Ramblings from Dwarka

Its becoming common to label someone a traitor for taking a principled position. Politics saw Dinesh Trivedi being trashed by TMC and Mamata Didi for taking a principled position on the railway budget. We have seen Tamil politicians not even willing to wish opposition leader on birthdays. Its now being replayed in the sports field. Its no surprise to any tennis fan that Mahesh or Rohan don't want to play with Leander. They have been doing well on the circuit for the last year and have committed to play with each other as a preparation for the Olympics (Bopanna after breaking a successful partnership with Quereshi). We also know that Paes wanted to play with an younger player on the circuit. Leander should be man enough to step aside and let Mahesh and Rohan represent India. That's the right thing to do. Meanwhile, all those lecturing Mahesh and Rohan, buzz off! They don't require certificate from anyone for patriotism Krishnan

Apathy. Mariam Webster definition says lack of feeling or emotion. We see signs of apathy in our society everyday; Garbage strewn all over the roads and we walk around it Dump yard catches fire and in a day we forget it Accident victims are unattended  It doesn't hit you unless you are a relation is an affected party. It hit me recently. This Tuesday a 25 year old mother of a 2year toddler was killed in a road accident. She happens to be a cousin of my sis-in-law, working at a leading IT company in OMR. She was driving in her scooter to work (with helmet) when she was knocked down; the bus didn't stop. She succumbed to head injury and died on wednesday. The bus which knocked her down was run by a private operator for another IT major and at that time was possibly ferrying employees to work. In this case who is responsible? The driver has been caught and bus impounded. The driver claims that he was driving on this trip after a overnight inter-city drive fo...

One of the shocks that new employees face at Valcon is that they have to take their annual vacations (5 weeks) or let it lapse! There are no carry over and no encashment. It was a shocker for me as well; having worked for companies where getting your vacation sanctioned was a probabilistic event worse than India winning test matches outside India. I make sure that I plan my vacations well and enjoy them. Work is such a pressure and these breaks are a great way of unwinding and recharging for the next 4 /5 months. The last holiday was at Coonoor. My rule for holiday is that it should not be a sight seeing frenzy, running from one place to the other, that leaves you tired at the end of the day. Our pick for the holiday was Oland estate ( http://www.olandestate.com/Start.html ), a delightful little tea/coffee estate off the beaten path in Coonoor. So much so that you begin to wonder where the hell are you going Oland is run by a family and they are extremely warm. The esta...