Memoirs of the STC Conference

The Journey: Uttering a hundred silent thanks to my manager for nominating me, I headed to the Bangalore airport to attend the much-awaited STC conference. It was relaxing to hang out with a colleague without having to worry about deadlines (both at office and home). As soon as we reached our rooms, we were welcomed by another colleague who had arrived from Hyderabad.

The Stay: So what if the rooms were smaller than expected? The cleanliness of the rooms, the friendliness of the staff, and the yummy, fresh, and healthy breakfast were enough to ensure we had a good stay. It also gave us a good platform to get to know one another and discuss about work too.

The Conference: There were more than 200 technical writers from various domains, experience levels, and ethnicity. Contrary to our belief that only highly experienced people would be presenting at the conference, there were people like us. It made us feel confident that next time we too could come up with an idea or a concept to present. One thing common among all of them was the ever-so-bright smile and warmth in greeting one another. During the two days of the conference, we attended sessions related to xml-based authoring, automation in writing, contextualized writing, and many others – even the sessions that we felt were not relevant to us had some take-aways for us. It was amazing to see the world of technical writing expanding; when I started my career, nobody even knew about our profession. And oh! The food was sumptuous.

The Re-Union: The moment I heard I was going to visit Mumbai, I devised a plan to meet one of my best friends, Mrunal. Being the early bird that I am, the day after conference, I woke up at 5.30, got ready, and saw myself in front of her house at 6.30. Poor thing had just woken up, but was super-thrilled to see me. Munching yummy poha, both of us chit-chatted excitedly, and woke up the rest of the household, who also joined us in our conversation. I told her family how important Mrunal’s role was early in my career.

The Sight-Seeing: The moment I stepped into the city, I fell in love with it. Be it the pollution-free air, the pace at which the city-dwellers moved, the willingness to help and adjust in an over-crowded train, the presence of people 24X7, or the flea markets with unbelievably low prices, the city impressed me. Therefore, it did not take me a lot of time and money for shopping. And oh! how could we return from Mumbai without visiting the Juhu beach? Thanks to the fast-paced world of Mumbai, we did everything that we wanted to do – shopping, sight-seeing, and visiting a friend.

The Return: If at least one thing does not go wrong in a trip, then what’s the thrill? So, we ended up in terminal 1 instead of terminal 2 to board the flight. Luckily, we had enough time to catch a taxi, and reach terminal 2 on time. Oh wait! Is this an airport or the palace of God Indra? It was so picture-perfect that we forgot how much work awaited us back in Bangalore. We just enjoyed the moment sipping kokam sharbat.  

The After-Effect: For the next two days, I was happy, excited, and smiling all the time. I had to tell myself to come out of the ecstasy, and focus on my job. 

Animal Farm - George Orwell

Rating – 5/5

One line for the book: Tragic, yet amusing; Sad, yet sarcastic; Fiction, yet true - Another book that should be part of the curriculum for college students.

About the book:  The animals in a farm gain independence from the human rule after a rebellion. But, the corruption and prejudices between the different kinds of animals lead to one kind dominating all the others, thus erasing the difference between the hardship they find in human supervision and the freedom they gain by the animal rule. History repeats itself when the animals are back to poverty and slavery even after gaining independence. 

The book is a political satire on how the people in power misuse their resources for their benefit. One can easily draw an analogy with India before and after the British rule. If there's one book that our corrupt bureaucrats should read, it is this one. 

What I love about the book: Each and every page, every word of it. It's not a single word less, nor a single word more.

What I did not like about the book: The tragedy.

What I learned from the book:

• Unity is strength.
• One corrupt person in power is like a drop of poison in a pitcher of water. He/she can drastically bring irreversible changes to the society.
• People have a very poor memory, thus giving an opportunity to our leaders to manipulate the facts for their benefit.

How this single word kills our language

These days you hear this word very often. Youngsters find it so “kewl” to use it in their normal conversations. It’s used as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and even an interjection! Guess what it is? Correct, it is the f-word.

Most people use it as an “amplifier”. For instance, if you want to say, “I was so shocked” with a lot of emphasis, you would say, “I was so f-word shocked!” Now, if your intention was to put emphasis on how shocked you were, you could use other words viz., devastated, flabbergasted, shaken, dumbfounded, etc.

By using the f-word, we are forgetting our vocabulary. We sound rude and indecent. So, let’s get rid of this offensive word, and respect the English language. 

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Rating – 5/5

One line for the book: Fascinating story with an amazing narration

About the book: The book brings out the way blacks and whites were distinguished back in 1930s.

What I love about the book: The best part of the book is that it is narrated by an eight-year-old girl. So, you see the world from the eyes of a small girl who understands only half the things that she says or hears. I was amazed to see how an eight-year-old could stop a dispute - something that a big group of adults could not do. The book also makes you understand how good parenting and good neighbourhood builds the character of a child.

What I did not like about the book: The tragedy.

What I learned from the book:

• Good parenting and good neighbourhood brings out the best in a child.
• Kids understand things more than what we expect from them. They are the best-behaved beings on earth if we nurture them well.
• Society has prejudice based on one’s caste and colour. 

A Punch on those Honkers

While riding to office today, I found this interesting message on a car:

A powerful message and a tight slap on all those who behave very desperate while on the road... 

Many times I tried to reason with them – why the hell do they honk? I racked up my brain and here are a few logical answers I could think of:

• These honkers assume that everyone else is asleep.
• They think that all the vehicles on the road will magically disappear if they honk.
• They believe that they are going to be the next Bill Gates who loses a billion dollars by losing a minute.

Oh wait! I guess the most logical reason could be that their house is on fire. But, I have a question: how many times should a person honk to cease the fire?

If you too are tired of these annoying, unwelcome, uncultured, uncivilized, brainless people, join the movement: http://www.iwonthonk.com/

'Xtreme' Happiness

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by every moment that takes your breath away! I am happy that my dream of rocking at Xtremezone has finally come true. I am confused where to start from. Should I boast about being the first one in the group to try adventurous sports at the camp or should I talk about the thrill of rappelling? Should I drift away with the memories of camaraderie and bonding with my friends or should I look at the photos for the tenth time? Anyways, the memories are going to stay for a life time without the need for these pictures. Should I complain about the body pains that I had for the next couple of days or should I thank my body for co-operating with me and recovering pretty quick. The hilly breeze, the chilly water, the stony path, the funny group of people, the thrilling adventure are all that make the trip a lifelong memory. The smile on my wouldn't fade away even while writing about the wonderful experience although it’s been a week already.

Who Do You Love The Most?

 ‘Who do you love the most?’ asked Ria.

‘Huh? What do you mean? I love my parents, my hubby, my kids…’ Shree listed out, thinking aloud. After a while she came back to Ria’s question, and asked ‘Why do you ask that? Isn’t it the same for everyone? Who do you love the most, by the way?’

‘I love a special person. I’ll tell you who that is after a while. Coming to your answer, I sort of guessed your answer when I looked at you’, replied Ria.

Shree was surprised to hear that. Shree had joined a new company recently, and Ria was her colleague. They hardly knew each other’s personal lives.

Looking at the confused expression on Shree’s face, Ria began to explain: ‘Ok, let me tell you how I could figure out. You have been staying up till late in the night, perhaps to cater to your kids’ needs. The dark circles around your eyes suggest that.’

Shree sighed. ‘Ya, my kids go to bed only at midnight, and I am completely exhausted by that time.’

‘Yes, and that tells me that you put your kids’ needs, or in this case, their joys before your needs. Let me come to the next point. Your ID card displays a photo of yours that was clicked before your wedding, where you look chubby and cheerful. It is quite different from the face that I see now.  So, this might be because after your wedding you have totally dedicated yourself to your family and you rarely listen to your body’s needs. The scaly skin and the cracks in your feet also suggest the same – that you have put your household needs first. So, I have assumed that you love your family more than you love yourself.’

Shree is now looking at Ria as if she’s the Holmes of this generation. Ria smiled at Shree’s expression, and said, ‘It’s not so difficult to deduce these findings. Actually, I too was in a phase like yours. I always wanted to stay on top of my family’s needs. I wanted to become a super Mom. Slowly I realized that I set myself on a wild goose chase. I lost myself in the rat race. I then began listening to my heart. I provided my body with the most nutritious food, sound sleep, nourishment, and care. Surprisingly, my family needs have come down too. I have disciplined the kids to sleep on time. I encourage them to do their things themselves. And, you know what, kids love to manage their stuff themselves. Try and see for yourself. My hubby also gives me some me-time. And the best part is that I have begun re-uniting with my past friends. I also spend some time on my hobbies which I buried long back.’

‘Wow! That’s amazing!’

‘Thanks. My hubby is surprised to see the change in me. He tells me that I look and behave like a college girl now’, giggled Ria.

‘Really?’

‘Yes, do whatever you love to do, and you look and feel much younger. Do you now realize who I love the most?’ winked Ria, leaving Shree with a fresh wave of energy and determination.