A K S in LIFE.....!!

How about this..??

2012-01-19T20:34:00.002+05:30

After living within the confines of a six-day work week during last few years, people started working in five-days week and now there are instances of four-days week. It’s became possible while one is ready to work for ten hours a day, then he gets three full days as holiday. I was just thinking what if now companies who provide their employees annual leave of around one month, gives them an option of mixing their these paid holidays with a flexi working option of four-days a week. Although I am not a HR specialist, but just give this a thought, what all can be an outcome of this.

First, let me explain the “why” behind this concept by beginning with a very important aspect of the “people” portion of any business – the “company culture.” Believe it or not, many aspects of our culture are directly related to this special perk. Here are a few of the reasons for that statement and perhaps a few questions you should ask yourself as an employer:

How much more innovative and exciting would the business be if every single team member spent one full day each week devoted to research/innovation? What insights, new ideas and energy would be pumped into the business? isn’t this something which pulls talent to all the startups ?
Such a perk is an amazing draw in the age of recruiting the best in talent to your team. Like a hit song, HR department needs a “hook” to snag the cream of the crop. It will make an incredible difference!
Correlated to the above point, the employee retention rate literally soars! Who would ever want to give up three days at home, only commuting four days a week and the cerebral exercise of weekly research?
Even though the team is working 10-hour days, the sense of urgency brings a high level of energy, and in my opinion, focused collaboration. It is a joy to watch and to be sucked up into this flow of energy and enthusiasm
The extra time for research makes for a well-informed team and the high self esteem level realizing they have something unique. (Plus, meeting a repairman on a Friday or planning numerous three-day getaways is never taken for granted …)
In many cases, Thursday nights after work become an even bigger chance for team socialization and fun. This also seems to be vital to retention rates. A recent study indicated the No. 1 reason for a person not to change jobs is based upon having a close friend at the same company. Sort of makes sense, right?
A drastic decrease in reporting sick to office cases (since things could now be managed in these extended weekends or weekends supplemented by flexi leaves)

Obviously, if you have a large customer service component to the existing business or if you must be open for retail hours, it takes huge amount of ingenuity and near perfect scheduling prowess to adjust to this type of schedule.

For me these above few points may help the decision makers in reaching the conclusion that the extra focus, energy, teamwork and dedication resulting from a four-day work week supplemented by flexi leaves will drive your productivity skyward!

Not a bad outcome for a simple idea Sirjee….!!

Feelings of being at India gate..!!

2011-09-15T21:24:00.000+05:30

I completed my two years of existence in this walled city few days back. Out of whatever which fascinated me most over here, the most prominent is India Gate. Now even I don't remember how many times I have been to this place. One of my friend calls me "Mangal Pandey of 21st centuray" because of my habit of being at this place so many times.

My first visit there left me speechless and I was standing there for hours in front of Amar Jawan Jyoti. I always wanted to be there and I finally was there just looking at it.

Then from that day started the story of me being at India gate whenever I feel like getting away from everything around.

Now whenever I go there, I can feel myself much better connected to it, better than the previous times. Every time I see this Amar Jawan Jyoti, it looks different to me, although I doubt if now people really give importance to it.

Normally I had seen people going there for partying and dating, I wonder if this is the place for them to be there? These people are the reason for the mess they leave behind every day at India Gate, which pains a lot to anyone who visits that place for its magic and importance. Also these types force Delhi police to be rude to everyone because they treat that place just like another picnic spot.

PS: Like always special thanks to Devesh Singh for allowing me to use his pictures :)

Bhopal..a bleeding story..!!

2011-07-17T16:38:00.001+05:30

Those who died were lucky to die, those who survived are still suffering, crawling towards a painful death. This case is a perfect example of how Indian politicians can screw up lives of their country men just to please a country like America. The CM that time helped the main co accused to flee from country instead of catching him and producing that culprit before court. Now the Congress says they will do their best to bring justice to all who suffered. It’s the same Congress which tried their best to help DOW stay safe out of any problem. I don’t want any justice, just bring back those guys and put them in a gas chamber with MIC gas for just few minutes with their family members. I wonder how America which invaded Iraq fro no reason can live happily with what DOW did to India and how our so nice politicians can eat up money and aid given for the victims to build up their empire.

I feel ashamed to be part of this democracy for what they did to people of Bhopal…!!

PS: all rights of above videos lies with their respective owners

Cry for only bruises and stitches....!!

2011-06-27T22:57:00.001+05:30

In this lovely journey called life we meet so may people. I am not including parents and siblings as they are out of scope here in this. We know them by many names such as friends, good friends, best friends, neighbors, colleagues, people you come across while travelling to and fro to office etc etc. Many like to help anyone and everyone in as much as ways possible. So are the people around who take to advantage of these as much as possible. They will come to you, befriends with you, use you to their best and then part ways as if they never met you. Unfortunately this breed of users are now in abundance.

Although people should take lessons from every incidence like this, but there are fools who tend to keep on helping people even after being backstabbed. I would name these kind as emotional idiots who are not learning anything from whatever happened to them in past. I would never say that stop helping people and stop being reason for a little smile on their faces (I know it feels great to see that smile) but one should slowly and gradually learn to read people and their wicked minds. Remember not everyone who smiles is your well wisher, it can be and it is most of the time a devil waiting to kill your soul and suck humanity and kindness out of your heart.

One should learn to leave people in their pain and try not to hop every time to help them out. If they are in pain, its mostly because they are worth it. This may not be true all the time, but why to take risk and screw up your own life for someone one else’s happiness. Just be selective even while trying to help any freaking person around. Gone are the time when you will do good for others and receive at least a smile. In today’s world you could be branded as a moron even for helping others. So learn to be selfish and be safe and happy. With all due respect (whatever they deserve) to everyone around (as if I really do care)

This reminds me of one of the beautiful lines I am loaning from one of my friend…

Cry for only bruises and stitches....not for bastards and bitches..!!

Mockery of Education…!!

2011-06-16T01:34:00.001+05:30

I was reading today’s newspaper and the big news of the day was “cutoff of 100% at LSR college”. My first reaction was, what the hell, is this some kind of joke? If the cutoff is this, what is going to happen to rest?

As one of the speaker pointed out in one of the discussions on this topic, its mainly because of students who are suing this just as a base station so that they can prepare for their IIT dream, killing the options for the real student who wanted to pursue this stream. See even today in top B Schools, most of the students are from Science background. Few blames CBSE for distributing numbers so easily, but I know that anyone who passed out from CBSE will vote against this. CBSE never distributes marks, they are earned by students.

If the college thinks that 100% can be taken as a cutoff, then I believe that very soon they should decide that this holds valid even for reserved category candidates or else it would be highly unfair on the candidates belonging to general category on scoring 96 % and still not being able to get into that college. Also the need to enforce that anyone from Science background student to get admission in Commerce stream, unless the student is there for the entire course duration.

Now even I doubt if the university administration has even considered this fact that not all students applying for admission are from CBSE. There are states like UP and Maharashtra where getting such high percentage is next to impossible, even if they get something around 80%, its an achievement by itself. This really looks a ridicules step which surely is going to increase pressure on general students. Either the administration/ ministry should put in force once education board across all the states or they should not play with future of innocent students.

Even if they say that this step is taken to match the demand supply, I would trash this as rubbish. If demand is rising, its responsibility of system to provide the supply of enough opportunities for studies and quality in education. Only god knows what will happen to next generation of students and how are they going to study or they all are going to end up like teenagers of developed nations where most of them don’t even cross the step of being a graduate.

Amazingly this laid down process in no way considers other aspects of student’s life, their co-curricular activities. Are we again going towards producing just clerks or we want a well educated human being to emerge out of these temples of education.

Why can’t we take a common entrance test by giving the kids a fair chance to perform and compete, is that so difficult?

Well, I don’t think so…we all really need to think and come together to achieve basic motto of education system “ ज्ञानार्थ प्रवेश, सेवार्थ प्रस्थान...!!”

Working for a small setup helps you grow..!!

2011-06-10T01:24:00.001+05:30

Ever since organisations were formed and global spectrum was implemented for corporates, it is believed that employees should go through processes and practices to enable them learn new things to scale up fast. This on paper translates into getting involved in planning, training, development, taking new responsibilities and initiatives.

One popular conception is that to be nurtured as a leader, one must need to understand the dynamics of the profession in a well established set up where processes and scope are well defined. What they fail to see is that there are very limited opportunities to put such learning into practices at these places.

The reality is while one is working with any of these big, well established corporates, they never get a chance to take risk as they are designed in a way to reduce the risk factor to the minimum. Only the young entrepreneurs give fair chances to an individual by giving him opportunities to take risks and succeed. Google and Amazon are few of the biggest available examples. Because if one thinks within the defined frame of the traditional setup, there are very less chances to innovate and execute. The priority will always be to follow the rules and processes.

In the present complex business environment, anyone who gets an opportunity to grow in terms of technical, managerial and humanitarian expertise, emerges as a leader. In big organisations you have a structure in place which helps in you getting into all these roles, but if you are working for a startup or a small organisation, you need to think and act like an entrepreneur and constantly be on the toes to look out for new opportunities in all the areas. One should always remember that success also depends upon individual skills, appetite for success and how one aspires to be in life.

“There is no point working as a small fish in big pond after a while”

I know people who moved on and left their comfortable jobs from MNCs to join comparatively smaller firms and are happy learning things at these places. Although this decision must have impacted their perks and pay cheque, but what they have today is the pleasure of being able to put forward their ideas and implement that to be “The One” for changing the ways of working in their new firm. Moreover, these smaller firms do give flexibility in terms of working hours and working from home as compared to the big organisations.

Also, it is also not very difficult to move up the ladder in small firms, as every person from the top to the bottom knows you and your work, and whenever an opportunity comes by, it is very easy to put yourself forward. Whereas, in large firms, you are working as a hidden employee, which would result in some key members of the management not knowing you.

Since large organisations have a good amount of budget that can be used to buy and manage latest in resource and technology, it has some negative sides as well. As each person has a defined role in his area making it very difficult for a person to gain knowledge of other areas in this kind of environment. On the other hand, despite providing immense opportunities, small organisations have a limited budget for these things and which results in more and more efforts to learn and innovate instead of just going and purchasing the readily available services.

More importantly, to make yourself dependable even in the best of times, one needs to be aligned with the company’s processes, culture and ethics, and should be able to set the right expectations and manage expectations of all the stake holders to grow as a leader.

“It’s not the pond but the quality of fish that matters in a longer term”

Stanleys and Ishans of our world…!!

2011-05-30T22:03:00.001+05:30

Watched the movie Stanley ka Dabba today, initially the movie reminded me of my good old days at school, the fun we had at school leading a very carefree life with no tensions of project deadlines and presentations. I was missing my school life all through out the movie but was also shaken a bit towards the end of the movie. I know we are in position so that we can choose our food and delicacies, but it really hurts when a kid has to struggle to get his food and is forced into child labor. I know everyone will say what am I doing for them, just by writing something is not going to change anything in their lives. But since I am not here to explain anything to anyone, I would like to keep my mouth shut on this, I am very well aware on what I am doing and I know from the core of my heart that it gives peace to my mind. But think of this, if we can really spare a bit of our leisure time to help them learn something about real life, that will really help them in being someone. the best way to do this is to do it anonymously and never expect a return from all this.

There are lots and lots of these kids around us losing their innocence of life in struggle of mere existence in this highly paced lives around them. Least we can do is to at-least stop and think about them even if we can’t so anything right now. If we start doing this now, who knows one day we may really do something to help them.

We the strange bunch of people..!!

2011-05-25T21:02:00.001+05:30

We fellow Indians are really strange bunch of people. We may celebrate a cricket match win but will be skeptical in celebrating festival of other religions. We can question the quality of our teachers but will have full faith in our politician, just because he or she belongs to our own caste.

We can spend crores on safety and stay of a terrorist but can’t think about spending a single rupee on street child education. We would never go out of our comfy homes to vote but can sit and blame our government for hours over drinks. We can tolerate hundreds of Osamas but get irritated by one Medha Patkar.

We blame our politicians for all the mess around but never hesitate to go to one to get something done out of way. We may raise our eyebrows over garbage lying all around but will never give a second thought before throwing an empty water bottle out of our car window. We may reach office late due to our urgent work but other’s urgent work looks like lame excuse to us.

We are hesitant in going to religious places but can have cocktail parties on every festival holiday. We love to speak English but feel a bit shy to speak our own mother tongue. We may not know what happens in our country but are aware of each and every bit of What happens in Vegas. We complain all the time about traffic jams but will never hesitate to drive in wrong lane beat it. We can complain about always rising price of petrol but can’t switch off our engines at traffic signals even if it means keeping engine on for more than few minutes.

Although we as general public are still struggling for basic facilities like water, road and basic infrastructure but still we are happily paying our taxes without any resistance. We pay fine for late payment of our dues but are least bothered to fight back if we are charged by our service providers wrongly. We pay for an unlimited Internet connection but still accept the “fair usage policy” enforced upon us once a specific data limit is crossed. We pay full charges for booking a flight ticket at last moment but never demand any explanation if airline is delayed by few hours.

We really are a uniquely strange bunch of people…!!

Delhi nights and early mornings…!!

2011-05-24T22:30:00.004+05:30

Any city always amazed me at nights. You can see the true colours of that city, the people inhibiting that place and if lucky you are in a position to praise both. This is my experience of several night outs and my experiments with Delhi, the capital city of India. And yes I am considering Delhi NCR while writing this.

Although I am a nomad but by far I was never able to appreciate the infrastructure of this city during the day time due to clutter and mess across the city and the food joints and places which are either too much fussy or too much crowded.

This myth of mine was broken when I started to venture out during late nights and early mornings in this city. The parathas, maggie and tea at roadside stalls near Ship building, Convergys building and near to Machan on Golf course road. Equally tasty was the food available near to CP. You can see people from everywhere eating it without any complains and enjoying the taste of it, the same people who would not even look at it during the day time.

These places are open till wee hours every day and are always full of people having fun there. I enjoyed these places across all the seasons, in the rains, in foggy nights and in windy summers seamlessly.

The roads which made me loose my temper everyday during day time looked very smooth and peaceful all of sudden at night. they looked more colourful and much more lively to me as if they were inviting me to explore them more and more.
Although there was not much of change in the scenario at both the toll gates on NH-8 (which became even worse due to that strange hike of Rs. 01 in toll fee) but still who cares when you are loving the city :)

Only thing which continued to irritate me was the manner in which people drive here. Somehow they love to drive on the wrong side of the roads (efforts to control those is again in progress by installing devices to deflate the tyers for these special breed of people) and those who are either impatient at traffic signals and are happy to jump the read lights risking their and everyone else’s lives.

But still the city kept on moving with its admirable pace. Even at 6.00 AM in the morning people were in rush to reach somewhere. To the airport, to their jobs or to meet someone special in their lives.

I met several people during these trips of mine, some drunk to the core, some sober, some rude, some careless, some in their own world, policemen who were rude, some who were happy to help . In all till date my experience encourages me to explore more and more of this mysterious city and know it better.

And the ever inviting roads remind me of these lines…
I have miles to go before I sleep again….

PS: Special thanks to Devesh Singh for allowing me to use his pictures :)

Corporate chain..!!

2011-03-16T20:58:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: With all due respect to Mr Shashi Tharoor (for using his Cattle Class words) and every single corporate entity I came across in my professional journey, irrespective of where they worked, if ever we interacted or not, this is just a funny try and interpretation of whatever I saw and felt :)

Corporate life has always made me think in different verticals. It has been a funny, stressful, lame, witty, exploring, hilly and sloppy feeling traversing through various corridors of different powerhouses of our ever growing economy. Few I was a part of and for others, few of my friends facilitated me to have this enchanting experience.

I saw different types of people working with these organisations, some always fighting, some always shouting, some reacting to even a whisper, some never ever reacting to anything, some always busy, some always fuzzy, some working hard, some hardly working, some capable of frustrating anyone just by their sheer presence and some capable of making you understand that "a gearbox is full of gears" by taking you through a 100 page presentation on that.

I was reading somewhere about food chain, that reminded me of my good old school days and I could easily convert whatever I saw in my professional life to a corporate chain. Although in food chain, everyone is eaten by someone, here in this corporate chain, everyone reports to some one and works for someone. Everyone has got some job to complete and has got something in queue but no one gets killed in literal senses.

There are few who do the job and remain unrecognised and their are few who take credit of everything happening around them. There are few who cannot put their voice through the proper channel and there are few who can ensure that even their sneeze is officially attended to. But since everything is supposed to be running smooth, the proper mix (as per industry standard) is required of these people. I came up with these classifications and role assignments as shown in picture below.

Again I would reinstate that this is a just a funny interpretation and is never meant to hurt or blame anyone and should be taken on a lighter note. I am just trying to add humor to our busy lives :)

Feeling a Feel . . .!!

2011-01-12T23:07:00.001+05:30

How good it feels to be alive,
and to appreciate and enjoy life.

How good it feels to wake up every day,
and to watch the little ones play.

How good it feels to dream at night,
and then wake up to beautiful sunlight.

How good it feels to have good friends,
who will be with you until life's end.

How good it is to have the support of loved ones,
and be able to go out and have fun.

How good it feels to hear, touch, smell, taste, and see,
and live in a time in which we can be whatever we want to be.

How good it feels to breathe in air
and to be able to recognize my happiness and share . . .

Ex-CM Traveling cattle class..!!

2011-01-03T00:38:00.004+05:30

Looks nice to see ex chief minister of Madhya Pradesh traveling cattle class with wife and his son. Power shuffle plays around too quick in Indian politics. The so called Diggi Raja traveling economy somehow gives a little hope to the rotten political system of second largest democracy of this world. I think and firmly believe that this guy must be entitled to several free flights but still if he chooses to opt for economy class that too in a private sector carrier, it gives me absolute pleasure to share this. I would not comment on how he was as a chief minister but if this travel of his is to be considered, he looks as a sensible guy and an above average politician.

Although this thinking was not extended by his family members. The son was in his own world where every one around was reporting to his dad and madam was feeling lost due to lack of her assistants. After trying several times to put tray table back, she was forced to ask for assistance and in the end she couldn't resist to take along with her the in-flight magazine :)

And we as young citizens of this country are looking forward to this breed of politicians.

Nomadic viewpoint....!!

2010-11-21T02:23:00.000+05:30

I don't remember exactly when I decided to change my life and become a nomad. A nomad is someone who does not possess nor is tied to a particular location and are commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts. There are nomad communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but traditional nomadic behavior is increasingly rare in industrialized countries. Nomads are sometimes also referred to as perpetual travelers/ tourists.

I wished I could do this full time , but unfortunately earning is the other side of story which now takes over in terms of importance when compared to nomadic view. You need to earn to support your nomadic thought process. Whenever I am outside, traveling I forget everything about my profession, my work pressure and the targets and deadlines for project delivery (this can also be a reason for me being more interested in being a nomad). I feel like being part of everything which is happening around myself (this feeling I am not able to achieve till date in my professional life) where no everyone is ready to come to me, listen to me, talk to me and have a simple cup of tea for no visible financial benefit. People who never care about how much I earn, which car I drive, which brand I wear, which watch I have, which mobile phone I use.

All they want to know is if I liked the tea or samosa I had with them or what I feel about them or their place. I can see that everyone is running after money, negotiating for higher salary, planning to purchase one more house from bonus and still not satisfied with what they are possessing. The couple who is working, but still hungry for more and more money. There is very thin line between need and greed. Need can be fulfilled but greed is very difficult to satisfy. I wonder why they never see what they have got already and maybe that is much more that what they are capable of. Just because they got more doesn't indicates that they are capable of having all that. People fight for the basic needs of life and are still much happier than those who are earning in huge amounts.

How much does anyone needs, what can be considers as fulfilling, which thing can ensure peace of mind or a sound sleep, how much land will be enough are few question which are and will remain unanswered for ever. People go for vacations to various hotels but I keep on wondering what can be different in a hotel room from my own room apart from few cosmetic goodies. In my view if someone really wants to enjoy a vacation, he/she should try to get closer more and more to mother nature. I strongly believe that this vacation will surely change, enhance or boost the inner self of anyone taking that vacation. The basic purpose of vacation should be to re-invent and explore inner self and not to experience more and more artificial world around. A vacation at a natural habitat will for sure help them evolve better as a human being.

A luxurious five star is not the only thing that can make a place entitled to be categorized as travel destination or any place worth being called as exotic. Its the connectivity to nature which makes you feel it as an exotic or vacation destination.

All the can be treated as completely a nomadic viewpoint on vacations or life and may feel absurd and useless characters to may of the readers, but that's what differentiates me as a "Nomad" in the crowd of hundreds and thousands of people around me and I am absolutely fine if you do not like it this way. You have got your life and its completely your wish on how would you like to spend it and how would you like to remember in years to come.

Who should be blamed ?

2010-11-17T16:09:00.000+05:30

The incident of a building collapse at Laxminagar, Delhi again opened a Pandora box. The blame game started among the authorities, media became active all again with all late night discussions dedicated to this topic.

All the tall claims of Delhi chief minister of the city being world class went for a toss. What was shown to world as Delhi is just the plastic part of city. Still 30 % of city's population lives in slums and shabby areas. the roads are in pathetic condition. Huge amount was spent on CWG on building stadiums and hostels for the athletes. But there as nothing for general Delhi public. The roads taken by President Obama were the best one.

But in reality Delhi is an aging city, with rotten infrastructure, clogged roads, increased crime rate, insecurity for women and politics making it worse day by day.

Even in case of building crash, the blame was given to Yamuna river. I wonder why people can't see that Akshardhaam temple which is much closer to Yamuna river stays there proud and tall. If the building which was constructed was illegal, how come they managed to get water and electricity connection from government. No one is concerned about all this. Only thing which they can say that, it aall happened because of Yamuna river and heavy rains.

Its all in the game........

Corruption....!!

2010-11-15T21:42:00.000+05:30

You are getting late to office, lost in your thoughts about the presentation to boss and you accidentally missed the red light at traffic signal. Cop catches you and you get away by paying hundred rupees to him. Is this a bribe ?

You are desperate to go home for festive vacation, but could not get a ticket. You paid few extra hundred rupees to the ticket checker and manage to get a berth in the train. Is this a bribe ?

You go for a vacation with your friends, but entry to a public place is closed. You had a talk with the security guard, gave him one hundred rupee note and got the entry to that place. Is this a bribe ?

You applied for a passport, but don't have time to go through complete verification. You go to a broker who charges you for his service and your Passport is delivered at your place. Is this a bribe ?

You got your driving license without even appearing for a driving test because you applied through an agent. Is this bribe ?

If all these above does not look like bribe to you, who do you think gave you right to blame Raja, Kalmaadi or any of the politicians. tey are all elected by us only. So if they are into corruption because we want all of them to be at that place taking part in corruption on our behalf..

I strongly believe that "Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want....."

What is all this about Kashmir..??

2010-09-20T20:58:00.000+05:30

Ever since I remember, Kashmir was an integral part of free India. But in recent past few years, I am forced to believe that India is trying to acquire Kashmir from some other country. Why are our politicians listening so much from separatists like Mirwaiz and Yasin Malik. If they are entitled to this special attention then why do we treat separatists from Orrisa and Andhra Pradesh differently ? Why can't we give some special powers as Article 356 to these Maoists too ?

Why so much hype for Kashmir? If its an Indian state why can't we treat every one in that state as per normal rules of India ? With due regards to suffering of people of Kashmir, I still believe they are responsible for what they are suffering from. If they really want to get away from India, I would personally welcome that move as this will ease up lives of everyone involved. We can hope that there will be no more bloodshed, no more firing on the roads and people will live there lives peacefully.

I think either it should be dealt by giving complete control to Indian Army or allowing people of Kashmir to choose their options. Too much of media focus on this case hence creating more problems for people involved. Media too act a bit responsibly and handle this case more delicately.

I used to love rains....!!

2010-08-23T21:42:00.001+05:30

I, like any small kid loved to go out and play in rain pours. Those days I prayed to god, not to stop rains. Then I started going to my school and the ordeal started. I wished the showers to come down only during nights, so that I don't need to get messed up while going to school. This continued for years and I landed up in my college. At that time I was never bothered about rains. Who cares even if it was raining like hell. I could still sleep peacefully in my room at college hostel.

Then I moved to my job and the worst part started. Whenever it rained, the life became hell. I can't take leave and since I didn't had a vehicle, by the time I managed to reach office, I was completely drenched. I moved from that city to another with shift in my job. Again that city used to get converted into river in rainy times. Even the cab guys refused to take me to office. The pain continued. Somehow I managed since during that period the rain god was too moody to oblige.

One more shift in job and I landed at my current city. This was something unbearable. Although I managed to get my "Nomad" partner vehicle, but the roads were worst ever. You cannot guess, if you are driving or sailing through the roads. If it was potholes on the roads or as if I was driving through craters leveled with the help of water. Every time it rained, the traffic on the road goes for a toss, I really wonder why ? Although our members of parliament managed to get a hike in their salary, which none of poor guy ( irrespective of where he/she may be working ) can expect in their life, I don't see any better future prospects. I am clueless why am I required to return a file, when I get my salary post tax deduction. Anyways, I know how it feels to drive on such roads with your brand new car cursing myself for putting my car through all this and cursing every other errant, rash driver around me.

So. now where I see it raining, I feel shivers down my spine and now sadly I don't love to see rains pouring or for that sake ever drizzling....!!

A to Z of Kolkata..!!

2010-08-21T20:46:00.001+05:30

Pl. note: This is just a funny observation, with no intention to hurt anyone....

A is for Awpheesh (as in Office). This is where the average Kolkatan goes and spends a day hard at work. And if he works for the 'Vest Bengal Gawrment' he will arrive at 10, wipe his forehead till 11, have a tea break at 12, throw around a few files at 12.30 , break for lunch at 1, smoke an unfiltered cigarette at 2, break for tea at 3, sleep sitting down at 4 and go home at 4:30. It's a hard life!

B is for Bhision. For some reason many Bengalis don't have good bhision. In fact in Kolkata most people are wearing spectacles all the time.

C is for Chappell. Currently, this is the Bengali word for the Devil, for the worst form of evil. In the night mothers put their kids to sleep saying, 'Na ghumaley Chappell eshey dhorey niye jabe.'

D is for Debashish or any other name starting with Deb. By an ancient law every fourth Bengali Child has to be named Debashish. So you have a Debashish everywhere and trying to get creative they are also called Deb, Debu, Deba with variations like Debopriyo, Deboprotim, Debojyoti, etc. thrown in at times.

E is for Eeesh. This is a very common Bengali exclamation made famous by Aishwarya Rai in the movie Devdas. It is estimated that on an average a Bengali, especially Bengali women, use eeesh 10,089 times every year. 'Ei Morechhey' is a close second to Eeesh.

F is for Feeesh. These are creatures that swim in rivers and seas and are a favourite food of the Bengalis. Despite the fact that a fish market has such strong smells, with one sniff a Bengali knows if a fish is all right. If not, he will say 'eeesh what feeesh is theesh!'

G is for Good name. Every Bengali boy will have a good name like Debashish or Deboprotim and a pet name like Motka, Bhombol, Thobla, etc. While every Bengali girls will have pet names like Tia, Tuktuki, Mishti, Khuku, et cetera.

H is for Harmonium. This the Bengali equivalent of a rock guitar. Take four Bengalis and a Harmonium and you have the successors to The Bheatles!

I is for lleesh. This is a feeesh with 10,000 bones which would kill any ordinary person, but which the Bengalis eat with releeesh!

J is for Jhola. No selfrespecting Bengali is complete without his Jhola. It is a shapeless cloth bag where he keeps all his belongings and he fits an amazing number of things in. Even as you read this there are two million jholas bobbling around Kolkata, and they all look exactly the same! Note that 'Jhol' as in Maachher Jhol is a close second.

K is for Kee Kaando !. It used to be the favourite Bengali exclamation till eeesh took over because of Aishwarya Rai (now Kee Kando's agent is trying to hire Bipasha Basu).

L is for Lungi, the dress for all occasions. People in Kolkata manage to play football and cricket wearing it not to mention the daily trip in the morning to the local bajaar. Now there is talk of a lungi expedition to Mt Everest.

M is for Minibus. These are dangerous half buses whose antics would effortlessly frighten the living daylights out of all James Bond stuntmen as well as Formula1 race car drivers.

N is for Nangto. This is the Bengali word for Naked. It is the most interesting naked word in any language!

O is for Oil. The Bengalis believe that a touch of mustard oil will cure anything from cold (oil in the nose), to earache (oil in the ear), to cough (oil on the throat) to piles (oil you know where!).

P is for Phootball. This is always a phavourite phassion of the Kolkattan. Every Bengali is born an expert in this game. The two biggest clubs there are Mohunbagan and East Bengal and when they play the city comes to a stop.

Q is for Queen. This really has nothing to do with the Bengalis or Kolkata, but it's the only Q word I could think of at this moment. There's also Quilt but they never use them in Kolkata.

R is for Robi Thakur. Many many years ago Rabindranath got the Nobel Prize. This has given the right to all Bengalis no matter where they are to frame their acceptance speeches as if they were directly related to the great poet and walk with their head held high. This also gives Bengalis the birthright to look down at Delhi and Mumbai and of course 'all non-Bengawlees'! Note that 'Rawshogolla' comes a close second !

S is for Shourav. Now that they finally produced a genuine cricketer and a captain, Bengalis think that he should be allowed to play until he is 70 years old. Of course they will see to it that he stays in good form by doing a little bit of 'jawggo' and 'maanot'.

T is for Trams. Hundred years later there are still trams in Kolkata. Of course if you are in a hurry it's faster to walk. There are no fast trains from Kolkata.

U is for Aambrela. When a Bengali baby is born he is handed one.

V is for Bhaayolence. Bengalis are the most non-violent violent people around. When an accident happens they will fold up their sleeves, shout and scream and curse and abuse, "Chherey De Bolchhi" but the last time someone actually hit someone was in 1979.

W is for Water. For three months of the year the city is underwater and every year for the last 200 years the authorities are taken by surprise by this!

X is for X'mas. It's very big in Kolkata, with Park Street fully lit up and all Bengalis agreeing that they must eat cake that day.

Y is for Yesshtaarday. Which is always better than today for a Bengali (see R for Robi Thakur).

Z is for Jebra, Joo, Jipper and Jylophone.

Migrants....!!

2010-08-15T20:04:00.000+05:30

Migrants as per definition means "including anyone working outside of their home country. The term can also be used to describe someone who migrates within a country, possibly their own, in order to pursue work such as seasonal work"

That makes everyone who doesn't belongs to the city he or she is working in, a migrant. That puts me in line with daily workers who are here working for many factories in this city, the only difference may be the pay cheque. Also that puts few very senior guys at par with them as migrant. Looks funny, isn't it ?

Their living condition, socio-ecomonic status may differ from me but I am no different from them all. I am also staying in a city unknown to me, a place who may not like me, people who may not appreciate my presence between their gang and am always considered as an outsider. Though few migrant people might have created their own comfort zone, but from the core of their heart they all know and feel the pain if being an migrant.

We migrants may always be considered as outsiders for these cities, but one should never forget that we play a major role in development of these cities. These migrants survive in absolutely unhygienic place but their contribution enable the entrepreneurs to have their pics on covers of business magazines. Remember none of the famous city in history was build by locals, it was build by migrant slaves.

So if can't give the migrants their share, at least please don't hate them..!!

Independence celeberated...!!

2010-08-15T00:51:00.000+05:30

The nation is celebrating its Independence Day today. India’s struggle for it, is a story of hundreds and thousands of men, women and even children who laid down their lives for attaining this. Many of them never got a chance to see this Independent country. Many of them went unsung and no one knows or remembers them. But as years passed, the sentiments attached with this day are gone. Its now just a holiday which combined with weekend gives a chance to visit home and take rest. Even if its on weekend, its being considered as one holiday wasted.

What is independence for this generation ?

is it freedom to work anywhere in country (which again is becoming a problem due to political influence)
freedom to express one’s view (that again is getting restricted to few celebrity news personals only)
freedom to wear whatever one likes, eat whatever one wants, study whatever he or she wants or anything like that.
stocking enough supply of liquor (as it is a dry day)

Every one grabs the first chance they get to migrate outside India. I will not blame them also, not everyone is ready to give away the quality of life which is being offered by countries outside India. See what we who opted to stay here are getting.

heavy lax being levied (only to know later on that all was utilised properly for corruption)
poor infrastructure in terms of pathetic roads, poor electric supply and non existing or very poor public transport.
after so may years of Independence a bill for free primary education is accepted in parliament whereas people who migrate abroad are enjoying all these for so many years.
still we are debating on how to negotiate to use medical insurance provided by our employers
our players are not allowed participate in events abroad but we are offering free ride to every athlete participating in commonwealth

APJ Abdul Kalam has mentioned in his book ’Wings of Fire’ that “never think of the scope, work hard to create that scope.” Kalam rejected several offers from abroad and stayed in this country and contributed to making India a super power. He stayed in just one room of Rastrapati Bhavan when he was serving the nation as President. Do we really think alike ??

I remember a statement given by one of our visiting lecturer “Indian is not a poor country, its just a poorly managed country” . So its we all who are responsible for making this a perfectly managed country. We as an individual should contribute to the betterment of our country by helping in keeping it clean, by paying taxes in time and in full (although I wish I could have an option to refuse it as I am not getting anything out of that), keep a watch on how is our money being spent by authorities and cross question them if required (we have RTI act, isn’t it), utilising resources responsibly, pooling cars while commuting to office everyday, treating everyone same irrespective of their caste and creed, through improved work ethics and environmental behaviour.

Let us love our country for what it is and let us work together to make it the best so that the coming generations will thank us for preserving our India as “Incredible India”

How to be a good "People Manager"....!!

2010-08-04T17:40:00.000+05:30

Becoming a manager is easy but achieving a tag of People Manager is equally difficult. Be always ready to accept and face challenges to succeed.To experiment and innovate with cautions is something which has to be used effectively under different circumstances. Be always ready to learn even from your subordinates and believe me, you will cherish it in your life.

Be customer centric:

Every user in your company, regardless of the level, is your customer and has to be treated accordingly. Treat every user in the organisation as if he had the ability to contribute to your development. Believing in this attitude works wonder and that is the most important step (and perhaps the least cared IT management aspect) in shaping yourself as a prospective senior executive, simply because this is scarcely available in IT professionals.

Let your customers have a choice:
Understanding the problem well and offering alternative solutions brings the best result to get your customers agree to one of your solutions.Having patience and the power to convince them is the key here to make your user agreeable to a single but effective solution proposed by you. Not only you must have this attitude but you must also demand the same from your subordinates, with near zero-tolerance principle for bad customer service. Your involvement with your internal customer brings their involvement, thus leading to a high-value based culture. Never forget that you are there not only to manage IT but also to create ethics and values which ultimately form the foundation for you to blossom as a good manager among the managers.

Your accent does matter:
Avoid too heavy technical jargons during your interactions with people in other functions. Not every one can understand your jargons as you can also not understand all their marketing tricks. Any simple communication with not IT people will help them understand the process better. Enjoy a good long discussion with other functions, without discussing much of the technology. Try to understand their problems,functional interests and their expectations from IT solutions. Speak clearly so that they can understand what you want you communicate to them.

Know weak links in your team:
Respect for your subordinates will help reduce turnover and show management that you are a leader (another rarity among IT people). Use your anger wisely to handle difficult people, if the need be. Converting a weak link into a strong one is the ideal approach. Your success depends on your ability to identify three wrongs--intention, person and situation--at an early stage.

Calling up your customers on a regular basis brings a sense of satisfaction among them. Ask them how you and your team are doing and if there is anything you can help them with. Then taste the magic happening for you in the form of songs of praises from your customers as they get floored by your proactive approach. As a technocrat one tends to create hype about the IT solutions, which may generate over expectations from end users, function heads and top managements. Be genuine to generate high expectations rather than over expectations, which otherwise leads you to be a victim to the classic IT pitfall of over committing and under delivering.

A word of caution:
When you under deliver, you not only ensure a frustrating customer experience, but you send a feeler that you are a panic planner. Call a spade a spade when a solution is elusive. If necessary, explaining the facts well might help you to overcome anxiety at the other end. If job is your priority, then never be a part of petty infighting in your company. There are times when nothing works. Learn to adopt new strategies quickly and take calculated risks. Have firm plans to avert the risks expected to come your way. Accept failures as part of your life but only to learn and succeed next time.The success you achieve must be shared with your colleagues, right from top to the bottom of the technology and functional team. Humility in giving credit of your success to the team involved gives a facelift to your attitude towards people. Empowering them with knowledge and delegation makes your team more motivated and work towards organisational goals.

Networking keeps you updated:
“It’s not always what you know but who you know.” Everyone should learn to establish and sustain the relationship with former colleagues, bosses and even vendor representatives. Be active in professional associations, attend good technical/skill enhancement events and workshops which are opportunities to build a great circle of contacts.Functional and individual conflicts are bound to come in your way and you must handle each one differently but effectively. You may fail in your first attempt but to keep attempting is the key to success. And last but not the least, everyone makes a lot of errors in this process but to learn from these to move ahead and not to feel bogged down is equally important. Always keep a well balance between work and life.

Learn to say ‘no’ skilfully when required, instead of over committing and under delivering "

Justice delayed and justice denied...!!

2010-06-08T14:21:00.001+05:30

Can you forget this picture, at least I can't. I don't understand how the law makers and law enforcers are able to do that.

Around 22,000 dead. More than 1,20,000 injured. Rs 1 lakh for each body. Rs 25,000 for every poisoned lung and damaged heart and blinded eyes. 26 years of long wait. And just 2 years in jail for the men who committed the worst crime against the people of this country. And this mockery of justice after such a long wait. 25 years after the greatest industrial accident in the world. 25 years after over 25,000 perished in an agonizing death on the terrible night when the deadly gas leaked out of the Union Carbide chemical factory in Bhopal. Or in slow tortureous deaths in the few weeks following that night as people saw their loved ones wither away with little medical help. And as the city of Bhopal began to look like a huge mortuary.

And 25 years later after the hundreds of thousands that were affected by the gas have mostly perished to it’s long term effects, the court finally delivered their judgement today. People of Bhopal are still drinking toxic water poisoned by Union Carbide in December 1984. And the main culprit is living life kingsize in a mansion in New York.

No country sells its people so cheap.
No country sells its poor so cheap.
No country sells its dead so cheap.

It’s a completely irrelavant judgement. For those on whose shoulders lie the responsibility of this avoidable, irresponsible, completely mismanaged accident, have long since made their deals with the government of India and gone. It was one of the greatest and most brutal sellout by the government of India and it’s courts of the people of India.

Till today as the people of Bhopal continue to suffer from the thousands of cases of cancer and incurable birth defects in children born to the parents of the people that inhaled the gas on the terrible night. And as toxic waste continues to seep into and through the ground water 25 years later.

But who cared about the poor people of Bhopal? Certainly not our own Government who like cannibals preyed upon their own people. Apparently very little of the paltry $ 470 million that was paid went to helping the people that suffered, a large part being diverted to the pockets of corrupt officials. The excuse used was that you could not tell who was a victim of the gas tragedy and who was not.

25 years later, are we making the same mistakes ? The law is supposed to be a deterrent to crimes being committed again. This judgement just proves that you could do anything in India and get away with it. Even kill thousands and thousands of people.

Today, India proved that it doesn’t really care for its people, particularly if they have been slaughtered by powerful people from the most powerful nation in the world. Instead of taking on America and fighting for justice for its poor, India is more than happy to sell its dead cheap.
Rs 1 lakh for every body. Rs 25,000 for every blinded eye. This is the cost of poor in a failed state.Yes this clearly re-instates the fact, that in India you can kill thousands of people and still walk away smiling, freely. This is not happening for the first time. People with rash and drunkard driving are roaming around freely, politicians responsible for murder of many people are now our respected ministers. Very true this government is "With you, for you, always"....I wonder why can't we have an option to choose none of above while voting and why can't those loosing guys be barred for next 5 attempts.......!!

A small town boy..!!

2010-06-01T22:46:00.000+05:30

A small town boy, born at a place which can be considered farm away from today's world, looks back at a lot of memories

Days spent at school
Wondering when will he get a chance to watch TV at home
Wondering why his parents are not purchasing a fridge
Why he can't go on a holiday every year like others
What does it takes to purchase a vehicle
Wondering why can't he get into engineering
Whats so special about doing graduation outside his city
Listening to stories of all his schoolmates, who were studying outside
Feeling alone when he has to step out for the first time out of his home
Felling scared of fast moving world around him
Feeling ashamed of being from a small town
Watching the lifestyle of his fellows in disbelief
Wondering how is he lagging behind from everyone around him
Repenting for not becoming first engineer in his family
Thanking his parents hundreds of times for being there and supporting him
Silently shedding tears when he becomes the reason for taunts for his family
Getting disturbed by his ex-schoolmates' comments on him
Feeling content on getting admission in a good collage after his repetitive efforts
Again getting depressed on not getting a job as per his parent's expectations
Hiding his tears when he has to leave his sibling alone for his graduation
Feeling proud of him on his graduation day
Learning about life after backstabbing and being bullied by his seniors at job

He thinks how far he has traveled till date, smiles and starts afresh for his walk of life ahead...
This is the story of every other guy from a small town who has migrated and placed himself into the society dominated by so called residents of big cities....

Aren't you one of them?

Uttam Pradesh...!!

2010-05-28T19:50:00.000+05:30

The rulers of Uttar Pradesh want to make the state as Uttam Pradesh and they are claiming to be working towards achieving the same.

And we all who are related to UP are amazed to see these figures

40 % people are living below poverty line
Net worth of the CM is 88 Crores
Crime rate is at par with world’s most advanced and developed cities
Criminals, if caught are taking rest in hospitals instead of being in jails and are operating from there
People paying toll tax for roads which are under construction for many years
Growth rate which is one of the lowest in India amongst all the states
Poor infrastructure and public facilities

Those who had ever been to Noida, which is incidentally an integral part of NCR can clearly distinguish that all the claims are on paper only. There is nothing which Government is doing for the state and city. All you see around are huge statues and parks which are either under construction or are inaccessible to general public. What is the point having parks with huge statues of the current chief minister?

There are numerous villages in UP with a glorious past but poor present and no future. There is no electricity, no roads and medical services are non-existent and despite all this the same ruler is occupying the chair of head of state.

I really wonder is this how the rulers will lead the state to glory?

If people of UP do not want to flourish like their neighboring states (Bihar clocked up a giddy growth rate of 11.03% in 2008-2009), they need to seriously think before choosing their leaders. Please guys think above caste and religion and vote for the growth of your state to really make it an Uttam Pradesh.

IPL, Modi and Politics…!!

2010-05-01T20:01:00.002+05:30

Lalit Modi is known as a fine, soft spoken and a bit of introvert guy who is also a friend for friends. Once known as close to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and very soon close to the people of Rajasthan and was later famous as the controversial boyfriend of a political party politician lady. A trader who is not in formal politics, yet informally ruling naturally becomes a soft target for others. He forgot that his mentor Mr. Sharad Pawar is like an iceberg, much more than what he seems to be visible. Owner of cooperative movement in Maharashtra, Sole trustee of Y. B Chouhan Trust, One who outplayed the oldest player of cricket, Jagmohan Dalmiya. He was the one who questioned the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi's, created a different party and then teamed up with Sonia Gandhi in Maharashtra and Central government. Who is an entrepreneur, a player amongst the cricketer, sugar baron in sugar industry, development guru in Baramati for his men and an expert in putting aside his political friends and enemies in style.

I may believe that Supryia Pawar has got nothing to do with IPL, but whole Mumbai knows that how she is related to Kapoors, Jains and Khans. As Amar Singh on being expelled from Samajwadi Party was told that all was his mistake, it’s time for Modi to think about himself and his life. The story has become interesting now with indulgence of politics (two Cabinet Ministers), Bollywood (Shahrukh Khan, Preeti Zinta) and a smart attractive woman (Sunanda), all these people had made this story even more interesting than IPL itself. The final nail in the coffin was the presence of biggies like Subrata Roy, Mukesh Ambani and King of good times Vijay Mallya.

This spicy story has made people of the country forget everything about inflation, starvation of farmers, unemployed youth, problems with naxals. Even the country's TV, newspapers and politicians are busy with only this story. Our public is great, they sometimes make Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh heros and sometimes zero.

Modi committed a mistake by opening Pandora’s box by pointing a finger on Tharoor and see where has he landed….and this saga of IPL, Modi and Politics goes on and on……..