Anbe en Anbe - Chennai

I leave Chennai, I arrive at Bangalore.Chennai - my second home; A city I loved to be in; A city which I never stayed out for more than a week, continuously, in the past 2 1/2 years- wrenched my heart when I left it. The pain I underwent when leaving this place cannot be described in words.
Chennai is humid, hell to stay in the months starting from April to September, because Lord Sun dries this place and people all he can, and of course returns this back the water he has sucked, during the following months in the form of incessant rains. In short Chennai is untenable, both in summer and rainy seasons. But that does not deny the fact that I made this place my home. And also me stating the shortcomings of Chennai climate does not negate the truth that I love this place. Tamil and only tamil runs all over except in corporate spaces, even some times these are filled to brim with hums of Tamil.
I am not confusing you, neither am I contradicting myself by putting only the shortcomings of the place and still saying I like it. All I have to say is Chennai as city has a character of its own, it thrives at its own frequency. People come here learn new things, perhaps a new language and evevn in some cases, like me, new culture. Another place I have seen that retains it character and vibrates at its own frequency is Kolkota. People view these cities as retard metropolitans, but for me these are cultural crucibles.
I have a question for all of you who resent being in place that resists change - when you go to a new place, say the united states do you try and adopt to the new culture there or do you demand them to adopt your culture?Again, agreed it is true that I am talking about a nation and you are expecting to be welcome in your own nation, but in a different state. But thats how culture survives. Go to the Indian villages which are respected and revered as true India, what do you expect? Then why can not a city be so?
But onething I can tell the readers, ask for help in a language these people her understand you will not be turned down. I made some of my best frens here at work. I learnt the lessons of life from people here.And never encountered regional discrminication at work or any other civilized quarter of the city.Leave out the auto wallahs, you can not demand an auto driver to be civilized( if you find one, you are blessed) irrespective of the city he drives auto in and also leave out the scum - it is a part and parcel of every city.
Classical music tradition - the oldest in the world- is a glorious gem in the crown of this princess. Every week you have concerts, art exhibitions, literary evvents and many more fine art related expos going on around the city. What else can an art enthusiast ask for?
Chennai has got one of the best intra city road transport facility and it comes second to none in terms of traffic regulation and control. I say this comparing this place with Hyderabad( my own state capital), Kolkota, Bangalore,Bhubaneswar(it hasn't get traffic at all), Visakhapatnam - some of the major cities in Eastern and Southern India. Wait, why am I trying to convince people that Chennai is a great city to stay in ? I don't care what you think about it. For that matter my girl friend hates this place. She was the happiest person when I got an offer in Bangalore, because to take the offer I have to move out of the place and she can follow me out of Chennai. But one thing is true those who love this place cannot stop loving for all the shortcomings and I am one of those. Chennai I will be back one day, this time to settle in your heart forever.This time I will come better prepared learning your tongue and earning a little more to counter " not-so-favourable" climate with an A/C and also to put up at a place which does not have water problem. Do not bother what others say my dear Chennai, you have fans and you will always have them no matter what. Rest assured that along with me you have another vote whether or not she likes you!!!

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Joining letter from SAG

Though I am posting this today, this post should be considered latest as on 18th of March 2010.
I received an offer last week from SAG. Most do not know that, there exists in this world an organization with this name.However, few know it and value it. The offer I received was decent, compelling and impounding, all at once. SAG is the vendor and parent organization of the product which I have been working on for the past couple of years. It is a dream for many to be a part of this organization. With all the "many" I shared the dream. For most of them, it remains a dream due to various reasons. But I had an offer in hand with a decent compensation. An year back it would have been easy to pick this offer and walk away from my current employer, TCS. During the last year I have revised my own benchmarks and redefined them at TCS. And, as a consequence my supervisors and managers were pleased. In my quest to learn integration and SOA, I have treaded into areas entirely unwelcome to a 1 year old in the IT industry. In the process I struggled hard, did a lot of homework, dug into te unexplored nooks of the application and at times reverse engineered it. I was recognized, and was given challenges that dragged me further into the technical realms which I though I would never get into in this lifetime owing to my aspirations of being an MBA grad from a deemed B-school. I never resented the deviation from my path for at my heart I am a computer science graduate. Of course I operate very much with 1s and 0s.
With all the work I have been doing, I was rewarded, appreciated by the immediate superiors and also by managers and heads up in the hierarchy. I was viewed at as a reliable resource and I never disappointed anyone. At times there were glitches with immediate colleagues but it wasn't to be worried about "much", as I believe attitude is a personal thing and should not intervene in profession. And, I was careful with those who did not realize this fact.To be honest, though it did not matter much it caused ripples in my otherwise pleasant work environment.
Irrespective of the tide I am riding at TCS I decided to switch lanes and move on to quench my thirst to learn and to reach there where I wanted to be, faster. Simply put I want to be the best in the business and want to occupy the space which a technocrat alone or a management graduate alone cannot occupy. I want to be the best of both. A manager who can soil his hands in technology. A techie who can handle sales and clients with ease and panache. Weird dream isn't it ? But I cannot help. Neither is it seemingly possible from where I am.
I put forth my plan to quit before my manager. He was taken aback as nobody expects you to quit when all the good things are happening around you and especially when you are in middle of so many proactive measures. In the following weeks I was asked by senior management reasons for quitting. After listening to my career aspirations, they told me what they were willing to do for me and they promised to move me into a different work environment and showed me a path to be a technocrat which was non-existent till now in TCS. They had some plans to provide technology verticals for associates who like to be full fledged technocrats. The promises of travel abroad, change of role or no other promise succeeded in influencing my decision. I really appreciate all the pain my managers have taken to convince an associate whom they consider is worthy. But I knew what I have before me. A chance to be one among the few. With this playing at the back of my mind I boarded this train to Bangalore to confirm my intention to join SAG and thereby collect my offer letter. TCS ends and SAG begins both, alphabetically and in the context of my life. I know, I am leaving a secure job and all the recognition I have here behind to negotiate a blind curve. But ha! life is like that -take caluculated chances. And I believe I have caluculated odds pretty well. Anyways how much interest does a savings account yield though it is secure? 8%? And, how about a well managed stock ? Again I am not specculating, I am investing in my future.

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