July, 2006

Guess what the new buzz around the globe is {guessing this has been going on for some time but my tubelight of a head just realized it yesterday during a conversation with some friends and of course that movie helped - “Lord of Wars”} - to do or start business in war ridden countries. Just about everyone wants a piece of the pie in countries like Iraq{obviously country has more oil, than India has good drinking water - just kidding Indians but I really dont mind an argument with one of you - crap you guys are quite a lot eh - 1 BILLION - okay on second thoughts nevermind} , Sudan, Eastern Europe, Pakistan{hmmm this could be false}, oh yes most African countries, and wola - Sri Lanka. Yes my dear loving country also seems to be an ideal place for businessmen if you are in the right business - arms, steel, food, {killing people, oops sorry}, politics, {murdering people, oops sorry again}, and tourism {very specifically Eurpean child molesters }. Arms is an excellent business and those of you who have seen the movie “Lord of Wars” - you know what I am talking about. That “middleman” concept really plays well in such an industry. Get online. See who wants to sell an AK-47, then check who wants to buy it. Email both parties. And you get a commission. Of course I just made this simple because people have already watched the movie but thats the skeleton of the business plan.

Steel and Food seem to be making some big headlines. Steel thanxxxx to Mr.Lakshi Mittal. Damn that guy wants to buy everything. Hope he gives some money away like Buffet Boy. Anyways seems like the African countries have a lot of raw materials like copper etc to make alloys like steel{I am guessing steel is an alloy. Let me google it but not going to change this statement} for construction purposes. Food -oh yes - did you know that war ridden countries do not make sufficient food to feed themselves? My God. Aney I wish I knew that before. So a good business plan would be to sell food to these countries, hook up with the Goverment and you know you are going to get paid because NGOs and Western Countries are going to keep these countries down economically by bribing politicans, supplying weapons and of course causing problems a.k.a wars. Did you know that charity itself is a big player in keeping such countries economically “screwed” ? {yes its a fact and i can prove it but i am not going to write a 100 page essay now. please google it yourself} Why would you want to work when you know tomorrow’s bread and butter are coming through the UN? If those countries really wanted to help, i.e. America - then it would make the agricultural industry a true playing levelled field {take off its subsidies} and give oppurunties to countries in Africa Asia etc to get into their markets or other developed markets. Anyways I could be wrong here so someone please brighten me. The point is food is a good business - especially the importing part - in a war ridden zone.

So now that I have brightened your minds and you are all thinking of starting your own business, I would like to get a cut/commission. After all I am the one who put this idea into your head. Yes dammit you are reading my post - its my blog. Anyways you can contact me by email so that we can sort that cheque issue out. Well hope your business does well!!!

Ever wondered, if you are living in the subcontinent, whether the right path or choice according to laws set by the goverment should be followed? I am wondering now. By default, we have been asked by our elders, teachers, parents and anyone who apparently thinks he/she is right including those damn textbooks to follow rules and regulations. They somehow seem to forget to tell us and of course we during our period as “elders” will conveniently forget to tell the youngsters that rules and regulations have loopholes which are meant to be used - if you have the right kind of power, clout or money. The levels of these loopholes, how they are accessed and by whom vary depending on your social presitege a.k.a social status and which country you reside in. For example, a rickshaw driver would utilize the loophole of “gifting” {some people are stupid to think that these are bribes} items to police constables on the road whenever he {i havent seen a she rickshaw driver - no i am not a male chauvinist or sexist or any other term that exists in the Oxford English Dictionary that targets me in a negative way for such a simple statement} is caught for doing something that “goes against” the rules and regulations set by the goverment {Illegal is a word used commonly when someone is caught for doing something that “goes against” the rules and regulations set by the goverment}. These items can vary from certain hundred rupees to favors. A High level politican or successful businessman would use a loophole at a different or higher level. He/She would basically “gift” variety of items to senior officers, counterparts and other businessmen to invite tenders, business propositions and favors. The rules and regulations set by the goverment would request these fine citizens to require forms, undergeo processes and of course gauge up the time {somehow the processes take a long time in developed countries still even though this new concept of Outsourcing has caught up with them big time}, but considering the fact that the loophole gets things done faster, easier and more efficient - why not just use it?

I have been having the time of my life getting a visa {of any kind right now} to visit a certain country {not naming it just in case for my bad luck i get screwed}. My company Human Resource Managers called the embassy, requested them for details, receieved it, processed it and then handed me those forms. I of course thinking that the process is simple, went to the embassy only to see it be rejected without hesitation and of course no reason. Amused, Bewildered and Totally Confused are understatements. One officer made a sarcastic comment - “Why would we want to hire a Sri Lankan?”. I gave him a meek smile, satisfied that at least I was not working in the hot and humid room like he was. Round Two - and this time I was better prepared and asking for less. Got a loophole{not mentioning it for obvious reasons}. Something had apparently gone wrong in the loophole{maybe the “gift” was not large enough} and I was rejected again and was consoled by a werid and traditional statement - “According to the horoscope - yesterday was a bad day for you and you shouldnt have applied”. The “gift-taker” made this statement to my bemusement.

People seem to get very far when they don’t follow the rules, the regulations or the “correct” paths. From Bill Gates to the recently elected mayor in the capital of a small island off the Indian Ocean have not followed these rules for success to garland them. Then why should any other individual be asked to do so? I hope whoever reads this blog comments on atleast one person who during their lifetime and path to success and glory had not committed a single act that would violate a rule or regulation. Somewhere somone had given a “gift”, accepted one or had facilitated the transaction of one. So there is no question -”To Bribe or not to Bribe?” - if the answer you seek is the heading “Transaction Completed Successfully” because the best, easiest and efficient way to get it is to bribe and thus violate the rules and regulations, that you teach or will teach your children to follow.

On June 30th 2006, the Goverment of Sri Lankan re-introduced the procedures to register Tamils in the island for security purposes.The following link details the exact requirements of the procedure in vague terms of course.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=18673

I am and have always been a proud Sri Lankan Tamil. Always been patriotic about my country, about its diversified ethnicities and most importantly our culture. Yet such practices introduced by the government makes me think twice about my patriotism. I understand that there have been security violations by the LTTE but then again the GOSL also has targeted many innocent Tamils living in the North and in recent times have bombed churches and tsunami refugee camps. Would it be applicable or even remotely implementable if the Sinhalese residing in the North and East were asked to register with the police? Of Course Not. Does patriotism really matter in the island if exhibited by a Tamil? I think not. Most people are going to think that the Tamil is a kotiya {Tiger in Sinhalese} and wants Eelam. Some don’t even read history to understand the suffering the Tamil people had gone through after gaining independence. The height of ignorance was unbearable when an educated Sinhala friend of mine said that the Tamils landed in this country after the 1950s. If only he had paid attention in history class would he have realized that the Tamil kingdoms started with the legend of Ramayana ending with the Chola dynasty {of course the Chola dynasty was beaten because the Kandyan Sinhala king decided to ally with the Portuguese}.

Tamils and Sinhalese in the island have been having a “go” at each other since the time settlers came from West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Most of the Bengalis and Keralites turned into Sinhala Buddhists whilst the Tamils practiced Hinduism. The Kandyan Kingdom of the Sinhalese in the Central part of the island and the Tamil kingdom of the North have always been the strongest rivals with some minor shake-ups caused by the Kingdoms from the south such as Galle. After the arrival of the British, things seemed to get back on track from both parties as they had a common enemy. The Tamil and Sinhala leaders wanted to get rid of the British and thus were fighting for the same cause - Wish they British were still in town sometimes :). The Tamil leader GG Ponnambalam was the first person to argue in British Parliament to enable Vesak {celebrate Buddha’s birthday} to be regarded as a national holiday in Sri Lanka {doubt many Sinhalese know this fact}. Other Tamil leaders fought bravely for the independence of my homeland and when asked by the British whether they wanted a separate country -they refused, thinking the conciliation with the Sinhalese would be ideal for both parties and the betterment of the country. After independence things started to roll down as far as harmony between the two ethnicities were concerned. The SLFP which came to power in 1970 decided that English should not be the main language in schools and universities and decided to segregate the medium of study into Sinhalese and Tamil { Had they taken a leaf out of India’s education system we would have been much better off now}. Then came the shocker of all shockers – You have probably heard that affirmative action is applied to allow for minorities to get admission to schools because of past discrimination etc. In Sri Lanka, the minority Tamils were asked to get higher grades than the majority Sinhalese to enter universities. This led to hiring fewer Tamils into government related jobs thus creating a suspicious and ticking environment. Explosion. The LTTE was born – the result of continuous oppression of the Tamil people. Fueled by the 1983 ethnic riots when Sinhalese butchered many Tamils to death, the organization grew in numbers to be the deadly force they are today.

The LTTE were amicably supported by the Indian government and to this day still have a lot of clout in Tamil Nadu politics and within politicians. Rarely do they seem disturbed when a Western nation says something against them but react with caution when India is involved. The relationship turned sour when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated with the help or involvement of the LTTE. Gandhi had earlier sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force to act as the mediators but soon turned them around to fight the Tigers. The IPKF had left behind stories of atrocities when they departed the nation wounded and humiliated by a small guerilla force. They had raped women, killed innocent students and murdered POWs without hesitation and help of the SL Army {If you are an Indian and reading this and want to argue, please send me your yahoo id and we can have the best argument of your life!!!}. This was followed by Rajiv’s death and then the assassination of the president of Sri Lanka who had apparently cracked a secret deal {then of course gone wrong so his death} with the LTTE.

Many incidents have followed, wars waged, destruction amounted, money spent and of course innocent lives wasted. The Cease Fire Agreement signed in 2002 gave a glimmer of hope fueled by the tragedy of the tsunami {Yeah you do need a tragedy or catastrophe sometimes to bring people together. They say a sport does the trick but did you watch the Italy-Germany game?}. Currently things have got to a stage where there seems to be an “unofficial” war. Both parties refuse to accept each other’s presence and both do not want to admit their mistakes. Angered by the continuous support of the breakaway faction of the LTTE by the SL Army, the lives of innocents seem to be at risk. War looks imminent but when seems to be the billion dollar question? The million dollar question is of course what the catalyst is, for it to start.

In the end it will be innocent and poor Sinhalese and Tamils who will lose their lives. You want see the rich Sinhalese kid fighting the war, nor will you see the son/daughter of the war hungry politican at the Front Lines. Tamils who have had acquired some decent amount of wealth will always be able to avoid discrimination and if necessary leave the country. Its the ones caught in the middle of nowhere in the North Easter province who are going to be at risk.

So, because of the situation in this country, Tamils have been asked to register and identify themselves. Where are those human right and civil liberty groups when you need them? This is really funny because another article from many Sri Lankan websites stated that a Sri Lankan army official had been arrested for giving the LTTE information. The report also suggested that the officer had named 26 other members of the armed forces from his own battalion. So why not ask the Sinhalese to register as well? As long as the GOSL aims at discriminating the Tamils, the Tamil people will always dream about their own homeland. For some odd reason, although born a Tamil, I have lived with the Sinhalese and Muslims and thus I want to remain a Sri Lankan – but then again my identification card says Tamil and so I automatically become a Second Class Citizen.

My mentor/friend asked me the other day,”Thanesh when do you work?”. For a moment or second I was confused. Well I am always confused about myself but now I was actually thinking “Do i do any work?”. I started to question,”What is work?”. This led to a series of questions aimed at my mentor/friend over IM. He of course busy with work and realizing that he had just triggered my head’s motor wanted to calm it by saying, “I am just pulling your leg”. Me on the other hand had already ventured into the avenue of analyzing, dissecting and reassembling that question. I was questioning my work, my accomplisments and most of all my work ethics. {BTW i am very proud of the “little” i do and have accomplished so far, but just like Rooney I am going to get better - that is a fact - but to even question these aspects is a big step for me}.

I have a prejudiced view that all managers, team leaders and other top management level folks look at a person’s ability by the quantity of work they do - the hours the set at work, whether they are sitting on that chair for 8 hours in a row and of course do they get the task done and whether its on time. I guess the last two factors are the decisive ones to make up a person’s mind. I dont think I can quiet fit into this categorization. First of all I am unpredictable at how long I can sit on a chair for - usually not more than half an hour. Do i get my task done on time - records show that I havent {please bear in mind that these tasks I do usually recieve -well for some odd reason, no one has done them before - so before you start comparing me - I am admitting my faults. I also like to add that some tasks well were really “challenging”} and also do i get the work done - Yes, I have and I can say that proudly{again took alot of time in certain tasks so that doesnt make my feats that great}.

So do i do any work? Hmmmm - well if you go by “MY” prejudiced view - I guess its a big NO NO. Then I came across an instance that made me feel that I did have something in me and i do work but just not in the typical way. When I started working in Chennai, I came across one of the most accomplished, intelligent, educated yet enlightened, eloquent, black & white character. His name will not be mentioned for obvious privacy reasons. My initial opinion of his attitude towards me was -”This kid doesnt know jack from jill”, and thought to myself that he doesnt like me. He would include me in discussions but I felt that I will not be able to impress him. Slowly but surely as days went by, I was taken back by his work ethics {yes he had all that characterisitcs of an excellent worker - inlcuding sitting on the chair for straight 8 hours, excluding lunch} and most importantly by his soft charisma. He wasnt the the guy who would go talk to people or chat around but you wanted to get his attention because he had the “brains”. He would make random statements such as “Thanesh I dont want to talk to you because I have a lot on my plate and dont want to get confused”, and go to the extent of not looking at my work. Of course he had too much on his plate to look at my work but i was taking all these actions personally. So i decided to sit next to him and that is when I guess a small insignificant relationship started {significant from my point of view but insignifcant from his - guessing here}. Chatting to him was like going through a maze and trying to figure out the terabytes of information he was pouring out. It all started with “User Transactions” and I was getting excited at work. But I still needed that validity -that confirmation from him that I was not just some other developer or consultant. He gave me more responsbilities and more tasks and I was getting involved in his tasks and helping him out. It was an exchange of ideas, thoughts and more importantly it was the ability to tick the other individual’s mind. That was all the validation I needed. Of course, I did get some positive verbal feedback but I didnt really need it. I knew and still know he respects me and he has my utmost. And we did accomplish a certain level of “work” during that period. We initiated a relationship with an individual from a certain company that would help our process and tasks to be completed on time{it has come in handy in more than one instance}. We exchanged ideas and suggestions that would help the team and overall product in the future. We definetly created a more friendly team environment during that two week tenure. Its just that I didnt check in the damn jsp and java classes.

So what work do i really do? If the lifecycle of a product was linear from step 1 to step 30, i definetly dont fit in the teens. In the perspect of the software industry this would mean the actual coders - the ones who write the jsp and java classes. Do i fit into the early numbers? The creators, the brainstormers, the initiators. Maybe. Do i fit into the twenties - the final product and marketing? Could be. The problem is I am put into a situation where I need to be in the teens and thus the performance and calibre factors are going to be defined by the jsp and java classes that I write. Can i do it? Of course.

To top of my confusion, let me illustrate the following example that took place a couple of weeks ago. I was asked to define a content model for a certain application. The defining factor in creating this model was the ability to allow it to be re-registered during runtime. And the technology to be used was open source and new - thus no documentation. I did it and I doubt anyone in my team would have thought about it in the way I did. I created the method - very few lines - not more than 20 -but that 20 lines were important; and handed into other team members and leader. They of course changed it here and there and made it picture perfect so that it fit into the applcation without any issues. And of course they checked in the code.

So did i do any work?

This is an interesting article on Warren Buffet’s big “giveaway”.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/7447.html.

I guess the thinking after reading this article is basically if you are a capitalist then you must have a comparative analysis of your income against your social/charitable expense, thus inducing the lifecycle of “social”-capitalism into play. {As we are all philanthropists in some manner or form, we would want to add the “social” word before “capitalist”.}This percentage according to the bible has been set at 10% but I am sure we all have our own equations to come up with a number.

Just a thought.

The last week, begining on June 23rd and ending on July 1st, has been a rolla-coaster ride of emotions. A sin cos graph. There has been highs, lows, the averages and a whole lot of thinking. Friday{June 23rd} started with a bang. Went out - met a whole lot of friends{ I am back in Sri Lanka after nearly 5 years}, got piss drunk, met some wonderful young ladies and was just amazed at how the nightlife had changed here. Saturday was the average day - Nothing happened. Sunday was probably one of the most painful days of my life - My grandmother {father’s mother} passed away. I have not had anyone as close as her pass away before, and this was the first time that I was going to become actively involved in a funeral. Seeing my parents cry, along with my aunts, grandfather was a sight I wish I had truly missed and longed to get a plane ticket to get away from this island. Later I realized that this was something that I needed to go through. I am used to sad times but ones where I can become aggressive to counter-attack those sad/bad times. This was a time where I couldn’t counter attack- I had to grieve and make myself human again. Watching the England-Sweden game on Sunday was the least of my worries.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - marked the ceremonies to celebrate my grandmother’s life. As someone put it, I hope my father had no regrets. Seems like people only think about regrets after a person passes away. I have made it a point to ensure that I do not wait till the last minute. My change in personality and especially my attitude towards my parents have become that more different - more personal, more loving, more caring. I hope it keeps going. My parents are my backbone and thus get the brunt of my annoyance and irritation. The three days also marked some reunions which, well could have happened at a more happier event. I met most of my uncles and aunts who had come from Canada, Australia and England to attend the funeral. I was also surprised by the visit of my sister and her husband from England. I had not seen her for nearly 4 years and though surprised and delighted to see her at first, now I hope she goes back soon so that I can get my room back. We had to shift houses because of my father’s bankruptcy in late 2003 and thus the number of rooms, especially with A/C {and you do need this in the sub continent} has got smaller.

Thursday and Friday were usual days with a lot of “hanging out” with my cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, and sister. Talking about this gossip and that gossip, just like an average Sri Lankan would do, made me realize that well even tragerdies do have some kind of happiness. The main intruding topic was of course my grandmother’s life. People would go silent when my grandfather walked in but he would sometimes initiate it as well. Seems like the other hot topic these days is,” When is Thanesh getting married?”. Me being confused with my status of employment{As my sister put it yesterday - US employee, working for Chennai,India from an undisclosed location in Colombo, Sri Lanka - oh yes and no PAY!!!} - I think i can just go ahead and keep the marriage period postponed for some time. Rubbed into my sister, that she was getting fatter and of course the wagon party backed me up as my sister’s annoyance grew from sitting down looking dazed to beating the crap out of me. This had always been a symbolic gesture on our parts to show that we cared for each other - I annoy her and she beats me up.

Saturday was the last day of ceremonies for my grandmother’s soul to rest in peace. We had a pooja and they cooked a variety of dishes at my grandfather’s house. It varried from the classical dahl, brinjal, carrot curries - to delicious salads, potatoes and curds. Apparently this last day could be marked with some non-vegeatarian curries as well {I was very surprised by this fact but not the least bit disappointed by the food}. Crab, Cuttle Fish, Chicken, Fried Fish, Fried Prawns and Fried Chicken were the ONLY SIX varities on display and I tried them all. My brother in law and I had got attached{the previous day we both got sloushed on beers at home and my mother was kind enough to cook us sausages and chicken as bites while we were drinking - Yes I do have a lovely caring mother }, and he wanted to have a cigaratte after such a lovely meal. This led to a serious of “friendly and loving” confrontations between my sister and her husband. It was a weird feeling for my sister had become a mature girl now and I still treat her like a brat. {I had missed her wedding because I was on OPT in the USA workin with AMD for my company. Yes sad but this was a family decision}. The night was topped off with my brother in law and I going off to a pub to watch the England-Portugal Game. While Sri Lanka had beaten the crap out the English cricketers, I thought my favorite football team would fare better. Yes they lost again on penalties.

So, its been a fairly complex week. A week where retrospection seems to be the theme and will continue be for the next 2 weeks or so among my family members and especially I. I have realized one thing though from all this - Putting a child or son to rest in peace is the hardest and saddest feeling of all feelings, so when you do, I hope you have fullfilled all your duties as father or son, mother or daughter, for it will be last time you will ever see that smiling face again. I am going to try my level best, not just with my parents but with everyone I care about.