Techie vs. Manager

30 10 2008

M: WTF did you do?

T: What???

M: I am not able to receive messages in my mailbox.

T: Didn’t you read the mails during the last two weeks, we have migrated our mailserver so you’ll need to reconfigure your outlook.

M: Hell, so who’ll do it for me?

T: (Wait till USA elects its new president, will ask him to do it for you). Hey, its easy. Just read the instructions at this link I am sending you and follow them.

M: You people have no other job? Don’t you see how important I am to the society? They even pay me money to talk crap. Now what will I do? I’ll miss all those important mails.

(T: I know, all those mails saying “Forward this to 10 people or else…”)

M: It was so much better earlier.

T: It’ll be the same, just a few steps and you’ll be done.

M: What two steps. You think I have all the time in this world for all this crap? I have so many important things on my mind. And now I have to worry about this too. What if I…

T: Ya man, its truly sad.

M: What?

T: The shift and all. I think you are all fucked up. Probably, you could call one of em meetings and decide if, how and when to do the configuration. Maybe we will have to engage a consultant to get the changes to take effect. I feel sorry for you.

M: But…

T: Hey, listen. You have a lot of important things to do. Why waste time here. I myself have a couple of programs to write. Cya.

M: Hey, what did you say was the link…?

This is just a fictional account, inspired by reality, of a few conversations I had with my fellow Xlers when we shifted to Google Apps. The whole irony of the situation was that I was talking to people who say they have engineering degrees and over two years’ work experience in IT firms.

That night I prayed to god to save the souls of all my friends who had joined the famous Indian IT companies.





In Memory of Omayra Sánchez

17 08 2007

I never met Omayra Sánchez and in all certainty will never meet her because she is no longer a part of this world. Her story is one of the saddest that I have ever heard. I think the picture tells it all, but do visit this wiki page to read the full story.

Omayra Sanchez





And I Thought It was All About The Bike

12 07 2007

Studying probability and reading about a cancer patient’s journey, from almost certain death to life, is not very different. In both cases you are calculating hypothetical numbers based on ideal models, to ascertain the occurrence of an event. And ironically, the decisions based on these numbers can easily go wrong. So when the doctor told Lance Armstrong that he had a 40% chance of surviving cancer, the reality was that Lance could very well have been in the remaining 60%.

However, Lance Armstrong fought back from almost certain death and went on to win Tour de France twice. The doctor later admitted that in reality, he only had a 3% chance of survival! Well, for the uninitiated, Lance Armstrong is a famous cyclist. He caught cancer and subsequently made a sensational comeback by winning the Tour De France, considered the most grueling cycling competition, twice. The book “It is not about the Bike” is an autobiography of Lance which can inspire even the biggest nay-sayer of life to reconsider his/her perspective. The book is a must read for people trying to find meaning in life(I wonder who is not). Visit http://www.livestrong.org/ to know more about the foundation that Lance initiated to support cancer patients worldwide.








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