Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Why This Kolaveri?: You are not supposed to fall sick on Thursday or Friday!!

Freaking Mind is a well known software company in south India. It is still growing in terms of revenue and number of employees. It publicizes for its smallest achievements including its philanthropic works if any, which has created a positive impression among masses associated with business as that of Freaking Mind. Therefore, people often think to join Freaking Mind; however, it has certain internal employee exploiting policies unknown to outside world - read on to find out. Needless to say, "The grass on the other side always looks greener.
Manasi Rupa was also biased by media like others. Her happiness knew no bounds when she got offer from her dream company Freaking Mind last year. No sooner had she joined, she came to know the loop holes in internal processes, policies and management. It was her second company and she had six long years of experience in a small organization prior to joining Freaking Mind. She could not survive the exploitative rules and at last decided to resign after her encounter with senior management and HR last month. 

 
What was the last encounter she had? Was Freaking Mind so inhumane towards her? The incident goes like this. Manasi fell sick due to severe cold and headache on December 01, Thursday. She informed her manager that she was not in a position to come to office due to sickness, she needed rest, and she would be back to work on Monday. On Monday, back in office, when she tried to apply sick leave before leaving for the day, it was rejected by the system!!

Manasi came to know that those two days will be compensated as follows: 
1 - her only left over annual leave would be deducted 
2 - she had to incur loss of pay for one day
She had never experienced such pernicious rules before. She raised her concern with senior management and HR, but failed in all attempts as they dismissed her plea citing that the decision was in conformity with company policies. She could not reconcile and decided to put her paper soon after the incident. She started looking for job and got several offers within two weeks. Manasi noted that the policy literally had below constraints which were ridiculous.
  1. Employee is required to be sick at least for three consecutive working days
  2. By sickness, it is imperative that the employee is hospitalized, otherwise, his or her application for sick leave will be rejected. So taking first point into consideration, you are required to be hospitalized for three consecutive working days, to be eligible to avail your sick leaves!!
  3. You are not allowed to apply sick leave if you fall ill on Thursday or Friday because you won't be able to apply sick leave for three consecutive working days. Your annual leave will be deducted.
  4. Cold, Flu, Fever, Acute headaches cannot be considered as sickness. Only hospitalization is considered as sickness.
  5. Only prescription is not enough for sick leave approval even if it is for three days. A written letter from your doctor with his contact number has to be submitted for verification. After verification with your doctor by HR only will your leave be approved.
Heck to all such rules! Better to remove the choice of availing sick leaves than to put so many constraints that literally tortures the employee!! Why is this kolaveri...?

Note: Real names have been avoided. Coincidence is incidental.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Lyrics Of Choice: Aahe Dayamaya Biswa Bihari (ଆହେ ଦୟାମୟ ବିଶ୍ଵବିହାରୀ)

Song: Aahe Dayamaya Biswa Bihari
Language: Odia
Lyricist: Ramakrushna Nanda


==English==

Ahe dayamaya bishwabihari
Ghena dayabahi mora guhari

Jala sthala bana giri akasha
Tuma liLaa sabu  thare prakasha

Tume shubha buddhi paraa shikhao
Mote bhala baata paraa dekhao

Mora kamaku karao sarasa
Mora mukhe dia chira harasa

Mote khaLa alasua nikate
Nia nahin sukhe aba sankate

Dhukhi arakhita seba kaaraNe
BaLa dia mora kara charaNe

Tuma charaNa re mora bhakati
Dia bipade saahasa shakati

Kuta kapata swabhaba jahaara
Taanku duru mun karaee juhara

Mote namishao tanka sathire
Sadaa rakha sadhujana katire

Daya binaya heu mo bhusaNa
Kaahaa mane na die mun kasaNa

Sata kahibaku kian daribi
Sata kahi pachhe male maribi

Mote etiki shikhao sain he
More dhana jana loda nahin he
==ଓଡ଼ିଆ==

ଆହେ ଦୟାମୟ ବିଶ୍ଵବିହାରୀ
ଘେନ ଦୟାବହି ମୋର ଗୁହାରି

ଜଳ ସ୍ଥଳ ବନ ଗିରି ଆକାଶ
ତୁମ ଲୀଳା ସବୁଠାରେ ପ୍ରକାଶ

ତୁମେ ଶୁଭ ବୁଦ୍ଧି ପରା ଶିଖାଅ
ମୋତେ ଭଲ ବାଟ ପରା ଦେଖାଅ

ମୋର କାମକୁ କରାଅ ସରସ
ମୋର ମୁଖେ ଦିଅ ଚିର ହରଷ

ମୋତେ ଖଳ ଅଳସୁଆ ନିକଟେ
ନିଅ ନାହିଁ ସୁଖେ ଅବା ସଙ୍କଟେ

ଦୁଃଖି ଅରକ୍ଷିତ ସେବା କାରଣେ
ବଳ ଦିଅ ମୋର କର ଚରେଣେ

ତୁମ ଚରଣ ରେ ମୋର ଭକତି
ଦିଅ ବିପଦେ ସାହସ ଶକତି

କୁଟ କପଟ ସ୍ଵଭାବ ଯାହାର
ତାଙ୍କୁ ଦୂରୁ ମୁଁ କରଇ ଜୁହାର

ମୋତେ ନମିଶାଅ ତାଙ୍କ ସାଥିରେ
ସଦା ରଖ ସାଧୁଜନ କତିରେ

ଦୟା ବିନୟ ହେଉ ମୋ ଭୂଷଣ
କାହା ମନେ ନ ଦିଏ ମୁଁ କଷଣ

ସତ କହିବାକୁ କିଆଁ ଡରିବି
ସତ କହି ପଛେ ମାଲେ ମରିବି

ମୋତେ ଏତିକି ଶିଖାଅ ସାଇଁ ହେ
ମୋର ଧନ ଜନ ଲୋଡା ନାହିଁ ହେ


Friday, February 10, 2012

Citizen Journalist: Online Fraud - Google Group hacked affecting hundreds of users on Feb-09-2012, Thursday

Feb-09-2012, Thursday: A hacker sent an email with subjectline "Re2:" from id  "malay anand <gakse_2000@yahoo.com>" to hundreds of people subscribing to a Google group. The email body had nothing but a line "How is it going?" and then a web link which was directing to an online marketing website. After clicking that link, the person (i.e. email id of the person) was immediately unsubscribed from the Google group and then user was directed to the marketing website. Then a confirmation email with subject line "Your unsubscription to <Google Group > was successful." was received. It happened early in the morning around 6:15 am IST on Feb-09-2012, Thursday

Fig: Body of hacker's email

The unsafe link embedded in the email was hosted by a French server, "spectaclederue.fr". Unfortunately McAfee SiteAdvisor mentions that this domain does not have any problem. They have tested the website!!

Post this incident, the moderators of the Google group had a time of distress. People across world who were members of the group started calling them early in the morning as they were auto-unsubscribed without requesting for the same. Corrective measures were taken immediately and the principal moderator sent an assurance message to all members saying the Google group is safe at around 11:45 AM IST.

This kind of heinous cyber crimes are not new. Hackers always find a loop hole and try to penetrate to a system to which they are not authorized. Very recently news is floating around - source code of Norton anti-virus has been partially hacked.

Learnings:
1 - Change your online account passwords regularly, at least once in 2 months
2 - The password you choose should be very complex: it should have (a) at least 8 characters, (b)   one or more uppercase letter, (c) letters, special characters and numerals
3 - Do not ever click links attached to emails sent from unknown ids.

Note: The name of the Google group is intentionally avoided. It is a language learning group.
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