I am now a statistic!!!!!

For the past few months we have been assaulted with employment reports in the print and television media. For the past few months, I have been thinking, "Man, it must be terrible to lose a job in the current situation", "I'm glad I still have my job", "Hopefully this job lasts for another year atleast"

Now, I'm a statistic. You can add me to the list of employed men and women. The Board of Directors of my ex-company decided to save some money and to stop the project I was working on. So, here I am now blogging in the afternoon, thinking about what I'm going to do. The circumstances in which I was informed of this piece of news was extremely unfortunate to say the least. I had only begun my vacation in India, my first in 3 years, when I was conveyed the unfortunate information via email by my ceo.

I made peace with myself during my vacation. Plus I surrounded myself with people whom I loved. My parents, my sister, my friends and Dodo. I was vaguely confident that I could come back and find another job. Maybe it was being in a comfort zone with family and friends. Now, sitting in my room away from family and friends, there is a whole new range of emotions going through me. Despair, pity and hopelessness.

I know for a fact that I did nothing to deserve to be in such an unfortunate situation. I worked hard every single day, I pushed myself harder every week and it felt like I was really doing something important. I really loved what I was doing and woke up every morning looking forward to what I was going to do at work. The work I was doing seemed to give a meaning to what I was doing with my life. Prematurely and abruptly its over now. Will I work as hard and enthusiastically again at a new job? I don't know.

What I know is this. I may have lost my job but it is by no way a reflection of the work that I did. I am proud of my contributions and there are not many who can say that they did justice to their job every single day. It is the only positive thought I can carry forward to my next job.

Where I am going to go and what Im going to do, I have no idea. But I know that I have to start all over again. Feels just like after grad school; no money, no life and a long time before I found a job. Not something I'm looking forward to!

Was it a good vacation? You decide. I can only give you a rehearsed line "I had some good times although I might have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't lost my job"

Tendulkar calls for respect towards senior players

I'm referring to this

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/375956.html

As a child growing up, I have greatly admired Tendulkar and as I have grown the admiration has evolved into respect. Respect for his achievements, his humility and his cricketing talent. But I have to disagree with him on this one.

Why must seniority and past achievements be a factor in determining in the use by date of a sportsman? A CEO of a badly performing company doesn't get to keep his job regardless of his past record. If your management policies are not working, the board of directors are wont to give you the pink slip.

Besides, cricket is a team sport. An individual in a team sport does not get to decide when he or she retires. If you cant pull your weight then somebody else is dragging it. A pack of dogs pulling sled has to work together, each expected to perform its designated function. If one of them is injured or simply not good enough, the entire pack struggles.

I can understand Sachin requesting for more respect from the media and the selectors in handling the issue of retirement. But I cannot accept that senior players must decide for themselves when to retire. Besides, as a fan I would rather see Sachin, Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly go out with the cliched bang than having to watch them scratch around for 20-30 or bowling 30 overs without a wicket and have the selectors drop them unceremoniously.

Ask Healy or Taylor what it means to be pushed. Compared to that Ganguly is getting a grand sendoff with pension, wall clock and farewell party.

A thing I wrote for work.......very inside-y joke

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And the memory remains..........

Bhargav: I still remember the first time we got drunk together in E4! And you started rocking to Metallica and finally threw up :)

Karthik: Our dance!!!!! (people in the know will understand what I'm talking about) :D

Krishna: Remember the time when I was searching for jobs and you said if I'm interested you could get me into group at OSU!! That was unbelievable, after all we went through :P

Pappu: heeeeeeeeheeeeeeee. Midnight. Silence. Laughter. Scrubs. 'nuff said!!!!!

Thanks guys, you made life in Delaware a whole lot better than it was. These are the memories I shall keep in mind about all of you. Cheers!