There was a chance and I lost it

After about 14 years, I found a few of my school class mates on Facebook. I just added them as everyone else in my situation would have done. Little did I know that one of the friend whom I added would die in an accident and I would never be able to see him again.


I must have wasted a lot of time at home, in front of my computer, on twitter, and on facebook. I just wish I could have moved my butt out and met him.



While inquiring about his death to another friend, I got to know that another class mate whom I'd been searching on Facebook and Orkut also had died long back.

I probably might never get to see them again. I just wish I meet people instead of wasting time. Miss you my dear friends. I am sorry, I did not meet you all this while.

Death isn't destiny. Remembrance is.

India is the biggest democrazy in the world

In India, there is an outfit called Maoists. No one would jail me for calling them internal terrorists. So the Maoists have killed a lot of people and the most recent being this as you see in the image.

 While these Maoists kill for blood there are politicians who don't bother to bring down the bloody Maoists.

Not taking action against those who do such cowardly acts are Maoists supporters.

In India, if you steal 500 rupees, you'd be caned to death. If you steal 500 crores, you'd be given Z class commandos for your security.

Old is gold but can they learn?

One of the things I observe about the oldies living around me is that they appear to have lost the ability to learn things or patiently listen. I am not sure if this is the case with all oldies. I know of Jerry Weinberg, who in his seventees and eightees is learning as much as he must have done in his twenties and thirties.


Age might not be the barrier to learn, its just that they learnt a way to live without having to learn.

Rules and Fools

So, I met an IT guy who works for an organization infested with lots of process. Whatever name you want to give to the process I am fine.

He had proposed to use a tool to simplify a great deal of work they had been doing. It had to go through a lot of approvals before he could install it on his desktop. Finally he installed the trial version to demonstrate the proof of concept and that demanded him to be the administrator of his desktop.

As per the IT rule of the organization no local admin access was to be provided to employees unless someone with lots of authority says "go ahead". He went around looking for approvals and some big guns were on leave or put this in low priority.

By the time the approval came and he got the local admin access, the trial license had expired. WTF! I am sure he is not going to be taking any more initiatives to save cost for the organization. There are going to be more people in the organization with similar experience. What a loss for the organization!

Two sides of a coin called "advice"

I know of someone who communicated to me that he hates getting advice from people and yet offers advice to others. Isn't it interesting that a specific thing such as advice is not being liked when on receiving side of the table but is liked when the same person is on the other side of the table.

Investigating a little bit, I see that it has got nothing to do with "advice" when someone hates it. Its about people. On the other side as we love ourselves so much that we feel elated offering advice to someone else.

The coin called "advice" doesn't have two sides but it is we humans who have multiple sides that make a coin feel bad about itself.

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.