Chilligavva

Shantanu Ghosh of Traveller’s Tales memed me [Alliterative so I like it..]. I visited Shantanu’s blog Travellers Tales in one of my social networking prowls. I fell in love with his writing style and blog. I wanted to participate in the interview. So a couple of emails later, I got this set of questions. So here goes…
Q1. People blog for various reasons, and I have heard many stories and anecdotes on how their lives were positively impacted by blogging. What are your reasons for blogging? Any interesting anecdotes you would like to share?
I blog primarily to communicate, share my thoughts and experiences. I am a xenophile, and enjoy learning about other people and cultures. I started blogging as early as 2001, via Blogger, but it soon petered off, as I was not persistent enough. After a second attempt, it kind of limped along. Last year, was my third attempt. Very soon things came to a karmic head as I discovered MyBlogLog. As and when I got responses, I found myself very interested in writing. So being part of a community helped. To me my writing is a journey of self discovery. Several social networks later [hi5, ryze, orkut, bumpzee, bloggintofame, xing, stumble], the one fact that I have discovered is that I am choosy and do not like to join each and every community. Quality over quantity, definitely. Some interesting and profound conversations have come about due to my blogging. I personally have stopped being very judgmental , and have begun to enjoy myself in the process. I have interacted with interesting people and cherished those interactions. I find that I am able to understand posts in the romance languages [French, Spanish, Italian] in a rudimentary fashion. I find myself being actually able to carry bilingual conversations, me in English and the other person in their tongues. Of course, whenever stumped, there is always Google translate or Alta Vista Babel.
Q2. From your personal experience, what were your learnings from the Western world; what Indian values would you like your son to learn? Being in the US, politically, the immediate impact of separation of religion from the state is obvious. There are less superstitious people, and more hardworking people than in India.

• There is no politics or money involved in actually picking up litter after you, and keeping a clean environment. [public places, buildings, streets etc. are clean because of this approach. That’s an attitude and value I like very much.]
• Compassion and the willingness to help, if they can, especially at the community level. [soup drives, can drives, donation service for old usable items]
• As a direct result of a capitalistic economy, people are actually willing to buy things and don’t expect as many free things. Its therefore easier to do business in or with the US than any where else.
• The learning here is vertical and not horizontal, which is difficult for us from India to comprehend. [We may not come across slick smooth talking smart people who know a little of everything, but what they know, they know well.]
• I actually like the school system. If you are willing to learn and can apply yourself, your concepts become very strong. Also communication skills are very emphasized at an early stage.

  On an aside, I find that Indian parents are always agonizing over what their child does not know or how the child is not comparable to their cousins at India etc.But if you step back, and take a birds eye view, you may be surprised at what life skills are actually being taught. And as a technology loving person, I absolutely dig the Apple macs that are provided right from Kindergarten, that too in a public school ! I wish I had schooled here..

• I like the fact that performance is truly recognized and one need not machinate so much as in India, to get to your goals.

For my son, the Indian values I would like him to learn are compassion, hardwork, and respecting everyone. I would want him to maintain close relationships to family, that he already has. And definitely not place money over people. I also want him to try and learn atleast 3-4 languages. As a linguist, I know that this results in sharp brains and its something very uniquely Indian!
Q3. What tips would you give to an aspiring technical writer today?
Like in most fields one can just do a job or a career. If you want to make technical writing a career, you first need to like and love technology. If the passion is not there, it becomes just a writing exercise. When you don’t make the effort, people will treat you similarly and their expectations would drop to you being there just as a cosmetic person [English knowing, and a necessary evil to put up with.]

• This is a field that has no place for ego. Its not about being right. Its about communicating as best as you can. You need to be amicable, cool, and at the same time stay focused. This job requires a lot of people skills.
• Every time you interact with people to get your inputs, their thoughts would influence you. To bring the best output in your work, please stay neutral. So if you are easily influenced, this may not be the right career for you.
• It helps if you can code, as most technical writing nowadays is IT relevant.
• Never be traumatized by jargon speak. Every group has their jargon. Since documentation is a service, you will always be a team player. So if you want to belong to a team, that has all the rules already set, you need to learn the jargon to fit in. Yes, that means constant re-learning.
• Belonging to a user group or mailing list helps. But do not air your lazy attitude by asking these groups for every sneeze and cough level help. I stress this, because your next employer may also be in the same community and however unfair it may be, people do form opinions without even meeting an individual. Put your best foot forward.
• Please spend money on magazines and journals, even if you are not getting a reimbursement! Its worth the expense, to stay current.
• Management? If your goal is to be management and lord it over the others, chances are you may not be one, except to head a documentation team.
• Money? Though people like to tell you that you will make a lot of money, you may not make more than the best developer out there. There is a pecking order, and documentation just does not make as much money as the Java expert. That is a fact. So if money is all that you want, you know what to do.
• Please invest in your own reference library. What would it contain? Concept books for code, and grammar and writing books for the writing part.
• Explore allied areas such as GUI design, HCI, standards, Quality, ISO and try to learn as much as you can. They would affect your day to day performance and understanding of tasks.
• Take some time to organize your thoughts. If there is no structure available, it does help to develop your own, such as creating forms for data collection, maintaining a calendar [paper/electronic], a to do list, a follow up list etc. These are the little things that keep your day running smoother.
• Be friends with other writers in your city / workplace. Barring workplace politics, you may be able to help and learn from one another.
• Try to add as much value as you can without looking at rewards only. The difference you make now, will earn the rewards later.
• Despite all wishful thinking, most IT projects involve documentation at the Nth minute only! Which means you have to deal with a lot of stress and deadline work, especially in the Indian IT environment.

Q4. Apple or Windows? Why?
I like Apple because it does not crash, the GUI is excellent, and the whole user experience is better! The VFM [value for money] is very high. Your productivity is much much better. Plug n play is really good. No reboots ! Windows I have to use to do Yahoo chat [with all features], play video games that don’t run on Apple, and run apps that are not mac ready. Windows though is pretty SLOW. Our Macbook has both Windows and OSX. Miti uses the same. My hubby works on Ubuntu (coexists with the windows PC) and I alternate between Mac and Windows. So currently I am a hybrid..
Q5. What do you miss most about Hyderabad when you are away?

• Vegetables sold on carts.
• Excellent seasonal fruits [Mangoes, Plums, Dates, Apples, Oranges, Jack fruits, sugarcane, ]
• WOW clothes that are reasonably priced.
• Lovely dakhani culture, with some of the best dining choices [I am well travelled and can vouch for this].
• 7 in all autos with music
• Irani chai, Biryani
• Makka buttas [Corn roasted over coals], custard apples, Jaamakayas [Guavas]
• MOVIES - Theatres
• Holi and Bonal festivals
• Ramadan shopping. [Am vegetarian, else would be adding Halal cuisine here..]

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