Life and other weird things

Ok. Found time at last to recap and fill in on the missing days.

Have joined Wipro Technologies in Pune in their fledgling BMC Patrol practice. And feeling good about it.

Right. About UBS. The trip to Switzerland was going fine, when there was a whole hitch up which involved disbanding the team I was part of. The higher management decided that the work earmarked for my team would not be offshored to India, as a result of which the five of us in the Patrol Team there started raising the page rank of sites lke Nauri and Monster. Luckily enough, I managed to get into Wipro in a BMC practice itself, which became a logical extension of the knowledge aquired in Switzerland.

Which brought me back to Pune. In fact right next to the Cognizant campus, which is where I started off (effectively) on the IT caravan.

Coming from Hyderabad to Pune is a culture shock in itself. Unlike other culture shocks, this one needs some good shock absorbers. I'm talking about the roads here. In a word - nightmarish. And to think the Mayor of Pune actually thinks that thins are just fine and dandy - in a press statement by her a few days back.

So here I am, learning up a lot about BMC technologies - actually a whole post on that should come up soon - and enjoying the scenic beauty of Pune. Again.

Till next time.

It's been an awful long time since I blogged.

I have to write about all that's happened in the time since I penned anything last and now, but right now, I read something that made me sit up and nearly puke in disgust.

This is the article from Rediff which I happened to bump into.

National song Vande Mataram is 'against Islamic beliefs' and asking Muslims to sing it would amount to 'suppression' of the community, Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari said on Sunday.

Addressing a press meet in Allahabad, Bukhari, who is also patron of the United Democratic Front, said according to the tenets of Islam, one could love one's country and even lay down one's life for it if the circumstances so demand.

"But when it comes to worship only Allah is given that honour. A Muslim cannot worship his or her parents, motherland and even the Prophet though they are held in high esteem," he said, reacting to a Central directive to states for recitation of Vande Mataram in educational institutions during a celebration on September 7 to mark the national song's centenary.

"Ever since independence, all governments at the Centre and in the states have been suppressing Muslims. This proposal is yet another example. If somebody sings Vande Mataram voluntarily, I have no objections. But if people are forced to do so, it will meet with resistance," Bukhari said.

Hmmm....

Just some more references to Syed Bukhari :

August 20th 2006
October 4, 2003
October 13, 2001

I am sure there are many more places where one can find the wise utterances of this vague individual. How he is allowed to get away with such plainly inflammatory and nonsensical tripe is anyone's guess. One phrase out of Narendra Modi's lips with the word 'Muslim' in it and all the newspapers in the country have a headline for the next day. I would love to see tomorrow which page of the TOI, or any other paper for that matter, shows the news about the Imam's latest tirade.

Anyways, I guess the Imam can consider himself lucky. In no other country than India can a person in such a position of responsibility get away with such utter rubbish spoken in public.

In the meantime, all I can do is dream about giving the man a kick up his sacred backside.