My Tryst with NetIP

About 2 years back, I had returned to the shores of US of A from the Far East, where I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to ply my knowledge. Coming back I was woefully short of friends (most of them had moved on, changed phone numbers, got married or just did not want to see me). So my one of my last reamining friends from NYC suggested I go to this Desi event for young professionals called NetIP.

Here is the story...

The first thing that caught my eye was the homogeneous dress code by both the males and females. The common denominator was the dark colors. The males tended to be in striped cuffed shirt with nerdy glasses, spiked gelled hair (they go to work looking like this?), a blackberry and a dangling ear accessory called the bluetooth. The females tend to be in short black suits with a bright colored handbag (most probably from a designer that I have never heard of) that had a blackberry, gum and assortment of make up devices. The drink of choice seems to be martini.

The second and most puzzling aspect of the so called uber cool desi where they all were investment bankers with a pad in upper east side and a beach front property in the Hampton's. They all shopped in Milan, went to fashion shows in the spring, went boating in the summer, hung out with P.Diddy in the fall and did charity work in winter. They had read every boook on the NY Times best seller list.

I felt I was in Stepford rather than in Manhattan.

Who are these people?
Who is controlling their mind?
Is such events the way of getting innocent recruits and changing them to these homogenous species?

With the tail between my legs, I ran as fast as I could. I felt all the time I was being watched and followed. After a few fancy zig zagging moves, that I learnt from my devotion to spy novels, I felt I was safe.

I walked into the nearest non Starbucks coffee show. As I sat down, sweat dripping from brow, I looked around and smiled. There was a assortment of characters ranging from bankers to punk rock wannabes to intellects to neighborhood people. I was back on earth.

The next day, I woke up startled and wondered is this was a dream (or a nightmare). I reached for my phone and there was a message from my friend wondering why I ran away last night. Definitely not a dream.

I am happy I am not suckered into that crowd,
Happy I can dress the way I want
Happy I do not have such a miserable fake life
Happy that most of my desi friends think NetIP is nuts

Things I hope never to witness....ever

These are the things I hope will be forever be eradicated, hoping for our children's generation, so our children's children will only have the opportunity to know about them through books or archives

1. Violence against women and children
2. Repeat of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
3. Ethnic Cleansing
4. Famine, drought, hunger
5. People excluded due to skin color, race or religion

It still puzzles me that in spite of us evolving as a species and reaching new frontiers in the fields of science we somehow are till not evolved in being a compassionate human being.

I once heard from a person who was part of the team that dropped the infamous bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and I quote, "I hear so called pundits and common man say just drop the N bomb to get rid of the problem, and I wonder to myself how naive in thinking we have become. These people do not know what an N bomb is and I wished I did not have the brains to create and drop one"

Corporate Responsibility

Last night I happened to catch a documentary called "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers". The documentary was fascinating.

I am not sure if the everything the film maker said is true. But what got me thinking was about corporations being socially responsible.

1. The #1 purpose of a corporation is to increase shareholder value.

2. If we limit the amount of profit a corporation can make should we also limit the amount of money an individual should make? Or we legislate the that every corporation should spend X% of their profit on social projects shouldn't individuals be held to that same standard

3. I am all for charity. But does charity make us lazy. We know if we fail, we have a safety net or someone to bail us out. So is being charitable being responsible.

There were so many contradicting thoughts going through mind and mind you I was not even drinking.

I wonder if we should have rules

1. Corporation and individuals should give X% of the profit and salary to a social cause

2. The social cause should be to help individuals get back on their feet but those individuals have then an obligation to pay back to the organization that helped them. Something like a 0% interest loan.

3. As human being (and rulers of the planet) we should be able to police ourselves and the corporation whose product we buy. After all if we do not buy the corporations goods and service they then seize to exist. Therefore we do not need a legislation on this.

B stands for Bingo and Bar Majestic and Booze

Never a good idea during a work week. All I got to show is a "Pirates of the Caribbean Pencil Set", "2 Shot Glasses", "1 T Shirts" and a "Hangover"

Wondering if it was worth it?

So it begins...

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." - Gloria Steinem



I am not sure I am going be successful or famous
I am not sure how many mistakes I will make
But one thing I am sure of is that
I wouldn't and couldn't
Have done it with a better person...
My Boss, My Mentor, My partner and but more
Importantly My Friend

Here we go...to challenge the establishment and self for

"Failure is not an option"

So this how you become a princess....

Background

Our office is not top heavy. There is King, reporting to the King are the Prince and Princess. Each Price and Princess have their Lieutenants. The rest of the office is are the foot soldiers.



The Story

The Princess sometimes leave early (or actually sometimes stays late). When she leaves early she takes the path less travelled to the elevator. The reason is she doesn't wish to been seen by her lieutenants when she leaves the office. (In the below diagram offices in Yellow are where her lieutenants are located



The Confusion

I bought this up last night to her lieutenants. They just told me it was typical way she operates. We all play the hockey from the office know and then like schedule client meeting at 2:00 PM and leave to home from there. But doing the sneak-a-boo when leaving early...makes me think we are in grade school and not in corporate America.