The Indian IT industry

To say that the Indian IT industry is a gigantic fraud of biblical proportions would be an understatement. Anyone who has worked in the Indian IT industry ("consulting" as they call it) will tell you that a mechanic with a roadside shop is probably a better car "consultant" compared to IT "consultants" in India. At least the car consultant does a decent days work.

People who have learned the art of fraud well are called "experienced". These are the kind of people who have lost their soul and self esteem after working for 5-10 years in the IT industry. 10 of the best years of their lives - gone, vanished. The kind of people who ask "what is your platform, coding language and tool ?? " even before they get to know your name.

Given the hierarchy followed in the Indian IT companies ( Jr. Analyst, Analyst, Sr.Analyst, Ass. Man, Manager, Ex-Man, VP, Partner), it is difficult to say if the fraud is a top down approach or bottom up approach. I will explain.

The partners and the VP's and the Managers... their job is only to sell the project to the client by using phrases like "adding value", "performance delivered","Market capture", "increase sales & profits" etc. etc. Once the project is sold, the next step is to "maintain the relationship". The client is stuck with you in a one or two years contract, you have got him by the balls. Now you milk him on a weekly basis ( IT companies charge their clients on a weekly basis). If IT companies only accepted payment after the product was delivered, like for example the auto industry does, they would all go bankrupt in no time. So the assistant manager and everyone above him is responsible for Sales, Marketing and Client relationship management. The negligible job of software development is left to the lowlifes ( Analysts ). So out of a hierarchy of 8 steps, the top 5 are "busy" with this.

Now lets come to the analysts, the lowlifes. They are usually underpaid and over worked - fresh out of college, clueless guys who are just learning the art of fraud. They are supposed to learn programming languages and tools. They hate their life and they hate their job, but they are "managed" in much the same way a donkey is ridden with a carrot and a stick. The carrot in this case is usually the promise of a promotion and more money, sometimes the carrot doesn't work, so they dangle a cabbage ( on-site opportunity ). (Remember, even if the donkey catches and eats the carrot, a donkey is still a donkey) . But most of all, the analyst is driven by the dream of the peaceful life he will have after he becomes a manager.

The analysts are grouped, quite arbitrarily and put on the project. Now there may be some idiots (freshers) who think that their job is to actually get some work done, but after watching their more experienced peers they soon realize they were mistaken. A team of 10 -15 analysts ( may be as high as 100 in indian IT companies) is formed in the hope that at least two or three will try to RG(Relative grading) the others to get ahead in their career, and in the process maybe everyone will work hard and some work will get done..... but there is a flaw in this thinking, it is more likely that a person who is working hard will look at someone who is putting peace and stop working, than a person who is putting peace sees a person working hard and starts working. Hence everyone tends to "the point of no work". After 6 months of successful frauding comes the time for the half yearly reviews. During these reviews people find out that no one did any work. How do u rate people if everyone gets a zero ? Then comes the debate over who likes who and the reviews soon turn into a popularity contest. Different people refer to this in different ways - "networking", "politics", "favouritism", "ass-kissing","godfather", "Sleeping with the boss"(Oh yes , you are ignorant if you think chicks wont sleep around to get ahead) - whatever you call it, they all mean the same thing.

I was very lucky to have worked under an awesome VP, an ex-IITian, as soon as I joined my job fresh out of college. On the first of many meetings, his first statement to the batch of 10-12 of us (all IITians) was - " 99% of all people in the IT industry are frauds ". I dint realize it at the time, but this was probably the most truthful and profound statement I heard in two years of work. It prepared me mentally for what lay ahead. For his sage like advice I will remain ever grateful.

Within the first couple of months, even before I finished my training I had decided that consulting wasn't for me. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a conscience or anything. I would gladly take a persons money by fraud if he is stupid enough to give it to me. It was just that I have always been, and still am, extremely self-aware. I can fraud the clients, I can fraud the managers and I can fraud my colleagues, but if there is one thing I can't do - its lie to myself. So here is what I did. I gave myself a time of 2 years, buckled down, spent the second year looking for a job, unsuccessfully (recession sir). The time 2 years was not chosen arbitrarily. One, it would look good on my resume, well rounded figure - shows loyalty and perseverance. Two, 2 years is a good enough time for you to exploit the MNC's brand name, get to know some good people, people who will be friends for life and also to get a few recos for higher studies. More than 2 years will get you labelled "Techie from India" or " IT worker", there are millions of them, and if there is one thing I have learned in life, it is to move in the opposite direction of the crowd, cause the crowd is usually retarded. Also the demand and supply of people in the IT industry is highly unfavorable for a long term career.

Then when my 2 years were up, there were signs that told me to quit my job ( One of the biggest ones was the election results and the 2000 points sensex jump that followed ). I knew the time had come for me to get up from hibernation and do something. So I put in my resignation and gave my two months notice, then I left that day and never went back to office(My 2 months notice was actually a 2 week mass bunk, after which I think they got the general idea). That was my Bye-Bye and Fuck-you to the Indian IT industry.

The thing I realized after 2 years is - the IT companies are filled with extremely nice people who are extremely smart and who are not inherently useless. I feel it is the framework and the structure of an IT company that makes it extremely unproductive - to the point of fraud. I think my IIM friends should be able to put management fundaes on this phenomenon. Everyone knows it exists, but no one acknowledges the fraud. To acknowledge it is to commit professional suicide.

If you are an IT worker and need pointers on how to pass your time at work...here are a few ideas

1) WIP - this means work in progress - which means - it aint never gonna get done
2) Try chatting and orkuting ...this gets boring after a while
3) Take frequent coffee and tea breaks. Also take fag breaks, but buy one fag at a time so that you have to go to the sutta shop at least 4-5 times a day
4) Tell your manager you will come late to office and work late. come in at 11 and leave at 5 30.
5) Jerk off ( toooo honest ? )
6) When dealing with on-site team ( The white retarded people ) ... make a list of 20 doubts as soon as you know the work assigned to you.... ask one or two doubts per conferance call (one call per week ), you should be able to waste a couple of months, they won't know what hit them.
7) When on conferance calls - ask the onsite team stupid questions like ... I cant find the plug-point to plug in my computer... can u help me find it ?
8) When they ask you how much work is completed.... draw them a pie chart (50% green and 50% red) and say -- this much !!!
9) A favourite among women is the work from home excuse. The manager cant say anything because they have "women problems".
10) Make a document in excel. The first column should have names of processes, the second column is to be filled in with random numbers and the third column should be filled in with ( random number + or - 10%). This document is called the CMMI Level 5 audit. 
11) Display your complete lack of self esteem by practicing your fake "US accent."
12) Watch the latest seasons of 24
13) If you do all the above and are still finding it difficult to timepass... put ur head on the table in front of you and go to sleep.
14) Make an internal document called "Best Practices" and put in the above 13 points. 


For all my well wishers, who are wondering what I'm doing ...Thanks for your concern, but dont worry, I have tripled my networth through the stock market ( the couple of months at home proved to be more productive than 2 years of actual work). I am working in a alternative energy startup in Chennai...for lack of a better word I will call it "Alternative energy consultancy". Its an awesome job and I'm loving it, although the pay is not as good as my last job, I sleep better at night.


PS : Im sorry guys for such a long break from my blog :) I had other things on my mind.

A Valentine Story

Little Melissa comes home from first grade and tells her father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day.

"Since Valentine's Day is for a Christian saint and we're Jewish," she asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?" Melissa's father thinks a bit, then says "No, I don't think God would get mad. Who do you want to give a Valentine to?"

"Osama Bin Laden," she says. "Why Osama Bin Laden," her father asks in shock. "Well," she says, "I thought that if a little American Jewish girl could have enough love to give Osama a Valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit. And if other kids saw what I did and sent Valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot. And then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn't hate anyone anymore."

Her father's heart swells and he looks at his daughter with new found pride. "Melissa, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard."

"I know," Melissa says, "and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines could shoot the fucker."

JOKE :)

I got this joke in a chain mail and I thought I would share it with all of you. :) 

A white man was seated next to a little black girl on the airplane when he turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just opened her coloring book, closed it slowly and said to the man, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the man. "Since you are black, do you think that So-called President Barack Obama is qualified for the job?" and he smiles.

 "OK", she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass -. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?"

The man, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss President Obama's qualifications  ..... when you don't know shit"  

Vijay Mallya - The Biggest loooooser of the 21st century

As of 2008 Vijay Mallya was ranked as the 962nd richest person in the world and the 42nd in India with a net worth of US $1.2 Billion. So naturally you may ask - How is he a looser ? (Note - I use loser with a double 'o' , because mallya has taken it to a whole new level.) The only successful business run by him was inherited from his father. This is the business that keeps him afloat. If you take away United Breweries, Mallya would be a bankrupt beggar.

1) Force India F1 - Mallya likes to make most of his business decisions when he is piss drunk. God knows what he was thinking. He paid 88 Million euros for the team, thats around $ 150 million. He is investing a further $ 100 Million in making the Delhi/Noida race track. It will actually be a street race like Monaco. LOL. Imagine a F1 street race in India. I can see the headlines now. All cars fail to finish- first time ever in the history of F1. Two drivers puked their hearts out and died at 300kmph on the bumpy Indian Roads. He acquired the worst team in Formula 1 and did something noone could have imagined- made it even worse. At least as Spykar Ferraris they used to finish races. Now its a big deal if both Force India cars remain in the race after the third turn of the first lap. As far as the track in Delhi goes ...I think a street race can never be successful in India, maintaining the track is just impossible. I dont know how he plans to make the investment profitable. For one thing, to get the crouds will be easy only in the first few years, lets face it F1 is only interesting on TV. I think he will collect toll tax from the drivers during the race. Once every lap. :)
In Fact I blame mallya's Force India Team for driving away FIIs from the Indian Stock Market. We should sue him for using the countries name and bringing disgrace to it.


2) Bangalore Royal Challengers - The whole team strategy goes something like this - Dravid and Jaffer will play solid defense in the first fifteen overs, and then in the last five overs ........THATS ALLLL ... with 9 wickets in hand ....we can hit 200 runs easily. The names that Mallya considered before naming his team were Bangalore KingFishers, Bangalore Bagpipers, Bangalore Old monks, Bangalore Zingaros and Bangalore Sand Pipers. But he went with the Royal Challengers Name cause basically all the teams were putting that 'King' factor in their team names....Rajasthan 'Royals' , chennai super'kings' , 'king's 11 punjab. As I said ...noone likes to put stress on brain when drunk. :) . A word of advice for Mr.Mallya- 30*6 = 180, You drunk bastard.

3) Kingfisher Airlines - Mallya said his airline would break even in 2007 when he launched it in 2005. Now he says it will break even in 2010-12. Industry experts believe he will not get there before 2015 even in the best case. He took a 46% stake in Deccan for Rs.1000 crores, a company with an accumulated loss of Rs.420 crores. In 2006 kingfisher made a loss of 240 crore and in 2007 it made a loss of almost 600 crore. I couldn't find the 2008 loss because it is not a listed company and they don't have to declare results. With rising oil prices and Mallya's knack for burning money, in my opinion it will easily cross the 1000 crore mark. They probably didn't declare results out of overwhelming shame. Last year Mallya looked into the possibility of an IPO. I don't think any investment bank would be dumb enough to touch that company with a stick from 10 meters away wearing a bullet proof suite. With no end in sight, Mallya continues with his "never say die as long as booze sells itself" attitude. With assets (read debt) of over 1billion and orders for new jets worth over 2 billion. I predict the total money sunk into Kingfisher is about $ 2 billion as of now. With yearly losses of about $ 200 million and the fuel price only rising there is no end in sight for this company. Now they are looking to get capital from Private Equity firms. I pity the fool who is dumb enough to buy Mallyas story and buy into the airline. I quote from a popular news site
"With combined accumulated losses of around Rs 2,000 crore ($ 500 million), the new entity created by the merger of unlisted Kingfisher Airlines with Deccan Aviation will have many strengths, but its balance sheet will not be one of them"
Total debt (including loss and money borrowed to buy assets) - about $1 Billion

4) Rajya Sabha MP- My ASS !!!
His party ( Janata Party, a breakaway faction of the original Janata Dal party) contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election. He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media.
I searched for about an hour to find something useful he has done for the people of India. Couldn't find even one instance. Please let me know if you can find something that he has done that is even vaguely in the publics interest.

In conclusion I think Mallya should leave Business and Politics to the big boys and concentrate on doing what he does best - Get drunk in lavish parties, sell booze and distribute calendars of semi-naked chicks. Oh wait - naked chicks and booze sell themselves. Guess only thing left to do is get drunk!!! I don't blame him for his flamboyant ways. I would have probably done the same if I inherited UB group.

His whole business strategy seems to work on the concept of "Conties" as we called it in IIT . He basically wants to make contacts with High Networth Individuals (HNIs) and trick them into being a business partner, which seems to be the only logical reason to enter Politics, F1 and Aviation.
This pompous prick is sooooo in love with himself that he even named his son "Sidhartha Vijay Mallya". At this rate the only thing Sidhartha can look forward to inheriting is a truck load of debt and a Maaajar Hangover and headache.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper- A Theory of Human Motivation . It is best represented in a pyramid diagram with the most basic needs at the bottom.

I came across this theory in one of my Financial Management Classes - Introduction to management, in my third year. Now I know what you must be thinking - " Classes and you ???!!!!! @##%%$^ ". The truth is, even though my overall attendance in IIT could not have exceeded 30% in the best case, I quite enjoyed this class and never missed a class in this course. The fact that it was thought by the only attractive, good looking female prof in IIT Madras had very little to do with it.( Those of you who took the course with me , remember Sangamitra Bhattacharya ?? )

Leaving my crushes aside for a minute, This diagram really grabbed my attention. It put everything I had ever thought about life and society into perspective. I began to think .... although that might be hard to believe. Firstly, where do I stand in this pyramid ?? and more importantly, What will I do when I get to the top of the Pyramid. Will I have anything to look forward to when I'm at the top ???

The most basic need according to Maslow are Food water and shelter. People move up the pyramid as they get older. After the basic needs comes the need to be safe, secure and loved.
After that comes the need to boost your self esteem, EEEEgo .

As far as I am concerned ... The bottom Four levels of the pyramid give a classic explanation for how people get dragged into the " Rat Race " . The world economy is a Big well oiled Machine owned by a few major corporations and people are viewed as gears rubbing against each other keeping the machine moving, and Maslow's theory is a tool in the hands of Managers to make their sub-ordinate's life miserable. I think profits without conscience is just a waste of the world's resources. I'm not a pessimist and I'm not a communist, I just describe the world as I see it.

To answer the first question, Where am I in the pyramid ?
I like to think I am at the " Experience purpose, meaning and realizing all inner potential stage ".
If you examine the pyramid closely you will understand that it is possible to move up as well as down the pyramid. It is also possible to skip a few levels and aim for the top directly. For example, when you decide you want to get into IIT, You skip the first three levels and go straight to fulfilling your Esteem Needs. When you achieve the Esteem needs, the needs below are automatically taken care of, or so you think. A saint or sadhu might ignore all the levels and aim for self actualization. He might or might not get it, but the point is that people very rarely realize that they can skip a few levels once in a while. I think this tendency is what keeps people from realizing their true potential in life.

The second question is much more philosophical and difficult to answer than the first one.
What do you do when you have reached the top? what is your motivation to keep living, to wake up every morning and go through the same routine of mundane tasks ? Is there even such a thing as realization of truth or do all people live and die chasing this mirage ?
When a person has reached the top, has he really made a differance to the world or has he just satisfied his own selfish needs ? How long will people remember him after he is dead ? How long will the human race survive ? Aren't human beings completely insignificant when viewed as a part of the larger Universe ?

To answer all these questions I will quote whatever ""Self actualization "" I have experienced so far ( courtesy - Middle's Blog )

" You are not the money you make, You are not the car you own, You are not the school/college you went to, You are not the chick you bang etc. You are simply the all-singing all-dancing crap of the world. It doesn’t matter, you were crap, organic matter, into which life was induced for some reason, and that life shall be taken away again for some reason, if any. So we are propelled into an essence-less existence. But what makes this fundamentally pointless journey meaningful are the two great gifts we have: intellect and sexuality. So concentrate and satiate either one or both, things should fall into place. "


So in my opinion the Maslow's theory is a theory of motivating people, but not a road map to happiness in life. To be happy in life you need to fulfill only two needs , intellect and sex. To represent both these things in a diagram would be something like this ......