First Indian Gay Pride March in New Delhi

As per this. This is great news for the gays of India who not only have been persecuted for very long, but actually have some very harsh laws against them.

A quick search for Section 377 leads to links of laws in Singapore and India pertaining to gay legislation. The reason the code is the same is because it has been inherited from a common British law. So, if it is such an old law, it is time it is reviewed.

But with Eve Teasing being such a prevalent issue in India, the society taking gays as natural is probably still a long way off. But with this news of Gay March going off peacefully, there is hope.

If you want to read more about Section 377 please check out Naz Foundation.

Spanish Apes have more rights than humans in some countries

Spain’s parliament approved a measure Wednesday to extend some human rights to gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, becoming the first country to explicitly acknowledge the legal rights of nonhumans.

From: here

This news is great for the animals, I am not too sure that they realise this though. If you randomly pick a human from India and an ape from Spain, the Spanish ape probably has a better chance of being treated. Think about it.

Phoenix Mars Lander is on Twitter

If you guys know what Twitter is then Mars Phoenix Lander is on it providing us Earthlings with updates and news. You can follow MarsPhoenix here.

If you don't know what Twitter is then it may be a good thing to get on to. You can follow me here.

Wordsmith changes email format

After more than 10 years of text emails, Anu Garg of AWAD (A Word A Day) has changed the format of the emails to HTML. There isn't much great about it, but it looks much better than the text emails.

If you are into learning words and haven't heard about this service it is great to learn new words, go to http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html to learn a new word everyday. With around 400,000 words in English there is much to learn I reckon.

Life - Part 2

After waking up today the first thought that crossed my mind was, "Another chore done, what's next?". Life got so routine that even sleep is another chore for me. :(

This cartoon sums up what I feel like about it now:


Source: http://www.savagechickens.com

'Life' is the favourite theme of cartoonists it seems, with this one showing how much we 'play' in 'life':


Source: http://www.subtire.com

And life summed up in this Persian comic:



Source: www.haditoons.com

This is how I felt two years ago:

Alarm clocks. Snooze buttons. Cereal breakfast everyday, serial breakfast. Train ticket. Petrol costly. Drink coffee during morning tea. McDonalds. Worry about weight. Credit card bills. Mobile ringing. Office meeting. Call home. Mild home sickness. Beer. Hair cut. Working holiday. Long weekend. Washing machine. Press clothes. Vacuum cleaner. Government taxes.... Life!!

Careerwise!

Looking for a job is exciting, very exciting. You are geared up to get more money and not just the 3-5% of annual raise the company plans for you. Almost no one gets the 5% raise, but when you are looking for a job, you can command a salary depending on the experience. Lesson learnt: Loyalty pays less than 5%.

A new job is certainly not very easy to find, nor is moving out of your comfort zone painless. But the excitement of doing something new and proving a different set of people how good you are is something of a challenge I do enjoy.

Job hunting is a time that is certainly stressful, but in retrospect feels so much satisfying. You get to learn a few new things about yourself and your confidence certainly shoots up. The mindset that you take in the interview room certainly sets the tone. The few interviews I wasn't too sure about, I didn't make it.

I followed tips given on few career blogs (psst, here - http://career.alltop.com), here are some tips that I worked on:

1. Don't flood the market with your resume, if a recruitment agency sees your resume too many times they will probably start ignoring you. Apply for jobs that you are certain that you will get a call for.
   
2. Do a follow up call with the agency/referrer to check if they received your application.
   
3. Fix your resume (search on the internet on how to make it better, I got calls just by doing this).
   
4. Write a good and very relevant cover letter, it should make the person open your resume to read it. If there is no cover letter or it is poorly constructed, they probably won't go any further. Again, search the internet for this.
   

I am now happily employed in a new organisation. After months of searching without any results, I got two offers on the very same day. Very good advise from my wife made me pick the right one even if this one pays lesser. Another career tip: If they talk to you about your hobbies in the interview and they offer, then work there.