Leave at the top

Justine Henin’s announcement of the retirement came as a surprise for me. I was eagerly waiting to watch (follow) her in French open coming up soon.

Some thoughts after reading the news –

1. Leave as #1:

Very few can leave the arena while sitting comfortably on the pinnacle. It sounds great and is better than dragging till the people start hating or ignoring the person. It needs a lot of guts to do – it means foregoing a lot of fame and money not to forget the effort and sacrifices taken to reach that position. But, ultimately it boils down to the individual preferences. In Henin’s case, early burnout is the obvious reason.

2. Unsung heroes:

Henin is my favorite of the current generation women tennis players. I generally admire achievers who are not gifted, but reach their goals through hard-work and perseverance; the unsung heroes whose services and greatness are hardly recognized.

Henin was one such player. She might not be glamorous as most of the other players in the tour, but I like watching her play, the power generated from her forehand shots is very deceptive considering her lean body frame. Sadly, her retirement has not drawn as much attention as Anna’s did.

If reaching the top is an achievement, leaving as the numero uno is a bigger one. But, it is appreciated only when you have nothing else left to be achieved. I think this is not the case for Henin. She still has to conquer Wimbledon to get her name added to all time greats.
I believe she can do it and I wish she would return following the example of Martina Hingis.

Social Networking

I gave a big surprise to my friends - I am an Orkut member now!
So, what’s big deal about it, millions scrap there?
It was a big decision for me! I am not a social networking guy. Till yesterday, I never maintained a membership in any social networking site (I tried Orkut for a week in its early, not so popular days).
I have my reasons. No, it was not that I couldn’t access it legally from office.
Recently, I had given the below reply to a friend’s invite to Tagged –
How is this special? What are the features provided?
EMail - I do not get time to maintain 2 official and 3 personal emails
Msgr- Again 2 official and 2 personal
Video- Not enough time to access youtube.
Social n/w - You know I am not a member of Orkut, Facebook and others.
So, currently I am not interested unless you give me something special about this.
- Jyothi Basu

Then is it lack of time? No, I always try to share enough time to meet friends. Then what’s the problem? Supporters of these social networking sites preach me about the numerous benefits with these sites – chief among them is I could come across a school/college/childhood friend whom I have lost touch.
a. If I am not in touch with a person, then that could be due to the fact that – either he/she or I never intended to continue the relationship.
b. If I accidentally come across a person years later, I am not sure whether I could have a relationship with the same intensity and freedom – I have changed myself so much in these years, I don’t how much that person has changed – we may or may not be able to share same ideas and thoughts.
But, on an advice from one of my engineering friends – who and I have been trying hard to reunion my engineering batch – has decided to open an account – as a majority are comfortable with it.
However, I know orkuting or online social networking could never become one of my habits, forget passion.

Modern Marvels

I love the program “Modern Marvels” that comes in History channel. The last episode was on gadgets and geeks. The show introduced the Los Angeles international gadget fair, commercial stores like Brookline and Thinkgeek that sell gadgets that are uncommon in market and a geek would love to hold. The show also brought into light amateurs who think and try day-in day-out to invent a gadget that would make a small daily task in the man’s life better if not change it drastically.

I was awed by the out of the box thinking and intelligence of these innovators. I wondered how they get such thoughts, their persistence, never give-up attitude, it’s simply amazing.
The show has made me to constantly think two things-

1. Do we really require so many gadgets in this world? How much toxic non-degradable waste they cost to the environment?

Two points from the same TV program -

• An average US household had 9.1 gadgets in 1997 whereas it shot to 23 gadgets in 2007.
• The average life of a cell phone is 18 months.

330,000 tonnes - E-waste produced in India in 2007. Source: today's Eenadu (Telugu newspaper)

Sadly, I am part of the band wagon – cell phone, laptop (3 – personal + 2 official), home pc, digital camera, 3 headphones – don’t know how many CDs, DVDs, floppies I have.

2. As a Computer Science Engineering graduate, have I done enough to use my skills properly? Have I ever made use of operating systems, artificial intelligence, language processing, computer networks? What did I contribute this world using my technical skills (if I have acquired any)?

Unfortunately, as a person coming from an Indian middle class family from a remote Indian town, I had taken the typical path my tribe follows – Complete graduation, join a company for a decent salary, and now a bonus – a trip to US to earn some dollars.

Probably, I would do the job for 30 years – bring up children – put them in the same cycle – school, college, job, retirement. It is not only me, but I bet 95% of my generation have followed the same path and our juniors are following – Whatever might be the specialization in engineering, join a IT service provider company and settle for a high income salary. We are not paying back to the country that spends on us.

In 70s and 80s, the middle class youth sole aim was to earn government and bank jobs and settle for a decent salary for 30 years. Though the impression is current Indian generation does not stick to a single job, it is incorrect. They do not stick to a single company. Ultimately, they will do more or less similar kind of job and probably would do so for 30 years.
There is no wonder inventions/discoveries happen rare in India. But, I shouldn’t complain. I am one of those 100 billion. Will I make my life count? Unfortunately, it will be a big NO whatever I might think and would try.