I was reading this article on the discussion of strengths and weaknesses that happens in almost all interviews and it got me thinking. If I am asked what my weaknesses are, what would I say?

1. Chocolates
2. Procrastination (check my wardrobe / room out)
3. Lack of determination (you goota see me to believe it — i have been on a diet for about 4 yrs now and have gained 15+ kgs)
4. I do not finish the books I read
5. I am a romantic at heart

People who know me and are reading this, please comment. Let me know what your weakness(es) is and what you think mine is. Help me know me better!!

I watched Ghajani last night (finally) and while I was discussing it with a friend of mine (who has a technical eye out for most things around), he made a sensible point. How, a person who had stayed and studied in the West most of his life (I am guessing the charecter was around 25-30 years of age), wrote a Diary in Hindi as opposed to English – which would come more naturally to him? Of course it’s a Hindi movie so crap has to happen in Hindi only

This got me thinking, what language do I think in and what language will I choose shoule I maintain a diary (if I ever do)? My choice, most conveniently and naturally, was English. What’s your’s?

To know this, just think if you had a bundle of money to count, what language would you count it in? Me, I will do it in English, rarely in hindi (I get stuck after 25 )

Though being a Tamilian by birth, (I am ashamed to say this) I can not read or write in Tamil. Hindi and English have been the languages which come to my rescue at ALL times. So, I think in English, mostly, Hindi at times – may be 20-30% of the time. What about you?

The other night, I was watching this movie, “The curious case of Benjamin Button”; was an interesting movie. At the end of the movie, there was a fleeting glimpse of all the people who mattered to Benjamin Button and their purpose in life. This got me wondering….. what’s my purpose in life?

Some people live their life for the selfless purpose of serving people. Some are good spouses & friends.
Some find their peace in spirituality, others for the freedom / safety of the people of their country.
What am I here for? I am gonna give this some thought…..

There was a time, I would spend my entire day listening to some good songs on the radio and reading a novel. This was when I lived in a joint family with no TV to watch. Today, in the comfort of my own house and the privacy of my own room, I choose to watch TV, movies, anything other than reading interesting books that are waiting for me to pick them up.

Chatting on phone with my friend earlier yesterday, I wondered if I still liked reading. I considered reading to be my first hobby as compared to listening to music and dancing and watching TV/movies. Today, the order is pretty much reversed. I wonder what has caused it? The last fortnight has seen me looking at shit load of work spending over 12 hours at office everyday. I get home way past mid-night, mind absolutely screwed up and left with nothing much to do except eat and sleep once I am home.

I wonder what has gotten me to like reading less? I am a people person, I like to spend time with my mom, do some random household work; I love to shop…. then I spend some time checking stuff on the internet, watching TV for something interesting or funny. Then if I am already not asleep, I pick up something to read.

I don’t like not liking reading so much; I am gonna rekindle my interest in reading; there was a time I used to finish a 200+ page book overnight and now I can’t get past reading 10…. shame on me…. I know I can do better, I will do better… starting tonight. I shall read more of the funny book I have started reading, The Inscrutable Americans.. Wish me luck

I work as an officer in the Compliance Team of a domain name registrar. Several complaints reporting some form of internet abuse are reported to my team and we take action against such defaulting domain names. A couple of days back, no different from any other day, we received a bunch of complaints and processed it. Unfortunately, there was a case of false positive which got me into a small situation.

I was sitting at my desk looking at the email sent by this client who threatened to take his business away on account of this situation and I was getting ready to draft a reply explaining the instance of his order being a false positive. I knew exactly what needed to be conveyed to his gentleman, but I couldn’t come up with the right way of putting it across to him. I just froze! Couldn’t type, or scribble on the notepad, or say it out aloud what I needed to write!

I am not a writer, but my job requires me to write stuff to save my company’s and my own reputation at times. I never fall short of words or techniques to write the most horrific news in a tactful manner. But this was one scenario when words just refused to help me.

I make a big deal of this coz I never in my life thought that I would face the much discussed “writer’s block”. I thought this was a thing for professional writers, novelists, journalists.

I was ashamed of myself to be in this positon and have promised to do better. As a practise, I shall write atleast one original article a week. I hope this helps me improve my not so poor communication skills. Fingers crossed!!

11th May 11.15 am IST

It is another sunday morning and I am here in the hot hot very hot Hyderabad, bored to death. I am sleepy, dont know what to do of my sunday. I tried reading my feeds and adding some applications to my orkut profile, but guess what a 2 kbps connection doesnt help me much with any idle browsing.

I can watch a movie, cook (well cant coz my aunt is taken the responsibility of making lunch), read a book (but my eyes burn as a result of the excessive heat), look around stumble (but have a pathetically slow internet speed), sleep (yeah babay!!! now we are talking).

Lets c what i end up doing, but am surely gonna do something and not just sit around getting bored. Will keep ths post updated.

It’s a little past 7 in the morning, early by my general waking up habit. Am up coz I need to wash my oiled hair and get mom to the hospital for an MRI. While having my cup of tea without the morning newspaper, I sat down reading a few of my unread feeds from Zen Habits. The feed How to Make the Time for Your Personal Goals

Left me thinking… what are my personal goals. I started making a mental note and this is what I came up with

1. Loose oodles of weight (I am struggling to stay under a 100 kgs)
2. Read my unread books Not exactly a goal but more something I have been wanting to do since a while – silly but true
3. Make my job more interesting for myself and for my team.
4. Make plans in the long run for my team
5. Marry (I am surprised this one came so much later)
6. Become healthy and stay that way

Cant think of any more now…. Will add on to this list a little later. I shall surely make a plan of action to achieve these asap and more importantly do them effectively

“The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can’t help it.” – Leo Rosten

I just read this in my feeds and couldn’t help but agree. This is not true just for writing, but for all the jobs which people do. I feel the same about my job which is why I relate to this saying.

And I am bored to death. I did something stupid last night… I ate a lot of cold cut meat sandwiches and I am sick now. While I am sitting on my bed, sipping on buttermilk, I don’t know what to do of my day today. My best friend is out on a family commitment and hence I can’t go spend my day with him (as earlier planned), my mom is out of town and will be back the day after, so I don’t have any one to speak to, my dad, difficult to have a civilized conversation with him for more than 2 mins. coz I am pissed by then.

So, I can’t spend my day with my friend, my Sister (next best alternative on a boring day) is not picking her cell, which means she is probably busy with her house and family, my tummy is not permitting to venture out for lunch or shopping (read: need to go to the loo until it feels better) . I don’t know what to do. I have a painter who has come home to paint an old cupboard. Since he is in the drawing room, I can not watch TV. So, here I am with my laptop, reading all my unread feeds.

I could read… there are several books which I have bought but not yet read. Don’t know…. not really up to it right now. Maybe later as the day passes I will read some thing. I had picked up Icon a very long time back. Read it half way but then left it for something more interesting. Steve Jobs is one person I like a lot. I don’t know why, but I do like him. I think I shall pick this book up and will read it. Let’s see how my day goes.

UPDATE:

My sis returned my call and invited me over for lunch. I was so hoping she would coz that took away almost 5 hours of my boredom.  She is an incredible cook, I must say. Before her marriage, I never thought that she would be capable of managing the kitchen aspect of her life. She has surprised me, I must say. So, she mad this mind blowing dish of mutton and me being me, I had a hearty meal. Once out of there, I came home to find some mess created by the painter and dad. They painted the washing machine a dark green Mom is sure in for a shock when she comes back. Well, I slept for an hour and a half and since then have been reading and speaking on the phone and watching some movie or show. It has been not-so-bad a Sunday. I have seen better ones, but this wasn’t bad either.:)

This is a forward that a Friend of mine sent across which I wanted to share with the world. Surprisingly enough, I know many who do this.

It’s half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on…
PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing…
And who’s at work? Most of them ??? Take a closer look…

All or most of them are bachelors…
And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!
Any guesses???

Let’s ask one of them…
Here’s what he says… “What’s there 2 do after going home…Here we
get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee that is why I am working
late…Importantly no bossssssss!! !!!!!!!!! “

This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore offices.
Bachelors “Time-passing” during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they’ve nothing else to do…

Now what r the consequences. ..

“Working” (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.
With bosses more than eager to provide support to those “working” late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he’s a hard worker… goes home only to change..!!).

They aren’t helping things too…

To hell with bosses who don’t understand the difference between
“sitting” late and “working” late!!!
Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.

So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family… office is no longer a priority, family is… and that’s when the problem starts… b’coz u start having
commitments at home too.

For your boss, the earlier “hardworking” guy suddenly seems to become a “early leaver” even if u leave an hour after regular time… after doing the same amount of work.

People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labeled as work-shirkers. ..
Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays… though) leave on time are labeled as “not up to it”. All the while, the bachelors at their own backs and carry on “working” not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that hey would have to regret at one point of time.

*So what’s the moral of the story?? *
* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!
* Never put in extra time ” unless really needed ”
* Don’t stay back un-necessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.

There are hundred other things to do in the evening..
Learn music…
Learn a foreign language…
Try a sport… TT, cricket….. ….
Get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town…

* And for heaven’s sake net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low
(plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.
Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *”Life’s calling, where are you??”*

Please pass on this message to all those colleagues And please do it before leaving time, don’t stay back till midnight to forward this!!!

IT’S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS
VERY HARD WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.

PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DONT KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR
TIME. SIMPLE !