Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Colloquial Tamil

Jalsa
Jilpa
Alwa
Vennai
Pazham
Kennai
Lolu
Kundu
Tunu
Kotiko

Swear Words:
Kasmalam
Panare
Tevediya

I have missed on loads of other words....tell me?

Friday, May 2, 2008

Traffic Today!

How does it feel to ride in today’s traffic, especially in an urban area? Riding a two wheeler or driving a four wheeler is no more a pleasure in any of the cosmopolitan cities, it is more of a necessity and a convenience factor.

Everyone is zooming away, irrespective of size, capacity and horsepower. Everyone is in a hurry and everyone thinks the road is a racecourse/racing arena. What with the banks offering vehicle loans day in and day out, there are several thousand vehicles registered every day. An increase in population and India Shining(opening up and growth of economy) has lead to a vehicle overload on the roads today.

There is absolutely no road sense, be it an educated/uneducated person riding/driving, be it a richster/poor man, be it a man/woman, be it a teenager/old person. Invariably people don’t follow rules. Everyone think they are super smart and try break the rules thereby causing traffic jams, accidents and chaos for themselves. For instance when it comes to overtaking, you have people overtaking you from both sides and they don’t honk while they overtake, while that’s when they need to let you know so. And freak what about those idiots who ride on the right side of the road….ever wondered why? That’s cause he/she has just returned from the United States of America you see, will take a while for the individual to get accustomed to the Indian rule of riding/driving on the left hand side of the road. What with the kind of turns they take, people who want to turn left, stand at the extreme right at a signal and cut across the rest. Annoying or what? Even better, at a signal/traffic jam, the horn is used to it’s maximum. I turn to tell the bloody fool to ‘fly over’ me, if s/he is blind not to see that there is no where I can move.

I ride very slowly and hence am ridiculed but I care two hoots. My life is precious and I believe in following the rules and riding safe, cause all around me are senseless idiots, who possess the power to purchase and have a machine to accelerate. They have no bloody brains, all they can do is fight, create chaos, add to NOISE pollution, help add fowl language and words to one’s vocabulary and ensure that others become BP patients at the EOD.

To ride/drive and handle traffic on Indian roads with all kinds of vehicles, big and small(bullock carts to Volvo buses), is not just a huge task but a skill by itself. What do you think?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Human Resources @ Corporates

What is your first reaction when you hear the word "Human Resources"?

Well well I have been meaning to write this post for a while now but a heated argument with someone I know has lead me to do so finally(THIS IS NOT INTENDED TOWARDS ANY INDIVIDUAL IN SPECIFIC).

For several unknown unfortunate reasons I personally have always had not so great experiences with people from the HR world at organizations that I have worked with so far. I always thought it is with that specific individual or that HR lot in that specific organization but NO that's not how it is. Experience and time tells me it's the same almost everywhere. I know it's not good to generalize, criticize, judge and comment on people. I am not perfect, no one is perfect but this is an observation and an opinion that I am entitled to express with a certain clan, leaving aside a few exceptions. I sincerely hope that I do come across those exceptions at the earliest.

This is not just me speaking but several of my colleagues, ex-colleagues, friend's etc are on the same page when it comes to this issue.

My best friend, cousin and a few other friends and acquaintances are in this field, with due respect to all of them and their professions I as an outsider to their family feel and believe so. In fact I did once ask my friend:
"Why do you HR guys have such attitude? In fact I have noticed most of you are not aware of your own subject, work and stuff and still have that attitude".

This is what she said in response:" It's the feeling of power, because we hire and fire"

I then told her:"It's not you who decides to hire and fire, you are only the medium used to hire and fire".

For whatever reasons we left it at that. I once had an issue with my HR rep during my exit process. She intimates me of the 'exit interview' through chat(MSN) and not through an email. Mind you this organization follows and has a procedure in place to even move a chair from one position to the other and because I asked her 'Why she did not formally intimate me?', she snapped at me. Boy! what attitude and why(I fail to understand)? Firstly you are at fault and instead of admitting it you get back at me? Yes, I agree we all make blunders but to be arrogant while you are at fault?

What can I say.....I only hope I come across the real nice HR types(and not the smooth talkers) soon.

Disclaimer: I have nothing personal with anyone from the world of HR, be it my friends, family, HR colleagues, etc and thus this post is not directed towards any particular individual.