Man proposes God disposes …..

    Today September 28^th 2012 is my appa’s 59^th birthday celebration in Thirukadaiyur. I never expected I will be writing a blog sitting here in USA on this day. That is the uncertainty we had to deal in the modern era. I feel so perturbed which I cannot even articulate in words. Writing is something which mitigates my pain so I wanted to pen my thoughts.

    One had to pay the price of being in a foreign land many times. It so happened that I got to change jobs exactly at the wrong time. Because I am in the process of transitioning my visa to a new employer I had to stay in the country. I felt so bad when I realized I will be missing the function. I wanted to cry but somehow age stopped me doing so. I had to live on reality getting to know every minute details about the function over the phone.  I am the sort of person who enjoys even a cup of tea standing in the balcony and silently expressing my thanks to almighty..Basically I enjoy every small slice of life.

   One question which I keep asking myself time and again is “What am I doing in this country?” this question is basically going over the loop and am still trying to come up with an answer. Well basically commitment has been made from personal perspective. We have invested time, money and energy over education according to the US system and suddenly to come out of it would sound selfish from my side.

  When lot of thoughts have been running over my mind in the last few days I also happen to listen to some of the cases my wife is seeing on every day to day basis in her Intern. Single parent, sexual misuse, diseases to tender kids, torment at an early stage etc., when I listen to all of these I have no other option other than to show gratitude to almighty and request to bless the whole world.

  All I can say is ..I love you amma and appa. I feel bad not coming to the function but it is mere circumstances I couldn’t make it. I am sure everything happens for a reason. I always believe in Karma and am sure my good deeds will earn me a good place. 

More Automation ….less Human intervention ….

      Recently I was inside my car on a traffic light gazing at the construction work going on outside…I don’t think I can precisely put it in words of what I witnessed but all I can say is a heavy construction piece worth few thousand pounds was lifted just like that my a machine …worker was inculcating on the exact location the piece has to be moved so the guy who controls the machine just got to adjusts the controls as per the instructions. I am sure abundance of time will be saved and more importantly safety of the workers is the primary motive in employing machines.

      Look at software Industry ….one of the key metrics in most of the software projects is to automate the process by that way there is less human intervention. The sponsor of the IT projects will definitely underscore reduction in time by so much percentage in the power point slides.

    Look at the postal services …machine scans the address and if the label is not properly aligned (From and To addresses) there is a good chance the parcel may return back to the sender since the system thought that is where the parcel is supposed to go. GPS example can be funny …the final destination might be just on your left hand side but since ‘U-turn’ is not allowed at that Traffic light GPS may direct you to take ‘n’ number of steps before arriving at the same place you came a while back.

   I always marvel how does the software work during competitive exams? They have several algorithms in which the system picks up a question based on how the previous question was answered. I am very curious to know the logic behind how system picks the next question and how the system evaluates the score.

    One thing for sure …as we march into the coming years we are going to see more and more automation in our day to day life. Automation is good but one should not forget whether it’s a machine or a system or anything for that matter which automates is invented by Human beings. Human brain is much more powerful and capable and should be given due respect.

Professions with a difference

Well every profession is divine and it earns our living through which we do everything. But some professions are bit service oriented which in turn gives back to society right away. Let me open with three such Professions .... 

Teaching community: According to me this profession is one of the most service oriented one. A teacher teaches a kid who may finally end up in a very reputable position; teachers always feel so happy to see their kids shine in future. They take a lot of pride into it when a kid turns up in future to thank him/her. Teachers/professors also help in research and development which in turns becomes a big commercial viability for money makers but the thought and idea always come from the lab, classroom kind of atmosphere. Teachers play a big role in shaping up the next generation as their see the talent in the first place and groom before it becomes a hot property in future.

Priest: How many of us actually know personal life of temple priests; They bless us time and again every single calendar day (not business day). Whether its thanksgiving, Christmas, diwali or long weekend it is always same for them. They lead a humble life and get lots of happiness to serve god and temple. With cost of living shooting high up in the sky it is quite obvious some misuse but most people are true. When we visit India our appathas/ayyas used to inform the temple priest well in advance to come and open the temple for us to worship. So just think about temple priest for a while and their noble gestures.

Doctors: Though this one is in similar lines with the first two unfortunately due to the money factor this one is overlooked many times. It is an open secret doctors earn lot of money but everything comes with a price. Very few realize what goes into the making with this profession and irrespective of the country (USA/UK/Australia/India) the going is always tough but a very satisfying career for the soul. On one side we have R&D coming up with new inventions and on other side look at the number of fast food chains …It is always doing to be a tricky balance between career and family life for people belonging to this profession. 

Just my personal observations with these professions ....

Film Promotion .....

These days film Promotions are a bit too much. Its kind of redundant stuff with everyone saying the word "different" in many different forms ...Sentences are very cliche and as a audience it is kind of a boring feel to watch people say too many good things about a movie ....
Recently I watched a movie which was promoted very well ....The trailers and teasers were so pleasing that it tempts you to go to theatre only to disappoint  you a whole lot ....many film makers believe promotion alone will help them to recoup their investment ....They seem not to understand the simple fact  content along with good promotion will fetch them good name and money ....

Empty vessels make more noise: How true is this sentence .....Look at people like Mani ratnam, Director Shankar, ARR, Ilayaraja ...they never talk and have  their work talk ...don't we enjoy the work of these people ....they are so media shy and always give little bytes to media .....they just want audience to  make the final call and concentrate on their work ....

Media is driven by cinema industry ..the moment they sign a one hour programme they start getting crores of money from sponsorships..so thay can't resist  having too many  filmi fundas and cine promotions ....these days no matter which actor I get tired of people talking about their own movies ...

Recently I watched Vis Anand winning world championship ...I was simply amazed seeing his composure and maturity ..absolutely no showoff ....why can't  people follow his footsteps? It earns respect and immediately we get connected to the person without realizing the fact we are doing so.

Disturbing ....

    I watched one of the episodes on Internet after much was talked about the show...This was regarding Doctors …..Well these days media does anything to garner TRP ratings. The show was going okay until this episode happened...Now it’s talk of the nation. I had so much of respect of the actor who conducted but now I am losing my respect ….well in this modern era nothing can be perfect. If someone wants to be a perfectionist then he will be considered a person who cannot adjust with people. I do agree to some extent what was mentioned in the show may be true …but the overall plot defamed this wonderful profession.

    Every profession is divine..There is a proverb which says “Whatever Job you do that is considered to be God” …according to me these three professions stand apart for so many reasons. They are 1) Teacher 2) Priest 3) Doctor. Often the third one is overlooked because of the money factor. It is true Doctors earn money but how many apprehend what goes into the making and also the day to day stress this profession got to deal. It is the attitude which makes me so frustrated. If a poor person needs medical help then that is explicable …but multi millionaires talking about the consultation charges is definitely not tolerable.

    In India the advantage of celebrities is that they can talk and write anything which can be exposed to public and have a bad influence in the society. There is no such strict law which would punish a person if at all they happen to defame a profession. Celebrities have to be extra careful in what they talk to public. Their star charisma can drive some of the illiterates to blindly follow their on screen demi-god.

   Is Cinema industry very clean? Are politicians not corrupt? Are IT folks always speak truth in their resume? Does lawyer always say truth? I am not here to say Doctors can collect more money? But the amount of Time, money and energy a doctor spends is known only to their spouses.

   After watching the program I was a bit disturbed. It not only broadcasted something non- factual but also has a bad influence which can prevent next generation to get into Medicine field. I was always asked to be quiet and not talk about these. Everyone has some ‘Self-esteem’ and its natural to voice your opinion. I heard the actor gets three crores for an episode and if this is true he should be ashamed on himself. For people who romance a glam doll every six months may definitely not understand the true value of this profession. Most bad thing is he refusing to apologize the doctor community which is so arrogant.

   I got lot of advice from friends asking to be cool .....everyone was saying one thing for sure "You do your job and things will follow automatically".

Rules ...that's what they say .....

I would like to share one of the incidents that I experienced recently which took me by surprise. It is startling how rules/policies are followed according to the Company’s policy. By having a process in place we are safeguarding the integrity within the system and that is something we should appreciate.

One fine day on a weekend I took my Photo frame to one of the leading Camera shops in the nation. I asked them to develop a print. The person who was assisting me asked me “Where was this photograph taken?” I said it was taken back in my home country in a studio. That’s it …the word ‘Studio’ ringed alarm bells for him and he said he is not supposed to work on the photograph unless he gets a written permission from the official photographer who took the photo. I was taken by surprise and was trying to help him understand that the photographer back in India is too small to own a studio kind of stuff so it is not possible to get hold of him. He was very clear that without the written permission he will not work on the photograph as that is against their corporate policy.

Now this is frustrating as well as amazing. It is frustrating just because we are not used to this sort of experience but it is truly amazing to see how one’s work is truly recognized and because we have a process in place one can feel secured that their creative work will be protected. This is the same case with paintings, writings, scripts, films and any other form of Art. A creative person needs to feel secured and trust the system so that he/she can encroach in their respective field. Though I came out frustrated I still felt soothing in one way or the other.

Money …Money …Money …..

We subsist in twenty first century where money is taken away from us just like anything. If the robbers deprive our money we file complaint and we feel not so secured ….but how about many smart robbers who rob our money pretty much on every day to day basis? I just sense at times it is intricate to digest some of the policies of some of the organizations we deal with on our daily lives.

Here are some of the examples which makes me speculate I have to be really careful. Bank asking us to register for ‘Auto pay’ to give us a discount for security box every year, Dish service automatically enrolling in one of their packages after the promotional period and you being charged (you wouldn’t know until later), Internet service provider automatically charging you higher amount after certain period saying promotional period is over and retail chains offering credit cards to lure customers and having them fall into the trap of high interest. ‘Auto pay’ seems to be a big culprit and many are exploiting this completely since practically it is not possible to manually go and pay every single month for the ‘n’ number of cards since every cycle is different from one another.

I just feel there has to be a line drawn somewhere between doing business smartly and exploiting customers. Well promotions are key business driver in this cutthroat world but that should not be at the cost of customers hard earned money. Apart from this when I turn on the television I hear government estimates to make so many amount of crores from collecting taxes from TASMAC wine shops. Can the government rely on other ways to make money? Also food these days are so very contaminated and artificial and everything is done to make profits at a faster pace.

So Money is the order of the day. Profit making and becoming rich are the only goals and many human values are slowly but surely disappearing. People who are honest are tagged as ‘Outdated’ …more I think more I get confused.

Customer Service !!!

In this modern era ‘Customer service’ has been one of the key factors in pushing ones Business to the next level. I would like to share my recent experience (good and bad) about some of my experiences in recent past. I just feel customer service is one thing which is intangible and intricate to measure – both how much have you earned and how much have you lost.

It was on a rainy Sunday afternoon and myself and my wife we decided to have a good Indian buffet. We decided to go to one of the places in Tysons corner only when we realized that the place is hosting a private wedding party and they don’t serve buffet that particular afternoon. I understand that having a party bring in more moolah but not having the regular buffet for the regular customers at a very small level is something which I cannot accept. So did the place just lost 30$ or the goodwill they earned so far?

I have another experience with one of the furniture stores near my place. To start with I ordered something on back order knowing that it may come a bit late. But my definition of ‘late’ was instead of a week or two it may take a month. But I had to wait for four full months only to come to know that it may take another couple of months. I thought my serenity was thoroughly tested and let me call it a shot. The shop reduced the price and waived me delivery fee for my other furniture which again took around three months. Corporate office also gave me customer appreciation certificate of 120$ coupon. Bottom line I have been remunerated in terms of money. But how about my 8 visits to the stores, all the pain I had to go through to get the furniture ….well I can say it was all compensated my one gentleman thee newly appointed manager for the store. I had a lengthy discussion and spoke to him about customer service. He understood my feelings and noted down all the points and shared with the newly appointed CEO. So someone who can hear your voice and understand your emotions can be termed as good customer service too.

But for most part I have always experienced good customer service. Starbucks is a classic one to experience good ones ….if the barista overlooked you for some reason they will give you a free drink and the company truly values customer service a lot. I love the frappuccino they serve but more than that I love the company.

Music Composition....

I watched ilayaraja’s concert recently in Jaya TV and just bowled over by his talent. I have always been a big fan of him from my childhood. He is one man who does authentic music composition and perfectly fits to the title called ‘Music Director’. When director Balki was called on stage to talk a few words about him he recited how he prepares background score by hearing a scene. He adds life to the scene by getting the narration from the director and then tunes himself to give the perfect tune by directing the music. No wonder his background scores are so good as he gets into the nitty gritty details.

He relies on actual instruments which bring out sounds and also ‘n’ number of people to play the instruments to get the appropriate tune. Now that is a creative work – we have three things over here – No.1 is the actual scene or song in the narration of the film; No.2 is the lyrics which at times may be ready before a tune is ready; No.3 is you have instruments and people to get the desired music. To blend all of these and give it in a way that we all enjoy is a real magic. Software creates music by some sort of algorithm but does not have the sixth sense to predict the emotions instead throws out music by mixing whatever it has in its repository.

I always used to wonder why does he not do lot of concerts and do world tours by that way people will enjoy his music. It took me a while but think now I got the answer. Every sponsor wants to make big bucks – with Ilayaraja’s concerts you can still make lot of money but the Profit margin can be low as he needs lots of people which in turn take lot of money to get visas, lodging, food and other expenditures. Also he needs lot of instruments to get the correct sound which in turn may take lots of money for baggage. I earnestly hope he does worldwide tours by that way people like me can enjoy his music.

I like AR Rahman too and he is the pride of our nation. But I esteem Raja sir’s music very much. Awards are given by individuals and jury members and no matter what the award is I deem there is lot of factors goes into deciding who needs to get a particular award. Raja’s sir music can be matched to any music in International standards and if he did not receive any award the award is not lucky enough. His music has a big fan following and I don’t think any award can give him more happiness than people’s admiration for his music.

I consider to be blessed to hear his music and I cannot keep count of how many of my car commutes, flight travels and road trips I enjoyed his music. His background scores for ‘Mouvna Raagam’ will always remain close to my heart. I wish him lots of good health, joy and happiness and wish he keeps entertaining us with his lovely music …..

Reality Shows ....

Reality shows have become so popular these days that every television is trying to come up with creative shows on prime times. By having more Reality shows they are bringing in the actual public and giving them the opportunity to exhibit their talents. This in turn draws lot of people because everyone wants to exhibit their talents on the bigger stage. Television wants to cash on this by having public votes and other gimmicks to have public watch these programs to spawn more revenues. There are both good and bad things about these and goods things first – gives the common man to showcase his/her talents, opens doors to get into something big like opportunities to sing in Tamil movie, gives a chance to meet bigwigs which they have always admired etc.,

I am at times not comfortable with the way television paint the whole picture. Anchors saying time and again “40 lakhs to win a big home”, “Opportunity to sing under so and so” etc., concerns me as I believe this is where it gets diluted. No matter one is a chain smoker but the very first time when he took a puff that’s where it all started; same in the case of a drinker the very first time he took a sip that’s where it got started. So I believe there is a chance that these big prizes and alluring package can make things diluted and one starts to chase money and eminence losing sight of the actual passion. Channels they got to make a program really interesting by making more eyes watch the program so they will go to the extent of adding lot of commercial elements and as participants people especially kids and youth have to be matured enough to handle.

I am sure the parents will take care of the kids but this is kind of drug which is injected into everyone’s body – they have been normal citizens so far and all of a sudden name and fame made them popular overnight. They are recognized everywhere they go and they are centre of attraction everywhere. When they enjoy this period and suddenly face a downward slope if people are matured enough then they will take it sportively else they will really be thrown aback since they could not accept the sudden change that ensued to them.

But Reality shows are good because new talents are identified and recognized. Just that people have to be careful in handling name and fame. A kid who is 10 years old may not even know how many zeros are there for 40 lakhs. As always good and bad are there in every damn thing and we have to pick and choose – ‘Eat the fruit and throw the seed because seeds are hidden inside the fruit”