The word 'Bench' is the lingo used in the Indian IT industry that represents the phenomenon in which an individual is not working in any project and idles out the entire office hours. The term may have been inspired and coined by looking at the idle people sitting in benches kept in parks. I believe that two facts, (i)there are plenty of parks in Bangalore and (ii)Bangalore is the IT capital of India, support my hypothesis strongly.

Typical activities that one involves in while he/she is in bench ranges from surfing through the net to chatting with fellow benchers to playing carom/TT/billiards. In short, a bencher is a 'Non Performing Asset' for the company who is retained (read 'paid') in the hope that a project may soon come and he/she can start heads-on in the new project.

All through my career, I had envied people who were in bench and chilling out all time when we used to work for long hours in a project . Well, at least that's what I thought at the time - that they are chilling out.

But after experiencing the bench factor for a few weeks now, I have realised how difficult it is to be in bench for more than a week. You feel great in the first week; you can come and go at any time, need not worry about any delivery and play as long as you wish. Everything changes gradually from the second week onwards - you are really concerned that you should not go late to the office because you are in bench and you don't want people to think that you are taking it lightly; you become conscious when you play thinking that there is somebody out there watching you all the time. You can't even sit in your place and do something peaceful; so-called billed people come and ask 'Having a blast, buddy???'. And finally comes the worst - glancing at your watch everyday as it ticks past slowly and shows 6 p.m. - it's the nation-wide accepted ideal time for a bencher to leave the office.

Time management is something that we all wish to master but there is something that we should all know as well - Time killing for weeks together at a constant rate of 9 hours a day. If I sound frustrated or philosophical, well it's because of the power of bench factor.

This blog was written in Dec '08 in one of my other blogs and and is imported to this blog.

I was thinking for a long time to post my first blog but nothing drove me to write a blog and then happens the terror attack in Mumbai. Now that all is over(for the time being, I should say), I am not glad that I have got a 'worthy' incident to muse about; rather it's the sense of helplessness surging within me that makes me write this. It's been 8 days since the attack took place and all our politicians and news channels still debate on what went wrong or what we should do to prevent this; and to top this all we have resignation drama going on as well.

I am also not sure whether our politicians are at least seriously discussing this or are making use of this as a free publicity as elections are just around the corner. But the million dollar question in every Indian's mind is - "What has the government 'done' till date or what is it planning to do?".

I also happened to notice another thing when I was following the news channels. The two sentences "Enough is enough" and "Spirit of Mumbai" are being repeated so frequently that these statements have now become cliches. I have spent 7 months in Mumbai and I know or rather I have felt what the statement "Spirit of Mumbai" means. But someone answer me - Just because the people are spirited and come together after any tragic event whatever be the magnitude, should they be tested till their death? If the same repeats every now and then, there won't be a city called Mumbai about which we can all boast sitting in the safety of our home town.

Or perhaps, who knows? my/your city is the next in the agenda of terrorists. Looking back at the last statement, I wonder if two dozen young kids can wreck such a massive havoc in a city like Mumbai, then what would be the effect if a few hundreds of them enter a small, peaceful tier-2 city about whose 'spirit' we have never even thought of. They can literally take over the whole region and if taking lives is the only thing they want, they can thrive on the city. NSG, Army, Navy or any force for that matter would find it difficult even to reach the place thanks to the strong infrastructure that is built in the last 61 years. We would finally end up with 'LeT Occupied CityX', 'Indian Mujahideen Occupied StateY' etc... and we would be content to give fancy acronyms in the lines of 'PoK' and '26/11'.

I am an ardent fan of Chennai super kings and day before yesterday was the match between Chennai and Mumbai Indians(MI) which Chennai won comfortably by a margin of 7 wickets with almost an over to spare. The win also marks the end of campaign for Mumbai in IPL2. But when I saw the painful look on Sachin’s face, one that resembled in many ways the look of a tiger trapped by hunters, I can’t help thinking that Chennai could have done without this win. Imagine the aura of this man who is capable of evoking such a thought in the mind of a freaky fan like me.

There are plenty of times we have heard of the word ‘LEGEND’ but for the first time ever I felt what exactly the word means.

Pirivom Sandhippom is one of the classic novels in modern time Tamil literature written by Sujatha.

The plot revolves around a young immature girl, Madhumitha (Tamannah), with whom a local lad Raghupathy (Siddharth, a newface) falls in love. His dad (Kitti) works as a PWD engineer under Madhu’s father, the chief engineer for the project. But fate has other plans of its own as per which Madhu’s dad convinces her to ditch Raghu marry a rich NRI, Ratkrish (Radhakrishnan americanized.

Raghu is heart-broken, tries a suicide-attempt but escapes; inspired by his dad’s compassion and support, he goes to USA to do MBA where he meets Madhu. Later, it turns out that Rat has illegal connections with other ladies and Madhu decides that she wants to be with Raghu. By then Raghu is engaged to a Rathna, an NRI whom Raghu meets in US. Stranded in-between, Madhu drives her car in a rash manner and meets with an accident and dies.

Director A.R.Gandhi Krishna deserves ovation for his flawless casting, particularly Tammanah picture-perfect in the role of Madhumidha; his taste for art and locations are noteworthy as well. But where he misses completely is the portayal of subtle but deep relationship between Raghu and his dad.

Anyone seeing the movie having no idea of the book would feel that Raghu is not worth such a great man as his dad. The fact that Madhu’s life is always being led by others is left unsaid as well making it difficult for an average movie-goer to perceive this while watching the movie. Also, the reason why Rathna (Rukmani of Bommalattam fame) is attracted towards Raghu is not clear which makes the character out of place.

Verdict - If you have read the novel, watch the movie to see the characters alive. If not, better stay away from this one else it may lead you to wrongly conclude that the book is over-rated.

I call it unforgettable because I met the person whom I yearned to meet right from the day I read his book - Kane & Abel, incidentally my first book written by him and his best book so far. Now, no prize to you if you have rightly guessed whom I was talking about ;). Yes, Jeffrey Archer was in Bangalore to promote his new book 'Paths of Glory' and the event took place at Landmark in Garuda Swagat Mall, Jayanagar. I was so thrilled the whole day and not able to concentrate on anything except checking my watch often to see 6 pm so that I can start for the event. But alas, I managed to reach the place only by 7.15, courtesy bangalore traffic and the surprise rainfall. When I was just about to enter the mall, a benz car zoomed in and halted to a break, and within moments the great man came out and was greeting the few of us standing there with a 'good evening'. Well, my tongue was glued to the palate and it was diificult to speak. I joined the convoy waiting to welcome him and together with them, I bypassed the waiting crowd and managed to stand close to the dais. May be, not ethical but perfectly understandable; I can see you nodding. Thanks.

One thing, in fact two things, I could not help notice was his perfect timing sense and the sense of humour. He spoke for almost an hour studded with wisdom, experience and his trademark sarcasm we can see in his books.

When he explained the gimmicks used by his U.S. publishers to get him on the bestsellers' list, we were all rolling over the floor filled with laughter. Took his autograph in Kane&Abel and As the Crow Flies- two of my most favourite books, but even now, when I was standing just next to him, my tongue was less co-operative when I tried to speak, finally mumbling out 'Have a good time in India' with the second-half hardly audible to myself.

It was totally a memorable and unforgettable day and I am still on cloud nine. I suppose a new project or moule would bring me back to reality.