White Holi on the other side of the Globe!

It's Holi today in India and I am in Salt Lake City - at the other side of globe, miles and miles away from my home. This is my first Holi outside India and I am missing it. It's not that I like playing Holi - this vibrant festival of colours can easily be termed as the most rowdiest festival celebrated in India by Indians irrespective of their religion and creed, though primarily being a Hindu festival! It is a spring celebration and the exuberant ritual of putting colour on each other crossing all the man-made barriers of caste, creed, language and religion. And as I am born in Uttar Pradesh and spent a good part of my life in Northern India - I have seen Holi being played and celebrated in its true essence. And till date every year I have tried locking myself in a room in a effort to hide myself - most of the years I have been successful but sometimes I have got dragged into the "HOLY MESS" by my friends!

But yeah - Holi is becoming dirtier and uglier as years go by - the true essence of love and binding is getting lost. It is becoming an opportunity for a good section of people to go wild..aromatic natural colours getting replaced by harsh chemical paints - the essence is getting lost somewhere!

But this year - its different...It's a White Holi day with temperature hovering around freezing. It snowed for the last two days - not a touch of colour anywhere! No RED, No YELLOW, No GREEN, No PINK - ONLY WHITE! I am missing those loud melodious songs, esp. the evergreen "Rang Barse" played in every household today, the mouth watering Ghujias painstakingly made by our Moms, the coloured faces throwing paints and water ballons at each other, children taking special delight in pouring coloured water onto people on the road - everything is coloured in India today!

As I sit and gaze out of my window to the greys and browns of the upcoming spring season in the US, the thought of my family and friends getting soaked in colours, enjoying the spring festival on the other side of the globe - brings a nice bit of colour, a ting of nostalgia, a gush of emotion to my day!!!

रंग दे मुझको !! बेंगनी, नीला, हरा, पीला, लाल !!! रंग बरसे, होली है !!

Marley and me

I finished reading "Marley and Me" a couple of weeks back. Having grown up with a wild, misbehaved, adorable dog, I just loved reading the book. Being a dog lover, I could relate to every word in it.

"Marley and Me" is about a was a sweet, affectionate puppy who grew into a lovably naughty, loyal, hyperactive 90 pound Labrador, who did everything - from swallowing a golden chain to stealing women's undergarments to crashing thru screen doors, digging and scratching doors, destroying the garage....eating almost anything and everything that came his way. There was no way of taming down Marley, the obedience school expelled him, as Marley was turning out to be a distraction for fellow students and managed humiliating his instructor:) The best part of the book was how the family shares the grief and pain of Jenny's miscarriage, cling to Marley for comfort and reassurance.

As I read through the pages, I could feel the innocence that my dog had in his eyes after some mischief, knowing that he had not done things right. Though its many years that I have lost my dog, it brought back wonderful memeories of my childhood friend.

I don't have enough superlatives at my command to describe how much I adored this book. A must read for all dog lovers!

Raju's new year gift to Satyamites

Well, what a week it has been, what to say, what to write, its still to sink in. On 7th Jan 2009, I completed a year in Satyam and 7th Jan 2009, Satyam fell like a pack of cards, India's 4th largest company, 53,000 employees, 2.6 billion revenues got a overnite fame of a fraudulant, tainted company for overstating profits to keep itself in business from 28% profitibility to actual figures of 3%.
A person of Narayan Murthy's fame makes a statement that he would not recruit Satyam employees as they are tainted. I wonder what did we employees do to earn such a reputation. Perhaps worked and contributed to the $ 2.6 billion revenue, which Mr. Raju used to buy lands all over Hyderabad/ Chennai/ Vizag / Bangalore. The irony is that the name "Satyam" which stood for truth is now Corporate India's biggest lie - "Mithyam".
I will admit there are some hiccups in our way of life, uncertainity/question marks, doubts do prevail. Gartner warns that Satyam may not survive the scandal and, even if it does, may not be able to retain staff or invest in customer engagements. I believe that "Satyam" name may dilute to oblivion but the company would emerge as a much stronger player, with greater involvment with its customer base and closer relationships and have a better professionally managed board which can take the company to the next level. Today when people talk about Accenture, do they think about Arthur Anderson. None do..

Welcome 2009

A new year, I welcomed 2009 in Salt Lake City. As I looked out from the window, the moon light was reflecting on the snow, making it look glittering white. It was still dead city outside. Unlike other cities, it was a very quiet new year welcome, no one on the road, not a single fireworks in the sky, it seemed like any other night. Many a times I enjoy the quietness of Salt Lake City.
The window glass was as cold as stone, outside temperature was below freezing (being an Indian, below freezing always means -ve in centigrades) reminding me that I am a lucky one, who does not have to endure the adversities of harsh weather that Mother Earth often inflicts on us. Do I need to think of these adversities? I have almost everything that I want (though there is no end to want), a satisfied comfortable life.
My mind is transported back many years down memory lane, to a haggard looking man in tattered clothes, standing infront the gates of my house in Dhaka, Bangladesh and my "unbehaved" dog barking like crazy as if he had seen the most unwanted person on earth, making his master sense his earnest desire to chase him out of sight. I am reminded of the cold and wet late evening, the man asking for some food, murmuring he hadnot eaten a morsel for two days.
My phone rings and brings me back to the present, it was my brother calling me from India to wish me "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Welcome 2009 - people make resolutions, I ask God to remind me to thank him for giving me a bright day to which i look forward every morning, to thank Him when I offer myself a plateful of warm tempting food which helps me sustain, to thank Him when I walk in to the shelter of my home after an exhaustive day. Thank You God for giving me a life full of joy hope and mirth!

A Long Long Break from Blogs

Well, quite a long break indeed. And what's worth noting, the last blog that I wrote after reaching SLC, ended writing "I do not expect much momentum in the work front..have to somehow get these days over and hit back home, if possible within two weeks!?!? "
And its only me and some around me who know what I did for the last 6-7 weeks before retuning to India. Its been the longest period extended hours of work in my professional career where I put in 20 hrs a day! I have worked like crazy earlier too, but for a period for 6-7 weeks has been quite taxing. I did not even dream of work as I have done in my earlier assignments, as I hardly slept. There were so many times when I had not slept for 40 hours at a stretch. I wish I had studied so hard...at least would have helped me with better grades :)
In SLC, I managed knowing my hotel room, 2 office buildings of O.C. Tanner and the Sugarhouse Park besides one 'half day' trip to downtown to catch a movie in iMAX. Despite having such a hectic and crazy schedule, a schedule that hardly gave me time for myself, this trip to the the "mecca of capatalism" has helped me to break a lot of perceptions, which I had developed in my last 6 visits to the country. I think it has more to do with the culture of the city and the State, Utah has been ranked among the top 10 places in the world worth living.
One of the biggest perceptions that took a U turn, I had never met or seen people in US who actually looked fwd to spend time with their family, taking care of old parents, I had never seen in US a grandchild and grandparents holding hands and walking down the pathway. In a world were we are loosing values of a family life, even in Asian families, its suprising to see such people. In a world, countries like India are becoming aggressively capitalist and people of our generation being called the "fatafat generation", who are alwys in a hurry, it is nice to see that family does form some part of their daily life.
Well for work I would be back to SLC soon, and I accept, I look fwd for my second visit to the city. But I hope I get to see more of SLC this time than the two offices and the hotel room.