Viswanathan K's Thoughts

Immortality. Who wants that? And yet that’s exactly what all the demons of mythology asked for when granted a wish by the gods. Funnily though, the gods never granted them the wish. But whyever not? Why not let them grow older and older, weaker and weaker, but never let them die? Then the gods could have turned around and mocked them: “Be careful what you wish for…it might come true.” The opening lines of Bryan Adams’ hit song, 18 Till I Die , say what most people really want: “Wanna be young - the rest of my life.” Who wouldn’t that, right? To be young until they die? Monica Lewinsky, for one, wouldn’t (In case you’re wondering, she was the White House intern who nearly took down Bill Clinton’s presidency). In her TED talk on public shaming , she talked about this time when, as a 41 year old, she was hit upon by a 27 year old guy: “He was charming and I was flattered, and I declined. You know what his unsuccessful pickup line was? He could make me feel ...

I overheard this fresh-out-of-college girl at office telling her friend that her everyone in her team was “so old”. Of how nobody seemed to kid around, of how nobody ever “pranked” each other. Of how she could talk to these people, but couldn’t relate to them at all. That made me think of the time when I started working. Back then, almost everyone in IT was in the 0-3 years experience band. The only vehicle people had was a bike. For celebrations, everyone wanted to go out for dinner, not lunch (it could be a longer affair that way, and you could have drinks too). People looked forward to foreign trips: the longer, the better. Most of us came to office on weekends not necessarily to work but what else was there to do? Besides, in the pre-cell phone era, the office was the only place one could get together and then make plans for the evening/night. Even managers used to be unmarried back then: that was how young a team was. And now? The IT industry has undergone a population inversio...