A Death Sentence Dressed In Blue!

Getting laid of from my very first job and the company I joined straight out of college was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.

In one stroke my employer, Cisco pulled the rug from under myself and thousands of others. A shock it was, as who could have imagined this. Especially it happening to you.

You may have played all the right cards available to corporate professionals. Yet at the end of the day usefulness of employees is not based on their individual contribution.

As an employee in a corporation you get paid for being in the office day-in and day-out, as long as you deliver upon your specific role, everyone is happy, and you continue to get paid, with the occasional bonus slapped on.

It is a great and cushy life, you feel on top of the world, secure in your life. Never really expecting your life line to the company could ever be axed by the same company you've diligently slaved for day-in and day-out.

That was me until the morning of Thursday, July 16 2009. Upon walking in to my cubicle, as I took my seat in front of my 17 inch LCD monitor, I clicked open Outlook to find two emails from both my managers marked urgent with the subject line "Please contact me at your earliest convenience".

I thought to myself, what could they want to see me about so early in the morning. While going over all the project deliverable's and statuses in my mind. Not quite able to figure out what might they want to see me for, and both of then early in the morning, and that in my senior most managers office.

Anyhow I got up from my desk, and walked over to my managers office that was around the corner, two cubicles away from me.

There I saw both my managers, I knocked and my senior most boss asked me to have a seat, while my second boss got up to close the door.

Then my senior most manager started reading, though I am quite sure he wasn't reading. As I heard what he had to say I felt my self sink, my heart started to pound, mind was in turmoil, trying to comprehend my managers words. I felt as if I was going to faint.

He then handed me a blue folder, inside of which was a 25 page termination letter, most of which I could barely read apart from "we regret to inform you that your employment at Cisco Systems has been terminated".

Terminated I thought, but why, why me? Then my boss looked at me and said you have two months at Cisco, within that time you will have the same rights and privileges as before. But you are not to work on any existing projects...."but ..." I blurted out "there are the following projects I am overseeing....." my boss smiled and said "don't worry about those your remaining time at Cisco is for you to look for another positions internal or external".

With that we parted, the short walk back to my cube was one of the longest walks I had ever taken. Back at my desk I reopened the blue folder, took out that 25 page death sentence, that's what it felt like as I skimmed over each page. I could barely comprehend the words. Felt like I was having some sort of bad dream.

Felt like my entire worth as a human being had been shattered. Who was I, what do I do? I found myself wonder how will I break the news to my parents, to my friends, to close acquaintances, what will I do? What will I say, that I got laid off?

I felt like running, putting the entire morning behind me and continuing my work as I usually did. Then suddenly I noticed my Sametime, the company wide instant messenger we used popping up with messages from all over. Oh they were friends from within the company asking how I was and if I survived ? That's when I learnt of dozens of others who received the same death sentence dressed in blue.

Turned out 25% of my Business Unit had been affected, about 1,000 - 1,500 people company wide. Many from my Business Unit, the team that had been responsible for Cisco's flagship product Catalyst 6500. Once the only bread winner for the company was on its death bed.

Ever since I haven't looked back, the death sentence in blue is none but a fading glimmer in the fabric of space and time. Though, many times less wealthier, I am glad that the death sentence came when it did. The experiences and skills gained in the months and years since were well worth the initial anguish.

I am more determined than ever before not to allow myself in such a similar position, and decided to embark, full throttle ahead upon the entrepreneurial journey, wherever that may take me. After all this is a journey that is the most rewarding, despite the emotional tolls faced from time to tome, there is no better thrill than to be working on something, building a business of your own, striving to make it profitable, tweaking and pivoting every step of the way.

The death sentence dressed in blue was none but a silver lining that came at the peak of a Great Recession.


Sent from my iPhone

In Respect of Honest Work

Just because an entrepreneur doesn't run a successful high-tech or "professional services" company, that does not  mean their business or their business skills aren't worth the respect typically attributed to high-tech businesses and entrepreneurs possessing college degrees. This is something I keep trying to remind myself each time I meet or hear of a successful Pakistani / Pakistani-American entrepreneur who runs a profitable auto repair shop in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Many Pakistanis are programmed to think of businesses or jobs outside of high-tech, medicine, law, politics & government as lowly. Auto repair business though are tech in nature, in the Pakistani mindset they are categorized as jobs for the under classes (or cullee classes).

Success as a nation requires us to break this in-bred societal prejudice. Something that owes it's roots to colonialism where pre-colonial jobs were shunned to the lowest rungs of society by the English colonial rulers in India. Case-in-point: Jamhadar was once a highly respected rank in the army, equivalent if not above that of a general.

Failed Marriage - Pakistan & The United States 1947 - 2012: Husain Haqqani

A failed marriage, a disenchanted alliance 1947 - 2012 it has been -- best to sever ties, divorce and go our separate ways. The former Ambassador Professor Husain Haqqani  makes a compelling case, inline with the former cold-war U.S. diplomat to Pakistan,  Dennis Kux's analysis.

A post-Marriage US Pakistan relationship will serve both nations well,  void of any expectations.  

Friends they'll remain yet friends is all they'll be nothing more.  No bilateral or multi-lateral partnerships,  no expectations or broken promises, or ill will towards one another.

Continue reading Husain Haqqani's statement at ....http://tribune.com.pk/story/425111/us-pakistan-must-divorce-as-allies-haqqani/

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65 years on becoming: Fate of the Unfated

Mr Mohammad Ali Jinnah, playing a game of billiards
(Photo courtesy Quaid-e-Azam History Blog)

Today Pakistanis everywhere celebrate 65 years of independence from British Rule. A long and tumultuous journey it has been. Pot marked by sectarian and ethnic genocides, political upheavals, with corruptions, bribery and plain simple idiocracy plaguing the national landscape.

Pakistan to many outsiders is perceived as a failed state, another banana republic gone bananas!

A country that was founded upon the principle of freedom of religion, equity and equality for citizens regardless of ethnic or religious differences. As the founding father, Mr Mohammad Ali Jinnah eloquently stated in his first Constituent Assembly Address on August 11, 1947 while drawing corollary to England's tumultuous ancient past:

We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle: that we are all citizens, and equal citizens, of one state.

Mr Jinnah further went on to say 

You will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus, and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.

Mr Jinnah, contrary to popular lore did not envision the Pakistan of today. He did not envision a country where religious and ethnic minorities are sidelined, where speaking your mind can be hazardous and injurious to health - mind, body, and soul. Mr Jinnah surely did not envision an 'Islamic Republic' molded to a narrow "Islamist"  ideology. An ideology that shuns anyone who doesn't conform to a specific ethno-religious mold, as is evident from his statement:

You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed -- that has nothing to do with the business of the State.

From the present 1973 Constitution that declares the State of Pakistan as 'An Islamic Republic' to the discriminatory treatment of not just non-Muslims but even none conforming Muslims, and ethnic minorities. Pakistan is a State riddled with broken promises, shattered dreams, deaths of innocent souls, hearts, and would be great minds who aspired to building a new life in a new nation.

Mr Jinnah addressing the first constituent assemble
11th of August, 1947 (Photo courtesy Ali Salman's Blog)

In his address Mr Jinnah went on and implored the constituent assembly on tackling bribery and corruption. "That really is a poison. We must put down with an iron hand", he said.

Further he talked about how "Black-Marketing is another curse...which today is a colossal crime against society, in our distressed conditions, when we constantly face shortage of food and other essential commodities of life".

On the surface it's apparent that Pakistan has not lived up and been the homeland it's founders ventured out "to build a separate homeland where the interests of the Muslims of India are safeguarded...not to build an Islamic theocracy", eloquently stated by Pakistan's former Consul General (1997 - 2001) to Los Angeles Sardar Tariq Azizuddin  over a cup of chai in his L.A. office. I highlight, where the interests...are safeguarded, referring not only to religious, but economic interests of Muslims of India. Jinnah's vision for Pakistan as Sardar Azizuddin went on to say was to build a separate and secular homeland for Muslims, and also the ethnic and religious minorities.

Pakistan may have not lived up to it's original ideals, it however has by hook or crook, managed to survive through 4 military dictatorships, 3 wars with it's arch rival India, 2 wars it fought and is still fighting on behalf of International partners and foes alike. Not to mention domestically the country is faced with insurmountable issues - from rising poverty, power and water shortages, with bribery and corruption plaguing at all levels of public and private life.

That is the Pakistan story, a miracle you could call it, against all odds it continues to kick, despite it's rocky past and unfated future. Where is the country of 200 Million  headed to, GOD only KNOWS! Scientifically speaking Pakistan is a failed nation. How it has survived thus far is a miracle in itself.

A miracle that can, and can only be attributed to the efforts of it's people. The people who against all odds, continue to forge forward in all walks of life. Pakistan in a manner of speaking a nation of "real" entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who not only build businesses, but also build lives, building society(ies) as they understand it to be - carving out their individual Fate, intertwined with that of the national Fate.

Mr Jinnah's vision may not have as yet taken root in society, however in retrospect there are telling glimmers of hope riddled through the nations historical fabric, which sooner than later will merge into a unified national narrative.

God Bless!

Pakistan Paindabad!

Just Scratch the surface and you'll find positive news...

Don't  yearn to hear positive news from Pakistan, scratch the surface a little and you'll find tones of great stories that suite your fancy. Whatever, or most of whats going in Pakistan today is a healthy discourse, verbal and non-verbal, violent and non-violent on track to ensuring a secure, prosperous, democratic future. Rather than complain, get involved and participate in the discourse. Do not shy away because something appears "Political" in nature. - AR

Be aware of your sarroundings when leaving work late

On Monday evening, April 6th,, 2009 around 8:00 pm (Pacific Time), two employees from Cisco were mugged by 4 armed men. This was near Cisco Bldg D, across the road from the Champion St. Light Rail station.

The robbers snatched everything including laptop , wallet, cell phones and the worst part is they attacked the victims from behind.

Folks, especially women be aware of your surroundings. If you're working late then try and call your respective company security to escort you to your car.


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