Day 186 - A Collosal Waste

This post is prompted by the Bharat Bandh call given by various political parties, including the BJP-led NDA and the Left parties in the country, for tomorrow.  This is being planned, apparently, in protest against the fuel price hike, which was recently announced by the government and the general increase in inflation over the past few months.

So, what are we going to achieve by 'enforcing' a countrywide strike?  Yes, 'enforcing' is the word being used in the media.  These political parties of various hues which form the whole spectrum of the opposition parties in this country are all supporting the Bandh.  From the right wing BJP to the Left parties, with a myriad mix goons, sycophants and stone age politicos included in between.  Enforcing the strike means, there will be violence if you resist the 'Bandh'.  You will be a likely target of mindless violence if you do not co-operate and shut shop.  Essential services will be allowed but everybody else would be expected to co-operate.

So, who is expected to benefit from the day long strike?  My view: Nobody!

You might find this strange coming from someone who has a socialist father.  However, this strike is being 'enforced'.  It is not an outcome of spontaneous support for the perpetrators of this strike unlike the non-violent movement led by the Mahatma.  I abhor any kind of violence, and that is what every common man should do.  This strike, like all other strikes, is going to result in a collosal wastage of 1 man day of effort; a loss of crores of rupees worth of production of goods and services.  Not to mention the loss due to the violence, arson and loss of life, if it goes to that extent.  Is the government likely to roll back the fuel price hike and suddenly regulate the prices of various food and vegetables?  No.  So, why the strike?  Instead of enforcing a countrywide Bandh and causing losses of crores of rupees, it would make much better sense if these political parties offer to put their heads together with the government to come up with solutions to the price rise issue.

There are other questions to be answered as well, apart from the collosal loss to the exchequer.  Spare a thought for that daily wages earner.  If everything is shut, where does he earn his bread from?  What about the hordes of organisations who have moved their key processes here as part of the ITES / BPO boom?  Should those organisations also shut shop in their respective countries because we, Indians, are are on strike? Imagine the huge amount of time and effort that goes into planning for business continuity for such an event by all these organisations, which is exactly what I have been doing for the last few hours this Sunday evening! Phew!

I do not support this Bandh; nor should you!  Take care.

Day 182 - The Beautiful Game

Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!

Yes, it is football frenzy time!  It is amazing how once in every four years this phenomenon, called the FIFA World Cup, captures the imagination of practically the whole world, me included.  Let me be very clear; I am not a great fan of football.  Club football confuses me, what with all the different leagues in different parts of the world and the never ending player transfers from one club to another.  However, when once in 4 years, the World Cup is played over a month, I become a die-hard fan of the game.

Although India has never played in the World Cup Finals (it did qualify for the 1950 World Cup Finals, but the team did not travel to Brazil for the competition), during the World Cup people in India become staunch supporters of various teams depending on various parameters like, the stars that they follow, the emotional attachment to a playing nation, the style of play of a particular team, etc.

I, for one, support multiple teams!  And believe me this is not because I try to hedge my bets.  I am supporting Spain for its seamless and skillful play, Brazil as the eternal favourites due to the flair with which they play, Germany because of their structured and disciplined execution by a very young team and last but not the least, Argentina!  Since the time I watched the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico for the first time, I have an emotional connect to Argentina!  Argentina won that competition and Maradona was the 'God of Football', not necessarily due to the 'Hand of God' only.  From that year on, I have watched every World Cup with great interest.  If 1986 was about Maradona and the 'Hand of God', 1990 was all about the magic of the dimunitive Salvatore Schillaci.  1994 was all about selling the game to the USA, while 1998 was the year of Zinadine Zidane; France winning the tournament on home turf! The World Cup came to Asia for the first time in 2002.  It was also the first time that two countries were jointly hosting the tournament; Japan and South Korea.  I thought 2006 was a drab affair in Germany, which was won by the Italians.

2010 is the year of Africa, the World Cup Finals being hosted in this continent for the first time.  I missed the first set of matches due to the travel to Bengaluru.  However, I more than made up for it in the second week, by ensuring that I watched rest of all the matches in the Group stages.  I have to say, very few matches in this World Cup have been entertaining.  The pre-quarterfinal match up between England and Germany was a riveting affair.  It was also marred by poor referee decisions.  This and some other such bad decisions by the referees have sparked of a huge clamour of the usage of technology to assist referees in decision making. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am a great supporter of technology and its applications in our day to day lives. I also appreciate the fact that such technological help has added great value to sports like Cricket and Tennis.  However, I, for one would be very careful to go the whole hog with technology for a game like football.  Football is a beautiful game because of the raw speed and pace, because of the amazing skills of the players to control a ball and keep its possession with them and because of the innovative and creative tactics used by teams to cut through the defences of the opponents to score a goal.  I believe uncontrolled intervention of technology can take away the beauty of this minimalist game.  If the usage of technology is controlled in such a way that it does not kill the pace and creativity of the game by frequent interruptions, it must be welcomed.  Remember, some years ago, the game had started to become very boring due to the frequent stoppages because of inappropriate tackles and fouls.  FIFA had then introduced the 'Advantage' rule, to increase the pace of the game and keep it interesting.  The rule was simple.  If a player was fouled, but the possession of the ball still remained with the player's own team, the game was allowed to be continued without stopping it for a free kick for the foul.

As I write this, the tournament is entering its decisive and interesting quarter finals stage.  A couple of big ticket encounters await us.  Argentina will play Germany in the Quarters; can't wait for it.  Oracle Octopus might have predicted a win for Germany, but as one of my colleagues pointed out today, the law of averages might catch up with Mr.OO. I am betting on a Brazil v/s Argentina final, though Spain could also be one of the finalists.  They are playing some beautiful football.  Some of the stars to look out for in these later stages of the tournament are: David Villa, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Fabiano, Diego Forlan, Gyan, Sneijder, Klose, Podolski and maybe some more who might emerge as stars due to their exploits in the final stages.

I am loving it and looking forward to all these stars and their respective teams performing at the highest levels.  Meanwhile, this weekend I cought up with my friends from SHCIL.  Jyoti is here in India for a couple of months.  Hence myself, Parag, Jyoti and Ritesh got together for lunch along with our respective familes.  It was a relaxed affair and a lot of fun.  Plan to organise a bigger event in a month or so before Jyoti goes back to the US.

On Monday, Dad got operated for cataract. Finally, after a couple of postponements due to high sugar levels.  He is keeping well and in good spirits.

Hence, so am I.  Take care.

Day 175 - Hibernating In The Rains

As you know, last week, or most part of it was spent in travel to and from Bengaluru, the marriage ceremony and spending time with family and lots and lots of relatives.

This week is the second week of my holidays and I am in hibernation mode.  However, even in this mode I realised there was a lot happening. 

First of all, I do have to work through a long list of 'to-do's accumulated over the last couple of months.  These included varied things like getting my SIPs updated, repairing the childrens' bicycle, reparing the phones, immersing a couple of paper mash sculptures, etc.  The good news is that I am almost done with these.

Next up was the World Cup football.  Having missed the first round of matches due to all the travelling last week, I decided that I will watch all the matches live till I am on holiday.  I have been partially successful but have witnessed some interesting encounters as well.  The match between Brazil and Ivory Coast was a very bad advertisement for the sport.

On the health front, Priya and I decided to have another go at the GM diet.  Priya was done on the first day.  I am still holding the fort.  Hence, it is a bit of a torture being on holiday and not being able to eat whatever I fancy.  It is even worse when you get the opportunity to meet up with friends and go out for dinner, which is what is being planned in the next couple of days.  I think it will be painful to watch everybody at the table having a go at schezwan rice, with me limited to nibbling salads.  We will see.  I have however, restarted going to the gym seriously.

The other thing which I wanted to do during these two week holidays and have failed to do so horribly is to pick up my reading habit again.  There is a huge pile of  half-read books on my writing table, which I intended to tackle.  However, I have not been successful at it.  Either these books are very boring or my attention span is decreasing by the day.  Dangerous trend.  By the way, I started reading a new book - 'Blackberry - The Inside Story of Research In Motion'.  So far, so good.  I also plan to see a film - Rajneeti tomorrow.  Hope it lives up to the reviews I have read about the film.

The bright spot of this holiday though was Suryanksh's first day to school and the rains.  He has started going to the Bombay Scottish School (Junior KG).  Have been picking him up everyday from school.  The other bright spot was of course the onset of the rains.  It has been cloudy for most parts of the last couple of days and it has been raining heavily sporadically.  The sights and sounds of Mumbai are completely different when it rains.

So, the only evidence of my hibernation are the afternoon naps that I took on a couple of days.  However, inspite of all this activity, there is a sense of restlessness in me.  It always happens when I am on a long leave.  It is like I am being deprived of my daily dosage of some strong addiction.  I suspect, that addiction is of work. 

Yes, am sick of browsing the mails on the Blackberry and am itching to come back to work.

Take care.

Day 170 - Bengaluru Beckons

This past week was spent preparing for the Bengaluru visit and then travelling to the city of gardens.  The purpose of the visit to Bengaluru was to attend a cousin's (Shivakumar) wedding.

It was great fun because we went as a group to Bengaluru after assembling in Mumbai as the base.  My parents, brother and sister-in-law arrived just before we departed to Bengaluru on Saturday.  We were also joined by other cousins and their families.  The flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru was pretty much uneventful, except for the pranks of both my little ones at the airport. When we arrived in Bengaluru, the weather was heavenly.  It was cool and pleasant unlike Mumbai's humidity. It was also raining sporadically.  The drive to the city from the airport was full of greenery.  Incidentally, I met Adwait at the Bengaluru airport and he looked fresh and sporty.  Looks like he is enjoying his time at JPMC.

Now, Bengaluru is a city where I have spent close to 2 years of my life.  It is also special, as Priya doesn't forget to remind me, because we started our married life in this city.  Hence, there are a lot of memories attached to the city.  The fact, however, is that , this city has undergone a massive change in the six years since we left Bengaluru for Chennai.  Some of the roads and places are completely unrecognisable.

All the infrastructure projects have been completed.  Grade separators are functional at Dairy Circle, Silk Board and Jayadeva Hospital!  These were just starting to be built when I last saw these places.  Malls have sprung up everywhere.  New residential complexes which did not exist before have suddenly surfaced.  Bengaluru, being a city of bungalows, looks strange with these new age skyscrapers.

I also like the city because of its meticulous cleanliness.  Generally, I have found the southern cities to be more cleaner compared to the north.  It would, of course, be a joke to even compare Mumbai with Bengaluru or Chennai on this aspect.  The other thing that I liked about Bengaluru, and which is completely absent in Mumbai, is the attention to details in the construction of roadways.  You see sign-boards at each junction / traffic signal, clearly telling you the directions to various places.  The roads, dividers, etc. are properly painted / adorned with reflective material.  You see attention to detail everywhere.

On the flip side, like in all other cities in India, the traffic has exploded.  The number of private cars on the roads must have increased 5 folds in the last 6 years!  And given Bengaluru's narrow roads, this causes endless traffic jams.  Again, not as bad as Mumbai, but still a lot worse than it was 6 years ago.  The other pathetic aspect of the city, and for that matter any other city in the south, is the complete absence of a service culture.  You go to any shop, restaurant, hotels, cinema halls, etc. etc. and the people there will treat you like dirt and as if they are doing you a favour by allowing you to be there.  Drives me nuts all the time, as I myself work in the service industry and expect better standards.

The trip, otherwise, was very enjoyable.  I met up with some relatives after a long time, and some for the first time!  By the time we started for Mumbai on the Wednesday, rains had hit Mumbai too. Various rumours about air traffic being diverted from Mumbai due to bad weather were floating around.  However, we landed in Mumbai with only a 30 minute delay to normal weather.

I am at home for one more week and thus, look forward to the rains in Mumbai. 

Take care.

Day 161 - My Experiment With Dieting

Did you know there is a cookie diet?  Well, I did not, till about five minutes ago when I was researching about diets and dieting plans for this post.

The reason I am writing about diets this week, is that, I was on one such diet for the past few days.  The diet plan, however, was a disaster.  I can, however, very conviniently place the blame for the disaster on the wrong timing of the diet!

Over the past few months my better half has been obsessed about her weight (like most women are, across the globe).  This reached to a point where she actually started gymming and swimming quite regularly.  Anyone who knows Priya would be quite surprised that the lady actually took the pain of working out.  However, as we all know, work-outs is not an instant formula for weight reduction.  According to me, my wife's weight has not changed much over the last couple of years.  She is not over-weight at all.  She just thinks she is over-weight.  If you ask me, she is just perfect. 

After a couple of weeks the situation became a bit desparate when Priya realised that she wasn't getting much traction with weight reduction inspite of the work-outs.  Then she turned her attention towards diet plans.  After much deliberation, it was decided that she would like to do the GM diet.  Of course, I had to give her company, as doing a diet alone would be quite painful.

So, off we were on our first diet experiment!  The GM diet, or the vegetarian version of it:

Rule: Day 1 :  Only fruits to be consumed, except bananas.

Result: Success

Rule: Day 2: A boiled potato in the morning.  Only vegetables for the rest of the day.

Result: Bad timing.  This is where we hit the first obstacle.  Everything was as planned till evening.  However, this was our wedding anniversary!  How can we celebrate such an occasion eating raw vegetables?  So I lured Priya into a pizza outlet.  I ended up having a pizza.  Priya still had only salads and did not succumb to the temptations of an 8 incher.  She was really serious about this!

Rule: Day 3: A mixture of fruits and vegetables.  No bananas.  No potatoes.

Result: Inspite of the disaster the previous evening Priya decided that I should continue to give her company.  Everything was fine till evening.  In the evening, another disaster.  Being a Saturday, we embarked on a shopping trip to a well known mall.  There, the golden arches beckoned.  This time even my better half could not resist the temptation!

Rule: Day 4:  Only bananas and milk today.

Result: Inspite of the double disaster, my wife wanted to push on with the diet plan and marched me off early in the morning to buy a huge load of bananas and milk.  We lasted on bananas and milk till afternoon.  After that all hell broke loose. 

End of the diet plan.  And my first experiment with diets. All due to bad timing. 

Not to worry, though.  Priya has pledged that this needs to be redone.  This time, based on the learnings from the first attempt, the seven days of the diet plan will be planned in such a way that there are no important occasions during that period!  See, it is all about timing.

Wish Priya (us) luck the next time around.  Take care.

Day 154 - Famiraderie

The last week, or the last days of last week, were spent with family.  In fact for most part of this month, I have been seeing a lot of my family. 

To start with, my parents came to stay with me for a couple of days.  We celebrated my mom's birthday on the day they arrived.  The next 2 days were full of meeting a lot of other family members based in Mumbai.  Uncles, aunts and cousins!  My mother-in-law also came to visit at the same time.  It was like we were having an impromptu family conclave.

As soon as my parents left for Ahmedabad, followed by my mother-in-law going back to Pune, my cousin from Chennai announced that she needs a break and hence she and the kids are coming over to Mumbai!  After getting Rampyaari back from the workshop I picked my cousin up on Saturday evening.  Sunday was spent visiting other cousins in the city and shopping.  I took an off on Monday to be able to take the kids out to Esselworld!  It was a long drive, but it was worth it.  Everyone had a great time and of course, spinning heads.

The common thread around all of these events is that I felt great to be around family.  This is sometimes the case with very good friends as well.  You just love these people being around you.  Family and friends.  I wonder why?  Is blood really thicker than water?  But that doesn't apply to friends, right?  Could there be a scientific reason behind the joy that one experiences from being with family and friends?  Is there a special happiness hormone secreted in our bodies when we are with close friends and family members?  Maybe.  One of the reasons could be the sense of security that one experiences while being with people close / related to us. We can just be ourselves, without pretending to be anything. That is probably the cause of the joy.

By the way, my brother was in town for a day.  I however, could not meet him, due to our respective packed schedules.  And I felt really bad about it.

My parents will be back next week, as will be a couple of cousins and uncles.  We shall all travel together to Bengaluru to my cousin's wedding.  This being one of the last weddings of my generation, I am sure a lot of people in the family would be keen to attend.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

Looking forward to some more moments of joy and happiness.  The joy of togetherness. 

Take care.

Day 146 - Building The Team!

I write this, while I recover from the exertions of the previous day.  The previous day, was a very enjoyable day spent with my team at an offsite doing a lot of team building activities.

The entire last week was spent chasing various people to get things in place for Saturday, including budget approvals for the do.  Finally we were ready for Saturday; Deven and Sagar doing a great job!

I was picked up in the morning by Roshan, as I did not have my car.  Poor Rampyaari, is in the workshop after I did not notice a pillar in the office parking lot and backed up into it, leaving a huge eye sore on the driver's door!  The seven'o clock start did not deter the team to be there on time to make the trip to Karnala, some of them not having gone back home the previous night as they were doing the US / late EMEA shifts.  I was impressed!

We started the game of Antakshari as soon as the bus started and were singing till we reached the destination, ably led by Renita, Vishakha, Bhaskar and other enthusiasts.  As soon as we reached the resort, I realised why the resort was named as Panaromic Resorts.  It afforded a panaromic view of the famous 'Thumb-Point'!  After quickly freshening up and having breakfast no. 2 (the first one being in the bus itself!) consisting of poha and crispy medu vadas, all of us trudged to the conference room for the serious business of the townhall.  I spoke about the priorities for the year for the team for about 40 minutes.  I hope the team appreciated the effort as well as the key messages in my talk. 

One of the reasons of this exercise was to get everyone within the team to know eachother.  I was shocked to find out over the period of the last few months that even within this team of 70, people did not necessarily know eachother; some did not even know the names of some of their own colleagues.  After my talk, we did an interesting exercise of everyone introducing a colleague of theirs to the entire audience.  This was well recieved.  The idea was to promote the motto of 'One Team, No Boundaries!' and gradually ingrain it in the behaviours of the team.

After lunch, myself, Deven, Arshan and Sagar conducted a couple of team building exercises which had key takeways for the team.  I did see the dawn of realisation in some of the eyes when doing the takeaways session.  After these 'work-play' sessions, the everyone was free to spend their time as they wanted to for the rest of the evening before we returned from the resort.  Water slides and the pool beckoned some; some fell for their love of under-arm cricket.

Having exhausted themselves by doing these physical activities for a couple of hours, everybody then began to gather around the bar counter for a drink.  The DJ was playing load music by now as well, probably happy at being of use for only the second time during the day!  Gradually the entire team gathered at the place and had a blast for an hour and half dancing to popular Hindi, Punjabi and English songs.  I think there was a Tamil song as well in between; who can resist 'Appudi Podu Podu....'!  The team was enjoying the dancing and drinking so much, that we kept on extending the last song for the day for about half an hour.  Finally, I had close the day, regretfully so. 

Tired and exhausted, everyone hopped on to the bus to make the journey back home; half of them wishing that the day could go on and on; only of the do had been an overnight one, etc, etc.  The only sad part of the day was at the end when a colleague, a teetotaller, had had too much to drink, of course, at the insistence of yours truly and others.  The sleep on the way back in the bus, however, did wonders for him and he was fit and fine by the time the bus reached Powai.  He ended up driving his car home, dropping atleast 3 people on his way!

What a day!  The greatest moments for me were when I saw people who had never spoken to eachother starting to speak to eachother.  By the end of the day, I could see the happy camaraderie amongst the people who hitherto had not known eachother. 

A good start to building a great team.  A team that can fight.  A team that can win.

One WINNING Team; No Boundaries.  Take care.

Day 140 - A Heartless City

Remember the famous Johny Walker song of yesteryears!?

....Kahin building, kahin traame, kahin motor, kahin mill

Milta hai yahan sab kuchh, ik milta nahin dil

Insaan ka nahin, kahin naam-o-nishaan

Zara hat ke zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay (Mumbai) meri jaan

Aye dil hai.....

How apt!  And this was written so many years ago!  Off late, I have been thinking that Mumbai has changed and the change has only been for the worse.  Mumbai no longer has that old world charm.  Neither does it have a heart anymore.  I say this having seen Mumbai for the last six months, and after a gap of about seven years.  The biggest change that I do see in Mumbai is in the people.  Even seven years ago, I thought the population of Mumbai was a very happy community, opening their arms wide to welcome outsiders, being very accomodating and helpful to others even when living by the barest minimum.  There was a sense of camaraderie in the entire population.

Unfortunately, it is no longer the case.  Some might say, 'This is not news.  Johny Walker already told us so years ago'!  But to me, this is definitely significant, because it has come as a rude shock to me that this is no longer the old Mumbai, that I knew. 

I have been observing how people in Mumbai react in different circumstances over the past few months.  And the biggest thing that strikes me is that 'I' and 'Me' are the most important beings for the people of Mumbai these days.  In the streets, it is a mad rush, with the single objective of being the first and the fastest.  Forget lane discipline, everyone tries to squeeze into the smallest of space available on the roads, often resorting to 'elbowing out' the others.  Nobody stops for anybody else.  Patience is not a word which is very popular on the streets in Mumbai.

Elsewhere, people come to blows at the slightest of provocations, or even the lack of it.  And these behavioural traits seem to be consistent across all types of people and all sections of the society.  It is amazing that the tolerance levels of an entire city has collectively diminished.  Friends no longer just meet.  It takes months to plan a meeting with good friends!  The spirit of Mumbai is often lauded.  I am very sorry to say, there is no such thing in the social fabric of Mumbai today.

How and why has this happened?  It could be a combination of many factors.  First and foremost, the population growth and the inability of the city's infrastructure to cope with it.  This puts so much pressure on an individual to just get by his / her day to day activities, resulting in him / her being on the edge, always.  Second, and probably a offshoot of the population growth, is the competition.  And couple that with limited opportunities.  Naturally, 'I', 'Me' and 'Myself' becomes the most important being.  Third, the world has become a small place, resulting in making us more cruel and heartless.  As we interact more with the western world, the 'Self' keeps becoming the most important thing.  Even if just to copy the westerners.  Everything is wanted instantly.  Everything is needed instantly.  There is no time to wait.

Last, but by no means the least, is the repeated assaults on Mumbai's psyche by riots and terrorist attacks.  These have resulted in a general sense of mistrust that people have for each other.  Everyone is looked at with suspicion.

People in Mumbai live on the edge, perenially.  I think this city and its metamorphosis is a great case study for sociologists.  But I do crave for the Mumbai of the past, which had an old world charm around it.

Take care.

Day 133 - A Boring World Cup

Do you know that the T20 World Cup is on?  If yes, do you even care?  Is too much cricket killing the game?  Why do I get a strange feeling that the way the game is run today by administrators worldwide is eerily similar to the famous story of the goose which laid a golden egg every day?

The current T20 World Cup is a boring affair.  There are many reasons for it:

• It has been scheduled immediately after the IPL extravaganza, which this year was even more hyped due to the off-field goings on.  It is quite difficult to root for the players playing for different countries, when a few weeks back they were all in the same team.  I think there should have been a cooling off period after the IPL.  Moreover, we just had two months of non-stop cricket culminating in the Chennai Super Kings winning the IPL.  Some more cricket?  Naaah.  The players are tired; so are the spectators.
• The World Cup is being held in the West Indies.  Now, I am aware that in the past the West Indies were a strong force in cricket.  However, I am also aware that in the last few years the carribeans have tended to follow other sports more like football and basketball and cricket has been on the decline.  The rains are another problem here.  The West Indies gets unseasonal rains all the time.  Hence, many matches are getting affected.  Resorting to the Duckworth Lewis rule repeatedly to decide the fate of a match is the ultimate way to kill the game.  Moreover, the timings for the matches are weird late night ones.  I know that they have treid to schedule the matches early in the morning to catch the Indian TV audience after work.  However that works only for the first match of the day.  If it is a double header, I would be interested in knowing the TRPs for the second match late in the night.
• Another reason for the World Cup to seem boring is the performance of the Indian team.  Cricket fatigue is probably taking its toll on the players.  So, is the inability to adjust to the wickets in the Carribean.  It is a selfish reason, but isn't that natural? World Cups are played on the premise of national loyalties.

I am intentionally not mentioning the other oft-spoken reason for the Indian team not doing well in the World Cup.  Money.  There isn't enough in the World Cup compared to the IPL.  But I think, money cannot be a bigger consideration to joy and pride of representing your country.  But then, I might be wrong.

Personally the last week was interesting for me.  Friday and Saturday were especially enjoyable.  Friday due to the news that Suryanksh got the admission in Bombay Scottish School!  Couldn't wait to get back home to kick off the celebrations (pizza party at Papa John's).  However it took me 60 minutes to cover the 3.5 kms from office to home, because of the insane traffic at peak hours in Mumbai.  Saturday was good as well.  The townhall was well conducted and I am told that my presentation and speech was also well recieved.  Had a good time dancing with the team after the presentations, though a lot my bones did complain the next day morning.

I expect this week to be busy as well.  Have a few hurdles to cross this week.  If I get through them without any major blowups, I will be a relieved man by the end of the week.

More about that, next week.  Take care.

Day 124 - Weekend Mania

A weekend comprises the two traditionally non-working days in a seven-day week.  This is the Wikipedia definition for the term 'weekend'.

Wondering why is this the subject of my post today?  Simple....the term is all over the place.  Just look at your Facebook news feed and there is a torrent of 'sigh of reliefs' caused by the onset of the weekend!  Go to any workplace on a Friday and the atmosphere is so very lively caused just by the anticipation of the upcoming weekend!  Everyone is found wishing eachother a good weekend!  There are weekend getaway holiday packages being sold by almost all the travel portals and operators.  Long weekends (when one or more additional adjacent day to the weekend is also a holiday) are cause for festive cheer and sometimes delirious celebrations! 'TGIF' (Thank God It's Friday) is a common and well known phrase; even a brand representing the idea of taking time off and relaxing.  Sunday evening is dreaded the most as Monday morning lurks close by.  I find this a very strange (and interesting!) phenomenon.  I call it the 'Weekend Mania'. 

Even about 8 - 10 years ago, this phenomenon was unheard of.  I do not recall looking forward to the weekend during the early years of my work life.  Nor do I recall anybody else lamenting that the weekend was too far away!  In fact I used to hate most of the weekends because I would not have anything to do.  Of course, I did travel a bit during the weekend, went on treks and caught up with friends and family.  But I missed being at the workplace.

So what has changed?  I am no sociologist, but I believe a few questions would need answers when we dwell on what might have changed.  Are we are driving ourselves too hard?  Is it the case that competition at all levels is ensuring that everyone puts in their best efforts all the time?  There is no let up.  The pressure is just too much.  Either you slog and go up or you get left behind.  But then, I remember, this was always the case.  Is it that the younger generations have been pampered by chunky starting salaries at the start of their careers, causing them to think about concepts like 'work life balance' (the phrase deserves a whole post for itself) rather than worrying about slogging and earning their way up?

Another angle to this is that 'weekend' is a foreign term to India, imported into the corporate lives of Indians gradually over the last decade, as Indians started engaging with the western world more and more, due to the economy opening up.  'It is almost weekend' has become a very well-used phrase for bonding across boundaries, suggesting that 'I am as tired as you'.  A few years ago, it was normal to go to work on a Saturday, for some a half day, but still a work day.  Nowadays, the idea of working on a Saturday is frowned upon; do not even suggest a working Sunday.

The jury is still out on whether this is a healthy trend or otherwise.  The weekend is generally meant to be spent with friends and family and doing things which are important to you.  The assumption is that it is a contributor to improving the quality of our personal lives.  It is time meant to be spent bonding with those who are special to us.  I wonder if that is really the case, looking at the increasing divorce rates, suicide cases, fractured families and dysfunctional relationships.

Oops...the weekend is almost over.  Need to prepare for tomorrow and wait in anticipation for the next weekend.

Take care.