Faith

lights

Me and Amit have been having this debate since the past 2 and a half years now. It’s on the existence of god … I take the side of the theists and Sharma takes the side of the atheists. In fact he has gotten so good at that that by now he is a moderator in one of such inane communities. I just believe in god. I cant prove god’s existence, its a premise for me. And its blind acceptance to that fact.

This weekend, I had been to my family’s guru’s ashram. I was going there after an absence of 12 years (not that I missed not going there). Whilst on the way, I was questioning the many practices followed there … no leather items, lower castes may not enter certain areas, lower castes have to wait for the brahmins to finish their meals, et al. My mother seemed to take this to heart, the next day when we were having a discussion with the high priest over there, she asked him this question about why no leather … and the explanation he gave … or rather the answer he gave set me thinking.

The disciple does not have to look at question or logic for answers, he needs to look at his faith for those answers. The moment we start looking at other sources than our own faith, we have lost our faith in that particular thing. Be it god, be it science, be it the paranormal. Mulder had faith in aliens, Scully had faith in science, I have faith in god … what do you have faith in?

BMW


When I was a programmer in IRIS, I always used to dream of starting my own technology firm. One of my very good friends always used to kid around that I would have to hire her as a CTO for my firm. The moment I would oblige her by saying, why not … she would come to the topic of remuneration (smart one, yes she is). So one day I gave in and say magnanimously … bol bachha, kya chahiye tumhe … pat would come the answer … a BMW.

The answer would more or less have me confounded. Why a BMW? Of all the things … BMW? Today I took a test drive in a BMW. Now I know why. Smart choice girl.

The managing director of the firm for which I work (eYantra) was in the process of evaluating a BMW … needless to say, most of the core team was invited for the evaluation. Why would I say no? And on the D-Day, the car came … a black shimmering sleek 320i BMW. A statement. A 35 lakh statement … look I am here … here, I am. The interiors were upholstered leather with wooden panelling. The entire car is packed with so many engineering marvels that its a small wonder its so small and sleek.

Whilst I was raving to my friend Phani, he asked me a simple question … would you put in 35L to buy a BMW??

Fortunately, I am not going to start a technology firm :-)

Came across this after 10 years, after starting and stopping a technology firm!

Apple

I just bought my first Apple product. Its a black 80GB iPod classic. Hmmm, a little bit late … but I am still excited with the prospects!! Have installed the iTunes application + last.fm software. Now whatever that I am listening to, will be published online … :-)

Sidenote: Do you think bloggers are secret exhibitionists?

Interviews

Have you ever been in an interview thinking “What am I doing here?” … its probably a good thing if you have not been in such a scenario. I have been unfortunate enough to be in such a situation while being on both sides of the table viz., interviewee and interviewer. Being the interviewer is much more fun and a lot more relaxing.

Some of the things to watch out for if you ever are stuck in such a situation –

  • Ask yourself this – Are you that desperate that you want to be in such a situation to filter out those maybes from the definitely nots? If yes, then please fire away
  • Look at the time, it is a precious commodity. If the person you are interviewing is tryign to mislead the interview, remember you decide when the interview stops, do not feel afraid of being too rude
  • Some candidates can really be upto-no-good, drop them at the first sight. Do not entertain such people further … its an injustice to them if they think that they are worthy of showing interest. I once ended up wasting a good hour trying to find out why did the candidate apply for what he did … answer was simple … employment
  • Have your HR/Recruitment guys screen them at the start itself, this eliminates all the definitely nots from the list
  • If that person has applied for a role in your department, ask a simple question to yourself … would you want to see this face daily? There is a lot more to face value than just the face

Will post more my experiences as soon as I manage to reconcile those resumes.