The road half-traveled : 20 weeks to go

"Turn and lie on your left", said the doc doing my ultrasound, with a sudden grim look on her face. This was my second Sonography. After 15 minutes of moving her rod-like equipment (that so looked like the churner of my food processor) over me, she finally threw her hands up in the air. "I want to see the baby's orientation but there is no movement. Go up and down a flight of stairs and come back in 10 mins",
she said. So I took a walk round the hospital as if I were doing rounds ... I went back in 10 mins and the nurse would not let me in. She said, "you gotta walk more to orient the baby". This went on for 2 more times. It was 7:30 p.m. and a long day at work. I felt like saying "Sure, I'll lose my orientation if I do this one more time". V was more than supportive and sarcastically remarked, "the kid has all our traits…lazy right from his/her roots.."

I went in finally and the doc started examining again. No improvement. As if to reassure myself and avoid another stroll outside, I told them I had felt the movement through the day and he/she was probably tired now J And then suddenly they smiled and turned the monitor towards me..there was a teeny weny form with stick like arms and legs and a peanut sized heart beating rapidly (140 pm I got to know later) and a
huge head. It was now moving swiftly within the limited space available. Turns out everything is alright! And for the first time, it sank in that something was happening… 20 more weeks to go.

Categories: health, pregnancy

E-mail Manners: Why spelling names correctly matter?

More often than not, the local folks in Pune address me as "Laxmi" in e-mails and it is annoying. Can’t you see the e-mail address? My name is spelt as “Lakshmi” and not "Laxmi". Incidentally, the CEO of my organization has the same name as mine. It would be funny to see these senior folks address him (yes, CEO is a ‘he’) by the wrong spelling. If you don’t get it right internally, what’s the assurance they address customers correctly?

You might ask what’s in a name? That’s your identity. And it matters because that’s the first impression you form and repeated mistakes in subsequent e-mails reinforces the image you have of them that they don’t really care! So spell right for success (exception being that of Indian movie stars whose spelling change every month - thanks to numerology).

What’s in a job title?

Job titles are for business cards, organization directory, offer letters and matter during that promotion for the pay rise.

Most titles in Indian IT firms have the words “analysts, associates, engineers or systems” in their designations at entry levels. On promotion a “systems analyst” becomes a "senior systems analyst” while still performing the same role and fitting into that mysterious "salary band". The roles one performs have little to do with the titles. And some organizations have stretched this too far with titles such as Project Manager -1 , Project Manager -2 so that you can get promoted every year. More link Equality-7345, Equality-2321 in Ayn Rand's Anthem.

“Team Member, Team Lead, Module Lead, Project Lead or Project Manager” or more familiar terms that one can relate to. When you interview for a position, the question one asks HR is "whats my role" and the reply is one of the above - not the designations! So I wonder if we can't have more meaningful job titles or have a job title and a position title defined as here.

Categories: job title, career, hierarchy

What do you do for a living?

Should I say "I’m a to-be stay-at-home mom" or "I’m a freelance programmer and blogger aspiring to be a writer"? Neither of these would really “earn” me a living. Not yet atleast. I have 2 months and all the resources/freedom to decide on what I want to do and start planning and doing the ground work for it. For now, it is kissing the corporate life goodbye.

Quitting the job calls for “I want to quit my job” conversations with some important people along the way – boss & spouse/family that can either be pleasant or otherwise and sometimes very stressful as my earlier ones have been. It calls for a lot of resilience and persuasion while being assertive in making the other person believe why you think the move is good for you.

No doubt, I’ve had my share of practice but this one was easy….My boss didn't initially believe I wasn't going elsewhere. At one point I felt like saying, "Hello, don't you see this huge bump and you think I would work somehwere now?" The only moment when I was a little startled was when my boss (after convinced I wasn't going elsewhere) with a puzzled look asked "you're giving up your career just like that?". I didn't say anything. For whatever reason, if you don't do a 9-6 job at an IT factory, it is perceived you don't have a career.

I would like to hear from you why you do a job? Social recognition or personal gratification or financial obligation. Definitely there would be all 3 but what figures the highest on your list and is a job the only means to it or is it the easiest and risk-free path?

Categories: career, quitting

Time to quit

So I officially communicate tomorrow. Two more months to go after that. It was simple to decide this time and almost like a dream come true or that’s what I think now. No debates surrounding “to quit or not to quit”, no interviews/negotiations and no what/where/when next. While this pregnancy made the reasoning for leaving easier, the truth is I had decided way back in April that this is not my calling and the only thing motivating about going to work is the pay at the end of the month.

It’s a temporary pause to the corporate life and whether this marks an end to the 7 year long career or not is too early to say.

Things that I’m apprehensive of:

1. My paycheck every month


2. Being recognized socially just as X’s wife


3. Loss of independence in the head.


4. Just a listener to all work related talks hereafter (how silly)

Things that I’m not going to miss (here at Pune):

1. The cramped office space


2. Getting up at 6:30 every morning to take the 8:30 a.m. bus

Things that I’m looking forward to:

Over the past few months that I’ve been contemplating of giving up my fulltime career, I’ve been compiling a list of things on tadalist that I would like to do before the kid arrives.

1. Complete my writing assignments


2. Tanjore Painting : Aladi Krishnar


3. Glass Painting


4. Take Keyboard lessons

My love for technology hasn’t come down a bit. It just gives me the freedom to pursue projects that I like and deliver it that suits my schedule and work out fo home out of a comfy chair. So if you know of any freelance projects, please do let me know.

India Inc. late to jump on the Internet Bandwagon

None of the Indian companies feature in this list of the 100 earliest .com domains that are still active today. No cts.com is not that of Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Mom’s visit: A blessing

Any amount of "thank you (s)"? and words will not do justice to the amount of gratitude I have for mom/dad now. All the restlessness and frustration of the past few months seem to have vanished into thin air now. Moms no doubt are a true embodiment of patience, sacrifice and selflessness when it comes to their kids. Any physical ailment of hers has little or no significance when it comes to taking care of me now. She works herself tirelessly packing my lunch at 6:30 a.m. to making hot dinner before I get home that I say to myself what a selfish brat am I who craves for food incessantly. Sanity is just returning but craving for good food still stays at priority #1. She tolerates my tantrums through the day instead of spanking. I had a great time talking non-stop with her after all these years for the past 2 weeks. Am so sad she is going to leave in another 4 days. But I'?m also so looking forward to October when I get to spend another 4 months with her at Trichy! Moms are the best!

Categories: pregnancy, family

Dude, where's REC Trichy?

I just stumbled upon Google’s University Search. To my surprise, NIT/REC, Trichy does not find a place in the list whereas some Pune Institute for Computer Technology does and also the lesser known Regional Engineering College, Jalandhar among other premier Indian Institutes such as the IITs and Anna University.

Categories: google, university, REC

India: Blogs Blocked

Every Indian blogger has been harping about it since Monday that their ISPs have blocked all the blogspot, typepad and geocities blogs and how frustrated they are. This is true. As a result of a directive from the Indian Government to block a few sites, the ISPs have extended to blocking the entire domain or atleast it seems that way. A lot of discussion, protest has been voiced against this on TV channels like CNN IBN and an armchair analysis from every TDH on how democratic India is. I believe this would have something to do with the investigations of you know what so lets wait..until there are always aggregators such as Goggle Reader or proxy avoidance sites to get past this.

Blog traffic analysis

Its “starting college” time of the year. With the results for professional entrance exams out, admissions are around the corner. For the past 3 weeks or so, 75% of the traffic to this blog is by the search term “NIT Trichy”. I can visualize anxious parents googling away for information on prospective good colleges they can get a seat in for their kids. Ofcourse, the post is least informative about college or admissions if that’s what parents are looking for. I hope they are not put off by all the gory details in there of what students are upto..

What’s also interesting is that the remaining traffic is due to the search for “Java Interview experiences”. With appraisals done and the suspense of salary increases out, the Pandora box is open for some organizations – attrition rate moving northward. And most of these job hops also seem to be happening around Bangalore.