IT is an industry that requires continuous learning! Who said so?
You'll have to be technically good to climb the ladder faster! Who said so?
Are managers still learning? Were your managers technically good? Well, I got to find out the answers for all these questions in the hardest way possible..
What will happen if a manager decides to learn technically and picks you up to teach, coz you do a great job!
Well, on the surface, that looks like a compliment - a token of appreciation..
When a manager, who takes home 10 times your gross, actually wants to learn from you, you are elated.. well, that's only THE beginning!
I guess the above statements, if not the title, gave the required build up to explain how hard it is to be a teacher to a manager...
If the manager, was the baby, I play the role of the kidnappers, yeah plural!...had to suffer as much as the three put together did..
It all started as a simple request from my humble ex-manager - 'I might need your help in learning this',
I was too obliging, told a 'sure' right away..and added it with 'call me over whenever you need help' and later realized 'HELP' is a relative term!
For me, 'help' was answering his questions, and assisting him if the study material was not explanatory enough..
but for my manager, 'HELP' was literally baby-sitting...sitting and flipping the pages of his study material and telling him where to find things, how to drag and drop, how to right-click...ugh!
Does this remind you of your 1st std. teacher who taught you computers?! atleast, I felt like that!
If teaching was this difficult, escaping a day's class, is a nightmare...Everyday, my 1 hour drive to office, is spent scheming of ways to escape the class..with Radio Mirchi for BGM
I would come up with many reasons like, onsite calls, quick fix, emergency work request and escape the class for a day... the next day will be hell...The conversation would be:
'I had to wait for 1 hr yesterday and you didn't turn up to teach'..
'But, last minute request',
'Yeah, but you cold have told me earlier'
(in my head:'how can I anticipate a last minute request dumbo!')'yeah..am sorry'
'I wanted to finish this, but was browsing..I would have atleast gone home'
(in my head:'browsing? what do you do otherwise?!)'May be, you can go through the sessions and collect your questions'
'But, I waste time hunting for things, itz easier if you are around'
(in my head:'I am not you seceretary dumbo!')'But, the ppt is very good, self-explanatory'
'Can you spend 1 hour today?'
'!!!!!!!!' :-((((
Ironically, this ex-manager, few months back, had given a piece of advice for my colleague, who complained about his rating.
and it goes like this: 'You are out of college and should adapt to self-paced learning' at work, nobody is going to spoon-feed'
!!!!!!!
My daily prayers: oh God, Please don't make me dumb as I go up the ladder.. even if I am, let my dumbness not show, even if it shows, let it not affect others..
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Treasure Trove
Pondicherry…
Better known to the world for Auroville, beach resorts, French colony and to the lesser mortals for tax-free alcohol... This little union territory turned state unfolded as a treasure-trove when I visited the place last weekend. The visit wouldn’t have been such an eye-opener had I not gone through the hassle of furnishing a house with very little funds. Especially, when you want an aesthetic look, with a lot of wood, it costs you a fortune..
The designer in me had loads and loads of ideas, but very little funds…Part of this unaffordable dream was wooden pillars, a wooden swing, and a diwan. We needed them for our living room, to recline and laze out aesthetically …After checking out the stores in the metros, we decided, living rooms do not need them after all…We can still live there and laze out in our old furniture.
Some divine soul had told dad that they sold used furniture in Pondicherry… Furniture, used by the French/Dutch of Pondy, Chettiars of Karaikudi, Mughal descendants of Karaikal, Zamindars of a better world and many other ancestors… If new furniture is very expensive, used furniture should still be expensive, but, we decided to give it a try.
Lo! Behold! (guess that is the expression for amazement in antique English) ...Suddenly, Pondicherry was a whole new(Should I say ‘old’?) world... Furniture world…Antiques....Elaborately designed, intricately carved, remarkably strong furniture…Lying there with all its serenity attained through age…They have outlived mankind and have witnessed the high and low of life – prosperity and poverty, royalty and rubble.. Pillars that once adorned mansions, cots that lulled the rich, chests brimming with silk and gems, now dismantled and at the mercy of the trader for its life and lusture.
Getting back to reality, all this, for a very affordable price. We bought a lorry load of furniture which was quite a variety – pillars, a swing, a chest, a diwan – all this for INR 28,000!! All’s well so far…But how can human mind accept satisfaction this easily?! DOUBT! and DISTRUST! crept into our minds.. If it is this less expensive, can it be genuine?
I looked into WWW for satinwood...coz we hadn’t heard about it before, it says, this is a rare durable wood...and there is an American website selling antique pillars which is around $4500 per piece!! If the pillar we bought has xylem relations with what is flashed in this website, it triggered a serious thought in me…
Like the colonial days, we are still being looted…. We are being looted not only by the East India company, but by companies from East, West, North and South now! The riches of India, is being bought for a few thousands from our struggling small scale traders, and is being sold for outrageous rates abroad…
So, if you are thinking of buying furniture, take a look at the shops in metro, then go to Pondicherry....and look at the tiny shops there.... you might not only end up as a happy customer but would really help in retaining wealth and prosperity in India…It might not be practically possible to help the traders get more money, but you can stop the riches of India from being exported…
Better known to the world for Auroville, beach resorts, French colony and to the lesser mortals for tax-free alcohol... This little union territory turned state unfolded as a treasure-trove when I visited the place last weekend. The visit wouldn’t have been such an eye-opener had I not gone through the hassle of furnishing a house with very little funds. Especially, when you want an aesthetic look, with a lot of wood, it costs you a fortune..
The designer in me had loads and loads of ideas, but very little funds…Part of this unaffordable dream was wooden pillars, a wooden swing, and a diwan. We needed them for our living room, to recline and laze out aesthetically …After checking out the stores in the metros, we decided, living rooms do not need them after all…We can still live there and laze out in our old furniture.
Some divine soul had told dad that they sold used furniture in Pondicherry… Furniture, used by the French/Dutch of Pondy, Chettiars of Karaikudi, Mughal descendants of Karaikal, Zamindars of a better world and many other ancestors… If new furniture is very expensive, used furniture should still be expensive, but, we decided to give it a try.
Lo! Behold! (guess that is the expression for amazement in antique English) ...Suddenly, Pondicherry was a whole new(Should I say ‘old’?) world... Furniture world…Antiques....Elaborately designed, intricately carved, remarkably strong furniture…Lying there with all its serenity attained through age…They have outlived mankind and have witnessed the high and low of life – prosperity and poverty, royalty and rubble.. Pillars that once adorned mansions, cots that lulled the rich, chests brimming with silk and gems, now dismantled and at the mercy of the trader for its life and lusture.
Getting back to reality, all this, for a very affordable price. We bought a lorry load of furniture which was quite a variety – pillars, a swing, a chest, a diwan – all this for INR 28,000!! All’s well so far…But how can human mind accept satisfaction this easily?! DOUBT! and DISTRUST! crept into our minds.. If it is this less expensive, can it be genuine?
I looked into WWW for satinwood...coz we hadn’t heard about it before, it says, this is a rare durable wood...and there is an American website selling antique pillars which is around $4500 per piece!! If the pillar we bought has xylem relations with what is flashed in this website, it triggered a serious thought in me…
Like the colonial days, we are still being looted…. We are being looted not only by the East India company, but by companies from East, West, North and South now! The riches of India, is being bought for a few thousands from our struggling small scale traders, and is being sold for outrageous rates abroad…
So, if you are thinking of buying furniture, take a look at the shops in metro, then go to Pondicherry....and look at the tiny shops there.... you might not only end up as a happy customer but would really help in retaining wealth and prosperity in India…It might not be practically possible to help the traders get more money, but you can stop the riches of India from being exported…
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