Pick up any women’s magazine and you’re sure to find at least one article that tells you how to tell if a guy is interested or how to know for sure if he’s really into you. Pick up any men’s magazine and you’re bound to find at least one article that tells you how to make women think that you’re a sex god.
Since all magazines seem to believe in following set patterns and stereotypes you’re never going to find an article that explains things that you really want to know. Like how do you know when you meet the right person? Or for that matter how are guys supposed to know when the girl is interested?
Since I’m at that stage where everyone and their brother want to see you ‘settled’ and keep forwarding names/ numbers/ photographs/ biodatas of ‘good’ members of the opposite sex I’m in a quandary trying my level best to figure out what exactly constitutes ‘good’.
Consultations with my ‘Happily Married’ cousins/ friends/ sisters did not help. People bandied about things like – “you’ll know the minute you see her that she’s the right one?” Hello? How the hell is that going to happen? Magic? Hocus Pocus anyone?
The truth of the matter as I see it is that you really never know. I didn’t create any ideals in my mind because I didn’t want to be disappointed with life. But that didn’t really help. In a very short span of time I’ve got to go and see some people and make a decision that is going to affect my entire life.
The slightest slip up could leave me with a harridan who’ll feast on my soul and ensure that I never have a moment’s peace for the rest of my sorry life. Incessant demands will become the order of the day and keeping up with /ahead of the Joneses my sole reason for living. Pandering to her whims and fancies will suck away my essential life force, eating away the vitality of my youth while precipitating premature baldness. Not a pretty picture I tell you.
I could get lucky and find a girl who is actually normal and ‘sensible’ but then the chances of that happening are about as bright as my being crowned the King of England and ensuring a reign of peace that lasts for five hundred years. Get Real!
One thing I do know now is that boys are as scared of marriage as girls are, and surprise, surprise for the exact same reasons that girls are! (And thanks to me you do too.)
Any one with any sage advice is welcome to get back to me.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Management by exception – a rather interesting concept
B – School teaches you a lot of things, but probably the most interesting ones don’t really hit you in the face until they actually happen to you. Management by exception is a concept that we learnt as a part of strategic management, Operations management and even in HR way back in the first semester.
To be honest, most of us didn’t exactly take that concept very seriously. All we did was cram the flowchart that explained the process and regurgitated it in the exam. Case closed. I mean who actually cares about that kind of stuff?
But then life has a very funny way of making things come full circle. The other day I was faced with a rather peculiar problem that came up. I was going through my inbox when I came across a rather offensive mail from a short listed candidate marked as ‘Polite Reminder.’ Needless to say that since he’s been kept waiting for eons by the organization he was anything but polite.
Just to clarify, he’s been sending me mails regularly and I’ve been responding as nicely as I can while all the time sending frantic mails to my superiors asking for advice on what to say to him. I mean you can’t tell a short listed candidate who’s already qualified the first round of interview to fob off now can you?
When I got the ‘Polite Reminder’ I simply responded with a polite thank you and a smiley at the end. Two words and one emoticon. Not much right? Wrong. Especially since I’d marked a CC to my superiors.
My superiors swooped down on me like a pack of vultures on a dead carcass. I got a verbal dressing down for being, can you believe it, RUDE. I’m still not sure what was so rude but I sure as hell know what the management by exception means now. As far as I can tell, it means that as long as you are following “procedures” and not doing anything its okay, the minute you do something that looks remotely like you’re not following either “Procedures” or “Policies” you get a swift kick in the butt. Period. That’s management by exception for you!
To be honest, most of us didn’t exactly take that concept very seriously. All we did was cram the flowchart that explained the process and regurgitated it in the exam. Case closed. I mean who actually cares about that kind of stuff?
But then life has a very funny way of making things come full circle. The other day I was faced with a rather peculiar problem that came up. I was going through my inbox when I came across a rather offensive mail from a short listed candidate marked as ‘Polite Reminder.’ Needless to say that since he’s been kept waiting for eons by the organization he was anything but polite.
Just to clarify, he’s been sending me mails regularly and I’ve been responding as nicely as I can while all the time sending frantic mails to my superiors asking for advice on what to say to him. I mean you can’t tell a short listed candidate who’s already qualified the first round of interview to fob off now can you?
When I got the ‘Polite Reminder’ I simply responded with a polite thank you and a smiley at the end. Two words and one emoticon. Not much right? Wrong. Especially since I’d marked a CC to my superiors.
My superiors swooped down on me like a pack of vultures on a dead carcass. I got a verbal dressing down for being, can you believe it, RUDE. I’m still not sure what was so rude but I sure as hell know what the management by exception means now. As far as I can tell, it means that as long as you are following “procedures” and not doing anything its okay, the minute you do something that looks remotely like you’re not following either “Procedures” or “Policies” you get a swift kick in the butt. Period. That’s management by exception for you!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Lauren Weisberger – an author par excellence fast sliding into a rut
Any body who has a passion for reading would probably be familiar with the work ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ – a humorous take on the inside world of personal assistantship to an inhuman boss. The main protagonist Andréa Sachs is a fashion unconscious college graduate desperate to become a writer who ends up taking a job as a personal assistant to one of the fashion industry’s most feared and revered icons – Miranda Priestly. A woman who gives the term ‘Diva’ an entirely new meaning altogether.
Andréa’s one year of assistantship ends in failure, but she learns enough to realize that she isn’t cut out for that kind of existence. Family values but in a modern avatar is how I would sum up the book.
The book was ground breaking, poked fun without overstepping into crassness and was equally good in celluloid form.
Lauren’s second book, ‘Everyone worth Knowing’ followed a similar pattern; basically honest and wholesome female enters into a job with a PR firm that is filled with glamour and goes through innumerable trials before calling it quits and living happily. As few changes included the main protagonists parents being the hippie types instead of the best friend’s but the whole best friend being neglected thing was repeated again.
The second attempt was like a can of coke that’s been left in the open for a while, sweet but the fizz was lacking.
Lauren’s third book was downright puzzling. While she did attempt to depart from the standard stock of characters that she had already rehashed in her second book she went too far out and served us fare that was like California wine being passed off as French Champagne. “Chasing Harry Winston” – a book that tracks the lives of three girlfriends for a year as they try to find the right man before they get too old.
It would have been a cult classic if only Candace Bushnell didn’t exist. As it is middle aged female angst is something that the ‘Sex and the City’ writer turned into a multi -million dollar empire.
So no prizes for guessing that the other two books didn’t do as well as the first. The first entertained, the second kept us interested while the third would have been something if it hadn’t been for the Déjà vu feeling.
Lauren, please get your act together. We miss the fabulously crackling wit of ‘Devil wears Prada.’ What happened to you?
Andréa’s one year of assistantship ends in failure, but she learns enough to realize that she isn’t cut out for that kind of existence. Family values but in a modern avatar is how I would sum up the book.
The book was ground breaking, poked fun without overstepping into crassness and was equally good in celluloid form.
Lauren’s second book, ‘Everyone worth Knowing’ followed a similar pattern; basically honest and wholesome female enters into a job with a PR firm that is filled with glamour and goes through innumerable trials before calling it quits and living happily. As few changes included the main protagonists parents being the hippie types instead of the best friend’s but the whole best friend being neglected thing was repeated again.
The second attempt was like a can of coke that’s been left in the open for a while, sweet but the fizz was lacking.
Lauren’s third book was downright puzzling. While she did attempt to depart from the standard stock of characters that she had already rehashed in her second book she went too far out and served us fare that was like California wine being passed off as French Champagne. “Chasing Harry Winston” – a book that tracks the lives of three girlfriends for a year as they try to find the right man before they get too old.
It would have been a cult classic if only Candace Bushnell didn’t exist. As it is middle aged female angst is something that the ‘Sex and the City’ writer turned into a multi -million dollar empire.
So no prizes for guessing that the other two books didn’t do as well as the first. The first entertained, the second kept us interested while the third would have been something if it hadn’t been for the Déjà vu feeling.
Lauren, please get your act together. We miss the fabulously crackling wit of ‘Devil wears Prada.’ What happened to you?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Grease is not just a musical……..
Traveling by the metro gets more interesting by the day. One learns loads and amongst the various learnings that I have acquired over the past few months is this little nugget that I can barely type out because I’m laughing so hard.
When I got on to the metro today it was like any other day, packed with people and full to the brim. As usual there were people who chose to sit on the floor. Nothing new you could say but what was new was that instead of the usual college kids there was this exquisitely made up lady in a soft pink salwar suit sitting with her back to the wall of the carriage. She’d taken a lot of trouble over her appearance and seemed to be very conscious of the way she looked. So it was all the more incongruous that she was sitting on the floor. To each their own.
Any way, time passed, I got engrossed in my book of the moment and pretty soon the presence of the painted lady went the way of all mental trash. The next thing I knew someone was shrieking like a banshee and I looked up in surprise to find that the source of the noise pollution was the painted lady.
A closer look revealed the source of her agony – her soft pink suit was covered in grease stains the size of Africa on a large scale world map and her carefully made up face now sported black streaks making her look like some kind of tribal princess. Apparently she had cosied up a little too much to the wall and hence the result. A couple of tissues soon took care of the streaked face but the suit remained splotchy, a reminder to the world at large that expensive clothes should be treated with the care they deserve because grease is not just the name of a musical.
Moral of the story - Don't sit on the metro floor.
When I got on to the metro today it was like any other day, packed with people and full to the brim. As usual there were people who chose to sit on the floor. Nothing new you could say but what was new was that instead of the usual college kids there was this exquisitely made up lady in a soft pink salwar suit sitting with her back to the wall of the carriage. She’d taken a lot of trouble over her appearance and seemed to be very conscious of the way she looked. So it was all the more incongruous that she was sitting on the floor. To each their own.
Any way, time passed, I got engrossed in my book of the moment and pretty soon the presence of the painted lady went the way of all mental trash. The next thing I knew someone was shrieking like a banshee and I looked up in surprise to find that the source of the noise pollution was the painted lady.
A closer look revealed the source of her agony – her soft pink suit was covered in grease stains the size of Africa on a large scale world map and her carefully made up face now sported black streaks making her look like some kind of tribal princess. Apparently she had cosied up a little too much to the wall and hence the result. A couple of tissues soon took care of the streaked face but the suit remained splotchy, a reminder to the world at large that expensive clothes should be treated with the care they deserve because grease is not just the name of a musical.
Moral of the story - Don't sit on the metro floor.
Friday, October 10, 2008
When truth mirrors fiction
I’m a strong believer in book - retail therapy and my belief leads to me the nearest bookstore where interesting works of fiction abound. There are very few things in life that can’t be solved or at the very least put into perspective by the sense of comfort afforded by the sweet new book smell emanating from a work of fiction. I’ve also begun to read more voraciously than ever before, partly because I now have the financial power to indulge myself when I want to and partly because in a city filled with teeming multitudes I am once again at sea.
I’ve just finished reading, “The Pregnant King” by Dr. Devdutt Patnaik. The novel is based on a lesser known incident of the Mahabharata of a king by the name of Yuvanashava who gives birth to his own son Mandhata. The novel traces the rise of king Yuvanashava and examines the circumstances leading to the novelty of his son’s birth.
The author expounds the concepts of ‘Dharma’ and ‘Niyog’ with as much ease as it addresses the moral and ideological concerns that are attached to the concept of a man giving birth. The novel answers with élan the question that is often asked in jest, what does a child born of a man call the man, father or mother.
The answer though difficult to digest is logical and the author takes into account the ancient Hindu concepts of Dharma and social order to formulate his arguments. Revealing the answer is easy but I’ll leave that for the more intrepid readers to find out for themselves partly because I don’t want to spoil the novel for them and partly because the answer deserves to be understood in its entirety and reproducing it here would be tantamount to plagiarism.
What I would like to point out is the uncanny exactness between the moral dilemmas posed by the novel and those that were highlighted by the media not so very long ago when a woman undergoing a gender transformation stopped the process midway to give birth to a child. The media roundly condemned the act and termed both the parent and child freaks of nature.
I shall respect the right of an adult human being to choose their own path but at the same time I should advise the parents in question to read the novel and prepare themselves for the rejection of identity that may come back to haunt them when they least expect it.
At the end of the day life isn’t a movie or a novel with a fairy tale ending. While the novel ends on a beautiful note with Yuvanashava finding peace, it remains to be seen how far the real life man who gave birth is able to go to find the same peace.
Just two more facts before I sign out – The novel is based on an incident that the majority of god fearing India believes to be true and it is a pity that it came out much earlier than the actual incident took place otherwise you would have heard of it before now.
Happy reading!
I’ve just finished reading, “The Pregnant King” by Dr. Devdutt Patnaik. The novel is based on a lesser known incident of the Mahabharata of a king by the name of Yuvanashava who gives birth to his own son Mandhata. The novel traces the rise of king Yuvanashava and examines the circumstances leading to the novelty of his son’s birth.
The author expounds the concepts of ‘Dharma’ and ‘Niyog’ with as much ease as it addresses the moral and ideological concerns that are attached to the concept of a man giving birth. The novel answers with élan the question that is often asked in jest, what does a child born of a man call the man, father or mother.
The answer though difficult to digest is logical and the author takes into account the ancient Hindu concepts of Dharma and social order to formulate his arguments. Revealing the answer is easy but I’ll leave that for the more intrepid readers to find out for themselves partly because I don’t want to spoil the novel for them and partly because the answer deserves to be understood in its entirety and reproducing it here would be tantamount to plagiarism.
What I would like to point out is the uncanny exactness between the moral dilemmas posed by the novel and those that were highlighted by the media not so very long ago when a woman undergoing a gender transformation stopped the process midway to give birth to a child. The media roundly condemned the act and termed both the parent and child freaks of nature.
I shall respect the right of an adult human being to choose their own path but at the same time I should advise the parents in question to read the novel and prepare themselves for the rejection of identity that may come back to haunt them when they least expect it.
At the end of the day life isn’t a movie or a novel with a fairy tale ending. While the novel ends on a beautiful note with Yuvanashava finding peace, it remains to be seen how far the real life man who gave birth is able to go to find the same peace.
Just two more facts before I sign out – The novel is based on an incident that the majority of god fearing India believes to be true and it is a pity that it came out much earlier than the actual incident took place otherwise you would have heard of it before now.
Happy reading!
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