ExpertDabbler

Shyam:
Dei Ram, idhai padchiya? Nalaiku idhile kelvi kepaanga da!

Ram:
Illada mundhina naal assignment kuduthadhey pending irukku. Veetile padikka mudila. Night current pochu. Eng appavai UPS vanglaam nu sonna vendaam nu orey adam…TN la power cut illayaam…

Shyam:
Unga appa peru Arcot Veerasamy a? Dei,.anna annaiku assignments a anna anniku mudikka maatrey nee. Pending vitta aprom kashtam aydum. Naanum konjam baaki vechirken…
Hmm. Night en veetuku va.. UPS irukku.. utkarndhu nimmadhiya padikalaam..assignments mudikalaam.. doubt irundha orutharuku oruthar clear pannidalam.. Nalaiku epdiyavadhu samalikanum…. sodhapina bejaar aydum solten…

Night 12 ‘0 Clock, Shyam’s place:

Ram:
Dei oru mannum purila.. rendu naal la 65 pages kudhutu padi na enna artham..?

Shyam:
Padi nu artham.

Ram:
Hello, nakkala, enakku lesa thookam vera varudhu…naan onnu solren.. konja neram thoonguvom.. sharp a 3 o clock elundhirpom.. fresh a irukkum.

Shyam:
Hehehe… idhellam nalla ariguri yave therila. Naanum ethanai night study potruppen.. ana usual matter illai da idhu…nalaiku sodhapina aapu dhaan… unakke theriyum..

Early Morning 5.30 AM:

Shyam:
Dei vennai. Elundhiru da. Ippove 5.30 aachu..

Ram:
Ayyo.. nee yen ennai munnadiye elupalai?? Ippo paaru rendarai mani neram waste aachu..

Shyam:
Thoda.. nee ennai elupirkaradhu dhaaney? Naanum lesa thoongiten..
Innai morning kulla idhai vera padikanum.. innoru assignment vera eludhanum..

Ram:
seri first things first.. poi pakkathile nair kadaila tea adichutu varuvoma? Fresh aydum.. kada kada nu padichidulaam..

Shyam:
Nair kadaiku morning poi kada kada nu padikka koodiya orey vishayam ‘Dhina thanthi ‘ dhaan.. enakku ennamo velangara madhiri therila….unnai nambi naanum thoongitten…

Ram:
Vidu da… 4th page la oru diagram irukku paaru.. adhai mattum nalla parthu vechukko.. adhai pathi kandippa kepaan…samalichukalaam….
Hmm.. onnu kavanichiya nama ipdi night study podaradhu paartha namba college days la un veetila padicha night study dhaan nybagathuku varudhu..

Shyam;
Appo exams, ippo client calls, RFP assignments, dubukku IT services company la maatikutu..DOT NET COE ku proposal eludharen nu oorai emathikuttu… illadha competency laam irukaradha solli… ipdi loose madhiri night study pannitu irukom… Hmm. appo home work, ippo working from home, seri vidu…enough of nostalgia dude.. client call ku prepare pannu…India vile enga ponaalum namba velai idhey kadhai dhaan… dog vesham na barking must da..

Some folks classify it under emotional quotient. But let’s just stick to GQ for now. I need to do some value add, see!!

Unlike my IQ, my GQ is pretty decent. Last week I commented on a fellow blogger’s post which turned out to be as much as her post and felt guilty. Maybe I should’ve written about it in my blog and given a link.

But some days, rather most of the days, I tend to do some stuff and think about it later. Like the way I thought I should’ve taken the day off, after reaching office at a leisurely 4 PM. I thought I will be delayed but not to THAT extent. Eventually I met with some QA folks, had Kozhukattai and Veg. spring rolls (thought of avoiding it, but someone said vegetables are good for health :p) from the cafeteria enterprise owned by Radhika Sarathkumar and came back at 6.30 PM sharp. Thanks to flexi timings and some such funda, I will get paid in full for the day, but I did feel guilty for a moment.

My feeling bad quotient even extends to Wall Street firms. It’s bizarre to see events which used to happen in public sector companies in India in the seventies, eighties are happening to Wall Street firms now. These firms are almost on the verge of begging the Fed to give them some pocket money for the day. Bear Sterns was thrown $2 USD per share by JP Morgan and they gratefully accepted it. The Fed is funding the whole transaction (a body called BIFR used to do such similiar activities in India).
In another sense, this is socialism of the highest order as one great investor had pointed out. Carlyle capital is voting unanimously to wind up operations and Lehman Brothers is shedding jobs. I was one of the beneficiaries of Lehman’s offshoring of IT application and development services way back in 2003. BFSI segment is one of the major outsourcers of IT services. They still remain so for the most part I guess.

I used to tell my friends that my first home was part funded by HDFC and Lehman Brothers. I have moved out of that segment in the recent past. But I know several of my friends’ homes are still indirectly funded by the IT budgets of Citigroup, JP Morgan, Merryll Lynch etcetera. The trouble is, a lot of high end work for these firms involve working on complex financial products which one Mr. Warren Buffet calls ‘Financial WMD’. Whatever.

I think it’s good to feel bad or guilty occasionally.
For one, it shows how sensitive you are. Nobody likes an insensitive sob. But equally important is to remember the lessons and move on. Nobody likes a loser who harps on his past mistakes forever as well. Given a choice between a sob and a loser, I think young women might prefer the former :p.

Now, why did I write a post like this, spending my useless time and also forcing my readers to spend their valuable time??

What happens when a 24 year old, 3 years experienced software pro gets a CTC of 8 lakhs plus?
She has no precedent in her family who can guide her on how to handle all the new money. Nor is she taught about the importance of financial prudence in school or college. While a fat pay cheque is a good thing, it does come with its own perils.

As the economy sees GDP growth rates of 8% for the nth consecutive year,and with the industry facing acute shortage of manpower, more and more young people are earning a lot more per annum than their fathers and forefathers ever did in a decade. Where does this lead to? As is always the case with most youngsters, they end up learning things the hard way.

Almost always, the jobs that most of these MNCs dish out just plain sucks or is too demanding. This is not to say that work with lesser pay packets are revolutionary. What I am stressing here is, a crappy work can make you more cynical, and more frustrated in the long run, and a fat salary can just make more people enter into quirksmode. Typically, people would respond by trying to compensate their dull day life with exciting things in life that money can buy - fun nights or weekends, lavish lifestyle etc. just to went out their frustration.

Soon this 8 lakhs per annum CTC leads to parties, buying expensive clothes, a car on EMI scheme, new mobile phone every few months, LCD television, monthly mobile bills big enough to can get a mobile phone, move to ridiculously expensive apartments - purchase or for rent. The term ‘compensation’ is more in line with the compensation for loss of happiness than for the time spent and knowledge gained.

Let’s see the less glamorous facts.

First, 25% of that CTC is what i call ‘God money’. You know it’s there but you can never see it - e.g., Variable Pay, PF etc.

Second, 33% of the balance will go to the tax man (or to the Home loan lender - essentially the money will go out of your hand and will be taxed again if and when it returns to you).

Third, your job was secure only till your last payslip, in other words, not any more. You never know when USD will go below 35 rupees, how much loss can your investment banking employer/client can absorb on sub-prime crises before axing you, and when your boss can get so cranky that you cannot stand.

Fourth and very importantly, the opportunity cost incurred is enormous. For one, not many can move to less paying but more potentially rewarding vocations in future (higher studies) because of societal and financial/lifestyle pressures.

If X wants to pursue a full time MBA in a good B school, he knows that he cannot because he absolutely needs the paycheck NOW to pay his home loans, car dues, credit card bills, mobile bills etc. This leads to even more frustration and consequently he requires more exciting things to keep him happy. All these are classic illustrations of ’salary trap’. Unfortunately, i find more and more fellow MNC folks falling into this trap. And it looks like there is no way out.

Frankly, i bet almost all of the salaried class would’ve, at some point or the other, felt trapped by their monthly pay checks. At least I’ve felt the same now and then. And this is true indeed, only the degree of entrapment varies.

So what’s the way out? Well, the way out will depend to a large extent on the degree of entrapment. And that can be deduced by a simple method. If you think you’ve been trapped as well, imagine a doomsday scenario. Just think you will be out of your job by EOD today. How long do you think you can survive with your own resources? An honest answer to this question will show you the dire straits or financial paradise you are in. If you are financial paradise material, then you do not belong to salaried class.

Once you know where you stand, just accept that as a fact. Realize that it’s gonna take sometime for you to come out of the mess - a year or two. Remember you did not get into the mess overnight.

Here are some common TO DO items which i sincerely think that you can do to help yourself:

Make sure you close at least 10% of your outstanding credit card dues every month. I know many jithan’s who dodge with balance transfers, but hey, a debt is a debt. Just because it’s interest free does not mean you will ever be worry free. The sooner you make it to zero, the better off you are. Credit card interest rates in India can be as high as 36% per annum - legal kandhu vatti.

Make sure you save at least 10% of your salary per month.

No matter what the tax benefits on your home loans are, target to close at least 10% of your outstanding principal every year.

Develop interests or hobbies which are engrossing but which does not cost a bomb. There are tons of hobbies and pursuits satisfying this criteria.

Never, never trade in stocks using margin funding. Avoid day trading in stocks per se. Day trading in stocks is not investing.

Get a decent health insurance cover for your family members.

All the above gyaan is not to prevent you from enjoying your hard earned income. My only concern is, know what you are getting into. Balance and moderation works well in most of the situations in life, but it works best in these aspects.

It’s great to live king size today, but make sure you and your family do not end up living pauper size tomorrow.

Info-1:via my friend jeysh

Income Tax Department has put on its website the list of income tax refunds of all salary tax payers which could not be sent to the concerned persons for want of correct address.
Salary taxpayers who have not received refunds for assessment years 2003\04 to 2006\07 can click on the link below and query using the PAN number and assessment year whether any refund due to them has been returned undelivered from the menu `undelivered salary refund management system’.
If any refund has been returned undelivered due to change in address, then the taxpayer can enter the present address and the refund will be sent to the taxpayer at the new address.

The link to the website is as under:
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/CCIT/refundsearch.asp

Info-2
Folks who commute in their own two-wheelers in OMR are strongly advised not to take the Pallavaram Bye-pass during evening, night times. At the bare minimum, you may have to endure a million insects ramming into your face in the stretch between Thoraipakkam and Kamakshi Memorial Hospital. Not worth it.

Info-3
I still see a few folks having their helmets in their fuel tanks. Not sure if their fuel tanks are so precious, fuel prices notwithstanding. The common complaint against wearing helmet is losing one’s hair.
‘Mairey pochu!’. If its a choice, would you rather lose your hair or your head? Its a no-brainer, honestly. Think about it this way, even your hair tries to protect your head. So it will only be too happy to sacrifice its life for the sake of protecting your head.
My friends’ friends’ father passed away in a tragic accident y’day. This is not the first, this is not the last. If you still wager your head to protect your hair, you’ve lost you brains anyway, what’s the difference?

I was reading about Agile and this struck me early morning. (early morning yosika vendiya mattera idhu? No wonder i am still single)

I think life in itself is an exercise in Agile. Lets for a moment replace software development with life.

I get up every morning and think:
What did i do yesterday, What am i going to do today, how am i going to do it, what are the obstacles - if solveable seek and collaborate with those who can help, if else TiG (Trust in God) and move on.

I also,
Iterate new ideas with team (friends, loved ones, family is our cross functional team)- it can be for any activity.
Continuously validate (established values, beliefs,assumptions, goals).
Adapt to new conditions, situations and opportunities.
Is this not Agile?? In my understanding, it is.

Life can be very active if approached this way.

Some people may dispute the concept of continously validating beliefs and values but we stupid humans keep evoloving faster than we can accept it. I used to hate Agile sometime back. I am still not convinced about how it can be adopted for UI processes, not entirely seen a project be successfully implemented using Agile methods. But for managing life, i think none betters Agile principles.

I think Agile sucks in the Indian IT industry because it requires face to face communication among the team in the entire span. Some idiots think it can be replaced with telephone calls during morning and evenings with onsite and offshore which soon becomes nothing but a ritual. (indha scrum meeting seekiram mudichutu bus pudikanum)

On a serious note, i am searching for a URL like arivukolundhu.com..ivlo chinna vayasile evlo arivu tch tch :D. Annanuku udane gaurava doctor pattam kudungappa

Jan 25, 2007:
I quit my previous organization.

Jan 23 2008:
I am sending my inquiry to my present company if the PF has been transferred from my previous organization. I was almost sure it would’ve happened. I just wanted to confirm.

I get a reply stating the request has been sent 3 months ago and no communication was received from my previous company. I call my previous company HR and I get a response that they did not receive such transfer request in the first place!

Who is to be blamed?

I am partly to be blamed since i just assumed that all these formalities would be taken care of by the concerned HR departments once i had signed the PF transfer request form at the time of joining.

But I could not help but think about the general apathy towards the employees’ hard earned funds. I guess I was lucky to get a response since i knew the HR person well in my previous organization. She even bothered to send a mail to find the whereabouts of my documents. But still its important for people to really understand how things work in the HR worlds of IT industry.

Oh yeah it will be a completely different story if the employee owes the company

It’s not just the govt. offices, stupid!

I would assume most of the folks who visit this blog are those with more or less similiar background as mine. Background as in Tamil speaking, conservative middle class, upbringing with a tilt towards what is euphemistically put as ‘ Working Professional in an MNC’.

If yes, then this suggestion definitely holds good. In matters relating to career, pursuits, interests, hobbies, always err on the side of risk. If you face two paths and are confused about the path to take - eschew the ones which looks ’safe’. Safe means ’so-so’. The one which seems less comfortable and more risky is perhaps the better option.

In my personal observation, in the last ten years, those who have shed their comfort zones and ventured into new things have been many times more successful than those who avoided risks.

Okay, some people might say ‘the risk should be calculated risk’. Let’s face it, with our background we just cannot be reckless. A certain element of caution has been embedded in our DNA

I’ve seen people giving more importance to ‘what others might say if we fail’ than failure itself per se.

Of course, you will make mistakes; things will go wrong; there is more scope for embarassment. If you take ten decisions, chances are two will work out. But it’s precisely those other eight which ensures that the two successes are not mere improvements but stupendous feats. And it’s precisely these stupendous feats which changes your life for ever which can never happen otherwise.

As a bonus, you will learn that eight failures out of ten is not the end of the world as you once thought. You will also learn that nobody gives a damn about you, let alone your failures. People are more self-centered and focused on their own progress than you can ever imagine.

Since monday, I am back to the old territory - OMR. The distance is much shorter this time. Save for the dust and the traffic which has increased manifold since 2004, it takes all of 20 minutes for me to reach office. But, not all of the folks are lucky.

Case 1:
K, who resides in Kolathur, wakes up at 5.45 or 6 AM, gets ready and goes to the nearby bus stop by 7.10 AM to catch his office bus at 7.15 AM.

Up to this point, NRI folks will be smiling - ‘oh we start to work early too’

Patience, please.

K, if all goes well will reach office around 9.30 AM.
Since he starts very early, he has his breakfast in office. It goes without saying he has lunch in office too. And believe me, only those who had some punniyam credit in their previous incarnation will get such lunch.

In the evenings, during jobless days like what it is now, the bus starts at 6.30 PM in the evening (9.30 to 6.30 including a lunch break).

And, he reaches home at 9.15 PM.

Sometime back i used to feel for those who travel all the way from Jolarpet in Yelagiri express.
Now i feel they are better off. At least they get a train.

So much for quality of life of an IT professional which is the envy of the entire world.