Girls Names

Another set of freshers arrived and joined the project. Like last year, this year too, Renga was given the responsibility to groom them, both on technology and application. Shivaraj, who had been the onsite co-ordinater for the project has recently returned to offshore due to visa issues, and who will be going back to onsite once his visa issues are settled.

On a fine day, their manager Hrithik called them and said: "Guys, we got another set of freshers..."

"How many guys and how many girls..." interruped Shivaraj, stressing on the word "girls".

"Allow me to complete first..." said the manager and continued "They have been recriuted and trained by our Noida branch and due to the openings here, they have been sent here..."

Our branch is in South India.

"So we can directly give them application knowledge training and deploy them in project?" asked Renga.

"Nope... They are trained in C & C++... and ours is a Java/J2EE project, so they need to be trained in our Java & J2EE technologies..."

Renga understood how hard its going to be to bring them to a level so that they can be productive. And by the time they come to the level of being productive, they will put down the papers and leave the company. Thats the fate of this industry.

"So Renga, my expectation is that you will identify the trainers from academy, schedule the training sessions, and make sure that they catch up with others soon..." said the manager and finished with these words "And whereever needed you can take the help of Shivaraj until he is here..."

Renga just nodded and understood the hidden message behind those words - "You do all the actual work, I will put them in my appraisals and get the credits for it..."

"Any questions..." asked Manager Hrithik.

"No", said Renga.

"How many guys and how many girls..." was the question from the person who never stops until he gets what he wants - Shivaraj, again stressing on the word "girls".

"2 guys and 5 girls..." came the reply which seemed to make both Renga and Shivaraj happy.

Soon Renga and Shivaraj started working on the schedules and started booking the training rooms, co-ordinated with the network department for the systems and softwars and within a couple of days everything was set for the training sessions.

On the first day it was PHP training. The freshers batch of 7 people came and sat in the training rooms. The room had a capacity of around 30 people, and the freshers occupied the first row.

Renga started addressing them. To his right was Shivaraj and to his left was the PHP trainer from academy. Renga introducted the trainer, explained the importance of the training and how serious this training has to be taken. Shivaraj also continued Renga, more or less repeating all the points told by Renga.

Renga then asked the freshers to introduce themselves telling their name, where they come from, college they studied and their hobbies.

After the introduction session, training started and Renga & Shivaraj went and occupied the seat behind the freshers.

On the third day of the training, Hrithik entered the training room, thinking that he is giving a surprise visit to see the progress of the training.

He asked Renga "How is it going?"

"Good Hrithik, they are able to catch up the concepts quickly and these training sessions are going to be very helpful to them and to us..."

"Good good..." acknowledged Hrithik.

The freshers were busy executing some examples on PHP in their systems and manager Hrithik wanted to have this discussion within three of them, without disturbing the freshers team and the trainer.

"And what are their names..." asked Hrithik.

Renga started "She is Alka, next to her is Liya, after her is Ishitha, On the right side is Deepa, next to her Soumya and he is Sohan and next to him is...." Oh no, what is his name... thought Renga as he forgot his name...

"What.." asked Hrithik...

Renga paused for another couple of seconds and said "He is Sunil..."

Shivaraj gave a confusing look at Renga.

"Oh Ok..." said Hrithik and continued "Guys, come and meet me once this session is over..."
Having said so, Hrithik left the hall.

"Hey Renga, he is not Sunil, he is Ashish..." said Shivaraj.

"Oh Ok Shivaraj, I forgot his name..." said Renga

"They why you said that he is Sunil, you could have told that you forgot his name"

"No yaar, then Hrithik will say that I remember only the girls names... Why to take risk..."

"You will be in trouble when Hrithik comes to know that he is Ashish..."

"Nothing to worry Shivaraj" said Renga and continued with a smile "He also will be remembering only the girls names..."

- Pavala.

My New Year Gift

Nokia 2600c Vs Sony Experia

After a long time I met my college Parthi at the lunch queue in office. He stood behind me and was constantly doing something with his mobile phone. Last time when I saw him, he was having a Nokia some N-series. What he was having now was a device, bit larger than a mobile phone.

On seeing me taking a glimpse of his mobile, he smiled and said "I have bought a new mobile last week."

"What is its brand?", I enquired.

"Sony experia... 23k..." he replied.

I was thinking what that 23k could mean, whether he was referring to its inbuilt or supported memory or its price (about which I never asked). Memory is always expressed in multiples of 2 upto 8 and multiples of 8 beyond that. As he continued to explain about his new Sony Experia, I could understand that he had indeed mentioned the price of his phone.
I would hesitate to buy even a computer for that cost.

We reached the buffet counter, got our food and sat in the available table in cafeteria. He went on to explain about the features of his new phone.

Suddenly he asked "What phone do you have dude...?"

"Nokia 2600c.."

"Oh... come on man, still using the same phone... I remember you showing that to me 4 years back when you bought it... At that time itself, it was an outdated one and its a base model..."

He continued "You know what my Sony Experia has... It has an inbuilt multimedia converter... you just drop a video file into it, it automatically converts into compatible format, and the video is ready to be viewed..."

He never stopped or allowed me to talk, but continued "You know its camera dude... Its 5 megapixel, high definition... You dont need to have another camera for taking a picture..."

When he stopped for taking a breath, I took the chance and asked "Can I take a look at it..." and took my left hand forward so as to take the phone from his hand. He just pulled his hand backward (far enough that I will not be able to grab it, even if I stand) and said "Dude, even I have not explored all of its features... May be I can show you what I know..." and he went on to operate the phone, showing video, playing songs, showing the pics he has shot from it...

At this point, I clearly lost interest in his phone and was plainly nodding my head without taking any effort to understand what he tries to explain.

We finished our lunch, washed hands and went out of the cafeteria, at which point I asked him "Parthi, can you do what I do with my phone..."

He was surprised and gave a big laugh and said "Oh... come on man... yours is a base model... and mine is Sony Experia... Definitely it can do all that your base model Nokia 2600c can do... You will understand only if you have a Sony Experia..."

Having said so, he keenly looked into the display of my phone, to notice what I am going to do and also kept his phone ready in hand to repeat do what I am going to do.

I smiled at him and......... dropped my phone on the floor.

- Pavala.