The surprise embarrassment !

I work in a team where people from various ethnicity are present and it's always a challenge in deciding on activities such as team lunch and team events, where everyone seems to have an opinion that is best to their knowledge. This includes me and some of the fellow Indians around.

Let me now introduce you to Mr X. He is a shy Asian guy in our team who never talks to people other than the ones from his community. Nobody knew what he was like. The only thing that we were aware of him was he brings the same lunch every bloody day. A glass box with some plain sticky rice, a brown sauce, some lettuce and loose steamed corn. There was also this secret ingredient in there which gives out a pungent nasty smell which lingers in the floor for about an hour. The bad news is that it doesn't end there. The green tea which he drinks post that "elevates" the flavours of the lunch he just had. As it goes without saying, the entire team of ours were aware of the pleasantly obnoxious hit that comes out of his lunchbox. My good friend who sits next to me always used to chuckle when the pop of the lid echoes through the floor.

One fateful day, I was assigned to a project in which Mr. X was a part as well. We two had to work together for the project and I had to bear the brunt of his lunch and the aftermath. The thing that annoys me is when he comes to ask questions to me. For reasons best known to him, he leans to the screen I'm working on. It was getting overly uncomfortable for me. I couldn't say that to him in person. I wouldn't complain about his personality in general as he is always quite helpful. But I had to put an end to the trauma I was undergoing.

It was soon time for Christmas and the work in our team was winding down. Christmas was quite eventful in our work place and it was time for the traditional Secret Santa. We had our own version of it where people can "steal" other's gift if they like by swapping what they received originally. I realised this was an opportunity to deal with Mr.X. I planned to get a bottle of Listerine, got it nicely wrapped and put it in the mix of gifts. It was then the day I was badly waiting for! We all gathered around the Christmas tree and were allocated the number by randomly. I saw people getting interesting gifts from poker sets to Nerf guns. Mr.X had already chosen his gift and he received a nice pair of earphones. I had my eyes on the bottle of Listerine. it was soon my turn, and after some "thought", I picked the gift which I had put there in the first place. I ripped open the gift wrap and the people who were standing next to me were quite amused to see what was sitting in my hand. Rebecca, one of the testers in our team was like "Hey! are you planning to use that?". Without a moment of hesitation, I walked towards Mr.X and swapped the bottle of Listerine with his pair of earphones. The chuckle of the entire team turned into loud laughter. Mr. X looked rather bemused. It was an embarrassment which he never expected.

To my surprise, he stopped bringing lunch from the next year onwards and started having lunch outside.

The Asian paradox

Before I proceed further, I would like to tell the readers that I'm no racist :p

The place I study, The University of Auckland, has a considerable Asian population. Though they appear very similar, almost very similar, After I've dome some research these 6 months in Auckland, I've come up with few observations. It's easy to identify them by looking at their names.

Typical Chinese names include the likes of Zhang, Zhu, Chan, Wu, Li, Qin, Lin, Wen blah.. blah.. blahh... Typical Korean names include Lee, Choo, Seuk, Sung and so on... Japanese names are quite complicated. But many of them end with shi, aka, uki, iki, aki, eki etc.. But the real challenge is to identify them by their physical appearance. The Koreans for one can be spotted mostly with straight hair falling over their head and wearing glasses with thick frames. I assume it to their fashion statement. Almost 5 of 10 Koreans I see are seen with glasses with thick frames. Chinese guys mostly have their heads groomed into a porcupine back. long needle like hair with looks like a person who has just been electrocuted. Japanese are quite hard to distinguish. They are usually found playing super saiyan or ninja gaiden even when they get the shortest access to internet. They appear super-charged while playing games like warcraft or tekken.

But when it comes to similarity, there's jus one thing that comes to my mind.

Asians never brush their teeth. The chinatown always sells toothpaste for the other races :D

Is NewZealand trying to ape US of A?

It's been a long time since I crapped on my blogsite. Getting along with my Masters in Engineering is one thing. Cannot give another excuse. Probably my laziness.

Anyway, I've been thinking so much these days whenever I see a signboard here in Auckland.

Right from the street signboards to the motorway signboards to milestones, everything looks the way it is in USA. Though I haven't been to the United states, I have watched a lot of hollywood movies. I keep guessing what the reason could be.

I also wonder if similar signboards are present in Australia. The parking spaces are no exception.

I once saw a sign a pavement that read "on this site in 1897 nothing happened".

I thought it was some lunatic has come up with a lame signboard. But I happened to spot it on a bar that features in a US based sitcom. Curious to know more about it, I googled it up, but ended up finding nothing about it. I came to know that it is present almost everywhere in USA, but couldn't find any reason why it is present in a country that is almost miles away form the place it originated. Silly isn't it?

What is the price of those innocent lives?

The dad of a 2 year old never thought he'll meet his demise without watching his child grow up. He would have never thought he'll leave his wife struggling for an ounce of meal. There are hundreds still pondering over what happened the night of 26th November. The government is looking out for answers every time such an incident occurs. What was the motive behind decimating the innocent lives? The scars left after the attacks on the Taj hotel, Nariman house, the Oberoi Trident and the shootout at the CST may never heal for the families who lost their only sourse of income. The ease with which the terrorists entered the city is such a shame to a nation which is so called the largest democracy in the world. And this issue wasn't spared of politicization. Everytime, the city of mumbai has to suffer major incidents of such kinds. People cant live a life of peace even for 3 years in a stretch. Not to forget natural calamities like incessant rains and deluge that has become an annual affair for the mumbaikars. I've heard the mumbaikars one of the most united people (dunno how it was before the riots that happened in 1993). But are such tests really needed to show their solidarity in such situations?

The 3 mistakes of my life - A "can read" book!

After a long wait, I borrowed the book from my friend last night - The 3 mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat. I've just read his first work and it was a very good read. With a lot of expectation, I started with the back cover. The book started off in a different way. A real life incident involving the author where he gets a suicide note from one of his readers. Though this wasn't a feature in 5 point someone, the way the story unfolds is really good.

Again a story involving a trio, and 3 guys without second thoughts (n ya! boys r meant to have all the fun). The story was set in a rather rural part of Ahmedabad which clearly tells the reader that there's not gonna be much of technical stuff involved in it. Chetan has come up with the motif India's crazy about - Cricket. The story revolves around Govind, Ish and Omi, all belonging to the same neighborhood. The vibrant culture of Gujarat has been portrayed pretentiously by the author. The 3 guys obsessed with cricket start a shop that sells cricket related accessories. The hero of the story being Govind, takes math tuitions to support the shop and his mom. Things change when govind starts to take tuitions for Ish's sister, Vidya. And more so, when he tries to expand their business. Omi's uncle finds a greater role to play in the later stages of the book. And there's Chetan's stereotyped love affair and the characters with booze bottles are prevalent in the book.

Though this book involves the Hindu - Muslim sentiments and the political drama involving hindutva forces and the so called secular parties, the author has taken chary efforts to make sure nobody is personally denounced. The climax of the sory is set in a typical bollywood style. But seriously, one can't help it. To conclude in short, this book is almost satisfying to the young Indian readers who can easily associate themselves with the likes of Govind, Ish and Omi.

Hair raising?

Thanks to my mom. I had my hair cut just yesterday. I've never had an opportunity to grow my hair for a simple (might even sound stupid) reason. It's my mom. She never allows me to have my hair grown over half an inch. Whenever u see me in a photograph or in person, the first thing u notice will be my hair. Jus like the lords outfield mowed before the first day's play. I've seen most of my friends with seriously groovy hair or the long straight ones to the curly ones. They've even got options to try something different with the hair. But for me, there's nothin I can do but to comment on their hairstyles. Whenever I see guys on roads zooming on their bikes with their hair flying or in TV where their girlfriends hold the guys hair in such intimate scenes, the only thing I wish. Why the heck am I forced to cut my hair???

It became a serious issue during my college farewell party. My mom said I had my hair grown out of bounds (you can guess the level of growth) and I need to have a hair cut at once.There's one thing that really makes me happy to go for a haircut. I really wasn't in any mood for that. Then finally I agreed cos I wanted some cash for urgency. It costs jus 30 bucks in the nearby salon and I happen to get 80 bucks for it.

But for those who have seen me in a haircut have become used to it. They say it suits me. I too search for some stupid reasons to justify my haircut. these include reasons like no need to wory about the hairstyle, free from lice n dandruff and saves ur pocketmoney from buying hair-gel. But, to tell u honestly, try getting your hair cut every month. You'll surely love the feel of it. Take it from me..

Almost landed up in a call center.

The nokia tune sounded hard on my ears. It was 6.30 in the morning of a Monday. I was reluctant to get up and pick up the phone. But it was going on and on. I picked up the phone hastily and quite surprisingly, it was my friend Vignesh who's on the line. He doesn't call me often and even if he wished to, he jus gives me a missed call. There was a gush of enthusiasm when he started. The first words that he spoke were sounding so loud. "hey! there's a call center opening today. u game?".

I had jus finished my engineering and waiting for my company to call me for the job. I once told him that I might consider working for a call center before my company calls me. I really don't know how he managed to remember that. "U just woke me up da. When's the interview?". He instantly gave a reply to that. "please be there at the nungambakkam office at 10. Get 2 copies of resume and a passport size photograph. I'll be there on time". All I heard after that was a hush silence and my cell was displaying the call duration. I hurried up and got ready by 9.30 waiting for my dad to leave for his office so that he can drop me off at the destination. I was there bang on at 10. Vignesh was as usual late by 10 minutes. We hurried into the elevator and when the security told us there's no walk-in interviews here, I almost lost my temper. We were then asked to leave for it's main office at Santhome.

We then started roaring to Santhome. The sun was scorching at us and I can feel my skin getting tanned. I was in full formal wear and it was fuming inside me. I almost felt like I was inside a blast furnace. We were asked to leave our bags and collect our badges for the interview. There were some 80 candidates seated outside and we managed to find empty seats. A representative from the company asked us to submit our resumes. I had a look at the candidates. Most of them were from the arts and science backgrounds and there were only few from Engineering stream. After half an hour of wait, we were asked for the post we were applying for. I had no clue whatsoever about the roles in a call center. My friend asked me to check the one which had technical support. I obliged him and soon we were asked to sit for a group discussion.

I was soon sitting in one of the air-conditioned rooms for the GD. There were some 15 other guys who were sitting along with me and Vignesh. One of the sick looking HRs of the company came and addressed everyone. Her colleague entered the room with a dash and suggested that he would be the one to give us the topic for discussion. And without any surprises, He asked us to discuss about IPL. Suddenly, everybody were looking restless and I too sent a sigh of relief after hearing that. who wouldn't love to talk about cricket in India? A guy started the discussion in a lousy manner. He told everybody that he would talk for the advantages of the IPL and ended up with explaining the side effects of it. Soon, everybody started talking in a random manner and there was a scene of parliament in front of me. I then slid in between the talks to say whatever i can. After 15 minutes of chaos, there was silence and I was one among the 6 selected for the next round. We were handed a different colored tag and were asked to wait near the HR bay.

It was 1.00 in the afternoon and I was bearing the brunt of it. Luckily, I was called for the interview sooner than i expected. The HR was a middle aged female with typical south Indian iyer looks. She greeted me with a smile and i responded the same way. She soon asked some general questions. She suddenly sprang up with a question that almost caught me on the hook. actually the company had visited my college for recruitment and I didn't attend it. When she asked me about it, instantly came a reply that our class was on an educational tour. she tried to ask me the details of the tour hoping I would come up with something really stupid. I managed to jump over all the obstacles with a smile. She then tested my soft skills by asking me to read a passage which was a cakewalk for me. The interview ended thus with the HR gleaming her beautiful smile which almost assured me of a positive result.

We were asked to take lunch from the office dining room and we paid some 30 bucks to get a south Indian thali. Myself and Vignesh were were starting to get bored. We also found a friend in a guy who got selected along with us. A guy named Sabal from pondicherry, slender and fair. I found out at once that he was a mallu. We were asked to wait for one more hour to take up the online aptitude test. Ya, btw, I forgot to mention that all three of us cleared the HR round. Myself and Sabal were talking about our colleges and about the company that were into. We were also peeking into the systems where other selected candidates were giving their online tests. The questiones seemed to look very simple. Vignesh was the first one to give the test. He came out in half an hour. It was the same set of questions for everyone and vignesh gave us the answers for the questions. Myself and Sabal answered everything in a jiffy and we cleared the test in just 10 minutes.

All three of us were asked to meet a HR after that. It was 6.00 in the evening and I was out of pulp. I walked down back to the HR bay. We were asked to collect the offer letter the next day on producing the cpoies of our marksheet. We were informed that the salary would be 10.5k per month and a training period of 2 weeks. But we were never informed about the shifts. We assumed it to be morning shifts and we weer quite cool that there would be conveyance arrangements. That night, Vignesh called me up and told us the shocking news. The job had working hours between 12 in the night and 8 am. I was thrown aback after hearing that and moreover, we were supposed to go to work in Perungudi, which was almost 30 kms from my place. When I told these details to my parents, they asked me to sit at home and hatch eggs instead of wasting precious time for sleep. Phew.. All in a days work.