Not Enough Work!

A friend and colleague is embarking upon authoring a book and has requested for anecdotes.  This one is for him.  Though, this is not to say that others will not find it interesting.

This relates to the period when I was working at the Corporate Office (CO) of the Bank with which my colleague and I spent a whole working life.  The Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), very fond of long hours of work like our present PM, used to have morning meetings with top executives.  Though I was only an AGM, I was sometimes invited to this meeting.

One of the General Managers at the CO who was a workaholic like most others and known for working till very late hours, had suffered a stroke and passed away.  In a morning meeting following this unfortunate event, the CMD advised everyone to take good care of their health.  He also expressed surprise that there were few regulars at the well appointed office gym which also had regular trainers.  One of the GMs said, "Sir, you know all of us reach office a little early in the morning after a commute of an hour or two and then we are seldom able to call it a day before 7:30 in the evening.  That leaves us little time for our families, leave alone the gym!"  The CMD gave this GM a long and pensive look and exclaimed, "Oh! So you are complaining, aren't you?"  The poor chap protested vigorously and said that he was merely stating a fact.  The CMD said, "OK.  Henceforth if I summon anyone of you after 7 pm and you are not in your seat, it would be quite okay."

As working till 7 or 7:30 was the norm, I had kept my schedule like this.  I would leave my seat between 6 and 6:15, go to the gym, have a good workout and then return to my seat to see if any papers requiring my attention had arrived.  If there was nothing urgent, I would pick up my briefcase and leave.  The GM to who I was reporting too used to visit the gym frequently at around the same time.

Our visits to the gym had not gone unnoticed.  A participant in the meeting, a GM, remarked that GM and AGM in the IT department were very regular users of the gym.  As we were awaiting the reaction from the CMD, another participant remarked, "May be they don't have enough work in the department!"

Resigned from AAP membership

Resignation
Anil Upadhyaya <anil.upadhyaya@gmail.com>
Fri 8 May, 2015 at 15:04

To: Aam Aadmi Party <contact@aamaadmiparty.org>

Dear Sir,

I had become a member of AAP quite some time back and stood by you through the thick and thin in your apparent struggle against corruption. I now stand disillusioned.

I think that AAP was only interested in exploiting public frustration with the political system for the sole purpose of gatecrashing into the same corrupt and disgusting system. You have succeeded. Congratulations!

I feel sad that I, like many others, was tricked into assisting you in this unfortunate endeavor in my own little way. As an atonement I hereby resign from the membership of AAP.

Please acknowledge.

Regards,

Anil Kumar Upadhyaya
18/428 Indira Nagar,
Lucknow - 226016.
Mobile: +91 962 152 6956

A Translation

Translation of a sher which, I am sure, is wrongly attributed to Ghalib.

There is no dearth of idiots, o Ghalib,
they are all around you, o idiophile,
You look for them on the sidewalks,
only to find them riding in style.
You don't have enough to buy their services,
it is available on credit, so smile.

Those who know the original in Hindi will naturally enjoy it more.  It goes like this -

चू..यों की कमी नहीं है ग़ालिब
एक ढूंढो हज़ार मिलते हैं
पैदल ढूंढो सवार मिलते हैं
नकद ढूंढो उधार मिलते हैं।

😂😂😂😂

Tectonics of Terra Firma

We are the life forms with highest maintenance requirements.  We need governments, schools, factories, banks, electricity, networks, vehicles, fuel and what have you.  And above all we need a home with its numerous furnishings and fittings to meet our persistent daily maintenance requirements many of which also require privacy.  I am not aware if any other animal needs such paraphernalia.

And so we build our houses, perhaps the most expensive of our possessions, on terra firma.  It is a bit surprising that in this ever changing world where nothing stays still, we take the terra firma as firm, still and stable enough to place our most important asset on it.  Thankfully it stays that way at many places and for relatively long times.  But when it gets shifty, it brings down our abodes like a house of cards!  The plight of being without a house and all the amenities that it provides must be no less terrible than getting trapped inside a fallen one.

One silver lining in this cloud of calamity is that such unfortunate incidents also bring out the best amongst fellow human beings whom we often see as guided by greed and selfishness alone in normal times.

It also brings out the need for governments to enforce bylaws for compulsorily making buildings earthquake proof in higher seismic risk zones to the extent that the current technology is capable of.  Given the nexus between builders and politicians this may prove to be more difficult to achieve than providing relief to the unfortunate and hapless victims.

For luckier people who escaped the brunt of the quake - and I am one - the tremors have served as an urgent reminder to renew our house insurance and ensure that the policy doesn't consider earthquake as an act of God which cannot be insured against (as in OMG!)