Mighty fall

Donald Trump must be having a field day while the corporate world has taken a liking to his famous catch phrase and using, misusing and abusing it right, left and centre.

“YOU ARE FIRED”

This post does come as a reminder to the dreadful feeling many of us feel, anticipating that you might be the next in the line of fire, or felt before and after the final call came through. May be you got a phone call from your friend and you had no clue how to console him or her on the glitch in their ladder.

But for us, at work in Reuters, it is news. Big news, which we need to get our hands dirty with. Numbers talk while people walk. Today we saw at least 50,000 job cuts in the United States. Either I have been living in a self built, impenetrable cocoon of sorts where these details do not affect me, or make me worry about my job or I am highly insensitive.

It hit me today that I could have been one of them and now could easily become one. But then I looked around and saw how my company, in the interest of its shareholders, its employees, have taken many a measure to ensure we still remain standing for a very long time to come. Cost cutting in small ways which put a smile on my face because I realised they are not alone, nor am

• Two become One – I walked into the coffee room and stood in front of the coffee machine. The only problem was, there was no coffee machine any more. They first stopped filling it with coffee powder, reduced the number of packets of milk bought, shared it with the other machine and finally was put to rest. Amen
  
• Can it stand on 3 pillars? – Well, I am not talking about the actually pillars but due to the extreme measure taken by Bangalore’s Commissioner of Police, regular smokers shuttle between work at their desk for a quick smoke near the gate. This hiked up the usage of the elevator and sometimes now I find only three of them working.
  
• Double or Single – We have lost our double pay system of getting double pay if you work on national holidays.
  
• Most of the stationery cupboards are locked for good.
  
• If there is ink in the printer, there is no A4 sheets and vice versa. (At least the Amazon forests are being saved)

I am trying to finish this off in a high note. So this is to hoping all of us keep our jobs, grow upwards and never be too far away from a hot cuppa coffee.

PMO - Oh My Pride

So … I had my first performance management objectives reviewed at work. For the whole year and all... How did I do? Fare well? Or farewell?

General Consensus: Be more aggressive!

Well, THIS SUCKS!

:-)

Ghajini - Will remain in memory for more than 15 min

Finally a 6-pack abs that I like on a man!

Hrithik Roshan looks like a Greek God, an anomaly in Bollywood and a phenomenon called “how the hell did it happen in India?” John Abraham did not do it for me, lack of charisma to go with that bod and sometimes it matters. Shah Rukh Khan, I honestly, did not get because I liked him the way he was. The other abs, did not even interest me so much as to remember them at this point. But Aamir Khan, in Ghajini, can be summed up using one word – Wow.

Man boobs aside, (personal opinion that they don’t look nice) he looks completely natural in his new form. When I saw him on the screen, I felt that he has always been like this and looked this good. And, I have to ask. What’s with the cute butt? All in all, he looks younger than his age (which at this point I have completely banished from my memory), handsome and oh so desirable! Adding to this, Bangalore Times – for a 20 year old, female actor, a new comer, working with a 40 year old veteran, who looks like Aamir Khan, I don’t think she will be asking the question “Where is Women’s Equality?”

Power dressing – it works like a charm. The folding of sleeves (which I love on any shirt and t-shirt) hits the home run for me. The blues and the blacks got me drooling; the purples look gorgeous on Aamir. Not to leave out Asin from the praises galore, I don’t have an aversion to seeing her on screen, television and hence like her.

I must say that I was surprised to see that the humour used in the tamil movie Ghajini, also used in the hindi one, did not fail to inspire some giggles in the audience. I enjoyed the movie more because I had watched the tamil one long time back (about 2 years ago to be precise) and did not remember most of it. I call it Long Term Memory Loss, in other words – Ageing.

Anyway, in a nut shell, I loved the movie and I had a great time watching it.

Travel

I look back at last year and I realised that planning a travel program in India, with my friends, is harder than it was in London. Dates for leaves, suggestions for places, money and mode of transport -- all tend to rear their ugly head into our lovely dreams of meeting up in exotic places. From a week in Singapore to two days in the sultry Chennai heat, lots of plans have been blotched. Nevertheless, I have managed to travel a lot last year. With my friends and family.
(Mumbai-Mahabeleshwar, Chennai -- by default, Goa, Bellikeri [I am sure its called something else, ask Frank], Mysore, Mekedatu)

The thought that occured to me was obviously not a novel thought and hence I am refraining myself from giving it a dramatic entre. I suddenly wondered why I did not have a or start a travel blog. It will not aim to flaunt the places I have been to (or will in the future) but for the selfish pleasure of trying to manage another blog (or mabbe continue in one which is redundant at the moment) and to do something new in the new year! (Honeymoon period for a new year is only till Jan end).

P.S: The minute I write something in the "travel" blog of mine, I will end up not travelling... sigh :) Rules and 'happenings' need to be broken :)

Master

Mine is a silent obsession. It doesn’t consume, doesn’t demand and I do not fear it. It does not take over my life’s decisions. But then it does. In subtle ways, when I do not expect it.

I have, over the years, heard many songs, instrumental music. I have figured certain things out and these findings have been quite consistent.
-- The sound of piano can evoke a feeling of romance or put me to sleep
-- The sound of drums never found a place in my heart. No emotions - of anger, sadness, excitement
-- The flute, I always associate with superficiality, snobbery and detachment.
-- Saxaphone, with a jazz twist, a complete picture to jive with. Happiness.

As always, not adhering to the inverted pyramid style of writing that is drilled into all journalists, I have kept the best for the last.

-- The strings of a guitar.

Today, I learned that the sound of a guitar can make me an infidel. Or, let me put it in other words, I heard a certain sound from a guitar, which is exactly how I would describe infidelity. I believe (at least for now) the emotions you pass through being infidel is the height of emotions (before and after the act. I wouldn’t consider acts as thoughts come into play and then decisions. Whole new post!!!)

I love the sound of the guitar. I have tried mastering it. I use the word master because I never managed to do that. The obsession doesn’t dictate people to help me out. It sticks and seduces and it is everything that I want.