Author: AK U

>SWill I ever truly love my job ? Should I ?

Five years in the IT industry have made me realize that work is just work.
The fire that burned in my belly when I was a fresher is no more.
There was a time when I admired mere source code. Now that illusion has dissolved.

I get thoughts about making my favorite hobby my profession – Composing music, which is the most satisfying thing I have done in my life.

Practical difficulties aside, will a hobby remain enjoyable when it becomes a job ? Will it not change to an exhauster from being a rejuvenater ? Will creativity survive when deadlines loom ? In such a case, I will have to ensure that my creations are liked by others too, which is not necessary when it is just a hobby.

Similar thoughts have been blogged by Anjana.

But then, there are people like A R Rahman, who are like creativity-factories – delivering with a punch every time. Touching the fan’s heart every time.

Probably, I should make living a hobby.

Modern Indian society is going through an interesting phase in the area of child-naming.
Suddenly realizing his/her global identity, the young Indian parent is breaking traditional conventions while naming his/her kid. Trying to find that perfect balance between modernity and tradition, he/she hopes to build a great brand for the offspring in the society.

Some seem to exercise creativity at dangerous levels when synthesising new names. Some seem to be fascinated by uncommon Sanskrit names. Some want to make sure that the name sounds cool in school, college, corporate, parties, international airports and the other side of the globe. Should I mention the numerology craze that garnishes the confusion ?

While taking too many factors into consideration, the cultural/geographic identity of the kid is sometimes lost in the process of naming. For example, the craze for chic Bollywood style names among some South Indians robs the Southern identity totally.

Anirudhdh. Beautiful name. Krishna’s grandson in Mahabharata. But, who would imagine that this is the name of a Tamil kid ? Well, it is.

It is debatable whether we need to preserve regional identities within a nation. I think India’s richness is largely its diversity. Each region has undergone cultural evolution over millenia. Trying to crudely mix them all in a big culture pot to create uniformity is outrageous.

An easy way to retain the Tamil/Mallu identity while picking up fascinating Sanskrit names is to suffix it with ‘an’. Anirudhdhan ! Well that looks definiely Tamil/Mallu ! Does it sound old fashioned ? I pity those who consider their ancestors an inferior lot. For girl names, we don’t have such an easy suffix algorithm, but there are plenty of Sanskrit names used predominantly by South Indians. Pure Tamil names are on a decline these days. A former colleague of mine was very thoughtful and mature when he was particular in giving a pure Tamil name to his daughter.

I am talking more about South Indian names because I am a South Indian who knows more about South India. I believe these things can be easily applied to other regions to India too.

I can’t help but wonder at the name of my close friend – ‘Devanathan Varadarajan’.
What A Punch !

>A new flavour is spreading across the continents. A poor third world country is slowly emerging out of the globe. An over populated, over polluted land in South Asia is starting to make an impact in the global society.

Many things Indian are entering the lives of the world citizen in a big way.

Yoga is changing the way a person thinks of health and wellness. Indian food is probabily the next big exotic cuisine. Indian music is a breath of fresh air in the world of grooves and loops. Indian spirituality is giving refuge to people injured by the tsunami of materialism.

My return trip to India after a month’s stay in Chicago made me experience this new India phenomenon in subtle ways.

I was heading to the O’Hare International Airport, Chicago in a cab. The cab driver started a chat with me which went like this:

Cab Driver(CD) : Are you going to india ?
I : Yes, to Bangalore.
CD : Are you into computer business ?
I : Yeah.
CD : Your country has got the best school for that in the world !
(I was on the floor now)
CD : I saw that in a special TV program. I don’t remember the name of the school.
I : Are you talking about IIT ? (I knew he was)
CD : Yes, now I remember !
I : Thats the Indian Institute of Technology (I was flying now)
CD : They said everyone who comes out of that school is really smart.

After reaching the Airport, I headed towards the Lufthansa counter, already thinking about blogging this incident…

Later, after a long sleepy flight to Frankfurt, I boarded the connecting flight to Bangalore. Around half the passengers if not more were Indian. Quasi-Indian food was served as expected. Then came the surprise – A flight attendent was serving ‘Masala Chai’, trying his best to pronounce it correctly ! I was delighted to the core.

A European airline was operating a flight to India and was offering an Indian beverage to please the Indian passengers. This thought made me fly in flight. This is no act of plain courtesy – it is business.

Every big company wants to do business in this ‘poor’ country. A natural consequence of this is the global recognition and acceptance of things Indian.

After centuries of slumber, India is waking up. And making an impact.