Its Uncertain I tell you

We were all working peacefully this morning and the discussion was still on about why the heck is this diesel crisis and power crisis and will the Air conditioner stop working in the completely closed room. As usual, the possibility of conspiracy theories behind the power and diesel crisis were also being discussed.

And then there you go. Someone comes and says there were couple of blasts at a stone throw distance from our workplace. And the whole focus shifted. There were 9 low intensity blasts this afternoon in Bangalore and quite a few were pretty close (< 1-2 Km) from my house and my office. And then there were discussions, a little panic and little philosophy. To be honest, I was the philosophically boring one. I am sure my colleagues were like "Oh no not again" :-) Buts that's alright.

But I guess its high time we throw that panic out of door since its no help getting panicked. Its just a sense of excitement unfortunately. We should get this straight. Our lives have become uncertain. We might be here today. We may not be tomorrow. The home minister may condemn. Critical IT establishments may be brought under Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Great fine. But, you cannot guarantee where a trigger may go, from a common man's security perspective.

I was having this discussion with a few colleagues some time back and they were not definitely satisfied with my point when I asked , is it better to die suddenly with a sense of security until then or is it better to live every day without any sense of security and fearing that some mindless attack may happen? I think I would go for the former.

Unfortunately, a common individual must get this that we must live life without panic and be ready to accept that one never knows when they may be at a wrong place at a wrong time. That's what happened with two unfortunate souls who died today in the blasts.

Buses, railway stations, malls, movie halls etc. are so many soft spots. Will we stop going to those places? Ofcourse not. We believe that the people in charge of the security of the community have done their pre-emtive job.

Until then blasts will happen. Innocent people will keep dying. Our ministers will keep condemning and promising not to spare the guilty.

It must have been a normal morning for the poor woman who had no clue that a blast was in store for her. It could have been you. It could be me. And we start taking these things as part of life.

Unfortunate!!

Diesel Shortage in Bangalore

Today, we got an email informing us that there is a severe diesel crisis in Bangalore. And as you know, power cuts are a common phenomena and hence many times, the offices are working on generators. And these generators work on diesel. So, diesel cut means, the generators cant sustain for long and if they cant, well!! then your guess is anyone's guess. Thats right. The work in Bangalore can come to a halt.

These so called modern offices are built with nice looking windows only to be not opened. I wish they could. That way we could turn off everything in day time and opened the windows. Its anyways fabulosly pleasant in Bangalore. But alas we cant.

We have already gotten emails asking us to shut down our systems when we go back home. And guess what !! I forgot :-) :-(

Is it possible that all offices in Bangalore might come to a halt if this crisis grows? What other ramifications can this have?

Unimaginable crisis!!

Ex-VP of IBM/HP Facing Charges of upto 10 years in prison

This is absolutely scary. If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, then go to google and search for the keywords "Atul Malhotra", "IBM" or "HP". The news article will pop up.

Now, coming to the brief intro and the analysis, Atul Malhotra was with IBM for almost 7 or 8 years. While at IBM he gets some document containing sales strategy etc. The document was sesitive. He was not supposed to share it with anyone. Then he moves on HP. He shares it some VP at HP. Lands in trouble. HP fires him. Reports him to cops. He pleads guilty of leaking IBM trade secrets. Faces a prison term of upto 10 years in prison. Also faces a fine of $250000.

When I was reading the article on some news website, I also saw lots of comments so eager to see him punished etc. And then there some comments citing racist politics.

No doubt this guy has done something wrong.

But this issue seems to have been blown leagues and bounds out of proportion. I think, this guy never realized that what he might be casually doing might land him in such a huge trouble. Is HP trying to show, through its action, that it is some kind of honest/altruistic organization believing in complete transparency? I am sure that will be too nice a music to the ears. Several questions remain unanswered (or may be there were answered in court) :

Why was this guy so badly cornered?
Why wasnt he just warned and told that this is unacceptable and that document destroyed right there?
How does one ensure that the document is not destroyed now?
Is he being made a scapegoat? Could he be a victim?
Could it be possible that there was this casual meeting and he just casually shared the document that he thought is pretty innocuous and based on trust?

While I accept that he has done soemthing wrong, but he for sure does not deserve such a inhuman punishment.

I am pretty sure that in today's world, the organizations are structured in such a way that, some folks act in a way, buckling under the pressure of their superiors, which might land in trouble. In such cases, should those poor folks be severely punished?

Reminds me of a classic Cadence-Avanti case few years back.

These stories for sure scare the hell out of any corporate employee because they are never sure whether what they are doing is right or wrong, to be honest.

Being Busy

An interesting point is "We are always busy".

Why are we being so busy?
Is it normal to be busy?

By being busy, are we in control?
By being busy, are we exploring what we are made for?
By being busy, are we just being a machine ?
By being busy, are we taking time to introspect?


I want to be less busy :-)