Life and other weird things: December 2004

Friday, December 31, 2004

Infosys

Good Lord ! Is this what it's like at Infosys ?
Man, it's just been a week since I joined and already I am being asked to work on the weekend.
The fact that it's the New Year apparently has the only effect that I am very generously not being called on Saturday.

Life is, so to say, frenetic here. I had heard that when projects pick up here, it's work non-stop. I can see that people weren't exaggerating.

And the best part is - no one seems to be complaining. I find that the most striking difference between my previous company and this one. Evryone seems to take pride in belonging here. The subtle sense of achievement is observable in everyone from the gardeners upwards.

Not in a very goos mood either - considering the Tsunami. 100000 people and counting.
Thats somewhat more than the number of people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together, from what I remember.

Let's see what the New Year brings.

4:09 AM | Permalink |

Monday, December 20, 2004

So Many Feelings - So Few Words

I'm chilling out at home in Goa, with nothing but time on my hands. This is a fine time to fallback and think about some great Hollywood movie moments.
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1. Gift of a thistle - Braveheart

One of my all time favorite movie moments is right at the start of Braveheart. It's where the boy William Wallace is at his father's funeral, and Murron, for want of any other way to show her solidarity, gives him a thistle flower.
The moment is so full of innocence and poignancy that it never fails to move me to tears.
Both William and Murron have had anything but a 'normal' childhood, even by the standards of their troubled times. Yet, at this tragic moment, the way the film shows, without a single word, al the complex feelings one goes through at a time like this, is simply extraordinary.
The moment is made all the more haunting by the haunting music of bagpipes in the background.
Definitely one of my top 10 movie moments.

2. Whether to go for Waingrow.....or not to ? - Heat

Watching this scene for the hundredth time still makes me wonder how much of a genius Robert De Niro is.
Here, Neil Macauley is safe. He has beaten everybody. He has made it against the odds and is on his way out of the country to freedom. Still during this scene in the car, along with his woman Eidie, one can almost read his thoughts, on whether to make that last, but completely unnecessary move, to complete his score with the guy who destroyed his crew. He can afford to forget about Waingrow, but will he ? You can see it playing in his head - 'Can I do it ?.....Should I pass ? Can I get away ? Ahh...to hell with everything ! I'll do it !''
That fatal moment of misjudgment is so finely brought to the screen that the collective audience instinctively goes "Oh...No! Don't ! Don't...!". But he's gone. He has made that turn, which will cost him his life.
A classic example of a silent scene speaking a thousand - no, a million - words.

3. Michael and the Don - The Godfather

I'm taking about the sequence where the old Don, and Michael sit on the lawn talking about their lives. The Don reminiscing about the plans he had for his family. The classic acting of Brando takes one's breath away just by it's raw unaffectedness.
The old Don talks and behaves exactly like an old man should, repeating thoughts and forgetting what he just said. The sheer vulnerability of the man is right there on the screen. But behind the weak physique, we can sense a mind ceaselessly at work. Just as strong as it always was.
This is not actually a scene without words, but it's one where the dialogues are unimportant. It's the acting. The sheer force of the personality of the Godfather comes tearing at me each time I see it.

4. Charlie and Terry in the car - On the Waterfront

This has to be one of the best. It's Brando again. And man, is Terry different from the Godfather character. Poles apart. Terry has been a loser. For once in his life, he's doing something of value, something his conscience tells him is the right thing to do. An his own brother comes down to dissuade, even threaten him. Things can't get any lower or more desperate for him.
Reminded of his prizefighting career that was brought to an ungainly end by the mob his brother is a part of, his pleading voice and expression as he screams "You don't understand ! I could have had class ! I could have been somebody ! " is a movie moment that refuses to go away.

5. Mary's death - The Godfather III

A truly poignant moment when Michael sees his world slip away with Mary, in front of him. She takes the bullet meant for him and dies at his feet. I have watched the scene - showing Michael, overcome with shock and grief, mouth open but voiceless at his helplessness - many times, and feel that it's one of those moments beyond words. No amount of writing can bring out the feeling of those seconds, where his whole life flashes before Michael. I savor it every time.

6. Ron's homecoming - Born on the fourth of July

This one is memorable just for the gamut of feelings it shows at one shot.
Ron is back from Vietnam, but in a state no one would like to think about. He is a paraplegic for life - a prisoner in his wheelchair. All his neighbors come out and tell him how great he's looking. It's plain to Ron, the neighbours, his family, and us viewers that no one means what they are saying. They are trying to believe it as much as us. The part where Ron has a few seconds alone with his father is simply amazing. I wonder how Oliver Stone gave such beauty to this tragic moment on screen.

7. Forrest Gump meets his son for the first time - Forest Gump

Jenny has just told Forrest that the boy he sees in front of him is none other than his son. Touchingly, the first thought that comes to him is "Is he smart ? Or is he......" The sheer innocence of the question is heart wrenching. One has to watch it to feel it.

8. Gilbert's house burns down - What's eating Gilbert Grape

This one is truly silent. Gilbert's seriously obese mother has just died. Not one of her children show any signs of grief. They achingly remember her tough but determined life. And they decide that she should not be separated from the house she loved. The rest, as the cliche goes, is cinematic history.

9. Butch and Sundance's showdown in Bolivia - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

This scene, with it's brilliant tragicomic feel, is part of a must watch film. The audience knows that death lies outside, while Butch and Sundance sit trapped within, completely misunderstanding the danger they face outside. A final question from Butch asking "You didn't see the force outside , did ya ?" completes the gripping scene.

10. The girl in the red dress - Schindler's list

One of the most haunting scenes - in my book. A girl, with no dialogues drifts through the ghetto and the death camps, seemingly evading death. When the observant viewer finally glimpses her red dress (in the otherwise black and white film ) in a bunch of exhumed corpses, it tugs at those heartstrings like nothing else can.

4:22 AM | Permalink |

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Goa - Tintin - Michael Mann

So, finally here I am , back in Goa, experiencing the blissful state of unemployment.
Coming to think of it, this is the first time I have ever been unemployed. I joined the teaching staff of my college days after finishing my engineering exams, and went on to job after job after that.

Now I got 10 days on my hands, chilling out in Goa, and waiting to get back to what promises to be a more interesting job than what I was doing so far.
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Reading a book 'TINTIN - The complete companion'. What would the world have been without Herge and Tintin, I sometimes wonder.
Each time I read 'The Calculus Affair', it feels like I am watching a movie. The cinematic charecterestic of Tintin comincs, especially the masterpieces - The Calculus Affair', 'Tintin in Tibet' and 'The Catsfiore Emerald' - is simply beyond belief.

There is simply no other comic more replete with authenticity than Tintin adventures.
I ahve been reading these since I was maybe 3 years old, and still I find something new in then each time I re-read them.
Recently I got my hands on the unfinished 'Tintin and Alph' Art'. It is tantalizingly close to a complete adventure, and it's painful to think how close it came to revealing the true identity of Enddadine Akass.
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Watched 'Heat', 'The Insider', 'The Last of the Mohicans' and 'Collteral' yesterday.
What can I say ?

Michael Mann - looking forward to your next film is reason enough to live.

8:26 PM | Permalink |

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Last Day At Cognizant

Today I am wrapping up with Cognizant Technology Solutions.

The last year with CTS has left me quite dissolusioned with the way big corporations work.
I can only hope that my next place of work, Infosys, is something better.

Out here, the individual worker matters less than dirt. The HR head, lets call him GG, has the personality of a doorknob. I mean, I got the feeling he wouldn't bat an eyelid if an employee fell dead beside him.

Still, the most colorful character I met was my Manager. I guess of all the Pointy Haired Bosses you get, this guy is top brass. A sample of his imbecility :

'I appetite your hard work.' (Whatever that means.)

So today I leave for Goa. Looking forward to 10 days of uninterrupted sunshine and happiness, away from this ratrace.

There is a God.

9:10 PM | Permalink |

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Miscellany

Ever heard of a town called 'Fucking' ? There's a town by that name in Austria, near Salzburg.
Check out http://www.austria.info.at/english/cities_of_austria/fucking/ .
Salzburg is, by the way, the place where the all time great song 'Do-re-mi' from 'The Sound of Music' was shot. Could this have been an imaginary conversation between Bob Wise and a crew member ?
BW : 'Where have you been ? It's late for the shoot.'
CM : 'Just been to Fucking.'
BW : 'Why you @#$%^& ! You think you are paid for that.'
CM : 'Hey B, why you getting so worked up , I just wanted a pussy'.
BW : 'Get out. You are fired.'
CM : ****GROWL*****
Well. Never Mind........

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I'm getting a little tired of people who don't know the difference between a reference and a pointer. Hell man, we are supposed to have experience programming in C++. And still we have dudes screwing around with these conceptual mistakes.

A reference (&) is like a constant pointer that is automatically
dereferenced.A reference can NEVER be NULL. it has to be initialised to SOME valid value.

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11:55 PM | Permalink |

Can we ever be happy ?

When will I ever be happy with what I have ?

I already have a reasonably decent and promising job offer, but for some insane reason I have lined up for an interview tommorow. It's crazy. And I am needlessly taking all the tension that goes before an interview.

Two books of C++ have to undergo some serious scanning by yours truly tonight before I eventually am mentally cool enough to hit the sack.

Scott Myers Zindabad ! Bruce Eckel Amar Rahen!

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5:06 AM | Permalink |

Monday, December 06, 2004

Pune Explored

The weekend was eventful.

Explored pretty much a whole lot of Pune. Actually was feeling ashamed of the fact that I'd been staying in Bangalore and Goa for 16 and 7 years respectively, I had seen literally nothing of the places which had much historical value. Or even if I had seen it - I had never bothered to try and know anything about it.

Thanks to a great book by a lady called Samita Gupta, I came to read about 50 places to see in Pune, which are not spectacular in the conventional sense of the word, but have some quiet history hidden in them.

My buddy Pareekshit and I went around Pune on my Activa and had a ball of a time exploring the unknown alleys of the city.

One of the most intriguing finds of the trip was the Zero Stone in Pune. I'll put up a photo of that soon. Around the world , zero stones are tourist attractions and are centres of the city. For example - the zero stone in London is at the well known Trafalgar Square. The one in Pune is however - A Hawker's Seat. Sad.

We covered about 40 places - including the little known Tambat Ali and Burud Ali in the heart of the old city, which house the dying cottage industries of Copper vessel making and Bamboo handicrafts.

We completed about 40 minutes of shooting and are planning to approach the representatives of Discovery channel for an episode on Pune.

In case anyone's thinking - that last bit is a joke.

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Started reading 'Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel' by you-know-who.
Rollickingly funny but not a showstopper like the Dilbert Principle or The Joy of Work.
The best line in the book I've read so far -
'The word analysis is a conjunction of the word anal and the greek root ysis - which means 'to take out of'.

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Anyone reading about C++ - DO NOT MISS 'More Effective C++' by Scott Myers.

1:34 AM | Permalink |

Thursday, December 02, 2004

College was Bunk - Plans to explore Pune

Was thinking last night about my the four years of 'engineering' course.

Just thinking about how much of a waste it was scares me.

I mean - I know I'm not the type who could have landed up in an IIT or something - but the level of horse-shit I was taught in College is just mind boggling.

Not a single one of the lecturers could bring out that level of curiosity and desire to learn that is so nessecary for a good academic life. Fortunately I have seen good teachers to know this. My school in Bangalore had some of them.

My physics and chemistry teachers , Mrs.Warrier and Mrs.Thomas were the best. I hope I can arouse an interest in studies into my children (I hope to have some someday !) as they did in me.

College was a different story altogether.

Potentially thrilling and hugely interesting subjects like Discreet Maths, Algorithm Analysis, C++, and Data Structures were put to the guillotine by pretentious teachers, whose attitudes could put Mussolini to shame.

After joining Cognizant and meeting with people who have studied in better colleges, I have started to get an aninsight into how little I know about things I should be having even a resonable degree of knowledge about.

How I wish my teachers had recommended books written by the likes of Bruce Eckel, Scott Myers, and Alan Weiss while I was still in college. How I wish I was more aware and interested in studies then. I have bought them now and am trying to catch up. I have the time, but patience runs thin. How I wish I had understood the importance of studying these subjects rather than memorise the chapters like a damn parrot.

I hope it's not too late to change all of that. I hope and pray it's not.

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I bought a book by a lady named Samita Gupta yesterday. It gives a small insight into 50 places of historical importance in Pune. I'm going to work on it ASAP.

I'm going to convince my buddy Pareekshit to set off with me this weekend to cover the City and Navi Peth areas of the city, all the way recording our adventures on his nifty SOny Handycam.

Should be exciting. I'll post more on that when things actually roll.

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7:59 PM | Permalink |

Mein Erster Pfosten

Decided to start my blog today. Why today ? Well, because there are 154 days left for my next birthday, that's why !

I have another 13 days left to work in my current organization.....Cognizant Technology Solutions. I'll be headed back home for a 10 day vacation on the 15th December, after which I'll be joining my new workplace - Infosys Technologies on the 27th of this month. The new year promises to be a different !

The last one and a quarter years in the corporate world has been quite a lesson.
Lesson learnt - Scott Adams is a GENIUS.

The software corporate world IS DILBERT.
The bosses are real shitheads, the HR people really do have the mannerisms of Catbert, and yes - after visiting the Finance and Accounting department I am convinced that Hell can't be too much different.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about - I have to say your life on earth has been wasted. Pick up 'The Dilbert Principle' and don't stop till you finish (I doubt if you will be able to, anyways).

All I can say is that - I just hope that Infossys - with it's tag of 'Most Respected Indian Company' - is a tad better. I'm hopeful. That's right. Because things can't get much worse.

Anyways on a better note - read 'The Prince' by Niccolo Michiavelli yesterday. Mind blowing.
After I finished that I picked up 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu and finished it by the night. I wonder what minds these people had - who could visualise scenarios we face today centuries in advance and offer solutions for it. It has been seen that all the wars in the world that have ended in disasters - like the Vietnam and Korean wars(to name two) expressly violated the doctrines of Sun Tzu.

I get the same sort of tingling feeling when I read Tagore in Bengali, or Shakespeare. How can a person express views so clearly ? How can one find the exact permutation of words to give shape to something in the mind ? That's what seperates the rest of us from these guys I guess.

Recently I watched this movie - Gangs of New York. I know. I know. It's ancient by now. By somehow I can't help but admire Martin Scorsese's movies. He can bring out the raw animal in a person like no other director.

Books and movies have been my friends since as long as I can remember. They manage to get me out of bad moods, tough times, damp days - you name it.
Right now - I'm in a tough spot. No pay for two months. But hell - there's my books and movies. No problemo. Bring 'em on - in the words of the moron war-monger in charge of a big country.

For those of you reading this who have got tired of mine ramblings - all I can say is - this is just the start. There's more to come.

1:52 AM | Permalink |

Life and other weird things

Life rocks around you....so find time to chill....watch movies......read books......