Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

The nomad that I am, I find myself availing the services of packers & movers every other year. In Dec 2006, life has come a full circle. I moved to Pune. To work for a firm just accross the street from where I worked in 2000-2001. To bank with the same branch where I banked six years back, to frequent the same eateries I visited six years back and to work again for a software consulting firm after having worked for a software captive.

Pune is no longer what it used to be in the year 2000. It is a crowded city now. The person on the road does not really have a leisurely gait. He seems to have lost his relaxed ways, for which he and his city was known earlier. Traffic is bad. Landlords and auto wallahs have got greedier. The city is suffering from the same disease that is slowly and steadily killing Bangalore. The city is swamped by software peasants from various parts of the country. And if this sample represents the larger universe, I must say I have to disagree with Basab (http://6ampacific.com/) who thinks that the average Indian techie was a bright student when in school. The last time I interviewd a few, none of them could define a circle.

Certain things about the city have not changed at all. Pune guys still make that puttering sound with their lips to draw the attention of the boys serving at eateries. Pune females still wear those scarves or dupattas to mask their pretty faces when riding. Yes, I believe that on an average the females in Pune are prettier than those in Mumbai. I know that my friend Ajay is going to hate me for putting this on my blog. He is from Mumbai and tells me that statistical distribution is skewed in Pune's favour because of the sheer numbers in Mumbai. But that is a topic for another posting, some other day.

Now that I have a new job, I have new worries. As I deal with a very recently acquired client, much of my time is spent on supporting business development activities. My days are spent orchestrating the effort of putting together responses to opportunities and identifying people to service opportunities we managed to win. I am not sure if all the people we identified could define a circle. I would not dare ask them to try, for I run the risk of being disappointed. But then, I am told that they deliver. And some of them "Exceed Expectations" too !! My evenings are spent like those of a teenage expectant girl, waiting by the phone. The onsite account team almost never has good news to share. Lately I have started dialling into calls from home, from McD, from on the road and just about anywhere to escape long hours in office. These calls usually have 20 % meaningful discussions and useful information embedded in 80% sound bytes that can best described as crap. But that is a topic for another posting, some other day.