Live in New York once

As I write this post, I'm sitting in a bustling Starbucks cafe in mid-town Manhattan about to leave to a little suburb in Northern Virginia that I currently call home. For the last few weeks I've been visiting a client in New York quite frequently and every time I step out of the station into the busy streets of Manhattan, I can't help but quote Baz Luhrmann's lyrics from Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) to myself. "Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft".

I've never lived in or even visited Northern California, but I can tell you this, it doesn't take long for New York city to make you hard. I remember my first visit here around 2 years ago when I walked around the city careful not to bump into anyone, apoligised to anyone I brushed against. Stopped on a red walk sign, allowed cars the right of the way. Now, after spending the better part of three months here, I drag my little strolley around at full clip down the avenues and streets not caring who's toes I drag it over. Apologise? You've got to be kidding!! I stop where I feel like and walk when I feel like it regardless of how many people I bump into or how many cars swerve.

Darwin must have come up with his theory of evolution after studying New Yorkers, for this is definitely a process of natural selection. You either survive or you quit. I for one would love to quit.

Having spent most of my life in small towns, New York came as a nasty surprise. It's crowded, dirty & noisy - And this is coming from from a guy born and brought up in India. People are always in a hurry whether or not they have a place to go to. It's insanely expensive, and even with an extremely good hotel expense policy I sometimes wind up getting rooms worse than I have ever lived in. Not always, but sometimes they just don't have rooms. New York is the only city where I have stayed in where I got bitten by bed bugs in the hotel- And that's after paying $350 a night.

So why do so many people want to live here? There has got to be something to it. Is it just to have a 10001 zip code? Is it that you can be who ever you are and no one would give you a second look. Right in this cafe there's a guy with his hair in three colors, a woman who's trousers start almost where her thong ends and no one cares. They say you could walk down manhattan stark naked and people would probably think to themselves "Interesting" and continue on their way. Or maybe it's because just looking around you in this city can make you feel like you've arrived. You start believing in the American Dream. You're ready to reach for the stars.

I sat in a cab a few days back and actually survived the ride. The cab driver had a short conversation with me and was surprised I travel here from Virginia to meet clients during the week when I have the option of living here. He boasted to me about how successful he is living in New York. I started to point out that he was driving me around in his cab when I realised that's what New Yorkers are about. Wherever in their lives they may be they are proud of it. The most lonely city in the world, the most likely place for a person to die alone. Yet New Yorkers are proud.

What's my point? I don't know .. but that's New York for you , in a New York minute. Next stop Northern California !!

Geek squad

For most people, anyone involved in technology is a boring geek, with little or no creativity. And at the top of the geek pyramid rests the IT geek. The stereotypical computer guy in the movies with the thick glasses, who never gets the joke and will never get a date in his life. He's the guy they always interview after a star wars movie releases or after the launch of the new xbox. The one standing in line for 2 days to get his piece of geek paradise.

I've been in the IT consulting industry for about 5 years now and I have to say just as I do about everything else... enough with the stereotypes. While we do have some guys as described in the movies and your mental image, on the other hand the industry employs and nurtures people who are just as creative as a movie director and just as passionate as a music composer. Do you really think Van Gogh could have designed the iPod any better? Mozart probably didn't have as much of an impact on the music field as Napster did and will have in the future (OK maybe it's a slight stretch).

The other misconception about geeks is that they are caught up in their own small world of lines of code, LED displays, wires and all that jazz and couldn't care less about anything outside that world. The fact is, technology from the beginning has been used to solve business problems. And to solve those problems, the industry needs to understand them as well if not better than the actual business owners. So don't be surprised if a techy explains to you how the entire publishing industry works and why print is different from internet.

There are very few aspects of everyday life that are not affected by technical innovation, creativity or just pure genius. When you work from home so you can watch over your kid who's not keeping well... it's because of the geeks. When you send flowers to your girlfriend / boyfriend sitting 5000 miles away with the click of a button it's because of the geeks. When you listen to your favourite music from a choice of 15,000 songs while your'e driving.... yes... you're getting the drift, it's because of the geeks.

So the next time you sit down with your friends for a drink, you may want to raise a toast to the geek as well .. because chances are you looked up the venue and invited your friends over the internet .... which ofcourse once again .. is because of the geek.

The death of mankind

I guess I'm asking for trouble with this post which I dont think will go down well with the feminist types, but .. well it's fun to stir up something once in a while :-)

I was just reading an article on bbc news about the palestinians demanding the release of women and children and I had to ask, why is it that today with everyone campaigning for equality of gender, women are still presumed innocent?

I watch alot of stand-up comedy and I have to admit, I form alot of my opinions (some might call it plagiarism) from there. I don't remember the artist I was watching on feminists but it got me thinking. Women are fighting for every right, from their rights in a family, to rights in the government. From changing mankind to humankind, chairman to chairperson and manhole to personhole.. and hey I have no problems with all that. I believe women should and must stand beside men on equal footing with every right that men have enjoyed for ages. But if you're my wife, and we are on the Titanic, you better be standing next to me when those four old men are playing the violin and singing hymns.

Left Vs. Right

Recently my girlfriend told me I'm a bit too liberal. This conversation started because I told her she was could meet her ex-boyfriend whenever she pleased and I had no problems with it. I'm normally very secure in my relationships even though I get dumped pretty often.

This got me thinking (I do that once in a while). Is mankind so predictable that we can all be dumped in one of two categories? Liberals or Conservatives. Left or Right. I remember watching a show by Chris Rock where he says, no person is any one thing, and I agree with him. So crime, I'm conservative. Alcohol.. I'm liberal. What does that make me? A liberal or a conservative?? Doesn't matter. It just makes me .. me.

Maybe we need to stop getting caught up with stereotypes and start being what we want to be regardless of which group we fit into. What say?

The first time

I created this blog almost 8 months back, but it took me this long to finally get down to posting. After alot of debating with myself on the point of having a blog I decided the only way to figure it out was to give it a try.

The first post is probably the hardest right from figuring out a display name, to a blog name and a description. Then comes the actual post itself. It's quite like a first date. Do you tell her what you would like her to know or do you tell her what she would like to hear... hmm... So this blog will probably be a mix of both.

I'm not really a writer although I do dabble in it once in a while. I've found it's a nice passive way of putting my thoughts out there. Sometimes it's a way to find out about thoughts I never new I had. Opinions I never realised I had formed, other times, I realise I have thoughts but just don't have the words to put them into.

With that said and the introduction to this blog out of the way, hopefully the next post will be easier with thoughts flowing a bit more freely.

Till then, good bye.