Similarities

Look at the similarities between the two fields:

• You don't need to be qualified for the job.
• Even if you have the appropriate qualification, it does not guarantee that your work will be better than others'.
• Normally, womenfolk don't run the show.
• You normally do your job with poor planning, missed deadlines and alarming cost overruns.
  
• Even if your product has many flaws, people will still want it.
• End-users will complain, but will come back for more of the same nonsense.
• On occasions when the product flops, blame the disaster on the rest of the team, disassemble the team and start a new team to repeat the same mistakes.
• The point is how well your end-user is impressed with your song & dance, rather than the core feature.

Otherwise, the only difference between movies and IT is that, in the latter, the good guy doesn't get the girl in the end.

Open sesame

The following was seen on the door of the ICICI ATM booth attached to their branch in West Mambalam, Chennai.

If one can open the door by pushing or pulling, why even bother to paste both? Or, was that intended for the ignoramus who would try to slide the door open?

Next is this notice on the door that says:

"Plz Open"? What else would you do with a closed door? Ideas welcome.

Tatas keep promise of car under a lakh

Readers, I am happy to be the first person to announce a Rs. 63000 car from the Tata stable.

I urge you to go here and see the price listing for Indigo GLS yourselves. In case you have difficulty going to that site, here is a screenshot with the price highlit by me:

Chew-bacca

What a fine generation of youth we have! Their parents have taught them well not to suck their thumbs. And our youth understood that as “It is acceptable to chew other fingers”. Every day, I see more and more people joining ‘suck your fingers bone dry even when there is no food involved’ movement.

I am still clueless on why it is socially acceptable go around with things (other than teeth and tongue) in the mouth, whereas, picking one’s nose in public causes outrage. Since I am a bit behind the times (I don’t read newspapers regularly), someone please tell me about the Rage of the New Age:

• Should I necessarily shake hands with someone whose fingers spent some time in his/her mouth a few moments earlier? Or, should I shake hands to exchange saliva as a sign of bonhomie?
• If I know a person who chews writing implements, should I chew mine before lending it to him/her to prevent that person returning the pen with his/her drool?
• It is common to see Westerners chewing their fingers. Yes, the same people who think it is bad manners to eat with hands. How does one explain this contradiction?
• Is there some kind of defined hierarchy that says who can chew what? What kind of experience is needed for a person to graduate to chewing toes? I know there are people who have their feet in their respective mouths pretty often, in a metaphorical sense.
• Last, if I refuse to conform by keeping my fingers away from my mouth except while eating, will I be a social outcast, condemned to a life of isolation? If yes, I look forward to it.

Thrift, thy name is woman

Ever noticed the sticker pottu/bindi on the faucet or other bathroom fixtures? Ever wondered what they are doing there?

Evidently, women reuse them. I am sure it adds up to a lot on a global scale. Though I don’t claim to understand women, I think it is women’s way of being economical and reducing plastic use.

• I drive to work and back consuming about 2-3 litres of petrol everyday.
• We spend money in buying things because others have bought them, not because we want them.
• All rooms in the house need to be well-lit for four hours every evening, though I have need for only one or two at any time.
• We waste about 10-12% of cooked food everyday.

Never mind all of the above; the ladies of the house offset all these extravagances by reusing their forehead stickers. With such huge savings, I don’t have to worry about home loan repayment.

• Wherever we go, we pick up thin plastic bags … only to dump them in the garbage upon reaching home.
• We pick up coffee/tea at our place of work in thin plastic cups. When another employee is drinking water with the only steel tumbler, with great presence of mind (and impatience), we pick up a plastic cup to drink water … and throw the cup away.
• When the juice guy serves without a straw, we demand he gives one, if not two.

Never mind these plastic excesses, the ladies drastically reduce plastic usage by reusing their forehead stickers. Now, I can retire to bed peacefully with nary a thought on plastic overload. Hallelujah!