Complicating Simplicity

I love my gadgets. I think it is hereditary. I got it from my dad. I remember my growing up years where dad used to come home with one new acquisition after another - digital clocks, stereo sets, calculators, portable televisions... Eventually I had my own income and I set out on my own conquests (ok... shopping trips). And I discovered cell phones. I still remember my first Siemens cell phone. In looked like a brick! It was big, it was heavy, it was unwieldy. But that was just the beginning. There was a Nokia invasion in India and I was captured. I had a new phone every 6 months! Sleeker, fancier, more and more features... and then I got my dad hooked on it too. We were almost competing on who had the better phone.

And then I came to the US! This country has a knack of complicating the most simplest of things. In India, every Ram, Shyam and Hari has a cell phone. The rate plans are simple: you either have a pre-paid or post paid phone. There is a fixed rate for each minute you talk, each SMS and I am assuming the same applies for data usage too (Browsing on Cell Phones was not the in-thing when I was in India last). You could buy any cell phone you like (and can afford) and just put in your SIM card (unless you were stuck with a CDMA connection which was not too popular).

Buying a calling plan is so complicated here... Are you chatty or do you just want to text? Do you browse a lot or do you just want to check your e-mail? Do you want to talk equally every month or do you want to roll over your minutes? And oh yeah, these are the only 10 phones you can buy - which one do you want? I hate this. Currently, I have a Nokia N80, an HTC Diamond and a MotoRokr - all of them are unlocked and not bought from any of the Cell Phone providers. When I first picked out a T-Mobile connection 3 years back, there was no option to buy a plan without a phone online... So I walked down to the nearest store. They gave me the whole song and dance about some T-Mobile applications I will be missing out on. But finally I got a plain old SIM card and a plan. Then started the cumbersome journey of adding new services. Each time I try to add a service online, it asks me to pick my phone. And surprise, surprise! My phone is not one of the phones that they offer. But there is a workaround... find a phone that has similar capabilities and pick that one.

Recently, I moved to the middle of nowhere. And T-Mobile has very bad coverage here. So I decided to switch to AT&T or Verizon... and guess what? I cannot do that online because I don't want to pay another 200 bucks for a phone that has lesser features than my current phone!! Another trip to their store, I guess. I wonder why cell phone companies put up with this. They have so many cool call phone models available in Asia Pacific which they can sell here too... People can buy it based on their spending power. So why lock down the choices that people have? And why force people to decide whether I want to talk more or text more... what if I want to talk more this month and text more the next month! Why can't it be that you pay x dollars a month and you decide what you want to do with that money - text, talk, browse, rollover, flush it down the toilet, whatever!

Like the Deserts miss the Rain

I miss Seattle... my life there and everything else about the place. I have lived there close to 6 years in the last decade. After Kerala, this is the longest I've lived anywhere. It really is a home away from home for me. After living away from my parents for so long, my friends are my family now. And I had a handful of really good friends in Seattle - people who knew me well, who were there for me if I ever needed help, who would be there to rejoice in my happiness, who would come and just sit with me when I am sad and dont want to talk. All the things that family would do. I miss the Wii Battles (which I always lost), the parties, the potlucks, the BBQs, the shopping... And most of all, I miss the two cutest and most adorable kids I have ever known. I miss the evenings and weekends I spent with them. I miss their silly squabbles to catch our attention. I miss those naughty smiles, those tiny little hands pulling me around... and I miss their mommy too. I don't think my own sister would have taken such good care of me, if I had one.

Why do I keep going through this whole cycle of starting over? I dont think I can take too many more of this. Its bad enough that I am away from my parents and missing them terribly. I hate feeling like I am somewhere and my heart is elsewhere. High time I learned how to maintain boundaries!!

FamiliarITy

Disclaimer: This post is based solely on my observations as an IT services professional for the last decade. Your point of view might be different. Deal with it!!

Familiarity breeds contempt, says the adage. In an ever competitive world of consulting, outsourcing & services industry, familiarity breeds a lot more than just contempt.

In most IT services companies, the client relationship managers take up the dual responsibility of sales too. To stay ahead in the rat race, you always have a new strategy or solution. Assuming you have a great product or service to sell, the deal clincher is how you market it. This is one place where familiarity is a foe. If your client has known you for years and have seen you in action, he/she would know your limits by now. They have seen your negotiation tactics, they know how far you would go, and what your breaking point is. There is no element of surprise. There is limited room for negotiation and as a result, lesser profit margin.

The biggest complaint you hear from couples who have been married for ages is that their spouse takes them for granted. Same applies to a client relationship too. In long client engagements, you start getting treated as one of their own! There are definitely advantages to this. But it has disadvantages too. The bar is being raised constantly. Your client might have employees who have worked with them for half a century and knows everything inside out. You cannot keep the same people around for that long. The career paths and the company direction of IT & consulting firms is different from their end customer.

To get your foot in at a new client, you might have agreed to some aggressive timelines and billing rates. But if you were not proactive enough to set the expectation that this is a one time deal to prove your proficiency, you are in big trouble, Negotiations & changes of billing rates and SLAs are difficult with long term clients. If your star performer is being billed at $x an hour, you can increase that $x to some extend based on market conditions or what not. But there is only so far you can push without straining the relationship. The same person could be positioned at a different client location at a higher rate.

Last but not the least: you snooze, you lose! Business trends and technology is changing at a blinding pace. Unless you work in different environments with varying management styles and problem statements, you lose your competitive edge. You tend to practice & preach the client's way of doing things just because you haven't explored any other options. This not only hampers your career, your client is also losing out on any thought leadership from you.

So I guess the best adage for today is "Variety is the spice of life!"

OK to be Gay in India

In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court legalized gay sex among consenting adults. This repeals part of section 377 of Indian Penal Code on grounds of violation of fundamental rights. India is finally upholding the part of our constitution that says "The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth." In its 105 page judgment, the bench noted that "It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality."

I am sure there are going to be repercussions from political and religious stalwarts. In fact, the Catholic Church in Kerala was quick to point out that "Legalizing gay sex will open up the society to some sort of sexual anarchy. Perhaps Indian culture is being eroded by the western promiscuous culture." I can't wait to hear what the Hindu extremists and the Muslim fanatics have to say about all this.

For a country that still upholds a lot of conservative beliefs, this is a giant leap. The legal aspect of same-sex relationship is taken care. But the social stigma associated to it will take a lot more time to disintegrate. Even though monumental, this is just the first step. There are still issues of marriage, adoption, legal status as dependents, inheritance, etc which needs to be figured out for same sex couples. After all, California is still fighting Prop 8!

Self Help at its Best!!

Happy Birthday!

1998: Turned 21 on Mother's Day. I remember the day clearly. It was my last year of Engineering. I already had a job offer and I was to start at the job end of that year. I was going to be away from home and on my own for the first time in my life. Every year, my parents used to throw my a birthday party and the guests always were the same - Sreedevi and Peelu... sometimes Indu & Nisha too. But this year was different... there were boys ;) Just a couple of friends from college but it was a big deal for me and a new worry for my parents. But I had a blast. It was a birthday filled with a lot of hopes... Hopes for an exciting future - looking forward to a career, independence, new experiences, responsibility, love and eventually a family and a home - a turning point in life. I remember joking that day about my kids being able to celebrate my birthday and Mother's Day on the same day once in a few years.

2009: 11 years later, another birthday on Mother's Day. 11 years back, I imagined that I would be able to celebrate Mother's Day with my kids by now... It feels like I am once again waiting for life to take another turn. Some of the aspirations from 11 years back have come true... I have a decent career; I make a good living. I am independent. I had my share of new experiences. There was love... but there was loss too. There is a house... but it is not a home yet. Over the last 2-3 years, I feel like a hamster running in a wheel... It is the same routine over and over... And I am waiting for life to begin again... But while I am running in circles in that wheel, time is slipping by. I know that life doesnt happen... I need to make it happen. But I seem to have lost the will to live... I still have dreams and hopes and desires... but I have given up trying to realize them.

I feel like I am asleep and my wake up alarm is a lullaby and so I just keep sleeping.

Happy Birthday to me! And on this day, my advice to self is "Memento Mori!"

April Fool!

Finally, it's spring!!

Nope... fooled you. Its snowing in Seattle!