SatyaM - a falsified truth

While I was in school, Physics was my favorite subject.
Nuclear physics even more so. Read about an interesting concept of particle and anti-particle.
That when a particle and its anti-particle join, they annihilate each other and a lot of energy is released. An anti particle is defined as something identical to and with equal mass and opposite charge to a particle.
I know it might sound boring. I apologize if you were not a Physics students and had to bear with me. But there is a reason why I mentioned this.
You all must be knowing about the story of Satyam trying to acquire Maytas and the whole story that unfolded later and which now threatens to vanish Satyam. Or annihilation...when Satyam tried to join with an entity promoted from same source (people) and having opposite name Maytas. Quite metaphorical...!

The whole Satyam saga can make for a very sensational thriller. Even John Grisham or Jeffery Archer probably would be stunned by how reality can probably be more strange than fiction.

I am in Hyderabad, the city of Nizam and one of the IT hubs of Modern India, and a city which a few weeks back was proud of being the epicenter of an Indian IT gem known as Satyam.
So I get to read and listen a lot about the Satyam fiasco. Hyderabad TOI covers every nerve related to the incident.

From what I have read, quite interesting though unfortunate repercussions are happening because of the Satyam fallout.
- Image of Hyderebad has been hit. (earlier also some corporate frauds) have taken place in the city.
- Satyam being India's Enron. PwC is also under the scanner. PwC may face the fate of Arthur Anderson, one time among big five auditors. Not complete fall, PwC might be at least banned in India.
- Satyamites are flooding job portals
- Some self-styled leaders in Satyam are volunteering for pay cuts. Obviously others are not happy about it.
- Some Satyam engineers are desparate to get into MBA despite not-so-good CAT percentiles.
- Infosys has said it won't hire Satyam employees. Bit harsh and unthoughtful decision. I wish NRN and team understand all Satyamites are not tainted. Moreover it is in the larger interest of India and IT industry if other capable leaders help rescue Satyam.
- Satyam clients want to exit. Companies like Patni and others are trying to make hay by offering to help those clients dissociate from Satyam and join other companies.
- IT stocks investors, other than those who probably liked the name Satyam, are making good money.

Some non-IT related effect
- Satyamites might not be preferred in marriage market. I guess grooms would be more effected than the brides.
- Restaurants are stopping serving Satyam employees on credit basis. 10% discount only on cash payments
- Hyderabad's highly-greedy and worthless houseowners are worrying that they can't milk money as much as they used to earlier from Satyamites. I wonder chances are they can probably start looting more from IT people in anticipation that when they can pay, extract the share of their salary.
- No more corporate discounts for Satyamites at Hyderabad's pearl and jewellery shops.
- People are shying of displaying their Satyam ID cards
- In an odd but a really shameful incident, a Satyam employee who used to give talks on management and team work in social circle is now being considered inappropriate for the purpose.

IT sector in India probably is viewed in same light as our cricket team. Both are talks of the drawing rooms. Both get revered in good times and criticized to the lows in bad times. During 2001 IT slowdown, I think almost everyone single person (unrelated to IT) in my parents social circle warned them of their son's wrong career choice!! A few years back, getting into Satyam, despite of it being not such a great company, was considered a great achievement in Hyderabad and AP state. Some families even criticized their children for not joining this company. Am sure, now the same people would look down upon and give career advice to those engineers who probably would not even have got the opportunity to see Mr Raju in their whole career!

I think the 'mystic' minds of Indians should also be part of Incredible India campaign.

Hope Indian IT and job market don't suffer because of the mistakes of a few!

Jab we met Strangers

Yesterday was another Sunday like all previous ones since I am in Hyderabad. So my roomie (MR) I, as usual decided to catch a flick. Since there was not any must watch sort of movie released on Friday, so the decision making started. But before we did much investigation from net and newspapers, my brother (MB) is also in Hyderabad these days, suggested (read "asked") to watch latest Hindi film "Strangers".

According to TOI it was to be screened at "Sensation Insomnia" at 7:00 PM and we planned for that show. We got the mighty people's transport auto for the cinema. Without any need to bargain, the auto walla agreed to go by meter. After a long 40 mins, we were in front of the cinema. To confirm that auto walla is not cheating and the way is correct, I always have to rely on only MR, the fact that even after 7 months, I am feeling like a visitor here. A +ve side effect of this is that I kind of enjoy going around in the city, always!! That's another thing (only if MR protests to what I just said) that yesterday I was feeling drowsy 'coz of common cold.
Well, so were inside the cinema complex. What man, there was no poster of "Strangers"! Only "Jab we met" and some Telugu movie ones. We had already met Shahid & Kareena (if I remember correctly, in this cinema hall only) and were pretty sure that "Strangers" are Hindi speaking chaps. I decided to argue and try to claim my auto money back from the cinema management by probably threatening to sue them! But MR picked the side of the management saying that it's fault of newspaper...so...with a feeling of being real strangers, we moved on!

Anyway, let's go to Eat Street and try to grab a table in front of the lake. Nice idea...
On the way to the lake there was "Prasadz"- mall-cum-multiplex. "Strangers" was available for 9:00 PM show and our dear MR mistook it for Hollywood film "I am Legend"because of English title and stepped into the 'Q' and stepped out with 3 tickets for some back row middle seats.
There were good 2 hours and it was enough time to go-enjoy-and-return from Eat Street. At the idea of lake, MB suddenly remembered that I didn't allow him to bring the camera with him! What to do with a camera in a movie hall, by the way!
Despite of a lot of crowd(no secondary meaning :-)...normal on Sunday evenings...we managed to get a table just vacated by two lasses. The table was on the side of eat street i.e. next to the lake. Spent around 1 hour there, had CCD coffee (which was soothing for cold also) and came back to Prasadz.

So finally there we were, in the middle seats of 3rd last row with some strangers on back, side and in front of us and all of us waiting for some strangers to appear on the white screen.
Soon the wait got over.
"Strangers" - Jimmy Shergil and Kay Kay Menon.
Both inside a train, sitting in front of each other. Start their conversation in a really weird manner. And guess what they started? A game to know about each other. Both started telling their life stories to each other. One guy himself is somewhat abnormal and his lover-turned-wife is upset with him. Other's wife has become mentally upset after the demise of their small son. So he is upset with his wife. But none of them wants to divorce because they think that's not the right thing to do. Story keeps on unfolding. However all this was flashback. In the beginning Jimmy was taken into custody for a crime...most probably a murder while Kay Kay looked on from the back side of the wind-screen of car.
No, I won't reveal the complete story.

I was enjoying the movie. It looked like some murder mystery novel. The first half, though just 50 mins, was so much packed with story. I would say the direction was good.
Second half was also fine.
But what left us exasperated was the end. Giving a feeling of watching some really crazy and psychic strangers. Almost just like some suspense novels are ended with a not so captivating suspense. For example, even the end of the brilliant "Da Vinci Code" was not that interesting as the plot was. Anyway, good that the movie was only 1 hr 40 mins long.

Yet, the most craziest stranger in this outing was to meet us soon. It was our auto walla who took us back to home. Seemed like he was the force behind Narain Karthikeyan's win in GP car racing in China. But our race was without any safety guards!!
Finally we reached home safely so that I could write this blog!

20th May 2007 - I landed in Hyderabad

At about 1:00 PM I landed in Hyderabad (Hyd for short) by a flight from New Delhi. A driver had come to pick me up for a hotel/guest house which I myself didn't know. Well, it was a nice welcome arranged by the company.

I asked the driver about where we were going, he said something in Hindi with Telugu accent which I actually could not understand.

Anyway, he dropped me at hotel Ohri's Banjara - a 3 star hotel on road No. 12 of Banjara Hills - one of the poshest areas of Hyd.

Famous NTR Gardens Hyderabad

From then on, my "voyage" of Hyderabad started on. My very first impression about Hyderabad became that of a "clean and green" city which holds immense importance for me since I had come from Gurgaon - a Hi-Tech city (the technology which is only evident in the office premises and not outside) whom I had termed as "The City Under Construction"

In contrast, there was very little dust in Hyderabad. You can move around in the city seeing the beautiful scenic locations driving on enchanting hilly roads lined with trees on both sides.

I came to know about the facilities that my remunerator has provided me with.

I peldged to visit a different restaurant everyday...and it just started from Day 1.

A new place, a new job, a new journey...

After a long time, in fact for the second time, I have again decided to write my blog. As the name of this blog 'Freexpressions" suggests, this time, I have lots of stuff to share, to express.
And all of this will be about my shifting from the Millenium City - Gurgaon to another beautiful place in India called 'Hyderabad".

I came to Hyderabad on 20th of May 2007 to start a new job. On the next day, I joined Qualcomm India Pvt. Ltd, the Indian office of the wireless leader of the world. I will write later on why I joined Qualcomm. For a hint, the basic reason is a quest to work in one of the best technology places of the world.

So today it is my 9th day in Hyderabad - the 6th most populous metropolis in India. I have only added to its population :-)

So in the subsequent posts, I will write about my rendezvous with Hyderabad and various places inside it - especially my office, the Hi-Tech City, the lakes and the hotels & restaurants.