Human Values

The current week is really hectic and is also putting me under tremendous pressure. Having recovered from a bout of tonsillitis, I was feeling weak at the beginning of the week. But then the thought of behaving like a zombie at work and at home was not the way I wanted the week to be. Hence I was able to muster most of the energy to keep me cheerful throughout the days.

Any average family in Middle East will have the husband working and the wife taking care of the children. This is what hurts me the most. Whilst I could meet a lot of people and go places, I have my wife sitting at home enduring the tantrums of house keeping and raising a one year old. Wish there was day I could swap places. It is not that I want to enjoy being at home, but to share the load of Wife. Sounds benign but I am sure its not easy. But come whatever the joy of having a family and home is beyond words.

This leads to the main subject of the importance of work in our life. Out of the available 18 hours in a day I spent up to 11 hours at work. Which translates to the fact that I spent close to 60 percent of time at work. So it isn't wrong from my part to call Work as an extension of my family which of course gets more share than the later. In that case, my colleagues become my family members.

The day when you know that one of your colleague is leaving the company is the most devastating feeling. And I regret to inform that I am going through the throes of it. When someone close to you quits an organisation, its not just that he or she is leaving the workplace but is also leaving the family. Added to it, this causes a total collapse of the morale of the others. I have lost my morale and have become desperate to never seen levels. From my previous blogs it was evident that I need a change in life. The dreams of a successful career has ceased to exist and when we look around and see people around you moving to various places, you realize the importance of human values. Everything and anything to me comes to the term human values. Your enthusiasm levels, your sorrow, your joy etc all are derived from the people around you. My colleague with whom I spent 11 hours at work, was certainly a reason for my joys or sorrows or what so ever. My aggression towards certain things was the confluence of deeds of some others around me.

Which in short, summarizes to the fact that for a work place to be good, the people have to be good. Honesty between members is the as important at work as it is at home. Sharing good and bad like we do at home, has to be a practice at work. There should be more "WE" than "I". Such virtues are all part of the human value and if values do not exist, its time that I might have to spent more time under pressure and see my family members leave one after the other!!! Adios...

Typhoon Phet and Oman

Pic 1- 3rd June 2010
The Typhoon Phet has already left the shores of our Oman, even while I am typing out this blog. For me the perspective of the Phet was what I was going through perched up in my apartment in the middle of the Muscat city. The summary is, it was awesome.

Phet was rated as a Cat3 typhoon but as it touched the Omani shores, to the relief, of everyone it was downgraded to a Cat1. So as it crawled into the country, it bought rains all over the Northeastern side of Oman. It stuck Muscat during early morning hours of 4th June 2010. It rained the whole day and today the 5th I see bright clear skies and also a sat imagery which shows it travelling to our neighbor Pakistan.

Pic 2- 4th June 2010

Lobsters for Lunch

Got a call from my good ol friend to hop in for lunch at his home... Had 2 varieties of Lobsters. Feels fishy now....:-)

Mid Career Crisis...

Hello Blog. It has been a long time again, since I blogged my mind out. Technical know hows have improved drastically. I have installed new XP, backed up entire data prior to that and when the new XP came it, I did not lose even one single document or data.

Its exciting when we think what is happening in the world around us. When I re installed the new XP as well as got the latest Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and a host of other stuffs, I could not believe that computing is getting advanced by the minute. The high light was the Office 2010 which I downloaded as a free stuff for 6 months. Whenever we click an Office document, the files required for the operation is streamed...WOW...which means that I NO longer need to have the heavier files installed in my PC. This is what I call as Cloud Computing. The operating systems from Google will or is being developed in a similar fashion is what I hear. What ever be it, as mentioned earlier, the times ahead are going to be really exciting.

But its not the same when it comes to my career. I am confused, I am lost. This is exact situation that I had feared 9 years back when I took my first assignment. I am feeling chocked doing what ever I am doing. I am trying to fight the system to make my voice heard. And I find that I am reaching no where in my career. I needed to get to the bottom of this matter at the earliest and that's exactly what I was doing over last few hours.

The crisis is, what I realised, is mainly because, unlike the puter which got fresh doses of updates, I didn't update myself. I am a pro when it comes to hobby part of things but not when it comes to my career. Do I have a Masters degree? No! Have I initiated any steps towards Career Development? No! Does my employer train me to take up more tasks? No! The No List is endless. Working in the Middle east has its own advantages. You get pretty good time to spend with your family, you get fresh air and water, and of course to a certain extent, based on your company, you may end up with some extra money.

But where is your Career going to end up? Most of companies in Middle east are into trading. Import at X value and sell it at Y. Simple Maths. And when you end up with a profile of Y selling, you will be redundant in your career. So what needs to be done? I have certainly found out where I am lacking. The steps which I need to take and for the benefit of all those of you who are yet to or are just at the beginning of your career, are:

1. Keep yourself updated.


2. Get trained


3. Learn more things, or might as well do a Masters or the next higher level of education


4. Love your job and learn as much as you can from it.


5. Most important- Look out for better opportunities every 5 years. If you stick to a job for more than 5 years and you find you are still in the lower strings of the organisation, look for a better opportunity NOW. This is one mistake that I feel I have made!!!

So, let me try to implement the 5 things that I feel need for my correction. Hope fully Blog, you might get a share of the news. If I don't come back in a weeks time, be assured I am onto something. Until then take care! Cheers..

(Image Courtesy: Its the advertisment for Monster.com job portal. I am yet to find someone who could provide me the rights for this upload. In the event this image is a violation, I shall be glad to have it removed)