Fight on!!!

Human society at large and maybe the Indian psyche in particular has always thrived in comparisons with immediate peers, relations or anybody on whom your eye rests. I have come to believe that the wish to surpass others around you, to do 'one better than them' has helped humans be a better species as a whole.

This 'besting' does lead to strife, for no one wants to end up losing. The best example of 'besting' in recent human history which I can think off is the 'Cold War'. Whether any good came out of it is debatable but it did succeed in giving the human species a certain direction than been pulled into one camp or the other for eternity and that is one big pro which I think came out of this competition other than of course 'Man taking that giant leap for mankind' :)

Thinking micro on this and you will see that these 'comparisons' have always been around you and they will always remain however old you get or however successful you will become. They have been there so long that are essentially a part of our being now. Only recently has the Indian Education system realized that ranking helps no one, no doubt they have adopted a 'grade' system instead. There is no other way than 'comparing' you with somebody else when decisions related to 'promotions' 'scholarships' 'benefits' etc are to be made. Even at your work place, your best is not the best until is it better than your co-worker.

Personally I have always tried to not get affected with these 'comparisons'. Being at the right end of the ranking in my scholastic endeavors did help me no doubt. Thanks to that I can say that was not exactly a victim of the 'rat race'. However the generations to follow would definitely not have it this easy but then if the Darwinian in me to be believed the future generations will be equipped to face the world however crazy it would be then.

The bottom-line still remains you are as 'fit' as the person next to you will allow to be :) Fight on!!!


Image courtesy: http://sketchedout.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/rat-race/

Woh Paanch Din...

Those 5 days of the last week were a real challenge. Don't cringe your face yet. I am not onto describing something gross or insensitive, it is only a coincidence that even in my case it had to be 5 days. Such is the way of the Lord it seems!!!

Start of June I moved into a new apartment in the town of Meriden. The place was a hotel which was only recently converted as an apartment space and leased out. They had not touched the decor of the rooms per se. So it is still a hotel room with the furnishings and all but that the daily housekeeping will not happen. Not a bad deal at all. The only catch was setting up a new internet connection!!!

It took the ISP a good part of 5 days to setup the connection and it was this time where I suffered the most. First of all it was a work week. Having cultivated the habit of leaving office early and then working from home in the evening to send out emails to my team at offshore, it was a 'shot in the arm' to realize that the only place where you will be able to work is the OFFICE!! All 5 days like a 'government servant' I made it to office at 9:00AM and left around 5:30PM.

The brighter side was that there was no office work in the evenings to worry about. But the down side was without internet there wasn't anything that I could do. You would argue that you still have 3G on your mobile phone so you were not exactly cut off from the outside world. Well I give you that but in these 5 days I have realized that there is only so much you can do using ur mobile 3G connection!! Call me 'old school' if you may but there is no fun without the laptop or even wi-fi!!! My apartment had a TV though but then these days TV just does not cut enough ice. I mean its fun to watch a game streaming on your laptop than your TV :) Its much more personal that way.

By the third day I was pretty much used to my 'offline' day until I got beeped for a production support issue at 2 in the morning. I listened patiently and then nervously asked a colleague for help. That was the most I could have done at that time anyways. Really couldnt help it, could I?? :(

But now the ordeal is over, I have internet and I am back where I think I belong 'online'!!! Life is FUN again apart from the fact that now I am supposed to work in the evenings after office as well, but I can live with that.

In hindsight the last 5 days were like going to a school where there was no homework to be done. Now you decide if that is fun or that is FUN :P