Key for the open door

Picking the cue from the last blog and White Tiger's lines: 

While you were looking for the key, 

the door was always open

I always hypothise that if I had so and so I would have done so and so

That would have made me happier. 

Thinking on the lines above, maybe the option is always there

Desperately desire, strive for it and I will get it. 

Time to get started with something that I desire. . . 

Will post it once it is done. 

Key for the open door

Read the statement:

While you were looking for the key, 

the door was always open. 

These lines make Balram into an entreprenuer. Thats the plot of the Man-Booker Prize awarded "The White Tiger" by Aditya Adiga. The same book that was gifted to me by SRK. For details, read the blog below. 

My take on the book: 

- Story is of a bihari called Balram. Raj will be upset. 

- There is no entrepreneurship in the book. Its about a bihari driver killing his employer for money and labelling it social entrepreneurship.

- Good description of Delhi as a nice place to lead life

- Place to drink neat whiskey in car

- Where everybody bribes everybody

- Where everybody lives in bunglows

- Good description of Gurgaon for its waxed legged women

- Big and shiny malls. 

ADITYA Are you a Bong Marxist????

That was my cynic self. 

But the interesting part of the book is that people who are invisible e.g. guard at the security desk, conductor of the bus, the one serving you water in a dhaba, etc. are living beings. These people also have lives and may have interesting stories to tell, experiences to share. Readers of this blog may experiment one thing: When you are outside, look at a stranger in the categories mentioned above, try to think of his background, his family, his history. You will have loads of stories going in your head. 

Afterall, you need to pass time till your friend comes over. :-)

Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish

Dont suppose that the last part of the above statement is applicable to my decision right now. My decision - I am going home. Yes, today and for good, atleast for now. 

Generally the going away experience isnt so good. But today was not. A few people who are worthy of mention on my blog:

Cherian: in his loud style and "I dont care a damn' attitude, he threw a 5G party for the whole sales team. Cant ask for more. and that too when I had beer in the day and so much food, that cant describe right now. 

Nandan: Ok, both of us are straight and its nothing but male bonding. Inspite of what all Cherian says, Nandan is a good fella who likes his mug of beer. Hope Nandan remains the same inspite of all atrocities in this lungi ruled corporate

Gurpreet: with a smile and cute eyes, Gurpreet smirked that I am not saying good bye to the pre-sales team. Would not ever imagine of not saying goodbye to these people, afterall some of them will be persisting in this system for one Darwanian atribute - survival. But for Gurpreet, an attitude that can take her place if she wishes to, I say goodbye for now. 

SRK: ok, its not about that 6 pack, suspicioned to be gay. Its the trio - Shilpa, Raj and Kapil who contributed their name initials to be written in that order. And thanks a lot to these guys for the beautiful cake they got with a motivational quote: Ab dilli door nahi. Amen!!

Thankfully, they got me a gift. A set of two books: Stay hungry and Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal and the ManBooker prize winning The White Tiger by Aditya Adiga. Could not resist reading the first chapter of the book, but whats interesting is the note Kapil left:

Oye Sumit, 

We know you are hungry (for food, customers, ...) We think you are foolish (glass'full'ish Patiala ishtyle) We believe you will make it to the 'SUMmIT'. And on the cover of a book like this! :-) 

DREAM ... ACHIEVE.... INSPIRE

S Shilpa

R Raj

K Kapil 

23rd Oct 2008

Thanks guys, never been gifted before so dont know this feeling but I think it feels good. Was kindfa embarrased in the evening at the gates of office with half of my body on LBS Marg, so cut short your toasts in my praise. :-)

But guys, wish you something:

Shilpa: Dont know what you wish for in life. But wish you get all you ever wish for !!! 

Raj: Mission UK, do what they did to us 200 years ago. Go to their home and amass wealth, and have a happy life with Shirin and Aanya. Atleast keep us posted. 

Kapil: The dreamy eyed boy, its time you get to know about mascaras. So, want to see you get married before the reindeers come calling this winter. 

All the guys I did not mention - You do deserve mention but I am kindfa out of fuel at 4 in the morning so logging off now till next time. 

Honeybees of the roads!!!

16 on 16th - sounds like a cool name for a blog. But what it tells you is the amount of time taken from my office in Vikhroli, Gandhinagar crossing to Sher-e-Punjab, Andheri(East). Yes, dear friends, it was fortunate for the people who have a transport of their own. For the first time, the auto strike acted like a bypass on a choked artery for the Mumbai roads. Let me describe the experience for those who are not from the city (!!) or did not have a heart to venture out. 

The moment car left the office there was no honking or jam at the office gates, the first red-light was as clear as s'lariV mind. In 1 min (and not 10) we were on the JVLR, and thats when Kapil said that the celebrations are early because the moment of truth is the road besides Suncity apartments. And everyone's heart skipped a beat when it was as good as it was earlier. Crossed IIT in exactly 3 minutes (instead of 17) and straight off to Powai. Deepak was home early by 26 minutes and Taruna must have commented on his early arrival. 

There Kapil offered a bet for the time it will take till I get dropped at Greenfield apartments. Being a cynic, I called 9:13, Vivek was for 9:10 and Kapil took a middle of the road 9:11. The clock started ticking from 9:03 onwards and Shabir driver stopped the car and started looking in tently at me at 9:09. Now, faced with a dilemma to get down early and letting anyone else win the bet, I chose to get down while agreeing that vivek won. Afterall, this may not be the last hitch hike from him. 

This was by far the best drive I ever had in Mumbai!!!! 

AUTOWALLAS, when is the next time you will strike? I like Mumbai roads without you. 

I quit !!!

Dont worry guys, I am still with the stodgy Tamil Company. What I quit is the tradition of smoking !! And its not a health fad, I am kindfa fed up with restrictions of smoking after Oct2. Let me detail the point:

- you are at the panwallah and ask him for your fav brand. He hands you over a fag and then looks intently at you. You signal him for the money in front of him but he shakes his head, you are confused. Is this guy straight of something is wrong with his mind. What this panwaala wants to say is that even though he is selling tobacco, you cant light in front of his shop. WTF. 

- you are at a Jugheads / Poptates (btw, why not Bettie or Veronica!!). You order for your drinks and snuggle a fag onto your lips. Suddenly the chattering stops, the music is blaring but you know everybody is silent as if someone died. The bouncer comes over and tells you 'polietly' to go out for a smoke. Ohh, I forgot about Oct 2nd - says I and quietly push the cigg back in the box. 

- you are at the pitstop at office for a quick fag. A smeared forehead (read Tamil) comes and asks if it is still allowed. You wonder whether he is asking for salesguys defrauding businesses of money or my Tamil Company allowing another quarter's salary. But no, he makes a sarcastic remark about us smoking. 

Not any more, cant bear it ! So I quit !!!

NOTICE: If you see me smoking, smack me on the head and loudly say fearenhope.blogspot.com. What I achieve is keeping some promise and promotion of my blog. 

Predictably Irrational - My co. Style

I have been reading a book lately - Predictably Irrational by dan ariely (Author prefers to write his initials in small letters, maybe because he is irrational !) Let me describe the book. The book has an interesting photograph. Looks like by a sales guy with a multi-colored pen in his hand keeping himself busy while listening to the engineering and product design teams in a 2 hour tele-conf session.  

Well, dan would know the details on that. What I know is that there is a lot that I dont know about the company and its associates I have been working with for last 4 years. Imagine this, the company spent its startup capital of 25 manyears (roughly 25 X 5,00,000 INR or $300,000) on recreating software that is available for free on the internet. Some say its creative destruction, I call it simply stupid. 

And when the push comes to shove, the "management" goes to the commonsensical team of 22 guys and asks to replicate a product in 6 months (btw, the best in class took 100,000 manyears to develop the product and its still improving by the hour). 

The next level of irrationality is that when challenged by this team, they are told that they are creating history by doing a seemingly impossible task. Thats not where it ends all, the management is right now focussed on atleast 1000 customers by year end. Ofcourse thats possible, afterall the 10 salesguys we are, we can easily get a customer every 2 days. I forgot to mention that it takes 15 days to write a contract!

dan, do you work for my company by some other name. Afterall, seems that you had us in mind while coming out with your blog - Arming the Donkeys!!!