The X-Factor. Is it serious or Am I taking it seriously?

I was elated when I saw the mail from BlogAdda stating that this post has been selected as one of the top posts for this week's 'Spicy Saturday Picks'.I just cant express my feelings because I was too unhappy when I wrote this post but now I am on cloud nine because of BlogAdda. Thanks to BlogAdda :)

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And now, I became a victim of the appraisal system followed in my company. I have heard lot of stories from my friends about organizational politics and about the appraisal system followed in their company and now I think I too can tell them a story about the system followed in my company with which they rate the employees.

The story goes like this, my company follows a bi-annual performance review with which they rate the employees twice a year and give them a salary hike based on their year end performance. For the 2009 - 2010 mid-year appraisal I was pretty confident that I would be given a fair rating as I expected and for the work I did after having discussion with my appraiser. But I was disappointed when I saw my rating and I was not at all happy on the number that was given to me for the work I have done during the last 6 months. There were lot of heated arguments in the post-rating discussion that lasted for more than 45 minutes, but at the end of the day it was all anger and disappointment that accompanied me to my home. To get rid of all my tension and pressure and to have good sleep I told everything to my dad whom I consider as my advisor in every aspect of LIFE. He is also my role model as he worked so hard to come up and bring us to this level in LIFE.

The next day, Friday I went late to office and I had no mood to work. I called my appraiser again for a discussion, but she was busy with her work. At this time I got a forward sms from my dad that stated, "If people around are trying to pull down, it means that you are above them! Be proud, attitude it matters". This message brought a smile on my face as he tried to pacify me, but I was thinking again and again of what and how to talk and I prepared myself for the discussion. The day passed by, my watch struck 6:00 PM and the whole bay looked dry as it was a Friday evening. But I just wanted to finish off the discussion or else I will spoil my weekend by keep on thinking the uncertain and unfair things that happened to me. I again got a sms from my dad again asking for the status of the discussion. Now he advised me not to become angry while discussing and not to argue too much as these things would be decided by the HRD and top level managers, so there won't be much use in arguing. He also quoted the famous slogan which his company employees used to say, "Executive work for manager... Manager work for themselves”. On seeing that message, I thought of leaving the office without having the discussion as I became very tired of waiting for the whole long day and when it was quarter past 6 , my appraiser called me for the discussion.

I explained all the work that I did in the last 6 months and I only expected some credit and recognition for that. I relatively compared myself and the work done with my friend who was given a better rating.(I just compared the work and not the rating... I even did this because when the appraiser just compares and rates relatively, why should I not do this while justifying my work.. ) But, to be frank I dint bother about his rating and I dint compare my rating with his rating. I just expected a number which I even told my appraiser during my initial discussion before giving rating. I dint ask for something that cannot be given for me and it was all a fraction of number that disturbed me this much because I consider the rating as a motivational factor and not as a mere number.

But, after putting down all my questions to my appraiser , the answer I constantly got for most of questions was, 'This is how the system works, and this is how we have been asked to do’. And during the discussion only I got to know about the so called appraisal system that is being followed. They do some sort of numbering and rank the employees who work in the same project to achieve a common goal and then rate them relatively in a scale of 5.

I will say that the appraisal process that is followed in my company is mere playing with numbers and it is just to get the work done from the employee by setting some goals and attributes. But at the end of the year, they do add some amount of money to your salary. I strongly feel that the system which is being followed to arrive at the X-factor is the draw back of my company and not all the employees would be benefited or recognized with such a kind of rating system. It is one out of the blue who get the real recognition and credit for the work done.

I don’t even want to use the word 'my company' anymore as I am just one amongst the 1.4 lakh people who work day and night for money, losing their precious time without even enjoying the LIFE. After all everybody is working for money, but there is something beyond that. You can name it as satisfaction, the happy feeling that you will have after completing a task successfully which develops self-confidence in oneself and motivates to perform better and better. It would be apt if I quote what Mr.Narayanamoorthy said," Don't Love your company, Love your job because you may not know when your company will stop loving you."

Some people may say that if your company is benefited you will be benefited, but I would say that, it is always the company which is being benefited at the end and not the employee. They don’t care about the employee's inner feelings or emotions. But at the end of the day, it is the employee who gets de-motivated, deflated because of the unfair judgment.

When I narrated this to my dad, he just told me, “Don’t get de-motivated by this, because there is a long way to go in your life and you have now only stepped into the organization. Just think and play this different ball game carefully”. From then I was thinking and working on how to handle such a situation and how to get a better rating in the future or even I can say that I am preparing myself for not to care or worry much about this motivational/de-motivational factor.

Unexpected Announcement - Made my sister happy

Hurray!!!! Great Escape!!! Were the words I heard as I woke up today morning, it was my sister who came shouting with the daily in her hand. It was all because of the unexpected Announcement by the Union HRD minister to abolish the Class X board exam from 2011.And this is reason for my sister's happiness as she belongs to the first batch who will be benefited out of this announcement as she is currently pursuing her 9th std.

Of course this will be the happiest news for everyone who is not studying class X currently as they need to take up the board exam for the current year.But they will be graded from A1 to E2 where the former being Exceptional and the latter, Unsatisfactory.

The next question my mom asked me on hearing the news was, then how to seek admission in another school for class XI?

And here comes the answer for this question, students who are willing to change their school in class XI can take up an online/ offline/on demand assessment. The Central Board of Secondary Education will issue a certificate for the same which can be used in other schools while seeking admission.

The assessment can also be taken by interested students for which the certificate will not be issued and the assessment will be held more than once a year.So after reading this info I can tell what runs in your mind, as the same struck me too ;)

Was it a right decision to make Class X board exams optional?

Will the students become lethargic and lose their grip over studies?

But we need to wait for one more year to know the impact of the change....

Hasile Fisile ... The real Mesmerizer from Aadhavan :)

Anbe unnal manam freezing
Adada kaadhal endrum amazing
Excuse me let me tell you something
Nee sirithaal iphone tring tring
Veesum ambu enmel paaya
Kadhal vandhu ennai aala
Varuvayo enai kaapaatra
Vandhaal madisaaiven vaazha.......


And after this comes the real and usual tongue twister of Harris' composition.The song has everything in it, the panning effect, echoing, the usual male/female humming and a rap that goes with the beats in between the song, and this is no different from usual Harris' compositions. Even though all his songs sound similar, it will be nice to hear and this is definitely one of the best mesmerizers.And whatever it may be, this is yet another typical number by Harris which is undoubtedly going to be the most favorite song of the film.

I just downloaded the song yesterday morning but believe me, I heard this song more than 15 times today itself and even now its being played in my ipod while I write this post.I would definitely say that this song has enriched my thoughts, feelings, behaviour and the mood during my day as I was listening to this again and again. The song brought the best feeling in me when I just heard it with my eyes closed before going to bed yesterday night which made me hear the song repeatedly.

Definitely Harris Jayaraj had influenced me a lot with the best talent that he has got and the credit goes to the singers Karthik/Harini/Burn and Maya.And on hearing the song again and again if you imagine about the visualisation , then here comes a short clip for your imagination :D



About the movie: For the first time KS.Ravikumar and Harris has joined hands which is sure to be a blockbuster. Tamil cinema will soon get a smart villan with this film,Surya who is gonna perform in negative shades for the first time in his life.
PS: Waiting eargerly to see the full picturization of the song soon in big screen :o)

And today she got married...

I feel pity for the guy who is going to suffer for the rest of his life after losing his bachelorhood today. If he has not enjoyed his LIFE while being single, then he could definitely not know the meaning of happiness in his Life. What else I can say or feel for the guy who has taken a decision that makes him regret till his end.

Even if I pass such sarcastic comments I have a small feeling for myself that I have missed a beautiful girl in my Life.She was one of the good looking girls in my college and was top on the list.I would say that God was in his best mood when he created her :D,you should have known by this time that I had crush on her on seeing the way I described her.Yes, offcourse she was my first crush during college days and I started to look at her from my first semester itself but I didn’t tell this to my friends also. We belong to same department, Electronics and communication Engineering and We were also from the same location and had to travel in the same college bus daily.

She boards the bus at the last stop while going to college and hence disembarks first while returning home and I usually adore her during this one hour journey to/fro our college.It all came to light one day during the second year,it was a dry day as usual in the college and I was eagerly waiting for the hour hand of my watch to struck 4:00 PM so that I get a chance to see her in the bus while going back home and rejuvenate myself for 1 hour while the other guys will be busy sleeping.She was looking too good in her white salwar and I really thank the designer for making such a design which portrayed her like an angel.Daily when she gets ready to disembark the bus, I feel like the time is running so fast and shouldn't I have the power to pause the time, so that I can adore her for hours together.

And today before her stop came I stood up quickly and went to the rear entrance of the bus to see her. At the back of my mind, I was calculating the number of hours I had to wait to see her again the next day morning in the bus :P .I lost myself while admiring her because of which I failed to notice the guys who were awake. The move made by me from the fourth seat of the bus to the rear entrance was noted by every other guy in the bus.As I was seeing her getting down the bus through the front entrance, suddenly I heard a loud chorus sound from the guys out there and immediately I came back and sat.But she got a small smile on her face on seeing which I became very happy.

From the next day,the guys use to yell my name when she leaves the bus and this continued almost daily,but I couldn't see any kind of reaction on her face.I was doing lot of li'l things to impress her during the travel but some guys will pass comments and spoil the scene.I also had lot of competition in the game (after all LIFE is a Game), yeah some guys also had guts to propose her and they got disqualified (rejected by her ;P )

I came to know about her arrogance through some of the common friends but I thought I could change her if I start talking to her.But at one side I couldn't even stop the guys who were constantly making fun of us as I use to tease them a lot when they talk to other girls.In the meantime I also had some motivation towards my studies and I was keen in pursuing my MBA . so I along with my friends joined coaching class for cracking CAT.The first induction class was about to start and we heard a breathless voice,

'Excuse me sir !! May I come in? '

the whole class turned towards the entrance which was at the back of the class, and to my surprise, it was she who was gasping for breath as she came running all over the corridor to reach the class on time. As she walked towards the first bench, all the guys out there stared at her and I was not an odd man out. But lot of things were running on my mind, I was questioning myself,the God and my friend who was sitting near me.

Has she joined in this class because I joined here?

-- No, came as an immediate reply from my friend.

if no, why should she come in the same batch for which I had come?

-- Maybe to see me ;P was his reply for which I laughed instantly.

Oh,God wat can I call this ? an accident ? a coincidence ?

-- If it is an accident, it is sure to take off my heart.I answered myself.

As days passed by I got chance to see her more number of times and the same has turned negative because when ever I see her, my friends use to tease(that too loudly) and she almost got irritated at one point of time.This created an aversion towards me and she started to tell everyone that I was behind her.

I usualy don't talk with girls in the college because of the ego that questions me, why should I go and talk? Why can't they come and talk?
This had also created a bad impression on me for which I dint even care and two years more had passed in the same way and it was time for us to attend 10 days employability camp at my college and we had to stay at the college hostel.She was also in the eligible students list and even though I felt happy, I was thinking how to avoid her so that I can atleast make her happy.Whilst I was thinking this way she just thought that I was a rougue and she had commented about me to her friends.



But, by one way or the other I should be thankfull to her because if she hadn't commented about me in that way I could not have cleared the interview to get into the Indian IT giant.Even at that time fate did not let me go alone,she also got placed in the same company and we had training at Trivandrum for 3 months during which I tried my best to avoid her.I started to mingle with everyone in order to forget her and atlast We were posted permanently in different locations and things started changing.

I really feel sad that I haven't spoke to her even once in my life time, If I had spoken to her atleast once,things could have been different.But there is no point to regret for the act today because by this time she would have lost her spinsterhood. She would have changed from Ms. to Mrs. and somebody who was not there in the race won the game and took home the beautiful trophy :(

After a long time, nearly 1.5 years it was today, her marriage day which made me to think of her again and I hope this should be the last time in my Life she comes to my mind.

And today, one of the player who got disqualified in the middle of the game is gonna take home some other trophy, yeah he is gonna get married with someother girl whom he has loved after college days.

I am sure that I am also going to take home a trophy one day in my LIFE which could be better in all aspects and LIFE moves on...

Moral of my memory : Beauty is not everything,just a depreciating asset and it is Character that contributes to beauty.

PS:

Life is crazy because

--> What you want,you don't get
--> What you get,you don't enjoy
--> What you enjoy is not permanent and
--> What you get as permanent is boring .

And "Everything in LIFE happens for a reason,but the hardest part is to find out the reason."

Candle making - Reason to Rejoice b/w the siblings

Aishwarya (a) Aishu my cute lil sister,my only sibling whom I consider as my mother's best gift to me in my life time.Being 10 yrs younger than me,pursuing higher secondary education,she very well know how to pester me and get things done from me and I too dont mind doing anything for her.she is like my kid and I use to take all privilege on her but even then we use to fight a lot and it will end up nowhere, sometimes we use to talk the very next moment.I use to have so much fun by teasing her always and she has got used to it.I can say that my sister is sharp in reading my movements or the things that I am doing. I can very well escape from my mom after doing some mistake but not from my sisters eyes.She will be the first to tell the names of the person(that too loudly in front of my mom :P ) to whom I was talking over the phone on just seeing the way I am talking and she knows all my friends name too.One who have siblings,mainly sisters can know better about their sharpness(especially in the above quoted example) and about sibling rivalry too that happens so often.I could say that, this could even more help in understanding your sibling better.

But this time it was more than two weeks I spoke to my sister, its all because of small quarrel which started off for a silly reason,a TV program but ended up like a wrestling match, my mom being the referee between us ;o) lol....
After that if she see's me, I struggle to control my laughter as she used to show some kind of girly facial expressions that usually the girls of that age show and I wanted to talk to her but something stopped me to do so.The same continued for more than two weeks and it came to an end today when I helped her to complete her candle making task given by her Art and crafts teacher.

Actually, it was me who voluntarily involved myself in this candle making because I wanted to talk to her by some way and this paved me a way for that. I also like to do these kind of artistic works and after seeing me she had a charming smile in her face and started explaining me on how to do it.




I know that you all like the way the candle is painted, yes its all because of the paint, the candles are looking good and believe my words, it was me who coloured three candles out of the five. I actually did this to soothen my sister and I also like colouring from my childhood and have done lot of such things in my school days. This task is very easy and interesting which requires these simple steps to be followed as taught by my sister,

1. Take a hand full of paraffin wax crystals.

2. Place it in a hard bowl and heat it until it melts completely.

3. By the time it melts, brush the mould with oil. (Moulds can be even small containers that are even in its shape)

4. place a wick into the candle mould and pour the melted wax into the mould completely.

5. Allow it to cool and gently tap at the end of the mould to get the candles.

Tips : Coloured candles can be made by adding color crayons while melting the wax or even adding colouring agents.



It took around 3 hours for us to complete the whole task and we had a nice experience in candle making which brought back rejoice in me and my sister. My mom also got so much involved and interested on the same and she had planned to get more moulds so that we can use these for decorating purposes too.