Mutterings that Matter

Friday, May 26, 2006

Keep that Buffer, Duffer!

I think professionally I have been a born Project Manager. Not so much in an arrogant way in terms of talent but in the kind of work I did from the start of my career. Right from my first job I have been managing projects, officially or unofficially. And I have come to the conclusion that once a project manager always a project manager. There is ofcourse the aspect of risk that one takes on, high stakes that fluctuate wildly on either side, managing schedules, people and client expectations, and finally keeping buffers for an eventuality. I don't know of any good project manager who even if don't do all of the above will not keep a buffer for their projects.

I used to do it also, and now fortunately or unfortunately I keep buffers even in my personal life, at the cost of time and money. It sort of becomes engrained in your system, and your thought process begins and ends with project management, whether it is getting the catering done for your wedding, (I for one went and paid the caterer extra money just to prevent an eventuality of less food at the wedding, realised later that my first estimate itself had a big buffer), or it could be getting in that extra grocery for a what if situation. Basically it's more the merrier, rather a buffer is always welcome.

In situations like these and let me tell you this is everyday, I keep wondering often, is keeping a buffer saving me the trouble i.e. mitigating the risk or is it taking away from me the experience of working through an eventuality. Maybe experience of an earlier eventuality gets us to define the buffer in a way, but I wonder if that is in anyways helping in growth.

Personally I have believed that eventuality brings out the best in the individual, more is learnt and more knowledge is gained. Of course there are brickbats but they all seem worth it. When I go back and look at all the projects I managed, projects that I had good buffers and I got them executed successfully really didn't help me as an individual or a professional. Ofcourse they gave me the social/professional recognition, but from an experience and fullfillment point of view, naah, nothing much to write home about. So I ponder if it is prudent enough to go in for those buffers always, or maybe the risk of working without buffers once in a while enriches oneself. I'll give myself sometime to find that out. :)

Monday, May 22, 2006

News overdose

I'm so confused with Newsprints. What's it with their names.

- Indian Express is not faster than the Observer.
- The Hindu is not a RSS mouthpiece but a newsfeed.
- DNA is Daily News and Analysis and not Deoxy-ribonucleic-acid.
- India Today is not about today but about The Week back.
- Mid-day comes in the morning and not like the Afternoon.

How do I get my fix of the news in all this confusion?

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Code error

Dan Brown, celebrated and controversial author of The Da Vinci Code must be either very happy with the amount of publicity the book got and now the movie to be released is getting or must be hating the negative publicity the book got first for plagiarism and then for its contentious content. Well he has made his money both on the book and the movie rights that followed and of course will live happily ever after.

But that is not the context of this post, this is about the backlash it has created especially the call for ban on the movie due to its contents. For those who haven’t read the book, it talks about Jesus Christ marrying Mary Magdalene and the existence of their blood line that exists even today. About how the Catholic Church has suppressed this information and is the chief plotter to get the blood line terminated forever. Of course this is a sensitive topic for Christians across the world of their savior being crucified once again by such malicious content.

The movie of course last heard will be released in India with an Adult certificate and a notice that it is a work of fiction and not intended to hurts religious sentiments blah blah blah. So that means people will get to see it. That brings to mind previous instances of movies which faced bans namely, The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus Christ Superstar for showing the human side of Christ and making him a mere common man. Someone whose desires were of a common man, again Mary Magdalene was very much featured it both these movies. These movies were released way back and faced the same fate, but now they are available on DVD for anyone to watch, get shown on National television and all of that.

Now the question is – is it about hurting religious sentiments or is it about increased maturity read tolerance. Has the level of acceptance increased?

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A date with the Devil

Next month on the 6th of June, people will await with bated breath the birth of devil children who will come together on Armageddon day. For the uninitiated that day will read 06/06/06 or in an abridged form as 666 or the number of the beast.

In the words from the book of Revelations [13:18] of the Holy Bible "Wisdom is needed to understand this. Let the one who has understanding solve the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is Six hundred and Sixty Six."

Newspapers over are going agog over mothers fearing the birth of the devil child on this day. Paranoia is going to set in as the day comes closer and maybe just maybe sacrifices will be done in the pagan sense if you know what I mean. It remains to be seen what is going to happen on that day. I fear for the children born that day for their lives will be as bad as hell - they will be mocked at for no fault of theirs maybe all through their lives. Hospitals across the world will probably cash in on possible forced caesarians before the devlish date.

Whether the devil exists or not is not important here but the fear is just good enough for humans to tread the 'unholy' path.