August 7th, 2010
If you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook you’ve probably already received a link to the latest edition of the weekly Cubiclenama column I write for Mint.
But there is more value-add in this blog post. So don’t go.
When I first started writing the column, in December 2008, the idea was to poke a little fun at the workplace. Or, to paraphrase the column’s boilerplate, to look at the pleasures and perils of the workplace.
Since April the column has gone from being fortnightly to weekly, but my mandate hasn’t changed. I still need to file, every Thursday even though they really like it by Wednesday night, around 850 words of somewhat amusing prose.
Humour writing is exhausting. Especially so when my product, in this case Cubiclenama, appears on a page which has pretty high standards. For instance every Thursday the same space is occupied by the wonderful, curious and endlessly informed Salil Tripathi. How do you follow a top act like that?
Read the rest of this entry »
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August 3rd, 2010
The missus, whilst being a fanatical editor, quality checker and supporter of Dork and Cubiclenama, often says that I am too harsh on MBAs in general and management consultants in particular.
This, of course, is nonsense. And I have the PowerPoint slides to prove it.
Hah.
But, to be honest, at least one veteran consultant has written to me about how much Dork has touched one of his/her raw nerves.
So imagine how much pain a spectacular new blog post on the the New Yorker’s website will inflict on them. Titled Christopher Nolan’s “Implementation”, blogger Gideon Lewis-Kraus mashes up management consulting and Inception to produce brilliance:
“If you fail,” says Watanabe, “you will stay in ‘limbo,’ which means spending the rest of your life developing dynamic solutions for leveraged market-driven global enterprise frameworks across downstream cross-platform industry. If you succeed, I will help you return to your former career as an independent boutique retailer of imported artisanal tapenade.”
Read the whole thing here: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/goingson/2010/07/christopher-nolan-implementation.html#ixzz0vXk3Ai46
Ayyo. Too much comedy.
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March 6th, 2009
Now I can finally tell you peeps why the blog slowed considerably over the last one year. Look what came in the mail today: (I’ve blacked yellowed out some bits due to contractual obligations.)

Paper work
Couple of things to point out:
1. Yes my name is still causing trouble. Sigh. I might change it to something else so that it looks better in book stores. Like “Dan Brown Vadukut”.
2. Will update on expected dates, title, excerpts and so on as soon as I get inputs and go-aheads from the Penguin people. Currently I am thinking of calling it “A short history of nearly every five point someone slumdog white tiger’s letters to Penthouse”.
3. A very big thank you to all you guys. This blog is quite the community story you know. So collective high-fives all around.
4. Set aside money right now to buy it when it eventually comes out.
Yay!
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September 30th, 2008

Foot where?
Transcript of conversation with anonymous public relations professional on newsroom phone a few days ago. Edited for readability.
(Phone rings)
Sidin: Hello… Sidin (It is a miserable habit of mine, that line. So many people respond by saying: “No.”)
Random PR professional: Hello Sidin! This is <mallu name> from <name of PR company>!
S: Hi. Tell me.
RPRP: I have been reading your work for a long time now. And I am impressed.
S: (Sensing a catch somewhere…) Oh thank you very much.
RPRP: Especially the wonderful work you’ve been doing in the area of Law firms and legal services…
S: (What the…) Oh I see. Which stories in particular?
RPRP: Oh the one… err.. you know the story… this particular one… I mean the one on…
S: (Aha! The plot thickens…) Oh you mean the one I wrote last weekend?
RPRP: EXACTLY! That one. It was so, so, so good…
S: On legal services no?
RPRP: Yes yes.
S: Ah but I have NEVER EVER written a single world in my entire career on legal services and law firms…
RPRP: Never?
S: Not once.
RPRP:
S:
RPRP: Maybe I have my information wrong.
S: Maybe you do.
CLICK!
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