The Infernal Diurnal Journal

I am not convinced that the BJP- who claims to be walking on water- will maintain its impressive performance in the current elections. Everyone has a prediction of how many seats the BJP will get- the supporters claim 300+ seats- which together with another 100 odd will make BJP and its allies cross the fabled 400 mark. I am less optimistic. I think it will be down 100 seats, give or take- from the last election performance. It has already milked its record for development-related achievements for two terms. People now expect that and it is unlikely that this is going to get them the same rate of return as in the past two terms. The previous two terms were about trying also to fan out the communal overtones that everyone associated them with. I think, believe it or not, that may have actually happened in this term to some extent. If you look at the actions of the party, they may not have accorded the red-carpet treatment to Muslims, but they have not done much to alleviate the historic...

  The ides of April it shall forever be known as. I am using the Shakespearean allusion to describe a deluge so harsh and utterly implacable that beset the city of Dubai, and the wider region of the UAE and Oman, that I ended up not posting a blog entry until today- a whole week after the proverbial flood. We had been forewarned on the Monday that there would be a thunderstorm so that we should stay prepared. But when this storm started on the evening of Monday and continued into Tuesday and Wednesday, we were left completely helpless. In our community, the lake was overflowing which made it much worse for our streets that were somewhat in the vicinity of the lake. There were only rivers flowing everywhere- but if only it were just that. On Tuesday morning, around 9 am, the water stopped running in our taps. We called maintenance, who showed up late in the evening after being hounded by us all day on the phone. Clearly they were being hounded by everyone else as well. The water -pu...

  I attended this morning the REV on the Road event by Jaggaer- and E-Procurement software company- with whom we have just contracted for implementation of this system at my work place. The event was a meeting of various existing clients of Jaggaer that were located either in the UAE or the wider MENA region.   I was also now a client but we had only begun the implementation so I was not really yet a user of the system. As such, I had not much to contribute but who can refuse a chance to get coffee and goodies, and perhaps even a lunch at the St. Regis on Palm Jumeirah? As it happens, I found this meet to be not very useful and I skipped lunch altogether and made a hasty exist around noon. I did not know what to expect, but I suspected there would be some panel discussions and some sessions. As is usually the case in these types of events. The panel discussion had an Operations Consulting Partner from KPMG as the moderator. There was a chap from Masdar and one from Dubai Airpo...

  I can tell that I have put on some weight. I had lost a few kgs owing to my first quarter recurring flu episode, during which I had no appetite and hence did not eat much. I feel better now and all that has changed. But I need to revert to the previous version- but now I am pretty well aware of what I need to do. Essentially, I cannot eat to my heart’s content. As long as I cut carbs completely and eat small meals, the magic will happen. To be honest, it matters not whether I exercise or not.  The latter, I guess, is only useful to keep blood sugar levels under control- which I also need to do. Now that Ramadan is behind us, it is a nice lull period before the onset of summer break where a restrained diet can deliver. Meanwhile, I booked my travel to the USA in July and I had to spend a ransom for four tickets in Premium Economy.  I thought long and hard about it- it simply does not make any sense to spoil the kids like this. And yet I have gone on and done it. Why? I t...

   There are a number of goals I have this year- both professional and personal. I think it may be instructive to write a thousand words about each one of them. Let me start with a professional goal. I need to implement in my shop a new software or platform which is broad known as e-procurement. It is not part of a standard ERP product like SAP but sits above it. Broadly speaking, it is designed to systematize all the process steps within the Procurement process that are not already systematized. Currently a Purchase Requisition is generated in SAP – and following this a flurry of activity ensues to convert that PR to a Purchase Order- which is also done in SAP. These intermediate steps currently are done via emails, phone calls and other ad-hoc engagements with internal stakeholders, suppliers and even auditors. As such it is almost impossible to track or measure how well these activities are being done and if the work load is properly balanced. In procurement, one of the cha...

  A personal goal this year for me is to do something with my music. I know this much. I don’t really know what specifically I want to do. My journey with the acoustic guitar has been well documented. I am now at it for 3 years and I am able to strum and sing at the same time for a large body of songs- although there are still many songs that I dare not even attempt. All I have been doing for the last few years is recording myself live on my phone and putting it on my youtube channel. And then sharing the effort on my social media- sometimes. A good reaction there gives me my dopamine for the day- or even for a dew days. A lacklustre reaction there does the opposite. But I am forcing myself to marshall on. Ultimately, these videos are for me. Ultimately anything one posts of social media is for themselves. I tend to choose songs that are rare, complicated and not popular except amongst other musicians. And here I have to come to a sad realization – which is that the music loved by ...

We don't realise how confusing it is to raise kids. In the previous generation, one can argue that the kids raised themselves, The kids were many and the guardians few. Even though the mother did not work, she was busy with other domestic duties. The kids just hung around and soaked in whatever they saw and heard. Now it seems to be a combination of using a playbook - which forces us to ensure that the kid does this or that by this or that time- and regarding carefully what peer parents are doing.  Even earlier there was a slight fear amongst parents that their kids might not amount to much. And yet, somewhere deep inside, they know that would be ok too. They would survive and it was still worth it. Bringing kids into this world, as I reflect, is an insanely illogical thing. The odds are not as good as we think that everything will go as planned. We dont want suffering for our kids, but we all know that they must suffer. We must all- and it is in this suffering ...

  It is heartening to see my mum showing signs of recovery from her knee replacement. Everyone is of the opinion that most of the recovery is because I am here. I dont know how all of this works, but I am fine if it does. I know I will need to be here with a much greater frequency and for many more reasons. Short and sweet weekend trips to Jamshedpur is likely to be the norm for the foreseeable future. The other good thing so far is that I am eating in most of the time, and so far I have not picked up a cold or other similar viral ailment. I am also now two-for-two with my 50 lap routine at Beldih Club. On the first day I chose to swim around 5.30 Pm and that was a terrible idea. There were a million kids hovering all over and it was really an ordeal for me to press on with my laps, almost always bumping into them at the shallow end. I had such a feeling of Deja Vu. Back in the day when we were kids, we used to often spalsha round at the Golmuri Club pool where there was one "uncl...

    A number of weeks ago, I cam across this phrase from the Ishopnishad- an early chapter in these texts. "Tens Tyaktena Bhunjita". Its exact meaning seemed very confusing to me but apparently this is the secret to existence according to the ancient Hindu thought-leadership. It means, from what I could gather. "Consume with Sacrifice". It is an appeal not to renounce- quite the opposite. It is an appeal to enjoy and enjoy in the most corporeal and material way. I took this to imply that it is all good and even preferable to buy that expensive car, be promiscuous, eat gourmet meals, watch movies and IPL games, and watch whatever else floats your boat. Basically do whatever the hell you want- with no regret nor remorse. This is covered by the word "Bhunjita". But there is a catch. What about the word "Tyaktena'? This means you can and should do all of this, but with a sense of sacrifice. I was left scratching my head. What does this mean? Does it m...

  After a lively Industrial Board meeting with Charles and company, I went on to take a break on the 2nd floor- which housed a nice glass room, with a few tables and chairs. You could have bring your refreshments here and have at it. This was the designated room for those that did not fast. I poured myself a black coffee ( instant it was, and not a Nespresso like usual- but, hey, at least it was something warm and coffee flavored- I would take that over nothing in a heartbeat). Soon I was joined by some other compatriots who were non-muslims and hence also not fasting. This had, over the last few weeks, turned out to be a regular gathering of the same faces. The cabal was a child of Ramadan, as that is what brought all of us together at least once a day, mid morning, for our much needed coffee break. In most sessions, we ended up discussing some specific crisis that cut across all of our respective areas- in other words, some ongoing problem that touched the whole company in some w...

  I landed in Kolkata at 7.30 AM- 45 minutes earlier than expected. I was nudged by the flight assistant to wake seeing as I was on my flatbed seat. I must have slept for almost 4 hours which is not bad- in a flight such as this. I went through immigration without issues and was out in no time neat the exit.   I had not checked my bags, and thus had saved more than 1 hour waiting for them. To no avail though, because I had to wait almost an hour for the car to eventually show up. IT was early days to make this judgement but I already suspected that the driver was not the best. He went to the wrong gate and then made hash of it , eventually getting to the right place ages later and with my prompting his boss on Whatsapp to move things along. It was only the beginning! The chap showed up and one look at him and I knew I had been spot on in my evaluation of him. As it happened, I settled into the car and distracted myself from the road. After some time, I looked outside and th...

A number of weeks ago, P’s annual mammogram had revealed some calcified oddity. The doctor was not sure of what it was, certainly not sure if it was a tumor, let alone if it was cancerous. P was very regular with her mammograms, and she is usually very serious about her health.I, on the other hand, try to avoid doctors because I fear they will get me one way or another and then I will need to double down more. Ofcourse this is not a sensible approach, given I have two young kids that I still need to raise and so it wouldn’t do if I popped off or was in some or other way incapacitated. On the other hand, excessive health checking to me feels like one is always on tenterhooks and unable to live with ease. To this point, a lot of conservative thought leaders will point out that the goal of life is not to live with ease, in fact any kind of success is unachievable if one wants   to live with ease. I have long since bought into this. As long as one is alive, there will be unease. But to...