What is wrong here...

"The old rule used to be that a manager of a programmer was always a better programmer, and there were no what we called “technical inversions,” where a programmer works for somebody who doesn’t know how to program. We still follow that philosophy: At certain levels we’ve got business managers, but we don’t have non-programmers really managing programming projects."

-- Bill Gates, 1986 - Programmers at Work

And its hard to imagine many projects executed in our industry that don't suffer from this inversion. Wish we were following similar rules here...its a joke discussing things with the manager some times.

Borrowed Quote

It is difficult to be sat on all day, every day, by some other creature, without forming an opinion about them.

On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to sit all day, every day, on top of another creature and not have the slightest thought about them whatsoever.

- Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

This is easier understood as the manager-subordinate relationship :)

Hmm...

The higher the stakes the more superstitious you become!

Rashmirathi

Was watching Gulaal (once more) last weekend and there was this section where Piyush Mishra starts reciting what seems like a scene from Mahabharat. Krishna is in the court of the Kauravas in a last ditch effort to avoid war, but Duryodhana attacks him.....it seemed familiar.

...anyways those lines were taken from Rashmirathi - a superlative work from the Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'. And the section that seemed familiar was part of our curriculum - Krishna ki Chaitavini.

The poem journeys the life of Karna - the greatest warrior of the times, his dharma, his friendship, his generosity and the tragedies.

Why didn't we have a teacher who could help us appreciate the quality of our own literature?

Sample this - this is when Krishna asks Karna to change sides as defeat of Kauravas is certain...below are excerpts from Karna's reply who explains why he can never betray Duryodhana:

अपना विकास अवरुद्ध देख,

सारे समाज को क्रुद्ध देख
भीतर जब टूट चुका था मन,

आ गया अचानक दुर्योधन
निश्छल पवित्र अनुराग लिए,

मेरा समस्त सौभाग्य लिए
...
...
...
सिर लिए स्कंध पर चलता हूँ,

उस दिन के लिए मचलता हूँ,
यदि चले वज्र दुर्योधन पर,

ले लूँ बढ़कर अपने ऊपर.
कटवा दूँ उसके लिए गला,

चाहिए मुझे क्या और भला?
...
...
...
अच्छा अब चला प्रमाण आर्य,

हो सिद्ध समर के शीघ्र कार्य.
रण मे ही अब दर्शन होंगे,

शार से चरण:स्पर्शन होंगे.
जय हो दिनेश नभ में विहरें,

भूतल मे दिव्य प्रकाश भरें.


रथ से रधेय उतार आया,

And Krishna at the end responds...

हरि के मन मे विस्मय छाया,
बोले कि "वीर शत बार धन्य,

तुझसा न मित्र कोई अनन्य,
तू कुरूपति का ही नही प्राण,

नरता का है भूषण महान.

Can't Let This Memory Fade...

Sleepwalking

Joke of the year - Nobel Peace Prize

...actually this is the biggest WTF moment of 2009. I can almost imagine a collective gasp across the globe on hearing this year's winner.

I wonder who nominated him? Did he/(his team) lobby for it?

Besides the fact that the period under review ended just 12 days after he became the president, I wonder what change he has ushered in? It has all been talk and more talk. or is it simply an award for his "Yes, we can"rhetoric (coz thats what it has become now)? Or is it simply because he is not George Bush? Umm, I am also not George Bush;)

Of course the NPP remains the most dubious category - it has gone to the likes of Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Henry Kissinger, Princess Diana in the past after all.

But I think this one is by far the most bewildering...belittles the genuine effort of others...sad...

...and to think Mahatma Gandhi was nominated 4 times (or was it 5?) and still wasn't suitable enough for the committee.

MH 505

While driving today, I noticed I was following a MH registered swift and I thought to myself, does the person driving feel awkward or embarrassed about it.

Would he feel uncomfortable or even unsafe driving with that number in a more northern state - say around Delhi? Isn't it ridiculous that these thoughts actually came into my head...Delhi is as much theirs as any other inch of India, then why isn't Mumbai mine or for a guy from Patna?

This growing regional jingoism has really begun to irritate me.