Black day

Though today is the historic day for US since Obama is becoming the president of US it was a black day for me as it was the first time my career I had to sit with HR team to terminate the contract for 22 trainees from NIIT. Though we tried a lot to retain them, we could not sustain the management's pressure to reduce the bench strength. I feel very sad for them. I wish they all either get a job elsewhere or join some course and spend the crisis period and come out stronger into the job market after the crisis.

Economic Crisis and Job Losses

Mainly targeting MCA 95 batch... Others can also contribute...
What is your plan B or Plans B/C/D/.... if you loose your job? Have you thought about it? I definitely hope that none of us would loose job. Having seen the debacle of Satyam, we cannot confidently say that the job is safe in any industry anywhere. I am sure few of us would emerge as entrepreneurs when we are really pushed to tough situations. I would like each one of you to put down your views. Some of your ideas would definitely help others. Assume if I loose job, what should be the short term plan and what should be the long term plan? If married, what are the limitations? If not married, what are the kind of risks people can take? How long we can survive without salaries? What kind of additional income can be planned even when we are having the job? What if the spouse is not working or working? Should we switch to some other industry? Should we concentrate on starting a company and business rather than being an employee? How can we get working capital? Do any of you have any kind of experience so far in trying to get some venture capital? I would like each one of you to use the comments section to make replies to others.

First pongal for Varsha

We went to our native (devakottai) since it was the first pongal for Varsha. Traditionally, rice is fed for the first time on the first pongal for any new born babies in our community. I took 2 days off and spent 5 days in my native. It was definitely very enjoyable at home with parents. There was some amount of relief from baby sitting :-) since my mother took care of Varsha. Every day we start climbing the coconut trees (with the help of ladder only) and have tender coconuts (me and my son Akash are crazy about tender coconuts). We spend sometime plucking all the flowers and my father makes the garlands for the gods. Since I was there in native towards the fag end of Margazhi, I went to temples early in the morning (at around 5 a.m.) and it was nice to be in the temples where I used to go in my school days. I can keep on writing.... since I love my native.

Chennai Day (22-Aug-2008)

It is 369 years since Chennai was formed as 'Madraspatnam'. It suddenly struck in the afternoon and thought why not check with my project teams on what they like and dislike in Chennai. I sent a mailer to 80+ people. 50% of the people responded enthusiastically. Some samples below...
Raviram writes:
What I like in Chennai:
1. The Music – Chennai is Music and Music is chennai
2. The language – it is a fun to pronounce tongue twisting tamil words
3. The local train facility to almost all the parts of the city with high frequency
4. Job opportunities in IT
5. Giving work opportunity for women with minimal educational qualification
6. Traditional look of people, especially mamees in their pattu sarees
7. Being a better and the best place for shopping and especially window shopping
8. People adjusting just with Sambar as part of their meals in their entire life span.

What I don’t like in Chennai:
1. Narrow Mindedness
2. Dominating mentality of people
3. Doesn’t accept any other language than Tamil
4. Finding faults in other cultures
5. Changing the pronunciation and spelling of many words which are mostly common and same in the other parts of the country

Arul Jegan writes:
What I like in Chennai:

I like Temples. Particularly Maylai Kapaleeswarar & Parthasarathy Temple.
About cinema theatre I like Prarthana theatre. Good employment opportunity. Finally city bus service for fewer amounts we can trip to all places in Chennai.

What I don’t like in Chennai:
Poor city infrastructure. Mosquitoes are increasing day by day which is dangerous to our health. House Land rates and house rents reached sky high. No plan and Vision for Chennai for next 5 years from Government. City population is increasing day by day. So, spending time with family only should go to beach. But there also I could feel so much of crowd. So, I am hopeless about Chennai to live longer here.

Manikandan K (Cricketer of Calsoft) writes:
What I like in Chennai:

Mount Road, Spencer Plaza,Central Station ,Satyam Theatre, Thayir Sadham,Anna Flyover, PTC, Kamal's Acting, Ajith Style, Ranganathan Street, Vandalur Zoo, EgmoreMuseum, MGM, Illayaraja, ManiRathnam Movies,Chepauk Stadium, Kapaleeshwar Temple, Santhome Church, Mount Road Darga, ECR, Saravana Bhavan Sambar Vadai, EGA Theatre, Hot Hotter Hottest May Masam, Pani Puri @ Gangotri, Landmark @ Nungambakkam, Movie Posters, Burma Bazzar, Ritchie Street, Pondy Bazzar, Koyambedu Bus Stand, Adyar Bridge, RoadSide Book Shops, Gandhi Statue And of course Marina Beach, Elliots Beach

What I don’t like in Chennai:
Beggars all over the places mentioned above.

Nostalgic feeling...

I was truly nostalgic when I visited my native (Devakottai) last week. I loved to be with my parents and with my family. We offered Varsha's hair in one of the old temples at my native called Kaliamman temple. We also visited some more of temples at Ilangudi and Illupaikudi. We go to these temples with all my family members once a year. It was really refreshing. I visited my UG college mate and we were talking about some of the past events.
It was very satisfying to be in our house at devakottai with a garden. We used to sit together and decide what should be the menu for the day's lunch. Menu would mostly something from the vegetables we grow at home. We have plantain plant, Coconut tree, ladies finger, Yam (Chenai kilangu), Sundai kai, paruppu keerai, Poosani kai, Brinjal, tomato, chillies etc. We pluck fresh plantain leaves (Vazhai Ilai) for the lunch. I have been longing for the day when I will go and settle at my native place and spending time in the garden.

Akash - good brother of Varsha...

Akash - Playing a good brother of her little sister. At times, he cries too.

Varsha listening to 92.7 fm

Varsha - the rain in our life - listening to FM92.7 at 2 AM - her 10 pm for any day. She is taking toll on my sleep every day - leading to mouth ulcer for me - drowsy in the digite training - created new habit of chewing gum in the afternoon daily in the office to avoid sleep - still I enjoy spending the time with her alone when the whole of India sleeps :-) - with FM radio and a camera.

Vamsi: Going bang bang!!

Vamsi - my teammate at Calsoft was teaching his wife car driving in Beaverton, Oregon. They banged the clients office on 12-Jul-2008. Thank god they had insurance. They must have faced cops and would be visiting the court to pay fine. Most of the people from India would not even dare to talk to Police (cops). (Thanks to Indian movies for portraying Police as bad boys!!)

Karthik G - An unforgettable character

Pradeesh who works with me at Calsoft told me that Karthikeyan G has been admitted in hospital and he is in a critical situation. Karthik needed lots of blood on 14-Jul-2008 as he was diagnosed with Leukemia. Many of us went and donated blood. But, the situation never improved and it was only deteriorating. We got a call from Pradeesh at 5 PM on 15-Jul-2008 that Karthik G passed away leaving all of us in sorrow. I just wanted to recollect the days we interacted with him in tha last 17 months.
A character whom I cannot forget. He worked for Ramco systems (first job). I interviewed him for Calsoft and was stunned to see his attitude, the way he spoke, the level of honesty and boldness. I did not get into technicals but simply recommended and recruited him. He resigned Calsoft on 30-Apr-2008 after spending around 15 months in Calsoft. He joined Meryll Lynch in Chennai. He was one of the enthusiatic organizer who was part of the organizing team of our last outing to a resort. We all wish that his soul rests in peace.