No 2.

No.2 THE DEADLY MEETING

Events of yesterday spurred up my writing genes and I am back with the second last entry to the series 10 things I miss about AIRBUS ODC. When the series was in its nascent state I had noted down all the things I missed in a notepad but, the spot 1 and 2 was left blank as it was my instinct that I wanted to project not the prepared speech delivery.

Before even beginning to sound like a developer let me give a brief description on how the spot 2 was found from a trivial affair.

Status meetings: I received a mail from Gurgaon yesterday regarding the weekly status meeting which goes something like this "1 week since we have chatted and shared our ideas .Let's meet @ 11:30 today”. Such an informal invitation to a status meeting. What happens in the meeting is even more fun cross talks, mute talks, play talks, official talks I mean we cover every aspect of the word "TALK". This set me thinking……..

If there is anything I miss about AIRBUS it gotta be the 10:00 am Status meeting. A time when random rumblings became words of wisdom, ideas meant more headache to developers, bowed brows of manager meant trouble.

The time was odd, with most of the late birdies nearly missing the status meeting or early birdies missing out on the long tea breaks. The venue was the usual Airbus meeting room, sparsely decorated with a white board a conference desk for managers and few chairs.

I have some very good dreams associated with the white board, dreams specifically cause I would be half asleep most of the time Raj(Archi) had tried to induce some System wisdom into our heads. I would just dream away.....screeching halt to diverting subject. Lets just concentrate on topic at hand...see this is exactly what happens back behind the closed doors....the manager starts with one topic and after 15 minutes of never ending negotiation all of us would be arguing on a very different topic , deviating from the agenda.

OVER INFLATED OPTIMISM

Every manager would like to hear the golden word "DONE" from his subordinates so, he/she can mark the excel sheet row as done , shining in the colour RED .What happens is…. a task 50%-60%-80% completed is DONE for the manager .No one ever thinks of the left 50%-40%-20%, net effect under estimation of efforts.

ANGRY BIRDS

The meeting is not short of drama, the above mentioned over inflated optimism triggers angry bird symptom in many, refusing to accept the short deadlines, questioning the way things are done, giving others a reality check. But, their whole sincere effort is utter waste , this can be clearly seen in the next meeting .

NOD-O-NOD

Some of the mates are NOD-O-NODS....

MANAGER: can you do this within a day

PERSON: NOD

MANAGER: can you give your 20% effort to x, 40% effort to Y ...we still got your some part left

PERSON: NOD

MANAGER:????

PERSON: NOD

See these are super humans one who can multitask and they are the most dangerous one's ….they gives the manager an impression all of us are there for partying while, they are working hard.

DEAD-DYING-DIED

Some like me don't even bother to react to all the chaos in the room. Conveniently seated in an elevated altitude, we are keepers of all the happenings, never to get involved in any of the above said activities. We call ourselves DEAD community. The ones who do all the drone work, ones who don't have any right to speak up, ones who cannot say NO.YES , that's people like US.

SARCASTIC SMILIE

Of many smiles that fill the glass doors, SARCASTIC SMILIE is the best to watch. The over inflated optimism when triggered gives an allergic reaction to some WISE people or realists who are yet another branched out species sharing the same branch as ANGRY BIRDS but, unlike them never picks up a fight. They keep their roots grounded and they speak through brain waves

MANAGER: can you get this work done by today?

SMILIE(through brain waves) :KEEP ON WISHING!!!IN YOUR DREAMS :)

After all the drama when all of us come out of the room, nothing would have been achieved not the target, not the tasks just plain waste of an hour when one could have gone out and had some hot piping tea. I so miss the daily status meeting filled with all the drama unlike the fun filled ones in NSN.

Today at EOD I am not exactly in the mood in which I started my day off. This post is going to explore two stark contrasting sides of mine.

On a pleasant note, I confess that I am a limited budget monthly shopper. SALE is one 4 letter word that brings out lot of happy emotions in me, times when one can afford high end brands without burning a hole in the pocket. The SALE season doesn't influence my shopping pattern though. SALE has not swept a sleepy city like mine in a big way and most of the regular retailers don’t even know what exactly SALES mean.

Most of the months I exceed my shopping limit and during the last few days of the month I struggle to balance my balance sheet. Now, most of you guys must have branded me a shopaholic or spendthrift. Well, NO!!!I am not a spendthrift as I save 3/4^th of my income. With Dad as treasurer nothing can break my confidence not even the swipe Gods!!!

I have come up with a proper shopping plan that would help me in bringing out little more order in my life and shopping endeavors.

Step 1. Budget

Always define a limit to your shopping buys. Based on income and spending capacity one can tailor make this plan .Always be careful of the limit. If you are defining the limit as 4000 then, separate it out as 3000+1000 .1000 extra for those last minute impulsive buys. If you are strong enough to restrict yourself in that 3000 range then, at the end of the month you are free to spend 1000 as you like.

Step 2. Prepare a list

Most of us end up spending more than what we ought to because we don't have a clue on what we actually need. Making plans is not enough, sticking to it also counts. So beginning of the month list out the items you want to buy.

Step 3. Frequency of shopping

Be aware of the frequency in which you shop. For a 9-6:30 working women like me, Saturdays and Sundays are my only outing options. Those days I end up spending. Buying all the things in your list in a day is not a good idea if you have a tendency to go out in all the four weeks. The problem with the above mentioned is that the next week when you go out and when you see something that you like, you tend to go over the budget.

If you are a 4*1 shopping person and if your budget is 3000, make sure you plan such that you spend only a part of your budget each week. It can be 500+500+1500+500 or 2000+250+500+250.Tailor make it based on your list.

Step 4. Prioritize

Even after step 3 most of us would find our self staring at a list impossible to obtain in the given budget. If that’s the case then make sure you prioritize. Something you have been eyeing for quite a long time can be placed 1st in the list. If something you want will be available in half the price on SALE which will be coming up shortly or if you can get away without having that 5th bag in your wardrobe then shift it to the next months list. Make sure your needs are relevant ones. Why bother buying a new bag of the color that you have presently? .Why bother repeating the pattern in your wardrobe?

Make sure you buy only those items that you want badly. Please understand that something for the future is for the future and if it’s not for the present, we can worry about it later.

Step 5. Find the right shop

This step is the most important one. One may buy stuff on first week only to end up seeing the same stuff at half the price somewhere less. Make sure you weigh your options before checking out things in your list. Surf through multiple stores before making a final decision.

Armed with all these Steps you are good to go. Have a happy shopping experience

Now let's see the primary goal with which I had written up these rules. For the post to serve its intended purpose I have to go through entire steps. So, presenting to you my shopping plan for the month of August.

My shopping plan

Step 1:

Budget for month of August: Rs .3000

Step 2:

List: Accessories

Bag

1 Kurtha+ 1 salwar

1 silk shawl

Step 3:

Frequency 3 weeks* 1day each

1500+500++1000-1500

Step 4:

Prioritize

I can give the bag a miss

Priority List

1. Silk shawl 1000-1500

2.Kurtha+salwar

3. Accessories. May be I can bring accessories allowance to 600-700.

Step 5:

1.Fabindia/Parthas

2.Rangoli

3.Small shop in convent Junction.

Let's see if all ma shopping gyaan works :P

We

Today's post is short and full of heavy burden thoughts.....

I don't know what to make of people, for a moment I think I have got it all figured out and I just expect that person to behave in the way he/she is supposed to ,at least to where the calculation leads.NO!!!! they behave completely random leaving no traces or patterns.I stand on the analysis baffled, scratching out whatever little hair I have" How the hell can ma analysis go wrong?" .

That may be the reason why humans are the most advanced species, we never commit the same mistake twice, we keep tab of all the good things and bad things, we are compassionate, we reason , we come into terms with our own bad side. Also we have the ability to take a U-turn whenever it like.

Its getting more and more difficult to complete the series, the ambiance, work and people are not helping me either. As it gets painful with each day, I better get done with this series and fast.

Simulator Wars

"Who is using 215?"Junkindhar's loud pitched voice is an alarm of sorts, one that resonates the feeling that something bad has happened and by default the feeling is true.

It becomes difficult to develop a page without using simulator.As much as I hate using it I had no other option to get the required dynamic data from back end. My initial tryst with the simulators didn't go well as I found them painfully slow. For me, the large time taken for making a small change was the luxury I couldn't afford. Slowly as the pages moved from static to dynamic I shifted my whole focus to simulators. As much as its painful to see your changes reflected its much more painful to convince Laxmindhar to part with his precious simulators.I have always had this devilish thought of messing up with his code to avenge all his serious no-sense talk like" WHAT YOU DOING?JUNK WORK!!!". Every time when an important change was to be made I found the simulator locked by an alpine or some other junk random word. Laxmindhar in later months had literally turned into a simulator protecting monster.

The one person who had to face the monster's wrath was Tinu.I still remember the vigor with which Tinu was left with playing with the simulator or rather you can call it as an curiosity gone wrong.She replaced the entire folder and Junkies changes were gone ,literally vaporised.....I still have Junkies face expression etched into ma memory and let me tell you it was hilarious :P...Well, I miss working on simulators and more importantly I miss the guy called "LAXMINDHAR" who had the weirdest theorems when it came to girls.The guy was one with the same wavelength as mine, one whose desk I managed to cause damage to thanks to ma frequent visits to his place, occasional irritating talks.Dude where ever you are after 10 years please please do give me 14% hike for ma appraisal(Managerial material).

Miss ya!!