All in a days work.

I am predominantly right brained and i know what makes a good design 'good' and a bad design 'bad'. My current project involves convincing ppl that the User Interface Elements i design is in conjection with project demands and user liking, which in most cases is just the opposite. I happen to lead the project and that makes it far more complicated because i am now trying to convince my designers and my client. Its like justifying murder to two sets of layers who are arguing against each other. Confusing??......that how it is when trying to do designs for a client who is so damn left brained!!

Trying to visually satisfy clients is by far the most challenging of tasks to a designer, i've tried and tested a few novel approaches.

• Guage his sense of dressing, a good indicator of the type of person he is. A well dressed person is slightly easier to deal with and normally has some design sense
• His desktop, a dull boring windows default desktop indicates a bad artistic sense
• His legacy system, a very good indicator! A visually good system, then your dealing with somebody with good design sense
• His mobile/mp3, an upto date gadget; then somebody with enough understanding of technology and awareness about latest design style

There are a few more ways i try to judge ppl but again, im being very subjective and am not right at times.

By the way, my present client dresses very badly but has a very good sense of color; that makes my life more miserable since he does not understand design but understands the colors used in these designs.

His legacy system is designed very well but has bad color schemes :( now how the hell should i judge this guy??

His mobile was created during the stone ages but has the latest iPod touch! Now, thats what i call extremeee.

I've been at loggerheads with him for so long now that i have decided to tell him this:

"No great thing is created suddenly."- Epictetus

Culture, Urs and mine

The word is isssssssssssh!! Saudi's have a tradition of not talking about the obvious. Every word you say, before it leaves your mouth has to be censored. I share my office cabin in Aramco with my saudi college, a junior yet to graduate....a great guy to spend the boring afternoon hours. We simply talk, its actually an enriching experience to sit with somebody who belongs to a totally different way of life and talk about common things...generic issues like USA, Religion, Cars, Customs...lots of things.
Religion is a defacto topic of discussion between us, he wouldnt believe that i dont pray and im not religious although im a default hindu. He talks about life, death, afterlife, afterdeath.......the fact that i dont believe in all this totally beats him. His system simply does not accept that somebody without religion can actually live. Although Ahmed(the chaps name) tried to hide his dispeasure about me not accepting his argument i could sense it. Well he is not wrong and i am right so its a stalemate.
I like Ahmed for his wayz, the guy is young, very matured and staunchly defends his religion which i think is very fair. He convinced me how Saudi Arabia 'the land of the pure' is different from other Arab nations. We in India have our own religious places with absurd and weird customs to suit traditions. Saudi Arabia is one such country where traditions far outweigh the religion.
We talk about girls, here you cannot find youngsters hanging out, well they do but guys seperately and girls with their husbands or fathers. You have sprawling malls all over the country but you dont find the vibrancy of youngsters talking, laughing, lovers walking hand in hand. Here the malls are quiet, eerily quiet where you want something to happen to break the ice.
Oh i nearly forgot, 'Rajnikaaaaaaant'. After my daily meeting with the proponents of the project we had an 'off-the-topic' discussion with the guys (all saudi's) the topic of discussion: Movies and obvious i had to justify the dance-around-the-tree routine of our illustrious actors, then out of no where i heard the name 'Rajnikaaaaaaant'....i didn believe it at first but double checked it with the guy who mentioned it and yes he is an avid fan of 'Rajinikanth'.......tell me abt it! In a country where movies are banned (no theaters in Saudi Arabia) and television and internet are highly censored...Rajinikanth is famous!!
If you think this post is highly unorganized, let me clarify that im somehow managing to blog inspite of certain restrictions and this one particular post was composed in 4 days of 2 different weeks.
Will try to keep posting...but now gotta run home....taxi waiting ;)

Indiyeeeeeeeah!!!

Im back in India after nearly 3.5 yrs in UK. It’s been a month since I’ve found this new job in my hometown, and now I’m trying to weigh my pros and cons about my decision. Making the decision to return to India was not done in haste, it’s was a conscious decision but most importantly it was ‘my’ decision. I would have followed the heard all along but this time I decide and I follow. I don’t know how its gonna work out, God willing if it does I’m gonna pat myself in the back else I’m solely responsible.

So what did make me come back to India, from a developed to developing country, from being a desi to being an Indian, from a weakening to a growing economy, the list endless. I might never know what triggered my move. I would say a sense of belonging and a passion to experience the growth of India first hand triggered it, but I might never know the answer.

I’ve come back to my land where people drive in the most undisciplined way, don’t say thank you, don’t hold the doors open, have no courtesy, and throw garbage right outside the garbage boxes. But i can see a million smiling faces, a will to succeed and survive in spite of the competition being cut-throat. I can truly see a million youngsters driving to work; I can see a sleeping giant awakening in spite of the corrupt politician, red taped bureaucrat and the all powerful entrepreneur trying to sell this great country. We will survive, we will succeed, and we will conquer.

-Jai Hind

A confused desi

A group of abt 5 young desi indians hustle and bustle near a busy bus-stop in Glasgow city center, they are holding a map and are obviously trying to figure out a way to get to some place, I watch them with keen interest as they talk excitedly among themselves, they were kicking up a riot. It was then i heard one of the most absurd comments from a Pakistani guy standing in the same bus-stop , "Bloody immigrants"!!

That put my brains into overdrive, blood pumped into my heart at a furious pace, i wanted to grab the guy by his collar and remind him of his roots. Obviously he expects some peace and quiet in the bus-stop of the country he was born but that numbskull didnt probably know the phrase "Bloody immigrants" refers to him as well!! He may be 3rd generation but hez definitely an immigrant in the eyes of the natives.

I sniggered with contempt, the confused desi that he is, cannot comprehend the fact that be it how much u try to emote a 'white' guy u will alwayz be 'just another immigrant desi'.

I've got nothing against the guy, hez probably just as confused as any 3rd gen desi born in UK wud be, their loyalties always doubted abt their adopted country. But this particular guy cracked me up, confused bloody idiot!! "Roots stupid......remember ur frikkin roots....!"i told myself.

Guys and Gals- a marked difference

Its been a wierd experience, not many guyz get to take a gang of girls on a tour of Scotland, i being the only guy among the 7 of us, was their official driver, photographer and tour guide. The reason for this post is that, one of the more mature girl int the gang asked me this particular question-"wats the difference between travelling with guys and travelling with girls?"

Let me stress that the viewz expressed are my own and i dont take responsibility for any offense caused- hope u(u know who u are ;) ) get the point, no point arguing with me!

The marked difference between travelling with guyz and girls is that, girls tend to forget they are on a tour and concentrate on songs, antakshari and snacks. They hell care abt wats going on outside the car apart from the occational "how beautiful is the lake, how nice is the cloud formation!"

Guyz tend to observe a lot, they wud spot a parking space or a road sign without a hitch, they wud see the tree on a mountain as opposed to a girl seeing the mountain as one big entity. Guyz dont play antakshari and will never pay attention to a lyric of a song when on a tour, they are more bothered abt wat's goin on outside the vehicle not wats going on inside the vehicle. Guyz discuss politics and history of the place to an extent but girls dont really seem to bother abt the history of the place they are visting, all they need is a photograph.

Guyz have a better sense of direction and stick to a schedule, girls dont know that a schedule exists and dont tend to stick to the itenary, time constrains are never given attention, they think we cud somehow reach the place on time. And guyz dont normally eat inside a car, even if they do...its only goin to be crips for their beer.

I dont know abt other girls but these girls are total foodies, i was under the impression i was driving a food van for 3 days, oddly enough the van and me smelt the same, imagine Walkers crips and Chocolate Muffins!! Im pretty sure they(girls) wud have bought some 300 Muffins for the 3 day trip!! When i went to drop off the van, i cud see the disgust on the guys' face, im pretty sure he wud have spent the rest of the week cleaning the vans interior alone, every possible space and gap was occupied by a piece of crisp or a cake!!

As far as ive noticed, girls tend to be concious eaters, i.e they cannot make do with a snak instead of stopping over for a light brunch, guyz wud happily skip a meal or two but girls tend to pay attention to eating on time and also wat they eat.

Now coming to the good part, The best thing about travelling with girls is that girls are real fun to travel with(i was the only guy among them ;) ), though u can never really find out the exact meaning in a girls vocabulary, i mean their 'yes' is a 'no', their 'maybe' is a 'BigNo' i kinda got a sneak peek into their minds. They talk and talk non-stop like there is no tomorrow. The music is non-stop so is the gabbling, ur eyes and ears are engaged 24hrs. They kinda eat ur brains inside out like a parasite, but in a totally good way.

Oh I must not fail to mention "getting fed", an apple, a cookie, can of coke or watever it may be will surely find its way to my mouth ;) This wud never happen wen i travel with my guy friends, they 'wont' pass on food items to the 'driver'. They just cannot comprehend that i also need food to survive!! Whatever little snack we buy for our beer is finished in a jiffy and the driver does not get to either drink the beer or eat the food...pathetic B%£$*d$!!

So in all i cud conclude that girls are afterall not that bad to travel with apart from the constant nagging behind ur ears. But i got to travel with some real lovely gurls so no regrets for me though ;) Im a guy afterall, girls are alwayz welcome aboard!!

The land of Scots

Glasgow City is a classic example of victorian architecture combined with modern buildings. Glaswegians are typically Scots who hate the English, not like their Edinburgh counterparts who have a more pro-england attitude. I like the Scots for who they are, friendly, not hard working and fiercely independent(tho' scotland is not an independent country), they are proud of their country and their drinking culture and ofcourse their fanatical football teams(Rangers & Celtic).

Glasgow is a city teeming with pubs and European crowd, mainly Polish(characterised by uniquely good looking women). You also get a lot of European students who study in the various famous universities like Uni. of Glasgow, Uni of Strathclyde, Uni of Paisley(thats my uni, had to add it outta compulsion though its no way as gud as the others!!) Then there are the asians mainly Pakistanis who runs the various 'Indian' restaurants/take aways, Warehouses and Corner shops. You will not find many Guju's and Punjabis like u find in London tho' they are a sizable population.

Id driven pretty much coast-to-coast of UK and Scotland is by far the most awe-inspiring and beautiful place u cud drive across. The Highlands have some of the most jaw-dropping places on the face of the Earth and its tourism service is upto the task of promoting even a small stream as a Waterfall!!

The only hazzard as such in Scotland are the 'junkies', they are real entertaining folks, but if u observe them from a distance. Go anywhere close when they are in their element and u've had it, they wud chew ur face off!! Oh, junkies are basically addicts,drunk, jobless guys/gals who depend on gov. benefits. They are amazing guys who wud even part with their roll-n-sausage but not with their rollups(tobacco rolled in a paper).

Edinburgh, the other twin is a real snob, so are the ppl, just like their English counterparts, bloody arrogant bastards. Its very touristy but nothin like Glasgow which has far more friendly people and a real metro feel, not to mention the fashionable girls ;)