Faking Resume – Revisited
Some days back, I wrote a post on faking resume. As expected, one of my friend read it (He supports faking resume) and we got into an argument. He suggested me make a post on “What exactly constitutes a fake resume”. So, this post is again about fake resume and its impact.
So what is fake? How does it differ from embellishment?. As we know, there is a thin line that divides embellishing and lying on resume. To explain why faking is justified in many cases again, I will give an example from what I have observed. A friend of mine, who doesn’t have formal engineering degree (as a matter of fact, he doesn’t have a degree) got acquainted with programming some years back. Starting with C, it took only one year for him to become a Sun Certified Java programmer. Now, he is a much qualified programmer/developer than most of the 3 years experienced guys in the IT industry. But will the industry recognize and encourage such talents?, Never!. Unless he mentions a year or two experience in an obscure IT company, backed with a fake degree, he is not going to get a job. Though his case is extreme, there are many similar examples. Some companies seem to ignore MCA/M.Sc grads for no reason. So according to him, even if a person is not formally experienced, if he is capable of fulfilling the job requirements and also excel at it, there is nothing wrong in faking on resume.
Lets now see the other side of the coin. For genuine candidates like him, it may be justified. But not all are genuine. Some days back, a veteran blogger shilpadesh, wrote a post on things Indians do in US. This general faking “habit” of Indians, doesn’t die even if they go to other countries. As far as I know, the US H1B visa works on the basis of lottery system. So, here its not just qualification but also luck plays a vital role. Knowingly or unknowingly, make fake candidates (with the help of greedy consultancies) are filing for H1B visas. Practically, they are robbing the opportunities of many genuine candidates. In this case, “faking” resume is strongly condemnable, despicable and what not.
One can stretch the same kind of arguement to other things like bribing, abusing law etc. So, it appears that these things have become the “Indian” way of life. Will this ever change?
Tagging Culture
I have been tagged by Vani some time back. Getting tagged in blogosphere is like coming of age. The whole thing is about recognized by fellow bloggers and I sure want to be part of it. So, this tagging is about brands. But, I am not a “brand loyalty” kind of guy. However, when I looked around, I noticed few brands (some obscure) which I prefer unconsciously. Here it goes.
ID Special: Guess what? ID – Idli/Dosa. Yes ID special is a company which started off by manufacturing idli/dosa batter. Slowly, they went on to launch other small snacks like Unni appam (a Kerala delicacy), Acchu murukku etc.. They have found their niche market now. Health conscious bachelors, lazy moms seem to support this product very much. Though I see other brands on display in super markets and local shops, I tend to prefer this one. May be because of the clean production process. Only next to Maggi Noodles (I will come to it shortly), we often found ourselves using this ID batter for dinner/breakfast.
Saibol: Unfortunately, this brand doesn’t even have a website. But, this product has survived even in this aggressive marketing age, without any big advertisements etc. Manufactured in the suburb of Madurai, this ointment has found its way to big cities like Chennai, Bangalore etc. I was recently delighted when I found that Saibol is available in a medical shop in Bangalore. Be it cuts, pimples, acnes etc, Saibol is the best instant remedy.
Maggi Noodles: I know this would have been mentioned by many. But, here is my take. In school days, I avidly collected Maggi wrappers and mailed them. In turn, they sent me some small gift (headband, I guess), appreciating my loyalty. As I grew older, I slowly started losing touch. In college days, I almost forgot Maggi. But once I came to Bangalore, the old habit resurfaced. There are days when we are too lazy to cook anything (cooking Maggi is not really cooking) and also to go out and have, Maggi comes to rescue. I am so loyal to Maggi Noodles that I never turn to other brands of instant noodles.
As of now, I could not recollect any other brands I prefer always. In clothes, accessories etc I never stick with any particular brand. So, cant really write about them. If there is one brand I hate, then here it is, Reliance.
Reliance: I have had my own share of terrible experience with products from Reliance. I don’t really know which one comes from which brother. But I believe many consumer products are launched by ADAG. Reliance comm, Reliance Money, Reliance Big… If there is one word that describes all these products, its mediocrity. Their target audience is also similar. One cannot expect anything intelligent from these. They have crores and they imitate whatever product available in the market. So, I consciously avoid any product from Reliance (even in share market).
Oops, I forgot another important aspect of this tagging, I must continue this tag chain. I tag following people, Priceless Junk, silverine, a spark of madness, Life @ IIT . Let me see.
War of Words
“Mobile phones – a boon or a curse”, this is the title of the essay I was asked to write during an interview with a call center. And I got that job. Now, we can no longer debate on such topics. We have reached a stage where we can assertively say, mobile phone is a necessity. In this post, I will attempt to cover the journey of mobile phones usage and development, based on my experience with it.
Free Incoming : A decade ago, there was a time when mobile incoming calls were charged at around 6 or 7 Rs per minute. Mobile phones were once considered luxurious and only rich people and upper middle class had access to it. Things have changed a lot now. The first step towards making mobiles easily accessible to the middle class was to make the incoming calls free of cost. Simultaneously, low cost mobile hand sets were being launched, which fueled the growth of mobile phone usage.
Competitive Market: Over the years, a highly competitive market brought down call charges drastically. Telecom companies introduced several offers, including the attractive ones for corporate people (Free of cost when calls are made within organization). Also, cash rich new entrants in the mobile market came up with many innovative offers and plans. (Tata Indicom, Docomo’s per second pulse). The incumbent service providers were forced to reduce the charges, introduce new schemes to retain the customer base.
Per second billing, 3G, MNP: Yesterday’s announcement by TRAI to make per second billing mandatory for all service providers sent a shiver in the market. Major telecom stocks tumbled, as this move by TRAI will bring down their revenues by almost 15%. As a Bharti Airtel shareholder, I was sad that my stocks went down, but at the same time, I was happy that my monthly mobile bills will come down. Mobile Number Portability (MNP), is going to ring in very soon in India. This will enable the customers to switch service providers without changing their number. Most people like me would try to experiment with different service providers, if allowed to retain the number. It is quite surprising to know that Pakistan has already implemented MNP. With the arrival of 3G, wireless data transfer will reach new levels.
Survival of the fittest: No industry in India is as competitive as the telecom industry. In addition to current players, other global operators (Telenor-Unitech) are also entering Indian market in the near future. This will make the game more tough. If the growth rate is sustained at same level, a report predicts, in six years, almost every Indian will own a mobile. And we the existing customers, continue to enjoy the best offers.
Dull boy
dullboy
Well, this is what they say, all work and no play made Jack a dull boy.
Issue Severity: Minor
Priority : Low
Reproducibility: Yes, when the internet connection is slow.
Customer impact: Frustration!
Movies Roundup
When there is nothing to write about, I could easily make up a post on the recently watched Tamil movies. So here it goes.
Pokkisham: I think this movie didn’t even release in the theaters in Bangalore. As usual, I downloaded the “DIVX” copy from the torrent world and watched it. To be honest, one cannot really watch this movie in theater. Its painfully slow. But I managed to watch almost the entire movie barring the songs. Cheran has really enjoyed and pictured each and every scene of the movie, but I doubt audience will get the same feel. Its a heart wrenching love story. The really talented Padmapriya has enacted the role of Nadira with perfection. The movie makes us wonder what kind of “instant” generation we are living now. Here, impatience is a virtue. But he shows us a world (1970s) altogether different, in which he has to wait for weeks after writing a letter to his ladylove to see a response. Its really painful. And in the process, he made the audience wait impatiently to see something happen on screen. Besides, is it the “male-chauvinism” of Cheran?, he always makes the female characters of his movies to suffer for life.
Eeram: Few scenes of the movie reminded us of the recent Madhavan movie, Yaavarum Nalam. There, the medium was TV and here its water. What makes this film different is the characterization. Its Nandha’s character. But some say, its his biggest ever break. I don’t believe so. May be, I would have enjoyed the movie if I had watched in theater.
UPO: Thinking that its Madurai, I rushed to the theater to buy the ticket. (Un)fortunately, I bought the first ticket and ended up in the corner seat. UPO is engaging and very much appeals to the South audience. I was thrilled to watch two legends of Indian cinema on screen. But there was not much scope in the movie to show extraordinary performance. Mohanlal, still wins. Beyond cinema, there was a message, which every “common man” in India can relate with. It’s his anger. Anyhow, Lot has been said and written on this. Read somewhere that Kamal took just 5 days to complete his part. In this movie, he is successful as a producer than as an actor. Looking forward to see him in a extracting role.
Haute Couture
Though its uncommon in tier-2 cities, the low waist buttock-cleavage revealing (the technical term is gluteal cleft, it seems) jeans have become a contemporary fashion in cities like Bangalore. Though in fashion world this has become somewhat outdated, it certainly has swept across the major cities in India in the past few years. Soon, it will spread to other small cities and towns. Wondering when this will reach my hometown, Madurai. (Wikitravel warns, “Women are advised not to wear extreme (provocative) clothes during any time”)
In my daily bike ride of 25 + kms, I will get a chance or two to catch a glimpse of the “new cleavage”. I didn’t even miss the pillion rider of the latest Suzuki GS 150R hoardings 
But what annoys me sometimes is when I see obese people wearing such low-slung trousers/jeans. Its certainly a fashion faux-pas. The slang term for it is Muffin-top. (Check the pics) And its even more annoying when men with lots of hairs on their back opt for these jeans. (To quote Seinfeld, “The female body is a work of art. The male body is utilitarian. It’s for gettin’ around. It’s like a Jeep”) Nobody wants to see men like that.
On the other side, I am yet to see anyone sporting a whale-tail in Bangalore. (Check the wiki page). I am sure Bangalore will catch up with it very soon.
Low waist jeans
Update: A friend of mine sent this image today. Really, a picture speaks a thousand words.
Mentalese
The meaning of the title word will be explained later in the post. Curious people, check this Wiki article. This blog post is based on the book, “The Language Instinct” by Steven Pinker, which is based on the linguistic theories of Chomsky.
Think in English:
In non native English speaking countries like India, we get to hear many sentences spoken in English but are directly translated from the native regional languages. For example,
Morning, morning, don’t eat my head!
(translated from Kannada, belag belage thale thin beda)
or a much common, I told you no! (nan sonnein illa)
When we come across such sentences, we tend to believe that the person who is speaking that sentence is “thinking” in Kannada. And, it naturally gets translated into English. So, our thoughts are basically governed by the languages we speak. To be precise, our thoughts are constrained by the limitations of the languages we speak. George Orwell, in his famous dystopian novel, 1984 (Few unlucky souls who haven’t read the novel yet, here is the gist), used this concept to build a new language “Newspeak“. The politicians of 1984’s Oceania wanted their people to exclusively use Newspeak, as it has very limited vocabulary. By controlling the words of the languages, they wanted to control the thoughts of their people. In turn, people will always be loyal members of the party.
Language of Thought:
According to Pinker, our thoughts are not constrained by the languages we speak. Thoughts, in turn, have a universal language, Mentalese. So if we want to communicate our thoughts, we translate from Mentalese to the language we desire. Even if our language is limited in vocabulary, we will still be able to think of complex concepts. Much to our surprise, human beings have the ability to creolize any language, so as to express the thoughts. Its even surprising to read that human beings can creolize a language much faster than we expect. It will take only 1 or 2 generations to expand any language to express most of the human thoughts. So, in the case of 1984, Winston Smith’s next generation will be his revenge.
Aren’t they inseparable?
But this book has drawn lot of criticism. As one of my friends says, one needs some good language to hold a complex thought in his/her mind. If not for language, the complex thought would just vanish from the person’s mind. Human thought is a cumulative process, based on the experiences of fellow human beings. For example, if I have to think about feminism, I must have a decent knowledge on it. (Pseudo intellectual bloggers (like me) can talk/write about any topic, with the help of Internet). So any thought on feminism is based on the cumulative experience of other human beings. Here, language is essential to share our knowledge on any topic and hence build thoughts on top of it. So from this, we can say that thoughts and languages grow/evolve simultaneously, so that one won’t lag behind another. But, there are many similar questions/criticisms which are yet to be answered.
To conclude, this book has challenged one of the longest running misconceptions. But, its still a hypothesis, and we have a long way to go before we get some concrete evidences. But it surely has changed the way we look at languages.
The Placebo Effect
Placebo effect as defined in Wiki,
A placebo is a sham medical intervention. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief does indeed sometimes have a therapeutic effect, causing the patient’s condition to improve. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.
We would have often come across this effect. During illness, just a visit to doctor would itself make us feel better and healthy. But what happened to me now is something like opposite of it. Call it, Nocebo effect.
Ever since the news about Swine Flu came out, a sudden fear gripped everybody’s mind. My mind was thinking even worse. What if I get fever (due to common cold or something) during these times. Should I contact the doctor immediately. Its something I never do. Depending on the situation, I either wait for it go down or self medicate. But it is not so this time. Like adding fuel to burning fire, the following news item was published in today’s DNA,
Whenever this thought crosses my mind, I immediately dismiss it. But they say, the subconscious mind will listen to each and every thing and often stores the unnecessary details. As a result of this, I got common cold. Keeping my fingers crossed now.
Discrimination
Discrimination, as they say, is unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice. Discriminating anyone on the basis of caste, religion, race, sex is illegal, at least, unethical. Having said that, we cannot assume that discrimination can be completely eradicated from the society. Discrimination is natural. We see that it is common. For example, when a person choosing his/her friend, he/she discriminates. And so on. Recently, I found myself in a situation, where I had a feeling that I am discriminating.
A week back, I was given the opportunity to interview few candidates in our company. It works like this. I will test the candidates for basic Java, and related technologies. If only I feel satisfied, I will tell my TL to go ahead with the candidate. He has his own level of filtering. Its a known fact that getting the right candidate, an all rounder is a tough thing in IT industry. By noon, I had interviewed 2 candidates, a male and a female, both were lacking in basics. So they were shown the door right away. (Of course, with the euphemistic words, “your skill set doesn’t matches exactly with our requirements”)
Then came a girl. A pretty girl. Its naturally enviable to see people with beauty and brain. It appears that her current employer has pampered her with trivial bugs and enhancements. Though she was good at Java, wasn’t an all rounder. But how do I reject? The Bertie Wooster (Preux chevalier) in me would not allow that. When I was pondering over it, she interrupted me with a question, “Do you people work on Saturdays too?” Her face expressed a displeasure over it. Ah, so she prefers to be pampered. But its not so here. So, without hesitation, I told her that management will contact her soon (Yet another euphemism). For a moment, I thought, did I discriminate? Nay
Credit card payment using NEFT
Among all the credit cards I have, only HSBC doesn’t have online payment facility. Neither I was aware of any other site which lets me make this credit card payment online, at free of cost. So, until last month, I use to drop cheques. (Just another reason to walk till the Forum mall on my way home ).
Few months back, I noticed that there is an option to add any credit card as a beneficiary in the third party payment section of my HDFC bank savings account. (Pardon my ignorance) I was under the impression that they might ask for the bloody credit card PIN, of which I have no clue.
This time, I thought of giving it a shot. I added my credit card number, and then came the IFSC code. I was not sure which branch of HSBC issued me this credit card, but just assumed that it must be the Bangalore main branch. So, I went ahead and added its IFSC code. I was also sure that if IFSC code is wrong, they just credit back the money in my account. (Also send a letter citing the reason) But much to my surprise, it worked!. I now live a cheque free life!!
Update: I have observed that many people come looking here for HSBC bank IFSC code. So here it is, HSBC01INDIA. The fact is, while adding the credit card as a beneficiary, I added Bangalore branch IFSC code and it still works. Later when I mailed them, they gave this one. Who cares, as long as it works!
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