Cauvery Fishing Camp - Bheemeshwari

काउवेर्य ट्रेकिंग ट्रिप
Originally uploaded by gagneet.

We were to start on this Team trip (sponsored by the Company) early in the morning, when we would be getting a pickup near our house. Most of the crowd was arriving at the office complex and the rest would have to be picked up on the way to the trekking spot. Got a bit late due to the late arrivals at the office complex. Finally, we started off around an hour and a half late. The journey was good, with our former boss showing up in full regila of a mumbai bhai and acting in the same manner :)
Had a big session of antakshri on the way and enjoyed it throughly too. The journey was a typical bus road journey with the roads in fairly good condition till we finally began to approach the hills and then started the upward drive (on the way also went ahead and bought a bat and ball to play cricket with). We reached the camp around 11; after starting around 7:40 from near my place in JP Nagar. It was a journey of around 115 kms in total (one way). On reaching we were given the welcome drinks and then we got on to our journey/trek up the hillside. It was the first time I realised that I was not in form for such a thing :(
The trek uphill really stretched me to the limit and by the time I was on the top, my legs seemed to be shaking - weakness!! It seems like I have not been having any nutritious diet, but a diet where my palate is only satisfied. I need to improve on that. Climbing the lookout point, I actually felt my legs quiver under me. Then Rafi and JP came up and we decided to continue downhill and try to reach the river bank. We had almost made it till the end, when we finally decided to go back as the others would be waiting. The journey back was really a bad one, with me huffing and puffing all the way up. It finally ended with us drinking all the water in JP's bag and reaching the lookout point again. Had a quick photo session there, before heading back downhill, back to the fishing camp.
Lunch had been served there and it tasted really yummy after all that tiring stretch up and down hill. After that we had a long session of lazying around on the Web. This was a mesh of ropes tied to the ropes and one could jump up and down these to simulate a feeling of lightness which really was soothing... :)
After a lot of monkey sessions, we went on a gondola ride into the river. (the picture taken is of there only). The journey back was uneventful. And then we went for drinks at LoR. But, that being crowded, landed in Filling Station for a quick beer and vodka session. :D

HR Woes

The major thing with HR in every Organization is that they are very vindictive. I have encountered HR and had major tiffs with them in almost every Organization and the only place where I found them to be accommodating was Macromedia and then later on in Solidcore. Here, the major reason was that all our activities were taken care of either by the Administrative Staff or by our Managers, who went by what we had to offer in our skills and not what we did in our previous companies and why we left and why and why... !!
The basic premise of the HR these days is to find out more on a psychological manner as to what is the nature of the person they wish to recruit. They have forgotten that the person might be more interested in getting his work done than to cater for their regular laments on the person not having a good degree or a good company name behind him. Now, I ask these people, do they think that their own company has such a good brand name? Why most of the companies these days are just coming up in their space and are almost unknown; why then do they go about seeking people who are coming from good brand names? The work being done is and should be the main concern and not the lure of a big brand name.
Then again there are those HR who do not even seem to care about what is going on with the people they have to get recruited. I encountered a similar fate in AMD, where the HR after informing me that I had got through and the offer was ready for me to sign on the dotted line, never got back to me. All he could say was - Oh! I was on leave [ok, you were, but atleast inform the next person that this candidate needs to be informed] or the MD is not available and I have to check with him [even when the last time he had said that the MD was on his way back the same day and he would give me a ring as soon as he came in]. Now this is not what I call professionalism, is it??!!

Then these people ask us as to why we are leaving the previous company, well! you are the guys who are keen on making me leave by offering a new post and better money??!! Why not leave? And then when we want to leave your company, you make all sorts of fuss about it and don't even allow us a decent exit. You want us to join the next day, but while leaving we need to give a thousand days advance notice and even then you create so many hurdles in the way that we are unable to peacefully and amicably exit. Why! That is all I wish to ask you guys!!

What we do!!

I have started work on a new concept in the development arena. It starts with developing something which inspires you to create something which just kicks ass!! I have gone through that experience and have regretted that... :-(
My Manager is a real good disciplinarian and I give him full credit for making me into what I am. I have been brought up in a sheltered and disciplined environment by my parents [especially Dad] and till I don't have someone to force me I tend to slip. In work, my Manager came to know of my this tendency fast enough and got me in the right track fast enough. I have realized that in Software documentation is the first thing and then are the logical and analytical abilities which come out in the form of comments to the code. Code should be the last thing in a developers mind. If he gets his basics right in comments, code will be a breeze!!
Do/Will I follow his principles when I advance??!! I sure hope I do...