Parivartan

मागचा काही दिवसांमध्ये माझ्या मध्ये काहीतरी परिवर्तन घडले आहे. मी विवेक यात्नालकर यांना तीन महिन्यान पूर्वी भेटलो होतो. त्या वेळेला वाटल न्हवता की इतका फरक होईल. मी त्यांनी दिलेल पुस्तक वाचल आणि त्यांचे तीन वर्ग घेतले. He was very straight forward and simple in his way of delivering his message. He himself seemed very convinced of what he was talking about and that was great. आता चीड किव्वा राग आला तरी मी पटकन भडकत नाही आणि काही tricks वापरतो. आयुष्यात थोडी थोडी परत आशा जागरूक झाल्यासारखी वाटते आहे.

Nokia.... ah, dear old Nokia

My genuine thoughts about the mobile phones I so dearly loved once upon a time.

Nokia should not have forgotten that making phones with beautiful designs is what it was always good at, in addition to producing them cheap and good after sales support. I hoped the Lumia 800 would have come out with a Android skin, I would definitely have considered it. Because I still trust their hardware more than Samsung or chinese knock-offs like Micromax (I use micromax now). But forcing me to learn and adapt a new OS and that too not open source is simply asking for too much. In the case of Windows mobile, everything updates from Zune and syncs only if you have a windows OS or Mac. No support for linux(ubuntu(mint :-) )) which i use for the past 4 years and am very happy with. So its no different than the iTunes madness that I initially ran away from. So I want the hardware and dont want the software on it. Android isnt all that great, but its very easy for me to understand and connect and customize. Also it does not force me into silly jails like iTunes or Zune.

I really wish Nokia would start making android phones with their legendary quality and userfriendly menus. they could keep WP as an option as well for better hedging.

[update June 18]: Nokia is in a spiral like no other. People are doubting where it will be sold by next year. I still maintain Nokia was best off with Android and a class-apart hardware designs of their own. damn.

you know you are a father of twins when....

1. Weekdays in office seem more attractive than weekends
2. You step on random sharp objects lying on the floor and hardly seem to notice
3. Having children seems extremely over-hyped.
4. You wake up in the middle of the night, feed some baby, go back to sleep and have no recollection of this in the morning.
5. Sleep beats sex.
6. Sex is a vague recollection from the past anyways.
7. Random people telling you how lucky you are, seems to get silent murderous thoughts in your mind.
8. Things lying all over the house are best left there.
9. Occasionally you meet some domestic help whom you have never seen before or heard of.
10. You wish you wouldn't have fought with your parents.
11. You are willing pay anyone for taking the kids away for a few minutes.
12. Only a persistent strong cry from a baby gets you up from bed. Minor ones are ignored altogether.
13. Your social engagements are limited to various weekly pediatrician visits.
14. You newly discover what kind of stuff is on TV at 2:30 am.
15. All those smiling photos with the twins are a mere smokescreen for friends and family

A visit to the police station and a "bribe"

Yesterday on the eve of the agitation of Anna Hazare against curruption in India, I visited the local police station for address verification for passport renewal. Everything in the process ran with utmost smoothness and efficiency. In the morning I submitted some ID proofs and in the evening I was asked to come and see the inspector for final approval. As I walked into the station office in the evening, I had decided firmly that I am not paying bribe to these guys under any circumstances. And then came my little interview with the inspector. No one asked for a bribe, and I was out in 5 minutes. And then came the fun part. As I walked out after the last formality of signing on a paper, a constable collecting the papers, comes and says to me, "Your work is done here without any bribes. But we do a lot of work on these papers. If you feel satisfied with how we served you today, you can please give us some money and the amount can be what ever you wish. No force on you. Even if you do not pay me, your work will be done".
I (and a person behind me in line) almost burst out laughing and controlled ourselves. I had never expected this statement from a policeman. He was not asking me for a bribe, he was requesting me for a little reward! I lost my resolve.
I paid him Rs.100 and smiled all the way home. I still am smiling at the incident.

The opium of a job

Unemployment is not pleasant. It never was meant to be pleasant. These days more than the sheer loss of income for that period, what is stressful is that it actually translates to a period when a person has to think on his own all the time. When we are doing a job either for someone else or self-employed, we actually like to fall into a routine. Routine gives us comfort, to some extent the "daily routine" is like a mild dose of opium. It's predictable, it keeps us occupied, keeps us happy and numb. Our minds are conditioned to continue to do what it always does. Like a state of inertia. Same as a drug addiction. When unemployed, you are suddenly thrown into a sea of unfamiliar mental space. Well, at least for a short while, because after that you may perhaps even get used to unemployment and be extremely uncomfortable when you take up a job again. That explains why most people take a lay-off from their job so badly. They are totally distressed and unsettled. Very analogous to a opium addict suddenly cut off from his daily dose. The pain is less about the impending short term loss of income but more about the looming uncertainly and the necessity to kick start their brains again to wriggle out of this situation. People who have faced either forced or voluntary unemployment are better equipped in my opinion to think through problems and figure out ways. The mind hates to think, and that's what a job provides. Repeated steady tasks. Like the stuff they teach IT professionals in CMMi training: everything has to have a pre-defined way to do to take away all creative thinking and hence the fluctuations.
One other important thing that unemployment does is makes you focus on your priorities once more. There is a lot of things a person wishes he could do or stop doing. All those are dusted and brought out for evaluation. It's like a purgatory; washes everything off and forces you to start with a clean slate and with priorities properly rearranged. It's a double edged sword.
There are clear drawbacks but then there are some very subtle benefits as well if you are willing to use the opportunity.

the home circus

Many times at home these days I feel that Trupti and I are orchestrating a little circus. The day begins at 6:45 sharp with the wail of the girl "Thaki" or "Tanvi". Correction the day has already most probably begun at 3 am or 2 am or lets say the day is a continuous flowing stream with no start or end.

So basically the girl's is full of attitude. She smiles only when she wants to and rarely cries. Sometimes she is bored and sometimes she wants to not eat anything at all. And the boy "Bandya" or less popularly called as "Gautam" is the most gentle personality in the house at the moment with a winning smile. He's not like her. He always smiles and is willing to play. Their smiles are the only fuel keeping up going at the moment. There is a non stop cycle of feeding, cleaning, bathing, playing, crying, doctors, maids coming in and going out, parents coming and going and in the middle of all this the two of us trying to make some sense of our lives. We feel our life turned from a breezy evening jog to a formula 1 race overnight. The house is littered with hundreds of objects all over the place and we have long since stopped asking each other what each object is or what it is doing there. The local chemist and pediatrician know both kids by their first names since we are frequent fliers. Twins are God's way of reminding parents that life can kiss you on one cheek and slap you on the other at the same time.

2010 summary

1. The stork (Dr. Patankar and helpers), brought us a bunch of kids.
2. Office got real boring all year round.
3. Bored of air travel.
4. Football on Sundays was revived, thank God.
5. Finally quit Tieto
6. Life now revolves around B & T, their bottles, diapers and their smiles. They did good so far, no cry, sleep at night, pretty good for someone who is 5 month old.

आई आणि बाबांनी फार मदत केली मागचे दोन वर्ष.