Tuesday 15 July 2008

The Coveted Letter

This post should have been written around two months ago but due to my laziness, it has been delayed. But, I feel that it’s always better late than never so here it is. The coveted letter is the letter that I was supposed to receive from the company from where I did my final semester internship. It was a document stating that I had been involved with the company for 4 months and, that my performance was satisfactory. This wasn’t a big deal and it was a fairly small task to collect it, or so it seemed. For this post I will describe the events as they unfolded and at the same time put in some inputs that I had written when I was actually sitting and waiting for my letter to be handed over to me.

I had informed my superiors a few days in advance before I actually went to the company to collect my Internship Completion letter. I reached the company at around 10 am on a Monday and had expected to be back home for lunch with the letter, after having completed all the requisite formalities. Unfortunately, I was issued the letter at around 4 pm on Tuesday, which is actually food for thought as to why a simple, half page document should take so long.

When I met my superior on Monday morning to collect my letter, he told me to wait for a while as he would talk to HR and make sure everything was lined up for me when I went there. I got my reports signed after which I was asked to wait for a while so that the process could take place smoothly. It took a while for my seniors to issue a letter saying that I had worked in their department, and the process finally ended after Lunch on day 1. After that he talked to the HR department and told me to meet them after 5 minutes to finish off with the rest of the formalities.
When I met the HR people, I was asked to meet them after half an hour, which gave me some time to kill. After having a coffee and talking to some of my friends, I decided it was time to make my final goodbye and get the thing over with. I was handed a fairly long form and was asked to get no dues signed from different departments. Now, I was a “Non Stipendary Trainee”, which was drilled into my brain several times, and was not entitled to avail the functions of most of these departments so I felt it was quite redundant to go through this. I also learned that I was the last person to go through this process as it was being autmoated from the next day. Realising I had no other option, I decided to go through the motions and went to the various departments to get the document signed. Some departments posed no problems and things went smoothly. A couple of department personnel asked some weird questions. I was asked if I had a Visa on my passport due to company work, which was not something I expected to be asked as a trainee. The finance department didn’t even have a file with my record, and they were a little confused about why I was sent there.

Once this was over, I headed back to HR where I was asked to surrender my access card and sign in a couple of places. Now, my part was done and I just had to collect the letter. It was around 4 pm and the office continued to function till around 5:30, so I felt I could get things done on the same day with no serious hassles. While waiting for the letter to be printed, I was told that the computer which held the format for the same, was not functioning properly and that a complaint had been registered so it should be up and running soon. I waited for a while without my access card, which rendered me unable to open any doors within the company. While sitting outside, some thoughts crossed my mind which I had typed at that time :
“I honestly feel that every single process in this organization is inefficient, poorly managed and not well thought out. In a word it is unorganised. Since the day I joined as a trainee till the day I left, every single activity was pretty much a joke. I am honestly baffled by the amount of things that are poorly planned here and it is a wonder that this organization is able to survive in such a way. I am really relieved that I am not going to do an engineering related job in my life. I am quite sure I made the correct decision and whatever doubts I had have been washed away by this experience.”

I waited hoping to get the letter and when I went to enquire about the letter after half an hour I was told that the computer was not fixed and it was highly unlikely that it would be fixed that day. I was a little irritated but there wasn’t anything I could actually do so I asked them when I should come the next day to collect the same. I was told to meet them at around 10:30 and I was assured everything would be done by that time.

I reached the company at around 11 the next day, giving them half an hour extra and hoping against hope that I wouldn’t be made to wait that day. I was of course stopped at the gate because I no longer possessed my access card. So, it took a few minutes to go through the formalities and contact someone in HR to allow me to enter the organisation. Once that was done, I went in hoping to see some progress there and, as I had feared, the computer was still not fixed, and on seeing me there, they felt the need to get into action and lodge a complaint again. Resigned to fate, I had to wait outside wishing that things got over soon. There I had some more thoughts, which I wrote down :
“The irony of this situation is sickening. I think I finally figured out this expression. A computer engineer in an IT company is unable to get his work done because the computer is not working. The worst thing is that I really don't need the letter as I can manage without it and there shouldn’t be much of a hassle. Of course, I can't really tell HR this. I guess it will be the last thing that I will have to tell them before I leave today. There is no way I am returning tomorrow for this coveted letter.”

I made it a ritual to pester them every half an hour to ensure some progress was made so that I could leave the company as soon as I could. I realised at that time that in an IT company, the HR department rates quite low in the hierarchy for the IT department in case a problem arises. In the short time I had spent in the company as a trainee, whenever I needed something done on my machine, it would be done really quickly, and I felt I was at the bottom of the food chain.

I was told at a point of time that the computer was being fixed and I would soon get the letter. When I went to the department, I discovered that I was lied to and no progress had been made. It was very irritating and I decided to vent my frustration a little, after all, what was in the format that it was stored only in a single machine. I decided to give them a piece of my mind, as I had been a decent, understanding and accommodating person till then. I told them to just type a letter on another computer and print it out on their letterhead as it would serve my purpose. My college was not aware that there was a fixed format so it wouldn’t matter to me and it would serve a purpose so I had absolutely no problem with it. At this, they offered their apologies and told me that they had a protocol which they had to follow so I would have to wait for a little more time, and things should materialise after lunch. I had made some observations at this point of time which I typed on my phone :
“The more I learn about this organization, the happier I am that I won't be working in an IT company. I mean, basic common sense is definitely lacking. While waiting for the coveted letter, I observed a few unusual happenings which made me realise that simple operations are actually very well thought out. Sweeping the floor for example is done walking backwards so that your footprints are swept as well. Of course this didn't happen in this particular company. The floor was swept in such a way that once the task was over, there were only the sweepers’ footprints that remained.”

I think my outburst actually had some impact as I was told the computer was fixed, and this information arrived just before lunch. I was relieved as I was actually looking forward to see this format that had delayed this process. Once the document was retrieved, it was discovered that IT had failed to give access rights to other users, so they had to be pestered again, and privileges were granted, after which the document was edited and was finally ready to be printed. At this point of time everyone realised that the computer which had the recovered letter was not connected to the printer. I could not help but be amused at this point of time and it was then that I realised the difference between technical and non-technical people. There were several scenarios running through my head to rectify the situation but I was told to have lunch after which things would finally work out. I had some observations during lunch which I had noted down at that time :

“I really don't know if it is the ignorance of the HR department or the stupidity of the IT people but it really is quite dumb that I have been made to wait for around 8 hours for a simple certificate. I think it will be quite a momentous occasion when I finally get this coveted piece of paper. The text file containing the aforementioned document was a normal word file and I saw absolutely no way in which it could have been misused nor was there any good reason for it to be secured or locked or for a single copy to exist

After having a quick lunch, I had to wait for a while before I could actually get a printout once the computer worked, the file was accessible, and the printer was also connected to the computer. The letter was finally printed and I just had to get it signed. I took the letter to the signing authority and was told that it was not the correct letter as it was for a general trainee and not an academic trainee. So IT was summoned again to recover files from the computer that was not working, which they did, but failed to grant access rights, which forced me to wait once again. Eventually, the letter had to be typed and printed, twice, which was what I had suggested in the first place. I was relieved to have finally collected the letter and sever ties with the company once and for all, and while waiting for my cab, had some more thoughts which I had to share :

“It truly is fascinating to see the amount of chaos that prevails in the world but everyone is just too busy or preoccupied to notice it. Trust is a truly magnificent as well as important feeling that allows some semblance of order to prevail amidst this chaos. Blissful ignorance is not an excuse but a state of mind for which u can't always blame the guilty party. Ignorance cannot always be cured and u have to accept the fact that u will be ignorant about a lot of that happen in this world.”

These thoughts came to me for several reasons and practices that I had witnessed in the company. The worst thing was despite the fiasco, I wasn’t too upset with the HR department as I had made a good friend in the department during my internship and the others there seemed like nice people as well, especially the ones with whom I had interacted before this catastrophe. Of course, I will probably never have to visit this company again so it’s all history now and the coveted letter is now safely in my possession.


ab.surd [ab-surd, -zurd]

–adjective

1. utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false.

–noun

2. the quality or condition of existing in a meaningless and irrational world.

Saturday 12 July 2008

Firewalled

A firewall is a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria. A firewall is normally used to protect a computer from unauthorised access from external sources as well as to prevent a program from communication over the net without the user’s permission. It is also used in corporations and educational institutions to restrict access to certain sites and features on the internet. No, this is not a technical post but I thought one should have a little idea about the topic at hand.

In the recent past, I have had to deal with a couple of firewalls which is the reason why I decided to write about it. My first run in with restricted internet happened when I was doing my internship in an IT company. The company was insanely paranoid about information security and had probably taken every possible measure to block out almost all possible websites. It took a while for me to grasp the gravity of the situation. I could understand social networking sites were blocked in order to prevent employees wasting time on them, but I was a little confused about why even email couldn’t be accessed and I was prohibited from using gmail and the like. With no real tasks assigned to me, I was finding it hard to pass time so I decided to read comics, and that was when I discovered that even these sites were blocked. I was a little intrigued and decided to dig a little bit and discovered, though unconfirmed, that every website that had .com in its URL was blocked, and some sites had been deliberately unblocked. Although it was taking information security to a paranoid level, I could still understand the need to an extent.

Now my current situation is a little different than what I underwent in the IT firm. I am in a post graduate college doing an MBA and the college felt that it was prudent to firewall our Wi-Fi connection to prevent hogging up of bandwidth by some students, because of which they restricted downloads and blocked out torrents and P2P file sharing software like Limewire. This wasn’t a very unusual move as it is done in most educational institutions which provide an internet connection to their students. However there were certain anomalies, although these more popular means of downloading were blocked, the college didn’t take the trouble to block out sites which offered direct downloading. This flaw in their system will definitely be exploited by the students as and when required.

This was quite acceptable though, because despite the inconvenience caused, blocking large downloads was expected for the greater good of all the students. The college had almost no restrictions when it came to surfing the net, and very little content was actually blocked. Orkut, one of the most popular social networking sites was blocked, probably because of the legal issues that it had been having recently. This was quite an irritant for most people but it was a minor setback which could be overcome with the use of proxies. But, and it’s a nice, loud, throaty but, other social networking sites had unhindered access. Some of the equally popular sites like Facebook could easily be accessed anywhere in the campus. Which made the act of blocking out Orkut, dumb, unnecessary and redundant.

The last straw though, was that many instant messaging software like Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger are also blocked by our institute. Gtalk though, works perfectly, and so do all web messengers. This only meant that the authorities just wanted to be difficult and annoying, exacting sadistic pleasure through needless acts of oppression.

I was a little confused by these hair brained schemes thought by the higher authorities and after a fair amount of contemplation, came to the conclusion that this is probably what Management is all about. If you feel you can’t implement a strategy perfectly, and foresee flaws and loopholes which will be exploited, then do something to convince yourself that you tried, and at the same time confuse your target audience. If you can’t beat them, confuse them.



fire wall

–noun

1. a partition made of fireproof material to prevent the spread of a fire from one part of a building or ship to another or to isolate an engine compartment, as on a plane, automobile, etc.
2. an integrated collection of security measures designed to prevent unauthorized electronic access to a networked computer system.

Tuesday 1 July 2008

...And It Begins

Everyone loves standing on the sea shore, watching the waves come and go, reaching just above the ankle. It is a lovely feeling to have the sea caress your feet while you’re on the beach, also everyone enjoys wading in ankle deep waters in the sea. Now imagine a similar scenario, with water coming just above your ankles, the only difference being that you’re not on the seaside but are fully dressed in the middle of the waterlogged streets, trying to get to the other side so that you can reach your institution on time and a bus roars by, sending waves on your already drenched clothes. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the monsoons in Bombay.

Now, it may be a little premature for me to curse the weather in the city as these were the first rains in the city for the last 10 odd days that I have been here after joining a post graduate course, but I think I may have gotten a pretty good preview of what lies in store for us for the rest of the season. After having torrential rainfall throughout the night, a fair majority of the hostel populace got ready to leave for college in the morning, cursing the seniors who forced us to wear formals with leather shoes and all, which apart from being uncomfortable are probably the worst selection of apparel to tackle the rains.

Being egoists, everyone loathes carrying umbrellas and everyone was hardly trying to protect themselves from the veritable downpour that was taking place. Some umbrellas and windcheaters were visible but they were as helpful as a snowmobile in a desert. (Sorry about the pathetic comparison, couldn’t come up with something better at this moment.) Being hostellers, we relied on our two legs and Auto Rickshaws for our travelling needs and we were really desperate to get some autos today and everyone relied on the people with umbrellas to get autos for them. Of course, a few minutes later when everyone was waiting, with no autos in sight, it was time to take matters in our own hands and go to the end of the lane to hail a rickshaw. It was a bit of a surprise to see a fairly decent crowd waiting at the end of the road trying to get an auto to reach college as everyone was already running late.

Everyone knew that waterlogging was a serious issue in the city, but I don’t think most of us were prepared to witness what was in store for us. Water on the sides of the road reached till above our shoes and water level kept increasing with every single drop that fell from the skies. A few minutes later, with no willing autos in sight and no sign of the rains letting up, the only thing that was happening was the increase in the number of people waiting for transportation. At this point of time I would like to make it clear that I am quite used to rains, I spent the last 4 years of my life graduating from a college in a city that defined what hot and wet climate is. During the 4 months from June to September, it would be a treat to be able to see the sun and a clear blue sky, but we never had to consider the possibility of swimming from one place to another over there.

Now, back to Bombay, while waiting for conveyance, everyone noticed an auto stopped around 30 feet ahead of us, but no one was actually trying to get to it because of the amount of water next to it. One brave soul decided to take the plunge only to realise that the auto was occupied and it stopped, not because it wanted to, but because it refused to go on because of the amount of water. Eventually an auto stopped and we allowed those with no rain protection gear to go ahead while we waited, dripping on the side of the road. A change of strategy was considered and we decided to change our position to one which held a strategic advantage to stopping any available autos, the only disadvantage being this position did not have the rain shelter like the previous one. Our efforts did pay off soon as an auto stopped to take us to college. Things started to look up, as we were finally on the way to the institute, but as luck would have it. The auto stopped midway and then refused to start after that. We had to walk the rest of the way to the college amidst the deluge and the shin high water at certain points. It wasn’t a very pleasant experience and adding to it was the fact that my glasses were spotted with water droplets making visibility worse than what it was.

After finally making it to the college, the air conditioned classes proved to be our undoing as no one was in the mood to sit drenched in a chilled classroom. Everyone was soaked, dripping, their clothes appearing darker than they were. My trousers had developed a sort of a metallic lustre because of the surface of water. Little kids like the squishing sound that wet shoes make, but when you’re in a post graduate course, you seem to outgrow it and it seems more of an irritant. It was quite disturbing to find that our teacher, who coincidentally was the dean, had not yet reached class and after a while all classes were cancelled leaving us free for the day, forced to face the wrath of nature on the way back. Being completely drenched, everyone decided to walk back as the rains had subsided. You don’t often get to walk in the middle of a road in Bombay during the day, but that is what everyone did today. Vehicles were travelling in a single file, with the stray ambitious drivers feeling that it was their moral obligation to splash the hapless pedestrians with the massive amounts of accumulated water.

Eventually after being splashed by buses, wading through deep puddles, looking for potholes and points with shallow water, scared of open manholes, we finally reached our hostel, drenched, dirty and irritated. Now this was the first day and the first rain with many more imminent. Everyone did warn me about the deluge and the waterlogging, but I wasn’t really prepared for this. I guess I really can’t do too much about this, the only thing I can do is say, “Let The Rains Begin!!”.


del·uge [del-yooj, -yoozh, del-ooj, -oozh, dih-looj, -loozh]

–noun

1. a great flood of water; inundation; flood.
2. a drenching rain; downpour.
3. anything that overwhelms like a flood: a deluge of mail.