However, in a partnership with Reliance Retail. They would be named iStore by Reliance Digital and the first one is opening up in Bangalore later this month!
Around 10 of these would be opened in India by the end of the year. Mukesh Ambani Sir, Thank You!
Some people want me to believe that companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Satyam does real development work for domestic market. I find it hard to believe. How many of them have actually cared about developing a regional language version of Linux, which is actually usable? How many of them have actually contributed to development projects like Metro in India? And how many of them actually pay the taxes they should without asking for benefits they get in the name of IT development in India?
How many of them have worked on improving the infrastructure of India? How many of them are involved in increasing the PC penetration of India? How many of them are working on bringing cheap broadband to India? TCS was proud when Ferrari chose them for collaboration, but are they working with Maruti and Tata to make the cars on Indian roads safe?
Infosys is in news over property scandals. People say that infy has done India proud. How come, have they managed to make Bangalore a better place to live in? Instead, they are threatening to move to other states, which are offering them more facilities, and tax breaks!
I can write tons more shite on this crap on this Blog. But I need a cup of coffee for that. And my cook does not make me coffee at 3:45 in the morning.
Hyundai has Shah Rukh Khan for their Santro and Getz. Maruti once had Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan for their Versa. Toyota has Aamir Khan (7 of them!) for their Toyota Innova. And now Ford has Abhishek Bachchan (again!) for their amazingly priced Ford Fiesta.
I forgot, Hyundai also has Sania Mirza for their Hyundai Santro (or Getz). Toyota also has Rahul Khanna and Gul Panag for their Toyota Innova. Am I forgetting someone?
My favorite? The chick Skoda has for their Skoda Octavia.
I just arrived back home from a visit to Delhi . And there I met some old friends who were still slogging out in my old company. This is apparently a big shame considering some of these guys are way more talented than for what they are employed for. And most of them are paid pittance of an amount for the work they are made to do. So, I thought I would reflect back on my career and what I have learnt from my old jobs. Some real stinking graves these are!
That is it. Now, I am in a situation with 2 almost confirmed job offers from Hyderabad and Bangalore afraid to join yet another possible crap shit company. Preferring to continue this freelance venture of mine which is loosely based on the Wiki Concept. Might fail, might work out. But I would not pity myself to have sacrificed my ethics for the sake of money.
Money is still not an issue as Dad still wants me to leave all this bullshit and go back to what I left almost 6 yrs back… Studies.
So, I am back from Hyderabad. It was spooky to have done that journey to the unknown but it was fun. Met some cool people and saw an interesting company. Spent 3 days there, ate sambhar chawal most of the time. Worked on Linux in an official environment for the first time, had to beg for a windows machine which is kinda sick considering I love working on Linux (Grr… to Macromedia and Adobe for not making applications for Linux).
So, the most important question! Was I selected? Well, kind of. I am not the most talented person out there and I am definitely not the most educated one. My skill set is pretty limited but I am doing well none the less. They said I could join. Cool enough. And since I am not exactly fitting in their plan, they would have an evaluation after a month. Fine with me. The initial pay was not very tempting. Not a big deal. Considering the company is different, might make it pretty big which can result in some awesome future possibilities, it all makes sense. But for one point!
Moving out! Moving out from the comforts of home. OK, I won’t have these for ever. But do I need to? It is not that I am sitting at home doing nothing, being a burden for my parents. I have a plan, not so definite. But it is something I would really like to succeed. We are working on it. Slowly, but it’s going on. I am not exactly earning enough, but it’s still enough to fulfill all my needs without asking for much from my parents. OK, it might not succeed. But no one can guarantee that moving out will make me a more successful person. I might not meet many great people, but do I need to? Does being a social animal ensure better personal development? I do not think so.
And then someone commented, how can you expect someone to pay you good with the kind of skill set I have? Weird, I already have a job offer from Bangalore that pays twice as much. Ok not the sort of job that I would like to job, but I have a skill set that can pay me a lot more. It was never about the skill set. It was supposed to be about the possibilities. But well, a point was raised, and it kind of cleared some doubts.
Both options (moving to Hyderabad, and working on my goal from home) have their own advantages and disadvantages. Both can work and both can indeed fail. But if someone points a finger on my capabilities in the current situation, raising a hint of possibility of some compromises being made somewhere regarding me, I am not exactly very happy or interested in that offer. Someone has doubts on me; they are welcome to have them. But I don’t want people to presume that since I don’t fulfill their needs, I cannot expect to be treated equal to others on that platform.
Yeah, when I read this post myself, I cannot understand most of it myself. But well, that’s the freedom I have on my own Blog!
Grrr… My wireless keyboard is killing me. Got three sets of batteries. All new but none of them appears to working. I seriously I hope it’s the batteries and not the keyboard itself, coz using that warranty card is worse than spending money on a new decent keyboard. I have loved Logitech Mice through out my computing years but I am having second thoughts about Logitech Keyboard. Got two of them. One costing 250 and another costing 2500. Both suck. Though Logitech MX700 mouse rocks. And if I have the money the next time I need a new mouse, my money will be on MX900 (MX510 for a corded one). Of course this applies in the current generations of Mice available in the Indian Market. Although the new Microsoft Mice are tempting too! Still searching for that perfect keyboard. None of them have worked fine for me. Current one when works, works fine. But it is not working at this very moment…
Now the more troublesome part. Life is getting more and more complicated. I don’t have a job. That is the smaller issue (though lack of a financial stability is a pain too…). The bigger problem is the offers I have! As I talked about in my last post, I have 2-3 offers in hand. One new one is from Bangalore in an UK based Search Engine Optimization Company paying around 15K. Money is not important but the kind of work is kind of yucky. Search Engine Optimizers are not the most ethical people online! I know because I have met people who spam Blogs and claim it to be legal just because it does not fall under CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The other is from this cool sounding Hyderabad based company. The problem there is that it is the sort of company I would have loved to be my first employer. Before the years of miserable work culture I have gone through, which has I believe totally corrupted my mind and work ethics. To be a part of that company would require a totally new fresh mind set along with lot of effort to reclaim the learning spirit I once had and the challenge to move out of home and live alone in an unknown city for money that certainly won’t save me enough to buy an iPod in the next 3-4 months. I am giving it a go. I hate to be rejected… but this company sounds like something, it’s worth taking the risk of losing some pride… Should have an idea by this day next week, if I am worth what some people feel I am… Let us hope for the best and let’s hope I don’t destroy the trust some nice people have shown in me.