Archive for the ‘General Lunch Time talk’ Category
In 4 days I will be completing 4 years in the IT field. When you take that into account I am relatively a novice in this field. I joined a large Indian firm in 2005 and I am currently working for the same company. This is the second client location I am working at and the experience has been interesting over the past 4 years. I came here to the US to do my Masters and started working few months after my graduation. So working in a professional environment was kind of new to me then.
Going to work, meeting people and impressing the client were my major objectives when I walked into my first job in 2005. I did a reasonable job at that as I stuck around for 2+ years with the client with a good reputation. During the initial phase of my career in this field any form of appreciation was welcome. It really excited you and made you work harder. An appreciation email or just a quick word from your managers meant a world to me.
Getting appreciated by the client is a great thing but in larger picture, it doesn’t matter unless your parent company recognizes your work. Four years down the line and working for the second client in my short career, appreciation from the client or managers from my parent company doesn’t matter that much to me anymore. It’s not that I don’t like being praised or appreciated but I know that it doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things.
It’s been an interesting few years working for a large Indian IT firm. Knowing how they operate and the nuances involved to succeed in such a big company. Yesterday I got an appreciated for the job I have been doing by my client manager and in response to that I received a plethora of emails from my parent company managers. It generally follows a similar pattern (Kind of understand the pattern being here for 4 years now). The immediate manager first sends his appreciation copying the other big people in the organization and the Account managers. Then we receive appreciation from the Account manager telling us how proud they are of us and how we have been the shining lights in their armor. The client appreciation is more genuine and they actually do that to encourage the employees. But I never understood the motive behind the appreciation from the parent company.
I was recently watching a show on TV which was actually a debate between Management and employees. The Employees complained that worthy candidates don’t necessarily get raise or promotions. Which is actually true in real world scenario and we have to live with that and should not even complain. The mediator on the show said the right thing, don’t get emotionally attached to a firm, if you feel they are not appreciating your worth, just move on and look elsewhere. This is something I have come to learn in this field after being here for 4 years now.
During my parent’s time, job security and loyalty towards the company used to be the norm. Now days the company is ruthless and the employees need to be ruthless too. So when I got the emails yesterday I wasn’t that excited as I know it doesn’t matter a bit when the decision to promote or giving a raise discussions take place.
I know what I will be told when the next appraisal takes place in my parent company. You did a great job in fact you did an excellent job but still you are not getting anything.
When I think back at my school days, the memories are not that pleasant. School days are the most important part of anybody’s life. School not only gives you education but in many ways teaches the way of life. A kid spends most of his time at School in a day. I was one of the kids who hated the thought of going to school. It’s unfortunate that I felt that way. Schools in India do not make life that easy for the kids.
Schools in India teach you lots of things other than providing education, competition, jealousy, frustration and hatred. India has one of the best curriculums in the world and one of the best basic educations but the implementation needs lot to be desired. The problem in India is that education is all about the marks and not the knowledge. The pressure on the students is enormous starting from a very early age.
Teachers don’t make life easy for the kids either. They punish, scream, humiliate and make life miserable for the kids who are not in their words “brilliant”. I never found a need to read someone’s marks out loud in front of the entire classroom. There was Botany teacher who actually hit the kids who failed with a cane when giving the papers. He not only did that for the kids who failed but also to someone who scored less than 50 (40 being the pass mark). Did he do that for the welfare of the kids? I will never know.
Some teachers are so predictable as at one point the kids are just resigned to the fact that this is what is going to happen if they don’t do something right. Some teachers get sadistic pleasure in punishing the kids. There was a teacher in my school who used to smile every time she hit someone. It was disgusting. I am not saying every teacher is like that but some of them are. The rage, the anger and the complete lack of rational thinking was something I noticed from some teachers during my school days.
I still remember the occasion when I was beaten and punished so badly for something I never did in the first place. This happened when my entire class was getting punished and we were asked to go to the school ground and run a couple of laps as a punishment. I had braces in my teeth at that time and I had the habit of touching my mouth all the times as it can be really painful. Our vice-principal at that time caught hold of me and started hitting me like anything thinking that I was covering my laugh. He never listened to what I had to say and made me kneel down entire day in front of my class.
My friends knew that I do that all the time but even if I had laughed, did I deserve such extreme punishment? I am not sure but few people might think I did. But I always felt that no one has to hit a kid to teach him/her a lesson. Well later that week I went over to his office to get permission to take a day off to meet my dentist and he realized his mistake and apologized to me, but I felt the damage was done. I guess there is something about few teachers in India which makes them a scary image for the students. They get angry easily and if they do, then only god can save the kids. Sometimes it feels like the teachers are like a volcano ready to erupt. They try to vent out all their frustration and anger at the first opportunity they get and unfortunately the students bear the brunt. Punishment can be without being physical and still be effective. It’s almost as if we learn as a kid that hitting someone is okay if they have done something wrong. That is hardly a good example for the kids to follow.
Teachers I feel need to be an inspiration for the kids, the people we look up to for knowledge and guidance. They need not be friends with the kids but have to be the people whom the kids respect. I felt that a good teacher always gets a better result from the kids. I have been out of school for about 12 years now and still when I think back I hardly have any pleasant memories from my days there. My father was a Bank employee and we had to move around a lot and for some reason I had same experiences throughout my school life wherever I was.
I don’t think that things have changed much in India as an 11 year old died after being punished by a teacher at school recently. This is atrocious and I hope that the authorities put to end such corporal punishments. School is not the place for someone to show their personal frustrations and anger. This is an unfortunate incident and my sympathies and prayers are with the beleaguered parents. I hope that parents take the kids seriously when they complain of abuse by the teacher and don’t ignore such things.
As far as I am concerned it doesn’t have to be that way. I was an average student at school, went through the system as a back bencher but did okay in the long run. I wouldn’t credit anyone other than my parents and the society we grow in for my success. Education is an important part of a person’s life and it doesn’t have to be a painful experience for kids.
Teachers are the important cogs in the wheel of our educational system and they can make learning a memorable experience for the kids. I am not against schools and obviously not against education but school shouldn’t be a place where the kids are scared to go. Teachers need a way to punish kids who are unruly but physical punishment isn’t an answer to it. Parents also need to get more involved in this process. If a child complains of a beating they have to confront the teacher and ask him/her whether they can help avoiding such things in the future. They have to realize that it’s not always the kids fault.
Attacked by a Crow
Posted on: July 16, 2009
Crows are very prevalent in Chennai, the city in India where I come from
I was in the 6th standard when this weird incident happened. We were at that time living in Royapettah, Chennai in a two storied building. We had a huge terrace where I used to spend lots of time. Most of the times playing with my friends but sometimes I just preferred to hang out up there as it was one of the tallest buildings in the street.
So one evening my cousin and I decided to go upstairs and play some cricket and as usual the ball was hit outside onto the road. So I decided to go and see where the ball fell and that’s the time this happened. There was a huge tree right in front of our house and its branches came up to our terrace. So when I leaned over to take a look suddenly from nowhere this crow flies and hits my head. I was shocked at first and then thought that it was just an accident as there was a nest close to where I was standing, so I thought that I was just on the of the bird’s flight path.
It was no big deal and we went down and picked up the ball and went back home. The next day I was leaving to school in the afternoon walking down the stairs and again this crow from nowhere flies and hits my head once again. Now I realized that it was not an accident and the crow was really trying to harm me. That terrified me and at that age I couldn’t make out why. I was so terrified walking down the stairs that our house maid had to walk me down every time I left to school.
This happened one more time to me and after that the only time I was confident walking down the stairs alone was after dark. This went on for few weeks and one day while I was at school my aunt came home to visit us and the crow for some reason decided to attack her and this time it was serious as the crow’s beak made contact with her forehead and she started bleeding. That did it for everyone, the people around the house decide to end this and took the Crow’s nest from the tree and put it somewhere else. That stopped the crow attack forever.
When I came home and heard this, I was sorry for my aunt but was relieved that they had moved the nest from the tree. It is funny, come to think of it now as to how a crow terrified me like anything at that time. At that time I couldn’t figure out why the bird would do such a thing but when I think about it now, I feel that it was just trying to protect its nest. When I leaned over to look for the ball I was close to the nest of the bird which probably made the bird think that I was trying to harm it for some reason.
Well anyways whatever may be the reason it was such a weird incident and one which I could never forget. Anyways at that age I was relieved that I could walk down the stairs again with confidence and without fear. I guess the bird just acted out of fear at that point but a funny story nonetheless.
I will be working on my yard today
Posted on: June 19, 2009
Well it’s a typical Friday morning at work, lot of empty seats, lots of free parking spaces and yes lots of OOO (Out Of Office) messages. I have been working here in the US for the past four years and this is my second client location and some things remain the same. The current client I work for is a giant corporation and is spread across the US.
I work for a typical “Desi” company where billing is everything. I have been amazed by the type of OOO emails we get at the client location. This morning my lead sent an email stating that since it was too nice outside and he wants to work on his yard. This was funny as working in an Indian company you would never even think of giving such a reason.
I work in a company where my manager told me that I shouldn’t take a day off when I was really sick. He said that having cold and fever is not a good enough reason to take a day off. Even though I was angry at that point when I think back it was really funny. That’s the difference between an Indian firm and an American firm.
I have seen so many different vacation emails with reasons such as “I am playing golf tomorrow”, “I am working on my Yard tomorrow”, “I have to collect Fedex package” and many others which will seem ridiculous to us coming from India. In India the only valid reasons for vacation or a day’s leave can be health or functions.
For us consultants at a client place it’s just a dream to be able to give such reasons for taking a leave. It will not be received that well from the managers of my parent company. Well even though I may never be able to work on my yard on a sunny day during a working day, the reasons for leave here in the US never ceases to amaze me.
1000 views complete
Posted on: March 10, 2009
Its been exactly one year since I started blogging on wordpress and my blog has finally completed 1000 views. Its a great feeling to know that people are actually visiting my blog and are reading my posts. Thanks to everyone who visited my blog and please do keep coming back.
Tuition Teachers Vs School teachers
Posted on: July 15, 2008
Over the weekend I was watching Star Vijay channel and on Sunday I stumbled upon an interesting debate show called “Neeya?Naana?” (You? Me?). To give you all a background on this show, its basically a debate show between two sets of people on a particular topic. This week the topic was kind of interesting as it was Tuition Teachers against School Teachers. This is an ongoing debate in India as most of the parents think that sending their kids to private tuitions is the way to go. The school teachers on the other hand say that the lack of attention from the students in the classroom is due to the fact that they go to tuition after the school.
The topic was kind of interesting but the one thing that bothered me was the absence of a student angle to the debate. The base of this discussion were the students and not involving them was kind of a dampner on the show. As I was watching the show there were so many questions that came to my mind as a viewer. Being educated in a system which puts so much emphasis on your marks rather than the knowledge aquired by the students, it was hard for me to agree with the School teachers defence on the topic.
The argument from both sides went something like this, the School teachers said that going to tuition is affecting the student’s concentration in the class and the Tuition teachers hit back saying that its due to inefficient teachers in the schools the students come to them. Personally for me I dont have any fond memories of a classroom in India. In India education is a major business and with it comes lots of competition. In schools the teachers want instant results. Not many teachers want to spend enough time with a kid having trouble with studies.
Teachers in India dont want to listen to criticizm of any kind from anyone. They have lots of ego and it was kind of funny that in the talk show they teachers said that the students are in their control. There is so much emphasis on the marks scored by the students the parents think that their only option is to put the kids in private tuitions. Few private schools in India have decided to fight the competition by only admitting students who are toppers already. I was also shocked to hear from the teachers in the debate saying that they admit kids only if their parents are educated.
These are new developments in an already outdated education system in India. The reason for the parents to trust private tuitions is because there are very few teachers in schools who concentrate on making students understand the concepts. The aim of the teachers is to just complete the syllabus assigned for a particular class for that year. The tuition teachers are not any different either as their main aim is to get the kid over the line to get money. All in all members of both the groups dont impart any knowledge to the kids but yes they tell them how to pass in an exam.
Teachers escape from their duties by complaining to the parents about the kid. When the parents hear the complaints from the teachers in the school they think the ultimate solution is to approach a private tuition teacher. If the teachers can also provide a solution for the problem faced by the kid along with the complaints then probably parents will not think about tuition teachers. The problem is that none of the teachers have a clue about the issues faced by the kid. The problem is that most of the school teachers themselves are part time tuition teachers which made me laugh when they were arguing with each other on the show.
The Indian education system already puts lots of pressure on the kids to perform as marks they score funnily enough determines how intelligent they are. Their fate most of the time is decided in the 3 hours they spend in the examination hall. To top it all there is always constant comparisons between different induviduals by the parents and the others around them.
I was one of the so called average student during my school days and faced my share of humiliations and beatings. I was also the victim of the after school tuition torture. My father was also called by my teacher for complaints and you can only imagine what happened to me after I came home that day. Inspite of all that I am currently a Masters degree holder in US with great scores and work in a big software firm.
Kids in India are not to be blamed here ,its just the system and the non availability of enough good teachers are responsible for this situation. Teachers should understand that hitting and humiliating the kids in front of their mates isnt going to help their confidence either. I may be coming accross as another complaining student but the fact is that I really respected my professors during my masters here in US and understood how students should be actually treated.
Well I dont think the situation in India is going to improve a great deal in the future. So finally my verdict on the debate is that both the School Teachers and the tuition teachers are not doing any favours for the kids. India has one of the best tried and trusted curriculam but the system surrounding it isnt that great. Teachers are not hand picked and there are hardly any good ones around. Schools and Private tuitions are a way of making money and they are equally not that worried about the students to be honest. Both are worried about getting 100% results to get their names popular with the people to get more money.
Tuition Teachers Vs School teachers
Posted on: July 15, 2008
Modern Indian classroom
Over the weekend I was watching Star Vijay channel and on Sunday I stumbled upon an interesting debate show called “Neeya?Naana?” (You? Me?). To give you all a background on this show, its basically a debate show between two sets of people on a particular topic. This week the topic was kind of interesting as it was Tuition Teachers against School Teachers. This is an ongoing debate in India as most of the parents think that sending their kids to private tuitions is the way to go. The school teachers on the other hand say that the lack of attention from the students in the classroom is due to the fact that they go to tuition after the school.
The topic was kind of interesting but the one thing that bothered me was the absence of a student angle to the debate. The base of this discussion were the students and not involving them was kind of a dampner on the show. As I was watching the show there were so many questions that came to my mind as a viewer. Being educated in a system which puts so much emphasis on the marks rather than the knowledge aquired by the students, it was hard for me to agree with the School teachers defence on the topic.
The argument from both sides went something like this, the School teachers said that going to tuition is affecting the student’s concentration in the class and the Tuition teachers hit back saying that its due to inefficient teachers in the schools the students come to them. Personally for me I dont have any fond memories of a classroom in India. In India education is a major business and with it comes lots of competition. In schools the teachers want instant results. Not many teachers want to spend enough time with a kid having trouble with studies.
Teachers in India dont want to listen to criticizm of any kind from anyone. They have lots of ego and it was kind of funny that in the talk show they teachers said that the students are in their control. There is so much emphasis on the marks scored by the students the parents think that their only option is to put the kids in private tuitions. Few private schools in India have decided to fight the competition by only admitting students who are toppers already. I was also shocked to hear from the teachers in the debate saying that they admit kids only if their parents are educated.
These are new developments in an already outdated education system in India. The reason for the parents to trust private tuitions is because there are very few teachers in schools who concentrate on making students understand the concepts. The aim of the teachers is to just complete the syllabus assigned for a particular class for that year. The tuition teachers are not any different either as their main aim is to get the kid over the line to get money. All in all members of both the groups dont impart any knowledge to the kids but yes they tell them how to pass in an exam.
Teachers escape from their duties by complaining to the parents about the kid. When the parents hear the complaints from the teachers in the school they think the ultimate solution is to approach a private tuition teacher. If the teachers can also provide a solution for the problem faced by the kid along with the complaints then probably parents will not think about tuition teachers. The problem is that none of the teachers have a clue about the issues faced by the kid. The problem is that most of the school teachers themselves are part time tuition teachers which made me laugh when they were arguing with each other on the show.
The Indian education system already puts lots of pressure on the kids to perform as marks they score funnily enough determines how intelligent they are. Their fate most of the time is decided in the 3 hours they spend in the examination hall. To top it all there is always constant comparisons between different induviduals by the parents and the others around them.
I was one of the so called average student during my school days and faced my share of humiliations and beatings. I was also the victim of the after school tuition torture. My father was also called by my teacher for complaints and you can only imagine what happened to me after I came home that day. Inspite of all that I am currently a Masters degree holder in US with great scores and work in a big software firm.
Kids in India are not to be blamed here ,its just the system and the non availability of enough good teachers are responsible for this situation. Teachers should understand that hitting and humiliating the kids in front of their mates isnt going to help their confidence either. I may be coming accross as another complaining student but the fact is that I really respected my professors during my masters here in US and understood how students should be actually treated.
Well I dont think the situation in India is going to improve a great deal in the future. So finally my verdict on the debate is that both the School Teachers and the tuition teachers are not doing any favours for the kids. India has one of the best tried and trusted curriculam but the system surrounding it isnt that great. Teachers are not hand picked and there are hardly any good ones around. Schools and Private tuitions are a way of making money and they are equally not that worried about the students to be honest. Both are worried about getting 100% results to get their names popular with the people to get more money.
Talking in the corridor
Posted on: July 3, 2008
I still remember during our School and college days whenever a guy used to talk to one of the beautiful girls in the campus corridor we used to envy him. There was a mad rush when we used to do that. Talking anything would be a great sense of achievement. There used to be constant grin on the face of the person who was in conversation when someone looks at them. He would feel happy to see the jealous eyes looking at him with lots of frustration. He would seek acknowledgement from each and every individual walking past them. Those were the days when we were young and talking to girls was something we felt great about. Well I graduated from all sorts of education on the December of 2004 when I completed my masters. I have been in US for almost 6 years now and those memories are still fresh in my mind.
Well I started working in 2005 with an IT company and the sight which amazes me with us Indians is when we talk to an American in the corridor at the workspace the behavior is similar to what I had mentioned earlier. The sight of an Indian talking in the corridor with his American colleagues is something which I love watching. Even though it’s not the same thing but the sight of it reminds me of the college days. The fact that the Indians feel so great about talking to an American in America is something I cannot understand. When I came to US in 2003 I always knew that I would have to interact with lots of Americans and over the last six years I never thought it was something great.
It’s like an American coming to India and feeling proud about talking to an Indian. It’s nothing great about talking to the local people when you visit a country. Whenever I see one of us talking to an American in the corridor I see a wide grin on his face and he keeps looking at every passing Indian to make sure that they notice him in conversation. Why do we seek such acknowledgement? We work with Americans and talking to them shouldn’t be a big deal, isn’t it? I remember a guy who studied with me during my masters here who used to tell me that he was happy that there were no Indians around his apartments. He was happy inviting Americans to the Indian functions and his wife also loved the same. At that time I used to think what the hell is wrong with this guy? Why doesn’t he want to be friends with Indians? Well I never got the answer to the same.
The problem is that for some Indians coming to US becomes an overwhelming experience that they don’t know how to deal with the same. Well for me I do talk to Americans and I feel that it’s just something which we do as a default as we are in their home. Well the life goes on as even today a happy Indian friend of mine was grinning widely at me while talking to an American in the corridor. Years go by but some things don’t change.
Lunch time talk
Posted on: April 17, 2008
During lunch time my friends and I normally discuss about something or the other to kill time. The topics of discussion range from Sports to Politics. We discuss about Tendulkar as well as Sharukh Khan. Sometimes even controversial topics from the happenings in the current Indian politics. Couple of days back we were just sitting at the table talking about the comics we used to read when we were kids and suddenly the topic changed to the cartoons we used to watch. Everyone remembered the spiderman, He-Man and the other cartoons which used to come on DD at that time.
When we were growing up we just had one channel on television and had no options but come to think of it that was not a bad thing. We were wondering as to how the quality of programs in television has changed in the last 15 years or so. Even though the options for us as kids was very less the quality of entertainment was actually much better then what we have right now. The content and the variety of programs on DD was actually much better than the “Mega” serials we see on all TV channels these days. Those days not having too many options made sure that kids went outside to play more often than what we see from kids in this generation.
These days the programs on television is mostly based on movies. Every channel will have same type of programs which will be like Movie Reviews, Song Countdowns, Movie Countdowns, Star interviews and inbetween those lots of ads. While these programs are entertaining it doesnt stop us from flipping channels at regular intervals. There are not too many programs these days which are different and unique and which does not touch upon cinema. Things were different 15-20 years back, we had lots of quality entertainment of DD those days. Even though all of us cursed DD for their constant interruptions and their sometimes annoying coverage of sports and stuff, they did have some great content.
Nobody can forget the classics such as “Vikram Aur Betaal”, “Fauji”, “Byomkesh Bakshi”, “Malgudi Days”, “Nukkad” etc. DD was great for kids too with cartoons such as Spiderman, He-Man, Shazzam, Junglebook and also some serials such as Indradanush which as a kid I used to love to watch. The variety was great I have missed out so many other great DD seriels and programs which we used to enjoy watching those days with less ad breaks. Television used to be true family entertainment. Parents never had to worry too much regarding inappropriate content if watching with kids. These days parents are always at high alert making sure that they change the channels at the right moment mostly to some sports or discovery or to some news channel.
Well even though I used to hate Door Darshan at that time, when we look back the best TV viewing experiance was only when we just had one channel. Anyways thats my opinion as I cannot stand the nonsense dished out these days on television in form of entertainment. Well DD might have taken a backseat these days with the advent of cable networks in India but in terms of quality of content they were way ahead.
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