The Screensaver is ON!

The worst thing to happen to me in the morning is the alarm going off. Alarm clocks have given their job to the mobile phones, but the tone remains as irritating as ever. My eyelids were a bit too lazy to open up today. Who put in the snooze functionality into these damn alarm clocks! With no option, I wake up dreading and thinking why its not a weekend. As I started to sip my cup of coffee, I look out of the window to see an empty bench in the lawn! BENCH! Suddenly I remember, I am on bench today! The realization suddenly changes everything around me. The day looks so nice all of a sudden and there is a new found josh to get to office. For ppl who dont know, being benched simply means that I dont have a project to work on. That calls for my day to be lazy as I start to get ready. A slow drive and a bit of hunt for the parking space and in the office I am!

I enter the office and as I get to swipe in, I see the receptionist giving me a warm smile. Well she must be thinking I was up late last night working and so am late to work. Not a bad picture to paint anyways! I settle at my desk and the first thing I do is obviously check mails. Send in late good morning mails to my friends. The mailing session goes on n on and its already tea time. A long tea break and time to chat and argue. We start discussing about why we are on bench. One of my friend comes up with this... "Being on bench is not bad. The company can use us if the people on project have to leave for some reason!". Well, we are not playing a game of Soccer dude! My view on it has been straight - I am getting paid as usual and no work, what more can I ask for! He still argues that we do some useful work. Both of us come to an agreement and get on to do some real useful work - Solve a Sudoku puzzle. Thats some fun! Yet another simple, small thing the Japanese has given to the world(I know there are debates on about the actual origin and I dont want one going now!).

The post tea session is all me at my desk. I have no access to the net during office hours but its always fun to find a workaround. I am amazed at the fact that we actually end up finding one always! What are the others doing as I am on bench? They are busy doing similar things as me! People have actually downloaded games onto their comps and are on it! And the PMs? Well, I just got a mail from them to join a voluntary group of people who are building some junk piece of code. They say you can improve your skills and have fun also. I shift-delete the mail to put an end to this yet another "bench-keep-busy" initiative. Its almost time to go for lunch and its a discussion where to go. My cubicle turns into a make-shift conference room as we argue over all the options we have. Finally we decide on one and off for a long lunch break. Back from lunch and I am damn sleepy. Is there a way out? Well, a place called dorm exists for people staying up late in the night and who need a nap break. I put it to the same use at a time of day surely not intended!!!

Deep in sleep, I hear somebody calling my name at a distance. Suddenly wake up to realise that I am at my desk. I dozed off with so much work on my head. I have been working day in and day out these days. Shit, I was dreaming! I see my PM(more about him sometime later!) approaching me. I try hard to keep my eyes open and not letting him know I dozed off. As he gets closer to me I make a quick resolution - No more paneer for lunch! Now I am totally off my dream as he asks me "Whats the status on the blah blah blah work item???". Hoping he hasnt seen me sleeping at my desk I answer "I am currently working on it!". He gives me a "dont give me stupid status" smile and says.... The screensaver is ON!

Right or Wrong???

Well, a lots going on about the Right to "Limited" Information act! Whats it all about???

A Bold move!

The Government of India cleared the landmark Right to Information(RTI) act in late 2005. The act was hailed world over as one of the most progressive of all time. The largest democracy in the world adds yet another feather to its cap! Well, whats the hoopla over this? What does RTI mean and what can we do using it? The act means that a common man in this country can now question the Government on just about anything. The common man is empowered to get all the information which he has the right to. I pay the tax on the income I sweat to earn. I pay the tax for all the small things I buy. I pay the tax even for the house in which I buy and live. When I pay for the elections and the running of the Government, I have every right to question if the Government does not deliver on its promise. I have all the right to ask why there are delays in developments that will better our society. I have the right to know why a particular decision was taken or more often not taken. The RTI Act serves as an answer to all this. The common man like me can now demand for information. I can choose to know the reasons instead of paying bribes. The RTI in a raw sense makes the Government accountable for all its policies and development works. The RTI puts the people on the questioning side and the Government on the answering side! A very positive move towards transperent governance!

The U turn!

Now when the RTI serves as a weapon to the common man, the Government makes a sharp U turn. The Cabinet has passed certain ammendments to the RTI which cripples the very purpose of it. In simple words of the law, the ammendment classifies "notings" as a part of non-disclosable information. What does it mean? It means all the rough notes, meeting notes which are an integral part of decision making is kept out of reach of the people. The common people can now get only the circulars and other notifications, but they can never know how or why the actual decision was arrived at. They can never know why a transfer was made or why a promotion was not given. The Government can always defend all their 'decisions' as confidential and put it out of reach. The very purpose of the RTI stands defeated!

Caught wrong-footed!

The Government on its part has always played this game. At the election time, they promise all the goodies and benefits to the people. Interestingly, they also do bring out such policies, but rarely popularise it. They dont let the people know of its true benefits. They fear the implications they themselves will have due to these policies. They always build loopholes into the policies so that they know where to hide when the problem knocks. The Bureaucrats just cannot grow up and be accountable! This has been going on for long and the Government has easily got away with it. But now the people are no longer sleeping. The Government cant just keep fooling the people around. The way the media popularised the RTI and the way people responded to it stands testimonial to it. The media has done a commendable job in taking RTI to the people. The Government on its part must have understood that its not making policies for dumb people. The people are awake to see what the Government does and make full use of the policies made for them. For a change the mouse has caught the big cat wrong footed!

A whole new world!

There is a whole new world out here! The past few days I have been thinking of how much the virtual me has taken over the actual me. I mail/scrap my friends more often than I actually meet them. Well, I guess thats the way of life today!

Taking the virtual me forward, I set off to write here. I write to people about happenings with me. But out here, I will write my thoughts. Right from general to politics to sports to anything. Its going to be just about anything that my mind thinks of. And I know my mind thinks a little too crazy at times - a little too Random!

Here we go. A warm welcome to all the readers out there and a warm welcome to myself to this whole new world of blogging. Stay tuned...