The useful dad

I met someone yesterday who I know has a lot of public reputation and credibility for his work and contribution to the IT industry. He travels a lot around the world and his calendar is a good evidence that he has little time for his kids. He acknowledged that in his talk, too.

I am wondering if he is really being a useful to his kids beyond pumping them with enough money? Look, I don't have kids yet but that shouldn't stop thinking about the duty a father has towards his kids. It also doesn't mean I don't respect him.

What great education are we trying to give to the world as teachers when we don't have time for our own kids? Oh, we want them to grow up and understand what we are trying to say to the world?
 

What a teacher needs to be taught?

I do a lot of coaching other than other kinds of IT work I do. I have couple of people who claim to be my students. Students do not mean those who are present in the class when I teach but those who go beyond the class rooms to connect with me.

The problem with me as a teacher is that I try to expect a few things from my students. Not money, not gifts but their commitment to deliver something when they promised. Turns out that I learnt a lesson about it.

Good students who are under committed are likely to hurt a teacher more than bad students who are not committed at all.

Money can't buy great sons!

I went to a place and accidentally discovered my school teacher whom I last met 25 years ago. We started talking.

Teacher: "What do you do?"
Me: "I am a software consultant"
Teacher: "Nice. My son is Senior Director at a large MNC"
Me: "Nice mam."
Teacher: "I don't get to talk to him. He is so busy."
Me: "It happens mam"
Teacher: "He gifted me this phone a while back but to activate internet there are some settings to be done. You are a software consultant, right? Can you help me with it? I dont understand this software part"
Me: "Oh sure! It would be a pleasure to serve you"
While I was fixing the settings and getting internet activated... Teacher, "I asked my son to activate internet for me but he is so busy he hasn't been able to do it ever since he gifted the phone".


For style, we gift our parents mobile phones and don't help them set things up in it. What problems are we software people solving without solving one of them for our own parents?

BTW, I thanked the teacher son. He gave me an opportunity to serve my teacher.

Invited gang rape

Today morning, I had been to a hair cut and had to wait for about an hour to get my turn. While waiting for my turn, I discovered a few newspapers lying beside me and picked up reading as many things as possible.

After reading the news for half an hour, I landed up on a page that had a news about a woman gang raped. I think news about someone being raped catches every eye that I know of. I started to read the report and here is what is the gist

"A married woman waiting for bus and late to attend a conference decided to ask for lift from someone passing in a car. The people inside the car learned that she was new to the place and drove the car to a lonely place and gang raped her. Later, the rapists, threw her out of the car somewhere near her relatives house"

While my heart goes to that woman for having undergone such a pain in life, I am concerned if that woman invited such a thing to happen to her. Being late to a conference is the most inexpensive thing as compared to being gang raped.


The news continues,

"This is not the first incident of a gang rape on a woman who asked for lift from car-passer-by-strangers in that locality"

 
I wish there is a law to cut off the penis of those men who rape but but but but but I know of woman who would take advantage of that. So, woman are a trap to themselves. No, let me rephrase that. Bad woman are a trap to good woman.

Reality show off

Have been watching a few reality shows on the television, at least because my wife watches a couple of them and I am forced to not change the channel.

So, there is a singing competition on and one of my favorite singer is a judge. I have been watching the way she comments on others singing for a while and was not happy with it. I started to build a hatred towards her and then all of a sudden an idea flashed my mind: "How about continuing to be her fan considering her singing skill?"

I liked her for her skill of singing and not for her skill to critique others singing. So, let me continue to like her for her skill than dislike her for lack of another skill that I don't get affected by anymore.

I think I will use that approach to help myself a lot more people.

Love on screen versus love in life

When I had a crush on a girl during my college days, I used to enjoy every bit of love scenes on the screen or on television. Many years later, I got married to someone else. I still enjoy the love scenes on screen and hardly remember my ex but mostly my wife. So good for my wife :)

However, I discovered a friend of mine on Facebook, who had so many posts on his wall about a movie that is mainly a love only kind of movie. This guy, is running late to find a partner in his life. This guy in just an year + or so, wont find a girl to marry but a lady to marry.  He is almost bald and looks little older than his age is.

When his time is running out, I am wondering why he is spending so much time watching those movies about love instead of trying to find a love for himself. Ok, so you think I am forcing him to find a love, not really. Turns out that he has plan to find a love and marry but his time is being spent on watching movies about love.


As a friend, all I could do is to help him understand about it. Wondering how many people are like him.

When people are not serious about their own life and distracted by movies, how could I ever think of helping people in the IT field gain focus about their career. A good lesson for me. A learning re-iterated.

Thank you for it, my dear friend. Your sacrifice to help me learn the above lesson is commendable. Time for you to go and watch that movie about love again.

Chappathi diet versus Rice diet

In South India, there is a popular belief that Chappathi diet will help those with Rice diet, lose weight. Some dieticians say that Chappathi and Rice more or less are induce same level of calories into the body for equal quantities and it doesn't make a difference.

Assuming that is true, how come people who changed their diet from Rice diet to Chappathi diet claim to have lost weight?

I tried it and here is what I observed. Cooked rice, is soft and easily chewable. I could even swallow a lot of rice without having to chew it. So, I didn't even know how much quantity I was consuming. However, the case with Chappathi is I had to chew every piece. It would choke my throat if I try to swallow. For a lazy person like me, in order to avoid a hell lot of chewing, I cut down on the quantity of chappathi I could have.

There you go!