Elevators

One of the most interesting things about working in a high-rise are the elevators. It actually makes you feel very 'wall street-ish' to scramble into one and zap up to the 37th floor. However, the problem with an elevator is that its a confined space from which there is no polite escape. That basically means that if you are with a specific person X in the elevator, you will have to remain with X for the next minute or two.

This creates a weird problem for people such as me. Every once in a while I end up getting stuck with some super-senior member of the firm. Its one of those situations where its very hard to find anything relevant to say. My eyes suddenly start finding very interesting patterns on the floor and ceiling.

This is what I want to say :

"Errm, do you think I could keep my job. I know I am an insignificant ant, but I will improve. You know, I really am not as bad as the HR people might think...."

Obviously I cannot say that.

"So how are things going ?"

I mean, innocous as it may sound, how could he reply in a manner which is in any way relevant to me. So thats out.

"Rainy day huh?!"

Might work but sounds lame. I hate discussing the weather. Its information both parties already know, so why dish it out all over again.

So, you get the picture. I need to think of something deep, meaningful and very appropriate to say over my 2 minute journey on the elevator. See today I was stuck with a senior partner, and he asked me a couple of questions and I spewed total crap. Embarassing! Why can't I be a more confident, composed, poised, a male miss-universe-ish version of myself under these situations and get as many brownie anti-firing points as I can?? Bah!

Wah

I couldn't think of anything more meaningful, so pardon me for the title.

• Last week finished last week. I had 3 exams in 1 week. Believe it or not, I did accounting! If you even remotely know me, you will know that such things were anathema to me till even very recently. Accounting, as many of you may know, is complicated. It has the same consistency, desirableness (and general effect on health) as a large bowl of spaghetti into which has been poured half a bucket of sticky melted cheese.
• That brings me to an interesting question. Why is accounting so complicated? A more general question would be, why are law and accounting so complicated? An even more general question would be, why are all these things that control the behaviour of people so complicated? Thats simple. Thats because, people do bad things. Some of the bad things break rules so those people go to jail. However, some of the bad things don't. So, you need to change the rules so that those bad things do. But, there will be still some bad things that don't. So, you need to create more rules so that those bad things do. Its like this whole cat and mouse game. In the end you are left with one psychotic mess.
  
• This week was fun. We went competitive sailing! Bunches of 4 got popped into 25 foot boats, and we randomly careened around Lake Michigan for a couple of hours. It was good fun, though its way too slow paced for my liking. This whole thing was a company 'socializing' event (i.e. free food and alchohol).
• Over the last few days, my training program has transitioned from the 'learning' phase to the 'practical' phase. So, we had some senior guys coming to give us talks about their respective businesses. Some of these guys were totally amazing. There is this guy who was about 35. By the age of 32 he had become the CEO of one of the top electronic exchanges in the country, which he had started up a few years earlier. This was for a guy who had graduated from school with a GPA of 2.7/4.0. Maybe he didn't study. (Because, he had almost qualified to the Olympic Fencing teams in 1996 and 2000!) His energy and zest for life was phenomenal. You would think that he would be like this super intense wired person. He was just the opposite! Great sense of humor, relaxed, loved what he did, and well as you would expect, knew exactly what he was doing! Something that did strike me about him was that he seemed to be one of those born risk takers. One of those guys who always keep moving on to new and fun things, and wouldn't do anything that others found easy to do.
  

Tag

I have been tagged by Lakshmi.

One book that changed your life?

Well pretty much everything I do is contained in one book or another. Of course, there are also these emotional type reactions to reading a book, but nothing I can clearly identify. I loved 'The Great Gatsby', its a simple beautiful story, and very unlike what is paraded as 'happiness' in general.

One book you have read more than once?

Well, I have read my Asterix and Tintin comics collections like a million times.

One book you would want on a deserted island?

"How to get out of a deserted island really fast"

One book that made you laugh

The Hitchiker series of books by Douglas Adams. His humor is something that is closest to what I like.

One book that made you cry

I am reading 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry. The story is touching.

One book you wish had been written?

' A Suitable Boy' by Vikram Seth. It must be so hard to write a book that is 1400 pages long and sticks together. I also love how he has all kinds of insights about people and situations.

One book you wish had never been written?

Lots man. Lots. Take the Tom Clancy rubbish, for example. I would be embarrased to be like this overgrown kid who still hasn't got over warships, guns and spy satellites. They just kill.

One book you are currently reading?

'Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry.

One book you have been meaning to read?

'An Equal Music' by Vikram Seth. I have this whole reading Indian literature thing going.

Who are my suckers?

Prashanth - He would like to do this.

Alraqs - She would to.

Megha - Its kind of honoring to link to a superstar type blogger who gets 220 (really!) comments per post.

Intern ?

I don't think anybody else reads this blog :). So, I shall stop there. To, that statement of mine there has, much to my joy, been protests. So, to some extent it is unlikely to be a completely accurate representation of facts.

Blah

1. Oh my week was so much fun. You know, I met so many people and learnt so much about them and life is so beautiful and smiles and sparkles. Yeah right! I get up at 7 in the morning.

2. Well, Lollapalooza came to Chicago this weekend. Its this really big music festival held in Grant Park. The highlight of the 2 day event, was the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. For reasonably guessable reasons, I didn't go to it. However, I did manage to listen to them for free during my Sunday evening run along Lake Michigan (Grant Park runs right by Lake Michigan)!

3. I made myself a music system. Bought a Sony receiver and Bose 301 speakers. The Bose 301's are the closest you can get to musical heaven without going to hell with your wallet. They cost about 325$ and have been made by Bose for the last 30 years. They have pretty much mastered the thing. Most Bose speakers are universally light on the bass, and are designed for the kind of sound you would get from a live performance. I kind of like the non earth jarring bass. However, if you do want more bass, you could just buy a sub-woofer.

They also have this new fangled ultra-hep Acoustimass range that is bloody expensive, mainly because the speakers are in the form of tiny cubes, and the whole thing runs wireless. However, they sound like crap. There is this basic physics thing about sound that the frequency of your note is inversely propotional to the amount of space you are generating it in. Case in point - tweeters are small, bass modules are big! They claim to have engineered the speakers to generate all frequencies, but frankly they end up sounding totally flat and lifeless. However, if you don't really listen to music, and are basically looking to impress friends, then its worth getting! ;)

4. Have a bunch of tests from Aug 14 - 18. Its pretty important for me to do well, and the whole thing has got me a little anxious. Anyway, can't wait to get done with them.