Of Clients and Names

'Whats the SLA for user id creation?' I inquired my client Line Manager.
'Well, its two working days. Are you having an issue?'
'Hmm Not really...I raised a request for an id creation (for myself) for Test Director (Application) and haven't got that one yet. Okie shall follow it up with the Administrator. Thank you.'

He must have noticed the confused look on my face, for he reached his telephone and dialled the Environment Manager's(EM) number. 'Hi ya, the new user has an issue. I remember approving this request for N.Thirumalaiselvi three days ago. Can you please do the needful? Thanks!'

Amidst the various open Word documents and excel workbooks, 'You have got a new mail' popped up on my email application. As expected, it was from the EM.

Dear Sir (Me: ?????)

We found that your request for an user id is a duplicate request. There exists an user id 1001 on the application and is tagged to your name. If you have raised the request for a password reset, there is a different form to fill in. Please do not hesitate to email me if any clarification is required.

~Thank you.
EM
Hi EM,

I reported to this account only a week back and have not raised any request earlier. I have also confirmed from my managers that they haven't raised any request on my behalf for the same in advance. Can you please provide more information on this ?

~ Selvi

Hi Selvi

Details of your earlier request are as shown below:
Name: Thamaraiselvan
User Id: 1001
Date of Request : 01-Jun-08
Status: Active User

For any clarifications, please ping me.

~EM

Thamaraiselvan Vs Thirumalaiselvi. I laughed heartily. Hmm the EM must have assumed something like the Steve - Stephen, Jan - Jennet, Bob - Robert shortname - first name pairs. I called him up, explained the same and ofcourse got my new user id created!

Not once, but many times, they found Indian names very interesting(sometimes confusing). Some of the interesting observations they made include:

Do not try to derive the short form of names, you might end up in a wrong one. You will never know where to break the name(in the front or at the back) - MuthuKrishnan becomes Muthu. But Thirumalaiselvi doesnot become thirumalai, rather becomes selvi
Shashi(Test Manager) when jumbled becomes Ashish(Project Lead).
Short form of Subramanian is Subbu and not Subu
Sathish and Satish are not the same
Some short names are not exact subset of first names. Bhuvaneswari becomes Bhuvana, while Vigneswari becomes Vicky!
Do not assume the gender of the person based on their first name. Sashiko is a lady, while Sashi is a gentleman.
Anand and Ananth sound the same!
Not to mention the confusion when we introduced three differnt members in the team -Kruthika, Krithiga and Krithika !!!

Score please...

Can you answer these questions?
1.Do you know the venue of the next ICC World cup tournament?
2.Name the cricket series that India won recently.
3.Who is the captain of the Indian Cricket team ?
4.If you were to prepare a ranking list for the Indian batsmen, whose names would top your chart (list first five) ?
5.Name your favourite Indian Bowler.
Wow. Cool! You got them in a jiffy. Congratulations!
Now, scroll down for more questions.
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Try these questions wrt ICC Women’s cricket.
1.Do you know the venue of the ICC World cup tournament?
2.Who is the captain of the Indian Cricket team ?
3.Name three Indian batters.
4.Name your favourite Indian Bowler.
5.Has India secured a place in the super six ?
Very tough questions? Come on! Try again !
Whats your score ?

Posters Everywhere

I was in a hurry to reach the office. Since I was already late, I hired an auto (Unfortunately at that moment my brain didn't hint me - trains are faster than autos in Chennai traffic). All along the way, I noticed many posters of varying dimensions, some banners, cut-outs etc. marking the birthday celebrations of a famous politician. They all had the same template.

•The picture of the politician with good poses (smiling / greeting people / helping the poor / thinking / signing documents) predominantly filled the core segment.
•On the top right corner - one can find the image of ex-politician, probably the one who founded the party.
•At the bottom, you can see images of many faces in a row - the photographs nicely bordered with a circle (mostly). The last row was not really visible even from a decent distance.

As I was traveling, my mind was trying to figure out the intention of the "last row" gang. I’m sure they must be the ones who set these things up on the road-side.

Is this a tactic to impress the big shot, and are these posters with their picture at the feet of the politician a normal practice in the process of getting noticed by the big shot? Naah! If I can’t view the "last row" from a decent distance, the probability of the big shot traveling along the road, with all tight security gang around, noticing the same is zero.

The life of a banner being only a day or two, is it just to set some rusted minds like mine into an analyzing mode? Nope. I don’t think they gain anything out of this and being politicians, I’m sure they would not do anything without gain!
Hmm still analyzing (Only during breaks!)...

Smile

I feel more happier for “Smile Pinky” than for “Slum dog Millionaire” for the simple reason - It enabled the eight-year-old to be accepted by her society.

The Impact

My cousin had visited the beach very recently and wanted to get something nice for the troublesome little monster at home(my nephew). The result - a little hockey stick and a ball wrapped in a nice cover. My nephew was delighted to see this one in the morning and like all new toys getting a warm welcome at first, this hockey stick became his favourite in a day's time. He carried this stick with him everywhere, when he brushed, when be bathed, when he ate and when he got ready for the school. But he never played with it! It is always nice to observe his activities. I asked him - "Dear, when are you going to play with this, you have been carrying this everywhere? " He replied, - "Chitti, we need to dig a hole in our garden so that we can play and Im just waiting for it"

The impact of TV. Theres more of golf now than hockey.

:-)

The Gift of Education

We all have it. I was travelling by auto to CDC. I saw many private schools on the way. I was just wondering what it takes to get a kid enrolled into a renowned school in Chennai….. Some schools register students belonging to particular community only, while some others insist both parents should hold atleast one UG degree. Sounded strange to me. Inequality begins at school! I said to myself - gone are the days when schools were started to provide first generation education to the needy and to serve the society.
I was also questioning myself what triggered these thoughts at the sight of the schools. (Not that I have a kid and looking for a seat in a school!). Then I understood - an email sent by my friend about a website. The subject read something like this -
“If you are interested in providing the gift of education to a deserving, needy kid, do visit this link - http://www.worldvision.in/?Select_A_Child”
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” ~ Read this one somewhere !