Make a Smilebox invite

"We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness" - says an Anonymous Quote.
It was a calm and curious wait for me in the poorly lighted lobby that led to the labor room in Malar Hospitals - Adyar, Chennai. Around 3:00 AM on 04-01-09, came a shrill but a determined cry - Declaring her arrival she already had my heart pounding.
I have been conferred upon the Fatherhood by a cute, sweet Pinki (my chosen nick name for her) - That moment, I learned to smile and cry together.
My sincere thanks and admiration to my Wife, who put through a tough fight and won against all the odds in turning what looked probably to be a Caesarian into a Normal Delivery - I learnt the true meaning of Perseverance, confidence from her.
My sincere thanks to my parents, In-Laws and all my relatives.
Above all my thanks to thy almighty who helped me sail through the exciting moments.

From Amma to Priya

The transformation was seamless, sensational and ofcourse a lot of fun too. Let me rotate a mosquito coil in front of you.
It was an early morning in the month of June'07 when the British Airways flight from Heathrow kissed the Chennai Runway. I reached home to know that my marriage plans were on a full swing. When I reached office they had already planned to pack me off the same weekend to Helsinki for a short visit. Thanks to this unexpected development, I hoped the Visit to the Girl' house will be delayed. My shrewd parents (especially Amma) outsmarted me (as always) by pre-poning the visit. Whats so unusual here is that they were closing the visit so aggressively that even the Girl' Father who was out of station could not make it on the day when we visited her house.

We were 6 people, Dad, Mom, Anna, Anni, Young'r Bro and Shree. So there was no dearth for leg-pulling comments.
She was claded in a blue out-fit with a very simple jewellery on her. But with a beaming (I could sense an assasin in her) smile. We got a few minutes to know about ourselves. As i left the place I knew for sure that I am coming back to take her with me - for the journey called 'LIFE'.

We had a good 4 months wait time. 2 to get engaged and 2 to get married. On 22-October'08, I took her hands into mine with a promise that I shall (from the very second) share every moment with her, standby her as a moral and mental support to her at all times, take good care of all her and all her loved ones like that way she would.

We did not run away from the marriage hall for the Honeymoon, but chose to stay back with our loved ones by taking a month to understand ourselves, our relatives and then proceeded to Mauritius. It was a confused state for me in the following days. I sometimes did not realize that I got married. Priya, had got into me so well and the transformation was seamless, sensational and was a real fun - (Note - Mosquito Coil Removed from now). Practical, caring, friendly, down-to-earth with a no-non-sense approach is certanly an understatement to describe Priya.
Guess the only difference between Mom and Wife (so far I have realised) is the level of intimacy. Any thing else when measured for difference even with the most precise scale in the world will always result a zero.
Both constantly wage a futile war on me to make me realize how bad I am. Always be there to make me realize that I am the best. Just walk by my side to help me stand up again by lending a support hand.

Recently I visited Boston where I met my College Friend Tilak. Tilak could not make it to my marriage and was eagerly looking at the marriage photos stored in my lappie (I got my lappie during my first US Trip Jan'07). Since my visit was curtailed to just 10 days I could not visit Tilak's house. Hence we met in the coffee shop where he was eagerly looking at the photos and inquiring about the 2 day ceremony. After a hour or so, it was time and we started. Tilak, looked into my eyes and asked me, "How are you feeling now"?. I took a deep breath and responded. "I don't know. I am not sure if I deserve her. But I know I am happy". Tilak responded by hugging me as everyone in the central square of Park Square Building stood for a moment to acknowledge Tilak' gesture. To me even they shared a part of that beautiful moment.

Please welcome to Priy@ into my beautiful world.

Where are we heading towards China or South-East Asia???????

With the advent of the Second Financial Quarter FY07-08 (July-Sep) in India, Companies are busy announcing their 1st quarter results. Just boasting of how they have badly beaten the investor guidelines, grown over the past quarter and various other merits that they have acclaimed during the 1st quarter. IT companies have however got some more measures to (mis)guide the investors, like number of new clients added, number of customers in Fortune 100 list, attrition % (a real cause of concern) and increase of salary/resource cost over the past year.

It’s Party Time – a reality or a fallacy??

The last metric would be of a real pleasure for the IT employees as Indian IT salary costs are growing by a whopping 12-14%* (average) YOY.
I have a slightly different view point here. There is nothing to be happy about the 12-14% hike for two contradicting reasons. First reason is with a myopic view and as the same would turn out to be a problem in long term, framing my second reason.

The first reason, I view the hike as just a combination of India’s GDP growth and the Inflation. India’s GDP has grown 8% for the past year. The average inflation placed at 5%

Salary Hike 12-14% = 8% growth in India’s GDP + 5% Inflation

An 8% hike – My share in the country’s productivity increase and the remaining 5% contributed by Inflation. So if you had an increase of over 14%, be really happy about it. Yes, you have beaten the market. Else, don’t worry all the best next time…..
But whether or not it meets the individual expectations, when compared to other sectors in India, this is way much better and hence it’s definitely a fact to be happy about and of course party. But till when can we continue to party???? Read on….

The second reason why I am not happy about the % increase in the salary costs is that it makes the Indian market vulnerable given the cost burden levied on the IT companies in resourcing various projects.

Industry barons view this seriously, that if the trend continues over the period of next 5-8 years, India will no longer be a competitive market for IT outsourcing. The South-East Asian countries are gearing up in this front and pose a huge threat to the Indian IT job market. Let’s not forget China which is already eating into the Indian Pie. This is also fueled by the Indian companies setting up shops in China and South-East Asian nations to get the “Early-Mover Advantage”. In the process they also recruit the locales and train them in the area of process improvements, soft skills – Few of the competitive advantages that Indian resources were boasting about till recent past are no longer competitive. The success mantra of India IT companies is very simple – “Be cheap and best”. Hence the moment India turns out to be a costly affair, they will slowly move into low-cost destinations just to deepen their existing presence. For this reason, Indian IT companies have also started to concentrate on the branding exercises in these geographies.

Though, we might be talking about moving into high-end consulting space, the current area of focus for India IT companies, it’s quite evident that for high-end consulting we wont need the size of the current workforce. So where will the remaining people go - To China or South-East Asia?? – A question left to the future to be answered.

* - As published in a recent NASSCOM report.

In shah Allah

tock tock tock.........hey hold on!!! don’t click on the online dictionary page... that’s me knocking my blog space. Guess I left it to a calm slumber for almost a long time.

As usual, it started in a single mail, then couple of conference calls, raise a request, collect some information and finally left totally blind folded. Ram started packing his stuff again. Oh no! there’s nothing new in it.

In shah Allah
In shah Allah was the first word I heard when I got a call from my Dubai Office confirming my travel details. Yeah, I was making my first trip to Middle East (Kuwait). This time my mission was little bit different, “Seek more”, “Even more” and “Finally get more biz”.
The learning started in Chennai Airport itself. As I was waiting to collect my boarding pass, I could see many people from rural areas waiting in the queue. Barring few idiots whose trip was sponsored by their company, (Guess, I have given enough info before to be part of this Idiot list) others had converted their property, jewels and their family’s trust in the form of tickets. These are the people leaving their loved ones behind with genuine ambitions and aspirations to be the bread winner of their family, not sure of what’s in store for them in the host nation, certainly having no clue on when they would return back to see the family. I just happened to see the tip of the iceberg when I helped few of them fill their Immigration Form. I was half dead by then!!!!!!!!!!!

Within few hours I was in Kuwait Int’l Airport. Saw hoards of people, my countrymen gathered in groups out of fear, loneliness and exasperation due to the 3rd rated treatment rendered to them by the immigration officials. In no time my countrymen who were heroes till they left their home country became more like slaves in alien land. Here they are just meant to be bonded labors wanting to be here and earn their living.

“Vanakkam”, sugama??? The first Tamil voice I heard was in my hotel, Mr. Antony from Srilanka has a real sad story. With the island nation under the war clouds, Anthony is bonded to be here for next 2 years, which means it’s almost close to impossible for him to get away from here. It pained a lot to hear him saying that he is considering the stay here as a long term imprisonment.

Who said they are slaves!!!! To me they have become Super-Heroes!!!!!!!!

I am sorry I never realized even when attending the International Financial Management course during my MBA that exchange rate can create such an unbearable pain.

To me life is a teacher with little difference – Life first conducts the exam and then shares the lessons.

PS: Despite all this pain there is one soul that lighted my spirits everyday from UK and helped me sail through the rough sea. Thanks Pr!Y@!!!!!

Deepavali in June - Back with a Bang

Another attempt to revitalize my almost extinct blog. It would be a great insult to my more than a decade old admiration for Rajini if I do not break my silence especially when my Thalaivar' movie is getting released.
Believe me, we are going celebrate another deepavali in June (After many changes in the release date!!!) when Sivaji will hit the theatres all over the world. After seeing Shankar' inteview on SUNTV, the prospects are bit more promising.

I heard the songs and found them only to be OK. But lets not forget, the songs are going to be charged by an enduring battery called "RAJINI" on screen and hence be ready to get hooked up. Shankar with his no-non-sense approach will make it a visual treat to the audiences.

Honestly I want a Shankar movie - Would be glad to see Rajini only acting in it. I want back the great indefatigable actor in Rajini (who gave us some splendid performances in early 80's before getting into a mundane routine).

Come to the songs - My Fav is Balleilakka (sounds like a home coming song) should tell us why Rajini is celebrated by all classes and masses. Lyrics will certainly satisfy different age group from kids to elders - reads aloud about enjoying the Village life. Rajini (sentimental) favorite SPB has done a marvelous job. ARR is back with a bang -Aithiradee song is certainly different where Shankar should have played around with his HI-TECH Team to mesmerize the audiences.
Cant wait to see SIVAJI (Rao) on the screen.

GURU - The dream team is back

The Dream Combo is back - Maniratnam & AR Rahman. The unassumed duo took the entire world by surprise also broke the strong walls of Bollywood once again (after KB) with Roja and the rest is history. They are now back with their new venture GURU.
Guru - Starring Abishek, Madhavan Aishwarya and Vidhya Balan.
Maniratnam is known for taking real world inspirations for his screenplay. Be it Nayagan, Dhalapathi, Roja, Bombay, Iruvar, Kannathil Muthamittal list goes on. It is alleged that Guru is an inspiration from the life of Indian Business Tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani.
The trailer has been quite exceptional. Abishek with a string of grey hair around his ears looks great in the stills.
ARR is back with his variety. 'Barso Re' is amazing with sadhana Sargam in the lead. Shot in exotic locations of Mahabalipuram, Chalakkudy. The song has come out very well, due thanks to ARR, Mani, Rajiv Menon and Youtube as well.
Will have to rush to Sathyam after reaching India. (Oh no how many movies would I have to see).