Fun At Work

This phrase is more of an oxymoron these days. The project am working on right now has unrealistic deadlines and hence code named 'MI' after the famous Tom Cruise thriller. The workplace is cramped, more like a call center. Literally everyone is burning their asses to deliver the product in time.
Amidst all this chaos, people find time to have fun. Every week there will be some occasion to party and if there isnt any we will come up with one :). A party without liquor is so stale hence we make it a point to bring in varieties every week :) and this week it was Tequilas and Margaritas along with some Beer. Beer is like the LCM of liquor, it has to be there. So we drowned ourselves in Tequilas. One of our guys was having a compile problem which he could'nt solve for like 2 hours. So our man gulps in some margaritas, goes near his comp and shouts 'hey that 'p' has to be in lower case' :) and he is thro' with his compiling. Then guys started playing black jack. The game is definitely addictive. I was first exposed to Black Jack in the Foxwood casins. I guess someday am bound to lose thousands in Black Jack :).
Its fun working out here even though the work sucks big time :).

New Lease Of Life.

The Victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy get a compensation of 1500,00,00,000 after 20 years of the tragedy. Finally the law has shown some consideration in distrubuting the money to the needy. Greenpeace was fighting for the cause of the gas victims.  Finally them seem to have succeeded.  I first read about the  Tragedy in one of these greenpeace pages and it filled me with sadness. How could a company be so irresponsible about these dangerous chemicals.  Even inspite of bieng irresponsible, the company refused to pay the victims. Instead they sued the victim's families.
         The Dow Chemicals company, which took over Uninon Carbide, payed 417,000,000 $ for the victims. If the same tragedy had occured in US, they should have to shell out nearly 15,000,000,000 $ for the victims.  So y this indifference ? Just because the tragedy occured in India. Just because a few Indian politicians ate a few crores of rupees and forgot about the case.   
       Am relieved to see that people are getting some money tho its no comparison to the lives lost and the years spent in distress. But I wish I could sue Dow Chemicals company and close their business for ever, for the hienous crime they committed in Bhopal.

Condemnation Of War On Iraq

could'nt hv been done better :)

Patni Pati se poochthi hai: "Ghar itne jaldi aagaye ?"
Pati Bolta Hai: Haan, my manager said 'go to hell'

Bharat desh ke saare kutte kyoon margaye ?
Kyon ki Dharmendar ne sab kutton ka khoon peeliya

I thought of translating these to English but that took off the humouor.

Siddartha

Yes am talking about the book by Herman Hesse. The book is a marvel. I found the book in one of the libraries in NJ. They were selling it for 50 cents. Such a throwaway deal. The book is a marvel. It just got me absorbed so much. Inspite of my hectic 60 hour weeks I found time to complete this book. The book reflected whatever I had strongly believed all thro' my life. Some of my ideologies were more or less similar to that of the character Siddartha. I never believed in any Guru, I never believed in any scriptures or any 'form' of God. I truly didnt know what 'love' was. I could picture myself so much as the character Siddartha though I was in no way a match for him :).
I would say this book is a must read for everyone, especially those who think that going behind a 'Guru' will lead them into ultimate realization, salvation, moksha etc etc. The essense of the book as I putforth is 'Its easy to be a follower, its tough to be a leader'. A leader who chooses a path of his own and becomes successful. One line that struck me a lot was 'knowledge can be preached, but not wisdom'. Its so true. Wisdom cannot be preached in words nor can it be learnt by reading books. I always used to think that knowledge is supreme and never bothered to think about 'wisdom' at all. The book was a true eye-opener. Its very consice, simple and easy to read. I learnt to give up some of my 'pessimistic' attitudes in life after reading this book. Still theres a long way to go to become totally optimistic.
Otherwise, I found some time to explore downtown Boston. The place is a heaven for partygoers. Such an enthusiastic crowd, small time comic fights between some groups, police cars flashing across often, people in the craziest outfits, tattoes on the 'unexpected' regions of the human body and what not. Now that the democratic convention is on, there are lots of restrictions around this area. Otherwise its one of the most enjoyable places I've ever been.