A stupid thought

The whole world knows the moon(girls) but the moon(girl) does not know which planets(guys) orbit(go around) the moon.

100!!!

I have bored my readers enough!!! (Readers? I was referring to myself) So my 100th post is all about graphs and stat's and numbers. Since the time I have got into this new project of mine, I have begun to love numbers. Life these days is all about real time data and trends in data.

On this day 13th..

Jul 2005, Fresh out of college, with some flying scores and a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology, I was all fretful when I set feet into the job market. While in college I had only taken up one campus recruitment test and I went all the way to the final round and didn't make it in the end. I had lotta hopes pinned up then.
I was very keen and desperate to pick a job as early as possible, cos then I had some promises to keep. There was someone waiting for me and it was not just my prospect but our future which was to take shape. I wanted to settle down abroad and before I made that leap I wanted to ensure I had some experience with me and at the same time, I also wanted to make sure I was self dependent before I could speak to my potential in-law's.

As I kept trying for jobs, it was not a good experience to start off with. Walk-in is never easy. Sometimes I would just come back not getting a chance to be able to make my way through the crazy mob that used to gather in front of the centres. Made two futile attempts at two different companies and didn’t even make it through the written aptitude rounds.

It was on one such day in Nov 2005 that Chetan(My friend/my classmate) calls me up and asks me to come to Koramangala as there were a few openings in the company which he jus joined. I rushed. I gave my written tests. An aptitude test, a technical paper and then an essay round. The lady HR said she would get back by EOD(End of Day)

While I was heading back home, the HR calls me and informs me that I have cleared my written rounds, and then I would have group discussion the following day. So then it was the round of GD. 3 rounds of GD with some really strong contenders. I managed to survive. And then we were taken trough the technical rounds of interview the same day. And in the end, I felt positive I would make it through. I got a call the next day saying I have been selected and I could come and take my offer letter. I was all ecstatic. It was my first job and I knew it was important for me to keep moving and not fritter away time.

And it was on this very day, 4 years back 13th of Nov 2005 that I joined Aztec. There is something else about the date 13th. My Kismat Connection was born on this eventful date; fortunately for me not the same year (Sad Joke). The journey from Aztec to Aztecsoft to Mindtree has been really a great experience with my career growth on the fast lane. Four years and four back to back promotions is something I can brag of. Have been really privileged in that sense for having worked with some real great leaders (I wouldn't call them managers). I have learnt a lot. I am still learning, and will continue to learn.


4 years is not something I had foreseen when I started. But then there were lotta other things which I had never foreseen back then. I have lost something that I never wanted to let go, and somehow the thought always continues to haunt me. May be that is one reason I have always tried to keep myself engaged in work. My effort along with my share of good fortune has taken me places. From Austria to Germany to Italy and now to Malaysia. I am travelling around the globe.

All said, it's been a memorable 4 years and something that I can showcase in my resume. It's a different thing and ironical that my technical knowledge does not reflect my years of technical experience. May be that's why I find people around me these days telling, "Fazal, you are wasting your life here." Not sure if I'll complete my 5th year in this industry. Time will tell.

So time for thanksgiving again. I ll make it short. And interestingly the reasons for my success so far have all been women. My mom, My sis and My lost love. Thanks to the three of you. My mom for all her prayers, my sister for all her support, my lost love for being my reason to live.
Love you all.......

Lessons in life

It was a hot day and I was sitting by the pool and trying to beat the heat. In the meantime a lady came along with her little baby. The baby must have been barely 6-7 months. This I can say with self-assurance cos since the time Aman was born I am aware usually by what age kids to what. So by seeing this tiny tot I knew the kid was around 6-7 months old. Being the person that I am who is very very fond of kids, I kept observing the kid and it was fun to see the kid jumping around in its mom's hand. As I kept watching this lady, she did something which I never ever anticipated.

She got down with her baby into the pool. The baby's face and the expression on its face was a sight to my eyes. The water must have been really freezing for the baby. Within a few seconds the baby was beating its leg in the water and it was sure enjoying the moment.

I ve read about such things being common in the west. But this is the first time I had ever seen such a spectacle. And I was overjoyed by the sheer look on the babies face when it put its feet in the water. And at the same time I was left to reflect.

We in India particularly, I can never imagine an Indian mom doing the same to her baby. I don’t even think any mom will get her baby even close to a swimming pool, let alone get the baby into the water. We in India are generally over protective, we guard kids from the whole lot, and in some ways over the period make them dependent and vulnerable. I am sure this baby that I saw today will know how to swim even before most Indian kids learn to walk steady on their feet.

I am reminded of a anecdote of how a man found a cocoon of a butterfly and he kept watching the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Trying to draw a parallel analogy, we Indian's in the process of showering extra care towards our kids end up hindering our kid’s growth in the long run.

Just take this for an example.

A kid is running fast, it falls. It's a slight fall. You re there and you see it happen and you also know nothing would ve happened to the kid. But you run to pick the kid and you are all worried. Seeing the worry on your face, the kid starts to cry; also by this time the kid knows crying is the best way to grab attention. And so what you do is, in the process you deny the kid a opportunity to learn. A valuable lesson is gone astray. The kid from this time forth will only cry every time it falls.

Picture this in contrast, the same kid same place; jus that you act as if you ve not seen the kid fall. The kid looks around, and then seeing no one has seen it, gets up and starts to run again. He is happy and continues to run along, and as a parent you should be proud that your kid can live in this fierce world of today.

Life without obstacles would cripple us. Was it not for struggles we would not be as strong as what we could have been.

You don't fit here

Oflate I find more and more people uttering the same thing to me. People often keep saying" Fazal, you should not have been in the IT field, you should have been in a different field."

Now this could mean two things
a) It's said, you cannot hide facts from people for too long. Truth will eventually surface. Could be people have sooner than I hoped, come to realize that fazal is totally unfit for a software job.

b) It could also mean that my talent is going un-utilized in the IT industry. My strenghts are different. My core competencies are different. Which if i can work on, I can leverage things.

Time to self introspect. I can sense change round the corner.

Touching story..

This is one touching piece of story i found on the net today. Ah, this broke my heart, but the story is too touching not to share. Excuse me while I, erhm, dry my eyes. Got dust in ‘em or something.

When 6-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with brain cancer, she began hiding hundreds of little love notes around the house for her parents to find after she was gone. Here’s the story:

Just before her sixth birthday, Elena Desserich (the pretty girl right on the top of the post) was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 135 days to live. She lived 255 days, passing away in 2007. After her death, Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith, found hundreds of notes from Elena hidden around the house — in between CD cases, between bookshelves, in dresser drawers, in backpacks….

"It just felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us she was looking over us"

Elena left hundreds of notes like the ones you see in the pics above.

Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith Desserich, have now published these notes in a book called Notes Left Behind to fund a non-profit organization The Cure Starts Now dedicated to fighting pediatric brain cancer.

Cendol

I am a big time foodie. A guy with a good appetite for tasty food and esp spicy food. From the time I set foot in Kaula Lumpur till my last meal that I had, have all been different. Everyday, I experiment a new Cuisine. From Chinese, to Japanese, to Thai, to Indonesian to Malaya to Italian to Spanish. Have tasted it all here. I have never experimented with myself to such an extent.

And today was a day when even my system gave in. I had a real bad stomach the whole day today. And I again did something which I had never done before. Drink Barley Water. Yes!!! You heard me right. It's been a trip of many first times.
It's been a real exciting trip so far. But after today I have decided to take it slow. My System needs time.

All said, there is this one Malaysian Dish that I would recommend to All. A MUST eat Desert. It's called Cendol. Made of Coconut Milk, Red Beans, Grass Jelly, palm sugar. Its really a very refreshing Desert when served cold. I tasted in last Friday and since then I have been going in search of it everywhere I go to eat.