The plight of PL

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Sales gaali deve, Customer gaali dewe,
Office hai genda phool

Manager hain vyapari, rahte hain pardes
sooratiyaan na dikhe, jiyara bhaari howe
Office hai genda phool

chhhora developer ka role, samhaala team ko,
support chher dewe, QA chutki lewe
Office hai genda phool

friday bug aaye, monday deadline howe
weekend ko AC na chale, akele kaam howe
office hai genda phool
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(written by Shailesh, a once in a while pseudo-poet in a reflective mood at 4 o'clock in the morning of some weird Monday while working with a language called Python which has exceptional introspective and reflective capabilities and sometimes is able to ignite your deep hidden creative capabilities)


Disclaimer: Poets have a right to exaggerate each and everything that exists or that doesn't exist to a level unimaginable by mere mortal beings. Ideas and opinions expressed in this belong to the poetic part of the poet only

PS: PL stands for Project Leader. Those who have seen the movie Delhi-6 would be able to relate to the song easily.

Hesitation

Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Analog vs Digital

Analog systems always exhibit graceful degradation.
Implementing graceful degradation in digital systems is HARD.
A single part failure in a digital system may lead to a catastrophic failure. Thats the nature of binary logic. A single inversion of value can lead to complete failure of system.

Recession

So many people are worried about recession. No one knows whats gonna happen to him/her the next day. So people are looking for options and there aren't many. There aren't many jobs around. Hiring is frozen. Some people are being fired.Business is down. Sales not happening.

So what am I doing? I just don't care. As the architect said in 'The Matrix Reloaded'; there are levels of survivals I am prepared to accept. I love my job a lot. But the day, it goes away, I won't lament a single moment about it.

The reason is quite simple. All my life, I have consistently focused on developing my skills. Every day has been a new challenge. Even if I get similar type of work to do again and again, I keep on figuring out how to do things better and better. This has given me enough confidence that I can always figure out something to do to keep myself going.

In the end whatever is gonna happen, will happen and I cannot stop it. So why worry. I will just take things as they come when they come.

Benefits of Ignorance

1. You are happy
2. You don't know and you are happy
3. You don't know that you don't know and you are still happy
4. You don't know that you don't know that you don't know and you are still very happy
5. You have no worries. Somebody else worries about you.
6. Things change around you (they are bound to change as change is the law of nature) and still they don't affect you, as you are not aware of those changes and that leaves you just happy

Ignorance is bliss. Celebrate Ignorance :)

Coffee Breaks

In a usual day at work, a lot of coffee goes inside me. There are about one or two coffee breaks and rest of the day its just coffee which keeps going in.

The coffee breaks are usually social in nature. The objective is not the coffee but the conversations over coffee. Coffee is just a means to provide a setting for carrying out conversations. It helps in ensuring that I can engage in conversations for at least about 10-15 minutes, since apart from the conversations, I am also doing something, and that is, drinking coffee. The slower I drink the coffee, the longer is the conversation.

And this brings an interesting observation. The rate at which I am drinking coffee during such a break can tell a few things. Like, how deeply engrossed I am in the conversation. If its really very interesting, my coffee might as well be sitting around for a long long time. And if I don't like it, I would probably finish the coffee fast and take leave.

I really don't like the coffee that comes out of the instant coffee machine in my pantry area. Its actually pathetic. Its not hot, the milk powder is bad, and the froth is also bad. But still I keep drinking it, I don't know why. Some people take a lot of pain in preparing the coffee for themselves. They have a long ritual for making the coffee. Take a cup, put some hot water in it (very little), put the coffee power (or beans) in it, mix it properly for some time, add milk powder, mix it further so that the froth comes out, then add sugar and a bit more hot water, mix again, then add more water to fill the cup, mix again for some time. And then finally start drinking it. For me the ritual is a big pain. I am really not such a fan of coffee (good or bad), that I would spend so much of effort in making it. But I really like if somebody does it for me :)

For those who do it quite religiously, I am not sure if they really do it for making great coffee or is it more of just another way of passing time. But thats their choice. I have no issues with it.

Welcome 2009

Its great to be in 2009. Somehow this new year has been a bit different from previous years. I am happy but more than that I am content. I have no new year resolutions this time. I just want to let things go on their own and be a silent observer. I don't want to set any goals for myself. There is nothing pressing on me to achieve. And its good this way.

I shall see whatever comes along this year and do whatever is necessary to take care of them. Thats all I can think of at the moment. I am not worried about anything.