday.

Its digital, so shoot as many as you want, says the photographer in me.
Its digital so try out as many ideas as you want, says the designer in me.
Its digital, so anything which does not seem obviously nonsense gets published in my blog.

I, the PC user, select ‘Save as’ by reflex; give a random file name, and store it in my desktop. Once my desktop starts resembling Ranganathan street, I create a folder called ‘Desktop_backup’ and move all the files there. I have a 160GB USB hard drive in addition to what I get along with my laptop. I have 1+2 GB SD cards. But I already envy the SDHC cards which can store 8GB, 16GB.

All the printers in IT offices are abused. We talk about paperless offices but the work space is full of papers. We print multiple copies of 100 pages of nonsense everyday.

It can be digital but we fail to realize the strain and costs involved in making someone read an unwanted mail. In short, we do more but think less. I think subconsciously we realize this and that’s precisely why we, the consumers of this digital era are so restless and discontented with ourselves. Wait. I think you get the picture. That’s enough for now.
Do whatever your thinking mind says.

Date, Place: 06-Jul-08, Ashok Nagar

Friend:(he started his bike and was about to move): ….”nee kudutha helmet dhaan da innum pottutu irukken” - he was referring to the helmet I gave him sometime back.

I saw his head. No helmet there for sure. How come he is talking about the helmet now?

I lowered my eyes and saw it. He had carefully placed the helmet I gave in the bike carrier in the rear. Grr….!

Why do people guard their bike handle bars and carriers more than their heads? Probably they know what is more valuable of the lot better than me. At least that’s how I explain myself. Sigh!!

This post is in honor of my friend and colleague S~ herein after referred to as CCW.

What’s so smart about him? Can you get a loan of Rs. two lakhs at a net interest rate of 9-10% per annum without security, without blank cheques, without any records against your name? And without any due dates to pay?
He still stays within the legal ambit. He does not commit any fraud for sure, I can vouch for that.

He has managed so far with nothing but just credit cards. Please bear in mind that ordinary users in India end up paying as much as 37% for credit cards debts. Also bear in mind that its difficult to get home loans at 9% now in India.

He would like to publish the way it works, but only after he is done with all his commitments lest the banks and card companies change the rules of the game

He is a pucca hacker in positive sense even otherwise. He is junior to me by five years. I wish I had his current maturity and intelligence now, or at least five years into the future. Very smart character.

The last few days have been boring to say the least – like a low score one sided ODI.

Of blogworthy mention is that I got a hike which I honestly do not think I deserve. And at last I made a successful visit to the ration office and I am well on course to get a new ration card in Chennai. I realize that being independent and dealing things alone makes one an SME in a lot of stuff. It can be both frustrating and a liberating experience.

My close friend’s periamma, who was normal when I spoke to in person on Saturday in Coimbatore passed away the same night even as I was returning to Chennai. The entire family is yet to get out of the shock. I spoke to my friend’s father and he completely broke down while talking. Strangely, I could hear Ilayaraja’s BGM in Devar Magan climax even as my friend’s dad was crying to me over phone. I think some BGMs are just embedded in my subconscious.

What is a tragedy? In a way it’s the conflict between the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious would say the person is no more and the subconscious would simply refuse to accept it. We get over it when the subconscious realizes that the person is indeed no more.

Three days have already gone in this week. Nowadays I am taking one day at a time, like the batsman chasing a low score in ODI. Things are under control, but should not do anything silly. The goal is important, no matter how boring the task is. One day at a time is what I keep saying to myself.

Let’s say you are visiting Chennai for the first time. You know no one here. No friends, relatives, creditors, debtors. You simply took the old rickety SETC (route no:137) from Madurai the previous night hoping to make it big in this bad city. The bus is about to stop near Guindy Kathipara. Where will you go first? Will you head towards the Anna Samadhi because that’s what they show on TV whenever they talk about Chennai? How about Koyambedu because that is the last stop for the bus and that you need not decide right now? Will you go to Ramapuram because that’s where Idhaya Deivam once lived?

Where do you go first?

Confusing isn’t it? There’s no right or wrong. There’s none to guide you. And yet you have to choose the best in the world given the circumstances. And that’s precisely how I feel right now. Lots of touch and go in lots of things. No heuristics to fall back. No God to pray. None to guide. And yet I have to choose the one route among lots of options in life. Suddenly life is offering me too many options and these are as challenging as constraints. Choice paradox, oh yeah tell me about it!..

http://expertdabbler.com/2006/12/19/vazhkaye-alai-poley/

A similar post like this 18 months back! Back to square one…

Watched 21 - loved it.
Those who are looking for a good veg. restaurant can also check out ‘Rasam’ a Sri Krishna Sweets venture in Purasawakkam.
Use just dial for more info

But the highlight of yesterday’s outing was the rain and my struggles to come home late night. Anna Salai is the only motorable road in Chennai on a rainy day. We are heading for adventurous times.

I am seen as the angry young man of my team. Actually, I do a remarkable job of containing my rage when people without even the most rudimentary knowledge on a topic go on and on for ever during official meetings as if they’d written a paper on it. Sadly, the Indian IT industry is infested with people who just can’t say, ‘I don’t know’.

It would be appropriate if someone can identify the jalli parties aka jallipaedias and make them write “I am sorry, I don’t know” 108 times as imposition, just like the school days. Most of the times they open their mouths when they don’t have to!

I don’t care if someone starts a blog and write whatever crap they want like me but bullshitting on work related stuff in official meetings is sacrilege to me. Invariably, these jallipaedias also develop critical soft skills like back biting, getting inputs from others and projecting as if they’d known since their childhood - right in front of the person who first provided the information.

I was cribbing about this to my friend yesterday and my only consolation was that I am not alone. My friend was recounting his days with the world’s biggest software company’s Hyderabad office - not exactly pleasant memories for him. That was his dream company and yet he quit in six months.

He also gave a parting gyaan. ‘In any Indian IT company, the chances of finding a genuine, open minded, clear thinking person in a team is five percent. If your team has more, consider yourself lucky.” I thought about my team and could count six (including me) out of a possible twenty one. Whoa, maybe I should not get too angry. Lucky me!

In all these seven years I have been a designer, i have been known for the following in the work place…

- the guy who can write content on demand.
- the guy who can draft that critical mail to anybody.
- the guy who can be trusted to get a particular info somewhere somehow.
- the guy who can keep a tab on the industry happenings and spot the trend.
- the guy who can give some original input / gyaan on any design/decision review.
- the guy who can speak his mind anytime he wants [and sometimes even rather brutally].

But I don’t think anyone has said ‘Oh PK is an awesome designer’. The one tag I’m yearning for. Not yet.

I guess my designs have always been from passable to good.. otherwise I would not have survived this far… But yeah nothing earth shattering about my design work so far..

There is a possibility that the Industry needs more of ‘jack of all’ than ‘master of one’ folks…Maybe I would not have truly survived in this corporate coolie dom if i were a great designer..they just need somebody with adequate skills.. not someone who can be really disruptive in their skills.

Anyway, the conclusion is

Either,
a) Me being okay in written communication sort of distracts from my core skills, OR
b) I am just plain not so great in design. Meaning not really talented and all.

The litmus test will be on the days to come..

What if it was more the latter than the former?? Will I become a useless fellow?
Nah. I will become a project manager!

I am not sure if its just that i am feeling really low about my skills since its been sometime I’d worked on a project individually or its just a case of reality hitting me.

Going by this, people might even call me aadi vaasi.
But hey my phone works just fine. I also realised one important benefit of owing a phone as mine.
Today, some team members decided to play prank on one of our colleagues. They simply stole his cell phone and had him searching all over the place for like 30 mins. He was literally sweating - his was a very expensive phone. I dare anyone to try such pranks with me… hehehe Not to mention, i remember most of my contacts list by heart and i can call even from a public phone booth (another endangered species).

Cell phones are getting more and more important with each passing day in India. The article is right in pointing it out as a symbol of status and expression. Even in our office, atleast half an hour was spent today on the merits and demerits of buying an iPhone from US and having it unlocked here. Cracking iPhones have become something like a cottage industry now. It’s only a matter of time that these guys start demanding tax sops for the kind of service and innovation they offer to the society.

It’s only a matter of time before Nokia becomes our national gadget too…whatever!..

EVen i too sometimes feel i should catch up with times and should go for a trendier phone. But hey, style is not just about owning a phone. What about what we talk?

Then i decide,’ Nama pesura vetti mokkai calls kum.. junk SMS kum idhu podhum’. The Aadhi vaasi in me has been winning so far.. but not sure till how long…