The Turning Tide – BIHAR losing its edge

Scams, Corruption, Lawlessness etc are few of the terms that in most situations (if not all) were used to highlight the state of Bihar. Bihar has always been in news for all wrong reasons. But situation seems to be changing. It would be premature to draw any conclusion at this point of time, but certainly things are changing. What is really shocking is the fact that states that enjoy the tag of being pro development and forward looking have been the breeding ground for some of the most infamous scams of year 2010.

States like Karnataka and Maharashtra were the in forefront of scams reported in 2010.Even the infamous 2G scandal which topped the charts of scams last year had absolutely no connection with Bihar. I really wonder, Bihar which has such a glorious legacy of being in the forefront of all such activities has suddenly lost edge. Bihar’s inability to give this country any major scams in past few years can be a subject of case study in any of the prestigious management institutes.
News like Husk Power generation, peaceful and fair elections in Bihar and magical growth figures have contributed further to strip this state (to a certain extent) from the tag of being a corrupt and scandalous state. On a lighter note, if the same situation persists for some more time, Bihar will face a serious identity crisis.

What is office working hour

“WORKING HOURS” in Software industry is one of the most misunderstood and misused word. Generally working hour means – The legal amount of time the company wants its employee to spend in office (productive and non productive hours is a matter of debate). But that’s the legal or the documented part. Its real implications are completely different.

Right from the birth of civilization (please read as Software industry), the society has been divided into two. First part comprise of the elite few or the oppressor or the tyrant (please read as the manager or supervisor or the team lead, different words but they all mean the same in this context) and the second part comprise of the innocent oppressed class or the proletarians, glorified by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (please read as the poor software engineers).
This divide has led to different interpretation of the word “WORKING HOUR”. I bring here the manager’s interpretation of this word.
For managers the word working hour is the most infamous and popularly used trapping devise. And the victims are who, any guesses, you have got it right, it’s us the poor software engineers working under them. For managers, working hour or office hour has only the start time but there are is no end time. We are expected to reach office at the correct time and never leave office after that (I mean that’s the ideal office hours as per managers). Leaving office on time is like practicing untouchablity or involving in act of low moral and social value for the managers. Working minimum two to three hours after you legal office end time is what managers encourage.

ECONOMIC RECESSION- SOFTWARE INDUSTRY THEN AND NOW

Recession of 2008-2010 (you may disagree with the time pan) changed how the world was perceived. Strongest of economy felt the heat. Some crumpled and some survived. One of the worst hit sector was software industry (IT industry). In order to survive, the entire software sector underwent radical changes. The term “Cost Cutting”, once found only in management book and managerial talks was now the most dreaded monster. Right from the office boy to software engineer, everyone was aware of what this term meant and the amount of catastrophe it can create. Innumerous relentless mayhems were organized and executed by organizations.

All of a sudden things that were considered the basic requirements or our inherent rights became luxury. At first the number of drinks offered selflessly by the innocent office vending machine was reduced to just tea and coffee (tea or coffee). As the recession intensified, the vending machines itself were removed from the shelf. The place which once was the epitome of gossip now portrayed a much disserted look. Most of the software engineers considered that place as martyrs land.
Next to fall victim of recession was the ever rumbling and rattling printers. Printing the entire book was now an unheard concept. Even single page print outs like train tickets or movie tickets were a rare phenomena. Restriction on vending machine affected just the employees but restriction on printers shook the entire society. Family members, friends now had to go out and get their print outs from local cyber cafes.

TEAM PLAYER - Favourite term on Software engineer's resume

Team player is a word which can be found on almost every software engineer’s resume. It usually signifies a person who can gel well with the team and believes in team work.
Getting along with the team is a good thing. This virtue has a lot of advantages, your team members can fill in for you in the hour of need, you can always have company on weekends for booze, movies etc.

But the most important attribute of being a team player is team work. Now this is where this innocent phrase is highly misused and misinterpreted. For managers team player means a person who can collectively work towards achieving team’s goal. This means the entire team shares a part of work individually, they work in full sync, and finally they deliver what was required in time. But for the team members like me who are very lazy and who have mastered the art of dodging all the responsibility coming their way, the term team work is a savior. To them, team work means the entire team working on the same piece of work, rather than looking after different pieces of work individually. As a result no individual team member is accountable. Sincere members of the team put in honest effort to complete the work and we lazy souls keep ourselves indulged in planning for week

MALE DISCRIMINATION - Yes it Does Exist

Male discrimination is still considered a rare phenomena. But unfortunately every sphere of our society is glorified by this discrimination. Be it the public transport system, ticket booking counters etc, you can find separate seats or queue for females. Is that not discrimination. Those who advocate the female rights defend these separate arrangements for male and female as a step to bring up the females to the same level as males. Some even try to cover this prevalent discrimination under the shadow of “CHIVALARY”.

Acts like offering seat to a lady (even though she can pull a chair and sit), opening doors for her (even if she can pull the doors and make hey way in or out) are expected to be performed by man if he wishes to qualify for the tag of gentleman. My question is why there is no mention of a reciprocal behavior.

Quotes like “Ladies first” is so well accepted in the society. But no one seem to care about “Gentleman first”. During argument with females one invariably hear sentences like “Don’t you know how to talk to a lady”. Most of the behavioral sessions are aimed at how to behave with a female. When I joined my organization, during induction I was given a long session on how to behave with female employee.Does that mean men are suppose to be taken for granted as far as these things are concerned

SOFTWARE ENGINEER AND WEEKEND FUN

Friday is always a special day for a software engineer. And there are obvious reasons for this.
Coming of Friday marks the beginning for a lot of things. Let me enlighten you on this one by one.
1)For many, especially bachelors it marks the beginning of two day celebration (Counting Friday night and Saturday night) of booze commonly known as DAARU PARTY. They try to make maximum out of these two days as far as tryst with alcohol is concerned. It is a great opportunity to replenish the alcohol (MADIRA-Made famous by Harivansh Rai Bacchan) content of body, so that we can have a state of bliss for rest part of the coming week. It also gives you the much necessary state of mind to deal with crap(can be debated) work that one does sitting behind the computer and turn a deaf ear towards managers irritating hymns and loathes ( It’s a fact, no debates)


2)For many (you can include me too) it’s a day which starts with the optimism of getting a chance to check out hot babes in office. Witnessing the transformation of same aunty types into real damsels on Friday is a spectacular phenomenon.

3)The whole joy of Friday rockets to all together another world if it also happens to be a salary day. You just feel so happy and strong from inside, it appears as if you just had a shot of some super powerful steroid.

LAST MAIL BEFORE LEAVING A COMPANY

Hi ALL my readers,
I have composed a mail which can be used as a last e mail before leaving the company.
Feel free to use it. Hope i am not contributing to the attrition rate.
And yup pour in your ideas to make it better.

----HERE IT GOES---

Someone has truly said in Hindi “ Har mulaakaat ka anjam judai hai”.
I don’t know where to start from, words betray me. There is so much to say, so many people to thank.The rampant emotions inside me make me weak and jittery. I know my stint with (company name)cannot be conveyed in two words, but I will have to do it.

BYE BYE

Yes people, today I am saying good bye to (company name). For me (company name) has been a home away from home.Growing with (company name) was fun. Met some really wonderful souls. Formed some impregnable bonds and have got tonnes of memories to cherish forever. Ok OK I should stop this description of my emotional journey here before you guys get bored and hurl those coffee mugs at me.

So its thanks giving time.