Monday, December 19, 2005

The stampede at Chennai

This is the second stampede at Chennai in less than 2 months, in the same situation, probably triggered by same kind of mischief.

I wonder how people value their health, body or life - for Rs 2000, they lose their sleep, rush in a crowd to hurt themselves and run on the throats of others who fell down. Amazing! This isn't a crowd that jostle up to have dharshan of their favorite Gods or heroes. This isn't a crowd that got trapped in a narrow lane when Gen. Dyer ordered firing or even the ones that have the catch the last bus to their village. They aren't as hungry as they were a few weeks ago, when rain water entered their houses and made life miserable as hell. The mindless act for Rs 2000 caused so much grief to so many families. Will the ones who trampled on the people below be feeling guilty?

The Government seems reasonably cautious after the first one struck at Vysarpadi - some 20 km from Chennai last month. There were announcements and some policemen were posted in that location. Still, thousands of crzy folks can't be controlled by a handfull of policemen.

The same romour mongering has happened here. God knows what their motives are.

As per Dinamalar, the school gate was locked on Saturday but was broken open early in the morning by the crowd. Are the ones who broke the lock and the ones who were crushed the same? Or the ones who spread the rumour responsible for breaking the lock. No one will know.

Even when the Commission appointed by the Chief Minister finds it out, what is the chance that the culprints will be brought to book? Those findings will again be used by politicians to take advantage of the situation.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Bhagavad Gita for Managers

Managing 5 products, 10 responsibilities, always short on resources - from people to time. That is my current state. The mind works overtime and feels tired that nothing could be done to satisfaction. I turned to the Gita for some solution. The following is the conversation that restores my humility and peace of mind.

Me: How can I finish all the pending work? What if the products fail even after I put in the efforts?
Krishna: Put your heart and soul on the tasks and not the outcome. Your role stops there and you have no control over what happens finally.

Me: But, what if the product fails?
Krishna: What is the problem? The world doesn't end there. Investors continue to look for newer products, people who may lose jobs will just move to new jobs. You will continue to work. There is nothing wrong in failure.

Me: If failure is just as certain as success what is the point in my efforts?
Krishna: I said - there is nothing wrong in failure, I didn't say there is nothing wrong in inaction. Your job is to work with your heart, do everything that you could do and leave the rest to me.

Me: If I hire more people, I may be able to complete all the tasks. But I don't get the right people.
Krishna: The answer is the same - you keep looking for the person who you want to hire. When you want him to work for you, you just want him to work for you; don't lie and don't give false promises.

Me: But I am not successful in hiring.
Krishna: The reasons are not entirely under your control, for that matter not under my control either. Each one has his own mind, the people around him influence, they have their minds and so on. So, don't think of controlling a situation, you can't. Just play your role.

I am now relaxed and know exactly what I want to do.

Monday, December 05, 2005

VS.NET Express Edition

I began evaluating the new VS.NET 2005 Express for C#. I ran into the first road block when I try to connect to an existing SQL 2000 server. Apparantly the express edition doesn't allow for connecting to other databases through the UI. If I want to connect by coding, thankfully it allows it.

Then I bumped into the following problem when I tried adding a Table to a dataset.
Even after 5 years of .NET, looks like the IDispatch interface still survives.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Wooing a good software developer

Another day at work with running around for maintaining status quo. My boss dropped in and said in polite terms that if I continue to do it, I'll be as ineffective as my predecessor. Points noted. He also suggested that I do some PR job to get software developers. Our HR needs more training. It is ironic that I need to train the recruiters on recruitment. I chose to postpone the training and decided to try my hand at PR for recruitment.

I managed to call this developer who works for a CMM / ISO company and gets a good salary. I have to encourage her to forget the bland office with a promise that life here is better. I am convinced that life here is better with unlimited internet, all these youngsters bubbling with enthusiasm. My experience with CMM / ISO companies had been at best forgettable. I was on bench for 6 months when I decided to quit. I'm digressing. Back to this software tech lead, she said she doesn't have time to hear me or talk about her. It sounds like a serious techy girl, I am determined to get her in my team. She wanted an email from me with details of the company etc.,

I painstakingly typed half a page just introducing the company and gave a teaser on the software development team. My write up doesn't sound great, but this is my first job at this simple PR. If this girl replies, I will be convinced that I can write / blog more. This is going to be a bloggable experience.

If you happen to bump into this page, come back to check the status of the hire.

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