My company has been trying to hire developers in India for the past 6 months and it has been an interesting experience. The no-brainer option is to go the IITs or the top 20 schools in India and pay top dollars for the brightest candidates. This is also the easy one since everyone can do that and it results in ridiculous escalation in salaries. Last year I read somewhere that for the first time a fresh graduate from IIT Bombay received a 6 figure offer. In US dollars!! Additionally small companies like mine stands no chance to get entry into the campus interview schedule. They would interview us and reject us as not worthy of hiring their students!!
The harder strategy is to sift through a pool of candidates, invite over ten candidates to select just one. It is not easy. Again everyone else is also doing exactly this. Just this week some company in Chennai offered nearly 80% more in salary to one of my candidates!!
Anyway, today, I was talking to this candidate, to whom by the way we ended up making an offer, during lunch. I asked him about his background and he mentioned he was from Nellore, two older brothers, a retired dad, and a home maker mom. It seems he is a budding author and likes writing stories and has written 5 in Telugu and 1 in English. He also volunteered the information that the story in English is a thriller going by the title Q.
No jokes. Just the letter Q.
When I asked him if he has published his stories anywhere, he shook his head regretfully. I suggested using Google and posting his stories in a blog. He did not like this since he feared that others would read his stories and steal it!! Dude does not know how hard it is to get people to read your posts, much less steal it.
In fact, I say, please steal my posts. In fact I will give top dollars for you to steal it!!
I assured him that once he gets people to read it and he becomes famous there are still 25 other English alphabets waiting to be written up as stories, so he should not be too worried about losing one of them.
When his turn came to ask a question he wondered if I was married and when I answered with an affirmative, he promptly hid a smile.
Naturally I asked him - what's up? To which he replied I looked very cheerful.
I asked him what was wrong with that. He replied that one could look at a person's face and see the beaten look of a married man and also figure out who wears the pants in the house!!
I, it seems did not fit that profile since I seemed happy and confident.
Funny guy, smart guy, I guess he is bound to remain a bachelor.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Streak of Narcissim
15-20 years ago, the greatest dread of my life was the word horoscope. If someone asked for your horoscope it meant they were looking at you as a prospective groom for their daughter or niece. I was petrified by the prospect of marriage and that too an arranged one. Also I guess like all boys of that age I was still rebellious. The notion that in this age of science people actually cared what Rahu, Ketu, Shani and Shukra did or believed that these distant planets could influence your future seemed so 19th century-ish!! It still seems to me despite the passage of two decades. Luckily, I met a really, really, nice girl in grad school who took pity on me and decided to marry me despite my boorishness. Thus did I escape the horoscope.
OK you escaped. So?
Well I am in Madras at present and yesterday I met a friend of my parents. This couple had relocated from Delhi to Madras to be close to their daughter. They had some friends over at that time and pretty soon we were involved in the merits and demerits of Bombay, Delhi, and Madras. One of the guests, who had been raised in Bombay, talked about her recent trip to Delhi and described how the Hindi there was so corrupt. It seemed to her it was Punjabi laced Hindi that was spoken in Delhi. I am like Lady you come from Bombay where god knows what dialect they speak and you are talking about the quality of Hindi spoken in Delhi!!
Of course, I did not say it that rudely, but people who know me, know that it must have required a lot of resolution for me to keep my mouth shut. I casually said that in the 20 odd years that I have not been in Delhi things could have changed. You may remember from my past post, how I have evolved into an improved person. In case you do not here is something to refresh your memory.
My question still stands. So?
The conversation veered to where I lived and why I was here and if I came so often to India why I should not simply relocate to Chennai for the duration of the project. I told them that while that was a good idea, one that I myself have idly thought of, the problem was each time I came here I missed my wife and kids already and that they probably miss me too.
Will this ever end?
Well one of the older ladies had not spoken for a while. At the mention of my wife and kids, she looked shocked. She turned my parent's friend and asked her, how old I was, since it seems she was almost at the point of asking for my horoscope!!
Wow, I did not know I looked that young!! I sadly had to tell her the truth that I was a father of a teenager!!
Well, wonders never cease. I actually liked having someone (nearly) ask me for my horoscope.
Had a very rough morning today - I had to tear myself away from the mirror and my very marriage worthy and youthful looks.
OK you escaped. So?
Well I am in Madras at present and yesterday I met a friend of my parents. This couple had relocated from Delhi to Madras to be close to their daughter. They had some friends over at that time and pretty soon we were involved in the merits and demerits of Bombay, Delhi, and Madras. One of the guests, who had been raised in Bombay, talked about her recent trip to Delhi and described how the Hindi there was so corrupt. It seemed to her it was Punjabi laced Hindi that was spoken in Delhi. I am like Lady you come from Bombay where god knows what dialect they speak and you are talking about the quality of Hindi spoken in Delhi!!
Of course, I did not say it that rudely, but people who know me, know that it must have required a lot of resolution for me to keep my mouth shut. I casually said that in the 20 odd years that I have not been in Delhi things could have changed. You may remember from my past post, how I have evolved into an improved person. In case you do not here is something to refresh your memory.
My question still stands. So?
The conversation veered to where I lived and why I was here and if I came so often to India why I should not simply relocate to Chennai for the duration of the project. I told them that while that was a good idea, one that I myself have idly thought of, the problem was each time I came here I missed my wife and kids already and that they probably miss me too.
Will this ever end?
Well one of the older ladies had not spoken for a while. At the mention of my wife and kids, she looked shocked. She turned my parent's friend and asked her, how old I was, since it seems she was almost at the point of asking for my horoscope!!
Wow, I did not know I looked that young!! I sadly had to tell her the truth that I was a father of a teenager!!
Well, wonders never cease. I actually liked having someone (nearly) ask me for my horoscope.
Had a very rough morning today - I had to tear myself away from the mirror and my very marriage worthy and youthful looks.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Holy Book
My cousin lives in the IIT Madras campus. Her husband is a professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is very serious in his pursuit of research and is frequently absconding from home when he could be found working in his lab. When I asked him how many papers he typically publishes in a year, his answer was evocative of the publish or perish mentality in higher education
More papers than the IIT average!!
My cousin's son is in 3rd grade and he studies in Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Madras. For the record, I was a student of that Kendriya Vidyalaya for two years in the mid 70s.
As part of an effort to raise awareness of prevalent cultural diversity in India the teachers talked about the various religions and their holy books. To make this point the teachers asked various students what book they followed in their own house. Each student came up with a list of the usual suspect such as Gita, Koran, and Bible.
When it my cousin's son turn, he asked the teacher what constitutes a holy book and how would one identify it at home. The teacher vaguely said that it would be the book that is most commonly read by his father or mother and then repeated the question. My nephew's answer was
Principles of Thermodynamics!!
More papers than the IIT average!!
My cousin's son is in 3rd grade and he studies in Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Madras. For the record, I was a student of that Kendriya Vidyalaya for two years in the mid 70s.
As part of an effort to raise awareness of prevalent cultural diversity in India the teachers talked about the various religions and their holy books. To make this point the teachers asked various students what book they followed in their own house. Each student came up with a list of the usual suspect such as Gita, Koran, and Bible.
When it my cousin's son turn, he asked the teacher what constitutes a holy book and how would one identify it at home. The teacher vaguely said that it would be the book that is most commonly read by his father or mother and then repeated the question. My nephew's answer was
Principles of Thermodynamics!!
Learn Mandarin and help the Cantonese
My sister is a teacher in Hong Kong. She has now lived there for more than a decade, both my niece and nephew were born and are being raised there. So I guess it is her home.
Soon after Hong Kong was taken over by China, she felt an urge to learn Mandarin. She, like many others, felt that it was the language of the future when the world would make a beeline to China. She was right, the future is now, and China is a economic super power and it would be a great advantage if we knew Mandarin.
Recently as part part of a school sponsored trip she along with the students and other teachers went to a school in Shenzhen, China. Several of the teachers were Chinese from Hong Kong and they spoke Cantonese. Now here is the unusual fact, the two dialects are so different that the Cantonese speaking Chinese do not understand Mandarin!! All the presentations at the school in Shenzhen were in Mandarin but since these Hong Kong Chinese did not understand they kept asking my sister to translate it for them!!
Imagine a Hindi, Tamil, English, and Mandarin speaking Indian woman (my sister) translating Mandarin for Cantonese speaking Chinese. I thought it was apt in a world that is gone flat!!
Soon after Hong Kong was taken over by China, she felt an urge to learn Mandarin. She, like many others, felt that it was the language of the future when the world would make a beeline to China. She was right, the future is now, and China is a economic super power and it would be a great advantage if we knew Mandarin.
Recently as part part of a school sponsored trip she along with the students and other teachers went to a school in Shenzhen, China. Several of the teachers were Chinese from Hong Kong and they spoke Cantonese. Now here is the unusual fact, the two dialects are so different that the Cantonese speaking Chinese do not understand Mandarin!! All the presentations at the school in Shenzhen were in Mandarin but since these Hong Kong Chinese did not understand they kept asking my sister to translate it for them!!
Imagine a Hindi, Tamil, English, and Mandarin speaking Indian woman (my sister) translating Mandarin for Cantonese speaking Chinese. I thought it was apt in a world that is gone flat!!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Words Of Wisdom
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." -
-- Reinhold Niebuhr
I like this phrase a lot. It may seem somehow to imply I am a theist. I am not. It tells us how to deal with the cards life deals us from time to time.
-- Reinhold Niebuhr
I like this phrase a lot. It may seem somehow to imply I am a theist. I am not. It tells us how to deal with the cards life deals us from time to time.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Carnatic Music
Most of my posts start with the perpendicular pronoun - more commonly known as I.
Digressing briefly - I heard this phrase in the television series Yes Minister. Here is a gem of obfuscation
Sir Humphrey: "The identity of the Official whose alleged responsibility for this hypothetical oversight has been the subject of recent discussion, is NOT shrouded in quite such impenetrable obscurity as certain previous disclosures may have led you to assume, but not to put too fine a point on it, the individual in question is, it may surprise you to learn, one whom you [sic] present interlocutor is in the habit of defining by means of the perpendicular pronoun."
Jim Hacker: "I beg your pardon?"
Sir Humphrey: "It was...I."
I wanted the title to be I like Carnatic Music. Later the feeling grew on me that if you are not already tired of my posts, the frequent self-aggrandizement, I am referring to the frequent use of the word I, must surely tire you. So to lessen the impact of my ego, I changed the title.
That said, I like Carnatic Music. In fact I like it a lot.
My friend Krishna says when I fall for something I go overboard. In fact he says I am very extreme in my likes and dislikes. Either I like it or I hate it. It seems I cannot take it or leave it!! He may be right.
Coming back to music, growing up in a South Indian Brahmin family, it was impossible to avoid Carnatic Music. My mother had to learn it as a child. Growing up my sister was also introduced to it. So was my wife. I use the word introduced loosely. Neither of them were particularly fond of it at that time. My parents were so enthusiastic, they took it up again when I was a teenager. In short there was no shortage of exposure.
Yet I hated it. To make it worse, my parents made me listen to it. They would try to get me to recognize raaga and all I wanted to do was listen to some Kollywood film songs. My parents enjoyed listening to raaga alapana. I liked it as much as I liked having my teeth taken out with a hammer and chisel, maybe a hack saw and without pain killer!! Watching an artist perform a raaga alapana was most comical. I have frequently had to think distasteful thoughts just to avoid laughing!!
Digressing again, I now inflict this pain on my older daughter. When we travel we usually listen to a mish-mash of songs, Kollywood songs, Bollywood songs from the past 60 years, Pop music, Rock&Roll, and Carnatic music. I then compete with my parents and my wife in identifying the raaga. If it is song in the raaga my daughter has learnt she has to make an attempt at recognizing it. I guess I could not take revenge on my parents!!
Back to myself, this state of affairs did not change during teenage life when I discovered pop music and took to liking Boney M, ABBA and Bee Gees. Yes I had bad taste, but even in my stupidest moments I never wore bell bottoms. In any case my parents could not afford to waste money on frivolous fashions.
Later during my years at Delhi College of Engineering I developed a taste for Mohammed Rafi. This passion for Bollywood music still persists and not a month goes without me extolling the virtuoso of Rafi to my wife who incidentally likes Kishore Kumar. I think the latter is extremely talented just a shade behind Rafi. Just kidding. I like them both equally.
I met Jannavi when we were both in graduate school and she introduced me to Carnatic Music. For almost 2 years I listened to it just to please her. By chance I happened to come across an album of Maharajapuram Santhanam. There was no turning back.
I had now caught the fever and I was hooked. I am thankful the fever has not left me since it has enriched my life as nothing else has. One of my greatest pleasure is listening to some familiar movie songs and realizing after an hour of mental torture Oh that was Valaji.
The last comment was not made idly. During a concert several years ago, one of the violinist, in the middle of a Raagam Tanam Pallavi, started playing a Rafi/Asha duet Hai Agar Dushman from the movie Bollywood Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin. Several people in the audience smiled at this. After the concert when I asked the artiste why she played a movie song she informed that the song in based on Raaga Valaji.
Digressing briefly - I heard this phrase in the television series Yes Minister. Here is a gem of obfuscation
Sir Humphrey: "The identity of the Official whose alleged responsibility for this hypothetical oversight has been the subject of recent discussion, is NOT shrouded in quite such impenetrable obscurity as certain previous disclosures may have led you to assume, but not to put too fine a point on it, the individual in question is, it may surprise you to learn, one whom you [sic] present interlocutor is in the habit of defining by means of the perpendicular pronoun."
Jim Hacker: "I beg your pardon?"
Sir Humphrey: "It was...I."
I wanted the title to be I like Carnatic Music. Later the feeling grew on me that if you are not already tired of my posts, the frequent self-aggrandizement, I am referring to the frequent use of the word I, must surely tire you. So to lessen the impact of my ego, I changed the title.
That said, I like Carnatic Music. In fact I like it a lot.
My friend Krishna says when I fall for something I go overboard. In fact he says I am very extreme in my likes and dislikes. Either I like it or I hate it. It seems I cannot take it or leave it!! He may be right.
Coming back to music, growing up in a South Indian Brahmin family, it was impossible to avoid Carnatic Music. My mother had to learn it as a child. Growing up my sister was also introduced to it. So was my wife. I use the word introduced loosely. Neither of them were particularly fond of it at that time. My parents were so enthusiastic, they took it up again when I was a teenager. In short there was no shortage of exposure.
Yet I hated it. To make it worse, my parents made me listen to it. They would try to get me to recognize raaga and all I wanted to do was listen to some Kollywood film songs. My parents enjoyed listening to raaga alapana. I liked it as much as I liked having my teeth taken out with a hammer and chisel, maybe a hack saw and without pain killer!! Watching an artist perform a raaga alapana was most comical. I have frequently had to think distasteful thoughts just to avoid laughing!!
Digressing again, I now inflict this pain on my older daughter. When we travel we usually listen to a mish-mash of songs, Kollywood songs, Bollywood songs from the past 60 years, Pop music, Rock&Roll, and Carnatic music. I then compete with my parents and my wife in identifying the raaga. If it is song in the raaga my daughter has learnt she has to make an attempt at recognizing it. I guess I could not take revenge on my parents!!
Back to myself, this state of affairs did not change during teenage life when I discovered pop music and took to liking Boney M, ABBA and Bee Gees. Yes I had bad taste, but even in my stupidest moments I never wore bell bottoms. In any case my parents could not afford to waste money on frivolous fashions.
Later during my years at Delhi College of Engineering I developed a taste for Mohammed Rafi. This passion for Bollywood music still persists and not a month goes without me extolling the virtuoso of Rafi to my wife who incidentally likes Kishore Kumar. I think the latter is extremely talented just a shade behind Rafi. Just kidding. I like them both equally.
I met Jannavi when we were both in graduate school and she introduced me to Carnatic Music. For almost 2 years I listened to it just to please her. By chance I happened to come across an album of Maharajapuram Santhanam. There was no turning back.
I had now caught the fever and I was hooked. I am thankful the fever has not left me since it has enriched my life as nothing else has. One of my greatest pleasure is listening to some familiar movie songs and realizing after an hour of mental torture Oh that was Valaji.
The last comment was not made idly. During a concert several years ago, one of the violinist, in the middle of a Raagam Tanam Pallavi, started playing a Rafi/Asha duet Hai Agar Dushman from the movie Bollywood Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin. Several people in the audience smiled at this. After the concert when I asked the artiste why she played a movie song she informed that the song in based on Raaga Valaji.
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