story of a garbage bin

I have got back to walking inside the colony for the last few days.The weather is mild and the area quiet at that time of the morning. Did notice the 'onyx' pick up van which collects the garbage from households a few days back. I also spotted a supervisor who was ensuring that the fellow does a clean job. Which was when i noticed that the garbage bin at the end of the colony near malaviya avenue was missing. And i found a prominent notice painted on the wall of the house"do not drop garbage here; by order chennai corporation!".The supervisor was ensuring that the bin is moved.I assumed that the owner of the house nearby must have made some powerful complaint about the location of the bin, just outside his compound.There is a hospital nearby and also an 'andhra mess' and i am sure the bin gets full in no time; and later the garbage gets strewn all over the place outside the bin.Not a pretty sight, and not a pleasant odour either.
I did find a few stray plastic bags with kitchen waste, strewn there for the next few days.Today i found a small placard standing there, once again exhorting the 'garbage throwers' not to dump garbage there.I was wondering about the whereabouts of the garbage bin. I spotted it a few yards away, standing cosily side by side with another garbage bin!;I wondered why that landlord did not object to not one but two bins parked outside his house. It was then i noticed that the house is bolted and secured and nobody appeared to be living there. I could visualise the bin getting tossed about from one location to another and finally landing here, where nobody would object. It is also no wonder that yet another bin has also found its way by its side.
I immediately recalled an earlier incident. We were staying for a short while in a company guest house.I used to spot a garbage bin, bang outside the gate. It used to irritate me, so i told the security guard that they should get the garbage bin shifted a little away, so that it is not staring at you while you are entering the guest house. Next day i did not find it there and thought i have accomplished a neat job.Only to be shocked by its reappearance at the same spot a few days later. The security guard gave me a big story about his himalayan efforts to get it out of the way, but like a bad penny it came back as nobody wanted it anywhere near their house!And since this was a guest house where guests are in and out of the place, it has safely parked itself there.
So the moral of the story is, the garbage bin moveth and having moved, moves on.....as long as there are guest houses and locked houses.

gracious living

Something that yasaswini had said in a mail has set me thinking. Gracious living...
It conjures up leisurely lifestyle, of sitting with a cup of coffee and gazing at the skyline, giving undivided attention to the aroma and flavour and the pleasure that a cup of coffee can give;looking at the swaying leaves of the neem tree and the dangling chandeliers of their fruit bunches;reclining in the most comfortable chair on the porch and listen to the shrill of the kingfisher; breathe in the fresh morning air which has a wetness and freshness after a overnight drizzle;and all this not for a fleeting second, before your mind gets boxed in with numerous thoughts jostling for attention;but for a looong full minute and then several minutes; losing count of time as it were and indulge in that time and let time stop till you tire of the goodness.
When was it last time that i could dissolve myself like this. Not for a long time that i can remember.
Multi tasking, balancing work and home, perennially questing for achieving, hungry for learning more and constantly observing and conceptualising human behaviour,fascinated with the changing face of business and business process everyday; while all this has kept me very busy and excited(a constant to do list in my bag), I am now getting a sudden fascination for 'gracious living'.
Being a true libran, it is also my calling i guess. I like to surround myself with beautiful things(who does'nt you may ask),and lead a lazy lifestyle, hav ing a bevy of old trusted faithful servants taking care of every need , taking a cruise as you might fancy to some exotic locale(please, please do the paper work and all arrangements for me), having a large circle of friends who drop by and chat up animatedly on everything under the sun; taking care to dress well (i was telling prashant, i want to buy a lipstick, never used one after my wedding reception!)I have never tried nail polish either; the woman in the stall in the supermarket tried
to interest me in their latest colours and texture; i was amused as i never know what to look for in a nail polish; i am not a discerning customer there!I want to buy one the next time, but not before, reading up on some literature in some lifestyle magazine and chatting up with friends on the latest trends.
No dont get me wrong, i wont be the lazy socialite; i want to read and enjoy tamil poetry which i last enjoyed during school days; kamba ramayanam and peria puranam; and good prose too in tamil; and all hindi prose and poetry which we could not enjoy as we had to master the language before we enjoyed the literature.Want to learn and listen to music of all kinds and genres; i am not able to understand many terminologies that i read in metro plus about latest music trends and i dont like that.
Wait, wait am i again getting into doing too many things and aspiring to learn too many things?

Hearing and listening

Half the time we dont pay attention when someone is talking to us. The other half the time, we think we are paying attention, whereas we are day dreaming and only listening in to some words and phrases now and then. And all this when we are actually tuned in to the person talking!Even though God has given us two ears, they seem to filter out most of the 'wanted' stuff.
This train of thought was prompted by a small incident today morning.I was travelling by a taxi and the driver wanted to know the route he has to take. I patiently told him, andhra mahila sabha, cp ramaswmay iyer road and then music academy and gopalapuram, sathyam theatre and then we are there.He said thanks i will follow this route. While we were near the music academy, he tells me, we should avoid going straight as it will be very crowded and can we take the gopalapuram route!I told him this is what i told you just a while ago. Without batting an eyelid, he tells me so it is okay as he is also planning to take the same route!
Is it about not listening, or listening and not paying attention? Or it could be the third; there could be a disconnect between the brain and his vocal chords. The brain knows what route to take, and perhaps will unconsciously guide him while driving. But before that he has to talk and the disconnect showed!
Was mildly irritated.

Leave me at the gate please!

My tiny niece is growing up. Jhanvi is all of six years old and has just entered second standard.As usual her father went to drop her in her school today. Today she told him, "dont come inside, leave me at the gate. Her father was quite unprepared and felt bewildered and not a little upset. He told her 'i will walk with you till the carpark area, and then i will leave'.It is quite a quantum jump in the growing up phase of a child, i feel. Till yesterday, he used to park the car and walk with her upto her classroom. Then there will be a big send off session. Reluctantly she will leave, but once inside the classroom, she gets caught up in the excitement and does not look back.It is so easy for the child to grow up and scale new experiences; it is difficult for the parent to let go.
I am waiting for her to tell me not to come to her school anymore. Last few years of her schooling used to be spent in endless entreaties to me to come and meet her in school. Invariably, everytime i meet her 'Periamma will you come to my school today 'used to be her constant refrain. I have gone to her school some times and she used to quite look forward to them.The minute she sees me, she will jump up from her seat and come charging to me. Her school does permit such normal and natural behaviour in small kids!Bless them.
It is fascinating to see a child growing up.While we are watching her moods and needs change and like a rainbow might be there now and gone tomorrow.
Savour every moment!

Software projects and home renovation

Finally we have renovated our house and moved in last week. I say finally, because it has been a project with a verrrrry long gestation period. Something just short of our five year plans!Need analysis was done several times over; specifications were changed every minute and every hour and with every idea thrown in by well wishers(?).We had my colleague from buildings department come and look over the place and give her professional recommendations. We had an architect whose expertise we sought.We had any number of friends and relatives who had an idea on renovation. I did look over a recently renovated house for fresh ideas!I did look at a house which was being put through the process of renovation.I was asked to just look at the colour combination of the lamination and nothing else!We had called our 'old' contractor who had originally done a lot of work for us.He came and listened to our elaborate ideas. He never did turn up afterwards; it intrigued me, but kumar guessed that the elaborateness of the exercise and lack of clear focus must have driven him away from us!The last i heard was that he is no longer doing construction contracts but into catering contracts!!
The crux of the problem was relocating us during the 2 month(optimistic estimate) period that the whole process would take. I, the forever optimist, suggested that we stay over in the first floor, while the ground floor work was going on.Kumar was quite definite that he would have nothing to do with it and would like to stay away during the entire exercise. I thought he was being needlessly finicky, as we had scaled down most of the structural changes that we had originally contemplated.But then we had a bright idea of staying in company guest house.And as it happened , we ended up doing precisely that.
But the story i am about to narrate is about the similarities in the situation i was placed in this project as a customer, vis a vis the position i used to face as a project manager of software projects.I used to be horrified at the casualness of the customer and the vague specifications that they would give before assigning the project to us.What would be definite is their intention to go in for the same, everything else will have to be guessed.And the minute we deliver a product based on our own guesswork, they would get all agitated and say the product has absolutely no correlation to their requirement;how they assumed we would know some basic knowledge of their work, and of course they want this and that and that and this;would make us believe that they are cosmetic changes actually.I used to be fuming and just about managing to keep my systems people at bay.
But here it happened exactly the same way. Only after he had completed a cupboard, will i get fresh ideas on how to do it differently. I will get ideas on relocation of a washbasin or a cabinet only the day after he has completed installing them.I will get ideas on different materials for sinks, when i went to look for samples of ceramic tiles.I used to plague the contractor with all sorts of fancy ideas and notions.Have to grant it to him, that he used to go alongwith me (appeared to) and definitely give in where he could, accomodate my ideas where it was not too much of a hassle, but firmly steer me away from some hairbrained ideas,giving some technical reasons which would translate into maintenance issues 5 years hence!
And then after he had completed the entire project and we moved in and started living, whole new requirements sprang up every now and then. He patiently attended to our needs, saying he will leave only after we are completely satisfied. He never once turned back at us and said, if only you had told me these requirements earlier...
The moral of the story is, software projects and house renovation projects are similar.And i felt truly enlightened that i behave like a typical customer, starting to actually think only after the product is delivered..

Jeeves is truly an extinct species

Been hearing a spate of stories of maids doing the disappearing act.No, no, not in my house, but generally keep hearing about it a lot. I have also had my quota of many maid change overs.So whenever I come to know of 'issues concerning maids', I immediately delve into my knowledge bank of expertise and experience and fish out an appropriate response.
A friend has been having a maid for a while now, and I usually give her a "A" grade.But then problems have started of late.She starts misusing the telephone; in fact you can say that landlines have by default become the communication channel of the maids. Each of the housemates have a mobile now and since they are also moving all the time, is invariably used.So there is this landline sitting quietly and will not be noticed if it used by the maid when everyone is away.No one will even notice that it has been busy for hours at a stretch!I squarely blame technology for this problem!
The monthly bill was a shock as it was expected to only show the fixed charges, but it showed huge number of calls made.Maid of course did not like the bill!
Rule 1 : Embrace technology at your peril.
Rule 2 is never to give time off for them to visit their native place. The temptation to stay away temporarily or permanently is very great. I wonder what the attraction could be. I believe they lead lonely and restricted lives(even though we think otherwise) and for them freedom is more important than all the money(till they spend the money they have earned that is; they want to enjoy money and freedom)that they make.
Rule 3 : Never catch them out committing a grave mistake; like in this case it was obvious that she had made all those calls.Loss of face invariably is a trigger to call it quits.
I have been observing the hired help in the company guest house too. The attraction is the free food and tips from guests and of course a place to live.They come readily enough, but then the unpredictability of timings or number of guests makes them want to leave after a while. For boys I guess it is a gender thing; In big hotels they dont mind the cleaning and cooking, but a guest house looks and feels more like a house, so they leave with a lame excuse of going out to attend a marriage function and are not seen since.
Another friend is planning to leave chennai for the single reason of unreliability and lack of professionalism of servants. She got spoilt in Mumbai where the 'bhai' is a professional and takes great pride in her work.
Is the same bug which bites our auto drivers, biting our maids too!
There was a time when I was emotionally scalded by a maid who stole money and valuables, I was willing to settle for anybody as long as they are reliable. In that bargain I am stuck with a maid who fits the bill perfectly, but then her work is abysmal!
With women taking up serious employment, I would have thought this informal sector will flourish and grow. There is no bureaucray and red tape stunting its growth to blame either.
Why are market forces not dictating entry of serious players?

All this rambling makes me wonder if one can ever have a shade of Jeeves in any of my maids.When the longing gets the better of me, I head towards the bookshelf.I am sure to find him there!