Though I don’t  remember the number of disaster movies I’ve seen (last one being Raavan), but keep on doing the same mistakes every now and then… And it really feels happy (I am not a sadist, but it’s really fun to pull someone’s legs like that) that someone is following ur footsteps. One of my colleagues has been a “forced bachelor” for long weekend and to kill boredom he went to a Telugu movie called “Bhava”. I did see the poster, but did not care much. Well, to my colleagues surprise he was alone in the balcony throughout the movie. It must be quite hurting to know that (I could understand the same as I also went through that phase in life…).

I too had a similar experience once during my college days… Idea was to get refreshed from the regular boredom and to have some fun me and collage pal Ravya went to a movie called “Kaalia” to Prakash theatre in Belgaum.

Well, the biggest foolishness was to purchase a balcony ticket.

I was optimistic that at least some 10-15 seats will fill up by the time movie starts. But it did not take much time to realize that I was wrong. I and my pal Ravi were the only two people sitting in balcony along with few front benches (what we call Gandhi class people).

To our shock, even the guy who was supposed to close the curtain was also not there. I think the theater people were so sure that nobody will come to watch that particular movie in balcony by paying 25 bucks.

There were quite a lot of movies with combination of Mithun chakraborthy with some not so top class B grade heroines at that time!!! I remember reading somewhere he had a record of maximum flops in a row as well and having entered Guinnis book of world records for that awful achievement (Well, Abhishek tried a lot to give a tough competition, but he could not succeed-A real bad luck Jr.B). This movie had action sequences which would even send the Hollywood stunt folks into shock.

Later it became a part of our college life to go and watch Mithunda’s movies to kill the boredom and have maximum entertainment with a group of 10-15 friends. It used to be fun. Sometimes we used to get confused whether we are watching action or comedy movie.

As most of the movies had similar storyline and all of them shot in Ooty. Almost all of the movies TLV Prasad used to be director and being produced by Mithun Dream Factory (I think now he has serious competition from RGV’s Factory. Remember his films like RGV ki AAG, Darling, Naach, Agyaat and many more).

Here is the interesting thing: TLV holds record as one director doing so many numbers of films with one Hero ( Mithun ) without break in short span in LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS.

Though these movies fail to get notice by most, many such movies came later and created their own space and audiences. (If we could recollect in Rockstar, Nargis asks Ranbir to take her to a movie called “Junglee Jawani”) With minimal investment and eye catching posters, B grade movies used to make good business. Off late, there were many articles on the success rates of such movies with producers making decent ROI. There was an article in INDIA TODAY, according to which there were special theaters in metros like Mumbai and these movies always used to run full for most of the times. Even now, I see some posters like that, which means B Grade movies are here to stay…

Well, all we can say is “Long live Junglee Jawani…”

“Eating”

We both love food equally and like to try out different spots to satisfy our taste buds. Though we both have not visited the places together even once, but still share our experience on various eat outs. During routine discussion he mentioned about VV Puram’s Eat Street.

Off late, I was planning to visit but it was only during Akshata’s (Ams’ cousin) visit to our home, couldn’t resist my temptation and finally we three ( Me, Ams and Akshu) planned to visit the place. With brief intro from Sesh (who is my food guide and knows lots of unexplored places in B’lore) we finally headed to VV Puram.

It was on the weekend and seeing that “food crazy” B’lore crowd is indeed a treat. The first visit was not at all a disappointment. The entire street has lot to offer. We started from Paddu, then went on to eat Dosa, Pav Bhaaji, Vada pav and so on. Finally Ice cream with Gulkand and all the food is for a quite reasonable price. There are stalls which sell Akki rotti, Ragi Rotti, Idli, Tatte idli, Chats, Chinese food, Holige and so on.

Thing is, you have to stand and eat  like a “street food”. So there isn’t any question of status or anything of that sort. Though there are people who like to come in the car and eat in the car itself. But somehow that causes hell of traffic issues and problem to everyone out there. As the street is narrow, there is not much of a place to drive around like MG road. It is really sad some people lack that basic common sense. Alas! these days eating/ordering in car has become a status symbol.

After that first visit, there have been quite a few visits to VV Puram Eat Street. But this week’s visit was worth remembering as we went in Sesh’s new Scorpio and there was Avarekaal Mela organised by Magadi Farmer’s association. It was fun till the end. There was lot of Avarekalu related food available this time. And boy, the crowd was huge and even the set up for preparing the food was treat for eyes. There were people standing in queue to get the coupons, and somehow Vasuki and Ams succeeded in getting some Kodbale and Ambode. This time as well all the food were awesome. Also, our Sesh knew many shop owners there. We could taste  new varieties of food including Hesarubele Masala (this was indeed mouth watering). Expcept Avarekal Uppit, all the things were really tasty. (This may feel I’m over enthu but, I simply love Mom’s Avarekal Uppit… and rate it as the best Avarekal Uppit in the world.)

Avarekal Dose

With jokes every now and then from Sat and Sesh, we did not notice we had spent more than an hour on the street.

It was a super Saturday that ended after having desserts @ Natural’s in Jayanagar. Though after coming home we continued our gupshup at Sat’s place till early mid night. Sat had some excellent flavoured tea bag collections which we tasted late night and our eat out came to perfect end.

Further, sleeping at 2 AM and waking up early morning on a Sunday and expecting breakfast from our better halves is rude on our part, Sat being a very good hubby called us at 10.30 AM and came up with the idea of having breakfast at SLV, Gandhi bazaar.We were just awake and without wasting time hopped into Sesh’s Scorpio and vrooooooooooooom..

Wow..What a way to begin Sunday..

Avarekal mela is over. But guys, it’s never too late to visit VV Puram’s Eat Street to enjoy some real best delicacies of Bengaluru.

If you don’t know how to go there, here is the way… Simply ask for Sajjan Rao circle, park your vehicle around the circle and take a left from VB Bakery.

Average cost per person : Approx Rs. 100

(Edit: Amitha)

A fire argues?

Like the any other early Monday morning, I had just finished my breakfast and about to get back to my seat I heard my colleague calling me from back. There was a kind of surprise fear on his face.

He pointed at one of the lights in our lab and said “Dinesh, can u see that overhang light?”

I had a close look at that and said “Yeah, why what happened?” (Though I am keen observer sometimes, this was a kind of a formal stuff)

“Just see carefully, that light is oscillating a bit and the remaining lights are stationary”

This made me to take a look at that light once again within a second. And gosh, it was oscillating and oscillating well compared to other overhang lights.

What the hell..?

All the other lights, some of them were ON and others were OFF are stationary, but this light was just giving a kind of a simple pendulum motion.  “This I have been observing from 7.30 in the morning. I was thinking it could be due to breeze or may be someone has accidentally touched it or something similar. But nope, this is not stopping at all. I mean I am really scared man” was his explanation without removing his sight from the lamp.

I had heard from colleagues who were working as technicians there before the new lab was built about some strange stuff. May not be paranormal, but they used to get frightened sometime too. No one knew exactly what was there earlier as the entire electronic city was far from the city.

Tiny layouts are popping up all over the places and the city is witnessing unprecedented growth. There are many layouts built nearer to burial grounds or even some may have been vanished making ways to layouts/apartments.   I was forced to think if there is any other negative energy over there which is abnormal and affecting our lamps.

On a lighter side, sometimes our deadlines too get going further and further delaying. Well, is that the same force which is creating problems for that lamp also? This could also generate some negative energy to our suppliers who, come what may don’t send the things on time. Without any reason our systems become hell slow and don’t let us work at normal pace at all (It happened to Harry, me and sunny many times).

I had heard and seen people getting affected from the paranormal things, but lamp…!!! This was the first time. Except in movies, where the doll or lifeless objects get processed, this was a kind of personal experience to me.

I tried to get closer to the lamp to check if something I could find (Though I was trying to be brave, but this was really getting scary). Below that lamp there were two control units (kind of a server). They could not affect the lamp as they were stationary. And if they affect, then the entire lamps should oscillate, but nothing, this is the only lamp which is just moving to and fro.

By that time few more of my colleagues had come and they were also curiously watching what’s going on there. Everyone saw from different angles… but none could come out with exact reason why the lamp is oscillating. Finally I decided I won’t go to that side and came and sat on my seat.

The lamp still oscillates to date and no one could make out why?

The secret unveiled:  

The lamp oscillates due to air coming from a small fan located exactly below it put up on the server.

The night shift incidents are mere a chatting events and nothing more than that. These are the most interesting topics discussed on a cup of tea for a kind of Time pass.

The systems slow down abruptly due to scheduled antivirus scans.

(Edited by: Amitha)

Way back in 2002-2003, the first CCD  opened near Chennamma circle in Belgaum, everyone was talking about how costly was a cup of coffee there. I remember my uncle telling with surprise and shock about the cost of a coffee and also the people who visit there are not so wise to spend 40 bucks (in 2002-03) for a coffee.

Now, CCD/Barista’s are the places where we see loads of crowd hanging out. After having a lot of CCD/Barista, we both wanted to try out something different, but similar to above. We could sit, talk and have some snacks and sip hot tea.  Well, we all know there are many types of Coffee available and there are some limited options on tea in CCD, but still we were looking out for a specialized tea bar.

Accidently we happen to find a place called “MY TEA HOUSE”.

It’s not as posh as CCD, but nice place to sit. Its more like a bigger hall, some TV sets placed across and visible from all any part of the hall. MTH spcializes in different types of tea. Right from Assam tea to Kashmir tea. There are milk and Non milk teas available. As per the claims by MTH, he has more than 100 types of teas available.

Snacks wise, there are sandwiches, burgers and other fast food available and each will be prepared afresh and served (Unlike CCD where they just have that readily available). Though the “Hyderabadi Sulaimani chai” may not exactly taste as good as the native chai, but not bad also. In MTH, we have tried many types of teas over a period of time and there are not many complaints from our side.(Once I tried Kashmiri tea, which has no sugar but there was Salt  and I could sip only twice. I should have listened to the advice of the guy there…)

Snacky wise, Garlic bread platter was the most I liked, apart from Club Sandwich. There are burgers, french fries, noodles, omlette, Paratha etc. There are some cakes available as well, but we have tried only once and not found worth of it.

Now, coming to the cost…

An average tea would cost around Rs. 50+ and snacks starts Rs. 45 onwards and upto Rs. 150 or so.. On an average per couple with tea and a light snack would cost upto Rs. 250-300. Earlier there was no credit/debit card, but now I guess he would accept as I have seen a machine there on the counter.

They do sell Tea powder apart from some fancy tea cups made of clay.

MTH is approximately half a km from DG petrol bunk on the ring road towards Kamakya on the Left hand side. And is located next to the Mane thindi opposite to Corp bank ATM.

Here is the exact address …

No. 293, 4th Phase, 7th Block  100 Ft Ring Road, Banashankari, 3rd Stage, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560085

Give a try sometime..

Cheers..

i just lost myself in that beauty. someone’s voice disturbed me

“excuse me sir, would you like to have something?”

i turned back, and was surprise to see my beautiful old schoolmate, Saakshi.

“Hey Saakshi, is that you, how come you… wow, you looks still the same, pretty.. in this Air-hostess suit”

“Saurabh, wo…..w, I cant believe this is you.. ohh sorry I am on my job, will talk to you later”

she left smile on my face. I couldn’t believe in my eyes, It reminded me my school days memories.

How crazy i was about her, always followed her after the school, Wrote love letters, but never dared to give one of them. Always looking at her in the class,from last bench. she was the queen of our class. I fought with 2-3 other guys for her, how stupid I was.

I couldn’t stop myself, looking at her again, I was amazed to see that, she became more beautiful then she were at school.

she too looked at me and smile, then she said something to her fellow air-hostess, then they both started smiling.

I was clueless that wat happened. her colleague was also damn pretty. Oh my god, today you fulfill one of my dream.

I thought of going there and having chat with her, but i knew that, its her job, so I stopped myself.

Again started looking outside the window. we were above the clouds making an awesome scene outside, also inside, because of her smile.

I got some courage, and pretended that I am going towards toilet. I looked at her, she understood what I desired.

she came toward me and said : “extremly sorry yaar, I couldn’t talk to you much, so say how are you, where have you been these many years, and what’s your success story? for what purpose you are going?”

“hmmm…

i was always there, it was you who left everything after school,i searched you, so many places wherever i could, but no existence of you. then i completed my college, got a job in such a nice company, i didnt know, my company will give me this much, still i m going for an onsite job, dont know when will return back. you know, i got everything in my life except someone, with whom i can actually share my world, my success.

“someone…”

i looked straight into her eyes.. those blue eyes, i think she got the answer, who is that ’someone’ with some pain in her eyes, she said,

“sorry got to go,will give you my number”

i again, sat back to my seat,very silent, looking outside, and hoping some answer. it was dark outside by that time, some thunder in cloud, just like inside my heart. then suddenly, plane started getting hiccups.. everone got scared..

i saw Saakshi running towards mic, she made an announcement, that dont be panicas they are facing a storm outside.

but plane started shaking badly, everyone started feeling its the last moment of their lives…

i keep on watching Saakshi, and she to me…

then something hit my back hard.. and there was a complete darkness in front of me..

deep silent, but i could still feel the shaking plane, and people’s scream..

then someone shouted… ‘Saaaauuuuraaabhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!’

“Saurabh, wake up you are again sleeping in office, wake up, i need that report urgently”

Damn.. I looked here-there, same ODC, no Onsite, no plane.. no Saakshi..

I stared at my PM in anger.. Because of you only, that plane crashed!!

(I got this Forward from one of my Friends- Amandeep)

Talking more about our lunch group, we have all kind of people here. If KC is more kiddish, Harish and KK are a bit serious (Mind you, they are the people to watch out before we actually get on with argument). Personally they are most practical guys in the group (when I say group, it’s just lunch group). Santhosh and VT are kind of serious but not so serious kind of fellas. And this serious and serious but not so serious kind of attitude pops up when we have some or the other kind of discussion starts on the table.  The topic could be anything ranging from day to day issue in office to some useless topics like films, cricket or even commenting on someone’s behavior inside or outside office (Actually speaking, that’s none of our business, but we do it as we need to start with some topic and later take it forward to some other issue).

The other day we had a hot issue of Nityananda (well, atleast I can’t address him as Swami for all the deeds he has shown us on TV). After his hidden cam clip on TV which virtually made him bigger star than south Indian superstar Rajni and Kamal Hassan, he had to be bought on our lunch table for sure.

The debate was “is it ok to show someone’s bedroom scenes on television openly and debate about individual’s personal (can be read as s*x) life.” That too on primetime news hour slots when most of the families will be watching TV along with their family.

KK was strongly in favor of leaving Nityananda alone as he had just trying to satisfy his need in some way. May be that actress was involved in shooting that sleazy video or not, but that was not his fault at all to have ***.  KK also argued that there were people like Osho who always advocated people to achieve ultimate Moksha by means of practicing regular sex. Who doesn’t know about Osho’s famous advice to then Prime Minister Morarji Desai about keeping a good health.

Harish and Santhosh strongly argued it was not having something like that with someone, but he should have respected people’s feelings, who trusted him as Guru. If he wanted to embrace gruhastashrama, he could have come out of that swamy costume and surely was free to do whatever he could.  In other words Nityananda was playing around with people’s emotions in the name of preacher by giving lecture on life, mukti, karma and yoga… where as he was not free from pancha mahabhootas and was driven away from lust.

I argued on a conspiracy theory which had come out in Mid-day about his alleged tussle with Maran’s and Bangalore’s own godfather Muttappa Rai over some land issues (http://www.mid-day.com/specials/swamisexscandals/index.htm). There were several negotiations about his land in Bidadi and TN where respectively Maran’s and Rai had interest, but Nityananda didn’t heal to their demands (purely as given in the paper). Media which has become more powerful than ever used as tool to topple a person from top position within a night (May be RGV had an idea about the current affairs and hence did the movie RANN). Coincidently the news broke out firstly on Maran’s owned Sun network, as they called themselves a responsible media organization with loads of social responsibility to bring out truth to people.

Whatever is the discussion, a person who had regular visitors like Narendra Modi, BSY and many more high profile VIPs had no one standing for him after the release of his super hit movie on TV.  He joined long list of god men who first become famous and later became infamous for their alleged acts which society considered un-ethical. All in all, the Hindu religion as whole was hurt and people will see all god men with suspicion. Nityananda left a scar on face of all preachers which will take long time before it heals up.

To end the blog on a lighter note, a quote from Nityananda..

“It’s easy to search god, but very difficult to find hidden cams”.

This particular one was shared by our own Charan, and we named him Charananda. LOL

So all in all we again end up on same track. More salary (expected), but more expenses and more costly EMIs. Whatever we face here, but for Europe and US, India still remains low cost center. Despite Obama’s warning about cutting the tax soaps to all companies who outsource work outside US, things appear bright here.

I have been associated with OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) companies during my previous assignments and strongly believe calculated expansion/investments here in India reap more benefits rather than investing in suddenly. Few companies who have invested heavily looking on short term gains have laid-off people soon after the recession due to problems back home. Also these companies suffered because of lack of knowledge on Indian job market conditions. Paying higher salary helps in getting good talent, but it also has long term effect on profit margins of the organization and also delays break-even.

But there are some companies who follow a different approach before actually investing heavily here on Manpower as well as infrastructure. A Swedish auto and aero major company with which I had a brief stay for more than a year followed more systematic and calculated approach. They found, it is less risky to hire contract employees from service companies rather than hiring directly on payroll. This had helped in establishing not only a good Indo-European work interface, but also made sure to believe guys back in Europe that Indians could definitely do the work. Within couple of years as the work started to offload more from Europe, India center started hiring more and more people. Many of them were contract employees, who were looking out for a change from the services to OEMs. Though this is a relatively slow process, but surely yields more ROI. As these are the people who were actually aware of the process and work culture. Hence no need to spend on training or any other skill improvement.

In worst case of closing down any unit due to bad economy or any other unforeseen risk, contract employees could be sent back to the respective service companies and permanent employees can be relocated to other facilities. As this did not happen in the initial phase and already things start to move, there is less chance of LOSE-LOSE situation here.

One more important issue in Engineering services is the investment which is quite high compared to software business and also the delayed break-even period.

All in all, engineering outsourcing done in a systematic way by maintaining optimal resources back home and maintaining systematic investment approach proves to be more beneficial. But this should also create more opportunity to people out there in US and Europe rather than laying off folks back there and going on hiring spree here. As mentioned earlier, one should look at WIN-WIN situation thereby improving both economies.

King of Pop (August 29, 1958–June 25, 2009)

That’s when few of my senior friends told me about Michael Jackson and his music. I bought my first English album “BAD” for 60 rupees and it took no time for me being carried away with the music. I became instant fan of MJ and went on collecting his albums one by one… Dangerous, Thriller, History… Though compared to Indian film music, the MJ albums were quite expensive at that point of time (Being student, saving bucks from my monthly pocket money and buying a cassette was a real crazy stuff). But the madness towards his albums was more and more with introduction of satellite TV (though it was in 92 when Star TV made mark in India, we only got cable connection during mid 90s) and watching his video albums over MTV and other channels .

MJ in Mumbai

MJs Mumbai concert was one of the big news in India and was carried all over newspaper and TV. Though it was his only performance here, I was hopping just like any other bands he would surely come to Bangalore once in future.

As there were more channels and exposure to internet grew, I started to keep a track of MJs life and controversies that surrounded him. I later started listening to Boyzone, Backstreet Boyz, Madonna, Dr. Alban and so on just like any other college going fella, there were not many MJ releases as well. But MJ remained a special and any news about him used to immediately catch my attention. Off late I had stored many of his albums in my PC and they were a best entertaining stuff for me. I was a great fan of his dance and choreography, especially “The smooth criminal”… His Bad, Smooth Criminal, black or white, they don’t really care about us, remain my favorite songs forever.

MJ Albums on YOUTUBE…

Bad
Black or white
Smooth criminal

As the time passed there were less and less work of MJ, and the last thing we wanted to see was his concert in London in July 09. Early morning on 26^th June when I browsed usually, Time of India website splashed stunning news of MJs demise due to cardiac arrest. Just like the entire world, I too shell shocked with this breaking news.  A person who lived his life surrounded by controversies had bid goodbye to world in the same way. His death was also much speculated with different versions coming out about the circumstances lead to his death.

One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, including one for “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.” He has won 13 Grammy Awards. Though his personal life remained a controversial subject, MJ was indeed “King of Pop” and will be remembered so. May his soul rest in peace…

MJ profile on Wikipedia
www.michaeljackson.com
Article about MJ memorial service

It could be anyone for that matter. Like “Bihari Bhayya” in Mumbai or UP people in Delhi  or NCR or even construction workers from displaced backwaters of Almatti dam from  Karnataka  in Goa. The native (local) people make a impression by generalizing the population from a particular geographical representation in common as thieves or rash uncultured thugs or even criminals right away. As the people come from outside have no intention of accepting the local culture and try to impose their own style of living creates a clear distinction between local population and outsiders.

Bangalore has witnessed unprecedented growth after becoming Silicon Valley of India. It has seen people coming from all across the country in search of white collar jobs.  As the jobs promise growth not only in terms of money but also makes one grow vertically purely on talent. The salary what these “Techies” get are obviously more than an average government/PSU employee and the lavish lifestyle makes Bangalorean stare with wide eyes. The sudden rise of shopping malls, cost of living, multiplexes designed for  white collar people who spend (or at least used to spend before recession) has changed the cultural landscape altogether.

Result of such a growth is an untold, unexpressed hate about people from software or related fields (I remember my cousin scolding solely outsiders for the sudden rise of Cost of living here).  The rash driving cab fellas who carry these IT/ITES employees, carefree girls, guys enjoying life to fullest on a weekend… the hatred has gone from bad to worst(Bangalore has seen kind of violence over Dr. Rajkumar’s funeral when people simply erupted with all fury inside).

The recent incident my friend Girish narrated was one such example which shown the growing intolerance. Girsh is from Mysore works in Bagmane Tech Park and has been put up in Banashankari area of Bangalore. We both worked together in my previous organization and he still works there.

“It was a usual morning where I was riding to my office on my bike. Usually there are people who come to have a morning walk in Lalbagh and there will be a huge crowd gathered around front and back gate.  There will be laud talks, laughter sessions, clapping sessions, Saas-Bahu stories, gossips and so on. It is a sure treat to watch people especially senior citizens. Usually the gathered crowd starts to disperse around 7.30 am. Decent people follow the rules and move on to the allocated neat footpath where as some start to walk on the road. Since there are large number of vehicles (both two and four wheelers) parked in front of Lalbagh making it difficult for riders to move on the road. Since the road connects to south end circle and further extends to electronic city, the traffic would be more around 8 or so. Thinking about the same I was moving and since the red light was on for straight lane and there was a green light for right turn, I wanted to turn and move on towards office. There was a small gap where I could have easily passed my vehicle, but there were people returning from jogging/morning walk. They were all over the signal, Irrespective of Zebra crossing, footpath, right and left – virtually all over the road jamming the traffic. . Meantime I don’t know what went wrong with one senior person, he stared at me started shouting in Foul language asking me to not to come on the way as there is no space there, and to my surprise many more joined him. They all looked pretty sophisticated and were sporting Convergys T-shirts.  I wanted to take right turn as there was green signal. That’s all. I was truly amazed at his reaction and told him “Sir, we could all move comfortably if you guys walk on the footpath”.  This further irritated these people and one approached me and started using all available bad words in Kannada. He was almost about to slap me and was repeatedly shouting,

“You *******, U know who I am … *******, do I need to learn things from you…”

To add on this, out of so many people, none was uttering the word to this “self-proclaimed influential gentleman”. And it was as if I had committed a grave crime by asking them to follow the traffic rule. One more gentlemen joined him and started to hit me on helmet. Others could have stopped him, but all were simply watching. It’s not impossible for me to turn back on him, but that’s not upto my dignity and culture.

It was real hard time to get out of the scene there and to reach office. I still remember and think what was wrong. But this was really a bad beginning of what could be a beautiful morning, where I saw a person more than the age of this country behaved like a thug.  REALLY DISAPPOINTING…  “

Visibly upset Girish disconnected the call in disappointment, and I was also speechless.

All I could say is let’s not take garbage from the truck. Let it be there with them only who shouted on Girish.

It was a regular day at office, as Mr.S is on his workstation and waiting for the log off after send-off party of one of his pals, who is moving out organization after working for close to three years. Just before he logs off for the day habitually he peeps at his e-mails for possible forwards and notices a mail from his HR manager with subject line “YOUR LAST DAY AT OFFICE”. Fearing the worst he looks for the contents which summarizes he has been laid – off, and the very same day is his last day. As Mr.S meets the HR immediately, the HR manager asks for a resignation letter to be written right there in his cabin with even the contents dictated by him. Mr. S remains stunned as he has no option but to obey t o what the manager is demanding. Mr.S is informed that his compensation for the immediate lay off will be three months pay as per policy and it will be paid in 45 days.

Recession graph

This is more or less a common scenario when recession strikes. There gonna be loads of uncertainty and no one knows his/her future in the company. Fear, tension, and additional burdens of EMI/liabilities make a common IT guy to suffer depression and breakdown. I have heard many stories of people shifting from bigger to smaller houses, postponing the marriages or going for kids, and cutting costs in every possible way they can.

Countries under current economic recession

It’s been close to three quarters when the predominant American economy was stuck by Shocking bankruptcy declaration by Lehman brothers. What followed was the worst, many more big time banks followed the suit and the recession which gripped o America started to cover world under its black cloud. The origin of the current economic slowdown traced to reckless lending practices involving the origination and distribution of mortgage debt in the United States. (LATE 2000 RECESSION IN WIKIPEDIA) The so called “Subprime” crisis triggered worldwide collapse of stock markets and sudden erase of wealth to many multi millionaire stock brokers and businessmen. People like Warren Buffet, Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani lost staggering amounts stock market meltdown, where as ordinary people under the fear of recession started to spend less compared to what they used to spend in booming economy.

The downward spiral

As news papers and channels like CNN and CNBC started to analyze impact of recession on the common man, as employees of an American company, we too started getting worried about the fate of our jobs in near future. Though we had repeatedly assured by our top brass about quantity of work we get over a period of next couple of years is huge and need not worry, but still the thought of worse thing that may come always crosses mind every now and then.

Also my previous organizations where still some of my close folks are employed face the risk of losing jobs anytime. They face an uncertain every day, but also live under that constant fear and anxiety.

Some are relatively good, but some are really in a very bad shape. Some manufacturing firms have reduced the working hours as the production is low, some have laid off chunk of the work force. Just like manufacturing, even textile and construction industry face the same uncertainty. The common discussion when we old guys meet up is the situation in our respective companies.

One of my close pals, who are with a reputed IT company, was telling about the techniques and the HR policies becoming more and more stringent day by day. Employees are being laid-off for reasons like not entering the time sheet or forgetting to enter leave in time sheets and so on. Once an employee is sent home, less experienced folk is hired and trained to do the same job, needless to say at a lesser cost. Company has to be run at profit and obviously people are making sure that the redundant positions are eliminated (The famous Narayanmurthy quote – “Love your job and don’t love your company, because you don’t know when the company stops loving you”).

There was one more thing bought at our “talk-over-tea” was about laying off or taking salary cut altogether across various positions. As laying off skilled and talented work force will not only make other employees feel sick, but also makes the management difficult to search for the same talent in future when the project actually comes. There are top management executives taking salary cuts close to 50% and middle and lower lever folks taking cuts from 30-10% respectively to save the fellow employees. What one need to keep in mind is hiring an employee at later stages will not only involve project delay cost but also the cost company needs to spend to extensively search for the same talent. As most of management folks know this, one thing comes to my mind is that, really worthy guys will not be laid off anytime from the company. I feel that is a highly unlikely situation.

This is my second recession… We faced recession in 2001 when the WTC collapsed, and really had a tough time to find jobs as we were fresh graduates. Even during that period we kept on hearing about the stories about layoffs and struggles, but eventually the recession passed. This time around too, the recession will surely pass and the things become more and more strong and secure, but only we need to wait for that thing to happen soon. As they say there is a sun rise after a dark night, definitely there will be a BOOM after each RECESSION.