December 4th, 2008 by galadriel

… whoever came up with coffee. It’s the ONLY thing that takes me through the day.

——

<Rant>

I usually consider myself a reasonably fair person who does not indulge in any kind of typecasting. However, I have noticed myself and from what my friends tell me, it is commonplace to observe Indian people behaving unprofessionally at work. And before you slice my neck, I do not mean to say that all Indians are unprofessional or even that there are no unprofessional Americans/Europeans/*insert your choice of ethnic background here* but the few examples of bad work ethic that I have heard of and seen have been pretty nasty.

I shall begin with an example of my friend who works for a big financial company. She has a friend/colleague who works for a different team, and all her (colleague’s) team members are Indians. And they have developed this nasty reputation of behaving very inappropriately at work. Abusing the office phones provided to them, the ability to access gtalk at work, downloading music at work and so on. Consequently, they have been assigned some very minor tasks and in the event of a potential layoff, they will probably be targeted first. Said colleague/friend even shows up for work in the winter in sleeveless tops and then complains that the office is too cold, but we digress.

My workplace is no different. The team that I work in does not have any Indians, which works out both well and not-so-well for me. But my office is also densely populated (quite like our homeland) with Indian people from a certain south Indian heritage which I refuse to name and which most workplaces are swarming with. These people sit right across from where I sit and are truly the most boisterous merrymakers I have seen in a while. And I went to grad school in New Jersey. I know we are a truly brilliant lot and doing the work assigned to us takes us no time at all so we have all this time on our hands to while away, but does it have to be this OBVIOUS? Look at me; I use my free time with such prudence. I blog.

One of the team members of said gregarious team was also extremely annoying. And this whole incident makes me quite proud, TYVM. I sit in a very high frequency zone with people passing by every few minutes and half of my working time is spent in exchanging pleasantries. Accordingly, said gregarious team member (referred to as GTM from now on, the G having even more significance because he is of aforementioned south Indian heritage) would also pass by my cubicle every so often. Now, owing my naturally pleasing personality, he took an immediate liking to me, and chose to express this affinity for me by tapping my head every time he passed me by. [And anyone who knows me, knows that even though I am normally an absolute doll (don't you DARE disagree), the term "wild cat" has been used in reference to me on occasion (read more than often), and not without reason.] So when I am irked, you had better know it and be scared. Be very very scared. So the next time GTM passed me by, I gave him one of my cold stares and made a “tsk-tsk” noise. And then I told him that I’m going to move from this cubicle because people passing me by have started annoying me. Now GTM is a smart man, he knows when to take hints. He hasn’t made eye contact with me ever since. I am happy. And I actually have put in an application to be moved.

Also, what is with not speaking in English??!! I know your team is full of people who speak the same language and so you can communicate in any language you choose, but at least at work, when you are talking about work related stuff, can we please use the language the documentation is written in? I mean, you’re inserting all the technical terms in English anyway, so how about joining those terms using verbs, prepositions, conjunctions and so on in English as well?

That being said, I do have a couple of untoward incidents of workplace unprofessionalism (I know that’s not a word, Firefox is making a red line underneath it) concerning American people to relate as well, so I am not only limiting this to Indian folks. I just wish people began treating their jobs with respect (except you Lost On The Street, you’re allowed to diss at your job as much as you want, I like you. ).

</Rant>

December 3rd, 2008 by galadriel

What will happen to our TRPs ??!!

December 2nd, 2008 by galadriel

Alright I know I have been silent for a while, I have nothing to say about the events of last week. Others, people smarter than me, have said more and better things and I cannot do anything sitting here except nod and seethe and fume. I know that’s lame and if I need to see change I should do something myself yada yada yada. Hence I shall choose to remain silent.

I had an awesome Thanksgiving break. Except for the ominous shadow of the Mumbai massacre, I was happy to be back. I felt at home and at peace with myself. After a long time. And for once, I did not want to leave and come back to my life here. I miss being amongst the people I have grown with in the last 2 years. I was happy to know that they haven’t changed at all and neither have I. We’ve all been through a lot together and as individuals and the change is telling. *Edited to add:- Clarification after reading Pavi’s comment: I did NOT go to India, I went to NJ, where I went to school for my Masters. Little India, if I may :D*

I managed to eat at all the places I wanted to except for one. I realized that Indian food has so much variety that you can never be satisfied with eating just one type. And for a vegetarian, Indian food offers the most options to choose from.

I watched Yuvvraj. I cannot put down in words the pain that is watching the movie. And for people who dare to compare Rahman with Viju Shah, I have the choicest set of expletives in store for you. You and me, outside. And by outside I mean email.

I was listening to some of Shreya Ghoshal’s older tracks and I realized how much her voice has changed over the years. Her voice has acquired a wonderful, ethereal quality now that was absent before. While her singing dripped with the innocence of her age earlier, now she sings with a maturity far beyond her years. That girl is gonna go places, mark my words.

Ooh and best of all, I got my MS degree certificate!!! Yipppeeeeee. I now actually have a Masters degree. All these days I was secretly kinda scared that something might go wrong at the last minute and I’d get a mail saying ‘We’re sorry you have to complete a gazillion more credits, we can’t give you your degree’ or something to that effect. But I didn’t and I actually got the certificate! Yayy me.

The madness is returning! And no I’m not linking anything because then people start accusing me of looking for an excuse to mention them in every post of mine. So there.

Alright, my boss is going to throw me out for blogging at work so I better start pretending to be working real quick. Ciao!

November 25th, 2008 by galadriel

SEV tagged me to write 6 random things about me. Here they are. Go read his blog for the rules. And I’m tagging the usual suspects - Rayshma, DDD, Preethi, Pixie.

- I cannot go to bed leaving dishes in the sink overnight. Now that shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you. Do you know me but at all?

- I always bite the nail on my right hand thumb before anything important. Usually, it’s before exams and I bite the nail off so deep that I invariably end up with a painful right hand especially when I need it to be most wieldy.

- I have a flair for languages. I taught myself how to read and write Tamil, since I was never educated in Chennai, so it wasn’t part of my school curriculum. I can speak at least as good, if not better Marathi than my Maharashtrian counterparts. Raj Thackeray, back off!! I can understand and read Kannada, I took French for about 2 years in junior college (yeah, I think I even topped the class in the subject, but don’t ask me anything now, I don’t even remember un peu).

- I always work my butt off to get what I want, and when I have it, I throw it away, knowing that the thrill was in proving that I could do it. It makes me end things on my terms, and walk away while I’m at the top.

- I need my bath water to be searing hot. I leave the cold shower knob almost unturned. Even in the summer.

- I have excessively dry skin. I needed to moisturize when I was in India, even during the summer. After coming here I moisturize twice a day in the summer with an intensive care lotion and during the winter I use baby oil (also twice a day).

Ok, you guys. I’m at work so I couldn’t link you up. Will do when I get home.

November 22nd, 2008 by galadriel

I read about this today. And then I remembered this. For all the tall claims we make of making new friends on blogs and social networking sites, it is a pity that such incidents should occur. And people, blog pals, friends, neighbors even, instead of stopping them, should actually encourage such things. What have we become? Have we started losing all the traits that were so innately human? Have we lost the ability to feel someone else’s pain? The feelings of compassion and sympathy that make us human beings, the ability to think, to sense, have we suddenly started losing them all? Is this the next stage of evolution? To me it seems like we are going back a step and becoming more animal.

Not one person watching the boy had the sense to alert someone? His family didn’t realize that he was depressed? No one in Megan’s household noticed that she was going through emotional stress? Have we all lost the ability to perceive danger? What happened to the so-called animal instinct? If animals can do it, and humans can’t what does that make us? And how is this different from photographers and news reporters who care more for their story than the suffering happening in front of them? We condemn such people don’t we?

Years and years ago, just after the Godhra incident, I saw a photograph in the newspaper of a woman having hung herself with her brother calling up their relatives to inform them about the incident, despair writ all over his face. That photograph won the Ramnath Goenka award for best photograph or something. The photographer stood next to the f(r)amed photo, with a smirk on his face after having received the award.  I remember thinking then, if I were that woman’s brother  would I have wanted this moment of my life, this instant of death and desertion to be immortalized in a photograph forever? And I am not even getting started on all the publicity the family must have had to endure, making a mockery of their daughter’s death? What I remember most is this gut-clenching feeling in my insides, a feeling of sinking hope that the world is really not getting better and people are not helping either. Reading about these events brought that same feeling back. Is that a silver lining? To know that I still feel?

Abraham Biggs didn’t kill himself. He was murdered. RIP.

P.S: On a much, MUCH lighter note, this website thinks I’m male. I don’t know how that’s a lighter note, but whatever.

Edited to add: Before I wrote this post they thought I was 62% male. I wonder what that means.