Office-Office

Me and my cousin used to enjoy playing 'office-office' when we were kids. Even when we played भातुकली,
most of our time was spent in the office. We were bosses then! My cousin is fortunate that she is respected by her seniors and her word counts in her office and she is seen as a future boss; but that has not been the case as far as my career is concerned.
About a month ago, we (read the company I am working for) were on the verge of getting a good project. We 'were' and we did not because it do not work out for various reasons. One of the reasons was a failed attempt at maintaining public relations on part of my seniors. Another colleague is an expert at screwing projects...not that he gets too many of them, but our clients say that they are bored of explaining things to him!! So imagine the quality and quantity of his work. Another senior colleague hardly spends any time in the office. If other employees spend 8 hours sitting in office (note: just sitting, not working!), the time he spends can be counted in minutes. And yet another colleague yaps, yaps and yaps. Again, zero output! A member of our creative team had created a very good looking patient education pamphlet but its creativity was destroyed because the boss did not like it. We finally sent a boring looking pamphlet to our client with zero aesthetic value. A few days back, a meeting was called to suggest a catchy, funky name to one of our campaigns. I suggested S.P.E.P. pronounced as 'spep'. Boss suggested a 'value addition' of the letter 'T' since it was the first alphabet of the brand name. He suggested P2SET or SPEPT or P-SEPT.
And I have to listen to n-number of cynical remarks about me having fixed an appointment with a client on some day of the week and forgetting that its a bank holiday, something that I have NEVER done. Finally, I told my boss, "Look here, I am just sincere. Not boring."
Bloody, its not my company. I am not the one pocketing the profits, if any. And the campaigns and pamphlets are not going to have my name flashing on it. Its going to be the client's name. So if somebody is working for you without getting much in return and not complaining, the least you can do is GET OUT OF THE WAY and let me do my work.
Sometimes I wonder if they want the company to make profits or want to create perfect settings to file for bankruptcy!!

Let the Grey Cells work !!!

I am bored !! Give me some productive, constructive work !!
Let my grey cells work !!

VVIPs and their Convoys

The VIPs have already made the common man's life look sub-standard. And as if this was not enough, there has evolved a sub-species known as the VVIPs who make life even miserable. Politicians, socialites and film stars all belong to this new sub-species set. Ridiculous amount of special treatment is poured (I was going to use the word 'showered'...but it sounded meek in my mind itself!!) on them.
It was reported in today's Mumbai Mirror that President Pratibha Patil has cut down on the number of cars used for her convoy from the usual 30 allocated for VVIPs to just 11. Me and mum praised and blessed her after reading this and talked about how women have more brains than men.
This 'feel-good' phase lasted only for about a hour in the morning as I had to wait for around 20 minutes for Her convoy to pass before the traffic was allowed to resume...had to wait for 20 minutes before her convoy of 38 cars were well on their way to Navi Mumbai.
I wonder if Madam President knows about this..!!??

The Literate, The Educated and The Wise....(& otherWise)

There are three kinds of people in this world - the Literate, the Educated and the Wise. The otherWise category needs special attention, so will blog about them later ... or never!!
The Literate do things that are either compulsory or because their "parents told them so". They complete schooling (made compulsory by Govt), study further ("parents told them so") and get a job (again compulsory but optional in some cases).
The Educated do everything the Literate do in addition to doing something for themselves and their families. These somethings may not always be 'good', but nonetheless...
There are a few striking similarities between the Literates and the Educated - a) they hardly ever think on their own b) because of not thinking, they do things the way they have been done for centuries and never think about being practical and doing the right thing and c) as a professor once commented "I cannot believe that this class of 150+ students is sitting here just to while away the time between their HSC and marriage!!" because we (me and a few others sitting together) honestly could not understand what he was talking about.
Now, the Wise. They are probably the most experienced (read: snow white hair). But can other people not be wise inspite of their hair colour? That is what I (think) I am or at least wish to be in the long run. But I definitely believe I am between Educated and Wise, more towards the latter side.

... !!! :)

Thought I would be EXTREMELY happy and pleased and feel smug on such a day as today.
But when I logged on and had a look at my orkut home page, I did not feel anything ... honestly !!! :)
Agatha Christie is correct ... Human Nature is indeed mind boggling and the way we react is never the same ... even if identical situations in a single person's life are to be compared !!! :)

P.S. Apologies to one and all who read this post and can't figure it out ! On second thoughts ... its better to have a few secrets !!! :)

The 'e' - age

E-mails, e-friends, e-news, e-television, e-updates, e-banking, e-commerce, e-reservations, e-courses, e-job-applications (which NEVER work!!) ... a salute to everything that is e-something these days. Also a salute to all the people who have invented these soft-wares and made life easier for the layman with firewalls and security settings so that people know that their chats, blogs and money is safe and secure. But e-shaadi and e-spouse????
There are people in this world who take one of their most important, crucial and (literally) life-changing decisions merely after chatting with someone??? The firewalls and security settings surely do not extend protection for "actual lives"?? And what do two "adults" who have NEVER met each other in person chat about? Somethings are completely beyond my comprehension. Is e-knowing a person really knowing him/her??
Could not believe when my friend sent a text (e-texting!!!) saying that she is getting married to an e-someone (though he is an actual someone in flesh and blood...thank god for that) from the US she met on a matrimonial web-site. Wonder if they will have an e-honeymoon?