Much ado about a port

My friends ask me what its like to be working for a client like RBI...you know the government connection n all.....well here is a nice story...real one mind you.. to illustrate the same.
* These are the real experiences of Sumo and Me(referred to as 'We' in the text), the names of the others have been changed to hide their identity...

These are the events in chronological order as they occurred on the 26th of December 2006 from 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

--Ol' mad mak asks us to ftp a 2+ GB file to mcrft team...
--we keep trying for 15 mins...
--finally we have to ask CMC to open the port to enable the ftp.
--CMC tells us a form has to be filled for the same.
--CMC sends the form to the PL.
--PL sends mail to Gowman(RBI).
--Gowman responds to the wrong mail.
--Wrong mail sent to CMC
--We are told by CMC that the ip we have given does not correspond to 22nd flr of the main bldg but to bkc
--We are told by CMC to sort out the matter with RBI.
--We try to call creature(RBI official) but his phone is engaged...simultaneously creature gives missed calls to Pud(colleague of ours)
--After half an hr we call creature.
--creature calls shen(RBI official)
--Shen calls CMC.
--creature calls us ..tells us to call CMC and tell them to call Shen.
--CMC calls shen.
--CMC calls us...tells us that it can be done but BKC is in the domain of 3i so we will have
to call PV.
** now in the middle of all this ...creature calls PL and tells her "See how fast RBI works".**
--CMC does not have PVs no.
--creature does not have PVs no.
--nobody has PVs no.
--we go down to security to get PVs no.
--we get it.
--creature also manages to get the no.
--Creature calls PV.
--simultaneously we call PV...wife tells us to call after some time.
--PV cant understand creature.
--creature calls us..... tells to tell CMC to call PV
--CMC tells us to call Shen instead and ask him to talk to PV.
--CMC now tells us that it cant be done today.
--We call Shen and tell him to call PV..he asks us to get the status after some time.
--We call creature..he tells us to call Shen and tell him the reason why we need to
ftp.
You see PV cant understand creature.
--We call Shen....he wants to know why we need to ftp things...
--Shen tells us that since PV has gone home they can open the port at 11 the next day....


Now if you still cant understand what it is like to work here then perhaps RBI is the only place in the world where you will be considered competent.
Remember the story is still not over...the saga will continue tomorrow.

To act or not to act

Google Talk like its older siblings allows the user to display a custom message......it was the earlier message of my good friend Gordon that prompted this entry....well the entry was something like "All the world's a stage, and we are all actors..", obviously the modifed version of the actual sentence..."All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players..."..from shakespeare's 'As you like it', meaning unchanged nonetheless....The first thing that entered my mind was 'aren't plays scripted???'....if so then are we acting according a script???.....if yes again, then is the belief in freedom of choice just an ego building exercise???.....Gordon of course had his own views on the same....that I will come to later....Well, to the astrologer, to the believer in destiny and the like....this would just be matter of fact...'it's written in the stars', 'My role is decided by fate'...etc..But then as Scott Adams would say..'You make up your mind first and Rationalise it second....'. So with the above arguement I beg to differ!! The most delicate issue intertwined with all of this is of course Religion...and I too will touch it at the surface, not sink in, for all religions form their basis on blind beliefs....those of reason, logic and rationality are simply termed as 'doubting Thomas' '...but certainly whatever faith we do profess, a majority of us would include a supernatural being or GOD as part of our creed. Thats my first assumption..that there exists a God who created man, loves him but like any creator, would like to see him evolve a certain way...Here's where the antagonists would jump up saying..'yeah I told you....its all preplanned'...but hold on ..... It is true that a certain end result is desired, but there must be a challenge....A desire to experiment and curiosity must be traits of our God, else why would he create us in the first place...just to see this world play out in a way he already knew it would??.......there must be another explanation, and well since this is my blog, you are gonna have to read mine....whether you like it or not...Allow me to introduce the 'Playmaker'. Who are these playmakers??.....they are ppl like...Hitler, Saddam, etc and on the other hand ppl like Mandela, Lincoln and perhaps even Christ himself, the ones who are the actors, the ones living according to a script, infact Christians would know how many times Christ made references to the scriptures and acted accordingly...These are the ones meant to guide and influence those with the 'freedom of choice'...In this way the people have their freedom and the end result can be achieved, with some experimentaion though. However, this could also be expanded now to redefine the role of evil from one who propogates all that is bad to the one who threatens the 'end result'....ofcourse, that is different debate altogether and we shall leave it for some other time...Now for the response by the writer of the line himself....."well we are all wearing masks ... thats what i meant ... have seen too many ppl in the past one yr with masks..."...Hmmm, totally different approach....wonder whether my point of view was necessary in the first place....but what the heck, I'm not a playmaker, I have the freedom to write what I want!!