Friday, February 24, 2006

Possible only in India?

This incident happened between my friends. One of them, RK, had an opportunity to go to US on behalf of his company. He had gone for visa interview, where they rejected a visa for him. We were very disappointed when he told this. One of my friends, AK, reacted differently. He demanded from RK whether he tried to give something *under table*. Everybody burst out laughing as we had no words to say. When RK said that it is not possible as there are no tables there, AK retorted that RK should have taken the interviewer aside for a *small chat*.

I wonder whether is possible in any other country. Why do we always think of shortcuts in life? We need to change our thinking if India is to grow to next level.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Story time

I s(h)uddenly had this story telling bug and concocted this story. The story is related to software.

AK and RS are two roommates. RS is happy with his life, and A is struggling to find a good job. AK has a bad memory.

One day, AK comes running to RS. He is clearly in agony. RS asks him "What happened? You look terrible". AK writhes in pain. "I forgot my password. You are the only one who can save me". RS is puzzled and says "Be more specific. I donot understand". AK narrates this painful episode.

"Couple of months back, I posted my resume at an online site. I required an email-id for this process. The email-id would be used for intimating me about any openings. Yesterday, I had to update critical information on this resume site, and alas, I forgot my password. You need to do something. Help me".

RS consoles him and says "Don't worry. It is not a problem. Do you remember your login-id?". AK answers in affirmitive. RS logs on to the site and starts the password-retrieval procedure. The procedure requires one to answer the secret question. The secret question was "What is your father's name?". AK is relieved. He enters his father's name, retrieves the password and updates the data. The site informs that some information has been sent to the provided email-id.

AK tries to log-on to his email account. As fate would have it, he forgot the password here too. His face turns ashen as he looks at RS. RS asks him not to worry and for second time in ten minutes starts the password-retrieval procedure. The question this time was "What is your pet's name?". AK was flummoxed by this question. He didn't have any pet. He tries answers like cat and dog, which obviously didn't help. He pleads RS to help. RS shrugs his shoulder and says "I cannot help you here. Try to remember the answer". He then go out.

RS returns back after a couple of hours and is stunned at what he sees. AK is still sitting at the computer trying to find the right answer. Iguana. Porcupine. Platypus.......

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

My popularity at office

A and S are my colleagues. S just came on-board the project and A was expected to ramp her up. Today, when they were having some discussion, I informed A about S being unhappy with his mentoring. Ofcourse, I said this in a humourous vein. We had a laugh at this. Later when A left, I had the following conversation with S.
S: Why did you lie? He would think bad about me.
Me: I know him. He will not bother about this.
S: Does he know you well?
Me: Yes.
S: Then, it is fine. He will not think much about what you said.
So much for my popularity at office.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Blood Tests and Twelve hour fast

I was required to take medical tests for insurance. The doctors indicated that I need to fast for twelve hours prior the tests. Today, during the tests I enquired about the reason.

The results of some tests change following digestion of food. For example, when we eat lots of sweets, the sugar quantity in blood will increase. This means we will see different results depending on the time from last meal. By fasting for twelve hours, we provide doctors with base results that can be compared over time.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Aeroplanes and crazy rules

I had been to Hyderabad during the Republic Day weekend. I had flown this time. There was an argument between air-hostess and a passenger on the flight back. As on every flight, the air-hostess requested everyone to open the window blinds while landing. The sun was falling right into the person's eyes. So, he didn't want to open the blinds. There was some discussion for sometime. This got me thinking as to reason behind this strange request. I did some googling and found the reason.

The passengers can act as an extra set of eyes for the crew and report things such as an engine fire if the blinds are open. If flying at night it also lets the passengers eyes more easily adjust to the dark should the aircraft suddenly be plunged into darkness, as happens while landing and take-off.

Seems reasonable. I think it would serve better for carriers to educate the passengers about the reasons behind such strange requests.