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Few office learnings, I value, I treasure and I am starting to follow – 
1. Walk slow and I mean really slooooow, especially when walking towards the office or walking to or from a place for any official work
2. Eat. Relish each bite. Slow eating is a good, healthy exercise.
Please chew your food and take few sips of that cola, spend 30 minutes on a meal and if pepered with a lively discussion stretch it to 60 minutes, especially when in office
3. Do not and I mean it DO Not tell the boss that you need more work. The outcome for this is ALWAYS and I seriously mean it ALWAYS is MORE CRAP WORK!
4. Do not be Happy and Smiling in Office, instead be the sulky, long faced employee. Honestly no one cares and the smiles will just lead to more conversation and more work and more WORK!!!
This gets me to the question – Am I overworked?
5. Quiting is NOT an Option. YOu WILL not quit and dreaming about that beach holiday while sitting under an AC duct (that works on full blast) is just going to lead to more misery
Thats all folks —- More later ……
I will confess beforehand that I haven’t read the book. Though I will buy it today itself and start reading. But the first thing that comes to my mind when I read the excerpts of the book is that it is India Bashing at its best.
What bothers me more than anything is the fact that in all the reviews the “the dark heart” of India aspect has been highlighted.
For years money has been made in art, literature and social work, by selling poor Indians and their hungry kids with their torn clothes, running noses and deprived eyes, running bare-feet on the roads, begging for alms and mercy.
There have been innumerous photographs, paintings that have sold the poverty of India at its best.
And literature pretty much takes the cake, starting with Amartya Sen, Salman Rushdie to name a few noted authors
A particular article in the Telegraph starts of with The White Tiger and then just goes on and on about the details of poverty in India.
Slums and Mumbai have become synonyms. Beggars on the streets of India are a must see for tourists. Hungry-Indian-Kids are words used together more often than not.
I can’t digest this a wee bit, why highlight a certain aspect of a country? And by doing so throw the dignity/ self respect of the people involved (the beggars, slum dwellers) down the drain
Mr. Adiga, to really drill in the poor aspect of India, I refuse to shell out Rs 400 for your book, instead I shall read the pirated version of your book (Rs 100)
Me a party pooper? …
Maybe
I like photographs.
I like the fact that for a span of three seconds, as soon as “Say Cheese” resounds people, forget their worries and freeze in time and space to get the perfect photograph. I like family pics for the same reason. The whole family all smiles!
I like smiling pictures, where people pause and smile and pretend this is the happiest moment in their life and it couldnt get better.
About my pictures I have noticed is that I am ALWAYS smiling, ofcourse if I am aware I am being clicked.Its just amazing how many smiley pics I have. Yes even the passport sized ones.
Say cheese signifies Smile, its that Switch On for a smile.
The word as such does not really require your lips to curl up while prouncing it as you can say cheese with a sullen face as well, but i guess it is the absurdity of the phrase that gets people to smile and then it just became a norm.
Who is Nandu you might ask?
Nandu is a little boy, living on the street and selling flowers bundled up by his mom and sister. His world revolves around his home JorBagh red light…. (is that an address? Red light?) It is his address. His home.
He runs between cars dodging as they zoom by, risking his existence for 5 rupees worth of sale.
You want to know more, he is bare feet 24/7; come the Delhi chilly winter or the scorching Delhi heat. A bare shirt and a torn short is what I have seen him wear over the past 2 years that I have interacted with him.
What is so unique about Nandu? He is like any other boy living of the streets of Delhi, whats so new about that?
Well nothing new actually.
There are numerous people on the streets of Delhi. Eating, drinking, making babies on the street, their lives spent by the street.
The lights turn green, red, yellow; cars zoom, halt, honk; people, dogs walk past and they live and earn their livelihood. They smile at you when you stop and bug you to buy flowers/ book/ newspaper.
YOu glare/ buy/ shoo them off… and life it moves on …
But Nandu I feel is a little wee bit special, One he is adorable! (the picture does not do justice trust me!!)
Two he is always smiling and
Three he is insanely happy with his situation.
All he knows is to sell flowers and he does that with all the zeal that a 6 year old can muster. He is a master at dodging traffic and his tiny feet can bare the chill/ dirt/ heat a Delhi road is capable off.
My salute to little Nandlal. May your grow strong and happy and find a roof that keeps you safe.
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